About a year and a half ago I posted an article called Great Days in Gaming describing my 10 best days of gaming according to the extended stats. Since then, most of those days have been superceded, so it's time to update the article.
10. August 17, 2007 - Unspeakable Words, BuyWord, Inkognito, Milleranagrams
This was a simple Critical Mass meeting. Critical Mass himself taught me Inkognito, which we won as a team after a bit of confusion; and then I played some of my favourite word games. I'm surprised it ranks so high, but it was a good evening.
9. June 1, 2007 - Hey! That's My Fish!, Set, Xe Queo!, TransAmerica, Taluva, Die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg
Another Critical Mass meeting, where I played Kutschfahrt for the first time. I really like all of the games we played... and in fact I own all of them, since I bought CyberKev's copy of Kutschfahrt.
8. February 22 2006 - Evo, Pick Picknic, Cathedral, Ra, Coda, Coloretto, Pico 2
In my previous article, this was ranked my #1 day of gaming. I met CyberKev for lunch and we played Pico 2, then Mikey taught Ra and Evo at Book Realm in the evening. Since then I've downgraded my rating for Ra, as I don't really like auction games and I've played it quite enough, but I bought my own copy of Evo. I wonder where Mikey is these days?
7. December 15 2006 - Diamant, San Juan, Coda, Trias, Igel Ärgern
Another Critical Mass meeting, with Scrabblette and her friends Puerto Rico and Puerto Rica. Again, these were all my games that we played.
6. May 14 2005 - Saint Petersburg, Mystery of the Abbey, Odin's Ravens, Trias
This was such a long time ago... a box of games arrived in the mail and we tried some of them out. This was probably my first play for most of these games. I still like all of them.
5. October 19 2007 - Tsuro, Scrabble, Hey! That's My Fish!, Unspeakable Words, Midgard, Ricochet Robots
This was the last Critical Mass meeting I attended! We played 8 player Tsuro while waiting for people to arrive, then Midgard and Ricochet Robots. Then I played Scrabble against Jane, and when Hubertus finished his game he joined us to beat me twice at Hey! That's My Fish!
4. June 11 2006 - Space Crusade, Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, Memoir '44, Travel Blokus, Gulo Gulo, Coloretto, Cartagena, Make 'n' Break
A lot of gaming happened this day! The kid and I attended BIG where I played Gulo Gulo with some spare little girls, then Coloretto with a group of the guys. Then we went to visit Pauli and played Space Crusade and my first game of Make'n'Break. I still don't own Make'n'Break but I've given two copies to other people. The game of Memoir was probably against Glynn, and Confrontation may have been against Other Kevin.
3. April 07 2007 - Hey! That's My Fish!, Villa Paletti, On the Underground, Portable Adventures: Lair of the Rat-King, TransEuropa, For Sale, Set, Give Me the Brain!, San Marco, Mystery Rummy: Al Capone and the Chicago Underworld, Heimlich & Co.
We're getting into the serious gaming days here... this was the first Critical Mass Saturday meeting. Bertie Beetle brought along Villa Paletti, I taught a heap of my games, and to close the night Critical Mass thrashed us at San Marco.
2. June 12 2006 - Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, Settlers of Catan 10th Anniversary 3-D Special Edition Chest Set, Shocking Roulette, Poison Pot, Give Me the Brain!, Commands & Colors: Ancients, Hive
This was a very good day of gaming when Ozvortex came to visit and whopped me at C&C Ancients. The kid joined us for a game of Settlers and a few other games. Ozvortex has similar taste in games to me, so game days with him always rate highly.
1. July 07 2007 - Colosseum, Bamboleo, Feurio!, TransEuropa, Unspeakable Words, Torres, Gheos, BuyWord, Ido
The best day of gaming of all?! It was the second Critical Mass Saturday meeting. The day started abysmally as I was negotiating the sale of my house to someone who didn't want to pay a reasonable price, and for the whole morning I was too stressed to play anything except a quiet game of BuyWord against Scrabblette. As the day wore on I de-stressed and got into some good games. I liked Ido so much I traded for it that very evening... in fact Gheos irritated me enough that it was the game I sent away :-). Colosseum was not a very satisfying game, but the others were all very good. During the following week we told the prospective buyer of the house to fuck off (that may not have been how the real estate agent phrased it) and all was right with the world again.
