The game is made obtuse than it should be for the sake of thematic flavouring. If you like Pax Pamir, then it’s likely you’ll like this one. The question is, do you want to bother? If there’s one Pax I’ll keep, it’s this one.
3 Likes
So, yesterday, we gave Flamecraft a go. I got a two-handed learning game and an actual game under my belt, so let’s take this opinion with a pinch of salt, shall we?
The game is pure worker placement. I thought there was a tableau-building component, but it turns out I’d misunderstood a blurb on the box (or maybe confused it with another game I was looking at simultaneously). Every turn, you move your dragon pawn to a different shop, where you can either:
- Collect the resources that building and any dragons and enchantments there provide, which allows you to then place a dragon artisan from your hand and then activate (use its ability) it or another dragon that’s in the shop; or
- Enchant the shop by paying resources, which will give you victory points and enable you to activate up to ALL dragons in the shop.
Those are the rules in a nutshell. There’s a few more, but not many. It’s definitely not a complicated game, maybe on the level of Honey Buzz? Every dragon of a given type (there are seven) have the same ability, so that simplifies things a lot. Teach took about ten minutes. The game itself, around 45-60.
Which isn’t to say there isn’t depth here. Strategy is needed and there are some nice combos/points cascades that can happen. Even after just our first game, we were starting to see more possibilities. There’s more variety than in Honey Buzz, too, with the possibility of using player powers and more advanced spells (that are harder to cast but will give more rewards), and there’s a strong variety of shops to use, so games can get pretty different I think.
The game IS a lot of fun, and it’s just crunchy enough that it makes for a nice relaxing yet compelling time. It would also make for a nice entry-level Euro game. Not gonna lie, the theme and the art do a lot of heavy lifting here. The game OOZES charm. The dragons are adorable, the art is lovely (very Ghibli-esque), there are puns everywhere, the whole vibe is just cute and chill. Put those same mechanics on a more drab/serious theme, and I’m not sure I’d be as enthusiastic about it.
As is, though, it’s a very fun game that I’m glad I own and am looking forward to playing again. Will it dethrone Ark Nova for our game of the year? No. Would ANY game, at this point? Unlikely. So that’s hardly fair. 
9 Likes
Finished our Tekelili game of Bus where the scores were 8, 7, 7, 6, with @InkyBloc winning
12 Likes
Been giving Puerto Rico the Carcassonne treatment, playing every night until I decide if I like it or not. So far, I’m now winning and it’s the same as it’s ever been. Liking it just enough to be uncomfortable culling.
I remain really bothered that there’s full certainty no one is going to buy the Construction Hut, Hospice, Large Warehouse, or University. That’s 4 of 12. And I didn’t mention the Office or Large Market which are generally bad buys and makes 50% of the purple buildings practically unusable.
Also the Ravensburger implementation is just not ideal. They don’t make reading the board state very easy, and in particular the buildings, once built, have little to identify them and no hover text to check.
Sigh. Puerto Rico. I just can’t quit you. We have too much baggage, you and I.
Maybe another night or three will cause a shift. The paucity of usable buildings and reality of only two winning archetypes (full shipping, shipping/large building hybrid) do tend to make games repetitive. Possible champions to drive a cull:
- Agricola - also has the “get to the same end state but find a different path each game” puzzle, but is one of my favorites.
- Bruxelles 1897 - has a similar player interaction field, where you can see what other people are or are not ready to do, and your actions can help or block them
- New Frontiers - A close clone that somehow manages to feel too different in practice
6 Likes
Tonight we played a quick game of Star Wars the Deckbuilding Game before getting the kids dinner. I was the Rebels to my wife’s Empire. It was a little disheartening when the opening galaxy row consisted of five Empire cards and one neutral. Luckily (?) she drew both her Stormtroopers so was only able to afford a Scout Trooper on her first turn, doing 4 damage to my base. On the other hand, I was able to purchase three cards on my turn, as inexpensive but useful cards kept coming out.
After another turn, Leia showed up in the galaxy row, as did a B-Wing. My wife destroyed my first base, and I took Mon Cala, which let me take Leia into hand for free, and in turn let me get the B-Wing for free and on top of my deck. Things only got worse for her, as I proceeded to get another B-Wing, a Snowspeeder, Lando, Chewbacca, while she got nothing particularly devastating.
