HELLO EVERYONE! :heart:
I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! We spent a lot of time outside with Jackie because the weather was so lovely! I love Spring and Summer because I can actually leave my house without fear of losing my fingers...or ears...or toes...:shake: I'll spare you any more chitter chatter and get right to the games! We had another week of superb gaming discoveries. :)
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What's New?
Space Cadets: Away Missions
Space Cadets: Away Missions is a beautifully produced cooperative game. Though I tend to prefer games with less randomness, I decided to give this one a shot due to some favorable reviews (namely, Rahdo's and Joel Eddy's). Was it too random? Or was it amazing?
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The Overview
Space Cadets: Away Missions is a cooperative game in which a team of intrepid young (and old) space cadets goes on a variety of missions in space. It is a scenario-based game and as such, it is difficult to provide a thorough overview. As such, I will stick to the basics.
Each player gets a "Rocketeer" who has a certain HP, which determines the number of hits he can take before he dies, a certain IQ, which determines the number of dice he rolls when he performs IQ actions (healing, subduing aliens, and figuring out Discoveries and Schematics), and an Overkill ability, which provides ONE option on which to spend successful die rolls beyond the first whenever performing IQ or attack actions.
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Characters
Each player may also begin the game with up to 4 Items. Items include things like guns and med packs, which will help players throughout the game.
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Space Cadets: Away Missions comes with a scenario booklet and each scenario comes with its own unique setup, objectives, and rules modifications.
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Map for Escape from Space Prison scenario
Each turn, players will go through the following steps:
*Cadet turn
1) Order phase - Players select the order in which players will take turns. The first player takes order marker number 1.
2) Scanning phase - The active player must scan one of the nearest face-down tiles. That tile is flipped along with all tokens on it, triggering Alien tokens, which basically spawn aliens on that tile, and/or Alert token, which may spawn aliens on the muster tile. Discovery tokens and other items are also turned face up, becoming available for the cadets to pick up. If no tiles can be scanned, the aliens go mad, contact all their alien buddies, and the Red Alert stage is initiated.
3) Actions phase - The active player spends his 3 action points (APs) to perform 3 actions. He is allowed to pick up, trade, and use Discovery Items and Gear for no AP cost and may spend 1 O2 per during the action phase to perform an additional action.
Actions include moving, opening hatches, attacking aliens (and spending any overkills, which are successful die results beyond the first, on the cadet's personal overkill option, the attacked alien's overkill option, or the weapon's overkill option), performing IQ actions (healing, subduing aliens and potentially rescuing/dominating them in order to gain special powers). Players roll dice for both attack and IQ actions and the number of dice rolled depends on the power and range of the weapon used in case of attack actions and the player's personal IQ level plus any additional benefits gained from Discovery Items, rescued Thralls, and dominated Brains in a Jar.
Once all players have had a turn, the aliens take their turn.
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Rescued Thralls
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Discovery Items
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Dominated Brains
*Alien turn
All aliens act in order according to their movement and attack protocols. Some aliens move towards the space cadets more quickly than others and some inflict more powerful attacks (i.e. they get to roll more dice). Aliens always move towards the closest space cadet, but if two space cadets are equidistant, they will move towards the one with the higher numbered order marker.
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*Cleanup
All stunned aliens recover and opened hatches and locked hatches return to their original state.
The players win the game if they are alive at the end of the round in which all the scenario objectives are met. They lose the game if they die.
The Review
Played prior to review: 6x
:)
:) 1. Beautifully produced
Some games just suck you into their worlds with their fantastic components and Space Cadets: Away Missions is one such game. From the cute little Brains in a Jar to the menacing Sentinels, the detailed miniatures bring the game to life. But the beauty doesn't stop there. The artwork is fun and comical and highly evocative of the cheesy 50s space movies that serve as the thematic backdrop of the game. Overall, I love the way Space Cadets: Away Missions looks on my table when I'm done playing.
My praise for the production of the game doesn't stop there. Space Cadets: Away Missions is certainly a beautiful game, but it is also a very functional game. The decision to provide players with two player aids (one for the players and one for the aliens), which essentially summarize THE ENTIRE GAME, was an EXCELLENT one! I love having a quick reference for every basic rule at my fingertips without having to flip through a massive book! The production is nothing short of spectacular.
:) 2. Thematic and highly atmospheric
As I mentioned above, Space Cadets: Away Missions is brought to life by its wonderful pieces and artwork. But beyond the superficial production elements, the game mechanisms and the scenario-specific restrictions, requirements, objectives, and setup contribute even more greatly to evoking the fun theme.
First, there are the game mechanisms. Much of the game revolves around rolling a set of sparkly dice to fight monsters and perform various IQ actions. I find the dice mechanism, which involves rolling a number of D10 dice that is dependent on the distance of the target and strength of the weapon, to be highly evocative of the sense of panic and confusion that would surely ensue if I was running from an alien horde. I doubt I'd stop and make sure I focused my weapon perfectly; I'd just shoot randomly and hope to get a hit. The dice rolling mechanism captures this perfectly.
As for the IQ actions, which include healing, activating some Discovery items, and completing Schematics, the dice rolling once again serves to invoke the unpredictable nature of trying to work quickly with aliens breathing down your neck. If you're smarter, you get to roll more dice, but even if you're super smart, you can fail because you're in a panic. I am not typically a fan of random die rolling, but in this game, I find it fun, most likely because it brings the theme to life for me.
The impending sense of doom is further elevated by the Panic mechanism, which sees alien hordes springing up much more quickly once the map has been fully explored. This feels incredibly thematic as well; of course the aliens are on full alert once they've found you in EVERY CORNER of their space station!
Also, each scenario in Space Cadets: Away Missions features its own set of rules and objectives and these are quite effective in creating unique, thematic stories. The "Escape from the Space Prison" scenario, for example, puts players in the center of a Space Prison. In most other scenarios, players come in armed with guns and cool equipment that they are free to select at the beginning of the game because in most other scenarios, players are trying to infiltrate the alien ships. However, in Escape from the Space Prison, players are armed with only a small Air Knife. They have to get out of their prison and find the elevator that will lead them out of the alien ship. I highly appreciate all the thought that clearly went into developing each scenario as a highly thematic standalone game.
One of the most compelling things about Space Cadets: Away Missions is the way various elements of the game combine to draw out the theme and create a fun story.
:) 3. You can feel the weight of every decision you make and it doesn't feel light
Space Cadets: Away Missions is not a heavy strategic game. And it doesn't have to be. While heavy strategic games are my favorite games, I am still quite capable of having fun with light and medium-weight games, provided that they don't take too long to play. I would put Space Cadets: Away Missions in the light-medium category and I think it's play time of about 45 to 60 minutes (or even shorter if you are doing really badly) is perfect for its weight.
Despite its lighter weight, mostly caused by the plentiful dice rolling, Space Cadets: Away Missions manages to make every decision feel incredibly important by giving each player a mere 3 actions each turn. Those 3 actions are never enough to do EVERYTHING you want to do, which is even more true if you fail at any one thing that you set out to do, so you have to be very careful about where you move, which fights you pick, and which hatches you choose to open.
:) 4. Interesting overkill mechanism
Space Cadets:Away Missions is a light game, but it creates tension with the aforementioned action limitation and provides players many attractive options each turn. One of the most interesting mechanisms in the game is the overkill mechanism, which allows a player to spend each point of damage beyond the first gained when rolling attack dice to use his own special power, the special power of the weapon he used, or the overkill power of the alien he attacked. This mechanism takes the attack action beyond its conventional single-purpose function; rather than just attacking to kill things, players want to attack aliens to trigger the effects of their weapons, which may assist them in completing scenario-specific goals (to gather Alien Blood in order to complete Schematics, for example) or their cadet abilities, which may help them make a getaway after a fight, or the overkill option of the alien being fought, which may allow them to knock out other aliens and live to see another day. These overkill options are all attractive and you will always want to use them all, but you will rarely have the option to do so. Like the AP restriction, this makes the decision about how to spend each overkill feel quite weighty.
The overkill mechanism isn't limited to attacking; it comes into play when performing IQ actions as well and also provides many attractive options. My favorite one is the option to rescue a Thrall when using the subduing action. I LOVE rescuing Thralls because they become cute little people who give me cute little special abilities, but there are times when I waver between rescuing them and using my cadet's ability if it will help me get out of harm's way or save Cadet Peter's life :P, so the decision to go for one or the other isn't always completely obvious.
:) 5. Lots of powers for interesting decisions
The myriad of powers that players can accumulate through Discovery Items further adds to the decision making in the game. Discovery Items can only be used a certain number of times before being spent, so players have to be careful about when and how they use their powers. While using Discovery Items doesn't constitute an action, trying to recharge them can cost players the game. Players may discard Mysterium to restore a charge on a Discovery Item if they really need it (and they very well may need it because Discovery Items are powerful), but keeping the Mysterium may allow them to complete a Schematic and gain an even more powerful ability down the road and/or satisfy mission requirements. The Discovery Items and the powers they provide are generally attractive, but must generally be used judiciously.
:) 6. Moving around and turn order
In Space Cadets: Away Missions, players spend a lot of time running away from aliens. The way turn order interacts with alien movement significantly to the decision making in the game and affects players' ability to stay alive. If an alien is equidistant from two space cadets, he will move towards the cadet with the HIGHER valued Order/Scan marker. As such, players can manipulate alien movement, drawing aliens towards one player in one round and the other in the next round. This might not always have the desired effect of messing up aliens' plans, as players have to be equidistant and separated from each other for it to be maximally effective, but turn order does still provide a strategic tool for players to employ. If not anything else, it allows players to manipulate who will be more likely to take more hits, allowing them to keep aliens away from more vulnerable players.
