Cals Board Game Musings

Review -- EATEN BY ZOMBIES!

2011-10-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

Few things say Halloween fun more than zombies, and with the night of mischief only days away, here is a new offering by designer Max Holliday.
Eaten By Zombies! is a brand new (2011) offering into what is admittedly a rather crowded field of zombie-themed boardgames. There are literally dozens that fall into the basic premise of players trying to avoid the rotting hordes of undead, and Eaten By Zombies! doesn't stray from the idea either.
Then again Hollywood, and 'B' filmmakers have churned out dozens of zombie films and we still go to enjoy the carnage of Resident Evil or the dark humor of Shaun of the Dead.
But back to Eaten By Zombies! which has some nice elements which make it one of the newer zombie offerings worth a look.
To start with it's a card game, and that generally means a bit lower cost that a full boardgame.
Eaten By Zombies! also accommodates two-to-four players, and that allows some nice versatility, allowing a couple to play it, or to have the neighbours for a game.
The game is also stated to play in about 20-minutes. The company estimates, in this case Mayday Games, usually anticipate players knowing the game fairly well, so in most cases games are likely to last longer, but will still be nice, quick plays.
Players start off with an identical 12 cards, from which they draw six as a hand. The basic hand includes cards which add to attacks on a zombie, help flee if that is your choice, and a couple of sandwich cards as a resource.
With six cards in hand you draw a zombie card, from a deck of 25. You then decide if you want to fight or run, and use cards in your hand to enhance your chance of doing whichever action you choose.
If you are successful you get to collect useful items, guns, crowbar, ammo etc., which go to your hand and then you draw back to six cards.
If you flee then the zombie card goes to the zombie discard pile, so when you need to reshuffle your draw pile, you will get zombie cards which can only be gotten rid of if you play them into the zombie horde attacking another player, making it tougher on them. This aspect makes three and four player games a bit less of a head-to-head, get the other guy contest.
Death is all but inevitable, but if you are the last player standing you win. If at any time the entire zombie deck is depleted, because the players have killed all of them rather than using flee, all remaining players alive win together. That creates a unique cooperative/competitive aspect to Eaten By Zombies! You can better survive by cooperation, but the need to rid your hands of zombies forces you into competition with other players.
All told there is some definite ghoulish fun to be had with Eaten By Zombies!
Check this card game out at www.maydaygames.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 26, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- ENDICOTT EPIDEMIC: INFECTIOUS CONTAGION

2011-10-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

Nothing conjures up thoughts of Halloween more than a horde of mindless zombies bent on having a snack on some poor guy's brains.
Now personally I'm not sure zombies exist, so the best option for exploring the craze around the mindless critters is to play one of the many board games created around them.
Which brings us to Endicott Epidemic: Infectious Contagion, a card game where survivors fight hordes of zombies, race the clock to find the cure before an atomic bomb wipes out the town, and generally scratch and claw to survive.
Created by Douglas Harvey in 2010, Endicott Epidemic packs a lot of positive aspects into a single deck of cards.
To start with the game can be played solitaire, although the chance of winning is a razor thin one, or by up to eight players. That really gives the game a broad range, and can hit the table in most any situation.
The next positive is that the game has three eventual outcomes, so games can take decidedly different paths.
As a group -- each player takes a character card with special attributes on the game -- you can find the 'cure' to the zombie plague and win, with ultimate bragging rights going to the player with the most zombie kills.
The countdown can get you, where the four cards are turned over which result in the nuclear bomb striking. Game over.
Or players can all be turned into zombies, again game over.
On our first play night we had all three outcomes. That seems pretty nicely balanced.
The game also has levels of difficulty. There are 10 extra tough zombies that are much harder to kill. The easiest game has two of these big baddies involved. Four is harder, seven harder still, and all 10, a suicide operation.
The game has already spawned a couple of expansions, a modest six-card one which comes with a deluxe edition, and Endicott Epidemic: Infectious Contagion Expansion #1: Black Ops, an 18-card expansion which adds the MBI Black Ops squad, a team of five deadly Soldiers under the command of the ruthless Chrissy. They know the bomb is coming and will wipe out all traces of their crimes, but on the small chance that a survivor escapes with the Hermit and his Intel, they are out to get the survivors (players) first.
In correspondence with the game designer, two other expansions are on the horizon; a scout pack allowing players tools to look through the play deck to see what is coming, and a 'Radioactive Rumble" which will give players another hazard to overcome, the possibility of radiation poisoning.
The game is evolving, and growing, another positive, since it keeps the game fresh.
A perfect game for the Halloween season, or any night as a fairly quick 45-minute, zombie-fest.
Check this great card game out at www.togentertainment.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 19, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- GRAVE BUSINESS

2011-10-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

So Halloween approaches.
Well Minion Games has an offering tailor-made for the upcoming spook night.
"In ages long past, the Master taught you the dark secrets of undeath. You could no longer perish, and as long as you had fresh body parts available, neither could your loyal servants - who were coincidentally made somewhat more loyal by the zombification process. But now the Master has fallen! ...Again. And this time those vile heathens have taken the inconvenient extra precautions of separating and inhuming some integral pieces of his unliving remains," relates the company website (www.miniongames.com )
"In these dire times, one has to look after his own, and you're a necromancer who is more dangerous than most; you're a necromancer with a business plan. Your zombies will dig up graves and loot valuables, and while they're at it, they'll grab fresh body parts so you can make more zombies to dig up more graves. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, it's so good that other necromancers are after the same cemeteries you are!"
And therein lies the fun lure of the 2011 release Grave Business from designer Andy Van Zandt.
The premise of the game is such a fun one you can't help but be drawn into this one which accommodates two-to-four players.
So the first impression from the description was a good one.
The light-hearted cartoon-ish art makes this one softer for a family than the name might imply.
Then I opened the box and was greeted by a pile of card board sheets that I had to punch a bigger pile of cardboard pieces of out of. Now I recognize games need pieces, and cardboard 'chits' are a reasonably priced option, and when thick as these are, they will last.
But when there a dozens of chits, and I do mean dozens, I can't help but see lost pieces down the road. How many Scrabble sets are complete a year after purchase?
The concern becomes worse if you travel your games to local club events, or the neighbours for a night of fun.
Past that the components are solid.
The game mechanics are pretty straight forward, although you can imagine moving and piling and tracking chits is a rather large of things. For me that takes away from the game a bit, but most will accept it as the norm.
The game is essentially one of competing with other players to collect treasure and body parts, just some good ghoulish fun, especially for this time of year.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 12, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- PUMPKING

2011-10-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

So we are into October and that means thoughts of Halloween, and that means it's time for a look at a few games which fit the season, starting with one which has not been published, so if you want to play you need to be a little crafty.
The game in question is Pumpking, a 2008 release by designer Bobby Doran.
The game is essentially an abstract strategy game for two players with a definite Halloween theme pasted on.
Generally abstract strategy games with pasted on themes, games such as Hey! That's My Fish are a total turn off, but with a soft spot for Halloween this one is all right.
Pumpking, in terms of mechanics was inspired by the ancient game Latrunculorum, which is considered about 2000 years old.
Latrunculorum was known to be played by the Romans, and versions of the same game may have been played before by the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians, and afterwards by the Persians. That said the exact rules of the game have been lost to time, leaving various experts arguing game board size, number of pieces etc.
What does seem agreed to in the case of Latrunculorum is that capture is made when a piece has opposing pieces on either side of it. The idea of sandwich, or custodial capture is the mechanic used in Pumpking.
Pumpking has each player with six pumpkin warriors which move as chess rooks, two bats moving as chess knights, and a prince which moves as chess queen.
The game is played on a 6X11 board, and uses the Latrunculorum method of capture.
The game plays quickly, but there is room to employ strategy, although the smallish board means an error can be deadly.
So as stated this is a game you must craft. The rules and a nice board to download can be found at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/38426/pumpking
As for pieces, Halloween is the perfect time to find suitable things to use. Head to the Halloween shelves in a store. That's where I found cheap plastic pumpkin whistles that with a quick trim, I was able to weight with a marble and glue into a pop bottle cap.
The bats were from cheap give-away rings that glued to a thread spool as if they were clinging to a pillar.
I used a gaming miniature for the princes, but there would be lots of options for the key piece (capture the prince and win).
Whatever you do to craft Pumpking, the effort will be worth it for the fast-playing abstract strategy game with its roots in ancient boardgaming history.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 5, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- MURUS GALLICUS

2011-10-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

When it comes to board games there are those you buy in the store. Lots of those have been reviewed here through the months.
Then there are the kind where you need to be a bit crafty. The game rules exist, but no publisher has picked up the game, so if you want to play, you have to fashion the board and pieces. It's not that such games are poor. In fact many are better than some you pay good money for. Understanding the vagaries of why some get published and others do not is fodder for a treatise best left to other outlets than this.
And, then there is a third option for finding a great board game to play, and that is the realm of games where rulesets are created for games utilizing existing game boards and pieces.
Most gamers will own a checker/chess board and a set of checkers. It is about as fundamental element of a board game collection as you can get.
With those simple items there are a wide range of games which can be played simply by accessing online rules and digging out the board and checkers.
Murus Gallicus is one such game.
The game is played on a rectangular board consisting of 56 cells (8x7). A standard checkerboard is 8x8, so you simply ignore one row and away you go.
Each player starts with a set of 16 tokens referred to as stones (the checkers).
At the start of the game, each player takes a set of stones and stacks two stones on each of their eight squares nearest them.
The game is supposed to reflect Romans versus Gauls, so the Roman player uses the light pieces, and the Gaul player uses the dark ones.
The basic units of the game are towers and walls. A tower consists of two like-coloured stones in a cell (the starting formation is all towers), and are the only pieces which can move in the game.
A wall is a single stone in a cell. Walls block movement and can also act as stepping stones which can be used later in the creation of new towers.
A tower moves by a sowing method. Pick up the two pieces and seed forward, one each in consecutive spaces, which can include on top of single wall pieces of the same colour.
Tower stones can be used to remove adjacent opponent walls, through a sacrifice, so both players lose a piece sacrifice.
A player is stalemated if unable to move/sow or sacrifice at the start of his or her turn.
The game sounds simple, and it is in terms of rules, but elements such as set formations, learned as you gain experience, make strategy important.
As examples there is the Gallic Wall consisting of orthogonally connected walls (and sometimes towers) requiring the opponent to go around the wall or blast his or her way thorough using a sacrificed stone; The Chariot consists of a tower, wall and empty space aligned, and he battering ram consists of two towers and an opponent wall aligned whereby sacrificing a tower stone, the opponent's wall can be removed.
Overall Murus Gallicus plays like a much older game. You actually get the feeling Romans might have played this in the shadow of the Hadrian's Wall. That is praise, at least in my books, for game developer Phil Leduc who captured such a classic feel when designing Murus Gallicus in 2009.
So if the checker board has been gathering dust search Murus Gallicus online for the full rules, pull out the board and pieces and explore a new game with simplicity and depth. (There is a commercial set available through a European company, although why one would invest in one given the easy use of a checker set escapes me).

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper September 21, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- SPLUT !

2011-10-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

It's getting to that time of year when the sun goes down earlier and that means longer evenings to fill. Of course boardgames are a good option.
So too is crafting the board game before playing it.
Which brings us back to the realm of print 'n play, and web published games. There aren't commercial versions of the games available, so the only way to play them is with a bit of work ahead of time.
In many cases the extra work is well worth it, and actually adds a lot to the gaming experience because you have had to create the board and pieces.
One game well worth the effort, and relatively simple to create is Splut!
To start with how cool is the name? It conjures a certain image, and in this case it fits as the premise of the game is to have one of your pieces toss a 'rock' game piece onto your opponent’s primary piece.
But before we get to the cool piece array of Splut!, I should mention this is an abstract strategy game which can be played by two, three, or four players. In the case of abstracts the best, chess, Go and others are two-player only, and frankly in terms of strategic play Splut! is best as a two-player game.
That said, an abstract that even allows a three, or four-player option is rare, so that is a huge bonus with Splut!.
Splut! grows more chaotic, and near impossible to plan strategy with four players in action.
Chaos is not a bad thing in this case, since Splut! is a fantasy-themed game with its roots in chess.
Players compete in an arena (the board) with each participant controlling a team consisting of one stonetroll, one dwarf, and a sorcerer.
Designer Tommy De Coninck has done a nice job with the mechanics. During a turn players have three moves to make, as they attempt to get your stonetroll to a rock (four Rocks are provided in the arena) and let him throw it onto an opposing Sorcerer. This will eliminate that team.
The stonetroll, dwarf and sorcerer each have unique movements.
So back to fashioning a set. The board, in fact several interpretations of the board, can be found online and printed for personal use. Start by checking out www.toco.be/splut
The pieces are a matter of personal taste. Some opt for using gaming miniatures, and there are a huge variety of trolls, dwarves and wizards available from a range of fantasy wargame lines.
Another option is to go for the representational look, which can be easier to achieve. In my case a variety of wooden thread spools painted up nicely with different sizes representing the troll, dwarf and sorcerer.
Whichever approach you take to crafting Splut! it is worth the effort since the game is simple to learn (full rules are online), and a riot to play.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper September 14, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- ZOXSO

2011-10-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

When a boardgame has the tag line 'The New Ancient Game' on the box it accomplishes two things, at least in my case; it draws my attention, and sets a very high bar for itself.
When it comes to abstract strategy games many of the best have been around for decades, if not centuries; games such as Go, chess, Camelot and Shogi.
The tag line on ZoxSo suggests it wants to be thought of in terms similar to the aforementioned classics.
That is a pretty 'heady' expectation. Those games have stood the test of time, and in all likelihood will be played a 100-years in the future.
Will anyone but maybe my descendents know about ZoxSo, if this game warrants being placed in my legacy trunk, a collection of games I am hoping will stay in the family long after I am gone?
Well that is a tough question to answer for a game released only in 2009, and from a smaller publisher at that.
Indie released games take some time to grow an audience. Arimaa is managing to attract growing interest, and yet as fantastic as that game is, it is far from being chess yet in terms of players and interest.
ZoxSo has a long way to go indeed to be a true hit.
That all said, there are many elements designer David Weinstock has put into ZoxSo which remind of older games.
There are bits of checkers and yes chess here. You hear that statement often about new abstract strategy games, but in this case they are warranted. For example the Ma piece actually moves as a knight, so the comparison is obvious.
So let's start with the components. The board is heavy, folding cardboard. In time I'd expect the folds may crack, but still solid enough. A rollable board would be a step up.
The pieces remind of poker chips. They are plastic with stickers on each side. Again quite functional, although if the game catches on a metal engraved set would be amazing.
Each player has 10-disks, four Ma, five Dao and one Xing. Each piece has a silver (Zox) side, and a colour (So) one.
The board too is divided into points called Pearls and then Stones. There is a further division with an inner and outer area.
Only Zox pieces are allowed on Pearls, and move one Pearl to the next, a single space at a time. A Zox piece cannot move, or capture across the 'wall' dividing the inner and outer areas.
The game starts with players taking turns placing the Zox pieces anywhere on pearls outside the 'wall'.
Then the real game begins, with capture by replacement.
When flipping a piece up to the Stone, the So side becomes active. As stated the Ma moves as a chess knight on the Stones, the Dao as rook, and the Xing as a one-space rook. So pieces can move across the entire board ignoring the 'wall'.
The goal of the game is to get your Xing to the centre stone, or to capture the opponent's Xing to win.
There are a couple of other rules, including a rather devious chain movement and capture mechanism. From the ruleset, "On the Pearls, a group of at least two adjacent pieces of the same colour (dark or light) form a “Zox-chain”. On any given turn, one piece in a Zox-chain may make a legal move or capture for another piece in that chain, in its stead. Such ‘chain movement” is legal only for pieces that occupy Pearls."
There is a lot going on here in terms of movement options, although the number of options make defence a challenge. As a result the game plays fast, under half an hour. That is good that multiple games can be achieved at a sitting, but may limit exploration of the diverse game play offered by ZoxSo. Some of the creative play options mean quick ends to game, which can be a bit under-satisfying as a slower game would create more time to truly develop the rich options the ruleset offers.
Still this is a game worth delving into and one which with repeated game play may grow to be a definite keeper among modern abstracts at least.
Check it out at www.mindspanlabs.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper September 7, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- JUMP GATE

2011-10-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

It's never a bad idea to undertake a bit of space exploration at the gaming table and Jump Gate is a pretty good choice as the way to do it.
Created in 2010 by games designer Matt Worden, who is also responsible for Castle Danger reviewed here earlier, Jump Gate was the 2011 Games Magazine Game of the Year, which in itself is pretty high praise for the game.
Accommodating two-to-six players, Jump Gate is one where players explore over the gaming area, visiting one of eight-planets to discover what resources they hold.
As spaceship captains you compete to be the first to a planet to claim it, but of course there are pitfalls out there which can toss a cosmic wrench into the works.
By claiming planets players gain resources, which mean fattening the coffers and gaining face across the breadth of space.
Controlling plants and gaining resources, accomplished through card play, ultimately combine to determine who wins.
The card components of what is essentially a resource claiming game are quite good, which is refreshing given that it is from a small indie producer. Kudos to Worden for his effort in that regard.
The multiple planets and resource options give the game replay value, and the fairly simple ruleset, for a game of this ilk, make it easily taught to new players wanting to challenge the black voids of space.
All told, Jump Gate is a pretty good way to kill an hour at the gaming table, actually better than many of the options out there.
Check it out at www.mwgames.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper August 24, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- KNIGHTS OF CRYLAIL

2011-10-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

It was immediately intriguing when I came across a game which offered both skill, and strategy.
The Knights of Crylail offers players both.
On the skill side, it is a finger-flicking game. That means it requires the same skill set as the classic Crokinole. If you don't have a steady hand and a deadly aim as you settle in to flick your wooden disks you best practice because that is at the heart of Knights of Crylail.
The story lore is fun to start with.
"The warring kingdoms of Crylail are forced to put their differences aside for a time as they turn to fight a common foe. A dark wizard has summoned three mighty Drak-Borgs, equipped them with stones of power and sent them to their death in the Void. When each Drak-Borg meets this fiery doom, the wizard and his legions increase in power. The hope of the Free Lands of Crylail depends on the brave knights and their fellow fighters sent to slay the Drak-Borgs in the Lanten fields at the edge of the world," details the single rules sheet for the game.
The rules are very simple, but also allow for some strategic decisions.
The Void is represented by the edge of any convenient table. Players will send their disks (the knights) down the table, attempting to place them in scoring positions near the three target disks (the Drak-Borgs).
The components are great. There are three Drak-Borg disks, and then each player gets a set of six knights. Triangles are included to mark the launch and battle lines. All are made of wood, always a bonus in terms of components. It also all fits in a small cloth bag, so taking it with you is easy.
The playing field is a smooth table.
Place the Drak-Borg at one end, behind the battle line.
Set the launch line at the opposite end of the table. Players take turns flicking their knights from behind the launch line toward the Drak-Borg to score points.
If the knight goes off the table or stays on the table but does not cross the battle line, it is removed from play for that round. Knights removed from play are placed face-down to indicate they have been used that round.
Where the strategy comes into play is that each of the six knights, marked by a brand, has unique attributes, which impact scoring. It is a player's choice when to use each knight, adding a layer of decision-making to each game round.
As examples; Spearmen – represented by the Spear, if this knight is closest to the Void (edge of the table behind the battle line), it is worth six points.
The Slayer – represented by the Axe, this knight scores double points if it scores in the round. It cannot be the last knight a player sends into battle.
It is the added layer of strategic play option in terms of piece selection which gives this finger-flicking game an added boost in terms of enjoyment.
If you like games that require skill, and like a bit of strategy mixed in, then Knights of Crylail is a must.
Check it out at www.bluepantherllc.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper August 17, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- FLICOCHET

2011-10-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

Regular readers will no doubt recognize that dice rolls and I do not actually get along all that well.
Games requiring dice rolls often leave me frustrated with Lady Luck. She seems to take special pleasure in turning near victory into laughable defeat based on a dice roll.
As a result of bad luck with dice, I have become a huge fan of abstract strategy games, those which rely on out-thinking an opponent. At least then the loss is mine, and I can work on improving how I play strategically, rather than lamenting how the dice roll. (A deck of cards is only slightly less frustrating than dice).
While abstract strategy games are favoured by myself, I do have a growing interest in a category of games known broadly as dexterity games, and within that category, finger-flicking games specifically.
People are probably most familiar with crokinole as a finger-flicking game.
The Canadian-designed classic might be the best board game ever created, but that is for a future review.
This week the game is Flicochet, a wonderfully simple finger-flicking game which comes in a small package making it ideal to take anywhere you go that you might want a little gaming fun.
The game is reminiscent of bocce/lawn bowling, miniaturized to the tabletop. If not familiar with bocce, it's a lawn game which works on the premise you toss a smaller ball onto a spot on the lawn, then take turns with an opponent rolling larger balls to get closest to the 'jack'. Scoring is like curling, in that you score points for each ball closer to the 'jack' than your opponent.
Flicochet has the same basic rule set using small wooden disks and played on a tabletop.
Played on a smooth-topped table, generally the bigger the better, players place one, or two slightly larger black wooden disks.
Then one player, or team, takes six white wooden disks, the other red disks. You take turns flicking the disks toward the black ones to score points. Along the way you can knock your opponent's piece away, much like a take-out in curling, or you can hit and move the black disks, hopefully to your advantage.
There are some variant rules, but they are equally simple.
Overall this little game is great. Wooden pieces are always a bonus, and the small package (about the size of a deck of cards), makes it easy to take with you. You can teach the rules in a minute and be set for lots of fun, and with practice you can even get better at Flicochet as you hone an actual skill.
A definite winner of a game.
Check it out at www.adventurelandgames.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper August 10, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- THE WAR OF 1812

2011-10-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

The War of 1812 was another moment in this country's past which most of us are likely to recall from history class.
The war was one fought between the United States and the British Empire. With what was to become Canada still under British rule in 1812, and the United States directly south battles were inevitable, and both land and naval battles were fought on the frontier, which ran along the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River.
It is those battles which brings us to this week's game, The War of 1812, from Columbia Games, an effort I see as a sister game to Quebec 1759 reviewed here last week, since the two games come from the same company, utilize the same mechanics, and focus on battles with a Canadian connection.
There is a lot to like with The War of 1812 including a fine period-feel map.
Troop movement is conducted via a simple to understand point-to-point system.
The game comes with handfuls of blocks to represent units on both sides of the conflict.
As in Quebec 1759, it is the block system, familiar to many Columbia Games, which make this relatively simple approach to a wargame both interesting and re-playable. Rather than using traditional counters to represent units on the map the game uses wooden blocks that stand upright with unit details only shown on one side.
The result is basically secret troop deployment which is reflective of the reality on a battlefield. Not knowing what the opponent is doing strategically gives this game a feel of realism using a rather simple mechanic.
The fact the blocks are wood is aesthetically pleasing, and the stickers apply easily, adds to the component value.
The blocks can also be rotated so the current strength is the top number. Most war games have some type of mechanism which tracks troop unit strength, but blocks with four sides do allow some added detail potential.
Simply put Columbia's block system adds depth to a game without a lot of bookkeeping keeping game time manageable.
The ruleset is well laid out, and you can be re-enacting the War of 1812 in very little time once you crack the cellophane on this game.
The game may lack the detail craved by some wargamers, but casual fans of the genre will love it.
The fact few Canadian battles are chronicled in games at all make The War of 1812 a near must have.
Check it out at www.columbiagames.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper July 27, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- QUEBEC 1759

2011-10-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

War games have long been a popular genre in terms of boardgames.
The genre ranges from the simplest representation of two sides at war, to a game so thick in atmosphere and real-life-reflecting detail that they are only for the most dedicated wargamer.
Quebec 1759 falls somewhere in between, probably leaning toward the simpler of wargames to play, although in this case it makes the game no less fun to play.
For Canadians this game holds special interest since it is based on one of the most significant events in the early creation of this country,
Quebec 1759 covers the conflict between the British and the French in Canada during the Seven Years War.
Most of us will recall the conflict from history class in school.
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War. The battle began on Sept. 13, 1759, and was fought between the British Army and Navy, and the French Army, on a plateau just outside the walls of Quebec City, on land that was originally owned by a farmer named Abraham Martin, from which the name is derived.
The culmination of a three-month siege by the British, the battle lasted about 15 minutes. British troops commanded by General James Wolfe successfully resisted the column advance of French troops and Canadian military under Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm, solidifying the names of Wolfe and Montcalm in Canada's history.
This board game focuses on the historic conflict.
The game comes with a beautiful map reflective of the period.
Troop movement is conducted via a point-to-point system following the roads and towns in the area around Quebec.
The game comes with handfuls of blocks to represent the British and French units.
It is the block system, familiar to many Columbia Games, which make this relatively simple approach to a wargame both interesting and re-playable. Rather than using traditional counters to represent units on the map the game uses wooden blocks that stand upright with unit details only shown on one side.
The result is basically secret troop deployment which is reflective of the reality on a battlefield. Not knowing what the opponent is doing strategically gives this game a feel of realism using a rather simple mechanic.
The blocks can also be rotated a block so the current strength is the top number. Most war games have some type of mechanism which tracks troop unit strength, but blocks with four sides do allow some added detail potential.
Simply put Columbia's block system adds depth to a game such as Quebec 1759 without a lot of bookkeeping keeping game time manageable.
The fact the blocks are wood is aesthetically pleasing, and the stickers apply easily.
The rule set is well laid out, and you can be re-enacting the famed battle quickly.
When you add factors such as component quality, the excellent block mechanic, and relatively short game time (about an hour), and then add in its Canadian connection and the 1972 released Quebec 1759 is a great addition to a gaming shelf.
The ability to try and change the outcome of the famous battle is just too much fun to pass up.
Check it out at www.columbiagames.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper July 20, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- ODIN'S RUNE CHESS

2011-10-25T15:39:00.000-07:00

Regular readers will know by now I have a particular interest in chess variants.
While I recognize the familiar western chess is a classic, which I have not come close to mastering, I will admit to liking variety. That is why I love Omega Chess with its larger board and additional jumping pieces, the wizard and champion. I find the changes as an enhancement to the chess experience.
Then there is Spartan Chess, reviewed here some weeks ago, which offers two distinct piece arrays, the familiar chess side opposed by a Spartan layout with pieces moving differently. This was a great find, although with no commercial set I had to become something of a craftsman to fashion a set. It was a worthwhile effort.
Which brings us to this week's review game, Odin's Rune Chess created in 2005 by Gary Gifford. I do appreciate Gifford had his reason for incorporating runic design elements into the online game pieces, but it would be smoother to drop rune from the name and go with the simpler Odin's Chess, which of course leads one back to the idea of Norse mythology which again is part of the games theme.
Now when one looks at chess variants there are two rather broad areas, one expanding on regular chess, usually is alternate board size and new pieces, such as Omega Chess, and those which really change everything up but hold to be chess based on 'the feel' of the game.
Odin's Chess falls somewhere in between.
The rook and bishop remain from regular chess, although here I might have changed the piece name of the bishop which I associate more with Christianity than Norse mythology.
From there the game diverges significantly.
The forest ox moves and captures as a knight, plus can optionally remove any one piece one space away orthogonally or diagonally, while staying on the square it just moved to. So the forest ox can capture two pieces in one turn. It automatically becomes the power piece of the game.
The pawns do not promote, but have an enhanced forward move, and can also retreat, so they too are powerful game tools.
The Valkyrie is essentially an enhanced queen. A Valkyrie can capture enemy kings, pawns, and pieces, that are then removed from the board, moving in all eight directions as a queen. But Valkyries also have a powerful additional move. It can also capture a friendly King, piece or pawn by moving to that pieces location, then immediately placing that friendly King, piece, or pawn on any one square that the Valkyrie just traveled through. It can dramatically change a board layout, and with two Valkyries per side they have a lot of influence.
Each side also has two kings, you must capture both to win.
The King in Odin's Chess is either very powerful, or a lame duck, depending on the situation. A King can only move when it has at least one friendly non-King piece adjacent to it; or if a Valkyrie can move it as explained previously. If a Pawn, Valkyrie, and Forest Ox were next to a King, the King could move and capture as would any one of those pieces. The King could even perform the Valkyrie piece movement move or the Forest Ox double kill; providing that it had those pieces adjacent to it.
Isolated from friendly pieces the king is stationary.
The game is chess, but is dynamically different, and a total blast to play.
Now the bad news, there is no commercial set, so you have to make your own.
The runes Gifford uses in his graphics are simple enough to draw, albeit crudely in my case. Given the Norse theme painting on small flat rocks would be great, but finding 40 small flat rocks is a challenge. I used the back of Scrabble pieces, then painted over the letters in black. They work quite well.
The larger 10X10 board is not too hard to find, although drawing one on a piece of leather like I did adds to the old Norse feel, and it is easy to roll the pieces inside the leather board to storage, so Odin's Chess transports well.
This is a great game that plays very differently from regular chess, but the differences are easily understood as well.
Take some time, create a set, and enjoy.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper July 13, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- UNCLE CHESTNUT'S TABLE GYPE

2011-10-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

Uncle Chestnut's Table Gype (UCTG) is one of those games which has a lot of interesting aspects which draw one's interest to the game.
To start with this 2010 release from Eternal Revolution has a tie to literature.
In his Autobiography, G.K. Chesterton, a British author who died in 1936, mentions “the well-known and widespread national game of Gype” which he and H.G. Wells invented. It's the first game with a book tie in -- Jetan by Edgar Rice Burroughs an example previously reviewed here -- but such history always adds to the game mythos.
The details of the game were never actually defined in print, so may not truly have been invented, but it did prove to be the seed for this game some 75-years later.
The game UCTG was designed by Paul and Christopher Nowak, and draws heavily on Chinese checkers and chess. It allows for 2-4 players.
Now Chinese checkers is a fun multi-player game which is a bit overly chaotic with multiple players, but the jump mechanism is interesting, and rather simple to grasp. In UCTG players try to move their pieces from their home row to the row directly opposite, and are allowed to jump their own pieces or those of their opponents.
The difference here is that pieces are six-sided cubes, each face having a different symbol, flame, book, swords, tree, hat and ear. Each of the six symbols gives the piece a different movement, the flame as a chess king, the book as a rook, but limited to one space, swords as a one space bishop, hat as a knight, the ear not able to move etc. A piece can of course move vying jumps within the restriction of their movement pattern.
So players start out placing a standard array in any fashion they desire on their home row with the goal of moving across the board.
It starts out as a straight forward perfect information abstract strategy game, but once you start moving pieces a big element of random chance is mixed into the game. When any piece is jumped, the jumped cube is randomly rolled and replaced on the board with the new face on top.
It adds chance, but still plays nicely, more so with two, than four which simply gets overly crowded and chance heavy.
The game uses wooden cubes in four colours, with the symbols burned into the wood. It gives the game an old, sort of homemade feel. The board is cloth, and it comes with a cloth carrying bag. It all becomes a small, easily transportable package.
The game is garnering some definite acclaim being honoured both by Mensa Select 2011, Mensa Mind Games, and an Honorable Mention, GAMES Magazine's Top 100 Games of 2011, Abstract Strategy.
Check this one out at www.eternalrevolution.com, it's a fine time killer.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper June 29, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- KHET 2.0.

