Eldritch Horror

Played Eldritch Horror again last night and it was a good session. I think in our first game we brought some misconceptions with us from our play of Arkham Horror. This is not surprising as there are many elements in both games that sound alike but have different practical execution, like monsters and clue tokens.

In our first game we took on Yog Sothoth. Our problem was that we focused too much on monsters, who are not as aggressive and dominant as in AH, while it left us stranded on unclosed gates for which we were then punished on the doom track. We also underestimated the negative effects of rumours, so we waited to long resolving them, which hampered our the main mission, ie getting the clue tokens on the mysteries. The result was a rather dismal three hour defeat with no mystery solved.

The second game yesterday against Azatoth went much better. Better cooperation and specialisation, fewer unnecessary steps on the doom track for open gates and more focus on solving rumours quickly. Especially the sugar daddy and clue generating and dispensing specialisations proved beneficial as they ensured that players were equipped with enough gear and clues to take on the serious monsters and then close gates.

It still was a close run game which ended with the doom track on two (thanks to an added step that delayed it) and a few turns in hand. There were some ways in which that could have gone worse.

My first character in the 2nd game, just before he was
devoured to fulfill another player's Dark Pact

We were quite cavalier with taking on Dark Pacts. That served us rather well in general (although two investigators were devoured).

It has been said in several places that EH is AH without the convoluted bits and so plays smoother and faster, but I'm not convinced yet of either claim. We played 4 and a half hours with six players, which is not better than AH, and there was a period in the game where it felt gamey, and our energy levels fell and interest in the game sagged.

But it is a fine game. Good cooperation is rewarded and it still captures the mood of Lovecraftian horror.

New version of Netrunner cardgame: first impressions

FFG has rereleased the Netrunner 2-player cardgame. This is an original design by Richard Garfield, and the game is licensed by Wizards of the Coast. FFG have set the game in the Android SciFi universe (based very much on the Bladerunner movie). My first impression is that it is a tight and tense game with a lot to learn.

I never played the original game, but the broad outlines appear similar to what friends tell me was in the original. The best part of the game is still that it's asymmetrical, with a very different experience for the 'Corp' player and the 'runner'. There are four Corps in the game and 3 runner factions to choose from. 

The former tries to complete a number of 'agendas', while the latter tries to steal these agendas to score. To do this the runners amass hardware, programs and additional resources. The programs are mostly 'ice breakers' to gain access to the corp servers, the hardware determine the overall performance of the programs and the resources

The corp tries to defend its agendas by defending the servers with different forms of 'ice'. Some of that ice will just obstruct or deflect attacks, while other cards will set traps to hurt or tag the runner so that he can be counterattacked. But the most effective part of the corp's strategy must be hiding and bluff to tempt the runner into costly attacks while securing the agenda's.

The game hand book is pretty clear although it took me considerable time to read and digest the rules. There's a lot of terminology and the different types of actions available to corp and runner also take time to sink in. But you're good once you're going and we didn't do a lot of referencing during the game.

The main resources in the game are the credits needed to buy or activate cards and the clicks of activity, which limit the amount of things a player can do in a turn.


Add in a number of events available to both sides and you have a widely varying experience where the balance of the game can shift during the game, as I experienced on Saturday playing against Tom in the role of corp.

View from the Runner's side, late in the game

Early on I was able to capitalise on Tom's weak defence of his root server (ie card hand) and archives (ie discard pile). This allowed me to inspect and sometimes discard from his hand*. In this way I had very good information on his card hand  and could limit his actions. Linked to a reward of two credits for every time I accessed his root server (a special ability of Gabriel), I had set up a very powerful combo that allowed me to steal two agenda's early on, on the verge of winning.

However, by then Tom had realised he should plug the gaps and I soon ran out of helpful cards to evade the ice. This gave me less information on Tom's card hand and I had to spend more time on building up capital for runs. Tom also took his time to set traps and decoys. With limited information I was forced to take calculated risks, which backfired so that he was able to level up on agendas.

We then entered a long phase of hide and seek, where Tom tried to reduce my stock of credits and I built up my attacking power. I was saving a special icebreaker card for the decisive attack, but then lost it as I got bitten by a trap. By the time I had gotten a new one, I was too low on credits to use it effectively.

In the final turn it was clear that there was an agenda card out there, but I didn't have the money anymore to break through the defences. I could try three desperate things: break into the archives, R&D (draw pile) or root server and hope for an agenda card. I thought I had a fairly good chance to defeat the ice on each of them, so I weighed the chances of the top cards of the archive and R&D being agenda cards or one of the five cards in Tom's hand.

