The Plucky Plank: One of the BLOB's is a spy. (04/27/13)

After a few months absence, I finally got to back to B.L.O.B. Familiar faces greeted me as I entered the house and it was nice to be back. After a bit of catching up, the friendliness came to an end as I sat down to the first game of the day. I also forgot to recharge my camera, so I used other peoples photos found on Boardgamegeek.com.


The Resistance (BGG Link)

Game Summary
Players are dealt cards secretly that inform them on whether they are members of the Resistance or Imperial spies. Once the spies are revealed to each other, the game play over 5 missions. A leader puts together a team and everyone votes on the team. If the majority likes the team, then play proceeds to the mission. If the majority dislikes the team, then a new leader picks a new team. If ever the teams are voted down 5 times on the same mission, the Imperial spies win the mission.
All the members on a mission are given two cards, pass and fail. As a member of the Resistance, you will only play the pass card. Spies on the other hand can and should play both. The first team, Resistance or Imperials, to have 3 successful missions wins the game.

Photo by 1awesomeguy

What I Think
Resistance is paranoia in a card box. Ferreting out the spies is the whole game and seasoned players/liars do very well at this game. You need to pay attention to how the other players vote but that isn't always a guarantee you will find the spies. Maybe with more plays the resistance does better but as of this time, I have never played a game where the spies didn't win. Truthfully they have the advantage with only needing one fail vote and crafty spies can pass the blame on to another player. 

I like the distrust this game breeds in players and if you play multiple times with the same players, that distrust carries over and a spy from the last game can be branded a spy though he/she is a resistance player this time. The game can suffer if the people playing aren't willing to role-play the parts and be a flop.

Scores

Game 1 - 6 players; Spies win
Game 2 - 8 players; Spies win
Game 3 - 8 players; Spies win


Say Anything (BGG Link)

Game Summary
A simple game of questions, opinions, betting and awarding points. A player gets the Select-O-Matic 5000 and asks a question such as "What is the most overrated band of all-time?" or "If you could have a "BIG" anything, what would it be?" The players write their answers on a dry erase board (keep it clean, this is a family game) and when done place the boards in the center of the table. The questioner then secretly pics their favorite on the Select-O-Matic 5000 and once selected the players place their two tokens on the answers.

• One point is awarded to the person who wrote the answer the questioner picked.
• One point is awarded to each player for their tokens on the correct answer.
• One point to the questioner for each token on the answer he picked (max 3).

After points are awarded, the Select-O-Matic rotates to the player on the left and so on until the game ends after a predetermined number of rounds. The player with the most points at the end wins.

Photo by Endersgame

What I Think

Say Anything is similar to Apples to Apples but instead of random cards that don't always fit, the players get to decide their answers which can lead to some fun times. The answers you provide can be tailor-made to the player that is the questioner of the turn but it doesn't mean it is the one that will be selected and maybe shouldn't be picked. I did find that with a group of strangers, the game can be harder. By that I mean, answers you think are good can be something the other players never heard or can be offensive to them. The question card is also loaded with 5 questions, so you can steer the question into more generalized questions if people don't know each other well.

Say Anything is a great game. I have never played in a game where laughter wasn't present or someone didn't have fun. It is accessible to everyone of any age or social environment. I plan on getting a copy for this holiday season.

Score

Game 1 - Sam and Mike tied for the win.

Impossible Machine (BGG Link)

Game Summary

Impossible Machine is a card game where each player gets a deck of 35 cards. Each turn a player can play up to three cards into the machine either at the beginning, middle or end. The only stipulation is the symbols on the cards have to match for a legal play. Once a catalyst card is played, three cards start getting flipped over on the beginning of the next players turn. Once all the cards of the machine are face-down, players score points for each of their face-down cards. Repeat for three total machines and the player with the most points wins.

Photo by StormKnight

What I Think

The art on the cards reminds me of the elaborate traps from Loony Toons and when a long row of cards is displayed, it is fun to look at what the contraption will do. Like in the picture above, a bowling ball hits a ball on a string which knocks over dominoes that knock an apple off its pedestal and move a marble down a ramp. Once that novelty wears off, the game is a bit lacking. I had turns where little matched and you can take a turn to draw a new hand, but that will put you behind in the scoring. Since it is a light game, scoring shouldn't matter and you do have three machines to score.

The game can also be a bit cut throat due to eraser cards, which allow you too remove players cards and put yours in its place. Also if a catalyst card comes too soon the machine could be all flipped and done by the time your next turn rolls around. I find Impossible Machine to be a quick/light game with some interesting decisions but ultimately it is just luck of the draw and should be played in that intended fashion.

Score

Game 1 - Alicia 12, Chris 12, Kearn 9, Mike 11 

Eminent Domain (BGG Link)

Game Summary

A card game based on role selection available on five cards. Warfare, Colonize, Research, Survey and Produce/Trade are the roles available and provide you a different ability depending if you are the leader, the player playing the role or a follower. Planets are worth various victory points and are colonized or attacked by you to flip the card and make in part of your civilization. The player with the best civilization aka victory points wins.

Photo by Kmichaelis

What I Think

I believe I have mentioned Eminent Domain in a previous post but here is what I think again. My favorite part of Eminent Domain is the multiple ways you can win. I have seen people win by just collecting tons of planets or focusing on research and collecting the big cards or by simply producing and trading goods. I enjoy trying each of these strategies based on what other players are doing. I would have liked a little variety in the planet pictures but that is a minor quibble on my part. It is a great game and I am eager for the release of the expansion later this year.

Score

Game 1 - Mike 21, Jason 26, Chris 23, Kearn 23

Milestones (BGG Link)

Game Summary

Players build roads, marketplaces and houses together through the use of goods procured by your personal workers. As the players build further into the wilds, the players try to optimize their placements so as they do not set up the next player. Once a predetermined score is reached based on players, the game ends and whomever has the most points wins.

