Review: Coup: Rebellion G54

Coup: Rebellion G54

Players: 3 – 6

Publisher: Indie Boards & Cards

Year: 2014

Coup: Rebellion G54

Rebels and traitors are indeed some of the most famous aspects of science fiction stories. That stories borrow or steal from another is well-known. However, some stories may even appear so similar that it’s hard to tell them apart. While it could be said that coup and coup: Rebellion G54 are similar, after all the use the same mechanics and share the same universe, they are different enough to justify their own reviews. I won’t be pointing out similarities, as these will be reserved for another post.

In Coup: Rebellion G54 every player is dealt two cards face-down. These are referred to as influence. On each of these cards is a role, which would allow you to act out certain actions. For example, you could acquire more money or acquire protection. There’s also two general actions, which can be done regardless of which role you have: acquiring one coin income or paying seven coins and putting a coup on someone. On your turn, you play an action. This could be one of the general actions, one of the actions on your cards, or an action on a card that you claim to have. Whether you have the card face-down in front of you, or not, is irrelevant, as long as no one challenges your claim, you are allowed to carry out the action. The explanations of the roles can be placed in the middle of the table, so that everyone can read it. The game continues until there’s one player left. The box also contains coins, with a value of 1 or 3. In the box are also dividers, so you can easily find the appropriate cards.

Of course there’s danger to this, as people can challenge your claims. You could demand money from another player, but some cards can be countered by the same role, which they could claim to have. So you, or they, could potentially be lying. Here’s where the catch some is, because these claims can be challenged. In that case the player that is challenged, has to prove they have the card they claim to have. If the player indeed has the card they claimed to have, the challenging player loses one life. If the challenged player doesn’t have the card that they claim to have, the challenged player loses a life.

This game is easy to teach, easy to carry and easy to set up. Great for vacation or on the go. The game can also be played with large groups, which is a benefit as well. One of the reasons why this game is so easy to teach, is because the roles only interact with the other cards of the same role. So only a ‘guerilla’ can counter a ‘guerilla’ or only a ‘politician’ can counter a ‘politician’. This makes it easy to explain. A game is resolved fast, so if you’re eliminated, a new game will be starting soon. Usually we let the player that’s eliminated first look for a role to be swapped during the next game. The cards are also the regular size and can be sleeved. There are 25 roles, so the game can easily be adapted. You can tailor the game for your personal tastes. Some roles allow you to quickly acquire money or trade several cards, but these can be swapped for others that might push for a slower growth or less trading of cards.

A downside is that the box is so big. The box is huge, while the game is little more than a stack of cards. It might give some wrong expectations. Our game is also not kept in the original box. The many roles can also serve as a bit of a determent, as new people might need to adapt to the new roles (and new opportunities they bring). While I don’t perceive it as a negative, luck and bluffing plays a role in these games, so not all players might like it.

The same contents, but from a different angle

The box, the dividers and a card

Everything together, this game is fast, social and a lot of fun! It’s highly recommended! While we may not play it as often as we’d like, every time it hits the table it’s a lot of fun and a hit with every group. While the chances of your rebellion might be uncertain, you’re guaranteed to have a lot of fun.

Review: The Cards of Cthuhu

The Cards of Cthulhu

Players: 1 – 4

Publisher: Dan Verssen Games

Year: 2014

Imagine a world where dark forces are actively trying to bring about the destruction of humanity. They have unlimited resources at their disposal. To prevent their dark dreams from becoming reality, there’s only you, and perhaps a few allies or trinkets. You are all that stands in the way of eternal damnation. Those odds don’t look very good, do they? However, it captures the gist of The Cards of Ctulhu.

Set up and ready to play!

