GamesReviews written by Legomancer
This game is straight-up FUN. Build a ship, and then watch it get destroyed. One of those games that is at its best when everything is going horribly wrong.
(2018 edition) I've played History of the World several times before. I've also played A Brief History of the World. But this new edition is different enough from both to warrant inclusion.
Much of the basic gameplay is the same: choosing empires, placing armies, swarming, scoring, then retiring. But some of the changes from Brief have been introduced and some new changes have been added.
There are only five eras now, fewer territories, and fewer armies. There's an absurd "catapult" component that exists just to give you bonuses on failed but continuing attacks. Caravans are like fleets, except for inaccessible areas. An interesting minor tweak to the scoring is included.
I don't remember enough about Brief History, but I remember feeling that it didn't quite measure up. If I wanted to play HOTW I wanted to play HOTW and if I wanted to play something shorter, I'd just play something else. I didn't get that feeling with this.
There's a lot of competition in this arena now, but a lot of it is caught in the "more is more" design bloat. There's definitely room for this in the mix, though. It's much more streamlined than a lot of other stuff, while still delivering a fun experience.
(FFG 3rd edition) DungeonQuest is a terrible game. It's almost completely random. There's no strategy you can decide on, and no way to implement it if there were. There's player elimination, sometimes right off the bat (in one game we played, Matt nearly got killed on turn two.) Some of the characters have lousy ability scores, and if you happen to draw a card that tests that score and fail, the results can be devastating, through no fault of your own. The task presented to you is insanely difficult, bordering on the impossible, especially given the timed aspect of the game and the little control you have over your fate. Usually a person can win through a perversion of the rules that goes against the spirit of the game. The new combat system gives your enemies the opportunity to hit you much harder, and very few chances to escape them. DungeonQuest is, in the words of Thomas Hobbes, nasty, brutish, and short.
I LOVE it.
More here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/557552/a-fan-of-the-old-version-buys-the-new-version
NOTE: Play with these Combat Die rules and you'll never go back: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/589442/the-dq-combat-die-the-quick-fix-that-bumps-the-ga
This is a Settlers of Catan-like resource development game, but with a lot of neat things added on that reduce the randomness and increase the strategy. I like the programming of moves and the timing and bluffing that result. Could probably do with a bit more interaction, but still, a nice game.
A combination European-Ameritrash game with area control and combat, set in the weirdo Warhammer universe I don’t care anything about. You play the role of evil gods bent on destruction, carving a path of misery across a doomed world. Each god has his own goal and path to victory, and it seems like a big, stupid mess but the result is gloriously fun. I love the application of the theme on this one. It teaches and plays very quickly, but looks like there are a lot of angles to try out. A nice mixture of strategy and conflict, and the (admittedly slightly) different goals keep things fresh. A real winner.