Computerized board gaming

Normally, on Fridays, my roleplaying group has a Fate session and I write up the report on the weekend. This week, two of our players were out, so instead, you get a board gaming article.

There are two kinds of board gamers: those who like playing computerized versions of board games, and those who don't. I personally like playing computer versions of board games. Sure, I don't like it as much as gaming with other people at a real table, but I have nothing against electronic board gaming. It's still fun, even if I'm playing AI.

Today, I will share with you the sites where I play, as well as one downloadable game I've found to be worth playing.

Brettspielwelt (BSW)

Brettspielwelt is the ultimate site for real-time board gaming against human opponents all over the world. BSW is a German site, but you can play and communicate in English. Learning how to navigate can be a little daunting at first, but there are people online who will help answer questions. There are live chats when you are logged in. You can use these chats to find people to play with or ask questions. Fortunately, the interface requires nothing more than a bunch of mouse clicks.

BSW has a huge selection of games to choose from. Games I have played are Diamant, Hey! That's My Fish!, To Court the King, and Thurn and Taxis.

If you want to have an English interface, I highly recommend going here and downloading the sample prop file. Once you've downloaded it, change the name to "Brettspielwelt.prop" and put it in the program folder where the prop file is stored. It will overwrite the original one, unless you change the name of the old one first. Before opening the program, open the prop file with a text editor program (Wordpad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac OS X). Toward the top of the file you will see:

Name = Yourname
Password = Yourpassword

You need to change "Yourname" to your own BSW login name, and "Yourpassword" to your own BSW password. If you don't want to automatically log in, just delete these two lines of text and save the prop file.

Play Coloretto at Marquand.net

Coloretto is one of my favorite games. I might have never discovered that, had it not been for Matthew Marquand. His site was the first place I learned to play Coloretto. Soon after, I bought the game. It has been one of my top 10 games every since. This implementation is very good, and the AI is good as well. He also has implementations of Ingenious and Clans on his site.

Play Citadels at Citadelles.net

Citadels was my second eurogame (the first was The Settlers of Catan). I found Citadels at a FLGS a few years ago and decided to pick it up. This is one of my favorite games to this day. This implementation of Citadels is very good, as is the AI. It includes every purple district from the Dark City expansion. The one downside is that you can't use any of the expansion characters.

AsoBrain

Although I'm not the biggest fan of Carcassonne (Toulouse), I like playing it on this site. The bots think so fast that I can blast through a game quickly, the way I prefer Carc. You can also play an implementation of The Settlers of Catan (Xplorers) here.

Days of Wonder

Having already owned Ticket to Ride: Märklin Edition, I wanted to give the original Ticket to Ride a try. Days of Wonder has a few of its games available for online play. You can join other people's games for free, but to start a game, you have to be subscribed. I had the free temporary subscription which came with TTR:M, so I used it to learn TTR online. You can play TTR against humans or bots. The bot AI is quite good. Having enjoyed the original TTR online, I eventually bought it.

Play Cartagena at youplayit.net

My friends and I have enjoyed a few games of Cartagena on this site. This was actually where we originally tried the game. Two people have purchased the game since then. This is a play-by-email (PBEM) system.

MabiWeb

This site has several PBEM games. I have played Samurai, Hansa, and Richelieu - all very good implementations.

SpielByWeb

I have played great implementations of Tikal and Hacienda here. My friends and I attempted to try Reef Encounter and Hoity Toity, but bailed because we couldn't figure out what the heck we were doing. I suppose we should have read the instructions more carefully before playing. Despite the popularity of Reef Encounter, trying to understand that game was misery for me. I'm sure it's fun once you figure out all the workings of it, but I still shudder to this day at the thought of it....

Those are all the sites I have frequented for online play. And here is one downloadable computer board game I have found to be very good:

Download JSanJuan

JSanJuan, by André Wichmann, is a wonderful implementation of San Juan which can run on any system with Java. The AI is very, very good. I have won maybe 20% of the games I've played.

There are many other places to play board games online. I have yet to try them. Here are a list of some other sites you might want to investigate. I have not tried them myself as of yet:

Mr. Jack: play Mr. Jack against human opponents
Ludagora.net: multiple games, site is in French
Yucata.de: multiple games, English language option
Yourturnmyturn.com: multiple games
Boiteajeux.net: multiple games, site is in French
Flexgames.com: Lost Cities and Schotten Totten

Thebes: What's in the Box?

I recently acquired a couple new games, one of them being Thebes. I have been looking forward to playing this game for a long time. I debated the purchase for several months and finally decided to give it a try. I have not been disappointed.

So, one thing you might wonder is: "How big is the box?" Take a look below.

