Telling you about the game:
This is a die rolling, family friendly game that can be two to four players. You pick a Unicorn (Glitterluck, Stardust, Marvel Flower and Magic Heart are the four to choose from) to move through a 26 cloud space track that has rainbows, presents, and colorful art.The winner of this game will not necessarily be the first one to the finish as you want to be the one with the most cloud crystals when someone or yourself has reached the finish line.
You have two dice that are used. The first one is the movement die (d6), this has two sides that have one cloud each, two sides that have two clouds each, one side that has three clouds, and the last side has a cupcake. You move whatever amount of clouds you roll, otherwise if you roll a cupcake your unicorn stops to take a break and eat the cupcake (no move for that turn). Who knew unicorns eat cupcakes? The second die is when you land on a cloud that has a crystal marking on it, because you then get to roll this die. This die is a d6 that has three sides with one crystal each, two sides that have two crystals each, and the last side has three crystals. You get as many crystals as you have rolled. If you land on a cloud with a present on it, you give one crystal from the bank to any player at the table (my family normally gives this one to the person who has the lowest amount). If you land on a cloud that has no markings on it, nothing happens. If you land on a cloud that is at the start of a rainbow, you immediately get to move to the cloud at the end of the rainbow(you can never move backwards in the game for any reason). The first person who gets to the end receives a finishing bonus of four crystals.
What do you get in the game?
You have the game board, that is made up of three parts, as one side is the cloud and rainbows track, and the other side is to help anyone who might have a hard time counting their crystals (young or old) by having four cloud tracks that go up to twenty spaces for players to lay out their crystals and know exactly how many they have. You have 1 yellow unicorn (Stardust), 1 purple unicorn (Marvel Flower), 1 turquoise unicorn (Magic Heart), and 1 pink unicorn (Glitterluck). You have the two dice already previously described. The game instructions and 60 cloud crystals are included as well. The instructions are in English, German, French, and Spanish, at least for the copy I am describing to you.
The latest playthrough by my family and I:
-Dad finished first and ended up with 7 crystals
-Our daughter Talia won with 10 crystals as she was three spaces away from the end
-Mom had 3 crystals and she was four spaces away from the end
-Our son Arnold had 5 crystals and was eleven spaces away from the end
Stats from the game board:
-26 spaces from start to finish
-3 spaces move you ahead via rainbows
-9 spaces allow you to roll for cloud crystals
-3 spaces have you give out a cloud crystal to someone else
-13 spaces have no effect
-the final space gives you four crystals if you are the first one there
Final Thoughts:
This is a light family friendly game that encourages and supports little ones gaining an understanding of game rules, game movement, dice rolls, and collecting resources. The game takes a warm turn not only through its family friendly nature (unicorns,rainbows,presents, bright warm colors, and pretty see-through crystals)but also encouraging players to decide who they will give crystals to.
The game plays in about twenty minutes with little ones, and is a great way to get your children to the table, and spend valuable family time with them. The age listing is 3 to 99, and our little ones are 7 and 5, so this game holds true to its claims.
This is a must have for those families who want to be at the table with their young ones, who seek a quick game so as not to bog everyone down, and is very cheerful to those who play it. If you seek any of these things then this game is for you!
Thank your for reading another PaladinElliott review, and please seek out my Ready To Game Podcast that can be found on Soundcloud and Itunes. Also you can reach me at jasonlynnelliott@gmail.com if there is a game you want me to review and cover for you!
All the best,
Jason Elliott (PaladinElliott)
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
My review and playthrough of Tesla vs Edison: The Powering Up Expansion
Hello again,
I am Jason Elliott (PaladinElliott) and here is my first review and commentary (publicly) on the Tesla vs Edison: Powering Up! Expansion. Please note that this session excluded Robots, which allow there to be more players (such like bots in computer games) that adhere to a strict set of instructions, if you choose to include them (which you can choose from anyone of the six). The six inventors (to remind everyone) are Nikola Tesla, Thomas A. Edison, Elihu Thomson, Charles F. Brush, Sir Hiram Maxim, and the latest addition is Madam C.J. Walker.
