Heya,
Hmm.. it sure has been a long while since the last post here, and as Ankabut said it's not easy getting our other fellow gamers to post on this blog. I'd say that it's not because the gamers here aren't supportive, but probably because we're either too lazy or just wanna spend our time gaming instead!
And let's be fair, we actually haven't had many (any?) board gaming sessions in February, what with Chinese New Year and a lot of our pals not being free / not around during the festive season, plus the pre and post festive period is also usually quiet as everyone is busy before and broke after. haha! Well, lets hope March will bring more life back to the local gaming scene *fingers crossed*
Friday, March 09, 2007
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
OLD SCHOOL!
I have been neglecting board gaming for so long. This is mainly thanks to the DS but only second to MTG of course.
Making a board gaming blog and expecting fellow gamers to help out was a mistake. I learned that. I like board gaming but my first love is tech.
Anyway. Yesterday I paid a visit to my old High School and guess what? They got a Board Game Club now. The advisory teacher for the club is my old Computer Club advisory teacher. I am so excited. This could probably be my second chance to start a second serious gaming group and my first chance to make my dreams come true.
Making a board gaming blog and expecting fellow gamers to help out was a mistake. I learned that. I like board gaming but my first love is tech.
Anyway. Yesterday I paid a visit to my old High School and guess what? They got a Board Game Club now. The advisory teacher for the club is my old Computer Club advisory teacher. I am so excited. This could probably be my second chance to start a second serious gaming group and my first chance to make my dreams come true.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
So Many Games So Little Time
Since I got my hands on Battlelore I only got to play 3 complete games. I find Battlelore very balanced. At all points of the game the tide of war could go either side. To some amateurs the game looks pure random with cards and dice putting too much variable in the game to make any strategy a null. Strangely enough the game guys that play CCGs.
Battlelore has more in common to CCGs then many of the board games that I have played, but of course with a twist. Engines like dealing the situation with what you got, and using cards to bend the rules are present here too. The war council lets players mold their own game avatar, shaping their own rules. This feature is used in many CCGs. Hand size, power, and ability of a player is determined by the war council.
Unlike CCGs however battle are fought using a ratio instead of a number versus number system. A standard short swordsman has a 1 in 3 chance of hitting another short swordsman and 1 in 6 chance of hitting a calvary man. The dice brings allot of randomness to a battle but combined with the ratios of hitting it feels more like a real war. Think of it as a general instead of an omnipotent creature giving an order to the troops.
The reference cards are pure genius. Any gamer with a common sense could read the cards and get the gist of the game in moments. This is where CCG gamers shine. They are suppose to not mind reading lines of text from a card.
So far I got no complains about the game except for the limited number of players. That could be rectify yes but it is not part of the official rules.
Battlelore has more in common to CCGs then many of the board games that I have played, but of course with a twist. Engines like dealing the situation with what you got, and using cards to bend the rules are present here too. The war council lets players mold their own game avatar, shaping their own rules. This feature is used in many CCGs. Hand size, power, and ability of a player is determined by the war council.
Unlike CCGs however battle are fought using a ratio instead of a number versus number system. A standard short swordsman has a 1 in 3 chance of hitting another short swordsman and 1 in 6 chance of hitting a calvary man. The dice brings allot of randomness to a battle but combined with the ratios of hitting it feels more like a real war. Think of it as a general instead of an omnipotent creature giving an order to the troops.
The reference cards are pure genius. Any gamer with a common sense could read the cards and get the gist of the game in moments. This is where CCG gamers shine. They are suppose to not mind reading lines of text from a card.
So far I got no complains about the game except for the limited number of players. That could be rectify yes but it is not part of the official rules.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
WOWTCG
I hate CCGs and TCGs. They are the same thing. They always cut into my board game time. I don't like it that I have to buy to play and I have to buy more to improve. I don't like it that it is more often then not, a dual, leaving others watching unable to join. Not wanting to play because I do not know the rules is not the games fault, but not being able to play because I do not have the money is.
That's why I start board gaming. It's everything a CCG is not. A one time buy, multi-player friendly, and a level playing field. I could drag total strangers into a fun session of board gaming but with CCGs it is not that easy. Understand that a price af a booster pack could feed you for a day here.
I just bought 2 starter boxes of World Of Warcraft Trading Card Game this past weekend.
Why do such a hypocritical thing like that? Table Top Games such as board games, or card games are not about the games. Table top games are about the people who play them. A game could be a total waste but with the right people it could be the most entertaining experience of your life.
