The Faster the Better

If there is one type of board game that I'm partial to besides massive strategy games it would be racing games. I'm not sure exactly why, but I own several racing games and I find myself always drawn to any type of racing game when i'm parusing the internet or a game shop. Today's article will talk about some of the great racing games of the past and present so get ready, set ..go!!!


Arena Maximus

Despite weak reviews I purchased this game on impulse when it was released and to date it remains one of my favorite games rarely collecting dust on my shelf. Arena Maximus is a fantasy based chariot racing game where you play as one of five chariot drivers, racing on a deadly oval track. As you race down the track you have to avoid various obstacles, while simulatnously fighting with the other chariot drivers and trying to maintain control of your chariot. The game mechanic albeit it simple is very clever using a system where the cards in your hand represent control and whip cards played on the table represent your speed. The tough part is that your limited to 7 cards all together so the faster you go (the more whip cards you play) the less cards you have in your hand which are used to avoid obsticles, fight, cast spells and defend yourself, in effect your control. The faster you go the less control you have. When you fail to avoid an obsticle or defend yourself against a player attack your chariot takes damage, if you take too much damage you crash. Naturally the first player across the track wins the game but the game is played in reverse order so at the start of each turn the last player goes first, then the second to last etc.. etc.. so being in front can be a big disadvantage, while being too far back can put you out of the running for victory. The end result is that every race is extremly close as players try not to get too far ahead or fall too far behind until the very end when everyone makes a play for the goal line. In this game its rare that the race is anything but very very close. A very fun game I love to play, albeit the instructions are not very well written which I think has ultimatly lead to this games 'bargain bin' status, but all the better you can pick this game up dirt cheap.


Mississippi Queen
Mississippi Queen is one of those rare games that I can actually get none gamers to play and love. Its simple to learn and quite addictive. The premise is quite simple, you control a river boat in a race to the finish line on the very hazardous Mississippi river. You control the speed of your boat, but the speed you set you are commited to and you can slow down and speed up only so fast. In a pinch you can use your very limited resource oil to make the really tough manuvers, but watch out, the resource is in fact very limited and once its gone its gone. The trick to the game is that you don't see the track as you go down the river. A die is rolled to determine which way the river will turn and a randome tile is used and placed in the right position. The result is a sort of wacky race where you never really know if you are going too fast or too slow and what direction the river will bend next. To complicate matters you also have to pick up passengers along the way. The games mechanics might be too simple for some, but Rio Grande games usually function on the premise that the people playing their games aren't nescessarily gamers and I think the game works very well as a party game. You can pull this out after people have broken into the wine and expect it to be a very popular and fun experiance. Unfortunatly this game can sometimes be hard to find, a search on Ebay revealed only two copies, both severly over priced. The reason for this however is not that the game is rare but that people seem to have trouble spelling the word Mississippi correctly. A closer examination on Ebay reveals that quite a few copies are sold for as little as 10 bucks with various renditions of badly spell 'Mississippi's'. Really a great buy I strongly recommend it.


Formula De
Formula De is one of those games that benefits from more players and tends to be less fun with the fewer players you have. In fact even a 4 player game can seem uneventful. However if you do manage to get 6 or more people in a room to play a game, this is an experiance well worth it. Formula De uses a interesting mechanic in which you change gears represented by the type of dice you roll which in turn determines your speed (how far you can travel). You have various statistics for your car like tires, body and brakes which are a limited resource that allow you to avoid crashes when you go to fast or potentially crash into someone. In addition the track has control points which force you to travel down certain paths around turns, hence you must decide as you enter a turn which position you will travel along. This decesion can easily lead to a crash if you aren't planning your driving strategy appropriatly. Its a very addictive game, one that I wish I could play more often but unfotunatly as mentioned with anything less then 5 players much of the excitment is lost. The game has a pretty good level of support from the publisher with a variety of tracks and expansions available. The pricing on the game is kind of strange though, certain sets are very expensive in excess of 100 dollars while others barely breaking the 10 dollar mark. I'm not sure what the reason for that is but needless to say its difficult to recommand this game for 100 dollars, but if you can find it reasonably price it definitly deserves a place on your shelf.

