Viceroy

SMEE

Every Tuesday night our FLGS features a certain game, and this week the recently-released Viceroy was up to bat. You could say that this was a card-drafting game, but there’s a certain twist to it.. you must bid against your fellow players for the right to select a certain card. Unlike with other bidding auctions, though, it’s not the amount of currency that matters, but rather the specific colour of gem that is offered. Each available card may only be purchased for one of the four gem colours, so if two (or more) players end up bidding for the same card, a ‘clash’ occurs, and the gems are spent for no result. For each set of cards, there will be up to three rounds of bidding, so it may well pay to try and negotiate with the other players for the cards that are left, instead of exhausting your gem stocks.
 
Once you *have* the cards, it’s now time to place them in your ‘pyramid of power’. Cheesy, I know, but what’re you going to do? The level of which cards are placed at determines the reward you get, at the price of an escalating cost to place them! You’ll need to judge the balance between the gems you’re spending to acquire the cards, and the ones that will be needed to play them to the pyramid.

 

Trambahn

STEVE

This one was floating around during Origins this year and I’ve heard nothing but good things. I was finally able to play a couple of games with Matt and really liked it. It is a very easy game to play, with many different layers of strategy. Timing of when to score your trains is key to your success. It almost feels like a game of tug of war at times. I finally picked up a copy and have been playing with Alicia. After about 8 games under our belt I am still undefeated.

 

Isle of Skye

STEVE

This was my pick during our local game store meet up. Dan was raving about it so I had to know whats up. Isle of Skye feels like Carcassonne on steroids to me. I really want to try this one again since my first play quickly went pretty far south. It is a game that will need one or two plays to grasp a good strategy.

 

Zack & Pack

KELLY

I’m great at spatial reasoning and I love it. I’m not so good at drawing truck cards from piles that will hold my furniture, so that made this one hard. It was still really fun but I’ll do better next time!

 

Codenames

KELLY

This is like Taboo or Catchphrase mixed with Memory and it is great!! We played it a few times, taking turns giving clues and guessing spies and it was wonderful every time. There were some obscure clues given, but from what I gather that’s really the only way to do it. Reading your teammates is important. Matt went out and bought this one for us because I liked it so much.

MATT

As with the rest of the board gaming community, we’ve been really enjoying Codenames. The perfect blend of deduction mechanisms with a party-game levity, this is the go-to for any social gaming function. What really sells it for me is that the two and three player rules, which make the game cooperative, work as seamlessly as the 4+ ruleset, which is wholly competitive. This game is excellent.

 

Steampunk Rally

KELLY

MY MACHINE WAS SO ENORMOUS. I tied for last in the race, at the very last second because I blew myself up for movement points, but I had so many parts on my racing machine and it was awesome. After I finally figured out what the heck I was doing in this game, I really enjoyed it. We played it with six people, though, so it got a little confusing sometimes. I’d really like to try it again with fewer people.

 

World’s Fair 1893

MATT

Another game that will be reviewed shortly on the site, World’s Fair 1893 is a light area control game that has found a lot of success with our group. The way Ticket to Ride teaches set collection and route-building, World’s Fair 1893 demonstrates area control in an easy-to-explain, approachable way. I’m looking forward to its release on Kickstarter shortly.

 

Too Many Cinderellas

Matt

Too Many Cinderellas a light hand management game that plays surprisingly quick and doesn’t take itself seriously at all. The entire game consists of each player playing two cards and…that’s it. Having tried it 2, 3 and 4 players (for an upcoming review), I’ve found that more players make the game a bit more interesting. I’m not wholly sold on its longevity, but it fits firmly in the light-filler category.