Photo by Olavf

What I Think

I initially purchased this as a game to play with my wife. After several months on the shelf I decided it needed to be played. The game offers you some interesting choices on how you want to score points. Although you have to be careful not to setup the next player by leaving them some high scoring areas. I found that a player who gets him production engine running faster can get ahead and be hard to catch. I liked the options of choosing workers and where to place them on your personal board. It was also difficult to decide which workers to "sacrifice" to the king each time a player reaches the castle. I could also see this game suffering from a samey feel after multiple plays. I found it enjoyable and I wouldn't mind playing it time to time.

Score

Game 1 - Kearn 34, Chris 55, Mike 72

The Plucky Plank: BLOB gets Legendary

This month’s recap of the BLOB is going to be different. I am going to try a new layout with a section on brief overview of game play and not a regurgitation of the rules. There are multiple places online to find the rules. The main focus is going to be about my thoughts of the game. My opinion of the game is based off my initial play, so if you are looking for more analysis into the games, I am not the best choice. I think most of us can decide if a game is fun after one play and if the investment of time into further plays is something you want to do. I also will not be recapping the moves during the game because I can’t remember what I did during the game and don’t take notes beyond final scores.

One of my favorite people to play games with is leaving soon. As a “Snowbird” he likes to hibernate in Florida for the cold Michigan winters. Have fun fishing in the tropical sun Tom and see you in the spring. I also ate way too many sweets this time but it is so hard to resist all the colorful Christmas cookies and cupcakes.

Legendary: a Marvel Deck Building Game BGG Link

Starting Cards

Game summary
Using a starting deck consisting of SHIELD Agents and Troops, players recruit Heroes to strengthen their decks to attack villains and ultimately defeat the Mastermind behind the whole scheme. Defeat the Mastermind 4 times successfully and the player with the most Victory Points wins. However if the Mastermind’s scheme is successful, then all the players lose.

What I think
I ended up playing it 3 times and with 3 and 4 players. So you can imagine if I played it that much, I enjoyed the game. I got excited drafting heroes into my deck and the “abilities” of the heroes made sense for the character. For instance, Iron Man helps draw cards which makes sense because it is information gathering or calling for reinforcements as the leader. The Superheroes were the draw to the game for me. I liked immersing myself into the theme and got frustrated when the Mastermind would win. So like most cooperative games, I wanted to play it again to try and win. The game really is cooperative only when the heroes lose otherwise the player with the most victory points wins.

The villains can be a bit annoying early in the game as you watch the Villains march across the board because your deck isn't strong enough to attack. This can put you behind with certain scenarios where the game wins if a certain number of Villains or Bystanders are in the escaped area. Since the deck is random, you may get Henchmen, which are easier, or Villains that are just too powerful.

The Heroes can also frustrate you because again of the randomness of the draw deck, certain Heroes are absent and you could purchasing a card just in the hopes of getting something better to the market. It kind of reminded me of Ascension and was one of the reasons I disliked Ascension but at least the Villains and Heroes are separate decks and you always seem to be able to do something each turn. The icons and artwork are great and easy to understand. The Icons are easy to distinguish and become very intuitive after a few turns.

Mid game vs the Red Skull

To me, Legendary plays like every other deck builder out there. Draw a hand, play cards, discard and draw a new hand. It also suffers from what I call “unbalanced turns”. What I mean is one player can cycle through his entire deck for a 5 minute turn and the remaining players can complete their turns in under a minute. I am sure a few of you are saying “What is wrong with that?” and to that I say it disconnects me from the game and makes the game drag on too long. It was one of the reasons I ended up never playing Dominion again or at least not with competitive players.

I thought Legendary was fun and I got sucked into the Superhero theme. I cheered as we defeated the Mastermind and was the first one ready to retry when we failed. Although, Legendary doesn’t bring anything new to the deck building genre but the theme is lacking in board games and is welcome by me.

Scores
Game 1: Tom-20, Kearn-10, Joe-11, Chris-15 vs. Red Skull
Game 2: All Players lose vs. Dr. Doom
Game 3: Tom-30, Kearn-10, Scott-28 vs. Dr. Doom

Alien Frontiers BGG Link

New Factions

Game summary
For those unfamiliar with Alien Frontiers, the game uses dice as ships which you dock at different stations on the board to earn resources, expand your fleet (more dice) and colonize the planet. There are also Artifacts (cards) which give you abilities to manipulate your die or other players dice. The game ends when a player places their last colony on the planet. The player with the most victory points wins. A player scored 1 VP for each colony on a territory, 1 VP per territory you control (majority of the colonies on a territory), 1 VP for controlling the territory with the Positron Field and 1 VP each for possessing Alien City or Alien Monument card.

What I think
Alien Frontiers is still one of my favorite games and the Faction expansion adds some nice new powers and choices for the players to use each game. If you want to use a neighbor’s faction, you end up paying the resources to the owner of the faction. You really have to weigh if it will be more beneficial to you to use the faction. We choose randomly so in our game, one faction was more valuable and used more often so that might be a drawback. I also didn’t use the new Agenda cards so I can’t comment on them at this time. I think it is a must buy for fans of the game.

Scores
Game 1: Chris-4, Joe-10, Kearn-3

Loopin’ Louie BGG Link

Louie is coming for your chickens!

Game summary
A simple game, each player has a chicken coop with three chicken disks. Louie flies around the board and knocks the chickens down. You can prevent this by using your paddle to make Louie jump over your chickens. The last player left with chickens wins.

What I think
Loopin’ Louie is easily one of the most silly, addictive and entertaining games I have ever played. It is such a simple game that causes laughter and rowdy good times with children and adults (especially with some adult everages).

