The Wandering Referee

About

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 31: Experience

Mon, 31 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

What keeps drawing me back to RPGs is the experience they create with other people. They combine story, flexibility, and shared play in a way that board games never quite managed for me.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 30: Portal

Sun, 30 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

The most common form of a portal that your players will experience is a door. A door by itself is boring, it has a knob and it divides rooms from other rooms and hallways. However, that door breaks up the dungeon into individual segments that can be processed one at a time by the players. The GM may not be so lucky if the players are making a lot of noise, they’ll need to keep track if whatever is on the other side is aware of the players.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 29: Ride

Sat, 29 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

I usually handwave long travel, but the ride itself can still be worth focusing on when it’s fun enough. The dinosaur race in Tomb of Annihilation is a great example of travel that stands on its own.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 28: Close

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Some of the best RPG moments come from close calls: fights barely won, clues found in time, or villains stopped at the last second. Those scenes are memorable, but it’s just as fun to let players completely outplay a situation when they’ve earned it.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 27: Favor

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

If you’re looking for an adventure hook, somebody always needs a favor. A small request can turn into travel, danger, betrayal, or a larger obligation with very little effort.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 26: Strange

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

I like fantasy that goes a little gonzo without tipping fully into horror. Mixing in aliens, lasers, dinosaurs, or other outlandish elements can make a dungeon feel strange in the best possible way.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 25: Lever

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Players can solve a surprising number of problems with simple tools if you give them space to think through the situation. A trapped barred door in my game turned into a good reminder to build problems that reward practical solutions like levers, ropes, and pulleys.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 24: Humor

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Humor is something I want at the table, even if the game isn’t a comedy. It’s worth talking about up front, and when it lands well it can make a session far more memorable.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 23: Edge

Sun, 23 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Modern D&D and old-school D&D make a useful contrast because they put the edge in different places. In one, player characters usually have the advantage; in the other, they’re constantly looking for any advantage they can get.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 22: Rare

Sat, 22 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Game-changing magic items should feel rare, but that doesn’t mean every magic item has to be dull. Strange items with unusual limits or side effects are usually more fun than another clean numerical upgrade.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 21: Push

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

The Year Zero Engine’s push mechanic is one of my favorite rules because it makes failure a choice instead of a dead end. You can try again, but every version of the rule makes you pay for it in some way.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 20: Investigate

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Investigation is hard to run because players will miss clues you think are obvious. That’s why I keep coming back to the three clue rule and try to build in enough redundancy to keep the game moving.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 19: Tower

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Tower of the Black Pearl is exactly the kind of Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure I love: flavorful setup, dangerous treasure, and a built-in time limit that forces hard choices. A tower that sinks back into the sea is a great way to create pressure and turn the escape into the best part of the scenario.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 18: Meet

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Meeting in a tavern works just fine, but a campaign opening can do more than that. Bringing the party together in a battlefield, escape pod, or some other tense situation gives the game an immediate spark.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 17: Comfort

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Most RPGs focus on danger, discovery, and struggle, but they still need moments of comfort. A little safety, relief, or breathing room gives players a chance to recover and makes the harder parts of a campaign hit better.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 16: Dramatic

Sun, 16 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Drama at the table often comes from NPCs who feel vivid and obvious in what they want. If players can hear that in the way a character talks and acts, the scene has a much better chance of landing.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 15: Frame

Sat, 15 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Large framed art makes for excellent loot because it’s valuable, fragile, and awkward to move. Treasure like that forces players to think about transport, risk, and who they can actually sell it to.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 14: Banner

Fri, 14 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

I hadn’t really thought about how a battle standard could work in an RPG, but it feels like a fun item with obvious uses and obvious drawbacks. Here’s a quick take on a standard that helps morale, works as a makeshift weapon, and makes its bearer an immediate target.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 13: Rest

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Rest gets more interesting once you stop treating it as empty time and start asking what the rest of the world is doing. Random encounters, clues, and downtime costs can all make that pause matter.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 12: Message

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

I like messages that create tension, whether that’s a private note about hidden information or an out-of-game message that keeps bookkeeping away from session time. Both kinds can make a campaign run better.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 11: Stack

