Category: Ring Side Report

Ring Side Report-Concert of Europe

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product-The Concert in Flames

System– Victoriana

Producer– Cubicle 7 Entertainment

Price– ~$20 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/138588/Victoriana–The-Concert-in-Flames

TL; DR– Great adventure, but only for the GM. 87%

 

Basics-Can you stop Europe from burning?  An ancient evil is being awoken by a small group trying to upset the tentative balance of Europe and bend a fiend to their will while the fate of the Concert of Europe rides in the balance.  This book also provides GM with extremely detailed notes on the geopolitical standing of the Europe countries in 1856.

 

Mechanics or Crunch-This is NOT an option book, but that doesn’t make it a bad book.  This book adds some new mechanics like new races and a new country specific creature or enemy for each of the different regions discussed.  It’s good, but you should not expect some new options and creatures each page like a player’s option book or monster manual.  The countries do have great write ups describing the make-up of each country, so you can quickly create things like a group of upscale Russians if you need them at a moment’s notice.  The adventure has simple stat blocks for each enemy which will make running the adventure easy and quick.  What’s here is well done, but you cannot go into this one hoping for tons of new crunch.  4.5/5

 

Theme or Fluff- This is where the book truly excels.  Just like the base book, this book could almost be an excellent historical reference if you strip out the steampunk and magic elements.  Each country in 1850’s Europe gets an in-depth write-up.  The adventure itself has a ton of depth as well as a great story for your players to run amuck in.  The story has elements of government intrigue, magic, religion, and some trans-country train adventure.  It’s great steampunk fun. 5/5

.

Execution– While the fluff and crunch are great; the execution has a few problems.  There are some art to break up the text, but there are too many pages with just black text on grey background.  This is a classic case of textbook problem.  I do like some the way the book is divided.  But, the font is a bit too small.  And, there is just too much of it. This book also makes an inexcusable error for any fantasy book discussing geography.  There is NO detailed map of Europe!  Nor is there a map of the adventure train routs.  While the countries are basically the same as real world 1856, a better map would have really helped with adventure design and the adventure in the book.  I do like the pictures from the adventure as you get some nice hand drawn pictures of some of the major characters.  All together, this isn’t a badly executed book, but some flaws do hurt the overall presentation. 3.5/5

 

Summary– If you want to take your players across Victoriana Europe, then buying this book is a no brainer.  GM’s get all the information they need to make each European country feel distinct from one another with far more depth than there is in the base Victoriana book.  If you want crunch options, then this book isn’t for you.  The adventure in this book is a fun romp across Europe as the players try to keep the Concert of Europe from falling apart.  If that’s the kind of adventure you and your players want to play, this is a great adventure.  However, if you don’t want to control the fate of the world and just want to play a game in London, then this is one to pass.  There are some concerns I have with the execution, but those won’t prevent you from enjoying this book if you want some excellent write ups describing Europe.  If you want some cross European intrigue and a great adventure to start that controversy, go get this one. 87%

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of Roll Through The Ages

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Roll Through The Ages

Producer– Eagle/Gryphon Games

Price– ~$40 here http://www.amazon.com/Roll-Through-Ages-Bronze-Age/dp/B001POAECY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416486454&sr=8-1&keywords=roll+through+the+ages

Set-up/Play/Clean-up-30 minutes (2 to 4 players)

TL; DR– A great Euro-style dice game. 85%

 

Basics- Roll to see how civilization grows in this Yahtzee like game.  Players take the roles of different civilizations during the Bronze Age.  Each turn a player rolls a number of dice equal to their cities (starting at three). These dice have different faces ranging from workers, food, goods, coins, and disasters. A player can reroll the first roll twice just like Yahtzee, but all disaster faces must be kept.  After a player finishes rolling, the player collects food, workers, and goods depending on the dice results.  The most confusing aspect of the game is you earn goods.  Each player has a peg board and a score sheet.  This peg board has spots for food and goods.  There are six different tracks for goods, but you gain goods by moving each peg one space starting at the bottom for every one good you have.  If you gain more than six goods in a turn, then the bottom good gains another rank and so on up.  As an example, if you gain seven goods, you would gain one rank of each good, then gain one extra rank in the bottom two goods.   After collection, players then feed their cities and have disasters happen.  Don’t have enough food for your cities?  Then you gain disaster points at the bottom of your score sheet.  Some disasters give negative points at the end, cost the player goods, or even attack other players like the literal plague (rolling three disasters results in a plague that gives every other player three negative points.  Players can then spend workers to earn more cities or monuments for points by spending workers to cross of boxes.  When you cross off all the boxes in a city or all the boxes of a monument, you have built that monument or city and now get the points or dice in future turns.  The first player to build a monument gets a higher score of points, while the players who builds after get fewer points.  Players can also buy one development a turn.  These developments do several things like preventing plagues, allow you to save more resources, or get you extra points for monuments or cities.  To buy a development, a player spends coins from dice or goods.  Each good rank has a number associated with it indicating how much it’s worth for developments.  You have to fully spend all your goods of one type if you use them-you do NOT get the difference!  Once a player is done, he/she passes the dice, and the next player takes their turn.  The game continues until someone has five developments or all the monuments have been built between all the players.  Then, the game continues until all players have taken an equal number of turns.  Player with the highest score wins.

