BONUS Kickstarter/Indiegogo Spotlight: BRAWL: Real Time Card Game

I have a confession to make. I actually own and original run deck of BRAWL cards, but I've never played the game.

BRAWL is a card game about speed. It's a fast easy fighting game designed by James Ernest and illustrated by Ryan Kinnaird.  First released in 1999 it was received with great reviews and multiple award nominations. Sadly It's publisher, Cheapass Games, went into a hiatus for several years, and BRAWL went out of print.

Over the years much of the Cheapass Games library was turning into free print and play editions on www.cheapass.com or picked up by other game companies. BRAWL however remained out of print.  Until now.

Thanks to the joy of crowd sourcing you can now own and enjoy BRAWL once again. With options to support some or all of the individual BRAWL decks, there's an option for everyone. As well you can get a copy of the game Gold Digger for only $1 more if you can catch the early bird option on the 12 deck offer (the 6 deck early bird offer is sold out).

Each deck has unique cards, strategies, and art. Which means you and your friends can all play and have a totally different experience.

BRAWL is halfway through their Kickstarter campaign and about 2/3 of the way to being funded.  So check out their campaign and consider backing it.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cheapassgames/brawl-real-time-card-game

BONUS Kickstarter/Indiegogo Spotlight/Review: Aftermath: The Beginning

We finally got play the pre-production version of Aftermath: The Beginning, but it was well worth the wait. Developer and creator Nicholas Fong of FongoMongo Games out of Edmonton sat down with us and we were able to play a few games to try out some different gameplay options.

In short you're helping rebuild an isolated country after a disaster, and the role you play gives you abilities that can define your approach. You want to gain influence and control to help you with the rebuilding, but there are many roads to the endgame, some more morally...questionable...than others.

Aftermath is quick to pick up, and moves rapidly around the board. There is always interaction, even when it isn't your turn. It's one of the few games I've played where increasing the number of players doesn't slow the game down, and in some cases can even speed it up. Initiative order changes every turn as players bid resources for control, and determining the winner usually comes down to the last turn as areas and influence shift back and forth.

Some players are on the side of law and order, while others are starting fires and spreading disease to undermine other players...that they plan to put out or cure later to gain influence among the population. Some roles work well in teams, but eventually it's every player for themselves.

The board is a number of interlocking hexagonal tiles, allowing for near infinite variety in playing area. Larger tiles are worth more if you can control them, with smaller ones being worth less. Sometimes a strategy can be picking up numerous smaller areas and letting the other players fight it out over the larger ones.

Each player role comes with a card that outlines that role's special rules, and tokens for tracking influence on the board.

Determining the length of the game is achieved by selecting the number of objective cards are in play, with a single objective per territory making for a 20-30min game, all the way out to 2-3 hours if the full deck of objective cards is used to provide multiple challenges for each territory.

There is a political aspect to the game as players conduct side deals and form impromptu teams. This is encouraged through the use of Publicity cards, which can give you boosts, or undermine your opponents as word spreads of your deeds...or misdeeds.

I know I'm buying a Kickstarter copy of my own with the expansions because I see this being a staple of our gaming group. It's flexible, fast, fun, and has a great table dynamic so people don't get bored waiting for other players to take their turns.

Be sure to check out the Kickstarter while there is still time!

King of Tokyo

Richard Garfield's King of Tokyo - published by Iello Games

We went looking for a new game and these are the criteria we gave the staff at our FLGS, Kapow Games in Lethbridge, AB.

1) Fast - under one hour.
2) Fun - decent chances for any skill level to win.
3) Enjoyable by kids as young as seven through adults.
4) Expandable, in case we have friends over.

After discussing how some of the other games that they have suggested went over, they pointed us right at King of Tokyo. “You get to play a movie monster smashing Tokyo!” was about all it took to get us interested, and sure enough it went over like a ton of bricks.

King of Tokyo is a intended for 2-6 players/monsters, ages 8 and up. They claim 30+ minutes on the box and we found that about right for 2-3 player games, with 4+ player games going about 45min without too much rule searching.

On the topic of rules, if you took out the excellent artwork, the entire rules would fit on a single letter sized sheet of paper and we had them learned with some pre-reading and a single game. Well written, and easy to pick up...which is to be expected from someone with as much game design experience as Richard Garfield of Magic and Vampire fame. Several gameplay examples are included at the appropriate places, and there are additional card clarifications on the back of the rules.

The game moves smoothly, with each monster attempting to either be the last monster standing, or to have caused enough destruction to earn 20 Victory Points. Each turn you roll dice to cause damage to other monsters, heal yourself, accumulate energy to purchase cards, or straight up score Victory Points. The cards give you various advantages (or penalties to your opponents), with more powerful cards costing more energy. Each card has advantages and disadvantages depending on your master plan for the destruction of Tokyo.

The monsters are dual sided heavy card with plastic stands, and the artwork is fabulous. Cartoony enough for Saturday morning without being a 'kids game'. Each monster comes with a card and a matching score/health tracker, so no need to use dice/etc to keep track of those. The cards are playing card quality with more of the same excellent artwork, and I found them especially easy to shuffle. The fit and finish of all the components is similarly top notch.

