The CG Realm CGame Night - January 10th

The first CG Realm event of 2015

Saturday January 10th the CG Realm is hosting their first game night of 2015. The event runs from 5pm until 11pm.

This game night will be a recurring event hitting the 2nd Saturday every month. 

The CG Realm is located at 3147 Tecumseh Road East, right here in Windsor.

The CG Realm used to be focused on retro video games and collectible card games, but have recently expanded into carrying a lot more Board Games and RPGs. In addition to a growing collection of games they also have a great gaming area with lots of tables, lots of room and great lighting.

We had a great time at the CG Realm for the WYC'd game night where people played games of Star Realms, Space Hulk, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Settlers of Catan and lots more. We encourage you to bring some games out, whether an old favourite or something new you want to try out. If you don't have anything to bring, that's cool too. There's always lots of variety and people are always happy to teach you the games they have brought.

10 games off of my 2014 holiday wishlist

My last post listed the 15 best new games of 2014. These were the best games I tried for the first time last year. Today I thought it would be worth looking at some of the games on my 2014 holiday wishlist.

These aren't in any particular order and include a mix of brand new games and older stuff I've been wanting to pick up for some time.

Star Trek: Fleet Captains - I've never really gotten into the Wizkids Heroclix games. I tried out the first Marvel game when it came out and decided it's not for me. That alone kept me away from this Trek game for a long time.

Over the years though I've been hearing really good things about this game. A variety of podcasts from reviewers I respect have said enough good things that this one got added to my wishlist this year. Added to that my wife is a big Trek fan and I think I won't have to twist her arm to play it with me.

Lords of Xidit - as soon as I heard someone say "It's like Robo Rally meets a Fantasy Adventure Game" Lords of Xidit got added to my wishlist.

I love the idea of programmable movement added to a fantasy adventure game. It's one of my favourite mechanics (I think it's the computer programmer in me) and you don't see it very often and never in a fantasy themed game.

I also really like the look of the game. Very colourful with lots of cool looking bits.

Primordial Soup - Freshly Spiced - I really enjoy Primordial Soup. A friend introduced it to me a couple years ago as his favourite game and it became one of mine. I finally picked up my own copy last year and have been playing it quite a bit at local events.

One day, when on The Geek, I noticed that there was a 5-6 player expansion. I had not realized this existed in the past and quickly added it to my wishlist.

Colt Express - this one just came out in the last couple of weeks and has been generating a lot of buzz.

A ton of this buzz is about how cool the game looks. You actually build a 3d train as your game board. On this you put a bunch of tokens and your cowboy meeple. Just to add to the look there's a traditional board with a track that even includes some 3D rocks, cactus, etc.

The other thing about this game is that it's another programmable movement game! Two new games using this mechanic in one year, I'm a happy gamer.

Star Wars Imperial Assault - I didn't actually have this one on my wishlist until two days ago. The reason for that is the fact that I didn't actually think it was going to be out in time for the holidays this year. But sure enough, over the last couple of days my Google Plus feed is filled with people showing off their shiny new copies of Imperial Assault.

It's a Star Wars miniature adventure game from Fantasy Flight. Do I really need to say more?

Xia - Legends of a Drift System - This one was a kickstarter. One that I came very close to backing. Actually it's one of the few board game kickstarters that I regret not backing.

Xia is out now and the reviews so far are all positive. It's hearing that this is replacing Merchants & Marauders and Merchants of Venus for many people that had me add it to my wishlist.

Medina - This is an older game that has been on my wishlist for quite some time. The problem was that it was long out of print.

Stronghold games recently fixed that out of print problem, releasing a second edition of Medina late this year. 

This new edition looks just as awesome as the old version. Amazing looking wooden bits and a city building game where you end up with an actual mini city when you are done.  

Yedo - I could be wrong, but I think it was Tom Vasal who said that Yedo was like Lords of Waterdeep but better. Even if it wasn't Tom, hearing that had me put Yedo on my wishlist.

I like Lords of Waterdeep but I don't love it. It's good but it's just a little too, I don't know, simple maybe. It just feels like it needs a bit more, and based on reviews it sounds like Yedo has that bit more.

I also really dig the theme. Samurai clans is pretty much just as cool as D&D's hidden Lords.

Terra Mystica - This is one of those games that a lot of people love and for some reason I just haven't gotten yet. 

It's also a game that a lot of people assume I  have. I get requests to bring it out to local events and when I say that I don't own it I always get a "what do you mean you don't own Terra Mystica?"

I figure it's probably time that I add a copy to my collection and see if it really lives up to the hype.

Amerigo - this one has been on my list since last year. I just haven't managed to snag a copy yet.

If you are a regular reader of my content you probably know that I love Stefan Feld. I've got almost every game he's written. Well this is a Stefan Feld game. Added to that it uses the Cube Tower from Wallenstien/Shogun in a very interesting way that seems very cool.

So that's 10 games off of my 2014 holiday wishlist. What's on your list this year?