2011-10-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

Were you ever a student who sat in geometry class in school and wondered if what the instructor was talking about was something you would ever have the need of in the real world?
Well of course figuring out angles has lots of real life applications including playing board games and no game demonstrates that more than Khet 2.0.
As you might surmise from the trendy 2.0 aspect of the name, this is a relaunch of a game.
Khet: The Laser Game arrived on the scene in 2005, and was while a game is a two-player abstract strategy game, it actually still managed two expansions, Eye of Horus Beam Splitter and Tower of Kadesh in 2006 and 2008 respectively.
Now I suspect Khet isn't a household name in terms of games, partly because abstract strategy games have a smaller audience to begin with, but the fact the original version did warrant expansions speaks to at least some interest.
So now Innovation Toys has released an updated version of the game.
Having never seen the original, I can't comment, but I will say re-launches can ultimately go one of two ways, improving the status of a game because of improvements, or split the game community because people have two different versions.
If I had the original Khet, and its expansion I would not like rush out to buy the new version. However, if a bud was to get interested in the game they'd almost assuredly buy 2.0 and then you are playing two slightly different versions.
In checking out the game's website at www.khet.com the big difference between the original version of Khet and Khet 2.0 is that the lasers which were built into the board are now in a new Sphinx piece for each colour. Players place their Sphinx in their lower right corner, initially with the laser pointed down their right column. Instead of moving a piece, a player can rotate their Sphinx.
Now lasers have been mentioned a couple of times. They are what make the game intriguing, and why you need to recall geometry class.
The game's website explains the game concept well. "It's the game that combines lasers with classic strategy. Players alternate turns moving Egyptian-themed pieces having two, one or no mirrored surfaces. All four types of pieces (pharaoh, anubis, pyramid and scarab) can either move one square forward, back, left, right, or diagonal, or stay in the same square and rotate by a quarter twist. Each turn ends by firing the real laser diode built into each player's Sphinx piece. The laser beam bounces from mirror to mirror; if the beam strikes a non-mirrored surface on any piece, it is immediately removed from play. The ultimate goal is to illuminate your opponent's pharaoh, while shielding yours from harm!"
You need to understand angles and see the potential of pending the laser in multiple ways to be effective at Khet.
The pieces are translucent plastic, nicely done, although the Sphinx doesn't quite match the look.
As long as the lasers last this game could be a favourite for some for years to come.
In general it is a niche game, although abstract strategy fans have to check it out.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper June 22, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- 10 DAYS

2011-10-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

Some games spawn sequels in droves and the '10 Days In …' franchise is one of those.
The latest offering is 10 Days in the Americas, a 2010 release from Out of the Box Publishing, which follows earlier incarnations such as 10 Days in Africa, Asia and Europe.
"Players use country and transportation tiles to chart a course across the America. The first player to complete a 10-day journey, where each day connects to the next day, is the winner," explained the rule sheet.
Now if the starter objectives of the game don't excite you, it's with good cause. The game is a tad hoohum folks, which is a bit surprising given how they have re-created the theme repeatedly. You would expect you'd retread a winner, not a sort of middle-of-the-road, play only on occasion type of game.
Components wise 10 Days … is solid. The wooden tile holders are actually more than you would expect of the game, and are the sort of game accessory you will find useful in other games which don't prove a convenient way to hold tiles and/or cards.
Of course if tile holders are a highlight it does say something about the game too.
The rest of the bits, board, tiles are well-made too, so this game should last.
Designed by Alan R. Moon and Aaron Weissblum 10 Days accommodates two-to-four players, and at least plays rather quickly, about half-an-hour.
The game is unusual in that what appears the game board is actually only a geographic guide.
The game actually plays by simply drawing tiles and hoping to make connections for a 10-day trip. It's pretty much the luck of the draw and grows sort of tedious rather quickly if you like to think during a game.
Now if you want to talk the weather, or fate of your favourite sports team as you game then 10 Days … has greater merit.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper June 15, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- THE LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS

2011-10-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

Not many things speak to the commercialism in North America, at least in Canada and the United States more than the automobile.
The impact Henry Ford has had on the way we get around, the importance we put in our automobiles, and the impact the sector has on our economy are enough to write books on.
So it's no surprise boardgames have been designed around the idea of cars.
One such game is The Last of the Independents from Numbskull Games.
The game is immediately interesting because it centres around the battle, and it was a cutthroat business battle, which occurred in the United States after World War II among a number of car companies to woe the public and to survive.
We all know Ford did quite well, and Chrysler and Dodge too for that matter.
But what of the once storied Hudson? The now forgotten Studebaker and Packard?
Those behind the now long dead car lines once dreamed of becoming what Ford managed to do.
In Last of the Independents players attempt to carve out better fates for the extinct car brands on the board than they managed in real life.
Created in 2010 by designer Patrick Stevens, the game is one of resource management, where two-to-six players simulate the building, engineering, and promotion of cars by the smaller independent American automobile companies after the Great War.
Players face challenges executives would have faced as they competed against other small indie companies and of course the emerging giants such as Ford.
Players must work to design their cars, get them into production, and ultimately attract buyers in order establish a successful company and win the game.
The game has mechanics which allow some different approaches to being successful, and a player will face some crucial decisions through the course of the game.
Given the genre it is a bonus Last of the Independents is a dice-less affair.
The components are solid, although the board is a bit distracting with cars oriented so that some upside down, or sideways to every player.
Overall, a solid offering made more interesting by its theme.
You can check it out in more detail at www.numbskullgames.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper June 1, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- VIKINGS

2011-10-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

Find a game with a Viking theme and you generally have my interest.
Find one with some historic validity, and you pique that interest even more.
So the 2009-release Vikings from the duo of Svavar Björgvinsson and Sölvi Sturluson Snæfeld certainly caught my attention.
Co-creator Svavar Björgvinsson was good enough to explain a bit about the games development in an email.
"The idea came first when Sölvi Sturluson came to me and told me that he had an idea that he wanted to tell me about," he said. "We have been friends for some time and during that time we have been brainstorming some ideas that we might make some projects from. This idea was that he was wondering about if we could make a game about the struggles between the main Viking families during a critical era in our history; Sturlungaöld – the Age of Sturlungar. During that time you can say that a civil war was in Iceland and the main families where battling over regions.
"I have been playing board games for 30-years and own about 50-70 games myself I began to think how we could do this. The use of historical accuracy would be very difficult because the strategic area was shifting and mainly took place on the western part of Iceland. So we soon decided to make this a more simple game so we combined known tactics from a few battle games and the outcome was Vikings. We wanted to make the game a little bit retro so we bought a user license for an old Icelandic map, dated since 1590 as the main game board."
Using the old map as a major game element is an excellent decision. The map gives the board a feel of 'realism' which enhances the game mechanics.
It was interesting too to have Björgvinsson explain a bit about how a game such as Vikings is produced.
"This was much work and took many hours to do but nevertheless all this process from Sölvi telling me about the idea to the game coming from the printers toke less than three-months," he said. "We did all of the work ourselves; creating the game, drawing it and putting together the artworks, hand packing all the plastic pieces into bags, assembling the box and deliver them to the shops. The game was distributed to about 50 stores around the country and was nominated as game of the year from some newspapers and magazines. This was really fun and you can say that we put our love and soul into this game, but I don´t think that we will ever do this again the same way. Way too much work, with no profits. Now, when I look back, we made many mistakes and we could have done things much better and differently. But we had fun doing this and that is the main part."
Vikings is a strategy game for two to four players, meaning while luck is required, players also need to plan a strategy and successfully implement it to win.
At the start of the game players draw objective cards and you must be the first player to reach your objective to win the game.
The overall goal is to become the Chieftain of Iceland, something you achieve by occupy counties, harbours or fighting for the opponents' manors with your forces.
Players receive taxes from the counties to buy new Viking units, so money resource management is a factor too.
While battling with your neighbours to achieve your predetermined goals are the basis for the game, the game offers some interesting randomness too, from finding magical runes, to meeting roving monsters, which can impact the best laid plans.
The game is a solid play and available through www.vikings.is

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper May 25, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- ARIMAA II

2011-10-25T15:31:00.001-07:00

This is a first for me, a re-visit to a game previously reviewed.
In this case it's because there has been some interesting developments in Arimaa since I first reviewed the game in 2008.
Arimaa is a simply amazing abstract strategy game designed by Aamir Syed and Omar Syed, who brought the game to the public in 2002.
Initially the game was published, the rules at least, with players needing to fashion their own sets. Mine was made using backgammon stones with paper cut-outs attached, although the game can be play substituting standard chess pieces too.
However, in 2009 Z-Man games came out with a commercial Arimaa set. A local game bud purchased the set recently, and it's a sharp looking set with 3-D pieces representing the animals such as elephant, camel, horse, dog and rabbit. The pieces have a nice weight too.
A fancier, tournament set, larger both in size and cost, and a very detailed wood set have also hit the market.
Having commercial sets will draw more players and that's good since this game deserves attention, and lots of it.
Arimaa was designed to be difficult for computers to play. Something that is not the case with chess where computers are now at least equal to all but the very best players. With that goal in mind the number of possible moves at each turn in Arimaa is about 500 times that of chess.
To show that Arimaa is beyond a computer there is a reward of $10,000 for the first person or company who can build a computer program (with off-the-shelf programming tools) that can defeat a selected human Arimaa player prior to 2020.
The top computer program for 2011 was recently pitted against a trio of top world level players, and once again the computer went down to defeat.
While that doesn't mean a lot in terms of a game to play on a board for most of us, it does lend itself as an indication of the depth or Arimaa.
The depth comes from the vast array of moves afforded a player each turn.
It is great Arimaa has a world championship for players, in addition to the computer challenge.
The event is held on line and the most recent final was held in March with Greg Magne (a Canadian) and Jean Daligault facing off.
Daligault won the game to clinch the title becoming the first player to win the championship four consecutive times.
Now I hate mornings, but I was up at 8 a.m. the Saturday of the final to watch the final. It was a great experience since live commentary during the game was provided by Fritz Juhnke and Joel Thomas, so there was a better understanding of what the world-class players were trying to accomplish.
Games are archived at www.arimaa.com
As for the game, each piece in Arimaa has the same basic move ability. A turn consists of making one to four steps. A step has a piece move into an unoccupied square one space left, right, forward, or backward, except that rabbits may not step backward. The steps of a turn may be made by a single piece or distributed between several pieces in any order.
Stronger pieces may also move weaker pieces around the board, allowing them to push, or pull opponent pieces.
There is complexity within the game, and that brings me to another reason for the re-visit, Juhnke, who was one of the commentators for online world final, has released a book; 'Beginning Arimaa'.
A two-time world champion himself Juhnke takes readers inside Arimaa with 185 pages of background basics and strategy. The writing is enhanced by a number of diagrams which add to the ability to absorb what he is writing about.
The book has a sticker price of only $16.95 and is available through www.arimaa.com, and Amazon, so is both easily available and reasonably priced companion to the game that anyone serious about the game should look at investing in.
Juhnke has managed to create just what a game like Arimaa, one that should rival chess in interest, needed, a tool to get better through study when an opponent is not handy.
Well done Sir. Kudos on helping Arimaa take another step in its much-deserved growth.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper May 18, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- DINOSAUR CHESS

2011-10-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

If one name gets over-used in the world of boardgames, it is chess.
Game designers often compare their creations to chess, and some even tag the name to the new product, such as is the case with Dinosaur Chess.
In this case the term chess fits in the general 'feel' of the game, but frankly the game might just as well have been called 'Jurassica' or something.
Dinosaur Chess, created in 1993 by Richard Oldman is one of those games with a lot of good things going for it, but one which also makes a few mistakes along the way.
The good news is that the bad is predominantly associated with the aesthetics of the game.
That starts with the box, which has a couple of sort cartoony dinosaurs playing the game. It comes across as a game for younger players, in particular one for boys.
Once you get into the game though there is more depth of play that makes it challenging for all.
The box is also large, especially for its content. Large boxes are not easily stored, especially if you have lots of games, so it is a factor.
The size is in part because of the nice vinyl board rolled up inside. It is the highlight of the game, although there are paper stickers applied to the board which do tend to curl apart. I appreciate the game was self-produced, so custom printing a vinyl board was not likely feasible, but a stamp might have endured better.
The game pieces are not surprisingly dinosaurs. They are pictured on small stickers which have to be applied to the provided small wooden disks. They work fine, although a bit larger would have been a bonus.
Then there are the continent pieces. Cardboard cut-outs which start on the gaming mat, and over the course of the game shift, much as continents are said to have done over the centuries. The shifting continents in combination with the different movements of the various dinosaurs are the strong point of the game. There is intricacy to the game added by the dual movements which are excellent.
The piece selection is neat too, with the Pteranodons able to fly, and the Sarcosuchus able to go into the water.
In addition to the dinosaurs, each player has a time-traveller human piece, which is the key to winning and losing. You win by either capturing the opponent's time traveller, or alternately you can win by moving your traveller across the board to the opposition hemisphere.
The twin win conditions are also a bonus in my mind.
Overall a game with good depth and mechanics, although aesthetically there could have been more to attract a gamer's first look.
Check out www.dinochess.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper May 4, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- MONKEY QUEEN

2011-10-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

Last week I reviewed a Print and Play game as a great option for boardgame lovers with a crafty side to get into some fine games, such as Ragnarok: Aesir and Jotunn.
As reasonably priced as PnP games can be, there is an even cheaper avenue into some new games.
There are designers out there creating very interesting games which can be played with the generic gaming equipment you are likely to have at home.
Mark Steere is one such designer, with several games under his belt which can be played with items as simple as a checker board and accompanying checkers.
Steere's most recent creation is Monkey Queen. In this case you might have to draw out a gridded board, since it plays on a 12X12-square board. A sheet of bristol or core board works slick for drawing out a board.
It can be easy to see angles on a checkered board, but there is nothing specific about the rules to Monkey Queen which require alternating coloured squares.
After you have the board you require 20-stackable checkers in two colours. Existing checker sets, or a popular game such as Connect Four (it comes with 42 checkers) are sources many gamers will already have.
Once you have the items, your set to explore a really simply, yet deceptively deep abstract strategy game.
A two-player game the objective is simple, capture the enemy queen, or deprive your opponent of a move.
The queens are the initial stack of 20-checkers under the control of each player.
A monkey queens moves and captures like a chess queen, by sliding the entire stack along any of the eight possible directions for as far as desired provided it is unobstructed. It captures by replacement.
When moving the Monkey Queen, but not capturing, it still moves as a chess queen. But on a non-capturing move it leaves a single checker (monkey baby) behind in the square it started its move from.
A monkey baby, like the monkey queen, moves as a chess queen, and captures by replacement. When not capturing, a baby must move toward the enemy queen whereby the straight line distance between your baby and the enemy queen must be shortened by the move.
That's it. Simple rules, but on the big board there is room to develop strategic attacks and defences. A game worth some repeated play to explore the possibilities.
A definite winner made better by the free access rules at www.marksteeregames.com
If anyone is interested in this game, or other boardgames feel free to contact calmardan@sasktel.net
Past reviews are collected online at calsboardgamemusings.blogspot.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 27, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- RAGNAROK: AESIR AND JOTUNN

2011-10-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

In discussing games here on a weekly basis there have been many genres of games but one that has not been reviewed is the world of print 'n play (PnP) games.
Well that changes now as we take a look at Ragnarok: Aesir and Jotunn.
It would be remiss not to provide a brief description of what a PnP game is. The explanation is rather simple. They are games which designers have created, and for a variety of reasons have never formally published. So rather than never having their games played, they provide the necessary files online to allow people to print the material which in turn allows them to play the game.
The realm of PnP is as diverse as the varied world of boardgames, from chess variants, through to games with elaborate boards and a variety of bits and pieces to print.
The more pieces, the more cutting, and gluing there is to a PnP game makes them ideal projects for crafters.
In some respects one of the simplest games for PnP is a card game, which is exactly what Ragnarok: Aesir and Jotunn is.
Ragnarok: Aesir and Jotunn is designed by Todd Sanders who has a growing reputation in terms of PnP games, both for their aesthetic qualities and their playability.
Ragnarok of course is part of the myth and lore of the Vikings, and Sanders borrows heavily from those myths for the game which simulates the great battle at the end of time between the Aesir (Norse Gods) and the Jötunn (evil giants).
The game uses a deck of 54 Ragnarök cards, which are free to print. You also need nine six-sided dice and a few markers for each player.
One player has the Aesir Norse Gods and battles, in a series of realms (rounds), against the Jötunn Frost Giants played by the other player. To win the game a player must win five battles in the nine realms.
In a battle players use the attributes of strength, wisdom, and cunning, which are influenced by different aspects of the cards played.
Strength cards are played first, followed by two cards from your hand representing wisdom, which allow you to roll a number of dice to add to your strength. The final card of each battle is for cunning, allowing modifications to the dice rolls.
There is a level of strategy regarding when to play certain cards which will give you bonuses depending on the realm they are played in.
As a PnP game, something like Ragnarok: Aesir and Jotunn is pretty straight forward, and easily made to look good, and to last.
In most cases PnP files for card games will have the cards printing at the size of a regular deck of cards. Once printed, cut them out. Scissors work, although a utility knife, and straight edge cutting over a piece of glass can be smoother.
Some print on sticker paper then attach to a regular card. A quicker way, which also assures the cards last is to slip the PnP card, and a real card into a gaming card sleeve. The regular card provides strength and the sleeve protection.
The cards here are sharply done with excellent art. The game plays smoothly, with just enough depth and simplicity mixed together for a good gaming experience. A game certainly worth the effort to print and play.
Check it out at www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92777/ragnarok-aesir-and-jotunn

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 20, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- BX ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS, FIRE AND WATER

2011-10-25T15:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes there is nothing like an old idea revisited.
That is generally what you get with Bx Rock, Paper, Scissors, Fire and Water (BxRPSFW).
Yes the name is a tad cumbersome and inelegant although it does explain exactly what the abstract strategy game is about.
In creating what appears to be designer Robert Carden's first game, he took the long familiar game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, modified it, and put it on a game board.
Each player starts out with 18 pieces on a board of hexagonal spaces. The pieces include three each of rock, paper and scissors, as well as two fire, and six water. There is also a flag piece which does not move.
As you have probably guessed the goal of the game is to capture the opponent's flag.
All pieces move the same, one space in any direction, which means six with the hex' board.
Capture is by straight replacement. You move to the spot of an opponent's piece, and it is removed from the board.
Where the strategy comes in with BxRPSFW is that only certain pieces can capture others.
Most are familiar with rock taking scissors, scissors taking paper and paper taking rock.
In this game fire captures rock, paper or scissors, and rock, paper and scissors all capture water.
And yes, fire which is quite powerful gets taken by water.
The game edition comes with simple wood pieces stamped with letters to differentiate the types. The board is laminated plastic. So the word here is 'functional' although the game lacks aesthetics.
However as a rather straight forward, easily understood abstract with no imposed luck BxRPSFW plays well.
It doesn't have much 'wow' factor, either in looks, or play, but it's a fun option for a game every once in a while.
Check it out at www.cardengames.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 6 , 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- CASTLE DANGER

2011-10-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

Every time you think the world of games influenced by chess has been exhausted, something new comes along to intrigue.
While Castle Danger is not specifically a chess variant, the influence of the popular and ancient game is rather obvious with the Matt Worden created game.
Released in 2002, Castle Danger has the same basic premise as chess, eliminate the opponent's king.
It also borrows from XiangQi (China's chess), with the incorporation of a river which runs down the middle of the board, splitting the two sides.
Unlike XiangQi, where only some pieces are unable to cross the river, Castle Danger keeps each player isolated to their own side of the board, a 4X7 area.
To eliminate the opposition king, and other pieces, you fire your cannons.
In addition to the key king, and the important offensive cannons, pieces include wizards, which give players additional moves per turn, builders which add and remove protective walls, and of course the walls.
For the most part pieces start off the board, and are added on a player's turn.
Once on the board pieces are moved based on action points.
The overall combination leaves players needing to balance, creating defensive positions by building walls, adding wizards to increase movement, and dealing with the resulting constriction of an ever smaller board area in which to maneuver.
There is likely a first player advantage, which is general to many games, but the new elements of the game at least initially limit the advantage.
The game plays very nicely, and for a small, self-published effort, the components work. The board is colourful, and the pieces functional, although the small missile minis used for cannons are a bit 'modern' for a game which generally has a medieval feel, but that's a small beef for a self-published effort.
Hats off to to Worden for a fine game that is well worth a long look.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper March 30, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- SPARTAN CHESS

2011-10-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

Regular readers will no doubt appreciate this gamer is a major fan of games which emulate chess.
The western version of chess, at least the most widely known version has its flaws, a slight first player advantage, strategies over studied to the point there is little of anything fresh to discover on the board that is not already in a book, and the problem of players of even modestly different skill levels finding enjoyment in a game.
The idea of skill discrepancies is of course an issue with an abstract strategy game. When a game relies strictly on skill that happens, whether we're talking golf, tennis, darts or chess. It just gets worse in chess because a dedicated player can study a library full of books to learn ways to dominate.
Still the idea of two armies on the battle field, each player as a commander seeking victory based on their decisions is the great appeal of chess.
Through the centuries there have been literally hundreds of chess variants created, some like Omega Chess expanding the game in positive ways, some overly complex concoctions best forgotten quickly. It is to the point one wonders if there is anything new to explore in terms of a chess variant?
Well, Steven Streetman proved there are still some truly great variant ideas coming down the pipe with his innovative Spartan Chess, a variant which has quickly moved up the list to rival Omega Chess in my own list of chess preferences.
What makes Spartan Chess so intriguing from the start is that it pits two distinctly different army (piece) arrays, against one another.
The white side represents the Persian side. It utilizes the familiar western chess set.
The black side are the Spartans, and here Streetman has changed things up. Every piece moves differently from regular chess, from the diagonal moving hoplites (pawns) to having two kings, both of which must be captured for the Persians to win.
The idea of two distinct armies makes sense considering that is the way of war. Rarely, if ever, are opposing forces on the battlefield mirror images of each other.
The two sides also tend to level the playing field. Tried-and-true chess openings don't work, and since no one knows the abilities of the Spartans well, it equalizes things quickly.
The down side to Spartan Chess is the lack of a commercial set, which will turn some away.
In my case I had fun with the lack of a set. In corresponding with the game designer we came to a joint vision of the Persians as square pieces and the Spartans round. He made up some graphics, I got some wood cut, got out the paint and glue and soon had a really unique looking set (likely the first Spartan Chess set in the world). Since then a couple more sets were fashioned and shipped to Streetman himself, which is just very cool when you think about it.
The set is one I am proud of in terms of a crafting project, but also that it allowed me to dive into a simply great chess variant. It was a blast to play a friend at a local coffee shop a few weeks back using the set, and realizing it was probably the first face-to-face game of Spartan Chess played in Canada (certainly with a dedicated Spartan Chess set).
It is to be hoped far more chess players try this variant, it is certainly among the best-of-the-best.
Check it out at www.spartanchessonline.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper March 16, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- ODIN'S TABLE

2011-10-25T15:22:00.000-07:00

All right I'll admit I have a bit of a soft spot for Norse mythology, so when I first learned there was a new game called Odin's Table on the market, I was immediately interested.
Of course it takes more than theme to make a game worth playing.
In the case of Odin's Table released just last year from Mindwarrior Games in Finland, the mechanics were also of interest, with some reservations set too.
The game has strong abstract strategy roots, with game play not unlike checkers. The six pieces aside move only one space, but do so in any of the eight possible directions on the six-by-five-square board. Pieces are captured by simple move and replacement.
The game would be overly simplistic if that was it.
Designer Esa Wilk takes the game in a different direction by adding a deck of specialty cards for each player.
The art on the cards is various Norse Gods, Freya, Odin, Thor and Loki among them. The art is rendered in dark inks and comes across as old and stunning.
A card is placed behind each rank, and it is the cards which determine captures. Each player flips a card and the high one generally wins, there are two exceptions, Loki the trickster being one of them.
So you know your cards, where you are strong, but are guessing at what the opponent has.
It adds some definite luck to the contest, although you 'feel' you still have some control of outcomes.
Once a piece is captured it can return in lieu of another move.
The goal is to get three pieces to the opponent's back row.
The components are good, although the cardboard game pieces would have had a better 'feel' if they were stones marked with runes. The board has a wood-like look, but would have fit the theme better with a board marked out of a piece of leather, which would then tie up to carry the cards and stones.
While the components could match the theme better, the game as presented is certainly serviceable.
The game plays quickly, and is surprisingly enjoyable, with a rather gratifying mix of brain-driven strategy and card-driven look.
Check it out at www.mindwarriorgames.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper March 9, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- ROWBOAT

2011-10-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

In the world of card games the mechanic of trick-taking in one of the most popular.
The idea of taking a 'trick' usually by having the highest played card among players in a given round is about as old an idea as there is in terms of card games, and there are reasons such games are popular. To begin with, trick-taking keeps every player involved in every hand, and the rules are generally pretty easy to teach and to understand.
So, it's no surprise there are new games coming down the pike which rely on trick-taking as the primary focus.
Rowboat is one such game.
Rowboat was designed by the trio of John Montague, Cristina Ramos and David Schiller and released in 2009 by Moosetache Games (yes, the company logo is a moose with a mustache).
The game uses a 61-card deck, so the designers have ventured beyond the standard 52-card deck we are all familiar with.
The first cards of a round are dealt face up until an oar, a wave, a shell, and a map are showing (the four suits in Rowboat). The initial face-up cards are known as the Tide.
There are also three special cards which can be used only once during a game. The rowboat card is the ultimate trump, and tops whichever card it is played on, the lighthouse card allows a player to peek at an opponent's hand, while the moon card allows the dealer to decide how many cards will be dealt onto the table to start a game, regardless of the general tide rule.
From there each player is dealt a hand with the same number of cards that are in the Tide.
It is then up to players to predict how many rounds they will win, another tried and true trick-taking game mechanic. If you fall short of your predicted success you lose points.
With the difference hand-to-hand of the tide, and the access to the special cards adds a level of strategy to Rowboat that gives this game a little extra to explore.
In terms of production values, Rowboat scores high. I like that designers have re-created the 'suits' and have produced high quality cards. It is neat that there is a 'dolphin of maps', 'whale of shells' etc as face cards.
The art work by Sophie Kittredge is quite stunning, even the 'rowboat' on the back of each card.
The box is small, sturdy, and colourful, so it attracts attention, and will store well.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper January 12, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- PIRATE VERSUS PIRATE

