Category Archives: Previews

11 April 2013 · 13:32

A Life On The Ocean Wave – Sails of Glory (P)review

SailsBOX

There seems to be a bit of a rise in the number of tabletop skirmish titles available in recent years. Whether you prefer the science fiction flavours of Star Wars X-Wing or putting together little squads of orcs and dwarves in Dungeon Command, the amount of pre-painted figures and vessels hitting tabletops around the world has been on the up. One of the longest running is Ares Games’ Wings of Glory (previously known as Wings of War) which we’ve already looked at here on The Little Metal Dog Show… and now they’re taking the system back through time and onto the ocean blue with their new title, Sails of Glory.

(A caveat before we launch into the meat of the piece; this is all based around the prototype that Ares were kind enough to send on over to me, and it’s only looking at the basic rule set. The game is on Kickstarter until April 16th, so if you want to get involved, get in quick.)

If you have any experience of games like X-Wing or either of the Wings releases, you’ll already have a headstart on the mechanisms that drive Sails of Glory. Set in heyday of naval warfare, you’ll control some of the finest Napoleonic-era vessels that history has to offer… and all you need to do is wipe out the enemy. Between two and four players can take to sea, and with various scenarios available in both team-based and last-sailor-standing modes, there’s plenty of replayability even in the base set.

So, how does the game work? Well, you’ll choose your ship and corresponding mat and cards that give you all the details you need to know about your fine craft. A stack of Maneuver Cards are the next things you grab, matching the letter shown on your ship card. After separating the bucketful of tokens and damage counters and determining the play area, you’re good to go.

Turns comprise of four phases and players will do each one simultaneously before progressing to the next.

First, it’s Planning. This is all about making your decision on where you’re going to head towards. Unlike something along the lines of X-Wing, it’s not just a matter of saying “Oh, that’s where I’m going”. In Sails of Glory, you must consider the wind direction too. Ships’ bases are segmented into different colour sections and, depending on where they’re facing and which one the wind is hitting, your chosen Maneuver Cards could give you a very different selection of movement options. Once everybody has selected one, it’s time for Movement.

Cards are flipped at the same time and ships are moved along the line corresponding to its ‘attitude’ to the wind. Simply slide along the line and remove the card, putting it back in your deck. Of course, if you’re working with small playing area, there’s a lot of opportunity for collision – you’re not speeding around in three-dimensional space – and in this case the larger ship takes precedence with the smaller coming to a stop when their bases touch.

Oh man, it's so pretty!

Oh man, it’s so pretty!

Next up, combat – everyone gets to Fire! If you’reable to reach an enemy ship (decided by using the included range ruler) you can either shoot with artillery or muskets. Firing arcs are marked on your ship’s base, the best of which are your broadsides. Shooting from the front or rear means a less powerful attack but hey, any offense is a good idea in Sails of Glory. You’ll also have to consider line of sight – no firing through your own vessels, of course – and should you hit, you’ll do some well deserved damage either on the enemy ship, crew or (hopefully) both. Should enough be added to the ship’s mat, it’ll surrender and will be removed from the game.

Finally, Reloading only happens if you fired artillery on the previous turn. Muskets are always available (though are much weaker) but the decision to use your heftier firepower should not be taken lightly… Once all four steps are complete, you’ve either won the game or go back to Planning.

And really, that’s about it. Having had a few plays with the prototype there’s little more that can be said than it’s a very solid ruleset. That’s far from surprising considering the amount of time that Ares Games have had to refine and improve them since the first days of Wings of War, but I’m still pleased to see that the game has been able to transition into a whole new world. As I’ve had previous experience of other games using a similar engine I found Sails of Glory a joy to pick up and play, but any gamer will pick it up in no time. I’m intrigued to see how the rules will be expanded when the final product is released.

