One of the chief complaints about 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons is the CR (Challenge Rating) system which is used to balance combat encounters for the game.
The specific complaint is that the CR system doesn’t really work to create balanced encounters and using the system as designed results in weak and underpowered encounters. An additional issue is that the CR system assumes multiple encounters per day which is an unrealistic expectation for a standard D&D campaign.
Today we are going to talk about the CR system, specifically the design space, some of its math, the theory behind its design and how and what can be adapted to get different results.
The High Powered Fantasy Is Core
One important concept to embrace about 5th edition as a game design is that all of the architecture is built around the game being a high-powered fantasy RPG. The characters in the game are high-octane heroes with very powerful abilities that grow in power exponentially and its assumed as a design that the heroes always win, essentially. To use a metaphor, they are the Avengers, superheroes that always prevail and only suffer setbacks but are expected to come out victorious in a dramatic fashion.
This is important to understand when working with the CR system as designed as the core design of the game directly affects how the CR is designed to work out mathematically and as a practical application in the game.
The fact that D&D 5th edition is a high-powered fantasy is not a problem, it is a feature and should only be addressed if you actually feel the game lacks challenge in your group. If you find yourself wishing the game was more challenging, there are many approaches, but keeping the adjustments simple, and using a minimalist approach that has maximum impact is key.
In short, the CR math is setup to ensure that the players always feel like high-powered fantasy heroes. The complaint that the CR math results in weak encounters even when they are set to hard or epic is valid, but this is by design and working as intended. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
Gauging Expectations
Given the acceptance of the above, the question is what are the expectations? I think it’s fair to assume that some, perhaps many players want there to be more of a tactical challenge, and more risk involved in the outcome of combat encounters, meaning that while they enjoy the high fantasy as a narrative premise, some at least may feel the game should be more challenging as a whole, in particular in the area of combat encounters.
I think this is fair, while certainly if you want the high-powered fantasy, the CR system and the base out-of-the-box setup for the game has you covered, but for those that wish it produced more challenging encounters, the question is what can be done?
From here, we will assume that players and DM’s want a more challenging tactical experience.
Now one thing you could clearly do is simply toss out the CR system or alter its math but the math behind this system is actually quite good in my opinion and I believe that it can still be applied as is while getting the result we want, a more challenging game, by altering the conditions of the game itself.
I believe the conditions of the game is where the correction should be, not an adaptation of the CR system itself.
The reason for this is monster design. All of the monsters have been quite carefully tailored to their CR rating, there was a lot of attention paid to the math of bound accuracy and the leveling of monster powers vs. character levels and all the mechanical layers of class design.
Mess with the CR math and you mess with a far wider design space of the game’s core. This will and does as many have discovered really mess with the balance of the game in very unexpected ways where some classes remain impossibly strong, while others really struggle, some monsters suddenly become super powerful, while others actually become weaker still. It may seem strange that this happens when you mess with the CR math until you realize that at the heart of the game’s very intricate balance is this system.
In a word adapting the CR system math comes with many unexpected complexities which I won’t get into in this post, instead, I will show you a much easier way.
Adjusting difficulty so the CR math becomes challenging
The best way to adapt D&D in any edition of the game which includes this one is to adjust the core of the games pillars. There are three of them.
Ability Scores, Hit Points and what I call The Alpha Strike empowerment. Reduce these and regardless of class or level, the entire framework of power is reduced and the difficulty of the game increases.
Adjusting ability scores
Ability scores are one of the pillars of D&D, high scores make characters much more powerful and reliable, lower scores make them less so, but if you really push the envelope here and allow characters to have exceptionally poor scores, the games challenge increase dramatically.
The default system uses one of two options. 4d6 drop the lowest and place scores to preference or the point buy system.
In these systems, the average score is going to be 12-13 and you are very likely to have scores of 15-17.
While this character probably didn’t start out quite this strong at the start of the campaign, the benefits of starting with high ability scores and the increases earned through levels end up creating flawless high-octane characters that have no trouble dealing with that pesky CR systems math.
Since you are able to place the scores wherever you like, the end result is that you will have bonus modifiers where it count for your character. For example, a fighter will have good modifiers for strength and constitution ensuring they have it where it counts, accuracy of hitting, bonus to damage and extra hit points.
More importantly, you are unlikely to have scores with negative modifiers, they will at least be few and far between.
By lowering the potential for abilities scores and the control over ability score placement you can dramatically reduce the effectiveness of characters globally across all classes.
If you use 3d6 rolled down the chain with no rerolls, and no control over the scores you reduce the average score to a 10 which results in no modifier and you are almost guaranteed that each character will have 1, 2 or even potentially 3 scores that are in the negative space. Having 1 or 2 scores with a bonus modifier is considered lucky and you are unlikely to have scores as high as 16-18, these will be far and few in-between.
This is the first step of bringing the CR system into alignment as it will not only force hard decisions and create imperfect characters but result in a global reduction of power the players will be able to exert individually and as a team.
Adjusting hit points
Next we address the issue with hit points. 1st level characters start with maximum hit points, plus their constitution modifier. The lowest score possible here is 6 which is quite low, but it’s possible to reach scores of 16 with some classes and a high constitution score.
What you want to do is make the early game a very dangerous proposition, but also ensure that the games hit points always remain a relatively low average.
Start by rolling hit points at 1st level as you would normally do during level-up instead of starting with max hit points.
More importantly, do not create any house rules for re-rolls or exceptions for when players roll low. Let the statistical averages play out.
Players will feel the sting and if you stick to your guns and remain firm on 1 roll no exceptions, characters will always feel squishy and in danger, no matter what level they attain as the average hit points of characters will remain very low.
Adjusting Alpha Strike
The final step is to address the Alpha Strike problem. Lets first describe it.
The Alpha Strike problem is that with all of the combined potential might the players can execute, if they are certain that they don’t have to preserve resources, their power level is always equal to their most powerful abilities in every fight. As such the balance of the game has no swings or averages, they are always at their best.
Now you don’t want to have to make adaptions to the adventure, or create resource drains or force multiple combats in order to tax the players to ensure they can’t do this which is the usual advice given by most.
I personally find this a very meta and unnatural way to approach a solution to this balance issue, in fact, even the CR system itself assumes six to eight fights per day to ensure there is a balance to this core problem but I think there is a much better and more systematic way to do this that does not require you do anything special with the adventures that you run.
The added bonus here is that this is actually an official alternative rule in the game.
It’s called the Gritty Realism rule. This rule essentially changes the definition of a short rest to 8 hours of rest and a long rest to 7 days of rest.
This rule ensures that character resources are finite and they must carefully pick and choose with each encounter what resources they will expend.
Oddly it also supports the premise of how the CR system is balanced across multiple encounters because over the course of 7 in-game days, it’s far more likely that adventures will have the assumed six to eight encounters a day, which in the case of gritty realism is actually 7 adventuring days.
This all but eliminates the concept of the alpha strike, in fact, such things will still happen but only during important and dramatic moments when the players face powerful foes (aka boss fights). The rest of the time they are going to always be conserving their resources, covetting them and only expanding them when it really matters.
Conclusion
With the implementation of this architecture what you will discover is that the CR math suddenly works. Average encounters will feel average, hard encounters will feel hard and deadly encounters will almost certainly kill characters. This balance will remain from 1st level all the way to 20th level, it will never falter, the CR system math will simply work.
Not only this but there are many other side benefits of using this approach as many old-school gamers will attest.
Fear of fights and the danger of fighting becomes real to the players as they will naturally recognize that they are no longer super-powered high fantasy heroes but very much mortal. Other dangers like traps become more vivid, and social encounters in which players seek help from NPC’s will become far more important.
Combat will become more tactical where players will be encouraged to maximize every inch of their character’s benefits, min-maxing their powers in any way they. The premise of the character build can be given free rein, letting players build their super weapons and manipulate the system to their heart’s content without fear of breaking the balance of the game.
You can be more generous with magic items, let them find stuff that empowers them and you will find that they not only appreciate discoveries of fine treasures far more but they become quite precious to the players. Every potion, every scroll, every ring, every magic sword will be a real treasure.