2011-10-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

There are lots of games which shine for two-player, head-to-head action, Ninja Versus Ninja being a fun example (more on that in a moment).
The same can be said of games which accommodate four players.
There is however, something of a hole in between, games which are good as three-player options.
Enter Pirate Versus Pirate, a game designed by Max Winter Osterhaus, and released in 2010 by Out of the Box.
The game holds much in common with the aforementioned Ninja Versus Ninja game, although that fun little offering was designed by Tushar Gheewala.
With Pirates you have a game which plays with two, or with three players, although its something of a rare situation in board games, seems best suited to three-player action.
That in itself is a reason to check this one out. There are times two buds show up, and the options past the old standby cribbage, and a few others, mean board game action may not be on the agenda. PVP fills that niche quite nicely.
Now this is not a game where skill wins out. Dice controls a players fate as they attempt to get to the gold coins and get them back safely. So if the dice are kind to you, your odds of success are better.
In this case the 'luck' of the dice really seems to fit. This is a quick little game designed to be fun.
That may mean you won't want to play a half dozen games at a sitting, but it will be a game you'll likely be willing to pull out every few weeks for some quick fun.
The rules are pretty simple, and can be played by children probably in the seven/eight-age range. That can make it a nice family game, and is likely to attract boys with its theme.
Like its Ninja predecessor PVP has amazing miniatures as game pieces. The production standard is really more than you might expect in a quickly game like this.
The dice have a unique shape too which is rather interesting too.
When you consider the production quality of the game, its simplicity, and the three-player capability, PVP has a lot to offer, as long as you recognize luck will rule the high seas more often than not.
That factor might leave you yelling Argghhhh in your best pirate interpretation, or crying into a flagon of grog, but it will all be in fun.
Check it out at www.otb-games.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper February 16, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- THE CROW AND THE PITCHER

2011-10-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

There is something about card games which make them popular among those of us who like board games.
It's likely a combination of things which attract people, the small size which makes taking them to the neighbour's for an evening, or storing them away at home both with ease.
Most card games are pretty flexible allowing varying numbers of players, and in most cases the rule sets are understandable without a degree in engineering.
So there are always new card games arriving on the gaming scene and The Crow and the Pitcher is among those.
The game was designed by Sean D. MacDonald and released in 2009 by Nomads Games.
The Crow and the Pitcher is a newcomer to the large family of card games where taking tricks is the goal.
The game is based around Aesop's fable 'The Crow and The Pitcher' which is a neat idea, although the art on the cards, while very nice almost as a Navajo Indian 'feel'. I will add here that the art is aesthetically pleasing, and that is always a plus in a card game.
The game is a bit narrower in number of players it can accommodate than many games, working only with three, or four. Those players must play off one another in order to gain points.
Unlike many trick-taking game where high card wins, unless trumped, with The Crow and the Pitcher, the highest suited card is not always the trick taking card.
The game sort forces a different thought process to most of its trick-taking brethren because the best card may not win if the 'pitcher' gets broken.
Another aspect is that lower power cards are worth more points in a game which is a race to collecting 50-points.
MacDonald adds one other twist. Since not every card is dealt players are not sure what value pitchers are left to play. That keeps the card counters at bay.
The overall idea is that players need to be as clever as the Crow in Aesop’s fable to score points and not perish from thirst.
The game does a nice job of integrating the theme into the game play, which is bonus. Often games seem to have a theme simply pasted on as a sort of afterthought.
In terms of a new card game option The Crow and the Pitcher is a good one, with solid art, theme and mechanics.
You can check the game out at www.thecrowandthepitcher.com

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper February 9, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- PUNCT

2011-10-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

Over the course of writing these board game reviews I have mentioned the Gipf series of games on more than one occasion.
The series of six abstract strategy games by masterful game designer Kris Burm are among the best of the genre of games in the last half century, and probably among board games generally, although many shy from strategy games.
Of the six, five have been reviewed previously, leaving Punct as the odd game out.
Well this week we rectify the situation by looking at Punct, which was initially released in 2005.
Now you might expect this is where a reviewer might suggest something cliched like leaving the best for last.
Well in this case the opposite is actually the case.
Among the six games in the series, Punct would rate last behind Tazaar, Yinsh, Zertz, Gipf and Dvonn.
Rating last generally isn't a good thing, but considering the overall excellence of the Gipf series, it still leaves Punct as a rather solid offering, albeit the weak sister to five heavyweight offerings.
Punct was the fifth release in the series, offering a connection mechanic with its roots in games such as Hex.
The goal is straight forward, connect two opposite sides of the board, and win.
In this two-player game, which all games in the series are, a player may either enter a new piece into play or move one already on the board.
The pieces are well-made plastic, which are the norm for Gipf games. Each piece has three points and are either straight, v-shaped or triangular. One of the points is marked and called a Punct - or the piece's the centre-point.
Once on the board pieces can move or be rotated, moving around the Punct and moved in straight lines. Piece can land anywhere, where its Punct is on free space or on top of one's own piece. Pieces can be piled.
While not a big fan of connection games in general, Punct at least adds some interesting elements to the game play.
The board is a hexagon; the goal to connect two opposing sides with a chain of pieces, which with a hex board means more options in play.
With more options than most connection games, Punct has appeal, and piece resource management is definitely an aspect to remember, or a player can by hamstrung with limited options on ensuing moves.
The last game of Gipf series you should buy, but it still should be a must-own abstract strategy game.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper February 3, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- FLASH DUEL

2011-10-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

It's always interesting how games evolve over time, and how subtle difference can become whole new games. We see that a lot in the world of chess where a new piece, or two, or a change in the board creates a whole new variant on the game. In the case of chess there are hundreds, a couple to be reviewed here soon.
But today I am looking at the card-based dueling game Flash Duel from Sirlin Games.
Game creator David Sirlin has developed Flash Duel with an eye to recreating the 'feel' of old video franchises such as Street Fighter.
There are actually 10 fighters, on playing cards, to choose from. The art has a Japanese 'anime/manga' feel, and is very nicely rendered. One. 'Lum Bam-foo' seems plucked direct from the moved Kung Fu Panda, I suspect for obvious reasons of cashing in on that movie's popularity.
In this two-player contest each player selects a combatant. The other character cards get set aside.
There are also 25 community cards, which are a shared resource. Players each get five cards to start.
There is a play board, and nice wooden markers which represent your fighter on the board.
The community cards help determine movement back and forth on the play area, and of course determine attacks and strikes.
Score one hit on your opponent and you win the round. It is suggested you play a best-of-five match.
The game, in terms of card mechanics, has a bit of a War feel, although board positioning is important in card play decisions.
Each of the 10 characters also has 'special abilities' which can be used once per game, sort of the 'ace up the sleeve' which really helps gives Flash Duel its video game aspect.
Now I prefaced this column by mentioning game evolutions. Well Flash Duel certainly has to look back to En Garde as a root game. En Garde is a fine little game which mimics a fencing duel rather well. It is created by Reiner Knizia, one of the great board game creators of the current era, so the lineage is rather stellar.
En Garde is a great and quick game.
Flash Duel updates the 'feel' of the game, and holds the nice aspect of being very quick to play.
Flash Duel also comes in a nice little wooden box, although the lid doesn't have a way of being fastened, so the functionality fails, while the aesthetics get a big thumb's up.
Overall, a great little one-on-one combat game, that has to be recommended.

-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper January 19, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review - TACTICUM

2011-10-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

So to start I would like to welcome readers back to the world of board game reviews. A summer of flood basically had games in storage, and then it was the holiday season, but now with a new year, it's time to get back to the gaming table.
This week we look at a really enticing recent offering, at least if you like abstract strategy games.
Tacticum is a game which is supposed to mimic what may have been a board game tool to teach Roman Centurions tactics and strategy. Sounds pretty cool, and it really is.
While only a 2009 release from the Gamealogical Institute, Tacticum has a much 'older' feel to it. You really get the feeling it could have been a game played by Centurions.
The game usies blank black and white dice as pieces. They work amazingly efficiently, and look great as pieces. It's really surprising more games haven't used the same idea for pieces actually.
In this case the pieces even come with nice velveteen bags for storing, a nice touch.
The play mat is a simple cloth-like paper, nicely marked around the edge with Roman soldier artwork at each corner surrounding the 8X11 grid area. The board rolls nicely to slip into the storage tube.
So the components, aesthetics and storage of the game are excellent.
And that brings us to game play.
Designer Tony Ripley impresses here too.
Ripley uses the dice pieces in a rather unique way. A lone dice is a 'squad' with its own movement pattern. When four squads come together in a block, they former a 'square' and the four pieces can then be moved at the same time, albeit with a more limited movement pattern.
Three squads in a row create a 'column' and it too can be moved as a group, with yet another pattern.
At anytime a column or square can be broken up by choosing to move a single squad.
Capture of a squad is by 'flanking', basically sandwich a single squad, or line of squads between two of your pieces.
However squads in a square can't be flanked.
A squad must be attacked with a column, which captures one squad of the square.
The tactics can be rather involved, as you must change formations based on what is happening on the board.
Each player also has a 'Legion Standard' a unique which is essentially the leader piece of a force.
Now the formation tactics make the game creative, but where the game really takes off is that there are different 'war' scenarios which can be played. The base set comes with two scenarios, and additional ones are available at www.gamealogical-institute.com
Think about how chess might be made better with scenarios. Bored with the same game over, and over, play a different scenario to switch things up.
It is likely the Institute, and others will add new scenarios over time, and that bodes well to keep the game fresh too.
All together Tacticum is a definite winner and highly recommended for its interesting piece movement and game play options.

-- -- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper January 12, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

2010-05-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

If a good night of gaming has you sitting around a table debating a topic which can at times be a bit heavy, well The Ten Commandments might be for you.
The game seems to be targeted at a party group, accommodating three-to-eight players.
The game theme though is one which is both a bit heavy, and not necessarily everyone’s idea of a fun topic to discuss over a game.
The box explains the game.
“The Ten Commandments, the word of God ... they have served as a guide for humanity for thousands of years. Still, even the greatest works can stand to be updated from time to time! In the game of Ten Commandments, you provide those edits. Play as the militant Crusader, the loving Midwife, the pious Healer, or dozens of other factions, each struggling to create a new set of Ten Commandments in line with their own desires.
“Negotiate, cajole, and convince your fellow players to support the Commandments you favour. Each faction has a hidden agenda ... Can you predict what your opponents are striving for? Or will they best you in the quest to re-write the Ten Commandements?”
If religion is not your idea of something to tackle at a party, or boardgame night, this is one to pass on right now.
The game is designed by Dan Tibbles, Mike Selinker, and Teeuwynn Woodruff, and is a recent release coming out in 2009 from Bucephalus Games.
Like all games from Bucephalus Games, The Ten Commandments comes in a sturdy box, which is economical in size.
The game relies exclusively on cards, and player debate and negotiation, which is a departure from relying on dice luck. That said, debates can become rather tedious in a game environment rather quickly.
The theme and game design also limits the replay ability of the game, especially with the same group. Re-debating the same thing is simply boring.
This is a game which with the right group might have one time appeal, but that is not enough to suggest buying it.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper May 12, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- COLDSNAP

2010-05-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

COLDSNAP

The Canadian Football League season is still a couple of months from starting, but in Saskatchewan we always seem to be thinking football since the Roughriders are the only professional sports franchise in the province.
And, locally this week we are all thinking Roughriders since Yorkton is making its push to be the community officially named ‘Riderville’. As a side note make sure you take in the range of events around the local effort being held this week and help bring the designation to Yorkton.
So, with football in mind, why not look at a game which looks to mimic football, and specifically Canadian football, which we all know is better than that version south of the 49th parallel.
Cold Snap: The Canadian Pro Football Simulation Board Game is a newcomer to the rather diverse field of football-themed board games. It was released only last year from Plaay Games, a company with a growing list of sports-themed simulation games.
To start with, a nice aspect of Cold Snap is its solitaire feature. That is always a plus since it’s not always easy to find a football boardgame partner. Of course it also plays head-to-head as a two-player game as well.
The game does have player stats for CFL teams and players, although I don’t see a CFL logo on the box, so it may not be ‘officially authorized’.
Like most ‘sims’ this one relies on dice and a plethora of charts. Strat-o-Matic games are like that too, and while immediately a bit daunting, with an expectation they might be boring, you tend to learn the outcome of common dice rolls rather quickly, and knowing the natural ebb and flow of the real game helps too.
That said Cold Snap has a rather extensive game coil-bound ‘Game Book’. The coil binding is nice since you will be referring to the book extensively.
The Cold Snap results book is also very detailed. As the company website explains the book details whether an incompletion “was the result of great coverage by a defensive back, a hurried throw thanks to a missed block by an offensive lineman, a wrong pass route run by the receiver, or any of a multitude of other possible reasons.”
The PLAAY.COM website sums up the game this way: “You call the plays, you set the defensive alignments, you decide who to bring in when a star player goes down with an injury. Think you can do a better job with your favourite Canadian pro team than the real-life coach did? Well, now you can find out.”
The manufacturer notes that Cold Snap takes a slightly different view of a football sim, by giving every player on the field individuality.
“First this is a pro football game where every player on the field matters. In many other games, defenders and linemen are treated almost as an afterthought--some games don't even rate them at all! But in Cold Snap, the success or failure of a play most often hinges on the performance of these players! Yes, the star Canadian passers and runners will stand out on your table-top, but so will the star interior linemen, linebackers and defensive backs!” states the website.
In spite of the detail, the mechanics here are pretty easy. The offense chooses a ball carrier or intended receiver for one of six basic offense plays, while the defence coach secretly decides on one of four basic color-coded defence settings. From there you roll the dice, look up the result in the game book, record the gain or loss, and repeat.
The game is one football fans are going to enjoy. Check it out.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper May 5, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- INQUISITIO

2010-05-17T18:52:00.001-07:00

INQUISITIO

Tuonela Productions Ltd. is a game production company which seems to specialize in card-based games and Inquisitio, a game designed by Jani Rönkkönen and released in 2009, is one of their stable of games.
A passage from the rulebook explains the game theme rather well.
“It is the year 1609 in Logroño, northern Spain. The Spanish inquisition has undertaken a campaign to root out witchcraft and massive examinations are about to start. You are a suspect. Will you be able to assure the interrogators of your innocence through cunning, resilience and skillful use of bribes? Or will you break under torture and end up being burned at the stake as a witch?
“In Inquisitio players try to balance between enduring the horrors of brutal interrogations and not confessing to too many crimes of witchcraft. The player who manages to avoid being sentenced to the stake and is freed from the dungeon with the best combination of health, sanity and innocence will be the winner.”
In terms of a theme, the witch inquisitions are not a bad one on which to base a game.
But, does it work?
Well let’s start with the cards. For me the card art in a game like this is rather important. You want good aesthetics.
In Inquisitio the art is sort of hit, and miss.
Some, such as ‘relationship with a succubus’ are rather striking, although the use of a lot of background graphics limits the impact because it makes the actual art smaller than it could be.
On other cards the art is good, but they have over done the dark aspect, to the point the cards are simply too black.
Past the assorted cards the game has some small wooden tokens, and the rule set in three languages, and that’s it.
The game plays with three-to-five players, so it’s not a game for a couple. That means it will only come out when you have company for boardgames, which will limit game play options.
The game does require thought in terms of what you do.
Players are basically accused of sins and have to try to keep as much of your sanity and health while being tortured, yet not end up being the one with the most guilt points. Players may limit the damage they take by confessing, but that action gives you more guilt points.
However, as you confess it does also allow you to implicate others as guilty, which may be a wise strategy too.
The game isn’t overly complicated, and plays rather quickly, probably half an hour once you grasp the rules, and depending on the number of players.
Add in the dark theme, and Inquisitio becomes a solid little game to have around.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 21, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- MICHELANGELO

2010-05-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

MICHELANGELO

Michelangelo sounds like a game that would be tied to the famous painter in some fashion, and it is with players taking on the roles of the famous painters assistants.
Now if that idea just caused you to yawn, well one can’t blame you, the premise of this game is not one which inspires much excitement.
The objective from the rulebook is not much better either. “In this game you will be one of these assistants, splitting your time between Michelangelo’s workshop and the political beehive of Renaissance Italy. You will earn money and points by helping Michelangelo, as well as making connections in some of the most powerful and influential families of the world.”
Heart be still, I am not sure I can stand the anticipation of playing a game with such awe inspiring goals.
The box is nice, but once you get inside, you kind of get a feel for where this game is going. There is a bag full of multi-coloured disks, some which you have to apply stickers to. This is never a particularly pleasing realization in terms of game components because if the game becomes a regular one to play, stickers have a way of lifting at the edges, collecting dust, and ripping off.
There are also small piles of cards to be used in the game, and handy turn reference cards which should frankly be standard in any game.
The game does allow for two-to-five players, so that is a nice feature. A couple can play, or you can invite some friends to participate.
The board is another problem area with the spaces not seeming quite large enough for the aforementioned disks.
The problem here is how to get anyone excited to give the game a spin. “Hi this game allows you play an assistant to a great painter and ...” And you never get to finish the explanation because they are already suggesting you play whist instead.
The game play seems solid enough and has some decisions along the way, although the chaos factor is pretty high.
Not a game that I’d rush out to buy, there are just better ways to invest a boardgaming dollar.
The game is a recent one, debuting only last year (2009) from creators James Ernest and Mike Selinker, and published by Bucephalus Games.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 14, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- FIASCO

2010-05-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

FIASCO

It has always interested me how card games evolved down to what we see as a standard deck of cards with the four familiar suits of diamonds, hearts, clubs and spades.
You would tend to think somewhere along the way an alternate approach to a deck of cards would have emerged, and would have become somewhat popular, or well-known.
Well there are alternate decks out there, although to suggest any are widely-known, or popular would be pushing things a fair bit.
One of the biggest issues preventing popularity may well be that most alternate decks are created around a single game idea.
The traditional deck of course holds so much of its popularity because there are literally hundreds of games which have been created to utilize the cards. You get tired of cribbage, the same deck allows you to play whist, or bridge, or so many other popular games.
Which brings us to this week’s game; Fiasco.
“Fiasco is a recently discovered card game thought to date from the Italian Renaissance of the late-1450s. Fiasco distinctively incorporates six suits representing symbols of power and wealth and features the legendary character Fiasco,” stated the publishing company’s website at www.fiascogames.com
The game was published by Canadian David Pubrat, which is always a plus. It’s great to support Canadian game designers.
The game is a relatively new one, being released in 2003.
Pubrat went with a unique deck design, and that in my mind is a plus because it does offer players a different look in a hand of cards.
Players, the game plays from two to six, get to choose from one of six suits including; horses, swords, mandolins, roses, books or treasure chests.
Once you have selected the suit you will pursue, you focus on collecting them all. There are eight cards in each suit. You play high cards to win the pot and accumulate points, although there is an added element here.
While high card generally wins a pot, an opponent can play a Fiasco penalty card. Think of it in the same terms as a trump card in most trick collecting games. The Fiasco card is the 5, and poisons the pot so that the person winning that trick must discard a card from their scoring pile.
The strategy is of course when to play the Fiasco cards, and when to risk your high cards of the suit you are out to collect.
With the Fiasco cards, the deck rolls out at 60-cards.
The game is solid, but what would make the deck more appealing is a few additional game options using the same cards. An alternate game of two using the six-suit deck would quickly broaden its appeal.
Still, an interesting game worth a look for card-players.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 7, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- SHERPA

2010-05-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

SHERPA

There is a somewhat famous line about a mountain climber being asked why they climbed. The answer was something like “because it’s there.”
Now I can’t see I’ve ever understood the sentiment, although one can appreciate the idea of the adventurous nature of humankind to go up a mountain where they can literally touch the clouds, or reach for the gods of old. There is much mysticism and adventure and legend and lore to climbing.
Now most of us are not going to step onto the face of a mountain, let alone the greatest of them all, Mount Everest, first climbed in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, making it one of the more recent triumphs of man over the wonders of nature.
Locally the great mountain has had a lot of interest since David Rodney, formally from Yorkton has twice climbed the mountain.
Now for the rest of us, there is an option to actually climbing the great peak. We can have some fun with an Everest-climbing feel by playing Sherpa.
The premise of the game is pretty simple. A player is responsible for a team of mountaineers whose objective is to reach the top of Everest, and of course ahead of the others in the game.
Players must manage a climb much as is done in real life, establishing supply camps essential to a climb, as well as controlling your human and material resources while facing the dangers of the mountain.
It is in the area of dangers the game does wander into the realm of fantasy as strange creature wanders the mountain, including the Yeti.
I might have stayed with a more realistic approach. The threat of storms, snow blindness, exhaustion, injury, avalanche, running short of supplies and more are all real threats climbing the great mountain. When you look at the list do you really need an abominable snowman?
The game relies heavily on the luck of card draws, although when you do consider how a misstep on Everest can mean death as opposed to success, the climb would seem heavily reliant on luck in real life too.
Game play is by tile placement.
Players have six characters of their color – two sherpas, two guides, and two yaks, along with a corresponding board that shows the characters.
Resource tokens of three types; ice axes, oxygen, and food, are placed on the empty spaces on the character board corresponding with the characters in the party. In game terms yaks can carry three things, sherpas two, and guides one.
Players hold four cards, and the game begins.
From there card play largely determines progress up the mountain, with most decisions rather obvious.
The game has a solid enough premise, but comes up a little light in terms of game play. You expect a bit more if you are really hoping to mimic the tough decisions of climbing Everest.
Sherpa was designed by Marc Beaudoin and first released in 2007 by Magma Éditions (www.magmaeditions.com )
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Mar. 31, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- PIZZA BOX BASEBALL

2010-03-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

PIZZA BOX BASEBALL

Shhhh! If you stand real quiet, and listen real hard right now, you can hear the crack of the bat as it hits a baseball.
It’s spring training in the majors, and locally there is that wishful thinking talk at coffee among some about the return of Western Major Baseball League action.
So, for those needing a baseball fix until the leagues really start to roll, might I suggest Pizza Box Baseball.
Released in 2008, the game is a sister product to Pizza Box Football which came out three years earlier. The football game proved popular, so it was a pretty straight forward development to adapt the game style to another sport.
Both games were designed by Erik and Scott Smith, and are published by On The Line Game Company.
The game gets its name from the box it comes in, which yes looks like a pizza box. Inside is a heavy game board, cards, pegs, rules and scoresheets, all the good stuff to serve up nine innings of fun.
Like any other baseball boardgame I have played, Pizza Box Baseball sets up so the players are pitted against one another, one acting as batter, the other as hitter, with the roles of course reversing throughout the game.
As in the real game on the field, the pitcher has to figure out the best way to approach the hitter to get them out.
The hitter must decide whether to take pitches, go for a hit, or swing for the fences.
In that respect it is something of a cerebral battle, trying to out think the opponent, which of course mimics what the pitcher and batter do on an actual field.
Players utilize one card per at-bat. A result card reveals the action, and play continues.
The game board allows players to track what is happening in the game, or they can use the score pads.
Pizza Box Baseball has a nice scalability factor too. There are four strategy levels allowing players to add game elements such as stealing, bunting, pitchouts, different hitter strengths, pitchers that get tired, and other real game factors.
The different levels accomplish two things. To start with, it allows one to adjust the game to the time available. Only have a half-hour, go basic and you can likely whiz through a game.
It also allows casual fans to keep things basic, while letting true baseball nuts add in all the details to bring the game closer to the feel of a real game.
The head-to-head nature of the pitcher/batter confrontation is captured well here, and baseball fans will enjoy the detail.
An excellent baseball sim’ for boardgamers to enjoy.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Mar 24, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- CRIBBGOLF

2010-03-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

CRIBBGOLF

If you are a regular reader you will probably recall that cribbage is a favoured game of this writer. It would easily be in the top-10-15 games for passing away a rainy or cold afternoon, or evening.
Now when you find a popular game such as cribbage — it is certainly popular when you realize it is one of only about three card games which hold annual tourneys locally, the others being whist and bridge that I know of — you are going to have those trying to improve on it.
It might be argued that it isn’t possible to improve on cribbage, a game that has depth, and great mechanics, yet is very easy to learn. I would have to say I am among those. Classics are rarely made better by modern age game designers.
That all said Ken S. Slaker took a pretty good shot at upgrading cribbage with his 1988 release CribbGolf. It’s not so much that Slaker made the game better, but he overlaid a theme which simply adds a layer of fun to the game that is a nice change of pace from standard cribbage.
The game is rather ingenious in its approach, which is basically to combine cribbage with elements of golf.
As far as the card playing aspect of the game it is cribbage as normal, which is nice since there are no new rules regarding how one plays cards to learn and adapt too.
Where the game is different is in the board players peg on. The board displays an 18-hole golf course.
The golf-course board changes the strategy of the game because you are no longer pegging to reach the final hole, but instead are pegging to record a golf score on each hole.
Therefore taking points that you would normally take without thinking in regular cribbage must now be weighed carefully since taking points at certain times can land you in a sand trap, or water hazard, costing you a stroke to your game.
In that respect it does help a bit if you understand golf scoring, although you can pick up that aspect of the game very easily.
The board in the version I have, a Yuletide gift from my daughter, from JK Games, is well made, but it is large. It measures 10 X 22-inches, so it doesn’t store real conveniently. It would help if it folded, but that is a minor complaint.
The golf course design is well-done with greens, sand and water features, and trees. It looks a lot like the design one might see of a course on a website promoting the facility.
The game comes with a thick pad of scoresheets. A little hint, put one in a plastic wrap and save it so you can run copies when needed. They aren’t available in stores that I know of.
There is a well-detailed rulebook, and a large reference sheet, including larger type, which is an excellent tool for people learning the game.
As an alternative to cribbage, this is about as good as I’ve found so far, and I have tried several. The excellent board and combining of cribbage and golf make it a winner in my books. One to add to any cribbage lover’s game collection.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Mar 17, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- TRI-CROSS

2010-03-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

TRI-CROSS

When you look at boardgames, you often see games created which are in many ways hybrids in as much that they bring elements of various games together in a new one.
Tri-Cross, which was first released in 1986, does that.
There are elements which will remind people a little bit of chess, although that can be said about a lot of games, as well as a taste of bluffing as in poker, and a board movement design that has a Chinese Checkers feel.
Tri-Cross is an abstract strategy game played on three rows and columns that cross in the centre, with both sides moving toward the centre which is the hotly contested area of the game.
The winner is the player who controls the center for four consecutive turns. Think King-of-the-Mountain.
Players begin with hidden pieces -- that is their actual strength is hidden from the opponent. It’s actually hidden from the player too, so keep a sharp memory of how you lay out your pieces at the start of the game. The hidden element has been described as a poker-like element, which is one vision of it, although it’s not quite that mechanism either. The actual strength of pieces are revealed when they come in proximity to initialize a challenge between players. The greater strength makes a capture.
Equal strength confrontations freeze peoples.
The board is solid, the pieces are quality-bakelite-like ones that is a definite bonus. The little velveteen bag is a nice accessory.
A laminated rules tutorial is a terrific idea that most games should mimic. It’s a real plus for learning a game.
The rule set has some nice illustrations to help the learning curve.
Tri-Cross is designed primarily as a two-player game, and that is where it is best. Most abstract strategy games excel head-to-head, and Tri-Cross is an abstract, albeit with the early hidden strength element.
That said Tri-Cross does have rules for three and four players, with the pieces included to make that possible.
A game which can be learned rather easily, and plays quickly, with good components, Tri-Cross is a solid addition to a games library.
You can check out the game at http://www.gamesforcompetitors.com/
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Mar 10, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- RISK: HALO WARS

2010-03-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

RISK: HALO WARS

When it comes to a war game, the one most people are at least somewhat familiar with is Risk. The game is sort of a war game light, with the actual strategies of war having limited impact on how you play the game.
The popularity of Risk has of course meant there have been a few variations made over the years, in particular Lord of the Rings, and a Star Wars: Clone Wars versions have drawn some definite attention because of their tie-in to popular books and movies.
The entire Risk franchise also had a facelift with a revision in 2008. The revision targeted the length of a game, which with the original could drag out with eliminated players left bored by the wayside.
Following the revision, and the idea of tying Risk to popular franchises for marketing USAopoly released Risk: Halo Wars in 2009. The game highlights gaming pieces and a map connected to the mega-popular video game Halo.
This variant is played with three to five players.
Risk: Halo Wars allow players to command one of three factions (the UNSC, the Covenant, or the Flood) and battle for supremacy of Arcadia. You actually get two UNSC armies and two Covenant armies which means with five players there is a team aspect.
The board, which looks a lot like an earth map turned upside down, features 42 territories and six sectors. There are 250 plastic playing pieces which represent the three factions in small molded representations of infantry, tanks, etc.
Halo Risk uses the new Hasbro rules which allows for three levels of game play (basic, advanced, and classic) depending on the skill level and desired playing time of the players, another major aspect of the major game revision.
There are a couple of major pluses with Halo Risk. On one hand big Halo fans are likely to like the laid on theme, and even without a connection to the video game the unique factions and game board are a nice change from standard Risk.
And, the ability to play a team version requiring co-operation, while not for everyone, is a definite plus because it creates gaming options.
This version of Risk has some other nice mechanic additions that are a bonus too. It incorporates a way to double weight certain random spots on the board which alters the typical drawback of Risk where a game can bog down at some points on the board.
Leaders which come in and out of play quite easily for added firepower are a nice touch too, and some special abilities add power and options without unbalancing the base game.
If you like Risk, the Halo variant offers enough differences to enjoy. If you have never played Risk, this actually offers enough bells and whistles to be a better first choice than the traditional version. One to check out for sure.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Mar 3, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- WHERE THERE IS DISCORD: War In The South Atlantic

