Octopus Overlords

hepcat wrote:The digital port of Through the Ages is out on on iOS and Android. This is one of the most anxiously awaited ports around. A little pricey at 10 bucks, but it's triple A quality through and through.

Is there any chance that this will see a PC release in the near future? Or is it strictly going to be an iOS/Android release?

Defiant wrote:

hepcat wrote:The digital port of Through the Ages is out on on iOS and Android. This is one of the most anxiously awaited ports around. A little pricey at 10 bucks, but it's triple A quality through and through.

Is there any chance that this will see a PC release in the near future? Or is it strictly going to be an iOS/Android release?

Yes, I believe it will be coming to Steam. I can't for the life of me find where I read that but I'm pretty sure I did.

Moat_Man wrote:

Defiant wrote:

hepcat wrote:The digital port of Through the Ages is out on on iOS and Android. This is one of the most anxiously awaited ports around. A little pricey at 10 bucks, but it's triple A quality through and through.

Is there any chance that this will see a PC release in the near future? Or is it strictly going to be an iOS/Android release?

Yes, I believe it will be coming to Steam. I can't for the life of me find where I read that but I'm pretty sure I did.

Awesome, thanks. (now to hope it'll be months, not years, for that to happen)

I made a couple more attempts at Shadowrun: Crossfire today. Out of three total attempts at the beginner mission, I've won none, and never managed to successfully abort. Hell, I never got past scene two.

I'm still working at it, trying to learn the strategies. One thing that annoys me, though, is that certain random elements are essentially death sentences. I drew an obstacle early on that had 7 gray damage first on the damage track, and it landed on a runner who got a second obstacle, and who was in position #2. It was guaranteed 4 damage the first round, and 2 or 4 every round after that. That's a lot with a character going into the round with 5 health. There was only one healing card in play. The problem is, none of my runners was capable of doing the 7 gray to start the damage process, which made the obstacle unkillable until they'd spent a couple of rounds amassing cards. By that point, I'd lost. Drawing that card made the game unwinnable for me, and while I don't mind losing because of bad strategy, I can't say I love losing because of one random card.

/edit - Ok, I figured out a better way to phrase what it is that was annoying me. The fact is that the game was decided when I finished shuffling the cards. There was no skillful or strategic option that would have made the game winnable from the moment I set the deck back down on the table.

One of the reasons people stop playing solitaire without cheating.

Isgrimnur wrote:One of the reasons people stop playing solitaire without cheating.

I'm not using any of the solitaire rules. I'm multi-handing it with four separate runners with separate decks.

Defiant wrote:

Moat_Man wrote:

Defiant wrote:

hepcat wrote:The digital port of Through the Ages is out on on iOS and Android. This is one of the most anxiously awaited ports around. A little pricey at 10 bucks, but it's triple A quality through and through.

Is there any chance that this will see a PC release in the near future? Or is it strictly going to be an iOS/Android release?

Yes, I believe it will be coming to Steam. I can't for the life of me find where I read that but I'm pretty sure I did.

Awesome, thanks. (now to hope it'll be months, not years, for that to happen)

Found the quote, from CGE at Gencon:
Czech Games Edition had the biggest news of the convention, in my opinion, when they announced that the long awaited digital port of Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization would be releasing for iOS and Android on September 14. They also told us that we should expect it on Steam at some point in the future as well, but they need to alter the UI so that it can take advantage of having a mouse and cursor. No date on when we can expect that, but it sounds like it's definitely in the works.

Blackhawk wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:One of the reasons people stop playing solitaire without cheating.

I'm not using any of the solitaire rules. I'm multi-handing it with four separate runners with separate decks.

Klondike solitaire.

Isgrimnur wrote:

Blackhawk wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:One of the reasons people stop playing solitaire without cheating.

I'm not using any of the solitaire rules. I'm multi-handing it with four separate runners with separate decks.

Klondike solitaire.

