Game Nite Magazine Issue 38

Game Nite

Free

the magazine of tabletop gaming

july 2019

jt smith

the game crafter

v

Issue # 38

top 10 games of origins

game reviews

In this issue: INTERVIEW 16

JT Smith The Game Crafter

mobile Review 06

game Reviews 10

UnderLeague

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The Lords of Rock

Kahuna

Reviewed Books Index

Top 10 04 Top 10 Games at Origins

Mobile Review index 38

Reviewed Apps Index

Game Review index 42

Battle of the Bands.

For Android and iOS

book Review index 36

Dice, Combat and Betting.

Game Review Index

Calendar 55

July 2019

Interview Gallery 32

Past Interviews Index

Š Game Nite 2019. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.

All information contained in this magazine is for educational purposes only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of release. Readers are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers with regard to the price of their products. All material remains the property of its respective creators. Opinions expressed by the writers are their opinions alone and may not reflect the opinions of Game Nite. Disclaimer: Game Nite receives review copies of games, but does not accept payment for reviews.

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Game Nite Issue #38

From across the table

Game Nite ISSUE # 38

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rofessionalism is an admirable attribute. Sadly it is not always prevalent in our hobby/industry. As you have probably noticed, there are only a couple of games reviewed this issue. So… what happened? Well, I was told by one company (last issue) that two games were on the way. When I contacted them again for this issue, they said they were going out “this week”. Needless to say, they never showed up. And that doesn’t even take into account the 3 other games from 3 other companies that were supposed to have been shipped for inclusion in this issue and/ or next issue.

And you thought that this was all fun and games… LOL :) In this issue:

Cover Photograph by Serge Pierro.

UnderLeague © Cogwright Games

Follow us on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/GameNiteMagazine Follow us on ISSUU:

I would like to thank JT Smith for taking time from his busy schedule to share his thoughts with our readers.

The August calendar features “The Lords of Rock” and provides the release date for issue #39.

If you are interested in contributing to Game Nite, feel free to contact us, as we’d love to hear from you!

Serge Pierro

https://issuu.com/gamenitemagazine Follow us on Instagram:

@gamenitemagazine Follow us on Twitter:

@GameNiteMag Visit us at:

www.gamenitemagazine.com

Editor in Chief/Publisher editor@gamenitemagazine.com

Game Nite Issue #38

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Top 10 - Games at Origins

1 Dwellings of Eldervale Breaking Games

2 Tribes: Dawn of Humanity KOSMOS

3

Dawn of Mankind Tasty Minstrel Games

4

Colors of Paris Luma Imports

5

Rolled West Tasty Minstrel Games

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By Serge Pierro

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Sorcerer City Druid City Games

7

Vinyl Talon Strikes Studios

8

Volcanic Isle Arcane Wonders

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Spymaster Calliope Games

10 Terrors of London Kolossal Games Game Nite Issue #38

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Mobile Review

By Serge Pierro

Kahuna

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hen it comes to publishers, I keep an eye on a few of them that are prone to releasing good games. However, there is always one company that I will always check out their games - specifically their two player games. That company is KOSMOS. The KOSMOS line of two player games is legendary, and for good reason, the entire line is just packed with quality titles. It’s nice to see some of them making their way over to the digital platform. This time we will be looking at the card driven, area control game, Kahuna.

For those who are unfamiliar with the game, Kahuna is a two player area control game that is played over 3 rounds. The length of the rounds is determined by playing through the deck of cards. Then scores are tallied at the end of the round, with the final score being the total of the three rounds.

a “bridge” at one of the locations that match the title of your card. Example: If you play the card “Jojo”, you can place a bridge at any of the five marked locations, as long as there is no other bridge present there. You are trying to gain the majority of bridges per island. In the case of “Jojo” you would need a minimum of 3 bridges in order to gain control of the island and you would then place one of your tokens to indicate that you have claimed the island. However, another element of the game is that bridges can be destroyed. This is done by either having 2 cards of a connecting bridge or one card for each island that the bridge connects to. Example: If you want to destroy an opponent’s bridge on “Jojo” that is connected to “Gola”, you can play 2 “Jojo” cards, 2 “Gola” cards, or 1 “Jojo” and 1 “Gola”. When a bridge is destroyed it can have an effect on several islands, and this is an important element of the game.

The opening screen of the game features a In the game you are trying to gain control of the various islands on the map. To do this, you simple beach graphic that displays the Single play one of the cards from your hand and place Player, Two Players, Score and Rules buttons,

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as well as icons “engraved” in the sand for the screens from left to right to teach the game. The settings and other screens. game is fairly simple, so it shouldn’t take long to memorize how to play.

The Settings screen is fairly sparse, as it only contains: Language, Sound Effects and Music.

On your initial play you will be greeted with a But the game doesn’t really need anything else map that shows your starting position and the and it’s always a pleasure to have an app that Rank and name of your digital opponent. doesn’t go over the top with needless “bells and whistles”.

