Push Your Luck Podcast Video Review #4 - Northwest Passage

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Euphoria - Finding Efficiency in a Dystopia

Euphoria is the 2nd release by Stonemaier Games; and if you have played their first release - Viticulture - you should know to expect that the production values for the game is going to be through the roof.
Well, Euphoria does not disappoint in this aspect.
In fact, the production values for Euphoria is practically out of this world ( forget about the stupid darn roof ). I have not seen any other game with production quality and bits this good. This will not seem like it was a Kickstarter game. The gold pieces feel and look like it could be real gold, and the clay bits have such great texture and detail to them that you would wish they had made it the same on all four sides so you could build houses with them. Everything production wise is simple top notch in Euphoria.
How about the gameplay you say ? Well, on to the juicy bits !

Bremerhaven - Almost there but not quite...

I want my AgriCOLA :P

Bremerhaven is a new release from Lookout games at Essen 2013. The box art immediately reminds me of Le Havre because they are from the same artist but the designer is new and this is his first game. In a nutshell, it is a light-medium weight euro style mostly card-based game. Players are bringing in ships which has cargo and trying to fulfill contracts to earn money. The game ends after a certain number of rounds, determined by "newspapers" which also depicts events and the player with the most points (multiply the money they have with the points they received from buildings and ships) will be the winner.
The core mechanism of the game is the bidding which involves 5 cards that each player has. Players will be using these cards to bid on a variety of items. There are 3 tracks, each consisting of a few items, that the players can bid on. Track 1 provides the most variety of items. Players can bid on buildings plans, ability to construct, upgrading their bidding cards, manipulating prices of goods and change player order. Track 2 provides access to the various ships that are available for that round. Track 3 provides access to the
contracts that are available.

New Sponsor! Hobby Games Mart!

We are proud to announce that Push Your Luck Podcast has a sponsor and its none other than our very friendly local online retailer Hobby Games Mart! With a HUGE selection of boardgames, friendly staff and prompt delivery, they strive to promote family time together through games and have been a great place to shop for our own needs.

So do visit their site at www.hobbygamesmart.com and let them know Push Your Luck Podcast sent you there!

Hobby Games Mart is also looking for foreign publishers who wish to reach out to Asian Markets. If you are interested, do contact them at: cust.serv@hobbygamesmart.com

Bruxelles 1893 - Too Much of Something is Bad Enough...

Over the recent weekend i managed to get in 2 games of Bruxelles 1893 - another Essen 2013 release.
I could sense from the way Eric talked about it that it was quickly becoming one of his favorite games. So, in order to hurt his feelings, i am going to purposely write a bad report about it. Haha.
No i kid, my genuine impressions of the game can be found below.

Nations : Through the Ages revised...?

My Egyptians won!

Through the Ages (TtA) has been THE civilization style game for me. Even though its mostly abstracted and played with cards and cubes, the clever streamline design and direct confrontation available in the advanced game makes it fun but not for the novice player. Indeed, while Through the Ages beats many others, it has some flaws which makes it daunting for new players to jump into it easily. Nations, an Essen 2013 release, seems to take most of the mechanisms and tries to take away the clunkiness while maintaining the essence of the game.

Untested Variant - Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy

I'm a little apprehensive about posting a variant in which i have yet the opportunity to try, but seeing that i won't have the chance to play the game anytime soon ( i don't own a copy ), i was wondering if others who own the game may have a chance to test the variant and see if it's any good ?

I had thought about it before falling asleep last night and decided to jot it down before the information gets lost along the way.

Push Your Luck Podcast Episode 25: Feld-stravaganza!!!

Joel Eddy joins Eric and Jonathan as they talk about Stefan Feld and his 4 releases for 2013. They chat about each of them and how they are ranked against each other. 3:34 - Bora Bora 21:43 - Rialto 34:34 - Bruges 47:18 - Amerigo Push Your Luck Podcast is now a proud member of The DiceTower Network. Do check out the other amazing podcasts in the network. Also check out the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund Auction on Boardgamegeek! Leave us comments and questions at our guild on Boardgamegeek and leave us a review on iTunes. Do visit our website www.pushurluckpodcast.com where we will have video and written reviews, session reports and other nifty posts! subscribe to it here http://feeds.feedburner.com/PushUrLuckPodcastpulp Thanks!

