Primer - Couples Boardgame

By: Dozer

Listed below are games that I’ve played more than once with my wife.

Each of the games below are great to play with small (1-2 players), mid (3-4 players), and with larger groups (5+) so they’ve seen play outside of just me and my wife. All games listed below are great games and are recommended for folks looking to expand on their collection of couple friendly games that can also be played quickly and with larger groups. Some can even be used to introduce your kids or other young humans you know into board games.

All of these games can be found at your local game shops. If you live in Ottawa, I recommend Fandom 2 if you're down town, Out of the Box and Wizards Tower if you live in the west end, and Kessel Run if you live in the east end. Otherwise Amazon or Meeplemart (based on Toronto) can ship free or at minimum cost.

Each game has won awards and in the case of some multiple game of year awards. Most of these games can be previewed on Youtube channels like Tabletop or Watch it Played, and reviewed by folks from Shut up and Sitdown.

Lets take a look after the break.

First Look - Charterstone

By: Dozer

Editor's Note: This post has been a yo-yo, going up and down over and over again. This may not be the first time you've seen this come up. Sorry for any confusion. - Dozer

I can now say that Stonemaier Games makes some of my favorite boardgames since I've played my first game of Charterstone. They are also the designers and makers of Scythe and the two expansions (with a third to drop soon).

Charterstone is a legacy style format village building game. Each game builds towards the completion of a campaign. Right now I am playing a two player campaign with Shonty. We've played our first game last weekend and it was awesome. I handle the various boxes while Shonty reads outloud the cards and new rules.

I want to blitz through the rules but that does two things. Firstly I fuck up the rules all the time. Plenty of folks have to correct my initial reading of the rules. Secondly Shonty is a visual learner and me reading through them quickly just gets her confused and lost. So I have to hold back and listen and it's a better experience for everyone involved.

To get a good idea of what the game is about without spoilers check out the video below. If you don't mind some minor hints of what's to come, the rest of the post on just the first game is after the break below the video.

Charterstone so far has been a great game and very interesting and I've just wanted to keep playing.

Some of the mechanics were a little wonky to understand at first but by slowing down and some help by the interactive FQA (which is broken down so they don't spoil the game) we were able to figure them out.

Last bit of advice before the break - Do Not Open the Re-Charge pack. It has spoilers and when I got the game, my brother Nate who bought both the game and a re-charge pack unwrapped both boxes. I took a look inside and I regret doing it. There is a single item that I won't mention and I wonder where it is in the game but I can't wait to find out why said random item is in the game.

Now lets talk about game one...

First Look - Twilight Imperium

By: Dozer

This post is very late - the holiday season and the run up to a new calendar year of work have prevented me from putting anything up. 

So I was able to play some Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition, and it was awesome.

Doc, Ontos, Wolf, Longsword, and myself pulled into Doc's flat and started setting up. By the time everyone was in the room, it was 1020. Ontos has spilled Longsword's Tim Horton's coffee (a sin in Canada to some) and we slowly took our time setting up ensuring that we would not miss a step while building the game. We got into the first round by the time it was 1050. Passing out snacks, familiarising yourself to the pieces, and picking a race were the longest part of the setup. The game played very well. We could had finished the game around 1640.

I played a second game two weeks later. With Burns and three other awesome players. We were delayed with life and puppies but in the end we still played a five player game in about 6 and a half hours. Four of the five players had not yet played this edition of the game and two of them had never played any edition of Twilight Imperium, and we still had to pull pin early but by only a round.

First Impressions - 

The box is big and bright. The updated art is top shelf even though I miss some of the more iconic pieces from the last edition. The pieces look chintzy until you compare them to the older pieces and then you can see the augmented level of detail and quality per piece.

Full of detail as Burns looses his home system

Components -

The player boards and the accompanying technology cards are easy to navigate and plan your races development and advancement. Little details like the reference chart which also includes the rules for the various anomalies in space very handy. The tiles are clear and the different coloured backs are awesome for set up.

The player boards can be played left or right of the race board. A nice touch and a small one that few companies fail to think about. The sinister players will feel welcome here.

Rules -

I have to say this is Twilight Imperium but you spend more time within the game, playing it instead of hashing through the rules. The streamlined rules are all awesome and very well laid out. The new alphabetical heading format for larger rulesets is very well suited here.

I like small things where there is no longer any confusion on stages of combat and pre-combat abilities. I love the new Agenda Phase that only becomes available once a player takes Metacol Rex. I also love the feel of having to use influence instead of military might to unlock the former center of the Imperium.

The technology upgrades is the best change to the game. The new systems removes the flow chart of technology in favour of a simple prerequisite mechanic. It also seems to be easier to get technology in this edition.