Even with the implementation of this architecture for your game, characters will still become powerful and they will still eventually face dragons and epic monsters, but the journey will hopefully be fraught with real feelings of danger and excitement, so when they do face that dragon, it’s going to be the epic experience it should be.
When D&D is a challenging experience, the heart and soul of everything players do from role-playing to battles with enemies become more meaningful, they will feel like they earn every inch of their success, where the rewards for hard-fought battles and completion of quests are well deserved and leveling up feels like a real treat.
You will also find that the published adventures for 5th edition that feel far too easy become real challenges where players can actually fail. This will inspire you as a DM and make you feel like you are doing your job without having to constantly try to figure out how to make the game more interesting and challenging. Let the architecture of the game do it for you.
Lord of the Rings the Living Card game turned 10 years old not too long ago and as part of that celebration we not only got a new revised edition of the game, but a sort of guarantee that the game will continue to remain in print.
Now so far as Living Card Games go, that makes Lord of the Ring LCG, quite unique, currently one of the oldest of its kind at the moment still in print.
As a super fan of this game with a nearly complete collection barring all the nightmare stuff in which I never found much appeal, this is kind of a big deal. I thought I would throw a few words down for those of you out there considering getting into this one, let’s call it a do’s and don’t list with some pitfalls and suggestions that I can offer.
1st Edition vs. Revised Edition
Just a quick note here because this question comes up all the time. Is there a difference between these two editions? The answer is no, they are exactly, word for word, card for card, the same game. It is just a second printing of the same game and while the core sets have different quantities of card, the Revised Core Set has been revised to have sufficient cards for 4 players, they are for all intense and purposes the same game.
As a rule, you don’t need more than 3 copies of any card as this is all that is legal to put into a deck, but of course, many players support more than their own decks, as such, it’s nice to have more copies of certain key cards. If you already have an original core set, you might still consider getting the new Revised Core Set anyway just for this reason.
Buyers Guide For Newbies
Core Set
If you are fresh and own nothing, the obvious first thing to do is to purchase a core set. Now it’s still possible to get the old core set, but I would advise against it and recommend getting the new revised core set.
The primary reason for this is that the original core set left a lot to be desired when it came to the card list. Many “staple” cards, meaning, cards you will often put into decks don’t come in sets of three in the original core set and this means when you are trying to optimize your deck you often can’t get exactly what you want.
The new revised core set sticks to the minimum 3 cards per card type and it gives you a lot of extras of the more commonly used cards like Gandalf (x8) and Dark Knowledge for example.
The revised core set also comes with the Campaign Mode cards which is the only new thing in the revised edition of the game which really enhances play. It effectively lets you run campaign mode as you do with the Saga sets, but for the core set adventures. It also has sufficient components for 4 players which might not matter to you but with the original core set you barely have enough for two players while the revised set gives you more than enough for 4 players.
In a word, it’s just a better core set. Back in the day most people resolved card shortages in the core set by buying two of them, but with this new revised core set you don’t have to do that.
Initial Expansions
I think most players want to get a good start with their collections and there is a notion that you should start at the begining with the 1st cycle but the reality is that the first 3 full cycles of this game were only so-so and in some cases actually quite bad.
This is evidenced by the fact that when FFG started with re-releases (repackaging) of the original game cycles they started with Angmar Awakened and Dream Chaser cycles. This is because the first three cycles (Shadows of Mirkwood, Dwarrowdelf & Against The Shadows) left a lot to be desired.
Older sets like Heirs of Numenor were extremely difficult to the point of not being fun, but as you become really good at the game, some of these old challenges can actually be fun to go back on. I wouldn’t discourage their collecting, but its good to know what your getting into.
So far as adventures (quests) go, Shadows of Mirkwood is without a doubt the weakest cycle in the game, rather boring to be honest and I would argue can be skipped entirely. Dwarrowdelf is just ok at best and Against The Shadows is horrifically unbalanced, hard to the point of not being fun. Now all these cycles have great player cards and that is reason enough to collect them at some point but the really good (fun) adventure sets start with the Ring Maker cycle and just get better and better with each release afterward and the player cards in the cycles that followed are also a lot more interesting, allowing for far more diverse player deck building possibilities.
I would also avoid buying under the old format (packaging). It has been rather frustrating to try to collect (and complete) each cycle buying the individual packs, in fact even today I have a couple of cycles where I’m missing a pack and can’t it track down. When I say frustrating, I mean it, it annoys me to no end.
The new format allows you to buy the player cards and adventures separately and when you do buy the adventure pack, you get the entire cycle in one go. It’s more expensive than any single pack, but altogether the price is about the same. Player & adventure expansion together is about $115, and buying the separate cycles is about $120, so same stuff, slightly cheaper and with considerably less hassle trying to collect everything.
The fact that they started the repacked cycles with Angmar Awakened and now Dream-chaser is just icing on the cake as these are the first two I would advise you to pick up either way. These adventures (quests) are both fantastic throughout, and the player cards and heroes they come with are far more diverse and interesting than anything you get prior.
Sets like Dream Chaser introduce entirely new sub-mechanics to the game that offer new challenges and call for completely unique ways to build decks. This expansion really shows off the diversity of this game and are really great investments.
I would honestly not try to go back and collect the first three cycles at all unless you can find complete sets in one go and in either case, I would not bother with the first cycle (Shadows of Mirkwood) at all. You can just skip that one, it really was not very good at all and is regarded in the community as the most skippable cycle in the collection.
The Saga Sets
After picking up the two repackaged sets that are available now, you might have your eye on the Saga set. Originally this was broken down into 6 boxes for the Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers and Return of the King story and two sets for the Hobbit.
In the repackage they are being released in 3 sets covering each book. The price and content is the same, but as of this writing Return of the King is not yet available or even announced, though you can count on it being released sometime in the future while the original releases are still quite readily available.
The Saga expansions are I think, an intrical part of the Lord of the Rings LCG experience, but I would not rush to it. It’s sort of like the end game content, which, if attempted too early, can be quite frustrating, but if done when your ready is pure magic.
The saga’s are really great, they use the campaign format which used to be unique to the Saga sets, but is now available with all of the repacked sets including the revised core sets. It allows for a sort of leveling up of characters and deck improvements as you go through and given the difficulty of the Saga sets, this is actually quite crucial to success.
While these are all fantastic sets, the difficulty of the Saga sets is quite high, in particular when trying to complete the entire Saga in campaign mode. I would only caution getting the Saga sets last simply to avoid having it and being frustrated because you don’t have the card pool needed to successfully complete them.
When I say hard, I mean, super hard. You WILL need a pretty wide collection to complete the Saga set with constant deck adjustments and frankly, without some homebrew rules adaptations I don’t think it’s very solo-able, this is definitely at least a two-player (or double-fisting – 1 player playing two hands). I would argue however this is best with 3-4 players for that epic feel.
I would consider these must have’s for your collection, they are quite fantastic and in a sense really are what the game is about. You want to do the lord of the rings core story and while all of the adventure sets have fun narratives, the nostalgic visit to the original story in card form can’t be beat.
Do’s & Don’ts
Over the years of collecting and playing this game, there are quite a few things I have learned that will do wonders for your experience and your wallet.
Do’s
Always and I mean always with the exception of the core sets, look into the 3rd party market when tracking down cycles/sets. You can find used stuff dirt cheap and often buy a complete collection of a cycle in one fell swoop which even if you have to shell out a few nickles is going to be better than fussing about trying to find a single missing pack.
More importantly, you can often find stuff not available through retail for the game as many adventure packs have been released under the “limited release” tag as part of convention events which you are definitely going to want.
Your collection will grow over time and there is quite a bit to collect, but buying this game at full retail is not only expensive but rarely an option as any given cycle is rarely ever available at the same time. In the 3rd party market its quite easy to find complete sets and in my mind this is the best way to collect.
Do’s
Do pimp out your game. There are lots of really amazing accessories for LotR LCG and they are well worth it. Most notably a good playmat and a good storage solution are quite important. I would also recommend sleeving your decks but not doing so for the rest of your collection as there is a lot of shuffling and handling of cards in this (duh) card game.