A 2012 board game retrospective

2012 was an awesome year to be a board gamer. The hobby seems to be continuing to grow as it has year over year for as long as I can remember. Euro-style games are becoming as common here as are the traditional thematic games. Stores like Zellers and Toys R Us continue to add games like Catan, Carcasonne and even Dominion to their shelves. It seems like more and more mainstream media sites are talking about gaming. This is all a very good thing as far as I'm concerned.

As my personal game collection continues to grow and I wanted to share some of the best discoveries I made in 2012. Some of these are new just this year but many are just new to me. Games that have been out for some time but I just discovered them this year. This list also includes some games I don't actually own myself, stuff that awesome local gamers have brought out to our gaming events and have been cool enough to share.

One of the first games I played this year was Space Alert, which I broke out New Years eve. This is an awesome cooperative game in which players are trying to survive on a space station in crisis. The game uses a CD to tell the players what's happening to the ship as they plan their actions and react to things going horribly wrong. Gameplay is fast and furious and it's one of those games where it's almost more fun to loose than to win, not that you will be winning often.

Dominant Species was the next amazing game I tried in 2012. This is a great long play strategy game with a very cool theme. A deep thinker, this is a great main game for a night of gaming. Players each take on the roll of a species fighting for dominance on a randomly created Pangea. Mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, arachnids and insects start off in a delicate neutral balance which devolves quickly into survial of the fittest. One of the best and most detailed worker placement games out there, Dominant Species has players competing to become dominant on as many different terrain tiles as possible while trying to hinder their opponents from doing the same. Adaptation, migration and selective specification will all be necessary to get the most victory points.

Torres is a game that I heard was good, it won a Spiel and all but I had no clue what I was missing. It's one of the most unique game in my collection. In it players use plastic towers and wooden nights to rebuild the kingdom. Over three rounds players score points for each castle they have a knight in. Only the knight on the highest level of each castle scores and the points gained are equal to the height of the floor they are on multiplied by the area the castle takes up. It's a very cool looking game once under way, very three dimensional. 

Even with all of the other awesome games on this list no other game I played this year blew me away as much as Risk Legacy. It does things no other game has done before and so far no game has done since. Like many people I felt trepidation about permanently modifying my copy of the game but that went away after I ripped up the first set of cards. The only problem I have with this one is getting the group together to continue our war.

Next up is the reprint/second edition of Wallenstein. I tried the original version of this many years ago and fell in love. I picked up the English reprint/re-theme Shogun the month it came out and have loved it since. This new reprinting is well worth picking up though. It adds in all of the previously released expansions and clarified the rules somewhat (though there are no actual changes to the rules). I'm still in love with this mix of Risk style war game and Eurogame.

My friend Jamie introduced me to this one. He actually got it through Kickstarter and hasn't regretted backing it one bit. Alien Frontiers is, to me, the best of the new style of dice games that have come out. Get a set of six sided dice representing your ships, roll them and then place them on the board to complete actions. It's a new type of worker placement engine that I really enjoy. I haven't had a chance to play this one often but every time I have it's been very different and it's always been a close race to the finish. I'm hoping to get to pay this one more in the new year and hopefully try out some of the expansions that have come out since.

I picked up Ascension: Storm of Souls on a whim. We had our first gaming event out at Brimstone games this year and while there I wanted to help support the venue by buying a game. This is the one my wife and I picked and I have no regrets. This is the best deck builder I've played since Dominion. It plays just as well with one player as it does with four and the inclusion of Trophies and events are a significant improvement over earlier Ascension games.

Now I know this one is going to be on a lot of people's best of 2012 list and there's a very good reason why. Eclipse is an awesome game. It is the most elegant and well designed space exploration game made to date. It takes what games like Twilight Imperium and Galactic Emperor offer and refines it to a much faster, more intense and streamlined game. This is another one I hope to play a lot more of in the new year and based on how many others locally enjoy it, I doubt that will be a problem.

So those are some of the best games I tried for the first time this year. All of them are games I look forward to playing again and again, though I do have to wonder: what will 2013 bring?

The 15 best new games (to me) of 2014

It's that time of year again, time for all the look back posts and all the wishlists. All the holidays, feasts and parties. All the gaming!

This is one of those look back posts. Here I'm going to list the best new games I played this year. Note these are games that are new to me. They may not have been released this year but I played them for the first time this year.

Lastly: these are in the order I discovered them through the year, not ranked by how good I think the games are.

Trajan - I'm cheating just a bit with this one. Technically I played it on New Years Eve 2013 as part of my annual Gaming In The New Year party. That's close enough for me and if I remember correctly the game may not have ended until after the ball dropped.

2014 was the year I discovered how much I love Stefan Feld. I picked up no fewer than four other games by him this year. Of them all though Trajan remains my favourite.

Like most Feld games it's a point salad. This one has a cool Roman theme and uses a very unique mancala based action selection system that I really dig. There are so many paths to victory and so far I've yet to find 'one true way'

Thunderstone Advance Numenera - I received the Thunderstone Advance Starter set during the holidays and really enjoyed it. I had heard that Thunderstone was an amazing deck builder and after playing; I agree. It has a very cool RPG feel where you collect your heroes, get gear and allies and then delve into the dungeon to kill some monsters in order to get points and xp to level up your heroes.

The problem with the starter set is that it didn't come with enough variety. I did some research and found out that the Numenera set was the most recent core set and had some really cool new rules.

