Settlers of Catan.. If you haven't tried it, try it.

Game by Klaus Teuber
Published by I Have no idea
Price: around $25.
Number of players: 2-4 (Best with four, expansions make it up to 6).
Time: 45  - 60 minutes.

Settlers of Catan (hereafter "Catan") is a classic Euro game. I believe it comes from Germany, but to be honest, I did not delve into the back history of the game. In Catan, one takes control of a people settling an island, and attempts to become the best, as measured by victory points. Inside the box:

Wow, that's a lot of pieces! The player pieces are all wooden, which is really nice. There are roads, towns and cities in there, of four different colors. The game "board" is made up of tiles (pictured above) in the rough shape of a circle. Each tile has a different resource it produces (trees produce wood, pastures produce sheep, etc..). The resources produced are represented by some pretty cards, as shown below:

And a picture of the tiles with the cards. Nice artwork here:

Player pieces (in bag, because I'm lazy).

Each player gets one of these, which shows how much everything costs.

On your turn, you roll the dice. Each tile has a number assigned to it at the beginning of the game, and whatever number you roll causes those tiles to produce for whoever has a town or city touching them. You may then spend whatever you want to buy whatever you want. You may also trade with other players. You can stockpile all your resources, but be warned: If someone, including you, rolls a '7', then they get to move the "thief". The thief causes the tile he's on to not produce anything. Also, the player moving the thief gets to steal from someone who touches that tile. Oh, and everyone has to discard half their cards if the have more than 7. That. Sucks.

Aside from buying roads and upgrading towns and such, you can also buy "Development Cards". These either let you perform special actions, or give you straight victory points.

It's a great little game, fun for the whole family, and no violence (if you're into that sort of thing). You can get it from Board Game Geek or from Amazon.

FUN: 4. Solid game, good mechanics, fun for most people.

THEME: 1. I don't really see any theme here.

QUALITY: 4. Wooden pieces, good cardstock, thick cardboard. Good quality.

ART: 4. It's a pretty good-looking game.

INTERACTIVITY: 4. You will trade, you will block other players so that you can
                                    monopolize a resource.

COMPLEXITY: 3. Not too complex, but good depth.

LUCK: 3. Good balance here.

The Collection

So the reviews are going to fly pretty fast through the first couple of weeks. I have a collection already, and when no one is home, I have nothing better to do than to write about the games I've already played. My collections is nowhere near as extensive as some other gamers I've met, but this is it now:

This shelf holds mostly boardgames, with the exception of HEX HEX and Potion Making: Practice.

The smaller shelf holds miscellaneous items on top (Chess, poker set, counters, dice), Card games on the middle (including pirate poker), and Dungeons and Dragons on the bottom.

Acquire: Better than Monopoly

Game by 3M
Published by (I assume) 3M
Price: $20 - $150 (depending on edition)
Number of players: 2 - 6
Time: 45 - 90 minutes

I hate Monopoly. I still play it, and recognize it as a landmark game, but I can not stand it. My problem with Monopoly boils down to this: It is nothing more than rolling the dice over and over again. There are no choices, there is no strategy. The only true choice is whether or not to buy property, and if you don't buy then you will lose. So I say, no choice. Want to play an interesting economic game? Try Acquire instead. Nothing fancy, at least not in my 1968 3M bookshelf edition, but nothing really changed in later editions (except for a couple of pieces). I know this because this is my THIRD copy of this game. I bought it in a thrift store, where it was missing a few cards, back around 1997. Lost it in a move from NC to TX. Got a new copy (Avalon Hill Reprint) around 2004 in VA. Do not know what happened to it, but I suspect someone pilfered it from my stash. Recently got this copy off of Board Game Geek. All of them are similar.

Want to pick up a copy? Miniature Market has some in stock for $20. Of course, plenty of people are selling on Board Game Geek as well. So let's go ahead and look inside the box:

The board is a grid, rows from 1 - 12 and columns from A - I. There are 108 squares, and there are 108 black tiles that match the squares. Some paper money in denominations from 100 - 5000, and some stock certificates.

