Our Favourites : Small World

During my last game of Vinci (a game now out of print) a strange image popped into my head. I saw the Prince of Wales at the Spithead review, celebrating his mum’s Diamond Jubilee, in 1897 surveying the greatest navy the world had ever seen. He turns to her prime minister, the Marquis of Salisbury and says:

“This is as good as it’s going to get. Shall we go into decline? “

"Yes Sir . With your highness’s approval I suggest we come back in the middle-east with special tech oil development"

“Make it so my lord, Prime Minister"



Unfortunately the one Special Power that all real empires share is the special power ‘can’t go into decline until forced to’ So, to me at least, the idea of putting an empire into decline seemed a bit silly, yes they decline but there is no guiding intelligence behind it. Now that personal thematic tick is totally removed in Small World - you are chucking Elves, Giants and amazons around the fantasy Small World - historical reality does not matter.


And what a great fantasy world it is - not only do you have Halflings but they can be pillaging, you can have Stout elfs and Diplomatic Trolls. The oxymoronic mish-mash of fantasy races and powers is a joy. My first play was punctuated by laughter as race/power combos were revealed. Attracted to the silly combos I was duly thrashed by the very sensible combos of Dragon Master Sorcerers and Berserk Amazons. I think every one knows this is a remake of Vinci. The basics are very simple and the rules are available on the Days of Wonder website.

In summary:-
1) You choose a race special power combo,
2) You conquer provinces of Small World with said race,
3) You score points for provinces occupied on board,
4) Repeat 2) and 3) with your race until it has gone as far as you think they can then put them into decline
5) Start your next turn by going back to 1) with a new race power combo.

It plays quickly, requires good timing and an eye for a good combo.

Apart from the fun factor game play what really stands out for me is the production values and the care and attention that have gone into making this game.

1) The artwork is fantastic, funny and informative
2) The rules should be a template for rules writers everywhere they are so clear and concise
3) The player aids are 12 by 12 double sided sheets in full colour. See points 1 and 2 above
4) There are two double sided map boards to provide a different map board for 2, 3 4 and 5 player games
5) It comes with a tray for the race counters
6) The RRP is much lower than games which seem to have terrible rule books, or counters that rip upon punching out

Days of Wonder have fabulous production values and they have excelled themselves with this game - other producers take note - This is how it should be done- no errors and totally customer focused

For the Vinci owners amongst you (I include myself in that number) it does not feel like re-themed cash in on an old title. Why?

1) There is an improvement in play balance,
2) The hidden VP’s helps to stop ‘bash the leader’
3) The game ends after a set number of turns rather than a set number of VPS which improves ability to plan ahead
4) It scales well from 2 - 5 In conclusion

I am glad Vinci has been in to decline and we have a new power, Small World.

Essential Expansions: Merlin's Company (Shadows Over Camelot)

For some people, us included, games are even better when they get more pieces, rules and ways to play. While not all expansions are created equal, and some disappoint, this series will only concentrate on those we believe add value and longevity, as well as the crucial factor - fun, to all your favourite gaming experiences.

As described in more detail in the post on Co-Operative Games, Shadows over Camelot is the rather evil little game of heroism and treachery from the Knights Of The Round Table. Knights travel to various quests to overcome the evil threatening the lands, but where there are heroes there is always the ever present threat of a traitor in the ranks, sowing destruction and mistrust.

You can pick up Shadows Over Camelot here.

So what does Merlin's Company, the expansion to this game, add to it?

Well, on first opening the box it appears like not much, but let me tell you - this is a little box with a lot of punch! It introduces a higher level of difficulty but with the ability to customise things to your liking.

Firstly, it introduces Merlin himself, who acts independently of the knights, moving to quests as a result of a card draw (more on Travel Cards later) and helping out whoever is present by giving them extra cards or blocking the placement of siege engines. He is undoubtedly a powerful aid in your efforts but is unreliable and may end up in worthless locations, such as the two wars, if you are not careful.

The travel cards are a major obstacle to overcome in your efforts. Some of them do nothing, some move Merlin, but far more concerning are the ones that cause you trouble, either getting you lost, captured or even attacked! Bearing in mind in the original game you could travel without any danger at all, these additions make things significantly more difficult.

Adding even more difficulty are Morgan's seven witches, seven different cardsadding nasty magical effects to the rules that severely hamper the knights' efforts. These vary from increasing the penalty when you make a false accusation to preventing the use of life points for extra actions, directly damaging the knights.

To balance things out a bit they have included a whole load of new white cards to give the kights some more powers, one crucial one is the Dispel card that removes one of the effects of the witches and another is the truce card that ends a war in a stalemate with no positive or negative effects.

However, even with the addition of Merlin and the new white cards, the difficulty of the game is definitely increased if all new rules are used - the witches and travel cards can make even the most simple of plans extremely dicey. This may turn some folks off the game, but for my group of friends it added a lot of fun and I reckon, significant extra longevity to what is already a fantastic fun game.

