This article is the compilation of my play session reports #9. All games were played during Week 29 to Week 32 of 2024 from 14 July 2024 to 10 August 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.
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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.
Table of Contents
List of Games
Here are the links to the Weekly Session Reports for shorter version: Week 29, Week 30, Week 31, Week 32.
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)
#8 2024 Week 25 to Week 28 (June – July)
Daily articles for individual game are posted on my Patreon for those who feel the need to read right away.
Horizons of Spirit Island
Watch the Slideshow of this Horizons of Spirit Island game session here.
Work with Indigenous people to destroy invader’s settlement using the Spirit’s power to control nature in Horizons of Spirit Island.
This was a solo session using just a single Spirit, the Devouring Teeth Lurking Underfoot. Also with the standard drafting mode and slightly more difficult variant.
The Spirit started with just a single disc on land #5 and in this case the Jungle H5, already with a Blight token. First exploration happened in Jungle.
ROUND 1.
SPIRIT PHASE
This Spirit had a lot of short range Power cards as they love to be next to Invaders. My first Spirit phase was to choose the option #3 to place the disc 2 spaces away from the Starting position. This was to place a disc on the other Jungle H1. The disc was taken from the 2nd row, allowing the Spirit to play 2 cards in a turn.
Got 3 Energy plus 2. Most of the starting cards were Slow so I had no choice but to let the Invaders did BUILD this round. That means 1 Town would have been added to those Jungle lands.
1st card was FEROCIOUS RAMPAGE to the Jungle H5 to clear out those invaders. As for the other Jungle I played HERD TOWARDS THE LURKING MAW. This was just to get more Fear and lure more invaders to this land.
Paid 3 total Energy to play them.
FAST POWER PHASE
Nothing happened this time.
INVADER PHASE.
No Fear card yet and no Ravage this time. 1 Town was added to each Jungle land. Then the next Exploration happened on SAND LANDS, one explorer was added to each.
SLOW POWER PHASE.
The Ferocious Rampage card destroyed the Explorer and Town on Jungle H5. With that and the card itself, generated 2 Fears.
Then the HERD TOWARDS THE LURKING MAW generated the 3rd Fear, targeting the other Jungle H1. This card lured the Explorer from the Sand Land H8 so no Build action there in the next round.
ROUND 2.
SPIRIT PHASE
Ravage was about to happen only to Jungle H1 and there was already a disc and a Dahan. This Spirit had 1 Fast card with Defend 9 which was perfect for this. Unfortunately this card also pushes the Dahan on target land so no retaliation after the attack.
For that I chose the 2nd option that allowed me to draw a card. I picked ROUSE THE TREES AND STONES. This was slow power with 2 damage but it had to be from a Sacred Site. So, I added the 2nd disc there and turned it into Sacred Site. The disc was taken from the 2nd row and the Spirit got permanent ANIMAL element.
Got 2 Energy in addition to the previous 2 before. Spent 3 of them to play these 2 cards.
FAST POWER PHASE
The Fast card was to put Defend on H1 while generating 2 Fear, got the first Fear Card. Also I had to push out 2 Dahan so that one Dahan there was pushed to Wetlands H6.
INVADER PHASE.
1st FEAR CARD: DAHAN RAID. Choose 1 Land with Dahan and deal 1 damage. Unfortunately no land with both Dahan and Invader so this was useless for me.
Ravage happened to Jungle H1 with 4 damage but it was defended by 9, no Dahan to counter. Build action only happened on Sand H2 with 1 Town added to existing 1 City and 1 Explorer.
The exploration happened this time on Wetlands, H6 and H7, one explorer to each.
SLOW POWER PHASE.
I used the 2nd card to attack the H1 with 1 Town and 2 Explorers, destroying the Town, generating 1st Fear after 1st card. One explorer was pushed to the Wetlands H6.
The Spirit actually had enough elements to trigger the first of their Innate Power but only to move a disc so I didn’t use it.
ROUND 3.
SPIRIT PHASE
I had only 1 card left so I had to choose the option 1 to retrieve cards while adding 1 disc. The only land to double the disc was the first Jungle H5, turning it into Sacred Site. I guess I should have used the Innate Power previously even just to move 1 of the existing disc. The disc was taken from the 1st row, giving the Spirit permanent 1 Fire element onwards.
Got 2 Energy, in addition to the leftover 1 from before.
Ravage was about to happen on Sand. H8 had no Invaders but H2 had invaders with a value of 7. I could have defended it with that Fast card but maybe letting that land got a blight was not a big deal. So, I decided to just focus on Wetlands from the upcoming Build and then Ravage.
First, I played the ROUSE THE TREES AND STONES to deal 2 damage to Wetlands H6 from Sacred Site of either Jungle lands, 1 space away. 2nd card was the GIFT OF FURIOUS MIGHT, adding 3 damage to that 1st card. With the Special power, those 2 got 1 more damage, making it a total of 6. I thought maybe it was better to target H7 that was about to get a City built there. It could be done just one space from H5.
Paid 2 Energy to play these 2.
FAST POWER PHASE
No action other than increasing damage later.
INVADER PHASE.
No Fear card. Ravage happened as planned to Sand lands H2, adding a Blight to the land. For Build action, 1 Town was added to Wetland 6 and a City to H7.
The exploration happened to Wetlands again. With the more difficult variant, I added the Town to H5 Jungle. Not exactly sure why I put it there.
SLOW POWER PHASE.
As planned I could have dealt 6 damage to H7. This destroyed the City and the Town for 3 Fear, getting 2nd Fear card. Also destroyed 1 Explorer and pushed out the last one to H5, not sure why I picked this.
The Spirit actually had enough Elements to trigger up to their 2nd Innate Power. Unfortunately, it seems I forgot to take advantage of it. That could have destroyed the Town on H5 getting one more Fear.
ROUND 4.
SPIRIT PHASE
Ravage and Build action were about to happen both to Wetlands. One land was already empty while the H6 had 1 Town and 3 explorers. I still had the card with Defend 9 but the counter was just dealing 2 damage. At least that would have destroyed the Town, preventing them from building a City.
I chose 2nd option to draw 1 new card and place 1 disc. The disc was from Energy row so the Spirit got 3 Energy every round, placing the disc on H6.
The options were one Defend card, one Fear generating card, attack card based on Dahan and the card to convert an Explorer to a Dahan. Knowing the result, taking the Fear Generating card was probably the best. Instead I picked that CALL OF THE DAHAN WAYS just because it was interesting.
Didn’t play that this turn. Instead I played the MARK TERRITORY WITH SCARS AND TEETH to H6, placing a defend 9. For the 2nd card I played the HERD TOWARDS THE LURKING MAW. Spent 3 Energy with 1 leftover.
FAST POWER PHASE
Put a Defense 9 to H6 and generated 2 Fear, 3rd after the 2nd card. There were 3 Dahan, I had to push out 2 of them out of H6. One each to both Jungle.
INVADER PHASE.
2nd Fear card: SCAPEGOATS. In each land with a Town, destroy 1 Explorer per 1 Town. I removed 3, from H2, H5 and H6.
Ravage happened on H6, defended completely. 1 Dahan countered destroying the Town for 1 Fear, gaining 3rd Fear card. 2 Explorers left then built a new Town.
The Exploration happened this time to Sand lands. One explorer to each and I placed the additional Town to H8 Sand. Probably not a great idea.
SLOW POWER PHASE.
With the 2nd card, generated 1st Fear after 1st Fear card, targeting H2. I gathered 1 Town from the Sand Land H2.
Elements for Innate power were only enough for the first level and I didn’t use it again.
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ROUND 5.
SPIRIT PHASE
Ravage on 1 Wetlands and Build on 2 Sand Lands this round. I had to retrieve cards again so I went with 1st option. Placed the disc to the H6, turning it into Sacred Site. The disc was from 2nd row, getting 2nd permanent fire element.
Got 3 Energy in addition to leftover 1. Played the Defend 9 card again for 2 Energy, planning for H6. Then the Ferocious Rampage, not sure targeting what for now. Spent 2 Energy for it.
FAST POWER PHASE
Set the Defense 9 to H6, generating 2 Fear, 3rd after 3rd card. Pushed out the only Dahan there to Sand H8.
INVADER PHASE.
3rd Fear Card: ISOLATION. Remove 1 Explorer or Town from a land with 2 or fewer Invaders. Either H1 or H8 and I chose the 8, preventing it from becoming a City this round.
Ravage happened on H6, defended completely no Dahan to counter. 1 Town was added each to both Sand Lands for the Build action. Exploration happened on Coastal Lands, H1, H2 and H3, adding 1 Explorer each.
SLOW POWER PHASE.
This time, I got to use Innate Power up to 2nd Level, targeting H2 with a lot of invaders. I moved 1 disc from H6 and then dealt 1 plus 1 damage, destroying the Town there for the 4th Fear after 3rd card.
After that, with the Ferocious Rampage, targeting H1 Jungle, generated 1st Fear after 4th card. Dealt a total of 4 damage to Explorer and/or Town. Destroyed 1 Town and 2 explorers exactly, gaining 2nd Fear after 4th card.
ROUND 6.
SPIRIT PHASE
Well I needed 2 Defense this time to protect both Sand Lands. One already had a Blight and the other had 2 Dahan.
I chose the 2nd option to draw 4 new cards, still from Minor deck while placing 1 new disc. The disc was from Energy row so I generated 4 per round and the disc was placed on H3, Coastal Mountain.
There were 2 Defend card and I chose SAP THE STRENGTH OF MULTITUDES because it had Defend 5 while the other was only Defend 2 even if with additional action.
Still only 2 cards to play, I played that new card for 0 energy and the ROUSE THE TREES AND STONES for 1 Energy. I had no choice but to let ravage happened to the H8 while defending the H2.
FAST POWER PHASE
Set the Defend 5 to H2 and nothing else.
INVADER PHASE.
4th Fear Card: AVOID THE DAHAN. Skipped all Build action in lands where Dahan outnumber Town/City. This worked for H3 since it had 1 Dahan and no City or Town.
Ravage happened on H2, 5 damage, completely defended and no Dahan to counter. Happened also on H8, with 3, destroying 1 Dahan and dealt 1 damage to the other Dahan. The retaliation destroyed the Town, generating 1 Fear, 3rd after 4th card.
Build action only happened on H2, adding 1 Town. The next exploration happened on Mountains, adding 1 explorer to each. So, I was supposed to add a Town to a land without one but it seems I added to the Wetlands 6 which already had 1. Oh, well.
SLOW POWER PHASE.
Time for the attack, 2 damage plus 1 from the 2nd card attacking the only City which was on H2, gaining 2 Fear, 1st after 5th card. 1 Explorer was pushed out to H6.
Then with enough elements to 2nd Innate Power, dealing 2 damage, destroying the Town on H2. This was 2nd Fear after 5th card. 2 more fear and I would have won.
ROUND 7.
SPIRIT PHASE
Ravage on Coastal and Build on Mountains. Nothing was about to add a City so as long as I got 2 more Fear, I won.
I chose just the 1st option to retrieve the cards and place a disc. This was taken from 2nd row, allowing the Spirit to start playing 3 cards in a round. Got 4 Energy plus 3 from previous round.
I had to defend a Dahan on Mountain H3 from being destroyed by 2 Explorers, avoiding the Blight as well. So I played that Defend 5 card for 0 Energy as my 1st card.
Then I played the Ferocious Rampage for the damage and 1 Fear as my 2nd card for 2 Energy. Last card was the 2 damage for 1 Energy.
FAST POWER PHASE
Only setup the Defense 5.
INVADER PHASE.
5th Fear card: FEAR OF THE UNSEEN. This allowed me to remove 1 Explorer or Town from a land with a disc. I completely removed the invaders from H2.
Ravage happened on H3, defended. The Dahan destroyed the 2 explorers. Nothing on other Coastal lands. Build action only on Mountain H4, adding 1 Town. Exploration happened on Mountain and Jungle, 1 explorer was added to each.
SLOW POWER PHASE.
2 damage to the Town that was just added, generating 3rd Fear after 5th card. Also pushed out one of explorers to H3.
The rampage added the last fear for the 6th card, increasing the Terror Level to 3. Since there was no City, the Invaders gave up. That rampage was still about to deal 4 damage and another 4 from the Innate Power up to level 3.
Playing time was about 99 minutes.
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Hunted: North Pole
Watch the Slideshow of this Hunted: North Pole game session here.
Collect items, weapons and recruit other Elves to help you save Santa from Jack Frost in Hunted: North Pole.
This was a solo session, playing as Becky. The first thing that Becky found in her journey was a noisy path. She found a Carrot. Not far from there, a Reindeer showed up. Lucky. Then another path, pretty much very safe.
Becky picked the carrot and gave it to the Reindeer. The reindeer moved her 2 spaces where Becky got to Mr. Rabbit’s house. She asked for Mr. Rabbit’s help but the Rabbit said, “Not my problem.” Becky didn’t give up and finally Mr. Rabbit gave her a Carrot token which was useful for the Reindeer.
Becky continued her journey back to the empty, safe path. She saw an Elf, Suzie, with a Paindeer not far from her. So, Becky couldn’t get close to her. Instead she found another Reindeer and a path. That created some noises and the Paindeer started to notice.
Becky used one of her ability to distract the Paindeer far away. She found another Reindeer and this one helped her get to Suzie. Suzie agreed to join with this rescue mission.
A Gingerbread minion was on sight. Becky gave carrot she got from Mr. Rabbit to the other Reindeer. The 2 elves then moved 2 spaces closer to where Santa was. After they got off, they continued walking where they found a large Ornate Mirror.
Becky looked at the mirror and saw how tired she was in this mission. But then she remembered how important this year Christmas was for the kids. Becky got her spirit back and felt more powerful. She was ready to save the Santa.
Becky and Suzie found a Bomb, a powerful item. But it was too close to the Gingerbread monster. So, they decided to just walk away.
Well, that was a good decision. They now found more items lying around and a path. As she run, Becky tripped over something on the ground. Apparently Mr. Chipmunks didn’t bury one of their treasures very well. Becky tried to pick it up but she was not strong enough, even with the help from Suzie. They gave up and continued with their business.
Back to the path, they found a Toy Soldier. They tried to be careful not to get caught but they got ambushed by another Gingerbread. While they managed to outrun the Gingerbread, they had no choice but to fight the Toy Soldier.
Both of them pulled out their Slingshots/ One shot from Suzie and 3 from Becky knocked down the Toy Soldier. Unfortunately, the fight was not over as a Paindeer got to where they were. One shot from each and the Paindeer was defeated.
Just when they thought they were safe, a Gummy Bear attacked them. 2 shots from Becky and 1 from Suzie took it down.
While they lost a lot of time fighting those minions, their hard work paid off. They found 2 other elves, Wynonna and Terry, along with a Reindeer, Christmas Spirit and a path. They picked up the item.
Becky tried to convince both of them to join the rescue mission but Wynonna was too scared. However, Wynonna gave Becky the carrot she had. Becky then fed the Reindeer and the reindeer helped them moved 2 spaces forward. They found a fork on the path. One of them was a shortcut.
Becky was not sure, initially which one was the shorter path. One of her abilities helped her to pick the right one it seems.
Back on the path, they saw a Gingerbread. Terry distracted the Minion while Becky and Suzie hid. The 2 continued on the path afterwards and found more items lying around.
All of a sudden, they heard Jack Frost’s voice. He tried to scare them by throwing some insults. Becky was smart to deal with this kind of Mental attack. She just closed her eyes and tried to ignore those telepathy.
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Back on the path, the 2 found Gummy Bear and a Reindeer. Well, the minion was too close to the Reindeer so they took a different path where they found a dangerous Paindeer. It was in the middle of eating a Candy Cane. Becky somehow got an idea to hop on to that Paindeer and hoping that it would take them closer to their destination.
The Paindeer was shocked and struggling. Becky and Suzie managed to hold on until the Paindeer threw them both off its back. But they did move closer.
Apparently, another Gummy Bear ambushed them. 2 shots from Becky and 1 from Suzie to take the minion down.
Back to the path and they found more items and a Reindeer. Before they got to any of them, that previous Paindeer finally came back for a revenge.
2 shots from Becky and 1 from Suzie were not enough. Becky used one of her power and gave critical hit to the Paindeer.
Back to the path, they saw a Gingerbread minion. They tried to avoid it. When they thought they managed to get away from it, they were ambushed by a Gummy bear.
Suzie was already run out of ammo. Becky had 3 shots and fortunately that was enough to take the Bear down. After that, another minion appeared, the Toy Soldier again, while they found a Reindeer and a Maple Syrup.
The Reindeer helped them picked up the syrup but run away afterwards. Both of them hid until the Toy Soldier went away.
After walking a bit, they found a Bakery house. The 2 went inside the house and didn’t realize that the Baker was there and he got startled, throwing a box of Magic Baking powder off his hand. Becky, who had a good dexterity, managed to catch and save it. The Baker then offered to give them a Sugar Cookie but they refused as they were running out of time.
Back on the path and they saw Gummy Bear again. They decided to hide until it walked away as they had not enough weapon. After a bit of walking, they found themselves a frozen path. The elves got a good ice skating training in the North Pole University so they had no problem crossing that path.
The 2 were close enough to where Santa was. Becky found some ammo for her Slingshot. There were a lot more other items but then they saw a Snowman approaching. Becky used her ability again to get rid of it.
After walking down the path again, they were ambushed. A gingerbread jumped off a tree and managed to grab Suzie. She couldn’t break free as the minion was too strong. 3 shots from Becky were enough to save Suzie.
Back on the path, the Snowman came back and was chasing another elf. It was Clarence. Suzie sacrificed herself to save Clarence and they both fell off the cliff. The Snowman looked back and started to attack Becky.
Becky had no choice but her only weapon had only 1 shot left. She used every item she got to beat this Snowman. Not sure how but with Maple Syrup and Christmas Spirit, she did it.
Becky continued her journey alone. She was very close but she had to find something to help her fight Jack Frost. She found a box of ammo for her Slingshot. Not great but better.
Before getting to where Jack Frost was, she had to carefully stay hidden from a lot of Paindeers. Finally, she was just 1 space away. She still had not enough items or weapon.
All of a sudden, an Elf showed up. It was Terry again. He joined the fight and Becky got some confident. The 2 got into the house and found both Santa and Jack Frost.
The final fight began. 3 shots from Becky and 1 from Terry. Extra hit from drinking a lot of Christmas Spirits along with Becky’s special ability to hit 3 damage.
Jack Frost was not done. Becky took a hit. She only had 2 shots left and a couple more from Terry. But Becky learned some distraction tricks on Jack Frost. He lost focus and took a critical hit from the last shot.
They beat Jack Frost and rescued Santa. Christmas was saved for this year.
Playing time was about 57 minutes.
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Sylvion
Watch the Slideshow of this Sylvion game session here.
Assemble the Sylvan to defend the Dream Forest from the Fire Elemental Lord in Sylvion.
This was with the drafting mode. I got 35 cards and only one of them was the Owl. 5 of them were the Extraordinary Feats, with 3 were in game abilities and 2 were instant win conditions. I was trying to avoid betrayal cards but ended up not getting enough Owl.
ROUND 1. There was Desiccation and Tornado so I had to discard 2 cards and put back 2 cards to the deck. Then a Blaze card turning Elemental 3 to 4 on first row.
I had the fish to play Fountain 4 right in front of that Elemental 4. Discarded all the rest of my cards to play Fountain 3 on 3rd row.
ROUND 2. Stone Rain removed that Fountain 3. Demobilization forced me to remove 2 tree cards from the game. Another blaze turned Elemental 0 with a Ravage pawn into Elemental 4 on row 2.
I got an Elephant to remove that Ravage pawn while the Elemental 4 was still there. Got a hedgehog and Owl that led to Squirrel and Dove.
ROUND 3. Acid Lake on row 4. Demobilization was neutralized by my Hedgehog. Elemental 3 on row 1 plus a Simoon pushing 2 elementals.
I got a Fish to play Fountain 4 on row 1, ready to destroy the Elemental 3. Also got a Whale to move the Elemental 4 to the back on Row 1 so it would be destroying the Fountain along.
ROUND 4. Another Acid Lake on row 4 and Geyser on row 3 plus 2 Simoons.
Well, the elementals were gone along with my only Fountain. I only got a Fountain 2 which I played on row 1.
ROUND 5. 3 Elementals on first 3 rows plus a Blaze so they became a 4, a 3 and a 3.
I got no Fountain to fight them but I did get a Whale. I moved one Elemental from row 2 to row 3 and then activated the Geyser to remove those 2 elementals. One more elemental was ready to destroy my Fountain.
I did nothing else.
ROUND 6. A Desiccation so I had to discard some tree cards. Elemental 0 became a 4 because there was a Blaze card and a Simoon.
I got some Fountains but they were not strong enough to destroy the 2 Elemental 4. So, I had no choice but to let them deal damage to the Forest while planting a Tree 2 on Row 3 behind a Fountain 2.
This time I played the Dove, removing a card from the 4 Ravage decks, 2 Elemental, Demobilization and Desiccation.
ROUND 7. Another Desiccation, a Simoon and a Blaze, turning a new Elemental 2 into a 3 with a Ravage. Got 1st damage to the Forest.
My hand was empty and after the reinforcement, all I got were 2 Trees and Fish. So, since the Sylvan deck was just reshuffled, I activated the Owl from Extraordinary Feat to take 2 cards, an Owl itself and Elephant just to remove the Ravage pawn first so I didn’t lose instantly.
Playing the Owl actually got me another elephant so I removed both the pawn and the Elemental.
ROUND 8. A Demobilization forced me to remove an Elephant and a Tree. The Tornado returned 2 cards from my hand to the deck. A Blaze that did nothing and 2nd Geyser on row 4. Got 2nd hit to the Forest.
I had the Stag so I healed the 2 damage forest and nothing else.
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ROUND 9. A geyser on row 2 and 3 elementals.
I activated the Geyser on Row 4 to destroy that Elemental 3 on the same row. Got the fish so I was able to play Fountain 4 on row 1, ready to destroy the Elemental 0.
ROUND 10. Acid Lake on row 1. Stone Rain dealt 1 damage on row 2. 2 Elemental 2 on the other rows.
I got 2 Whales, moving both Elemental 2 to both row 1 to be destroyed by Fountain 4.
ROUND 11. 2 low Elemental, a Desiccation and a Simoon.
Luckily, I only had to discard one card, a Squirrel. The Simoon actually helped removed some of the Elementals so what was left was Elemental 2 on row 2.
I only played Fountain 4 on row 4 in front of the 2 Acid Lakes.
ROUND 12. 2 Stone Rains, both removed one Fountain 4 each. Another Geyser on Row 2 and Demobilization on row 3 which I neutralized with my Hedgehog.
No threats for now but I got a fish and Fountain 2 plus a Tree. I played the Fountain 2 on row 4.
ROUND 13. A Blaze turned the 2 new Elemental 3 to 4. Then there was a Tornado and I returned the last card in my hand.
I got 2 Doves and 1 Fish. Played one of the Dove to remove the next top card from each Ravage deck, 2 Elementals, a Desiccation and a Demobilization.
ROUND 14. 3 Elementals and a Blaze. Now there were 3 Elemental 4s and 2 Elemental 2.
I only got a Fish, a Fountain and a Stag. I played the fountain on row 1 just to be destroyed by the Elemental 4 so I got a new card.
ROUND 15. 2 more Elementals and 2 more Desiccations so I was right to empty my hand.
3 Fountains were destroyed so I got 3 extra cards after reinforcement. I only got Fountain 4, a Tree, a Whale, a Dove, a Hedgehog, a Fish. But also, 2 Geysers on row 2. I activated 1 to destroy 1 Elemental 4 from row 3.
Using the whale, I moved one of the Elemental 4 from row 1 to row 2. Then I activated the Geyser to destroy the 2 Elementals from row 2. Then I played the Fountain 4 on row 3, ready to destroy the Elemental 3.
ROUND 16. 2 Simoons pushed 3 Elementals plus 1 new 2 extra spaces forward. The Tornado forced me to return 2 cards to the deck. Got 2 new hits to the Forest but the Elementals were gone.
After reinforcement, I got 2 Doves, a Fish and Elemental 4. There were 2 cards left from each Ravage deck and I still had my Tree 2 to recover the forest.
So, I played the Fish after discarding the Fountain to play both Doves. I removed the last 2 cards from each deck and ended the game.
The Forest was saved.
Playing time was about 45 minutes.
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Goblin Vaults
Watch the Slideshow of this Goblin Vaults game session here.
Play a card to make a bid for the best card to complete chambers in Goblin Vaults.
This was a new game for me. It is from the same setting as Roll Player game, the World of Ulos, from the same designer and publisher. They recently run a KS campaign for the sequel, another bidding game but using dice called Emerald Skulls. Probably still available for Late Pledge as of this moment.
The game was released last year and Dan King, The Game Boy Geek put this game as one of the best game from 2023.
It was sold as kind of a trick taking game but with bidding. Considering that there is a solo mode, so I thought maybe I should give it a try. The game comes with just 80 cards and some tokens with the box can definitely be smaller than it is.
So, how does the game play?