 

Mechanics-This game is quick, but has a surprising amount of depth.  You roll the dice three times, choosing which dice to keep, and then you make choices with the resources you find.  It’s all pretty easy.  However, what you get and your own plan really make you think on your feet.  It’s fast, but smart and elegant.  5/5

 

Theme-I love Euro-style games, but these games really lack the theme and story of their American cousins.  There is a store here as you build different world wonders and have the make choices for your society.  Will you abuse your people to build great heights or will you stay small and manageable?  If you look for a story, it’s here, but the instructions won’t help you as you get a one sentence introduction to the games story.  You can tell that story isn’t the focus of this game.  The components are nice and do feel a bit old, in a good way, so it’s not a complete loss.  2/5

 

Instructions-The instruction to this game are well done.  It’s a simple game that runs quick, so the instructions are a tri-fold pamphlet.  The hardest part of the rules is understanding how goods work.  If you can get past that and the examples provided, you’re golden.  These rules do a good job of getting you playing all by yourself without having to turn to Board Game Geek and the internet for help. 5/5

 

Execution-Here is where this game shines way above most games.  This game doesn’t just have some dice; it has custom carved wooden dice.  It doesn’t just have markers for your items; it has cool wooden boards with different colored pegs for each item.  I was kind of disappointed the game didn’t come with golf pencils to mark up your score sheet, but nobodies perfect. 4.9/5

 

Summary– This is one of the games I bring with me to cons and game days whenever I travel.  It’s light as it fits into a small box, it’s heavy as its got some great Eurogame elements in a dice game, and it’s quick as it takes less than half an hour to play.  You learn how to play in less than five minutes, and you start making smart choices in 10.  If this game had some pencils and a bit more theme to it, this game would be at the top of my dice game list.  However, given what’s here, this game is a blast and something you shouldn’t pass up. 85%

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of Lost Legends

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Lost Legends

Producer– Queen Games

Price– ~$50 here http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Games-QUG61063-Legends-Board/dp/B00EFKA14G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416372470&sr=8-1&keywords=lost+legends

Set-up/Play/Clean-up-2 hours (3 to 5 players)

TL; DR– Lot’s of little errors really hurt this game. 70%

 

Basics- Want to be the hero? In Lost Legends, players take the roles of different heroes as they try to kill the most impressive monsters.  The game is roughly divided into two phases: equipping your character and killing monsters.  When you equip you character, you take a hand of cards and select one card.  You can use that card in one of three ways: equipment, money, or skills.  You can discard the card to gain money to buy other equipment.  You can turn the card upside down and place it under you player mat with the bottom part showing to gain some skill to equip and attack with new items. And finally, you can pay the card’s cost in money, and place it on one of the four areas next to your player mat.  The equipment range from swords and wands to spells or armor.  You then pass the remaining cards to the next player as you receive a new hand of cards from a different player.  Play continues this way until you have two cards.  You select one of the remaining cards and discard the other to the center discard pile.  After the equipment phase, players then take turns fighting monsters.  Monsters are damage by your equipment. Some cards do damage, then do damage based on the number of skill icons you have, and can do extra damage by exhausting the card.  Exhausted cards cannot be used again until the equipment phase.  If you kill your monster, you take the card and turn it upside down and place it under your player mat with the bottom icon showing.  You gain points based on the monster icons you have killed with extra points ranging from getting four different monsters to three monsters of the same kind.  Also players compete to see who’s killed more of a particular type of monster.  The first player to get the extra points for a specific goal gets extra points with the last player getting the least.  In addition, you also gain experience which allows you to get extra money, health, or mana.  If you don’t finish the monster, it damages you, and the next player fights his/her monster.  Monsters can kill of players, so planning how you fight the monster is important.  If you start your turn and don’t have a monster, you can take the current face up monster next to the monster deck or take a randomly drawn monster from the monster deck.  When there are no monsters, the round ends after everyone has one more turn.  The game goes through two more cycles of equipment and monster fighting.  The player at the end of the game with the most points wins.

