Regime Change: Behind the Scenes at Counter magazine

By:  Greg J. Schloesser

I have had the great pleasure of writing reviews and articles for Counter magazine for 14 years.  In my admittedly biased opinion, I believe Counter to be the finest journal in the boardgaming hobby.  The articles, reviews and commentary are all top-notch, in-depth and insightful.  It is difficult to find such consistent quality material in one place (outside of the OG site, of course!)

After 15 years at the helm, Alan How and Stuart Dagger have decided to retire from the managerial and editor duties.  Ben Baldanza and I have taken over these tasks and our first issue at the helm should be arriving in subscribers’ hands within the next few weeks.  To quote the Grateful Dead, “What a long, strange trip it has been.”

counterThe amount of groundwork that had to be done was staggering.  Subscriptions were not accepted beyond Issue #61 (Stuart and Alan’s final issue at the helm), so we immediately had to undertake efforts to encourage current subscribers to re-subscribe.  Sadly, since Counter is a print magazine, there was no database of email addresses for the subscribers.  We were able to place notices in the last two issues, but knew that we should also try to contact the subscribers individually.  So, I spent weeks scouring the BoardGameGeek database, hoping to find email addresses whereby to contact both current and previous subscribers.  This seems to have worked, as subscriptions did increase dramatically.  We also launched various campaigns to make the gaming hobby-at-large aware of Counter and hopefully prompt folks to consider subscribing.

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The Art of Design: Interviews of game designers #23 – Bernd Eisenstein

Dear Gamers, here again after a long silence to continue my series of interviews.  Please, write me if you are interested in some particular designer or, if you are a designer interested in being interviewed.  In the meanwhile I have read several books about design and game design and so in the next interviews I’ll be much more demanding.

After the last interview of Rudiger Dorn, I’m continuing with “German” designers but I’m also getting close to starting with someone else with a real different approach and point-of-view.  Bernd’s preferred title is Rudiger Dorn’s Goa, and that is something that can help us to have an idea of Bernd’s designing style.

Bernd is a designer that, with his own label Irongames, floats in the vast area of small-publishers, living between self-publishing and real publishers, that thanks to Kickstarter are growing in number and capacity.  In the first part of interview Bernd says “I’m more a gamer than a designer,” something I really like.  Since designing games is about making players get a good experience, those who are able to play a lot can really have more shots in his gun. Concerning the core question he says “[I] think you need a good balance of Art and Craftsmanship” and then “You need a minimum of Art to design games, otherwise you would almost copy existing games. But you also need a lot of Craftsmanship.”  Asked about language independency in games he told me: “I wanna read, I take a book, not a board game,” a nice answer!

Here is the full interview:
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138 Games: From Frisch Fisch to Quacksalbe

This week the 138 Games series rolls on through the late 1990s with a handful of more obscure games.  In contrast to last week’s Medici, Settlers, and Bohnanza, this week we’ve got five games for you that you may not have played and, in some cases, may not have heard about before.  Remarkably, this entry in the series includes a Friedemann Friese that is not Power Grid, a Klaus Teuber game that is not Settlers, and an Urs Hostettler card game that is not Tichu.

- Frisch Fisch -

Joe Huber:  One frequent goal, in designing a game, is to find a very simple set of rules that at the same time makes the game simple to learn, but with sufficient depth and choice that the game itself is very deep.  Go is a classic example of this, as for that matter is Bridge.  Frisch Fisch is not.

Oh, there is an absolutely brilliant rule – the expropriation rule, which very simply states that (1) every undeveloped space, every source, and every outlet must have road access, and (2) all the roads must be part of the same network.  To have reduced the complexity that this leads to into such a simple rule is simply brilliant.  Friedemann Friese has done a lot of impressive game design, but fifteen years after the release of Frisch Fisch this still remains the pinnacle, in my mind.

So if it’s so brilliant, why doesn’t it qualify?  Very simply, because visualizing the consequences of the expropriation rule is something that stumps many, or most, gamers.  I would recommend that everyone try the game – but I’d also recommend playing with someone who knows the game well, as this visualization seems to stump some very experienced and very intelligent gamers in my experience.  And without the expropriation being done correctly – the game doesn’t work.  But when it is carried out correctly, the game is unique and incredibly enjoyable.  And, due to various randomness that adds variability without detracting from skillful play, one game of Frisch Fisch is nothing like the next one.

