Block builder a bit to confined

Few things make me feel happier than getting a new game to the table – one made of wood where you get to move pieces around. There is a tactile joy in the game play that is a hard to put into words – but to put it simply I like it.

So Qubik hit the table with an expectation of enjoying it simply based on the fact the game pieces are all chunky wooden cubes – but well-made cubes at that with rounded corners, and with the varying colours of the pieces it looks very nice.

The rules of Qubik – from designer Preeda Pitianusorn -- are super simple. Players take turns to place a cube into a 3x3x3 space until a player creates a straight line of one colour to win. The player has two cubes pulled from a common bag to chose from, pulling a new one after each placement.

It suggests a typical game of Qubik takes around 5-15 minutes, although it seems to tilt heavily toward the shorter end of the spectrum.

It is interesting Qubik can be played by one-to-seven players. The Meeple Guild only gets higher numbers out for role playing so we have not challenged Qubik with lots of players, but with a maximum cube size of 27, with seven players you are not likely to get many turns, and I’d think games might end before the later players get a second turn. The sweet spot, like many games is likely three or four players.

There are three modes of play casual, competitive, and solo. The first two are rather similar and frankly all games are competitive in general.

As a solo effort Qubik is more ‘puzzly’ in nature, but it is a nice feature in a small package game.

On Board Game Geek it was noted, “Qubik is a combination of the classic Tic-Tac-Toe and the Rubik’s Cube” which is quite an apt description.

Now Qubik is not a game in contention to top a list of great games, but it plays quick and in combination with its compact size is a solid coffee break option that will look good on the table to attract interest.

And of course you do get to stack those nice wooden cubes which is a bonus too.

Check it out at www.facebook.com/LifeDMSgame

 

Chicken game not quite up to scratch

This review is for the small box Gigi Gacker, a sort of sister effort to recently reviewed Das wurmt.

The two games share much, both coming from designer Robert Brouwer, artist Doris Matthäus, and publisher Zoch Verlag.

In Gigi Gacker, players are superficially chicks out to eat worms – yes a silly theme that really adds noting to the game but fits with the cartoony art from Matthäus.

In each game round, the number of numbered worm cards equal to the number of players is laid out, and players essentially bid on them. It’s important to capture high-valued worms as they will count in game-end scoring.

‘Mother hen’ cards add a twist to things, and can be crucial in game play.

There is also a rather unsatisfying tie break mechanism here, that while needed, feels forced onto game play to solve a glitch rather than adding something positive.

There isn’t a lot to this one save it plays quick, but alas without holding the interest of Das wurmt .

Like its sister Gigi Gacker plays two-to-five as well, but for two relies on a ‘dummy hand’ something whist players for sure will be familiar with.

In Gigi Gacker the fill-in for a third player functionally works, but is a patch that seems ill-fitting, detracting from this one for two.

Ultimately, where Das wurmt  was worthy of recommendation Gigi Gacker is the weak sister you likely want to pass on.

'Building' a worm should not be this much fun!

When Das Wurmt arrived it was a game where The Meeple Guild were not exactly sure what to expect.

The game, from designer Robert Brouwer, artist Doris Matthäus, and publisher Zoch Verlag (www.zoch-verlag.com), is a small box card game, but the artwork immediately makes one thing of a game more focused on kids.

However, that is not exactly the case.

This one falls in that niche of a family game, or one to play when the in-laws, or neighbours visit, so is not exclusively for younger players, although if they have some simple math skills they can play.

Weirdly theme-wise Das wurmt is a card game about worms – yes you read that correctly.

Worms start out with a tail on the table, and players add to it on each turn.

As ‘segments’ are added you are hoping to create a worm with a value of 10-11-12 – based on the cards in play. This allows you to score a card.

But if the worms gets ‘too long’ or has cards valued at 13, or more, you score negative points.

Along the way a few ‘special’ cards allow you to influence the games – hopefully to your advantage.

As one card in the worm is revealed each turn it’s important if you remember what you place if you can. You want to know what a card revealed will do if possible to the total of the worm, since the actual ‘growth’ only becomes visible when the next head is played and the previous head is turned over.

The game is super simple, and fast, and surprisingly fun – far more than anticipated as it hit the table.

Cards games are generally recommendable because their low cost makes them worth an evening of play, much like a couple taking in a movie. Not every movie is great for the ticket price, nor is every card game, but with Das wurmt  you can buy with confidence. There’s fun in the little box of worms.

Handy little coffee time filler

It has been a long while since a small box game hit the table that I wanted to like anymore than Flip Chess.

The very thought of a micro-version of chess intrigued, and that is what Verne Homsher offers up.

In this one the game board is the plastic box. Pop it open and you have a 4x8 grid board.

The playing pieces are dice – four for each player. Each face on a die is an etched representation of one of the common chess pieces. That’s it in terms of components, although to be clear the dice are chunky and being etched very nice and the compact board means this one pops in a pocket to take anywhere you want to play. Huge marks on looks and quality.

The rules came on separate pages, a small booklet that would fit in the folded board/box is sorely needed.

As it stands there are rules for a few games you can play, which upon initially seeing I applauded because variety is a plus, especially in a small footprint game where managing a ruleset with the depth to hold interest through multiple plays is naturally challenging.

The core game here is the closet to chess, and it’s OK – well for a play or three at least. It doesn’t offer much if you are seeking lots of repeat play.

So we delved into the other rules offered and while they extended interest through a somewhat extended coffee, they didn’t hold interest long either.

On the website (dicemakers.com) Flip Chess sells for $28 and I never dug into postage, but we know that has gotten ridiculously high in general. The game looks so nice, but play never matched the look for us, so this one is a game you need to consider with care.

Production quality so high in this one

There are games which leave one in awe of the quality of a game that hits the table and Blockoff falls into that category.

The game is actually one of those that ‘feels’ almost over-produced in a sense.

The entire game is 3D printed, board and pieces, rendered in bright yellow and blue, so it just ‘pops’ on the table. Get this one out at a coffee shop and you are likely to attract some eyes.

Also of note is that the designer Nate Denham was 12 when the game was created – so kudos to the young creator, with a pat on the back to family for supporting the game available through www.blockoff.fun

But what about game play in this abstract strategy offering?