 

Mechanics-The mechanics of this game are pretty simple.  You draft for a few cards, and then you fight the monster in front of you.  No monster?  Draw a new one. When the monsters are all gone, you repeat till three rounds pass.  That’s not bad, but the random nature of the monsters really hurt this game.  You have the drafting mechanics for the items, but the monsters just end up either killing you or being a cake walk, and that has everything to do with the random draw.  It makes the draft work against the second part of the games randomness. 4/5

 

Theme-This game has some great art, but beyond that, there isn’t really a theme.  All the items are cool, and they give the world a feel.  However, the rule book has less than a paragraph of story.  I had fun, but I didn’t feel like I was really in a different world fighting monsters. 3/5

 

Instructions-These rules are confusing!  The rules have out and out misprints leading to some problems, but beyond that the examples have extra information that major rules don’t, the flow is hard if not impossible to follow, and cards don’t really make sense when you look at them critically.  If you have the rules, board game geek’s forums, and some understanding friends, you can get through this game and have fun.  But, don’t expect your first play through to be an easy one by any means if you only have these rules to go by! 2.5/5

 

Execution– I didn’t hate what comes in the box.  The parts and markers are reasonably well done, if a little small.  What will CONSTANTLY annoy you is having to pick up your player mat to play more skills and monster cards.  It’s extremely hard to do without any nails.  I would have really liked a chunkier cardboard player mat, so I could pick it up!  4.5/5

 

Summary– I had fun playing this game, but don’t think it I’ll get this one to the table soon.  It’s a drafting game where half the game is random.  It’s a game where you might be equally able to play without the rules as with them.  It’s a game that I reasonably enjoyed, but couldn’t play some of my cards as I don’t have long finger nails.  If you want to play Seven Wonders but want a DnD theme on it, this isn’t a bad game.  If you want a drafting game outright, you may be better with Seven Wonders or Among the Stars. 70%

Ring Side Report-Crawl! No.8: Firearms!

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Crawl! No.8: Firearms!

System– Dungeon Crawl Classics

Producer– Stray Couches Press

Price– ~$3 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/121302/Crawl-fanzine-no-8?term=crawl%21+firearms

TL; DR– You brought a wizards to a gun fight! 93%

 

Basics-How about adding some guns to your DCC RPG game?  This book provides rules for adding firearms to your game spanning black powder cap and ball guns to laser rifles.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– Overall, the rules in this book are really well done.  This book provides different types of guns for however advanced a GM wants the guns to be in his/her home game.  The guns from different ages have distinct feels.  In addition to the standard gun y does x damage, there are new rules for duels as well as critical hit and fumble tables.  I like most of the added mechanics, but some of the things like a critical hit that disarms you I don’t like.  It’s good, but some things you might not completely agree with. 4.5/5

 

Theme or Fluff- DCC RPG has some of the best gonzo fantasy rules and themes of any RPG.  I love what I see here.  You can have modern day armies show up in a DCC RPG game and start drawing on your wizards and rogues.  It’s a blast! 5/5

.

Execution-This one was reasonably well laid out, but some of the tables were a bit off.  I could read everything well enough, but I would have liked the information separated into a table and then had a larger description of the tables contents in a separate area.  It felt a bit cluttered.  Nothing is horrible, but it wasn’t my favorite layout for a Crawl! magazine. 4.5/5

 

Summary-If you love DCC RPG as much as I do, then you are going to buy this anyway.  If you are not an addict, this is a good one.  It’s not my favorite, but it’s a good addition to the magazine.  There are some great rules for adding guns to a fantasy game.  It’s all optional, but if you want a touch weirder game by giving the warrior a blaster, this is a great way to handle the rules. 93 %

Ring Side Report-Victoriana 3rd Edition

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

Product– Victoriana 3rd Edition

System– Victoriana

Producer– Cubicle Seven Entertainment

Price– ~$25 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/116730/Victoriana-3rd-Edition?term=victoriana+3rd

TL; DR– You can’t go wrong with Steampunk, Lovecraft, Penny-Dreadful Shadowrun! 93%

 

Basics-Ever want to mix steampunk with Victorian sensibilities and add a ton of Middle Earth to the equation?  That is the mix for Victoriana-an RPG set in 1856 where magic is semi-common place, steam power is beginning to conquer the world, and “heroes” are called from all walks of life.  This is a whole RPG in one book, so let’s break this down into its important parts and numbers.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– At this games core, it’s a simple d6 pool game.  Let’s see how that plays out on each level:

 

Base Mechanic- Victoriana is a d6 dice pool game.  Each task you do will be a combination of an attribute and an associated skill.  Shoot a gun?  Dexterity and firearms.  Ride a Wyvern?  Presence and Animal Handling.  A few small things make this game amazingly fun and different from other dice pool games.  One is the numbers you want.  You are looking for 1’s and 6’s.  Even better, 6’s explode and you roll them again counting 1’s and 6’s.  AND THE 6’s KEEP EXPLOIDING!  I love the dynamic addition of exploding dice in any game!

