It’s been a while since I have written anything for the blog, which tends to happen around winter time.  Here in Sweden, winter is a cold, dark, bitter experience that leaves one lethargic and unmotivated.  It’s a kind of hibernation where bringing up the strength to do anything but eat and sleep is difficult.  By February however the light comes back, the snow fall makes everything bright and you start to get your energy back.

Now even though I have been in my winter hibernation that is not to say no gaming has taken place, in fact there has been quite a bit.  I thought it would be great just to do a single article to get myself caught up by doing some mini reviews and drop some tips for a few games my group and I have been playing.   This is going to be a real mixed bag however because while we played quite a few new boardgames, we actually rotated back into some miniature gaming and role-playing games as well.

Lets get right into it.

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition

While there has been plenty of board gaming, this winter D&D 5th edition really took center stage for my gaming group as we put together a weekly wednesday night game that has become almost a religion for us.   Our campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms and has after over 20 sessions already reached many of those classic D&D heights like fighting dragons, giants, hobgoblins and much more all the while ranging the gambit from city life, dungeon crawling, wilderness adventures and everything in between.  It’s been an absolute blast.

For me personally D&D is a staple of role-playing, really my go to game for a great RPG experience and it has been so for nearly 30 years.  I have played every edition ever put out extensively, really you could say from a perspective of experience I’m about as veteran as you can get.   I was playing D&D when Gygax was a young man. That said however, despite 30 years of D&D I have rarely ever enjoyed the game as a player, which is why this particular campaign has been so much fun much for me.  Not being a GM not only gives you a very different perspective on the game, but allows you to appreciate the rule system in a very different, very personal way.

One thing I can say about 5th Edition D&D is that its probobly one of my favorite versions of the game from a strictly non-nostalgic perspective.  Meaning that I love it for what it is, a fun RPG, while being the fuel for what I consider a classic D&D experience.  It finds a kind of middle ground between classic/old school D&D and modern game design,  while simultaneously remaining rules light enough not to throw role-playing under the bus, but rule-sy enough to keep you interested in reading the books and exploring its nuances.  I still think 1st and 2nd edition offer the most in terms of the spirit of the game as Gygax intended it, not everyone would agree with me, but a fact doesn’t require you to believe it (burn!) but as a modern system, 5e is close enough to that old school method that in the hands of a good DM you can still get those nostalgia moments reminding you of your childhood.

For anyone who has never played a role-playing game before,  I highly recommend 5e as a place to start.  The rules are simple and streamlined, while the writing is done well enough to inspire your imagination.  If however you’re a 1st or 2nd edition player that has skipped all of the modern, post Gygax versions of the game, if there was one to try, it would be 5e.  Definitely a fantastic game, it gets my stamp of approval.

Twilight Imperium 4th Edition

When FFG announced that they would be putting out a new edition of one of my all time favorites after nearly 10 years of 3rd edition, my body was ready.  I certainly owe this blog a much closer and deeper review than what I’m about to do here, but suffice to say that like always Christian T. Peterson and his team do not disappoint.

Twilight Imperium 4th edition takes the established formula of the 4x epic classic and brings it one step closer to perfection.  It remains the robust and dynamic experience we have come to expect while smoothing out some of the rough edges from the previous edition.  It still comes  with all the same flaws inherent to a game like this, namely its nearly unbearable length of play and rules weight.  I personally however accept and embrace it as is,  the depths of this games tactical and strategic lengths is well worth the 6+ hour investment you will need to make to play it.

I still believe that its a 6 player or nothing type game, you simply do not get the full experience with 3, 4 or 5 players, each suffering from various balance issues.   For the inducted veteran, 4e is well worth the coin for the upgrade and like always my suggestion to the uninitiated but interested is, tread carefully.  TI4 is not a board game, its a hobby and the price tag and time investment is too high to have the 5 kilo box sitting on your shelf collecting dust.  Be sure that you have the 6 man gaming group ready to dive in with you, if your twisting arms to get people to play, my suggestion is skip it. This is a game made for hardened veterans and fans of heavy science-fiction board gaming, everyone else is going to hate it.