Will it appeal to everyone? Well, with the Kickstarter campaign currently at over seven times their funding target and still five days on the clock I’d say that things are looking pretty good. Ares Games have done great when it comes to supporting Wings of Glory so the signs are great for their water-based adventures. I can’t wait to check out the miniatures that they put in the retail pack (as I am a tart for that kind of stuff) but have a lot of faith that they’re going to look great – the game is certainly very entertaining and well worth supporting.

Sails of Glory is an Ares Games project on Kickstarter until  April 16. If you’re interested, a Starter Set pledge will cost you US$80 with copies due to ship to backers by August. Thanks to the guys for letting me check out the prototype!

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12 February 2013 · 16:44

Metal Guru – Bronze preview

BronzeCOVER

Finding a decent game that is strictly for two players can be a tricky task indeed. I swear blind that Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small is a sure thing, but sometimes you want to do something on a grander scale than simply constructing a farm. Perhaps you fancy taking the reigns of a civilisation and seeing if you can destroy those who rise before you, all in twenty minutes? Now you’ll get to do precisely that in a new game called Bronze from Spiral Galaxy.

Originally based on a PC game designed to be played solitaire, it’s now been transferred to the tabletop where you’ll vie against a single human opponent to see if you can dominate the map. With each player randomly allocated a civilisation from a selection of six, Bronze is a quick playing engine building affair with a fair dash of tile placement and area control – you start off with no money so will need to get resources to hand as quickly as you can; thankfully as you expand across the field of play you’ll gain access to more and more. As your access to resources expands, so do the opportunities to build bigger and better creations; however, you can get stuck quite quickly as each of the seven building types are limited. Leave it too long and your opponent could well steal the lot, leaving you high and dry.

Of course, you may not have to worry about this too much – with each player in control of a different civilisation, they could also have access to other buildings or even be able to pay less for those you can purchase. This asymmetric play adds some extra value to the package as a whole – after all, there are plenty of combinations to experiment with, and with four base maps included the options open up even further. Rules are also included to design your own maps, so the variety is almost infinite.

Mid game - things are going well for the

Mid game – things are going well for the Egyptians!

Actual gameplay is very straightforward – even newbie gamers will be able to grasp the whole thing within a game or so. With only three options to choose from on each turn, Bronze is simplicity itself. You can either expand your territory with a Farm, expand with a Building, or convert a Farm into a Building, but the trick to winning is all down to timing; get the right building on the board at the right time and you could steal the win. The game ends when one player can perform one of these actions, victory points are totalled up and your winner is declared.

In the games I’ve played I have found that there’s often a tipping point, a moment you can see precisely where the game turned in one player’s favour; some may consider this a bad thing, but in a game that plays so quickly, it’s hard to be entirely down on it. In fact, it’s actually suggested in the rules that you set aside enough time to play twice, switching civilisations after the first game and combining the points after both plays to see who wins.

It’s been interesting spending time with Bronze. Early plays didn’t really grab me; it wasn’t until I got a few games under my belt that I realised the depth that was in there. Of course, as it plays so speedily we’re not exactly talking Twilight Imperium here, but it offers a higher level of complexity than you may initially expect, and while it may not entirely take the place of Agricola: ACBAS as my two-player game of choice, it’ll certainly be hitting the table regularly when I’m looking for a head-to-head blast.

Thanks to the folks at Spiral Galaxy Games for letting me have some time with the only prototype that’s out there! If you’re interested in Bronze, you can get involved with the current Kickstarter campaign where a copy will set you back £30 – it ends on February 28th 2013 though, so be quick! 

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9 January 2013 · 22:06

Dead Star – City of Horror review

CityofHorrorCOVER

I’ve said it pretty often that the reason I love to play games is the social interaction you get from them. Whether you’re working co-operatively trying to save the world or striving to screw over your opposition, there’s little better than sitting around the table and playing something, anything. There are, of course, a selection of games where the cruelty is as important as the interaction, games where the main focus is on being mean, striking out for yourself and screw the consequences for everyone else. Diplomacy is probably the finest example of this genre, a game where friendships are crushed in the pursuit of victory, and now we can add the newest release from Repos Production to the fold. City of Horror is here, and it’s not pulling any punches.