2010-03-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

WHERE THERE IS DISCORD: War In The South Atlantic

If one were to connect the word epic to a game it might well fit Where There Is Discord: War in the South Atlantic (WTID).
Designer Daniel Hodges has certainly created a detailed wargame with WTID, focusing in on a rather recent conflict which at the time drew lots of press coverage, and then has tended to be forgotten.
It was in May 1982, when a missile fired from the Sea Harrier of Royal Naval Air Squadron struck a Mirage III, an Argentinian aircraft, starting the The Falkland/Malvinas War.
The war would last for only 45 days pitting the armed forces of the United Kingdom and Argentina against one another in a battle to determine who had the right to govern the Falkland Islands.
The game is published by Fifth Column Games, and is a brand new offering to wargamers, having been released only last year. Their website explains the game. “In this solitaire military simulation boardgame, you have the opportunity to recreate those fateful summer days, commanding the British Task Force as it attempts to defend itself from concerted attacks by Argentine air and naval forces, and mount a successful amphibious landing on the disputed islands.”
That the game is a solitaire one will appeal to many since it can be difficult to find players into detailed war simulation boardgames, especially one as detailed as WTID.
The game comes in a huge box filled with detailed goodies for the serious wargamer.
This is a game where you need to clear off the kitchen table, a rather large kitchen table actually, to lay out the game board, which by the way is thick and should last for decades.
There are a handful of dice, and lots of cardboard markers to mimic troops, plus charts to cross reference to see what the dice rolls mean as the game is played.
The game also comes with two true gaming gems; a detailed rulebook that while daunting if not into detail wargames, is extremely well laid out.
An Intelligence Briefing Booklet with great illustrations provides even more detail for a full game experience.
The game is suggested to play out in four hours, I did mention it was detailed, but there is no way you’ll do it that quick the first time out of the box unless you are a fanatic wargamer, and even then it will be a challenge.
This is a game with a blizzard weekend fill-in feel to it. You start on Saturday and wind-up sometime Sunday after a long, detailed wargame experience. That detail is both the game’s strength, it really gives you a feeling of controlling the nuances of war, yet those details will mean casual gamers shy away from the experience.
Check out this great game at http://fifthcolumngames.co.uk
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Feb 24, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- DRAGONS OF KIR

2010-03-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

DRAGONS OF KIR

If a game was simply enjoyed based on the box, Dragons of Kir would be among my favourite games.
The box shows a quartette of Oriental-style dragons, one in each corner; a red one, green, yellow and blue. It’s a mythical-theme and being dragons, I was immediately attracted.
The game was released in 2005 from One Eye Productions and give these guys credit they’ve learned a bit about quality along the way.
The game, as you might expect, has dragons, and initially they we paper that had formed into sort of cubes. The game also has tents which are the attack goal of the dragons, and again they were little folding paper creations. They were flimsy, and really detracted from the aesthetics of the game.
The company has recently released a components upgrade, issuing wooden tents and wooden blocks with an imprint of a dragon on them. I might prefer a sculpted dragon, but the upgrade certainly enhances the game.
The wood expansion set also adds rules for three and four players.
The game was designed by Dove Byrne and Jason Conkey. Dragons of Kir is a themed version of Darter, which won the 2006 Origins Vanguard Innovative Game Award at Gama. Dragons adds some new tiles and different rules.
You can check out the game at www.dragonsofkir.com. The site explains the game as “(a) new and exciting, fast-paced, strategy board game from Future Magic Games. The object of the game is to strategically place tiles that deflect one of the four marauding dragons into your opponent's war tent, while defending your own.”
The game is basically an abstract strategy revolving around tile placement. Players strategically place tiles which deflect one of the four constantly moving dragons into your opponent’s war tent. At the same time you have to balance the attacking with the use of tiles to defend your own tent.
The tiles, made of heavy cardboard, represent the forces of nature and the forces of man, which when placed interact with the dragons and influence their movement.
I must also mention the board, again very nice, with a big dragon on it.
The game plays quickly, and is a balancing act between attacking an opponent by altering the course of a dragon toward an opponent’s tent, and keeping them away from your tent.
There is of course some luck, depending on the tiles still in-hand, but overall there is a solid strategic feel.
A very solid offering that is a quick, fun board game.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Feb 17, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- RENAISSANCE CHESS

2010-03-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

RENAISSANCE CHESS

Chess variants have always been an area of interest. The basic western version of the game is a favourite, and I am always excited when someone comes up with an intriguing variant.
Renniassance Chess was invented in 1980 by Eric V. Greenwood, and it certainly fits the bill as far as being an intriguing take on chess by expanding the familiar game.
Correctly spelled, the game would be called Renaissance Chess; Greenwood, however, thought it would be fun to deliberately misspell it as Renniassance. The game is also commonly referred to as Rennchess.
Rennchess is a big board variant, played initially on a 12X10 board, although reference to play on a 12X12 board certainly exists. My suggestion is to look for a 12X12 board to use, since it allows for play either way.
Being played on a large board, Rennchess boosts the power quotient on the board in terms of the pieces in play.
Instead of the familiar 16-piece array, Greenwood more than doubled the number. Each player has 34 pieces in play.
With 34 pieces per side, this is not a chess variant where you can go down to the local board game store and buy a set.
The alternative is to turn this game into something of a craft project and put your own together.
The best way to get started on such a project is to buy multiple sets to begin the process of creating the various hybrid pieces present in Rennchess. There are lots of cheap sets out there to work with, which is good since you reasonably need four sets to get all the pieces made. You can find suitable sets for as little as two - three bucks. Don’t over spend because you aren’t likely to play Rennchess everyday unless you have a regular chess bud who likes variants.
Recognize such sets will be made of hollow plastic. That is good since you can cut them up with a sharp modeling knife, or small saw.
The bad news is such sets are weightless, and chess sets need weighted pieces for the tactile enjoyment of the game. The solution, head down to the hardware store with the various pieces in your pocket. You’ll likely be able to find nuts that fit in the base. Five bucks should just about cover it. A bit of hot glue holds them in place.
The cheaper sets also tend to be easily knocked over. A wargaming store is the place to buy some plastic bases that you can glue the pieces to add stability. It will add about $20 bucks to the set cost, but it adds to the set.
I was also able to insert small washers inside the bases, which added just a bit more weight. In retrospect the amount of work may have been greater than the affect of the added weight though.
Back to the piece creation.
Some, such as the Archbishop which moves as either Bishop or Knight, or the Nobleman which moves as either Rook or Knight, the process is easy. You cut the top off the rook, or bishop, and glue to the top of a Knight piece. Superglue, or model glue gets the job done.
Other pieces, such as the Squire, which moves one or two squares in any direction, and may jump over other pieces, require some additional creativity. One handy and quick way to change the look of a piece can be to cut off the top of a bishop, and replace it by gluing a simple push pin on top.
That was the process I used for the Fox, clipping the top off a pawn and replacing it with a push pin top. The Fox moves one square horizontally or vertically.
Using the push pin option does mean a repaint at the end, but that helps create a unified finish, and if you use the bases, it will be a must.
A finishing touch is to glue some felt on the bottom of the bases, and trim.
You end up with a very functional, solid looking, and reasonably well-weighted Rennchess set.
You might want to snap a few digital pictures and create a cheat sheet so the variant pieces are quickly recognized, and the associated moves understood.
The creation of the set is as much fun as the game, and in the case of Rennchess there is a lot to explore game wise too. The wide piece array, and large board offer a very different ‘feel’ from the traditional game.
Do note this is a variant for true chess lovers, since games can be quite involved and take considerable time to complete.
In the end a great project in terms of creation, and a deep game to play.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Feb 10, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- LEGENDS OF WRESTLING CARD GAME

2010-03-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

LEGENDS OF WRESTLING CARD GAME

While very few admit to it, the world is populated by thousands who tune into the weekly soap opera world of professional wrestling.
I know I grew up watching Stampede Wrestling on Saturday afternoons with my dad, and yes, I still watch Monday Night Raw and TNA Wrestling on occasion. There, I admitted it.
So, if you are one of the myriad of wrestling fans out there, and you also happen to like boardgames, then you may have wondered if you could combine the two interests?
Well there are some wrestling games out there, and one of the neatest little offerings is Legends of Wrestling Card Game from Filsinger Games Company.
Creator Tom Filsinger has found a niche area of wrestling to use as a base for his game, one which draws from the old days of the game before Vincent Kennedy McMahon owned almost the entire wrestling universe.
So if you are under the age of about 30, and only a casual wrestling fan, the wrestlers depicted in this game will be a mystery to you.
But, as an old Stampede Wrestling fan, the game is populated with familiar names. There are 24-wrestlers in the game including the likes of Bobo Brazil, Killer Kowalski, Gorgeous George, Harley Race, and Ox Baker.
For the younger fan, there are some faces that still play a role in the game such as Ted DiBiase, Sandman, Jimmy Snuka, and the Road Warriors; Hawk and Animal.
The nice thing is that each wrestler has a card, with a solid black and white illustration of the legend. That is a cool feature of the game.
From there the game is a rather simple one based on charts and dice roles, a system used best in the classic Strat-O-Matic Baseball.
In LofW players each select a combatant and you start rolling dice, and following the charts to see what transpires.
Initially it may seem a tad tedious searching charts, but once you get a few games under your belt you get to know many of the results by heart, and away you go.
Because the game is randomized by the dice rolls, the game plays as a solo game too. For the true fanatic you can wrestle-off your favourites anytime you want. Not a bad way to kill some time.
The game has basic rules, then once comfortable, adds a layer of complexity with an advanced ruleset, which is a nice touch since it allows you to grow into the game.
In the back of the rulebook are rules for special matches, including the Texas Death Match, Cage Match, Brass Knuckles Match, Tag-Team and Battle Royal. Now really, how neat is that. Ox Baker and Killer Kowalski in a brass knucs match — sweet indeed.
The game debuted in 2002, and has been supported by a range of expansion cards available at http://www.filsingergames.com/low/
I still want a Canadian expansion. Imagine a Stampede Wrestling set; Archie ‘The Stomper’ Gouldie, Dan Kroffat, Gene Kiniski, Big John Quinn, Don Leo Jonathan, Abdullah the Butcher and Haystacks Calhoun, as a new offering.
As is though, this is a simple, yet fun wrestling simulation, that fans are going to enjoy.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Feb 3, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- AXIOM

2010-02-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

AXIOM

Games are always interesting when they offer challenges you don’t usually have to deal with.
It’s a case where as much as I love chess, and its vast array of variants, they are generally played on a board that varies only in size. The result is a ‘sameness’ to game play.
There are however games which change things up for players, and Axiom is one of those.
Axiom was invented by Michael Seal and first released back in 1988. For a game which has been around for two decades and is as interesting as this one, it should be far more widely known.
Of course that is sort of the curse of being a game from a small indie publisher such as Abstract Planet. It is hard for small companies to do the promotion and distribution to create ‘the buzz’ to really stimulate interest. As a result even among avid gamers such as those on the Board Game Geek site (www.boardgamegeek.com) there are only about 150 members who have clicked that they own this game. That does surprise me in a sense because I do see Axiom as what might be termed ‘a gamer’s game’.
A gamer’s game is one of those which looks good, has a unique feature, or two, and has quality components. Axiom hits on all three.
So let’s start with the rather unique feature. Axiom is a two-player abstract strategy game which plays in three dimensions. The play area starts out as a square of twelve cubes. Each player has two pawns (called Sceptres) which set on the top of the cubes as the game begins.
The pawns then move across the faces of the cubes, with the object of moving your sceptre onto any cube occupied on another side by the opponent’s sceptre. Such a move wins the game.
As you might envision the sceptres end up on the sides of the cubes. In early versions they sort of clicked into position from what I’ve read, and didn’t always come out of the recessed hole on the cube easily. That system has been replaced by a system of magnets and works very slick now.
Having to get your mind off a flat board and into the mode of envisioning moves around a stack of 3D cubes is the interesting challenge. It is something you do not generally have to think about when playing boardgames, and is thus rather refreshing.
The pieces are plastic, and should last, which is great.
And the game looks fantastic. While there are other colour options, the black and white version is simply dramatic looking. It is classy and eye-catching.
The game is small and compact too. The box is nothing special. The game sort of begs for a nice wooden box, although that would add too much to the cost. Still, one day I might have to have one made. Yes this game is that interesting. I find its classic look, and game play a rather special combination which would put this game easily in the top-50 abstracts out there.Check it out at www.axiomgame.com
--CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Jan 27, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- VERSUS

2010-02-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

VERSUS

Well regular readers will know I have a huge soft spot for abstract strategy games so I was immediately interested in Versus designed by Michel Pinon, and released in 2008 by Asyncron Games.
The game is rated for those eight and up, is for two players, with a suggested playing time of 20-to-30 minutes. The playing time of course will vary with the skill of the players and the time they take to formulate moves, but at about half-an-hour it’s a game that promises some thinking without eating away hours.
Regular readers will also know I am partial to wooden games. The look and feel of wood means quality in my mind.
So, when I had the opportunity to pop the box on Versus, I was immediately impressed. To begin with the box is a sturdy one, which bodes well for keeping everything pristine over the long haul.
And, you will want to keep this game in nice shape, because everything inside the box screams quality. The board play area is made up of hexagons, which are painted onto a thick, round, wooden board.
The pieces too are wood, one player’s stained darker than the others. There’s even a small leather drawstring pouch to hold the pieces. It all comes across as very classy. I like that in a game.
Now one problem, and I suspect that will be rectified as the game breaks into North America in a more significant way, but there are no English rules in the game box. Today though that is less of a problem since the Internet is such an amazing resource. You can find the English version at www.versus-le-jeu.net. They are in a handy .pdf format which prints easily.
The game revolves around trying to get your pieces to a specific spot on the board.
There two distinct type of pieces, pawns and Versus pieces. The Versus pieces when moved actually attract pawns on the board, altering their position if they fall within the rules of movement.
Pawns are interesting too in that they can be flipped, and in so doing they come under the influence of the other player.
The ability to influence board position, and to switch pawns, are two highly interesting strategic mechanics of the game.
The game is different enough from other strategic games out there, with different enough mechanics, that is should provide fresh challenges for diehard strategic gamers.
That said, Versus is not really a game for casual gamers. You must like the genre of the game in this case.
If you are a strategic gamer, then the ruleset and game quality make Versus a hard one to pass up.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Jan 20, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- KNOCKABOUT

2010-02-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

KNOCKABOUT

It’s hard not to like a game that can basically be carried in your pocket.
Knockabout has such simple game components that it really comes down to a game board printed on a piece of cloth about the size of an old-fashioned mens’ handkerchief, and then add a fistful of dice.
The game is nice since it plays with only two players, but also accommodates three, which is actually rather rare in the gaming world. Unfortunately the three-player variant rules are not in the game package, but can be found at http://www.pair-of-dice.com/games/knockabout/knockthreeplayer.html
Each player starts out with a handful of dice, a selection of four, six, and eight-sided dice. Those dice are laid out on the board in predetermined positions.
From there, Knockabout which was created by Greg Lam in 2001, and is produced by Pair-of-Dice Games comes down to a strategic game that is reminiscent of sumo wrestling in the most abstract fashion.
Players are trying to push the other players pieces (dice) off the hexagonal board. On a turn a player is allowed to move one dice. The dice move in a straight line as far as the number on their top face.
The fun starts when a dice bumps up to a second dice during its move. Whenever a die hits another piece your own or the opponent's, it stops, and the hit die continues the first pieces move. As an example you have an eight-sided dice showing a six. You begin to move it and in two spaces it collides with an opponents dice. Your piece stops, the six-sided dice must now continue the move, in this case going four spaces.
It is of course possible to set off a chain reaction involving multiple dice of both your own, and your opponents.
The last die to move as a result of the collision gets rerolled. That is the extent of the randomness the dice impart on the game, and in this case the changing values add a lot to the game.
Pieces knocked into the outer ring are eliminated from the game. Dice pushed into the gutter can prevent future pieces from being knocked into the same spot.
In two-player action the first player to knock five out of his opponent’s nine pieces into the outer ring wins.
The game can be learned within minutes — the rules are on one side of a single sheet of paper — and that is a good thing in terms of introducing new players.
This is not an overly deep strategy game, but it plays in about 20-minutes so as a coffee-time filler it’s a great option.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Jan 13, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- SOUL HUNTERS

2010-02-02T13:47:00.000-08:00

SOUL HUNTERS

One of the standard games types is of course those played with cards. Those games get split into two distinct types in my mind, those using the standard 52-card deck we see in games such as the classic cribbage, and those which work with cards designed specifically for the game, Magic the Gathering being a prime example.
Soul Hunters fits into the second category.
As a card game, one of the key elements is of course the cards. Often gamers are first attracted by the artwork on the cards, which is unusual given that the old standard card deck is ultra boring in terms of art. Again referring back to the classic MtG, expansion sets are often measured in players’ minds as much for the art as the card play.
With Soul Hunters you sort of expect some rather dark art, and you get the feeling that is what they were going for with cards such as Touch of Death and Pestilence, Death and Devil’s Minion. However, they really come up short in terms of creating visually striking cards. They use basically black line art that lacks definition, and when applied over the dark red cards, and the green cards, it really gets lost. The game could be more appealing with better art.
Designed by Ville Hankipohja and published by Tuonela Productions Ltd., Soul Hunters is a pretty straight forward game for two to four players.
From the rule set we get a taste of the game’s theme. “Souls are the most valuable commodity in the universe and by ancient laws the one who possesses the most souls, is declared the ruler of all.
“Your task is to use powerful characters to lure souls on your side. Choose your alignment, play your cards right and you just may become the sovereign ruler of the universe.”
So the game is one where you are trying to capture souls. That is accomplished by either being very good or very bad.
Players take on one of the title characters, a soul hunter, which represent one of six different alignments or factions. By focusing on a single alignment, players receive a bonus on their influence, which is then used to lure souls.
You can collect negative or positive influence, the good or the bad, depending on which characters you use.
A turn consists of acquiring one card and then playing one. There is some potential to form a strategy as you play cards, but ultimately the game is pretty random. Now that is not necessarily bad, since if you like card games you are OK with the draw of the cards often swaying fate in a game.
The game rules are pretty straight forward, which is a positive.The game box suggests an hour to play, which is a bit long for a card game that is not particularly deep in tactics.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Jan 6, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- PRAIRIE AFLAME

2010-02-02T13:44:00.000-08:00

PRAIRIE AFLAME

Games which have a connection to our home province of Saskatchewan in some way are rather rare to say the least.
Only a handful of games that I have come across have been created here, or even by Saskatchewan people who have moved.
Fewer still use Saskatchewan as the location for their games.
So Prairie Aflame immediately drew attention. It is a genre game, one of a huge array of historic war games out there. For those unfamiliar with such games, they are generally designed around a particular historic battle, or era, allowing the players to recreate the events.
In this case Prairie Aflame centres on the Riel Rebellion of 1885, or more accurately the Northwest Rebellion as the history books tend to note it.
The Northwest Rebellion of 1885 was an uprising by the Métis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel against the Dominion of Canada, perpetrated by the Métis’ contention the Canadian government had failed to address concerns for the survival of their people a position which had really carried forward from the Red River Rebellion of 1869-1870.
The Métis forces had some skirmish successes at Duck Lake, Fish Creek and Cut Knife, the rebellion resulted in the destruction of the Métis forces at Batoche (now an excellent historic site), and Riel was later hanged as a traitor, a position which has really softened these days with Riel being seen as a leader fighting for his people’s rights.
As a gamer, it is quite exciting to unfold a map and see a map of the Prairie region as the play area of a game. In this case the map extends from Fort McLeod south of Calgary, north to Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan and east to a line just past Regina, Humboldt and Prince Albert. Sadly Yorkton is not on the map folks.
The game, like most war scenario games, comes with cardboard punch outs signifying forces, including those representing historic personages including Riel, Gabriel Dumont, Poundmaker, Big Bear and General Frederick Middleton.
The pieces are small, so get a zip lock bag and be careful to preserve them.
Then there is a 21-page rule book, which includes a number of scenarios, including the Battles of Duck Lake, Fish Creek, Cut Knife Hill and of course Batoche.
Other than that you need a few dice, and away you go.
On one website I did note a player’s comment suggesting when they played out an historical scenario they found it unbalanced in favour of Government forces. As I recall from my school history, the Metis and First Nations led by Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont really had very little chance of victory especially at Batoche.In fact, as I recall vaguely from discussion in history class with teacher Ted Degenstein, Dumont realized a face-to-face battle strategy was not going to work and argued for more of a guerrilla hit-and-run philosophy against General Middleton’s troops crossing the Prairies. This is a game which is for war buffs, or people interested in Saskatchewan history. It is not a game to be played for casual fun by gamers just looking to kill some time. That is not a bad thing though. The game covers an important battle in not only Saskatchewan, but Canadian history, and it is great to see someone recreate it as a war game, in this case the credit goes to game designer Mark Woloshen and Khyber Pass Games, which sadly has just recently gone out of business.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Dec 30, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- KEY LARGO

2010-02-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

KEY LARGO

Key Largo is a game notable for a sad reason.
The game was created by Paul Randles, best known for the earlier game Pirate’s Cove. Key Largo was the designer’s final game before passing away in 2003 of pancreatic cancer.
The game was further developed by Mike Selinker and Bruno Faidutti, and was initially released by Tilsit Editions in French, German, and Italian in 2005. Titanic Games made it available in English for the first time, with an all-new graphic design and pieces, with Paizo Publishing now involved as well.
Key Largo has a fun theme as far as games go. Players basically travel around the Florida Keys in 1899, seeking out treasures in shipwrecks around the island. Before a hurricane hits, players need to search the many shipwrecks and sell the lost treasures to the island denizens for as much cash as possible.
Sounds like a fun little idea.
And, for the most part it kind of works too.
The game board is functional for this game designed for three to five players, although it does remind me of a board designed more your younger kids, than for adult gamers.
The playing pieces are large, colourful sailing ships, which is both a nice touch, and are easily identifiable and moved on the play area.
The rest of the pieces, such as divers, hoses, tridents, and weights, are just thick cardboard punch-outs. They work, but are not particularly special.
The game does rely heavily on cards, with action and treasure decks an integral part of the game. Here the art work is very good, using a sort of whimsical pirate style.
The game also has paper money. I’ve never been a fan of games using paper money. The bookkeeping aspect detracts from the game for me.
The rules are well laid out with a few ‘art’ pieces thrown in for colour, using the same nice art style from the cards.
The action cards of course let you as a player do certain things, ranging from taking tourists out to ‘go dolphin watching’ to heading to the tavern, or shopping for equipment.
Treasure cards, well those are pretty straight forward.
The game is played over a finite series of turns, with the winner being the one with the most money.
Key Largo settles out being a wealth building game, with that wealth derived from the luck of the draw of cards, plus some added influence about how you use the resources you have.
This is not a particularly deep and involved game. It’s light. It has some fun to it, although it isn’t a game that will come to mind to be the first game played. You aren’t likely to complain about having to play a game on occasion, but you won’t be begging for a game either.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Dec 23, 2010 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- SUMMUN

2009-12-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

SUMMUN

All right, packaging is a huge thing in boardgames.
To start with the package helps attract interest whether on a store shelf, or at a gaming convention.
More importantly, you rely on packaging to properly store your games. There are two basic types that work reasonably. For small games, a drawstring bag is great. You can toss several in a drawer, and you’re good.
The second is a good sturdy cardboard box which can easily hold the game components. Game boxes stack and store on a shelf pretty well.
Get away from those basic concepts in packaging, you end up with a game that doesn’t store easily.
There in lies the first flaw you see with the recently released Summun game.
The box itself is a sort of soft, see through plastic, the kind you might use as a temporary fix on a broken window. In a stack of games, the word that comes to mind is crushed.
The game itself is plastic, and the board combines with a couple of molded trays, to become the storage unit for the game pieces.
The first time I pulled the contraption apart one of the plastic flanges that guides the pieces together snapped. Now I might not be the most careful guy in the world, but in a lifetime of gaming, this system is not going to stand up to the abuse most gamers will inflict.
A good boardgame should be a purchase for a lifetime. Summum will require finding alternate packaging at some point in that lifetime.
You have been warned, so on to the game itself.
Summum comes from The Magi Games and sadly the creator is not credited. The company is in the Netherlands so the website is in Dutch but here it is for a look at the game at least; http://www.magi-games.nl/sum/index_sum.html
Summum is an abstract strategy game for two players, played on a grided board that is latticed with bars in a virtual kaleidoscope of colours (six in total). The colours are an integral part of the game.
The players take turns placing pieces on the board trying to form one of three patterns, which are clearly identified on the single page of instructions. The simplest of the patterns is worth one point, but is also the base structure for the two patterns which are worth bigger points.
So when a player does manage the simplest pattern, the opponent is faced with the decision whether to block its progression to a higher value design, or to work on a pattern of their own to score points.
The decision is made trickier because you score not only based on the pattern, but you also add points for the colour of the rectangle on which the last piece of the pattern is placed. Points range from one to six, based on the six aforementioned colours.
The first piece always goes on the central point of the board, which may tend to limit options over repeated play. I am not sure leaving the decision of where the first piece is laid would detract from the game, and would create additional strategies.
Each piece added has to touch at least one other piece.
The game ends when both players have played their last piece.
There are little plastic kings which are used as markers to track the score.
The game rules are simple to follow, with pattern recognition at the heart of the game. The use of the coloured stripes as a scoring mechanic are interesting, and does mean players have to weigh some moves based on points they can give, or take during a game.
A solid game that may not be a favourite, but fun enough for a few games. Just wish it would store better.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Dec. 16, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- PALAGO

2009-12-16T11:44:00.000-08:00

PALAGO

Palago is one of those games that has been of interest for some time.
Well, that is only partially correct. It is really a situation where I have become interested in games created by Cameron Browne. Our paths crossed on the excellent Board Game Geek website (www.boardgamegeek.com), and we actually corresponded there on occasion.
From there we became friends on Facebook, so the connection remains.
As an aside that is one of the amazing things about the electronic world we now life in, we can connect with people that in the past would have only been a name on a game box. That connection, at least for me, makes certain games a more personal experience. The opportunity to correspond with someone like John Yianni creator of the modern classic is akin to writing back-and-forth with the unknown creator of chess. It’s a rare honour.
While Palago isn’t maybe as ‘classic’ as Hive, when you are talking tile laying games, there aren’t many which come to mind as better.
Like the best tile laying games, Palago works with simple, easily understood rules.
The goal is likewise simple. Players strive to form closed groups of their colour.
A two-player game; blue and white share a common pool of 48 hexagonal arch tiles. Each tile contains a white arch and a blue arch, and may be placed in one of three ways so the corner colours are the same for each rotation.
White starts by placing two touching tiles. From there players take turns adding two tiles so the edge colours match neighbouring tiles.
The game is won by the player who forms a surrounded island of their colour containing at least one arch. If a move forms winning groups for both players, then the mover loses.
Published by Tantrix Games Ltd. who also produced Trax which has been reviewed here previously, the published version of Palago comes with a selection on solitaire puzzles where you are trying to create certain ‘creature designs’ outlined in the rulebook, by using a set number of tiles.
Rules also exist for playing Palago with three to five players, a system which adds the element of dice and point scoring. The unique dice are included.
The ability to take a game which was initially a two-player one, and expand it to multiplayer, or have the option to explore the concept solitaire is quite brilliant. Each facet of the game offers something unique, from brain burning solitaire puzzles, to the influence of dice with more than three players.
The pieces are bakelite, so they should last.
The game fits in a nice, small drawstring bag, so it’s easily taken with you.
Add up all the features, and you get a winner. Mr Browne has done an excellent job on Palago, and I for one look forward to more of his games making it into production with a fine game company such as Tantrix Games Ltd. who knows how to produce high quality games. Check them out at www.tantrix.com
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Dec. 9, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- ROMAN TAXI

