Dominion: Dark Ages Review

Reviewing expansions takes a bit of a different format for me.  I assume that you have some familiarity with the base game, either having played it, or at least heard about it.  With that in mind, let's take a look at Dominion Dark Ages.

Each Dominion set has a general theme/mechanic.  Seaside had durations, Prosperity had a lot of treasure, Cornucopia had variety, and Dark Ages has trashing.  Many of the cards give you a benefit when you trash them, or let you interact with the trash.  Dark Ages is probably the deepest of the expansions so far.  Many of the cards present subtle strategies, and interesting interactions.  They also enhance many earlier cards which have fallen out of favor, or were deemed to never be great.

If you don't want to read all my thoughts on cards, go ahead and skip down to the end now.

Dark Ages also provides a new way to start the game.  Players now start with 3 unique Shelters as opposed to 3 estates.  These shelters don't provide victory points, and only one is even classified as a victory point card.  Necropolis is an engine builder's dream with +2 actions.  Now, this is worse than a village, since it doesn't have a card draw, but you get it to start.  The Overgrown Estate is 0VP, but when you trash it, you get to draw a card.  Not great, but it's not meant to be in your deck all game anyways.  The Hovel takes up space until you buy a victory card. At that point, you can trash your Hovel.  The Hovel is the worst of the shelters, the Overgrown Estate is nice to get an extra card one time, and Necropolis is great for the bonus actions.

Some other general cards are
Spoils - A one shot treasure card worth 3 money.
Ruins - cards you typically don't want to see.  Not as bad as a curse, they are action cards, but they don't cost you VP.  There are 5 different types

• Abandoned Mine: +1 money, basically a copper that takes an action
• Ruined Library: +1 card
• Ruined Market: +1 buy
• Ruined Village: +1 action, would only be good in a Peddler game, or Throne Room, so you at least get +2 from it.
• Survivors: Look at the top 2 cards on your deck, and either discard both, or put both back on top.  This is the Ruin I mind the least.  I like setting up my next hand. Still, it's not great.

If you haven't guessed it, I'm going to briefly talk about each card, and give some impressions on them.

• Altar (Cost 6) Trash a card, gain a card costing up to 5.  This is a simple card, it lets you trim down your deck, and gain useful cards.  Early on you can gain big action cards, late game, gain duchies.  A very solid card.

• Armory (4) Works like a Workshop or Ironworks in that you gain a card up to 4, but you get to put it on your deck.  I like using this early to gain a silver into my hand, but it also works well with action cards.

• Band of Misfits (5) Use this as if it was any less expensive card in the set-up.  I've yet to play it, but it seems really powerful, but not brokenly so.

• Bandit Camp (5) +1 card, +2 actions, gain a Spoils.  I like spoils cards.  They do help you out, even if they're temporary.  Probably not the best 5 in the game, but still a solid one and a viable strategy.

• Beggar (2) Gain 3 coppers in your hand. Also a reaction, when someone plays an attack, discard this to gain 2 silvers, 1 to your discard pile, the other to the top of your deck.  This helps mitigate attacks like Swindler and Saboteur, ones that mess with your deck.  It makes Margrave and Minion a bit less hurtful to you.  The normal action is great for a Moneylender(Base) deck, or Gardens(Base) deck, also helps Counting House(Prosperity) and Coppersmith(Intrigue).  For a 2 cost, it's got some good things going on. Just be careful to not over copper.

• Catacombs (5) Look at the top 3 cards of your deck. Either put them in your hand or discard them and draw 3 cards. If you trash the Catacombs, gain a cheaper card. It's a solid card. Seeing what you would draw and deciding if you like that or not is a good ability.  It's a better Smithy, which is why it costs more.

• Count (5) Do something bad: Discard 2 cards, put a card from your hand on top of your deck or gain a copper. Then do something good: +3 money, trash your hand, gain a Duchy.  I've seen Counts work really well in 2 games.  The ability to combine saving a card and then trashing, or discarding 2 cards and then trashing is good.  Late game, take a dead end action, forward it to next turn, and then grab 3 money.  At worst it's a gold that makes you lose a card or two.

• Counterfeit (5) Worth $1, +1 buy.  Take a treasure card and play it twice, then trash it.  It turns copper into silver, silver into $4, Gold into $6, and Platinum into $10.  It works really well on Spoils, since you're losing them anyways.  Counterfeit works well early to trim your deck of Coppers, and then works late to get you extra money to buy victory cards and get rid of the money that doesn't help you in the end.  One of my favorite cards in the set.

• Cultist (5) +2 cards, each other player gains a Ruins, you may play another Cultist (meaning you can chain them for a grand total of 1 action).  When you trash a Cultist +3 cards (so yes, sacrificing Cultists on the Altar is both a viable strategy and a really fun combo).  I like Cultist.  I think the chaining is something fun in Dominion, but I'm glad it's not overdone.  

• Death Cart (4) +$5. You may trash an action card from your hand. If you don't, trash the Death Cart.  When you gain this, gain 2 Ruins.  Death Cart isn't without it's drawbacks, but the ruins give you something to trash from the get-go.  Yes, Death Cart does make you want to say "Bring out your dead!"  Trust me, it's more fun that way.  Solid card here.

• Feodum (4) Victory card worth 1 point for every 3 silvers in your deck.  When you trash a Feodum, gain 3 silvers.  I don't want to spoil too many strategies here, but Feodum is fun and makes for wonky math.

• Forager (3) Trash a card from your hand. +$1 for each differently named treasure in the trash.  Most of the game, this is worth $1 for copper, or maybe $2 for copper and silver.  I've yet to see this with loans, talismans, quarries, etc in play.  I think those would make Foragers really good.

• Fortress (4) +1 card, +2 actions, when this is trashed, put it in your hand.  It's a village that comes back to you when trashed.  It works well with Foragers, Upgrades, Remodels. It's a safety for Death Cart and Rats.  Not something to buy all the time, probably a weaker $4 in the grand scheme of Dominion, but a good card.