:) 7. Oxygen
Oxygen is another very cool aspect of Space Cadets. I mentioned how weighty every decision feels due to the paltry 3 action points given to each player each turn. Oxygen allows a player to increase his action points to 4 each round. However, because it isn't the easiest thing to come by, can be reduced by alien effects, and is necessary for players to stay alive, players again have to be sparing in its use. Oxygen is an attractive little blue cube that can get you out of a jam or put you in an even bigger jam and I love the tension this opposition creates.
:) 8. Compulsively replayable
With its multitude of scenarios, heroes, and difficulty scaling, Space Cadets: Away Missions has plenty of replay value. The various heroes do play differently, as their unique Overkill options and HP/IQ values determine their strengths and weaknesses, but I think that the scenarios are the greatest strength of this game, as each feels drastically different from the others and that makes me want to experience all of them! Space Cadets: Away Missions is truly an experience of a game because it feels so much like playing through a cheesy 50s space movie. I'm sure the thick scenario book provided will keep everyone busy with space movie adventures for a long time to come.
:) 7. Quick to play
As I mentioned above, Space Cadets: Away Missions has a perfect play time for its weight. It takes about 45 minutes to play with 2 players, but this time may be shorter if you are doing very badly and manage to run out of oxygen or HP too quickly. At this point in time, we have only tried 3 scenarios and it does appear that some will take longer to play than others, so the "quick" play time may be conditional.
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:soblue:
:soblue: 1. Co-ops typically have a strong element of randomness (in the order and nature of obstacles), but that element is even stronger here due to the amount of dice rolling that takes place
In Space Cadets: Away Missions, players have to roll dice for combat and they have to roll dice for IQ actions (to complete Schematics, subdue enemies, and make some Discovery items available for use). Rolls of 1, 2, or 3 are successes and rolls of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are failures. Those seem like poor odds, but players roll lots of dice, so successes and failures seem to be relatively evenly distributed. That said, players have no way to manipulate dice rolls (except by using a Discovery item that can make 8, 9, and 10 successes after rolling). The way that the luck of the roll is typically mitigated in the game is by adding more dice to the pool of dice that you roll on your turn using various items. This is an aspect that doesn't typically appeal to me, but I feel like it really fits the theme and levity of the game and I actually find it quite fun. However, I can understand why some people may not feel that way. If you are someone who absolutely abhors rolling dice and being provided with minimal ways of mitigating the luck of the roll, you may not enjoy this game.
:soblue: 2. Setup is time consuming
Because Space Cadets: Away Missions is a scenario-based game and each scenario requires a different set of tokens, tiles, and arrangements. Further, because it is a game that comes with many tokens and tiles and scenarios, it can take some time to sort all the pieces and arrange them properly prior to each game. Fortunately, games of Space Cadets: Away missions don't take too long to play (i.e. lose), so it's quite easy to throw all the tokens and tiles together and reshuffle them after you've finished one game and try again immediately.
:soblue: 3. Thralls and Saucer Men look very similar
The Thrall and Saucer Men figures are difficult to distinguish; they are the same size and color and are similarly shaped. This isn't a huge problem, but a slightly different color would have facilitated the process of discriminating one from the other on the board and in the box.
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Final Word
I probably love Space Cadets: Away Missions more than I should given my usual gaming preferences, but I just can't help it; I LOVE this game! Yes, you're rolling random dice, but the characters and the scenarios and the stories that unfold are so engaging and thrilling and FUN that I cannot hesitate to give it lots of love! Despite the randomness, players have plenty of interesting decisions to make and I think that fans of co-operative games who are not allergic to the fickleness of die rolling will really take to this one. It's beautiful and interesting and fun and I love it!
MINA'S LOVE METER :heart::heart::heart::heart: LOTS OF LOVE
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Core Worlds: Galactic Orders
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The Overview
Core Worlds: Galactic Orders adds a number of new elements to Core Worlds. These include...
...a new faction...
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...Galactic Orders and player Faction Tokens. The Galactic Orders create a board on the table. After players deploy Units and Tactics bearing Galactic Order Icons, they place a Faction Token on the corresponding Galactic Order. They may remove Faction Tokens from Galactic Orders to use their abilities or leave their Faction Tokens on Galactic Orders to score points for having a majority of Faction Tokens on each at the end of the game.
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The expansion also adds new Units, Tactics, and Worlds, as well as...
...Event Cards, which when drawn are placed in a single stack and the top Event Card modifies the rules in each round...
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...Advancement Cards, which begin the game attached to players' Home Worlds and provide an additional ability and new Home Worlds, which allow players to draw 1 additional card in the Draw Phase if they have more Worlds than Units in their tableaus...
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...and a new Core World.
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The Review
Played with expansion prior to review: 3x
:)
:) 1. Galactic Orders add a lot of tension and create plenty of interesting decision points
The Galactic Orders are, unsurprisingly, the most interesting element of the Galactic Orders expansion. They give players many more options on their turn, allowing them to boost their strength in order to take over more worlds or to reduce the cost of drafting cards into their decks. They certainly make it easier to accomplish more over the course of the game. However, their dual nature also generates a lot of tension; you want to use all the amazing powers you can access, but you also want to accumulate lots of Faction Tokens on Galactic Orders in order to score them at the end of the game. And the more Faction Tokens you accumulate on any particular card, the more points you score for it, so accumulating rather than using them can be quite the attractive option.
The Galactic Orders enhance the decision making in Core Worlds in another way; they force players to think about not only the powers, the strengths, and the names of the cards they draft into their decks and deploy into their War Zones, but also about the Faction affiliations of those cards. This can also be a great source of tension when you want to draft available cards with certain names or abilities that don't match the Faction affiliation(s) you are seeking. Because a number of the cards added to the game with the Galactic Orders expansion interact with the Faction affiliations of cards, giving players special abilities or strength boosts for having other cards with the same Faction affiliation or having Faction Tokens on certain Galactic Orders, they serve to further enhance the value of the Faction Symbols. As such, the Faction Symbols can be a deal breaker when it comes to drafting cards. At times, they can be that attractive.
:) 2. Capital and new Home World abilities make you feel a little m more powerful and allow you to achieve a bit more
I love the change made to the Home Worlds by the Galactic Orders expansion. The fact that players now get to draw an extra card if they have more worlds in their War Zones than Units means that they are able to cycle through their decks more quickly if they keep a higher ratio of Worlds to Units. The new Home Worlds may encourage players to take over more Worlds and keep fewer Units in their War Zones between rounds. At times, the extra card draw won't be worth purging your War Zone of Units, but at many other times, you won't have the easiest time deciding between taking over a World and getting that extra card draw and keeping your Units around.
The Capital has a synergistic relationship with the new Home World ability, further enhancing players' ability to cycle through their decks and hone their decks to particular strategies. Furthermore, by allowing players to store unwanted cards only if they have 3 or more Worlds in their War Zones, the Capital provides another incentive for players to take over more Worlds more quickly.
The new Home World and Capital abilities combine to provide an even more strategic deck-building experience by allowing players to pare down and cycle through their decks while encouraging players to do more of what will help them accomplish more throughout the game (i.e. take over Worlds). Cool!
:) 3. Events greatly enhance replayability, creating a unique ecosystem of demands for each game
I'm sure that some players will find the Events a bit annoying. They are certainly random, but they affect all players equally, dispelling any modicum of negativity I might have for them. I actually find them very refreshing. Each round of the game may now present a new challenge or opportunity and the combination of challenges and opportunities that arise as a result of the Event cards in any given game make each game feel very different. I think the Events go a long way to increasing the replay value of the base game of Core Worlds.
:soblue:
:soblue: 1. Increases play time, but it's worth it!
The Galactic Orders expansion adds a significant chunk of time to Core Worlds and for 2 players, that significant chunk of time appears to be about 20-30 minutes. That said, Galactic Orders also significantly enhances the depth of Core Worlds and significantly expands the decision space (as discussed above), so it is well worth the added time.
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Final Word
I had no doubt that this expansion would break my scale! It is every bit as amazing as I hoped and imagined it would be! The Galactic Orders provide so much additional tension and decision-making opportunities, while the Events create a rich new ecosystem to explore in each and every game. Core Worlds was an amazing game from the start. With Galactic Orders, it's an absolutely flawless game.
MINA'S LOVE METER :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: ALL LOVE ALL THE TIME (Core Worlds with Galactic Orders)
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Rialto
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The Overview
Rialto is a game about bridges and gondolas in the beautiful, water-logged :P city of Venice. Players take on the roles of nobles, deploying their councilmen to various districts of this fair city in an attempt to gain control over the most influential ones.
The game is set up by placing round tiles on random regions of the board, placing the round marker on the round tile labelled as 1, and arranging 3 rows of differently colored buildings (green, yellow, and blue) in ascending order of value. Stacks of gondolas and bridges are placed on their spaces on the board and the blue and yellow 5-VP bonus tiles are placed on their respective spaces on the board as well. The action card deck is shuffled and placed beside the board.
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Buildings
One player is randomly selected to be the start player. That player's maker is placed on top of the second player's marker on the Doge track. If playing with the 2-player variant (which I would recommend doing), a dummy player marker is placed on top of the player's Doge track markers. The Doge track indicates turn order at the beginning of each round and breaks all ties.
