10 x 10 Challenge #27: Dark Dealings - Games #1 & #2

Going back to my list of games that I had selected for the 10 x 10 Challenge; I decided that next up would be Dark Dealings by Nevermore Games. A game that I had been really looking forward to playing for a few months now..

So much so that I didn't pay much attention to the notes that I should have been making for my write ups during the first couple of games. I also wasn't really too sure about what information I needed to be capturing either, having not played the game before; so what information I did take down was lacking in relevant detail.

In short, I really screwed the pooch on this one.

Luckily however I noticed where I had gone wrong by the end of game two, so I made sure to capture everything I needed in game three; and that working out of what's required (even if a little late) does stand me in good stead going forwards.

As a (very) brief summary of my first two games though, I would say the following:

Game #1

Being the first game I didn't get very far at all in the final (combat) phase; having not drafted particularly well in the second (defense) phase. I had completely neglected to draft any cards which could deal with one of the thieves that I had drafted in the first (hero) phase; which meant game over (as soon as you encounter a hero that you cannot defeat, you lose the game).

Game #2

Having developed a good idea of how to play the game, and having started to form some tactics; I did a LOT better in the second game. This time around I made it as far as the seventh hero before I had to concede (as I had used all of my defenses on the previous six heroes).

In Summary

There we have it, two VERY brief write ups from some VERY sketchy notes made on the fly. Not that I plan to let this set the tone; intending as I do to return to blogging as usual with the next post, having captured a lot more of my last game as it was played through my note taking.

10 x 10 Challenge #26: Of Mice And Men

After what was a slow start to my 10 x 10 Challenge, it seems that I have finally begun to generate a head of steam; playing through four games so far this week (although I am yet to write three of them up), and having every intention of taking full advantage of the bank holiday to play a few more whilst I have the momentum.

It's also quite important that I do as much as I can towards the challenge this bank holiday, as it's almost a given that I'll do very little in the way of gaming next weekend.. Well, not towards the challenge at any rate; as I'll be at the UK Games Expo.

That's not to say however that if the opportunity to play any one of the games on my list with fellow gamers should arise; I'd pass up the chance (a subsequent write up could prove a little tricky though, as sitting there with a notepad as I do when I game at home, might seem more than a little rude).

So with my impending absence in mind, I think it's time to revise my previous plan a little.. Not just yet though.

As I plan to be gaming again tomorrow; I'll leave it until after the bank holiday to sit down and make my calculations. Not that I imagine that there will be a massive shift in the plan for the sake of one week up, one week down; but it doesn't hurt to check.

10 x 10 Challenge #25: Eight Epics - Game #10

It doesn't seem all that long ago that I first broke out Eight Epics for the first time as part of my 10 x 10 Challenge; and here we are already. The tenth, and final game.

Before we get to it though, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the some of the highlights so far. There was the outrage at Makano, the first win, and the first loss of an avatar in the first round (that didn't end the game there and then). All of them quite memorable moments.

So one last time (as a part of the challenge at least), it is time to shuffle the threat deck, setup the avatars (I'll be going with my standard game four order for the avatars again), and draw my first card..

Round 1 - Threat: Narssis, Unholy One.

Defeating Narssis took a lot out of the avatars, as I ran through seven out of eight of them trying to clear the challenges. That said, the losses were minimal given the effort exerted; with only 8 Life Points being lost amongst the group as whole; leaving me in a very strong position to deal with whatever threat I may be next. 

Round 2 - Threat: Pirn, Rampaging Overgrowth.

I'm always happy to see Pirn, because as threats go; he doesn't tend to cause me too much in the way of problems.. Then again, I used to say similar things about Uluwash, and look what happened there. Pirn came good though, and went down without too much of a fight; but to the cost of losing one avatar (Sylliph) in the fray.

Round 3 - Threat: Hronthar, Winged Flame.

Hronthar is the polar opposite of Pirn, in that he rarely comes quietly; and this game was no exception. Whilst the avatars where able to clear the first two of his challenges without taking much more than a scratch; challenge three introduced them to a whole world of hurt.

By the end of round three the avatars had lost a total of 23 Life Points as a group; with five of the remaining seven avatars being reduced to half of their starting Life Points, or less.

Round 4 - Threats: Makano, Drill Strider / Serrin, Shadow Reaper.

What a final draw for the final game!

It was hard to know where to start. Normally I would target the threat that I thought was going to be the most difficult to beat first in the final round, but if past experience has taught me anything; it's that these are both difficult customers, more than capable of wiping the floor with me individually - let alone as a team!

Seeing nothing in it, I decided to go for Serrin first. Sure, Makano may be broken in my opinion; but I have found that the best way of dealing with Serrin is with re-rolls (as opposed to abilities); and I'll get more of those to work with if I tackle him first.

Serrin was still hard work though, and I had to cycle through several of my avatars more than once (using Leafwind's ability) in order to secure enough re-rolls to secure victory against him. So by the time I came to face off against Makano; only four avatars remained, all of them on 1 Life Point.

When it came to Makano, the avatars did put up a good fight (clearing half of his challenges), but sadly all they had left to throw at him was not enough; and the game was ultimately lost.

Final Thoughts   

Eight Epics has been an interesting game to play; but I'm not sure that it will be one that I will return to too frequently in the future. Not because it's bad, but more because it simply doesn't have a whole lot going on that would keep me coming back to it.

As you've seen from the various playthroughs here, the same avatars keep coming up again and again; which can get a little repetitive. Something which leads me to fully understand why the AEG release of this game came with a couple of in-box variants. It needs them!

That's not to say it's a bad game though. With its quick setup and play times it's a perfect filler game, or a nice way to round off a long days gaming.. It just doesn't pack the "big game in a little box" punch that say Harbor does.

So in summary, Eight Epics probably wouldn't be my first choice to bring to the gaming table; but if I were only looking to kill 20-30, it certainly wouldn't be my last.

10 x 10 Challenge #24: Eight Epics - Game #9

It looks like I've fallen behind again. Not with my gaming thankfully (Eight Epics - Game#9 was played on Sunday), but certainly on my blogging (as Eight Epics - Game #9 was played on SUNDAY!). I would like to be able say it's not my fault. That there were unforeseen circumstances.. And I might be able to do just that if I hadn't seen this eventuality coming a mile off.

This update has been a little slow in coming due to the fatigue that has been creeping up on me for weeks; and it was only a matter of time before something had to give. Thankfully though, I am happy to report that after a few days of taking things at a slower pace (or as close as my life comes to it); I am beginning to feel my energy levels pick up, and with a few early nights I should be as right as rain in no time.

So where are we at?

Not quite where I wanted to be by this point to be honest.

I had hoped to be a little further along in terms of the difficulty toggles at this juncture, but as the game is still proving a good challenge; I have kept to my original decision of only incrementing the difficulty with every game won. It was tempting to turn it all the way up for the last couple of games just to see how it would play out; but I'm so close to bringing home a win at this difficulty, I decided to stick with it.

So as with my previous game, I arranged the avatars as I had in game four, created a threat deck, and drew my first card..

Round 1 - Threat: Serrin, Shadow Reaper.

I was a little worried when I saw this as the first draw (I thought I was going to have another game five on my hands), but things went surprisingly well.. To a degree. I did push Caroosh a lot harder than I should have (pushing too hard being the running theme in this post, and did lead to him being eliminated); but with a few subsequent lucky rolls and some well timed uses of Sylliph's ability the threat was overcome a lot easier than I had expected.

At the end of the round the avatars as a whole had lost 10 Life Points (6 of which were Caroosh's), with only one other avatar taking any significant damage (being reduced to less than half of their starting Life Points).

Round 2 - Threat: Uluwash, Devouring Tide.

Uluwash managed to maintain his streak as one tricky customer in this game; requiring a lot of the avatars abilities to clear his challenges. Not that his slippery nature had quite the impact on the avatars that it had done previously, with the party easily pulling through with a respectable loss of only 18 Life Points amongst them.