• Graverobber (5) - Choose One: Gain a Card from the trash costing $3-$6, or trash an action card from your hand and gain a card costing up to $3 more than the trashed card.  Graverobber is a conditional Expand(Prosperity), but also a fun way to get cards back from the trash.  

• Hermit (3) - Gain a card costing up to 3, you may trash a non treasure card from your hand or discard pile.  If you don't buy a card, trash the Hermit, gain a Madman(Yes, Hermits turn into Madmen).

• Madman (0*) +2 actions, then you may return this to the Madman pile to draw 1 card for every card in your hand.  Madman is a great draw card.  You have to jump through a couple of hoops to get there, but a double Madman turn near the end can be the difference in the game.

• Hunting Grounds (6) +4 cards. When this is trashed gain a Duchy or 3 Estates.  Great card to draw 4, cool trash ability.

• Ironmonger (4) +1 card, +1 action, reveal top card of deck, get something based on what it is, discard it or put it back on top.  It's solid, but it can be luck based.  As least you get something for it, either an action, +$1, or a card, so it's never bad, it just isn't always great.

• Junk Dealer (5) +1 card, +1 action, +$1, trash a card from your hand.  The mandatory trashing can hurt at times, but you're in control of playing or not playing your Junk Dealer.  Just be careful.  At least with so many cards that have a when you trash do ... benefit, you'll rarely be in a no win scenario.

• Knights (4 or 5)  Each Knight does something different.  There are 10 unique knights with their own abilities.  All have an attack though, which is each other player reveals the top 2 cards of their deck, and trashes one of them between $3 and $6.  If a Knight is trashed, trashed the attacking Knight.  I've yet to play with all the Knights, but I like the variety in them.  Certain Knights are better than others, but you know what you're buying when you get one.  A fun idea, maybe not the best execution, but enjoyable so far.

• Marauder (4) Gain a Spoils. Each other player gains a Ruins.  This is a really good attack card.  It gives you that temporary gold, it hurts your opponents, what more can you really want?

• Market Square (3) +1 card, +1 action, +1 buy. When one of your cards is trashed, you may discard your market square and gain a gold.  The card action buy is a nice thing regardless of the setup, not great, but helpful at times.  The reaction part is great because you gain free gold.  This works when either you trash a card from your hand, or you are attacked and have a card trashed, i.e. Swindler, Saboteur.

• Mystic (5) +1 action, +$2, name a card, reveal the top card from your deck, if they match, add the card to your hand.  This is the modified Wishing Well(Intrigue).  The bonus, if you have 2 Mystics, you're getting +$4, and at least one card for sure.  This combos really well with anything that lets you put cards back on your deck like Scout(Intrigue), Spy(Base), Wandering Minstrel(Dark).

• Pillage (5) Trash this. Each other player with 5+ cards in hand discards a card of your choice.  Gain 2 Spoils.  Pillage is mean, no doubt about it, but it's one shot.  I like that you have to weigh the timing of Pillage with the fact that you're going to lose the card.  You're buying it to gain 2 temporary cards which will hopefully turn into a Province.  Not the best thing if you ask me, but still an interesting card.

• Poor House (1) +$4. Reveal your hand, -$1 for each treasure card in your hand, to a minimum of $0.  This is interesting for two reasons.  First, it's the first card that costs $1.  Second, It can actually hurt you if you have too much money around, it will take money off the table from cards like Market(Base) or anything else that gives money.  I've yet to play a game with it, but it seems to have some interesting dynamics going.

• Procession (4) Play an action card from your hand twice, then trash it and gain an action card costing exactly $1 more than the trashed card.  Procession is an interesting twist on the Throne Room(Base).  It's a good way to get rid of Ruins and Rats.  It has other uses for getting rid of actions you no longer want.  Overall an interesting card, but one that takes a good amount of forethought.

• Rats (4) +1 card, +1 action, gain a Rats, trash a card that isn't Rats from your hand. When you trash a Rats, +1 card.  That's right, Rats multiply and take over your deck.  They go really well with a card that lets you trash something, Death Cart, Procession, Hermit, Graverobber, etc.  Rats take a careful balance, else you may find that you have nothing but Rats, and no one to rid yourself of them.  

• Rebuild (5) +1 action, name a card. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a victory card that isn't what you named.  Trash the victory card and gain a card costing up to $3 more than it.  Rebuild is a great way to turn Duchies into Provinces, Provinces into Colonies, and Estates into useful $5 actions, or Duchies.  I haven't seen the full depth of Rebuild, but it's a good card, and a solid way to gain points.

• Rogue (5) +$2. If there's a card in the trash $3-$6, gain one of them.  If there isn't, each player reveals 2 cards from their deck and trashes one of them costing from $3-$6.  Like Graverobber, Rogue takes cards from the trash.  Rogue has a way to put other player's good stuff in the trash, where Graverobber puts your own stuff in the trash.  I've had both in the same game, and we all liked Graverobber better, just due to the trash your own stuff, but Rogue is still a good card.

• Sage (3) +1 action, reveal cards from your deck until you find one costing $3 or more. Put that into your hand, discard the rest.  Sage is a great cycler.  You're going to find something good, but near the end, you'll find Provinces and Duchies.  I like sage a lot in the early game.  It sorts through the copper and estates/shelters and finds what you're really looking for.  

• Scavenger (4) +$2. You may put your deck into your discard. If you do, you may look through your discard pile and put one card on top of your deck.  This is a better Chancellor(Base).  The ability to have a card in your next hand for sure is a nice thing.  Not amazing, but a solid ability.

• Squire (2) +$1 then choose one: +2 actions, +2 buys, gain a silver. When the Squire is trashed, gain an attack card.  Squires are great for the trash ability alone.  They're also good for gaining free silver, or giving you those extra actions to make your deck work.  Squire is a card I would buy at $3, so $2 feels like a steal.

