HOT BOX - "Pastiche" by Sean D. MacDonald (What's in the Box?)

Gosh, a whole other week has gone by since I last posted! I've had a couple of posting ideas but just been too tired to stay awake enough to think them through.

My focus this last weekend was to get started opening my cadre of new games that piled up from last month:

New games & expansions waiting to be opened and/or played

Note that Hansa Teutonica and Fresco I already own, but I now have the new expansions for them -- they are already opened and inside the base boxes just waiting to be played. In particular, can't wait to give Fresco a go with ALL the expansions at once. There was a group that tried that @ Gamestorm and loved it but I missed out :(

Anyhow, as soon as I saw Pastiche I knew I had to have it - anything that has to do with art, painting and especially mixing colors is a must for me! I ordered a copy and had it delivered to Gamestorm. So, it's been sitting on there all ready for me to open it and get it to the table (and my friend Robert REALLY wanted to play it a couple of weeks ago when he was over) but didn't until this weekend as I knew I wanted to do a 'proper' box opening.

So, here it is!

The box. Ready. Waiting.

A beautiful looking box - tasteful and appealing. Nothing too fancy, just enough to let the masterpieces stand out. I love the touch with the paint palette profile above the name - subtle but suggestive of the board as you will see later...

Back of the box.

 Well, ok, you can see the board on the back of the box. But still....

TIMELY TOPICS - Fear of the Unknown Box (Games I Have Avoided Playing)

Howdy! Glad you could stop by today. I've kinda been busy and haven't posted here in a bit. What have I been busy with? Work. Kids stuff (soccer, dance, etc). Attending part of the EGG game day. Being sick. And creating a new Ticket to Ride map. Yes, a new map. Days of Wonder is holding a $10,000 contest for the best new map submitted and will be part of an anniversary box (or some such thing) that will come out next year (for DOW's 10th anniversary). My wife, Lynda, came up with an idea and I started running with it. I'm not saying anything else until we've submitted and it's past the April 15th deadline. Not that you'd copy our ideas or anything, right?

Anyhow, so I've been somewhat busy with that. We've barely play tested it though and I need to revamp the map and the tickets again but it's been a blast seeing it come together and having fun doing graphics stuff.

But, I've also been thinking about a topic that has intrigued me. I have noticed that there are certain games I've had a 'fear' of playing and tended to avoid. By 'fear' I mean having trepidation around playing them. I get that funny twisty feeling in your stomach when I think about playing them and I'm not sure if I really want to. I've been wondering why I was avoiding certain games because, when I finally got around to playing them, I often really enjoyed them! It is silly to avoid them because THEY ARE JUST GAMES! And, if I had continued to avoid them I might have missed out on the great fun and experience of playing them.

So, here are some of the reasons I've come up with for having 'Fear of the Unknown Box' and the games that fell into that category for me.

"IT'S TOO POPULAR" - Dominion

Some people are extremely averse to popular culture whether it is games, music, etc. I'm only slightly averse to pop culture. I avoid some of the more popular music much more than I used to but am still drawn to some of it as well. Games are the same for me. I tended to avoid Dominion for a long time after it came out and likely would never have ended up purchasing my own copy had not a friend of mine forced encouraged me to play (thanks Bob!). I'm not really sure if I had a specific reason to avoid it - maybe because it was Deck Building which I'd never really done before and maybe because it was just the 'hot thing' and avoided it as a result.

But once I learned it and then tried out Intrigue and Seaside I decided I liked it enough to have it myself. AND, later I taught it to my Dad and he instantly loved it and immediately bought his own copy. I've had a lot of fun playing with my family as well as many of my friends - it is one of my daughter's all-time favorite games, so I'm glad I gave it a go.

"IT'S TOO COMPLICATED" - Web of Power, Age of Steam

Now, here's the thing that I think has affected me the most: I get an idea in my head about what the game is about and end up making it out to more or different than what it really ends up being. In other words, after learning the game and playing for the first time I went "That's it?!" and I wondered why I avoided it to begin with.

