A few weeks ago, I attended GameStorm in Portland, OR, my first con fully devoted to board gaming. I wanted to break my experiences into a couple of blog posts, the first being devoted to going over the games I played, and the second being acting more as a reflection on my experience as a whole attending my first con, and offering advice to others.
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First, I'll give a quick list of the games I played and a quick bullet point of my overall thoughts on the game, then I will dive into each game in more detail below so you can read more about what interests you.
1. The Quest for El Dorado by Reiner Knizia - A quick, fun family-weight game that I have played several times and enjoy very much (I currently own in my collection).
2. Troyes (with Ladies of Troyes expansion) by Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, Alain Orban - Very unique feeling game. I enjoyed the ability to purchase dice from other players and secret end-game scoring objectives for which all players score.
3. Gold West by J. Alex Kevern - Loved the mancala mechanism, and surprised at how much "game" is packed into such a short amount of time here. An excellent medium weight euro game.
4. The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire by Tom Jolly, Luke Laurie - Solid worker placement game, and enjoyed the theme. Will need to play this game again due to a negative experience I had unrelated to the game itself.
5. Terraforming Mars by Jacob Fryxelius - Very solid engine building game, and absolutely loved the theme, but the game might be a little too long for my taste.
6. Concordia (with Concordia Salsa expansion) by Mac Gerdts - A huge fan of Concordia already (in my collection), and this was my first time playing with Salsa expansion. While I enjoyed the expansion, I'm not sure it is one that I will seek out at this time. I am a big fan of the simplicity that defines the base game, and not sure the added elements are necessary.
7. Roll for the Galaxy by Wei-Hwa Huang, Tom Lehman - A wonderful tableau engine building game with dice, and a different enough experience from Race for the Galaxy that it didn't make me feel like I'd "been there, done that." Loved the simultaneous nature of much of the game, which really sped things up.
8. Architects of the West Kingdom by Shem Phillips, S J Macdonald - An incredibly fun twist on the standard worker placement genre, and a very enjoyable experience overall with a good integration of theme and gameplay mechanisms. The game had me smiling during the rules explanation, a good indicator of a fun game for me!
9. Village by Markus Brand, Inka Brand - Not as exciting of a game as I had thought it would be. I wish there were more exciting combos to be had, and also didn't seem to have an incredibly high amount of replayability without buying additional expansions.
10. Teotihuacan: City of Gods by Daniele Tascini - The game that surprised me most at GameStorm. A complex game, but for me the mechanisms were intuitive and easy to grasp. I had a lot of fun playing this game and can't wait to play again.
The Quest for El Dorado by Reiner Knizia
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Deck building is one of my favorite game mechanisms, and I love how Reiner Knizia uses it in a family weight racing game, The Quest for El Dorado. This is a game I own and have played several times, and was glad to get to play it as my first game of the convention.
In The Quest for El Dorado, players are racing to reach the city of El Dorado. What I enjoy most about this game is the combination of a visual board with the deck building mechanism. I think that this is a great game to introduce new or less experienced players to, since it is easy to grasp the strategy - in order to cross certain terrain types, you need terrain cards that match that symbol. Thus, it's important to buy cards for terrain approaching on the board in order to be able to be more effective and reach the end of the race first.
I haven't yet tried the new expansion for this game, but I am hoping to snag a copy of it soon to give it a try.
In general, I highly recommend this game.
Troyes (with Ladies of Troyes expansion) by Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, Alain Orban
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I am always on the lookout for dice-based euro games. There's something I love about the blend of tactics with strategy that dice bring into a game that is very enjoyable for me. One of my favorite games is The Castles of Burgundy, and by searching for recommendations for similar games on BGG and Reddit, I'd seen Troyes appear over and over again. As such, I went into the game with relatively high expectations since it is very much in my wheelhouse, and I was pleased to find that it was as good as I had expected.
In a nutshell, Troyes is all about competing to earn points in a variety of ways by using dice to place workers. But there are a couple of cool twists: 1) you can purchase other players' dice on your turn to complete these tasks; 2) each player has a secret scoring objective which ALL players will score at the end of the game, which makes you try to guess what other players' scoring objectives are in order to try and earn some end game points that way.
The Ladies of Troyes expansion adds some cool elements, like a "wild" die which no players can purchase from you, as well as an added track/action spaces on the outside of the board. It seems like this expansion adds more variety than complexity to the base game, and I can see how it would be one I would use every time, even with new players.
The only downside to this game, which I've seen other people mention as well, is that the iconography and understanding how everything works together can be a bit confusing and difficult for new players to grasp, and would typically take multiple plays in order to fully enjoy the game. For that reason, I'm apprehensive about adding it to my collection; I like to have games that are easy to teach to new players and someone can (at least almost) fully enjoy in one single session.
