In general I had a lot of fun and it was great to see all the buddies from the Finnish Boardgaming Society, who travel to cons and that’s the place where I can meet them regularly. Obviously I played a lot of games and here’s my thoughts on the ones I had not played before.

The Magic Labyrinth

First game of the con and a game that has just been published in Finnish. I didn’t know anything about the game and was pleasantly surprised. Memory game with a cool gimmick definitely works with children and adults alike and should be fun to play with the family. This is the sort of game for children which I enjoy and appreciate.

Hornet

Hornet is an interesting game which has been in works for a long time. I actually played the prototype of the game last year in Ropecon and was glad that the was finally out. I also had just made an interview with the designers of the game, had great time interviewing and obviously my expectations were high.  I got to play the game 2 times; first on Friday night with Friedemann and two friends from the Society and second time on Saturday with one listener of my podcast and his buddies.

Hornet with Friedemann Friese and gaming buddies @ Ropecon

There’s a lot of good things in Hornet and I especially like the art. Mechanics are also sound and typically I’m a sucker for area control games which is one of the main mechanisms of Hornet. The second major mechanism is revealing action card simultaneously which adds bluffing to the game. This is the part of the game I’m not too fond of while it makes the game unpredictable but probably fun with families. Modular game board and scoring which is different each time are bonuses which add to the replay value of the game.

While I think Hornet is a solid design I still feel that there’s something missing from it; it could feel a tad more unique.  Hornet is an ok game but unfortunately not much more in my books.

Eclipse (prototype)

I had played the game before the con but as Eclipse is not a published game there had been some changes in the game since I had played it. Eclipse is a space exploration and management game which reminds me of one of the best PC games Master of Orion. Each player controls a race which sets out to the galaxy. Players explore and colonize the galaxy, fight against aliens and themselves and research new technologies which enable them to be more efficient in managing their galactic empire. I think Eclipse is the most promising proto I’ve seen in the Finnish circles and I truly hope that it finds a publisher even though it’s definitely not the easiest game to sell to a publisher.

Our game had 6 players which meant that it was epic in scale and playing time. I enjoyed the game and felt satisfied regardless of the fact that I did not win the game. Epic in a good way for me is that you’ve played a long game after which you still feel that you’ve accomplished  something and want to give the game another go. Eclipse with 6 players did it for me.

Rules explanation for Eclipse @ Ropecon

Mole Hill

I played the new(ish) edition with a pencil case look and must say that I liked the production quality of the game. Otherwise Mole Hill is a filler Knizia abstract. It’s simple and elegant but not as compelling as the best Knizia abstracts on the market. I’d gladly play the game again but feel no need to purchase it.

Industrial Waste

Clever and simple optimization game with solid mechanisms and a theme which fits the mechanisms. We played with three and I would have liked to have a fourth player to bring more competition to the game. I also feel that a few plays more would be in place to access the game better but my initial reactions were positive.

Ninety Nine

A card game by David Parlett which is played either with 36 card deck (three players) or 52 card deck (with 4 players). We played the game right after enjoying pizzas at the convention restaurant. 99 is a trick taking game in which players first bid the number of tricks they try to win using three cards of those they were dealt. Then players may reveal their bid or play with open cards to increase the points they get (or lose) and finally players play the ten tricks to see who got it right and who scores the most points for the round. Clever trick taking game which is playable with normal 52 card French deck – there’s never to many of those.

Odin’s Table

Before I go to the game itself I have to say that I hate it when designers are giving a 10 rating in the BGG for a game they’ve designed. 10 rating goes without saying but are you not a little bit biased to give the game a rating? I say yes and you shouldn’t do it since it just looks bad!

The game itself is a mix of two player abstract strategy, bluffing and card counting in a rather fast forward baggage. The board of the game is a 5 x 6 grid and the object of the game is to move three of your markers to opponents end of the board. On your turn you move one of your markers one space and if you end up in a same spot with the opponent where’s going to be a fight. Fighting introduces the bluffing part of the game because each column of the grid has a hidden card (cards rank from 0 to 9 and both players have similar decks) attached to it from both players. Defender reveals the card of the column where his marker currently is and attacker reveals card of the column where his marker came from, they are simultaneously flipped and the player who has higher card wins the battle (in case of a tie the attacker wins the battle) and removes marker of the defeated player from the board.

Image by Matti Jokihaara / BGG

I normally like two player abstracts but the games I tend to play don’t have as high luck factor as Odin’s Table. I felt that the game is too random for my taste and in order to somehow mediate randomness I should have counted the cards which would have taken away the little fun I had with the game.  There’s bluffing of some sorts involved in the game and those who like bluffing games will probably enjoy Odin’s Table and as a short filler I could play it again a few times. Unfortunately there’s such a huge variety of more interesting games to play that I fear I won’t find Odin’s Table on my table anytime soon.