Each player receives a player board and 5 councilmen in his color. Remaining councilmen are placed on the board. Each player also receives 1 coin. The second player in turn order receives 2 coins.
Starting with the second player, each player takes one of the three 1-value buildings.
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Rialto is played over 6 rounds and each round consists of 3 phases.
*Phase 1
Three sets of action cards, each of which consists of 6 cards is laid out on the table and each player in turn order (according to the Doge track) selects one set of cards to keep. Each player than draws 2 additional cards from the face-down deck and selects a total of 7 cards to keep. In this stage, players are able to activate their green buildings by placing a coin on any activated building. Green buildings allow players to draw and keep additional cards.
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Card selection in 2-player game
*Phase 2
In this phase, players play the cards they selected in the previous phase. They can activate yellow buildings to support these actions.
The actions are executed in the following order, with the player who is ahead on the Doge track playing his cards first for the first action and the player who received the bonus in the previous action playing his cards first for the following actions. The player with the most of any action card played receives a bonus and the Doge track breaks all ties.
A. Doge
Advance 1 space on the Doge track.
Bonus: Advance 1 extra space.
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B. Gold
Take gold equivalent to the number of cards played
Bonus: Take 1 extra gold.
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C. Building
Build a building with a value equivalent to the number of Building cards played.
Bonus: Build a building of 1 higher value.
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D. Bridge
Gain 1 VP per card played. A player who doesn't play any Bridge cards loses 1 VP.
Bonus: Build a Bridge between any two districts and score +1 VP.
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E. Gondola
Gain 1 councilman for each Gondola card played.
Bonus: Place a Gondola tile between any two districts and place 1 councilman from the general supply into one of those.
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F. Councilman
Place councilmen in the district of the current round.
Bonus: Place 1 extra councilman.
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Joker cards can be played to support any action. Two Jokers can be used to replace any one action card.
*Phase 3
Players may activate blue buildings, which may provide points, allow players to upgrade buildings, or move them up the Doge track.
The game ends after 6 rounds, at which points VPs are awarded for councilman majorities in the 6 districts, buildings, and remaining coins and councilmen.
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The Review
Played prior to review: 6x
:)
:) 1. Quick and engaging throughout
It takes about 45 minutes with 2 players and the time just flies by. Each round involves selecting a set of cards and then playing those cards and by the time the 6th set has been selected and played, we're always asking ourselves, "Is it REALLY over already!?"
Rialto succeeds in keeping all players engaged at all times through creating a majority game out of each action. Players have to not only be careful about which cards they select from the display and which cards they keep, but they also have to think about which cards to play. While it may be more advantageous to play all cards in each round in most cases, there are times when it is worth it to keep a card back for the following round if you can't get a majority in the current one, so some thinking about your selection relative to that of everyone else goes into each action. Beyond the "reserving" of cards between rounds, selecting which jokers to use with which action cards and which yellow buildings to activate based on the cards played by others (or in anticipation of the cards that will be played by others) also provides a reason to remain engaged as all other players reveal their selections. Ultimately, Rialto keeps everyone engaged and makes everyone feel invested in other players' actions by making the power of each of their actions relative to the actions taken by other players.
:) 2. Tactical and strategic
Despite its simple rules and brevity, Rialto is no slouch when it comes to gameplay. Although it is certainly on the lighter side of Stefan Feld's repertoire, it offers players plenty of difficult decisions to make. Each round begins with a tense card selection process; all actions are good, but it's important to try to get the most of certain actions in order to get bonuses. Trying to select groups of card to gain majorities in the actions most important to you at any given time is always difficult because you'll probably want them all! But you won't be able to have them all. The green buildings, which allow you to draw and keep more cards in hand and the yellow buildings, which provide jokers or multiply/change cards, can give you a leg up in this regard, but only if other players don't have as many as you do. As I mentioned above, it's always vital to stay on top of what everyone else is doing in this game because Rialto is a game of majorities through and through!
The fact that players have the option to save cards between rounds allows them to plan strategically between rounds. Acquiring a whack of blue cards in one round may help you not only in that round, but also in another, as it is necessary to have at least one of an action card in order to take that action (unless of course, you're ok with wasting 2 jokers on one action).
Rialto provides many tactical considerations, including when to activate buildings in order to get the most of their powers, when and how to use joker cards, in which districts to build gondolas to gain majorities, and in which districts are "safe" for building bridges. The Doge track seems to play a significant role in the game and can be the source of much tension between players and, when playing the 2-player game, between players and the dummy player. Because the Doge track determines which player gets to select cards first AND breaks all ties (i.e. determines whether you get a bonus or not when playing action cards and determines how many points you get for district majorities at the end of the game when ties occur), players will want to stay ahead. However, unlike most other actions, which give players points straight up, the Doge track doesn't provide any additional benefits beyond tie breaking and player order, so players have to be tactical in when they choose to spend their actions jumping ahead.
Strategy also figures in Rialto in the multitude of ways to score points. Buildings provide various powers AND they provide points, playing Bridge cards provides points AND makes players who don't play any Bridge cards loose points, and district majorities provide points. While players certainly have to be tactical in responding to the available card sets and the actions of other players, they also have to be strategic in their selection of buildings. Going for lots of green buildings, which allow you to draw and keep extra cards, is a good strategy, getting the high-valued blue buildings that score points when activated is another great strategy, and getting lots of jokers and other yellows buildings with card multiplicative powers is another great strategy. Determining which mix of buildings to go after in any given game can be done strategically rather than tactically.
:) 3. Perfect weight
As I mentioned above, Rialto is neither light nor heavy; it is the perfect quick-playing mid-weight game that offers plenty of interesting and tense decisions to make and keeps players engaged throughout, which means it is a likely candidate for weekly play. I know I can play this even when I'm tired and I know that I can play it and have enough to think about even when I'm not. It's just right!
:) 4. High replay value
Rialto is the kind of game that gets increasingly interesting the more you play it. I don't want to oversell its depth, but it is certainly deeper than appears at first glance. As such, it has that intrinsic element of replayability. You have to play this game more than once or twice or three times to truly appreciate what it has to offer.
And even beyond its intrinsic replay value, Rialto creates unique situations for players to contend with through the combinations of action cards that are available to them each round. You may prefer to build buildings early in the game in order to reap their benefits for as long as possible, but if few building cards become available, you may not be able to do so.
The plentiful building options also provide many strategies for players to explore. The particular combination of blue, green, and yellow buildings you acquire and when you use them will change the options available to you and change the way you play the game. Pumping out lots of points with high-valued blue buildings can sometimes be just as effective as getting some end-game district majorities.
:) 5. Works well with 2!
It does! It really does! Rialto was one of those games that I ignored for far too long due to the mixed opinions of the BGG community regarding its goodness with 2 players, but it turns out I fall firmly on the side of those who like it with 2. While I wouldn't recommend playing the Rialto with 2 by the basic rules (i.e. the rules for 3+ players), I would recommend Rialto for 2 players with the 2-player rules variant provided. The dummy player is not overly onerous to control, as the only things that players have to do is draw some cards and place a few councilmen, but it adds a lot of tension to the game. The dummy player counts for determining majorities for both action cards and scoring and his cards are open information to players, so players are able to use this information to their advantage in determining how many cards to play, how to use their jokers, and how to best use their buildings. The dummy player is also good at taking over districts because when he places gondolas, he places councilmen on both adjacent districts (while players place on only one) AND he uses all his jokers on the councilman action. Playing with the dummy player can be quite challenging and I think the dummy provides plenty of payoff for minimal work.
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:soblue:
:soblue: 1. Great with 2 players, but probably better with more due to lack of dummy player
Despite the fact that I firmly believe that Rialto works very well and is very enjoyable with just 2 players, especially when the dummy player variant is included, I do believe that it is a game that works better with more players. The dummy player in the 2-player game is neither difficult nor time consuming to manage, but it is still an added element to round-to-round upkeep that simply doesn't exist when Rialto is played with more than 2 players. Of course, it is perfectly legitimate to play Rialto without the dummy player and the game is still quite enjoyable that way, but it is so much better WITH the dummy that I would never choose to play it without the dummy when playing with only one other person. Ultimately, Rialto works well and is perfectly fun and enjoyable with only 2 players and I would not discourage anyone who plays primarily with 2 from acquiring it, but it probably works even better with more. I will have the opportunity to try it with 4 soon and I expect that experience will confirm my prediction.
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Final Word
I firmly believe that no game should be dismissed after one play. That philosophy holds particularly true for Rialto. Rialto is an onion game; it's a game that seems simple and a bit dull at first, but the more you play it, the more layers you reveal and the more you realize there is more to it than first meets the eye. Rialto is still a "light" game in Stefan Feld's range, but objectively speaking, it's not all that light. The rules are simple, but the gameplay is richly tactical, rewarding, and highly engaging. I love it!
MINA'S LOVE METER :heart: :heart: :heart: SOME LOVE
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***
What's Not So New But Still Exciting?
Le Havre
What's this? Le HAVRE!? Mina doesn't like Le Havre, right? I do like it. I just don't love it. I'd much rather play Ora et Labora, but I did it for Peter PLUS I keep wanting to give it another chance.
