8/1 Featured Games

Hello Gamers!

This upcoming Friday we at FND will be hosting another game session.  It will begin at the normal time of 6:30 PM at Bridge Church.  The full details are on the right hand side of the blog in the info section.

First I want to put my BGG library link on this page as I will not be present at this upcoming FND.  If anybody wants to play a game we own then please let me know and I'll be sure to leave it at the church for ya'll.  I plan on dropping off a handful of them but if there's any specific requests please be sure to let me know.

http://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/Nicholee

If you're newer to the gaming hobby and haven't visited Boardgamegeek yet spend some time there and check it out.  It's the premier gaming website and is definitely worth making an account.

Anyways, this Friday the theme of the featured games will be Dungeon Crawls.  Dungeon Crawl is a colloquial term for games that generally have players playing as various heroes or characters in some type of personal setting.  Usually this involves a dungeon as in fantasy games (think Skyrim or Dungeons and Dragons) but sometimes it can be others scenarios - surviving Zombies, that type of thing.  We have a handful of these games in our members' personal libraries.

Dungeons and Dragons: Castle Ravenloft

Castle Ravenloft is one of three D&D Board games to be released by Wizards of the Coast, each of which can basically be combined to play large scenarios.  Each players is a traditional fantasy archetype - mage, warrior, rogue - and the team groups together to complete the selected scenario.  Each scenario is different and unique, which is pretty neat.  Throughout the game you will be drawing even cards, fighting monsters, and possibly teaming up to defeat a boss.  You also work as a team making this a cooperative game.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition

Descent is one of the best dungeon crawls to be released.  The follow-up second edition is even better than the original - creating a very streamlined and fluid gaming experience.  It plays best as a campaign but each scenario from the campaigns (I own a few expansions so there are no less than forty) can be played as an individual session.  Like Castle Ravenloft everybody (except one players) takes control of a unique fantasy archetype, but in Descent they get a subsequent subclass making everybody more individualized.  One player plays as the Overlord, the evil mastermind behind the bad guys the heroes are trying to destroy.  It is a terrifically fun game and one that won't disappoint new players.

Lords of Waterdeep

Okay this game is actually not a dungeon crawl but is rather a Euro-styled worker placement game (pretty much the exact opposite of dungeon games).  However it is based in the D&D universe so it fits really nicely with this theme and is a very popular and easy-to-learn game.  Each players takes control of one of the controlling factions in a fantasy city.  Essentially that players is trying to gain the most power in the city by hiring various adventurers to go complete different quests (the kinds of quest you'd expect in Skyrim).  It's a very straightforward game and is, like I've already stated, quite excellent.

In addition to these games, as I said before we'll have others available as well as any from my personal library that have been requested.

Please invite your friends out to FND this upcoming Friday!!!  We look forward to seeing you all!

7/18 Recap

Greetings Friends of FND!

This most recent session on July 18th was another very successful gaming session!

We had fourteen people present, one of which was new.  Lee, Beth, Brian, Annmarie, Amy, Drew, Helen, Dave, Dana, David, John, Amber, Heather, and Tim (our new guy) were all present!  Fourteen is actually the lowest we've had in a few months but if that was our average (it's not) it would still be one of the highest (possibly the highest) averages of all GCOM locations.  Technically speaking it is our average attendance, but that's including the first few sessions where there were only a handful of us getting it started.  Our more accurate average is right around 16.

The theme of the week was Civilization building games and we definitely played some.

To start while waiting for newcomers there were two games going.  One was a friendly game of Uno (I'm guessing anyone reading this knows how to play Uno).  The other was Smash Up.  The big thing to come out of that was that Brian, who owns the game, finally suffered his first defeat - at the hands of Helen.

After this we segued into two groups of games.  The first table was quite large and played 7 Wonders.  Only about half of the group knew the game so Beth taught everybody.  Apparently she did a good job because after winning the first, Dana won the next two games and she was one of the newbies.  They played three straight games of 7 Wonders so apparently they enjoyed it!

While this was going on I (Lee N.) taught Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization to Tim, Drew, and Heather.  This is definitely the most complex game we've done at FND to this point and these three learned it quite impressively. We ended up calling it at the end of the Age II with me on top, but for it being the first game while I have played it a handful of times, it was pretty competitive.  They seemed to get it very well and everyone had a good time.

