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.

Review: Star Realms

Star Realms Review

Players: 2

Publisher: White Wizard Games

Year: 2014

Deckbuilding games are played for quite some time. One of the most popular games in this genre, is Star Realms, released by White Wizard Games. Read the review to understand a bit about why it’s so popular.

Part of the game, the traderow at the top and the personal cards at the bottom.

Star Realms puts you in charge of a small fleet and your goal is to annihilate your opponent. A turn consists of playing your cards and acquire new ships or bases or dealing damage to your opponent. The trick is to scrap unwanted cards, so that the good cards come by frequently.

The space ships generate trade (coins), authority (life), or combat (damage). The bases do the same, but remain in play, while the ships go to the discard pile at the end of the turn. The bases and ships are divided across four factions: the Trade Federation (blue), the Blobs (green), the Star Empire (yellow), or the Machine Cult (red). A turn will consist of playing the cards in your hand, spending the trade on preferred ships and/or bases, and dealing damage to your opponent. The ships or bases that can be bought are laid out in the traderow.

The game is swift and brutal. Sometimes matches can be unbalanced, due to a couple of bad draws or because no suitable ships are in the traderow. Matches can be battles of attrition or curbstomping victories. We have played battles where the victor had 75 authority remaining, while others were won with just one life left. The luck of the draw has a huge influence. However, because it’s so fast, a new game can quickly be played.

What I like about this game is that it has a huge community. There’s even an app where people can play online. The physical game is cheap and portable! Expansions to tweak the game are available for a small price. While they are not mandatory, it’s nice to have the option. Even better is that it can be taught to others easily and so new players are quickly to grasp the game. Also, the game involves a lot of strategy. You need to manage your own deck, keep an eye on the cards in the trade row and make the maximum use of the cards in your hand. The game fits together nicely.

A downside is that the starting set is only playable with two players. Three or four would have been nice, but another set (or another expansion) is necessary for this. However, the game can be played with more people with a few rule modifications. Sleeves for the cards are recommendable. You’ll be doing quite a lot of shuffling and it detracts from the game if cards become marked. The biggest detractor to me personally are the authority cards. There are 18 of them, numbered 20, 10, 5, 1. They are unwieldy and take up a lot of space, which could have been used better in my opinion. However, many solutions are available.

Overall, I like this game a lot, because it’s so quick and easy to learn, while still being complex enough to remain interesting. It’s a small game that remains interesting. Although our deck has gone through a dozen of play already, it will go on to play quite a lot more.

Mechanics review: Dead of night, the Long Winter

Review the Long Night

As I have reviewed Dead of Winter before here, I will not go into depth about the gameplay and the components, which are largely similar. Rather I will discuss a few mechanics and how they change the game. Let’s start minor changes, then the bandits, followed by the Raxxon institution and finally a few thoughts.

There are a few minor tweaks, such as explosive traps and despair, which change the game slightly, but not dramatically. Despair tokens serve as an alternative to physical wounds and symbolize mental injuries, while the explosive traps can take out zombies. Improvements can change the base of the survivors, which can help with morale or managing zombies. Helpless survivors can become unruly, which means they require more food. Starting players can be determined, rather than passing the first player token along. Overall, they are nice and add a set of options or complications to the game. However, the game can also be played without them.

Bandits:

The bad guys. The stands all look the same and now they have their own hide-out. Like the survivors, they search places and take up the limited available spaces, while sometimes they may attack the players or the colony if they want something. Their location can be visited and their supplies stolen at a risk. At least you know what you are getting, so it’s a choice to make. The exiled player can also become the leader of the bandits.

Raxxon:

The Raxxon module allows two things. First of special, horrible, zombies can be released, while at the same time also new powerful weapons or modifications can be acquired. These powerful zombies have their own distinctive themes and attacks, as well as special stories behind them. These beasts are tough to kill as well. The zombies can be contained with dice, but it if you are playing with a just a few players, this can be quite a burden on the group. On the other hand, the rewards that can be gained at Raxxon will turn your timid survivor into familiar heroes from videogames. Special weapons and addition upgrades, such as pills, can be gained there. The trade-off seems fair to me.

So what are my thoughts? Well, the game is nice and it certainly is good to have more options. The improvements and minor tweaks are welcome additions to the game and can easily be implemented. The Raxxon module is my favorite for what it adds to the game. The bandits are an okay addition, but they can just as easily be ignored and make no difference on gameplay. However, that’s just my opinion. Overall, the game can easily be played without the modules, which leaves me in favor of Dead of Winter, which represents the physical struggle and the post-apoc drama that is featured in movies. The Long Night seems to be more of a videogame, such as Resident Evil or Left for Dead, with end-bosses and special powers that you can acquire. Both games are still brutal and great fun. Personally, I’m more in favor of Dead of Winter, due to the realism, but the additions of improvements.

