Game-Belfort

Producer-Tasty Minstrel Games

Price-$50

Set-up/Play/Pick-up-Two hours

TL;DR-Not a perfect game, but damn fun and well designed! 82.5%

Basics-Time for some urban planning mixed with worker placement, and area control!  In Belfort, you and your friends all play city planners in a fantasy setting that is more Pratchett then Tolken.  The city has hired way too many planners, and you now have to compete to see who is the best.  Each turn you take turns placing workers on the board.  However, at any point you can say DONE and then place your remaining workers on the resource gathering board.  After placing workers is over, every player can then build buildings and use building powers.  After a few of these rounds, all players count to see who has the most of each worker type (elf, dwarf, gnome) and the most buildings in each city section for points.  Most points at the end of the game wins.

Mechanics: Honestly, this game covers a bunch of game ground (worker placement, terrain control, resource management), but it does it really well.  The different types of workers and the fact that these are also points makes getting the workers that much more important.  That sentence is an understatement to seasoned worker placement fans, but now that they are worth points hammers home that fact much more.  Much like most eurogames, the buildings you build give you extra actions that anyone can use, but where you place them gives you more points.  Thus, in addition to thinking through what building you need to win, you now have to think where the building must go so you can win! The addition of a third worker type that makes building better also makes your choices that much more important in this game. This is a great game that plays fairly quick for a heavy euro. 5/5

Theme: You are an urban planner.  That is about as dry a subject as trains, but the game is pretty fun.  The instruction book is full of theme for this fantasy setting.  I love to read instruction books that are full of great theme.  It makes the game that much more fun to play.  However, the game by itself doesn’t have much theme.  You do feel like you’re building stuff, but not a city planner since what I built was just what I could when I could.  Also, the great fantasy setting was just left to the wayside when you play through.  A little flavor test on the cards might have made a world of difference to drag me back into the funny fantasy Tasty Minstrel created. 3/5

Instructions: This book is very awesome.  Any book that makes me laugh out loud is awesome!  Also, this book had a tough task of teaching me the rules to this complex game, and it’s a pulled it off quite nicely.  I had a few questions that my play ground just decided a way the rules would go and we moved on, but all said and done, this is a well done book.  4/5

Construction: This game has some nice components.  Lots of nice wood pieces are in the box.  This game was kickstarter project and the stretch goals really helped pull this thing off.  The different resources really look like the different resources!  Nice sparkly iron!  I love this.  The box is well put together.  The only problem I had was the stickers!  You will spend at minimum an hour putting stickers on wood.  That’s a pain, but for all the worker types, you need it.  Maybe on the exclusive 10 year edition, use some different meeples?  4.5/5

Summary: This game is awesome.  Its lots of fun and has lots of replay.  Tasty Minstrel Games kind of came out of nowhere for me, and after this game, when I see a kickstarter from these guys I give just to see what going to shake out of it.  Give this game a try.  You may have to find your own theme for the game, but if you love mechanics of a well designed eurogame, there is no question.  You must buy this game. 82.5%

Product-Seasons

Producer– Asmodee

Cost– $50

Set-up/play/clean-up– 1 hour

TL;DR- More depth and fun then you would think 92.5 %

 

Summary– Seasons is a dice/card game where players take the roles of competing sorcerers trying to gain the most power in three years.  The game is an interesting mix of dice and eurogame.  Each turn, a player rolls dice with one extra die then the number of players.  After rolling, the players take turns selecting dice that will give them points, summoning power, extra cards, or energy.  Players then play cards or transmute energy to points(crystals).  The die that is left over will advance the season track a number of spaces.  When the season changes, new dice are used that give relatively similar results except that different energy is available each season.  When the season counter crosses into the fourth year, players count their points/crystals and whoever has the most wins.

 

Theme–  I play a sorcerer in this game.  I’m not sure if I feel like a sorcerer, but I do feel the changes in the seasons.  Later in the game, you have ways to save up power, but early on, you do feel that the time of the year is affecting your magic.  Later in the game, it won’t matter as much except for making points.  Its an interesting mix of theme and mechanic that I like.  The world made by the cards and the dice is an interesting one that I enjoy being part of. 4/5

 

Mechanics–  This is a really interesting approach to a dice game.  I wouldn’t say the game is as deep a thinking experience as chess, but if you go in randomly choosing dice, you will lose badly.  It’s a fun game that is always changing.  It feels like a strange hybrid of Quorriors, Agricola, and Seven Wonders;  Its random dice, action choice, and competition for resources.  Even with all this, the game plays quick and is really fun.  It’s definitely worth a look for that alone. 5 /5

 

Instructions-With all the above going on, the instruction book has a big job ahead of itself.  The book teaches the rules very well.  There is much more going on then what my blub above suggests.  Also, the rules give you different ways to play from an easy variant all the way to hard, complex rules.  There are some corner cases where the rules don’t quite cover, but all and all a well done set of rules. 4.5/5

 

Art/Construction-Giant dice make me happy!  This game comes with four giant sets of six sided dice, and they are fantastic!  I love dice games, but most use such tiny dice.  This one makes excellent use of its parts.  The cards are standard card stock, but their art looks cartoony and nice.  The box comes with lots of stuff, so I felt like I got my money’s worth. 5 /5

 

Summary–  This is a fun game.  It has a surprising number of levels for a game that looks fairly easy.  It gives dice randomness with choices the matter, and that is a hard thing to pull off.  My wife and I will often pull this game off the shelf to play even when we have other, newer games to play.  That alone should speak volumes.  This game is quick, easy, and fun.  Go check this game out. 92.5%

 

Product-Codex of Heroes

Producer-Paradigm Concepts

Cost– ~$30

Pages- 192

TL;DR-Simply a must have if you play Arcanis 93%

 

Summary– This is the first hard cover splat book for the Arcanis Role Playing game.  The book starts off with a long narrative detailing how the first arc of Living Arcanis ended.  From this, the book details some of the many different secret societies active in Arcanis.  After these secret societies, the book moves into its true splat book nature by adding several options for each character spanning new races, traits, spells, etc all the way to using old skills in new ways.  The book ends with a chapter detailed how each faith in general worships its gods.

 

Story or “Fluff”– This book is exactly what Arcanis needs.  Arcanis has spanned the 3.x era of DnD and moved to its own RPG, winning an award at Origins for its debut.  However, lots of its old history is in unpublished, inaccessible modules, and newcomers might be lost.  This book greatly adds to the story and helps newer plays quickly become accumulated with the world.  In addition, Arcanis has always had a strong story component, and this book really helps those who haven’t played through five years of living games get a leg up on understanding what is going.  5/5

 

Mechanics or Crunch– Again, this is exactly what Arcanis needs.  Arcanis has not had many extra rule books published for the game, and this is a glorious addition to the system.  It provides an impressive amount of crunch in fewer than 200 pages.  And the book ads rules all the way through the game system.  The book comes with an improved character creations sheets that help you walk through the hardest part of the Arcanis RPG all the way through to high level character options.  Hands down awesome! 5/5

 

Art/Layout-The book is easy to read and well laid out.  The art is all Arcanis in style helping me draw pictures in my mind with ease.  However, a major problem with the art is that some of it is recycled art.  Not all, but enough.  I’m in the world because of the art; but when I can play spot the reprint, it takes away from the book. 3.5/5

 

Final Thoughts-If you play Arcanis, you need this.  There is no question.  It’s pretty cheap at $30 for ~200 pages, and well worth its price.  I love the Arcanis System, and this book is a welcomed addition to the game.  90%