All that said, for TI fans, this is another step towards that ultimate science-fiction gaming experiance.

New Angeles

By far this years smash hit for me is New Angeles.  I fell in love with this game after a single play as did my gaming group and for good reason, its fan-fucking-tastic.  Definitely a contender for game of the year, New Angeles is a negotiation, backstabbing joy ride that dare I say has effectively created a new genre of board gaming.

Its populated with some clever mechanics, it looks amazing on the table and its driven by a really cool science-fiction theme, all things that speak to me, in on itself enough to recommend it.  This however is really just the icing on the cake,  the real meat of this game is how it establishes the feel of a political drama that plays out in discussions and debates driven by the very difficult to predict motivations of the players.  This is almost a social experiment of sorts, where much of the fun of the game is trying to deduce what the hell people are really up to, what their goals really are and who they are actually playing against and for.

Absolutely love this one, I haven’t played something this fresh since the perfect Blood Rage.  This is one of those games that belongs on every gamers shelf.

I will be doing a full review of this one sometime in the future.

Star Wars Armada

My gaming group has a tendency to cycle in and out various types of gaming, we will go through board game, miniature game or role-playing game phases at unpredictable intervals.  When we go in however, we go big and hard like porn stars.  Star Wars Armada for quite a long time was THE game for us, in fact its one of the few games we have as a group participated in official tournaments, something that was entirely new to us.  We even have a store and regional champion in our midst.

Just as quickly however it fell out of favor, but not because we stopped liking it or anything, its more that we simply got into something else and like yesterdays news Armada got set aside.   Well recently Armada made a comeback and suddenly we are buying into the new wave 7 ships, building lists and planning events.   Why?  Because Armada remains without question one of the best miniature games on the market today.  Yes its a bit heavy and I totally understand why it doesn’t compete in popularity with the likes of X-Wing and 40k, but from a perspective of game design, mechanics and sheer epic size and feel, it is among the best there is.  This is the gamers miniature game, its far less about rolling dice, painting mini’s and list building and far more about planning and execution.

For me personally the fact that there is no fussing about with painting and assembly is a huge plus, but really of all the selling points of Armada, capital ship combat in the Star Wars universe has to be at the top of the list.  It shines thematically as much as it does competitively.  It’s a game of layers upon layers of depth, a game of strategic and tactical subtlety which results in an endless stream of lessons as you get better at the game and gain a higher understanding of its nuances.  There is already so much strategy to explore in this game with what has already been released and with each new wave they throw in the next curve ball that has everyone scrambling and re-assessing everything to find that new key strategy that brings them the wins.  Its a fantastic experience that no miniature game fan should miss.

Now it comes with a disclaimer label and I’m not going to sit on a pedestal and tell you everything is rosy, there are some issues.  Like all miniature games it kind of suffers at the hands of the competitive meta math mining where certain combinations one can say are at the very least stupid, if not outright broken.  In the case of Armada these combos are effective but not overwhelming, yet sufficiently irritating to kick of more than a handful of forum debates.  Combos often abused by the masses creates this effect of negativity that can let some of the steam out of the game.  Right now in Armada I’m a bit cranky about the activation spam lists and mechanics like Relay which I don’t think really fit the games core premise.  This sort of thing however is quite normal in miniature games and in local groups like mine its a none issue. In our group  people create clever lists, but they always maintain that the premise of the game is about capital ship combat and fun is always paramount.  So long as your gaming group adheres to some restraint, these mechanical loopholes are usually not a problem.

All and all I think Armada remains the best option for gamers looking for a proper miniature gaming challenge, but generally I tend to still recommend X-Wing for most gamers over Armada.  X-Wing is quick to play, easy to learn and maintains that fun spark, though like Armada is has a few rambunctious nuisance upgrades and ship that can really throw a wrench into the ferries wheel.  Armada I find is a bit too heavy for most as well, like I said, its a gamers game, even I burn out on it eventually as it requires a lot of thought and energy to stay competitive, but if you strand me on an island with one miniature game, I rather it be Armada over anything else.