Each player will get a hand of 9 cards with different suits, minimum of 4 and each suit has between value 1 to 10. All cards from those suits are shuffled so you might get blue 1, yellow 3, red 9 and so on.
The goal of this game is to get the most points. The main way to do so is to create up to 4 sets of 3 cards each on your tableau. Each turn, you play a card in your hand in order to get a card you might want to put into one of these sets.
Each game, there will be 3 scoring cards that will determine what kind of sets you want to get. Maybe a set of 3 cards with value in sequence, ascending or descending order. Another might be having a set where the Red card has the highest value. The last one might be having at least 2 green cards in a set with more points if you get a 3.
To place a new card in any set, you have to start from what they call Tier 1, which is just card at the top, moving down to Tier 3. Then the next one can be the 2nd card of the first set or start a new set but for the top row. So, after you play 9 cards from your hand, get probably 9 different cards from the center, you will get 10 cards (1 starting) in those 4 sets. Then you calculate the score.
At the center of the table, each turn there will be 3 face up cards that players can try to bid and win it. Maybe first player bid the card on the right. 2nd player then bid the 2nd while the 3rd player try to outbid the first one and so on.
The value of the cards in your hand is the bidding value, so higher value will win the bid. At the center of the table, there is also one additional card that determine the trump suit of each round. So, if the next player bid using lower value but with that trump suit, they may outbid the first one, unless of course, the first one also had the trump suit.
The interesting part is the card that wins the bid will enter the auction for the next round. Then every player can try to win those. This means that it is possible to get the same card you played earlier and place it in your tableau, for one of your sets.
You can even take it back right away by UNDERBIDDING. You purposely lose the bid by playing either the same or lower value than the previous bid. But in order to do so, you have to pay.
The game comes with what they call GEAR token and each player starts with 3. You place your token to the winning card. So, that is the way to get more tokens.
Without having any gear, you cannot choose to underbid. If underbidding is the only possible move, then you directly place the card into your vault face down as if it was an empty card.
There is an additional action you can take called the WARDEN ACTIONS. This allows you to do one of 2 things, MOVE or DRAW. Move means moving a card from one of your sets to another. This is where the initial position of cards matters.
You may move a card from Tier 1 to any Tier on any other sets but only to the next Tier of that set. By doing so, the cards in the next tier of that set will move up their position. Each card itself has preference as which Tier they will score and only placing in that Tier will give you more points at the end.
So, you may place a card that specifically says will score in Tier 3 on Tier 1. But later you move it to the Tier 3 using this Warden action. This is also useful when you think you have no chance to complete the scoring objective near the end. Maybe by moving the card you can at least get better value per card.
The 2nd action of the WARDEN ACTION is to draw. This allows you to put one card in your hand to the bottom of the deck and replace it by a new card at the top. This is a bit random since you don’t know which card to draw. Maybe later, assuming you look at cards in the tableau of every player, you can kind of figure out which possible cards are still in the deck or in other player’s hand. At least, it is also useful when you get all cards with low value.
However, to get this additional, optional WARDEN action, you need to play a card that has the same FACTION ICON as yours. So, each card has a suit and a Faction Icon. The same value of one suit will have different faction icon of the other suit.
I think I missed this part of the rule and assumed you can always use Warden action anytime. Not sure how likely you get little to no cards with matching icon with your faction.
At the end of each round, the current first player can choose to Swap the card in the bid with the trump card.
That is basically, the entire game, play 9 cards, add 9 cards to your tableau sets and score.
You score every gear token you have left after the end of the game. Every card in the matching Tier position will get you points, with higher tier score more.
If you have cards with you faction icon on your sets, you get more score. That means even if you don’t get to use a lot of Warden actions for not having those cards, you can still win them and get better score. Lastly, you score the scoring cards.
You can play this with 2 players but there will be 3rd hand that always bid first. The 3rd hand will have a face down deck and you reveal the top card as their bid. The card will have icon at the bottom right as to determine where they are going to bid.
This same system also works in the solo mode but this Opponent player will have twice the hand size and bid twice. They bid first and after the player made their bid, they bid the 2nd time. If this opponent is about to outbid their own card, you move the 2nd bid to the next one.
I have not played this yet as I thought I should try 2-handed first. The solo mode comes with 3 different difficulty settings which is basically just more points per matching faction icons for harder level.
This opponent doesn’t create set or score based on Tiers or scoring cards. They only get points if the card in their discard piles matches with their Faction icon or the Suit for the Scoring cards. So, you might want to deny them for getting those cards while trying to score the regular way.
There is also ADVANCED VARIANT where you play with more suits and more Scoring cards. You still play with just 9 cards.
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Here is my initial impression.
You definitely want to start your focus on the Scoring Cards. As part of the setup you choose 1 card from the Starting 10 as your first one. The scoring cards can be one of the things to consider.
While I can see that you can choose to move the card later, but you have to have your faction card in your hand to do so. I think I did moving once, even that was by ignoring that faction rule.
The game itself is fast. You can restart the game immediately just by shuffling the same cards. Assuming you play with the same scoring cards or with scoring cards with the matching suits. Otherwise, you have to remove the non-matching one and includes the new suit.
Maybe this is better with more players and it plays up to 5. With more players, you are still trying to bid for 1 of 3 cards. So multiple bids on one or 2 is possible. With 2 or 3 players, players can just win one without even trying.
But you still have to think which card to play as it will become the next bid. It can be useful for the opponents later. Or just high enough cards to make sure that the next player doesn’t outbid you.
I guess with more players you do more underbidding, and focus on your own cards to create the set? Assuming of course you have enough tokens.
I think I got it wrong with the 3rd hand. In solo play, this bot is very clear that they always bid first and 3rd or last. But in 2-player mode, I played like that where they bid first. Maybe the correct rule is to reveal the card on this 3rd player’s turn. I guess that is why my play was a bit underwhelming.
The game comes with total of 7 Goal or Scoring cards, including 1 Basic one, and all of them were double sided. So, I guess that is where the replay value comes from.
Well, I like creating the sets part and how you can score different ways which each card. Sometimes it is perfect for the Scoring cards but not exactly the Tier position and you have to make a choice.
Some scoring feels like push your luck as you probably need to have 3 cards. Either get 3 correctly or not score at all. Some cards you can score just with 2 but possibly better with 3.
I’m not sure now with the Moving part since you have limited chance to do so. The moment you need to move, there is a chance you won’t have that card with your faction. So, it’s like you want to save it until your last card.
My question is, do you need to keep track of which card is still available, like playing other trick taking games? Definitely a nightmare when playing with more. Some scoring will force you to get specific value like that sequence even if not the matching suits. However, the other scoring might force you to look for that exact one. Of course, you can just then score one and ignore the others.
Well, that was just from my first play with some errors. I definitely have to try the solo. Some say the solo is great but others already said it is a bit random. We’ll see.
Playing time was about 40 minutes, 2-handed, learning session.
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Miyabi
Watch the Slideshow of this Miyabi game session here.
Build your Japanese Garden by skillfully place stones, pagodas, trees and ponds on multiple elevation in Miyabi.
This was a 2-handed session using all of the expansions. I actually forgot a bit the rule where you can only place the next Zen tile after scoring your previous one first. Remembered it during the game so one player got some advantage, hopefully not that much.
ROUND 1.
1st Player started with the size 3 straight with the Pagoda. The object was at the end of the tile so it had be pointing to the center or to its row. They placed on the leftmost.
2nd Player chose something similar but it was the Pond and the object was in the middle. Also placing it on leftmost column.
From the L shape size 3 tiles, 1st Player then picked the one with Pond. It was placed on 2nd column from the left, pointing to the center. Their Frog was right next to the tile now.
2nd Player then picked the leftover of that shape but with flowers. This was placed similarly on 2nd column from the left.
Now to the size 2. There were 2 with Pagodas, 1 with Ponds and the last one with Stone. 1st player picked one of the pagodas. This was placed on 3rd column next to both 1st and 2nd tile, trying to create a big foundation. 2nd player picked the same and placed it on the exact position and orientation.
1st player then picked the one with Ponds and placed it on 4th column, vertically, still next to 2 tiles. 2nd player had no choice but to pick the Stone. This was placed on 4th column still, vertically and it was a bit separated from the existing group. 2nd player also moved the Frog up one level.
To the size 1, there were 1 with pond, 1 with stone, bush, and flower. Continuing making bigger foundation and the 1st player picked the one with Pond to the 5th column. 2nd player picked the one with bush to their 5th column so it was next to their last stone tiles.
As the last tile, 1st player picked the Flower to the 6th and it was separated from the big group. 2nd player got the last one with stone and it was placed at the bottom right corner.
Current score: 13 for both.
ROUND 2.
2nd player went first and there was an L size 3 with the Pond that was perfect to fill the gap for 2nd player. The object was placed on 4th. 2nd player had a big 1st level foundation of 3 x 3.
1st player then picked the straight Tree with the object in the middle. They placed it so the object was on 2nd column. This also created solid 3 x 3 of 1st level for 1st player.
Instead of L shape Stone, 2nd player then picked the straight size 3 with Pagoda. This was placed on 2nd level, horizontally with the object in the middle so occupying 2nd column.
1st player then took the L shape Stone and placed it at the bottom right corner. It was connected to the single Flower.
Moving on to the size 2, there were 2 with bush and 2 with stones. 2nd Player picked one with Bush and expanded their 1st Level foundation by placing it horizontally. The object was at 3rd column.
1st player picked the other with Bush and placed it so their 1st level foundation was a solid 3 x 4.
2nd player then took the size 2 with stone and placed it at the bottom left corner. They now also had a solid 3 x 4 Level 1 foundation. 1st player then picked the same tile, placing it at the exact same place.
To the size 1, there were 1 with Tree, 2 with Ponds and 1 with Bush. 2nd player instead picked one with stone from the Zen tile. This was placed on 5th column. It was not completely surrounded yet.
1st player also picked one from Zen tile but with Flower. This was placed on 4th column with 3 more empty spaces to completely surround this tile.
2nd player last choice was the Bush to their 6th column, completely surrounding the Zen tile and scored extra 5 points. 1st player chose the single Tree to place on their 5th.
That was the end of 2nd round. 1st Player scored 25 and 2nd scored 33.
ROUND 3.
Back to 1st player again and this time there were 2 L shapes perfect for 1st player. One had Trees and one had Pagodas. They picked one with the Trees first and it was placed on 2nd level at the top left corner.
2nd player didn’t want the 1st player to take the other L so they took it and placed it on the ground with the object on 5th column. This expanded their 1st level foundation.
Unfortunately, the next size 3 straights were bad for 1st player. The one with stone could have fit but the other one with bush had no room for it. So, instead they just immediately moved on to the size 2 with trees and placed it on 2nd level, 3rd column.
2nd player also made that decision but they had the opposite situation. The stone didn’t work but the Bush had room. So, they just waited and picked size 2 with flowers to expand their 1st level foundation. Now they had 3 x 5.
Still with size 2, either with stone or Pagoda. 1st player chose the latter to connect the single tree and the bigger blocks. They could have done to connect the 2nd bigger at the bottom right.
2nd player finally picked the size 3 straight with Bush and it was placed on 2nd level, 4th column.
1st player then took the size 2 with stone and placed it on 4th column vertically. Their Zen tile was now only had 2 spaces to fill. With this, they now had room for the Straight tile with stone.
2nd player already moved on to the size 1, either tree, Flower, or 2 stones. They needed both stones to fill the last gap at the bottom so they started with the 2nd column first.
1st player finally picked the size 3 Stone and placed it on 5th column, 2nd level. 2nd player took the other single stone for their 3rd column.
So, here is where I got it wrong. 1st player took the 2nd Zen tile with Bush and placed it on 2nd column. This was not a legal move since they had not scored their first one yet. Oh, well.
2nd player then also picked Zen tile with Tree for their 1st column and this was legal since they had scored the previous Stone Zen tile.
That was the end of 3rd round. 48 points for 1st player and 49 for 2nd.
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ROUND 4.
2nd player started by picking the straight size 3 with a Pond. The object was on the end and it was placed on 2nd column, 2nd level just to connect the 2 size 3 on 2nd level. The Frog was already on 3rd level.
1st player started with size 2 with a pond. This was also on 2nd Level, expanding the existing layer to 2 x 3.
2nd player again and they picked the other straight with the Flower in the middle. It was placed on 4th column, 3rd level, first one to do so in this session.
1st player took the other L with Tree. Instead of placing it at the top left like before, they chose to place on 3rd column, also 3rd level.
To the size 2, there were 2 with ponds, 1 with Flower and 1 with Bush. 2nd player took one with Flower, placing it horizontally so the object was on 3rd, making a bigger 2nd level foundation. They also moved their frog to the 3rd level.
1st player took one with the Pond and placed it on 1st column, vertically, expanding the 2nd level layer. 2nd player then took one with Bush, placing it also on 1st column, vertically.
1st player then took the single Pagoda and placed it on 5th, 2nd level. 2nd player took the single pond to their 5th column. 1st took the single tree to the 4th column, filling that empty space.
2nd player took the single stone at the bottom right, 2nd level. Unfortunately, the 1st player couldn’t use the size 3 L stone. They already got 2 Zen tiles incorrectly.
That was the end of Round 4. 71 points for 1st player and 79 for 2nd.
ROUND 5.
1st player started by taking the L shape with Pagoda and placed it so the object was on 1st column, expanding the 3rd level. 2nd player took the other L with Bush and placed it on 5th column, 2nd layer.
Again for the straight size 3, 1st player couldn’t use any of them with Flower or Stone. Actually the stone was possible at the bottom right. Instead, they picked the size 2 with stone to fill the last gap at the bottom. This also finally completely surrounded the wrong zen tile, scoring 6 points.
2nd player picked the straight size 3 with flower and placed it on 3rd column, 3rd level.
1st player then took size 2 with Pagoda, placing it so the object was on 3rd column, horizontally. This was the 4th layer and they managed to move the frog to that level, upgrading the frog into a Golden one.
2nd player took the single Tree and placed it on 2nd column, ground floor. This finally completely surrounding the Zen tile at the corner, scoring 4 points.
1st player finally picked the Straight size 3 with stone with the object on the end. They placed it at the bottom right so the object was on 4th column.
2nd player took the size 2 pond and placed it on 4th layer, 4th column. 1st player took the size 2 Flower to finally completely surround the first zen tile, scoring 7 points. 2nd player took the single stone and put it at the bottom left corner.
Last turn, 1st player took another Zen tile with Pond for their 6th column. This was already surrounded completely, scoring extra 7 points. 2nd player also took the exact tile but it was not completely surrounded.
That was the end of 5th round. 116 points for 1st and 117 for 2nd.
ROUND 6.
2nd player first took the L shape Flower to their 1st column, 3rd layer. 1st player took the Straight size 3 Tree and placed it on 1st row entirely, 1st column.
2nd player then took the Straight size 3 flowers to 3rd layer, 2nd column, horizontally. They also moved the Frog to that layer, turning it into Golden Frog.
1st player took the size 2 Tree and placed it on 4th layer, 2nd column, first one to reach 5th layer and for the tree.
2nd player then took single Bush and placed it on 4th column, 4th layer. 1st player took size 2 with Bush on 4th column, horizontally to the right, 2nd layer.
2nd player took the single flower and placed it on 3rd column, 5th layer. First one to do for this row. 1st player took Zen tile with Tree and placed it at the top right corner, completely surrounded, scoring 4 points.
2nd player took single Flower and placed it on 5th column, 3rd layer. 1st player took single Tree and placed it on 6th layer. Even moved the frog there.
Last one for the 2nd player was the size 2 tree at the top right corner to finally completely surrounded the zen tile, scoring 7 points. 1st player took the same tile for the 5th column, 2nd layer.
That was the end of the game. Currently 183 for 1st and 171 for 2nd.
SCORING
After the majority bonus from 6 rows, 212 for 1st and 206 for 2nd.
With the 1st expansion, 1st got to 238 and 2nd got to 240. 2nd player managed to connect all visible objects while 1st player got 2 groups.
After the 2nd expansion scoring, 1st got 248 while 2nd got to 246. As 1st player got more empty spaces connected in a group. Then with the last expansion that scored at the end, 1st player got 272 and 2nd got to 260.
So, even if removing the wrong zen tile for 1st player which was about 7 points, they still got more points.
Playing time was about 68 minutes.
Learn more about the game from Miyabi Review.
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Adventure of D
Watch the Slideshow of this Adventure of D game session here.
Defeat Elzoof, the Chaos Wizard to liberate the island and save the kingdom in Adventure of D.
This was a solo session, using PRIEST as the starting character with INT+1. In order to breakthrough the Magic Barrier of the Tower of Death, I needed to have one of the stats to at least 5. I also needed to have 3 cards of the same color to beat the Wizard.
ROUND 1.
The game started with a Red Wolf attacking the Castle of Light where the Priest was. The Priest managed to beat it, luckily. As the reward the Priest leveled up their AGI by 1 and got an item, RED FUR.
Another event happened on Swamp of Talis which was next to the Castle of Light. A Giant Spider started to create problems in that location. While moving to that location, the Priest was ambushed by a Shadow. The Priest defeated and got more Magic.
The Priest had 3 HP left and he was very confident to take down the Giant Stinger. He did it. As reward, he got SCROLL OF VISION, an item to teleport anybody to any location.
The Priest then went back safely to the Castle of Light and rest.
ROUND 2.
Another event at the Castle of Light, a Javelin Contest. The Priest took part and won easily. He got a RED SCROLL which allowed him to teleport to VILLAGE OF DAWN. Coincidentally, Orc Magician happened to terrorize the village. So, the Priest used the item and teleported himself there. He beat the Orc and his STR went up by 1.
While at Village of Dawn, he met with BLUE WIZARD. From him, he learned Wizard Wand, a skill to teleport to any location by spending 1 Magic and 1 Power Card but not the White one.
The Priest then continued his journey to Old Village of Dew, next to the Village of Dawn thanks to the Chaos Wizard magic. It was a safe journey. He took a rest there.
ROUND 3.
2 events happened, one at Tower of Death and the other was at Woods of Mana. Both were not far from where the Priest was.
Instead of going there, the Priest decided to visit Master Chvatil at Mountain of Mage, still next to where he was. He thought he had what it takes to improve his Magic. It was a safe journey and with the help from the Master. the Priest’s INT went up by 1, close to be a Mage Knight.
From there, Woods of Mana where an Ice Devil appeared was very close. The Prist only had 2 HP left. It would not be enough to move and then challenge the Ice Devil. So, instead, the Priest used the Scroll of Vision just to teleport 1 space. Then he took the challenge.
The Priest had a matching Power card so he healed one. He beat the Ice Devil and his INT went up again to 3. However, before Ice Devil died, the devil casted a magic to teleport the Priest to random place.
He was sent to Village of Dawn. That was lucky actually, since it was far from the Woods of Mana. Unfortunately, the Priest didn’t get the chance to use the other item, Red Fur to increase the INT even higher.
The Priest took a rest at the Village.
ROUND 4.
Goblin Magician appeared at Swamp of Talis, along with Frozen Cloud at the Great Chasm.
While at Village of Dawn, The Priest met with a Monk and he learned MEDITATION. This allowed him to choose one of 2 skills everytime he try to learn a Skill. As added bonus, he would also gain 3 Magic.
Since the Priest leveled up his Stats rather equally across three stats, he had a chance to utilize his condition at Garden of Mushroom. It was next to where he was.
As he moved there, a Shadow attacked him and he had enough Magic to defeat the Shadow. Then the Garden really helped him increased his INT, which became 4 at that point. One point more to break into the Tower of Death.
From there, The Priest tried to teleport using the skill he learned from Blue Mage. Apparently, with the existence of Goblin Magician, the Priest couldn’t control where he was going. However, somehow, he got to where that Goblin Magician was, the Swamp of Talis. At least, that was close to Castle of Light, his initial destination.
The Priest ignored the Goblin and went back to the Castle, taking a rest.
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ROUND 5.
That Goblin was offended for being ignored and just disappeared from the location. Somehow another Goblin appeared at Lake of Hope, next to that Swamp. Maybe the Goblin became a traveler?
Another quest happened at Plain of Sorrow to rescue a Teacher. The location was next to the Castle of Light, where the Priest was.
The Prist actually decided to go to the opposite direction to Forest of Gloom to learn more Agility from Master Childres. He didn’t actually need it but why not? It was a safe journey and he increased his AGI to 2.
From there, he moved back to Mountain of Mage again, taking a rest there.
ROUND 6.
At Mountain of Mage, the Prist didn’t have the exact Power required to level up his INT. Luckily, he had his BLESSING skill and this got him what was needed to learn more to be Mage Knight. Finally he got his INT to 5 so he was ready to enter the Tower of Death.
Before that, the Priest decided to learn more Skill at Village of Dawn. He teleported there. Before taking a rest, he met with an ELF and learned FRIEND OF NATURE skill.
ROUND 7.
New day and since he was still at Village of Dawn, he learned more skill and this time was from a KNIGHT. The Priest learned SHINING ARMOR.
After that, he decided to visit the Lake of Hope, meeting with a Goblin Traveler. For some reason, the Priest failed to defeat his strength. Had he won he would have gotten an item. Instead he gained 2 Magic.
The Priest moved back again to the Village of Dawn and took a rest.
ROUND 8.
The Priest decided that this was the day to face the Chaos Wizard since the obstacle there was removed. Before that, he learned one more skill, CONCENTRATE from a SCHOLAR.
Then he teleported himself using the Wizard Wand skill to the Tower of Death and entered.
The Priest moved pass through the Magic Barrier. Then he got into the next room, full of TRAP. Luckily, he learned the Shining Armor skill and that trap didn’t stop him.
Before entering the Final Room, he found an Altar to do more healing. He had enough Magic left to gain the necessary Power Cards to beat the Chaos Wizard.
Finally, he entered the room. With 3 Power Cards of Agility, the Priest defeated Elzoof.
The Kingdom, along with the Island was liberated.
Playing time was about 39 minutes.
Learn more about the game from Adventure of D Review.
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Sagrada
Watch the Slideshow of this Sagrada game session here.
Construct the best Stained-Glass Window to decorate the iconic building of Barcelona in a game of Sagrada.
As usual, I had 2 sessions. A solo first using Shadow Thief card and then played 2-handed with the 2nd one using the Battlo card. Both cards use 5 Favor tokens.
Well, in the solo session I scored only 32 while the opponent got 55. I only used 1 tool and that was only to replace one die for another from the round track.
From Private objectives, either green or purple. The former got me 15 while the latter only 10. The 2 Public objectives were to get variety or colors and variety of values. 5 points per complete set of different values and 4 points of complete set with all colors.
I only got 3 of blue and green. Apparently, I only got a single 1. So from that one objective I only got 1 set. There were a couple of 1s rolled but I had to give them to the opponent to lower their score. Somehow I forgot my own.
So, I played the 2nd session, the 2-handed with the Battlo card. Adding Color Diagonals as the 3rd Public Objective.
I think I made the bad first move for the Battlo card. Picked a Red 1 to fill the bottom left corner and this side was the starting player. By the time they got to pick the 2nd die, none of the 2 dice were able to fill any of the 3 nearby spaces.
Luckily, there was a tool that allowed me to place the next die not in the adjacent space. This was the first time I had to use the Tool right from the start.
In the 8th round, the 2nd player, with the Shadow Thief had to use the LENS CUTTER tool to exchange one of the leftover die with the one on round track.
Well, in the last round both of them had to use Flux Brush to reroll. Let’s just say that both side cheated and rolled what they wanted to fill the last space. Even though the 2nd player had to spend more of the Favor tokens.
At the end, the Battlo player got 47 and the Shadow Thief got 49.
Playing time was about 15 minutes for solo and almost double the time for the 2-handed.
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The White Castle
Watch the slideshow of this The White Castle game session here.
Gain influence and position in Himeji Castle by managing resource to deploy members of your clans to serve the Daimyo in The White Castle.
This was my first time playing with the solo variant. I actually got 2 sessions. First one was using the Normal difficulty and I lost, obviously. There was a discussion that the Normal was probably easier since you don’t go first, preventing the opponent to get extra actions. But still, I got only 30 and the opponent got 59. I think I got some rule wrong where the opponent should have gotten more points when they trade money each round.
So, I played again and this time using the Easy difficulty. This time I still lost and not even close.
ROUND 1. Red: 1, 4, 5. Black: 1, 3, 5. White: 1, 4, 5.
I started with 2 of each resources, 4 money and 2 Daimyo Seals. 1st Lantern bonus was the Pearl and the Player board action was the Warrior.
My first action was to take the White 5. From the first floor there was a room with 2 White which got me 1 step in turn order and the action to send a warrior by spending the seal. The room required a 3 so I got 2 money with the 5.
Since I only had 2 Iron, I sent it to the cheapest spot, allowing me to trigger any light background action. There was one action with this background that gave me the Well bonus plus 1 Money. The Well got me 1 Seal, 1 Iron and 1 Food.
I had 7 money and 2 seals, 3 Food, 2 Iron and 2 Pearl.
The opponent took the Black in the middle, a 3. They placed it on 2nd floor, left room so the value was lower than required. With the action, they sent out one Gardener that would have gotten them 7 points at the end and it was at the Black Bridge. They also got 5 money.
