Here is the next installment from Josiah, one of our newest contributors!
 April 2024 Games I played for the first time this month, from worst to best, along with my ratings and comments. |
 Blade Rondo – 6/10 Blade Rondo is a fast-playing 2-player fighting card game with anime girly artwork. The closest point of comparison mechanically is probably a game like Mindbug, as both involve players starting with a personal deck that is a small subset of the available cards, then trying to defeat each other. Mindbug has decks created randomly, from a much larger set of cards, whereas Blade Rondo uses a smaller set of cards from which players draft their initial decks. The drafting does add more player control, but the smaller set of cards means excitement and replayability are less present. Once you each have a starting deck drafted, the first player gains one “voltage”. This represents the total cost limit of cards that can be played on a given turn. It increases by one each turn, so by turn three you could play a single 3-cost card, or maybe three 1-cost cards. This automatic cost threshold progression will be familiar to players of Hearthstone and other CCGs like it. But I have no idea why it is called voltage as none of the cards seem even remotely electrically themed. In fact, the theme, such as it is, seems more about swords and magic, at least insofar as can be deciphered from the complex and darkly-saturated illustrations. Most of the cards you play will deal damage to your opponent. You win by reducing their life total from 15 to 0. Other cards may gain back some life, prevent damage done to you, increase the damage you can deal, or cancel your opponent’s cards. Strictly speaking this all works fine, but it isn’t exactly breaking new ground. Your tactics, both in draft and gameplay, are often about predicting the cards your opponent will play. This can be satisfying when you get it right, but it also means the skill curve plateaus pretty quickly into pure guesswork and bluffing. Absent any other options, Blade Rondo would be a solid choice to kill 10 minutes. But there are so, so many games occupying this same design space it just seems like white noise. I also have a hard time imagining anyone really connecting with the theme or artwork. I could see a larger card pool with more innovative card abilities leading to more engrossing game play, and expansions do exist. So I’m not closing the book on the game just yet, but I suspect it’s not likely to be one I reach for with much frequency. |
 Zoo Vadis – 7/10 Back in 1992, the illustrious Reiner Knizia released Quo Vadis, a game about senators in ancient Rome attempting to become the most prestigious. With a simple rule structure, it lived or died on the willingness of players to negotiate with one another and the group dynamics that this created. But for some reviewers, “died” was closer to the truth, with many wishing for an extra spark of theme, bargaining leverage, or even randomness in order to take the game to the next level. Fully three decades later, Quo Vadis has been reimplemented and re-themed as Zoo Vadis, a game about zoo animals attempting to become the new zoo mascot. All the original rules are here, such that you could even use these fine components to play the original game, but the new additions go a long way towards solving the complaints about its predecessor. On your turn, you will move one of your animals from one exhibit to another, always climbing up the board from the starting gate to the star exhibit. When moving, you also generally get to collect a point chip from the path you pass over. There are several ways to move faster, but this often comes at the cost of forgoing those point chips. The player with the most points will be the winner, but any player who does not have an animal in the star exhibit by the end of the game is not eligible to win regardless of their points. And there are a limited number of spaces available. In order to move and collect the point chip on the path, you need to have a majority vote in the exhibit you are leaving. So to leave an exhibit with five spaces, you will need three votes. The most obvious way to achieve this is to simply have three of your animals there. But this is not very efficient, and you will do better by bribing the other players’ animals in the same exhibit to vote to let you move. In addition to any bribes you pay them, they also get a point chip from the bank each time they support you. Making mutually beneficial deals is at the heart of the game, but being too much of a pushover can hand another player the victory. This basic structure from the original game is still intact, but the inclusion of special abilities for each animal is what makes this version pop. Each player begins the game with a different animal, each of which grants two uses of a unique special ability. These special abilities, however, cannot be used on yourself, but must instead be bartered to other players. This addition really greases the wheels and gets even novice players to start throwing out trade offers that no one else can possibly provide. Zoo Vadis plays in a breezy 30 minutes or so, and is light enough that it’s unlikely to lead to hurt feelings, despite how much of the game is focused on negotiation and bribery. It does of course retain the same player-dependence and fragility that all negotiation games do (e.g., a player who ceases trying to win can ruin the game for everyone else). But the whimsical theme and fast pace of play make for an inviting gateway to the world of deeper negotiation games. |