Your first game will also have an assistant available to advise you on the various situations As often is the case with board game ports, it that may arise. You will certainly want to turn is often well worth the time to take a quick look this off ASAP, as it slows down your game, as at the rules and see how the port relates to how you have to wait for him to finish “speaking” you play the game in person. Or, if you’ve never before you can continue. The advice is decent, played the game before, then this is certainly the but if you know the rules and/or played the game first place you will want to take a look. The Rules before, this isn’t necessary. section has a slider that moves the individual Continued on next page>

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Mobile Review (Cont.)

The User Interface is fairly clean and straightforward. To play a card from your hand you just “drag” it to the left and the map will display the various positions on which you can place your bridge. After the bridge is built you can draw from either one of the three face up cards, or draw blind from the top of the deck.

You can also choose to discard a card instead of building a bridge and then replace it in the same manner mentioned above. Another nice “housekeeping” element of the interface is that the computer will place/remove the Kahuna Stone token(s) on the relevant islands when the condition are met, so you don’t have to.

At the end of each of the three rounds you are greeted with a screen that displays how many Islands you conquered, how many points earned and who was the winner of the round.

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When the computer makes its move, your cards are “darkened” and there will be a text display of what card/bridge the computer played this turn.

The end of the game screen is somewhat uneventful. It is basically the same as the previous ones used for the end of round scoring. I prefer to be “rewarded” with a different screen at the end of game, as something to look forward to.

After you beat the game, you move on the initial map to a new location and a new AI opponent with a higher rank.

I’ve played Kahuna before, both live and online and I’ve always enjoyed it. While it is a fairly light game, there is a certain strategic element present that can be exploited if you draw the

necessary cards. Plus, blocking your opponent and destroying their bridges can make for a very competitive experience amongst aggressive players. From what I’ve seen of the game thus far, this is an excellent port of the game and provides for a fun and somewhat challenging experience.

I haven’t played at the upper levels yet, so I’m hoping that they increase in difficulty so that the challenges become more intense.

Since this is part of the KOSMOS two player line of games, I feel that this is a “must have” game for those who enjoy that line of games. Once you turn off the music, sound and the “adviser”, you are able to sit down and enjoy a game at anytime.

And that is surely the most welcome aspects of the

digital platform - being able to play a good solid game against an AI at any time.

I would love to see other games in the KOSMOS line ported over to the digital platform, but for now, Kahuna is a welcome addition to my tablet.

Version # Price: Devices:

1.4 $2.99 iOS and Android Developer: United Soft Media

Recommended www.usm.de

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UnderLeague

By Serge Pierro

Combat, Dice and Betting

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ne aspect of the current growth of the gaming industry is that there are a lot of new designers looking to make their mark. In order to do so, they will often take mechanisms from various games and mix them together to come up with something new.

Underleague seems to have used that approach, as it has prebuilt symmetrical decks, dice and plastic betting chips, thus combining a card game, a dice game and a betting game all in one. Does it work? Let’s find out.

Underleague comes in a 7 3/4” x 7 3/4” x 2 3/4” box that contains a black, plastic insert.

The insert has three separate areas, two of which are dedicated to the cards, one for the five Creature decks and the other for the 250 Strategy cards. The other area stores the black cloth bag, betting chips and the dice.

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The 20 page rulebook does an “okay” job of teaching the game, though it could be better organized and have more examples. The back of the book has several alternative rules for deck construction, draft, etc. I’m always happy to see companies credit the artists used in a game, and there is a page devoted to each of the artists, as well as the works they produced.

Since this is essentially a card game, it should come as no surprise that the main feature of the game is the cards themselves. The cards seem a little “thin”, but they are fine for the game. My main problem with the cards is that they have a “slippery” feel to them and they were prone to making shuffling a little difficult. Sleeves can be considered optional, as the game doesn’t require a lot of shuffling.

And while the cards are the primary focus of the game, there is also the betting and combat aspect to the game, which uses, respectively, chips and dice. The betting chips are made of plastic and measure 1 1/4” in diameter and 1/8” thick. They have a somewhat substantial feel to them, but they are not weighted like the chips included in “Splendor”. However, they are certainly above average. The dice include two sets of: d6, d4 and d3, with the d3 being a custom 6 sided die with the numbers 1,2 and 3 repeated twice.

Oddly enough, the black cloth bag is not mentioned in the component list, nor anywhere else in the rulebook. I just assume that it is used for the storage of the betting chips and/or the custom dice.

To begin the game each player receives a symmetrical deck of 30 cards and a set of betting chips. A set of dice can be given to each player in a two player game, otherwise they should be placed within reach for higher player counts.

Although it is suggested that the deck of strategy

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UnderLeague

(Cont.)

cards (250 cards) be placed in the playing area, we found that it was easier to use only 60−100 cards and leave the rest in the box, until needed, thus we didn’t have to deal with a huge stack of cards that would fall over at times.

in one of the Stables. However, the first chip placed must be on one of your own Creatures.

Each Creature may have multiple chips, though you can’t have more than one of your chips on a Creature, unless there is a card that breaks that rule. Once all of the chips have been placed the Each player will draw 3 cards from their Creature Combat phase begins. deck and choose one of them to place facedown in front of them to be used in their Stable and During the Combat phase the current player the remaining two cards will be placed at the will have two options available to them: Make a bottom of the deck, in any order they choose. Challenge and Play a Strategy Card.

