Ryan

About
I’m really surprised there aren’t more reviews for this game. It was really popular for awhile there. It even fetched quite a pretty penny right before the news of the re-print came.

The Downfall of Pompeii is not quite but pretty much a clone of Survive. Survive had been Out of Print for twenty years though, so I don’t blame Klaus-Jurgen Wrede for wanting to revive that unique game.

Mechanics
There are two separate phases that make up the game.

Phase 1 – Earthquake
Everyone was displaced from there homes, so all the residents need to find new homes in the existing homes of Pompeii (makes total sense, right?) Players draw dudes from a stack and place them in the houses, the prime real estate being nearer the walls since everyone knows there’s going to be a mass exodus in phase two. But there are omen cards that let you eliminate other player’s dudes.

Phase 2 – Eruption
To everyone’s amazement the volcano starts erupting, so the Pompeiiites decide that now is the time to get the **** outta there. Now you only get so many moves per turn, but you get extra moves the more people that are on the space that your meeple starts on (again, makes total sense) But you also control, somewhat, where the lava flows (ok, my suspension of disbelief is starting to wane here)

Pros
> Similar to Survive!
> The look on your opponent’s face when you throw their meeple in the volcano

Cons
> Thematically, the game doesn’t make a lot of sense sometimes
> Seems more like a puzzle to solve than a game
> Not very fun

Conclusion
2 games in 1.
Neither is that much fun.

About
If you’re into Sherlock you’ll obviously be drawn to this game. But you don’t play the game as Sherlock, you play the game as Watson and at the end you find out just how much smarter Sherlock is than you.

Pros
Theme is immersive.
Storytelling is fun!

Cons
No components, just paper
Limited cases

Conclusion
The game is both tense and frustrating because you know with every choice you make your score is just going down because Sherlock figured it out in 10 seconds.

About
Your uncle died and gave you $70-$130 for you to spend faster than any of your other family members in hopes of winning his vast fortune. You can buy property, go to balls, eat meals and bring friends and animals along with you in order to spend even more money.

Mechanics
Last Will is an “errand boy” placement game with action point allowance and hand management thrown in.

Strategy
Last Will can be very tense. You choose at the beginning of your turn how many errand boys (workers) you can utilize, actions you can spend and cards you can draw, (not to mention turn order) so by the time you get to play those things out your plans may have changed making it a little hectic.

Pros
> Fairly unique game play
> Attractive Theme/Art

Cons
> Values not quite in sync (buy a mansion for $13 or a meal for $9)
> Luck of the draw
> A lot of Iconography

Expansion
I haven’t actually played the expansion for this one yet, but I can say that the base game plays great and has plenty of replayability without it.

Conclusion
It’s fun.

My Story
I found this game at a thrift store and I’m really pleased I did because I probably never would’ve tried it otherwise. I heard it described as “Like Apples to Apples, but with pictures,” and that immediately turned me off.

After having played it at game night, I have to say it is indeed like Apples to Apples. The main difference is that instead of one person choosing a winner seemingly at random, everyone chooses the winner by voting which card they think belongs to the “storyteller”. This makes all the difference and allows me to actually enjoy this game.

PROs
– Beautiful artwork
– Simple rules
– Encourages creativity
– Plays quickly
– Kids can play (or at least be on a team)

CONs
– Pictures can be too simple and too focused to come up with a good ambiguous clue.
– One play and we used almost every card already!
– My version came with cheap plastic pawns and the insert won’t hold any more cards (the newer printing had wooden bunnies and an insert that holds all the expansions up to this point)

Conclusion
Dixit is like Apples to Apples with pictures, but somehow it’s actually good.

I know, the title is silly, but 2 out of the 3 people I’ve played this game with think there is too much math in this game. Yes, it’s adding 2 numbers together, but I guess when it’s in quick succession it seems like too much work? Then there’s also trying to figure out the probability of a roll that won’t end your turn, but I kinda doubt the people complaining about it being too mathy are doing any such calculations.

For my money, though, this is the best push-your-luck game there is.

This is one of the few theme-less abstract games that I can stand. I know there is one version that has some guys climbing up ropes or something, but my version is just the stop sign board that I’m sure most people are used to.

It’s really surprising that 4 ordinary 6-sided dice can harbor this much game.

The simplicity of the mechanics is great for teaching the game, you can basically cover the rules while taking your 1st turn. Roll 4 dice, pair them any which way to get the number you want. You can have 3 columns active at one time. You must roll one of your numbers each round or forfeit your turn. 1st player to claim 3 columns wins..and that’s basically the basics. Can’t teach most games that quickly!

The decisions are easy, but because of the dice you might have been better off going a different route.

The game plays quickly , so the downtime isn’t too bad, but there’s not really anything to do on opponent’s turns (except make sure they aren’t cheating). That’s pretty much my only real downer for this game.

Play it, I’m sure you’ll like it!

About
I’ve played this game over a dozen times and it never gets old. I just love the theme and art, mechanics and verisimilitude, and my wife enjoys it to boot!

Pros
> Worker placement melds really well with area control here (or vice versa).
> Decisions aren’t always easy (there’s never one obvious move like in some games) but mistakes won’t usually ruin you.
> The art is some of my favorite in any game ever (The fantasy setting definitely doesn’t hurt)
> Game concepts are simple enough to grasp that you can teach the game in the time it takes to set it up.

Cons
> The game takes a long time to play (it doesn’t feel that long, but it can creep past the 2 hour mark with the full complement of 5 players)
> Players prone to AP can be in trouble here (especially if you take games too seriously)
> There can be some downtime if you have those AP players, but their decisions will affect yours so you will be paying attention.

Expansion
Plays great without the expansion, but the expansion does help with replay-ability and makes it even more complex. It removes a season from game play so it doesn’t add any time either.