Magic in a Box!

by Randy

Hello, hello! Happy holidays to everyone out there! I hope everyone is having a great time celebrating with their families, and hopefully playing a few games, too. Today I wanted to share a gift idea and craft project. This is a Christmas gift that my wife and I put together for Katie, who just turned six. We introduced her to Magic: the Gathering this year, and she has been craving more!

Angie and I have played Magic for a few years now. Though initially we were hesitant to start playing a collectible card game, we have had a blast with this. Currently, our preferred format for playing is Commander, which is a multiplayer format we feel works great for casual players like us. Katie also showed interest, and, earlier in the year, set a goal to learn to read better so that she could play Magic with us (I'll let Angie relate more on that later, if she wants to!). Now, she wants to play Commander. And Angie came up with the idea to make a Commander deck for her for Christmas with Damia, Sage of Stone as the general.

Here's where I come in: I made a box for the deck. I started with a standard small corrugated cardbox that you can pick up at any card shop. I have been a miniature painter for years, but I haven't really done much in the way of character painting. Still, I decided that on every face, I would paint an interpretation of a card that appears in her deck. I was pretty happy with the results, for the most part. If you click on the name of the piece, it will take you to the card listing in the Magic: The Gathering card database, the Gatherer.

Howlpack Alpha: We picked up the Mayor of Avabruck/Howlpack Alpha card at the Innistrad prerelease and Katie loves this card. Her favorite deck thus far has been a green one that has a variety of effects that create Wolf tokens and this seemed like a no-brainer to put in her Commander deck.

Damia, Sage of Stone: This is the general of her deck (for what that means, check out the Commander Rules). This was the first side I painted, and sadly my least favorite; it was a bit later in painting that I "found my groove". If you check the link, this is the one that diverges the most from the card art.

Wydwen, the Biting Gale: A fun and tricky fairy to throw in. I don't feel I did the shimmery pieces justice, but whatever. I'm happy with the background, and I feel it came out okay.

Prized Unicorn: In a six year old girl's deck, a unicorn is practically obligatory. Not only is this card pretty, it's also super useful; I've seen many games won by use of this card. I was really happy with this piece, too. This one is tied with the next one for being my favorite.

Full Moon's Rise: This is a utility card that boosts Werewolf creatures, of which there are a few in the deck. I really liked the card art for this one and thought it would be great for the front of the box and with a Magic logo glued on top. I liked my results on this one!

I also did a top for Katie's box. This is not my favorite piece, but gets the point across. Here it is:

So that's it. Katie loved it, and the deck. If we feel particularly ambitious after a few rounds of play and tweaking, I may ask Angie (who is building the actual deck) to post the deck list. If we do, please note that it isn't a deck focused on power combos or designed for super-competitive play, it is instead focused on simple rules and ease of play for a beginner.

For those interested in something like this as a creative project, I want to point out that the box itself is one that you can find at any card shop for around a dollar. The paint I used for this one was tube acrylics (Reeves brand) applied with Citadel brand brushes, with the help of a Privateer Press P3 Wet Palette. If you work with acrylic paint at all, I highly recommend use of a wet palette (Google it and you will find both commercially available ones, as well as instructions for making your own). Prior to painting, I used a non-photo blue colored pencil to lay down the lines to start with. These pencils are super light and will not show up even with heavily thinned layers of paint. Here is another similar box I made for my son for his Super Mario Bros. trading cards:

Anyway, that's that! Any other gamer geeks out there who did game-themed crafts for holiday gifts? We'd love some links!

Drop Site

by Angie

About a month ago (just before our vacation!), we were lucky enough to receive a review copy of a clever little card game called Drop Site from Bellwether Games. Drop Site is a game in which thematically you are attempting to coordinate your humanitarian aid efforts, sending supplies to those who need them throuhg air drops while communicating with ground forces to ensure a successful operation. Mechanically, this game is an interesting card game in which you are trying to line up the communal pile of cards to match your own secret pile. I'm not sure the theme and mechanics blend together super well, because the game plays quite competitively, whereas I somewhat expected by the theme that we'd cooperate a bit. However, I think Drop Site is a quick fun game with a lot of strategic value.

