Dale Yu: First Impressions of For Sale Autorama

Posted on October 18, 2020 by Dale Yu

For Sale Autorama

  • Designer: Stefan Dorra
  • Publisher: Eagle Gryphon
  • Players: 3-6
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 15-20 minutes
  • Played with pre-production copy provided by Eagle Gryphon

*** Note, if you have read my post from earlier today about For Sale and the Advisors expansion, you have pretty much already read this.  For Sale: Autorama is a rethemed version of For Sale and the Advisors expansion.  Instead of having the game based on the real estate market, the game is now centered around the auto industry.  The artwork has been changed to meet the new theme, but otherwise gameplay is identical to the regular For Sale and Advisors expansion.   Below I will reprint the bulk of the previously published review with the new art and the new terminology.  I am running this in a separate post as people may search for them differently. ***

For Sale Autorama has just come up in a new Kickstarter campaign – https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eaglegryphon/for-sale-autorama-and-for-sale-advisors-expansion

This new version of the game includes the base game as well as the new Advisors expansion.

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Dale Yu: Review of For Sale and For Sale: Advisors Expansion

Posted on October 18, 2020 by Dale Yu

For Sale and Advisors Expansion

For Sale has always been one of my favorite all time games.  It was one of the first German games that I owned, and it got a bunch of plays back in the day.  Since then, it has been a regular filler/opener/closer in my game groups due to the easy rules and short playing time.  Additionally, the game components are quite compact, and it has been one of the games that gets bagged up (usually with High Society also) and thrown in a travel case – and that is another reason why I’ve gotten so many plays out of it.

Surprisingly, all of my previous reviews of the base game have vanished to the sands of time, and not even the Wayback machine can find them.  No matter – the game is quick, and it’s a game I’m intimately familiar with.  Before I can review the expansion, I should talk about the base game first.

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Dale Yu: First Impressions of Four Gardens

Posted on October 18, 2020 by Dale Yu

 Four Gardens

  • Designer: Martin Dolezal
  • Publisher: Korea Board Games
  • Players: 2-4
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 45 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by Korea Board Games

Four Gardens is the winning entry in the 2018 Korea Boardgames Design Contest – apparently winning the award two years ago and then going into more development until its full release at Spiel.digital 2020.   In this game, players take on the role of aspiring rules of a “beautiful Eastern Kingdom”.  There is a competition for the crown, the player who builds the most pristine garden around the mystical pagoda will become the new heir.

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Opinionated Gamers Spiel Want Lists Part 3

Posted on October 18, 2020 by lornadune

Larry’s Top Essen Wants

1. Anno 1800 – Wallace’s economic designs are often great and the previews of this sound extremely good. I’m really looking forward to this one.

2. Alma Mater – The same designers and publisher that brought us Coimbra. Possibly overwrought, but the player-driven economic system could make this very good.

3. Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 – A no-brainer after I enjoyed the first two seasons so much. I’m a little wary of the Cold War theme, but I have faith that Leacock and Daviau will give us another great ride.

4. Golem – When will this come out? There’s still so little info on this, but given the designers and that it’s based on the concepts of the great Grand Austria Hotel, I gotta rank it highly.

5. Bonfire – A meaty Feld is always worth checking out. The theme is nonsense and there may be too much going on, but I like the central mechanic and early ratings are very good.

6. Viscounts of the West Kingdom – Paladins of the West Kingdom was excellent and this looks to be of a similar weight. I liked what I saw in the online rules.

7. The Castles of Tuscany – Simpler than Castles of Burgundy, but I like that you can tailor your strategy to some extent. Looks like a good game to play with my daughter.

8. Beyond the Sun – Some very interesting looking elements, although much will depend on how varied the technologies are. Could be quite meaty. Rio Grande is back, baby!

9. Faiyum – Friese’s ideas are always fascinating, but the games often lack replayability. This has a good chance of being an exception.

10. Hallertau – Played the prototype as a solo game and there’s a lot to like. But will the necessary look-ahead be too much in a multiplayer environment?

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Subatomic: An Atom Building Game: A Review

Posted on October 17, 2020 by RJ Garrison

Designer:  John J. Coveyou

Publisher:  Genius Games

Players:  2-4

Playing Time:  40-60 minutes

Ages:  14+

MSRP: $39.99

http://www.geniusgames.org

Review copy provided by Genius Games

When deck builders (Dominion, Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game and the like) were becoming popular I tried a number of them, but never felt like I was doing anything meaningful in the game.  Pick up some cards, put down some cards.  I kind of thought to myself, This is apparently not a mechanic I enjoy. Don’t get me wrong.  It’s a solid mechanic and is extremely popular within the gaming community.  It just didn’t click with me and so I didn’t embrace the concept.  I never did poorly when playing deck building games, but I just didn’t feel like I was really making any meaningful decisions (I want to buy as many of those 2 types of cards and then VP cards to win the game.) Draw 5, play 5, draw 5, play 5.  Then I was introduced to Fantastiqua by Alf Seegert.  Boom!  I found a deck builder I enjoy!  He added a little puzzle to the game that takes place in a clever fantasy world and I was in.

Introduce Subatomic: An Atom Building Game by Genius Games.  A deck building game where you get to do some particle physics and make atoms and elements without having to wear all the sweaty hazmat gear that make your glasses fog up!  Add some up quarks with some down quarks or gamma rays together and create protons, neutrons and electrons!  Add those together and create some elements.  Is it magic?  No!  It’s Science!

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Dale Yu: First Impressions of The Apocalypse of Darkness Warfare

Posted on October 17, 2020 by Dale Yu

 The Apocalypse of Darkness Warfare

  • Designer: Chih-Fan Chen
  • Publisher: Antler Studio
  • Players: 3-4
  • Age: 12+
  • Time: 30 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by Taiwan Boardgame Design (who distributes the game)

Chih-Fan Chen is one of my favorite Taiwanese designers – while possibly unknown to many Western gamers… I have enjoyed Butts away! Heroes, Dairyman, Design Town, Flip 9, Flip City, Fortune City, Harvest Island, PaiMiahh, and UBike Tour: Taiwan in the past.  That’s a pretty lengthy list!  Each year, around SPIEL, I’m almost assured of getting one game from this prolific designer.

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