Don’ts
Don’t ever pay full retail for anything, even recently released sets. You can always find discounted stuff if your patient and it can make a huge difference. For example, the Revised core set retails at 70 bucks, but if you sniff around a bit, you can pick it up for 10-20% discount on that price. In fact, I don’t recall ever paying full price for anything for this game, you can always find discounts.
Don’ts
Don’t buy the limited edition collectors edition or the online version of this game. It’s the worst deal in Lord of the Rings and people have been trying to make it sound special and expensive, when the reality is that all you get is a shitty mat, a poorly produced MP3 soundtrack that is freely available, a crappy plastic ring, some poorly produced art prints and a two-player limited edition of the game that has less stuff in it than the core set.
This was a raw deal and mostly a money grabbed designed to promote the digital version of the game which quite literarly had absolutetly nothing to do with the paper version. These are two entirely different games, in fact the LCG has more in common with Arkham Horror LCG and Marvel Champions than it does with the digital version. Avoid it like the plague.
More to the point though is that the digital version of LotR LCG is a completely different game, than the paper version. These two games have only the name of the game in common and the entire production of the digital game is just a massive cash grab for what really is one of the shittiest CCG’s anyone ever scraped together. It’s a hard pass.
Don’t
Don’t bother with the nightmare decks. Generally speaking, they don’t really add much to the game and even if you find that you have become so good at the game that you need more challenge there are many free game variants for increased difficulty available that are far more interesting than the nightmare decks.
I’m not saying these are bad, just saying they are not worth it.
You don’t get any new content with the nightmare decks, all it is-is the same cards you already have with slightly higher stats on monsters for the most part. They are not worth the 5-7 bucks you will pay for each one.
Don’t
Don’t bother with the Starter Decks. You are eventually going to collect all of the cards anyway and for 22 bucks for 1 starter deck which is half of the cost of a repackaged expansion player box, it’s about the most expensive way to get these cards you can find. What’s worse, there are repeated cards in these and you don’t always get 3 sets of each card so you end up with an incomplete collection even if you get them all. Worst still is that you are going to collect all the sets most likely anyway so you end up with duplicates of stuff you don’t need. There are no unique cards in these sets, all cards are released in other sets.
If you are just dabbling into the LCG, this can be a great way to get some great cards right out of the gate, but if you plan to collect, this is the most expensive and inefficient way to get these cards available.
As a side note, most of these decks are actually not that great, so far as “good deck building goes” they are also pretty mediocre.
Tips & Tricks
Lord of the Rings LCG can be a pretty frustrating game, you are going to lose… a lot and this can’t really be helped, but there are a few things I always recommend to players to keep themselves engaged.
Fail It Forward One thing I really recommend is that you try to complete each quest in a cycle 2, max 3 times and if you can’t beat it, move on to the next one. You can always go back to take a crack at it again, but playing the same adventure over and over again endlessly until you beat it will take a lot of steam out of you and you may end up giving up before continuing. There is no shame in realizing there is a quest here and there you can’t beat, these are future challenges and eventually, you will build better decks as your game improves. Don’t let yourself get stuck.
Easy Mode Recommended I would strongly advise new players to make extensive use of easy mode when first starting out. I know that it stings but it takes a fairly long time to get good at the game and when you initially get the game (core set) you won’t have the necessary card pool to beat even the core set quests. In fact, the 3rd quest in the core set is universally considered among the hardest to beat even for veteran players with full collections.
Easy mode turns the impossible into the possible, as you get better, again, you can always go back on any of these and take a crack at them again.
Find a partner or two While LotR LCG is infinitely solo-able and it’s a lot of fun, it’s not balanced for solo play and generally speaking, solo play is kind of for experts as you must build very specialized decks to find any measure of success. Some get around this by playing the game two-handed (called double-fisting) but, naturally, the preference would be to have a partner.
This game is best played with 2, 3 or 4 players. I would not recommend more than that. 4 player games can be a bit slow, I think 2-3 is the sweet spot.
More than that though, LotR LCG has a tendency to be a very fun experience as there are so many ghastly failures and triumphant successes, it’s something to be shared in my experience.
Final Words
Lord of the Rings LCG is a great cooperative game, but it’s quite expensive to collect and the producers of the game know the pinch players feel when invested in a game and new content comes out. In the end, the instinct is to collect everything but I can assure you this is neither necessary or worth it.
One thing to keep in mind is that a typical quest (one quest) for 2-3 players is basically an entire evening of entertainment. As such if you collect say a single cycle which has 9 quests, that is enough content to fill 7-9 sessions of gaming. Point here is that you don’t need a lot to keep you going for a long time. I have collected everything released and I estimate it will take me the better part of a decade to get through it all.
You can safely skip some of the old stuff and focus on collecting the new stuff. Sure your collection won’t be complete, but the reality is that 1 good quest is worth 10 bad ones and a lot of the older stuff before the Ring Maker cycle can be safely skipped.
Of all the cycles I have played through there are three that I think stand out. The Dream Chaser, Haradrim and Angmar Awakened cycles. Since these are being re-released in the new re-packaged format there honestly is little reason to look back as it seems everything will be re-released in this new format after the Angmar Awakened cycle.
I would argue the Ring Maker cycle and perhaps some of the special release stuff like Murder At The Prancing Pony are exceptions, but I think as new players coming into the game, it’s best to simply look forward not backward.
Now whether you want to track down some of the older releases, pre-re-release is up to you, but if you are going to do it, I highly recommend pretty much everything after and including The Ring Maker cycle but cautioning that you should be ready to wait to finish collections. Very often you can get one or two things from one or another cycle, but rarely is everything available at the same time and as time passes some of this stuff is going to be harder and harder to find. You may end up not being able to finish any given of the older cycles.
There is some debate among the community whether or not Voice of Isengard is a good expansion or not, FFG seems to think its skippable given they started their re-release schedule with the Angmar cycle but personally I think this is a really good one, worth picking up.
Looking at the production schedule of FFG, there is absolutely nothing coming from the old sets, so what is out there today may be all that will ever be available. They seem to be very focused on the new stuff, which makes sense of course. They might still surprise us but I would always approach collecting with the information you have at hand.
For the 7th year running all my buddies and I got together for 4 days of nothing but cold beers, BBQ and most importantly endless hours of board gaming in a remote cabin absent of the hustle and bustle of life. This annual event is always special, but this year it dawned on me that this group has been tight for so long at this point we are like some sort of nerdified fraternity. I can barely think of any other people on earth I could tolerate let alone desire to spend 4 days locked in a cabin with except this motley crew. It was, in a word, a perfect weekend.
Did we play any games? Yes….yes we did. Here is this year’s list and how it went down in the order it went down!
Vampire: Prince Of The City (2006)
If you read this blog with any regularity you might already know that my gaming crew and I love our Vampire: The Masquerade. We have done it all, the RPG, the board games, card games, you name it, we have it. Imagine our surprise during a routine stop at a local game shop on the way to our big board gaming weekend we discover someone made a Vampire game none of us knew even existed!?
This little gem came out in 2006 during the Vampire: Requiem era when White Wolf tried to re-launch their vampire franchise. It was picked up without hesitation and was instantly selected as the kick-off game for our big gaming weekend to the surprise of no one.
There was a lot of discussion about this game on the car ride home, but it was almost universally agreed that, despite being the first game to hit the table, it was the best game of the weekend.
Now I say “game of the weekend” with some hesitation because this is definitely a product of its time and in a class of its own, which is to say that back in 2006 modern board game design in many ways was still in its infancy and were often pet project directed at extremely niche communities. I think if this game was designed today, it would likely have been streamlined, much shorter and perhaps a bit less harsh focusing on a wider potential audience. It didn’t take more than a single play of this game to clearly see some flaws that called for a couple of house rules to make some needed balance adaptations to bring this game into a more modern state.
Despite a couple of warts however, Vampire: Prince of the City captures the essence of the political struggle boiled into the core premise of the RPG on which this game is based with thematic precision. Perhaps the only thing that really mattered to us as Vampire fans and likely the only real design goal the game had. In a word, this is not a game made for the masses, it’s a game made for Vampire The Masquerade fans exclusively.