This expansion and a major focus on introducing the females of the time. Ones who contributed, ones who play some role in the War of Currents. The stats on Madam Walker's card put her right in step with the rest of her counterparts, so right from the get go that is a great thing to have.
To go back to the robots, they will play before the players do during the six turns. I am not going into too much detail here, as I am treated everyone as if they are familiar with the base game at this point. All of this allows a solo player to have a lighter or heavier difficulty game against the other inventors as robots.
Changes with this prototype expansion include:Events are introduced to the game, Events can now occur right after the bidding but before the rest of the turn, the adjustment of cards to be drawn from for the game (number of Propaganda, Luminary, and Event Cards, with the main reason being the addition of a possible sixth player.Each Inventor now has their personal Headquarters in play, and with this is allowed to be built up to four parts to support the Inventor. These are the Laboratory, Works, Office, and Studio. To build one of these you must dedicate one of your Luminaries or Head Inventor to building one that shares the same icon (bolt, gear, dollar sign, or horn). In doing so you can increase your point total, and gain additional powers to last for the rest of the game. The new step list as follows is
-bidding on the Luminaries that are out
-resolve a new event card, and adjust stock prices as necessary
-take robot actions first, otherwise players take their actions in order from the fame track, choosing from claiming 1 project, advancing 1 technology, engaging in Propaganda, or expanding their Headquarters.
-Bookkeeping, adjust the fame track, and the highest player receives a gain in stock equal to the phase (1,2,3), player or players with the highest level patent in the leading technology get a stock gain equal to the phase, move the AC/DC gauge one step back towards center (if it is not already on center), players take cash equal to the profit listed on the board for their stock price, and then in reverse fame order, you may trade one stock for another, paying or receiving the difference, then you may buy any one share of stock (except of the brand you traded, if you traded) and you reduce or increase stock accordingly (unless it is turn 6, the end turn).
-Refresh, where you flip all the Luminaries face up, discard the event card, advance the turn track, after the second and fourth turn refresh the Propaganda cards and have a Luminary auction
-After turn 6 the game is over
Final Scoring:
Stock holdings work as the highest price company stock value will receive 6 points for each of their stock. Second place is 5 each, Third place is 4 each and so on. Your Final Cash holdings is whoever has the highest receives 6 points, the second highest receives 5, and so on. For completing parts of your Headquarters scoring is as follows, by building one part you receive 1 point, building two parts gets you 3 points, building three parts gets you 6 points, and building all four gets you 10 points. Not building any of your parts results in receiving 0 point for this category of scoring. There will be bonus points for you to collect through the game through the use of the parts of your Headquarters, so pay attention to what your options are, and plan ahead for building them to have maximum effect for the rest of the game! In the case of a tie breaker, the company with the highest value of stock is the winner.
Session summed up:
Played with the following: all luminaries, projects, and propaganda was from the Powering Up Expansion.
Did not include robots.
A two player game between Rob (as Sir Hiram Maxim) and myself (Thomas Edison)
Rob had 71 to finish on the stock track, I had 65.
Rob and I both completed all of our Headquarters (all four parts)
Rob had $33,000 cash at the end, and I had $32,000
Rob had Propaganda 1 James Garfield, Propaganda 2 Death of Ulysses S. Grant, and Propaganda 3 Benjamin Harrison. I had Propaganda 1 Rutherford B. Hayes, Propaganda 2 Chester Arthur, and Propaganda 3 Grover Cleveland.
Rob had Luminaries 1 Sarah E. Goode, 2 Mary Anderson, 2 Bertha Lamme Feicht. I had for Luminaries 1 Fannie Farmer, 1 Edmonia Lewis, and 2 Samuel Insull.