Troyes is definitely worth giving a try for experienced gamers, and I will absolutely seek it out again in the future.
Gold West by J. Alex Kevern
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Gold West is another game that I've seen come up on recommendation forums within my wheelhouse of medium weight euros, so I went in expecting to enjoy it - and I did, very much!
This game is very much a point salad euro (very much in the style of Stefan Feld) in which you use different colored pieces to fulfill different objectives, including contracts, a shipping track, and end game scoring. Using a mancala track, players select one box and pick up all the pieces in that box, and then they move their pieces up the track, dropping one off in each spot along the way; the leftover pieces that move "off the board" at the end of the track are then used to fulfill actions.
What really stood out to me about this game is how much of a brain-burning game experience (without complicated rules) is packed into such a short amount of time. Our 3 player game lasted just 1 hour with rules explanation included. I really enjoy games that force you to plan your timing of actions, and this game is very heavily focused on that. You'll sit there on other players' turns trying to plan out how you will get the pieces of the right color combinations to move off the end of the board to get the scoring opportunities you want. I guess the only downside to this is I can see it creating a potential for AP in some players, so take that as you will.
This is one that I'm considering adding to my collection, and highly recommend!
The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire by Tom Jolly, Luke Laurie
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Having enjoyed the original Manhattan Project quite a bit, and having heard good things about this stand-alone title, I'd been wanting to try The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire for quite some time now.
This game uses some very standard worker placement mechanisms, with the added twist of being able to spend "energy" in order to utilize actions spaces where other players have already gone. Similar to the original Manhattan Project, there are no "rounds" in this game; on your turn you are either placing workers or retrieving workers, and timing your turns just right to capitalize on open spaces once another player retrieves their workers is an aspect I very much enjoy.
While building up their "energy empire," players also incur pollution tokens which populate their personal board, and at certain points in the game, players score points for how many pollution-free spots on their board they have in particular rows. As you can imagine, managing your pollution is a pretty significant part of this game.
In general, I enjoyed this game, and the theme of Cold War era energy seemed very well integrated. I feel like this one is going to be one I need to try again before forming a strong opinion either way. Though not a fault of the game, I had a negative experience due to one player's rude behavior toward others involved in the game, and it was difficult for me to separate the objective gameplay itself from the subjective experience I had with this particular session.
Terraforming Mars by Jacob Fryxelius
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You probably haven't heard of this game. It's pretty niche.
Ok, but seriously, I am glad I finally had a chance to try the game I hear so many people talking about all the time. Terraforming Mars is everywhere on the internet, and I certainly saw a lot of people playing it at GameStorm for sure.
So, apart from all the buzz, how much did I actually enjoy Terraforming Mars? Quite a bit, I'm happy to say. I am a huge fan of card-driven and engine building games, so needless to say this was an easy game for me to get into.
The game is played over several rounds in which players draw cards, pay to keep cards, then perform 1 or 2 actions on their turn until everyone passes. On your turn, you can play a card to your tableau, activate a card already in your tableau, or take a variety of actions which involve, well, terraforming Mars, of course!
One aspect of the game that I really enjoyed was the fact that there are a variety of end game scoring bonuses; however, each bonus is only activated if a player, as one action on their turn, pays for that bonus to be included in scoring at the end of the game. The interesting part about this is there is no guarantee that you will actually get that bonus when you pay for it, though you should feel pretty confident in your ability to do so when you activate it. With any given game having a maximum of 3 activated end game bonuses, it was fun to see players race to activate the ones they felt they could win.
One perceived drawback to this game I had heard about was its game length, and I could see that being a slight issue with inexperienced gamers. I participated in a 5 player game, with 4 of the players having never played the game, and the game took about 3.5 hours to complete with rules explanation. This is about the maximum amount of time I would ever really feel like playing one single game, so I don't think this is ever a game I would consider playing with non-gamers.
I'd be interested to try this one with a lower player count to see what my experience would be like. Since the end game triggers do not change depending on player count, I almost feel like the game would have a few too many turns. I really like when a game makes me feel like I am racing to complete my objectives and be very efficient in my planning to make that happen, and I'm not sure that feeling would happen here in Terraforming Mars. It seems like in a 2 or 3 player game, the game might drag on a little too long for my taste, not in actual gameplay time, but in not feeling any sort of time pressure from the game or other players.
Needless to say, I enjoyed this game very much and can't wait to play it again someday!
Concordia (with Concordia Salsa expansion) by Mac Gerdts
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Concordia is another game I own and have played a handful of times, and have been wanting to try the Salsa expansion to see if it's something I feel like adding to my base game.
