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Category Archives: Episode
Rum Run (8/10) Indie
Wild Card Wednesday – Biblios
Dungeon crawling, city building, empire expanding; all common themes to find in board games and the board game hobby. There are a rare few games, however, that find ways to use themes that most of us would never imagine; one such game is Biblios; a game of monastic library curation.
Released: 2007
Designer: Steve Finn
Plays: 2-4
EPT: 30 minutes
Biblios sets players as abbots attempting to amass a grand library with the victor being the player who manages to claim the most victory points. Victory points are awarded at the end of the game with players scoring the various victory dependent upon the cards in their hand and the value on each of the colored die.
There are 5 die in the game as well as 5 suits; blue (pigments), green...
Mechanic Monday – Bluffing
Just about everyone has been raised with the moral standard that lying is wrong; what about when that lying is part of a game? This has been a hot topic among groups for some time now; The Dice Tower’s temporary side cast, The Dice Steeple, had a good discussion on the topic as well as a few others. Rather than tackle the issue of the moral side of bluffing in games we will rather look at is as a mechanic. How does the mechanic work? When does it work? And what can the future hold for Bluffing games?
I went to check Some history on bluffing as a mechanic and to my surprise it was not listed on Board Game Geek. I thus decided to look at a few games that use bluffing and discovered the...
Favorite Fridays – Geister Geister Schatzumeister
When I think children's games I traditionally think of games such as Chutes and Ladders, Hi Ho Cherry O, and Don’t Break the Ice. This is because those are the games I grew up playing, granted this was subsidized by games such as Scotland Yard and Crossbows and Catapults. I’m sure these list would alter greatly based upon each of our families involvement in the gaming hobby as we were growing up, but I have found in general children of gamers often played games that their parents enjoyed as well. I am excited to see what future children’s games look like; especially after this year’s children game of the year went to Geister Geister Scharzsumeister! NOTE the game ships with rules for a basic and for...
Worker Wednesday – Agricola
The second most asked question since I started Worker Wednesday has easily been, “Brian, when will you look at Agricola?” preluded only by, “Worker Placement games? Really how long can you keep that going?” Today we will address the first of those two questions.
Released: 2007
Designer: Uwe Rosenberg
Plays: 1-5
EPT: 30-180 minutes
I have intentionally postponed my review of Agricola for one prime reason; I wanted a palate cleanser before the review. I will go into more details on that later, but up until recently my last experience with the game was far less than idea leaving a bad taste in my mouth; did my recent re-experience change that? You’ll have to stick around… or scroll down… and see.
Just about everyone who is active in the gaming hobby has,...
Follow Up Tuesday – British Rails
Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Nolan’s Batman... we all love trilogies; so today I will complete my Empire Trilogy, and like all good trilogies; a future prequel could always happen that ruins everything…
*Note: I recommend reading the Empire Builder review before continuing if you haven't done so already.
Friday we looked at Empire Builder, Mayfair’s 1982 foray into the world of the Crayon Rail System. Monday we followed that up with a look at the mechanic of the Crayon Rail System. Today we will complete our trilogy with a look at British Rails and a summary of Mayfair’s interpretation of the Crayon Rail mechanic.
Released: 1984
Designer: Jim Griffin, Elaine Henninger, Joe Roznai, Barb Roznai
Plays: 2-6
EPT: 180 minutes
British rails plays much like Empire Builder as...
Hitman Holiday – Now on Kickstarter!
Mechanic Monday – Simultaneous Action Selection
Friday I looked at 7 Wonders which uses the mechanics of Card Drafting, Set Collection, Variable Player Powers, and Simultaneous Action Selection. Today we will take a look at the last of those mechanics; I will state first that I feel the name is slightly misleading as the simultaneous aspect of these games is not always action related; I will also refer to the mechanic as SAS as Simultaneous Action Selection.
Simultaneous Action Selection is an interesting mechanic as it serves multiple purposes from forcing players to plan ahead, increasing a game’s pace, to minimizing downtime between turns. The mechanic is is one that can be utilized in a variety of ways when partnered with other mechanics. Often SAS will be used as a part of a turn round in which players manage minor upkeep, turn...
Favorite Friday – Settlers of Catan
Some games are a flash in a pan, they burn bright but not for long; others are embers, they may only let off a dim light but they fail to die out; then every once in a while there are games that are forest fires, they ignite in an instants then before you know it the world is aflame and will burn for what seems like forever. The Settlers of Catan is a forest fire.
As a reviewer one of the most common question I am given is, “What are your views on Catan?” the game has almost come the gold standard many judge other games by; partially because it is the game that brought many into the hobby but also because it is a game so many are familiar with. Quite honestly the question is...