• Storeroom (3) +1 buy. Discard any number of cards and draw that many. Then discard any number of cards, +$1 per card discarded the 2nd time.  Storeroom isn't amazing, but it is good.  It lets you sort out the cards you don't want for new cards, and then the cards you don't want for money.  It isn't the focus of a deck, but it plays an excellent support role.

• Urchin (3) +1 card, +1 action, each other player discards down to 4 cards in hand. When you play another attack with this in play, you may trash the Urchin and gain a Mercenary.  Urchin itself is a nice little attack.  The power of the card is in the Mercenary.

• Mercenary (0*) You may trash 2 cards from your hand. If you do, +2 cards, +$2, each other player discards down to a 3 card hand.  Mercenaries work a lot better in +2 action games, just so you can use the cards you gain.  They're great to thin out Ruins, Shelters, Rats, and Curses.  The downside is the need to trash cards, but if you have things to trash, Mercenaries are great.

• Vagrant (2) +1 card, +1 action, reveal the top card of your deck. If it's a victory, curse, shelter, ruin, put it in your hand, else put it back.  Vagrants set up your next hand.  They aren't great, but for $2, they're ok.  They stay useful all game, but are best early and late.

• Wandering Minstrel (4) +1 card, +2 actions. Reveal the top 3 cards from your deck. Put the actions back in any order, discard the rest.  This card is an action lover's dream.  I tend to like money a bit too much, so Wandering Minstrel fails me, but for action players, it dominates.  It's cheap, so it's easy to get a lot of them.  It feels a bit too good as a $4, but in some games it won't be great.

Some of my favorite cards in this set, in no particular order, are Rats, Counterfeit, Death Cart, Cultist and Mystic.  I need to play a bit more to order that list, but you can bank on me doing a Top 7 list o Dominion cards sometime in the future.

So that's some thoughts of each of the cards.  As you can tell, there are a lot of different cards here.  There are 35 different kingdom cards for the setup, as well as Madman and Mercenary which are only from Hermits and Urchins.  I've played a few games with all Dark Ages cards, and that seems to have the best mix of cards.  Mixing them with all the others can leave you without trashers, and then the odds of Ruins and Spoils drop drastically.  

Here's the big question, where does Dark Ages rate overall?  Well, I really do like it.  The set is not friendly to new players, trashing is a complicated mechanic as it is, and Dark Ages makes it more so with cards that do something when trashed.  Prosperity is still my favorite expansion, and Seaside is still my #2, but I think Dark Ages has slid into #3 for me.  It's still a bit early to tell, but it's done something no other expansion has done.  It's made me excited for Dominion again.  If you've been reading my blog, you've noticed that I haven't played a game of Dominion (in person) all year until the end of August.  Well, you're looking at the reason I broke it out.  These cards are interesting, there's tons of depth and options that I've yet to explore.

If I was telling you what expansion(s) to get for Dominion, I wouldn't say Dark Ages first.  But if you've played some, and you're looking for something a bit different, get Dark Ages.  It certainly has the best bang for your buck.  

Want to buy Dark Ages and support BoBG?

Collection Building: Introduction Games

First impressions set the tone for a relationship of any kind.  First impressions in the board game realm are just as important as impressions with people.  Monopoly, Risk, Life, Trivial Pursuit, and games in that ilk are the standard of boardgames to most people.  The bar is yet relatively low, but many people have a comfort with these games, and that has shaped what games should be in their mind.

Because of these preconceived notions, I feel like every gamer needs to have a game that they can pull out to show people what a designer board game is.  Now, I run the risk of sounding really snobby here, so I'm doing my best to dance around that.  Ultimately, we play games to have fun.  If people have a good time playing Scrabble or Clue or Monopoly, that's great.  I've done my best to never discourage people playing games, no matter what the game.

The goal of introductory games is to show people that there is a whole world of possibilities in games that they may not know about, and those games are something they might enjoy.  As always, I'll provide a few examples, give my thoughts on them, and hopefully help you reach an idea of what you'd like to have in your collection.

Settlers of Catan (3-4 players in the base, 5-6 with expansion)
This was the game that started it all for me.  It was my first exposure to a game where everyone played the whole time, and had things to do even when it wasn't their turn.  If you're not familiar with Settlers, you are trying to build settlements and cities with resources that you get on dice rolls.  You'll rarely have everything you need, so you have to trade with other players.  The dice are a comforting part of the game to players.  The idea of trading is familiar, but the frequency is new to people.  A lot of people can really get in to Catan and have fun the first time.  Catan appeals best to the dice fans, and people who like Monopoly.

Carcassonne (2-5 players, 6 with Inns and Cathedrals expansion)

Carcassonne was my 3rd game, and my first exposure to meeples.  Just for the meeples themselves, the game is worth a look.  Carcassonne is a fairly basic game to teach players.  Drawing a tile, playing it to the board, and adding one of your tokens to the tile is fairly simple.  There are some choices, and a lot of unique arrangements you can make with the tiles.  Building a map is a fun thing for people of all ages to see, especially when it comes together. Can Carcassonne get a bit aggressive?  Sure, but that's true of most games.  Carcassonne is a great introduction to people who enjoy puzzles, and long term strategy.

Dominion (2-4 players, up to 6 with Intrigue)
I first played Dominion in 2009, and I was instantly hooked.  I bought it for my birthday, and it started a bit of an obsession.  I've always been a fan of card games, I dabbled in Star Trek CCG and Pokemon, so I liked seeing cards interact.  The idea of deckbuilding always intrigued me, but as a kid, I never had the money to have the best cards or a lot of the good cards, so I knew I'd never be great.  Dominion changes that idea.  It's deckbuilding, but the whole game is building your deck.  Everyone starts with the same deck of 10 cards - 3 victory points, and 7 money.  You have to use these cards to buy better cards, slowly making your deck bigger and better.  The base game comes with 25 unique kingdom cards, and you play with 10 in each game.  This gives a lot of variety and makes most games feel different than the last one you played.  If someone is a fan of a CCG like Magic the Gathering, or Yu-Gi-Oh! this is something for them to look into.  They might just appreciate not having to spend $100+ every few months to get new cards.