Of course, I lost. I went heavy into buildings and Peter went heavy into Mordor...ahem...steel. For some reason, steel mills always remind me of Mordor. Anyway, he scored close to 300 and I had about 260. I had to take some loans early in the game and those were really painful. I hate loans. I always refuse to take them, but I really wanted all the fishy buildings right away, so I had to pay for them. :(
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Signorie
Signorie! AGAIN!? Yup. Peter really loves this game and it's relatively quick the way we play (5 rounds), so I don't mind playing it. It's also quite interesting...and this week, it was also quite brutal. This was my poorest showing in Signorie EVER. Clearly, I was the one sleeping this time. Instead of properly evaluating the end-game scoring bonuses, which were 2VP per upgrade disc and 4VP per city with one of your females in it, I blindly focused only on women and neglected to make full use of their potential when I sent them to get married. Instead of spending max cash on each lady (which I had available to me), I spent the minimum. Meanwhile, Peter focused on men and spent 4 coins on each of the 3 ladies he sent to the cities. He ended up 20 VP ahead of me. :(
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Glass Road
One loss begets another in my case. After Signorie, we played Glass Road because it was Uwe Rosenberg's birthday and we hadn't played a proper Uwe game that day (though we did play La Granja, which is a little bit sort of an Uwe game). Once again, I had zero focus. I acquired the Christmas Market tile and blindly focused on acquiring as many cheap scoring tiles as I could. Instead of focusing fulfilling the scoring conditions of a few tiles, I focused on what seemed like a bazillion. Of course, one cannot focus on a bazillion things at once. Of course, I lost. Peter did really well! He managed to score 35 by building many high VP purple and yellow buildings, using lots of bricks, and then scoring 10 VP for the brown building that provides points for used bricks. I really should have taken a photograph of his board instead of mine...
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Grand Austria Hotel
WE LOVE THIS GAME! SO MUCH! This week, we had to contend with some challenging objectives - having two completed hotel columns, having 6 staff members, and having 3 red, 3 blue, and 3 yellow rooms filled with guests. I didn't have the greatest selection of staff members and I could see that Peter was gunning it for the staff objective, so I put that one aside and went for the others. I kept creating beautiful combinations of guest abilities that allowed me to make up and fill rooms one after another and made me buckets of points. While I didn't manage to be the first to complete any of the objectives, I did complete two of the three and I did make MANY points with my GIGANTIC hotel and end-game scoring staff. Peter was very surprised by how many points I made at the end. He didn't believe me. He recounted my score. :P It was my best hotel yet!
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Argent: The Consortium + Argent: Mancers of the University
I was feeling down one day, so Peter suggested we play Argent. He knows me too well. Argent always puts a smile on my face and Peter suggesting we play Argent puts an even bigger smile on my face!
We didn't use a scenario this time, but we did play with the B mage powers. The B mage powers are WAAAAY different than the A mage powers and they are certainly quite a bit more challenging. We had to drastically alter our usual strategies because the purple mages no longer provided fast actions and the grey mages could no longer be placed after playing a spell. These two are our favorite combo generators. In this game, the blue mages were the MVPs because they can be placed in Merit slots without a Merit badge! *GASP* I KNOW! Yes, you have to pay some money, but whatever. :P Thankfully, there were plenty of money-making opportunities on the board! AND one of the rooms allowed us to turn money into IP. That was the MVP room! I quickly acquired a power that allowed me to place a mage and lock a room and I used that power on the IP room as much as I could! It was a very tight contest, but I ended up ahead by 2 points at the end! SUPER FUN!
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LOCKING it down!
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New York 1901
It had been a while since our last game of NY1901 and I was feeling a game that we hadn't played in a while, so I pulled it out. NY1901 is one of Peter's absolute favorites, so I had no trouble getting him to play.
In this game, the bonus challenge was the Dynasty challenge, which was part of the promo pack. The Dynasty challenge provides 5 VP per district (red, green, blue, yellow) in which a player has skyscrapers from all 3 eras at the end of the game. I decided to immediately try to build up to the challenge because ALL the building cards were green and the green district wasn't particularly attractive for street majorities. I ended up satisfying the Dynasty challenge for all 4 districts, while Peter only satisfied 3, but we were even on streets. The Dynasty challenge helped pull me into the lead because Peter had a few more skyscrapers on the board at the end of the game than I did. :) Love this game!
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La Granja
Another week, another game of La Granja! This week, the money craft building was blocked out, so extra income was not available early in the game. No matter, I just put in a couple of upgrades and I was set. Peter failed to upgrade anything for a while and was really hurting for cash. I had some very nice helpers, one of whom allowed me to make a free delivery to a craft building whenever I delivered to a market barrow and another of whom allowed me to spend a coin to retain a market barrow on my farm, so I got a lot of mileage out of a single market barrow card. I ended up winning by MANY points, mostly because of Peter's lack of cash. He says he's going to beat me next time. Phooey. I dare him to try. :devil:
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Steam Works
Steam Works! We are really enjoying our variant for this game. It takes us about 40-45 minutes to play and makes for a much more tense game than the regular version, which takes 90 minutes and is way too open for our tastes.
Peter played as the super powerful Duke Augustus, who starts with his Automaton in play and 5 coins, while I played as Countess Eva, who starts with only 3 coins, but is able to use electric sources to take extra machine parts and uses electric sources instead of coins to pay her workers. I ended up focusing on acquiring sources and making points with those, while Peter focused on money points. We both did both things, using each other's machines to the best of our ability, but Peter did so just a little more skillfully, winning by 1 point! ONE!:shake:
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Haspelknecht
Haspelknecht! We have tried every configuration of development tiles that can be played with 2 players and I think our preferred one is the one we used this week. It forces you to go down a certain Development path, but it doesn't overly restrict you from pursuing more than one.
In this game, I did nothing but build developments, while Peter did a lot of digging. Of course, he made some developments as well, but his main focus was digging and he did very well in that regard. He managed to dig ALL the coal out of his mine. Sadly, as impressive as that was, Peter lost the game. Developments can be quite strong, especially if the fork scoring one is available and there are lots of other fork developments on the board.
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IKI
I have been working on re-writing the rules to IKI with the German translator. His name is Lutz and he is an amazing human being! Anyway, that reminded me that I hadn't played IKI in a while, so I demanded that we play it this week. For some reason, Peter was reluctant. I don't think he likes it all that much, but he did agree to play.
We tend to forget the Nagaya scoring, but we didn't forget this time, which was too bad for Peter because he completely failed to block me or gain much in the way of Nagaya points himself. At one point, I had 3 purple guys in one Nagaya, which gave me 9 points! Needless to say, I won, but Peter was quite proud of his building. :)
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Alhambra: Big Box
Peter LOVES Alhambra. He is so glad to see it back on the table last after a VERY long hiatus and kept asking to play it repeatedly this week again. We played a game over the weekend. We 3 expansions this time - Diamonds, Camps, and Markets.
Last week, I really focused on maximally using the Camps. This week, I focused on the Markets. I arranged my buildings perfectly and ended up netting a TONNE of points at the end of the game thanks to the Markets! I was convinced I would lose the game because I was slightly behind after the in-game scoring, but my Markets pulled me waaaaaaaaaaaay into the lead at the end! I really love the Alhambra expansions that encourage you to build in certain ways.
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The Gallerist
OF COURSE we played the Gallerist again! Peter has yet to win this game because he is having trouble with the buy-low sell-high concept and with satisfying his Curator and Art Dealer. If you know anything about Peter, you should know that he always loves to do his own thing and his own thing tends not to work very well in games that aren't completely open. At any rate, in this game, I managed to satisfy BOTH my Art Dealer and Curator quite well, while Peter managed to satisfy neither one and I managed to make nice piles of cash with lots of art, while Peter managed to well...he didn't manage to do much of anything. I ended up with my highest score ever and he ended up with his lowest score ever.
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The Ancient World
I am so very much in love with this game! I keep telling Peter I could play it all day every day. He doesn't share in the extent of my enthusiasm, but he does like it a lot and is willing to play at least once a week, so I'm happy. :)
I didn't do anything illegal in this game :P, unlike last week, when I mistakenly took on two of the same type of military unit at the same time! I managed to collect SO MUCH great stuff that I surprised even myself! I had a set of 6 blue cards AND the blue card that provides bonus VP for blue cards! :P I didn't set out with the intention to fight, fight, fight, but I did end up beating up on quite a few Titans...poor Titans...some of them are pretty cute...especially the eyeball one. My goal in this game is to one day collect AND FEED all of my people. I've never hired more than 1.
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Roll for the Galaxy + Roll for the Galaxy: Ambition
Roll! It's back! This week, one of my early tiles was the 6-VP development that gives 2VP per 3 military dice (rounded up) and I had 2 red dice at the beginning of the game thanks to my starting tiles. The great thing about the 6-VP development I had is that it allows you to put all red dice you use to settle worlds back into your cup. Obviously, I knew I had to focus on collecting worlds and red dice. Digging through the bag did not go very well for me at first, but the more I dug, the more combinations I found (such as a super cheap development that allowed me to re-assign one of my red dice and another than allowed me to reassign white dice). I ended up winning, but only because I completed an objective at the end of the game. Had I not completed that objective, Peter would have won and he was just shipping like a mad man!
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Sanssouci
I have finally redeemed myself! I won by 2 whole points! I didn't manage to push my nobles quite as far down my garden as I would have liked, but I did manage to score a bunch of bonuses early in the game, which helped me get ahead and stay ahead throughout the game. My goal in this game is always to get past 100 points and I just don't see how I will do it! I was 14 whole points away from 100!
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***
Fresh Cardboard
1. Rialto - See above.
2. Valeria: Card Kingdoms - I missed the Kickstarter for this game, but BoardGameBliss kindly provided a copy for review! YAY!
