Board Game Friday #1

Thursday is board game night at our LFGS, so I'm introducing Board Game Friday as a new blog feature.

Kieran, the Proprietor

When I arrived last night, there was no-one who I already knew, so Kieran introduced me to a couple and we spent the evening playing three-handed games.  The beauty of The Games Table is that many games are Open Table and people are willing to allow others to join in.

First up was Photosynthesis (links are to, and photos are from, BoardGameGeek) a game about trees trying to get their place in the sun and put their neighbours in the shade

The sun shines brightly on the canopy of the forest, and the trees use this wonderful energy to grow and develop their beautiful foliage. Sow your crops wisely and the shadows of your growing trees could slow your opponents down, but don't forget that the sun revolves around the forest. Welcome to the world of Photosynthesis, the green strategy board game!

It was an interesting game, and one that I would play again, but to be honest I found it a bit dull - perhaps "Meh!" sums it up.

Too much choice

After finishing this we had an attack of indecision on what to play next (perhaps because we were politely deferring to each other).  Kieran jumped in and recommended Castle Panic, which none of use had played before.

Castle Panic is a cooperative, light strategy game for 1 to 6 players ages 10 and up. Players must work together to defend their castle, in the center of the board, from monsters that attack out of the forest at the edges of the board. Players trade cards, hit and slay monsters, and plan strategies together to keep their castle towers intact. The players either win or lose together, but only the player with the most victory points is declared the Master Slayer. Players must balance the survival of the group with their own desire to win.

No this I did enjoy!  And interestingly, because it was a co-operative game, I found myself getting to know the other players better and interacting more with them.  The mechanism was quite straightforward.  It was enjoyable enough that, after playing the first game, we immediately played again in order to try and best the monsters (who beat us both times - possibly because I misinterpreted one of the rules).

I see that it was successful enough that there are spin-offs, including a Zombie version and a 'Star Trek' one.  I will certainly play again, and might very well buy a copy.

And talking of buying...

The way The Games Table works is that monies payed for table hire are put on one side as store credit.  Between Board Game Thursdays and the fortnightly RPG, I had accrued a fair bit of credit (and there are only so many Hula Hoops a boy can eat!).  Accordingly, I picked up a copy of Battle Sheep - a quick, fun game which I think will go down well at home.  Sarah's favorite game is Pillars of the Earth, but given her mental decline, we're having to find things that are a little less complex.

Board Game Tally (October)

Games played: 4 (all of which were new to me)
Games bought: 1 (Battle Sheep)

Some Oathmark Shinies

After a tiring day drinking all afternoon in the pub and playing board games all evening (my social life has picked up somewhat), it was nice to come home to a box of goodies from North Star.

About a month ago I signed up for the pre-release offer on the new faction for their Oathmark range: the humans.  Oathmark is a fantasy range that is being done in collaboration with Osprey Publishing.  Eventually there will be a ruleset, but for the moment there are just the figures (human, dwarves. elves and goblins).  Given that the dwarves were launched a year ago, I'm not sure what is happening.

In the box you get six identical sprues, each with five torsos (none as dynamic as the box art) and an impressive number of variant parts.

So 30 figures for £25.00, compared to 20 for £20.00 in North Star's Frostgrave boxes, or 44 for £22.00 in GBP's. 

They're not wearing spiked helmets - there's a fair bit of flash to clean off

With the pre-release offer came a free metal figure (on the right above).  I also splashed out on one of the human champions (mainly because of his fine 'tash) and a pack of three dwarf champions (regular readers will know I'm a sucker for dwarves).