The Good Not So Good

I don't normally do negative reviews of games, simply put this blog is about the games I like and recommend and generaly if I don't like a game I stick it on a shelf and quickly forget the reasons why moving on to better things. There are however several games I have played in the past few months that I simply didn't like and while Im not going to go into detailed reviews, here a few thoughts on some of the games that just didn't do it for me.

Last Night On Earth

I had an oppertunity to play this game a few times in recent weeks and I have to say, while I loved the concept and the exceptionaly high quality parts I just couldn't find much to like about this games mechanics. I was actually quite suprised to see so many positive reviews of this game on boardgamegeek.com and although its average score is at about a 7.5 out of 10 on that site, I personaly would rank it a few points below that. The game is simple enough, one player acts for the zombies and the rest of the players take on the personas of the sterotypical zombie movie survivors , aka Cheerleader, Football Jock, Preacher etc.. The simple combat game has the survivors running around the board equiping themselves as they kill zombies and perform any number of missions depending on the scenario of the game. To me this game just felt like it was missing a layer of complexity for it to be entertaining. The fights were grossly based on pure luck (dice rolls) and each game boiled down to the survivors doing pretty much the same thing which is to find the best weapons possible and avoiding packs of zombies, especially in melee combat. In the company of friends joking around and roleplaying their characters and zombies the game was tolerable but all and all I really can't recommend this one as anything more then a entertaining ruse, especially considering the hefty 40+ dollar price tag.

Runebound
Another game that has managed to get a fair following despite itself and considerable support with dozens of expansions already out. This one I played quite a bit when it was first released and recently a friend of mine pulled it out and we played a couple of rounds. I can understand the appeal of adventure games like Runebound, it sort of offers a short version of what roleplaying games are like for people who just don't have the time to commit to a roleplaying game. For me however, as a roleplayer when I play adventure games of this type which basicaly boil down to 'Kill Stuff, Loot Stuff, Level Up' I find myself wondering why we aren't just playing D&D or some other roleplaying game who's mechanics and feel are going to be considerably better. Even more so today with great adventure board games like Descent available. Runebound is a simple game, move your character around the board to adventuring site and fight whatever is there to gain experiance in an ultimate goal to acomplish a overall mission. The mission depends on the expansion set your playing with but generaly its just a boss monster at the end to defeat. It has some clever mechanics and plenty of interesting equipment and gadgets to peek the interest of any role player, but it very quickly wares out its welcome when you realize that there really isn't much strategy involved and the scenarios favor the player making it quite easy to beat the game. Playable, albeit it repetative, I certainly cano not recommend it if for no other reason then that the replay value is extremly limited. The only way to get a 'new' game feel is to constantly buy expansions which might explain why there are so many. For great adventure games I strongly suggest you look at games like Descent: Journeys in the dark and its various expansions.

Settlers of Catan
When I decided to add Settlers of Catan to this list of games i don't like I thought for certain I would stand alone. With an enormous following beloved by thousands this game is practicaly mainstream at this point. Its worth noting however that even on BoardGameGeek.com this game has recieved a 7.5 stars making it a middle of the road review for such an overwhelmingly popular game on one of the largest review sites for board games. I have played this game on a number of occassions however hoping to find what it is so many love about it but while I normally like Euro designed games, this one seems to me at the very least to be quite dull and very simpleton. I can see the strategy involved, but all and all its a game of luck which can often beat you despite you playing a wise strategy, a frustration I find to be quite often true with most of the Catan games which use die rolls to determine the resources you'll get to work with and build your strategy. The flaw in that is that if the dice don't roll your way your options are extremly limited, sometimes even non existant. The other thing I don't like about Settlers is that once you fall behind you stay behind, its a game which is very difficult to make a come back in. With that said I have to admit that I find the games overal concept quite appealing even if its mechanics miss the mark and I went out on a limb and purchased another game from the Catan line called Starship Catan.


