2024 Week 25 to Week 28 – Tabletop Game Play Session Reports #8

This article is the compilation of my play session reports #8. All games were played during Week 25 to Week 28 of 2024 from 17 June 2024 to 14 July 2024.

Usually, I do short reports per week on my BGG blog. or for the Daily Session here. For pictures of each play session, check out my TikTok account in slideshow form. Maybe I’ll add more social media accounts to share in the future and the best way to find out is to check my LinkTree account.

By writing the session reports, it helps me to write the review for the game later. So, it is part of the review process even though I may not even write the review.

Sometimes, I also write a longer session report for one game where I describe what happened turn by turn with more pictures. There are links at the bottom of each entry to BGG post of that long report.

Some new games get more play until it reaches the target minimum of play. They might appear in multiple months. I also revisit some older ones from time to time. These are just games in my collection.

Click or tab on any sections from the table of contents to jump right to that part. Use the red arrow button on the bottom right corner of the screen to head back to the top.

List of Games

Here are the links to the Weekly Session Reports for shorter version: Week 25, Week 26, Week 27, Week 28.

Compilation of links to reports of individual games can be found in this article. Those are just for newer games and my initial impression for each. This is the list for all games with a Full Review.

Here are links to previous entries.
#1. November to December 2023
#2. 2024 Week 1 to Week 4 (January)
#3 2024 Week 5 to Week 8 (February)
#4 2024 Week 9 to Week 12 (March)
#5 2024 Week 13 to Week 16 (April)
#6 2024 Week 17 to Week 20 (May)
#7 2024 Week 21 to Week 24 (June)

Daily articles for individual game are posted on my Patreon for those who feel the need to read right away.

Roll Camera!: The Filmmaking Board Game

Watch the Slideshow of this Roll Camera! game session here.

Last chance to make a great movie to save your production company in Roll Camera!: The Filmmaking Board Game.

This was a solo session using the easiest difficulty. Played as EDITOR, first time playing with it. The Editor has 2 special abilities. One is to RE-EDIT, where you can change the order of the shot scenes, after you have several. Making this role very flexible with scripts that require specific placements and/or combination.

2nd ability is called PLAYBACK. Instead of playing back the movie, this was to retrigger the past ideas. You can look at the last 5 ideas in the discard pile and then use them again. But once you retrigger that idea this way, you have to remove it from the game. So, there are 2 limitations. It has to be recent and only once for that same idea.

The original script was MINDBLOWING + KNIFE-WIELDING MANIACS. 1st part of that dislike Yellow and Blue scenes and you will lose quality for having each. While the 2nd part will give better quality with every Red Scene. From the storyboards there were 1 red, 1 purple and 1 yellow scene available.

ROUND 1. Crews: SOUND, SOUND, SOUND, LIGHT, VFX

Problem: This night scene now needs to take place during the day. 1 additional light required for every scene.

Based on the current scrip, I went for the Red scene which required only 4 crews where 3 of them were in L-shape placement.

Assigned the 2 Sound crews to setup the tile. I picked the one with 3 blue spaces to accommodate the scene and placed it right above the middle blue spot. Paid 1 money.

Then 1 Sound and 1 Light resolve the current problem, 1st one so far.

2 VFX dice left. One started the Production meeting with the idea to build set piece for free. The other had idea to rewrite the script which I like to change the top half so I kept it in 2nd spot of to do list. The other idea to place any dice on any space for shooting scene went to discard.

I activated my initial idea and put the 2nd piece for free. This one had 1 space that turns any dice into any face. I placed it at the bottom right corner where that special space became part of the red scene.

I had 1 VFX die left and I just assigned it to the scene, occupying the space for camera on that scene.

13 money, 10 rounds left. Quality +0 from START. 5 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 2. Crews: ART, ART, LIGHT, LIGHT, VFX

Problem: The Sound person forgot to press record. You cannot gain quality but still can lose it. Unless the quality is below the start and you gain back to start.

I assigned one of the Light crew to start a Meeting, bringing the idea to lock yourself in the editing room and recut the whole dang movie. Planned to discard it actually since that was the specialties of Editor.

One idea from the others was to Double the caffeine content in the craft services coffee. I kept it as it could have saved money during shooting.

So I had to activate the last idea which was to Shoot the actors without doing hair and make up. Lose quality by 2 to gain 1 time. With the related problem, I was thinking of let the problem return the quality back to Start by letting the problem stayed.

But I decided to just resolve it right away by assigning two art crews. 2nd resolved. So, I had 2 crews left, VFX and light. I needed the Light for the Scene and the VFX I placed it on a space that required Actor. Locked them both with the one from previous round. I still needed 1 more actor.

13 money, 10 rounds left. Quality -2 from START. 5 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 3. Crews: CAMERA, CAMERA, VFX

Problem: Deadly Wasps built a nest in one of the editing rooms. Put a blocked token on any empty editing room space. Scenes cannot be placed there. You can still place on the next one.

This was actually not really a bad issue to stay longer depending on the script. Regardless I resolved it right away with my 2 Camara, 3rd resolved issue so far.

Then the VFX filled the last required space by the scene. Paid the cost of 4, saving 1 time and shot that Red Scene.

9 money, 10 rounds left. Quality -2 from START. 4 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 4. Crews: SOUND, SOUND, CAMERA, CAMERA, LIGHT, VFX

Problem: The VFX has left us to make government propaganda videos. VFX assigned from now on are not wild.

Well, I resolved it right away with my 2 Camera crews. 4th so far. Then with 1 Light and VFX crews I completed the 2nd to do list to change half of the script. I chose WACKIEST to replace MINDBLOWING so every 2 purple scenes increase the quality by 2. Took 1 money bonus from it.

Then with 2 Sound crews, I rearranged the set, preparing to shoot that purple scene on storyboard. There were 2 actually but I prepared for the 1st one to save more time and it required less crews.

10 money, 9 rounds left. Quality -2 from START. 4 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 5. Crews: CAMERA, CAMERA, ART, ART, SOUND, ACTOR

Problem: The Storyboard artist drew all the storyboards in invisible ink! At the end of each turn, discard all scenes in the Storyboard and draw new scenes to replace them.

Definitely had to resolve this right away. 2 Art crews resolved it right away, 5th so far so I took bonus of extra time.

The set scene was ready so I thought 1 Camera and 1 Actor just stayed on the set.

So I had 2 left. I had an idea to keep one crew unavailable for this and next round in exchange for 3 money so I thought I assigned one of those 2 left to start a meeting and activated it. Gained the 3 money.

Apparently another idea also could have gotten me 3 money but I had to draw additional problem. I let it go. The other idea that went to 2nd to do list was Repaint the set and pretent it’s a different one. This allows me to move and/or rotate 1 piece and gain 1 quality.

13 money, 9 rounds left. Quality -2 from START. 4 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 6. Crews: VFX, LIGHT, SOUND.

Problem: The Actors have decided that their characters would only speak in whispers. 1 additional sound required for every scene.

I needed the light so the VFX and the Sound resolved the issue, 6th one.

Nothing else to be done as the other dice were locked.

13 money, 8 rounds left. Quality -2 from START. 4 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 7. Crews: CAMERA, LIGHT, SOUND.

Problem: The Script fell into Paper Shredder! At the end of each turn, shuffle both the top and bottom script decks to create a new, randomized script.

This had to be resolved right away so the Camera and Sound were assigned to resolve the issue. But that means I only had 1 crew left.

Luckily I had the idea to reroll and reassign up to 3 used dice. The Crew started the meeting and I executed it right away. Those same available 3 crews were rerolled and became 1 light, 2 actors. I only needed 1 Actor for the scene but I had plan for the other 2.

From the other 2 ideas presented during meeting, I rejected the idea to use super sensitive satellite lens. I kept the idea to give all actors fake mustaches in to do list, replacing the previous one on 2nd spot.

While the Scene was ready to be shot, I assigned the 2 crews to execute that to do list, giving the 2 actors on the scene mustaches that would have given the movie 1 quality boost from each.

I shot the scene, paid 4 money, getting extra time and bonus 1 more quality from the scene itself.

9 money, 8 rounds left. Quality +1 from START. 3 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 8. Crews: ACTOR, ACTOR, VFX, VFX, LIGHT, SOUND

Problem: The directors cannot decide on the shot and wants to shoot with multiple cameras to figure it out later. 1 additional Camera required for every scene.

The Storyboard had 1 green, 1 purple and 1 yellow scene so only the 2nd one worked for the script.

I assigned the 2 Actors first to rearrange the set for that purple scene. Those 2 pieces and the blue space in the middle were not enough.

Sound and Camera crews went to resolve the issue, 8th one so far.

I had 2 VFX dice left and I used it to help the Editor with their PLAYBACK ability. This was to reactivate the idea to reroll and reassign 3 dice. I took the 2 Actors and 1 that resolved the issue and they became 1 VFX, Actor and Light.

Actor and VFX made a 3rd set, paying 1 money cost. Now the set was ready for the scene. That Light stayed on the set. I needed 4 more crews for the scene.

8 money, 7 rounds left. Quality +1 from START. 3 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 9. Crews: ACTOR, ACTOR, ACTOR, LIGHT, SOUND

Problem: Yesterday’s sushi burrito lunches gave some of the crew food poisoning! When this problem is drawn, put 1 crew dice on this card. It is unavailable but after resolving you may reroll and assign it.

The Light crew was the one that got the food poisoning. For the Scene, I needed the Sound and 1 Actor to stand on set.

Assigned the 2 actors to resolve it, 9th one. So the crew came back after the treatment and became a Sound. Well, they were not ready for their job completely so this one helped me to think more ideas.

The idea was to use the actors who are not on camera as meat stands. This replaced the idea to wipe the crew’s memory.

8 money, 6 rounds left. Quality +1 from START. 3 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 10. Crews: CAMERA, ART, LIGHT

Problem: The wind machine has gone haywire and is blowing everything around! At the end of each turn, rotate all set pieces 90 degrees counter-clockwise even if they have dice on them.

I needed 2 more for the scene, a VFX and a Camera. So I needed the VFX. To do so, I assigned the Art crew to turn the Light crew into VFX crew.

This added 2nd problem: Somebody left the entire storyboard in the back of taxi cab! Put a Blocked token on the Scene deck, You cannot shoot that scene or draw from that. Luckily my next scene was at the 2nd space so I could have let the problem stayed.

I got all crews ready to shoot the scene. Paid 3 money for it and shoot that purple scene. Gained 2 quality bonus from the scene itself.

Unfortunately, the previous unresolved issue forced me to rotate the set piece.

***** I think I rotated all 3 of them clockwise instead.

5 money, 5 rounds left. Quality +3 from START. 2 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 11. Crews: ART, ART, SOUND, SOUND, ACTOR, LIGHT

Problem: The Producer hired Mob Goons to help with the Production’s Problems! Resolving problem, including this one costs 1 money in addition to any other costs.

So, there were 3 active problems now. I resolved the first one with the mob goons with 1 light and 1 actor. Paid 1 money for it. Then with 2 Sound resolved the 2nd, removing the block token from scene deck. I couldn’t afford to resolve the last one.

Those were 10th and 11th resolved problem. Took the extra time bonus.

The storyboard now had 1 purple, 1 Green and 1 Yellow. 2 more dice.

The art dice led the meeting, bringing the idea of making a scene as flashback. Just by swapping 2 scenes I could have gotten 2 quality. It didn’t matter which scene I swapped places but the result was a Purple, Red and then Purple.

Discarded the idea to double the bonus effects shown on sets. The one I kept on to-do list, 2nd space was to draw 5 scenes from the bottom of the deck and choose 2 of them to replace the existing 2 on current storyboard.

The last art crew tried to get more idea and they came out with selling off parts of the set to movie memorabilia collectors to make more money. This replaced the idea of using actors as meat stands.

4 money, 5 rounds left. Quality +5 from START. 2 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 12. Crews: ACTOR, ACTOR, ACTOR, ART, ART, SOUND

Problem: The cinematographer insists on shooting on 120mm films. Every scene now costs 1 money more to shoot.

Luckily with 3 actors, allowing me to resolve that last previous issue. 12th one. I also assigned 1 sound and 1 art crew to resolve the new one, 13th issue.

So, I only had 1 crew left. I thought I should execute that 2nd to do list by losing 1 quality. From the bottom of the Scene deck, there were 1 Yellow, 1 Green, 1 Blue and 2 Red scenes. Those 2 reds were perfect for the script so I replaced the 2nd and 3rd storyboard spaces.

4 money, 4 rounds left. Quality +4 from START. 2 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 13. Crews: CAMERA, CAMERA, LIGHT, LIGHT, SOUND, SOUND

Problem: Turns out the VFX team was actually just smoke and mirrors! You cannot assign any VFX for any action, including the set.

Money and time were running out. So, with 1 Sound, I run a meeting, bringing the idea to sell off parts of sets. I removed 1 set piece for 2 money. Executed it immediately.

Discarded the idea to reroll any number of dice up to 5 times. I kept the idea to ignore all problems for this turn on 2nd to do list.

Then I resolved the current issue with the help from Camera and sound crew. With 2 Light crews left, I had them to make a new set piece with money bonus. The current position of existing pieces were almost perfect for one of the red scene. This additional set completed it.

I still had 1 Camera crew, I had them locked on set.

5 money, 3 rounds left. Quality +4 from START. 2 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 14. Crews: LIGHT, LIGHT, ART, SOUND, VFX

Problem: Someone left the doors open and wild alligators wandered on to the set! Put a Blocked token on any one Set piece. No Crew dice can be assigned to it. Remove, reroll and reassign existing dice.

**** For some reasons I thought I should put block tokens on all of them so the Camera crew became Actor only.

I needed more time so I started a meeting with the help from Art crew and brought the idea to hire 2nd unit of trained monkeys to shoot simultaneously. Paid 1, gained 1 problem but bonus 2 extra time.

There was an idea to look the last 10 idea cards and resolve one of them. Unfortunately none of them were useful in my opinion so I let it go. I kept the idea to pay 2 money to resolve every issue, replacing the idea to ignore for a turn.

The new problem from initial idea was: There was a Military Parade band practicing next door! Lose 2 quality evertime you shoot a scene or back to Start when it is already below.

With 2 active issues, 2 Light crews to resolve the previous one. The new one was resolved by actor and sound crews. These were the 15th and 16th. Took extra time bonus.

The last VFX crew was ready on the set. I needed 3 more for the scene.

4 money, 5 rounds left. Quality +4 from START. 2 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 15. Crews: ART, ACTOR, SOUND, VFX, LIGHT

Problem: The actors practiced screaming too much and lost their voices! You can no longer assign actors to any action.

Resolved it immediately with light and Art crew. 17th one.

VFX, Actor and Sound were ready to shoot the scene. But I decided not to shoot it now but wait for next round.

4 money, 4 rounds left. Quality +4 from START. 2 scenes to shoot.

ROUND 16. Crews: ACTOR, ACTOR

Problem: Too much time was wasted early on! Now we have to work double time to make up for it. If you do not shoot a scene each turn, you lose 1 money.

I already had 4 crews on set ready for that red scene. The 2 Actors this round executed the 1st to do list, double the caffeine content in the crews’ coffee to save money when shooting.

Shot the scene, paid 3 money. Bonus 1 money from set and 2 from that idea card. So it was free. Gained 1 bonus quality from the scene itself.

I didn’t have to suffer penalty from the active issue.

4 money, 3 rounds left. Quality +5 from START. 1 scene left to shoot.

ROUND 17. Crews: ACTOR, SOUND, SOUND, SOUND, CAMERA, VFX

Problem: The editor is cutting the film as an experimental avant garde art piece. Each time you shoot a scene, shuffle and randomly redistribute all scenes in editing room.

2 Sounds rearranged the set to prepare for that final red scene. I still needed time so I assigned the 3rd sound crew to help the Editor with their Playback ability.

This was to retrigger the idea to hire monkey crews, losing 1 money for 1 additional problem and 2 extra time. The new problem forced me to clear all crews on set except for sound.

With 1 Camera crew and losing 1 quality, I paid 2 money to resolve all issues. Got 20 resolved issues and I took the 2 money bonus. 3 money left.

Then the Actor crew started a meeting. I brought in an idea to not use electricity today to save 2 money only if I have not shoot any scene this round. Kept the other idea of discarding one scene from storyboard to gain money or quality. Letting go the idea of gambling the budget.

Last VFX die stayed on set, filling one of the Actor required by the scene.

5 money, 4 rounds left. Quality +5 from START. 1 scene left to shoot.

ROUND 18. Crews: ACTOR, ACTOR, ACTOR, LIGHT, ART

Problem: The builders bolted the set to the floor for some reasons. Set pieces can no longer be moved and/or rotated except by other problems.

For the scene I needed 1 Camera, 1 Actor and 1 Art. So I missed the Camera. Luckily I had the idea to fire the crew that showed up late and hire someone else. This allowed me to change up to 3 unused dice.

The other ideas didn’t really matter since I got everything for the last scene.

Shot the scene, paid 2 money, bonus 1 from set, lost 1 quality. No bonus from the scene itself.

I finished the film. 4 money left, 4 rounds left. The quality was at +2 from START. I got 5 bonus from all 5 scenes thanks to the script so the quality was NOT BAD.

The Wackiest Knife Wielding Maniacs Movie was about 2 guys having an endless fight and revenge after one of them mock the other for being too stinky.

Playing time was about 100 minutes.

Grove: A 9 card solitaire game

Watch the slideshow if this Grove: A 9 card solitaire game session here.

Grow your lemon, lime and orange trees to fulfill recipes in Grove: A 9 card solitaire game.

I got 2 sessions. First one was with Orange Jellyo and Orange Marmalade recipe. Score 1 point if the first die played is orange and 6 points for having an Orange 6.

Starting card was 14 and I had number 2 and number 9. Both 9 and 14 had a tree with 2 Orange that I could easily overlap. So first die was orange 4 and the 2nd one was Yellow 2. The 2 Green from 14 was overlapped by glade but the glade from 14 had new Green 2.

The 4th card was 1. This one had glade in the middle. I rotated the card counter clockwise to overlap the existing. The 2 yellow at the corner increased the value of existing yellow and the green next to it created a new Green 3. However, this put the original orange 4 on to a Glade.

5th card was number 10, also with a glade in the middle. This also had Orange 2 at the corner next to the Glade. I rotated this clockwise and overlapped the existing. By doing so I saved the orange from the glade and increased it into 6. At the same time Yellow 2 was added along with Green 2. However, the first yellow then fell onto the Glade.

6th card was 15. This one had the exact 4 adjacent color at the same placement as my existing dice. I rotated the card counterclockwise and increased every single one of those dice, saving the Yellow from glade. I had Green 4, yellow 3, yellow 6 and the Orange 6 became Orange 10.

This probably the mistake that made me failed.

7th card was 8 and I still had number 2. Apparently, had I rotated the new one 180, I could have started a new orange with 4 while increasing the green into 4 and added a new Green 2.

Instead I tried to use this to turn the yellow 6 into 10 using the yellow 2 at the corner, next to a glade. So I got yellow and orange 10, 2 green 4, green 2 and yellow 3.

8th card was 7, one more after this. This exact card was perfect for my alternative play to actually get an orange 6. Instead, without rotating the card, I got Orange 4, yellow 3.

Last card was 18 with that 2 from first one. Apparently with these 2, I got a chance to turn Green 4 into a 10. First, I rotated number 2 180, then overlapped the green 4 at the top next to yellow 3. This yellow 3 then fell on to the glade.

Next, I rotated the 18 clockwise and with the Green 2 at the corner, I overlapped that Green 6 into a 10. This also added a new orange 2.

That was the end of the game. I only got 45 plus 1 point from Orange Marmalade while the target score was 57. With my hypothetical better plan, I lost 4 points from yellow but gained 2 plus 6 from that orange and recipe. So, I still only got 49 and lost.

So I played again using the other 9 cards and drew Lime Pickle and Lime Jellyo as recipes. Those were the same recipes as what I just played but instead of orange, they were for Green dice.

The starting card was 3 and I got 13 and 4 in hand. First, I rotated number 4 180 degrees. The green 1 from number 4 and yellow 1 next to it overlapped and created Green 3 and Yellow 2. At least I secured 1 point from the recipe.

4th card was number 6. Rotated this card 180 and one of the corner had green surrounded by 2 oranges just like the existing. So, I increased the Green 3 into 5 while adding 2 Orange 3.

5th card was 11. This time I played 13, rotated the card 270 and overlapped the 3 existing dice. Green 5 became 10 and both Orange 3 became 4. This also added new yellow 3.

6th card was 16. Rotated that one 90 and overlapped one orange 4 at the top. The orange became 5 while adding new Green 3 and yellow 2.

7th card was 17. I had to work on Green 6. Using the new one, I rotated the card 180. The green 2 from this card overlapped the existing Green 2 and Orange 5. So I got Green 5 next to a glade and orange 6.

8th card was 5. Back to 11, rotated the card 90. One Green 1 at the corner overlapped the Green 5, turning it into Green 6, completing the objective. This also added Green 2 and Yellow 2.

9th card was 12 and I still had a 5. With 12, rotated 270, the Orange 2 and Yellow 2 from this card overlapped the existing yellow next to orange. The yellow became 4 and Orange became 6 while adding new orange 3.

With last card number 5, I rotated the card 90. The green 2 from this card turned the Green 10 into Wheelbarrow, and orange 6 into a 10. Existing yellow 2 became a 3 also while adding new Yellow 2.

That was the end of the game. I scored 7 from those 2 recipes. 23 from Green, 19 from 3 orange dice and 14 from 5 yellow dice. So I got 63 from the target of 57. I won!

Playing time was about 15 minutes for the first and 13 minutes for the 2nd.

Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write

Watch the slideshow of this Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write game solo session here.

Build and run your Dino Park while making sure that all threats are secured to avoid death toll in Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write.

This was a solo session. The 3 buildings were Camp Compy, Carnivore Colosseum and Clone Zone while the 3 Specialists were Cloning Expert, the DNA Mixologist and Mad Scientist.

All these 3 Specialists were almost about adding more dinosaurs which led to more threats. As for solo objectives I had to build all 3 buildings, 4 restaurants and hire those 3 specialists.

ROUND 1, ACTION PHASE 1.

I took 1 money to pay 1st of 3 for The Security Chief. Then I took the Purple DNA. The leftover were road with 3 threats or another purple dna plus 2. I took the road and placed it pointing to the right from HQ while taking 2 threats.

From that road I just built I used the dice for BUILD ACTION to build the first restaurant. With the last die I used RAISE FUNDS action for 2 Money, completing the payment to hire the Security Chief. Got 2 security points, no threats were unsecured.

ROUND 1, ACTION PHASE 2.

I took 2 dice, 1 with 2 money and the other with 1 money and 1 Red DNA. Paid 3 money to completely hire the Tour Guide, increasing the excitement level to 3. From the leftover, either taking an orange DNA and 2 threats or Blue and Purple DNA but 2 threats. I chose the latter so with 2 unsecured threats.

With 1 die, I built 2nd Restaurant just 1 space away from the 1st. Then with duplicate, I doubled 2 money and gained 4. That space was blocked and I had to take 3rd unsecured threats. Paid 3 for hiring Jr. Scientist and 1 for the DNA Mixologist. Bonus from that Scientist were Green and Orange DNA.

ROUND 1, RUN PARK PHASE.

I got 2 money from 2 restaurants to continue paying the DNA Mixologist. Got 1 security point from the chief so 2 unsecured threats left. The 2 roads connected the 2 restaurants and extended from the 2nd on the other end.

Jr. Scientist managed to build 2 Dinos but I couldn’t have afforded more threats so I built 2 TRICERATOPS for 2 extra excitement levels. This was placed connected to the 2nd restaurant and the 2nd exit to the right.

No bonus from those 3 specialists yet.

Run the Park and got 3 excitement levels from 3 locations in the tour route. Excitement level was at 8. Got 2 Basic DNAs 1 Money and 1 Security. I took yellow and red DNA. The money was still to pay the DNA Mixologist. I still had 1 threat unsecured.

No death toll yet.

ROUND 2, ACTION PHASE 1.

I took 2 security points from 1 die. The 2nd die was just 1 money to completely hire the DNA Mixologist. The bonus from that was 3rd Triceratops with 1 Excitement level.

From the leftover, I had to take 1 threat either way. The choices were 1 Ride attraction or 1 money / 1 Purple DNA. I took the former, placed it right after the Triceratops paddock, along the right wall.

Then I doubled the 2 security points to 4 so I could take 4 more threats from that point. With the 2nd die I got 2 Money from Raise Funds. That was to partially pay the Mad Scientist.

ROUND 2, ACTION PHASE 2.

Another dice with 2 coins. I took it with the plan to double it so I had 6 to completely build the Carnivore Colosseum. This was placed right after the Ride attraction area and 3rd exit to the right. 2 extra securities as the bonus.

The last 3 dice had all 2 threats, either 1 coin or 1 Orange DNA. I thought I needed the DNA so I took it. That means 2 other dice were 1 coin each. 1 Coin was for the 1st specialist because I was not sure to hire the Mad one yet. So, I got 2 threats and 4 empty guards.

Using the 2nd die, I doubled the Orange DNA after doubling the 2 coins. Luckily the first die didn’t have any threat. So, my orange was 4.

ROUND 2, RUN PARK PHASE.

The 2 money from restaurants were for the Cloning experts, needed 2 more. With the Ride, the excitement level went up by 1 to 10. Got 5th free security. The 2 road from Tour Guide extended the existing road to 2 more buildings, ending at 3rd exit to the right.

So, I got to build 2 Dinos. 1 was a MEGALOSAURUS, the large Carnivore. The paddock was place to the left from the HQ, next to the first exit, leaving enough room for the Compsognathus paddock at the top left corner.

The 2nd dino was a Velociraptor which the paddock was placed after that paddock for Megalosaurus. From those 2, I got 3 threats, all secured and 5 excitement levels to 15.

Before running the park, I got a chance 1 make 1 dino using DNA Mixologist. I think I was supposed to duplicate Velociraptor for 2 excitement level to 17 and 1 threat.

Then I run the Park with the initial route adding 2 more excitements from 2 new buildings. The excitement levels went up to 19.

From this track I got 3 money, 3 securities, 2 Basic DNA and 1 Advanced DNA. The money was enough to completely hire the 2 specialists. Cloning Expert reactivated the DNA Mixologist to get me the last triceratops. Excitement level to 20.

Spent 3 Red DNA, for Mad Scientist to make his weird Dinos. Got 3 threats and 6 excitement level to 26. From that I got 1 security and 1 Advanced DNA. I got 1 money again to start paying for the Clone Zone.

At this point if I tracked it right, I got exactly 16 secured threats with no empty one. So no extra death toll.

ROUND 3, ACTION PHASE 1.

No money this time. I thought I needed to avoid getting too many threats so I left the one without and took the other 3. I got 1 red, 1 green and 1 Purple DNA.

The I doubled the Red for Mad Scientist and with the other die built 3rd Restaurant. I had to take 1st unsecured threat. The restaurant was placed at the bottom left corner.

ROUND 3, ACTION PHASE 2.

Last drafting phase. I still try to avoid getting threats so I left the one with 1 threat. Took the one with 2 security, 1 Green DNA and 1 Money. The money was to build Clone Zone.

Using the dice with 2 Security I built the last restaurant. While the space was occupied but it had no threat for me. The restaurant was placed next to that 3rd at the bottom edge.

With the 2nd die I used the BUILD action again on top of that my die without any threat. This time I built 3 roads, creating a new route to the left from HQ.

No extra security at this point but no unsecured threats.

ROUND 3, RUN PARK PHASE

I got 1 excitement level from 1 Ride Attraction to 27 and 4 money from restaurants. The money was for building Clone Zone, paid 6 out of 9.

Got 1 extra security and 2 roads, extending the 2nd Route with 2 more buildings. I wasn’t sure to build any dino with the Jr. Scientist. In the game, I skipped thinking about building one if I had more security left but it didn’t seem I had extra.

With Cloning Expert and DNA Mixologist, I made 2 more Velociraptors for 4 excitement levels to 31 and 2 more threats, one unsecured.

I only had 3 Red DNA for Mad Scientist to build 3 more dinos for 3 threats and 6 excitement levels. So, 4 unsecured threats and 37 excitement levels.

Then I run the park going through 2nd route with 5 new buildings connected to an exit. I got 5 excitement levels to 42.

From the excitement track, I should have gotten 6 money, 5 securities, 2 Basic DNA, 2 Advanced DNAs. 3 Money was to build the Clone Zone which I placed next to the south exit but it didn’t matter where.

I got to reactivate one of the specialists again. Only 1 empty security left. I still had 2 money for 1 extra security and if I got 3 excitement levels more, I got 1 more security.

My options was to duplicate the Megalosaurus for 3 excitement levels and 2 threats and 5 points at the end. Or I could have reactivated the Mad Scientist to spend 2 basic DNA for his dino, getting 4 excitement level and 2 threats.

During actual game, I went with the former, not actually thinking about the other.

Assuming I tracked everything correctly, I got 1 extra security while all of the threats were secured, no death toll. That was the end of the game.