This is repeated twice again, until each player has 3 cards. The cards are then flipped over In order to Challenge another player’s and these will be the starting Creatures for each Creature, you have to choose one of your Active player.

Creatures and “Exhaust” (tap) it to Challenge an opponent’s Active Creature. It is important The game’s rounds are divided into 3 phases: to note that the challenged Creature has to Pre-Season, Betting and Combat. be Active, as there is a finesse to strategically choosing the order of your attacks. Once the Since the Pre-Season phase is skipped for the two Creatures have been chosen, the defender initial round, we will address that last, however, will decide on whether the Combat will take over the course of the game it is the first phase at place during the Day or Night, and use the during each round. corresponding stats for choosing the amount of dice. There are three different dice available and The Betting phase is where many of the strategic are used in the following order: d6, d4 and d3. elements take place, as sometimes “throwing” Example: if you have a Creature with a stat of a battle will yield more benefits than actually 2, then you will roll a d6 and a d4. Each player winning it. Starting with the first player, each will then roll the dice and the highest total wins, one will place a Win/Lose chip above a Creature with ties going to the defender.

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In addition to Challenging a Creature, you may also play one Strategy card per Combat turn. These are paid for by discarding the amount of cards listed on the card. There are two types of Strategy cards: Equipment and Schemes. Equipment is attached to a Creature, where Schemes are resolved at once and are then discarded.

At the start of each Pre-Season the first thing that is checked is to see if any of the players have triggered the Victory condition by scoring 20 points. If so, the game ends and the player with the highest score wins. If not, then play continues.

The first player is determined by the player with the lowest amount of Victory Points. There is a The winner of the Combat gets a Victory list of tiebreakers. card. This is just a Strategy card that is drawn from the top of the deck and placed face down Mustering can be considered a cleanup phase. in the winner’s play area. These will be used All Exhausted Creatures are returned to their for Victory points, in addition to those printed Active position. Each player draws a Strategy on the Creature cards and Strategy cards. Any card for each Betting chip in their pool and Betting chips that matched the results of the receive an additional card if they have three Combat are placed in the respective player’s Creatures of the same type. All chips that are pool. A defeated Creature is Exhausted. Cards still on Creatures are then returned to the pool. that feature the Dominance ability are resolved Then there is a decision to be made, either to invest in Strategies or Transfer a Creature. as well.

Investing in Strategies allows the player to draw Once a Combat turn has been completed, the an additional 2 cards. Transferring a Creature next player in turn order gets to do the same. puts it on the bottom of their Creature deck This continues until all players pass or are unable and the player then draws 3 Creature cards and to make a Challenge. Then the Combat phase chooses one of them to replace the Transferred ends and the start of the next round begins with Creature, returning the other two cards to the bottom of the deck. Any Equipment that was the Pre-Season phase. attached to the Creature is discarded. Play then The Pre-Season phase is made up of 3 parts: continues as before with the Betting phase.

Calculate Victory Points, Determine First Player and Mustering.

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UnderLeague

(Cont.)

Play continues in this manner until the end indicate which cards should be used in a two or of the game is triggered with 20 points and the three player game. There are just far too many player with the highest score wins. cards for the lower player counts. We would have also preferred a larger assortment of cards, It’s always nice to see variants and alternative as many of the cards were the same. rules included in a game, thus increasing its replayability and Underleague is no exception. And while it may seem like I didn’t enjoy the There are rules for custom deck construction, as game, that would not be true. The game can well as those for running a draft league. be fun at times, as long as you are okay with random dice rolls and such. The Creature and Underleague has some interesting things going Strategy cards had some interesting effects on for it, and should appeal to gamers who have an them and we really enjoyed how they worked. appreciation of random game play (via the dice We also thought that the betting was a nice rolls), CCG influenced card play and those who touch, though we would have liked to have enjoy betting. The betting aspect is perhaps the the combat driven more by card play than the most interesting part of the game, as it allows randomness of dice rolls. for some fun shenanigans. However, I don’t think this game will appeal to everyone.

With its dark and moody artwork and interesting gameplay, Underleague will make The thing that I disliked most about the for a welcome addition to a game collection for game was the pure randomness of the dice those that enjoy a bit of random dice play with rolls. And while the Creatures have stats that an interesting betting mechanism. indicate the number of dice rolled, often times the results aren’t what you would expect and had you asking yourself, “what’s the point” of Designer: Fergus Blair trying to strategize a path to victory. I would Publisher: Cogwright Games have preferred that the Creatures had a “base Players: 2-5 number” that was augmented by the dice rolls, Mechanic: Betting, Dice Rolling thus providing for a more “controllable” result, Ages: 14+ thus rewarding good game play.

Length:

While I certainly understand the need for the large deck of cards for a five player game, there should have been some markings on the cards to

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30-90 Mins.

Worth Trying www.cogwrightgames.com

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Interview

By Serge Pierro

• The Game Crafter • The Captain is Dead

JT Smith - Game Designer, Manufacturer Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with our readers, can you tell us a little something about yourself?

Thanks for having me. My name is JT Smith.

