I was vacationing last week (if camping with a six-month-old can be considered a vacation), so please forgive the sparseness of this news report. Full coverage will return next week.
More Shadows, More Camelot
Not to be outdone in the Camelot space (see this Kickstarter campaign), Days of Wonder has announced its own traitor-in-the-midst Camelot game, Shadows over Camelot: The Card Game. This game is based on their award-winning game Shadows over Camelot and features gorgeous artwork (much like the original game) and decent components for a $25 price tag. According to Days of Wonder, the game should see an Essen 2012 release. Let's hope the Indie Boards & Cards and Days of Wonder booths aren't next to each other. Awkward...
Showing posts with label Shadows over Camelot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shadows over Camelot. Show all posts
Monday, August 27, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
FDQ: Minis or Cubes
It's an age-old topic of debate. Games come with a variety of parts. Sometimes tokens are relegated to printed cardboard circles; some games resort to classic meeples and cubes to represent various elements of the game board. And then some companies, attempting to pack in as much flavor in the components themselves, fill their boxes with detailed plastic minis.
The idea of minis excites many gamers, but some just wish the parts were simpler and the games were cheaper. So, fellow gamerites, what do you think? What is your preferred style of game component?
@Futurewolfie says:
I know that @Farmerlenny will probably hate on the minis, but honestly, I love 'em. I love theme and flavor in games, and detailed plastic minis just add a whole lot to that. Starships in Twilight Imperium? Awesome! Knights in Shadows over Camelot? Sweet! Zombies and heroes in Last Night on Earth? Dude!
I realize there are drawbacks, and I can certainly understand why someone might prefer wooden parts; the colors are more distinct and easy to check at a glance, and minis definitely add to the cost of a game. Not every game needs minis—in Carcassonne, for example, it would be pointless to have minis instead of meeples (which are sort of like wooden minis anyway; they have such personality!) Ascending Empires, while we love starship minis, just wouldn't work—the disks are needed for flicking. Fortunately, detailed stickers fill in some of the flavor so we're not stuck with plain colorized cylinders.
But you know what? Last Night on Earth would just not be the same without the minis. The crowds of zombies help the story and enhance the flavor. Battlestar Galactica's Viper and Raider minis may not be entirely necessary, but the ship designs are visually distinct and again, it adds to that Galactica feel. Twilight Imperium just wouldn't have the same feel if you have different sizes or shapes of cubies to represent the different types of ships in your fleet.
And over time, I think the cost difference between meeples and minis will shrink. As the board game hobby overall grows, more and more games will be purchased, and games will get bigger print runs. Bigger print runs means smaller cost per game—and the costly part of detailed minis is creating the original mold. Heck, even wooden tokens are getting more detailed and unique, with animeeples, vegemeeples, fruitimeeples—all sorts of meeples coming in various shapes and sizes. Woohoo! I love this stuff!
@Farmerlenny says:
@Futurewolfie only gets it half right (which is half more than normal, by the way) when he says I will hate on minis. I don't hate on minis. Minis are kind of cool...when they aren't used as a mask for shoddy game design. That I don't like most games that include minis isn't a judgment on minis themselves but on a certain type of theme-rich gameplay that ignores the more important aspects of game design: decisions, downtime, and a preference for simplicity over convolution.
To me, cubes are serviceable, and most of the time that's enough. I opted not to upgrade my copy of Agricola, being perfectly content with discs and cubes. I don't need sheep that look like sheep. I make my living by reading: I can imagine a story overlaying drab bits if I want to. But most of the time, my games don't need the extra layer. What's the story in Ticket to Ride? I don't care. The decisions are interesting enough that I'm not thinking about it. If I want a good story, I'll read a book. I play games for different reasons. I'm so boring that I came this close to not applying the included stickers in my copy of Belfort. But then I realized that @Futurewolfie cares about such things, and since he is the person I'm most likely to play it with...
All of this being said, however, I am not immune to the draw of fancy components when they are paired with a good game. Show me a beautiful game (with beautiful mechanics to match), and I will likely be putty in your hand. I'm sure this is nine-tenths of the reason I purchased Troyes, and one-half the reason I haven't traded away Fresco. It was also what kept me on the fence about El Grande and what keeps Stone Age hitting the table again and again. I have a soft spot for beautiful games and components, whether made of wood, plastic, marble, or glass.
But I'm also plenty happy with my original Director's Cut edition of Kill Doctor Lucky, which I taped together myself.
The idea of minis excites many gamers, but some just wish the parts were simpler and the games were cheaper. So, fellow gamerites, what do you think? What is your preferred style of game component?
@Futurewolfie says:
I know that @Farmerlenny will probably hate on the minis, but honestly, I love 'em. I love theme and flavor in games, and detailed plastic minis just add a whole lot to that. Starships in Twilight Imperium? Awesome! Knights in Shadows over Camelot? Sweet! Zombies and heroes in Last Night on Earth? Dude!