My gaming friends here, especially the major 3 has always been there when I brought in new games. Always. No matter what game it is. It is usually I who went "Hey! Try this!" and they would just play along even if they have to buy to play. This time they are the ones who are excited. They are the ones who started and brought in a game. And it is time to return the favor.
Will this game be different from the other collectible games that came here to die? I hope so. I have read the rule book from cover to cover but have yet to try a single game thanks to the slew of MTG tournaments this week end. WOWTCG reminds me allot of all the collectible games I use to play. It has elements of MTG, V:TES, Warlords, and the VS System.
Want to know what it is all about and how the game works? Go click the Trigger Link below. I will put up a preview of the game after I played it at least once.
Trigger Link
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Warrior Knights - Session Report
The king is dead thus the power struggle between the barons for the control of the kingdom begins. A former Games Workshop production Warrior Knights has deep multi-layered game play, tons of components and very good timing.
It started off awkward. No one was familiar with the rules, and the rules was too deep and multi-layered to be an easy teach. I only played the game once before and it was a shot test game. Setup took time, most of it was spent shuffling the multiple decks, allocating cards and tokens, and making pre-game decisions. There has got to be a better way to set up games like this. I wish they used treys similar to the ones in Monopoly where it is both functional and practical.
The game starts off weak with each player barely knowing the rules selecting 2 action cards for each of the 3 rounds in a turn. For the first couple of rounds for the sake of fairness and in the process of getting use to the rules we choose cards at random. All forces were divided evenly. There was no sense of the importants of faith, money, votes, mercenaries or the 2 roles in the game.
From the beginning we each picked a city and decided to assault them instead of sieging them, which is the faster safer way of doing it. We lost some men, we lost some battles, but we learned and we learned fast. Continuing our seige we ended up with an average of 1.5 cities. 3 barons and I got 2 city, do the math.
By turn 3 we began experimenting, leaning the importance of money, votes, faith, mercenaries and roles in the game and how with a draw of a card it could all go wrong. However we kept our forces well away from each other. The gambling aspect of the expeditions was a welcome, voting was awkward at first, the head of the church was trouble and those damn cities still kicked us in the lower body armor.
By turn 5 we conquered all the cities on the main land, and yet none of us has enough to win. It is then I realize the influence game play element that works as a timing system. Although it makes the game end when it should it sort of cut short a complex game that feels that it could and should maybe go on a lot longer.
All who played experienced a drought of a resource of one kind of another. And all who played experienced a slight boredom at one time or another. Each turn has 3 rounds. There are 2 actions per-player per-round plus 2 neutral actions. These actions are in a form of cards. so in each round an action is drawn from a shuffled deck of the predetermined actions. This results in the game sometimes playing itself and with some bad luck, serious down time.
I have to admit that we, maybe, did not play the game correctly by keeping the P2P aggression to a minimum but overall it was good for a first game. It lasted about 10 turns, 2 votes, 3 mercenary drafts, and 4 expeditions.
It started off awkward. No one was familiar with the rules, and the rules was too deep and multi-layered to be an easy teach. I only played the game once before and it was a shot test game. Setup took time, most of it was spent shuffling the multiple decks, allocating cards and tokens, and making pre-game decisions. There has got to be a better way to set up games like this. I wish they used treys similar to the ones in Monopoly where it is both functional and practical.
The game starts off weak with each player barely knowing the rules selecting 2 action cards for each of the 3 rounds in a turn. For the first couple of rounds for the sake of fairness and in the process of getting use to the rules we choose cards at random. All forces were divided evenly. There was no sense of the importants of faith, money, votes, mercenaries or the 2 roles in the game.
From the beginning we each picked a city and decided to assault them instead of sieging them, which is the faster safer way of doing it. We lost some men, we lost some battles, but we learned and we learned fast. Continuing our seige we ended up with an average of 1.5 cities. 3 barons and I got 2 city, do the math.
By turn 3 we began experimenting, leaning the importance of money, votes, faith, mercenaries and roles in the game and how with a draw of a card it could all go wrong. However we kept our forces well away from each other. The gambling aspect of the expeditions was a welcome, voting was awkward at first, the head of the church was trouble and those damn cities still kicked us in the lower body armor.