The gameplay of Drop Site is relatively simple, but I've seen a lot of different strategic plays arise while playing. The cards each have a number value along the upper left side and a +points in the bottom middle. On your turn you may play a card into a communal pile (by playing lower than an existing number on the pile, or by starting a new pile). or you may play one of your cards into your debt (a personal face down pile). The round ends when a certain number of piles have been started, so there is always a tension about when another player might start a new pile and bring closer the end of the round. The goal is to have as many cards as possible from your debt match the top face-up cards in the communal piles when the round ends. You score points equal to the +points number on the card for each match, and lose a couple points for each card that doesn't match. Scores are kept from round to round and the goal is to reach 100 first.

Drop Site is one of those elegant games with simple rules where the depth emerges throughout play. The first few hands of the game, players are often scratching their heads and trying to figure out how to play cards to their best advantage, and when to bank cards for potenital points. As the game progresses, strategies such as blocking another players moves, predicting your opponents plays and using them to your advantage, and deciding when to gamble all become relevant. To me, this is where this game comes to life! The player interaction and strategic planning makes this simple game into a rewarding, interactive, deeper-than-it-seems gameplay experience.

Oh, one other thing I love about this game is that it is extremely protable and doesn't take much space or time to play, but gives a satisfying strategic feel. In the last few weeks, I've played this game sitting on the edge of my bed, at the park, and on a camping trip. Throw it in your bag/backpack/purse and you're set!

Let's Get the Party (Kick)Started!

by Angie

I've recently been quite fascinated with Kickstarter. If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, you should pop over and give it a look. Kickstarter is a really cool crowd-funding platform for creative projects, and I think its great how many new game designs are getting published because of it. Kickstarter provides a valuable service to game designers, publishers, and gamers alike. Designers and publishers can get the funding they need to get their games to market; and gamers can be in on the ground floor of exciting new games, helping to decide which projects they want to see happen and often gaining cool rewards, recognition, swag, and other benefits for their support.

In addition to all of that, Kickstarter presents an interesting method for communication between the game’s creators and the players, allowing for comments and ideas to be integrated before a game prints. Some game creators offer supporters the ability to name things in the game, make choices about certain elements, and other fun interactions that really make you feel like you are part of the process. And of course as a supporter not only are you helping make a game come to life, you also are able to guarantee yourself a copy before anyone else. Many of the Kickstarer campaigns have exclusive bonuses or reduced rates on extra copies of the games for supporters, so it’s worth taking a look even If you are on a budget, every little bit helps.

I’m mentioning Kickstarter because I think it’s something every gamer should know about. I’m also bringing it up now because we had the opportunity to play a prototype copy of a game that is up on Kickstarter right now, with 13 days to go at the time of this post. The game is called White Elephant Card Game, and is designed by Brian Kelley. This card game manages to be both a fun light game that recreates the experience of a white elephant gift party AND makes a particularly cute gift FOR a white elephant gift party. Double Whammy!

The basic premise of the game is that you are a cheapskate who needs to pick up a few gifts for some friends and family for the holiday, but don’t want to spend any money… so you hatch up a plan to trade the junk in your attic for stuff the people on your list will like by attending several white elephant gift parties. Just in case you are wondering what it is all about, a white elephant gift party is a quirky gift exchange game in which everyone brings a wrapped gift (often a silly or weird item) and places it into a common pool. There are a lot of variations of the “rules”, but it usually involves people taking turns opening a gift, with each subsequent player having the ability to steal a previously opened gift or grab a new one from the pile.

This game replicates that core idea well in a card game format. You are trying to grab cards with a high score in specific colors, and you do so by bringing gifts (placing a card face down on the table), opening presents (turning a card face up), and stealing them from other players (taking a card they’ve revealed and putting it in front of you). The game flows well, and the fun retro style art and zany oddball gift photos and description really help drive home the theme.