3. Royal Palace - This is an older game, but one that I have been interested in trying for a while.
4. Santorini - I quite dislike abstract games, but this one had me at Roxley! It looks great and I already know how to play! No rules reading!!!
5. Finca - I got a copy of this in an auction! Super excited to play with Peter!
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Next Week...
Look forward to Core Worlds: Revolution because I'm super excited to play more Core Worlds! Also Valeria: Card Kingdoms!
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I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! We spent a lot of time outside with Jackie because the weather was so lovely! I love Spring and Summer because I can actually leave my house without fear of losing my fingers...or ears...or toes...:shake: I'll spare you any more chitter chatter and get right to the games! We had another week of superb gaming discoveries. :)
Space Cadets: Away Missions is a beautifully produced cooperative game. Though I tend to prefer games with less randomness, I decided to give this one a shot due to some favorable reviews (namely, Rahdo's and Joel Eddy's). Was it too random? Or was it amazing?
Space Cadets: Away Missions is a cooperative game in which a team of intrepid young (and old) space cadets goes on a variety of missions in space. It is a scenario-based game and as such, it is difficult to provide a thorough overview. As such, I will stick to the basics.
Each player gets a "Rocketeer" who has a certain HP, which determines the number of hits he can take before he dies, a certain IQ, which determines the number of dice he rolls when he performs IQ actions (healing, subduing aliens, and figuring out Discoveries and Schematics), and an Overkill ability, which provides ONE option on which to spend successful die rolls beyond the first whenever performing IQ or attack actions.
Characters
Each player may also begin the game with up to 4 Items. Items include things like guns and med packs, which will help players throughout the game.
Space Cadets: Away Missions comes with a scenario booklet and each scenario comes with its own unique setup, objectives, and rules modifications.
Map for Escape from Space Prison scenario
Each turn, players will go through the following steps:
*Cadet turn
1) Order phase - Players select the order in which players will take turns. The first player takes order marker number 1.
2) Scanning phase - The active player must scan one of the nearest face-down tiles. That tile is flipped along with all tokens on it, triggering Alien tokens, which basically spawn aliens on that tile, and/or Alert token, which may spawn aliens on the muster tile. Discovery tokens and other items are also turned face up, becoming available for the cadets to pick up. If no tiles can be scanned, the aliens go mad, contact all their alien buddies, and the Red Alert stage is initiated.
3) Actions phase - The active player spends his 3 action points (APs) to perform 3 actions. He is allowed to pick up, trade, and use Discovery Items and Gear for no AP cost and may spend 1 O2 per during the action phase to perform an additional action.
Actions include moving, opening hatches, attacking aliens (and spending any overkills, which are successful die results beyond the first, on the cadet's personal overkill option, the attacked alien's overkill option, or the weapon's overkill option), performing IQ actions (healing, subduing aliens and potentially rescuing/dominating them in order to gain special powers). Players roll dice for both attack and IQ actions and the number of dice rolled depends on the power and range of the weapon used in case of attack actions and the player's personal IQ level plus any additional benefits gained from Discovery Items, rescued Thralls, and dominated Brains in a Jar.
Once all players have had a turn, the aliens take their turn.
Rescued Thralls
Discovery Items
Dominated Brains
*Alien turn
All aliens act in order according to their movement and attack protocols. Some aliens move towards the space cadets more quickly than others and some inflict more powerful attacks (i.e. they get to roll more dice). Aliens always move towards the closest space cadet, but if two space cadets are equidistant, they will move towards the one with the higher numbered order marker.
*Cleanup
All stunned aliens recover and opened hatches and locked hatches return to their original state.
The players win the game if they are alive at the end of the round in which all the scenario objectives are met. They lose the game if they die.
:) 1. Beautifully produced
Some games just suck you into their worlds with their fantastic components and Space Cadets: Away Missions is one such game. From the cute little Brains in a Jar to the menacing Sentinels, the detailed miniatures bring the game to life. But the beauty doesn't stop there. The artwork is fun and comical and highly evocative of the cheesy 50s space movies that serve as the thematic backdrop of the game. Overall, I love the way Space Cadets: Away Missions looks on my table when I'm done playing.
My praise for the production of the game doesn't stop there. Space Cadets: Away Missions is certainly a beautiful game, but it is also a very functional game. The decision to provide players with two player aids (one for the players and one for the aliens), which essentially summarize THE ENTIRE GAME, was an EXCELLENT one! I love having a quick reference for every basic rule at my fingertips without having to flip through a massive book! The production is nothing short of spectacular.
:) 2. Thematic and highly atmospheric
As I mentioned above, Space Cadets: Away Missions is brought to life by its wonderful pieces and artwork. But beyond the superficial production elements, the game mechanisms and the scenario-specific restrictions, requirements, objectives, and setup contribute even more greatly to evoking the fun theme.
First, there are the game mechanisms. Much of the game revolves around rolling a set of sparkly dice to fight monsters and perform various IQ actions. I find the dice mechanism, which involves rolling a number of D10 dice that is dependent on the distance of the target and strength of the weapon, to be highly evocative of the sense of panic and confusion that would surely ensue if I was running from an alien horde. I doubt I'd stop and make sure I focused my weapon perfectly; I'd just shoot randomly and hope to get a hit. The dice rolling mechanism captures this perfectly.
As for the IQ actions, which include healing, activating some Discovery items, and completing Schematics, the dice rolling once again serves to invoke the unpredictable nature of trying to work quickly with aliens breathing down your neck. If you're smarter, you get to roll more dice, but even if you're super smart, you can fail because you're in a panic. I am not typically a fan of random die rolling, but in this game, I find it fun, most likely because it brings the theme to life for me.
The impending sense of doom is further elevated by the Panic mechanism, which sees alien hordes springing up much more quickly once the map has been fully explored. This feels incredibly thematic as well; of course the aliens are on full alert once they've found you in EVERY CORNER of their space station!
Also, each scenario in Space Cadets: Away Missions features its own set of rules and objectives and these are quite effective in creating unique, thematic stories. The "Escape from the Space Prison" scenario, for example, puts players in the center of a Space Prison. In most other scenarios, players come in armed with guns and cool equipment that they are free to select at the beginning of the game because in most other scenarios, players are trying to infiltrate the alien ships. However, in Escape from the Space Prison, players are armed with only a small Air Knife. They have to get out of their prison and find the elevator that will lead them out of the alien ship. I highly appreciate all the thought that clearly went into developing each scenario as a highly thematic standalone game.
One of the most compelling things about Space Cadets: Away Missions is the way various elements of the game combine to draw out the theme and create a fun story.
:) 3. You can feel the weight of every decision you make and it doesn't feel light
Space Cadets: Away Missions is not a heavy strategic game. And it doesn't have to be. While heavy strategic games are my favorite games, I am still quite capable of having fun with light and medium-weight games, provided that they don't take too long to play. I would put Space Cadets: Away Missions in the light-medium category and I think it's play time of about 45 to 60 minutes (or even shorter if you are doing really badly) is perfect for its weight.
Despite its lighter weight, mostly caused by the plentiful dice rolling, Space Cadets: Away Missions manages to make every decision feel incredibly important by giving each player a mere 3 actions each turn. Those 3 actions are never enough to do EVERYTHING you want to do, which is even more true if you fail at any one thing that you set out to do, so you have to be very careful about where you move, which fights you pick, and which hatches you choose to open.
:) 4. Interesting overkill mechanism
Space Cadets:Away Missions is a light game, but it creates tension with the aforementioned action limitation and provides players many attractive options each turn. One of the most interesting mechanisms in the game is the overkill mechanism, which allows a player to spend each point of damage beyond the first gained when rolling attack dice to use his own special power, the special power of the weapon he used, or the overkill power of the alien he attacked. This mechanism takes the attack action beyond its conventional single-purpose function; rather than just attacking to kill things, players want to attack aliens to trigger the effects of their weapons, which may assist them in completing scenario-specific goals (to gather Alien Blood in order to complete Schematics, for example) or their cadet abilities, which may help them make a getaway after a fight, or the overkill option of the alien being fought, which may allow them to knock out other aliens and live to see another day. These overkill options are all attractive and you will always want to use them all, but you will rarely have the option to do so. Like the AP restriction, this makes the decision about how to spend each overkill feel quite weighty.
The overkill mechanism isn't limited to attacking; it comes into play when performing IQ actions as well and also provides many attractive options. My favorite one is the option to rescue a Thrall when using the subduing action. I LOVE rescuing Thralls because they become cute little people who give me cute little special abilities, but there are times when I waver between rescuing them and using my cadet's ability if it will help me get out of harm's way or save Cadet Peter's life :P, so the decision to go for one or the other isn't always completely obvious.
:) 5. Lots of powers for interesting decisions
The myriad of powers that players can accumulate through Discovery Items further adds to the decision making in the game. Discovery Items can only be used a certain number of times before being spent, so players have to be careful about when and how they use their powers. While using Discovery Items doesn't constitute an action, trying to recharge them can cost players the game. Players may discard Mysterium to restore a charge on a Discovery Item if they really need it (and they very well may need it because Discovery Items are powerful), but keeping the Mysterium may allow them to complete a Schematic and gain an even more powerful ability down the road and/or satisfy mission requirements. The Discovery Items and the powers they provide are generally attractive, but must generally be used judiciously.