Round 3 - Threat: Broxix, Pestilent Breath.

Next up was Broxix, and whilst I thought I used a fair few of the avatars abilities on Uluwash; Broxix took the biscuit (and the factory they were made in to boot). Beating Broxix came down to the wire (and the last active avatar), and the group as a whole had started to show some wear; with the total Life Points lost increasing to 25, and two of the avatars only holding on by one single point.

Round 4 - Threats: Makano, Drill Strider / Pirn Ramapging Overgrowth.

It wouldn't be a game of Eight Epics without Makano making an appearance; and in this instance things started off well enough (although I did lose another avatar clearing the first challenge). The first three of Makano's challenges were passed quite easily (with the exception of the loss), and without too much in the way of resistance. Challenge four however was an absolute nightmare!

By the time I had locked in the final dice I had lost another two avatars, with the other four being reduced to only 1 Life Point each.

Despite the odds being heavily stacked against them, the avatars did manage to clear two of Pirn's three challenges in the final round; which whilst not enough to win the game, was never the less quite impressive.

Final Thoughts

Another very close game, and the first time I have ever lost an avatar in the first round and still managed to make it to the second. Beyond that, I am not sure that there is much more that could be added in the way of additional commentary and reflection; so given my goal of reducing waffle, onward to game ten!

10 x 10 Challenge #23: Eight Epics - Game #8

Time for another game of Eight Epics, and as with my last game I will be keeping the order of the avatars and the difficulty toggles set as they were in the fourth game.

So with no new decisions to make, I prepared the avatars, created the threat deck; and drew my first card...

Round 1 - Threat: Makano, Drill Strider.

To say that me and this threat have history would be an understatement. To this date, Makano has been a massive thorn in my side every time that I have drawn him.. And I seem to draw him a lot (he's been drawn in six out of seven games I've played so far by my count)! This time however, things went very differently.

Whilst I did take a good few licks on the first challenge; I passed the subsequent three with great ease, meaning the avatars as a whole only lost 12 Life Points. Less than they lost to Narssis in the opening round of the last game; who in my opinion is comparatively a less difficult threat to overcome.

Round 2 - Threat: Uluwash, Devouring Tide.

Riding high on the success of round one, I was happy to see Uluwash drawn next. True, he had given me a hard time in the last game; but I would say that was the exception as opposed to the the rule. Little did I know at that point, that I was in store for more of the same.

High roll after high roll put a serious dent in the avatars; eliminating one (Jarroth), and leaving five others on half of their starting Life Point totals, or less.

Round 3 - Threat: Broxix, Pestilant Breath.

Last round I needed all low rolls. This round I needed all high rolls, so it was quite ironic and amusing to see all the low rolls come out as I tried to beat Broxix; just as all the high rolls had come out during my battle against Uluwash.

Putting my love of irony aside however, this meant the condition of the avatars went from bad at the end of the last round, to significantly worse by the end of this one; leaving only two of them standing (Leafwind and Ophinia), both with only 1 Life Point.

Round 4 - Threats: Narssis, Unholy One / Hronthar, Winged Flame.

The last round was pretty short and sweet as the remaining two avatars decided to try their luck with Narssis. However, being as badly depleted as they were they were unable to check off even a single challenge; ending the round and the game.

Final Thoughts

The dice were definitely against me this time, but I still made it to the final round (if only briefly); which I'm going to take as a good sign.

To me it means that I am getting closer to beating this difficulty setting; and I'm doing so more through strategy and critical thinking than I am through blind luck. Quite impressive (even if I do say so myself) when you consider that this is largely a luck driven game.

10 x 10 Challenge #22: Eight Epics - Game #7

Continuing on with my 10 x 10 Challenge, and the related blogging; I set up another game of Eight Epics, using the same toggles and starting line up as I did previously. I may not won a game playing the avatars in this order as of yet, but I am convinced that this is probably one of the best orders to place them in.

So I lined them up, set their Life Points, prepared the threat deck, and drew the first card..

Round 1 - Threat: Narssis, Unholy One.

Based on past experience Narssis can be a tough cookie to crack, but there are far worse threats I could have drawn for the first round (Serrin, Shadow Reaper and Makano, Drill Strider spring to mind). That said, Narssis is far from a walk in the park; and I found myself burning through a lot of resources on the last challenge trying to roll a four, after rolling everything else required with the initial roll.

At the end of the round, the avatars had lost a total of 15 Life Points, with 5 of them being reduced to half of their starting Life Points or less.

Round 2 - Threat: Hronthar, Winged Flame.

I haven't seen Hronthar since my first game of Eight Epics; but by my recollection he was at the tougher end of the scale when it comes to threats, requiring consistently high rolls to defeat. Something that the dice were quite happy to give me in this instance.

The avatars did lose a handful of Life Points this round, but it could have been a lot worse; and the party still had more than enough strength left to drive home a win at this midway point.

Round 3 - Threat: Makano, Drill Strider.

If the previous games of Eight Epics have taught me only one thing, it's that when Makano is drawn you're going to either lose the game, or take serious loses. This time was no exception.

By the end of the round, a total of 31 Life Points had been lost amongst the avatars, with seven of the avatars being reduced to less than half their starting Life Points, and of those seven; six only had one Life Point remaining.

Round 4 - Threats: Uluwash, Devouring Tide / Pirn, Rampaging Overgrowth.

Entering the final round I knew that the chances of winning were slim to none after the pummeling the avatars had taken; but I did see a glimmer of hope when I saw who the final threats were. Uluwash and Pirn are two threats that I consider to be on the easier end of the scale. So despite the pasting that the avatars had taken at the hands of Makano I still felt that there was a chance I might snatch victory from the claws of defeat.

Seeing no real difference between the two, I opted to take on Uluwash first.. And it did not go well. I needed low rolls, but continually rolled high; losing three avatars before overcoming the threat. So in the final showdown I found myself facing Pirn with only three avatars (the other two were exhausted), who were all on half life or less.

At first it did look as if I might just pull this off, taking down the first challenge without too much difficulty; but as the dice scaled, my chances of winning dwindled dramatically. This left me facing the final challenge with only one avatar; which just wasn't enough, and the game was lost a couple of rolls later.

Final Thoughts

Another close game, and another game were Makano proved just too much to deal with. Makano aside however, it does feel good to be consistently making it through to the final round (and in this case the final threat) on this level of difficulty.

10 x 10 Challenge #21: Eight Epics - Game #6

Undeterred by my last short and frustrating game, I re-shuffled the threat deck and setup another game of Eight Epics; leaving the toggles and avatar order unchanged from game four.

I then drew my first threat card; which was..

Round 1 - Threat: Makano, Drill Strider.

Urgh! Of all the threats to draw first after what happened in my last game. Unlike my last game however, the avatars did come out the other end of the round victorious; but it was a push. I ran through six of my eight avatars during this encounter; with four of them being reduced to half of their starting Life Points or less.

Round 2 - Threat: Durge, World Breaker.

I think of Durge as one of the easier threats to overcome. True, there are eight challenges to overcome on his card; but as six of these only require that you roll one dice (with a 1 in 6 chance of success), lucky rolls can take you a long way. Caroosh and Khantos can also cut through the challenges with ease using their abilities. So there are plenty of options when you encounter Durge; and the odds are certainly in your favor.

That said, I took some heavy losses during this encounter; as for love nor money I couldn't roll the 1's that I needed to clear the last few challenges. The extra effort expended to clear these took the total Life points lost by the party from 13 to 30; and left six of the avatars with half of their starting Life Points or less, with three of them being reduced to just one.

Round 3 - Threat: Uluwash, Devouring Tide.

Uluwash is another threat that I consider to be fairly easy to overcome, but once again I found myself taking some considerable losses during the encounter; with two avatars being eliminated during the conflict, and the remaining five avatars all being reduced to 1 Life Point.