After playing this game last night, we were discussing how funny it would be to stock up on a bunch of copies of this game and give it out at my family’s annual gift exchange party (which is similar to the white elephant exchange game described above, except we usually bring nice presents that people would like instead of junk from our attics!). Anyhow, we were discussing about how it would be interesting and amusing to give one each year and follow up with a few rounds of playing the game to extend the fun of the party. It seems like one of those perpetual gift items that could turn into quite a family tradition. Whoever ended up with the White Elephant Card Game would have a fun reminder of the event, and a neat little game to play as well… assuming they didn’t give it away at their next white elephant party. Even passing a single copy of the game around would make for a good holiday laugh.

If you just love white elephant gift parties and can’t get enough, or you really want to stock up on gifts for the next few holiday seasons, this is a dream come true! Otherwise, it’s still an interesting, light-weight, family-and-friends game that plays quickly and offers some strategic decision making that is worth checking out. Kickstarter projects are time-sensitive, so what are you waiting for?!? :)

The Healing Blade

by Randy

Hey, everyone! The kids are all tucked in and I wanted to hop on and share some feedback on a game I was able to try out. Are you interested in hearing about it? Good! The game in question is The Healing Blade from Nerdcore Learning, who were kind enough to provide a review copy when requested. I think you'll find the game fascinating; I do. Want to know why? Read on!

The Healing Blade is a game about battling infectious diseases. Yes, you read that right. It is a two player game where one side plays the Lord of Pestilence (the diseases) and another plays the Apothecary Healers (the medicinal agents for countering the diseases). It was developed by two medical doctors who also happen to be gamers, Francis Kong and Arun Mathews. From what I've read, it is growing in popularity with medical students.

When I first heard about this, the first thing I thought of was an academic paper my wife had ran across and told me about by Richard Steinman and Mary Blastos called "A trading-card game teaching about host defence" from 2002. The paper concluded concluded that the game was super-effective for teaching the concepts. The two are unrelated, to my knowledge, but share the same conceptual space. Both the game in the paper and The Healing Blade are games... that teach. But on to this game.

It's a beautiful game. It has high-quality components, and great art. There are 20 green glass beads included to track the energy resource used, ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Each player has a full-color playmat. And most of the 90 cards have unique art. The art is definitely worth mentioning here... it would definitely hold its own against Magic: The Gathering art. Gorgeous illustratiuons. Altogether, a very impressive set of components.

And then... the cards. Okay, here is where the diseases come in. Each Lord of Pestilence card has the full scientific name of the disease (Streptococcus pneumoniae or Helicobacter pylori, as examples), its abbreviated common name (S. pneumoniae, H. pylori) and a fantasy-style piece of art that represents it, plus flavortext that puts a magical spin on its real-world effect. Each Apothecary Healer card has the name of a medicine (ie, Doxycyclene) and its own art and flavortext. Aside from a small font, they are very well put together.

As for gameplay... let's say that this was the funnest study session I've ever had on infectious diseases. Which is to say that as a game, the mechanics do leave a little to be desired. The rules are pretty concise and simple, but in playing we found a couple situations not covered in the rules. For instance, as the Lord of Pestilence, I found my hand of cards clogged with high-cost diseases that I was unable to play. The result was that my Apothecary Healer opponent was able to build up and have a healer combatant that could counter most diseases I could play. It could have just been a bad run, and I noticed on their site a rules revision is in progress. So... the current gameplay isn't tight, mechanics-wise... but as I see it, that's not an issue. Because mechanics are not the point.

What this game represents is a great step in the right direction for games that teach. If I were a medical student, I would absolutely love this game. This beats the heck out of a dry textbook. Granted, it doesn't replace the textbook, but it is a great supplement that presents the material in a way that activates different parts of the brain. This would be a great supplement to a class on pathogens. It slaps a fun theme on the subject of infectious diseases and how to fight them, and runs with it. I hands-down recommend this for any med student out there. For gamers? Not so much. But keep your eye out: the next rules revision may very well put this mechanically closer to the games we play just for fun. I suspect we may start seeing more hobby-quality games whose primary purpose is to help us learn. And I like that!

