Dice

Unlike the kitchen boy I love playing new games. Even just the once ;-)

One of the new Hotness games is Alien Frontiers. I have managed 2 plays of dice based game and I can see why its gathering pace as a great game.

The game is a usual chase for victory points, but to get them you have to colonise the planet and have the majority in its areas. To do this you have to gather resources, build ships, crab cards and build colonies. All of this is performed with dice.

Dice are usually the bane of my life. They hate me, but they feel so good. The clinking sound of dice being shaken always draws a look from other tables and in Alien Frontiers its all about the dice.
Once you have rolled you dice you place them on the board into the different placement areas. Certain dice combinations can only be placed in specific areas. For example to build a ship you have to put a "double" in the ship building area. To use the resource stealing space raiders you need a "run". Add to this the fact that there are limited spaces and the players dice are only removed from the board when its there go can make some resources harder to use.

There is a deck of cards in the game. These represent alien artifacts and technology that can affect the dice and the game. For example there is a card that will allow you to flip a dice. Or reuse one. Or even take a pip off of one dice and add it to another. These can sometimes be invaluable when you are desperate to roll a double to build your last ship.

Both times we have played Alien Frontiers its been a very close game. With the winner winning by 1-2 points. My only issue with the game is the last rounds can take a while. When you are down to your last colony and getting it into play can win you the game you mind has to go through a number of choices. Trying to optimise your dice and card powers can sometimes take a while. However this isn't enough to put me off the game.

Finding a copy is a little tricky, Clever Mojo games have pretty much sold out of there second print run. I belive that Ystari have picked it up for the Euro market. But not sure if they are doing an English language version. But until then if you are intersted in the game and can find a copy, grab it now.

Its a Ripper

This week I managed to play Letters from Whitechapel. It's a very strongly themed Jack the ripper game where one player is Jack while the rest are the policemen trying to apprehend Jack before he can make it home.

If you have played Scotland Yard then you will have a very good grounding on how the game plays. I like Scotland Yard but think that Letters is a much better game. The components are better, the theme works really well and the mechanics of the game make for a tense experience, especially if you are playing Jack.

Game setup is very simple, the board is placed on the table. There is an explosion of numbered circles and black boxes on the board. Jack uses the circles to move while the police use the squares. Jack picks a location for his home from one of the circles. This is hidden from the rest of the players. To win the police have to apprehend Jack and knowing where he is moving to each night is a great help.

The game now plays over 4 night, each night Jack will determine which of the 7 locations he commits the murders. He must then make his way back home while the police are trying to close in on him.
All of Jacks movement is hidden and recorded on a separate sheet. He has a couple of special moves to play. These allow double movement with a carriage or sneaking through alleyways. These are limited per night and the number available decreases through the game.

The police move 2 squares and can then ask Jack if he has moved through a neighbouring numbered circle. If he has a clue marker is placed. This helps the police try to determine where Jack is going and ideally the location of his house.
If the police are certain that they know where he is, instead of asking for a clue they can arrest the location. If jack is there the police have won.

On my first play I was Jack and made it to the end of the third night. I was one step away from my house when I was caught. The last few rounds of trying to out maneuver the police was incredibly tense.
We played it again straight after, this time I was part of the police team. We managed to block Jack from getting home on the first night. Partly from a lucky break with the placing of the police but after you gt a few clues you can try and figure out where Jack has been.

Letters from Whitechapel has successfully built on the Scotland Yard game and delivered a strong game with lovely pieces and a solid theme that ties everything together. I would definitely recommend trying it out.

Dice Tower Awards - 2010

The Dice Tower 2010 award nominees have just been released. It's a bit of a mixed bag in my mind. There are a few that will definitely get my vote while others I really want to try.

String railway and Dominant Species both sound really good, but its impossible to get a copy so I doubt I will get to try them some time soon.

Best game for me, 7 Wonders. I have played this game so many times and still enjoy it. As for the other categories, I need to think a bit more.

RPGs in a couple of hours.