Round 4 - Threats: Broxix, Pestilent Breath / Narssis, Unholy One.

From previous experience, I know that both of these threats can be quite difficult to overcome; but when weighing them against one another, I am of the opinion that Narssis is probably the more challenging of the two. He makes you roll more dice, and the results that those dice have to show is more specific. So perceiving him to be the more difficult opponent I chose to go after him first, as I reasoned he would require more resources to defeat; resources I may not have after tackling Broxix.

The dice however were firmly against me on this one, and despite my best efforts to manipulate the results using the abilities of my remaining avatars; the game was lost at the first challenge, with three of the remaining avatars being outright eliminated and the other two being exhausted.

Final Thoughts

This is my third successive loss at this difficulty level, but I'm not complaining. I've made it to the final round twice, and to the final threat once. This tells me both that the level of difficulty is about right for my ability at this point, and that I am close to surpassing it.

So I may be losing at the moment, but these defeats are not without a sense of progress and achievement; which keep me coming back to this fun, challenging, and sometimes frustrating game.

10 x 10 Challenge #20: Eight Epics - Game #5

This was without a shadow of a doubt the shortest game that I have played all year. Possibly even the shortest game that I have played in the last decade; lasting as it did little more than 5 minutes!

So given the brevity of the game, I'm sure that it'll come as no surprise when I tell you that I didn't win. I also imagine that most of you that have been following my recent Eight Epics postings can guess what spanner in the works brought such an abrupt end to the game.. That's right; Makano.

Makano is such a pain to encounter, and incredibly frustrating to play against. So much so that on more than one occasion I have considered removing him from the game completely.

This isn't something that would normally cross my mind (as it's cheating really), but Makano seems broken. Broken to the point of breaking any game where he is drawn as a threat. Something which I feel this attempted play through illustrates nicely.

He was the first threat I drew, I had a full compliment of fully powered avatars; and I still lost.

That just doesn't seem right. It could be me though. Maybe I'm missing something.

So, I'm throwing the question out there (before I throw the card out of the game); is Makano in your considered opinion broken, or just extremely difficult to beat?

10 x 10 Challenge #19: Eight Epics - Game #4

Continuing with my 10 x 10 Challenge I set a few hours aside yesterday for gaming; and following my comfortable victory last time, I decided it was time to turn up the heat a little. This could have been done in a number of ways (imposing a time limit on the game, or increasing the number of threats); but I instead opted to preset the order of the avatars.

I would now have to work through them in a sequence determined by myself, which after some thought I decided would be..

1st - Caroosh, Stone Fist.
2nd - Gron, Furnace of Justice.
3rd - Sylliph, Moon Diver.
4th - Jarroth, The Cogsmith.
5th - Auriel, Harbringer of Healing.
6th - Khantos, Arcane Master.
7th - Leafwind, The Wildling.
8th - Ophinia, Envoy of the Dead.

The reasoning behind this order being that I would lead with my less flexible avatars, and reserve those capable of buying me more time (Leafwind and Ophinia) to last; where their abilities would be the most useful.

Plan set, I drew my first threat; which was..

Round 1 - Threat: Uluwash, Devouring Tide.

Uluwash fell rather easily, aided by having Caroosh in prime position; and some favorable rolls. All told avatars only lost a total of 8 Life Points dealing with this encounter, but Caroosh and Sylliph had bore the brunt of this; being reduced to 3 Life Points and 1 Life Point receptively.

Round 2 - Threat: Narssis, Unholy One.

Next up was Narssis, who was incredibly hard work. I cycled through most of my avatars in the process of taking him down; and increased the total Life Points lost amongst the avatars from 8 to 18!

Five of the avatars has also now been reduced to half of their initial Life Points, or less.

Round 3 - Threat: Makano, Drill Strider.

The avatars took a real pummeling overcoming this threat; increasing the total Life Points lost amongst the party from 18 to 29 by the time the last challenge had been resolved. All but one of the avatars was now on less than half of their starting Life Points, with four of barely clinging on by their last Life Point.

Round 4 - Threats: Pirn, Rampaging Overgrowth / Broxix, Pestilent Breath.

When faced with these two threats, I opted to tackle Broxix first. I figured that of the two, he was going to be the most difficult to defeat; so that's where I wanted to direct the bulk of resources, using whatever remained to overcome the much easier (in my opinion) Pirn.

Narssis did indeed take up a lot of my resources, and by the time I came around to facing Pirn I had only two avatars at my disposal; with the rest of the party either exhausted or eliminated. Unsurprisingly this was not enough to win the game, but I did come close; making it to the second of three challenges on the final threat.

Final Thoughts

Electing what order your avatars will act in throughout the game at setup has really added a new dimension of challenge to the game. It's also changed the strategy that I employ as I play; as no longer can I rely on having the optimal avatar for the task at hand at my disposal. I may have already used them, or they may be several activations along.

The already tight margin of error just got a lot tighter with flipping that one toggle; but I think that's a good thing.

10 x 10 Challenge #18: Being Brief

Something I talked about in an earlier post was cutting back the size of my 10 x 10 Challenge play reports. I felt that on reflection they were much larger than they needed to be, and that long-winded posts describing every aspect of gameplay may be "a little dry".

So, when I sat down to play today I tried to keep this in mind; and tried to cut back on my note taking. Not that this was entirely successful, as I still ended up with nearly one and a half sides of A4 scribblings. Old habits are hard to break it seems.. Hard, but not impossible. I truly believe that there is little that you cannot achieve if you set your mind to it.

Which is exactly what I did. I sat down with my notes, and asked myself "what am I trying to say here?"

A lot as it transpires, and not all of it particularly relevant. So I worked through them and picked out the key details; cutting things back to the bare bones. I was a little concerned that this edit may have been a little too extensive, as it left me with little more than a couple of sentences describing each round; but less can be more.

The edit had cut out all of the guff; like how many re-rolls I paid for, and what order I activated the avatars in. Giving my writing a certain focus that if I am to be critical of myself, I often find that it lacks. Don't get me wrong, I think that drifting off on tangents is all a part of the creative process; but being focused is not without its perks.

In this instance that focus has allowed me to build a framework; that easily identifies to me the notes that I need to take when I'm at the gaming table. This has the benefit of freeing up a LOT of time that would have been wasted on taking down information I had no real use for. Time that can now be used to both game and to blog.

10 x 10 Challenge #17: Eight Epics - Game #3

Spurred on by my success in the previous game, and determined to keep my plan on track;  I decided to go for another game of Eight Epics to round off my Sunday session. On the subject of keeping things on track, I did also want to get this post up on Sunday as well; but unfortunately time got the better of me. By the time I was done gaming it was 11pm, and I needed to get up no later than 5:30am the next morning.

Still, better late than never as they say, and whilst I have fallen behind a little with my blogging; at least my 10 x 10 Challenge is still on track, which is a positive.

Speaking of gaming and positivity, whilst it felt great to beat such a tough game; I opted to keep all of the toggles set to easy for this play through as well. I had initially planned to increment the difficulty slowly with every successive victory, but on reflection I did only win the last game by the narrowest of margins. So I didn't feel that I was ready to up the ante just yet. Not whilst the current difficulty was still offering me a credible challenge.

So with all toggles set to easy, I pooled the dice, readied the avatars, and drew my first threat..

Round 1 - Threat: Pirn, Rampaging Overgrowth.

I was quite happy to see Pirn come out again. He's not too difficult to beat with his flexible challenge requirements (six dice matching, seven dice matching, and finally eight dice matching); and there are plenty of avatars that can help get you there. Personally though I feel the avatars best suited to the task are Sylliph who can manipulate large chunks of the dice pool, and Khantos who can remove dice from the dice pool.

The initial rolls for each challenge where however poor. Very poor. So I found that I had to more evenly spread the threat across the available avatars, using Jarroth to flip dice instead of removing them with Khantos, and using Ophinia to copy Sylliph's ability so as to spare Sylliph for future challenges.