I instituted "mulligan" rules for Zombicide:S3 for the same reason. Drawing the abomination in the first couple of turns before you've had a chance to search for the molotov ingredients just means that you'll be resetting the game almost immediately. That's no fun.

There is a standard 'mulligan' rule in Crossfire with regards to the market (if it's mostly one color you can redo the market). While learning it might be worth making sure you have a whip or something like it in the starting market. Whip is quite good

Whip is great. A Doc Wagon Contract or two would be nice as well. The damage comes fast, and there are very, very few healing options.

Started off with the Undimensioned and Unseen Mythos Pack for ARKHAM HORROR: THE LCG. This has easily been my LEAST favorite Mythos pack to date. Not only is it incredibly tough, the deck seemed stacked against us from the get-go (no pun intended). We did get lucky, however, and managed to both pull cards we had bought previously that allowed us to gain a free Victory Point (XP). Combined with the 1 other VP we earned in the game, we decided to cut our losses and get the hell out before one of us took a permanent trauma. Wound up resigning but netting 3XP for our trouble, so I think it was the right decision.

Next up was our continuing adventures on the Red Planet with FIRST MARTIANS. We tackled the Local Materials scenario again that we lost on a single die roll last time. This time we tried it on Normal, and wound up simply running out of time towards the end. The second attempt we went back to Easy, and somehow did even worse. We made some really bad strategic blunders that again put us in a position where we were out of time.

The thing is - I'm REALLY enjoying this game. Even though it's tough, it hasn't really felt unfair to me yet. Every time we've lost I feel like it was due to tactical errors on our part and not the game being "unfair." One thing we're starting to learn is that keeping your base fully functional may make you feel good, but it takes precious actions away from your win goals. You have to make tough decisions on when to just let some facilities go (losing the battle) in order to win the war.

The more we play and the more I start to understand the game mechanics and strategies involved, the more I'm enjoying this even more than Crusoe. Yes, thematically it's not as compelling, but I do think it's every bit as solid.

Played a 2 player Divine Right game with many Intermediate and Advanced game options, I was getting pretty well hammered by Northern Barbarians led by Juulute and Ogres led by Oggsbog until I managed to sneak enough units from the eastern side of the board down to Greystaff to start using Boons against him.

I held Pon and Muetar. My opponent deactivated my Shucassam ally, but I had the Dwarves and Trolls. I activated the Goblins to swipe through his Northern elves (the Kingdom between was cowering in its castles, as I had captured its Monarch giving them -1 to Combat).

Funny game, neither of us even tried to ally with Black Hand or Eaters of Wisdom, spending most of our time positioning and skirmishing across the center of the board, his fleets bringing troops and leaders, mine ferrying across the river.

He conceded on turn 15 after I decimated his Northern Barabrians after a Demon Boon wounded Juulute, as he saw the Shadowolves and Kang (with 9 Eastern Horse) coming through a nowfriendly Goblins. Harrying his fleet (heading to rescue the Captive Monarch) was Tana the SheDevil, driving him back to the Sea.

Man I missed this game.

Havn't really been playing anything too new recently, but still been having fun playing oldies. I did get carried away with Star Wars: Destiny and bought a whole box of booster packs. But I like the game, it's fun and quick, and lots of variability with deck building. From now on I'll slowly collect cards but after buying a whole box (combined with the starters) I have enough base cards to really enjoy it.

The only new game that I've had a chance to play recently is Downforce. This game is good! It's another one from restoration games, who really are killing it for me right now. This game is a card driven racing game (it's a restoration of a game that has been around in multiple forms since the 90's) and each card has movements for 1, several, or all of the cars on the track. You auction the cars off at the start of the game and then they quickly race around a single loop. There are three points where everyone bets on which car will actually win the race, and then once everything finishes you add up your bonus for the position your car took + money earned on successful betting - how much you paid for your cars. Most money wins. I really like this racing game because it is incredibly easy to teach, and racing your own car is only part of the fun. You also get to move everybody else's cars and mess with them and the winner of the race doesn't always win. It just depends on how much they paid for the car and how successful they were at betting. I've only played it 2 players so far. It works with 2 players but... I wouldn't recommend getting it for 2 player gaming. I can really see the fun that will come with 4 or more players. Looking forward to busting it out at a future game night. Plays in about 30 minutes too, which is a big plus.