The box is big. It's long and thicker (up and down) than a TTR box, but not as wide. Here's what you find inside (minus one time wheel which our 21-month-old son managed to hide very well).

You can see in the picture:

• Box interior with slots for all the bits to easily fit. Not as form-fitted as some boxes, but good nevertheless.
  
• Board depicting parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia
• Instruction manual
• Player reference / treasure details sheet
• 5 cloth bags with colored trim to coordinate with their dig sites
• Pile of multicolored excavation permission tiles
• Deck of small cards (Thurn & Taxis or Ticket to Ride size)
• 4 colored meeples, 4 time track markers and 1 year marker
• 3 time wheels (the game comes with 4)
  

One of the features I like most about this game is the art. As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Michael Menzel's artwork. Besides Jambo, this is the only Menzel game I have at this point. Check out some of the tasty artwork on this board:

Here you can see most of the cities where you do research:

Here you can see most of the excavation sites:

The design is very pleasing to the eyes. Everything is laid out tastefully.

Here's a close-up of one of the meeples. Each player has one of these to represent their archaeologist:

Here's how the table looks at the beginning of a 2-player game:

One thing I discovered that I instantly loved about the game was the collecting feature. I can't think of any other game I've played where collecting lots of stuff is such a big part of the play. Here is what a player's area looks like late in the game:

And here's how the table looks at the end of a 2-player game:

Clearly, there are lots of pretty components in this game. One thing you may not notice in these pictures is the box cover art design. The blue which paints the sky is stunning, making this box one of the most attractive I've ever seen. The picture displays some archaeologists uncovering and documenting artifacts in Egypt. I love looking at the box cover. While looking through my game collection, all stacked on shelves, Thebes really stands out with its vivid cover art - "Play me! Play me!!"

The manual at first seemed confusing. The rules seemed much heavier than they are in practice, and I think this is a result of poor manual layout design. The rules make the game sound daunting, but once you play, you realize just how easy the game is. My wife and I felt comfortable with the game very soon into our first play. It flows well, and the theme touches every aspect of the game. You travel around researching. Then, when you feel like you've gathered enough information, you go and dig. Every once in a while, certain cities will put on exhibitions, and if you have the right types of artifacts to show, you can gain points from those exhibitions. But the exhibitions come and go, so you have to time them just right.

Everything in the game is time-based. It's like an action point system. You can do as much stuff as you want, as long as you're last on the time track (which looks like a scoring track around the edge of the board). Everything you do costs time. The game lasts either 2 or 3 "years", depending on the number of players.

You gain points for artifacts you dig up, for knowledge you acquire in your research, for congress meetings, and for exhibitions. So there are a few ways to strategize when storing up your victory points. But I think that you certainly have to dig a lot if you want to win. Artifacts are very important.

Thebes plays quickly with 2 players. My wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far. The biggest complaint gamers make about Thebes is that there is too much luck. I agree that there is a lot of luck, but it fits the theme. Sometimes, when you dig, you don't find anything. But pulling from the bag, hoping for the best treasures, is quite fun. It's also fun to watch other players pull from the bag - and at the same time agonizing to watch them draw the artifacts you wanted.

The game is similar to Ticket to Ride in terms of weight. As in TTR, I can see a first-timer winning the game. There is luck, and there is strategy. The overall flow is very comfortable. This should sit well with non-gamers and families.

I am really looking forward to playing more Thebes in the coming weeks.

Fate: Dark and Stormy report #8

With pockets full of gold pebbles, the party left the zombie's burial chamber behind, heading down another narrow hallway they had passed earlier.

Rwake crept cautiously down the hall, torch in hand. Elros and Leo followed closely behind, ready for anything. At the end of the hall, Rwake held up a hand for the others to stop. They had come to a new room. Through the doorway, they could see the forms of various sized bodies. They appeared as cocoons, wrapped in gray, silky threads. With keen awareness, Rwake noticed fine nearly-invisible strands crossing every which way over the open door. He moved his torch forward and watched as it snapped and melted the strands away. "It is as I thought," he said. "Spiderweb."

*THWIP!*

A huge stream of web gripped Rwake and pulled him into the room where the PCs could see the form of a monstrous black spider. Rwake quickly tried to cut through the strand of webbing connecting him to the spider, but his blade only stuck fast to the web. He began burning through the web with his torch, but the spider was only shooting more webbing, entwining him from the waist down.