By turn 5 we conquered all the cities on the main land, and yet none of us has enough to win. It is then I realize the influence game play element that works as a timing system. Although it makes the game end when it should it sort of cut short a complex game that feels that it could and should maybe go on a lot longer.
All who played experienced a drought of a resource of one kind of another. And all who played experienced a slight boredom at one time or another. Each turn has 3 rounds. There are 2 actions per-player per-round plus 2 neutral actions. These actions are in a form of cards. so in each round an action is drawn from a shuffled deck of the predetermined actions. This results in the game sometimes playing itself and with some bad luck, serious down time.
I have to admit that we, maybe, did not play the game correctly by keeping the P2P aggression to a minimum but overall it was good for a first game. It lasted about 10 turns, 2 votes, 3 mercenary drafts, and 4 expeditions.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Waiting For War!
Right now I am quietly clicking away at Thunderbird 's "Get Mail" button. Waiting for the confirmation e-mail for my copy of BattleLore. I wished I have it for this weekend's game...
Thursday, January 11, 2007
I'm Back!
And I better Start posting again. I have learned allot. First, topic specific blogs are much better then general ones (plug). Second, there's nothing much to write about board games other then reviews. News and other stuff comes occasionally but reviews are the meat and potatoes of it.
The internet connection is bad. Still I got to finish reviewing the rest of Carcassone, Warrior Knights, and The World of Warcraft CCG. Yea the WOW CCG is here and you should know how much I hate CCGs, but still a review is a review. A good game by any means is a good game.
The internet connection is bad. Still I got to finish reviewing the rest of Carcassone, Warrior Knights, and The World of Warcraft CCG. Yea the WOW CCG is here and you should know how much I hate CCGs, but still a review is a review. A good game by any means is a good game.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Game Session Report 2/12/2006
Last Saturday I gamed with gamers of my own race. Ever since my trip to KL I have been gaming with Malays more and more. It is a a rarity for me. Usually I am the only Malay. I hope this happens more often. New gamers are always welcomed.
This game was my first game at the Game Vault for a very long time and it is also to be my last game there for the year. New gamers came to visit the shop, They are having a tournament on the next day, Sunday, and to no surprise they drafted. The reason why board gaming here has a critical mass of about 4.
This game was my first game at the Game Vault for a very long time and it is also to be my last game there for the year. New gamers came to visit the shop, They are having a tournament on the next day, Sunday, and to no surprise they drafted. The reason why board gaming here has a critical mass of about 4.
The rest of us who do not have money to burn played a few rounds of Carcassonne. Again proving that tile laying games are very easy to teach. Even the new gamers understand the game just by looking at it between drafting rounds. We did a few rounds of basic Carcassonne and a round of Carcassonne with the Inn and Cathedral expansion.
Games varied from 2 to 4 players. Surprisingly Carcassonne players very well even with 2 players. It was slow but it is not nearly as bad as most multi player games. It does not feel condensed and become a straight up duel. It retains almost all of the same characteristics of playing it multi player.
I only took a few pictures. I always forget to take the picture of the board at the end of the game. I always want to start a new round instead.
So that's it. Last game of the year, a few rounds of Carcassonne, new Malay gamers, and MTG is still a thorn. What am I going to do for the rest of the year? The Nintendo Wii!
Games varied from 2 to 4 players. Surprisingly Carcassonne players very well even with 2 players. It was slow but it is not nearly as bad as most multi player games. It does not feel condensed and become a straight up duel. It retains almost all of the same characteristics of playing it multi player.
I only took a few pictures. I always forget to take the picture of the board at the end of the game. I always want to start a new round instead.
So that's it. Last game of the year, a few rounds of Carcassonne, new Malay gamers, and MTG is still a thorn. What am I going to do for the rest of the year? The Nintendo Wii!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
News Update.
Here is an update on the current local gaming scene. One of the local gaming shops the Game Vault is going to be closed till the 23rd of this month and no one reading this blog is to know about it. This basically means that if you are a regular there, I would not see you tell sometime next year.
They got a few new games there at the Game Vault. There seem to be an open box of Citadel, Haste Bock, and El Grande.
Finally. I'm just too lazy to put up the Session Report for the Saturday game today. My last game there for the year! I did however update the Web Album. For those who know me the pictures should explain it all.
I hate CCG/TCG game/gamers... ZZZzzz...
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Carcassonne Big Box Review - Part 2 - Inns & Cathedrals
The first major expansion to Carcassonne is truly an excellent example of an expansion. Inns & Cathedrals adds 18 new tiles plus 2 new tile types, an extra player making the game playable with up to 6 people, and giant meeples.
