Livin’ On The Edge – Deserted Animals review

DA Cover

It’s not often you get a game in the mail which has a story attached that wouldn’t look out of place in an animated movie. Imagine an island where all the humans have inexplicably disappeared without notice, leaving behind absolutely everything including their beloved pets. Now, we all know that animals will do their level best to survive in any given situation, but what happens if they become super-intelligent? How about if they manage to learn how to use what the people left after them in order to create traps? If that sounds good to you – and face it, it does – Deserted Animals may well scratch your itch.

On first inspection you may think this is just a kids game but be assured – Deserted Animals is no joke. This is Darwin’s idea of Survival of the Fittest distilled into board game form, where you’ll need to best your opposition by getting more food than they do in a bid to simply live. Interestingly, there are a few game modes that twist the main rules a little, but for the purposes of this piece I’ll be mainly focusing on the delightfully cut-throat Survivor mode where play ends once someone hits 20 hunger points on the track that surrounds the Catan-esque board.

Set up is quick with all hexes that make up the island placed face down bar the central tile (a sludge one that should ALWAYS be in the middle) and your randomly selected starting location. Once you’re good to go, turns comprise of combinations of three different actions which can be done in any order: Moving sees you shift to an adjacent hex, Pick Up lets you grab a card corresponding to the tile you’re on, while Use allows you to… well, use the cards you have to either help you out, attack others or (perhaps the most fun part) create stuff.

The card play is pretty much what drives the game. Food and Water will help out with your hunger, First Aid deals with injuries… the kind of stuff that you’d expect. However, it’s the cards that can be combined to make things that will require the most thought from players. There are six resources that can be used (wood, metal, leather, duct tape, seeds and matches) which, when spent in the right amounts, bestow great powers upon your wee beasties. You’re essentially scavenging for stuff to create rarer items, but managing to pull off such a feat is actually quite satisfying.

Things are about to kick off in style...

Things are about to kick off in style…

For example, the previously mentioned First Aid cards are pretty rare but you need them to survive. If you’re injured in the game you’ll get hungrier quicker, but with no First Aid at hand you could well be on the verge on losing within a few turns. However, manage to throw together two pieces of Duct Tape and some Leather and boom! You’ve got a makeshift bandage that heals you! Yes, it’s very silly, but it works. Kind of. Other things you can do include cooking your meals (combine Food and Matches) to improve their value, or two pieces of Wood and some Metal can come together to create a spear – ideal for a ranged attack!

Oh yes. Attacking. Not only is this a game where you’re looking to steal as much food away from opponents as you can, you’re also attempting to be as aggressive as possible. Many cards contain weapons that allow you to attack someone else if you share their space, while a couple (including The Rock – could someone at BebryGamez be a wrestling fan?) let you fight from afar. Success results in injuring your enemies, hopefully leading to your victory.

I say hopefully because there’s also another element to deal with in Deserted Animals – the terrifying Wild Boar. If a card is revealed showing one of these awful swines, a Boar spawns on the central Sludge tile; all others also on the board will move. These Boars are a nightmare as spaces they occupy cannot have cards taken from them, and if you don’t manage to defeat them nigh on immediately you will end up injured… and that’s not what you want. Ambush cards can also screw you over, as can traps left behind by other players. Considering you’re playing as a bunch of previously domesticated animals, things get nasty on the island in no time at all…

The game draws to an epic conclusion!

The game draws to an epic conclusion!

As I mentioned earlier, despite the cutesy looks this really isn’t a game for children (or indeed anyone who takes offence at being singled out for attacks). The path to victory will always involve at least a little agression so if you have someone in your game group who doesn’t take kindly to such activity – seriously, don’t break this out with them. You really do need to throw yourself into the spirit of the Deserted Animals, doing what you can to survive. Of course, the random nature of what you get from the card stacks can also screw you over, but what is play without a little chaos? This element of chance can be mitigated in your choices of what you’ll do with the cards that land in your hand, but games can happen where you’re stuck with nothing of use. Optional rules can be brought in that allow for trading and such stuff, but the basic game can sometimes feel a little harsh, especially if you’re new to the island.