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Initiative can be handled in all kinds of ways, and each one changes the feel of combat a little. I’ve been especially interested in systems like Troika’s Stack that make turn order more uncertain and dynamic.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 10: Want

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

I keep wanting to find the one game that does everything I need, but that search keeps leading me to more books, more systems, and more decisions about what to keep. The whole cycle is really driven by wanting to have fun with the people I play with.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 9: Light

Sun, 09 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Light feels like an easy shorthand for goodness, hope, and people trying to set things right. Whether it’s sunlight on the road or a torch in the dark, it works as both a literal and symbolic force in a game.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 8: Shade

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Shade makes me think of dungeons and the people who thrive in them. They’re places of danger, treasure, hard choices, and the sort of hidden movement that lets thieves and assassins do their work.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 7: Couple

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

I like the idea of being able to carry just a couple of books and a couple of supplies and be ready to run a game anywhere. In practice I keep chasing new systems and genres, so that simple ideal never quite wins.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 6: Forest

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

A forest is a great first adventure site because it feels close to home while still leaving room for mystery. It can hold ruins, witches, bandits, or stranger things, and it still leaves the party with options once they’re done.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 5: Tribute

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

A lot of the RPGs I enjoy are tributes to earlier games, especially Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons. What I keep coming back to is the focus on problem solving and finding ways around a fight instead of charging into it.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 4: Vision

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

I run a mixture of theatre of the mind combat (where there’s no map) and and combat with maps and minis (or virtual tokens as the case has been lately). I like both and would generally prefer theater of the mind, but my players often prefer the latter and I think that’s because I forget about vision during combat.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 3: Thread

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

When preparing a game I try to think about the various plot threads. They’ll vary from ones I’ve introduced to something in the player’s backstory or even something they’ve found along the way that I never thought would be part of the story. The important part here is to work on the threads that the players feel are important and develop those if possible.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 2: Change

Sun, 02 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Today is day 2 of #RPGaDAY2020 and today the prompt is Change.

#RPGaDAY2020 Day 1: Beginning

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 11:00:00 -0400

Every year for the past seven years, David Chapman has run something called RPGaDAY. It’s a series of prompts about RPGs for an entire month with the goal being to drive some discussion around them. I had a blast with it last year and I’m hoping to be as consistent this year with it.

Review: The Stone Heir (The Phlogiston Books, #2)

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:15:00 -0500

Half of this DCC supplement shines — particularly the transitional funnel adventure and the clever Adventuring Ties system.

Review: Doom of the Savage Kings

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:10:00 -0500

A tight DCC adventure with a well-realized town, a paranoid atmosphere, and a boss monster that punishes players who charge in without thinking.

Review: Spire

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 18:45:00 -0400

A PbtA game about being an oppressed drow elf revolutionary in your conquered city — with mechanics built around sacrifice and consequence.

Blights ov the Eastern Forest Rumor Table and Loot

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 17:45:00 -0400

As part of my review for Sky ov Crimson Flame, I mentioned that I wanted to make a rumor table and roll up some loot for the Blights ov the Eastern Forest hex crawl. Here’s what I’ve come up with.

Review: Sky ov Crimson Flame

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 17:30:00 -0400

A DCC RPG level 0 funnel and hex crawl in one slim book — my first foray into reading the RPG pile of shame.

OSR Guide for the Perplexed

Mon, 15 Oct 2018 21:00:00 -0400

Recently Google announced that they’re shutting down Google+ in 10 months. Before I really got into RPGs, Google+ was merely the butt of a few jokes, but largely ignored. However, the RPG community at large heavily used Google+ to share new blog posts, talk about ideas, and market new products.

Right now there’s a bit of a vaccum as folks scatter and attempt to find it’s replacement. It looks like MeWe will likely be the winner, though there’s a contingent of OSR bloggers that’d love to see things go back to blogs and comments. I’m not wild about comments, but I love the idea of getting back to longer, more thought out content, rather than small bits and bites.

Gen Con 2017

Thu, 24 Aug 2017 19:40:00 -0400

Four days, 28 miles of walking, too much money spent, and a lot of great games at Gen Con 50.

The Re-Review: After the Auction

Mon, 19 Sep 2016 11:43:14 -0400

Mombasa #

2 plays with 2 people
New to me

I’m not sure what I was expecting with this game. It languished on the shelf for a while, largely forgotten about due to its bland cover and four player maximum (my game group nights have been growing). It was about to go up for auction when I walked my wife to try it out with me.