I used to play many RPG's when I was at school and college, but commitments change and its been years since I have filled in a character sheet or described a dungeon. Sometimes I miss it, but I really don't think I have the time to invest in a weekly RPG meet or the extra time needed to design and prepare as a DM.

Every now and then I hanker back to the good old days and pickup a RPG manual in the shops or browse an article online. They always remind me of some amazing times when my Elven Ranger managed to save the party or when my Street Samurai went berserk in New York.
As RPG's are all about the storeys they weave through amazing set pieces and player interaction you just can't fault them for theme and for leaving you with these great memories.

Board games on the other hand don't quite compare. Sometimes they do, grabbing that Dominion win by using a great card combination or a game of Combat Commander where your brave Russians managed to defend the grain silos of Stalingrad. But these seem to be thin on the ground.

There are a few RPG crossover games now, Descent and Mansions of Madness seem to be the main ones that I have played. Although there are a few others that I have yet to try. What I like about these games is that they can distill the elements of a RPG into a few hours of game play.

Descent seems to be the best of the Fantasy games, with the Road to Legend expansion adding some campaign play into the mix. I have played Descent a few times and its been quite good fun. Although I would prefer to have more puzzles and RPG like additions to it. It seems to be more about monster killing and treasure grabbing.
Mansions of Madness seems to have hit the sweet spot a little better. But then Cthulhu was always more about the insanity than the combat. I like the way the game plays out with the party having more to think about than just follow the path to the big monster.

Mansions seems to have captured the imagination of its players, with home brew scenarios and extras being talked about. I have been intrigued with what I have read and come up with a few ideas myself. The game just seems to lend itself to being built on. And with its lovely components it's hard not to think about what you can add to the game.

I would like to try a sci-fi themed game or even better a cyberpunk themed game. Getting a complete game down in an evening would certainly get my vote and if Vladamir Genocide the crazy Russian Street Samurai could make an appearance then even better.

El Grande

El Grande is in my eyes a classic board game. In the realm of Settlers and Age of Steam. A solid design that is still playable. My favorite area control game is probably Shogun, but I think there is maybe more player interaction and screwage in El Grande.

Monday night saw it hit the table, and it went down very well. It was a very close game but I was pipped by Mudhoney by 5 points in the end. I was doing really badly but managed to pick the scoring card a few times and having the majority in my designated area scored quite well several times over. What I didn't manage was to score enough points over multiple areas. I tended to keep to only a few areas.

The Castille played its part with numerous cubes being placed into it then moved onto the board. This is one of my favorite parts of the game. Trying to think where to put your cubes on the board but also trying to make sure they help you get the majority and not swallowed up by an influx from the other players.

Why is it that all good area control games have to have a tower?

We also played a couple of games of 7 Wonders, the first I lost. I was just too spread out and had the Mausoleum as my wonder. Playing the B side doesn't allow you to score that many points. The second was a tie but decided on coins, I lost.
I still really enjoy this game, its quick and easy to teach and has enough options to keep it entertaining. I am looking forward to the leaders expansion later in the year.

Must do better.

An explosion of Plastic

It seems to me that every new game has some plastic piece in it. I am not adverse to them if they add to the game but I wonder if they are really necessary?

When I rebooted my board game hobby it all seemed to be about wooden cubes and meeples. Plastic mini's were a rarity other than in a Games Workshop box.

My copy of Dungeon Twister and Arkham Horror came with cardboard figures and that worked fine. Yet Mansions of Madness is filled to the brim with plastic figures for the investigators and monsters.

I wonder how the amount of plastic affects the cost of the game? If there were two versions of the same game, one with plastic figures and one with cardboard at a cheaper price what would the sales figures be like?

Personally I don't mind plastic figures but if they are not there or as extras I wouldn't really be that bothered. If the plastic figures could be bought as an expansion that would be nice, especially if they were pre-painted.

Are there any games that you couldn't possibly play without plastic parts? Battlelore comes to mind, yet C&C Ancients works well with sticker'd blocks.

Anyone?