Blood Bowl Team Manager (BBTM) is a card game based on the Game's Workshop Blood Bowl IP. This is a game of American Football played with Fantasy Races and all their weird and wonderful abilities. In this game, you are fighting for the most fans over a season.
BBTM is a light deckbuilder, where your deck represents your players. You play them at different fields to try and win that field and gain some bonus'. Even if you lose, you still get some benefits. In fact, one of the major strategy points in the game is figuring out which games you can lose and be happy with whatever lesser benefits you have.
Like most Games Workshop games, there is quite allot of chance in this game. From penalty tokens that range from fans (or victory points) to the player being sent off to tackling effects and the special abilities you can get (and when you actually draw them, which makes a huge difference). Expansions to this game tend to increase the randomness (with the corrupt referee, foul cards that can cripple, etc.).
The randomness is quite unfortunate, because it is not a short game. There is also a bit of a downtime problem, as analysis paralysis can easily slip into people's turns. However, the core mechanisms are quite fun. The combination of deckbuilding, balancing your rewards and what you fight for, and choosing who to play against at what fields is intriguing. Trying to play your race to its strengths is also fun.
It is also unfortunately no longer in print currently. At the moment the base set is still relatively easy to find. This game reminds me allot of Smash Up! but slightly less refined. The arbitrary randomness combined with the long play time hold this back from the classic status, unfortunately, but it is still worth playing most of the time.
3.5 out of 5 waffle bowls.
Tuesday 30 January 2018
Sunday 21 January 2018
BOARD GAME REVIEW: GLOOMHAVEN (2016)
Gloomhaven is the current number 1 game on boardgamegeek.com. It is a dungeon-crawl type game from Isaac Childres, and to describe it as a dungeon-crawl is both painfully accurate and yet doing the game a great disservice. I also have barely scratched the depths of the game for its "full" review, so this is more a first impressions (even after playing for 30+ hours).
In this game, you and a bunch of your companions are playing the role of adventurers from the titular city. Every session of this, you will sit down, set up a dungeon and then try to complete it (normally by killing all the enemies). You move around a grid-based map, get experience and items, and then succeed or fail. Between missions, you can buy items, go on a small text-based adventure on the road and in the city (literally just a card with 2 options, normally), and occasionally your character will retire (allowing you a new class).
If that sounds like a dungeon-crawler, it is because it is. But if that last sentence indicated there is more going on under the hood of this game, it is because there is. Gloomhaven inherets all the flaws of old grid-based dungeon crawlers, with non-inutitive and self-defeating enemy AI, blocking on the grid, and classes falling into archetype roles (along with the old damage-is-king effect). In fact, paradoxically, it is important to remember Gloomhaven is just a dungeon crawl (rather than expecting a revolutionary experience) as well remembering that the dungeon crawl is perhaps the worst part of it.
For example, the way classes are unlocked and your character retires is new. In addition, the combat system tends to revolve around playing two cards and combining them in different ways. Levelling up doesn't so much power up your character as also give you a new card to increase your options. So while your character may be a tank or DPS, you can add some healing cards or support cards, for example, to easily fill spots in your ranks.
There is so much to talk about in this game. Hidden combat objectives, the perk system, the legacy-type elements, etc. However, it is important to note that this is perhaps the most ambitious dungeon-crawler I have played. Other games may give better pure dungeon-crawl experiences, but no other game has quite given me the same overall experience yet.
5 out of 5 gloomy waffles.
In this game, you and a bunch of your companions are playing the role of adventurers from the titular city. Every session of this, you will sit down, set up a dungeon and then try to complete it (normally by killing all the enemies). You move around a grid-based map, get experience and items, and then succeed or fail. Between missions, you can buy items, go on a small text-based adventure on the road and in the city (literally just a card with 2 options, normally), and occasionally your character will retire (allowing you a new class).
If that sounds like a dungeon-crawler, it is because it is. But if that last sentence indicated there is more going on under the hood of this game, it is because there is. Gloomhaven inherets all the flaws of old grid-based dungeon crawlers, with non-inutitive and self-defeating enemy AI, blocking on the grid, and classes falling into archetype roles (along with the old damage-is-king effect). In fact, paradoxically, it is important to remember Gloomhaven is just a dungeon crawl (rather than expecting a revolutionary experience) as well remembering that the dungeon crawl is perhaps the worst part of it.
For example, the way classes are unlocked and your character retires is new. In addition, the combat system tends to revolve around playing two cards and combining them in different ways. Levelling up doesn't so much power up your character as also give you a new card to increase your options. So while your character may be a tank or DPS, you can add some healing cards or support cards, for example, to easily fill spots in your ranks.
There is so much to talk about in this game. Hidden combat objectives, the perk system, the legacy-type elements, etc. However, it is important to note that this is perhaps the most ambitious dungeon-crawler I have played. Other games may give better pure dungeon-crawl experiences, but no other game has quite given me the same overall experience yet.
5 out of 5 gloomy waffles.