The Re-Review: Birth of a Child!

Tue, 30 Aug 2016 21:57:52 -0400

Scythe #

1 play with 5 people
Played before

This was the third time I’ve played the game and the first time where it wasn’t truly a blowout for the winner. I’m happy to see that the scores can be a bit more balanced than previously thought and I’m still enjoying the game quite a bit. It’s smooth, easy to teach, and absolutely beautiful. There’s some interaction, but not too much for those that want to build up their territory and earn points more peacefully.

The Re-Review: WesCon Summer 2016

Mon, 18 Jul 2016 11:48:09 -0400

The Voyages of Marco Polo #

1 plays with 2 people
Played before

This is a game that seems to get forgotten about in our house for no good reason. Both my wife and I really enjoy the variety offered in this game along with the decisions you have to make. Rolling poorly isn’t a death knell, and you can typically come back from poor decisions. That being said, the game is rather quick and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.

The Re-Review: Summer Doldrums

Tue, 28 Jun 2016 00:00:00 -0400

Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem #

1 play with 3 people
Played before

I’ve only played Sons of Anarchy a few times, but I’ve enjoyed it those times. It’s an interesting combination of dice, worker placement, and area control that I haven’t seen in this combination elsewhere. Also, the complete lack of victory points and desire for cold hard cash makes for an interesting difference from most games on the market.

The Re-Review: Stalled

Mon, 23 May 2016 17:48:18 -0400

Through the Ages #

1 play with 2 people
Played before

As we figure out how to play with wars and aggressions, our scores are slowly working their way up to peaceful-game-level scores. This game is so odd to me, that I’ve played it as much as I have in such a short time and the game takes hours to play. Most of my games have been online and that obviously helps, but even still, there’s a good number of face-to-face plays as well.

The Re-Review: Open Worlds and Dice

Mon, 02 May 2016 22:20:00 -0400

Food Chain Magnate #

1 play with 2 players
Played before

I haven’t played a “full” game of this yet, but the more I play it, the more I like it. In the game, you’re building org charts, producing marketing campaigns (to drive demand of goods), and then satisfying demand (to make money).

The Re-Review: Dueling Caballeros

Tue, 26 Apr 2016 11:15:00 -0400

Raptor #

2 plays with 2 players
Played before

The more I play Raptor the more I appreciate how clever it is. Your choices are limited, but difficult and picking the right card is never as easy as looking only at your hand of three cards. Once you have a few plays under your belt, you’ll start to look at what your opponent has played and know what they need, with that in mind, you can play cards that directly counter those needs: know your scientist opponent needs more scientists on the board and he’s played his 6? Play your 2 so it’s a wasted card. I feel like this one has more depth the more I play it and I really appreciate owning it.

The Re-Review: Online Only

Tue, 19 Apr 2016 12:02:00 -0400

Russian Railroads #

1 play with 3 players
Played before

I’ve played Russian Railroads before, but I hadn’t played the German Railroads expansion before, so I suggested playing a game online this week with my co-workers. I like the few changes made to the base game, but I realized that the game doesn’t do enough for me to bother keeping it. It’s a straight efficiency puzzle and I’m realizing over time that those kinds of games are interesting at first blush, but become old quickly for me.

The Re-Review: Istanbul and Constantinople

Mon, 11 Apr 2016 22:12:00 -0400

Istanbul #

2 plays with 2 players
Played before

This was a game that my wife asked me to buy and taught me to play. That’s reason enough in my book to keep it and play it from time to time, but I do enjoy the choices I have in Istanbul: the path to take, the actions to use, how to reclaim your assistants and what to do with your wisecracking family member who always seems to end up at the police station for one reason or another.

The Re-Review: The A's Have It

Tue, 05 Apr 2016 14:55:00 -0400

Alchemists #

1 play with 4 players
Played before

In a previous week, I played a two player game of Alchemists and didn’t have a great time with it mostly due to my own poor record keeping, but the game permits it and does nothing to help you out (an in-app history would be lovely). A friend of mine wanted to try it out and I agreed. I figured it would be a good reason to get the game back out to see if my dislike was founded.