Ticket to Ride (2-5 players)
Ticket to Ride is the first game I ever bought for myself.  I played the German board (Marklin version) with my gaming family.  That's the most complicated version of TtR, but I liked the core.  I decided to get the US map, since it would involve the least amount of hunting for odd cities, and thus save time.  I'm so glad I bought TtR.  It's currently my 3rd most played game (if you count all the different maps, 4th if you don't) and I don't see that changing.  It's a game I can play with just about anyone.  On a player's turn they have 3 options, really only 2 that come up every time.  You either take cards or play cards.  The third option is taking more destination tickets, but that isn't something to do every turn.  The scoring is fantastically simple, you get points for trains on the board, you gain points for completed tickets, you lose points for tickets you don't complete.    It's hard to nail down a particular group of people that would be best suited for the game.  I don't want to cop-out and say everyone, so instead I think that Ticket is a great way to get people who used to play games as a kid, but lost interest due to a plethora of things, back into gaming.

Price Wars
No, not a game, just time to talk money.




Like all these categories, this comes down to the budget pick, and the pick you want to have around.
Carcassonne takes the budget pick, but if you're willing to go up a bit, get Dominion.
As for the game to have around, my winner is still Ticket to Ride.  It works for the widest range of people, and trains are just fun.  If you want to take a 2nd in any category, I'd encourage you to take it here and also get Dominion.

These 4 games are fairly common these days.  I think Target even carries at least Ticket and Catan, maybe more, haven't checked lately.  Since they are common, you can generally find someone who owns a copy of at least one of these and ask to try it out.  I like all 4 of these games, you can't go wrong with any of them.

Yo Dawg, It's "Word on the Street" - A Game Review

Word on the Street (The Hilarious Tug of Words)

• Designed by Jack Degnan
• Published by Out of the Box Publishing
• Players 2-8 players divided into 2 teams.
• Plays in around 20-30 minutes.

Overview

As the name suggests, this is a word game.  Yes, you would have been shocked if this had to do with math.  Players divide into teams of their choosing, and the game gets going.  The goal is to move letter tiles to your side of the board, and be the first team to collect 8 letters. 

Components

Word on the Street has a very nice tri-fold board, hefty letter tiles, an awesome card holder, good quality cards, and a fairly good timer.  The components aren't over the top awe inspiring, but they do look good.  The tiles aren't going to blow away or slide easily, so that's a good thing for playing outdoors.  The artwork on the letters is various roadsigns, which fits the theme nicely.  

Initial board set-up

Mechanics

When it's your team's turn, a card is flipped with a category.  It could be something as general as "a color" or "a type of fruit" or something a little more difficult  such as "a country in Africa."  All the categories are fairly easy, at least to the point that you can come up with an answer.  Once the card is flipped, your team has 30 seconds to come up with a word, and spell it. As you spell the word, you move each letter tile (there are no vowels, and the rare consonants, J,Q,X,Z, have been removed) towards your side one spot.  If you move a letter off the board, your team captures that tile and it can't be moved back onto the board.  There are various rules for challenging spelling and so forth, but I won't go into those.

  

Interaction

First card. My word was
"Basketball"

Since Word on the Street is designed as a social game, there is a fair bit of interaction.  You have to work with your teammates to come up with a good word.  Also, you have to evaluate the state of the tiles and figure out what you want to move closer to you and away from the other team.  You won't be able to stop them from scoring forever, but delaying them a turn or two can give you the advantage.

Theme

There is a road/street theme here.  The tiles do have the roadsigns as mentioned previously. I don't feel like it needed that theme to be successful, but I don't think that it hurts.  The theme is light, but it's there. 

Learning Curve

This is a very short learning curve.  I'd say 30 seconds to teach, about 2 minutes to learn from a rulebook. Players can easily get into coming up with a word to fit the category, and they'll learn how to come up with words that better reflect the state of the board as they play.

The board after moving
Bx2, Kx1, Lx2, Sx1, Tx1

Why I like Word on the Street

Any game I can get both of my parents to play is a winner in my book.  We were able to sit down and have a fun time playing this the day I bought it.  It's really easy to teach and quick to play.  On top of that, it makes you think, but it doesn't feel like a classroom.  

Why I don't like Word on the Street

Sometimes the timer feels way to short, and thus you feel rushed.  This can lead to a negative play experience.  

Replayability

There are a lot of different categories in the game, and by the time I get through them all, I'll be able to play and not really remember what was played earlier.  I'd say there's a lot of replayability here.  If you have the same group, just change up the teams.  With 4 people, there are 3 different team combinations.

Will you like it?

If you're a fan of word games such as Scabble or Boggle, Word on the Street is a nice variation on those.  The team aspect makes things more fun, and it's great for all ages.  

Overall

I give Word on the Street 1 Thumb Up out of a possible 2.  I like the game, I think it's a good word game.  There's a lot of thought and some laughing, which is always a good thing.  I can see playing this with just about anyone.  The downside, there isn't much strategy to the game, so it doesn't appeal to more serious gamers.  A lot depends on your vocabulary knowledge, and that can become a problem over repeated plays.

House Rules

In an effort to reduce the frustration of time, we decided to say if your team had started spelling the word before time ran out, you were fine.  This gives people a little more time to think, and it means the odds of the board getting messed up in a mad dash goes down considerably.  Afterall, it is about having fun, so play in a way that everyone has fun.

Want to buy Word on the Street and support BoBG?

Top 7 Games I Want to Play, but Not Buy

Many times there are games you like to play, but there isn't much purpose in you owning them.  For me, the most common cause of this is that I would only play with a certain group of people, so there's no reason to have multiple copies of the same game around.  Many times, these games are expensive and/or hard to store.  Most of the games on this list are games I haven't played, and I've talked myself out of buying for one or more reasons.

Honorable mention to Settlers of Catan 3D.  The reason it didn't make the list is because it isn't really its own game.  The game looks amazing, but there's no way I could ever justify the cost.

