Not-so-mobile.

Sometimes the best game experiences come from trying something new. If I hadn't taken the plunge and bought Battlestar Galactica, I wouldn't have gotten into the Ameritrash scene. If I had never agreed to try out a full-night game of Descent, I never would have learned that long games can actually be more engrossing than little 60-minute goof-offs. And if I had never agreed to try some crazy game called Settlers of Catan my senior year in college, I probably wouldn't have any real hobby to speak of in the first place. It seems trivial to call those events "risks," but in a hobby that requires as much commitment as this one an unenjoyable experience can feel like a huge waste of your time. Trying something new therefore becomes a big deal, because you might be sitting down to something you'll hate.

One of the joys of writing for a new audience is getting a clean slate to write on. That means I can revisit a few of my favourite topics that I blundered over while I was still cutting my teeth as a writer and – hopefully – make a better job of them second time around. And frankly I can’t think of many better topics to revisit than the reviews I wrote of my very favourite games. So today I’m going to do just that, starting with the one I’ve been playing the longest: Titan.

I've always loved interaction in games. I'd bet that most gamers do, really, it's just that those who've chosen to embrace the bloodless, over-balanced mechanical model that runs screaming as far from zero-sum games as it possibly can think that logic is more important than interaction. But there is, thankfully, an alternative. Instead of having players taking chunks out of each other, you can instead encourage them to co-operate for mutual gain.

The deckbuilding mechanic of Dominion was the most revolutionary thing in the last decade of tabletop gaming. Many other games have build on that creativity. Yet after all that time and all those titles, deckbuilding still feels like a mechanic struggling to find its place in the world.

It's an inherently insular thing. Demanding significant setup time and forcing players to obsess over their own constructions while ignoring everyone else. Nightfall and Star Realms added more interaction, but it wasn't enough. A Few Acres of Snow briefly looked like a miraculous saviour but got crushed under the Halifax Hammer. 

Enter Trains.

Trains looks like a re-themed Dominion. You play cards to get money to buy more cards and, if you pick your combos well, the economic engine of your deck slowly improves. It's got a curious new concept of Waste, useless cards that you gain from certain actions and which do nothing but clog up your hand. You can pass to get rid of all the Waste cards in your hand, or certain other cards can help you get rid of them.

It's interesting, but it's not enough to differentiate the game on its own. What does make Trains different, and special, is what you do with your economic engine. Rather than just an ever-increasing velocity of victory card purchases until someone wins, the goal of Trains is to build track. Across a hex board. Against other people.

This changes everything.

Suddenly, your deck and your hand are worthy only of peripheral glances. Everyone focuses down the board in the middle of the table. They're together: pointing, chatting, worrying about what's going to happen on that board before their turn rolls around. It's not just more interaction. This is deckbuilding as a shared experience.

This dynamic is enhanced by the clever way in which you score points. Some come from building track into "remote locations" and some will come from victory point cards in your deck. But mostly they come from having track in cities where there are stations. It costs money, a card, and waste, to build a station but no-one owns it. Everyone with track in the city benefits. Station building in crowded locales thus becomes a vast and intriguing game of chicken.

Yet the game still manages to feel friendly and welcoming. Building track in a hex doesn't claim it as yours, it just makes it more expensive for someone to join you. Competition without cruelty.

Turns roll round with incredible speed, but you're faced with a wealth of options. Besides all those ways to score points, there's different ways to build your deck and expand on the board. Sometimes it makes sense to build a lean, card dealing machine and others you can embrace the Waste. Sometimes it makes sense to isolate yourself in a corner and others you're best shadowing other players and feeding off their stations. No two games are ever the same.

It's not as good a family game as it makes out to be, however. It has the same information overload as many deckbuilders, with so many cards to choose from and a selection that shifts with every game. This is great gamer fuel, of course, but many find it confusing. The two big maps on the double-sided board aren't great with just two players, either.

Enter Trains: Rising Sun.

This is one of those expansions that's also a stand-alone game. You can play it out of the box, or combine the new cards and boards it offers with those from the original Train.  

If you're new to the series, it's a much better place to start. The double-sided board has a big map for three to four players and two smaller maps for two. They're cramped and awkward making the game much more compelling for a duo of players.

There's also a couple of new mechanics. One of them is the concept of Route Bonuses. These are effectively like the tickets in Ticket to Ride: extra points you can get for connecting cities. There's nothing not to love about this. It adds depth, competition and excitement for no overhead. Rising Sun has the necessary cards and markers to add Routes to the original game too.

The other thing is adds are Attack and Reaction cards, two sides of the same coin. The Attacks are a little soft, as you'd expect in a game like this, but they still add some sweet kid glove brutality. And if you like the interaction, but not the nastiness, be sure to throw in some Reactions into the card mix too.

