Tiny Epic Dungeons

Tiny Epic Dungeons, by Gamelyn Games, is a cooperative dungeon crawler game with two parts. The first part is the exploring, dispatching of goblins/minions, and enhancing your character. The second part can only be achieved by dispatching a number of minions equal to the number of characters and finding the lair of the final boss. Then the boss, randomly one of six, must be dispatched.

You start on a card representing the stairs. There are four facedown cards on the cardinal points of the doorways. A player gets a heroic action, a move action, and as many free actions as they would like. They can do any of these actions in any order. The rooms have various effects and rewards.

After a player's turn is done, the torch is lowered by one on the torch tracker card. This may trigger enemy actions, add a goblin at the entrance, or end the game on the last space. You may notice that there are four goblin spaces and that is because once all four goblins are on the board and another goblin needs to be added you lose the game. There are also different types of goblins that can be randomly drawn from the goblin deck: stabby, poky, shooty, bomby.

Here is a table at the end of my first solo game, which was unsuccessful. You definitely need to explore to reveal the minions while taking advantage of abilities and dungeon spaces that increase the torch marker on the board. In solo games you play as two heroes.

The eight heroes cover all of the typical tropes and are all different. After dispatching monsters and exploring both characters had very good items that stacked their potency but it came late in the game.

There are eight minions have more than one hit point and are stronger in combat. When dispatched they offer greater rewards and increase the torch marker.

I am looking forward to trying this game again, knowing what I know now. It was confusing deciphering all the symbols and what they mean and requires at least one playthrough before getting the system.

This War of Mine

This War of Mine is a board game unlike any other. Although it has war in the title, this game is about civilians caught in the middle of a conflict just trying to survive in a damaged home and city. Because of the subject matter and decisions that are asked to be made, it is not recommended from young children. There are emotional parts and tragic parts. So why am I taking the time to write this favorable review? It is because it is an important anti-war game.

The creators of this game grew up in Sarajevo siege and spend time to gather stories of civilians during that and other modern conflicts. They then created the video game of the same name. The elements of that game were ported over to this game, which I participated in as a Kickstarter. I did that because of the stories told of others who also lived through those type of situations having cathartic moments they lived through and are able to work out those hidden scars. 

The game is a storytelling puzzle game where there are three characters all the players control. Ultimate control of the characters pass from player to player during the phases representing a day in the lives of the characters. The decisions made by the players will hopefully be the right ones to provide enough food, water, rest, and protection characters and the house. Things can be made, with the right components. The house can be cleared to put those things being made. At night, you have to have characters be on guard to protect what you have and determine if you need to send your people out for needed supplies because during the day soldiers are shooting at whatever moves in the streets.

When decisions are made, there is either a mechanism to determine the results or you have to look up a passage in the book of scripts. This is where the narrative comes from and the stories from those who have lived it. 

You "win" the game by making it to the end of the siege with at least one of the original characters and with a low level of misery. You lose by having anything else happen. It is not a game to be played too often but something that should be played often enough, as a reminder of what people go through when civilians are caught in the middle of a conflict.

I went all in for the Kickstarter and was glad I did. The components are nicely done.

You can download a companion app from the board game makers here. The computer game is available here. 

Terraforming Mars Big Box

I received my Terraforming Mars big box kickstarter! It ended July of 2020 so it only took a year to be designed, made, and shipped which is quite good. Below you see the base game and all the expansions that will fit inside.

It also came with 3D tiles for the game! What you see in the picture fits into the top two tiers of the box.

Here is a closeup of the tiles.

The greenery 3D tiles.

Here is the bottom two tiers holding all the other parts.

The Turmoil political boards as well as the indented player boards, Colony boards, player cubes, metal cubes, corporation cards and box, project cards with sleeves, miscellaneous tokens and first player token.

Here is a closeup of the first player token, the Pathfinder rover.

The metal cubes for keeping track of megacredits and recourses have a good weight.

Here are the trade fleets and turmoil expansion chairman seat.

I am looking forward to playing more of the expansions and regular games in solo mode or with friends.

Maki Games - Modular Underground Dungeon - Wave 2

Wave 2 of the Maki Games Modular Underground Dungeon arrived (wave 1 post is here). Unfortunately the cold temperatures will prevent me from working on these till it warms up some. I'll need a lot of paint primer and dollarstore greys to finish this off, but should go quickly. 

The freebies box has all the bonus items from the kickstarter. The sewer set was an addon that I went for, in particular for Malifax, Frostgrave, and Batman miniature games.

Have I mentioned I need a lot of primer and shades of grey paint...

One Small Step

 One Small Step is a game that I pre-ordered about 11 months ago. Its a worker placement and resource game about the space race between the USSR and the USA to go to the moon. I like many of the Academy Games products for their ease of play and ability to learn about events their games are about. Even Board Game Geek has rated many of their products highly.

I started with the beginner setup, which includes a simpler Earth board and does not include the technology deck. BTW, When I purchased the game I went all in and got the plastic satellite, crew and astronaut miniatures as well as plastic tokens and two expansions (Hidden Heroes and Mission Control). 

Here is a better overview of the beginners setup. The satellite tokens give bonuses for completing satellite missions or specific actions. Each turn four events are available to choose for each players 2 engineers and 2 administrators. The Earth section has options for engineers and administrators but each box can only be chosen by one model, therefore once selected another model cannot choose the other option in the box. There is a media track in the upper right that determines initiative as well as gives bonus media tokens that can be spent anytime for benefits. As some satellite and most crew missions are completed you place a token on your side's moon track and if it was unselected before, receive the crew token. Once a player/side places gets tokens leading up to the moon, it indicates game end at the completion of the launch phase of the turn. The game can be played with two to four players and if more than two, they divide up their space agency workers (engineer/administrator). The game is won not by who placed their token on the moon space first, but by highest victory points at the end.