FINAL SCORING

Herbivore: 8 points
Small Carnivore: 12 points
Large Carnivore: 10 points
Scientist: 18 points
Building: 22 points
Exit Point Bonus: 20 points
Excitement Level track Bonus: 19 points
Extra DNA: 6 points
Solo Objective: 5 points

TOTAL SCORE: 120 POINTS (PARK OF THE YEAR!)

Playing time was about 31 minutes.

Arkwright: The Card Game

Watch the Slideshow of this Arkwright: The Card Game solo session here.

Run the most profitable business during Industrial Revolution by managing factories, workers, productions and advertising in Arkwright: The Card Game.

This was a solo session. It has been a while since the last time I played and I think I got a couple rules wrong in this one. I randomly selected the 2 starting factories and I got the Food and Cutlery. Purple player started with Food and Clothes while Green player started with Cutlery and Lamps.

As my starting development, I chose to upgrade my ability to increase quality. So, here is how the session went.

1770 Era, ROUND 1.

With Food Factory, Purple was my only competition at this point with the appeal of 4 with no demand. My initial production was already 3. Increasing the appeal to 3 would have only allowed me to sell 2 so I had to increase the appeal to 4 at least with the demand of 1.

However, if then the Purple also increased their appeal by 2, the demand went up to 2 and I would have failed to sell my one food. So, to be safe, I had to increase my appeal to 5 or even 6 to sell the most.

As my first action, I added quality of 2 to my Food Factory. Set the appeal to 6 while selling each Food for 4 each.

My first development was taking the Engineer card so I could start increasing the quality to 6.

Apparently the 3rd cube was drawn so purple didn’t increase their appeal and the green player didn’t open any factory to compete as well. That means I set the appeal too high while selling the food for too low.

I sold all 3 of my foods for 12. Paid the 4 workers for 12 and the cost of running the factory for 8 so I lost 8 pounds this round.

My share value went up to 12 with 10 shares. Green bought his 3rd share (12 each) and Purple sold 2 Foods but didn’t get the most appeal so their share value went up by 1 and bought 1 share so 3 shares (13 each).

1770 era, ROUND 2.

Clothes factory and I had none. For this 2nd action I upgrade quality again but this time for my next factory the cutlery by 2. As for the development, I took 2nd card which was the Workshop card.

During production, the Green opened their Clothes factory to compete with the purple and had the same appeal. The wages went up and the overall demand went down with the demand for Clothes stayed at 2.

So, both at appeal of 4, sold 2 goods each increasing their value shares. Purple already bought one. None won the appeal war.

My Share value was still at 12 with 10 shares. Purple had 4 shares (14 each) and Green had 3 shares (13 each).

1770 era, ROUND 3.

Cutlery factory so I had to produce. My only competition at this point was Green at the appeal of 3 and demand of 1. My initial production was 2 so to sell both I had to set the appeal to 4 at least, maybe even 5 to prevent green from winning the appeal war.

3rd action I increase quality again and to Cutlery factory so it had 4. I set the appeal to 6 so it was a guarantee to win the appeal with the price of 8 each goods.

As my 3rd development, I upgraded the Automate capacity to 3 since I had the Workshop card.

During Production, the Purple player opened their factory to join the competition, setting the appeal to 3, just like Green. Wages went up and overall demand went down with the Cutlery at 3.

I sold 2 Cutlery goods for 16. Paid 12 to 4 workers but the maintenance for 2 machines were free and another 10 for the cost of running the factory. That means I lost another 10 pounds, money at 36 left.

I had 10 shares with value of 14 each. Purple failed to sell 2 goods so bought a share after opening with 5 shares (14 each). Green bought a share plus 1 for not selling 2 goods so 5 shares, 13 each.

1770 era, ROUND 4.

I had no factory for Lamps, only Green had one already. As my 4th action I automated the production replacing 3 workers with 3 machines one in Food and 2 in Cutlery.

For development, I actually increased the capacity to automate to 4. Later I realized I didn’t need that much so I changed it later to Stock Exchange.

During Production, Green increased their appeal while Purple only bought a share. Nobody was competing against Green.

I still had 10 shares with value of 14 each. Purple had 6 shares (14 each). Green increased the share value twice with 5 shares, 15 each.

1780 era, ROUND 1.

Wages was still at 3 per worker.

Back to Food factory only against the Purple. As 5th action I upgraded and opened 2 more factories. Wages went up to 4 now, lowering overall demands.

Purple’s appeal was at 4 and if they increased it again it would have been to 6, matching my previous one. So, I set mine to 7 with the price of 4 for 5 goods now.

As development, I increased the capacity to add quality but still at 2.

During production, Purple did increase their appeal to 6 while the demand was only 2. Green bought a share.

I produced 5 at appeal of 7 so I managed to sell everything and also won the appeal. Earned 20, paid 16 for workers and 9 for Factory so I lost 5 pounds at 31 money left.

I still had 10 shares with value of 16 each. Purple had 6 shares (15 each). Green had 6 shares, 15 each.

1780 era, ROUND 2.

For clothes factory I had to compete against both. Their appeal was at 4. Any of them would have increased their to 6.

Since I just opened the factory last round I only produced 1 so I had to hire more workers and that was my 6th action. I hired 1 worker card for each the Clothes and Lamp factory.

So, now I was producing 4 clothes. The current demand was at 1. I had to increase the appeal to 6 to at least sell 4. That assumed if none of the competition increased theirs.

I could have set the appeal to 7 to make sure I sold everything but I took a risk and settled with 6. Set the price at 5 per goods.

As development I reached the maximum upgrade for quality with plus 3 per action.

During Production, Green increased their appeal, matching mine so Purple bought a share. The demand went up to 3 so I could have only sold 3 of mine, keeping one in the Warehouse.

Gained 15 from selling 3 goods. Paid 16 for workers plus 11 from the factory. So, I lost 12 and my money was at 19 left. My share value went up for selling 2 goods. Purple bought another share this round while Green increased their value by 1.

I still had 10 shares with value of 17 each. Purple had 8 shares (15 each). Green had 6 shares, 16 each.

**** ACTUALLY THE OPPONENTS’ SHARES STARTED FROM 10 SO THE NUMBERS ABOVE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAD 10 EXTRA.

1780 era, ROUND 3.

Back to Cutlery factory against the 2 competitions. Their appeal was at 3 while the demand was at 2. Even if any of them increased their appeal it would have been at 5 at most, increasing the demand to just 3.

As my 7th action, I increased the quality of this factory to the maximum of 6. I settled the appeal to just 6 without trying to affect the demand since I only produced 3, selling at 13 each.

For the development I upgraded the capacity of Advertisement from 2 to 3 per action.

During production, none of the competition made any move. They both only bought a share. Actually 2 for only selling 1 each.

I sold all 3, gaining 39. Paid 8 to workers and 2 for machine maintenance and 13 for running the factory. Finally got my first profit of 16, with 35 money left. My share value went up twice.

I still had 10 shares with value of 19 each. Purple had 20 shares (15 each). Green had 18 shares, 16 each.

1780 era, ROUND 4.

Lamps factory with only Green as the competition. They had the appeal at 5 with the demand at 1.

My factory produced 3 so I had to set the appeal to 5 at least. But if Green increased their appeal by 2, I had to set the appeal to 7 to sell those 3.

As 8th action, I did automate again to 3 machines, 2 at Clothes and 1 at Lamps.

I took a risk and assumed that the next move was Purple so I set the appeal to 5, selling 3 lamps at 10 each.

For Development, I chose the Stock exchange again, at maximum.

During production, apparently the green made the move. Their appeal was at 7 while I was at 5 with the demand went up to 3. So, I could have only sold 2 of them, keeping 1 in the Warehouse. Purple bought a share.

Gained 20 from selling 2. Paid 16 for workers plus 15 for the factory cost. I lost 11 from this with 24 left. My share value went up once while green twice.

I still had 10 shares with value of 20 each. Purple had 21 shares (15 each). Green had 18 shares, 18 each.

1790 era, ROUND 1.

Wages was still at 4 per worker.

Food factory only against Purple. Demand was 1 and maybe could have gone up to 2 or 3 and I had to sell all 5. Purple’s appeal was at 6 and could have gone up to 8.

I took a risk and settled with the appeal of 8 either matching the Purple or won already, trying to sell at 3 each.

As 9th action I increased the quality of the Clothes factory by 3 to 4. Nothing for the Food. For the development I took the more development cards action.

During production, Purple made a move and matched the appeal with mine at 8. The demand was only 2 so both of us sold everything. Green bought a share.

Sold 5 at 3 each so gained 15. Paid 12 for workers plus 9 for the factory cost. So I lost 6 and with 18 left.

I still had 10 shares with value of 21 each. Purple had 21 shares (16 each). Green had 19 shares, 18 each.

1790 era, ROUND 2.

For this Clothes factory against the 2, I had to get more appeal using the Advertising option to sell 4 plus 1 in warehouse. As 10th action, added all 3 advertising to this factory.

The demand was already at 3 and I needed to increase the appeal to 10, with the competition increasing theirs in mind. Set the price to 8.

For development I took 3rd card, FOREMAN and placed it at Lamps factory.

During production, Purple made the move, increasing the appeal to match Green’s 6. After my appeal at 10 the demand was 5 so both got a share. Green got 1 more.

Sold all 5 including the one in warehouse at 8 each for 40. Paid 8 for workers and 1 for Machine, plus 11 for the factory cost. So I got a profit of 20, with 38 money left.

I still had 10 shares with value of 23 each. Purple had 22 shares (16 each). Green had 21 shares, 18 each.

1790 era, ROUND 3.

Cutlery again. As my 11th action I bought shares. With my leftover money and current share value, I could have only bought 1. Luckily, the development allowed me to buy 2 at half the price. So my share was 12 with 15 money left. No loan but reactivated my ships.

For the Cutlery factory itself, I set the appeal at 6 and price at 13 just like before. And for the production I took the more development cards.

During production, Green made the move, increasing their appeal to 5. Purple bought a share. The demand was still at 3 while my appeal was at 6 so I sold everything with highest appeal, increasing the share value by 2. Purple bought another share while Green increased their value.

Gained 39 from selling 3 goods at 13 each. Paid 8 for workers, 2 for machine and 13 for factories. Gained 16 profit this time, making my money to 31.

I still had 12 shares with value of 25 each. Purple had 24 shares (16 each). Green had 21 shares, 19 each.

1790 era, ROUND 4.

As the last round, I added advertising to this last factory by 3. I had to sell 4 with one in warehouse. The Appeal was set at 8, selling at 10 each.

For the Development I took the Patron card that increased the selling capacity to home market for this Lamp product.

Green made the move again with the appeal of 9, demand at 5 after my appeal at 8.

Purple bought a share. Green increased their value by 2. I sold all 4 goods, increasing the share value by only 1.

Gained 40 from selling 4 goods at 10 each. Paid 8 for workers, nothing for machine plus 15 for factory cost. My profit was 17 so my last money was at 48.

I still had 12 shares with value of 26 each. Purple had 25 shares (16 each). Green had 21 shares, 21 each.

That was the end of the game. I could have only bought 1 share from the remaining money. So my final score was 13 x 26 = 338 while Purple got 400 and Green got 441. Another loss.

Playing time was about 74 minutes.

Tybor the Builder

Watch this session of Tybor the Builder Game here.

Assign Citizens with different professions to help you build the city of Longsdale in Tybor the Builder.

This was 2-handed session, using Chapter 1 and the Escape from the City Scenario. With this chapter score 5 points if you have at least as many buildings as the citizens.

As for the scenario, I think I forgot something. I thought the rule was only about having hand of 7 cards instead of usual 5 in odds rounds. It turns out I have to lose 1 citizen either worker or from citizen row every round (?). Let’s see if I can fix it during this writing and see how that affects the result.

1st player had the private objective of 5 points for every 2 Blue and 1 yellow buildings. 2nd player had the private objective of 5 points for every 2 orange and 1 blue buildings. So the 2 had to compete for blue.

ROUND 1.

3 Blue buildings, 2 orange, 1 yellow and 1 gray were available. 1st player took the Soldier with discount for yellow and orange. 2nd player took Captain with the discount for orange and gray.

Both of them continued on recruiting more citizens. 1st player took the Priest with Yellow, Blue and Grey discount while 2nd had Merchant with blue and grey.

1st player now had all cards with just a single color discount and none of them would have helped their private objective. So, they took Soldier with the strength of 7, the highest from that hand of cards as the worker.

2nd player still had 1 character with orange discount, a soldier and the Captain with blue discount. They took the Captain.

After that 1st player built the first Blue building, the more expensive version with no extra bonus but 6 points, using Merchant as builder. 2nd player hired a Soldier with a strength of 6 as worker.

Then first player hired a Farmer with yellow and grey discount. 2nd player took the soldier with orange discount.

1st player continued with recruiting a merchant with more yellow. 2nd player finally built their orange building worth 5 points using Craftsman as builder.

Last action, 1st player recruited Craftsman with more yellow discount. 2nd player took Soldier for their strength of 7.

Had I played correctly then maybe 1st player should have lost the Craftsman for 1 yellow discount. They still had 4 discount for yellow, 1 for orange and blue, 3 for grey. Or maybe the Farmer.

2nd player’s safest chance was just to remove any captain but then they had only 1 discount for one of 2 colors, the blue or orange.

ROUND 2.

2 Blue, 1 Orange, 2 yellow and 1 Gray buildings were available.

2nd player started with recruiting a Craftsman with low strength but discount of 3 colors, including the Blue. 1st player assigned the Priest with strength of 8 as Worker.

2nd player had a strength of 7, built a Blue with instant bonus of 1 worker card out of 2 drawn. They got another Soldier with 7 strength. 1st player recruited the Captain with discounts of their preferred colors.

2nd player took Soldier with discount of 3 colors, including orange as citizen. They had 2 Soldier icons. 1st player took a Captain with orange and blue discount but also strength of 8 as worker.

2nd player then discarded a Craftsman as builder along with Captain with strength of 6. They had 2 discounts for orange so they could have afforded the more expensive version. From that they built their 2nd orange with icon soldier, 3rd one in their collection.

1st player also built using Soldier and strength of 8 from Captain to build their 2nd blue for 5 points.

Last action, 2nd player had Merchant with discount of Blue but strength of 8 so the Merchant became worker. 1st player assigned the Farmer as builder with the strength of 8 to build the most valuable yellow for 9 points.

That was the end of 2nd round. If they had to remove a character, 1st player probably would have chosen the Soldier, giving up from collecting that icon, losing just 1 yellow and orange discount. They still had 4 yellows, 2 blue and 3 greys.

2nd player would have chosent to lose their 2nd Captain. They still had 2 yellow, 2 Blue, 2 orange and 3 grays.

ROUND 3.

2 Blue and 2 Grey, 1 Yellow and 1 Orange buildings were available this time.

1st player started with assigning Farmer with strength of 8 as Worker. 2nd player took 2nd Merchant for more yellow and grey.

1st player then took Merchant with strength of 8 as worker. 2nd player recruited 1 Farmer with Blue and Orange as citizen.

1st player then assigned a Craftsman as builder, with strength of 8 to build 3rd Blue worth 8 points. They got 2nd Merchant icon.

2nd Player assigned the Captain as builder with strength of 8 to build 3rd Orange worth 4 points. The bonus was to get worker, and they got 5 as the best option.

1st player recruited Merchant, 3rd icon for more yellow. 2nd player built 2nd Blue building but because of losing the discount, they couldn’t afford the more expensive version. This one also had Captain icon that they were no longer collecting. The lower version was worth only 4 or they lost 3 points.

1st player recruited a Farmer with more yellow and grey discount. 2nd player recruited a Captain again, 2nd icon for the orange.

1st player assigned a Priest, spending a strength of 8 to build a Grey building, expensive version with a Farmer icon. They got 3. 2nd player recruited a Soldier with Orange.

Last card and 1st player took the Farmer with strength of 7 as worker. 2nd Player took the Craftsman with Blue discount.

That was the end of 3rd round. 1st player probably would have let go the Captain with Blue and yellow discount. 2nd player would have probably let got that Craftsman they just took.

ROUND 4.

2 Orange, 3 Gray, 3 Yellow and 1 Blue buildings were available this time.

2nd player still needed 2 more Merchants and they only had 1 in hand so they recruited him. 1st player also took in the Merchant with Blue but that was their 4th.

2nd player had to secure that last Merchant so they got 4 icons. 1st player took Captain with strength of 7 as worker.

2nd player recruited Captain,3rd icon and orange bonus. 1st player assigned the priest with strength of 7 to build 2nd yellow worth 7 points and this had Captain icon, 1st one since the citizen escaped.

2 last card and 2nd player had no worker. Those 2 only had the strength of 4 but they had no choice. 1st player built their 4th Blue but after the Captain escaped, they couldn’t have afforded the more expensive one. Lost 3 points from it.

Last card, 2nd player built their 4th Orange but couldn’t have afforded the more expensive version. They only got 6 points from it. 1st player recruited the Priest just to get removed. 2nd player removed the Farmer from citizen as they didn’t collect any icons from that.

That was the end of the game.

1st Player scored 40 from just buildings, 2 more points from Building bonus. 1 point from Captain, 6 points from Merchants, 5 points from Prist and 5 from Farmer, 10 points from Private Objective and since they had more buildings than Citizens, 5 points.

TOTAL SCORE: 74 POINTS

2nd player scored 31 points from buildings, 5 points from Craftsman, 4 points from Captain, 10 points from merchants, 8 points from Soldier, 10 from private objective.

TOTAL SCORE: 68 POINTS

Playing time was about 40 minutes.

Learn more about the game from Tybor the Builder Review.

Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs

Watch the slideshow of this Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs game session here.

Honey, somebody shrunk Gloomhaven, literally and the characters are now in journey to get their size back in Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs.

Apparently that is exactly the theme so this is not just unrelated spin off but still considered part of the bigger original game. This is a new game for me, this version at least.

I guess I have a bit of story about Gloomhaven and about this version. For starters, I have only played Jaws of the Lion but not the original. Even that is only for less than 20 times, including the failed missions.

Even though the game managed to make me want to flip a table once, I considered one of my favorite game. However, I have a hard time getting back to that game. For some reasons the game creates an illusion to me that Gloomhaven, Jaws of the Lion feels bigger than it is.

Everytime I want to play the game I have to spend 1 day before to setup, preparing for the next scenario. The setup itself is already like one of my play sessions of other games in my collection. Not to mention returning them later to the box. Even thinking about setting up the game managed to make me cancel to play. When I started I got to play the game like once every month. Now, it has been almost 1 year since the last time.

Do I hate the game? No. It’s just maybe I need a dedicated table where I can just leave all of the components for days and then I can return them later without dealing with unpacking them and returning it to the box.

I don’t like playing the same game over and over again. Tried that with other simpler games and it can hurt my enjoyment with that said game. Well, as a result, with Gloomhaven, I ended up not playing at all.

So, what does that have to do with this Buttons and Bugs version?

Well, there is a controversy that the full rulebook is not even in the box. You have to look the rule online with QR code printed on the box and the Tutorial book, included in the box.

Also, one of the designers keep saying that this smaller version is still as deep as Gloomhaven. While I have not played the big box version as many times as others, but not once I ever played the session without checking the rulebook.

Now we have this small version and with as complex as the big one but without the rule? I was worried that buying this one will end up not getting played again just like the Jaws of the Lion. Even if this is easier to get to the table it also feels like buying this one becomes the justification for not playing that big one.

So, while it is still on my Wishlist, I didn’t immediately buy it by the first time it was available in my local store. Comments started showing up from people who finally got the game. Some of them said that it is practically impossible to put all of those rules in the small box. Hearing that, I thought so my concern was justified? This is going to be a complex game? Unfortunately, my current situation doesn’t allow me to learn complex games.

The game sold out immediately in my local store but now, new stock started coming out in other stores as well. I heard that even some backers haven’t gotten their games yet before me who bought it from retail.

Well, I’m still not convinced but I kept thinking about buying it. After watching some playthroughs, read more comments and threads, even read a bit about the online rules and tried the tutorial app from DIZED, I decided to buy. I guess the fact that the price is only around 20 in my local store was one of the reason.

Actually, I was going to buy another game, a roll and write but I realized maybe I’m a bit burnt out with them. The game itself is sold more expensive than Buttons and Bugs so after deciding to cancel buying that one, my mind came back to consider Gloomhaven instead. And I bought it.

Here is the thing. Usually when I buy a new game, I will immediately play the game in my next play time which is usually just the next day. Not with this one. I kept pushing it and I actually planned to play this during the weekend when I have a longer playing time because I was worried about the complexity.

Then I checked the Sleeve information because always use sleeves for my games. Actually I haven’t for this one because of usability for certain cards to be used with the cardboard tracker.

It turns out, the game only comes with exactly 100 cards. From those, only 28 big cards and 72 small cards. The big cards consist of 22 Scenario cards and 6 character cards. Each character has only 8 action cards and 2 modifier cards so that makes it 60 out of 72. The last 12 cards are 10 double sided enemy cards and 2 modifier cards for difficulty setting.

Since you will be playing true solo with just 1 character, you are using just 1 character card and their 4 starting action cards. The other 4 is upgrade during level up, replacing 1 card for every level. So, when you play a scenario with Level 5 (max), you should have replaced those 4 starting cards with the 4 better version cards.

There is no leveling up in the sense of accumulating XP. The scenario will tell you that your character will be at level something. Like the original version, higher level means just higher HP and but this one also means how many better version card you can take.

No accumulating and tracking perks to upgrade the modifier deck. You level up and you use better modifier card as well. Unlike the original game where every character uses their own modifier deck, Buttons and Bugs uses a dice a d6. The dice only has 3 faces, either 0, – or +, 2 of each.

The way it works is, every attack, you roll a die, two if you have advantage or disadvantage and choose one accordingly. The modifier card will have 3 columns, one for each die roll result and several rows. If you roll “-” maybe it’s like drawing -1 or -2 or even a miss. While plus is the only way to get double damage.

After each roll for the modifier, you move a cube to the lower row. It will come back up after resolving the lowest row. This way you will not get either miss card or double damage multiple times in a row like in base game if you lucky with shuffle.

If anything, you kind of get an idea of what you can get next, the worse and the best result for that role. This can affect your plan for several next attack. Maybe you see that a miss result is coming and you plan by resolving the worst card for that row.

The same system applies for the enemy with their universal modifier card for roll result.

Beside the modifier, you also roll dice to determine the set action and initiative number for each enemy. Maybe if you roll 0, the enemy will have initiative of 50 move 1 attack 2 while “-” gives them initiative of 30, move 2, attack 1 and maybe some negative effect.

Here is one significant difference from the original version. The difficulty setting.

In the original version, you choose whether to play with normal, higher or lower difficulty and this affects the stats for each enemy. Maybe with lower, they will have lower level, lower HP, weaker movement and attack and maybe less bad effect.

In this one, changing the difficulty only changes the enemy’s modifier. They will have the same HP and based attack power, probably also a bad effect. The modifier will just hit you less.

The game comes with about 20 scenarios. Most characters will go through those same 15 of them but a couple just specific for each character. The end of the scenario will tell you whether to proceed with the next scenario or skip.

Each scenario is contained in a single card. On both sides they will tell you the story, goal, the enemy you are facing and another story after winning on one side. The other side will have the map with hexes, where your and enemy’s starting positions, hazards and obstacles.

The first scenario didn’t use it but each scenario card also has 2 items we can choose and use after completing it. Items are just small items you can spend and hold in hand or both hands, not wearable like helmet, armor or boots. No collecting coins to buy them either so you can always use them in every session afterwards. But like the original game, there is a limit of how many you can bring.

So, how was the play? Well, this is just first impression since I only played 1st scenario which is not a complete experience.

To me, it actually feels like playing the last part of a mission in regular Gloomhaven. Maybe in that mission the map has multiple rooms. This is the last one where you need to deal with up to 4 enemies alone. Your teammate is already exhausted or has to deal with different rooms.

Obviously, there will be no cooperation, like deciding who goes first entering the room and set up some defense. It’s just you and your 4 cards.

Here is a major change.

You only bring 4 double sided cards. After playing the side A first, you flip them to Side B and it returns to your hand for your next use. Only after you play your side B card then you put it in discard pile. When you cannot play 2 cards, you then have to rest, short or long, losing 1 card similar to the regular version.

That means every mission is a puzzle where you have to solve it within up to 8 turns max. It can be even shorter when you play cards with lost ability immediately. Or choose to negate damage by discarding 1 Side A card or 2 Side B cards. Maybe with some items you can make it longer but I haven’t gotten to it yet.

With the 2 side cards, you probably want to use the other side of one card immediately so you play that card first.

One of the hardest challenges for me from the original version is deciding which card to use in earlier rounds from those 10 cards. I take longer turns in earlier rounds. The choice becomes easier, usually after you have lost a couple of cards. This only has 4 even if I have to take into account which one to flip first.

Some cards also have round or persistence bonus after you play. You can even let the card stays in the active area to keep getting the persistence bonus but then you don’t get to flip the card for the B side.

This version also keeps the Elements as well but it is slightly changed. The scenario 1 didn’t use it yet but from what I understand, if they are on the face up side in your hand or playing area, you can use the element for extra action of your next card. The game comes with the token to cover it after you have consumed that element.

The game is definitely faster to setup and reset, a lot. It is definitely fiddly and I bumped the minis or cubes a couple of times. Well, to be fair, I moved the map card a lot. Small table space but I’m not sure with these small components to play while on airplane or trains. Then again, I don’t really like to travel. Definitely portable but not sure to play on mobile. I can see that people play this during their lunch break.

I heard that some people say that this is a challenging game, especially after several first scenarios. Well, I decided to just play with the VERY EASY mode and I still enjoyed my first play.

If I can complete the campaign of these 20 or so scenarios, maybe even trying all characters, then I will start considering the higher difficulty, if I am still interested. Or maybe after I get used to with the system. I don’t want to challenge myself too much again like I did with the Jaws of the Lion and ended up not playing at all.

Maybe with all of the streamlining in this Buttons and Bugs version, I don’t need to, but we’ll see.

I also want to mention that the tutorial from DIZED app is nice. Not just tutorial to tell you what to do but you can input the dice result and whether you have defeated the enemy or not. Unfortunately, you can only learn with 1 Character for now, the Bruiser. The app says maybe they will add more in the future.

For those who are still concerned about the rulebook not included in the game, I recommend checking the online rulebook here.

https://cephalofairgames.github.io/bnb-rules/

I understand that some people have physical limitation and don’t want to check online rulebook while playing. That is the same for me. It’s just, maybe this is not that bad to check the rule after you play and then play again afterwards, considering how fast the setup and playing time is.

Playing time was about 40 minutes.

Villages of Valeria

Watch the slideshow of this Villages of Valeria game session here.

Build your village to attract adventurers to stay by providing locations for their clans in Villages of Valeria.

It has been a while but I finally went back to the solo mode of this game again. As part of the setup, the Castle developed source of Woods.

For my first action, I did HARVEST first to get my hand full of 8 cards. One of them was LABORIUM to provide me with free Magic resources for my subsequent Build actions.

Before that, I needed to develop more. So my 2nd action was DEVELOP, adding a source of Magic using the Barrack card. I had to let go of the INN card.

I also needed a source of Stone and the only card to provide that was TAVERN. So, as 3rd action, I did DEVELOP again with that card. Letting go THIEVES DEN.

Now I had 4 resources but only 3 coins. I needed to do TAX. However I had to discard card for that action so my 4th action was HARVEST again, taking 3 cards from the market so I had 7 now.

My 5th action then was TAX. Getting 4th coin and discarding ENCAMPMENT. Spent 4 coins to activate all 4 resources to finally build LABORIUM as my 6th action. I took MONASTERY card, 2nd one as required, with 6 cards in hand.

I had 2 Wizard Towers so I used one of them to Develop the Food source as my 7th action. Letting go Guard Tower.

8th action for HARVEST again to take 3 cards and one of them was CATHEDRAL to get more coin from Tax.

9th action was BUILD again, 2nd building which was the MONASTERY. I spent 3 coins to 1 Stone, 1 Magic and 1 Wood plus free Magic from my Laborium. I took HARBOR as required.

For 10th action, I did BUILD again, the ARCHERY RANGE because it took only a Wood. I spent the coin on Wild resource from the Castle. Built it for the Warrior class icon. Still had 6 cards in hand, I had to take 1 plus 1 card. I got randomly WORKER’S GUILD and HIDEOUT.

11th action was for BUILD again. This time was that WORKER’S GUILD I just got. Not exactly sure why I picked this but probably for the WORKER CLASS icon. I took FORGER’S DEN as required.

3 coins were stuck in the castle so while waiting, I took TAX action as the 12th.

Now I had 5 coins, spent 2 to RECRUIT the WIZARD and 2 more to take ENERALD STRONGHOLD, a Monument. That was my 13th action.

I had free Magic from Laborium, 2 Wild resources from Wizard and Monastery, and 2 coins to build WIZARD’S TOWER. As required card I took FARM. That was 14th action.

For 15th, I did TAX again to get 3rd coin, letting go the other MONASTERY card in my hand. After that, as 16th action, I did BUILD again and this time was the CATHEDRAL. With all of those resources, I only needed 2 coins. Even got 1 back. Not sure which card I took.

