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.

Moving... no new post

Sorry I'm super behind on posting... and everything else in life right now.

The wife and I are purchasing a home together. Everything is moving very fast with the sale so all of our free time is dedicated to it. All of the board games are packed up so I can't even look at them to write a blog.

Even our valentines date was pizza at home while packing. Ain't my wife a lucky gal?

So no new post this week but I will try to get one soon.

Ticket to Ride: Europe game review

After we watched the episode for Ticket to Ride on tabletop the in-laws snapped up a copy. So the wife and I picked up Ticket to Ride: Europe. I should have reviewed this a while ago so that the denizens of the internet could have read my review once it was announced to be coming on tabletop but of course I put it off for way too long. Now you can read my review after watching tabletop… I gotta work on my timing.

Game board from the Days of Wonder site

Ticket to Ride: Europe takes the game to a whole new another station. (pun definitely intended) It is more complicated than the original in a few ways.

First off there are tunnels. To claim a tunnel a player pulls the top three cards from the train deck. If any of these cards match the colour or are a wild card the player must play an equal number of extra cards to claim that route. For instance: if I want to claim a three card tunnel with blue cards and I pull a wild and a blue card that tunnel is now a five blue card tunnel. If I do not have the cards I fail to claim the line and play passes to the next player. Planning becomes so much more important this way.

Next there are ferries. These are train lines that go over water ways. These will require a locomotive to get across. In game terms this means you need wild cards. Spaces on these lines will have the image of one or two locomotives letting you know how many wild cards you need.

Cute little train station

Another change is the addition of stations. Stations can be built in any city and they allow a player to share claim of a single line already claimed by another player. This does help when you really need to claim a line to finish a big point route. Each station played costs you 4 victory points so they should be used sparingly.

Of course the biggest difference is the extreme change to the map. There are fewer dual lines between cities. So claiming lines early can be vital in ensuring you can complete your longest routes. However claiming lines to block an opponent is easier and can really up the competition in the game.

The downside to Ticket to Ride: Europe is the use of archaic city names. I would have preferred more recent names to help my nieces and nephews with geography more. The outdated city names aren’t as practical and can be confusing to many players. While this is relatively minor it does cause some drag in the game as players have to search for their cities and/or attempt to pronounce the odd names.

To sum up I think Ticket to Ride: Europe is a great addition to the game line. A few changes to the game have increased the challenge rating and it’s a great change of pace from the base game. While the game isn’t great for the geographically challenged it should be fun for most family/friend game nights. If you love Ticket to Ride grab the Europe version. I think you will definitely choo-choo-choose this game for many game nights.

The Resistance game review

During GameALot my wife played a few random games while I was playing Twilight Imperium. One of these games was The Resistance. She loved it and convinced me that we had to pick it up.

The Resistance is an identity deducing game. It is genius in its simple design and quick to play. It is designed for 5 to 10 players. The story behind it is you are all members of a resistance cell attempting to work against the government. Hidden within this cell are a number of government spies attempting to thwart the plans of the resistance group.

The box includes a number of game boards that are more of a set of tracking boards than anything. Each has 5 spots for tracking success of failure of missions along with a vote track marker for tracking how many times a mission has been rejected.

Players are each given a secret identity: blue cards represent resistance and red representing spies. Players then all cover their eyes. One player then asks the spies to open their eyes (only the spies) then tells the spies to close their eyes again. The all players open their eyes. This allows the small number of spies to work against The Resistance together.

Play then progresses with a player being selected to organize a mission. This player checks the mission slot on the board to figure out how many players must be selected; anywhere from 2 to 5 players. He/she must then assign enough players. Once the mission is tasked all of the players vote on whether to approve the mission. If the mission is approved it moves forward, if it is rejected the next player is selected to re-organize the mission. Be careful in voting, if any mission is rejected 5 times the spies win.

Every player on a mission is given two cards: Success and Failure. The Resistance players will always select missions to succeed spies may choose either option depending on their strategy. Spies do want missions to fail. Cards are turned in face down to the organizer. This player shuffles the cards then reveals them. The organizer then places a marker on the board for success or failure.

Once play reaches 3 out of 5 missions as success or failure the game ends. 3 fails mean the spies win while 3 successful missions mean the resistance wins.

I really love The Resistance for its simplicity. There are no complicated rules, strategies, dice rolls, or game boards. Any player should be able to pick up the concept quickly. This leads to the game being played fast with multiple rounds in a night keeping the entire group entertained for a long time.

