This article is the compilation of my play session reports #16. The Play sessions for this entry happened from 25 March 2025 until around 26 April 2025. This is the 5th one since no longer a weekly or monthly entry. I’m just going to enjoy playing the game more and less about writing this report.
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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Table of Contents
List of Games
Here are the links to the Weekly Session Reports for shorter version.
March and April 2025: #70, #71, #72, #73.
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)
#9 2024 Week 29 to Week 32 (July – August)
#10 2024 Week 33 to Week 36 (August – September)
#11 2024 Week 37 to Week 40 (September)
#12 2025 1st Entry (October to December 2024)
#13 2025 2nd Entry (January)
#14 2025 3rd Entry (February)
#15 2025 4th Entry (March)
Keep the Heroes Out!
More pictures of this Keep the Heroes Out! game session on TikTok and on Instagram.
Defend your dungeon from invading heroes while dealing with other Monster friends in Keep the Heroes Out!
This was another solo session with 2 characters. Last time, I played the Librarian scenario and I didn’t like it as much as the other so I decided to move on with the next one. So, the new scenario, #6 and this one was about Werewolf with my favorite 2 clans, the Imp and the Witch, with the medium difficulty still.
In this scenario, there will be 4 rooms with the Event tokens. One of them is a Werewolf but it will be randomly placed. You need to Activate first in order to reveal the token. Before you get the event card, you want to have a bone resource for that Werewolf. Otherwise, you have to draw 2 more Guild cards.
This was my first time playing this scenario. As first impression, the event doesn’t restrict the game too much like the Librarian one. You only need to provide one bone not all 5 books become useless until you resolve the event.
IMP’S 1st Turn.
Two Imps started in the Forge and the other 2 in the Trap. Started with throwing a hero to jail and it was the WARRIOR. The trap room was one of the Event so with 1 move and 2 activate, flipped the token and it was the WEREWOLF. One Imp then moved to the Beast room and activated the Portal.
One Imp from the forge moved to the Graveyard, got a bone and activated the Portal. Using the same card, that Imp brought that Bone through portal to the Beast room and then moved to where the Wolf was.
That one Imp delivering the bone went back through portal to the Graveyard. They got 2nd bone and went back again to the Beast room and got Spider Pet.
2 Rogues came in to the Hats room where each room had the Witch. One damage to each Witch. Then 2 Mages came also in that same room. The Witch in the Library got killed but the inpired Rogue failed to open the chest. The one in Apothecary, defended one attack but the inspired Rogue killed it. At least, that prevented them from opening the chest.
WITCH’s 1st turn.
They also started with throwing a Hero to jail. Apparently it was one of the Event card.
Since both Witches were killed, first thing to do was to summon them back one to each room. The one in the Library then activated the Portal and then moved to the Vault. From there, the Witch did ranged attack to both Heroes. Same with the one in Apothecary, the Witch moved to Study room, activated the Portal and from there, attacked 2 heroes, one in Jail and the other in Apothecary.
Last action was to help the Imp to make weapon. The Witch in Vault took a Gold and brought it to Forge.
2 Mages showed up in Bone room. The one in Beast room killed an Imp and stopped while the other in the Sewer failed to open the chest. 2 Warriors showed up in the Hats room. The one in the Library failed to open the chest while the other one in Apothecary inspired the Rogue. They then opened the treasure. One of them continued to the next room where the Mage was and they managed to open that treasure as well.
IMP’s 2nd turn.
Threw a hero again and this time was Rogue. One Imp in the Forge with the help from their Spider friend got 1 card, got a Weapon, a Bomb. The 2 in Trap room made a trap.
Those 2 made 2 more traps. One Imp then moved it to the Beast room and killed the Rogue. The other Imp from the trap then moved the trap to the Sewer.
From the Forge, the Imp moved to the Graveyard, grabbed a bone and travelled to the beast room and got a new pet, a MOLE. After that, that Imp went to Graveyard again. The one in the Sewer killed the Mage, leaving the trap there and the Imp continued to the Library and killed the Warrior.
2 Rogues showed up again and this time in Sword rooms. The one in the trap disabled the trap but failed to open the chest. In the Forge, the Witch was there so they took a damage.
2 Archers this time and they came in the same room. While inspired both previous Rogues and killed the Witch, they failed to open any of the chest.
WITCH’s 2nd Turn.
Threw a hero to jail again and this time was the Warrior. There was only 1 Witch in the dungeon and in the Study. The Witch moved through portal to the Library, grabbed a book and moved back to Study. They got a SCROLL with 3 ranged attack.
After that, the Witch travelled to Graveyard and took a bone. From there, the witch killed the 2 heroes in Forge. Last 2 actions summoned 2nd Witch in the Library and let them took a Book.
2 Archers showed up in Bone Rooms. Both were killed by a trap. Then 2 Mages showed up in Sword rooms. The one in Forge failed to open the chest while the one in Trap room inspired 2 heroes. They managed to open the chest and forced Monsters to lose a card.
IMP’S 3rd Turn.
Threw a Hero again there and probably last Warrior. There was one Imp in the Beast room and they moved to the Trap room to kill 1 of 3 heroes. Their Spider pet helped them got 2 traps and the Imp moved to the Study along with one trap.
Then the one in the Library brought a book through portal to that Study. They made a scroll with some Fireworks along with 2nd trap in that study since there were 3 Heroes in jail. Both Imps moved back to where they were. Got a Book again and the one in trap killed one of 2 heroes.
From Library, one Imp moved to the Vault and got 2 Gold. Moved along with 1 Gold to Forge and got a Weapon, a Bow. The one in the Graveyard prepared 2nd bone.
2 Mages came in the Eye Rooms. The one in Study was killed by a trap while in Graveyard, Witch took 1 hit. Then 2 Archers also showed up in those same rooms. The trap in study got 2nd kill while in Graveyard, inspired the Mage and killed the Imp in Forge.
I made first error here. Both Mage and Archer in Graveyard should have killed the 2 Monsters but I forgot about 2nd hit to the Witch. It seems I had leftover Defense card I could use though.
WITCH’s 3rd Turn.
Threw a Hero again to jail and it was 4th, another Rogue.
One Witch moved from Library to Study with a Book and made a Scroll, that can generate resources, one each. From there, the Witch killed the 4 Heroes in jail plus 1 in the Apothecary.
Well, the other witch was incorrectly survive in Graveyard, moved through portal with a bone to Beast room and got a Pet with Medusa Head. After killing the Mage in Trap room, the Witch moved there and made a trap.
Full Moon Event finally showed up and the Werewolf was discovered with a Bone so it was safe. 2 Archers then showed up in the Hats room. The one in Apothecary proceeded to the trap room and got killed by a trap while the one in Library failed to open the chest.
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2nd ROUND. Imp’s 4th Turn.
The Imps started with throwing a Rogue to jail, first hero there. Summoned 2 Imps in the Forge and from there, they both used Bombs to make 2 traps and Bows to kill 2 heroes in the Graveyard.
One of them then moved to Graveyard, took 1 Bone and went through portal to the Study. Used one action to examine the token and found the Werewolf.
The one that stayed in the Forge, killed the Mage there and moved to Vault. Took 1 of 2 coins back to the Forge and made a Weapon, A Hook Sword.
After that, with one last card, the Imp moved from Study to Graveyard. Made 2nd bone and took it to the Beast Room.
2 Warriors showed up in Eye Rooms. They couldn’t open the chest in Graveyard but removed the bone there. The one in Study hit 1 damage to the Witch.
Then 2 Mages showed up in Hat Rooms. Apothecary was empty so the Mage entered the Beast room and killed the Imp. In Library, the Mage inspired the Archer but they failed to open the chest.
WITCH’s 4th Turn.
They first threw a hero to jail and it was the Mage which inspired the Rogue there. After opening the Chest, both moved to the Study and killed the Witch while inspiring the previous Warrior. Two of them then opened the chest and all 3 were inspired to keep moving.
3 of them got to the Beast room and inspired the Mage. Now all 4 entered the trap rooms. 2 killed 2 Monsters while the other 2 kept moving to the sewer and opened the chest there.
Since the bone for Wolf was removed, after summoning the Witch to Apothecary, the Witch teleported to Graveyard. They made a bone and brought that bone to Study room where the Wolf was.
Summoned back 2nd Witch and this time in the Library. After making a Book there the Witch moved to Sewer. From there, the Witch killed 2 heroes in Trap room and 1 in the Library while being in the same room with 2 more heroes.
2 Rogues showed up in Bone Rooms. Beast room had nothing so the Rogue there got immediately to the Sewer inspiring 2 other heroes plus 2nd Rogue. Two of them killed the Witch while the other 2 kept moving to the library, inspiring the Archer. The 3 then finally managed to open the chest and that got them to throw another Archer to Jail. This one managed to hit the Witch in the Study.
Then the Event happened with the Wolf had a bone in Study. It seems I forgot again to deal damage to the Witch.
IMP’S 5th Turn.
Threw 2nd Archer to the jail and this should have killed the Witch.
Only 1 Imp in the dungeon so first summoned 2nd one in the trap room. The Spider pet helped them to make 2 more traps. The one already in the Forge moved to the Library with 3 heroes after killing the Warrior in Graveyard with a Firework. Summoned 3rd Imp to the Trap then moved 2 Imps to the Library along with 1 trap to the Sewer. Using the Hook Sword, the 3 Imps killed 3 Heroes in Library.
2 Rogues showed up in Hat Rooms. One was killed in the Trap room by trap while the other managed to kill one Imp. Then 2 Archers got into the Bone rooms. Both of them were killed by 2 traps in the Sewer.
WITCH’s 5th Turn.
They threw 3rd hero to jail and it was Archer again, finally killing the Witch in the Study so the previous error was corrected by itself.
No Witch in the Dungeon so summoned 1st one in Apothecary. Using the scroll, generated 1 resource each. Took the bone to the Study. Maybe I forgot to randomize the Event again but let’s just assume the Wolf stayed there.
From the Study, using the scroll again, the Witch got their revenge on those 3 Archers in the jail. Summoned 2nd Witch in the Library and with the help from Eyeball pets killed the 2 heroes in the Sewer.
Witch 2 continued by moving to Beast along with book from library. The Beast room already had a bone and they got Minotaur pet. Teleported again and this time to study. Spent the book to make a scroll with 3 moves.
Last Event card and the Wolf already had the bone. 2 Warriors then showed up in Sword rooms. Forge room had traps, killed the warrior. The one from Trap room entered the Library, inspired the Rogue and killed both Imps.
IMP’s 6th turn.
They threw a Mage to the jail. Mage then entered the Study room and dealt 1 damage to one Witch.
No Imp in the Dungeon so summoned 2 in the Trap room. Both of them made traps using Bomb and moved to the Sewer along with traps. From there, using bows, they killed the 2 heroes in Library. Then the 2 moved to Library, leaving the traps in the sewers and made a new one in the Library.
Summoned 3rd Imp in Forge. Entered the Graveyard, took a bone and teleported to Beast room.
2 Warriors showed up in Bone rooms. The one in beast removed the bone and killed the 3rd Imp. While the one in Sewer was killed by trap. Then 2 Mages showed up in those same room. The one in sewer suffered the same fate while the other inpired the Warrior and the 2 got to the Library. One of them got into a trap while the other killed one of the Imps.
WITCH’s 6th turn.
2 hero cards left. Threw one into jail and it was Warrior. That means the last card was the Rogue in Eye rooms. One appearing in the graveyard would stop their action after failing to open the chest and the other would have entered from the study.
2 Witches were in the Study Room. After one of them moved to the Apothecary, both killed one hero in adjacent rooms. At this point, the other upcoming last hero would have killed the Witch in Study but did nothing else.
That was the end of the game. I won but I’ll be honest here. There was a moment when the Hero came out and actually managed to open the chest in the Vault. I reshuffled the deck and this was the result. Even then I still made error with Witch, minor though and I forgot to randomize the event for the last time.
Playing time was about 135 minutes.
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Obsession
More pictures of this Obsession game session on TikTok and on Instagram.
Host social events to get more connections with other Victorian gentry in Obsession.
This was another solo play with just the base game. Continuing exploring all families in the box and this time with Ponsonby Family still against Simpson. With Beatrice Rochdale and Zachary as the 2 starting guests.
Well, I already realized I made a mistake after the play. It seems I rotated the Servants during Courtship. So, maybe I made the game easier. Hopefully that was the only error I did, even though unlikely.
Here is how it went.
1st ROUND.
5 objectives I got were 7 VP for having 10 or more servants, 1 VP per Prestige Guest, 16 VP Group Bonus for Ladies, 5 VP for having English Garden and 17 VP group bonus for Gentleman’s Group.
Ponsonby family started with 300 pounds but I wanted more money so first event was BOWLING GREEN, run by the footman for 2 Gentry. Inviting Theodore, the Earl and Beatrice Rochdale with a Lady’s Maid.
Got 300 from that event plus 200 from Theodore. Beatrice increased the reputation to 1.2 and introduced Lady Allison Thatcher from Casual Guest.
I had 800. Bought BARN for 200. The opponent removed FENCED PADDOCK.
2nd ROUND.
Hosted PRIVATE STUDY run by the BUTLER for 2 Family members, preparing for the Village Fair. Edward and Mabel joined in, no need for servants.
From that, Edward increased the reputation to 1.3. Mabel introduced COUNT OF HOYOS from casual guest.
I still had 600 and I bought FLOWER ROOM for 500 required by one of the objective. The opponent removed RIDING STABLES.
3rd ROUND: VILLAGE FAIR.
Got 300 and Reputation went up to 1.5.
Run an event in MAIN GAZEBO for 2 Gentry with a footman. Invited the 2 Lady Allison and Zachary. The lady required a maid and I had to lose 200 for her. At least, she introduced Albert from Thornhill, a prestige guest. Zachary gave me 100. The event itself got me access to Peter, Viscount Townshend.
Since Main Gazebo was one of the ESTATE, the Barn increased the Reputation to level 2.1.
I only had 300. Spent everything to buy BREAKFAST ROOM, the cheapest I could afford. The opponent removed HILLSIDE KERNELS.
4th ROUND. COURTSHIP: SERVICE.
The Simpson family had 0. I had Barn and the Butler’s Room for 2 VP. So, I won and Charles Fairchild was coming to one of my events. Also got VP card worth 5 points or I could discard it to refresh the market.
I had to let go an Objective card so I chose the one to have 10 servants.
5th ROUND.
*** As mentioned above, I made a mistake of refreshing the Service during Courtship so I had every servant available at this point, including the Footman I just used previously.
Since I had no money I run the BOWLING GREEN again for 2 Gentry, run by the incorrect Footman. I had Lady Margaret Carlow to come, accompanied by Charles Fairchild. No need a maid for the lady but a Valet was provided for the Fairchild.
From that I got 200 with reputation Level went up by 5 to 3.1. The lady got me to know Miss Penelope Hill from Casual Guest.
I only had 200 and I wanted to buy GABLED CONSERVATORY for 400 since it was required by the objective. So I had to get money by losing Reputation, down to 2.2. The opponent removed NORTH DINING ROOM.
6th ROUND. OBJECTIVE CARDS.
Got 2, 1 VP per Estate tile and 12 VP to have tiles from Literature Group. This was Essential Group that the opponent was not making any progress on.
This time I used BUTLER’S ROOM with the Butler themselves. Hiring 2 more servants 2nd Valet and 2nd Lady’s Maid.
I didn’t buy any Improvement tiles this time. The opponent removed BREAKFAST ROOM.
7th ROUND.
Running BOWLING GREEN again with Footman for 2 Gentry. Inviting Count of Hoyos and Miss Penelope Hill, both required a servant each.
From that event, I got 200. The Count got me Miss Agnes Harpstead and Rebecca, Dowager Countess Clare. While Miss Penelope got me to know Lady Elizabeth Hastings.
I only had 200 so I only bought BRUSHING ROOM for 100. The opponent removed BILLIARD ROOMS.
8th ROUND. COURTSHIP: ESSENTIALS.
Simpson family got all 0 for this theme. Unfortunately I also only had 0 from 2 tiles. So both were tied and took a VP card only. 3 VP for Simpson and 4 VP for me or take a Prestige Guest.
I let go the Literature Group objective card.
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9th ROUND. VILLAGE FAIR.
Got 300 again and reputation went up to 2.4.
I chose to pass this turn. Got 200 and refresh everything back.
Had 600 and bought MUSIC ROOM for 500. The opponent removed HILLSIDE KERNELS.
10th ROUND.
Run FRONT PARLOUR with House Maid for 2 Ladies. Invited Miss Penelope again and this time with Beatrice. Each requires a Lady’s Maid. Got 3 Reputation points from the event plus 1 from Beatrice. Miss Penelope introduced me to KENNETH, Viscount Ashwood while Beatrice got me to know Charles Hobart. Reputation at 3.3.
Only had 100 and I wanted to buy TENNIS COURT for 400. So I had to lose 6 points of Reputation, bringing it down to 2.2. The opponent removed MUSIC ROOM.
11th ROUND. BUILDERS’ HOLIDAY.
Immediately run the TENNIS EVENT for 2 Gentry with a Footman. Inviting Theodore and Zachary. Both didn’t need any servant. From these, I got 300 from event and 300 from the 2 Gentry.
Spent all of 600 again to buy SOUTH LAWN. The opponent removed HERITAGE SUITE.
12th ROUND. COURTSHIP: SPORTING.
Simpson had 5 for Sporting Theme. I got 3 tiles worth 7 so I won. Mr. Fairchild was coming to my events again and I also got 5 VP or reclaim a card from discard.
Letting go the objective card about Gentleman’s group.
13th ROUND.
*** I made the same mistake again as the Courtship before. I refreshed the Footman which I used right before the Courtship.
With the footman incorrectly available at this time, I run TENNIS EVENT again for 2 Gentry. Inviting Mr. Fairchild to accompany Lady Margaret. The Gentleman needed a Valet but no need for servant for the Lady.
Got 400 from the event and total of 5 reputation points to 3.2. The Lady introduced me to Walter Tuttle.
I wanted to buy BILLIARD ROOM for 700. So I had to lose 4 reputation points down to level 2.3 to get extra 200. The opponent removed DRAWING ROOM.
14th ROUND. NATIONAL HOLIDAY.
I was planning to run that BILLIARD ROOM inviting Albert before I realized, Albert himself required to be served by Butler. So it was a waste to actually buy that tile.
I ended up running event in MUSIC ROOM with Butler for 3 Gentry. Inviting Kenneth, served by a Valet, Rebecca, served by 2 Lady’s Maids. For the third, after discarding the VP card in exchange for Prestige guest, I got and invited Lady Alexandra Suffolk, served by the House Maid.
From these, I got 4 reputation points from the event, 500 from Mr. Kenneth, 3 reputation Points from Lady Alexandra, a VP card worth 3 points or 2 reputation points from Rebecca. The 2 ladies also introduced me to 2 Prestige Guests, Albert Plantagenet and Alistair, Marquess of Kent.
I didn’t buy any improvement tile this time. The opponent removed CROQUET LAWN.
15th ROUND.
Last round to do anything and I had reputation level at 3.5. I wanted to invite Peter but I needed Level 4. So I had to discard the VP card in exchange to get 2 reputation points, bringing it up to 4.1.
Only had 2 servants, 1 Footman and 1 Valet and since the Valet was for Peter, I only had Footman to run the event. So, another Tennis Event for 2 Gentry and the 2nd guest was Edward, no need extra servant for him.
Got 400 from the event plus 300 from Peter. I chose to get 1 reputation point from Edward.
The SCUPLTURE GARDEN was available for 1200 and I had just enough to buy that. Lucky for Simpson they also got a Monument, the LARGEST WINE CELLAR.
16th ROUND. Last Courtship: PRESTIGE.
With Essentials, Service, Prestige and Sporting, Simpson family got 24. I had 0 from Essentials, 4 from Service, 5 from Prestige and 6 from Sporting. Total for me was only 15 so I lost. Simpson got their 2nd VP card and the Fairchild member.
FINAL SCORING.
I got 15 from those 4 themes and extra 13 from ESTATE. From 20 gentry cards I got 35 VP. 8 VP from first objective card, 16 VP from 2nd and 4 from 3rd. Reputation Level of 4 got me 10 VP with 7 servants got me 14 VP. I had no money and 13 VP from 3 VP cards.
Total was 128. Simpson got 78 plus 8 from Fairchild, 6 from 2 VP cards and 6 from Monuments with total of 98.
I won but incorrectly.
Didn’t end up playing Estate tiles that often so the Barn was kind of useless. Beside the Fairchild, I only had 3 Gentlemen from Prestige guests to give me Reputation and I only got a chance to play 1 of them once. Well, the Fairchild was played twice. I guess I didn’t plan it very well. The initial plan with Estate was more for ladies while I ended up focusing on Sporting for Gentlemen.
Regardless, I still got that Courtship wrong. Probably should have lost at least 6 reputation points to refresh footman twice. Possibly got less money since I had to play event with lower Reputation requirement.
Then again, I also wasted a lot of money for buying certain tiles. I could have bought that English Garden to get me 2 VP and plus 1 from the other Objective card with cheaper price instead of the Monument.
I will try again in my next play.
Playing time was about 120 minutes.
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Lux Aeterna
More pictures of this Lux Aeterna game session on TikTok and on Instagram.
Fix the systems of your Starship before it falls down into the Blackhole in Lux Aeterna.
Still playing the basic game but started with position 1 space away from the Blackhole, ignoring the timer. Pink or ENG system was the most dangerous penalty as it increased the speed for every card I play. Next one the Blue or NAV system had penalty of forcing me to play first card drawn for Speed.
COM or Gray system would have added the ERR Glitch. Orange or MEM system would have prevented me from removing any future Glitch. Green / LIF and Yellow / POW had similar penalties of not allowing me to flip a die.
1st ROUND. POW 05, COM 18, COM 20, ENG 24.
No action to push back the ship but the last card had speed of 0 so that went for speed. I let the Yellow got hit so POW 05 for EVENT. COM 20 allowed me to reroll 2 dice so I used it for ACTION, placing COM 18 in Cache.
POW / Yellow went down to 1. I chose to reroll it along with the Green. Green became 3 from 2 while Yellow from 1 became 6. No movement for the ship.
2nd ROUND. POW 03, COM 19, LIF 32, COM 17.
First card had lowest speed with 1 so it went there. Luckily last card got an option to move back the ship 2 spaces so that was for ACTION. The rest had damage of 1 so I let the Green took one so LIF 32 for EVENT. COM 19 with action to remove Glitch replaced the one in Cache.
Green system went down from 3 to 2. The ship was 2 spaces away from the Blackhole.
3rd ROUND. COM 13, NAV 53, MEM 44, ENG 26.
Only the last card had damage to system with 1 while the rest was 2. But I wanted to use it to flip a die but not 1 to 6. Luckily, I had COM 19 in Cache with damage of 1 to Gray system so it went there. Lowest speed from those was 1 so either card worked. Keeping the MEM 44 for removing the Glitch later in cache.
Gray system went down from 2 to 1. Flipped the Orange from 2 to 5. The Ship was 1 space away from the Blackhole.
4th ROUND. ENG 23, COM 12, COM 14, COM 11.
Last card had to be for action to push back the ship 2 spaces. First card got lowest speed of 1. The rest were Gray and it would have taken down the system. So, I used the one in Cache, letting the Orange system took 2 damage. Keeping COM 14 for the same action, removing Glitch.
Orange system went down from 5 to 3. The Ship was 2 spaces away from the Blackhole.
5th ROUND. ENG 28, MEM 48, LIF 38, MEM 43. GLITCH: TIME DILATION.
I had to return 4 cards from the discard pile and shuffle the deck again. So, I had to play 1 extra round. 1st card pushed the ship 3 spaces while 3rd card had speed of 0. The other 2 were orange either 1 or 2 damage so I chose the obvious. Not keeping the new card in cache.
Orange system went down from 3 to 2. The ship was 5 spaces away from the Blackhole.
6th ROUND. ENG 27, LIF 39, MEM 41, MEM 49.
Speed of 1 was the lowest from 2 cards but I wanted to use one of them for action to flip a 1 to 6. I had to let 3rd card hit Orange system again with 1 damage. It seems I gave up the idea of removing Glitch so I kept the first card with option to push back the ship or add value to a die in the cache.
Orange system went down from 2 to 1. I flipped the Gray die from 1 to 6. The ship was 4 spaces away from the Blackhole.
7th ROUND. POW 09, NAV 58, ENG 30, MEM 46.
First two had the lowest speed of 1, both had 1 damage. I was hoping to flip the blue from 1 to 6 so I let it took the damage of 1. Assigned the last card to flip the pink die. Not keeping the card to prevent the movement.
Blue system went down from 2 to 1. Pink system went up from 2 to 5. The ship was 3 spaces away from the Blackhole.
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8th ROUND. POW 01, NAV 60, COM 15, MEM 50.
2nd card had lowest speed with 0 so it went there. The rest all had damage of 1 but I had to use the orange for action to use the card in cache which was to push back the ship 2 spaces. I let the first card hit the Yellow system by 1.
Yellow went down from 6 to 5. The ship was 5 spaces away again.
9th ROUND. COM 16, MEM 47, LIF 40, LIF 36. GLITCH: POWER SURGE.
Only 1 system the Gray had the value of 6 so only that one took the damage.
Lowest speed was 2 from 2 cards, 1st and 3rd. I let the first one hit the Gray system again. Last card allowed me to flip from 1 to 6 so it was for the Action. The card in cache was similar to the remaining one only the color was different.