Scores
4 plays and everyone won once.

Tahiti BGG Link

Island tiles

Game summary
The goal of the game is to collect crops and fish from the neighboring islands in your canoe and return them to the home island. For each full set of crops or favorite foods (secret tiles handed out during the set-up) collected earn points at the game end. The game is divided into two phases, the first is the Exploration phase and the second is the Depletion phase.

Player Board

What I think
The game is a simple and leisurely game of grabbing cubes from one location and returning them to the home island. The toughest decisions in the game were cube placement and what islands to place the depletion tiles on because both would directly affect your opponents. I liked the reef as it made you choose between the most direct paths but you could risk the loss of a good or to take the longer path. I enjoyed the quality game pieces and beautiful Polynesian art. The game was a bit basic for me and I think it could get stale after multiple plays, but I could easily see its charm for families or new gamers.

Scores
Game 1: Liam-15, Kearn-21, Eric-25, Chris-24

Schotten Rennen (Scots Race in German) BGG Link

On your Mark........

Game summary
This loosely themed racing game with dice and luck in Scotland has you rolling dice each turn. If your roll is equal to or higher than the printed number on the tile, you progress forward. If the roll is lower, you can use a risk token to role the yellow die and add the result to your total. If it is higher, you continue on. If it still is lower, you go all the way back to the start. At any time you can stop and pass the dice locking you into the current tile. The first player to cross the finish line wins.

Neck and Neck to the end!

What I think
The game is a total dice chucking, press your luck and mock your fellow player’s bad dice rolls kind of game. Also heading back to start didn’t put you out of the race. I went back several times and caught up quickly. It fit the bill for the type of game we wanted to play at the time and I enjoy these types of games. Sometimes you just want some light fun and laughs. Kilts are optional.

Scores
Game 1: Winner – Ken; Losers- Liam, Eric, Kearn

Trajan BGG Link

Game summary
This is a very simplistic summary to a deep and strategic game supposedly set in ancient Rome. Players move cubes around an action tray which allows them to take actions on matching areas on the main board. The player with the most points at the end wins the game.

What I think
Trajan is a complex game with many options to score points. Some options of where to go at certain points in the game are obvious but it can create some long thinking moments if you want to maximize your points each turn. I noticed the most contested areas in out game were the shipping area and the senate. Getting in earlier than the other players to use a boat and score on the more profitable side is a huge plus and the disappointed look on their face is a nice bonus. By influencing the senate you choose first and dictated who got what bonus tile for the end of game scoring.

My favorite part of the game was the use of the personal action tray. I enjoyed planning out my turns by moving cubes of certain colors to each area to help me move them later in an upcoming turn or to match Trajan tiles next to the cup. Each turn I contemplated this to avoid clumping to many cubes in one cup, because each cube you move moves the game clock and that brings the demands of the people. If you can’t meet the demands you end up losing points.

Action Tray

I like a good theme and this game has none. As I said above, supposedly sent in ancient Rome, but at no point did I feel I was influencing the people of Rome. In my mind was moving this cube two spaces gives me the military option and the ability to grab the 10 victory point area. The game can also drag out if you or the other players contemplate your move too long but I find that to be a problem with many games that offer multiple choices each turn.

I am a theme junkie and criticize games often for being too dull and theme less. Games that feel like number crunching/ spreadsheet tasks and you try to eliminate all least productive options and maximize your points. There are those elements in Trajan but the personal action tray just squashed that voice in my head. I admit that sometimes I judge games too quickly and I would have missed out on a fantastic game. I want to play this again.

Score
Game 1: Tom-111, Kearn-115, Chris-112, Scott-95

The Plucky Plank: Hulk X-90 SMASH!! or how to program your robot to fall in a hole. - 11/10/12

Greetings and salutations my loyal readers. I am sorry about the lateness of this report but job searching and family medical problems held it up. I am so grateful to have a distraction like board games at times to keep me sane. Enough of Debbie Downer, lets look at the games played last month by me and my fellow B.L.O.B. members.

Roborally
I arrived in time to join 7 others for a massive game of Roborally. I was handed a nicely painted mini and laughed at my green robot with purple highlights. His name is Hulk X-90 and I just couldn't resist saying "Hulk Smash!".

So what happens is each turn you are dealt a certain number of cards each turn. These cards are what you use to program your robot. The cards have arrows that show straight,right,left or backward and you place them face down on your robot card to show your planned movement. This brings about one of the funny parts of the game as you watch everyone twist and turn their bodies or hands to make sure they are turning their robot the right direction. After everyone is done, players flip their cards over and based on the number in the upper corner determines the player turn order.

The organized chaos now begins. Robots start to move and if another robot is in your way, you push it in the direction you are moving. You more than likely just messed up your opponents plans and they will curse your name. There are plenty of hazards on the board from fire to pits. There are also conveyor belts that move and twist your robots or walls that impede your movement. The goal is to get your robots to the various flags on the board. They are numbered and you have to stop on each flag in order. If at any point you die, falling down the pit or by driving off the board, you can restart at the last flag you touched. Sort of like a re-spawn point in video games. After all movement is resolved, you get to fire a laser and any robot in your line of sight takes a point of damage. Damage is bad because at a certain point it forces you to keep a direction card locked in your program area. This means that every round until you repair you are stuck going a certain direction.

We were playing with 8 people and the game began to drag and certain players interest waned looking at what other games were about to start. We also dropped the race from 4 flags to 2 since several players dropped out. What did I think? I like deciding my path for my robot and hoping no one else interferes with my plans. I like the elements on the board, like flame throwers, that also need to be part of your plans. Now I also felt the game was starting to drag on as only two of us had gotten to the first flag after an hour. The game can also be hard for some people spatially as they get lefts and rights confused because of the robots orientation. That said, I would like to play this again, maybe with less people and on a tighter map.