Concordia itself without the expansion is excellent in my opinion (in my top 10 games of all time). What I specifically appreciate about the game is a) simple turn structure (play a card from hand to perform action), and b) cards that you purchase to add to your hand to perform additional actions act to provide end game scoring bonuses for a variety of criteria (e.g., 1 point for each non-brick city in which a player has built a structure; 1 point for each region in which a player has built a structure, etc.). Since scoring from the conditions listed on the cards is the ONLY way to score points, purchasing cards to add to your collection is important. Also, balancing decisions when purchasing new cards with regards to its action it provides vs. its end game scoring bonus adds some interesting decisions.
In addition to a new double-sided map board, the Salsa expansion adds salt as a resource, which acts as a wild resource for the sake of paying costs (not trading or selling). It also adds a new forum tile market players can select from when performing the Tribune action (pulling cards back into hand) which give a variety of bonuses (ongoing or immediate).
While I could easily appreciate the additions to the base game of Concordia that Salsa provides, I'm actually not sure that this expansion is one that I will immediately seek out to purchase. I feel like the base game of Concordia is so excellent, pure, and streamlined as it is, I don't know that it actually needs these added elements. Sure, the wild resource is nice, and the bonus tiles are interesting, but the bonus tiles especially add a layer of complexity that I am OK leaving out. Maybe if I end up playing this game frequently enough with the same group of people I will pick this expansion up, but since most of the time I am introducing the game to people who haven't played before, I think I'll hold off for now. If anything, I may pick up one of the map expansions they have come out with, especially since I've heard some of them (like Corsica and Britain) make for enhanced 2 player experiences.
Roll for the Galaxy by Wei-Hwa Huang, Tom Lehman
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I am a pretty big fan of Race for the Galaxy mostly playing the app version), and while I own the physical version, one of the biggest drawbacks for me to getting this game to the table is the very steep learning curve to this game. With pretty (at first) confusing iconography, it's extremely challenging for new players to wrap their heads around how everything works together in this game. It certainly rewards many, many repeated plays. I was interested to see how Roll for the Galaxy compared in this regard and what the experience learning the game would be like.
Having my knowledge of Race helped me somewhat (understanding worlds vs. developments, 6 cost buildings, etc.), but the gameplay is different enough that I felt like I was learning an entirely different new game. Like Race, Roll is heavy in iconography and required some pretty lengthy explanation (I played a 5 player game with all new players). While the person teaching the game was by far one of the most effective and efficient rules teachers I've ever encountered, the game took 90 minutes to complete vs. the 45 minute timeframe the box advertises. Now, if we to have played a 2nd round, I think we could have gotten through it in even less than 45 minutes (30-40?) - once each player understands the flow of the game, rounds are lightning-quick as much of the game is carried out with players performing simultaneous actions.
Complexity of learning the game aside, I really enjoyed Roll for the Galaxy. What I specifically enjoyed about the game was the simultaneous nature of the actions; instead of waiting for each player to perform an action in each phase, players simply move through the selected phases on their own. Of course, like in Race, I really love the tableau building in Roll. However, the learning curve of this game was still quite steep, and I can't see myself buying this game simply for the fact that I wouldn't feel like teaching it to inexperienced players each time I play it.
Architects of the West Kingdom by Shem Phillips, S J Macdonald
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I can usually tell I am going to enjoy a game when I am sitting through a rules explanation and I get a smile on my face, and Architects of the West Kingdom was one of those games for me. Although I don't always consider theme to be the most important aspect of a game in terms of how much I enjoy it, I can definitely appreciate when a game designer manages to integrate the theme into game mechanisms in a very interesting and unique way. In this game, players are competing to help build a cathedral, which doesn't sound that exciting, but the way the game builds a sense of morality in your action choices in how you go about contributing to that brand new shiny cathedral is what really drew my interest.
Architects of the West Kingdom is unique within the worker placement genre in the sense that you start the game with a complete and enormous pool of workers. There is no "recruit a worker" space on the board. There are also no rounds, so players take turns placing one worker and doing one action over and over again until the game end is triggered by a player placing a worker on the final space of a building/cathedral track. Much in the style of Notre Dame, an action space becomes more powerful as you continue to add workers to it. What is even more unique in this game is that you can't simply take an action to retrieve your workers from the board; instead, your workers may be captured by another player by using the Town Centre action on the board. Your workers will be held captive on another player's board until they decide to do the send them to prison (earning 1 coin per each worker), where you will be able to collect them on a future turn by using the Guardhouse action. Alternatively, you can remove a group of your workers from one action space by using the Town Centre action.
