Game Night - TAKE THAT and Party?

🕑 8 min read

Hi! Game Night is 'Back for Good'! We're not going to be 'Up All Night', but we are hopeful that it 'Could Be Magic'. For the purposes of this post, all player's names have been changed to protect the victims of both sharks and pirates.

This, was our first Tuesday evening game night of September, and it brought to us another 25(ish) NOBOGlins. After briefly catching up with Gary, I decided that I was going to join in with them and play Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest. Never played it before. Heard a lot of good things. We're all going to be SKY PIRATES! 

After the usual WHADIYOB introductions, we found ourselves with 6, yes SIX players!! OMG... this was going to be an amazing evening, I think 'I Found Heaven'. 

Let's GOOO!!

This game looked impressive, and easily spread out over our huge table. Gary initially warned us that our game might take over an hour; before efficiently ploughing onto explaining the rules. On my left was Howard, Mark, Jason, then Robbie, and finally Gary (on my right). It turns out that a few of us were "old salt" and had played before... not me though.

What a table of riches!

Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest is a fairly recent re-print (and re-publishing) of an older and much loved 2012 version. In case you haven't played before, the cut and thrust of this game revolves around every player starting with the same hand of 6 cards (crew members), drawn from a pool of 40. Then we simultaneously choose one, play it, reveal it, and then deal with them in initiative order. Each crew card also has a unique power which affects the game in lots of cool and interesting ways too. The aim is to collect as many of the valuable loot tokens as possible, whilst avoiding relics which normally penalise you. Plus; force opponent's crew members to walk the plank (die), using your unique crew powers, thus hindering others and helping you to your villainous victory. The pirate with the most loot wins. Sounds easy...right?

My first wake up call that something might be rotten in the state of Demark, was being removed from the island (turn order) by another captain's crew powers and by the cutlass loot tokens. Unfortunately, in this game, if you are stymied too many times during a single round, it can prove to be a problem. Hence my first criticism of this game. When playing a 6 player game, a lot of 'out of turn' take-that powers can and and will be deployed. Resulting in bloody-brawls full of highs, lows and the haunting cries of "Please! Not me again!", "I'm not even winning!" and "Why do you HATE ME?!". "Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!! Batten down the hatches ya bilge sucking land lubbers!"

I had been warned prior, that Libertalia was a festival of 'by the skin of your teeth' escapes, brutal put downs, revenge, and of course clever predictions which lead to great plays. Which all sound amazing fun! So why didn't it 'feel' like that to me? Ok, no more review stuff - what actually happened?

Howard and Mark moved quickly into the lead by a good margin, closely followed by Gary. Unfortunately Jason and Robbie  (poor Robbie) got to walk the plank several times during the first round because "dead men tell no tales". I performed poorly by simply tripping myself up and over thinking, only to find my actions were over-ridden, or weaker than expected. However, when it came to round 2, I was beginning to understand what I needed to do, and was grabbing some valuable loot tokens. Yay me. 

Going into the final round, both Howard and Mark were really beginning to pull away. Gary's plans appeared to have paved the way for a great finish, and Jason was gaining good ground too.  Unfortunately for Robbie and I, we had been "scuttled" a few too many times early on to make a serious dent in our deficits. This is part and parcel of a competitive game like this one, and as the game's "scally wags", our inexperience was showing.

Robbie's not a fan. But we love him still. 

I'm not entirely sure, but I may have been witness to some frustrated plays made by Robbie. They began to unleash 'The Flood' on some of us by purposefully selecting the cutlass loot token and began "swabbing the deck" with extreme prejudice. I was here for it. I would have probably hi-fived Robbie if I got chance, but they made a speedy exit after the game (probably to utilise some of their notoriety and pursue a solo career). Suddenly our plucky six-some was now a band of five. Howard won Libertalia, closely followed by Mark. A predictable end, to a 2 hour game.

Afterwards, I was reliably informed that playing Libertalia several times is mandatory for a good time, and I do love me a good time. I enjoyed the table banter, and yes, I do look forward to giving it another go in the future.  

Next game please!

Fantasy Realms, one of my favourite short (filler) games. 5 players went into this game, and 3 of us had played it before. It's a super fast hand management and set collection game which has the tendency to end way too fast. Rome wasn't built in a day, but a Fantasy Realm can be built in 20 minutes. 

