I recently purchased the Age of War dice game published by Fantasy Flight Games. The theme of this game is nearly identical to a recent Netflix documentary, Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan. I'll provide an overview of this new dice game base on the conflicts of feudal Japan. OVERVIEW Age of War is a quick-playing game for 2-6 players by renowned game designer Reiner Knizia. If the subject matter is of interest to you, this small-box game from Fantasy Flight Games may very well be a good addition to your collection. Though simple and relatively short in nature, this dice chucker offers some strategic decisions and player interaction that other similar games may not. "In Age of War, two to six players assume the role of daimyos trying to conquer castles and unite the warring clans of feudal Japan. The player with most points at the end of the game wins." [from rules sheet] The game comes with printed rules, a custom set of 7 dice and 14 unique cards. The goal of the game is to roll the dice matching battle lines on a castle card to conquer it. Successfully collecting a card places it in your playing area, adding it to your faction. Castle cards in your area, however, are susceptible to being conquered by an opponent. Once you have conquered all the castles of a particular clan (color), you "lock in" the combined Clan value for your points. Once all 14 castle cards have been conquered, the game immediately ends and the victory point values for each player's conquered castle cards and clans are calculated. The player with the most points wins. An interesting note about the Age of War is that its theme just so happens to align perfectly with the recent Netflix documentary Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan. Around the same time I began watching this series with my son, Luke, I noticed a recent advertisement for this new Fantasy Flight game. The imagery and theme coincided so well, I was intrigued. I ordered the game shortly thereafter and recently received. Luke and I chose to watch our next episode of the TV series followed by playing the game. It was a nice combination. Many of the historical facts, names and icons of clans, etc... are included accurately in the game. This further enhanced my enjoyment and added thematic elements that might not have been as prominent if not for the Netflix program. FINAL THOUGHTS Normally I prefer longer, more involved games, however, for a shorter/quicker dice game, Age of War is very satisfying. I get theme, enhanced by the Netflix documentary, as well as a challenging dice battle game that works well as a short, casual, travel game, or as a quick play after watching episodes of the show. The simple rules paired with the quality Fantasy Flight components make this an easy choice for me. See below for the game's official Fantasy Flight page and the Netflix links. Game on!
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Recently I got to play Disney's Villainous card-based strategy game, using characters from the two most recent expansions. In this article I provide an overview and impression of the game and expansions. I have some friends who are huge Disney fans, Don and Shannon. They collect many Disney-related items and are gaming buddies. Don and I typically attend GenCon together and both he and Shannon are close friends with whom we play games on a regular basis. Recently Don and Shannon brought over their copy of the brand new release "Despicable Plots" the most recent Villainous expansion as well as the previous expansion "Perfectly Wretched". The four of us selected characters from these two most recent additions to the Villainous family and got a game underway. Villainous is a primarily a strategy card game in which players select a villain. Each villain has its own unique deck of cards as well as a unique fate deck. Every villain has a specific set of tasks or goals thematically tied to the Disney movie plot from which that villain appeared. Players must attempt to complete the villain-specific tasks. The first player to successfully complete their villain's unique goals is the winner. In addition to cards, each player has a villain board, sculptural mover, and a guide. There are also power tokens, a molded plastic bowl, reference cards and rules booklet to round out the components. The quality of components is excellent. Though available through Target and many big box retailers in addition to smaller board-game retailers, the publisher created a truly collectible quality series. The plastic movers are tiny sculptural works of art hinting at the demeanor and silhouette of the villain for which it depicts. The box is printed with a high standard of quality and texture as well as cards and guides with top-notch graphic design and illustration. The two expansions we played were, "Perfectly Wretched" featuring Cruella Deville from 101 Dalmations and "Despicable Plots" featuring Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. I have included photos from both sets of all character boards with their sculptural movers and reference cards. We have played Villainous many times before. Though the game was familiar we would each need to read the villain guide to familiarize ourselves with the unique and specific goals required for our selected characters. As we played, we became more familiar with our character's specific strategies. We played against other's villains occasionally by choosing a card from their fate deck and playing it in their realm. That is the primary mechanic used to interact with other players and to attempt to slow their progress toward end goals. Other than that, players focus on moving their villain around their own realm and drawing cards needed to complete their goals. In this game, my wife, Brenda, came out victorious playing the villain of Gaston. All four of us enjoyed playing with the new expansions and appreciate the ways the designers have infused elements from the movies into the strategy and goals for each villain. This gives the game a very high replay value. Each game play, you can attempt to learn new villains' strategies and will most likely have opponents who are playing as a different combination of characters.