 Coffee Rush – 7/10 In Coffee Rush, each player takes on the role of a harried and haggard barista attempting to fill an unreasonable amount of drink orders. From both the title and description you might assume this is a real-time game, but it isn’t. And yet it manages to capture the frantic nature of its theme even though it’s mechanically quite cerebral. You will start with three plastic coffee cups and a couple drink orders. Each drink order requires some combination of the eight possible ingredients (coffee, cream, chocolate, water, etc.). On your turn, you will move your barista three spaces on the grid, gathering a single ingredient with each step. There is a bit of route-planning here, as you want to end in a good location for the ingredients you intend to gather on your next turn. The ingredients themselves are delightful 3D plastic tokens that you can plop right into one of your coffee cups. Then, if a cup contains all the required ingredients, the drink is complete and will score you a point. But what starts as just a few orders will quickly spiral into more. Each time an opponent completes an order, you are forced to draw another one. And orders that aren’t completed in four turns actually become negative points. There is a skill you will need to develop of knowing when to cut your losses and just letting one of your customers go unsatisfied. There is one final dash of complexity that rounds out the game quite nicely. You have the option to trade in three completed orders for a training upgrade worth two points. Thus, you are essentially giving up one point, but getting a special ability in return. These include ways to move more efficiently on the grid or to pick up additional ingredients when you do so. These abilities can make the difference between failing and completing an order, and yet they are of diminishing value as the game goes on. Knowing when to take a training upgrade, and which one to take, is another straightforward yet consequential decision you will make. The tactile nature of the components combined with simple yet meaningful choices makes Coffee Rush approachable and yet substantial. If you are fond of the aesthetic of A la Carte, but not the dexterity elements, Coffee Rush gets a strong endorsement. Play while drinking your beverage of choice for maximum enjoyment. |
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 Great Western Trail: Argentina – 8/10 The original Great Western Trail released in 2016, and then a slightly altered second edition released five years later. In the following years, two more versions were released, making this a trilogy of games that share many aspects, but include slight changes to the player options. This is not unlike the various versions of Ticket to Ride, though Great Western Trail is a good deal heavier. The complexity here comes not from any one aspect, but from the sum total of lots of different mechanics. There is some deck-building, in which you purchase rarer and more valuable cattle and add them to your deck. You will also want to move your train car forward, making it easier to deliver these cattle and generating points. There is a rondel for the actions you take (the titular trail), but you are limited in how far you can move. And you will also purchase new buildings (actions) to add to the trail. This not only creates more powerful actions for you, it also makes the trail more arduous for the other players. Adding buildings, moving the train, and purchasing cattle all start out weak at first. But adding carpenters, train engineers, and cowboys to your personal player board will enhance the power of each of these actions. You are definitely encouraged to specialize in one of these, and most players will do so, but the choice of which one is always tough. After delivering your cattle to the train, you will need to load them onto ships, and send them to cities in the old world. The ships that you choose and the destinations of those ships are also difficult decisions, often creating tension between money now, endgame points later, and achieving goal cards. This shipping aspect is probably the largest change from the original Great Western Trail. In a game of this intricacy, it’s not even feasible to mention every single aspect in a review of this length. Suffice it to say that there are lots of little variations to contend with on any given turn, and the path forward always feels nebulous. Overall, this is a positive thing in my book. My recollection is that I slightly preferred the cleaner nature of the original version, but it’s been so long since I played that I can’t say for sure. Regardless, it seems to me that any version of Great Western Trail is worth your time to explore and learn if you aren’t intimidated by how many moving parts it has. This is not merely a mash-up of tried-and-true mechanisms, but rather puts a slight twist on each one and then coalesces all of them into a sensible whole. |
