stratagon

One possible downfall of this game is that not all decks will be matched evenly. To get around this problem, try this format.

Each player uses their own deck for the first game. For the second game, players swap decks and try to win with their opponents cards instead. If one player wins both games, they take the match. However, if the same deck wins both games, then a third game is played with each competitor bidding chains to be able to play it.

There a few cards that have the “discard a card to do X” ability. At first this seems like an additional cost for a potentially larger benefit. However, if you manage to line these discards up with the much dreaded “Stumble” cards, you can turn it into a double benefit.

Always think about how a card that may not appear strong at first may be applied to your deck for great gains.

The game recommends placing homeworlds at least 18 inches apart from each other during set-up. The game box happens to be very close to 18 inches long. If you can fit the box between homeworlds, then they are far enough away from each other. This should save you a trip to the toolbox!

Many modern boardgamers play on tables with recessed gaming vaults. Whether homemade or purchased from a company offering them, these tables are wonderful additions to dedicated game rooms. They do, however, make one of the base game curses obsolete.

Since having a die fall off the table while rolling in a vault is almost impossible, change that particular curse to “Lose a die permanently if it ever lands on top of a gaming tile.” You will still need to roll carefully to avoid the penalty, so the curse will maintain its original feel. It should also discourage your guests from bouncing their dice off the table rails too hard, thus increasing the longevity of your specialized furniture.

The win condition for this game is one of its most fascinating features. A Federalist player just wants to watch the city collapse and as long as they meet a certain economic level when this happens they win. All non-Federalist players must survive to the end of the game and then have more capital than a randomly determined hidden rival. This forces players to cooperate while maintaining financial dominance of one particular player. This is by no means a cooperative game, though. Multiple players could win, but at least one player will lose.

This victory condition can create an interesting dynamic. Players should take care to not let any player fall so far behind in capital that they are assured a loss. This could cause them to stop trying altogether and effectively create an assistant for the Federalist. Any non-Federalist player who feels they can still overcome their rival will continue to benefit the success of the city. So try to stay ahead, but make sure you don’t leave someone too far behind.

This game is often played with inexperienced players. They will inevitably inquire why the Double Agent had two colors on it. Save yourself the need to explain it constantly by always placing the Double Agent on the bottom of its current stack. By the time it is visible, the game will be over, and only the most observant players will question it.

This also makes it easy to locate the Double Agent for the next game, making this habit useful for experienced groups as well.

A main element of this game is drafting for loot. This is done in clockwise order from the Godfather. Anyone seated between you and the Godfather will get to select their part of the take before you, which can be especially troublesome if you looking for sets such as art or diamonds.

When choosing your target for the Hold-up, without any other pressing reasons, choose targets that would draft before you do. This will help scare them off, or if you shoot them, outright eliminate them from the loot sharing. This should help lean the odds in your favor.

The first instinct in this game is to disperse damage around the ship until all shields have been depleted and THEN begin to sustain damage cards. This is not always the best use of shields.

Your ship will not be destroyed until it has enough damage cards to match its Hull value. Facedown damage cards do not hamper a ship’s performance. Keeping these things in mind, if an attack is only inflicting non-critical damage, it is often correct to let that through. Save your shields for absorbing the assaults that include critical hits, thus preventing damage that WILL hamper performance.

Clever use of redirects and maximizing hull utility could create the edge that makes the difference in this game.

The metal Blackmail tokens provided in this game are outstanding components. They are high quality, shiny and feel great in your hand. This House Rule will commit board game blasphemy and suggest leaving them unplayed in the box.

When we play, we stack each player’s influence tokens on the gangsters so we can easily judge which player is ahead by comparing stack heights. This is completely thrown off by placing the beautiful Blackmail tokens under those stacks. Now the game is slowed down because you can’t gain information at a quick glance and you may need to double count to verify the controlling players. One solution is to place the blackmail tokens on top, but then you won’t be able to see the color of the stack as easily, since both tokens are the same circumference.

Begrudgingly, we leave the beautiful metal tokens in the box and use smaller tokens to represent blackmail in the game. The tokens are placed on top of the stacks, but because they are not as large, you can still see the color and relative height of all Influence tokens. Our group uses the small yellow disks used for gold in Dungeon Petz, but many other cubes, beads or coins would work just as well.

