Feb
28
Lautapelit.fi releases Modern Art
Filed Under News | 2 Comments
Lautapelit.fi announced that they bring out Reiner Knizia’s classic auction game
Modern Art as a Scandinavian version. The graphics of the game will be completely renewed and at least the box cover promises something totally different from the previous editions. Unfortunately game is not going to be available for the international audience but probably there’s a possibility to puchase the game from the Lautapelit.fi web store.
I hope that the paintings will be based on real works in this edition but lets see how it goes.
Feb
26
Busy week of gaming part 2
Filed Under Agricola, Galaxy Trucker, Session, Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries | Leave a Comment
Winter holidays did mean a lot of gaming this year and what would have been better way to spend time now that we have had the warmest winter in ages.
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries was a rather nice experience when I had a chance to play the game with one of my old friends. I haven’t played TtR that much and it’s quite hard for me to judge which version of the game is the best but I enjoyed our two games. The quality of the components is definitely better in Nordic Countries than in Switzerland expansion which I tried in Tracon and I don’t have any complaints with the design of the game. Game play is almost the same as in the other games in the series and the only major diffirence is the board which is challenging. There’s not that many ways to connect cities so fight over the routes is hard and it is relatively easy to block others to getting to their goals. The Murmansk route is also huge and the 27 points that is awarded for finishing the route might just be a bit too much.
I also had a chance to try the original
Ticket to Ride with three players for the first time and I must say that I enjoyed it also quite a bit. I had two non-gamers playing with me and the game just the kind of game one can introduce to people who don’t know anything about gaming. Maybe three is a bit too few to play the US map but then again there were not that much competition and blocking while anyone hadn’t played the game before.
Galaxy Trucker is a newest addition in my game collection and the more I play the game the more I enjoy it. I love the theme of the game and the fact that the theme fits the mechanics fluently. Nothing is more fun than to first use junk to contruct a so and so space ship and then explore the unknown with it. There’s no down time and everybody’s busy all the time doing something and although there’s not direct interaction among the players it definitely feels like there would be a lot. Great game and one of my favorites from the year 2007.
The other favorite for most of the gaming world has been
Agricola which I had played before Sunday once (family game) and somewhat liked. This time we played with cards which made the game lot more challenging from the family game and I also noticed that the cards you get in the beginning can really decide your whole game. My cards weren’t that good which made scoring a bit trickier.
I’m not a big fan of Agricola. It’s close to perfect in it’s own category (optimization) but while I’m not a huge fan of heavy optimization I don’t get any kicks out of the game. Agricola feels like a solitaire game where usually you don’t use your actions to affect the others because you lose more by doing so. Interaction is there but it’s more indirect and occurs usually only when you are trying to achieve same goals as you fellow players. For some this is heaven but maybe for me heaven lie somewhere else.
Feb
24
LATAA -
TÄSTÄ- LAUTAPELISUOMEN UUSIN JAKSO
Tässä jaksossa seuraavaa:
JOHDANTO
HAASTATTELU TUONELA PRODUCTIONS / JUSSI AUTIO
Tuonela Productions on Oulussa sijaitseva pelisuunnitteluyritys, jonka toiminnan painopistealueena on lauta- ja korttipelien suunnitteleminen. Käsittelemme haastattelussa Tuonelan toimintaa ja pelejä sekä odotuksia tulevaisuutta silmällä pitäen. Omalta kohdaltani erityisen mielenkiintoista oli kuunnella Jussin kokemuksia Spiel 2007 (Essen) -messuista viime marraskuulta.
LAUTAPELISUOMI KILPAILU 2
Lautapelisuomen toinen kilpailu alkaa tämän jakson julkaisun yhteydessä. Kilpailun palkintona on Tuonela Productionsin Oil Field -korttipeli ja pelin voittamiseen sinun tarvitsee vastata oikein jaksossa esitettyihin viiteen kysymykseen sunnuntaihin 9.3.2008 mennessä.
Lähetä vastauksesi osoitteeseen cane <ät> boardgamingfinland.com ja osallistut kilpailuun. Kilpailun voittaja selviää maaliskuun toisella viikolla.
