Stratego game review

My brother and I loved strategy games growing up. The games fed into our sibling rivalry and our need to beat each other. Because of this we both developed a love/hate relationship with the game Stratego.

Stratego is a two player strategy game. Blue and red armies take to a field of battle. The genius mechanic is that you don’t know the strength of the enemy pieces. The armies are placed with all of the information facing their own player. The backs of the pieces are a uniform blank of their colour. This makes Stratego a capture the flag style game of deceit, bluffing, guesswork and memory.

Each moveable piece is given a value. Older games use 1 through 9 as well as S for spy. Newer versions use numbers 1 through 10. Units that cannot move are bombs and flags. The most powerful unit in the game is the Marshal which is a 1 in old games or a 10 in newer reprint versions. When units encounter each other the strongest unit wins and the weakest is removed from the board. If the units are of equal strength both are removed from the board. An exception to this is the bombs which kill anyone except the miner/sapper which defuses bombs. Another exception is the spy, which can kill the Marshal if the spy attacks first; he loses if the marshal attacks him.

The game is won when one player captures the other player’s flag.

Placement strategy is often what makes or breaks a game of Stratego. Often players place the flag in the back row surrounded by bombs for protection. Other strategies involve placing the flag in the bluff behind one of the lakes where the other player wouldn’t look for it. Most often inexperienced players will place their flag first then build a strategy around that giving away their flag position in setup.

Most of this game is played by mercilessly sacrificing weaker pieces in order to build an idea of the opponent’s placement, admittedly not the best lesson for children to learn. However what is great for children is learning to memorize piece placement from past encounters. The blind play is effective in levelling the play between novice and veteran players.

My brother and I developed a love/hate relationship with Stratego because the blind placement/fog of war feel makes the game interesting. This really increases the strategy of the game however the actual battle tactics of the game feel limited. After plating for a while the guess and go mechanic gets a little old. Analysis paralysis becomes a big issue when a player begins to second guess their position. Having said that I do enjoy an occasional game every once in a while.

To sum up Stratego can be a fun strategy game. While it does have some novel rules and mechanics the novelty can wear off after a while. I do like the game but there are much better strategy games out there. I recommend Stratego for players who want to be able to switch up their strategy game night on occasion. I also recommend Stratego for those willing to teach inexperienced strategy gamers as it is great for learning the value of unit placement.

I suck at chess.

I suck at chess. I freely admit it. As a board gamer I know it’s an interesting and complex game that I wish I could master but I don’t believe I ever will. There are just some problems with the game that are preventing me (and other people) from joining the ranks of the chess clubbers.

My first issue is the gap between levels of chess players. For me a game should allow for a novice player to have at least a slim chance of winning. In chess a novice player isn’t even a challenge to a veteran player. When I sit down to a game of chess with a good player I feel like I’m cheating that player out of a good time. After all there really is no challenge to playing against me. I always leave the table feeling like I shouldn’t have bothered showing up. After all I never know what moves to make.

This leads into the memorization of possible moves. Good chess players develop a repertoire of moves. Most importantly they develop opening moves and opening defenses. Pretty much every permutation or combination of moves has a name associated with it. Entire libraries of books exist on which moves are better and how to counter each move. It’s quite daunting to think about taking on a hobby with so much history and in depth study.

Of course finding a board is easy. Chess boards are sold everywhere, my favourite local game store has a large board out front for people to use. Boards range from cheap and simple to expensive and elaborate. You can get a board with pretty much any theme that you like. That is one of the things I like about chess. You can find a board to appeal to your whimsy.

Finding a player is another matter. I don’t know very many chess players, and those I meet are of a very different skill level than myself. If I found a chess player I had an even footing with I might actually try to play. This is probably the biggest reason I suck at chess, it’s hard to find an opponent willing to play.

Personally I love the concepts and design of the game, I wish I could be a decent chess player but it just isn’t happening for me. I don’t seem to have the time or the available opponents to become a good player. At least there are so many other board games and players out there.

Maybe someday I will be a chess grandmaster, or I will remain a humble board gamer. Either way I'm having fun at the table.

Red Dragon Inn 3 Game Review

If you’ve been reading this blog you know I’m really enjoying Red Dragon Inn. So of course I’m buying the expansions to the game. This week I will go over Red Dragon Inn 3: another fun installment of post adventure fantasy night including drinking, fighting and gambling at the Red Dragon Inn.

Red Dragon Inn 3 can either be played as an expansion or as a stand alone game. It includes everything you need so if you really want to you can jump into the game line with this edition. However I really don’t recommend that. This is because even though this is the exact same game each of the characters has different extra mechanic introduced specifically for that character. While this does make them extremely interesting and fun to play it can be confusing for a new player, especially one not familiar with the normalcy of special powers in an RPG setting.

Since I’ve already covered the base game rules in my originalpost on the first installment I’m going to jump right into how the four new characters are different.

First up is Serena the Pious, an Orc Palladin. Of all the characters I think she has the easiest to understand mechanic. Serena has an internal struggle between her pious religious side and her barbaric Orc side. Most of her cards have either a blue up arrow (to increase piety) or a yellow down arrow (to show her decent into barbarity.) her piety level is tracked on an extra card scored one to eight and you keep track with a gem like you do with alcohol content and fortitude. This piety level changes the effect of certain cards. Usually cards that effect Serena for her benefit are positively affected by high piety while cards that negatively impact other players get bonuses when Serena has a low piety. This makes Serena an ideal character for people who like to plan out what cards to play ahead of time.