We were both down to our last bases, and with all the discard effects on my cards, I chose Yavin IV which does 2 damage to the enemy base whenever they discard a card on my turn. I drew a hand with Leia and Chewie, used Leia to get Luke for free on top of my deck, and then Chewie to draw him, and he took out her Star Destroyer. I proceeded to do 13 damage to her 14 health Death Star. She dinged me a little on my turn, but nothing major. I then played my Snowspeeder on my next turn, forcing her to discard and doing the last damage needed to take out her base.
The galaxy row was very kind to me this game.
7 Likes
Home alone today… so for breakfast… I played Cascadia, for lunch… I played Cascadia and for dinner… guess what… yep Cascadia. The new expansion is making for some new strategies. Obviously there are also new animal cards but I am also enjoying the new 3-landscape tiles and the landmarks.
Between workbreaks I played a round of Sagani on BGA.
Also in BGA, I am on a 4 game losing streak of 7 Wonders Duel against a friend who is just grokking this better than I do, despite him being completely new to 7 Wonders and … me feeling like I should be doing better.
And after dinner, I got out something „older“ that had been collecting dust for a while: „Red Rising“. One of those Stonemaier games I seem to remember many people were a bit disappointed with.
It‘s a bit like a fancy version of Fantasy Realms in a big box (I have the extra-fancy edition with the glossy embossed cards and metal tokens).
So I don‘t like Fantasy Realms much but somehow I like this one despite everyone else (and yes my Buddy Analysis more or less says everyone else) being somehow „meh“ about it.
You start with 5 cards and on your turn you deploy one to either Jupiter, Mars, Luna or the Institute, execute the deploy ability hopefully for a nice combo and then take one from one of the other locations while gaining that location‘s bonus. Jupiter gets you up on the fleet track, Mars gives you helium, the Institute lets you place Influence. Luna gives you the 10-point Supertoken and your faction specific bonus. The game ends when either one player reaches 7 on 2 of the „tracks“ or all 3 are at 7 by different players. There are points for the cards, points for card combos, and points for the 3 tracks and negative points for too many cards. There is a very simple automa for solo-ing.
It‘s nice, quick and I like the IP. The game has all the characters from the books I‘ve read. Of course the gameplay is anything but thematic but I prefer having these cards instead of generic fantasy of the original.
I wouldn‘t really recommend it because it is a pretty big box for what is available in a much smaller format. But I like having it, I like solo-ing it and so I am keeping it.
10 Likes
Through the Desert
Pax Renaissance - “Let others wage war; you, happy Fugger, marry”. Well, kinda of. The wealthy Fuggers were more of a matchmaking contractors. Not noble enough to marry into the high aristocracy, but introducing the right princesses to the Princes of the Renaissance was enough to have them as allies. The Ottomans were that friend that needed such help. And the Fuggers rise to the challenge. But assassinations often ruin such alliances. Such is the game of high politics.
Our family even introduce the King of Hungary to a lovely noble lady named Elizabeth Bathory. We have heard nasty rumours about her, but those are just outlandish nonsense. Surely now. She is a good friend of ours.
France was wrecked by constant war that she fell to the widespread Huguenot Rebellion. In its place, a Protestant Valois as the King of France. A firebrand who wants to spread the Reformation
So much for the gamble the Fugger family have made to the Sublime Porte, alas, they were put in check by stronger enemies. To the shock of everyone in Konstantiniyye, the Mamluks fell to a Crusade, despite (or may have caused by) the flare up with the Religious Wars in Europe. Such was the shock that the Sultan was neutralised by enemy parties when one of his wives was a Byzantine princess who married in exchange of keeping her Orthodox Greek religion.
No sovereign seem to dominate the known world that trade have flourished to unprecedented scale. Plots to sabotage the well-known attempts by the Portuguese to circumnavigate the Med Sea have succeeded. One player activated the Globalisation Victory which made us keep the sea lanes free of pirates and spam numerous Trade Concessions around the Med and North Sea.
A comet was sighted. A sign that heralds the end of Princes and the rise of Republics - well, according to what the family astrologist said. Without fail, two republics were setup. The Fuggers had a hand with the overthrowing of the Hungarian King and the establishment of a new noble republic. It seems that a Renaissance Victory is within reach. But this was all folly. The Medici rallied the Princes, who were terrified of the rising Republicanism, and claimed the Imperial victory.