Sid Meier’s Civilization: A New Dawn

I was really excited for this one, in fact I bought it kind of blind without really reading reviews or investigating the game much.  This was mainly because it was FFG at the helm and the game was from the same designer that brought us the amazing New Angeles.

I don’t want to say I was disappointed, it was a considerable improvement over FFG’s previous lackluster attempt at bringing us the classic PC game to board game form, but I was not blown away by it either.  Far more Euroish than is good for it, the game while streamlined and a fairly straightforward experience lacked that feel of building up a civilization you might be seeking in a game with the word Sid Meier in the title.  It lacked epicness if I can invent a word and for a game that takes you from the stone age to the future age, you think this would be the one focal point for the designers.

It’s kind of a typical Euro fair with rather obtuse mechanics and abstracted to the point where you realize it could just as easily had a different theme entirely.  You don’t really build much in the game, the differences  between nations and their strategic choices is quite benign and, like FFG’s previous attempt, they failed to produce a good combat system which is also a key feature of Sid Meiers game and it should be here as well.  Oh and I really hated the art style of the board game with as much disdain as I have for the art style of the new PC version.

It was an ok, one might say below average game. for me the search for the ultimate Twilight Imperium like epic for the civilization building genre continues, this was definitely not it.  It fell short of expectation and I don’t foresee it getting a whole lot of table time in the future.  Through The Ages and Nations remain the two reigning champions of this genre even though neither is played on a map.

18XX Series (1830 Railroads & Robber Barons)

One thing I got really into this winter is the 18XX series of games. These economic railroad and business management games really sparked my nostalgic love for classic PC games like Railroad Tycoon, Transport Tycoon and Capitalism.  Now I will say this up front, this is not a genre of games my local gaming buddies are into so I have to scratch this itch outside of my normal channels, hence it has hindered my efforts but I can say without reservation that there is real magic here.

The 18XX series has you running transportation empires, building them from scratch and over decades of time you slowly but surely develop your railroad business with a keen eye on the economic fluctuations of the stock-market and the cut throat competition of the other players.  This is definitely what I would call ”High Complexity” gaming, its rather slow and requires a general love for the genre and perhaps a bit of nostalgia seasoning.  Still it has this great attention to thematic detail giving you a really authentic sense of time and place.  I ended up picking up several of these games including 1830, which is among the first and perhaps most famous in the genre.

I recommend this title with a caution that there is nothing ”easy” about getting into these games, its definitely and absolutely for hardcore veteran gamers with a specific economic simulator itch to scratch.  You will read the rulebook several times before anything clicks and you need to play several games before the lights really come on, then you can spend a few years playing the virtually hundreds of titles in the genre each with its own take on the same premise.  But in the right group, games like this are truly a gamers greatest reward, a unique experience on a level of gaming most games never even come close to.  If you love railroad economic games, this is the final frontier in the genre, but be warned its not for the feint of heart.

Seven Wonder Duel

This is a game that I introduced to my 9 year old daughter in hopes that I might turn her into a proper gamer.  I failed with my son who went the cool route becoming a guitar jamming rockstar but my daughter is a lot more like me and took to Seven Wonders Duel like a moth to a flame.  Sometimes you love a game because you love the people that play it with you and Seven Wonders Duel definitely falls into that category for me.

My daughter and I probably play this game at least 3 or 4 times each week and I give no quarter when I play her.  She beats me frequently, fair and square and that in itself makes me love this game even more. Its not complex by any stretch of the imagination, but far more complex than I would have expected a 9 year old to grasp.  True, my daughter is smarter than your average bear, but I actually believe this game to be quite kid friendly.  Its colorful, the rules are fairly simple to remember and because you don’t actually count up the score until the end, it keeps their attention as they ”hope for the win”.