Play time with rules: 2 hours 35 minutes
Final Scores: 2 Flags-Joe;1 Flag-Mary,Chris,Kearn;0 Flags-Mike,T,Blade,Sam

Stock Car Championship Racing Card Game
This is a game I can't believe I played. If you know me, you know I hate NASCAR and that people consider it a sport. I don't want to start a rant so I will discuss the game. The game has a predetermined number of laps and a deck that simulates the track. Players use cards to pass, block, draft or challenge the other racers. I chose the Tide car because I wanted a clean win.

So a typical turn goes like this. You flip the top card of the track deck over and a lap count is on the card. There also can be hazards too. From the cards in your hand, you have to discard cards that add up to be equal or greater than the lap count. If you can't, you are considered out of gas. After that we determine player order. It is based on the speed rating shown on the top of the card in your discard pile. Action cards let you try to pass other cars either inside or outside. The car you are passing can attempt to block you. Once everyone goes new cars are drawn and you start all over again until the lap count is met.

We were playing a pimped out version with the Hot Wheels and I personally liked it better than generic cards. This game didn't do much to improve my opinion of stock car racing but it was a bit more fun than I thought it would be. The game is random due to the cars and some of the high lap counts can leave you short of Action cards useful to you during your turn. Also shorter races don't leave you to much time to advance very far. It was a fun distraction but I don't know if I would play it again.

Play time with rules: 45 minutes
Final Placement: 1st Chris, 2nd Tom, 3rd Rhonda, 4th Joe, 5th Kearn, 6th Mike

The New Era

Are you looking for a game that captures the feel of Mad Max, then you might want to try New Era. In New Era you each play a faction, set on supremacy of the new world. You do this by gaining control of locations you discover or by influencing your rival factions locations. The game starts each round with a draft of face-up cards. Each person ends up drafting 2 cards and then 1 card off the top of the deck. You have some options available to you but nothing too brain burning.

Production comes next which gives you resources, workers, cards or victory points to use in the Action phase which is next. There are a lot of actions to choose from such as develop locations, take faction actions, trade cards or get workers. You keep preforming one action until you have to pass. Once passed, your locations are closed to the other players, which is a nice way to protect your buildings from being conquered or other players workers. After everyone passes, you check to see if anyone has reached 33 points (we totally missed this phase) if they do the game ends. If not proceed to the cleanup phase, basically get rid of anything unused and pass the first player token to the left.

I really enjoyed this game and after a round of play grasped the game. You have to plan ahead with your locations to help you get more resources each turn. Using neighbors locations is key to help when you can't get the card yourself. The number 3 is everywhere in this game. You can't have more than 3 of anything on or under a card and only 3 places for your location cards. The symbols in the game aren't overwhelming and become intuitive but can be a turnoff to certain players. I am tired of all the card based games but I found plenty to enjoy here. New Era is a solid game that I would play again anytime.

Play time with rules: 1 hour 30 minutes
Final Scores: Tom-64,Mike-25,Rhonda-46,Kearn-55

I also want to say congratulations to Rhonda and Mike who recently got engaged. You could always catch the two of them chatting, giving each other back rubs or holding hands. It's cute and I wish them the best.

The Plucky Plank: I-con what? Not I-con, it's U-Con.

U-con originally started at the University of Michigan in the student union building from 1988 - 2010. I personally didn't care for the union building, the multiple floors and poorly labeled rooms gave everything a disjointed feeling. I believe the amount of attendants also forced then to find a new location. The last two years, the convention has been in two different hotels, the Metropolitan of Romulus Mi in 2011 and the Marriott of Ypsilanti in 2012.

Now before I go into the games I played, I want to make a few critiques about the convention this year. First, I didn't like the poorly labeled and laid out convention. As you entered the lobby, there were no signs to direct you where to go, only the front desk for sign up. Second, ill informed employees/volunteers of the convention. When asked questions about the location of the board gaming area, I was directed upstairs and also to the left of the front desk. There wasn't any board gaming on the second floor, only role-playing and miniatures. Third and final, was once I found the board game room, there were no open tables for free gaming. We ended up taking over a table with an event that had passed and had nothing left for the day we were there. These are all fixable but I had to vent about them none the less.

Greeting you as you entered the center was a huge balloon dragon created by Tim Thurmond, The Balloon Sculptor. As you can see, this massive dragon winds its way up the staircase. On the landing above, Tim was blowing more balloons and making what I assume were swords for a few children.

It was also great to see so many familiar faces from my local gaming groups. Especially since it allowed me to capture a picture of Skaboy (his nom de plume) dressed as a french maid for the costume contest. I will post the picture for all to see and sorry Dave, you have no say. Muhahahaha!

Rapa Nui
One of my other favorite areas of U-con is the free gaming area. Tom brings a stack of the latest and greatest games for all to try. I dragged my friends along and we started the day off with Rapa Nui. The interesting part of this card game is the four stacks of cards. Each turn you must remove a card from the piles but the revealed card underneath scores. For instance if a goods card is revealed then any player with the same good in front of them would gather the good. If it is a priest or a statue, the player is awarded points instead. The other optional task on your turn is to play a card from your hand. The card has costs to play but if you can play multiple copies it allows you to take more than one card for the turn. The game continues until the stack of cards is depleted.

This game falls into the light category as your options each turn are simple. You also can't plan to far ahead each turn since you don't know what cards will be available. Although it does become obvious what cards will be taken by the other players. In our game, the other players stopped taking the cards above the priest card. I was the only player with priests in play and it benefited me greatly. Other cards avoided during play would have benefited the player following the current player. Such as if I take the woodsman, it would leave a rapa nui for the next player.



