Short game reviews
ghost:
So because of COVID we have played an absolute shit ton of games. Here are a couple of short reviews of a couple of games, maybe to help people that might be on the fence about a particular game.
1. Whistle Mountain- this is a worker placement game with varying sized "workers", which are stylized as blimps and dirigibles. The theming of the game is that you are building some sort of contraption in middle of a mountain range and, as you do so, you are causing the water to rise. It's really a whacky, strange theme, and one that I don't mind, but also don't really get. There are traditional worker placement style areas around the board in which you can dock your dirigibles and take the action, sometimes at a cost. There are cards you can get, and play, and these can give you resources or alter where you can place your blimps. The interesting part of the game is the central area where you are building scaffolding and "machines", i.e. variable worker placement action spots that are available to all players, on a grid. First you have to build a scaffolding to accept the machine, then, if the machine is of the right size, you can place it on the scaffolding. The building action in this game is interesting, because at base level, it only occurs once you have all of your blimps, or workers, out on the board. For the retrieval step, you will take back your blimps and also do up to three build actions, with either scaffolding or machines. So, it is similar to the Charterstone retrieval step but you actually get to do something, instead of losing your turn. Using the machines and placing blimps in the scaffolding area is where the size of the worker comes into play. You can either place a blimp on a machine, in which case it has to fit onto the machine, or you can place it next to the scaffolding. Either way you can take the resources that are next to your blimp on the scaffolding, or take the action of the machines that your blimp is on or next to. There are also meeples that are waiting in the wings to be put on the scaffolding to help build the machines, and if they help build a machine you "promote them" to obtain victory points at the end of the game. There are also variable upgrade powers you can get to alter rules of the game, and everyone starts with a starting variable power.
I have to say that I really, really like this game. Worker placement has been about worn out, and I haven't really seen a game that is this unique that uses the worker placement mechanic in quite a while. The board is really striking and the pieces are nice. The graphic design is excellent, although overall it could have used a little bit of an art upgrade. This is a difficult game to explain in words, but if you like euro style worker placement games, I would enthusiastically recommend this one.
2. Bruges- this is a Stephan Feld game that I have been sitting on for a while. It is a card based game, with all of the actions being driven through the cards. Each round you start with a hand of five cards that allow you to take 6 different actions. Basically, each round you roll some dice of the different colors in the game (yellow, turquoise, purple, red, blue) which correspond to the colors of the cards, which are essentially suits. These dice will dictate the value of the actions for the different card suits each game. There are generic actions you can take with the cards, such as build a canal, get money based on the dice roll, get meeple workers based on the card color, remove "threat" tokens (a weird mechanic where you accumulate tokens that might damage you if you get three of them), build a "house" (put a card in front of you facedown in preparation for buying a card, so that you can use its special power), or buy the card and play it into your tableau on top of a previously constructed house (thus giving you access to places to use your worker meeples that you accumulate or other special powers as written on the cards). While a euro at heart, this is not really a worker placement game. There is almost no way to interact with your opponent in this game, other than a race to get three bonus scoring tiles, but even these everyone can eventually possibly get. There is no blocking or take that. It is the true definition of multiplayer solitaire. This game rather reminds me of a Dominion type deck builder in which you draw five cards at the beginning of the round and play them for effects, then repeat the next round. The only catch is that you don't deck build, so you are stuck with the luck of the common draw deck.
Maybe I just don't get Feld. I like Castles of Burgundy okay. It's not my favorite game ever, but I will play it and enjoy it when I do. I found Roma and Arena: Roma II to be completely bland and forgettable. I would say that this barely qualifies as a game, although there are at least a couple of decisions to make during your turn. It is unlikely you will be able to plan far enough ahead to feel good about the game, and thus I don't really recommend this, particularly at the exorbitant after market prices that it seems to be currently commanding. There are so many other good games that allow you to use cards for multiple purposes that
eldaec:
Bruges I liked as a simple enough euro.
It has two problems through. Without the boats expansion it is just one mechanic short of feeling right. With the boats expansion it isn't well balanced.
But I gather the remake as 'Hamburg' addresses this by incorporating boats and nerfing them a little. Also the colours of cards are now all separate decks, so you can always choose the colour you want.
I like Feld for his simpler games. Burgundy, Bruges, Bora Bora, a few others. They are decent enough to teach at a board game night and get everyone going quickly. They are beer and pretzels games but for euros. I'm not a fan if his heavier stuff like Trajan - they lack the elegance of a terra mystica or Concordia, or thematic interest of a Caverna or Food chain Magnate.
schild:
Since Vindication is back on Kickstarter with more Vindication, let me just go ahead and say:
No, Vindication is terrible. Don't buy it.
Teleku:
I can't help but feel I asked this question already, so please forgive me. But, what was wrong with Vindication?
I fully backed the first kickstarter. Have not yet played it. :awesome_for_real:
schild:
Search in Discord. I've gone off about it at least twice.
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