We kick off this week’s blog with some painting from Jordan, “Here’s another Chaos Knight from the new Start Collecting box. these new models are super dynamic and really exciting to paint and see finished up. they have a great “evil knight” feel to them and a ton of detail and textures to practice and show off different techniques and effects.”
Greg and Renee played Clank! In! Space! on Monday. Greg, “Kevin brought this so I got another chance to play it with the two expansions. The game started very slowly for me, with everyone else racing ahead and hacking modules before me. I did end up not making a huge amount of clank though, and healed a bunch of damage, so I was able to take a bit longer and pick up lots of points. I think I still prefer the theme of the original but enjoy some of the changes in this version.” Renee, “Clank in Space is so awesome! I just have so much fun playing this game. I love the way it uses deck building as the mechanic to control all your movements and actions on the board. It is so well implemented and it is definitely my favourite deck building game. The player interaction on the board is awesome, you’re all competing for things on the board, plus for the cards in the market. The clank mechanic adds the perfect amount of tension to the game, especially as the game ramps up towards the end and it’s a rush to get out alive. The base game is already fantastic, but both the Apocalypse and Cyber Station 11 expansions are awesome additions to the game. Oh, and for those that are curious, I died. Again. Every time.”
Renee got to play Coloma again, this time with 5 players. “After really enjoying my 2 player game on the stream, I was very excited to play it at a high player count. As expected, the player interaction on the action wheel was so much fun; trying to figure out where other folks would go and getting annoyed when somehow 4 of us all ended up on the same space definitely had us laughing. I was afraid the game might take too long or drag with that many players, but I found turns quick, and if your action didn’t impact another player you could do some turns simultaneously. The competition for barrels was fierce, as was jockeying for space in the shoot out. This is a fun game and I’d definitely play it again.” She finished the night with a game of Tichu, “I got to play Tichu for the first time in what feels like months. Can’t say enough about this game. It is solid. And I’m slowly getting better!”
Greg got a chance to play the game Outfoxed, “This is a co-op deduction game for kids age 5+. One of 16 thief cards is set aside at the start of the game, and then the 16 suspect cards get laid out around the board, with two starting face up. On their turn players declare if they want to find clues or look for suspect cards and then roll the three dice, setting aside results that match their desired task and re-rolling the others up to two more times. If they get all dice showing the desired result they get to do the appropriate action – either flipping up two more suspect cards or moving their player piece on the board to try to reach clue spaces. If they reach a clue space they draw the top clue token, which will show an item of clothing or accessory, and put it into the clue decoder. If the thief is wearing/carrying the item it will show a green circle, and if not it shows a white circle. Thus you can remove known suspects that don’t match. If the three dice don’t match the desired action the fox pawn moves three spaces along the track towards the fox hole, with the players losing if it reaches the end. It was a neat little game that helps solidify turn taking, and adds decision making and recognition. Alex enjoyed it and we managed to win.”
Alex and Greg also played a two player game of the little dexterity game Gulo Gulo, “Players try to pull wooden eggs out of the nest without letting the stick fall out to sound the alarm, in order to move to the next space of the matching colour of the egg. Alex’s small hands definitely helped her whereas my fat fingers set the alarm off multiple times. It’s a quick and easy game that is fun for the little ones.”
Tracy and Greg tried another Exit game, Exit: The Haunted Roller Coaster, “This one being 2/5 on the difficulty scale, just like the last one we tried. It played out very similarly as well, in terms of how we got stuck on one riddle even though I had kind of discovered the answer. One other stumped us for a little while but then we had a ‘eureka’ moment. We ended just within the hour time limit and scored 8/10 again. It was another fun one, with more new styles of puzzle to contend with.”
Sue painted her first Star Wars: Legion model – the Twi’lek from the X-34 Landspeeder set. “I tried to paint her in a Hoth uniform. Legion models are nice in that they usually come in about 4 pieces that are practically push fit – so you can paint those hard to reach areas before you glue them all together. I primed this model white, and then tried some face highlighting with the white Citadel air paint with the intention of using a Contrast paint overtop to tie it all together. (I used the air paint as a regular paint, I just like the consistency for doing fine details.) I did the eyes and lips before adding the Contrast paint. I thinned down the Contrast paint quite a bit before use because I didn’t want to lose the make up I had just drawn. However, I thinned it down way too much, and it probably didn’t need to be thinned down at all. (In case you’re wondering why it looks a little washed out.) Beyond the skin, the only other Contrast paints I used were Apothecary White and Black Templar. I’m looking forward to painting more Legion models, including one of my favorites, K-2SO, who is an upcoming release.”
Greg, Renee and Kris played two games on Friday’s livestream, starting with Jetpack Joyride. Greg, “Played a three player game on our livestream, still sticking to the base game with just the promo cards but none of the expansions or harder lab cards. I’m still enjoying it as a quick and easy tile placement game. The changing labs and missions keep it fresh and I’m looking forward to trying some of the extra stuff in the future.” Renee, “My second time playing the game went much better than my first, although with the race to the end mechanic, it is still hard to not panic a bit and find it hard to balance making quick decisions with ideal decisions. I like the variability in the game with the scoring goals as well as the scoring bonuses. Thanks to simultaneous play, it packs a lot of fun into a quick game.”
They followed that with a play of Tsuro: Phoenix Rising. Greg, “It keeps the core of Tsuro but turns it into a slightly more involved game. So if you’re looking for a good quick introductory game I’d still recommend regular Tsuro, but if you’ve played and enjoyed that then Phoenix Rising is a nice step up. Really nice looking components too.” Renee, “Tsuro: Phoenix Rising is a great addition to the series. It completely changes the game play and strategy while maintaining the core mechanic – following the path. For fans of Tsuro that are looking for more in the game, this is perfect; it is a longer more strategic version of the classic.”
Renee played a quick game of Kingdomino with Jenn and Christopher. “I love the simplicity of this game that manages to teach the weight of choices (your choice of tile this round determines the turn order for choosing tiles in the next round), planning the placement of the tiles, as well as simple multiplication. At the end of the game, you score points for each area based on the size (number of squares) times the number of crowns in the area. It’s very straightforward but I think it’s a great game for younger players that is fun for everyone. Christopher always seems to win.”
Renee also got a chance to play Architects of the West Kingdom for the first time since she played it on the livestream when it was first released. “Since then I have completely fallen in love with Paladins so I was curious to revisit the first title in the series. For both Jenn and I it felt like a learning game, so a lot of feeling like we both played it wrong strategically, but wow is this a solid, fun game. On your turn you place a worker on an action space and do the action. However, as more of your workers are added to a spot, the action becomes more powerful. You can use the Town Centre action to capture your opponents’ workers or return your own workers to your supply. Once your workers are captured, you can pay to rescue them from other players’ boards, or wait for your opponents to make money sending them to jail before you liberate them. You can hire apprentices to give you special abilities, build buildings for end game sorting points or use resources to help build the cathedral. The whole time your actions impact your location on the virtue track which impacts end game points as well as your actions in the game. This is such a fantastic, well designed game. I highly recommend it.”
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