I’m a serial entrepreneur and serial game designer. I’ve created 20 businesses over 25 years, and still own 3. I’ve designed hundreds of games; a couple of video games, but mostly board games. My most famous game is a board game called The Captain is Dead.

in the first year of college. It wasn’t until my second year of college (I was 19) when I decided to design my first game. It was an RPG called deadEarth. The world was brutal and over the top with ridiculous mutated creatures. I made it so brutal that it was actually possible to die during character creation. Looking back it was a bit silly, but man it was so much fun! That’s how I caught the bug of game design.

What games over the years have you enjoyed most, from both the point of personal Did you start designing games at an early enjoyment, as well as those that influenced age? If so, do you remember what your first your growth as a designer? game design was like?

I’ve played thousands of games, and I’m sure I didn’t. I grew up on your standard family games like Euchre, Monopoly, Risk, and Stratego.

In high school a friend of mine introduced me to some war games and role playing games. I got hooked on RPGs and played them a lot

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each of the of them has influenced me as a designer. I honestly cannot point to just one or even a few. I’m probably different than a lot of people in that I don’t hold on to games as “favorites”. I like many but my tastes change constantly, as does my collection. At any given

time I probably have 200 games in my collection, but I also give away or sell well over 100 games per year too. Right now a few of my favorites are Farlight, Alien Frontiers, Terraforming Mars, Orleans, and Mysterium.

When the opportunity presents itself, what Is there a particular designer that you would games have you currently been playing? be interested in collaborating with? If so, what type of game would you be interested The ones I mentioned above, as well as all the in making? prototypes and indie games that I play from The

Game Crafter and from conventions. Honestly Given the time constraints on game design I think I have more fun playing people’s (because I have businesses to run), I often end up prototypes than I do mass market games. I love working on games late at night and at a relatively seeing people try experimental ideas, even when slow pace. It doesn’t make for good collaboration. it doesn’t work. The games are so unique.

That said, I have been able to collaborate with a few up and coming designers recently. I helped Who are your favorite game designers? with a game called Landsknecht with a designer named Adelheid Zimmerman. It’s a lightweight I don’t have favorite game designers. Each game war game set in the late 15th century, and she has is it’s own unique thing. The designer who made the game under consideration with a publisher one game doesn’t mean their next game will right now. But yeah, I’d be open to collaborating be any good. That said, there are many many on a design with many designers. It’s not the great game designers out there doing wonderful same as design collaboration, but I really enjoy things, like Kane Klenko (Dead Men Tell No giving feedback to designers at Protospiel game Tales), Phillip Dubarry (Black Orchestra), and design conventions.

Jason Glover (Desolate).

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Interview

(Cont.)

What do you think defines your “style” as a Which one of your games do you consider game designer, is there a specific mechanic or your best design, and why? rule set or… ?

I generally design “survival” games if that’s a “style”. I don’t have a specific genre, theme, or mechanic. But nearly all of my games have a theme of survival in a crazy situation. I jokingly tell people that my games should all have a working title of “Starving and Cold”.

I”ll give you a few examples. The first game I designed, deadEarth, which I mentioned earlier was a traditional RPG set survival in a post-apocalypse wasteland. The game I’m most famous for, The Captain is Dead, is a tongue-incheek sci-fi co-op game where the players are trying to survive an alien onslaught that killed their captain. The game I finished last year is called Rendezvous which is a historic worker placement game set in 1800s Wisconsin where the players try to survive their first winter as the earliest European settlers of Wisconsin. And the game I’m working on right now, is a horror adventure game set in modern day New York where a bunch of ravenous creatures attack and kill almost everyone, and those that survived the initial attack must attempt to both survive and fight them.

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My best design is always the one I’m working on right now, of course! Of the ones that have been published, I think The Captain is Dead: Dangerous Planet (which comes out at Gen Con 2019) is my best design. But my magnum opus, so to speak, is the one I’m working on now, Gravesend. It is a legacy style adventure game which is told over the course of 60 play sessions.

It’s sort of a choose your own adventure game.

Each character in the game has their own unique story arc with variable outcomes, plus the game itself has its own unique story arc. And each group that plays the game will have a different experience than others.

People can find out more about the game at http://gravesend.rocks

How did the idea for “The Game Crafter” come about?

In 2008 I was looking for someone to make some playing cards for me. I just wanted a short run of them. I was sick of making them on my home printer. I looked around and found the husks of companies that had tried to do it

before, but they all went belly up for one reason or another. So I decided I should try to make a company that could do it. I convinced my business partners, we should. We built a web site, and set up a partnership with a local print shop. We figured if we were making 100 games a month by the end of the first year we’d be doing well. As it turns out we sold more than

400 games in the first 15 days. The local print shop was immediately overloaded, and so we ended up starting a print shop of our own that focused solely on our own games. At first we were in a small 100 square foot office. Today we occupy more than 15,000 square feet, which is really still pretty tiny, and we’re looking for a bigger place.

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Interview

(Cont.)

What types of services does “The Game Crafter” offer for both the novice and professional game designers?

things through The Game Crafter Laboratory (thegamecrafter.com/laboratory). We make things like oversized games for conventions, trade show booth displays and signage, as well as unique promotional items for your game.

