Kings, Frankenstein and Sushi!

For once I arrived at the club early, there were 4 of us who turned up early so Spellcaster rapidly hit the table  a game I had not managed to play when it last appeared at the club. It is a 2 player game, but splays equally well with 4 players playing in teams.

The Green card is usable only by the Southern player as it is pointing towards that player

On your turn you draw a card and can then take 2 actions which are drawing another card, playing a card or activating a card which is facing you. When you play a card you play it facing you overlaying any previous cards of the same colour of which there are four, if you activate a card it must be one that is already facing you.

Four of the many spells available in Spellcaster

You have 2 colour gems and the idea is to deplete your opponents life force or attain a set number of victory points and it is through the activation of cards that this is possible. It is a simple short game giving you a feel of trying to keep several balances all tipping in your favour.

Others arrived and numbers were up with 10 of us at the club and as a warm up for the new arrivals I went with Om Nom Nom. This nice little game which I explained last week, it plays very well with new gamers as well as those of experience and is probably at its best with 6 players, it is all about trying to read your opponents minds which I constantly fail to do. It was a fun starter.

We then split into 2 groups, table 1 chose Frankenstein's Bodies a game from new author Andrew Harman which is self-published in the UK. The game seemed to go well with everyone enjoying it, immensely, at our table the odd strange phrase could be heard with some muted laughter such as “my leg is rotten” and “I need a female body, who has a female body?”

Two bodies under construction in a players lab

However other than it was an amusing game I do not know a lot about it other than it is a hand management game where you are trying to complete 2 bodies using specific cards, the game has a certain amount of interaction as you can take body parts from other players.

My table chose Kingsburg, with 5 players it played in a little under 2 hours (including rules explanation). I have described this one before but in short the game plays in 5 rounds of 8 phases, in phases 2, 4 & 6 you get to roll 3 dice which you use to choose jobs on the board. You can take any job providing your die/dice match exactly the number on the job, each of these jobs provides resources which are then used to build buildings for which get you victory points and generally help you in some small way. In the last phase of each round players combat incoming foes which if beaten provide more goods, but if they beat you your losses could be victory points, goods and even buildings.

Basic player board in Kingsburg

Our game was a low scoring one, the King who sends assistance in each years battle, decided to send apologetic letters instead of troops and most players suffered losses in the game, sometimes more than once. In addition one of our number rolled badly throughout the game (a curse I usually suffer, but nowhere near as bad as I saw in this game) fortunately Kingsburg has a balancing mechanism that means the odd bad die roll can still be used successfully, but you still need the odd big roll to do well. Despite the disparities in die-rolling it was a good game, hard fought and congratulations to the winner who despite an early lead had several players chasing her heels to the end.

Table 1 chose Cacao as their second game, I gave an overview of this one on 30 March 2015 where we played it 2 player. The dynamics though are quite different in a 4 player game, not only is it 3 turns between plays so it is difficult to consolidate holdings on Temples but the collection of coins is essential to enable you to overlay tiles later.

Coin tile bottom right hand corner has little value in a 2 player game but gains greater significance in multi-player games.

In the 2 player game the jungle tiles do not run out, however in the 4 player version they do and when they do another player option is available which is to pay a coin and overlay one of your previously played village tiles with a village tile in your hand, thus reaping the benefits from adjacent tiles a second time.

Your village can only store 3 coins, in a 4 player game you need to fill all 3 coin stores. 

This is quite a powerful play normally when you play a village tile you only control 2 of the sides where you get rewards, by paying a coin you control all 4. All seemed to enjoy this game with one player contemplating purchasing his own copy.

Our last game was 7 Wonders an excellent card drafting game. On a turn you pick a card from a hand and pass the remaining hand to your left all players then reveal their chosen card adding it to their personal tableaux in the search for victory points, they take the hand just passed to them and again select and pass, and so on.

Examples of Military, Monument and Resource cards.

In 7 wonders most of the cards you collect need raw materials to build and these come from resource cards, there are also battle cards to earn points by fighting your immediate neighbours, trade cards to gain better buying power, research cards (needed to make sets for big points) and when all else fails you can build your own wonder often giving a special one off power. Our game went well and it was interesting that even with a variety of different collections of cards the scores were quite close at the end.

Most had gone home by now – but there was still playing time left and four of us still chatting so we ended the evening with a quick game of Sushi Go! Which rounded off an evening of excellent games playing.

The picture quiz last week was quite easy, it was Ingenious or if you prefer Genial by Reiner Knizia. This week something a little harder.

