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This may seem obvious, but it has to be said out loud. Think ahead. It doesn’t suffice that you’ll place tiles and see where they’ll take you. You have to be the one who tells your tiles where to take your pawn. If you don’t imagine a route ahead, you’ll end up in a dead end. The winners in this game know where they will be 3 tiles from now.
I would HIGHLY recommend the Android app “Mage Knight Dummy Player”. This helps to make solo and co-op games go by MUCH faster. Since it doesn’t require the use of any physical cards, it can also essentially free up the “dummy” deck/character for another player to use, increasing the co-op player max to 4.
For solo games, it makes it much easier as you just need to track one action card color, and one spell card color at the end of each round, instead of flipping cards for an NPC deck.
Makes games run much more smoothly, and it’s very simple/easy to use. One note – there IS an option to save, mid-game. During the game, the “options/settings” button at the bottom of the screen (on the notification bar, fourth one from the left) will bring up a “Save” option. When restarting the app, a RESTORE button appears, allowing you to easily continue a game.
You’ll really see this in the digital format, because if you don’t grab them first the bots will. There are two routes that you should try to get on your first or second turn if you think you are going to need them.
Houston to New Orleans: If you need to get across the map east to west on the south end this route is very important. Failure to grab this route could cause you is spending at least two more turns to get around and reroute.
Nashville to Atlanta: To me this is one of the most important routes on the board even though it is only one space. It can easily be used to connect routes that are both east and west as well as many of the routes that travel along the east coast. It is also nice because it will link better to longer routes yielding more points verses two spaced routes.
Don’t worry about to much of one thing. You only need that 1 extra point for a military win. Keep an eye on your neighbors and don’t over do it. These cards could be used for something that will result in more points at the end, such as blue cards or science. A balanced city will usually result in more overall points. This is not always the case, but unless you are planning on that specific strategy, it’s probably better to get a little bit of variety going on.
For the easy team take both the doctor and the Psychologist and it will make the game much easier to win.
I think there’s enough overlap with the Cyberpunk 2020 and Android universes to make it work. I think there’s going to be some shoehorning involved, but it won’t be too bad. I honestly think the Android setting is a tad more interesting, so I’m hoping this’ll be a blast.
It is called the Halifax Hammer strategy, a Goggle search will bring up more details. Basically you have a better than even chance to settle Halifax on your first turn. Then using merchant actions and home support you can effectively raise a military and quickly cycle your deck. Earlier variants called for reserving locations that had poor monetary/military value. The revised rules no longer allow this, however you could add a governor to remove them from your deck then reserve the governor once he is in the way. When the strategy is running well you can purchase a unit and get it into play on your next turn.
I listened to a podcast today by Ludology from the Dice Tower Network about this game. I guess there is a lot of discussion about this game and that there is a mechanic that the English can perform that is either very hard or impossible for the French to counter. I guess it makes the game very much unbalanced. Has anyone heard anymore about this or know what that mechanic is or how to overcome it?
A set of rules for a simplified game of Settlers that I’ve found works well for playing with a young child (my daughter is 5): Kindercatan. It removes a lot of the game, but it allows two players to have a resource collection and building things game that feels a little like Settlers: probably more than Kids of Catan.
Over the weekend I introduced this game to my fiancé. We played at the introduction level as I simply wanted her to get a taste for it and want to come back for more. Of course at this level we won and even had a few breaks go our way.
Now at the end of the game she had a good time and said she really liked the game. I, on the other hand, just thought this play through was ok. I told her the game is actually more fun when you lose, and I think I really believe it. Whenever I loose I feel like our team was right there on the cusp of pulling it out and we just lost at the last second! I don’t think this is common to many games, but it is what brings me back to this over and over again and what makes me think this is a good game.
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Dragon’s Gold is ALL about negotiation and backstabbing. When negotiations fail, you all fail – but that’s part of the strategy by itself. Where Dragon’s Gold really shines is with its magic cards – they can quickly change the flow of the game by allowing cheating or switching of hoards. Really a neat mechanic, and a great find.
This game has become a staple for my solitaire sessions. When I really desire a card/board game, but have no one available to play with, I had been playing Elder Sign or (more recently) Mage Knight.
However, Elder Sign takes a bit of time to set up, and Mage Knight is even more involved to get it going for a solo session (which led me to setting it up in its own room, and leaving it ready to go for subsequent sessions).
