Archives: Projects
Quiz Answers: Timeline Holiday Movies 2
It’s almost the new year, and you can’t keep watching movies like these. Let’s see how well you know your holiday movies.
All 6 correct) You did this all alone. No sweat.
4-5 correct) What’s this? What’s this? You didn’t get them all right.
2-3 correct) You were visited by three ghosts and lived to tell the tale.
0-1 correct) You shot your eye out.
Space Alert
Designer: Vlaada Chvatil
Publisher: Czech Games Edition
Date Released: 2008
Number of Players: 1-5
Age Range: 12 and up
Setup Time: less than 15 minutes
Play Time: up to 30 minutes
Game Mechanics:
Action/Movement Programming
Area Movement
Cooperative Play
Hand Management
Simultaneous Action Selection
Game flow:
To say Space Alert is an odd duck of a game is an understatement. Players become crew members of a space ship—not unlike the Starship Enterprise—and ward off danger. You all get action boards where you can program your actions and movements on the ship with action cards during each moment of flight.
The movements are simple one area shifts on the board: left, right, or up/down (using an elevator). The actions range from a selection of A, B or C. The actual action you perform when you play the card depends on which area of the ship you’re character resides when they perform the action. And every crewmember starts the game on the bridge.
It sounds easy enough, except that all of this is done in ten minutes of real-time. The game comes with a CD, but you can download an app to your smartphone or tablet. You hear a computerized voice warn you of impending danger, and you and your crew have to keep your cool and come up with a plan to deal with each threat on the fly.
Remember how I said that each player takes on the role of a crew member? Well, one player has to be the Captain. Whatever they say goes. Another player’s the Communications Officer, and they handle placing the threats on the board where they need to go and remind teammates if they have an incoming transmission (or player card swap) or anything else of note in the offing. Then, you have to have an Engineer, who can scream at the Captain, “We can’t do it, Captain. We don’t have the power.”
The funny thing is that you only plan your moves while the audio file runs. As soon as the audio ends, you perform your actions (and your enemies’ actions) step by step. Your ship is derelict if you receive enough damage in one third of your ship, otherwise you survived the onslaught, and your crew wins.
Review:
What else can I say about a game that created its own category in the Spiel des Jahres except that it’s a singular gaming experience?
Seriously, it’s the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves of gaming. There’s nothing else like Space Alert on the market right now, but I’m sure there’ll be some copycats soon. The frantic pace of planning your actions/movements in real-time is the closest thing you can get from actually being on a spaceship during a photon fight.
That said. You need someone who can take criticism as the Captain because if anything goes wrong, it’s their fault. That takes the onus off the other crewmembers, so if you want a more laid back gaming experience, one of the other positions would suit you. I’ve played as both a normal crewmember and as Captain, and when I was the Captain I had one of my crewmembers fire a photon torpedo that wasn’t loaded.
My son was the crewmember in question. When he got to his action of hitting the fire button, he said “click,” and everyone laughed. I was off a turn with my daughter’s action of loading the photon torpedo. When she got to that action yelled to my son, “the photon’s ready.” We all had another laugh before the enemy trashed our ship.
That was with the training mission, and you have to start with the training mission—or as I like to call it the Kobayashi Maru—before you try anything advanced. But even the training mission will get your blood pumping.
Verdict: An intense, unique gaming experience that puts you into role of a starship crew member.
Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Asia
Designer: Alan R. Moon and Francois Valentyne
Publisher: Days of Wonder
Date Released: 2011
Number of Players: 2-6
Age Range: 8 and up
Setup Time: less than 5 minutes
Play Time: up to 45 minutes
Game Mechanics:
Card Drafting
Hand Management
Partnerships
Route/Network Building
Set Collection
Game flow:
Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Asia is the first map collection, an expansion that’s not a full game and needs a base game of Ticket to Ride to play, for the Ticket to Ride family of games. I won’t go into much detail with the game flow, but if you want to read more about Ticket to Ride, you can check out our review of the original game.
Let’s go over the basics real quick. Each player is given their own pool of train cars to place on the board, and Ticket to Ride has players draw train cards with colors corresponding to the routes on the board (or map). You have to turn in enough train cards as the color and length of route you want to complete (for example, Portland, OR to Seattle, WA is one pink route away, so you have to turn in one pink card to finish the route and place your train car on the board). You’re also given destination tickets that give you points if you connect two cities on the map with one consecutive route. You’re given three options on your turn: draw train cards (to finish your routes), build a route, and draw new destination tickets.