Each player is dealt a hand of 7 face-down cards. When it is your turn, you simply either pick a card from the remaining deck, or pick a face-up card from the discard pile. You may only have 7 cards, so you have to discard one before the turn moves on to the next player. All discarded cards are arranged face-up on the table, and when there are 10 cards left discarded on the table, the game ends immediately! How you decide which card to pick up, what to keep and the one to discard is all based on the strength of the hand you currently have. The idea is to build the most valuable (strongest) fantasy realm before the world ends. Each card you have has a strength value, and when added together, they become your final total. Some cards work together to multiply up strength, some cards penalise you for having particular cards and of course a few cards penalise you for not having certain other cards. It's a complete mess for new players - but a game plays so fast that it is entirely possible to rush through 2-3 games without even blinking.

Try it. Try blinking. I've already played 3 games of Fantasy Realms. 

After explaining the rules, I let everyone know that a score of over 100 was great for first timers, and if you managed to get to 150 then you did very well. Scores of 200 or more were available for experienced players, as knowledge of the deck is key to optimising your hand for a godlike total. 

What a starting might look like

Our winner from last game, Howard, scored an impressive 199 points! Plus Howard managed to make good use of the Gem of Ordering card, which provides massive bonuses for a set of cards in numerical order. Always satisfying when a player manages to do this. Gary and Mark (our first timers) scored well with 135 and 150 points. I remember finding it quite difficult to get anywhere near 150 on my first few attempts - so this was a amazing to see. Jason, who was our other experienced player (with 20 games under their belt) did exceptionally well with a score of 239! However, I managed a rare win by scoring 2 more points, totalling a huge 241, which a BIG number for me - so I was delighted. 

In our last game we all had to endure multiple 'take-that' actions which took their toll on our fragile plans. Fantasy Realms is not particularly known for hostilities. BUT experienced players know when to hold onto certain cards to deny other players big totals, and when to focus on their own burgeoning realms. Jason though, was witness to me picking up the Candle card, which when combined with the Book of Changes, Bell Tower and any one Wizard, adds a massive 100 points to your final score. Unknown to me, was that Jason had the Bell Tower, and decided to hold onto it for the entire game, denying me my bonus 100 points. HOWEVER... what he didn't know was that I had the Mirage card, which can duplicate the Bell Tower.. thus giving me the bonus in the end. I also managed to find the Necromancer which added another card to my hand at the very end just before scoring AND the Collector who added another 40 points for having 4 Wizards. Game over.

NEXT!! 

The Origami artwork is stunning.

Fast becoming one of my favourite short, set collection games, we reached our final game of the evening, the beautiful Sea Salt and Paper with 3 players, Howard, Gary and me. This was my 4th, maybe 5th play, and I still hadn't quite worked out how to defeat others yet. I do love it though. Simply, each player has an option of either picking 2 cards from a face-down deck, discarding one, and keeping one for their hand. OR, pick up one of the face-up cards from either of the 2 discard piles. Easy stuff.

As you collect your set of cards you are given opportunities to play pairs of cards face up to score points and gain additional actions from doing so.  For example: have another turn, or blindly pick another face-down card for your hand etc. In this game though, the 'take that' shark/swimmer combo pair was being used profusely. It would appear that blood was in the water again and it was time to 'Pray'. 

This game is played in rounds, and ends when one player reaches 35 points or more. Each round is curtailed by the players themselves. Once you have at least 7 points in your hand combined with any pairs played on to the table, then you can simply call STOP! Everyone counts up their card set values and adds them to their running total. There are a few more rules surrounding this, but I'll save that for an up and coming review. 

In our game, ATTACK was the only form of defence as each player proceeded to plunder the other's
hands; fishing for Mermaid cards and probing for valuable Penguins. In the first round I was shark attacked twice, leaving me with only 3 cards when STOP was called. So, I got a big fat zero. Cue the grumpy face. 

Amongst the very, very funny banter at our table, we also experienced a hilarious situation when Gary picked up 2 cards and immediately played them both as a pair, declaring loudly that he would be using his Shark & Swimmer combo to steal a card from my hand... again. This was a 2-fold mistake. Firstly, you can't pick up 2 cards and play them both in that same turn, you have to discard one first. So, a disappointed Gary pocketed the shark card and discarded the swimmer card. Secondly, I had a shark card in my hand, so of course I picked up the rejected swimmer, and immediately dealt Gary some 'rough justice' with it. It was amazing good fun, and my only regret was that we didn't get to fully finish the game before 'turfing out time' was upon us. In the end we called it a draw... but somehow I lost. Not complaining though, as it was a memorable night. 

