Pyramix Review

Gamewright isn't exactly known for strategy games. They make wonderful, family friendly games with fun themes and simple but entertaining gameplay. Pyramix keeps with the Gamewright tradition of beautiful components with simple, family friendly gameplay.

Pyramix is an abstract strategy game with a light Egyptian theme. Gameplay starts with the cubes being randomly set up on the board in the shape of a pyramid. A player's turn consists only of selecting a cube from the pyramid and adding it to her collection. Cubes can only be taken from the pyramid if they have at least two sides showing, are not touching a serpent cube, and taking the cube will not result in the board being exposed.

The game ends when there are not legal moves left - usually when there is a single layer of cubes laying on top of the board. Players score 1 point for each ankh, 2 points for each crane, 3 points for each Eye of Horus, and 0 points for each serpent. Additionally, if a player has the most ankhs in a color, they will receive all of the remaining cubes that math their color and score those as well.

In this situation, if any player takes the teal crane of ankh,
the next player will be able to take the orange Eye.

The one thing that I don't love about the game is the "dots" feeling that can develop. There will be many times, especially in a two player game, where there is a cube that is two moves away from being able to get taken, so it is in no player's interest to make that first move. The interesting thing about this is because the game happens in 3 dimensions, players will have to keep all of these moves in mind as they spin the board and look for moves that won't set up the next player.

As I said in my introduction, Pyramix is a very simple game. But subtle and interesting strategies present themselves as you play the game. As the game progresses it may become clear to you which color you will have the most ankhs in. This could mean that you might want to take cubes so that other cubes of that color do reach the bottom of the board. If this happens, you'll receive the cube anyhow, so you might as well get a different cube and secure the first cube as well!

Pyramix is a great abstract game. Gamewright has put out another quality product that is attractive, fun, and quite thinky! And with a $20 price point, I think picking up a copy of Pyramix is a no brainer. There is randomness, and this isn't the next chess, but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of depth I found in Pyramix. I'd rate it a solid 7.5/10.

Dead of Winter Review

Dead of Winter is the latest game from Plaid Hat Games. Despite not being a huge fan of any of Plaid Hat's games (except for Summoner Wars, which I love), I always get very excited about each of their releases. They always have really interesting themes mixed with neat twists on game mechanisms. Does Dead of Winter buck the trend of disappointment? Would I even ask such an obvious rhetorical question is the answer was "no?" Read on to find out!

Dead of Winter is a semi-cooperative game that takes place after a zombie apocalypse has ravaged the world. Players take control of survivors in this world, struggling to live in this new world. The survivors need keep the hordes at bay and make sure the colony is safe and fed.

In a round, players will roll their action dice. On their turn, players will spend their dice in order to take actions with their survivors. These actions are things like searching locations in order to gain resources or items, fighting zombies, or building barricades. The zombies will keep coming and bad things will keep happening to the colony, until either the survivors complete their shared objective, or the colony's morale falls to 0. 

Sounds simple enough, except that Plaid Hat and Mr. Gilmour and Mr. Vega have added quite a few interesting little twists and turns to make Dead of Winter quite a unique experience. First is the fact that although the group as a whole has a common objective, each player has a personal objective. Each player's personal objective states what the player needs to accomplish in order to win. These objectives most often have a bulleted list that includes the group completing the common main objective, but also some other conditions that must be met that will likely make the group's completion of the main objective more difficult. Even if the main objective is competed, players can only win if they also completed their individual objectives as well. 

The great thing about this system is that there are also betrayer objectives. These objectives require that the game end not because the main objective has been completed, but because the colony's morale has fallen to 0. The game also includes the option to exile players from the game if they are suspected of being a betrayer. This adds a lot of tension to the game, and keeps the players from devolving the game into a mess of "well Idecide on a 'm not going to win, so no one is going to win," which, in my opinion, has been the biggest issue with semi-cooperative games in the past.

A huge source of tension in the game is the exposure die. It must be rolled every time a survivor either moves around town or fights a zombie. On about half of the sides is nothing - which is what you'll be hoping to see each time you roll that accursed die. On the other half are bad things, which cause either normal wounds, frostbite wounds, or even instant death. The fact that players can lose a survivor with a single roll of the die is a lot of fun. 