The only way to win? Survive.

Actually, that’s slightly overdramatic. In reality you need to survive in a better fashion than everyone else. Played out over the course of four rounds, you and your fellow humans seem to be the only ones left in a city that is rapidly getting overrun with zombies. A rescue helicopter is on its way and will pick up everyone left at the end of the final round – perhaps. As the game opens, you’re given a selection of these characters ranging from abandoned children to business types… even a heavily pregnant woman is thrown into the mix. Each character card is double sided and must be flipped over showing that you have used their special ability – doing so means that they’ll be worth significantly less points should they manage to escape the city, however.

Now, we say city, but really it’s a section that has descended into chaos. It’s always built at random, but there will always be an Armoury, Church, Hospital, Bank and Water Tower along with a crossroads in the middle of the board. The survivors are randomly given a starting location, but before you even begin there’ll be problems. There are only a limited amount of spaces in each place which means some folks could well end up out in the open, stuck at the crossroads where the danger is even greater.

Someone's going to get eaten. Someone is ALWAYS going to get eaten!

Someone’s going to get eaten. Someone is ALWAYS going to get eaten!

At the beginning of each round a card is flipped showing where the zombies will spawn or shamble to, along with supply drops of extra Action cards and syringes of antivirus. These syringes (also available from the hospital by trading in cards) are vital; if you don’t have at least one for each of your survivors by the time the helicopter comes, they’ll be left behind to join the ranks of the undead.

The actual play of the game is very straightforward. Once the zombies are spawned, players will (hopefully) move a single character to a new location, ending up in the Crossroads if there’s no room at their chosen destination. You then work your way around the six areas, working out if there’s going to be a zombie attack in each one. If conditions are met, all players (not just those at the location) are allowed to contribute to killing off enough undead to stop the attack. If this happens, great; move on to the next place and start again. Unfortunately, most of the time – and especially when those Action cards start running low – the attack will happen, and this is where the magic starts…

You see, not a huge amount of stuff actually happens in City of Horror. Over the course of play you’ll only actually make a small amount of decisions; the emphasis is on doing everything you can to save your own hide, and this is why the game is so good. If an attack is going to happen, someone will die; you need to do whatever you can to stop it from being one of your characters. At this point, the game comes into its own as you try your damnedest to prevent the zombies from claiming your character as dinner. Anything goes. Any deals that you can cut are valid and there’s no penalty if you back out on them, aside from the fact that you may well end up being hated by your friends. When that vote happens and someone is thrown to the baying horde, alliances and vendettas are created and shattered in moments. There’s little more entertaining than pulling a fast one, promising you’ll side with one person then stitching them up. Don’t worry about offending them; they’ll be planning to do exactly the same thing to you as well.

A metric ton of cardboard! Everything is double sided adding plenty of replayability.

A metric ton of cardboard! Everything is double sided adding plenty of replayability.

Repos have put together a great package in City of Horror. The city tiles are thick and sturdy, and although the first print run did have a minor issue with warping (nothing that couldn’t be sorted with the assistance of a heavy book) the latest print run has had no reported problems. All components are of good quality and the artwork is suitably horrifying and comedic in equal measures. Also, this is the only game I can think of that comes with a pre- and post-birth character; yes, the Pregnant Woman can have her baby mid game. Good job too, it gives her two votes…

And that is why this is such a great game to play. Between the amount of though that has been put into realising the theme to the simplicity of the rules, from the sheer cruelty of how you know that not everyone will make it out alive… it’s a brilliant and entertaining romp of a thing, filled with arguments, broken promises and more “I can’t believe you did that” moments that you’ll be able to stand. The prequel, Mall of Horror, was entertaining enough but had some limitations. City of Horror expands the experience, offering a much wider range of options and giving players the chance to truly do everything they can to survive. The team at Repos Production have come up with a gem that will play out differently every time and is well worth picking up. Just don’t expect to be friends with everyone when everything is over…