#7 Memoir '44
I used to own Memoir '44, but I traded it away.  I grew tired of the game system, and felt that it was lacking an epic feel.  I've heard that playing with 8 players in the Overlord format helps that notion, but I don't have 8 people to play Memoir with, so that would be wasted money and space for me.

#6 Wings of War
Let me be specific here.  Wings of War with the plane miniatures, and all the stuff that makes it look really cool.  I've played Wings of War, and I have a good time playing it.  It's fun to get everything set-up and turn the table into a war zone.  My gaming dad's brother owns a lot of the game, and he visits once, sometimes twice, a year.  We'll get together a big group and play then, but outside of that, it's something we wouldn't play.

#5 Heroscape
I've never played Heroscape, but man does it look awesome.  The miniatures look amazing, and the terrain looks even better.  The rules seem complex enough to be interesting, but not overly complicated.  The problem I run into is storage space, and money.  I'd love to play with someone who has the game, but it's not something I'm willing to get for myself.

#4 Descent 2.0
I owned Descent for about a year, and over that time, I never got it to the table.  The game is big, bulky, and has a lot going on.  Descent 2.0 does seem to fix a lot of that, but it has a potential issue, Campaign play.  Now, I love the idea of a Campaign, but right now, my gaming time is sporadic, and I feel like this would sit on the shelf and gather dust while shorter games come out.  Plus it's something that seems hard to bounce in and out of, so that restricts play to having the same set of people.

#3 Crokinole
Crokinole is on this list for the simple reasons of cost and storage space.  Yes, I know that the boards can be hung on a wall, and that removes a fair amount of the issue of storage, but it increases the cost.  See, if you're going to put something on the wall, it should look good.  That means buying a more expensive board.  Plus, without ever having played the game, it's something I don't want to invest in right now.  Maybe someday, but not soon.

#2 Pitchcar
Flicking a disk around a track just sounds like a good time.  The problem with that, once again, is storage.  The track for Pitchcar is rather overbearing.  It would be a lot of fun to own the game, but then I'd want to get all the cool pieces, the crosses, the loops, jumps, etc. and that just adds cost to everything.  This is best left to the play if I ever get a chance, but don't buy category.

#1 Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition
This is the inspiration for the list.  When I first heard of TI3, I knew I wanted to play it.  The game sounds fascinating, with a lot of depth and choice.  The problem, 8 hours.  There is no way that I can get at least 6 people together to play a game for 8 hours.  It just won't happen.  Even if it did, there's no way I'm storing the game at my house the other 364 days of the year when it didn't get played.

I Don't Want It, You Take It. No Thanks! Review

No Thanks!

• Designed by Thorsten Gimmler
• Published by Z-man Games in 2005
• Plays with 3-5 players ages 8+, which I think is the proper age range.
• Takes around 10-15 minutes.

Overview

What you get inside the box

No Thanks is a very simple game to learn, and a somewhat tricky game to master.  The rules are simple, in fact I will go into them in their entirety in the Mechanics section, but they're not hard to learn.  The game is never going to be the center of a game day, but it is a fun game that plays quickly.

Components

No one will mistake this game for having amazing components as compared to some of the miniatures games, or games with lots of plastic, but what's in the box is good quality.  There are 55 little chips that work perfectly for the game.  The cards are good quality, and still haven't shown much wear after 25+ plays.

Mechanics

The box fits in my hand

I'm going to explain the game here.  There is a deck of cards numbered 3-35.  You remove 9 cards randomly.  A card is flipped over.  Each player must then decide to either take the card, or place a chip on it to pass.  Players pass until someone takes the card and all chips played on it.  The face value of a cards counts as positive points, chips count as negative.  If you have a sequence, aka 11-12-13, the entire sequence is worth only the lowest card's value, in this case 11.  At the end of the game, the player with the lowest score wins.  Sounds simple, right?  It is.

Interaction

There is a decent amount of player interaction here.  Say for instance you have the 30 and the 32.  If the 31 comes up, you know you need it, but you also know that no one else wants it, because of the points against them.  You can use this to your advantage to extort more chips out of players.  Just don't push your luck too far because someone might take the card, either because they have to (they're out of chips) or they don't want you making the bridge.

Theme

Scoring example
This total score is 11

This total score is 24
(11+13)

There's no theme here.  The game doesn't pretend to have one, and that's a good thing.  I don't think it needs one, and I don't think a theme would actually help the game.  

Learning Curve

This is a very short learning curve.  The fact that I can explain the rules in under a minute is great for this game.  There are a few quirks, but nothing big enough to throw inexperienced players.

Why I like No Thanks!
As someone with a mathematics degree, I do enjoy numbers.  This game does have numbers, in fact, it's all numbers, but there's not tons of math.  It's really a risk game in terms of when to take a card versus the chips on it, and do you risk taking the 31 when you have the 29 and hoping the 30 is left in the deck.  It's a fun tension when the last few cards come out.

Why I don't like No Thanks!
There is a lot of luck in what cards are in the game, where those gaps are, etc.  If you bank on a higher card being in the deck, and it doesn't show, you're in trouble.  If someone can make a 4, 5, 6, or more card streak, they're in a really good position to win.  The game has it's swings, and after a certain point it becomes more about who has what cards and the runs they can make versus any kind of strategy.

Chips on a card when
players pass

Replayability
I often play 3 or more games of No Thanks! in a row.  That does tend to satisfy me for a few weeks.  It's a good game to have as a filler, meaning something to play when you're waiting for someone to show up, or you need a short game as a break between longer games.

Overall
I enjoy No Thanks!  It's a very fun, quick game.  It's not for everyone, but I think it's one of the best 10-20 minute games on the market.  I don't have a huge call for games like that, but when I do, this is the first one that comes to mind.  I can teach it to anyone who can do some simple math, addition/subtraction.  

Will you like it?