All in all, Deserted Animals is a good game but not great – it’s certainly entertaining to play, especially with a group that enjoy getting into the experience of attacking each other, but I feel that it needs a bit of polish to elevate it to something I’d like to bring to the table more often. The extra game modes add some replayability, but I would have liked to see a few more options in the box that allow for more card combinations. Perhaps later down the line BebryGamez could expand the game a little, letting players tweak their creations in more ways to help themselves and hinder others. For now though, Deserted Animals gets a tentative “try before you buy” from me for most gamers, and a slightly higher recommendation if you really enjoy messing about with your opposition.

Deserted Animals was released by BebryGamez in 2012 and was designed by Reinis Butans. Between two and eight players (best with three or four!) can attempt to fight for survival with games taking anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours depending on how many are playing and when game mode you’ve chosen.

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Waterline – Hooyah: Navy Seals Card Game review

Hooyah COVER

There are, of course, plenty of war games out there. Whether you’re pushing blocks around an abstract looking map or commanding vast armies of painted miniatures on a three-dimensional landscape, your choices are vast and often – for noobs like me anyway – somewhat daunting. Maybe I’d be better off with a card game? Something like… I dunno… Hooyah: Navy Seals Card Game perhaps?

Designed by industry veteran Mike Fitzgerald (the same one of Mystery Rummy fame), Hooyah puts you and your fellow players in the roles of Navy SEALS tasked with covert missions that need to be completed quickly and quietly in order to keep the free world ticking over nicely. Considering that this essentially boils down to a rather simple set collecting game with a few pretty interesting twists in the rules, that’s quite a bold claim to make… so how does it work?

As it’s a co-op, you can play as part of a team of up to four. A mission is chosen for your elite squad to tackle and characters, each of whom have special abilities and bonuses fostered by years of training, are doled out along with the requisite amount of health tokens. One player is required to take the Lt. Commander role, essentially acting as the team’s leader which I found to be an interesting design decision. A games group can suffer from the issue of having an Alpha player, someone who tries to push others into doing what they think is best, but in Hooyah it’s positively encouraged. Yes, you need to work together, but having someone leading from the front is vital in this game where speed is of the essence.

Missions are made up of ongoing stages, referred to in game as Operations. Cards are flipped from the mission stacks that show what you will need to play collectively in order to pass the Op; for instance, if you’ve got a Blue 3 and a Yellow 2, you and your fellow SEALS must get that amount of cards on the table to progress. While that may sound easy, you must also consider the fact that you are limited by a pretty cool mechanism that I originally thought wouldn’t work at all. The game, you see, is timed – but not in any conventional way.

Hooyah STUFF

When the cards for the Op are revealed, you total the numbers and turn the included timer dial round to that number – when a new player gets to take their turn, the counter is clicked down one space. On hitting zero, the game isn’t done; you’ll just end up losing an awful lot of health and should one of your squad have none left… well, that’s when you lose. It’s a lot trickier than you first think, but you do at least have some advantages in the face of such a challenge. The strongest is the ability to Roll Call – only the Lt. Commander can do this, but it’s the only way you can share information in Hooyah. Each player gets to say how many of a certain colour they can contribute to the current Op, and if the bossman thinks the team have enough to go through it successfully, you can do so.

However, to inject some uncertainty into the proceedings, Events will pop up and hamper your progress, so even if you your elite team have the necessary requirements you DEFINITELY will not get through your encounters unscathed. The further into the mission you get, the less time you’ll have to play with and the more likely you’ll be unable to complete the final section. To make it even harder, the last Op of the mission takes place immediately after the fifth one with no time to regroup or draw cards – it’s a lovely way to balance the game out but ensure that you’re constantly going to be challenged.