Empire’s End - like No Thanks!, it’s a game of nerve. Asymmetric interests between players mean that some players are more adamant than others on not taking that disaster card. The relatively flexbile players can then - like in No Thanks! - can try to milk everyone else before taking the disaster. Indeed, it’s a question of when to take the disaster and when not to take the disaster, mixed it with tableau building with score multipliers and income-engine.
Need more plays but this is an interesting game, at least.
Photo below: my empire: green and pleasant
Schadenfreude x2 - continues to impress
10 Likes
My husband and I started the Ticket to Ride Legacy campaign tonight. Played the first three games in pretty short order. I of course can’t say much about a Legacy game for fear of spoilers and there’s lots we haven’t discovered yet. So far, the games were short and quick, more like the recent spin offs about subways or trolleys in various cities of the world than a standard TtR game, but there are already indications that will soon change. The Legacy elements have been light but fun and again, there are hints of much more to come.
9 Likes
Unmatched night! And it was a rough one. The new fighters from Tales to Amaze were added to the roster, so most people went to the pool to try them out (though one drew Annie Christmas initially). Being the last person, I could have taken Golden Bat, but having never played him, I instead chose Daredevil again, figuring I know him well and did well with him last time.
I started off against Yennenga, which gave me one advantage in that she has no Feints, so I did not need to worry about her canceling my recursion effects. So we fought, I healed a bit, recursed a bit, got her down to 5, but my opponent played well and did a play that got him four actions which ended up depleting my hand once all was said and done. I was unable to recover and he took me out on the next turn.
0 - 1.
Next up was one of the new fighters, Nikola Tesla. He has two coils, one starts charged, and he charges one at the end of his turn. If both are charged at the start of his turn, he does 1 damage to surrounding opposing fighters and can move them 1 space. They can be discharged to activate card effects, improving the base card depending on how many coils you use. He is also ranged, and we played on a Marvel map with the item tokens, which just was not beneficial for me as DD.
After a bit of maneuvering, he started out by hitting me for 5 damage, which wasn’t very nice. I was able to dish out some return punishment, but had to keep my distance, and he kept camping on a +2 item tokens, which made it very difficult to risk approaching him. We kept whittling down each other’s health, and we were tied at 6. However, I kept having to throw Feints to prevent him using his coils while he was attacking me with strength 4 cards, so I was down to 2. He then hit me with a 5 to my 3 and that was it.
0 - 2.
Last match was against Golden Bat, and this was my closest game all night. He gets +2 to his attacks if he has not maneuvered that turn, so, of course, he has various cards that move him so he doesn’t need to maneuver.
It started out great! I hit him for 8 damage before he was able to hit me at all, and I was able to heal most of it right away. But I lost one of my recursion cards early to a blind boost and the other was near the very end of my deck. The bright side is in addition to adding cards to my deck, the card also becomes an 8 attack if my deck is empty, and I was able to maneuver and draw my last card, boost to move next to him, and smash him with it, taking him to around 5 while I was still sitting around 10.
However, I was practically out of cards, but so was he and he ran. This let me draw a bit as well, and go use a healing item for 3, which he felt stupid for missing. We ended up duking it out in a corner, I hit him down to 2, but was down to one card, which I used on his first attack, and then he got a free hit in me, so he got me down to 4.
I drew, getting a Devil of Hell’s Kitchen with 4 attack, and since I could blind boost, I decided to risk attacking. Played it, he defended with a 5(!), and I drew a boost of 2, taking him to 1 health. With no cards in hand, he played his last card which was just enough to take me out.
0 - 3. My eternal 2 - 1 streak has been broken, but in the opposite way I was hoping for. I should have run away to draw some cards in those last turns, as I likely could have won if I had played smarter, but the gamble was fun!
I thought this was the last night, but it turns out we have one more in two weeks, and we get to drop our worst score, so currently I am still tied for second with two other people with my 8 wins, and there are now two tied for first with 9 wins, but that can change if I do well in the last week. Here’s hoping.
