The Indisputably Most Amazingly Best and Awesome Games of 2013 (that I played and can remember). Part Three of a Two-part Series.
Jeez, I take it back, I take it back. I guess I DID play a lot of games in 2013, and even as I write this, I'm leaving out several more. The more games I remember, the prouder I get. Let me explain.
I have two circles of friends, gamers and non-gamers. Certainly in the Venn diagram of my life the two circles intersect in an area that encompasses friends I not only game with, but also share other passions. Frequently, however, when those in the non-gaming, non-intersecting areas talk gaming, they float the following sentence. "Games? I don't have time to play games." We'll all take a sip of beer, and then they follow up with something like, "Hey, did you watch Duck Dynasty last week?" And my point is made. I could go on, but I won't.
Here's part three of the two-part series, "The Indisputably Most Amazingly Best and Awesome Games of 2013 (that I played and can remember)." (Are you supposed to use quotations when referencing a blog post, or italicize it? Let me know.)
Gobblet Gobblers: Sort of like a 3D version of Tic-Tac-Toe without the 3D mess. Both players get two each of three sizes of Gobblers. They take turns placing these on a Tic-Tac-Toe matrix. The trick is that you can gobble a smaller gobbler, changing the ownership of the square. Great ice breaker, nice introduction to strategy gaming.
Munchkin Bites: The vampire version of the game that saved Steve Jackson Games. Good fun for a crowd of people. Lots of strategy, and some combat (sorta). The rules seem a little squishy, but the game is more about the fun than the competition. Haven't heard of the game? From Steve hissownself... "Munchkin is the mega-hit card game about dungeon adventure . . . with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items." And Felicia Day plays it, and BTW, if you haven't watched The Guild, you should. Hilarious.
What Price Glory: The deck-building game about World War One. Man, I wanted to like this. I mean it has counters, combat factors, cavalry, infantry, machine guns (kinda), but I don't. Like it, that is. It's as if the game takes the deck building genre and removes everything that's great about it. Each turn you CHOOSE the cards you play with? What fun is that? Deck building is all about hand management. I either didn't understand the rules (always a possibility) or this game missed the mark.
Summoner Wars: Another card game set in a fantastical universe. Not a deck builder, per se. At least not in the vein of Dominion, Resident Evil, Legendary, or A Few Acres of Snow. In this game cards not only represent abilities, such as ambush, or ensnare, but also the actual combat units such as common warriors and champions, as well as each side's summoner. The object is to move your cards/units on the board to inflict wounds on, and subsequently eliminate, the enemy summoner. One of my favorites, also available on iPad.
Flashpoint Campaigns Red Storm: A detailed, yet easily accessible, simulation of battles in the Third World War. Units represent platoons of just about every gadget that might play a part in the European theater of operations. Turns are simultaneous, giving the game a bit of a real-time feel. Despite the feel this is turn-based gaming, but the cool thing in the basing is the length of the turns. Well-led, fresh units might be able to receive orders every twenty minutes, whereas tired, fragmented folks will be much less receptive. A fascinating way to replay some of the World at War battles you've fought with cardboard counters and plastic dice. Designed by my good friend, Jim Snyder.
That's it. There are even more games I've played with my gaming group. Some, like Arkham Horror, are blessedly forgettable, others, like Small World, were a lot of fun. The list of games I've posted seem a bit odd for someone whose design credits are war games. A couple of points on that oddity.
Point one. It's not a completely accurate representation of my gaming time. I've spent hundreds (yeah, hundreds) of hours in 2013 testing and developing World at War: America Conquered and Lock 'n Load: Heroes of the Pacific. Those are certainly wargames. As an aside, judging by the mistakes I made on in a couple of the America Conquered scenarios, I should have spent a few hours more on that one.
Point two. I love conflict simulations. Counters with attack factors, ranges, tanks, all that stuff. A huge majority of the games I listed involve conflict and a direct way to solve it. The problem is that it's both a niche part of gaming, as well as two-player centric. In other words, it's difficult to find a good four-player war game. There's a lot of reasons for that; maybe even a blog's worth of reasons, but I'm out of time for today.