The changes to the strategy cards are refreshing. Construction was a large change but it became quickly clear why building PDS and Space Docks are a strategic action and not part of a simple build. The Imperial card is a breath of fresh air and supports the new feel that surrounds the taking of Metacol Rex and claiming secret objectives.

L-R: Wolf, Longsword, Ontos, and Doc
Plotting my end

Lastly the new objective claiming rules are much simpler and very well designed. I found myself picking harder to claim objectives instead of working on the easy ones that I also qualified for because I had the number of required technology. 

Gameplay -


"One of my best games of Twilight Imperium and it was the first with this edition. This has set the bar high for future games. This edition was needed and it was well done."
- Burns

Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition has a new flow to it. I've had every player who's played the last edition summarise their feelings and they each give a similar answer; smoother.

The rules support this new flow of game. I spent more time playing the game instead of looking up rules and that even with the first game where we had to look up a lot of rules.

The gameplay makes sense and that common sense pushes rule questions aside and avoids stepping away from the game. I was never bored waiting for my turn.

I do miss the Distance Suns optional rules where you discover a thing at each planet. Yet my first game we all agreed that because it was missing we were playing a faster paced game without a turn or two to build up an exploration fleet. Turn one was gobble up those nearby systems. I hope it shows up with some changes in the next expansion. They can take a few examples from Scythe or Star Trek: Ascendancy regarding exploration and narrative cards that would bump Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition into something even better.

Final Thoughts - 

This is now my favorite game.

This felt more like a strategy game. It was without things like generals, admirals, and diplomats but I would like to see with this new look and feel to Twilight Imperium if those types of rules could be included. Some sort of racial tech that required an influence cost and gave passive racial abilities.

I would also like to see the races have a bit more diverse technology but I feel that this could be a slippery slope for some of the races. Each race was there and unique but I wanted more of a difference between each one. This feeling is a very minor one but it's still there and it's from years of living in this setting playing now three editions of this game.

Lastly I was familiar with many of the systems in the game and I found myself looking for some of the systems that came out in the last edition. I really hope they bring more of them out with the next expansion.

Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition is a great game. I'm looking forward to my next game.

- Cheers

Twilight Imperium - Unboxing

By: Dozer

Twilight Imperium has a new edition.

I was at GENCON 50 when they showed it off. Where they let people play it and later on buy it.

It looked awesome. I waited in line and by the time I got into the Fantasy Flight games booth proper someone had bought their last copy.

Yet I knew I would get it. Twilight Imperium has shaped all board game experiences since I played it. All great games are not just great by themselves. Instead they challenge the everyone. They challenge the industry to do better and go bigger, they demand more of their players, and the experience is so defining that it shapes all other game experiences.

So I picked it up when I got back from Toronto. I was sick all week and I stopped by Out of the Box and there it was. The owner offered me at no extra cost a poster and the deluxe rule book plus the 15% off from the Black Friday sales.

So I picked it up.

Now lets go look inside and see what's new with this beast.

Scythe: Wind Gambit - Unboxing

By: Dozer

Scythe is the best thing I ever picked up on Kickstarter to date. It is one of my favorite games for my table. It's gorgeous in style and craftsmanship. The game play is simple, varied, and slick.

Slick has been the only word I've been able to describe the feel of play in Scythe. No matter what thing you want to do, mechanically it feels like a well oiled machine. So smooth you forget the mechanics and yet you feel in control of the action on the board.

The world feels alive with the art of Jakub Różalski, who is how I found out about the kickstarter for Scythe. His art and the small bits of world building fiction we get with the game makes it so easy to love Scythe.

By the by it looks like his next project is called Wolfpack and looks like Vikings and Werewolves themed project.

Wolfpack concept art by Jakub Różalski

Wolfpack concept art by Jakub Różalski

Man does he do such good work and I hope what is next works out well.

After the break I have an unboxing of the expansion that just dropped Scythe: The Wind Gambit.

A few days ago I and the other backers of the game got an e-mail update from the creator of the game - Jamey Stegmaier.

I've got it posted below:

"My general philosophy behind Stonemaier Games is that if enough people want something that we think we can make well, we'll make it. That's why we have a form on our website where people can literally tell us what they want."

"For Scythe, there's an endless stream of things that thousands of people want. Just look at all the different promos we've made. Or look at the Legendary Box."

"I love that you've shared your passion for this game through your purchases of these expansions, accessories, and promos. But at a certain point, I feel like I have a responsibility to you--especially you backers who brought Scythe to life--to bookend the world of Scythe."

"That's why we've decided that the third expansion to Scythe will be the final expansion. It likely won't be the final product, as we have a few other things in the works and some possible games set in the Scythe world. But we'll be concluding the Scythe story in the third expansion."

"The only details I've released about the third expansion are (a) that the box is the size of the first two expansion boxes put together and (b) we'll be announcing the name and box art in our January 1 e-newsletter."

