Week 26: King of New York
With a new Japanese made Godzilla film due in theaters in
2016 (Godzilla Resurgence ), it’s a good time to talk about giant
monsters. King of Tokyo is the “go to” Yahtzee, dice-rolling, giant kaiju
monster game popularized by Wil Wheaton’s Table Top. It’s an easy game to
play, and easy game to teach, and is great for accommodating larger groups of
gamers (it can play up to six). It’s also quite fun.
King of New York is a sequel/offshoot/spinoff where once
again giant monsters are throwing down in a massive battle royal, only now set
in New York. Like KOT, combatants struggle for dominance and
points. Unlike KOT, King of New York, allows everyone to have a piece of
territory. KONY adds a very inspired mechanic where the monsters can
attack buildings for points, energy, or health. As in those classic Toho
kaiju movies, there is also a military response for impromptu remodeling of New
York. It feels more in spirit with the basic concept of giant monsters
trashing a city. KONY feels a little more silly than KOT. One
series of dice rolls can make a character “Superstar”, and the adoration of
fans and paparazzi grants that monster points. Another series of rolls turns
the Statue of Liberty into an ally. Although there needs a certain amount
of suspending disbelief in a game of this nature, it would be nice to see the
mechanics tie in closer with the theme of giant monsters. Most of the new
cards and their powers are great, but quite a few are based on simply buying
victory points at a discount based on occupying a particular borough. The
New York sprawl and ability to engage in destroying buildings and military
units is neat, and much more thematic than KOT’s mechanic for rolling
points. Unfortunately, everyone could theoretically attack New York,
score points, struggle for life and energy, and never actually fight each
other. Some of the characters are interesting, but seem a little too
goofy. What exactly is The Sherriff? I’m curious to see if Iello
releases a Power Up type expansion, but I’m not sure how one could add depth
and mythos to a T-Rex with a cowboy hat.
The game session was well attended, and students had fun,
but they did notice the lack of direct monster to monster conflict. It’s always
good however to find games that accommodate larger groups, and recruitment of
new players has yielded higher numbers. No game club on Good
Friday.
Week 27: Formula D
After Easter break, we had a huge turn-out for Game
Club. In anticipation of the bigger group, we were ready with
another game featured on Table Top, Formula D, a racing game for up to ten
players. Formula D is a wonderfully tactile game, with tiny model cars
and personal dashboards complete with moving stick shifts. The game uses
a very clever technique for movement. Although it looks like a simple
roll-and-move mechanic, different gears are represented by different polyhedral
dice (fans of Dungeons & Dragons will recognize these right away).
The lowest gear represented by a d4 and the highest represented by a d30.
As players shift up and down in gears they get to roll different dice.
The dice are also numbered specifically to represent a range of numbers.
For example, unlike a typical d6 that is numbered 1-6, the d6 representing
second gear is numbered 2-4 (2,3,3,4,4,4). That way gearing up to higher
levels guarantees a decent amount of movement (you’ll never roll a one on a d20
for example; its range is 11-20). This simulates the anticipation and
excitement of being able to open up the engines on straightaways, but as the
saying goes, “speed kills”. Turns on the track are dangerous.
Players must stop a prescribed amount of times at each turn, for overshooting a
turn causes stress and damage on the vehicle. In a one lap race there is
no pit stop, so there is a great sense of risk and reward. Open up the
engines into a higher gear to speed ahead, or play it safe and let your
opponents flame out before the finish line.
What made this a great game for the students was the ability
to adjust the levels of complexity. A group of new players can have a
fun, tense race with a simple damage meter to record wear and tear on the
vehicle. As they get more familiar with the system, they can progress to
area-specific damage, weather conditions, and even specific characters who have
special abilities. We played one game on Tuesday which was won by a new
club member, and one game Friday where we used the street-racing track.
Both games had tense finishes, and there was much cheering at the end.
The only drawbacks to the game can been seen when the player count gets
high. A seven+ player race can get a bit slow if players haven’t thought
about their moves ahead of time. Analysis paralysis can bog down the
momentum and excitement, so encourage players to be ready on their turn.
Overall though, this game was a success, and I see it hitting the table
again…soon!
If the big numbers keep up, I think it’s time for a little
Coup.
Week 28: Coup
Week 28 saw one of our biggest turn-outs to date. We had over ten players at our Tuesday session, so to keep people engaged, a side table of Love Letter came in really handy. It also came in handy because Love Letter is a nice warm-up for Coup. Set in the world of The Resistance, Coup is a fantastic game of bluffing and deception. Each player gets two cards representing characters of a court (Duke, Ambassador, Captain, Assassin, and Countess). Cards are placed face down in front of the players, so no player know what the others have. Players take turns gathering money, stealing money, attempting assassinations, gathering taxes, and performing coups on eachother. The fun comes from the tension and bluffing that arises as people decide whether or not to challenge the claims made by other players. If you attempt to steal from me, do I call your bluff that you don't actually have the card that allows stealing, knowing if I'm wrong I'll be halfway to a loss? It's this dynamic that makes the game fun. Some players tried bluffing their way through, while others found it smarter to always tell the truth. The game plays quite quickly, however with our large numbers, it dragged a bit as players were slowly eliminated. We had for games in our two hour session. We also played a few games using the Reformation expansion, which adds a neat loyalty mechanic, and the Inquisitor card that allows players to peek at other cards.
Recruitment of new players has been excellent, for Friday's session was huge! We had new players, as well as the return of two graduates to join in the fun. This lead to multiple games of Coup, Nevermore, Love Letter, and we finished with a few rounds of The Resistance. It's a very exciting time for the club as our numbers swell. I honestly don't know where to take it next week, but I think it's time to introduce Abyss!
Thank you all for your support and encouragment behind this blog. Thanks for reading!
Week 28: Coup