 

Task Difficulty-Most tasks you perform require two successes with some task allowing partial successes.  That is a quick and easy mechanic for deciding failure and success.  The system builds on this simplicity by adding “black” dice.  Want to mix dangerous chemicals on a bumpy train ride?  Well you roll your normal Attribute and Skill, but you also roll 3 BLACK dice.  These black dice work just like normal dice, but they take AWAY successes.  AND, they explode like normal dice!  AND, THE PLAYERS ROLL THEM!  This puts some of the pressure on the player and it’s just pure fun as a GM.  If you have negative successes at the end of a roll, then you have a foul failure.  These situations are where the GM gets to absolutely play with the player.  Guns break.  Mechanical arms are ruined.  Spells summon crazy monsters.  It’s the whole nine yards of bad things for a player.  Some tasks have opposed rolls like attacking and dodging, but black dice can still be added to both sides of a combat.  If you’re shooting in the dark, and my bad guy is dodging while on a slippery floor, both sides get to add black dice to their rolls.  Whoever has more successes wins.

 

Combat-You could have an RPG without combat, but why!? Each round players can choose to do one action (move, attack, cast a spell, etc) at no penalty.  However, a player can do up to his/her dexterity in actions per round.  Each action the player performs divides the dice pool for that action.  Run and shoot?  Divide your pool by two.  Run, shoot, and mix a bomb?  Divide your pool by 3 for EACH action.  Your black dice are NOT changed as your divide your pools!  You can do anything you want, but the more you do, the worse you can fail!  Damage also is dependent on d6’s.  Each weapon has a damage value.  If you score more successes than your target, you get to roll a number of d6’s equal to the damage value for your weapon counting the 1’s and 6’s as before WITH EXPLODING DICE!  After you count your successes, you add your initial number of successes to your count and the opponent subtracts his/her armor and takes the difference as damage.

 

Character Generation-Character generation in this system is divided into two broad categories: completely homemade or guided.  If you make your own character from the soles of your feet up, have fun!  If you want a little more guided approach, then you can build your character by selecting your background, breeding (social standing and race), build package (where you fit in the breeding and background), spend attribute and skill points, and earn and assign extra build points via drawbacks and other abilities.  It’s pretty simple, but flexible allowing all kinds of different characters to populate the world.  As a word of caution, this system has the kind of flexible that a few example characters could help to keep players from killing themselves during character generation.

 

Magic and Machines-It wouldn’t be magic and steampunk without magic and machines.  Magic is divided into a few different categories.  Basically, each mage has training in one of these areas of magic and makes still tests as previously discussed.  It’s simple and quick.  The different types of magic all feel different as hermetic wizards throw around all kinds of elemental magic, while people of faith have much more religion based magic like healing and exorcism.  All magic uses another metric called quintessence.  Quintessence is spent to cast spells and is recovered over time and rest.  Also, if you don’t have quintessence, you can just take damage.  I LOVE cast till you pass out systems!  This is only the tip of the iceberg, but magic does feel like magic and not just another skill roll.  Machines on the other hand are built once and then never have to be paid for again.  They may require fuel like steam or gas to run, but the different machines fell like they have different functions.  Most of these functions have different actions than magic, but part of the theme is how magic is beginning overtaken by the age of steam.  Some of these devices even require magic to be built!  Whatever steampunk idea you have in your head, based on the marvels here, you can build your favorite toy!

Order and Chaos- Victoriana’s spiritual fight isn’t between good and evil.  Don’t get me wrong, good and evil are here, but the major fight is between the forces of entropy and order.  The RPG spends some time outlying that order isn’t necessarily good as a crazed priest of order can easily be as evil as a demonologist of chaos.  Players can decide to side with one or the other, and when they do an action that advances their side, they can get dice depending how advanced they are on the cogs of their faction.  Order provides a straight bonus to an action, while chaos provides many more dice than order, but you have to roll these dice to see if you succeed.  It’s a fun addition to the game, but one that your players and you will have to choose to get deep into.

Summary-I love what is here.  It’s simple in a good way, quick, and flexible.  It’s got a fun feel with action and puts some of the dirty, hard choices in the players hands themselves with black dice.  I love when I make the players be the bad guys for a change! 5/5

 

Theme or Fluff-Victoriana is an “almost Earth” setting.  Even with elves, magic, and steam powered robots, people are not all that different.  So, this book assumes that history will pretty much follow the same path to 1856.  And, you know what?  It works really well!  I liked the world this book built.  Also, if you remove all the “wizard/steam robot did it” references in the setting back story, the first half of the book is a well done summary of European history till 1856.  Honestly, a world with different races (really different races not just Spanish compared to English, but Ogre compared to hog-faced beastmen soon to be German Chancellor) explains the wars in Europe better than the petty motivations that have occurred through all of our real history.  The story of this world drew me in, and I sat and read the intro fiction as well as the world guide.  It’s a well done world with lots of depth to help you understand the world and live in it as you game.  5/5

 

A note on history, truth, and the “isms”- Victoriana is set in a time when it was amazingly awesome to be a white, European, rich male.  For every difference from that standard, things got steadily worse.  This RPG introduces the realities of that life, but doesn’t dwell on them.  It leaves how much of that you want to throw into your game up to you.  That’s important since some players might not be too comfortable roleplaying in a time when a husband could not technically rape his wife.  And, if you wanted to, things could get worse from there.  Sexism, racism, and specisim are alive and well here, but the book walks that line well and wholly lets the GM and players decide how much of the more horrible parts of history and alternative history they want to explore.  I feel it’s important to note that there are some possible adult themes, but they are handled well.  If you just want some pulp steampunk with orcs and magic, then you can easily get that from the system too.