The card on the left is purple in colour. This game is an excellent form of "Brinkmanship"

Om Nom Nom in Hyperborea

Six of us were there for the warm up game and I was lucky enough to get a new game through the door that morning that took up to 6 players. So Om Nom Nom it was.

This is a game about food chains, there are three food chains in play each of which has three levels, and every player has six cards which represent the top two levels of creatures in those food chains (the predators). Fifteen dice are rolled which provide the prey on the lower 2 levels of all three chains (the middle level being both Prey and Predator).

The board set up before first selection of cards

Each player now selects a card, these are all played together and placed on the boards, players now collect prey from the level below their played predator – however this starts at the top so a middle rank predator may be eaten as prey before it gets to eat itself. Uneaten prey dice gets left for the following turn where everyone selects their next card, if several predators of the same type are played they share the prey evenly.

A close up of the dice in Om Nom Nom

Play continues through all 6 cards before the dice are rolled again. Three rounds of die rolling complete the game. It was a quick fun game of out-guessing  your opponents.

Hyperborea board

We then split into 2 tables for the heavier games, table 1 played Hyperborea  which seemed to go down very well, all three players looking forward to the next play of the game.

My table played Evolution  the game that table 1 played last week. It is essentially a card collection game. The aim of the game is to gain victory points through food collection by the creatures you create. Each creature is a different species and may have up to three different traits to help them gather food or help them in defence against carnivores.

Two of the species in my line up towards the end of the game.

Each turn the players get dealt a hand of cards with which they can buy a new species or help the species grow in size or population or they may use the cards to add a new trait to any of their species, in this way their creatures grow. Next players visit the food pool to collect algae to feed their creatures, carnivores of course do not eat algae and must attack any creature that is vulnerable to their attack. At the end of the turn all food eaten by creatures gets added to a food bag and becomes victory points at the end of the game.

A species with 2 traits at the beginning of the game.

The game ends when the deck is depleted, the turn is ended and scores added up, on top of the collected food players add the number of traits in play among all their creatures. The game was interesting and played quite smoothly, I felt something was lacking to make it an excellent game but I do not know what so I will be playing it again before making a final judgement.

As table 1 were still playing Hyperborea we moved on to Alhambra: The Dice Game This game has been covered a couple of times before, suffice to say it is a nicely balanced game with sufficient dice rolling to minimize the luck factor.

Alhambra at the end of a round just after scoring

The last game of the evening was played on table 1 and in the absence of Sushi Go they re-visited Om Nom Nom.

This was my draw after a complete change of tiles - just one non-double and yes I was after red and blue.

I am starting a picture quiz, each week I will show a photo of part of a game that I have played during the previous 7 days, you just have to guess what it is. Answer next week with the next guest photo, an easy one to start with.

Evolution, Permagon and Five Tribes

Sorry, only a short succinct report this time. The first game on the table was Sushi Go! And I think I have found someone who is not so keen on this game. We managed to finish the game quite quickly as others started to arrive.

Splitting into two tables the first table played Evolution  a 2014 release. It has three authors two of whom were authors of Evolution-Origin of Species which was released in 2010 which I liked as a game but was not 100% convinced was complete.

Player layout in Evolution

Evolution card

Evolution-Origin of Species  was quite dry and although the mechanics worked I felt it needed something a little extra. I have no idea what has changed or indeed if it is the same game as I did not get to play this one but judging from the reports from others it was fun and enjoyed by the players and I am hoping to play it soon.

My table played Russian Railroads it was a 3 player game and I chose to go for Industry whilst another concentrated on the top rail, the third went for a spread approach dabbling in all the strategies but a lack of an overall specific goal meant that he fell behind badly in the end-game.

Early part of the game in Russian Railroads

I was surprised by the score that a good Moscow-Vladivostok line can get you, especially after upgrades, I think it was 142 points for that line alone in the last round whereas my Industry only got me 50 points and I scored about 120 points in the last round for everything.

We moved on to Pergamon, this is a lovely game, my only reproach would be cosmetic in that I do not like the “Ticket Stubs” as points markers, they are an awkward shape, the numbers on them are too small, they are all the same colour again making value differentiation awkward and there is never quite enough at the end of the game usually meaning players must throw in a set amount before final scoring starts. This is just a publishing issue, the game design itself is excellent.

Table one then played Five Tribes, yet another game I have yet to play, but as it is usually BQ and myself explaining games rules we usually end up on different tables.

Our final game was a 2 player Cacao  which was very close, however a misinterpretation on a rule meant we were playing to 2 different agendas, oddly enough this rule was the same that was misunderstood last time I explained the game.