It didn't take long for the avatars to beat Pirn, but it did come at higher cost than I had anticipated; with three of the eight avatars now having dropped to half of their initial Life Points.

Round 2 - Threat: Makano, Drill Strider.

Makano was next, and of all the threats that I have faced in Eight Epics; I would say that he is probably one of the most difficult. Makano is unique in that he is the only threat that changes his "mode"; mode being the best word I can muster to describe the pattern on threats.

Usually a threat will be pretty consistent. Pirn for example requires that you roll all identical numbers, and when it comes to Uluwash you need to roll progressively lower numbers with larger and larger dice pools. There is a pattern. Makano however flips "mode" with every new challenge, meaning that swapping avatars between tasks is almost obligatory; running the very real risk that you will exhaust the entire party (and lose the game instantly).

This is something that I came close to as I flipped from avatar to avatar, as I slowly worked my way down the list of challenges; and even this course of action alone wasn't quite enough. With the additional use of abilities and re-rolls, the number of avatars on half life or less had increased from three to five by the end of round two.

Round 3 - Threat: Broxix, Pestilent Breath.

As threats go, Broxix is somewhat of an endurance round; requiring that you complete eight challenges in order to defeat him, with realistically the only avatar suited to the task (results of fifteen or higher over three dice) being Gron.

This was certainly true of my game, as leading with Gron I was able to cut through the first three challenges with ease before having to pass after a really bad roll. Unfortunately however the bad rolls just kept on coming, which meant spending Life Point after Life Point; leaving the party in a bad way as they entered the fourth and final challenge (six avatars on half life or less, with two of them reduced to one Life Point). 

Round 4 - Threats: Narssis, Unholy One / Uluwash, Devouring Tide.

Considering the beating that I took in the previous round I was very happy to see these two threats as my final draws. Narssis can be a little tricky, as he requires that you roll  a sequence of one through six on six dice; but Khantos is more than flexible enough to deal with this. Uluwash on the other hand is really straight forward; and many of the avatars abilities can be used to overcome him relatively easily.

Using this reasoning I targeted Uluwash first.. Which went south pretty fast after a few poor rolls and some equally dire re-rolls. I did defeat him, but not before I had spent more Life Points than I really wanted to; and exhausted five of my eight avatars.

Thinking ahead however I had purposely not activated  Leafwind when tackling Uluwash; who I let lead the way in the battle against Narssis. Even if he didn't complete any of the challenges, I had enough Life Points left on him to return all of my other exhausted avatars to play.

This course of action did lead to Leafwind sacrificing himself, but not in vain as after a few more rolls that his sacrifice had made possible Narssis was defeated; and the game was won.

Final Thoughts 

Despite a lot of bad rolls I did win, and a lot more comfortably than in my last game it has to be said (four of my eight avatars survived). Some of this I would attribute to Serrin not being drawn, as I find him a particularly difficult threat to overcome; but that's not to say it's all down to the luck of the draw. I'd also like to think that I'm beginning to play better, and making more tactically sound decisions; having gained a better understanding of the game and its nuances.

So with that in mind, I feel that I am now ready to start increasing the difficulty of the game via the toggles. Slowly at first, but with a view to making it to the harder settings by game eight or nine.

10 x 10 Challenge #16: Eight Epics - Game #2

Not wanting to fall behind with my 10 x 10 Challenge, and with the end of the week quickly rushing towards me I decided to take the opportunity presented by a quiet Sunday afternoon, and to get a little gaming in. In order to keep to my schedule, I needed to get two games in today; and after looking over the collection of games I had chosen for the challenge, I decided that I would go for another game of Eight Epics.

Selection made, I set up the game using the same set of (easy) toggles I played with in the previous game; and drew my first threat..

Round 1 - Threat: Uluwash, Devouring Tide.

Not a bad initial draw. Only three challenges, and none of them particularly difficult to overcome. I just needed to roll low, and largely the rolls were favorable. Even when I rolled incredibly high on the last challenge against Uluwash, they were all sixes; which Jarroth, The Cogsmith was easily able to convert into one using his ability.

It wasn't all plain sailing however, as a couple of the avatars were reduced half of their starting life; which is bad news so early into the game. As the party as a whole had only lost 10 Life Points however, it could of been a lot worse. I mean, it's not like we lost an avatar.

Round 2 - Threat: Broxix, Pestilent Breath.

This is the last thing that I wanted to see so early into the game, as from my experience of dealing with Broxix in the last game I knew just how punishing he could be; and how little room there was for error when challenging him. Learning from my mistakes though, I weighed my options and elected the avatar that I felt had the best hopes of putting a significant dent in Broxix. I chose Gron, Furnace of Justice.

His ability to turn any dice into a six was just the ticket it seems as he plowed through the first FIVE challenges Broxix laid down, having to retire on the sixth due to a combination of a very poor initial roll and the exertion in getting that far. The task of defeating Broxix then fell to Sylliph, Moon Diver.

Sylliph, whilst not particularly well suited to defeating Broxix had a good run of things. Taking challenge six, whilst a lucky roll took challenge seven without any avatar intervention. With Broxix on his last legs, but with a couple of my avatars having taken a bit of a kicking I tagged in Auriel, Harbinger of Healing; with the plan being that even if she could not finish off Broxix, she could heal some of the wounded avatars before passing the torch on to someone else.

As luck would have it however, Auriel rolled EXACTLY what was needed to pass the challenge, and resolve the threat with her free re-roll. Broxix went down. All too easily when compared to last time, which I think just goes to show how important picking the right initial avatar to tackle the current threat is (where last game I was mostly just guessing).

Round 3 - Threat: Narssis, Unholy One.

Like Uluwash, Narssis was a new one on me; but he didn't seem too difficult. Each challenge required that you rolled a straight of one through six, on the six dice; and you had to do this four times to defeat him. Easy enough, although I knew that I wouldn't be able to rely on the abilities of my avatars too heavily to pull this one off, as none of their abilities where suited particularly well to the task at hand.

So, seeing this as largely a crap shoot I opted to put Auriel in the ring first. If nothing else she could heal some of the injured avatars from the previous round, and every time she did so; she could re-roll a couple of dice if she wanted. Re-rolls where largely how I believed I'd be dealing with this threat anyhow, so if I could patch up avatars that my prove more valuable in the next round in the process, all the better.

Re-roll and pass was largely how the challenge went, and with a couple of incredible rolls by the avatars (one of which had only a 1 in 36 chance of coming off, that came off with the initial attempt); the battle was won, and the avatars where ready to face the final threat.

Round 4 - Threats: Durge, World Breaker / Serrin, Shadow Reaper.

The final confrontation was truly embodied the epic in the Epic Eights, going down to the wire; with the avatars securing their victory as only one of them remained standing, with only one of their life points remaining.

As I played through the last round I took almost a whole A4 side of notes that I had intended to share with you all, but as per my previous post I want to start reigning in the length of these session reports; and this post is already long enough as it is. However, if you imagine every movie scene ever where the hero has to diffuse a bomb, conveniently doing so with only one second left on the timer; I'm sure you get the picture of just how the final sequence of the game played out.

Final Thoughts

Another really enjoyable game, but I am starting to notice a theme developing. The theme being that this game is bloody HARD! Considering that I had this game turned down to its easiest settings, and that arguably the solitaire variant is easier than the co-operative game; still only making it by the skin of my teeth just goes to show the level of the challenge that beating Eight Epics presents.

Something that I am proud to have accomplished (even if it was with the training wheels on).

10 x 10 Challenge #15: Eight Epics - Game #1

Given that I've been playing 100 Swords since February as a part of my 10 x 10 Challenge, I needed a break. So, I looked down my list and decided that I'd go for a game of Eight Epics; a co-operative dice game from the designer of Love Letter.