The last twist in the game is the deck of Crossroads cards. At the start of each player's turn, the player to the right of her draws a Crossroads card, and reads the it. Each Crossroads card has a condition on it, which the reader of the card does not reveal to the current player, unless the player fulfills it. These cards contain conditions like, "If the current player controls a survivor at the Police Station, read the following:" and the rest of the card has a bit of story, and then a decision. The player (and sometimes all the players) then need to decide on their course of action concerning the story, and deal with any consequences that decision presents.

Not a super exciting photo, but I didn't want to spoil anything about these awesome cards!!

This mechanism is brilliant. I know reviews can rely on hyperbole a little too often, but really the Crossroads cards are my favorite part of this game. It creates a weight to each player's turn, since she has to go about the things she wants to do, knowing that she might be interrupted at any moment by the player holding the Crossroads card. Not only that, but the Crossroads cards have really interesting story beats that can create some extraordinary moments for the players. I wish I could say more about how much fun we had with these cards, but I really don't want to give anything away.

In fact, one of the things I don't like about the game is that the Crossroads deck is limited. Don't get me wrong, Plaid Hat have provided 80 Crossroads cards, which is a lot - and a Crossroads card won't even be triggered each turn. And I'm usually the first to call out people who complain about this sort of stuff - how many times are you really going to play this game, no matter how good it is? Despite all that, (and perhaps because the cards are just so friggin' awesome) just the fact that the deck is limited (whether or not said limit will ever be reached by me) makes me want more cards.

I also mentioned how much fun that exposure die is. Well, it can also be painful (which is part of why I love it). Rolling a Bite (meaning instant death) on your first turn can really knock the wind out of you and the group - but having to deal with the consequences of that so early can definitely make things interesting for the right players.

Dead of Winter is a great game. There is a lot going on in the game, but not so much to make the game a slog. As the players internalize the rules, the narrative of the story really starts to shine through. The tensions of the individual objectives, the Crossroads cards, the exposure die, and the fact that its a pretty tough cooperative game to begin with all make for a seriously engaging experience.

The first time I played Dead of Winter was with my lovely wife, who is a seasoned gamer, and my dad, cousin, and sister - all three of whom have played some of "my games" in the past but need some encouragement to sit down with one that isn't Wits and Wagers or Telestrations. Right after we lost the first game, we started talking about the stories of our survivors, and what we would do differently when we played again. We didn't have to wait long to find out, because we played again the very next day. And after losing a second time, we set it up to play again...twice. We were up playing Dead of Winter well past 2 AM, laughing and dying horrible deaths.

Dead of Winter is the very definition of an immersive experience. My cousin, usually a "too cool for school" type, started reading the Crossroads cards in character, and was pushing all of us to do the same. We all started making up stories for our survivors about their motivations and why they always seemed to fail so miserably. Based on those memorable experiences alone, I can't recommend this game highly enough. 8.5/10.

Wanted: The Outlaws Kickstarter Preview

Wanted: The Outlaws is a game currently funding on Kickstarter from publisher Bibelot Games. It is a light, family style game of cards and dice set in the old West.

In Wanted, players use Loot to recruit to hire characters and build their posses. They then use these posses to go on jobs and earn Reputation. After all of the cards have been used, the game is over and the player with the most Reputation wins!

To set up, the deck of cards is shuffled, and dealt out into 6 piles which are turned face-up. Each player starts the game with 12 Loot. On her turn, a player can do 1 of 3 actions. She can recruit a face-up character by paying Loot, she can use the characters she already has to go on a face-up Job, or she can Report a Tip. Reporting a Tip will gain the player 1 Loot, and the ability to place any of the top cards in the middle of the table on the bottom of its respective deck. 

The action that drives the game is going on Jobs. These are the horizontal cards that describe something to be done in town. A player can use her posse to go on a job as long as her characters' cumulative stats for Smarts, Power, and Will either equal or exceed those stats on the job card. If a player decides to go on the job, she rolls the number of dice pictured in the upper left hand corner of the job card, and gains the benefits (and suffers the penalties) from that roll. Players can gain either 1 or 2 Loot or Reputation or suffer either 1 or 2 wounds.

Wounds are placed on characters that went on jobs, and if a character takes wounds equal to their hearts, that character dies and is discarded.

Uh-oh! Looks like some of these Outlaws are going to make it home for dinner!!