Meanwhile, Elros readied himself in the doorway while Leo ran around to the left, flanking the spider. The spider lunged its hideous head forward to chomp on Rwake, but Rwake, quick and strong, reached out and grabbed a hold of the pincers, holding back the spider's bite. He took this window to use his "sqeak, squeaker, sqeakin" skill in an attempt to calm the massive creature. The spider's resolve roll was not enough. Rwake achieved 4 shifts. I decided to give the spider 4 composure stress. We agree that was the best way to play this out. After all, the spider's nature is to kill and eat, so being sidetracked from that seemed, in a way, detrimental to its mind.

Elros took action from the doorway, casting Energy magic, which succeeded against my set difficulty of +2. His spell grabbed Rwake with magical energy and pulled his body against the tension of the web. Rwake went floating back, stopping just in front of Elros, hovering in midair, the spiders web still connected, but pulled taut. It was a struggle of magical power against the physical sturdiness of the spider's web.

J and AC decided that it would be better for Leo to have the Mastercraft Shortsword that Elros had carried off from the knight's tomb. J paid a fate point and explained, "Hey! As it turns out, Leo's the one who took the sword!" This was a very good use of a fate point - an example of exactly what they can be utilized for. Wielding the sword, Leo discovered that this amazing weapon was surprisingly light and easy for him to grip and swing.

Leo leaped forward and sliced downward with the shortsword, attempting to sever the stretched web still gripping Rwake's floating form. His roll came out at -1. J used Leo's "Make me proud, son" aspect to reroll, drawing on Leo's need to live up to his father's expectations. The reroll came up Mediocre (0) - only a slight improvement. Spending another fate point, he added a +1 to his roll - bumping it up to Average (+1). I decided this would be reasonable for such a special weapon, especially since the web was already pulled tight. The sword severed the web, and to the astonishment of all, did not stick to the web. It sliced clean through.

This moment brought up a discussion. In SotC, players can take a Weapons skill. I didn't like the idea of each player taking a generic skill that made them good at all weapons, so I asked them to specialize. Leo's specialty is thrown weapons, as we've all seen. So when he decided to use a close range melee attack, the question arose - "How good is Leo at sword use?" I offered this option to J: how about you use the sword for the rest of this adventure, and say that when you have time, Elros is training you to use it. Then, when we start the next adventure, you can add shortsword to your weapons skill. J and the others liked this idea and agreed to proceed that way.

As soon as the web was cut, the released pressure launched Rwake back into Elros, tumbling them both to the hallway floor. The spider reared back in frustration, screaming a spider's vile chirping scream. Spotting Leo as the closest opponent, the spider swung a long front leg into Leo, collapsing him back several feet into the wall, causing 3 health stress to the little Lufan.

Rwake, still entwined from the waist down, sat up as well as he could and shot a blow dart at the spider, piercing one eye and causing 4 health stress. Since the dart was poisoned, the spider is required to roll for endurance every subsequent turn.

In the mean time, Elros jumped up (supplemental action = -1 to roll), crossed a zone (-1) and launched a direct attack with his sword. He rolled a -3, giving him -5. Invoking his "Death defying" aspect, he rerolled, totaling +3 this time. The spider rolled a +4 total on his defense. Elros' attack turned out to be valiant, but not enough.

During this action, it was requested by one player that maybe I should compel Elros' "Death defying" aspect to force him to go after the spider. I felt that this wasn't a situation where that would really be useful because the situation didn't really call for a death defying action, and because Elros' intent was already to attack the spider, so using the aspect would actually be beneficial for him. So that's how we played it out. It was a good chance, anyway, to discuss when compels would be appropriate. We're all still trying to understand these new features in Fate 3.0.

Next week, Leo's up!

Post game feedback was interesting. One player, used to Fate 2e reported that the new system feels like it is taking away from the fun because it feels so rules heavy compared to the freeform nature of Fate 2e. This player felt that our discussions and decision-making and ruling and joking during our sessions was wasting too much time which could have been used enjoying the imagination experience.

Another player, also accustomed to Fate 2e, felt that the tedious discussions and struggles of learning the new system were worth it. He seemed glad to discuss them.

The last player, used to several systems other than Fate, seemed completely content, very much enjoying learning the workings of a new system. This player loves reading RPG books and studying new systems. He explained that Fate 3.0 is a far cry from his heavy d20 experience, but he is thoroughly enjoying it all the same.

This spectrum of feedback raises a common issue for me as the GM. How do I keep all the players happy? My encouragement to the first player was to continue making the system work the way he wanted it to. That very approach is, in fact, encouraged by the Fate designers. Color should be prevalent above all. The system should be made to conform to our style of play and our idea of fun. So the goal is now to encourage every player to communicate well with the rest of us on their preferences and ideas, and to each contribute to making the game play out the way they each find to be fun. It's certainly a group effort, with a few complications, but I think this group can work it out. I reminded the players that this short adventure was our chance to break ourselves in to the new system, to struggle through the new mechanics in a throw-away type of generic hack-n-slash adventure. The next adventure, of my own creation, will hopefully suit everyone's RPing needs much more. It's the classic balance between mechanics / rules and cinematics / acting. Both must be carefully employed to maximize the fun. That is really the challenge of a roleplaying group as a whole.

