Post by Sithspawn on May 31, 2017 11:24:28 GMT
Ave Caesar
Have you ever wanted to take part in Roman chariot racing? No? Nonesense, of course you have. And with Ave Caesar that's exactly what you get to do.
This is a simple card driven race game requiring players to make three laps with their chariots.
Each Player gets a deck of cards, drawing a hans of three cards at a time, and chooses which card to play. Each card has a number from 1 to 6, which is how many places you move your chariot. So why not just play 6's? It's not always possible to pass your opponents, and you don't want to waste moves as the numbers total in the deck barely manages you to make the three laps. So be extra cautious if you choose the long route in an attempt to overtake, you don't have enough cards to continually use the long route. Also some parts of the track are not wide enough menaing your opponents can purposely block you from moving.
What about Caesar? Oh yes, one the first or second lap you must stop in front of Caesar to pay tribute. If you fail to pay tribute you are not only disqualified but no doubt fed to the lions.
A game only takes about 20 -30 minutes to play. Set-up time in minimal and the rules are very simple to pick up. The board is also double sided so you get two different tracks to race around.
So often simple is the best and Ave Caesar does not disappoint. This is a quick fun game best played with 4-5 players. The card mechanic makes it less random than a simple roll & move game, with the board layout also adding a little strategy to the game, though not enough to put off the casual gamer. The fast gameplay also means there is little downtime. Highly recommend, Ave Caesar!
3 Squirrels
Eclipse
Human and alien Empires vie for control of the galaxy and resources in this big box sci-game. It is an area control game where you build up your Empire by minig resources, researching technology, populating planets and if you feel like it, fighting your opponents in epic space combat.
The board is made up of Hexes which you randomly draw to expand the board as you explore. Each player rules an Empire. The human Empires are all the same, whereas the aliens have a few different abilities if you want to shake things up a bit.
Don't be put off by the layout. When I first set up this game I figured I would try rocket science for something a bit simpler, it looks extremely complicated. After 5 minutes of play you realise not only is it not complicated but the game is set up to allow ease of play and make the gameplay quite intuative. It really is hard to go wrong.
The essense of the game is in balancing your resources, Raw Materials, Research and Money. Each planet you populate allows you to increase your resources, at the cost of costing you money. Raw Materials are primarily used to build Starships. Research allows you to buy Tech items from the upgrade board, but be quick as Tech is available at random and you may be fighing to get those weapon or shield upgrades you want. As well as upgrading your ships Tech can grant other bonus's like Wormholes tech to allow you to move freely between Hex's.
There are three types of starships; Fighters, Cruisers and Battlecruisers. Upgrading one ship upgrades all ships of that type in your fleet. But even that can be a balancing act, without the right power source you can't run the best shields and best weapons together.
Points are scored from space combat, the planets you populate and the amount of reseach you have completed. The game is played for nine rounds with the person scoring the most points at the end being the victor.
I've yet to play a game of Eclipse that I didn't enjoy, and everyone I've played it with has also enjoyed it. This really is an exceptional game, and I didn't even mention the ancient aliens and alien artefacts. There are also several Expansions available which add more Tech, more Hex's, make the ancients more dangerous, increase the players up to nine (though that would seriously increase downtime) and a set of distict models for each faction of the base game.
Space conquets can be fun. Eclipse is a great game.
5 Squirrels
Love Letter
The Princess is trying to send a secret love letter to her her beloved, but no one dare find out.
As simple, quick games go I don't think there is much that can compete with Love Letter. Mechanics are simple. Players are dealt one card, in turns they then draw a card and play a card. That's it.
Each card is numbered 1 to 8, with 8 being the Princess, and allows a player to do what the card says; look at another players hand, guess a players card to eliminate them, compare cards with the lowest eliminated, cause a player to discard a card. some cards there are multiple of, others such as the Princess there is only one of. You cannot play the Princess card and if it is discarded you lose. Should all cards be drawn from the deck the player with the highest card wins. You also remove one random card from the deck at the start of each game making it more difficult to work out your opponents hand.
It's slick and easy, and surprisingly fun. It's not an all nighter, just a light filler that can be played in a few minutes. And if the base game of Princess's isn't for you then you can pick up one or more of the many different themed versions including Adventure Time, Lord of the Rings and Batman.
Personally, as a comic geek, I own the Batman version. If forced to choose the best version I would probably suggest Lord of the Rings; the card abilities vary slightly and it also includes the 0 card, the One Ring.