Those new rules are what keeps this on the list at the end of the year.

Space Cadets Dice Duel - I really wanted to love Space Cadets. I love the concept: playing a Star Trek style bridge crew where each player is at a different station and trying to do their best to keep the ship in one piece and complete their mission. It sounds awesome. It should have been awesome, but it just wasn't. It's a solid game but just not great. It's very long, hard to teach, and very unforgiving.

Space Cadets Dice Duel on the other hand is awesome. It's even more awesome as it's a team game. It gives me everything I had initially wanted from Space Cadets and makes it faster, easier to teach and I have to say: more fun.

Takenoko - this was a birthday gift from my oldest daughter, but that's not the only reason I really like this game. Besides having some of the cutest game pieces ever made, Takenoko is also a great game.

It looks a bit like a kids game and yes I can play it with my kids but there's more than enough here for adults to love.

This one has also been very popular at local WGR gaming events. The look of the game just draws people in and the strategy keep people coming back for more. I can't remember the last event I didn't see at least one game played.

Suburbia - I picked this one up at 401 games in Toronoto and immediately after looking at it my wife questioned my sanity. She went on to ask me what the heck I had bought and why I picked that game out off all the choices at 401.

Though it doesn't look like much and probably has the most boring art out of all the games I own, Suburbia is a fantastic game. A contender for the top 10 games I own.

It's a very tight, highly strategic, thinker that keeps calling me back for more. I love the way this game makes me think. I love the sense of accomplishment when you pull off a big combo. If you've avoided it for some reason, you really should give it a try.

Marvel Dice Masters Avengers Vs. X-Men - I was lucky to get a starter set of these highly sought after dice before they became almost impossible to find and I'm glad I did.

I hadn't gotten bit by a collectible game since Magic the Gathering, but Dice Masters bit hard. One of my most fond memories of the game so far is opening all the dice packs, in a gravity feed, at a local coffee shop.

There's a reason this one was hard to find, it's a fantastic game. Dice Masters takes what was started in Quarriors! and improves it in many ways. With the low entry cost (as long as you get the starter's that are actually in print) I highly suggest everyone give this one a shot. You may love it as much as I do.

Tokaido - the most peaceful zen game I own. So relaxing and enjoyable. A stroll through the park of a game. Until that #@#$%@! took my spot! Did you see that! That @#$%. That's it I'm totally going farming for cash, even though I don't need it, just so that 2$^@$ can't eat at the next stop! Like that shopping boy? How's starving?!?

Tokaido is awesome. The most zen pretense for a game ever. All you do is walk down the Tokaido, see things and meet people and try to have the most rewarding experience. Then it changes. Once people grok the game it becomes one of the most backstabby games out there and is a ton of fun because of it.

Tokaido was also recently featured on Wil Wheaton's Tablet Top.

Russian Railroads - I would have had no interest in this one if it wasn't for the variety of gaming podcasts I listen to. I started to hear that this was one of the best worker placement games out there and one of the best engine builders (no pun intended) ever made. I love both of those things so had to check it out. I was not disappointed.

It's now 6 months later and Russian Railroads is still my favourite worker placement game. I love the way things escalate in this game. How 5 points matters so much at the beginning and then you are scoring 280 points the last round. I find you really fell like you have built something by the end. 

Castles of Mad King Ludwig - I first got to try this at Origins 2014. I even listed it as one of the best games of Origins. This one finally came out to the public only a couple weeks ago and I jumped at the chance to buy it.

The final release copy is just as good as the copy I played at Origins. While similar to Suburbia, I currently like this one more (we'll see if that stands the test of time, the game is still pretty new to me). The theme is cooler than Suburbia and I love the way the economy works with the Master Builder,not only setting the prices on the rooms you build, but also being the person that collects the money from the other players instead of the bank.

Star Realms - this was another one that I first got to try at Origins 2014. Our demo game was so good that I bought a deck before the demo ended. I'm glad I did too, as this one went out of print by the end of the con and was going for dumb prices online.

I did up a review back in July and you can check it out for more info if you want. You probably don't need to though. If you like deck builders you should like this game. It's my current favourite and has been since July. I don't see that changing any time soon. While I type this review I'm actually playing a game of Star Realms right now. The free app/PC version is just as good as the card version and if you pay to unlock it you can play other players online. Come get me, username: gilvanblight

Fleet - this was another one I learned about on a podcast. On that show it was said that Fleet was "The most tight card game we've ever played. It's pretty much perfect." It doesn't get much more positive than that.

You know what though? That podcast was pretty much right. Fleet is an amazingly tight game. So well balanced. Quick to teach, difficult to masters. No one path to victory. It's a near perfect game, even if the theme is a bit, uninteresting. 

Caverna - I like Agricola, I really do. I don't love it though. You know what I don't like? The cards. I hate how random they can make the game. I've had games where after the initial hand of cards is dealt, I've been able to predict who would win. Accurately.

Know what would be cool? A game that's as good as Agricola, with a similar feel, that didn't have that randomness. Know what would be even more cool? If you made it about Dwarves, and you had ways for those Dwarves to not only farm but go on adventures and level up? Wouldn't that be awesome?