Each grid square has a black tile that matches is. These tiles are placed in a pile face down. Players keep a "hand" of five tiles. The tiles represent hotels. When two tiles are adjacent to each other, they form a chain, and one of the seven colored tile is placed on top of the black tile that creates a chain. Each player also has a small white card that shows the stock price for each chain based on the number of hotels in the chain. On their turn, a player places a tile, buys up to 3 stock certificates (in any company, but only 3 stock total for the turn), and then draws a new tile.

Eventually, two chains will merge. When this happens, players see who has the most stock in the smaller of the two chains, and then accept major and minor stockholder bonuses. Players may then choose to sell off their stock in the merged chain. This is the primary mechanism for obtaining spendable cash.

Eventually, all the chains are too big to merge (11 or more tiles), or one chain reaches 41 tiles, at which point anyone may declare the game over. Whoever has the most money (cash and stock) wins the game.

Sure, there is some luck involved in the draw of the tiles, but it's mitigated. There are very real choices: whether to buy stock in a given chain, whether to sell off stock in a merged chain, which chain to create, whether or not to even create a chain... It takes a bit of thought. But the game is not needlessly complex either, a new player can pick it up as quickly as anything else.

FUN: 4. This is a solid game.

THEME: 3. This could as easily be a game about pizza restaurants.

QUALITY: 4. Each copy of this I've owned has had pieces that are sturdy.
                       Cardstock, plastic, all of it is appropriate.

ART: 2. This is not a pretty game. Even the reprints really aren't pretty.

INTERACTIVITY: 4. Highly interactive. You will be working together a lot.

COMPLEXITY: 3. Nothing major here.

LUCK: 2. There is luck in the draw of the tiles, but it is mitigated by having a hand of tiles.

Battle Cry

Game by Avalon Hill
Published by Hasbro (I think)
Price: $35 (average)
Number of players: 2
Time: 45 - 60 minutes

Do you know the difference between a Yankee and a damn Yankee?

A Yankee knows when to leave.


Since this was the game that started it all for me, I took a few extra pictures. Let me start by saying that Battle Cry is out of print now, but there are still quite a few people selling used copies on Amazon and on Board Game Geek as well. The price ranges from $10 to $133 depending on the condition. There, that's out of the way.

My copy of Battle Cry has been through around 12 or 13 years of use. I took it with me to University of Mary Washington (where it was played quite frequently), and to Auburn University (where it saw regular play as well). The box has been torn at the corners a little, and there is tape on it, but it is still holding fairly well for the amount of use it has seen.

Dang, that looks like a lot of pieces. A deck of cards, armies for the north and south, terrain tiles, dice, a game board, entrenchment tiles, a rulebook and a neat little plastic tray. On display here are several of the terrain tiles, a few army units, the game board, and a pair of dice. I recently sleeved the cards in this game because they were getting worn slap out, and being that it's out of print, they would be costly to replace.

So as you might guess, one player commands the union army, and the other player commands the confederate army. The game tries to be fairly historically accurate, so there are scenarios listed in the rulebook (without looking I believe it's around 10). To show off just how cool-looking Battle Cry is, I set up the "Battle of Fredericksburg" scenario:

I have done some painting of my figures... When they come new in the box, the union is straight blue and the confederates are straight grey. I was going for "butternut" when I painted these, they came out more "desert khaki", whatever.

You can see blue dotted lines running down the board dividing it into thirds. Your left third is your left flank, then the center, then your right flank. This is important, because you move your units based on the cards you draw. Each card has a section of the battlefield named, as well as the number of units you may activate. Some cards let you move one unit in one section, others let you move 2, 3, or all of your units in a particular section. Some cards call for reinforcements, and others allow you to fire twice. You will notice that in the union right flank they have a large army hiding in the town of Fredericksburg. On the confederate left flank are a few units of infantry and artillery, behind entrenchments and on hills, covering the town daring the union to advance.