Well, this one sort of fits into the realm of games a step up from simple Xs and Os, but still rather straight forward, with a ruleset you can learn in about 90-seconds.

Players – Blockoff plays two to four -- begin with their pieces in the corners of a 6x6 grid.

On a player’s turn they must complete a move of three without hitting the same space twice (diagonal costs two movement) and then place a tile to block off an opening.

If you cannot complete your three paces worth of movement then your piece comes off the board. The goal is to be the last person with their player piece on the board.

Yep, that’s the whole game.

So some quick math tells you that in a four-player game you are likely getting a maximum nine moves, but playthroughs with two showed games typically end with players boxed in even with open spaces left – they just can’t get to them.

Blockoff is thus quick – and maybe too quick to inspire die hard abstract strategy fans.

But that rather ‘cool’ look, and the easy to-learn rules and quick play do lend themselves to making Blockoff one to recommend as a starter game to introduce younger players to the genre that will take them in time to Othello, Chess, Hive and all the other great abstract strategy games. So, if you have younger gamers coming up, this would look pretty good under the tree in a few months.

Every move as a 'ripple' effect

Kanare Kato is a rather prolific game designer best known for creating games which can be packed into a small box and taken anywhere.

To the list you can add Ripples, a game which takes minutes to understand in terms of rules, and plays quickly – it is suggested 15-30 minutes, but you would need to be very analytical in moves to burn half an hour with this one.

For two players Ripples is an abstract strategy game where you are battling for control of a 61 hex board. When the board is full the winner is the player with the majority of pieces – so no draws are possible.

It is a territorial game that uses double-sided discs like Othello, but the discs placed by a player are always immediately surrounded by discs of the same colour So you are flipping a lot of pieces on most turns, which for old guys with bigger hands was at times clumsy on the smaller cloth board – common to Kato games.

The board is initially empty.

On a turn a player places a disc of their colour face up in any empty hex. Then flips over all the opponents' discs adjacent to the disc just placed and places discs of their colour in all empty hexes adjacent to the disc. That’s it for rules – super simple.

This one works because it is simple to learn and quick to play. If it was longer in terms of playtime it would over stay its welcome as they say. There is just not quite enough here that you would want longer.

It’s the same thing in terms of repeat play. Ripples is not a game where you want to  hunker down over the table and play the afternoon away with it. Three games is satisfying. A best-of-five, sure, but a best-of-seven might push the limit of Ripples holding your interest. Better to play a few, slip back in the game bag and bring it out in a few weeks for a few more games.

Still as that neat little time filler on occasion Ripples does hold a certain level of charm.

Check it out at kanare-abstract.com

Mining on Mars can be fun

David McCord has become one of my favourite game designers.

Now that deserves a bit of an explanation. It’s not that McCord has created a game – at least among those that I have played – that would make say my top-25 maybe even my top-50 all-time list – but he is prolific in creating games which are pretty accessible in terms of rules and thus creates a rather fun experience at the game table.

That brings us to Mining Mars which fits the above criteria of simple rules and simple fun.

In this one two-to-four players are gathering minerals – different coloured cubes – to the processing plants (game board).

Collect enough and you have successfully processed the mineral which will give you an in-game bonus, and score you points at game end.

One bump in this one is that two of the minerals – ‘rarium’ and the green stuff -- seem to have far more game impact than the others do. That tends to limit the interest in collecting the other minerals, and that detracts from a play a bit.

Initially I doubted there was an in-game comeback, but then Mark used some special cards, manipulated his scoring options, and frankly stole the win.

That said Trevor who appeared destined to win forced the game-end scenario, and probably should have slow played things while trying to overcome Mark’s moves.

That all actually improved the impression of the game. There are in-game actions which can change outcomes.

The components work, but are not exceptional.

The game plays quick, has a certain charm, that would make Mining Mars a fine filler option especially if time in limited and you have new players to teach rules too.

Check it out at www.newventuregames.com

Diagonal moves lift Quatuor above the norm

Quatuor is a recent abstract strategy game from Canadian designer Louis-David Raymond.

Being from a Canadian designer, and an abstract strategy game which is my favoured genre of games, this one excited upon its arrival.

To begin with Quatuor is a self-published effort and Raymond has created a nice looking game.

The pieces are wooden crokinole discs so nice and chunky.

The board – a 4x4 grid -- is some kind of acrylic, which again is very nice.

Each player has eight pieces, and you win by getting four of the pieces in a row. There is nothing new in that regard. There are piles of games with similar goals.

In Quatuor a player slides a piece onto the board around the outside of the board. If that pushes other pieces that is fine – at least up to three other pieces. You cannot push four as that would force a piece off the board.

In terms of getting a piece onto the board Quatuor ‘feels’ a lot like Quixo a game I like quite a lot largely because it is one of those rare abstract strategy games I can get my better half to play on occasion.

Canadian designer 

Initially, Trevor and I expected the game to be drawish. You have only eight moves to win, and yes we ended in a draw once. We still think the more you play the more lacklustre draws may occur.

But saving Quatuor often is the ability to push other pieces by entering on the diagonals. That simple rule is critical in opening the game to ‘force’ those situations where you have two paths to victory knowing your opponent can only deal with one.

Trevor likens Quatuor to Xs & Os, and there is that vibe, but I feel there is a bit more to it than that – maybe because I won far more than I lost with this one.

I do like that it plays quick, and it left me always willing to play ‘one more’ which is about all you can ask from a game that screams ‘play me over coffee’ – with a monthly Quatuor coffee a reasonable expectation.

Tori Shogi a smaller board shogi variant to love

If you enjoy chess you really should take a look into the world of Shogi – essentially the Japanese equivalent of chess.

There is actually a family of related games with the core Shogi dating back to the mid 1500s. It is played on a 9 by 9 board, and the object is to capture the opponent's king.

There are however differences with Western chess.

Most notably, not only pawns but most pieces can promote if it reaches the opponents three last rows – effectively broadening the diversity of pieces.

Secondly, captured pieces become property of the capturing player and during their turn they can ‘drop’ them back to the board instead of performing a normal move, which really changes the game dynamic.

So that is core shogi in a nutshell.

But, this week the review in about a sister game – Tori Shogi or bird shogi – created about 250 years after Shogi.