Celebrating my son's birthday this weekend. I ordered a copy of Tiny Epic Galaxies (I'd met the developer at Origins and it's been on my radar since), but the seller shipped an expansion pack instead of the base game, so I still haven't tried it.

Went to a local game shop today and picked up Sheriff of Nottingham. We played over lunch. The boys all had fun with it. I found it just a little thin, but we were all having fun. We have Smallworld Underground and Quarriors available for later today. For some reason I always have a good time with Quarriors.

Just finished another Shadowrun (well, Crossfire.) Still the beginner mission, and still didn't win, but I made it out with three of the four runners alive, which is a first. It means karma for upgrades. I also manged to wipe out the second scene of three on the last turn. I would have been doing much, much better except that one of the first round obstacles forced me to discard the Doc Wagon Contract in the black market a heartbeat before I could have bought it.

I will say that I'm getting a handle on how to play it. A lot is based on knowing each runner's strategy going in. How best to utilize the street samurai, how to build the face's deck, etc.

Got in three full 2 player and one partial 3 player when our third player got off work.

The most insane thing... fourteen possible Kingdoms and in EVERY two player game my opponent pulled the SAME Kingdom, the same one from Friday night!

We chose Kingdoms when the third player showed up.

In one of the two player his Monarch became cursed and he lost as a result, in the second my Goblins chased him down when he was rejected by the Temple of Kings and killed him with his Troll allies at the Face of the Mountain, in the third the Pon army sent 4 Boons of Greystaff to wipeout his castle and finally kill him by a Demon attack.

He got his revenge in the 3 player game by sending a Firestorm from Greystaff against my Goblins, wiping out both allied units and 6 of 9 goblins, plus a Special Mercenary while they were on their way to rendezvous with five more units of that ally and another Special mercenary. Meanwhile the other player and I have been decimating our fleets and port units fighting over the Isle of Fright.

Best moments were our continual attempts to activate the Elves (whose Personality card says they cannot be deactivated), as we have failed every single roll with our Ambassadors and have been wending our way there with our Envoys. "Can my Ambassador go back there yet?" "Not for one more turn." "I use Black Magic +2... fail" You are banished for two turns. Hahahahaha.

Man those stupid elves have been a serious waste of Diplomacy attempts and cards.

Called it a night to pick up again tomorrow.

Great day.

Finally unlocked our first new class in Gloomhaven yesterday, after approximately 30 hours of the game over the last few months. Unfortunately, it wasn't mine. But I think it's going to ramp up now. Can't wait to see what other new classes we get. Although my continuing joke about a Mime class is probably getting old ("Wait...is he...is he in a glass box! He must be powerful indeed! And now...he's walking against a wind he must have summoned!").

After that we played a mid length game of Too Many Bones. You can really build out your character with a longer Tyrant. The short ones are good for solo efforts or learning the game. But if you want to experience everything Too Many Bones has to offer, go with at least a level 4 Tyrant. So much fun.

Hey Hep, I heard you talking about Hoplomachus the other day. Would Origins be the best to start with if I wanted to largely solo play? The others are far more expensive and seem to lack the solo tree that origins has. I am going to assume, however, that Origins has smaller battlefields and fewer gladiators?

Hep can clarify, but when I looked into it (after he mentioned it) I think Origins was indeed the recommended place to start for 1-2 players. Both because of the price and the fact that it's the most current in the series. Fair warning - I wouldn't trust his recommendation if he tells you you'll also need to get a canvas loincloth to really get into the mood.

