Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Boardgame Roundup: Small World and Gears of War

          This weekend I had the pleasure of a visitation from old friends. Among the activities in which we partook, board games were the most prominent. I finally had the chance to play some board games that I purchased a while back. Before, I bought them because I played them and had fun, but since I didn’t have a regular group to play with, I didn’t know the rules. Now, I made the time to learn the rules so that I could play with my friends James and Jen when they came to visit. Among the games were two that you probably have not heard of: Small World and Gears of War the board game.

Small World
 Small World is a game set on a fictional world where there are several races from which you can choose to play. You get to play on 4 predetermined maps that are designed based on the number of players the game supports, 2-5. The game operates similar to risk in that you are given a number of armies, and the objective is to conquer land with those armies at the cost of a certain number of units per territory (usually no dice are rolled). As you conquer more territory, you earn more victory points toward your total point score, which determines the winner. Since there are around 10 turns per game, strategy plays an important role in how you play. In each of the games I’ve played, the world has looked very different even if the map was the same. This variety is thanks to the number of races from which to choose.
A few races and powers...

A game of Small World

Without expansions, Small World has 14 races to choose from that can be coupled with any 1 of a total of 20 special powers that will augment that race for as long as they remain active on the board. For the original game, there are currently 3 expansions which offer additional races. These give anywhere between 2 and 5 additional races with a combination of anywhere between 2 and 5 additional special powers. If you purchase all of these expansions for your game, it leaves plenty of variety in the game. While I have seen repeats of some of the races, I’ve never seen a race and special power combo twice. This leaves each of the games as fresh, and I find that people get really interested to see what the next combo is going to be. In addition to the official expansions, there is a secondary stand alone game that can be purchased called Small World: Underground. This edition of the game comes with 15 races and 21 special powers. Also, this edition contains a few new items called places and relics that offer additional bonus powers.

For our first game of 3 players (2 of them new), it lasted around an hour, including the time it took to teach them the basics and let them figure out the strategy. By the end of the game, and that hour, the new people had mastered the game enough that we could dive into a second game with very little discussion. In addition, by the end of the first couple of games, both James and Jennifer really enjoyed the game and are planning on purchasing it themselves. It’s fairly high praise for the game when two new people enjoyed it enough that they’ve already put it on their Christmas list. For a thorough review of the game, go here.
With all of this being said about the game, I would like to say that I find this game very enjoyable. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon with friends. In a good way, a single game won’t last an entire day like with other games. This allows for plenty of socializing on the side, which makes it great for small gatherings. At the moment, I am planning on picking up some/all of the expansions to this game. Originally, I was introduced to this game by my former roommate Alex and his friends Chris and Mai. If any of you people are fans of board games, this is a great addition to your collection. It’s not as simple as games like Sorry and Chutes and Ladders, but it’s simple enough that you can master the game in no more than a few playthroughs. I recommend this game whole-heartedly.
Gears of War the Board Game

A number of years ago, Epic Games released a video game entitled Gears of War. This was one of those rare games that become popular enough through a unique (sic unique enough) style of game play that resulted in it becoming instantly huge. Since then, they’ve spawned a number of video game sequels, comic books, etc. Among the franchise is this gem of a board game.

The game comes with over 300 cards, a number of map tiles, a number of tokens, and 30 plastic figures. For me, this game has punched just about all the buttons of things I look for in a board game. I love games in which I can paint my own miniatures, I love games that have cards that help randomize what is going on, and I particularly love games with a cooperative focus. There are so few games that are legitimately cooperative, but this is one of them. Other games come close, but few of them require team work in order for you to win the game. This game is for anywhere between 1 and 4 players, and the scenarios get much more difficult with additional players.

Bad guys!

Painted Heroes
The cards for this game are for setting up the scenario, “drawing” the map, determining the enemy’s actions, and for drawing orders and weapons. Each turn is broken down into 3 steps: healing (drawing cards), giving orders (playing order cards), and the enemy turn (drawing an enemy AI card and performing its actions). We played the simplest scenario of the game, which is based around escaping a prison in which all the figures are trapped. Despite this being the simplest scenario, we still barely succeeded in our mission. The figures for this game really spice up how it looks visually. There are 30 plastic figures that are very well sculpted; 4 of them are for the hero characters (each of them is a different sculpt), and the rest are for the various types of enemies you must fight. The board is made out of thick card stock with a glossy print finish. Each of the map tiles comes double sided with its own designation (and they’re not the same size tiles either!). These map tiles all have their own cards to which they are associated, and this allows for each game having a randomized map.

A game in progress... basic scenario

When setting up this game, each player gets to decide which hero character they want to be (which determines which weapons and abilities they have), and the heroes decide as a group which scenario they wish to play. Simply put, the game is complicated, so it takes a while to learn, but there is a TON of variability for each game that gets played. So far, I’ve played the same scenario 4 times, and the map has been different every time. Additionally, each game has played completely differently. I’ve lost a few and I’ve won a few… but in every game I’ve played, it was a close thing.

An example of a hero card

Overall, I think this is one of my favorite board games. With each of the scenarios you play, there is a little written story that unfolds as you complete your objectives. However, with a game that has this much depth, you are almost certainly going to have a very complicated game. Because of this, it’s not for everybody. A lot of people I know aren’t willing to spend 2 hours just to learn the ropes. In our 4 person game, it lasted close to 4 hours. Where this game really shines, though, is in the cooperative play. This game is truly cooperative in that it requires cooperation from all players in order to succeed in the mission. I admit that the game was a little boring at the beginning when everyone was just trying to learn the gameplay. 

Towards the middle and end of the game, however, things really started to pick up. Now the heroes aren’t sitting flush with plenty of ammo and health… and there is no good place to earn more of these. Now each turn becomes a desperate struggle against the Locust hordes. In our first game, two of our four characters were taken out, one of them we could save, but the other we had to leave on the ground to bleed out while we tried to complete the mission. What really draws me to this game is the sense of desperation you get when things really aren’t going well. But when you finally complete your mission and roll a successful attack to kill the last locust, there is a sense of elation as everyone in the group exhales that held breath. That game we played ended victoriously, and we were all stoked to have beaten the bad guys. I remember there were smiles and high-fives all around… the group won, we went through a struggle together. Ultimately, it is because of this game’s ability to bring us closer together that I recommend it and like it as much as I do. If given the chance, I sincerely recommend that you play it with some close friends.

There's nothing quite like chainsawing an enemy... Also, for a video review, look here.

-Jack

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