Just last week I finally played Web of Power for the first time. I admit I was intrigued by it, but I had in my mind that it was a negotiation game and had all these complicated rules and powers in it. What it turned out to be was a fast playing area control game with a card driven mechanism. When Cary taught it to me I literally thought "That's it?" as I was expecting much more. Now, the 2-player game is a bit more complicated than that, but really not all that much more. 3-player this game really shined AND it's a pretty easy game to understand in terms of the rules. Of course, how you play the game is a bit more complicated. BUT, this was a game I was nervous about playing and then found my fears were unfounded.

Age of Steam (which I finally learned to play last year) was another game I imagined in my head to be more complicated than I thought. When you read through the rules and play a turn or two you realize there's really not that much to the system itself. You take shares (money), bid for turn order, build tracks, build cities, improve your shipping capabilities, ship goods and earn income. It makes sense. The money is really tight and you have to manage it carefully, but the mechanics are pretty straight forward. Again, it comes down to the game play and the interactions that are more complicated BUT there's really nothing to fear in the game itself. I found I loved it and, even though I got trounced my first game out, I have learned to love the game to the point of buying my own copy and several expansion maps.

"IT'S A CO-OP" - Last Night on Earth, Betrayal at House on the Hill

TIMELY TOPICS - Getting it Wrong - Traps Game Explainers Can Fall Into

The other day I found out I've been playing a rule wrong in Troyes. Not horribly wrong as I don't think it would have impacted our games too much, but it also might have opened up the possibility of the game being played differently.

In this case, it was actually the ABSENCE of a rule - empty spots in buildings aren't filled in with gray citizens unless an event causes them to be placed (or when you place them during setup)! I had assumed all dice should be in the game and, therefore, all the spots should be filled in the buildings when 'Assembling the Workforce'. DRAT! I HATE getting rules wrong.... :(  It really bothers me, even if I know it might not have impacted the game much. I know some people might write these off as unintentional 'variants' (ok, sometimes you do this and end up with a better way to play, or at least a different interesting way to play) but it just irks me to get it wrong from the original rules. The absence of the rule along with an assumption is what trapped me here.

So, it got me thinking about some of the traps that Game Explainers might fall into.

Here are some common traps that I have (or seen others) fallen into:

TRAP: Forgetting to teach important rules.
Danger of the trap: Well, this one is fairly obvious - if you forget a rule you can completely change the game, perhaps even breaking it. Also, when you remember it later and let everyone know, they can think you were holding it back on purpose until the moment you 'remember' it and it's to your benefit. Or worse, it can completely ruin someone's strategy and take them out of the game. I have been on the receiving end of this before where I thought one thing and it turned out to not be allowed or something due to a neglected rule.

Example: Caylus - In a 2-player game I played a while ago, the rule not taught to me was where the worker in the Inn can be removed voluntarily the next turn when the Inn is activated or be left there if the other player has not pushed him out. Actually, this doesn't apply just to 2-player. I didn't realize I could remove that worker on subsequent turns - I thought it had to be forced out. I mentioned this and the person I was playing with seemed to confirm it would stay. On the first turn I had placed a worker there and NEVER got him back for the rest of the game as the other player never used the Inn to force me out. So, I was basically 1 guy short the ENTIRE game. The plus side was I never had to pay more than 1 Denier after the other player passed...so at least I had some benefit from it.

CONVENTIONS - GAMESTORM 13 Gaming Report (SUNDAY, Mar 27th)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4


This is Part 4 of 4 of my gaming report of Gamestorm 13. If you made it this far - thanks for reading! I enjoy writing these convention reports up, but they sure do take a lot of time to write them. Hopefully they are helpful and perhaps a wee bit interesting to you as you read through them.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning I woke up and my roommate, Peter, reminded me that we had to check out today! Ugh! Somehow I forgot about that! He noted checkout was 12pm - ok, not too bad (it was about 8:30am then). He headed out and I got up and got ready, then spent a bunch of time re-organizing my games and Wes's games (I was his proxy for the Gamestorm Math Trade) among the 5 totes we had. I decided his totes were too big to fit both in the cab of my pickup, but I had brought an extra 3rd one that I knew would fit (I had tested 3 of my totes before I left and they fit with apparent room for a 4th). 

