The Ninth World: A Skillbuilding Game for Numenera is a very strange game, essentially implementing the construction of an RPG character as a game. The character is guided in different directions by different cards, improves basic skills, finds special abilities, and experiences adventures. But everything is very strongly abstracted. For me, the game is carried mainly by the consistent graphics and the fact that setup and gameplay are relatively quick. Solid upper midfield, I would say. But quite usable for 30-60 minutes of time. But definitely not a must-have. And for me already symptomatic of Loneshark Games: the manual leaves much to be desired. It is not as incomplete as that of Apocrypha, but some things you really only see after multiple readings. More care and blind testing could have really helped.
Archive 2018
Too Many Bones: Undertow has almost reached the top of my game list after just one playthrough. Essentially, it's an RPG in a box - choose a character, level up various stats, and each character has their own skill tree. Then there's the fact that each character plays completely differently. These characters are then tested in several scenarios with battles against a variety of opponents using a variation of the Hoplomachus combat system. Opponents and your own figures are represented by stacks of poker chips, abilities and actions by dice. Mountains of dice. But due to the many manipulation options, you're not hopelessly at the mercy of dice luck, but always retain a certain degree of control. And all of this is pure gaming fun, especially for me in solo play.
Ever wanted to try something really new and interesting? Petrichor might be just what you're looking for. Where else do players represent competing weather systems vying against each other to provide the best irrigation for crops? Very nice components, a very friendly designed game and an absolutely brutal feel. The cloud systems fight for dominance on the "map", argue about who determines the next weather and stop attacks from opposing cloud systems, all in the fight for points. It almost feels like a wargame. At first, it seems quite complex, as the effects of your own actions always influence several areas at the same time and you practically have to keep all the paths to victory points in mind to avoid falling behind. But after a few actions, you've got it and the game runs smoothly. Replay value is provided by the high variability of the setup.
Architects of the West Kingdom is my souvenir (one of several) from the Spiel 2018 in Essen. I like the graphic style of The Mico very much and the fact that Shem Phillips worked as a developer on it gave me hope. And the game delivers a very good picture. A very idiosyncratic look at worker placement combined with a dual goal path (virtuous cathedral building or thievish withholding and black market trading) provides a lot of fun, at least in our first game. Will definitely come to the table more often, it is not too complex in the actual game, the actions are not huge chains like in Viticulture, but usually directly connected to what you want to do next. Plus the missing blocking and the successive improvement of one's own actions, the capturing of the opponent's workers when they become too efficient, all very interesting action possibilities.
Recently, Iron Curtain has been played a lot at our place. It's almost like a Twilight Struggle as a microgame. 18 cards, a few wooden dice and off you go. Each card can be used for 1-4 (depending on the card) influence dice or for their event, generally it's about influence in countries and regions of the world. And it's impressive how much game depth has been packed into this small box and the little material. Definitely a lot of fun to play. The game is by the same creators as 13 Days, which we also really enjoyed.
Ethnos had been on my wishlist for a while, and I eventually bought it because I wanted a relatively easy-to-explain game for up to 6 players that I can play with any group. Not a long explanation, catchy gameplay (it reminds me a bit of Ticket to Ride, but here influence markers are placed in a country instead of trains on a map) and quick to play. Even with 6 players, we usually finish in one to one and a half hours. And it's really fun. Of course, due to the game concept, you are - just like in Ticket to Ride - strongly dependent on what you draw. But with tactical skill and attention, you can still wrestle a rough direction from chance. The different factions that appear in the game can be freely assembled from 6 out of 12, which can drastically change the game - having Halflings in the game feels completely different (suddenly everyone plays very large combat groups) than, for example, Centaurs (everyone wants some because you can play two or more combat groups). Elves and wizards keep your hands full, dwarves reduce the combat group sizes for points. Very fun and despite the variability, easy to explain.
Renegade is a game by Ricky Royal, one of my favorite board game YouTubers. He particularly enjoys showcasing solo games, and Renegade is an excellent solo game, naturally also playable as a cooperative game with multiple players. Cyberpunk theme, deck-building à la Mage Knight, but with a permanently size-limited deck (always 15 cards). The cards have a dual function (at least the cards you buy into the deck), either commands or events. And actually, buying is always worth it, as you buy directly to your hand, so you usually improve your hand. Additionally, a multi-stage game with intermediate goals that you can achieve for a bonus or ignore against a penalty. All this with a very lean area-control aspect. I really like it.
One Deck Dungeon: Forest of Shadows is another solo game. Okay, you can also play it cooperatively with two players, but somehow it still feels more solo-focused to me. A classic rogue-like, but as a card and dice game. As in the old computer games, you are a single (or two) fighter of different classes who must fight their way through a dungeon, three levels deep, to then face the final boss. Along the way, you defeat monsters and trials and receive abilities, items, or potions in return. In the end, these are of course just more dice and dice manipulations, but thematically it all works surprisingly well and is - despite the manageable number of cards - surprisingly varied.
In my constant search for interesting solitaire games, I recently stumbled upon Wars of Marcus Aurelius: Rome 170-180CE. Hollandspiele is a small but fine wargame publisher that has released a whole series of challenging solitaire games. And with the Wars of Marcus Aurelius, they have, in my opinion, hit a real jackpot: a mix of State of Siege and CDG. State of Siege is characterized by the different fronts that push towards a center and constantly threaten to overwhelm the player. This element is also present here. But while in State of Siege the dice dominate and cards only provide a historical framework, here the cards are absolutely central. The classic CDG mechanism allows cards to be used for ordinary actions or for the printed event. Generally, there are several uses for cards and the player can manage their hand of cards over the seasons of the current year, always considering whether to use or save the cards. Add to this the opponent driven by card effects. Dice are only used to determine conflict victories and there are many ways to influence the dice result. Overall, a really good mix, which, however, comes across as quite challenging, as one quickly loses in the spring of the second year ...
Fields of Green is essentially a reworking of Among the Stars - the same card drafting, the same tableau building, and again the dependencies of the card arrangement for victory points (and there are the same three types of cards with immediate effect, round effect, and end-of-game scoring). But instead of space stations in outer space, here it's all about the fields and the dear livestock. A game vacation on the farm, so to speak. All in a nice package with very clear rules and round sequences and a few new tricks compared to the predecessor game. Unfortunately, just like the predecessor game, it's only for 4 players, but a 5-player expansion is already on the way. For larger groups, however, 7 Wonders remains unbeaten as a drafting game.
I finally got Innovation on the table at the weekly game meetup and must say, I like it. I had only played with a fan-made solo rule before, but with multiple players, a highly interactive game like this is simply better. Exploiting card combos doesn't work as well in solo play, so many interactions fall by the wayside. The game offers a lot of combos and an interesting flow through participating in other players' cooperative dogmas (card effects) and the way affected players are chosen in imperative dogmas. Definitely fun for more, although the game is really very text-heavy and probably only truly great when the games have been played multiple times and know what cards are in play.
'Kernel memory leaking' Intel processor design flaw forces Linux, Windows redesign • The Register - and all Intel-based systems will be slower. 5-30% performance loss depending on the specific workload on the systems. Ouch.