Tori Shogi is what we would term a variant. In this case it is played on a 7×7 board.

As the name implies each piece is named after a type of bird. The royal piece (King) is the Phoenix. Other pieces include the Swallow (promotes to Wild Goose), Falcon (promotes to Eagle), Crane, Pheasant, and Quail.

The goal of the game is to capture the opposing Phoenix.

Drops are handled in a manner very similar to modern Shogi, with some oddities such as a third swallow cannot be dropped in a file which already contains two others, nor can one be dropped on the last rank, where it would not be able to move. In addition, a swallow cannot be dropped so as to give immediate mate.

This one tends to be a quicker shogi, the smaller board with drops still in play make it feel a bit like the proverbial battle in a phone booth. Unlike the chess North Americans are most familiar with the board in Tori Shogi – or basic Shogi for that matter – never really opens up as captured pieces tend to cycle back to the board in drops rather quickly.

Since Tori Shogi is quicker it’s a great gateway to the world of Shogi variants.

Now Shogi pieces are generally differentiated by Japanese lettering which can be a barrier some will wish not to overcome.

But there is good news on that front Kanare Abstract (kanare-abstract.com)  has produced a Tori Shogi set with the actual birds in the background (underscored with their English name), with the Japanese lettering over top. It’s a brilliantly simple solution to easier access to the game and designer Kanare Kato needs a big pat on the back for creating the set.

The game is a classic so highly recommended.

The Kanare Abstract set gets a positive nod too. The pieces are wood, the board is cloth, the packaging small and easy to get to the coffee shop – as are most games from this publisher of which many have been reviewed here previously. The only caveat here is that the game seems a bit ‘squished’ with 32 pieces on the small cloth board. Kanare Abstract did a quartet of games in a slightly larger format – Trike, Slyde, Make Muster, heXantafl – and it would have been nice had Tori Shogi been part of that effort.

The size issue aside – it works it’s just a tad crowded – this one needs to be in every chess fan’s collection. A solid version from Kanare Abstract.

Take some time and appreciate depth of Iye

Most games you can play once or twice and while not necessarily grasping the nuances of it, you at least get an indication of what the general game strategy is going to be.

Iye – from designer Onur Şencan, artist Eda Esentürk Durşen, and publisher NeoTroy Games is among those games which didn’t play out that way.

Designer Onur Şencan has had a long relationship with games.

“My relationship with gaming is actually a bit strange,” he related via email. “While I love all kinds of games, my wife and I met 10 years ago while playing a real escape game (she was a horror character chasing me, and I couldn't escape from her). My parents also met 42-43 years ago at a university chess final.”

Now he dabbles as a designer.

“This is the third board game I've designed, but my main job is designing and playing events for corporate companies. Since I started designing board games, I've been trying out at least 300 different games a year,” said Şencan. “Of these, Grand Austria Hotel and Rococo: Deluxe Edition are the ones I wouldn't mind seeing on the table. Azul is still one of the best options for new players to enjoy the board game.”

But what about Iye?

“Actually, the first thing I tried to achieve with the game Iye was to design an abstract strategy game that I could play myself, that I wouldn't get bored of, and that had a lot of replayability,” said Şencan “Whether playing Iye on a tabletop or in a board game arena, players can expect an enjoyable two-player abstract strategy game where each game is different thanks to its quick-to-understand, fast-playing, and completely random setup.
“In my opinion, the best thing about the game is that no matter how many points your opponent is ahead in that round, you have the possibility of winning that round by putting him in an impossible position with just one move.”

In Iye, (pronounced EE-yeah), you lay out 25 tiles face down on the board, then take turns moving ‘the drum’ around the board. In Iye the tiles are nice – albeit just cardboard – with sort of geometric art representing different elements.

The drum is a cardboard standee and that would have been nice as a wooden meeple.

Of course production has its constraints as Şencan notes.

“When I first brought this game to the publisher, it had a leather board and pieces like Azul's. However, due to demand and insufficient production conditions in Türkiye, we had to select the most optimal components. My dream is to increase awareness of the game through positive board game geek reviews from those who try it on BGA (the physical version of the game is currently only available in Türkiye). This way, it can be republished with my dream components in the future, and thus, it will have the potential to reach the global market.”

The Meeple Guild hopes this humble review helps in that regard.

Now for the game itself, the basic movement for the Shaman’s drum is one, or two spaces vertically or horizontally. When you land on a tile, and you must, the tile does to the opponent.

At game’s end the player with the most of each type of tile scores points of varying values.

Initially the tendency is to just dance around the board until it’s empty, without delving into the deeper possibilities.

Those possibilities lie in sacrificing collected tiles to make special moves, in the hopes of doing one of two things, preventing your opponent from having a legal move – an automatic win – or forcing them to respond by using one of their collected tiles to turn game-end scoring in your favour. It is here where a far greater depth percolates to the top which in initial plays can easily be overlooked.

The use of tiles of course is a balancing act, as one used to move they no longer count at game end.

In recognizing the depth Iye goes from ho-hum initial play, to a game worth a much longer look, and a definite recommendation.

 

Comune about finding the angles to build for the win

Regular readers will be aware Kanare Kato is both a prolific and well-liked designer of abstract strategy games.

In the past The Meeple Guild has enjoyed several of his games; Iago, Stairs, Lines of Fixation and Meridians some of the best among the ones we’ve played.

This week we check in with Comune, which to start is not quite the top-shelf offering of Kato’s games mentioned above.

That said, Comune remains a game which will hold some interest for those looking for something just a bit different.

Comune is a placement game using rectangular house pieces. The pieces are wooden, a generally appreciated feature of many Kanare_Abstract published games.

The game allows players three types of placement depending on the angle at which the pieces are placed. This creates some obvious depth, but also makes Comune a bit more challenging in terms of game play.

In the game you can place your pieces next to each other at any angle, but not next to the opponent's pieces at different angles.

Now as are most Kanare_Abstract published games, Comune comes in a small – think necklace box size – box, utilizing an easy to fold cloth board. The combo makes Comune and its sister games easy to take to the coffee shop, cabin or business road trip, but also means the aforementioned placement rules can be a bit harder to vision as pieces are in tight areas from the get go.

And the angles are core to the game. The goal is to create larger groups at each of the three angles. 