That's Caverna.

Blood Bowl Team Manager - This one definitely isn't new. I think it's the oldest game on my list. Why did it take me so long to try this great game?

I thought it was a LCG. One of those sorta collectible card games where you build your deck and play out a 2 player battle and where, in many cases, the player who bought the most stuff wins.

That is totally not this game. Blood Bowl Team Manager is fantastic. You pick your team, you put out the highlight real and then play your players onto each match up trying to win upgrades, star players and fans. After the season the team with the most fans wins. It's fantastic and really feels like the classic miniature game.

Camel Up - this odd game won the 2014 Speil Des Jahres. That, by itself, should be enough to make most board game fans interested. It was enough for me.

Camel Up is a fascinating, very quick, race betting game. The neat bit here is that the camels stack up, each one moves once per round and if a camel moves the camels on top move with it. As the camel move you can bet on which will have the lead after each leg and you can place bets on first and last place at the end of the race.

Very cool looking bits, with fun graphics makes this one looks simpler than it is. It's ridiculously fun and it's very cheap for what you get.

Mars Attacks - I haven't been into a miniature game in years. The last time I was playing one semi-regularly was Warhammer Fantasy Battle, I think 5th edition. Maybe even 4th.

Mars Attacks changed that. I love this game! A copy was donated by Mantic for our Extra Life 24 Gaming Event, It hooked me then and I've been hooked since. I'm currently waiting for my flaming cow minis to show up.

This is a fantastically quick miniature game with great scenery and very cool minis. What makes it for me is the brilliant gridded movement and combat system. I will never play a miniature game that needs a measuring tape again.

So that's it. These were the top 15 new games I tried in 2014. 

What did you try new this year that you loved?

December 13th - Holiday Boardgame Bash

Join us at the Green Bean Windsor Star Cafe at 6pm on Friday December 13th for our first ever Holiday Boardgame Bash!

What better way to celebrate the holidays than by playing some games with friends? This is a free all ages open gaming event. It's an excuse to get together one more time before all the craziness starts. It's a chance to try out some new games and find stuff to add to your wish list. It's a great chance to discover the perfect gift for the gamer that has everything.

Door Prizes

Besides the usual open gaming we are also going to have door prizes. Some of which have been donated by our FLGS Hugin & Munin and also by the awesome Jason Russel. To be eligible all you have to do is show up and play at least one game!

Hidden Gaming Gift Exchange

Bring a sealed gaming related gift to join in the Gaming Gift Exchange.

Here's how it's going to work: Everyone who wants to participate brings a wrapped gaming related gift. These will all be put out on display at the Cafe. The exchange will take place at around 8pm (we'll let people in the middle of games finish up if possible). At that time everyone will receive a random playing card. Then we will draw one card and the first person will pick one of the gifts and open it. Then going forward every subsequent person will have an option: open a new gift or "steal" one of the gifts already opened. If your gift is stolen you then get the same choice, open a new gift or "steal" one that's already opened (but no stealing back what was just taken from you). 

Location

The Green Bean Windsor Star Cafe is located at:
300 Ouellette Ave - 3rd floor
Windsor, ON N9A 7B4

6pm - 11pm on Friday December 13th

Classic WGR Review - Dominion

Photo by boardgamegeek.com user: Mike "makehulsebus" Hulsebus

My next classic WGR Forum review brings up another top ranked, one that seems to be extremely popular with the local gamers and one that has single handedly change the landscape of boardgaming with the introduction of the concept of "deck building". This one isn't nearly as old as the last two and comes from January 10th, 2010. My current thoughts on the game will be after the classic review.

Original WGR review:

Quickly - excellent draft based card game.

Summary:
Dominion makes me think that the designer used to be (or maybe still is) a Magic The Gathering player who thought the best part of a Magic Tournament was the draft. He had so much fun drafting cards that he decided he would make a game based on drafting. That's what Dominion is.

In this odd game you select a subset of cards and place piles of them out on the table. These become the cards that all players create their decks from. In addition to the cards on the tables the players get initial decks with some victory point cards and some money. The goal of the game is to construct the deck with the most victory points in it by the time the game ends. The game ends with 3 of the various stacks of cards hit bottom or when the stack of the highest victory point card runs out.

First and foremost this is an exception based game (like most of the CCG's it's based on). This means that the basic rules are very simple but that each card modify these rules in some way and it's the interaction of the various cards that makes the game fun interesting and strategic. The cards laid out on the table consist of Action Cards, Money Cards and Victory Point Cards. Each turn players work to build their deck by drawing 5 cards from their deck and then playing up to one Action card. After playing an action card the players then get to buy one card from the table. After this buy is done the players discard their hand. If their deck runs out they reshuffle it (which happens very often). That's basically it for the core rules.