 

Execution-I liked this book, but the problems I have with this book are not getting enough book.  What’s here in this book is great, but could use a bit of help to distinguish information from background text.  The book is black and white.  That’s not a bad thing, but some of the information isn’t as highlighted as well as it should be.  My next major complaint is the lack of examples.  Combat and character generation could both really benefit from an example of creating a character and how to systematically tear another character to bits via combat.  I liked the layout in general.  The pictures did a great job explaining the world and people and keeping me engaged.  Even with this complaint, my comments are positive. 4/5

 

Summary-If you want some steampunk, some magic, and some Victorian history; you can’t go wrong with this system.  Character generation is easy, actions have the players doing more thinking then just roll one die, and combat is quick.  This RPG runs like a good watch-it looks like lots of too complicated moving parts, but when you really get down to it, you see its got a simple, elegant design.  Magic and machines are there, but the subsystems that make them run are not overly complicated.  A new player could easily play with either of those systems with no trouble.  My only complaint is I feel more examples of combat, encounter generation, and characters in general would have really helped players get into the system easier.  It’s not a game breaker, but it’s something to note.  Overall, I love this system.  If you’re looking for your steampunk Shadowrun fix, you cannot go wrong with this one! 93%

 

Full disclosure: I was provided a reviewer copy.

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of City Hall

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

It’s election day.  How about a board game of political maneuvering?

 

Product– City Hall

Producer– Tasty Minstrel games

Price– ~$60 here http://www.amazon.com/Tasty-Minstrel-Games-TTT1010-City/dp/1938146840/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1415154750&sr=8-3&keywords=city+hall

Set-up/Play/Clean-up-2~2.5 hours (2 to 4 players)

TL; DR– Influence might be you favorite addition to gaming too! 93%

 

Basics- Want to be mayor?  In City Hall, each player is striving to win enough public support to become mayor of New York.  To do that, players try to our maneuver or out influence each other through action selection and territory control.  Each round, players take turns placing a meeple on one of seven offices in the town: tax assessor, surveyor, campaign manager, lobbyist, zoning board, deputy mayor, and health commissioner.  The tax assessor position provides money based on the locations owned on the board and current population score.  The surveyor allows a player to buy new positions on the board.  The campaign manager increases your approval rating.  The lobbyist gets the player more lobbying cards (more on that later).  The zoning board allows a player to build on places that the players owns on the board.  The deputy mayor changes the order of players.  And, the health commissioner grants players population based on the number of stars the player has on the board with the player with the most getting 4 population while all other players get slightly less population.  What makes this action selection game stand out are the influence cards.  When you choose an office, you bid a number of influence cards.  Every other player in turn order can increase that bid, bid the same, or not bid at all.  When it gets back to you, you get to either pay the highest bid to the bank or take influence cards from the highest bidding player and they take your action with that office instead.  The game is also a territory control game.  When you use the zoning board to build on a location you own, you choose one of four different buildings from your hand that range from factory, park, tower, and housing.  Factories are worth $7 when you are the tax assessor, but only one star.  Housing is worth a maximum of five stars, but has no tax value.  Towers are a combination of the two with one tower being a max of three stars and $3 for tax.  In addition, you can build parks which are worth no taxes and no stars.  All buildings are worth nothing by themselves, but gain and lose stars depending on what buildings are adjacent. (Location, Location, Location!)  Towers, housing, and parks always increase stars, but factories decrease the values of nearby housing.  Thus, you have to carefully plan and capitalize on situations so you can have the most stars.  Stars help you when you take the health commissioner action.  Each player counts their total stars on all building with the player who got the commissioner action either adding three to their score or doubling their score.  The player with the most stars then moves up the population tracker by four, the next by two, and the third place player getting 1.  Each time a player selects the zoning board in addition to the action of gaining building cards and building on a location, a token moves up the approval rating, and when either that token or a player’s token gets to five approval, the game is over.  Players multiply their population total by their approval rating for their points.  Additional points are given out for most parks, most influence, and other factors at the end of the game, and the player with the most points wins the election and is now mayor.