The easy to take on the road aspect, and wood pieces are the initial draw, and there is depth here to explore with a bit of patience to get your head around things.

So Comune is worth a recommendation and worth a long look if you are ordering from www.kanare-abstract.com/en-ca

Besont proves addictive in its simplicity

Besont was a surprise when it arrived and hit the table.

The game comes in about as simple a form as possible, a cardboard board and low cost little plastic coins --- functional but certainly in no way extravagant in terms of components.

From designer Colin Leamon and his publishing effort Marric Games Besont is a two player placement where you want to be the last player with a legal move.

Taking turns players lay one-to-five coins along any straight line, they don't even have to be connected.

Given that the board has only 15 spaces games are very quick. They are made quicker still by reaching a point where the end point becomes obvious without playing out some of the coins.

Yet in the short playtime comes some interesting choices based on the ability to place multiple coins in various ways.

The games sort of fills the space of Xs & Os, where you lose and want to go again to try something different. It’s pretty easy to kill a coffee break with Besont for that reason.

You might even pull it out to play over a couple of coffee breaks, but it is doubtful it would make the table on day three, the game just starts to feel same-ish at some point. Taken in small doses over breaks of a couple of months though Besont is a coffee filler.

Also of interest, apparently the theme of Besont is tied up with Cornish history. The game board is the Cornish coat of arms made up from the fifteen gold coins Cornwall had to pay for the Duke of Cornwall's release, which is cool.

“As a games designer specializing in simplicity I was struck by the classic design of the Cornish coat of arms, dating back to 1264, and said to myself ‘there had to be a game there - and what a wonderful opportunity to promote the Cornish language’, so I grabbed a pen and paper and set my mind to the task,” related the designer via social media. “I did try one or two ideas before I struck on the Nim mechanic - which, not meaning to boast, I improved upon - by including diagonals and reversing. What I'm most pleased with is how it can be played as a fun two-minute game and also a challenging game for serious players who know the traps because it has nothing to do with math or who goes first.”

Check it out at marricgames.com

Whiz Bang surprises with its play

I recently posed a question with the Abstract Nation on Facebook asking what were three games players preferred on an 8x8 checkerboard.

Not surprisingly there was a lot of commonality in answers and IMHO a few gems missed.

So over the coming weeks I’ll offer a few short reviews of what I see as the best games to be played on an 8x8 checkerboard with the added constraint you have only two sets of 24 pieces – basically you buy two matching common checker sets.

This is #20

I mentioned when writing about Gorgon a couple of games ago that Chris Huntoon games would feature again terms of ‘Project 8x8 &48’ and here we go again with his 2009 design Whiz Bang.

Now I will admit I much prefer one word names for abstract strategy games; Dameo, Yinsh, Hive, and while there is actually a reason behind the name Whiz Bang it does not exactly catch attention as a serious game.

A bit of the story behind the name is taken from Board Game Geek; “rapid advancements in artillery during the late 19th and early 20th century meant that when Word War I broke out, the nature of war would be changed forever. That war marked a shift from the infantry charge of old to the modern artillery barrage. Pieces ranged from small mortars to powerful Howitzers. The larger, more complex the ordnance the more soldiers it required in the gun crews to properly fire it. These pieces usually shot exploding shells - called 'Whiz-Bangs' by the troops.”

Once you know that the name starts to take on some interest, as Whiz Bang tries to recreate the trench warfare of the first World War.

The game is played on an 8x8 board, with each player having 16 pieces aligned on the two rows closest to them.

The centre two rows in Whiz Bang are designated as 'No Man's Land' – which the BGG page notes was “the deadly wasteland that existed between the two sides trenches.” Since the two centre rows are obvious there is no real need to specially mark them.

In Whiz Bang the first player to safely get a ‘soldier’ (a piece) across No Man's Land and into enemy territory wins.

That sounds like a simple goal even though a ‘Soldier’ can move only one step in any direction. A line of Soldiers can also be shifted one space in the direction of their line – which reminds quite a bit of David E. Whitcher’s well-respected game Cannon.

But as in the ‘Great War’ soldiers face a barrage in attempting to cross ‘No Man’s Land’.

In Whiz Bang Soldiers attack by firing shells. The direction and range is determined by how many Soldiers are working together. Two Soldiers connected in a line can attack up to two spaces away in the direction that their line is aimed at. Three Soldiers in a line can attack up to three spaces away, and so on. A lone Soldier can attack any neighbouring space. When an attack is made, none of the attacking Soldiers are moved. The opponent's captured Soldier is removed from the board. Again, reminiscent of Cannon.

Whiz Bang is very much a game of attrition. You must occasionally send a soldier forward into the fray, knowing it will not make it.

You need also to keep defensive structures which as flexible – able to alter direction – to be effective.

It’s all about balance, and ultimately survival.

Whiz Bang accomplishes a ‘sort’ or feel of trench warfare reasonably well, while offering up a solid board game challenge too.

Gekitai a neat fit on 6x6

I recently posed a question with the Abstract Nation on Facebook asking what were three games players preferred on an 8x8 checkerboard.

Not surprisingly there was a lot of commonality in answers and IMHO a few gems missed.

So over the coming weeks I’ll offer a few short reviews of what I see as the best games to be played on an 8x8 checkerboard with the added constraint you have only two sets of 24 pieces – basically you buy two matching common checker sets.

This is #19.

While using our board as a 6x6 adds only a few viable options to ‘Project 8x8 & 48’ Gekitai, a 2020 design from Scott Brady is one of them.

In Gekitai each player has eight coloured markers and takes turns placing them anywhere on any open space on the board.

When placed, a marker pushes all adjacent pieces outwards one space if there is an open space for it to move to. If the space is occupied then it cannot move. Pieces may be pushed off the board. Pieces shoved off the board are returned to the player.

The first player to either line up three of their pieces in a row at the end of their turn -- after pushing -- or having their eight pieces on the board – again after the push action -- wins.

The game is super simple, and plays quickly, and still maintains some interest in terms of depth – planning is important – while also being fun.

There is a second version of Gekitai, but it requires additional coloured pieces so falls outside the parametres of ‘The Project’ although it is marginally a better game.