It is a shame this game is only available in German because it would be a nice family game. I would also like to try it with two since it might become more strategic.

Play time with rules: 45 minutes
Final Scores: Chad-21,Gregg-28,Kearn-46,Christian-35

Seasons
Seasons has the feel of a collectible card game with drafting and could easily be my new addiction. I really enjoy the subtle nuances of the game. Players start with drafting cards by taking one and passing the hand to the player on the left. There is a preset hands recommend for new players but honestly anyone who played games like Seven Wonders or Magic the Gathering can pick this up easily. This draft probably is one of the longer moments of the game as players read the text and decide on which cards to keep. With repeated play, I can see this going faster.

The seasons have these great chunky dice (Photo Courtesy of cnidius) that are rolled and each player drafts a die. The symbols become second nature as you play, the symbols represent energy, extra cards and crystals. The different seasons have different colored dice and during certain seasons some of the energies are not available on the dice, so plan accordingly. After 3 years pass, the game is over and the player with the most crystals wins. After several plays and a few online plays, I really like the flow of Seasons. I could see this game sticking around and with a few expansions.

Play time with rules: 60 minutes
Final Scores: Brian-85,Gregg-106,Kearn-159,Christian-165

Vinhos
At this point, I wanted to play a heavy game and Vinhos fit the bill. Vinhos at first glance is an overwhelming game and then a half hour of rules. Tom did a great job explaining everything but after some point I just want to play and figure things out. As you do play, you see the beauty in the layout of the board.

As you can see the board has a square that you move your pawn to and take the respective action. It varies from buying a winery, exporting wine, selling wine or going to the bank or banco. Then you also have to prepare for the wine show where it pays to show a good wine. The complexity of the game eventually unfolds and becomes easier to understand. I found myself scoring better each turn and planning ahead to maximize my points. Now there were a few areas I neglected like the exporting area, which would have helped my overall score but to me that will be the joy of more plays. I also enjoyed that the theme fit the game and it is a theme I haven't played before. The game is a bit solitary as most of your interaction comes in the wine show but I was okay with that. I want to also thank my friends for playing this with me and slogging through this lengthy game.

Play time with rules: 3 hours 20 minutes
Final Scores: Tom-70,Gregg-49,Kearn-55,Christian-76

Smash Up
My brain needed a cool off and I suggested my other new favorite, Smash Up. I enjoy how different this game plays every time just by having different combos each game. I drafted the tricksters and ninjas, Christian had pirates and zombies, Gregg went with wizards and dinosaurs and finally Tom had aliens and robots. My goal this game was to be annoying with the tricksters and sneak a few points from the ninjas.

I would have gotten away with it to if not for those resurrecting zombies. I would do my best to put them in his hand but a turn later they were back. Everyone seemed to enjoy the game but we didn't get to finish because the hall had to be closed for the night. I look forward to the new factions but even without them, Smash Up has plenty of replays in the base set.

Play time with rules: 35 minutes
Sort of Final Scores: Tom-9,Gregg-11,Kearn-12,Christian-14



Livingstone
At this point it was after midnight and the crowd started to thin out. My two friends called it a night but Dave (sans costume) was not about to let me go. He said we had to play a game together. Somehow we managed to get 5 people despite the Werewolf competition. Nikki suggested a game of Livingstone and gave us a quick overview. The game is just about having the majority of tents in a row to score endgame points. The other part of the game was digging for stones. The plastic pieces are nice a chunky with a good heft to them. Just avoid the white stone.

Two other game pieces to explain are the cards and treasure chests. The cards allow you to break rules and place more tents or score more points for your gems. Treasure chests are where you deposit money for the queen. You must give money because at the games end, the player with the least automatically lose. It's pretty harsh and Suzette suffered a crushing loss because of her lack of donations. Livingstone is an okay game and falls more into the family game category. I wouldn't say no to another play but I wouldn't suggest it myself.

Play time with rules: 40 minutes
Final Scores: It was late and I forgot to write them down.

That concludes my day at U-Con and despite a few problems, it is a nice local convention. I doubt I would ever go more than one day but the day price is reasonable and you can play a variety of games. So if you ever find yourself in Michigan around late October, come and join us.

The Plucky Plank: Limon vert dans les châteaux de Bourgogne (Thanks Google Translate) - 7/28/12

To quote Jimmy Hendricks

“Even Castles made of sand, fall into the sea, eventually.”

This month at BLOB, I played a game I have been excited to try (The Castles of Burgandy), 2 games of slight interest to me (Ground Floor and Scripts & Scribes: the dice game) and 1 I knew nothing about (Inca Empire). I also try to start my blog with a witty scene but I am at a loss this month on what to write. So Mr. Hendricks quote sums it up for me.

Ground Floor
My Saturday started with a 6 player game of this recently funded Kickstarter game called Ground Floor. Tom backed it and put together a play test version of the game. So I will hold off on any comments of the components. After a lengthy overview of the game, we randomly received a play mat with a starting Technology upgrade. My upgrade was the Assembly tile which lets me make a supply cube for 2 times.

So before I go to deep into the game session report, I want to explain a few basics of the game. Basically you have a staff that is represented as time and you use the time to gather information, money, goods, and employees to expand your company. Information and money are the two main currencies of the game and you need plenty of both. You get both by selling goods on the market, forecasting the future market and through expansions of your business. The game ends after 9 rounds of when a player builds their 5th floor. This is an economic game at heart.

I managed to snag an empty floor and a free T.I. early in the game. I opted to go for building my 5 floors before anyone else. I got off to a nice start but I kept myself too money shy, which hurt me because I wasn’t able to get more workers. So I started selling goods and using the Consulting area to score cash and info. Then I started build more of my remodels to shave time off certain tasks and stretch my workers time out more. Finally, I got some more employees but missed out on a few expansion floors that I wanted.