They finished 7 Wonders with a little time left so they finished the night with Telestrations while we finished up Through the Ages.  This was actually the smallest quantity of games in recent memory at FND but we still got a solid five different games in.

The next session is August 1 (this upcoming Friday) and the featured games should be posted within the next 24 hours.  I will be out of town for this upcoming Friday but am very okay with leaving some of my games at the church for others to use.  Below is a link to my BGG Collection.  If there's anything you really want to play Friday please leave a comment and I'll be sure to have it at the church.

http://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/Nicholee

Many blessings!

7/18 Featured Games

Greetings friends!!

This upcoming Friday, July 18th, marks the first Friday Night Dice under the new schedule.  Again, we are now meeting on the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month, so after this our next meetings will be on August 1st and August 15.

Anyways, as I've been saying we as a leadership for this group have been ecstatic about the consistency of our meeting group.  Over the past few months our lowest attendance has been 16 and every other has been 18 or 19.  We're more than ready break into the 20's so invite all the friends you can!  Should be a beautiful evening of gaming.

With all of that in mind, let's get to our featured games!

Featured Games:  Civilization Building

Civ-Building games are generally diverse and are a pretty popular genre of game.  They take their roots in computer games that focus on building your civilization from meager means to flowing, technological empires.  Some focus more on warfare, some on economics, some on trade and development, and some encompass them all.  This genre very much lends itself to long, complex games, but there are plenty of shorter, easier ones to get into as well.

Light Game:  7 Wonders

7 Wonders is a very rudimentary Civilization building game.  The theme is based around building a civ through ages of ancient times while at the same time trying to build one of the wonders of the ancient world.  The theme is somewhat pasted on, but it is still a very fun game based around a card drafting mechanic.  Its pretty simple and is a good game for novices.  It also plays as many as 8 with the expansion.

Light Game:  Smallworld

This is one of the simplest games we own.  If you've played Risk and enjoyed it then this is a good step into more modern games.  Each player is a different fantasy race (hobbits, giants, zombies, etc.) and also gets a special attribute (flying, tunneling, etc.).  You're trying to earn your race the most points by taking over the most land in the realm on your turn.  Eventually, though, your race will probably extend too far and further conquest will not be viable.  At that point you can go into decline, choose a new race, and start the conquest again!  Its a light game and is pretty enjoyable.

Medium Game:  Suburbia

Technically Suburbia is a city-building game which is really slightly different from civ-building but its a great game so we'll get over it.  If you've ever played and enjoyed Sim City then you have to play Suburbia.  Its very similar - you're mayor of a town and you're managing your reputation and economy in order to attract the most people to your town.  The theme is VERY strong and it is one of my personal favorites.  I also have the Suburbia, Inc. expansion if we get a game of veterans playing.

Medium:  T'Zolkin:  The Mayan Calendar

This game was the bees-knees back in 2012 - easily one of the most popular games of that year.  It also fit well with the whole doomsday business.  This game has little to do with that and much more to do with building an economic and technological structure as the leader of a tribe of Mayans.  While doing this you are trying to please one of their three gods and end the game with the most points.  On the board are multiple gears that all spin each other, causing different actions to become available to your workers and advancing the game clock.  I recently played this for the first time and its very enjoyable.  The basic rules are pretty straightforward, but there are a lot of options which adds some complexity. 

Advanced:  Through the Ages: The Story of Civilization

I'm not going to lie, I'm extremely excited to hopefully get a game of this going.  Through the Ages has been in the top 3 of Boardgamegeek for as long as I've been into board games.  At various times in held the #1 spot.  Designed by Vlaada Chvatil, who has made many games in the top 100, it is quite simply Sid Meier's Civ 3 put into board game form.  It's a pretty heavy game but moves fluidly once you get all of the rules down. It can get bogged down big time if people are distracted or taking longer than necessary on their turn but we should easily be able to get a game in if we start early enough - in theory it should take 2-3 hours.  It only fits 2-4 players so if you're interested shoot me an email or post in the comments to save a seat!

Of course other games will be available including our usual slew of party games so regardless of whether these peek your interest, come on out and play some games with us!!!

***SCHEDULE CHANGE REMINDER***

Hi FND friends!

This is simply a reminder that our schedule has changed. As such our next season is. NOT tonight. It is July 18th at the normal time. All future events are on the home page of our blog.

As of now the GCOM master calendar had not been updated with this information.

I will be posting the featured games for next Friday in the next few days. We look forward to seeing you!!