What I also loved about this game is the fact that throughout the game the actions you take will move you up and down a virtue track - or, as I referred to it, the "Track of Shame" - on the side of the board. There are powerful "black market" actions which give you crazy good bonuses, but they will lower your virtue and can potentially detract victory points at the end of the game as well as preventing you from being able to help build the cathedral. On the other hand, if you go about things in a less frowned-upon way, you can boost your virtue and reputation, earning you more points at the end of the game but also preventing you from visiting the black market. This game seemed to be all about balancing your virtue so you don't necessarily limit your action choices either way, but trying to boost your way up the virtue track toward the end in order to score points. This was a brilliant design choice, in my opinion!
I ultimately judge how much I like a game by how much I think about it afterward, and even now, a few weeks after the convention, I am still thinking about Architects of the West Kingdom and how much I'd like to jump back in and play it again.
Village by Markus Brand, Inka Brand
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Sometimes in the past I've gone out on a limb and purchased a game based on just watching reviews on YouTube, but more and more I have made it a point to try the game out before making a purchasing decision. I'm really glad I did that with Village, because while I've had my eye on it for a while as a game that seems very much aligned with the style of games I tend to enjoy from designers who have produced some games I love (Rajas of the Ganges, Saint Malo, and Exit: The Abandoned Cabin, among other Exit games), this game turned out to be very "meh" for me, and a little on the dry and boring side for the experience I would expect from a game from these designers.
The idea and theme of village is really great and interesting, especially the aspects of gameplay focused around the passing of time, death, and the village chronicle, in which a player's family members (workers) may be permanently placed when they die in the category of their particular occupation. With limited space for each occupation in the book, if a family member dies and their occupation is already full, they will be buried in a pitiful unmarked grave. Since having family members in the village chronicle generates a lot of end game victory points, there is a certain strategy to getting your family members into contested occupations, then triggering actions that cost large amounts of time in order to trigger a family death (when your time piece crosses the bridge on your player board).
This all sounds like a really good idea, but where the game fell flat for me was with the fact that the various actions on the board were not that exciting. Many turns felt pretty lackluster, and the game felt like a constant arduous trudge toward trying to collect certain colors of cubes to fulfill the requirements of another action - which weren't even that amazing of actions. I love the feeling when you pull off an amazing combo in a game that triggers all sorts of cool resources, money, points, etc. But this game felt like "turn in a green and orange cube for 1 coin" or "turn in two green cubes for 2 points." And that's it.
What also would keep me from wanting to add this to my collection is the fact that game setup is almost identical for every game - the only variability here is the colors of cubes that get pulled from the bag for the various action spaces and the market tiles. Now, I've heard that the two expansions for Village really add a lot to the game, but I never like the idea of feeling like I HAVE to buy expansions for a base game in order to make it interesting. Buying an expansion for me should come when I have played a game many times that I enjoy, and the expansion just adds to what I already like about the game. It shouldn't be to fix a game or to make it worth playing.
I really wanted to like Village, and I may try it again in the future, but for now I will categorize this game as a PASS for me. :(
Teotihuacan: City of Gods by Daniele Tascini
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I was at the end of my final day of GameStorm, thinking of going home, but then saw a "players wanted" cone at a table with Teotihuacan being set up. Having heard the buzz around this game, I wanted to give it a try, so I jumped on the opportunity to join.
Teotihuacan turned out to be the biggest surprise for me of all the games I played at the convention. I wasn't doubtful that I would like the game, but being that it appeared to be significantly complex, I was surprised at how well I felt like I grasped the game and was able to enjoy it in just one play. Yes, the game was a complex beast, but for me there was something intuitive about the flow of the game and how everything worked together. It gave me a similar feel as my favorite game of all time, Trajan, where there are a lot of gears and moving pieces, but for some reason the game clicks for me and I can see the larger picture at how everything works together.
It would take a long time to explain the game, but in a nutshell the game consists of a giant rondel around which you are moving dice which act as your workers. The value currently showing on your die is the strength of the action it can perform, and performing actions allows you to "power up" your die. When a die reaches level 6 and must power up, it then "dies" and is reborn as a level 1 die as another chance to live a hopefully more satisfying life, hopefully living up to their parents' expectations, beginning at a pre-determined location on the board.
You are trying to do a lot in this game - moving up tracks, building a pyramid, etc. - but by obtaining and focusing on special abilities, you can quickly figure out what you are "good at" and try to focus in on that. At least that's what I did, and found the game very enjoyable.
I walked away thinking the game was amazing and I can't wait to play again, but I'm not sure that I would actually seek this game out for my collection. Simply put, the game is a little too complicated and I feel like I would have a hard time getting it to the table. It would be a "nice circumstance" type game, and I already have enough of those in my collection. I would hate to buy it and see it sit on the shelf, taunting me every time I glance upon it. But, you better believe that if I see a group playing this game at a meetup or at a convention, I will jump right on the opportunity again to play.