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Kris Hall: Interview with Martin Wallace – April 2013

The Kickstarter campaign for Martin Wallace’s latest game A Study in Emerald recently launched.  So this seemed to be a good time for another interview with Mr. Wallace.

Kris: Congratulations on achieving your Kickstarter goal for A Study in Emerald in just a few days

(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1799046854/a-study-in-emerald?ref=card )

Let’s hope that orders keep rolling in so we can get those wooden zombie meeples.  Can you give us an overview of A Study in Emerald?

Martin: Thanks Kris, I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

A Study in Emerald mashes up two literary genres, a bunch of historical figures, topped off with deck building. The story mixes Sherlock Holmes with H.P. Lovecraft. The Old Ones have been running the world for over seven hundred years and now a resistance movement is struggling to place mankind back in charge. What I have done is add various anarchists and secret agents who were around at about the same time in the ‘real world.’ Each player has a secret identity, being either Loyalist (on the side of the Old Ones) or Restorationist (fighting to free mankind). What you need to do to win depends on which side you are on. Continue reading

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Review: Guildhall

Guildhall-BoxDesigner: Hope S. Hwang
Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group
Ages: 10+
Players: 2-4
Time: 45 mins


Reviewed by
Matt Carlson
Review copy provided by AEG

In Guildhall, players strive to collect complete sets of guild cards (matching guild cards in each of the six colors.)  Players may then “cash in” their completed set for victory points and a special action.   First player to gain 20 or more victory points wins.  What may seem to be a simple set collection game turns into an interesting tactical game as every guild card played grants a special bonus.  This bonus is increased in power for each previous guild card of that type that has been played.  Since you play up to two cards per turn (which must be from different guilds), this allows for very creative moves to appear throughout the game.  While I like the game on paper, several guild cards allow other players to steal out of partially collected sets, making the game too direct conflict oriented for my own taste.

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138 Games: From Inspeaquence to Bohnanza

In the 138 Games series today we bring you several heavy hitters, including a landmark auction game, a pervasive card game, and the game that started it all.  But here at The Opinionated Gamers we’re not just about the obvious games, so mixed in with the ones you’ve surely heard of, we have a couple game recommendations that are not so well known.  And these come at opposite ends of the spectrum.  There’s a silly party game and an epic historical simulation, so we’ve got all your bases covered.

- Inspeaquence -

Larry:  I love clever party games and this is one of the best.  Having to piece together a clear, accurate, and grammatically correct question one word at a time that will lead your teammate to the right answer is a terrific challenge and great fun.  I love coming up with the key word that guides the rest of the team in the right direction as quickly as possible, as well as willing your teammates to continue the proper thread (staring at them intently always works, right?).  Best of all is when a fellow questioner throws you a curve ball (and sometimes it’s a great one) and you need to adjust to the sudden switch in a hurry.  It’s too bad that this game is so hard to find, but we’ve been able to play it with word lists from other party games.  If you have the chance to pick this up, grab it–you’ll find that saying one word at a time was never so hilarious!

- Medici -

Rick Thornquist:  Medici is classic Reiner Knizia – a simple yet strategic game that has exactly the number of mechanisms it needs and not one more. It’s basically a set collecting game with two twists: first, you have to bid victory points to get victory points, and second, the sets score two different ways.  These twists make for a game with agonizing decisions, lots of player interaction, and much moaning and groaning when things don’t go your way.  The only knock against the game has been the inexplicable inability of any of the numerous publishers to come up with a graphic design that actually works (though that may have been solved in more recent editions).  Medici is one of the greats, and shows Knizia at his best.

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Larry’s Gathering Impressions

The 2013 Gathering was a blast as always, the highlight of my gaming year.  Thanks, as always, to Alan Moon for organizing such an amazing shindig!

There were plenty of good games on hand to sample, but nothing that really qualified as great.  That’s not really that unusual, given that so many game companies are now focusing their best efforts on Essen and not the early part of the year.  Still, there’s usually some game that has everyone talking, but that didn’t really happen this time around.  The closest thing to it was a couple of prototypes that I’ll be discussing in a bit.