TimothyP's Board Game Buyer's Guide

I have ordered a lot of board games in the last couple years. I personally don't spend time in “friendly local game stores” (FLGS) because there are none in my area, and because I wouldn't have time to hang out there anyway. So I order all my games online. Most sites reward large orders, so here's how my gaming group does it:

At any point in time, I accept requests from the people in my gaming group, and any other family and friends they might have. As these requests come in, I add them to our buy list. Once we have enough for free shipping, we order. Every so often, I will ask around to see if anyone wants anything, just to remind them that we're always building an order.

I have ordered from 3 different game stores myself. But I eventually chose one that always seemed to be cheaper, in every comparison I did - Thought Hammer. Here is what I value most in a game store, by order of importance, assuming all stores are established, professional sellers:

1. Low price
2. Diverse and constant inventory
3. Good support and quick response

Every store I've had experience with nails #3 very well. #2 is an ever shifting tide across the board. The stores are often at the mercy of publishers, and so some games will inevitably be out of stock or on pre-order. But in terms of variety - not all stores are equal. And finally, the biggest issue of all - price. This is the reason for today's post: I wanted to find out for myself which store really is the cheapest of them all. I need to look out for the budgets of all the people in my group, as well as my own. I figured this test would be valuable for many gamers, and so I'm recording all my results here for you.

The Test

First, I decided on 5 online stores, and then added “Local game store” as a generic 6th option, since some people shop there. The online stores are the ones I believe to be most prominent in my own research and experience.

Next, I came up with three types of game orders:

1. single game
2. medium size order (less than $100)
3. large order ( $130 or higher)

My goal was to compare all 6 stores in these three tests to see which was the best option for buyers in each case. I'll show you the results first, then add comments after. So here you go!

The Stores

First, I'll mention each of the 6 stores and briefly note relevant information in terms of prices, shipping, benefits, and downsides. In no particular order:

1. Thought Hammer

Prices

30% - 40% off
Discounts for damaged box games
Sales tax for Texas

Shipping

$8 flat Fedex
Free for orders $125 or more

Benefits

Personal wishlist, can email to a friend

Downsides

No imports, no used games
No price matching

2. Fair Play Games

Prices

Approximately 30% - 35% off
Discount codes for orders over $75 and orders over $150
Clearance items
Discounts for damaged box games
Sales tax for Michigan

Shipping

UPS ground (base price of $7.50)
Free for orders $125 or more
Free for orders of 3 or more damaged box games totaling at least $85

Benefits

They have imports and used games
Price matching

3. Boards & Bits

Prices

Approximately 30% - 40% off
Discounts for damaged box games
Sales tax for Washington (I'm assuming)

Shipping

Flat rate determined by ZIP code - Fedex ground
Free shipping for orders $125 or more

Benefits

They have imports and hard-to-find games

Downsides

They might not always have the free shipping offer

4. Time Well Spent

Prices

Discounts for damaged box games
Sales tax for Colorado

Shipping

UPS ground
$5.00 off shipping for orders over $100
$7.50 off shipping for orders over $150
$10.00 off shipping for orders over $200
Sometimes offer free shipping for orders $150 or more

Benefits

They have imports and used games
They accept special order requests
Price matching
They show how many are left in stock

5. Funagain Games

Prices

10% - 20% off
Discounts for damaged box games
Sales tax for Oregon (I'm assuming)

Shipping

FedEx Ground
USPS Priority Mail for shipments under 2 lbs.
Free shipping for orders $150 or more

Benefits

They have imports and used games
Lots of customer games reviews
Rewards program called “Funagain Points”
Exclusive games sold only by their site (also a potential downside)
Public wishlists

6. Local game store

Prices

List price

Shipping

None. You go over and pick it up with your own hands.

Benefits

Interact with other players onsite

Downsides

Costs much more than online stores

Large Order

The goal of this first test was to see which store was cheapest when you are ordering enough games to qualify for free shipping on sites that offer it. For all three tests, I created a virtual shopping cart on each site and ran through the process far enough to find out the total with shipping costs. Here are the games included in the Large Order test:

1. Battleground Fantasy Warfare starter deck
2. Bohnanza
3. Caylus Magna Carta
4. Lost Cities
5. Thebes
6. Ticket to Ride
7. Zooloretto

Rather than list the detailed cost line-up for each game from each store, I'll just give you the totals. Here's what I found:

*They were out of stock on 2 games, so this is an estimate. Actual cost would probably be another $7-10 for shipping.