I have a small Ford Ranger without a King Cab or canopy. I had brought tarps, plastic, tape and bungies in case I had to load some into the bed of the truck (to prevent them from getting wet or falling out) but I only wanted to do that as a last resort. So, I was hoping to get it down to 4 large totes along with my two smaller totes and the rest of my junk so I could maybe cram it all inside.

So, I managed to get it all packed into 4 totes with even a bit of room to spare. Inventory: 4 large totes, 2 small totes, 2 cloth shopping bags, one with my computer, sweat shirt, large can of peanuts, and a few misc items, the other with a couple of games, my jacket, water cup and snacks. Plus my small bag for clothes. (It's funny when you travel and have more non-clothes/personal stuff than other stuff because usually it's the other way around. Gamers --- we're such geeks when we go to conventions :) )

Once I was settled on my packing solution I stacked everything and took down some of my personal gear to the pickup but left the games in the room for now. Then I headed back to the main gaming room to see where everyone was and what kind of gaming was happening. I couldn't find Chris anywhere (I guess we were up a bit late and he's not a morning person :) :) ). But, I DID find Tom and he was ready for a game. Doug was ready as well and he suggested Navegador. I hadn't played and was looking forward to learning some new stuff for my last day. I'm in! Mike joined us to round it out to 4.

(Later, I got a text during while playing Navegador that Chris had been working on getting out of the room and packing his van and they found out the van was DEAD! Luckily he found someone with jumpers that got the van going again. Which in turn let him drive around a bit to recharge the battery and get HIMSELF going again with a large Starbuck's coffee)

CONVENTIONS - GAMESTORM 13 Gaming Report (SATURDAY, Mar 26th)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4


This is Part 3 of 4 of my gaming report of Gamestorm 13. Each part will be posted over the next few days.

SATURDAY

Saturday was the day of the math trade. For some reason I woke up early so I got up, showered and dressed, then headed down for breakfast. I went to check out the trade room but it was closed although a couple of people were already lined up. So, I went and got Wes's stuff and got in line with them. Soon after security came by to open the door and I went in and got all the games out and waited for everyone else to show up. I got 95% of the trades done in a reasonable amount of time. There was one individual whom we were supposed to meet up with the day before (but didn't notice the note until too late on Friday) so I took those back with me as well. Eventually we met up late Saturday evening and exchanged.

Anyhow, Chris was still waking up by the time I was done and he had a nice filler ready to go...

1. Mosaix (x2) - I love puzzly games and this fits the bill superbly. I had read about it and Chris pulled it out when we finally got together after the madness of the math trade. He explained the rules quickly and off we went. There are 4 dice that have 3 symbols on them - X, O and (triangle). On your turn you roll the dice then arrange them together in any configuration you want. Then, both players add the pattern to a small whiteboard with a grid on it using a wipeoff pen. The pattern can go any direction on the board and can even go off the board (you just don't draw those symbols). You are trying to maximize distinct groups of 5 (or more) of each symbol. You keep going until one person fills up their board to the point they can't add anything more. Then, you count up the number of groups of each and multiply by the total number of symbols in those groups. Groups of less than 5 don't count towards either total. Add up your totals for each of the 3 shapes and compare scores to see who wins!
   
   This game is akin to FITS or Take it To the Limit where you are all doing the same thing but in a slightly different way to try to maximize your score. My first game I thought I did good but lost by about 20 points (60-80 or thereabouts). We played again and I won by about 40 points once I learned the trick to a high score (80 to 120 or so). Loved it and will get it when I have an opportunity.
2. Circus Maximus - Chris stumbled upon Circus Maximus while I had gone off to check on the dealer room for some deals. When I returned and saw he was hanging out there I knew what we were playing next. He's been jonesing to play since forever and this was his chance. An exuberant guy named Seth was running it and he had drawn the map on a large canvas sheet that was draped over a long table. He had some cool hand-painted chariots (done by his wife) that looked spectacular. He mentioned he had forgotten his camera so I offered to snap some pics and send them to him (this was the only time I brought out my camera). Here are a couple of them:
   

CONVENTIONS - GAMESTORM 13 Gaming Report (FRIDAY, MAR 25th)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4


This is Part 2 of 4 of my gaming report of Gamestorm 13. Each part will be posted over the next few days.