Gray system went down again from 5 to 4. Flipped the Blue die so it went up from 1 to 6. The ship was 3 spaces away from Blackhole.
10th ROUND. POW 10, NAV 52, MEM 42, POW 04. GLITCH: REACTOR BREACH.
Only 1 system, Orange had the value of 1 so it got shutdown by the Glitch. As penalty, I can no longer remove future Glitch, which was one more.
1st card had speed and damage of 0, assigned it for speed. Let the yellow took 2 damage with 4th card instead of 1 to blue using 2nd. That 2nd card was for action, allowing me to reroll a die.
Yellow went down from 5 to 3. Chose the Green die with 2, rerolled it and got a 5. The Ship was 3 spaces away from the Blackhole.
11th ROUND. LIF 37, NAV 59, ENG 29, NAV 56.
Lowest speed was 2 from 3 cards. Didn’t want to damage the Blue and the Pink allowed me to push back the ship 4 spaces. So, I let Green took 2 damage. Still not changing the card in Cache.
Green went down from 5 to 3. The Ship moved back 4 spaces and front by 2 so it was 5 spaces away from the Blackhole.
12th ROUND. LIF 34, POW 08, LIF 35, COM 11.
Lowest speed of 1 from 3rd card. I wanted to completely fix the Blue. Lowest damage was from 4th card to Gray with 1 damage. That means I had to use the 2nd card, to transfer one value from 1 die to that Blue. 1st card was for Glitch and it was useless so not changing the Cache still.
Gray went down from 4 to 3. Transferred 1 value from Green, down to 2 into Blue from 6 to being operational. The bonus from that allowed me to start drawing 5 cards per turn. With the speed, the ship was 4 spaces away from Blackhole.
13th ROUND. POW 02, ENG 25, NAV 51, COM 12, MEM 44. GLITCH: BLACKOUT.
No action this turn because of that Glitch. I guess I got lucky it was not a Glitch that moved the ship forwards 4 spaces and I would have lost the game.
Honestly, none of the damage or speed of these cards were enough to make me lose the game. Since I drew 5 cards, the remaining cards in the deck was 3 so I skipped the last round and won the game.
FINAL SCORING.
I got 4 points from 4 systems still under repair. 7 points from 1 fully operational system. Then got 91 from the starting position with no ERR Glitch. Final score was 102.
Playing time was about 29 minutes.
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Riverside
More pictures of this Riverside game session on TikTok and on Instagram.
Invite tourists to join various excursions in villages of winter land along the river while keeping them warm in Riverside.
Another solo play with the Extended variant.
1st ROUND. White: 3, Yellow: 4, Brown: 3, Blue: 5, Pink: 2, Green: 4.
The median was 3 and the cruise stopped right at the first village with Pink and Brown scoring. From there, there were 2 village within 3 spaces away. One was close to the exit with White 12 and the other along the path with White 9 and Blue 4.
I picked the White 3 plus spend 4 Fire. Filled the first row for 2 extra white and filled the 3rd row with bonus for 2 blue. So, I got 2 tickets for white and took an excursion to that village near the exit. Scored 24 for the first White.
2nd ROUND. White: 1, Yellow: 1, Brown: 2, Blue: 3, Pink: 4, Green: 3.
The median was just 2 so the cruise was still between the 1st and 2nd village. From there, 3 spaces away got them to 2 more villages, Yellow 11 and Blue 9.
I picked the Brown 2 since it was free plus the Green so I already spent half of the Fire. With 5 I completed 3rd row of the Brown. Got 2 Pink bonus which I filled the 3rd row there as well.
This means, I could only score from the first village with Brown 5 for 1 ticket so 5 points.
3rd ROUND. White: 6, Yellow: 2, Brown: 6, Blue: 6, Pink: 3, Green: 6.
The median was 6 so the cruise moved pass 3 villages. There were only 3 villages within 3 spaces from where the cruise was. One with Blue 7 and Yellow 6, 2nd with White 10 and Yellow 9, 3rd had Pink 8 and the 4th had Pink 5, Blue 6 and Brown 7.
I chose Blue and not using the Green. With 6, I completed 1st and 3rd row of Blue. The Brown and Pink bonus didn’t get me extra tickets.
The excursion I chose was to the village with 3 excursions. Scored 7, 2nd one for Brown and 2 tickets of Blue got me 12, 1st score.
4th ROUND. White: 6, Yellow: 4, Brown: 3, Blue: 4, Pink: 4, Green: 2.
The median was 4 and the cruise stopped, 3 spaces away before the first Chapel. I chose the Pink 4 plus the Green 2. Completed 3rd and 4th row of Pink group. Brown bonus also got me 1 more ticket.
So, I had 8 tickets and did excursion to the Chapel. Scored 16, first score.
5th ROUND. White: 2, Yellow: 4, Brown: 5, Blue: 2, Pink: 4, Green: 4.
The median was 4 and the cruise stopped right at the next village after the Chapel 2. I still had to score 2nd time from that chapel.
I chose the Yellow 4 plus Green 4 with one fire left. Completely filled the 1st and 3rd row of that group. That got me bonus of 3 blue, one more ticket from the 2nd row of Blue. That means I got 3 more tickets with total of 11 so I could score 2nd time higher for the Chapel with 22.
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6th ROUND. White: 4, Yellow: 6, Brown: 4, Blue: 2, Pink: 2, Green: 4.
With median of 4, the cruise arrived at the village with 3 excursions, 3rd tile from the right end. I still had not scored anything for Yellow and Pink. I thought I had to score both right away.
The village with both was exactly 4 spaces away back. So, I chose the Pink 2 just to get one more ticket. Scored 12 with 3 tickets, 1st score for Pink and then 16 for Yellow with 2 tickets. I had to spend the extra speed.
7th ROUND. White: 6, Yellow: 1, Brown: 5, Blue: 6, Pink: 2, Green: 4.
The median was 5 and the cruise got to village with Blue 9. I had to use the Brown since it was 5 and free. Completed 3rd tickets with 2nd row and almost activated the power.
I thought this was probably the last time I got to access any excursion with Yellow. Closest one within 3 spaces had village with Yellow 11. The 2 tickets got me 22, 2nd score for yellow.
8th ROUND. White: 5, Yellow: 1, Brown: 2, Blue: 1, Pink: 4, Green: 2.
The median was just 2 and the cruise was 5 spaces away from the exit. I chose the Blue 1 plus 3 from the Yellow power which were enough to complete the 4th ticket.
I actually went back to the village with 3 excursions, which was 7 spaces away. Luckily I had the power to move 6 spaces from the pink and extra speed of 1 to reach there. This way, I could score all 3 types.
Scored 21 with 3 tickets of Brown, 3rd score. Got 15 from 3 tickets of Pink, 2nd score. Then 24 from 4 tickets of Blue, 2nd score.
9th ROUND. White: 1, Yellow: 3, Brown: 4, Blue: 3, Pink: 1, Green: 6.
The median was 3 and the game was not over yet with the cruise right at the 2nd Chapel. Probably the last round though. I chose White 1 but with the power from Blue, I got to use Green 6 for free. I needed 8 for 2 more tickets. Completed the 4th row first and got bonus of 2 Yellows. That completed the 4th row of that color and got me 2 more white which was enough to complete 2nd row.
So, I got to do 2 excursions with the White power. Definitely one of them was to White 12. Since I had one extra speed left, I could only reach the first village near the entrance for the 3rd Pink score.
3 tickets of Pink got me 18 for 3rd score. Then for the White, I got 4 tickets plus 1 from the Brown power. That got me 60 points for 2nd White score.
The next roll had median of 5 and with just 2, the cruise reached the exit. So that was the end of the game.
SCORING.
I scored 106 from White, 54 from Yellow, 48 from Brown, 56 from Blue, 60 from Pink with total of 324. Total from Chapel got me 38 and the lowest from the 5 excursion was 48. So I got 86 plus 15 or 101.
Final score was 425 and since I used the extended variant, subtracted 25 and I got 400.
Playing time was about 39 minutes.
Learn more about the game from Riverside Game Review.
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Rafter Five
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Build a raft together so all of you can go home with your treasure chests or you can trap your friend so they fall off the raft and you go home alone in Rafter Five.
Rafter Five is a new game for me, 2nd Oink game that I covered so far. Well, the main reason I picked this one is because it has official solo mode and I guess I was looking for a different type of game in my collection.
Someone mentioned that Rafter Five is like playing Jenga but more horizontally. So, you probably can guess that there is a dexterity element while constructing a structure.
Like in Jenga, there is no single winner, but there is a single loser. However, in this one, you may have 2nd chance. Failing and ruining the structure doesn’t necessarily make you lose instantly. Unless you reach the penalty limit, the game continues expanding the structure.
Jenga itself on BGG here is considered as Party Game with that chaotic nature. With Rafter Five, not to mention, coming from Oink Games, people will expect something similar.
So, what is Rafter Five is about?
Well, it is about building and expanding a raft using thin long cards with weird shape as the lumber. I said weird shape because it is not rectangular but almost. All of them have identical shape but with zig zag on the 2 long edges.
On the back of each card, it depicts water. As part of the setup, you place all of them face down around the starting structure as if they are body of water. Thematically, you pick random lumber from the sea to build the raft so it kind of make sense to have the weird figure.
On the front of these 42 cards, there are two types of lumber cards that only matter if you play the advance variant. So, the face down in this variant not only for thematic purpose but also creates some randomness since different types will restrict how you place them after you pick them up.
Other than the cards, each player, up to 6 players, will get 7 identical wooden treasure tokens. Actually, if you play with less than 6, each player will control several sets of these, so each get more turns.
Each player will also get 1 penalty card. This is a card to track when you actually lose the game.
The game also comes with 5 meeples or figures, that can be used by all players which become the titular characters. These 5 figures all have different shapes and sizes.
Rafter Five will also use both pieces of the box as the main structure. You place the lid first at the bottom then the bottom box on it with 5 meeples at the top at random position.
So, how does the game play?
On your turn, you first pick one of the Meeple. Then you pick a card, placing it on the existing structure, to expand the raft. After you place the card, you can place that meeple you chose earlier to hold that card and then you place one of your treasure tokens on that card.
That is all you do on your turn. Then the next player goes, doing the same, picking a Meeple, place a card and put back the meeple on the card along with your treasure. That next player can even use the same meeple.
The challenge is that if on your turn, you make any item on the structure fall, your turn ends immediately. If your own treasure falls, you just take it back and play it on later turns. However, if you knock your opponent’s treasure, you have to take it as damage.
You take 5 damage or 5 treasures that are not from your color, you become the single loser of the game. That is one of the conditions to end the game.
Which is why you probably don’t want to play the same meeple that just got played. There is a chance that when you pick that meeple up, the card, along with the previous player’s treasure is in unstable position, very high risk to fall.
It is possible that one player manages to play all treasures first while the others might still have something. In that case, that one player skips their turn. They just wait until the other players take penalties and lose. Not sure that will easily happen though.
If on your turn, one of the meeples is already fall or on the sea area, you have to pick and use that one. It is possible that multiple of them fell so the next player after that fall may get more options. Otherwise, maybe the next player is stuck with the biggest meeple.
The game can also end if there is no more lumber card or all players have placed their treasure tokens first. In either case, the loser is the one with the most penalties.
There is a suggestion as how to actually determine the winner. The one with the least penalty is the winner. So, that player who manages to finish placing their treasures first and skip their remaining turns may not be the winner. If anything, as tie breaker, the one with the least tokens taken by other players is the loser of that tie breaker.
It seems, with that tie breaker rule, the game really wants you to trap the other player, forcing them to take your tokens. In this game, there is a chance you make things fall but they are still your own tokens, not penalties. You just have to play longer.
The game actually has room where players can just mind their own business, and play it safe, even if very small and not very likely to happen.
I may even argue that based on playing the solo mode, you can actually play the game kind of cooperatively or like team based. Not officially suggested in the rule though.
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The Solo Mode and My Initial Thoughts.
In the solo mode of Rafter Five, your goal is to place all 42 treasure tokens included in the game, ignoring the colors. There will be no penalties and even if your structure fails, you just keep going.
Ideally, you have 42 cards to place 42 tokens. With the falling, more likely than not, you probably will run out of cards first before you can place all tokens which will end the game. So, the solo mode becomes like a game of beat your own score, with the maximum limit.
If you manage to place everything, the rule suggests using the advanced variant with restriction of how you can play your next lumber cards.
That is it. So, what do I think about the solo mode?
First, I want to point out a potential negative. The solo mode can feel too long. Your options are either you run out of cards or you just give up not finishing the game. My last play took about 60 minutes before I run out of cards with 4 treasure tokens left. The one before that was 5 tokens left.
In that last play, there were a couple of moments when I had like 13 cards left. I kept playing and reach like 5 or so cards left before the structure fell down and I got more cards back. The more that happened the more I almost feel like giving up.
But somehow, I managed to finish it. Why? Because I do feel there is more than just a party, chaotic game here.
I’m very disappointed that there is no official suggestion for playing cooperatively. You may not see the depth of this game if you just play competitively and your focus is just to trap your opponents.
It may not seem like it but you can play the game with more logical, scientific approach, using physics. Maybe you learn a bit sense of construction.
The different shape and size of the 5 rafters will play different roles just like different workers in typical euro games. The tall one is stronger to hold inside but very risky on the edge. While the wider but shorter is better for the other purpose.
Then the treasure tokens feel like the nail. They are just so big that they block placement of future lumbers. You want to place them where they can hold multiple layers of cards while creating enough empty space for future lumber cards.
Even the correct way of layering those cards can eventually make the structure stiffer. You can probably see from the pictures I included in this writing, how big the structure can go.
In my opinion, to reach or expand the structure that big, it will require multiple steps. Again, something like in euro games where you want to prepare something first to make a room before executing the next one.
I said it above that this is not just all random or chaotic thing. There is an educated approach you can try. The game just doesn’t give you the exact number about whether placing that card in that way is stable enough or not. Even I don’t know how to calculate the exact number and I mostly played with my feeling.
You probably won’t see any of that if you play competitively and your focus is just to screw the next players.
Sure, it is meant to be a party game and you can have fun playing that way. All I’m saying is that the game has something more to offer. For that, I strongly recommend trying at least the solo mode.
It is not even a perfect solo game for me. I already mentioned that it can be long and can be frustrating. But I found that the result can be satisfying.
The way I play it for shorter variant is to play 2-handed using penalty on both sides but cooperatively. Instead of just keep going, you lose when one side gets 5 penalties and then you count how many tokens still on the structure. In my one play, that takes like 25 minutes or so. It’s just after reaching that, I continued as if I was playing solo and I got to the end around an hour.
There is also a potential of cards become curving when you manage to create bigger structure. Eventually they are forced to hold weights on outer ends. I can already see that after one play.
But if I understand correctly, that is what structural engineering is dealing in their job when constructing building or bridges. It’s about pull and tension force on structural element. Too much force can break the form of that element or even collapse the entire building.
Maybe one last negative point about the game. When the structure fails and multiple items fall down, the tokens can go very far. Maybe the lumber suddenly becomes a catapult. You probably want to recount the items and make sure you have everything before continuing the game.
Or they can also go down the hanging structure, behind the box and you don’t see that. One time, I forgot about the smallest meeple. Played a couple of turns and only realized that one was missing when I wanted to use that one. So, that one stayed below even though you are supposed to play that one immediately.
I also don’t like that they use Blue color as one of the player colors since it is the same color as the water. So, if one of them falls down and they might not be noticeable among those cards.
So, my initial thought is I like this game. Even watching how the raft grows, collapse and get rebuilt in this game gives me some stories. That is, if you play the solo mode or kind of cooperatively.
Playing time was about 60 minutes in the solo mode.
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Bruxelles 1897
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Become the World’s best proponent of Art Nouveau movement for artistic industry in Bruxelles 1897.
This was another 2-handed session between Red as the first player and Blue as the 2nd. The setup had 1 Noble, 3 Buildings, 2 Materials, 2 Money, 1 Art and the Expo.
1st ROUND.
Red started first and immediately pick the only Art from row 3 column 3. Sending worker 1 and paid 1 coin. Blue then sent out also worker 1 to row 3 but column 2 to pick Material with 1 type.
Red didn’t need to worry about the Expo and aimed to get buildings so they picked the other material card from Row 1 column 3. Sending out Worker 1 there so Red dominated the column 3.
From the 3 buildings, 2 were identical. Blue then took the only unique one from Column 2 row 1. Sending out Worker 1, dominating that column.
Red then built with 1 Material card. Sending Worker 2 to Column 1 row 2, tied against the 3rd player, green. Blue tried to also get tied for majority in column 1 so they sent out Worker 2 to column 1 row 1 with Noble. Emile Vandervelde then got one of Blue worker out of prison. Blue kept the noble on their side.
Red had no money so they went to Brussel Area with Worker 1 to the Stock Exchange to get 5 coins. Blue did similar but with the help from Georges Brugmann and got 4 coins.
Red finally took the Expo card to keep the first turn and got 2 VP for having Yellow Art while Blue had none. Blue with one worker went to the last Brussel area to find more Art. Between Blue or Green Art they chose to keep their own color.
Red decided to sell their only Art for 3 coins. They took the 3 coins from row 2 column 3. Actually, they could have got 2 more VP had they sent it to column 2 from the 2 completed Coat of Arms. Blue decided to just pass first, taking 3 coins.
Red followed and got 1 coin. That was the end of 1st round.
Both player were tied for Architecture Column and their value went up to 2. Blue won the Noble column and leveled up to 2. Red won the Prison bonus so they got their worker out. Red won the Prestige Column and their value went up to 2nd level.
No Coat of Arms was completed this time so no bonus to either player. Blue had more workers in Brussels area so one of their Workers was sent to jail.
Red had 1 Noble, 1 Building, 0 Art, 6 coins, 4 VP. Blue had 8 coins, 2 Nobles, 1 Building, 1 Art, 2 VP.
2nd ROUND.
The market had 2 Arts, 1 Material, 3 Money, 2 Nobles, 1 Building and Expo card.
Red was still the first player. They started by sending Worker 2 to row 1 column 1 for the Red Art. Blue went for the yellow art from column 2 row 3 by sending Worker 1.
Red then picked the only Material by sending Worker 2 to column 2, row 1, matching the majority against blue there. Blue then claimed the Expo with Worker 1. They exhibited 2 arts for 4 VP while Red got 1 for 2 VP.
Red then built the only Building from Column 4, row 2. This was their 2nd building and they got 1 Material card with 2 types, gaining 2 VP. They sent Worker 2 there. Blue tried to tie the majority of column 4 by sending Worker 2 as well to take the Noble. Prince Albert then increased their position on Noble track to 3.
Red sent Worker 1 to Stock Exchange again for 5 coins. Blue went to the City Hall, got 4 coins from Brugmamnn and Vandervelde released the worker from prison.
Red sent another Worker 1 to Cinquantenaire Park for art. They took Blue over Green, planning just to sell them later. Blue went to column 1 row 2 just to remove the coin, not selling and tied for the Majority with Worker 2.
Red then sold the Blue Art to buyer in column 2 row 2, sending Worker 1 and that was enough for them to win the majority for that column. Blue took the last noble from row 2 column 3, sending worker 1 there. Victor Horta increased their Architecture value to 3.
Red passed and got 3 coins followed by Blue with 1 coin. That was the end of this round.
Both players won the majority of Noble column with Red to Level 2 while Blue to Level 4. Red won the Prison column but they had none there. Blue won the Architecture Column and their value went up to 4. Both won the Prestige with Red at level 3 and Blue at level 2.
There were 4 completed Coat of Arms. Red won 1 for 2 VP and Blue won the other 3 for 3 VP. More workers from Red in Brussels area so they had one worker in jail.
10 VP for Red and 8 for Blue.
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3rd ROUND.
This time the market had still 1 Material only, 3 buildings, 3 money, 2 Nobles and 1 Art. No expo this round.
Blue started first by taking the only Material from row 1 column 2, sending the Worker 1. Red went to get help from Charles Buls at row 1 column 4, sending Worker 1.
Blue built their 2nd building from row 2 column 1, spending 1 Material card, sending Worker 2. The Material had 2 types so they got 2 VP. Red then dominated the column 4 by sending another Worker 1 to row 2 to take the Green Art.
Blue sent 1 Worker 1 to City Hall. Got 4 coins from Brugmann and Prince Albert increased their noble value to maximum. Red sent worker 1 to Cinquantenaire Park to get Materials, got 1 with 2 types.
Blue sent another Worker 1 to Stock Exchange for 5 coins. 1 Material card was not enough for Red to build the 3rd building so they sent 2 more workers to Cinquantenaire Park and got 2nd card, 3rd type.
Blue went to row 1 column 1 with Worker 1 just to remove the building. They won the majority of that column while also preparing to complete the coat of arms. Red took Victor Horta from row 3, column 3 with Worker 2 so their architecture value went up to 3.
Blue completed the Coat of Arms at the top left by selling their Blue art for 3 coins. Unfortunately they had to send Worker 2. Red then passed first and got 3 coins, followed by Blue for 1 coin.
That was the end of 3rd round.
Blue won the Architecture column so their value went maximum. They also won the Prestige and their value went up to level 3. Red won the Nobles to level 3 and released one Worker from Prison.
There was only 1 completed Coat of Arms won by Blue for 2 VP. Red had more workers in Brussels area so one of them had to be sent to jail.
10 VP for Red and 12 for Blue.
4th ROUND.
The market was filled with 2 Nobles, 2 coins, 2 buildings, 1 Material, 1 Art and Expo card.
Red started first by sending Worker 1 to row 2 column 3 for the Expo. 4 VP for red with 2 art while Blue only had 1 for 2 VP. Blue decided not to pursue the buildings or materials since they already had the 2 buildings in the market. So, they sent Worker 2 to row 1 column 1 for the Charles Buls, increasing their Prestige to Level 4.
Red already had 2 Material cards so they got to build their 3rd. Sent Worker 1 to column 2 row 2 and got 3 VP for 3 different materials. Blue decided to get back to architecture by sending worker 1 to the Cinquantenaire Park. Got Paul Hamkar to their side and got them a Material card with 2 types.
Red went to get Emile Vandervelde from row 3 column 3, sending Worker 1. Got their worker released. Blue then took the only Material card from the Market by sending Worker 2 to row 1 column 3. They were tied against the red for the column.
Red sent Worker 1 to Stock Exchange for 5 coins. Blue sent 2 workers to Cinquantenaire Park again and this time for the Buildings. They got one that they had not had yet and spent their 2 material cards.
Red took another Red Art from row 3 column 2 using Worker 2. Blue sent Worker 1 to City Hall and got 4 coins from Brugmann.
Red then sold their 2nd Red Art to buyer at column 1 row 2, sending Worker 2 to tie the majority. Blue sent Worker 2 to get Green Art from column 4 row 2.
Red decided to just get tied with the majority of Column 4 by sending worker 2, removing the building. Blue passed first and got 3 coins followed by Red for 1 coin.
Red won or was tied in majority in all columns while Blue lost only in Noble / Architecture. Blue was already in maximum level of all 3 tracks while Red got to 4 in Architecture and Noble but 5 in Prestige.
There were 4 completed Coat of Arms. Red won 3 of them and tied with Blue for the last one. Both had 17 VP plus 12 for Red from Coat of Arms and 3 for Blue.
FINAL SCORING
Red paid 4 coins for 2 new nobles. Got 6 VP from 3 unique buildings, 6 from 3 nobles, 2 from Expo card, 4 from 2 unique art and 9 from the 6 leftover coins, 12 from 3 buildings. TOTAL SCORE was 68.
Blue had to pay 8 coins for 4 Nobles. Got 15 from 3 buildings, 10 from 5 Nobles, 4 from 2 Arts, 6 from leftover coins. TOTAL SCORE was 55.
So Red player won.
Playing time was about 79 minutes.
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Beacon Patrol
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Explore the North Sea and check the buoys and lighthouses to ensure its safety in Beacon Patrol.
Still more solo play. I thought about trying cooperative play 2-handed but I decided to try out the 2 mini expansions included in the base game. So, this is going to be a bit of first impression about those 2 mini expansions, WINDMILLS and PIERS.
Usually I just play the basic version of any board game first before adding any modules. I thought it would add unnecessary complexity. After that first play, I have to say, you can just include them in the base game even if you don’t really count the extra score for it.
They can actually make the game easier with more turns. The expansions come with 9 tiles and you play them the same way you play the other tiles in the basic game. Connect water with water to move ships, land with land and try to explore all 4 sides to gain points from each tile.
The Windmills with 5 tiles are similar to open water but each tile has that windmill illustration. Each tile itself is worth only 1 point when fully explored like open water with nothing. However, you have a chance to score higher.
To do so, you have to surround that Windmill tile with another open water, including another Windmill tile. That means, each windmill tile can give you up to 5 points. While the windmill still has to be fully explored first, you still can get point even if surrounding open water is on the edge, not fully explored. So, at least, you gain 1 point and possibly more.
Piers come with 4 tiles and they are similar to tiles with lands on two sides of one corner, one tile per corner. The tile itself is worth 1 point, has to be fully explored. You can earn more points by connecting this pier to more lands with buildings. Actually, the designer clarified this that it works only for houses, depicted in white color not the Lighthouse.
While the pier itself has to be fully explored but the extended landmass with houses don’t need to be fully explored. That means, even if those landmasses end up not giving you score with the basic rule because they are on the edge, they can still give you extra score by connecting them to piers. Each house then is worth 1 point no matter their size.
I assume you can create a big land with all 4 piers and get score from each pier. On the other hand, you can also connect all of those piers to create a land with no houses and get you nothing.