Combat is relatively simple. Basically, the closer you are to the enemy the more dice you can roll. You name the target enemy unit you are firing at, determine how many dice to roll, and then the number of symbols you roll that match the enemy unit score hits. You can also score retreats, which force the enemy backwards. The goal to win a scenario is to capture six enemey flags. You capture a flag when you COMPLETELY destroy a unit. My brother Dave's favorite little jerk tactic is to advance his infantry, shoot till they sustain massive casualties, and then back them away and hide behind artillery. It's annoying, really.

The different terrain types matter as well. Hills increase the range of artillery, trees protect units by decreasing the effectiveness of an attacker, buildings over huge defensive bonuses, rivers hamper units inside of them... Even line of sight matter. A unit cannot fire through trees, buildings or hills. There are other terrains as well that are not used in this scenario that have their own effects. The above pictures are just because the game looks so dang cool that I had to show you.

FUN: 5. Always down for a game of Battle Cry, and so is everyone else.

THEME: 5. Historical games usually have rich themes.

QUALITY: 5. It's held up since before 2002 or so, and a lot of heavy use.

ART: 3. It is not a particularly beautiful game.

INTERACTIVITY: 4. Not every move will affect your opponent, but most of them will.

COMPLEXITY: 3. You will probably check the rulebook from time to time. Nothing major.

LUCK: 3. Luck involved in dice rolling and card drawing, but manageable.

HEX HEX XL

Game by Smirk & Dagger Games
Published by Smirk & Dagger Games
Price paid: $35 (New)
Number of Players: 3-6 (best with 4)
Time: 15 - 75 minutes (Depends on how long YOU want it)


This fast-paced, quick thinking card game is a blast! I got my copy of the XL edition new from Amazon a week or so ago. The game box is solid and pretty, covered with alchemy symbols. The game overall has a sort of "understated-quality" type look and feel. The box comes with a plastic tray that has little compartments for each deck of cards, as well as places for the other pieces. Unfortunately, after I sleeved the cards they no longer fit in the tray. So my tray is in the trash, replaced with plastic baggies.

There are a TON of components for being such a simple game. The tokens and cardboard pieces punched out of their sheets so easily they almost fell out. No tearing or screwed-up edges at all. Smirk & Dagger did a fantastic job of thinking "Okay, if we make this rule, how can we make it easy for the players to keep track of?"

See, a typical game has each player holding five of the "HEX HEX" cards. Then the player to the left of the dealer calls out "HEX HEX: <someone's name>" and it is SO on. You slide a hex hex token at the named player, and they play a card that throws it at someone else. The new target then tries to deflect it, and so on. Some cards can deflect it and enhance it, or multiply it, or destroy it. We have had 4 and even 6 different hex tokens flying around at once. All the tokens move simultaneously, so there have been times when we had to hold still while we tried to figure out who was hosed. The goal of the game is to be the person who deflects a hex onto another player and it explodes on them. If you threw it at them, you gain points and they lose points.

Our play rounds sound something like this:

"Oh screw you."
"Nope, screw YOU"
"Crap, deflect across!"
"Turn aside right"
"NO COME ON!!! *Sigh* Draw fire"
Turn aside right"
"Gah! I'm out of cards. How much do I lose?"

Interesting (and reminiscent of college drinking games), the winner of a round of play gets to make up a rule for the rest of the game. We particularly liked "if your voice (points) is 0 or less, you may not speak until it is positive again". You will notice that there are some other cards up there. Most of the cards are "HEX HEX" cards, but there are about 25 "VEXED" cards, and maybe 15 "HEXEN STIX" cards. This is because the XL edition combines the original HEX HEX and it's first expansion. We have not used the "VEXED" expansion (it's designed for quick, 4-hand games), but we have played with the HEXEN STIX variant, and that is our favorite. You see the black and tan sticks? Well, you take as many of those as there are players minus 1. You place these in a circle in the middle of the table (make sure you have at least one of each color), and then you play as normal. There are some special "grab" cards that when played everyone has to try to snatch a stick from the center of the table. One person gets no stick. Then you draw a "HEXEN STIX" card and do what it says. It'll have 3 things, one for tan sticks, one for black sticks, and one for no sticks. Most of the tan sticks are really good, most of the black sticks are fairly good, and most of the no sticks are REALLY bad. It adds a fun element to the game when you're diving across the table to snatch a stick.

