Insider (Game Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Chris Wray
  • Designers: Akihiro Itoh, Kwaji, Daichi Okano, Kito Shinma
  • Publisher: Oink Games
  • Players: 4 – 8
  • Ages: 9 and Up
  • Time: 15 Minutes
  • Times Played: > 12 (with 4-8 Players)

Insider.jpg

Insider is a bit of “20 questions” mixed with “Werewolf” (or, more accurately, “Spyfall”) and it plays up to 8 players in about 15 minutes.  I first played it at BGG.Con, and it has been a big hit with my group since then.  I had previously written a review on BGG, but I wanted to see all of the Opinionated Gamers chime in on this one.   Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: Review of Millennium Blades

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Dale Yu

 

Millennium Blades

  • Designer: D. Brad Talton, Jr.
  • Publisher: Level 99 Games
  • Players: 2-5
  • Ages: 14+
  • Time: 2-3 hrs
  • Times played: 6, with self purchased copy

millennium-box

Millennium Blades is subtitled as a “CCG Simulator Card Game”.  In this game, players take on the role of world famous CCG tournament players.  They are all competing to be the world champion at Millennium Blades, this particular world’s most popular collectible card game.  According to the designer, this game was designed to re-create the “excitement, desperation, discovery, hope, dread, and camaraderie” of playing an immersive CCG.

The boardgame of Millennium Blades is played over three rounds.  Each round is broken up into a twenty minute real-time deckbuilding phase and then followed up by a tournament phase where player pit their created decks against each other. Continue reading →

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Review of Escape Room The Game (NO SPOILERS)

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Craig (shigadeyo)

Escape Room The Game

  • Designer: Team Identity Games
  • Publisher: Spin Master
  • Players: 3-5
  • Ages: 16 and up
  • Time: 60 minutes
  • Times Played: Once with 4 players
  • Game purchased using personal funds.

Escape Room The Game

Introduction

“Escape room game [in a box]” has apparently become the hot new board game genre of 2016.  From virtual versions dating as far back as 1988 to real world escape rooms being created around 2006, it seems inevitable that a hybrid version of the concept would find its way into the growing board game hobby.  Cooperative puzzle games have always been of great interest to many people and capturing the escape room feeling in a box that can be played anywhere is an exciting evolution.  

There are already a handful of “escape room in a box” games available and Escape Room The Game is latest having been released in late 2016 in the USA by Spin Master Games.  However, there are a couple key differences that set it apart from the previous games.  First of all, Escape Room The Game contains not just a single escape room game, but four different Adventures that have varying difficulties and all look, feel, and play slightly different.  Secondly, the game utilizes a unique electronic “Chrono Decoder” around which the game unfolds.  It also helps pull the players further into the game so that they are anchored more to the game and the make believe “room” being created rather than arbitrary location where the game is being played. Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: Review of Aeon’s End

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Dale Yu

 

Aeon’s End

  • Designer: Kevin Riley
  • Publisher: Indie Boards&Cards / Action Phase Games
  • Players: 1-4
  • Ages: 14+
  • Time: 60-90 minutes
  • Times played: 5 with review copy provided by Action Phase Games

aeons-end

Since Dominion hit the boardgaming scene in 2008, there have been a bunch of deckbuilding games that have all tweaked the core idea of the genre – that is, adding or subtracting cards from your deck to make it play the way you want it to.  Sure, I’ll freely admit that I’m biased towards the whole genre as a whole given my role in developing Dominion.  At that same time, Pandemic also came to market, and for many Eurogamers like me, this was the first foray into the world of cooperative games.  It’s hard to say if Pandemic was the first of the modern cooperative games, but it’s certainly the first one that I paid attention to.  Aeon’s End tries to bring these two genres together – it’s a cooperative deckbuilding game! Continue reading →

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Counter magazine #75 (Feb. 2017) now available

Posted on February 10, 2017 by gschloesser

counter_online_-_issue_75-1_large

Issue #75 (February 2017) is now available for download from the BoardGameGeek store:

http://boardgamegeekstore.com/…/counter-magazine-issue-75-j…

Issue #75 is our LARGEST issue ever, with over 130 pages of reviews, articles, commentary, discussion and more…all in full color! You don’t want to miss the special look / preview of Douglas Morse’s new tabletop photo book “Wizards of the Tabletop.” It is a must read for any gamer.