I had forgotten I had Death Angel, because when I bought it about a year ago, the rule book was so bad I felt it would give me an aneurysm. Seriously, you get to page 7 and read about setting something up, and the book tells you to go to page 27 for the real info. You read 2 pages of that, and go back to page 7, move on to page 8, and you are asked to reference page 16. Keep repeating like you are reading a bad “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. It made me want to throw the game out the window, and it got shelved.
I took it back out last week, though, and I’ve been playing it non-stop. I can see myself growing tired of it eventually, however, without some expansions. But it is a very quick, simple game to play once you get the rules down. That isn’t to say it’s easy to beat. It’s very luck driven, and once you get that first strike of bad luck, it can snowball into “REALLY BAD!” territory fast.
Basically, you have 3 cards to play for each squad – move, support, and attack. You can’t play the same card type for the same squad twice in a row, so you have to choose your actions wisely.
However, once you attack/defend, it’s all up to the die roll. I’ve had it go my way where I won 4 games in a row, and then have lost 7 games in a row aftewards (some quite early and horribly, others right at the end/last room).
This randomness can sometimes grate, especially when you have worked hard to get to the last room, and it all comes down to one **** die roll. But, it’s easy enough to wipe everything clean and start again.
I find a game like Elder Sign much more lore/theme heavy, and with a lot more mitigation to the luck factor, but SH: Death Angel is much quicker to set up and play (and transport). For that, even though I don’t think it’s quite as GOOD of a game as Elder Sign, I probably play it more often, at least for now.
I’ll definitely buy the expansions, though, to keep it fresh.
That being said, I don’t see this game succeeding for me as a co-op game. All squads/card play have to work together in unison. One person playing incorrectly can (and most likely will) end the game faster than you can roll a die. The game asks that you NOT play open-hands, to mitigate the Alpha Player syndrome. However, since you NEED to discuss/play your course of action each round, this rule really makes little sense. I can read the card text, talk about what I’m going to play, and make suggestions and discuss that with other players, but can’t put the card down?
Also, since there is player elimination, in a co-op game someone could be eliminated very quickly, and then just be sitting and watching the other player(s) try to stay alive. Honestly, it is NO FUN to sit there and watch a game in progress.
This game succeeds as a solo game, but not as a co-op in my opinion. I would probably never take this to my group/game night and suggest a co-op game of it. I have, however, shown it to people as a solo experience, and that has gotten the better response.
This is a tough game for me to rate, especially since so far I have only played the “tutorial” scenario (First Recon) four times so far. I’m still waiting to get this one to the group, but I want to be sure I have all of the rules down before I introduce it to others.
Gameplay is STELLAR. I am already head-over-heels in love with this game. Reading the “Walkthrough” book first, and then playing along to the walkthrough, is for sure the way to go for your first try. I had no issues playing along this way, and it was very fluid and solid. Dare I say, even quite exciting the first play through – although it took 3 hours (with setup and rule checking).
Getting 5 cards to your hand, and then trying to decide how to best move about the board, which direction to head off in, what you expect to do on your next few turns, is what makes this game shine. I have been lucky enough to start 3 of my 4 games with a good movement card in hand, and with a green mana die from the source, able to at least get moving across the map. This allows saving influence and attack cards, for the eventual clash with the Orc (especially, with my luck, hitting Summoners a few times in the first battle, which can be a bit tough depending on the summon).
When the tiles start coming out randomly (only played with the set order of tiles my first 2 playthroughs), things REALLY get interesting. The decisions seem endless. Do I head to the village first, and save a few influence cards to recruit a peasant for which to use as a meat shield, or possibly to gain a few more movement points from his ability? Or do I head for this mana mine, and gain a crystal first before I head on out. Is there a safe path out of this tile, by which to explore another? Or am I going to have to head into battle?
I have seen a few complaints on various forums regarding the game “forcing” you to do actions you don’t want to do. My response to that, is that I don’t want the game leading me around by my hand. I like the PUZZLE aspect, of having a hand of cards, and trying to figure out how to best use them with the END GOAL in sight. No, maybe this turn I CAN’T move up to that mage tower and assault it, BUT – if I spend these influence cards to move next to the desert tiles in my way, on the last turn of the day round, then I have a better chance of quickly moving through those tiles during night.
Decisions like that, are what make this game the best, imo. For me, it’s too simplistic to have a base movement, and just move and roll a die. Although I play Pathfinder and occasionally the D&D Adventure board games, I always find the die rolls a bit of a weak element. Especially in the beginning, I don’t feel like I can do much to mitigate the roll/randomness. Some find that realistic, but in my opinion, a HEROIC adventurer (or Mage Knight!) would have the intelligence to think of the best action before taking it, and wouldn’t just “trip” trying to swing at a lowly creature.