The game is about a slow but methodically planned hostile takeover of a city run by vampires in which players implement strategies, “acquire” allies, equip themselves with weapons and deal with the nightly troubles of vampire life as they spread their influence and take control.
Mechanically this is a pretty simple game of managing resources and edging very small but critical advantages over each other. Each player represents a would-be prince, a member of one of the five kindred clans, all with nearly impossible-to-overcome strengths and equally impossible to compensate for weaknesses. If you know White Wolfs World of Darkness at all, you know exactly how important this blatant imbalance is to the theme of a Vampire-based game.
Vampire: Prince of the City really nails this thematic horror show of trying to leverage your strengths and avoid exposing your weakness, but more than that, I think even under the examination of a critical game designer, there are some really great mechanics here that are nice and tight and just feel great.
Every action, every play of a card or interaction between players grows an ever-increasing sense of tension and hostility that climaxes with outright attacks that may very well, as it did in our game, leave a player or two feeling the cold and harsh reality of final death (player elimination). This is definitely not a game for the faint of heart, you will win only by completely fucking over your competition in what really amounts to a ruthless embargo on emotions, doing brutally whatever it takes to win.
In short, this is a game for adults and definitely not a replacement for Monopoly, this is the World of Darkness, you’re a monster and you win by acting like one.
I loved it, as did the rest of the crew, but we are sadistic bastards who get our rocks off on take-that mechanics and this game is chock-full of them. If that is not your thing, avoid this game like the plague, but if you’re a Vampire fan, this is going to be right up your alley and may very well be the Vampire game fans are looking for.
One notable drawback of the game and note that I say this after only a single play is that it was quite long. We played the “medium” length game and it stretched into the 6-hour mark. I’m sure some of it was due to the game being new, but we are experienced gamers and this was not a complex game so I think it was long because it’s a long game. This definitely falls more into the “event” level of games, casual gamers need not apply. For us, it sucked up pretty much the entirety of the first day of our 4-day event.
Empires: Age of Discovery
Bright, big and elaborate, Empires: Age of Discovery is a visual treat.
Empires: Age of Discovery has found its way to the big board gaming weekend table a few times over the years, mostly my doing, but I have never heard any complaints. It’s a personal favorite, not only for the theme which while controversial I find fascinating (Colonization) and the fact that I’m a big worker placement fan and this is without a doubt in my humble opinion the Mona Lisa of that mechanic.
To me, this game represents a rather over-indulgence in production value, but I would argue that it’s one of the finest examples of worker placement you will find with a rich theme that is simply enhanced by its visual presence on the table. It’s just a very streamlined and elegant game, that is easy to teach and learn and offers ample strategies all with great depth while being thematic and rich with flavor.
In Empires you effectively colonize the new world by sending a variety of specialized colonists each with special powers to spread all over the frontier. In the process you manage wealth, construction of special advancements and buildings, construction of a military and various other related activities all in a very abstracted way using worker placement mechanics. When you get right down to it, its a game of getting the most out of the limited resources you have, its about timing and position and it’s about anticipating the actions of the other players.
I find it just feels great to have an unnecessarily big map and elaborate components when you have gone out of your way to get together for a big gaming event like this, the fact that this is also a great game is just a cherry on top. It’s a perfect game for such an occasion and even though hauling that fat ass box was a pain in the ass, as it always does, this game fired on all cylinders.
To me, this is a classic in the board gaming world that takes the simplicity of one of the all-time great, game mechanics, worker placement and improves upon it while never making it any more complex. It’s really just great game design and though some might argue that a game about colonization is edgy, to those I say, shut the fuck up, it’s just a game.
Robo Rally
This game falls into what I like to call, “the silly category” of gaming, which I think should probably be its own genre. Like Galaxy Truck, Munchkin, Kitchen Rush or Sheriff of Nottingham, it’s not a game that either takes itself seriously or expects you to have a strategy while playing it. All you should expect from Robo Rally is that it’s stupid-silly fun and if that is what you get out of it, the game has met its design goal.
In Robo Rally you and your opponents each move a little robot through an obstacle course full of traps, walls and elevator belts, but the catch to the game is that you have to pre-program your robot with a limited set of options 5 turns in advance.
All manner of chaos ensues because the other players as well as the obstacle course are going do the unexpected and what seems like a simple exercise in planning quickly turns into a hysterical shit show.
Now I will argue that the game has a very unnecessary and not particularly well thought out “upgrade phase” where players pick and buy their upgrades which slows what would otherwise be a snappy game. My group by our second play eliminated this from the game by creating a quick drafting mechanic instead for the upgrades which just fixed the problem in one fell swoop.
Still, even with this upgrade phase, the game is a lot of fun, I would definitely consider it for the family as the rules are really simple and the game has a very kid-friendly “cute” aesthetic.
Smart Phone
Every time I play Smart Phone, I find my comments about the game are always the same. This is one of the finest examples of great game design I have ever seen, it is, a perfect game.
I adore this one and it has never let me down. It’s made the big gaming weekend several years in a row, I’m fairly certain since it found its way into our collective collections and I suspect it’s going to continue to make the cut for many years to come.
This is an economic simulation about players running mobile phone companies trying to produce and sell, phones all over the world. That, I will admit, does not sound like a particularly exciting theme and the hipster on the cover of the game box really does little to inspire interest but let me tell you that this is, without a doubt, one of the best Euro games you will ever play and I say that without reservation.
Its mechanics are perfectly tuned, it’s puzzly and thinky, honestly, it will melt your brain at times, yet it’s not at all complex or heavy, in fact, I would say this falls into the light category of games. It’s really just a merger of great mechanics, exceptional attention to detail and efficiency while being extremely competitive with fantastic replayability.
People that don’t play board games often ask me what I recommend for a beginner and while I would be hesitant to say Smart Phone because I do think there are better games for introductions, I actually do think that a non-gamer that plays this one risks becoming a full-blown gaming nerd. This is just one of those games that will suck you into this hobby because it’s such a great representation of why gamers game.
I would universally recommend this game to pretty much everyone.
Condottiere
This is a stone-cold classic trick-taking game that belongs in every gamers collection.. period. I’m not sure what else to say about it.
The simplicity of the trick-taking mechanic is enhanced by cards having special powers while the area control mechanics give each round a strategic edge. In a sense, it’s not necessary for you to try to win every round, often you are just trying to draw people into a competition so that they waste cards as you prepare for the more important fights later on. There is a lot of push-your-luck, a bit of card counting and predicting your opponent’s intentions and though the strategies can have a sort of subtle complexity the rules of the game are easy for even the most casual non-gamer. Its a game for everyone.
I have introduced countless people to this game over the years, I have given away 3 copies (I’m currently trying to track down a 4th copy for myself).
Great for road trips, camping trips, for families, as a pallet cleanser for serious board game nights.
Great stuff, you don’t own it, you should, I don’t care who you are.
Highlander The Board Game
A movie-turned tv series turned cult classic, The Highlander franchise is beloved by fans and a completely bewildering mystery to everyone else. No surprise really that someone would take this franchise and try to turn it into a game, targeting the countless gaming nerds out there and even less surprising is that they would fill the box with miniatures and high-quality components to make it as expensive as possible.
The question is, is it a good game and the answer, it pains me to say, god no. This game was made by someone who clearly understood the material and what would excite fans of the franchise, well researched making extensive use of screens shot from the movies mixed in with some original art but at the end of the day as a game there is very little to love even if you have affection as my gaming group does for the franchise itself.
I think the best description I can offer here is that the game is about as random as it can be, boiling down to a dice roll-off with some very rudimentary odds control.
The cards you could acquire were mostly inconsequential with a few exceptions that would result in huge balance issues, it was unnecessarily slow and long in places, and it had player elimination and at the end of the day winning or losing boiled down to winning a dice roll-off and drawing the right card at the right time (beheading).
There was a sequence for “The Gathering”, but you would have to play the game for many hours before you are ever likely to reach it, in fact, I would say that the odds of “The Gathering” ever actually happening are extremely low.