 

Mechanics-This is a fun one.  I’ve seen the combination of action selection and territory control before, but the addition of the influence cards really knocks this game out of the park.  The different actions are simple and quick so the game moves at a good clip.  Also, the game has a built in end.  You only get so many moves to build, and letting your opponents have any of those moves could be devastating.  When you steal an action with influence is such an important part of this game, and in my opinion, influence is the most fun part of this game.  Honestly, this might be my favorite game from Tasty Minstrel Games for the influence mechanic alone.   5/5

 

Theme-This game feels like political maneuvering, but it doesn’t feel like an election.  Influence and stealing turns feels like politicians fighting over what gets to make what happen.  It’s an amazing game in that respect.  However, I didn’t feel like I was running for an election instead of just maneuvering to get people to move to my places across town.  It felt more like I was running a chain of hotels and businesses than a true mayoral race. 4/5

 

Instructions-These instructions are done pretty well. The rules by themselves teach how to play well.  I was left with a few questions such as are your cards secret?  These were minor questions however.  Also, I would have liked a few more pictures in the rules, but overall the rules were clear and easy to read. 4.5/5

 

Execution– I like the way the game is produced.  I would have like bigger cards, but the card size keeps the total game size down.  The board is easy to read, and each player gets a player board to help them understand what each position does.  That really helps speed play up.  However, I have a major problem with this game.  There are not nearly enough stars!  The game comes with a single sheet of punch out stars.   That is about half of what you need for a good sized game.  I know I am not the only one who has had that problem.  4.5/5

 

Summary– This game might have one of my favorite new mechanics.  I’ve seen action selection before.  I’ve seen area control/management before.  What I haven’t seen is action bidding/stealing before.  That’s a small change that really adds a ton to this game.  This game isn’t perfect as some small problems in the execution, instructions, and theme hurt this game a bit.  But, what is here is a quick, excellent board game with lots of political maneuvering that I want to get to the table as soon as I can again. 93%

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–05: Slave Ships of Absalom

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–05: Slave Ships of Absalom

System– Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo

Price– ~$4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9985?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-6-05-Slave-Ships-of-Absalom

TL; DR– Some problems hurt a good story that’s part of this year’s metaplot. 83%

 

Basics-Someone is selling tainted slaves in the Inner Sea!  A slave at a party had a spell cast upon her that allowed someone to eavesdrop on the guest.  Can you and the rest of the Pathfinder Society make some friends by discreetly finding out who is behind this?

 

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a reasonable short adventure as it’s designed for Pathfinder Society play.  However, some major missteps happen over the course of this story.  One is the players can fail a few rolls and be completely out of luck when it comes to the mystery.  In addition, like most PFS modules, there are some roleplaying and 2-to-3 fights.  However, one of these fights is pretty tough and can easily wipe most parties if the GM doesn’t pull a few punches.  This isn’t a bad module, but some of the Pathfinder mechanics work against the fun your players could have. 3/5

 

Theme or Fluff-Overall, I liked the story of this one.  There is a decent amount of roleplaying that can happen while still having the combat that some players crave.  However, some of the story seems off.  A character won’t help the players even after the players save that person’s life!  That kind of seems out of the realm of believability even with magic and elves about.  Also, this module is about slavery, so some players won’t like working for NPC’s who openly own slaves. 4.5/5

 

Execution– This is done by Paizo. They know how to layout a book.  It’s easy and quick to read.  The art is good, but as always I’d like a bit more.  What is here is well done. 5/5

 

Summary– This is a short, fun adventure that isn’t without its faults.  I enjoyed running this for my players, and they enjoyed playing this adventure.  It has the standard problems that can plague a Pathfinder game: combats based on CR alone and rolls killing investigation/roleplay.  Those are some problems that can really gum up this adventure’s gears.  Also, this is a module that deals with slavery.  If you’re players are not comfortable with that, then this will not be fun for them.  If you want a module set in Absalom where you have a decent mix of investigation and combat, this is a better than average module.  Also, if you want to get deeper into the Year of the Sky Key, then this an good start to the metaplot. 83%

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of Belfort: the Expansion Expansion

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

Product– Belfort: the Expansion Expansion

Producer– Tasty Minstrel games

Price– ~$20 here http://www.amazon.com/Belfort-The-Expansion-Board-Game/dp/1938146832/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414638034&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=belford+expantion

Set-up/Play/Clean-up-2.5~3 hours (2 to 5 players)

TL; DR– Some great things, some ok things 93%

 

Basics- Belfort was one of my favorite games (reviewed here https://throatpunchgames.com/2013/12/10/ring-side-report-board-game-review-of-belfort/).  I loved to play it, but I wanted some new options to spice up a classic.  The Expansion expansion enhances the game by adding new building expansions (hence the expansions expansion) that add on to your current building as well as providing assistants who help you throughout the game.  The building expansions provide new ways to get points at the end of the game while the assistants provide new powers like preventing other players from building in an area to avoiding paying taxes all together.  Other than these additions, the game is played exactly the same.