2009-12-02T18:19:00.000-08:00

ROMAN TAXI

Roman Taxi is one of those light, fun games that has some initial attraction, but likely won’t hold your interest for a lot of repeat play.
The game is based on the idea players being Roman chariot taxi drivers. You pick up passengers, and get them to their destination to score points. The most points naturally wins.
There are passenger cards with assigned destinations, and travel cards which affect movement and event cards which impact the game in some fashion, most often scoring additional points. With three decks of cards influencing the game, the card draw becomes paramount in this game. As a result you have quite limited control over game play. You simply draw a card and do what it allows.
The game has a social aspect, allowing two to five players, but game play is rather restrictive.
The game board, while well made, is rather busy in its design. A road system of small, brightly coloured squares is at times a bit much, although it does have a sort of 1970’s appeal.
The small squares though are a problem in that the player tokens are too big for the squares. That just seems like a detail production should have been able to handle.
Therein lies the problem with Roman Taxi. Everything about the game seems to promise a fun game, but somehow falls just a little short of achieving the level of expectation.
The limited game play options, draw a card, move, wait for your turn again, can make multi-player games drag on, without a feeling of impacting the outcome past drawing cards. Even in Monopoly, the world’s most boring game in my opinion, at least offers decisions on what properties to buy, when to build houses, or to wheel and deal a title trade.
If Roman Taxi had just a few ways to change one’s fate, it would be better.
The basic idea of competing cabs, with the pasted on Roman theme is intriguing, but there are just far too many better games out there to suggest this one should take up shelf space, and that is where it will likely end up since it will rarely see the gaming table.
The game was designed by the team of Dan Tibbles, Jeremy Holcomb, Joseph Huber (II), and Stephen McLaughlin. It is a new game being released only this year from Bucephalus Games.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Dec. 2, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- DVONN

2009-11-25T13:26:00.000-08:00

Dvonn

There is nothing better than getting back to the wonderful games created by Kris Burm, the genius behind the outstanding gipf series of games.
The set of six games is possibly the best set of games created this decade, and easily the best collection of abstract strategy games created by a single mind.
In the past I have had the pleasure of reviewing Zertz, Gipf, Yinsh, and Tzaar, all of which were amazing games.
This week we are back to look at Dvonn, which Burm created and launched in 2001, which makes it one of the earliest games in the series, although certainly no less great than the other games on the list.
Like all games in the series Dvonn is a two-player, perfect information abstract. It pits the two players in a head-to-head battle of strategy based on skill, rather than dice rolls or the random draw of a card. For me that is the ultimate in a game, although it is not for everyone, so be forewarned.
Dvonn, again like all games in the series comes in a nice, compact box. All the boxes are the same size, so they store nicely, and you will want to keep them handy since they are all likely to become favourites.
The components are excellent as usual. The pieces, stackable rings in three colours, are high quality plastic, and the board as good as pressed boards get.
The game is played on an elongated hexagonal board, with 23 white, 23 black and three red pieces. The red pieces are integral to the game and are called the Dvonn pieces,
The board in Dvonn begins empty. The players take turns adding pieces to the board grid, starting with the Dvonns, then working from the cache of their own colour.
Once all the pieces are placed, the game turns into stacking game.
Players take turns stacking pieces on top of each other.
The movement of pieces is what is the intriguing aspect of Dvonn. A single piece may be moved one space in any direction, a stack of two pieces may moved two spaces, and so on. A stack must always be moved as a whole and a move must always end on top of another piece or stack. When moving, a stack can move across both empty and occupied spaces as long as the move ends on an occupied spot to create a stack.
If a stack gets too tall, it can limit its movement options since it can’t move in a straight line the needed number of spaces.
The second defining mechanic of the game is that all pieces, or stacks must stay in contact with at least one of the red Dvonn pieces. Pieces, or stacks which lose contact with a Dvonn piece are removed from the board. The game ends when no more moves can be made. The players put the stacks they control on top of each other and the one with the highest stack is the winner.
Like all games in the gipf series the rules are pretty straight forward, yet the depth of game play is high.
The fact the game board starts empty, with randomized piece placement, also creates a different game each time, requiring its own strategic approach, which keeps the game fresh.
Like all gipf games I have played, Dvonn is a must own. A great game.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Nov.25, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- DWARVEN DIG

2009-11-25T13:25:00.000-08:00

Dwarven Dig

Do you like the idea of crawling through a mine in search of treasure?
If you answered yes, then Dwarven Dig is a game you will want to check out.
Dwarven Dig is for two-to-six players, and is best described as an exploration game, in a fantasy genre.
The box top description gives a rather concise vision of the flavour of Dwarven Dig stating it “is the fast-paced, hard-hitting, cave-smashing game of dwarves on the hunt for treasure. With the wise, grit-generating elder, the savvy engineer, the hell-raising miner and the stout warrior, can you lead your team safely through the perils of the mountain to retrieve the treasure before your opponents do the same? Play defensively or go on the attack to directly thwart the other teams, and never play the same game twice due to the game board's tile construction system. Face the mountain if you dare!”
The game was created by Anthony J. Gallela and Japji Khalsa, and was first released in 2003. The most recent edition is from Bucephalus Games.
To start, a word about the components; they are very good.
The board is modular, coming on good-sized hexagonal pieces which can be configured in various patterns to keep game-play fresh. This is an element a lot of games could utilize to good effect.
The game comes with little plastic dwarves in a number of colours as the game pieces. For a game of this style the miniatures have surprising details. There are four separate poses; warrior, miner, elder and engineer.
Glass beads as the booty is a nice touch.
And, the player reference cards are on thick cardboard, so they’ll take some handling.
There is a considerable set up phase, laying out the board, and getting ready to play. From there the game has a bit of a learning curve too. The instructions are quite extensive for a game that is supposed to play in about 45-minutes. Don’t expect that to happen, at least as you learn this one.
The game is broken in phases; dig, battle, willpower and grit, so there is a level of complexity to how the game unfolds too.
The game has three win conditions, which is generally a positive.
A player that can get their party to a cave entrance in possession of a treasure marker wins. You can also be the last player with dwarves still alive. In a case where dwarves die simultaneously to end a game, the player with the most grit tokens wins.
You might see a pattern in the win conditions. The likelihood of failure ending in dwarven death is pretty high here. Be prepared to fail. It’s a part of most games, but the chances are higher here.
Overall, the game has a solid dungeon crawl feel to it. The game is challenging, but anyone seems to have a fair shot at winning at any time.
Not one for casual gamers, but those dedicated to learning this one should find in an enjoyable gaming experience.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Nov.18, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- EASTER ISLAND

2009-11-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

Easter Island

When it comes to games in general, and abstract strategy games in particular, I tend to be rather a stickler for good quality game components.
Board games, at least in my mind, should last, and great games should be something dads teach sons and those sons teach their daughters and so on. I would like to think the crokinole board I constantly beat my son on today, is the same one his son plays on (likely beating his dad too).
Ditto by Omega chess set and several others.
So as an abstract fan I was rather excited to get a chance to play Easter Island.
The game was released first in 2006, and was created by the team of Odet L´Homer and Roberto Fraga, and was immediately intriguing if for no other reason than the cool theme tied to the game’s namesake Easter Island.
Easter Island is in the South Pacific, and is famous for the giant stone statues found there. The island’s inhabitants long ago disappeared without a trace except for the giant Moai. The stone monoliths are a modern conundrum, being so massive that it is difficult to imagine their creations without access to modern tools and machinery. Their creation is the stuff of myth, legend and much conjecture. (As a side note the 1994 movie Rapa Nui is highly recommended regarding Easter Island lore).
This game continues the speculation of what exactly was the purpose of the giant facial statues. The game creators speculated the statues were beam weapons created by two wizards. These wizards used the statues in a giant game, with the island itself as the board.
The board as you might now expect is a gridded representation of the island. It is a good quality cardboard-style playing surface.
Each player in this two-player game, becomes one of the wizards.
There are two types of playing pieces. One is small plastic representations of the Moai. Those pieces are rather neat, and functional being made of plastic.
There are also sun tokens. These are simply cardboard disks. The likelihood of loss and damage to these pieces grows substantially (the biggest disappointment here), so be careful in preserving them.
On a given turn a player has five actions they may take, from placing an additional statue on the board (each player has seven, with four starting on the game board at the beginning of a match), to moving a piece on the board, to placing a sun token, or directing a sun ray through one of your pieces to destroy an opponent’s statue.
If you are relegated to only one statue on the board, you lose.
The game has some intriguing rules. A statue is destroyed if hit from the front, or back, but redirects the ray if hit from the side. However, if there is no target for the redirected ray, then the last statue hit is lost.
The game is certainly one of recognizing combination patterns, and geometric configurations. It is likely a good pool player might grasp Easter Island rather quickly.
The rule set is different enough from most abstract to make this one a refreshing experience, and there is certainly enough strategic possibilities to explore to keep players interested for many games.
If you like brain-burning work-outs this is so the game to explore.
Highly recommended in terms of game play.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Nov.11, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- RIOMINO

2009-11-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

RioMino

There is something highly satisfying about playing a game with a handful of dice, when the roll of those dice plays a limited role in whether you win or lose.
Some people love the randomness of dice in a game. I tend to look at the rolling of dice as a crutch to enable people to get lucky and win over skill. Or, it might be simply that dice hate me.
RioMino though is an abstract strategy game which does afford each player perfect information, in as much as they know what the opponent has to work with.
The six-sided dice are the playing pieces for RioMino, which is really the game Tashkent Dice renamed. Tashkent Dice were the creation of Kris Burm, the genius behind the outstanding gipf series of games, so there is pedigree here. Burm created the dice game in 1997, envisioning it as something played on a 3X3 grid. Professional Tashkent expanded the play area to 5X5 and upped the dice pool to 25.
With RioMino from Smart Games, you actually get a range of ‘board’ options.
So let’s start with the dice in the Smart Games edition. They look great. They have good size, and are black. The pips are yellow, red, or blue, with each face split into two, so you get a one/black, one/two, one/three, two/blank, two/one etc.
Smart Games has created a sort of tiered learning system for the game.
The starter level has each player working with only six dice, junior you get eight, expert nine, and master 10.
Each game comes with a corresponding board, with a different lay out.
The two players roll their assigned dice, and whatever they get as a result are the play pieces for that game.
A single additional die is rolled by the starting player, who sets it in the middle of the board. You then take turns playing pieces adjacent to those already in play. If you can do so within the confines of the board grid, you lose.
It is essentially a tile laying game, using dice.
Ultimately, you even throw out the boards. All 25 dice are used at the so-called wizard level. Each player gets 12, with the 25th dice rolled and placed to start the game. The difference is the first dice played no longer has to be the centre piece. In Wizard the play area is allowed to build differently with each game, the only constraint is no column or row can extend beyond five dice.
With the five play area options, and the difference created each game by the initial roll of the dice, RioMino has solid replay value.
The game is also extremely fast, even at the wizard level, so the draw to play ‘just one more’ is pretty high.
Players are going to gravitate to the wizard level rather quickly, so the portability factor is another huge plus. The dice go in a drawstring bag, and away you go.
Add the sharp looking dice, and a rule set you can impart on a new player in a matter of minutes, and you find RioMino is pretty much a clear cut hit.
This is an easy to play, quick, nice looking, portable game, which requites skill to win, but doesn’t bog down a casual player with too much thinking.
Overall, a great solid little game.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Nov. 4, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- WORD ON THE STREET

2009-11-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

Word On The Street

Word games are something most of us have played at one time, or another, whether it’s the old pen-and-paper Hangman’s Noose, or the classic Scrabble or more recent Boggle.
Word games are great in that they are educational in regards to expanding vocabulary and of course working the brain a bit at the same time you’re having fun.
A new game which enters the fray in terms of games of the genre is Word on the Street. This is a brand new game, created by Jack Degnan and released by Out of The Box this year.
As you might expect Word on the Street is all about creating words.
The game comes with 17 plastic letter tiles which are placed alphabetically down the center of the board. Vowels are missing, as are j, q, x, and z.
The game can be played with two to eight people, with players divided into two teams which take turns thinking of words which fit their category card.
The cards cover categories such as ‘a string instrument’, ‘the last name of a comedian’ or ‘a type of pepper’. Teams must come up with words which fit the card from the words available on the board. A 30-second sand timer is turned when the category card is flipped, and you must agree to a word and move the letters before time runs out. Of course that is where the challenge comes from, working under the pressure of the falling sand.
Letters contained in the chosen word are pulled one lane closer to the edge of the board, and eventually are slid all the way off, scoring that team a point.
On the other team's turn, for their category word they try to use and slide the remaining letters to their side of the board, while keeping in mind any letters that the opposing team have moved dangerously close to their edge. This is of course a major strategy of the game. You need to be able to pull your opponent's letters back across the board, so you are always looking for words which incorporate the most ‘at-risk’ letters.
The game essentially is a tug-of-war scenario with players trying to get letters dragged to their side to score points, while opponents are trying to drag them back their way.
The categories are quite diverse, and certainly several are rather challenging for ‘classical composers’ to ‘a mushroom’ -- really how many different types of mushroom does the average person know?
The cards are where the game could naturally see an expansion, simply adding new categories for players to have to deal with.
The letter tiles are heavy molded plastic, so they will last, and the board is typical heavy cardboard.
The box gets high marks, as everything has a molded spot so components store nicely.
If you are a fan of word games, there’s no reason not to like this one. It has a different enough approach to searching out words to be fresh, yet is simple enough to learn quickly.
That said, if exploring your vocabulary isn’t your cup of tea in terms of board games, then this is one to pass on.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Oct. 28 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- TRAX

2009-10-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

TRAX

You have to love a game which fits in a handy little pouch about six inches square, making it a perfect ‘take it where you go’ game.
That is Trax. The package isn’t much larger than the walkman-style CD players you saw people wearing a few years back before the world went higher tech with mp3 players.
Trax is a tile-laying game that I suppose has its roots in dominoes in the sense it has that sort of ‘feel’ although the pieces here are geometric shapes, not numbers.
Trax is a two player abstract strategy game of loops and lines which will be explained later.
Each piece is identical, so Trax is a perfect information game. You know exactly what piece your opponent has, because they all match.
There is a different design on each side of the pieces, with straights on one side and curves on the other. One straight and one curve is in red and the other in white.
Each player is assigned one of the colours in this two-player game.
Trax is a game which truly excels in terms of simplicity and convenience.
The tiles are bakelite so they have excellent durability, and are easily cleaned. So if you take the game to the coffee shop and they get sticky from the caramel bun, no problem.
The tiles are also the board in the case of Trax. The game can be played on any flat surface.
The rules of Trax are also very simple. On their turn a player places a tile, or at times multiple tiles, adjacent to those already in play so the colours of the tracks match. The objective is to get a loop or line of your colour while attempting to stop your opponent with their colour. Adding depth to the game is a forced play rule which allows, or may require, multiple tiles to be played in a turn
Trax is not a newcomer to the gaming world. In fact, it’s almost into the area where you would term it a classic, having been created in 1980 by David Smith.
The game is in some respects a forerunner of several games using similar tile-laying mechanics, including Tantrix and Palago which also come from Tantrix Games Ltd.
Trax is one of those games which is nearly a must have for anyone liking board games. The quality, portability and simplicity all rate extremely high marks.
That it is an abstract strategy game which makes you think is a bonus, but it doesn’t come across as being as involved strategically as say chess, which is good in the sense chess-like games scare many casual game players away.
Just an outstanding little game which begs to be enjoyed.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Oct. 21, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- Playbook Football

2009-10-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

PLAYBOOK FOOTBALL

It’s fall. The Canadian Football League is heading down the stretch to the playoffs, and that American league is going too.
It is a time of year when sports fans talk gridiron, and we all become armchair quarterbacks wanting to manage our own teams on the field.
There are of course several board games which look to mimic the game of football, and this time of year is a good one to bring those out on cool crisp autumn evenings.
If you aren't immediately impressed with Playbook Football the minute you slip it from the box, it would be quite frankly shocking.
There are times when games seem over-produced in terms of their components, and Playbook Football from Bucephalus Games would fit that description. The playing field is a heavy wooden board nearly half an inch thick. My first reaction to the board was that it had the look, and feel of a game which might have been produced in the 1920s when wood was the primary material, and there was attention to detail and quality.
The two halves of the board go together to sandwich the other game components between them for storage. A butterfly hinge and fastener would have made the system handier, but the cardboard box is sturdy, so it should last if cared for.
The components inside the playing field are well-made as well, with a wooden football that is moved down a track on the field to mark where the play is, and plastic markers which are used to mark what’s going on in terms of play, and of course dice, which are pretty much a given in this type of game.
The overall look of Playbook Football once it is set-up is of an heirloom game, although it is a recent addition to the world of football board games, having been released only last year (2008).
There are also cards which are part of the game which was designed by Kevin Barrett.
The cards are where players find the plays for the game. “With Playbook Football, you call every play and plan every drive. Offense and Defense are two sides of the same coin, and that currency funds your campaign to the end zone. You will use the Blitz and Nickel defenses to stop your opponent’s passes and runs. The Quarterback Sneak will be your sneaky weapon for two-point conversions and 4th-and 1 calls - just as in real professional football!,” states the company’s website at http://shop.bucephalus.biz “The play cards in Playbook Football are the product of months of research and intensive number-crunching. 10 full seasons of professional football statistics were analyzed and distilled down into the probabilities and results contained on these cards.”
Apparently Bucephalus Games is also actively looking to acquire the rights to do theme decks based on particular teams, presumably those in the National Football League. If they can make such arrangements it would be a plus as players could look to recreate the offenses and defences of their favourite teams. It would also add more diversity to the gaming system.
When it comes to game play, simplicity really sits at the heart of Playbook Football, with instructions fitting on a couple of pages. Many sports sims get bogged down on detail. This one keeps things pretty straight forward.
There are a selection of offensive and defensive plays. Each player selects a play, and those are revealed at the same time.
Then it’s dice time with each player rolling a 10-sided and a 12-sided die. Initially the result of the two 10-sided dice are added and if they add up to six or 16, then a penalty is called.
If there is no penalty on the play, the offensive players 10-sided die and the sum of the two 12-sided dice are used on the offensive card to resolve the play. The defensive play selection may influence the play by shifting the 10-sided dice result.
There are special cards for field goals, short punts, long punts, onside kicks, kickoff returns, punt returns and the aforementioned penalties.
It’s pretty straight forward, select plays, roll dice, and battle up and down the field based on the charts. A game gets played in under an hour.
Not the deepest football sim, but being quick, simple, and so well made still make this a great way to feed the desire to coach.
Certainly a nice football board game option for fans of the real game.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Oct. 14, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- Warp 6

2009-10-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

WARP 6

Warp 6 is an interesting little game coming to the public from the small games publisher Pair-of-Dice. I say interesting because of how the game is put together in terms of mechanics, and how the game actually plays.
Starting with the components of this 2002 release, it is one where the elements are really simplicity at work.
The playing surface is a screen printed cloth which looks like a large men’s handkerchief, or small table cloth. It’s simple, but works well. I do wonder how well it might wash should the cloth get dirty. If it washes well that would be a huge plus especially since the game really does transport well for taking camping, to the park, or coffee shop. The cloth is at least black, with the play area screened in white.
As you can imagine the ‘board’ folds into a rather small package for storage, or transport.
The game pieces are equally simple, a handful of dice. In a two-player game each combatant gets nine dice, four four-sided, three six-sided and two eight-sided dice. When three players hook up in Warp 6, each player gets six dice, one less of each type.
That’s it as far as game components.
From there, game designers Brian Tivol, Greg Lam, and Luke Weisman developed a rather simple, yet potentially deep game.
Each player initially roll their handful of dice, with the person with the highest number going first. That person places any one of their dice on the first node of the spiral designed game board course. The second player goes next, and so on until all the dice are played.
The number on the dice indicated how many spots it can move on a turn as it progresses around the spiral course.
In the two-player game the goal is to get six dice to the centre of the board, three players only need to race four to the centre.
Like most race games, there is more to it than simply moving the dice.
When you move a dice, and it lands on another dice, the moving dice gets to ‘warp’ down to the next ring of the spiral course. If it lands on another dice at that point, it warps again, allowing for a chain of ‘warps’ which of course gives the game its name. By warping, you speed your movement to the centre.
Adding an element of luck to the mix, a dice that does warp is re-rolled, giving it a new number.
Instead of making a move, a player can adjust the number of a single dice up, or down one number.
The rules fit on two sides of an 8X11 page, and include some visual examples, which speaks to the simplicity of the game too.
Warp 6 is still very much an abstract strategy game even with the ability to change a dice number, because players see all the pieces, so they have perfect information. It’s a nice use of the dice rolling mechanics without it really influencing the game with dumb luck. If that dice roll really bothers you, it could be house-ruled out of the game easily too.
The strategy of Warp 6 comes in with attempting to set up chains of ‘warps’ for your pieces, or making moves to break chains before an opponent can make the jumps.
The small element of luck which is added by the roll of a warping dice is really a nice little twist to things.
This is a great little game which shines based on simplicity, portability, and that is plays two and three players equally well. You just can’t go wrong with this little gem.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Oct.7, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- DRAGONS

2009-10-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

DRAGONS

Recently it’s been newer games which have attracted attention in this column, but this week it’s time to look back on a game that came out several years ago.
The exact date is seemingly lost, at least to sources I am aware of, including on the game box itself. Dragons though is a Canadian produced game, coming from Chieftain Products Inc., an Ontario-based company which produced a number of games.
As is often the case with games of the era coming from companies which had a catalogue of products, the game designer of Dragons is not listed, and is probably a fact lost to all but the creator and his/or her close friends. Too bad that at the time the genius of designers was often left uncredited.
In the case of Dragons the design builds off one of the simplest games out there, the often played pen and paper game Xs and Os, or Tic Tac Toe if you prefer.
So what is there exactly to Dragons?
Well to start with the game name is really just pasted on. I wish there was more to connect the game to the idea of dragons, but there isn’t much here in that regard. The box has a couple of nice dragons in gold, but when you get inside, they are no where to be found. Having some flying dragons around the edge of the simple cardboard play area, or on the actual pieces would have immensely improved the aesthetics of the game.
As it is, the components are function, but very plain.
The game is played on a 5x5 square board. The board is further marked out into quadrant play areas of 3x3 in each corner. The quadrants represent the different seasons, as signified by very simple art in each corner, a snowflake for winter, flower for spring etc.
The goal of the game is to get a row of three stacks of counters placed in one of the seasons.
The game pieces are in white and green, and are very well made, albeit in plastic. They have a slight concave surface that helps hold stacks in place nicely.
Players alternate placing their respective counters on empty squares until such time as somebody gets three in a row in a season (or overlapping seasons). When a player achieves a row, all other pieces in the involved seasons are removed, and the player's removed pieces are stacked onto the last played piece of his color. The opponent’s piece goes back into his off-board supply for later use.
Since you have a finite supply of pieces, 15, you need to make sure your stacks do not get too large, because when you run out of pieces to play, you use up a turn reclaiming a non-critical stack from the board.
The first stack a player forms will of necessity be at least three high. After that shrewd placement can keep subsequent stacks at two pieces in height since stacks can be part of three-in-a-row, and only single pieces are removed to form new stacks.
First person to get three stacks within one season wins.
There is certainly more here than the old pen and paper game we all played as kids, but it is also still has Tic Tac Toe at its heart, so it’s not overly deep. That said, because Dragons is based off a game which everyone knows, it’s a relatively simple learning curve.
Certainly a game worth grabbing if you see it, partly because it is Canadian. It would rank a bit higher too if they had really pushed the Dragons theme once inside the box.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Sept. 30, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- KACHINA

2009-10-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

KACHINA

It is always fun to experience a game when it is brand new. There is a sense you are in on the ground floor or a gaming experience.
There is also some trepidation since you don't know if the game will be a good investment or not. It's pretty easy to find out information on chess because it's been around forever. A game such as Kachina, released just this year by Bucephalus Games on the other hand is an unknown.
Well folks, fear not in the case of Kachina. The game created by Scott Caputo may not be around hundred of years after its release the way chess is, but in the here and now it's a darned fine game.
Let's start with the theme Caputo has used for this tile-laying game.
Kachina's are spirits in the teachings of the Hopi tribe of the southwest United States. The Hopi are also known for their bright artistic work.
So, each tile in this game represents one of eight Kachinas, or spirits, and is differentiated by some really stunning artwork, albeit in miniatures since the heavy cardboard pieces are only about 1.5 inches square. I particularly like the art for the warrior, eagle and ogre.
It was the amazing art which initially drew my attention to Kachina when I first learned of the game online, and the connection to the Hopi culture was an added attraction too.
Some games are all glitz and no playability though.
Kachina avoids that pitfall rather nicely as well.
As stated it is a tile laying game. The game consists of 60-tiles of eight different types. Six of the tile types have unique powers, which means when you place them they have some additional affect on the game in terms of where it cam be places, of how many points you may score. Each tile has a point value as well. That is a nice touch in as much as it lends a level of strategy to the game.
There are some handy player reference cards to help keep the special powers of certain Kachinas close at-hand.
The tiles are shuffled -- yes it would have been nice to include a cloth drawstring bag to hold the tiles and allow for easy random draws – and each player is given five tiles.
The game allows for two to five players, which is nice.
That you get five tiles to start, and replenish as you go along is a major plus for Kachina. That allows that each time your turns comes around you actually have some options. With certain tiles have certain powers, you need to determine when it is best to use that tile. It sort of feels like the decision of when to use your trump card in various card games.
The tiles are played out in a pattern which ends up looking a lot like a Scrabble array, or crossword puzzle. The game develops over rows and columns, with no single line allowed to be longer than seven tiles.
As you add a piece you score points for the row, or column, and sometimes both.
The game plays rather quickly, which is a bonus too.
Certainly the game is ripe for expansion. There are undoubtedly lots of other Kachinas which could be added to the mix with other abilities to impact the game. There is probably options to offer up spirits from other tribes as well, which could create some conflict mechanisms too.
The potential for expansion is good because it will keep the game fresh, much as have the creators of Carcassonne, maybe the best of the genre has gone through several expansions.
As is, Kachina though has a lot going for it. Pleasing to look at, simple game play with some level of strategy beyond the dumb luck of drawing a single tile. A definite winner.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Sept. 23, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- TOBOGGANS OF DOOM

2009-09-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

TOBOGGANS OF DOOM

You live in Saskatchewan where a hill with a covering of snow -- which can happen anywhere from late September to mid May, as we saw this spring – attracts a bunch of kids and their toboggans. It's a childhood activity, a near rite of passage, a coming of age sort of thing. That's why the kids can usually convince mom and dad to take a few runs down the hill without too much argument.
Of course as a kid, you often dream of speeding up the old sled, and cartoons of course do that with all manner of rocket engines and imagination.
So when you see the board game Toboggans of Doom from Bucephalus Games, there is an immediate interest, not to mention the attraction of the game box which shows a Sasquatch swinging a club at a sledder. Come on, how cool is that?
The 2008 game release looks good on the outside. And, once you crack the box on the two-to-four player game you get a pretty good idea what the game is all about.
To start with the main components are a bunch of well-made, glassy, cardboard tiles, which of course influence the game as they are played. There is a meteor shower, fireworks array, portable hole, avalanche, the frightening ex-girlfriend and of course the Sasquatch to name a few. Yes it sounds like the Acme catalog from Looney Tunes is alive and well.
The cards are basically divided into two categories, obstacles, and sled upgrades. One helps you, one disadvantages your opponents.
The next big thing you notice in the box is a bag of dice, the standard array of four, six, eight, 10, 12 and 20-sided ones. So, yes you guessed it, the luck of the dice is a huge influence on the game. Randomness reigns supreme here. Generally a personal turn-off, let's face it when you are talking about a game which is essentially a fantastical race down a mountain on a toboggan dodging shark attacks, and Viking opera singers.
The Obstacle cards are shuffled and laid out face-down in three columns of 10. They essentially make up the run. An obstacle is turned face up, and through the roll of dice again, you have to clear it.
You score points as you progress down the hill.
Upgrade cards are purchased depending on the roll of dice and how that corresponds to the upgrade 'cost'.
As you can see rolling dice and the randomness of the race down obstacle cards create a lot of uncontrollable mayhem.
A game lasts only three rounds, so it plays rather quickly, although getting to the bottom is a monumental task given the luck involved and only three rounds to survive.
The game has replay in the sense the run varies each time, but the lustre wears a bit quickly. Yes it's kind of cool getting past the Sasquatch the first time, but you soon realize there is no skill at all. It's kind of like pushing the button on a VLT, you have zero control.
Good premise, solid components, but game play just isn't as fulfilling as a serious board gamer may seek. That said, a fun once in a while game where no one has to think, and there are some laughs and chuckles along the way.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Sept. 16, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- TZAAR