The version that I have is the English release by AEG, and before giving a brief rundown of play I'd just like to say how impressed I am with the product. Eight Epics is only a small box game.. But that small box is like the TARDIS! Inside you get the game, a variant which could be its own expansion, and a scenario which is equivocal to a promo.

The rules also offer several toggles too, so you can make the game easier if you're finding it a bit rough; or harder if you're finding it a bit of a cakewalk.. Not that I find the latter very likely. As personally even with all of the difficulty toggle set down to their lowest levels I still had a hard time of things. That said, prior to this session I hadn't played the game before; so it is both probable and likely that I wasn't playing optimally.

How did I do though? Let's see..

Round 1 - Threat: Pirn, Rampaging Overgrowth.

This one wasn't too bad as an initial draw. Only 3 challenges, and all of them quite flexible (getting all of the dice to match, but it can be any number). Khantos, Arcane Master came in pretty useful here as dropping dice from the pool allowed me to quickly tip the odds in my favor.

Leafwind, The Wildling was also pretty useful in allowing me to get extra activations out of some of the other epics, meaning I got a few free re-rolls on top of those provided by his ability. He did take a bit of a pummeling as a result though, dropping to half health by the end of the round.

Round 2 - Threat: Makono, Drill Strider.

This one was a little trickier to beat, requiring that I beat 4 challenges and really mixing it up in terms of the requirements of each challenge; from low rolling to high rolling, including sequences and matching. Tactically this took some planning, and I'm still not convinced that I did the best job I could here as 6 of my avatars were on less than half life by the end of this round.

We did scrape through though, and that's the main thing. I also dropped really lucky on the initial roll against the sequence, getting 7 of the 8 numbers I needed to complete the challenge before an avatar even got involved!

Round 3 - Threat: Broxix, Pestilent Breath.

This is where it all really began to fall apart. Broxix can soak up a lot of punishment, and by the end of this round all of my avatars where on less than half of their initial life totals, with three of them being reduced to only one life!

The party was in a bad way to say the least.

Round 4: Threats: Serrin, Shadow Reaper / Hronthar, Winged Flame.

The last round (at least in the easy game it is), and that means that the party has to take down two enemies without a respite in order to claim victory. This was a bad combination too, as both of these enemies would take a lot of effort and resources to bring down. Resources I frankly just didn't have.

Deciding that the Hronthar was probably the easiest of the two (as he could be taken down with a few lucky rolls), I elected to battle him first and set about it. Long story short, it did not go well. I needed a lot of high rolls, and I just wasn't getting them. I even had to sacrifice an avatar to seal the first challenge, and there were still two more to go after that!

Auriel, Harbinger of Healing was next to fall as I patched up Khantos in one last attempt to bring down the dragon.. Which I did! It was a token victory though, as whilst he had slain the beast, Khantos was now my only avatar that wasn't either dead or exhausted (and he was down to his last life point).

The game it seems was over. The last avatar had fallen, and the earth was screwed.

Final Thoughts

I honestly enjoyed my first game of Eight Epics. It's a challenge, but I like a challenge; and I look forward to hopefully being able to meet that challenge as I play more games. True, luck is a factor (as you might well expect with a dice game); but it can be largely offset in the case of Eight Epics by making good decisions. Certainly better decisions than I did.

Still, live and learn.

10 x 10 Challenge #14: Doing The Maths

There is no getting away from it. May is only a day away, and I've only managed to play a handful of the 100 games required to complete my 10 x 10 Challenge. Nearly five months down the road, and I'm still in single-digits. It's simply not good enough!

The Maths

As it stands, I have played 8 games against the challenge, over the space of 13 weeks. That's little more than a single game every 2 weeks. A rate, that if constant throughout the year would mean that I would only complete 32 of the 100 games required.

Not even a third of what I set out to achieve, and a far cry short of my target.

The maths isn't all doom and gloom though. There are still 35 weeks (and a day) left in the year, and if I pull 3 games a week I can still make this happen.. Just. 3 games a week isn't a big ask though, and I feel pretty confident looking over my selections for the challenge that this can easily be accomplished.

Some Changes

Something I will need to do to make this happen however is to take a change in direction in how I blog about the challenge. Initially when I envisioned the coverage, I had imagined photo after photo detailing every turn I played. Something that soon went out the window upon discovering how impractical the idea was given my blog layout.

Then I decided, "okay we'll keep the detail, just minus the pictures". This has worked pretty well up until now, but it has been a lot more time consuming than I had originally thought it would be; often tripling the time it takes to play a game (in order to take the appropriate notes), followed by what is often a lengthy posting.

Truth be told, I also don't think it's what people want. Big blocks of text full of detail work well for narratives, but in terms of play reports; it can be a little dry. Long posts also aren't always particularly well received, so more and more the idea is beginning to feel like a lead balloon.

So going forward I am going to focus on getting the games in, whilst seriously looking towards scaling back the detail with which I blog about them. Keeping to stuff like scores, and surprising or memorable moments during gameplay. Did I enjoy the game? Where there any issues? That kind of thing.

Right! Time to do some gaming!

10 x 10 Challenge #13: 100 Swords - Game #7

Following on from my previous 10 x 10 Challenge posting, it was now the turn of The Glowing Plasmapede's Dungeon Builder Set (DBS) to be combined with The Blue Mammoth's Dungeon. I wasn't too sure what to expect based upon this expansions previous outing, as it didn't really seem to do much of anything in the way of changing gameplay.

This could be for a number of reasons though. It could have been so close to the style of The Red Dragon's Dungeon that it was indistinguishable when combined with that dungeon deck. It could be that whatever it does, just didn't happen; either because of the way the cards fell or because the cards that would have otherwise shone through got buried under the boss. The A.I could have taken the cards that otherwise would have changed the flow of the game.. These and many more possible scenarios besides could account for why the addition of this DBS just didn't seem to add anything to that game.

So when I shuffled this DBS into a deck I had only played once, so little was known about what might happen next that it was as if I had never played a game of 100 Swords before. It's not often you get that out of a game you've been playing on and off for months! In fact, I don't think it has happened since playing Dominion years ago; when we first introduced the Seaside expansion. That's how rare of an event it is!

Without further ado though, let's take a look at how the game went..

Turn 1: The first card revealed was a Ding Beetle, which in turn revealed another card; the Pink Eye. This was both a good and a bad thing, as whilst it gave me a view of the dungeon as a whole; it was a little early to be revealing such a powerful monster, which I had no way of defeating at this point - whatever I drew from my deck.

Turn 2: Not being able to slay the Pink Eye, I rented the Monster Scents Bag so that I could at least pass it and pick up some of the other items in the dungeon to give myself a fighting chance of killing something. I didn't make a lot of progress with this plan, but I did acquire a Torch Sword with which to improve my deck.

Turn 3: I had to rely on the Monster Scents Bag again this turn, and again didn't achieve much as a result; thankfully I was able to steer the Pink Eye into the A.I's path, and the A.I was only more than happy to take it. Normally letting the A.I take a 6 Gold value monster would be a bad thing, but when it's hampering you turn after turn, you just have to let it go and hope that you can claw back the points with the freedom getting rid of it grants you.

Turn 4: Not a lot to report for this turn, other than the A.I taking the Dungeon Yeti as it's trophy for 5 Gold. It's only early days, but two successive turns like this is going to be hard to come back from; and I know it!

Turn 5: This was a really good turn for me. I got hold of a Tempo Sword, which I used to retire my Awkward Sword; optimising my deck, if only slightly. I'd also picked up a couple of other decent swords in previous turns (a Combo Sword, and a Key Sword), whilst the A.I was busy killing stuff.

Now all I needed to do was get the Tempo Sword out a couple of more times, and my deck would start chewing up the dungeon. I could start to close the gap. The A.I taking the Ogre Brute for 5 Gold at the end of the turn however meant the gap I wanted to close was only getting more and more vast with every passing turn.

Turn 6: This turn was pretty standard, with the whole dungeon being revealed. Other than picking up another Tempo Sword, there isn't much more to say about it.