The Re-Review: Back to Cosmic

Tue, 29 Mar 2016 20:39:00 -0400

Arcadia Quest #

1 play with 4 players
Played before
Part of my 2016 10x10 Challenge

This was the fifth game of our six game campaign and the end is near. This particular play was bittersweet as it was the last one where got to buy new loot. One thing to keep in mind with these campaigns is that the games seem to get longer and longer as the game goes one. We could once play two rounds in one evening and getting in one is tight. I’m looking forward to the last game in the campaign and starting another campaign later this year.

The Re-Review: Two Player Game Day Edition

Sun, 20 Mar 2016 21:52:00 -0400

Blood Rage #

1 play with 3 players
Played before
Part of my 2016 10x10 Challenge

I only recorded one play here, but really there were one and a half. We called off the first game midway through the second age after myself and another player realized we’d never catch up to the other player. Frustrated, we reset and had a much more balanced game (that I ended up winning after trailing for much of the game).

The Re-Review: Quick Ones

Mon, 14 Mar 2016 16:43:00 -0400

Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization #

1 play with 2 players
Played before

This was the first time I’ve played the game online at boardgaming-online.com and while the interface there leaves a lot to be desired, it has the updated rules and it’s still the same great game I know and love. I seem to have a knack for doing poorly at the beginning and really pulling ahead in the end. Also, most of my games have me largely ignoring military and floundering a bit in the beginning as a result. Still, the power of fast food and Bill Gates let me pull from behind in this game.

The Re-Review: Ketchup

Wed, 09 Mar 2016 11:39:00 -0400

Roll for the Galaxy #

2 plays with 2 players
Played before
Part of my 2016 10x10 Challenge

The shine is starting to wear off to some degree. Most of our plays have ended with a landslide victory, or at least it feels that way to the loser. We still enjoy the buildup of the game and the engine building, but losing feels worse than it used to. We’ll likely try to finish up our 10 plays to see if it is as bad as we think, but we won’t force ourselves to finish if it’s truly wearing thin on us. On the other hand, we’re at 14 total plays, so I feel like I’ve gotten my money’s worth.

The Re-Review: Light Edition

Tue, 01 Mar 2016 17:48:00 -0400

Arcadia Quest #

1 play with 4 players
Played before
Part of my 2016 10x10 Challenge

Continuing our ongoing campaign, I took my loot from the last game and soundly won this particular game. I managed to win by scooting around the board quite a bit and using a take another turn potion to finish the match. I also had a lot of money after this particular game, so it’ll be interesting to see how things play out in the 4th game of the series.

The Re-Review: Money, Meeples, Mocked Art, and Managed Diseases

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 16:00:00 -0400

For Sale #

1 play with 6 players
Played before

I had only played this once before and didn’t really get to see its hook because I was preoccupied with starting a board game group. I’m glad I played it again because it certainly seems to pack in a bunch of interesting decisions: do I pass now and keep my money? Do I use my best property on this turn to get the largest money card or go low because everyone else is going high? Is keeping money a viable strategy? Lots of interesting questions and it’s easily played in 15 minutes or so. My biggest concern is teaching the game because the two parts of the game lead to confusion for new players. I’ll definitely bring this out again and hopefully I can refine my ability to teach it.

The Re-Review: Rolling Dice and Making a Case

Mon, 15 Feb 2016 17:16:00 -0400

Arcadia Quest #

2 plays with 4 players
Played before
Part of my 2016 10x10 Challenge

Arcadia Quest is on my 10x10 because it’s one of those punchy, fun games that lets you just bash your friends on your way to victory, collect loot along the way, and be awarded superlatives and titles for your hard work. We just started a campaign and two games in I have no victories, but a lot of goodies because of all of the money I acquired. Even still, the loot won’t unbalance the game for long as each game leads to better and better stuff.

The Re-Review: Foiled Again

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 14:22:00 -0400

Blood Rage #

1 play with 3 players
Played before
Part of my 2016 10x10 Challenge

Blood Rage continues to be a really fun game. In this particular game, the winner ended up with an insurmountable force in the second age and myself and the other player never managed to get around that, though I did come within 10 points of the winner. I know there are cards that help the loser gain points, but I don’t recall seeing much of them. Ah well, next time.