2009-09-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

TZAAR

If you have been reading the gaming reviews over the past year or so, then the gipf series of abstract games will be familiar, since half of the series of six games released over the last decade have been covered here.
You are also likely familiar with the name Kris Burm, the creator of all six games. There are other game creators with a longer list of games to their credit, but in terms of abstract strategy games Burm truly stands at the head of the class.
That is not to say the six games in the series are the best games of the genre. In fact, they are not in my opinion. That said however, when I sit down to list the Top-25 abstracts of all time, Burm creations show up rather often. Zertz, which ranked number seven when I did the list, is in my estimation the best of the group, although I will admit to liking it because it is familiar in the sense of reminding of Chinese Checkers. Yinsh, reviewed here only a few weeks ago is arguable as good, although it was number 10, when I did the list, which admittedly could use a ranking update. Gipf, the first of the series, and today's game Tzaar the most recent creation, both rank in the Top-25 as well.
Tzaar is a game designed, as most abstract strategy games are, for two players, and is rated eight and up in terms of age. The game is supposed to play in about 15-minutes, but good abstract players usually slow that in the sense you want to study moves, which is the key to winning such games.
Each player has 30 pieces, divided in three types; six Tzaars, nine Tzarras and 15 Totts. Yes the names are a bit funky, but that's part of gaming. The three types of pieces have a connection which is central to the game, they cannot exist without each other. The aim is rather straight forward, and like the best games, there are multiple win conditions, either to make the opponent run out of one of the three types of pieces or to put him in a position in which he cannot capture anymore.
With the exception of the first player's first move, you have two actions on each turn. The first action has to be to capture an opponent's piece. The second action can be to capture another opponent piece, or to move one piece of yours onto another. The stack created can only then be captured by a stack of equal, or greater height.
There is the big decision each turn whether to reduce the opponent's pieces, or to strengthen your own position by building stacks. This is a simple mechanic, but one which adds considerable depth to the game.
The rather simple to grasp win conditions and game mechanics make Tzaar a great game to introduce people to abstracts, and that is a good thing. Chess for example, while wonderful, has a rather steep learning curve. This one does not.
At the same time though, there are tough decisions, a forward planning required to be successful. You have to think to win.
Like all the gipf series games I have experienced so far, the board and pieces are great quality, and the rulebook clear and thorough.
A nice addition to learning this game is that Burm himself has an instructional video online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=NL&hl=nl&v=_NEtt_Zsl-w Check it out.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Sept. 9, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- ELEMENTALIS

2009-09-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

ELEMENTALIS

The first caveat on this review is simple; if you don't like rolling dice to determine the outcome of a game, then move on right now.
Elementalis is pure and simple a dice fest.
The game has players rolling dice, and if they succeed in achieving certain results, they can choose to roll again. The second roll can gain a player more 'mana' towards victory, although certain poor rolls can have the player losing that which he earned with roll one.
On the second roll certain results can again lead a player to a point where he can roll a third time.
In that regard Elementalis holds much in common with other dice push games, where you can risk what you have to gainer better results; Cosmic Wimpout and Can't Stop being two games of that type.
At least in terms of dice the set comes with neat looking dice with emblems for the four elements, water, air, earth and fire rather than simply the numbers you usually see on dice.
If that was it, this game would be rather uninteresting, but designer Robert C. Kalajian Jr., has done a nice job of incorporating some other features which at least add to this game for two to four players.
Players take on the role of wizards; in the basic game either elementalist, harmonists or purist. Each mage type had an effect on what certain dice roles mean to that player. This feature at least creates a situation where players are not all rolling dice to achieve the same results.
Players also chose what elements their wizard is looking for.
The ultimate goal of the game is to accumulate the mana by the end of six rounds, the mana accumulating by good dice rolls.
There is however, some ability to combat the pure luck of rolling dice. As a wizard you can cast spells, using mana you have already gained. The spells, each of the four elements have a short spell list to draw from, generally improve your chances as you roll dice, or work to thwart an opponent's roll.
As you might expect to cast a fire spell, you must have the required fire mana.
While the spells are useful, they have to be managed wisely, since they deplete your mana reserve, which is the key to ultimate victory.
The game has some nice features with the mage selections and spell casting which allow this game to step a bit above the average dice fest which is so luck driven as to be rather boring.
It helps too that the creator, who released the original game in 2006, has stayed interested in the game by releasing three expansions, one in 2007, and two in 2008. The expansions allow for additional mage type selections, and one of the three expands the game to allow for five players.
The mage types are not all balanced, and that is all right, since it allows new players to be handed the more powerful types as a way of balancing the game against experienced players.
It will be interesting to see if Kalajian has more ideas to come. Perhaps one day new dice with an added mana type or two? Eight-sided dice would make that possible.
However, as is, Elementalis is a nice filler-style game. It is not overly deep, but has enough options, and fun to make it worthwhile.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Sept. 2, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- SIX

2009-09-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

SIX

Six is one of those games which really impresses on several levels.
To begin with it comes in a nice, small, cube-shaped box that is sturdy, and ideal for taking over to a bud's for a night of gaming, or down to the coffee shop to play a few games. That is a huge plus, and it stores well too.
Inside the wooden pieces, and yes wood is also a nice touch in terms of game pieces, are stored in a simple cloth bag, with an easy pull-string to keep the pieces safe. Another fine touch for Six.
The game pieces are hexagonal; shaped, with a set of red and a set of black. There is no board, with the pieces creating the play area as they are added to the the game. That means you can play Six on any flat surface, which is another plus.
The rulebook is well laid out, and has a number of coloured examples, so picking up how to play is very simple. Of course the rules are pretty basic too, which is good as well.
While a simple rule set, there is still some definite depth to this two-player abstract strategy game which was designed by Steffan Muhlhauser. To begin with, Six has three objectives with achieving any one of them creating a win.
To win you must either end up with six of your pieces in a straight line, or six pieces in a triangular shape, or have six pieces in a ring shape. Having multiple win conditions adds much to a strategic game, and is one of the nicest features of Six.
The game is played in what are two distinct phases. To begin with players take turns adding one piece of the their colour to the ever growing 'board' until all 38 pieces are played, or someone has achieved a winning position.
Once all the pieces are placed without a win, play continues with players again alternating as they move a previously placed piece of their colour. A player cannot move a piece that would leave the configuration split into more than one connected group. Play continues until someone wins.
Advanced rules allow players to move a piece that would split the configuration, with all the pieces in the smaller group removed from the game. The advanced rules then add another win condition, or more correctly a loss condition. If a player is left with fewer than six pieces they lose.
While the advanced rules add to how one must approach the game, a loss by simply being isolated with fewer than six pieces is less satisfying in terms of game play.
Released initially in 2003, and available through Fox Mind Games, Six plays quickly, has great components, simple rules, and transports and stores easily. In terms of what you want in a game, at least a two-player abstract, it's hard to find fault with Six when you add up the positives.
That said, like most games where you are looking to create a pattern, the first player has an advantage if they play perfectly against someone of comparable skill. And, while there are different ways to win, the strategy is not as deep as the best abstracts; Arimaa, Terrace, Chess and the like.
Still, this is a game accessible to all, and one well worth having in a collection.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Aug. 26, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- YINSH

2009-08-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

YINSH

If you are a fan of abstract strategy games, and that is of course my favoured boardgames genre, then you probably recognize that we are in a Renaissance era in terms of development right now.
While abstracts, such as chess, Shogi, Go, Othello and Camelot are lasting classics, for much of the 1900s developers didn't exactly create a bunch of notable abstracts. In fact, truly great abstracts between 1900 and 1999 were a rather scarey thing.
The last decade though that has changed with games such as Hive, Arimaa, and Navia Drapt coming along to impress.
Among the leaders of the resurgence of abstract is Kris Burm, a game designer who in terms of abstract strategy games at least, has to be considered a genius. Burm is of course the man behind the Gipf series of games, six abstracts released over the last decade, or so, and each one becoming an instant classic. This is a set of games that should still be popular a century from now, as long as they manage to keep the games in print so new gamers can easily access them. As a side note, that is the Achilles Heel of most game's in terms of longevity. They go out-of-print, making it difficult to sustain growth because new players can't easily buy them. As an example, I think of Terrace, an abstract gem, which is no longer in print.
But, I digress.
This is a week to sing the praises of one of Burma's great Gipf series games; Yinsh, released in 2003.
Let's start with a look at the components. There are basally pieces which remind of checkers. They are black on one side, and white on the other, and like in Othello, the pieces will get flipped back and forth throughout the game.
Each player also has five rings, which are crucial to game play.
All the pieces are in good quality plastic, and the folding pressed cardboard game board, while not particularly exciting in terms of graphics, or decoration, is very functional.
It all stores in a nice sized box identical to others in the Gipf series, which makes for an appealing collection on a shelf.
The rules of the game are quick to grasp too, with a rule book which is well laid out, detailed, and in multiple languages.
The game has elements of Othello, in the flipping of pieces, and several five-in-a-row games, since that is the short-term goal of the game. As a player you need to get five-in-a-row of your colour, which allows you to remove one of your rings from the board. Be the first to remove three rings and you win.
The board starts empty, and players take turns placing their five rings.
The rings are then moved on a turn. You place a marker where the ring is, and then move it in a straight line to a vacant spot on the board. In the move you can jump over other pieces (no rings) on the board, but then stop in the next vacant spot. The pieces jumped are flipped, which of course can help you establish a needed five-in-a-row, or it can help thwart the opponent's plans.
The game gets more interesting in the sense that as you remove rings, which are the key to victory, it also lessens the options you have, since only rings move. Pieces, once placed stay in the same spot throughout the game, but they can be flipped repeatedly.
What Burm has done is take some classic game features, think again of Othello and various five-in-a-row games, and added some innovative twists with the movement of rings, and the diminishing resource base on the way to victory to create a game which transcends the aforementioned root games.
This is a definite must for lovers of soon to be classic, two-player abstract game.

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Aug. 19, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- CONHEX

2009-08-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

CONHEX

All right, I admit it, I am a total sucker for board games made of wood. There is something about a game fashioned out of wood that speaks of an older time, when there was some pride in producing a game that would last, that looked great, that was a pleasure to own.
So many games today are plastic and cardboard. They come across as cheap, no matter how good the game plays.
That is why I drooled over Gerhards Spiel und Design's version of Conhex when it arrived.
The board is beautifully rendered in wood, a heavy, nicely grained wood, that has a beveled bottom so that it looks absolutely amazing on the table come game time.
The pieces, of which there are both glass marbles, and wooden rectangular pieces. The wood pieces are stained a rich walnut brown, the other a tan.
The game even comes with two wooden dishes to hold the pieces as you play.
The quality of components with this version of Conhex are A+. It is an heirloom game in terms of the quality, meaning it should be something your great, great grandchildren cherish.
The game itself was created in 2002 by Michael Antonow, who really brought together a few different concepts in this two-player, abstract strategy game.
The basic premise has a player taking control of certain areas of the board in order to ultimately connect two sides of the boards with their pieces. Each player has a predetermined goal as to what sides they are seeking to connect.
Several abstracts have a similar goal, but Conhex has a slightly different mechanic at work by really combining two phases of game play.
The board is a pattern of non-regular hexagons with a few non-hexagonal polygons, which are referred to as cells in Conhex. Players alternate turns placing pieces of their own color marbles on a vertex on these geometric shaped area. A player can claim a cell after placing marbles on at least half the vertices of that space, at which time he marks the space by placing one of the rectangular wooden pieces. So as an example if a cell has six vertices (points) where marbles can be placed, a player must be the first to occupy at least three to claim the cell.
Once placed marbles and cell markers are not moved during the game.
The result of the mechanics is interesting, since players are really focusing on a number of small confrontations for control of certain cells, while always looking to further their efforts in terms of ultimately connecting their two sides before the opponent does.
The depth of strategy really comes in placing marbles at points which influence at least two, if not three cells. By so doing, even as an opponent moves to block your effort in one cell, you can gain advantage in an alternate cell which was influenced by the initial placement.
The game strategy is further influenced by the fact cells around the outer board have only three vertices, so are easy to gain control over than those that have six. The middle cell has five vertices for marble placement.
The rule set is simple, easy to teach, and aided by being visually easy to interpret, so getting a new player into this game is a breeze.
There are many decisions to make each turn in regards to moving to gain control of a cell, or to try and block the opponent, set against whether you want to try to use the outer areas because you can gain control more quickly, or go the inner route where each placement can influence multiple cells.
In spite of the choices to be made, Conhex plays rather quickly, in most cases under30-minutes.
The component quality, clear, concise rule set, abstract game nature, and quick play all combine to make this a true board game gem.

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Aug. 12, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- ART OF WAR

2009-08-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

ART OF WAR

Sometimes the most interesting games are those which the creator self produces. In such cases it may not be the game is one of the most notable in terms of play, but there is such dedication to seeing the game produced in such instances you have to appreciate it on that level alone.
Art of War is one of those games.
Creator Nils Zilch has to be credited with the way he uses bits and pieces I am sure he picks up at the local craft store. That isn't to say the pieces aren't functional, because they work well, but it tells you the effort that has to go into creating each game.
The board itself has been marked using a wood burning set, and has a sort of country-creation charm to it.
The overall effect of the board and pieces is of a game you might find at an artisan's fair. That gives it a neat appeal.
By the name you have probably gathered this is a war game. That it is, and one which is basically a pure strategy game to boot, in that the lone die in the game has a limited impact. Instead players must use strategy to create victory.
Of course when it comes to 'battling', attempting to capture a territory, the die does come into play.
Zilch has thrown another wrinkle into things though in terms of dealing with the luck of the die. There is a karma chip in the game. One player randomly starts the game in control of the chip. At any time you may pass the chip to an opponent to change the result of a die roll. So each time a die is rolled, the chip can move around the table to influence the result.
One great aspect of the game is that it is scalable, allowing for two, three, four or six players. Not a lot of strategy games have that flexibility.
There are three actual types of pieces. Each player has a single monarch pieces. If that piece is captured during a game, you lose.
There are 25 civilian pieces per player. Civilian pieces are what allow a player to generate more pieces on the board. Each civilian piece in play is worth one point in terms of producing new pieces. If a player chooses to use his turn to build up his forces he simply adds up the number of civilian pieces, and then can in essence purchase more pieces, at a cost of one for civilians and two for military pieces.
Each player has 32 military pieces available to them, and as you might expect as they move around the board, they are the units which do battle.
From there the game is a pretty straight forward territorial battle, with players expanding their territory by capture.
Once you are in control of a hexagon on the board, you must maintain a presence there, so you cannot simply abandon the area.
The game also comes with eight 'General' cards. Each General has a specific special ability which of course impacts some aspect of game play. Players randomly select a card which is kept hidden until such time a player opts to use the special ability, at which time the card is revealed, and that General's ability can be further utilized.
The General cards are a simple way of adding a bit of a 'wild card' aspect to the game, and to keeping things fresh. With eight choices, the game play can be quite different from game-to-game based on the cards.
The battles come down to a fairly basic mechanic of who has the greatest number, with some impact by the dice. That aspect of the game isn't particularly deep, or exciting.
Where the game has its greatest merit is in the continual choice each turn of whether you move forces to expand territory and do battle, or do you produce new forces, which is essentially building your resource base for future expansion.
Mix in the general cards which are a nice twist, and the karma chip for a little luck control, and game play is at least interesting enough to warrant some games. Add the aesthetics of the self-produced game, and Art of War has its charms.
Check the game out at www.zilchgames.net

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Aug. 5, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- HIBERNIA

2009-08-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

HIBERNIA

It's rather clichéd to suggested good things come in small packages, yet the old saying fits so nicely in terms of the war game Hibernia.
The box is small, and the game components are too, which is both a plus and a minus, bit in the end you end up with a generally positive feel out of a small, light war game which is not weighed down by historic detail, but rather follows the same general gaming vein as Risk, a game we are almost all familiar with.
The game components are small wooden cubes which come in four colours. The colours chosen contrast well, so knowing whose pieces are whose is easy. The pieces, while small, are easy to grasp, so moving them around the map detailed board is not difficult.
The small size though means this is a game that you don't want small children around at all.
A simple six-sided die is included, with each side a colour, again straight forward and functional.
The board is small too; only 7 X 10 inches. It has descent thickness, and sort of an antique map look in terms of graphics. The map depicts Ireland in the Iron Age.
The board in my box doesn't lay completely flat, which is not good with such small play pieces to keep in place, but a few hours under some heavy books should address the situation.
The small size of the whole game makes it a nice one to take with you, since room is not an issue to play Hibernia, although a picnic table would be out if there was a breeze. The game plays with three, or four players.
Creator Eric B. Vogel, who released the game only this year. It is self-produced, which really makes the game 'feel' more interesting.
As for mechanics, Vogel uses a few nice elements.
The die roll for example actually adds some randomness to the game that isn't bad. Roll blue, green, red or yellow allows the active player to play into an area matching that colour. Black rolled is like a wild card allowing you to go into any area.
A player gets a second move on their turn which is essentially a free 'black roll” so you get to combine some strategic moves in a chain of events sort of way.
You score points along a soring track by holding countries of the colours along the track. So if a player has red, blue, blue, yellow in front of them on the track, they have to hold those colors to advance.
Battles are not highly strategic though. Place two pieces into a county occupied by an opposing force and you win that area.
If forces are equal at the end of a player turn, both are eliminated and the area becomes vacant for future conquest. Of course this means players will look to eliminate opponent's from certain colours to slow their advancement along the win track.
In some respects the game has a sort of race-theme feel, with the war game aspect less dramatic in terms of game play.
Of course the rule set is on an 8X11 sheet, including examples, so you can appreciate you don't get bogged down in a lot of detail.
Still, as a light little war game, that is so economical in terms of size, it's hard not to like Hibernia.

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper July 29, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- ARONDA

2009-07-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

ARONDA

If you appreciate fine quality games then you are going to love Aronda.
The first thing that catches your attention with Aronda is the wonderful quality of the components in this game from Gerhards Spiel und Design, a firm out of Germany.
The quality starts with the board, made of nicely grained wood. The pay area is cut int the board, so it will last forever. And the board has a nice bevel design so that it becomes a true gaming show piece. It would look outstanding on any desk or coffee table,m a definite plus in luring new people to try a game.
The game pieces are wood too. There is something about a game that avoids modern plastics which just screams classic, and you get that here. The pieces, in nicely painted dark blue and red, come with a nice cloth bag for storage too.
In terms of components, Aronda is as good as it gets.
As a game, Aronda is an abstract strategy one, meaning that winning relies on skill, not imposed luck. As an abstract game it is limited to two players, which is good since you need only one friend to drop in to play, although in a group setting the game is less playable since no one wants to just be a spectator.
The game was created and released in 2007 by designers Jens-Peter Schliemann and Michail Antonow. The pair created a game with some rather unique mechanics. The idea Antonow began with was one of conquering from the outside. You win a field through control of a majority of adjacent fields.
On your turn you get to place two 'placement pieces' on any empty outer ring, or any field which is connected to the outer ring by fields already captured. It sounds complicated, but it's not. It really just goes back to having to work from the outside ring of the circular play area toward the centre.
There are three distinct types of fields, two, three and four pierce ones. In order to control a given field you must have the designated number of placement pieces in place. At that point you get to place a possession piece, indicating that is your field.
The intricacy of the game comes from the fact that each time you take control of a field, it may set up a chain reaction where you can claim additional fields.
For example if you have possession of two fields, adjacent to an uncontrolled two-piece fold, you may claim it as yours, and that possession may then lead to other captures. One example illustrated in the rules shows one placement leading to the capture of eight fields.
There is a fine amount of balance in seeing how certain placements can set up extensive chain reactions to your benefit.
Equally important are seeing the instances where you must move to block your opponent before he gets to set off a big chain of events in their favour.
The game ends when all 25 fields are owned, with the winner being the one controlling the majority.
Ties are not possible, and that is a major attribute of the game.
The game plays quickly, but with definite depth requiring visualization of what certain placements can mean in terms of board domination.
With the outstanding quality of the components and the rather unique chain reaction mechanic, this is a game you will enjoy for years. A family gaming heirloom to be passed on to future generations.
Take a look at this great game at http://www.spiel-und-design.eu/

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper July 22, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- PACRU

2009-07-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

PACRU

For anyone who reads these reviews regularly it is probably pretty obvious that I prefer abstract strategy games above all others.
Of course there is a wide range, in terms of depth and quality, within the realm of abstract strategy games.
Some, such as chess, or Camelot are classic. Some such as Hive and Zertz are modern phenomenons.
Then there is a game such as Pacru, the 2004 creation from Mike Wellman. The game is sadly not widely known, yet it is perhaps as deep, interesting, and satisfying as any abstract game ever made.
Wellman has actually created three games using the same board and pieces. Shacru is created to have been created in 2004 as well, and Azacru in 2005. The three games are closely related. In many ways Shacru is sort of an entry level game to get a feel for the unique movement Wellman uses. Azacru takes it up a level. The rules suggest Shacru for players five and up, Azacru for seven and up.
Then you finally get to Pacru which is the true gem of a game. It is the one which clearly incorporates all the best ideas Wellman had in terms of game play. Pacru is suggested for ages nine and up.
Pacru uses a board consisting of a nine equal quid areas, each with nine spots for playing pieces. The board in nicely made, being typical of better checker, chess and similar pressed cardboard playing surfaces.
The pieces are wood, brightly coloured to easily differentiate on a board which will become filled with pieces as the game progresses.
There are two types of pieces, small markers which are simply cylindrical pieces, and chevrons, which have a nice triangular shape.
The game centers on the interaction between pieces and their position on the board. The board starts with neutral tiles in each position and as the game progresses you replace the tiles with your own colour by moving across borders.
The game starts with each player have their chevron pieces on the board, three in a three or four player game, and four in the two player lay out.
The game does allow for three and four player action, but like most abstract strategy games, I suggest two players are likely best, since that tends to be the strength of the genre, two players going head-to-head in a battle of wits.
The chevrons move in one of three directions, easily identified by the shape of the piece.
Where the depth of the game comes from is the wide variety of special actions which are available to players. There are six of these actions in Pacru, and understanding the impact of each, in combination with what the opponent may be planning makes this game deep and dramatic.
For example, when you move a chevron from one of the nine space grids to another, you can place a marker on an empty spot in the new field.
In the end, there are two conditions. You can eliminate your opponent's chevrons, or you can have reached the target number in terms of placing markers, which in the two player game is 42.
The rule set is a tad overly complicated. It can take a couple of read overs, and then you go, ah that is simpler than it reads, which means that younger players may face a road block if they are not being taught by a veteran player. The easiest way to learn is to play for free at www.pacru.com
This is an absolute classic which deserves more players, and is a guaranteed winner for players taking the plunge.

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper July 15, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- DaVINCI'S CHALLENGE

2009-07-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

DaVINCI'S CHALLENGE

If you like puzzles, and you like games devoid of imposed luck, DaVinci's Challenge is just the ticket.
Paul Micarelli created the game, and it emerged from Briarpatch in 2005, so you know it was a game that was developed to cash in on the interest in The DaVinci Code book, and follow-up movie.
In most cases I would suggest avoiding games that are tied in to some momentary popular culture curiosity, but this one has managed to be a rather entertaining game, even if the theme is pasted on to ride the wave of the aforementioned nook and movie.
What helps take this game farther is the fact the creator has found a way to make an interesting game on the DaVinci Code idea of secret patterns, without having to layer on a bunch of random card draws, or dice rolls. Too often when theme gets pasted on, it's imposed by cards that have zero to do with anything except to create a false atmosphere of the tie-in that is trying to be achieved.
DaVinci's Challenge keeps things amazingly simple in terms of game play. Each player, or team, you can play two person teams, has an equal set of pieces. There are triangles and sort of squashed ovals. The pieces match the two pattern designs on the nicely laid out board. Made of plastic, the pieces still look very nice, and work well, although be warned, if you lose one, it will make it hard to play the game since generally most pieces are used before finishing up a game.
Each player places a piece on the board, their choice of either star, or oval. In placing pieces, players are attempting to complete one of nine different patterns which score points.
Some patterns, such as the triangle and diamond need only three pieces to achieve, and are worth only one point in terms of scoring.
More complicated patterns are worth greater points. A gem takes four pieces, and is worth five points, the star takes six, but is worth 10 points, with circles and flowers worth 25 each.
While it looks as though the key is going after the larger designs for the big points, it is possible to double up on points with a single piece placement. For example, you can at times lay a single piece that could complete a triangle, gem and hourglass all at the same time, creating a 16-point score.
Initially, you will tend to concentrate on creating your own scoring chances, but as you get into a few games, it become rather apparent you have to expend at least as much effort watching your opponent and moving to block their big scoring opportunities.
With more plays you will also realize you need to work at creating what are best described as double scoring chances. If a player moves to block one, you have an alternate place you can lay a piece on your turn to still score.
This is pattern recognition on an ever changing board, and in some cases, in particular the pyramid, can be difficult to recognize.
The pieces, in black and white, are easily differentiated though, so that helps.
After a couple of plays, your eyes can be a bit strained, since concentration is a must.
While I couldn't play four, or five games of DaVinci's Challenge is a single sitting, it is a good change of pace, which avoids false luck, and focuses on seeing patterns as they emerge, something not seen in a lot of games.
Overall, entertaining, if not outstanding.

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper July 8, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- YETISBURG: Titanic Battles in History Vol. I

2009-07-10T15:10:00.000-07:00

YETISBURG: Titanic Battles in History Vol. I

Oh how I wanted to like this game.
Yetisburg: Titanic Battles in History Vol. I was a game which sent all the right signals when I first came across it. It was a card game loosely based on the American Civil War, and that is something I've always held an interest in.
The game also pastes a neat fantasy theme over the Civil War aspect, adding the idea that both sides in the conflict have Yetis in the army, not to mention mastodons as artillery units. Corny, sure, but it sounds like a lot of fun too.
So the game arrives, and the art on the cards is fantastic. Clean designs, with a style that is very much caricature in nature.
Then a few flaws start to emerge.
There is a set of markers to punch out. Generally no big deal, but these are some kind of pressed paper, and if not very careful punching them out, they would start to expand and come apart. If they ever got a tad bit of moisture they'd probably puff up like popcorn, and even repeated play could cause these to fray a lot.
So then you have the cards and pieces, and find they no longer fit into the box. That is a major annoyance for several reasons. One the box is great in that it has two snarling Yetis on it, one in grey and the other in a blue uniform. To toss the box is a shame.
Boxes also store far better than a game stuck in a sandwich baggie.
A better design here would have been a huge plus. It doesn't affect game play, but it does nothing to endear one to the game either.
Next is game play. Designers Joshua J. Frost and Mike Selinker have kept this 2008 release from Titanic Games pretty simple. In fact, the game may be a tad too simple for its own good.
Players essentially line up their forces (a selection of their cards), and do battle across an imaginary battle line.
Now I have read enough books on the Civil War, and watched enough documentaries, to recognize the battle field was a terribly random place. Muskets were not the most reliable of weapons, and the battlefield was often a place of chaos. Yetisburg captures that in the sense of a lot of randomness. For example, it's the luck of the draw which direction among the three forward shooting arcs a soldier actually fires.
It's also random who among your forces actually attacks on a given turn too.
The problem is while the mechanics reflect the vagaries of a Civil War battle, there isn't a real sense of drama to it. So suddenly randomness becomes simply randomness.
Players have very limited control over game play, with limited opportunities to make decisions which ultimately impact the game.
Granted, there is humour in a Yeti rushing through its own line, bashing friendly soldiers as it goes. There is humour in a mastodon blowing up and wiping out friendly soldiers with 'chunks of flying meat.
However, it's an element of humour which fades with a few plays. A joke loses its punch once you've heard it a few times.
If you get a chance to play this one, do indulge. It's good to experience a few times. Just hope someone else has bought it, otherwise you are left having to find a place to store a game in a bag, since you will play it rarely.