Tune in tomorrow, and I'll tell you who will win this weekend's playoff games.
I have two circles of friends, gamers and non-gamers. Certainly in the Venn diagram of my life the two circles intersect in an area that encompasses friends I not only game with, but also share other passions. Frequently, however, when those in the non-gaming, non-intersecting areas talk gaming, they float the following sentence. "Games? I don't have time to play games." We'll all take a sip of beer, and then they follow up with something like, "Hey, did you watch Duck Dynasty last week?" And my point is made. I could go on, but I won't.
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| Scarlett Johansson. Just because. |
Here's part three of the two-part series, "The Indisputably Most Amazingly Best and Awesome Games of 2013 (that I played and can remember)." (Are you supposed to use quotations when referencing a blog post, or italicize it? Let me know.)
Gobblet Gobblers: Sort of like a 3D version of Tic-Tac-Toe without the 3D mess. Both players get two each of three sizes of Gobblers. They take turns placing these on a Tic-Tac-Toe matrix. The trick is that you can gobble a smaller gobbler, changing the ownership of the square. Great ice breaker, nice introduction to strategy gaming.
Munchkin Bites: The vampire version of the game that saved Steve Jackson Games. Good fun for a crowd of people. Lots of strategy, and some combat (sorta). The rules seem a little squishy, but the game is more about the fun than the competition. Haven't heard of the game? From Steve hissownself... "Munchkin is the mega-hit card game about dungeon adventure . . . with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items." And Felicia Day plays it, and BTW, if you haven't watched The Guild, you should. Hilarious.
What Price Glory: The deck-building game about World War One. Man, I wanted to like this. I mean it has counters, combat factors, cavalry, infantry, machine guns (kinda), but I don't. Like it, that is. It's as if the game takes the deck building genre and removes everything that's great about it. Each turn you CHOOSE the cards you play with? What fun is that? Deck building is all about hand management. I either didn't understand the rules (always a possibility) or this game missed the mark.
Summoner Wars: Another card game set in a fantastical universe. Not a deck builder, per se. At least not in the vein of Dominion, Resident Evil, Legendary, or A Few Acres of Snow. In this game cards not only represent abilities, such as ambush, or ensnare, but also the actual combat units such as common warriors and champions, as well as each side's summoner. The object is to move your cards/units on the board to inflict wounds on, and subsequently eliminate, the enemy summoner. One of my favorites, also available on iPad.
Flashpoint Campaigns Red Storm: A detailed, yet easily accessible, simulation of battles in the Third World War. Units represent platoons of just about every gadget that might play a part in the European theater of operations. Turns are simultaneous, giving the game a bit of a real-time feel. Despite the feel this is turn-based gaming, but the cool thing in the basing is the length of the turns. Well-led, fresh units might be able to receive orders every twenty minutes, whereas tired, fragmented folks will be much less receptive. A fascinating way to replay some of the World at War battles you've fought with cardboard counters and plastic dice. Designed by my good friend, Jim Snyder.
That's it. There are even more games I've played with my gaming group. Some, like Arkham Horror, are blessedly forgettable, others, like Small World, were a lot of fun. The list of games I've posted seem a bit odd for someone whose design credits are war games. A couple of points on that oddity.
Point one. It's not a completely accurate representation of my gaming time. I've spent hundreds (yeah, hundreds) of hours in 2013 testing and developing World at War: America Conquered and Lock 'n Load: Heroes of the Pacific. Those are certainly wargames. As an aside, judging by the mistakes I made on in a couple of the America Conquered scenarios, I should have spent a few hours more on that one.
Point two. I love conflict simulations. Counters with attack factors, ranges, tanks, all that stuff. A huge majority of the games I listed involve conflict and a direct way to solve it. The problem is that it's both a niche part of gaming, as well as two-player centric. In other words, it's difficult to find a good four-player war game. There's a lot of reasons for that; maybe even a blog's worth of reasons, but I'm out of time for today.
Tune in tomorrow, and I'll tell you who will win this weekend's playoff games.
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