The set-up for this game can be intimidating. With an experienced group the labor is split up evenly and it goes faster. Unfortunately, when you are teaching many new players, the complicated preparation in the beginning can put off newcomers from this otherwise simple game.

My suggestion for teaching new players is to prepare as much as you can in advance. This includes pulling out all the needed cards and matches on your own and packing all extraneous components away to avoid confusion. Doing this will be a lot of work, but it will avoid scaring players before the game even starts. Recruiting return gamers will make set-up easier for the NEXT game.

Gaining skills is critical for building a successful team. Pay attention to which players are closest to leveling up and concentrate your play to getting them there.

One method is to make sure they are placed properly on the pitch before each drive begins. If a player only needs a few points for his next advancement, set him up to be the ball carrier/receiver even if he is normally used on the line for blocking. Scoring your next touchdown with him should get him a new skill that will benefit his combat abilities for next game. A player only point away should be set up for a quick pass situation for a cheap experience gain.

Another trick is to always lead with your advancement targets when activating models. When you are choosing which of your four figures on the line should block first, prioritize whichever is nearest the next threshold. This will ensure that get a shot at scoring some injury points before a turn ending mishap occurs.

As I draw close to achieving the Expert Advisor Badge, I have decided to share some of the strategies I employed while getting there. I hope this helps you achieve your goals also!

Concentrate your efforts on developing tips for the games that get the most traffic. New popular releases or beloved classics both fall into this range. The weekly Explorable Favorites and the Explorable Cooperative Game Collection are also gold mines for getting graded by large amounts of players fast.

This doesn’t mean to neglect your favorite quirky games, they need love too, and you may be the only person that can help for those games. But effort put towards popular games will definitely reap rewards on a higher scale in the long run.

As I draw close to achieving the Expert Advisor Badge, I have decided to share some of the strategies I employed while getting there. I hope this helps you achieve your goals also!

It is time to put your friends to work. Recruit them to this site and ask them to grade your tips. Unless your friend is a real jerk, or your tips are horrible, these should be guaranteed “likes”. This network should help you with all your future submissions also (they may need gentle reminders). One caveat to this concept is that you may be giving away all your secrets to your regular opponents.

As I draw close to achieving the Expert Advisor Badge, I have decided to share some of the strategies I employed while getting there. I hope this helps you achieve your goals also!

Keep your information limited to just one helpful idea when leaving a tip. Resist the temptation to string multiple tips together inside the same entry. Not only will this keep it easy for the reader, but it will also help you have an extra tip in your back pocket for your next submission. That will come in handy if you are following my other tips in your master plan.

This series itself is an example of how I broke a few related tips into a collection instead!

As I draw close to achieving the Expert Advisor Badge, I have decided to share some of the strategies I employed while getting there. I hope this helps you achieve your goals also!

The five most recently submitted tips are featured on the site’s home page. This prominent location gives you opportunities to be graded by anyone browsing the site, instead of just followers and fans of that specific game. Discipline yourself to always have ONE tip amongst these valued spots. When your most recent tip gets pushed off the list, get right back on there with a new submission. Often this will force you to develop content at a steadier pace than you would normally choose.

You may have noticed that I stressed only maintaining ONE tip in the coveted Recent Five. Each time a new house rule or strategy appears, all the others get pushed one space closer to leaving. While it can be disappointing to watch your advice get bounced by another member, that is just how it works and out of our control. What we can ensure is that we don’t push our own work out of the top spots by loading information in rapid succession. This will guarantee an extended shelf life for our hard thought tips.

As I draw close to achieving the Expert Advisor Badge, I have decided to share some of the strategies I employed while getting there. I hope this helps you achieve your goals also!

You need a lot of tips. As your library of tips increases so will your potential for someone seeing them. Collecting positive feedback on items you posted years ago, is a great feeling since the work is already completed but the dividends are still returning.

The more consistently you contribute tips (but not spam! More on that in #2), the more often you will occupy the coveted top spot on each game’s tips page. This will ensure your advice gets read before fatigue sets in and the reader retires for the session.

Diversification is also important here. You want to have game tips all over the site and not just focused on one game. This widens your exposure to each new member that signs up here. It also prevents you from bumping your own tips further down the individual game pages.