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Palaute on tervetullutta ja pyrin ottamaan sen huomioon tulevia jaksoja suunnitellessani. Lähetä ihmeessä myös toivomuksia tulevia jaksoja silmällä pitäen. Kiitokset myös Eminorille ja Mikko Putkoselle musiikista.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Feb
20
Busy week of gaming
Filed Under 10 Days in Europe, Alias, Amazing Labyrinth, Battle Line, Gang of Four, Kingsburg, Race for the Galaxy, Samurai, San Juan, Session, StreetSoccer, Thebes, Wits and Wagers | Leave a Comment
I’m on my winter holiday and I’ve been able to do some serious gaming. Saturday was Tracon which I’ve already given report earlier. Sunday I visited the weekly meeting of the Library 10 game club and was able to play
Gang of Four,
Samurai and
Battle Line. I have to say that I’m not a fan of Samurai. I don’t quite know why I don’t like the game but I just don’t. Maybe it’s the quiet tensity of the game and my aching brains when I play the game. Battle Line proved to be very interesting two player card game with a ancient battle theme. It’s quick and there is definitely some strategy in the game eventhough luck plays a role here as in most of the card games anyways.
On Monday I held a game night at my school. I study at the Sibelius-Academy which is full of musicians practicing 24/7 and Student Union is trying to provide other activities for the students. I’m able to provide games and we have had fun playing them. What is most interesting in Siba’s club is the fact that most of the participants are ladies and the games we play are a bit diffirent than usually. This time I introduced
Wits and Wagers which in the end was a success (some of the players would have liked to change the game during the first round). After W&W majority voted for
Alias which is a game I dislike and when I was playing the game I remembered why. It’s long, there’s a lot of down tile and me and my partner don’t have any chance to win because explaining words is not my thing. Girls went on to play
Amazing Labyrinth and me and the other gent kicked off a game of
StreetSoccer.
Tuesday nights are reserved for
Nokia Board Game Club and there I was playing games again. First game of the night was
10 Days in Europe which I’ve just bought and after some difficulties in the beginning even had the appropriate tiles to play the game. Game seems to be just what I expected it to be – fast, easy and accessible for non-gamers. we went on to play
Thebes which is also a solid game although I haven’t got a chance to win the game because I never draw any treasures from the bag.
Then
Kingsburg which I liked. Kingsburg is a game of resource management and lots of dice. Players throw the dice and use them to obtain resources from the board. There’s spaces from 1 to 18 on the board and every space has unique attribute – some give you more resources others points or bonuses in battle. The overall mechanic of the game rocks and there’s also interesting mechanics involved which help the players who has been left behind. I hope I’m able to play Kingsburg again sometime soon to further develop my understanding of the game because after just one play it’s usually hard to make any permanent conclutions.
Last game of the night was
Race for the Galaxy. There were four of us and ha the least experience with 2 plays.
Oskari had played 40+ times and Janne 10+ and I suppose
Saku also had a few games more under his belt than me. None was surprised when I was left dead last. I don’t particularly like RftG because there’s too much cards and therefore one can not have influence in one’s strategy enough. If I begin building these buildings I have to have this one / these two cards in order to win. How probable it is that I get those cards from the deck? With four players not too probable. This same problem rises also when you play
San Juan with four. It is less likely that you get the necessary cards to win the game but still I believe that SJ is actually much easier to control than RftG. Maybe I’ll change my view when I’ve played the game 10+ times and at least if I someday get the 500+ games played as I have with San Juan.
Feb
18
Lautapelisuomi – Suomalainen trilogia
Filed Under Finanssinero, Flix Mix, Galaxy Trucker, Hamsterrolle, Jamaica, Lautapelisuomi, Origin of Falling Water, Podcast, Qwirkle, TtR: Switzerland | Leave a Comment
LATAA -
TÄSTÄ- LAUTAPELISUOMEN UUSIN JAKSO
Tässä jaksossa seuraavaa:
JOHDANTO
HAASTATTELU MIKU GAMES
Miku Games on Tukholmassa sijaitseva pelisuunnittelyritys, joka kehittää ensimmäistä merkittävää lautapelisarjaansa Talvisodasta, Jatkosodasta sekä Lapin sodasta. Käymme haastattelussa läpi perusasioita yrityksestä, peleistä sekä siitä milloin ja miten pelit voi hankkia itselleen.