This game offers so many options above and beyond the other adventure games I have tried. There are a wealth of play options – co-operative, competitive, Player Vs Player, blitz, full length conquest, solo, you name it. I haven’t seen this kind of flexibility in a game yet.
THE NEGATIVE:
It has to be said though, I was a bit let down when I got the game home, and opened it up the first time. The first thing I noticed, was the tokens seemed “Damp”. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but they really felt like they would maybe dissolve in my hand, or pull apart. However, I haven’t had any issues with them yet.
Another issue upon opening the box, was the fame/reputation board and the night/day board. Both were warped pretty bad. They have mostly settled after these few weeks, but still not perfectly flat.
Miniatures also are hit and miss. Arythea has no eyes, only a large pink mouth. The other models appear fine (and are fairly nice), but the cities are VERY bland looking. Light grey (almost white), with just tips colored red, green, yellow, or blue. I would have liked a bit more detail on the cities, and a better paint job on Arythea.
The last issue, is the cards. They are THIN. The thinnest cards I have come across in any game, to date. This really bugged me, as after spending 80 bucks on the game, I had to also spend 16 bucks on sleeves. There was no way I was going to risk not sleeving these cards, and I have not sleeved a game YET. This one, there is no choice. The cards are really THAT thin.
This poses a slight problem with reviewing the game. Gameplay wise, I would easily rate this a 10. My first perfect rating for a game. But the components bring the score down, unfortunately, because for the price I honestly expected more.
Be sure, though, the tiles and artwork are of good quality otherwise (I love the artwork on the cards), and I’ll do everything I can to protect this game so that it brings years of enjoyment. But I can’t overlook the fact that I’ve bought 40-50 dollar games that have had far better card stock and many more miniatures in the box, or at the least a thicker/heavier stock to tiles and cards.
I will say, however, that so far nothing has appeared to wear or damage, and it’s been moved around from table to table, packed up, set back up, etc. This game takes approximately 15-20 minutes to set up, and about 10-15 minutes to pack back up (especially if you keep everything separated/organized in baggies). After that, it’s about an hour per player, give or take an hour…lol.
Be sure to explain the basic rules first, though, when introducing new players, show them the cards in their hand and how they work, and show a few monster/keep tiles first so they have an idea of what they are in for. OTherwise, it can be a slaughter for new players and a real struggle. Learn the rules first, be comfortable with the game, THEN introduce it for a few “Trial” runs with your friends.
I have not played very many board games converted over to mobile devices, but the production of this game is top notch in my book. There are a lot of things the developers took from the game and did right, and I think you will find very little they did wrong. Here is a little list of what I see…
PROS:
• The artwork is great. And this carries over from the game, but even more, they went the extra mile in the little things. For instance, each train as it is placed on the board has its own shadow and it positioned on the board. So a train going east has a different shadow from one heading northeast.
• There are lots of options for play. You can play by yourself, pass and play, play online, play with two bots, play with four. Whatever you choose.
• The bots are smart. They programed them to make good decisions. They know to take certain routes such as HOU to NO right away or you’ll have to pay for it later. The same with other routes.
• The bots are aggressive. And they will screw you. I have been screwed over by the bots way more times in the mobile game than in the real game. I’ve also seen them take routes that I can figure out why they took them, but this is a little more seldom
• Fast play is great. You can get a game in in just a few minutes. This is nice because it allows you to test out some different strategies that you may not try in a real game.
• The accomplishments are hard. There are a good number of accomplishments that seem really tough. For instance, don’t use one or two spaced routes. It can be hard and egg you to keep playing.
• Cheap, cheap, cheap
CONS:
• Don’t care for drawing tix. From a usability point of view its one too many clicks to draw new tickets. I know its small, but it kind of makes me crazy.
• Girlfriend yells at me for playing too much.
So obviously the pros far outweigh the cons here. This is a great little game that works for all sorts of people. Even people I know who are not big fans of Ticket to Ride enjoy the quick version on their iphone. If you’re wondering about if this would work for you go for it, you won’t be disappointed.
Side Note: It would be sweet if they released some of the additional maps, but some of different play mechanics would have to also be adjusted.
I bought the game about a month ago, I just finished the first scenario and looking forward to play the full game. I feel I can get into the game, I just need to find the right players to play with. Found it Complex but fulfilling. Especially when your deck pumps up. TOP NOTCH!