Once someone has two or fewer train cars in their pool, everyone—including the person with only two cars or fewer in their pool—gets one last turn. Then, you tally your points (earned by completing routes throughout the game, completing destination tickets, and the longest continuous route) to see who wins.
Review:
We’ll find that Ticket to Ride’s Map Collection will add a new game element with each map. Some of these elements are great. Others don’t fare as well. Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Asia takes the award winning game mechanics of Ticket to Ride and adds a cooperative element to it. Players now have the option to work as a team to complete routes across Asia.
Each team of two players keeps their train cards secret from each other, but they share the destination tickets, displaying them on a card tray. Game play doesn’t change as much as you would think by adding the team element, but some poor communication between teammates can lead to disastrous results.
I’ve found the team element cumbersome. You can’t talk too loudly because the other team or teams are sitting at the same table, so you either whisper, grunt, or point to a card. Once you have your form of communication down, nothing else really changes and the most disappointing part is that the team map doesn’t feel much different than the base game’s map.
Fortunately, the every man (or woman) for themselves map on the flip side of the board has a unique feel to it. The southern half of the board gets claustrophobic, while the northern half is more open. This setup causes the two halves to function differently. If you’re shut off from your goal in the south, you’ll probably have an alternative means to get where you need to go, but if someone claims the north, you’re out of luck.
This map also adds ferry and mountain routes. Mountain routes have Xs on some of the spaces, and you have to discard a number of train cars equal to the number of Xs in the route. Ferry routes require you to pay with a locomotive card (which are wild, rarer and usually harder to get) in order to claim the route. The number of locomotives you need is equal to the number of locomotive silhouettes in the route.
Verdict: While I like the attempt at a team Ticket to Ride game, and it works for the most part, Ticket to Ride: Asia shines with its every person for themselves board.
Quiz Answers: Strange Games 5
Audit: The Tax Game
A roll and move board game that embodies all the fun of the IRS.
Frischfleisch
A cannibalism game with colorful illustrations.
Zombie Rancher
You raise zombies for food.
Strange Games 5
One last week of the year; one last week for Strange Games. Can you tell which of these games are bologna and which ones are the genuine article?
Audit: The Tax Game
A roll and move board game that embodies all the fun of the IRS.
Driver in Training
The excitement of training your teenage child how to drive.
Frischfleisch
A cannibalism game with colorful illustrations.
Some Assembly Required
A Lego-type card game that has you build exciting things like foot stools, sofas, and entertainment centers.
Zombie Rancher
You raise zombies for food.
Blood Bank
You’re a vampire trying to make a withdrawal.
Spotlight: Silver Gulch, 1883
First Appearance: Sentinels of the Multiverse: Promo
Where it is: The Wild, Wild West of the Multiverse
Primary Damage Type: Projectile
Secondary Damage Type: Melee, Fire, and Energy
Deck Concept: Include the only lose condition in an environment deck and add some nasty gunman, cover items that shield environment targets to the nines, and a law man. Mix well.
Biggest Global Effect and Worst Card (for the Heroes): Lost in the Past: When this card enters play, discard the top 2 cards of the environment deck. At the end of the environment turn, if there are no cards in the environment trash, the characters are lost in time. Game Over. At the start of the environment turn, put the top card of the environment trash on the bottom of the environment deck.
Oddest Ways to Win (Achievement Time): There are a lot of weird ways for heroes to win in this environment so let’s save space and list them here.
Explosives Wagon (9 HP): Increase all damage dealt by 1. When this card is destroyed, deal each target 2 fire damage and 2 projectile damage.
Prickly Cactus (3HP): Whenever a non-environment target deals melee damage to an environment card, this card deals that target 2 melee damage.
Matthew Hayes (6 HP): Reduce damage dealt to this card by 1 for each cover card in play. At the end of the environment turn, this card deals the non-environment target with the lowest HP 4 projectile damage.
Cyrus Hayes (4 HP): Reduce damage dealt to this card by 1 for each cover card in play. At the end of the environment turn, this card deals the 2 non-environment target with the lowest HP 3 projectile damage each.