:) 6. Moving around and turn order
In Space Cadets: Away Missions, players spend a lot of time running away from aliens. The way turn order interacts with alien movement significantly to the decision making in the game and affects players' ability to stay alive. If an alien is equidistant from two space cadets, he will move towards the cadet with the HIGHER valued Order/Scan marker. As such, players can manipulate alien movement, drawing aliens towards one player in one round and the other in the next round. This might not always have the desired effect of messing up aliens' plans, as players have to be equidistant and separated from each other for it to be maximally effective, but turn order does still provide a strategic tool for players to employ. If not anything else, it allows players to manipulate who will be more likely to take more hits, allowing them to keep aliens away from more vulnerable players.
:) 7. Oxygen
Oxygen is another very cool aspect of Space Cadets. I mentioned how weighty every decision feels due to the paltry 3 action points given to each player each turn. Oxygen allows a player to increase his action points to 4 each round. However, because it isn't the easiest thing to come by, can be reduced by alien effects, and is necessary for players to stay alive, players again have to be sparing in its use. Oxygen is an attractive little blue cube that can get you out of a jam or put you in an even bigger jam and I love the tension this opposition creates.
:) 8. Compulsively replayable
With its multitude of scenarios, heroes, and difficulty scaling, Space Cadets: Away Missions has plenty of replay value. The various heroes do play differently, as their unique Overkill options and HP/IQ values determine their strengths and weaknesses, but I think that the scenarios are the greatest strength of this game, as each feels drastically different from the others and that makes me want to experience all of them! Space Cadets: Away Missions is truly an experience of a game because it feels so much like playing through a cheesy 50s space movie. I'm sure the thick scenario book provided will keep everyone busy with space movie adventures for a long time to come.
:) 7. Quick to play
As I mentioned above, Space Cadets: Away Missions has a perfect play time for its weight. It takes about 45 minutes to play with 2 players, but this time may be shorter if you are doing very badly and manage to run out of oxygen or HP too quickly. At this point in time, we have only tried 3 scenarios and it does appear that some will take longer to play than others, so the "quick" play time may be conditional.
:soblue: 1. Co-ops typically have a strong element of randomness (in the order and nature of obstacles), but that element is even stronger here due to the amount of dice rolling that takes place
In Space Cadets: Away Missions, players have to roll dice for combat and they have to roll dice for IQ actions (to complete Schematics, subdue enemies, and make some Discovery items available for use). Rolls of 1, 2, or 3 are successes and rolls of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are failures. Those seem like poor odds, but players roll lots of dice, so successes and failures seem to be relatively evenly distributed. That said, players have no way to manipulate dice rolls (except by using a Discovery item that can make 8, 9, and 10 successes after rolling). The way that the luck of the roll is typically mitigated in the game is by adding more dice to the pool of dice that you roll on your turn using various items. This is an aspect that doesn't typically appeal to me, but I feel like it really fits the theme and levity of the game and I actually find it quite fun. However, I can understand why some people may not feel that way. If you are someone who absolutely abhors rolling dice and being provided with minimal ways of mitigating the luck of the roll, you may not enjoy this game.
:soblue: 2. Setup is time consuming
Because Space Cadets: Away Missions is a scenario-based game and each scenario requires a different set of tokens, tiles, and arrangements. Further, because it is a game that comes with many tokens and tiles and scenarios, it can take some time to sort all the pieces and arrange them properly prior to each game. Fortunately, games of Space Cadets: Away missions don't take too long to play (i.e. lose), so it's quite easy to throw all the tokens and tiles together and reshuffle them after you've finished one game and try again immediately.
:soblue: 3. Thralls and Saucer Men look very similar
The Thrall and Saucer Men figures are difficult to distinguish; they are the same size and color and are similarly shaped. This isn't a huge problem, but a slightly different color would have facilitated the process of discriminating one from the other on the board and in the box.
I probably love Space Cadets: Away Missions more than I should given my usual gaming preferences, but I just can't help it; I LOVE this game! Yes, you're rolling random dice, but the characters and the scenarios and the stories that unfold are so engaging and thrilling and FUN that I cannot hesitate to give it lots of love! Despite the randomness, players have plenty of interesting decisions to make and I think that fans of co-operative games who are not allergic to the fickleness of die rolling will really take to this one. It's beautiful and interesting and fun and I love it!
MINA'S LOVE METER :heart::heart::heart::heart: LOTS OF LOVE
Core Worlds: Galactic Orders adds a number of new elements to Core Worlds. These include...
...a new faction...
...Galactic Orders and player Faction Tokens. The Galactic Orders create a board on the table. After players deploy Units and Tactics bearing Galactic Order Icons, they place a Faction Token on the corresponding Galactic Order. They may remove Faction Tokens from Galactic Orders to use their abilities or leave their Faction Tokens on Galactic Orders to score points for having a majority of Faction Tokens on each at the end of the game.
The expansion also adds new Units, Tactics, and Worlds, as well as...
...Event Cards, which when drawn are placed in a single stack and the top Event Card modifies the rules in each round...
...Advancement Cards, which begin the game attached to players' Home Worlds and provide an additional ability and new Home Worlds, which allow players to draw 1 additional card in the Draw Phase if they have more Worlds than Units in their tableaus...
...and a new Core World.
:) 1. Galactic Orders add a lot of tension and create plenty of interesting decision points
The Galactic Orders are, unsurprisingly, the most interesting element of the Galactic Orders expansion. They give players many more options on their turn, allowing them to boost their strength in order to take over more worlds or to reduce the cost of drafting cards into their decks. They certainly make it easier to accomplish more over the course of the game. However, their dual nature also generates a lot of tension; you want to use all the amazing powers you can access, but you also want to accumulate lots of Faction Tokens on Galactic Orders in order to score them at the end of the game. And the more Faction Tokens you accumulate on any particular card, the more points you score for it, so accumulating rather than using them can be quite the attractive option.
The Galactic Orders enhance the decision making in Core Worlds in another way; they force players to think about not only the powers, the strengths, and the names of the cards they draft into their decks and deploy into their War Zones, but also about the Faction affiliations of those cards. This can also be a great source of tension when you want to draft available cards with certain names or abilities that don't match the Faction affiliation(s) you are seeking. Because a number of the cards added to the game with the Galactic Orders expansion interact with the Faction affiliations of cards, giving players special abilities or strength boosts for having other cards with the same Faction affiliation or having Faction Tokens on certain Galactic Orders, they serve to further enhance the value of the Faction Symbols. As such, the Faction Symbols can be a deal breaker when it comes to drafting cards. At times, they can be that attractive.
:) 2. Capital and new Home World abilities make you feel a little m more powerful and allow you to achieve a bit more
I love the change made to the Home Worlds by the Galactic Orders expansion. The fact that players now get to draw an extra card if they have more worlds in their War Zones than Units means that they are able to cycle through their decks more quickly if they keep a higher ratio of Worlds to Units. The new Home Worlds may encourage players to take over more Worlds and keep fewer Units in their War Zones between rounds. At times, the extra card draw won't be worth purging your War Zone of Units, but at many other times, you won't have the easiest time deciding between taking over a World and getting that extra card draw and keeping your Units around.
The Capital has a synergistic relationship with the new Home World ability, further enhancing players' ability to cycle through their decks and hone their decks to particular strategies. Furthermore, by allowing players to store unwanted cards only if they have 3 or more Worlds in their War Zones, the Capital provides another incentive for players to take over more Worlds more quickly.
The new Home World and Capital abilities combine to provide an even more strategic deck-building experience by allowing players to pare down and cycle through their decks while encouraging players to do more of what will help them accomplish more throughout the game (i.e. take over Worlds). Cool!
:) 3. Events greatly enhance replayability, creating a unique ecosystem of demands for each game
I'm sure that some players will find the Events a bit annoying. They are certainly random, but they affect all players equally, dispelling any modicum of negativity I might have for them. I actually find them very refreshing. Each round of the game may now present a new challenge or opportunity and the combination of challenges and opportunities that arise as a result of the Event cards in any given game make each game feel very different. I think the Events go a long way to increasing the replay value of the base game of Core Worlds.
:soblue: 1. Increases play time, but it's worth it!
The Galactic Orders expansion adds a significant chunk of time to Core Worlds and for 2 players, that significant chunk of time appears to be about 20-30 minutes. That said, Galactic Orders also significantly enhances the depth of Core Worlds and significantly expands the decision space (as discussed above), so it is well worth the added time.
I had no doubt that this expansion would break my scale! It is every bit as amazing as I hoped and imagined it would be! The Galactic Orders provide so much additional tension and decision-making opportunities, while the Events create a rich new ecosystem to explore in each and every game. Core Worlds was an amazing game from the start. With Galactic Orders, it's an absolutely flawless game.
Rialto
Rialto is a game about bridges and gondolas in the beautiful, water-logged :P city of Venice. Players take on the roles of nobles, deploying their councilmen to various districts of this fair city in an attempt to gain control over the most influential ones.
The game is set up by placing round tiles on random regions of the board, placing the round marker on the round tile labelled as 1, and arranging 3 rows of differently colored buildings (green, yellow, and blue) in ascending order of value. Stacks of gondolas and bridges are placed on their spaces on the board and the blue and yellow 5-VP bonus tiles are placed on their respective spaces on the board as well. The action card deck is shuffled and placed beside the board.
Buildings
One player is randomly selected to be the start player. That player's maker is placed on top of the second player's marker on the Doge track. If playing with the 2-player variant (which I would recommend doing), a dummy player marker is placed on top of the player's Doge track markers. The Doge track indicates turn order at the beginning of each round and breaks all ties.
Each player receives a player board and 5 councilmen in his color. Remaining councilmen are placed on the board. Each player also receives 1 coin. The second player in turn order receives 2 coins.
