Slayergnome

Little known fact, during the peak of the American Railroad Boom in the 1830’s payment was based heavily on color based currency system. Between El Paso and Oakland City they only accepted yellow change known as “Sun Coins” and between Portland and Salt Lake City they used a Sapphire print know as “Blue Bills”. In this historically accurate game you are given the task to create the the greatest train empire the world has ever known before it is dismantled in the early 1940’s. So off you go From Sea to the slightly polluted Boston Harbor, to Shining Sea.

Loved
Simple and Fun For Everyone This is a very easy game to teach and a very easy game to play. The tickets give people a goal to work towards so even if it is your first time you will not be overwhelmed because you instantly have some direction.
Deep While this is simple game to understand it is surprisingly deep. Not as deep as a game like Power Grid but strategy is still very important.

Liked
Components The little plastic trains are pretty cool and it is really easy to set up. Also the I really like the look of the board.

Disliked
Eleanor Rigby and all the lonely people, I mean really, where do they all come from???

Final Thoughts: This is a game that should be in everyone’s collection. No matter who drops by this is one you can definitely bring out and have a lot of fun with, and even if you are a power gamer while you may not want to play this game on a regular basis, it is still a lot of fun to play with your more casual friends.

Summoner Wars is a card game in which two factions face off against one another in an epic duel controlled by two summoners. How where these great summoner chosen? Well the sand goblin’s leader secured his position by stabbing his best friend in the back of the throat while he was not looking and stealing his goggles (don’t believe me look it up) Some of the unique features about this card game that differentiates it from other card games that you may have heard about is that the cards are actually treated as miniatures on a board, and physical placement of your units are extremely important. Also because of the relatively small size of the deck and the nature of the draw phase you will almost certainly cycle thru your entire deck meaning there is a very good chance you will at least have the option to use every card. And there is no dedicated resource cards but instead every card in your deck can potentially become a resource by discarding it at the end of your turn or even your opponents resource if he is able to kill it while it is out on the field.

Loved
Variety of cards – Every single card in the game has some ability and just about every single one of these are unique. Everything from knocking the card you are attacking back, to the ability teleporting to any unit you kill and attack again, to being able to mind control other units. Not only does this differentiate the units but it really gives each faction a unique and interesting feel. For example Benders Can pull of some great combos, steal other units, syphon away the opponents deck but have little life, Deep Dwarves can give themselves great magic boost, good mobility, strong attackers but they are also very mana heavy. Sand Goblins have no weakness and are prefect in every way (there may be a small amount of bias in that last part)

Liked
Bang for your buck – Speaking more specifically to the masters set, this is a great deal for an all in one set. For $50 you are getting six decks (normally they are $10 apiece), a very nice game board, the box is actually really nice and has a lot of extra room that allows you care your extra decks or expansions, and plenty of wound marks and dice
Simplicity – Learning this game was actually pretty simple. 3 people can move three, 3 people can attack, you can’t attack diagonal. It felt like the made a lot of choices to keep the game simple and concise without hurting depth. I do sometimes find myself wishing that units had unique ranges or speeds but I think that the abilities of each unit does a good job of taking care of differentiation.
Balance -While I am not sure that the balance of this game is perfect there does not seem to be once faction that totally overtakes all of the others. (Except the Sand Goblins, again perfect in every way)

Disliked
Lack of Customization– The decks are what they are and there is no changing or even tweaking them. Now there are expansions out there that can take of this but that is going to run you another $30. Also even if you do have the expansions you do not get a say where your units start, there is a card you must follow when putting out your starting units which feels like it can give the player who goes first a small starting advantage as he can sometimes pick off a couple of your guys right off the bat.
Observations
Combat System– I am not sure how to feel about this one, but the game can really turn on a roll. Basically for every attack you do on a person there is a 2/3 chance you will hit him. So if you attack a unit with one life using a unit with 3 attack and don’t kill him it can really throw off your plan. Also some days the dice is just not on your side.

Final Thoughts: Being a person who was into Magic at one point but has since abandoned TCGs, this game has really filled that void. I do wish that there was a bit more customization to the decks but hopefully the expansion packs I just ordered will fix that. Summoner Wars is currently one of my favorite two player games and probably will be for years to come. Oh and did I mention Sand Goblins are the best

Not every day does a spaceship go up for sale in your neighborhood, well unless you live on the international Space Station. In which case not every day does a cardboard box come up for sale in your neighborhood (see something for everyone even astronauts). For Sale is an exciting new game about property management. Wait that makes it sound boring let me try that again. It is a game about buying and selling properties. Nailed it.