Two more Shadowrun: Crossfire runs today, two more aborts. The first was just unwinnable - I got two Obstacles that hit target B along with target A ("When it attacks, it also attacks the Decker"), along with a Crossfire Event that causes every attacker to also hit the target next the regular target. In the first scene, every attacker was hitting 2-3 runners every turn. That's just cruel.

The second one was my best yet. I had to abort early in the third scene, but I was able to kill off all of the obstacles during the abort round, meaning that if the street samurai hadn't gone critical, I'd have made it. The biggest problem is that lack of healing. In six runs, I've had the Doc Wagon Contract in a runner's deck exactly one time. There are three in the entire game, and if they don't come up to buy, you're screwed.

baelthazar wrote:Hey Hep, I heard you talking about Hoplomachus the other day. Would Origins be the best to start with if I wanted to largely solo play? The others are far more expensive and seem to lack the solo tree that origins has. I am going to assume, however, that Origins has smaller battlefields and fewer gladiators?

They all include solo rules via an AI tree, so you're okay with any. I own Rise of Rome and Origins, myself. That being said, I can't recommend the series for solo only. It really shines in head to head combat. The rules are ridiculously easy, with the complexity and depth found in the numerous abilities of the gladiators.

But if you do want to dip your toes in the water with the series, definitely start with Origins. It even includes rules on running your own Ludus. And the solo AI seems a bit more progressive than previous entries in the series.

I would also recommend a natural cotton or even a linen/cotton blend when selecting a loincloth. I made the mistake of going with a twill and polyester mix one summer and it took me almost two weeks of a topical cream to get rid of the rash. I can't stress enough the need for freedom of movement, too. Mobility is key. When you've got your German Shepard dressed as Spartacus for theme night, you want to be able to move quickly if he decides not to put up with it.

Day Two saw us finish the 20 Turns, and prepare for the 10 Turns of Winter.

The Elves finally joined on Turn 16, and were promptly deactivated when the Monarch met a Werewolf while searching for Treasure at the nearby Ruins of Letho (which ended up with two Werewolves and a Vampire by the end of the season).

The Shucassam player (south) met a Werewolf the same way, but escaped by Fleet to his castle. He spent the rest of the time recruiting Ogres (with Oggsbogg the Ogre), eastern Horselords (with Kang) and decided against recruiting Northern Barbarians with Juulute (Northern Barbarian Lord) when he drew the FOURTH LORD, and recruited Southern Barbarians. He marched the Eastern Horse to Greystaff to guard against further use by the other 2 players, marched the Ogres to siege the Invisible School of Thaumaturgy (an Ally of the Goblin player), and headed his Southern Horde to the recently acquired Black Knight Keep.

The Black Hand received the Unicorn, but had no Female heroes to tame it, leaving it vulnerable to the Goblin player who had two.
Tamed by Elois, Breis the Unicorn escorted her to the Mounds and found an item that allowed the heroine to Curse another hero with the Beast curse.
Riding to the siege, Elois confronted Oggsbogg and turned him into fish, who swam away in the nearby river toward the open sea, leaving behind the Item he had been planning to use to Transform (Gender change) both Elois to Male (losing the Unicorn) and Juulute to Female (to steal the then untamed Unicorn).
Elois escaped the search of Juulute and his Dragon mount and the Ogres to return to the north and present the Goblin King with these two Magic Items.

As the Winter begins, three Kingdoms are in Confusion for 1,2 and 3 turns due to the deaths of their Monarchs prior to Winter.

Shucassam has the Elves as an Ally, the Black Hand acquired Muetar on the final turn, and the Goblin player has the Trolls and the Eaters of Wisdom.

All Diplomacy deck Special Mercenaries are in play except Shardenzar (removed by an earlier battle), Tana the SheDevil (wounded in an attempt to convert a mercenary fleet to Pirate), and the Bilge Rat (killed by a Werewolf).

All of the hidden Treasures and Magic Items on the Scenic Spaces have been acquired.