In making for these extra card types, Rising Sun does create one odd problem. What's gone to create the space are a selection of cards that allow you to slim and control your deck. Without them you're stuck with your starting cards for longer and it's harder to hone your deck into a potent engine.

Some might say this is a good thing. It can certainly end up creating some surprise plays. If you don't like it, there's plenty of cards with the necessary functions in the original Trains. Mix them both together.

Neither of these games are groundbreaking with their design. Plus they have a feeling of trying to be all things to all gamers, creating a game of all trades that's master of nothing. These are the only reasons I can think of why they haven't exploded into wider consciousness, because they're cracking titles. What they lack in innovation they make up for in impact. Here, finally, is a proper fusion of deckbuilder and board. Here, finally, is a game with all the creativity and variety of deckbuilding with interaction and positional play. Here, finally, is a deckbuilder I actually want to play.

A good Transformers Game in Disguise? 

Brad Harmer-Barnes explains why stripping the crap away from a Steve Jackson game makes it work better.  

Brad Harmer-Barnes explains why busting makes you feel good.

Brad Harmer-Barnes revisits the land of HeroQuest and Warhammer Quest with this new card game from FFG.

Join me on my quest to eventually review everything I've played.  This time?  Two card games are on tap.  No pun intended.

Let's face it...card games make excellent stocking stuffers or Dirty Santa gifts.  They're usually cheap, compact, and the cards themselves can double as thrown weapons in a pinch.

So are Fairy Tale and Monty Python Fluxx the equivalent of coal in your stocking?  Or instead, is it like one of those cool pens where you flip them upside down and boom, someone's naked?  Or some unspecified third thing, perhaps?


The ancitipation's killing you, I know.  Find out more inside.

Recommendation Contigent on Insanity

I think it’s critical to start this review off by saying I’m completely insane. And really, Triumph of Chaos is a damn good game. If you’re also completely insane.

From the box

The legend tells of a green mountain... Of an ancient dungeon labyrinth buried deep beneath it... and of the priceless treasures to be found there. It also tells of the fearsome monsters and deadly traps which await all who seek those riches, and how only the boldest and most resourceful of heroes can ever hope to enter the dungeon... And return alive!

As a family game this is simple to set up even if playing the extended game. So for the purposes of this review I will talk about the extended game and point out where the basic game differs.

SET UP

You shuffle the various piles of cards into separate piles and then deal one of the room cards face down on each of the rooms. Each player then takes a group of five adventurers, with one of each type per player. These are Fighter, Cleric, Dwarf, Magic User and Rogue – the classic D&D dungeon group. You place them in a row left to right with the first character on the right being your group being your leader and the first to tackle any challenges you come across.

If playing the simple game then you only take the Fighter, who will face the dungeon alone.

HOW TO PLAY

Each turn you move your group marker from one doorway to another without crossing any other doors in between. Basically this means you move along a corridor or into a room. If you move in to a room you encounter that room card and the player to your right reads out that card. Usually the text will show which card to draw next and then they chain together to create an encounter as you can see here:

Great hall. Long ago this must have been a grand feasting hall. Now it's ornate wall hangings are rotted, it's oak furniture smashed, and the only thing of interest is a...

(FEATURE)

Huge Throne...large enough to seat a giant! Carefully you begin to examine it, but then a strange feeling that you are being watched causes you to turn around and see a...

(MONSTER)

Minotaur lowering it head and charging.
Once it is defeated you find that it was guarding a...

(TREASURE)

Crystal mirror in a silver frame worth 300 gold pieces. It is small enough to take with you as you leave.

(END OF ROOM)

When you encounter a monster or hazard you can change your party leader to give you the beat chance of defeating the relevant card.

Each Character, Hazard, Monster and Spell card has half of a chart on it which pair together to give the numbers required to overcome the challenge.

There are five positions for each, and your ability is marked by a red dot that then gives a number to roll equal or higher on the opposing card. This means that different characters can be better at different tasks as you will see below when I detail their strengths and weaknesses.

For monsters you match up your characters card with the monsters card and cross-reference them to give a score to wound on a D20.

If you roll equal or more then the monster is defeated, otherwise the monster gets to strike. If it hits then you become wounded and turn your characters card over. If it misses then nothing happens but either way you can then swap you party around and try again. A wounded character that is hit again is killed.

Different characters match up against different Monsters, for example Clerics are good against Undead Monsters. Magic Users each have a spell that can be used in combat; again you match your spell up against the Monster and then need to roll equal or higher on the D20. The cross-referencing this time shows if a Monster is immune to that type of spell, so it is best to find out what the beast is before attacking with your Magic User as his basic combat is weak in comparison.

For example a Magic User could be using the classic

Magic missile
Spell roll 5 or more
Two success three no effect.

So if the Monsters Red Dot matches any of the success lines you only need to roll five or more on the D20 to kill that monster.

For Hazards you still match your card up in a similar way to monsters except that if you fail to disarm/beat it you take a wound. You can try again and even swap your party members around as you can when fighting monsters.