First, I'll give a quick list of the games I played and a quick bullet point of my overall thoughts on the game, then I will dive into each game in more detail below so you can read more about what interests you.
1. The Quest for El Dorado by Reiner Knizia - A quick, fun family-weight game that I have played several times and enjoy very much (I currently own in my collection).
2. Troyes (with Ladies of Troyes expansion) by Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, Alain Orban - Very unique feeling game. I enjoyed the ability to purchase dice from other players and secret end-game scoring objectives for which all players score.
3. Gold West by J. Alex Kevern - Loved the mancala mechanism, and surprised at how much "game" is packed into such a short amount of time here. An excellent medium weight euro game.
4. The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire by Tom Jolly, Luke Laurie - Solid worker placement game, and enjoyed the theme. Will need to play this game again due to a negative experience I had unrelated to the game itself.
5. Terraforming Mars by Jacob Fryxelius - Very solid engine building game, and absolutely loved the theme, but the game might be a little too long for my taste.
6. Concordia (with Concordia Salsa expansion) by Mac Gerdts - A huge fan of Concordia already (in my collection), and this was my first time playing with Salsa expansion. While I enjoyed the expansion, I'm not sure it is one that I will seek out at this time. I am a big fan of the simplicity that defines the base game, and not sure the added elements are necessary.
7. Roll for the Galaxy by Wei-Hwa Huang, Tom Lehman - A wonderful tableau engine building game with dice, and a different enough experience from Race for the Galaxy that it didn't make me feel like I'd "been there, done that." Loved the simultaneous nature of much of the game, which really sped things up.
8. Architects of the West Kingdom by Shem Phillips, S J Macdonald - An incredibly fun twist on the standard worker placement genre, and a very enjoyable experience overall with a good integration of theme and gameplay mechanisms. The game had me smiling during the rules explanation, a good indicator of a fun game for me!
9. Village by Markus Brand, Inka Brand - Not as exciting of a game as I had thought it would be. I wish there were more exciting combos to be had, and also didn't seem to have an incredibly high amount of replayability without buying additional expansions.
10. Teotihuacan: City of Gods by Daniele Tascini - The game that surprised me most at GameStorm. A complex game, but for me the mechanisms were intuitive and easy to grasp. I had a lot of fun playing this game and can't wait to play again.
The Quest for El Dorado by Reiner Knizia
Deck building is one of my favorite game mechanisms, and I love how Reiner Knizia uses it in a family weight racing game, The Quest for El Dorado. This is a game I own and have played several times, and was glad to get to play it as my first game of the convention.
In The Quest for El Dorado, players are racing to reach the city of El Dorado. What I enjoy most about this game is the combination of a visual board with the deck building mechanism. I think that this is a great game to introduce new or less experienced players to, since it is easy to grasp the strategy - in order to cross certain terrain types, you need terrain cards that match that symbol. Thus, it's important to buy cards for terrain approaching on the board in order to be able to be more effective and reach the end of the race first.
I haven't yet tried the new expansion for this game, but I am hoping to snag a copy of it soon to give it a try.
In general, I highly recommend this game.
Troyes (with Ladies of Troyes expansion) by Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, Alain Orban
I am always on the lookout for dice-based euro games. There's something I love about the blend of tactics with strategy that dice bring into a game that is very enjoyable for me. One of my favorite games is The Castles of Burgundy, and by searching for recommendations for similar games on BGG and Reddit, I'd seen Troyes appear over and over again. As such, I went into the game with relatively high expectations since it is very much in my wheelhouse, and I was pleased to find that it was as good as I had expected.
In a nutshell, Troyes is all about competing to earn points in a variety of ways by using dice to place workers. But there are a couple of cool twists: 1) you can purchase other players' dice on your turn to complete these tasks; 2) each player has a secret scoring objective which ALL players will score at the end of the game, which makes you try to guess what other players' scoring objectives are in order to try and earn some end game points that way.
The Ladies of Troyes expansion adds some cool elements, like a "wild" die which no players can purchase from you, as well as an added track/action spaces on the outside of the board. It seems like this expansion adds more variety than complexity to the base game, and I can see how it would be one I would use every time, even with new players.
The only downside to this game, which I've seen other people mention as well, is that the iconography and understanding how everything works together can be a bit confusing and difficult for new players to grasp, and would typically take multiple plays in order to fully enjoy the game. For that reason, I'm apprehensive about adding it to my collection; I like to have games that are easy to teach to new players and someone can (at least almost) fully enjoy in one single session.