Slowly we ended up grinding the game out to the ninth round. I managed to grab my 5th floor in desperation for more prestige points at the end. I misunderstood that you needed 3 information and 3 money to equal 1 pp. I would have scored more points by not getting my 5th floor. C’est la vie.

After one play, what do I think of the game Ground Floor? First, I don’t think this is a worker placement, I think it is more of a resource management game. Very rarely was I blocked from any location or felt I was taking the next best option for me. Secondly, I will never play a 6 player game of this again. The game lasted 4 hours and I was ready to be done after 2. I realize that 5 of us never played before but it just dragged at certain points. So to be fair to the game, I want to try it again but with fewer players. If it still drags, then I can’t see me playing this again.

Playtime with rule explanation = 41/2 hours
Chris-46,Mike-45,Joe-42,Rhonda-40,Kearn-39,Tom-32

Scripts and Scribes: the Dice Game
After the lengthy Ground Floor, a few of us wanted a game of lighter fare; Enter Scripts and Scribes. I have played Biblios many times and enjoy the game. So when I saw a dice version was due out, my interest was peaked. Would it be as fun as the card game?

So the goal is the same as the card game, collect resources and gold. The person who controls the majority of a resource, scores points and whoever has the most points in the end, wins. The auction is done differently and if you win it, you can get a good leg up on your competition. The game ends when one person’s marker is at the top of the Abbot track or if 3 player markers reach the top of 1 or more resources or if a player removes 4 of his markers from the board.

Rolling the dice and grabbing what is best for you out of the available dice is a basic turn. My goal was to be diverse and try to snag as many points from different resources. I succeeded as a fellow player realized from the last role I was going to win. He cussed and had a small tirade about his hatred of random dice rolls. I felt it was unnecessary, but some people just have to vent their frustration. Personally, I felt I played very well and made the best of my choices. I felt the game is a fun filler game just like the card version. I just don’t know if the differences justify owning the card and dice version of this game.

Playtime with rule explanation = 40 minutes
Chris-25,Mike-26 ,Kearn-41,Tom-15

Inca Empire
After the dice fest and a few slices of pizza, we were ready to tackle a new game. My options were Ninjato or Incan Empire. I own Ninjato and played it, I thought I would check out Incan Empire. I was told it is a route building game without trains. Ooooooo! . Tom wasn’t far off, since after the rule explanation roads were important to open up areas of the map. The card placement on the side board was also an interesting tactic. Some of the cards could really hamper your opponents.

The first question I had was could you block other players from accessing areas on the map. You could but the game had a card that let you build wild roads and get around being blocked. It still didn’t stop me as I constructed plenty of roads to the north. Your turn consists of building a road and then taking an action, which include build an extra road, build a garrison, city or tier. All of which get you victory points.

My strategy to close off the North was caught quickly and soon I was no longer alone. I quickly realized conquering areas was nice but I needed to build and connect to other buildings on the board. So I started heading south, connecting to garrisons and cities. Then things got nasty. My opponents played cards in my sector that only allowed me to build one road instead of two. Another nasty card made you spend two extra workers to build a city. Normally it takes 6, now with that card it was 8.

Revenge was mine because I returned the favor by destroying roads in disputed areas. Roads can be built in an area you control but can extend into areas you don’t control. So the card allowed me to wipe those roads out and destroy their connections to buildings. Muhahaha! I did notice that Tom, our teacher, was just killing us with connections. He sat back and built his roads as the rookies battled each other. By the time I noticed, there was no possible way to unseat him as number 1. The final round, we played with the variant with the hidden ship so we were not sure when the game would end. I just built roads trying desperately to score more VP.

My strategy paid off and I managed to barely grab second place by a point. For a game I knew nothing about and was not keen to play, I actually enjoyed the game. It had enough confrontation to be interesting but at the same time it wasn’t a huge brain burner. Incan Empire surprised me and I would enjoy playing it again.

Playtime with rule explanation = 2 ½ hours
Tom-147,Kearn-132,Mike-130,Jim-131

The Castles of Burgundy
My last game of the night was Castles of Burgundy, a game high on my play list. The goal of the game is to use your dice to build your kingdom and after 5 rounds the player with the most points wins. You claim different hex tiles from a community board and eventually place them on your own kingdom board. Since it was our first play, we played the beginners boards. I decided I wanted the silvering so I could purchase the black tiles in the center. So by turn three, I had claimed all of my mines and finished the section.

After that a few knowledge tiles came out that worked well with items I already had on my board. The one I choose gave me 3vp for each good I sold and by the end game; I ended up selling all 6. Then I managed to get the knowledge tile that gave me 1vp for each good sold. So I figured by the time the end game came around, I would be set with plenty of end game points. So the rest of the game, I continued to gather goods, sell goods and fill in more areas of my kingdom.

It was a race between Chris and I in the end to see who built the better kingdom and scored the most points. Chris was scoring a lot with animals and finishing sectors on his map. I was sure it was going to be close and it was as Chris just edged me out by 10 points. When it comes to games of the “Euro” type, I don’t get excited to play them. I just don’t get excited to play a game where I am a farmer or a landowner. The Castles of Burgundy was fun and engaging as each turn rolled by and I would have played another game immediately afterwards.

Playtime with rule explanation = 1 ½ hours
Chris-196,Kearn-186,Jim-144

The End
I enjoyed the variety and depth of games, even if I played fewer games this month. I was thrown by the cursing during a simple die filler game and added a new name to my list of players to avoid. Other games played were Innovation, Power Grid, Ninjato and Dominion. Thanks for reading my blog and remember they are only games so have fun.

The Plucky Plank: Bad Color! Bad, Bad Color! Green attracts Those We Do Not Speak Of. - 6/23/12

S:Mother, when is dad coming home?

