Urban Sprawl : One big urban mess

Huge swings, lotsa randomness, definitely not Dominant Species

Its been some time (almost 8 months) since I last played this and in this session, I am reminded why I had to sell this game. From the designer of Dominant Species, I had really wanted to like this game as I liked Dominant Species quite a bit (the iOS version now is EXCELLENT as you can play a game vs 5 AI in very short time!) but unfortunately this session confirmed why this game has fell out of my collection.

A Purchase Decision - Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia

The game in question for this week’s entry is…

Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia

Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia ( Euphoria from now on ) is the 2^nd game by designers Jamey Stegmaier and Alan Stone.

Their first collaboration was Viticulture which was recently released via Kickstarter.

Euphoria will be published by Stonemaier games ( which I assume is co-owned by Jamey and Alan ) and is currently up for funding on Kickstarter.

Bora Bora: 12 huts + 12 man/woman tiles!

OMG i DID IT! Can't believe it...

So after a few games of bora bora I was thinking its neigh impossible to score the 12 huts and 12 man/woman tiles so last night when I played it again I decided to give it a go. Boy was I surprised I managed to do it and win the game! 

Now I must admit its not easy and I had a little bit of luck. You essentially need to be able to obtain tiles that give you either more tiles or allowed you to place huts either on the board or in your last hut space. At the same time, you will need quite a lot of the green gods to help you maximize the number of man/woman tiles you are getting.

You probably can complete the objectives goal and even the jewelry goal. I doubt you can be on the temple track though. Now the chances to get screwed is pretty high but with careful planning and subtlety, you can get away with it.

It really impressed me how it is possible to try something totally different in Bora bora and even win! Makes me want to revisit some of my older games and see what other alternative strategies I can come up with.

So after tonight it confirms for me that bora bora is one of the best Stefan Feld games I have played. Highly recommended! 

Stuck'in 2nd Gear: The Mayan Calendar

I recently managed to get in my 3rd ( and possibly final ) play of Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar.
I first played this game in December last year, and after 2 plays of it i wasnt at all impressed.
I remember calling it "broken" on one of our podcast episodes. I think it was our very first one.
Do I still stand by my comments ? Well, lets find out !

Space Empires 4X: Where did all that time go ?

I can feel the epic-ness as we setup all those chits!

Space Empires 4X is a war game plain and simple from the fine folks of GMT games. It plays 1-4 and takes you from 1 homeworld with a handful of colony ships all the way to an empire spanning several colonies, all to help you to wage war on the homeworld of an opponent. Its epic and even has fog of war built in but certainly will take a LOT of time to play the normal game itself!

Il Vecchio: Round and round the middlemen go...

I wish the other side had a different board configuration..

I review this previously in my other blog so I won't go into too much details again. This is a light weight euro with a pasted on theme where players are trying to score points by strategically placing their workers, obtaining tiles with which they can then move some workers into various provinces around the map and the venice in the center of the map. These workers will provide scoring points as well as bonuses. When the game has ended, there will be a slew of other end game scoring bonuses and whoever has the most points will win the game.

Terra Mystica: Is this game AWESOME or what?

We liked it so much we played TWICE in 1 session!

If you can't tell by now, I really love this game. The first time I played it I was going "wow.. this is such a meaty game and I can feel my brain going overtime working out the various combinations and things I can do to be in the best position to score points and I can feel it melting out of my ears but WOW... I love this game!"

Tzolkin the Mayan Calendar - Stupid temples

stupid temples...

Its been some time since i last played Tzolkin especially since my copy has been exchanged with a friend's vanilla copy and I haven't gotten down to painting the new copy (so many things to do, so little time!). I was eager to see how the double turns can screw with other players and also other methods to win the game and not rely too much on the temple.

Episode 10 is now LIVE!

We have the pleasure of interviewing Jamey Steigmaier, Designer and publisher of Viticulture and the upcoming Euphoria which is already funded and still running on Kickstarter! 

We are also running our VERY FIRST CONTEST with Prizes! So if you are interested, do listen to the contest question in our episode and send your answers to pulpcontest@gmail.com 

Contest will end on 23rd June and the winner will be announced in Episode 13!