Then I did HARVEST again as my 17th action. Took another Laborium just for discarding purpose. My 18th action was BUILD again, this time the FARM, spending just 2 coins from 4 in my pool. Got 1 back plus a card but not sure which card I took.

19th action was TAX again, trashing HIDEOUT to get 2 Coins this time. So I had all available coins in the game and I spent 3 to build that MONUMENT. Not sure which card I took.

Actually I probably only had 6 coins since I forgot to pay 1 when taking the Monument. So, I had to discard a Headquarters card as if I did TAX to get that coin earlier as my 20th.

I had 4 coins in my supply so I spent 2 to RECRUIT the PALADIN and another 2 to reserve THE ORB OF URDR, a Monument. That was my 21st.

**** It seems I forgot to return those spent coins to the Bank and instead I put them back to my supply. To compensate that I had to lose 2 cards for doing 2 Tax action to get all 4 coins back. 22nd and 23rd,

My 24th was HARVEST again to take 3 cards. Then I built TANNERY as 25th for free. Got 1 coin from it plus 1 from the Tower. Took another Monastery card.

As 26th, I built that Monument. Took another Laborium card. Then, just to wait for the coins to return from Castle, I did HARVEST just for 1 card since the hand was already full. That was 27th.

28th was RECRUIT the KNIGHT. Spent 2 coins for it and 2 more to reserve GARGAN’S EMBRACE, a Monument.

I only had 3 coins so spent 2 of them to build HARBOR as my 29th. Then for 30th, I did TAX again for 2 more coins, 6 in my reserve now.

I only needed 3 of them to build the Monument. Got 4 left and that was the 31st.

32nd was RECRUIT again, the PEDDLER for 2 coins plus 2 to reserve CATHEDRAL OF ST. AQUILA. At this point the deck was already run out with 2 cards left in the market.

33rd was BUILD for that Monument, spending 3 coins and got 1 back plus a TANNERY card. Then I build the HOLY SHRINE which forced me to take the last card and ended the game right there.

FINAL SCORE was about 55 after ignoring some cards and the bonuses I got after that point.

Playing time was about 51 minutes.

Learn more about the game from Villages of Valeria Review.

Jaipur

Watch the Slideshow if these Jaipur game sessions here.

Compete to be the most powerful traders in Jaipur.

I got 3 sessions, all played 2-handed. The first player, the Lady against the 2nd player, the Guy.

First Session.

The Lady started with a Camel, 2 Purple, 1 Brown, 1 Green and 1 Silver while the Guy had 2 Camels, a Gold, a Ruby and 1 Green.

First trade came from the Lady with 3 Purple. Then the Guy managed to fill the market with all Camels forcing the Lady to take them all. The fresh market got the guy 2 Silver and 1 Ruby trading 3 goods for it.

He then sold the 3 Ruby. The Lady got to 4 Green but then the market had 2 Brown and a Gold, forcing her to trade them with 3 greens of her. Her opponent didn’t take the 3 Green but instead the 2 camels since he had none.

After that the Market got 4th Green. The Lady then traded back the 4 Brown into 4 Greens so she was ready to sell 5. Seeing the Market had all 5 browns, the Guy decided to make some room by selling 2 Gold of his.

While the Lady sold her 5 Green, the Guy took 2 Brown from the market using his 2 Camels. The Lady then took the rest of 3 Browns using her camels forcing the Guy to take all Camels. Fresh Market now had a Red and Gold with 2 Purple and Brown.

The Lady still had 3 Camels and room for 2 more cards. So she traded the 2 Camels into Red and Gold. After that, the Guy took 3rd Brown which was replaced by brown again.

The Lady traded her 3 Brown. Since the Brown value went down, the Guy decided to trade the 2 Brown with 2 Purple from the market. The Lady then also ignored the Brown but instead taking 2 Camels.

After that, the Guy sold 3 Purple. The Lady actually took the 3 Brown using her 3 Camels. 4 Camel and a green in the market and the Guy took the only Goods, replaced by the same.

The Lady traded the 3 Brown again while the Guy took 2nd Green. A Gold showed up for the Lady and of course, she got her third Gold. Another Green for the Guy to take and he got his 3rd.

The Lady sold her 3 Gold while the Guy his 3 Green. 4 Camels and a Brown, forcing the Lady to take all Camels. A Red showed up for the Guy to get his 2nd. Then a Gold took its place but then no more to trade gold with.

So, the Lady took a purple which was replaced by Silver. But the guy sold his 2 Red, ending the game.

The Guy won the Camel battle but lost the total score, 59 to the Lady’s 70.

2nd Session.

The Guy lost so he started first. But the 1st trade came from the Lady with 3 Brown. 3 Purple from the Guy was the next trade.

Not long after that, the Guy managed to get 3 Gold and sold it. The Lady sold 3 Green. 3 Silver from the Guy next and 3 Brown from the Lady.

There were several turns of 4 Camels and just 1 common goods. Eventually, the Lady was the one to decide whether to sell 2 Red or take 5 Camels. She went with the latter, leaving a Gold and Silver for the Guy to take.

Not only he took both but also 3rd Purple by trading Brown, Green and a Camel. 2 Green on the market and the Lady had 1 so she traded 1 Purple and a Camel for those 2 Green. The Guy gladly took the 4th Purple.

She then sold her 3 Green and the Guy with 4 Purple. 3 Camels and 2 Brown on the market. The Lady took the Camels, leaving 2nd Gold for the Guy and of course, he took it.

The Lady decided to just sell 2 Red since this was the first time selling any red. Same with the Guy but with his 2 Gold. 2 Camel, 2 Brown and a Green. The Lady traded some of her Camels with the 3 Goods forcing the Guy to take 5 Camels.

A Red showed up but useless for the Lady. She knew that even if the Guy took it, the Lady could have ended the game by selling the Brown first. So, she even traded her only Silver and a green for 2 more Brown.

As predicted, the Guy took the Red and Silver but the Lady sold the 4 Brown, triggering the end of the game. While the Lady won the Camel majority, but eventually she lost the battle with 65 to the Guy’s 68.

3rd session.

Both started with 2 Camels and there were 2 Brown. The Lady started first so she traded her Camel to get 2nd and 3rd Brown to her hand, forcing the Guy to take all Camels.

A Red, Gold, Silver, Green and Purple refilled the market. The Lady traded back her 3 Brown and Green for those 3 most valuable and 2nd Purple. With 1 Green in the Guy’s hand, he gladly took the 2 Green using his Camels.

The Lady then took those 2 Camels, allowing the guy to get his 4th Green. 3rd Purple for the Lady and 1st Gold for the Guy.

A gold again, the Lady took it. Silver refilled that space but the Guy had to sell his 4 Green first, followed by 3 Purple from the Lady. So, the Guy still took that Silver.

4 Brown and a Purple. The Lady took that single one and now the market had 5 of a kind. Unless the Guy was willing to give up some valuable ones, he could have only taken 3 of them using his Camel. The Lady took the other 2 using Camel so the Market had full camel.

3 Brown were sold from the Guy. Not willing to give fresh market to the Guy, the Lady sold 2 Gold. Same for the Guy but with 2 Silver. 2 brown sold saving the Lady from giving fresh market. The Guy had no choice but to take the 5 Camels.

2 Gold showed up with 2 Brown and Purple. The Lady had no Camel so to take the 2 Gold, she let go one silver and 1 Purple. With a lot of Camels, the Guy gladly took the Silver and 2 Purple.

The Lady took 1 of 2 Brown from the Market. Apparently a Silver refilled the market and the Guy was lucky to take it. But the Lady got back her Silver.

2 brown and 3 Camels again and the Guy took one of the brown as his 7th. The Lady took the other brown which was her 2nd.

After that, the Guy decided to take 4 Camels instead of a Green, leaving a red for the Lady to take as her 2nd. Then the Guy traded his 2 Purple and 1 Brown for 3 Green from the market.

The Lady sold 2 Red to make room for more Brown while the Guy with his 3 Green. After the Lady took her 3rd Brown, the Guy took 3 Purple using his Camels.

Only 1 Brown and Camels so the Lady got her 4th brown. A red showed up but the Guy was full. So, he sold his 3 Purple first. Same for the Lady but with her 4 Brown.

Finally the Guy took the 2nd Red. While she had other choice, the Lady decided to take 4 Camels. 2 Red and 1 Silver were available for the Guy. He only took 2 red but could have traded the single gold for the silver.

The Lady knew that the Guy was ready to just end the game by selling all of his red. So, instead of taking the Silver, she sold her 2 Gold, not triggering the end game herself. 1 card left for her in hand.

Instead of ending the game, the Guy had complete control now. He sold his 2 Silver first. Nothing could be done to help the Lady score at this point. Then the Guy finally sold his 4 red even if there was only 3 tokens left.

That was the end of the game. While the Lady won the Camel majority, but she only scored 64 while the Guy scored 83.

Playing time was about 20 to 25 minutes each session.

Learn more about the game from Jaipur Review.

Cascadia

Watch the Slideshow of this Cascadia game solo session here.

Explore the Pacific Northwest and discover all of their wildlife in Cascadia.

I recently purchased this game, finally. Maybe a bit late but I always tried to stay away from popular games until at least the hype is down.

Technically, I have played the solo digital version of this a couple of times so it is not really new for me. And, this is the 2nd time I purchased a game where I have played the digital version first. For both times, I think the digital actually made me hesitate on purchasing the physical game. There is something different from playing the physical version.

Well, hopefully I played the game correctly. This is how it went. I used card A for all wildlife. So it was technically the same as the first achievement scenario. To complete the achievement, I just need 80 points or higher.

My starting habitat tile had 1 Keystone part of river with a Salmon. The 2nd part had half prairie and half forest with 3 possible animals while the last one had half wetlands and half Mountains with the other 2 animals.

ROUND 1. I picked the tile with half River and half Prairie, mostly because this one was the only one that worked to expand the 2 adjacent habitats. The other worked on one but not the other half.

From that, the Animal I got was the Bear so I placed it to the Starting Habitat Tile.

ROUND 2. There were 2 sets with a Salmon that I needed to get my first Nature token. The habitat had a river and a Prairie for 3 animals, fox, bear or hawk.

Those 2 habitats were actually close to each other but I tried to use it to get the existing bear their pairing with this tile. So, I expanded the Prairie still hoping to connect the river later.

Then I placed the Salmon token on the Keystone part of my Starting Habitat tile and got my Nature token.

ROUND 3. This was the only time when overpopulation happened. Actually maybe it happened again later but I didn’t like that so I shuffled the back again.

Because of that overpopulation, the 3 Elks were removed and now there were 2 Elk, 1 Bear and 1 Salmon. I picked the set with the Bear and the habitat was a Keystone with Prairie for Elk.

Since Elk had to be placed in straight line and there was already one habitat tile for Elk, also with Prairie. So, I placed this Keystone to the left of it. The Bear became a Pair next to the existing bear.

ROUND 4. Maybe I didn’t shuffle the tile well since all of them were almost the same. 3 with half prairie and half mountain while the 4th had half prairie and half wetlands. Only 2 animals, 2 Hawk and 2 Elks.

Usually Hawk was easier to score than Elks. Since I already started with the Salmon, I thought I needed to start expanding it. But to expand the existing Salmon, ideally the habitat required at least a Mountain. Those with a Hawk were either had no salmon or had no mountain. So, I had to pick the one with Elk and I chose the half prairie and half Mountain that worked for 3 animals instead of 2, just in case I needed to change plan.

I placed the tile to the top right of my starting tile, expanding the Mountain but created a new Prairie area. The Elk was placed on the Keystone which was nice so I got my 2nd Nature token.

ROUND 5. There was a Salmon with a habitat of Prairie and Forest which was perfect but they were at the leftmost space so I got time for that later.

I picked the rightmost option which was from last round with the exact set. Half mountain and half prairie for either Elk or Hawk plus a Hawk token.

So, I expanded the Prairie instead of the existing Mountain because I wanted this for the Elk. That Hawk could have gone to 3 hexes now. I chose the starting tile while the other 2 worked for a straight-line Elk.

ROUND 6. I picked the set with that Salmon I mentioned earlier. With the habitat tile, I expanded the Prairie and the Forest. The Salmon tile didn’t went there but to the tile next to the Keystone already with a Salmon.

I got 5 points at least. There was a chance to connect these 2 with the habitat tile I just placed but it took 3 hexes.

ROUND 7. I just mentioned my plan on connecting the existing run of Salmon to the habitat 4 spaces away. There was one that perfect to make them closer with half a Wetlands and half a Forest, great to expand both.

Unfortunately, I had no empty space for the Fox. So, I spent 1 Nature token to take the Salmon from the other set. I placed the Salmon actually on the new tile as it was closer to the existing run.

ROUND 8. Continuing with my plan to connect the Salmon, there was only 1 tile that worked for the Salmon with half Wetlands and half River, paired with a Hawk. I had no empty space for either Fox or Bear.

So I placed the tile at the bottom right of my starting tile, expanding the Wetlands but not the river. The Hawk unfortunately had to take the space I planned for the Elk because the new one was adjacent to existing Hawk. The 3rd one would have just blocked the line of elk.

ROUND 9. Now there was a perfect pair. A tile with half wetlands and half mountain that worked for Salmon to continue with my plan. The animal was Elk.

I placed the tile to the right of the Starting tile, expanding both Mountain and Wetland area. Now the Salmon track was ready, just needed 2 Salmon to connect. The Elk was placed on the left side next to existing Elk so both were worth 5 points already.

ROUND 10. These 4 sets were not great, mostly because I had no place for the animals and the pairing tiles didn’t provide either. Except the rightmost one with Fox and half River and half Wetlands.

Those 2 habitats on a tile could have actually expanded the existing area for both. But then the Fox would have been next to just the Salmon. So, to get better score from the Fox, I placed it to expand the bigger River at the top between a Hawk and an Elk. The Fox was at least worth 2 points.

ROUND 11. Still the same problem as before. The sets just didn’t work between the animal and the tiles, except for the Fox. Didn’t like the Fox that much.

So, instead I spent my last Nature token to get different set. The Bear and the tile with half mountain and half River that worked for 3 animals, including the Bear itself.

This tile expanded the Mountain area but not the river. However, I pointed the river area so it could be connected to the existing biggest one later. I put that bear on the new tile.

ROUND 12. So, there was the same set for the Fox that I mentioned previously. On the other hand there was a Keystone of Wetlands for Salmon and exactly had a Salmon token.

Unfortunately I couldn’t place it to expand the biggest wetlands area without wasting another tile. So, I placed it at the top, expanding other wetlands but also extending the existing run of Salmon to 3 for 8 points now.

ROUND 13. Still with the same issue. Only 2 animals, foxes and Bears and only 1 tile that worked for fox. Even then, I had to use my only Nature token.

The tile itself was half wetlands and half river. I tried to use this river part to connect the big size 3 with the single one 3 spaces away while expanding the wetlands also. Unfortunately the Fox was only next to a Salmon. I was hoping the 2nd bear could have been the other side of the Fox.

ROUND 14. Now there was only 1 option that worked together. The elk with a tile of half wetlands and half mountain. Well, I actually had more space for Elk but not the other animals of the other 3 sets.

So I picked that one. The Elk was at one end of the Salmon track, starting a new line. While the tile expanded both Mountain and the Wetlands biggest area at bottom right.

ROUND 15. Lucky. Finally a Salmon showed up so I could placed it on my empty space. The tile pair actually worked for the Bear with half mountain and half River. Salmon run size was now 4, worth 12. Mountain size was now 6 and 2nd area of river was now size 2.

ROUND 16. A bear that I needed with a Keystone mountain for Hawk. I took that set and got 2nd pair of Bear. Also the Mountain size went up to 7.

ROUND 17. Salmon appeared again. This time the tile was half prairie and half river for either Bear or Fox. My salmon track run became 6 with this.

The tile was placed at the top left corner, expanding both habitats, with Prairie became 7 and the river became 5 but close to 8.

ROUND 18. I had 2 options worth 3 points probably. One was a Hawk and the other an Elk. Both with a tile of half river and half forest. Actually maybe the Hawk got 1 point more from the Keystone but I went with the Elk.

The tile expanded the Forest but not the River and this was placed at the bottom area next to existing single elk. So, the Elk token worked with that new tile and I made the 2nd group of Elk line.

ROUND 19. I got 2 good options, both with the Hawk and had at least a River. I picked the one with Keystone river and this river connected 2 groups of river, expanding the size to 8.

The Hawk itself went to the keystone, giving me a Nature token.

ROUND 20. There were 2 good options. One for the Elk to extend one of the line from size 2 Elks to 3 but it required spending the Nature token. So got 3 points and lost 1.

The other option without using the Nature tokens was with Fox. The tile itself could have expanded the Wetlands even if it was not 7. But the Fox could have been next to 3 different animals for also 3 points but not losing any.

But I went with the Elk, losing the point from token. Even worse because the tile itself didn’t really expand the prairie. So, I could have gotten 2 more points.

Anyway, that was the end of the game.

SCORING.

Elk: 13 points
Salmon: 20 points
Bear: 11 points
Fox: 4 points
Hawk: 8 points
Prairie: 7 points + 2 = 9 points
River: 8 points + 2 = 10 points
Mountain: 7 points + 2 = 9 points
Forest: 4 points
Wetlands: 5 points
Nature Tokens: 0 point

TOTAL SCORE: 93 POINTS

Playing time was about 44 minutes.

Riverside

Watch the Slideshow of this Riverside game session here.

Invite the cruise passengers to join various excursions in villages along the river of winter land in Riverside.

This was a solo session using the extension variant.

For those reading, I think you can play along by watching the Slideshow above. I posted pictures of every round for the dice and hopefully enough for the excursion phase. More explanation for each round below.

Here is the link for the Player Sheet.

ROUND 1.

White: 5, Yellow: 2, Brown: 6, Blue: 2, Pink: 5, Green: 2.

The median was 5. The cruise stopped between 2 villages, both 2 spaces away. One with Brown 10, the other with Brown 5 plus Pink 6. 3 spaces away from it had Yellow 8 and Pink 4.

4 spaces away and there was a village with White 7 and Brown 8. There were 3 within 5 spaces. One was the Chapel 1 next to exit, 2nd one had White 12, the last one with Yellow 6 and Blue 7.

I chose White 5 and spent 2 fires for the Green so I got total of 7. First, I filled the first row with 4 White. From the bonus I got 2 more white so the total left was 5 which was enough to complete the 3rd boat. From that the bonus was 2 Blue so I filled the last boat of Blue with 2.

With 2 tickets of White I went to the village 4 spaces away, spent extra speed with the White 7. I scored 14 for that first White excursion. Nothing yet for the brown.

ROUND 2.

White: 6, Yellow: 2, Brown: 4, Blue: 6, Pink: 2, Green: 4.

The median was 4 so the cruise stopped at the intersection. Here are the accessible villages.

1 space away: White 12.

2 spaces away:
Brown 10.
Pink 5, Blue 6 and Brown 7.

3 spaces away:
Yellow 6 and Pink 7
White 10 and Yellow 9
Blue 9

4 spaces away:
Pink 8

5 spaces away:
White 9, Blue 4
Yellow 8 and Pink 4

6 spaces away:
Brown 5, Pink 6.

I picked brown as the free and most spaces plus 4 from the fire. With 8 total seats I filled 3rd and 1st boat. The bonus got me all pink with a total of 3, completely filled the 2nd row of Pink. That bonus was 1 Blue which continued to fill the last row of Blue.

For the excursion I went to the village with 3 excursions. Scoring the Brown for the first time with 14 and Pink the first time with 5.

ROUND 3.

White: 3, Yellow: 2, Brown: 5, Blue: 3, Pink: 2, Green: 2.

The median was 3 so the cruise stopped at a village with White 10 and Yellow 9. Here are the accessible villages from there.

1 space away:
Pink 5, Blue 6 and Brown 7.
Pink 8.

2 spaces away:
White 12.
Blue 9.

3 spaces away:

4 spaces away:
White 9, Blue 4
Yellow 6, Blue 7

5 spaces away:
Brown 10
Yellow 11
Chapel 2

6 spaces away:
–

I chose the Blue 3 and spent 2 fire for the Green 2. Filled the last 2 seats of the last row. The bonus was 2 White, filling the 1st 2 seats of the last White boat. Then the other 3 filled the 2nd Blue boat. 1 Yellow seat bonus was for the first space of 3rd boat.

With those 2 tickets I went to the Blue 9 village, 2 spaces away. Scored 18 for the first blue excursion.

ROUND 4.

White: 2, Yellow: 6, Brown: 3, Blue: 4, Pink: 3, Green: 2.

The median was 3 so the cruise stopped 2 spaces away from Chapel 2. Here are all of the accessible villages from there.

1 space away:
–

2 spaces away:
Pink 8.
Chapel 2.

3 spaces away:
White 10, Yellow 9

4 spaces away:
Pink 5, Blue 6 and Brown 7.
Yellow 11

5 spaces away:
White 12.
Blue 9.

6 spaces away:
White 9, Blue 4

I chose Brown 3 and spent 2 Fire for total of 5 seats. Filled the last row, activating the Royal power. The bonus got me 2 White to fill the 3rd and 4th seats of 4th White boat, activating the Royal Power.

For the excursion, I went to the Chapel 2. With 8 tickets I scored 16 for the first excursion there.

ROUND 5.

White: 2, Yellow: 3, Brown: 3, Blue: 6, Pink: 2, Green: 6.

The median was 3 so the cruise passed the Chapel 2. Here are the accessible villages from there.

1 space away:
Chapel 2.
Yellow 11

2 spaces away:
–

3 spaces away:
–

4 spaces away:
Pink 5, Blue 6 and Brown 7.

5 spaces away:
White 9, Blue 4

6 spaces away:
White 10, Yellow 9

I just needed 1 ticket to get back to Chapel 2 for the 2nd excursion. Not enough fire for the Green. I picked Yellow 3 for free and since I didn’t have any ticket from it yet. This filled the 1st row and the single blue bonus filled 1st seat of 3rd blue boat.

Now I had 9 tickets, I went back to Chapel 2 for 18 points. For the Captain 50 points requirement, I needed to make sure the least valuable excursion scored at least 16. Currently 2 points from Yellow.

ROUND 6.

White: 2, Yellow: 6, Brown: 5, Blue: 6, Pink: 5, Green: 5.

The median was 5 so the cruise landed on a village with White 9 and Blue 4. Here are the other accessible villages from there.

1 space away:
–

2 spaces away:
Blue 9

3 spaces away:
Pink 5, Blue 6, Brown 7

4 spaces away:
White 12
Yellow 11
White 10, Yellow 9
Blue 7, Yellow 6

5 spaces away:

6 spaces away:
Chapel 2.
Pink 8
Yellow 8, Pink 4

I chose the Pink 5. Fille the 3rd boat with all 4 and the first one with first seat. The bonus got me 2 Yellow to continue with the 3rd boat but not full yet.

For the excursion, since this was probably the last time to reach the highest yellow village so I went there. Scored 11 with just 1 ticket. The lowest excursion value was 13 from both yellow and pink.

ROUND 7.

White: 3, Yellow: 1, Brown: 6, Blue: 3, Pink: 1, Green: 4.

The median was 3 so the cruise landed on right between 2 villages, just 1 space away each. Here are the other accessible villages from there.

1 space away:
Blue 9
Blue 7, Yellow 6

2 spaces away:
Pink 5, Blue 6, Brown 7

3 spaces away:
White 12
Yellow 8, Pink 4
White 10, Yellow 9
Blue 4, White 9

4 spaces away:
Pink 8

5 spaces away:

6 spaces away:
White 7, Brown 8
Brown 10

My blue needed exactly 7 to completely fill all boats. I chose Blue 3 and spent the last 4 fire for the green and filled both boats. The bonus got me 2 Brown and 1 Pink. No additional tickets from either yet.

For the excursion I went back to the village with 3. Scored all 3 of them for the 2nd time each, 21 for Brown, 24 for Blue and 10 for Pink. The lowest was still 13 from Yellow only this time.

ROUND 8.

White: 3, Yellow: 2, Brown: 5, Blue: 3, Pink: 3, Green: 5.

The median was 3 so the cruise landed on a village with Yellow 8, Pink 4. Here are the other accessible villages from there.

1 space away:
–

2 spaces away:
Blue 7, Yellow 6

3 spaces away:
White 7, Brown 8
Brown 10

White 10, Yellow 9
Blue 4, White 9

4 spaces away:
Chapel 1
Blue 9

5 spaces away:
Brown 5, Pink 6

6 spaces away:
White 12
Blue 4, White 9

This time I activated the Warm Night power so the Green 5 was free. I used it to add the Yellow 2. Filled the last boat with 6. The bonus was 2 White, completed the last white boat. From that got 2 yellow and filled the 3rd boat. 2 blue bonus was useless. 1 more seat filled from the 2nd boat.

There would have been no more blue village ahead and I still needed to score yellow. So I went 2 spaces to village with those 2. Scored 18, 2nd time of yellow and 28 for the 3rd time of Blue. The lowest scoring excursion was now Pink with 23.

ROUND 9.

White: 4, Yellow: 6, Brown: 5, Blue: 2, Pink: 1, Green: 1.

The median was 4 so the cruise landed on Chapel 1 and this was probably the last round. Here are the other accessible villages from there.

1 space away:
White 7, Brown 8

2 spaces away:
–

3 spaces away:
Brown 5, Pink 6

4 spaces away:
Yellow 8, Pink 4

5 spaces away:
–

6 spaces away:
Blue 7, Yellow 6

The only good option from dice was the White 4, completing the 2nd and last boat. 2 Brown bonus was useless.

For excursion I activated the Early birds power for 2nd excursion in a round. First one went to White 7 and Brown 8. Scored 28 for 2nd White excursion and the Brown 40 for 4 tickets plus 1 from its Royal Power.

2nd one was to increase the Pink to Pink 6. Scored only 12 from it.

That was the end of the game since the next median was 2 or higher.

SCORING
White: 64
Yellow: 45
Brown: 97
Blue: 70
Pink: 35
Chapel: 34 and + 35 for Captain: 69.
Captain Bonus: 50

TOTAL SCORE: 415.

Playing time was about 36 minutes.

Gizmos

Watch the Slideshow of this Gizmos Game session here.

Win the Great Science Fair by creating the best Gizmos.

This was a solo session using fan made variant, the harder mode. I just realized that I probably got a rule wrong from this play. It was about a Gizmos that allows you to pick 2 Energy after building from the Archive.

The part that I got wrong is related to Gizmos to pick specific energy and trigger to pick a random one. I think I have always played that I could have gotten 2 bonuses from those 2 Picks from the Build Gizmos. But the rule says that you can only trigger each Gizmos once. I still get to pick 2 Energy but unless I have 2 Pick Gizmos I can only trigger the chain bonus one per 1 pick gizmos.

This means, any other Gizmos that trigger that chain to Pick will have the same issue. Usually the problem with me is the File action. Usually I only take 1 Pick Gizmos or 2 max for different color and rely on the chain from other gizmos, mostly the Build.

Well, I guess I made the game way easier for me. Oh, well…

Anyway here is how the session went.

ROUND 1. As my first action, I took the File Gizmo level 1 that requires 1 Blue that allows me to pick specific Energy after each File. Triggered the bonus from starting Gizmos and I got a yellow, randomly.

The opponent took a Black and 1 VP.

ROUND 2. Since I couldn’t do file action again with full archive, I spent that Yellow I just got to build a BUILD GIZMO that requires 1 yellow. The bonus gives me 1 VP everytime I build Blue Gizmos. 14 Gizmos left for me.

The opponent took a yellow and 1 Level 2 card. 15 left for them.

ROUND 3. I had to do very suboptimal move and just picked one Blue Energy, triggering nothing.

The opponent took a Black Energy and first of their Level 3. 14 left for them or 3 left with the Level 3.

ROUND 4. Spent that Blue energy to build the Blue FILE GIZMO. This triggered the bonus of 1 VP.

The opponent took a Blue Energy and 2nd VP token.

ROUND 5. I did FILE ACTION again and this time was UPGRADE GIZMOS to increase the Energy and Archive capacity. This required a Black. As bonus I got 1 Black and 1 Red.

The opponent took 2nd Blue energy and got 3rd VP token.

ROUND 6. Paid the Black energy to build the UPGRADE. This triggered no bonus. 12 Gizmos left for me.

The opponent took 3rd Blue energy and 3rd Gizmos and this one was from Level 1. 13 left for them or 3 from Level 3.

ROUND 7. This time another FILE ACTION again and I took from Level 3 face up. The Gizmos required 4 Black and after building it, every File Action would have given me 1 VP. As bonus from File action, I got 1 Black and 1 Blue.

The opponent took a RED ENERGY and 4th Gizmos, a Level 1. 12 left for them.

ROUND 8. My Archive still had 1 room so I did FILE action again. This time from level 2, Blue Gizmos that required 3 Energy. As bonus I got 1 Red and 1 Blue.

The opponent took another Blue Energy and their 5th Gizmos, a Level 1. 11 left for them.

ROUND 9. Well, I had to make some room for the Energy. I spent 1 Red to build Level 1 Red Gizmos from the market. It was another FILE GIZMOS that give me 1 Pick action for free. 11 Gizmos left for me

The opponent took Red Energy and 1 VP token.