When you pick this set up, do yourself a favor and grab an extra set of polyhedral dice (ask someone at the store or Google that if you don’t know what that means). Having at least two sets of dice will speed your games and avoid the necessity of passing them back and forth between players and the Dungeon Master. Any thing that helps your games go smoother will encourage your friends to come back to play again, thus establishing your role-playing group.

The Objective targets are secretly determined by the Agent player in games with four or more players. By the written rules, this is done with a d6. Unfortunately, this method can be abused by dishonest players and even honest players could have shadows of doubt cast upon them. Of course, the old adage of “just don’t play with cheaters” works, but I prefer a more concrete method that is just as simple and can be proven after the game. As an honest player myself, this eases my worries on either side of the board.

Take a deck of standard playing cards and pull out the cards marked Ace through Six. Separate by suit. Designate a suit name to each of the four Objective quadrants. Now all the Agent needs to do is pull one card from each suit and he has irrefutable proof that everything was legitimate.

More ambitious gamers could even devise a set of tokens for this purpose. Games Workshop used this method to solve a similar issue for Command Points in Space Hulk.

One of the biggest complaints I hear about the Legendary line of products, is the sorting process takes so long. This inevitably delays playing time. This trick may get you to the shuffling a few minutes faster and save some eye strain to boot.

This game comes with seven large card packs which, at first glance seem to be compiled by a sadistic madman who just wants to watch the world burn. Upon further inspection, you will notice that there are only four different types of these packs. One has three copies, another has two copies and there are two singletons. The packs that match are identical. UDE prints these this way based on frequency of appearance in the game. This knowledge will simplify our sorting.

Take one of the matching packs and deal the cards out one at a time in a row onto a very large surface. When the pack has expired, take a matching pack and deal the cards out onto the first pack in the exact same order. They will match! This will be fast and will not require you to pay too much attention, thus saving your brain power for more difficult upcoming sorting trials (Pay attention a little bit so you don’t skip a card and make things HARDER). When you finish you will have effectively reduced your workload from seven packages to four and about half of the images will already be spaced out on the table.

Advanced students of these games can likely keep an eye out for obvious matches such as specific characters or strike decks and combine them while dealing out the stacks onto the table thereby minimizing the table footprint required.

Good luck and have fun! Try to think of sorting as Objective #0. Be careful to avoid the events and hazards…

Blasting the board with a heavy cone of air is usually too destructive and almost always guarantees runaway meeples. Use the Breath Weapon option as more of a finesse play by tightening your lips to create a smaller cylinder of compressed air. You will be able to produce wind for a longer duration and, with practice, can control its target by contorting your face. This technique can be used to isolate specific meeples or board pieces that will help achieve specific goals.

I just finished painting my WotR set. I chose to match my bases as close as possible to the colors of the board. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Vallejo Game Color #72.035 Dead Flesh is a great match for many of the spaces. It is a massive time saver to not have to mix paint and be able to use that color right from the bottle!

Check out the links on my profile page, if you would like to see some of my pics!

Warning: This strategy can be frustrating and should not be used against players that may take it too personally or are being introduced to the game.

Ship building could be quantified on a scale from 1 to 10. 10 being a perfectly equipped vessel with multiple connections and no exposed parts. 1 would be a five piece lump with two crew and no engines praying it won’t hit open space.

If you (and your play group) tend to take it slow and aim for a ship in the 8+ range, try speeding it up and throwing caution to the wind sometimes. Under cut your personal building time with a goal of completing a ship in the 5-7 range. Aim for “just good enough” to survive. This should catch your opponents off guard and give you a decent advantage since you knew it was coming. The flight will be much more “interesting” also. You may suffer a decent amount, but they will likely take the worst of it.

Even if you lose, I do guarantee that the game will be more fun!

The most recent expansion Shades of Tezla has gained notoriety for having major production quality issues, including Monster Tiles that are 20% smaller than all other ones! At first, this was a very frustrating dilemma, but after reading discussion between other players, a solution appeared that should also help me bring this awesome game to the table more often. Using dice bags to hold and randomize monster tokens instead of stacking them on the table.