3 Squirrels
Have you ever wanted to take part in Roman chariot racing? No? Nonesense, of course you have. And with Ave Caesar that's exactly what you get to do.
This is a simple card driven race game requiring players to make three laps with their chariots.
Each Player gets a deck of cards, drawing a hans of three cards at a time, and chooses which card to play. Each card has a number from 1 to 6, which is how many places you move your chariot. So why not just play 6's? It's not always possible to pass your opponents, and you don't want to waste moves as the numbers total in the deck barely manages you to make the three laps. So be extra cautious if you choose the long route in an attempt to overtake, you don't have enough cards to continually use the long route. Also some parts of the track are not wide enough menaing your opponents can purposely block you from moving.
What about Caesar? Oh yes, one the first or second lap you must stop in front of Caesar to pay tribute. If you fail to pay tribute you are not only disqualified but no doubt fed to the lions.
A game only takes about 20 -30 minutes to play. Set-up time in minimal and the rules are very simple to pick up. The board is also double sided so you get two different tracks to race around.
So often simple is the best and Ave Caesar does not disappoint. This is a quick fun game best played with 4-5 players. The card mechanic makes it less random than a simple roll & move game, with the board layout also adding a little strategy to the game, though not enough to put off the casual gamer. The fast gameplay also means there is little downtime. Highly recommend, Ave Caesar!
3 Squirrels
Eclipse
Human and alien Empires vie for control of the galaxy and resources in this big box sci-game. It is an area control game where you build up your Empire by minig resources, researching technology, populating planets and if you feel like it, fighting your opponents in epic space combat.
The board is made up of Hexes which you randomly draw to expand the board as you explore. Each player rules an Empire. The human Empires are all the same, whereas the aliens have a few different abilities if you want to shake things up a bit.
Don't be put off by the layout. When I first set up this game I figured I would try rocket science for something a bit simpler, it looks extremely complicated. After 5 minutes of play you realise not only is it not complicated but the game is set up to allow ease of play and make the gameplay quite intuative. It really is hard to go wrong.
The essense of the game is in balancing your resources, Raw Materials, Research and Money. Each planet you populate allows you to increase your resources, at the cost of costing you money. Raw Materials are primarily used to build Starships. Research allows you to buy Tech items from the upgrade board, but be quick as Tech is available at random and you may be fighing to get those weapon or shield upgrades you want. As well as upgrading your ships Tech can grant other bonus's like Wormholes tech to allow you to move freely between Hex's.
There are three types of starships; Fighters, Cruisers and Battlecruisers. Upgrading one ship upgrades all ships of that type in your fleet. But even that can be a balancing act, without the right power source you can't run the best shields and best weapons together.
Points are scored from space combat, the planets you populate and the amount of reseach you have completed. The game is played for nine rounds with the person scoring the most points at the end being the victor.
I've yet to play a game of Eclipse that I didn't enjoy, and everyone I've played it with has also enjoyed it. This really is an exceptional game, and I didn't even mention the ancient aliens and alien artefacts. There are also several Expansions available which add more Tech, more Hex's, make the ancients more dangerous, increase the players up to nine (though that would seriously increase downtime) and a set of distict models for each faction of the base game.
Space conquets can be fun. Eclipse is a great game.
5 Squirrels
Love Letter
The Princess is trying to send a secret love letter to her her beloved, but no one dare find out.
As simple, quick games go I don't think there is much that can compete with Love Letter. Mechanics are simple. Players are dealt one card, in turns they then draw a card and play a card. That's it.
Each card is numbered 1 to 8, with 8 being the Princess, and allows a player to do what the card says; look at another players hand, guess a players card to eliminate them, compare cards with the lowest eliminated, cause a player to discard a card. some cards there are multiple of, others such as the Princess there is only one of. You cannot play the Princess card and if it is discarded you lose. Should all cards be drawn from the deck the player with the highest card wins. You also remove one random card from the deck at the start of each game making it more difficult to work out your opponents hand.
It's slick and easy, and surprisingly fun. It's not an all nighter, just a light filler that can be played in a few minutes. And if the base game of Princess's isn't for you then you can pick up one or more of the many different themed versions including Adventure Time, Lord of the Rings and Batman.
Personally, as a comic geek, I own the Batman version. If forced to choose the best version I would probably suggest Lord of the Rings; the card abilities vary slightly and it also includes the 0 card, the One Ring.
3 Squirrels