Fighting With Style

by Angie

Yomi is a card based fighting game by Sirlin Games that we picked up recently and have been enjoying quite a bit. We got the Complete First Edition, which contains all 10 character decks and some extras that make storing and playing the game easy and pretty. The premise behind the game is that each player takes on the role of a specific character in the Fantasy Strike universe to compete in fighting tournaments, and it’s modeled after classic video  fighting games such as Street Fighter 2. I love it that this designer is creating an Intellectual Property (IP) with his games, and working to expand a world and tell a story throughout several games (Yomi, Puzzle Strike, and Flash Duel). Inventing and representing an IP through board/card games is something that has always intrigued me, and this series seems to have hit the ground running and made quite an impact ‘round the ‘net so far. Since this is a game I was very very excited to get and has been a frequent flyer at our gaming table lately, I figured I might as well chime in and share my thoughts.

Yomi plays relatively quick, while still providing a good amount of strategic decision making. This is an important consideration for us right now, with game time at a premium. We want to play something that feels satisfying but doesn’t take hours. It seems like Yomi matches take about 15 minutes or so, and a couple matches in a row seems to provide a high level of satisfaction for us. Each character sports a unique deck, and they all play differently. Simplified, the combat consists of round after round of picking a fighting move, revealing it, and comparing the results to deal damage. The goal is to take out all your opponent’s life points. The combat is resolved through a circular mechanic where attacks beat throws, throws beat blocks and dodges, and blocks and dodges beat attacks. The two main elements of gameplay are figuring out what your character does well and how to do it, while also trying to figure out what your opponent is going to do. That’s it, except the game is so much more than that.

 

The Complete First Edition; 10 decks, 2 play mats, life counters, deluxe rulebook, awesome storage box with good art.



Yomi is a game with STYLE. Through the careful attention to character design and balance, the gorgeous art, and the clever execution of the theme, Yomi hits the sweet spot of what games should be. In his book The Art of Game Design (a personal favorite book of all time, and one you'll likely hear more about from me), author Jesse Schell describes the idea of looking at a game through the “Lens of Essential Experience” and states “As a game designer trying to design an experience, your goal is to figure out the essential elements that really define the experience you want to create, and find ways to make that part of your game design”. It’s brilliant really, rather than trying to recreate the whole of a concept, it is sometimes better to take out those elements that define the experience… the pieces that stick out in your memory as essential… and focus on finding ways to experience those in the game.  It feels like Yomi was designed with this in mind, capturing the essence of its genre. What do you want to do in a fighting game? Power-up and land devastating combos, outmaneuver and outthink your opponent, use your special moves in clever ways, and get cool visuals… and that’s what this game is about. Is it the perfect game for everyone? No way… no game ever will be. But this game does what it does very well.

Combos! Combos are the heart of all fighting games. You can button mash until you are blue in the face, but the skilled player is the one who hits the right buttons in the right sequence at the right time. In Yomi, you can chain moves together with careful planning to create powerful combos, but you’ve always got to be alert for what your opponent is doing. Is it the right time to unleash your powerful combo attack, or will it just be dodged? Each card has two moves on it, and can be rotated to do either one based upon player choice. Additionally each card is numbered and suited like a poker deck. Cards are a finite resource, and you don’t want to waste them on moves that don’t connect. In addition, you can use sets of cards to “power up” and search for your ultimate move cards (Aces). Do you want to use that 7 as a throw or a block, keep it in hopes of a combo, discard it for a character special move, or discard the pair of them to search up an Ace?  Interesting choices are a core part of this game, and how you use your cards matters.

According to the game’s designer, Yomi means “reading” in Japanese, and in this game the concept is applied to “reading” your opponent. Trying to figure out what the other player will chose is a huge consideration when playing and planning your own moves. Each character deck has it’s own strengths and weaknesses which are represented in the frequency, speed, and power of their moves. When playing against a character that is very skilled at throws (lots of throw cards available) it’s more risky to choose block or dodge. Each move has a counter, nothing is “ultimate”, so there’s always a consideration.



Decks can be bought in 2-packs instead of the whole set. See the variety in card pictures, amazing!