The number one reason I don’t play it as often as this game deserves, is my aversion to the massive amount of set-up and tear-down that surrounds each play. Rows of tiles and columns of various decks of cards, all of which need to be individually shuffled and stacked create an expenditure of energy daunting enough to steer me towards less labor-intensive games.

With dice bags, almost all of the tasks revolving around the tokens is eliminated. This gives me more time to play and enjoy this wonderful adventure! I should have thought of this earlier, but thankfully Wizkids’ dubious quality control has helped me find the light.

Two abilities that I hold sacred in this game are being able to KO and rescuing Bystanders. Whether you are playing semi-cooperatively or in a solo league/challenge these powers should help you sail to the top. This expansion provides a hero with both of these abilities!

The Invisible Woman delivers great flexibility through Disappearing Act (KO) and Unseen Rescue (Bystanders). Not only do neither of these have any prerequisite to activate, but both feature Focus 2 which means you can activate them multiple times based on extra Recruit availability. Disappearing Act even provides its own Recruit making it one of the only self-contained KO cards in the game!

Next time you need a perfect hero to include in a competitive outing, don’t look past Invisible Woman.

The unlocked door to each of the storage rooms is equipped with an X-ray sensor. Whenever there is an agent in each of these rooms, moving to the X-ray room is a great option. It will allow you to see all of their items when they exit. The only way they can avoid this is wasting a Key to move through a locked door instead.

If you are not playing Khorne, keep in mind that cultists are very passive with each other, most of the time they can coexist with other opposing cultists and just do their evil worshipping/recruiting in peace. Use this to everyone’s advantage and pile your cultists with some from the other players. This will limit the locations that Khorne can attack at, and while he very well may show up at your party, he can only take out so many at a time (and his goal only needs to kill one anyway). You also increase the chances that someone will play a defensive card that may protect everybody. Another benefit from this grouping strategy is the region will corrupt faster and points should start to add up at a higher rate than if everybody was spread over the entire map.

So next time you play, pick a nice populous region with some royalty and magic in it and throw a Corruption Party. Feel free to invite Khorne even. He may get rowdy, but he will only crack a few skulls!

Disclaimer: I am not particularly proud to use this strategy, since, in my opinion, it breaks the game. This is the reason my group will not play with less than five players. It does exist, so I will share it, and maybe knowing about it will spare you from an unfulfilling evening of broken BSG.

Players that start as human in a four player game, can guarantee that the second half of the game will be three versus one by deliberately tanking one resource into the red zone. This will tip the odds dramatically against the eventual Cylon. It is true that you still may end up on the unfortunate end of fate, but considering the probabilities, your best option is obvious. Pushing for an even battle gives you roughly 50% chance of winning on either side. Forcing the 3 vs 1 confrontation, provides you a 75% chance of being on the majority human team with very strong odds of winning (and this is assuming that one of the other players hasn’t already drawn the Cylon short straw!). Once all players realize this, the game degenerates into a very long (but thematic!) raffle.

So use this knowledge to win against unsuspecting players if you must, but it my hope that maybe I have encouraged you to wait for at least one more player before you embark for Kobol.

Of all the actions you can take, swapping cards with the Ambassador appears weak. Almost every action, advances you forward in some way, or directly attacks another player. Swapping a card seems to be a safety net for bad draws, one that ultimately keeps you in the same relative position.

The Ambassador does have another overlooked benefit. While he may not net you any credits, he does give you information. After you switch cards, you now know more about what cards you opponents don’t have. This can help you make critical challenges later in the game. Since the Ambassador is underrated, you will rarely be challenged when you claim him also. His work is much more subtle and not perceived as a direct threat to anyone.

The Ambassador would probably be a more desirable role if he was (more accurately) named the Spy, as this archetype has been romanticized much more. But the true beauty of his current title, is that he is overlooked for this exact reason, and that is what makes him dangerous.

“Thus, what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is FOREKNOWLEDGE.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

In a vacuum of statistical information, where any double card is as likely to exist as another, make the Baron your target of choice with any Guard action. The Baron is most likely to linger in an opponent’s hand as they wait for a high numbered counterpart. This becomes more likely the more opportunities your target has had to play a card. If they have recently played a Baron and survived, then you can name a higher target like Princess or Countess.