Art-wise, the game is pretty in its own way. Remember that "understated-quality" thing I was talking about?

Yeah. I like the gold-on-black look of the cards, the neat alchemy symbols, even the backs are nice looking. I wouldn't call it beautiful by any means, but it's a pretty good looking game... Like that girl in the back of the classroom who wears her hair down but when you actually look at it it's like a layered $200 haircut. Oh, and she's hot.

FUN: 5. This game is a blast. It's fun winning or losing.

THEME: 3. Yeah, okay, the theme is kinda fun, but honestly it could be about bombs
                   and still be the same game.

QUALITY: 4. Sturdy cards, strong box, quality tokens.

ART: 4. I hovered over a 3, but it really does fit with the game, and it does look nice.

INTERACTIVITY: 5. The definition of interactive.

COMPLEXITY: 2. This is not a super-deep thinking game. Read the cards in your hand,
                               know what they do, play.

LUCK: 4. It's a card game. There's a lot of luck.

I recommend HEX HEX XL to anyone who wants a game they can play with their friends. Everyone, gamer or no, who has played my copy loves it.

Potion Making: Practice

Game by Sergey Machin.

Published by RightGames.

Price paid: $20 (used)

Number of Players: 1-6

Time: 45 - 60 minutes.

This is a card game from Russia. I got my hands on the English edition last week and sat down to play a game with the wife the other night. First off, let me just say that the box is pretty. It is designed to look like a potion recipe book when sitting on the shelf and does so well. Open the box and you are greeted with a few pieces of paper, a stack of cards, and some plastic men. I have reorganized and sleeved my copy, but no other changes have been made.

The cards in this game are beautiful. The wife commented multiple times how pretty she though the artwork was. Now, I do not play games for the artwork, but when I have to stare at the cards for an hour or so, it's nice when they're pleasant to look at.

The game has one page, front and back, of rules. Despite that one page, it is still fairly complex. On your turn, you draw a card from the deck, and then play a card from your hand. That's it. Those are the game mechanics. Now, to play a card from your hand you can play it to the "Desk of Elements" (center table) as an element (the big picture lower right on a card, "Crystal of Air" on the above card), or as a formula (anywhere on table) if you have the required ingredients (listed top left on the card). Here's the kicker: You can use any potions, elements, or anything else that is already played onto the table. Even if played by your opponents! So for instance, if the wife were to play "Elixer of Fidelity" and then "Telepathic Potion" (wouldn't that be a mix?), I could then use her potions to play "The Palantirium Talisman" (Card above). The number in the top right of the card is the number of points you get for completing the card. 

If that doesn't seem too difficult, there are then several "spell" cards that allow you to do clever things, like keeping a potion and reusing the ingredients, or taking a card from the desk of elements and then playing it as a formula. These add a bit of variety and if used correctly can help you gain a surge in points. 

Overall, I'm happy to have gotten my hands on this game. Unfortunately, it seems to be out of print now, and of Russian origin to boot. There are several sellers on Board Game Geek, and I believe it can also be found on Ebay. There are two expansions to this game: "Potion Making: University Course" and "Potion Making: Alchemists Guild". Bother require "Potion Making: Practice" to play, so make sure you don't accidentally get an expansion.

RATINGS:

FUN: 4. I really enjoyed this game. It is not for everyone, but I think it will be a regular for us.