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So, you can say that these 2 expansions actually have the opportunity to make the tiles on the edge of tableau to worth points even if they are not fully explored. However, it may require some longer planning to achieve that. Maybe even better if you get those tiles early, especially the Piers.
In my one play, I didn’t expect too much with the Piers but I had some expectation for the Windmills. I managed to play all 5 Windmills and get 5 points plus total of 12. They seem to be easier if they come out very close to each other so you can just place them next to each other and got points from each.
But then if you are so fixated with the idea to get as many score as possible, you might end up not having a relaxing experience with this game. Not saying it is a bad idea but it seems that is one of the selling point of Beacon Patrol.
This is also true even without the Windmill. As I said above, the Windmill is basically an open water with a lot of flexibility. You may end up losing that benefit just to get more score from this feature.
With the PIERS, I managed to play 3 of them. One was discarded for movement or I just couldn’t play them at the time. One was connected to 2 tiles with 2 houses on the edge that got me 2 more points.
2nd one was similar but in the middle of the entire tableau but still got me 2 more points. Last one was connected to a very big land with 2 lighthouses but only one house. That means, I only got like extra 1 point. So the total extra points from Piers were about 5 points.
The rulebook itself has different scoring chart for solo play if you play with one or both of these expansions. For each expansion, you are expected to get extra 10 points.
Based on my play, it doesn’t seem I did bad. Clearly I got more from one than the other. Maybe saying that both can give you equal points can be a bit misleading.
I also said before that I didn’t really plan that much with the Pier. If anything it feels like my focus was to use them to just fully explore tiles in the middle that requires those lands.
My total score was 71 and according to score chart I got the NAVIGATOR, 2nd highest rank. Usually I only got either Captain or Navigator without the expansion. The rule doesn’t say that you need to remove tiles while adding these 9 tiles. So, the longer game, more turns seem to contribute to score even if you don’t do well with the expansions itself.
I do feel that with expansions, I got more relaxing experience than without them. But that is just from one play. I definitely will keep playing with these and see if they change my opinion about the overall game.
Playing time was about 60 minutes.
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Rush M.D.
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Treat all of your patients or lose medical points, potentially shutting down your hospital operation in Rush M.D. game.
Got 2 solo plays with the extra module in the base game. First one felt significantly harder. At one round, I only managed to treat 3 patients, 2 hospitalized which means those were the first 3 patients that came in from that round.
Both hospitalized required 2 tests. One was first diagnosed to get Bone surgery but turned out requiring just regular treatment. However, 2nd test came with epidemic, affecting the other one. So, after having bones in stock they didn’t get to use them. The other one required a heart surgery. Luckily the outpatient only needed blood.
That was 2nd round. In the first round, 2 hospitalized patients needed culture tests. One of them required twice which led to lung surgery. Luckily the other one only needed a couple of pills, IV drugs and blood. Treated 3 outpatients, with the worse having Serious condition.
Since the objective was to treat at least 9 hospitalized, if I got to treat 2 per round, I needed one of them to treat 3. In 3rd round I got 3 patients with Serious Condition. One required straight a bone surgery. While another required 2 tests which led also to bone surgery. Luckily the 3rd one only needed a couple of pills. Got to treat 3 outpatients, one was Mild while the other 2 were in serious condition.
Then in the final round. Two patients needed hospitalized treatment also required all blood tests, twice on one even with critical condition. The other one was mild but after one test, there was a possibility of outbreak. Luckily it was a false alarm. The one with 2 tests needed a heart surgery.
The first outpatient got one with critical condition. Followed by 2 with serious condition, 2 mild and last one with also serious. At least the last 3 didn’t need any syringes to treat them so it helped.
So, I thought about trying to complete 2 solo objective cards. I failed the one that requires treating 24 patients. So, for the 2nd game I aimed to complete that one.
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2nd session started with a grandma with serious condition. She just needed a couple of blood and yellow drugs. The hospitalized part got 2 patients. One with critical condition required not just bone surgery but also Lung surgery, no needed for tests. The other one required x-ray and blood test with serious condition. Their blood test came and he needed not only lung surgery but also kidney.
While treating those, a mom with her baby came in to the clinic. The baby had mild condition so the doctor gave the baby green drugs and iv fluids. Then a young girl with very long dark hair came in also to the clinic with serious condition. She took a couple of pills.
Last guy in the clinic came in with his hand stuck in a teapot. Obviously just mild situation but he took iv fluids and 2 different pills.
Apparently, there was enough time to take one more and another hospitalized one came in. She had mild condition and required just x-ray. The test came and she just needed 2 pills and an IV fluid. Got 2 medical points for treating 3 hospitalized. Very risky though. Scored 15 points so far.
2nd round had a specialized doctor to get me more blood. Some Medical points bonus were offered to treat 3 patients with mild conditions and 5 regular patients.
So, the round started with 2 outpatients and one hospitalized. The biker Lady had critical condition but with 3 yellow, 3 green drugs and 2 pills did the job. 2nd lady in the clinic had mild condition and she needed 2 pills and some blood.
The one required to be treated in ward had mild condition. She needed X-ray test, a pill and IV fluids. The test came back and she really needed just green drugs and blood.
So 3 more patients came in, 2 to the Clinic and 1 to the ward. Luckily, another mild condition for the ward patient. She needed blood test, a pill and IV fluids. The result for the test got her more IV fluids and yellow drugs.
A guy in a suit came in to the clinic with serious condition. The treatment required syringes to give him blood and green drugs. Then an old guy came in with broken leg but with mild condition. He just needed 2 pills,
The day was not over so 2 more patients came to the clinic. One was young man with serious condition that required 3 pills and IV fluids. The last one was an old lady with some headaches but mild. 3 injections of green drugs and she was good to go.
Got 3 Medical Points from treating 5 regular patients and 3 with mild conditions. Got 18 points from that so 33 points so far from total of 15 patients.
3rd round had a doctor to help the hospital prepare 3 organs and a nurse to get more IV fluids. With a chance for Medical points if the hospital managed to treat everybody this round.
3 patients came in, 2 to the Clinic and one to the Ward. The one in the ward was in critical situation and required 2 tests from X-ray. One of the test led her to lung surgery.
While dealing with that, the 2 in the clinic had just mild condition. A young kid with her teddy bear required just 2 orange pills. While a lady in a nice dress seemed to have recent accident and required IV fluids with 2 yellow drugs.
3 more patients came in, 2 to clinics and 1 to the ward. The man in the ward had mild condition. After the culture test, he just needed 2 pills and IV fluids.
On the other hand, the clinic got 2 patients with critical condition. The old lady with white hair required 3 pills, 2 IV fluids and 4 shots of yellow drugs to treat. While the man with a cold required also 2 orange pills, some bloods and also yellow drugs.
Only got 1 Medical points and 15 VP from 6 patients. I only needed to treat 3 more for the objective in the last round.
4th round got a doctor to provide 3 different organs and a nurse to get different pills. Also a test to get Medical points by using 3 different organs. But the hospital was no longer focusing on hospitalized patient.
3 patients came in, 2 to the Clinic and 1 got sent to the Ward. All of them had mild condition. However after the culture test, the guy in the ward needed heart surgery. While the 2 ladies in the clinic just needed a pill, IV fluids, some blood and yellow drugs.
3 more patients came in, 2 to Clinic again and one to the ward. The hospitalized one required x-ray and blood test with serious condition. From the Blood test, she needed lung surgery.
While dealing with that, 2 in the Clinic had one mild and one serious condition. The man with broken neck just needed 2 pills. While the kid with headphone required total of 5 pills.
The hospital still had time and another patient came in to the clinic. It was a Wrestler who just won a title match but now had a critical condition. He needed 3 white pills, 2 IV fluids and 4 shots of green drugs.
So, no medical point bonus since no 3rd type of organ was used. Got like 17 points with the final score of 64 from total of 28 patients. More than 5 were hospitalized so the objective was completed.
Playing time was about 45 minutes per session.
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Tiny Epic Defenders
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Defend Edenmoore, rescue villagers from nearby regions and win the Great Battle of Tiny Epic Defenders: The Dark War.
This was my 3rd play with the Dark War expansion and also 3rd play with the Great Battle variant. Still exploring the content with the 2 elves, Nyrra and Laishom. Plains was the hostile region this time and the Forest was Friendly. Laishom had Historian starting Skill while Nyrra had Awareness.
Here is how it went.
1st ROUND. Caravan at the Coast.
First attacked happened in Forest and Desert region, both were on the south from Capital City. Second attack were at the Ruins at the Northeast and the Ocean, to the west from Capital City.
Another attack to threat level 2 to Ruin regions while new attack to the Plains, at the northwest. So, the Mountain was in the east.
First turn was for either defenders. Nyrra took the lead and moved to the Plains. From there she secured Ruins region by one level. Next turn was still for either defender so Nyrra went again. Still from the Plains, she secured completely the Ocean, Plains and Ruins.
Finally, it was Nyrra’s own turn and she moved back to the Ocean. From there, she secured the Desert while generating 1 XP, ready to move the Caravan. Last turn was for Laishom with extra action for Nyrra. Nyrra used it to escort the Caravan to the Capital City.
Laishom moved from Capital City to the southeast, the Forest. He completely secured it.
2nd ROUND. Caravan at the Mountain.
Mountain was east from the Capital City. Either defender got the first turn. Nyrra took the lead and moved to the Mountain and escorted it back to Capital City.
Enemy attack happened again in Forest and Ocean with both at threat level 1. Another attack to Ruins to Level 1 and Ocean to Level 2. Either Defenders could move again and Nyrra from Capital City moved to the Plains area. She secured one threat level of the Ocean.
After that 2nd attack to Ruins and 1st to Plains. Then it was Laishom’s turn. The bonus action got Nyrra to secure Ruins by one level from Plains. Laishom stayed in the Forest, securing it and gaining XP.
Nyrra was next and she stayed in the Plains. Completely secured that region and the two adjacent ones. Last attack this round was to Forest and Desert.
3rd ROUND. Caravan at Ruins.
First attack happened at the two regions in the north, both to level 1 threat. After that, Forest and Desert got attack again, both to level 2.
Nyrra was next and used this chance to escort the Caravan to the Capital City from the ruins. Laishom was after that, giving Nyrra extra action to move from Capital City to the Ocean. He then secured the Forest by one Level and then moved to the Desert, also securing it by 1.
Now, either of them could move. Nyrra moved back to the Plains again. From there, she secured the Plains as well as the Ruins. Forest got attack again to level 2 along with Ocean to Level 1.
Defenders could move again. Laishom moved back to the Forest and secured the threat down by 2. Last two attacks were 1 to ruins to Level 1, Ocean to Level 2, Desert to level 2 and Mountain to Level 1.
4th ROUND. Caravan at the Forest.
Attack happened again to Forest to level 1 and ocean to Level 3. Followed by ruins to Level 2 and finally the Ocean got destroyed. Threat to Capital City went up by 1.
The attack continued and this time to Forest to Level 2 and Desert to level 3. Nyrra was next. After completely securing threats at Ruins from Plains, she moved back to the Ocean. From there she secured threats in Desert by 1.
All Defenders could move again. Laishom took this chance to escort the Caravan from the Forest. That was after securing the Forest by 2.
Laishom got to move again. The bonus for Nyrra got her to secure down the Desert again while Laishom moved back to the Forest. Along the way, he secured the Mountain as well.
All Defenders got their turn again. Both stayed in their positions gaining XP. Desert and Mountain got attack again, both to Level 1.
A Dire Enemy finally showed up. It was MANTICORE at the Desert. No defender was there so the threat level went up by 2. Last attack was to Ruins and Plains, both to Level 1.
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5th ROUND. Caravan at Plains.
All Defenders got the first turn. Laishom moved to the Desert, ready to defend against Manticore. Nyrra was next and she used this chance to escort the Caravan and moved back to the Ocean after they got to Capital City.
Ruins and Plains got attack again both to level 2. 2nd Dire Enemy showed up and it was MINOTAUR at the Forest. Nobody was there to defend so threat level of the Forest went up to 1.
The attack to Forest continued to Level 2 along with Desert to Level 1. Finally Manticore showed up again with Laishom defended there. He was injured but got ELIXIR OF ERRAND artifact.
The attack at the Desert continued and Laishom kept defending it. Mountain was also getting an attack and the threat went up to 2.
Laishom finally got his own turn. Nyrra used the bonus to secure the Desert by 1 while Laishom moved to Forest, securing it by 1 level before moving back to the Capital City to heal.
All defenders got to move again and Laishom, after quick healing, he moved to Mountain and then to Ruins. He secured both by 1 level, both to level 1.
Last attack was to Forest to Level 2 and to Ocean. Nyrra was there to defend.
6th ROUND. Caravan at Desert.
Nyrra used her Awareness skill by spending 4 XP to got the first turn. She moved to the Desert after securing the Plains from Ocean. Then from Desert, she secured both Desert and Forest.
Manticore showed up and attacked Nyrra. She was injured and got SHIELD OF AUGHMOORE artifact. The attack continued at Mountains to level 2 and Ruins, also to level 2.
Two attacks at the north with Ruins to Level 3 and Plains to level 1. Laishom was next. Nyrra moved back to the Ocean while escorting the Caravan. The elf commander secured the Ruins by 2 level before moving back to the Forest, waiting for Minotaur.
Another attack to Forest to level 2 and to Ocean, completely injured Nyrra. Then All defenders got their turn again. Nyrra moved back to the Capital City to heal and escort the Caravan. I guess I forgot to spend the rest of Action points.
Two attacks at the south. Desert went up to level 1 and Forest to Level 3. All Defenders got to move again. Nyrra was healed and moved back to the Ocean and from there secured the Desert. Laishom stayed in the Forest and secured it by 1 Level.
Desert and Mountain got attacked again with Desert to level 1 and Mountain to Level 2. Last one was Minotaur. Laishom defended the region and got STAFF OF CONTROL artifact.
7th ROUND. The Epic Foe.
Finally, the epic foe appeared and it was AUTOMATON, in the Ruins. All Defenders got their first turn. Laishom gained XP while using the Staff of Control to move the Automaton to Desert. Nyrra then moved to the Desert and then attacked the Automaton twice.
Desert and Mountain got attacked again with the former to level 2 and the latter to level 3. Automaton got to activate the Self-Repair.
Then the 2 regions at the north got attacked. Plains went up to level 1 while Ruins at level 2. The attack continued at Forest to Level 1 and to Ocean. So the threat of Capital City went up along with the Automaton.
Nyrra’s turn again and she dealt 4 damage to the Automaton. Forest and Desert got attacked again. Nyrra took the damage so the Automaton didn’t self-repair. Forest went up to level 2.
Minotaur showed up again with Laishom defended the forest. He got ZODIAC CLOAK. After that, it was Laishom’s turn. Nyrra took the chance to inflict one more damage to Automaton before Laishom moved the Epic Foe to the Forest. Then Laishom dealt 4 damage to Automaton. 1 health left.
Unfortunately, the next attack destroyed the Mountain. The threat to Capital City went up and Automaton got SELF REPAIR. Manticore showed up in the Desert and Nyrra defended the region. She got GLAIVE OF RETURN.
All Defenders got to move again. Laishom took this chance to finish the Epic Foe by dealing 3 damage. The Epic Foe was defeated.
Playing time was about 37 minutes.
Learn more about the game from Tiny Epic Defenders Review.
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Sylvion
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Assemble the Sylvan to defend the Dream Forest from the Fire Elemental Lord in Sylvion.
Another play with the drafting variant. I didn’t keep track on what I got but I remember getting 2 Extraordinary Feat cards which were basically instant win conditions, The Stag and the Fish. Realizing that I didn’t draft enough cards to even make that happen, I ignored them right away. I remember getting 3 Owl cards, probably 2 traitors, a dove, maybe 2 squirrels and elephants, a whale, 2 stags, 2 hedgehogs and a fish.
Starting hand of 8 cards were Hedgehog, Owl, Traitor, Dove, Squirrel, Fountain 2 and Tree 1.
1st ROUND. 2 Desiccation, Blaze and Simoon.
So, I had to discard 2 cards randomly and lucky for me they removed the traitor and the Fountain. Blaze and Simoon did nothing since there was no Elemental yet.
Got 2 Fountain 4 and Whale as reinforcement. I think I discarded the Tree to pay for the Fish so the Fish got me 3 water. 1 Water was for Squirrel and another for Dove combo. After checking what were the next 2 cards from each deck, I decided to remove Elemental 3, Acid Lake, Desiccation and Blaze.
The next cards were Simoon, Tornado, Geyser and Simoon. So I still had 1 Water and I wanted to play a Fountain for the Tornado. Discarded a Whale and Hedgehog to cover the missing 2 water for Fountain 4. Placed it in row 2 column 1.
2nd ROUND. Simoon, Tornado, Geyser, Simoon.
The 2 Simoon did nothing since no Elemental yet. Tornado returned the Fountain to my hand and the Geyser occupied the leftmost space of row 3.
Then I got a Fountain 4 again, Fish and Elephant. Discarded the Elephant to play Owl and got 3 cards, Stag, Whale and Dove. Then spent the Dove for Fish and the 3 water was to play Fountain 4 at row 1 column 2. Not exactly know why I had to play it there.
3rd ROUND. Elemental 1, Blaze, Elemental 2 plus Ravage, Demobilization.
The Blaze upgraded those 2 elementals. Demobilization removed one of my Fish from the discard. Got 2 Tree 3 plus Traitor as reinforcement.
I played the Whale to move the Elemental 2 from row 1 to row 3. Then I activated the Geyser to hit those 2 Elementals. Since the one on the back had Ravage, only the pawn was removed.
Discarded Stag and the 2 Tree to play Fountain 4 in row 3 column 1.
4th ROUND. Acid Lake, Stone Rain, Elemental 3, Desiccation.
I think the desiccation removed either nothing or the Traitor. Acid Lake occupied the top left corner. Got 1st hit to the Forest by the Stone Rain and the 2 Elemental 3 moved forward.
I got Fountain 1, Elephant and Hedgehog as reinforcement. Decided not to do anything.
5th ROUND. Elemental 3, Elemental 1, Stone Rain and Elemental 0 plus Ravage.
The Hedgehog cancelled the Stone Rain. All of the elemental just moved 1 space but apparently I forgot to move those in 3rd row from previous round.
Got Tree 3, Fountain 3 and Stag as reinforcement. Discarded the Tree to play Elephant to get rid of that Ravage. Then I played the Fountain 1 for free in front of the Elemental 0.
6th ROUND. Elemental 3, Desiccation, Geyser, Elemental 2.
The Desiccation removed my Stag. Geyser mistakenly occupied row 3 column 2 and immediately got destroyed by the elemental right next to it. Had I played correctly, this could have occupied on the rightmost and for future use. All Elementals then moved 1 space.
Elemental 0 destroyed my Fountain 0 along with it and I got Tree 4. As reinforcement, got a Stag and 2 Owls.
Definitely discarding the tree to play Owl. I knew I got 2 Elephants and Squirrel at least. Maybe I also discarded the Stag to play the other Owl. One of the 3 cards from that was probably a Fish. Not sure about the other 2 but definitely discarding one of them to play the Fish. Then the 3 Water was to play 2 Elephants and Squirrels.
The 2 elephants removed Elemental from row 2 and 4 while Squirrel made sure that the 2 Simoon came out first with Geyser and Elemental with Ravage.
I think I run out of cards from the deck so Demobilization happened and I lost my Whale.
7th ROUND. Simoon, Geyser, Elemental 1 plus Ravage, Simoon.
The Geyser occupied leftmost space of row 2. 2 Simoon cards actually pushed 4 Elemental to be destroyed by Fountain 4. While the last Elemental with Ravage in row 3 stopped right in front of the Fountain 4.
With Fountain 3 in hand, I got Squirrel, Hedgehog and Fountain 4 as reinforcement. Decided not to do anything.
8th ROUND. Elemental 1, 2 Elemental 0, Demobilization.
The hedgehog cancelled the last one while the rest just moved 1 space forward. Unfortunately the one with Ravage destroyed the Fountain while the Elemental almost hit the forest.
Got extra traitor from the destroyed Fountain plus Fish, Fountain 1 and Fountain 2 from Reinforcement.
I think I discarded Fountain 2 to pay for Fish and the 3 Water was to play Fountain 4 in row 3, column 2. Then I discarded Fountain 3 to play Squirrel again. Played the Fountain 1 for free in row 2 column 3.
9th ROUND. Elemental 2, Tornado, Elemental 2, Simoon.
The Tornado returned the Fountain 1 to my hand but I think I ended up destroying it and got a Tree instead. Simoon actually pushed 2 Elemental to be destroyed by Fountains. 3 Elemental left and there was one hit the Forest in row 3.
Got Dove, Traitor and Hedgehog. Discarded the tree to play dove and removed Acid Lake, Elemental 0, Stone Rain and another Elemental 0. No card left in hand.
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10th ROUND. Elemental 0, Demobilization, Elemental 3 plus, Desiccation.
Cancelled the Demobilization so Desiccation removed nothing with empty hand. The rest of elemental just moved 1 space. 2 Elementals were destroyed by fountain 4 so 2 left.
Got Whale, Stag and Tree 3. Played the Stag to revive the Forest. Played the whale to move the Elemental with Ravage to row 2 so it could be destroyed by Geyser.
11th ROUND. 2 Blaze, Elemental 2, Elemental 3.
Those 2 Blaze upgraded the Elemental to level 4. Now there was one in each row and row 2 got one plus a Ravage. The elementals then moved forward 1 space.
I got another Tree 3, Elephants and Stag. Discarded one of the Tree to play Elephant and destroyed the Elemental 4 in row 1. Activated the Geyser in row 2 to remove the Ravage. 3 Elemental 4 left.
12th ROUND. Elemental 0, Stone Rain, Geyser, Elemental 3.
Geyser occupied leftmost of row 3. Stone Rain gave first hit to Forest. 3 plus 2 new Elemental moved forwards. Got another Tree 3, Owl and Fountain 1.
Discarded the tree to play Owl and got Fountain 1, Squirrel and Stag. The other tree was discarded to play Squirrel. Played the 2 Fountain 1 for free, one in row 1 and one in row 3 just to be destroyed and got me cards.
13th ROUND. 3 Demobilization, Elemental 3.
So, I had to discard randomly 3 cards. Lost 1 Owl, Tree 4, and Fountain 2. Two Fountains were destroyed and got me a Hedgehog plus Fountain 4. 4 Elemental left.
Got Fountain 3, Hedgehog and Dove as reinforcement. I only discarded the Stag to play Dove which removed Simoon, Blaze, Tornado and Simoon again from each deck.
14th ROUND. Acid lake, Elemental 2, 2 Blaze.
Cancelled both Blaze with hedgehog. Maybe one could have been better to cancel the Acid Lake. Regardless, the lake occupied 3rd space of row 1. 5 Elemental left and one of them hit the forest 2nd time.
Got another Stag, Whale and Tree 3. Activated the Geyser from row 3 to destroy Elemental 4 in row 4. Stag revived 2 Tree from the Forest. Whale moved the only Elemental from row 2 to row 3, rightmost. Discarded the other Stag, tree and Fountain 3 to play Fountain 4 in row 4, ready to destroy those 2 elementals.
15th ROUND. Elemental 1, Demobilization, Elemental 0, Desiccation.
No cards in hand so that last one was useless. Demobilization forced me to lose one of my Hedgehog. One Elemental was destroyed and there were 4 Elemental left, nothing in row 2.
Got Elephant, Tree 3 and Owl. Discarded the tree to play Owl. Got Tree 3 again, Owl and Fish. Discarded the tree again to play Owl and got me Fountain 3, Elephant and Squirrel.
I actually didn’t do anything further.
16th ROUND. Elemental 1, Elemental 2, Demobilization, Elemental 3.
Lost Tree 3 from that Demobilization. 3 Elemental were destroyed but there were 4 left, one in each row.
Got Owl and Elephant and run out of cards from the deck. Lost another Stag. Next round was last one from Ravage deck.
Discarded the Squirrel to play Fish and the Water to play Fountain 3 in row 2. Last water was to play Elephant to destroy Elemental from row 1.
17th ROUND. Tornado, Elemental 0, Elemental 1, Desiccation.
I think I got the Tornado wrong again. Instead of returning the Fountain 4 from row 1 to my hand, I let it got destroyed which got me a Tree 3. Desiccation removed my Elephant. 2 Elemental were destroyed by Fountain and there were 3 left one in each row 2 to 4.
All of them were lower than the Fountain blocking them. No Blaze to upgrade them and no damage to the Forest so I already won at this point.
Playing time was about 64 minutes.
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Tranquility
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Fill the sea with islands so the sailing ship can still visit them but reach their destination in the world of Tranquility.
This was 2 solo sessions, first time playing with the Sea Monster expansion included in the base game. Last time I tried the Jagged Rocks module and decided not to play with that along with this.
I’m still not sure about the rules, specifically about the extra difficulty. The rule shows either 2! or 3! for this module. If I understand correctly, you have to remove either 6 or 8 cards randomly to play so you cannot be sure which cards are not included in the game.
The expansion module itself will add between 3 to 5 Sea Monster cards to the deck and they will eventually get into your hand. You cannot win unless you get rid these cards from your hand. However, you cannot just discard them to pay for placing a card. The only way to get rid of them is to play the card to existing card in the grid which will destroy that card in the grid along.
This may create issue or potential since now you may have empty spot to fill depending on when you actually get the Sea Monster card and when you play them. If it is early in the game, maybe destroying any card will not be much of a problem. It gets tricky the longer it gets.