One thing I do to change this up, so my adversaries do not deduce my strategy, is to guess Handmaiden when my target has not had a turn at all in the round. It is mathematically just as likely since they have not made any decisions to skew their hand in a certain direction. Eliminating a Handmaiden helps by forcing players to hold onto their Barons and not bounce them off the safe temporary target.

Damage from enemy ships accumulates quickly. It gets even worse when you have multiple enemies attacking at the same time. Try to deal with one opponent at time. Keep your distance from other hostile ships (make sure Helm understands and is capable of doing this) thus reducing the odds that they will join the fray. After your first target is destroyed then you can advance onto the next!

Typically when you go to market, you will discard a mix of contraband and legal goods, hoping to replace them with better matches for a particular good you held onto.

In an effort to not give an opponent the opportunity to cherry pick from your discards, place your contraband into the discard pile last so that it covers the legal goods your threw away. This will make it harder for them to pass a large quantity of matching goods (or at least pretend to). Picking up contraband from the discards is not usually as strong of a play, since the next sheriff will be more suspicious, so don’t worry about your foes dumpster diving for those illicit goods on top.

General opinion is that this game is great just as an experience and you can drop scoring altogether. That certainly is true, but if your group desires a bit more competition, this alternate scoring method may help.

Everyone plays on their own. Each person gets a predetermined amount of turns as clue giver. Each round everyone uses the same difficulty level clue.

Clue solvers gain 2 points.

Clue givers gain points based on how soon they can communicate their concept.

0-3 minutes = 3 points
3-6 minutes = 2 points
6-9 minutes = 1 point

This format will keep the game moving by encouraging the clue giver to maintain a decent pace. It will also cap the amount of time for each clue and prevent the game from dragging.

Feel free to adjust the sample time phases to suit your group and/or timing devices (Sand timers will be specific, wall clocks may be easier with 5 minute intervals…).

Processing the logic puzzle that this game provides is the secret to winning. But before that can be done, you will need a system for keeping track of all the information that you learn.

As soon as you know who your opponents are, assign each of them a symbol or letter. First or last initials are the obvious answer, but if something is easier for you do that instead.

When you know for sure that someone has a card (including yourself!), write their symbol in the top box. When you know that they cannot have a specific card, write their symbol in a corner of the bottom box. If a bottom box ever has all players listed, you have your answer!

On the outside of your paper, you can make notations such as “B=3” near the diamond column. This would signify that Bob has three diamonds.

Come up with your own system for more obscure clues so that they make sense to you. Use the sidebar to record anything that doesn’t have it’s own method.

Everything you hear is important. Write it down and save it for access later when it may help. Having a consistent system will keep it efficient and recognizable when your deductive mind takes over.

Properly managing the “flow” of the HQ will help steer your team in the path of success. Unlike its Marvel counterpart, this game is 100% cooperative. That means buying a specific card before a teammate does, may make your deck stronger but could have a negative impact on overall team strength. Often, the team will be better served if you leave cards behind for upcoming players to pick up and better tune their decks.

Try to discuss who is going for which types of cards and who will benefit the most from them. Make efforts to save them for the appropriate decks.

A few cards will typically not fit very well into anybody’s deck strategy. Having a player without a specifically purposed deck can help here. They can buy out the random unwanted cards to ensure that the HQ continues to provide the ones key to victory.

A large number of missions in the campaign are about racing to a certain location before time runs out. The time frames provided are airtight. To succeed as the Rebel player, you need to do everything you can to reach your goals in time.

The most common distraction is enemy units. You need to recognize what they truly are: speedbumps to delay you from reaching your destinations. As much fun as it is to blast stormtroopers, often the actions you spend shooting are the same ones that could have accomplished the mission. Much like the heroes in the original trilogy, you need to dodge past the enemy to achieve your tasks.

Overlapping plastic bases when moving is generally something you should avoid. The loss of your action phase is the penalty incurred when you “collide” with another ship.

There are situations, however, where you may desire to intentionally choose a maneuver that would place you in the same area as another ship. If you move one of your ships onto another (opponent’s or yours) you will be forced to back the ship along the template until it clears. This could result in a move that is much shorter or not as angled as you could normally move, or possibly allow you to remain in place. You have created a new final position which can give you better attack options through firing arcs or ranges or maybe just set up a better tactical launching point for next turn. It also thwarts opponents who can predict your most likely positions based on expected maneuverability.