Turn 7: My engine started to churn out trophies this turn, taking out both the Tall Grass and the Siren; helping me close the gap. The A.I did take another good sized trophy also however, in the Space Guardian (worth 4 Gold).

Turn 8: I started this turn by playing a Tempo Sword (which I'm fast becoming a fan of), to retire a Crappy Sword from my deck. I then revealed a Rat Man which in turn revealed a Single-Use Sword. I hadn't seen this card before, and had previously thought that one-shot items where a new thing introduced by The Darkness Dungeon Builder Set.. Guess I was wrong! Although the concept of "bane items" does still seem to have been introduced by that DBS.

Not that I was going to get my hands on this sword just yet either way, as a Boring Door blocked my progress and ended my turn. Before consolidating the dungeon however, the A.I took its prize. A Shiny sword, for another 4 Gold.

Turn 9: Not drawing my Key Sword I rented the General Purpose Key, and dealt with the Boring Door; moving beyond it into the next chamber and claiming the Single-Use Sword. This left only one card unrevealed in the dungeon, which was found to be another Rat Man by the A.I; which it also claimed as its trophy for this turn.

Turn 10: I got to start my turn off using another brand new item, the Launch Boots; which took me straight to the third chamber where I revealed a Laser Obelisk. Something that I had no hopes of beating with my current hand. So I pressed on into the next chamber, revealing a Shadow Door; which hid the Laser Obelisk. Luckily I had drawn my Key Sword this turn, so short work was made of the door and, I even had enough cards left in hand to move into the final chamber; where I encountered a Sticky Man. I slew this without difficulty, and retired a Crappy Sword into the bargain; but in hindsight it was a mistake to do this, as it left the Laser Obelisk as the card to the far right of the Dungeon - which the A.I claimed as its prize. Essentially I handed it 6 Gold. Bugger!

Turn 11: This was another turn I started off by playing a Tempo Sword to thin out my deck a little; in this case retiring a Crappy Sword. Next up I acquired a Sniffer Hound which I used to move to the center of the dungeon, where I encountered a Bat Man. This was easily taken out, before I used the last of my cards to move into the next chamber where I found a Puzzle Sword. It was bat men all around when the A.I took its action and revealed another Bat Man at one extreme of the dungeon, which it took as its prize for this turn.

Turn 12: After shuffling my deck, I found myself drawing my newly acquired Sniffer Hound, which I used to move to the center of the dungeon again, where I revealed a Locked Sword. Another lock and no key, but at least one I could pass. Moving into the next chamber I took the Puzzle Sword which had been revealed the previous turn, and ended this one. The A.I took a Corrosive Slime this turn, which was fine by me; not being either useful to me or valuable to them.

Turn 13: I started this turn by renting out the General Purpose Key, with a goal of snatching the Locked Sword. I did have a Key Sword somewhere in the little that was left of my deck to go through, and means to draw a card; but as there was no guarantee it'd be the card I needed, and seeing how thin the Dungeon Deck was getting I didn't want to take the risk. Key in hand the next thing I did was to play a Tempo Sword to get rid of a Crappy Sword from my deck. Whilst I couldn't be sure of the card I'd draw from my play of the Combo Sword I had in hand, I could at least stack the odds of it being something good in my favor! Moving into the second chamber of the dungeon, I encountered a Horn Warrior; and played my Combo Sword for both strength and the draw.. Which drew the Key Sword. Bugger!

Still, whilst I no longer needed its ability, its strength added to that of the Combo Sword was enough to take out the Horn Warrior; so I at least got a trophy out of it. Next I continued on to the Locked Sword, and took that into my hand by using the General Purpose Key. Lastly I used my newly acquired sword to slay the Tall Grass in the next chamber, leaving very little of the dungeon for the A.I to pick at; who had to settle for a pair of Launch Boots. Another low value trophy.

Turn 14: On the last turn I kicked things off by playing my own pair of Launch Boots to leap straight into the third chamber, where I found another Tempo Sword. Not a lot of use this late in the game. More of a hindrance in fact, but I took it none the less; if only for the Gold. It's ability for me to draw a card also helped, pulling a Decent Sword to my hand. The only problem was at this point that I didn't have much more that I could do with it, and the only card still in my path was the last one in the dungeon; and unless it was a very low value card I didn't have the resources to both get to it, and take it.

So, for no reason other than I could, I used the Torch Sword I had to reveal it.. And found it was the boss.. At the end of the dungeon. With nothing more I could do, I had to accept that the A.I was going to take it, and that would be the end of the game. Had I done enough to catch up?

Win, lose, or draw?

In a word. No. The A.I beat me 54 Gold to 49.. But what a come back! Given how lucky the A.I got so early in the game I think I can say without any hint of being prideful or arrogant that I played a damn good game. One that again was swung by whoever could claim the boss.

Afterthoughts

This was another tight game, which I feel just goes to show how well balanced this game really is. So far I have been able to combine any dungeon deck, with any DBS and still play a well matched game. One thing I did notice however was that this was a longer than usual game. Maybe that's what this DBS' gimmick is? It would make sense, as The Magic Computer's Dungeon Builder Set seems to speed play up; and there is a certain affinity in the design of the DBS' that I own for mirroring. Light (The Chroma Dragon's Dungeon Builder Set) and Dark (The Darkness Dungeon Builder Set), so why not fast and slow?

10 x 10 Challenge #12: 100 Swords - Game #6

Carrying on with my 10 x 10 Challenge, it was the turn of The Blue Mammoth's Dungeon to be plundered of its loot. A dungeon deck that despite owning as long as The Red Dragon's Dungeon, I had not yet broken out other than to sleeve the cards. Since picking it up I have read a few posts over at Board Game Geek however, which suggested that when comparing the two decks side-by-side; The Blue Mammoth's Dungeon should be considered the advanced deck, which may have been why I steered clear of it initially. Using The Red Dragon's Dungeon to learn the game, before venturing into the more complex aspects of gameplay.

Feeling that I had a solid grasp of the basics now though, it was time to take off the training wheels.

How well did that go?

Well, as far as I can tell there were no errors made during gameplay and, if I'm honest the advanced deck isn't anything I couldn't have handled straight out of the box. There were a few situations where you needed to think a little harder about what you were doing, due to the timing of effects; but nothing major, and certainly nothing to intimidate the novice.

The Game

In brief, the game went a little like this..

Turn 1: Nothing of any real significance happened, but the whole dungeon was revealed due to my trademark play style; making planning for the next turn a lot easier.

Turn 2: Planning is one thing, but when you draw 5 Crappy Swords as your initial hand, you pretty much know that you're not going to be doing much that turn. The A.I however took the Laser Obelisk for 6 Gold; putting me on the back foot, and playing catch up.

Turn 3: I managed to take 2 Tempo Swords in this round, which as the game progressed I found to be incredibly useful for thinning out my deck. Something that I always found the Wither Sword was particularly poor at. The dungeon was also stripped bare in this round, with only one card remaining; which had also been revealed.

Turn 4: Not much to report in this round, other than the dungeon being completely revealed again.

Turn 5: I accidentally retired one of Tempo swords in this round (when a Tempo Sword is played, it retires a card in your deck; and the only card left in my deck was my other Tempo Sword). It wasn't all bad in this turn however, as I acquired a Combo Sword which I used to top-deck a Key Sword that I had previously looted. This was critical as I had just revealed a door, and without my turn would have been over. Instead I found myself with an extra trophy! Score!!

Turn 6: Another turn with nothing worth writing home about, which when compared to the previous turn really stood out as an anti-climax.

Turn 7: Another slow turn, with the only event of note being the revelation of the Pink Eye; which in turn revealed the rest of the dungeon.

Turn 8: I quite literally couldn't do anything this turn due to a poor draw. Having nothing that could deal with the Pink Eye that was now blocking the way, or any of the other threats on the dungeon.. Which I think is actually a first! Usually you can do something, even if you have to use rental items. Not this time though.

