Sunday 30 July 2017

Meeple Madness #28 (NSFW)

Or should that be, "Hell hath nothing furry, like 70's bush"?

Guards Against Insanity - Hell Hath No Fury Like 70's Bush.
 Why not check out their website, or Facebook feed?

Tuesday 25 July 2017

Monday 24 July 2017

Meeple Madness #26 (NSFW)

Guards Against Insanity - The Internet Now Makes Not Trusting Anything That Can Bleed For A Week And Not Die Obsolete.
 Why not check out their website, or Facebook feed?

Expo '17: The Haul - Part #10

After my last post in this short series, it is is time to return to the familiar realm of the unfamiliar with our next item, The Front Nine. A game designed by Nick Case and published by A-Muse-Ment. A game that I know very little about.

But from the little I picked up discussing the finer points of this game with the stall holder at the UK Games Expo this year, I believe the game plays a little something like this..

Players spend their turns gaining and managing resources (sand, water, and probably other stuff), which they then use to build holes on their golf course; which is where things start to get interesting. The hole cards are physically laid end-to-end, with the end of one hole leading directly to the beginning of the next. So it is my understanding that if you can't lay the the hole, then you can't play the hole.

This gives the game a certain "take that" quality, as players vie for real table space; which is something that the game really runs with in one of its expansions (although I can't recall which one off the top of my head as I bought them both on the day); where rules and resources for fly-tipping and constructing electric pylons on your opponents courses are added.

However, whilst I'm familiar with these small details of the game; quite how you win, what the overall goal of the game is, or how you even play it still remains a mystery to me (as I haven't sat down with the rules just yet). It does look like fun though.

Meeple Madness #25 (NSFW)

Guards Against Insanity - If The Catholic Church Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right.
 Why not check out their website, or Facebook feed?

Saturday 22 July 2017

Expo '17: The Haul - Part #9

Our next item from the haul is Codinca, a tile swapping strategy game; designed by Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw, and published by Backspindle Games.

Unlike a lot of the items that i have looked at previously from the haul, Codinca is a game that I don't anticipate having too much in the way of surprises up its sleeve. It is what it is. Which is an abstract strategy game where you swap tiles in order to form the patterns present on the cards you were dealt at the beginning of the game with the tiles of your color.. And that's about it.

You do have a few special cards at your disposal each game that you can use to manipulate the tiles in ways you couldn't with the standard two actions you get a turn, but largely you're simply trying to form your patterns before your opponent does following only a couple of simple rules (or at least as I recall from my demo game), which are:

1: As an action you can flip a tile or swap it with an adjacent tile.
2: You can't manipulate the same tiles that the last player did.

Other than though, you can go about resolving your key cards (which contain the patterns that you need to form in order to win the game), in any order; and you're even free to move any piece on the board following these basic rules, including your opponents tiles.

In terms of actual gameplay this freedom can lead to instances of purposely moving tiles that give you no direct advantage, so as to make your opponent believe you're playing for a pattern that you're not; and likewise swapping tiles to prevent patterns forming that you believe your opponent is playing for.

In summary, for such a simple game that has what could be said to be the bare minimum of rules, there is a surprising amount of depth and complexity.