Homesteaders

Being a CEO strikes me as a pretty easy job. Sure there’s a lot of stress, but ultimately you’re just coming up with very general strategies to make your company more money. You come up with vague ideas based on the broadest of knowledge, and then hand it off to your lackeys to make it happen. Then you get paid tons of money if you’re successful, and if you fail you get a golden parachute and a good resume to take to Ladders for your next gig. It’s pretty simple.

Another easy job is teaching board gamers new games and using older more established games as examples. Take Homesteaders, a game about building civilization in the Old West. It’s a great game that transcended its theme, but more importantly it was described as “Vegas Showdown with a Western theme”. This made learning the game much more easily learned, and so we spent more time learning the finer points of the game, like its buying and selling system and other little bits.

Over all, the game is really cool. I’ll admit that the theme and art were a little off-putting, but as soon as we actually started playing everything came together and an awesome time was had. The game doesn’t take a terribly long time to play either, so that was very nice too. I can’t recommend this game enough, and I’m sorry that we didn’t try it sooner.

This weekend I hope to finish up Bioshock 2 and give RuneWars a try!

In the Shadow of the Emperor

Sometimes I’m reluctant to try new games. I find that I don’t learn a game by reading the manual, and I have a better grasp of what I’m supposed to do if I see it played and it’s described in gaming terms I’m already familiar with. Still, it’s the little twists on established mechanics and the subtle strategies that can make all the difference.

In the Shadow of the Emperor could be described as El Grande meets the more diplomatic aspects of Twilight Imperium. The game takes place right at the end of medieval Germany, and the players are various houses competing to control areas of the land. Every round, players place cities, dukes, or knights in the various territories. After players are done, electors are chosen and players gain control of an area’s special ability and that area’s vote for Emperor. Challenges by a Rival for the seat of Emperor can happen every round, but are not required. The Emperor has certain privileges and has an easier time controlling some territories. Play continues for five rounds and the winner is merely the player with the most victory points.



It’s an interesting exercise in late medieval politicking, with an emphasis on constant conflict, rather than taking and holding a given area. Stagnation only serves to deny your opponents points, rather than take them for yourself. Players are rewarded for taking territories and voting for the winner in an Imperial election. The player’s dukes and couples are subject to aging, making a player’s pieces not as permanent as in other games. Players are constantly replacing their dead dukes and couples and this serves to keep the game interesting throughout the five rounds of play. There are also very few random elements to the game, as players the only determination for the events surrounding play.

In the Shadow of the Emperor successfully combines several complimentary mechanics into a fun little package. I’d say the only knock against the game is that it’s not too replayable, so care must be taken not to get burned out on it too fast. I could possibly see future expansions in the same vein as Power Grid, with new maps and different areas. On its own, this is a solid game that’s worth your attention.

FITS

Sometimes the only way you need to describe a game to me is “multiplayer Tetris”. As soon as that’s used to summarize a new game, you can bet that I’ll be on it like a fat kid on a plate of brownies. Thanks to my early days of playing with tangrams at school, I have an innate love of all things competitively puzzley. Ubongo is one of my favorite games of all time and I always thought that finding a game that would satisfy that particular gaming itch would be tough.

Thankfully, FITS is now upon us, and engaging its players with awesome Tetris-like goodness. FITS takes the mold even farther than Ubongo, utilizing a board that very much resembles a classic Tetris screen. Moreover, pieces can only be placed as if they were dropped straight down from the top of the player’s board. Scoring is brutal for new players, but once you get the hang of it, the frustration lessens and you start to have some fun. The game uses shuffled cards to determine which piece gets dropped next, and every player starts with a different large piece.

Apart from that, there’s not a whole lot to say about the game. There are some different boards included for even more challenges, and the game is quite expandable. Unlike Blokus, this game doesn’t require 4 players get the best experience. In fact, there’s not really any player interaction to speak of, unless you count all the smack talk that gets thrown around.

This is a prime example of puzzle board gaming at its best, and a must buy for just about any board gamer.

Looking back

This has been a most interesting year for me. At the same time, I’ve been very very bad.

Not bad in the moral sense, but more bad in that I’ve really neglected things that interest me greatly. Activities that used to bring me so much joy, like working out, updating this space, seeing movies, playing a variety of games, all of those things I’ve not been too good about doing, especially in the last part of the year. Movies like 9 (the stitchpuck adventure), Nine (the musical), Sherlock Holmes, Ninja Assassin, and more recently the apparent visual feast of Avatar, all have been passed over in favor of playing games with my buddies. Whether it’s Agricola with local pals or Modern Warfare 2 with friends from afar, that has been the main focus of things this fall and winter.

In fact, for all my laziness, I’ve had a lot of fun. All those reviews I’ve been promising have been for some really good games. I relish the chance to play Dungeon Lords again, and look forward to replaying the newest Dominion Expansion.

In more RPG-related matters, my D&D sessions that I’ve been involved in have been really enjoyable, and the new material coming out has really given D&D 4th Edition the kind of depth that 3.X had. The best part about it is definitely the D&D Insider material available online. From the handy character builder, to the almost indispensible Monster Generator, to the added character flavor in Dragon, the year in D&D has been pretty fantastic. Add in the fact that I got to introduce several new players to the game in a sleep-deprived and half-drunk session in a Toronto diner over the summer, and it’s been a pretty solid year for XPz and lootz.

So maybe the year wasn’t a complete loss. So what about the decade that’s about to end? It’s been nothing short of fantastic for me. I got married, got a house, and got to travel! In doing so, I got to meet some of the most awesome people in the universe. At the same time, I’ve seen good times and a few bad with the friends that I’ve had for over 13 years. At this point, I’d call them family, brothers and sisters all. As for my family back in San Antonio, I’ve welcomed a new member into our family in my brother-in-law, and also recently met my first niece!