So, what is included in this issue? The following is just a brief overview of the 27 reviews reviews and a nearly a dozen articles included in Issue #75.

Reviews:

Chariot Race: Get on your chariots and ride! Matt Leacock of Pandemic fame now moves to ancient Rome and the grand spectacle of the Circus Maximus. Can you survive the attacks of your opponents and win the favor of Caesar? Ben Baldanza gives us the blow-by-blow account.

Continental Divide: Winsome Games is known for its fine and challenging train-themed games. Eagle-Gryphon Games has teamed with Winsome to release Continental Divide. The game is a derivative of previous titles such as Wabash Cannonball and Chicago Express. As the name implies, it concentrates on the race to construct rail lines to the West Coast in the mid 19th century. Greg Schloesser lets us know if the effort to reach the West Coast is worth it.

Evolution: Climate: Evolution was a big hit for Northstar Games. Now, the Climate expansion makes surviving even more challenging. Dr. Mitchell Thomashow explains how your can help your species survive in this “creature eat creature” world.

Fields of Green: Using a similar system as in Among the Stars, Fields of Green places frustrated city dwellers onto the farm. Can these city-slickers survive and build a prosperous, efficient farm? John Butitta explains whether this move to the farm was a good one.

Great Western Trail: “Head ’em up; move ’em out!” Reminiscent of the old TV series Rawhide, players must lead cattle across the country to the market in Kansas City. Along the way they can stop at various buildings to gain favors and increase the value of their cattle. Is this long cattle drive worth it, or is it just too long and dirty? Greg Schloesser gives us the scoop.

Key to the City: London: Keyflower has been one of Richard Breese’s best designs. This new game (which may well become a series) is a simplification of Keyflower, streamlining it so it plays quicker. Did the changes improve the game, or should folks just stick with the original? Stuart Dagger tells us his opinion.

Oilfield: Black gold! Set in Texas (where else?), players vie to extract and produce the valuable commodity of oil. Who will be most successful. The esteemed Paul Evans tells us what it takes to become an oil tycoon.

Oracle of Delphi: Stefan Feld is well known as a designer of highly intricate games that usually offer a myriad of ways in which to score. Oracle of Delphi, however, is quite different, being more of a race game as players rush to complete Herculean tasks. Does this departure from the norm measure up to Feld’s best games? Stuart Dagger tells us the story.

Terraforming Mars: The red planet has fascinated humans for centuries. Is there life on Mars? In this game with an eye on the future, that life will be human. Can you best help transform Mars’ bleak terrain into land where humans can survive and prosper? Dr. Steve Owen shows us how this can be done.

In addition to all of these reviews, there are nearly a dozen other articles, including:

Wizards of the Tabletop: Douglas Morse gives us an in-depth and inside look at his new book, “Wizards of the Tabletop.”

The Budding Gamer: If you have young children and are hoping to introduce them to our wonderful hobby, Ben Baldanza’s article is a must read.

Second Renaissace: Not too long ago Italy was not a major player in the board game design field. Now, however, they have come to the forefront and are known for intricate, outstanding designs. Larry Levy and Andrea Ligabue take us on a stroll through the history of board game design in Italy.

In addition to these and other articles, there are numerous convention reports on the recent Spiel in Essen.

These are just a few of the many articles and reviews that are included in Issue 75 of Counter. Intrigued? Then make sure you visit the BoardGameGeek store and download Issue #75.

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Pandemic Iberia (Game Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Chris Wray
  • Designers: Matt Leacock, Jesus Torres Castro
  • Publisher: Z-Man Games
  • Players: 2 – 5
  • Ages: 8 and Up
  • Time: 45 Minutes
  • Times Played: 5 (with 2-5 Players)

Pandemic Iberia.png

Pandemic Iberia made its debut at Essen 2016, receiving a much wider release in December.   

There’s obviously an all-new map featuring the Iberian Peninsula.  The map has fewer places to travel than in the original game, but it is also initially a bit more difficult to travel between parts of the map.  Whereas in Pandemic you can fly around the world, here, that technology was not yet invented, so the only way to fast travel at the start of the game is by ship, which allows movement between port cities.  But fear not: players can make it easier to travel by building railway lines!  This simple change creates a new layer of strategy.  

Throw in the clever historic scenarios, and fans of Pandemic will like where Matt Leacock and Jesus Torres Castro have taken the game. Continue reading →

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