 Worldbreakers – 9/10 Worldbreakers is a two-player battle card game that owes much of its design to CCGs. Players will play character cards, then use them to attack their opponent (or block incoming attacks from their opponent) in a race to be the first to make 10 unblocked attacks. There are options for deck customization and for drafting, but the four included decks are designed to play well right out of the box. The setting is an alternate history 13th century, with leaders like Marco Polo battling against Khutulun. The setting is subdued, more mystical than magical, and the various characters are thematically murky. The real differentiation comes from the mechanics, where it is a strong point. Working within the same basic rules structure, each deck accumulates resources and pursues victory in a way that feel different from any other. The structure of a turn is fascinating. Each turn, you take one action. This could be drawing a card, playing a card, attacking with cards in play, gaining a mythium (the currency of the game), etc. After each player has taken four actions, the round ends, and the player order reverses. This means that each round cycle, a player will get two turns in a row. There are times where you may spend two or even three of your four actions in a round just gaining mythium and doing nothing else. This feels bad, but is sometimes a necessary evil. Resources (both mythium and cards) are very tight, and there never seems to be enough time to do what you need to do. This system is simple, crisp, and brain-burning. Really excellent design. When attacking, each unblocked character generates a power for you. Be the first to get 10 power to win the game. Additionally, if an attack is successful, it damages a location card your opponent has played. Location cards can also be a source of power and some decks rely strongly on locations as their primary victory condition. All of the expected interesting choices about how to block are present here. But there are also fascinating decisions to make about whether to attack with just one character at a time. This often gives a bonus of some kind, but isn’t very efficient considering each attack takes one of your precious actions. Just another way that the game provides meaningful choice with its simple structure. This is exactly how I want to experience CCGs these days. Pre-constructed decks that are fun without dumbing down the game, draft options for more advanced players, and no blind booster buys to worry about. From a reception standpoint, Worldbreakers is obscure and yet well-loved. It released in 2023, brought out an expansion already this year, and there are still more releases planned. This is in spite of the fact that each crowdfunding campaign has only raised a very modest $30,000 or so. Seemingly undeterred by this under-the-radar status, the designer continues to self-publish copies of the game with a grand vision for its future. It’s clearly a labor of love, and one likely to be considered a hidden gem by those who have experienced it. |
Dune Imperium Uprising – 9/10 It’s debatable whether or not to consider this a “new-to-me” game or not. Dune Imperium Uprising is some hybrid of a sequel, a remake, and an expansion to the original Dune Imperium, which was a strong contender for the best game of 2020. That makes this standalone version a great starting point if you are a newbie, a rebalanced and tweaked version if you are a grizzled veteran, or a boatload more content if you’re just a big fan, like me. These games are set in the world of Dune, and specifically the world of the recent films, with this version themed more on the recently-released Dune Part 2, with the original themed more on Dune Part 1. The design takes the form of a deck-building and worker-placement game, which gives it a similar mechanical feel to Lost Ruins of Arnak. Each turn, you will have a five-card hand and two workers to place. (You can get a third worker at some point, but that is the maximum.) In order to place a worker on one of the many possible action spaces, you will need to play a card with a symbol that matches the location you wish to use. Each card has an ability when played like this, but it also has an alternate ability which is only activated if it is one of the cards remaining in your hand at the end of your turn (i.e., one that you didn’t play to place a worker.) These decisions feel eminently manageable, but still quite difficult. You always want to do more than you really can, and prioritizing these decisions requires far more intuition than pure number-crunching. Each player will also have a different leader, represented by one of the characters from the film, and these do an excellent job of steering you in a certain direction without completely dictating your strategy. Many give bonuses to certain spaces or provide certain types of resources, but you will find yourself needing all resource types and using all the types of spaces throughout the game. In addition to all these resource conversions going on, there is a good bit of interaction with other players. There are points available for being the furthest ahead on four different tracks, each of which also provide their own bonuses. There is also a battle that is resolved at the end of each round with some type of reward available for all but last place. (And this version adds the iconic sandworms into the battle as well, potentially doubling the rewards, and making battle even more significant). As mentioned, these are things you absolutely want to win all of, but absolutely can’t possibly do that. Even though this might sound like a lot of different things to manage, the overall win condition is merely a race to ten points. Such simple scoring is always a big plus in my book. Figuring out how best to quickly convert the resources you gather into points is how you succeed. Sometimes this means creating an efficient engine and sometimes it means knowing when to commit your forces to winning a battle. And in either case, you will need to be judicious with your leader’s ability and opportunistic about the cards that are available to purchase. Fans of the books or movies will more strongly connect with the theme, but even with no familiarity whatsoever, the quality of the design is undeniable. Don’t be afraid to give this one a try. Fear is the mind-killer. |