These simple additions adds just enough to the game without overwhelming it and the players. After playing a few games you should realize the power of sharing a territory. Points for an area is awarded to the player with the most meeples on an area. If there is a tie, all players with a meeple in the area gets the score. This is where the giant meeples comes in. Giant meeples counts as 2 meeples adding an interesting layer of gaming to sharing an area.
Connecting a road tile near a city is almost always a death sentence for the city. Road/city tiles are few but with Inns & Cathedrals chances of getting one of these tile is increased. Cities now has more chances to be completed.
The two new tile types , as you might have guessed, are inns and cathedrals. Inns are for roads and cathedrals are for cities but they both have the same idea. Each city or road tiles connected to these gives one extra point if completed but none if it is not completed. This adds a risk element to the game.
These additions from the Inns & Cathedrals expansion adds elements that are much needed but would not be missed to a game of Carcassonne. An exelent first expansion.
These simple additions adds just enough to the game without overwhelming it and the players. After playing a few games you should realize the power of sharing a territory. Points for an area is awarded to the player with the most meeples on an area. If there is a tie, all players with a meeple in the area gets the score. This is where the giant meeples comes in. Giant meeples counts as 2 meeples adding an interesting layer of gaming to sharing an area.
Connecting a road tile near a city is almost always a death sentence for the city. Road/city tiles are few but with Inns & Cathedrals chances of getting one of these tile is increased. Cities now has more chances to be completed.
The two new tile types , as you might have guessed, are inns and cathedrals. Inns are for roads and cathedrals are for cities but they both have the same idea. Each city or road tiles connected to these gives one extra point if completed but none if it is not completed. This adds a risk element to the game.
These additions from the Inns & Cathedrals expansion adds elements that are much needed but would not be missed to a game of Carcassonne. An exelent first expansion.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Carcassone Big Box Review - Part 1
I am going to split my review of Carcassonne Big Box into 5. The main game and the 4 expansions individually. I will begin here with the main body of the game. Carcassonne.
Carcassonne is a tile laying game for 2 to 5 players. It plays within 45 to 60 minutes.
The game set up begins with a fixed starting tile placed on the gaming area. Each player is given 8 meeples one of witch would be used on the score board to keep track of their score. The 7 meeples will be used to score in the game.
Each tile may have one, some or all of the 4 different areas/elements 1 on each of the four sides of the tile. These are roads, cities, meadows and monastery. The monastery tile unlike other tiles has a monastery in the middle with a meadow surrounding it .
Placing tiles adds to the “map” of Carcassonne. Players may place their meeple on an empty area. If the area is completed then it scores immediately. Meadows only score at the end of the game equal to the number of completed cities, a monastery scores when it is surrounded by 8 tiles, a road as complete and scores then both its ends are blocked, and a city is completed when it is completely surrounded by walls. Incomplete areas also scores but comparatively little.
The game ends when there are no more tiles to be laid.
It sound complicated but it will all make sense when you play the game. This game is a must have. It could be played with adults and children. It is rare in a board game that the end result of a session is something beautiful in this case a map.
The actual game play is very simple and intuitive but scoring could be tricky at first. Playes have to make decisions on tile placement and manage their limited meeples. The rules are straight forward and easy to understand and the components are few and will not disappoint.
Carcassonne is a tile laying game for 2 to 5 players. It plays within 45 to 60 minutes.
The game set up begins with a fixed starting tile placed on the gaming area. Each player is given 8 meeples one of witch would be used on the score board to keep track of their score. The 7 meeples will be used to score in the game.
Each tile may have one, some or all of the 4 different areas/elements 1 on each of the four sides of the tile. These are roads, cities, meadows and monastery. The monastery tile unlike other tiles has a monastery in the middle with a meadow surrounding it .
Placing tiles adds to the “map” of Carcassonne. Players may place their meeple on an empty area. If the area is completed then it scores immediately. Meadows only score at the end of the game equal to the number of completed cities, a monastery scores when it is surrounded by 8 tiles, a road as complete and scores then both its ends are blocked, and a city is completed when it is completely surrounded by walls. Incomplete areas also scores but comparatively little.
The game ends when there are no more tiles to be laid.
It sound complicated but it will all make sense when you play the game. This game is a must have. It could be played with adults and children. It is rare in a board game that the end result of a session is something beautiful in this case a map.
