Board Game Review of Monster City Planners

Monster City Planners by Gary Dahl, published by Sugar Pill Studios

2-4 Players, 20 minutes, ages 12+

TL:DR Version
A genuinely unique city building and destroying microgame of Kaiju proportions.  The hard decisions between actions and points make a think meaty experience despite its smaller box.  Primary Mechanics are Card Drafting, Multipurpose Cards, and Environment Manipulation.

The Pitch
A couple years ago, The Game Crafter hosted a Microgame Design Contest sponsored by All Us Geeks and Father Geek.  Many great games were entered including Monster City Planners, which featured card drafting, city building/destruction, and multiple use cards.  So let’s see how destruction and construction via Kaiju Rampage can work for you.

Board Game Review of Inca Empire

Inca Empire by Alan D. Ernstein, Published by Zman Games

3-4 players, 90-120 minutes

TL:DR Version
Inca Empire is a Euro style classic of expansion, exploitation, and empire building which weighs in heavy on time to play but genuinely feels like you’re building up an empire.  While you’re trying to win, there’s a hint of a cooperative element to see how far the Inca Empire can stretch.  Primary mechanics are Route Building, Empire Building, and Civilization Lite.

The Pitch
They say the Inca Empire wasn’t built in a day but rather two hours.  Two long, excruciating hours where that one jerk won’t stop connecting to all of your cities and garrisons like some Incan Coattail Riding Jerk Face who should just go off and do his own thing.  That jerk who places the gods wrath in your empire while his gets an easy path to glory… that jerk!

Welcome to Inca Empire, one of my favorite board games and that one jerk mentioned in the blurb above?  I’m usually that jerk.  Inca Empire is a game with a ton of bits and a long run up to the end game that feels satisfying every step of the way.  The goal of Inca Empire is, of course, points which is achieved primarily by both building and connecting to the most areas on the board.

Playing the Top 100: Tichu and Orléans

First I want to thank all of my friends that have offered to find me games, started trying to find me games, helped out with strategies, and most importantly played games with me. We're 5% of the way home people. It's all downhill from here. I also wanted to clarify something that may have been misconstrued in my earlier writing. I'm not limiting myself to playing these games once (though once may be enough for some) and I'm also willing to play other games that are not on the list. I just want to get the top 100 in by year's end.

 Also, if you're interested in playing a particular game with me because it is your favorite thing and live in the metro, let me know of Facebook. Let's set something up. Additionally also, I have requested with the guys that we Twitch stream Battlestar Galactica. You should watch, it's the game that sort of brought our group together and our games are a blast.

This has been pretty fun so far. I really like goals and this has given me a reason to play some things towards which I would not normally gravitate. Tonight I talk about one of those and it is not Tichu. Tichu and I love each other. We are old friends. Tichu knows where it sits in my top 10 list, it is one of the games that regardless what time it is, I will play. My Tichu partner and I have been playing
together for what I would estimate is a couple of years now and we love it. Probably a little too much.

Playing the Top 100: Imperial Assault

Greetings all. So this resolution has sparked something that is unprecedented. I am writing twice in one week. New milestones and all that stuff. Alright, so I was able to play Star Wars: Imperial Assault this evening. It is #11 on the list for those playing at home. It was completely by accident, but since I would probably put the game on my top 10 favorites, I was happy to play it. I won't say that I play the game often, but I do own it. I am in the process (with the rest of the world) of attempting to keep up with FFG's frequent and somewhat expensive release schedule. Tonight I had some non-gamer friends over for a party and they said, "That looks fun." So I totally played it off, but I was screaming with excitement on the inside. One of my gamer buddies decided to watch, laughing and telling them that I was going to crush them mercilessly because that is how the Empire rolls. We had more than two, so we played the first Campaign mission, Aftermath.

My Gamer's Resolution: Play the top 100 on BGG.com by Year's End

Hi all,

For those of you that do not know me, I do not write often. When I do write, it is usually on this blog. To provide a little background about this exercise, I should state that I think New Year's resolutions are silly. That said, I do create a list of goals for the year in order to provide focus for things that I want to accomplish. In this particular case, I call this a resolution because it involves gaming and I think I will actually finish it.

Descent Cooperative Adventures - Forgotten Souls

First released in the Spring 2014 Descent Game Night Kit, this adventure introduces something that a portion of the Descent fanbase has been calling for since the release of the game, a scenario in which there is no Overlord player.

Sending your party of adventurers into a dungeon after a dragon named Tharn that is ravaging a town, you encounter passageways that try to kill you, demons trying to take the souls of villagers, and the dragon himself in a final encounter.

Lets take a look at the set and see how it adds to the Descent experience!

Machi Koro impressions

This game arrived at my FLGS last Thursday, and I had seen screenshots of the game at various sites.  I had turned to my cohorts for our normal game night and said 'Sell me on this game.  It looks too simple to be any fun.'

Well, I was right.  It is very simple.  Yet I can't wait to get a copy to take home to the family and teach my wife and daughters.  One friend has likened this to Settlers of Catan without the board.  I think that is a very apt description.  And it is all wrapped up in a very neat visual design that I find appealing.