I definitly like Duel better than the original, it has a quaint family game quality and the fact that its specifically designed for two players means my daughter and I never have to beg the none gamers in the family to join us.

Great game, highly recommend it, in particular if you are trying to induct one of your kids into the board gaming hobby or trying to turn your wife into a gamer.

Legend of the Five Rings

This FFG reboot of the classic CCG is born out of one of my favorite fantasy settings of all time, so upon its announcement I pre-ordered without hesitation.  It found its way on my most anticipated games of the year list and its one of the few that did not let me down.

In Legend of the Five Rings you take control of one of the many uniquely themed clans with different flavors of stereotypical medieval Japanese samurai from the world of Rokugan.  Its a very unique and rather specific setting that might not speak to everyone but in terms of a dueling card game it does a fantastic job of setting up a very engaging head to head match.  For me the theme is everything here however and I absolutely adore the art in this one.

I can’t say for sure that I will become a collector, I may just stop at the core set, but I think this is a really thinky game that is easy enough to teach that you can just spring it on someone, yet has that almost expected depth we have grown accustomed to from FFG card games.  Its always my hope that I will show it to someone who falls for it giving me a chance to drive deeper into the game, but so far no one in my group has really taken the dive.  Its not surprising, among my gaming group most of us have our preferred go to card game, so its more common for one person to collect rather than everyone getting into it.  Among my gaming group we already have Star Wars The Card Game, Game of Thrones 2nd edition and Lord of the Rings.  In each case there is just that one collector that supports the game for everyone elses enjoyment and I think Legend of the Five Rings will fall into that same category.

All and all though, of all the FFG dueling card games that have been put out over the years, this one is right up their with Game of Thrones for me.  It has that tightness of gameplay that ensures every match is really close, while also producing that ”lets play again” feeling that you get from a great game.  So far everyone I have showed it to enjoyed the game, but it hasn’t exactly blown anyones doors of.

Sometimes it really does just come down to theme, if you like that medieval Samurai theme, this is definitely the game for you, it handles the material wonderfully.

Arkham Horror

My love for Lord of the Rings the card game goes quite deep, but unlike 99% of the games on my shelf, I have bought this one for entirely selfish reasons as I play predominantly solo and that’s the way I like it.

Arkham Horror is the new cooperative card game from FFG and offers that same solo opportunity as Lord of the Rings, so I very naturally jumped at the chance to explore it.

Right out of the gate I was captivated by how richly the gameplay captured the pulp horror theme, between the locals, the types of cards the limitation and tightness of resource and the really imaginative scenario’s.  The one complaint I always had about Lord of the Rings was that the campaign mode was a bit lackluster and linear, I absolutely adore the handling of campaign mode in this game as you can effectively play through the entire story-line with the same characters.  Upgrading equipment and cards as you go, tracking stats between plays and experiencing different branching of the same story or repeat plays.

The card play itself is very good, I still prefer Lord of the Rings over this one, but that’s because I think Lord of the Rings is more of a deck builder.  Its more focused on strategies and overcoming obstacles through the act of preparation in constructing card combinations that are designed for a specific task.  In Arkham Horror deck building is kind of a afterthought really, there is some, but your mostly focused on playing the game and making clever use of the resources you have rather than trying to out smart the scenarios with clever deck building.

I also prefer this one more in a group as compared to Lord of the Rings which I play almost exclusively solo.  This one works well with 2, 3 or even 4 players and if you pick up the expansions you can really make a whole night out of it.  Still its actually quite fun and quite challenging solo, I have definitely burned quite a few evenings hunched over the table trying to unravel the mysterious of the underworld.

Great game, highly recommend it, another hit by FFG who are quickly gaining a reputation for producing some of the best collectible card games in existence.

Conclusion

And with that you are caught up.  That was more or less my winter.  We of coursed played many of the games I have covered in previous reviews, this certainly wasn’t everything but definitely among the most notable.  I have quite a few reviews to write and I definitely want to get back into some What Makes It Tick articles.   The hibernation is over, time to get back to some writing.