In this game you’re an investigator trying to stop an invasion by not one, but four elder gods as they try to take over the earth. Each of these gods, and their cultists, is competing with another to take over the world. Every turn you draw four cards, place them on the appropriate board and try to stop the cultists from awakening their gods. The goal of the game is to stop the gods from awakening before the deck runs out. The gods awaken if at the end of a turn a single god has five or more minions. The drawing of cards can be influenced by open gates on the board or other cards. Minions are needed to summon the god, but they can’t be attacked directly if there are awake Horrors on the board. 

A horror is about to wake up!

While the rules might seem simple, this game is really hard. The actions you have every turn are limited and there’s always several places where you need to be, while you can only be present in one location. It’s as if there’s a whole house on fire, but you and the fire extinguisher can only save one room at a time. Besides that, the cults will slowly whittle away your sanity as you try to stop them. Open gates allow monsters to pour into reality. Expect to lose a lot of games. You can have luck and acquire the perfect card at the precise moment you need it, or you can watch all the good equipment pass by at the wrong moment and be left with little more than your fists to stop nightmares-turned-flesh from wreaking havoc. Expecting an easy turn, but then drawing two gates can really put a damper on your plans.

Or three in this case...

What I like about this game, is that it’s co-op! It can be played solo, but I like games where people have to work together towards a common goal. This can be quite stressful, as you have no idea what turns up next and people might have different ideas about how to solve current crisis. However, it also has benefits as you have more tools and abilities at your disposal to stop the invasion. Other than that it’s easy to learn and quick to set-up. Besides that, the components are really nice. The metal experience coins are well made! The theme also suits the mechanics really well. It feels as if you’re trying to stop a tidal wave of monsters from overtaking our reality.

Of course this game is influenced by luck. You can have a walk in the park if the right cards come up at the right moment. On the other hand, you can easily lose, despite all your best intentions, because the cards weren’t stacked in your favor. Although the metal coins are nice, at some moments there might not appear to be enough, especially when you’re playing with more than just one player. Another minor drawback is that some of the flavor texts at the bottom of cards don’t really blend well together. Some try to be humoristic, while others appear to be gloomy or serious.

Overall, I would highly recommend this game. Luck plays a huge part in this game, as it determines what choices you have to make and where you need to be.  However, the experience is well worth it.

Review: Warfighter: The WWII Tactical Combat Card Game

Warfighter

Players: 1-6

Publisher: Dan Verssen Games

Year: 2016

An immensely popular period in media is the Second World War. Besides countless books, there are many movies and videogames coming out. In this review, we’ll deal with a different sort of medium, a boardgame: Warfighter: The WWII Tactical Combat Card Game.

The game is suited for one to six players and allows the players to lead a squad of soldiers in combat. The game is divided in two halves, one regarding the preparation for the mission and the other one carrying out the mission. The base game allows players to play as the Americans against the Germans. People play together on the same team to fulfill the mission.

The first part consists of selecting the soldiers and their equipment for the mission. Often this is up to the player, but some missions and objectives can impose certain restrictions on load-out and/or equipment. A mission that will take longer needs to be prepared in a different way than a mission that is resolved in a few turns. The points can be used to buy special equipment, such as weapons or tools, but also skills that can be used. Some skills even allow the player to spend more points on equipment, as they have certain detrimental effects. Part of the fun of this game consists of gearing up your soldiers for battle. Bringing more soldiers might seem beneficial, but you also need to take care of them, as in moving them forward and if they die they influence your remaining soldiers. Will you take a medic or would you rather spend the points on a sniper rifle? The bazooka is fun, but the grease gun also looks interesting. Certain choices will need to be made and these will impact your options during the mission.

               As soon as your team is ready, the second half can start. A turn plays out as follows: the player has a limited amount of action points that can be spent on the soldiers. These points can be used for combat, moving, reloading or other actions. Combat often consists of shooting, where enemies can be killed, suppressed or missed. The chances of suppressing the enemy are significantly greater than killing, or missing, them and this is vital to the game. Suppressed enemies pose a smaller risk than unsuppressed enemies, because they are hiding from your bullets. Unsuppressed enemies often results in wounded or killed soldiers. After it the enemy’s turn is resolved. They get reinforcements, attack their designated targets and try to get closer. Lastly a suppressed counter is removed and the mission timer is advanced by one.