THEME: 4. The theme here really fits with the mechanics of the game. 

QUALITY: 3. The cards are reasonable thick, and the plastic pieces are strong. The box feels 

                       a little flimsy because it is thin cardboard.

ART: 5. I have to give the artwork a 5.. It is a beautiful game.

INTERACTIVITY: 3. It is an interactive game, as your opponents moves matter.

COMPLEXITY: 3. Some folks think this is a complex game. There are some moving parts, 

                               but it is not too incredibly difficult to handle.
LUCK: 3. There is some luck involved, but it's manageable. 

I would recommend "Potion Making: Practice" to anyone who enjoys a quiet, low intensity thinking game.

On sleeving:

I sleeve my games. In some of the pictures I post you will see cards in protective sleeves. It makes shuffling a little bit more of a pain, but it otherwise doesn't affect gameplay.

The cost to sleeve a game is roughly $3 - $6, depending on how many cards are in the game. Most games cost anywhere from $12 - $85. I'd rather sleeve than potentially lose cards to scratches from something on the table, grubby hands, ripping, tearing, or some other horror. It's cheap and effective, and I believe it is a good idea.

That being said, some games are not played very often, and I have not sleeved them yet because the ones that get played with some degree of frequency are the priority.

Rating system and such.

I like games. I like all kinds of games. I do not care if they're card games, party games, video games, tabletop games, practical games or board games. I like games because I like to have fun, and while there are plenty of enjoyable activities that may or may not have anything to do with gaming (or fun), games are geared specifically towards fun.

 See, I was home schooled from Preschool all the way through High School. I have a metric ton of siblings, and I had a lot of friends, but I never did really play any sports or have anything that took a major chunk of my time. I ran around outside and built incredibly dangerous "shelters" and bridges in the woods with my friends, and God only know how many trees we cut down in the prime of their lives. But as far as free time went, I had a lot of it, and finding things to occupy that time (when you can't really leave the house due to being too young to drive) were getting to be repetitive. Yeah, we had an NES growing up (Legend of Zelda anyone?), and eventually a Playstation (Crash Bandicoot?) but we didn't have a lot of games that could be played with other people. It really boiled down into "someone plays while everyone else watches". There were a couple of two-player games, but those were few and far between.

 Eventually we moved to Virginia. My mother, being an incredible bibliophile, was always at the local library. One day she saw a flier for some kind of after-school game activity hosted by the library, and signed both me and my sister Jace (the one 18 months younger than me) up for the activity. Now let me tell you, the man who was actually running the activity? He was awesome. This guy (I wish I knew his name) bought board games, played them, and then modified them. This particular activity was one of his games he had modified. He had taken "Battlecry", a civil-war era miniature-and-cards war game, and after obtaining a few supplemental decks of cards (and modifying the rules ever so slightly), had turned it from a two-player game into a six-player game. He had set up two of these, so that a total of 12 players could play. Jace and I wound up at separate tables, but both wound up being the union. The host presented the rules, and the battle scenario was the battle of Fredericksburg. He had painstakingly painted all the plastic pieces so they looked more realistic. We played our games, I lost mine (by a margin of 1 point), Jace won hers (by a margin of 2 points, and despite the fact that her teammate ran all the union troops on the right flank out of the city and into the waiting and fortified artillery of the confederates).

I was hooked. Until that day, the best board game I had ever played was "Risk", and that game was a total dice-fest. I mean, come on, ever played Risk? It pretty much looks like this:

 Player 1: Alright, I'm attacking from Australia to Asia. Hand me the three red dice.
 Player 2: *Takes two white dice*
 Player 1 rolls
 Player 2 rolls
 Player 1: I lose one, you lose two.
 REPEAT UNTIL EVERYONE WANTS TO DIE, AND THEN LET PLAYERS 3-6 DO THE SAME THING.