 

Mechanics– This is a (semi)mixed bag.  I love the addition of the assistants.  They provide new powers that really shake up the game.  The assistants change each turn with the players with the fewest points choosing first and working up the point scale to choose each assistant.  You might get stuck behind the eight ball on who gets what assistant if you run away with points, but the assistants help prevent the runaway point problem happening through some elegant game design.  That I really liked.  However the building additions are a bit more cumbersome.  I like the expansions in theory.  But, you have to have the base building, and most of the costs to build are a bit too cost prohibitive.  It makes a player do more calculations to decide if building an expansion is worth it, but I feel most of these costs are a bit too much to make them worthwhile.  Also, building expansions are collected when a player doesn’t use an assistant’s power.  However, if you’re playing smart you won’t have a turn where your assistant isn’t hard at work. 4/5

 

Theme- The addition of the small elements in this set really does hammer home some themes missing from the first one.  All the assistants do things that their fantasy races would do.  It makes a ton of sense and does draw you in a bit more.  The building expansions also all make sense like an inn getting a pool.  The costs to build some of these items are a bit off (sacrifice a token to build some buildings).  But overall, this expansion has a ton more theme than the original game. 4.5/5

 

Instructions– These instructions are short and to the point.  Also, each part of the expansion gets a write up to help you understand the finer points of how the building and assistants works and how to build and use them.  I love when instructions answer the difficult questions that will come up during game play.  There is some humor in this book, but it’s all in good fun as well. 5/5

 

Execution– This is small box, but not an empty one.  The box comes with several cards for the expansions, cards for the assistants, and wooden blocks for some of the assistant’s powers. In fact, this expansion fits into the original box.  I’m not complaining.  For the cost, you’d be hard pressed to pick up other expansions out there that are done as well!  5/5

 

Summary-Overall, I like this expansion.  The best thing this expansion does is enhance the theme of the original game.  The game does feel more fantasy now with the addition of the assistants.  Before, the theme was there but a bit too dry.  What I don’t like is the building additions.  I don’t think you get enough bang for your buck for building them.  Maybe if you play smarter than I did, you will see some combinations I didn’t.  I had fun, but the random nature of the buildings you can build means the starting buildings in your hand and their additions will dictate how you must play the game.  That’s not horrible, but it can be a bit of a pain.  Nothings in bad here, and if you want some added life and strategy in your Belfort, this is a great expansion. 93%

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-22 Scars of the Third Crusade

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-22 Scars of the Third Crusade

System-Pathfinder

Price-$4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy96i8?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-5-22-Scars-of-the-Third-Crusade

TL;DR–  Great roleplaying, but nothing for the combat heavy characters. 87%

 

Basics-Murder is afoot!  Pathfinder agents have been arrested, and you are sent to determine if they are guilty or not.  Can you prove the innocence of your fellow agents while in a town that already doesn’t trust the Pathfinders?

 

Mechanics or Crunch-This one has exactly one or maybe two fights scenes in it, depending on how the players proceed.  Most of the time, players are investigating the murders.  If you have a combat heavy party, they will just be bored.  Also, the combats that are present will be somewhat underwhelming to most parties in the level range.  The module presents some rules for investigation, misinformation, and events in town.  Some of these events are arbitrary as well as the rules for these events being somewhat unclear.  It just might need a bit more to keep some people involved. 3.5/5

 

Theme or fluff-This is where this module shines.  You as the GM get to scream at the players if they reveal that they are Pathfinders.  Most of the people in town don’t trust the Pathfinders, and players tipping their hands make this module come alive.  The town is well described and the personalities in it are fun to run.  Everybody here has a story, and the players have to try to figure out who did it over the course of the adventure.  I loved what I saw here.  If you want a mostly roleplaying module, this is the one to look for.  5/5

 

Execution-This is a wordy one.  To get all the information a GM needs to run the mod, lots of words have to happen in a very short amount of space.   I do like that the town has a town map to help you and your players understand all the places they can investigate.  In addition, the investigation methods are presented decently as well as providing the GM with a worksheet to help GMs keep track of all the information at hand, but this chart could use another column to help me keep track of what I and haven’t told the players.  I’d have liked a few more divides in the words, but the module is set up well. 4.5/5

 

Summary-I liked running this module.  I have no problems standing up at a convention and screaming at the top of my lungs about how I hate the Pathfinders and such.  When I ran this at a con with about five other tables, I did get a few stares.  If you want to have some awesome roleplaying with your characters, then this is the module to run.  If you what a hack and slash fest where lots of things die, then do not even consider this one.  I would like some changes to the module, but overall it was a great if you have the right group.  87%

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of Tiny Epic Kingdoms

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 1 Comment

Product– Tiny Epic Kingdoms

Producer– Gamelyn Games

Price– ~Not out yet, but ~$20

Set-up/Play/Clean-up-30 minutes (2-5 players)