My gaming group of course had fun with it as the movies and tv shows are infinitely quotable and we are all hardcore nerds, but as a game Highlander was less than stellar, hard to recommend even to fans of the franchise.
Broom Service
Broom Service has been in my collection for several years and though I have played it casually with my daughter and occasionally with the extended family, my bringing it to the big weekend with my gaming buddies was a bit of a risk. I wasn’t really sure how strong it was in terms of what more experienced gamers would get out of it.
It’s a very simple game, part card game, part board game with a push-your-luck element and some rather simple strategic positioning. This wasn’t going to be a highly competitive strategy game and though the theme is silly (witches delivering positions in a magical kingdom), it’s not in the “silly genre”. Its a family game pure and simple and that isn’t always a good fit for my gaming group.
With that said, Broom Service is actually quite clever and very unique, I don’t think I have ever played anything quite like it and though it’s simple, it’s also quite short and snappy so it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
I didn’t get a particularly good bead on what my gaming group thought about it, the comments were quite generic “it was fun”.. etc.. but for me personally, I like family games and I think this one falls into the same category of games like Takenoko, Ticket To Ride or King of Tokyo. It’s simple enough to pull out with kids, family and non-gamers but clever enough to make it palatable to more experienced gamers.
I don’t know if I recommend it for seasoned gamers for a veteran table, but so far as family games go I think this is one of the good ones.
Lords of Xidit
Lords of Xidit made its first appearance at our big board gaming weekend a few years back and though everyone was in agreement that its a great game that was the last time we actually played it. Now in its defense, we are gamers and we all have way more games then our shelves can store, games have a way of falling through the cracks and eventually emerging with everyone making the statement “oh yeah, this is a great game, I remember!”
That was more or less my reaction to this one, I recall liking it a great deal the first time I played it and I felt the same about it this time, I believe the rest of the crew agreed.
In Lords of Xidit you move your character around a board taking one of two types of actions at different city locations. Either you are recruiting one of 5 types of units or you are fighting monsters with the units you collected previously. The objective is to build magic towers, build up your treasury (gold) and gain renown tokens. The player that does all three the best wins the game. Simple right!?
Well, the catch here is that you must pre-program your actions 5 actions in advance and each action is executed in turn order around the table. The results can be very unpredictable as players might get to a place before you, killing a monster you planned to fight or stealing units you meant to get or building a tower where you planned to build and so on.
The game is really about trying to predict what the other players will do and timing your pre-programmed actions in a fashion where you maximize your turn without losing anything.
The scoring in this game is particularly clever because rather than simply scoring points (the highest score wins), the game-end scoring is a process of elimination in the 3 different scoring methods. For example in the first scoring phase, you might score who has the most gold, but it only matters that you are not last as the last player will be eliminated from the game and doesn’t participate in the next phase of scoring. You do this for all the methods of scoring and the last player remaining is the winner. Hence the game is really about doing well enough not to be last in each category. This scoring method creates a very different approach to the usual victory point salad winning condition.
This is a really well-designed game and severely over produced as the components are wonderfully overcooked and colorful. The game just looks great on the table. It’s about a light to medium level of complexity, there is some rules and fiddliness but its fairly limited.
As a whole I really liked this game, it’s just the right length, the turns are very fast and there is a pretty smooth streamlined feel to it with a great feeling of competitiveness. Really fun, I don’t know how the rest of the guys rate this one but its definitely on the recommended list, in particular, if you like pre-programing action games.
Spirit Island
I know I said that Vampire: Prince of the City got the vote for best game of the weekend, but it would be dishonest if I said it was a blowout. Spirit Island was absolutely fantastic and a big highlight of the weekend, a very close second.
This is a deeply complex cooperative game that has enormous amounts of dynamics and intricate details that round after round challenge you to solve the puzzle of optimizing your actions. You have to anticipate the next turn as you work on solving the problems of the current turn….. and man, this game is sooo hard.
I will admit I think for the first half of the game I was completely lost, there is no question that this game has a fairly steep learning curve, not just to grasp the game, but to really get a handle on the strategies and mechanical manipulation involved.
In Spirit Island, you are gods of sorts, hell-bent on protecting an island from invading mortals who seek to build cities and pollute your paradise. Each player gets a unique “Spirit” with a variety of special powers, benefits, and drawbacks. You must work together to bring fear and retribution on the invaders, but they spread like a plague each round and the game is almost a-sort of impossible to solve puzzle of trying to curve the domino effect of their growth into a domino effect of destruction.
Each invading civilization, just like the spirits you represent has its unique powers, benefits, and drawbacks and a big part of the game is trying to figure out how to sort of outdo them in the back and forth of play and counter-play.
It’s you and your friends vs. the game itself and while in my personal experience, there have been very few purely cooperative games I enjoy like Lord of the Rings The LCG, by contrast, most fall flat with me (pretty much everything else). With a couple of exceptions, I just generally don’t like cooperative games.
I was however immediately sold on Spirit Island as it is this really great, robust, and fulfilling gaming experience that challenges the hell out of you, and because the game has so much dynamic setup between the different spirits, the design of the island and different civilizations it’s hard to fathom how many different possible combinations there are. The replayability here is quite endless.
This is solid game design, it’s no surprise this game has been sitting in the top 10 on boardgamegeek since its release. It really is that good, well deserving of all the accolades it has received including prestigious awards like Best Coop Game of the year and BBG’s best board game of the year.
Awesome game, that deserves to be played but be weary, this is a gamer’s game, don’t let the pretty art style fool you.
Game of Thrones: The Board Game
This is a game that is played in the minds of the players, the board and pieces are mostly distractions.
Ok it has to be said that while I absolutely adore this game, the last couple of times I have played it have been a disappointment.
A couple of years back we played the game for the first time with the Targaryan expansion and that turned out to be an unbalanced mess, resulting in a very anti-climatic ending, that made the winner (that was me) feel like I lost the game.
This year we played a 5 player vanilla game in hopes of recapturing some of this game’s past glory, which meant we had to fill the sixth seat with garrison units and the result was a quick and sweeping victory by the Baratheon player, which, much as It was the last time we played, very anti-climatic.
So here is the thing, some games just don’t play well and/or as is the case with Game of Thrones, are simply not balanced for anything short of a full table. In this case six players.
This is the lesson here. Game of Thrones The Board Game is an amazing 6 player game and pretty mediocre at any other player count.
That said, I still think this is a really fantastic game as long as you meet the six-player requirement for it. The game really feels like a strategic struggle where players are trying to make trick moves, build temporary alliances and do just enough to one-up each other into a victory. It’s a game of subtle movement and positioning, of setting up your prey for that perfect, unstoppable execution at the perfect and most dramatic moment, risking it all. You win or you die, this game really brings that spirit to the table.
When Game of Thrones fires on all pistons, when you have a full table of six experienced players that really know what they are doing, know what to look for, and know how to counter moves, it’s just pure magic.
When it doesn’t fire on all pistons, when you are short on players or you have a player or two that is really inexperienced, the game can and often does feel like either a king-making situation or just a series of blunders that allowed a player to win far easier than it should because someone wasn’t paying attention.
Suffice to say it makes Game of Thrones a rather irritating game, because you want that awesome gaming experience but you simply can’t get it every time you play. You are going to have to suffer through the bad games, to find the good ones, which actually makes this one tough to recommend.
I would say that if you have six players who are ready to dedicate themselves to learning this game well and play often, I really believe this could be one of the best games ever made. For the rest of us who play inconsistently and have to settle for lower player counts, I’m fairly certain, my recommendation would be to not play it. It’s just too heartbreaking to play this wonderful game, in particular, if you know what is possible and then being disappointed because the game didn’t deliver on the promise.
I struggle to find the words that sufficiently describe what Game of Thrones the board game means to me and my gaming group, it is in a sense, a part of our cultural gaming upbringing, we all see it in a light that I think the game struggles to live up to these days, but its not because the game is bad, its because it’s demanding. It demands a group of six players and it demands dedication and study of the game to get the most out of it. If you can’t meet these demands, it sort of doesn’t really live up to what it’s capable of. I don’t know if that makes sense, but, that is really the jist of where I’m at with this game.