There was an unused Luminary 2 Josephine Cochrane.
Rob had 6 points for cash, 10 for his headquarters, 3pts for groups, 1 Edison share for 5 points, and 7 Maxim shares for 42 points, giving him a final total of 66 points. I had 5 points for cash, 10 points for headquarters, 6 shares of Edison stock for 30 points, and 4 points for Level 1 and 2 projects. This gave me a final total of 49 points.
Some thoughts to share:
What we both liked: The new thing was cool. The women were balanced and equally powerful in comparison to times we had played before with the male characters. The headquarters option along with building to it, giving those new options incorporated more strategy into the game. The speed and balance of the game seemed to be unaffected by this new expansion. It played smooth with it, and there wasn't anything wrong with how it added to the game play.
What we both disliked: We both didn't like how the stock value was only to be used in determining the 6, 5, 4 and so on scoring of points. We liked how if you ran the stock you got that value, and so it felt like it nerfed the "run with stock" option.
In closing:
I love this prototype expansion and the base game! It satisfies the Science and History love that I have. It also allows for many more options and strategies to take place in the game. It adds a sixth player to the field so games can be increased. It grants the robot features, so now their is an excellent solo/many players option which in my opinion greatly increases the replay ability of this game! I think if you like Inventor games, games where you can build something and reap benefits over the long term, want to enjoy a great with a STRONG and accurate theme covering Science and History for the United States, a game where every decision matters, then look no further, because all of this is for you! 10 out of 10 for me!
Please like and share to help promote me going forward. I am Jason Elliott (PaladinElliott) with my first podcast of Ready To Game starting Friday, May 6th, 2016, and offer my services to demo, record, play, improve, test, and teach games as a Game Consultant!
Thank you for your time in reading this report!
I am Jason Elliott (PaladinElliott) and here is my first review and commentary (publicly) on the Tesla vs Edison: Powering Up! Expansion. Please note that this session excluded Robots, which allow there to be more players (such like bots in computer games) that adhere to a strict set of instructions, if you choose to include them (which you can choose from anyone of the six). The six inventors (to remind everyone) are Nikola Tesla, Thomas A. Edison, Elihu Thomson, Charles F. Brush, Sir Hiram Maxim, and the latest addition is Madam C.J. Walker.
This expansion and a major focus on introducing the females of the time. Ones who contributed, ones who play some role in the War of Currents. The stats on Madam Walker's card put her right in step with the rest of her counterparts, so right from the get go that is a great thing to have.
To go back to the robots, they will play before the players do during the six turns. I am not going into too much detail here, as I am treated everyone as if they are familiar with the base game at this point. All of this allows a solo player to have a lighter or heavier difficulty game against the other inventors as robots.
Changes with this prototype expansion include:Events are introduced to the game, Events can now occur right after the bidding but before the rest of the turn, the adjustment of cards to be drawn from for the game (number of Propaganda, Luminary, and Event Cards, with the main reason being the addition of a possible sixth player.Each Inventor now has their personal Headquarters in play, and with this is allowed to be built up to four parts to support the Inventor. These are the Laboratory, Works, Office, and Studio. To build one of these you must dedicate one of your Luminaries or Head Inventor to building one that shares the same icon (bolt, gear, dollar sign, or horn). In doing so you can increase your point total, and gain additional powers to last for the rest of the game. The new step list as follows is
-bidding on the Luminaries that are out
-resolve a new event card, and adjust stock prices as necessary
-take robot actions first, otherwise players take their actions in order from the fame track, choosing from claiming 1 project, advancing 1 technology, engaging in Propaganda, or expanding their Headquarters.
-Bookkeeping, adjust the fame track, and the highest player receives a gain in stock equal to the phase (1,2,3), player or players with the highest level patent in the leading technology get a stock gain equal to the phase, move the AC/DC gauge one step back towards center (if it is not already on center), players take cash equal to the profit listed on the board for their stock price, and then in reverse fame order, you may trade one stock for another, paying or receiving the difference, then you may buy any one share of stock (except of the brand you traded, if you traded) and you reduce or increase stock accordingly (unless it is turn 6, the end turn).
