Bob recapped my night as well. I was a bit leary of Alea Acta Est after reading the rules however the play really was good and it worked better than I thought it would. You always have to bit nervous about game that have hidden bonus cards (like Amun Re) but this one seemed quite balanced even for those that didn't choose to collect a bunch of bonus cards. An excellent filler game IMHO.
I went into the night thinking Alea would be a 6-7 and I would go 7-8 like Bob. Tobago really is a gorgeous game and it is on the lighter side, so IMHO it fits into a gateway type game to move people from the lighter boardgaming and give them a taste of a game that is a bit meatier by hooking them with the looks and the theme. I went into the night thinking it would be an 8-9 and now I would go 7-8 (again like Bob). T-meister brought out Diamonds club which I had THOUGHT I had never heard of but was suprised to see that I had marked it on my wish list. The designer is the same person that made one of my favorite games (Goa) which Mark pointed out. I loved the bidding mechanism on the board. It is one of those games that suffers from looking almost overwhelming as you pull it all out and start to describe how to play - It took a good 20 minutes to get everying laid out and for him to help us understand how all of the different pieces fit together. In some ways setup and description was about what I would have gone through to set out a game of endeavor. But, also like endeavor, once you start playing you see how all of the pieces fit together and it turns out to be a dang nice game. We enjoyed it enough to play it a second time (thus saving setup time like we had the first game). We probably finished that game in a little over an hour. Had a real fun evening. On Jan 16, 10:47 am, NinjaBob <[email protected]> wrote: > Yeah, it was actually a lot of fun! > > After Jeremy and I played a quick game of Battle for Hill 218, Matthew > joined us and we played Alea Iacta Est (which Ed translated to mean > "The Die has been Cast"--incidentally Alea mean dice or dice game in > Latin! So many fun new facts!) Anyway, it is a fun dice game where > each player rolls 8 dice and uses them to make sets of the same > numbers, runs of numbers, or low numbers to win Bonus point cards, > cities, and people to populate them. I'd give it a 7-8. > > Then we played Tobago the inductive treasure hunting game. Again, a > really fun game. on your turn you play cards which narrow down the > search area of the treasure (i.e. treasure is next to a hut, but not > in the forest or next to a river). Once the treasure is narrowed to > just on hex on the board a player (who moves there) may dig it up. > All players who played cards narrowing the location of the treasure > have a chance to draw treasure cards--so you don't have to actually > dig up the treasure to win. I tried that strategy though, and took > last place :( There are a few other cool things like Easter Island > statues that make amulets appear that give you special powers and > cursed treasure that can make you take last place even though you had > a great strategy :) I'd give it a 7-8. > > Finally, we played Diamonds Club. This was a great bidding game with > a new sort of mechanic. You placed coins on a "Bingo" type board in > order to secure money, technology, supplies, etc. Then you collect, > buy, score, etc. The fun is in the bidding mechanic and set > collection strategies. When bidding, if you want a square next to a > coin or coins that have already been played then you have to play 1 > more coin than the total of all surrounding bids. Important squares > can become pretty pricey! There are about 3-4 different set > collecting strategies to win, and just from our 2 games, they seem > pretty balanced out. With players using the buy cheap, win quick > strategy vs. get sets of cards with associated bonus tiles vs. fill > you zone with trees at 6 points/piece...the margin of difference was > always just 1 point. A bit too difficult for my family and friends at > home to enjoy, this is one I'd enjoy again. I'd give it a 8-9. > > Matthew also brought Dixit, which I'm interested in, but didn't get a > chance to play. Another group was playing Thunderstone, a dungeon- > themed Dominion-like game. And it seemed to be a big hit too!
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