The whole thing is produced to a high degree and is well worth handing over your money if you’re after a slightly different co-op experience. While I’m not one to go in for the bombast you’d normally associate with the Navy SEALS and combat in general, I still found the game an enjoyable diversion that – thanks to being pretty straighforward to understand and playable in under an hour – never stays around too long. With plenty of options to tinker with the game and increase or decrease the difficulty as well as the inclusion of solo rules, there’s a surprising amount of value in this package. I’d put it in that “end of the night game” category, a perfect way to wind down after an evening of more competitive endeavours.

Hooyah: Navy Seals Card Game was designed by Mike Fitzgerald and was released in 2012 by US Game Systems. Between one and four players can get involved and games will generally take you around an hour.

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Episode 58 – Epic In Every Way

A truly massive episode this time around, featuring some Epic games!

First of all, from new British company Waits In Graves, Sam Lamont and Beth Hughes come along to talk about the labour of love that is Epic Death! It’s a quick to play, easy to pick up game of adventuring through a fantasy world that’s packed out with many rather familiar elements and a ton of dice rolling – well worth you checking it out – and it’s all done in about half an hour. What more could you ask for?! Afterwards, Iraklis Grous of LudiCreations and Board Game Travel pops up and discusses their new release called Gear & Piston. Set in the automobile industry at the start of the 20th Century, you’ll be battling it out to create the best vehicle possible from a variety of components while trying to screw over everyone else – it’s a great little Euro that serves as a perfect intro to the genre, and it’s playable over on Board Game Arena too!

Finally, the guys from Flip The Table are on! Another member of The Dice Tower Network, FTT is one of my favourite shows out there. Every episode sees them take a box from the dark side of the games room and investigate what it offers today’s gamer; both good and bad. We chat about all manner of things (including what Robocop would be like if he was from England) and finish up with a traditional Flip The Table Battle of Wits… who will win? Listen and discover for yourself!

Want some links? OF COURSE YOU DO.

Direct Download for Episode 58 - http://littlemetaldog.podbean.com/mf/web/wyf79f/LMD_Episode58.mp3

Epic Death! on Kickstarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/springboard/epic-death-the-card-game-0

Waits In Graves - http://waitsingraves.com/

Gear & Piston on Kickstarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ludicreations/gear-and-piston-board-game?ref=live

LudiCreations - http://ludicreations.com/

Board Game Travel - http://boardgametravel.com/

Flip The Table on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/flip-the-table/id535349732

Flip The Table home - http://tableflipsyou.blogspot.co.uk/

DrunkQuest: The 90 Proof Seas on Kickstarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/555281510/drunkquest-the-90-proof-seas?ref=live

UK Games Expo - http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/

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Scandal – Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery review

Spartacus COVER

It’s a sad fact that most of the licenced games out there are bloody awful. Apart from the mighty Battlestar Galactica which stands above all comers like a fabulous and cruel titan, if a game is based on a TV show or movie, it’ll generally be pretty poor. Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery is the latest in a long line of releases that attempt to capture the experience of another medium on the tabletop, and though The Judge checked it out a while ago I wanted to put my thoughts down on the game too.

First up though, a bit of background. Spartacus is based on the US TV show of the same name that has been wildly popular over the past couple of years. Essentially a more glamorous and sexy version of the old movie, it’s a swords and sandals epic, the tale of a slave who grew in strength and notoriety to lead a rebellion against the ruling houses of the Roman Empire. It also focuses a lot more on the interactions between these powerful families, and it’s this element that the game is based around.

Each game round takes place over four separate phases: Upkeep, Intrigue, Auction and Arena. Upkeep is pretty self explanatory: any characters who have been exhausted during the previous round are flipped back face up, injured characters have the chance to be healed (more on that later) and income is sorted out, with slaves bringing money in and gladiators siphoning it away.