On the simplest end we have the largest This service is primarily used by publishers, selection of game pieces and blank components but it is open to the world. There are customers in North America. So if you need prototyping who want us to build oversized versions of their supplies, our shop is where it’s at. favorite games to take to trade shows.

The next rung up we can make your game. You basically upload your art to our web site and select which game pieces you need. You order a copy and about a week later you get it in the mail. A deck of cards will cost about $6, whereas a full game could cost $20, $30, or maybe even over $100 depending upon what you put in it.

We also offer bulk order fulfillment, which is where we can manufacture the games from your crowd funding campaign, and we also ship them out to all your customers for you. This can really save you a lot of time and hassle.

And on the whackiest end of the spectrum, we can make truly custom one-of-a-kind

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“The Game Crafter” has a large selection of games available for sale. How does an aspiring game designer go about having the game made available for sale on the site?

It’s pretty simple really. You go through the process above for buying your own copy of the game. Once you’ve done that if you wish to sell it on our site, you simply upload a few shop graphics, and fill out a description. Then you can hit the “publish” button and that will put your game up for sale. Once it’s for sale, each time an order is placed, we manufacture a copy and ship it to the customer that ordered it. And then we deposit your royalty payment into your PayPal account.

What games that are available on “The What does the future hold for “The Game Game Crafter” do you feel stand out amongst Crafter”? the rest?

We will continue to offer more products and That’s easy! We have a list of all of services. We don’t announce new products our favorites. We call them “Staff and services before they are released, but I Picks”. https://www.thegamecrafter.com/ can tell you have have dozens and dozens of them in the works. We tend to release at least search?idx=products&dFR[staff_pick][0]=1 a couple new things every single week. As an

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Interview

(Cont.)

account all the costs and hassle of dealing with a foreign entity: tariffs, shipping and port fees, fulfillment, communication challenges, and timing. On timing specifically, kickstarters that fulfill with us typically have their games in their This next week we’re announcing a partnership backers hands in a matter of weeks, rather than with Looney Labs. This will allow people to months or years. make their own custom versions of Looney Lab’s hit game Loonacy. https://www.thegamecrafter. “The Captain is Dead” has proven to be a com/custom-loonacy example, we released several new game pieces this past week along with a new service we call Concierge: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/ concierge

popular game. What do you think it is about With the growing influx of game designers the game that has led to its popularity? and publishers, are there any plans for 15% of it is that it’s just a fun game. 25% “The Game Crafter” to move into game of it is that it’s a co-op game, which is more manufacturing at a level that would entice inviting to casual players than casual players.

30% of it is the unique and striking artwork designers/publishers to have their games of Gaetano Leonardi. And 30% of it is that it published in the USA instead of overseas? uses tropes that are nostalgic and interesting to a Or do you wish to remain as a “smaller” wide swath of people: anybody who likes singlemanufacturer who specializes in prototypes? ship sci-fi space operas like Star Trek, Fire Fly, Farscape, etc.

Yes! A couple months ago we announced 500 and 1000 unit pricing levels on our cards and tuck boxes. Soon we’ll be announcing 500 and 1000 unit pricing on rigid 2-piece boxes. Eventually we’ll have 500 and 1000 unit pricing on all of our components. While we won’t be able to compete with China directly on pricing, we do compete when you take into

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As someone who is a designer, publisher and manufacturer, what do you feel are the biggest changes that have occurred in the industry since the inception of “The Game Crafter”?

1) Kickstarter started the same year as The 3) More people in the hobby. Board games have Game Crafter. So the whole crowd funding been growing in popularity in the past 20 years, but it went from linear growth to exponential resolution. growth in the past 10 years.

2) The Game Crafter itself, being able to print any number of copies of a game has made game  Do you have any plans to release any of your design more accessible as a hobby, plus it has games as apps for the mobile platforms? made a whole lot of things easier for publishers.

Short runs for tests and convention sales before There is talk of something coming for The the container of games arrives, earlier reviewer Captain is Dead, but I cannot say more at this copies, glamor shot copies for crowd funding, time. Except this: if it happens, it’s gonna be play tester copies, etc. way more than anybody expects.

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Interview

(Cont.)

Are there any other upcoming projects that What advice would you have for aspiring you are at liberty to discuss or announce? game designers?

There is so much I’d like to talk about, but There are the standard things like: play as many cannot. So instead I’ll say this: Come visit our games as possible, get your games out to as many Board Game Candy booth at Gen Con! We’ll Protospiel events as possible, and get your games have more than 300 game pieces available at the to the table as early and as often as possible. show!

However, one thing you don’t hear very often What advice would you have for would be that is also possible is start building your audience when you start building your game. Get on social game publishers? media, make a blog, a podcast, a newsletter, a YouTube channel, etc. Go to cons and game shops and keep track of the people you meet.

Understand what you are getting into. If Get people excited about your game It will be you love running a business, and all that it useful whether you decide to do a crowd funding entails, then do it. You won’t regret it. If you campaign or pitch a publisher. just like designing games, then do not become a publisher! If you do decide to become a publisher, talk to The Game Crafter. There’s all kinds of crazy cool stuff we can help you with!