Showing posts with label Coach Ride to Devil's Castle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coach Ride to Devil's Castle. Show all posts
Monday, October 29, 2007
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Kutschfahrt
One of the games I've been most looking forward to, Die Kutschfahrt Zur Teufelsburg, has arrived in CyberKev's collection and been played (by me) twice now. I rate it a 9.
The first time we played was with 10 players which was a little unwieldy as any venture with 10 people will be. The second was 6 players and was much smoother. Eight players might be good as well.
So here's what happens: there are two secret societies and half the players are in each (I don't know what happens with an odd number of players). The societies are so secretive that you don't know who else is in them until this particular coach ride to Devil's Castle. There are also some items with various powers. Some of the items are objects which are sacred to your society and your team (secret society) is trying to collect all of those. But you don't know who's on that team.
On your turn you can trade an item with someone or attack someone. If you attack other players support the attacker or the defender. Whoever gets the most support wins and may either steal an item from the other player or look at which secret society they're in. When you trade an item you offer an item to another player and they may accept or reject. If they accept they give you something in return. Trading is assisted by the fact that some items have special powers like "when you trade this away you draw another item" or "you must trade if this item is offered to you".
On your turn you may also declare victory by nominating enough members of your secret society that all have sacred objects and have at least 3 of them between them. In that case the whole secret society wins (or loses if you're wrong, Evil Count). Thus you want to (a) determine who the other members of your secret society are, (b) get the sacred items, (c) let the other members of your society know if you have the items.
A typical sequence of play goes like this. I'm in the Brotherhood of Open Secrets which needs 3 keys to win. I attack the Evil Count. Everyone rushes to defend him. I lose. He looks to see what secret society I'm a member of. On his next turn he offers to trade a key to me which suggests he doesn't mind if I have the items needed to win... so I guess he's in the Brotherhood as well. As the game proceeds you make similar linkages to other players.
I was particularly happy with the conclusion to the game I played this evening. I'd determined that the Evil Count and Minotower were in the Brotherhood with me. I had a "secret bag". The power of the secret bag is that when you give it away you get to draw an item, and when all items were drawn that secret bag turned into a key. On my turn there was one item left and I had the secret bag so I offered it to Minotower. He took the bag and gave me a key. I drew the last item so his bag turned into a key. He had a fistful of items and on his turn he declared victory, claiming that he had two keys and I had one key. Woohoo!
Kutschfahrt reminds me a lot of Werewolf but with more analysis and less emotion and lying. I like the analysis and deduction, and the cards are very pretty, so this game is a winner for me. With experienced players I could see the opportunities for deception increasing, and that's attractive to me as well. I need my own copy.
The first time we played was with 10 players which was a little unwieldy as any venture with 10 people will be. The second was 6 players and was much smoother. Eight players might be good as well.
So here's what happens: there are two secret societies and half the players are in each (I don't know what happens with an odd number of players). The societies are so secretive that you don't know who else is in them until this particular coach ride to Devil's Castle. There are also some items with various powers. Some of the items are objects which are sacred to your society and your team (secret society) is trying to collect all of those. But you don't know who's on that team.
On your turn you can trade an item with someone or attack someone. If you attack other players support the attacker or the defender. Whoever gets the most support wins and may either steal an item from the other player or look at which secret society they're in. When you trade an item you offer an item to another player and they may accept or reject. If they accept they give you something in return. Trading is assisted by the fact that some items have special powers like "when you trade this away you draw another item" or "you must trade if this item is offered to you".
On your turn you may also declare victory by nominating enough members of your secret society that all have sacred objects and have at least 3 of them between them. In that case the whole secret society wins (or loses if you're wrong, Evil Count). Thus you want to (a) determine who the other members of your secret society are, (b) get the sacred items, (c) let the other members of your society know if you have the items.
A typical sequence of play goes like this. I'm in the Brotherhood of Open Secrets which needs 3 keys to win. I attack the Evil Count. Everyone rushes to defend him. I lose. He looks to see what secret society I'm a member of. On his next turn he offers to trade a key to me which suggests he doesn't mind if I have the items needed to win... so I guess he's in the Brotherhood as well. As the game proceeds you make similar linkages to other players.