For my 2nd action, I thought maybe I should try to prevent the opponent from getting the Bridge bonus this round. 2nd room of 1st floor also had 2 actions triggered by black so I took the 5 this time. Got 2 money since the room required a 3.
One action was to move farther in turn order track while the 2nd action was COURTIER by spending 1 Seal. Paid that 2 money I just got to send a Courtier to the gate.
The opponent took middle Red dice, a 4. They were supposed to place it in the same room I just occupied so they moved it to the Well. For the action, they sent one Courtier to the gate and then advanced on turn order track while gaining 3 money.
As for the 3rd action, I still tried to prevent the opponent from taking the Gardener bonus. So I got the Black one from the Lantern side. Got my 3rd pearl.
What I did with this Black 1 was to use my Personal board action. It required a 6 so I had to pay 5. This got me 2 iron in addition to my previous 2 and triggered the Warrior action. I got 4 irons so I sent one warrior to the 2nd space that required 3. This space allowed me to do 1 Courtier action that I used to move up the one already at the gate, spending 2 Pearls.
I took the card from the left room, 1st floor. The card had the Warrior action for the bottom or white action. Since I already deployed 2 warriors so far, I had to trigger that row somehow.
For the opponent’s 3rd action this round, they took Red on the left, a Red 1. They placed it on one of 2 spaces at the bottom right that required a 5. The action they took was sending Gardener again to the Black bridge again since it had the lowest value card. I got it right emptying that part.
After that they moved up one Courtier 1 level. The lowest they had was at the gate. Not sure if this was the best choice for me but I let them replace the middle room card of the 1st floor, hoping that the 2 Black would have triggered better bonuses. Well, I had to say, it was worse actually, or I thought.
That was the end of the round. I was ahead in turn order so the opponent had to trade 5 money for 1 point each. They got 10. No black die on the bridge so no bonus for their 2 gardeners.
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ROUND 2. Red: 4, 6, 6. Black: 4, 5, 6. White: 1, 4, 5.
I went first and I wanted to do more Courtier but besides the bottom left one, there was only one room for that, the right on 1st floor and it required a White 3 to trigger.
I chose the White 1 on the left to get more Pearl and advancing in turn order from my lantern bonus. So, I placed it on that room, paying the missing 2. Then I spent 1 of my seal to do the Courtier action by moving up the one on 1st floor to 2nd, paying 2 Pearls.
I took the room with the card producing 3 of any combinations of resources. The other action with dark background was another Warrior. So, I triggered the action and took 1 Food and 2 Iron.
The opponent took the White 5 from the right. They placed it at the bottom right actions, not getting any coins.
For the action, they sent out Gardener again and this time to the White Bridge, while taking 5 coins.
My 2nd action was to take the last White dice from the left again with a White 4. Triggered the Lantern so I advanced the turn order track but I was stuck for not having any Seal. I got Pearl and Coin.
Since I needed Seal I placed the die to the Well, getting a Seal, 1 Iron and 1 Food with 3 coins.
The opponent took Black 5 from the middle and placed it on 2nd floor left room, getting 1 coin. Their action was Courtier, sending a new one to the gate and moved it immediately up 1 space. I let them took the left room.
As my last action I took Black 6 from the right. I placed it on 1st floor, 2nd room with 2 Black actions. One action pushed me on turn order track but I still got only 1 Seal that I needed for the other for Gardener action. I had 5 Food and I sent one out to the right Red Bridge since it was guaranteed to generate some bonus at the end of the round.
The opponent took the last black die, a 4, and they tried to put it on the same bottom right space so it went to the Well. They did Courtier action again, sending a new one to the gate and advancing in turn order plus gaining 3 money.
That was the end of the round. I still went first.
The opponent traded 10 coins for 4 points, making their score 6. They got gardeners on Black and White bridge with no dice. I had one on red and if I paid 4 coins, I could trigger one light background action with red. So I chose the one that gave me 1 coin plus 1 Well action, getting me 1 Seal, 1 Food and 1 Iron.
ROUND 3. Red: 3, 3, 4. Black: 2, 3, 4. White: 1, 5, 6.
My first action was to take the Red 3 from the left, triggering the Lantern which got me 1 Pearl and 1 Coin. Still no Seal to advance on turn order track.
I placed the die on the 2nd floor, right room since that was the only room with Warrior action. No need a seal for it. I had 4 Iron so I spent 3 to the 2nd space, triggering a Courtier action. Paid 2 coins to send a new one to the Gate.
The opponent took White 1 from the left and placed it on 1st floor, left room. No extra coins for them but they sent out new gardener and this time to the left red bridge. They also moved up their Courtier from the gate up 1 floor. I let them removed the middle card hoping to use it myself later with Black.
My 2nd action was taking White 5 from the left, triggering the Lantern again. Got Pearl again but it was already full and a coin. I placed the die to my personal domain and I paid 1 coin.
I got pearl that I couldn’t use and a Seal. The action allowed me to get 3 of any combination of resources. I took 1 Food and 2 iron.
The opponent took the last White from the right, a 6, placing it at the bottom right. Got 1 coin. They sent out their first Warrior to the 2nd space while moving up one Courtier. I let them moved up one from 1st floor to 2nd, replacing the occupied room.
As my last action, I took the Black from the left, a 2 and placed it on 2nd room of 1st floor. I had to pay 1 coin and 1 Seal for Warrior action plus 1 Food and 1 Pearl.
Spent 3 iron to send my last warrior to the 2nd space that triggered the Courtier action.
**** It seems I got it wrong this time. I moved up the Courtier from the gate 2 levels but placing it on 3rd floor. I just assumed I moved the one from 2nd floor to the 3rd. So I lost 6 and only got 1 point instead since the 2nd was still at the gate.
From that 3rd floor, I got Lantern bonus and Well bonus. 1 Pearl, 1 Coin, 1 Seal, 1 Food, 1 Iron and// 1 space on turn order track. I got the Seal this time.
The opponent took the Black 4 from the right and placed it on 1st floor right room, getting 1 coin. They also sent out new Courtier to the gate and immediately moved it up 1 level, replacing the very same room they just occupied.
That was the end of the round and the game. I was still ahead in turn order so the opponent traded only 5 coins for 3 points and they got 9 at this time.
SCORING
I only got 9 points from the Garden, 11 from Courtier, 5 points from Warriors since the last Courtier was still at the gate, instead of 10. 2 points from the leftover resources and 3 points from turn order track.
So, I only scored 30 and I thought I got 42. The opponent got 45.
Assuming I did differently from moving the Courtier, during last turn, maybe I could have scored better? I moved the one on the gate 2 spaces up and got 6 points plus 5 since I had 5 warriors out instead of 1. The other Courtier didn’t get 10 but got me a 6 still.
Still not that close to the opponent’s. Oh, well.
Playing time was about 67 minutes.
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Tiny Epic Dungeons
Watch the slideshow of this Tiny Epic Dungeons game session here.
Crawl through the Dungeon and find the way to open the lair of the Final Boss and beat it before the Torch runs out in Tiny Epic Dungeons.
A new game to me so I’m just going to share some story and my first impression after that first play with a lot of rules errors. This came out in 2021 and this is my 2nd game in the Tiny Epic series after the Defenders.
Honestly, I’ve been avoiding Tiny Epic Games, not necessarily because of that first one but with the overall selling point. A big game in a small box. At least, that is what people are going to tell others about this series.
Do you know that for their first KS campaign or campaigns, they are actually selling this series as MICRO GAMES? While I can see that from the one I’ve played but not sure about the others. Some people say they prefer these games to be in bigger size if not bigger box. Even Tom Vasel has Big Size Tiny Epic Galaxies in his library.
While I do like and prefer small boxes but I kind of hate when they try to make everything too small that can hurt the experience. Specifically about the Defenders, it’s not that they are too small but somehow it feels like they are wasting space. Instead of using space on cards or rulebooks to explain things, they use them more to make the game look good, increasing the production value.
While the Defenders come with nice toy factor with the ITEMeeple, the item in my copy doesn’t work to fit in the meeple, specifically the wearable item. So, what is supposed to be a better value doesn’t work for me, or at least my copy.
Another problem that I encountered was the rule. In general the basic premise of each Tiny Epic Game is usually very simple. However, somehow they kept trying to add complexity after complexity. You may get, unique item with unique power, unique locations, unique Enemy, unique bosses and unique characters.
They are great on their own to increase replay value but during the game, you may find some questions like how are these unique elements are going to interact? They don’t explain everything in the rulebook and so the only solution is to find or ask on BGG.
Here is the problem that made me avoid these games afterwards. I remember somebody ask one question related to how those things interact. Someone from the publisher finally gave an answer but not immediately. That was great, right? Then, another fan of the game said something like “that answer is not consistent with the answer to a different question.”.
The rule in question itself might not be a big deal but I just don’t want to go through with that process of looking for specific FAQ. On one hand, Scott Almes as the designer keeps releasing games after games not just with the Tiny Epic Series with a chance that every single one of them will have this kind of issues with the rule. I don’t want to deal with that, so I avoided them.
Until this next one, Tiny Epic Dungeons. Why did I pick this?
Every year, there is a voting by the solo community for the best solo boardgames. In 2022, after this one was released, Tiny Epic Dungeons was at #228 Best Solo Games. Then the year after that or last year, it went up again, entering the top 200 at number 139. So, that was a big jump and it was surprising to me since a couple of Youtubers for solo games said that they hate it.
I heard a couple of complains and as predicted, it is related to the rules. Apparently, they managed to make it work, created FAQ, Appendix and even tutorial on DIZED app. I recently knew this app from playing Gloomhaven: Buttons and Bugs and that helped. Maybe that is why I started reconsidering this series again and bought this one.
Actually I was thinking buying the other games in this series like Dinosaurs but I have to focus on a good solo mode which Dinosaurs have known issue. Maybe I will still buy them in the future but I settled with this one first. Also the other ones were more available while this one, I had only 1 local store that still had this and I bought it. The other stores still had the other titles.
I basically fell into FOMO since I was and am still not sure whether I like this. Oh, well.
Well, for this first and learning session, I still didn’t use the DIZED app to learn but I watched Colin’s Playthrough from One Stop Co Op shop and I thought that game might not be that bad.
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So, how was the game?
Tiny Epic Dungeons is a cooperative dungeon crawler game. As solo player you will be controlling 2 characters. You will be exploring dungeon, going through room after room with traps and Goblins to find the door to the Final Boss Lair before the timer runs out.
From the starting Square tile / card you can explore the next room by moving orthogonally to reveal the next room, another square card facing down. Then you flip that next room card. Maybe it is a safe room.
Or maybe it has traps and you need to do skill check either to avoid the trap or if you fail, you suffer some penalties, mostly losing health. Skill check means you pick one of the 3 stats of the Character. The Stats will tell you how many dice, up to 3 you can use. Unless the skill check requires specific stats, you always want to roll all dice, to get certain minimum value.
The game only comes with these 3 dice for skill checks, with one more for the enemy. This is not a game where you can keep adding dice. These 3 dice are standard d6 and they are all identical. However, along with the value between 1 to 6, the face may show resources, either Health to heal or Focus or just number.
If you only need one or 2 of them for the skill check, then you can use the other unused dice to get the resources. Depending on the character, they may have unique abilities that requires spending Focus differently. As an example, they may increase or decrease values of the dice by spending those focus. So, that becomes one of the possible dice mitigation.
Sometimes you may even change the lower value dice for the value so you can use the health to heal from the face 6. This dice system also applies when trying to fight the enemies and bosses.
The difference is that during the fight, the enemy will have Shield value to decrease the attack. Goblins always only have health of 1. Minions will have health between 6 to 8. While the Boss will always have health of 8 x number of characters.
Depending on the enemy and how you attack them, the enemies may do Counterattack, assuming they are still alive after the character’s attack. If the requirement to do counterattack is met, then you have to roll the 4th die, the Enemy die along with the 3 for the attack.
This enemy red d6 is just a modifier. The Enemy will have a specific attack and counterattack value but only when doing counterattack you will add the value of this modifier. The die has a face between 2 to 5 while the other 2 sides are showing either broken shield icon or lose time. The former means the counterattack ignores the character’s shield value while the latter may trigger something else, like spawning more Goblins.
Back to the dungeon crawler part, your goal is to find the Room with a door to the Boss Lair. The card itself is almost at the bottom of the deck of room cards. However, the door is locked and to open it, you first need to beat the Minions, one for each character. Minions will spawn in Minions rooms which should be around half of the room cards deck.
Until you open that lair, you have between 13 to 20 total turns, depending on number of characters. This is called Act 1 or first half of the game. After you open the door, you meet the boss and you will have Act 2, or the same number of turns as in Act 1 to beat the boss. While fighting with the boss you will still be dealing with goblins but not minions.
Here is the interesting part. The Boss is not just going to stay in the Lair, they will chase the nearest Character. In fact, you have to drag the Boss to the Minion’s rooms and or the Starting rooms. Those rooms will have ALTAR token that you need to beat the Boss. When the Boss reaches those rooms, they will start taking damage again after certain threshold.
While revealing the next room card, you have a bit of agency of how to orient where the next room should be, Ideally, you want this Boss Lair room to be as close as possible to the Minion’s room or at least the starting Stair. Otherwise, you might not have enough time.
In this game, you also don’t get eliminated when the health reaches 0. It’s just on their next turn, the exhausted hero will have to do rest only. That is not really a great solution with the timer aspect. If anything, you want to keep pushing forwards, or you will not have enough time.
Also, you don’t level up your character. You upgrade them by finding loots and spells. If it is a Trap room, you need to disarm the trap in order to find new loots or spells, choose one. The benefit of doing this means you don’t need to keep doing skill check if you reenter the room again.
An interesting part of this loot and spells is that you may not want to take that item or spells. Maybe they are better for the other characters. What you do then you put them on the discard pile. Then later in the non trap room, you or the other one can take those from the discard pile.
Well, there are still a lot of things I have not explored yet and I haven’t explained here. As I said, I got a lot of rules wrong.
There are a lot of icons but somehow it is not that overwhelming after watching videos and looking at those Appendix. It may seem very overwhelming at first. I think some rules are not very clear on the book but they do explain it on the DIZED app as it includes some clarification. I recommend checking the app.
In general, I think the system is simple enough for how to resolve things It’s just when resolving things, you probably need to keep checking on the icon reference until you get used to it. Since you will be using most of the components in every game, I can see that you can get used to them fast or after a few plays.
Overall, from my 1 play, I’m actually impressed with this design, not necessarily about the game itself. It’s just it feels like they utilized these small components in more extensive and meaningful way, even if it doesn’t look like it.
I definitely will play again with the correct rule. There are still a lot of things I haven’t explored. Like I didn’t get a spell at all or meaningful Loot. Didn’t resolve the bonus from Goblins. I got wrong with move passing through enemies. You are allowed to do that only when there is another hero in the same room. Probably made the game both easier and harder by not following proper rule.
This is definitely a more complex game, especially compared to other Tiny Epic standards. That 3 out of 5 complexity rating seems about right.
Playing time was about 90 minutes, learning session.
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The Guild of Merchant Explorers
Watch the slideshow of this The Guild of Merchant Explorers game session here.
Voyage to the corner of Tigome and discover villages or cities along the way in The Guild of Merchant Explorers.
This was a solo session with the Cnidaria Map, the one with the Crystal.
ROUND 1.
The game started with the first Investigate card. I chose the one that allowed me to move in 4 continuous spaces of either Sea or Mountain instead of 5 separate water spaces. This map doesn’t have canals, only one large ocean space separating the land of Capital City with the other.
From the Capital City, I could have completely explored the mountain on the left with 4 spaces or 3 mountains plus water on the right. I chose the right because the upcoming 3 water spaces card worked better to the right than to continue from the mountain on the left.
Got 1 coin and discovered first village so I got 2 coins.
After that was the 2 adjacent spaces. I chose the desert land to the left from Capital city, hoping to discover a village to the top left.
Got 1 coin from one of the hex.
Next card was the 2 Grasslands. This was probably the best time to actually connect the 2 nearby cities. Instead I chose to explore one on the right and then continued with the Crystal space. Got me only 1 coin while I could have scored 4.
4th card was the 3 water spaces. From the last space of the desert, I aimed for the ruins on the water. The treasure card got me 2 coins.
5th card was the 2 desert spaces so I completed the desert region and discovered the 2nd village. Got 1 coin.
Last card was the Mountain and I just took 1 coin from one hex to the left. This could have been used to explore the Crystal and got 3 extra points.
That was the end of 1st round. Currently got 5 coins.
ROUND 2.
The round started with the same Investigate card. I got to move 4 continuous spaces of either water and/or mountain. From my first village I could have moved across the ocean and got to the next Mountain at the top right. One for the water and 3 for the Mountain so the region had 2 left before I could discover the village.
Got 4 coins from those mountains hexes.
2nd card was 2nd Investigate card so I immediately lost the chance to score the highest from the 1st Objective card. I picked the card that allowed me to move 2 mountain spaces and 3 desert spaces, separately.
Well, those 2 mountains were the ones I needed to complete the exploration of Mountain region at the top right. Got 2 coins for discovering village.
Then the 3 desert spaces were to explore the desert near that mountain. It required 5 so these 3 plus the card with 2 later would have been enough. I got 1 coin from one of the hex.
Then 3rd card was 2 adjacent spaces. I had to complete the first objective which was to discover 2 villages next to a crystal. To do so, I tried to do with the nearest crystal space.
So, I explored the grasslands to the right of Capital city. Hopefully I had time for the desert next round. Got 1 coin from the hext.
Actually the card was the 2 grasslands first and this 2 adjacent spaces completed the exploration. Got 2 coins from it.
That was 4th and the 5th was the 2 Desert spaces to complete the desert region at the top right. This explored one ruin which I got 1 coin from any 2 villages. The discovered village was placed next to the city of the grasslands nearby. Got 2 coins from the village.
6th was the 3 water spaces. From the water next to the first village, I could have explored the ruins at the right but I should have placed that first cube a bit to the right. So, it was kind of cheating but I could have thought it better.
The treasure card was 1 coin per Tower.
Last card was the Mountain which I used to explore the Tower at the top right for 6 coins.
That was the end of 2nd round. Currently scored 24.
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ROUND 3.
This round started with 2 desert spaces. I had to complete the first objective so I planned to discover a village in the desert region to the south of Capital city.
The 2nd card was 2nd Investigate card, allowing me to explore 2 mountains and 3 deserts. I kept exploring that south desert, discovering a village and completed the 1st objective. Scored 6 from it. Unfortunately the 3rd desert space was a bit of waste but I got 1 coin for exploring 1 coin next to a village.
The 2 mountains were to explore the mountain region to the left from capital city. 1 Coin from it. It seems I forgot about it.
Then the 3rd card was the 2 grasslands. Not sure what was the best use of this but from the village at desert north from Capital city, I explored 2 grassland spaces hoping to reach the left land.
4th card was the Investigate card 1. I was planning to use this to reach the left land. But instead I tried to reach the south Tower which required 6 flexible water movements from the last position. This card gave 4. I was planning to use the 3 water spaces to cover the last 2. So, this got me to explore one of the nearby ruin from that tower. I got to place one extra cube which I used to cover 3rd of 4 Mountain hexes to the left from capital city. One mountain card was enough to complete it later.
Then, the 5th card was 2 adjacent spaces. I used this instead to completely discover the Tower for 8 coins. This also explored one more ruin which got me 1st Vase.
6th card was the 3 water spaces. I abandoned the plan to aim for the left land. Instead I used this to explore the last ruin near the South Tower. I got 2nd Vase.
7th card was the Mountain to complete the Mountain on the left from Capital City and discovered a Village. Scored 3 coins and completed the 2nd objective to have 3 villages of one region type.
Finally, the last card, the 3rd Investigate card. Either for exploring 4 grassland hexes to get more coins or similar to my 1sst card but for water and desert and 5 spaces.
I chose the latter. Apparently with this one, I could have continued and reached the left land. There was a desert region with 3 spaces and I could have reached it by crossing 2 hexes of water.
I discovered a village and a coin so 4 coins total.
That was the end of the round. Current score was 49.
ROUND 4.
Final round started with the 2nd Investigate card to explore 2 Mountains and 3 deserts, separately. I still had 2 Towers to discover. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use any of them to move to the right one. So, I used it for the 3rd objective. From the leftmost village, there was a City on Mountain with the value of 4. 2 Mountain spaces and 1 desert to reach. The last 2 desert hexes were to go to the left just to get closer to the Tower. Scored 2 coins.
2nd card was the 3 water spaces. I had to use this from the middle land to reach the right land. Apparently I decided to just explore the ruin on the left land. Got 2 coin card from the treasure.
Then the 3rd card this round was 2 grasslands. From previous water spaces, I connected the city in the grassland region with the one previously on the mountain. So, it was a good decision with the water. Scored 16 and completed the last objective.
4th card was 3rd Investigate card. This one I used just to aim for the right land from the village on the right mountain from Capital city. This got me just entered the region where the right Tower was, 2 spaces away.
5th card was 1st Investigate card. I continued exploring farther to the mountain at the bottom right. Discovered a village and 5 coins, so 9 coins total.
6th card was 2 desert spaces. I used this one to reach the Right Tower. Scored 10.
3 cards left. 2 adjacent spaces, a Mountain space and one of the Investigate card. From the current situation I could have explored the last tower by using just the 2nd Investigate card. The Mountain then was to complete the Mountain region at top left. So I could have used this 2 adjacent spaces card for anything.
I had 2 options. Either exploring a ruin for random treasure or exploring the 2nd crystal space and gained 4 plus 1 coins. I chose the latter.
Then it was the any Investigate card. As planned, I reached the last tower for 14 coins.
Last card, also as planned, completed the last space of Mountain region for 2 coins plus 4 from the village.
That was the end of the game.
I got 111 so far, 25 from 3 objectives, 17 from the treasure cards. So, 153 or 154 was the Final score.
Playing time was about 59 minutes.
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Pocket Master Builder
Watch the Slideshow of this Pocket Master Builder game session here.
Build the best city by laying out blueprints, assigning workers to gather resources required by the buildings in Pocket Master Builder.
This was a solo session. From the oracle cards I got a choice between having the most buildings in a column or the farthest in a single row. It didn’t really matter at the end.
ROUND 1.
My 3 starting cards were Wood Workshop, Brick Workshop and Manor, all green type. I placed the MANOR at the bottom possible left since I got 2 connection from it even though only matching for one at the bottom edge. I assigned 2 workers, one to the left for 2 woods and one at the bottom for 1 Clay and 1 Stone. Built nothing this turn.
The opponent placed a Wood Workshop at 2nd row, 1st column. I got a Cabin and MARKET card from Rest action with 3 active workers.
ROUND 2.
I placed the Cabin to my previous Manor since the 2 sides matched in colors. Assigned 2 workers to get 3 Woods for one, and 1 Gold plus 1 Clay from the other.
Still didn’t build anything. The opponent placed CHURCH at 3rd row, 1st column. I took STAGING POST and a Worker. For the opponent, I flipped 2 Landmark cards, one was the leftmost and one was the rightmost. By doing so I already failed to win one of the Oracle cards.
ROUND 3.
I placed the STAGING POST at 3rd row, 2nd column for the same reason, matching on 2 sides in colors. Assigned 2 workers there and I got 2 Wood plus 1 stone and 1 Gold plus 1 Wood.
This round I built my 1st building, BARRACK, from the border cards, 2nd row. It required 2 Wood, 1 Clay and 2 Stone. 1 Worker from Staging Post and 1 from Manor got me everything I needed. Built the Barrack for 3 points, gained 1 step on the Wall track and 1 extra worker. Got 1 King’s reward, making it to 5.
From the rest action I got Lighthouse and 1 Worker.
The opponent placed TOWER at the 2nd row, 2nd column and flipped Cabin from border, 4th row and Church from 3rd.
ROUND 4.
I placed my WOOD WORKSHOP at 1st row, 1st column, completing that column. 1 Donkey bonus for me. This got 2 matching colors and I placed worker on both, got me 1 Gold plus 1 Clay and 1 Wood plus 1 Gold.
Didn’t build any this time and I got Sentry card plus 1 Worker.
The opponent placed GOLD WORKSHOP at 2nd row, 3rd column. I decided to flip the rightmost Wall and the Staging Post from row 3.
ROUND 5.
I placed my MARKET card also at 2nd row so there was only 1 connection. Assigned 1 worker there that got me 2 Clay and 1 Wood.
Now from Donkey track I could start using 3 Workers to build my 2nd one, THE TOWER. This required 1 Wood, 2 Clay, 2 Stone and 1 Gold. 3 Workers, 1 from Wood Workshop, 1 from Market and the last one from Manor got me 1 Wood, 3 Clay, 1 Stone and 1 Gold. For the missing Stone, I discarded the SENTRY card.
Built the tower for 4 points, moving 2 spaces on Wall track and Got 4 Rewards. Spent those 4 rewards to move the Donkey 1 space. From the Rest action, I got SHELTER card and 1 Worker, the only one.