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The Lords of Rock

By Serge Pierro

Battle of the Bands

A

s a professional musician and someone who has always been fascinated by ancient cultures, it should come as no surprise that a game like The Lords of Rock would capture my attention. With decent comic book styled artwork and an interesting theme, let’s see if the game can live up to my expectations.

The Lords of Rock comes in an 8 1/4” x 5” x 1 1/2” box that features a spot varnished logo on the box top and contains no insert.

The 16 page rulebook is the size of the box and has several illustrations. However, there are no examples, though there’s a section explaining the card iconography.

It does a decent job of teaching the game, though the actual game setup/ instruction begins on page 8.

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All of the cards are linen finished and are standard sized. Sleeving can be considered optional.

To keep track of the score there are two types of acrylic crystal gems. There are 20 large blue ones and 50 smaller light blue ones.

Also included, but not mentioned in the rulebook is a 6 3/4” x 4 1/2” linen finished, cardboard tracking board which is made of a sturdy cardboard stock. The board is double sided, but each side is the same. There are also cardboard tokens to be used on the track that are made of a similar cardboard and are also linen finish.

To set up the game, each player will choose one of the Pantheons that they will use for the game. These include: Greek, Aztec, Norse, Egyptians, Chinese and Elder Gods (Cthulhu). Each Pantheon has 2 Band Leaders and 10 other members. Players will choose one of the Band Leaders and then fill out the other positions in the band from the 10 other cards. Each band must contain each of the following: a guitarist, singer, bassist and drummer.

Then each player will receive 4 cards from the Venue deck. These will be the locations where each of the bands will be “performing in concert”, with the goal being the “winning of souls”. This felt a bit odd, thematically, as this was chosen over both “fans” and “worshippers”, which seemed better suited for the Pantheons on hand.

Continued on next page>

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The Lords of Rock

(Cont.)

Each of the band members that you put The Venue cards are the focus of everyone’e together from the Pantheon cards are placed attention. By winning the battle you will face up in front of you. Optionally, each acquire victory points and possibly a special player can use the optional Pantheon Power bonus. cards, which grant players a one time use effect during the game.

On each card there are certain areas that are relevant. The most important area is Players are then dealt 7 Set List cards. the bottom of the card which lists the band members that can take part in trying to Each round of the game is played as follows: win this Venue. Underneath that there’s a To start a turn, the “first player” is called the section devoted to the possible bonus. The Anchor Band and is only used as a point other area of importance lists the amount of of reference, as the player to their left will victory points earned which is determined actually make the first move of the round by who had the most Skill at the end of the revealing one of their Venues that everyone round. There is also a designation for the will be competing for. After the Venue has size (Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large) been revealed the next player in turn order of the Venue which triggers Skill boosts on will have the opportunity to either play a certain Set List cards.

Set List card or Pass. This continues until all players have Passed and then a checklist Example: “Existing After Midnight” has a is consulted. +1 Skill for either vocals or drums, however, at a Medium sized Venue it is increased to Before we take a look at the checklist, let’t +2. take a look at what each of the cards do during the game.

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Set List cards are the main means of trying to obtain the most Skill points per round.

Each card has either a positive or negative effect associated with it. Players will use these cards to boost the stats on their Band Members, while playing negative ones on their opponent’s Band Members. Positive cards are played face up, while negative cards are played face down. Each player may only have a maximum of 2 negative cards played on them per round. There are also special Roadie cards that cancel a negative card played on you. The titles of these cards are whimsical takes on real songs. The aforementioned “Existing After Midnight” is based on Judas Priest’s, “Living After Midnight”. And the game wouldn’t be complete without “Stairway to Olympus” (Led Zeppelin’s, “Stairway to Heaven”) Each of the Band cards represent a different member of the group. A band consists of 1 Vocalist, 1 Guitarist, 1 Bassist and 1 Drummer. Each of these Band members have

a Primary and Secondary skill. If possible, the Primary skill is the one that will be used if the Venue lists the Band members as one who can participate in the attempt to win the Venue. If the Venue does not have the Band member’s Primary skill available, then they can use their Secondary skill instead.

Needless to say, when you are assembling a band you are choosing Band members’ primarily for their Primary skill level, but the Secondary levels are important as well.

After the Skill levels have been checked for attempting to win the Venue and the results have been rewarded, there is a simple checklist to determine how the game continues. If the Anchor Band has played 2 Venues, the game ends and the player with the highest score wins. Otherwise, all players draw 3 Set List cards, discarding down to a hand size of 10, if necessary. Then the next player in turn order places a Venue on the table for the players to compete for. Once the Venue is played, players then have an opportunity

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The Lords of Rock

(Cont.)

to discard 1-2 Set List cards from their hand and replace them with the like amount. If the Anchor Band hasn’t played 2 Venues, then each player also has the option to discard “X” Venues and redraw up to four.

Then the next round begins as above and play continues until the end of the game condition has been met.

certainly true in instances where you can plan for an Extra Large Venue that you have drawn.

We enjoyed the titles on the Set List cards.

We had fun trying to guess what the original song title was that inspired the card.

The only real downside of game is that the As mentioned at the start of the review, this Set List cards look a bit boring, as they all is a theme that interests me and the game have the same graphic design and there is no does a decent job in capturing it. And while artwork to break up the monotony.