TL; DR– Truly a pocket-sized, quick 4X game! 94%

 

Basics– Tiny Epic Kingdom is a 4X game where players try to out expand, out exploit, out evolve, and out build there opponents.  Each player starts with some resources (corn, ore, and mana), a territory card in front of him/her, and two meeples on one location within that territory.  What makes this game interesting is the way these actions are handled and the game speed.  The current lead player chooses an action: move a meeple within a territory, move to another territory in front of another player, build your tower, research magic, make more meeples, or trade resources one for one.  When the player chooses his/her action, he/she must choose to take an action that hasn’t been taken for at least five turns.  When an action is selected, a wooden shield meeple is places on the action selection card, and the card is only cleared when five actions have been taken.  After the lead character chosen action is done, each other player in order chooses to take either the same action or gather resources.  When you gather resources, you gain corn, ore, and mana from each space you occupy.  Each action is also very simple.  Moving across a territory or to a new territory simply moves a meeple, but can result in wars.  When two meeples from different factions meet, the players must go to war.  War results are decided by how many resources each player is willing to spend.  Mana provides two war recourse, ore one, and corn none.  Each player then decides how they are willing to spend by secretly placing a 12 sided die down to indicate how much they will spend.  When this is done, the player with the most spent wins, but both players must spend all the resources.  However, each player can declare peace resulting in an alliance and sharing the space.  When you build your tower, you spend ore equal to the next level of the tower you’re building and move up a victory point track.  When you make more meeples, you spend food equal to how many meeples your currently have plus one, and gain another meeple on a space with only one of your meeple.  When you research magic, you spend magic equal to the next space on the magic track, and gain a special faction specific ability.  The trading action is a catch all action that allows you to trade one recourse for one of any other.  The game end is triggered when a player either: has seven meeples out, has fully built their tower, or fully researched their magic, and the game completely ends on the turn when the last of the five action marker shields is placed on the action selection board. Points are scored by ranks on the tower, magic research, meeples in play, and extra magic point powers.  Player with the most points is the winner.

 

Mechanics– This is an amazing game.  There is no randomness, no fiddly bits, and no wasted turns.  Each turn and action will somehow allow you to build you your faction.  I also can’t say enough about the action selection.  I love games where every player is always active somehow as opposed to some games where when you’re off turn, you might as well not even be in the same room  If you can out maneuver your opponents you will win and feel like a winner.  When you do something is almost as important as what you do and who does it. I’ve played quite a few 4X games, and this one feels the least fiddly.  Nothing here is tacked on for some odd aspect of balance.  Everything here feels smart and balanced.  Instead of dice, combat is an exercise in outsmarting your opponents and resource management.  The hidden dice wager mechanic here is amazingly fun and amazingly tense.  There are multiple paths for victory (ALWAYS a plus!).  And all of this is packed into a game that takes 30 minutes for FIVE players to play!  Hands down awesome. 5/5

 

Theme- This isn’t the most thematic game out there, but you have to keep in mind this game is designed to be played in less time than you get for lunch at work.  The races mostly feel different because of their magic powers.  The undead can get more food when people die.  You can eventually build constructs out of ore.  Those little things drive home what theme is in this game.  The player interactions do tell a story, but this isn’t a game where you can expect the Lord of the Rings to just happen.  You will feel like you’re in a fantasy world, but don’t expect RPG level of immersion. 4/5

 

Instructions– The instructions do a decent job of explaining the rules.  The rules are short, well written, and overall great.  However, there are a lot of powers and interactions that could use a set of FAQ’s or some further information and explanation.  It’s nothing game breaking, but an extra page or two on the seven pages of rules would really help me understand exactly what the designers meant in some cases.  However, if your group has some common sense, it won’t stop this game from being fun. 4.75/5

 

Execution– This game comes in the same size box as Dungeon Heroes which is a small box about one inch high, by six inches long, by four inches wide.   That’s a pretty small box.  But what you get in it is anything but small.  You get a ton of wood pieces, player boards, territory cards, and action boards.  All of this is done on good quality cardstock.  I also know Gamelyn Games prides itself on its wooden meeples, and this was no exception as all the wooden tokens and meeples are well done. With all the stuff you get in here, this box feels like a Tardis. 5/5

 

Summary-This is a fun, quick, well done game.  It’s small enough to fit on a bar table top and easy enough to play you can learn and win in under an hour.  My only problems are the game’s theme isn’t its strongest assets and the rules are a tad ambiguous in a few places.  These are not in any way major problems.  And, I promise if you want 4X that you can play in less than a weekend (looking at you Twilight Imperium!), you will have a blast with this game.  I have never played a game of this that didn’t end with all the geeks standing around the table assessing the other players, and that’s when you know stuff gotten real!  And, for the price, you can’t beat this game. 94 %