This evening was FULL of highs and lows, frustrations and so much 'take-that' that it was difficult 'Holding Back the Tears' sometimes. I may have my criticisms of games which encourage such gratuitous amounts of player smack downs, however, sometimes you gotta 'Get Ready For It', and 'Don't Say Goodbye' too early. 

We will return next week; with more cutlasses and sharks than ever before. Just you wait!

WhaDiYoB? - Ra (2023)

🕑 6 min read

Welcome once again, to our 'What Did You Bring?' segment!

For the purposes of this (review) post, player names have been changed to protect the innocent and the mummified.

RAAAAA!! The Sun God Ra is the bringer of life, light and an immensely fun auction game. As a devoted worshipper of Ra, it is our job to enrich ancient Egyptian civilisation through Art, Religion, Astronomy, Writing, Agriculture and the construction of epoch spanning Monuments, all in his name. 

Don't worry though, you don't have to do all that in a single hour at the pub. Just shout 'Ra' a lot during the game and hold... hold.... NOW! Bid NOW!!  

I like my games simple, and this is as simple as they come - let's not talk about the end game scoring yet. At the heart of this game is a (closed) auction system. So please allow me (a serial hater of auction games) to try to convince you (a non-believer of Ra) to give this game a try if you ever get the opportunity. 

RAAAA!!!

Winning, as mentioned previously is easy. All you have to do is bid the highest, and collect as many tiles as you can, which have been picked out of a colourful bag. If you did well, your collection (or set) will be the most valuable and beat the scores of every other player. Boom! Ra loves you, and only you. Go on... give that big Ra statue a kiss. It's beautiful. Kiss it. 

At the start of the game, depending on how many players there are, each player is given 4 rather chunky Sun Disks numbered between 2 and 16. The Sun Disk with the 1 on it, is placed centrally on the communal tableaux. Ooo.. I've never written that word before... tableaux. Sounds lush. 

Anyway, each player uses their Sun Disks to bid in the upcoming auctions, but you only get to bid once in each auction! So if you really want those tiles for your collection of Monuments, Rivers, Civilizations, or Gods etc. then you had better pay up son!! The higher the number the higher the bid.

This game is broken into 3 Epochs - which are essentially rounds. During each round, players have 1 of 2 simple decisions to make during their turn. 1. Do you draw another tile from the sack and add it to a burgeoning public display of gifts to Ra? Or 2. Do you just call RAAA!! Thus beginning an auction and prematurely ending the 'Generation Game'* style conveyor belt of victory points amassing. Pro-tip: If you do call Ra! Then you will get a distinct advantage in the bidding process, as you will bid last. This turns out to be a delicious game of chicken with your opponents. Do they use their high numbers to secure the auction win? Or do they let you take all the tiles for a measly '3 Sun Disk'? 

When you eventually do win an auction, then you will swap your winning Sun Disk with the central one left over from previous bids - and keep it for future rounds.....yep that happened. Congratulations, you just played yourself. Or did you....? ::sly smile::

During the game lots of other bad stuff can and will happen too. There are Disaster tiles! Of course there are, this is ancient Egypt. These tiles are like a fly in the ointment of your offerings to Ra, they force players who collect them to lose some of their collection's value. Some tiles only score when accompanied by other tiles; other tiles only score if you have the most of them, and one tile even penalises you for having none of them. Plus, just in case you weren't having enough fun yet, several tiles that are drawn from the bag are Ra tokens! This token artificially begins an auction, which can be both horrible and sublime at the same time. They also act as the Epoch (round) countdown timer.  

If you have been paying attention, you will have noticed that every new conveyor belt of offerings to Ra has value, however, that value is different for each player. Therefore every auction is exciting, fast and mouth-watering (in it's own way). Between the screams of "RAA!!" and "Stop them! They are going to WIN!", you will be trying to count the value of your offerings - hoping that you can predict the outcome. Do not do this. You are wasting your time, and you could easily miss the opportunity to gain massive rewards, or even prevent another player from doing the same thing.

After the 3rd Epoch has finished, and the count-up begins - this is where the game lags a bit. Yes, it can be exciting announcing your totals in turn order, but very frequently I have found this stage to drag a small amount and can become technical. Losing by 2 points can feel horrible, but not as horrible as realising that you just lost by 20 points and was probably playing a different game all along. Ra hates you. But don't be sad though, the game doesn't last very long, and you may even be able to get an additional play out of it during the evening, if everyone is on board. 