I’m not fond of the usage of “battling for souls”, the game does capture what it sets out Overall, this light filler game has a fun to do. theme and should appeal to gamers who enjoy these types of games, while at the same This is a fairly quick filler game, though at time it could serve as a gateway game to five players it will be longer. introduce musical friends into the hobby.

The game play is fairly straightforward, as you are basically just altering the stats on the Band cards by using the Set List cards, but there is some subtle strategies involved, as far as to when to use certain cards or to save them for perhaps a larger Venue where they would prove to be more profitable. This is

Designers: Dave Killingsworth & Dave Ferguson

Publisher: Players: Mechanic: Ages: Length:

Solar Flare Games 2-5

Hand Management 13+ 20-40 Mins.

Worth Trying www.solarflaregames.com

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Interview Gallery

Steve Jackson #1

Dan Verssen #1

Paul Herbert #1

Reiner Knizia #2

Franz Vohwinkel #2

James Ernest #2

Mark Copplestone #2

Reiner Knizia #3

Peter Adkison #3

Brom #3

Chenier La Salle #4

Ryan Dancey #4

Brian Snoddy #4

Beth Sobel #5

Bruno Faidutti #5

Tom Jolly #6

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Antoine Bauza #7

Dennis Lohausen #7

Ryan Laukat #8

Chad Hoverter #9

Matt Leacock #9

Greg Isabelli #9

Ignacy Trzewiczek #10

Jacqui Davis #10

Johan Koitka #10

Jamey Stegmaier #11

Michael Menzel #11

Kay Wilke #11

Vincent Dutrait #12

Mike Fitzgerald #12

Sandy Petersen #13

Mihajlo Dimitrievski #13

Game Nite Issue #38

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Interview Gallery (Cont.)

Bruno Cathala #14

John Ariosa #14

Friedemann Friese #15

Joshua Cappel #15

Eric Vogel #15

Mac Gerdts #16

Keldon Jones #16

Steve Finn #17

J. Alex Kevern #18

Richard Ham #18

Ludovic Roudy #19

Bruno Sautter #19

Phil Walker-Harding #20

Luke Peterschmidt #21

Mike Richie #22

Grant Wilson #22

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Curt Covert #23

Daryl Andrews #24

Rob Dougherty #25

Nestor Romeral Andres #26

Leonard Koh #27

Rui Alipio Monteiro #28

Luke Laurie #29

Darwin Kastle #30

Serge Pierro #31

Justin Gary #32

Tom Lehmann #33

Shem Phillips #34

Philip duBarry #35

Sen Foong-Lim #36

JT Smith #38

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Book Review Index

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Issue #1

Issue #2

Issue #3

Issue #4

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Issue #6

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Issue #17

Issue #18

Issue #19

Issue #20

Issue #22

Issue #24

Issue #26

Issue #32

Issue #33

Game Nite Issue #38

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Mobile Review Index

Issue #12

Issue #13

Issue #14

Issue #15

Issue #16

Issue #17

Issue #18

Issue #19

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Issue #20

Issue #21

Issue #21

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Mobile Review Index (Cont.)

Issue #27

Issue #30

Issue #28

Issue #31

Issue #29

Issue #32

Issue #29

Issue #33

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Game Nite Issue #38

Issue #34

Issue #38

Issue #35

Issue #36

Issue #37

Game Nite Issue #38

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Game Review Index (Isuues 1-6)

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• • • • • •

This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the 2-4 of Us Small World Stella Nova Shoot-Out Postcard Cthulhu Postcard Empire

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Tile Chess Cards of Cthulhu Samurai Spirit Golem Arcana Pairs Sutakku Timeline

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Baseball Highlights 2045 Samurai Sword Paperback For the Crown Trench Firefly Cutthroat Caverns Rise of the Zombies Shadow Throne

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Rhino Hero Attila Spurs and Sprockets Chaosmos March of the Ants AquaSphere Fidelitas Rise of Cthulhu Maha Yodah

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Animal Upon Animal Sushi Draft Stones of Fate WWII: Stalingrad Stockpile The Magnates Sentinel Tactics Flip City Space Movers 2201 Dark Tales

• • • • • • • • •

Nevermore Gold West Arcadia Quest

Dragon Flame

New York 1901

Lift Off! Tesla vs. Edison

Yashima Targi

• • • • • • • •

Outer Earth 1944: Race to the Rhine Runecast Cycling Tour Witkacy Firefly: Fistful of Credits Dozen Doubloons King Down

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Game Review Index (Issues 7-12)

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Game Nite Issue #38

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Steam Works Web of Spies Cartography Xia: Legends of a Drift System Orleans Raiders of the North Sea Hoyuk Wizards of the Wild Myths at War Ring It! Hogg Wild for Wealth The Martian Investigations

• • • • • • • • • • •

Cosmic Run Imperial Harvest Under the Pyramids (Eldritch Horror Expansion) Bomb Squad Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization Luna Biblios Dice Trekking the National Parks Fuse Skulldug!

Horrible Hex

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Cuisine a la Cart Foragers The Shadow Over Westminster Scoville Valeria: Card Kingdom Onitama Knit Wit Worlds Fair: 1893 Flip City: Reuse Gruff The Walled City Empires at Sea

• • • • • • • • • • • •

JurassAttack!