It consist of two phases. In the first phase you are giving around 18k dollars which you will use in an auction process in order to buy different properties that range from an outhouse, to a boathouse, to an apartment building…. house. The second phase you will then sell your properties trying to maximize your profits between these two phases. Simple as that.

Loved
* Simplicity – This may be the simplest game to learn/teach I have ever played. I have played it with children, parents, pretty much anyone can learn this game in a matter of minutes and be laughing and having fun.

Liked
*Fast Pace and Fun – There is almost no setup with this game and you can finish it in 15 – 20 minutes easy.
*Art work – The game looks great, and all the houses and caves, and teepees look great.
* The tears of the orphans as I evict them, there is no room for squatters rights in my neighborhood

Disliked
*Lack of depth – This does not bother me per se but it is something that I felt I should mention. Also if you memorize everyone’s money you will have an advantage but frankly it is not worth the effort this game is about having a good time.
*The lawyers that disagree with my previous opinions on the orphan’s squatting rights

Overall Opinion I absolutely LOVE this game. It is so simple that I can break out even with non-gamers and have yet to play with a group who is not laughing and having a great time by the end of it. I truly believe this is a game that every gamer should own.

Infiltration is a push your luck game in which you play a member of an elite team of criminals who has spent months planning the infiltration a major corporation. Well I am using the word team loosely. Basically from the time you enter corporation you are attempting to screw over all of your “teammates” as you collect as much data as possible. Also “has spent months planning” maybe is not the correct term, it is more like going in totally blind. But either way the name of the game is going as far into the corporation as possible and stealing as much data as possible and getting the heck out before the cops show with more data than your fellow thieves.

Liked
* Fun theme The art work is great but I will say the fact the driver is entering the building with you and trying to screw the people you planned this heist with doesn’t really make sense.
* Really fast play – one of the best things about this game is it is quick to set up and you can knock out a game pretty fast once everyone knows what they are doing. A great “inbetween” game. The one thing I will say is the game wants you to put all of the credits face down on the table at the start of the game, personally I think that is a total waste of time and I just put them in a plastic bag.
* Items add just the right amount of chaos – There are definitely some interesting things you can do with the items that can let you totally ruin someone else plan and add a lot of variety to the game. Note: Not all items are created equal, drafting is the way to go after your first play
* Every game is different – Since the rooms consist of randomly drawn cards you never know what you are going to find in the next room and every game has variaty.

Disliked
* To many rooms – I wish the number of rooms was a little smaller. It is really difficult to even make it to the second level and a lot of times it feels like your best option is to simply collect data from the first two rooms than ditch.
* Repetitive – Even with all the variety in the game a lot of times it can feel really repetitive. Advance-Advance-Extract-Advance ect. The items do really add to the game and allow you to pull off some interesting moves but they are so limited that if you are not careful you can blow thru them in a couple turns.
* Randomness – I normally love randomness but sometimes in this game can take a really hard swing right off the bat. For example you can go into the second room and be instantly wounded and if you don’t have the right item or room than you have a huge handicap for the rest of the game.

Overall Opinion: If you are looking for a fast and fun game this one is great. I love the push your luck aspect with just a little bit of skill. I am not sure if this guy is going to stay on my shelf forever but for now I do not have another game quite like it and I definitely have a good time playing it.

One of the most thematically interesting games I have ever played.

H.P. Lovecraft has created one of the deepest and most interesting mythos out there. A world clouded with conspiracy full of cultist, monsters and demi gods who want nothing more than to throw the world into chaos.

Arkham Horror does an excellent job of bringing the Lovecraftian mythos to interesting and fun board game. In the game you are one of many investigators each with there own unique ability with up to 7 of your friends running around the city trying to close gates while collecting enough elder signs to seal the Elder One away permanently before being killed or going insane. There are a large number of locations including in the “outworld” a mystic realm parallel to our own, that you can visit each with their own unique events detailed by cards. And with some tactical decision making and a little luck, well frankly you are probably still going to lose but you will have fun doing it.

Loved:
* Theme – the look of this game is AMAZING. Everything really fits together the art work is great and the different events that you encounter throughout the game are very well written. Two notes I want to make with this are after playing the game a 4 or 5 times the cards will start repeating but there are a ton of expansions that can take care of this, and also the outworld cards can be fairly generic some times.