Combined with the extra difficulty to remove some cards as part of the setup, it can be challenging. I tried removing 6 and I finished the game exactly after the deck run out of cards.
I think the trick for this module is to continue playing the next number. Destroying the card after the last number you have played to make a room where you know you can refill that spot. Let’s say you have 1, 2, 3 and then 6 in the grid. Assuming you have a 4 or a 5, you can choose to destroy the 6 to make room for the 4 or the 3 for the 5.
As mentioned above, the sooner you can see this chance and have both the Sea Monster and the next card to continue the number, you can get easier game. Not sure how hard it would be if you get all Sea Monster cards in your hand. You have to be very careful with the card you choose to destroy.
Anyway, here is how my session went.
Started with 21, 26, 69 and 74. Played the 66 first at the top left corner. Got first Finish Card as replacement. Then I played the 26 in row 2 from the bottom, right most. Got 42 after that. Played that 42 in 3rd row from the top, 2nd space from the left. Got a 10. Played that 10 in bottom row, 3rd from the left. Got 12 as replacement. 21 was next right above the 10. Got 2nd Finish Card.
Played 74 at top row, 3rd from the right. Got 56 as replacement. Played that right away in 2nd row, 3rd from the left. 51 was the replacement. Played that 51 in 3rd row, rightmost, nothing adjacent still. Got 63 as the 5th card. Played that 63 in row 2, 2nd from the right, nothing adjacent still. Got 53 as replacement. Played the 12 in bottom row, exactly 2 spaces away from the 10, nothing adjacent. It was 2nd from the right. Got 3rd Finish Card after that.
Played 53 in row 2 leftmost, adjacent to 51 so I had to discard 2 cards. Discarding the 2 Finish cards and got a START card.
So, I had to play that. Drew 8 cards and discarding 18, 32, 49, 58, 59, 68, 69, 71, keeping a Finish Card, 54, 67 and 79. Fifth card was 1st Sea Monster card.
Played that 79 at the top right corner. Got 19 as replacement. Played the 73 in top row, right before 74 so I had to discard a card and the Finish card was for it. Got 2 cards, a 4 and 46. Played the 4 at bottom left corner. Got 70 as the 5th which was not possible to play. Played the 67 after 66 at top row, discarding the 70. Got a 3 and 78 and the 3 was useless. Played the 78 right before 79 discarding that 3. Got 47 and 16.
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Played 46 in row 3, 3rd from the right, nothing was adjacent to it. Got 38 from the deck. Played that 38 in 3rd row from the bottom, 2nd from the right, only card in that row. Got 52. Played the 54 between 53 and 56, discarding the 16. Got 19 and 64. The 19 was next in 2nd row from the bottom leftmost, nothing adjacent. I think I got 24.
First time playing the Sea Monster card to destroy 53 so I could play the 52 right after 51. Got 48 after that.
Then I played 47 between 46 and 51, discarding the 48. Got a 62 and Finish Card. Was it the 4th? 52 was next between 51 and 54, discarding the 62. Got 8 and 44. Next was 64 after 63 before 66, discarding the 44. Got 13 and 28. Played the 13 between 12 and 19, discarding the 24. Got 11 and 76.
So, I played the 11 between 11 and 12, discarding the 76. Got Finish card again and 34. Played the 28 before 29, discarding one Finish Card. Got 15 and 65. Played the 8 between 4 and 10, discarding the 2 cards I just got. Got 61, 57, 14. Played that 57 between 56 and 63, discarding 61. Got 41 and 40. Played the 41 before 42, discarding the 14. Got 75 and 45.
45 was next before 46, discarding the 75. Got 1 an 80. Played 40 after that between 38 and 41, discarding the 1. Got 43 and 55.
Not playing but discarding those 2 to get a 5 and 77. Both were also useless so discarded them both and got 36 and 72.
I had to play the 36 before 38, discarding 72 and 80. A lot of wasted cards. Got 33, 60 and 2nd Sea Monster card. Played the 34 before 36 and discarded 33 and 60. Got 22, 23 and 30. 22 was next after 21, discarding 30. Got 17 and 20. Played the 20 before 21 discarding 17. Got the last Sea Monster and 27. 23 was next after 22, discarding the 27. Got a 7 and a 31.
Destroyed the 4 at the bottom left with 2nd Sea Monster. Got a 50. Played the 7 before 8 at bottom left corner, discarding the 31. Got 35.
Next to destroy was 34. Then I played 35 before 36, discarding the 50. That was the last spot and I placed the FINISH CARD.
Playing time was about 29 minutes per session.
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Burgle Bros.
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Assemble your heist crews to distract the building’s guards while you find and open the safe in Burgle Bros. game.
This was another solo play with the Office Job again so only 2 floors. The crews this time were the Hacker and the Juicer, not using the advanced variant. For the Hacker, you don’t trigger alarm from Fingerprint, Laser and Motion tiles. While the Juicer gets a free action of creating an alarm in adjacent tiles but not through walls.
I think I got something wrong related to Tiara. Somehow I moved from 1st floor from a room adjacent to patrol and then moved up to another room adjacent to patrol again. Maybe I should have lost the game at some point. Technically, I should have lost the game with Juicer losing all Stealth tokens but there was a way of using the unused tool to make it work, luckily.
Here is how it went.
The Hacker’s 1st turn.
Patrol on 1st floor started in A3 and their first destination was C2. I chose the D2 as the starting point and it was a WALKWAY. With 4 actions, the Hacker moved down once, entering a FOYER at D3 then moved to the left into another WALKWAY C3. After that, their 3rd one was going down entering a Thermo but the Hacker didn’t trigger the alarm. Last action was to peek to the right or D4 and surprised! It was the SAFE.
Patrol had a speed of 2, moving from A3 to B3 and then to B2.
The Juicer’s 1st turn.
4 actions for her were just to move to the SAFE. Patrol reached the destination C2 with 1 and their next one was C4 so they moved down one.
2nd turn for Hacker.
From C4, Hacker moved to the B4, entering Computer room to hack Fingerprint. He continued to A4 which was Laser room. His ability cancelled the alarm. That was 2 and the 3rd was to move up to A3 and he got to another Computer room to hack Motion sensor. Last action for him was to peek the A2 and it was Camera room.
Patrol moved down 1 space, reaching the destination and their next one was B2 so they moved back up 1 space.
2nd turn for Juicer.
While in the safe, she just spent 4 actions to add 4 dice. So far, the number required were just 1 and 4. One room left needed to be explored to find out the last number.
Patrol reached B2 from C3 exactly 2 spaces. Next one was C1.
3rd turn for Hacker.
Hacker moved up to Camera room at A2 and continued to A1 which happened to be LABORATORY. He got SMOKE BOMB tool. Then 2 last actions were to move back to the intersection A3.
Patrol reached the destination C1 from B2, exactly 2 spaces. Their next one was A4. There were 2 paths both had the same length of 5 spaces so the patrol had to take the column C path.
3rd turn for the Juicer.
She stayed in the Safe room, 4 actions to add 2 dice again while waiting for the Hacker to explore that one room D1.
Patrol from C1 moved down to C3, going to A4.
4th turn for Hacker.
Hacker from A3 Computer room moved to the right. It was a DEADBOLT so he had to spend 3 actions just to enter. Then going up for the last and B2 room was KEYPAD. Lucky guess got him to enter on first try.
Patrol still had not reached the destination A4 from C3 yet, stopped at B4.
4th turn for Juicer.
She tried to open the safe even before knowing the last number. After two rolls, she got both 1 and 4 that were required. Since she only took 2 actions so there was an Event: “WHERE IS HE?”
The Patrol jumped right to their destination, which was A4, exactly the next room from where he was. Their next destination was D3, shorter from the Row 4 again so they moved 2 spaces back to C4, the intersection.
5th turn for HACKER.
From B2, Hacker first took a peek at B1 and it was a CAMERA room. Then he moved to C2, entering SERVICE DUCT. 3rd action was to move to C1 and it was the Stair to 2nd floor. Last one was to peek at the last room and D1 was MOTION SENSOR. The number for the safe was a 3.
Patrol moved 2 spaces, from C4 to D3, reaching their destination. Their next one was B3 from top route.
6th turn for Juicer.
Just one last attempt and she cracked the safe. She got DONUT tool and TIARA as the Loot. Unfortunately, wearing this loot while moving and the Patrol might catch her from adjacent room. The Guard was in the next room so Juicer couldn’t do anything else and triggered and event: SHOPLIFTING. Alarm was triggered in Laboratory at A1, changing the destination of Patrol and increased their speed to 4, even though not changing the route.
Patrol moved from D3, to C3, then C2, B2 and B3 trying to disable alarm at A1.
7th turn for Hacker.
Hacker at C1 1st floor tried to move to 2nd floor and apparently it was another Keypad. He got in after 2nd attempt. 2nd Floor patrol started at A4 and their next target was B1. Hacker spent their last action at C1 taking a peek at B1 and D1, a Secret Door and a Deadbolt in that order.
From A4, patrol moved 3 spaces to B4, B3 and B2.
7th turn for Juicer.
From D4 1st floor, Juicer moved 4 spaces, to C4, C3, C2 and got to C1, the Stair.
Patrol was at A4 still trying to disable alarm in A1. They got it with 3 spaces and their next one was B4, going back to their previous route.
8th turn for Hacker.
On 2nd floor, Hacker from C1 moved down 1 to C2, LAVATORY. Continued to moving down 1 space to C3 and he got into Laser Room. He moved to D3 and got into Fingerprint sensor. No alarm was triggered since that was his ability and his last action was to peek at D2 which happened to be the Stair to the roof.
Patrol was at B2, reached B1 by 1 space. Their next one was back to B2 and after that C3. From either up or down route the distance was the same so he stopped at C1.
8th turn for Juicer.
Juicer was at 1st floor stair at C1. She had to wait before going up since the guard was also in that same position above. So, She decided to move down to C3 first, create an alarm at D3 before moving back to C1.
Patrol on 1st floor from A2 moved 4 spaces, to A3, B3 to B2 and stopped at C2.
9th turn for Hacker.
Hacker was on 2nd floor, D3. He moved back to C3 and continued to C4, a Motion Sensor. 3rd action was to peek at D4 and it was Thermo sensor. Last action was to move to B4 and got him to Camera room. Luckily, no Patrol was in either room.
Patrol from C1 moved to C3, the destination. Their next one was C2 so they moved back and after that was C4.
9th turn for Juicer.
Juicer went up to 2nd floor at C1. While wearing that Tiara, the Patrol on 2nd floor noticed so she lost one. Before making a move, Juicer set an alarm at D1. She continued by moving to B1 and from there, took a peek at B2 which was the other Service Duct. Her last move was to A1, another Secret Door.
At this point, Juicer has lost 2 of her Stealth tokens.
Patrol from C2, moved 2 spaced to D1 to disable the alarm. Their next one was B4, where Hacker was and had 2 movements left so they got back to C2.
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10th turn for Hacker.
Hacker was at B4, 2nd floor. He first moved to A4 which was a FOYER and took a peek at A3 and it was Laser Computer room. Then he went back 2 spaces to B3, a Fingerprint sensor.
Patrol reached the destination, B4. C1 was their next destination.
10th turn for Juicer.
One unrevealed room left was A2 and it was supposed to be the Safe. Juicer was at A1 and moved 2 spaces to C1. She set an alarm at C2 so the Patrol had to take Column C route. Juicer then went to hide in B2.
Patrol reached the C2 Lavatory with alarm with 3 spaces. Their next one was D1 so they moved 1 more to C1.
11th turn for Hacker.
Hacker from B3 moved 4 spaces to A2, exactly 4 spaces and found the Safe room.
Patrol reached D1 for the alarm with 1 space. They still had 3 movements and their next one was A1. So, they reached the A1 with the leftover movements and C3 was the next.
11th turn for Juicer.
Juicer was at B2. Here is where I got it wrong again as part of the error with Tiara.
She moved to B1 so she was caught by Patrol at A1 wearing that Tiara. From there, she set an alarm at B2 before moving again to C1 and stopped at Lavatory C2. At this point, she should have lost all of the Stealth token.
The only way this could go on was for Hacker to play the Smoke Bomb at B1 before going to A2 adding 3 stealth tokens there. With that, 2 were taken and one left there while Juicer still had 1 token left.
Apparently Juicer was actually at B1 before and only did 2 actions this time, triggering an event: DEAD DROP. Juicer gave the Tiara and the Donut tool to Hacker.
Patrol from A1 moved 2 spaces to B2, disabling the alarm. Their next one was A4 so with 2 more movements they got to B4.
12th turn for Hacker.
Hacker was just preparing to open the safe by adding 2 dice. To open the safe, he only needed 2 numbers actually, 2 and 5.
Patrol reached A4 from B3 with 2 movements. Their next one was B1 so moved back 2 spaces and got them to B3.
12th turn for Juicer.
Juicer was at C2, Lavatory and decided to just stayed in first floor. Before that, she moved to C3, triggering the Laser room and moved back to C2 and then C1. Her last one was to move down to C1 1st floor.
Patrol on 1st floor was still at C2 trying to disable alarm at D3. So they moved 2 spaces. They moved 2 spaces again to C4 to the destination.
13th turn for Hacker.
Hacker just added 2 more dice to open 2nd Safe.
Patrol moved 2 spaces from B3 to the next destination, B1. After that, they went and reached C2. Next one was A1.
13th turn for Juicer.
From C1 first floor, the Stair, Juicer moved down 2 spaces to C3 and set an alarm to D3. She then moved back to C2 and then B2.
Patrol from C4 disabled the alarm at D3. Not sure which target was next but the Patrol stopped again at C4.
14th turn for Hacker.
After 3 attempts, Hacker opened the safe and got CHIHUAHUA as the loot. I think I forgot to gave him another tool.
Patrol moved from C2, to A1, 3 spaces, then to B1. Next stop for them was D1.
14th turn for Juicer.
Juicer at B2 1st floor, set an alarm at C2 before moving to a Deadbolt B3 and to Computer room A3.
Patrol moved from C4 to C2, disabling the alarm. Moved 3 spaces back to D4. Their next stop was D3.
15th turn for Hacker.
Chihuahua with Hacker didn’t make any noise. Unfortunately, Hacker was stuck since the Patrol was still nearby and he was wearing Tiara. It triggered and Event: BROWN OUT but no Alarm at all.
Patrol moved from B1 to D1 then went back to B1 trying to reach B2.
15th turn for Juicer.
From Computer room 1st floor A3, she set an alarm at A2 before moving through Deadbolt B3 and stopped at B2.
Patrol moved exactly 5 spaces from D4 to that alarm.
16th turn for Hacker.
Chihuahua with Hacker didn’t make any noise again. Still stuck and he triggered and Event: GO WITH YOUR GUT but every tile was already explored.
Patrol moved 1 space from B1 to B2. Then they stopped at C2.
16th turn for Juicer.
I think Juicer moved from B2 to C2 first. Using that Service duct, she got to 2nd floor which was at B2. From there, she set an alarm at B3. The Patrol at C2 had to take the down route for the same distance. Juicer stopped at B1.
Patrol on 2nd floor got to that alarm, 4 spaces. Next stop for them was B4 so they moved down back there with B2 next.
17th turn for Hacker.
From the safe room A2, he got to Lavatory C2. Chihuahua didn’t make any noise. Hacker also used the Donut tool from first safe to prevent movement of Patrol after him.
Patrol was still at B4 eating donut instead of going to B2.
17th turn for Juicer.
Juicer from B1 moved to A1 to set alarm at A2. Then she moved back to C1.
Patrol got to A2 from B4 with 5 movements and back 1 space going to C2.
18th turn for Hacker.
Chihuahua with Hacker finally made a noise at C2. Before going to the roof, he moved back to C1 where Juicer was and used MAKE UP KIT tool he got from 2nd safe to give 1 more Stealth for Juicer. He then continued to D3.
Patrol went from A1 to C2, 3 spaces. Then their next one was C4, 2 spaces. They went back to C3 trying to reach C1. They almost caught Juicer.
18th turn for Juicer.
Juicer from C1 moved and stayed at C2, Lavatory since the path to the roof was blocked by the Patrol. Triggered an event: GYMNASTIC but it was useless.
Patrol got to C1 from C3, 3 spaces, then to D1, 1 space and 2 more spaces to B1 trying to reach A1.
19th turn for Hacker.
No noise from Chihuahua and he just needed 1 space to get to the stair to the top.
19th turn for Juicer.
From Lavatory C2, she went to the stair D2 through alarm C3 and D3. Both managed to escape with the 2 loots, Tiara and Chihuahua.
Playing time was about 65 minutes.
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Goblins vs Zombies
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Defend your Goblin village from the invading Zombies in Goblins vs Zombies.
More solo plays and another attempt to beat the 2nd Boss mode, the PALADIN ZOMBIE. I actually got 3 sessions and lost on first two. In the first one, I didn’t even get a chance to attack the Boss at all. Then in the 2nd play, I managed to deal like 3 damage out of 9.
So, after that, I decided to tamper the randomness a bit, both to the Goblin deck and Zombie deck for the 3rd play. If I didn’t like what I drew, then I drew again. Yeah, it’s cheating and here is how it went.
1st ROUND.
I got SHAMAN, TRAP, ASSASSIN, SHIELD as my 4 starting cards. Kept the Shaman and played the rest as FLAG BEARER.
Zombie arrived and the first one was PIRATE ZOMBIE. I was supposed to get Backup for them but they had no card in discard pile yet.
So, I got 1 plus 3 cards, PEPPER, POTAPULT, ICESHOT and ASSASSIN.
2nd ROUND.
Removed one of the Flag and played Iceshot. I had to discard 3 so the 2 Black Goblins and Potapult to pay. Then that Iceshot dealt 1 damage to Pirate Zombie.
The Pirate moved 1 space closer and a new one came, WARLOCK ZOMBIE.
I still had the Pepper plus 3 new cards, FIRECRACKER, SLINGSHOT and SHAMAN.
3rd ROUND.
Didn’t change anything, still Iceshot and 2 Flags. The iceshot hit 2nd damage and defeated the Pirate Zombie. The Warlock then got Backup 1 and moved closer. A new one came and it was FIGHTER ZOMBIE.
Got 3 new cards: ICETHROWER, ICESHOT, SHOT IDOL.
4th ROUND.
Discarded one of 2 Flag and the Iceshot to play the Idol. Iceshot started dealing 2 damage and beat the Warlock. Fighter and Basic Zombies came closer and the new one was KNIGHT ZOMBIE.
Got 2 new cards to my existing 5, PEPPER and SHIELD.
5th ROUND.
I let go my last Flag. Discarded one Pepper and the Icethrower to play Shaman. Then spent the other Pepper to activate the Shaman to flip both Fighter and Knight Zombie into basic one. Then the Iceshot and Idol killed one of those 3 basic Zombies.
There were 2 left, one in front of the village and one in 2nd space. Next zombie was BARBARIAN ZOMBIE.
Only got 1 new card and it was TWIN SHOT.
6th ROUND.
Discarded the Twin Shot and the Firecracker to play a Slingshot. Then the two goblins killed one zombie each leaving just Barbarian left. After that one moved forward, a new one came and it was WARLOCK.
I only had Shield and 1 new card, BIG SHOT.
7th ROUND.
I didn’t change anything, still with Ice Shot, Sling Shot and the Idol guarding the village. Both shots killed BARBARIAN. Warlock moved forward and got a Backup. The next zombie was MONK ZOMBIE.
Still just 1 new card to the 2 in hand and it was PEPPER.
8th ROUND.
Still not changing anything. Both shots dealt 2 damage each, killing both Warlock and the Monk with one Basic Zombie left. After that one moved forward, another BARBARIAN showed up.
Got Ice Shot as my 4th.
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9th ROUND.
Still the same 3 Goblins guarding the village. Killed the Basic Zombie and dealt 2 damage to the Barbarian. Barbarian got closer and it was time for the BOSS, the PALADIN ZOMBIE. I had 9 turns left.
Got 2nd pepper in hand as my 5th card.
10th ROUND.
I wanted to play the Big Shot but I didn’t have enough card to discard. So, I kept the same 3 to guard. Killed the Barbarian and dealt 2 damage out of 9 to Paladin. Paladin was just counting down and I got 8 turns left. The new zombie was JESTER ZOMBIE.
Not sure which card I got this time.
11th ROUND.
I let go the Slingshot and played the Big Shot, discarding the rest of the cards in hand. The Iceshot dealt 2 damage to Jester and the Jester just run away. Maybe I got it wrong this time and the Jester just stayed here but I let it go as if it moved to another field. Or I could have let the Bigshot killed it while Iceshot dealt 2 damage to the Paladin, 5 hits left and I got 7 turns.
Another PIRATE ZOMBIE showed up with a Backup of 1 Basic Zombie. The new card and only for me was SLINGSHOT.
12th ROUND.
Nothing to change. Iceshot killed the Pirate while Bigshot dealt 3 damage to Paladin. 2 hits left and I got 6 turns. The Basic zombie moved 1 space closer. Knight Zombie showed up again.
I got Rockthrower as 2nd card in hand.
13th ROUND.
Changed nothing. Iceshot killed the Basic Zombie and Big Shot had a chance to take down the Paladin.
During the actual play, I think I messed up. Instead I decided to let Big shot killed the basic just so the Ice shot could slow down the Knight. This time GLADIATOR showed up. Even then, maybe one of Goblin did another damage to Paladin.
Got a Slinger as 3rd card.
I had no choice but Big Shot and Ice Shot had to deal with the Knight which was closer. 7 damage and it was still standing. The Gladiator got right in the same space. WRESTLER ZOMBIE came.
I replaced the Idol with Rockthrower, discarding 2 black goblins. Big Shot finished the Knight and Iceshot slowed down the Gladiator with 1 damage. Rockthrower then dealt 1 damage to Paladin.
This means the Gladiator had to kill one of Goblin. Probably the Ice Shot. Wrestler got right in front of the village and whatever new zombie came.
If I played it right then Big Shot only dealt damage to Gladiator and Rockthrower hit the Paladin 1 damage again, 1 left. The Gladiator killed one Goblin and the Wrestler self destructed and killed the rest.
I had another Rockthrower that I could play and deal the last damage to that Paladin in the next turn.
So, I won this session but a lot of cheating and possibly some errors. Still had not used the Dragon Guardian though.
Playing time was about 15 minutes per session.
Learn more about the game from Goblins vs Zombies Review.
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Siege of Valeria
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Defeat all Siege Engines before they take down Valeria’s Southern Border in Siege of Valeria.
In the last session or maybe two, I went back to just playing the base game of Siege of Valeria. This time I got back again with the expansion using almost all modules but not as campaign. So, with the Boss, Commander, Elite troops, Duke and I added the Bonus card as if I won the last session of the same campaign.
Honestly, I kind of regret going back to that expansion. I am convinced that without removing siege engines during the setup, playing the full game is close to impossible to win completely. Meaning beating both the Boss and all engines.
While I managed to beat the boss but there were still 3 Siege Engines left. From my session I managed to beat 10 siege engines and the other 3 had not come out yet and it was already challenging. I think I got 3 cards left at the end of the game.
To be fair, I think another reason that made this specific session more challenging is the Commander. The Resurrectionist keeps adding troop cards back from discard pile. That means, over 7 rounds, I had 7 more troops to beat.
So, if I want to keep playing with these modules from the base game, either I don’t use everything or I need some house rule. 10 Engines might be to go. I mean the Boss itself has to be attacked like twice and the boss might enhance some troops, making them harder to beat as well.
Also, the Duke was useless and I somehow got a chance to use that one time bonus card and it helped. But then again, I chose that card, not randomly drew it.
In this one, I used 2 of the Elite Troops I defeated. One was very useful to use any power of the troops in battlefield while the other was just removing impact tokens. I cannot even imagine playing with penalty cards. Like is the game not punishing enough?
Anyway here is how the session went.
1st ROUND.
Deserter happened so I lost my one red die. Luckily no siege engine was in range. Started with Archer and Red Witch to get extra dice right away plus SISTER MYSTIQUE.
I killed the Archer from Vanguard 1, Troll Brute from Vanguard 2, Gargan Priest at Vanguard 3 and Lycan Mage at 4th. Also took down another Red Witch from 2nd row, 2nd column.
So, the rightmost turret got first hit.
2nd ROUND.
Trebuchet engine hit turret 3 while Gargan’s eye removed 1 red and 1 blue die. The Event, DANGEROUS VISIONS was just to rearrange the next 6 troop cards.
I killed The Archer from Vanguard 3 with 1 die. Played the Red Witch and that Archer to get back 1 die of each color plus Sir Heller.
The Guard killed Goblin Warrior from Vanguard 4. Beat the Gnoll from Vanguard 1 with 1 die along with the Dragonkin at Vanguard 5 using 2 reds. So all vanguards were wiped out. From the 2nd row, I took down the Efreet from 3rd column and the Rune Witch from 5th.
So, no additional damage happened to any Turret.
3rd ROUND.
RISEN FROM THE DEAD. So, along with the Commander, 2 troop cards came back to the battlefield. 3 engines were in range. 2nd Engine forced me to reroll a 5 but I had none. 3rd engine hit the turret 2nd time. The last one was GARGAN’S EYE and I blocked it using the Gargan Priest.
Got 2 low dice from each color and I used the Rune witch to reroll them. 3 engines were in row 2 and 2 in row 3. The Builder fixed the 3rd turret, removing 1 impact token.