ROUND 10. 6th Gizmos for me was a Black Level 1. This was a PICK GIZMOS and everytime I pick a Yellow I get 1 random Energy. 10 left for me.

The opponent took a red and a Level 2 Gizmos. 10 left for them.

ROUND 11. Suboptimal move. I just picked 1 Blue Energy, triggering nothing.

The opponent got a Yellow Energy and Level 1 Gizmos. 9 left for them.

ROUND 12. I had 3 Blue now so I built that BUILD GIZMOS. Got 1 VP from the other one as bonus. 9 left for me.

The opponent took another Yellow and a VP token. Their ring was already full so it was time to return those Energy.

ROUND 13. I did FILE ACTION again and another Level 3. This was to double the value from VP tokens.

As bonus I got 1 Black, 1 Red and 1 Yellow, in addition to my only Energy, a red.

The opponent took a red and Level 1 Gizmos. 8 left for them.

ROUND 14. Another Pick action, a Yellow and got a Black as well as bonus.

The opponent took a Blue Energy and Level 2. 7 left for them.

ROUND 15. I decided to do Research even if my capacity was still only 3 cards. Chose the Level 2 and there was one Red CONVERSION GIZMOS. I paid 2 Red as requirement to immediately build it. This allows me to convert a Yellow to anything twice. 8 left for me.

The opponent got another Blue energy and Level 2 Gizmos. 6 left for them.

ROUND 16. I converted 2 Yellow into 2 Black and paid 2 more Black Energy to build the Black File Gizmos, 1st of Level 3. 7 left for me.

As bonus I got to take 2 specific Energy which I took 2 Yellow and the bonus from picking yellow as Black.

The opponent took a Yellow Energy and 1 VP token.

ROUND 17. I did RESEARCH again from Level 2 deck. There was one UPGRADE that required 3 Yellow. Put them in archive so I got 1 VP, 1 Black, 1 Red and 1 Yellow energy.

The opponent got a Black and Level 1. 5 left for them.

ROUND 18. I had 3 Yellow so I built that UPGRADE. As bonus I picked 1 Yellow plus 1 Blue as bonus and then 1 Black. 6 left for me.

The opponent took a red but did nothing else this time.

ROUND 19. I had to do FILE again since there was LEVEL 3 Gizmos that could have scored from the Energy in the ring. This was dangerous if the opponent took it. I got 1 Black and 1 Yellow, making it 4 Black, 2 Yellow, 1 blue and 1 red.

The opponent got Yellow again and did nothing else.

ROUND 20. I spent 7 out of 8 Energy to build that Level 3 Gizmos, 2nd one to double the value of VP tokens. As bonus I got 1 VP token, 2 Yellow and 1 Blue. 5 left for me.

The opponent took a red and 1 VP token.

ROUND 21. RESEARCH again and this time from LEVEL 3. I took one that required 5 yellow that could give me 2 VP every build from the Archive. As bonus after placing this with File action, I got 1 VP, 1 Yellow, 2 Red and 1 Blue.

The opponent took a Black and Level 1 Gizmos. 4 left for them.

ROUND 22. Another RESEARCH from Level 2. I immediately built it, a Blue Gizmos that required 3, an UPGRADE. I had 2 Blue and convert a Yellow for it. Got 1 VP bonus.

The opponent only got 1 Black Energy this time.

ROUND 23. Research again from Level 2. This time to the archive, a Blue Gizmos that required 2 Energy that gives bonus for every Build yellow or black gizmos. As bonus I got 2 yellow, 1 Red and 1 Blue and 1 VP.

*** I think this was the mistake I mentioned above. I should have gotten only 3 Energy and one of them had to be a Yellow.

The opponent got a Black and nothing else.

ROUND 24. I built that Gizmos I just got by paying 1 Blue and converted a Yellow to a Blue. That means I shouldn’t have gotten the red from earlier. As bonus I got 1 Red and 1 Blue plus 1 VP. 3 left for me.

The opponent took a Blue and 1 VP. Returning all of the Energy from the ring.

ROUND 25. Research again from Level 2 and put it in Archive. Got 1 VP and 1 Yellow, the 5th one.

The opponent got 1 Black and 1 VP.

ROUND 26. Spent 5 Yellow to build that Level 3. As bonus I got 2 Red and 1 Blue energy.

The opponent only took another Black and nothing else.

ROUND 27. Spent 2 Red to build that PICK red Gizmos. Got 2 VP and 2 Blue energy. 1 left for me.

Black again only for the opponent.

ROUND 28. Spent 7 Energy for that last Level 3 Gizmos. Got 3 VP, 3 Energy plus 2 bonus. That triggered the end of the game.

The opponent got a red and a VP.

SCORING. I got 15 from tokens, doubled it. Then 5 points from the Gizmos based on the energy. 29 from the other Gizmos. So, 64 for me.

The opponent got 9 from VP and 30 from Gizmos. I let them took 1 more Level 3 and 1 Level 2 just since they got very unlucky in the last few rounds. That got them another 9 plus 3. So they scored like 51.

Playing time was about 53 minutes.

Bullet♥︎

Watch the Slideshow of these Bullet♥︎ game sessions here.

Use the heroine’s unique abilities to send back incoming bullets to beat the Enemy in Bullet♥︎.

Continuing my play as YOUNG-JA KIM against every boss one by one. Starting with the Bauk. Of course, this was not much of a challenge but I did make a mistake of understanding the Heroine’s card, the one that push adjacent bullet not orthogonally to right or left but to diagonally. There is another card similar to that so maybe I got both mixed up.

Also, I just realized from these sessions that I got a rule wrong about the Hit zone and the Sight area. I thought I was allowed to put the required space right in that hit zone which is not the case. So, maybe I’ve been playing the game wrong and made it easier than it is.

This led to realization for this character that having bullets in the 2 lowest row is not a good idea. Young-Ja Kim does have a card to pull them up from above and push them up from the bottom. With the pull up card for the 2 lowest rows, you have to do it twice. By leaving one last row empty, you can probably push those 2 rows with just a card.

Another way is to use the ability to change the requirement by spending 1 AP. Then the pull up can be targeted on the 2nd lowest row, even if there was a bullet to pull 3 bullets, possibly the other 3 above them.

Well, this was not from facing the Bauk but from the next one, the Fanged Sun. Maybe I could have won against this one had I realized the use of changing the requirement.

Especially in the last round, you have Sight area almost full with bullet. Maybe even a completely full column. You can easily pull them up.

Maybe that is the best way to play Young-Ja Kim? Assuming you have the cards ready, you push every incoming bullet to 3 middle columns and then try to push or pull everything up. No need to wait until all bullets have been drawn.

Another strategy, still not sure though, about this character that I tried was to spend 6 AP right from the start of the round to draw 3 additional pattern cards. That means there are 4 cards left. I guess the idea of replacing any of them for the remaining 4 is crucial for this.

Now that I think about it, the cards are not that hard to memorize. 4 pairs of cards each with just the mirrored version of the other plus 2 cards totally different, the push 3 bullets up and the one pushing diagonally.

What this means is that the character is probably more strategic than the others. At least compared to the first 5 that I have played before. Especially with that strategy to have 6 cards right from the start. You can plan out everything.

That, in and of itself is probably not that complex. My problem is, specifically when playing against the Boss like this Fanged Sun, you can get to analysis paralysis moment. The Fanged Sun will keep adding more Pattern cards that we need to deal with.

This leads to not just removing the bullet but also keeping them so the remaining in Sight area will not get pushed down twice per unfulfilled card. Combined that with how you play Young-Ja Kim pattern where you will be moving multiple bullets that leads to chain reaction, this can be overwhelming.

Not sure if I feel that with the previous characters. To be fair, I was a bit tired when playing this one but I didn’t realize that this could be that crunchy. I understand that even during playing in Score Attack mode, just playing this one is already challenging enough.

According to the statistic data, The Fanged Sun is the 4th lowest win rate boss fight but still winnable. I think I was close even if I got the rule wrong.

Also, one mistake against the Fanged Sun. I didn’t realize that the last 2 shields only require 4 to break instead of 6. So, in that game, I tried to break them both in the same round so I got 5 bullets sent, thinking that it wouldn’t have broken any shield yet. Then I realized, I broke it and I failed to fulfill one pattern card to survive. It was not even the most recent one.

So, I guess I will try again against this boss but after the other easier ones first.

Playing time was about 11 minutes against The Bauk and about 78 minutes against The Fanged Sun.

Let’s Make a Bus Route: The Dice Game

Watch the Slideshow of this Let’s Make a Bus Route: The Dice Game session here.

Create the best bus line to accommodate different passengers and their destinations while avoiding traffic in Let’s Make a Bus Route: The Dice Game.

This was not using the official solo play but with the multiplayer variant, 2-handed. Played with City side not the Mars one.

The Blue player was the starting one with the Star parent and the Bus Line B. Their starting position was at the lowest road right below a school and between the Tourist Site and the Commuter.

2nd player, the Pink got a Triangle green and the Bus Line A. They also picked the lower half of the board as the starting point but the 3rd road from the bottom.

ROUND 1 – 1. 3 Blue, Orange, Grey and Red.

The Blue player picked the 3 Blue completely filled the first row. Pink chose the Red from those 3 to move just one space to the left. They stopped at traffic light so bonus 1 point move below, picking up a Circle green. Pink was trying to reach the first Point A at the bottom left corner.

ROUND 1 – 2. Purple, Blue, Gray, 2 Orange and Red.

Pink player picked the Purple, Blue and Gray, first of each. Blue player then picked the red to move 1 space to the right. They also stopped at traffic light so got 1 space bonus movement to the Commuter point, dropping the 3 passengers. Scored 8 points from that and 1 bonus Purple.

ROUND 2 – 1. 2 Blue, Green, Orange, 2 Red.

Blue picked the 2 Commuters and filled the Green. Pink chose the Orange this time to move left and then down to the Point A. They had to move to the right now.

ROUND 2 – 2. 5 Greys and Green.

Not much of a choice for either player. Pink of course picked the Green, filling the first triangle and then the 2nd and 3rd Greys. Blue had no choice but to pick Grey. Either direction and they had to change the direction from straight line 2 spaces to bend one part of it.

They chose to move to the right, picking up a Triangle and then after changing direction, moved up to a traffic light. The bonus movement got them to the left, one space away from the Point B, and next to a School.

ROUND 3 – 1. Blue, Grey, 2 Orange, 2 Red.

Blue got the 3rd Commuter of their 2nd row, 1st Grey and 1st Orange passengers. Pink could have chosen orange but they had to bend the movement so they chose Red to move just 1 space instead.

ROUND 3 – 2. Purple,3 Grey, Green and Red.

Pink picked 2nd Purple of 1st row, 4th Grey and filled the 2nd Green which was the first Circle. Moving 2 spaces straight with grey was actually perfect for Blue. They reached the first Point B of this Bus Line and the 1st School.

ROUND 4 – 1. 3 Purple, 2 Green, 1 Grey.

Unfortunately Blue player couldn’t take any Green. But they also wanted to leave 1 space free in case they got some bonus from Blue rows. So, 2 Purple, 2nd and 3rd of 2nd row and 2nd grey.

Lucky for Pink, they could pick Purple, allowing them to move straight 3 spaces. They got to the first Tourist spot, scoring 5 from 2 passengers. Then moved 2 spaces to the right and picked first Star Green.

ROUND 4 – 2. Purple, Blue, Green, Orange, 2 Red.

Of course, Pink chose 1st Blue, 1st Purple of 2nd row and filled that Green they just got. Blue chose Red, which was their 2nd time instead of orange to move up to a Traffic Light. With the 1 bonus movement, they moved to the right.

ROUND 5 – 1. Purple, 2 Blue, Green, Orange, Red.

Since Blue player was closer to a Tourist spot, they decided to just fill the last Purple space 1st row. They couldn’t take green. Blue passenger could have been used to unlock ability. They picked Red and 2nd orange instead. The red was for 3rd ability for the Black dice.

That means, Pink player got to choose either Blue or Green as movement. Obviously they went with Blue. Going up to 1st school, then to the left to Point C which was irrelevant for them and going up.

ROUND 5 – 2. Purple, 2 Blue, Grey, 2 Red.

Pink took 2nd Purple of 2nd row, 3rd Blue of 1st and 5th Grey. So, Blue player got to choose Blue movement.

They wanted to reach top right where their 2nd Point B was while passing through nearby Tourist shop. They chose to the right first, going through a traffic jam, picking up Circle Green. Then moving up to the Tourist shop, scoring 14 from the 1st row. Finally moving to the right.

ROUND 6 – 1. 2 Blue, 4 Orange.

Blue player could only use the Blue for unlocking ability but only one of them. So they took 3rd and 4th orange.

Pink got to pick Blue movement, 3 spaces. First they went up to a traffic light. Then, instead of taking a turn, they changed the direction, 1st time to reach the Commuter spot, dropping the 3 commuters, scoring 8 plus free purple. As the last movement space, they moved to the left to Point B, irrelevant to them.

ROUND 6 – 2. Blue, Grey, Green, 3 Orange.

Pink got their 1st Blue of 2nd Row. No green yet so 6th Grey and 1st Orange.

From the leftover, Blue got to move 2 spaces either with a turn or straight. They chose the straight one because it led to their next stop. First space they picked a Star Green and then landed at traffic light, pushing them up again.

ROUND 7 – 1. Purple, Blue, Grey, Green, 2 Red.

Blue still couldn’t take any Commuter but 1st Purple of 2nd row, filled the 2nd Star Green and 2nd Red of 3rd ability.

Pink couldn’t choose the Blue or Red as movement again so stuck with Grey, 2 spaces straight. This got them to the middle left tourist spot, dropping 3 Tourists for 9 points.

ROUND 7 – 2. 2 Purple, Blue, Grey, Orange, Red.

Pink got 1st 2 Purple of 3rd row and 2nd Blue of 2nd. The only available option for Blue player to move was Orange, 2 spaces with a turn. They moved up first and after changing direction, going up again to 2nd Point B for them.

ROUND 8 – 1. Purple, 2 Blue, 2 Orange, Red.

Still couldn’t take any Commuters so Blue chose 2nd Purple of 2nd row, 5th Orange, and 1st Red of 2nd ability.

Pink couldn’t use the Blue for movement so they had to settle with Orange. From the left Tourist spot, they moved down to pick Star Green and then to the left, stopping at Traffic Light. This pushed them up.

ROUND 8 – 2. 3 Purple, Blue, Grey, Red.

Pink could have actually took 2 Purple and a Blue. But the Blue itself was 3rd for 2nd row so they only took 1 Purple, being 3rd of 3rd row. The last one they took was the 7th Grey.

Blue player could still use Purple freely for movement. So they went down 3 spaces straight through school at the top right, stopping at the Point C, which was irrelevant to them.

ROUND 9 – 1. 2 Purple, Blue, Orange, 2 Red.

Blue took 3rd and 4th Purple of the 2nd row plus 1 Red to finally activate the 2nd ability.

Pink have used every leftover movement so they took penalty and the Blue. While they got to move 3 spaces but they had to change direction once, stopping at top left School.

ROUND 9 – 2. Purple, Blue, Green, 2 Orange, Red.

Pink filled the 2nd Star Green. Then the Blue and 1 Red for starting to activate the ability.

Blue player could have used either Purple or Orange for movement. They picked Purple and moved 3 spaces to the left, reaching to the Commuter spot. Scored 8 points plus free purple from 3 Blues. But the purple itself was already full so this went for the ability.

ROUND 10 – 1. Purple, Grey, 2 Green, Orange and Red.

Blue finally got to fill 2 Circle Green plus the 3rd grey.

Pink still could have used the Purple for movement. From top left school they moved up first and changed directions for the other 2 to the right. Along the way they got 3rd Star Green, dropping 3 Blue at Commuter spots for 8 points plus free Purple and stopped at traffic light after that jam. They got to the 2nd Point A.

ROUND 10 – 2. 2 Purple, Blue, 2 Orange, Red.

Pink’s purple was already full so the best options was 1st of 3rd row blue and 2 Orange, 2nd and 3rd.

Blue had to take penalty with the leftover choice but they chose Purple to move 3 spaces straight. First, from the center Commuter, they moved to the left reaching their 3rd Point B. Then changed direction going up, picking up 1st Triangle green and changed direction again to the right, stopping at Traffic Light. The bonus movement pushed the blue up through traffic jam to the Tourist spot, scoring 14.

ROUND 11 – 1. 3 Purple, 2 Orange, 1 Red.

Blue had empty purple so they picked all 3 Purples.

Pink took penalty with the Orange. Moved down first to the Tourist spot, scoring 14. Then to the right to traffic light and the bonus was to move down.

ROUND 11 – 2. Blue, 3 Grey, Orange and Red.

Pink took 2nd Blue of last row, 8th grey and final red to activate the 2nd ability for 4 points.

Blue could still have used the orange for movement. From center tourist spot, moved to the left, changed the direction and to the left again.

ROUND 12 – 1. Purple, Grey, Green, Orange, 2 Red.

Blue filled the 3rd Circle Green, grey to activate the 3rd ability and the Purple just to hate draft.

Pink took penalty for using Orange as movement. Going down first, picking up Circle Green and to the right to Traffic light, through a jam. The bonus got them to move down to the last Point A for them.

ROUND 12 – 2. 2 Purple, 2 Blue, 1 Green, Red.

No more movement for pink but they picked 1 blue for the 3rd space of the last row. A green to fill the 3rd Star. The purple was to fill for ability but not much.

Blue player could have still used the Commuter for movement. With changing the direction once, they got to the Tourist spot on the left, scoring 14.

That was the end of the game.

SCORING

Blue Player
Bus Line: 10 points
Tourist: 42 points
Commuter: 16 points
School: 6 points
Parents: 16 points
Elderly: 8 points
Abilities: 8 points
Penalties: – 14 points

Final score: 92 points.

Pink Player
Bus Line: 10 points
Tourist: 28 points
Commuter: 20 points
School: 16 points
Parents: 14 points
Elderly: 4 points
Abilities: 4 points
Penalties: – 11 points

Final score: 85 points.

Playing time was about 66 minutes.

Lux Aeterna

Watch the Slideshow of this Lux Aeterna game session here.

Fix the systems of your Starship before it falls down into the Blackhole in Lux Aeterna.

Another session with the starting position was just 1 space away from the Blackhole. Technically I got 3 sessions. First one was instant loss because my first 4 cards didn’t have any action to push the Starship away from the Blackhole so I lost immediately. That doesn’t really count.

The 2nd play I got to the 2nd Glitch card and it lowered all systems with the lowest value. I happened to have multiple systems at 1 value so I lost.

I reset the game and got lucky enough to survive. Didn’t really use the time on this one.

ROUND 1. Pink: 2, Green: 2, Gray: 2, Orange: 2, Yellow: 2, Blue: 2.

Only 1 card to push the Starship backwards. But there was another card to use the action of the card in Cache. The other 2 cards both had 1 damage to the systems and Speed of 1. Assigned those 2 for Event and Speed. Maybe I should have let it damaged the yellow instead of green.

So, I kept the card to push back in the Cache and activate the other card to trigger the card in cache. Pushed the ship 2 spaces and 1 back towards the Blackhole.

ROUND 2. Pink: 2, Green: 1, Gray: 2, Orange: 2, Yellow: 2, Blue: 2.

This time there were 3 cards to push the ship backwards 2 spaces. All 3 of them had the Speed of 3 while the last card had 1 so that was obvious. Only the orange card had damage of 1 while the other had 2. That means, I got to move the ship back 2 spaces with the action.

1 damage to the Orange system down to 1. Pushed the ship 2 spaces back and 1 space forth.

ROUND 3. Pink: 2, Green: 1, Gray: 2, Orange: 1, Yellow: 2, Blue: 2.

3 cards had the damage of 1 while the last one had 2 damage to orange. Yellow or Blue could have still taken 1 damage but not green. The one with 2 damage had the speed of 1 while the Blue had a speed of 0. Last 2 cards had action to push ship 2 spaces back.

I let the blue took damage since Blue was the safest penalty. The action was to push the ship 2 spaces back but the speed card pushed forward 1. 4 spaces away from Blackhole.

ROUND 4. Pink: 2, Green: 1, Gray: 2, Orange: 1, Yellow: 2, Blue: 1.

All cards had a damage of 2 so one system was about to collapse. I had to let go the Blue. 2 other cards had the same action of swapping dice and speed of 1. The last one had the action to push backwards again or increase the value with speed of 3 so this one was obviously for the action.

The Blue system collapsed and I had to push my starting position 2 spaces away, losing points from it. This time I actually used the action to increase the die by 1 instead of the alternative of the same card. Yellow went up from 2 to 3 so it could take 2 damage. The speed pushed it forward 1. 3 spaces away from Blackhole.

ROUND 5. Pink: 2, Green: 1, Gray: 2, Orange: 1, Yellow: 3, Blue: Collapsed.

2 cards to flip a dice, one was any number and the other was not for 1 to 6 or vice versa. I had to use one of them this round to let one system take more damage.

2 other cards had a damage of 1 and speed of 2 or 1. The damage happened to the Gray system as it was at 2 before. So I got the last card with the speed of 1 for that purpose.

I flipped the Orange dice which was at 1 to 6. The ship then moved closer to Blackhole by 1. 2 spaces away from Blackhole.

ROUND 6. Pink: 2, Green: 1, Gray: 1, Orange: 6, Yellow: 3, Blue: Collapsed.

2 Pink cards with damage of 1. The other 2 was at 2 each, one with a speed of 1 while the other with 3. That last one was to remove Glitch so I used it for the action. Speed of 1 from 3rd card and either pink to take damage.

Pink went down from 2 to 1. Removed the 1st Glitch. Ship moved closer 1 space. 1 space away from the Blackhole.

ROUND 7. Pink: 1, Green: 1, Gray: 1, Orange: 6, Yellow: 3, Blue: Collapsed.

One card to push the ship back 2 spaces and another with 0 speed. Luckily one orange had a damage of 1 so that was for the Event, the action with 1st card and Speed using the 2nd. Last one had action to remove Glitch so I replaced the one in Cache to move backwards 2 spaces.

Orange system went down from 6 to 5. Starship moved back 2 spaces and not closer. 3 spaces away from the Blackhole.

ROUND 8. Pink: 1, Green: 1, Gray: 1, Orange: 5, Yellow: 3, Blue: Collapsed.

One green card with both 1 damage and speed of 0. 2nd card was yellow with 2 damage and speed of 3, action to remove the next Glitch. The other 2 were Gray that couldn’t take any damage. One of them had action to reroll up to 2 dice so I assigned it for action.

Green with 0 speed for speed and that means Yellow with 2 damage for event.

Yellow system went down from 3 to 1. Then using the action I rerolled the Yellow and the Gray. Gray went up from 1 to 5 while Yellow from 1 to 3. I got lucky. 3 spaces away from the Blackhole.

GLITCH! COOLANT LEAK

The cache was destroyed.

ROUND 9. Pink: 1, Green: 1, Gray: 5, Orange: 5, Yellow: 3, Blue: Collapsed.

Not sure about the 4th card but the 3 were Yellow, Green and Pink. The last 2 had system at 1 so the Yellow had to take damage and luckily, only 1. Pink had speed of 2 or action to push backwards while Green had speed of 1 or add 1 to a die.

Yellow took damage and went down from 3 to 2. Pink pushed the ship backwards 3 spaces while green pushed it forward 1. 5 spaces away from Blackhole.

ROUND 10. Pink: 1, Green: 1, Gray: 5, Orange: 5, Yellow: 2, Blue: Collapsed.

2 blue cards, an orange and a green. The blue couldn’t have been assigned to event while green couldn’t take any damage again. So, luckily orange had to become one with 0 damage.

Green had speed of 2 while one blue had a speed of 1. So the speed was assigned while the last 2 cards had the same action, reroll. I rerolled the Green from 1 and got a 5. Lucky!

The ship moved closer 1 space. 4 spaces away from Blackhole.

ROUND 11. Pink: 1, Green: 5, Gray: 5, Orange: 5, Yellow: 2, Blue: Collapsed.

Orange, Yellow, Gray and Yellow. All of them had a damage of 1 but also Speed of 2. The actions were either flip a dice, both options were available, remove a Glitch or reroll.

Probably should have removed the Glitch but I chose to flip a 1 to a 6. 1 damage to the orange bringing it down from 5 to 4. Flipped the Pink die from 1 to 6. Moved the ship closer 2 spaces. 2 spaces away from Blackhole.

ROUND 12. Pink: 6, Green: 5, Gray: 5, Orange: 4, Yellow: 2, Blue: Collapsed.

2 Pink and 1 Green, not sure about the last one. All these 3 had a damage of 1. Only one Pink with a Speed of 1 so that was for that purpose. The other 2 cards that I knew had push ship backwards. Pink pushed 3 spaces and Green only 2 so that was obvious.

Green got damage, went down from 5 to 4. The Ship moved backwards 3 spaces and forward 1. 5 spaces away from the Blackhole.

DOUBLE GLITCHES! REACTOR BREACH and BLACKOUT!

Didn’t really matter which one I should have resolved first. Reactor Breach lowered all lowest value systems by 1. The lowest was Yellow 2 into 1.

BLACKOUT disabled the action for this last round.

ROUND 13. Pink: 6, Green: 5, Gray: 5, Orange: 4, Yellow: 1, Blue: Collapsed.

From these 4 last cards, it didn’t matter which one dealt the damage except yellow. All of them had the speed of 2 at most. 0 damage of Yellow Event, no action and the ship moved closer to Blackhole by 2 spaces. 3 spaces away from Blackhole.

That was the end of the game.

Scored 5 points from 5 under repair systems. No operational system. 72 points from Starting Position. No ERR Glitch.

Final Score was 77 POINTS.

Playing time was about 24 minutes.

The Castles of Burgundy

This was the official solo variant with the beginner side of the player board. The starting Castle was at the bottom right region. 3 starting goods were Goods 3, 5 and 6 along with 1 Silver and 2 Workers as the standard resources.

A lot of errors like forgot to resolve bonus actions, especially related to reaching score goal, accidentally took extra round and maybe turn, resolving the Mine income incorrectly. In the end, I failed to fill the last spot. I had the wild tile but not the right die value and no workers left.

It seems like I had to buy tiles from Black Market rather early or in previous round. Otherwise when I completed a color, I will have no more tile to fill from the Black Market.

Anyway, here is how the session went.

Watch the Slideshow of this The Castles of Burgundy game solo session here.

PHASE A, ROUND 1

Goods 5 to Depot 6, removing the White Castle building tile. The Black Market depot had 1 Building (Bank), 1 Monastery (12), 1 Castle and 1 Pastures with 2 ducks.

I rolled a 4 and a 6. With 4, I took TOWN HALL building from depot 4. Using 6 I took the Pastures with 4 Goats.

PHASE A, ROUND 2

**** I already made mistake here. I forgot to place the goods tile for this round so this phase I did 6 rounds without realizing. Oh, well.

Goods 3 was supposed to be sent to depot 3, removing 1 Ship tile.

I also rolled 2 4s. One of them plus 1 of my worker took a Mine from Depot 5. Using the other 4 with my last Worker I placed the Mine tile next to my starting Castle. The hex required a 5. This completed an area with just single hex during Phase A. Gained 10 plus 1 point.

*** 2nd error of this one. I forgot and only realized it later that you don’t get Silver immediately but I did take one.

With 1 from the starting resource, I paid 2 to buy Monastery 12 from Black market.

So I went again for this 2nd round where I actually placed the goods. Goods 3 went to depot 1, removing another Town Hall. I rolled a 3 and 4.

Well, the 3 was to place the Monastery I incorrectly took previously to my duchy next to the starting Castle. This allowed me to change the die by 1 value like using 1 free worker when taking a tile from the game board.

I couldn’t use the 4 so I took 2 Workers.

PHASE A, ROUND 3.

Goods 5 went to depot 5, removing a Monastery tile. I rolled a 2 and 3.

Using the 3 I took the Bank building tile from depot 3. Then using 2 I placed a Town Hall to a hex next to the Castle. As bonus, the Town Hall allowed me to place another tile to my duchy which I placed the Bank I just took. This gave me 2 Silver and completed an area with 2 hexes during Phase A. I got 13 points.

PHASE A, ROUND 4.

Goods 1 was sent to depot 4, removing a Ship tile from depot 1 since no other in between. I rolled a 3 and a 5.

Using the 3 and bonus from the cheating Monastery I took another Monastery from depot 2. Also with that cheating bonus and 1 Worker, used the 5 to take the pasture of 3 sheep from depot 3. Now my storage was full.

PHASE A, ROUND 5.

Goods 3 to depot 4 again, removing the Castle from depot 2. I rolled a 5 and 6.

The 5 was to place the Monastery to my duchy, 2nd of 3 hexes. This allowed me to change the value by 1 when placing a Monastery, a Castle and a Mine from storage to my duchy as if I spent 1 free worker.

The 6 was to place the Pasture tile with 4 goats, to the right of the Castle. Immediately scored 4 points to 28.

That was the end of 1st Phase. 1 Goods at depot 1, 5 and 6, 2 goods at depot 4.