That is pretty much the game! Play continues in this way, each player getting 1 action per turn, until all of the cards in Town are gone. At this point, whoever has the most Reputation is the Outlawiest Outlaw of the All!!

The theme is a lot of fun, too. There are a good number of games set in the Wild West, but I can't think of many that fall into the light, family category. For that, I can't recommend The Outlaws enough!

The game is definitely light, but doesn't overstay its welcome, and gameplay is smooth since each turn is so short. This is certainly a game that I would pull out with my family, or with my younger niece and nephew for a short, rootin' tootin' dice filled romp. It would be even better suited to playing with grade schoolers because players would need to practice adding their character's stats to see what jobs they can do.

If you think Wanted: The Outlaws would be a good fit for you, then go check out their Kickstarter campaign!!!

Praetor Review

Praetor is an upcoming worker placement game from NSKN Games set in ancient Rome. Players assume the role of a Roman engineer tasked with building up the Eternal City. Caesar will reward the engineer who can improve Rome the most!

The starting workers for the blue player. The dice on the right are available workers. The dice on the left are villagers, and not available.

Praetor is a worker placement game where your workers are represented by dice. The number of pips on each worker, represent how experienced that worker is. The more experienced a worker is, the more effective it is at performing many of the game's actions. At the same time, many of the actions players can send their workers to do will increase that worker's experience, but when workers get to 6 pips, they retire and are no longer considered active.

Building the wall tile to the right costs 2 marble and 2 weapons and would yield the player 10 favor points. This player would also get a bonus 6 favor points for having already built 2 wall tiles. 

Players can gain favor points in a variety of ways, but the main two are by managing their resources to build buildings or to build parts of Hadrian's Wall. The game ends once either the available building deck or wall deck is empty. On her turn, a player can choose between two basic actions (with a third option being introduced once certain tiles are built): build a new building or place a worker on an unoccupied building.



To build a new building, the player selects a building from those available, returns the required resources to the supply, and places the building into the city grid. Each building tile shows how many points the player receives for building it, and the player can also earn bonus points if she can place the tile in such a way that the color of the plazas in the corner of the tile match the tiles that have already been placed. Building a building requires a worker, and whichever worker is used to build, will gain an experience at the end of the round. Not only does the player building the building get favor points, she also is adding a new tile to the board - and one that she can get a benefit from even if other players use it.

If the blue player wanted to activate the Temple of Plutus, she would have to pay the yellow player 3 gold. She would then receive 1 point for all of her wood and stone - and her worker would return to her at experience level 5 at the end of the round.

To use a building, a player simply places one of her active workers onto the tile, and immediately receives the benefit. If the building was built by another player, she might have to pay an entrance fee to that player. If the city tile has a green circle, the worker used to activate that tile will not gain experience - only tiles with a red circle will grant a worker experience after being activated.

Most active workers (which are kept on the green spaces) cost 1 gold each at the end of each round, though they become more expensive once a player has 5. All retired workers (kept on the red spaces) cost 1 gold at the end of each round.

Obviously the most interesting thing about Praetor is that the workers in the game gain experience and eventually retire. This mechanism is made even more interesting by the fact that each worker a player has costs (at least) 1 gold at the end of each round. This includes retired workers. So having a worker gain experience is great, because they get stronger and can perform more powerful actions. It is also good because once a worker retires, the owning player gets bonus favor points (the earlier the better). But, having to pay for workers who are now retired can be a major drain on a player's economy. Figuring out the timing of when to retire workers is a lot of fun.

This balancing act is further complicated by the building tiles. I mentioned before that the red tiles will grant a worker experience, while green tiles will not. So one might think a viable strategy might be to level workers up to 5, and then use them on green tiles. This will certainly work - but not as well as one might think. The green tiles' activation abilities are not affected by a worker's experience. The market tile (which is green), for instance, allows a player to interact with the market - regardless of the experience level of the worker placed there, the action remains the same.

The awesome but AP inducing Market. The exchange rates on pictured on each player's personal board.

Speaking of the market - it is probably simultaneously one of my favorite and least favorite parts of the game. It is one of my favorite parts of the game because activating the market tile allows a player to interact with the market as many times as she wishes. None of this "one sale and one buy" nonsense! A player could sell all of her weapons and buy 20 wood - and get the rest back in gold if she wanted! The market is also one of my least favorite parts of the game for the very same reason. Having the ability to exchange money and resources to basically any equal combination of resources and money is very powerful, but involves a lot of calculation and planning - which slows the game to a halt. This introduction of a little analysis paralysis does not hurt Praetor too much, however, since aside from the market, the game flows at a rather nice pace. 