Single Game Order

The next test was run to find out: what if I was just buying a single game for someone? How much would that cost me? For my test, I used Ticket to Ride, simply because it's a game that many people buy. So, here are the costs, by the time all shipping and discounts are considered:

Medium Order

The last test was run to answer: What happens if someone orders multiple games, but doesn't qualify for free shipping? The games: BattleLore, Citadels, Thurn and Taxis, No Thanks!

Comments

Well, having completed the test, it was interesting to see that Boards & Bits has slowly raised themselves up to the king of game stores. The one thing that worries me is that, at the time of writing, their free shipping offer is marked as “For a limited time only!” That's one advantage of Thought Hammer - you always know that you have guaranteed free shipping over $125. Fair Play Games shares this benefit.

One of the great benefits of Fair Play Games and Time Well Spent are their price matching. That alone brought their base prices down to the level of Boards & Bits. The shipping was another story. In the case of Fair Play Games, as long as you qualify for their free shipping, you have the chance of getting the same great deal as you would have gotten on Boards & Bits. There's just one caveat - the price matching sites are not required to match the prices you find. They have the right turn you down if they think they will lose money on the deal.

So, one thing I'm certain of: for any online game order I would only ever shop at Boards & Bits, Thought Hammer, Fair Play Games, or Time Well Spent. Who I bought from would be determined by who had all the games I wanted in stock for the lowest price. I can tell you from experience: pre-ordering and waiting for ages for your order to ship can be mental misery. In my case, an entire large game order was stalled for weeks waiting for - get this - the Ticket to Ride 1910 expansion. Sure, I realized this possibility when I put in the order, but I certainly didn't expect the game to never come into stock. So, on behalf of the people participating in the order, I cancelled and switched to a different seller. The order was shipped next day for a better price.

The only reason I would ever order from Funagain Games would be if they had a Funagain exclusive that I was really interested in. It hasn't happened yet.

I would never buy from a local game store unless the price was lower than I could get it online. I don't think this is ever going to happen to me. The one benefit of a local game store is that you might find people to play with right there in the shop. As I mentioned before, I don't have time to spend in stores, so this is not a benefit in my case.

At the end of the day, Boards & Bits turned out to be the champion of all game stores (by cents, mind you). They are always slightly cheaper than Thought Hammer. I would have no hesitation buying from Thought Hammer if Boards & Bits was out of stock on an item though. That was the one downside I found in my testing - Boards & Bits was out of stock on several games. Common games like Coloretto and No Thanks weren't even showing up in my searches! I know they must sell those games, but they could at least mark the games as “Back Order” or something. Thought Hammer tends to have a better stock of standard games.

On the other hand, Thought Hammer, despite their many strengths, lacks imports. I have searched for many games on their site only to find that they aren't in stock because they are imports. I asked Thought Hammer support about such a game and they mentioned that selling imports would not be good for their business, which I think is fair. I don't know how other sites can afford it.

One other cool feature of Thought Hammer is that they also sell a bunch of roleplaying books and accessories. That expands their field of usefulness in a way that other stores don't offer.

The two features no sites offer, which would be great, are registries and rewards programs. It would be great to be able to publish a wishlist to which you could direct friends and family. They could order games for you, essentially crossing it off the list so no one else could get it. So when Christmas time came, you could link your wishlist to everyone for easy buying without having to worry about duplicates.

I have seen online stores which offer some form of rewards for frequent and dedicated buyers. Back in the day, I bought enough
Pirates CSG items to gain rewards from CoolStuffInc. That really adds buyer incentive to stick around. As far as I can tell, none of the tested board game stores offer any sort of frequent buyer rewards.

So there you go. Hopefully this research has aided you in thinking through which seller to buy from in your future game orders!

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Follow-up

After posting this article, I have had more thoughts on the subject. As I continue to come by them, I think I'll add them here, unless someone proposes a better way to track updates.

1. Today I looked for Winner's Circle on Boards & Bits and it didn't show up. That's the 3rd or 4th game like that. I mentioned this downside in the article. Fair Play, Thought Hammer, and Time Well Spent all had Winner's Circle in stock.

2. Since B&B's free shipping seems temporary, I decided that the best overall way to order games would be through Fair Play Games, as long as all games are in stock. Get all the best prices from B&B, Thought Hammer. Have Fair Play Games price match. Then, just order enough for free shipping ($125). As of now, this is what I consider the best long-term surefire method of ordering games for the best price.

UPDATE: 10-13-2007
This topic has been receiving discussion on Board Game Geek. Read the discussion here.

