Category Archives: strategy game

Mechanic Monday – Cooperative Games

Once upon a time in a far off kingdom players would gather and enjoy crushing one another in a competitive game of intrigue, conflict, and deceit. One day a man was sitting below the oppressive fist of his component and a thought struck him, ‘I always lose.’ He thought as another of his armies was removed from the board; ‘wouldn't it be better if we were all on the same team?’ and thus the Cooperative board game was developed. For the record; that may or may not have been the way the idea of playing as a team was developed, but I like to think it is. The mechanic of Co-op play is not new, though in older games it was represented more as a team-vs-team than an all-vs-game. For the last few years, however, there...

Favorite Friday – Legend of Drizzt

The year is 2000, the season summer, and my freetime plentiful. My brother had previously picked up the PC adventure game Baldur’s Gate and I had watched him play it some but had yet to dabble much myself. I decided it was time. The world of Faerun instantly pulled me in and hasn’t let me go since. Baldur’s gate lead me down the path that would eventually lead me to meet the dark elf ranger Drizzt Do’Urdan. When I learned Drizzt was going to get his own game in the tabletop space following the novels I was excited; even so it was not until a couple years after the games release that I finally had the joy of picking up a copy and bringing it to the table. Before I jump into the game’s...

Favorite Fridays – Dead of Winter

Zombies. Post apocalyptic conditions. Arctic cold. A group of survivors that have broken into sub groups following their own leaders with varied goals. These are all elements of a fantastic horror movies and shows; they are also all elements of this weeks installment of Favorite Fridays; Dead of Winter. The vitals Released 2014 Designer: Jonathan Gilmour & Isaac Vega Plays: 2-5 EPT: 100 minutes Dead of Winter is one of the few games I learned about well before its release; arguably since early on in its design thanks to the awesomeness that is The Plaid Hat Podcast (which I would highly recommend). I recall many days listening to the guys discuss the next game in the Vegian cannon; not City of Remnants 2 or an expansion, not another video game adaption like BioShock Infinite, but a new IP using...

Worker Wednesday – Lords of Waterdeep

Welcome back it is time for our second installment of Worker Wednesdays with a look at what has become one of my favorite worker placement games, Lords of Waterdeep. The vitals Released 2012 Designer: Peter Lee & Rodney Thompson Plays: 2-5 EPT: 60 minutes I recall many a time for two years looking at friends game shelves, shelves in game stores and on online retailers and seeing the game Lords of Waterdeep looking back at me; a glimmer in it’s eye. The box art showing a fantastic depiction of a fighter, mage and dude wielding a staff with two daggers in his belt that looks totally BA, with Dungeons and Dragons written across the bottom of the box, and a hefty weight when lifted off the shelf. Mental images of journeying through dungeons with the goal of finding...

Follow Up Tuesday – Pandemic

Yesterday we looked at the mechanic of the Action Point Allowance System; or APAS as no one calls it… today we will be following that up with a review of the Matt Leacock modern classic Pandemic. The vitals Released 2007 Designer: Matt Leacock Plays: 2-4 EPT: 45 minutes Pandemic is a co-operative game in which players act as members of the CDC working together to stop the spread of diseases across the globe. Players all start the game in Atlanta, Georgia; home of the Center of Disease Control before setting out to trot the globe and rid the world of these spreading diseases. During setup each player is given a character, each character having unique abilities. The game ships with more characters than players thus making each game vary based upon which people are in play; each player also receives a...

Favorite Fridays – Arkham Horror

Let us journey back to the summer of 2011. My family is on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland in a condo a block from the beach. Those who know me well are aware I have 2 arch nemeses, one of which is the sun (a story for another time) and the other.. well we will discuss that later. I thus avoided the beach more often than not and withdrew to the comfort of the air conditioned condo to enjoy a book or game. My brother and my dad often joined me in this seclusion and we quickly turned to games to fill our time and it was thus that my brother introduced us to Arkham Horror. The vitals Released 2005 (remake of a game from 1987) Designer: Richard Launius & Kevin Wilson Plays: 1-8 (I’d recommend 4-5 and...

Worker Wednesday – Caverna

It’s Wednesday; what does that mean? It means it is time for the first Worker Wednesday of 2015! The day of the week I look at worker placement games. These reviews will go much like every other review with a minor exception; they will all feature games that heavily rely on worker placement. For those who have known me for a while this would come as a shock; I was at one point in my life not a big fan of worker placement games; I would make the argument that they were all the same with minute differences that didn't add enough to the game to differentiate themselves from others, essentially saying, “If you've played one worker placement, you've played every worker placement.” Fortunately my life has changed and I have found a...

Follow Up Tuesday – Bohnanza

It is time for Follow Up Tuesday! What is Follow Up Tuesday you ask? Well on Mondays we look at various mechanics then on the day after we follow it up with a game that I think uses that mechanic very well or has revolutionised the mechanic in some way. Yesterday we looked at the mechanic of Hand Management; today we are going to look at a game that I think uses this mechanic in a genious manner arguably changing the way I viewed the mechanic entirely, so lets take a look at Bohnanza. The vitals Released 1997 Designer: Uwe Rosenberg Plays: 2-7 EPT: 45 minutes While Bohnanza was released in 1997 I was not introduced to the game until much later; mid 2000s in fact. I had heard of the game and knew it relied heavily...

Favorite Fridays – Scotland Yard

Welcome to Part 2 in my 261 part journey through gaming! Since this is the first Friday of 2015 Let me explain how Favorite Fridays work. I have played a lot of games, and it is always hard to pick favorites but there are some games that stick out in our memories better than others; they may not be the best games, but for some reason they hold a special place in our hearts. These are the games I will be covering on Fridays. I will begin each review by giving the game’s vitals (designer, release date, accolades, etc) followed by explaining how I was introduced to the game, detailing how the game plays, my initial perceptions of the game and how I see the game now, before finally detailing the games current...

2015 – A year in 261 parts

Welcome to 2015. 2014 was a great year for us at Gamer’s Remorse (click here for a review of 2014), but 2014 is over and 2015 has just begun! With a new year come new games, new experiences, new IPs, and many more things to be excited about. As I was reflecting on 2014 and thinking of ways I could improve on the experience to make 2015 all it could be I had a few grand ideas cross my mind but it was not until Sean made a proposition that I found my goal; my resolution if you will. Let us go back in time to a chat between Sean and I… September 30, 2014 Sean: “I have a challenge for you next year… every day a game review” Brian: “365 reviews.... that would take a...