You can retreat from an encounter and leave the room partially explored if you wish.

The characters work as a group with some special abilities amongst them. The Fighter is the standard character and has the best chance at defeating most monsters in combat.

The Cleric is reasonable in combat especially against undead monsters, can also heal the entire party for the cost of a missed turn.

The Dwarf comes after the Fighter in terms of fighting, but has no other special ability.

The Magic User comes with potent spells that can easily eliminate monsters provided they don’t have immunity to the particular spell you possess. They discard their spell after use, but can learn a new one by missing a turn – this can be combined with the Clerics healing powers. Magic Users are poor in normal combat.

The Rogue has the best chance of disarming hazards while being a fair fighter.

As you can see these are fairly standard types for D&D gaming and as such introduce them to a young/family audience.

While exploring the Dungeon you will notice a Magic Fountain in the middle of the board, if you visit here then your entire group are healed without missing a turn. However it doesn’t allow your Magic User to replenish his spell.

For the basic game you must retreat from an encounter if wounded but you then recover your wound at the start of your turn (without missing it). If you are playing solo the rules state that you can do this a maximum of eight times in a single game – you try to get the most gold possible and note it to compare with other games you play.

The game ends once the last room has been explored, each player then adds up how much treasure they have found and the winner is the player with the most.

There are some advanced game options.
First chose spells rather than having a random one. Second chose heroes rather than have the fixed group of Cleric, Dwarf, Fighter, Magic User and Rogue. Finally there is the Treasure is heavy option, where each hero can only carry one piece/card and any excess is dropped in the room you are in.

HOW IT PLAYS

The game plays smoothly with an easy flow to the turns. The most fun comes from reading out the cards to the other players using dramatic pauses and such to heighten the tension. I can imagine that this would be a lot of fun with young children as a lot of the encounters would be new and exciting.

Of course it is a luck dependant game as you need to draw cards and then roll dice but you have lots of choices while playing such as using your Fighter in combat to make sure you have the best chance of killing any Monster you come across.

Interaction is limited to card reading and dice rolling, although you can voice your opinions and thoughts while checking just how well (or not) your rivals are doing. However it is a fast game and as such makes for a good focus point while chatting – strange how family games often work as beer and pretzels game, might be something about similar attention spans…

The Clerics and Magic Users special powers while potent are quite limited by the need to miss a turn to use healing or replenish spells. Because the game is so short and there are limited numbers of rooms then an entire turn missed will put you at a serious disadvantage. Also I wonder if the Dwarf had a special that was removed from the game at a prototype stage as they are just party filler at the moment.

Finally because it is scripted the game might become stale after repeated plays, however with the various combinations of cards it should take a while before that happens. Also different groups will approach this differently – the beer and pretzels crowd will probably just tease each other about their fates in the rooms previously while families and children will probably focus on fun rather than previous games.

Overall I think this is a good game which really introduces the idea of dungeon exploring and storytelling while keeping the game simple. A reprint would be good as the game plays well and is easy to explain. If a more generic board layout was used then it could easily be expanded with further sets of cards to give different themed dungeons.

Graham Morris and Rik Roses designed this game. They don’t appear to have done anything else according to BGG.

The game, it's a test of sorts, for determining whether something is a machine or a human being. There's a judge and a subject. The judge asks questions and based on the subject's answers they determine who they are speaking with - what they are speaking with. All you have to do is ask a question. So, now it's your turn to ask Turing by Glenn Ford from Man O' Kent Games.

I had my eye on this game for a very, very long time before I committed to buy. The reason was simply because if the legendary play time which gets attached to this monster. So, having taken the plunge, and played a few games, did I enjoy it as much as I thought I would, and did the play time issue matter as much as I thought it would?

A warning to readers – I purchase the expansion alongside the base game and every game of TI3 that I’ve played has used at least some of the expansion rules. It’s thus a bit tricky trying to give an entirely accurate review of the base game alone, but that’s what I’m going to try and do.

Anyone who pays much attention to my articles will be well aware that Twilight Struggle is about my favourite game to play in the whole world. Indeed I believe I happened to mention this last week. So it should come as no great surprise that I leaped on the deluxe version like a starving vegetarian grabbing a handful of lentils. Having now played a few games with the extra cards - and indeed having played many games in the past with a variety of balancing mechanics - I thought it might be worth writing a review. But here’s the rub - I’ve reviewed this game in the past, and since the changes aren’t that substantial I’m going to be really lazy and re-use a lot of my previous work in this review. Hopefully you either haven’t read it, or you’ve blanked it from your mind, or you’ve drunk enough moonshine in the intervening couple of years to destroy your long term memory.

Four Games in Two Reviews!

Discussion of Onward To Venus, Mythotopia, and the Warfighter expansions.  Also some game of the year discussion for 2013 and 2014.