End situation in our 2 player Cacao game

So is it me or is there similarities to another game the players are bringing to this game? Yes – I know its me.

Hugo, Russian Railroads and Sushi

Arriving a little earlier than usual to do set up there were 2 of us at 6.45pm with 15 minutes to kill before the official start time so we started with a quick game of Port Royal.

I was 2 points away from winning when the first arrivals came through the door and we started the first official game of the evening, Sushi Go!

More people arrived and we moved onto a 6 player Midnight Party, this game revolves around Hugo the ghost who chases partygoers (the players pieces) around a corridor in clockwise rotation, to escape Hugo the partygoers run into rooms, those that do not escape his cold embrace end up in the cellar and attract minus points, the longer you survive the less minus points you get. It was a fun game with one of our number almost scoring a perfect minus score with -56 points.

We split Into three tables my table choosing Russian Railroads a slightly heavier game than my normal offerings, this is my favourite game from 2014 it is the winner of several awards and in my mind should have won the Kennerspiel award at Essen, it certainly has a higher rating on BGG than the winner Istanbul.

Game board with plenty of places to send workers.

Russian Railroads is a worker placement game the goal being to earn the most victory points. Workers are placed to undertake a number of tasks such as increasing the track lengths of three Railroads out of Moscow, building better trains or Industry, increasing Industry rating or picking up one of a number of bonuses which help gain victory points. Railroads can be increased in quality to collect more victory points, their length when increased can also attract a variety of bonuses as they reach certain trigger points.

Player board before start up bits added showing the three tracks being built.

The real skill in the game is reaching these trigger points quickly and making best use of them. I also ought to mention Engineers, there is 1 available to hire every turn and 2 others which can be used every turn, they provide another place to play workers but give a better return than the board spaces and once hired they are exclusive to the hiring player.

A couple of Engineers with trains flanking an Industry token

This just skims the surface of the game there are a variety of routes to victory none of which are certain, this means that collecting the right Engineers for your gameplan can make all the difference.

Some of the extra bits in Russian Railroads

Our game was very close and was only really decided in the final turn.

Table 2 went with a lighter selection of games starting off with Samurai Spirit which I talked about in the last session report.

One of the Seven Samurai showing his animal qualities but overpowered in the final round by the bandits.

Samurai showing player hands and village board down to the last hut. Photo by our guest photographer "J"

An interesting aspect is that the more familiar we become with this game, the harder it is to beat it – even at the basic level. This was followed up with Sushi Go! (its second play of the evening).

Incan Gold was the third game on table 2 where a huge score of 118 was achieved by the winner.

Concordia  was the game of choice on table 1 of a mid-heavy weight game. In Concordia the idea is to achieve the most victory points through a variety of goals. Each player starts the game with a warehouse with a small number of goods and a set of cards (each player has the same set-up).

One of the several boards available for Concordia

On a turn a player plays a card from their hand and undertakes the action thereon, the options include expanding your influence by building in new towns (each of which has a specified trade good), trading resources, collecting more action cards and picking up your discard pile.

Some of the cards in Concordia

The cards themselves have one of 6 gods named at the bottom and at the games end these act as multipliers for various goals such as each city occupied and number of colonists in play.

Player board in Concordia with goods stored in the warehouse

The game is a matter of balance between expansion, resource collection and card collection. Concordia is a very nice game that has depth but where the mechanics remain relatively easy to play.

The final game on table 2 was Red7, after which the players on Tables 2 and 3 amalgamated for another game of . . . . . Sushi Go!.

(Library Photo) a hand in Sushi Go!

I must be missing something as I cannot seem to win this game, an interesting event halfway through was everybody’s choice of Sashami as the first dish – as you need 3 of them to score it was to be a low scoring round.

4 Dishes of Sashami each in a different hand.

As Concordia ended those that remained at the club came together for a 7 player game of Incan Gold, the scores were low mainly due to very few of the larger gem cards coming out but also at level 4 where the first 2 cards off the top of the deck were identical disasters.

Another photograph from our guest photographer "J" this time of Concordia mid-game

All in all a fun evening with some heavier games being played and a nice end with a 7 player game.

Samurais, Sushi and Cacao Beans

The first game on the table this week was The Bucket King a card management game where each player has a pyramid of 15 buckets of 5 colours, in a round the players in turn play between 1 and 3 cards in front of them following one of the 5 colour suits and of between values 1 and 8.

Pyramid of buckets (dull lighting has masked the colours)

Each players total must beat the preceding players total, if they cannot or choose not to do so they fail and lose a bucket of that colour and all buckets within the pyramid which that bucket is supporting. No matter how many cards you play you only ever draw back 1.

