I was forwarded this post by a friend and Fallcon organizer who wanted to share the reasons why we still play games.

There is a lot of competition out there for our entertainment hours and dollars including computer games, console games, iPads, iPod Touches and the lot. However, there are a great number of people playing “traditional” board games and building relationships with their friends and families.

Board game publishers long ago stopped fretting about computer games putting them out of business. “Everybody had that fear,” says Ravens-burger’s André Maack. “But the fear has simply been proven wrong. The computer games are everywhere and they’re strong. But we’re still here,” he gestures to the bustling hall, “and we’re still here, playing board games.”

While the online communities have Settlers of Catan, Carcasonne and Ticket To Ride, there is something so energizing and refreshing about sitting down and playing boardgames around a table.

You can read the rest of the FT article by clicking here.

Happy Gaming!

Valley Games Inc. sent me a package a couple of weeks ago containing a selection of games. I was excited to get the games and write about them. Here is a short video that I made about the games in the package.

Please enjoy:

Instead of writing a review, I thought I would put up a video of the boardgames that I took photos of last year. You will recognize most of the boardgame photos as the ones that I used for the reviews.

A few exceptions are games like Torres and Attika which I have not yet reviewed.

Please enjoy and thanks for reading!

Schotten Totten – Review

Schotten Totten is a two player game designed by Reiner Knizia in 1999. It is currently published by Pro Ludo.

Schotten Totten:

• Designed by: Reiner Knizia
• Published by: Pro Ludo
• Number of players: 2-2
• Playing time: 20 min
• Player ages: 8+

A Quick Overview

Each player is the leader of one of two villages in the Scottish Highlands. These villages are usually peace-loving folk but love to make sure that no one encroaches on their territory.

Every once in a while, however, the border stones that delineate territories get moved and then things start to get a bit scary!

As village leader, you get to line up your 27 clansmen at each of the boundary stones and reassert your village’s territory!

Game Play

The deck of 54 cards is shuffled and six are dealt out to each player. The remainder form a draw pile. The cards are broken down into six clans (colours) of nine clansmen (numbered “1″ through “9″).

On a player’s turn, he performs the following actions:

• Play a card
• Claim a boundary stone (if possible)
• Draw a card

A player must play a card at one of the boundary stones; no more than 3 clansmen may be present on either side of the boundary stone.

A player then can claim stone if his combination of played cards is stronger than the opponents or can prove that his opponent cannot play a stronger hand.

Hand rankings use poker hands and are as follows (highest to lowest) :

• Ordered Clan = straight flush
• Schottentot Team = 3 of a kind
• The Clan = flush
• Schottentot Squadron = straight
• Wild Horde = Any 3 cards

The winner is the one that can claim any 5 boundary stones or 3 adjacent boundary stones!

Observations

A 2-player card game is always handy every once in a while. This one is designed by Reiner Knizia and it is fun. It plays in about 20 minutes, cheap and is easily transported.

For such a little game, there is much going on here. Throughout most of the game, you will have a hand of six cards and you must play a card and commit your clansmen!

Do you hold out to get the straight flush or play it hoping you’ll get a stronger card when you draw? These are some fun choices to make.

And when your opponent plays a card that you needed, you will have to rethink your plays.

This game is reimplemented as “Battle Line” and has a wargame theme with a few additions. One of the additions is the inclusion of the “Tactics” cards which allow you to break the basic rules in a few ways.

The newer edition (2004) of Schotten Totten includes a set of “Tactics” cards with the same goofy cartoony Scots A whole lot of fun indeed.

Personally, I prefer the “Schotten Totten” version over Battle Line as the cartoony Scots are delightfully illustrated.

Happy gaming.

Santiago – Review

Santiago is an auction designed by Claudia Hely and Roman Pelek in 2003 and is currently published by Z-Man Games..

Santiago:

• Designed by: Claudia Hely and Roman Pelek
• Published by: Z-Man Games
• Number of players: 3-5
• Playing time: 75 min
• Player ages: 10+

A Quick Overview

Each player is an plantation owner in Santiago competing to grow a variety of crops. Each round, players bid on a variety of crops and ensure that they are irrigated properly.

Careful cooperation with other owners will ensure proper irrigation else your crops run the risk of drying out and providing no income for you!

The winner is the player who has the most successful plantations.

Game Play

The heart of Santiago is the first part of the game which is an auction for a variety of crops. There are 5 different crops and one crop per player becomes available each round.

The auction style is a once-around, unique-bid auction which means that players only have one chance of making a bid. Oftentimes, it is not best to be the one to be first in the auction.

The player who bids the least (or passes first) becomes the Canal Overseer.

The second part of the game is the irrigation phase where players try to place plantation tiles (won during the auction) in strategically viable locations.

Choice of locations is important because a player can choose whether a crop is watered or not.

And now comes the interesting part of the game: negotiating with the Canal Overseer! Each player takes turns placing a bribe for the Canal Overseer to place a water canal.

After this, the Canal Overseer can choose to take any bid(s) or pay 1 more than the total highest bid and place the canal anywhere.

Each plantation yields, to the owner, crop per worker multiplied by the size of the plantation itself. The player with the most money wins.

Observations

This is a negotiation and auction game. If you like games with these mechanics, then you will probably enjoy this game.