Tom from Boards & Bits has spread the news that their free shipping over $125 is now permanent! This is good news. Tom has also mentioned that they are working hard to keep their stock up. His involvement in the BGG community is all the more reason to order from B&B - he's listening to the community and working to make B&B offer the best buying experience for board gamers.

It has also been brought to my attention that Superhero Gameland and Boulder Games have very competitive prices and should have been part of my testing. I don't recall ever hearing about Boulder Games before, and I didn't realize that Superhero Gameland sold so many board games. Thanks to those who informed me of these points. Even besides these sites, I know there are more. I couldn't list them all, so I chose to test the ones I had encountered in my own quest for good prices.

In addition, I was reminded that Board Game Prices.com is a useful resource when looking for good prices. I haven't checked the site for a long time. When I last looked, their site didn't give me the answers I was after. I think they weren't searching all the stores Maybe they have improved. I don't know well enough to give an opinion. I looked up a few games quickly on BoardGamePrices.com. Boards & Bits didn't show up for any of my searches, even though I have verified them to have the best prices for most games.

I ran a couple tests on Boulder Games, just to see what my immediate impression would be. First of all, they have great prices. The counterbalance is that their shipping is a bit higher than some other sites, similar in cost to Time Well Spent. I also found that some games didn't appear when searched. I'm not saying that this is the rule for Boulder Games. It's just my notes after some basic testing.

Fate: Dark and Stormy report #7

At the beginning of this session, we were reminded of what a step it can be to transition from the very freeform Fate 2e to the more defined and detailed Fate 3.0. We began by taking several minutes to discuss the difference between declaring aspects and guessing aspects. Declaring involves a knowledge skill and requires no time (which distinguishes it from making assessments). Guessing aspects is a form of spending a fate point to tag an aspect you suspect to exist, known only to the GM. Declaring introduces a new aspect, guessing tags an already existing aspect. I also took this time to remind everyone that aspects are not just any feature of a person or scene. They are something that has been pre-determined by the GM or introduced during play by GM or players. They exist for the purpose of potential utilization. So, you can't just say, "I tag that guy's Black Hair aspect to get a +2 on my roll!!" Just because he has black hair doesn't mean it's an aspect.

Soon we kicked into action and Leo started us off by throwing a hammer using his thrown weapons skill and adding a +1 from Elros' defensive Overflow at the end of last session. He and the dagwir both totalled 3s - the dagwir dodged the thrown hammer.

Rwake's attempt to thrust a stab was deflected by the haft of the dagwir's mace. Elros, watching all of this, stepped in with an attack of his own. His sword went into the zombie's head and was pulled back out. Elros achieved a +4, which rolled up to the next empty box - box 9 of the dagwir's stress track.

The dagwir knight, still fighting, jabbed his mace at Elros who ducked, throwing the dagwir off balance, giving another +1 to Leo (defensive Overflow). Thoroughly frustrated by this resilient zombie, Leo launched a frenzy of small metal objects at the dagwir, which stick into him, causing him 3 shifts of damage, which rolled up to box 10.

Next, Rwake took a long-shot guess that the zombie had the aspect "scared of fire" and thrusted a torch in his face, paying a fate point to tag it. I told him that the zombie didn't have that aspect and that undead succeed on all resolve rolls. I didn't take his fate point, although, looking back, I think I should have. But, in this case, he was so far off, and this was the first attempt anyone had made at guessing an aspect - I figured, let him keep it.

Elros, creative magician that he is, decided that maybe he could confuse the dagwir by casting an illusion on his body that made him look like he was alive again. I determined the roll for the spell to succeed on the dagwir's whole body would be Good (+3). Elros rolled a -3, but used his "Educated at Prestigious Highcloud Tower" aspect to reason that, with his training, he can't fail at this kind of spell. He handed over the fate point and rerolled. This time his total was +2. He paid another fate point to invoke his "Never Good Enough" aspect, drawing on the power of his issues. The illusion was successful! But alas, the dagwir took no notice. He is undead after all. AC laughed it off though. He knew it was a stretch. But to the PCs now, their opponent looked like a fully living dagwir with non-corroded armor.

The dagwir took a sweeping mace attack at Elros who parried and used his riposte stunt, causing 1 stress to the dagwir, checking of the dagwir's last normal box. Elros rolled a +8, giving him 4 shifts - another +1 to Leo!