Starting with the second player, each player takes one of the three 1-value buildings.
Rialto is played over 6 rounds and each round consists of 3 phases.
*Phase 1
Three sets of action cards, each of which consists of 6 cards is laid out on the table and each player in turn order (according to the Doge track) selects one set of cards to keep. Each player than draws 2 additional cards from the face-down deck and selects a total of 7 cards to keep. In this stage, players are able to activate their green buildings by placing a coin on any activated building. Green buildings allow players to draw and keep additional cards.
Card selection in 2-player game
*Phase 2
In this phase, players play the cards they selected in the previous phase. They can activate yellow buildings to support these actions.
The actions are executed in the following order, with the player who is ahead on the Doge track playing his cards first for the first action and the player who received the bonus in the previous action playing his cards first for the following actions. The player with the most of any action card played receives a bonus and the Doge track breaks all ties.
A. Doge
Advance 1 space on the Doge track.
Bonus: Advance 1 extra space.
B. Gold
Take gold equivalent to the number of cards played
Bonus: Take 1 extra gold.
C. Building
Build a building with a value equivalent to the number of Building cards played.
Bonus: Build a building of 1 higher value.
D. Bridge
Gain 1 VP per card played. A player who doesn't play any Bridge cards loses 1 VP.
Bonus: Build a Bridge between any two districts and score +1 VP.
E. Gondola
Gain 1 councilman for each Gondola card played.
Bonus: Place a Gondola tile between any two districts and place 1 councilman from the general supply into one of those.
F. Councilman
Place councilmen in the district of the current round.
Bonus: Place 1 extra councilman.
Joker cards can be played to support any action. Two Jokers can be used to replace any one action card.
*Phase 3
Players may activate blue buildings, which may provide points, allow players to upgrade buildings, or move them up the Doge track.
The game ends after 6 rounds, at which points VPs are awarded for councilman majorities in the 6 districts, buildings, and remaining coins and councilmen.
:) 1. Quick and engaging throughout
It takes about 45 minutes with 2 players and the time just flies by. Each round involves selecting a set of cards and then playing those cards and by the time the 6th set has been selected and played, we're always asking ourselves, "Is it REALLY over already!?"
Rialto succeeds in keeping all players engaged at all times through creating a majority game out of each action. Players have to not only be careful about which cards they select from the display and which cards they keep, but they also have to think about which cards to play. While it may be more advantageous to play all cards in each round in most cases, there are times when it is worth it to keep a card back for the following round if you can't get a majority in the current one, so some thinking about your selection relative to that of everyone else goes into each action. Beyond the "reserving" of cards between rounds, selecting which jokers to use with which action cards and which yellow buildings to activate based on the cards played by others (or in anticipation of the cards that will be played by others) also provides a reason to remain engaged as all other players reveal their selections. Ultimately, Rialto keeps everyone engaged and makes everyone feel invested in other players' actions by making the power of each of their actions relative to the actions taken by other players.
:) 2. Tactical and strategic
Despite its simple rules and brevity, Rialto is no slouch when it comes to gameplay. Although it is certainly on the lighter side of Stefan Feld's repertoire, it offers players plenty of difficult decisions to make. Each round begins with a tense card selection process; all actions are good, but it's important to try to get the most of certain actions in order to get bonuses. Trying to select groups of card to gain majorities in the actions most important to you at any given time is always difficult because you'll probably want them all! But you won't be able to have them all. The green buildings, which allow you to draw and keep more cards in hand and the yellow buildings, which provide jokers or multiply/change cards, can give you a leg up in this regard, but only if other players don't have as many as you do. As I mentioned above, it's always vital to stay on top of what everyone else is doing in this game because Rialto is a game of majorities through and through!
The fact that players have the option to save cards between rounds allows them to plan strategically between rounds. Acquiring a whack of blue cards in one round may help you not only in that round, but also in another, as it is necessary to have at least one of an action card in order to take that action (unless of course, you're ok with wasting 2 jokers on one action).
Rialto provides many tactical considerations, including when to activate buildings in order to get the most of their powers, when and how to use joker cards, in which districts to build gondolas to gain majorities, and in which districts are "safe" for building bridges. The Doge track seems to play a significant role in the game and can be the source of much tension between players and, when playing the 2-player game, between players and the dummy player. Because the Doge track determines which player gets to select cards first AND breaks all ties (i.e. determines whether you get a bonus or not when playing action cards and determines how many points you get for district majorities at the end of the game when ties occur), players will want to stay ahead. However, unlike most other actions, which give players points straight up, the Doge track doesn't provide any additional benefits beyond tie breaking and player order, so players have to be tactical in when they choose to spend their actions jumping ahead.
Strategy also figures in Rialto in the multitude of ways to score points. Buildings provide various powers AND they provide points, playing Bridge cards provides points AND makes players who don't play any Bridge cards loose points, and district majorities provide points. While players certainly have to be tactical in responding to the available card sets and the actions of other players, they also have to be strategic in their selection of buildings. Going for lots of green buildings, which allow you to draw and keep extra cards, is a good strategy, getting the high-valued blue buildings that score points when activated is another great strategy, and getting lots of jokers and other yellows buildings with card multiplicative powers is another great strategy. Determining which mix of buildings to go after in any given game can be done strategically rather than tactically.
:) 3. Perfect weight
As I mentioned above, Rialto is neither light nor heavy; it is the perfect quick-playing mid-weight game that offers plenty of interesting and tense decisions to make and keeps players engaged throughout, which means it is a likely candidate for weekly play. I know I can play this even when I'm tired and I know that I can play it and have enough to think about even when I'm not. It's just right!
:) 4. High replay value
Rialto is the kind of game that gets increasingly interesting the more you play it. I don't want to oversell its depth, but it is certainly deeper than appears at first glance. As such, it has that intrinsic element of replayability. You have to play this game more than once or twice or three times to truly appreciate what it has to offer.
And even beyond its intrinsic replay value, Rialto creates unique situations for players to contend with through the combinations of action cards that are available to them each round. You may prefer to build buildings early in the game in order to reap their benefits for as long as possible, but if few building cards become available, you may not be able to do so.
The plentiful building options also provide many strategies for players to explore. The particular combination of blue, green, and yellow buildings you acquire and when you use them will change the options available to you and change the way you play the game. Pumping out lots of points with high-valued blue buildings can sometimes be just as effective as getting some end-game district majorities.
:) 5. Works well with 2!
It does! It really does! Rialto was one of those games that I ignored for far too long due to the mixed opinions of the BGG community regarding its goodness with 2 players, but it turns out I fall firmly on the side of those who like it with 2. While I wouldn't recommend playing the Rialto with 2 by the basic rules (i.e. the rules for 3+ players), I would recommend Rialto for 2 players with the 2-player rules variant provided. The dummy player is not overly onerous to control, as the only things that players have to do is draw some cards and place a few councilmen, but it adds a lot of tension to the game. The dummy player counts for determining majorities for both action cards and scoring and his cards are open information to players, so players are able to use this information to their advantage in determining how many cards to play, how to use their jokers, and how to best use their buildings. The dummy player is also good at taking over districts because when he places gondolas, he places councilmen on both adjacent districts (while players place on only one) AND he uses all his jokers on the councilman action. Playing with the dummy player can be quite challenging and I think the dummy provides plenty of payoff for minimal work.
:soblue: 1. Great with 2 players, but probably better with more due to lack of dummy player
Despite the fact that I firmly believe that Rialto works very well and is very enjoyable with just 2 players, especially when the dummy player variant is included, I do believe that it is a game that works better with more players. The dummy player in the 2-player game is neither difficult nor time consuming to manage, but it is still an added element to round-to-round upkeep that simply doesn't exist when Rialto is played with more than 2 players. Of course, it is perfectly legitimate to play Rialto without the dummy player and the game is still quite enjoyable that way, but it is so much better WITH the dummy that I would never choose to play it without the dummy when playing with only one other person. Ultimately, Rialto works well and is perfectly fun and enjoyable with only 2 players and I would not discourage anyone who plays primarily with 2 from acquiring it, but it probably works even better with more. I will have the opportunity to try it with 4 soon and I expect that experience will confirm my prediction.
I firmly believe that no game should be dismissed after one play. That philosophy holds particularly true for Rialto. Rialto is an onion game; it's a game that seems simple and a bit dull at first, but the more you play it, the more layers you reveal and the more you realize there is more to it than first meets the eye. Rialto is still a "light" game in Stefan Feld's range, but objectively speaking, it's not all that light. The rules are simple, but the gameplay is richly tactical, rewarding, and highly engaging. I love it!
MINA'S LOVE METER :heart: :heart: :heart: SOME LOVE
Le Havre
What's this? Le HAVRE!? Mina doesn't like Le Havre, right? I do like it. I just don't love it. I'd much rather play Ora et Labora, but I did it for Peter PLUS I keep wanting to give it another chance.