Ringo perfect coffee time diversion

Right from the start of play, Trevor and I were absolutely surprised, and in the most positive way with Ringo.

This one comes from designer Julien Griffon and designer Steffen-Spiele (www.steffen-spiele.de) via Ilo307.com in Canada, and isn’t a game you might expect to impress as much as it did.

The goal is a familiar one, and one that typically doesn’t create game play which rises above average at best – get four-in-a-row and win.

But Ringo offers a refreshing take on the old standard.

The game starts with a playing field consisting of eight rings: four red and four blue.

Now I must pause here to say just how nice the metal rings are. Just pure wow for a game of this kind – huge marks for the overall components in Ringo with the rings top-shelf.

On a turn, the active player places a disc of their colour in any ring – yes either player’s colour which is another neat twist here -- then moves the ring to a position adjacent orthogonally to another ring. There is no board with Ringo so games can develop in some pretty interesting ways.

If you have placed all your pieces – nice wooden ones by the way – you then begin using one already in play.

Whoever first creates a row of four discs or four rings – orthogonally or diagonally so again a neat twist -- in their colour wins.

Ringo is sort of a sister game to Stakko, (soon to be reviewed), and Nonago reviewed previously which was a solid little game, but this one is far better – one that will be in our thoughts for top-five game of the year come Christmas.

Adh Mor far more fun than anticipated

 

Up front Adh Mor, it apparently means "Good Luck" in Irish, was not a game that was on my radar.

And when I opened the small box and saw that you rolled dice my interest didn’t tick up even a little bit.

Then Trevor and I set up the game, read the rules and started rolling dice – about five-minutes from box opening to that first dice roll.

Immediately, we were captivated by this one from prolific game designer David McCord and publisher NewVenture Games.

So to begin with, as are most of the games from this publisher, Adh Mor has a solid wood board, and nice wooden pegs. It comes in a small box as many from this publisher does, so it’s highly portable -- so ideal for a coffee shop.

In terms of game play it’s about as simple as you can get. The game begins with just four of each player's pieces on the 6x6 board, (each player has 18).

There are two dice, one a common D6, the other with three white faces and three black.

A roll of the unique dice dictates the choices available to place or move a peg, so if you roll white you must move a peg which starts on a white space.

A piece moves any combination of directions based on the D6 – without moving through the same spot twice.

The exception is a roll of six, which means you add a peg to the board.

Obviously, the more pegs there are on the board the less move options you will have on a roll.

The game is for two, and plays in 20-minutes according to the box, but it tends to play longer it seems – almost to the point of seeming just a bit draggy in mid game. Early there are numerous moves, and late you hope for low rolls and longer moves, which become difficult on a more crowded board. That middle game play seems just a bit slow, although not so much so that it drops this game more than a smidge for Trevor and I.

A most pleasant surprise to be sure – maybe the biggest positive surprise of the year to date

Adh Mor is just a fun little dance in a phone booth which is easy to recommend.

 

Gorgon is a surprisingly solid 8x8

I recently posed a question with the Abstract Nation on Facebook asking what were three games players preferred on an 8x8 checkerboard.

Not surprisingly there was a lot of commonality in answers and IMHO a few gems missed.

So over  the coming weeks I’ll offer a few short reviews of what I see as the best games to be played on an 8x8 checkerboard with the added constraint you have only two sets of 24 pieces – basically you buy two matching common checker sets.

This is #18.

Gorgon is a 2001 design from Chris Huntoon which is certainly part of the broader checker family.

I would be remiss if I did not start here with a big tip of the chapeau to Huntoon whose design efforts will pop up again before Project 8x8 & 48 comes to its end. While not a lot of designers seem focused on the checker-game and its potential, Huntoon has done just that and he has created some very interesting games as a result.

In Gorgon each player starts with 16 ‘Gorgons’ – yes just common checkers - eight on each of the two back ranks.

On each turn a Gorgon moves diagonally forward, sliding to an adjacent empty square, again just straight old checkers at this point.

Where Gorgon ramps things up is that they may petrify an opponent’s Gorgon by jumping over it to an empty space on the other side. A petrified Gorgon is unable to move and blocks the space it occupies for the remainder of the game. This is a game changer in terms of tactics, especially as the first player who cannot move loses.

To mark a petrified piece flip it over.

The standard game is played without forced jumps, with forced jumps suggested as a variant.

Jumps may be in any of the five non retreating directions: vertically, diagonally forward, and sideways. Multiple jumps are possible.

Another interesting aspect of Gorgon in that the first and last row of the board are considered to be connected. A Gorgon leaving one edge will be re-entered at the appropriate space on the other edge.

A checker player will adapt to this game with ease, but the impact of areas of the board being blocked is fresh enough to make it a must try. Nicely done Mr. Huntoon.

This one is a near 8x8 classic

I recently posed a question with the Abstract Nation on Facebook asking what were three games players preferred on an 8x8 checkerboard.

Not surprisingly there was a lot of commonality in answers and IMHO a few gems missed.

So over the coming weeks I’ll offer a few short reviews of what I see as the best games to be played on an 8x8 checkerboard with the added constraint you have only two sets of 24 pieces – basically you buy two matching common checker sets.

This is #17.

Breakthrough was designed by William Daniel 'Dan' Troyka in 2000 and was apparently originally played on a 7x7 board.

After the size of the board was changed, it won the 2001 8x8 Game Design Competition, sponsored by About Board Games, Abstract Games Magazine and the Strategy Gaming Society.

Winning the 2001 contest really makes it an obvious inclusion for ‘Project 8x8 & 48’ and certainly the game scores highly in terms of its pure simplicity – although that does not mean strategy and tactics come easily here. (It should be noted this one can be played on a 10x10 board, each players having 30 pieces.)

In Breakthrough, players each start with 16 pieces aligned on the two rows closest to them – a very standard starting array in many games here.

Players alternate moving one of their own pieces per turn, trying to reach the opposite side of the board. The first player to do so wins.

A piece can move forward or diagonally forward to an adjacent empty cell. Alternatively, it can capture an enemy piece diagonally forward.

Captures are not compulsory – which is a tad different from most ‘checker-esque’ games.

Captures cannot be chained either in Breakthrough.

This game is all about positional play as the two forces approach each other. There is something of a feeling of ‘detente’ as forces drudge toward the eventual battle line.