Liked:
* Variety– Lots of different choices to make, should I explore this area to try to get an item, restore health, or maybe even a stat increase, do I try to close this gate, should I try to take out some of the monsters on the board?
* Investigators/Monsters/Ancient Ones – Every investigator has a uniquely different feel to them. They each get a special power is always very useful and different stats which feels like it really differentiates them. Also I love how the Ancient Ones and monsters are all very interesting and unique each with their own special powers which you will learn to hate.

Disliked:
* Length– When you play this game it is a real commitment. With a 20-30 minute set up time(although I use a small tackle box to store most of my tokens so it only takes me about 5) and a game lasting any where from 2 to 5 hours depending it is just something that you have to keep in mind when you start a game.
* Complexity– While there is no mechanic in this game that is extremely complex there is a lot of things going on in this game at the same time and turn flow can be very confusing. “After I close a gate do I draw an event card?” “What happens during the move phase if I am delayed” I would recommend using a flow chart such as this one to help remove some of the confusion

Observations
* You are going to lose… a lot. This is not a bad thing about the game it makes the times you do win soo sweet, but don’t go into this game thinking you are going to win every time. I think I have lost around 80% of the games I have played
* The event cards can start to repeat. I know I said this before but I wanted to mention it again. And again there are tons of expansions so I am not sure how much of a problem this actually is.
* Some times the dice love you but just remember, fate is a cruel cruel god. Alot of times whether you live or die, lose now or lose later can come down to a simple dice roll in this game.

Final Thoughts: This game is a lot of fun I would highly recommend it to anyone who love the Lovecraftian universe or is looking for a deep RPG board game. If you are looking for something a little lighter than check out Elder Sign: Omen, but if you want a game you can really sink your teeth into I would highly recommend Arkham Horror.

If you are a zombie fanatic I would say this is probably a must own (also check out Zombicide). The game is not overly complicated but does make you feel like a group of humans that are truly trying to take over this zombie town. There are multiple campains that let you do everything from preventing the zombies from escaping to the manor, to blowing up their homes, to hunting every zombie on the board down. The game even provide the humans with a multitude of weapons to make their zombie killing experience fun and easy. Baseball bats, shotguns, help from other humans, chainsaws you name it this game has it. The best part, the zombies can only move one space making it almost effortless to run them down.

So who will you choose? Sally, the high school sweetheart with a taste for blood, Sheriff Anderson, the vigilante sheriff who’s itchin for some target practice, or Jake Cartwright the homeless alcoholic that had one to many? Either way get ready to take down some zombies.

Happy Hunting 🙂

This game is unfair, unbalanced, sometimes seemingly impossible for one side to win, and one of my favorite games of all time. If you are looking for a skill based games that will test your cognitive reasoning and tactical decision making than look elsewhere, BUT if you are looking for a good old fashion B rated horror movie time full of maniacal laughs and perma sticking to cobwebs this is the game for you. It is just so much fun to go around and explore the house with your friends. I especially love how the traitor does not even realize he is the traitor until the haunt (which is as I learned why you never give away weapons). Also exploring the house is a lot of fun epically the first time when you don’t all of the panels. And when the traitor does come out he usually has some really interesting abilities and it can be a lot of fun trying to take him down (or more fun trying to take down all your friends as that traitor).

There are a few complaints I do have about the game. Firstly haunts can really be hit or miss. I would say about 30-40% of my haunts have had either the traitor losing in a matter of turns or it is nearly impossible for the hero team to win. Also there is a limited number of haunts (50 to be exact which is no small number) but that is something to keep in mind. I am really hoping this game comes out with an expansion eventually to give us some new floor tiles to play with.

Overall I love this game and it is a lot of fun to play. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to have a good time with a couple friends.

Lords of Waterdeep is my favorite euro game and possibly one of my favorite games of all time. It feels a little faster than most euro games and while I find the D&D theme to be over used Lords does a good job of using it without over using it. The game is very strategic and a lot of fun, and usually ends up in a pretty close game. The quest completion is a cool aspect and I can not wait for an expansion to come out.

The one thing I will say is I am not at all a fan of the mandatory quest cards. I feel as thou they are to harsh a penalty and many times can turn two players into having a grudge match which is no fun for anybody. If my gaming group allows I usually prefer to remove them from the game. But even with that in mind I absolutely love this game and I don’t think it will be moving off my shelf anytime soon.