Last Shadow Standing

I have played quite a bit of Belfort from TMG and a bit of Ground Floor and have to say it doesn’t stray far from the Belfort mold – but it doesn’t have to. Instead of using dwarves and elves to build guilds and taverns, you are building a corporation with a large layer of Euro feel and crunchier mechanics stuck on top.

Ground Floor is a satisfying weighty Euro experience, but there is a lot going on and too many different strategic and tactical routes to take to not require a learning curve and repeated play to find your feet.

Ground Floor will definitely feed the beast for a deep and immersive entrepreneurial simulation, if that’s your sort of thing. It does feel very corporate and that might not be for everyone.

When it comes to Ground Floor vs Belfort it really is a matter of business or pleasure.

A good pirate game is hard to find – I have played both Libertalia and Dread Curse and they are both good games with a convincing enough coat of pirate paint on them. Dread Curse is definitely not THE ‘Pirate Game’ but it is good enough and you walk away with a salty taste in your mouth.

The object of the game is to grab as many coins as you can with varying secret values without being left with a black spot at the end. This could easily be about Cookie Monsters grabbing cookies – but there is enough lingo and art and flavor to let you talk like a pirate without walking the plank.

I can’t really describe the game better than the site review but I will speak about one thing to be careful about: The More, the Merrier on this Jolly Roger. This game has elimination as someone mentioned and it doesn’t always sit well with people. I don’t mind elimination if the game is quick enough. This is not necessarily great in a 4 person game where chances are two people are going to Davy Jones and then you watch two other lucky souls count coins -especially if the game takes close to an hour. With a 7 or 8 person game this game takes about a half hour as the coins get grabbed faster and then more people are clutching coins for the win. It is a rare game that works better with beyond the standard 4 or 5 players but this is definitely one of them. Elimination and cutthroat moves work far better at a quick pace and with less people and elongated march to not being able to win this game can leave a salty taste in the mouth for a completely different reason.

I have not played many Worker Placement games overall: Waterdeep, Kingsburg, and Stonemaier’s other game – Euphoria. However, I have played Viticulture and it really stands out.

First of all, it is a Stonemaier Game. While considered an Indie Game Company, they put so much care and craft into their games that they are beautiful to bring to a game session. The games may be on the more expensive side, but looking above at the picture the site provides you can see that the components and look are completely worth it.

Not only does this company produce eye candy in components, but they put a tremendous effort into their design. The game plays well. Like any worker placement, there is plenty to do, but it all clicks and never seems overwhelming. The journey to the most points is interesting and varied from upgrading workers and your vineyard to harvesting and making vintages to trying to secure special bonuses from visitors. The time keeping ‘years’ provide for strategic decision making and options to be competitive without a ‘take that’ disruptive sense. All in all, like a good bottle of the grape it flows well and leaves one feeling pleased.

The only downside is people might overlook this because of the theme. In a game universe where the excitement of space and quests and wizards and warp drives rule the day, one might think running a vineyard seems rather dry.

This is a game that deserves consideration and definitely should be uncorked.