I was particularly happy with the conclusion to the game I played this evening. I'd determined that the Evil Count and Minotower were in the Brotherhood with me. I had a "secret bag". The power of the secret bag is that when you give it away you get to draw an item, and when all items were drawn that secret bag turned into a key. On my turn there was one item left and I had the secret bag so I offered it to Minotower. He took the bag and gave me a key. I drew the last item so his bag turned into a key. He had a fistful of items and on his turn he declared victory, claiming that he had two keys and I had one key. Woohoo!
Kutschfahrt reminds me a lot of Werewolf but with more analysis and less emotion and lying. I like the analysis and deduction, and the cards are very pretty, so this game is a winner for me. With experienced players I could see the opportunities for deception increasing, and that's attractive to me as well. I need my own copy.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Lust
There are a number of new games out and about that I'd like to comment on.
Caylus Magna Carta - Rick Thornquist reviewed this and it sounds like a streamlined card game version of Caylus. What good news that is! I may be tempted to play it.
Tannhäuser - I don't know what appeals to me about this game, I think it's the grim theme and excellent artwork. It may be something like Doom: the Board Game but without the ripped-off Space Hulk mechanics. I don't really like war theme, but when you add demons to it that changes everything. Check out the publisher's promo material.
Die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg - this was reviewed on boardgamenews.com. The review explains the game well and I want it pretty badly now. Oops, looks like BGN has gone and exceeded its CPU quota again.
Thurn & Taxis: For Power & Glory - this is an expansion to Thurn & Taxis which is a game I like to look at but don't much want to play. The map on the expansion looks just as pretty as the original. Do I buy it just to look at?
Caylus Magna Carta - Rick Thornquist reviewed this and it sounds like a streamlined card game version of Caylus. What good news that is! I may be tempted to play it.
Tannhäuser - I don't know what appeals to me about this game, I think it's the grim theme and excellent artwork. It may be something like Doom: the Board Game but without the ripped-off Space Hulk mechanics. I don't really like war theme, but when you add demons to it that changes everything. Check out the publisher's promo material.
Die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg - this was reviewed on boardgamenews.com. The review explains the game well and I want it pretty badly now. Oops, looks like BGN has gone and exceeded its CPU quota again.
Thurn & Taxis: For Power & Glory - this is an expansion to Thurn & Taxis which is a game I like to look at but don't much want to play. The map on the expansion looks just as pretty as the original. Do I buy it just to look at?
Friday, February 09, 2007
They Have Some Really Good German Games In Germany (Part 3)
Gezanke auf der Planke - This is a game about pirates not wanting to have a bath, because it seems the traditional way for pirates to have a bath is to walk the plank. The bits look very cute, and it reminds me a lot of the kids not wanting to have a shower.
Hexago - An old abstract game which looks like 3-player 5-in-a-row. It's very ugly but I'm interested in how well it works.
Kayanak - A cute kids' game from Haba in which the players are fishing through ice. The ice is represented by a sheet of A4 paper which you actually punch holes through. What a cute idea!
Kippit - This seems to be some sort of balancing game similar to Hamsterrolle but with a seesaw instead. Why would I need it? I don't know - you can't ever have too many beautiful dexterity games, can you?
Die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg (Coach Ride to Devil's Castle) - A hidden role game with teams and traitors and a cool spooky theme that takes from 3 to 10 players? Yes, I think so. The art work reminds me of an illustrated edition of Dracula. My want-list is more bloated than my belly...
Letra-Mix - You have some dice with letters on, and a timer. Roll the dice and make words before the time runs out. Really sounds like my sort of game.
Hexago - An old abstract game which looks like 3-player 5-in-a-row. It's very ugly but I'm interested in how well it works.
Kayanak - A cute kids' game from Haba in which the players are fishing through ice. The ice is represented by a sheet of A4 paper which you actually punch holes through. What a cute idea!
Kippit - This seems to be some sort of balancing game similar to Hamsterrolle but with a seesaw instead. Why would I need it? I don't know - you can't ever have too many beautiful dexterity games, can you?
Die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg (Coach Ride to Devil's Castle) - A hidden role game with teams and traitors and a cool spooky theme that takes from 3 to 10 players? Yes, I think so. The art work reminds me of an illustrated edition of Dracula. My want-list is more bloated than my belly...
Letra-Mix - You have some dice with letters on, and a timer. Roll the dice and make words before the time runs out. Really sounds like my sort of game.
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