Here are my impressions on the new games I got to play, organized by their OG rating categories.  Within each category, the games are presented roughly in the order of most to least liked.  But I need to emphasize that most of these games only got played once or twice, so I reserve the right to completely change my mind on them during future plays.  How’s that for weasel-wording? Continue reading

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Tom Rosen: Eighty-Nine Games in Seven Days and 5,700 Words

I had the good fortune of traveling to a week-long convention last month at which I tried many new games and new-to-me games, so I’m here to report back on my experience… and opinions of course.

Day 1 – Discovering La Boca and Panic Lab

The first day was abbreviated because I didn’t arrive at the convention until after a full day in the car.  I mostly played shorter and lighter games, but that didn’t keep me discovering some very nice gems.  I started with a couple quick games of AttrAction, a game of flicking, throwing, and sliding magnets to try to attract as many other magnets on the table as possible to your piece.  Eric Martin demonstrates the game in this video, which should tell you all you need to know about whether this is an activity for you or not.

Afterwards I had the pleasure of discovering two new games that I thought were great.  La Boca is a speed puzzle game designed by Inka and Markus Brand that is very much in the mold of Ubongo and other games along those lines.  It takes a bit too long with the full complement of 6 players, but excels with 4 players.  Each player partners with every other player twice over the course of the game, but there is one individual winner.  In a given round you and your partner try to arrange various colored blocks as quickly as possible so you each see only what colors and shapes are depicted on your card.  The game saw a lot of play over the week and seemed to be highly enjoyed by almost everyone that I saw trying it out.  The second great new game was called Panic Lab and was another speed puzzle game, somewhat along the lines of Geistesblitz.  Everyone simultaneously tries to identify the correct amoeba tile in a ring after a set of dice is rolled that shows the characteristics of the right amoeba for that round (e.g., color, pattern, shape).  It’s fast and great fun, although not for everyone as some folks have found they end up essentially sitting out watching faster players play, like in Ricochet Robots or Set.

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Review: Love Letter

Love_Letter_Card_boxDesigner: Seiji Kanai
Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group (in the US)
Ages: 10+
Players: 2-4
Time: 20 mins

Reviewed by Matt Carlson
Review copy provided by AEG

Sixteen cards, a few red cubes, and 2-4 players; a game doesn’t get much simpler than this.  I know of no other game able to pack so much interesting interaction in so few components.  In Love Letter, players are trying to get their love letter delivered to the princess who has locked herself away in sadness after the death of the queen.  The cards in the deck represent the various members of the court.  Players start with a card, draw one more, then play one of the two in hand.  At the end of the game, the member of the court remaining in one’s hand represents who carries your letter to the princess.  The player with the highest value card remaining in their hand wins the round, first to win a set number of rounds (depending on the number of players) wins the game.  What looks at first glance to be a simple game of luck quickly turns into a challenging game of deduction due to the special actions granted by playing each card.  Quick, fun, portable, cheap even!  This is the quintessential carry-with-you game that you can play while waiting at a table, probably even waiting in line!  It’s one downfall lies in its limited play of 2-4 people, 5 or more players need not apply.

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Good Games & Great Friends: The Gathering 2013

Werewolf Upon WerewolfSet the Wayback Machine For 2002

My first Gathering of Friends was back in 2002 and even though I’d been in the hobby for a long time, it was an overwhelming experience. Puerto Rico had just been released… and multiple copies were in play almost constantly throughout the week. (I myself played 4 times in the first 48 hours.) It was a real pleasure to be discovering a gem of a game and exploring the intricacies of it together with friends old & new.

In fact, what Alan Moon has created over the 20+ years of its existence is a 10 day long gaming party… where experiences can vary from being present at the coming-out party of a gaming classic to the comfortable joys of sitting down to an old favorite with old friends – and where long meals and sightseeing trips fit comfortably with long games and epic Loopin’ Louie battles. (Hats off to you, Mr. Moon… and thanks for inviting me all those years ago.)

Classic Games & Classic Experiences

The Gathering 2013 didn’t have a Puerto Rico. This year was memorable not so much for any breakout game – though I did find some very good games (more about that in a paragraph or two). The real highlights were a combination of classic games & classy friends: Continue reading

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