Archive November 2016

Yesterday, Mound Builders finally made it to the table. Very exciting. Mound Builders deals with an Indian culture of North America, of which only the burial mounds and a huge city (i.e., the traces of it) remain, but otherwise not much is known - except that they probably dominated North America culturally for about 1500 years. The game belongs to the State of Siege series, games that usually simulate a kind of stalemate. Situations in which enemies penetrate from the outside and must be repelled. In Mound Builders, however, you first build your empire in the first epoch of the game, which is then attacked in two further epochs. And the epochs all play quite differently (for example, the Spaniards are added as a catastrophe in the third). The game is set up quickly and is relatively quick to play once you have the phases down. However, this can take some time because the rulebook is rather unusual. But the effort is worth it if you want an exciting solo game with an interesting theme far removed from the usual. Of course, it is relatively strongly random, because almost every situation is resolved with dice. But this should not deter experienced solo players, as this is rather typical there - especially in conflict simulations.

Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game I've had for a while, but only today had the chance to play it. The game is very similar to Space Hulk: Death Angel, but much more expanded. Even in the tutorial, there is much more decision space and you have much more of a feeling of control. It's fun and the different scenarios promise even more of it. Specifically, the upgrading of action cards looks interesting, but unfortunately is not part of the tutorial. But it definitely makes you want more. Setup is much more than in SH:DA. So let's see how often it actually lands on the table, especially since Arkham Horror LCG is also announced, which goes in a similar direction.

Recently, the German version of Scythe finally arrived at my place, and today it hit the table as a solo game. The material is fantastic and impressive visually. The game itself is also great - essentially a mix of a Eurogame with action selection and a 4X game. The exploration aspect was not very pronounced, the military aspect only moderate, both of which I like. It's about the typical Euro efficiency of one's own actions, but embedded in a stylish frame theme. What excites me is the good design of the player boards, which show possible actions at a glance. And the very fast game sequence during the game with manageable decision-making scope. Great.