This game can be aggressive due to the auctioning and bribing of the Canal Overseer. Often a crop tile will not be irrigated and to get water to it requires the cooperation of the Canal Overseer. If another player decides to provide an opportunity for the Canal Overseer to build elsewhere!

This can cause some consternation for some players (myself included!) but it is fun.

I own this game and I have played it a few times. I think it is a good game and can be played in about an hour or so. It can be used as a tool to teach mathematics to younger players but I feel the 10+ age requirement is ideal.

Another thing to note about negotiation games is that they are very dependent on group dynamics and personalities. If players are equally skilled at making trades/bargaining then this is an excellent game providing much needed table banter.

Otherwise, if there is a mis-match between player skill sets, then it is quite easy to bully the weaker players.

Happy gaming.

Mykerinos – Review

Mykerinos is an area control game designed by Nicolas Oury in 2006 and is currently published by Rio Grande Games.

Mykerinos:

Designed by: Nicolas Oury
Published by: Rio Grande Games
Number of players: 2-4
Playing time: 45 min
Player ages: 10+

A Quick Overview

Each player is an archaeologist in Egypt working on behalf of several patrons. Over the course of four “seasons” each archaeologist investigates several parcels of land and extracts the bounty of the ancient civilization.

Each parcel of land is sponsored by a specific patron and the player with the most influence in a parcel receives a reward. These patrons also wish to unearth the treasures of the pharaohs and put them on display in a museum.

The museum has wings for each of the 5 patrons and, at the end of the game, a great exhibition is held. The archaeologist/player with the most artifacts in the museum and who has the greatest influence among the patrons wins.

Game Play

On a player’s turn, he has a choice among four possible actions:

• Start a new excavation
• Extend an excavation
• Pass
• Appeal to a patron (after season 1)

By choosing to start an excavation, the player can send a single worker into a particular parcel of land. Extending an excavation allows the player extends the excavation by up to two workers.

If, in a previous round, the player has successfully won a parcel, it is possible to obtain a favour of the patrons. Each of the five patrons provide a particular advantage to the player.

Once players have all passed in succession, game play then moves into the resolution of land parcels. In the first three seasons, there are 4 parcels of land; six parcels in season four.

The winner of the parcel is the one with the most workers. The winner can choose to either exhibit in the museum or take the respective patron card (to be used during the game and for points at the end).

Depending on the winner’s choice, there may be some benefits for the second and third place majorities in each of the parcels.

After the end of the fourth season, the winner is the one with the most victory points.

Observations

When this game first came out in 2006, I thought it was a great little game. It is tense and plays in about 45 minutes.

It is an area majority/area influence game and these are the mechanisms that I enjoy a lot. However, since 2006, there have been quite a number of games that were more satisfactory.

A few players have argued that Sir Brown is overpowered and that getting a few Sir Brown patron cards early in the game is a very strong advantage.

That shouldn’t put you off from ensuring that you have a viable strategy in museum placement as this is how the majority of points are scored.

Another point to note is that it doesn’t hurt to be in 3rd place when parcel resolution takes place. In a few cases, being in third place will net you some patron cards to be used later on in the game.

I would recommend this game if you are looking for a game that plays quickly and provides some tense decisions.

Happy gaming.

Louis XIV – Review

Louis XIV is an area control game designed by Rudiger Dorn in 2005 and is currently published by Rio Grande Games. Mr. Dorn also designed Goa and Jambo.

Louis XIV:

Designed by: Rudiger Dorn
Published by: Rio Grande Games
Number of players: 2-4
Playing time: 100 min
Player ages: 12+

A Quick Overview

Each player is a member of Louis XIV’s (also known as the Sun King) Court and carry out missions and goals at Versailles.

Players, through the careful playing of influence cards, secure favours from other members of the Court. Each of these 12 members of the Court provide various items to the players which help fulfill missions and thus earn victory points.

Securing favours from these 12 courtiers (represented by 12 board tiles) is determined by the player with the most influence markers.

The player with the most victory points wins.

Game Play

On a player’s turn, he plays an influence card. The influence card can either be a curtain (wild) or indicate one of the 12 members of the Court.

Each courtier card is worth up to 3 influence markers which the player places on the board from his personal supply. Instead of playing on the board, the player can choose to add 3 influence markers to his personal supply from the general supply.

The wild influence cards are valued at 2 influence markers.

When placing influence markers on the board, the player places markers starting on the character on the card. The wild influence cards allows the player to start at any courtier.

The round ends after all but one of the influence cards are played. Then the winner of each of board tile is determined and receives their reward.

Play lasts for four rounds. The winner is the one with the most victory points after four rounds.

Observations

I like Rudiger Dorn’s games and this one is no exception.

Louis XIV can easily be played in about 45-60 minutes by experienced players and provides a lot of enjoyment. Setup time for this game may take a couple of minutes or so but it is worth it.

In the game play above, I didn’t mention anything about Louis XIV but his presence is very subtle. You see, Louis visits one of the 4 courtiers closest to him every round and grants a gift to the winner of that courtier.

This provides yet another way to obtain tokens to fulfill mission cards.

So you see, there are quite a number of things that a player has to keep track of in this game. And that is something that I find quite enjoyable.

I have played this game with all the player counts and I enjoy each one of them. A 2 player game is great fun and a 4 player game provides much angst.

What a delight!

Happy gaming.