The opponent placed FOUNTAIN at 4th row, 3rd card. I flipped the TAVERN, 1st row border and GOLD WORKSHOP from 2nd row.
ROUND 6.
This time I placed the BRICK WORKSHOP, at 1st row, 2nd card, completing that column. I got 1 extra cube from the wall. The card matched on 2 sides in colors and assigned worker on both. Got me 3 Clays from one and 1 Stone plus 1 Clay.
This time I built my 3rd one, MANOR card. To build it required 2 Wood, 2 Clay, 2 Stone and 1 Gold. 3 workers, one from each Brick Workshop, Wood Workshop and the Cabin got me 1 Wood, 2 Clay, 1 Stone and 2 Gold and the 1 Gold became the 2nd stone. I had to discard SHELTER card for the 2nd Wood.
Scored 5 points from that MANOR and got 1 reward, 1 Worker, 1 Card and 1 step for Donkey track. With the Rest action, I got SENTRY and GATE card plus 2 Workers. Donkey was at 3rd and maximum reward.
The opponent placed CHAPEL at 4th row, 4th card. I flipped GATE from border and CATHEDRAL from Landmark.
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ROUND 7.
I placed that SENTRY card at 1st column, 3rd card. Assigned 1 Worker on the right for 1 Stone and 1 Wood and the other at the top for either 1 Stone or 2 Wood.
Then I immediately built that Sentry as my 4th. This required 3 Wood and 3 Stone. 1 Worker from Manor got me 2 Wood while the 2 from Sentry got me 1 Wood, 2 Stone so I needed 1 more stone. Discarded the GATE card for it.
Scored 4 points plus 2 steps on the Wall. Since I was at 6th wall, I got 2 steps on Donkey track. Also got 1 reward. Spent 2 before that to get 1 Worker and 1 Card. Plus 2 each from the rest action, I got SMITHY and STONE WORKSHOP and 1 more worker.
The opponent placed FORTRESS at 3rd row, completing 3rd column which got me 1 more Donkey. Flipped Wood Workshop from 2nd and Fountain from 4th row.
ROUND 8.
Placed the SMITHY card at 3rd row, 4th card. Connected on 2 in colors so I assigned each worker there. Got me 3 Stone from one and 2 Woods from the other. It seems I also spent 2 rewards for 1 Worker and placed it to get either 2 Wood or 1 Clay.
Built my 5th one which was a Landmark, the BELL TOWER. This required 3 Clay, 2 Stone and 2 Gold. 1 Worker from Brick Workshop got me 3 Clays, then the 1 from Smithy got me 3 Stones. For the 2 Gold, I discarded the Lighthouse and spent 3 rewards.
Scored 3 points and got back 3 rewards. After the rest action, I got Prison and Barrack as 2 new cards, 2 active workers. 2 Rewards left and Donkey was at 6th.
The opponent placed CHAPEL at 3rd, 5th one. Flipped Brick and Wood Workshops both from 1st row.
ROUND 9.
I placed PRISON next to Market at 2nd row, 5th one. Placed 2 worker on the left and at the bottom. The left one got me either 2 Stone or 1 Clay while the bottom got me 1 stone and 1 Gold.
Didn’t build anything. Got Smithy card again and 1 Worker with only 2 rewards left.
From the opponent, Gold Workshop again at 4th row, 5th one. Flipped Market card from 2nd and FORTRESS from 3rd.
ROUND 10.
Placed the Barrack at the 4th row, 6th card. Only placed 1 Worker on the left for 2 Stone and 1 Wood. Didn’t build anything, and from Rest I got Market and 1 Worker.
The opponent placed TOWER at 1st row, 4th card, completing that column. I got 1 Reward. Flipped chapel from 4th row and the 2nd Wall from the right so I could no longer moved on that track.
ROUND 11.
Placed my SMITHY at 1st row, 6th column, completing that one but no more bonus. Spent 2 rewards for 1 Worker and I placed both on that card. One for 1 Gold and 1 Stone and the other for either 1 Gold or 2 Stone.
Built my 6th one, the GOLD WORKSHOP from 4th row to get discount of 1 Gold after that. This required 2 Wood, 3 Clay and 2 Stone. I removed 1 Worker from Cabin for 3 Wood, 1 from Smithy for 1 Gold and 1 Stone, the prison for 1 Gold and 1 Stone plus another Smithy itself for 1 Clay. The 2 Gold became the 2 Clay.
Scored 4 points and I assumed I got 2 rewards from the building itself. This triggered the end of the game. I still had 2 cards, Market and Stone Workshop. Spent the 4 rewards and I got 2 Workers and 1 card I which was Gate again.
The opponent placed TAVERN at 1st row, 7th one. Flipped the Tower from 1st and Cabin from 4th.
ROUND 12.
Placed the Gate at 3rd row, 7th one. Assigned the 2 workers for 3 Stone, 1 Gold and 1 Wood. With all workers and cards, I got 2 Wood, 1 Clay, more than 6 stones and 2 Gold.
I built WATCHTOWER as my last one that required 2 Wood, 1 Clay, 3 Stone and 2 Gold minus 1 Gold. Scored 5 points from it.
Placed Sentry card for the opponent at 2nd row. Flipped Tavern and Gate.
I got 28 points from Buildings, 2 from Walls, 2 from Donkey, 1 from Watchtower and 3 from Bell Tower, -3 from the border cards.
Final Score was only 33 points.
Playing time was about 69 minutes.
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Bamboo
Watch the slideshow of this Bamboo game session here.
Decorate your home while maintaining comfort balances between rooms by harvesting Bamboo and with the help from Spirits in Bamboo.
This was a 2-handed solo session. Purple player was the starting one, having 2 Green and 2 Red while the Green player as the 2nd had 2 Blue and 2 Purple. Tengu was in Purple Temple, Ookami in Blue, Tanuki in Green and Bakeneko in red.
ROUND 1.
The choice was either Money action or Decorate action. Purple picked the 2 Money while Green paid 1 coin to buy one Tool tile from the cheapest spot, earning 1 Happiness. The comfort value was 3 and Green placed it on their middle column, 1st row, the exact spot for that type of home tile.
Purple then started by visiting Red temple with 2 Incense sticks. The actions were Balance and Home action. They bought Decorate type tile with a value of 3 from the cheapest spot, paying 1 coin. Purple placed it at the top left corner where the spot had that requirement.
For the Balance action, they picked one for the left and one for the right. Both required a Decoration type to score and both sides of the home had space with that requirement.
Then 1st player placed the Bamboo on the rightmost columns to take 1 Red Fund and 1 Green Star Bamboo.
2nd player chose the Blue temple, bringing in 2 Incense sticks as well, currently winning the majority for Ookami Spirit. The actions were Food and Coins. There were value 3 Foods but 2nd player chose the value 2.
As replacement they got Green Balance Bamboo and Purple Money.
Back to 1st player and they chose Green Bamboos but only with 2 Incense. Spent 1 Coin to move one of the incense to the Red temple so they were winning the majority for Bakeneko in red and in Green for Tanuki.
From 3 possible actions they chose Food, value 2 and 2 Coins, kind of wasted the Star one. That was their last action for this round.
As replacement, they got 2nd Blue, 2nd Purple and 2nd Red.
2nd Player then also chose the Green with 2 Bamboos and 2 Incense Sticks which they placed all in Green, winning the majority for Tanuki. The actions were 2 coins and Balance tiles. One for the Middle with comfort value of 7 from Tool Tiles. The other was for the right just by having any Garden type tile to get 2 Happiness.
As replacement, they got Green Home Bamboo and Blue Balance. That was the end of 2nd player’s action this round.
1st player won the favor of BAKENEKO while 2nd Player got from OOKAMI and TANUKI.
Both then paid the value 2 Food even if they each only got 1 tile in their home.
HAPPINESS: 6 for 1st, 6 for 2nd.
ROUND 2.
2nd Player chose BALANCE action, giving 1st player 2 coins. They took one for the left and one for the right. The one on the left required a Garden above a Decoration tile which was perfect for their board. While the 2nd one on the right, they just needed to have FAITH type tile.
**** I think I made an error here.
2nd player’s previous turn was GREEN but this time, 1st of 2nd round, they took another Green. But I checked that their next turn was Red and both only had 1 Bamboo and it was the same, Home action. However, their the bamboo replacement were another Red and another Home action which makes the distribution for the Incense different. Oh, well. I just continued.
2nd player with the Home action, paid 1 coin to buy FAITH tile, getting 1 Happiness. The tile was placed at the top right, the exact spot required that specific type.
As mentioned, the replacement was 2nd Red Home action.
1st player then chose the Blue temple, 2 actions, currently winning the majority for Tanuki. The actions were Home and Food. For the Food they took the value 3. They paid 1 coin to buy a Garden tile with comfort value of 3, balancing with the one on the left. This was placed at the 4th column, 1st row which required that exact type of tile.
As replacement, they took 1 Green and 1 Blue, 1st of those colors.
Back to 2nd player, as mentioned, they chose Red with 2 Home actions, not enough to win the favor of Bakeneko Spirit. They bought 2 Garden tiles for the 2 spots that required the exact type. First was from the cheapest spot for 1 coin with comfort value of 3. This one was placed on the left side of the home, getting the balance of the situation.
However, the 2nd one was value 2 and they had to pay 2 coins. This was placed at the bottom right so the right side of the house had 2 more Comfort points than the left.
As replacement, they took 1 Red, a Food and 1 Star from Green.
1st player’s 2nd action of this round was PURPLE with 2 actions, a Star and a Balance. Currently not winning the majority for KITSUNE Spirit.
They just took 2 Balance tiles, one for the left and one for the middle. The Star was for Home action, buying a FAITH tile for 2 coins, earning 2 happiness. This was placed in the middle row, middle of the house.
As replacement, they got Blue Star and Green Coin.
Back to 2nd player, their 3rd action was another Green. The Star Bamboo was for Balance action, scoring one from the right, gaining 2 happiness, replaced by similar one but for Tool.
They took Blue Food as replacement.
1st Player’s last action for this round was GREEN. They paid 1 coin to place all of the incense in Purple, securing the majority for KITSUNE.
*** Another error here. One of the actions were Food which they could have taken the value 3, preventing the 2nd player from taking it afterwards which I forgot to resolve. The 2nd action was just 2 coins.
1st player already had enough food for this round but they could have kept a 3 for the next. As replacement, they took Purple Food and Red Star.
2nd player still had 1 last action and it was another Red for Food. They won the majority against the 3rd player for Bakeneko. Got the value 3 but it should have been the value 2.
As replacement they took Green coin bamboo.
That was the end of the round.
1st player won the favor of KITSUNE and TANUKI while 2nd player got KAPPA and BAKENEKO.
3 tiles in 1st player’s home and they got 2 Food tiles with value of 3 each. 2nd player had 4 tiles and only food with a value of 2. So, they lost 2 happiness.
HAPPINESS: 9 for 1st and 10 for 2nd.
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ROUND 3.
This round, 1st player chose to take 2 coins, giving 2nd player the Balance action. They scored one tile on the right for 2 happiness and take the exact same balance tile from the market.
1st player’s first action for this round was BLUE, 2 actions, a Star and Coin. Currently winning the favor of ROKUROKUBI with no competition.
The Star was for Home action, paying 1 coin to buy a Decoration tile with the Comfort value of 3. This was placed at the bottom right of the house, the spot that required the exact type. Now the home had 6 comfort points on the right with only 3 on the left.
As replacement, they took 2 Green, 1 Balance and 1 Home action.
2nd player’s 1st one was PURPLE, 3 actions, Money, Balance and Home Action. Currently winning the majority for TENGU Spirit.
Got 2 coins. Paid 1 to buy a Tool tile from cheapest spot. This was placed at the middle row, 4th column. The spot had to be filled but could have been any other tile. Their home now had 8 comfort value on the right and only 3 on the left.
With the Balance action, they scored 2 happiness just by having a Garden tile. This was replaced by another Tool tile related scoring for the right.
As replacement, they took Red Home, Purple Star and Green Food.
1st player’s 2nd turn was PURPLE with just 1 Bamboo, a Food. They took the Food value 3, leaving all just value 2. They also paid 1 coin to move the Incense to the Blue temple, securing their majority, letting their opponent win the Purple one.
As replacement, they got Green Star.
After that 2 actions from 2nd player using GREEN, Food and Coins. They had no choice but to take a value 2. Currently not winning the favor for KITSUNE.
They got back Green Money but with Blue Home action Bamboo.
1st player’s last turn of this round was RED, all 3 actions winning the majority for KAPPA. The actions were Coin, Balance and a Star which they used for Home action.
After taking 2 coins, they paid that 2 coins to buy Garden tile, getting 2 happiness. This was placed at 2nd column, 1st row, next to a decoration. There was a scoring tile for that and the Balance action scored it while taking a new one for the right side of the home.
As replacement, they took Purple Balance, Red Home and Blue Star Bamboos.
Last turn for 2nd player was PURPLE, 1 action, a Star, finally winning the majority for TENGU. The Star was for Home action. They paid 1 coin to buy a Decoration tile with comfort value of 1.
This was placed on the left, 3rd row, 2nd column for the spot that required that specific type. 8 comfort points on the right but only 4 on the left.
As replacement they took Purple Home action.
That was the end of the round. 1st player won ROKUROKUBI and KAPPA while 2nd player won KITSUNE and TENGU.
1st player had value of 6 food to pay for 5 tiles. 2nd player only had value 2 for 6 tiles so they had to use the help from OOKAMI.
HAPPINESS: 16 for 1st and 16 for 2nd Player.
ROUND 4.
2nd player this round chose BALANCE action, giving Food for the 1st which was just value 2. They scored one from the right and took a similar scoring for the left, the Tool for 2 happiness.
2nd player’s first turn was just to take 2 coins using Green. They got back green Food.
1st player was also just 1 action with Blue Star for Home action. Paid 1 coin for a Tool tile with value of 1 which they placed at middle column, last row at the spot with that exact requirement. They got back a red Balance.
2nd player’s 2nd turn was PURPLE home, just one action. Paid 1 coin to buy TOOL tile, comfort value of 1 that they placed in the middle of the house. Got back a Red Star.
1st player’s 2nd turn was RED with 2 actions but they activated the BAKENEKO to move the 2 incense sticks to Blue, currently winning the majority for TENGU. The actions were BALANCE and HOME ACTION.
Paid 2 coins to get FAITH tile with a value of 3. This was placed on 2nd row, last column. The spot required to be filled with anything but they had scoring on the right exactly with that.
So, the Balance action was to score one tile on the left and one on the right. They got 6 happiness points. Got back a Green Coin and Blue Star.
2nd player’s 3rd turn was RED, 2 actions, winning the majority for KITSUNE that they already had. The actions were Home and a Star which they used to get 2 coins.
Paid the 2 coins to buy Tool tile with value 3 to fill the 2nd row, 1st column. 7 comfort points on the left and 8 on the right. They got back a Purple Food and Purple Home action.
1st player’s 3rd was BLUE again, a Star for Home action. Paid 1 coin to buy a Decoration tile which was placed on 2nd row, 2nd column that required to be filled. They got back Red Coin.
2nd player’s next turn was GREEN, just 1, a Food. So, they used TENGU to replace all foods and they got one with a value of 3. I think I got it wrong and they should have taken 1 more food token, which could have been a value 2. They got back Blue food.
1st player’s last action was GREEN. They had 4 Bamboos but only 3 incense and they placed it on all Green, winning the Majority for another ROKUROKUBI. At the same time, they also activated ROKUROKUBI for 2 coins, KAPPA for Balance action and TANUKI for HOME action.
The actions they chose were 2nd Home, 2nd Coin and Food for value 2. Paid 3 coins, 2 for Faith tile which they placed at the bottom left, the spot that required a specific type. Then the one was to purchase Decoration 2 which was placed at the top row, middle column.
The balance action then scored both middle scoring tiles for 9 points. As replacement, they took out Purple Star and Balance, Blue coin and Red Food.
That was the end of their turn.
2nd player’s last action was Blue with 4 Bamboos but only 2 sticks. However, they got BAKENEKO to move those 2 sticks. One to the Green, winning the majority for ROKUROKUBI and one to the Purple, winning for KAPPA.
They activated their previous KAPPA for Balance action. Scored 7 from 2 tiles. So, one action was food but only value 1. 2nd action was HOME action, paying 1 coin to fill the required space on 2nd row. Actually this helped with the previous balance scoring. So this was done first.
That was the end of their turn.
SCORING
Purple or 1st player scored 46, with complete balance on both sides of the house, with 6 different Spirits and after losing 6 points for not enough food.
2nd player scored 44 with 7 different Spirits. They managed to feed enough after waking up Ookami. Lost 2 points because the left had 9 comfort while the right only had 8.
Playing time was about 120 minutes.
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The Isle of Cats: Explore & Draw
Watch the Slideshow of this The Isle of Cats: Explore & Draw game session here.
Fill your boat with as many cats as possible to save them from evil Lord Vesh in The Isle of Cats: Explore & Draw.
This was a solo session with one extra solo lesson card. 1st lesson was 10 points if I have fewer than 9 treasures. 2nd lesson was 5 points for Sister per lonely cat and 3rd one was 3 points per filled room. The extra lesson was 3 points per Common Treasure.
ROUND 1. GREEN.
First color was green so 1st and 4th column were not great. 2nd had 2 colors, a red and orange and the 3rd only had Oshax so it could be any color. The boat itself had green treasure on the right most.
Not sure which color the next one but I decided to start from the middle, either Orange or Purple. Felt like the 3rd one was safer and there was a lesson 12, getting 7 points for having exactly 4 families. So, maybe even I chose the next color, it was not that bad.
Eventually I picked Orange. Started by placing the L-shape Rare treasure at the top left corner connecting the leftmost room and the top middle room. Then this S-shape Oshax stayed on the edge, covering the Orange treasure. As bonus, I picked a straight size 3 Common treasure to reach to the right from that Oshax. Got the Lesson #12.
ROUND 2. GREEN, RED.
2 Green in 1st column, a lot of Common treasures in 3rd while the 4th had 1 Purple a Rare and a Lesson. 2nd one had a Blue, a Purple and Lesson #14. I chose this one because I thought I might as well started these 2 Families with the least valuable colors for Sister.
First I drew the Blue to the right from my last Common Treasure. The T-shape managed to reach the Blue treasure. From the bonus I picked L shape bonus to the right of that Blue with 2 parts entering the 2nd room to the right.
I got the Lesson #14 and then this Purple one was a huge block. Here is the thing, I was still planning to make the Red family just because of the previous Lesson. So, I saved some room on the right while trying to reach the middle bottom room with this purple. I covered 5 spaces from the middle room.
ROUND 3. GREEN, RED, ORANGE.
1st column had a red, blue and purple but was not sure about starting the Red. 2nd had a blue and a green so that was not a great choice. 3rd had 2 purple while 4th had Oshax and a Rare. Both had lessons.
The lesson on 3rd was #2, getting 1 point for every Common treasure so that was nice considering the Solo Lesson. While the 4th one was #5, 2 points for every rare treasure, which was great with that Rare along its set.
I picked the 3rd one just to start the Purple family right away so I could focus on the other 2 afterwards. Also the shape of those 2 purples were perfect. The one that shaped like a 3 covered the 2 rats in middle room while reaching out the rat at the corner of middle bottom room.
Then, the Cross shape purple which was placed next to it was in perfect shape along the edge of the boat. The Oshax from the 4th was a bit hard to fit in.
ROUND 4. GREEN, RED, ORANGE, PURPLE
1st column had 3 Blue. 2nd had a red and a blue. 3rd had a red, green and purple. 4th also had a red, blue and oshax. I guess at this point I was still not sure about starting a Red family. This means avoiding the Column 2 to 4 and dealt with 3 Blue which was great actually.
One of the Blue had a Cross shape which was perfect to completely fill the rightmost room. Then the 2-3-1 shape was perfect between the Cross shape and the Common treasure. However, those 2 were separated from the starting Blue. This got me the idea of maybe I could have 2 families of Blue.
With that idea, I placed the last Blue with the C-shape and extra in the middle next to my Starting Blue. That shape was perfect to cover the nearby 4 rats. The problem was that this group of Blue and Purple created a chocking point for the Orange to keep growing. But that was what I went with.
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ROUND 5. GREEN, RED, ORANGE, PURPLE, BLUE.
3 rounds left so I thought I should start using any of those abilities. 1st column had 1 Blue and 2 Purple. 2nd had 2 Blue and a possible Rare. 3rd had Orange and a Green. 4th had a Purple and Oshax.
A lot more Blue and Purple were great but I thought I should work on the Orange instead of waiting later when the space were more crowded. I chose to use the ability to pick a row instead of a column. This got me a blue, an orange, a rare and a lesson to leave 5 rats visible for 10 points.
There were 8 rats left so I had to cover 3 of them. First, I thought I should cover the 2 in the 2nd room to the right, next to green treasure. That Rare with S shape was perfect to fit in there and I thought I had the chance to completely fill that room.
I was still thinking about separating the Blue into 2 families while keeping an option to just combine them. So, this cat with the shape like a question mark was placed as the 3rd of 1st group with its head in the 2nd room to the right. Leaving just enough in the middle to either connect or separate those 2 families.
Last one was the orange with the shape like a 4. The head part with the straight 3 filled the 3 last spaces of the middle top room while the back legs covered some of the middle room.
ROUND 6. GREEN, RED, ORANGE, PURPLE, BLUE.
At this point, I abandoned the idea to have a red family. With that in mind, every column had at least 1 red. I had no choice but to use the ability of picking 1 card per row.
First 2 rows had at least a rare each. The bottom had a blue, 2 yellows and a lesson #24 which was impossible for me at this point. I picked the Yellow just to finish creating Orange family while covering the middle room. There was one with the 2-3-1 shape that could fill a lot of spaces in the middle room.
Between that and the purple, there was one empty spot which could be covered by the T-shape rare from the top row. Then I placed the Square shape rare in the space between the Blue and Orange. There was a lesson that required me getting exactly 4 purple and 4 oranges so I avoided placing anything in the leftmost room. Hoping that it would give more flexibility for the Purple while avoiding covering more rats and treasure for another lesson.
ROUND 7. GREEN, RED, ORANGE, PURPLE, BLUE.
I still needed 1 Blue, 1 orange, 1 purple. The best option was 3rd column with 1 orange and 1 purple and activating the ability to pick 1 more card from other column which was for the only blue.
While I could have saved the 2 Blue from being lonely I had to combine them with the other group since this blue was to big to keep them separate.
The orange was small enough to fit in the family and completely covered the last 2 spaces of the middle room, without covering the nearby 4 rats. That means the last Purple had to cover one from the left. This was size 5. I guess it was a good thing that I left the room on the left.
That was the end of the game.
SCORING
Blue Families: 20 points
Green Families: 0 point
Orange families: 11 points
Purple families: 11 points
Red Families: 0 point
Rare Treasure: 12 points
Lessons: 27 POINTS
Rats: -5 points
Rooms: -20 points
FINAL SCORE: 56. Sister got 22 from the 4 Lessons and 26 from Cats so they got 48. I won.
Playing time was about 54 minutes.
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Castellion
Watch the Slideshow of this Castellion game session here.
Assemble the Denizens to form Towers, Ranks or Keeps as defense for the Castle from 3 attacks in Castellion.
This was solo session with Expert Mode. I was planning to just play once but I played poorly and got 3 sessions, losing on the first 2. Maybe I just got lucky with the 3rd. Lost the 2 because I didn’t have enough tiles to finish the requirement from the 3rd Ordeal.
The 3rd session started with a red, followed by first traitor, removing that one tile. Then I managed to place 4, triangle purple, square red and triangle purple plus another purple above that red.
First Traitor with border showed up. From previous shape, I added Circle Green to the right and then triangle Red. Above that last red was Circle Red. Then I got a Blue triangle which I used to reveal 4.
I got all 4 Purples, 2 squares, 1 triangle and 1 circle. Immediately built a tower with those 4 on the rightmost, revealing the 1st Ordeal card. Unless I got 2 horizontal lines I had to lose 16.
Blue again and a circle. This revealed 4, Blue triangle, Green Circle, Red Triangle and Green Square. Placed both green above the existing green. Then the red above the Purple Circle.
Last Blue was for revealing next 4, Red triangle, Blue Circle and triangle and Green Square. I just realized that I had to focus on making a horizontal line instead of more Towers.
First, with the red, I swapped the red at the bottom, 2nd from the left with the Purple above it. Now I had a line of 3 Purple. The Green was on top of 3 green, completing the 2nd Tower, revealing the 2nd Ordeal card. The Ordeal would be destroying the first 2 rows.
Here I made a mistake with the last 2 Blue. I placed the triangle one above the Purple triangle, 3rd from the left. However, I could have just placed the Circle instead. So, the 2nd blue was to reveal 4 next tiles, traitor, Red Circle, Purple Circle and Green Triangle.
I tried to move the Purple at the bottom right to complete the first horizontal with the 3 on the left. I used the red and then the green to take a red and switched them. This way I got my first Horizontal.
This means I got 1 Purple and 1 Traitor revealed left. The purple completed the previous tower again to reveal the last Ordeal. This says I needed to have 5 Towers but the 2 lowest would have been removed after the 2nd Ordeal.