It will cost you your Action Step, but sometimes the surprise value you gain will be worth it!

Pay attention to the exact actions your opponents take during the Market Phase.

If someone is discarding small amounts of cards and drawing few, if any, random cards they will be more likely to have coordinated hands. This means when they claim 4+ of a good, they really might have it.

Opposite of this is an adversary who is taking almost a entirely new hand from the draw pile. A large amount of matching goods is possible but not probable. If they claim a large amount immediately following this play, statistics will be in your favor to inspect their bag.

Face up draws from the discard piles will obviously slant the odds, so keep that in mind also.

During some games, all you need to find a werewolf is to put a few clues together that form an obvious chain. These occurrences are fairly dry events and will play themselves. More challenging situations will require more advanced deductive tactics.

Look for inconsistencies. If two players seem to contradict each other, it almost always means that one is a werewolf. Probe deeper towards these players and see if you can uncover the truth.

When logic fails to reveal a lycanthrope, you can fall back on instinct. From the day we are born, we project and interpret body language subconsciously. Something about a player may not “feel” right. This seems like intuition (or superstition!) but it very well may be your instincts picking up on hidden messages that player is transmitting. Use this natural warning system to help choose when presented with narrow decisions.

A common endgame situation involves loyal knights desperately trying to complete quests before siege engines overwhelm Camelot. They have a strong lead of white swords versus black swords, but it will not matter if they cannot hold off the invaders.

Often in this situation, you can use the game’s built in timer to your advantage. Assuming you have a lead in white swords, consider ignoring specific quests so that when they fail and add black swords they close out the game faster to ensure victory. Make sure that you will still have batter than half of the swords in your favor, taking into account an unrevealed traitor will cause a four sword swing.

Purposefully ignoring quests, and looking forward to them failing, seems wrong, but it can help you win before you lose for a different reason.

Most players think of this game as multi-player solitaire, with each gamer cruising along on their own path to victory. While there is no direct interaction, it is important to know what your opponent is planning to do and reacting to it.

Once you have a good idea of your opponent’s main theme, you should be able to predict which actions they will likely choose. Try to work a sub-strategy into your tableau that will benefit from their action selection also. This minimizes the advantage that they gain each turn and closes the gaps in the race. A simple example would be adding a consumption world against an opponent who is creating a produce/consume engine so that you consume when he does. There are also many development cards that give small bonuses during various action phases. These passive abilities can be easy and effective at trimming an opponent’s gains.

Range 1 is an important distance for Squadrons. It is their typical attack distance and also determines if they become engaged with enemy squadrons. This particular measurement could become a frequent topic of debate.

To settle disputes in close situations, our group uses an extra prop to verify range one. An UltraPro Top Loader (a hard plastic sleeve used to protect collectible cards) happens to be exactly as wide as Range 1. Implementation is easy. In tight situations, simply have one player hold both models in question. The other player attempts to slide the card protector in between the combatants. If it can’t fit between, then you know you are at range. This method is superior to “eyeing it” since the tool automatically finds the “closest points” on the circular bases.

Almost all the photos or videos I have seen of squadrons from this game show neatly aligned starfighters positioned perpendicularly to their stands. I admit, when I envisioned assembling my own, I expected to do the same. But then a wonderfully random accident occurred.

As I was twisting (it was painted; so a tighter fit) my X-Wing onto its stand, it started out diagonal to its frame. The light bulb went off and I immediately attached the rest of the squad in the same direction (I am recommending experimentation with different flight directions, but please keep your squadrons parallel to themselves!) The result was a more dynamic look which felt more realistic than the perfectly aligned ones.

Break out of the box and try different flight directions with your own starfighters. They will not feel as static and may even make the game feel just a bit more exciting!

For an average balanced strategy, the Aqueduct helps in many different ways, evening out a slightly disadvantaged position or creating moments when the Robber can actually be helpful. Applying the Aqueduct to an imbalanced strategy, however, unleashes it’s ultimate power. It turns any missed roll into an equivalent Gold Field and eliminates any chance of not getting any resources while others do. The following plan will create this exact situation.

