Dominion expansion in my hands!

Dominion: Intrigue is now mine. I've sleeved the nearly 500 cards. I've read through most of the manual. Now I just need to play it.

This time around, the art seems a smidgen better than the first Dominion set (which seemed weak artistically to me). Franz Vohwinkel participated in some of the card art this time. It's always a delight to see such excellent artwork as his. Unfortunately, there's still some really bland, uninteresting art.

One thing that mattered to me was the kingdom card balance. Here are the stats on the new kingdom card types:

16 x Action
4 x Action - Attack
2 x Action - Victory
1 x Action - Reaction
1 x Treasure - Victory
1 x Victory

One cool thing I learned from the manual is that when you are attacked, you can play as many reaction cards as you have. So, if you had both, you could play a Moat and a Secret Chamber, gaining both benefits.

Now, I'll just mention a couple cards that caught my attention while I was browsing and sleeving (which reminds me of the movie Roxanne - the scene where Roxanne says to Charlie: "I thought you said 'earn more sessions by sleeving.' " What a classic scene.)

To begin with, we have this nasty masked fellow who calls himself the "Torturer."

The ability text reads:

Each other player chooses one: he discards 2 cards; or he gains a Curse card, putting it in his hand.

This is the Witch of the new set, in that he's the one guy who can give you Curse cards. You'll notice that, like the Witch, he costs 5 money to buy, but whereas the Witch allows you to draw 2 cards, this fiend allows you to draw 3 cards. The only other difference between this card and the Witch is that this guy allows attacked players to choose their poison - discard 2 cards, or pick up a Curse (which goes to the hand rather than the discard pile, so it doesn't sting quite as much as the Witch. Heck, the other player might have a Chapel or Remodel in his hand to deal with that Curse on his very next turn). So, this card seems to be similar to the Witch, but it's better for all parties involved.

Next, we join the blacksmiths in their sweet-looking metal shop.

The ability text reads:

Gain a card costing up to 4. If it is an...
Action card, +1 Action
Treasure card, +1 money
Victory card, +1 Card

Admittedly, the main thing that drew my attention to this card was the art. The only light illuminating the work of these sweaty brutes is the light of their molten swords. It's just a cool-looking picture.

Still, the ability is interesting. This 4-cost card, when played, gains you a free 4-cost card and a choice between three other benefits. This could come in handy as a wild card of sorts. Sometimes you need one ability, but all you have is the wrong ones. This card allows you to choose which benefit you need.

There are a batch of other interesting cards from what I've seen so far, but I'll let you discover them for yourself.

By the way, I must have been out of the loop because I only found out yesterday that Dominion won the 2009 Spiel des Jahres award. I'm glad the judges didn't find the game to be too complicated. I mean, really, the game deserved it. Nice work, Mr. Vaccarino!

Happy anniversary to my wife!

Today marks my 9-year wedding anniversary, and my wife continues to be the woman of my dreams. "The Queen" is my nickname for her, and she is still my royal treasure after 9 easy years of marriage bliss. In honor of my dear wife, I'm going to highlight her favorite games today. So, if you're interested in wife games, you might want to pay attention!

My wife's top pick:

Race for the Galaxy



Image by kilroy_locke at BGG

My wife's favorite game mechanics seem to be:

• hand management
• set collection
• card drafting

She also likes colored groups of things, cards, and low-conflict (multiplayer solitaire).

Almost all of these features are present in Race for the Galaxy in some measure, but especially hand management. My wife really likes being able to control the constantly changing hand of cards, and then using those cards to control her tableau (play area) for maximum benefit. I agree that these features make RftG an outstanding game, and it still holds slot #2 on my personal top 10 list. This is one of the few games that my wife and I enjoy equally. My only complaint about this game is that a lucky set of early card draws can set you up for the win. There are killer combos, and it rocks to be the person who draws them.

Somehow, my wife almost always gets lots of Alien combos, and frequently has military power to boost her Alien strategy. It's uncanny. I probably win about 1 out of 7 or 8 plays.

My wife's other favorites:

Wyatt Earp


Image by Geosmores at BGG

This game has hand management, set collection, and colored groups, which explains why my wife picks Wyatt Earp so often when it's her turn to choose the game.

We always cringe when one of us finally plays the Hideout card instead of just discarding it. The feared Hideout card is the one attack in the game that really hurts. Fortunately, it doesn't get played very often, unless it's a desperate situation.

We both like the Western theme to the game. My wife is always willing to play this one.

Thurn and Taxis


Image by swiftcorp at BGG

I think my wife really likes that there is no way to directly attack others in Thurn and Taxis. I agree with her - I typically prefer games where you can safely work on your own position without worrying about being targeted.

This game has colors, cards, and a unique mechanic for building postal routes. It's very simple to learn and play. All these features, I think, make this one of my wife's top picks.