Direct link to our podcast can be found here

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Ep+10.mp3

Check out the link for Euphoria here

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jameystegmaier/euphoria-build-a-better-dystopia?ref=live

Jamey's company website can also be found here

http://www.stonemaiergames.com/

Milestones

I was a major house builder in this game...

Its been quite sometime since I last played Milestones and I was eager to bring it out again. We played with 3 players and I was the most experienced one around with 2 relatively newbies to the game. I won't go into details of the game because there are many reviews already online about this. My feel of the game is that its clean, efficient and very much a medium weight euro game with an interesting rondel-like player board where you will be carrying out your actions.

Hikyō na kōmori: Bats, Beasts and Birds

Beast! Bat! Birds? 

This is another microgame from Oink games that comes in a nicely designed box of 3 games. It plays 4-7 players and is much lighter than the other 2 that comes in the box with it. How does it play?

Ab In die Tonne: We want your trash!

Careful..... careful!

A game in which players are trying to stack rubbish in a trash can and trying not to be the one who cause any trash to fall. Its light, fun and nicely produced game that will sure to be entertaining for the family!

Hattari: Another small game series

Do i try to bluff or just guess correctly?

Another in the series of small sized games from Oink games, Hattari is a game for 2-4 where players are trying to either guess who the culprit is correctly OR try to trick your opponents into guessing the same spot as you so that if it was a mistake, they will have to take your token as well.

A Purchase Decision - Quarantine

The game in question for this week’s entry is…

Quarantine

Quarantine is a game by Mark Klassen and it would appear to be his first foray into board game design.

Game Info

Quarantine plays 2-4 players

Published playing time is 60mins
Mechanics – Tile Placement / Action Point System / Tableau Management

Council of Verona: where's that poison when you need it?



Just did not grab me as other micro games did...

Summary
Another light game in the series of micro games (small box with minimal components), Council of Verona will be released in an upcoming Kickstarter by Crash Games.  In this game, players are trying to strategically play the cards in their hand (total of only 13 in the game) to manipulate 2 areas, the council and the banished and to decide where to place their influence tokens so that when the game ends, those cards where they have influence tokens on will qualify for scoring and they will score maximum points. The player with the most points will win the game. At the start of the game, players will receive 1 card and then draft the remaining 2 (this is for 4 players). Then the game begins and players will have to play 1 card and then decide to activate the action and/or place one of their tokens on any cards that allow them to on the playing area. Once all cards have been played from their hands, the game ends.

A murder of Crows

Ooooo.... Shiny.....

A light-medium weight game where you are laying down tiles and then thinking where you are placing your shiny object so as to attract as many crows from other tiles to your object because the crows will score you points. There are extra points to be earned if your object is on a cemetery and you get special tokens if your object is placed on an empty tree tile which can give you 2 points if unused at the end of the game.

So basically you are trying to see where is the best place to first, place that new tile so you can benefit and then place your shiny object to attract as much crows as you can and at the same time stealing crows from other players. Player order is quite important as well because being first you could possibly get the best spot but being last you can also see how you can best screw with other players too! Components are ok and the crow-eeples are pretty cool! Try before you buy!

Acquire: Rocking it old school!

Love the plastic pieces and buildings!

Its been a REALLY LONG time since I brought out my copy to play. I first played Acquire (the latest version) at a gaming cafe and I was hooked on it! So I did some research and found out there are so many versions of Acquire and this copy was, in my opinion, best of the lot! I bought this copy pretty early on in my gaming life and I had to ship this from USA at quite a price because of its rarity.

Village + Village Inn = What Village should have been

                  

 


Eric and myself recently managed to get in a game of Village with its new expansion "Village Inn".
He has shared his thoughts and a small session report earlier, and i thought i would share my opinions on it as well since our opinions tend to differ somewhat and also since i have a sprained neck and thus quite a bit of free time.

Island Fortress - if Ubongo and Tetris had a baby?

Great Wall of China would have been a better theme

So Jon brought over Island Fortress and 4 of us had a go at it. Its a role selection light-medium game where players are trying to build parts of a fortress, trying to meet objectives (by building parts of the fortress in a certain configuration) and scoring points. Player with the most points at the end of the game (including end game scoring) will win the game.