What makes things fun are those action cards. Every action card lets the player do something that changes those basic rules. Most cards either give a player more actions, let them draw more cards, give them more money to buy cards and/or give them additional chances to buy cards. Many other 'card abilities' are also present ranging from attack cards that can cause the opponent to discard, to cards that let you upgrade the cards you have in your deck. I'm not going to take the time to describe what all the possibilities are. After playing one action card (and then possibly more if you play cards that add more actions) you then get to buy. You do this buy paying money cards from your hand. Each card on the table has a cost. Here the player decides if they want more action cards to give them more options in future turns, more money with which to buy better cards or if they should start adding victory points to their deck. What makes this most interesting is the fact that Victory point cards are useless during play so just take up room in your deck until you need them at the end.

That's basically it. The designers, brilliantly included 25 different Action cards in the base game. Each game you only play with 10 of these, so this leads to a great variety of possible combination adding a great deal of replay value. In addition to this there are a variety of expansions out that add one or more cards to the mix (heck even Boardgamegeek has their own Action card for Dominion).

The Good:
What a great an interesting concept. I would have never guessed I would be playing a game where building my deck was the game itself. The game is extremely easy to learn and is probably the easiest to explain game I have in my collection (which is nice compared to some stuff like Race for the Galaxy). The exception based rules are perfectly done and makes for an easy to learn and hard to master game. The card interactions are very well balanced and well organized. The fact that all players are drawing from the same resources reduce the random factor significantly which raises the strategic level. This is also a nice short game. I get tired of epic games that take me all afternoon to play and I enjoy being able to get in multiple games in one sitting and Dominion is perfect for that. One last note on packaging. This game has some of the best packaging I have seen. The box has an insert that has a spot for every single card in the game. They are designed in such a way that everything has a place and amazingly everything stays in that place even when the box is stored vertically.

The Bad:
I have very few complaints about this game at all. The only thing that irks me at all about it really is the price vs. what you are actually getting. Due to the fact that the game is made up of stacks of cards that are all identical, all you are really getting in the box is maybe 30 different cards. When I think of how little that would be to produce it's hard to justify the cost of this game. The company making it must have a huge return on investment on this one. Now the fact that this is one of the best games I have played recently does make up for it though. For the amount of fun I am going to have with this vs. what I spent it will definitely make up for the cost. It's just the thought of it when I look at the box contents vs. cost that makes me cringe a bit.

The Ugly:
First off I had a hard time coming up with something Ugly about this one. The only thing that really comes to mind is the fact that this game has the most 'plastered on' theme I can remember seeing. There is no reason at all that this needs to be an 'empire building medieval game'. This could have been a space game about colonizing planets just as easily as it could have been a game about collecting animals. Now of course this is just a theme issue and has no impact on gameplay or how fun the game is, so really not much of a complaint. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see a re-themed version of this in the future.

Overall:
Overall this is definitely a top of the line excellent game, worthy of it's current spot in the top 10 on boardgamegeek. It's great to see something totally new and totally fun. Due to the ease in explanation, the replay value provided by the mix of 25 different action cards to choose from and the speed of gameplay I expect this one to get quite a bit of use, especially at things like Games and Grub events where I like to get in a wide variety of different games. Even though you are paying a lot for what you get this is a great game and one I strongly recommend.

My thoughts now a couple years later:

Wow what's there to be said about a game that totally changed the landscape of boardgaming. Dominion introduced "Deck Building" and from that have spawned at least a hundred different games and variations. It seems like every new game has some variation on this new mechanic. It's definitely still the hot thing even two years later. Actually reading my review where I note this is some odd new mechanic I find that this just sounds funny now as deck building is such a common term now. Some games have done a great job of taking this simple system and running with it, others haven't done so well. But how does the original still stand up? Very well in my opinion. The main problem with Dominion is the main problem I've found with Catan. People have played it so much that they are sick of it. I also find Dominion suffers from a bit of a bloat. Far too many expansions came out far too quickly and now it's quite a beast. To me the core game is still the best, most balanced and fun version. I know not everyone agrees. 

Classic WGR Review - Cities and Knights of Catan

So for today's classic Windsor Gaming Resource Forum review I've chosen one of the very popular Catan games, Catan Cities & Knights. Well actually it's not a stand alone game but rather an expansion for Settlers of Catan. Like Shadows over Camelot I originally reviewed this game over six years ago, on Feb 6th 2006. I may not be bringing this one out as often as Shadows but I still enjoy a good game Cities & Nights.

Classic WGR review:

Quickly: great game, highly addictive, feels very different from normal Settlers of Catan.

Summary: 

Take you normal Catan game with your island, roads, cities, settlements etc, and add city walls, knights  barbarians, progress, science and politics. This expansion takes Catan to the next level. Besides trying to just build cities and settlements you must also collect commodities (Coins, Paper and Cloth) which you get when you have a city on the proper resource (Ore, Wood, Sheep). Use these commodities to upgrade your cities. Upgraded cities earn you development cards from three different decks. These cards give huge advantages like free road building, trading at 2:1, moving roads, taxing other players and more. While all this is going on barbarians slowly move towards Catan. This leads to the second big addition: the knights. Players can build/feed and upgrade a set of knights. These can be used to scare away the robber, hold good intersections on the board, break up longest roads and a bit more. The main time they come in to play though is defending the land. When the barbarians arrive you compare the number of cities on the map (the barbarians strength) to the number of activated (fed) knights. If the knight number is higher, the barbarians are defeated and the player who contributed the most knights gets a victory point "You are the Defender of Catan!". If the barbarians win, the players contributing the least knights loose a city. This adds a great new level of strategy to the game and also makes it a bit more competitive.

