GameStorm always begins on Thursday. Thursday, despite having events scheduled for it, is generally a sort of meet and greet day with a lot of open gaming and a light crowd. This years the crowd seemed a little heavier for a Thursday and their seemed to be more events scheduled.
I didn't have a lot scheduled for Thursday and managed to make all my games except for Galaxy Trucker.
This was a fun game. It's a resource management type of game in which players try to score points by building up their company and building airships. Each turn a player draws a card that reveals another resource to add to the game. These resources are acquired by rolling different combination of special colored six-sided dice that have set numeric values assigned to them - white, red, and black. Each type of die allows for a higher roll with the blacks allowing up to an 8 to be rolled. These died have to hit a target number to acquire the piece.As you acquire these pieces you will add new dice, die modifiers, fixed die results, bonus tokens, dice conversions, and/or victory points that will further your way toward victory and help you in acquiring greater resources and completing airships.
One person playing this game commented that, "Though it's a dice game, it doesn't feel like I'm playing one." I have to agree with this. Though there is a lot of dice rolling in this game, there is a ton of strategy involved in doing so. You have to figure out what resources you need and which ones are attainable and which ones to work toward.
The game is quick and streamlined and I would say that it would be a good one for the whole family. Once the rules are explained to younger players they should have no problem working with the game components that involve no reading.
Starmada: Asteroid Rally!
This was my first exposure to Starmada and I have to say I liked it. The game was played as a sort of rally race between armed freighters collected cargo (colored tokens) positioned between several asteroid pairs.
We used the basic movement and combat rules from the Admiralty Edition of the rules and even these were a bit more complex for me at times, but I fumbled through without a single crash and am sure that with replay they would become easier to navigate (no pun, seriously).
I came in second in the rally having sustained minimal damage and having managed to collect all but one of my cargoes by the time the winner had picked up his last one, but having sustained far more damage than myself.
Wings of War, VS King Kong
A cool concept and with a lot of potential, this game was a bit of a let down. The only restrictions placed on the players was that they had to select WWI era planes. Four of us picked two seat heavy planes with tail gunners.
The rules for Kong really left him outnumbered, outgunned and ineffective. Kong used a standard style damage deck allowing him a wide variety of damage results. He had some reach, but only at the short stick range for WoW. He could only face one direction at a time, but could turn randomly from turn to turn making him a bit more unpredictable.
The problem was that Kong really wasn't all that deadly. We could fly around him with impunity, hitting him coming and going with the multiple heavies with their tail guns. Even when Kong managed a hit, he did not kill or even severely damage a plane. Kong went down with really not fight and effort.
What would I have done different?
I think the answer would have been a bit more planning and setup to the scenario. I do not think that predetermined planes, all of an identical type would have been out of line. This would give some control over the maneuverability and firepower that the players could bring to bear on Kong.
As for Kong, I think that the big ape really needed a special stacked deck that allowed him either a kill or miss result. When you watch the movies, what he hits dies. I would also have liked to have seen him able to throw grabbed planes. This would have given him some range. Making him more lethal would make the flyers have to worry more about his facing and spend a little more time jockeying for position rather than the mob-up that we pulled.
That's it for Thursday, March 24!
-Eli
Posts
That is disappointing to hear about the Kong v WoW game. When I first read about it my mind raced with the possibilities and dangers the pilots would face. I also agree with your rules additions and hope that someone attempts this again with revised rules.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll try to track down the guy who ran it. He's a regular every year.
ReplyDeleteKong SMASH!
ReplyDeleteIf you can only use forward firing guns, you would have to come at least near Kong on your strafing run, right?