Suburbia Inc - Just Keep Building, Just Keep Building

Suburbia was released last year ( 2012 ) by Bezier Games, and after playing it at Eric's place, i was so blown away by how good the gameplay was that i immediately went out to get my own copy. It's quite possibly the best city building board game in the market right now ( or ever ).

Recently at Essen, they released their first expansion for Suburbia titled Suburbia Inc.

An unboxing video!

So I just received my copy of Russian Railroads and I could not wait to take it out so I decided to make an unboxing video. Not too sure the format and stuff though and whether its even constructive or helpful. So leave me feedback and let me know! Thanks! http://youtu.be/AS4iC-S4qkA

Push Your Luck Podcast Video Review #3 - Lewis and Clark

Check out the latest video review! You can click on the link below or the video link on the right of this blog. http://youtu.be/YU5GzBCGXTk

Japan Games Night - The Baker Life is the Life for Me ( Game 3 of 3 )

Well, the last Japan game for our game night was none other then Machi Koro !!

I've played this only once prior and though I enjoyed it, it didn't tickle my fancy as much as I had hoped it would. So I decided to break it out again and give it another twirl.

Japan Games Night - Couldn't Cheat to Save My Life... ( Game 2 of 3 )

The second game of the night was published by AEG recently but was originally a japan release and that is Cheaty Mages.

Cheaty Mages is a betting and bluffing game where players are trying to accumulate the most money after 3 rounds of play. Each round, 5 combatants and 1 judge are placed face up on the table. Players are then dealt a certain number of cards depending on the number of players. Before any action begins, each player must then place one to three bids on any of the 5 combatants. Each player may not place more than one bid per combatant. The catch for the bids is this, if you place only one bid, you will receive double the face value if you win, of you place two bids, you will win the face value, and if you place three bids, you will only win half the face value rounded up. So bidding on more combatants is not always the best way to go. 

Japan Games Night - Bye Bye Villains ! ( Game 1 of 3 )

Having recently had the chance to break out most of the Japan games i bought from Essen, i just thought i would share my group's experiences with the games we played.

The first on the list was Say Bye to the Villains
I had a strong feeling going in that my group will love this game. Eric was not impressed by it at all but i remain undeterred and decided that i would table this game to start the evening

Push Your Luck Video Review #2 - Rokoko

New video review and I talk about Rokoko! It was quite a fun game to play and though I haven't played any of the other fashion-related games like Pret A porter so I cannot give a comparison. I have played some of the designers' other games and I do like them. I feel that this is another hit they have on their hands. Can't say much about less than 4 player games though and hopefully I will be able to try it in the future! Check out the video on the right!

Small Boat & Good Hands lead the way - Lewis & Clark ( Initial Impressions )

Lewis & Clark is a game that I have been excited about since reading about it before Gencon 2013.

My trip to Essen was fruitless in the area that I was unable to get in a demo of the game. 

Dion did purchase the game sight unseen so that was still a relief in a way that I was sure one day I would get a chance to play it. And play it we did. :)

Push Your Luck Podcast Episode 24: Essen 2013 Impressions

Eric and Jonathan are joined with Michael Fox from Little Metal Dog show and talk about Essen 2013. Jonathan and Michael share what they have seen and share tips and what they felt was Game of the Con. Remember to check out KEEP RUNNING, Michael’s latest game now on Kickstarter Push Your Luck Podcast is now a proud member of The DiceTower Network. Do check out the other amazing podcasts in the network. Leave us comments and questions at our guild on Boardgamegeek and leave us a review on iTunes. Thanks! Subscribe here http://feeds.feedburner.com/PushUrLuckPodcastpulp

Quick Preview: Dead Man's Draw

This might be too late to help the Kickstarter campaign for the game but i gotta try !
Dead Man's Draw Kickstarter / ( ends in 56 hours ! )
I had only recently ( read: yesterday ) downloaded the app for my iPad, and i LOVE the gameplay !

Its really very simple but strangely addicting.

