A Purchase Decision - Mascarade

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

Mascarade

Mascarade is designed by Bruno Faidutti who is best known for his work on Citadels.

He has also designed many other games such as Isla Dorada, Pony Express, and Mission Red Planet.

Mascarade is a bluffing & deduction game with multiple roles in the same vein as Coup.

Game Info

Mascarade plays 2-13 players

Published playing time is 30mins
Mechanics – Bluffing / Deduction / Variable Player Powers

Legends of Andor: OMG tis hard to protect the kingdom!

So after reading around I decided to give in the hype and bought another coop game, Legends of Andor and give it a go. I managed to get my usual gaming group (who usually dislike coops) to give it a go as well! How did it go?

Castles of Burgundy : Why am I not getting this hmm...

Hmm i think I am doing something wrong somewhere...

So after quite a long while of not playing the actual boardgame (I have been playing it online), Jon brought his copy over and we played a 4 player game of Castles. I am not sure why but I am just not getting it. I thought I was doing pretty well with the game but halfway through I was last on the scoreboard yet my board is mostly full. We played with the championship board and Jon mentioned its pretty tough but with all my early 10 point scorings for completing the smaller areas, I still end up dead last! Perhaps I was not efficient enough because I did not go for the green castles which gave extra action (most of my opponents all had at least 3). Perhaps I did not invest in the animals abit more (Jean who played it the first time broke 200 and had a lot of pigs which we did not block and gave her like 8+ points each time she placed a farm). Or perhaps I did not invest in the end game scoring like what Jon did which gave him the win (he had 3). I did have some nice end game scoring but perhaps I wasn't using the buildings enough to give me the combos I wanted. I did snatch the grey 7 pointer scoring tile from Jillian who was also eying it but in the end I was dead last.

BLAH.... time to play online again to practise! :P

Witch's Brew Review

  

Designer: Andreas Pelikan

No. of Players: 3-5 ( 3-6 with Alea Treasure Chest Expansion )

Playing Time: 45-60mins

Mechanics: Role Selection / Deduction / Hand Management

A Purchase Decision - Castle Dice

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

Castle Dice

Castle Dice is designed by Luke Peterschmidt and was successfully funded via Kickstarter sometime late last year.

It has recently been released and is available for sale directly from Fun to 11’s website.

Game Info

Castle Dice plays 1-4 players

Published playing time is 45mins
Mechanics – Dice Drafting / Set Collection / Resource Management

Neue Heimat : Shoebox of a game. Literally...

Lots of sabotaging...

I first played this game very early on when I was heading to Meetups to meet new people and learn about this wonderful world of modern boardgaming. I believe I did not know what I was doing then and I was quite out of my league. Can't remember the scores then but I am pretty sure I sucked :P

Crude: What another bingo?

So many pieces!!

Well, heard a lot, wanted to try, finally got to try. Did not complete the game though because it kinda got long and repetitious and the owner of the game had to leave. We weren't sad to see the game go so we could play something else.
Now its not a bad game per say and I can certainly see the draw of the game. When the right die hit, I will raise my arms and yell "BINGO!" much like when I play Augustus. What you do during your turn is rather straight forward too: Sell if your petrol kiosks are hit, refine, pump oil, convert to pumps and buy or sell new equipment. I think the majority of the decision will be whether to sell or what to buy.
After that, just rinse and repeat until someone wins. The other highlight is also when the market changes and the players has to roll the green die to determine which market it changes to. Because of the nature of the game, you kinda welcome these random events (the actual events + die rolls + market changes) so exaggerate it to make the game more fun. Otherwise the rest are kinda auto-pilot in a way. Its not a bad game but I think it can get too long and repetitious for its own good. Try before you buy!