Lorna’s Spiel 2011 Releases: First Plays and Impressions

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Dale Yu

[Note from the Editor – let’s give a warm welcome to Lorna who is joining our group to give her thoughts on the new games!  She isn’t quite setup yet to post on her own, but this great review couldn’t wait…. Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the holiday!  DY]
Well,  it’s a month since Spiel 2011 and I’ve managed to play a good number of the new releases thanks to some game days, BGGCon and willing participants of my own game group.  As a JOG (jaded ol’ gamer) I didn’t find any really -knock my socks off – type games this year (although Vanuatu comes close), but I managed to find plenty that I like and want to play again. None of these games played were review copies. I apologize in advance if I got any major rules incorrect. So here we go:

Tournay
Have played this new offering from Pearl Games 3 times now. Once you learn the icons it’s a quick game. The game comes with cards, meeples, and counters- no dice. A nice player handout with the icons is included and definitely needed. It also comes with a set of advanced cards.
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Jennifer Geske: BGG.CON 2011 – Closing Thoughts

Posted on November 22, 2011 by jgeske

I had the best intention of writing something up at the end of each day at the convention, but I totally failed at time management and ended up staying up way late every night. So instead of a more timely coverage, here’s a brief recap of the last 3 days at the convention.

Vendors

I spent most of Fridays visiting vendor booths for demos of upcoming games. While BGG.CON does not have the kind of exhibition space for vendors as in other conventions (most of the space is used for open gaming), there are more than a dozen retailers/publishers onsite demoing/selling games and other wares.

I started with Stronghold Games and their new release “Core Worlds”, a space-themed deck-building card game. We were unfortunately taught a wrong rule that critically affected one player’s game. After 3 or 4 rounds of the said player essentially tossing his cards in every turn and passing (we did not know that deployed troops can stay across multiple rounds until they are eventually used), we decided to abort the session with about ½ of the game left to play.  I did get a good feel about how the game works, and would be interested to try it again once the pre-order copy shows up. I also played Stronghold’s remake of Outpost on Saturday and failed to execute on the strategy of drawing high production cards (I consistently drew 1s for my ore mines and 4s for my water mines) so pretty much couldn’t do anything useful in the whole game. I was told that Outpost is a ‘rich-gets-richer’ kind of game so it’s probably not for me (especially since what I did poorly was card draw and not necessarily in tactic/strategy). Continue reading →

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BGG.CON 2011

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Talia Rosen

I’m back from BGG.CON in Dallas and ready to report on my findings.  I’ve tried 35 of the new Essen games and am here to rank them from top to bottom as I’m wont to do.  I have also included a brief blurb on each game to give a sense for my reasoning.  More in-depth reviews are sure to come from the OG in the weeks to come.  I have broken the games down into groups, but ordered them within each group from favorite at top to least favorite at bottom.  I have played most of these games just once so need to play many of them again to shore up my opinion, but I’ve included my number of plays in parentheses for games that I’ve played multiple times.  Let’s get right to ranking those games and my initial thoughts on each.

PURCHASES
These are the seven games for which I’ll put my money where my mouth is and shell out hard-earned cash.  I think they’re all good games and ones that I will want to play repeatedly.

  • Last Will (5) – Definitely one of my favorites from 2011 so far.  Played it twice in Dallas and the prototype three times back in April.  Nothing revolutionary, but feels fresh and tense as you race to outspend your opponents.
  • City Tycoon – Came out of nowhere for me, not even on my giant list of new games to try, but a very enjoyable game.  Tile drafting is interesting and building up a city (like in 20th Century where proximity was key) was engaging and held my interest throughout.
  • Tournay – No resemblance to Troyes, which is a great thing in my book.  Only shares graphic design with Troyes, but the game itself is completely different.  A quick card game of building a city tableau that earns you money and points, while avoiding punishing events.
  • Coney Island – This is classic Schacht, like China and Hansa, in which simple rules and options make for difficult and interesting decisions.  An excellent 3-player, light German-style game.  The option and timing of lowering your own income stream for the big points or kicking down an opponent’s income stream mid-game is the best part.
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Posted in Convention Report, First Impressions | 10 Comments

Incan Gold – Review

Posted on November 22, 2011 by gschloesser

Design by:  Alan Moon and Bruno Faidutti
Published by:  Gryphon Games
3 – 8 Players, 20 – 30 minutes
Review by:  Greg J. Schloesser

I’ve always been a big fan of Sid Sackson’s Can’t Stop.  The push-your-luck aspect of the game creates a tense and exciting experience, as a player hopes to get lucky with the right roll to keep going.  It is a terrific, light game that appeals to just about everyone.  So what does Can’t Stop have to do with Incan Gold?  The push-your-luck aspect, which is why I find the game so fun to play.

Incan Gold is the reincarnation of Diamant, which was originally released by Schmidt Spiele in Europe.  This new version published by Gryphon Games has been revamped and turned into a pure card game.  Gone are the meeples, board and nifty mining carts.  All of these components were certainly superfluous, but they still added atmosphere and helped the game feel like more than just a card game.  This new version adds artifacts to the proceedings, which does make the decision to run or stay more difficult.

Designed by Alan Moon and Bruno Faidutti, Incan Gold entices players to enter mysterious and dangerous Incan ruins in search of precious gems and artifacts.  The dangers are numerous, but fabulous treasure awaits the bold.  Stay too long, however, and all treasures will be lost.  Perhaps if you keep going just a bit longer, you can uncover a mother lode of precious gems.  However, there are significant dangers, so remaining too long could result in disaster.  When do you decide to run from the tunnels, taking your treasure – and those left behind – with you?  These decisions help make Incan Gold tense and fun.

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Review: Sentinels of the Multiverse

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Matt J Carlson

Designers: Christopher Badell, Paul Bender
Publisher: Greater Than Games, LLC
Ages: 10+
Time: ~60 mins
Players: 2-5
Reviewed by:  Matt J. Carlson  (review copy provided)

Just a few short weeks after GenCon 2011, I came across a posting on a game that seemed to hit many of my favorite sweet spots:  cooperative game? – check.  superhero theme? – check.  semi-complex card game rife for discovery of effective combinations? – check.  Clearly I needed to check it out.  Soon after its arrival at my door, I read through the rules and bravely brought it to the local high school gaming club.  I had some reservations, as it seemed to be a somewhat complex/interactive card game (similar to a mid-level game of Magic: the Gathering) and the high school group were mostly newer gamers but the reservations were unfounded.  Because it was a cooperative game, I was able to help the students through the first few rounds until they got on their feet and the game became an instant hit.  It was played at every meeting for the next few weeks and I have no doubt it will return to the table again soon.

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Tweets from #bggcon

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Dale Yu

A sampling of what people are saying about the con in the Twittersphere – you can think of each as a 140-character glimpse of the goings on in Dallas!  You can see what’s being played, and sometimes get super mini one-sentence reviews of games..

#bggcon is pretty much #mageknightcon for me at this point
Digging Belfort so far, enjoying the tension with multiple workers. yfrog.com/gz4o8ocj #bggcon
Heard the rules to Alba Longa but abandoned to play A Few Acres of Snow with @pmanoff, who was kind enough to offer to teach. #bggcon Continue reading →
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