Chaos in the Old World: Excellent game, dark theme.

I am a fan of Warhammer. Warhammer is a Game Workshop tabletop wargame with various novels, video games, and other various spin-off merchandise. It has a very rich universe with a developed mythology and history. In the "Old World" era of the Warhmmer universe, the world is constantly at a struggle with the Chaos Powers (also Ruinous Powers), which plague the civilized world with all manner of evil and infestation. A lot of games focus on being the civilized races, and fighting against the other races or against the Chaos Powers. Chaos in the Old World has players playing as the Ruinous Powers, and true to the Warhammer universe, they struggle against each other as well as against the world. There are four powers, Khorne (War and Killing), Nurgle (Disease, Plagues and Pestilence), Tzeentch (Change and Mutation) and Slaanesh (Hedonistic Pleasure and Corruption). Let me just start this off by saying that were it not for the fact that I'm such a Warhammer fan, I never would have looked at this game. It is an extremely dark theme, and not a family game at all.. But that being said, it is very true to the universe on which it is based. So my box was damaged during transportation, but nothing inside was damaged.

Now Warhammer is a game where you buy highly-detailed miniatures, then customize and paint them to create a visually striking army. These pieces came all solid-color, and I painted them like I would a Warhammer army.

The board is great quality, with everything geared towards play but still fitting in with the theme. This is one of the best game boards I have ever seen. There are four "threat dials" in the top left corner of the board, a victory-point track along the bottom, some card spaces on the bottom left corner, and then the map of the Old World on the rest of the board.

You can win by having the most victory points (after someone has broken 50), or by advancing your threat dial to the end. Everyone loses (and the game wins) after seven rounds. During the rounds everyone summons their followers (Cultists and Warriors) to various territories on the board. After everyone has summoned, you fight battles, place corruption, and then resolve any Old World events. Corrupting a territory to full ruination gives victory points, and fulfilling power-specific objectives advances the threat dial.

Fights are a simple matter, involving dice rolls. As with most Warhammer games, a roll of 4 or better scores a "hit", and hits are assigned to various enemy units.

Khorne's primary color is red, and he has very few cultists, and focuses on killing and fighting instead of corruption. He has a total of 7 fighter pieces, which is more than any other power. 

Nurgle's primary color is green. He focuses primarily on corruption, and his fighting units are very weak. He has 5 fighters, but they can not sustain damage.

 Tzeentch's primary color is blue. He focuses on corruption in concert with power cards, but his fighters are not easy to defeat either. He only has 4 fighters, but he has 8 cultists, which is more than any other power.

Slaanesh's primary color is purple. He wants to corrupt nobles and heroes in the old world. He also has only 4 fighters, but his fighters are strong, and exceptionally hard to kill once upgraded.

Speaking of upgrades and power cards, each power has a unique deck of power cards that affect different regions. Each power also has five upgrade cards. Three cards upgrade the followers, and the other two provide special bonuses. The catch is that in any given game, you will only be able to use 3 of those upgrades, so you have to make a choice as to which one will best aid your strategy for domination.

You can pick up a copy at Amazon for about $60, or BGG for around $45.

FUN: 5. This game is tons of fun, and hits the gaming table more often than any other. Even my non-Warhammer players love this game.

THEME: 5. The theme is rich, complex, and worked into the game very well. It is exceptionally dark, but is extremely well done.

QUALITY: 4. Quality cards, thick game board, decent plastic pieces. The only complaint I have is that the cultists come with little staves with the chaos star on top, and these are extremely bendy and break. I clipped them off of mine when I painted them.

ART: 4. Quality artwork, but again, it's very dark.

INTERACTIVITY: 3. Good interactivity without being able to completely hose your opponent through a single move. You can still hose your enemies, it just takes some strategy.

COMPLEXITY: 3/5. Well-written rules make this game fairly easy to learn and figure out. The complexity goes up when you play more. Each time we play we discover a new layer of strategy within the game. The mechanics are not too complicated, but the strategy is complex and deep.

LUCK: 3. Great balance of luck and strategy, between card draws and dice rolls.

This is an excellent, albeit dark, game.

Municipium -- Territory control game.