Unless you absolutely hate numbers, then I'd say give the game a try.  If you like making straights of cards, if you find the aspect of push your luck with cards and taking some chances, then this might be a game you'd enjoy.  Because the game is ~$10, it's not a horrible investment if you don't like it.  You can probably find someone who does.  Also, because the game has been out for 8 years, the odds are good that you can find someone who owns it to play with before you buy.

Want to buy No Thanks and support BoBG?

Expansions Part 3 - Dominion and Carcassonne, Where to Stop?

In the last article on expansions I said I was going to talk about Carcassonne and Dominion expansions, the good and bad, and what felt like a complete collection.

Dominion

All of this talk is predicated on you knowing the base game, because I'm going to talk about what these expansions do to change that for good and bad.

Let's start with perhaps the most controversial - Dominion.  All these expansions are viewed through the lens of what they are after Hinterlands, before Dark Ages, and not what they were when they came out.

• Intrigue - This functions as a full game, since it includes all the basic treasure and victory cards.  It's also needed if you're going to play with more than 4 players.  Notable cards include Nobles, Minion, Torturer, Saboteur, and Pawn.  The set of cards are a bit mean, lots of attacks, and the reaction card - Secret Chamber - isn't great in comparison, but I feel like this is a worthwhile expansion for large groups.

• Seaside - Duration cards.  Basically, cards that do something now, don't get discarded, and do something on your next turn.  I love this mechanic.  I think it gives a bit more strategy to the game, though it can enhance play time, since players are really gearing towards card drawing decks.  There are some engaging attack cards, Pirate Ship, Ambassador, Ghost Ship, and some just plain fun cards, Treasure Map, and Treasury.  I think Seaside is a great expansion to own and play with.  I wouldn't necessarily want it as my only expansion, but it's fun.

• Alchemy - One word for this expansion - Potions.  Potion cards are a new form of currency.  There are cards that can only be purchased using a potion and some amount of money.  This does increase the cost of those cards, and forces players to consider the drain on their deck from a card that doesn't contribute to the Province quest, but it may help get cards that get you to Provinces.  Alchemy has a bad rap because several cards feel like they are just redone versions of original cards, but I find the changes enough to warrant inclusion.  Alchemy isn't for everyone, it has one of the meanest cards in the entire game - Possession - but all things can be counteracted and it does adjust strategy.

• Prosperity - Why 7 can be a good amount to have.  Many of the cards in Prosperity are bigger versions of base game cards.  Expand is a bigger Remodel, Kings Court is a bigger Throne Room, etc.  It also added Platinum and Colony cards to the game for better or worse.  What Prosperity really does is add to the game length.  Provinces are no longer the goal, instead it's Colonies which cost 11.  This leads to players spending more time buying money and action cards, which lengthens the game.  I like the strategy change, because some cards are more useful in long games, while other cards are less useful.  It forces players to adapt to different strategies, and now players hate getting 10 instead of 7, a much less common occurrence.

• Cornucopia - Variety.  I like to call this the "new player" expansion.  Cornucopia has a lot of cards that deal with having different cards in your deck, so it's perfect for those who like to buy one of everything to see what it does.  The card set is interesting, but I found some annoying - Tournament - and many others lackluster - Harvest.  Big Kudos to Horse Traders for being the most fun reaction card in the game, and arguably the most useful in most games.

• Hinterlands - Plenty.  Many cards in this set do multiple things.  There are cards that do something when you buy them like Embassy, Ill-Gotten-Gains, Cache, Noble Brigand, Nomad Camp, Mandarin, Farmland and Inn.  That's almost 1/3 of the set that does something when you buy it, and then it does something in the game.  Hinterlands to me is the most refreshing expansion I've seen.  There are some cards that do very different things, but they don't feel overpowered, nor are they overly complex.  They are subtle at times, but when used right, the cards do wonders.

To conclude the talk about Dominion, some advice lists for expansion purchases based on different criteria.

           If you own Base Game          If you own Intrigue        

1. Seaside                                     Prosperity                
2. Hinterlands                               Seaside
3. Prosperity                                 Hinterlands
4. Intrigue                                     Cornucopia
5. Cornucopia                               Base
6. Alchemy                                   Alchemy

If I had to pick only x sets of cards, since you can buy the basic treasure/victory cards separate, this is what I'd buy.

1. Prosperity
2. Hinterlands
3. Seaside
4. Base
5. Cornucopia
6. Intrigue
7. Alchemy

If I had to draw the line in the sand for Dominion I would say start with Intrigue game, get Prosperity and Hinterlands, maybe Seaside, and call it there.  That gives you 75/100 cards and a lot of neat ideas to explore.

Carcassonne
Let's take a little bit to talk Carcassonne aka Carc.  The game presents almost limitless expansion potential, but how much is really enough?  I think the answer to this really comes down to another question.  How much do you play Carc?  For me, I used to play it often, probably 1-3 times a month.  Now, I'm lucky to play 1-3 times a year.  With that in mind, let's talk about the different expansions.

• Inns and Cathedrals - This is by far the single most important and necessary expansion to Carc.  It adds the intrigue of double or nothing roads, gives players a large meeple to use in takeovers, and has some neat tiles.  It's also important if you have more than 2 people playing so you get enough tiles to feel satisfied.  I always play with I&C.

• Traders and Builders - I like the expansion.  It has city tiles with trade goods on them which are given to the player who finishes a city.  This gives you reason to complete someone else's city, which is an interesting twist.  It also has a pig and builder meeple.  The pig goes on an existing farm, and gives the player an extra point per city at the end.  The builder can be placed in a city or on a road, and then whenever you add to that feature, you get to draw and place another tile.  This isn't something I pull out with new players, but once someone has played a couple of times, this is a great depth enhancer.

• Princess and Dragon - This is the attacking expansion.  The princess appears on some city tiles and forces a player in the city to remove one of their meeples.  This drastically alters the flow of the game, and makes life rather annoying.  The dragon roams around the board and devourers any meeples in its path.  Also making the game rather annoying.  The dragon does mitigate some of the large farm problem, but it really just creates a lucky break for the first player who can place in an open farm.  I'm not a fan of this expansion.