Troyes is definitely worth giving a try for experienced gamers, and I will absolutely seek it out again in the future.
Gold West by J. Alex Kevern
Gold West is another game that I've seen come up on recommendation forums within my wheelhouse of medium weight euros, so I went in expecting to enjoy it - and I did, very much!
This game is very much a point salad euro (very much in the style of Stefan Feld) in which you use different colored pieces to fulfill different objectives, including contracts, a shipping track, and end game scoring. Using a mancala track, players select one box and pick up all the pieces in that box, and then they move their pieces up the track, dropping one off in each spot along the way; the leftover pieces that move "off the board" at the end of the track are then used to fulfill actions.
What really stood out to me about this game is how much of a brain-burning game experience (without complicated rules) is packed into such a short amount of time. Our 3 player game lasted just 1 hour with rules explanation included. I really enjoy games that force you to plan your timing of actions, and this game is very heavily focused on that. You'll sit there on other players' turns trying to plan out how you will get the pieces of the right color combinations to move off the end of the board to get the scoring opportunities you want. I guess the only downside to this is I can see it creating a potential for AP in some players, so take that as you will.
This is one that I'm considering adding to my collection, and highly recommend!
The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire by Tom Jolly, Luke Laurie
Having enjoyed the original Manhattan Project quite a bit, and having heard good things about this stand-alone title, I'd been wanting to try The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire for quite some time now.
This game uses some very standard worker placement mechanisms, with the added twist of being able to spend "energy" in order to utilize actions spaces where other players have already gone. Similar to the original Manhattan Project, there are no "rounds" in this game; on your turn you are either placing workers or retrieving workers, and timing your turns just right to capitalize on open spaces once another player retrieves their workers is an aspect I very much enjoy.
While building up their "energy empire," players also incur pollution tokens which populate their personal board, and at certain points in the game, players score points for how many pollution-free spots on their board they have in particular rows. As you can imagine, managing your pollution is a pretty significant part of this game.
In general, I enjoyed this game, and the theme of Cold War era energy seemed very well integrated. I feel like this one is going to be one I need to try again before forming a strong opinion either way. Though not a fault of the game, I had a negative experience due to one player's rude behavior toward others involved in the game, and it was difficult for me to separate the objective gameplay itself from the subjective experience I had with this particular session.
Terraforming Mars by Jacob Fryxelius
You probably haven't heard of this game. It's pretty niche.
Ok, but seriously, I am glad I finally had a chance to try the game I hear so many people talking about all the time. Terraforming Mars is everywhere on the internet, and I certainly saw a lot of people playing it at GameStorm for sure.
So, apart from all the buzz, how much did I actually enjoy Terraforming Mars? Quite a bit, I'm happy to say. I am a huge fan of card-driven and engine building games, so needless to say this was an easy game for me to get into.
The game is played over several rounds in which players draw cards, pay to keep cards, then perform 1 or 2 actions on their turn until everyone passes. On your turn, you can play a card to your tableau, activate a card already in your tableau, or take a variety of actions which involve, well, terraforming Mars, of course!
One aspect of the game that I really enjoyed was the fact that there are a variety of end game scoring bonuses; however, each bonus is only activated if a player, as one action on their turn, pays for that bonus to be included in scoring at the end of the game. The interesting part about this is there is no guarantee that you will actually get that bonus when you pay for it, though you should feel pretty confident in your ability to do so when you activate it. With any given game having a maximum of 3 activated end game bonuses, it was fun to see players race to activate the ones they felt they could win.
One perceived drawback to this game I had heard about was its game length, and I could see that being a slight issue with inexperienced gamers. I participated in a 5 player game, with 4 of the players having never played the game, and the game took about 3.5 hours to complete with rules explanation. This is about the maximum amount of time I would ever really feel like playing one single game, so I don't think this is ever a game I would consider playing with non-gamers.
I'd be interested to try this one with a lower player count to see what my experience would be like. Since the end game triggers do not change depending on player count, I almost feel like the game would have a few too many turns. I really like when a game makes me feel like I am racing to complete my objectives and be very efficient in my planning to make that happen, and I'm not sure that feeling would happen here in Terraforming Mars. It seems like in a 2 or 3 player game, the game might drag on a little too long for my taste, not in actual gameplay time, but in not feeling any sort of time pressure from the game or other players.
Needless to say, I enjoyed this game very much and can't wait to play it again someday!
Concordia (with Concordia Salsa expansion) by Mac Gerdts
Concordia is another game I own and have played a handful of times, and have been wanting to try the Salsa expansion to see if it's something I feel like adding to my base game.