The actual game play is very simple and intuitive but scoring could be tricky at first. Playes have to make decisions on tile placement and manage their limited meeples. The rules are straight forward and easy to understand and the components are few and will not disappoint.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Do Not Think!
I am back with the games. This will be a short post as I have 3 new 360 games right now. If you ever, ever think of buying Carcassonne, there is nothing to think about. Just buy it. The game is just that good.
Later!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Carcassonne Big Box
I am in KL and I have in my possession a copy of Carcassonne Bog Box. But it is in German. Why the hoopla did they not tell me that the game game is in German is beyond me. Big box, excellent components. Truly a must have.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
For Ipoh
Here is a shot of the town where to the gamers I dedicated this blog and this hobby to. But I dedicate this post to Yehuda and Aik Yong for their kind words and advice.I love you Ipoh gamers but for not posting here is a link to my Personal Blog.
HAHAHAHA!!!
Carcassonne Big Box
The Carcassonne Bog Box edition is now in Malaysia. And I just booked us one! Yup this limited edition version of Carcassonne plus 5 expansions in a box is now available at Imagine Games for only RM209. A freaking bargain!
So if you want one I'm heading down south and picking one up. Will post a review soon! Also look out my review of Niagara and its expansion Spirits of Niagara sometime next week.
So if you want one I'm heading down south and picking one up. Will post a review soon! Also look out my review of Niagara and its expansion Spirits of Niagara sometime next week.
Monday, November 13, 2006
From Essen With Love
Here is a list for games arriving on the 14th from Essen. From Imagine Games:
New Arrivals
-----------------
1st wave from Essen:
- Zoch - Hamsterolle, Haste Bock (Shear Panic), Heck Meck, O Zoo Le Mio, Villa Paletti.
- Eggertspiele - Imperial, Antike, Die Dolmengotter, John Silver.
- Z-Man - Santiago, Silk Road, Take Stock.
- Splotter - Antiquity, Roads&Boats, Indonesia.
- Others - Die Macher, Santy Anno, Settlers of Catan 10th Anniversary (3D pieces!) w exclusive Atlantis expansion, Emerald, Mr Jack, Niagara expansion, Power Grid Europe/Benelux maps, Himalaya, Hameln (SOLD OUT!!!), Evo, Timbuktu.
Don't forget, we had some kool new stuff before we left for Essen including ViktoryII (5-6 players), Mykerinos, Masons, Amun Re, all the new Dungeoneer series, Seismic, 10 days series, and even the latest funagain.com exclusives, Wayfinder and Control Nut.
Note: I'm going to Kuala Lumpur for the week and so if you want a game or two e-mail me.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
From A Poisonous Tree to A Muddy River Back
Here is a piece of news you guys might want to know. I am heading up to Kuala Lumpur on the 19th. Although I am going not for pleasure I might get a chance to stop by the game shop there. Note that I say game shop not board game shop or video game shop. The first game shop that I get to that has interesting stuff gets my money.
November is a great month for Video Games!
So if there is a game you want me to pick up just drop me a line. I hope I could get my copy of BattleLore then but I doubt it.
I tried. I can not do a post a day on The Resident Meeple. I wish I could but I am not that good.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
News Update
The Spiel episode 16 is out! My favorite board game audiocast it back with more games, news, and tips.
So sorry for the 4 day blog silence. I have no idea what to post. I was not too busy to post, and you should know how I hate that dishonest excuse, I just do not know what to post. I missed the week end games (exams) and I will most probably miss next week end games (more exams). Monday I was neck deep in Splinter Cell.
Sunday the 5th was the last chance of the year to get unlisted games from Imagine Games here. For the rest of the year all we are getting are games that are listed on Imagine Games. I did order a few unlisted games and pre-orderBattleLore for my family board game library. Expect more previews and reviews as I find the gaming group in my family.
So sorry for the 4 day blog silence. I have no idea what to post. I was not too busy to post, and you should know how I hate that dishonest excuse, I just do not know what to post. I missed the week end games (exams) and I will most probably miss next week end games (more exams). Monday I was neck deep in Splinter Cell.
Sunday the 5th was the last chance of the year to get unlisted games from Imagine Games here. For the rest of the year all we are getting are games that are listed on Imagine Games. I did order a few unlisted games and pre-orderBattleLore for my family board game library. Expect more previews and reviews as I find the gaming group in my family.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
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