Then I started attacking. First, I killed the troll brute, 4th Vanguard. Behind it was the Efreet, adjacent to 3 engines. I beat that Efreet and immediately played the card along with the one already in hand to destroy 2 engines, 4th and 5th one.
Then I doubled a Red 4 using Dragonkin to killed the same kin at Vanguard 2. Immediately played the lycan to also killed the adjacent one the Red Witch to get me another Blue die but for later.
Got 2 red 6 left. One was to kill Gnoll from 3rd Vanguard and the other for defeating Troll brute with the help from Archer Champion.
So, no troops in vanguard row and no additional hit to the turret.
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4th ROUND.
3 engines were in range. One was blocked by Red 2 and Spymaster. 2nd one rerolled my red 5 into a 2. While the 3rd one hit the turret again 2nd time after it was fixed. ACCIDENTS HAPPEN. The event flipped 2 of my champions.
First I attacked the Goblin Archer with Red 6 at Vanguard 4. The 5th Vanguard had Orc Manslayer, an elite troop so I had to beat it with red 1 and Red 4 plus 1 from Goblin Warrior card.
Behind the elite troop was Rune Witch and I took it down with Blue 4 and Red 2. Played that card immediately to reroll some lows and got 3 Red 6, 2 Blue 4.
With 1 Red 6 and double the value with Dragonkin, I destroyed the engine at 3rd Vanguard. Then with Red 6 and Blue 4 destroyed Incendiaries engine at 2nd Vanguard.
Last red 6 was to beat Gnoll at Vanguard 1. I still had Blue 4 and Red 4. Sister Mystique moved the Engine at row 2 1st column to row 1 to make it easier to be destroyed. With those 2 dice and the troll brute changing one of them to a 6 I destroyed that one.
Nothing on vanguard row so no additional damage to any turret.
5th ROUND.
Only 2 engines were in range and both forced me to reroll. The red 5 stayed as a 5 and the Blue 6 became a 3. GARGAN’S BLESSING added 2 Magic token to the closest engine which was the 5th in row 2.
Red 4 and Red 5 beat that Elite Troop, Orc Warband from Vanguard 1. Then Red 5 with Sir Filko beat the Gnoll from 3rd Vanguard. Red 6 and 2 beat the Dragonkin from 4th Vanguard. Then the Blue 3 and Red 3 to beat the Undead Samurai from 5th.
With Red 6, doubled plus Wizard Denthal, I destroyed CATAPULT, 5th engine in row 2. I had Red 1 and Red 4 plus magic token to beat the Goblin Archer behind that engine. Red 6 and Blue 1 plus magic token beat the Dragonkin in 2nd Vanguard.
Nothing in Vanguard row so no extra damage to turret.
6th ROUND.
The Boss, mo’Zorrotu showed up at the top right and the boss enhanced every troop with 2 magic. Only one engine was in range and the reroll changed my blue 5 into a 6. SHORE UP THE WALLS. The Event removed all impact tokens from 1 turret but only 3 turrets had only 1 each. Removed from the 1st turret.
I was not sure actually with the Boss about the extra 2 magic. Maybe I got it wrong but I played as if each troop got 2 tokens. Which then I could use to enhance my other Blue dice to keep going. If that was not the case, then I failed to beat this definitely and the Boss was just too hard.
My focus was to take down the Boss as fast as possible. Or at least removed one of the effects. So, I beat The Efreet first with 2 dice at Vanguard 5. Then the Orc Warrior behind it, also with 2 dice. I kept going in that column and beat Rune Witch also with 2 dice.
I needed more Blue dice. Played the Elite troop card, the Warband to copy the Red Witch to get me another Blue. Then using Undead Samurai, moved that Red Witch from row 2 to row 1. Beat that Red Witch and got me more Blue.
Almost reached that Boss. But before I had to beat the Dragonkin with a Red 6, doubled plus Adept Immogin.
So, I managed to get 2 Blue dice and I still had 2 Reds. I tried to hit the 2nd power first which required Blue 14 and Red 7. I had to double the blue 5 plus Blue 6 and used the two Red 6 for that. This removed extra 2 magic from Red Troops.
Apparently I still had 1 Red 6 to beat Troll Brute in 1st Vanguard with the help from Sister Elina.
3rd Turret got 2nd hit and 4th Turret got 1st. But the power from Orc Manslayer cancelled both.
7th ROUND.
At this point, there were still 4 engines and the Boss in the Battlefield. So, there were still 3 engines left. FRIENDS ARRIVE. Not sure if I actually used this.
First, I took down the Boss which required Blue 7 and Red 6. I got Red 6, turned Blue 2 into 5 with Gnoll and also Blue 3. Those were enough to beat the Boss.
Vanguard 4 had Lycan mage and I beat it with 2 dice plus power from Troll Brute. Immediately played that one to beat the Archer next to it. Also played the Efreet so the engine behind that Lycan was destroyed with just Blue 2.
Got Sir Nathem to bring back 2 Blue dice. Next I aimed for 2nd column. Beat the Efreet at Vanguard with Blue 6 and Red 3. Then behind it was Lycan and I beat it with Blue 5 and Red 4. Immediately played that one along with Efreet. The overkill plus Red 4 killed the Elite, Skeleton Legion from row 2 column 1. While the overkill plus Sir Denthal destroyed the Engine in that column.
Got Lady Ozwin to bring back 2 Red, a 3 and a 5. Using that Red 5 plus Sister Elina, I took down the Archer at 1st Vanguard. The Archer got me a Red 4. Played another Archer and got me Red 3. 5 Red dice left.
I beat the engine from column 1 that required 14 with 2 Reds after changing both to 6 plus the help from Sir Quentin. Red 4 was played to beat the Gargoyle in front of the last engine currently in battlefield.
To destroy that last one required 14 and I got Red 5 and Red 3. Troll Brute changed the 3 into 6 and the Warrior added 1 to Red 5. Then I used the bonus card, VOLUNTEER to get me another Red and it was enough to beat that last engine.
Nothing in Vanguard so no more damage. There were still 3 engines left, if playing with the official setup.
That was the end of the game.
Playing time was about 87 minutes.
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The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game
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Build your estate strategically while keeping up against Aaron, your competitor in The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game.
In this solo play, I tried using actual d6 to replace cards for my actions. Unfortunately, I still had to count 6 cards to keep track that I only use the dice 6 times per round. So, I didn’t really rolling the dice but use the value based on those cards.
Anyway, here is how it went.
1st ROUND.
Aaron got 3 cards, 2 beige and 1 yellow so they got no score yet.
From 1st to 6th depot, a Mine, Cloister, Mine, Building, Knowledge and Pasture, Knowledge.
First 2 rolls were 3 and 6. I used the 3 to take the Mine. Got a 2nd 6. Picked the Knowledge from depot 6. The knowledge required a 6 to install so I played that and got 2 Workers.
Now I got 4 and 4. Spent 1 of 3 workers to change a 4 into a 5. Using this, I took the 2nd Knowledge. Last roll was a 3. Using the 4 I took the Building, a City Hall.
With the 3, I installed the City Hall and the bonus allowed me to install another one from my project, either Mine or Knowledge. I chose the Mine so I got 2 more workers.
That was the end of this round. I had no score as well.
2nd ROUND.
Aaron completed the Beige set and got the first time bonus. They also got 2nd Knowledge, first Castle and first Cloister. The Cloister got me 1 VP while Aaron had 4 VP.
I had 3 Workers, 1 Goods, 1 Animal, 1 Silver. From 1st to 6th depot, the market had Pasture, Castle, 2 Pastures, Building, Cloister, Ship. The only way for me to finish my Knowledge set was using the Cloister.
First 2 rolls were 2 and 3. I took the Castle with the 2 as 2nd project. Got a 3 and a 6. Spent 1 Worker to change the 6 into a 5 to take the Cloister as 3rd project.
Had a 1 and a 3. Used the 1 to install the Castle, first of the set. As bonus action, I decided to take one of the Pastures, from depot 3 with the value of 3.
Got 2 3s now. I used one of them to install the Pasture, first of the set. Both decks had animals that I didn’t have yet and I chose the Chicken, so I got 1 point from the animals.
Last 2 dice was a 3 and a 1. Changed the 1 into a 6 using 1 Worker to install the Cloister as 3rd of the Knowledge so I completed the set first. Got 4 VP from the set plus 1 from color bonus. Got 2 Goods and both decks showed 3/4. I picked the left and the one after that was 1/2 so I took it.
My last die was a 3. I used it to take the other Pasture from the depot 3 as 2nd Project.
That was the end of 2nd round. I had 6 VP plus 1 from the 2 different animals so I didn’t lose yet to Aaron.
3rd ROUND.
Aaron got 1st Pasture, 1st and 2nd Ship and 2 more Cloister. That means they finished the Cloister set and got 6 VP, giving me 2. So they got 11 VP so far.
I got 1 Worker, 1 Silver, 2 Animals, 2 Goods 1/2 and 1 Goods 3/4. From 1st to 6th depot, the market had Pasture, Ship, Building, Pasture, Ship and Knowledge, Castle. So, I could complete the Pasture and it was enough to keep up with Aaron.
First 2 rolls were 2 and 6. Used the 6 to take the Castle as 3rd project. Got 2nd 2 now. I decided to trade the 2 goods 1/2 for 2 Silver and 2 VP. Got another 2 roll.
*I got something wrong here. During the game I used one die to take workers but I already had 1 so I should have only taken 1. Luckily, it could be done differently but with the same result. So, I just continued with the fixed one.
Before that, I traded 3 Silver to get 3 cards, a 5, a 1 and a 4. Used the 4 to install the Pasture. Got a Pig since both deck had the same animal. Now the animal value was 2 VP.
I still had 2 2s. Spent 1 worker to change into a 1 and take 3rd Pasture. Then I got a 6 which I used to take 2 Workers. Last die was a 5 in addition to my 2.
Spent 2 workers to change the 2 into a 4 so I could install the last Pasture. Got 4 points, the 4th Animal, 1st color bonus and 1 Goods bonus, the 5/6 from round bonus.
With the 5, I installed the Castle, 2nd of the set. Used the bonus action to get 2 Workers again.
That was the end of the round. Got 4 VP from 4 different animals, 2 from sold goods, 2 from first color bonus, and 8 from 2 completed sets. So, I got 16 more than Aaron’s score.
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4th ROUND.
Aaron got 4th building, 2nd pasture, 3rd, 4th and 5th Knowledge, 2nd Castle. So, Aaron got 15 VP and I already had more than them.
I still had 2 Workers, 2 goods of 2 types, no silver. From 1st to 6th depot, the market had Pasture, Ship and Pasture, Ship, Knowledge, Ship and Mine. I guess my best option was to complete that Ship set.
First 2 rolls were 3 and 6. Took the first ship using the 3 and got a 2. Used that 2 to take the 2nd ship as 3rd project and I got a 4 and 6.
Used the 4 to install first ship. As bonus, got 2nd of the goods I already had. Had a 2 and a 6. Spent 1 worker to change the 6 into 5 to take the 3rd Ship as 3rd Project. Got a 6 again as the last roll with a 2.
6 was to install the 2nd Ship. Then spent the other worker to change a 2 into a 1 to install the 3rd ship, completing the set. Got 4 VP, 1st color bonus, 3rd goods of 5/6 type and 2nd goods of 3/4 type plus 2 workers back from round bonus.
That was the end of the round. Got 21 VP plus 3 VP (forgot during last round) from cards while Aaron was still 15.
5th ROUND.
From 7 cards, Aaron got 3rd Ship, 5th and 6th Building, 3rd and 4th Pasture, 4th Cloister, 1st Mine. So, they completed 3 sets for 11 plus the bonus for having 7 colors first time and got a 3. Their final score was 29. Got 1 VP for me since they got Cloister, making it 25.
I still had 2 Workers, 0 Silver, 5 Goods of 2 types. From 1st to 6th depot, the market had Castle, Cloister, Pasture, Knowledge and Mine, Pasture, Building.
So, I could finish my Castle and took the first color bonus for 3 VP. Then I had to choose between finishing Mine or Building, both using the Cloister. Total 5 VP from Mine or just 3 from the Building. Somehow I chose the lesser. I also had a chance for 5 more VP by selling goods.
First 2 rolls were a 1 and a 5. Used the 1 to take the Castle as 2nd Project. Installed it using a 5 to complete the set and got the color bonus. For extra action, I chose the Building from depot 6 so I went to the lesser route.
Got 2 5s. Used one of them to sell 3 goods of 5/6 types. Got 3 VP and 3 Silver. At this point, I already had more score. Then I got a 1 with a 5.
Using those 3 Silver I got 3 cards, a 4, a 6 and a 3 that happened to be a Cloister. I took the last one as 3rd project.
Used the 5 to install the building, a Warehouse. This allowed me to sell the last type of goods I had for 2 Silver and 2 VP. Last roll was a 3 with a 1.
Used the 3 to install the Cloister as the last Building. Got 3 VP and a Worker bonus from the round.
I used the last die to trade 3 Workers and 3 Silvers for 2 VP and that was the end of the game.
Got 6 VP from VP cards, 4 from 4 different animals, 4 from first time color bonus, 7 from sold goods, and 17 from 5 completed triplets.
TOTAL SCORE was 38. The Mine I took in the first round didn’t get to be installed at all.
Playing time was about 48 minutes.
Learn more about the game from The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game Review.
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Sky Team
More pictures of this Sky Team game session on TikTok and on Instagram.
Stop talking and start preparing to land the airplane in Sky Team.
In my previous play, I already tried the Heathrow airport, Green variant. This airport introduced the idea of Traffic Die which I thought not really great. However, the designer told me that I got the rule wrong about rolling that die higher than the remaining space to the airport. Instead of ignoring the die, I should have added a plane in the last space.
With that in mind, I revisited the airport. Still playing with the Solo variant where the 2nd player rolls 2 dice at first and add 1 subsequently each turn. With the correct rule, it does give some challenge but a bit annoyingly.
Mostly because the closer you get to the airport, you have to rely on lower value die to remove those planes. At the same time, you also don’t want the speed to be as high, meaning, lower die for the speed. Especially the last round where you want to use 1 or 2. So, if you keep rolling high traffic dice in the last time you have to roll it, you probably need to wait a bit, spend a round not moving just to remove them.
After that session, I played 2nd time using the Yellow variant of the same airport. This introduces one more module, the INTERN. To play this, you need to use an extension board at the bottom. This will give you 6 intern tokens with unique value from 1 to 6 placed randomly in a row.
Both players will have space to place their dice there, one for each. When you place a die, that player gets to take the closest token from their side. Then they can use that number to do the regular game. The challenge is that you cannot change their value using coffee. Since they are randomly placed, sometimes maybe it is closer for Pilot to get certain number than the others.
The INTERN module also adds one winning condition. In order to win, you need to train every Intern.
I just realized again that I missed an important rule. To take the next token, the value of the dice to take cannot be the same as the value of the next token you are about to take. Well, luckily, it doesn’t seem I made a mistake for that rule.
Apparently, I did make a mistake with another rule. Turns out, you cannot use them to make coffee or the CONCENTRATION and I did it for the last token with a value of 3. So, I guess I didn’t actually win and I probably should have read the rules thoroughly everytime I add a new module. Maybe I had a chance to fix the play since I still had one reroll token.
The situation of my 2nd play was that since the airport used Traffic die, the last space of that approach track had a lot of planes like 4. I needed two rounds, including the last one. Even in that last round, the Co-Pilot had to do the job to remove 2, so no extra dice to use the Intern token themselves. This means Pilot has to do it.
The challenge was that, at that point, the Pilot probably needed to start working on the Breaks which required specific value like 2, 4, 6. So, ideally, you want to leave those exact tokens last but since you place them randomly, you probably don’t get that.
Like in my play, the first token for the Pilot was a 6. Trying to keep that 6 means, the Pilot don’t use Intern part until the last Break. At the same time, in that play, first token for Co-Pilot was a 2 and Co-Pilot cannot handle the breaks.
Actually, I just realized that I let Pilot played that first token, the 6 to make Coffee in like first round. So I really failed to win.
Well, I definitely have to try this variant again. But I’m not sure if I like this Intern variant based on that one play. On one hand, it feels like a strategic decision since you know what number and where so you can plan long term. But then with random order, you probably have to play tactically where it is very situational.
If you get bad roll and a better value tokens you can access, then good. But if you already have a good roll, then they become like extra things to do, not necessarily make the game better. In that case, you probably think, you might as well just deal with the interns very early and the rest of the game is just like regular game.
Since you have like 7 rounds and if you use just one of them per round plus 1, you have enough time to deal with them. Again, it feels like extra hurdle. Instead of just making plan with the rolls, now you need to consider whether you can involve using those tokens for the same result.
I also want to comment a bit about this solo variant. From last play, I thought this variant made the game a bit easier. I didn’t feel the need to use the reroll tokens. It seems like playing the harder variant and with modules can give enough challenge. So, I probably stick with this variant for now.
Playing time was about 31 minutes for the last session.
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Puzzle Dungeon
More pictures of this Puzzle Dungeon game session on TikTok and on Instagram.
Crawl through the dungeon, defeat monsters and find your preys before you run out of arsenal in Puzzle Dungeon.
This was a new solo only card game to me at this point. The original Puzzle Dungeon itself was released back in 2019 through crowdfunding campaign. With Brian Garber did everything for this game himself from design, art, development and running his Etsy shop to sell this game.
So, a bit of story about me and this game.
I heard a couple of solo gamers recommending this game a couple of years ago. The designer is also very active on a lot of platforms like here, BGG or Reddit. Unfortunately, a solo game from one man show like this tend to not have a chance for wider distribution from bigger publishers.
I was originally planning to import the game from their Etsy shop but then the designer took down that option. He said there is a big risk of losing the game for shipping internationally. So, I kind of gave up trying to get this one.
About 8 weeks before writing this, when the whole world was focusing on the start of tariff war, I saw an offer from forwarder service. They have been doing shipping from US to my country for years. At the same time, the designer run a promo for this exact game on their Etsy.
The game itself is very portable, just small box, with a deck of 78 cards, at least for the Intro deck, makes it relatively cheap to import. I thought, maybe I should gave this a chance and I finally got it.
The version I bought was the INTRO DECK. From what I understand, the original design has Chibi style with pixelated art while in this one shows regular size characters. I can only speak about this intro edition not the original.
So, what kind of game Puzzle Dungeon is?
Well, it’s a dungeon crawler game. You will start with one Hero, crawling in a dungeon filled with the same 20 Monsters. The Monsters will be laid out in 4 columns with 5 Monsters each. You have to deal with the front monster first before going to the one in the back of each column.
Your chosen Character, one of the 16 in the box, will have their own class like Alchemist, Sorcerer, Ninja, etc. Some can be very weird like Root Farmer.
Each class will have their own set of PREYS. Preys are sets of Monster types you need to defeat in order to win. For example, the Frost Heart character aims for 4 Monsters each from Horde type and Fiend Type. In the 4 x 5 randomly filled grid, those monsters can be spread out in all places. Maybe they can all show up at the front so you can win early or maybe all of them show up in the back so you have to deal with other types first.
Beside the objective, every character also has unique power. More like unique rules, something you need to do before or after something happens. For example, the Dragon Slayer who has serpents as one of their Preys, will not attack the non prey monster when there are serpents at one of the fronts.
In other examples, they can lead to doing combo. Like the Sapper, if you defeat a Monster with a Wand from Monster cards, you get to defeat the next monster in that same column for free. That is just the unique rule from each character.
Each character cards has two sides. The back side that shows Skull symbol indicates the more challenging variant with different set of preys and rule.
The 20 Monsters that come in the box are all unique with 5 types and 4 Monsters for each type. As mentioned before, with just cards from this Intro deck, you will play with all Monsters in every session. The variety comes from the random placement in the dungeon.
The Monsters will not attack you but they have sets of icons as their Defense. Everytime you defeat the Monster, at the bottom, there is an action you need to resolve. These are mostly to help you win the game but you really need to know how to make use of them or it can make the game harder for you.
For example, the Zombie with Fiend type, if you defeat them you need to return one non prey monster to any column back, shuffling all monsters in that column. On one hand, this means you have to beat that same monster again. But maybe you want to resolve the effect after defeating that monster one more time.
You definitely want to make use of all monster’s effect that will help you return cards to your deck. This is the way you can explore the dungeon further. Another Monster can help you change position of Monsters in the dungeon so you can deal with them sooner.
Everytime you defeat the Monster, you collect them. Each Monster represents a symbol or two you can use to defeat the next monster in your next attack. After you use them as part of the attack, they will be exhausted. Then maybe you need the other monster with specific ability to get them ready again for future use.
Some heroes also allow you to exhaust them to return cards to your deck but then you cannot use them as weapon.
I already mentioned above that each type of Monsters come with 4 Monsters. The challenge is that after you defeat 3 of them, the last one in the dungeon will flip to the other side and become the King.
When that other side is revealed, usually it will tell you to do something that makes the game harder. You may have to discard cards from your hand or your deck, or both. Sometimes the effect can also reveal another King and you also need to resolve it. Some Kings also activate on going effect. So, not just one time effect but it will happen everytime you do something.
Based on that, these Kings act like the Final Boss or Bosses of the current Dungeon. Since most characters will ask you to beat at least 3 of one type of monster, you probably will have to deal with at least one King.
When Monster becomes a King, they will also lose the effect of their regular side that can help you win the game. So, you are encouraged to evaluate which monster to be left as the last one to be the King. Then again, maybe that one monster is at the front while the one with better effect is in the back.
So, those are about your characters and Monsters. What about how you fight or attack?
To attack you have a deck of 32 cards with 4 suits. Instead of value 1 to 8 for each suit, you have 0 to 8, skipping the value 1. From this deck, you will add cards MAINLY to your ARSENAL. But as part of the setup, you also get a hand of 6 cards.
I don’t know if the rulebook in the box mentions it. You DEAL a card from that deck to the front of your ARSENAL and you DRAW a card to your HAND.
Your Arsenal is a series of card that you can only use from the front without skipping any card. So, if you have monster with defends that require 2 helmets, 1 sword and a wand while you have all of them at the front of your arsenal, you can just discard all those 4 and defeat the monster.
But if you then have from the front of your arsenal, 1 helmet, a sword and a wand and the 2nd helmet is on the back, then you can only use the first 3. However, that is just 1st step of the attack action.
As 2nd part, you can use cards freely from your hand to cover the missing icons or suits, assuming you have them. If not, there is a 3rd part where you can use the collected, READY monster with that specific missing icon or suit.
Back to the idea of your arsenal deck. On your turn you can DEAL a card to the front of your arsenal. However, there is no free DRAW card action to your hand.
So, instead of playing all of your cards from your hand right away, you might want to save them. Since you don’t know the order of cards for your arsenal, then the best way to deal with that randomness, you need to have cards in hand or the Monster. Of course, there is a chance, you have no choice but to keep on dealing more cards. You might get lucky and get what you need or you end up getting blocked by the same suits again.
And that is all about Puzzle Dungeon. You try to manage your hand of cards and your arsenal. Use them wisely to defeat Monsters, focusing on those that can give you benefit to keep you stay in the dungeon longer until you get all of the preys, the objective of your character to win.
When you can no longer play cards from any source to defeat any monster and no more cards in the deck to do anything before accomplishing the objective, you lose.
Actually, the game comes with extra modules, TRAP AND TREASURES that you can use separately or both at the same time. Obviously, I have not tried it yet but according to the designer, Traps will increase the difficulty while Treasure will make it easier.
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My First Impressions
I think I have to mention that the game is fast and I already got like 5 sessions maybe more. Unfortunately, it is also fast because you lose fast and I lost every session.
In the last 2 sessions, I managed to beat 7 out of 8 preys so it was close. However, that is assuming I played the game correctly. You can say, I just play poorly and I can see maybe with more plays, I can get better in this. But I do have some criticism about this game.
First, I kind of wish, there is an FAQ for this. Especially since you will always play with the same 20 Monsters in this box plus a couple of clarification for each 16 or 32 of all heroes.
I can see how passionate the designer with his game and I followed a bit about the development that led to multiple editions of the same game. However, that means, the already limited available discussion here on BGG might not be about one version you have. Maybe about one card in that deluxe one you may not have access again.
While the main system remains the same but clarification for each card can greatly help players. But then, if the designer decided to keep making newer version instead of sticking with one edition, it might get lost.
I appreciate that the designer is ready to answer any question but as tabletop analog games, sometimes, I want to get answer while playing not later after I finish the game, post question and wait for the answer. Much prefer a ready to read FAQ that cover at least everything in this box.
Does this game really need that FAQ? I think so.
Before playing my first game, I was stuck choosing which of these heroes I should start with. This is just about how clear and easy how you resolve those extra rules from the hero, not even get to how deep of planning you need to play well with those rules in mind.
There is one hero, the Frost Heart with a new feature, “attaching”. Not a big deal. But then there are heroes where you do something after setup and that can lead to revealing kings right away or early in the game which then you need to resolve.
Is it such a big deal or so complex? No. This is just warning for first time players that you might encounter some confusion. Even I do believe that the more you play the game, the more you understand each card and they will go away, no longer a problem long term.
It is still a ROUGH START. And I think it can be solved with just a proper FAQ.
Another criticism is probably about the table space. When you lay out cards in that 4 x 5 grid, you can overlap cards to save table space, covering some parts of card. However, ideally, not only you want to be able to see every card, you might want to be able to lift the card and see the other side, the King variant of the Monster. This is so you can anticipate which one to take down first.