I realize there are drawbacks, and I can certainly understand why someone might prefer wooden parts; the colors are more distinct and easy to check at a glance, and minis definitely add to the cost of a game. Not every game needs minis—in Carcassonne, for example, it would be pointless to have minis instead of meeples (which are sort of like wooden minis anyway; they have such personality!) Ascending Empires, while we love starship minis, just wouldn't work—the disks are needed for flicking. Fortunately, detailed stickers fill in some of the flavor so we're not stuck with plain colorized cylinders.
But you know what? Last Night on Earth would just not be the same without the minis. The crowds of zombies help the story and enhance the flavor. Battlestar Galactica's Viper and Raider minis may not be entirely necessary, but the ship designs are visually distinct and again, it adds to that Galactica feel. Twilight Imperium just wouldn't have the same feel if you have different sizes or shapes of cubies to represent the different types of ships in your fleet.
And over time, I think the cost difference between meeples and minis will shrink. As the board game hobby overall grows, more and more games will be purchased, and games will get bigger print runs. Bigger print runs means smaller cost per game—and the costly part of detailed minis is creating the original mold. Heck, even wooden tokens are getting more detailed and unique, with animeeples, vegemeeples, fruitimeeples—all sorts of meeples coming in various shapes and sizes. Woohoo! I love this stuff!
@Farmerlenny says:
@Futurewolfie only gets it half right (which is half more than normal, by the way) when he says I will hate on minis. I don't hate on minis. Minis are kind of cool...when they aren't used as a mask for shoddy game design. That I don't like most games that include minis isn't a judgment on minis themselves but on a certain type of theme-rich gameplay that ignores the more important aspects of game design: decisions, downtime, and a preference for simplicity over convolution.
To me, cubes are serviceable, and most of the time that's enough. I opted not to upgrade my copy of Agricola, being perfectly content with discs and cubes. I don't need sheep that look like sheep. I make my living by reading: I can imagine a story overlaying drab bits if I want to. But most of the time, my games don't need the extra layer. What's the story in Ticket to Ride? I don't care. The decisions are interesting enough that I'm not thinking about it. If I want a good story, I'll read a book. I play games for different reasons. I'm so boring that I came this close to not applying the included stickers in my copy of Belfort. But then I realized that @Futurewolfie cares about such things, and since he is the person I'm most likely to play it with...
All of this being said, however, I am not immune to the draw of fancy components when they are paired with a good game. Show me a beautiful game (with beautiful mechanics to match), and I will likely be putty in your hand. I'm sure this is nine-tenths of the reason I purchased Troyes, and one-half the reason I haven't traded away Fresco. It was also what kept me on the fence about El Grande and what keeps Stone Age hitting the table again and again. I have a soft spot for beautiful games and components, whether made of wood, plastic, marble, or glass.
But I'm also plenty happy with my original Director's Cut edition of Kill Doctor Lucky, which I taped together myself.
Friday, October 14, 2011
FDQ: What Game Do You Wish You Played More Often?
We discussed it earlier—the near tragedy of the box that sits. Variety may be the spice of life, but too much variety leads to being spread too thin. And while "the cult of the new" has its draws, it sometimes pushes old favorites to the background. So today's FDQ: Which game do you wish you played more of? And the corollary question, why don't you?
@FarmerLenny answers:
I game most frequently over lunch hours at work, so the games that I wish I got to play more are mostly games that don't fit within that time frame. Most notably, I wish I got to play El Grande more. This game takes a double hit: it's too long to be played over lunch, and it takes at least four players to make gaming circumstances optimum. This is one of my favorite games, but the box sits there most of the time. Still, it's worth keeping around for those golden moments when I get to play it. Acquire is another game I don't get to play enough of because it's long. It also has the added strike against it that it's fairly mathy. I take advantage of playing this one whenever I can.
@Futurewolife answers:
Even though I've actually played it fairly often recently, I just can't get enough of Ascending Empires right now. Shadows over Camelot has been sitting on my shelf far too much since I obtained it in trade at Gencon. And darn you, Smallworld, for being just too long to fit in a lunch hour comfortably. I will always keep you around, though, because you are so fun, even though I get to play you so very little.
***Next week is our special "From Russia with Love " week, when we will review at a gallop four new titles from Right Games out of Russia. You won't want to miss it!***
@FarmerLenny answers:
I game most frequently over lunch hours at work, so the games that I wish I got to play more are mostly games that don't fit within that time frame. Most notably, I wish I got to play El Grande more. This game takes a double hit: it's too long to be played over lunch, and it takes at least four players to make gaming circumstances optimum. This is one of my favorite games, but the box sits there most of the time. Still, it's worth keeping around for those golden moments when I get to play it. Acquire is another game I don't get to play enough of because it's long. It also has the added strike against it that it's fairly mathy. I take advantage of playing this one whenever I can.
@Futurewolife answers:
Even though I've actually played it fairly often recently, I just can't get enough of Ascending Empires right now. Shadows over Camelot has been sitting on my shelf far too much since I obtained it in trade at Gencon. And darn you, Smallworld, for being just too long to fit in a lunch hour comfortably. I will always keep you around, though, because you are so fun, even though I get to play you so very little.
***Next week is our special "From Russia with Love " week, when we will review at a gallop four new titles from Right Games out of Russia. You won't want to miss it!***
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