I want to play it, but it’s only good under perfect conditions, outside of that, frankly, it’s pretty bad. You have no idea how much it pains me to say that.
Vampire Vendetta
If it wasn’t for Vampire: Prince Of The City, without reservation, I would tell you that for Vampire The Masquerade fans, this is THE game to play. It has some competition now, but for some fast-paced gothic horror, Vendetta is king.
This is a very straight-to-the-point kind of game. You are a vampire from one of six clans. Your powers are represented by action cards which you use to take control of one of 4 city locations. You spend blood to power yourself up and play games of chicken against your opponents. For winning you score influence (victory points) and gain allies for your cause. For losing you get nothing.
It’s a brutal struggle of trying to exaggerate your strengths and avoid exposing your weaknesses. Every Vampire is unique and not only defines how you play, but how you feint, how you manipulate and how you threaten.
I can’t say enough about Vendetta, for me it was love at first play and this one is very quickly becoming a household favorite thanks mostly to the fact that you get this really robust, fully fleshed-out gaming experience in about an hour. Even if you are not a Vampire fan, mechanically, from a perspective of design, this is an extremely efficient and streamlined game, it’s just good design period.
I love this one, it’s without question one of the most underrated games I have come across in years. On BBG it’s sitting in the 2,750 spots with only 857 ratings.. it’s outrageous! Are you seriously trying to tell me that Go Nuts For Donuts is better a better game than Vampire Vendetta.!!?.. Get Fucked!
To me, this is at least a nominee for Game of the Year in 2020 if not a winner. It’s a must-own!
Hansa Teutonica
Who would have thought that a Euro game made in 2009 could feel fun, refreshing, unique and engaging in 2023!? Honestly most Euro games I play from this era feel like an old used shoe, familiar but still kinda nasty.
Hansa Tuetonica debuted in our big board gaming weekend last year and I personally demanded it be played this year, I thought it was that good.
Mechanically the game is quite simple, as is the case with most Euro’s, its about putting cubes in the right places, at the right time and scoring victory points. Ok, so perhaps its a bit more than that, but this is a game about the strategy of positioning, but its simple, tight as hell, streamlined to perfection and despite the usual “its a game about trading” of Euro-game themes, this one actually kind of nails it.
I don’t know if Hansa Teutonica counts as a classic, but of all the games I have played from this era, and there have been many, this is one of a very tiny handful that I think is worth the cardboard it’s printed on. Its definitely old school, but its quite clever and very competitive.
Great game, if you love Euro games and especially if you love old school Euro games and you haven’t played this one yet, I feel quite confident when I say you have missed one of the best ones. It holds up and is a strong candidate for being one of my personal favorite Euro Games.
Good Stuff!
Conclusion
This was an awesome 4 day weekend and to the surprise of no one, these big board gaming weekends are always the highlight of the year so far as gaming goes.
There were quite a few games that were on my “wish list” that we simply didn’t get to. Eclipse: The Second Dawn For he Galaxy was clearly absent from the list here, I did bring it but we just didn’t have the table space for it this year as we gathered at a different remote cabin than we do most years. It was a bit smaller so it got skipped, which was a real bummer.
I was also hoping to get Great Western Trail to the table at this year’s event but unlike most years when we would have different player counts for different days as not everyone typically goes for the entire 4 day weekend, this year we had 5 players for all 4 days. So it didn’t make it, it was a real shame, been itching to get this one played.
We also didn’t play any small games that we normally do and I felt their absence. No Coup or Love Letter this year, no BANG the dice game, no Resistance or One Night Ultimate Werewolf. It’s great that we played so many big robust games, but I love me some mini-games.
I also didn’t get an opportunity to play any 2 player games. Last year on the first night of the weekend it was me and my buddy alone for most of the first day and we managed to squeeze in Imperial Struggle and Star Trek Fleet Captains. Imperial Struggle is my absolute favorite two-player game and it’s been far too long since it’s hit the table.
That’s it for this year folks, another Big Board Gaming Weekend behind us, see you next year!
I have never advertised on my blog the fact that I make my own games, mainly because… frankly I suck at it! That said, I have really enjoyed working on my games over the years and though I have never published anything and aside from my daughter and I no one has ever actually played my games, it is something I do and it is part of my gaming experience which is what this blog is all about.
Today I want to show off a bit because even though my games are pretty crap in the big scheme of things, they are mine, I made them myself and I’m quite proud. More than that however I want to show my appreciation for the wonderful platform I use (Gamemaker Studio 2) and in particular the amazing Gamemaker community that helped me, encouraged me, and got me to the point where I am today, a full-fledged, very inspired hobbyist who can develop his own games.
GameMaker Studio 2 & The Community
The gamemaker studio platform is without question one of the best ways to learn game development there is out there today in my humble opinion. Yes, there are many platforms that advertise “learn to develop games the easy way”, but I have personally tried nearly all of them and Gamemaker Studio is the only one that not only stuck but proved the marketing pitch. You CAN learn to develop games using this tool and it really is not that hard.
Simply put, if I can do, I know that anyone can, this is the objective truth!
What makes it so? The answer is quite simple and comes in three parts.
First is that the tool assumes you are not a game developer and that you will be making simple games during your education and so there is no theory to learn. You quite literally will have a functioning playable game on your first day with the tool if you follow along the tutorials and within a week you will complete your first game.
Second is that the support from the community is unprecedented. You will not find a more inviting and helpful place on the internet than the Gamemaker Studio forums. Not only will they encourage you, advise you, and answer questions, but you will find yourself very quickly being sucked into Game Jams, collaborative efforts, and above all else, inspired.
Finally and perhaps most importantly is the tool itself. Its logic, is laid out in a clean and easy-to-understand way and you don’t need anything more than what the tool gives you (at first) to get yourself going.
I can’t say enough about how Gamemaker Studio made learning to develop games easy for me. If you’re looking to turn making your own games into a hobby, this is the place to start.
Ok enough about the sales pitch, let’s see some results!
The first game I made was modeled after an old arcade classic called Missile Command but of course with a twist. This was actually quite an ambitious first project for me and I was definitely in over my head in terms of the level of code I needed to write compared to my skill level.
Still, I managed thanks to some great tutorials and a bit of advice from the gaming community.
In the title screen, I teach you how to play, surprisingly enough learning how to create GUI’s in Gamemaker Studio was almost as much of a challenge as making the game itself. Note that mouse-clicking doesn’t work to start the game, you have to use the arrow keys and hit enter.
In Defcon One the objective is to protect cities from a nuclear attack by firing countermeasures (missiles) at incoming nukes. The trick to the game is anticipating where nukes will be as they fall from the sky and targeting ahead of them so that when your countermeasures arrive at the targeted spot they blow up the nuke.
The game uses ammunition that is slowly replenished when your countermeasure missile silos are closed (when you are not using them). It’s actually a very fun game, quite loyal to the original Missile Command, though I have to admit I had a lot of trouble balancing its difficulty and never really got it quite right. At some point, I just decided it’s done enough and left it as it is, without a doubt, one of the most impossible games to complete. There are 5 stages of increasing difficulty.
The graphics are very basic, all of the artwork I did myself and I’m not much of an artist, nor did I really focus on it. I mainly just wanted to get the game working.
The most difficult part of the game development was getting the targeting element working. I struggled a lot, at one point I was stuck for several days before I got it working. While the game was quite challenging to develop I finished it in about 2 weeks.
I think for a 1st game, it still holds up and I still sometimes pull it up and play it.
With my first effort behind me, I was tempted to get even more ambitious but I found that most of my original design ideas were terrible and after building several prototypes, I didn’t think any of them were worth finishing. I decided to see if I could get lightning to strike twice and made another retro-clone, this time of a classic game called Moon Lander, which I called Mars Lander.
I found that by working with an established game design, I could focus on game development which was really what I wanted to learn. I always figured that in the future I would design an original game, but I figured at this stage I was still just trying to learn.
I didn’t spend much time on the title screen and again mouse clicking doesn’t work, you have to use the arrow keys and hit enter to start the game.