Lost Cities


Image by Araneuz at BGG

Lost Cities is an example of a game I am glad to not play, but which my wife loves. You can see why - cards, colored sets, and a bit of hand management as you decide what to hold, play, and discard. Also, you're mostly just building your own position, even though it is easy to manipulate each other's options. I see this game as just another Reiner Knizia numbers game. The theme is cool, but doesn't factor into gameplay in any way. I think my wife likes the simplicity of designs like this. If you're looking for wife games, you've probably heard about this one. As much as I don't like this game, I actually would recommend it as a wife game because so many wives are reported to like it.

Alhambra


Image by Martin Ralya at BGG

Just look at the picture above. It's a deck of cards in 4 colors and a bunch of tiles in six colors. You manage a hand of money cards, you pay for colored tiles, and you build your own nice little city. My wife has chosen this game many times. We find that it works best with two players, which is great since most of our plays are at home, with just the two of us. We actually haven't played this one for a while. I'm sure my wife will want to pull it out again once she's played a few more games of RftG. If you're looking for a good 2P game to play with your spouse, you might want to give Alhambra some attention.

Thanks for reading, as always. Happy anniversary, my Queen!

Brief Overview video #9: Race for the Galaxy

Here it is at last - a brief overview of Race for the Galaxy, as was requested. Yes, there are some details I left out, but I mentioned all of the features that I think are important for deciding if the mechanics are interesting to you. Race for the Galaxy is a difficult game to learn, but once you have played 3-5 games, you'll become comfortable with it, I think.

This is the last brief overview video you'll see for a long time. I just don't have time to keep working on these with my very limited free time. If I do any other such videos in the future, they are likely to be for much simpler games. Thank you for all the positive feedback I've received. I hope this RftG video will give you some idea of what makes this game work.

News: A pile of recent thoughts and issues

Today I am writing for the purpose of recording all of my gaming updates in one shot. My time for writing only continues to diminish as my family requires more of my time and attention. Thank you for continuing to follow Games on the Table when I manage to get something posted.

Stolen penguins!

During the Christmas break, I had accidentally left my copy of Hey! That's My Fish! in the staff break room where my gaming group plays board games every Wednesday at lunch. When I returned from the break, I was pleased to see my game waiting happily for me on the counter where I had forgotten it. I had brought my teapot to the break room to clean it, and so I set my recovered game box on the recycle bin right next to the sink. For some reason I can't remember now, I had set a paper towel on top of the box. After rinsing my teapot, I walked back to my office. Late that afternoon, I realized that I had left my game in the break room once again! I hurried back to retrieve it only to discover that the box was not where I had left it. It wasn't on the vending machines, microwaves, counters, or refrigerator. It was gone. I checked all lost-and-founds, which turned up nothing. I contacted the head of custodial services, who kindly checked with his crew to see if they had seen the game box, which they hadn't. My conclusion: someone swiped my game. Hey! Those were my fish! I had enjoyed 26 plays of that game before the pilfering. It was one of my favorite filler games, but I just can't bring myself to sink the cash on another copy. Goodbye, little penguins. I'll miss you.

Download the Dice Tower Theme

The orchestral theme I composed for Tom Vasel's podcast, The Dice Tower, is now available for download from the Dice Tower website. You'll only hear chunks of this 3-minute piece of music on the actual podcast, so go download the track to listen to it in its entirety! (Look for the March 11 news on the front page of the Dice Tower website).

My new favorite game

A few months ago, I purchased Donald Vaccarino's card game, Dominion. Back when this game was being developed, and was frequently hyped on BoardGameNews.com, I was following it with great interest. Well, the reports were all true - this game is fantastic. I couldn't have imagined any game being more enjoyable than my other favorite games, but once I played Dominion a few times, it jumped right up to the top of my list. After one play, I wasn't sure how I liked it. After two or three plays, I thought I was starting to like it. After several plays, I really liked it. As of 20 in-person plays as of this writing, and many plays on BSW, I love it. Coming this month or next is the expansion for Dominion. If I can get enough people at work to join a game order, I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on Dominion: Intrigue. Vaccarino's design is just brilliant. He can expand Dominion to no end, keeping it greatly customizable, and highly replayable. This game provides much of the pleasure of a CCG, without all the downsides. Thank you, Mr. Vaccarino.

RPGGeek?

I'm still tracking the development of RPGGeek as much as I can. There is very little information about it. The last I read, it looks as if RPGGeek is going to be incorporated into the already-existing BGG as we know it. In this post Scott Alden indicates that "Board Games" and "RPGs" will be selectable menu bar items. This makes one wonder if such a menu bar will eventually include the other proposed "geek" sites, such as Books, Movies, and Video Games.