**** It seems I took another Silver. While this was correct but I already took it, incorrectly when placing that Mine.

PHASE B, ROUND 1.

2 ship tiles, 1 Mine and 1 Pasture with 3 sheep in the Black Market.

Goods 6 went to depot 2, removing a Monastery tile. I rolled a 1 and a 5.

Using the 5, changed into 4 using Monastery, I took a Ship tile. I needed 2 to expand to the next region so I took the 2nd from using the 1 from depot 1.

PHASE B, ROUND 2.

Goods 2 went to depot 3, removing a Pasture tile. I rolled a 5 and a 6.

Using the 6, placed the Ship tile to the hex on the left of starting Castle. I scored 1 for just 1 hex size plus 8 from Phase B, got 37 for now.

As bonus I took 2 goods from Depot 4 since the other only had 1, removing the rest. Now that I had 5 goods, I traded them all, turning one of the Ship tile from Black Market into a Wild tile.

Using the 5 I placed that wild tile to complete the Monastery area with size 3. Scored 14 points from it so that means I triggered the bonus, or I should have triggered a bonus.

**** It seems I forgot to take the bonus.

PHASE B, ROUND 3.

Goods 6 to depot 1, removing another White Castle from that depot and there was no other tile. I rolled a 1 and a 6.

I used the 6, changed into one with that incorrect Monastery to take the Mine from depot 5. Using the 1 I placed the Ship tile again to the top right region from the bottom. Scored 1 for size plus 8 points for Phase B. Took the Goods 6, which was the only one available, the 1st in my storage.

PHASE B, ROUND 4.

Goods 2 to depot 3, removing a Watchtower from there. I rolled a 3 and a 5.

I still had 1 free space in my hex storage so I used the 3, changed into 2 to take the Castle from depot 2. Then with a 5, I placed that Castle to the top right region. Scored 1 for 1 size and 8 for Phase B again.

As bonus, I placed that pasture with 3 sheep next to that new Castle. Scored 3 from the pasture itself, 1 for its size and 8 from Phase B. Got to 21 now.

**** Another error. I used that 5 again to take another tile, a Monastery from depot 5. Let’s just say, I used the bonus from reaching 50 points earlier for this.

PHASE B, ROUND 5.

Goods 1 to depot 1, removing a Building tile from Depot 4. I rolled a 2 and a 5. Using the 5, I placed the Mine next to the recent Pasture. Scored 1 for its size and 8 for being in Phase B, 30 points so far from the target 45.

**** I made error again, using the 5 twice. The next one was to take Carpenter’s Workshop from depot 6. No excuse for this one. Oh, well.

I still had my 2 which I used to take 2 Workers.

That was the end of Phase B. I took 2 Silvers, making it to 3. 25 hexes to fill left.

PHASE C, ROUND 1.

3 buildings and 1 ship in the Black market, a Bank, White Castle and a Market.

Goods 1 to depot 3, 2nd goods there, removing Pasture tile. I rolled 2 6s.

First one was to place the Carpenter’s Workshop near the 2nd ship of that 2nd region. As bonus I got to take another building which I took a Town Hall from depot 4.

Using the other 6, I took the Church from Depot 6.

PHASE C, ROUND 2.

Goods 3 to depot 5.

*** Here is another error. I actually forgot to place a Mine tile here so when the white die sent goods there, I removed the Monastery tile from it. The depot then had no more tile.

I rolled a 1 and a 4. Before taking any action, I spent 2 Silver to buy a Market tile from Black Market. My storage was full now.

With the 4, I placed a Town Hall to the 1st Building area of that top right region, 2nd of 2 hexes. This completed the area so I scored 3 points plus 6. 38 of 45.

As a bonus, I got to place 2nd tile to my duchy from storage. I chose the Market building, to the 2nd building area of that top right region. The bonus allowed me to take either ship or pasture tile and I went with the former from depot 4.

I still had the 1 which I changed into 2 using Monastery to take a Castle from the depot 2. My storage was full again.

PHASE C, ROUND 3.

Goods 5 to depot 4, removing a Pasture from depot 6. I rolled a 2 and a 5.

With the 2 minus 1 from Worker I placed the ship to the top left region.

*** It seems I forgot to score this time. I should have gotten 6 plus 1 points, resetting the score track position and a bonus action.

From placing the Ship, I got 2 Goods, Goods 1 and 2 from depot 3, removing the others. Now I had 3 in my storage.

With my 5, plus 1 from Worker and 1 from Monastery, I took another Carpenter’s Workshop from depot 1.

PHASE C, ROUND 4.

Goods 5 to depot 3, removing a Watchtower from there. I rolled a 1 and a 4.

Using a 1, changed it into 2 with Monastery 11, placed the Castle to a space next to the ship in that top left region. I scored 1 plus 6 which reset the goal back to 0.

As bonus from the Castle itself, I took a Ship tile from depot 1.

*** It seems I forgot to get bonus from reaching the score goal.

I still had a 4 which I used to take 2 Workers since I had none left.

PHASE C, ROUND 5.

Goods 1 to depot 2, removing the Monastery tile there. I rolled a 5 and a 6.

With a 5, minus 1 from Worker I placed the ship to expand to the bottom left region. I scored 6 plus 1 again and took the Goods 1 bonus, removing the others.

I changed the 6 into 1 with my last worker. Then I sold 2 Goods 1 for 4 points and 1 Silver. With 2 Silvers, I bought a Bank from the Black Market.

That was the end of Phase C. I got 2 Silver from 2 Mines. 18 hexes left to fill.

PHASE D, ROUND 1.

1 ship, 1 building, 1 monastery and 1 pasture in the black market. Goods 2 to depot 2, removing the Monastery tile there. I rolled a 1 and a 4.

The 4 was to place the Church to the bottom left region. As bonus I got to take either Mine, Monastery or Castle. I took the Monastery from depot 5 that gives me 4 points per Market building since there was another one in depot 6.

The 1 was to place the Bank to 1 size building area in the starting region. As bonus I got 2 Silvers. Scored 1 plus 4 making it to 9 from the next target of 40.

PHASE D, ROUND 2.

Another Goods 2 to depot 2, removing the Castle from there. I rolled a 2 and a 5.

The 5 was to take the Mine from depot 5. Then with 2 plus 1 from Monastery, I placed the Monastery to the top left region. The tile itself gave me 4 points for having 1 Market building. Scored 1 plus 4 points to 18.

PHASE D, ROUND 3.

Goods 2 to depot 6, 1st one, removing the Market building from depot 6. I rolled a 1 and a 4.

The 4 was to take the Pasture from depot 3 after changing it using Monastery. It was another pasture with 3 goats so I placed it in the Pasture of starting region with existing tile with 4. I scored 7 from this, making it to 25.

PHASE D, ROUND 4.

Goods 4 to depot 3, removing a Watchtower. I rolled a 4 and a 6.

Before doing action, I spent 2 Silver to buy pasture from Black market and this one had 4 Goats perfect for that area.

With my 6, changed into a 5, I placed the Mine to the top left region. Scored 1 plus 4 points.

This was the last Mine so I got to take 1 tile from black market but I forgot and only resolved it later. I took the Monastery and placed it directly to the only space in top right region. Scored 1 plus 4 from itself. The tile itself gave me 4 per different animal so I got 8.

I still had a 4, which I used to take 2 Workers.

PHASE D, ROUND 5.

Goods 4 to depot 4, removing a White Castle. I rolled a 2 and a 4.

The 2 was to complete the last Pasture hex in the bottom right region. I scored 4 from the tile itself plus 7 from the same animals there. For completing the area with 3 hexes, I scored 6 plus 4.

This was the point, or maybe previously where I reset the score track so the next goal was 35. It seems I forgot to activate the bonus again. ******

I still had a 4 with 2 Workers, changed it into a 2. This was to place Carpenter’s Workshop to 2nd space of 2nd area in the top right region, completing the area. As bonus, I got to take another building tile for free which I chose a Bank from depot 1.

Scored 3 for size 2 and 4 from Phase D. Before ending the phase, I spent 2 Silver to buy Ship from Black Market.

That was the end of the round. Currently at 33 score from the next target of 35. 10 hexes left to fill, 2 Pastures, 1 Castle, 2 Ships, 4 buildings and 1 Monastery. In my storage, a ship and a Building.

PHASE E, ROUND 1.

2 buildings, 1 Monastery and 1 Ship in the Black market. Goods 2 to depot 6, 2nd one, removing a White Castle.

I rolled a 2 and a 6. The 2 was to take the Castle from depot 2. With 6 I took 2 Workers since I had none.

PHASE E, ROUND 2.

Goods 4 to depot 3, 2nd one, removing a pasture. I rolled 2 4s.

One was to place a Bank to the only space in the top left region. Scored 1 plus 2 and that reset the score lowering the next target to 30. As bonus from the tile itself I got 2 Silver and I assumed I forgot to take free action. ******

With the other 4, changed to a 5 using Monastery, I took another Monastery from depot 5.

PHASE E, ROUND 3.

Goods 2, 3rd goods in depot 3, removing a building there. I rolled a 1 and a 6.

Using a 1, changed into a 2 with Monastery, I placed the last Castle to the top left region. I scored 1 plus 2.

As bonus from Castle, I placed that Monastery, in the last space in bottom left region. This allowed me to take not only goods from 1 depot but also goods from adjacent one after ship action. Scored 1 plus 2.

This means I have completed 2 colors. First bonus was to take a Ship from the Black Market to the right ship hex of the bottom right region. Scored 1 plus 2. Depot 3 had 3 goods and depot 2 had 2. I traded 5 goods for 1 Wild tile and kept 2 Goods 4.

For the 2nd bonus for completing colors, I took the Watchtower from Black Market and placed it in one of 3 spaces in the bottom left region. Scored 4 from that tile. Currently at 13 to the next target of 30.

I still had a 6 which I used to take the pasture from depot 6. My storage was full at this point.

PHASE E, ROUND 4.

Goods 4 to depot 4, removing ship tile. I rolled a 1 and a 3.

I had a ship tile which I used the 1, minus 1 from Worker to place in the last Ship space. Took the only goods which was the Goods 4. Scored 1 plus 2.

Completed the Blue color and took the Church from Black Market which I placed in the last of 3 spaces in bottom left region. Scored 6 plus 2 from it.

Unfortunately, nothing could be done with the bonus from that building. Currently at 21 points from the next target, 30.

With the 3, I took the Watchtower from depot 3.

PHASE E, ROUND 5.

Goods 6 to depot 2, removing the last Monastery. I rolled a 4 and a 5.

The 5 plus 1 from Worker was to place the last Pasture. Scored 2 points from the tile itself, 1 from its size and 2 from the phase. This made the score was 26, 4 to the next target.

I spent 4 Silver to reach that score and got 1 bonus action. The action was to place the last building in the single space of top right region. Scored 4 from the watchtower, 1 plus 2.

Last die and last space. I had a 4, the space was for Pasture that required a 1. No more Worker to change it even if I had the Wild tile to complete it. Oh, well…

That was the end of the game. A lot of errors so even if I succeeded, didn’t really deserve it.

Playing time was about 2 hours 23 minutes.

Read the Full Session report here.

Trailblazers

Watch the Slideshow of these 2 Trailblazers solo sessions here.

Build the longest Biking, Hiking and Kayaking loops from their matching Campsites in Trailblazers. Last time I tried the FOREVER FLOAT solo objective but I made a mistake of taking 1 card too many in one round so I actually failed. In addition of getting over 50 points, I also need to create a single longest Kayaking loop worth at least 25 points.

So, here I retried that challenge and actually got 3 sessions. First one doesn’t really count since I gave up after a couple of turns because it didn’t feel like it would have ended well.

Immediately played the 2nd one. Got a single Kayaking loop worth 26 and nothing else for that camp. 4 points from Hiking and only 3 from Cycling. There was a longer hiking loop but failed to close by one space. Even still I would have gotten only 39 total.

Then I played the 3rd time and was a success. Here is how it went.

ROUND 1, 1ST DRAW.

Not a great start as I had focus on Blue immediately. There was only 2 cards where the Blue line was the main one. One card with S-shape plus 2 reds and the other with L-shape but 2 different shorter colors.

I was hoping to see a card with all 3 blue. Maybe the S was the better shape as it had 2 colors but I went with the L-shape. For some reason going with straight lines makes it easier to keep extending the existing line than with the curve or S. Also easier to visualize the bigger picture and count whether it made enough room. Especially for this objective.

So I picked the L-shape and placed it on the right side of the camp, top part. As the 2nd card I chose the straight red with 2 Blue shorter straight to extend that single blue line. This way the 2 shorts could have connected by a single C-blue later or 2 L shapes.

ROUND 1, 2ND DRAW.

Now there were 2 L-shapes Blue with the opposite directions. Now that I think about it, they were great to immediately connect those 2 short blues. There was also another Blue main line with Shape.

Instead of using those 2 Ls to connect the existing short, I opened the exit point. Here is a tip for playing this objective after knowing the result. Maybe it is better to create the exit by assuming you are going around the camp. During the game, I just assumed I kept extending the right side and then exit at the bottom part of the camp.

So, using those 2 Ls, I placed one at the bottom, right part pointing to the right. This L had shorter Blue going vertically. I extended that short part with the 2nd L, pointing to the right. This also closed the right side, bottom part camp for an entry or exit point.

ROUND 1, 3RD DRAW.

From the 4 cards, there was no Blue main line. Only 1 card with 1 short Blue with a Main C Red and another Brown short. I picked that card.

From the first 2 cards I played, it created 2 lines of red, luckily. So, this C one connected those 2 while creating an entry to the blue camp. Planning to place the Red camp on the right end of these 2 straight reds.

That was the 1st card. The rest were all red as the main line. I picked one with L-shape red and one shorter red. I put that on the right end of the 2 straight lines, vertically. The shorter extended the top straight horizontal red.

That was the end of 1st round.

ROUND 2, 1ST DRAW.

So, I had to place the next camp and clearly I had to play the Red. It was placed on the right of the last card so the left side was exactly that L-shape card, connected with the 2 red lines, one short and one long, L-shape.

From the 8 cards, there were 3 main blues, one L, one C and one straight. First, I picked the C Blue. This was to extend the main L at the bottom hoping to connect the shorter one of that L card.

As the 2nd card, I picked the Straight red with one shorter blue. This was to extend the 2nd existing horizontal red while maintaining the 2 vertical blue lines.

The right vertical had only 1 blank space so ideally I needed another L of that specific direction going from up to the right. Not exactly sure this was a good move.

ROUND 2, 2ND DRAW.

From these 6, there was that specific L that I needed. It seems I had no choice but to use it if I wanted to make sure these 2 groups could be connected.

There was also an all blue S, and C Blue with shorter blue and red. I picked the all blue S to extend the bottom part. The C was just going to close anything. While the S extended the 2 lines of the bottom group.

ROUND 2, 3RD DRAW.

No main blue again. But there was a straight Brown with 2 shorter blue. I had the option to place this to extend the vertical blues at the top group or to extend the bottom. This would also have decided where next brown camp would have gone. I could have gone either way but I picked the bottom option.

Now the bottom blue was worth 12, 7 at the top. As for the 2nd card, I picked the C red with short Red and Blue. The Short red finally closed the red long loop worth 9 points, preparing for the 2nd with the main C red. At the same time, the shorter blue on that card, extended the right vertical blue so it was closer to connect with the bottom group. All I needed to connect was another Blue L, going from up to the left.

That was the end of 2nd round.

ROUND 3, 1ST DRAW.

As mentioned earlier, I had to place the Brown camp at the bottom, connected to a single Brown line.

From 8 cards, 4 of them were L Blues. One of them was what I needed for the exact orientation. With this, I connected one Blue line from top group with one blue line from the bottom group, with a total value of 12. The other top part was worth 3 and the other bottom was 7. So if I could connect all of them, I only needed 3 more for the objective.

All I needed were a single C Blue and 2 Ls of the opposing direction. And for the 2nd card, I got 1 L Blue with that orientation and a shorter brown straight, perfect to almost connect the bottom part. 2 more cards at least and I was done with the objective.

ROUND 3, 2ND DRAW.

From the 6 cards, there was one straight blue main line. Not sure what to do with that. There was also a perfect Brown L with shorter blue that would have completed the Single brown loop. I took it and completed the loop which was worth only 6 points. For the blue, I just needed a Blue C and any half C.

Completing the giant blue loop would have gotten me 28 points. I already got 9 from a single red loop and 6 from the single brown. So, I still needed 7 more to get 50 points with 9 cards.

2 of them at least were to close the blue loop assuming I got 1 C. I think I was confident enough to get it. So, I just needed to make sure 7 other cards were worth 1 point each. With C I could have scored 2 from a card wither in red, blue or brown loop.

But there was no C. As the 2nd card this draw, I picked the L-red. Using the trick from previous objective, I extended the existing red big loop so the bottom part was closed. The red loop was at that point worth 10.

ROUND 3, 3RD DRAW.

Still no C shape. But at least I could have closed the bottom 2 lines of blues with shorter blues. Here is where the risk was.

I could have either played the 2nd card to make half of the remaining C Blue I needed. Or I could have used that half C to complete a shorter existing loop at the top of the Blue camp for 2 easy points.

I had 6 cards left after this one. If 2 of them were for the C and I got 28 + 10 + 2 + 6. I still needed 4 points from 4 cards. Not impossible, just needed to play safe.

ROUND 4, 1ST DRAW.

I got a C-Blue from those 8 so I completed the objective with 46 points and 5 cards left. There were C Brown and C Reds so at least easy 2 points. I took the brown anyway. 4 cards left for at least 2 points.

ROUND 4, 2ND DRAW.

From 6 cards, I got lucky, with C Brown and C Red again. Those were easy 4 points and I already got more than 50 while completing the objective. I took a risk again here. I took the C brown creating 3rd loop so the point was already 50.

However, I opened the Red loop with L shape, losing 10 points. I just needed half C red to turn that 10 into 12.

ROUND 4, 3RD DRAW.

I actually got something better! An L-shape red with the right orientation. That red loop worth 10 points became 13. I guess had I played safely, I still could have gotten 12. I still had 1 last card which became nothing.

So, that was the end of the game.

I got a giant Kayaking loop worth 28 points plus a smaller one worth 2. A brown big loop of 6 points plus 4 from 2 smaller loops. Plus a single red with 13 points. Final score was 53.

Playing time was about 21 minutes for the 2nd session and 23 minutes for the last one.

Targi

Watch the Slideshow of this Targi game solo session here.

Expand your tribe by gathering and trading resources for Gold and Silver in Targi.

This was the official solo session using the PnP rule against Andy. To win I needed to score 31 at least, had 1 Gold plus any resource, had 11 tribe cards at least on the table with 2 rows of all different tribes. I also added the obstacle where I didn’t start with any resources, only 4 VP.

ROUND 1. Robber blocked NOBLE space.

I was the starting player so with no resources, I definitely picked the CARAVAN. The opponent occupied the TRIBAL EXPANSION. In the same row as that caravan there were 2 cards in the middle that showed 2 resources. So, I could have picked 1 Pepper from the border plus pepper and date or Salt from border plus salt and date. Or of course both.

For 2nd placement, I picked the Salt, 3rd space border. The opponent occupied the 2nd space with Date and their intersection would have removed the Gold from the middle.

So, as my 3rd I picked the other 2 cards by occupying 9th border card with pepper. The opponent took the Salt, the last border space and the intersection would have removed a Camel tribe.

The Caravan gave me another Salt. So, I got 4 Salt, 2 Pepper and 1 Date.

ROUND 2. Robber occupied the DATE space.

The opponent, Andy went first by occupying the Fata Morgana space. I still needed more resources so I picked CARAVAN.

Andy’s 2nd occupied the Tribal expansion border and the intersection would have removed the Oasis tribe card. I was going to need some Gold so I sent my 2nd to the TRADER, no intersection between these 2.

Andy’s last occupied the NOBLE and the intersection were about to remove the Wells tribe. My last one went to the Silversmith while the Intersection would have gotten me another Pepper and a Tent tribe from the middle.

The Caravan gave me VP token. So, this round I only got 1 Pepper. Traded the 3 Peppers for 1 Gold and the 4 Salt for 3 VP. I still had 1 Date and 1 Gold and I spent both to pay the first Tribe card, which was the TENT. This was worth only 1 VP but for every 2 Oasis cards I could have gotten 1 additional VP at the end.

ROUND 3. Robber occupied the Salt space.

I went first again and as usual, the Caravan. Andy blocked the Trader space and the Salt from opposite side. There was a Gold card in the same row as the Caravan so I either had to take the Date space or the Silversmith space. Since I had almost no resources, I picked the Date.

Andy then went to the Pepper space next to Silversmith, blocking the Noble space. The intersection was about to remove a Salt.

**** Apparently I already made my first mistake. I sent the last one to the Salt space across the Trader which should have been blocked by the opponent. My best option was to actually take pepper from the middle row and another Camel tribe.

That means Andy’s last one actually occupied that Salt space, removing the Camel card.

Luckily, my Caravan action gave me 1 of any resource. During the game I got 1 Salt from border plus a Pepper from that card, but now it was just as if I got the same but from different sources. The cheating part was that it was like the 2 camel tribe cards were swapped. Oh, well…

I got 1 Date, 1 Salt and 1 Pepper and 1 Gold. Paid 1 Date and 1 Gold for that Camel tribe worth 3 points, installed it as 2nd card of 1st row.

1st RAID: 1 RESOURCE OR 1 VP. I gave the Robber 1 VP since I needed the resource.

ROUND 4. Robber occupied the TRADER space.

Andy went first and occupied the NOBLE. I went back to CARAVAN again.

Andy then went to the Salt near the Noble. The intersection was about to remove an Oasis card. I went to pick a DATE from border next to Noble. The intersection would have gotten me another Camel.

Andy’s last went to another Salt at the top. My only option was to take the Pepper from the middle row, with the Camel card that I should have gotten in the previous round from intersection.

The Caravan got me 2 Peppers plus 1 from border and a Date. From intersection I got 2 Camel cards. Both required a Gold which I didn’t have. So, I kept only one, the one that could have given me extra pepper each round to my hand.

I got 4 Peppers, 1 Date, 7 VP.

ROUND 5. Robber occupied the PEPPER space.

I went first again to CARAVAN. Andy picked the Date source near Noble. I got to the Trader next. Andy went to Fata Morgana.

My last one went to NOBLE since I had one card in hand. The intersections were about to give me another Tent card and one of any resource. Andy went last one to the Tribal expansion. The intersections were 2 resources with 2 dates and 1 pepper.

I traded 3 peppers for Gold. The Caravan got me a Date. Visiting the Noble I had to bring 2 Pepper and 1 Gold to install the Camel card in hand. So I picked the 2nd pepper from card with one of any resource.

I installed the tribe camel in the 2nd row since I already had a Camel in the 1st one. The Tent tribe card was kept in my hand.

ROUND 6. Robber occupied DATE space.

Andy went first to the Pepper space near Silversmith. Caravan was free so I took it again. Andy went to the Fata Morgana. I still needed more resources and in that Caravan row, there was 2 Salt on a card. I picked that by placing on Date space at the top. This was also to ensure I still got some intersection.

Andy’s last one went to the Tribal expansion space. The 2 intersections were about to remove a Camel and a Well card. I went to TRADER. The intersection would have given me more Date.

The Caravan got me 1 Salt plus 2 from the intersection. 3 Dates from intersection and border. Traded those 3 into a Gold.

2ND RAID: 2 Resources or 1 VP. I gave them 1 VP.

ROUND 7. Robber occupied the FATA MORGANA space.

I went first again and still chose the CARAVAN. Andy’s first one blocked the SILVERSMITH. This time I went to the TRIBAL space as there was a card with 2 Pepper in the intersection. I was planning to get it by visiting Noble next.

Well, unfortunately, Andy occupied the Pepper space across that Noble. So I went to the Salt space, the opposite of Robber. Andy took the other Salt along with 2 tent cards.

The Caravan got me 1 of any resources. Picked a Pepper plus 1 bonus thanks to the Camel. 1 Salt from border plus a Gold from intersection. One Camel tribe from intersection and the Tribal deck got me a Targia card.

The latter tribe card required 1 Salt, 1 Date and 2 Pepper. I had more than enough. After placing the card, I could have chosen one time bonus, either 3 Goods, 1 Gold or 1 VP. Of course, I picked the resources, 2 Peppers and 1 Date allowing me to install the Camel I just got with 1 Date, 2 Salt and 1 Pepper. This was placed in the 3rd row.

I got 10 points so far from the tribe cards. 1 of each resources plus 2 Gold left and 6 VP.

ROUND 8. Robber occupied SILVERSMITH.

Andy went first by occupying the TRADER. Well, Caravan was free so I went there. Andy then went to the Tribal space. Next, I went to get DATE from across the Silversmith.

Andy went to Salt next to that. I went to pick a Pepper next to Silversmith for more pepper.

The Caravan got me 1 Salt and 1 Date. 1 Date and 1 Pepper from Border and 2 Peppers including the bonus from intersection. Another intersection got me a Well card that required 2 Date, 1 Pepper and 1 Salt. Paid and installed the card in 1st row. I completed the row with all different tribe cards for 2 VP extra.

ROUND 9. Robber occupied the PEPPER space.

Caravan again for my first. Andy went back to Fata Morgana. There was a card with 2 resources in the intersection in the same row as caravan. I picked that one by occupying the Date space.

Andy occupied the TRADER, removing a Pepper in the middle. I finally got to visit the NOBLE plus an Oasis. Andy’s last went to Tribal expansion and was about to remove the Gold from the middle.

I got 2 Salt, 2 Pepper and 1 Date from those plus an Oasis card in addition to my remaining 5 resources from before. Paid 1 Pepper, 1 Date and a Gold to install the Tent card in my hand to the 2nd row, 2nd space.

Paid the 2 Salt and 1 Pepper required by the Oasis to place it as 3rd of my 2nd row.

I got 16 VP so far plus 6, 5 resources left and a Gold.

3RD RAID: 3 Resources or 2 VP. I gave them 2 VP, saving the resources.

ROUND 10. Robber occupied the CARAVAN space.

Andy went first to the Trader. To complete 2nd row with different card, my only option was a Targia in the middle. I went to that Caravan row but the Date space side.

Andy was back to FATA MORGANA and was about to remove a Tent card. I had to secure that Targia so I went to a different Date space.

Andy went to the Salt space, near the Trader.

***** I made 2 mistakes here. Andy should have only 1 intersection card this time but for some reason I placed them on 2 cards, removing them both. At the same time, I sent my Worker to the salt space across the Trader which should have been blocked by the opponent.

That means my best legit option was to the Pepper space near Trader, taking a Tent card to my hand. I should have gotten only 2 Date and 2 Pepper but not 2 Salt. Either way I could have afforded to pay the Targia to my 2nd row, completing the objective with 2 rows of 4 different tribes each.

I got 19 points so far just from cards.

ROUND 11. Robber occupied the TRIBAL EXPANSION space.

This was the only time I went first but to TRADER as I needed the money. Andy went to Date space, blocking the Caravan across it.

I went to the Salt space near the Trader to get a Gold from the intersection. Andy occupied the 2nd Date space, removing a card with 1 of any from the middle.

My last one was to PEPPER space near Silversmith with a bonus of Date from intersection. Andy finally got to visit Caravan but that means they only got 1 intersection.

I was supposed to have 1 Salt, 2 Date and 3 Pepper left. From this round I got 1 Gold, 1 Date, 2 Peppers and 2 Salt. With the trader, 3 Peppers became a Gold. 2 Salt became a Date.

So I was supposed to only had 1 Salt, 4 Date and 2 Pepper left.

ROUND 12. Robber occupied SALT space.

Andy took the NOBLE space. I went to Trader again. Then Andy to Salt space near that trader. I went to Silversmith and got a Camel from intersection. Andy went to Pepper across the Tribal space.

I went back to CARAVAN with access to Oasis card.

The Caravan got me 2 Dates. I needed both tribe cards, the Camel and the Oasis. For that the total required resources were 2 Dates, 3 Peppers and 2 Salt plus 1 Gold.

I could have afforded the Oasis card with just 1 Date, 1 Pepper and 1 Gold but not the other. Installed that one to the 3rd row. 1 Salt, 5 Date, 1 Pepper left. 4 Dates became 3 VP. 1 Date, 1 Salt, 1 Pepper and 1 Gold left.

4th RAID: GOLD OR 3 VP. I gave the 3 VP since I needed the Gold for the objective.

FINAL SCORING.

I got 21 VP from tribe cards plus 4 from 2 rows of all different tribes. The tent card got me 1 VP. 4 VP tokens with total only 30 VP.

So, I failed the scoring objective and the number of tribe cards.

Playing time was about 86 minutes.

Learn more about the game from Targi Review.

Friday

Watch the Slideshow of this Friday game session here.

Help Robinson again to survive on the island as his servant and friend in a solo game, Friday.

I actually got 2 sessions, both with Level 2 difficulty against Pirate 16 and 22. Lost the first one very early during Yellow phase. Well, the 2nd one was also just cheating. Anyway, here is how the 2nd one went.

GREEN PHASE.

1st Draw. Robinson wanted to go back to the raft so bad. Instead of learning Mimicry, he looked for Food. He was scared but that was enough for him to get the food.

