Game Night: Werewolf

We got eight at our last game night and so decided to try Werewolf (although technically we're using the Mayfair deck Lupus in Tabula). For the uninitiated, Werewolf is a game of bluffing where a certain number of players are secretly werewolves, the rest are villagers (with various extra roles depending on group size being added) and the two groups are essentially trying to annihilate the other.

The werewolves vote in secret with everyone closing their eyes. Above you can Sterno, with his eyes open because he's dead, our friend Ben - eyes closed as he's a villager, and the fair finger of The Girl voting to devour someone.

It's really great fun and a testament to that is that you're actually supposed to have nine, not eight, players - as one player has to be the moderator. Despite this, we kept mucking up the rules enough to have a good time for several hours. It's a little wacky, but actually even less geeky than say, Munchkin, in the long run. Check out the Wikipedia article for more.

Red Dragon Inn - Fantasy Boozing Board Game

On BoardGameGeek Recent Additions (review):

Ever wondered what happens to a group of adventurers after they return,
victorious, from delving into the darkest dungeons? According to Slugfest
Games' new title, *The Red Dragon Inn*, they head for the nearest tavern and
spend the night drinking, ...

Read Full Article, Red Dragon Inn, The - Review of The Red Dragon Inn

I swear that could be a new genre. The game's apparently just out and is getting pretty decent reviews. Spewglist has another.

I think in honor of Hurricane Dean, though, next Game Night will be a Catan marathon.

Game Night: Illuminati, Guitar Hero

My knee hurts, but more that in a moment.

I'm not sure our group has played Illuminati enough to have the hang of it yet - our rounds always seem to be about an hour of people simply grabbing uncontrolled groups and then some final struggle between a couple of players which lasts only a few turns. Last night the victor had amassed a decent poker's hand of special cards which allowed him to call a piviledged attack (no intereference), pool all his money and swipe an entire arm of groups to seal the win. I had a two turn strategy to double up on taking weak groups and then use a special card to take my final. But about the time I devised this plan, the special card full house came up.

Still fun, but I think we'll need to try adding in the special goals which do provide a better incentive to steal specific groups, destroy things, etc.

This was followed by a couple of hours of laying down mad riffs in Guitar Hero II. I'm still hopelessly on medium level it seems, even though after everyone left I managed to finish one more hard song. Bringing the total to two.

I think my knee is an indicator as to why though - I didn't hurt it by standing up and playing guitar ... I hurt it while sitting and playing a card game. I don't really quite know how.

Point being - I'm just old.

Game Night: Settlers Of Catan

Here's some proof on how finely designed Settlers of Catan really is: take four people, ranging from having played the game a few times to never before and break out the box.. With many board games this would require plenty of explanation and anyone new to the game would be at a severe disadvantage unless much of the mechanics relied on luck. With Catan, certainly a portion of the mechanics (resource creation) are luck ... but a majority of the game is how your strategy of expansion works. The rules take about ten minutes to explain if someone has already played once - longer if you have to drift through and parse the relatively short rulebook.

The game ends when a player reaches ten victory points. The end score was 8,9,9 and 10. The ten went to someone who hadn't played. Catan is a lesson in mechanics - you can't get too far ahead doing any one thing. You have to trade with others. You have to plan a little ahead. And then, after all that, luck helps out.

I'm very glad Catan has made it's way to Xbox Live - however at the same time I'd say to any 360 users who have liked the game online ... pick up the boxed edition. I'm sure the experience is similar, but there's something social about having the game on a table in the middle of some friends which you might find as a bonus.

Game Night: Illuminati

Illuminati is another Steve Jackson creation. The goal is create a network of groups (represented by cards) of a certain size before anyone else. Mechanically, there's some similarity to Munchkin - success is based on the simple math of power versus resistance with as many modifiers as can be thrown against either side. In this case, it's generally power from other groups and money. In true Jackson form though, the game can elevate it's complexity from time to time.

For instance - one of the moves that cinched a game for me was having the Orbital Mind Control Lasers convert the S.M.O.F.'s (a sci fi fan group) into communists so that the Communist Party could more easily control them. That kind of thing.

Fairly easy to learn and once you have the hang of it ... a game can take about two hours or so. We played two games in the night compared to the epic battles of Munchkin. Course, we were down to five last night which also makes it go quicker than having eight or more people around the table.

Another great Steve Jackson Games creation and highly recommended.

Fun Fact! Steve Jackson Games appears as a company in the hacker sim Uplink. They seem to be getting raided by the Secret Service - mirroring a real life raid. (Wikipedia)

tagged: game, gaming

Game Night: Munchkin Strikes Again

Munchkin again proves to be evil fun. It has one of my favorite qualities of any game (board or computer) - a dynamic flow. At the beginning, it's fairly cooperative and jovial. By the end, you're making revenge curses and plotting your former ally's untimely demise. As the end approaches, everyone is making desperate full-scale assaults to keep anyone from succeeding at just about anyting. I think at one point I went to get a beer and someone tried to curse me with small hands. The evening ended with a Divine Intervention card - a kind a quick and random end game which can hand the game over to any clerics in the barn door. Had that not happened, I think The Girl was primed to win if she drew a low enough level monster. Right before that card was drawn, I dragged the whole table into a knock-out epic battle only to turn on monster into an illusion and unleash a doppleganger of myself ... only to have the original monster turn into a parrot.

It's just that kind of game.





tagged: game, gaming