-Refresh, where you flip all the Luminaries face up, discard the event card, advance the turn track, after the second and fourth turn refresh the Propaganda cards and have a Luminary auction
-After turn 6 the game is over
Final Scoring:
Stock holdings work as the highest price company stock value will receive 6 points for each of their stock. Second place is 5 each, Third place is 4 each and so on. Your Final Cash holdings is whoever has the highest receives 6 points, the second highest receives 5, and so on. For completing parts of your Headquarters scoring is as follows, by building one part you receive 1 point, building two parts gets you 3 points, building three parts gets you 6 points, and building all four gets you 10 points. Not building any of your parts results in receiving 0 point for this category of scoring. There will be bonus points for you to collect through the game through the use of the parts of your Headquarters, so pay attention to what your options are, and plan ahead for building them to have maximum effect for the rest of the game! In the case of a tie breaker, the company with the highest value of stock is the winner.
Session summed up:
Played with the following: all luminaries, projects, and propaganda was from the Powering Up Expansion.
Did not include robots.
A two player game between Rob (as Sir Hiram Maxim) and myself (Thomas Edison)
Rob had 71 to finish on the stock track, I had 65.
Rob and I both completed all of our Headquarters (all four parts)
Rob had $33,000 cash at the end, and I had $32,000
Rob had Propaganda 1 James Garfield, Propaganda 2 Death of Ulysses S. Grant, and Propaganda 3 Benjamin Harrison. I had Propaganda 1 Rutherford B. Hayes, Propaganda 2 Chester Arthur, and Propaganda 3 Grover Cleveland.
Rob had Luminaries 1 Sarah E. Goode, 2 Mary Anderson, 2 Bertha Lamme Feicht. I had for Luminaries 1 Fannie Farmer, 1 Edmonia Lewis, and 2 Samuel Insull.
There was an unused Luminary 2 Josephine Cochrane.
Rob had 6 points for cash, 10 for his headquarters, 3pts for groups, 1 Edison share for 5 points, and 7 Maxim shares for 42 points, giving him a final total of 66 points. I had 5 points for cash, 10 points for headquarters, 6 shares of Edison stock for 30 points, and 4 points for Level 1 and 2 projects. This gave me a final total of 49 points.
Some thoughts to share:
What we both liked: The new thing was cool. The women were balanced and equally powerful in comparison to times we had played before with the male characters. The headquarters option along with building to it, giving those new options incorporated more strategy into the game. The speed and balance of the game seemed to be unaffected by this new expansion. It played smooth with it, and there wasn't anything wrong with how it added to the game play.
What we both disliked: We both didn't like how the stock value was only to be used in determining the 6, 5, 4 and so on scoring of points. We liked how if you ran the stock you got that value, and so it felt like it nerfed the "run with stock" option.
In closing:
I love this prototype expansion and the base game! It satisfies the Science and History love that I have. It also allows for many more options and strategies to take place in the game. It adds a sixth player to the field so games can be increased. It grants the robot features, so now their is an excellent solo/many players option which in my opinion greatly increases the replay ability of this game! I think if you like Inventor games, games where you can build something and reap benefits over the long term, want to enjoy a great with a STRONG and accurate theme covering Science and History for the United States, a game where every decision matters, then look no further, because all of this is for you! 10 out of 10 for me!
Please like and share to help promote me going forward. I am Jason Elliott (PaladinElliott) with my first podcast of Ready To Game starting Friday, May 6th, 2016, and offer my services to demo, record, play, improve, test, and teach games as a Game Consultant!
Thank you for your time in reading this report!
