Concordia– Tom Franklin
After hearing about Concordia for years, I finally bought a copy…and then let it sit on my Shelf o’ Shame for way too long. This is such a great game!
You’re seeking to move around an ancient map, by sail or by foot, building houses in cities that will get you the goods those cities produce. On a turn, you play one of your cards that determine the action you’ll be taking, including a card that allows you to copy someone else’s card or to reclaim all your cards. Resources, places to store those resources, and money are always tight, creating a really fine eurogame puzzle of efficiencies and generating points.
After playing it twice at my weekly game night, I fell into the rabbit hole of Concordia on Steam. I’d still be playing it if I didn’t have this annoying work stuff that gets in my way on a daily basis.
Seriously, if you like Eurogame worker placement games and haven’t tried Concordia yet, you need to play it!
Ease of entry?:
★★★★☆ – The odd bump or two
Would I play it again?:
★★★★★ – Will definitely play it again
Read more articles from Tom Franklin.
Spotlight – Andrew Lynch
Great gimmick, lousy game. That’s the long and short of it. Spotlight uses transparencies, a black background, and some white circles to replicate the effect of a flashlight moving around in the dark. It looks fantastic. The gut response is absolute joy. It’s the kind of trick puppeteers think of all the time, a brilliant effect drawn out of simple mechanics.
Then you play the game, which is about counting. Okay. Sure. That’s fine. It’s not exciting, but it’s fine. And by “fine,” I mean, well, technically it works, but I haven’t had anyone ask to play a second round, let alone a second game. Even kids would rather take a few minutes to play with the flashlight and then move on.
Ease of entry?:
★★★★★ – No sweat
Would I play it again?:
☆☆☆☆☆ – No chance
Cosmic Encounter Duel – K. David Ladage
Cosmic Encounter is a masterpiece. Make no mistake, there is little you could do to improve upon that game. Well, except to make it playable by two people. The game is inherently social, and so it is not possible to create the situations where this game shines unless you have more than two people involved. In fact, the game’s sweet spot is somewhere north of four players. The good people at Fantasy Flight recognized this and created a two-player (“duel”) version of the game.
Cosmic Encounter Duel has a lot that a Cosmic Encounter player will find familiar: planetary conquests, destiny cards, standard combat cards (called ‘plans’ in this iteration) with reinforcements, and so on. What it lacks is the uncertainty that comes with other people and their motivations for getting involved, because there is nobody there to do so. To simulate this, the game has Emissaries–three cards that represent other races involved in the conflict that can help or hinder at the right time.
So far, my initial impression is that this has some potential, but the game still manages to fall a little flat. That said, I will give it a few more plays in hopes that something reveals itself and this turns out to be better than I expect. I am hopeful. I mean, this is Cosmic Encounter (of a sort) after all.
Ease of entry?:
★★★★☆ – The odd bump or two
Would I play it again?:
★★★★☆ – Would like to play it again
Read more articles from K. David Ladage.
Moon River – Justin Bell
The Kingdomino game system has so many games aligned with it that I had to check to see which number we are on with the release of 2023’s Moon River…and that would be seven. I’ve played both the base Kingdomino game as well as Kingdomino: Origins, and after trying Moon River, I think I know where I land—the games are always interesting but none of them can top Origins.
In Moon River, players are building up a ranch in a game with an American Western theme. Using the same principles of other games in the system, all players must draft tiles that will be placed in a 5×5 grid. However, the major change here is an interesting one—players draft single tiles, not the normal two-tile dominos used in other games. In Moon River, players have more agency because they only have to draft half a tile, with the task of building dominos from two tiles into something that is strategically perfect for placement later. Cows replace crowns here, and players still score by multiplying cows by the number of tiles in a particular territory. Additionally, certain tiles have spaces that can accommodate “partners”, which can help spike the scores of certain icons on tiles as well as steal cows from other players.
One other major change reveals itself in Moon River: the game is a LOT longer than the base game. Our three-player game took about 50 minutes (a first play for all players), and even on Board Game Arena, an average three-player game takes 60-65 minutes according to its estimation tool. That’s too long for a game where you are doing such a simple series of tasks, but the customization tied to the domino building does offer a different take on the game. I appreciate that Blue Orange Games continues to milk this property, because the system is still interesting. But I still have Origins in my collection for a reason!
Ease of entry?:
★★★★☆ – The odd bump or two
Would I play it again?:
★★★☆☆ – Wouldn’t suggest it, but would happily play it
Read more articles from Justin Bell.
Undergrove – K. David Ladage
Elizabeth Hargrave is a beautiful human being. The games she has produced have encouraged me to be more mindful of (and read more about) birds, butterflies, foxes, and more. It was not a difficult decision to back the campaign for Undergrove at a level that got me updated components (including the tile stands and the holiday trees). It has been a while since I received my copy, but only recently did my wife and I get an opportunity to delve into this little adventure. We had a great time! The resource economy took a bit to wrap our heads around, but the included guide that walked us through our first four turns was amazing at helping to introduce us to the game’s various concepts.
My colleague, Bob Pazehoski Jr., has some thoughts about the game—he was able to play a late-stage prototype a while back—and I do not disagree with his assessments. That said, the game was a lot of fun; the gameplay is quite interesting: enough so that my wife and I were quite excited to dive into a second game when we were finished with our first. This is a game that I am hoping sees a lot of play at my table. I could even go for an expansion or two…
Ease of entry?:
★★★★☆ – The odd bump or two
Would I play it again?:
★★★★★ – Will definitely play it again
Read more articles from K. David Ladage.
Add Comment