Next, our little Lufan friend, Leo, jumped up on the table (represented by 4 Fudge dice) as a supplemental action. From there, he proceeded to fling sharp metal objects at the dagwir's head - metal balls, small gears, clock hands - earning 3 shifts of stress. Since the dagwir's normal boxes were all checked off, this rolled up to a minor consequence (known to me to be his only consequence). I asked J to describe the consequence. J explained that the sharp objects stuck all in and around the zombie's eyes, rendering him "blinded", which became the name of his consequence. Here you can see Leo on the table (J's LEGO guy was back in action!):

At this point, I had a bit of information to give them. I had them all roll for Knowledge of Undead. Leo got a +3. I explained that Leo learned from his extensive reading that undead can only be destroyed by severing the spine. It was also decided that Rwake would have this knowledge from his +1 roll.

So, Rwake used his Vital Spot stunt to locate the weakest spot on the dagwir's spine. The tribesman was having to guess a bit because Elros' illusion was still in place, obscuring the reality of the dagwir's being. Elros thus decided to unravel the illusion as a supplemental action, then swung his sword in a attempt to slice of the dagwir's head. We took this opportunity to joke with AC that at last Elros was doing something other than stab. He finally slashed! Elros spent a fate point to tag the zombie knight's Blinded aspect, gaining a +2 - giving him a total of 5. The dagwir rolled an unfortunate +2. These 3 shifts in Elros' favor rolled up to mark of the dagwir's Taken Out box. That was it for the zombie knight, after which the adventure is named.

The zombie's head flew from the body, landing on the floor and spewing acid from the neck, as the body fell to the knees and slumped forward onto the floor, puffing up ancient dust.

On searching the body, Elros discovered the dagwir was carrying something very attractive on his belt: an ancient Mastercraft Shortsword of Shock (an item I created that gives him a few benefits when used). Now that the undead fiend was no longer a threat, the party had time to collect the gold pebbles strewn about the ground, which they did - 6 gold worth (which is a lot in our game world).

Spree: strategizing within a luckfest

One of the guys in our gaming group at work has a collection of games from the Cheapass company. These games tend to be inexpensive, with minimal components. The point is to have a cheap game to which you add your own bits.

Once such game I recently played with a couple guys was Spree!

When I have the chance, I like to write about these games you are less likely to have played, just so you can see what's out there.

One thing that is immediately apparent when playing Spree is that it is heavy on luck. The game feels scripted much of the time. What I mean is, it's easy to feel like you are just a pawn helping the game to play itself out. My goal here is to explain what I've discovered to be the strategic features of the game that will allow you to have more control over the outcome. Understanding how to use these features will greatly increase any fun you may experience when playing Spree.

The game does have a theme, even if the components don't represent it well. Each player is a criminal breaking into the lowest-security mall in town. Everyone's simultaneously running around trying to steal goods from shops. In the process you can steal from other players or shoot them (shooting doesn't kill, it just stalls). As you collect merchandise, you run back to your car to drop them off, earning you points. The first person to reach the set point goal wins.

So, here are the control features built into the game that I think are important to utilize to your advantage. I have put them somewhat in order of importance (in my very limited opinion):

1. Shooting and stealing

Shooting is the best trick you can use. It's relatively easy to do because other players tend to be running around somewhere nearby. Since shooting gives you an extra action, I can't think of a better trick to utilize. Stealing is also good, especially if you have a joker (wild card) and someone else has more than one of a number (3 jacks, for example). Jokers are good for stealing because that way you don't have to waste that valuable Ace (which would otherwise count as 15 points when scored).

2. Timing drop-offs

Do you make the trip back to the car now? Or do you wait until you have more loot in your pockets? Choosing the timing of drop-offs wisely can win you the game.

3. Movement path

Because there is no backtracking, you want to plan your route carefully. Maximizing movement is key. Often you can tackle multiple cards with one movement. You also need to keep an eye on other players' tokens so that you can plan shots and stealing, and to also avoid getting shot yourself.

4. Aces and movement cards

If you have an Ace, you can use it either to score 15 points, playing it like any other card, but you can also use it to prevent another player from doing something against you, like stealing or shooting. Hanging onto those aces can be a great way to protect yourself from getting hosed.

2s and 10s act only as bonus movement cards. Timing their use plays a part in your strategy. Those 10s will get you a LOT of movement spaces when added to your base roll, and might be just the trick to get you back to your car before the other players!

5. Car location

If your car is parked too far away, you are going to suffer when trying to run back with an armful of stolen merchandise. It is often worth it to use up a turn getting your car in the best position, planning ahead based on the cards in your hand.

Having mentioned these 5 features, it sounds like there is quite a bit of strategy in the game. In reality, the game still feels scripted. You are at the mercy of dice and card draws all game long. The 5 control options I mentioned are the tools you have to turn the luck in your favor, even if it's only a little.

The game is what you would expect from this publisher. Simple, sort of fun, nothing to hit the table again and again. But hey, every so often, I wouldn't mind playing Spree! if we didn't have anything else on hand. It's still a game, and gaming with buddies is fun.