FRIDAY


Friday started out rather uneventfully - I woke up somewhat early despite having stayed up late. I took my time getting up then headed to the hospitality room for breakfast.

1. Biblios - Again. Chris was teaching to Jon when I got back from breakfast and jumped in to play as well.
2. Die Sieben Siegel - Another card game. This was actually "Wizards Extreme" - a 'nasty' trick-taking game with an interesting twist - you must guess exactly how many tricks AND what colors you will win by selecting chips of those colors in the numbers specified then putting them back when you win an appropriate trick. Left over chips are negative points. Only one card suit is wild. Not sure who won the first game, but the 2nd game I won by trying out the evil wizard dude (where you try to screw everyone else by giving them negative chips). 
3. Haggis - I taught Rog and Chris. My review says it all about gameplay. I will say this was my first time playing 3 player and it's tougher in some respects because either player can have really good cards and it's harder to tell how strong your hand is. Rog did extremely well for his first time and my cards sucked (or I just bet and played them wrong). Chris has already purchased his own copy.
4. Habitat - Rog taught me this game. It's fairly light but has some interesting decisions and is fun as well. The cards are nice with various animals depicted. Basically, you are trying to build up an eco-system by getting cards on the table with number values 1 thru 8 - getting multiples/duplicates doesn't help. You have to start with base prey cards then build up from there. There are also special events that affect the game in different ways and you can also steal columns of cards when playing predators in a certain manner. It's tougher than it sounds, but the rules are not all that complicated. Note that a copy of this was at the flea market but Chris bought it before I had a chance. I think my kids will like this game and will probably get a copy.
5. Showmanager - Chris and I had about 1 hr before our next game that we had signed up for. We had 6 so were looking for something that could take that many but was also relatively short. I suggest Showmanager. Some were skeptical due to the 1 to 1-1/2 hr timing but I said I could teach it quickly and if there was no AP we could do it. And, somehow, we managed to get it taught AND played by 6 players in under an hour! This was only my 2nd time playing (and was my first time teaching - the rules are pretty easy though). The main idea is to collect cards (actors) and, when the right set is accumulated, put on a show! Your total value is your score. You must put on a total of 4 shows. Any show you complete is available to borrow money against to be able to hire good actors for the remaining shows. Points are determined by how much money each show garnered compared to all the other shows. There is LOTS of moaning and groaning in this game because with 6, by the time it comes around to you the cards you wanted are often flushed out and you are left with crap. I found this game to be just as fun compared to the first time I played. It is OOP and hard to get and the reprint artwork is not very good so I'm glad I got a copy last year before it came out.
6. Industrial Waste - This is a great economic game with an interesting card drafting method where sets of cards are dealt out with no duplicates in each. You pick them up in turn order and then play cards one at a time around the table. It also has a chart along the lines of Goa where you must try to improve your company in efficiency in several ways which also increases your functionality and gives you more points in a triangle scoring way (1, 3, 6, 10, 15). The struggle for points is a biting/clawing affair trying to eek out that next level to get ahead. The other interesting feature of this game is to earn money you have to fulfill contracts, but to fulfill contracts you have to have resources AND you produce dangerous waste at the same time. The resources come from auctions you can put up (which also earn you money or let you get the resources you need). In fulfilling contracts, you have to balance the risk of too much waste (and having an accident which costs you money and loss of income) vs. how much time you spend making yourself more efficient and/or cleaning up the waste. I made one small mistake near the end which took me out of the running of a very tight 3-way race for 1st. Lynette was kind enough to teach and we had a great time as usual (I played 2 years ago as well with her). Thanks Lynette!
7. High Frontier - Space. The final Frontier. These are the voyages of rocket stacks flying through the solar system to eek out a small living in a hostile environment fraught with danger and claim jumping Chinese. Phil Ecklund does it again with another true-to-life simulation/game. This was my second time playing and I finally had some idea of how to get a rocket into space pretty much all on my own. Doug made terrific use of his solar wing to get himself onto Mercury and also had a successful landing on Mars. Rog got stuck trying to figure out how to land on Jupiter and Chris had to inefficiently fly 2 missions to the same location before he could land on some rock in the outer belt. Outstanding game and fun just for the experience and effort as much as anything.
8. Garden Competition - Attack of the weeds! This is a somewhat heavy game for something about flowers with players vying for their neighbor's attention to receive flowers as gifts, bribing the competition judges to reveal what they are looking for to score higher, and attacking the other players with weeds via the next door neighbor's yards. It's garden warfare at it's finest!
9. Jet Set - Loved this take on route building with the huge layout of routes available and interesting mechanics of balancing the earning of money with trying to make more points than the other players. I focused too much on the routes out on the table and not enough on my vacation route (which scores 20 points if you complete it first and forces the end game). This one needs another play so I have a shot at the win next time!
10. Coloretto - A nice filler - one of the first gamer type games I learned 3 years ago and still enjoy playing it with it's tense set collection mechanic. Great fun for end of night gaming.
11. No Thanks - Another fun filler that I haven't gotten to play much before - I thought I had the win, but didn't amass enough coins by the end to compensate for other's hording.