Suurkiitokset vielä Mikulle kärsivällisyydestä haastattelun yhteydessä. Skype ei suostunut yhteistyöhön ja osoitti epävakautensa mistä johtuen haastattelu kesti huomattavasti pidempään kuin mitä olimme suunnitelleet
TRACON RAPORTTI
Kävin pyörähtämässä Tampereella Hervannan kaupunginosassa järjestetyssä Tracon tapahtumassa (lisätietoa tapahtumasta löytyy tästä linkistä). Osallistujakunta oli pääosin nuorta ja varsin erikoisesti pukeutunutta ja allekirjoittanut tunsi aluksi olevansa aivan väärässä paikassa. Lautapelipuoli oli kuitenkin sen verran syrjässä, että varsinainen tapahtuma ei lautapelipuolella juurikaan näkynyt ja pääsin pelaamaan runsaasti mielenkiintoisia pelejä.
Raportissa mainitsen seuraavat pelit:
Jamaica, Galaxy Trucker, Finanssinero, Qwirkle, Menolippu Sveitsi, Hamsterrolle, Flix Mix ja Origin of Falling Water
Mukana siis mielenkiintoisia uusia pelejä sekä muutamia mielenkiintoisia vanhoja tuttavuuksia. Kiitokset kaikille kanssani pelanneille sekä erityiskiitokset Mankalle ja Joelamerille haastatteluista!
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Palaute on tervetullutta ja pyrin ottamaan sen huomioon tulevia jaksoja suunnitellessani. Lähetä ihmeessä myös toivomuksia tulevia jaksoja silmällä pitäen. Kiitokset myös Eminorille ja Mikko Putkoselle musiikista.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Feb
17
Tracon 2008
Filed Under Qwirkle, Session, TtR: Switzerland | Leave a Comment
I spent whole Saturday in Tracon which ment that I had to wake up at 6.30 am because of the 150 kilometers to Tampere where the event was held. Tracon is a animecon where the Finnish Board Game Society had a room for board games. There were a lot of young teenagers dressed up accordingly but board games where not why they were there and therefore there weren’t that much people playing games in our room –> I had much more time to play games than I had hoped.
I played nine games of which six were new to me; not bad at all. The most memorable games were Qwirkle and Ticket to Ride: Switzerland.
Qwirkle is a abstract tile laying game where gamers try to match color and shapes of the wooden blocks they have in their hand and gain points by doing so. Game felt much like Scrabble, a game that is not a favorite of mine bacause words have never been a speciality of mine, in the basic mechanic of the game play and game is easy to teach and play but still I can understand that those who have played game more than the others can butcher opponents easily. With this I try to say that there is definitely depth in Qwirkle.
The other interesting game I got to try was
Ticket to Ride: Switzerland. I had somehow avoided Ticket to Ride although I have been interested in playing it for some time. I suppose most gamers are gotten bit tired of the game and thus there haven’t been chances to play the game. Now Mankka tought me the game and we had a nice game of TtR: Switzerland. This expansion was good: the map is quite tight and there is not that much room to manoeuvre, there seemed to be a good variety of destination cards available and obviously game play was as smooth as in the basic game is told to have. As a virgin of TtR games I can not compare thisone to the other games in the TtR series but I enjoyed the game and wish that I’m able to try the others games and expansions too in the future.
Feb
15
Lautapelit.fi releases Toledo
Filed Under News, Toledo | Leave a Comment
Lautapelit.fi announced yesterday that thay bring out a new Martin Wallace game
Toledo in Finnish and Swedish. Martin Wallace is best known for Age of Steam which is highly rated among the experienced gamers. Toledo is more of a family game for 2-4 players 10 and up and a playing time of approx. 60 minutes. The theme of the game is buying raw material for swords, forging them and delivering them into the famous city of Alcazar.
I’m looking forward to try the game although the theme doesn’t sound too interesting.