My review and playtest of Watchmen of Destiny
I was chosen to perform a playtest and review of Watchmen of Destiny, and recruited these fine chaps to help:
and
TIME OF PLAY:
So our play session stared at 6pm and ended at 7:30 pm. So it was 90 minutes. It was also our first session.
WHAT IS THIS GAME ABOUT AND HOW DO YOU PLAY?
You want to have the highest amount of points at the end to win. To do this you use cards (Watchmen) that have coin values on them, you discard them as money to spend on building tents, and when you have a tent built you can hire a Watchmen (up to 6 races of animals depending on the number of players) to take that tent position. The races are Rabbit, Otter, Owl, Dog, Mouse, and Cat.
The animal has a class that goes with it (which consist of Warriors that gives a +1 point for each one you have at the end of the game, an Assassin that allows you to go through 5 cards from the Watchmen Deck, choose one for yourself, and place the other 4 back on the deck in the order that you want, Mage which allows you to take 2 cards from the Discard deck, and return one either from the two or from your hand to the Discard deck, Hunter which adds 2 gold to any purchase of tents or Watchmen, Ninja which allows you to call out NINJA! and take the top card from the discard pile when another player is using cards to pay for a purchase). You will also have items that are played each turn, and in addition to the items abilities, the card will also dictate how many cards you draw for that turn, and how many total actions you can use that turn (as long as you have Watchmen out on tents that have actions that they can take, and that will be denoted by circles above the card on the tent).
Each card has a point value which you add up at the end, then adding what it call Majority Bonuses, so say I have 3 Cats in play, Kyle has 2 Cats in play, and Rob has 1 Cat in play at the end, then I have majority, and I add up all the cats in play 3+2+1 and receive 6 points to my score as a Animal majority bonus. You conduct this bonus for every race that is in play for your game, and ties mean all those involved in the tie receive zero points. You can then suffer negative points for duplicating a card that has the same race and class (ignore the number on this card for the negative penalty). For each duplication, you suffer -1 point to your final tally.
So you start with prepping the Watchmen Deck with a number of races of animals that is one more than the number of players in the game (2 players have 3, 3 players have 4 races). Then shuffling the Watchmen Deck, deal out the appropriate number of cards according to the number of players (3 cards to 2 or 3 player game, or 2 cards to 4 or 5 player game)to each player. The player who last pet an animal in real life will be the starting playing and will have the Necklace item in addition to having one other item out when they play their turn. When a Watchmen goes out, you will see a number on the bottom-middle of the card, and that will signify the number of maximum actions that Watchmen will be allowed to take during the game.
So you will basically have some cards Watchmen Cards to start with, and some Item cards to start with, you will choose an item, play it and follow its special ability, draw Watchmen Cards dictated by the item card played (number on the bottom left), purchase tents at a cost of 1 gold each, 7 tents is the maximum, and then hire Watchmen to be stationed at those tents. Perform actions if you can, the number of actions you can take during a turn comes from the item card you played (the bottom right number) and when you can't or choose not to do anything else you pass your turn. When you use the cards for money you will see on the card money icons running along the lower left side border of the card. The cards will either have one, two, or three money icons, and that is how much money it is worth. If I turn in one card with 3 icons, then I have three money. I can spend that 3 on 3 tents (a tent is 1 each) or that 3 can be spent on hiring a watchmen (their hiring cost is the same number in the top left that also denotes how many victory points they are worth at the end. I cannot split the amount as 1 on tents, and 2 on hiring, as the purchase can only be one or the other.
END GAME CONDITION: When someone has hired their seventh Watchmen, they make the current round the final round of the game. Any players that have not played during that round get to finish their turns and then the game is over and points are counted in the way previously mentioned.
WHAT TYPE OF GAME IS THIS AND WHO WOULD LIKE IT?
People who like card games, who like fantasy themed games, who like light deckbuilding, action point allowance systems, variable player powers, and the big one Hand Management. If any of these interest you, then there is a decent chance this is a game you would like to play. We think ages 10 and up would be appropriate for this game based on the point counting, set matching, and ability factors of the game.
COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS CONCERNING PLAY:
Tents should have incremental gain, the first one you buy is one, the second is two, and the third is three. Do you choose the necklace and another item from other players before a new round starts? The Mage ability could be made more clear by saying "from the top of the deck" on the abilities card. Maybe there could be more item cards introduced to increase the replayability factor? I would score this an 8 on BGG. The mechanics are sound. I had 28 points at the end which was last place out of 3 players (I have 4 Cats and 1 Owl, had Cat Majority for 6 pts + 23 straight points -1 for one duplicate). There could be room for more strategy, but it was nice to have options to mitigate the luck. Clarifications and better wording for the cheat cards would help all players. There is a need to clarify "from the discard pile" on cards such as Dartboard, or the cheat card for Mage. The group assumed it was from the top. Rob had 35 points for the win, 30 from the straight points and +5 point for the Bunny Majority. Rob rates it a 6 on BGG. For Rob it is very light and his decisions felt very obvious. Kyle had similar comments such as Assassin needs to be reworded to state that you are pulling from the Main Watchmen Deck. He goes on saying that the Letter Card needs to state where the card is being stolen from, is it from a player's hand or from the board? Kyle was wondering if you can call "Ninja!" on any of the cards used in a purchase? He was second place with 33 points which came from 28 straight points and +5 for Owl Majority. We did have one animal tie, and no one had majority for it. Kyle felt for him it lost points for being only light in strategy, He scored it a 7 from the BGG scale, with the stipulation that the score is based off of those who would be into this type of game.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
It was a fun experience, with a nice fantasy theme, and we joked it could be called WATCHMEN OF DESTINY: A LIGHT AND FLUFFY GAME due to not only being a light game in tactics and strategy, but also a fluff game that can easily go in between heavier games being played (along with the Watchmen being all fluffy little wuvable creatures!). It is fun for what it is. A cute card game.
-END OF REPORT-
and
TIME OF PLAY:
So our play session stared at 6pm and ended at 7:30 pm. So it was 90 minutes. It was also our first session.
WHAT IS THIS GAME ABOUT AND HOW DO YOU PLAY?
You want to have the highest amount of points at the end to win. To do this you use cards (Watchmen) that have coin values on them, you discard them as money to spend on building tents, and when you have a tent built you can hire a Watchmen (up to 6 races of animals depending on the number of players) to take that tent position. The races are Rabbit, Otter, Owl, Dog, Mouse, and Cat.
The animal has a class that goes with it (which consist of Warriors that gives a +1 point for each one you have at the end of the game, an Assassin that allows you to go through 5 cards from the Watchmen Deck, choose one for yourself, and place the other 4 back on the deck in the order that you want, Mage which allows you to take 2 cards from the Discard deck, and return one either from the two or from your hand to the Discard deck, Hunter which adds 2 gold to any purchase of tents or Watchmen, Ninja which allows you to call out NINJA! and take the top card from the discard pile when another player is using cards to pay for a purchase). You will also have items that are played each turn, and in addition to the items abilities, the card will also dictate how many cards you draw for that turn, and how many total actions you can use that turn (as long as you have Watchmen out on tents that have actions that they can take, and that will be denoted by circles above the card on the tent).
Each card has a point value which you add up at the end, then adding what it call Majority Bonuses, so say I have 3 Cats in play, Kyle has 2 Cats in play, and Rob has 1 Cat in play at the end, then I have majority, and I add up all the cats in play 3+2+1 and receive 6 points to my score as a Animal majority bonus. You conduct this bonus for every race that is in play for your game, and ties mean all those involved in the tie receive zero points. You can then suffer negative points for duplicating a card that has the same race and class (ignore the number on this card for the negative penalty). For each duplication, you suffer -1 point to your final tally.
