Dale Yu: Review of Ascension X

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Ascension X

  • Designers: Justin Gary and Gary Arant
  • Publisher: Stone Blade Entertainment
  • Players: 1-6
  • Ages: 10+
  • Time: ~30 minutes
  • Times played: 4, with preview copy provided by Stone Blade Entertainment

ascension x

Way back when (say 2008), there was just one – Dominion – the original deckbuilder.  From the rapid success of this game came an entire genre.  Ascension was not the next deckbuilder to come along, but it has been perhaps the one which has had the strongest following amongst the non-Dominion games.  (I have no data whatsoever to back this up other than what I’ve seen with my own eyes and the fact that there are still eagerly anticipated set of Ascension being designed and published…)

I played the original Ascension when it came out, and while it didn’t grab me at the time – it did introduce a more tactical way to acquire cards; rather than having a static layout on the table, there was a central row of everchanging cards to add to your deck.  At the time, it was too much of a change for me, and I’m sad to say that I never went back to explore the system. With the newest release, Ascension X – which happens to be the tenth release in the game system – the basic game system remains with a two new tweaks added on to bring new life to the series (Dark/Light cards and dual cost cards). Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment

Hit Z Road (Game Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Chris Wray
  • Designer:  Martin Wallace
  • Publisher:  Space Cowboys
  • Players:  1 – 4
  • Ages:  12 and Up
  • Time:  30 to 60 Minutes
  • Times Played:   > 5

Hit Z Road

Hit Z Road is a Zombie-themed horror board game about a road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles.  You’ll earn resources as you cross the country, but you need to be careful in spending them, as they are necessary to survive the hordes of undead Zombies you encounter along the way.  

Hit Z Road made its debut at Gen Con 2016, and it was one of my favorite games of the convention. Don’t let the theme and emphasis on dice rolling fool you: there are some strong elements of a Martin Wallace-style Eurogame here.   

And the theming of the game is excellent.  The idea is that Hit Z Road was made by a kid named Martin who survived the zombie apocalypse.  He made the game to commemorate his own trip across the country.  The game “components” are made from repurposed game parts from other games and household objects.  That’s why the box looks like an old game with new information scrawled across it.  Some of the in-game cards are repurposed Ticket to Ride and Dixit cards, and other game components are made from bottle caps or even old keys.  

Continue reading →

Posted in Essen 2016, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Dale Yu: Review of Junk Art

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Junk Art

  • Designers: Jay Cormier and Sen-Foong Lim
  • Publisher: Pretzel Games
  • Players: 2-6
  • Ages: 8+
  • Time: 15-30 minutes
  • Times played: 6, with review copy provided by Pretzel Games

junkart

I first ran across Junk Art at the Gathering of Friends back in April 2016. I was shown the game on a final prototype set brought there by Martin from Pretzel Games and the two boisterous designers of the game (well, truth be told, one of them is more boisterous than the other…)

In this dexterity game, players will try to create works of art with the 60 different wooden pieces. The game will be played over three rounds – described as a World Tour – as each of the rounds is based in a different city. The goal in each city is different, though there are some basic rules that apply regardless of the city. Continue reading →

Posted in Essen 2016, Reviews | 6 Comments

Dale Yu: Review of Suspicion

Posted on September 4, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Suspicion

  • Designer: Forrest-Pruzan Creative
  • Publisher: Wonder Forge
  • Players: 2-6
  • Ages: 10+
  • Time: 20-30 minutes
  • Times played: 4, with review copy provided by Wonder Forge

suspicion

Suspicion was one of the games that caught my eye while walking through the halls of GenCon 2016. My interest in the game stems from a number of reasons. First, the game was centrally located at a booth that had the Alea and Ravensburger logos proudly displayed on the back drop. Second, the art deco style illustration on the cover was very appealing. Finally, the sign next to the game which proclaimed “Now available at Target” made me look – there is definitely a great movement of hobby games to the mass market, and clearly Target is leading the pack in this. There are a number of games which are Target Exclusives, and that’s certainly a great motivator to go there and look for new games. Continue reading →

Posted in Essen 2016, Reviews | 5 Comments

Dale Yu: A Knizia Twofer:  Brains (Pegasus), Schotten Totten (IELLO)

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

At GenCon 2016, I got a surprisingly high number of small games.  While I am still trying to keep to our usual once-a-day posting schedule, I am going to combine some of these games together as some of the mini-games lead to mini-reviews.  Today, I have two games from the good Dr. Knizia, a solitaire puzzle game on one hand and a reprint of a classic two player duel on the other.

Brains (Japanischer Garten)

  • Designer: Reiner Knizia
  • Publisher: Pegasus Spiele
  • Players: 1
  • Time: ~5 minutes per puzzle

Brains

Brains is a new puzzle/game from Dr. Reiner Knizia. This game is set in a Japanese Garden – and a brief search on Google shows that there are multiple Japanese Gardens in Germany and Austria, the largest of which is in Kaiserslautern.  In any event, in this game, the player will try to arrange up to 7 tiles on a puzzle board following the rules/restrictions given on that board.

There are 50 different puzzles included in the game, 5 tiers of difficulty with 10 puzzles in each. The puzzles themselves are grids of anywhere from 1 to 6 tile spaces.  You have seven possible tiles to use to solve each puzzle.  Each of the tiles has a number of different paths represented on them, and you will place them on the board according to the rules for each puzzle – these are found on the exterior of the tile space on the puzzle board.    Continue reading →

Posted in Essen 2016 | 4 Comments

Dale Yu: Essen 2016 (P)review of Fabled Fruit (2F)

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Fabled Fruit

  • Designer: Freidemann Friese
  • Publisher: 2F (distributed by Stronghold Games in USA)
  • Players: 2-5
  • Ages: 8+
  • Time: 10-20 minutes per game
  • Games played: ~10 with preview copy at the Gathering of Friends 2016

fabled fruit

I first encountered this game at the Gathering of Friends back in April 2016 – we found Friedemann just after he had finished breakfast, and as usual, he had a box of his new games with him.  He gave us the elevator pitch of the game – it’s a card game where you collect stuff, and it has a legacy-like component to it…  As Friedemann is in my mind one of the masters of game design – as he is able to incorporate many different types of mechanisms in his games – I was intrigued to say the least. Continue reading →

Posted in Essen 2016, Reviews | 1 Comment