Turn 9: This turn I managed to slay the Pink Eye in the dungeon, but that was about all.

Turn 10: This turn I acquired the Bow Sword, which looked to be a very powerful sword. Alas, I did not get to use it as my last reveal unveiled the boss; which the A.I promptly took, ending the game.

Win, lose, or draw?

I took a loss on this one, trailing 30 Gold to the A.I's 36. A difference exactly the value of the boss, so this would appear to be another instance where the player that slays the boss, wins the game. Something that I believe happened in an earlier play through of The Red Dragon's Dungeon.

Afterthoughts

I cannot deny that I am impressed with The Blue Mammoth's Dungeon. Whilst it doesn't make any groundbreaking changes to the system, the little things that it does add are done well. Cards like the Tempo Sword for example, which have a one-shot effect when you take them, but then do something else completely different for the rest of the game.

This and other subtle little tweaks combine to create a gaming experience that mirrors the other dungeon deck well, creating a feeling of consistency; whilst not mimicking it so closely as for it to feel like more of the same with a different paint job.

In short, good stuff!

10 x 10 Challenge #11: 100 Swords - Game #5

Following on from my previous post, I got back on the 10 x 10 Challenge this morning; rounding off the last of the 100 Swords games that will include The Red Dragon's Dungeon, whilst breaking out The Darkness Dungeon Builder Set (DBS) for the first time.

In my last post I made a few assumptions and predictions regarding just how I thought the addition of this DBS might affect play. But where they accurate?

How did this Dungeon Builder Set change gameplay?

In short, no. Not even close. Whilst there where indeed a good few cards with the hide effect in this new DBS; none of those cards really seemed to amount to anything in the game that I played. The dungeon was also completely revealed on eight occasions this time! Which was not only completely unexpected but also seemed to throw the theme of this DBS completely out of the window.

In fairness, one of the reveals was as a result of several cards chain reacting; so I can almost let that go. That still leaves me with seven occasions to account for however, which is on par with The Chroma Dragon's Dungeon Builder Set. A set which is geared (or so I assumed it was), to reveal more of the dungeon over the course of a game.

Ultimately this leaves me wondering exactly what these DBS' do. Not to be overly critical of a game that I enjoy but, these two sets played almost identically.. So what's the point in owning both?

I suppose from my point of view there is the completionist aspect of ownership (although as I didn't kickstart this game, I am missing the two cards associated with being a backer); and I also like the idea of owning as many of the available cards as possible for when I build my own custom dungeon decks. If neither of these notions bother you though, I can well imagine you'd be left scratching your head as to what the point in purchasing both was.

So which of the two DBS' would I recomend?

Based upon the two games I played, I would have to hand victory to The Darkness.

Whilst there are no immediate differences (or so it seems) in the gameplay between the two expansions; there are in my opinion more interesting things going on in The Darkness. The Altar of Darkness for example is an obstacle that you almost certainly won't want to clear. There is no real need to! It isn't impassable, so it being in the dungeon isn't going to get in your way; and its ability can be really useful in thinning out your deck.

Then there is the introduction of a "bane item". A one-shot item that can kill the boss outright.

The Darkness Dungeon Builder Set is the first to introduce this concept in the series, and it's a real point in its favor. Having this option makes the boss stand out amongst its peers, in the same way that The Magic Computer being the first boss to be an item instead of a monster set it apart from those I had previously faced. It's small things like this that keep things interesting.

Win, lose, or draw?

I managed to rack up another victory, beating the A.I 56 to 49 Gold.

What's next?

Honestly, I'm not too sure. On the one-hand I am eager to press on with 100 Swords; with a view to ticking off the first game in my 10 x 10 Challenge. On the other hand however, variety is the spice of life.

Hmmmm, maybe I'll just roll a dice or toss a coin and go with whatever it comes up with; as I'll be quite happy whatever game I wind up playing off my list.

10 x 10 Challenge #10: 100 Swords - Game #4

Realising that I was getting behind on the commitment that I had made to the 10 x 10 Challenge, and just how much ground I still had to cover to achieve what I was setting out to achieve; I set aside a couple of hours yesterday to get some quality gaming in.

Picking up where I left off with 100 Swords, it was the turn of The Chroma Dragon's Dungeon Builder Set (DBS) to be combined with The Red Dragon's Dungeon. As with the previous two games where I had added a DBS to the The Red Dragon's Dungeon, I replaced the boss from the dungeon deck with the boss from the DBS. A dragon for a dragon in this case. 

How did this Dungeon Builder Set change gameplay?

Well it did introduce the vaporise effect, which was new to me; but as the A.I took the only card that carried this ability it had no impact what so ever on the game I played.

One bizarre thing that did keep occurring during this game however was the dungeon being constantly revealed in it's entirety. Seven times during this game by my count, which based on my previous experience of playing 100 Swords is almost unheard of.

The theme of this DBS is however light, so I suspect that it is by design that so much of the dungeon is being revealed with such frequency. Well, that along with a few other environmental factors. For example, there are more cards with reveal effects in the dungeon deck I am using than there are with hide effects; so The Red Dragon's Dungeon is by default weighted towards revealing cards (if only slightly).

Then there is the A.I, which reveals the first and last card in the dungeon every turn (if you haven't already done so); which coupled with my aggressive play style would often see at least half the dungeon being revealed every turn as I push on through it, trying to work out which cards I want to target for drafting in the next turn.

So whilst the Chroma Dragon's DBS cannot be said to be solely responsible for the dungeon being completely revealed almost every turn, I certainly think that there is some correlation between its introduction and the sudden increase in the number of times we're seeing only face up cards in the dungeon, at the end of a turn.

Win, lose, or draw?

It was another player win, scoring 49 Gold to the 39 taken by the A.I.

What's next?

Next up is the final outing for The Red Dragon's Dungeon in the 10 x 10 Challenge, where it will be combined with The Darkness Dungeon Builder Set. Something that I am suspecting will be akin to the yin of the Chroma Dragon's yang. More hiding effects are almost a given, but what else will it yield?

Time to get shuffling and to find out!

10 x 10 Challenge #9: 100 Swords - Games #2 And #3

One good thing to come out of yesterday's kerfuffle and letdown, was suddenly finding that I had some free
time on my hands. Quite a rarity at the moment with how hard I've been pushing to get myself back into work these past couple of weeks.

Being quite the scarcity, there was no way I was wasting it; and given that I had been hankering to do some gaming for days, I knew exactly how to unwind. I also saw it as a prime opportunity to tick a couple of more games off of my 10 x 10 Challenge.

Up this time was a return to The Red Dragon's Dungeon, but the dragon wasn't home. Instead the Glowing Plasmapede & Magic Computer had taken up residence; bringing their pals to the party. These were games that I had been looking forward to playing since I took on the challenge, as whilst I had played a few games of The Red Dragon's Dungeon prior; I hadn't yet  introduced any of the Dungeon Builder Sets.

First up, The Red Dragon's Dungeon combined with The Glowing Plasmapede's Dungeon Builder Set.

The introduction of this Dungeon Builder Set (DBS), didn't seem to change the flow of the game; but it was interesting to see some new cards in the dungeon. Something that was a first however, was the Awkward Sword actually being useful; giving me just the boost I needed to take down a Torch Skeleton.

I was also able to make good use of the Sleepy Potion to manipulate the Space Guardian, and therefore the dungeon to ensure that the A.I didn't get the best of the loot.The fungus at the front door issue that I encountered in the last game (which screwed me over royally), happened again; but learning from the experience I took the initiative and killed it the very turn after it wound up there.

The session ended with me facing down the Glowing Plasmapede, which I had no difficulty in taking down thanks to a favorable draw. That said, I had drawn pretty well all game; which meant I had a whole deck full of pretty impressive swords.