Mars Lander has a simple premise, fly your ship from one landing pad, to another. This of course is a physics-based game that forced me to learn an entirely new element of coding, but it was actually quite easy and fun. In fact, I think of all the projects I worked on even up to this point, this was one of the simplest and fastest games to get finished. I had it done (start to finish) in 3 days.
In Mars Lander, you use the A, D and Space Bar to control thrust and the arrow keys to control the angle of the ship. You can restart the game with the R key. You must land on the yellow or red pads on the other side of the map.
It’s part exploration, part physics control and it’s hypersensitive. You must land on the pads very softly or you will explode.
There are five levels, each with a different set of circumstances and maps. On the later more difficult maps, the gravity changes on you, so the ship starts to feel heavier when going through certain areas. Of course, the big thing is that you have limited fuel, so you must make your landing before you run out and your score is based on how much fuel you use, less is more.
Moon Lander was a game I played a lot back in the day and it’s still a lot of fun, though Mars Lander, my version is a lot more frustrating than I remember Moon Lander being.
This wasn’t a terribly challenging game to make as the physics engine in Gamemaker Studio is quite easy to work with. The biggest challenge was getting the sensitivity right.
Mars Lander gave me my next idea as well. For my next challenge, I wanted to do another Retro-Clone but I wanted to create an original version with lots of bells and whistles, essentially taking a simple game and cranking it up. At this stage, I realized that making retro-clones was actually a really great way to focus my game efforts on game development, rather than game design and this would prove to be a really great way to learn.
As you can probably guess, my next game was based on Asteroids, but it is so much more than that. I took all the lessons from my previous efforts and applied pretty much everything I knew to this next project. I also put considerably more effort into the art of the game and tried to make it a much more complete game than anything I had done to this point.
Super Asteroid Metal really tested my knowledge to this point, but it would also prove to be one of my greatest lessons in what not to do in terms of code. It’s a spaghetti mess that I was barely able to finish and I learned the hard less that games that get more complicated really need to use a game state engine which notably is not a feature in Super Asteroids Metal but would be in every game that followed.
Super Asteroids Metal has a lot of features including a radar system, ship upgrades, and various physics effects and it uses particle systems. I spent a full 3 weeks working on this game, without a doubt the biggest game I had made to date. One of the major challenges of the game is that at this point I didn’t know how to build a game state engine, so what you see is a very robust series of timed executions using a wide range of terrible methods I would never recommend to anyone. The game works, but holy shit is the code a mess.
I learned a great deal from making this game, in fact, I consider this game to be sort of my threshold game. Upon finishing I really felt like, at this stage, I could create anything I wanted. I was wrong of course and this poor self-assessment would result in me creating at least a dozen failed prototypes before my next success, but it was nonetheless a huge confidence builder for me.
In Super Asteroids Metal the premise is quite simple. Clear the Asteroid field just like the classic game, but the controls is what I think is the really cool thing here. You control your ships facing with the mouse, the right mouse button is your thruster and the left button is your guns.
Be sure to use your radar, it really is the trick to successfully completing the game.
The game uses physics however and you float around depending on your speed in the direction of the momentum from your thrust, a bit like real space. You have no speed limit and you don’t have any friction so the only way to slow down is to create opposing thrust. You have an indicator that shows which direction you are traveling and how fast.
I got pretty damn good at this game after testing it for hours upon hours, but it’s a pretty tough game.
It can be a bit buggy if you have multiple monitors because your mouse can shift between monitors as you play and you can sort of shift out of the game, so playing it on one monitor is recommended.
There are several levels of difficulty and yes, It’s possible and I have finished the game.
There are also a number of surprises like planets with gravity and various types of power upgrades, including a shield. All things you need to leverage to successfully complete the game.
I’m really proud of this one, it took a lot of effort to complete the game and I worked on it relentlessly during this three-week period.
After I complete Super Asteroid Metal I started to grow ambitious and really wanted to create an original game and compete in a Game JAM. Game JAM’s are a sort of competition where you sign up, you get a theme for the game you will develop for the competition and a very short amount of time to develop it, typically a few days or a couple of weeks.
I wanted to do it with people in my local area so I joined a private game JAM in Sweden and as fate would have it, the theme of the game JAM was “Retro Arcade Classic”. So while I fully intended to create an original game, I found myself in a situation where I had to make another retro-clone anyway.
Space Invaders is an all-time classic and I wanted its creation to be done in the time frame of a Game Jam as a sort of training step to get myself ready for participating in Game Jams myself. It had been something I really wanted to do for a long time and while I had sort of participated in game Jams before, I have never submitted anything.
The mouse works this time! I was worried about time so I didn’t not waste it on making the title screen.
I spiced up my version of Space Invaders by making it a mouse-controlled ship that turned on its access. I also used my ammo idea from DEFCON 1, so you had to replenish ammo in the station protected by the shields that could be destroyed and I created a forever system, meaning that the game gets faster and faster as you complete each level and it goes on forever.
This is a really clean game and all of the art is original.
I think it turned out really great not only as a version of Space Invaders but my code was quite clean. It has a persistent game state engine, I was very efficient in how I wrote the code and I documented the whole thing managing to finish it in just under 3 days.
While I don’t think it’s my best game, it’s definitely my best code and project, I mean this thing is clean as a whistle, I doubt even seasoned programmers would find much fault in how I wrote it.
Going Further – What’s Next
I’m at a point now where I have a few games under my belt not to mention countless prototypes and experiments that I’m ready for new challenges. My greatest ambition is to create an original game, one with a clever story, something that I could actually release in a more public environment than this little blog. An indie title that would allow me to say “I’m an indie developer” and not be a liar. Not that I aspire to become an indie developer but I just like the premise of feeling like one.
I came up with a game I call Quantum that I have been working on for quite a while both conceptually and in prototype form. The basic premise of the game is that you are a microscopic “creature” that must feed, grow and survive in an ever-changing and increasingly hostile environment.
The game actually is a kind of series of microgames that slowly combine to create a more and more complex single game. Initially for example it’s a side-scrolling shooter, but as you go to the next level it becomes a top-down and side-scrolling shooter. With each new level, something new is added to the existing game mechanics, requiring you to juggle more and more mechanics.
Will it be something or just my next failed prototype? Who knows, but what I can say is that each new game is an exciting journey, the next step into a larger world of game development. Each game makes me smarter, each new game makes me faster and more proficient. I started this article by saying that if I can do it, anyone can and I hope if you are reading this and you have the ambition to make your own game you find my journey to be something that inspires you to try. It’s tons of fun!
It’s been a while since I have done an On The Table article, but it’s not because I’m not playing games, it’s BECAUSE I’m busy playing games.
I cover two months this time, and there is plenty to discuss.
Great Western Trail
While dubbed a heavy Euro game, while there is a lot going on and the strategy goes deep, it’s surprisingly easy to get into.
My experience with Great Western Trail has been a rather turbulent one. When I first reviewed the game back in 2017 I’m not sure I painted an entirely flattering picture of the game scoring it at 3.1 in my review, giving it weak scores in the area of Theme and average scores in Gameplay. Looking back at that review, I can say here and now that I think this game deserved a little bit better.
For starters, I think it captures the theme of being a rancher driving cattle quite well though the theme here is really not a critical component of enjoyment of the game. I also criticized the game for lacking interaction and while the game doesn’t have “take that” mechanics, the obstructions of buildings, the race along the rail lines, and the forced actions to player actions is a constant in the game. In the end it is a lot more interactive once you play the game at a higher skill level where those sorts of elements (obstruction in particular) become quite critical to winning the game.
I initially got back into this game because of my daughter, but ultimately I spent a great deal of time playing Great Western Trail on BoardGameArena.com, a site where you can play both the 1st and 2nd editions of the game including the expansions.
Now personally I own the 1st edition and have played enough of 2nd edition to say plainly I think they got it right the first time. The 1st edition of the game is a bit harsher and it was clear that in 2nd edition they softened things up a bit. There are only slight changes but most of the changes make the game in a sense, a bit easier on the players.
The cities where you place your round tokens which represent locations you have delivered to are less penalizing, while the bandit track (formally known as the Indian track in 1st edition) doesn’t have any penalties either when claiming the tokens. The new and adjusted buildings in 2nd edition are also a lot more generous.
