I'm Going on Vacation.

Bad news readers.  This week I'm going on vacation.  That means no reviews this Monday or next as I've been running around getting ready to go out of town instead of playing games.  I know, where are my priorities.  I'll be back with weekly reviews starting on the first Monday of August.  But hopefully between now and then I can post a few more session reports of some games.

I keep trying my hand at Field Commander Alexander, but after having effortlessly gone through all 4 scenarios, now that I'm trying to document my conquest for posterity, the dice are refusing to play nice.  Somehow I don't think anyone wants to read several pages of me rolling a 1 for every scouting roll, and missing every combat roll as well.  Why just last night, I spent 5 turns outside Halicarnassus, attempting to intimidate it into submission.  The first time I only needed a 4, 5 or 6 to succeed, and I failed.  The second time I only needed a 3, 4, 5 or 6 to succeed and I failed.  The third time I only needed a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 to succeed...and I failed.  And so ended Alexander's conquest, and my patience with dice for the weekend.

But I digress.  I'll be enjoying my vacation, and I hope everyone else is enjoying there Summer as well.

The Many Ways to Store Dominion

So storing all the expansions for Dominion became quite a problem.  At one point I'd managed to fit all the expansions up through Prosperity into the base box.  However every time I picked it up, I felt like the bottom was going to fall out of it.  Also in the meantime, I'd acquired Hinterlands, Dark Ages and Cornucopia.  So clearly it was time to upgrade.

What I found was this case from Hobby Lobby.  I then used some 3 inch wide balsa wood planks I found at a craft store for the dividers.  Some Elmer's wood glue later, and the planks were in.  I then used some packing tape at the edges to protect the cards a little bit more from the edges.  Call me paranoid.

I made this for about $30

Field Commander Alexander at Granicus

Lately I've been feeling like Field Commander Alexander is too easy.  Playing it normally, I can usually conquer every scenario inside of 3 turns.  Especially if I go nuts, and raze my conquests every chance I get.  So today I decided I'd try Granicus with all the difficulty modifiers.  They are:

• Memnon's Scorched Earth - Subtract 2 from Scouting die rolls
• Memnon's Raiding Fleet - If Scouting roll < Forces, pay 2 Gold per point, instead of 1
• Memnon's Diversionary Attack into Greece - From the Fall of 335 BC and after, your Forces cost +2 Gold each
• Treasurer Harpalus - Gain 1 less Gold during Resupply

I may come to quickly regret this.

All set up and ready to play.

Forbidden Island Review

Forbidden Island is a cooperative game developed by Matt Leacock and published by Gamewright in 2010.  In Forbidden Island you are attempting to retrieve 4 treasures off a sinking island.  As with most cooperative games, there are many ways to lose, and only one way to win.

I had been aware of Forbidden Island since shortly after I got Pandemic.  But it seemed clear it was the lesser game.  It had few bits, no real board, and less mechanics.  Why would I bother with it?  Then I traded Pandemic for Defenders of the Realm, and was awoken to the fact that in board games, sometimes less is more.  Defenders of the Realm was a bloated, lumbering, boring game.

With my new "less is more" mentality, I gave Forbidden Island another try.  My FLGS had a copy in their demo library, and we immediately loved it.  We found it had all the tense decision making of Pandemic, in a more streamlined package.

Space Empires 4X Doomsday Machine Session

I've had a vicious desire to play Space Empires 4X lately.  Sadly, it's a complicated and lengthy game, and that means finding room in everyone's schedule for it.  So this week I decided I wanted to try the Doomsday Machine scenario again.  It's a solo scenario where several Doomsday Machines will be sent against your empire over the course of the game.  They'll devour planets along their way, healing damage in the process.  I had tried it before on the easiest difficulty level, and on a small map.  So this time I thought I'd try it on normal, but still on a small map.  That way it plays in about 60 to 90 minutes.

All ready to play!

Star Wars The Card Game Review

When I purchased X-Wing, it reignited my endless love of Star Wars.  So hot on the heals of playing that to death, I also purchased Star Wars The Card Game.  I was initially very hesitant about it.  The box cover artwork makes it look like they just reused movie stills.  Plus I heard strange rumblings on BoardGameGeek about it being a cooperative game?  Turns out the game used to be cooperative, and underwent a complete redesign.  And I'm quite glad it did!

Star Wars The Card Game is a Living Card Game published by Fantasy Flight Games and designed by Eric M Lang.  There is very little Eric M Lang has designed that I haven't loved.  Including Chaos in the Old World, Quarriors and Warhammer: Invasion.

If you aren't familiar with Living Card Games, they are similar to Collectible Card Games.  Only instead of randomized booster packs, every month or so a non randomized booster pack is released.  They are usually released in cycles of 6 boosters which have thematic and mechanical links.  Every now and again a deluxe booster is also released, adding new factions or mechanics.  It's a system I've enjoyed previously, although I've always felt it fell short of it's potential.