So I went for R&D on the hunch that there weren't many cards left there and I hadn't seen too many appear yet. Turns out my assessment was correct and I got LUCKY! So I won the game, but not through superior play. Maybe Tom could have delayed bringing the agenda card into the game a bit, but he told me he had another one in his hand so there was a real risk I would get lucky attacking his root. I think he recovered very well from being on the back foot early on.

First impression is that the game is tense and offers a lot to learn. On the other hand, if every game ends in a long stand off, that would make it less enjoyable. And I need to see how the play balance is between runners and corp. There might be a faction effect, in the sense that some corps deal better with certain runner factions than others.

I look forward to finding out.

* I played with the Gabriel Santiago cyber criminals faction. This deck includes the Sneakdoor Beta card, which allows you to access the root server from the archives.

Battlestar Galactica with revealed Cylon player

Last Friday we played Battlestar Galactica. I've gradually introduced some of the elements from the Pegasus expansion over the last months, like the new characters, crisis cards and treachery cards. These all work fine and add a bit to the experience of the game. This time we thought it would be nice to use the option to have one of the players revealed as a Cylon at the start of the game.

How could one object to having Caprica Six around?

Because this makes life a lot harder for the human players (who still have to guess the other Cylon, but bear the full brunt of Cylon obstruction from the start) the revealed Cylon gets a hidden objective. This consists of a side which must win (human or Cylon) and a special condition, for example that the Galactica must be heavily damaged and some resources at a very low level.


The hidden objective should keep the other Cylon on its toes, while the objectives should tend to prevent the Cylons from pressing their advantage too soon. We only concluded that only at the end though.

My personal moment of glory: taking down Scar

Which meant that we, the humans, had an extremely tough time. I'm pretty sure it wasn't all due to the revealed Cylon but things went from bad to worse in no time. We never even managed a second jump, such were the crisis cards. And we failed so many of them we wondered if we'd succeed for any of them. You could feel the depression taking over.

Not that the Cylons (Andries especially) enjoyed their luck in silence. The constant happy chatter added insult to injury. It all seemed too easy for the frackin' toasters to obstruct our bids. I always seemed short of cards to play, while others had their hands full but pretty useless.

This was one of the easier moments in the game, really

Likewise we couldn't get rid of the raiders and heavy raiders, which meant centurions on board and rapid loss of civilian ships. This cost us the game in the end as humanity faced genocide.

As a small consolation this shut up the revealed Cylon player, because he hadn't been able to fulfill his victory conditions yet. This meant that Paul, the other Cylon, won the game alone. No mercy from him, so well played.

Gerard in a pose characteristic for the humans that night

I'm not overwhelmed with the revealed Cylon as it puts a lot of pressure on the humans from early on, but mostly because it takes away part of the atmosphere of paranoia that is central to the game. The best games are the ones in which the last Cylon stays hidden till the end and keeps fracking with the minds of the humans. I guess we'll give the revealed Cylon another try some time, but don't see it as a regular guest appearance.

Next time we might try the New Caprica ending. I've been waiting with this one because it seems to make the game longer and short length is not a problem of the game. On the other hand, I'm curious how it will pan out. It is an interesting episode in the series.

And after that, the Exodus expansion...

Between the Lonely Mountain and Bree - Middle Earth Quest

Nice tight game of Middle Earth Quest on Saturday, getting us all in the mood for the Hobbit (movie).

Middle Earth Quest is set in the world of Tolkien, between the events described in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these 65 years the three main wizards of Middle Earth, Sauron, Saruman and Gandalf try to cobble together a set of clues concerning the legendary Ring of Isildur, which holds power over other rings in the possession of Sauron.

All three understand the significance of gaining hold of the ring, but lack vital information. Gandalf knows where it is, but not what it is, while Sauron knows what it is, but not where. Saruman has got hints about both.

In MEQ, this is reduced to a struggle between a group of heroes, friendly to Gandalf and Sauron. While Saurn builds up his power and searches for the Ring, the heroes try to provide Gandalf with clues and thwart Sauron's attempts to cast his shadow over Middle Earth.

The game is made by Sauron. The heroes react. Sauron can choose from three strategies, or combine them: finding out what and where the Ring is, corrupt the Free People or increase his imperium by violent means. All these efforts result in quest for the heroes to resolve.

Rob, typecast as Sauron, slowly but surely managed to establish his dominance over  Mordor and its neighbourhood, despite a speedy start for the heroes. Eleanor (Jur) and Eometh (Paul) quickly resolved their basic quests, with Argalad catching up.