If I had to come up with one low point, and this is fairly minor, I would say that the game board could have been a little larger. Just big enough to have an area for the cards to sit would have made this a 10/10 instead of the 9.5 I'm giving it.

Now I'm looking forward to the two expansions - Power Up and Halloween

Kickstarter/Indiegogo Spotlight: Tiny Epic Galaxies - The Universe In Your Pocket!

I've been itching to play a fun new board game for a while now.  I used to love hitting my local game store and picking up a little indie game to see how it was.  This week's feature project, Tiny Epic Galaxies, is exactly that, and it looks really interesting.  To see more on this cool new game, be sure to check out their Kickstarter.

Kickstarter/Indiegogo Spotlight: Hooch

There's always so many new and creative projects hitting Kickstarter, and this week's feature is a cool new card game!  With Hooch, you'll get to be in charge of your very own crime syndicate in the Prohibition era.  Take on the competition and work your way up to taking over the town!  For more on this great looking game, check out their Kickstarter.

Kickstarter/Indiegogo Spotlight: Alchemy

To view the game play video, get more information or to pledge, check out the Alchemy Kickstarter Page!

Battle Cattle

Battle Cattle the Card Game is designed by Steve Jackson Games and based on the miniatures game of the same name by Wingnut Games. The basic premise of the game is based on bovine mech warfare. Each player (up to 6) takes the role of one of the pre-designed ‘Battle Cattle’ mechs which are exactly the same save the name and color scheme. Once you have drawn your initial cards you’re ready to go.

Generally speaking this is a fast paced game as you dice up your enemies with auto-cannon sprays, rams with your horns, methane strikes, and even slapped with flaming cow pies or burned with flamethrowers. Each side of your mech has points of armor and each card is a direct attack to one of the various parts on your mech. It is possible to protect yourself during game play with armor cards or jamming someone’s machine guns but eventually your armor will be gone. The game is won when the last player has vanquished his or her foe in the Battle Cattle arena, either by forcing them to retreat or completely destroying the unit.

This game is also completely compatible with Car Wars the card game also made by Steve Jackson Games. While this game is currently out of print it is possible to find copies at online for resale.

This game serves as a nice party game since the rules are easy to understand and its fast pace. It also works well as a quick one-off game should someone need a break between late night online or table top gaming.

Typical play time: 10-30 minutes

Overall rating: 6 out of 10

Kickstarter of the Week: MaricopaCon 2013

The Grass Roots Gaming Convention of Arizona

August 3rd and 4th, 2013 at the Mesa Convention Center

MaricopaCon started in 2010 as a local yearly mini-con at someone's house that is growing into something bigger each year.  Board games, card games, tabletop war games, and RPGs flourish at MaricopaCon.  Attendees get to play those old school games they played when younger, plus the new popular games out there.

The team being assembled for MaricopaCon 2013 is some of the best Gamemasters in the southwest gaming community.  Come play your favorite games and learn some new ones.  Browse the dealers' tables for some cool loot.  Show off your custom D6 dice and canvas bag.  The team organizing the convention has 40+ combined years of experience planning and helping out gaming conventions.  If you went to Conflagration 2012 or MaricopaCon 2012 you know how awesome MaricopaCon 2013 will be.

MaricopaCon is gonna rock, and we want you to be a part of it and shape its format.  The bigger the project gets, the more awesome the convention will be. Just some of the gaming groups running events at the con will be the crew of Arizona Men In Black, Laughing Moon Chronicles, Time Renegades, UAG, and Catalyst Game Labs Demo Team.

Cards Against Humanity

Knowing the people I do, I'm surprised I didn't know about this game before this weekend. That said, I was over with a bunch of people and someone suggested we play. Not having any idea what I was in for, I dug right in.

Let's be clear here, this is not a game to play with your boss right before your performance review...or with your prospective mother-in-law...or really, anyone with a functioning sense of Political Correctness. While this game can be played 'straight', that is neither its intent, nor where the majority of its laughs come from.

Basically, each player gets ten white cards that contain random names, phrases, words or descriptions. Then each player takes a turn drawing a black card with an incomplete sentence on it. The other players then anonymously choose one (or in some cases more) of their white cards to complete the sentence. The player with the black card then chooses the white card that is the funniest, or most ridiculous, or silliest, or whatever strikes their fancy as the winning card. The winner collects the black card and whoever has the most black cards at the end of the game wins.

Usually, the most *un*PC solution is the funniest, but that could just be the people I was playing with...oh wait, no that's how the game is marketed, it's 'supposed' to be that way...thus the name.

There is a basic set, and two supplements, plus a Canadian themed version, all of which are fully interchangeable, and in fact we were playing with the full set of all four decks and eight players.

On a 'dollars for laughs' scale, I'd have to rate Cards Against Humanity near the top and say I look forward to playing it again...with the right crowd. 

For more information regarding this game, check out their website.