The good: 

As usual for a Catan game the bits are great. Well made wood pieces (though I hear the new edition has plastic), nice flip books for developments and a great border for the entire island that really helps for an 'Earth Quake of Catan". The level of strategy added is great. There are a lot more things to think about now, and it will keep you much busier then the standard game. Works well with 3-4 players and even better with 5-6 (which requires an additional expansion). The barbarians add a great element of suspense to the game when they are getting close and no one has or has activated any knights. The development cards are great with tons of sneaky and useful cards you can get to mess with other players and advance your own plans.

The Bad: 

This isn't always a bad thing, and it depends who you ask but the games take quite a bit longer then a standard Catan game. Even trying to play quickly a game will probably take at least an hour and a half, with some games going much later. There is still a high random factor in this as in the rest of the Catan series, even more so in this one with the extra die (that determines if the barbarians advance or if players can generate progress cards). Personally I don't find this an issue, but anyone that prefers pure strategy may not like this. Lastly, it doesn't 'feel' like Catan. Sure you generate resources, build cities, etc, but it just feels different, like a different game. Whereas Seafarers just added to the basic game, this added so much it 'feels' different. I don't know how else to explain it.

The Ugly: 

Really this is a great game, I don't have much bad to say and I am really having to think about it. The only ugly I can think of is the way the players may get. This has more backstabbing  sneaking and ganging up then the other Catan game so if your group has low sportsmanship there could be an issue (of course I know some groups that love this version of Catan just for that reason). Just play The Spy, Followed by The Bishop  then A trade Monopoly and see if your opponent is still smiling, or grabbing a knife ;)

Overall: 

A great game, truly  This builds onto Catan in many great and interesting ways. It doesn't feel like the basic Catan game which could be a good or a bad thing. Well worth picking up as the added strategy and the drama of the approaching barbarians will likely bring you back to the table again and again.

How I feel about it six years later:

I've still got a soft spot for this game. I will admit I don't break out any of the Catan games often. I just played them so much back when they were new to me. I've probably played more games of Catan and it's expansions than any other games in my collection. Cities and Knights still remains my favorite way to play Settlers though. Since this was written all of the Catan games have been re-released. They all of the nice wooden bits have been replaced by plastic (boo) but the frame that was so cool in Cities and Knights now comes with every edition (yeah). The gameplay and rules haven't changed though and this is still a solid choice, especially if you are still enjoying Catan but getting tired of just worrying about who has wood for sheep.

Classic WGR Review - Shadows Over Camelot

Shadows over Camelot is one of the games I will be bringing to the Boardgames Are Really Fun event this coming Friday, so I thought this would make another good classic review to bring back to life from the Windsor Gaming Resource Forum. This review was originally written back on February 14th 2006. As I did last time, I will include my current thoughts on the game after the classic review.

Original WGR review:

Quickly: great game, best co-op game I have played.

Summary: 

Players each take the role of a Knight of the Round table and embark on various Arthurian quests. Players work together to complete these quests in an effort to beat 'the game' itself. Quests vary from Jousting the Black Knight, Battling an insane Lancelot, Finding Excalibur, Defeating a Dragon, the Wars with the Picts and Saxons, and of course The Quest for the Holy Grail. Play is simple with a ton of strategy. Each turn you must advance the cause of evil and then complete a heroic action. Advancing evil is done by drawing a black card (which generally makes one of the various quests harder to complete, or something special and evil happens) or by taking 1 point of damage, or by adding a catapult around Camelot. If the field around Camelot fills the game is over. Heroic actions include moving to a new quest, fighting catapults, playing special cards or doing a quest related event. The quest related events vary by quest. In Camelot you get 2 cards, against the black night you must play 2 pairs of white cards, against the Picts or Saxons you must play a straights of white cards, etc. Each knight also has a special ability (examples include, moving from Camelot for free, drawing extra cards, or getting to peek at the top black card. There is one final twist, there is a chance (a good one if playing multiple players) that one of the knights is actually a traitor and they are working against you. Rules exist for accusing this traitor and the way they influence the game for the side of evil. The game ends when Camelot is surrounded, all knights are dead or 12 swords are on Camelot. Swords are gained when quests are completed, black swords if the quest was failed and white if it was won. The greatest colour of swords at the end determines the winner.

The Good: 

This was a great game and a ton of fun. It is by far the best 'team up' game I have played. The components were beautiful, I haven't seen a game this nice looking in a long time. The game play is very quick once you get into it. The game has a great feel of tension once it gets moving as you feel you are fighting a battle on multiple fronts (Picts and Saxons to the left and right, an almost full field of catapults and Lancelot looking too tough to defeat all at once for example). There is a 'table talk' rule that is awesome. Basically you can discuss what you want as long as your don't give away the value of the cards you hold. This basically turns the game into a roleplaying session as all players are saying things like "I will need assistance in the final hour in my war with the Picts" (generally meaning the player doesn't have the final card for a straight). This element really made the game. It would have still been a good game, but this rule and the resulting roleplay pushed this one up a few notches. The card mechanic made things random enough that each game we played felt very different. One game getting just overrun by evil and the next being a closer fight. Advanced rules and variants exist for when you master the main game to add more longevity to it.