Then the Traitor took out 2 of 3 greens that were a tower, the incorrect Blue and then the other Green that broke the Tower shape.
This is where I started using the Safe Tiles. From there the next 4 were 3 Green, one of each shape and the Purple circle. The Circle and triangle was placed next to the existing Square so it was almost 2nd horizontal line. Then the Purple Circle was on top of that Green square, it was probably the first one. Last green was at the top of that purple.
Next I got the Blue from that safe tile, which I used to reveal the regular stacks again. I got Blue square, purple triangle, Green and Purple Circle.
The green was placed on 2nd level leftmost. I just needed to swap the position to the right to complete the 2nd line. Purple triangle extended the Tower purple on the right to size 5 but I knew the lowest one would have been removed.
Last purple was on top of the Green, 3rd from the right. Last Blue was to reveal again which I got Blue and Green Square, a traitor and Green Triangle.
Using one of the Green, I swapped it with the discarded red and discarded that red to swap position. The green on 2nd leftmost was connected to the 3 horizontal so it completed the 2nd line and requirement for the 1st Ordeal. I let the Traitor triggered it.
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Still had 2 revealed, green triangle and Blue square. The green was on top of the mixed tower, 3rd from the left. Then the Blue revealed 4 more, Green triangle, and 3 Circles, Blue, Purple and Green.
I needed to make 5 Towers and was almost ready for 1. That 2nd Tower had exactly Green, Purple, Green, Purple so I thought I should be making another tower next to it with counter color and swapped them later for 2 towers.
I repurposed the 2nd line the Green to make that tower. Used one green to become a red and swapped the leftmost green of that green line with the red above it. Then to the right from that green I placed the Green triangle. Blue circle then went to the leftmost, 3rd floor.
The last revealed, Purple circle was at top of the triangle 3rd from the left. Back to safe piles, I got Blue square, I filled the 2nd from the left so the Castle would have had the foundation after the 2nd Ordeal.
Above it was Red Circle. Then Green Square which was placed above the Purple Circle tower, 3rd from the left. Red came out again and I swapped between the 2 towers, green and purple, completing 2nd Tower, the Green.
After that Traitor tile showed up which I let them advanced the Ordeal. Then I got a Blue to reveal 4, Blue triangle and circle, traitor and purple square. That traitor triggered the 2nd Ordeal, removing the 2 lowest level. After the demolition, I still got 1 Tower.
I still had 3 revealed. The purple went to the leftmost, 2nd level. While the 2 Blue filled the 2nd from the right column.
Back to safe pile and I got a Blue, revealing Red Square, Purple triangle, Green Circle and Traitor with border, 2nd one. So, I had no choice to let it advanced the last Ordeal.
First the Green Circle was swapped with Purple circle from discard pile. It was placed on top of unfinished green tower. Then using the red swapped the position with the tile next to it and completed the 2 Towers. So I got 3. Actually the green tower had a leg that I needed to remove first.
Last purple, triangle was placed on 2nd level, 2nd from the right. After that, I got the same but from safe pile and I placed it on 3rd, leftmost.
Still with safe pile, I got a Red triangle. I let this swapped the 2 tiles from 2nd column from the right. The blue at the bottom and a red above it so now I had almost a complete Blue tower.
Another purple then which I could place on top of the leftmost column. One more and I had my 5th. Last from the safe pile was the Red to swap the Blue and green at the bottom left so the Green tower was complete.
Got a red again and that same blue was swapped with the purple above it.
I got a Blue next to reveal the next 4 tiles. No traitor. I got 2 red, 1 Blue and 1 Green. The blue triangle completed the 4th tower, 2nd from the right. I needed purple so I swapped that Green with the Purple triangle from the discard pile and placed it to complete my 5th.
So at that point I was ready to just deal with the last Ordeal. The Castle survived.
Playing time was about 18 minutes for the last session up to 23 for the 2nd.
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Regicide (Fan Made Marvel Theme)
Watch the Slideshow of this Regicide Game session here.
Defeat the Super Villains and convince them to help you in stopping the ultimate threats to the multiverse in Regicide (Marvel fan Made theme).
This was a solo session, 2 actually. The first one was a loss and I only got to the first 2 Kings. So, I played again and here is how it went.
ROUND 1: VENOM.
The team had Hulk, Blade, Moon Knight, Silver Surfer, Quicksilver, Invisible Woman, Scarlet Witch and Star Lord. Silver Surfer opened the attack with 9 damage, setting up defense of 9, decreasing the Venom’s attack to 1. Venom took down Star Lord. 11 health left for Venom.
Quicksilver was next with 7 damage to Venom and completely disabled Venom’s attack but Venom was not done. Invisible Woman managed to convince Venom to join.
ROUND 2: WINTER SOLDIER.
“Hulk Smash!” That instantly made some sense to Bucky so he agreed to join.
ROUND 3: LOKI.
Scarlet Witch led the attack with 10 points while the Avengers brought in more friends. They got Winter Soldier, Venom, She-Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Spidey to stop Loki.
Loki still had 10 health left and dealt 10 damage to Winter Soldier, instantly defeating him. Combo with Blade and Black Widow setup some defense, dealt 4 damage and brought in more friends like Cyclops, Ant-Man and Drax. Loki had 6 health left and dealt 6 damage, injuring Cyclops.
Drax finished the job and it was enough to make Loki join.
ROUND 4: MAGNETO
Double of 10 damage from Venom instantly defeated the Master of Magnetism.
ROUND 5: KANG
Ant-Man, along with Hawkeye intercepted to give time for the Avengers to assemble more friends. Dealt 10 damage to Kang’s 30 and setup defense to decrease Kang’s power down to 5. Kang was still strong enough to take down Moon Knight. Magneto, Loki, the Thing, Rocket and Beast joined the fight.
Another Combo and this time was Beast and the Thing. Together they healed injured friends while bringing in others like Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch and Iron Man.
The 2 dealt 6 damage down to 14. Kang was still able to deal 5, injuring Johnny Storm.
Magneto stepped in and Kang became powerless but he was not done with 4 HP left. She Hulk finished the job while helping the injured friends.
ROUND 6: ULTRON
Iron Man tried to stop Ultron with the help from Rocket. Dealt 18 damage to Ultron’s 30. Rocket brought in Gamora, Captain America, Prof. X, Storm and Deadpool. Ultron with 15 damage, took down Loki and Prof. X.
Deadpool dealt the exact double damage to finish Ultron. Somehow that convinced Ultron to join.
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ROUND 7: DR. DOOM.
Storm attacked first, setting up some defense but not fast enough to prevent the villain from taking down Spidey and Steve Rogers.
Mr. Fantastic dealt double damage to his arch enemy but Dr. Doom still had 12 left. Groot stepped in with a new team with Ultron, Captain Marvel, Wasp, Jean Grey, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Thor and Agent Coulson. Doom took down Strange and Coulson.
Luckily Doom and his Doombots couldn’t defeat Ultron.
ROUND 8: EGO.
Jean Grey and Wasp opened the attack with 18 damage to Ego’s 30. They also brought in Moon Knight, Venom, Scarlet Witch, Blade and Gambit. Ego was so strong and he immediately beat Blade, Moon Knight and Thor.
A combo from Gambit and Daredevil completely beat Ego. New team came with Vision, Star Lord, Black Panther, Wolverine and Iron Fist.
ROUND 9: MEPHISTO.
10 damage from Captain Marvel and extra defense against Mephisto. The defense was not strong enough and Mephisto took down Venom.
More defense from Wolverine and 8 damage. Mephisto still managed to take down Star Lord. Double damage from Vision but still not enough to beat Mephisto. The villain took down Iron Fist.
Scarlet Witch finished the job, bringing in Colossus, Falcon, Black Widow, Winter Soldier, Drax, Invisible Woman and her brother, Human Torch.
ROUND 10: GALACTUS.
Drax opened the attack with double damage but Galactus beat Black Widow, Black Panther, Invisible Woman and Colossus.
Winter Soldier was next with a lot of friends. Galactus still had 24 health left and he took down Falcon, Silver surfer and Loki.
More double damage from Hulk but Galactus was not done yet. He injured Iron Man, Quicksilver and Cyclops.
Human Torch finally finished the job and he brought in more friends. Dr. Strange, Gamora, Deadpool, Beast, Kang and Prof. X joined the battle.
ROUND 11: THANOS.
A combo of Gamora and Beast opened the attack. Thanos took down Kang.
Dr. Strange then tried to stall him while the team got the last help from Howard the Duck.
He brought in Magneto, Ant Man, Captain America, Agent Coulson, Spider-Man, Rocket, She Hulk and Storm. The Mad Titan beat Ant Man and Steve Rogers.
Magneto dealt more damage and put up some shield. Thanos still managed to injure Storm. Then a combo of Spider Man and Coulson to bring more friends while stopping Thanos. The Thing and Moon Knight who just got in took the damage.
Finally, She Hulk and Rocket finished the job with some new friends.
ROUND 12: DORMMAMU.
Kang dealt 30 damage right away but Dormammu defeated Dr. Doom and Cyclops. 20 more damage from the Hulk and Dormammu was defeated.
The heroes won. Well, not really. I kind of cheated a bit and somehow got certain heroes came back early before the others. Oh, well.
Playing time was about 42 minutes.
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Wingspan Asia
Watch the slideshow of this Wingspan Asia game session here.
Attract the best birds to your wildlife preserves while making sure to claim the perfect habitat for them in Wingspan Asia.
This was a solo play, using the easiest difficulty again. Last time, 2nd play of this version, I got the rule wrong about the navigating the duet board for the Automa. I think I still got the rule wrong but this time about choosing the card the Automa picks when they do play a Bird action.
It seems they are supposed to take 1 card but according to their bonus card, should have been the lowest value of the matching requirement. However, the rulebook says about picking the highest one. If I understand correctly that is supposed to be when using the regular bonus, not the automa specific bonus.
Either way, I picked the highest one that they could take. In theory this probably made them score more or a bit harder but not sure it mattered that much.
As part of the setup, the 5 resources that I picked was the grey and blue food for Black Stork. Then 1 Green food for the Graceful Prinia. For the bonus I picked the PHOTOGRAPHER that can score if I play bird cards with a color in their name, instead of GRASSLAND POPULATION MONITOR.
Here is how the session went.
ROUND 1.
My initial plan was actually to focus on the 3rd row with these 2 cards. Black Stork on its own could generate eggs even if just once per round while the Prinia could generate more Green food. So, I thought that was a good combo since the 3rd row will provide more cards.
First, I got the Black Stork ability wrong. I thought it will just generate an egg in each bird of that row. Apparently, after playing the card, I realize it will only generate 1 egg to the bird next to it. I missed the part IMMEDIATE.
That was my first action, I spent the 2 food to play that Black Stork in the 3rd row, 1st space. This means, it will only generate 1 egg instead of 2. I lost the chance to get up to 4 points by not playing it later. I only realized after playing that card but I went with it.
For Duet Board placement, the Water area had one that shows a fish food with Card bonus so I claimed that one since it was in the middle of the board. The bonus was EURASIAN COOT from the face up.
Automa just picked 1 egg this turn.
I had 2 bird cards but only 1 food. That recent one required 1 food but the yellow that I didn’t have. So, my 2nd action had to pick a food. Only one and I took the Green or Yellow food which I chose the Green food for my Prinia.
Automa picked 2nd egg.
My 3rd action was to play the Prinia, spending 2 Green food. I was planning to play it as the 2nd in 3rd row but then I realized, I needed to have an egg before I could play one there. So, instead I played it at 2nd row.
As bonus to place token on duet board, I chose the topmost yellow space that shows green food. This was also on the edge which was important for the end of the round 1st goal. The last bonus also required more tokens in the same row so I had 2 in the same row while the opponent had none.
Automa removed a Food this time, the other Green.
For my 4th action, I needed an egg to play on 2nd column so I triggered the egg generating action. I got 2 eggs which I placed both on Prinia. The Prinia bird itself allowed me to spend one egg for 1 Green food which I took.
This time, Automa did Play a Bird Card. There were 2 cards with a value of 5 each so it didn’t matter which. Automa picked the space with Food bonus at the top right area.
5th action to play a bird, I had to get more food, and specifically a Yellow one. It was available but this triggered rerolling the entire dice.
Automa picked another egg this turn.
6th action was for playing that EURASIAN COOT at 2nd space of the 3rd row. Spent 1 Egg and 1 Yellow food. For placing the duet token, I picked the water spot with card bonus, at the bottom left. The card that I took from face up was YELLOW BITTERN, required just 1 food either green or blue.
Automa removed one Blue food from the fresh supply.
7th action was to generate eggs again. Like before, 2 eggs, one was traded for Green food.
Automa removed 2 Red foods but there were 2 more with different types.
As my last action, I played again that last bird card to the 3rd space of 3rd row. Spent 1 egg and 1 Green food to play it. Claimed another water area, on the left edge, 3rd row from above with card bonus, which I took COMMON GREEN MAGPIE.
Automa last action this round was to play a bird as well. But the face up cards only had either value 2 or 7 which didn’t match their requirement. So, they got 1 face down card. For Duet Board placement, they took a spot 2nd row from the bottom blocking my one at the corner.
That was the end of the round. I won the goal with 3 tokens on the edge while Automa had none.
Black Stork got me 1 egg on Eurasian Coot next to it.
ROUND 2
The duet mode round goal was to have more tokens on spaces with food. I think I had 1 and Automa had none.
My first action was to get more cards from 3rd row. I already had 3 birds there so I got to take 2 cards, plus 1 if I wanted to trade with an egg. Yellow Bittern allowed me to take face up card from middle slot while my Eurasian Coot allowed me to tuck up to 3 cards. I only tucked Little Egret that I got from the deck.
The other 3 got me RED VENTED BUL BUL, GREEN PHEASANT and EURASIAN EAGLE OWL. Spent 1 egg.
Automa’s first action this round was getting 2 EGGS.
I needed more eggs as well so my 2nd action was to trigger that row. I got 2 eggs that I put on the Prinia and the Prinia allowed me to trade 1 egg for 1 Green food.
Automa removed Green food from feeder and triggered the reroll. The fresh supply had 2 Red, 1 Blue, 1 Yellow and 1 either Green or Yellow.
I only had 2 Green food which were not enough to play any Bird. So, I triggered more cards again like my first action this round but didn’t trade an egg. I tucked the Eurasian Eagle Owl under the Eurasian Coot.
The other 3 cards were Brown Shrike, House Crow and Rosy Starling. Now I could have played the 2nd one.
Automa took 2 eggs again this turn.
4th action was to play Bird in the first row, that House Crow with 1 Green. I needed more food so I placed the token on the green space that shows food bonus and Green food that I gave to the bird. I took one of the Red food.
Automa finally played a Bird and they got GOLDEN PHEASANT for 5 points. Assuming my navigation was correct, they put the token on 3rd row from above between my 2 tokens, blocking their potential connection.
5th action for me was to get food. Since I had 1 bird already in the first row, I got to take 1 Food plus 1 by trading one bird card. Took 2nd red food and 1 Green. I think I got rid of Rosy Starling because no color in their name for my bonus card.
Automa took 2 eggs again.
6th action for me was playing Red-Vented Bul Bul by spending 2 Red and 1 Green. This was placed on 2nd row, 2nd space. I tried to save the connection that was blocked by the opponent from 3rd row while occupying more space with food icon.
Automa removed one Blue food and since there was only 1 left in the feeder, rerolled all dice. New supply got 2 red and 3 yellow.
For my last or 7th action this round, I took more cards. I got Indian Peafowl from the middle spot, Red Junglefowl from the right spot and Black Naped Oriole from face down. Maybe I didn’t tuck any below the Eurasian Coot this time.
Automa’s last action was to play Green Bee-Eater for 4 points, no other cards that matched the requirement. They occupied blue spot 2nd row from the bottom, 3rd from the left, next to their previous one.
That was the end of 2nd round. I only had 1 Green Food left that I cached on House Crow as their end of round ability. Black Stork got me 1 Egg.
I had 4 Duet tokens of spaces that showed food while Automa had none. So I won this round.
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ROUND 3.
This round the goal was to have more tokens on water space. Automa had 3 and I only had 2.
My first action was to get food, 1 food plus 1 by trading 1 card. I took the only 2 Red leaving just yellow so that triggered the rerolls with 2 Green, 2 Blue and 1 Gray.
Automa took 3 Eggs.
2nd action from me was getting more eggs. 3 eggs from the board, and the Bul Bul got me 1 more by having 1 Red food. Discarded one for Prinia to get a Green food.
Automa played a card this time. There was only 1 card with matching requirement and it was PLUMBEOUS REDSTART for 4 points. This time they occupied green space with food icon on 3rd row, blocking the potential connection of my tokens.
3rd action was Play a card, the Black Naped Oriole on 1st row, 2nd space. Spent 1 Egg, 2 Red and 1 Green food. I tried the save the connection that was just blocked by the opponent so I connected the 2 tokens on the top left.
Automa took face down card while removing the face up cards. They also occupied the 2nd from bottom row, leftmost space, completely preventing the connection of my one token at the bottom.
4th action was to get food again. I had 2 birds already so I took 2 food, 1 green and 1 gray.
Automa also removed 2 Blue food so there was only 1 food left, triggering the rerolls with 2 red, 2 Blue and 1 Gray.
My 5th action was to take more cards. I got to take 2 cards plus 1 by trading an egg. The Yellow Bittern got me 1 more from middle space. So, 4 cards were FOREST OWLET, GREATER ADJUTANT, ORIENTAL MAGPIE ROBIN and MANDARIN DUCK. I only kept the first one while the 3 were tucked at the bottom of Eurasian Coot.
Automa picked 2 eggs this turn.
My last action was to play the Forest Owlet in first row, 3rd space. Spent 1 egg, plus 1 Gray and 1 Green food. I occupied the space with bonus food from the first row of duet board with dice bonus. This made my biggest token group a size of 4.
Automa last action was to play a bird but none of them matched the criteria. So, they got face down card and removed the others. They occupied 3rd row from bottom, rightmost space on duet board.
That was the end of the round.
I got 1 egg from Black Stork. Since I used all 4 different actions, the Black Naped Oriole got me 1 food, a gray, 1 card, White-throated Kingfisher, and 1 egg. Then the House Crow allowed me to place the 2 foods on 2 birds of that first row as cache.
Automa won the end of the round goal with 4 tokens on Water spaces while I only had 2.
ROUND 4.
This one I misunderstood the end of the round goal. I thought it was to have the most tokens on a row but apparently I had to count the number of rows where I had at least 1 token. Currently I had in 5 rows while Automa had only in 4 rows.
1st action this round for me was to take cards. 2 cards plus 1 by trading an egg and 1 card from middle spot.
I got BRAMBLING, ASIAN KOEL, SARUS KRANE and ORIENTAL BAT OWL. I kept the 1st and 3rd, tucking the other 2 below the Eurasian Coot.
Automa first action was to play a card. There were 2 cards with matching criteria and as mentioned, I picked the higher one instead of the lowest for 6 instead of 5. The bird was STORK BILLED KINGFISHER.
They placed a token on 4th row, not adding any new one but their biggest group size was 4.
2nd action for me was to get food. Got to take 2 food plus 1 by trading a card. Took 2 Blue and 1 Red. This rerolled the birdfeeder supply and there were 2 Blue, 1 Green, 1 Gray and 1 of 2.
Automa played another card but this time they found no matching card. So they only took a face down one. This time they occupied the first row, adding new one, matching the number or rows with mine.
3rd action was getting eggs. 3 eggs plus 1 since I had a red food from the Bulbul. Traded 1 Egg for 1 Green with Prinia.
Automa took face down card and another spot from 2nd row of duet board.
4th action was to play a Bird card, SARUS CRANE, 4th space of 3rd row. Spent 2 Eggs, 2 blue and 1 green food. This was to connect my 2 groups of duet tokens so the size became 7.
Automa only took 3 eggs this turn.
Last action for me was just to take Food. Got 2 food plus 1 from trading a card. The Owl got me to roll 2 dice and I got a Green that I cached on it. Took 2 Blue and 1 Green food.
Automa got another face down card and a token on 4th row, not adding new but their biggest group had a size of 5 this time.
That was the end of the game. Got 1 egg from Black Stork, 1 food, 1 egg and 1 card from Black Naped Oriole. The House Crow cached 2 foods.
For the end of the round bonus, both of us got 5 rows. Not sure but I assumed both of us won the 5 points.
That was the end of the game.
SCORING
My score
Birds: 37 points
Tucked cards: 7 points
Eggs: 6 points
Cached food: 8 points
End of the Round Bonus: 10 points
Biggest Group of Duet Tokens: 7 points
TOTAL SCORE: 75 POINTS
AUTOMA Score
Birds: 24 points
Tucked cards: 18 points
Eggs: 17 points
Cached food: 0 points
End of the Round Bonus: 9 points
Biggest Group of Duet Tokens: 5 points
TOTAL SCORE: 73 POINTS
That was a close one.
Playing time was about 114 minutes.
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Under Falling Skies
Watch the slideshow of this Under Falling Skies game session here.
Defend the City while figuring out how to defeat the invading Aliens from the underground in Under Falling Skies.
This was using the Washington DC setup, still with the lowest difficulty and this was the first time playing with the city. Also this introduces the Robot Room where you finally use the included 2 Blue Dice.
The City itself uses different underground setup. Instead of A and B, this one uses B and C while the skies setup remains the same.
Well, I’m just going to say that I got the rule about the Robot wrong. The way it works is, you first need to place a die in a Blue room, after they are excavated.
This room will create a Robot die with the same value as the die you place in. In this setup there are 3 rooms. One requires no energy to use, one requires 1 energy and the last requires 2.
After you create the Blue dice, you choose which room to place the Robot in. The Robot will stay there in subsequent turns and it works the same as the other dice, white or gray. It’s just that they don’t move from that room at all.
My mistake was that I thought you can move it anywhere else because it is said just like the other dice. I was wrong and possibly made the game way easier. It was so easy that I only got hit once. Of course, I didn’t realize it during the game but after seeing the result, I knew something was off. Luckily, I checked the BGG page and the rule and I found out why.
The robot itself will not trigger the enemy ship movement and you can still place a die in that column. After the robot activates the room they were in, their value decreases by 1 and so the effect of that room follows in later turns. But you can choose not to use the robot at all in that turn and the robot will not lose its value.
When the value goes down below 1, then you can remove the robot. However, you can also choose to remove it early, maybe the value is too low for the room even if it is not 0. Maybe you want to use the regular die with better value on it. You then have to make the new robot to use them again.
The game comes with 2 Blue dice so you are limited to have 2 active blue dice at a time. One possible way to make good use of this robot is to “park” it in the Attack room with a value of 6 and then you can focus to just move enemy’s ships to the shooting spots.
Research rooms can make a good use of this as well, especially in the room that adds the value by 1. So you can keep going up in the research track when the value matches, considering that the requirement for going up the track can go as low as 1 before it goes up again.
Energy room with plus 1 is also nice to have the robot there. 2 of them can be a great combo. One provides the energy to keep doing research. But that one is in the 2nd lowest row.
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During my play, I made the first robot using the last die in 2nd round with a value of 5. I used it first to attack from the first column. Well, right in the next round, I placed a different die with higher value than the Robot in that same attack room so I should have lost the robot right away.
Instead, with the incorrect play I moved it to the research room from 3rd row, right most column. I got 2nd robot right in the 4th round. Made a new one with a value of 6 in the last or 6th round. Of course, this was cheating as I moved them a couple of times.
Oh, this was my first time letting the enemy moved the mothership down once to avoid getting pushed back on research track but only once. First one still happened.
So, this robot feature makes the game more interesting. While it is incorrect but I kind of like the idea of keep moving the robot. With the correct rule then you ideally want to make the robot from 6 and carefully place it somewhere useful for long term.
Energy room is probably the best as you need it for a lot of things. Even if just generating 1 Energy, that can be useful for excavator. Research is important to win but then you might end up wasting turn for that robot since you want certain value somewhere up in that research track.
For attack room, there are only 3 shooting spots where the value are lower than 3. And, those spots are at higher altitude. That means, the use of the Robot in that room is also very limited.
Because you want to start the robot with a 6, you might want to clear a column first. Moving them to a different column without returning them to the mothership, becomes more important than without this robot feature.
Make sure that creating the robot with that 6 is worth it and use them more than 2 turns. Otherwise, you might as well just use the dice for the other rooms. Now I’m curious whether you can actually win without making any robot at all.
Well, I definitely had to try again correctly.
Playing time was about 48 minutes.
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Beacon Patrol
Watch the Slideshow of this Beacon Patrol game session here.
Explore the area for the Beacon Buoys and Lighthouses to make sure the safety of North Sea in Beacon Patrol.
I got 2 solo sessions with this, still with just the basic game, no extra module. From the first session, the grid size at the end was about 8 x 8. The starting tile was the top right of the 4 middle tiles. Scored about 52 points.
2nd session scored way lower with just 40 points. I even got a hole in the middle that I couldn’t fill that required lands on 3 sides. I actually got the tile during the game and finally gave up after I couldn’t find enough tile to get there. The grid size at the end was about 9 x 9, with a lot of single or double columns that I failed to score.
