Thursday, April 01, 2004
<% blogDate=Server.URLEncode("Thursday, April 01, 2004") %>
|
A Gamut of Gaming News
A Hobby Hodgepodge
This year has started out well for gaming in the Dreifuss family. We have played 115 games in the first Quarter of 2004. I'd have to say that's doing pretty good! See the breakdown (courtesy of BoardGameGeek) below.
As you can see, our newest games got the most play. We rather like Attika -- it presents a new challenge, and is interesting with 2 players, which of course get the most play in our household. The Castle came in a close second, and it's also a new one for us.
Hopefully we'll have full reviews of our latest (The Castle, Attika, and Zertz) soon, but for now, here's the scoop:
 The Game Report
Carcassonne: The Castle (link)
A grand edition in the Carcassonne line of games. It's not too different from its brothers, but has enough of a flavor variance to satisfy. Unlike the others, it has a border to contain the tiles which also serves as the scoring track, which by the way is large enough to avoid the need for extra scoring tiles.
The addition of the bonus 'wall tiles' is interesting. On the scoring track, when you land directly on a spot with a bonus tile, you pick up that tile and are able to use it for more scoring opportunities. These tiles have made the difference in more than a handful of games.
It forces a tough decision between scoring as much as you can as often as you can and scoring strategically to get these tiles. In one game, my opponent focused too heavily on getting the tiles and missed out on better scoring opportunities. He had the most bonus tiles, but I had the larger score. They don't make THAT much of a difference, which is good.
Attika (link)
This could be described as Settlers meets Twixt. Of course, that's an oversimplification. In this game, players strive to construct their buildings in such a way that they either (a) connect two temples or (b) complete all their buildings before the other player(s).
In order to place a building, resource cards must be played (much like Settlers), but the cost can be reduced by resource spots on the board or they can be placed without charge if they connect to a supporting building. The board continues to expand as the game progresses, which adds another element of strategic thinking -- that I like.
The downside to the game is that most of the strategies become apparent after a few playings, and (IMO) that contributes to a lack of depth. However, I am not likely to turn down a game of this. I'd say that its complexity is just a bit above average, and interaction is a bit below. But it's something different, and I like it.
Zertz (link)
Another in the Gipf series (see Gipf, Dvonn, Tamsk), it's a forward-thinking abstract game. There's a little more strategy than tactical skills needed, and it might take a play or two to wrap your head around it. In contrast to Attika, the board continues to shrink as the game progresses. This has the favorable effect of preventing long, drawn out games (see Chess), but also provides that extra layer of choice -- which piece to remove.
If you like abstract strategy games such as Othello or Go, you owe it to yourself to give Zertz a try.
Other Gaming News...
 Keeping Tabs... We began tracking our 2-player games (a little bit of husband-wife rivalry) soon after we were married. In March of this year, we constructed a new Gaming Board to keep track of the latest winner of each game, the score, and the date we played them. A picture of the new gaming board can be seen at left. The title text reads Konig der Spiele, which in German means 'King of Games.'
I thought it looked and sounded pretty cool. An exception to our 2-player game board rule is 'Dutch Blitz.' It's the only game in which we allow others (besides Meg and I) to have a crown. Right now (April 6, 2004), my cousin Mark has the crown. But the next time we play, it shall be mine -- oh yes. :)
The Gateway drug Game... In the past few months we were able to introduce Settlers of Catan to a few new people. It still amazes me how almost universal its appeal is. I think there are at least two more people who are hooked and probably will be purchasing the game after our introduction of it. No wonder it is credited for bringing the German board gaming craze to the States.
On the Horizon... Just today I read about a game that I must have. It's WWII based, so that piqued my interest initially. Then add to that the fact that it's made by Days of Wonder, you know the artwork and components are going to be top notch. So I took a look at the Memoir '44 website and found out that the game plays in UNDER AN HOUR!!
That did it! This game is essential to my collection. Since (1)I am big into WWII history and therefore WWII themed games and the like and (2)I am a gamer and (3)I have no time to play an 8-hour game of Axis and Allies (which has a new version out this year I was tempted to get), it's really a no-brainer. Unfortunately, I will have to wait -- until D-Day. Seriously, it releases on June 6th -- the 60th anniversary of D-Day.
Take a look at the components using the link below. It makes me giddy with anticipation.
Well, that's all I have for now. Hopefully it won't take me another four months to update this page again!
Game on,
Bert
|
4:00 PM :: link ::
...
|
|
|