Oh My Gods!

Looting Atlantis 13 Days Apotheca Tiny Epic Galaxies Automobiles Daxu Slaughterville Kheops Scoville: Labs Ancient Conflict Treasure Chest

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Dr. Eureka Stockpile: Continuing Corruption Sugar Gliders Dawn of the Zeds: Third Edition Vast: The Crystal Caverns The Networks Grifters Trajan Conspiracy!

Secrets of the Last Tomb Best Treehouse Ever Matryoshka

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Imhotep In the Name of Odin Centauri Saga Draconis Invasion Dastardly Dirigibles Flamme Rouge Haspelknecht Hansa Teutonica Star Trek Panic Theomachy Commissioned San Ni Ichi Small City Game Nite Issue #38

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Game Review Index (Issues 13-18)

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Game Nite Issue #38

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Kanagawa Lunarchitects Hero Realms Santorini Vinhos: Deluxe Colony Sun Tzu Bermuda Crisis Tavarua Explorers of the North Sea America San Allies Crisis

• • • • • • • • • •

Hanamikoji Element Villages of Valeria Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition 7 Wonders Duel Oceanos Herbaceous A Feast For Odin Schotten Totten This Belongs in a Museum

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Ninja Taisen Space Invaders Dice!

The Dresden Files Card Game Pyramids Quests of Valeria Amun-Re Cultists of Cthulhu Magic Maze Knot Dice The Cohort Crazier Eights Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu

• • • • • • • • • • • •

7&7 March of the Ants: Minions of the Meadow Honshu Web of Spies Saga of the Northmen Tournament at Camelot Haspelknecht: The Ruhr Valley Plague Inc. Zephyr Terrible Monster 5ive Duress

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Fantasy Realms Space Race Isle of Skye Unearth ION Escape from 100 Million BC Battle for Souls COG Near and Far Terraforming Mars Caverna: Cave vs. Cave Pocket Mars Terra Mystica Hafid’s Grand Bazaar

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The Climbers Whistle Stop The 7th Continent Witches of the Revolution Viral Sentient Road Hog PeltaPeeps

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Game Review Index (Issues 19-24)

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Game Nite Issue #38

• • • • • • •

Mini Rails Nightmare Forest: Alien Invasion The Ruhr Summit Seikatsu Tulip Bubble Covalence

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Joraku Michael Strogoff Minute Realms Castle Dukes Rajas of the Ganges Cytosis

• • • • •

Ancestree Exodus Fleet Tak Mistborn: House War Expedition: RPG Card Game

• • • •

ShutterBug Divinity Derby Wakening Lair Planet of the Apes

• • • • • •

Vast: The Fearsome Foes Vast Miniatures Expansion Vast Bonus Cards Wildcatters Alexandria Tzolk’in

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Gretchinz!

Button Men The Flow of History The Game of Nines

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Game Review Index (Issues 25-30)

•

•

•

• •

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Game Nite Issue #38

Dicey Peaks Coldwater Crown Thanos Rising Peak Oil Wordoku

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Zombie Dice: Horde Edition Codenames: Marvel Fog of Love Cthulhu Dice

• • • •

Gearworks Grackles Maiden’s Quest The Veil

• • • •

Outpost: Siberia Outpost: Amazon Root Planetarium

• • • • •

Shards of Infinity Blood Rage Mistfall: Chronicles of Frost

•

•

•

•

• •

Wish You Were Here Onitama: Way of the Wind Master of the Galaxy

The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire

Barker’s Row

Hero Realms: The Ruin of Thandar

Shifting Realms Hero’s Crossing

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Game Review Index (Issues 31-36)

• •

• •

• •

• • •

• • • •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

• •

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Dicey Peaks Command Decks Star Realms: Coldwater Your Town Crown Thanos Wu WeiRising Peak Oil Star Realms: Frontiers Wordoku

Darwinning!

Zombie Dice: Horde Edition Codenames:Card GoVenture Marvel Game Fog of Love the Board Game Highlander Cthulhu The Forbidden Dice Sanctuary

Highlander: Princes of the Universe Gearworks Architects of the West Kingdom Grackles Tricky Dungeon Maiden’s Quest Perdition’s Mouth: Revised Edition The Veil Warigin

•

•

•

• • •

Tara Wolf: In Valley of the Kings Timebreaker Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done Perdition’s Mouth: Traitor Guard Frazetta: Card & Dice Battle Game RevoltaaA

• • • •

Fortresses & Clans Call To Adventure Gugong Wisdom of Solomon

• • • • •

Embark Kings of Israel Terminator: Rise of the Resistance Cheese Quest Libraria

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Game Review Index (Issues 37+)

• •

• •

• •

• • •

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Game Nite Issue #38

• • • • • •

Dicey PeaksTrail Campaign Coldwater Crown Gentes Thanos Vivaldi Rising Peak Oil Garden Wizard’s Wordoku

Zombie Dice: Horde Edition UnderLeague Codenames: Marvel The Lords Fog of Loveof Rock Cthulhu Dice

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Issue #39