Sports were also big! The Oklahoma Sooners won a National Championship, and my beloved San Antonio Spurs won two NBA titles. I got to see Oklahoma City get the Hornets, then the Thunder. I got to sit courtside at a Thunder game too! In the gaming realm, I got more heavily involved in board gaming than ever before, meeting the outstanding people in the OKC Super Fantastic Gaming Hour group, and starting this site to bring my love of games to the world. Music was a big focus for me as I started going to concerts! I saw Nine Inch Nails six times, Sevendust three times, and Disturbed twice, among a multitude of other shows.

Yup, I’d say I’m pretty blessed. Happy New Year, and I’ll see you all in 2010!

Jamaica

Sometimes a game gets so caught up in a wacky theme and great looking art that it loses sight of what’s really important; a fun gaming experience. MWAHAHAHA! comes to mind as a perfect example of this, a game that looks good but turns out to be mundane and boring. Jamaica on the other hand is a prime example of gorgeous production values encasing a simply but very fun game.

In Jamaica, players take the role of buccaneer captains racing around the eponymous island. As a race game, it has its own way of determining how a player moves around the board, and let’s just say that Jamaica’s technique is both random and fun. Essentially, you know in what direction you’re going to move and in what order you’re going to do it, but you don’t know to what degree until someone rolls a pair of dice. As a result of landing, you are required to fight other ships, pay a harbor fee, or dig up treasure. Most of the time, you’ll be exhausting one of the resources that you can gain via the same cards that you move with. It all works very well and makes for a quick and smooth little racing gem.

As I mentioned before, the art of the game is surprisingly good. Every detail on the box, board, and bits reflects the humor and irreverence of the game. If you’re a fan of pirates, this is almost a must-buy.

The game is not deep, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s very entertaining, very pretty to look at, and plays rather quickly even for beginners. 8/10.

Video Game Quick Hits!

Happy Friday the 13th everyone. I'm in San Antonio visiting family and a new niece, and yet this is getting updated automatically somehow. I blame witches. So let's get to some quick thoughts about some recent video game releases, most of whom have copious amounts of colons in their titles for some reason.

Halo 3: ODST

If you could apply the word “premium” to any part of Bungie’s Halo series, than ODST would definitely have that stamped all over it. For all the fun that you can have as Not-Master-Chief played by the male cast of Firefly, this is hardly a good gaming value. Sure it comes with all of the Halo 3, including three disk-only Mythic maps and sure firefight is fun, and the campaign is cool and a lot of fun, but considering that most of the people buying this title already have a majority of the DLC, there’s very little new stuff. The campaign is short, even by today’s standards, although playing on Legendary does increase the playtime significantly. All in all, if you really like Halo, by all means pick this up. You should approach this in the same way you’d approach a meal at an expensive restaurant that you rarely eat at. Yes, you will enjoy it but it’s up to you whether it’s worth the coin. 7/10

The Beatles: Rock Band

This is another case of “if you like the series, you’ll like this game.” There are few new innovations to the Rock Band formula, and in fact there are fewer options available to players since you’re unable to change the appearance of the titular Beatles in the game. There are some additional features to make the game more appealing to kids and adults who suck at rhythm games but who like the Beatles. Overall, this is a good buy for Rock Band enthusiasts. 8/10


Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

The most-hyped game of year award was stolen away from a Halo game in 2009. I’d love to say that this game is terrible and not worth an iota of your time, because I love watching big projects and launches (not involving live astronauts) fail. Sadly and yet awesomely at the same time, MW2 is fucking sweet. This is the prettiest, most intense, most fun shooters I’ve played in a while. Yes, ODST is fun and I will be playing Halo again in the near future, but MW2 different in so many cool ways. I missed the boat on CoD4, but this whole FPS with XP thing is cool as hell. Sure you could level up in Bioshock, but you couldn’t play with your friends and you couldn’t level up and get more bad-ass with your friends and thousands of other online players. The single player is interesting so far, but I’ve managed to get hooked in Multiplayer faster. Likely, I’ll save the campaign for when I have no playing online and tear it up multiplayer otherwise. This is a must buy for shooter fans. 9/10

Conquest of the Empire

As you can see from my output so far, I’m a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to gathering my thoughts and putting them down in written form regarding gaming. This is a recent thing, and something that I’m trying to combat. I will be better about this in the future.

Speaking of combat, I recent got to play a big session of Conquest of the Empire. As one of the members of Milton Bradley’s Gamemaster series, CotE has been around. Recently though, a new edition has come out, and while the new printing does preserve the old Risk-style game play, there are also a new modern set of rules designed for a more Euro-gamey experience.

Being unfamiliar with the old rules, I have nothing to compare the new rules to except for other games. This almost reminds me of a mirror image Twilight Imperium. In TI, diplomacy takes a back-seat to combat and you’re almost always assured a fight. In CotE, you’re not forced to fight if an opponent enters an area where you have units. On the contrary, your enemy this turn might be literally on your side next turn, so burning bridges with needless combat is something to be avoided. That said, there’s plenty of dice-rolling combat to be had if you’re feeling blood-thirsty! The mechanics of battle in this game make combined arms of different units almost a requirement, and special units like Generals and Caesars have strong non-combat functions in addition to their military role.

This is a really solid game, and is one of the few games where playing with a lot of people (6 in our case) didn’t feel like a grind. Sure the session took about 4 hours or more, but I constantly felt engaged by the experience, and am looking forward to playing again. The game has a lot of viscerally satisfying elements, like a big board, surprisingly non-sucky stock money, and a generous helping of awesome little plastic bits. I had a blast in the session we played and am now actively looking to add a copy to my collection.
8/10!