Regardless, 1st or 2nd edition, Great Western Trail is a really amazing strategic game that takes planning, resource management and clever maneuvering to come out on top. It’s a challenging game that really delivers a great victory point salad without overburdening you with tons of options with one always being an obvious and really only good one. Every choice you make in Great Western Trail means you have to give something else up, so it’s always a decision between many great choices and your decision ultimately rests on your long-term strategy, while very often being driven by your desire to outpace or obstruct your opponent’s efforts.
I play Great Western Trail games several times a week and have become quite competitive at it and despite repeated plays I’m still discovering new strategies and finding clever ways to improve old ones.
Fantastic game, and comes highly recommended by me.
Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul
Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul has proven to not only be a great strategy game in the CDG influence control genre but has deepened my love for historical war games in general.
I had two separate opportunities to play Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul and my opinion of the game has only improved with additional plays since I originally reviewed the game back last February. The game even made my Top 20 list for 2022, sitting very comfortably in the number 5 spot.
What does that mean? Well simply put, I love this game and for so many reasons.
For starters, it’s infinitely replayable which I honestly didn’t think would be the case given the very static starting setup and the very firm goals of Caesar in particular who has a very clear set of tasks to accomplish each game. This is a card game however and from this are born all of the dynamics and nuances of play that really re-write the circumstances with each game and though the first round might be a bit “standard” as players are likely to have their favorite opening moves, like chess, that does not result in a repetitive game at all.
Caesar is really a game of chicken and pushes your luck in a lot of the strategy that ultimately plays out. Caesar and his powerful army can easily crush any Gaul opposition well into the late game and while mobile, the map is just big enough that obvious gaps in defenses are exposed when he leaves the safety of Provincia.
As such a big part of the strategy for the Roman player is to know exactly when and for how long Caesar’s army can leave his supply lines exposed.
For the Gaul player its an entirely different game. There is less precision and a lot more gambling, as well as the constant need to put influence pressure on the Rome player to keep him concerned about what is happening on the board. Left unchecked, the Gauls explode in the late game and can even become strong enough to oppose Caesar himself in the final rounds.
The game has great tension, and relatively simple rules, it looks amazing on the table despite the use of chits (notably this is a game that deserves some pimping) and above all else it has that “let’s setup again” feeling to it.
Absolutely adore this game though it is not my favorite CDG Influence Control game, that honor falls to Imperial Struggle, but this game doesn’t play second fiddle, it really is its own thing and happily shares a shelf with Imperial Struggle in my humble opinion.
A must-have for CDG Influence Control fans and especially those that have a love for Roman History!
Game of Thrones: Hand of the King
A quick and thinky filler with a fun theme.
This silly little abstract game has virtually nothing to do with Game of Thrones beyond familiar art and names and has been a hit with my family, in particular, my daughter over the course of the last year. It hits our table regularly and is always a must-bring on any outing that might offer an opportunity to steal a few minutes to play a game.
It’s a simple game of collecting cards of the major Game of Thrones houses represented by characters from the Song of Ice and Fire story. Nothing too fancy, it only takes 10-15 minutes to play but it is a bit think, definitely a little puzzle to solve here but there are some take that cards in the game which create some rivalries at the table and it even has some occasional teamwork triggered when one player is getting ahead. Very tight game, rarely does anyone win until the final moments which gives the game a sense of urgency.
All and all for such a simple and fast game it is a lot of fun. Usually, we end up playing 2-3 rounds every time it comes out. If you’re looking for a great group filler that works one on one, this is a great one.
My City
The only legacy game I ever finished and would happily have a second go at.
I’m not big on legacy games, in fact, to date with this one exception they have all been disappointments and not because I didn’t like the game, but because I never get the chance to play out the entire legacy. Legacy games seem to wear out their welcome before they are done and are regulated to the classic “One of these days we need to finish X game” conversations; eternal. I’m looking at you Vampire: The Masquerade – Heritage!
My City is different because not only is a great game, but it’s pretty fast, the legacy adaptation is pretty simple to understand so you don’t have to re-learn the game after each play and you can usually sit down and play 3-4 games in under an hour so you kind of zip through it. In fact, you kind of wish it was a bit shorter, although when the legacy game is done you are left with the core game which in on itself is actually quite fun. Since my daughter and I play it just the two of us and it’s a four-player legacy game, we actually run through it twice with the same set though the game is so cheap that it’s no problem to buy a second copy if you want to do a second run through.
Really enjoyed this one, so far as legacy games go this is the only one that I have actually finished and without feeling like I have to “suffer” to get to the end.
Age of Civilization
A Civilization building filler? Yes please!
Age of Civilization is what I like to call a micro version of Through The Ages even though the two have little more in common than a theme.
This is a simple and fast-moving card game where players are moving through time and taking one of three actions per round available for any given period. There is war, there are civilizations with special powers, and it’s a point grab to a rapidly approaching ending. A Civilization building game in under 15 minutes! I don’t know if anyone asked for that, but they made it and frankly, it’s just short enough not to wear out it’s welcome and it does tickle that Sid Meier Civilization G-spot.
It actually reminded me a little bit of Nations: The Dice Game which I actually think is one of the best Civilization building game fillers on the market today, but this one is actually even faster!
This little gem is a blast from the past, I actually used to play this one daily online for months and its big brother Nations is an awesome game in its own right.
I like it enough to play it for free on BoardGameArena.com and if it was available I would buy it but this Kick-Starter went fast and seems to have disappeared from the marketplace.
A Feast for Odin
The jury is still out on this one, my initial experience I would describe as “confusing”.
I played a “learning” game of A Feast For Odin and oh boy is this a mind-fuck of a beast. I mean I don’t want to say anything negative about it, learning experiences are not a good basis for reviews and frankly 90% of the time playing this game for the first time I had no idea what was going on.
Part puzzler, part worker placement game, part resource management…. and a whole bunch of other stuff. There is a lot going on in this game, just the amount of worker placement options is mind-boggling and man is it unforgiving. You place one thing in the wrong place and you can potentially screw yourself for the entire game.
All I’m going to say at this point is that it certainly piqued my curiosity, I will definitely be getting this one to the table again but I have to say it might be a bit much for a Euro game. I mean I get it, it’s for Mega-Euro fans that want some meat on the bones, the Terra Mystica crowd as I like to call them, but for me, the fun bit of a Euro game is that they are short and thinky. The longer heavier stuff tends not to be my thing in the Euro-Game scene even though big epic board games are definitely my thing. I need theme and player interaction however for long games to stick the landing. This one felt a bit like we were all playing a solo game, the bulk of the interaction was in stealing each other’s worker placement spots.
We’ll see how it goes, but at least unlike Terra Mystica which left a pretty poor impression on me, I recall my conclusion to Terra Mystica review was …and I quote “The entire game just felt like I was waiting for a dentist appointment, I was neither enjoying my wait nor looking forward to my turn, I just wanted the whole mess to be behind me.”
Over-hyped and overrated snooze-fest not worthy of your shelf space or table time. There are far better-cube-pushing Euros out there. Perhaps Feast For Odin will be one of them.
This one fared quite a bit better, but it’s on my “try again and see” list.
Ark Nova
I did not care for this game one bit, long, ugly with stock photography as its primary art asset and a complete absence of any meaningful interaction between players.
I’m going to take a lot of shit for this one given its high status on BoardGameGeek, sitting pretty in the number 4 spot but…. god I hated it.
This was just a pointless game of collecting and trying to house animals which as a theme in on itself was not terrible but you had to look at this really crap stock photography the entire time and the game was just way too long. It says 90 to 150 minutes, you can safely double that. This is a 3-4 hour game that really just doesn’t have the nuts to warrant table time with virtually zero interaction between players.
I don’t usually rush to judgment after one play, but having played this game once I not only never want to play it again, I actively avoid being put in a situation that might result in me having to out of social graces. It’s games like these that cause me to ask “what games are we playing” before accepting an invitation to board game night.
Conclusion
Of course, these weren’t the only games I played in the last couple of months, but they were the ones that stuck out.
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