So you start with prepping the Watchmen Deck with a number of races of animals that is one more than the number of players in the game (2 players have 3, 3 players have 4 races). Then shuffling the Watchmen Deck, deal out the appropriate number of cards according to the number of players (3 cards to 2 or 3 player game, or 2 cards to 4 or 5 player game)to each player. The player who last pet an animal in real life will be the starting playing and will have the Necklace item in addition to having one other item out when they play their turn. When a Watchmen goes out, you will see a number on the bottom-middle of the card, and that will signify the number of maximum actions that Watchmen will be allowed to take during the game.
So you will basically have some cards Watchmen Cards to start with, and some Item cards to start with, you will choose an item, play it and follow its special ability, draw Watchmen Cards dictated by the item card played (number on the bottom left), purchase tents at a cost of 1 gold each, 7 tents is the maximum, and then hire Watchmen to be stationed at those tents. Perform actions if you can, the number of actions you can take during a turn comes from the item card you played (the bottom right number) and when you can't or choose not to do anything else you pass your turn. When you use the cards for money you will see on the card money icons running along the lower left side border of the card. The cards will either have one, two, or three money icons, and that is how much money it is worth. If I turn in one card with 3 icons, then I have three money. I can spend that 3 on 3 tents (a tent is 1 each) or that 3 can be spent on hiring a watchmen (their hiring cost is the same number in the top left that also denotes how many victory points they are worth at the end. I cannot split the amount as 1 on tents, and 2 on hiring, as the purchase can only be one or the other.
END GAME CONDITION: When someone has hired their seventh Watchmen, they make the current round the final round of the game. Any players that have not played during that round get to finish their turns and then the game is over and points are counted in the way previously mentioned.
WHAT TYPE OF GAME IS THIS AND WHO WOULD LIKE IT?
People who like card games, who like fantasy themed games, who like light deckbuilding, action point allowance systems, variable player powers, and the big one Hand Management. If any of these interest you, then there is a decent chance this is a game you would like to play. We think ages 10 and up would be appropriate for this game based on the point counting, set matching, and ability factors of the game.
COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS CONCERNING PLAY:
Tents should have incremental gain, the first one you buy is one, the second is two, and the third is three. Do you choose the necklace and another item from other players before a new round starts? The Mage ability could be made more clear by saying "from the top of the deck" on the abilities card. Maybe there could be more item cards introduced to increase the replayability factor? I would score this an 8 on BGG. The mechanics are sound. I had 28 points at the end which was last place out of 3 players (I have 4 Cats and 1 Owl, had Cat Majority for 6 pts + 23 straight points -1 for one duplicate). There could be room for more strategy, but it was nice to have options to mitigate the luck. Clarifications and better wording for the cheat cards would help all players. There is a need to clarify "from the discard pile" on cards such as Dartboard, or the cheat card for Mage. The group assumed it was from the top. Rob had 35 points for the win, 30 from the straight points and +5 point for the Bunny Majority. Rob rates it a 6 on BGG. For Rob it is very light and his decisions felt very obvious. Kyle had similar comments such as Assassin needs to be reworded to state that you are pulling from the Main Watchmen Deck. He goes on saying that the Letter Card needs to state where the card is being stolen from, is it from a player's hand or from the board? Kyle was wondering if you can call "Ninja!" on any of the cards used in a purchase? He was second place with 33 points which came from 28 straight points and +5 for Owl Majority. We did have one animal tie, and no one had majority for it. Kyle felt for him it lost points for being only light in strategy, He scored it a 7 from the BGG scale, with the stipulation that the score is based off of those who would be into this type of game.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
It was a fun experience, with a nice fantasy theme, and we joked it could be called WATCHMEN OF DESTINY: A LIGHT AND FLUFFY GAME due to not only being a light game in tactics and strategy, but also a fluff game that can easily go in between heavier games being played (along with the Watchmen being all fluffy little wuvable creatures!). It is fun for what it is. A cute card game.