After a long day of gaming it was about 2AM and time for a bit of sleep. Just a bit is all I needed...really!

Come back tomorrow for Part 3 of 4 in this series...

CONVENTIONS - GAMESTORM 13 Gaming Report (THURSDAY, Mar 24th)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4


This is Part 1 of 4 of my gaming report of Gamestorm 13. Each part will be posted over the next few days.

Wow, it's been 8 9 days since my last post! Probably 9 10 by the time I post this! I've been trying to be consistently posting at least every 2-4 days since I started on Jan 1st. Alas, I have failed this one time - BUT, I have an excuse: GAMESTORM in Vancouver, WA, last week from Thursday to Sunday and I had a terrific time!

Well, here's the general scoop: I was lazy and didn't bother taking any pictures (except on Saturday when we played Circus Maximus). And, I didn't do much else other than play games even though I stated previously that I would try to branch out more. I DID make an effort to go into the dealer's area and I spent some time asking a few questions, looked for Thunderstone promos for my friend Bob, and tried to spot any good deals. Also, I had a few dollars burning in my pocket and thought I'd spend it, but ultimately I ended up not buying anything there.

I DID attend the flea market (which took place after the Gamestorm Math Trade exchange where I handed out and collected games for my friend Wes). At the flea market there were some interesting games and some decent prices on some. I inquired about several and finally settled on a mostly complete copy of Dungeon for $10 and a practically new copy of Day & Night for half price as well.

I used to have Dungeon when I was growing up but apparently it found it's way into a garage sale or thrift store while I was in college and my parents changed houses, so I was excited to find myself another copy that I can play with my kids. There are a few missing cards and it's likely playable as-is, but the complete-ist in me says I have to seek out the rest of the missing pieces. I'll be hitting the BGG Parts Resource list as soon as I do a proper inventory.

First, my overall impression of Gamestorm: It was fun!

Next, my slightly more detailed impression of Gamestorm: Registration was a breeze (I got there Thursday afternoon before the onslaught of gamers hit). Room check-in was easy and game unloading wasn't a problem as I parked in the garage and took the elevator up. My room was right near the elevator so carting games back and forth wasn't a big problem. The rooms are fairly standard, clean, comfortable and in good condition.

Gaming overall was busy and boisterous. Lisa Steenson of Gut Bustin' Games was there as guest of honor and there were several tables of her games being played: Trailer Park Wars and Oh Gnome You Don't mostly. To promote Gnome there were several people with large Gnome hats running around. I also saw a couple of large stuffed Gnomes and there was a lot of chanting of Gnome! or Brawl! (or something similar - I couldn't tell exactly) on at least a couple of occasions. (I never did get in a play of any of those games :( ). There were also several LARPers running around adding color to the environment with various costumes on (cloaked vampires, eye patched pirates,  swords and fighting gear, people with various ears and tails protruding, etc).