Christina

I have been eyeballing this game for awhile now. It was out of print when I first saw it but has since then been reprinted. I managed to pick the game up pretty cheap at a used game auction. I will forewarn you that I will be comparing this game to Adventurers:Pyramid of Horus.

SETUP
Everyone chooses their gangs and takes their respective character cards and minis. Deal out 5 Arcana cards to everyone. Give everyone 7 action markers. Lay treasure on the board with treasure chest side up in every room. Once you laid the last treasure flip the tokens over to reveal the treasures underneath. Put the two militiamen in the buildings indicated in the rulebook. Choose your adventure sheet and follow any special set up instructions. Lay out 3 mission cards on the adventure sheet. Place the round marker on the “1” space on the adventure sheet. Roll to see who goes first then each person will take turns deploying (placing) their figures in the deployment spaces, see rule book for a diagram.

GAMEPLAY
During your turn you will:
-Roll for a militaman to see if he moves
-Use the 7 actions to do the following: move 1 character, take 1 action with one character (characters can only have two actions and they can’t be the same action)
–Actions can include:locking picking, bashing open treasure chests, fighting other players, completing mission cards, and special actions noted on character cards.
-After the last player goes move the round marker

WIN/LOSE
The game will continue in rounds until the “alarm” has been triggered by the round marker reaching the space denoted “alarm.” Everyone races to get their characters out of the city or maybe they might try to steal a little more treasure before leaving the city. Once the round marker reaches “End” the game is over. Any character still in the city has been caught and their treasure and ducats are discarded. Players count up their treasures and ducats to see who has the most to determine the winner.

PROS
-Excellent components
-Rulebook is well laid out and easy to understand
-Miniatures and artwork looks great
-Several adventure sheets increase the replayability
-Easy to learn

CONS
-Some of the characters special abilities are weak compared to others

FINAL THOUGHTS
I really enjoy Adventurers:Pyramid of Horus however I feel it lacks replayability. It’s pretty much the same game every time. Go into the pyramid and try to steal as much treasure as you can before you get trapped inside. I do like the game but it just gets old. If it wasn’t for my in-laws, who enjoy playing it, I would probably get rid of it. My husband and I just don’t play the game together because it is lacking that replaybility.

City of Thieves has the replayability going for it! The adventure sheets have different treasures that you have to steal different ways. You can of course ignore these treasures and just pick up the ones on the board too. I like the idea of stealing treasures and beating up on other gang members. The Arcana cards are really helpful in backstabbing your neighbor and they can benefit you greatly too. The character abilities are nice but some of them are a bit weak. Overall, this game has a lot going for it. It looks complicated but it really isn’t. The rulebook is laid out really well and explains things clearly. If you have played any Adventurers games check this game out, you just might it better. If you haven’t played any Adventurers games then skip them and check out City of Thieves instead.

It says Batman on the box but it should probably be named Batman’s villains because you play as his villains. Joker, Killer Croc, Two Face, and Penguin. You play as one of the villains and your goal is to take over as much of Gotham City as possible.

SETUP
Shuffle Criminal Plot deck and Batman deck.
Everyone chooses a villain and takes the corresponding player screen, figure, henchman, villain cards, pass out starting threat and information based upon player screen and deal out everyone 5 Criminal Plot cards. Place starting threat. (Make sure villain base dials are clicked to level 1)

GAMEPLAY
*Check to see if your villain advances a level
*Play one card from your hand
**Follow the directions on the top of the card
**Follow the directions on the bottom OR ignore to collect 2 resources of your choice (information, money, or threat)
*Spend money to hire henchman
*Spend information to move villain and henchmen
*Draw one card

You resolve fights with other villains and henchmen using the dice. The Batman symbol on the die is a 0. When you fight Batman the Batman symbol is an autofail. If Batman loses he goes back to his Batcave and levels up.

WIN/LOSE
The goal is to get to level 10 first or if the Villain Plot deck runs out and you need to draw another card. You get to level 10 by controlling areas, gaining henchmen, collecting money, and collecting information.

GOOD
-artwork
-components
-storage solution in the box
-heroclix bases so the figures can be used in heroclix too
-interesting twist to play a villain
-unique abilities for each villain

BAD
-last longer than what box states, especially for 4 players
-rarely use the bottom part of villain plot cards, usually just collect resources
-rulebook can be vague

FINAL THOUGHTS
There are some downsides to this game and the biggest has to be the time to play. If you are playing with 4 players you will probably add another hour to what the box quotes. 2-3 players is a better number of players. When I play 4 players it comes down to just running out of villain plot cards instead of having someone get to level 10 (which is near impossible with all you have to control at the end.) Overall though I do like the game. It’s fun to control Gotham City and send Batman after your enemies. I like to be deceiving when I play. “Sure, you can take that territory.” (2 turns later) “Ha ha, I will now beat up your henchman and take that territory for myself!”