City of Horror was released in 2012 by Repos Production and Asmodee. Designed by Nicolas Normandon with art by the fantastic Miguel Coimbra, you can pick up a copy from the guys at Gameslore for £32.99. Between three and six can attempt to survive the zombie onslaught and the whole thing will take you between 60 and 120 minutes. Well, it should do if you last that long and that’s far from guaranteed…

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8 January 2013 · 15:29

Sign O’ The Times – Guildhall review

GuildhallCOVER

Guildhall kind of appeared from nowhere at the end of 2012, sneaking into Essen Spiel (a day late, I might add, thanks to a customs snafu) but this little card game from AEG has swiftly gained a solid following since its release. While Alderac Entertainment Group are pushing their innovative Tempest line of games, Guildhall – a card game that seems like it would’ve been an ideal fit for the series – is powering away, growing sales and entertaining gamers. Hell, it even popped up on a few noted Game of the Year lists, and with good reason. Because it’s bloody fun.

Four sets of six different character types can be found in Guildhall, each of which has a different ability. By collecting sets of these, shown as five different colours, you complete Chapters that can be traded in for points. Each turn, you play cards from your hand that will eventually end up in your Chapters but before they shuffle over and contribute to your collection, you must check to see if their power has been triggered.

You see, in this game, the more cards of a profession you have in a Chapter, the stronger the ability will be. The simplest example is seen with the Farmers – should you play one and already have another sitting on the table, you get a victory point chip. If you have three there, the reward is even higher as you claim two chips… but then you have a decision to make. As the game progresses and you collect full sets of five, they are flipped over and the stacking ability can no longer be used. This is great, of course, as you get to trade them in for hefty points bonuses but then you’re starting again from scratch.

Also, just because Chapters happen to be in front of you, that doesn’t mean that they’re going to remain there. Guildhall is a very fluid game with lots of opportunity to steal from opponents as well as the chance to be just plain mean and kill off various professions – there are Assassins in there, after all. Cards that you thought you’d seen the back of can be resurrected from the discard pile through clever use of the Historians. Even if you seem to be lagging behind spectacularly, a decent couple of turns can see you catching up with a decent bit of engine building and the difference between winning and losing can often only be a couple of points.

So, if you play this card when you already have four Assassins on the table, you get to kill off two cards from one opposing Chapter. Simple!

So, if you play this card when you already have four Assassins on the table, you get to kill off two cards from one opposing Chapter. Simple!

Early games of Guildhall can be a little confusing because AEG have decided to go down the route of having no text on the cards (bar the names, of course). Using an entirely icon-driven approach isn’t often done in gaming and can often lead to a bit of a struggle to get used to learning how to play – look at Race for the Galaxy and its epic collection of symbols for example – but having a crib sheet at hand definitely helps for newer players. It doesn’t take too long to get used to the language of the game and if you’re sitting down with experienced players you’ll find that turns fly by.

Being an AEG product, you’d expect a certain level of quality and Guildhall doesn’t let you down. Graphically, everything is nice and clear; consideration has even been made for those who are colour blind thanks to some clever imagery down the left hand side of the cards. Though there isn’t that much in the way of artwork, what is there is very good indeed, although (again) I’m surprised they didn’t put it in the Tempest series and use the striking style that has been developed for those games.

A minor quibble; it’s a very large box considering what you get inside. One hundred and fifty cards, a rulebook and a bunch of tokens means that there is a lot of air included, but I can see why they chose to go this way. The whole idea of perceived value means that Guildhall in a larger box can be sold for that little bit more, and it’s not like you’re not getting a decent amount of game for your money. You can finish a game in under thirty minutes and it’s not unheard of that my game group fancy a second or third go; thankfully setting up for a new round takes no time at all so you’ll be good to start again in moments.