I picked up Municipium from a BGG seller who was just awesome. I had previously picked up a couple other games from him, and he held this one for me. It is a 2-4 player territory-control game designed by Reiner Knizia. The box speaks quality, but that is to be expected from a Knizia game. Inside:

Quality cards, wooden pieces, cloth bag, nice-looking board, well-written rulebook. I was excited already. First game was played with 2, just myself and a friend from our game group. You have 7 "family members" and 3 "family cards". There are also 12 "Common cards". During initial setup you place all seven of your family members. During your turn you may move up to 2 of your family members along the road to a different location. You then must either draw a common card, or play a family card. The family cards are generally more powerful and more beneficial to you, but you only get to use them each once during the game. The common cards may be reshuffled into the game after running out, but they may benefit your enemies more than you depending on the circumstances.

The fun comes in executing the different locations powers. Whoever has the most influence (family members) in a given location gets to exercise its power. The temple allows you to break influence ties. The tavern lets you move your enemies pieces, etc... The goal is to obtain citizens of four different colors, and then trade those in for decurion coins. 5 coins and you win.

You can find it at Amazon for about $30, or BGG for around $20.

FUN: 3. It's a solid game, but nothing special.

THEME: 3. I like Roman-themed games, and this one works out okay.

QUALITY: 4. Wood pieces, thick cardstock, good quality.

ART: 3. It's okay, nothing fancy.

INTERACTIVITY: 4. Quite interactive.

COMPLEXITY: 3. Simple to learn and play, nothing too deep here.

LUCK: 3. Balance of luck and strategy.

Decent little strategy game that doesn't require too much time.

Hive -- Awesome 2-player

Hive is another one of those that was referred to in several discussions. I went ahead and picked up a copy to see what all the fuss was about. Hive actually comes in a strong, square box, but it also comes with a nylon zip-up bag. I discarded my box. Inside comes the rules, and 22 hexagon tiles.

Hive is a 2-player game. You place the tiles adjacent to each other, only touching your own color. The goal is to keep your own queen bee from being surrounded. Once the queen bee has been placed, your pieces can move. Ants move around the outside of the hive, spiders move three spaces, grasshoppers jump other pieces, and beetles can move on top of the hive. As someone who loves chess, I really enjoy hive. It is extremely portable, can be played on any surface, and is easy to pick up and play. The pieces are made of Bakelite, and are extremely durable.

There are already expansions out, adding mosquito and ladybug. They are working on a pillbug expansion to release this year. They also have a smaller "pocket" version, as well as a "carbon" version.

Get it at Amazon for about $25, or BGG for about $15.

FUN: 4. Nearly endless replayability.

THEME: 2. It works into the rules, but it could be a game about anything.

QUALITY: 5. Great quality, from the box to the tiles.

ART: 3. It's okay, nothing fancy.

INTERACTIVITY: 5. Everything you do affects your opponent.

COMPLEXITY: 2/4. Simple to learn and play, but some strategic depths once you pick it up.

LUCK: 1. There is no luck, this game relies entirely on strategy.

This is a great game, and I was extremely happy I got it. Recommended for anyone.

Love Letter -- Not a loving card game

I decided to go ahead and pick up Love Letter after reading about it on the Board Game Geek forums. I didn't actually read about it, I just saw several people commenting how much they loved it, or referring to it as a "staple of their collection. It arrived in the mail, opened it up, and saw what came with it:

I thought that SURELY a game with a grand total of 16 cards and a little baggie of pink wooden cubes could not be that fun. I read the rules (that little booklet by the handmaiden card), and set about playing a game with our normal game group. Everyone has a "hand" of one card. When it's your turn, you draw a second card, and then choose one to discard. Then you carry out whatever action is listed on the card you discarded. The goal is to have the highest-numbered card out of everyone else when the deck runs out. If you do this, you receive a cube. Obtain a certain number of cubes (dependent on the number of players) and you win.

It's simple, but the card text is what makes this game shine. Say I'm holding a guard and countess. I discard the guard, and hold the countess. The guard lets me attempt to guess someone else's hand. If I guess correctly, they have to discard and are out of the game. Most of the cards involve causing someone to discard a card, or trade a card, or compare a card with yours.

You will be calling your opponents various names as they throw you out of the round, or silently kicking yourself for guessing "Prince" instead of "King". It's a quick game, it's a different game, and it's a great travel or filler game.

You can get it at Amazon for about $10, or BGG for around $7.

FUN: 4. Great guessing fun.

THEME: 4. It's a good theme, with a fun little story in the rule booklet to set up the game.

QUALITY: 4. Solid quality, nice bag, decent cards.

ART: 3. Nothing special, but nothing bad either.

INTERACTIVITY: 5. Everything you do affects someone else.

COMPLEXITY: 2. No complexity here.

LUCK: 3. Card draws make it a luck-based game, but the way you use your cards mitigates that somewhat.

Good game, belongs in any collection.