“Yes, I just cured the disease but wait, there is another epidemic in Hong Kong!” Pandemic is a co-op game that sends players all over the globe curing and eradicating diseases. It gets harder as the game progresses and everyone either wins or loses as a team.

SETUP
Everyone gets a role card.
Set up the starting infection. (see rule book for instructions)
Put the Epidemic cards in the Player deck based upon difficulty desired.

GAMEPLAY
Take four actions:
*move to next city
*discard a Player card to move to the city named on the card
*discard a Player card of your current city to move to any city
*move from Research Station to Research Station
*cure disease, discard 5 cards of the same color
*remove one cube (disease) on the city you occupy
*trade cards (which matches the current city you’re in) with your teammates

Next, you draw 2 Player cards. If you draw an Epidemic follow the instructions on the card. Finally, you will draw Infection cards equal to the current infection rate.

WIN/LOSE
You win by curing all the diseases. You lose by running out of player cards, you can’t place a cube of a certain color because the pile has ran out, or you had an eighth outbreak.

GOOD
-co-op play that really emphasizes teamwork
-challenging
-easy to teach/learn for gamers mostly
-quick gameplay
-varying difficulty

BAD
-might be too tricky to teach non-gamers
-Z-man reprinted the game so if you want to play In the Lab (latest expansion) and you don’t have the newest edition of Pandemic you will either 1) need to buy the core game again or 2) buy the conversion cards.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I absolutely love the challenge in Pandemic. I would say that when I have played it has been a 50/50 chance of us winning the game. I like games that I don’t win all the time. The challenge is rewarding especially when you do win the game. My biggest complaint about the game is the reprint. I own the original Pandemic and original On the Brink expansion. I can’t play the newest expansion In the Lab unless I either buy the conversion cards or re-buy Pandemic (newest edition.) I find this frustrating. However, this doesn’t change my opinion about the game. It’s an exciting game that keeps you on the edge of your seat as you try to cure diseases and keep infections from spreading.

My gateway game into tabletop games was Last Night on Earth. I played that game a lot! However, one thing always bothered me about the zombies in that game. They were what I like to call “smart” zombies. They weren’t the classic zombie that was a creature with instincts to eat anything in sight. Zombicide has more realistic zombies. (At least if you compare them to what everyone thinks is the “classic” zombie.) The game also offers a co-op which is what you would anticipate in a zombie apocalypse.

SET UP
Pick a scenario in the book and lay out the board with doors, objectives, etc. accordingly. There are nice diagrams that show you how to set it up. Then give everyone a hero and a starting item. Determine first player, we usually roll off.

GAMEPLAY
SURVIVOR’S TURN
You get 3 actions.
Choose from: Move, Fight zombies, Trade items, Search (only once per turn.)

ZOMBIE’S TURN
Move zombies. They move by sight first or by sound.
Spawn zombies.

WIN/LOSE
The game ends when either all survivor’s are dead or the scenario’s objective has been met.

GOOD
-realistic zombies
-co-op
-survivor’s special abilities
-leveling up system
-high quality components
-customize some weapons

BAD
-shooting order is senseless (If you shoot into an area that has a survivor and a zombie and you hit, you hit the survivor first.)
-abomination is almost impossible to kill (unless you have a moltov)

FINAL THOUGHTS
My husband and I backed this game on Kickstarter so we have a ton of stuff for it! I don’t regret our decision to back this game. Its a thrilling way to play a zombie apocalypse. As the game progresses you can get easily swarmed with zombies, much like what you would imagine would happen. We play this game with my in-laws often and it was relatively easy to teach them (they aren’t really gamers) because the mechanics made sense for the most part. This is a ton of fun and the board looks awesome when it is swarmed with tons of zombie figures!

Superhero team ups are a natural occurrence for most superheroes. The best part of a team up is the cooperative effort to take down a villain(s). Sentinels of the Multiverse (SoTM) is a game of none other than a co-op team up of superheroes and you are your friends get to dawn their capes and masks in amazing showdowns with dire villains!

SETUP
The set up is the easiest part of the game thanks to each deck being clearly labeled as to which hero, villain, or environment it belongs to. Simply separate the decks and shuffle. You will need one villain, one environment, and 3 heroes (up to 5 heroes.) Each hero starts with a hand of 4 cards.