Then one player will make the plunge and the battle is fully on. The first to break the line and get a runner to the other side will win most times.

This game resonates less with me personally than many in this project. The start a bit slow, the end a bit anticlimactic for me. Still Breakthrough is one players need to try for themselves as many do like it quite a lot.

 

Abande is a solid little stacker

I recently posed a question with the Abstract Nation on Facebook asking what were three games players preferred on an 8x8 checkerboard.

Not surprisingly there was a lot of commonality in answers and IMHO a few gems missed.

So over the coming weeks I’ll offer a few short reviews of what I see as the best games to be played on an 8x8 checkerboard with the added constraint you have only two sets of 24 pieces – basically you buy two matching common checker sets.

This is #16.

So, a few reviews back I noted how easily our 8x8 games can be used to play a game needing a 6x6 board, (it was India), going as far as to mark the board with a thin black felt marker to define the smaller area.

Now that the 6x6 area is defined without really taking away from the overall look in IMHO, we can use the points to play 7x7 games just as we use the full board to play 9x9 games such as Renpaarden and Fianco already part of ‘Project 8x8 & 48’.

The first 7x7 offering is Dieter Stein’s 2005 creation Abande.

Abande is a versatile little gem that also plays fine on a 37-space hexagonal board, and other configurations too.

Each player starts with 18 stackable pieces held initially off-board.

Players in turn enter new pieces on the board or move pieces already placed to capture opponent pieces (thus building stacks).

The trick here is that pieces on the board must always be connected -- adjacent to other pieces.

When all pieces are placed and both players pass their turn in sequence, points are collected for pieces and stacks.

In Abande pieces are placed on the intersections of the lines, so a perfect fit here.

Initially the board is empty.

Players take turns to;

• enter a new piece on the board, or
• move a stack already on the board on top of an adjacent opponent stack, or
• pass the turn, which is possible only if you have no more pieces in hand.

The game ends if both players pass their turn in sequence.

You may enter a piece as “long as you have pieces in your hand and you do not wish to or cannot move a stack on the board, you must enter a new piece on an empty space connected to the band,” notes the designer’s game page.

Instead of entering a new piece you may also move a stack under your control on the board. As in most stacking games, the top most piece determines the owner of a stack.

Stacks – a single piece is a ‘stack’ which moves one space into any direction, they cannot be split.

Stacks capture by moving on top of an opponent stack. They cannot move to an empty space or on top of a friendly stack.

Stacks cannot grow larger than three pieces high.

Moving is allowed only after Black has entered the second piece, which means Black cannot directly capture White’s reply to the initiative.

The game is over when both players pass their turn in succession.

When scoring, players may remove all stacks not connected to an opponent stack, because each stack not connected to a stack controlled by the opponent is worth zero points.

All other stacks count towards a player’s score:

• Add 1 point for every single piece of your colour
• Add 2 points for every double stack you control.
• Add 3 points for every triple stack you control.

This is a tricky one because making a stack of two makes it an immediate target for the opponent to control a three high stack, and you can’t add to a stack you control. There is a real element of ‘chicken’ here, to see who makes that first move to create stacks.

Once a three stack is made you immediately look for how you might isolate it so it does not count at game end.

A real nice option for this little project.

 

Surakarta worth play based on its historic nature

One of the strengths of abstract strategy games is how the varied ‘mechanics’ utilized across the genre often make you think in a decidedly different way.

That is certainly what Guilder Trevor and I found as we cracked the box on a NewVenture Games version of Surakarta.

Surakarta is an Indonesian abstract strategy board game for two players, named after Surakarta, Central Java, featuring as noted, an unusual method of capture. It is different enough Wikipedia noted the method of capture “is "possibly unique" and "not known to exist in any other recorded board game".”

Well whether it is the only game using it or not, it is rare enough among games that it had Trevor and I scratching our heads more than a few times trying to ascertain exactly what was the best move to make, and realizing our previous game experience didn’t offer us much in terms of insight with Surakarta.

Again from Wikipedia, it is noted, “the name of the game in Indonesian is permainan, which simply translates as ‘the game’. In Java, the game is also called dam-daman. It was first published in France in 1970 as ‘Surakarta’. The game is called ‘Roundabouts’ in Sid Sackson's The Book of Classic Board Games.”

It is background I found interesting in as much as I would have assumed a very ancient game, which it likely is, but is obviously only in the last 50 years or so that it has gained an audience outside its home area.

Surakarta is a two-player game, with the object of the game to capture all 12 of the opponent's pieces; or, if no further captures are possible, to have more pieces remaining in play than the opponent.

Pieces always rest on the points of intersection of the board's grid lines.

On a turn, a player either moves one of their pieces a single step in any direction (like a chess king in that regard) to an unoccupied point, or makes a capturing move special to Surakarta, which is the mind twister of this one.

“A capturing move consists of traversing along an inner or outer circuit around at least one of the eight corner loops of the board, followed by landing on an enemy piece, capturing it,” notes Wikipedia. “Captured pieces are removed from the game.”

The corner loops certainly give the board a different look, and having to envision capture approaches using them is a rather fresh challenge you should appreciate if you like abstract strategy gems.

Any number of unoccupied points may be travelled over, before or after traversing a loop. Only unoccupied points may be travelled over; jumping over pieces is not permitted.

Capturing is also always optional which is not unique but rather unusual for a game of this type which tend to enforce capture.

This is a game that fits into the broader checker family in my view, and so checker fans will certainly want to check Surakarta out.

As for a broader audience this is different enough for two players to recommend, and the all wooden board and pieces from www.newventuregames.com is so nice, it is certainly worth consideration.

 

Crossings a game that deserves play time

I recently posed a question with the Abstract Nation on Facebook asking what were three games players preferred on an 8x8 checkerboard.

Not surprisingly there was a lot of commonality in answers and IMHO a few gems missed.

So over the coming weeks I’ll offer a few short reviews of what I see as the best games to be played on an 8x8 checkerboard with the added constraint you have only two sets of 24 pieces – basically you buy two matching common checker sets.

This is #15.

Talk about a game that seems like it was created for ‘Project 8x8 & 48’

Crossings by designer Robert Abbott is actually far from a new game. In fact this is actually one of the older games in the ‘Project’ dating back to 1969, clearly making it a vintage game being more than 50 years old.