For this 2nd session, the first quarter of the game went great but then I got drifted far to the left. Then I revealed a lot of free water tiles while I kept waiting for specific tile to expand the other way. Actually the first session was a bit similar with those free water tiles at the bottom left but I felt I got better distribution than 2nd.
Compared to my last plays (first time), I discarded more tiles for more movement. I knew from the distribution that there are more free water tiles so I discarded more of them. Probably should have focused on the one without any buoy. I did discard some with lands on 3 sides once or twice.
As I said before, the distributions and variants of tiles are not that difficult to track but after the board grew a bit, I didn’t feel like I wanted to. So, maybe I should have started doing it right from the start. Then again, this was meant to be a relaxing game.
The problem or should I say, the “challenge” that happened was feeling desperate. Desperate to get certain tiles to keep expanding in one way or more without really knowing. On one hand it was kind of my fault for letting me into that position. At first, that hole didn’t feel like it would become one.
Initially it was just one land and one water. Then 2 sides became lands. Finally 3rd side leaving just one from the initial was the water and that happened after a couple of rounds not getting those tiles.
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You don’t want to waste tile so you think you might as well just play it, covering existing tiles on all 4 sides. But this way of thinking could drift you apart to one end, too far. So, cutting it off might be a good idea. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that you will get a matching tile even if they are not really restricted.
At that point you will go back to the idea of not wasting tile. Then when you finally get a tile that matched with what you need initially, you are already too far off. Maybe you can still keep that specific tile (solo), but if then you get another tile that might work on other place, you have to start making sacrifice, abandoning your plan.
With just the base module, there are 55 tiles so you can make about 7 x 8, ideally. The potential total value of all tiles are almost 100 and if the lowest ones are for borders, you may get up to around 70. You only need to get about 56 or higher for the highest scoring tier.
Maybe because I just didn’t count, I get the feeling of not enough tiles to completely cover things. I probably should not have worried too much especially early in the game. Well, this feeling gets worse towards the end. Or you might feel relieved that you know you won’t be able to reach the opposite end and just lose that point.
Honestly, the feeling that you need specific tile is not great. Maybe I did cheat and look those face down tiles to make sure whether there was at least one possible tile or I should just abandon it. I knew that it was kind of my fault for placing it that way in that position. Then again, like in these 2 sessions, there were parts that I thought I couldn’t make it but I did and there were those that I thought I could but failed. That means, your feeling when placing that tile might not a great indicator.
While in general this game feels relaxing there will be those moments when you start looking for more specific tile which can be frustrating. Even if not that exact tile but you also want the tile that allows you to move in certain direction to expand. That movement is why this is not as relaxing as other tile laying like Cascadia.
In this one, if you mess it up, placing a tile that prevents you from moving, it may ruin a lot of your progress. Technically, you can even get eliminated early in this BYOS game by creating a small lake, surrounding the body of water with all lands. At that point, you won’t be able to place any subsequent tiles.
I like the game but maybe I should try to play while caring less about the score.
Playing time was about 47 to 49 minutes.
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Nautilion
Watch the slideshow of this Nautilion game session here.
Recruit crews for your Submarine while travelling to the Abbys to beat the Darkhouse and Phantom in Nautilion.
This was using all of the expansion modules. The Nautilion Submarine was the first C with the circular shape. In this one, every Crew space only has 2 connected spaces. I got lucky when I realized that placing the Mercenary tokens could be tricky during the game. They could have split everything in half.
If you want to place more Mercenary, ideally you want them to be next to each other. Unless you can make sure you win against the Phantom and there was a token to replace the mercenary to keep other crews in place, you want to avoid having them separated.
Here is how the session went.
ROUND 1. Darkhouse: PLAY PHASES 2 THROUGH 5 TWICE WITH THE SAME DICE. THE DICE MAY BE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT FIGURES THE SECOND TIME AROUND.
Roll: 1, 1, 2.
No need to worry to Darkhouse this time. For Phantom, 1 got them Crew 2 with the Harpoon so I had to give the first 2 for them, removing Crew 7 from the path. That means Nautilion had to take the 1, getting Crew 5 as the start and on a Reef. This prevented Nautilion to move 2nd time.
So, for the 2nd time, I gave the 1 for Phantom, allowing them to remove a Reef and Mage C.
ROUND 2. Darkhouse: RECOVER A TOKEN FROM THE DISCARD AND ADD IT TO THE PATH BETWEEN THE NAUTILION AND THE ABYSS.
Roll: 1, 1, 4
There was only Crew 7 in the discard pile. I put it back somewhere in the middle since the game was still early.
1 for Phantom got them a Mercenary so I had to let them take the 4, letting them remove a 9. Nautilion with 1 got them Mage B. Darkhouse with 1 did nothing.
ROUND 3. Darkhouse: CHOOSE 1 FIGURE. ROLL A DIE AND GIVE IT TO THAT FIGURE. THEN, ROLL 2 DICE AND GIVE THEM TO 2 REMAINING FIGURES.
Roll: 4, 1, 2.
I chose the Nautilion to get first and got a 4, landed on Crew 2 that they couldn’t take on board. Phantom would have removed Crew 6 with 1 or Crew 4 plus reef with 2 and I didn’t want them to advance too fast.
Spent 2 reserve tokens to switch the Crew 2 with Crew 9 from somewhere closer to Phantom. Space for Crew 2 was like the opposite of 5, the starting occupied space so I pushed it farther with the risk of Phantom taking it.
ROUND 4. Darkhouse: NAUTILION MOVES BACKWARDS THIS TURN.
Roll: 1, 2, 2
Didn’t matter which for Darkhouse. Definitely 1 for Phantom because 2 got them a Mercenary. They removed a reef and Crew 4. For Nautilion, 1 was Mage B that they already had and 2 got them Crew 7 which could be placed on Mage Board.
Unfortunately it was on a reef and I rolled a 1 so Nautilion didn’t move next turn.
ROUND 5. Darkhouse: RECOVER A TOKEN FROM THE DISCARD AND PLACE IT IN THE RESERVE.
Roll: 1 and 4.
Didn’t like giving 4 to any of them but the 1 for Phantom got them a Mercenary. They removed Crew 9.
ROUND 6. Darkhouse: PLAY PHASES 2 THROUGH 5 TWICE WITH THE SAME DICE. THE DICE MAY BE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT FIGURES THE SECOND TIME AROUND.
Roll: 1, 2, 4.
Nautilion had to take the 4, at least in one of them. But 2 or 1 got Phantom either Crew 8 or Mercenary. I let them take the 2 but I switched the Crew that the 2 would have gotten as Nautilion could install the Crew 8. Phantom removed Mage A.
For the 2nd part, Nautilion took the 4 again to Mage A on reef while Phantom took the 1, removing the Crew 6 since 2 could have gotten them a harpoon.
Rolled a 2 for the reef so Nautilion was stuck again.
ROUND 7. Darkhouse: RECOVER A TOKEN FROM THE DISCARD AND ADD IT TO THE PATH BETWEEN THE NAUTILION AND THE ABYSS.
Roll: 1, 2.
I put back Crew 6 that the Phantom just removed. It was also somewhere in the middle. I had to give the 2 to Phantom to avoid a harpoon for them. They removed another Crew 7 on a reef.
ROUND 8. Darkhouse: CHOOSE 1 FIGURE. ROLL A DIE AND GIVE IT TO THAT FIGURE. THEN, ROLL 2 DICE AND GIVE THEM TO 2 REMAINING FIGURES.
Roll: 2, 3, 3.
Chose Nautilion again and rolled a 2. This got them a Mercenary which I placed on Crew 1 space. I had to lose a token for Darkhouse and Phantom removed Crew 1 plus a reef.
ROUND 9. Darkhouse: NAUTILION MOVES BACKWARDS THIS TURN.
Roll: 1, 1, 3.
I had to give the 3 to Phantom, letting them removed Crew 6 and reef. Moving back 1 for Nautilion got them Crew 3 that they couldn’t take on board. So, I spent 2 tokens to switch with the one next to it, Crew 4 and that was available.
ROUND 10. Darkhouse: RECOVER A TOKEN FROM THE DISCARD AND PLACE IT IN THE RESERVE.
Roll: 1, 1, 2.
Darkhouse was not a problem this time. So was Phantom. Either they removed Crew 6 or Mage C with 2 and 1. I let them took the shorter one. Nautilion took Crew 1 with 2 instead of Crew 3 since the former could have filled the Mage not the Nautilion itself.
ROUND 11. Darkhouse: PLAY PHASES 2 THROUGH 5 TWICE WITH THE SAME DICE. THE DICE MAY BE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT FIGURES THE SECOND TIME AROUND.
Roll: 2, 2, 4.
I think the initial roll were 2, 3 and 4. But the Mage A and Crew 1 rerolled the 3 into 2. I didn’t want Phantom to go faster with 4 but the 2 got them a Mercenary. Nautilion with 4 got them a Crew 4.
It seems I made a mistake here. My initial plan was to switch them up by spending 2. I did spend but I forgot to switch and also took a wrong token for the Phantom. They should have gotten 1 Mercenary or 4 harpoons. Nautilion took the Crew 4 for Mage B so I got to reroll twice onwards.
That means I should have had 2 tokens left. Then for the 2nd time, I gave the 4 to Darkhouse, losing a token since I thought I already had none. Phantom removed Crew 1 while Nautilion got Crew 7 which was placed connected to only a Mercenary.
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ROUND 12. Darkhouse: RECOVER A TOKEN FROM THE DISCARD AND ADD IT TO THE PATH BETWEEN THE NAUTILION AND THE ABYSS.
Roll: 1, 2, 4
Still thinking that I had no tokens, I gave the 4 to Darkhouse so I lost that last token, anyway. Phantom got the 1, removing Crew 6 and Nautilion got Mage C with the 2. This means the Mage board was already full.
ROUND 13. Darkhouse: CHOOSE 1 FIGURE. ROLL A DIE AND GIVE IT TO THAT FIGURE. THEN, ROLL 2 DICE AND GIVE THEM TO 2 REMAINING FIGURES.
Roll: 4, 1 and 1.
I chose Darkhouse first since I had no token and I got it right. Phantom removed Crew 7 while Nautilion got 1 token for landing on Mage A with Reef. Rolled a 2 so Nautilion was stuck. Both Submarines were next to each other.
ROUND 14. Darkhouse: NAUTILION MOVES BACKWARDS THIS TURN.
Roll: 2, 2.
Collision time! Well, I tried to fix what happened earlier but that got both submarines exactly 4 harpoons. That means instead of taking Crew 1 to replace the Mercenary, Nautilion should have lost Crew 1 but also Crew 7.
So, I followed as if I resolved things as planned. I got the 2nd Mercenary which I placed on Crew 3 space but I lost the Crew 4 next to Mage B, losing the reroll ability. Maybe I was still cheating. Oh, well.
This way, I won the collision with 6 harpoons while Phantom only had 2. Mercenary on Crew 3 space didn’t destroy any connection. As bonus I got Crew 1 from discard and replaced the other Mercenary so I still got 6 Crews on board.
Well, Nautilion was supposed to move backwards but they were still stuck on a reef. Both submarines were still next to each other. I assumed they just kept moving as if there would not be any collision.
ROUND 15. Darkhouse: RECOVER A TOKEN FROM THE DISCARD AND PLACE IT IN THE RESERVE.
Roll: 1, 2, 4.
Clearly giving 4 to Nautilion to a Mercenary. Phantom moved 1, removing Crew 5. Spent 2 tokens to switch that Mercenary with the Crew 2 next to it.
This time I realized I was lucky for placing all Crews 2 near the end since they became useful for the Heroic Cards.
ROUND 16. Darkhouse: PLAY PHASES 2 THROUGH 5 TWICE WITH THE SAME DICE. THE DICE MAY BE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT FIGURES THE SECOND TIME AROUND.
Roll: 1, 1, 3
Definitely giving the 3 to Nautilion to another Crew 2. I removed the previous one to activate the 3rd Heroic card. This one allowed me to take a crew on the path but it had to be different from the one I was removing. I took Crew 3 and got back the Crew 2 from moving. Phantom removed Mage B.
For the 2nd time, I couldn’t allow Phantom to move 1 since they got a Mercenary so Nautilion took the one which was Mercenary became a reserve. Phantom removed Crew 9.
Both of them were 8 spaces away from their destination.
ROUND 17. Darkhouse: RECOVER A TOKEN FROM THE DISCARD AND ADD IT TO THE PATH BETWEEN THE NAUTILION AND THE ABYSS.
Roll: 1, 2, 4
Recovered Crew 6, last one that I needed. Gave the 2 for Nautilion so they got another Crew 2. Before that removed the one on board to activate the 1st Heroic card which was to avoid penalty for giving 3 or 4 to Darkhouse. This way the 4 went to Darkhouse and Phantom got the 1, removing Crew 3. Nautilion got the Crew 2 again.
ROUND 18. Darkhouse: CHOOSE 1 FIGURE. ROLL A DIE AND GIVE IT TO THAT FIGURE. THEN, ROLL 2 DICE AND GIVE THEM TO 2 REMAINING FIGURES.
Roll: 4, 2 and 2.
Chose the Darkhouse since it was safe with any number and I got a 4. Phantom was about to get a Mercenary. After rerolling one of them became a 3. I needed the 3 for Nautilion to get a Crew 6. So, I spent 2 tokens to switch the Mercenary from Phantom and they removed something else.
I got all Crews and Mages but 1 Heroic Card left.
ROUND 19. Darkhouse: NAUTILION MOVES BACKWARDS THIS TURN.
Roll: 1, 1, 1
Phantom removed Crew 1 while Nautilion got to Mage C on a reef backwards. Luckily the roll was 3 so Nautilion was free.
ROUND 20. Darkhouse: RECOVER A TOKEN FROM THE DISCARD AND PLACE IT IN THE RESERVE.
Roll: 1, 2, 3
Maybe I did some rerolls but the 3 was for Nautilion to take the last Crew 2. Removed the one on board to activate the last card which would have just remove some reefs. This was Nautilion was ready to win.
Nautilion was 1 space away Phantom was 3 to each destination.
ROUND 21. Darkhouse: PLAY PHASES 2 THROUGH 5 TWICE WITH THE SAME DICE. THE DICE MAY BE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT FIGURES THE SECOND TIME AROUND.
Roll: 1, 1, 1.
So, even if Phantom moved twice, they still had not reached the Happy Isle while Nautilion got to the Abyss. Nautilion beat the Darkhouse and won with the help of all Crews and Mages.
Playing time was about 54 minutes.
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Tiny Epic Defenders
Watch the slideshow of this Tiny Epic Defenders Game session here.
Defend the Castle and beat the Epic Foe in Tiny Epic Defenders.
Back with Nyrra and Laishom, the 2 Elves ready to protect the Capital City of Edenmoore.
ROUND 1.
First enemy attack happened at Mountain, followed by the Plains. 2nd attack was to Desert region and then 2nd attack to Mountain. 3rd came to Forest first and the 2nd attack to the Desert. That means no attack to the 2 Northern region, the Coast and Ruins.
Nyrra moved first, 2 spaces to the forest between the Desert and Plains. From there she secured the Desert bringing the threat level down to 1. Using the Enchant power from the Forest, she secured the Mountain area once with the Desert down to 0.
The Commander’s turn next, started by giving extra action to Nyrra to completely secure the Plains. Laishom then moved to the Mountain region, completely securing it and then he used LEAP, preparing himself to protect any outer regions.
Somehow Nyrra forgot to secure the forest itself.
ROUND 2.
A Dire enemy appeared in the Forest! Nyrra was there defending the region but suffered 3 damage. She then found the Spear of Valor. After that attack, she went back to the Castle to heal.
Enemy attack happened again in Forest, followed by Desert, and the threat level of each went up to 1. Nyrra healed fast and she already went back to the forest to completely secure the Desert but not the Forest.
Enemy attack again, same as previous round, one to Mountain followed by the Plains to level 1 each. Nyrra’s kept moving, securing the Mountain with Enchant and the Plains.
Another attack and this time to Desert, followed by Mountains. The Commander went last and gave Nyrra extra action to secure the Desert while he secured Mountains and moved back to Leap.
ROUND 3.
First attack this time to Mountain and then to Plains, both to Level 1 Threat. New attack this time was to Coast, first time, followed by the Desert, both to Level 1. 3rd attack to Mountain and Desert, both to Level 2.
Probably the last attack and it was to Forest followed by Desert, Level 2 for the former and Level 3 for the latter. All Defenders’ turn and Nyrra secured the Desert first, 1 Level and then using Enchant, the Mountain by 1 level. Nyrra kept moving by securing the 3 regions nearby, Desert and Forest to Level 1 and Plains to 0.
Minotaur, the Dire enemy came back to the Forest and attacked Nyrra again. She suffered 3 damage but got the SHIELD OF AUGHMOORE. After that she moved back to the Castle to heal but before that, completely secured the Forest.
The Commander went last again, giving Nyrra time to heal and she moved to the Desert. He kept doing the same, securing Mountain and back to Leap.
ROUND 4.
This time, All Defenders went first. Nyrra, at the Desert, used the MIRAGE power and saw that Minotaur was about to hit again at the Forest, followed by the Commander and Nyrra herself. She suffered 1 damage.
Just so the Commander got more artifact, he would be using the Leap to defend the dire enemy attack. So, Nyrra, instead of going back to the Forest, went to the Coast, 2 spaces and secured the Coast.
As predicted, the Minotaur appeared again and the Forest was defended by the Commander using the Leap. He suffered 3 damage but found WINGS OF ZEPHYR. Then, the Commander’s turn, giving extra action to Nyrra to secure the Mountain. Laishom secured the Forest and went back to the Castle to heal.
Nyrra’s turn again and she went back to the Desert to see the upcoming attacks. From that vision, she decided to let the enemy attacks happened first before they made a move. No other Dire Enemy so far. She went back to the Castle to heal.
The 2 attacks happened. Twice to the Mountain, once to Desert and Plains each. Defenders’ turn again. This time Commander moved first and instead of flying, he went through the desert first, securing it and wait at the Forest.
3 more attacks before the end of the round. Currently the threat level of the Coast was at 1, 2 of each to Mountain, Desert, Forest and Plains.
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ROUND 5.
Enemy went first and another attack to Forest and Desert and both of them were at level 3 threat. After that, Nyrra moved to the Desert and from there secured both the Forest and Desert by 1.
The Commander’s turn, allowing Nyrra to secure the Desert by 1 level. Laishom himself secured the Forest by 1 and using Echant, secured the Mountain by 1.
Minotaur attacked again and the Commander was there to defend. 3 damage but he found CELESTIAL IDOL, an item to secure the Castle.
The attack continued and this time to Coast and Desert, both to Level 2. Next one was to Plains and Forest, Level 3 and Level 2 respectively. Defenders’ turn again and Nyrra used this chance to move to the Forest and from there, secured the both the desert and Plains by 1 each.
Attack to the Desert and Mountain kept coming, both to level 2. Nyrra’s turn. She secured the Desert by 1 first and then moved to the Plains. From there, she secured the Mountain both to level 1.
Enemy attack again to Mountain to level 2 and then Plains to Level 3. New attack this time was to Coast, currently to Level 3 and first attack ever to Ruins to Level 1.
ROUND 6.
Enemy kept attacking the Ruins again to Level 2 and this time finally destroyed the Coast. Threat level of the Castle went up to 1.
Then the 2nd Dire Enemy made appearance. It was WRAITH at Ruins but nobody was defending it. The threat level went up to 3 and they used DRAIN power to deal 2 damage to Nyrra who had the most health.
Attack again to Mountain and Plains, both to Level 3 threat. Minotaur attacked the forest again and the Commander was still there to defend it. He suffered 3 damage and found HAMMER OF MIGHT.
Then it was Commander’s turn, allowing Nyrra to secure Mountain from Plains by 1. Laishom secured the Forest and Desert before moving back to the Castle to heal.
The attacked continued and this time to Coast and Desert. Coast was already destroyed so the threat level of the Castle went up to 2. Then All Defenders’ turn. Nyrra secured 1 level of Plains before moving back to the Castle to heal. The Commander after healing then went to the Mountain.
Nyrra healed fast and continued her action. She moved to the Desert first and from there secured 2 levels of Ruins before she moved back to the Forest.
Forest and Desert got attacked again both to level 2 threat. Desert got to Level 3 and Mountain to Level 2 from the next attack. All defenders’ turn again and Nyrra secured 1 of each Desert, Forest and Plains while Laishom took a Leap.
Last attack of this round was to Plains to level 2 and Forest, also to Level 2.
ROUND 7, THE EPIC FOE.
The Epic Foe appeared and it was the DRAGON at the Mountain!
Enemy continued with the attack to Plains and Forest, both to level 3. Minotaur also attacked again and Nyrra was there. She got STAFF OF CONTROL but her hands were already full with the previous artifacts. Thanks to the Shield, she also only suffered 2 damage.
2nd Dire Enemy attack to the Ruins and the Commander used the Leap to defend it. Now, it was the Commander’s turn. The Dragon moved to the Ruins. Nyrra got extra action which she used to secure the Plains area by 1.
Laishom dealt 4 damage to the Dragon. The Dragon got mad and started doing SCORCH, dealing 2 damage to both defenders. Both were completely exhausted and needed to heal.
After that, All defenders’ turn again and both went back to the Castle to heal. The Dragon moved to the Forest. Next attack was to the Forest, completely destroying it, saving the attack to the Desert. Threat Level of the Castle just went up to 3.
Nyrra’s turn and the Dragon moved back to the Mountain. She moved one space to the Mountain and using her Spear of Valor dealt 3 damage to the Dragon. Using her 1 remaining action, dealt 1 more damage, triggering another Scorch.
3 enemy attacks. These managed to destroy Mountains and Deserts plus 1 more damage to the Coast and 1 to Plains. The threat level of the Castle went up to 6. 2 more and the Edenmoore was destroyed.
All Defenders turn again with the Dragon moved to the Ruins. Laishom just healed in the Castle and flew to the Ruins where the Dragon was. He had 3 more attacks and it was enough to defeat the Dragon.
The Dragon was defeated. Edenmoore was safe.
Playing time was about 52 minutes.
Learn more about the game from Tiny Epic Defenders Review.
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The Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game
Watch the Slideshow of this The Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game session here.
Expand your estate while generating and managing resources to reach the goal faster and farther in The Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game.
This was a solo session with the Sheet D. Started from the Castle with Worker bonus.
ROUND 1. Blue, Purple, 2, 5 and No Goods.
The starting castle didn’t have any adjacent purple hex so 2 and purple while made a perfect match, I couldn’t use it. Instead, the Blue and 5, expanding the estate to the left, without adding more options.
ROUND 2. Blue, Orange, 2, 4, No Goods.
I could have spent the Worker to change one of the value for the Blue but that still didn’t open more options for subsequent rounds. So, instead I picked Orange and the 4. Didn’t matter which value and I expanded to the right from the starting Castle.
ROUND 3. Yellow, Gray, 1, 5, No Goods.
I had access to gray but not only the value didn’t work and it wouldn’t have opened more options. So, I went with the Yellow. There were 2 options, each led to different Castles and bonuses. Decided to go down with a 5, not sure if that was a good choice for the value.
ROUND 4. Yellow, Orange, 3, 3, No Goods.
I could have used the orange but that hex was on the edge and would have opened no more options later. So, I went with Yellow, spent 1 Worker to change the value to 5 to finish the 2 hexes I already started. Scored 8 points from it.
ROUND 5. Yellow, Blue, 1, 2, No Goods.
Well, I could have spent my only worker to change the value for the blue but I wanted to keep it for later. So I chose Yellow and 1 to go up from the Starting Castle, filling first of 2 yellow hexes.
ROUND 6. Blue, Yellow, 5, 6, Goods.
I had no goods so I didn’t sell any. Chose the Blue 6 or 5 either way to complete the Blue region that I already started. Got 1 Goods from it and 4 points.
ROUND 7. Green, purple, 1, 5, No Goods.
I could have gone up or down to a different castle. Either getting a Silver or another Goods. I went with the latter using Green 5. I should have scored 1 point from this.
ROUND 8. Purple, Purple, 2, 6, Goods.
Sold the 2 goods for 4 points and 2 Silvers. The 2 Purple and a 2 were perfect to use the Silver. Unfortunately I didn’t have access to Purple region with just a 2. Either filling 2 out of 3 region or complete a single hex and filled the other. Probably should have scored the single one first for 1 extra point but I chose to fill 2 out of 3 at the bottom left.
ROUND 9. Gray, Orange, 1, 4, Goods.
That Gray and 4 was perfect to start Gray region but I chose to use both value with the Orange for the size 4 at the bottom right corner. Spent 1 Silver and filled 1 and then 4 so the Castle nearby was next to a 4.
ROUND 10. Blue, Orange, 1, 2, Goods.
The only possible combination without changing anything was Orange and 2 to fill the 3rd of 4 spaces in that region.
ROUND 11. Gray, Green, 2, 3, Goods.
None of the value worked with the Green so I chose Gray 3. I filled the region at the top instead of the one at the bottom to access the region with 2 purple.