 But this was different. There was different terrain, different unit types, different strategies... It was a whole new world! We told our mother how much we had enjoyed it (I told her I wanted a copy of Battlecry probably a dozen times) and she signed us up for another one the next month. And the next month. After that third one, I remember the man stopped coming to the library due to summer being over, and by the time the next year rolled around it was full all the time so we never got to play again. But those first three got me. I received a copy of Battlecry for my birthday, a copy of Sid Meiers Civilization: The Board Game for Christmas, and then found a local game shop. I purchased Nexus Ops, Grass, Some Star Wars game I don't remember, as well as a few other games I no longer own (gave away).

My collection continues to grow (sometimes slowly, I did not get a whole lot of games while in college), and I still love playing games. I've found that the more informed I am about a game, the less likely I am to wind up with some overpriced cardboard and a really lame rulebook. I like to talk about games, but trust me, you look like an idiot when you ask someone "hey, ever heard of Twilight Imperium?" and they think you're talking about the next Stephanie Meyer book because all they've ever played is "Monopoly". So I decided to get my talk on here, and perhaps someone else will read something I write, and it will save them from winding up with some trash in a pretty box. Or maybe (as is often the case with me), they'll read something I write, try it out, and find a gem of a game that they are forever introducing people to.

 Finally, we reach the part of the post that matches the title. This is the rating system I will use, with everything being a 1-5 scale:

 FUN: 1: Not fun at all. I will not play it again.
          2: It can be fun, but only in select circumstances. Probably won't play it again.
          3: Eh, it's okay. I will play it with other people if they request it.
          4: This is a fun game. I will happily play it again and might suggest it myself.
          5: This game rules! I regularly suggest it and don't care if I win or lose just so long as we
              can play.

THEME: 1: Theme has little to nothing to do with the game. Pasted on.
               2: The theme is there, but it's boring.
               3: Theme is interesting but has nothing to do with the game.
               4: Theme is interesting and the game has some interesting rules because of it.
               5: Rich and interesting theme. Totally draws you into the game world.

 QUALITY: 1: Cheap components, nothing really shines here. Maker cut corners and it shows.
                        (misprints, flimsy materials, etc...)
                    2: Some neat pieces, but flimsy and break easily.
                    3: Some neat pieces, fairly durable, maybe a couple of flimsy components.
                    4: Neat pieces, proper material used, no misprints.
                    5: Really unique, durable pieces.

 ART: 1: The game was printed on wood from the ugly tree.
          2: Simplistic art, no real thought.
          3: Average art, about what you would expect.
          4: Unique art, done well and fits with the game.
          5: Unique, beautiful art that fits with the game and enhances enjoyment.

 INTERACTIVITY: 1: This might as well be a solo game. Nothing you do really affects other
                                    players.
                                2: Very little interactivity. Something you do may affect someone
                                    three or four turns down the road. Maybe.
                                3: Interactive. You have to take your opponents possible moves into
                                    account.
                                4: Very interactive. If you fail to plan for your opponents possible moves it
                                    will cost you dearly.
                                5: Almost everything you do affects your opponents immediately or nearly
                                    immediately.

COMPLEXITY: 1: This is simple. This is war (with playing cards).
                           2: This is simple. There are a twist or two, but nothing major.
                           3: This is average. A few moving parts, a couple things to keep track of and plan
                               with/for. 
                           4: This is complex. A lot of moving parts, a thick rulebook, a lot to remember.
                           5: You will refer to the rulebook often. You will not remember everything.

LUCK: 1: No luck involved. In any way.
            2: A little luck, maybe a dice roll here and there.
            3: An even balance of luck and strategy.
            4: A lot of luck. Most of the game is rolling dice or something similar.
            5: Nothing but luck.

 The overall rating will be the FUN rating, because after all, that's what games are all about. The other ratings are not really good or bad based on the numerical score, they're just there so that you can understand whether or not this game is likely to be a fit for you. Some people prefer a cheap, simple, themeless game. Other people would like a complex, large, barely interactive game. Those ratings are really just descriptors.