The Group of Ten, 2015 Edition

Sun, 24 Jan 2016 22:58:00 -0400

Every now and again I see the same thought experiment pop up: if you had to reduce your board game collection down to ten games, what would you keep? Most recently, I saw Nate Owen’s take on the idea and it spurred me on to write up my own list. I fully expect this to have a lot of overlap with my top 10 games, but I also don’t expect them to perfectly overlap. Just because those games are my favorite games does not mean they are the only 10 I’d own. Without further ado, let’s get this started.

The Re-Review: A New Year

Sat, 23 Jan 2016 14:03:00 -0400

Baseball Highlights 2045 #

1 play with 2 players
New to me

I had high hopes for Baseball Highlights 2045, I had seen such good reviews of it over the past few months and while baseball isn’t something I watch often now, there was a bit of nostalgia from my childhood of playing and watching baseball. In addition to the theme, the game looked generally good, with an interesting play structure and a relatively short game.

Best Games of the Year 2015

Sun, 03 Jan 2016 14:32:00 -0400

For the past few years, I’ve played a increasingly larger number of new games each year as I grow more and more infatuated with board games as a hobby. With 58 new-to-me games, 2015 was no different.

What is different is that I feel like I should be slowing down. I’m to the point where I roughly know my tastes and I’m playing new games just to get them played when I’d rather play games I already own. Put another way, I’m buying games faster than I can reasonably play and evaluate them. Mind you, I’m not judging others here, this is for me and me only.

The Re-Review: Year End Sale!

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 20:14:00 -0400

Abyss #

1 play with 3 players
Played before

Abyss is one of those games that plays really well, but unremarkably and that makes it hard to get to the table. It’s mechanics aren’t terribly new and there’s no big hook to pull people in, but it is smooth and easy to teach. Then there’s the art: beautifully illustrated underwater scenes and sea creatures. I just received Abyss: Kraken for Christmas and I can’t wait to see how it changes the game.

The Re-Review: Creating and Saving the World

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 14:04:00 -0400

Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization #

1 play with 2 players
New to me

A while back a few, I played a game of the original Through the Ages online with my co-workers. It was a memorable experience to say the least, with a back and forth swing of power as we would all ebb and flow with power through the ages. I wanted the game, but avoided it due to its length and age.

The Re-Review: Building an Empire

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 16:02:00 -0400

Castles of Mad King Ludwig #

1 play with 4 players
Played before

Castles of Mad King Ludwig replaced Suburbia in my collection a while back and looking at it now, it was certainly the correct decision. It’s a little faster, especially if the players have played Suburbia before, and it has a lot less bookkeeping. Also, a city of regular hexagons doesn’t have a ton of variety or story, but a fully built castle with different rooms always tells a funny story (my castle’s owner was clearly an evil villain with his torture chamber, underground grotto, and train room.

The Re-Review: Dice and Cubes

Wed, 25 Nov 2015 16:07:00 -0400

Lords of Waterdeep #

1 play with 3 players
Played before

I enjoy worker placement games and I have a good number of them. In general, none of them are revolutionary or groundbreaking. Instead they just have slight changes from one to another. Lords of Waterdeep is definitely an iterative design and nothing here is mind blowing, but it is very smooth and well designed. The rules make sense and the game is easy to teach. In fact, you’d be able to teach this to almost anyone who’s willing to pay attention to you for a few minutes

The Re-Review: Build 'em Up and Tear 'em Down

Mon, 02 Nov 2015 21:49:00 -0400

Flick ’em Up! #

1 play with 3 players
New to me

I’ve always wanted to enjoy a dexterity game, but both of the previous games that I tried I really didn’t enjoy: Catacombs and Ascending Empires. Both were too long and fiddly with lots of little rule problems caused by the odd flick here or there. However, I didn’t like the idea of playing what I felt should have been a light game for over an hour, it just felt dragged out.