2nd Draw. Back to the Raft or Fight the Wild Animals?

Distracted. Felt weak. Distracted again. Focus! He pushed himself once but he felt weak still. So he didn’t win against the animal but he got rid of those weaknesses and distractions.

3rd Draw. Back to the Raft or Further exploring the Island?

After that recent loss Robinson felt confident enough. He succeeded, even with 1st attempt, gaining experience. GENIUS!

4th Draw. Exploring the Island or Cannibals?

“Well, I thought that was your father, Friday? Of course we have to try to save him from Cannibals!”

Robinson was FOCUS. Then weak and distracted. Weak and distracted again. He pushed himself twice, he still felt weak.

Robinson lost but he learned how to overcome those weaknesses and distractions again.

5th Draw. Exploring the Island or Further exploring the Island?

Further of course. More like running further. Robinson was still distracted, weak and weak. He didn’t even try to push further but got rid of those 3.

6th Draw. Exploring the Island or Further exploring the Island?

“Same options, Robinson. Want to retry?” “Yes…”

Robinson started with FOCUS! Then he ate. Probably too much. Now he felt STUPID. Robinson pushed himself… to eat again. 2nd push and he felt like a GENIUS as he got REALIZATION.

*** It seems I got it wrong. I still needed one more power to beat the challenge but I played as if I succeeded.

7th Draw. Back to the Raft or Wild Animals?

Apparently his recent realization was about him getting old so he chose the safer route. Robinson felt SCARED but that was enough for him to find equipment.

8th Draw. Stay in Wreck or Back to further exploring the island?

“I got this! Let’s go back to exploring.” Well, he got EXPERIENCE. Learned some STRATEGY.

9th Draw. Back to Wreck or stay exploring the island?

“Are you sure, you don’t want to take it easy?” “Don’t worry. I am… FOCUS!” Robinson found a Weapon.

10th Draw. Exploring the Island or Further exploring the island?

“I’m getting old, Friday. Let’s do the harder one while still can.”

Robinson ate his food first and he got REALIZATION. Didn’t even need that 3rd attempt. Well, he got more food.

11th Draw. Back to the Wreck or Keep exploring the island?

“Let’s do one more before going back to wreck.” Robinson got his equipment and ate. From that equipment he got his weapon. Didn’t even need the next one. More WEAPON.

12th Draw. Back to Wreck or Further Exploring the Island?

“On second thought, I’m exploring! I got my STRATEGY” Robinson gained some VISIONS.

13th Draw. Wild Animals or Cannibals?

“It feels like I’m already running out of good luck. Maybe I should take the easier one.”

Robinson was prepared to REPEAT. “Repeat what?” asked Friday. Then he felt HUNGRY and STUPID.

“No, no, no. I’m a GENIUS!” But those were not enough so Robinson pushed himself. “I GOT EXPERIENCE!” Then it was more than enough to beat that animal. Robinson got more VISIONS.

14th DRAW. Exploring the Island or Wild Animal again?

“I beat that Animal once and I’m going to beat it again!”

But he got old. The first thing he felt was SCARED. FOCUSED, FOCUSED, FOCUSED but not enough.

Robinson pushed himself and picked up his Weapon but he was too scared to use it.

“Maybe you should eat first.” said Friday. “Here is more food and your equipment”

Robinson felt STUPID after eating too much but he kept getting food. Finally he got VISIONS and he got what he needed to beat that animal.

After all of those eating, he focused on his Visions and ignore his HUNGRY.

YELLOW PHASE.

*** There were supposed to be 30 Hazard cards or 15 draws in Green phase. So maybe I forgot the other 2?

15th or 16th Draw. Wild Animal or Back to Wreck?

Well, Robinson was very confident after his Visions. “I’m GENIUS! I HAVE A VISION AND EXPERIENCE!” as he beat the animal, learning some strategy.

From his vision he knew that he was going to feel STUPID again so he tried to overcome it.

17th DRAW. Exploring the islands for REALIZATION or DECEPTION?

Robinson realized that he still had those aging things so he thought he needed ways to destroy them.

Well, he got his STRATEGY and REPEAT. Not sure what that meant but he said he got some REALIZATION.

18th Draw. Back to the Wreck for Strategy or Explore the island for Food?

“I’m hungry.” Robinson got his realization and his weapon. Found a food source.

19th Draw. Back to the Wreck for DECEPTION or Explore the island for Food?

“I’m still hungry.” Well, his aging got him again and he felt VERY TIRED and had to stop. Luckily, before that, he remembered his EXPERIENCE. Robinson was FOCUSED again and found more food source.

20th draw. Back to Wreck or Cannibals?

“Why did you even ask? We are going to save your father from those Cannibals!”

Robinson started FOCUSED with a WEAPON. But SCARED. His REALIZATION came, allowing him to destroy that aging card. He got his VISIONS.

Not enough but after pushing himself, he got his FOOD and STRATEGY. Still not enough so he pushed last one and got more FOOD.

Using his Visions, he knew how to overcome his STUPID. Robinson beat the Cannibal and got strongest weapon.

21st Draw. Back to the Wreck for REALIZATION or EQUIPMENT?

“I’m still worried about my aging things.” Well, he got his REALIZATION with… realization.

22nd Draw. Stay in the Wreck or Cannibal?

“Let’s fight!” Robinson ate first, got his Weapon, more Food. He was FOCUSED and took out his EQUIPMENT. From the equipment, he felt GENIUS and STUPID at the same time.

After pushing himself once, he got REALIZATION to destroy his STUPID. So, his effort paid off. But not enough for the cannibal so he pushed himself once again and he got to REPEAT, without even repeating, he beat the Cannibal.

23rd Draw. Back to the Wreck or Exploring the Island?

He chose to stay. “I got my VISIONS.” He said his aging was coming but he was not hungry anymore.

24th Draw. Further Exploring the Island or Wild Animals?

This was last time before the Red Phase so he took the Animal.

Robinson got his STRATEGY, VISIONS and 2 FOOD sources, enough to beat the Animal. That was easy.

RED PHASE.

25th Draw. Back to the Wreck?

Robinson used this chance to get rid of his STUPID but he had to push himself twice for it.

26th Draw. Back to the Wreck?

Another loss he took to get rid of his SCARED.

27th Draw. Back to the Wreck or Exploring the Island?

This time he chose to go back. With his EXPERIENCE he got FOCUSED.

28TH Draw. Stay in the Wreck or Further Exploring the Island?

He was HUNGRY but soon his realization got rid of that. Robinson felt like a GENIUS but not enough for this challenge. After 2 pushes he got FOOD and MORE REALIZATION to finally beat this one.

That was like his last Life point.

There was one last Hazard card but Robinson decided to take on the Pirates.

1st PIRATE: 9 Attempts for 22 points

Only half of his efforts counted and had to include Aging. After the first 9, the total points were only 12 that worked. With equipment and food for 3 more, it went up to 16, not enough.

With Strategy, he exchanged those equipment for foods. Went up to 18 so still not enough. He pushed himself once and got another STRATEGY. It went up again but only to 19. Last push and he got REPEAT, doubling the strongest weapon. That was more than enough to beat this Pirate.

2nd PIRATE: 7 attempts for 16 points.

Any additional card required 2 LP.

After those first 7 attempts the total was 9. 3 bonus cards from Equipment and Experience. The fighting point went up to 13. One of them was Food source and he got VISION, exactly 16 to beat that 2nd Pirate.

SCORING

46 from Fighting Cards, -5 from Aging, +30 from 2 defeated Pirates, -21 from undefeated Hazards, no life points left. Robinson survived (Cheating, sadly).

Playing time was about 39 minutes.

Yin Yang

Watch the slideshow of this Yin Yang Solo session here.

As Taoist Priest, travel through 7 Kingdoms during Ancient China to build temple in each, by following the signs from the Gods in Yin Yang.

This was a solo session. To complete the 4 lines I had to gather 2 Blue goods, 3 yellow, 2 Red, 3 Green. 1st Temple had to be built in the West or Southwest Kingdom so I started there with a temple and immediately flipped the tile.

ROUND 1.

1. White
2. Black
3. White
4. Black
5. White
6. White

For this round, I removed the nearest disaster token which was in the Middle South kingdom.

This round God’s Will prevented me from taking a Goods action tile and the immediate action to swap the position of 2 scoring tiles.

My divination gave me 4 White and 2 black. There was a Red goods in where I started but to take immediate Goods action I needed 3 Black so I had to skip it.

The next kingdom to build the temple was the Southeast Kingdom which was just one space from my starting position. I could have moved there by boat or road. The road path could have led me to a city with a yellow goods while the other city via boat didn’t have anything. So, I chose that one by spending Black, Black and White from the bottom up for the lower divination, triggering the immediate Carriage action to that city.

That means I had 3 White coins left which I spent to get a Boat action tile since the southern part required a lot of boat actions to move.

So, I built 2nd temple first with Black first and then White. The 3rd one was also just 1 space from the current position which was in the Middle south kingdom.

Next I used 1 White and Black to take that Yellow goods. The goods was placed in the 1st row of my development area, the row for one of the required line.

I knew the 3rd Kingdom and the 4th one was actually just the Middle North kingdom. With the 5th one was the Northeast. So, with the remaining actions, I tried to move towards that direction.

I still had 2 White so it was for Carriage. Moving north 1 space entering the Middle South Kingdom and then with the Boat tile, moved to the next city still in that Kingdom. Had to skip the Yellow goods unfortunately.

So, that was the end of this round.

ROUND 2.

1. White
2. Black
3. Black
4. White
5. White
6. Black

This time the God’s will prevented me from buying more Boat tiles. For the lower divination, I couldn’t move up the turn order track which didn’t matter in this solo mode.

My divination got me the same as previous round, 4 White and 2 Black so the White was at 8 and Black was at 4. I immediately spent those 8 to take the 2 Goods as a Gift from God. They were a Blue and a Red which I placed both in the 1st row for that same Blue line. But each of them also started the goods of one other line.

For the immediate action, I wanted to build the Temple right away so I spent 3 Whites in the Lower Divination. So, I got 2 Black and 1 White to get more action tiles. My options were either Carriage or Temple action. I thought I didn’t need Temple action much so I picked the Carriage tile.

So, I built that 3rd Temple in the Middle South Kingdom. Middle North was the 4th one. It was just 1 space away from my current position and via Road.

My plan was to use the Carriage action first, moving up, entering the Middle North Kingdom. After that Build a Temple using 1 Black first and then a White. Since the 5th one was the Northeast Kingdom, I had to move towards there.

The shortest path was 3 spaces but all via roads which was not possible with the leftover coins. I still had my Boat action and probably had to rely more in subsequent rounds. So, instead of taking the shortest path from Middle North to Northwest and then Northeast, I chose north first still in the Middle North and via Boat 2 spaces in the East before entering the Northeast.

3 White and 1 Black from my coins left. 2 White for carriage action moving up 1 space in the Middle North Kingdom. This got me to a city with Green goods. Then with 1 White and 1 Black I activated the Goods action to take that green which I used to complete the 1st row and required line. 2 Green, 1 Red, 2 Yellow and 2 Blue left.

Using my last action with the Boat tile, I moved from the city in Middle North kingdom to the East Kingdom.

That was the end of 2nd round.

ROUND 3.

1. Black
2. Black
3. White
4. White
5. White
6. Black

This time the God’s Will prevented me from doing immediate carriage action. They also blocked that same Boat action tile.

On the other hand, my divination coin got me 3 White and 3 Black which made it 3 White and 7 Black.

Well, I was still with the plan to enter that Northeast kingdom and the shortest path was either 2 via roads or 2 via boats. Since immediate carriage was blocked so I had to pick Boat action using White, white and black from bottom up for the lower divination.

That left me with 2 Black and 1 White left. Same situation as before, either Temple action or Carriage action. I went with the latter.

I moved via boat in that East Kingdom one space to another city within with a Blue goods. Then, I played White and Black first to take that Goods. Followed by my Boat action tile, entering the Northeast Kingdom. 1 Black and 1 White to build the 5th Temple.

The 6th one was the Northwest, 2 spaces from my current position. It required the Road first and then either road or boat. Well, I still had 2 Carriage tiles so it was determined.

Moved once to the west still in that Kingdom and landed in a city with Yellow goods. I picked it using my last 2 coins, 1 White first and then Black. Last action was using the Carriage token to the west, entering the Northwest Kingdom. I landed to a city with Green Goods.

*** So, I actually got it wrong this time. I took 2 goods using the same combination of coins twice. That means I should have gotten only one Yellow or one Green not both. Oh, well…

That was the end of the round. I got 2 goods. I still needed 1 Red, 2 Green and 1 Yellow in order to complete the other 3 lines.

ROUND 4.

1. Black
2. Black
3. Black
4. White
5. Black
6. Black

This time I couldn’t take Temple action tile and the immediate Goods action.

From my divination coins, I got 2 White and 4 Blacks.

*** So, this was where I got the rule wrong again. My Black track was already at 7 and that 4 would have gotten me to 8 and lost the excess. Instead I played as if I could have spent the 8 to take the Gifts and kept going with the rest.

With the right rule I had 5 White and 0 Black instead of 3 Black.

Either way, I got the Black gifts set which was a Red and a Yellow. Oh, I just realized I forgot to count one more red to complete a line. So, after the Gift and correctly play, I still needed 1 Red, 2 Green for 2 more lines.

With my only 2 White coins, the only worthy immediate action was Boat action. Nothing was there really and after this next temple I should have been moving towards the East Kingdom back. So, it kind of a waste.

That left me with all 3 Black coins which I used to get more Goods action tile.

I still needed to build 2 temples which required 1 white each from the coins. So that left me with the other actions being additional boat. 2 carriage, 1 goods, 2 Boat and 2 temple actions.

I actually tried to alter the game during this writing, trying to save my play but it doesn’t seem to work so I just continued telling what actually happened.

First I used 1 Carriage token to the east still within Northwest kingdom near the border of east and middle north. Then I built the 6th temple using 1 Black and 1 White. I tried to save the goods tile for taking green but there was none within reach so I used it here to pick a Blue which was not important for this solo session.

From that, using the 2nd carriage tile, entering the East kingdom back. Then I built 7th and last temple using 1 Black and 1 White again. From this point I only had 2 Boat actions, 1 from tile and the other from coins.

In the game I used them both to reach the Capital City where there was a RED goods, the final one I needed.

That was the end of the round. 7 temples built. Still needed 2 Green and 1 Red.

ROUND 5.

1. White
2. White
3. White
4. White
5. Black
6. White

Both of these sets blocked me from using and taking Temple actions. It didn’t matter for me at this point.

My divination got me 2 White and 4 Black again so I had 7 White and supposedly only 4 Black.

First, with 3 Black I activated immediate Goods action to take the Red in the Capital City. Only 2 green left needed. I thought I could get one from the Gift by forfeiting an action to reach 8th space of white track.

The other green was 2 spaces away from the Capital city in the Southeast Kingdom that could be reached via boat twice. So I could do it actually. I altered the game from this point.

I bought the 2nd Boat tile with my other 3 coins.

Then played the 2 Boat tiles first. I actually did the same this time as during the game to where the last green goods was and then used that Goods tile to take the green.

That means I still hadn’t used my 2 carriage and all of the coins. So I could have moved to the East Kingdom where the other Green was using 2 carriage tiles and then with 1 White and 1 Black used the goods action.

At that point I have completed all of the objective with 2 actions left 3 blacks and 1 White. Like during the game, I forfeited one action to get the white track to 8 and got 1 Blue and 1 green goods. These completed 1st and 4th row of the development area.

The last action didn’t really matter so that was the end of the game. Even after playing it wrong I still could fix it, luckily.

Playing time was about 44 minutes.

A Gentle Rain

Watch the Slideshow of this A Gentle Rain sessions here.

Relax and take a deep breath, patiently wait until you find all 8 colorful lilies under A Gentle Rain.

I got 2 sessions. The first one was slightly better result just by 1 point so it was the one I am going to write about.

First one started with a blue, yellow, white and orange. But the next one tile had 1 matching half which was the white. Now there were 6 possible colors.

3rd one had a black, green, yellow and blue, which all of them were available. The yellow extended the tile while the other 3 created the L-shape. I chose to extend it.

4th one had a red, green, orange and blue. From this 3 x 1 existing shape, I added this in the middle, creating a T-shape with the blue connected. This way I had 6 open options plus 2 possible L-shape.

5th one had yellow, purple, white and green. This was the first purple so far. No way to connect the white and the yellow but there were 2 possible placements for green. Both options were probably not great for purple but I chose to extend the middle end. Maybe the other option was better but I went with it.

6th one had red, white, green and purple. I could have added by connecting either white or purple to the previous one but both would have created the U-shape which was almost impossible to place. That means my 2 options left were to extend the first line, either with green on one side or the red. I chose the red one, not really sure why.

7th one had white, red, black and purple. There were a couple of options. The red and then black was perfect for one of the L-shape but the white was facing on the same tile to an existing white.

There were one purple and one white open but taking them would have created a U-shape so not great. Then, I could have also connected either the Black or the Purple on the other side of existing T-shape. Unfortunately taking either means cancelling the other.

So, I went with the first option, completing the first 2 x 2, even if cutting the possibility of placing in that direction. For the colors I could have picked either red, blue, yellow or black. I chose the Red one since it was facing the impossible L-shape with 2 White.

7 lilies left.

8th one had a white, blue, purple and orange. Two possible free placements for purple and one for Orange. Either purple option would have only created 1 L-shape but the orange had 2. The thing is making more L means limiting the free options.

So, I chose the purple that took out one free green option while keeping the other green. Had I picked the other purple, I would have lost the free black option.

9th one had orange, purple, yellow and red. No possible placement for red. One for yellow but that would have extended too far on one end. So, either orange or purple from the same options as before. The orange would have created 2 L and the purple for one. Either option would have me lost the black free option. Maybe I should have gone with purple but I chose the Orange, creating 2 Ls.

10th one had red, yellow, white and blue. Well, this was just perfect match. The blue and red from this fit to one of the L-shape created by the last tile. There were other options that all of them were basically just extending outwards with white or blue.

Not sure if this was the best option but I went with completing the 2nd 2 x 2. For flowers, red was already bloomed, so either blue, yellow or orange. Blue and orange both were just 1 tile away from being revealed while the yellow had 2 free options. I went with Blue.

6 lilies left.

11th had orange, yellow, purple and black. This one was also lucky, completing the other L of 2 tiles ago with the purple and then black. Not sure if this was great as it created 3rd open yellow and an L between orange and purple.

There were more options, extending out but I went with completing the 2 x 2. This time I got to choose between orange, black, purple or white. Well, I picked the orange. The color that has come out the most was actually white with 6 half flowers while the other 3 only had 5. So, maybe not the best choice.

5 lilies left.

12th had Blue, Purple, Orange and black in that clockwise order. Unfortunately there was only one possible placement which was a single Blue at the top left corner, next to a dead end of 2 whites. I thought I had to let this one go but I placed it anyway. At least, I created open option for purple and orange but not the black.

13th one had green, blue, yellow and orange. So, there was an L-shape that was perfect with the orange and green from this tile. The thing is this created another L with blue and white, which was fine but also an open yellow, a 4th one. But I went with it.

The colors to choose were either purple, black, green or orange. Orange had already been placed. Green and Black were just 1 tile away on other 2 Ls while the Purple was next to a dead end U shape so I picked the purple.

4 lilies left.

14th one had black, green, orange and blue. Similar to last time but this time L shape with green and then the orange at around top right. This created 2 other Ls without a dead end.

I got to pick between white, blue, orange or green. Blue and orange had already been placed. The white was in the inner side so I picked that one.

3 lilies left.

15th had white, purple, blue and green. There were actually 2 possible placements and both were next to each other. One using the white, creating 2 Ls while the purple next to it only created 1.

Since I had to focus on the green as the leftover color, I picked the white so the green was part of the Ls while choosing a purple and the green was an open placement.

16th tile was red, blue, yellow and black. No possible place to complete another 2 x 2. So I had to start connecting the yellow on the side with 3 yellows side by side. I placed this at the center one, creating 2 Ls.

17th had purple, red, yellow and white. No possible completion. There were 2 open options either with yellow at the top end or the red at bottom. Somehow I picked the yellow at the top. I thought maybe more reds were still coming.

18th one had red, purple, yellow and orange. There was one L with that exact purple and then yellow so I placed it there adding red and orange as open placement.

From the 4 colors only yellow that I had not placed yet so it went there.

2 lilies left.

19th one had green, blue, white and orange. Near the last flower, there was another L that could have fit this one with that Blue and then white. The inner part had green so I picked that flower.

1 lily left, the Black one.

20th one had orange, purple, white and red. This fit the L at the bottom right next to a completed Black so the last lily could have gone there.

That was the end of the game. I found all 8 different lilies in this lake under a Gentle Rain.

Playing time was about 29 minutes for 2 sessions.

Learn more about the game from A Gentle Rain Review.

Old Town Road

Watch the Slideshow of this Old Town Road session here.

Walkthrough the infamous road and witness how the outlaws turn against each other until you reach the Old Town in a game of Old Town Road.

The journey started with a 6, 2, 6, 6, 2 and a 5. Based on this I thought the 3 of a kind was a good chance. The 3rd 6 from the left was a Heart, killed the 2nd 6 which was a Club. Heart 6 became outlaw. A 4 entered the scene.

That 6 of heart was within range and perfect target of 6 of Spades so he killed that outlaw and turned himself into one. 3 of Diamond then entered the scene from the right.

This 3rd last 6 was then killed by the 2 of Clubs next to him, completing the 3 of a kind.

Now the scene had a 5, 4, 2, 2, 5 and 3. Based on these, there was a chance for Straight Flush or 2 pairs. 2 of them involved a 2 so I thought the next set should start with that.

First, 4 of Diamonds killed the 2 of Clubs, the last outlaw. A bank showed up. Then, that same 4 of Diamonds killed the 5 of clubs. 2 of Spades entered the scene. No more clubs so not a chance for Flush.

The bank was out of sight. Another 2 showed up with a Heart. This one killed that 2 of Spades, completing the 2nd set with Pairs of 2 plus a 5.

The scene now had a 4, 2, 4, 2, 5, 3. That 2 of hearts could have easily killed the 3 diamonds, creating a Straight Flush.

Started from the one next to him, the 4 of Diamonds. Ace of Club entered the scene. 2 of hearts moved next to the 2 of diamonds and killed him as well. Unfortunately, nobody could have killed that 3 of diamonds on the right end.

5 of spades which was between the 2 of hearts and 3 of diamonds left the scene. Now the 2 was 1 space from the 3 and killed that diamonds, completing the 3rd set with STRAIGHT FLUSH.

The scene now had 3, 4, 3, A, 4, 2. Based on these, the next set should have been either pairs or straight. The straight could have been A, 2 and 3 or 2, 3 and 4. If I got lucky maybe 5 would come out.

I started with a 4. The 3 of heart at the left end killed the 4 of Spade next to him. A 3 of Club entered. That recent Outlaw continued killing with the 3 of spade next to him. Ace of diamond entered.

The Sherrif, 4 of clubs left the scene. Unfortunately, still not possible to kill the 2 so that same 3 of heart killed the 3 of club, completing the set with another Pair of 3.

A, 5, A, 3, A, 2 were on the scene. There were 4 hearts so this was a good chance for the Flush. Even straight flush was possible. Started from Ace of Clubs, 1st from the right killed that 2 of heart on the right end.

A Diamond bank was on sight. Ace of Diamond to the left of 3 of Heart killed that 3. That same Ace also killed the 5 of heart next to her, completing the set with Flush.

A 4, 7, A, A, A, 6. Still missing the straight set. The possible set was probably involving a 7, 6 and 5 or 6, 5 and 4. So, the Aces were useless for that and this was a good chance for another 3 of a kind.

Started with the Ace of Diamonds, 3rd from the left killed the Ace of heart to her left. 5 of Diamonds entered the scene.

6 of Diamonds, at the right end, killed the Ace of Clubs, next to him. Another Bank was on sight. That same 6 then killed the Ace of Diamonds next to him, completing the set with 3 of Aces.

Unfortunately that was all of possibles set I could have made. The Sherrif entered last and was separated by 2 Banks nobody was willing to rob.

SCORING

3 of a kind set: 10 points
Pair of 2 set: 2 points
Straight Flush set: 11 points
Pair of 3 set: 2 points
Flush set: 6 points
3 of Aces set: 10 points
All sets bonus: 0 point

TOTAL SCORE: 35 points.

Playing time was about 28 minutes.

Hunted: North Pole

Watch the Slideshow of this Hunted: North Pole game session here.

Work your way through the North Pole to rescue Santa from Jack Frost while avoiding the minions in Hunted: North Pole.

I got 2 solo sessions playing as Becky. The first one was a loss and very bad. I tried to hide a lot hoping to find an Elf friend before start fighting the minions.

After spending half of the time, I was still on the 1st Map card. I actually found TERRY as companion. Then I started fighting and of course, spending time to use my weapon along with Terry. The other half of the time just went by and I was still on the 2nd Map card.

Then I immediately played again and it was significantly better with much better luck. Also, I tried rolling one die at a time during an attack with multiple ammos. Of course this is cheating but made the game more enjoyable.

Anyway, here is how it went.

First Hunt card was a Gummy Bear, a minion. Becky also found cookies but to get that one it might have caused some noises. So, Becky hid, losing 1 time.

Becky kept going and saw a Gingerbread minion. She thought it was safe so she kept moving. Unfortunately, she was ambushed by an evil Reindeer, a Paindeer that she had to fight.

3 first shots of her Slingshot and dealt only 7 from 8 to take the Paindeer down. She used one of her abilities to reroll and got a 2 from the last D4 to a total of 8. Becky defeated the Paindeer but lost 1 time.

Becky continued and found an actual Reindeer this time. The reindeer made a bit of noise. She looked around and found a Bomb and a path. Becky kept looking around and finally saw another Gingerbread minion.

She decided to hop on the Reindeer and take the path. An event happened. She got off from the Reindeer but she found another Paindeer. Somehow she decided to jump on its back to ride it. While the Paindeer was running towards the way she wanted to go but the Paindeer was angry.

Becky managed to hold on for a bit before finally the Paindeer threw her off and left her in the path. She was getting closer to Santa.

Becky continued and found another Gingerbread. Before she made too much noise, she decided to hide and wait until it left. 17 rounds left.

Another Reindeer, a telescope and another Gummy Bear were in sight. Becky also found an Elf friend, Clarence but he was making too much noises and the Gummy Bear heard it. She had her ability to distract the bear away.

Becky found an Ammo for her Slingshot. Having Clarence and that Slingshot could have attracted the minions. So, Becky asked the Reindeer help to get that Ammo for her. The Reindeer itself was gone afterwards.

Becky tried to get close to Clarence but she noticed the Snowman minion, probably the strongest one. She was scared so she hid. Clarence run away from the scene, along with the Telescope. The Snowman finally went away but Becky lost 1 time. 16 left.

Becky continued and found a path, 2 even. These were dangerous with very high chance of attracting any minions but Becky kept pushing her luck. She found a Reindeer. It was lucky.

Becky found a Carrot from one of the path. The Reindeer was happy to get it and was willing to work harder for it. Becky hopped on and Reindeer run through the path 2 spaces closer to where Santa was.

An Event happened. Both Becky and the Reindeer fell to a pit of quick fudge. She had to act fast to get out of there. She succeeded but after getting off the Reindeer, the Reindeer run away. leaving her alone.

Becky continued her journey and found another path. No resources to be found and it caused some noises to walk on it. She also found another BOMB. She couldn’t take that Bomb but she found a secret path to help her proceeded in safer path. Taking that secret path was actually way shorter and saved her a time while getting closer to Santa.

10 spaces away and 16 rounds left.

Becky saw another PAINDEER, next to the path she was going. A bit more noise and the Paindeer would have discovered her. She found a Magic Snowglobe and threw it to the opposite direction to distract the Paindeer. Then, she continued her path.

Becky found a bridge. While crossing it, a Giant crocodile came out of the water, blocking her path. She had to disctract it and luckily the Crocodile was easy to distract.

9 spaces left and 16 rounds.

Back to the path but apparently the previous Paindeer came back almost caught her. While trying to sneak away she was found by a Gingerbread. Becky run away from the Gingerbread but the Paindeer caught up to her so she had to fight.

3 Slingshots and Becky took down that Paindeer. But she lost time once.

Back to the path again. She found another reindeer. This one was very calm. Even the Snowman next to it didn’t realize its presence. Becky managed to get close to the reindeer. She realized there were actually 2 of them. The 2 reindeers led her to the path closer to Santa.

An Event happened. Jack Frost, who kidnapped Santa apparently could talk to Becky telepathically. He knew what Becky was trying to do and tried to scare her to change her mind.

Luckily, Becky was able to fend off his mental attack. If anything that inspired her to prepare herself more by reactivating her abilities.

While going back to the path leading to where Santa was, Becky saw the previous Snowman. She decided to hide and wait, even if losing her time. 8 spaces left in 14 rounds.

Becky continued and met WYNONNA, another Elf. She convinced Wynonna to join and work together to rescue Santa. Wynonna also had her own Slingshot.