The Bad: 

The plastic the figures of the knights were made of was odd. It was a bit rubbery. This probably makes them more durable, but I wouldn't consider painting them due to this consistency  The game is confusing at first, and takes a few goes before you even understand what is going on. It's really very different from anything out there. It's not a pick up and play type of game at first. Really I can't think of much else.

The Ugly: 

This game is HARD! I guess you have to expect that for a co-op game, but man is it hard to even come close to victory. I would say this probably give the game longevity though. I don't think our group will be using the variants that make the game harder any time soon.

Overall: 

A great game, the best co-op game I have ever played. The roleplaying aspect due to the 'table talk' rule really pushes this to the next level. The game is very different from anything else and will take a bit to learn due to that. Don't expect to win this one the first time out (or the second or third time)

My thoughts now, six years later:

Well I think the fact that I'm bringing this game out to an event this coming weekend more than six years after writing this initial review speaks to how much I still enjoy it and the games longevity. This is still one of the best games I own and I still think it's the best co-op game out there. Yes to me it's even better than fan favourite Pandemic. As to the review itself, most of what I said six years ago still stands. My worry about the soft minis was unfounded, these miniatures are actually firmer than many on the market like those in Battlelore or Reaper Bones and I now own painted versions of the Knights. I still love the way this game mixes a traditional card based board game with roleplaying elements and I fully expect that I'll still be bringing this one out to events six years from now.

Classic WGR Review - Agricola

Photo by boardgamegeek user: Tony "blkstar" Bosca

For the second classic Windsor Gaming Resource Forum review, I've chosen Agricola. Back when this review was originally written, May 13th 2009, Agricola was the number 1 game on Boardgamegeek.com, a position it held for months. To this day it still ranks as number 3. Check below the initial review for my updated thoughts on this game.

Original WGR Review:

So how does the current number 1 game rate?

Summary:

In Agricola each player takes on the role of a farming family. They each start with a plot of land and a basic two room house and need to expand from there. The winner is the player with the best farm after 14 Rounds.

These rounds are broken into 6 stages, at the end of each stage is a Harvest Phase where farmers reap what they have sown, animals give birth and you need to feed your family members.

Each round of the game allows players to take one action for each family member. The available actions are all shown on a central board and players choose them by placing a large chit over them. Once an action has been chosen by one player it cannot be chosen by another. The actions vary wildly and include but are not limited to: taking building materials, going fishing for food, building a new room on your house, improving the materials of your house (from wood to clay to stone), building fences, buying animals (sheep, pigs and cattle), Going First, building improvements and more.

Scoring is done at the end of the game. Generally people get points for having lots of something and loose points for having none. So having No cattle is worth -1 point where as having 6 is worth 4 points. The following are scored - number of fields, number of pastures, number of grain, number of vegetables, number of sheep, number of pigs, number of cattle, number of empty fields (this is a penalty), number of clay rooms, number of stone rooms, number of points from Improvement and bonus points (usually from improvements or occupations).

There are two ways to play, Family Play or regular. Regular play adds Minor Improvements and Occupations to the game. Players each start with a hand of 14 cards that can be played during the game (by choosing the right space on the board). These do a huge variety of things and there are over 400 of them included in the game to ensure that no two games play the same.

The Good:

Reminds me of a mix of Princes of Florence and Caylus and that's a really good thing. The basic mechanics are excellent and very easy to understand in a short amount of time (even if they are hard to explain). The role choosing mechanism is one of my favorite mechanics, and this game does it well. The theme is very accessible and I think this would be a good gateway game because of it. The components are all pretty top notch with nice wooden bits. A nice touch was the inclusion of enough zip lock bags for every single bit in the game. We have played this game 6 times and every time I have used a slightly different strategy (and won or tied 4 of those 6 games) which is great to see, there is obviously no 'one way' to play and win. It's actually surprising that number of different ways you can approach play. This is also a fairly short game. Lasting only an hour or two. This is great for a game with this much depth. The huge amount of cards included in the game mean that you could play this game a near infinite number of times without the same combination coming up. Talk about replay value.

The Bad:

With all the nice wooden pieces for everything else I don't understand the decision to do food as a cardboard die cut chit. Why wasn't food just another cube, maybe green or something else not used? Here is something I do not understand. Each player has a field card, the backs of these are all different. One of them shows an example of a filled out field, that makes sense. The rest have various backs, supposedly for storing the various bits, though if that was the case why wouldn't they all be the same. Some have pens on them for holding resources and some do not. It's just not logical. I like the concept of including an example on the back for explaining the game, but never actually found it practical, plus it just doesn't make sense that it's not consistent.

The Ugly:

Okay we have now played 4 games with the Regular rules and tried all three of the different decks provided in the main game (The E, I and K decks). In each case there seemed to be players with 'good hands' and players with 'bad hands' This means that the cards add a rather high level or randomness to the game that greatly affects a players chances of winning. The Family game is very player vs player and highly strategic, this element seems to be lost with the cards. Now personally I liked the feel the cards added and I liked the random element (trying to still win with a crap hand I found a challenge), most of the players I played with hated them, and would have rather played the Family Game.