Intrigue is a little more exciting. Cards are dealt out to each player that will let them play dastardly schemes that take down your enemies or bring in more good stuff for you. Each card has a number in the top left corner denoting the amount of influence required to play it, and if you currently don’t have enough on your own you may enter into temporary alliances with others to bring these plans about. Cards can also be discarded for the cash value on the bottom left of the card. Some of the Intrigue cards allow you to react and foil other players’ actions – highly valuable and most useful if you’re on the way to winning.

(Oh yes, winning. The first player to 12 Influence points is the victor. Simple.)

If the Intrigue phase is all about pulling in a much cash as you can while keeping the others down, the Auction is where you get to spend your ill-gotten gains. Market cards are put face down on the table, one for each player, then revealed one-by-one. A closed fist auction takes place for each card, then once all have been bought a final auction takes place for the glory of hosting the final part of the round: the Arena battle.

This is probably the most entertaining section of the game, where the Host invites two players to bring their chosen gladiator to the Arena for a bit of a ruckus. Bets are laid on how the fight will end, either through a simple victory, injury or decapitation, and then the warriors have at it in a frenzy of dice rolling and shouting. At the fight’s end, the Host is given the chance to perform the traditional thumb up or thumb down and decide on the fate of the losing gladiator – a particularly nasty way of screwing over your enemies.

And that is very much it. The game continues to cycle through until one or more players has 12 Influence at the end of one of the phases… and it’s here where the game falls down. It feels like a game where the journey is all but the conclusion is something of a washout. In other words, the actual interaction between the players, the organising of schemes and bribery that takes place throughout the rounds is fantastic, as is the fighting section in the Arena. However, that moment when someone manages to pull the win out of the bad… well, it feels very disappointing.

It’s tricky to explain. The whole thing feels like it should be building towards this massive finish, this epic ending, but then someone just lays down a card or two, maxes out their influence and wins. It’s something of a let down. Admittedly it feels a little more satisfying when you manage to win the game following a victory in the Arena, but still… I know that the game is all about manipulating your way to the top, but as a final payoff it just doesn’t work. After a couple of hours of plotting and scheming, having the whole event fizzle out into the equivalent of “oh, I’ve won” is a downer. And bear in mind that two hours is the short game where players start at 7 Influence – I wouldn’t really want to invest the time in a longer game where they begin lower on the scale.

And yet, my time with Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery was far from terrible. It’s not going to join the illustrious pantheon of Officially Great Licenced Games, but the actual playing of the thing was entertaining enough, especially if you throw yourself into the experience as much as possible, bribing your enemies and being as scummy as possible – it’s just that final victory simply isn’t satisfying. Certainly it’s worth a look, especially if you’re into games that involve plenty of screwing everyone else over, but just be wary of that final fizzle…

Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery is a Gale Force Nine production based on the Starz TV series. Designed by Aaron Dill, John Kovaleski and Sean Sweigart, it requires at least three players but is best with four. Games will take at least a couple of hours, though can be longer should you so desire. If you’d like a copy, why not throw some gold at Dominus Paul from Gameslore, where it will set you back £24.99.

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Out In The Fields – The Castles of Burgundy review

CoBCOVER

So it seems that at the moment, golden boy of boardgaming Stefan Feld can do no wrong. We’ve extolled the merits of a few of his games over the last couple of months here on littlemetaldog.com and – surprise surprise – here’s another glowing write up. This time we’re journeying into medieval era France as we take on the tricksy and delightful The Castles of Burgundy, a game that combines a little bit of chance with more options than a high-end car showroom.

From the start, I’ll say that Castles is not for everybody – if you’re the kind of person who complains that Dominion is nothing more than multiplayer solitaire, I’d avoid even picking up the box. What little interaction there is in the game is limited to someone snatching away a tile that you had your eye on before play managed to get around to you. It’s an exercise in brain burning where you’re constantly having to change your plans depending on what kind of things are available for do.