In addition to these new rules we get the eighth knight, Sir Bedivere (who can discard one of his cards to gain another one) and along with him seven extra knight cards, though these use the same models as in the original game, which have more interesting if harder to grasp abilities.

Now, to the most interesting and crucial change - the addition of Sir Bedivere means that the game is playable with 8 players now (rather than 7). To adapt to this change you get a new set of loyalty cards in the box, with not the one traitor card, but two.

That's right - you could be facing two traitors in the 7 and 8 player games!

Naturally as loyalty assignment is blind, the two traitors won't know who the other evildoer is, but their potential presence will cause serious concern especially since it is possible that no traitors at all are present in the game so players must be very careful about making wild accusations.

Shadows Over Camelot is one of my, and my friends and family's favourite games - it is an ingenious mix of interplayer politics and co-operative crisis management. It is one of the first games I recommend when asked for my favourites, and Merlin's Company is an exceptional expansion to the experience - adding just enough in all areas of the game, without greatly increasing its complexity or teaching time.

Both are highly recommended!

...keep playing!

Algo

Our Favourites: Co-Operative Games Special

We're big fans of innovation here at BoardGameGuru, and one area of games that is seeing lots of growth in popularity at the moment is Co-Operative games, and their evil twin, Semi Co-Operative Games.

The clue is of course, in the name, as far as co-operative games go. In games such as Arkham Horror and Pandemic, the games rules dictate a way in which the forces of evil or diseases spread across the land, and the whole set of players work together to overcome this problem.

Taking Arkham Horror as an example, each turn you draw a card which shows how evil will progress this turn; where gates to other dimensions will open which spill out evil monsters , where any monsters will move and many special effects too. These cards, in their presentation of challenges and development of the on-board situation are the heart of the game since they take the place of a human "gamesmaster" (such as those needed for roleplaying games) and allow all players to share the same goals.

In Arkham Horror, the players will socialise, agonise and organise together in a bid to defeat the forces of darkness and prevent the games major enemy, or "Great Old One" from awakening. If they do so, the players will usually have to defeat them in combat, but the odds are so often stacked against them in this final battle most groups try to avoid this if at all possible.

It's an intense and exciting game experience as you and your friends or family will fight monsters, explore dangerous and eccentric locales and ultimately try to win the game. The game is extremely tough, however and don't expect to win first time out.

Co-Operative games like Arkham Horror are excellent for groups who want to avoid the usual confrontational aspects of gaming. Since you are all working together there are myriad opportunities for creative problem solving as a group - meaning that valuable social interaction, one of the major advantages of the board gaming hobby over many other pastimes, is maximised.

In terms of complexity of rules Arkham Horror is far more complicated than Pandemic, but whichever you choose it will provide exciting challenges for your friends and family and they come highly recommended.

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If you are intrigued by what was meant by "evil twin" when I mentioned Semi Co-Operative games, read on.

These games are a relatively recent wrinkle in the gaming world, and are a great example of how modern board games are constantly innovating and improving on themes and mechanics to provide satisfying new opportunities for fun and learning.

The most famous example, some would say originator, of this sub-genre, Shadows Over Camelot, was published as recently as 2005. In this incredible game, you and your friends play the part of the brave knights of the round table, and by using the cards in your hand you stave off the forces of evil and try and complete such quests as the search for the Holy Grail, combat with the Black Knight or rescuing Excalibur from the water.

The difference between this and, for example, Pandemic, is that unlike that game not all the players are necessarily on your side - one of the Knights may be a traitor, secretly hindering your attempts to defeat evil while outwardly working for good.

I stress the word "may" in that last sentence, because it is always possible in any game that there is no traitor at all - and false accusations can be as costly as correct ones can be rewarding.

It's a wonderfully nasty twist to the co-operative game concept and makes for some memorable and frequently hilarious game nights.

For example, this weekend I was involved in a game and because I was certain a traitor was somewhere because various very helpful cards had gone missing, discarded no doubt by the nefarious ne'er-do-well that was hiding in the shadows.

I examined my fellow players' actions closely. In time, I became convinced that one of the other players, Sir Bors, was a traitor. He hadn't done anything obviously wrong, but his demeanour and reactions to the evil events seemed a bit off. I made the accusation that he was a traitor, as is my right - only to find he had been loyal all along! This false accusation meant that I had caused two white swords (the loyal knights' "score") to become black swords (and score for evil instead).

So my false accusation eventually led to the fall of Camelot, as the real traitor was elsewhere in the form of Sir Owain.

The great thing about Shadows Over Camelot is that despite the loss to the evil traitor we all agreed to try again immediately, since each game takes only about an hour and a half at most.