Tyler Hayes (8 HP): Reduce damage dealt to this card by 1 for each cover card in play. At the end of the environment turn, this card deals each non-gunman target 2 projectile damage.
Sheriff Pratt (7 HP): Reduce damage dealt to this card by 1 for each cover card in play. At the end of the environment turn, this card deals the villain or gunman target with the lowest HP 3 projectile damage.
Sustain the Portal: When this card enters play, 1 player may discard 1 card. If they do, discard the top card of the environment deck. At the end of the environment turn, deal each target 2 energy damage and destroy this card.
How to Escape: Lost in the Past negates some of Visionary’s effects of shuffling the environment trash into the environment deck. You can’t possibly win with The Ennead either if Lost in the Past is in play for any amount of time. This has to be the single worst environment card.
Fortunately, there’s another time portal card called Sustain the Portal and that allows you to discard the top card of the environment deck. But it only lasts for one turn. You have to squash Lost in the Past before you can consider the chain of gunmen and cover.
Silver Gulch, 1883 would be difficult with just its gunmen and cover. If you have more than one cover card in play, you have to take out the cover cards before you can hope to damage the gunmen. Meanwhile, the gunmen are picking off your team one by one. You do have Sheriff Pratt on your side, but he’s one man against an army. Good luck trying to keep him in the game for any amount of time.
And time is really something you don’t have with Silver Gulch. This environment deck flies, so you’re back to dealing with Lost in the Past before you know it. I suggest fighting a quick villain, or else you’ll find yourself on the wrong side of a time portal.
Spotlight: The Final Wasteland
First Appearance: Sentinels of the Multiverse: Promo
Where it is: The unforgiving wastes of the Multiverse
Primary Damage Type: Melee
Secondary Damage Type: Fire and Toxic
Deck Concept: A wild environment with a lot of targets that deal global damage. There are a couple of cards that can help hero’s, but they come at the price of playing the top card of the environment deck which isn’t that bad of a deal.
Biggest Global Effect: Unforgiving Wasteland: Whenever a target would be destroyed by damage dealt by an environment card, remove that target from the game instead.
Worst Card (for the Heroes): Amphibious Chupacabra (6HP): At the end of the environment turn, this card deals the non-environment target with the lowest HP (H)—where H = to the number of heroes—minus 1 melee damage. The, if that target has 5 or more HP, this card deals that target 1 toxic damage.
Oddest Ways to Win (Achievement Time): There are a lot of weird ways for heroes to win in this environment so let’s save space and list them here.
New Jersey Devil (6 HP): At the end of the environment turn, this card deals the 2 non-environment targets with the lowest HP (H) minus 1 fire damage each.
Amphibious Chupacabra (6HP): At the end of the environment turn, this card deals the non-environment target with the lowest HP (H)—where H = to the number of heroes—minus 1 melee damage. The, if that target has 5 or more HP, this card deals that target 1 toxic damage.
Abominable Snowman (9 HP): This card is immune to cold damage. At the start of the environment turn, this card deals the non-environment target with the second lowest HP 2 cold damage and 2 melee damage.
Mongolian Death Worm (8 HP): At the start of the environment turn, this card deals the 2 targets other than itself with the highest HP 3 melee damage and 3 toxic damage. Then, shuffle this card into the environment deck
Rat Beast (7 HP): At the end of the environment turn, this card deals the non-environment target with the second highest HP (H) minus 1 melee damage.
Horrid Skunk Ape (5 HP): At the end of the environment turn, this card deals each target other than itself 1 melee damage.
How to Escape: You’ll have to figure out whether the reward of using Con’s Bunker and Ancient Library outweighs the cost of playing an additional environment card per turn. You can heal all your heroes with Con’s Bunker, and you get draw power with Ancient Library. Unforgiving Wasteland teamed up with other cards that destroy equipment and ongoing cards can be a bear, so try to get it out of play as quick as you can. But for all the environment targets this deck has, most of them dole out global damage. That means that most of these environment targets are just as bad for villains as they are for heroes. So long as you have healing and/or damage reduction, you should do fine.
Spotlight: Tomb of Anubis
First Appearance: Sentinels of the Multiverse: Infernal Relics
Where it is: As the name implies, it’s the Tomb of Anubis in Giza.