Summary:

Overall I have to say this is a really good game. An excellent game actually, one of the best I own. But it's not number 1. I can't see how a game with such a wildly random mechanic as the Occupation Minor Improvement decks can be considered the best in the world. I still recommend picking this one up or getting in a game at a friends (send me a PM) but I still prefer some other games like Power Grid and Puerto Rico more then this.

My thoughts 3 years later:

Well my opinion on this one hasn't changed much at all. I have grown more fond of the card mechanic as time has gone on. Mainly due to the fact that it ads variety to the game and your initial hand of cards gives you some direction as far as which strategy is best to use. I've also found the play time has actually grown on this one. The average game seems to take about two hours. The main reason for this is due to people spending a lot more time thinking. Playing with people who know the game well actually takes longer as they strategize the best move each turn. Lastly, I never did figure out why the card backs are different on each playing board.

I've recently head that the game now ships with 'animeeples' instead of cubes and chits. Now there's a nice touch that makes a great looking game even better.

Classic WGR Review - Power Grid

My wife suggested I work on slowly migrating some of the reviews I had originally posted on the Windsor Gaming Resource Forum over to the new blog. Seemed like a solid idea so here's the first one. One of my favorite games of all time Power Grid. This review was originally written by me July 18th 2006

Quickly: it lives up to the hype. Probably the best game I have tried this year. A great game.

Summary: players compete to build power plants to supply cities with power either in the US or Germany. The game starts with an auction phase where players bid on power plants. Each of these costs a different minimum bid and provide power for a set number of cities while requiring various resources to run (Coal, Oil, Solar, Garbage or Plutonium). The plants start out inefficient and cheap and grow to more efficient and expensive as the game goes on. The next phase is the buying of resources. Resources vary in price depending on demand, and players buy in a set order, making buying first a huge advantage. The next phase has the players building grids. Players purchase 'houses' in cities they wish to supply power too. The cost for this varies depending on the connection between a city you own and the city you wish to purchase, some connections are very cheap, others are very expensive. Also at the start of the game only one player can supply a city, later int he game a second player can purchase a 'house' but at a greater cost. In the endgame a third player can set up shop in that city as well, but this again is more expensive then the other players had to pay. The last phase involves players spending resources to power their plants and getting paid for the electricity they have supplied. Turn order is determined by who is closest to achieving victory and reverses for many phases. Thus the player who has the most 'houses' bids on power plants first, but then they buy resources last. The game lasts about an hour or two and turns are fairly quick.

The Good: the components As with many eurogames put out by Rio Grande the board and pieces are top notch, including wooden 'counters' for houses and all commodities. The board is excellent looking and has two sides (which I love). The only complaint was the money (see the ugly). The variety of great game mechanics in one game was amazing. The auction phase was typical of a eurogame but usually this is a games only mechanic, in Power Grid it's just the first step. The way the resource price scaled as the game went on with supply and demand was unique to me and worked very well. There were times when you would buy resources just to drive up the price for other players. It's also interesting the way the 'higher end' commodities star off very expensive and slowly drop in price as time goes on. The way the power plants scale is also excellent, with near useless plants being replaced by powerhouses that can supply 6 cities with only one resource. The building phase was also interesting just due to the map. I have no clue how they determined how much it costs to link individual cities, but they way it is set up with a few pockets of cheap grids then leading out west being a huge expense is very well done. Without going on to much, I will just say this was a very fun game with a ton of variety in the strategies that one could play. I don't think any two games would ever be the same due to the variety of options and the power plant generation method.

The Bad: Due to the number of commodities it can be hard to keep everything on the board in the right place. The first thing I thought when we had to add more resources to the stock at the end of the first turn was this would be a great computer game, as there was quite a bit of standing up little wooden counters along a crowded track. It seemed like this may be a game where steamrolling occurs. That meaning that once a player gets the lead they continue to keep it. The person with the most cites and best plants just keeps getting more money than everyone else every turn, allowing them to just keep building more cities and getting more money, etc. There didn't seem to be a good way to 'stop the leader' There was definitely some jockeying for position, but once one or two people got about 3 cities ahead, it didn't seem like the other players could do much about it.
The Ugly: the presentation and components in this game were top notch, except for one thing. The money. Power Grid had the worst looking money I have seen in a game since monopoly It was also incredibly thin. This is a game where a ton of money changes hands and I can't see it lasting long. Now the game I played the owner (Sinister) had fixed this problem by using poker chips, which worked great, but it would have been nice to see something better included. It is possible in this game to shoot yourself in the foot. To the point where you can no longer play the game. If you spend too much on power plants and forget to save money to buy resources you can basically oust yourself from play. Now I am sure some people like this, and really it's just part of the game, but I am sure it's not fun to sit and watch the other players finish up while you do nothing turn after turn.

Overall: a game that definitely belongs in the top 10 boardgames. This is pretty much on my must have list now. I would love to head downstairs and play a game right now. Great components, interesting and good working mechanics and a variety of strategies make this a winner.