M:I've been dreading this day. Your father isn't coming home.

S: Why mommy?

M: You remember when your brother entered the church to become a friar?

S: Yes.

M: Well, in exchange of your brothers admittance, we had to take a plague cube. Your father happened to be of the first generation and since time drifted past the bridge, he choose to sacrifice himself.

S:sobs

M: But don't feel to sad, he will always be remembered in the village chronicle.

S: So it's my brothers fault daddy's dead?

M: Ummmmmm.......

Pirate Fluxx
I got a bit forgetful this month and missed taking some pictures of a few games. Sorry.

While waiting for other to show up, Rhonda suggested killing time with Pirate Fluxx. I was surprised a few of the players had never played Fluxx. The rules are so simple that we started playing after a brief overview. At one point, we had to talk like pirates to draw extra cards and Rhonda got the Captain's Hat and we could only refer to her as Cap'ian. The game ended quickly as a forced goal play caused another player to win.

Fluxx will always be a humorous distraction to me and with all the various themes, there is surely a Fluxx for you.

Playtime with rule explanation = 15 minutes
Shawn-Won; Chris,Rhonda,Zach,Jerry and Kearn-Lost

Maharani

Maharani was taught to Chris and I by teacher extraordinaire, Tom. The game is just a simple tile laying game where you score points for your meeples and tiles. In the begining, the game was very close point wise as each of us looked for the optimal play with the available tiles. As you can see above in the picture, I (yellow) started off placing tiles in the area closest to me. I was so focused on majority in that area, I missed placing any tiles or workers in the quadrant directly above.

Once I figured out my folly, I tried to work my way into the other areas of the board. Unfortunately, I was too late and Chris ran away with the remainder of the game. I did manage a narrow finish in second but a whopping 20+ points behind first. So what did I think of my first play? I liked it. The whole time I was playing, I kept thinking my wife would really like it. There is tile placement and meeples which are similar to her favorite Carcassonne.

I really enjoyed the wheel which changed the orientation of the tiles. You had to decide to place the tile as is in the quadrant it was adjacent too or use one of your 4 coins to place it in a different quadrant or forgo a meeple and turn the tile in a different direction. Maharani is an enjoyable quick light game that looks spectacular when it is finished. I can see this being a good couples game and I will report how it plays with two in the future.

Playtime with rule explanation = 1 hour
Chris-98,Tom-69,Kearn-76

The Resistance
Zach talked all of us into trying a game of the Resistance. I had always been curious about the game and was eager to try it. The rules are simple but the the meta game, Whoa! The tension was almost instantaneous as every one eyed each other. The first mission went off without a hitch, the second had a fail. What!?! We had a spy. Now the fun revved up, new people were choosen and failed. Then another fail, the third try passed and the assembled team went on the mission. Another fail card!

I was the last to pick the team and I thought I had it all figured out. Wrong! I drafted the two spies and we lost. NOOOOOOOOO! The game was fun and strangely addicting. I enjoyed trying to deduct the spies by watching for tells.

Playtime with rule explanation = 30 minutes
Shawn and Rhonda-Won; Zach,Jerry,Chris and Kearn-Lost

Alien Frontiers

More people finally arrived and I joined Eric and his son Liam for a friendly game of Alien Frontiers. Pairs eluded me for several turns, so I started collecting ore and alien tech cards. A few nice dice manipulators and I was on my way to adding more dice. I have a particular pattern of colony spaces I prefer to grab. Liam preferred to pick on his father which I tried to take advantage of but Eric is just too crafty of a player.

I managed to take a lead in points and solidified my controlling interest in certain territories. I was about one turn away from winning when Liam played his last colony sooner than I thought he would and instead winning himself. Alien Frontiers is not for people who like little to no interaction. You will be constantly cursing your opponents names as they block out space stations you need. I personally love sweating out where to put my dice each turn.

Playtime with rule explanation = 60 minutes
Liam-10,Eric-9,Kearn-8

Defenders of the Realm

After last months play of Defenders, I wanted to try again now that I understood what we did wrong. The game started off slow with none of the generals moving and minor minion placement. We kept the minions in check and each of us kept going for rumors at the inns. Sapphire moved twice is a row and several minions tainted several locations. The easy manageable game became a nightmare. Eric and I fought Sapphire and defeated him but emptied our hands of our cards. Liam cleaned up a few minions that looked menacing and once again the board looked manageable.

Balazarg fell next and we were on our way to fighting Gorgutt after a recharge of cards at an inn. Then the bad luck sunk in. One location became overrun and a chain reaction of minions and tainted land ended our run for victory. The game was more challenging this time but I still think it is manageable with the right characters and of course good dice rolls. I am not burned out on co-ops yet and Defenders is a solid game with great retro art.

Playtime with rule explanation = 100 minutes
Eric,Liam and Kearn - Lost; The evil - Win

The Speicherstadt

I had become the odd man out and was waiting for two 5 player games to finish. Thankfully I was waiting long as 2 new people showed up and we decided to play a shorter game while waiting for the others to finish. The Speicherstadt fit the bill. Ken (owner of the game) taught us the rules and we started bidding. I had a simple strategy, I wanted to stay competitive with firemen and avoid the negative points when the fire cards showed up. My second goal was to make everyone else pay more if they really wanted the cards for auction.

For those of you unfamiliar with Speicherstadt, there are cards with show firemen, shipps with goods, contracts and buildings. You use your meeples to bid by placing the meeple above the card you want. When everyone is done, the auction begins. The price you pay is equal to the number of meeples on the location. You either pay the price or pass, once passed the next player gets to decide. This continues until all the cards are resolved and then a new set comes out. Watch out for the fire cards, too few firemen and you take negative points. Goods on ships are used to fulfill contracts which are worth victory points at the games end.