Brief overview series

I know there are a number of you who are eagerly awaiting my next brief overview video. Thanks again for the encouraging comments you've sent - I appreciate them very much. I am still trying to find a minute here and there to work on the upcoming Race for the Galaxy video. I don't know how much longer it will be. So, the fact that this video is indeed coming is hopefully good news to you. Unfortunately, I think I will put the brief overview series on the backburner after this next video. I recently spent some time calculating my daily schedule, and my free time comes out to almost nothing. Because of the other pursuits and priorities in my life which come before board games (family time, music composition, reading) I am having a hard time fitting in time for other hobbies, including blogging and the brief overview videos. There are so many things I enjoy doing, but currently, I have a list of 3 abandoned hobbies/interests, 14 backburner hobbies/interests, and 10 current and ongoing hobbies/interests. And the one that takes the most time - wife and children - isn't even on the list. It's just reality - a pleasant one, mind you - but it's reality. My family needs me, and as the years go by, I find that I must abandon more and more of my personal pursuits for the sake of others. Thus is life.

The sweet taste of pulp

My background in the pulp genre, as I've explained before, was nil before I played the RPG, Spirit of the Century. Listening to the Red Panda audio drama (which I highly recommend) helped me to understand the genre even more. Then recently, I listened to a free audio book as a podcast from Uvula Audio. The book was The Man of Bronze, by Lester Dent. This is one of the early Doc Savage stories, and from what I've gathered, this actually may have been the first (correct me if I'm wrong). While I don't think the story has enough angst for today's audience, I actually loved the story. Doc Savage is the kind of hero I like - he doesn't seem to ever make mistakes. The guy has no weaknesses. He's better than everyone at everything, and you can always count on him to have a solution. He has a group of other skilled guys helping him, and they spend the whole story adventuring in . . . I don't want to spoil anything for you. So, if you're interested in pulp, Doc Savage, or adventure at all, go listen to this free dramatic reading of The Man of Bronze!

Treasures & Traps: Entry Bonuses

Today I had a chance to play Treasures & Traps with three buddies during our Boardgame Wednesday session. These sessions occur once a week during the lunch hour at work. I'll write more about Boardgame Wednesday in a later post. Today's post assumes you are familiar with the game. If you have not yet played the game, you should pick it up at Thoughthammer. If you would like to learn about the game, you can read reviews and look at pictures on BoardGameGeek

Treasures & Traps is a game by Aaron Kreader, who also did the fabulous cartoony artwork. Today, I am going to focus on one particular aspect of this game which I thought about after playing today: cards which add bonuses to entry rolls.

These cards seem to be one of, if not THE, most useful cards in the game. Here is a list of these cards in order of potency from least to greatest, as I see it.

• Ability #1: +1 on entry rolls for TREASURE items
• Ability #2: +1 or 2 on entry rolls for ITEMS
• Ability #3: +1 on all entry rolls
• Ability #4: +2, 3, or 4 on any roll of the die

Here are the cards which fit with each ability, in order of potency:

• Ability #1: Dwarf
• Ability #2: Trove, Treasury, Vault, Brooch
• Ability #3: Princess
• Ability #4: Luck Potion, Magic Potion, Hero's Potion

The reason this set of cards is so important is that they can aid you in getting treasure cards into your realm from your own hand. The most surefire way to acquire a treasure is by playing it successfully from your own hand. There are other ways, but they require more chance. The problem is, treasures are relatively difficult to play directly from your hand. In particular, gold treaures, which require a die roll of 5 or 6. It is not very often you have one of these in hand. When you play this card, you don't want to lose it on account of an unlucky roll. You need that gold treasure to win, after all.

This is where the bonus cards come in handy. Any card listed above will be useful in boosting your chances of successfully acquiring treasure cards. Clearly, the best card in the list is the Hero's Potion. With an entry requirement of 1, it's effectively a free placement unless countered by someone else. On top of that, it gives you +4 to any roll. On top of that, you can use it any time as a free action to mod one of your rolls. But there is one downside to this sweet card: because it's so powerful, people are likely to steal it or force it to exit (exit roll of 3). So even though it's the most powerful of the bonus cards, it's also the most sought after. In this case you may be better off with a less prominent card.

A more secure way to gain a bonus that can't be stolen is to use a PLACE or COMPANION card. Since I'm specifically talking about entering treasure cards here, I have to recommend using the Dwarf if you get him. His ability is the most specific of the listed bonus cards, but when you're after treasure, he fits the bill perfectly. The Dwarf is a companion, and therefore manages to attract less attention, in my experience. If someone has another card from higher on the list, they are probably a better target for hosage. Plus, the Dwarf's entry cost is 1. So, despite his limits, don't overlook him.

The last card I'll mention is a middle ground card - the Trove. Trove is a PLACE card. It has the same entry cost (2) as Vault, but a +2 compared to Vault's +1 when playing ITEM cards. For a 2-cost card that can't get stolen, this is a great ability, and very useful for playing treasure cards in your realm.

I might post about other cards in the future. For now, I advise you to keep your eye out for these bonus cards the next time you play Treasures & Traps!