A similar idea has been developed into the tie in game for the new Battlestar Galactica series. In this game the humans are trying to protect themselves from the forces of the Cylons, a race of robots who have managed to create exact replicas of human beings as sleeper agents, who infiltrate the fleet and wreak havoc.

The game depicts this struggle by handing out the loyalty cards at the beginning and the middle of the game so someone who has spent the whole game thinking they were human suddenly changes sides. Of course, this is all secret information, so they are able to choose the right moment to reveal themselves and join their robot pals.

An excellent tie-in for fans of the show, since it captures the feeling of suspicion and desperation that pervades the series' best moments, it is also a fantastic game in its own right, presenting a severe challenge for the human players but with excellent game play for the Cylon agents too.

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If you are interested in these or any other games you read about on this blog, our shop at BoardGameGuru is available for you to purchase them. Feel free to send any queries or requests for tailored game packages to paul@boardgameguru.co.uk

....keep playing!

The BoardGameGuru Team

Our Favourites: BattleLore

BattleLore offers gamers the chance to play anything from a small historical battle between the French and English during the Hundred Years War to a huge, sweeping fantasy battle with magic spells being thrown, deadly creatures like the Giant Spider, and Dwarf or Goblin allies.

It is this ability to customise your favourite battles that make BattleLore so appealing to wargame enthusiasts and fantasy fans alike.

In the box you get two whole armies' worth of plastic miniatures, a big pile of tokens and cards making this a great value package. You also will get a gorgeous map to play on, adaptable to any one of the scenarios included with the game using the landscape pieces, so that your battles can take place in anything from an open plain to dense forest - and all the rules you need to take this scenery into account in your battles are included.

Everyone would rather learn a game by playing it, instead of having to memorise a massive book before they can get it on the table. The mass appeal of BattleLore is assured by its approach to teaching you the game. Your first game will be a battle between two human armies, and as you move through the scenarios provided you will learn all the extra rules for each in turn, making the learning of the rules both fun and easy.

In summary, your turn consists of playing a card to order units, moving those units and then attacking with them. Different units have different skills, strengths and weaknesses and one of the most fun parts of the game is learning to get the most out of your army.

It takes minimal time to set up a battle, and each one will take somewhere between a half hour and an hour, meaning several games can be played in an evening.

Take a look at a game set up and ready to play, below.
From this picture you can see a full game set up (that is to say, one using all the rules). One glance is enough to get you wanting to sit down and play a game or two immediately.

This picture shows two full armies facing off and ready to charge, as well as the order cards, magic spell cards and war councils. It should give a great idea of what to expect when you get started on the BattleLore journey.

All of the forest, river and hill pieces are removable, meaning a landscape can be set up in countless different ways, either by following the setup instructions in the scenario booklet, or by inventing your own epic confrontations.

For further ways to customise your own battles, the makers of BattleLore have released many expansion sets to give you even more allies, enemies and battlefields.


On the back of the board provided with the game is half of a giant board - the other half can come from a friend's copy of BattleLore - but you can always choose to make this Epic experience available to you by instead using a specially released extra board, available here. With the Epic Board setup, you can involve more players in your games, either with three a side using the Field Marshal and Generals variant, or two a side using the "Reluctant Allies" variant. Both of these options introduce a fantastic new team aspect to what is already a fabulous experience. It also includes many new scenarios for use with the larger format.


One of the hardest parts in designing your own battles is picking opposing forces that are different, yet balanced in strength enough to be fair - you can make this a matter of moments with the Call To Arms expansion - in a single box you are given the ability to create literally millions of army configurations, and this means no two battles need ever be the same again! It also contains many suggested battlefields to build for your custom armies to fight over.


Of course, if you find yourself growing tired of the same old units the option is provided to expand your game to include special packs, such as The Scottish Wars, The Hundred Years War, Goblin Marauders and many more - each provides new minatures representing exciting new participants in your epic battles. They also include the cards necessary to make them compatible with your other expansions, like Call To Arms, meaning great units like the Dwarven Cattle Riders can now take part in your own designs as well! These expansions each include new scenarios to play with the new figures, as well as those units in your original copy.

The BattleLore range offers a superb level of choice, customisability and fun for anyone even slightly interested in wargaming, and it is easy to teach, fast to play and has a real "just one more game" factor.

It is one of the true giants of modern gaming, we are proud to stock BattleLore and many of its expansions at great, great prices.

To purchase BattleLore follow this link. Any questions, as always, can be directed to Paul using this link.

...keep playing!

The BoardGameGuru team

N.B. At time of writing, the BattleLore range has recently changed hands, from the original publishers, Days Of Wonder, to Fantasy Flight - the publishers of Arkham Horror, Conan et al., . The means that over the coming months some of the expansions may not be available regularly, but rest assured that embarking on the BattleLore experience will continue to be as rewarding to its legions of fans as it has ever been. Fantasy Flight have a great reputation for the quality of their productions and their support for existing games - these expansions will return soon!