We very much enjoy playing Villainous and continue to have fun trying out new villains as expansions are released. Keep in mind, this is not a "lightweight" game. Just because it's Disney doesn't mean you can play it with a fourth grader. This is truly a game-hobbiest style middle to heavier weight game. It requires that you each devote some time to learn the character in which you are playing so that you can work toward achieving the specific goals needed to win. I would recommend that all fans of Villainous try out these two latest expansions. For those who have not played, give it a try and see if its for you. To purchase the latest expansion for Villainous click this link to Ravensburger or stop in at your local Target or game retailer. Take a moment to follow the King's GameNight Facebook page and... game on! Fan-created Digital Implementation on Tabletop Simulator I recently played Tyrants of the Underdark on Tabletop Simulator. The group had a unanimously positive experience. This fan-created digital implementation was created in the Tabletop Simulator workshop by Codename: Grey Fox. In this article I share some of my thoughts about the game as well as the digital version played. Tyrants of the Underdark is a board game published by GaleForce Nine (GF9) set in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms world. This is an interesting combination of territory control board game and deck-builder card game. There is a nice balance between the two mechanisms. For an overview of the game on the GF9 website click here. Those who are not big fans of deck-building will find fun in the strategy and combat found on the game board as your clan of Drow (dark elves) strives to gain control of various regions of differing values. Those who enjoy the deck-building mechanic will find that the decisions made when recruiting cards to add to your deck very satisfying. I find myself in the middle of these two areas of interest, as I would primarily say that I'm more of a territory control board game fan ... however, I do enjoy deck-building games. I feel that games such as this one and Clank! feel more satisfying to me. There's something about maneuvering and making strategic decisions on the board that adds to the experience of simply accumulating and playing an increasingly unique compliment of cards in a deck-building game. The digital implementation that my friends and I played on Tabletop Simulator was really top-notch. Codename: Grey Fox included several automation features which enhance the online experience. Among those features are: score calculator; initial setup and random deck selection; market auto-refill; recruiting cards; end of turn discarding; and deck refill. We found all of the scripting to be intuitive and didn't detract from gameplay. Magnetic placeholders for troops on the board worked well. The spies didn't lock into the magnetic slots as is appropriate, since the spies sit outside the normal troop locations. All-in-all this was one of the best online iterations of a board game I've played in the past year. Final Thoughts
This was the first time I played Tyrants of the Underdark. Aside from coming in dead last, I truly enjoyed the game and the digital implementation. I can see it appealing to a relatively wide audience. It doesn't require any prior Dungeons & Dragons knowledge, however those who do enjoy D&D will find extra to like here. The artwork on the board and cards is very nicely done. There is some concern with player colors being somewhat dark and similar to each other, red vs orange for instance, however I didn't find it too much of a concern. If you found my overview of the game and the availability on Steam/Tabletop Simulator appealing, I would strongly recommend giving this one a try. Keep an eye out for future tabletop gaming articles on King's GameNight and follow the King's GameNight Facebook page. Until next time... Game On! I enjoy looking at new tabletop games that are currently being promoted on Kickstarter as well as games that have funded and are expected to ship or be available in retail outlets soon. In this post I share a few games I'm excited about falling into these categories. Endless Winter - Paleoamericans is a current Kickstarter game project. This "Euro-game" has appears to have top-notch components and artwork. The intriguing theme of Ice Age America adds to my interest level. I'd love to see a prototype version become available to try on Tabletop Simulator or Tabletopia. This one looks like a winner to me. Ankh - Gods of Egypt designed by one of my favorite game designers, Eric M. Lang. This is the final game in the trilogy of games published by CMON. The first two games: Blood Rage and Rising Sun were both big successes. I can't wait to see how this Egyption themed game turns out. The CMON website currently states "coming soon". Not sure what that means for consumers. Let's hope the game will be available in the next few months. Dwellings of Eldervale - a game my neighbor and King's GameNight attendee, Chris backed on Kickstarter. It has finally been produced and is shipping to backers in the U.S. soon. It will be available the end of November. This game has amazing components and artwork. I've heard from those who have played the prototype. They are giving this game excellent reviews and ratings. I'm looking forward to playing this one! These three titles in various stages of availability are among those I'm excited about. I will occasionally share new titles and upcoming projects that interest me on the King's GameNight Facebook page as well as here in the blog. Please be safe and stay healthy during these unprecedented times of Covid-19, and ... Game on!
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