One thing that I did find a little weird about this setup was the boss itself. It has a strength identical to that of the Red Dragon, with some additional requirements to defeat it; but is worth less Gold (VP). Not that it really mattered in this particular game, as I beat the A.I on Gold, 55 to 43.

Next up was The Red Dragon's Dungeon, combined with The Magic Computer's Dungeon Builder Set.

This one changed the tempo of the game considerably. One of the cards in this set provides you with additional energy, when you use it for energy; whilst another discounts all of your future energy expenditure during your turn, making items easier to retrieve. Unlike the previous two configurations, the Magic Computer is both a boss and an item.

So the emphasis in this DBS is all about recovering as many items from the dungeon as possible, and it gives you the perfect tools to do just that.

Another new feature added by this DBS is the introduction of cards worth negative points. This didn't really impact my game, as the item that introduces this effect (the same item which discounts all energy expenditure during the turn in which it is played) came out within the first couple of turns; so I easily offset its penalty. In fact, thanks to it the dungeon was completely cleared at the end of one of the turns. Something extremely rare to see in my experience.

The game ended with the A.I taking out the boss, and me winning 55 Gold to 46. Remarkably close to the score of the previous game; which suggests to me that the two sets are incredibly well balanced.

It'll be interesting to see if the last two Dungeon Builder Sets are as balanced, and just how they change the flow of the game. The Glowing Plasmapede's Dungeon Builder Set did very little to the core gameplay, whilst the Magic Computer shifted the emphasis towards items over monsters.

Oh I wonder what wonders await us.

10 x 10 Challenge #8: 100 Swords - Game #1 - Part #2

Following on from my last 100 Swords post for the 10 x 10 Challenge; we pick up the action with a mushroom blocking the entrance to a dungeon literally littered with loot.

Knowing that I needed to get rid of the Mushroom at the entrance sooner rather than later, I hoped for a good draw.. I did not get it. Instead I got a Crappy Sword, the Awkward Sword (which is so much worse than a Crappy Sword), 2 pairs of Boots, and the Wither Sword. The problem here is again much as it was in the previous turn. In order to take out that pain in the ass fungus, I am going to have to expend several cards (1 to move to it, and 2 to slay it), which will leave me with very little in the way of resources to do anything else this turn. So I took the slightly more economical (but less permanent) of renting out the potion again and giving the Mushroom 40 winks. Using the remaining Boots and the Crappy Sword in my hand, I moved into the second chamber; and claimed the Fine Sword. Much better! I then used the Wither Sword to move further into the dungeon and to retire a Crappy Sword from my discard, before revealing.. Another bloody Mushroom! This one was getting it though, and was swiftly cut down by my new and shiny Fine Sword. "Ha ha, vengance is mine!". Victory was short lived however as the A.I revealed the entrance Mushroom (again), and a torch; taking the latter. It'll go nicely with their Torch Skeleton from the last round I guess.

The beginning of the next turn, and I'm hoping for a favorable draw.. Nope. A Crappy Sword, an Awkward Sword, the Wither Sword, a pair of Quick Boots, and a pair of regular Boots. Again nothing with enough punch to take out the Mushroom at the entrance, unless I am willing to burn through a few cards. Which given that the hand I drew is otherwise pretty good, I am not. So I opt for another nap time for the Mushroom, this time burning a Crappy Sword for the privilege; before using a regular pair of Boots to move into the second chamber chamber, and using my Wither Sword and Awkward Sword for the energy required to take the Cursed Sword. I then used the Quick Boots to move another two chambers into the dungeon, drawing another Crappy Sword into my hand with their special ability; and revealing a Wooden Door. Nuts! Running into an impassible obstacle that requires a key is very bad news at this point, as the amount of cards I would need to burn to dispose of it and possibly passify the Mushroom at the entrance next turn, would render that turn moot. Fortune favors the bold however, and as luck would have it this door can be kicked in by spending three point of movement.. Which the cards in my hand can generate. Exactly! So rather than another annoying road block, the Wooden Door becomes a trophy. Points not problems, that's exactly what I need! It was then the turn of the A.I to rain on my parade, revealing the Mushroom (again again), but taking the Thunder Sword at the end of the dungeon.. I could have really used that sword. *sigh*.

Turn 8, and my hand finally allows for the fungicide that I have been contemplating, and even willing for turns. This turn I drew 3 x Crappy Swords, a pair of Boots, and the card that would crucially break the deadlock; the Lullaby Sword. Typical isn't it, that the one turn I don't need to flip the Mushroom, I draw a card that will do just that. Never the less, time to press my advantage. I used a Crappy Sword to move into the first chamber, and the Lullaby Sword to put the Mushroom there into a very permanent slumber. All hail Tom, the mighty mushroom slayer. After a brief fist pump into the air, I used my Boots to move into the third chamber; revealing the Treasure Chest. Bugger! No key.. Again. However, on the plus side, given it's location in the dungeon, I know that the A.I can't possibly take it at the end of the turn (as the last thing I want to do is hand it 5 Gold / victory points. Using another Crappy Sword from my hand, I venture into the next chamber, revealing a Cave Wizard who uses their magic to conceal the chest. The A.I acts, revealing a Scary Door near the entrance to the dungeon and another pair of Quick Boots in the final chamber. Being helpful for once, the A.I takes the Scary Door as a trophy.

Turn 9, and I have a very definite plan. I want the Treasure Chest, which thanks to the actions of the actions of the A.I in the last turn is now conveniently located at the entrance. So I need a key, and my hand  this turn (an Awkward Sword, an Okay Sword, a Fine Sword, a pair of Boots, and the Wither Sword) gives me just the throw away card to acquire it with. Using the Awkward Sword (surprise surprise) to rent the All Purpose Key and, my Boots to enter the first chamber I claim the Treasure Chest. I then used the Wither Sword for its movement value and slew the Cave Wizard in the next chamber with the Fine Sword. On something of a roll I used the Okay Sword to move another two chambers, revealing the dungeon boss. The Red Dragon! It was now time for the A.I to act, who upon revealing a pair of Combo Gauntlets at the end of the dungeon left me with something of a dilemma. The A.I could take either of these cards (as they were of equal Gold value), and the choice would be mine. On the one hand, if I opted for them to take the Quick Boots, the dragon would find itself at the entrance. An ideal opportunity for me to take it out next turn, but should I fail; I'd be handing it to the A.I. It would all come down to a hand of cards that I could not vouch for. On the other hand however, if I opted that the A.I would take the Combo Gauntlets I would buy myself a turn; but little else. It would be unlikely that I could muster the cards to slay the dragon next turn if I made this choice, and at best I would net myself a pair of Quick Boots. As these would offer no immediate benefit in slaying the dragon, and delaying the inevitable would only result in the A.I gaining an additional trophy, I opted that the A.I take the boots. The next turn would be the last turn.

Balls, balls, balls, BALLS! 4 x Crappy Sword and a pair of Quick Boots was not the hand that I wanted to see! Still, when life gives you lemons, make lemonades.. And when a game gives you boots, make a run for it. Knowing that I couldn't possibly defeat the dragon this turn, and that I was going to hand it to the A.I for 8 Gold at the end of the turn; I decided to try and offset the loss by scoring as many points this turn as I could. Using a Crappy Sword, I rented out the potion to send the Red Dragon off to the land of nod. I then used Quick Boots to move into the second chamber, and the last of my cards to take the Combo Gauntlets.. Which would now drive me on using their special ability. Only one chamber however, where I revealed the Monster Bane Sword! Not that I could actually take it. Still, it was nice to get close. All out of options, the A.I acted and took the dragon; and ended the game.

But what were the final scores?

A.I: 39 Points

Me: 32 Points

As you can see, it was a very close run thing; and had I slain the Red Dragon at the end of the game it would have made all the difference. Close games are not uncommon with 100 Swords from my personal experience however, which I believe speaks of a really well balanced game.

How true that holds when I add a dungeon builder set to the deck, or play with the other deck remains to be seen of course; but so far, so good.