Of course, I lost. I went heavy into buildings and Peter went heavy into Mordor...ahem...steel. For some reason, steel mills always remind me of Mordor. Anyway, he scored close to 300 and I had about 260. I had to take some loans early in the game and those were really painful. I hate loans. I always refuse to take them, but I really wanted all the fishy buildings right away, so I had to pay for them. :(
Signorie
Signorie! AGAIN!? Yup. Peter really loves this game and it's relatively quick the way we play (5 rounds), so I don't mind playing it. It's also quite interesting...and this week, it was also quite brutal. This was my poorest showing in Signorie EVER. Clearly, I was the one sleeping this time. Instead of properly evaluating the end-game scoring bonuses, which were 2VP per upgrade disc and 4VP per city with one of your females in it, I blindly focused only on women and neglected to make full use of their potential when I sent them to get married. Instead of spending max cash on each lady (which I had available to me), I spent the minimum. Meanwhile, Peter focused on men and spent 4 coins on each of the 3 ladies he sent to the cities. He ended up 20 VP ahead of me. :(
Glass Road
One loss begets another in my case. After Signorie, we played Glass Road because it was Uwe Rosenberg's birthday and we hadn't played a proper Uwe game that day (though we did play La Granja, which is a little bit sort of an Uwe game). Once again, I had zero focus. I acquired the Christmas Market tile and blindly focused on acquiring as many cheap scoring tiles as I could. Instead of focusing fulfilling the scoring conditions of a few tiles, I focused on what seemed like a bazillion. Of course, one cannot focus on a bazillion things at once. Of course, I lost. Peter did really well! He managed to score 35 by building many high VP purple and yellow buildings, using lots of bricks, and then scoring 10 VP for the brown building that provides points for used bricks. I really should have taken a photograph of his board instead of mine...
Grand Austria Hotel
WE LOVE THIS GAME! SO MUCH! This week, we had to contend with some challenging objectives - having two completed hotel columns, having 6 staff members, and having 3 red, 3 blue, and 3 yellow rooms filled with guests. I didn't have the greatest selection of staff members and I could see that Peter was gunning it for the staff objective, so I put that one aside and went for the others. I kept creating beautiful combinations of guest abilities that allowed me to make up and fill rooms one after another and made me buckets of points. While I didn't manage to be the first to complete any of the objectives, I did complete two of the three and I did make MANY points with my GIGANTIC hotel and end-game scoring staff. Peter was very surprised by how many points I made at the end. He didn't believe me. He recounted my score. :P It was my best hotel yet!
Argent: The Consortium + Argent: Mancers of the University
I was feeling down one day, so Peter suggested we play Argent. He knows me too well. Argent always puts a smile on my face and Peter suggesting we play Argent puts an even bigger smile on my face!
We didn't use a scenario this time, but we did play with the B mage powers. The B mage powers are WAAAAY different than the A mage powers and they are certainly quite a bit more challenging. We had to drastically alter our usual strategies because the purple mages no longer provided fast actions and the grey mages could no longer be placed after playing a spell. These two are our favorite combo generators. In this game, the blue mages were the MVPs because they can be placed in Merit slots without a Merit badge! *GASP* I KNOW! Yes, you have to pay some money, but whatever. :P Thankfully, there were plenty of money-making opportunities on the board! AND one of the rooms allowed us to turn money into IP. That was the MVP room! I quickly acquired a power that allowed me to place a mage and lock a room and I used that power on the IP room as much as I could! It was a very tight contest, but I ended up ahead by 2 points at the end! SUPER FUN!
LOCKING it down!
New York 1901
It had been a while since our last game of NY1901 and I was feeling a game that we hadn't played in a while, so I pulled it out. NY1901 is one of Peter's absolute favorites, so I had no trouble getting him to play.
In this game, the bonus challenge was the Dynasty challenge, which was part of the promo pack. The Dynasty challenge provides 5 VP per district (red, green, blue, yellow) in which a player has skyscrapers from all 3 eras at the end of the game. I decided to immediately try to build up to the challenge because ALL the building cards were green and the green district wasn't particularly attractive for street majorities. I ended up satisfying the Dynasty challenge for all 4 districts, while Peter only satisfied 3, but we were even on streets. The Dynasty challenge helped pull me into the lead because Peter had a few more skyscrapers on the board at the end of the game than I did. :) Love this game!
La Granja
Another week, another game of La Granja! This week, the money craft building was blocked out, so extra income was not available early in the game. No matter, I just put in a couple of upgrades and I was set. Peter failed to upgrade anything for a while and was really hurting for cash. I had some very nice helpers, one of whom allowed me to make a free delivery to a craft building whenever I delivered to a market barrow and another of whom allowed me to spend a coin to retain a market barrow on my farm, so I got a lot of mileage out of a single market barrow card. I ended up winning by MANY points, mostly because of Peter's lack of cash. He says he's going to beat me next time. Phooey. I dare him to try. :devil:
Steam Works
Steam Works! We are really enjoying our variant for this game. It takes us about 40-45 minutes to play and makes for a much more tense game than the regular version, which takes 90 minutes and is way too open for our tastes.
Peter played as the super powerful Duke Augustus, who starts with his Automaton in play and 5 coins, while I played as Countess Eva, who starts with only 3 coins, but is able to use electric sources to take extra machine parts and uses electric sources instead of coins to pay her workers. I ended up focusing on acquiring sources and making points with those, while Peter focused on money points. We both did both things, using each other's machines to the best of our ability, but Peter did so just a little more skillfully, winning by 1 point! ONE!:shake:
Haspelknecht
Haspelknecht! We have tried every configuration of development tiles that can be played with 2 players and I think our preferred one is the one we used this week. It forces you to go down a certain Development path, but it doesn't overly restrict you from pursuing more than one.
In this game, I did nothing but build developments, while Peter did a lot of digging. Of course, he made some developments as well, but his main focus was digging and he did very well in that regard. He managed to dig ALL the coal out of his mine. Sadly, as impressive as that was, Peter lost the game. Developments can be quite strong, especially if the fork scoring one is available and there are lots of other fork developments on the board.
IKI
I have been working on re-writing the rules to IKI with the German translator. His name is Lutz and he is an amazing human being! Anyway, that reminded me that I hadn't played IKI in a while, so I demanded that we play it this week. For some reason, Peter was reluctant. I don't think he likes it all that much, but he did agree to play.
We tend to forget the Nagaya scoring, but we didn't forget this time, which was too bad for Peter because he completely failed to block me or gain much in the way of Nagaya points himself. At one point, I had 3 purple guys in one Nagaya, which gave me 9 points! Needless to say, I won, but Peter was quite proud of his building. :)
Alhambra: Big Box
Peter LOVES Alhambra. He is so glad to see it back on the table last after a VERY long hiatus and kept asking to play it repeatedly this week again. We played a game over the weekend. We 3 expansions this time - Diamonds, Camps, and Markets.
Last week, I really focused on maximally using the Camps. This week, I focused on the Markets. I arranged my buildings perfectly and ended up netting a TONNE of points at the end of the game thanks to the Markets! I was convinced I would lose the game because I was slightly behind after the in-game scoring, but my Markets pulled me waaaaaaaaaaaay into the lead at the end! I really love the Alhambra expansions that encourage you to build in certain ways.
The Gallerist
OF COURSE we played the Gallerist again! Peter has yet to win this game because he is having trouble with the buy-low sell-high concept and with satisfying his Curator and Art Dealer. If you know anything about Peter, you should know that he always loves to do his own thing and his own thing tends not to work very well in games that aren't completely open. At any rate, in this game, I managed to satisfy BOTH my Art Dealer and Curator quite well, while Peter managed to satisfy neither one and I managed to make nice piles of cash with lots of art, while Peter managed to well...he didn't manage to do much of anything. I ended up with my highest score ever and he ended up with his lowest score ever.
The Ancient World
I am so very much in love with this game! I keep telling Peter I could play it all day every day. He doesn't share in the extent of my enthusiasm, but he does like it a lot and is willing to play at least once a week, so I'm happy. :)
I didn't do anything illegal in this game :P, unlike last week, when I mistakenly took on two of the same type of military unit at the same time! I managed to collect SO MUCH great stuff that I surprised even myself! I had a set of 6 blue cards AND the blue card that provides bonus VP for blue cards! :P I didn't set out with the intention to fight, fight, fight, but I did end up beating up on quite a few Titans...poor Titans...some of them are pretty cute...especially the eyeball one. My goal in this game is to one day collect AND FEED all of my people. I've never hired more than 1.
Roll for the Galaxy + Roll for the Galaxy: Ambition
Roll! It's back! This week, one of my early tiles was the 6-VP development that gives 2VP per 3 military dice (rounded up) and I had 2 red dice at the beginning of the game thanks to my starting tiles. The great thing about the 6-VP development I had is that it allows you to put all red dice you use to settle worlds back into your cup. Obviously, I knew I had to focus on collecting worlds and red dice. Digging through the bag did not go very well for me at first, but the more I dug, the more combinations I found (such as a super cheap development that allowed me to re-assign one of my red dice and another than allowed me to reassign white dice). I ended up winning, but only because I completed an objective at the end of the game. Had I not completed that objective, Peter would have won and he was just shipping like a mad man!
Sanssouci
I have finally redeemed myself! I won by 2 whole points! I didn't manage to push my nobles quite as far down my garden as I would have liked, but I did manage to score a bunch of bonuses early in the game, which helped me get ahead and stay ahead throughout the game. My goal in this game is always to get past 100 points and I just don't see how I will do it! I was 14 whole points away from 100!
1. Rialto - See above.
2. Valeria: Card Kingdoms - I missed the Kickstarter for this game, but BoardGameBliss kindly provided a copy for review! YAY!
3. Royal Palace - This is an older game, but one that I have been interested in trying for a while.
4. Santorini - I quite dislike abstract games, but this one had me at Roxley! It looks great and I already know how to play! No rules reading!!!
5. Finca - I got a copy of this in an auction! Super excited to play with Peter!
Look forward to Core Worlds: Revolution because I'm super excited to play more Core Worlds! Also Valeria: Card Kingdoms!