 A highly recommended game that I have most certainly played prior to this month, probably many times.  Terraforming Mars – 9/10 I was highly impressed with Terraforming Mars from the very first time I played it in 2016 and my love has only grown more with each subsequent outing. The theme is naturally appealing to me as a sci-fi fan, but this is not a “wacky aliens” kind of sci-fi. In fact, many of the themes and card names are based on real-life anticipated requirements to terraform Mars. Certainly there are things you can do that border on flights of fancy, but everything is at least scientifically plausible. Into this setting, we get a card-driven engine-building game that has players drafting the cards they get instead of simply drawing them randomly. While this does create a bit of a steeper learning curve than other card-driven engine-builders like Earth or Wingspan, it also adds a whole extra layer of strategy. The cards’ synergies with each other and with your starting player power will provide opportunities to be very efficient with your point scoring, but they never railroad you into doing certain things either. Your main limit is the cost of each card, such that many cards you could buy will end up discarded instead. Every single card in the deck of hundreds is unique, yet the drafting gives you excellent control over your strategy while presenting really tough choices as well. With your carefully-selected and painfully-purchased set of cards in hand, it’s time to begin playing cards and placing tiles onto the map. It is a race for the best spots on the map, but there is tension between taking those spots and constructing your card engine. Every point that you score also means more income in future rounds, but you will also have to carefully monitor the choices your opponents make to ensure you aren’t falling behind in other areas. Your money will quickly diminish with each action you take, until eventually all players pass, at which point they get more income, and begin the drafting and playing cycle again. This isn’t quite a perfect game. It can run a little long (unless you also purchase the nearly-mandatory Prelude expansion), player order is important but there is no mechanism for controlling it, and the illustrations leave much to be desired. And yet, it has held up for me through dozens of plays, each of which revealed a bit more of the depth it possesses. Terraforming Mars has interactivity without being cutthroat, engine-building without rote accounting, and is grounded in science without being afraid to dream big. Those aspects are all very appealing to me. This one is a winner. |
Nice report, great writing to boot.
Well done recap… I’ll heartily second your reactions to Dune Imperium: Uprising and Terraforming Mars. I’ll also put in a good word for GWT: New Zealand, which I really enjoy.
What would you put as the stand out strengths of GWT: New Zealand?
Great report, Josiah!
Back in the day, we played quite a bit of Quo Vadis. It does indeed require good negotiating skills from the players, but that appealed to us and it almost always worked out well. I still consider it one of the best pure negotiating games out there. The new animal abilities sound like an excellent addition, although the physical production of the new game might be a bit on the garish side. But you’ve convinced me that this is an upgraded version of a classic Knizia game that deserves to be checked out.
I like Dune: Imperium, but not quite as much as you. My biggest issue with the game is the swingyness and imbalance of the Intrigue cards. A reasonable number of my games have been spoiled by the way these cards were distributed. Do you think that DI – Uprising changes this part of the game for the better?
I completely agree with you about Terraforming Mars and GWT. One of my current gaming goals is to finally get to play GWT: New Zealand one of these days!
Thanks for your kind words!
The new Zoo Vadis is indeed a bit overproduced, and it might feel jarring for a 40-minute game to have that kind of price tag. But it is really fun to play with.
You aren’t the first person I’ve heard balk a bit at the balance of the intrigue cards. But I reject this premise. Each one can be reasonably read as “gain 1 point… under the right conditions.” How and when to get this point (and if it’s worth pursuing at all) will vary of course. But I don’t hear similar balance complaints in other games about what are essentially hidden goal cards. So I think it’s more about framing and perception than a true balance concern, personally.
Nice write-up, now I’ll have to put even more games on my list 😉.
I actually love the art in TM–the mish-mash of styles, renders, and illustrations reminds me of a high school science textbook, which heightens the ‘reality’ of the concepts. But I also think Prelude is non-essential (I like the feeling of the train pulling slowly out of the station in the first few rounds before the engine speeds up) so take that FWIW.