-END OF REPORT-
A brief history and welcome to my blog!
Greetings to all who read this,
My name is Jason Elliott, and at the start of April, 2016, I officially moved on what so far has been a very unique journey. With matching advice from both my Therapist, and then also my wife, I decided to officially become a Game Consultant. What does that mean? I am willing to play a game (in any form) and review it, comment on it, help tweak it, become proficient in its playing, and teach it to others. I have found so far that people are interested in hearing/reading/watching what I have to say. It is very humbling to have this happen so quickly.
My first memories of games range from being taught the original First Edition Dungeons & Dragons when I was ten (1987) to things like playing Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, The Legend of Zelda, and Dragon Warrior on the original 8 bit Nintendo Entertainment System around the same time (the system with the core games was a gift during the Christmas of 1987 in our house. Along with this was the Coleco Vision Pong System, and the Atari 2600. I would receive Nintendo Power issues, watch adventure cartoons such as The Smurfs, Land of the Lost reruns, Voltron, Dungeons & Dragons the Animated Series, Kidd Video, and Captain N The Game's Master.
All of this started my love of games, along with the times that my Dad would join in with me, or we would take turns, beating Gauntlet together, taking turns on the Dragon Warrior series, and so on. It would continue into High School, where the Super Nintendo, Axis & Allies, Risk, and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition would take up most of my free time with my friends. The collecting, playing, analyzing, and creation of games has always been near and dear to my heart, and now I share that with the public.
I am fortunate enough to share this gaming now with my wife Stephanie, son Arnold, and daughter Talia, who share the same love as me. They help me understand games in ways that otherwise would not be accessible to my perception of the world. It is through them my love has grown, in so many ways, and it is with their support all of this continues.
So far, I have made new friends, new connections, and have been able to play new games because of this, and I thank you for the support you show just by sharing this journey with me. Please enjoy my view of the Gaming World as you read this blog.
I am ever Ready To Game!
Welcome!
-RET. SSG Jason L. Elliott
My name is Jason Elliott, and at the start of April, 2016, I officially moved on what so far has been a very unique journey. With matching advice from both my Therapist, and then also my wife, I decided to officially become a Game Consultant. What does that mean? I am willing to play a game (in any form) and review it, comment on it, help tweak it, become proficient in its playing, and teach it to others. I have found so far that people are interested in hearing/reading/watching what I have to say. It is very humbling to have this happen so quickly.
My first memories of games range from being taught the original First Edition Dungeons & Dragons when I was ten (1987) to things like playing Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, The Legend of Zelda, and Dragon Warrior on the original 8 bit Nintendo Entertainment System around the same time (the system with the core games was a gift during the Christmas of 1987 in our house. Along with this was the Coleco Vision Pong System, and the Atari 2600. I would receive Nintendo Power issues, watch adventure cartoons such as The Smurfs, Land of the Lost reruns, Voltron, Dungeons & Dragons the Animated Series, Kidd Video, and Captain N The Game's Master.
All of this started my love of games, along with the times that my Dad would join in with me, or we would take turns, beating Gauntlet together, taking turns on the Dragon Warrior series, and so on. It would continue into High School, where the Super Nintendo, Axis & Allies, Risk, and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition would take up most of my free time with my friends. The collecting, playing, analyzing, and creation of games has always been near and dear to my heart, and now I share that with the public.
I am fortunate enough to share this gaming now with my wife Stephanie, son Arnold, and daughter Talia, who share the same love as me. They help me understand games in ways that otherwise would not be accessible to my perception of the world. It is through them my love has grown, in so many ways, and it is with their support all of this continues.
So far, I have made new friends, new connections, and have been able to play new games because of this, and I thank you for the support you show just by sharing this journey with me. Please enjoy my view of the Gaming World as you read this blog.
I am ever Ready To Game!
Welcome!
-RET. SSG Jason L. Elliott
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