Eric Edens: Star Wars games revisited…

Posted on April 5, 2016 by ericwedens

[Editor’s note – the OG welcomes a new author to our group today in Eric Edens.  This is his first piece, and I think that you will find that he adds a very Opinionated voice to the blog!  Welcome, Eric!]

 

$30 vs. $300?

For many of you, Star Wars the Queen’s Gambit is a “Grail” game.  Many people want it and very few have it.  If you see it on Ebay for under $200 you will buy it immediately.  It’s got a ton of miniatures and really rivals many good toys.  Of course it is also based on a movie nearly all of society feels is horrible and needs to be stricken from the record of humanity.  So why do people still want to buy it and why did it garner such a high price?

sw queen Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | 3 Comments

Mary Dimercurio Prasad: Review of Welcome to the Dungeon

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Mary Prasad

Welcome to the Dungeon

  • Publisher: Iello GamesBox
  • Designer: Masato Uesugi
  • Artist: Paul Mafayon
  • Players: 2-4
  • Ages: 10+
  • Playing Time: 30min
  • MSRP $14.99
  • Release: 2015 (Original Japanese version 2013)

 

  • Reviewed by: Mary Dimercurio Prasad
  • Game Played: Review Copy
  • Number of Plays: 10

Introduction

You all stand at the entrance to the dungeon, but only one will enter: the bravest, the craziest, or maybe just the one who hasn’t had a chance to flee yet! To see who has the guts to enter, take turns setting aside equipment or adding monsters to the dungeon. Are you tough enough to hit the dungeon? Or will you let someone else go down – and hope they stay down? Welcome to the Dungeon is a subtle game of “chicken.” Don’t get cold feet, but enjoy icing your opponents! (From the back of the box.) Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: Review of Tally Ho! (2016, English Edition)

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Dale Yu

Tally Ho!

  • Designer: Rudi Hoffman
  • Publisher: Thames & Kosmos (2016)
  • Players: 2
  • Ages: 8+
  • Time: 20-30 minutes

 

Times played: conservatively 60+ in my lifetime.  3 with new 2016 English version

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Back in my youth (well, relative youth), I collected all of the “Spiele fur Zwei” games that Kosmos released – see http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/78/kosmos-two-player-series for the full list.  When I first started playing games, a huge game group was not a regular thing for me – oftentimes, it was just me and one other player, and as such, having good 2p games around was a necessity.

 

As I have mentioned in earlier reviews in the past year, Thames & Kosmos is trying to make a splash in the American game market by starting to co-produce some of the games that Kosmos is doing in Germany (see Tumult Royale and Steam Time) as well as trying to do limited reprints of some of the classic games from the Kosmos back catalog.

Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: Review of Adventure Land

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Adventure Land

  • Designers: Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling
  • Publisher: HABA
  • Players: 2-4
  • Ages: 10+
  • Time: ~60 minutes
  • Times played: 6, with review copy provided by HABA USA
  • Website: http://www.habausa.com/adventureland.html

adventure land box

Adventure Land is the third and final game in the new HABA Family Game series that debuted at Essen 2015. The previous games in the series, Spookies and Karuba, were reviewed here earlier in the year. When I first read about this series last fall, Adventure Land was the title which most caught my eye – both from the description of play as well as the esteemed designer duo behind the game.

Each player controls a set of adventurers who all start in the upper left of the square-shaped kingdom and will take turns moving them down towards the castle found in the bottom right corner. In this game, there are three different playing modes, each with its own objectives (i.e. scoring rules). However, the rest of the rules are identical regardless of the game mode played. Continue reading →

Posted in Essen 2015, Reviews | 1 Comment

Dale Yu: First Impressions of Magic: The Gathering – Battle for Zendikar Expansion

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Magic: The Gathering – Battle for Zendikar Expansion

  • Designer: not listed on box nor rules, base game by Craig Van Ness, James D’Aloisio, Ethan Fleischer
  • Publisher:  Hasbro / Wizards of the Coast
  • Players: 2-5
  • Ages: 10+
  • Time: ~60 minutes (for base game)

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Last fall, I got a chance to play the much anticipated tabletop game version of Magic: The Gathering.  You can see the whole review of that here: http://opinionatedgamers.com/2015/09/17/dale-yu-review-of-magic-the-gathering-arena-of-the-planeswalkers/    In short, the M:tG boardgame was a revamping of the Heroscape game, but with the addition of five themed armies, in the five colors of M:tG mana, and each color with its distinctive theming and feel.  That base game promised some deck building, but there simply weren’t enough components in the box to really allow players to build an unlimited number of different decks.

Continue reading →

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 Dale Yu: First Impressions of Loot N Run

Posted on March 26, 2016 by Dale Yu

Loot N Run

  • Designer: Christian Lemay
  • Publisher: IELLO / Masked Scorpion
  • Players: 2-6
  • Ages: 8+
  • Time: 15-20 minutes

 

Times played: 2, with review copy provided by IELLO

loot n run box

In this small box card game, players act as tomb robbers trying to explore the Pyramids, find valuable treasures and get out with them before the Guardians catch them.  The game is contained within the deck of cards, 54 of them, with Green, Yellow or Red backs.   The cards each have treasure on the bottom, between one and three icons out of six different types.  The top of the card can be empty, can have an amulet pictured or there might be a guardian.  There are 6 guardian cards in each color, so you are much more likely to have a guardian on a Red card than on a Green card.

Continue reading →

Posted in First Impressions | 3 Comments