Also, the rule where you have to flip the last monster of that type to a King means you need to check them everytime. It is possible that you forget when you have to resolve chains of combo from one card to another. The problem is that resolving them in any order is part of the game. Resolving not in the correct time like later after you attack again can somehow make the game easier.
There is a chance that you might do take back. Something like you do usually in a game of Spirit Island. During resolving, you might realize, maybe there is a better way to do something. Then you ask yourself, “What if I discard that instead of this?”.
In one of my play with the Dragon Slayer, I managed to resolve those things and at the end, I realized, I just lost the game. Because that character has extra restriction with not allowing you to attack no prey when there is a Serpent type at the front. You resolve those things and realized that the enemy behind the one you just defeated was a Dragon and you don’t have the resources to proceed. In that case, you have to like take back not just your action but the chain of reactions you just resolved, hoping to solve this Puzzle.
This is the type of how deep the play and planning you might need to take to play well and win. The rule itself to just resolve the character is simple but it can lead to more challenging play which is why it is not that easy to pick character like I mentioned above.
I guess I’m saying that Puzzle Dungeon is not as easy or light as it looks. Definitely not exactly an easy to play and definitely not easy to master. Usually that is a good thing for some players.
While I don’t mind challenging or difficult games as long as they are reasonable. So, the next question is, are they reasonable?
I already mentioned above that I managed to get to 7 out of 8 target preys. While it was close but it feels like you really have to maximize everything. The moment you think you get lesser result, then you might want to evaluate and seek other options.
That part alone is fine. But then like I said, sometimes, it feels you also have no choice. For example, maybe one of the front monster will make other monster ready again but that means you want to wait before defeating it. At the same time, maybe your only best move is to beat that one and lose the effect.
Sometimes your only option is just to push your luck and keep dealing cards to arsenal. I got to a point where I dealt everything and I just return them because it didn’t give result. One play even gave me 4 blue cards as the starting hand and they were kind of useless.
For that, the designer suggests that you really have to count cards like in Trick Taking game. Which card is still in the deck and which card is already in the discard pile. Obviously, I didn’t do that. Not a big fan with that idea but let’s see if I can do better.
To me, it feels like the main game and the main strategy is actually in that deck of 20 Monster cards instead of the character. You want to prioritize some of those monsters early. But then again, what if all of them comes out late or in the back.
Understanding the potential use of each effect seems to be crucial to win. You have to maximize them.
In my play I feel like I always short on the Wand icons from Monsters. So, every suit has 8 cards and you can get extra 5 from Monster. Each suit also appears 20 times in all 20 Monsters. Clearly, you need to find a way to generate more of each icon even if you don’t need to beat every monster. Even penalties from revealing kings can increase the requirement then. Either that, or you also need to take advantage of discount from instant kill without having every icon.
Overall, I think I got the idea of this game and what makes Puzzle Dungeon appealing to certain gamers. While it is called a puzzle but the randomness really hurts the experience for me.
It seems like you really need to play a lot to get better. I think maybe you also need to try different heroes with different preys so you get used to all of their effects not just focusing on one type over and over again. If only there is clarification for every card.
That impression is just from a couple of first plays. Maybe I even got the rule wrong. While I don’t mind giving this another try but it was not a great first impression. If things don’t improve, then I have to try the Treasure modules and see if that makes the game better.
Playing time was about 20 minutes per session.
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Wingspan Asia
More pictures of this Wingspan Asia game session on TikTok and on Instagram.
Explore the Asia continent to attract birds to your wildlife preserves and make sure to claim the best location for them in Wingspan Asia.
In my last play, the 5th one, I just realized that I got the navigating part of the automa opponent wrong. Specifically, I thought the navigating between face up bird action and face down are the same. Maybe that actually helped me won previous solo plays.
Even after that, I still got it wrong and I just realized it during this recent play. I didn’t know that when they are doing face up bird, the navigating is just about where they start, which corner. Apparently the automa cards show the icon at the end of each row.
Well, about this specific recent play, maybe this was my worst one. Parts of it is obviously because I played poorly but I kind of understand why people hate the randomness of the cards. It feels like I wasted a turn or two just to get cards that didn’t really work for me.
On top of that, it seems the opponent just got very lucky. They managed to win all of the end of the round goals and by the end of 3rd round, already played 12 birds.
So, I’m just going to make this one shorter than usual.
1st ROUND.
First action from me was to play a bird from the starting hand. Spent both of my only foods. Automa only removed a food.
2nd action was Gain Foods. Took 1 plus 1 by discarding cards. Automa got first egg.
3rd action was to play another Bird, spending 3 foods. Automa got 2nd egg.
4th action was generate 2 eggs. Automa removed food again.
5th action was draw bird cards. Got 1 plus 1 by removing 1 egg. The opponent played first face down card.
6th action was Play a bird card again, 2nd to 3rd row. The opponent played face up bird card and I think I got them wrong. They were supposed to take the value 2 instead of value 1.
7th action was another DRAW Bird cards. Got 2 cards and tucked one of them for free egg. Automa played 2nd face down cards.
8th or last action for me was to gain foods again. Got 2 foods, discarding a card. Automa played 4th cards, this one was supposed to be face up but none matched the objective.
That was the end of the round. I got 1 bird with power for this and I decided to spend my only 2 foods to cache them. Automa won the end of the round goal with 3 birds in green while I only had 1.
2nd ROUND.
Started with Draw cards again. Got 2 cards and tucked the previous one for egg. Automa played 5th bird card and this time face up.
2nd action was to get foods. Discarded a card for 2nd food and the bird card got me 1 extra red. Automa played 6th card, this time face down.
3rd action was Play a Bird card for, 2nd one of top row. Automa got 3rd and 4th eggs.
4th action was Draw cards again. Still with 2, tucked one for egg. Automa removed 1 food.
5th action was Lay Eggs, 2 of them on top row. Automa played their 7th, face down.
6th action was gain foods, 2 food, no discarding cards. Automa got 5th and 6th eggs.
7th and last action was Play a Bird, 3rd in 3rd row. Automa played their 8th, face down.
I didn’t use the end of the round bird power to cache food. Automa won the goal with 4 tokens on space with bonus while I only had 1.
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3rd ROUND.
I had no cards so my 1st action was draw again. Got 2 plus 1 from egg but tucked one back for the egg. Automa played their 9th, face down.
2nd action was draw cards again. Automa played their 10th, face down.
3rd action was Play a bird, 4th of 3rd row. Automa played their 11th, face up.
4th action was Lay Eggs, still just 2. Automa played their 12th, face down.
5th action was Play a Bird card, 3rd of 1st row. Automa removed foods.
6th or last action was Gain Foods. Discarded a card and I got 5 foods. Automa got 7th and 8th eggs.
Got 2 end of the round bird powers. Gained 2 foods but I also cache 2 foods. Automa won the goal again with 6 tokens on nests while I only had 3.
4th ROUND.
Last objective was to have more tokens on that duet board. Automa already had 12 while I had only 7 so no way I could win that. No way I could catch up and from the automa cards, they will at least play 1.
1st action was Draw cards and I got 3. Not sure any of them ended up getting played so I tucked one of them for eggs. Automa removed foods.
2nd action was Play Bird card, 1st of egg row. Automa got 11 eggs now.
3rd action was to Play bird card again, 4th of 1st row. Automa had 14 eggs now.
4th action was to lay eggs. Got 2 plus 1 by discaring a food. Automa’s eggs went up to 17.
5th or last action was to gain Food and I got 5. Automa played their 13th, face down.
Got 2 extra foods and cache 5 of them plus some eggs. As mentioned above, Automa won all goals.
FINAL SCORING.
I got 28 from 9 birds, 4 from the Bonus card for having 4 foods left, 0 from the goal, 8 from eggs, 9 from cached foods and 6 from tucked cards plus 9 from adjacent duet tokens. Total was 64. Automa won with 74 points.
Playing time was about 93 minutes.
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Miyabi
More pictures of this Miyabi game session on TikTok and on Instagram.
Build your Japanese Garden by skillfully place stones, pagodas, trees and ponds on multiple elevation in Miyabi.
Another 2-handed session, playing with all of the modules. I want to say that I didn’t expect the outcome. It felt like the one losing was actually doing better throughout the game.
1st ROUND.
1st Player, the Orange picked the Tree L size 3 and placed it at the top left corner for 3 points. 2nd player, the Blue picked the Straight size 3 with Pagoda ornament and placed it at the top right corner vertically.
1st player then picked the other L size 3 with pond. Placing it so the object was in 2nd column and with previous L, creating a block of 2 x 3 at the top left. Got 6 VP.
2nd didn’t pick the other Straight size 3 but instead the only size 2 Tree. Placing it vertically at column 5. 5 VP for Blue.
1st picked the size 2 with Pagoda for 3rd column pointing up and their score went up to 8 VP. 2nd picked the Size 3 straight with stones for the 3rd column from the right, vertically since the object was in the corner. 8 VP also for 2nd.
1st player took the size 1 with a tree for their 4th column and got their score to 9 VP. 2nd took one of the size 2 with stone and placed it vertically as well at column 4. 10 VP.
1st player continued with another size 1 tree for the 5th column and they score went up to 10. While 2nd continued with Size 2 stone again for the 2nd column, vertically.
1st then took the size 1 pond over size 1 stone for their 6th column and got their score to 11. 2nd took the size 1 stone for the column 1 and their score went up to 13.
2nd ROUND.
Second player started first this time with Size 3 L with Tree and placed it at column 4 facing left, 16 VP. First player took the Straight size 3 with Pagoda at one end for their 4th column facing left, 14 VP.
2nd then took the Straight size 3 with bush in the middle for column 6, 19 VP. 1st then moved their Frog to the right and took the size 2 Pond for their 3rd column, facing down, 16 VP.
2nd then took the other size 2 with pond for their 5th column, facing left, 21 VP. 1st player took the 3rd size 2 with pid and placed it for their 5th column, facing left, 18 VP, plus 1 for the frog climbing to 1st level.
2nd player took the size 3 L with Stones for their 2nd column on 2nd Level so they got 6 points, 27, plus 1 for their frog climbing to 1st level. 1st then took one of the Zen tile with a Flower for their 2nd column, 20 VP.
2nd took the last size 2 with stones for their 3rd column facing up at 2nd level, 32 VP. 1st took size 1 pond for their 1st column, 2nd level, 22 VP.
Last for 2nd this round was size 1 Pagoda for 1st column, 33 VP. 1st player took size 1 Flower for 6th column, 24 VP.
3rd ROUND.
Back to 1st player to start the round. 1st took the L size 3 Pagoda first and placed it at column 1, 2nd level, facing up, 29 VP. 2nd took the Straight size 3 with pond in the middle for their 3rd column, vertically, 36 VP.
1st took size 2 pond for their 2nd column, 2nd level, facing right with the frog jumping on to it, 37 VP. 2nd took size 2 Flower for 5th column, facing down, 38 VP.
1st then took the other Size 3 L and this time with bush and placed it for their 5th column, 40 VP. 2nd took size 2 Pagoda for 2nd column, facing up, 40 VP.
1st took the size 2 Pagoda for their 4th column, 2nd level, facing left, 44 VP. 2nd took size 2 stones for 4th column, 2nd level, facing up, 44 VP.
1st took the size 1 tree for their empty spot at the top right corner, 45 VP. 2nd took size 1 pond for their 1st column, 45 VP.
1st took the size 1 flower over stone with same size as their last for the round for 3rd column, 2nd level, 47 VP. 2nd took that last one for their bottom right corner, 2nd level, 47 VP.
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4th ROUND.
2nd player started with size 3 straight with bush at one end for their 2nd column, 2nd level, 53 VP. 1st took another size 3 L pagoda for their 3rd column, 3rd level with frog jumping on it, 59 VP.
2nd player took the other L with Pond for their 4th column, 2nd level, facing down left, 49 VP. 1st took size 2 tree for 2nd column, facing right, 2nd level, 63 VP.
2nd player then took straight size 3 stone for their 4th column, horizontally, 2nd level, plus frog jumping onto 2nd level, 67 VP. 1st took the other size 2 tree for their top left corner, facing down, 2nd level, 69 VP.
2nd took size 2 flower for their 1st, facing right, 69 VP. 1st took size 2 Bush for 4th column, facing up, 71 VP.
2 more for the round. 2nd took size 1 flower for 6th, 2nd level, 71 VP. 1st took the same one for 5th, 2nd level, 73 VP.
Last one with same size 1 bush for each. 2nd placed it for their 5th, 2nd level, 73 VP. 1st placed it for 6th, 2nd level, 75 VP.
5th ROUND.
1st started again with size 2 Tree for their 3rd, facing left, 3rd level, 81 VP. 2nd took the Straight size 3 with flower in the middle for their 2nd, 2nd level, 79 VP.
1st then took the size 3 Pagoda straight for their 2nd column, 3rd level, with a frog jumping onto it, becoming Golden frog, 97 VP. 2nd took the L size 3 with bush for 4th, facing right and down, 3rd level, 81 VP.
1st took size 2 Pond for their 5th, facing up, 2nd level, 101 VP. 2nd took size 2 Flower for their 4th, facing left, 3rd level with frog jumping onto level 3, 100 VP.
1st finally took the size 3 L Pagoda for 4th column, 3rd level, 110 VP. 2nd took size 2 Pond for 5th, facing down, 2nd Level, 104 VP.
2 left each for the round. 1st took size 1 tree for their top left corner, 3rd level, 113 VP. 2nd took size 1 pond for 6th, 2nd level, 106 VP.
Either size 1 bush or stone. 1st took the stone for bottom right, 114 VP. Instead of the regular, 2nd took the Zen tile for bush for their 1st, 110 VP, including from zen tile bonus.
6th ROUND.
2nd player started with size 3 pond for 5th, facing down and right, 3rd level, with frog jumping onto 4th, becoming golden frog, 123 VP. 1st chose size 1 tree for 2nd column, 3rd level, 118 VP.
2nd took size 2 Bush for 4th, facing down, 3rd level, 131 VP. 1st took size 3 bush for 1st column, trying to surround the zen, 121 VP.
2nd took size 2 bush for 3rd, on 4th level, with frog jumping on it, 146 VP plus the first time 5th level bonus. 1st took the size 1 pagoda for 3rd, 4th level and got the first time 5th level bonus, 126 VP.
2nd took the Zen tile with pond this time for their 2nd, 154 VP. 1st took size 2 flower for their 4th, 2nd level, plus frog onto 5th level, 140 VP.
2 left each for the round. 2nd took another Zen with the tree for their top left corner, 158 VP. 1st took size 3 pond for their 6th, vertically, 3rd level, 146 VP.
Last for 2nd was size 1 stone for their bottom right, 161 VP. 1st took the last size 3 straight flower, for 5th, horizontally, 3rd level, 155 VP.
That was the end of the game.
FINAL SCORING.
1st player won the majority of tree, 170 VP vs 168 VP. Another won for 1st from Pagoda, 182 VP vs 174 VP. 1st also won the Pond, 191 VP vs 178 VP. 2nd finally won the Flower, 195 VP, 186 VP. Both were tied for Bush, 202 VP vs 193 VP. They were also tied for single stone, 209 VP vs 200 VP.
1st got 20 connected objects while 2nd got 9, 229 VP vs 209 VP. 4 empty spaces for 1st and 7 for 2nd, 237 vs 223 VP. 1st got 3 rows with 7 objects, nothing in column and 2nd only had 1 row.
Final score was 258 VP for 1st and 230 VP for 2nd. So, 1st player won. Apparently, the score was a bit off for both. Not sure where I got them wrong. Well, first still won.
Playing time was about 73 minutes.
Learn more about the game from Miyabi Review.
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Point City
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Grab resources and construct buildings to get and grow permanent supply to create the best city in Point City.
I was not sure whether to play this solo or 2-handed since I feel the main gameplay had issue for both. But eventually I decided to play solo, twice.
For the first one, both me and my opponent got the same score, 38. I got 2 Civic buildings. One gave me 10 points for having 5 Wild resources while the other only got me 4 points for having 2 types of resources with 2 permanent resources each. I also got 4 buildings worth 5 each and 4 worth 1 each with the last two not worth any point, only resources.
The opponent took a lot of resources for energy and community, 2 for ecology and 1 for Industry. They also got 21 from buildings and 1 from Wild. No Civic buildings at all for them.
Then for the 2nd session I thought I won but I got the rule wrong with civic tokens worth 7 and 5 points. They were supposed to be one time only and I thought they were about each Civic tokens. So, I actually lost horribly for this one with 25 vs 40.
So here is what happened in the first one.
1st ROUND.
I first flipped one of the resources at row and column 2. Since there were a lot of Industry resource and it was Ice Cream Truck.
My first action was taking 1 purple and 1 green from the 2 at the bottom right corner of 2 rows. The opponent only took 2 resources, no wild yet.
2nd ROUND.
Took 2 resources again, row 2 and row 3 3rds from both, 2nd green and first red. The opponent took 2 more reds.
3rd ROUND.
The top row had all resources so I flipped the first one to building. Then I took 1 Gold plus that building, a FOOD CART, first permanent gold. Still just 2 resources for the opponent.
4th ROUND.
From the same 2 at the top left, I took 1 Red and spent 2 green plus wild for TOWN SQUARE, a Civic building. The civic token was the one to give me 2 points per Wild. Last 2 resources for opponent for a while.
5th ROUND.
I couldn’t take anything from the board since there were only 2 resources. So, I drew from the deck and got 2nd Gold and 1 Energy. The opponent took 2 buildings, one worth 1 plus energy resource and the other worth 4.
6th ROUND.
Stuck with the same 2 spaces at the top left with a green and using that green plus my permanent gold to build FOOD TRUCK. The opponent took 2 buildings, both worth 2 each plus permanent Energy.
7th ROUND.
I got 2 buildings, Cottage and Birdhouse, both from column 4 and both generates 1 purple each. The opponent got 2 more buildings, no extra points, one for energy and one for green resources.
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8th ROUND.
Got a Wild and a building with 2 purple permanent which gave me first permanent green. The opponent got another green building plus green double resources.
9th ROUND.
Back to top left corner with 2 resources, 1 wild and 1 energy. The opponent was also taking 2 resources, a gold and energy.
10th ROUND.
Went to the top right, both row 1 for double red energy building a green with 2 energy and 2 gold for 1 point and green resources. 2 more resources for opponent.
11th ROUND.
From column 4, row 2 and 3, I took a Wild, spent 2 purple and the double red to build Water Tower for 5 points. Two double resources for the opponent.
12th ROUND.
Back to only 2 resources on the board so I drew double energy and double red. 5th permanent energy plus double gold for the opponent.
13th ROUND.
Drew from the deck again for more wild and double green. The opponent got 2 buildings, only 1 point, 1st red and 1st purple permanent for them.
14th ROUND.
Built Radio station with double green and double energy plus Wild from row 3 for 5 points. The opponent took double green and 2nd permanent purple with no point.
15th ROUND.
Built Fountain with double green and double gold for 5 points plus double red from the top right. The opponent got 1 Wild and 4 points from building.
16th ROUND.
I still had 2 double red and permanent red to build TRAIN STATION, a Civic and double energy. At this point, any Civic token available only got me at most 4 points. The opponent took double gold, building worth 2 points and 6th energy.
That was the end of the game. As mentioned above, both got 38.
Playing time was about 36 minutes per session.
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Yin Yang
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Travel across the 7 Kingdoms of Ancient China by interpreting and following the divination from Gods in Yin Yang.
This was 2-handed session between the Red as first player and Blue as 2nd. Red started in one of the City in West Kingdom while Blue started in the Southeast.
1st ROUND.
One of the Carriage tile was blocked and no action to increase Yin or Yang from the lower divination.
Red started first with 3 White and 3 Black. The 3 White was to get a Goods action tile while the 3 Black was for doing goods action, taking a red from the starting position.
Blue got 4 White and 2 Black. Spread equally and they got Temple action tile and a Boat action. Blue moved to the next city within that Southeast Kingdom that had Green goods.
Well, I already made first mistake. Red player should have taken the goods using that lower divination but instead, I forgot. Red used the token to take it. From the middle top city of that kingdom, Red moved via boat to the east city with a Blue. Took that 2nd goods. Then via carriage they entered the Middle South Kingdom. That error could have at least gotten Red a Yin or a Yang.
Blue in the new city built 2nd temple of that Kingdom. Then they took the Yellow goods, before moving via carriage to the rightmost city and built 3rd temple.
2nd ROUND.
One of the Boat tile was blocked with the action to swap position of scoring tiles.
Red got 3 White and 3 Black again. Two white and 1 black was for buying a Carriage tile and the rest was for carriage action. Red actually entered the Middle North kingdom from Middle South.
Blue also got 3 White and 3 Black. They also bought Carriage tile and do Carriage action. Blue stayed in the southeast region but moved up by 1 City closer to the East Kingdom.
Red in the city with Yellow goods, took that one first using the tile. They then built 1st temple there and continued moving via boat to the Northwest kingdom. With 2 more carriage actions they got to the top right city of that region.
Blue started with taking red goods in that city before entering the East Kingdom via road. Built first temple there, no competition yet. Then with 2 moves, one via road and one via boat to the leftmost city of East Kingdom with green goods.
3rd ROUND.
Boat tile was blocked again and this time with Temple action from lower divination.
Red got 2 White and 4 Black and both already at 8. So, they spent both to get 2 sets of 1 green and 1 red. The 2 White and 1 Black got them a Temple action while the rest of the Black was for doing goods action, taking a yellow from the city.
Blue also got 2 White and 4 Black with both at 8. Spent them both and got 2 Red, 1 Blue and 1 Green as gifts from God. 2 Black and 1 White got them a Goods token while the rest was for increasing turn order by the number of temples which was 4 for Blue. So, now Blue started.
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Using the tile, Blue took the Goods from the city first. Then they entered the Middle North region via boat and built 1st temple, competing against red. Using the carriage token, Blue entered the Northwest kingdom and built 1st Temple and took yellow goods, no competition from red.
Apparently, I made the same mistake again for red. Red should have taken the goods with previous action and yet I had to use the tile again. So, those were 2 yin or yang for red.
After taking the goods, Red built 1st temple of that region, matching the opponent. Then they entered the northeast via road. Built a temple, and took the green goods. Even in that, they forfeited one action and took 1 Black.
4th ROUND.
Temple tile was blocked along with action to do Carriage.
Blue got 3 White and 3 Black. They bought 2nd Carriage using 2 White and a Black. Blue increased their position of turn order track again and this time by 6 spaces.
Red got the same 3 White and 3 Black. They also bought 2nd Carriage tile but from different spot. Same lower divination action with 4 temples.
Blue started again. From the northwest kingdom, Blue went back via road and got them to Middle North one again but lower city. Built 2nd temple there so they currently won the majority. After that, via road, Blue entered the Middle South region, took the red goods and built a temple. Last action was to move via boat within that region to a city with Yellow goods.
Red from the Northeast, moved via road to the next city within that region. They took the Red goods there and built 2nd temple. Via Boat, Red entered the East Kingdom but without more Boat, they had to take 2 roads via Northwest first and back to the East Kingdom. Red then built 1 Temple, matching the majority against Blue in East Region.
5th ROUND.
Temple tile was blocked again along with the action to increase turn order by temple.
Blue got 3 White and 3 Black. 3 White was to get Goods tile, while the 3 Black was to get goods of that current city.
Red got all 6 Black so they reached 8 on black. Spent it all to get a yellow and Green. Then they took down one of their temples without losing the majority. The result got them 3 White and 3 Black. Bought a Boat tile and the action was to exchange position of the scoring tiles.
So, apparently I did the same mistake that I did to red to Blue this time, ignoring the Goods action from lower divination. As result, Blue used the goods tile again first. On the other hand, I somehow made a temple for them, probably got mixed up between 3 white or 3 Black of the lower divination.
So, after taking that yellow goods, Blue moved from Middle South to the Southeast with Blue goods. They took it and moved again via road to bottom right of the West Kingdom. No goods there but they built temple, matching the majority against red.
After that, via boat, they entered the next city with Green goods and took it. Forfeiting the last action but not enough to make either an 8.
Red tried to win the majority of East. So, they first moved to the next city via road and built 2nd temple, winning it already. Now, their focus was just to get goods. Still in that region, they moved east and entered a city with Blue goods. They took it and then entered Southeast via road. Took a bit of detour via 2 boats and got them to another city with Blue goods again.
That was the end of the game.
FINAL SCORING.
Blue got 4 from not using the cards and 2 points from turn order. They got 11 points from majority in Southeast, 10 from the West, 8 from Northwest, 3 from East, 8 from two in the middle. From scoring tiles, they completed 4 lines. One gave them another scoring from the majority of region so that was another 11. Got 6 from 3 Green goods, 6 from Yellow goods and 8 from perimeter. Final Score was 75.
Red also got 4 from not using cards and 1 from turn order. From Majority, Red got 10 from West, 8 from Northwest, 6 from East, 5 from Northeast, 2 from one of the middle.
Red activated 6 lines of scoring tiles. Got 6 from the number of temples, another 10 from the majority in the west, 10 from perimeter, 8 from Red goods, 6 from Blue goods, 6 from leftover White.
Final score for Red was 82. So, Red won.
Playing time was about 81 minutes.
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Roll Camera!: The Filmmaking Board Game
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Last chance to save your failing production company to make the best movie in Roll Camera!: The Filmmaking Board Game.
Solo play again, making a movie as the PRODUCER. Still with the Production Company variant and this time with the BUNGLE BROS. INTERNATIONAL. This is my first time playing with this company and their tagline is “WE ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERESTIMATE”.
