Archive July 2016

Here's what I found worth reading this week, collected and uncommented:

Without Fear and Nobility is practically an oldie, but it was new for Juliana and me. I mainly got it to have something small for larger rounds, as our weekly board game evening is slowly growing. We have only played it in pairs so far, but even then the game is very nice. It reminds a bit of San Juan, with the buildings primarily serving as a source of money (and points), the violet buildings with special functions and the role selection. Very interactive and at least with two players even with strategic elements, which, however, in larger rounds are probably displaced in favor of purely tactical play. But it's definitely fun.

Yomi Starter Set: Grave versus Jaina is a very unusual and interesting game for me, which brings some problems in solo play. Yomi simulates the old 2D Fighter Games - classic Punch/Throw/Block actions in a Rock/Paper/Scissors configuration. But all of this as a card game with simultaneous playing of action cards. Which basically comes down to guessing the opponent's actions. Which doesn't work so well in solo play - due to the lack of a guessable opponent. So it's only the evaluation of your own hand of cards, a bit of statistics and card counting. Which is surprisingly interesting against an automaton that blindly draws from the deck. You wouldn't expect it, but the cards offer enough interesting combination possibilities that it remains interesting anyway. At least for learning the different characters, it is usable, whether it can also offer long-term fun remains to be seen. As I said, this only refers to solo play, with a real opponent it will certainly be different.

What I consider worth reading over the course of the week and did not want to link separately, collected here and uncommented.

What I considered worth reading during the week and did not want to link separately, collected here and uncommented.

What I considered worth reading during the week and did not want to link separately, collected here and uncommented.

Leaving Earth is a game in which players manage a space agency and must carry out missions. The solo version presents some exciting challenges, as you need to win at least half of the mission points available. This is already quite difficult - in my first game, to even have a chance of winning solo, I first had to examine Venus to find out that you can't land there (which allowed me to discard the Venus missions and thus reduce the point load) and then carry out a manned Mars mission. The latter failed due to lack of time and propulsion equipment. But ideas are already circulating on how to make the whole thing run better next time. And that's a good sign for a hard optimization game - here you don't shoot or send old men with atomic bombs to asteroids, here you plan your budget, your multi-year missions, and the risk you want to take. Cool. For Science!

Here are some interesting reads from this week that I didn't want to link to separately, collected here without comment.