Back to our game, Ken and Bill always seemed to have more money than me, but a few key cards slipped into my hands at low prices. The auctions were tight and from my point of view, we all seemed evenly matched for endgame points. The game ends with the last fire card and Bill and I scored our points while Ken suffered the negative points. Points were added up and we ended in a tie. I had more money left over and won the tiebreaker. I played Speicherstadt before and enjoy its simple mechanisms. The real fun is in the placement of your meeples and driving the prices higher for your opponents.

Playtime with rule explanation = 35 minutes
Ken-31,Bill-25,Kearn-31

Village

Our final selection of the night was the Village. I have been curious about the game since I watched an Essen video about it. Tom taught us the rules and it seemed pretty straightforward. The game seemed to be like many other worker placement style games. The main difference would be the time element and the numbers on the meeples. I started off placing a worker at the wedding and adding more workers to the farm. It always seems to me, that more workers are a must. I am not 100% sure if they are as necessary in the Village.

The game moved right along with everyone gathering cubes and goods. I focused on the Church and marketplace storing up VP chits for the endgame. I also kept sacrificing my meeples at key moments to fill the book and hopefully score lots of points in the end. What I failed to do was use the Travel section of the board. A grave mistake since there are lots of points to be made up there. Tom and Ken seemed to be doing good most of the game while Bill and I seemed to be chasing them all game. It ended close with Tom scoring the most points.

Overall, the Village doesn't change to much from the typical worker placement model of games. The generational aspect of the game makes for some interesting choices of when to sacrifice or keep them for a life cycle longer. Also this has to be the first euro game with workers I have played where food is of little to no importance. Your choices are plenty which means multiple paths to victory and repeated plays.

Playtime with rule explanation = 95 minutes
Ken-53,Bill-29,Tom-54,Kearn-46

The End
We had competition this week from MichCon, but still managed to have a nice turnout. Other games played were Innovation, Core Worlds x2, Black Gold, Natulius and Pret-a-Port. Until next month, keep gaming and remember to have fun.

The Plucky Plank: Lords of B.L.O.B.

Gather yourself around the fire and listen my friends to the tales of courage and chance. The fine hall of the fair maiden Rhonda was filled to capacity with rogues and heroes gathered to test their metal against each other in battles of skill. Some faced the trials of Space Alert, whilst others joined in auctions of Modern Art. A particular foursome made kingdoms for hours in Dominion.

The Hotness was rampant this week as Lords of Waterdeep was played 3 times over the course of the day. Everyone who played seemed to be enthralled and enchanted by the game. Lords of Waterdeep is basically a worker placement game with hidden roles. During the course of the game you recruit thieves, warriors, wizards or clerics which are represented by wooden cubes. The “adventurers” or cubes are used on various missions and upon completion you gain victory points and other various rewards. There are also Intrigue cards which allow you to break rules or hinder your opponents.

You can also build buildings which offer better rewards than the fixed areas of the board. Some allow you to break the game rules and others amass cubes or VP each turn. Now I am not a big fan of worker placement games, I don’t like being locked out of choices because of my seating order. That said I never felt my choices were limited when playing Lords of Waterdeep. The buildings, intrigue and mission cards offer more opportunities to gain cubes and VP. I didn’t feel like I was playing a fantasy game, so it shouldn’t deter anyone from trying the game. I would also like to say, Lords of Waterdeep has one of the nicest inserts with everything organized in its own spot.

The Scepter of Zavandor was next to the table. It has auctions and tech trees to further your economic engine to gain more dust or jewels every turn. Every turn you should be earning more “money” than the previous turn. Certain artifacts help you hold more gems or take gems from your opponents. The ultimate goal is to purchase Sentinels to trigger the end game and get more victory points. I am lukewarm about this game. I always feel the turns are scripted based on the “magician” you start with in the game. I made an early mistake when I grabbed a sentinel a turn to early leaving me locked in first and low on funds in the late game.

The day was in full swing and over 25 people were playing games. A coffee table had to be cleared for more gaming. I wandered around and snapped a few photos since I am the official photographer of BLOB. I soon was odd man out and waited for games to end. I was noticed by Joe and he invited me to play Roll Through the Ages with him and his daughter. I was always curious about the game and gave it a go. The rules are simple, roll dice up to three times and decide what you want to keep. Build civilizations for more dice or build wonders for endgame victory points. There are also trade goods and coins on the die; they help you make scientific advancements. It felt a bit like Yahtzee but with more depth. I am always on the look out for more games to play with my wife and I believe this is one she would enjoy.

Suzanne perused the games I brought and wanted to try out Mystery Express. We gathered a few other want to be sleuths and boarded the train. The game is time based and searching for clues in train cars offer you new clues from the other players but takes time. Conductors, passengers and fellow inspectors all have cards, much like Clue, and are shown to you based on your train car choices. The time of the murder is handled in a separate fashion, three times during the game the time cards are flipped or passed for everyone to look at. A good memory is a plus since note taking isn’t allowed. As a child, Clue was always one of my favorite games and Mystery Express is a great addition for any murder mystery fans. The game was really close as many of us were even with clues but it came down to the Telegram to ultimately break the tie and capture the murderer. More important is that everyone seemed to enjoy the game.

We wrapped the night by playing Lords of Waterdeep again. My opinions didn’t change after a second play. It is a fast and fun game which I can see getting more table time in the future. We were packed to the rafters and if BLOB gets any more players we may need to build an addition on Rhonda’s house. Since warmer weather is on its way to Michigan, I could see attendance waning but we shall have to wait and see. Thanks for reading and I’ll be back in a month’s time with another report.

Who wants to Play?

Space Alert

Wasabi

Good Night