"However, today I'm going to drop a small teaser for you. The illustration below is from The Wind Gambit, but it features a hint of things to come in the third expansion."

Art from the expansion The Wind Gambit

Now lets look inside The Wind Gambit.

Twilight Imperium - History

By: Dozer

Twilight Imperium has a special place in my board gamer heart. Second Edition was my first board game that I played right after I joined the military. One of the guys on my basic had picked up the board game and we played after we met up a few weeks later.

It was my first mature boardgame that felt like Axis and Allies, Catan, and one of my favorite video games Masters of Orion. You vied for political power every turn, there were plastic ships that represented the Cruisers, Carriers, Dreadnoughts, and Fighters. There were alien systems to explore and epic battles to be won. Six races each with their unique abilities were ready to be played.

TI 2nd Edition in all of its glory.

It was awesome.

By the time I was wanting to pick it up something magical happened four short years later that changed my life as a board gamer.

Twilight Imperium Third Edition and it was truly epic.

A Day at the Table

By: Dozer

With Shonty away visiting her family I was left alone less than 8 hours after getting back from Yellowknife, NT.

So what did I do?

I called out to my fellow Tabletop Gamers and the call was heard. From 10am until 7pm we gamed, we ate, gamed some more, and rounded it all off with lots of drinks of beer, soda, and coffee.

Before the rest of the folks showed up, my brother Nate prepped foods and drinks while Doc, Yasha, and I played a game of Magic the Gathering Commander. Doc played his new deck based off the Feline Ferocity, a 2017 Commander Deck. His commander was Arahbo, Roar of the World. Yasha played Shonty's mono white human soldier deck using Crovax, Ascendant Hero. I played my mono blue I named "Blue Toolbox" with Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Doc and Yasha were playing back and forth while I watched with only 3 lands to show. I was the second to die at Yasha's forces as the various Anthem and Lord effects snowballed after he beat Doc.

My second game of the day was a game of Scythe.

L-R: Burns, Doc, Yasha, Nate, and Me 

We put down the main box using the extra playboards to spice things up. I played with Anna and Wojtek of Polania. My brother Nate had picked Bjorn and Mox of Nordic. Yasha was playing Olga and Changa of Rusviet. Doc drew Zehra and Kar of Crimean. Burns had Gunter and Nacht and Tag of Saxony.

The game was a tight back and forth. I was trying to win without deploying any of my Mechs in hopes to win one the achievements that come with the game. Nate ended the game by earning his 6th star and we all scored with Nate taking top spot with 70 coins and I followed with just under 60 coins and Doc came in third place. 

More folks piled into my flat and I broke out two games, Boss Monster and Hero Realms. 

Left Side (L-R): Doc, Yasha, Burns, Moby (my Dog), Molotov, Rocko, Forgotten, and Nate playing Boss Monster
Right Side (L-R): Red and Odie playing Hero Realms

I started playing Boss Monster but had to give up my spot to Forgotten in order to act the host. I did get in a game of Hero Realms with Molotov, Red, and his mate Odie. Forgotten won Boss Monster and Red won Hero Realms.

L-R: Doc, Yasha, Burns, Rocko, Molotov, Nate, Forgotten, Red, and Odie

The night was coming up and folks were leaving. The last game would be Lords of Waterdeep. We had a full table of six players. Burns and Doc would pair up and face, Molotov, Forgotten, Red, Yasha, and myself. I came in third a few points behind Forgotten. Yasha was the only one to break 100 points and took the win. 

We cleaned up and people left to go back home. The flat was empty and dark but still vibrating with the residual energy of almost a dozen players having fun. It was nice to play with my brother Nate who is about to have a second child in November.

Yasha just came back from BC and being at sea. It was nice to see him back in Ottawa kicking my ass at the table. Burns and Doc are regular players here and it was nice to have them back at the table. The same goes for Rocko, Molotov and Forgotten. Red and Odie were welcome players and it was great fun getting my teeth kicked in at the table. 

This day was a good day. Friends and family having fun and enjoying each others company. 

This is what it means to be a gamer. 

- Cheers

Dozer

Gaming with My Kids

By Charging Pun

One of the things that I am excited about, as a parent, is sharing things I love with my kids. Of course not all things can be shared right away. There are many limiting factors, language, comprehension, skills. They are even different for each of my three kids.

A brief introduction: Lady J and I have three kids. Sassy is 8, Spiderman is 6, and Buddy is (almost) 4.

On a recent Saturday, Sassy asked me to play a game of Monopoly with her. She has shown an interest in playing many different games including card games (Go Fish, Crazy Eights, 31), board games (checkers, chess), and video games (Minecraft, Lego: Marvel). We set up and started to play. It was not long before Spiderman was asking to play, so I let her take over for me. This led to Sassy strong-arming her way through the game. She was intent on winning, but Spiderman was playing for a different purpose. This got me thinking. Maybe we could play a game together, with different rules for the same game.