Review: Dead of Winter

Dead of Winter

Players: 2-5

Publisher: Plaid Hat Games

Year: 2014

Series like The Walking Dead and the comics it originated from are hugely popular. After it many more zombie series spawned, and zombies are still hugely popular in videogames and board games. Dead of Winter shares the zombie theme with many other board games, but does it rise to the challenges of so many competing games or will it join the undead masses of forgotten zombie games?

Dead of Winter has a lot going on. You and your fellow players are in charge of a group of survivors and need to complete a certain scenario within a certain amount of time in order to win. Managing the colony is not easy, as you need to prevent it from being overrun, feed your survivors and acquire more supplies. You also fight against zombies and need to keep an eye on your personal objective and the mission. Supplies can be gathered from one of the locations surrounding the colony.

Here’s the catch, there’s a potential traitor in the game. There is the possibility that someone has a potential mission that forces them to attempt to destroy the colony, rather than save it. When personal objectives are assigned, there is the option of including traitor cards, which could be dealt out. However, because not all cards are handed out, you are not sure if there really is a traitor. It adds a nice touch to the game, as you watch other players during their turns, to see what happens and try to discover the potential traitor. 

A unique mechanic in this game is the crossroads mechanism. During your turn, another player draws a card and if the conditions on the card are met, your turn stops and the card is read out. This can be the sudden arrival of a new survivor, the potential to save some extra supplies or a nasty attack by a zombie. These cards really add flavor to the game.

This game really bursts with flavor. Every game you play feels like a story that is unfolding before your eyes. Together with the others, you are participants in season or episode of The Walking Dead. The characters have their own personalities, reinforced by the Crossroad Cards. A particularly interesting one is the drunkard in the Santa Costume. The Crossroads and the traitor add interesting mechanics to the game and it adds much more excitement to each turn.

While this might not entirely be fair judgement, I feel that it should be said. This game has a huge learning curve. After the first trial game, two or three more are needed, before people finally grasp the full potential of the game. That said, when it has been grasped, it can be a very rewarding experience. The dicerolls can also be quite harsh, because you need to roll in several cases. Characters die off quickly, but new ones can be gained through time.

This game packs a lot. It’s great, however, the learning curve is steep and this game is not intended for casual games. If you can find the time to teach it to people and play a few games, you will have a great time.

Review: Lift Off

The box

Lift Off

Players: 2-4

Publisher: Queen Games

Year: 2000

Action games are centered around action during the gameplay. Strategy games are all about the plan that the players have. This German game combines these two aspects. Let’s see how these two elements play out.

Several cards

The gameplay revolves around preparing missions for the colonization of several players. First there is the ‘preparing’ phase and then the ‘settling’ phase. Five in the case of two or four players or six in the case of three players. Players play their cards simultaneously in a certain order. Blue cards must be played first, these are preparations for the mission. Then a yellow lift off card needs to be played, which launches the space ship. Finally, the red cards can be played, which are the results of the preparations. Players draw a card and assign these facedown to one of the five/six planets or discard them by putting them aside and not using them again or placing them at the bottom of their deck. Then they draw a new card and assign this to a certain planet or discard it. This continues until a players deck runs out and everyone quits playing. The game moves on to the second phase, where the missions take off and points can be scored. Planets give various points when they are colonized or mined.

Three player set-up

 Some of the planets that can be contested

Here the order of cards is important, as illegal cards are removed from play. For instance, playing a red card before the yellow lift off card, where only blue cards are allowed, removes that red card. Colonization attempts on planets that have no yellow lift off card are immediately invalid, and thus no points can be scored. Points can be won, either by colonizing a certain planet or by resources from it. Then all cards are shuffled again and a new round is played. The scores carry over and after three rounds, a person with the most points is declared winner.

However, that’s not all, as certain cards allow special abilities. There’s a red card that allows you to steal a blue card from the opponent, while there is also a blue card that specifically prevents beforementioned red card stealing from you.

What I like about this game is that there’s a certain tension. Do you play as fast as possible, denying your opponents the chance to plan out their turn accordingly and have the benefit of forcing them to quit preparing, even though they might have several cards left. Or do you plan properly and accept the risk that you can’t play all your cards? Putting your cards back on the bottom of your deck means they come back later, but do you really want this? Do you focus on all the planets or is there a specific one or two where you need to win? It’s refreshingly complex and plays fast.

The bottom half  of the box sliding into the top part

It’s a bit strange that only two score cards are supplied, while the game can be played with four players. The box also is much bigger than necessary and the bottom half tends to slide into the top part. These are not huge detractions, but they feel a bit weird. Also, there’s a huge benefit if you are the first to have finished your deck. While it’s understandable, it may yield to someone basically throwing their cards down one after another and then hoping they have won.

The verdict? This game is fast and enjoyable. It’s complex and there’s a certain amount of strategy, but it’s not overly complex. It’s a welcome addition to every collection, but not a necessity.