Eometh finishes off the Mouth of Sauron. But loses precious time,
which Sauron uses to good effect

Rob chose the (red) conquest strategy and supported it by employing his minions (first the Black Serpent and the Mouth of Sauron, later also the Ringwraiths) aggressively. In this way he protected his quest very well.

Eleanor´s character sheet, with her unspent life points/combat cards on the left,
cards played for movement on top. Cards taken for damage are place on the right

However, this led to the heroes realising before the end of the game that they wouldn´t be able to win directly, and switched to denying Sauron the possibility of a direct win.

It was very convenient that Eleanor (Jur) had acquired a horse early in the game, as she sped from Rohan, through Rivendel where she concocted a dastardly plan with Argalad (Gerard) to slay Gothmog, onto Gundabad.

Although she was weakened by the conditions there, which were not exactly in line with health and safety regulations, she still managed to put a crossbowbolt between Gothmog´s shoulder blades. He hadn´t recovered from this nasty surprise by the time Argalad showed up and finished the job. Just in time, because it denied Rob the steps on the quest track to dispute dominance as well as his secret mission for the direct win.

Eleanor takes on Gothmog in Gundabad, while Argalad prepares the killing blow

This caused the game to end in a direct confrontation of the Ringwraiths and our brave companion Eometh (Paul). Eometh showed that his inexperience was no obstacle, as he proceeded to cut them to pieces. And so Good prevailed.

Strangely enough I haven´t played this game very often, yet. I love the setting, it works well, results in a tight contest. Somehow the rules kept me back. I will try to play it again soon, so I have the rules fresh in my mind.

Had I played it more, I would venture a more review like post, but right now I'll just stick to celebrating the balanced design, the tough choices for all players and the clever combat system incorporating fatigue/rest, training, wounds/healing, movement  and varied tactical options. Designer Corey Konieczka really pulled off a biggy here. Fantasy Flight's high standard graphic design is also apparent.

The amount of rules is probably as much as Mage Knight, but somehow this game works better for me.

As said, I always saw the War of the Ring, and especially the period leading up to it, as a three-way conflict with Saruman as the dodgy one (in hindsight). These guys are essentially equals (called maiar by Tolkien), the three most powerful beings in Middle Earth and effectively demi-gods, even more ancient than the elves. I know it's unlikely to ever be made, but that conflict would be my grail game. This comes close in scope, however.

The Hobbit is on the programme for next Monday, after we have our Christmas Offensive. There´s going to be seven of us, so the range of games available is limited. My offerings will be: Junta, Struggle of Empires, Civilization (AH) and Arkham Horror. What do you guys think?

Return to Chaos

Last Friday, just like the inherent tendencies of the universe, we were drawn to Chaos. In the Old World, that is.

Look at those pesky Skaven quietly hiding out in their far corner of the board,
while Tzeentch gets his asked kicked by Slaanesh and Nurgle in the centre.

Fantasy Flight's strategic boardgame based on the Warhammer renaissance fantasy world focuses on the struggles between the Chaos gods (Khorn, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch) over control of the Old World. This is the place where the humans live, but they are only a minor nuisance occassionally stirred into action by event cards.

The real battle is between the chaos gods as they try to spread their evil influence over the different regions. Persistent corruption will in time lead to the ruination of the area. For this they need their devoted cultists.

To really wrest control the area from the humans and each other, the gods must send in their warriors and demons. This is harder in strong states like the Empire, Kislev and Bretonnia and easier in marginal areas like the Badlands and Norsca.

There´s two ways towards victory: there's the slow, grinding acquisition of victory points through the conquest or corruption of regions and the faster route where the gods perform certain required actions.

In true Ameritrash fashion, the four gods have their own special powers, which are reflected in the characteristics of the monsters they can summon and the spells they can cast. It also determines their quickest route to victory.

For example, Khorn, the Blood God, has the most powerful troops and most of his spells reinforce his advantage in battle. In terms of getting towards victory, he is rewarded for killing enemy minions.

While Nurgle needs to place multiple corruption tokens in an area 10 times and Khorne needs to kill enemies in 9 different battles, the Skaven and Tzeentch need  to take 8 steps to reach victory, but Slaanesh only 7.

As this was only our second game in about two years, the rules were rusty and we were again surprised by the speed of the game. If a player can go about his business in a quiet corner of the board, he will quickly ratchet up the required steps on the victory dial and win in three turns.

The most important lesson learned therefor was probably to get into close contact from the word go, denying easy dial advances to other players. No time for sitting on the fence.

I think we were all a bit dazed after this quick result so we will need to give it another try real soon.

Ps The Horned Rat expansion adds the Skaven as a possible fifth player and new sets of cards for the other gods. It´s not massive as expansions go, but the fifth player option was very welcome this time.