Rent A Hero

• Designer: Kuro
• Publisher: IELLO
• Players: 3-5
• Ages: 10+
• Time: ~30 minutes
• Times played: 3, with review copy provided by IELLO

Rent A Hero is a remake of 7th Hero, a game that I first encountered through a Japanese game subscription service.  In this card game, players are trying to collect a band of heroes (each of differing numeric value) in order to win the game.  The first player to collect 6 heroes wins.

The deck is comprised of 77 cards, 11 each of heroes numbered one thru seven.  Each player starts the game with two random different heroes in front of them, and then each is dealt a starting hand of five cards.   A starting player is chosen to be the first Active Player. Continue reading →

Lady Richmond

• Designer: Tim Rogasch
• Publisher: HABA
• Players: 2-5
• Ages: 8+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Times played: 3, with review copy provided by HABA USA

Lady Richmond is one of the three games in the Essen 2016 family game series – this is the new-ish attempt by HABA to make games for older gamers than their usual yellow box target audience.  In this game, players are the family members of the recently deceased Lady Richmond, and they are fighting against each other to get the best share of the inheritance.  For whatever reason, the stuff will be split up at an auction. Continue reading →

This is the last of my articles summarizing the games I played during last month’s Gathering of Friends. This time I’ll talk about the prototypes I played, at least those that I have permission to discuss.

I always look forward to trying out prototypes of upcoming games from established publishers during the Gathering. Getting a sneak peak is great fun and since the designs are usually far along in the design process, the gaming is often top-notch as well. This year certainly didn’t disappoint, as my three favorite new-to-me games during the week were all prototypes, each of which earned an I Love It rating. Here are the ones that I liked the most, listed in order of how much I enjoyed them. The number in parentheses is how many times I played them.

Heaven and Ale (2) – Eggertspiele is on a huge roll and this game looks like it will be another highlight. It should be ready by Essen. It’s quite close to its final form, so I’ll be able to discuss it in some detail. Just keep in mind that some things may change in the published version.

The reason for the somewhat peculiar title is that the players are each running a monastery and have been tasked with brewing great ale. You need five ingredients to make ale and the quality of the booze is only as good as the worst of these. Each player also needs to train a brewmaster to assist with the process. Continue reading →

Ninja Taisen

• Designer: Katsumasa Tomioka
• Publisher: IELLO
• Players: 2
• Ages: 8+
• Time: ~20 minutes
• Times played: 5, with review copy provided by IELLO

Ninja Taisen “is a card game for two players that draws on the famous roshambo in a more strategic atmosphere”.   My goal in this review is to improve upon this succinct one line review found on the back of the box.

In the game, the two players are the leaders to two neighboring villages that truly hate each other, and each is prepared to annihilate the other in battle along the path with connects the two towns.  They each have long Japanese names that don’t exactly roll off my tongue, and rather than have to copy and paste them all throughout this review, I’ll refer to them as I would in the game – the Wolf village and the Monkey village – these are the two icons that represent them in the game anyways. Continue reading →

Balloon Pop!

• Designer: Andy van Zandt
• Publisher: Tasty Minstrel Games
• Players: 1 or more
• Ages: 13+
• Time: 5 to 10 minutes
• Times played: 12 – combined between solo and multiplayer

Balloon Pop! is a colorful game in a small box format from Tasty Minstrel Games.  I’ve always been attracted to smaller games as I’m always looking for something to be able to tuck into a pocket or a small bag for, you know, those gaming emergencies – rain delay at kids’ soccer, traffic jam on the emergency, long winded sermon at Mass (ok, maybe joking there) – and I’ve also always been pulled to dice games.

Continue reading →

Picassimo

• Designer: Carlo A. Rossi
• Publisher: HABA
• Players: 3-6
• Ages: 8+
• Time: ~30 minutes
• Times played: 5, with review copy provided by HABA

Picassimo is one FOUR games that I’ve played recently that were designed by Mr. Rossi.  Interestingly, all four games in that span are in different genres (the other games being Divinity Derby, Dungeon Time and Mino&Tauri).  In this game, players try to draw recognizable pictures while also being able to best guess the pictures of their opponents.

In the game, each player gets a drawing board that has 6 detachable segments on it.  This is placed behind a huge privacy screen so that no one can see your drawing until it is complete.  In each of seven  rounds, a player is given a term card which has two words each in three levels of difficulty.  Prior to starting the game, the players should agree upon which level of difficulty they will use in the game – thus, on any given round, you should really have two choices of what to draw. Continue reading →