• The Tower - I've personally never played this, and likely never will.  The whole idea of capturing your opponents' meeples seems out of place here.  If I want to directly attack someone, I have a lot of other games that do it better than this seems to.

• Abbey and Mayor - This expansion did two things I really liked, and a few that I didn't.  First, it gave everyone a one use tile that ended everything it touched.  The trick is, you have to wait until there's a tile on every side, essentially, you're looking for a missing hole in the board.  This gives you the ability to end a city or road that may not have a legal tile available to play.  The other thing I really liked was the Mayor meeple.  It is worth one point of strength, for determining who has control in a city, for every shield symbol in the city.  This gives those symbols a further reason for existing, and I think ties in nicely to the theme.  The thing I didn't like is the wagon and the barn.  The wagon rules are a bit convoluted and complicated for Carc.  The barn is ok, but I think it just further promotes big farms, and that's something that isn't apparent to newer players.

• The Catapult - Great idea, horrible execution.  I think the idea of some randomness in the game is fun, but the way they did it just doesn't work.  For one, the catapult is horrible, so much that a friend actually built one for me out of scrap wood.  It currently sits on top of my game shelf.  I've never played by the actual rules to the catapult, it just seems a little too random.  I'd like to sometime, but it's not something for new players.

• Wheel of Fortune - This is how I'd by the basic game now.  It has all the original tiles, but it also has this neat wheel mechanic.  Players can add meeples to the center and get certain points for different things in the game.  I think this gives players a chance to catch-up, and score points for some things that aren't normally scored, which is good.  I think it's not something to play with the first time you play Carc, but it makes a much better base game.

• Bridges, Castles, and Bazaars - I haven't played this expansion nor do I own it.  I also probably never will.  The bridge idea sounds interesting, but the others don't appeal to me.  (If you have played this, leave me a comment, and I'll go back and edit this with your comment to have a more complete view)

Those are all the big box expansions.  I'll talk about those before briefly going over the small box ones.

I can't imagine Carc without Inns and Cathedrals.  I think that needs to be part of the game.  So definitely get that if you like Carc.  I highly recommend Traders and Builders.  The rest, up to you.  If those two were the only 2 big box expansions I have, and I'd be happy.

• The River - This eliminates the starting tile and replaces it with the river.  This helps break up the mega farm.  Overall, a great thing to have.
• The River 2 - Splits the starting River in 2 directions, further breaks up farms, but does require more play area.
• King and Scout - Like the tiles, never use the bonus things, find they give too much of an advantage.
• The Count - Interesting idea to start with a big city, don't like the stealing/sharing aspect of the Count.
• Games Quarterly - Like having more tiles, nothing groundbreaking here, just more good Carc.
• Cult, Siege, Creativity - Love the cult pieces, they give an interesting dynamic to the cathedrals.  The sieges are a nice change up, not too many of them around to wreck havoc, just enough to mess with people.

For me, the only mini expansion worth getting is the River, maybe River 2.  The rest do add to or change  the game in some way, but none are necessary for an enjoyable experience.

So that's my thoughts on Dominion and Carcassonne.  Agree or disagree with them? Let me know.  I think the big message here, don't buy everything. It's not worth it, because you'll never play with them all.

Expansions - Continuing the Conversation

It looks like GameswithTwo and I have had some similar ideas for blog posts lately.  I kinda started the talk on expansions, not that the idea is original to me. GwT now has 2 parts to their expansion series, so I'm going to do a follow-up to discuss some comments I got here and over on BGG.

Expansions take many forms.  I want to take some time to discuss the different types of expansions we see for different games.  This is by no means a complete list, nor is it meant to tell you what to do. I'm just trying to offer my own opinions, as always, and you can take them for what their worth, and since they're on the internet and reading this is free, that's about what they're worth.  (Trying to inject some humor, just go with it.)

Increased player count with something else
These are probably the best kind of expansions.  You take a game that was really good with 2-4 people, and now a 5th player can join in.  This has been done in a lot of games, Carcassonne, Cosmic Encounter, Battlestar Galactica, Shadows Over Camelot, just to name a few.  More players is typically a good thing, but we have to be careful that the game still works well at that number.  Just because a game plays 3-8 players doesn't mean it's a good game to play with 3-8 players.  Maybe the sweet spot is at 5 and it works well at 4 and 6, and then ok with 7.  More players typically increases the play time of a game, so keep that in mind as well.  Maybe that 60 minute game with 4 people is great, but a 5th would make it 90 minutes, and that's just too much for what the game is.  That's not always the case, but something to keep in mind.

New "modes" of game play
This can be something as simple as variable map set-up or scenarios for a game you already know, or it could be a completely new way to play the game.  Seafarers of Catan did this for Settlers by giving players boats to build and islands to explore.  Battlestar Galactica took a page from Arkham Horror when it comes to expansions.  The core gameplay is similar, or even the same, but there are new characters, new cards, maybe a new way to end the game that players can pick and chose from.
This type of expansion gives players flexibility as well as new ways to play the game, which kinda makes it feel like a new game each time.

Maps
There are several games which utilize new maps to bring in something new to the game.  The main three that I can think of are Ticket to Ride, Power Grid, and Formula D/De.
Let me address each one.

Ticket to Ride started by making full games with a new map, so if you wanted a new map you had to buy a $50 game with train pieces and train cards and new tickets.  This wasn't horrible, but in 2011, Days of Wonder released 2 Map Expansion Packs with a double sided map.  These cost around $20-$25, which is a great deal.  At this point I have way more Ticket to Ride than I'll ever get bored of, but that's a good thing.  It means every time I play it, I can explore some new aspect of a map, and continue to rotate through different things.  I consider the Ticket Map Expansions to be well worth it.

