8/29 Featured Games

Hello Gamers!

I'm doing things a little bit out of order this week in doing the featured games for next week before the recap for the following week.  The recap will come!  I promise!  But I wanted to get this out first as we're really trying to pump up next Friday's FND (August 29).

It is the Friday before Labor Day and so we're hoping that means most of us are back from vacations and trips over the summer and are ready to relax and enjoy some time with friends and family.  If you do not have plans for that Friday I highly encourage you to come on out, bring some friends and/or family, and play some games with us.

As always we'll have most of our personal library at FND but in particular we'll be featuring a handful of games.  So.... Let's get to them!

Featured Party Game:  Ultimate Werewolf

So we technically featured this at the previous FND and it really doesn't fit the theme of the rest of the games, but because of some Goblins attacking a caravan we weren't able to play a game of Werewolf with everybody at FND.  While Werewolf is fun with 8 or 9 people, it is significantly more fun with 16-20 people.  I'm expecting us to have at least that many next Friday and as such we will be scheduling again a session of Werewolf starting at 10:00 PM.  We'll be encouraging people to plan what games they play so we can finish up around that time and get a big game or two in.  I don't want to have to feature it again ;-)

Featured Strategy Games:  Worker Placement

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't super excited to do worker placement games on Labor Day weekend.  I've kind of been planning it for months in my head because it seemed like such a perfect theme.  So what is worker placement?  It is a very popular mechanic in which players each have 'workers' (usually some kind of pawn) that they place on a board with limited number of action spaces.  Most of the time, once another player uses his worker at a location nobody else can.  It encourages players to be strategic, but also requires you to be tactical.  Maybe what you were going to do just got taken unexpectedly - now what?  Or perhaps something else just became very opportunistic - do you hold to your guns and follow through with your plans or change things up spur of the moment?

Many of Boardgamegeek's top 100 games are worker placement games so there will definitely be some that we own and are great that we don't list.  I'm going to list a handful ranging from light to heavy, and then include a list of other available worker placement games at the end.

Light - Lords of Waterdeep (BGG Rank #27)

Lords of Waterdeep is Dungeons and Dragons themed but don't let that scare you if that's not your thing - its pretty generic.  It could by Skyrim themed or Game of Thrones themed and it would be almost the same exact game.  In this game each players takes control of a different powerful faction in the fantasy town of Waterdeep.  You are strategically using your agents to hire adventurers (mages, clerics, etc.), build buildings, and achieve quests in order to game the most fame and power in town (measured, of course, in victory points).

It is a very simple and very fun worker placement game that is also quite accessible.  If you're into gaming and haven't played this yet - give it a go, it's very satisfying.  If you've never played any kind of game like this, Waterdeep is one of the best places to start.

Light - Stone Age (BGG Rank #43)


Stone Age has been around for quite some time (ironically).  It is usually thought of as the premier gateway game into worker placement.  I think Lords of Waterdeep may have that title now as it is just a touch simpler, but Stone Age is still pretty straightforward, involves worker placement, and is very fun.  Each player has a tribe of cavemen and you use them to do various things - gather resources, make more gavemen, develop tools, build huts, and collect special cards.  The cards and huts each give you points throughout the game and there are multiple ways to win and strategize.  You could have a huge, farming village or a smaller, more technologically savvy village.

This is another one that all gamers should play at least once
and if you're new to the hobby then it is a good stepping stone into more complex games.

Light - Fresco (BGG Rank #156)

Fresco is a very interesting little game where each player is a painter trying to finish the ceiling of a chapel.  You use your workers in interesting ways to collect paint, finish parts of the ceiling, do portraits to collect more money, and more.  It's a really fun game and is actually probably the easiest of all the ones so far on this list.


Medium - Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island (BGG Rank #13)

This is one of the best games to come out in the past year (my personal favorite at least).  It is exactly what it sounds like - a game based on the Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.  More specifically everybody plays cooperatively as various members of a team that's been shipwrecked.  Using worker placement you determine what your character does each day to try and keep the group alive or solve whatever scenario you are doing.  This can be building tools, gathering food, exploring the island, etc.  This game is definitely challenging for new players and veterans.  Like I said, I love this game and it is definitely worth checking out if you haven't.

Medium - T'zolkin: The Mayan Calendar (BGG Rank #15)

This game was one of the most popular games of 2012 and for good reason.  It is very enjoyable and has some very unique mechanics.  On the board is a series of gears that turn as everybody's turn progresses.  On your turn you either place one or more of your workers on a gear or pick one or more up.  You pay a cost when you place them.  When you pick them up you get whatever action they happen to be next to after several gears turn.  This leads to a lot of interesting decisions.

Medium-Heavy - Dungeon Petz (BGG Rank #95)

This is one of the newest games in our collection and it is one we've really come to enjoy.  I'm classifying it as Medium-Heavy simply because there's a lot going.  No individual aspect of it is complicated, there's just a lot of little things to keep track of that make it more of a gamer's game.  In it each players is an owner of a pet store!  Instead of cute puppies, however, you raise monsters.  Some
of them you raise for shows and exhibitions, others to sell various nefarious people who need them for different things.  Sometimes its an old witch who just wants a companion. Sometimes its an evil mastermind that wants a vicious killer.  You need to raise your pets to best accommodate these people.

The theme is pretty amusing and the game is really fun while also being quite challenging in its strategy.

Medium-Heavy - Agricola/Caverna/Le Havre/Ora et Labora (BGG Rank #3/#7/#12/#36 respectively)

We couldn't have Worker Placement day and not feature at least one game by Uwe Rosenburg.  He is the mastermind behind Agricola, which has resided in the top 3 of Boardgamegeek since I've been involved in the hobby.  He has three games in BGG's top 15, four in the top 40.  While they're all at least a bit similar in feel, most of them (with Agricola/Caverna being the exception as Caverna is really a sequel to Agricola) are quite different games.  Agricola features you playing farmers in the 14th century.  Caverna is simple, but now your Dwarf cave farmers/adventurers.  In Le Havre you are part of a shipping company trading and converting goods.  In Ora et Labora you are monks developing your land and producing goods.

They're all thoroughly enjoyable and some of my favorites.  We will have all four available for play.

Other Games:

Bora Bora, Alien Frontiers, Kingsburg, Archipelago, Dominant Species (possibly)

As you can see we will have a ton of games that fit our theme this week!  If there's any in particular you really want to play let me know in the comments and we'll be sure to save time to get that game in.  And as I said earlier we'll have plenty more games that aren't worker placement games that you are of course welcome to play!

Hoping to see many many many of you out!!

8/15 Featured Games (and 8/1 Recap)

Hello FNDers!!

First and foremost I would like to point out that GCOM website's calendar is still incorrect.  They have not updated it based on our switch to the first and third and fifth Fridays of each month (I don't have direct control over the calendar).  Our next session is August 15th followed by August 29th followed by the first Friday in September.  Please be advised to disregard where the "Annapolis" meeting site is on that calendar.

Additionally I want to say a quick apology for the blogs slightly less speedy updating over the past month or so.  My wife and I are both teachers on summer break and so we take full advantage.  Thus we are not home much and when we are things are busy.  As school begins again next week you will see this updated much more frequently and efficiently.

On a related note we have an FND coming up on Friday and I still haven't done the 8/1 recap.  On the first of the month we had over a dozen people show up for games.  I wasn't there personally but word on the street is that many a game were played.  This includes King of Tokyo, 7 Wonders, Lords of Waterdeep, Quarriors, and Smash Up.

Also, before I get into the upcoming featured games, I want to take a moment and talk about an awesome gaming experience I had over the past week!  I'm fortunate enough to be able to attend the World Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster, PA with one of my best friends every summer and last week we got to go.  There are tournaments out the wazoo and open gaming 24/7 for a solid week.  It's a great time and always occurs in the first week or so of August so mark your calendars for next year if you have never heard of it.  It's only a couple hours north of Balitmore and is extremely affordable.

Because of the WBCs I got to play a few new games, some of which I'm anxious to feature this FND.  So, without further adieu.......

The theme of our featured games this weekend is BLUFFING.

Bluffing is a 'category' on Boardgamegeek that has a good number of interesting games, some of which get some pretty regular play time in our group so I'll be leaving them off this featured list (I.E. Battlestar Galactica).

Group Game of the Night:  Werewolf

If you've been gaming for any length of time you may have played Werewolf.  It's very popular, particularly at conventions like the WBCs as it thrives on huge groups.  There are plenty of people who are not a fan because of the player elimination, which is perfectly reasonable. As such, we will aim to begin a group game of Werewolf at 10:00 PM.  That way if it goes fast we can do two games.  If not and it looks like it's going to drag out then the eliminated players can go home without risk of missing other games.

Werewolf is a game where players are all given secret roles.  You are either a werewolf or a villager.  If you've played Mafia it is very similar.  All players close their eyes and then the werewolves open them, acknowledge one another, and point to a villager to eat.  That player is eliminated and then the banter occurs.  The villagers have to determine which person they will lynch in response to the murder of the night.  A lot of this part is deducing (sometimes through wild accusations) which players are in fact werewolves.  Of course, it is very likely throughout the course of the game that they will lynch a handful of villagers.  A small price to pay for ultimately getting the wolves.  You only win if you survive till the end and everyone on the other side is dead.  Quite, quite fun.

Other Featured Games:


Dixit:

Dixit is essentially a party game, but one that requires a lot more thinking and creativity than most.  If you've ever played Balderdash its quite similar.  Everyone has a hand full of unique and interesting cards with illustrations.  One person is the 'storyteller' and describes a card in his hand.  Everyone else then submits a card that could have matched that description as well.  The cards are shuffled and revealed and everyone (except the storyteller) says which they think is the correct one.  The catch here is the storyteller only gets points if at least one person guesses the correct one, but not everybody.  He must be vague and clever enough that its not obvious, but not so vague that nobody has any idea.

This game won the Spiel de Jahres (German Game of the Year) award a few years a
go and is well worthy of that praise.

Love Letter

Love Letter is a filler game (meaning its very short) that revolves around deck of roughly twenty cards.  There are eight different 'characters' in the deck, each of which has a different number of copies.  On your turn you will have one card in your hand.  You will then draw another card, discarding one of the two cards now in your hand.  Whatever the card you discard says to do, you do.  There are many ways to get eliminated or cause others to get eliminated
and a lot of the game is bluffing about what you're holding while deducing what others are holding.  A full game takes less than thirty minutes and a single round usually less than five.

Cosmic Encounter

This is an absolutely wonderful game that we are yet to play at FND and it is time that changed. Everybody takes control of an alien race and is trying to conquer five colonies on other players' planets.  Essentially each turn all you do is draw a card to determine who you're attacking, then each player simultaneously plays a numbered card from their hand.  The highest number wins.  It sounds ridiculously simple (and it pretty much is) but the real fun comes from all of the different alien races.  Each one lets you break the rules in some capacity and there are over 90 to choose from in the set we own.  No two games are the same.

Letters From Whitechapel

This is the modern Clue.  I will never play that game again now that we own Letters from Whitechapel because it so vastly outstrips it in every way.  One person plays as Jack the Ripper.  The others are the London police trying to track him down.  Using deduction and logic they systematically track him as he makes his way from murder scene to hideout over the course of four different murders.  It is a very tense game where both sides feel pressure.  Jack feels the pressure of outrunning the police and the police are worried that any second Jack will declare himself home safe and thus end the round.  We've only owned this game for a month but have played it eight times in that span.  That says a lot about its quality.

Twilight Struggle

Twilight Struggle has been #1 on Boardgamegeek's list for as long as I've been involved in the hobby.  It is on my top 3 list of my favorite games of all-time.  It is a masterful simulation of the Cold War conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.  As such, bluffing, intrigue, secrecy, and espionage play huge roles in this game.  This is only 2-player and I only own one copy of the game but I am very happy to teach two people interested as it is best if two newbies play against each other.

All of these games will be available to play and learn this upcoming Friday.  Invite as many friends as you have!