Thursday, February 28, 2019

The Hotness

I'm not great at keeping up with the newest and hottest and most anticipated games. Mostly because I don't have the money to buy that many games! Most of my games have been purchased after purging older ones and right now I'm pretty purged out. That being said, there are a few games coming out in 2019 that I am aware of and very excited about!

The best thing about this game is that It's already paid for. It was a Kickstarter last year and should be delivered in April. Unbroken is a solo-only game of revenge and retribution. You play a hero who has been attacked and left for dead. Your companions are all gone. Now you need to seek revenge and escape the depths you were left to die in. You sneak around collecting "resources" that are your skills and abilities. You need to use these to best the monsters that stand between you and freedom. 

I've watched a few videos and I'm not exactly sure how this game is going to play out, but I've heard only amazing things so far from those who have played the PnP or pretested the game. Heck, it even made the 2018 People's Choice Top 100 Solo Games list and it's not even released yet (it was #99). Really looking forward to this one.

Monday, February 25, 2019

So Many Cards, So Little Money (Review of Heroes of Tenefyr)

Heroes of Tenefyr is a co-operative, fantasy deckbuilding game. I must begin my review by confessing that I have not played the full retail/Kickstarter version, only the free print-n-play that was offered during the Kickstarter campaign. Due to this, I won't be able to make many comments about the components, but I'll discuss the artwork a little bit.

One to four players choose a hero (bard, thief, barbarian, or cleric) and build their starting deck of 6 zeroes, 6 ones, and 1 class-specific card. In a solo game, you choose two heroes, take both of their special cards, and add 12 ones and zeroes to your deck.

There are ten dungeons that you and/or your companions can venture into it. There are two of each level, 1-5. The 1 level dungeons are the easiest and the 5 level are the most difficult. Obviously, the payout for each dungeon matches the difficulty. You can enter these dungeons in whatever order you want, but be warned, the harder ones are impossible to beat early in the game. When a dungeon (containing 4 random cards) is completed, the players receive a reward as well. These rewards including scrapping bad cards from your deck, adding new cards to your deck, attack bonuses, giving cards to other players, putting cards on top of your deck, and more

Don't Get Obliterated! (Playthrough of Heroes of Tenefyr)

The brave barbarian-thief had battled through the last of dungeon's creatures. Piles of gold and jewels lay before him. Finally, the spoils of war!

Friday, February 22, 2019

Slime is Money

Heroes of Tenefyr was on Kickstarter last year and while I didn't back it, I did download the free PnP and print it off. I'm always game for a good fantasy deckbuilder, but I didn't have the funds to buy the actual game. I'm going to have an actual review of this up soon, but for now here's the teaser as I haven't been able to finish this latest playthrough yet.


Here is the game all set up. Takes up a decent amount of space, but there's not much added space for added characters - it's the different dungeons that eat up that table space.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

The First Rule of Games Club Is...

I run a board games club at my school on Wednesdays at lunch. It's for students in grade 4-6 and is a great opportunity for students to practice social interactions in a more structured situation. 

My principal, who is extremely supportive of new and novel ideas, gave us a little bit of money to buy some new games. I focused on some of the newer co-operative ones because some of us in the group are still working on being good winners or losers (myself included). We've been having a blast playing 5 Minute Dungeon, Mole Rats in Space, and Ant Colony.

Today, though, I was able to relive my childhood with some old classics. It's amazing how nostalgic a board game could feel. I hadn't played Battleship in probably 25 years and I hated it just as much today as I did then! That being said, it was a lot of fun to trash talk a grade four student who then went on to sink all of my ships. It didn't matter that I utilized a systematic way of spreading my shots across the board and this child simply picked numbers from a hat.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

15, er, 5 Minute Dungeon

I was finally able to get one game played with my new Curses! Foiled Again! expansion. The game is called 5 Minute Dungeon, but they didn't factor in the extra 10 minutes you needed in order to pause and break up disagreements with the children. When we finally got them settled, though, we managed to finish a battle against the third boss, the Gorgon.

When I say finished, I mean that WE were finished.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

So Many Panties (Review of Goblivion)

I really don't Kickstart many games, and when I do, it's usually from a tried and true company. However, when I saw Goblivion pop up there, I knew I needed this game. I love deckbuilders as a game mechanic. It feels so satisfying to start off weak and pathetic and build yourself into a powerhouse. It's why I'm designing my own deckbuilder.

Saturday, February 16, 2019

Queen Jade the Ruthless (Playthrough of Goblivion)

Queen Jade the Ruthless, cursed with red magic blobs that covered her ample bosom, gazed out from the parapets of her ancient stronghold, Castle Ruthless. Her muscly bodyguard, Dustin, stood quietly beside her. In the distance, she noticed a cloud of dust. What could that be? she thought to herself. She called for her scouts to check it out. 

Thursday, February 14, 2019

We Made a Game!

Ok, so it's not done yet, but last night we played a whole mission complete with cards, characters, a board, lots of bad guys, and a victory on our part! 

You can see in the picture that I'm using a hex-board with Zombicide: Black Plague pieces fo the characters and tokens. You have to imagine that the Walkers are lynx assassins, the Fatties are ratmen warriors, and the Runners are some kind of ranged character.

The game is a deckbuilder but you build from three different decks (for now): strength, agility, and magic. Having multiple cards from these decks gives you bonuses when those cards are played together. Also, as you buy more cards from a deck, you unlock higher level tiers and more powerful cards of that deck. Your currency in the game is your experience - defeating enemies grants you experience that you spend to purchase new cards. Cards control your movement, attacks, and blocks. 

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Crashed on Crashin'

I'm not sure how your mind works, but I know how mine does (or doesn't). I easily get obsessive about things and also have a need for recognition. These two things led to the early demise of this blog last year. I began to get too anxious about making sure I was posting enough (for my millions of followers) and also really wanting to have a million followers.

But, as I was reflecting on my board gaming life, I realized that I really like having a written outlet for my gaming. Maybe (probably) no one will read this, but I still find it enjoyable to post about what I'm doing. Will it be every day? No. Every week? I don't know. I just want to do it when I want to.