The 2 continued their journey. It was very peaceful part. They even found a couple of items. Something happened then.

A giant tree had fallen in front of them, blocking their path. They tried to climb it. Actually, it was a blessing as the tree became a shortcut to the direction they were going.

When they climbed down the tree, they saw another Paindeer. They tried to sneak away but were ambushed by another Gingerbread. Similar to before, they managed to run from the Gingerbread but the Paindeer caught up to them so they had to fight.

Wynonna dealt 1st damage to the Paindeer while giving Becky time to shoot her 3 shots. Those were enough to beat the Paindeer but they lost a time. 6 spaces left and 13 rounds left.

The 2 continued and found a Toy Soldier, a different minion. They also found Terry, another Elf. While trying to get close to him, it seemed they made too much noise and attracted the Toy Soldier. Terry run away scared but the 2 had to fight the toy.

1 shot from Wynonna and 2 from Becky’s slingshot were more than enough to take the toy down. But again, they lost time for it. 6 spaces left and 12 rounds.

Back to the path. While they couldn’t find Terry anywhere but they found another Elf, Suzie. She was hiding from a Gummy Bear. While checking out the situation, a Reindeer came close to the 2 while bringing along a Christmas Spirit drink. They took it and the Reindeer went away.

They kept waiting for a good time to help Suzie. Unfortunately, a Gingerbread noticed their presence. While they managed to avoid the Gingerbread but the Gummy Bear found them.

Another fight. Wynonna took a shot and only dealt 1 damage. Becky shot 2 and dealt 8, and the Bear was down. They realized that Suzie was gone so they decided to continue without her. Still 6 spaces left in 11 rounds.

Back to the path and they saw another Gummy Bear. Luckily, it was too far for the minion. The 2 walked through that path and something happened.

They saw something shiny sticking out of the snow. With all of their strength they tried to pull it out and they succeeded. It was a Candy Sword, probably one of the strongest weapon. Becky kept it in her inventory. 5 spaces left in 11 rounds.

Continuing the path. That Gummy Bear was still around. They found another weapon, a Bat. But that caused some noises and the Bear started to notice. They stepped on a bottle of Maple Syrup and that caused another noise, enough for the Bear to attack them both.

One shot from each and those were enough to beat the bear. 5 spaces left in 10 rounds.

Even though they managed to win the fight, they made enough noise and a Toy Soldier was coming to their direction. The 2 tried to stay quiet and just kept moving away from the toy. Unfortunately, they were found by a different Toy Soldier.

They managed to beat the Toy. Becky already run out of ammo but she had a spare. However, Wynonna was already exhausted after all of those fights. They had no choice but to keep going. 5 spaces left in 9 rounds.

The 2 walked on the path and saw 2 Reindeers. Apparently, the 2nd one was a Paindeer. They hid, spent their time to wait until those 2 were gone.

Back to the path. Not exactly a quiet one so they were worried to make some noise. They pushed their luck and luckily found a way. But that way was guarded by a Snowman. The Snowman didn’t noticed their presence.

Becky and Wynonna managed to sneak up. They realized that this Snowman was not trying to chase anything but to trap any Elves randomly came close to it. They decided to teach the Snowman a lesson by throwing a rock from behind. It hit the Snowman. They took the Carrot from the Snowman’s nose and kept going.

4 spaces left in 8 rounds.

Becky and Wynonna were back on the path where they found a Reindeer and a Gingerbread. Also there was a Magic Snowglobe but too close to the Gingerbread. Wynonna, who was already exhausted from all of those fights, decided to distract the Gingerbread so Becky could have taken the Magic Snowglobe. Wynonna thought she couldn’t help Becky much further and this was a strong item.

Becky then spent the Carrot and fed it to the Reindeer. She hopped on and the Reindeer brought her along closer to where Santa was, 2 spaces closer.

Suddenly, the Reindeer stopped. Becky noticed that the path in front of them was frozen. The Reindeer didn’t seem to like walking on it and refused to take Becky through. Becky hopped off and the Reindeer went away. Even without taking any ice skating skill, Becky was good with her dexterity so she managed to pass through.

2 spaces left in 8 rounds.

Becky got back to the path. It was already close to where Santa was. A Another Gingerbread was on patrol.  She hid, losing time.

When she thought the path was clear, she spotted the Gingerbread again. But this time she managed to just move along. However, Beck fell into a Sinkhole of Snow. She had to use her Strength, her weakest trait to get out. She made it though.

1 space left in 7 rounds.

No minions around. It was weird. She walked the path and finally got to the house where Jack Frost hid Santa. Becky, with enough weapon and full health, stormed in to the house where she found the 2. The fight began.

With her strongest weapon, the Candy Sword, she hit Jack Frost, 2 swings and dealt 8 damage. Not strong enough to beat Jack Frost. Jack Frost countered and hit Becky.

The Sword could withstand 3 more attacks but only 2 swings at once. Becky attacked again. 5 damage and the last one 7. That Sword started showing some cracks but that was enough to take down Jack Frost.

Becky successfully rescued Santa.

Playing time was about 40 minutes for each session.

Aleph Null

Watch the Slideshow of this Aleph Null game session here.

Run a perfect ritual to summon Baphomet or meet your doom in Aleph Null.

Still with randomly chosen 3 Interference cards from Level 1 and 2. I still got 2 Level 1 and 1 Level 2. Here is how it went.

HOUR 1, 1ST DRAW: Chasuble, Sacrificial Lamb, Deck of Cards, Bell and the Weeping Tree.

No magical power yet so I discarded everything.

HOUR 1, 2ND DRAW: Wand of Power, Grand Circle, Exorcised Water, Akhtoi, Baphomet.

Still no Magical Power for Akhtoi so all of those went to discard pile.

HOUR 1, 3RD DRAW: Wax Candle, Circle of Protection, Mother Shipton, Wax Candle, Vitriol

Summoned the 3 cards for free, discarded the rest.

HOUR 1, 4TH DRAW: Salamander, Golem, The Devil in the Hearth, Wax Candle, Book of Pacts.

First, summoned the Candle. Scrapped everything and got 4 Magical Power which was enough to summon the Devil. Discarded the other 3.

HOUR 1, 5TH DRAW: Besom, Wax Candle, Salamander, Learned Tarnist, Boline

Summoned the 3 cards for free. Scrapped the Devil for 3 MP to summon Salamander and Besom.

HOUR 2, 6TH DRAW: Mirror, Wealthy Tarnist, Lodestone, Bell, Chasuble

Only summoned the Tarnist and the rest went to discard pile.

HOUR 2, 7TH DRAW: Wand of Power, Deck of Cards, Circle of Protection, Exorcised Water, Salamander

Scrapped the Candle and Boline for 2 MP to summon the 2nd Salamander. Discarded the rest.

HOUR 2, 8TH DRAW: Wax Candle, Mother Shipton, Golem, The Devil in the Hearth, Vitriol

Summoned the 2 free cards. Scrapped both Salamander for 4 MP to summon the Devil in the Hearth back. The last 2 went to discard pile.

HOUR 2, 9TH DRAW: Book of Pacts, Wax Candle, Wax Candle, Akhtoi, Baphomet

One Candle was summoned and immediately scrapped for Akhtoi. Summoned the other Candle, discarded the other 2.

HOUR 3, 10TH DRAW: The Weeping Tree, Grand Circle, Sacrificial Lamb, Lodestone, Wax Candle

Summoned the Candle so there were 3 in play. Scrapped them all for 3 MP to summon Sacrificial Lamb. Then Scrapped both the Lamb and the Devil for 6 MP to summon Lodestone and the Weeping Tree. Discarded the Grand Circle.

HOUR 3, 11TH DRAW: Bell, Mirror, Boline, Wand of Power, Chasuble

Summoned the Boline for free. Scrapped the 3 Tanists for 3 MP which was enough to summon the Bell and Mirror. Discarded the other 2.

HOUR 3, 12TH DRAW: Deck of Cards, Circle of Protection, Exorcised Water, Golem, Salamander

Sacrificed Akhtoi and scrapped the Boline for 1 MP to summon Golem. Only 1 MP easy from the token. Discarded the rest.

HOUR 3, 13TH DRAW: Salamander, Book of Pacts, Baphomet, Vitriol, Wax Candle

1 card left which was the first interference before the next hour.

Summoned the Candle and scrapped it for 1 MP. Plus another MP from the token, summoned the Salamander. Discarded the other 3.

HOUR 4, 14TH DRAW: The Opposition of the Brotherhood, Chasuble, Boline, Ill Omen, Wand of Power

So I had to summon the Opposition first and as result I had to scrap my Salamander. Then I summoned the Ill Omen and sacrificed it without any available Magical Power along.

Summoned the Boline and discarded the other 2.

HOUR 4, 15TH DRAW: Circle of Protection, Book of Pacts, Deck of Cards, Exorcised Water, Wax Candle

First, scrapped the Boline for 1 MP. Plus 1 from the token to summon the Circle of Protection. Then I sacrificed that Circle of Protection to sacrifice the other Interference.

**** I think I was supposed to get 1 MP?

Summoned the Candle but discarded the rest. I guess I was supposed to take damage from that MP after sacrificing the Interference or I could have summoned a deck of cards to spend it. But the Golem protected me but I forfeited the MP.

HOUR 4, 16TH DRAW: Grand Circle, Learned Tanist, Baphomet, Salamander, Wax Candle

Summoned the Tanist and Candle. Sacrificed the 2 Candles for 2 MP to summon the Salamander. Discarded the other 2.

HOUR 4, 17TH DRAW: Vitriol, Wax Candle, Wax Candle, Wealthy Tanist, The Devil in the Hearth

Summoned the 2 Candle and Tanist. Scrapped 1 Candle to summon Vitriol. So, I had 1 Candle left in play. Scrapped / sacrificed it to take back the Vitriol to my hand and drew 2 cards, Sacrificial Lamb and the Mother Shipton. No more cards in the deck.

I scrapped the Salamander for 2 MP. Spent 1 for Besom to take Chasuble back from the Discard pile to the top of the Deck. Then with other MP, sacrificed the Bell to summon the Chasuble for free.

I scrapped the 3 Tanists for 3 MP which I spent to summon the Sacrificial Lamb.

*****
This is the part I am not sure whether it was correct.

I scrapped the Lamb for 3 MP. Then I sacrificed the Weeping Tree. I chose to gain 1 more MP so I had enough to summon the Devil in the Hearth. The 2nd action from the tree that I chose was to sacrifice a card in my hand which I only had Vitriol.

The vitriol already was supposed to go to discard pile anyway so I assumed the Weeping tree still worked.

No more cards in hand.

HOUR 5, 18TH DRAW: Salamander, Salamander, Baphomet, Deck of Cards, Boline.

Summoned the Boline. Sacrificed the Devil in the Hearth for 4 MP to summon the 2 Salamander. Discarded Baphomet.

HOUR 5, 19TH DRAW: Mother Shipton, Wealthy Tanist, Assassin, Exorcised Water, Sacrificial Lamb

Sacrificed the Chasuble along with the Interference. Summoned the 2 Tanists. Sacrificed Salamander and Boline for 5 MP to summon Exorcised Water and Lamb.

HOUR 6, 20TH DRAW: Baphomet, Grand Circle, Learned Tanist, Book of Pacts and Wand of Power.

Summoned the last Tanist. Sacrificed the 3 Tanists to summon Wand of Power.

Scrapped the Lamb for 3 MP to summon the Book of Pacts, the 2nd Key. Sacrificed the Exorcised Water to sacrifice that Lamb from discard pile.

Sacrificed Salamander along with the Mirror for 6 MP so I could sacrifice the Lodestone to Summon Grand Circle, the last key.

All 3 keys were in play along with Golem and Deck of Cards.

I summoned the Baphomet by sacrificing those 3 Keys. The 2 other cards in play were sacrificed.

Assuming I played it right, I got 1 point from being in Hour 6. -2 points for the 2 cards in play, +3 points from the Damage tokens in the supply.

So, 2 points so I became a Wizard?

Playing time was about 37 minutes.

Seastead

Watch the Slideshow of this Seastead game session here.

Dive into the Ocean to gain resources and wisely split them with your rival as you compete over control of Flotillas in Seastead.

This was a solo play using the official rule against the Boss. For the starting resources from first dive, I picked one blue and 1 gray, giving the boss 1 green and 1 red. The additional resource was also gray so I had 2.

I took a dive again and I had to pick one of any resource, giving the Boss 2 reds. The Boss built their first building. Of course, I picked gray again so I had 4 plus 1 Blue.

I took another dive but no more gray. Giving the Boss another green would have allowed him to build their 2nd building. So, I took 1 red and 1 green, giving them 1 red and 1 blue.

3rd dive and either green plus gray or green plus red. So, either way the Boss would have built their 2nd. Had I chosen the grey, they would have built their 3rd as well so I had to forfeit the gray and took the red instead. 3 Grays, 2 Green, 2 Red and 1 Blue.

So, this time I spent the 2 Red to build my first building. I probably should have been building Ports first or Academy instead of Shipyard. But I did Shipyard at the 2nd space of the Red Flotilla.

This removed the resources invested by the Boss and I placed my ship in the next space of that flotilla. As a bonus I got to trade 1 resource to any other resource twice. Traded a green and a blue for Gray. So now I had 5 grays plus a green.

I still needed 1 more gray. Dived again and I had to choose between 2 grays or 1 each of the other 3 colors. I didn’t need that many gray and I still could have used the 2nd green for something. Even if I let the Boss built their 3rd one in Gray Flotilla.

Next action for me was Build again. Still sticking with the idea to play Shipyard at the 2nd cheapest space of green Flotilla. Spent 2 and placed the shipyard there. While I set the ship at the Gray, 2nd space.

As bonus I got to pick 1 more resource that was different from the flotilla itself. So, I got my 5th Gray.

Back to diving and I had to give the Boss 2 Blues while I took the other 3 colors, one each. The Boss built their 4th.

I built at the most expensive space on Gray Flotilla, spending 6 of them. This time I built my first Port taking a green dock. As bonus I got to pick 3 resources that were not gray, so 3 reds.

I built again with those reds. Spent 2 of them to build at 3rd space of that Red flotilla. My ship was there so I got the discount. I built 2nd Port with Blue resources. The shipyard next to it got 1 extra VP.

As building bonus I got to trigger one location with my building and I picked that space with 3 resources bonus for more reds.

I had 6 so I could afford that most expensive space. This was my bad play. I built another Port where the opposite side was also a Port. Both ports didn’t interact with each other with their own scoring but I forgot that both competing for the other spaces. I could have built something else there.

As building bonus I got to pick all resources from the last revealed Dive card which was 2 Blue and one from each of the other 3 colors.

I got 3 Blues so I built my next one at 3rd space of Blue Flotilla. Built my 4th Port there. Gaining 2 VP tokens from clearing that row. As building bonus, I got to trigger the other location with 3 resources again which I picked 3 greens.

Now I had 5 greens, 1 Gray and 1 Red. Spent 1 gray to build at 2nd cheapest space of Gray flotilla. I had my ship there so the cost was only 1. This time I built an Academy and I chose PROPRIETOR. From the building bonus I got 1 resource and I chose green to make it to 6.

I cleared out the entire column but I didn’t change the requirement tile. With 6 greens I built at the most expensive space on Green Flotilla. Another academy and I chose a SPY. As building bonus I got to pick 3 resources and all reds to make it to 4. Also, I cleared out 2nd column and finally swapped the green and blue requirement tiles.

I needed more resource so next action was back to DIVE. From this I had to pick 1 of any color while giving the opponent 2 Blues, allowing them to build their 5th.

With 5 reds I spent 4 of them to build in the 4th space of Red Flotilla. 3rd Academy and I picked WRECKER. From the location bonus I got to trade 1 resource for 2, trading 1 red for 2 blues.

I had to dive again since I only had 2 Blue. The result was either Blue + green or blue + gray. I didn’t want to let the opponent built their 6th on gray because my ship was there so I took the one with grey.

Another dive and unfortunately I had to give a gray either way. I got 1 Blue and a gray while the Boss got 1 gray and a red. The gray got them to build their 7th.

With 4 Blues, I built at 4th space of that Blue Flotilla, removing 1 from the Boss. I only had 2 shipyards left and 1 academy. So I built shipyard. The ship was at green flotilla, 4th space. The bonus allowed me to trade 1 resources for 2 which I just doubled my gray.

Built my last academy at 2nd space of Gray flotilla. I think I swapped between gray and green from earlier after clearing a column. Spent only 1 as the ship was there. I got a CAPTAIN.

The bonus got me to double the gray resources twice again. With 4 minus from ship I built my last Shipyard and the last building.

That was the end of the game.

The opponent built 7 so they got 20 plus 7 x 3 with a total of 41. I got 21 from locations, 3 from VP tokens, 4 from Ports, 3 from leftover resources and 4 from 4 specialists. So that was only 39.

I actually had a chance to gain more had I activated some of the specialists. At least 1 point from Proprietor and 1 from a Spy. So it was a close one.

Learn more about the game from Seastead Review.

Imperial Settlers

Watch the Slideshow of this Imperial Settlers Solo Campaign session here.

Conquer all of the provinces to expand your Empire while maintaining increasing the cost in Campaign mode of Imperial Settlers.

This was my 7th play of this campaign using Egyptian as the main faction and Roman as the Border.

From previous play the Achievement bonus that I purchased was FOREIGN EMBASSY for 60 VP. This allows me in subsequent games of the campaign to reveal 2 cards from border faction per round and make a deal with both.

The Event of this session was REFORM: NEW ROADS (3 – 10). Your provinces are spread too thin. Your Sheriffs are struggling to collect taxes. As the new rule, I can only draw 1 Common card during Lookout Phase. The available quest was if I pay 4 stones, I could have removed the Upkeep cost of 2 provinces permanently.

As usual, Barbarian starts with 3 Workers, 1 Raze token, 1 Gold. The previous conquests have increased the production by 1 Gold, 1 Food, 1 Stone, 2 Wood, 1 Worker, 1 Raze token and 1 Common card.

My starting hand got me SLAVES and TEMPLE OF RA plus SLAVER from faction deck. The common cards were ARMORER, RUINS and OLD FOREST plus MONUMENT. The Border faction first offer was 1 extra card and 1 worker to make a deal with.

ROUND 1

Definitely made a deal with those 2 offers, paying with 1 food and 1 Gold, gaining 1 worker and a faction card which was CARAVAN.

Spent 1 Wood and 1 Stone to build the ARMORER, a common location, followed by RUINS for free. Paying with 1 Gold, I built the Caravan, a faction. Gained 1 Worker and 1 Food.

No more stone so I spent 2 Workers to my board to gain 1 stone.

Then I built SLAVES, action faction location which required a Stone and a foundation. I built it on the Ruins. This would have given me 2 stone plus 1 VP per Worker spent but only once per round.

So, I spent the Worker to get those 2 stones plus 1 VP.

I had to figure out to gain more Wood to pay the Upkeep cost of 3 woods and 2 stones. I already got the stones but only 1 Wood. So, with my Raze token, I razed the Old Forest card for 2 Woods. Paid the Upkeep cost.

2 more Raze tokens left and I spent it to raze the opponent’s location. The STATUE location got me 1 VP and 1 Stone.

Spent that stone to build MONUMENT, a common production. Gained 1 VP from it.

I had 2 Workers and 1 Food left. So, I spent the 2 workers on the faction board to gain 1 card from faction deck. I got a SPHINX ALLEY a card with 3 copies. I thought maybe not bad to make a deal with it by spending the Food to get 1 Worker.

Unfortunately, the worker would have been lost. Either this or the Food and I had no chance to make a deal afterwards.

That was the end of Round 1. 3 VP so far. No attack from the Virtual opponent this time.

ROUND 2.

The Empire produced 7 workers, 2 Wood, 3 Raze, 2 Food, 2 Gold, 1 stone and 1 VP. Plus from Lookout phase, the cards I got this round were ROYAL SWIMMING POOL and SPHINX from faction deck plus LUMBERJACK ROUTE and QUARRY, 2 production common location.

The Border faction offered extra card and gold to make a deal with. Of course I took them, paying with 2 Food. The card was NEW FOREST from common deck.

Spent 1 Stone and 1 Wood to build the Quarry. Gained 2 Stone.

The opponent had SAWMILL so I razed them with 2 tokens for 1 Worker and 1 Wood. Spent 2 woods to make the Lumberjack Route. Gained 2 Woods back.

Spent 1 Wood to build the NEW FOREST. Then I activated it twice with 2 workers total to get 2 Woods. Back to Slaves faction location, I spent 1 Worker for 2 Stones and 1 VP.

So, I had enough to pay the Upkeep Cost of 3 Woods and 2 Stones.

Next, I built SPHINX, a feature location from faction deck. This required a stone and a Foundation. I destroyed the MONUMENT and paid the 1 Stone.

Sent 2 Workers to get more card and I got MONTY THE MERCHANT, from common feature. Did the same again and the next card was GOLD MINE.

Both were Gold type. I built the MONTY first paying with 2 Gold and 1 Stone. The card itself got me 1 Gold and 1 VP for building a Gold type.

Then I spent 2 Gold to build that Gold Mine. Got 1 Gold and 1 VP from Monty. Spent 1 Worker to the Gold Mine and got 1 Gold.

I still had 2 Gold and 1 Raze. Gold could be stored to the next round but the Raze was wasted since I had no common card left.

That was the end of 2nd round. I had 7 VP so far. The virtual opponent didn’t find a good location for them to attack.

ROUND 3.

The production capacity didn’t went up much. I got 7 Workers, 3 Raze, 3 Gold, 2 Stone, 3 Woods, 2 Food plus 2 Gold stored. The new cards were BAST’S ALTAR, DESERT, SPHINX ALLEY from faction and Watchtower plus another LUMBERJACK ROUTE from Common.

The Border faction offered Stone and Worker to make a deal. I took them, paying with the 2 Food I got, gaining 1 Worker and 1 Stone.

Then I built BAST’S ALTAR first. Paid 1 Stone and turned the QUARRY as the Foundation. Got me 3 Stones as I had 3 Grey locations.

Next I built the Lumberjack Route. Paid the 2 Woods and gained back those 2. I had enough to pay the Upkeep cost so just one more round.

Activated the NEW FOREST again twice for 2 Woods. Using them, built the Watchtower. Got 2 new cards, PYRAMID AND GOLDSMITH.

Built that Pyramid by spending 2 Stones. Gained 1 Gold and 1 Stone.

Next, I built the DESERT for free. Gained 2 cards as one time bonus and I got SPHINX and GOLDSMITH.

I built the SLAVER next, a feature from faction. Paid 1 stone and turned one of the Lumberjack route as foundation. This allowed me to pay 1 Gold for 2 VP. Thanks to the Sphinx I got 1 extra VP.

Activated the SLAVES location with 1 Worker to get 2 Stone and 1 VP. Sent the 2 Workers to player board for more cards and I got HUNTER JOE.

Spent 2 Raze tokens to raze the opponent’s NEW FOREST for 2 Woods. Then I built that Hunter Joe with 1 Woods. Immediately turned that into foundation to build a 2nd Sphinx by paying 1 Stone. I also activated the SLAVER by paying 1 Gold for 2 VP. 1 point extra from each Sphinx.

3 Workers, 1 Wood, 1 Raze and a lot of Gold left.

Sent 2 Workers again for more card and I got GALLOWS, feature common location. Immediately built that by paying 1 Wood plus 1 Gold. One last worker went to gold mine to get 1 Gold.

After that I turned that Gold Mine into Foundation to build SPHINX ALLEY plus the 2 Stone paid. This location allowed me to spend 2 Gold for 2 VP twice. Spent 4 and got 8. Also paid 1 Gold to Slaver for 2 VP plus 2 from Sphinx.

One raze token left and I had no more common card. That was the end of 3rd round. I had 26 VP at this point. This time, the virtual player managed to conquer my New Forest location.

ROUND 4.

The empire got me 8 workers, 3 Raze tokens, 4 Gold, 6 Stones, 3 Woods and 2 Food. I think I took 1 card too many but plus the Lookout phase I should have gotten only 6 cards total instead of 7.

The border faction offered 1 card and 1 Stone as a deal and I took it. Got Taver as the new common card.

Built the Lord’s Field, a common food production with 2 Woods and 1 Stone. After that with 1 wood and 1 stone, built 2nd Armorer.

Built a Pyramid again with 2 Stones, gaining 1 Gold and 1 Stone. I also built RUINS, common feature location for free.

Using that Ruins as foundation plus 1 Stone, built STONE PIT, gaining 2 stones.

I razed both Tavern and Marketplace common card from my hand. Got me 1 Gold, 1 Wood and 2 cards which were 3rd pyramid and 2nd Stone Pit.

Razed the opponent’s New Forest that they conquered from me with 2 Raze tokens for 2 woods. Paid the last upkeep cost of 3 Woods and 2 Stones.

With my 1 Food left, I made a deal using that Pyramid card for 1 Gold.

Sent 1 Worker to Slaves location for 2 stones plus 1 VP. Built the 2nd Stone pit by spending 1 Stone and Lumberjack Route as foundation. Next, I built the Goldsmith by spending 2 Stones and one of the Armorer as foundation.

Then I built TEMPLE OF RA by spending 1 Stone and using Lord’s Field as Foundation.

Sent 2 Workers for more card and I got TOWN, COMMON LOCATION. Built that by spending 1 Stone and 1 Gold to gain 2 Workers.

Activated both Goldsmith by spending 1 Worker and 1 Gold for 3 VP plus 2 from Sphinx each.

Built the ROYAL SWIMMING POOL by spending 2 workers first to get 1 Stone and that Town location as the foundation. After that I spent 1 Gold on it to refresh the Slave location. This allowed me to reactivate that location again by spending 1 Worker for 2 Stone and 1 VP.

I actually built the SANCTUARY as the last location with 2 Stone and the Watchtower as foundation. Unfortunately this was illegal so I should have lost 2 points from the location itself, keeping 1 from the Watchtower and 4 points from the Slaver and 2 Sphinx.

Actually, the Watchtower would have been razed by the opponent anyway so I lost that point as well. They took 2 actually.

So I had 54 points at this point. 2 Common locations got me 2 points and 16 x 2 from Faction so I got only 88 total.

I had to pay 25 VP as the Control Cost so the last score before purchasing the next achievement bonus was 63 plus 26 = 89 VP.

From this Conquest, I rolled 7 from D20. The new province was GREAT PLAINS. 10 Extra VP for control cost and 1 Worker for Upkeep. But I begin each game with 1 additional Common card.

Playing time was about 91 minutes.

Learn more about the game from Imperial Settlers Review.

Siege of Valeria

Watch the Slideshow of this Siege of Valeria game session here.

Defend the Southern Border of Valeria Kingdom Fortress by destroying all Engines of War and the Boss within 7 days in Siege of Valeria.

This was played using the expansion modules but not as campaign. However, from previous plays, I found that the game was a bit too hard with all of those modules so I thought maybe using the BONUS CARDS might help as if I have won the previous session of a campaign.

I have to say that the Bonus card was almost useless. That one card only allowed me to take random card from discard pile to my hand, once. I waited for a very good card but then it may get shuffled and I get a useless one. I ended up just taking card that I liked and still didn’t win.

For this session my Duke was CONJURESS and the Enemy Commander was RESURRECTIONIST. The Boss was VERMITHRAX. Here is how the session went.

ROUND 1. Red: 3, 3, 4, 4, 6. Blue: 4, 4.

The Commander returned a troop card from discard but this first round there was none. 1st engine forced me to spent 1 die which was Red 3 and rerolled a 4, turning my Blue 4 into a 6. 2nd, 4th and 5th were out of range while the 3rd one remove one Champion and flipped another. So, I immediately lost the Archer and the Guard was flipped.

Event: TRAINED SOLDIER, add 1 red token to every Red in Vanguard. Luckily there was only Gnoll.

Played my Red 6 to take down that Gnoll from Vanguard 4. My starting Hand had a Lycan Mage so I spent Red 3 to overkill the Elite troop right below that Gnoll.

Red 4 and Blue 4 to defeat the other Lycan Mage at Vanguard 5. Then Red 5 and Blue 6 to defeat the Gargan Priest from Vanguard 2.

2 troops left in Vanguard 1 and 3, got me 1st impact on each of those Turrets.

ROUND 2. Red: 3, 3, 5, 5, 5. Blue: 5, 5.

This time the Resurrectionist returned the Lycan Mage back to battlefield row 5. 1st, 3rd and 5th Siege Engine were out of range. 2nd one add 1 Impact to the Turret. 4th one was supposed to reroll one of my 6 but I got none.

EVENT: FINAL PUSH. 2 Red tokens to the nearest Engine. The closest one was at Column 4.

Red 3 and Blue 5 started by attacking a Red Witch at Vanguard 2. Played that card and I got Blue 5 and SIR FILKO at 2nd space.

Right behind the Witch there was Efreet, very important to defeat the Engine so I overkilled it by using Lycan Mage and Red 3.

Behind Efreet was another Red Witch and then an Engine. I spent Red and Blue 5 to defeat it. Played my Efreet plus Blue 5 to defeat that 2nd Engine. I got Sister Althea at 4th turret.

Played that 2nd Red witch and I got Blue 5 and Sir Quentin at 5th Turret.