Starship Catan, a better alternative to Settlers
Starship Catan is a two player game, using some similiar mechanics, albeit it toned down enough to eliminate the element of luck that you have in Settlers leaving far more to the players strategy. In StarShip Catan you are one of two space traders that has been lost in a distant galaxy and you are trying to find your way home. The local alien races are willing to help you for a price. The game is about you trying to raise the money you need to acomplish the various tasks for the alien races so they will show you the way home. You compete against another player by gathering resources, upgrading your ship and exploring the galaxy. The mechanics of the game are simple to learn and fun to play, its one of the few two player games I find myself playing very regularly. Again many of the concepts of Catan are in this game, but without the overbearing luck element. While only a two player game there is a Catan game which I believe this game was loosely based on, or at least inspired by called StarFarers of Catan. I have never played it but its definitly on my list.

Brain Teasers


I love games of all types and I try to make it a point never to judge a game until I've tried it. In recent years I have been introduced to a number of what I like to call 'Brain Teaser' games, often refered to as Abstract games. Generaly I have always stayed away from these types of games as I find that I enjoy a game far more if it has a story behind it then just some of the wall puzzle game. Still there are a couple of games that I have tried that I really loved and I thought they deserved a place on the blog.

Khet

Khet is a very interesting game played on a chess like board with a variety of pieces that have angled mirrors. On each side of the board is a simple red laser which when activated bounces off the various mirrored pieces until the laser 'hits' something. The object of the game is to move the pieces around and position them in such a way that they hit your opponents 'King' piece. Each player makes a single move each round and presses the lazer to see if it hits any pieces, if it hits a piece, regardless of who's it is, it is removed. Its a simple yet clever design that is extremly addictive while being incredibly complex. An easy game to learn, but very very difficult to master. Khet is a two player game, but I think it would be great to see this game adapted to have more then one player.

Ricochet Robots

This game I can only describe as painful yet exciting. The premise is quite simple, each round a random location token is drawn with a certain color. A timer is started and players must find the fastest route for that robot to take to that location on a game board with a variety of wall obsticles. You shout out your best guess how many 'bounces' it will take to get to the location, the player with the shortest route, that can prove it by moving the pieces gets the tab hence a point. The robots can only move in straight lines and must always move until they hit something before changing direction. You can move and use any of the other robots in play as well so it isn't just about finding how many bounces in the most logical way it would take, but creating new routes by using the other robots as walls to bounce off of. The hardest part of it all is that you can't touch any of the pieces, meaning you have to do it in your head. Once you shout out a number your stuck with it so if you made a mistake you can't change your mind. Its an easy game to learn and fun to play. I think I like it because its one of those games that it doesn t really matter how many players you have. It can be 2 or it can be 6, its fun either way. Its a great mental challenge as well, great way to warm up your strategic part of your brain before getting into your board gaming evening, although be warned that you might not play any other games once you start with this one.

FURY OF DRACULA SPECTACULAR

If there is one thing I love its discovering a great, new board game that captures my attention the way many of my nostalgic favorites did the first time I played them. This past weekend I discovered such a game, a true gem in the rough that deserves all the praise I can offer. The Fury of Dracula by Fantasy Flight Games however is not a new game as I quickly discovered, in fact it is a gold box classic from the 80’s. I played the 2^nd edition of the game recently released, but my understanding is that little has actually changed in the base design.

Van Helsing, the famed vampire hunter

The Fury of Dracula is a game in which one player represents Dracula and the remaining players represent the 4 famous vampire hunters from the Bram Stoker novel including none other then Van Helsing in a search to find and destroy the famed blood sucker in Europe. The simple yet elegant design plays very smoothly with an uncanny ability to keep all players glued to the game board regardless of who’s turn it is and maintaining a constant surge of suspense.

It might look complicated in an screen shot but the game is very simple to learn.