ROUND 12. Orange, yellow, 2, 5, No Goods.
Finished the size 4 Orange with a 5. Got 10 points and 1 Worker bonus.
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ROUND 13. Green, Orange, 1, 3, Goods.
Chose the Green 1 to claim the Silver bonus from the Castle at the top. I should have scored this one but I forgot again, 1 point.
ROUND 14. Blue, Purple, 2, 4, No Goods.
Finished the size 3 Purple at the bottom for 6 points and 1 Monk bonus.
ROUND 15. Gray, Yellow, 3, 3, No Goods.
Spent the Silver for 2 Gray 3. Completed the region at the top for 3 points and 1 Silver and filled 1 of 2 at the bottom.
ROUND 16. Blue, Orange, 1, 1, Goods.
Spent the Monk bonus to change one of the color to yellow to complete the 2 yellow hexes at the top left. Scored 6 points from it.
ROUND 17. Purple, Gray 4, 6, No Goods.
Chose the Gray 4 to complete the last Gray region. Scored 2 points, got 1 Silver and 1 point for completing a color.
ROUND 18. Green, Blue. 6, 1, No Goods.
Last Green didn’t work with any number so I chose to start a new Blue region with Blue 6 next to that last Green.
ROUND 19. Orange, Gray, 1, 6, No Goods.
Spent 1 Silver to fill 2 Orange hexes of 1 region at the top right. Scored 2 points, got 1 Worker.
ROUND 20. Blue, Purple, 1, 1, No goods.
I could have filled 2 Purple hexes but I decided to spend 1 Worker for the Blue and completed that 2nd region. Got 1 Goods, 2 points.
ROUND 21. Purple, Yellow, 1, 5, No Goods.
Probably should have tried to complete the Yellow but I decided to go with Purple and 1 to get a Monk. Filled the bottom right purple, scored 1 point.
ROUND 22. Green, Gray, 2, 4, goods.
Sold the Goods for 2 VP and 1 Silver. I chose the Green 2 for to complete this last Green. Scored 1 + 1 points. Somehow I already counted the bonus from this one but not the Gray one.
ROUND 23. Orange, Purple, 1, 3, No Goods.
Spent a silver to fill 2 Orange hexes, separately. Scored 2 points from those hexes, gained 2 workers and 3 bonus for completing the color.
ROUND 24. Yellow, Purple, 4, 4, No Goods.
Spent the last silver to fill 2 Yellows with both 4s. Scored 4 points from both but failed to complete the color. I could have at the time I claimed that one Purple and scored extra 3 points or so.
That was the end of the game.
Assuming I tracked correctly I should have scored 64 actually, not 63. Had I chosen to complete the Yellow, I could have scored 67.
Playing time was about 26 minutes.
Learn more about the game from The Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game review.
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Isle of Trains: All Aboard
Watch the slideshow of this Isle of Trains: All Aboard game session here.
Build your train to accommodate different cargos and passengers to fulfill contracts with various cities in Isle of Trains: All Aboard.
This was a 2nd attempt for the solo Scenario 1. The objective was that I had to complete both contracts of 2 cities Billington’s and Flint Beach. Both required at least 1 Box for their primary contract with the 2nd goods was Coal for Billington’s and Oil for Flint Beach.
As starting passengers I got the White and the Blue. My starting hand of cards had 1 building, Coach 3, Boxcar 1, Caboose 2 and Caboose 4.
ROUND 1.
My first action was to load the Blue passenger to the Engine. As bonus, I got 2 cards, Hopper 1 and Coach 1.
As 2nd action, I did BUILD, the Coach 1 with a cost of 1. I discarded the Building for it. The bonus passenger was the Gray.
ROUND 2.
LOAD was my first action this round, the white passenger to the Coach 1. Got 3 cards and 1 VP. The cards were Engine 1, Coach 3 and a Building.
With 7 cards, I had to BUILD, and I chose the BOXCAR 1. The cost was 3, discarded a Building, an Engine and one of the Coach 3.
4 cards left in hand.
ROUND 3.
I delivered the Blue passenger to their destination, the Billington’s along with the White one for Special Delivery. The bonus got me a total of 4 cards plus BUILD action bonus. For that bonus, I built HOPPER 1, with a cost of 1, discarding a Building card.
As 2nd action, I BUILD again, upgrade actually, for the Engine to level 2. The cost was 2 and I discarded a building and Caboose 2. Got a Green Passenger as bonus.
ROUND 4.
1st action was LOAD, the green passenger to the Coach. Got 3 cards, Coach 1, Hopper 2 and Caboose 5 plus 1 VP.
2nd action was BUILD, upgrading Hopper from Level 1 to Level 2. The cost was 3 and I discarded Caboose 4 and 5 plus the Coach 1.
ROUND 5.
LOAD again as 1st action, the Gray passenger to the Engine for 2 cards. I got Boxcar 3 and Hopper 1.
Next was DELIVER, the green passenger to their destination, the Flint Beach and only that passenger. The bonus got me 2 cards, a building and Boxcar 2 plus LOAD ACTION bonus which I loaded the Box goods to my Boxcar, using Boxcar 3.
ROUND 6.
LOAD again but this time was the COAL, using Hopper 1 card. The bonus got me 2 cards, a Building and Engine 2 plus BUILD action. For that I upgraded the Hopper to Level 3 with a cost of 3. Discarding Engine 2 and 2 building cards.
2nd action was DELIVER for the Primary Contract to Billington’s with 1 Coal and 1 Box. I also did Special Delivery for that Gray passenger to get 2 cards, Tanker 1 and Coach 2.
ROUND 7.
BUILD this time, upgrading the Coach to Level 2 with the cost of 3. Discarding Boxcar 1, Coach 3 and Tanker 1. Got Purple and Green passengers as bonus.
I then did LOAD the Green passenger to that Coach for 3 cards and 2 VP. Another Coach 2, Tanker 3 and Hopper 1 from that.
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ROUND 8.
LOAD again, this time the Purple passenger for 3 cards and 2 VP. The cards were Caboose 9, Tanker 1 and Tanker 2.
2nd action was also LOAD but the Coal to the Hopper using Hopper 1 card. The bonus got me 2 cards and additional action. Got Engine 1 and Tanker 3. For the additional action, I built TANKER 2 immediately with the cost of 5. Discarding Engine 1, Tanker 3, Tanker 1, Coach 2 and Caboose 9.
ROUND 9.
DELIVER action this time. The Green passenger to their destination, plus the Purple for Special delivery. I got 3 cards and Load action bonus for it. The cards were Engine 3, Hopper 2 and Engine 2. For the Load bonus I loaded first oil using Engine 2 card.
Then I did LOAD again, 2nd Oil using Engine 1 card. Got 3 cards, Engine 3, Boxcar 1, Caboose 1 and a DELIVER action that I didn’t use.
ROUND 10.
BUILD action this time, to upgrade the Engine to Level 3 with the cost of 3. Discarded Engine 3, Boxcar 1 and Caboose 1. Also got White passenger as bonus.
Then LOAD action, loading that passenger to the Coach for 3 cards and 2 VP. The cards were Boxcar 2, Engine 2 and Hopper 2.
ROUND 11.
BUILD ACTION this time, upgrading the Boxcar to level 2, with the cost of 3. Discarding Tanker 3, Engine 2 and Hopper 2.
Then I did DELIVER the White passenger to their destination. The bonus got me 5 cards, a Building, Engine 3, Tanker 2, Engine 2 and Boxcar 1.
ROUND 12.
First I did LOAD, a Box using Engine 2 to the Boxcar. The bonus was 4 cards and a Load action. I got Coach 1 and 2, Boxcar 1, Engine 3. As additional Load action, another Box using the Building card.
Then LOAD again, 2nd Coal. Got me 2 cards and extra action. Got Boxcar 2 and Hopper 1. As bonus additional action I used it to build another Coach 2 with 4 cards, discarding Coach 1, Boxcar 1, Hopper 1 and Boxcar 2. Also got Blue and Gray passenger.
ROUND 13.
At this point, I already got 9 VP and I spent all of them to return 3 cards. It didn’t matter which.
First action was LOAD, the Blue passenger to the Coach 2 for 3 cards and 2 VP. The cards were Hopper 1, Boxcar 2 and Tanker 1.
2nd action was DELIVER, completing the secondary contract to Billington’s with 2 Coal, 1 Oil and 1 Box.
ROUND 14.
I already had Oil and Box loaded. So, I did DELIVER for the primary contract of the Flint Beach. To complete this scenario, I still needed to load either 2 Oil and 2 Boxes or 2 Boxes plus 1 of each of the other 2.
Unfortunately, there were only 4 or 5 cards left including the face up cards. Even just from Loading, I would have triggered the end of the game without the chance to deliver.
So, I failed.
The best way to do it was probably to Load 1 Coal to Hopper for 2 cards and 1 extra action which was to Load to Boxcar, avoiding drawing 4. Still needed to load 2 more, probably a Box to that Boxcar again for 4 cards and extra load action for the Oil. Then I had to do the DELIVER.
That had to be done in at least 2 rounds so probably needed 8 cards more. I guess I had to load more to Hopper early to avoid that Boxcar.
Playing time was about 68 minutes.
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Voyages
Watch the slideshow of this Voyages Game session here.
Explore the sea to light all of the Beacons in Voyages.
This was a solo session with the Map 4, Lighting Beacon Bays.
ROUND 1. Rolls: 1, 3, 6.
Direction 6 with speed of 3 would have positioned the ship right between the starting Beacon and the next one so that was I went with. 1st Beacon, 1 point. That means I had 1 for the Duty. I chose to fill the building that requires 3 with a bonus of 2 Sailors first.
ROUND 2. Rolls: 1, 2, 5.
None of these for directions got me anywhere. Ideally direction 4 with speed of 3 to an island with 4 Gold or 6 with speed of at least 3 entering the unexplored ocean. The former option required spending 2 Sailors while the latter required only 1 so I went with the latter.
Spent 1 Sailor from 1st row to change 1 into 6 so the 5 became speed. I entered the unexplored ocean at the top left corner and got a Heroic, turning one from the 3rd row.
That means I had a 2 for the duty. I chose to fill the 1st one to get me more points for completing these buildings.
ROUND 3. Rolls: 2, 4, 5.
The nearest Watchtower was just 1 space away in direction 5. Both 2 or 4 could have been used as speed. For some reason I chose the 2 for the speed and 4 for the Duty even though I already started the building with a 2. Chose the building that required the most that would have given me a Star. At least just by filling the 1st space I got a Sailor.
For the Watchtower bonus I chose the Sailor even just 1. So those 2 Sailors were placed in the 1st row, unlocking the 1st ability to increase the Speed.
ROUND 4. Rolls: 1, 3, 4.
Since the island was at the top border, my options for direction was either 3 or 4. 3 from either space would have gotten me nowhere. The best option was probably to light the 2nd Beacon, the one at the left most space. From the left part of the island, I set 4 as direction and moved 3 which would have put the ship right between the 2 Beacons and so I lit it. The score went up to 3 from that Beacon.
A 1 for Duty just continued the one I already started. Just 1 more to get 2 Sailors.
ROUND 5. Rolls: 2, 2, 4.
Direction 2 got me no where so I could have set 4 and speed of 2 to get a Heroic. Alternatively I could have changed one of the 2 into 3 and with speed of 4 the ship landed between the 1st beacon and this next one. Also, from that position the ship was in a straight line to reach the legendary Star at the bottom left of the map.
So, I went with that and lit the 3rd Beacon and the value went up to 6. The 2 for Duty filled the 2nd space of 4 for that building. No bonus.
ROUND 6. Rolls: 2, 3, 3.
Those did not help me to reach that Star. Either I got it that time or never. I decided to go for it. But to do so I had to spend 1 Sailor, a Heroic one just to change from 3 to a 5. After that just to save a time I spent 1 Sailor again from the 1st row to activate the ability so the speed went up by 3 to 6 so I reached that STAR. Got my first one of the required 3.
That means another 2 for the Duty and this filled 3rd space of that building. I got 1 Sailor as bonus, which I filled the 2nd row.
Also this entered the 2nd unexplored ocean.
ROUND 7. Rolls: 2, 3, 3.
I got the same rolls. Direction 2 just went backwards so I had 3. There was a Sailor at the corner in direction 3, 3 spaces away. I got the Sailor which I placed in the 2nd row, activating the 2nd ability.
So, the 2 became the Duty again completing that building. 3 Gold at the end.
ROUND 8. Rolls: 3, 4, 6.
From the current position, my only way out was direction 2 so I had to change the 3 into 2. Speed 4 would have stopped the ship between a lit Beacon and an unlit one. I went with that and lit that 4th one, increasing the value to 10.
That means the 6 was for Duty. I chose the building with lighting beacon bonus.
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ROUND 9. Rolls: 1, 4, 5.
I still needed to continue on direction 2. Unfortunately speed of 4 or 5 would have gotten me nowhere but passing an unexplored area. I chose the 4 because the next position was in straight line to an island with Watchtower at the bottom right but not the 5.
Spent 1 Sailor from the 3rd row to change the 1 into a 2 and set the 4 for Speed. That means the 5 was for duty and I chose the building with 3 spaces and 2 Heroic bonus.
ROUND 10. Rolls: 1, 2, 3.
That 3 was perfect for direction to reach that island with Watchtower. I needed a speed of 5. Since I wanted the 1 for Duty I spent 1 Sailor from 1st row to increase the speed of 2 by 3 and I reached that Island.
From the Watchtower bonus, I chose the STAR, a 2nd one. Then the 1 for the last space of the building and I got 2 Sailors. Both were to fill 2 spaces at the 3rd row, activating the ability.
ROUND 11. Rolls: 3, 4, 6.
3 for direction would have gotten me 2 Heroic and entering unexplored ocean. Maybe that was not really a bad idea, after knowing the result. However, I chose to use 6 as direction to get to the next Beacon from that bottom right island. I could have used 3 or 4 as speed but I already started 4 for Duty but not 3.
So I went with that and lit the 5th Beacon, increasing the value by 5. The duty got me no bonus yet.
ROUND 12. Rolls: 2, 4, 5.
Ideally I had to move up so direction 6, 1 or 2. 6 with speed of 4 could have gotten me to the next Beacon. But that left me with 2 for Duty and I had to change again just not to waste it.
So, I chose to change the 2 into 1 and with a speed of 5, got me to another unlit Beacon. Lit the 6th one so I got a Star, completing the solo objective. The value went up again by 6.
With 4 for Duty, I activated the 3rd skill to fill that row twice. I needed 2 more to get more Star. 3 Sailors left, one of each row.
ROUND 13. Rolls: 1, 2, 2.
Going up only got me to unexplored ocean area again. I decided to light the rightmost beacon by going with 3. Speed of 1 would have placed the ship in straight line to the last Beacon. But the 2 was in straight line to a Watchtower with still option to light the last one without landing on it.
So, I went with the latter. Changed the other 2 into 3 for direction. Spent 1 more to change the 1 into 6 and the last sailor from 3rd row to fill the building twice. Got 1 Sailor bonus which I placed in the 3rd row.
ROUND 14. Rolls: 4, 4, 5.
Direction 5 was perfect and 4 for Duty was also perfect. That means the last 4 was for Speed. It got me nowhere but closer to Watchtower. I spent the last Sailor to activate the 3rd ability and filled 2 spaces with 4, completing the building and got 4th Legendary Star.
ROUND 15. Rolls: 2, 6, 6.
Here are the tough choices. I had to spend my last Sailor to change one of the 6s into a 5 for direction. So I got 1 more 6 and a 2. The 2 for speed would have gotten me to light the last Beacon. Then the 6 itself could have given me the same bonus. Only needed 1.
Otherwise, I could have used the 6 for speed to get me to Watchtower. The bonus was either Gold or 2 duty spaces. This was a gamble and I was expecting the last round would have gotten me at least a 6 or I failed to light that last beacon.
This took a while but eventually I picked the latter, went for the Watchtower and the Gold. The 2 for Duty was wasted.
ROUND 16. Rolls: 3, 5, 6.
That was lucky as I could have used the 6 to light the last beacon. Direction 5 got me nowhere but the 3 was in straight line to the unexplored ocean at the bottom right corner. But to reach that I needed speed of 6 and no Sailor left.
This is where I wasn’t sure and probably not a legal move. Speed of 5 in that direction would have gotten me a Sailor. I assumed I could use that to activate the ability to extend and got me to that area.
Well, that was the end of the game.
SCORING
Island: 0 points
Ocean Region explored: 25 points
Highest Value Beacon: 36 points
Unexhausted Heroic Sailor: 0 point
Watchtower: 9 points
Completed Buildings: 12 points
Legendary Stars: 12 points
TOTAL SCORE: 94.
Playing time was about 45 minutes.
Learn more about the game from Voyages Review.
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Carson City: The Card Game
Watch the Slideshow of this Carson City: The Card Game session here.
Win the bid to develop your city with the help from the most influential people in Carson City: The Card Game.
This was a solo game with the standard setup using card value 1 to 9 for each hand.
ERA 1, ROUND 1.
The game started with a Miner as 2nd highest value card. While the most valuable one had 2 ranch and 1 Blacksmith. 3rd card had 1 Mine and 1 Mountain while the 4th had 3 Mountain with an empty lot for the last card.
I usually don’t like the Miner or Ranch strategy so I just used this chance to play my weakest card, accepting to get at least the 3 Mountains.
2nd player played a 1 as well but won the tie against mine. 3rd player got the highest card while the 4th player got the character.
ERA 1, ROUND 2.
From the lowest, there were 2 empty cards, then the Lawyer. After that the 2 mines and 2 mountains while the best card had a Church and 2 Houses.
The game was still too early and I was the 2nd to lowest in tie breaker so even if I played my best I still could have lost. I didn’t mind not getting the best since the character was good. Just needed to avoid being in 4th position. I played my 5.
A 3, and 8 and a 1. Well I was 2nd but I took the 3rd card, the Lawyer one.
ERA 1, ROUND 3.
3 empty cards, then a card with just 1 ranch and the Banker as the best. I had to win that Banker. So I played my Lawyer to let me win this bid and I just played my next weakest one, a 2.
The opponents played a 6, a 1 and 8. I got the character and I guess this set my overall strategy to focus on getting more Banks. I probably should have invested in more mines as well.
ERA 1, ROUND 4.
A Mountain and a Mine as the highest. 2nd highest had 2 Ranch. 3rd one was the Cowboy, with 4th had 2 houses and the 5th had a lot of houses but with group of Outlaw.
Didn’t like the character and ranch and as usually I avoided Mines. So I thought I should have played the next weakest card, a 3.
A 2, and 2 9s were played so I got 3 options. I took a risk and chose the one with Outlaw but a lot of houses. This means I had to get a prison or the Sherrif.
This was 2nd lot card and I just placed it right below the first one where only half of each were next to each other.
ERA 1, ROUND 5.
The lowest was empty card and the 2nd lowest only had 1 Mountain. 3rd one was the Heroes. 4th had 1 Mine and 2 Mountains. The best card had 2 Banks, 1 Hotel and a group of Outlaws.
I already had an Outlaw so I thought I should aim for the best card. Especially currently I was going to win the tie breaker.
I played my 9 and the others were 9, 6 and a 5 so I made a good decision. This was my 3rd terrain card and I placed it so the Hotel was in the empty space of the first card. This way, one of the Bank was next to 3 Houses and the group of Outlaw was facing outwards.
ERA 1, ROUND 6.
Lowest had 3 mountains, followed by the Indian character. Then a Mine plus 1 Mountain. After that a card with General Store, 2 houses and another group of Outlaw while the best card had 2 Drugstores and 2 houses.
I didn’t actually need the best card since it worked better for Ranch strategy. Also, didn’t realize that I was going to win the tie breaker anyway. The other players have played their 8 and 9 so even if I played my 7, that would have been enough to let me win.
So, I played my 8, followed by a 5, a 2 and a 7. I won but I chose the 2nd one. The card was placed right below my most recent one so the Bank got 1 more adjacent house while the General store from the new card was next to a Townhouse, in addition to the 2 houses.
ERA 1, ROUND 7.
Mercenary showed up as the 2nd highest card. The highest one only had 1 Mine and 1 Mountain. 3rd had 2 houses and 4th had 1 Mountain. The last was empty.
I aimed for the Mercenary so I played my 7. The opponents played an 8, a 3 and a 6, allowing me to take the character since I was 2nd.
ERA 1, ROUND 8.
The Teacher was the highest. Followed by just 1 Ranch, then 2 houses. Another Ranch only at 4th with the last one had a single mountain.
I played my 6, hoping for the Teacher. The opponents played a 4, a 5 and a 2. So I won and took the character.
ERA 1, ROUND 9.
My last one was 4 and with the help from Mercenary, I got a 9. The opponents played a 7, a 4 and a 3 so I won. Well, I took the Captain for 6 points and expanding the maximum size of my city, which was the 2nd highest card.
That was the end of 1st Era.
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ERA 2, ROUND 1.
This era started with very strong cards. 2 most valuable ones had a Bank at least. 3rd one had a Chinese Worker. 4th had a Prison that I needed and the last one was empty.
I didn’t want to play my strong card yet so I settled with the 4th card by playing a 1. An 8, a 9 and a 2 from the opponents. So, I had to take the Prison. This was placed at the top left of my city so the house on that card was next to the 2nd Bank. The size of my city was now 6 x 5.
ERA 2, ROUND 2.
Another powerful set of cards. 17, 16 and 15 and then a Doctor with the last one an empty card. Again, the era was still too early to play strong card so I played my 2. A 2, an 8 and a 3 came out and I won the tie breaker.
I didn’t take the Doctor and got the next card with 2 Banks which worked well for my strategy. Since I already had a Prison, I could start overlapping the group of Outlaws. This card was placed to overlap 2 groups of 2 cards. This way that single hotel was next to 4 adjacent Banks.
ERA 2, ROUND 3.
The Governor showed up as 2nd highest card while the highest only had 1 Mine and 3 Mountains. 3rd had a Bank and a House while the last 2 were empty.
I had to take that Governor. So, I played my lawyer along with my next weakest at the moment, a 3. A 7, a 2 and another 7 from the opponents and I took that Governor.
ERA 2, ROUND 4.
Another card with 1 Mine and 3 Mountains as the highest card. Then the Undertaker as 2nd while the rest were empty.
Well, I needed that Undertaker. So, I played my 4 plus my Mercenary and got a 9. 2 5s and then a 4 so I took the Undertaker.
ERA 2, ROUND 5.
Similar to last round with the highest card had 2 houses and 1 townhouse plus Outlaw. The 2nd card had Sherrif while the rest were empty.
I had to win one of those 2 highest so I played my 9. A 4, a 3 and an 8 from the opponents. Well, I already had Prison, so I didn’t really need the Sherrif for just 3 points.
I took the card with houses and placed it at the bottom left so the Townhouses were next to Banks. My lot size was 6 x 6 at this point.
ERA 2, ROUND 6.
Highest card had a Bank and Drugstore while the 2nd highest had a Church. 3rd was the Singer and the 4th had a Bank with the last one had none.
These were good cards. I played my Governor and my weakest card to reveal 1 more terrain card and took 2 of these. Actually could have played my weakest card and still won but I played my 8 instead of 5.
I took the 2 highest cards. The Drugstore was adjacent to 3 Banks now. The Church was next to a prison.
ERA 2, ROUND 7.
The Gunsmith was the highest, followed by just 1 Townhouse and the rest were empty cards.
I played my 7 and the opponents played a 1, a 6 and a 1. So I took that Gunsmith to give extra 6 for my next card.
ERA 2, ROUND 8.
I played my weakest, a 5 plus that Gunsmith, making it to 11 so I won. Took the card with the Saloon and Blacksmith which I placed at the top right of my city. This way the Saloon was surrounded by houses.
ERA 2, ROUND 9.
Last card was a 6, no more bonus from characters and I was 2nd place. Took the card with the Drugstore and placed it at the bottom right corner.
That was the end of the game.
SCORING
Assuming I counted correctly, 2nd player scored 87, 3rd scored 109 and the 4th scored 99.
My Score
Undertaker: 16 points
Captain: 6 points
Banker: 20 points
Teacher: 23 points
Church: 23 points
1st Bank: 3 points
Drugstore (1st): 4 points
Bank (2nd): 7 points
Hotel (1st): 3 points
Blacksmith: 0 point
Bank (3rd): 6 points
Hotel (2nd): 3 points
Bank (4th): 8 points
Saloon: 14 points
Bank (5th): 7 points
General Store: 27 points
Drugstore (2nd): 5 points
TOTAL SCORE: 165 POINTS
Playing time was about 63 minutes.
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Biblios: Quill and Parchment
Watch the Slideshow of this Biblios: Quill and Parchment game session here.
Work hard to earn the Abbot’s trust and use their influence to make your work even more valuable in Biblios: Quill and Parchment.
This was a solo session using the official variant against Cadfael, standard mode.
DAY 1.
Cadfael immediately started with 10 influence points, a grey, a green, a red plus 2 movement. Didn’t need to roll further.
I also got my 11 influence points, 2 red, 1 grey and just 1 movement but with a star. Used that star for the 3rd red so I avoided the penalty right away. Followed Cadfael from the outer path.