Interestingly, Crossings is quite obviously the root for the highly touted Epaminondas released by the same designer in 1975 with the same basic ideas involved albeit on an expansive14x12 board.

In pure abstract strategy terms Epaminondas is arguably a deeper game, but it is also more inaccessible – meaning it is more difficult to get your head around play on the big board whereas Crossings is a simpler game to absorb, while still offering a nice challenge.

Crossings has had its share of press too including being published in Sid Sackson's A Gamut of Games and Stephen Addison's 100 Other Games to Play on a Chessboard.

Each player starts with 16 pieces in the two rows closest to them.

The object of the game is to reach the opposite side of the board with a piece, while preventing the opponent from doing the same, by moving checkers in ‘phalanx style.

As noted Crossings is an ancestor of Epaminondas, but with two significant differences;

*When phalanxes collide, only the front piece is captured. This is huge because in the big brother game you can lose whole swathes of pieces and feel devastated. Here there is a more subtle give and take in-game.

* Successfully ‘crossed’ pieces are immobile and can't be captured.

Movement has a group; a series of one or more same-coloured stones adjacent to one another in a line (diagonal, horizontal, or vertical). A stone may belong to one or more groups. (From Wikipedia);

*A player may move a single stone, an entire group, or a subgroupA group consisting of a single stone may move one space diagonally or orthogonally into an empty square.

*A group must move along the line which defines it. It may move a number of spaces equal to the number of pieces in that group.

*When part of a group is moved (a subgroup), it must move along the line which defines it. It may move a number of spaces equal to the number of pieces in the subgroup.

*When a subgroup is moved it must involve one of the end stones.

*Pieces may not move onto an occupied square.

Capturing an enemy stone;

* If the first stone in a moving group encounters a single enemy stone, the group's movement stops there, and the enemy stone is captured.

* If the first stone in a moving group encounters an end stone of an opponent's group, it can capture that stone if the opponent's group is smaller.

* If it cannot capture the end stone because the opponent's group is the same size or larger, it is not allowed to move on to that square.

End of the game;

*A player possibly wins the game if they get a stone on the home row, or row furthest from their side. If the opponent cannot get a stone of their own onto the first player's home row in the next move, the first player wins. Otherwise, those stones are ‘locked’; they cannot be moved or captured. The next attempt at crossing, as this is called, will determine the winner (unless it, too, is immediately followed by a counter-crossing, and so on).

It is the locking of pieces, and the ability to respond with a follow-up Crossing which make it feel like you can comeback and win late, keeping you focused here.

This is an ideal ‘Project’ offering, and very much worth playing.

'Bloody' fine miniature set

Head over to heliostabletop.ca and if you are into gaming minis you will be in for some very big smiles.

This Canadian crew is doing some very sweet miniatures with an eye to them being perfect for D&D-style role playing games.

Each month they are offering up a small box of themed minis which actually come with ‘an encounter’ gamers can use to insert into their campaigns meaning the minis can hit the table without the GM having to bodger up an encounter and create a stats package etc – that can come later though.

Now some of the mini packs are a tad more versatile too – including the Haemoturgy Lab set being reviewed here.

As the name implies these are some blood-themed baddies, and they come looking decidedly dastardly, if not outright evil.

Now you might open a dungeon door in a D&D-style campaign and find theses blighters waiting to bleed you dry, but they would be equally fine on a post apocalyptic setting, or a gothic horror RPG, or one were vampires abound. There is some really nice flexibility in this set, and gamers will appreciate that as we don’t usually play only D&D RPGs.

So to get some insight to these minis – which I should note Jordan one of our gaming gang’s more enthusiastic painters fell in love with before they even arrived – I turned to Joel, the lead encounter designer and of the in-house DMs at Helios for some insights into the creation of this box.

Canadian designer

“One of my favourite things to do, and a strength of my DM’ing is creating fun, engaging and challenging combat encounters that get the players working together to succeed,” he offered via email. “Combat in 5e can be a slog if it involves standing still and hitting a sack of hit points turn after turn. That's why it's my goal to provide interesting objectives, difficult choices and ways to interact with the terrain to keep the players engaged during combat. 

“The first thing I like to do for inspiration is to look closely at the miniatures. That gets my imagination going, and allows me to start thinking about the overall theme. I also try to incorporate small details of the miniatures themselves into the stat blocks and overall objective/mechanics of the combat encounter.”

You can almost see the gears turning for Joel coming at the process from the perspective of a player with a design flair.

“With the Haemoturgy Lab, the first thing that stood out to me was that the minis we chose all had a certain level of human features to them,” said Joel. “This immediately made me think that a good narrative would be that these creatures had once been human, and had suffered some form of strange mutation. I noticed that the creatures had biological texture and bodies also had a blood/gore type appearance, along with shards and spikes that were protruding. So in my mind, this was some type of blood magic experiment that had gone wrong. The encounter begins with the players arriving at the abandoned lab. On the map that I designed, the sterile white tiles are covered in blood in places, and some stasis pods are broken open, with corpses half falling out of them. It immediately sets the scene that something bad has happened, and may well happen again...”

Here you can see the versatility that is inherent to this box from Helios in terms of crossing genres more easily than say the kobolds we recently reviewed which are typically D&D fare and not much beyond that.

As for the creatures, the Haemolyser is large, covered in spikes and looked brutish and reckless to me.

“I wanted it to be mobile, and have it feel cinematic as it crashes through players and the operating tables/stasis pods with its reckless charge feature,” said Joel. “Considering how much larger it is than the other creatures, I also wanted to incorporate a story reason for this within its stat block.

“That’s where it’s “Flesh Consumption” feature originated. The idea is that it can consume organic biomass (aka PCs in this case) in order to grow bigger and stronger. This ability is also fun because it creates a game play loop within the encounter, in which party members can deal slashing damage to the Haemolyser in order to try and cut open the monster to free their trapped allies.”

Here is a strength of Helios, the minis come as more rounded creatures ready for game play, not just a plastic mini to paint.