We decided to set the game aside until we reviewed the Winter rules.

Oh, and special mention... the Kingdom of Mivior (the one that kenetickid had drawn randomly EVERY two player game he has played) was NOT RECRUITED at ALL in the 20 turns.

So I got to play a couple of new games:

First off. Burgle Bros, a cooperative heist game where you're trying to rob three safes, one on three different floors of a building. There's a safe and stairs on each floor, and you'll want to rob a safe and go to the next floor. Each floor is 4 by 4 tiles (with walls in certain locations), and you'll want not just to find the safe and the stairs, but also to explore the vertical and horizontal locations from the safe (that gives you the numbers you need to crack open the safe using one or more die). There's also a guard on the floor that will go from location to location determined by a deck) although he may bypass a location if you trigger an alarm at a locations (that are triggered by different things). Also, alarms temporarily increase the guards speed. Additionally, with each new floor, the guard goes a little faster than the previous guard, making it more difficult.

Overall, it was fun, but very hard (we never managed to get to the third floor on either of our two plays). One strategy we came up with (that obviously wasn't enough) was to split up and work on different floors. Since the guard activates after each turn of any player on that floor, by splitting up, it slows down the guard (so rather than allow the guard to move four times between a single players turn, they only move twice if only another person is on that floor).

Second, we played Donner Dinner Party. This is a social deduction game that uses a mechanic similar to BSG's Crisis cards, where everyone has to throw in a card into a pool used to pass the challenge.

In this game, people have a hidden identity of either a pioneer, or a cannibal. Cannibals know who each other are. Pioneers are hoping to survive 6 or 7 turns by resorting to as little cannibalism as possible (and if they do resort to it, they want to eat cannibals). Cannibals want to force people to eat each other, and win if enough pioneers are killed to make the numbers of both equal.

Each turn, the current player plays the role of camp leader. They distribute three cards to every player that simulates the attempts to forage for food. They also distribute one card for themselves that they don't look at. Each player looks at their three cards and picks one to contribute to the group. There are five card types - One worth two food, one worth one food, one worth no food, one that is poison that will poison all the food, and medicine that will counteract all poison. Additionally, the camp leader gets to choose one players card and look at it. Then they take all the contributions, shuffle them and reveal the cards, and you count up to see how much food was contributed (assuming the food wasn't poisoned). If there's enough food for everyone, you don't resort to cannibalism that turn. If on the other hand, it went under, then the town chooses who to kill and eat.

Overall, it does take one of the the mechanics of BSG that I like, and make it into a much shorter game (about 45 minutes). That said, I think it does come up a little short (in BSG, the cards had dual usages, and you had to balance multiple concerns, whereas here, you hand of three only lasts a single turn.) Also, in certain situations, it can be very clear that the townies are almost assured victory midway through the game, and then it becomes less fun.

Defiant wrote:Overall, it was fun, but very hard (we never managed to get to the third floor on either of our two plays). One strategy we came up with (that obviously wasn't enough) was to split up and work on different floors. Since the guard activates after each turn of any player on that floor, by splitting up, it slows down the guard (so rather than allow the guard to move four times between a single players turn, they only move twice if only another person is on that floor).

I've played this 7 or 8 times and won maybe 3 times. It's not so much that the game is hard, it's just pretty damn random. It's really easy to get screwed by the guard deck or the floor layout. I still find it really fun and thematic, but sometimes you are just screwed.

Nothing like getting two metal detectors right next to another on the floor entrance.

I think I'd rather the guards move in a consistent pattern, rather than randomly (but maybe add some more alarm triggers to compensate).

But, hey, I lost the game twice, so maybe I'm biased.

For anyone who has the 25th Anniversary edition of Divine Right, let me warn you to make a cheat sheet for all the cross referencing rules!

We discovered a bunch of stuff we had wrong, so we started the game over (I discovered many of them when making notes for the Winter portion of the campaign, having decided to consolidate all those little bonuses and penalties and CANNOT rules).