Kobayakawa - Poker light?

Should I risk it....? Or play it safe?

Another game from the set of games I had purchased from Oink Games, Kobayakawa is a light filler very similar in the vein of Love Letter. The game consists of only 15 cards and quite a sum of metallic coins. Game lasts for 7 rounds and during each round, every player will be dealt a card. There will also be 1 card in the center face up. During your turn, you can choose to draw a card and then discard one of the 2 cards in your hand face up on the table OR place a card from the draw deck face up onto the center of the table. After all players have done this, then starting with the start player again, players decide to be IN (by betting a coin) or OUT (meaning they will not compete in this round). Then all players who are still IN show the card they have in hand. The player with the LOWEST number gets the privilege of adding the number in the center of the table to their number. Then the player with the highest total will win the bets of all other players (who are in) plus 1 coin from the center pool. All cards are shuffled and a new round begins. The last round is slightly different in that the bet is 2 coins instead of 1 and winner gets 2 coins as well.

Village and Village Inn expansion

Check out our scores! I am RED btw :)

So my copy of Village Inn, the expansion for Village, has arrived and I was quick to bring it to the table to play. What it adds is a set of cards which gives you certain characters that can provide you with 1 time benefits or more points at the end of the game. These cards can be purchased at the Inn by placing a person there for 1 x Time and activating that person for another 1 x Time. Cards do have a purchase price. Another addition is a new building with which to make a new type of Good - Beer. The expansion also adds components for a 5th player and a few more goods and customer tiles for the game.

Pinguin Party - Japanese version

Making monkey noises during the game.. 

Part of the set of games I had recently purchased from Oink Games in Japan, this version is a redesigned art of Pinguin Party from Reiner Knizia. In this game, players are trying to finish their hand of cards while building a pyramid like structure on the table. The only rule is if you are placing on the next level, the color of the new card must match one of those from the previous level it is residing on. If you cannot play any more cards, you have to pass and get a penalty chip for EACH card you have remaining in your hand. Play continues until all players have passed and all cards are shuffled again and a new round begins. After a number of rounds, the player with the LEAST number of penalty chips will win the game.

Magnum sal or sigh?

A worker placement euro medium weight game that has funky (not in a good way) mechanisms and took way too long to end. 

GMT Games having 50% 1 week sale for 1 or 2 IN STOCK GAMES!

OMG..... what are you waiting for....? That's a great steal! :D

For more details check it out here
http://www.gmtgames.com/news.aspx?showarticle=272

A Purchase Decision - Island Fortress

hey all !

I've decided to start a small segment that i will call...
"A Purchase Decision"

just an idea i had in mind and decided to go full steam ahead with it, and see where and how it turns out

basically the idea of "A Purchase Decision" ( aka APD ), is just to state out what i thought of while deliberating whether or not to buy a particular game.

i'm not sure how each of you decide on what game to purchase ( art, newness, designer, etc etc ), but for me, each purchase goes through a very vigorous and tough selection process, which usually also includes the reading through of the rule-set.
so i thought i would just list through my thoughts on how the game is going to play like and what i considered before i made ( or did not make ) the purchase

if you do read through it, i hope that whatever i had to say might help as well in your game purchasing decision ! :)


well, on to it then !

Just to get things out of the way - an introduction

hey all !

welcome to the official website for the Push.Ur.Luck.Podcast ! ( shall hence forth be known as P.U.L.P )

just wanted to kick off my first post with a slight introduction and then i can start bombarding the site with nonsense and what not. :P

well, since you are reading this, i suppose you already know that i am a board gamer ( was going to say avid but erm, i dont really get the chance to play that often. i'll let Eric take the tag as avid gamer ).
and really, boardgaming is my number one hobby. my number two hobby would possibly be SCUBA, but that i havent done in nearly 3 years. *sad face*

Another great game of Edo!

Omg so trashed in this game of Edo. Jillian had enough resources for 2 fortresses in her last 2 turns which pushed the game to end and gave her a comfortable lead. We think we gave her too much leeway in the beginning by not challenging her income.