Each turn you get to flip as many cards ( one at a time ) from a face-down deck into the play area. You will choose/decide when to stop and bank all the cards. Should you draw a card of the same suit as one previously drawn, then you bust and all cards revealed are thrown into a discard pile.

Workers on a Train - Russian Railroads ( Initial Impressions )

Russian Railroads was recently released by Z-Man Games and Hans im Gluck at Essen 2013. It flew under my radar as I had assumed from its box art and stated category on BGG that it was a train game. Train Games = Major Dislike for me.

While at the fair, there was a lot of buzz for the game and we ran into a gamer – who demoed Yunnan with us – who kept declaring it the game of the fair ( for him of course )

Having eventually checked out all we wanted to do, Dion and myself decided to head on over to see how good this “Game of the Fair” was. Dion got a demo in while I watched from the sidelines. The result ? He loved it ! Game of the Fair for him.

Could it be that Russian Railroads is all its hyped up to be ?

I got a play in last Saturday at Eric’s place – a 4 player game involving Jillian, Eric, Dion and myself. Read on to see if its captured my attention as well !

We are now part of the Dicetower Network!

WOOT WOOT WOOT! :D

Check it out here
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We are very happy and proud to join this growing network of awesome podcasts and family of podcasters. We hope to learn from everyone and bring our podcast to new heights!

Do check out the other amazing podcasts here
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If you are a first time visitor to our site from the Dicetower network, WELCOME! Take a look at our blog for many many reviews and session impressions. Join our guild where we will always post the latest news with regards to our blog and podcast there.

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First impressions : Rokoko

Look at all the pretty pretty dresses!

Rokoko, one of the games that Jon and I were looking forward to, I think he more than me. Its a game about dress making and fashion and is an action selection game that combines deck building as well as resource gathering. Players try to manage obtaining resources to make dresses or buy decorations which will all lead to end game points. The deck building portion ties in with the action selection where each player will choose 3 cards to play for that round. Game lasts 6 rounds and there is a rather complicated end game scoring to be done and whomever has the most points will win the game. This is a 1 game impression and we had 5 players for this game. Lets take a look at what I have learnt.

First impressions : Caverna



Of course being a dog lover, I had to build the Dog trainer room :)


Caverna, another widely anticipated game from Uwe Rosenberg, is seen as a better version of Agricola and was released at Essen 2013. In essence this is quite true because it plays very similar to Agricola except for a few changes. Thematically we are all dwarves now (?!?) and we now have a mountain to dig into and build mines. Also that is where our rooms are now built. There is still a farming aspect where the normal Agricola features are available but with the new mountain area, it presents a new path to victory and that is expeditions. So did it work?

First Impressions: Russian Railroads

And round and round our scoring marker goes!

So if you have been following up on the releases at Essen 2013 and Fairplay list, you will know that Russian Railroads topped the Fairplay list and is one of our big surprises. I did not notice it because I had wrongly assumed that it was a game involving railroads (similar to 18xx) and thus all the preconceived notions about the game (takes very long, shares etc) did not appeal to me much and I gave it a miss.

However judging from the responses I did take a look while Essen was going on and lo and behold, its a euro worker placement game with a railroad theme AND there is no laying of tracks involved! Quite a twist don't you think? I wonder if this is the first of its kind.
So Dion came on by after dinner and we just HAD to give this a try and see what all the hype is about.

ImprEssens - Shephy

To be frank, there were not many real surprises for me at Essen this year. This is mainly due to the flood of information that is readily available on the internet ( and largely due to Eric Martin's awesome Essen updates and preview ).

Russian Railroads did surprise me but only for the fact that it wasn't a train game but a train themed worker placement game. I completely blocked it out of sight once i saw it resembled a train game. A mistake on my part. So for the fact it was a great game, that was a major surprise.

But one big surprise of Essen is finding a small booth that was demoing a game called Shephy.

ImprEssens - Coconuts

Coconuts was a game I had highlighted previously on our Essen Podcast episode ( Episode 22: Essen Wishlist ).
I said it looked like a silly and stupid dexterity game. ( Whether that sounds like a positive or a negative, i leave it entirely up to you :P )
Well, did it live up to what i had expected of it ? Let's find out !