All jokes aside, this game is kind of genius. Maybe it won't be to everyone's taste, since crunchiness only pops up during the set collection and the count-up at the end. However the interpersonal challenges, the pushing of ones luck and the schadenfreude as you announce "RA!" to the screams of delight from all your new friends... then watch in horror as one by one, they all 'pass' on bidding for the tiles, and you're now stuck with them... cue the giggles. 

In conclusion, I do recommend giving Ra a try if you get the opportunity.

If you want to know more about this game, then you can find the Board Game Geek link here! Plus if you have any suggestions on which games to review in WhaDiYoB? then pop a comment down below for us. 

Enjoy your screaming. I mean evening!! Enjoy your evening. 

WhaDiYoB? - First Rat (2022)

 🕑 6 min read

Welcome to the first 'What Did You Bring?' segment. 

For the purposes of this (review) post, player names have been changed to protect the innocent and the furry.

Legend has it that the mesmerising yellow moon which hangs in the night sky above the junkyard is actually made from cheese! Many a rat child has dreamed of making their heroic journey and staking a claim to the heavenly globe of gouda. Then when all had given up on reaching it, a fellow junkyard rat scavenged an ancient manuscript amongst the discarded rubbish. A comic book! Not just any old comic though, no. This book illuminated the very first moon landing in full and precious detail. 

Ever since then the race was on to train 'rattronauts' and build a rocket ship capable of reaching the moon. One small step for rat, one tantalising leap for rat-kind. 

This delightful backstory sets you off on a board gaming experience which is likely to have you constantly grinning, and hatching new plans as the game readily shifts gears and powers towards a manic race - to become First Rat. 

On game night we played with 4 players which (after playing a few games myself) seemed to be a nice sweet spot. However, First Rat will play well with 1-5 players. 

Each player starts with 2 colour matched 'rattronaut' playing pieces, and the simple instruction to move your rat pack up a pile of junk towards victory. During your journey you will be collecting resources like baking soda and vinegar (rocket fuel); or calculators and tin cans (components), then spending them to construct your rocket ships which will ultimately catapult you to the cheesy moon. At the heart of this very easy to learn game, is the synchronisation and efficiency of your rat movements. Plus, as you gradually ready your rockets for launching, many other opportunities will present themselves to generate special rewards and essential bonus powers to help you to first place. For example; 'light bulbs' will light your way forward, score victory points, and allow you to pick up additional resources in well lit areas. Also you can collect 'mini cheeses' which are in-game currency that allow you to purchase additional powers at shops and help you share in the wealth of the scrapyard with your opponents. Finally you can scavenge 'apple cores' which move your burrowing rat around at speed, collecting unique powers, unlocking more rats to send into space and scoring valuable victory points. 

First Rat is turn based and your turn comprises of a very simple choice. Firstly, do you move one of your rats up to 5 spaces OR do you move any number of your rats up to 3 spaces each. If you move one rat, then you simply collect the resource that you land on. If you move more than 1 rat, then you may collect all the resources upon which they land - so long as your rat pack land on spaces of an identical colour! This little rule confronts you with a delicious, thought provoking riddle each turn, where you must weigh up the need to slowly increase the quantity of the resources you scavenge, with where to position yourself in readiness for that killer move next turn. Simple, yet incredibly fun. 

The game feels like you have a multitude of possibilities to follow through on to outwit your junkyardian opponents, and you never really feel 'out' of the space race either. There is always something to look forward to, manipulate, and help you onwards towards your final destination. 

You can win in only one way - be the player with the highest victory points at the end of the game. However, you are confronted and teased with many ways to earn those points. Ideally, being the First Rat to each victory point condition is the tried and tested route to success. Ending the game is also simple; the game ends when one player has placed the last of their (8) scoring cubes at victory point locations dotted all over the game board OR when one player has sent all 4 of their rattronauts into space! 

In our game, everyone seemed to enjoy the experience and ultimately the player who eventually won, was definitely 'First Rat' to several high scoring victory point locations.

All in all, if you enjoy a fun, fast paced, easy to learn game with medium complexity, then you MUST give First Rat a go if you are able to. With 4 players who are paying attention, plus a bit of chilling at the same time, expect to spend about 2 hours (including the rules explanation). 

There is a lot of replay-ability in this game through optional rule sets and bespoke (reverse the board) setups. However, I don't see any need for them right now, as the actual game reacts well to different players and their quirky strategies.

If you want to know more about this game then you can find Board Game Geek link here!

I love this game and hope to show it to more players in the future.