Concordia itself without the expansion is excellent in my opinion (in my top 10 games of all time). What I specifically appreciate about the game is a) simple turn structure (play a card from hand to perform action), and b) cards that you purchase to add to your hand to perform additional actions act to provide end game scoring bonuses for a variety of criteria (e.g., 1 point for each non-brick city in which a player has built a structure; 1 point for each region in which a player has built a structure, etc.). Since scoring from the conditions listed on the cards is the ONLY way to score points, purchasing cards to add to your collection is important. Also, balancing decisions when purchasing new cards with regards to its action it provides vs. its end game scoring bonus adds some interesting decisions.
In addition to a new double-sided map board, the Salsa expansion adds salt as a resource, which acts as a wild resource for the sake of paying costs (not trading or selling). It also adds a new forum tile market players can select from when performing the Tribune action (pulling cards back into hand) which give a variety of bonuses (ongoing or immediate).
While I could easily appreciate the additions to the base game of Concordia that Salsa provides, I'm actually not sure that this expansion is one that I will immediately seek out to purchase. I feel like the base game of Concordia is so excellent, pure, and streamlined as it is, I don't know that it actually needs these added elements. Sure, the wild resource is nice, and the bonus tiles are interesting, but the bonus tiles especially add a layer of complexity that I am OK leaving out. Maybe if I end up playing this game frequently enough with the same group of people I will pick this expansion up, but since most of the time I am introducing the game to people who haven't played before, I think I'll hold off for now. If anything, I may pick up one of the map expansions they have come out with, especially since I've heard some of them (like Corsica and Britain) make for enhanced 2 player experiences.
Roll for the Galaxy by Wei-Hwa Huang, Tom Lehman
I am a pretty big fan of Race for the Galaxy mostly playing the app version), and while I own the physical version, one of the biggest drawbacks for me to getting this game to the table is the very steep learning curve to this game. With pretty (at first) confusing iconography, it's extremely challenging for new players to wrap their heads around how everything works together in this game. It certainly rewards many, many repeated plays. I was interested to see how Roll for the Galaxy compared in this regard and what the experience learning the game would be like.
Having my knowledge of Race helped me somewhat (understanding worlds vs. developments, 6 cost buildings, etc.), but the gameplay is different enough that I felt like I was learning an entirely different new game. Like Race, Roll is heavy in iconography and required some pretty lengthy explanation (I played a 5 player game with all new players). While the person teaching the game was by far one of the most effective and efficient rules teachers I've ever encountered, the game took 90 minutes to complete vs. the 45 minute timeframe the box advertises. Now, if we to have played a 2nd round, I think we could have gotten through it in even less than 45 minutes (30-40?) - once each player understands the flow of the game, rounds are lightning-quick as much of the game is carried out with players performing simultaneous actions.
Complexity of learning the game aside, I really enjoyed Roll for the Galaxy. What I specifically enjoyed about the game was the simultaneous nature of the actions; instead of waiting for each player to perform an action in each phase, players simply move through the selected phases on their own. Of course, like in Race, I really love the tableau building in Roll. However, the learning curve of this game was still quite steep, and I can't see myself buying this game simply for the fact that I wouldn't feel like teaching it to inexperienced players each time I play it.
Architects of the West Kingdom by Shem Phillips, S J Macdonald
I can usually tell I am going to enjoy a game when I am sitting through a rules explanation and I get a smile on my face, and Architects of the West Kingdom was one of those games for me. Although I don't always consider theme to be the most important aspect of a game in terms of how much I enjoy it, I can definitely appreciate when a game designer manages to integrate the theme into game mechanisms in a very interesting and unique way. In this game, players are competing to help build a cathedral, which doesn't sound that exciting, but the way the game builds a sense of morality in your action choices in how you go about contributing to that brand new shiny cathedral is what really drew my interest.
Architects of the West Kingdom is unique within the worker placement genre in the sense that you start the game with a complete and enormous pool of workers. There is no "recruit a worker" space on the board. There are also no rounds, so players take turns placing one worker and doing one action over and over again until the game end is triggered by a player placing a worker on the final space of a building/cathedral track. Much in the style of Notre Dame, an action space becomes more powerful as you continue to add workers to it. What is even more unique in this game is that you can't simply take an action to retrieve your workers from the board; instead, your workers may be captured by another player by using the Town Centre action on the board. Your workers will be held captive on another player's board until they decide to do the send them to prison (earning 1 coin per each worker), where you will be able to collect them on a future turn by using the Guardhouse action. Alternatively, you can remove a group of your workers from one action space by using the Town Centre action.