The Resistance is also perfect for its design for larger game groups. It is targeted for anywhere from 5 to 10 players so if extra people show up for game night this can keep everyone involved in a single game. The best part is every player is involved at every step: voting on missions, resistance players watching every move in an attempt to deduce who is a spy, spies working to deflect suspicion from themselves, and everyone trying to figure out who should be on a mission. Everyone is always involved in every play.

At its core The Resistance seems like a game of practicing deceit but if you look closer it’s more of a game of learning how to detect deceit or honesty. There are always fewer spies so players inevitably spend more game time trying to deduce the legitimacy of other players’ claims of innocence.

The downsides to The Resistance are that it’s an argument game. Players are going to spout unfounded accusations at each other and this could lead to some frustrations at the table. The recent game edition also includes a card expansion. Each card can be assigned to a player allowing a special effect: from influencing voting, to seeing another player’s identity card. While the cards are interesting and some players love them I find these cards slow the game down and take away from the brilliance of the basic game play.

To sum up The Resistance is a game you definitely need on your shelf. It’s fun to play and really saves the night when you end up getting extra players who bump you over the usual 4 to 6 player game limits. The game is easy to learn, fast to play, and really tests your skills at deduction or deception. I recommend The Resistance to any game group. It plays well with family and friends, the theme is universally understandable and it will get some serious play time.

Battle Masters board game review

Just before Christmas I managed to meet up with some guys I hadn't seen in forever. Of course we talked about board games. We talked about how some games define an era of our childhood. For me this was when I was thirteen and I got Battle Masters. This was my first fantasy miniatures war game and sparked my love of the genre. It opened my eyes to the world of "other" non-generic board games. Sadly my mother tossed this one out a long time ago and I've been searching for a reasonably priced replacement. One of the guys believes he has a copy in his attic and might be giving it to me sometime in the near future.

The big draw for me was the giant vinyl mat that was used for the play area. By giant I mean 4 foot by 4 foot square of floor space. It featured a river, and octagonal terrain markings. Battle Masters came with various terrain tiles: marshes, river fords and ditches as well as some hedges and a tower (which could be destroyed). Each of these had it's own special rules for either movement or combat effects. As a kid this allowed for a quick set up of a battlefield that didn't require modelling skill or elaborate planning. Getting the players directly in to game play and allowing the love of the game genre to grow from there.

There were two sides to Battle Masters. The Imperial Army and the Chaos army. The imperial army was the force for good and it featured archers, knights, men-at-arms, crossbowmen, and the imperial cannon. The Chaos army was evil and featured units like beastmen, wolf riders, orcs, goblins, Chaos Warriors, chaos archers, the Champions of Chaos and the Ogre. The units were set up on bases with usually 3 or 5 units per base. This gave the impression of battle formations. My young imagination ran wild with my vast armies deployed for war.

Link to the official rule book

The special units of the Ogre and the Imperial cannon had their own special rules. The cannon would choose a target when firing then the controlling player would lay down cannon tiles up to the target. Then the player would flip these over to reveal what the cannon ball did. It would either fly, bounce (causing damage to the unit in that tile) or explode ending it's flight and destroying whatever unit was in that tile. If the cannonball made it to the target it would be destroyed. If however the cannonball exploded next to the cannon it would be a misfire: the controlling player would pull a random cannonball card and apply its effect to the cannon. The Ogre had special cards that he would draw randomly and obey in order. Three said ogre moves and three said ogre attacks. These had to be done in the drawn order, but the player could elect not to take a drawn action. The ogre would draw one less card per wound. The ogre other special was that he had 6 health as opposed to the rest of the units 3 health.

Game play proceeded by drawing from a central deck of cards. Whichever units were depicted on the cards would then move and/or attack. Some of the cards revealed would be single units some would have multiple units (orcs, goblins and wolf riders) where all the units would be used. The randomness of the central deck could make it so one player had multiple moves before the opponent could respond. This made for a more interesting game as neither player knew who would be playing next. This means that Battle Masters is a great introduction to weird game play rules.

Of course this made for Battle Masters being Very light on strategy.

That is the biggest downside to Battle Masters, it's not really a strategy game. It is very reliant on luck of the draw and luck of the dice. For someone with a lot of strategy experience the game won't fit your ideal. However when playing with the novice or younger player it does level the playing field and is a nice light introduction to the genre.

I would recommend hunting down a copy of Battle Masters if you would like to introduce a young gamer to this genre of gaming or if you just want to play a quick simple fantasy game with a friend. Of course there are other better designed games out there but collectors should really consider adding this to their list.

Check back next week when I review The Resistance.