Dice Conquest is a 2022 Wizkids release, new to many at SPIEL 2022, that puts the players together on a team of Heroes fighting off creatures, trying to get to Kalterstorm the Dragon. If they are able to defeat this boss monster, they win. If any of the Heroes dies at any point on this quest, the whole team loses!
The game offers 8 different heroes to choose from, and players can choose who they want to play with. Each hero comes with a special ability written on the bottom of the card. Heroes also have a special Critical Hit ability that comes into play whenever the player uses a die with his Critical Hit number showing.
I’m such a sucker for boardgame themes (he says sarcastically). I absolutely love the flavor text on the first page of the FYFE rulebook: “FYFE is an abstract tile laying game for 2 to 5 people by Kosch”. Perfect. Tells me everything I want to know about the game! Based on the components, there is a beachy feel to the game with a board that looks like a beach, scoring surfboards and seashell lucky charms. But, interestingly, no story to go with it at all.
“The aim of the game is to fill your player board with tokens and scoring boards to maximise as many scoring opportunities as possible. A game lasts exactly 25 rounds. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game will be the winner.”
Romain Caterdijan should already be in the lead for Larry Levy’s Designer of the Year award; I think I have already run across 4 games from SPIEL 2022 designed by him. In this game, you’ll have to take pictures of animals to win the most victory points. On your turn, you either take an Album card or you can place a Landscape punched card from your hand onto the previous Landscape card in the game shoe. If any animal appears partially or entirely in the camera lenses of your Landscape card, you can take the corresponding Animal Photo tile(s) and put them in one of your photo Albums while respecting the constraints of the Albums – only snow animals, for example. A complete Album allows you to earn even more victory points so you have to organize your photos well. And if an animal fits completely in your lens, it’s a Perfect Shot and one more step to victory! As for the Yeti, it is so fierce, wild and mysterious that you can only see half of it in the photos you take. It will take two different halves to prove to the world its existence … and gain more and more victory points.
The intro from the rules: Skull Canyon Ski Resort is finally celebrating their grand re-opening with a huge festival, after being closed for many snowy seasons in a row. Hopefully by now, skiers have forgotten the rumors of yeti sightings on the mountains. Hit the slopes and brave the terrain, competing against other skiers for points and fame. Play sets of cards to complete a run, but remember to do it in style to wow the onlookers! Take the lift to reach different parts of the mountain and claim the most difficult runs!
Unless otherwise noted, these are FIRST impressions… I only had the opportunity to play most of these games a single time with a physical copy and four of my Opinionated Gamer friends. I’ve left out the older (read: non-2022) games we played to keep this Essen- and Tokyo Game Market-focused and noted where I was able to play a game more than once.
If you’re interested in my Essen (well, post-Essen) impressions from 2018, 2019, and 2020, you can find them at the following links. (I’m not sure why I didn’t do one of these in 2021.)
For those of you who haven’t read a lot of my reviews, they may give you a better insight into my board game tastes and what I’m likely to enjoy. (Which, of course, may or may not line up with your choices. Your mileage may vary.) I’m also linking to OG articles about the games when they are available.
After Playing 51 Different Games in 4.5 Days…
…I have some thoughts. Well, rules, I guess.
1. Publishers should have their rulebook and components blind playtested before approving for print.
2. Good iconography and clean presentation are more important than being artsy… not everyone has perfect eyesight and/or hi-tech lighting around their state of the art gaming table.
3. If your game is going to take 2+ hours of my life, it needs to tell a story and/or help me tell a story. I do not want to do mechanical stuff over and over to harvest points for that long.
4. If you’re not going to tell me a story, at the very least make sure your game has an arc to the game progression… rather than a flatline.
5. Stupid and fun is still worth playing.
6. Don’t be creepy. (I’m looking at you, Girl Glasses Collection.)
7. I will excuse a lot of weird design choices and even unclear rules if I’m having fun. If I’m not having fun, I don’t feel particularly charitable.
8. More people should take the chance to play with folks like Dale, John, Ryan, and James. It was a great weekend.
Bloom Games is a new imprint from Korea that is working on bringing new games from Korea to the market. At SPIEL 2022, they had two small format cards games: this and Memory Island. While Memory Island was targeted at the youngest end of the spectrum, Cradle to Grave is a move strategic and competitive affair.
Mark’s Bundle of 2022 Essen Game Thoughts
Unless otherwise noted, these are FIRST impressions… I only had the opportunity to play most of these games a single time with a physical copy and four of my Opinionated Gamer friends. I’ve left out the older (read: non-2022) games we played to keep this Essen- and Tokyo Game Market-focused and noted where I was able to play a game more than once.
If you’re interested in my Essen (well, post-Essen) impressions from 2018, 2019, and 2020, you can find them at the following links. (I’m not sure why I didn’t do one of these in 2021.)
For those of you who haven’t read a lot of my reviews, they may give you a better insight into my board game tastes and what I’m likely to enjoy. (Which, of course, may or may not line up with your choices. Your mileage may vary.) I’m also linking to OG articles about the games when they are available.
After Playing 51 Different Games in 4.5 Days…
…I have some thoughts. Well, rules, I guess.
- 1. Publishers should have their rulebook and components blind playtested before approving for print.
- 2. Good iconography and clean presentation are more important than being artsy… not everyone has perfect eyesight and/or hi-tech lighting around their state of the art gaming table.
- 3. If your game is going to take 2+ hours of my life, it needs to tell a story and/or help me tell a story. I do not want to do mechanical stuff over and over to harvest points for that long.
- 4. If you’re not going to tell me a story, at the very least make sure your game has an arc to the game progression… rather than a flatline.
- 5. Stupid and fun is still worth playing.
- 6. Don’t be creepy. (I’m looking at you, Girl Glasses Collection.)
- 7. I will excuse a lot of weird design choices and even unclear rules if I’m having fun. If I’m not having fun, I don’t feel particularly charitable.
- 8. More people should take the chance to play with folks like Dale, John, Ryan, and James. It was a great weekend.
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