The Set-Up help 

The turn and attac ksequence help

What I like about this game is that it’s co-op. There’s a huge narrative element in the game and it feels as if you are playing out a movie or videogame where a squad of American soldiers saves the day at the last moment. There are several interesting mechanics as well. The main drawback is, for me, the rulebook. There are many processes, rules, exception in this game. The rules are not always easy to grasp and they can be a bit confusing. A list of keywords is supplied, so a lot of cross-referencing will be done to check if everything is correct or to clarify the rules. On the board there are several reminders and helps to smoothen the gameplay.

On the other hand, it’s admirable how the creators managed to create such a rich game as this. There are so many options to choose from! There's plenty of weapons, soldiers, skills and other equipment to equip your soldiers with. The game can be played solo, which is a benefit as well. Everything together, this game feels like a videogame or movie and it’s suitable for people that prefer playing a boardgame above watching a movie. Grab a few friends, a few drinks and play this game.

Review: Star Realms: Crisis - Bases and Battleships

Review of Bases and Battleships, Star Realms Expansion

Star Realms – Crisis: Bases and Battleships
Release: 2015

As I have already reviewed Star Realms before, I will not be going over the mechanics of the game. Instead I will look at the cards involved and examine them in detail as well as how they change the game.

 

The cards in the expansion

12 cards are acquired in this expansion, divided into 8 cards. These provide no new mechanics into the game, as some other expansions (such as heroes, events or gambits) do. This expansion is heavy on ships and light on bases. Another expansion, Fleets and Fortresses, provides more unique bases.

The cards included are:

Trade Raft (TF ship (2))
In itself not very special, but can be useful in certain circumstances. The ability to scrap it for another coin make this a sort of ‘throw-away’ card. If you have unspent trade (coin) at the end of your turn, you can buy this one.

Defense Bot (MC ship (2))
This card is good. It allows you to scrap and if you have enough bases, it becomes a strong attacker as well.

Fighter Base (SE base (2))
Another outpost, which is nice and it can force your opponent to discard a card. Not the first choice, but in a yellow (Star Empire) deck, this can be a part of a powerful combo.

Trade Wheel (Blob base (2))

It provides a single coin and if you have more Blobs, you gain attack points as well. It’s a nice addition and a good alternative to the Blob Wheel.

Imperial Trader (SE Ship (1))

An excellent ship, and basically an upgraded Survey Ship. It has decent attack skills.

Mega Mech (MC ship (1))

This one’s interesting, as it could provide unique mechanics. A base is returned to it’s owner’s hand. This provides interesting examples, when for instance combined with bases that allow people to draw cards. It can also be used to lift an opponent’s outpost and then allow a direct attack on them.

Construction Hauler (TF ship (1))

A ship that serves similar to the Freighter, but then for bases. The base that you acquire is directly put into play, serving as a nice way to build up defenses fast.

Obliterator (Blob ship (1))

A decent attacker that grows more powerful if you opponent has two or more bases.

How do these cards change the game?

This expansion can be added in it’s entirety to the base game. No cards need to be taken out, although of course this can be done according to the players wishes. As stated before, no new mechanics are implemented. Some reviewers describe it as ‘more of the same, but different’, which I can understand and partially agree with. Compared to the other expansions, it doesn’t provide radically new mechanics. However, it could serve as a way to turn one-sided battles. Overall, the shift is made towards a more base-heavy playstyle. This could also potentially make the game more defensive, considering how fast people can build bases. The three of the ships involved have abilities directly tied to how many bases you or your opponent has. Another card has abilities allowing the player to put bases immediately into play. In my personal experience, it seems to make the game slightly longer as people can put up more defenses. Of course, the tools to dismantle these defenses are also provided. Regardless, it’s great to have more variety in cards and they serve as a great expansion to the base game.