During initial placement, be on the lookout for an opportunity that will give you early Paper production. This could include an immediate position to gain the commodity from the very beginning or something you can build into relatively soon. If you feel confident that this is possible, you can steer your entire strategy towards abusing the already powerful Aqueduct. Counterintuitively, develop the rest of your settlements in locations where you will NOT receive anything for many numbers rolled. This works best when implemented before the first turn is even taken. As soon as you obtain your Aqueduct you should be on a very solid path to victory.

Next time you play, act and speak like a pirate to enhance the theme. Use this link to freshen up on your pirate lingo and mannerisms:

http://www.wikihow.com/Talk-Like-a-Pirate

My group can be competitive. Even when playing just for fun, we are going to take advantage of non-verbal clues if they are there to find. Mr. X has a lot to think about, and it is difficult to control eye movement when concentrating. I suggest adding a pair of inexpensive sunglasses to your game box. As long as your fugitive can keep from turning his head in obvious manners, this will help him conceal his eyes while planning escape routes.

Thematically, this also adds another layer of mystery to the game. Traditional glasses will create an espionage or caper feel. You also may want to experiment with other types to enhance different moods. Sporty or wraparound styles could steer the theme in a futuristic direction. A humorous pair can lighten the mood and even add some hilarity to the event.

Team Rerolls provide great insurance against the inevitable turn ending mishap. Unfortunately, during league play, they are only available at base price when you are starting out. After you have played a match, the price doubles!

Buy at least one Team Reroll when you create your team. It will be a difficult choice because it will likely be at the expense of an extra player on your team, but over the long term will be worth it. Your initial reroll may even prevent a poorly timed turnover to help win the game, or more importantly, keep existing players alive.

This house rule was created by accident through a misinterpretation of the rules. It makes sense logically and gives Space Marines a tiny bit of flexibility in their actions. We keep it around for those reasons.

Line of sight extends to any unobstructed square to a Marine’s direct left or right. Marine players can shoot while moving forward and backward at the sacrifice of not gaining sustained fire bonuses. In our games, we extend this to include turning 90 degrees also. 180 degree turns are not allowed because they would be out of line of sight before the action.

Turning and shooting adds a third move and shoot option to the Space Marine player’s repertoire. It can help keep you from being flanked by Genestealers or maybe clear a door slightly faster but doesn’t threaten game balance.

It is important to produce either tobacco or coffee early in the game to jumpstart your economy. Eventually, you may make both, but choosing which one to develop first is a crucial decision. If the player before you has already committed to one, you should aim for the other. This will give you better flexibility to sell your good to the trader, as most of the time, you will be acting after the other player.

Over the years, I have seen members state that they wish they could track their plays by date. This feature would be interesting but does not currently exist. I have a method of leaving tips and house rules that generates a macro version of this.

I steadily submit house rules and strategies, averaging about once a week. They are much easier to write for games that I have recently played (or am currently obsessed with). So many of my tips are added to this site around the same time that game is dominating my play time. Perusing my list of contributions, I discovered that it created a relatively accurate journal of my recent years of gaming.

If you submit tips on a frequent basis (and why wouldn’t you?) try to keep focused on the games you most recently played, and it will slowly create your own history that you can go back and reflect on in the future!

This game has been my current obsession for solo gaming. Unfortunately, it is biased towards hero victory and does not always provide a difficult challenge. Choosing my own heroes and setting up power combos only amplifies this issue. This is a method I use to keep things interesting while letting me flex a few different strategic muscles.

I begin with a randomized scenario in Advanced Solo Mode. Mastermind, scheme, villains, henchmen and heroes all chosen by fate. This takes away my ability to min/max through hero selection and forces me to come up with original interactive combos. If I win, I start over with a completely new set-up.

When I run into a villain/scheme that my random lot of heroes just couldn’t beat, I start to allow advance planning to creep in. I still go with two random heroes, but I choose the third, one who either matches well with the others or happens to be really great against the mastermind.

I continue to replay the scenario with one less random and one more chosen hero until I succeed.

This method will challenge you to learn new heroes and get out of your comfort zone, but eventually let you introduce your old standbys when you need to. It also provides a nice excuse for not having to do as much sorting and preparation in between games, since the villain deck only needs a bystander refresh before you start your second match.