Eliminated the third player on Turn Eight with a Vampire (my Witch cursed his Fleet hero and the resulting Vampire killed his King) which was important as his Eastern Horselord was declared the Great Khan, allowing him to recruit up to the 30 Horsemen, rather than the normal 10 Maximum, and they were guarding the Greystaff region (allowing only him to use the Boons of Greystaff). He had been sailing his fleets and armies from two Kingdoms to the southern border of my Kingdom with the intent of Plundering my Castles to keep me from replenishing lost Units come Winter (Turn 21).

The second player had gained three allied Kingdoms, one crippled by Personality card when it entered, a second destroyed by events of Epidemic and Mutiny (leaving only the Monarch and a single unit on the board), and a third which he lost to a Demonic attack. Third player had recruited the new Monarch after the term of Confusion ended of the latter Kingdom.

I was in a pretty poor position, having lost my only Allied Kingdom to a Random Event, but with the collection of Mercenaries I had collected through cards and Random Events made a decent showing to protect my borders against incursion of smaller forces.

Game Suspended for turn Nine resumption with two players.

Many jokes about the rules infractions we had incurred throughout the other games riddled the evening.

My memory of Divine Right is everyone had to sit down and read the rules and then have copies in front of everyone.

LordMortis wrote:My memory of Divine Right is everyone had to sit down and read the rules and then have copies in front of everyone.

The problem is all the little errata type rules hidden among the descriptions of cards and events and such.

For anyone who is still intimidated by FIRST MARTIANS, the developers have released the FIRST MARTIANS ALMANAC, which is essentially a re-organized rulebook with clearer explanations of some of the most frequently asked questions from the BoardGameGeek forums. It also includes an index!

I've flipped through it and it's a very nice guide that would have been super helpful on our first playthrough. Hopefully it will allow more people to enjoy the game or take a chance on it if they've been scared off by the rulebook complaints.

Cool, thanks! I'll pull my copy off the shelf and give it another try.

Montag wrote:Played Spirit Island. Cooperative repel the Invaders with different player abilities. Really liked it, but it is already sold out. Next availability is in December.

I just watched the excellent No Pun Included review of Spirit Island. Super-intrigued by this one.

Two more scenarios of FIRST MARTIANS tonight.

The first scenario, LOCAL MATERIALS, had kicked our asses on three previous occasions. You're tasked with collecting dust, water, and gravel from the surface of Mars and using it to create a sort of Martian concrete to be used for base building materials. The problem is that this takes a great deal of time, and in earlier games we consistently ran out of rounds or found ourselves spread too thin. This time we felt prepared to tackle it, but things started off horribly.

Malfunction dice were a disaster, and a series of unfortunate events befell our crew early on. We spent the first round just bringing malfunction tracks down and boosting morale. By Day 2, we had only managed to explore one tile and found ourselves far behind.

In an attempt to give ourselves a shot at winning, we stopped guaranteeing actions and started taking big risks by rolling dice. It hurt, but we managed to gain a little ground.

At the end of Day 7, we were lacking two materials and the two research actions needed to combine those ingredients and win the game. We were also horribly wounded, meaning any extra wounds could kill any one of us and cause us to lose. We only had enough action pawns to roll on each of these actions. If a single on failed, we would run out of time and lose.

In one of the most remarkable sequences of events in recent game memory, we somehow managed to roll lights out. Succeeding in every single roll and avoiding taking enough wounds to die. Success on the narrowest of margins, but a win's a win!

The second scenario, GUESSING GAME, went much better. In this scenario, Martian supply drops went awry and landed in three far away regions. Even worse, we were short on food and didn't know which of three drops contained extra food and the precious seed to grow more. In order to win, we had to find the food drop, retrieve it, and plant a seed. There were also two optional objectives which involved picking up the other two drops.