The new rule to this one is that you will always have all 3 PROBLEMS. Everytime you resolve one, you have to immediately add new one. However, when the game tells you to add a new one, like at the start of every turn, you immediately resolve the rightmost one and add the new one to the left.
There is one thing that I’m not sure. I assume that when the older Problem gets resolved automatically, you still gain the RESOLVE benefit. In that case, you probably have a good source of money and time.
The downside is that doing everything else becomes trickier. Usually I will resolve almost every problem every turn, like as soon as they come out. That way, I don’t actually deal with the effect at all. With this company, you have no choice. Sometimes you can just wait and it will be gone. Other times, maybe one of them can seriously mess with your plan and you have to spend 3 dice to get rid of them quickly.
Actually, if you play with the Producer with one action to make money while getting a new problem, that might not be a bad idea. But there is still a chance you have to resolve the new one immediately.
As initial impression of this company card, I’m not sure I like this one. However, it does feel you get very different experience than your usual approach with the game. The thing is, it pushed me to more cheating territory like rerolling when I was not supposed to and checking the next problem just to make sure.
I actually run out of cards from the Problem deck and had to add one or two after reshuffling the discard pile. Somehow it took longer to finish and most of the time it is just me dealing with the penalties rather than preparing stuff to shoot the scene.
So, I recommend giving this Company variant a try just to see how different the experience you get. Interesting but you might not like it.
Anyway, here is how the session went.
1st ROUND.
First I spent 2 dice just to build set piece. Then I used 1 die on the Producer board to Cut Corners, getting 2 money but add 1 Problem. Assigned 2 dice to resolve the leftmost problem. The last die then initiated the Meeting to also resolve 1 Problem for 1 Quality.
15 Money, 10 Rounds left and Quality at START.
2nd ROUND.
So, I managed to build 2nd set piece with 2 dice and resolved leftmost issue with 2 more dice. Then initiated a meeting with the idea to reuse 3 of the used dice with the same face. With that, I built 3rd set piece, locked in 2 dice on the set.
At this point, I already resolved 5 problems and got extra time.
13 Money, 10 Rounds left and QUALITY -1 from the START.
3rd ROUND.
Previously there was a Problem that kept rotating set pieces. So I had to assign 2 dice just to rearrange. Then the newest problem would have removed the 3 Scene cards had I let them stayed and I wanted to have at least two of them. So, with 2 being locked already, I resolved that newest one with the last 2 dice. Now the new Problem prevented me from doing Meeting.
13 Money, 9 rounds left, QUALITY -1 from START.
4th ROUND.
Got the exact two dice I needed from the 4 to shoot the Purple scene. Paid 3 got bonus 1 money and shot the scene, 1st one.
The latest problem prevented me to access the Scene deck so I couldn’t make any plan with the next scene. So, I resolved by assigning last 2 dice. This was 2nd 5th and I got more time. Unfortunately the new problem forced me to keep shuffling the top and bottom script.
I let that happened and now I had what became the final script, THE WACKIEST UNBEARABLE ANGUISH. Every blue would have gotten me 1 quality and every 2 purple for 2 quality by the end of the game.
11 Money, 9 Rounds left, QUALITY -1 from the START.
5th ROUND.
So, I had to resolve that previous Problem, assigning 2 dice. Then the new Problem came out and I had to spend 1 extra money to resolve any problem so I got rid of that first with 2 more dice. Now I had to add more Lighting when shooting a scene.
There was a Blue scene that worked great for the script so the last 2 dice rearranged the set for that scene.
10 Money, 8 Rounds left and QUALITY – 1 from the START.
6th ROUND.
The next scene I was planning to shoot required 5 dice. I got 4 that I needed. Last 2 were assigned to resolve the latest problem where I had to lose money each round. It was replaced by a problem that requires extra camera to shoot a scene. There was already a problem to add extra lighting so it was impossible to actually shoot while these 2 were active.
10 Money, 8 rounds left and QUALITY -1 from the START.
7th ROUND.
I wanted to shoot scene this round. With 2 dice that were not locked in, I used one to initiate the Meeting with the idea to pay 2 money to resolve all problems. Of course, I got 3 new ones but they didn’t really prevent me from shooting like the previous 3. The last die was VFX so I got all dice for the scene to shoot.
Paid 3 money, minus 1 from the scene got the 2nd scene, the blue one. One problem forced me to lose 2 quality points, unless the quality was already below the START which it was. So, instead I got 1 back to the START. The scene itself gave me 2 more quality.
There was also a problem that removed the 3 Scene cards from the Storyboard at the end of it. None of them matched with my script so I let that happened. Not that I had the means to resolve it.
6 Money, 7 rounds left and QUALITY +2 from START.
8th ROUND.
There was another Purple scene in the Storyboard so I had to get rid of that problem. It was the oldest one so I had to use 3 dice just to get rid of it. Then the problem before that prevented me to rearrange the set for the new scene so I had to use 2 dice to get rid of it as well.
Last die initiated the meeting with the idea to replace a set piece with a new one. The new one could get me extra quality bonus.
8 Money, 6 Rounds left and QUALITY +2 from START.
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9th ROUND.
The next purple scene to shoot required 5 dice. While the latest problem would have removed any crew from the set except for the Sound Crew. Decided to get rid of it with 2 dice. Two other dice to rearrange the set for the new scene. Last 2 dice were locked in on the set pieces. Unfortunately, the new problem that just came would have messed with one of the set piece each turn.
8 Money, 5 rounds left and QUALITY +2 from the START.
10th ROUND.
Here is where I got the rule wrong. Maybe I just realized this after 10 plays of this game. Apparently, you cannot move set piece while there is a die on it. Well, I did it so I didn’t actually win I guess.
While I had a chance to remove that problem, the new one cancelled the wild feature of the VFX and I rolled VFX dice. So, I had to use one of them to initiate a meeting just to get rid of that. Well, I still had a chance to remove that previous one as well.
8 Money, 5 rounds left and Quality + 2 from START.
11th ROUND.
I only had 3 dice. Two were immediately locked in the set but I needed one more. Assigned the last one to execute one of to do list to gain 2 rounds by playing 1 money and I had to get 1 Problem.
7 Money, 6 Rounds left and Quality +1 from START.
12th ROUND.
Let’s just say, I only had 1 die and it was not the right die to finish the scene. So instead I only used it to replace idea card.
6 Money, 5 rounds left and Quality +1 from START.
13th ROUND.
I got the last die I needed for the scene. None of the Problems prevented me from shooting a scene so I shot it. Paid 4 money, gained 1 extra time, bonus 1 Money and 1 Quality from the set plus 2 more quality points from the scene itself. That was the 3rd scene.
Last die initiated the meeting with the idea to hold 5 ideas until next meeting while placing the idea to ignore problems as to do list.
3 Money, 6 rounds left and Quality +4 from START.
14th ROUND.
The top of deck scene got another Purple scene that required just 4 dice, two actors, a sound and a camera. I had 3 but not the 2nd actor. Luckily, I had the idea to ignore that actor requirements, up to 2 dice.
So, I assigned 2 dice to prepare the set and assigned 1 for the meeting, locking in the camera and the sound. Before that, the last die actually executed the to do list to ignore problems. So, I shot the scene with just 2 crews. Basically just doing voice actors.
Paid 4 money, bonus 1 money and 1 quality from the set and bonus 1 round. That was the 4th scene, one more. Got extra money before that from 5 resolved problems.
2 Money, 6 rounds left, Quality +4 from START.
15th ROUND.
Definitely needed more money. I got the idea to remove one of scene cards from the Storyboard to get 1 money. Now new one scene at the top was another Blue, perfect for the script.
That scene required 4 and I had 3 to lock them in. Before that, I still had 2 dice to prepare the set.
16th ROUND.
Got 3 dice and spent 1 of them to execute 1 to do list. This got me 3 money by forfeiting 1 die for 2 rounds. Unfortunately the new problem would have removed a set piece each turn if I didn’t shoot a scene.
While I had the last die I needed to shoot the scene but 2 previous problems forced me to add 1 more crew and paid extra money for that Camera.
So, I used the last die to initiate the meeting. The idea was to look at the top 10 previous ideas. There was one to ignore all problems. I used that so the latest one wouldn’t have removed my set piece. At the same time, I got idea on to do list to get me more quality.
6 Money, 4 rounds left, Quality +3 from START.
17th ROUND.
Well, I only had 2 dice and one of them was VFX so I could use it to complete the scene. Paid 4 money, gained 1 time, bonus money and quality from the set and finished the 5th scene. The scene itself got me 1 Quality.
Here is the thing. There was an active problem that everytime I shoot a scene, I have to randomize the position of all scenes. So I did it and the result got me 2 Purple, 2 Blue and Purple again in that order. It didn’t matter since the script didn’t require scenes to be in specific position to each other.
Well, I still could use the last die and lose 1 Quality to gain 2.
That was the end of the game. Quality was at 5 above the START. 2 Blue scenes increased the quality by 2 and the 3 Purple also increased it by 2.
The movie, THE WACKIEST UNBEARABLE ANGUISH was a SURPRISE HIT, almost became Critical Darling.
Well, personally, I find that the movie itself is a bit depressing. The plot summary is this. Two kids threw a rock to their friend as a prank. They thought it was funny and got a good laugh. What they didn’t realize was that the hit was lethal and they lost that dear friend. The two then feel guilty and once in a while the two have a meetup and talk about that friend and their mistake.
Well, at least that is my interpretation from the scenes.
Playing time was about 97 minutes.
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Isle of Trains: All Aboard
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Build trains and secure contracts to deliver goods and passengers to various cities in Isle of Trains: All Aboard.
Continuing playing the solo campaign and this time with the Chapter 3: NEW PEOPLE, NEW LANDS. This was my first time playing this one. The objective is to get 60 points. So this was first chapter to require victory points. Not sure how well I could get and expected I probably would have failed in this first attempt of the chapter.
I tried to avoid relying on Boxcar trains so for the contract my focus was on either Devon City, Cactus Mine and Alpine Lodge. Devon City was the chosen one, especially because you can complete secondary contract without delivering box at all.
So, here is how the session went.
1st ROUND.
I started with Orange and Purple passenger. First action was to load the Purple Passenger to the engine and got me 2 cards. Since I got Coach Level 2 that required 4 cards to build, I immediately built that one, discarding 2 Boxcar cards, an Engine and Caboose 9. I got 2 passengers, a white and a green.
2nd ROUND.
1st Action this time was also LOAD, orange passenger to that Coach. Got me 2 VP and 3 cards. 2nd action was actually DELIVER that passenger to that city. The bonus got me 2 cards and BUILD action. There was a TANKER 1 so I discarded 2 cards to build that. 4 cards left in hand.
3rd ROUND.
LOAD action again but this time an Oil to the Tanker using a Coach car, got me 3 cards. Got 6 cards and a Hopper 1 so I discarded Engine 1 to build that as my 2nd action.
4th ROUND.
Load again for 1st action and this time was the Green passenger to the Coach. Got 2 VP and 3 cards. For 2nd action, I did BUILD to upgrade my Tanker to Level 2. Discarding 3 cards, a Hopper, Coach and Boxcar. 3 cards left.
5th ROUND.
1st action this time was DELIVER, the green passenger to their city. The bonus got me 2 cards and additional LOAD action which was 2nd Oil to the tanker. As 2nd action, I did DELIVER again the 2 Oil to DEVON CITY, securing the Primary Contract, 4 cards left.
6th ROUND.
LOAD again as 1st action, a White passenger to the Coach. Got me 2 VP and 3 cards. With 7 cards, I did BUILD to upgrade the Engine to Level 2. Discarding 2 cards, an Engine and Caboose 1. As bonus I got 1st passenger for that Devon City. 4 cards left.
7th ROUND.
DELIVER action was the first this round, the White passenger to the Alpen Lodge and the bonus got me 5 cards. With 9 cards and Coach Level 3, I did BUILD to upgrade the Coach. Discarding 3 cards and got me 3 passengers, 2 orange and 1 Black. 5 cards left.
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8th ROUND.
LOAD again, this time was the 2nd Orange passenger to the Coach. Got me 3 VP and 3 cards. With that 8 cards, I had to build but using bonus from DELIVER action. The bonus for delivering the 2nd orange to their city was 1 card and 1 Build action. With 9 cards, I upgraded the Hopper to Level 2, discarding 3 cards. 5 cards left.
9th ROUND.
Load again, the black passenger to Coach. Got me 3 VP and 3 cards again. Another LOAD for 2nd action but this time the Coal to Hopper. The bonus got me 3 cards plus BUILD action. With 7 cards, I upgraded the Engine from 2 to 3, discarding 3 cards and I got White Passenger as bonus. 5 cards left.
10th ROUND.
Load again, the 3rd Orange to the Coach. Got 3 VP and 3 cards again. 2nd action was DELIVER, sending that Orange to the city for the BUILD bonus. I think I did SPECIAL delivery as well, probably the Purple guy in the engine since the start of the game. That is how I got 10 cards and I had to build.
Built CENTRAL STATION for exactly 8 points, discarding 6 cards. 3 cards left in hand. Also, I had to spend 3 VP to return a Hopper 3 since I thought I had to upgrade mine.
11th ROUND.
Load again the 2nd black passenger heading to Devon. Got 3 VP and 3 cards again. 2nd action was also LOAD but 2nd Coal which got me 3 cards and bonus BUILD action. I had 8 cards and I built CABOOSE 3 which I could use as extra transport for any goods. Also got a White passenger as bonus.
12th ROUND.
Load again but this time 2nd Oil to the tanker. Got me 3 cards and bonus DELIVER action. I delivered one of the Black passenger to their city which got me 4 VP. As 2nd action, I loaded 3rd Oil to the Caboose. Now I had enough to complete the secondary contract with DEVON CITY.
13th ROUND.
I did DELIVER to DEVON CITY again, both Secondary Contract and the 2nd Black passenger. Got me 2 VP and 2 cards. 2nd action was LOAD coal again which got me 3 cards and extra BUILD ACTION. With that I built Caboose 3 which allowed me to have 2nd building, discarding 3 cards. 3 cards left in hand.
14th ROUND.
Back to Load, the White passenger to Coach. Got me 3 VP and 3 cards. 2nd action was also LOAD but 2nd Coal for 3 cards and Build action. I had 7 cards and spent 6 to build the 2nd Building which was the OIL REFINERY. 0 cards left in hand.
During this time, I think I had to spend 3 VP just to return cards so I had enough to draw. But the end game was triggered here so that was the last round.
SCORING.
Got total 14 points from the Contract with Devon City. I still had 18 VP from tokens. Central Station got me 8 VP and the Oil Refinery got me 10 VP. I got Engine and 5 cars for 21 points.
Final score was 71 points so I completed the Objective of Chapter 3.
Playing time was about 58 minutes.
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Forage: A 9 card solitaire game
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Explore the woodland areas to harvest blackberries, chestnuts and edible mushrooms carefully so the hungry mice don’t take them away from you in Forage: A 9 card solitaire game.
I got 4 sessions this time and still just the basic game. First one scored about 37. I actually forgot about the -2 die penalty and instead placing the big mouse on the last turn, first error. 2nd play was probably my best score so far with 41. That involved with getting 2 15, 3 6s and 5 penalty dice.
3rd and 4th play were not great. Scored 32 and 34 respectively. The last one I had to use the big mouse. In the 3rd one, I remember that I had to sprawl a lot so only got a 15 and the rest were at most 6.
So, here is how it went with the 2 first sessions.
First one started with card 13 and I had 4 and 6 in hand. Using the 6, I rotated the card counterclockwise and overlap the bottom 4. Got 2 Yellow 1 and 1 Green 1.
4th card was 17. Rotated that one clockwise, overlapped 2 spot at bottom right. One yellow 1 became a 3 and Green 1 became a 3. 5th card was #5. Played the #4 instead, rotated it 180 to overlap 6 spaces, upgrading only 1 existing dice and adding 3 new one. The Green became a 6 adding 2 brown 1 and 1 yellow 1.
6th card was #1. Played the 5 first, not rotating at all to the top left of the existing cards. This overlapped 3 spaces, only added 2 new dice, brown and green 1.
7th card was #12. Played #1, without rotating it, to overlap 5 spaces at the middle top. Upgrading 2 1s into 3s, not changing a 3 while adding 2 new yellow.
8th one was 14. Back with 12 first, not rotating it and played the card at the bottom middle, overlapping just 2 spaces. Green 6 became 10 while the Yellow 1 stayed as 1.
9th card was #2. Played the 14 now, rotating it 90 clockwise at the bottom left to overlap 4 spaces. This upgraded the Green 10 into a 15, Yellow 1 into a 3, while adding green 1.
So I played the #2 last at the top right without rotating the card to overlap 5 spaces. This upgraded the 2 3s into 6s, adding new brown and didn’t change the other brown 1. First penalty of this session and I had to use Green -2.
Final scoring. I got a 15, 2 6s, 2 3s and 7 1s with -2 and -2 for 2 dice on halves. So I got 36 not 37 as mentioned above.
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2nd session started with 15 with 3 and 7 in hand. First played the 3 after rotating it clockwise to overlap the 2 yellow side by side so I got 2 Yellow 1s.
4th card was #8. Played the 7, after rotating it clockwise to the bottom left, overlapping 3 spaces. This upgraded the Yellow 1 to 3. Added new Brown 1 and Green 1.
5th card was #9. Played that one without rotating it at the bottom left, overlapping 5 spaces. This upgraded 3 existing dice, a 3 to 6 and 2 1s into 3s. First penalty with the Brown.
6th card was 16. Played that one after rotating it clockwise at the top left, overlapping 5 spaces. Upgraded 2 dice, a 6 into a 10 and a 3 into a 6. Got 1 new brown 1 and 2nd penalty and this one with Yellow.
7th card was 18. Played that one and rotated 180 to play at bottom right, overlapping 6 spaces. This changed the 10 into 15, removing one yellow into brown penalty, upgraded a 3 into a 6 and added 2 new green.
8th card was 11. Also played that one. Rotated it 180 to play on the left. This only upgraded a brown 1 into a 3 and got green 1 while adding another brown penalty.
9th card was #10. Back with the #8, rotating it clockwise at the top left. I got it wrong apparently. This should have only increased a 3 into a 6 but I accidentally got it into a 10. Also added a Yellow 1.
So, with #10 as the last one. Rotated the card counterclockwise to place on the left. This upgraded the incorrect green 6 to a 10, brown 3 into a 6. Got a new Yellow 1 while I had to replace previous yellow 1 into minus 2 green.
That was the end of the game. So, this was probably not the best score like I thought above. I only got 36 instead of 41. Still better than 3rd and 4th play though.
Playing time was about 64 minutes for 4 sessions of 9 cards each.
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Frontier with Brownies
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Develop lands together with your rival while trying to achieve your personal goal in Frontier with Brownies.
Frontier with Brownies was a new game to me at this point, released in 2022. Thematically, this is a direct sequel to Firm with Brownies, a card game, from the same design duo, Shun and Aya Taguchi from Studio GG. The 2 games have the same size box for but different gameplay.
With the anime style art from Hotori Satose, the game was published by Japanese publisher Yanoman Corporation specifically just for Japanese audience. The prequel actually got wider release by IELLO, French publisher with the exact same game but totally different art and setting. Up to this point, there is no news that they will release this sequel.
Unfortunately, I have to rely on translation from Google in order to play this Japanese only game. Luckily, the game uses mostly icons with only text from scoring cards. The design studio previously also released the game on their own with the title Sheep and Garden which feels like a prototype. While the main gameplay is the same but it seems they add INVESTMENT feature for the newer version.
So, how do you play Frontier with Brownies?
At this point, I have only tried the solo variant which doesn’t include the INVESTING part. I’ll try to explain that part later but only from what I understand from reading the rule.
Basically, this is a tile laying game. Some people say it’s like Carcassonne which I have not played yet so I cannot compare the two. In this one, on your turn, you draw one of 3 face up square tiles and place them in the shared area, develop lands together with your opponents.
When you place a tile, it has to be adjacent orthogonally from existing tile and you have to match the terrain type of the connected edge using any orientation. There are 4 terrain types, water, grasslands, village and field.
Some tiles will have roads that you need to connect or extend. There are also fences that will separate the connected area. Other than those, you may find objects like house, tree, sheep, cattle, fish, stone and clay that you need to consider for your scoring.
Not sure if this applies to Carcassonne, but there is one unique element in this game but not in other tile laying games that I have played. In this one, the adjacent area without a tile is automatically considered as Water space.
Usually, empty means unknown and cannot be used for scoring. In this one, it defines separation between different terrains. So, let’s say you have 3 tiles placed in L – shape. Visually you can connect the same grasslands from the two ends of that L shape but unless you have the 4th tile to complete the 2×2 which connect that same terrains, they might be considered as 2 separate terrains.
Ideally, most of the scoring cards want you to create a complete area or terrain. Complete area means, that same adjacent terrains are separated by other terrains, road or fences. Then the scoring might ask you to have specific resource on that complete area. One scoring asks you to count the number of areas while others might score with the number of that resources in one complete area.
Some scoring cards can give you extra bonus if you can meet additional requirements. For example, one scoring will give you 5 points for every complete village with 3 or more houses. Then for every complete village with 4 houses, you get extra 3 points.
There are 24 scoring cards. About half of them are considered for advanced players, 8 of them are for beginners and 4 for basic level. They give you all lists of available tiles and cards in the box.
There are only 37 tiles, all unique and the game ends after all tiles have been placed. Then each player calculate their score based on their Scoring cards.
In the original Sheep and Garden game, players have shared objective or scoring cards, one card between every 2 players. They keep their own scoring cards a secret while trying to semi cooperatively work with the 2 players next to them. This works the same with Frontier with Brownies edition.
However, in the Yanoman edition, there is SECRET INVESTMENT optional module. The way it works is, each player will have to guess the other scoring cards not adjacent to them. The player sheet has a list of all scoring cards available in the game.
On their score pad, they write the number of scoring cards. At the end of the game, the card will be revealed. If players guess correctly, they can get 3 points for each right guess. Otherwise, it is zero. Playing with maximum of 4 players, there will be 2 scoring cards they can guess. With 3, there is only 1.
I guess this secret investment module is really a minor one. In a game where you can score up like over 70, getting extra 3 or 6 doesn’t seem to have that much impact. I could be wrong though.
So, that is how you play Frontier with Brownies.
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The Solo Mode and My Initial Impression.
For the solo mode, you still play with 37 tiles that you place on your own. The difference is that all of the tiles are face down and you only reveal one, place them before revealing the next one. There is a chance you might not be able to place them at all, you just reshuffle that tile back and draw a new one.
You get 3 Scoring cards and your rival will also get 3 scoring cards. At the end of the game, you calculate your score with your 3 cards and then subtract them with score from the opponent’s 3 scoring cards.
So, it is basically just beat your own score but some varieties between your score and how to avoid losing points from your opponents. The game comes with scoring chart with the highest achievement at over 70 points.
First, I played this game twice, both with the solo mode. And I already made a major error with the rule. The wrong part was about the definition of Complete Area. I thought the empty space counts as separation and therefore completed the area itself. That is incorrect.
The right one is, the area is considered completed if you cannot extend the area by placing more tiles. Empty space means you still can extend them, even if there is no available tile for that specific situation. With this error, I thought I got over 90 points before the subtraction from opponent while in reality I only got like 50.
Of course, this also affected how I calculate the subtraction from opponent but that was like half of my points, probably got the lowest achievement score.
Then I played again hopefully with the correct rule. I think the last one I got only 40 points and the opponent got like 12. So, I guess it is not that easy as you think. Maybe you are supposed to keep track on which of these unique tiles that have come out and which hasn’t.
That way, maybe you can plan ahead carefully. Well, I don’t really mind keeping track like that. I just wish that the sheet with list of tiles is not double sided so I can just place a cube to mark it. As it is, at best without marking the sheet itself, I can only count tiles with specific object.
So you have 3 scoring tiles and the opponent also got 3. Maybe all of them are all related to different objects. However, some tiles may have objects for both players. That means, enclosing one will do to both and both will get their score.
That part itself is not bad. Just things you need to consider to play well. Sometimes you have to just close them if you can get at least 1 more point than the opponent.
I think the bigger issue is when those tiles with specific object come out. With the idea of enclosing an area to score, you probably need one or two more steps to fully cut the area. So if they come out near the end, there is a chance you don’t have enough turns to do so.
One specific example is related to village and road. Usually if the tile shows part of the village, they might have a road you need to connect. In my last session, the opponent got the card to score those completed road, meaning connected to two villages. If those come out early, maybe you have the option to place but stuck with connecting road. Not exactly a deal breaker. Just something players have to be prepared.
Also, later in the game, you have more options to place but you might also more places to enclose. Sometimes you can get lucky getting tiles with fences and you can just enclose an area. Other times, you might end up getting more things to just keep expanding. Maybe even pushing you to make gaps that are impossible to fill.
As the game progresses, you will see more objects. Maybe you think you have enclosed some areas but when you check again, it is not enclosed completely. On the other hand, you can also accidentally enclose area that you don’t really want.
With that incorrect play, I did feel like the game is more relaxing. After playing with the correct rule, maybe not so much. Not that it becomes heavier, it’s just not as easy going as what I expect from a relaxing game.
Well, maybe it is not or I just haven’t figured it out how to play well.
Overall, I like tile laying games and I like this one. I guess I was hoping for something more relaxing. Somehow, in this one, between scoring for you and your opponent, it can feel a bit complicated. I have to focus on these objects or form but not those.
What if both me and the rival get scoring of something similar? Like I get the score for village and the opponent gets the scoring for roads. It feels like some combinations can hurt the experience instead of making it enjoyable.