Primary Damage Type: Melee and Infernal
Secondary Damage Type: Fire
Deck Concept: Reward heroes by having them complete trials—not unlike the ones Hercules completed. This environment deck also sports some of the beefiest environment targets in the Multiverse.
Biggest Global Effect: Swinging Blades: At the end of the environment turn, deal each target 3 melee damage. At the start of the environment turn, a hero target may take (H)—where H = to the number of heroes—minus 2 melee damage. If they take damage this way, destroy this card.
Worst Card (for the Heroes): Swarm of Scarabs (5 HP): Reduce damage dealt to this card by 1. Players cannot draw hero cards.
Oddest Ways to Win (Achievement Time): There are a lot of weird ways for heroes to win in this environment so let’s save space and list them here.
Anubis (20 HP): Anubis is immune to damage from environment cards. The first time a non-environment card is destroyed each turn, this card deals the non-environment target with the second highest HP 2 infernal damage.
Swinging Blades: At the end of the environment turn, deal each target 3 melee damage. At the start of the environment turn, a hero target may take (H)—where H = to the number of heroes—minus 2 melee damage. If they take damage this way, destroy this card.
Nomti (9 HP): At the end of the environment turn, this card deals the non-environment target with the second highest HP 4 melee damage.
Spike Trap: At the start of the environment turn, deal the target with the lowest HP 3 melee damage. At the end of the environment turn, a player may destroy 1 of their equipment cards to destroy this card.
The Challenge of Fire: At the end of the environment turn, deal each target 2 fire damage. At the start of the environment turn, each player may discard up to 3 card. If (H) plus 2 cards are discarded this way, destroy this card.
Shamise (7 HP): When this card enters play, search the environment trash and deck for the Rod of Anubis. Put it into play. If you searched the environment deck, shuffle it. At the end of the environment turn, Shamise deals the non-environment target with the second lowest HP 2 infernal damage.
Mdjai (10 HP): Reduce damage to environment targets by 1. At the end of the environment turn, this card deals each non-environment target 1 melee damage.
How to Escape: The Tomb of Anubis hurts villain targets almost as much as it hurts hero targets. Focus on the cards that impede you the most. These are usually the trials, and they sometimes come with a prize. Anubis can be a pain but he doesn’t deal as much damage as Nomti. Swarm of Scarabs is a no-brainer. You have to get rid of it as soon as you can. There isn’t much else to say about the Tomb of Anubis except to have fun winning in all the bizarre ways you can.
Spotlight: Realm of Discord
First Appearance: Sentinels of the Multiverse: Infernal Relics
Where it is: Limbo of the Multiverse.
Primary Damage Type: Energy
Secondary Damage Type: Psychic and Sonic
Deck Concept: An environment deck that manipulates the playing field in all aspects. In short, an environment deck that feels like an all-inclusive environment. Some cards help. Others hinder. Gage whether you should get rid of a card or not.
Biggest Global Effect: Imbued Vitality: When this card enters play, destroy all other distortion cards. Each ongoing and equipment card now has a maximum HP of 6
Worst Card (for the Heroes): Ethereal Bonds (9 HP): At the end of the environment turn, this card deals the hero target with the highest HP 2 energy damage. A target dealt damage this way cannot deal damage until the start of the next environment turn.
Oddest Way to Win (Achievement Time): Falling Statuary: At the start of the environment turn, this card deals the non-environment target with the second highest HP X psychic damage, where X = the number of cards in the environment trash.
Bonus Odd Way to Win (Achievement Time): Ghostly Images: When this card enters play, each player reveals the top card of their deck. If it is a one-shot, put it into play. If it is not a one-shot, discard it and deal that hero 2 psychic damage. At the end of the environment turn, destroy this card.
How to Escape: There aren’t that many targets to this environment. You should definitely take out Ethereal Bonds as soon as you can because yikes. Explosive Bubbles can get tricky, especially when you have more than one in play. You may also want to destroy Imbued Vitality if it comes into play. There are already cards that target hero ongoing and equipment cards. You don’t need to have villain and environment cards targeting these cards with low HP. On a side note, the artwork for Imbued Vitality is precious. Other than that, you have to roll with the distortion punches.
jkgeekly.com 