As if all that wasn’t enough to consider, characters have unique special moves on their character card that helps define the way the player experiences the world, and several cards in each deck also have character specific powers that you can activate by discarding that card (instead of using it for a fighting move). The characters have been extensively playtested and really seem to be balanced against each other. The imbalance in a game of Yomi will be in player skill, strategy, and comprehension of how to best utilize their available options… with a hint of luck. Luck is a good thing, the random nature of cards provides for an interesting mental puzzle that changes each game. Your options at any given time will be different based upon your cards, so there isn’t that rigid definition of an optimal play that doesn’t change from game to game. In Yomi you’ll be playing very differently as Lum, the Gambling Panda than you would be as Rook, the Stone Guardian. They are designed to feel special and unique, and their individual moves keep things dynamic and interesting. It’s a game where I constantly feel conflicted between trying any given matchup “just one more time” or trying out a new combo of characters.  

Yes, each character has multiple special moves with awesome art like this one!

The final element of this game that just makes it pop is the art and design. Each character has detailed and beautiful art on the card, especially the face cards. Those special moves really feel special, they are beautifully illustrated and capture that artistic style and feel that defines the fighting game genre. The attention to detail in this game is amazing, and “small” things like the unique design for each deck’s card back really enhance the experience of each character and set the tone. Every time I shuffle the cards and deal out a hand I think “Wow, cool”. Video games often reward players with neat animations and special effects when something epic like a finishing move happens, and this is the closest analog I have seen to that experience. My 5 year old daughter is too young to read all the cards in Yomi, but she loves to just play card games like Crazy 8’s or Go Fish with these decks because they have pretty art and “look cooler than our other cards”, plus it’s fun to pick out which character we’ll be playing with each time.

To sum up, Yomi is a game that is simple to learn with depth to grow. It’s an elegant design that captures the essential experience it was designed to deliver. It is beautiful and even more importantly, it’s fun. Yomi is a game with genuine style, and I’m impressed.

Amazingly enough, I could say more... but I won't. Yet. If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to leave a comment! We love comments, honest!

Still Gamin'!

Hey, folks! Sorry about the lack of updates. With Angie wrapping up her Master's degree in Education, things have been in a turmoil hereabouts. I thought I would chime in with a quick post on what we've been playing during this time. We have slipped in some time for gaming... can't leave that out!

1. Puzzle Strike: Bag of Chips (Sirlin Games)

Puzzle Strike is a real gem of a game- literally! You know those games for consoles or computers that have you breaking gems, like Bejeweled or Puzzle Quest? Puzzle Strike is sort of like an analog version of that.I almost said "board game", but there's no board. It has a Dominion-like "deckbuilding" mechanic... although you're not building a deck, you are instead buying chips that you will draw from a bag. Players each have a gem pile that is growing, and, if left unchecked, will cause you to lose. Every turn, you add another to the pile. You use your chips to perform "fighting combos" that usually result in you breaking gems and sending them to your opponent's pile. What makes it really interesting is that you each play a character. There are ten characters to play, and each has three unique character chips. The game is a blast, and is rapidly becoming one of our favorite games. Angie and I have yet to play it more than two player, but I'm certain that it will translate well to multiplayer.

2. Yomi (Sirlin Games)

Yomi is also a fighting game, and uses the same ten characters that Puzzle Strike does. They're both set in the Fantasy Strike universe. Yomi: The Complete First Edition primarily consists of ten 54-card decks. The decks have poker numbers and suits, and can each be used as a standard poker deck, including jokers. Perhaps the first thing you would notice about this game is the art. The art is fantastic, and will remind you somewhat of the Street Fighter franchise. Each deck has about 15 excellent pieces of art, plus a unique card back for each character. The game play is pretty simple. Each player selects a card, that will either be a Throw, Block, Dodge or Attack. You reveal them and compare: Attack beats Throw, Throw beats Block/Dodge, Block/Dodge beats Attack. Sort os a Rock-Paper-Scissors thing. Once you determine the winner of the reveal phase, you can potentially play other cards to combo. You then subtract damage and go to the next round. Okay, there's more than that; I'm simplifying. But as with Puzzle Strike, each of the 10 characters feels different and has their own powers. This game is worth checking out.