The Re-Review: Woefully Behind Again

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 20:44:00 -0400

Cosmic Encounter #

1 play with 5 players
Played before
Part of my 10x10 Challenge

I seem to only be able to win this game jointly, which is probably a factor of teaching the game to new folks most of the time, but I still love the stories this game produces. In this particular game I had surged to a pretty early lead with three points versus some folks with two, one, or zero points. However, that’s never a good sign in this game and everyone started ganging up against me as the destiny deck dealt my color or wilds repeatedly. Sitting firmly with three points and everyone else but one person has four points, I’m now in last with one other person. Well, as I said before, we ended up winning due to a 40 point encounter card while allied with the other person in last and then I drew one more encounter card and it was his card. I said, “want to negotiate?” and, we both had the right card and that was a win!

The Re-Review: The Summer Doldrums

Tue, 22 Sep 2015 14:30:00 -0400

Forbidden Stars #

1 play with 3 players
Played before

My first play of Forbidden Stars was pretty abysmal, resulting in something of a rage quit. However, my second game went much better—thankfully.

The general gist of the game is you’re one of four Warhammer 40k factions attempting to recover enough objectives to win within eight rounds. You’ll do that by conquering certain planets which will require some movement (and combat), upgrades, building/recruiting, and domination (extracting resources). Most of these actions are straightforward—with combat being an exception—but the way you plan your turn is very interesting: you have eight order tiles (two of each action) and you play the tiles face down on the sector tiles and resolve them from the top down. If there are other tiles already there, you play on top, so you can now prevent that person from using that action for a bit. The game ends in eight rounds, and the person with the most objectives wins, in case of a tie you use planets, if that ties, you use units.

The Re-Review: With a Bias Towards Dice

Sun, 23 Aug 2015 10:26:00 -0400

Quantum #

1 play with 3 players
Played before

Every time I play Quantum, I’m reminded of why I’ve purchased this one twice and I sold myself for having sold it at any point. Quantum takes a normally long and unwieldy genre—4x (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate)—and compresses it down into a simple to teach, simple to learn, and hard to master game. I love a lot of the clever bits:

The Re-Review: Rolling Dice and Taking Actions

Sun, 19 Jul 2015 21:19:00 -0400

Elysium #

1 play with 3 players and 1 play with 2 players in the past two weeks
Played before

I’ve mostly played Elysium with 3 or 4 players, so it was nice to finally be able to try the game with only 2 players. With 2 players, it’s definitely a much faster game since the number of cards drafted stays the same. Also, I feel like your choices open up quite a bit as each player can develop an individual strategy.

The Re-Review: Woefully Behind

Sat, 04 Jul 2015 21:04:00 -0400

The Duke #

1 play with 2 players this week
Played before

This is one of those games that just doesn’t get to the table nearly as much as I’d like since it’s two players only. It takes what I like about chess (its strategy and different movements) and removes what I don’t like (its static setup). I like that a piece’s movement changes after moving and that each piece does something slightly different. I do find myself looking up the very short rules since I don’t play it often, but if you played quite a bit, this would be a 10-20 minute game each time.

The Re-Review: The Re-Review: Two Kinds of War, a Job Application, and Crawling

Mon, 22 Jun 2015 17:02:00 -0400

1775: Rebellion #

1 play with 4 players this week
Played before

This is a game that just doesn’t get played nearly enough for my preferences. It’s one of the few team games I own and it’s about the only way I can play a war game. If you haven’t played it before, it’s a very light area control board game where you have four players that represent the colonial militia, the Continental Army, the loyalist militia, and the British regulars. Each faction has a certain birthdays. Those guys have a number of hit symbols, flee symbols, and blanks. The British regulars are the strongest and they have the most hit symbols and no flee symbols. On the other hand, the militias are pretty weak with there two hit symbols and to flee symbols. However, to make up for the weakness of the militias they get three dice whereas the armies get two dice. In addition, you get to replace those fled armies later.

The Re-Review: Ascension in Spaaaaaaaace and Civilization Building by Razing

Tue, 19 May 2015 15:25:00 -0400

Star Realms #

5 plays with 2 players
Played before

If you’ve played Ascension then you’ve also played Star Realms for the most part. They’re both simple deck builders with two different kinds of currency: one used for buying new cards and one used for attacking. Both have a center card row with five cards face up and both have cards on the side that are always available. The biggest difference between the two is that in Ascension you only attack monsters in the middle row and one monster that’s always available and in Star Realms you’re attacking the other player(s).