The nature of this game is disguised behind its title. Considering that you are in an arena, you would assume that you should be rewarded for destroying your enemy. Occasional attacks can be beneficial for disruption, but in Highform mode, tasks are how you win the game.

Make plays to set up accomplishing the available tasks. Use your combat moves for positioning more often, sometimes forgoing the ability to destroy enemy pieces. This will also keep your opponent from activating powerful flares.

Cute, psychopathic bunnies frolicking in a world jammed with pop culture parody has huge upward potential for an outrageous gaming night. But first it has to overcome one obstacle: downtime lulls. Most of the waiting for your turn variety can be offset by the fact that many cards are interactive and you will likely have something to do most of the time (if we count not getting killed as “something to do”). The hardest downtime generator to dodge is the inevitable rules lawyering that spawns from hundreds of random cards combining in thousands of varieties.

Our solution, to keep the frantic rabbicide in full gear, is when a rules argument comes up that cant be ironed out within 30 seconds, have the two major combatants roll a die. Highest roll wins the debate. Let fate decide the ruling, and uphold that same ruling for the rest of the gaming session in all similar situations. Research the correct rulings after the game and update everybody for next time you play.

There are many games that can withstand a brief pause in the action to verify that you have accurately interpreted the designer’s concepts as they were intended. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE GAMES! If it skips off its pace it will lose all sense of wild chaos that it thrives on. Roll that die and keep it moving!

Strongholds under siege can contain five units maximum. This space limitation creates a dynamic where the quality of the unit becomes more critical. To hold off the attackers for the longest time, it is important to muster as many elite units as possible near key strongholds. This will allow you to sustain more hits and hopefully survive a few more turns, possibly long enough for relief forces to arrive.

Most of the best uses of Free Peoples units involve prolonging Shadow military victory to buy Frodo precious time. This strategy is one method of maximizing efficiency out of each unit.

The game comes with enough miniatures to match the amounts needed for the squadron deployment cards provided. If you plan on painting them, I recommend using different terrain on the bases to help differentiate the squads (much better than the stickers that were provided).

I used three types of terrain:

Desert/Rocks – mix dark tan paint with white glue and some tiny pebbles and large grain sand. Drybrush with lighter tans.

Forest – dark brown paint base. cover some areas with dark green dabs of paint. Apply some dabs of yellow-green over that. use white glue to add some modeling foliage as finishing touch.

Space Station – Use straight edge and Exacto knife to cut a few perpendicular lines into base. Paint white. Apply various washes (paint diluted thin with water) of purple-blue until hues match tiles from game.

Uncovering the fresco the first time is pretty exciting. It gives you a sense that you actually made the board a little prettier. Unfortunately, that excitement dwindles the more you play. I recommend adding your own art to solve this issue.

Print your chosen artwork onto a sheet of cardstock (You may need to use two pages and attach them). Use a fine point marker and ruler to draw up some grid guidelines matching the tile sizes. Laminate it to protect your creation and enable you to reuse.

Some ideas for artwork:

– photographs of actual historical pieces of art; preferably from the same era.

– holiday oriented themes or messages (“Happy Birthday Hai”).

– cryptic rebus puzzles ala Concentration either just for fun or bonus points.

Capturing key territories involves not only the initial invasion, but also defending against an immediate counterattack to liberate your newest acquisition. You will hopefully have a decent amount of ground units remaining to help protect, but you will be missing out on the best defensive unit in the game, fighters.

Your fighters will not be able to land in territories that you just captured. Normally, this would deprive you of their deadly defensive rating of 4, which can be critical in holding off liberation forces. However, if you coordinate with an ally, they can be ready to land their fighters into the newly captured land before the enemy has an opportunity to retaliate. This is especially effective in Western Europe or Germany, with the United Kingdom as the invader and the United States bringing in air support.

Science is arguably the most important commodity in this game. Care must be taken when choosing what technologies to invest into. A well planned Science budget will set the foundations of a successful civilization.

Playing technologies of the same type from consecutive ages is almost always a mistake. The upgrade benefit is marginal comparable to the huge investment of paying the Science cost twice. If you have played the Age I tech, skip over the Age II counterpart and consider upgrading during Age III instead. Use the saved Science to advance a different technology line and further diversify your civilization.