The Opinionated Gamers

This is a game centered around a great core idea, but lacking enough surrounding that core to make for a compelling or engaging experience.  Mundus Novus is a card game brought to us by Bruno Cathala and Serge Laget, the pair that brought the world Arthurian traitors in Shadows over Camelot before traitorous cylons and BSG were all the rage.  The designers’ history is impressive, studded with the likes of Mr. Jack and Jamaica, but particularly relevant because Laget’s Mare Nostrum from 2003 is the inspiration for Mundus Novus.  Much of that sprawling 2+ hour game has been stripped away, but what is left is the core card reallocation mechanism.  This is a great foundation on which to base a game, but the problem is that there’s almost no game left in the overly streamlined and vacuous Mundus Novus.

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Ninja Legend of the Scorpion Clan
Publisher:  AEG
Designer: Frederic Moyersoen
Players:  2-4
By:  Ted  Cheatham  (2 plays)

This rather long name for a game title could easily have been simplified to something like: Ninja Chase, Ninjas on the Run, Ninja in Whitechapel, Scotland Ninja, or Fury of the Ninja. Game play follows a typical “hidden movement/find the bad guys” theme found in the previously mentioned, hinted-to names of this ninja game. Your enjoyment of that style of game will definitely impact your opinion of this game. That said, after two plays, I would say this is a really clever implementation of the genre.  The game pits guards of an imperial palace against two intruders: a traitor and a ninja.  With two players, one plays the guards and one player plays the intruders.  With three players, one plays the guards, one plays the traitor, and one plays the ninja.  With the addition of a fourth player, the guards are split into two factions based on their colors and are controlled by two separate players. For first time players, fifteen minutes should be set aside for rules and clarifications.  Once you have played, everything is very intuitive and you can get into the game very quickly.

The ninja and the traitor are each going to draw a secret mission labeled A-F with tasks like “poison the well” or “assassinate the Diaymo”. Their job is to sneak into one of the two palaces, find their mission location, and escape the board before the guards can kill them.  This is where this game differentiates itself from other games in this genre.

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Any review of an expansion is, by definition, aimed at those who’ve either already played the game or are interested in seeing if they’re willing to invest in a game system that’s popular enough to spawn an expansion or two.

In the case of the Memoir ’44 Campaign Book (Volume Two), this is actually the 16th published expansion for this particular version of Richard Borg’s Command & Colors system… so I’m guessing that the vast majority of you reading the review already have some level of experience with Memoir ’44 and mainly have a few questions about the book.

What is a campaign?

The Campaign Books (along with the additional web-released campaigns, The Vercors Campaign & The Audie Murphy Campaign) offer a way to chain Memoir ’44 scenarios together in order to experience a series of battles or, well, campaign. Two added game mechanics (Reserve & Victory Rolls) combine with scenario & campaign specific effects to give a unique feel to each series of battles & reward the victor with some “spoils of war” to enhance his chances in the next battle. Some of the campaigns offer optional “What If?” rolls that can vary the campaign in more drastic ways.

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[Note… Sorry to be away from the blog for so long, but a few changes in my real-life job have significantly reduced the time I have for writing (and even for playing games).  Things should be getting back to normal in the next few weeks, so hopefully I’ll be able to catch up on the backlog of Essen releases that I want to review!  DY]

Walnut Grove was initially touted prior to Essen 2011 as a mashup between Carcassone and Agricola… As these are two of my favorite games, I was definitely interested in getting a copy and trying it out.  I’ve now played over 20 games, and I must say that it is one of my favorite releases from Spiel 2011 for sure!

Welcome to Walnut Grove
Designers: Paul Laane and Touko Tahkokallio
Publisher: Lookout Games
# of players: 1-4
Time: 45 minutes
Ages: 10+
Times Played: 20+ total with review copy, at least 12 of these solo plays.

I previously had written a preview of the game where I outlined the flow of the game.  Rather than re-invent the wheel, I’m going to just copy and paste that section into this review…

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I’ll start by describing the game components.  There is a board which depicts the town of Walnut Grove.  There is a circular track on which the pawns move, with spaces in front of the multiple town buildings (such as the city hall, hardware store, church, saloon, etc).  Some of the buildings are places where you buy stuff – such as more meeples or tiles to be placed on your player board to improve it.  In the center of the board is a space where a disc is placed that shows special actions available in each of the 8 turns of the game.  Additionally, each player in the game has his own player board which gives him room to house his workers, store his goods, and attach land tiles to. Continue reading →