Bamboleo

Bamboleo was just published in Finland and it looked extremely cool. In this abstract players take pieces from a wooden disc which stands on a not so well balanced stick. Players get points for the pieces they’ve removed from the disc and round ends when disc and remaining pieces fall from. Not the best dexterity game there is but looks gorgeous and is definitely fun to play.

Chateau Roquefort

I’ve wanted to try this game out for a while and now I had the chance to do so. Chateau is a game where players try to find cheese from a castle with their mice. Gorgeous components combined with a fun theme and solid mechanics form a good children’s game (for a little bit older children) which is also fun for the adults.

Games I played which I had played before

• Dixit (excellent game with 5-6 players, otherwise a good game)
• Notre Dame (excellent game with any number of players)
• Power Struggle (I love the game but it should be played with at least 4 players)

Conclusion

Lots of games, lots of fun. I hope I’ll be able to participate next year but with the new challenges I’m facing I can’t be sure of that.

Uutiset

• Ropecon 23.-25.7.2010

Lautapelisuomen kilpailun päättäminen

Voittajaksi selviytyi Heikki Niittylä. Kiitos kaikille vastaajille sekä Onni Gamesille palkinnosta

Haastattelu Hornet

Haastateltavana veljekset Moliis, jotka ovat suunnitelleet syksyllä Lautapelit.fi:n toimesta ilmestyvän Hornet -pelin. Käymme läpi veljesten pelihistoriaa sekä erilaisia Hornetin syntyyn vaikuttaneita tapahtumia ja vaiheita.

Haastattelu Toscana

Haastateltavana Paul Laane, joka on pelin suunnittelija. Aiheina haastateltavan pelimenneisyys, Toscanan syntyvaiheet sekä lopuksi myös muutama sana Hornetin grafiikan suunnittelusta, jonka Paul on myös tehnyt.

Events are also a meeting point for board game enthusiasts and there’s interesting discussions going on in sauna between the games. This year was no different and we had long and deep conversations on the current situation of the industry in Finland. You can always play games but there’s seldom time to meet the people and chat with them these days.

Image by Kimmo Sorsamo

Obviously I also got some games in. The first game I played was Tori, which is a brand new 2010 release from Competo and designer Kimmo Sorsamo. I’ve already know the game pretty well since I took part in the design process but I enjoy the game nevertheless. Tori is a game of hand management and area control where players expand their businesses in the main market place of Helsinki during the 1952 Olympics and gain points by doing so. There’s lot of interaction in the game while players try to block each other and typically games tend to be tight. Ours was not different and it ended in 12-11-11-3 situation after we had revealed our secret point cards. Unfortunately I did not have 12 points…

Image by Fraser Lamont

After sauna I sat to play Savannah Tails which is a sequel to 2008 hit Snow Tails which I played and thought it as a good design but not much more. Savannah Tails is a card driven racing game which is even lighter than it’s predecessor. It’s quick and easy to teach and play but I felt that it didn’t have the depth nor the re-playability value I wish for a game. Definitely a solid game to introduce to non-gamers but there’s a myriad of better games out there even in the racing game category.

Image by Jonny de Vries

The last game of the night was Hotel Samoa which is a 2010 release Huch & Friends. I have to admit that I had probably taken a beer to mush to really understand the subtle nuances of the game and made it easy for the others to beat me in the game. But I did not like the game too much even though it’s been produced with care, there’s some interesting mechanics and it’s definitely playable with non-gamers. In it’s core Hotel Samoa is just a light blind bidding game and I just don’t enjoy these games too much.

It was a very enjoyable Saturday night with games and games related stuff and hopefully I’ll be able to participate event also next year!

Uutiset

Wizardin SM-turnaus.

Lautapelaamisen SM-turnaus toukokuun lopussa.

Käsittelyssä viisi suomalaista tämän vuoden uutuuspeliä:

• Arvuutin
• Aether
• Toscana
• Tori
• Hornet

Lautapelisuomen jakson 23 kilpailun päättäminen

Oikea vastaus oli Zoobaloo ja voittajaksi valikoitui Kimmo “skylark” Leivo. Onnnittelut voittajalle!
Lautapelioppaan keskusteluhetki

Käsittelyssä mm. Advanced Civilization, Vasco da Gama, Greed, Wizard ja Tichu ja keskustelukumppanina Hannu Sinisalo.