Brewmaster Phrenk, the troll potion maker. Phrenk has an extra potion deck he plays with. Each turn Phrenk turns over a potion card from his potion deck, which pretty much gives him one more potential card to play per turn. The most interesting part of this potion deck is the face up card can be sold to other players for the cost on the card. While this does allow Phrenk to potentially gain much needed gold he could end up selling a card to a player who turns it back on Phrenk. This crazy potion brewing troll just needs to ask himself, is it worth the gamble?

Kaylin the Renegade, a Pixie Enchanter comes with her companion Wulfric. Kaylin is interesting as she is pretty much two characters in one. One a bad girl pixie and the other a mood swinging wolf. At the end of each turn Kaylin turns over the Wulfric mood card. Her companions mood changes and this has a dramatic change in card effects. Sometimes Wulfric is Bitey and he adds fortitude damage, sometimes he is content and nothing happens, sometimes he is stalwart and he defends Kaylin and sometimes his mood turns on Kaylin causing her some problems. All in all Kaylin is a very random character to play. Perfect for oddball players who constantly change strategy!

Wizgille the Tinkerer, a gnomish artificer: by far the strangest character in the box. A number of cards in Wizgille’s deck have a small gear icon in the top left corner. When one of these is played she draws a card from her gear deck. The gear card decides if her gadget used actually works properly. First the card will say if the card takes effect... of course it doesn’t stop there, read down to an “AND” which says how the effect is changed followed by another “AND.” The second “AND” is often just a quote but some cards have multiple effects. The randomness of the character really makes for an interesting game. However I find she is extremely confusing for new players, even if an opponent is playing her. She’s best suited for experienced groups played by a player who really doesn’t care about winning or losing… they just want to have crazy fun.

Of course the drink deck has some different cards. Gamblers Grog causes a player to gain a whopping 4 alcohol content or they can pay 2 gold to pass it on to another player. Gnomish inspirational ale causes a player to gain 2 alcohol but they also get to draw 2 cards to add to their hand. Barroom brawl causes all players to lose one fortitude. Then there is Monsters attack: this means monsters are attacking the tavern. Every player loses one alcohol content AND every player who decides to defend the tavern gains 2 gold but loses 3 fortitude.

To sum up I really like Red Dragon Inn 3. It’s great as a stand alone game or mixing it up with the other editions so players can change up characters. However I would only recommend this one for players who are experienced in the Red Dragon Inn game line. New players are often confused by the various special player mechanics as they add more rules to the game. Having said that, if you think you are up for the added rules go right ahead. After all having the three editions could open you up to a 12 player game of tavern inn mayhem.

Why do you play board games?

Ever since I started this blog I’m often asked why I like board games. It seems board games have developed something of a bad reputation. So I figured I’d dismiss some of the misconceptions them and hopefully bring more people to the game table.

One of the things I hear most often right after someone asks my why I play board games is that board games are just for children. Well not anymore. Actually they never were. Games are designed to attract the whole family to the table. There are games geared for any age group. Some games are really not designed for kids at all. Here I should point something out about my blog: if you don’t want to read a whole review skip to the last paragraph of a post for a summary. I usually include who I recommend a game for: the typical age group, style of player group and sometimes who I think wouldn’t enjoy the game.

Not convinced to play yet? Why not? Do you think board games suck? Well yeah they used to but not anymore! The problem is many people had the same experiences with board games. We all got the games the big chain stores had on their shelves that everyone owned because that’s what board games are in many people’s minds. However these select few games are mass marketed junk. I agree that those games suck. I’m a board gamer who wrote a post about how why I hate monopoly. If you go to a mom and pop game store you will find board games of a higher fun quotient.

Now if you have gone to a mom and pop and grabbed a game you want to tell me you hated I’m guessing you grabbed a game based on a popular TV show or movie. Unfortunately market games tend to suck too. Most of these are developed from a tie-in marketing strategy. What this means is marketing people cranked out a game thinking that it only has to sell during the limited tie in phase. Not much thought is given to game mechanics. All thought is given to cranking out a game that looks interesting enough to buy. Seriously do yourself a favour and talk to the people at the game store like mission fun and games. If you find a marketed game you think you will like ask them if they know of a better game. Chances are they will lead you to something you will like more. Of course there have been some pretty fun marketed games out there so don’t just write them off.

Perhaps you think board games are for geeks or nerds? Well guess what we are all geeks and nerds about something so let’s give that a rest. Car geeks with their car math, workout nerds with their muscle biology, fashion geeks with their colour palettes and pattern matching… you are a geek or a nerd about something anyway. Want to know some celebrity board gamers? Watch TableTop for the likes of Jeri Ryan or Superman aka Brandon Routh. Still think it’s nerdy and geeky? Of course you do, but now it’s awesome nerdy and geeky.

Or are you thinking technology has replaced the board game? It really hasn’t. Playing over a network you lose that important human interaction. Being able to read if someone is bluffing in their move, getting to know a person on a face to face level, enjoying each other’s company is what board gaming is all about. There’s just a whole new level to gaming in the same room as other players face to face. The interaction and companionship just makes gaming more enjoyable.

Okay now that I’ve convinced you to play you are probably thinking about where to find players. Well thanks to the internets it shouldn’t be hard to find people looking to game. Board game café’s have been popping up and many board game/hobby stores have a room used for board game groups. Ask around and you should be able to find somewhere to play. Of course family and friends could be coerced into playing.

To sum up I recommend board gaming for everyone. It’s a chance to get to know people in a social night of fun and frustrations. Sure there are winners and losers but when you have a great night of board gaming you really don’t care. Board gaming is a great excuse to be together with family, friends or even meeting strangers in a board game club. Who knows you might make some great new friends!

Feel free to add your reasons to play in the comments section below.