6 Likes
Last night @lalunaverde brought round Mechs vs Minions and we had a blast! I chuffin love RoboRally so was excited before we start. I’m pleased to report that it lived up to my expectations. It’s no RoboRally but it’s fun and really quite different. This game took ages as the 3 of us who’d not played before took a while to work out the strategy and implications of the cards we were taking. There was also a bit of nonsense around a badly written bit of rulebook that could have saved maybe an hour. Plus side we had to solve a harder puzzle in our intro so maybe that will stand us in good stead in the long run. I’m very late to the party but really glad I made it. Thanks to Mr Verde for bringing it round 
13 Likes
@lalunaverde Tatari, I’ve already played it, 2 player. I prefer it to Pickomino but rate it below Gang of Dice for dumb Knizia dice chuckers.
There’s some interesting tension in the end game condition, but I’m reserving full judgement for when I’ve played with more.
4 Likes
Zoo Vadis - I have a suspicion that British board gamers in particular are very reserved that they don’t do well with this game. If I play it with sales people however…
Guards of Atlantis - we played with 8 and it was slow. 6 would be the max. Also, what I didn’t like with 8 players with the double lane map is that we really don’t care about the fight on the other lane. Granted this is with low-level plays. 4-6 from now on
Empire’s End - see photo below:
Terraforming Mars + Prelude + Elysium map - 3 players. First timer who is a good player but got stuck with AP, unfortunately. Also our play were geared towards engine building. Took more than 2 hours. More than I’d like. Ideal is 1.5 hours.
Murder of Crows - a Knizia fan brought this along and I remember rating this a 1/5. Still is a 1/5.
EDIT: Race for the Galaxy + Alien Artifacts withiut the alien artifacts module
11 Likes
I’ve been playing TM + Prelude + Venus solos and losing solidly every single time. I came close to a win only once…
4 Likes
Games Day!
Sluff Off, (3p) perfectly cromulent trick taker. Simple enough to pick up with newbies
Shikoku: 1889 , (3p) lost by 20 due to some stock manipulation by a very good player in the last round. Managed to hold onto three 3 trains all the way through.
Ride the Rails (3p). This is great
Darwin’s Journey. It’s solidly fine. Does nothing for me though, it’s a do a little of everything design with other players only acting as speed boosts/bumps
Tatari (3p). Better than Age of War, better than Pickomino, worse than Gang of Dice
Zoo Vadis (6p). This has moved 7 Wonders to the sell pile. Hear me out:
Zoo Vadis
- accommodates large player count
- Does it well
- Rules take under 10 minutes to explain
- Scoring is understood in that period
- Takes under one hour
- All players are involved with other players
- Winner is fuzzy until the end
7 Wonders
- accommodates large player count
- Does it well
- Rules take under 10 minutes to explain
- Scoring is understood in that period
- Takes under one hour
- All players are involved with other players
- Winner is fuzzy until the end
10 Likes
Zoo Vadis hype train!! Choo choo!!
I’m surprised. I thought the game is at its weakest at 3 players. Glad you enjoyed it.
5 Likes
When played in-person without spreadsheet-tracked finances throughout, anything less than 100 is close enough to a tie.
4 Likes
Yeah, first time I’ve played it. So it was good fun, but could see that it would be better with more alliances, we conspired to lockout the player with two blue ‘shares’
Third placed was 80 behind 
2 Likes
Played Caesar - not my game. I feel like the powers are a bit imbalanced and the victory was down to a race for the senates. Fun but glad it’s not in my collection.
Also got in 4 games of mind MGMT. This is a wee corker. There is just enough complexity to keep the puzzle enticing. On the down side the rule book for this is just graphically a bit of a mess, it’s in keeping with the theme but just a bit clunky. I did find it hard to hold myself back from quarterbacking particularly as we played with just 3 of us, so two as the 4 agents.
6 Likes
If it weren’t for context, I’d think “cromulent” was a grave insult every time. It just looks like it should be.
5 Likes
I think that’s a Feature (of 7W) rather than a Bug.
In games where each player accumulates a lot of “state” in front of them, I feel that it’s a problem if doing well at the game requires being well appraised of all player states, even when one is not physically in a position to (easily) examine them. Limiting this to the two players who are physically nearest to yourself is a nice way to ensure that (a) you can see what you need to see, and (b) the game doesn’t slow down on account of such analysis as the player count increases.
So I don’t really see that as a down-side to the game, so much as a way to make that style of gameplay functional with higher player counts. (Not that this affects your comparison in any way.)
5 Likes