We aggressively set out to find the food right out of the gate, and were successful in identifying the appropriate crate. By Day 4 of 8, we had the seed in hand and merely needed to take a single Research action to plant it and win. However, with 4 rounds left we decided to go for the bonuses. Again we managed to eke out a victory at the end of Round 8 with some careful action management and a couple of lucky rolls.

Now that we've completed 4 of the 6 standalone scenarios successfully, we've really started to pick up some good strategies. The biggest one learned tonight is that the Malfunction Track and broken parts are not the end of the world. In our early games, we spent an enormous amount of actions on keeping things from breaking, only to find ourselves failing to complete objectives. In both of our wins tonight, we completely ignored the malfunction track and just let things fall to shit - hoping for the best, and dealing with the worst. Caveat - we were playing on Easy, and this strategy may bite us if we bump the difficulty up.

At any rate, lots of fun getting two big wins under our belt tonight, and we're looking forward to starting the campaign soon. We'll probably devote next week to the last two standalone scenarios, then it will be campaign time.

Out of the last three games of Shadowrun: Crossfire I've had two wins and a successful abort. Getting the first five-karma upgrade was a huge help, with my Face getting the once-per-game heal, enough to pull my tank out of a guaranteed loss/forced abort. If anyone else plays, I highly recommend this article for strategy advice.

I've been working my way through my new games from GenCon. The idea is to at least learn each of them and spend enough time with them that I can pull them out when I need them. I've learned and played multiple games each of Hostage Negotiator, Legendary: Marvel, Galaxy Trucker, Five Year Mission, and Shadowrun: Crossfire. I've also learned Star Realms, and intend to put it on the table in a couple of days.

I fear that I know what's next.

It's time to learn Mage Knight.

Our Divine Right campaign has made it through the Winter!

Immer survived alone (Zorn and Elves out of play during the Winter), Northern Barbarians decimated the Ogres and Plundered a Castle before departing the board, and the Western kingdoms went in and out of activation during the 10 turns of Winter. No storms or blizzards were rolled.

Muetar and Shucassam alliance held the center against further incursion from the Southern Barbarians, and were joined by the Eastern Horselords.

Across 30 turns, we have seen 80% of the Personality Cards for the Ally Kingdoms as Monarchs have died and heirs have come.

On the Spring, when the North became available again, Muetar has gained the Necromancer (Black Hand), killed the Southern Barbarian Lord, while Immer has gained the Goblins of Zorn and killed the Dwarven Monarch (who was in their kingdom under a Wandering Curse).

The Diplomacy deck contains only one Mercenary card (Fox) and we have EVERY available common Mercenary Unit (Land and Fleet) in play.

The 2nd Year promises to be a bloody one.

I kind of wish we had decided to play Victory Points, as we would have a 31 turn record of all that had happened.

I will need to make a Turn Chart to keep track of Player activity and Points the next time we play. Perhaps we'll include optional rules for Player Monarch reentry after being killed.

Played Penny Press with a few others, and it was fun (I've explained previously what it was about, but it's a light worker placement game where you're trying to get articles to cover the first page of your newspaper).

And I played a solo game of Freedom: The Underground Railroad. In this game, you're trying to move slaves up from Plantations to the safety of Canada. There are different spots on the map where they can stop, but you want to avoid the slave captures (there are five or so each with their own path, and one will move randomly along the path based on a die, and they will also move one place towards a slave that steps on their path). You also want to build up the abolition movement (by purchasing tokens that move you up the timeline). I lost on my gameplay - I did manage to rescue enough slaves, but I failed to get the last abolition token by the last turn. Also, while I didn't have too much trouble moving up my slaves through the network, as if you don't have enough space in them for the new slaves that come in, it makes winning harder, and it really escalated towards the end in my game. Still, I enjoyed it, and will try it again in the future (maybe on a slightly easier level?)

Freedom is interesting and has theme for a "deliver" type game. A few routes near the ends become better than the others. Once you see those patterns, the gameplay gets less compelling.

This is me, posting in this thread: