10/3 Featured Games and 9/22 Recap

Hello FNDers!

Two Fridays ago we had our most recent session and had a strong crowd out.  We had fifteen people come out - which has been right around our average over the late summer and early fall meetings.  We're hoping to see that increase as we push forward!

At our last session we played several games with the focus being on some new releases.  To start, a large group of people played Fluxx, which was won by a newcomer named Rich.  During this, I taught Splendor to Brian and Annmarie (Beth also played) and ended up winning.  Later in the evening we played Splendor twice more with Laura and Dana and Laura won both games.  I take that to mean I taught it well ;-)

Finally, a game of Ca$h and Gun$ was played which was won by Beth - largely due to the entire table teaming up on me the first three rounds!  Lords of Waterdeep was also played and was won by Amy.

We had a great time and we expect the next session to be just as fun.

The featured games for next week will be Dice Games!

Everyone likes getting to chuck some dice so let's see what we'll be playing:

King of Tokyo:

I don't think we could have a 'dice' day and not mention King of Tokyo.  It's basically Yahtzee with mega monsters.  The game's easy - you roll dice, you beat up your friends, you yell 'rahr,' and you call it a day.  It's pretty much all you need in a 30 minute dice game.

Castles of Burgundy

On the exact opposite end of the spectrum is Castles of Burgundy, by designer Stephan Feld.  Where King of Tokyo is based around pure amusement, Castles of Burgundy is based around very fluid mechanics.  It is the definition of a Euro game - string together efficient actions and come out on top with the most points.  Each turn you roll dice to determine what actions are available to you and then you utilize them in the best way possible.

Despite sounding a bit dry, this game is superb.  It's currently #11 on BGG for good reason.  Also, fun fact, it is my wife's #1 favorite game.  (We have the English version, I just think the name of the German version is fun to say).



Alien Frontiers

Alien Frontiers has been featured before and we're gonna add it on here simply because of how well it fits the theme.  Like Castles, you roll dice to determine what actions are actually available to you and then try to make the most of it.  In this case the game is set in space involves an area of control mechanism on a galactic colony.  It actually is a pretty tense game as you battle for control of the different areas of land and is quite fun.

Kingsburg

Kingsburg is actually pretty similar to Castles of Burgundy or Alien Frontiers in the sense that, again, you are rolling dice to determine what actions are available to you.  Despite the seemingly identical mechanic, all three actually play quite differently - it's just hard to describe them more uniquely without being too long winded.  In this one you are using the dice to influence various advisers, gaining resources and using them to build buildings in your medieval fantasy town.  At the end of each year the town will be attacked by some sort of fantasy creature and so you need to be sure to have enough defenses to survive the onslaught.  This is a splendid game and has been enjoyed every time it's hit the table.

Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game

And finally the game I am personally most excited about - Dead of Winter.  This game just came out - as in I preordered it and it just arrived yesterday.  In it each player takes on the roll of a survivor in a colony during the zombie Apocalypse.  Sounds pretty typical, right?  Trust me - I'm not a big fan of games that just revolve around zombies.  This one's different.  There are zombies in the game but that's the the whole point.  The game itself is a semi-cooperative survival game.  There is a objective decided upon at the beginning of the game and everybody has a certain number of rounds to complete the objective.  Additionally, everybody is given a secret personal objective they they must complete.  If the main objective is completed but your personal is not, you lose.  The catch?  It's possible (but not guaranteed) that a player's personal objective is actually to sabotage the rest of the group.

Players can be exiled at which point they receive a new objective - which could be anything from 'reconciliation' to 'retribution.'  The game is very much driven by the deception and tenseness of a possible traitor, but along with this is constant dice rolling.  Every turn you roll dice to determine your actions and, to go along with most of the things you do, you roll the ever dreaded exposure dice, which can instantly kill off some of your characters.  This is quite possibly going to be the most popular game of the year and this will be a great chance for you to try it out!

So come on out to Friday Night Dice this upcoming Friday and play these and many more games with us!  Bring some friends!\

We hope to see you there!