Want a look at another Cheapass game? I wrote about Captain Treasure Boots a few weeks ago.

Fate: Dark and Stormy report #6

Having dispatched the noggits in the rain-dripping room, the party searched the next hallway. At the end of this hallway was another dark, dusty room. Rwake stepped in first to examine the room. Hidden among the dust were tiny sparkles of gold, strewn all about the floor. In the center of the room was a large stone table - the resting place of an ancient dagwir (big beastly humanoid) knight. Elros and Leo came up to join Rwake just as the dagwir rose up as a zombie, ready to defend his tomb. He prepared to attack Rwake, javelin in hand, spiked mace at his belt. Below you can see the party heading into the room. J forgot his LEGO dude, so for this session he borrowed a little mini from AC - a mini that well represented J's little Lufan character.

Rwake is always first initiative-wise because he has the highest alertness. He immediately used his "Vital Spot" stunt to give himself a free +2 to his next attack. Elros, having just entered the room used his Empathy skill to assess the dagwir's motives, but failed. We had a laugh because the dagwir's motives were pretty clear - javelin ready to throw and all. On the other hand, AC is really skilled at doing the unexpected, which makes the roleplaying experience better for everyone.

Leo ran past the others, quickly pulling out and launching two daggers at the dagwir zombie. The dagwir rolled a -1, but used a fate point to invoke one of his aspects, giving him a reroll, which came up even. He took 4 stress from Leo's daggers grazing him.

The dagwir let his javelin fly at Rwake, who took a meager 1 stress. Rwake quickly pounced onto the dagwir hoping to get a knife in him, engaging the dead knight in a grapple. The dagwir took 2 stress from Rwake's knife. Careful to avoid hitting Rwake in the low light, Elros stepped forward and lunged a stab at the dagwir's knee - Elros rolled 8, Dagwir rolled 4: the dagwir took 4 stress, which rolled up to 5 since he already had taken 4 stress earlier.

Leo took this time to run around to the opposite side of the room for a new vantage point. I hadn't decided on a difficulty, but he rolled a +2 ("Fair" in Fate terms), so I called it a success.

The dagwir, with Rwake in his grip, rolled using his zombie melee skill, achieving a -2. Using another aspect (and spending a fate point) to reroll, he came up with a +1 on the dice, which added to his Average (+1) skill and his Acid Spit stunt (+2) gave him a +4 total. He opened his mouth and spewed a vile stream of acid aimed at Rwake's head. Fortunately for the tribesman, he also rolled a +4, barely managing to get his head out of the way, avoiding the acid attack.

Rwake spent his next turn successfully swiveling around, effectively placing the dagwir between himself and Elros. From his new angle, Elros slid his sword blade under the leather straps on the zombie's shield and sliced them, with 7 shifts on his roll. This was a good experience for us because had had so few opportunities to resolve maneuvers. Elros used his shifts to kick the shield aside and place a 1-round aspect on the dagwir: "Where's my shield?" For those learning the SotC system, this is called a "fragile" aspect - it wears off rather quickly. Temporary aspects that hang around longer are called "sticky".

Now that the dagwir had an aspect on him, the first tag of it was free, which Leo took. After a poor initial roll, Leo used his "Trained by Sporren" aspect to reroll the dice. (Sporren was the character played by Llama in our first ever Fate adventure - he was a knife throwing master. J wove that character into Leo's backstory, which was very cool.) The dagwir struggled against Rwake, trying to secure his now shield-less side, but Leo's sidearm knife throw was perfectly aimed, causing the dagwir knight another 6 stress.

The dagwir then broke free of Rwake's grasp and swung at him with his large spiked mace. Rwake rolled, adding +2 using his "Oratune, King of the Jungle" aspect to boost his defense. After all, Rwake would have avoided animal attacks several times in his days as a jungle master. That gave him enough to avoid taking damage from the dagwir's blow.

Rwake then thrusted his knife in, causing 2 stress to the dagwir. Elros, the quick and ready swordsman managed a successful stab at the dagwir's chest, causing him 3 more stress. Leo, seeing another window of opportunity threw another knife sinking it into the dagwir's abdomen, causing 4 stress, which rolled up to 8. And the dagwir just kept fighting, as the undead are wont to do.

The dagwir now turned his attention to the Laani swordfighter, Elros, who easily blocked his swinging mace, achieving defensive Overflow. This Overflow will apply as a +1 to Leo's action when we begin next week's session.

AC played his role very well in this session, thinking outside the box, and testing various aspects of the game, giving us some laughs along the way. For this reason, I rewarded him with a fate point.