Lautapelisuomen kilpailu

Lautapelisuomen uudessa kilpailussa arvuutellaan sitä, mihin peliin jaksossa lausumani teemateksti oikein sopii. Tehtäväsi on arvata oikea peli kuun viimeiseen päivään mennessä. Oikein vastanneiden kesken arvotaan pääpalkinnoksi yksi kappale Politix -peliä.

Voit osallistua kilpailuun lähettämällä arvauksesi osoitteeseen cane (at) boardgamingfinland.com 26.5.2010 mennessä. Kun tiedät oikean pelin, saat yhden äänen ja toinen puolestaan irtoaa, kun tiedät mitä yhteistä arvattavalla pelillä ja Politixillä on keskenään.

Image by Emile de Maat / BGG

I draw Egypt as my civilization which was great after two games with Crete. Egypt offers a bit different challenge and is definitely less challenging in the beginning of the game. My initial strategy was to expand rapidly and secure a position which would be sufficient for the rest of the game. My strategy worked rather nicely partly because I had newbies on both sides and they didn’t quite grasp the importance of expanding the land area immediately.

After getting the areas I wanted I went for Engineering Civ card since Egypt lies on the Nile delta and flood would have been devastating. Getting a set of trade cards was easier that I expected but this was also due to the fact that newbies could be exploited in the trade process. Trading is the most important part of a game of Advanced Civilization and you learn the tricks of trade by playing the game.

We had quite peaceful game which happens when you play with Western Expansion with only seven players. Obviously there were a few devastating catastrophes for some of the civilizations but Egyptians survived without worst disasters (famine – epidemic combo was nasty though). I was leading the game three rounds before the end but didn’t have the maritime power to conquer cities in the last few rounds and suffered a few attacks on my shores as well (which meant that I lost trade cards in the process). Second place after 11 hours of playing was satisfying and the emotion was stronger when I learned that the winner won with a high margin.

Image by Antti Koskinen

Advanced Civilization is a great game, and while there are many issues with the mechanics and playing time compared with the modern games, I really enjoy spending the time to play this epic game once in a while. Adv Civ is one of those games you enjoy playing even if you know that you’ll probably not be able to win the game anymore.

Second interesting, while totally different, game I had a chance to try was Haggis. Haggis is a climbing game played with 54 cards (2-10 in five suits plus 3 J,Q,K each as jokers) and I had read from the BGG that the game would be more of less Tichu for 2-3 players. I love Tichu and finding  a solution to fix the need for Tichu with less than 4 players would be great. Unfortunately Haggis is not Tichu even though the game itself seemed to be interesting.

Image by Travis Worthington / BGG

Gameplay of Haggis is as in most of the climbing games and is thus relative close to Tichu or Gang of Four. The most interesting and innovative mechanic of the game is that each player gets three jokers which can be used as bombs and they are dealt face up in front of each player. Players can use these cards as a part of set or sequence as well but doing so means that players looses the opportunity to play bombs. First player to go out scores 5 points for each card the player with the most cards has in his/her hand at the moment plus the points in the tricks won. Scoring is thus a combination of Gang of Four and Tichu.

I liked the game and am willing to play more but Haggis is not Tichu. For me Tichu is a partnership game and there isn’t partnership involved in Haggis. But Haggis is great choice if you want to introduce someone to climbing games or you have only 2-3 players to play a climbing game.

Haggis is at the moment out of print but you can find the rules from BGG and modify Sticheln deck to fit your needs

Click here to view the embedded video.

Toivottavasti koet videon hyödylliseksi ja otan mielelläni vastaan palautetta videoihin liityen.

Uutiset

Maininta Jycon -lautapelitapahtumasta maaliskuun lopussa.

Lautapelaamisen SM-turnaus toukokuun lopussa.

Competon kaksi suomalaisten suunnittelijoiden uutuuspeliä, jotka julkaistaan kesällä 2010.

Lautapelioppaan keskusteluhetki

Käyn läpi ajankohtaisia lautapeliaiheita Lautapelioppaan toisen toimittajan Hannu “OpettajaH” Sinisalon kanssa. Puhumme muun muassa Factory Managerista, Peloponnesista sekä Power Strugglesta. Ehdimme myös käsitellä tukun muita aiheitä tässä noin 20 minuutin mittaisessa pätkässä.

Lautapelisuomen kilpailu

Lautapelisuomen uudessa kilpailussa arvuutellaan sitä, mihin peliin jaksossa lausumani teemateksti oikein sopii. Tehtäväsi on arvata oikea peli kuun viimeiseen päivään mennessä. Oikein vastanneiden kesken arvotaan pääpalkinnoksi yksi vapaavalintainen peli Competon tuotevalikoimasta kotiin kuljetettuna.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tästedes yritän kuitenkin saada jakson näkymään myös täällä.

Click here to view the embedded video.