Praetor is a fantastic game. I think its biggest strength is while it does change things up a bit, it doesn't reach too much. It innovates just enough, while keeping the core ideas of worker placement intact. This allows players who speak the language of games to get into the game easily, while making the experience mechanism accessible and easily enjoyable - without having to jump through too many mental hoops to get there.

I would absolutely recommend Praetor to pretty much anyone who is reading this. I don't think it would be a good first worker placement game, but as a second or third game with this mechanism I don't think there are many more innovative, accessible, or interesting worker placement games to be found. I give it an 8.0/10. 

Jim would like to thank NSKN Games for providing him with a review copy of Praetor.

If you like Praetor, you might also be interested in: Bruxelles: 1893, Viticulture, or Lords of Waterdeep.

Manifest Kickstarter Preview

[This post is not a review, but a preview of a game that is currently on Kickstarter. The final version of the game may be different in terms of art, graphics, or rules.]

Set in the Roaring 20s, Manifest is a game of shipping goods, transporting passengers, and avoiding pirates. It is a family style hand management and pick-up and deliver game that is easy to learn and takes between 45 and 90 minutes to play (2-5 players).

The game ships with two sets of game rules: Basic and Expert. Both rule sets are basically the same, with the Expert game adding deck building mechanisms to play. I will explain how the Basic game works first, and will later illustrate what the Expert game changes.

Before beginning a game of Manifest, players choose how long of a game they wish to play. The instructions suggest that with 4 players playing until a player has 11 points, for a 45-60 minute game, or to 15 points for a 60-90 minute game. 

In Manifest, players control shipping companies, and have two cargo ships each. Each ship is able to hold four items, either goods or passengers. Players will be moving these ships from port to port, picking up goods and passengers and then transporting those items to the ports that want them, as indicated by Contract Cards.

There are 3 Contract Cards that are available for completion by any player. These are face up on the board. The Contract Cards are laid out very nicely, with a large picture of what good/passenger is wanted at the destination port, and dots on the map showing which port(s) the good/passenger can be picked up at, and where the destination port is located. When a player completes a contract, she takes the contract card and places it under her player mat, leaving the number of points it is worth showing. 

A player who is able to complete these two contracts 

would score 5 points - 5 for Petrograd and 1 for New York.

Play of the game is driven by an action card deck. At the beginning of each turn, a player will have 4 Action Cards in her hand. She can play as many of these as she wants on her turn. Each action card can be used for one of three things: movement, money, or the special card ability. Using a card's movement value allows a player to move one of her ships through spaces that are equal to or less than the value on the card. Money on a card can be used to pay to pick up goods or passengers in port, dump cargo or passengers that a player no longer wishes to haul, or purchase a face down contract from the contract deck. Contracts purchased this way are then personal contracts that can only be completed by the player holding them. 

The "World Crisis" card  ability affects everyone playing, and simulates the events of October 29, 1929 - Black Tuesday.

The final thing an Action Card can be used for is the card's special ability. This is the part of the game that really brings in the theme and makes the game stand out. The events range from being able to double the movement of a ship to being able to attack an opponent's ship. The art on the prototype cards that I received is very well done, with the ability text written in a 1920s style newspaper headline style. The titles of the cards are thematic as well, invoking language and events from the time, with titles like Double Whammy" and "Spanish Flu."

The final part of the Basic game are the piracy spaces and attacks. Some regions on the board (indicated by red pathways) are patrolled by thieving pirates. Any ships entering these paths need to roll two dice are pirate attacks! Resolving these attacks is simple: if the player has any cargo in the matching holds of the ship being attacked, they are lost. Some Action Cards have special ability text that allow a player to attack another - these attacks are resolved in the same way, except some of these cards allow the attacking player to steal any cargo lost! 

The Expert game plays similarly to the Basic game, except instead of drawing Action Cards from a shared deck, players will be drawing Action Cards from their own decks. Money also has an additional function in the game, in that it can be used to draft new cards into player's decks. There will be a row of 3 cards available for purchase, all of which cost $3 each to put into a player's discard pile. These cards will then eventually be shuffled into and drawn from a player's deck. 