GAMEPLAY (this is easy too)
VILLAIN TURN
Draw villain card
Resolve affects (usually one time abilities, start of turn, or end of turn)

HEROES TURN
Play a card
Play a power
Draw a card
The biggest tip I can say here is keep up with all your modifiers and special abilities on your cards. Some heroes have some really complicated modifiers as they go along. (I personally like the challenge)

ENVIRONMENT TURN
Draw environment card
Resolve affects (usually one time abilities, start of turn or end of turn)
*Environment cards affect hero cards and villain cards.

WIN/LOSE
The win conditions usually involve destroying the villain (bringing him/her to 0 hp) The lose conditions is when all heroes have died.

GOOD
-cooperative gameplay
-original,great artwork
-back story for all characters and environments
-simple mechanics (play a card, play a power, draw a card)
-cardstock is strong
-box houses original core set and all expansions to date

BAD
-stacking modifiers can be tricky for new players
-some villains seem overpowered
-some environments seem overpowered

FINAL THOUGHTS
I was on the fence after playing this game the first time until I realized we were playing it wrong! (2 players with a hero each.) You need to have at least 3 heroes to even have a chance to win. This is an amazing game! It is so fun and the artwork is really eye catching! There is a lot of thought and love poured into this game and it shows. If you buy this game I strongly recommend you buy the Enhanced Edition. I bought this game before that edition was out. When the Enhanced Edition was on Kickstarter I backed it. It is vastly improved over the original version. The cardstock is heavier, the box has great dividers to neatly stack your cards, and there is room for expansions. This is a great game and I’m looking forward to playing more of the expansions.

I saw this game released at Gen Con and it was my brother who was more excited about it than I was. He bought a copy at our local game store but never played it. He eventually sold it to my husband and I. After playing it for the first time I was floored. This game is really good! Several more play throughs later and I fall more in love with this game each time.

SETUP
The setup is a bit tricky for the first few games but it gets easier as you get used to it. You have to first choose your quest and then find all the locations, villains, and henchmen that go along with the chosen quest. Then for each location there are numbers for each type of card and that’s how many go in that deck. Ex. 2 Barriers= 2 random Barrier cards. The rulebook shows a fancy set up for laying the cards out but I find it unnecessary and just usually line them up in a row.

GAMEPLAY
The best part about the game is the co-op gameplay! However, you take individual turns but can play Blessings, Spells, etc. on each other to help out. On your turn you flip the top Blessing card. (There are 30 of them and they are basically a timer. You run out of Blessing cards in this deck and you lose.) Next you move your hero to one of the locations and flip the top card. Then you encounter the flipped card. This can be a fight, acquiring items, armor, spells, etc., or fighting the villain. Finally you draw back up to your hand limit then it is the next person’s turn. The game ends when either all heroes have died, the villain has died, or the Blessing deck has ran out.

LEVELING UP
This is a card game based upon a RPG after all so you can level up your heroes based upon the quest rewards. This can get you some awesome equipment or feats. This makes the game have that RPG feel.

GOOD
-mechanics are straightforward
-excellent replayability
-custom decks that change and get better as you level up
-RPG feel with no DM
-quick gameplay (usually 45 minutes)
-great storage solution in the box

BAD
-cards can show wear and tear
-Blessing cards don’t vary enough

FINAL THOUGHTS
I can’t get enough of this game! It has so much going for it. I would highly recommend playing one hero all the way and custom his/her deck. This makes you feel like you are playing a RPG. There are times that you won’t win the quest and it is a shame to lose your hero after they died. However, we have a house rule that if everyone’s heroes die than we just restart the quest with the same heroes. This game is really fun with a lot of replayability. I never played the Pathfinder RPG but I really enjoy this game.

I absolutely love this game! There are several chapters you play in the core game that helps progress the overall story plot. You play as Prince Collin along with his trusty group of friends, here’s the catch you are mice! Prince Collin was once a human but he sacrificed being the top of the food chain to help try to save his father and his kingdom. The mechanics in the game are just as well thought out as the story is. The dice are unique and the game is relatively easy to learn. When my husband and I play we do different voices for the mice so it has a RPG feel. I would highly recommend this game to anyone.

It took me a few times of playing my brother’s copy before buying this game for myself. I started playing LoTR in this current cycle (Against the Shadow.) I jumped in with both feet and sunk a lot of money into the game quickly to catch up on all that is available. That is my only real complaint about the game. It isn’t cheap to keep up with the newest cards for the game. However, the new cards and quests that come out make it well worth it to me. I love building my own decks and I am madly in love with the co-op aspect of the game. The world is rich in Tolkien theme and is based upon the books rather than the movies. Not all the quests are easy to beat and a good challenge is always rewarding when you do beat them.