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[personal profile] maverick_weirdo
For me the past weekend I have been at WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) for their semi-annual SFS Gaming Weekend. I played many games, some new, some old standards. I also got to reconnect with a bunch of friends I don’t normally see.

Some of the “old standards” were: Apples to Apples, Bang, Cosmic Encounters, Dominion, Inca Gold (an updated version of Diamant), Mcmulti, OOTS Adventure Game, Porte Rico, Samarkand & San Juan.

And the new games:
Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
It’s like Dominion crossed with a simplified version of Race for the Galaxy.
I was able to pick up the themes/strategies fairly quickly. I went for a mixed construct & green-nature creature strategy, Mike (14) went for a purple-void strategy, I was not able to pick up our 3rd player’s strategy. I actually won my first time playing.

Finito
A strategic bingo like game
It is a quick & simple novelty game. I also won my first time playing this game.

Galaxy Trucker
I was originally put off by the name, I should not have been. You “build” spaceships out of tiles (weapons, shields, engines, power systems, cargo & crew pods) then race them against other players. I enjoyed this game in spite of the crappy spaceships I built. I did not win, however I was told that not dying in any of the three rounds is an accomplishment for a first time player.

Innovation
A card game. There are ten stacks of cards, each represents a phase of technology/development. Each turn you get 2 actions. In those two actions you may draw a card, or place a card or activate a card’s special abilities. The special abilities are a lot of different things, but it is only through special abilities that you can store cards as credit points, and with credit points you buy victory point cards. First one to buy 5 (out of 9) victory point cards wins. I won my first time playing this as well.

Oasis
It is like Carcasonne on a predetermined board, with an auction/draft mechanic.
Since neither of those features appeal to me, I’m not a big fan of this game, although I would play it again. I did not win.

Space Alert: The New Frontier
It’s like Omega Virus crossed with Galaxy Trucker (which is by the same game designer)
Normally I am not a fan of collaborative games (such as: BSG Boardgame, Shadows over Camelot, Arkham Horror, Pandemic) because as a new player you are just a minion following the “grand design” of more experienced players for four to six hours. In Space Alert that “minion time” lasts exactly 10 minutes. After that comes the review where you get to see how well everyone’s choices worked, and you can see that everyone’s actions contributed. Our Team survived, which I am told is not easy. I fired the missile which killed our final foe. I look forward to playing this again.

Zombie Dice
It’s like Cosmic Wimpout with zombies
The actual dice mechanics are different but it does have the “play it safe” or “go for broke” element.
Why yes, I did win this game too.

(Ironically I think I only won at the new games I played. All the “old standards” I played I lost.)
After gaming I went to the Mass Filc meeting.
I left Worcester at about 3:30pm and headed for Waltham. I was not the last to arrive.

It was a good time, I think we had 13 different people there. I was a bit tired, having only 8 hours of sleep since Friday, so I only brought out three songs. The Death of me Yet by Adam Seltzer, I am the Walrus by Michelle Dockery, and Threes Rev. 1.1 by Duane Elms and Leslie Fish.

It was a wonderful weekend.

Date: 2011-03-23 01:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seishonagon.livejournal.com
I've played both Zombie Dice and Innovation, and enjoyed both of them very much.

I'd love to hear more about Space Alert, as I passionately love collaborative board games. What's the concept? The goal? How do the Good Guys win or lose?

I played Ghost Stories, another such game, recently, and I'm looking forward to writing a long and favorable review of it.

What's the concept?

Date: 2011-03-23 10:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com
You are part of a team of spacers, on a Sitting Duck class spaceship. Your ship hyperjumps into a region of space to do survey work. It takes 10 minutes for the automated systems to run the survey then activate hyperjump engines to take you home. Your mission, to make sure the ship makes it home.

Date: 2011-03-23 11:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com
There is a CD with recordings that last 10 minutes. In that ten minutes players plan out twelve rounds of action. The recording announces when and where attacks start, and when you hear static that means communications are out (not talking). When the ten minutes are up your plans better be ready cause you are done.

After that your team goes over their actions round by round, to see if they were sucessful. If one of the sectors of the ship takes seven or more damage then the ship cannot jump home and the players loose. If the ship makes it home then the players win.

Date: 2011-03-23 11:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gee-tar.livejournal.com
At PAX East I was introduced to Forbidden Island, which is a cooperative game that sounds similar to Space Alert. We lost, but since we were all new players and the game lasted no more than 15 or 20 minutes, it didn't fall into the "grand design" trap you design.

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