As the game progresses you receive temporary tokens (white) for Agency, satellite, and crew resources. These can be upgraded to be permanent ones (black) that refresh during phase 2 of a turn. Cards cost resources to buy or are used to complete satellite/crew missions which then grant benefits. Personalities once procured remain and can be activated with resources for benefits. However players can only have three personalities. 

In my first playthrough game, the USSR won. As you can see in the image below, the USA caught up by some risky completed missions.

 

However the USA failed to get enough victory points to beat the USSR, missing it by nine points.

In my second playthrough, I went with the regular setup. 

 

There are a lot more options in the Earth section and more bonuses are opened up after upgrades are activated by events and mission completion. 

 

In this game I went with two different strategies for both sides. For the USSR, I decided on a slow and steady approach: turn temporary resources into permanent ones and focus on the satellite missions until later in the game. Here is the USSR area at the end of the game.

 

The USA approach was one of risk, going for more crew missions earlier. This meant that at the beginning they were further ahead but in the end they could not sustain the pace. Once era two and then three events were revealed, they could not afford the technological breakthroughs as quickly as the USSR. This led to being surpassed in victory points by a very wide margin. The USA redeemed themselves somewhat after dealing with many hazard cards being placed upon them by the USSR with the "Heroic Effort" card which gives two victory points per hazard card, but the jump in points was not nearly enough.

 

After the two playthroughs I want to play this game more. It is one of the most detailed games from Academy Games and the rulebook could be better organized and written, so I am expecting one to be done soon from them with a robust FAQ. It is also educational with facts written below each card as well as the progression of this era of history.

Maki Games - Modular Underground Dungeon - Wave 1

At the end of 2016, I participated in the Maki Games Modular Underground Project kickstarter. Several years before that I participated in another Maki Games kickstarter for modular container modern/sci-fi and although the holes for the pegs had to be enlarged the company promised that this would be corrected in this one. The previous ones do look good, as seen here with my modern Batman themed containers for scenery, so I went for it.

After much back and forth with the factory in China to make it right, and a year and a half after it was supposed to be fulfilled, wave 1 had arrived! Wave 2 will have the kickstarter bonuses, stairs, balconies, sewer dodads, and extras I ordered.

Here is what is in the basic box along with what you can build with it.

 The inside of the box is separated out and the bags are ziplocks. Perfect for keeping the little pegs and posts safe from loss.

 Here are some Warmachine and Malifaux figs for scale.

 How they fit together is with these baton pieces. Above that are the post pegs. 

 Here is what they will look like when assembled. I like the scale and detail. Should drybrush up really good.

 I bought in for five boxes so that I could fill one 3 by 3 Batman, Malifaux, or Carnivale table with multiple levels. Alternatively it could be for a lower level or a part of a table for those games.I will post again once I have painted it up.

Wraith 20 Year Anniversary Edition

Of all the White Wolf games, Wraith was my favorite even though I never played a game. The backstory and theme of playing the recently deceased including playing another players shadow self just tickled me pink.

So when they announced an anniversary edition on Kickstarter, I went for it. It finally arrived several years late but what a product it is.

The font and art throughout are reminiscent of the original art.

The cover has an embossed chain motif, symbolizing the chains that tie the players to the world of the living.

The spine has a Wraith symbol and the title. Nicely done.

The pages are touched on the edges with silver and has lots of pages. It will be a treat to read through.

Carnevale 2 Kickstarter from TTCombat

"Carnevale is a small scale skirmish game focused on freedom of movement combined with brutal combat and impressive magic abilities. Jump from rooftop to rooftop to hunt your opponents's gang, or dive deep into the canals to drown your enemies." 

When Vesper-on, the original manufacturer of Carnevale, went out of business they sold the IP and stock to TTCombat. After a time they released a very successful Kickstarter that I participated in. Three+ years back I had participated in Vesper-on's kickstarter and was impressed with the results but had too many other games on the go. Since then I have painted many models for those games and I think I can diversify enough to add this one to my repertoire so I participated in the TTCombat one with some backpay I received.

The Kickstarter edition of the two player starter has everything you need to play the game, plus extras due to goals levels the company set for bonuses.

 They included cards but there is a good gang builder, with pdf printout option, here. The gangs included int he starter are 100 ducats each, which is a good beginning as most games are 150-200.

 Starter also included cardboard mats for a board, with games being played on a 3ft X 3ft surface. They also included 16 paper buildings and some bridges but regular starter sets will only have eight.

 Dice, templates, and acrylic tokens also came with the starter including a kickstarter coin.

The Raashar are the fish-men cult of the old gods and have various amphibian beasts, magic, and slaves used as snacks for the creatures.

 The Guild are the common folk of Venice organized by the powerful original families of the city.

 I compared the Vesper-on and TTCombat 28mm miniatures and it seems that 28mm is slippery scale. Both are gondoliers but the Vesper-on metal one is leaning a little. Should not matter once they are on the same size bases. The level of detail for both are good.

 One of the levels achieved included an add-on for the starter set that included four more models for each faction: 31 more ducats for Raashar and 40 for Guild.

 I also added a bunch of add-ons that included more Patrician, Guild, Raashar, Gifted, Strigoi models to have full factions when added to my metal Vesper-on models. Plus I got a bunch of MDF terrain, both as levels achieved for free and the rest I bought. The terrain is also sold now by TTCombat here, which I will also use for the Malifaux and Batman miniature games because...why not Batman in Venice?

In 2019 I plan on painting the starter box, starter addons, and scenery with future years adding onto that. Stay tuned to this label thread.