What I also loved about this game is the fact that throughout the game the actions you take will move you up and down a virtue track - or, as I referred to it, the "Track of Shame" - on the side of the board. There are powerful "black market" actions which give you crazy good bonuses, but they will lower your virtue and can potentially detract victory points at the end of the game as well as preventing you from being able to help build the cathedral. On the other hand, if you go about things in a less frowned-upon way, you can boost your virtue and reputation, earning you more points at the end of the game but also preventing you from visiting the black market. This game seemed to be all about balancing your virtue so you don't necessarily limit your action choices either way, but trying to boost your way up the virtue track toward the end in order to score points. This was a brilliant design choice, in my opinion!
I ultimately judge how much I like a game by how much I think about it afterward, and even now, a few weeks after the convention, I am still thinking about Architects of the West Kingdom and how much I'd like to jump back in and play it again.
Village by Markus Brand, Inka Brand
Sometimes in the past I've gone out on a limb and purchased a game based on just watching reviews on YouTube, but more and more I have made it a point to try the game out before making a purchasing decision. I'm really glad I did that with Village, because while I've had my eye on it for a while as a game that seems very much aligned with the style of games I tend to enjoy from designers who have produced some games I love (Rajas of the Ganges, Saint Malo, and Exit: The Abandoned Cabin, among other Exit games), this game turned out to be very "meh" for me, and a little on the dry and boring side for the experience I would expect from a game from these designers.
The idea and theme of village is really great and interesting, especially the aspects of gameplay focused around the passing of time, death, and the village chronicle, in which a player's family members (workers) may be permanently placed when they die in the category of their particular occupation. With limited space for each occupation in the book, if a family member dies and their occupation is already full, they will be buried in a pitiful unmarked grave. Since having family members in the village chronicle generates a lot of end game victory points, there is a certain strategy to getting your family members into contested occupations, then triggering actions that cost large amounts of time in order to trigger a family death (when your time piece crosses the bridge on your player board).
This all sounds like a really good idea, but where the game fell flat for me was with the fact that the various actions on the board were not that exciting. Many turns felt pretty lackluster, and the game felt like a constant arduous trudge toward trying to collect certain colors of cubes to fulfill the requirements of another action - which weren't even that amazing of actions. I love the feeling when you pull off an amazing combo in a game that triggers all sorts of cool resources, money, points, etc. But this game felt like "turn in a green and orange cube for 1 coin" or "turn in two green cubes for 2 points." And that's it.
What also would keep me from wanting to add this to my collection is the fact that game setup is almost identical for every game - the only variability here is the colors of cubes that get pulled from the bag for the various action spaces and the market tiles. Now, I've heard that the two expansions for Village really add a lot to the game, but I never like the idea of feeling like I HAVE to buy expansions for a base game in order to make it interesting. Buying an expansion for me should come when I have played a game many times that I enjoy, and the expansion just adds to what I already like about the game. It shouldn't be to fix a game or to make it worth playing.
I really wanted to like Village, and I may try it again in the future, but for now I will categorize this game as a PASS for me. :(
Teotihuacan: City of Gods by Daniele Tascini
I was at the end of my final day of GameStorm, thinking of going home, but then saw a "players wanted" cone at a table with Teotihuacan being set up. Having heard the buzz around this game, I wanted to give it a try, so I jumped on the opportunity to join.
Teotihuacan turned out to be the biggest surprise for me of all the games I played at the convention. I wasn't doubtful that I would like the game, but being that it appeared to be significantly complex, I was surprised at how well I felt like I grasped the game and was able to enjoy it in just one play. Yes, the game was a complex beast, but for me there was something intuitive about the flow of the game and how everything worked together. It gave me a similar feel as my favorite game of all time, Trajan, where there are a lot of gears and moving pieces, but for some reason the game clicks for me and I can see the larger picture at how everything works together.
It would take a long time to explain the game, but in a nutshell the game consists of a giant rondel around which you are moving dice which act as your workers. The value currently showing on your die is the strength of the action it can perform, and performing actions allows you to "power up" your die. When a die reaches level 6 and must power up, it then "dies" and is reborn as a level 1 die as another chance to live a hopefully more satisfying life, hopefully living up to their parents' expectations, beginning at a pre-determined location on the board.
You are trying to do a lot in this game - moving up tracks, building a pyramid, etc. - but by obtaining and focusing on special abilities, you can quickly figure out what you are "good at" and try to focus in on that. At least that's what I did, and found the game very enjoyable.
I walked away thinking the game was amazing and I can't wait to play again, but I'm not sure that I would actually seek this game out for my collection. Simply put, the game is a little too complicated and I feel like I would have a hard time getting it to the table. It would be a "nice circumstance" type game, and I already have enough of those in my collection. I would hate to buy it and see it sit on the shelf, taunting me every time I glance upon it. But, you better believe that if I see a group playing this game at a meetup or at a convention, I will jump right on the opportunity again to play.