Orc Archer at 3rd Vanguard was my next target. Played Red 5 plus 1 from Sir Filko. Immediately played that card and I got Red 2.

Vanguard 1 had Gargan Priest so I defeated them using Red 2 and Blue 5. Last die was Red 5 and I attacked Goblin Warrior at 3rd Column Front.

2 more troops left at Vanguard 4 and 5. 1st Impact at each turret.

ROUND 3. Red: 1, 4, 4, 4, 6, 6. Blue 3, 3, 3, 3.

The Commander returned the Efreet back to battlefield. 2nd, 3rd and 5th Engine were out of ranged. I lost Blue 3 and rerolled Red 4 into a 3 because of 1st Engine. 4th Engine forced me to reroll my Red 6 into a 1.

EVENT: DANGEROUS VISIONS. This allowed me to look the next 3 troop cards and returned them in any order. The cards were Gnoll, Troll and Gnoll Huntmaster, an Elite.

My first attack was to Lycan Mage at Vanguard 4 using Red 4, Blue 3 plus 1 to the Blue by Sister Althea. Then with Red 6, I attacked the Orc Archer at Vanguard 2. Played that card immediately and I got Red 5.

Next target was Rune Witch at Vanguard 3 with my Red 1 and Blue 3. After that, the Dragonkin Warlord at Vanguard 5 using Red 5 plus 3 from Guard Champion.

I played my Gnoll card to turn Red 1 into a 6. Doubled that using the Dragonkin Warlord into a 12 and attacked the 3rd column Engine. It required 14 so the missing 2 was covered by Sir Quentin. I got Wizard Denthal as the bonus.

Behind that Engine I just destroyed was an Elite Troop, the Death Knight. I played my Lycan Mage plus Red 4 to overkill it from the Engine. The last Vanguard was at 1st, the Undead Samurai. Killed it using Blue 3 and Red 6.

Immediately played that card to change position of 1st column Engine so in the next round it would have been out of range at Vanguard row.

I also let the BUILDER Champion to take out the impact token from Turret 1.

Nothing on Vanguard so no hit.

ROUND 4. Red: 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 6, 6. Blue 5, 6, 6, 6.

The Resurrectionist brought back Red Witch to the battlefield. 1st, 2nd and 3rd engine were out of range. 4th rerolled my Blue 6 into a 2. 5th was blocked by playing Gargan Priest card.

EVENT: BATTLELUST. 2 Red tokens to the strongest red troop at Vanguard. Orc Archer at Vanguard 3 was the strongest.

2 Engines at Vanguard 1 and 4. First attack was to the Engine 4. It required 10 plus 2 from tokens to destroy it. Played my Red 2, Blue 2 and Blue 6 plus 2 from Sir Quentin. As Bonus, I got Sir Phanter at 1st Turret.

The Champion immediately attacked Orc Archer using Red 6 plus 2. For the Engine at Vanguard 1, it required 14 to be destroyed. Played Red and Blue 6 plus 2 more from Wizard Denthal. I let go Sir Filko to take away the impact token from 2nd turret. As bonus from destroying that engine, I got Brother Benzin.

Next attack was to Gnoll at Vanguard 5 using Red 5. The Engine behind it only required 8 so using that Gnoll card, I turned red 1 into a 6 and played it along with Red 2.

Sister Althea took out 1 impact token from Turret 4 and she was replaced by Lady Gurira as bonus from destroying that engine.

Last card in column 5 was the Efreet. I had Blue 5. Lady Gurira led the attack with Red 2 plus that Blue 5, Blue 1 from brother Benzin and 1 last from Goblin Warrior.

Last die was Red 5 to attack Goblin warrior at Vanguard 2.

Nothing in Vanguard so no additional damage to the turret.

ROUND 5. Red: 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5, 6. Blue: 2, 2, 4, 6.

The Resurrectionist brought back Undead Samurai. All of the engines were out of range.

EVENT: CAMP RUD. Lower 3 dice by 1 each. 2 Blue 2 and Red 2 were turned into a 1.

Started the attack with Red 6 to Orc Archer at Vanguard 5. Followed by Red 2 plus Blue 6 to Red Witch behind that Archer. Played my Rune Witch and rerolled all of the 1s. I got Blue 4, 6 and Red 3, 6.

From those, Blue 6 and Red 3 were used to defeat Dragonkin Warlord at column 5 front. Then 2 Red 3s to 2 Goblin Warriors at Vanguard 1 and 2. Red 5 to Gnoll at Vanguard 3 and lastly, Red 6 plus 2 from Sir Phanther to defeat another Dragonkin Warlord.

I had 2 Blue left. With red from Lady Gurira and Blue 2 from Brother Benzin, plus Goblin Warrior to my Blue 4, I defeated the Lycan Mage front in column 4.

Played the Orc Archer to get the last Red and I got Red 2. I used Gnoll to turn it into Red 5 and with my last blue 4, attacked the Red Witch front column 4.

Nothing left in Vanguard so no additional damage to any turret.

ROUND 6. Red: 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6. Blue: 1, 3, 4, 5.

The Resurrectionist brought back Orc Archer. 1st, 3rd and 5th engine were out of range. 2nd forced me to spend Red 1 and remove Brother Benzin. 4th rerolled my Red 6 into a 1.

EVENT: RISEN FROM THE DEAD. This was similar to the Commander and the Undead Samurai returned to the battlefield.

2 Engines in Vanguard. Starting with the one in Vanguard 5, it required 14. I spent Blue 5, doubled it along with the help from Sir Quentin and Wizard Denthal. Sister Elina joined the battle as bonus at Turret 2.

I got exactly Red 3 and 4 which was perfect to take out the Elite Troop, Volgya from Vanguard 2. Behind that was an Engine so I spent the Efreet and Blue 3 to destroy it. I didn’t take any Champion bonus.

Next for engine at Vanguard 4, it required 10. Played Red 2 and Blue 4, doubled the latter using Dragonkin Warlord. I actually let go Sister Elina for nothing and she was replaced by Lady Ozwin.

Red 3 and 4 to attack the Troll at Vanguard 1. I played my Death Knight card to remove one red and 1 blue troop from any Front. This removed the other Elite and the Gargan priest.

Finally I got to use my Duke to reroll Blue less than 3 into a 4.

Lady Gurira with Red 2 plus Red 4 and Blue 4 attacked the Efreet from Column 4.

Then Lady Ozwin brought back 2 Reds and got me a 2 and a 6. Spent Red 6 and 1 to defeat the Troll, Vanguard 3. Unfortunately nothing to do with the last Red die.

No troop in Vanguard so no additional damage.

ROUND 7. Red: 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5. Blue: 4, 4, 5, 6.

The Resurrectionist brought back Efreet. Possibly not randomly. I also used the Bonus card to take back that Death Knight Elite troop card. The Boss, Vermithrax finally showed up.

EVENT: GARGAN’s BLESSING. 2 Blue tokens to the closest engine.

At this point, I actually have lost the game. There were supposed to be 4 cards left in the Siege Engine deck. I only had 3 empty columns so I failed to let that last one out but I didn’t realize until later in this round.

I just shared the result. 10 enemy cards were defeated from the battlefield including 3 Engines. There were still 2 more plus the Boss. I managed to attack one half of the boss thanks to Flaming Skeleton Elite Troop.

So, it was not even close to win the game.

Playing time was about 90 minutes. Maybe I should just go back to play the base game at this point.

Keep the Heroes Out!

Watch the Slideshow of this Keep the Heroes Out! game session here.

Defend your Dungeon from 2 Waves of Heroes in Keep the Heroes Out! Played with the Witch and Imp clans. Both are considered as Support category in Scenario 3: Legend of the Rent.

This was also the first time playing with the normal difficulty back after a couple of plays with the easier mode. Still with some error when resolving heroes, hopefully just minor parts.

Actually, I just realized that the Witch clan is supposed to have 2 health per figure but I played it as if they were just like other clans one and done. So, I guess I made the game slightly harder?

Anyway, here is how the shorter version of the session went.

In this Scenario, everytime you draw a Troll card, the Troll asks for Rent. If you have 2 Coins in the Vault, he will take it, discard the 2 coins and nothing else happens. If you cannot pay the rent, you are marked for forced eviction, after all players discard one card from their hand, draw and resolve a new Guild card.

Rooms
Vault (Event): treasure (4), inactive portal
Study: treasure (3)
Sewers: treasure (3)
Workshop: treasure (3), Imp 1, Imp 2
Forge: treasure (2), Imp 3, Imp 4
Apothecary: treasure (2)
Beast Trainer: treasure (2)
Library: treasure (1), inactive portal, Witch 1
Graveyard: treasure (1), inactive portal, Witch 2
Cells: treasure (1), inactive portal

Loot Cards: 2 Equipment, 2 Beast, 1 Scroll

WAVE 1, Witch’s 1st turn

Witch started by throwing a Hero to cells and it was a Warrior, gaining 3 additional cards.

In the library Witch 1 activated the portal while Witch 2 moved to the Sewers from Apothecary, trying to get this one to the Beast trainer room.

Still with Witch 1 in the library took a Book while Witch 2 kept moving to the Vault.

Witch 2 in the Vault activated the portal and continued moving to the next room, which was the Workshop.

The Witch gained 2 cards.

Witch 2 moved to the Beast Trainer room from Workshop and activate their special ability to make Portal.

4 cards left and none of them allowed the witch to move so they ended their turn.

HERO PHASE 1: ARCHER in Swords rooms.

Nobody was in the Vault or Study room next to those Swords room. However, each Archer took down 1 Imp in the same room.

HERO PHASE 2: WARRIOR, in Crossbone Rooms.

None of them had any resource in the room they were summoned. The one in Beast trainer room killed Witch 2 and the other one in the Sewers was stuck unable to open the Chest (3), alone.

15 hero cards left until Wave 2.

WAVE 1, Imp’s 1st Turn

The Imps also started their turn by throwing a hero to a jail and it was another Archer. Luckily nobody was in the Apothecary room next to the Cell to be shot by the Archer. 2 heroes in the Cells now.

In Forge room Imp 4 was killed before by Archer. Imp 3 then killed the Archer and moved to the Library, planning to move using portals.

Similarly, Imp 2 in Workshop was killed previously by Archer. Imp 1 instead moved to the Beast Trainer room where they found Warrior that killed Witch 2 and killed the Warrior.

Imp 1 continued moving to the Graveyard next to that Beast Room. He activated the Portal and then took a BONE resource.

Imp 1 generated another Bone from the Graveyard and took 1 back to the Beast Room. Spent 1 Bone to take 1 Beast card to their discard pile. The Loot market was refilled by a Potion card.

Imp 3 from the Library activated their special ability to move twice. Through the Portal to the Vault and then to the Sewers.

After that Imp 3 in the Sewers killed the Warrior there and Imp 1 moved from the Beast Trainer room back to the Workshop.

Then Imp 3 continued moving to the Apothecary from the Sewers and killed the Archer there.

No more cards and that was the end of Imp’s 1st turn.

HERO PHASE 1: TROLL CARD + ARCHER in Hat Rooms

No 2 coins at Vault so both Imp and the Witch had to lose 1 card from their hand. So, this led to another Hero phase with the Archer at the 2 Hat rooms, Library and Apothecary.

Witch 1 and Imp 3 were eliminated.

HERO PHASE 2: MAGE at Crossbone rooms.

No Monster was in any of those 2 rooms and both Mages were stuck unable to open the treasures.

11 hero cards left before Wave 2.

WAVE 1, Witch’s 2nd turn

The Witch threw another hero to jail and it was a Warrior, gaining 3 cards in addition to the 4 in hand. 3 Heroes in jail now.

No Witch on the board so summoned one in Apothecary, planning to remove some of those in jail.

From the Apothecary, killed the 2 Heroes in Jail. With the 2nd card, eliminated the 3rd in Jail and the one in Sewers.

This Witch moved to the Cell and activate the Portal.

Summoned Witch 2 and this time in Library.

Witch 1 stayed in the Cells, preparing for outbreak. The 2nd one moved from Library through Portal to the Graveyard and gained 1 Bone. There were 2 bones available.

Used the draw only and got 1 Move and 1 Activate.

Witch 2 took 1 bone from Graveyard to the Beast trainer room and gained 1 Beast. The one like a tree which was the only available one.

That was the end of the Witch 2nd turn.

HERO PHASE 1: ROGUE in Swords room.

Nobody was in the Forge room and that hero couldn’t opened the chest. The other one in Workshop killed the Imp 1.

HERO PHASE 2: Rogue again in Crossbone rooms.

The one in sewer was stuck unable to open the chest that requires 3. In the Beast Trainer room, this inspired the existing Mage. Then they killed the Witch 2 there. Then one of them was unable to open the chest that requires 2.

8 hero cards left before Wave 2.

WAVE 1, IMP’s 2nd Turn

Imp threw another Rogue to jail this time, gaining 3 additional cards. That was the only 1.

Summoned 2 Imps, one in Workshop and one in Forge.

The one in Workshop made 2 Traps. Then the Imp moved to Beast trainer room with 2 heroes.

Using the Minotaur beast card, the one in Forge room moved to the Library and killed the Archer there. The new card was the Move and 2 activate.

Using that card the Imp just got, Imp moved from Library through portal to the Vault. They also brought in the Book. Using 2 activate actions, the Imp generated 2 coins in the Vault, preparing for the Troll.

Still with that Imp, 1 action to generate 3rd coin in the vault. With the move plus move using their special action, that Imp moved 2 spaces to the Apothecary with 1 hero there.

In Apothecary, the Imp placed 2 traps.

That was the end of the Imp;s 2nd turn.

HERO PHASE 1: MAGES at Sword Rooms.

The one arrived at the Workshop was immediately killed by a trap. In the Forge room, the Mage inspired the Rogue there and they finally opened the chest.

This reactivated them both and they moved to the next room, the Study. They couldn’t open the chest with just 2 of them.

HERO PHASE 2: ARCHER at Eye Rooms.

Archer that arrived at Graveyard killed the Imp in the Beast trainer room. The hero also managed to open the chest forcing the 2 Monster clans to lose one card.

2nd Archer arrived at Study room, inspiring the Mage and Rogue that previously came in. The 3 managed to open the chest also forcing the 2 clans to discard one more card. They were ready to storm into the Vault.

5 hero cards left before Wave 2.

WAVE 1, Witch’s 3rd turn

It seemed I actually forgot to throw a hero to jail this turn for Witch.

Drew a new card for Witch and got one with 1 move and 1 activate.

Summoned the 2nd Witch back to the Library. The first one was in the Cells room.

The one that was just summoned gained a book in Library and through portal brought it into the Vault.

From that Vault room, Witch 2 eliminated 2 Heroes in the Study. There was one more.

That was the end of Witch’s turn.

HERO PHASE1: MAGES in the Eye Rooms.

First one appeared in the Study room. Good thing that 2 heroes were removed previously from that room. This new one inspired the other hero and moved into the Vault, killing the Witch 2. The other couldn’t open the last chest even with 2.

The 2nd one appeared in the Graveyard, inspiring The Archer there and both moved to the Beast Trainer room. In there, there were 2 other heroes that got inspired by these new 2.

So the room had 4 heroes, 2 of them opened the chest. The chest actually threw a hero, a rogue to the jail.

After that the other 2 kept moving to the workshop. There was one trap so one of them, the Mage was killed. The Rogue inspired the Archer there but the 2 of them were not enough to open the chest so they stopped.

HERO PHASE 2: TROLL. There were more than 2 coins in the Vault. The Troll took the 2 coins and left.

2 hero cards left before Wave 2.

WAVE 1, IMP’S 3RD TURN

The Imp also only had 3 cards left in hand. 2 hero cards left and one of them was Warrior and the other was Mage. So if they could have thrown a mage to jail.

On the other hand, the room next to it already had 2 Traps so if this Mage broke out one other hero in the jail, they would have been eliminated right away.

I thought it was not a bad idea so I let the Imp threw a hero. It was indeed a Mage. The Mage and the Rogue killed the Witch in the jail.

***
I guess I made a mistake here. One hero in the jail should have been exhausted for killing the Witch. So, only one of them should have been killed by the Trap next door failing to inspire the Archer.
****

2nd Imp was summoned back to the Workshop.

While the Workshop had 2 heroes, the Imp moved to the Vault with the help from their Minotaur beast friend. Then they killed one of 2 heroes there, the Mage. The new card was MOVE + 2 ACTIVATE.

Using the card they just got, this 2nd Imp moved from Vault to the Study, bringing in a Book. Before that, generated 2nd Coin in the Vault.

In the Study, spent the book and gained 1 Scroll card.

This 2nd Imp moved back to the Vault to take 1 Coin. With the 2 Activate actions, moved to the Forge room 2 spaces from the Vault with that coin.

Spent the coin to gain 1 Equipment card in the Forge room. They took a card with SWARM + Ranged attack which is less good for Witch.

2nd Imp moved from Forge to the Library. 1st Imp in the Apothecary killed the Archer.

Summoned 3rd Imp in the Workshop, preparing to stop at least 4 heroes from getting to the Vault.

That was the end of Imp’s 3rd turn.

HERO PHASE 1: WARRIORS in Hat rooms.

One appeared in Apothecary. There was supposed to be a Trap killing that Warrior but instead the room had only 1 Imp. The Warrior killed the Imp.

2nd Warrior appeared in the Library. There was no resource but another Imp. The Warrior killed the Imp.

That was the end of WAVE 1 so no more Hero Phase and entered WAVE 2.

18 hero cards left to WIN.

WAVE 2, Witch’s 4th turn

The Witch started by throwing a Hero to jail and it was Archer. No monster next room so the archer was exhausted immediately. The Witch gained 3 additional cards.

Summoned 1 Witch in the Apothecary.

The Tree Beast killed the Warrior in Apothecary and brought in a Frog. It seems I actually forgot to draw a card.

Since the Witch was in Apothecary with a Frog, used 1 action to take a Potion card. The Witch took one that looks for cards with Move actions.

With the move action, the Witch moved into the Cells.

Through the portal, The Witch moved from Cells to Vault. With the activate action, generated 2nd Coins in the Vault.

From the Vault, the Witch attacked 2 heroes in the Workshop room.

Used the Draw action and got ACTIVATE / FROG / AMBUSH

In the Vault, the Witch gained 3rd coins and moved in to the Study with one of them.

Summoned 2nd Witch in the Library.

That was the end of the Witch’s 4th turn.

HERO PHASE 1: ARCHERS in Hat Rooms.

One appeared in the Apothecary. No monster to be shot in the Sewers. The archer got exhausted for trying to open the chest alone and failed.

2nd Archer appeared in the Library with 1 exhausted Warrior. No monster to shoot in the Forge but the Archer killed the 2nd Witch.

The Warrior got inspired to finally opened the chest in that room. It led to removing any resources there. There was none.

HERO PHASE 2: MAGES in Eye Rooms.

One appeared in the Study room with a Witch. The Mage killed the Witch and stopped their movement. Actually I made a mistake here by moving the Mage to the Vault and after inspiring a hero and yet failed to open the chest in Vault, they were both exhausted in the Vault.

**** Another Mistake.

The 2nd Mage should have appeared in the Graveyard. The room itself had nothing so the Mage moved to the Beast Trainer room immediately, inspiring the 2 heroes. Then all 3 of them moved to the Workshop. Then one of the should have killed the imp there and the 2 failed to open the chest.

Instead, I summoned the Mage directly in the Workshop, killing the Imp while the other 2 Heroes were still in the Beast training room.

Oh, well…

WAVE 2, Imp’s 4th turn

Imp started this wave with throwing an Archer to the jail for 3 cards. Nobody was in the next room but a hero.

Summoned an Imp in the Workshop with 1 hero instead of 3 heroes.

The imp in Workshop, set up 2 traps in the Workshop then moved to the Vaut.

That Imp in the Vault set up 2 more traps.

From the Vault, The imp moved to the Study with a Book. The imp left that book there and took the Coin in that room to the Forge. With the last activate, spent the coin to grab another equipment card. This one had 2 Attack / Swarm attack.

Created a Portal in the Forge room.

Left a trap in the Forge room.

That was the end of Imp’s 4th turn.

HERO PHASE 1: WARRIORS in Eye Rooms.

One appeared in the Study removed the book there and moved to the vault. The trap eliminated the Warrior.

2nd Warrior appeared in Graveyard, removing a Bone before moving to the Beast Room. With the incorrect play, this inspired the 2 other heroes to keep moving to Workshop. 2 of them were then killed by 2 traps. One left alive inspired the exhausted mage and they failed to open the chest.

Had I played correctly, only the Warrior was eliminated by 1 trap and failed to inspire the other 3.

HERO PHASE 2: TROLL

The Troll took 2 coins from the Vault and nothing else happened. 1 Troll left for this Wave.

12 cards left to WIN.

WAVE 2, Witch’s 5th turn

Usually I would have just throw a hero to jail at the start but there all of the Archer tokens were already on the board. So, the Witch had to eliminate some first before throwing another one. Yes, I actually checked it and took back that action.

Summoned 1st Witch at the Apothecary.

From the Apothecary, killed the 2 Archers in the Cells. I thought I did a smart thing until I threw a hero to jail and it was an Archer.

That Archer killed that Witch before they got exhausted in jail. Gained 3 cards.

Summoned the Witch back again.

Killed the Archer in the room and left a frog. The new card was MOVE + ACTIVATE

The Witch opened a portal in the Apothecary. With the move action, moved through the portal to the Vault.

From the Vault, used the 2 ranged attack to kill 2 heroes in the Workshop. No more heroes there but had I played correctly, there should have been 1 hero left.

From the Vault, the Witch moved through portal to the Graveyard. The Witch then took a bone and moved to the Beast trainer room. Spent that bone to take a Beast from the loot, the one with a shape of treasure chest.

Summoned 2nd Witch to the Library.

That was the end of Witch’s 6th turn.

HERO PHASE 1: ROGUES in Eyes Rooms.

One appeared in Study and the room was empty. So, the Rogue moved to the vault and was killed by a trap.

2nd Rogue appeared in the Graveyard. Since the room had nothing, the rogue immediately moved to the Beast room and killed the Witch.

HERO PHASE 2: WARRIORS in Hat Rooms

One appeared in Apothecary and removed the Frog there. Failed to open the chest and the warrior got exhausted.

2nd Warrior inspired the 2 heroes in the Library. One of them killed the Witch. The other 2 heroes moved to the Forge room. One was killed by a trap and the other killed the Imp there.

9 Hero cards left to WIN.

WAVE 2, Imp’s 5th turn

Summoned 2 Imps in the Vault. It seems I forgot to let the Imp throw a hero.

From the Workshop, the 2 Imps killed the 2 heroes in the Vault.

One Imp from the Workshop moved to the Beast room to find an exhausted Rogue. With the help from Minotaur, killed the Rogue and drew AMBUSH / MOVE + ATTACK card.

The 2nd Imp moved from Workshop to the Vault. Generated 2 Coins in the Vault.

Summoned 3rd Imp and this time was in the Forge room.

That was the end of Imp’s 5th turn.

HERO PHASE 1: MAGES in Crossbone Rooms.

One appeared in Beast trainer room killed the Imp and got exhausted. The other appeared in the Sewers. Inspired the exhausted rogue but failed in their attempt to open the chest.

HERO PHASE 2: ROGUES in Crossbone Rooms.

The one in Sewers finally opened the Chest. Unfortunately for them this led to throwing another rogue to jail and they got exhausted.

2nd Rouge in the Beast room inspired the Mage and they both proceeded to the Workshop. Failed to open the chest. Had I played correctly, I think there should have been one more hero and all 3 opened the chest.

6 Hero cards left to WIN.

WAVE 2, Witch’s 6th turn

The Witch started their turn by throwing a Warrior to jail for 3 additional cards. There were 2 there.

Summoned 1st Witch in the Apothecary.

From the Apothecary, killed the 2 Heroes in the Jail and the 2 in the Sewers.

From Apothecary, the Witch teleported to Graveyard and took a Bone. Moved again with that Bone to the next room the Beast and took the Medusa Beast.

At this point I checked the revealed Hero cards. The last 5 cards were 1 Troll, 2 in Swords room, one Hat and one in Eye rooms. So, I tried to prepare for the Swords room.

From the Beast room, the Witch moved to the Workshop and placed a trap.

The Chest Beast placed 2nd trap and a coin. Got a new card which was MOVE + ACTIVATE.

The Witch activated their special ability to open a portal in Workshop, Then they moved through it to the Forge, bringing along the Coin from the Beast.

This was to look and keep card with move actions. The last 3 in the deck had none so all of them went to discard pile. Still not sure how to use this type of cards.

That was the end of Witch’s 6th turn.

HERO PHASE 1: MAGES in Eye Rooms.

Nobody stopped the one appeared in the Study. The mage moved to the Vault and killed the Imp.

2nd Mage appeared in the graveyard immediately moved right to the Workshop and was killed by a trap.

HERO PHASE 2: WARRIORS in Sword Rooms.

One appeared in Workshop was killed by a trap. The other one appeared in Forge room removed a coin and inspired an Archer. Both killed the two monster there.

3 Hero Cards left to WIN.

WAVE 2, Imp’s 6th turn

Imp started by throwing a Rouge to jail. So, the last 2 hero cards were the Troll and a Mage in Hat rooms and this would have been the last turn.

Summoned an Imp in the Library.

Placed a trap in that room.

That same Imp teleported to the Workshop and the 2 actions placed 2 traps in that room.

Still with the same Imp, the Imp teleported to the Apothecary, bringing one of the Trap and left it there. With the 2 activates, teleported to the Graveyard and generated a Bone.

Still with that Imp, teleported to the Vault, gained 3rd coin and took that one coin to the Forge.

Killed the 2 Heroes in the Forge.

Spent the coin to get another equipment, the Boots. Played 1 last card just to refresh the Loot market for nothing.

That was the end of Imp’s turn.

HERO PHASE 1: MAGES in the Hat rooms.

Both were killed by the traps and nothing else happened.

HERO PHASE 2: TROLL

There were 2 coins in the Vault so the rent was paid. That was the last Hero card from Guild deck.

The Monster survived the 2nd WAVE and won.

Playing time was about 96 minutes.

Read the Full Session Report here on BGG.

Sagrada

Watch the Slideshow of these 2 Sagrada game sessions here.

Craft the best stained-glass window as part of Gaudi’s work in Sagrada.

As usual, I played 2 sessions, one solo and the other was 2-handed. For the solo, I used Fulgor del Cielo player card that requires some blue and red dice.

1st public objective was ROW OF COLOR VARIETY and the 2nd was COLUMN OF SHADE VARIETY.

I think I managed to fill all of the spaces, hopefully without making any mistake. Scored only 45 while the opponent got 61. 2 Rows with all different colors and 3 columns of all different values.

Unfortunately I only activated one tool out of 5. The others didn’t help much as they only allowed me to move dice. Which is why the opponent got very high score.

Then I played 2nd game with 2-handed. 1st player, the Green used that Fulgor del Cielo card with Blue private objective. While the 2nd one used SHADOW THIEF and took the red private objective. This one had 3 colors on the card, 2 red, 1 yellow and 3 purples. The other were the same, 7 blank spaces and 7 that require specific value.

Both got 5 Favor tokens at the start. Still using the same 2 public objectives with the 3rd one was COLOR DIAGONALS. None of them used the tools. Maybe I just didn’t care enough to use them.

Red player actually failed to place 1 die not in the final round but 2nd to last. At that point, from 4 remaining spaces, 3 of them required values and only 1 was blank. From those with values 2 of them required a value of 5.

I just realized that the distribution of numbers for that card are not equal. While both had exactly 7 spaces that required numbers, Fulgor del Cielo had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6. Shadow Thief on the other hand required 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6.

So, it was not that the shadow thief board didn’t try to plan ahead but the requirement itself was a bit not equal. The other player seemed to get more flexibility.

However, the end result was that Green player also placed incorrect dice, a 5 next to a five. So both of them got 1 space they failed to fill.

Green Player with Fulgor del Cielo only scored 32 while the Shadow Thief that I thought had more difficult board scored 46. That one failed green for Fulgor del Cielo was the only time they took green die.

That player failed to score any row with variety of colors. But Shadow Thief also only got 1. Shadow Thief got 3 columns with all different values while Fulgor del Cielo only scored 1 column.

For the Color Diagonals, both scored 11. Fulgor del Cielo only won in the private objective score 14 to the Shadow Thief’s 12. None of them used the Favor tokens so they all got 5 points.

Playing time was 42 minutes for those 2 sessions.

Final Words

So, those are all of the games I played. Hope that entertains or helps to give some idea what kind of tabletop games we can find on the market.

Some are new and some are older games. The complete list of the older games and my reviews about them can be found from this list and this one for the more recent games and if you are interested in previous reports of each game.

I keep saying that these tabletop games can be a good way to spend some time without looking at the screen of our gadget. If we do have someone close, that we can play with, there are other games where we can play cooperatively or competitively but with a lot of player interaction.

The game can be very fast or like a filler type or it can take hours to play. Some games can also be played in solitaire mode and they are still more engaging than other entertainment activity. Some may say, it’s like a workout for the gray matter of our brain.

Thanks for reading.

 

Mark M.