Again, maybe I just need to play more. I still need to try the Standard scoring cards or even the Gold scoring cards. We’ll see.
Playing time was about 21 minutes per solo session.
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Fleet
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Win the bid to acquire fishing licenses and launch boats with captain to catch those sea life in Fleet.
More solo play of Fleet, the original card game. Still using just cards from the base game but solo mode of the Artic Bounty against Captain T.C. and Kirkman. I still forget about how to run the auction. Luckily, the first couple of rounds got the same result either way. I got very lucky in this one.
The way you are supposed to run auction is to keep asking the other players one by one whether they want to increase the bid ONCE or pass. You just keep asking all players until only one winner while the rest pass. Somehow I did differently by having like a “duel” with one player first until one gives up and the winner continue with the next player.
I also used the ADVANCED variant where you just shuffle a number of license cards for 3 players so the Premium one can come out early. The exception is for the first round no premium can be in auction.
Well, here is how it went.
1st ROUND. 2 Lobster and 1 Tuna Licenses.
The company’s maximum bid was 5 and all licenses had the minimum cost of 5 so I just bought one of them and I chose the LOBSTER. Captain T.C. bought the TUNA while Kirkman got the other LOBSTER.
Launched my first Lobster boat with a Captain and got 1st fish, 24 left. Both captain failed to launch anything. After drawing, I got 3 cards left in hand.
2nd ROUND. Shrimp, Cod and Fisherman’s Pub.
Maximum bid was 7 for the company. I bid the Shrimp first with just 4 coins. Unexpectedly, both Captain T.C. and Kirkman didn’t raise the bid so I got it. Captain T.C. then took the Cod license while Kirkman couldn’t afford the Premium license.
I had only 1 card left and it was not enough to launch a boat or hire captain. T.C. launched their first while Kirkman failed to launch again. Got 3 cards left in hand.
3rd ROUND. Fisherman’s Pub, Cod, Shrimp.
I decided to not bid at all and took 2 cards. T.C. took the Shrimp while Kirkman got the Cod.
I launched 2nd Lobster boat with the Captain. Got 4 fish so far, 21 left. Both competing captains failed to launch anything this turn. I had 4 cards left in hand.
4th ROUND. Fisherman’s Pub, Cod, Cod.
Their maximum bid was at 8. I bid for the Cod, started at 4. It seems T.C. chose not to bid. Kirkman raised the bid so I had to set at 6. After that, Kirkman passed and I got that license. Both Captains already had Cod license and they still couldn’t afford the Pub so they got nothing.
This time I launched first shrimp Boat with Captain. Got 7 fishes so far, 18 left. T.C. got their 2nd boat launched while Kirkman failed again. I had 3 cards left in hand worth 6.
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5th ROUND. Fisherman’s Pub, Cod, King Crab.
I chose not to bid any of them and just took 2 cards. The Captains already had Cod and they still couldn’t afford the 2 Premium yet. So, those 3 licenses were removed from the game.
I then launched my 4th boat, 2nd shrimp with a Captain. 10 Fishes so far, 15 left. T.C. got their 3rd boat while Kirkman finally launched his first boat.
I had 7 cards in hand now worth 12 coins.
6th ROUND. Processing Vessel, Fisherman’s Pub, Tuna.
Their maximum bid was still 9 so they couldn’t afford the premium yet. So, I started the bid for Processing Vessel with 5 coins. T.C. decided to pass but Kirkman raised it. Then I raised as well but Kirkman gave up. T.C. already had Tuna License so he got nothing while Kirkman got that Tuna.
Launched my 5th boat, 3rd Shrimp. Got 14 fishes, processed 2 of them, 11 left. T.C. launched their 4th while Kirkman failed to launched their 2nd.
I traded that processed fish for card and I had 7 cards in hand left, worth 13.
7th ROUND. Fisherman’s Pub, Cod, Processing Vessel.
Their maximum bid was at 11 and that premium was at 10. So, I decided to just buy that for 11 so no competition. T.C. then took the Processing Vessel while Kirkman got nothing.
Launched my 6th boat and this time Lobster again. 20 fishes so far, 5 were processed, 2 were spent, 5 left in the supply. T.C. got their 5th boat launched while Kirkman failed again for their 2nd.
I only had 5 cards left in hand worth 10.
8th ROUND. Cod, Shrimp, Lobster.
I already got all of them but decided to buy the Lobster. Bid started at 5. T.C. passed again but Kirkman raised it. After I raised my bid, Kirkman gave up. T.C. already had the 2 other licenses so he took nothing. Kirkman got their Shrimp license.
Well, I launched my 7th boat, shrimp again. I got 22 fishes on boats and nothing left in the supply. T.C. launched their 6th and Kirkman their 2nd.
That was the end of the game.
Got 22 points from the fish, 10 VP from launched Boats, 27 from Licenses. So final score was 59.
Kirkman got 6 from boats, 8 from fishes, 14 from licenses so 28. Captain T.C. got 10 from boats, 24 fishes, 14 from licenses so 48 points. I won but very lucky with T.C. kept giving up on every first bid.
Playing time was about 42 minutes.
Learn more about the game from Fleet Card Game Review.
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Jaipur
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Collect goods and sell them for better value and become the best trader in Jaipur.
Well, this was another 2-handed play between the guy as the first player and the lady as the 2nd. Here is how it went.
1st SESSION.
Both got 4 cards plus 1 Camel each. The market had 4 camels and 1 Purple goods.
The guy started first and had 1 Green, 1 Yellow and 2 Brown. He took the only goods there. Another purple showed up. The Lady then took it so she got 2 Purple, 2 Brown and a Yellow.
A Red now showed up. The guy had to take it. More purple coming for that one spot and the Lady got her 3rd Purple.
A Gold or the yellow now filled that space. The Guy took it as his second. After that, a Red showed up and the Lady took it as her first Red, 7th card.
Then the Green filled the market. The Guy finally decided to take all 4 Camels instead of that Green. Now the market had 2 Green, 1 Blue, 1 Gold and 1 Purple. The Lady then traded her 2 Browns for 4th Purple and 2nd Yellow.
Seeing those 2 browns dropped by the Lady, the Guy traded his Green and Purple for 3rd and 4th brown. First Sale from the Lady, 4 Purple for 13 coins plus bonus.
The Guy followed selling his 4 Brown for 9 coins with Bonus. With 3 cards left in hand, the Lady took the Blue.
Another Brown showed up in the market. The Guy aimed for the 3 Green so he deployed 3 Camels for them. Then the Lady took those Camels to her side.
A Red, 2nd Brown and 2nd Purple filled the market. Of course, the Guy took that 2nd Red, 7th card. Another Green showed up and the Lady just took it so the Guy didn’t get to sell 4.
More Blue coming to the market. The Guy’s hand was full so he sold his 3 Green for 11 with bonus. So, the Lady took that Blue as her 2nd.
Apparently, more blue coming and the Guy took it. More green for the Lady then, 7th card for her.
Blue again and the Guy took it as his 2nd. Finally, more Gold but the Lady’s hand was already full. So, she let go her 2 green to take 3rd Yellow or Gold and 1st Purple.
The Guy decided to sell his 2 Gold first for better value, 12 coins. While the Lady sold 3 for 15 with bonus.
4 cards in hand and the Guy took 1st Green. A Camel showed up. The Lady took 2nd Purple.
More Blue again and the Guy took it as his 3rd. The Market now had 3 Brown, a Green and Camel and the Lady took the Camel.
4 Brown and 1 Green in the market. The Guy took the only Green as his 7th in hand. It was replaced by a Camel and now the lady traded her 2 Purple and 2 Camels for 4 Brown.
The Guy decided not to take anything and instead sold his 3 Blue for 15 with a bonus. On the other side, the Lady sold her 4 Brown for 4 coins and a bonus.
The Guy now deployed his 2 camels for 2 Purple. Market was full with Camel and the Lady took them all.
1 Camel, 2 Brown, 1 Gold and 1 blue filled the fresh market. The Guy took the Blue since the Gold had no more buyer. It was replaced by a Red. The Lady decided to deploy 4 Camels to take 1 Yellow, 1 Red and 2 Brown.
The Guy sold 2 Reds for 14 while the Lady sold 2 Blues for 10. That was 2nd color to run out of demand.
The Guy didn’t want to take all Camels so he just sold 2 Purple for 3 coins. Finally, the Lady took all 5 Camels. Market was filled with 3 Green, 1 Red and 1 Purple.
The Guy took the Red while the Lady traded 1 Brown and 2 Camels for 3 Green. With that, the Guy didn’t want her to get the best value from green so he sold 2 Green for 4 coins. The Lady could have ended the game by selling 3 Green but she chose to sell 2 Reds first for 10 coins.
The Guy just took 2 Camels and the Lady ended the game with selling 3 Greens for 2 coins and a bonus. 8 Camels on Lady’s side and she got the 5 coins bonus.
Unfortunately, the Guy won with 76 while the Lady had only 75.
2nd SESSION.
Both had the same cards again, 4 in hand plus 1 Camel. The Market had 3 Camels with 1 Green and 1 Brown.
Since the Guy won previously, the Lady started first. She had 2 Brown, a Blue and Purple so she took 3rd Brown. Lucky for the Guy, a Red showed up and he took it.
Luck was also on her side as she took the Gold that just came in. Back with 1 Green and 1 Brown, the Guy took 2nd Green.
More luck for the Lady as she found a Yellow and Brown. Traded her Purple and her only Camel for those and she got full hand. The Guy gladly took 3rd Purple she just left.
First sale from the Lady, trading 4 Brown for 10 coins and bonus. The Guy also sold 3 Purple for 11 and bonus.
The Lady had no choice but to take all 5 Camels. Actually she had 2 Yellow but she decided to keep them. The market was then filled with 1 of 5 colors from the bottom. So, the guy traded his only brown and Camle for 1 Blue and 1 Yellow.
The Lady just took 1st Green, 4th card in hand. More Green and the Guy also took it as his 3rd Green, 7th in hand.
Green again. The Lady decided to take 1 Green, 1 Purple and 1 Brown for 3 Camels so she had full hand. 6 cards in hand and the guy took 1 Brown.
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More Brown coming and the Lady took back 4 camels from the market. A Green, a Blue, purple and a Camel filled the market. The Guy decided to just sell 3 Green for 11 plus bonus.
The Lady then let go her purple and brown for blue and 3rd Green. There were 2 Brown for 1 in Guy’s hand but he didn’t have any Camel so he just took 1. More Brown coming and the Lady sold 3 Green for 5 coins and bonus. The Guy took 3rd Brown for them, 6th card in hand.
It was replaced by a Blue and the Lady wanted to start collecting purple again. Traded 3 camels for 2 Purple and a Blue. The Guy got his 4th Brown. The Lady sold 3 Blue for 15 plus bonus. 4 Brown from the Guy for 4 coins plus bonus.
Then the Lady took 3rd Purple, 5th card in hand. Replaced by a Blue and the Guy got his 2nd Blue. More Red for the Lady. A Green showed up and the Guy took 4 Camels instead. 2 Purple, a Yellow and a Red filled the market.
The Lady let go 1 Purple and Camel for the 2 valuable ones. While the Guy gladly took 3 Purple for 3 Camels. 3 Gold were sold by the Lady for 17 plus bonus. While the Guy got 5 coins plus bonus for selling 3 Purple.
After that, the Lady took 4 Camels. A Red, yellow, blue and brown entered the market. The Guy only took 2nd Red for him. The Lady knew and took the chance to sell 2 Red first for 14 coins. Well, the Guy decided to wait and just took 2nd Yellow.
2 purple only in hand and the Lady took 1 Blue. More Yellow came out for the Guy to take as his 7th card. The Lady then took 2 Camels. More Red and Brown so the Guy decided to let go 2 Blue for 3rd Red and a Brown. I guess he could have saved one Blue.
The Lady then deployed 4 Camels for 2 Blue and 2 Green. After that, the Guy sold 2 Red for 10. Followed by the Lady selling 3 Blue for 10 plus bonus. The game ended after the Guy sold 3 Gold for 10 and no more bonus.
That was the end of this game and the Lady got 4 Camels while only 1 on the Guy. Final score was 69 for the Guy and 92 for the Lady. So, each got one win.
FINAL GAME.
The Guy started first and this time he got 5 goods in hand while the Lady had 1 Camel. A Purple and a Red in addition to the 3 Camels were available in the market.
Obviously, the Guy took the Red and he already got 2 Yellow. The Lady had 2 Purple, a yellow and a blue. She took 3rd Purple. More Red came out for the Guy to take. While for the Lady, more Blue.
With 1 Purple in hand and 2 in the market, the Guy traded their green and brown for those 2 Purples. While the Lady decided to take the 3 Camels.
First sale was those 3 Purple for 11 plus bonus. The Lady also had 3 Purple and she decided to trade them with 3 Greens in the market. Other than those 3, there were 2 Brown and the Guy took 1. More Green came out for the Lady to take.
Now market had 4 Purples and the guy took 2nd Brown. While 5th Green showed up but the Lady’s hand was already full so she decided to just sell 4 Green for 13 plus bonus.
The Guy gave up on collecting Brown and he traded them with 2 Purple. While the Lady with 3 cards in hand took 2 Purple and 2 Brown for 4 Camels.
The Guy then took those 4 Camels. 2 more Brown, a Purple and Blue came out. So, the Lady let go the 2 Purple for 3rd Brown and 3rd Blue.
The Guy sold 2 Reds for 14. Followed by the lady with 3 Blue for 15 plus bonus. After that, the Guy took 3 Purple using Camels and now he had 5 of them. Instead of taking 4th Brown, the Lady took back 3 Camels.
2 more brown and a Camel entered. The Guy sold 5 Purple for only 6 plus bonus. The Lady deployed back the 3 Camels for 2 Brown and 1 Green.
4 Camels were taken by the Guy. Apparently a yellow, red, brown and Camel showed up. Instead of selling 5 Brown, the Lady had to trade 1 brown and 1 green for those 2 valuables.
Then the Guy took 3 Brown using Camels. The Lady decided to sell first, 4 brown for 10 plus bonus. Followed by the Guy selling 3 Brown for 3 coins and bonus. 4 Camels were taken by the Lady, replaced by 1 yellow, 1 blue, 1 brown and 1 camel.
The Guy deployed 2 camels for 3rd Yellow and 1 Blue. With that, the Lady sold her 2 Gold first for 12 coin. The Guy followed with 3 gold for 15 plus bonus. 3 Camels went to the Lady, replaced by 1 Camel, 1 Brown and 1 Red.
So, the Guy gladly took the 1 Red as their 2nd card in hand. More red showed up and the Lady deployed 4 camels for 2 Brown, 2nd red and 1 Green.
Market was full with Camel and the Guy had to take them. They were replaced by 1 yellow, 2 green, a camel and a blue. Yellow was already useless. The Lady decided to trade 2 brown for 2nd and 3rd Green.
Th Guy got their 2nd Blue and more blue came out. Selling those 2 Blues would have ended the game so the lady had no choice but to sell Reds now for 10. The Guy then ended the game by selling 2 Blue for 10.
5 Camels for the Guy vs 3 for the Lady so the Guy won the bonus. 78 points for the Guy and 73 for the Lady. That was close but the Guy won 2 out of 3.
Playing time was about 90 minutes for 3 sessions.
Learn more about the game from Jaipur Card Game Review.
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Final Girl: Madness in the Dark
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Veronica found herself waking up in what appears to be an operation room. She remembered that she got fainted while visiting the Wolfe Asylum, trying to investigate weird rumor that had been happening here. Lucky for her, she woke up before anybody did something to her.
In another room of that asylum, known as the Common room. The head lady who run the place, was receiving new patients, 4 of them. She was actually accompanied by two existing patients. “This way to the orientation room, please.” said her to the new patients.
Veronica remembered what she was trying to do and began to regain her focus. Maybe she was drugs so it was kind of hard for her to do anything else.
“ALL HAIL TO THE MASTER!”
The head lady ordered the two older patients to bring Veronica into that room. So, the two left the Common room from the north door. Before doing so, the two shouted “ALL HAIL TO THE NEW MASTER!” very loudly.
It was like an announcement to the entire Asylum. All of the existing patients in all other rooms began approaching the Common hall. After the 2 left, it appeared that the head lady began a ritual…
She started murdering 3 patients. The last one got panic and run away to the east hallway while screaming.
After hearing that noise, Veronica began moving. She opened the door on the right and got her to an exit. Veronica kept moving to the other door, back to the west hallway. Nobody was there. She continued sprinting south and found a patient. While dragging along that patient, she continued moving south and found another patient. In that room, she knew the next room was the entrance.
The two “MINIONS” kept moving towards the operation room thinking Veronica was still there. While the crazy Ratchet Lady, realizing that nobody else was in the common room, started moving out. There were a lot of noise from the east hallway so she got out there. 5 patients were there and she began talking to them.
“JOIN US OR DIE!”
The Ratchet Lady killed one of the patients there and the other 4 got panic. Two of them run to the UTILITY CLOSET, one to the Confinement and the last one got to the Common room.
Veronica, still with 2 patients in the room next to the lobby was still trying to open the locked door to the lobby. With some Improvisation and Focus, she opened that door. The 3 got into the lobby and Veronica told the two to run away from this location.
After sending them off, Veronica continued moving. Instead of going back to where they came from, she continued to the east. She found herself in a Medical Storage. After a bit of searching what could be used, she got a TRANQUILIZER GUN. But she also found something else, 2 pills.
Based on the way it was stored, it didn’t look like just any other drugs. There was a note about the effect along with them. According to those notes, those pills are beneficial. You can consume more and may double the effect but also with some random side effects. So, Veronica, kept them just in case.
Veronica stayed in that room and began some planning. She took the gun and put it in her hand.
The two minions finally arrived in the operation room and realized that Veronica was no longer there. So, the two started pursuing her but they were moving very slow, still in the west hallway.
The Ratchet Lady herself found no more victim in that east hallway. Apparently, she started drinking the blood of the patient she just killed.
She gained BLOOD JOLT, like gaining a superpower, making a very loud noise. Even Veronica heard that and got scared. “This makes me live longer!” said the Ratchet Lady.
After she finished with her plan, Veronica moved back from Medical Storage towards the entrance. But in the room between the 2 she heard a couple of voices from patients behind the other door. She opened and found 3 patients there.
Veronica tried to drag them to the entrance so they could get away. Only two of them followed while the 3rd was a bit scared. After telling the 2 to proceed to the entrance, she got back to that hallway to drag the 3rd and closed the door behind him.
That 3rd one was still very reluctant while the 2 were waiting in the lobby. Veronica then left the 3rd patient in the room before the lobby and just convinced the other 2 to run away from the premises. Veronica then began rethinking about her plan.
The 2 minions kept approaching Veronica and now they were 2 rooms away while Ratchet Lady was still enjoying the blood from previous victims. She was crazy but she still had brains to analyze her next target. There were 4 targets in adjacent rooms. That inspired her to chase them and somehow got her more powerful.
“FUELED BY MADNESS”
Her first move was to the north, the Utility Closet with 2 patients there. She entered the room and immediately killed one of them. The other one got panic and went to the northeast exit.
That 5th victim seemed to awaken this crazy lady’s DARK POWER, SHIELD OF MADNESS. “No one can hurt me while I still have my Maniacs!” said the lady very loudly.
Veronica, in the lobby, heard there were 2 coming after her from the west wing. Since they were slow, Veronica thought they were just patients. Well, they looked like other patients but got their eyes locked to her.
Veronica was not sure what to do. After a bit of improvisation and distraction, she decided to CALM these 2. She succeeded and told them to go to the entrance and run. They didn’t listen and chose to stick with her.
To the left of where they were, Veronica noticed a Doctor Office. She decided to search for anything useful. She entered and the 2 patients followed. Veronica decided to take a rest and got herself to focus on what she should do next.
The Ratchet Lady became crazier after her 5 kills. She thought her minions were still on her side and began talking loudly through speaker. “KEEP HER BUSY…”. She then continued with her next victim. Between the one in each room adjacent to the Utility Closet, she decided to chase the one in the northeast exit and she got her 6th kill.
Veronica with the 2 patients began searching for things in the Doctor Office. She found another pill, similar one as before. She also found an ADRENALINE SHOT and kept it in her hand.
The 2 patients became very scared. Veronica decided to just send them off from this building so they were safe and stop bothering her. Veronica began with her planning again in the lobby.
The Ratchet Lady continued chasing her next prey. From the northeast exit, she got herself to the north hallway, found and killed her next victim. Not satisfied enough, she moved again, reentering the Common Room. Another victim was there and got killed as well.
These were enough for her to reach the maximum Bloodlust level, “BLOODLETTING”.
Veronica was still curious on finding an answer in that Doctor Office. After all, maybe that was where this crazy lady kept her secret. So, she went back to that office. When she got to the room between the office and the Common Room, she noticed that the door to the Common room was opened.
Veronica finally got to witness what she was facing, still enjoying the blood of the patient she just killed. Without thinking too much, Veronica pointed the gun in her hand to that crazy killer and took the shot. The Ratchet Lady was hurt and stunned.
Veronica was scared and decided to get to the office again. After closing the door, she began searching again. She didn’t find anything important but she found HOOK HANDLED BONE HAMMER. Realizing that the gun wouldn’t be enough to beat the crazy lady, she took it in her backpack.
Veronica decided to stay in that office and gathered her focus. Maybe she had a chance to just beat the lady.
While thinking that, she heard some noises. It sounded like some people just entered the buildings. At first, maybe some help finally arrived. However, she suddenly heard people screaming coming from those exits. Veronica realized that those were Maniacs, the same as before, not from sane people.
Not only there were 3 coming after Veronica, those Maniacs also managed to affect two more patients to become Maniacs as well. So, there were 5 and they got panic. 3 of them were now 2 rooms away from where Veronica was. “MARCH OF THE MANIACS”
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Veronica knew they were close. She also just realized that she was injured. So, instead of getting panic, she took some rest. Veronica reminded herself that she managed to calm these patients before so she could do it again. So, she just waited until they were closer. In fact, she made some distraction to get them closer. And they did, one room away from her with the other 2 were still far away.
“WHERE DID EVERYONE GO?”
The question from the Ratchet Lady after she got recovered from the Stun gun effect. Well, she made a very loud noise again. As crazy as she was, in that Common Room, she managed to create traps so anybody coming in will get injured. “WELCOME TO THE MADHOUSE!” said her.
Veronica was still in the Doctor Office with 3 Maniacs in the next room. She began talking to them and somehow managed to turn madness out of 2 of them. There was still one more but that was enough for Veronica to convince the 2 sane ones to follow her.
Veronica told them to exit from the lobby. One of them agreed while the other decided to stay and wait for Veronica. Veronica left her there and kept moving to the room between the south and east hallway. She had to deal with these Maniacs anyway, according to the notes she found in the office about how to beat the crazy lady. Then, she heard something.
“SCREAMING IN THE DARK”
That was no ordinary scream from the Ratchet Lady. That crazy lady herself didn’t move from the Common Room but the screamed turned 2 of 3 last victims into Maniacs. Not only that, all Maniacs began moving faster. All 5 of them now managed to surround Veronica.
“IT’S RAINING MANIACS!”. This time, the Maniacs started to be more aggressive towards Veronica and potentially injuring her.
No way Veronica could handle and save all of these 5 without herself getting hurt. Her body began to move and attack one of them. It was a Weak Attack but she put one of them down.
Veronica got mad that she had to get into this situation but realized she had no choice. Her next FURIOUS ATTACK put two more down so there were 2 left. Veronica managed to calm herself and those 2 Maniacs instead of beating them.
She still had that Tranquilizer Gun in her hand so she decided to take a shot again to that Ratchet Lady outside from the Common Room. Veronica was still able to move so she brought those 2 patients to the Lobby so they could get out. Then she went back, planning how to beat the crazy lady.
2 more Minions appeared in that Common Room with the Ratchet Lady while this killer herself didn’t move and just recovered from the gun. Veronica was prepared for this and managed to immediately calm the 2 Maniacs.
Veronica then got into the Common Room, injured from the trap. She put that Hammer in both of her hands and began dealing CRITICAL BLOW. 5 damage was dealt to the Ratchet Lady. She was down but not done.
Veronica took a short rest and regained her Focus. Since she felt she was not strong enough, she thought she needed to find another way. That was when she remembered about the PILLS.
She consumed 3 pills, one of each color. First effect got her RABID FURY, ready to deal Furious Attack but there were 3 side effects. One of them was nothing. The 2nd one was PARALYZATION made her unable to move.
The Ratchet Lady stood up again and brought along 2 more Maniacs. Then she killed one of the victims there. The last victim got panic and got out from that Common room from the west door.
Veronica was ready to calm the 2 Maniacs that just came. After that, she began her FURIOUS ATTACK to the Ratchet Lady, dealing 4 damage. Veronica knew that was not enough so she forced herself to do even just Weak Attack dealing 3 damage.
The Ratchet Lady went down. Veronica thought she won until she saw the Ratchet Lady stood up again. Even still, Veronica didn’t lose hope as she saw that the killer was no longer as lively as before.
Unfortunately, that was not stopping the Lady from killing one of 2 patients in that room while bringing in more Maniacs. The other patient run away again from that room.
All Veronica needed to do was to repeat the same plan. She first calmed the 2 Maniacs. Then with that Hammer still in her hand, she did CRITICAL BLOW to the Ratchet Lady. 5 damage again and this time the Ratchet Lady was finally down for good.
Playing time was about 129 minutes.
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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.