Hey all,
As everyone knows time at conventions are precious so I will do a larger write up later but here are the games we played an some quick impressions.
Hike by Moosetache Games
A fun little card game perfect for hiking trips and anytime you just want to have fun thinking about all the awesome things that are outdoors. Really simple to learn with just a couple of suits, and a few special cards that requires minimal reading required to play. One player plays down card of a certain suit, and there are circles on the bottom representing what suits can be played on top of it. Your goal is to get rid of all of your cards. You then collect points and then play to a score designated by the number of players.
I would highly suggest Hike to anyone who loves the outdoors and/or simple fun card games!
Buy Ablaze today!
Ablaze
I really did not get to experience this game as well as I wanted to. The group stumbled through the rules and turns were taking to long. I will provide more info once I am able to play it better.
The game comes with 3 scenarios. We played the once where we play wild animals running out of the forest to protect ourselves from the forest fires. I love the theme of the idea, and will be trying it again soon to get a better feel for it.
Quarriors by WizKids
A pretty cool idea. Make up 130 custom dice, mix it up with a fantasy theme, and deck building gameplay. I played a well run demo, and was really impressed. The action moved uickly once we got it down and it was not hard to pick up. You use quiddity to purchase dice and activate creatures in order to score points. Once a creature is activated it attacks all other players. If the creature survives one full round, you score glory points and are able to thin out your “deck” by discarding a die.
I was impressed with the game and really enjoyed it. Something to definitely check out if you are a fan of dice or deck building games.
Fauxcabulary by Out of the Box
In Fauxcabulary you are trying to create words that go with phrases from dice with word parts on them. The game has a very Apples to Apples feel to it, but depending on your group it can go “adult” real fast. The basics of the game is one player is the wordmeister (judge) and all of the other players grab 3 dice with parts of words on it. Then a phrase card is read out loud and all players create a word using their dice. For instance we had “A thing that an old person uses that you would not ask what it does” the winner was something like Retroickythingy. The the person who wins the round gets the phrase card and keeps it for a point.
The game was fun and I can see it being hilarious with the right group. However some of the categories are not really Politically Correct so I am not sure how much okay it will get at e after school program without me going through all of the cards. For example “scent of a hobos breath”. I would suggest you pick it up if it is right for your group. I will be!
Castle Panic by Fireside Games
I have been wanting to try this one for a while and boy was I glad I finally got around to it. Castle panic is a cooperative tower defense board game for 1-6 players. We played with just 2 and it was pretty fun. Basically you must protect your towers from a never ending stream of monsters advancing from the forest. The board is divided into different circles each representing a certain type of solider. Archer, knight and swordsman. You pay cards corresponding to the colored section and ring the monsters are in.
Even though the game is cooperative there is still a winner. If your team survives, the person with the most points in monster kills wins the game. I like that this adds a semi competitive element to the game.
This game has been on my list to try for a while now, so I am happy to have played it finally. I will be picking up a copy, as I can see multiple types of groups enjoying this game, and with the provided scenarios you can switch things up a bit game to game.
Hope you can swim.. Buy today!
Lifeboat by Gorilla Games
In Lifeboat you play one of 6 characters who are trapped on a lifeboat trying to find land. You love one of the other passengers and hate another. Navigate, mug, and switch places with each other, but be careful not to fall overboard or become thirsty because with limited drinking water and an unfriendly sea you will take damage. Be the person with the most points by surviving, helping you love survive, and killing off the person you hate.
We played this one last year and loved it. When the group we were with suggested it be jumped in the boat and off we went. Another highly suggested game.
Food Fight by Cryptozoic Entertainment
Link to the Website
Choose your food army of five troop cards to join the epic battle for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Once you are ready for battle enjoy this fun “war” card game variant. Play instants to improve your chances of winning. Play until someone gets enough points to win the game.
I really enjoyed this one, and am sad I will not be able to play it at the after school center due to some of the wildly awesome but not child appropriate troops. They really had fun with the troops and the battlefields and I applaud them for it. The game was slot of fun and we will be picking up a copy for our community game nights for sure.
Thats it for now. I am going to flush out the descriptions of some of the games later, but they were all really fun!
Let me know if there are any specific games you want us to check out at the con by tweeting @SagesOfRPG or posting a comment here on the blog.