Power Grid is an interesting case study.  I enjoy Power Grid, but I play it maybe once a year.  At that point, I don't need anything more than the original map for the game.  At one point I had 3 different map packs, and I think I played on at least 1 side of all of them.  I had a friend who really liked Korea, so we did that map with him, and so on.  What I found was that each map did bring something new to the table, but I ended up trading away every map expansion because I didn't have the need for them.  I've yet to feel like one of them was crucial to enhancing gameplay, or made me like the game more. Rather, each map just brought something different to the table.  If I played Power Grid more often, say once a week or even once a month, I'd probably want a new map set, but right now, I'm content with just the original map.

Formula D is a blend of Ticket to Ride and Power Grid.  First, the backstory.  My dad and I are long-time fans of Formula 1, so this game is a great fit.  It's great to race around all the different tracks that we see on TV.  Even so, they don't get used.  We play it so little that if Monaco was the only track we had, we wouldn't get bored with it.  I love the idea of having all these maps, because we do get new ways to play, and it would be a lot of fun to race a season over the course of weeks/months.  The problem is, I just don't see it happening, especially since so many of the classic tracks are long OOP, and rather pricy to acquire.

For the next part of this series, I'm going to talk about 2 games with a lot of expansions, Dominion and Carcassonne.  I'm going to look at the advantages and disadvantages of each and every expansion so far, which will be a long, but hopefully useful article.  I'll also try to give some advice on where to call your collection complete in terms of those games, but remember, there are no hard and fast rules to games.

Easy as Pi - A Pizza Theory Review

 Pizza Theory

• Designed by Greg and Brian Powers
• Published by Gryphon Games
• Plays with 2-3 players in around 10-20 minutes (I've only played as a 3-player game).
• Recommended for ages 6+, but I really think you need to be older to see the strategy.

Overview

Start of game Set-up

I saw Pizza Theory on Kickstarter and decided to take the plunge.  The game looked interesting, the theme was something a little different, and a 3 player game was a needed addition to my collection.

Pizza Theory has no randomness and simple turn actions, but the outcome each round is unpredictable since each cook has his own idea for the best way to create the pie. (BGG description)

Components

All the different toppings.

The components in Pizza Theory are well done.  There are 12 different toppings in 3 colors.  The topping disks are good quality, and move around nicely.  The board is very high quality and easy to follow.  The pizza cutters (aka sticks) are colored and easy to lay on the board.  The dice are a bit large, but they work well.  An excellent 9/10.

Mechanics

The game is pretty straight forward. Players take turns adding a toping to the pizza.  The only catch, you can't place next to a topping of your own color.  When all players are out of placements, the real game kicks in.  Each player uses their die to determine which line they will place their pizza cutter on.  Once everyone has decided, players simultaneously reveal, and then divide the pizza.  Whoever has the majority of toppings in a slice replaces other player's toppings with their own.  In a tie, the low score goes away and the tied players stay put.  This goes on until one player has placed all 16 of their toppings on the board at the end of a round. A solid 8/10.

End of the first round, pre-cut

Interaction

There is a moderate amount of player interaction.  Some blocking can occur based on where you place your toppings, but for the most part, players will be able to place toppings in a way that lets them have about the same number on the board.  The real interaction comes with the slicing of the pizza.  A skillful player can try to figure out where his opponents will cut the pizza, and based on that where they should cut.  The trick is that a player can never really know for sure where his opponents will cut, so there's a lot of educated guessing going on.  It's not combat, or trading, but there is a lot of good player interaction here, even if it is more indirect and subtle.  7.5/10.

Cuts for the first round

Theme

Pizza.  Love it or loath it, it's a staple of college life and a regular weekly meal for a lot of Americans.  The toppings add to the idea that this is a pizza game.  Pizza Theory is all about the strategy, so this game could be played as easily with 3 different colors of cubes placed in different areas, but I don't think it would be as fun.  The theme definitely enhances gameplay, and it's pretty fun and not overdone.  9/10.

Learning Curve

Pizza Theory has a short entry time.  The idea of play adding a topping to a pizza is accessible .  There's some strategy in terms of where to play early, and recognizing where both your opponents can't place, thus leaving those spots to the end, but new players have a good to win.  

Why I like Pizza Theory

State of the board mid game.

The game is easy to teach.  That's a huge plus.  It's simple enough that non-gamers will enjoy it, it's complex enough for gamers to enjoy, and it looks fun from a distance so people will come over and watch, and maybe even play a game themselves.  The theme is enjoyable.  There are meaningful choices, yet the game doesn't take hours to play.  It's short enough to play multiple times, and it's a great game to play while you wait for more people to show up.

Why I don't like Pizza Theory

There is absolutely no luck in the game.  If you get behind, you're going to stay behind.  Also, the game can end in one round, though it shouldn't.  That typically happens when someone isn't paying attention to what could happen, and the breakdown of toppings just falls the right way for someone.

Replayability

There's some decent replayability here, but I worry about the longevity of the game.  The Anchovy expansion does change game play significantly, which gives the game new legs, but even that grows stale after time.  I think it's a matter of trying some different ideas with the cuts, and watching new people learn.  It will be interesting to see plays when everyone knows the game well to see if/how things change.   

Green Wins by a lot.
He would need 5 more tokens
to cover all of the right slice.

Overall

I like Pizza Theory.  I don't love it, it's not a top 10 game for me, but it's an 7 overall.  The lack of luck makes it hard for some groups, but great for others.  It's sticking around in my collection, mostly because I want to see what the official rules for the Anchovy expansion will do for the game.  (I got the demo version through Kickstarter)  I still like the game, and it may have a place on a shelf for years to come, but I could also see it departing the collection in time too.  Only more plays will tell.

Final Thought

If you love the idea of a Pizza game, but aren't sure if Pizza Theory is right for you, take a look at Top This! A Pizza Flicking Game. Here's the boardgamegeek link

Sometimes a game can seem like a perfect fit for a group, and then it flops.  What do you do when that happens?  You'll have to wait for the next article here at bitsofboardgames.

Want to buy Pizza Theory and support BoBG?