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper July 1, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- BEYOND CHESS

2009-07-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

BEYOND CHESS

I am not sure if any board game in the world has inspired more game developers to try to improve on, change, twist and alter than has chess.
It is likely a combination of factors, ranging from the sheer age of chess, it has been around for centuries, to the fact it is so widely available with sets on store shelves from specialty gaming shops to many corner convenience stores. As a result of chess' age, and availability, people are generally aware of, and have at least some general knowledge of the game. That has inspired change.
In some cases the evolution of chess has been dramatic, with a variety of new pieces added. In other cases the shape or size of the board has changed. It is the latter category where Beyond Chess fits.
Created in 2006 by game designer David Crockett, Beyond Chess works on a rather simple premise, chess becomes a different game if the board on which it is played changes. In this case Crockett has come up with a system where the board is not a static configuration, but rather changes not only each game, but changes with each move.
The mechanics is brilliantly simple really. The designer took the traditional 64 square board we are all familiar with, and made it modular. Each of the 64 squares is an individual piece.
Initially the pieces are laid out to look like a normal board, although there are options in the rule book to create some alternate starting patterns too.
The pieces are a standard chess array, and they are placed in their traditional spots to begin play.
From there play begins with each player moving a piece as they normally would, and after their move they get a second move, this time sliding a single game board piece one square in any direction.
Only vacant squares can be moved, with the exception of moving a square with one's own pawn on it. That special combination move is termed Gereting, and constitutes both your piece and square shift for the turn.
Board squares can only move to open areas, (no stacking squares), and they must stay in contact with the rest of the board by at least a corner connection, so you cannot completely isolate a square to make it unaccessible.
While you cannot isolate a piece from the rest of the board, it is possible to move squares in such a way that a playing piece is immobilized, and thus not able to move. Of course a player can also work to shift the board back to release that piece as the game progresses too.
Beyond Chess creates a couple of unique aspects to the game of chess. To begin with you have to begin to look to strategies within the ability to move the board pieces, calculating what you want to do with the mechanics, and anticipating what the opponent is up to in terms of creating the lay of the land so to speak.
At the same time, regular chess strategies are out the window here for the most part because the game board movement makes them obsolete.
In many instances long term planning is very difficult in the environment of Beyond Chess based on the increased variables. That results is a game which is more reactive in nature. You have to rely on short term planning, one, two, maybe three moves ahead at most, yet maintain the flexibility to alter that plan should things change from what you anticipated.
The game is much more move and respond in nature, than traditional chess which can be rather methodical in nature given the extensive written material out there on set strategic approaches.
You can purchase extra board pieces too, allowing you to play a game such as Omega Chess (on a 10X10 board) adding on the Beyond Chess board mechanic. That is a nice touch, and one I will have to look into since I do enjoy larger board variants.
The pieces, both chessmen and board sections, are well-made, and they come with a serviceable nylon carry bag, and a storage box that is a moderate size. All are nice touches.
Overall, Beyond Chess adds something to the game of chess, making it a fresh experience. It will never completely replace the original, but it is a rather ingenious way to mix things up on occasion.
Check it out at www.beyondchess.com

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper June 24, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- GIPF

2009-06-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

GIPF

The Gipf Project is one of the most successful, no make it the most successful, game projects ever in terms of creating winning and popular abstract strategy games.
The idea had creator Kris Burm creating six games over a period of years, all with a commonality of 'feel', yet each able to stand on its own as well.
It was somewhat unfortunate that the first game in the series was also named Gipf. At times the game seems to get lost behind the overall project. Or, perhaps because it was the first of the six games, it is seen as somehow lesser in nature. Either way, that does a disservice to Gipf the game, which offers its own unique challenges and interesting twists which make it a fine game.
Gipf, which was created in 1997, is one of those games, which like many abstract strategy games, works because of the simplicity of design. The simplicity makes Gipf easy to learn, but like the best of the genre, not easy to master, as clichéd as that many sound.
Gipf comes with three rule sets, basic, standard and tournament, which is something I must say I disagree with. Multiple rulesets in my mind simply muddy the waters. In this case I really can't fathom why you would start with the basic game since it really is a watered-down rule set, which leaves out the central 'Gipf' piece. Simply go to the standard rules and start there.
As a game, Gipf is about making connections. Each player starts with a pool of 18 pieces, out of which you begin by making three stacks of two, which creates the “Gipf' piece. These pieces start on fixed positions of a board with 37 inter-connected spots.
From there players take turns placing a piece just outside the actual game board area, and then sliding it onto the board. Each spot around the board provides two options in terms of where a piece enters play after the slide.
The goal is to create a line of four pieces of your colour. Once you do that, those pieces are removed from the board going back into your reserve. However, the beauty of the game comes in that each opponent's piece which directly extends your line of four are also removed, not only from the board, but the game.
The goal then becomes one of running your opponent out of pieces to win the game.
The exception to the rule is that you do not have to remove your Gipf piece if it is part of a line of four. That allows you to keep those pieces on the board, which is almost always an advantage. You can of course capture your opponent's Gipf pieces.
If you do chose to remove your own Gipf piece, it reverts to two single pieces in your reserve.
The game plays smoothly, although the better players will of course wish to review and analyze the positions of the pieces. In extreme cases you may need to place a time limit, although reasonably this game is not so incredibly deep that over thinking is a huge problem.
The tournament rules allow players to create as many Gipf as they want, instead of the standard three. And they are entered onto the board like any other pieces, rather than starting on set spots. Both add a level of strategy that makes sense at a tournament level.
Like all games in the Gipf Project, the boards are nice, the pieces well made, with a nice tactile feel, and the rulebook is thorough, with good illustration, and several languages.
The game stores in a nice moderate size box standard to the series, which makes the collection look good on the shelf too.
The first of the series, but certainly not one to be overlooked. Very well done on all levels.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper June 17, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review - KASL

2009-06-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

KASL

Sometimes the best ideas mean taking something and making it better.
In some respects that is what happened with the creation of Kasl from Canadian game designer Marc Baudoin.
When you first pull Kasl, from Magma Editions, out of the box, you can't help but be reminded of Risk, a game which more people have played, and is widely known as sort of an entry level war game.
Kasl is certainly the same genre, with the same basic premise in that you start with territories on the board. Each turn you add to your forces on the table based on what territories and forces you already have, then you move those forces to capture area from your opponents.
However, Kasl adds a few neat new twists to the mix, which at least in my mind add immensely to game making is superior to the aforementioned Risk.
To begin with Kasl has a finite time limit imposed on the game. Too often these sort of territorial games can bog down toward the end as two superpowers are left trying to gain an edge. The near stalemate can be a bore for the players still involved, and is even worse for those who have been literally wiped off the map.
Kasl, which accommodates up to four players, is limited to only eight rounds, and then points are awarded to determine a winner based on territory and forces.
The good thing about the eight round limit is that it will be a rarity a player is actually wiped out before the game ends, keeping everyone active in the game.
The second mechanic which really sets Kasl apart is the introduction of the possibility of the plague beginning to ravage the lands.
Each turn a random roll is made, and the plague can gain a foothold, not so unlike it might have happened with disease in the Middle Ages. The later in the game, the higher the probability plague starts. If it does start, a territory is selected at random, and the forces there are obliterated.
The next turn there is a chance plague spreads to one, or all neighbouring territories.
While the spreading disease can devastate a force, and it is insanely random, so too would be the occurrence of real disease out breaks. It just works.
Kasl also diversifies the force list for players, giving players more options in terms of both attack and defence. Choice is a good thing.
With infantry, archers, cavalry, war machines and lords, each with some advantage in terms of play, for example cavalry easily defeat infantry, and a war machine is a huge benefit capturing a city, there are a lot of decisions to be made along the way.
The game also has a good system in terms of developing strongholds. Each player starts with a single fortified city. Over time you can build additional cities, or grow the ones you have, first to a fortress and then to a castle. The additions help in terms of force recruitment each turn.
The additional choices a player has, the fun black plague idea, and the set time limit make this a winner in terms of game play.
The board is serviceable, if a bit bright in terms of colour choice. The pieces are wood, and that just adds to the aesthetics in terms of recommending this game highly.
Simply a great entry-level war game which anyone can learn rather easily. Check it out.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper June 10, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- HARRY'S GRAND SLAM BASEBALL

2009-06-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

HARRY'S GRAND SLAM BASEBALL

So you are a baseball fan. You and a bud have settled down to watch your favourite team on the tube, and there's a rain delay.
Your options are some silly craziest moments in sports fill-in, or a re-run of some television show that wasn't that good the first time around.
So you go looking for an option as to how to kill the time until the tarps come off the infield. If you are lucky you have Harry's Grand Slam Baseball to pull out and fill the time.
Harry's GSB was actually create by Harry Obst (somewhat obvious eh!), back in 1962. Now this is a card game, so the chances of having the game from nearly 50-years ago is rather slim. If you do have a copy, lucky you.
For the rest of though all is not lost. Out of the Box has reissued Harry's GSB through its Heirloom Games Series.
The new issue has kept the rule set of the original game, and most importantly the art work on the cards. And packaged it all in a nice presentation tin rather than a cardboard box, which is a very nice touch.
Now back to the art for a moment. The cards have art drawn pictures of baseball players in various game poses. The art is simple, with a highly nostalgic feel given the lens of time looking back nearly five decades now.
The game also comes with a rather quaint folding scoreboard, that actually stands like an outfield fence, and allows players to keep score. While there would be simpler ways to keep score, this so adds to the 'old game' feel.
In terms of rules, Harry's GSB keeps things insanely simple, yet they work perfectly in terms of simulating a baseball game.
Each player is dealt only three cards from a small deck. Each card has an action, ranging from batting actions such as home run, single, or steal, to defensive options such as strikeout and walk.
Players take turns playing their cards, with the player at bat of course wanting to use cards which create base runners and scores, while the player on defence looks to strikeout the side. However, with only three cards, there are times you have to lay a strikeout card when batting, and at times when on defence the cards will force you to give up a hit.
When you have played the three cards, you replenish your hand from the draw pile.
There are special cards too which add another realistic aspect to the game. If you draw a pinch hitter / relief pitcher card, you play it face down, then draw an additional card that is laid beside the special card. At any time you can use the card instead of one in your hand, giving you an unseen option which may work out, or may not, just as a real pinch hitter or relief pitcher.
There is limited strategy here. With only three cards in hand you don't have a lot of options. Yet as the game plays out you see that it does mimic baseball rather well.
It is hard to have a big inning on offence, you can't pull enough good cards at the sane time the opponent gets a bad hand, but at the end of the game scores are usually close, with extra innings a definite possibility.
If you are looking for a deep and detailed baseball simulation then Harry's GSB is not the ticket, but as a fun, quick game to fill in some time during that rain delay, it's perfect, and the nostalgic 'feel' simply adds to the fun.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper June 3, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- GRID STONES

2009-06-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

GRID STONES

Are you good at recognizing patterns? If so, then Grid Stones is a game you definitely want to check out.
The game is really one of those simple ideas which works well, and makes you wonder why no one has thought of it before.
The game is played on a simple squared-grid. For two-players the grid is a 4X4 area, growing to 5X5 for three and four players, and to 6X6 for five or more players.
As a pure abstract game the ability to scale up from just two players to up to seven is a definite plus, although the larger the number the more randomized the game is going to become (more on that in a moment).
In terms of game play, players draw from a common source of glass beads. On their turn they either add a bead to a square within the grid, or they remove a bead already in play. In terms of mechanics that's it, with the caveat in a two-player game you can't remove a stone just placed, or replace a stone just taken.
So what are players trying to accomplish as they add and subtract beads from the board?
That's where the genius of the game comes in, and the aforementioned pattern recognition aspect of the game.
Grid Stones comes with a deck of small cards. On each card is a pattern of beads on a 3X3 grid. At the start of a game a player is dealt five cards. Throughout the game they work to match an area of the playing surface to the pattern on the cards they were dealt. The first one to complete all five patterns wins.
There are two opportunities per turn to match a pattern. The first comes at the start of your turn. There will be occasions where your opponent inadvertently creates a winning pattern for you, and you can announce that at the start of your turn.
Then after adding, or removing a stone, you can again announce you have a match.
Since the pattern can be anywhere on the board, there is a need to see what your cards require from different angles, so pattern recognition is a huge asset.
It would help here if the game came with some sort of holder for the player's cards, rather than having to keep the under-sized cards in-hand, making it difficult to see all the patterns you are seeking.
In the two-player version there is some sense of control of what you are trying to accomplish. You can be working toward a pattern that can draw you nearer to a couple of your cards, and then react off what the opponent does.
As you add players, the grid does grow larger to allow for some additional bead placement options – remember even on the 6X6 board you are still looking to match a 3X3 pattern.
However, as you add players there is an increasingly long time between moves too. That means a player has a more difficult time actually impacting what he is trying to do. More often than not, in multi-player games, the opponents may set up winning patterns for others.
Of course the more stones in play, the harder it is to match a card too, since cards will have a number of blank (empty) spaces as part of the required pattern.
Grid Stones is the creation of Canadian designer Tim W.K. Brown, and is produced by the Montreal-based Danawares, and is an entertaining game, although at times luck seems more at play than strategy.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper May 27, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- NINJA VERSUS NINJA

2009-06-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

NINJA VERSUS NINJA

Sometimes a game becomes something of an enigma in terms of how you view it.
Ninja Versus Ninja from Out of the Box is one of those games.
I'll start by noting this game is rather simple in its mechanics, and plays very quickly, neither of which are inherently bad things, but they can be a detriment in some cases as well.
In this situation the rule set is easy to grasp. Each player has six ninjas situated on their side of the board. On a turn you roll two four-sided dice, and may move one ninja piece as many spaces as the total of the dice.
The goal is to cross the board into your opponent's side of the board, in this case they call it his dojo to add colour to the game. The deeper you get into enemy territory the more points you potentially score. The catch is, once you leave your 'dojo' with a piece, it has to return safely in three turns, or it is removed from play. So, if you move too deeply into enemy territory, you have to roll big numbers to get him home to score.
Of course things aren't that simple either, because on an opponent's turn they can move a ninja too. If a ninja completes a move on a spot already occupied, it captures that piece, the same as in chess.
The movement of a piece is easy too, you can generally make one 90-degree turn during a move.
If on 'a mission' that is in the opponent's side of the board, you are allowed to retrace your steps, so you get the feeling of running in, and scampering out at times.
That's about it in terms of game play.
It is amazing how easy it is to track down invading ninjas on the board, and most games come down to one of attrition. Wipe out the enemy, they can't score, you win.
The second victory path is to accumulate points 'on missions' based on how far you get into enemy territory, but that is a more difficult and tactical road to victory.
At times the game seems almost too simple, yet, there is something that is just a lot of fun about dueling Ninja bands.
In the case of this game created by Tushas Gheewala, it has a lot to do with the very high production standard of the game. While glass beads could easily be used to represent the ninjas, this game offers up nicely sculpted plastic ninja pieces, in red and black, complete with their swords. The pieces are a huge aspect of the game's appeal.
There is even a Ninja Master piece which is used as a score marker, and a Shadow Ninja piece used simply to mark how far you have made it into the enemy dojo.
That level of production is wonderful to see.
The dice too, are unique. They are small cubes, but since you are only using them as four-sided dice, a sword is through the dice, limiting it to how it lands on the table. Again, very in-the-theme of the game, and a very nice touch.
There is little doubt had Out of the Box gone with a simpler production standard, using say glass beads instead of the neat Ninja pieces, much of the charm of Ninja Versus Ninja would have been lost, and then the limitations of the game play might have tipped this game onto the also-ran pile.
However, the highly tactile pieces, which also look awesome on the game board, take this game to a higher level in terms of wanting to bring it out to play. The whole Ninjas at war theme just adds to that fun game experience as well.
Not the deepest game you will ever play, but very much fun. Recommended on the fun factor, and highly recommended in terms of 'looks'.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper May 20, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- BATTLEFIELDS OF OLYMPUS

2009-06-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

BATTLEFIELDS OF OLYMPUS

If you are looking for some light game play for two, and you appreciate wonderful artwork which enhances the gaming experience, you need look no farther than Battlefields of Olympus.
Any review of this game has to start with a comment on the stunning artwork. The trio of Fred Dee, Ryan Slemko, and Shih-Kai Chang has created some wonderful works to depict the warrior era, which while not specifically stated by the game, is very reflective of the time of the Spartans. The game was actually released in 2008, by Canadian designer Peter Grant, and it's rather clear a movie like '300' was likely very much an influence in terms of the games look.
Battlefields of Olympus is a two-player card game, with the cards split into two different decks, one of warriors, and the other of cards which influence play in some fashion.
The cards are high quality, but have a sort of black border which may show wear if played a lot. Card sleeves are a good idea to keep these beautiful cards pristine.
Each type of card has its own unique, and well-rendered artwork, Some, such as the heavy infantry, or cavalry card artwork, would make a stunning print for anyone's game room. The only poor art is that of the ambush card, showing a sort of wolf-man attacking. It simply does not fit with the other cards that are so Spartan-like.
As for game play, Battlefields of Olympus is a straight forward battle game, that relies on a fairly simple rule set to provide a quick game where combatants play various warrior cards, at times enhanced by other cards, to battle for possession of land cards. The goal is to reach 16 points worth of land cards first, with each land card having a specific victory point value.
The warrior cards work by what is best described as a modified rock-paper-scissors mechanic.
For example spearmen die to most attackers, but they kill off cavalry. Archers are deadly against most forces, although heavy infantry with their massive shields overtake archers.
There are some tactical decisions within the luck of the card draw. For example, when a battle for a land card is initiated, players must decide which forces to commit to the fight and when it is better to hold forces for another encounter.
Obviously there is less urgency to battle over a land card with a value of one, where you are likely to throw everything you have to secure victory of a six-point land card.
Since a player has a maximum of four warrior cards in-hand at any one time, you need to gauge when, and how to battle well.
The fate cards throw the wild card aspect of war into the game. For example, the 'flank' card can turn a loss into a sudden win when played, while the opponent can counter with the 'surround' card to cancel the 'flank' action.
The strength of Battlefields of Olympus will forever be the artwork, followed by quick play, which makes it a nice filler game.
There is a planned expansion for the game, which could add some depth, which would be a bonus.
You can pick up this fine little game through the company website at www.smartassgames.com
Remember it's Canadian so that too is a bonus.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper May 13, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- CHECK: THE CHESS CARD GAME

2009-06-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

CHECK: THE CHESS CARD GAME

There are games you just so want to love .... but.
That is exactly where I find myself with Check: The Chess Card Game. This is a game which had “I'm going to love it” written all over it.
To start with, anything that has even a remote connection to chess is automatically of interest. Chess to me, in all its variant forms, is one of, if not the greatest games ever.
And, yes this game has a definite chess aspect.
Check was released in 2003, by Canadian game designers Alan and Peter Biggs.
The deck of cards is limited to 32, with each player in control of 16 cards, each representing a different piece in a typical chess array.
Once the wrapper was off the card box, you get to look at the art work. The card art, for the power pieces, anything besides the pawns, has an Arthurian era feel to it. It's not highly stylized and detailed art work, yet there is a simplistic charm to the work which is quite appealing.
The rule set is pretty straight forward here too. Each of the cards has a strength and fence values which are the same. For example a common pawn card is a one, while the queen has a value of five.
Each card also has an attack pattern on it. Again as an example a rook attacks straight ahead, while a queen attacks straight ahead, as well as diagonally forward left and right. The pattern is easily identified on the cards too, so there is no way to misunderstand that part of the game.
Game play is pretty straight forward too. A player shuffles his set of 16 cards and draws six.
The first player selects a card and plays it face down in front of themselves. The opponent then does likewise.
The first player then plays a card face up to the right, or left of their first card, the opponent responds, and then the process repeats until each player has three cards in front of them.
The hidden card is flipped over.
Now part of the problem of this game is that in laying out your three cards the decisions are a tad limited. For example, the pattern of attack of a knight really limits it to either outside position, and since you lose if the king is taken, you just never put it into play until the very end of the game when you have only three cards left. The rules even point these observations out as hints.
The queen too, because of its strength, and attack pattern is really relegated to always being the hidden centre card.
So the three-card sets are now face-up on the table. Check becomes a game of math from that point. The attacking player determines what his combined attack is against each opponent card, minus their defence. The card defeated by the highest margin is captured, if tied multiple cards can be taken.
The defending player now attacks with his remaining cards (more math), and a card may be taken – if defences are higher than all attacks nothing is lost.
The remaining cards go to the bottom of your deck, and you redraw to six cards and play another round, with players alternating who attacks first.
Run your opponent out of cards, or capture the king to win.
The game plays fast. But, there isn't much to hold interest. The choices are limited, and the game play is really doing some straightforward simple addition and subtraction.
Advanced rules to give each pawn a different value, which opens the door to a bit more strategy but not enough to really capture interest.
Check is a game which is easily transportable, and quick to play, both good attributes for a game, but this isn't one that I'd suggest very often. It just falls too far short of expectations. Just not enough chess here.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper May 6, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- NHL ICE BREAKER: THE CARD HOCKEY BOARD GAME

2009-06-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

NHL ICE BREAKER: THE CARD HOCKEY BOARD GAME

Every once in a while you get to try a game that you weren't sure about, only to find out you had been missing out on something really quite excellent.
NHL Ice Breaker: The Card Hockey Board Game was just such a game. After only a couple of plays it was obvious this game is a must for anyone who loves hockey, and board games.
In terms of mechanics, this is a card game which is essentially war. Each player flops down a card, and high card wins. The deck is 54 cards in size a regular card array, plus two jokers, which are high card.
The cards are high quality, but you'll want to put them in protective sleeves anyway since you'll want to play this game a lot and for a lot of years.
In this case though, if a player drops a higher card, say a king, and you've only put down a six, you can win by playing a second six. Two of a kind beat a high card, although three-of-a-kind is still better.
While war would make for a pretty boring game, Ice Breaker designers at CSE Games, a Canadian company, have done a simply amassing job of adding the feel of hockey to the game.
With each win, a player gets to move the puck across a rink-shaped game board, according to the pattern laid out on the winning card.
As the puck moves, it can land on a number of highlighted squares, which call for a card to be drawn from the deck and the special 'icebreaker' rule used. Here the rules range from the puck going over the boards, creating a face-off situation, to a penalty being called, reducing the offending player's hand from five to four cards, or a big body check is thrown allowing the identified player to play additional cards.
Through the play you want to move the puck into the 'shooting zone'. Once in the zone the cards played represent the shooter and the goaltender. If the shooter has high card he scores. If the defensive player plays the high card the netminder has made the save. Unless of course you have played a trump card.
In NHL Ice Breaker, each card has a two logos, one used when shooting, one when the goaltender. NHL Ice Breaker is licensed by the National Hockey League and features all 30 teams. You can also play seven international teams including Team Canada and Russia, or either NHL all star team.
Players select a team, and if they have the card with that team's logo, they have a trump card.
This game offers just enough decisions to be interesting – do I use my ace to win the face-off or sluff off a deuce, lose the draw but have a card to make a key save with – to give you some control.
Yet the basic 'war' mechanic is so simple it can be taught in minutes.
The game plays fast, and with the ice breaker cards, it can change the flow rapidly, which really mimics the real game of hockey well.
The designers have also done a great job of adding the flavour of a real game to the mechanics.
As an example, in the third period a player can call a time out, allowing him to replenish his hand by two cards, without requiring the usual stoppage in play.
There are also rules allowing a player to 'pull the netminder' allowing them to draw an extra card, but automatically giving up a goal if the puck ends up in their shooting zone.
Rules allow for an overtime period and shoot-out scenarios too.
In correspondence with Fabio del Rio one of the game developers, he explained, “regarding the game development process, NHL Ice Breaker started as a simple simulation of the action of the sport of hockey using a deck of cards. Over a period of about a year and a half we developed the system and mechanics in such a way as to incorporate more of the fun and strategy of great playing card games, while maintaining strong hockey theme and feel.”
The game plays rapidly, and in general the scores are close. It would be somewhat rare to score more than six goals in a game, a period is defined by paying through the 54-card deck once, and usually only a goal or two will separate teams in the end.
While probably smoothest as a two-player game, rules exist to allow two teams of two to face off.
This is a game like cribbage in the sense you could play it over and over, and for hockey fans it's great as you add colour to play, like “Curtis Joseph makes a save for the Leafs,” or “The Russians take a lead over Team Canada with a stunning goal.”
This is a definite gem for hockey fans, well worth playing anytime.
And, the good news, del Rio said, “we do have expansion plans for Ice Breaker; we hope to have more details later this year.”
--CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 29, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- PENTAGONIA

2009-04-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

PENTAGONIA

A favourite board game pastime for me recently has been seeking out games created and designed by Canadians. The list is well over 300 titles, most of which are just names on a list as I have not yet found the games to actually try.
Pentagonia is one game that I do have, and not only is it Canadian, but actually from Saskatchewan. It was designed by Jacob Zunti and published by Saskatchewan Internet News Ltd in 1998.
The game is really just a modernization of a much more ancient game Nine Men's Morris, a game which dates back more than a thousand years, and has been played all over the world in varying forms.
Everyone has played the old root game, where you move pieces on a square board to get three-in-a-row, at which time you can remove an opponent's piece. The goal is to make it so the opponent can no longer move, or is down to two pieces so that they cannot get a line of three.
Pentagonia changes up the old game in a few ways, in an attempt to update what is essentially a game that has been relegated to children.
To start with, as the name implies, Pentagonia is played on a five-sided board. The extra side creates a bit of new strategy, but isn't exactly a revolutionary addition to the old root game.
As far as mechanics go, Pentagonia borrows heavily from Nine Men's Morris.
In the first stage of the game players take turns placing their pieces on the board, attempting to make a line of three. Once all the pieces have been placed players may slide them, still attempting to make a line of three. Whenever a player makes a line of three they remove an opponent's piece of his choice.
When a player is left with five pieces, or less then can start jumping from any space in the board, to any open spot. The idea here is to give the player on the short end of the stick some added ability to block their opponent, or to create three-in-a-row in order to get back into the game.
If both players fall to five, or less pieces, both can take advantage of the leaping mechanic.
Components wise, Pentagonia has a basic heavy cardboard game board, functional but not particularly special. It is quite large and would be more convenient if it folded so the box would be smaller for storage, or transporting to a friend's to play. The big box hints at more than you get once you open Pentagonia.
The playing pieces are simple glass beads, so if one is lost, they can easily be replaced at any thrift store.
The rules are on an 8 ½ by 11 sheet, but realistically there is way too much detail. The designer tried to make the rules look beefier than they need to be. For example there is a hint that you need to be careful how you initially place your pieces since those choices will impact the game. My there's a revelation which deserved to be in the rule set.
I would like to like this game since it is a Saskatchewan product, but it simply doesn't offer enough beyond Nine Men's Morris, a game which you can buy a set for a dollar at almost any thrift store.
Find this one at a yard sale cheap, and it is worth a pick-up for the Saskatchewan novelty – if you are from the province – otherwise Pentagonia isn't worth much effort to find.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 22, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- GUTE NACHBARN

2009-04-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

GUTE NACHBARN

People are generally familiar with Chinese Checkers, the marble jumping game we all have played at one time or another, usually in our youth.
Well Gute Nachbarn is a game which at least reminds of that old marble jumper, but Gute offers a bit more in terms of strategy.
The game was developed by Alex Randolph, a rather prolific designer of games, back in 1986. While not widely known, it is a game which deserves to be.
In terms of game mechanics, Gute Nachbarn plays out rather simple, and thus can be taught in a matter of minutes.
The game board is a hexagon, with four spaces per side, actually depressions on the board into which a marble seats comfortably.
The game board begins with each space occupied by a marble. There is one silver marble, four white, and eight each of red, yellow, blue and green. These marbles are randomly seated onto the board, meaning you can randomly grab out of a bag and place, or simply roll the marbles onto the board letting them stop where they will. The randomness means that each game starts out with a different pattern, which certainly helps keep interest in the game.
From there it's a case of marble moves.
Players take their turns moving the silver marble to an adjacent non-empty hole and capturing the marble which is contained in that hole.
The key is that not all marbles on the board have the same value. The white ones, of which there are only four, are each worth 10-points.
The remaining marbles are scored in a rather unique fashion, using a system which really ups the strategic significance of the game.
Red, blue, yellow and green stones are worth the square of their number, so as an example, if you capture three red stones, you get nine points; if you capture four green stones, you get 16 points, and so on.
The game ends when the silver marble can no longer move to capture. There are times when you can make a move which isolates the silver marble before the board is clear, a wise move if you are doing the math and know you are in the lead. It will get to the point your opponents may hide their marbles just to keep the running score a bit harder to determine.
Adding a little more flavour to the scoring is the way the game counts points if more than two players are in the game. It is a game where up to six can play.
In a game with three or more players, the final score of every player determined by adding their personal score for marbles captured, to the sum of the marbles captured by the player to the right. The mechanism means that you have to be aware of what other players are doing, and it makes it harder to simply work to wreck someone's else's chances. Very ingenious.
It is the unique multi-player scoring which gives Gute Nachbarn its name, meaning 'Good Neighbour'.
This game has enough strategy to keep players interested, yet is simple enough that even a casual gamer can quickly learn, and grasp the concepts at play. The scoring system is fun, and adds an additional element to the game.
It really works well for two players, or a small group. Highly recommended if you get a chance to play this one.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 15, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- PENTE

2009-04-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

PENTE

While a game created 30 years ago might be termed a vintage game given that it is 30 years old, in the case of Pente you really have the feeling the design is much older than that.
Pente works on such a simple, basic level in terms of mechanics, you might think it would have been created a century, or two ago. But, that's not the case as Gary Gabel and Tom Braunlich designed the game in the late 1970s, and the rest as they say is history.
In fact, Pente is a Games Magazine Hall of Fame Inductee, and that speaks of just how well-respected the game is, considering there are only about 25 games awarded the recognition to-date.
Pente is a perfect information abstract strategy game for two players (variant rules for more participants are out there), which works on a very simple premise, the placement of stones toward achieving a straight forward goal. Players place glass bead markers on intersections of a 19-by-19 grid. The object of the game is to get five of your own markers in a row, or capture five pairs of your opponent's pieces, with the first to achieve either goal the winner.
The variant rules, which emerged with the game's 20th anniversary, allow for up to six players, but you would need beads of multiple colours. The game is still best in general for two, as is the case with most abstracts.
Capturing takes place when exactly two pieces are sandwiched between pieces of the opposite color.
Interestingly, Pente, although having a huge board to play on, tends toward being a generally quick game, with the win conditions usually not before the board gets overly filled with pieces. As you get better, and play better players, of course the depth of the game will grow, and bring more pieces into play as experience allows each player to block and protect to avoid giving the other the win.
Even when the game play gets better, this is a quicker game, allowing you to roll through a bunch of plays in a single evening, and that is usually a good thing since it keeps the interest up. Playing a best-of-seven, or nine, is really the way to go with Pente.
Now I stated earlier Pente has the feel of being a game which might have been created a century ago. That feeling might be because the game shares a root lineage with a trio of much older Oriental classic games; Go-Moku and Renju,which do not feature capturing, and Ninuki-Renju, which does have a capture mechanic.
There are numerous other games which revolve around getting five-in-a-row as a win condition, but most pale in comparison to Pente. If you are interested in such connection games, Pente really is the place to start.
There have been several different versions of the game released over the years, ranging from a cardboard board that folds like a typical checker board, to much nicer vinyl boards which roll up and store in tubes.
If you are looking for a Pente set opt for the vinyl board, it may be more pricey, but really is worth the investment. The vinyl game board in a tube is ideal to take to the coffee shop, or the park on a summer's day.
This really is a game for anyone's collection, quick, deep enough to offer re-playability, well made, and a classic which has stood the test of time.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 8, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- Spite & Malice