The following Friday night as I was tucking them in to bed, Sassy asked if we could play Monopoly the next day. I was ready. I told her that I had been thinking about the game from the previous week and I had some ideas to improve the experience.

After breakfast the next morning, we sat down to set up the board for the game. Instead of 2 stacks of cash, I put aside 4 (one for each of us and 1 for each of Spiderman and Buddy). This would allow for drop-in/drop-out players without interrupting the game between Sassy and myself. Drawn by our focused attention, Spiderman and Buddy both came up and asked to play. They were each given a stack of cash and their choice of tokens.

For Buddy, this was very exciting, so he took 2 game tokens: the Hat and the Battleship. Also, he refused to put them on the board. I can work with that. On his turns, I told him to put his pieces on the board, then roll the dice. This was an acceptable exchange for him. After rolling and moving he would pick up his pieces again, to wait for his next turn. Sometimes he would assign 1 die to each token (moving the Hat 5 and the Ship 3 for example). I had to reassure Sassy that this extra random element would not negatively affect the rest of the game. There are many things a young boy can be doing on a Saturday mornning, so he didn't play long.

For her part, Spiderman was only partially interested in the game. She was on board with rolling the dice, and counting her move, and would purchace property if encouraged to do so, but not much beyond that. There wasn't enough running around or standing on your head to keep her attention.

Eventually, as predicted, the 2 youngest got bored and went on to other activities. Leaving Sassy and I to play out the game. But then, Lady J decided to join (taking on one of the unused stacks of cash and starting a bit behind in the property acquisition phase of the game). At one point Spiderman came back, and played under the wing of Lady J (but maintaining her own cash and properties).

Sassy was able to participate in all the game's many facets from counting money, to trading, to basic strategies. This wasn't her first time playing a board game, or even Monopoly. She was introduced gradually, like her siblings were that day. One day they will all be able to play more complicated games.

One other thing that happened later in the game, was that Lady J and Spiderman started running out of cash. At that point (at a suggestion from Lady J), the bank started paying whatever they couldn't afford. This was to allow everyone to continue playing until the game ended - without anyone getting kicked out.

From 1 game all 5 members of my small family were able to play, each with very different goals, and a different (customized) experience. It was not unlike being a Game Master, with each player having access to different rule sets or abilities.

Today we played Monopoly, who knows what we can accomplish tomorrow...I know I have some ideas.

A glance at Kickstarter funded board games

By: Dozer

I've bought into quite a few Kickstarters and in the coming months I'll be reaping the rewards of backing some of the best looking board games to come to the table.

For those not in the know, Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform that allows creators to reach out and show their prototypes and have backers pledge money towards the development and release of their product. In the case of board games Kickstarters allows folks to see the game, how it's played, participate in the final development of certain aspects, and get access to exclusive add-ons.

For me the greatest board game success on Kickstarter is Scythe. An alternate 1920 exploration and expansion game with some of the exploit and exterminate elements found in a 4X game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate).

It launched with rave reviews on game design and feel. Since it landed at my door it's spawned over a dozen of matches between me and my friends. The feedback the community provided to the creator allowed for some very select upgrades to the design like a double sided board with a larger board on the back.

Another game I picked up on Kickstarter was Human Interface: Nakamura Tower. A Cyberpunk game made in Germany where players take part in the events around the 3 day long attack on the headquarters of the Nakamura mega-corporation. You can play as the Ubermench gang, the Nakamura team, or even the AI that goes rogue due to the attack. Add-ons allow you to play the police SWAT team, a mercenary team, and even a search and rescue team. Brilliant white metal miniatures and fantastic components make the game look great.

I just yet to play it. Forgotten, Molotov, and I spent an hour pouring through the rules as we started the introduction scenario and decided to play something else. We got nowhere and it was frustrating since I bought everything for the game. Lucky for us the folks at Postindustrial Games have worked with the backer community and have redone the rule book. I've looked it over and from that first glance I already have a better idea on how to play the game. Forgotten and I look forward to playing it in the coming weeks.

That's the risk with Kickstarter - sometimes the final product is not what you expected. You have to take the lemons because Kickstarter is a gamble sometimes. My experience with it has been a safe bet but still a bet. I hope my bets continue to pay off because in the next week of so I'll be getting my copy of Endure the Stars from Grimlord Games. Another scenario game but this time wholly co-operative.

I also have other games that will coming in throughout the year: Dark Souls the board game, Giant Killer Robots: Heavy Hitters by WETA workshop, and Village Attacks another game from Grimlord. I'll be doing full reviews on each game as I get them with help from other contributes here at Canadian Tabletop Gamer.

Take a look at Kickstarter and see if anything tickles your fancy.

- Cheers

Dozer