Sunday 14 January 2018
BOARD GAME REVIEW: SPECTACULUM (2012)
Spectaculum is a shareholding game from Reiner Knizia. In it, you are controlling the paths that 4 travelling shows are traversing through the kingdom in the hopes of buying low/selling high. At the end of the game, the most money is the winner.
The theme of the game is intriguing. You effectively have 4 gag-circus' running around the centre of the board. This is achieved by drawing there tokens from the bag and placing them on a board next to similar tokens. When they reach cities, there prices will go up or down (or perhaps money will be collected or payed out). In effect, however, the theme here doesn't really matter.
What does matter is that you buy or sell a share twice on your turn. The main goal here is to buy when they are low and sell when they are high. The game ends when the centre town has been taken and all but one city is gone.
This game feels average. The components are okay but have no pop. The cards look nice but every circus is the same and they don't give you anything special. It would have been cool to have a special power based on which performer you get or something. The game just lacks a certain zing to it which games that I'm not a fan of have. The one plus side is that it is pretty easy to teach and play, but it is unlikely to provide any sort of gaming sustenance.
2 out of 5 non-spectacular waffles.
The theme of the game is intriguing. You effectively have 4 gag-circus' running around the centre of the board. This is achieved by drawing there tokens from the bag and placing them on a board next to similar tokens. When they reach cities, there prices will go up or down (or perhaps money will be collected or payed out). In effect, however, the theme here doesn't really matter.
What does matter is that you buy or sell a share twice on your turn. The main goal here is to buy when they are low and sell when they are high. The game ends when the centre town has been taken and all but one city is gone.
This game feels average. The components are okay but have no pop. The cards look nice but every circus is the same and they don't give you anything special. It would have been cool to have a special power based on which performer you get or something. The game just lacks a certain zing to it which games that I'm not a fan of have. The one plus side is that it is pretty easy to teach and play, but it is unlikely to provide any sort of gaming sustenance.
2 out of 5 non-spectacular waffles.
Wednesday 3 January 2018
VIDEO GAME REVIEW: WORLD OF FINAL FANTASY (2016)
World of Final Fantasy is a PS4 game where you go around fighting and collecting recognizable monsters, which you then use to help you in combat. It is no secret that the game is a Final Fantasy version of Pokemon and a bit of a love-letter to prior Final Fantasy games, and it stands up surprisingly well on its own.
In World of Final Fantasy, you are tasked with saving the world (of course), or more accurately worlds, by a mysterious figure. Your characters (Lann and Reynn) have amnesia but were once powerful keepers (or people who control captured mirages, or monsters). Now you have to regain your power to save the world from an invading army. Past Final Fantasy characters will also show up to help you along the way.
The biggest weak-point of the game is definitely the main characters. Slap-stick goofy seems to be the order of the day, with neither character showing much growth. This is particularly jarring when the game tries to be serious, and leads to quite a sudden and unpleasant tonal shift during the end cut scenes when Mr Slapstick gets somber.
Apart from this, the combat system works suprisingly well. You can capture monsters if you weaken them or fulfill some other conditions. Monsters are never overly difficult to capture, and you can always evolve and change monster types. Choosing there abilities using AP to unlock buffs and abilities is also interesting as you customise your monsters (well, until you max them out). You also stack monsters in 2 stacks of 3 (2 monsters and your main characters), which can unlock new abilities.
There is allot more to cover. However, most of this is positive. There are some unfortunate negatives (random battles, having mana so you can't use your abilities to get rid of weak monsters quickly, etc.), but overall this game is a success. There are plenty of options and exciting things to do in the game, and it is quite fun to play.
4 out of 5 world-spanning waffles.
In World of Final Fantasy, you are tasked with saving the world (of course), or more accurately worlds, by a mysterious figure. Your characters (Lann and Reynn) have amnesia but were once powerful keepers (or people who control captured mirages, or monsters). Now you have to regain your power to save the world from an invading army. Past Final Fantasy characters will also show up to help you along the way.
The biggest weak-point of the game is definitely the main characters. Slap-stick goofy seems to be the order of the day, with neither character showing much growth. This is particularly jarring when the game tries to be serious, and leads to quite a sudden and unpleasant tonal shift during the end cut scenes when Mr Slapstick gets somber.
Apart from this, the combat system works suprisingly well. You can capture monsters if you weaken them or fulfill some other conditions. Monsters are never overly difficult to capture, and you can always evolve and change monster types. Choosing there abilities using AP to unlock buffs and abilities is also interesting as you customise your monsters (well, until you max them out). You also stack monsters in 2 stacks of 3 (2 monsters and your main characters), which can unlock new abilities.
There is allot more to cover. However, most of this is positive. There are some unfortunate negatives (random battles, having mana so you can't use your abilities to get rid of weak monsters quickly, etc.), but overall this game is a success. There are plenty of options and exciting things to do in the game, and it is quite fun to play.
4 out of 5 world-spanning waffles.
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