2009-04-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

SPITE & MALICE

When it comes to card games, a definite rarity is one which plays well for only two people. The list of such games is rather shorter, and even shorter if you are looking for a truly engaging game which holds a level of replay ability.
One game which you can add to that list is Spite & Malice, which plays well with two, but can be played by up to five.
Spite & Malice is a fairly new game, released initially in 2003 (its roots being older), coming from the well-known games company Parker Brothers, so the cards are good quality, and the rule set well-illustrated and straight forward.
The game fits into the family of card games widely known as 'stacking games'. The idea is rather simple, players build stacks of cards, in this case in numerical order, trying to rid themselves of certain cards before the others.
In Spite & Malice each player is dealt a card stack of eight cards, the top card placed face up. These are the cards you want to move into the play stacks as quickly as possible.
In addition a player has a hand of five cards, replenished from the common card pile at the start of each of their turns.
When a player draws a number one card, he must play it to the centre of the table, and twos must also be placed as soon as possible. After that players can decide when, and if to play cards to the piles, which build to 13, and are then removed from the table.
The goal is to be able to play the face up card on your stack to one of the stacks, allowing you to then turn up the next card, and eventually wade your way through the eight cards.
If you can't, or don't wish to play a card to the stacks, a player can put one card a turn into a store pile. You can have a maximum of four store piles, from which you can only play the top card. So on any given turn you have a maximum of 10 cards to start placing to build piles, five in-hand, up to four from the store piles, and the crucial top card of your card stack.
It soon becomes clear that it may not be wise to play a card just because you can. For example you will not want to play a three, if you can't also play the four, if you see your opponent's card stack has a four showing. You don't want to help them work through their eight cards.
The play is helped along by wild cards, which can be used with a few exceptions to help get cards playing. A wild card cannot be used as a one, two, seven or 13, and you can't play back-to-back wild cards into a build pile. You must also be able to add at least one card to the pile after playing a wild card, for example using the wild as a five, you must then be able to play a natural six on the same turn.
So, it's pretty easy to see where the spite comes from.
The malice side of things comes by way of special powers that are part of a wild card. A player can give up a wild card to use the special ability, like exchanging a store pile with an opponent, or taking a card from the discard pile to your hand. They are not overpowered little tricks, but add a little more randomness to the fun.
The game play is smooth, rather quick, and while there is strategy in how you work your store piles, and when to play without helping your opponent, it's not so deep as to bog down.
The game is also helped along by the whimsical artwork of two cartoon cats with all manner of evil devices, in one case the cat is winking as he draws his claws across a chalkboard, in another the second cat sharpens an axe on a grindstone. There is a devilish charm to the cards and that's a plus.
Overall, if you are looking for a game that plays two nicely, and can be used for more – it might bog down at five in terms of ability to control any strategy – then Spite & Malice is well worth acquiring.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper April 1, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- LANCER

2009-04-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

LANCER

There are always those games which are just plain old fun, even if they aren't particularly well-known.
If you are a fan of checkers and of Chinese checkers, then Lancer is likely to be one of those games which is just plain old fun.
Released in 1973 by Waddington Games, Lancer really combines elements of both aforementioned games, in what is a pure abstract strategy game.
Each player has a force which contains two types of pieces, a set of smaller pawns that make up the bulk of a force, and then larger pieces which are defence only.
Lancer is played on a board of hexagons. The board is a sort of muted pink colour, that screams the 70's. A tad loud to be sure, OK really it nearly hurts the eyes, but that was the era of disco too, so what should we expect.
The hexagonal board allows for movement and capture can take place in six different directions. As an opponents piece is jumped it is removed from the game. Any number of captures can be made in one turn and pieces may jump over their own men.
Jumps are not mandatory so you can't force a foe into a trap.
The combination of six avenues of attack, and the ability to use your own pieces to set up long combination moves allows for some massive offensive strikes. One miscue in terms of keeping your main forces with a strong defensive formation can be a huge mistake. In one move a significant portion of your force can be lost in a single extended jumping sequence.
In that regard Lancer tends to favour those who can best manage their forces in terms of a creating a defensive formation, that allows for the quick attack once an opponent makes a mistake.
Defensive positions are on one hand made somewhat easier to maintain by the ability to hopscotch your lead forces forward, although the hexagonal board means that protecting your forward flanks are critical, or you can be left open to an attack which simply zigzags through your pieces capturing along the way.
Another interesting aspect of Lancer is that the board is reversible. One side has a playing surface for two players, the reverse allowing for three-player action.
Since very few abstracts allow for three-player games, it is a nice feature with Lancer. Like most three-player game attempts, it usually comes down to two players focusing their attention on the third, eliminating that opponent, then turning on each other.
That said, because Lancer does favour a flare for defence, a player can 'turtle' their forces in the face of a combined enemy, and work to pick off pieces when the moment is right.
The more dramatic the attack, the more likely a flank will come open, and that is when the turtle has to come out of his shell.
Now it might sound like the goal of Lancer is simply the elimination of the opposing force, but that is not the case.
A player must actually traverse the board with his pieces in order to enter what is essentially the opponent's goal. In the two-player game you have to have two pieces in the opponent's goal area (a four-space area). Once a piece is in the goal, it can still be captured, so you can't get a piece in the goal unprotected because it won't last long.
In three-player action you have to get one piece in the goal area of both opponents.
That is where the defender pieces play a significant role. Since they are not allowed beyond a certain point on the board, they are there primarily to guard the goal, a last line of defence if you will.
The defender pieces are another aspect of the game that is purely 70's in flavour, made of clear plastic, embedded with glitter. Again sort of garish, but part of the period charm of Lancer.
Not well-known, but the game plays quick, is simple to learn, and offers challenges that make it fun to play, and you get a healthy dose of retro-70s to boot.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper March 25, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- DWARF STONES

2009-04-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

DWARF STONES

It's always good to have a game that is highly transportable, and Three Sages Games has taken that idea to new heights with the games it produces.
Three Sages games generally come in a tube about the size of a can of shaving cream, with makes the game pretty much 'pick up and go' as they are. However, this company goes with the idea of taking your games on the road with you, by actually printing the board itself on a draw string bag. The bag is quite large, so you can toss the game components inside, along with a book, or two and head to the park, or coffee shop and be ready for a game if the opportunity arises. It's a pretty neat idea.
In terms of specific games, this week we'll look at Dwarf Stones, an interesting little game from the company which combines several elements.
To begin with the game is basically a fantasy war game with two-to-four players, each assigned a 'home fort' situated in one of the four corners of the board. If your home fort is taken over by enemy forces, you are out of the game.
Players may add war bands, represented by simple, but functional glass beads, to the board. As a side note using glass beads, while not as fancy as little dwarven miniatures, does mean if a piece is lost at the park, you can replace it for pennies at a variety of stores.
Of course it takes resources to keep war bands on the march, and in Dwarf Stones that means 'mining for gems' which can be used to enhance your chances for victory. Mining is a luck thing, with the results of your efforts based on the roll of a dice.
A neat little aspect of the game here is that when you roll a '6', it represents a wandering monster attacking your miners, setting up a combat phase. It's an element that has a true fantasy gaming feel, something like the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
When a gem is found, it must make its way back, a space a turn, along an unbroken supply line to the home fort, in order to be a resource you can use.
The game also relies on dice for combat, and when your forces and those of an opponent occupy the same space, battle takes place. The loser, means a war band is lost. If the war band was in possession of a gem, then the opponent gets to collect the body.
The game offers a player a lot of choices, mine, battle, build up forces, and yet has luck built into the system as well with the dice determining results. The designer Jeff Walker achieved a reasonable balance in a game that is fairly light, with the emphasis on simplicity with so many elements at play.
The game is best played with two, or with four. While the rules allow for three players, it suffers the usual problem in that regard, two players inevitably, either by consensus, or by game play, end up focusing on the third, and overwhelming them. With two, or four you achieve a better balance.
Now Dwarf Stones is not the next great board game, but it doesn't profess to be. This is supposed to be a fun, portable, relatively quick game, which combines resource management, with conquest combat. Taken for what it is, Dwarf Stones is a fun little game that has enough depth that it grows on you with repeated plays, as you start to see some additional strategies to explore. Just don't expect a game that is too deep. This one is light fun.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper March 18, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- INPUT

2009-03-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

INPUT

Sometimes you can get real lucky games wise by visiting a thrift store. On one such excursion the game Input sat on the shelf. It was a game unknown before that chance encounter, but for a buck, how could one not take a chance.Well the dollar proved to be a very good investment in this case.Input was released in 1984 by Milton Bradley, a company well-known in the board game world. The creator of the game is uncredited, and that's too bad, because this game is rather ingenious, and someone should be able to take a bow for coming up with the idea.Input is a game that is designed to look like a computer game, yet of course it is a board game. In that respect they do a nice job, albeit in that sort of '80's style'. The game board is molded plastic, of descent weight, so it will last. The board is made to mimic 'the look' of a computer, well a computer that you might see on the original Star Trek TV show at least.The game mechanics is basically tile placement, with each player – it is a two-player only game -- having an identical set of pieces. The pieces are 'pre-programmed' with the move pattern the piece can make one put into play.Again the idea is to give a computer feel where each piece moves across the grid in an irregular, yet set pattern.The goal is to plan out when to introduce your pieces, in lieu of a move, and then to move the pieces in play. Each piece can move a number of times in its set circuit before playing off the board, at which time a player can re-introduce it.Along the course of moves you want to land on a space already occupied by your opponent's piece, thereby removing it from the game.This is a straight abstract strategy game, which in some respects is more limited than say chess, because each piece has finite movement, in a pre-designed pattern that has it circuiting onto, around, and back off the board.At the same time there is a freshness to the game because the piece movement is totally unique to the game of Input.The pieces are plastic, with the movement pattern a stick on decal, that on the thrift store buy, was curling on a couple of the pieces. And, sadly one was missing, which meant fashioning a piece to play. That wasn't a huge problem, although the game mechanic does have a player moving a piece from his home area to a staging area, where up to three pieces are stacked waiting to be played. You do not know what pieces a player has in the stack, adding a touch of mystery to the game. The homemade piece is a giveaway in the stack.Still, the game is complicated enough that one would need to play a lot before that little bit of information would make a huge game difference.This isn't among the true elite of abstract strategy games, but the neat mechanics make it one worth exploring. If you ever see a copy it's certainly recommended as a game to grab. Lots of depth to explore, yet with rules quickly learned, and understood.A game to pull out for some fun with any willing opponent.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper March 11, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- CHICAGO CRIB/CRIB WARS

2009-03-12T16:38:00.000-07:00

CHICAGO CRIB/CRIB WARS

In the past this column covered the classic card game of cribbage, will still remains one of the best time-passing games for two, three, or four players.However, even classic games can sometimes get to the point you want a little change of pace, especially considering you can pass away an afternoon playing dozens of hands of cribbage.In the case of cribbage there are a few ways to spice up the game just a bit if you are looking for something just a bit different.One of the options is Chicago Cribbage. Released in 2007 by Outset Media, Chicago Cribbage is really two decks of cards used together to create the game. One deck is the regular 52-cards we are all familiar with. Those cards are used to play cribbage just the way you would normally.Where Chicago Cribbage offers up the twist is with the second deck. Each player is dealt seven cards, and can play one on a hand to affect how that hand plays out. For example, if your hand is really bad, play a card that calls for a 'deal again', or you might chance passing off your poor hand by playing the 'trade hands' card. In most cases only one player can play a particular card on a turn, so you don't end up re-dealing a hand three times, or simply passing a hand back-and-forth.The exception to the general rule of only one player playing a particular card is the 'cut again' card.How many times have you played a game of cribbage and lamented the card that is cut? Well with Chicago Cribbage twice per game you can change that luck.The card choices also include 'no fifteens' where no points are scored on a 15 for the round, and 'reverse counting' which forces your opponents to peg backwards, which depending on the hand can really change momentum.While card games in general are rather random, there are strategic choices to cribbage. Generally, Chicago Cribbage adds to the randomness, while at the same time, adds a few more major decisions, as to when you pull out a certain specialty card to affect the game. Another choice for cribbage fans is to pull out Crib Wars, copyrighted back in 1997 by Robert Prettie and Norman Auckland. The game is actually just a revised board for cribbage play, albeit one which is patented in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.The board has a number of specially marketed pegging holes. For example, if you end pegging particular points on a red hole, you are fast-tracked 20 spaces along the board. Land in a green zone you get to take a short-cut path where you need to peg only 20-points, instead of the regular path which require 40.Blue 'time trap' areas force a player down a longer alternate route area.The penalty box, once landed upon, forces a player, or team to fold their hand, which has different results depending on how many players are involved. If it's three-handed, the player who hit the penalty box sits out three hands.The lay out of the board is far longer than the usual 121 pegged in normal cribbage, so this game takes some additional time to play.To the credit of the company, the first 121 points along the board are free of the quirky new rules, so you can use the board for regular cribbage too.Neither of these games will ever replace cribbage which is beautifully ideal as it is, but they do provide a chance to occasionally throw a few more twists of fate, and a few more laughs into the game.For something totally off-the-wall, combine the two games. Then if you figure your hand might land you in the penalty box you could force a re-deal and see if that saves you. It would extend the game to an afternoon of wackiness, but you'd still be essentially playing cribbage, so it would still be a great time.
--CALVIN DANIELS

Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper March 4, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- PLUNDER CHESS

2009-03-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

PLUNDER CHESS

Few, no make that no, game interests me overall than chess. The basic game most of us are at least generally familiar with is a classic, and it has spawned so many interesting chess variants, and other games borrowing elements from its design, that it remains a game I admire greatly.That said, there is no reason game designers can't improve on, or makes changes so, that new chess variants don't hold charms of their own.Enter Jeff Knight who created Plunder Chess in 1988.Plunder Chess is a game that is immediately familiar in as much as the piece array is that of western chess, and the pieces move in the same, well-understood fashion.So what makes Plunder Chess different? Well Knight has added an element to the game that is reminiscent of Shogi (Japanese Chess). In Shogi captured pieces can be brought back into play on the side of the captor.Knight has added some of that flavour to western chess, albeit in a distinctly different way.In Plunder Chess when a piece captures another piece, it essentially captures the movement of the piece taken, which it can use once on some subsequent move.The simple mechanic adds a whole new dimension to the game. A rook which captures a knight can suddenly attack with a knight's jump on a subsequent move. With each capture the abilities of pieces grow, and the resulting strategies for both offence and defence change.A knight that can move as a queen adds a different dimension to the game, even if the queen move can only be used once.To his credit, designer Knight has come up with a simple, and ingenious way to track what pieces have enhanced powers.There are a set of collars, each representing the standard chess pieces, so for example two bishop collars. If a knight captures a bishop, you simply slip a collar over the knight piece, and it is easy to see it has enhanced movement potential, and what that movement is. The method works easily, with little disruption to the game.Once the enhanced move is used, the collar is removed.The game, since it uses a standard chess set and board, also facilitates playing basic chess, so when purchasing this set, it is in essence a two-for-one proposition.In terms of pieces, the design is sort of nouveau in nature, with the pieces tall, and slender, to facilitate the collars. The unique look is most noticeable on the knight.The weight of the pieces is good.The pieces can be purchased with, or without a board, again a nice option since many will have suitable board options.In terms of chess variants Plunder Chess is easy to pick up since there are no new pieces, or unique moves introduced, yet the 'plunder' mechanic adds a new feel to an old game, adding many new options to the game's strategy. The combination of familiarity, and new games options make this one a winner.A simple concept pulled off smoothly to create a compelling chess variant very much worth picking up.
--CALVIN DANIELS

Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Feb. 25, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- QYSHINSU

2009-03-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

QYSHINSU

If you ever want a game to impress you just by the way it looks coming out of the box Qyshinsu is for you.And, the really good news it keeps impressing as you delve into the rules, and actually start playing the game too.Qyshinsu has the 'look' of an old game, with a sort of 'Japanese flavour'. You soon get the feel that this game has to be from the era of great games like Go. Surprise though, this game is actually brand new. The brainchild of game developer, and publisher, R.A. Frederickson, Qyshinsu was released only last year. Kudos to Frederickson for being able to develop a game which has such a beautifully ancient feel to it.Now let's get back to the look of the game as it comes out of the package. The board is a simple designed circle, made of wood, and marked out in a pie pattern, The wood is beautifully stained a dark brown, which enhances the idea of an older game.The game pieces are wooden as well, almost always a plus for a game since wood adds character. The pieces here are smoothly created, and are marked nicely to differentiate the pieces. A nice velveteen bag is provided to hold the pieces, which is a classy touch.Then there is the rulebook, which can only be described as lavish. Again the design has a sort of 'old parchment' the whole idea of the game. However, the real joy of this rule set is that they are basically explained through a story. The rule set is written as though you are reading the diary of a young novice Qyshinsu player who has sought out a master of the game to learn.The 'master's voice' has a very 'Zen-like, near spiritual' approach to telling of the rules of the game. Again here one gets the idea the game could be as old and revered as Go, although it isn't quite in that league since Go may be the greatest game ever created.The game play comes down to controlling the board so as to prevent your opponent from carrying out a move on their turn thereby winning the game.Each player, it is a two-player game, has 12 pieces, two each of pieces numbered one to five, and two more which are termed 'old stones'.The first player places a piece, as an example, a three stone. The opponent must then place a stone exactly three spaces away from initial stone. In subsequent moves players may either place, or remove one of their stones in accordance with the previous move. So if a player lays a four stone, the opponent may place, or remove a stone exactly four spaces away. To add to the consideration, while each player has two of each piece, only two pieces of any stone may be on the board at a given time. So if each player has a three-stone in play, they cannot place a third one on the board.The 'old stone' has a slightly different mechanic which adds a level of strategy in terms of board manipulation.The game goes back-and-forth until someone cannot make the required move.It is interesting how a game tends to evolve, with the board soon becoming quite crowded, then ebbing back to fewer pieces, as players begin pulling pieces.One who has an aptitude for quick math might have an edge here, since you are constantly thinking about what move will mean an opponent can't respond, and that comes down to doing some mental calculations. The rules suggest pausing to think through moves, and that is clearly a wise suggestion.The game looks amazing, has the best rulebook out there is terms of its unique flavour, and the game has a simple elegance.This is a game that has everything going for it, and it should long be enjoyed once added to a collection.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Feb. 18, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- BRAINSTONZ

2009-03-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

BRAINSTONZ

Brainstonz is an interesting game, the way it takes a very old concept in gaming, and really gives it a nice twist. It is also a game that when it comes to production quality, excels.So let's start with the mechanics of this game designed by Philippe Trudel. This is really a modernization of the age-old game tic-tac-toe. The idea is in that respect extremely simple, in this case get four of your stones in-a-row before your opponent does.We've all played tic-tac-toe, so the goal is easily familiar.However, in this version, published by the Canadian firm McWiz Games, there is a neat twist.The four-by-four board has a series of symbols on each of the 16 squares created. There are two of each symbol in what appears a pretty random pattern on the board. Yet these symbols are an interesting aspect of the game.On a turn a player places two stones onto the board (after the first player's first turn on which they are allowed to place only one to help offset the first player's usual advantage in such games). If on a turn you end so that you place a stone in a way that you cover two matching symbols on the board, you can remove an opponent's stone. It can be an important tool in thwarting an opponent's plan to get their four in-a-row, although at times to match symbols you are placing stones that don't help you achieve the game's ultimate goal.It is interesting how you can get so focused on using the removal mechanic you miss simple moves like simply completing your four by the placement of your next two stones. A bit of caution, don't move to quick. Take a second look at what the game board position and mechanics allow.Now let's talk production values for a bit.Some games are tagged with the label 'coffee table games' the reasoning being that they look good enough that you are proud to have them on display almost as pieces of art. Brainstonz wears the label well.The game board is a box of wood, with the symbols having a sort of hieroglyphic look that really does look like an art piece. The pieces are polished stones, the black nice flat ones and the white more rounded. The stones can stores on two tray areas to the sides of the board, so the game is always ready to go. The game board, being a box, also has a storage tray, which allows the stones to be tucked away inside the board. The storage area is huge compared to the 16 stones. If one was handy they'd likely line the tray with some felt and that would add even more aesthetic detail to the game.With the nice detail and materials the game is a bit pricey for what the game itself offers, so I tend to think this will be one often given as a gift. Any gamer would be happy to have it, and it looks so nice it is a great gift idea.Now it should be noted as a tic-tac-toe variant in style, this game isn't overly deep in terms of tactics, but then again it plays quickly, and you can knock off a few quick games as a break pretty easily (we've all done that a few times using pen and paper I am sure).So understand what Brainstonz is, a simple game that looks great. You can set it on the desk in the office and it looks classy. On the coffee table it's just unique enough to have visitors asking what it is, and quick enough to teach that you can have the questioner playing the game in a hurry. Enough to make it worth a look that's for sure, and you will enjoy a game or three on occasion.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Feb. 11, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- FLUXX

2009-02-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

FLUXX

Every once in a while you just want some really mindless fun at the gaming table. It can't get much more mindless, or much more fun, at least for a game, or two, than the card game Fluxx.
Designed by Andrew and Kristin Looney, and first released in 1997, Fluxx garnered some attention when it was awarded a Mensa Select Award for 1999. Now before you think that means the game is high brow, or complicated, or even requires a great deal of thinking, that is not the case. The Mensa recognition was probably based far more on the innovative game design than on how the game plays.
The basic game of Fluxx revolves around four card types, rules, actions, goals and keepers.
Keepers are just that, cards which a player lays out in front of them, with the hopes of collecting the cards necessary too satisfy the goal card conditions.
So for example, if the goal is bread and jam, you need to have both the bread and the jam keeper.
The trick though is that there are numerous goal cards, and when a player lays out a new goal, the old one goes bye bye. So collecting the winning cards is very much luck.
Then there are the rules. To begin with each player is dealt three cards. On your turn you draw one from the stack, and play one. Sounds simple enough. However, there are a number of rule cards in the deck too, and as those cards are played the rules change. For example is someone plays the rule card 'draw four' players then draw four cards, while still playing one.
The next player might then play the rule card 'play all' leaving players drawing four cards and playing them all each turn.
And finally just to add a further twist to the growing madness, there are the action cards, so a player might plop down an action allowing them to take another card.
So imagine a player drawing eight cards, and having to play them all. The rules and goals can go through significant changes even within a single players turn.
It's all good old random madness, which usually has a player stumbling into a win more than creating a strategy to come out on top.
The game is recommended for two to six players, but since the strong point is the fun social aspect of twisting the rules on your fellow players, the more the merrier is the rule here.
Since the game is so random, it holds its charm for a couple of games on occasion, but doesn't really have the over and over re-playability in one sitting of say cribbage, or Magic The Gathering, other card games previously reviewed here.
That said for a little game night warm-up, or wind down Fluxx is a good fit.
As is the case the original Fluxx spawned a number of variants, including Eco Fluxx, Christian Fluxx, Zombie Fluxx and Monty Python Fluxx.
The zombie version adds creepers to the weirdness, zombie infested cards that can help you win, or lose depending on the rules at the moment. It's a nice twist, but if you have the basic I wouldn't suggest buying the zombie version too.
Monty Python is just weird enough on its own merits to fit Fluxx madness to the 'T', so the variant is one to look for if you are a Python fan.
Fluxx is ultimately a fun little filler game worth picking up and playing on occasion, but too much of it at one sitting can get kind of ho-hum in a hurry.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Feb. 4, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review -- MAGIC: THE GATHERING

2009-02-05T14:20:00.001-08:00

MAGIC: THE GATHERING

Few games can hold the claim that they were the foundation for an entire genre of games, but that is one claim Magic:The Gathering can proudly make.
For those unfamiliar with MtG, it is a collectible card game. A CCG is a game in which packages of randomly inserted cards are present, so that when you buy a pack you are never sure which cards you may be getting. From the cards you then proceed to build a customized deck using whichever cards you choose.
The idea of CCG was really in it infancy when MtG first hit the shelves back in 1993. Now there may have been a CCG, or two published before Richard Garfield's classic arrived on the scene, but this was the gem which created the buzz about CCGs. In the wake of MtG's arrival, literally dozens, actually nearly 300 CCGs were born. Most were little more than cash grabbing flash in the pans, a few found some level of following to last a year, or two, one has remained a constant for more than 15 years, and that in the granddaddy MtG.
So what gives MtG its staying power? It's charisma?
Well the premise is so simple, so compelling, few have matched it. The idea has each player taking on the role of a wizard. The deck of cards he builds is essentially the spells at his disposal, and the resources from which he can cast his spells. The idea works on the premise of the idea of two spell casters weaving their magic in battle.
The spell casters can summon creatures to do battle on his behalf, throw sorceries like fireballs, or offer up instant spells that counter an opponent's card playing.
To cast the spells though the caster must have access to mana, energy drawn from land cards which are also part of the custom deck one builds.
There are five colours of land and magic, black which focuses on creatures such as skeletons and vampires, the forest oriented green, white is the magic of the plains and healing, blue of water and air, and red of fire and stone.
Through the colours players can really develop decks which fit their own strategic leanings, white to maintain life, red to cast tons of direct damage, green to hurl huge forest creatures into the fray.
When the game arrived on the scene, it offered up a couple hundred cards from which players generally construct a deck of 40 to 60 cards. No single card can appear more than four times in a standard deck. Right from the outset a player had huge options.
Those options have grown to monstrous proportions as MtG has released expansions year, after year, usually at least three sets a year, adding hundreds of new cards, with new abilities and power. Today thousands of cards have been released.
The earliest cards are now rare, and pricey. A single card such as a first edition Black Lotus can sell into the four figures. The cards have traditionally been released as commons, uncommons and rares, so certain cards are automatically harder to pull from a card pack, and thus generally pricier.
However new players need not be deterred since Wizards of the Coast, the company behind the game sanction numerous tournament styles, including one focusing on only recent card series releases, allowing players to jump in without having to buy the older cards.
The game also allows for variant play, including partners, three-against-three, and massive free-for-alls with many players.
Of all the CCGs, this is by far the best overall game on a number of levels -- the gold standard of the genre.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Jan. 28, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

Review - SORRY SLIDERS

2009-02-05T14:19:00.000-08:00

SORRY SLIDERS

All right it might have been a dead giveaway when you realize this game is related to the kid's game Sorry, but Sorry Sliders is lacking when it comes to holding the attention of an adult gamer.
Released in 2008 by Parker Brothers, Sorry Sliders has created some buzz in the gaming community, in part because it seems to have been short-printed in the United States, and that always makes a game more wanted.
Actually, if anyone went looking for this one and didn't find it, they shouldn't be too disappointed, unless of course it was bought with younger kids in mind.
The premise of Sorry Sliders is pretty neat, although the neatness fades rather quickly. The game has players sliding pieces, nice plastic molded pieces that have a weighted sphere in the base that allows them to slide at a target area. Of course you can knock opponents pieces around, which is the tie to the old Sorry mechanic of sending an opponent's piece back if it was landed on.
This game owes much to games such as shuffleboard and crokinole, although pales compared to either. Then again Sorry Sliders is about 30 bucks and crokinole 150 and shuffleboards even more, so you are getting something of a bargain here.
Sorry Sliders professes to offer four games in one, and it does include four centre 'target' areas, but ultimately the games are really just variations on the basic theme, which is scoring points depending on where your piece lies at the end of the round. The closer to the centre the greater the score achieved, which reminds a bit of curling.
For each piece scoring you get to move a scoring piece along a track. Be the first to bare off the four scoring pegs, by exact count, and you win.
The game can be played by two, three, or four players. Having tried all three options, the game plays fine by whichever number of players are involved, although with four the field gets more chaotic since there can be up to 16 pieces in play at the end of a round.
The rules can be grasped in a matter of seconds, especially so if you have curled, played crokinole or shuffleboard.
There is a level of skill required with this game, but it's so simplistic in nature that it's hard to envision anyone taking the time to actually hone those skills to any great level.
In fact, the game is so simple it's the kind you might drag out on occasion to play with non-gamers, but serious board game fans will likely quickly opt for other games to play.
Now the evaluation will likely change if you have younger children. This game would likely catch the younger mind more, and it is easily accessible for anyone, so kids could be competitive with mom and dad, unlike a lot of games that parents usually have an advantage at unless they rely totally on luck which is used to even the playing field for younger players. This one is pure skill, but skills younger players can master.
For families, Sorry Sliders might be a good fit. For adults, a few plays will last months, and then this one will be a real dust collector.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Jan. 21, 2009 - Yorkton, SK. Canada