3. Summoner Wars: Phoenix Elves vs. Tundra Orcs and Guild Dwarves vs. Cave Goblins (Plaid Hat Games)

Another game we picked up was Summoner Wars. What I like about this game is that when you're done playing, you feel like you've played a strategy game... in 30 minutes. Yes, it's pretty short (at least in our playthroughs). But it feels very wargamey. It is played with decks, each deckj representing a faction. Each box has two factions. We liked the Phoenix Elves vs. Tundra Orcs so much we rushed out and bought the Guild Dwarves vs. Cave Goblins a couple days later. It's played on a grid. Each player has a faction-specific starting setup. You have a main character, your summoner. Your summoner wants to take out their summoner. You use your summoner to bring in units, which move about the board and engage the other summoner's units. It's pretty simple, and each faction plays differently.

 

4. Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer (Gary Games)

I believe I spoke about this one enough in the last blog post, so I won't go on much more. A great deckbuilding game. And I want to give a shout-out to their customer service: you guys are great! Our copy was missing an Apprentice card, and when mentioned on Board Game Geek, their webmaster contacted me and remedied it. He even included a promo for my troubles! Awesome!

So, that's it. What are you playing? Let us know! And be sure to Like us on Facebook to keep up with our updates, which will be getting more frequent very soon. We promise!

Review of Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer

Hello! Tonight, I wanted to share my thoughts on one of the recent games in the

deckbuilding genre, Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer by GaryGames. My

family recently picked this up at a local gamestore. Funds have been tight, so we

actually traded a handful of Magic cards in for store credit. Our daughter thought it

was rad that we traded five cards in for that. She said, "You traded in FIVE cards and

got that game!?! That wasn't smart of them... there's like over a hundred cards in that

box!" But... on to the game.

As I mentioned, Ascension is a deckbuilding game. What does that mean? For those of you familiar with Dominion, this is a game using the same basic mechanic. For those of you new to the concept, here's how it goes. You start the game with a deck. A small deck. On your turn, you acquire cards for your deck. Purchased cards typically go into your discard pile, which you shuffle when you get through your deck. This adds purchasing power for better cards and easier acquisition of point cards. You shuffle a lot. The concept started with Dominion, and has been popping up in other games like Thunderstone and Ascension. It's a good mechanic, and it makes games that use it easy to teach since you begin the game with a premade deck of just a couple different kinds of  cards.

Ascension works for 2-4 players. It has a board to organize the cards. There is a deck

of characters and monsters to defeat or purchase, and some spiffy plastic crystals to

track Honor (victory points). Six cards are laid out on the board, and these are either
going to be characters which go in your deck (purchased with Runes),  monsters to defeat
(using Power) or constructs, which are cards that go through your deck that you may play
into your play area and they stay in effect indefinitely. Most characters will provide
Power and/or Runes. Runes are the currency you use to buy cards, and Power is what you
use to defeat enemies. You can buy as many characters or constructs and/or fight as many
enemies as you have the Power and Runes for in your turn.

I like this game quite a bit. It is simple. Ascension is much less of an endeavor to set
up than Dominion is. We own all the released sets for Dominion, and it really seems like
a monumental undertaking to set up. Ascension, on the other hand, just requires you to
grab a starting deck, lay out the board, shuffle the card supply and count out the Honor
crystals. The simplicity of this makes it much more likely to hit the table if just my
wife and I are playing. Additionally, the possibility of buying characters and fighting
enemies in the same turn is nice, especially compared to Thunderstone's clunky dungeon
mechanic.

So... anyone else have thoughts about Ascension? About deckbuilding games? Let us know!

The Game Shelves...

By Randy
@coffeeswiller

Hello, all! I just wanted to share a look at our game shelves. My wife and I have collected board, card and roleplaying games since we've been together. Here's a look at our shelves...

That pic mostly just shows the board games. There's "RPG overstock" on the bottom middle shelf, though our favorite/heavy rotation are on another bookshelf.  Or were... before the shelf broke under the weight (yes, I'm being serious!). Also, in the bottom left, you can see some drawers. This is where we keep our card games, playing cards, dice, and random gaming bits. See stuff you like? Recommendations for additions? Pics of your own collections? Let us know!

Update!

Here's a 2013 update pic: