1/30 Featured Games

Hi everybody!

With January being one of those awesome months that contains five Fridays, we at FND will be having our bonus 5th Friday of the month session!  Woo!  This means that there'll be two FNDs in a row - on 1/30 and then subsequently on 2/6.

This upcoming session (on 1/30) we will have a unique theme:  Arabian Games!

Oddly enough there are a good amount of games that involve Arabian and they are all quite different.  Now some of these will be a bit of a stretch, but most of them very specifically involve an Arabian theme set in the world of the Arabian Nights.  Let's check 'em out!

Tales of the Arabian Nights

I don't think we could have this theme and not feature this game.  This is possibly the most unique game I own.  It is a storytelling game (not quite an RPG) in which you move your character around a map of Arabia and respond to various events.  There is a massive tome of a book that details various interactions and how your responses influence them.  It is more of an experience than a game and is extremely enjoyable.

Five Tribes

Five Tribes is one of the hottest games of 2014 and it is also set in the world of the Tales of the Arabian Nights.  Admittedly, the theme in this one is a bit less consequential and certainly not as rich as in Tales, however it is definitely present in the artwork.  This game is very much a medium-weight Euro game and it is one of the best games of the year.  It incorporates the mechanisms of mancala and various other things to create a wonderful and thought-provoking package.

Alhambra

Okay so this one technically takes place in Spain, however it is in Grenada during the Middle Ages which is a time when this part of their culture and architecture was heavily influenced by Arabia.  So it flies.  This game, a former winner of the Spiel de Jahres (in 2003 I believe) award, is an excellent gateway-level game in which players are trying to build their own Alhambra.  Players are awarded points for the amount of various types of buildings they have for each type.  It has very similar mechanisms and feel to Ticket to Ride but with different scoring and theme.  This is a terrific game, particularly if you're relatively new to the hobby.



Camel Up

Camel Up is the somewhat controversial winner of the 2014 Spiel de Jahres award.  Many people felt that it should have gone to Splendor instead of this light, almost family-style game.  Well, after having played both Splendor and Camel Up, I firmly agree with the choice of Camel Up.  I've played Splendor more times in 2014 than any other game (mostly because my wife loves it so much) and it is a great game.  However, I recently played three games of Camel Up in the span of 24 hours and afterwards it was generally agreed that we had so much more fun playing Camel Up than we would have with Splendor.  Camel Up is a betting game where you wager on a camel race.  It is very luck driven and there is only so much you can do to control things.  But that's why it's so fun!  We had a group of adults hooting and hollering over which of these little wooden camels would cross the finish line first and it was a fantastic time.

Kemet

Kemet is also a bit of a stretch as it technically takes place in Ancient Egypt, but Egypt is pretty close to Arabia and they interact a lot so I'm tossing it in here.  This is a game that heavily involves player conflict and encourages you to attack each other.  Each player has a group of Egyptian warriors and you are both building up your civilization's technology while also vying for control on the map.  The game is gorgeous and the pieces are awesome.  You can recruit some giant god-like creatures from Egyption lore (huge Scarab beetle, Phoenixes, etc.) and it just feels awesome.  Each player as unique minis for their army and there are various ways to achieve victory.

A Distant Plain

The final game I'm 'featuring' is really one I don't expect us to play.  Not because it's not good - it's superb - but because it would jump to by and far the heaviest game ever played at FND.  This is a genuine War Game and as such it would probably be a bit of a stretch to play at FND.  If people are interested playing this or learning this, I'm all about it and feasibly if we started right at 6:30 we could probably play it by 11:30 but it'd be close with a thorough rules explanation.  I mention it this week because this game features the very recent conflict between the United States and its Coalition against the terrorist forces in Afghanistan.  It is a very recent theme and some of the beauty of this game is how educational it is.  It really helps you better understand the complex and volatile political climate of Afghanistan.  If you're interested in just checking it out, I'll have it there and perhaps we can try and schedule an extra time for it to be played.  I'm determined to make some War-Gamers out of FND, yet!

Well that's all of the featured games!  Invite some friends and bring any of your own Arabian games!  I'm thinking games like Jaipur, Istanbul, or any more I haven't heard of!  Hopefully we'll see you Friday!

1/2 Featured Games

Hello current and prospective FNDers!

First and foremost, Happy Belated Holidays and Happy New Years!  Hopefully if you're reading this you had a blessed season and are continuing to do so.

In the midst of this busy time, we have one more thing to add to your list - our upcoming session on Friday, January 2nd, 2015 at 6:30 PM!  What better way to start of the new year than with some board and card games?!  I sure cannot think of one!

This upcoming session we will be featuring Games We Got For Christmas!  By "we" I don't just mean Beth and I, though those are the ones I'll be writing about, but rather everyone who comes!  So bring your new games and let's give 'em a go.  Or, if you want to play some games you've owned for a while, that's fine to.

Here are some of the featured!

Concept

Concept is a game I absolutely love - it is one of my favorite party games.  It is essentially 20-questions with pictures instead of verbal clues.  Well... Kind of.  On your turn, you get a word or phrase (anything as easy as Polar Bear to as difficult as "It is what it is").  On the table is a large board with many pictures, each a simple clip-art style image depicting some kind of 'concept.'  Using pawns of various types, you must get your team to guess your word.  If you got Polar Bear, for example, you could use a pawn to indicate it is a white animal.  If they still didn't get it, you could further indicate it is cold.  It requires a surprising amount of logical AND creativ
e thinking, which is why I love it so much - it really uses both sides of the brain.

No Thanks!

No Thanks! is a quick and light card game.  We'll probably play this between games at some point.  On your turn you either take the current card (which has a numeric value of either 3-35) or pass on it.  If you pass, you must put a chip on it.  If you're out of chips, you have to take it.  The catch is, you don't want points, so you never want cards.  But you have to take some.  When you take a card, you also get the chips that are on it - so maybe that 26 is rough, but it has 10 chips on it so it's not as bad.  Finally, if you have cards that make 'sets' of sequential numbers, only the lowest is counted.  So where as having 33 and 35 would net you 68 points (enough to give you last place almost certainly), having 33, 34, and 35 give you only 33 points.  It's fun and easy but still allows for interesting decisions, which is exactly what I look for in a card game.

Snake Oil

This was the Christmas of party games for us as we also got a fun one called Snake Oil.  This game is similar to Apples to Apples (or another game that comes in a Black Brick that shall go unnamed) in the sense that on a player's turn all other players are trying to win your vote.  In this one, on your turn you draw a card telling you what kind of  customer you are - you might be a cheerleader, or a homeless guy, or a pirate.  Then, from their hand of six cards, each other player combines two words to make a type of item.  This could be Joy Closets, or Stalker Vests, or Urine Bombs - and then they have to try and convince the consumer why their product is the one they want.  It is hilarious.

Imperial Settlers

This is the one I am most excited about.  This game just recently came out and is by the same designer as Robinson Crusoe - one of my personal favorites.  This is a civilization building game and it feels like it.  You are building an infrastructure based on cards that you put into play - some allow you to take worker-placement style actions, some give you production each round, some give you one-time scoring bonuses.  By the end, you want to be the civilization with the most points.  It is a very popular new game and is supposed to be quite excellent.

Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game

This game I've had for a while, but I received the Rebel Aces expansion for Christmas, which features a fancy new A-Wing and a fancy new B-Wing.  Last time we did this with like six players - probably a bit too much - but still had a good time.  We have enough ships where we can definitely do teams of two.

The Ancient World

This last one didn't actually come for Christmas, it just happened to arrive via Kickstarter around the same time.  This is a worker-placement game with the most beautiful artwork I think I've ever seen in a game - it is truly stunning.  The game itself seems quite enjoyable as well and it is about the same complexity level as Lords of Waterdeep.

So those are the games that WE got - feel free to post in the comments what you all got and bring 'em along to play!  Hope to see everyone out this Friday!!

12/19 Featured Games

Hello Friends of FND!

This upcoming Friday (one week from the day this is being posted) is our next FND Session!

The past two sessions have been exceptional - over the course of them we've had five new people show up and have averaged around 16 people per night.  It's been great.

This upcoming FND is particularly exciting because it is our final one of 2014!  Our gaming group is approaching our one year anniversary in a few months, having started in Spring of 2014, and it's great to see how the group has grown.  Our first session had around six people.  Now we average fifteen and have had well over fifty total different people show up.  We look forward to seeing that growth continue!

As this is the final gaming night of 2014, we will be celebrating all of FND's favorite games of 2014!  Now the GCOM webpage has a system for ranking our most 'popular' games based on the amount of times they've been played, but I'm not strictly going to use that so much as the simple eye-test for what people seem to really enjoy and also play a lot.  Of course you are more than welcome to bring games not on this list and play them :-)  Our featured games are always just an outline, not a strict set of rules!

Splendor:

We've played this SO much over the past three months.  It's not my favorite game of 2014, mainly because personally its a bit abstract and light for my tastes, but it is highly enjoyable and is many people's top game of 2014.  It was the runner-up for the Spiel de Jahres (the German Game of the year award) and many thought it should have won.  In this game you either are taking gems or buying things with gems on your turn.  The things you buy make it easier to buy subsequent things.  They also give you points.  You want the most points.  Sound simple?  It is.  And it's very fun!

Lords of Waterdeep:


Lords of Waterdeep is probably the #1 most played game at FND.  It is a very intro-level worker placement game but it is great fun.  In this game you are different factions in the D&D universe competing for the most prestige in town (aka points).  You recruit different people (warriors, rogues, mages) to go on stereotypical fantasy quests.  Who ever has the most points at the end wins.  This is a great gateway game doesn't take too long provided everyone is efficient with their turns.

Battlestar Galactica:

The first night we played this at FND was somewhat of a revelation.  Nobody had played it before and it was such a great time - there was in-character banter, accusations, and monologues.  It was exactly what you wanted a game of BSG to be.  Since then we've played a few more times and it's always been great.  I've also picked up the Exodus and the Pegasus expansions since our first time and am anxious to implement some of those components.  I think we're going to try and start with this game so that we definitely can finish with time to spare.

Telestrations:

Everyone loves Telestrations (or mostly everyone). You draw, you guess, you repeat.  Laughter ensues.  This game is the 'telephone game' with drawing.  If you're good at drawing it's fun.  If you're bad at drawing it's a riot.  Some of the hardest moments of laughter in my life were while playing this game and most of the top levels of hilarity at FND have occurred while flipping through Telestration's flipbooks.

Kingsburg:

Kingsburg hasn't hit the table a ton at FND, but each time it has everyone has walked away enjoying it.  And that's also true in my experience outside of FND.  So maybe this one is a bit of stretch, but when thinking of 'games people seemed to enjoy more than others' this one was near the top of the list.  In Kingsburg you are rolling dice, placing them, and taking resources.  It sounds simple (and it is) but it's a good deal of fun.


Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game

I almost didn't put this one on here because it is so similar to BSG but I've had SO many people say they've thoroughly enjoyed this game, myself included.  This is one of the best games (in my opinion, THE best game) of 2014.  It, like BSG, is a semi-cooperative game in which everyone is trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.  However, somebody might be a traitor.  Everything you do is highly thematic and the game itself is such a delight to play.  It is also very hard to find in the USA right now so if you come just to play a copy, I'm totally fine with that!

Ultimate Werewolf

How could I not list this?  We play it at least once a month.  People request it.  It's great fun.  People get lynched and eaten.  If we're going to feature FND's favorite games of 2014, then this had to be on the list.  Hopefully we'll have a large crowd and can get a 15+ player game of this going.

There are so many more games that we played in 2014 and very rarely did it seem like people had a bad time playing.  Again, these games aren't the only ones allowed to be played, so feel free to bring your own and join in the fun!  If this is your first time coming, we're glad we go to see you at least once in 2014!!

Many blessings and hopefully we'll see you all Friday!

12/5 Featured Games

Hey guys and gals!
This past Friday we had an awesome night of gaming.  We played a few games with animals (as our theme indicated) and a few games without.  We got in a game of Smash Up, Lords of Waterdeep, Caverna, Robinson Crusoe, and Splendor.  I'm pretty sure an excellent time was had by all thirteen people, including our two newcomers Kevin and Clayton.

Next Friday marks an exciting day for us at FND.  It will be my wife's first day back since the birth of our son, Grady!  As such, since I'm in charge of this blog and the featured games, I'm going to be a bit selfish and have our next session's theme be "Games that Beth loves!"  I told her this recently and she responded "But then I won't be able to choose what to play!"  That's an excellent problem, my dear.

So, without further jibber jabbering, here's the games:

Splendor

Splendor is super popular right now in the gaming community and our game group is no different.  I think FND has had it played each session for the past three or four sessions.  My BGG list of games played had Ticket to Ride easily at the top for the year 2014.  In two months of owning Splendor it has soared above it, due largely to Beth's unfailing love for it.  It is a very easy game.  You take gems.  You buy things with gems.  Those things let you buy more things.  You get points.  You win.  It takes like 20 minutes but its pretty fun.


Carcassone

Carcassone is a classic tile laying game.  It's kind of like Dominoes but fun.  You get points based on how you place your meeples and the tiles each turn, creating cities and fields and roads and farms.  It's really simple and is really fun.  We have the Big Box so we have a boatload of expansions and can play up to six (I think, maybe seven).


Castles of Burgundy

Castles of Burgundy by good old Stefan Feld is a very highly regarded game by Beth and most gamers.  It is very 'elegant' for lack of a better word - on each turn you roll two dice and those basically decide your options you can take.  You're 14th century nobleman in France building up your land.  Honestly the theme is pretty lightly involved, but it is a very enjoyable game of taking efficient actions and building your estate.

Trajan

While we're listing Stefan Feld games, Beth also very much enjoys his game called Trajan.  Trajan takes the mechanisms found in Mancala and turns it into a way of taking actions.  Each turn you move little pieces around your roundel just like in mancala at whichever one you end on that's the action you take.  Now, I suspect when Five Tribes arrives at our house hold (the newest game by Days of Wonder) Trajan will go down a bit as it uses a similar mechanic in a bit lighter of a way, but nonetheless right now Beth really enjoys Trajan.


Ticket to Ride

Beth, like every other human being, enjoys Ticket to Ride - particularly on our fancy 10th Anniversary Edition.  Trains.  Tickets.  Pretty maps.  I don't think I need to explain Ticket to Ride much more than that.

Escape: Curse of the Temple

We literally just got this game, however we played it three times in a row just the two of us the first night - which is impressive because we don't play a lot of games two player.  This game occurs in real time (exactly 10 minutes long) and you are trying to escape a temple (picture Indiana Jones) before it caves in on you.  You are frantically rolling dice as fast as you can in order to get the necessary symbols to secure the required number of power gems needed to escape.  Curses can come up that prevent you from talking, make you lose dice that fall on the floor, and all sorts of other crazy things.  It is super fun and fast and frantic.


Kingsburg

Kingsburg is a dice rolling game somewhat similar to Castles of Burgundy.  You use your dice to influence various advisers, thus getting resources, which you can use to build up your little empires defenses and infrastructure.  It's really simple and it is really enjoyable - I don't think anyone's ever played it with me and not had a good time.  Beth, of course, enjoys it too.

Ultimate Werewolf

And finally we couldn't have a game night dedicated to what Beth enjoys without it also including a chance for her to lie and betray all of her friends.  So we'll play werewolf at some point.  If you're new and have never played, essentially you lie to your friends about whether you're a werewolf or a villager and try to get them killed.  It's fun.

So, those are all of the games we'll be playing next Friday!  I hope to see everybody out!  Even though they're games Beth enjoys, I think overall they're games the majority of FND enjoys, too.  I will update this again if I a 'reminded' of any games I forgot :-)

Blessings!

11/7 Featured Games

Hello everyone!

This past Friday we had a great time on Halloween playing some spooky themed games.  We played Dead of Winter, Fearful Floors, Werewolf, and Shadow Hunters - as well as some other not so spooky games like Splendor and The Resistance: Avalon.  We had a great time and are excited that this upcoming Friday on November 7 we will be having our next event.

What are the featured games of this upcoming session?  They are games based on Movies, TV shows and/or Books!

Now, a lot of games could fit this genre and most of them are bad.  Thankfully in the era of modern board games we have a plethora of great games that use popular licenses whereas not too long ago this would have been a series of "Star Wars Trivial Pursuit" and "Lord of the Rings Monopoly."  While I'm sure there are folks who love those kinds of games (and there's nothing wrong with that), this upcoming Friday we'll be playing some with a bit more substance.

Sooooo let's see what they are!

Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island


I think we've featured this game at least two or three times thus far and are yet to actually get a game of it in. I'm hoping that changes as this is one of the best cooperatives games available.  It is based on the theme of surviving on a stranded island and features scenarios that are taken from Robinson Crusoe as well as the Swiss Family Robinson.  I haven't read either book so I'm not sure how similar the game is to the books, but the game itself is one of my favorites.  It is moderately complex and is a very challenging game - a group of newbies will probably lose their first game.  Seriously, if you haven't played this yet - you should.

War of the Ring/The Battle of Five Armies

I couldn't have this theme and not feature my favorite game and its new cousin.  War of the Ring has been out for some time and is based off of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (to be clear, the books - NOT the movies).  It is beautiful and very much captures the essence of those novels - which is a great deal of why I love it.  It is not a game that is looking to make a few extra bucks by slapping a picture of Orlando Bloom on the cover - it is made by people who love Tolkien's work and put it into game form.  Recently Ares Games released a new game in the same design called The Battle of Five Armies, which recreates the final conflict in The Hobbit.  I got this on release but haven't played it yet - the goal is to know it for Friday.  Battle of Five Armies is strictly 2-player and War of the Ring is best with 2 but can technically hold 4.  Again, I'd love to teach this to some folks!

A Game of Thrones: 2nd Edition

Obviously, this game is based on novels by George R.R. Martin in his A Song of Fire and Ice.  I have not read the books and know little about the HBO series so a lot of the theme as it relates to the book is lost on me, however this game is very highly regarded.  I just received it in a trade and haven't played it myself to give a genuine opinion, but it looks awesome - it is all about political maneuvering matched with strategic wits.  Back-stabbing? Check.  Armies? Check.  It has gorgeous components and the map looks great.  This should be a lot of fun, especially if we can get the full 6 people to play.

Battlestar Galactica

Again, we've featured this before at FND and I think it is probably one of our group's favorites - it's certainly one of mine.  Now in our collection we have both the Pegasus Expansion and the Exodus Expansion.  If we play this I am hoping we will do so with 5-6 players as well as a variant ending - whether it be using the New Caprica variant found in the Exodus expansion or the Ionian Nebula variant found in the exodus expansion.  If you haven't played it before, in my opinion this game is still the quintessential
semi-cooperative game.  Everyone's on a team - except the hidden Cylon traitor.  This game perfectly captures the spirit of the television show and couples it with very strong mechanics.

Star Wars: X-Wing

And finally we have our only one actually based off a specific movie and not a book that goes with it - Star Wars: X-Wing.  Now, in a few months we will probably have a specific Star Wars day when Star Wars: Imperial Assault and Star Wars: Armada get released because they both look amazing and I simply cannot resist the temptation to give Fantasy Flight more of my money.  X-Wing is currently out with many many expansions.  It's technically two players but one can play with more by splitting up ships in each fleet.  This is a tactical minis game where players control different ships from the Star Wars universe.  I have the base game (with an x-wing and two ties), the tie bomber, a-wing, and Millenium Falcon expansions.  This allows for a pretty fun mashing of ships and some cool scenarios.

Given the theme of the week it's not surprising to find a lot of "Amerithrash" styled games in the lineup.  If that's not your cup of tea we'll have the normal library out and available as well.

We at FND are hoping to see everyone out to play these awesome games!  Bring some friends and we'll see you Friday!

9/19 Featured Games!

Greetings friends of Friday Night Dice!

This upcoming Friday yet again we will be hosting a game night.

We've had pretty solid streams of attendance over the past few weeks, averaging right around 15 people.  What's really exciting is how many total people we've had walk through our doors.  Without actually adding it up I believe it is somewhere in the ballpark of 50 different people come through our doors!  We're thrilled about that and would love to see that number continue to increase.

Before we get to the featured games, I want to take a moment tell ya'll that we will be hosting a special Halloween Friday Night Dice on Halloween night.  The 31st of October happens to be the 5th Friday of the month, a scheduled meeting time anyway, so that night we'll be playing scary games (well, games with 'scary' themes - Zombicide, Dead of Winter, Betrayal at House on the Hill, etc.) AND we'll be doing it in costume.  I mean, technically you can show up not wearing a costume, but preferably you will be!  We'll be giving out a prize to the best dressed attendee!  Mark your calendars now!!

So the theme for this upcoming FND is a bit unusual but I'm going to roll with it.  We'll be featuring a whole bunch of games that just came in the mail for us!   Not a very specific theme, but a lot of them are either a) recent releases, b) recent re-releases, or c) fresh from Kickstarter so I think people will be excited to try them if they haven't.

So without further adieu, here are the games we'll be playing!

Splendor

Splendor is a game that just came out in 2014 and was nominated for the Spiel de Jahres award (game of the year in Germany - it's pretty much the biggest gaming award).  It didn't win but many thought it should have.  It is a very fun and easy (super easy - like, one page rule book easy).  In the game everyone is some type of Renaissance era trader of gems.  Honestly the theme is so light it's almost an abstract game, but that's okay because the gameplay is very smooth.

CV

CV is most easily compared to King of Tokyo simply because it features the exact same mechanics - roll dice ala Yahtzee.  However, the theme is nothing similar.  In CV you are essentially living out a person's life.  Each turn your roll dice, the symbols of which include Good Luck, Bad Luck, Relationships, Money, Knowledge, and Health.  You keep the ones you want, reroll the rest, then do it again (just like in Yahtzee).  Afterward you get to buy one or two cards based on what you roll and what your other cards provide you.

It's all very thematic.  For instance, in the 'young adult' deck you can buy a Pension Plan for 2 money symbols.  This gives you an event called "Pension" that you can play later, but only once you get to the Old Age deck, and it gives you twice as much money as you put in for a one time use - very thematic.  This game is particularly exciting as it is not yet released in the United States.  I was lucky enough to find somebody selling on Ebay that picked it up from the Essen game fair in Germany.  This is a great time to check out a new hard to find game.

Among the Stars

This game was originally released in 2012 but it only just got printed again by Z-Man games.  However, at the same time Z-Man was reprinting it they were also releasing a campaign on Kickstarter.  It would get shipped to the States a bit later than Z-Man's publication would, but you could pay a similar price and get all of the promos and stretch rewards.  I chose that option and it just came in the mail!

Among the Stars is a drafting game VERY similar to 7 Wonders in play style.  However, the theme is quite different.  You use your cards to build a space station and, unlike 7 Wonders, the physical layout of your cards is very important for further turns and final scoring.  The artwork on the cards is gorgeous and between the base game, the expansion, and the ridiculous amount of promos there are so many cards you'll never have the same station twice.

Ca$h and Guns

Cash and Guns is a fun and light party game where everybody gets to shoot their friends with fake guns.  Not even joking.  Each round the 'boss' (I.E. The Godfather) counts down.  Everyone is holding foam guns.  When he says '3' everybody simultaneously points their gun at a different person, possibly inflicting damage depending on whether or not they just to play a 'click' or a 'bang' card before hand.  All players still in the round at the end of it get a share in the loot.  The player with the most money at the end of the game wins.  This game takes the ending scene in Reservoir Dogs and makes an entire game of it.  It's pretty light but it's also quite fun.  I have the new second edition of the game which looks great.

We may end up featuring one more game as I'm still waiting on Dead of Winter to arrive, but we'll see.  Either way, hopefully you'll join us as we play these and many more!

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!