…like it to be, it is an interesting exercise in logistics with an empire-building theme. As a Civ game it lacks trading and historical theme: the nations are identical in this game and even the Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern maps are hex grids in disguise. Components Antike’s components have been panned a bit, but I think…
…human world championship. Chinook played Checkers, a traditional and intriguing game that hides in the shadow of Chess. The book is also about Marion Tinsley, who was the best Checkers player ever. Actually, his supremacy is so vast that there are probably very few players in any sport that can compete with his dominance. Between…
…map. The Irish map is superior, of course. I don’t have much need to get new maps, as I don’t play the game that often, but if there’s an interesting map for sale in Essen this year, I’ll probably pick it up. The new maps do spice up the game, if the special rules are…
…some fresh blood and split up in two groups. Fluffy group played Cluzzle, while I got four other brave gamers to try Fresh Fish. It was a blast, as usual. One player made a mistake, partly due to my fault, connecting his fish shop to the harbour directly. Of course, the road connection made a…
…railroads are building in Germany. There are eight different railroad companies, each of which has a special characteristic based on its history. Köln-Mindener, for example, was focused on paying dividends, hence it can only spend $5 on track-building each turn. Each railroad has three shares and a bunch of track cubes. The turn order mechanism…
…wins the round. Special powers The more important addition is the cast of ten characters, with three special abilities each. The abilities can be used once a round and have all sorts of funky little effects. One character can shoot flaming arrows, which are instakill at range 6. Another can deliver unblockable blows at range…
…a brilliant game, one of the very best games in last few years. Congratulations to William Attia for creating such a great game! The rules may seem complicated, but behind them comes a sparkling masterpiece of game design that really just clicks. The idea is pretty simple: players try to gain prestige by building a…
…things you learn with practise (and it’s a lot easier task than learning the Shogi pieces, for example, since you only need to learn the characters and winds, and few of the characters are really easy, too) and I also think it’s something mahjong players should learn at some point. We had cheat sheets, of…
…the other critical limiting factor is that you can only roll each gear once. There are two white acceleration dice, which lets you use the previous gear. Of course, the track has corners and bumps, which force you to slow down. Figuring out the fastest way to run the course is interesting. All in all,…
Today I printed out some new piecepack games and tried two of them. They were the recommended solitaire games. Tula is like a traditional card solitaire ported to piecepack. I found it so and so. I played four games and completed it once. Once I got only one tile after the first free tile. I…