So, how does it work? Despite the multitude of choices, the way the game is played is simple. Each player has a board comprising of thirty seven hexagonal spaces, themselves formed into a large hexagon that represents the land you’re trying to build on. A central board is filled with tiles that are split into six groups and refreshed at the beginning at each of the game’s five phases. By rolling two dice at the beginning of your turn, you’re given the chance to spend whatever you roll and pick up a tile from that area – so, roll a 5 and you get to choose something from the space marked with the same number.

The Central Board where

The Central Board where the options open to you can be dazzling. Goods everywhere, hexagonal tiles that’ll form your own settlement, bonus points… how did he come up with such an intricate game?

Taking one of those tiles doesn’t mean that you get to add it to your board immediately, though. Three spaces are found at the bottom left of your playmat where you must put a tile first – sort of holding it in transit for a while – before it gets to become a part of your settlement. Again, a dice must be used to ‘build’ the tile, as each space is also numbered. You may think this is limiting in the extreme, and you’d be right in thinking that. Thankfully, players have worker tiles that can be spent to add or subtract from whatever you rolled, allowing for a bit of manipulation.

Those tiles come in many different types, each one offering a little boost or way to skew the rules in your favour. Grey tiles represent mines, giving you an extra silverling (the game’s currency) at the start of each phase that you can spend on a selection of more randomly selected tiles found in the centre of the communal board. Yellows are all about bonuses, screwing with the rules and generally boosting your powers. Greens are farm animals and can prove an immense boost as each time you add one of the same type – sheep next to another sheep for example – the points stack.

The Blue tiles add to your rivers, meaning that you take goods from the central board for you to sell; the more you sell of the same type, the higher the points return. Dark Green tiles are the Castles that give the game its name, and these allow an extra play of… well, whatever you like. They’re incredibly powerful and should be used wisely. Finally, the Brown Building tiles offer the widest variety of options as each type gives you a different ability.

Some bestow money or extra workers on you, while others allow for the immediate grab of another tile from the board or the placement of extra ones to your play area. A true master of Castles of Burgundy will be able to put together a truly impressive chain of these, transforming the two standard actions that you normally get in a turn into a parade of hexes being taken from here and added to there, all of which sending that final score into the stratosphere.

One of the Advanced player boards

One of the Advanced player boards. These are filled with randomised set-ups and everyone will have a different one, but there are Starter boards where each player works with the same spaces. Also, see how everything is language independent!

It can feel that pretty much everything gives you points in Castles; selling goods, finishing off areas of land, getting animals… keeping track of everything that’s going on with your board as well as what’s available (and what’s been taken!) from the central area requires a sharp mind and plenty of focus. Managing to do so is a valuable skill, and it’s that skill that will raise you above other players of this game. As with all of Stefan Feld’s creations, Castles is a game that rewards multiple plays and the investment of your time. While you learn and develop your strategies, you’ll also have to cope with the luck of the dice rolls and the random element of what tiles will actually get pulled out at the start of the phases. Adaptability is key – if something isn’t working for you, a change of plan can often be a better choice than sticking desperately to course.

If I were to have any criticism, it’d be the downtime you get with three or four player games. It’s far from a dealbreaker, of course, but I much prefer to break out Castles of Burgundy as a two-player effort. Not only does it mean that you’re almost always engaged, it gets the play time down to a very manageable thirty to forty minutes – ideal if you’re filling time while waiting for others to arrive. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy playing with more than two though – it’s still an excellent game with three or four around the table, but for a speedy yet deep experience, Castles of Burgundy is hard to beat.

The Castles of Burgundy was originally released in 2011 by Ravensburger / Alea and is designed by Stefan Feld. Between two and four can play with games taking between 30 – 60 minutes.  Copies from Gameslore are a bargainous £24.99, so head on over and grab yourself a truly great game.

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