The Re-Review: Rome, Rome, and a Victory-class Star Destroyer

Mon, 11 May 2015 09:28:00 -0400

Star Wars: Armada #

1 play with 2 players
Not played before

This game was underwhelming and I’m happy about that. I purchased Star Wars: X-Wing near when it came out. I bought the extra ships and expanded it to the point where I needed a big Plano box in order to store all of the ships and even that didn’t fully contain it. I also bought the fancy acrylic templates. I later realized that I never played the game and it was just collecting dust, taking up space, and it represented an expense that I wasn’t happy with. I was much happier when I sold it.

The Re-Review: the 41st millennium, some Greek isles, homicidal wizards, and more

Tue, 05 May 2015 12:39:00 -0400

Warhammer 40,000: Conquest #

1 play with 2 players
Played before

There’s a lot to like about Warhammer 40,000: Conquest. It’s a customizable game done by Fantasy Flight so you know that it’ll be well supported, have fantastic art, and likely enjoy a long life. It’s a Games Workshop property so you know there’s lore behind everything and if you’re a fan of that universe it’s likely all here. It’s an Eric Ltang designed game and he’s been hitting it out of the park lately with well designed games coupled with a relatively simple ruleset. Yet, I have my reservations.

The Re-Review: A 10x10 Challenge Sweep

Mon, 27 Apr 2015 22:08:00 -0400

Mage Knight #

1 play with 2 players this week
Played before
Part of my 10x10 Challenge

Mage Knight is a tough game to get to the table with other players. It has a lot of rules and weird conditions that you have have to account for (I’m thinking of you combat). The other conundrum with other players is the time between turns. Planning out your turn is often a matter of a single card here or there and miscalculations can be a problem as players have to pick up their whole hand of cards after making a mistake.

The Re-Review: Nomadic Lifestyles, Making Wine, Building Castles, and Saving the World

Mon, 27 Apr 2015 15:36:00 -0400

Arcadia Quest #

1 play with 3 players this week
Played before

Arcadia Quest is a game that the middle schooler in me wants to play. You find a few friends, lay out a map, select your heroes, load em up with some weapons, and start killing each other while taking out a monster or two. Chuck some dice, find some weapons, and take each other out. Then respawn. That’s right, death is not permanent in this game, though it can be a big setback.

The Re-Review: Back in the Swing of Things

Mon, 27 Apr 2015 14:40:00 -0400

Five Tribes #

1 play with 2 players
Played before
Part of my 10x10 Challenge

Five Tribes is a perennial favorite around the Baker household and for good reason: there’s a lot of interesting decisions to be made for a relatively short game. My wife and I are pretty competitive with it and scores are always relatively close.

The Re-Review: Bar Hopping

Mon, 27 Apr 2015 14:40:00 -0400

Beasty Bar #

1 play with 4 players
Not played before

Beasty Bar came recommended from the folks over at Fortress Ameritrash as a nice little filler with some take-that action in it and I can say it delivers.

The basic premise if you have animals and you want to get them into a nightclub. Each animal will manipulate the line in their own way. Once there are five animals, the two in front get in and the one all the way at the end gets kicked out. You’ll end up playing all twelve of your cards, though the last few cards may not matter.

The Re-Review: Playing Catch-up

Mon, 27 Apr 2015 13:42:00 -0400

Five Tribes #

1 play with 2 players this week
Played before
Part of my 10x10 Challenge

This was probably my strangest play of Five Tribes yet, Shannon and I ended up tying 217 to 217 and there are no tiebreakers in Five Tribes so we shared our communal victory.

I find it fascinating that two people can take very different strategies in a game like this and that they’re both viable. Shannon went the route of getting djinn and I went heavy with the goods and somehow we ended up with the exact same score. If either of us had managed the same results with one less coin paid for turn order, we would have won.

The Re-Review: Aliens, Trading, The Love Hut, and more

Sun, 19 Apr 2015 19:13:00 -0400

The general idea behind these posts is to constantly re-review my games and talk about the things I like and dislike in individual games and maybe particular plays. One thing I’d like to accommodate for is that I play Netrunner weekly and there’s going to be a good number of folks who don’t care for it, so I’d like to break that out separately. I’d like to list the game and the number of plays for each game and the player counts along with a picture or two and explain whether I’ve played the game before or not.