Feb
12
Cane @ Garrett’s Games
Filed Under News | Leave a Comment
I give some comments on the games from the year 2007 I liked in the Garrett’s Games and Geekiness 100th episode. Haven’t yet been able to listen the show but I’m eager to hear what Garrett has done in his milestone episode.
Check it out.
Feb
12
LATAA -
TÄSTÄ- LAUTAPELISUOMEN UUSIN JAKSO
Tässä jaksossa seuraavaa:
JOHDANTO
ARVOSTELU: SAN JUAN
Arvostelen jaksossa yhden kestosuosikeistani eli San Juanin. Peli sai viisi tähteä ja ehdottoman vihreän valon, jos et ole peliä koskaan aikaisemmin pelannut.
ARVOSTELU: FINANSSINERO
Suomalaisen Gambit Games Oy:n peli, joka oli myös edellisessä lähetyksessä päättyneen kilpailun palkinto. Kolme tähteä ja vihreää valoa, jos törmäät peliin jossain vaiheessa.
NETTIPELAAMINEN – BRETTSPIELWELT.DE
Istuimme Markku “JoeLamer” Jaatisen kanssa alas ja keskustelimme todennäköisesti maailman suurimmasta lautapeliportaalista BSW:stä. Keskustelu polveilee perusasioista vähän yksityiskohtaisempiin tietoihin sivustoon ja siellä pelaamiseen liittyen.
Tästä linkistä löytyy Markun tekemä ohje BSW:n käyttämiseen.
Ja tämä linkki puolestaan johdattaa sinut Suomen lautapeliseuran foorumin osioon, jossa puhutaan nettipelaamisesta yleensä.
Isot kiitokset Markulle juttutuokiosta ja toivottavasti saan Markun toistekin keskustelemaan erilaisista lautapelaamiseen liittyvistä teemoista!
Otan mielelläni kysymyksiä ja kommentteja BSW-keskusteluun liittyen ja pyrin vastaamaan kaikkiin kysymyksiin yhteistyössä Markun kanssa.
LOPETUS
Lisätietoa Tracon -tapahtumasta löytyy tästä linkistä. Tule ihmeessä mukaan pelaamaan pelejä tai muuten vain haistelemaan tunnelmaa. Olen paikalle nauhoittimieni kanssa ja pelaan myös mielelläni pelejä kuulijoiden kanssa. Eli jos olet tulossa paikalle niin laita minulle viestiä asiasta.
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Palaute on tervetullutta ja pyrin ottamaan sen huomioon tulevia jaksoja suunnitellessani. Lähetä ihmeessä myös toivomuksia tulevia jaksoja silmällä pitäen. Kiitokset myös Eminorille ja Mikko Putkoselle musiikista.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Feb
4
Serious shipping in Library 10
Filed Under Container, Last Panther, Session | Leave a Comment
Weekly session in Library 10. This time there were five of us and bunch of games where to choose the game to play.
Container fulfilled the need for a bit meatier game and it was the first pick of the day. I watched Container before it was published by Valley Games. Actually I was quite close on pre-ordering it from the company but I’m happy I did not. Valley Games have promised much but company has not been even close to keep most of the promises given.
Nevertheless, Container is a kind of game I enjoy in general. In Container players try to maximaze profit by producing and shipping goods to an island. Players need to get the business rolling and this can be done in several ways. One can build more factories and produce more or then one can build more warehouses and buy goods from the factories. Or then player can try to just concentrate to ship goods to the island and gain points in the end. None of us went purely on some of these tactics but variations were relatively different. I tried to build storage space and offer goods that were interesting for others to buy and the other part of my tactics was to ship stuff to the island and gain some money that way.
There were some flaws in the game: it took quite long with five and there was a bit too much down time between turns. But game has interesting mechanics were basically there is a production and optimizing component and then in the island players bid for the goods that are shipped there. Maybe there will be variants for the game which will make the game more smooth thus making the game more enjoyable to play.
After Container we played a half game of Last Panther. I didn’t do well and came dead last and I have to say that I’m not that big fan of Panther anyhow. It’s just the one trick taking game that always hits the table in the groups I play.