The premise is simple. You have pieces representing the hunters moving on a map of Europe from city to city searching for equipment, resolving a variety of events and encounters while searching for clues to Dracula’s whereabouts. Dracula also moves around the board in Europe, but unlike the hunters, he moves in secret through the use of ‘location cards’ which are placed face down in a row representing where Dracula is currently and a trail of cards of the locations he has been. When the hunters land on a city in which Dracula has been the location card is revealed from which the hunter players can make estimates of where Dracula might have gone and continue to follow the trail. Dracula leaves behind ‘encounter’ tokens to slow the players down, representing things like henchmen and traps for the players to fight through and overcome. The unique balance comes in the form of timing as each round represents a turn of the clock and as the day changes to night the advantage does as well as Dracula is stronger and has more powers at night while being considerably weaker in the day time. The hunters must not only find and trap Dracula, but time it so that they face him when he is weak else they can quickly become the hunted. The objective of the Dracula player is to survive long enough to spawn 6 Vampires in Europe, a task done in a variety of ways including planting Vampire encounters in cities to defeating on of the hunter characters.

The Box art for the original 1987 release of the game

The game is beautifully balanced although it may at first appear as though Dracula has a major advantage since he can essentially win the game over time by avoiding the hunters, initially a pretty easy task, but it becomes increasingly difficult for Dracula to do so as players pick up event cards and equipment that make locating Dracula easier. One drawback for Dracula is that he cannot return to places he has been in the last six rounds (the last six locations which are his trail). This fact makes it easier for the hunters to figure out where Dracula might have moved as well as help them to set up traps for Dracula through the use of various event cards and equipment. Dracula also spends blood to use his various abilities like wolf form which allows him to move faster, or hide which allows him to remain in place. This means over time as the players get stronger he can actually become weaker, a sort of count down for Dracula pushing him to act. In order to win as the Dracula player you must wisely avoid the hunters while also appropriately take advantages when their guard is down or they are weakened by the encounters you leave behind in cities. Timing, location, event cards and equipment are just some of the things that go into the complicated formula that is good strategy, but despite juggling these various resources the rules are so simple and elegantly presented that its quite easy to keep track of everything. Its really just a matter of good execution of a plan and a bit of luck.

If and when you do finally face Dracula or one of his many minions you are exposed to the unique combat system of Fury of Dracula, which is perhaps the only time when luck comes into play. Essentially each player has base abilities (both hunters and Dracula) like Punch, Escape and Dodge. Dracula has additional abilities like Mesmerize, Fangs and Claw, but many of these abilities only function at night, in fact during the day Dracula is considerably weaker then any single hunter especially if they have equipment like Pistols, Rifles, Crucifixes, stakes… etc.. Combat is resolved by each player choosing an action, ability or equipment card and simultaneously revealing them. Then a six sided dice is rolled and the player with the higher roll wins the round of combat. This does not however guarantee a victory of the combat or even that the winner of the die roll damaged his opponent. Each individual action, ability or equipment has a reaction to each other type of action, ability or equipment. Hence you resolve the round of combat depending what types of cards where played by each player. A pistol against a knife for example will have a very different result then say a Claw against a crucifix. Sometimes even if you win a round of combat you manage to only stay in the fight but not actually do any damage. Coming to a fight with the right equipment is crucial for the hunters, while simultaneously for Dracula its important to be fighting at the right time (at night) so that he has all his abilities available.

First time players might find that killing Dracula is very difficult, perhaps even smilingly impossible as they are unaware of what the various abilities and combinations of equipment and event cards can do, but one of the key advantages the hunter players have is that they are playing as a group and can share ideas, strategies, tactics even equipment. The Dracula player must effectively beat the group alone. Its also worth noting that it takes some time to see the big picture of the game, like chess you can learn how to move the pieces around quite fast, but knowing where the best place to put them and how the best way to use the pieces is really at the heart of the game.

One aspect of Fury of Dracula I really love is that the game plays very well as a 2 player game, in fact the experience is very much the same. Obviously its always more fun to have more hunter players who can discuss strategies and tactics, but in as a whole the game does not change whether you are playing with 2 or 5 players. In fact if you are looking for a really great 2 player game with a bit of complexity this is a great choice.

Fury of Dracula really has all the elements of a really great adventure game and even more so for fans who love the myths and legends of Dracula which this game has translated so honestly. Within you will find quotes, characters and plot elements from Bram Stokers novel as well as the ever growing popular culture of the Transylvanian tale. To me this game infuses great design with great story making for a great evening of gaming.

Enjoy it!