Cards used in Bucket King

Bucket King is a simple elimination game which is quick and fun.

Our Table then chose to play Samurai Spirit a game I picked up this week at The Grinning Demon in Maidstone. It is a co-operative game based on the film the Seven Samurai in which the players have to defend a village against a variety of raiders.

A sample of raider cards

On a turn a player first checks the line of raiders he is holding at bay, the latest addition to that line inflicts damage either on the warrior or on the village, the player then has a choice of assisting a colleague or engaging the next raider, if the latter is chosen he has a further choice of adding it to the line of raiders or allowing it through for the villagers to deal with, however the villagers can only defend against 3 assailants.

Three of the Seven available Samurai

A player can continue until one of two occurrences, the first is that the line of raiders in value exceeds the warriors strength at which point he is overcome and takes no further part in the round, the second is that the raiders value exactly matches the warriors strength at which point he gets to use his special power and removes the first raider in his line.

Player board with battle line to the right and village defence on the left with only 2 slots left

The game is about “hand management” of the raiders, get it right and the village survives and gives rewards to the defenders, get it wrong and you are weakened for the next round.  The game consists of three rounds each of which is stronger than the previous. I have played it twice now and it is a good game and contains a lot more depth than at first appears.

The next game for us was Red7, others had played it on previous weeks and enjoyed it, the game revolves around 7 different coloured cards numbered 1 – 7. On a turn a player plays a card from hand either to their display so that their display is now winning the round based on a goal in the centre of the table or they play to the centre of the table where it sets a new goal so that their existing display is the winning hand.

Crib card showing rankings and possible scoring abilities

No matter what, they must either pass or make a play where they are winning. If you pass you are out for the rest of the round. The last survivor scores their cards that fit the current goal card.

Two cards from Red7

It is an interesting concept and play is straightforward but for me (and I was the exception here) it did not work. There is little preplanning to be done as the centre goal card can change several times before it gets to your turn and other players dominance for the various goals also and therefore any preplanning is just wasted time, when it is your turn you then spend your it checking every card in your hand against the different layouts and what you can achieve, this means a lot of downtime between turns and sometimes after checking everything you are left with just one play anyway. I prefer my card games to be quicker, snappier and with a level of preplanning to be done so you have something to do whilst waiting for your turn rather than staring at the other gaming tables.

In the meantime the other table was playing Ciúb, a game I have yet to play, I gave a brief overview last time but will reserve a review of play until I have played it myself.

Player board in Ciub

However it is worth noting that Ciub was the 200th game to hit the table since the clubs start a notable milestone

After Ciub they moved on to Spellcaster a fairly simple card game where 2 sides vie against each other to either sap the opposing side of all energy or gain 15 Sapphires, the first to do so wins.

One of the Centre Spell Cards - there can only ever be 1 spell of each colour

On a turn instant spells in play that face the active player take effect after which they take a card and then take two further actions which are draw a spell card, play a spell card to the table centre (which holds 4 controlling spells) or activate a spell-card facing them. Although set for a 2 player game it does also play 3 and 4. A 4 player game was played at the club and I am informed it worked very well.

My table had 2 players who needed an early night so 2 of us settled down for a 2-player game of Cacao. This is an interesting tile placement game where players have a hand of three personal village tiles from a stack of eleven, each tile has a total of 4 meeples marked on them along various edges.

Home Village board with places for cacao at the bottom

On a turn a player places one of their village tiles adjacent to a jungle tile already in play then completes actions dependent on the number of meeples next to each jungle tile. Should a corner be created between two village tiles then the player places jungle tiles in those gaps at which point any meeples adjacent to newly placed jungle tiles are also actioned.

Playing area partway through the game

In this way a chequerboard effect is created with village tiles and Jungle tiles. The actions that meeples get to do is collect or sell cacao beans, collect gold, attempt to control Temples and collect special action tokens. Temples give gold at the end of the game and it is the player who collects the most gold that wins.

There were 4 of us left for the final game of Sushi Go!, other than Love Letter I do not think a game has been as popular in one night.  It is a card drafting game, everyone gets dealt a hand of cards and on your turn you select one, place it face down in front of you and pass on the rest. Altogether everyone reveals their chosen card and then chooses their next card from the hand just passed to them. This continues until everyone has used all the cards dealt out that round.

A players hand after a round (excluding puddings)

The idea is to gather points by collecting sets, as the round continues you get more information as to what cards are out there and what sets are going to be most lucrative. It has everything I like in a card game, it is fast, has a nice theme, it is fun and its balanced.