Guildhall is a cracking little game that has built up a well deserved army of fans already. Here’s hoping that the word continues to spread on this one and more people pick it up and try it out – this surprise release really does warrant the attention.

Designed by Hope S. Hwang and released by AEG in 2012, Guildhall plays in 30-45 minutes and can handle between two and four players (though I’ve found it’s best with three or four). If you want a copy for yourself – and why wouldn’t you? – you can grab one from Gameslore for £20.

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12 October 2012 · 11:18

Crawling – Dungeon Heroes (p)review

It’s hard finding decent games that cater specifically for two players in a quick timeframe. There’s Agricola: All Creatures Big And Small, of course, as well as the splendid but currently out-of-print Balloon Cup. Lost Cities is pretty good, and there’s also Summoner Wars (even though you can officially play that with more than two people). Now, if you’re looking for another one to add to the list, may I suggest the upcoming release from Crash Games, Dungeon Heroes?

It’s the traditional dungeon crawl turned into a half hour game of strategy, memory and tile placing. One player is handles the glorious heroes, all of whom have a different ability that should help them in their quest to grab three treasures from the dungeon. The Warrior is the only hero allowed to take on monsters, killing them by moving into their space on the board. The Wizard, though squishy, is very useful, allowing you to flip and reveal tiles. The Cleric has healing powers (which you’ll definitely need) and the Rogue may disarm traps. Meanwhile, their opponent is the Dungeon Lord, owner of our arena, who has only one thing on their mind; the destruction of the heroes. So far, so normal.

The game is split into two phases – Passive and Aggressive. Passive play sees the heroes take their first tentative steps into the dungeon while tiles are placed face down all around them by the bad guy.  The heroes, represented by dice that show their current health level, are very much at an advantage during this part of the game – with less stuff on the board, they can move about relatively freely. However, moving onto a tile reveals it immediately, so they must be careful not to unleash a monster or trigger a trap.

The Dungeon Lord is allowed to place four tiles per turn, and it’s here where it becomes evident that a good memory is required. Sadly, mine is filled with holes and so when I’m on the side of evil it doesn’t often go well… Thankfully, once all 36 tiles are placed, things take a turn for the nasty.

It’s now that the Aggressive Phase kicks in and the tide turns in favour of evil! Any monster tiles that have been revealed previously are now replaced by tokens that are allowed to wander the dungeon looking for a dinner of tasty hero. Here the power is definitely with the Lord as the heroes are now desperately trying to get the three treasures they need before they get wiped out by the wandering hordes. That is, of course, assuming that the evil player can remember where they’ve placed their monster tiles…

Other stuff they can use include slide tiles – very useful when a hero steps onto them as they force a sideways movement, hopefully into the jaws of a particularly strong beastie or a nasty cloud of poison gas. The previously mentioned traps can also be incredibly useful to destroy the good guys, assuming you can force the characters into them – easier said than done.

Swiftly enough, a winner will be declared and you’ll probably have enough time for a reverse match-up before your lunch hour is finished. Early plays of Dungeon Heroes will see you fumbling about a bit no matter what side you choose to use, but it quickly becomes clear that there’s a deeper game beneath what initially appears to be a light surface. If you’re the Dungeon Lord, huddling all your monsters around the heroes early in the game may well see you with not enough forces to successfully take them down later on. With the Heroes, leaving it too late could see you swamped with monsters and no chance of victory. I like the fact that the two different phases give specific advantages to one of the players – there’s a palpable switch once all the tiles have been played, a slight element of desperation for the heroes and a growing feeling of power for the Dungeon Lord. More impressively, it doesn’t feel unbalanced (which could well happen in a game such as this) – unless you play spectacularly poorly, both sides will be in with a chance until the very end.

One final point to remember: the game isn’t actually out yet. This is all based on a prototype provided by the folks at Crash Games, so if you want a copy you’ll have to head on down to Kickstarter. Be sure to check it out from October 16th!

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