DAY 2.
Cadfael got 12, so his influence went up to 22. He also got 2 movements, 2 pink and 2nd Grey. The path also got him 3rd grey.
I got 3 influence, 2 Blue, 1 Green and single movement plus a star again. Rerolled everything and I got 7 influence, Grey, Green, Pink plus 2 movements. As 2nd reroll I did to the lowest influence die and got a 3 from 2. Rerolled again and this time I got a 6. My influence then became 22. I also got my 3rd Grey from the path.
DAY 3.
Cadfael rolled 7 influence so they stopped right there. They got 2 Green, 1 Red and 2 movements. They reached the 1st City. One random bonus from the path got them 3rd red.
I rolled 8, a blue, a green, a red and 3 movements. Only the red that I didn’t like so I rerolled and got 2nd Blue and I stopped.
My influence then became 30. I got 2 Blue, winning the majority. 3rd and 4th grey from that random path, winning the majority. 1st pink which I lost and 2 Green, also lost. 3 red which matched with Cadfael’s.
DAY 4.
Cadfael only got a 4 from the first roll. After the reroll they got 5 and I decided to just stop. They got first Blue, 3rd Pink, 4th green and 2 movements. Their influence was 34.
I got a 7, 3 movements, a blue and 2 reds. First reroll for one red and got a Green. 2nd reroll for the other red and got a Chapel. So, my influence went up to 37.
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DAY 5.
Cadfael bid a 5 and I stopped immediately. They got 4th and 5th Pink and 2 movements. The path also got them their 6th Pink.
I rolled 4 first. First reroll for everything and got a 6 and I stopped. Got 2 Blues and 3 movements, almost reached the 2nd City.
I bid higher than Cadfael so no change for the base value. 31 left for me, 29 for them.
DAY 6.
Cadfael bid 9 so stopped right there. They got 5th green, a Chapel and single movement plus a star. The star got them 6th green. 20 influence left for them.
I rolled 4, 2 movements, a Chapel and grey. First reroll for the influence 1 and got a 3. Rerolled again for the same die and got a 4, matching the bid to Cadfael’s. I had 22 left.
DAY 7.
Cadfael bid 10 so they stopped right there. Got 4th red and 2nd Chapel for them. 10 influence left.
I rolled 9, single movement, a chapel and a grey. First reroll to the die value 3 and got a 4 so that matched the bid with Cadfael. Rerolled again 1 die and this time to that movement and it became 2 and I stopped.
DAY 8.
Cadfael bid 5 and I decided to stop right there. They also got 4th Blue, 7th Green and only single movement, which helped them reached the 2nd City. Only 5 influence left.
I rolled a 9, a red, a pink and 2 movements. Rerolled everything and got 2 1s, 2 Blue and 2 movements. 2nd reroll to 1 die and got a 6. Since I already bid higher so I used the other reroll for the movement but stuck with 2. I got a green and a red from the path.
That was the end of the game.
SCORING
My Score
3 points for full track of the Blue.
5 points from the Map.
1 point from 5 influence left.
1 point from Chapel.
12 points from Blue track.
9 points from Gray track.
TOTAL SCORE: 31 POINTS
Cadfael’s Score
0 points for full track.
5 points from the Map.
1 point from 5 influence left.
1 point from Chapel.
9 points from Pink track.
6 points from Green track.
6 points from Red Track
TOTAL SCORE: 28 POINTS.
Playing time was 26 minutes.
Learn more about the game from Biblios: Quill and Parchment Review.
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Juicy Fruits
Watch the slideshow of this Juicy Fruits game session here.
Harvest different fruits from your tropical island and complete orders to grow your business in Juicy Fruits.
This was a solo session against the Full Fruit Pineapple again. As part of the setup, I had Mangosteen in the middle and from left to right, top to bottom, Banana, Orange, Pomegranate and Lime. From the starting boats, I needed 10 Pomegranates, 10 Bananas, 9 Orange, 10 Limes and only 6 Mangosteens.
This means, only Mangosteens that I didn’t need that many while the rest were pretty equal. Not sure why I chose this but I decided to focus on the 2 on the right, the Orange and Lime.
ROUND 1.
Full Fruit was 5 spaces away from their next boat.
I moved the Mangosteen first to the left for 1 Mangosteen.
ROUND 2.
Full Fruit was 4 spaces away from their next boat.
Then I moved the Lime basket from the bottom right to the left, the middle column. Got 1 Lime. With 1 Lime and 1 Mangosteen I fulfilled the middle boat from the 3 on the right. Got 1 point from it.
ROUND 3.
Full Fruit was 3 spaces away from their next boat.
Next, I moved the Orange basket down 2 spaces for 2 Orange.
ROUND 4.
Full Fruit was 2 spaces away from their next boat.
Next one was to move the Banana basket from the top left to the top right. 2 spaces got me 2 Bananas. With 2 Bananas and 2 Oranges, I spent 2 Bananas and 1 Oranges to fulfill the middle boat from the top part of the island. Scored 2 points, making it to 3.
ROUND 5.
Full Fruit was 1 space away from their next boat.
After that middle top beach was empty, I could move the Lime Basket up 3 spaces for 3 Limes.
Full Fruit finally reached their 1st boat, scoring 14 points. Since this was an orange boat, they also removed 1 business token. It was the Yellow Ice Cream Cart from 1st space. 6 Business tokens left from triggering the end game.
Their next boat was green which was 2 spaces away. However, the disc at the middle of their board moved to the right, pulling the next boat closer.
ROUND 6.
Full Fruit was 1 space away from their next boat.
I wanted to get the double basket from the first row with Pomegranate and Orange Combo. For that I needed 1 Lime and 1 Banana. Already had limes so I moved the Banana basket back 2 spaces to its starting space for 2 Bananas. Spent 1 each and took that token plus 1 point. 5 Business tokens left before triggering the end of the game.
I placed the token right in the middle of the island.
Full Fruit scored their 2nd boat with 8 points, making it to 22. Their next one was another orange boat 5 spaces away but the middle islands moved it closer 1 space.
ROUND 7.
Full Fruit was 4 spaces away from their next boat.
My next plan was to clear out the rightmost column of the island so the this double basket could move there efficiently. I moved that extra basket to the right 2 spaces and took 2 Pomegranates and 1 Orange. Still had 1 Orange from before and I spent those 4 to fulfill the top boat from the right beach. Scored 4 points, making it to 8.
ROUND 8.
Full Fruit was 3 spaces away from their next boat.
The last boat on that right beach required 2 Limes and 2 Pomegranates. Already had 2 Limes so I moved that double token again up 2 spaces. Took 2 Pomegranates and 1 Orange. Fulfilled the boat for 4 points, making it to 12.
ROUND 9.
Full Fruit was 2 spaces away from their next boat.
Moved the double basket again from the top to the bottom, 4 spaces. Took 3 Pomegranates and 2 Oranges. Didn’t fulfill anything.
ROUND 10.
Full Fruit was 1 space away from their next boat.
This time I moved the Mangosteen in that middle row from leftmost to rightmost, 3 spaces for 3 fruits. Spent 2 Pomegranates and 1 Mangosteen to fulfill the middle boat from the left beach. Scored 2 points, making it to 14.
Full Fruits scored their 3rd boat for 13 points, making it to 35. This was orange boat so 1 business token had to be removed. It was a Big attraction token worth 15 points from the last row, 2nd space. 4 Business tokens left before triggering the end game.
Their next boat was green, 5 spaces away. But the middle islands pulled the boat 1 space closer.
ROUND 11.
Full Fruit was 4 spaces away from their next boat.
My next plan was to clear out the top boat from the left beach that required 2 Mangosteen and 2 Orange. I already had oranges but only 1 of the other. So, I moved the Mangosteen token to the leftmost for 4 fruits. Spent the required fruits and scored 4 points, making it to 18.
ROUND 12.
Full Fruit was 3 spaces away from their next boat.
Already had Mangosteen and I thought I should be taking the Blue Ice Cream token. I needed 2 Pomegranates and 2 Mangosteen to take the token from the 3rd row. So, I moved the double basket again from bottom row to the top. Gained 3 Oranges and 2 Pomegranates. Spent the required resources, gained the token and 3 points.
The token was placed at the bottom right space.
ROUND 13.
Full Fruit was 2 spaces away from their next boat.
Next boat to clear out was the right boat from top beach that required 3 Limes and 2 Orange. Already had a lot of orange so I moved the Lime basket down 3 spaces for 3 of those. Spent the required set and cleared out the boat for 6 points, making it to 27.
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ROUND 14.
Full Fruit was 1 space away from their next boat.
I wanted to clear the last boat at top beach that required 2 Bananas and 3 Pomegranates. So, I moved the Banana basket 2 spaces to the right for 2 fruits. No spending this time.
Full Fruit scored their next green boat for 18, making it to 53. Their next one was Orange, 4 spaces away. The middle islands got them 3 points, 56 total.
ROUND 15.
Full Fruit was 4 spaces away from their next boat.
Needed more Pomegranates so I moved the double basket down 3 spaces for 3 Pomegranates and 1 Orange. Since I had everything the boat asked I spent the fruits and cleared the boat for 6 points, making my score to 33.
ROUND 16.
Full Fruit was 3 spaces away from their next boat.
My next plan was to sell all Blue Ice Cream. Each of them required 1 of each fruit and I needed 3 of each. Already had 3 Orange. Next one I moved the Lime token up 3 spaces for 3 of those. The rest only needed 2 of each.
ROUND 17.
Full Fruit was 2 spaces away from their next boat.
Next one was Mangosteen at the middle row. I moved the basket 3 spaces for 3 fruits, leaving the path for the double token.
ROUND 18.
Full Fruit was 1 space away from their next boat.
Banana and Pomegranate left. The former first and I moved the basket 3 spaces to the left for 3 fruits.
Full Fruit scored their next Orange for 11 points, making their score to 77. The next business token they removed was from space 13. 3 business tokens left.
Their next one was another orange, 5 spaces away. The middle bonus got them 5 points.
ROUND 19.
Full Fruit was 5 spaces away from their next boat.
I still needed at least 2 more pomegranates so I moved the double basket up 3 spaces for 3 of those plus 1 Orange.
ROUND 20.
Full Fruit was 4 spaces away from their next boat.
I had enough fruits for 3 Blue Ice Creams. So I moved the cart 3 spaces up and sold all 3 Ice Creams for 48 points, making my score to 81. 2 Business tokens left before triggering the end of the game.
ROUND 21.
Full Fruit was 3 spaces away from their next boat.
At this point, the Full Fruit would remove 1 business token and I still needed to do the other before they did the last one or reached the end of the game. My best option was to use the Ice Cream cart to make 4 juices, 2 of the same fruit, 4 sets, while clearing out more boats.
6 Bananas, 1 Pomegranate, 4 Limes, 2 Orange and 2 Mangosteen for the boats.
First, I moved the Lime basket first from the top row down 3 spaces.
ROUND 22.
Full Fruit was 2 spaces away from their next boat.
Then I moved the Pomegranate token up 3 spaces. Spent 1 of them plus 1 banana to complete the last boat on the left for 1 point, making it to 82.
*** It seems I forgot to move the opponent this round.
ROUND 23.
Full Fruit was 1 space away from their next boat.
After that I moved the Banana Basket down 3 spaces.
Full Fruit scored 15, making it to 87, while removing the business token from row 4. Scored extra 4 points. 1 business token left from triggering the end of the game.
Their next one was 4 spaces away, another orange.
ROUND 24.
Full Fruit was 4 spaces away from their next boat.
I moved the Lime basket again 3 spaces. 3 sets of 2.
ROUND 25.
Full Fruit was 3 spaces away from their next boat.
I moved the Mangosteen tokens 3 spaces to the left. Spent 3 Bananas and 2 Mangosteen to complete one of the boat for 6 points, making my score to 88 while the opponent had 90.
*** Actually it seems I made a mistake tracking something so I am just going to alter the game from this point on. I didn’t fulfill that last boat so I had 4 sets of 2 each scored 84.
ROUND 26.
Full Fruit was 2 spaces away from their next boat.
This time I just moved the Ice Cream Cart 4 spaces for 4 juices. I scored 12 from it and triggered the end of the game.
Full Fruit was 1 space away from the last one and their score was only 90. I won with 96. Maybe with the Juice Factory I could have gotten 5 more points.
Playing time was about 56 minutes.
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The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
Watch the Slideshow of this The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine Game here.
Take the Lead or Follow with limited communication with other astronauts to complete mission in The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine.
These were the 2-player variant that I played 2-handed. I got 2 sessions. First with Mission #34 where the leader has to win the first and last trick while nobody can win 2 tricks more than their teammates. No Task card.
Based on the turn order, the Commander was before the 3rd player. The Commander started with their Rocket 4 since they also had 2 more. 3rd player played the Red 4 while 2nd player had to play their only rocket, the 1. Commander won 1, 2nd 0, 3rd 0.
The Commander then had to lose and played their Yellow 4, expecting the 3rd player to win with Yellow 6. 3rd player also had Yellow 8, while Commander had Yellow 7 in hand. 2nd player had a Yellow 3 and lost the trick. Commander won 1, 2nd 0, 3rd 1.
Time for 3rd player to lose so the Commander chose to play the Green 2. 3rd player also had Green 6 and Green 1. Played the 2 to reveal the face down instead of the 1. Commander themselves had Green 7 and 5.
2nd player had to win with either Green 3 or 9. They had no choice but to play Green 9. Commander played the 5 and 2nd player won. Commander won 1, 2nd 1, 3rd 1.
Now, 2nd player led with Green 3. Commander had to play 7 and had to win. 3rd player had either 1 or 6. Ideally they had to play 6 to reveal the face down card but maybe it was better to let more higher card in their hand so Commander chose green 1 for the 3rd player and the Commander won 2nd trick. Commander won 2, 2nd 1, 3rd 1.
Commander led again and they wanted to get rid of Red cards. They chose the Red 3, instead of the other one, Red 2 to lose this time. 3rd player only had Red 5 and 8 available. Safer to play the 8 but the 5 would have revealed the next card. 2nd player had 4 Red cards but to lose they only had Red 1. Commander won 2, 2nd 1, 3rd 2.
3rd player started. I guess this was a bit cheating as it was dangerous but they played Red 8 without really knowing that 2nd player had a 9 to win. Maybe I just assumed that 2nd player decided to use the Communication token this time. 3rd played the Red 8, and 2nd played the Red 9. The Commander only had Red 2 so 2nd player won their 2nd. Commander won 2, 2nd 2, 3rd 2.
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2nd player led with Blue 1, trying to get rid of 2 Blue in their hand while losing. The 3rd player had Blue 7, 8 and 4 revealed. Commander had 2, 5, 6 and 9. They decided to play the 9 and 3rd player had to lose with 8, more to reveal the card below it. Commander won 3, 2nd 2, 3rd 2.
3rd player led. Blue 2, 8 and 9 were played last time. 4 and 7 were revealed in 3rd’s hand while Commander had 6, 5 and 2. Commander assumed that 2nd player either had the 3 or no blue at all and 3rd player had to win this time. So, they took the risk and played the Blue 4 for 3rd player, after the Commander played the 2.
2nd player indeed had the 3 and 3rd player won their 3rd trick. Commander won 3, 2nd 2, 3rd 3.
3rd player led this time and they had to lose. The lowest was Yellow 5. Previously, Yellow 6, 4 and 3 had been played. 3rd also had 8 currently while Commander held the 7. There was only 1 card left unrevealed from the 3rd hand. 2nd player could have held all the rest of yellow, which was the 1, 2, 9 or just some of it.
So, this was a risky move but the Commander decided to assume that 2nd player had the 9. 3rd player played the 5 and 2nd played their 9, luckily. So, 2nd player won after Commander played their 7. All of them won 3 tricks.
2nd player led and had to lose. Their only low value cards were Yellow 2 and 1 but the Commander was not supposed to know. 6 cards had been revealed. 3rd had 8, 2nd had 2 so 2nd player should have known that the Commander had to play their Rocket anyway to win.
So, 2nd player played the Yellow 2. Commander played the Rocket 3 and won after 3rd player played the 8. 4th trick for Commander.
Commander led again and they had 2 Blue, a 6 and 5 plus Rocket 2. The Commander had to lose. 3rd player had Blue 7 while previously, there were 2 rounds of all blue cards so the Commander should have known that the 2nd had none.
Either way the 3rd would have better card while 2nd couldn’t follow. Commander played the 5 first and 3rd followed with 7. 2nd player played their last yellow, a 1. 3rd player won their 4th.
3rd player led again and they only had green cards available. 2nd player only had red but had to win this time. So, distress signal had to be used. This way 3rd had to give one of their green to 2nd and 2nd had to give one of their red to Commander.
3rd had Green 6 and 8. They had to lose so they gave the 8 so 2nd could win. Commander got the Red 7 after passing their last Rocket. Maybe that was not really a good idea since the Commander had to win the last trick anyway. But commander played the Blue 6 so 2nd player won their 4th.
Last round. 2nd player led with Red 6. Commander had that Red 7 from 2nd player and won it. 3rd player last card beside the Rocket was the Green so the Commander won the last trick.
Then I played again with mission 35. Still a bit cheating and take back. But I think I completed. Another use of Distress signal this time. That was very handy. Honestly, this was actually my first time using that feature, after about 60 plays.
Playing time was about 22 – 24 minutes.
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Marvel United: X-Men
To me, my X-Men! Stop the Super Villains from completing their Villainous Plot in Marvel United: X-Men.
I had 2 sessions. The first one against Magneto since my last play I made too many errors but this time with Beast, Wolverine and Storm. Actually in this one I also made mistake, where I forgot to place thugs after BAM from the Super Villain. Luckily, that happened very early and even when fixing the gameplay, I still managed to won. The additional thug didn’t trigger any overflowing.
Maybe I just got lucky with the setup and how cards showed up but I think these 3 characters have more attacks than the other 3, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Prof. X. Against, Magneto, it was significantly easier.
Because of that, I played 2nd session and this time against Juggernaut for the first time, using these 3 as well and the same locations. In this one, it was the exact opposite. All of the threats require more Heroic Action where these characters had fewer, I think.
Juggernaut had 2 hits left but he kept knocking out my characters multiple times so his deck already run out first. I guess it was a mistake trying to remove the Avatar thread cards as he managed to return both. That means I should have focused on rescuing Civilians. However, at the same time, there were not enough Civilians.
Juggernaut did eventually spawned more and I rescued 9 of them first even though I almost cleared the 4th thread. Maybe that means I should have focused on the other threat cards instead of those 2 Avatars. I noticed that maybe spreading the characters to different locations were better than staying in one as there was one (or more?) Juggernaut card where he would aim to locations with the most heroes.
So, I lost in that 2nd one. Here is how the first session went.
Another attempt to stop Magneto and his henchmen. This time with Wolverine, Beast and Storm, started at Hangar Bay (Location 4). Quicksilver was there as the threat. Magneto along with Scarlet Witch started at Genosha (Location 1).
Here is all of the Location status.
1. Genosha: Scarlet Witch (4/4), 2 Civilians + 1 Thug (3 / 5), Magneto
2. Xavier Institute of Higher Learning: Blob (5/5), 2 Civilians + 1 Thug (3/5)
3. Weapon X Facility: Magnetic Force Field (0/4), 0 Civilian + 2 Thug (2/4)
4. Hangar Bay: Quicksilver (4/4), 1 Civilian + 1 Thug (2/4), Wolverine, Beast, Storm.
5. Sentinel Space Station: Magnetic Force Field (0/4), 0 Civilian + 1 Thug (1/3)
6. X-Jet: Mastermind (4/4), 1 Civilian + 0 Thug (1/3)
Missions:
Defeat Thugs: 0 / 9
Cerebro: 0 / 3
Clear Threats: 0 / 4
Watch the Slideshow of this Marvel United: X-Men game session here.
MASTERPLAN 1
After 1 Civilian was added to the Hangar Bay, Magneto moved 2 spaces from Genosha to Weapon X Facility and BAM! No hero was there so no damage. Quicksilver dealt 1 damage to one hero and I chose Beast to take damage, losing card with 1 Heroic Action.
Blob removed one of the Civilians at Xavier School. Scarlet Witch and Mastermind did nothing since no hero at the location or adjacent locations.
Magneto then added 1 Thug each to where he landed and the 2 adjacent locations. So, the Hangar Bay was full at this point.
Wolverine’s turn first. He dealt 2 damage to Quicksilver. Beast continued the 2 attack defeating Quicksilver and added 1 Move and 1 Heroic. Those 2 were spent to progress on Cerebro (1/3). One threat was cleared. Beast took 1 token by ending his movement at Hangar Bay without threat.
In addition to 1 Move and 1 Heroic, Storm added 1 more Heroic and 1 Attack. The attack was to defeat 1 Thug at Hangar Bay. She moved to where Magneto was, the Weapon X Facility and spent the 2 Heroic actions to disable the Magnetic Force Field.
MASTERPLAN 2
1 Civilian was added to X-Jet. Magneto then moved 2 spaces from Weapon X Facility to Sentinel Space station and BAM! 2nd Thug was added to that location.
No hero was there to take any damage but Beast at adjacent location had to lose his token. Blob removed the last Civilian at Xavier School while the other 2 Henchmen still didn’t do anything. 1 Thug each was added to Magneto’s Location and the 2 adjacent locations.
In addition to previous 1 Heroic and 1 Attack, Wolverine’s next action was 1 Move and 1 Heroic. Rescued one of the Civilian at Hangar Bay. Then he moved to where Magneto was. 2nd Heroic was the 1st attempt to disable the Magnetic Force Field there. Then he attacked 1 Thug at that location.
Beast was next. He added 2 Heroic to 1 Heroic and 1 Move. Beast followed Wolverine and the 3 Heroic completely disabled the threat.
Using those 2 Heroic actions from Beast, Storm completely disabled the Threat at Weapon X Facility. Storm added 1 attack and 1 move, only to defeat the thug, ignoring the move. She discarded 1 card (1 Move, 1 Heroic) to get 2 Attack tokens using the location’s special action.
MASTERPLAN 3
1 Civilian appeared at Xavier School. Magneto then moved 3 spaces from Sentinel Space Station to exactly that location. NO BAM! Except with Blob, removing that Civilian that was just added. Then 1 Thug was added to each Magneto and adjacent locations.
With 1 Move and 1 Attack from previously, Wolverine moved to X-Jet, defeating the only Thug there. Using his Adamantium Claws, he dealt 3 damage to Mastermind.
1 attack from that was for Beast to defeat the Thug at Sentinel Space Station. Then with 1 Move and 1 Attack Beast moved back to Hangar Bay, defeating the Thug there. Apparently I forgot to give him 1 of any token.
Using that 1 Move and 1 Attack, Storm defeated 1 Thug at Weapon X Facility. She spent her 2 Attack tokens to defeat the rest. Storm played 1 additional move to move back to Hangar Bay to get a Heroic Action token.
This completed 1st Mission. Magneto started to proceed with his plan faster.
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MASTERPLAN 4
1 Civilian was added to the Sentinel Space Station. Then Magneto moved back to that location again. NO BAM! 1 Thug was added to each Magneto’s location and adjacent locations.
Wolverine had 1 Move from previous timeline. He used his other Adamantium Claws to deal the last damage to Mastermind and the only Thug there. This cleared the 4th threat, completing 2nd mission.
The Heroes could start dealing damage to Magneto.
Wolverine had 1 Move and 1 Wild action. He moved to Sentinel Space Station where Magneto was and dealt 1st damage.
Beast from nearby Hangar Bay used 1 Move and 1 Attack plus 1 from previous timeline. He followed Wolverine and Magneto to Sentinel Space Station and dealt 2nd damage to Magneto and 1 to Thug.
MASTERPLAN 5
1 Civilian was added to Xavier School again. This time Magneto moved 4 spaces from Sentinel Station to Weapon X Facility and BAM! 1 Thug was added to that location. No Hero was there but he removed the token Storm had at adjacent location.
Blob removed the Civilian that was just added. Scarlet Witch still did nothing. 1 Thug each was added to Magneto and adjacent locations.
With 1 Move and 1 Attack from previous timeline, Storm moved from Hangar Bay to Weapon X Facility again where Magneto was, dealing 1 damage to him. She continued attacking with 2 more damage. 2 more and Magneto was defeated.
Wolverine was next and he had 2 attack from timeline. Preparing to give extra move later for Beast he used 1 Move and 1 Attack and he moved to the Hangar Bay from the Sentinel Station. The 3 total attack was to defeat 1 thug from station and 2 from hangar Bay.
MASTERPLAN 6
1 Civilian was added to X-Jet location. Magneto then moved 1 space to Hangar Bay and BAM! 1 Thug was added there and Wolverine took damage, not KOed, also his bonus move token. Blob and Scarlet Witch did nothing. 1 Thug was added each to Magneto and adjacent locations.
1 Move and 1 Attack from previous timeline, Beast moved from Sentinel Station to Hangar Bay where Magneto and Wolverine were, dealing 1 damage to the Villain. He then dealt the last damage and finally beat Magneto.
The Heroes won.
Playing time was about 52 minutes.
Read the Full Session Report here.
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.