“The Blood Symbiotes are a fun way to balance the encounter by turning up the stakes as the Haemolyser gets more injured,” continued Joel. “After certain thresholds of damage are reached, they slough off the body of the Haemolyser and come to life. They can both heal allies and hit the PCs with ranged attacks while slithering up the walls to stay out of the way. This gives players another problem to overcome, and allows ranged characters or spellcasters to shine.”

The ‘encounter’ for this one really is a moody one in the sense it fits the creatures like the proverbial glove.

“To add some randomness and a dynamic element to the encounter, the ‘Failed Sanguinations’ are randomly introduced to the battle on initiative count 20. A d12 is rolled to determine which stasis pod they burst out of,” explained Joel.

“For added fun, I like to let each player have a turn at rolling this d12 to determine their spawn location. These creatures are designed to grapple and debuff the party with their infectious bites, creating attrition and dividing attention away from the Haemolyser. They have relatively low health, so it is up to the players on whether they think it is worth focusing on the big boss, or taking down these creatures before they debilitate the party too much. 

“Adding decision trees into every combat is something that I love to do, because I think it makes things more interesting for the players. Instead of the barbarian standing still and hitting every time, they now need to choose between options such as: Do I try and kill the big damage dealing Haemolyser? Do I save my grappled wizard from the bites of the Failed Sanguinations? Should I smash the stasis pods to prevent new enemies appearing on the battlefield? Should I change from my Warhammer to my battleaxe to free the fighter who is currently stuck inside the boss and being dissolved? Etc. I think the Haemoturgy Lab encounter does a great job of being both fun and engaging, while also telling a cohesive story through the battlemap and stat blocks. The fact that it was also designed specifically around the appearance of the miniatures we provide also gives it that added level of verisimilitude, because the players can connect what they see on the table, to exactly what is happening to their heroes." 

Now in general terms the Helios minis are excellent and the encounters such a great add-on that it’s easy to suggest taking time to look through what they offer if you mini game – but Haemoturgy Lab is just a smidge above the average making it one to definitely search out.

Yahoo for Gee Haw!

It’s sort of a weird thing, I don’t usually go looking for solo games yet in the last few weeks two excellent ones have hit my little ‘in front of TV’ game table.

The first was Cavern Shuffle: Maze of the Minotaur by Canadian game designer Ryan Dawson, and now Gee Haw from veteran game designer David McCord.

While Cavern Shuffle used a special deck of cards it was very much a game built on the foundation of Patience.

With Gee Haw, McCord uses a standard 52-card deck but created a very different solo challenge.

“I had been brainstorming the use of standard playing cards for non-standard uses,” via email. “‘Cause…why not? At the same time, I’d been thinking about solo games and how patience-style card games worked. As such thoughts swirled around in my head, somehow the notion of red/right and black/left came together. A few hours of noodling around — et voila! — the game was born.”

When asked what were you trying to achieve with game? McCord replied, “Firstly, I guess, simply striving to create a unique solo game.

“Also, portability is always an element that I pursue in my designs. Most of my friends know that I’m the game guy, and I always have an emergency game case in my car. So using a standard card deck (which is already in there), all I need to carry is the peg board and 10 pegs. Gee-Haw fits nicely in little acrylic box or even a zip-top baggie. Slips right into a pocket, too.”

In addition to the deck of cards Gee-Haw has a very nice wooden score board and pegs -- rather standard fare from NewVenture Games in a very positive way.

Here the challenge is to get all 10 pegs – valued ace to 10 -- to either the red or the black side of the score board, based on the suit colour of the numbered cards and the ‘wild card’ powers of the face cards – kings and queens allow you to move any peg, jacks allow the movement of two pegs. You decide how to utilize most of the card values – so a 10 can be a lone 10 peg move, or a peg combo which totals 10.

You play through the deck hoping to win, but most often coming to the end of the deck singling another loss – yes Gee Haw is a tough one.

McCord did note, “a shuffled poker deck provides nearly limitless replayability. Even considering the probabilities offered by 52 cards, Gee-Haw can be won about 30 per cent of the time, which is a pretty good rate for a pocket-size solo game.”

So far I am apparently a below par Gee Haw player, but it’s quick and I will challenge it again with some vigour. As McCord also noted Gee Haw is “easy on the brain. “Relaxing, not taxing.”

McCord said he was surprised I had not asked about the name of the game (as most people do). He explains it in a how-to-play video, but being a farm boy I caught on before that.

But I will let the designer explain.

“I know a lot of horse people, and somewhere along the line I learned the Gee and the Haw use to drive a team of horses. The teamster is telling the horses to turn left or right, and left or right is what the game’s all about,” said McCord.

Ultimately Gee Haw is so different as a solitaire game – at least to me – that it’s an easy high recommendation. Simple rules and yet challenging time burner. Check it out at ww.newventuregames.com

Diploe 'stacks-up' well as part of 8x8 Project

 

I recently posed a question with the Abstract Nation on Facebook asking what were three games players preferred on an 8x8 checkerboard.

Not surprisingly there was a lot of commonality in answers and IMHO a few gems missed.

So over the coming weeks I’ll offer a few short reviews of what I see as the best games to be played on an 8x8 checkerboard with the added constraint you have only two sets of 24 pieces – basically you buy two matching common checker sets.

This is #14.

Dipole, a 2007 release from Mark Steere is basically an annihilation-style game in as much as you win if all of your opponent's checkers are removed from the board.

In Dipole each player starts with a single stack of 12 checkers. If you have chunky checkers like mine it’s a huge stack, but fortunately you will quickly be deconstructing the stack into smaller stacks.

A stack, or a portion of a stack, is moved a distance equal to the number of checkers in the moved stack. So, as an example a three-stack, can be moved a distance of three squares, and the initial 12-stack can’t be moved in its entirety.

Non-capturing moves must be made forward or diagonally forward – in a straight line, no changing direction.

Interestingly, in Dipole stack movement is not obstructed by intervening stacks, regardless of size or colour.

Capturing moves can be made in any of eight directions, but a stack can capture only equal size or smaller stacks.

To facilitate capture as a game continues stacks can be moved onto other, like-coloured stacks. Merging moves can only be made in the forward or diagonally forward directions as well.

This one won’t be mistaken for the best of ‘Project 8x8 & 48’ but is certainly worthy of inclusion with some interesting decisions in terms of building and deconstructing stacks, and limited move options unless capturing.