Manifest is a solid pick-up and deliver game with some fun "take that" chaos added in. As I said above, the special abilities on the cards really add a lot of flair to what is otherwise a pretty basic (though still entertaining) family game. I think that Manifest is one of those games that could be played on the same game night as Carcasonne and Ticket to Ride with a group of gateway gamers. It is simple to learn and play, but has a good amount of planning and strategy - as well as a couple laugh out loud moments each game.

SchilMil Games is currently seeking contributions on Kickstarter to fund a print run of Manifest!! They are well on their way to being funded having already raised over a third of what they need!! If you're interested in pledging for a copy, head on over to Kickstarter to show them your support!

[Jim would like to thank SchilMil Games for having a prototype copy of Manifest sent to him.]

BattleLore Second Edition Review

Battlelore 2nd Edition is the newest game using Richard Borg’s popular Commands and Colors system. Released late in 2013 from FFG, the game is a reimplementation of the original BattleLore which was originally released by Days of Wonder back in 2006.

BattleLore 2nd Edition is a 2 player fantasy squad based war game that puts players in command of their own armies from FFG’s Terrinoth universe. Those familiar with previously released games using the Commands and Colors system will be able to pick this game up without much difficulty.

During this game, the red Uthuk Y’llan army will have a defensive bonus. They will also score a point for every pair of forest and hill hexes they occupy at the end of their turn.

The biggest changes to the game from the 1st edition of the game come during the setup procedures, which have really been incorporated strategically into the game. After players have chosen which side they will play, each will choose a scenario card. This card will dictate the terrain on their half of the board, will add a special rule and scoring opportunity specific to their army, as well as which spaces they will be able to muster onto during setup.

After choosing scenario cards, players will build a 50 point army, and secretly setup their side of the board by placing deployment cards facedown in the shaded hexes on their scenario card. Once this is done, the cards are replaced by the actual figures and the game can begin.

Two examples of basic Command Cards. Obviously your version of the game won’t have the BETA watermarks.

A player’s turn revolves around playing 1 command card per turn, which allows her to move and attack with the number of units in the sections indicated on the card. Each player will have an army made up of different types of units which have their own abilities and strengths.

Combat is pretty straightforward. The attacker rolls a number of dice equal to her unit’s attack rating. Melee attacks hit on 2 sides of the dice, and ranged attacks hit on 1 side. The defending unit also might be made to retreat in a straight line away from the attacker. If the defending unit is not eliminated or forced to retreat, it may immediately counter attack (if adjacent to the attacking unit).

Some of the Uthuk Y’llan unit cards. The Blood Harvester units can move 2, attack with 3 dice in melee, and begins with 3 health.

Play repeats like this until one of two victory conditions are met: one player wipes the other player’s army out, or one player accumulates 16 victory points. While I think the latter will happen most often, the former is certainly possible.

Here is what the board looks like setup for the scenario cards shown above. [GoT coasters not included.]

BattleLore 2nd Edition is the third game in the Commands and Colors family of games that I have played, and it is definitely my favorite. The core gameplay and combat strikes a wonderful balance between the simplicity of the system made popular by Memoir ‘44, while distilling the (sometimes overly) complex rules of Battles of Westeros. What really sets this edition of BattleLore apart are the great decisions that are added during the revamped setup phase of the game. The scenario selection, army construction, and secret deployment may seem a little daunting to those new to the system or even to those accustomed to the prescribed setups of games like Memoir ‘44 of the other C&C games, but are actually quite simple and go a long way to adding interesting levels of decision making and strategy to an already fun combat system.

That said, one of the big cons for the game is the setup time. For those of you who have played a C&C game, you know that setting up a game can take a good 10-20 minutes (and can feel a lot longer). The time investment doesn't change with BattleLore 2nd Edition, but FFG did make these 20 minutes more interesting by incorporating player choices and strategy into the setup - effectively making the setup part of the game itself.

Overall, I give BattleLore 2nd Edition an 8.0/10. FFG has done a great job distilling out almost all of the fiddly rules from the more complex Battles of Westeros, while making the game more interesting and entertaining than the more family oriented Memoir ‘44. I would heartily recommend this game to anyone looking for a fun, 60 minute, medium weight battle game.

If you think BattleLore 2nd Edition sounds interesting, you should also check out: Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game, Dungeon Command, and Castle Ravenloft.