New games I’ve played recently

ianoble    Board Games    

I’ve been fortunate to play some really great new games recently. Here are some brief thoughts:

Lords of Waterdeep

Sure, the complaints are that the game doesn’t have any revolutionary mechanics and the theme is pretty much pasted on. Once you start actually playing the game, none of that matters. Wizards of the Coast was able to mix a number of my favorite game elements into a very streamlined, smooth and downright fun experience. So far I’ve played with 4 & 5 players. Playing with 5 was only marginally longer and everyone still ended up within a 20 point window, from first to last. I’m looking forward to playing it again!

Last Will

This game popped up on my radar immediately after hearing about the theme of trying to be the first player to spend all of your money. Most games give you a little bit of cash at the start and it’s your job to turn that cash into fame and fortune. In Last Will you start with more money that you ever want and over the course of the game you blow it on boat parties, carriage rides, buying property and letting it depreciate, etc. Sure, there are some scale issues considering a dinner “costs” 4 and buying a property can cost 10. All in all the theme works very well if you can just think that some numbers are in hundreds and some are in thousands/millions.

I’ve only played 2 two player games, but I can see that the game has high replayability and is just downright fun!

In the Year of the Dragon

In the past few months I have been able to play many different games by many different designers, however I have not been impressed by one designer more than Stefan Feld. He just brings so many different and interesting mechanics to games. In the Year of the Dragon is no different. Now, I’ve played many of his newer games before trying this one, so I was a bit unsure if I would enjoy it as much as Luna or The Speicherstadt. Turns out I actually enjoyed it as much or even more!

This is definitely a survival game. One wrong move and you can have your whole strategy blown out of the water. The first game we played was with 5 and even though we messed up a few rules everyone seemed to have a good time. So much so that it was requested as our online, turn-based game for the week. Since then we’ve played multiple games online. I am a certified Feld Fanboy!
 
 
I still have lots of unplayed games on my shelf, hopefully these next few months will be filled with even more great new games!

From the Cold War to the depths of space (part 3 of 3)

ianoble    Board Games    

My third segment on games from the past year will focus on a game that is in genre that has really become one of my favorites. Co-operative board games are a nice change of pace from the usual “single winner” games. I’ve noticed that we tend to have more fun playing co-ops because there is much more communication between the players and much less AP. Everyone is always engaged and trying to make the best moves for the team, not just screw another player out of VPs or position.

The latest co-op game is centered around the Firefighting theme. A theme that has been severely underutilized in the boardgaming industry. I’m happy to see that Indie Boards and Cards chose this theme in their latest game.

Flash Point: Fire Rescue

One of the strongest features of a game is it’s ability for many different types of people to play it. Flash Point does a wonderful job of being simple enough to teach to non-gamers, but offer a number of options to make the game more complex and challenging for more seasoned gamers. The Family Rules are simple enough to teach to an 8 year old, but fun enough to play with adults. The game is still challenging enough so you don’t feel like you’re playing a kids game that can be easily solved.

The “Advanced Rules” adds some time to the setup, but each player can help so it’s not terribly long. It also adds roles to the game so each player can have a specialty. This has helped fix the overbearing player issue that is common to co-operative games. Each player can focus on what they do best; be it fix damage to walls, run the fire hose, etc.

I’m more than happy to have this game in my collection next to the grand daddy of co-operative games: Pandemic. It certainly holds its own!

The End.