Lost Cities: The Board Game

Today's review is of the 2008 release, Lost Cities: The Board Game.  For 2-4 players, it takes 30-60 minutes.

Overview
Lost Cities: The Board Game is very similar to its card game ancestor.  As with the original, here you're trying to 'complete expeditions' by playing cards of the same color (and only in increasing numerical value) to gain points.  Here, that's done by advancing your explorers on the five different tracks.  So if you play a blue 2, you put one of your figures on the blue track in the first slot.  you must play a blue 2 or higher to continue advancing that figure (if you get a blue 1 later, you can't play it- you always must play a higher number).  The first few spots of each track are negative point values, so you don't want to play an explorer unless you have several of a given card color.

Like the original, here you do two things on your turn:
- play (or discard) a card, advancing your explorer on the associated track
- draw a card (from the draw deck or from the face-up discard piles players create)

The game is played over three rounds; each round ends when either a) the draw deck runs out, or b) five explorers have crossed a bridge (the bridges are well advanced on each track).  Points are totaled, victory points are doled out and kept for the end of the game.  At the end, the player with the most points wins.

game in progress; image from here

One difference from the card game is the presence of 'goodies' placed along each track. The first player with an explorer to reach a given square gets the goody on it- either bonus points, tokens for artifacts, or other things. 

Review
I like this game, probably better than the original.  It maintains the spirit while adding nice twists that keep it fresh and more varied.  If you liked the card game, give the board a try.

Rating: A

You've Got Crabs

Today's review is of the 2018 release, You've Got Crabs.  For 4-10 players, it takes 20 minutes.

Overview
The back of the box summarizes the game well:
- Pick partner and establish a secret signal, like touching your nose or blinking a lot.
- Collect crab cards and try to get a matching set [of 4].
- If you get a matching set, you have crabs.  Try to communicate this to your partner using your secret signal.  If your partner yells "you've got crabs," you get a point.
- If an opponent figures it out first and yells "you've got crabs," you lose a point.
- Whoever catches the most crabs, wins.

deluxe version of the game; image from here

There are two sides, with each partner on one.  When one side goes, four cards are laid face-up in front of them (from the draw deck); any player on that side can swap cards in their hand for the face-up cards.  When all players on a given side are done, the remaining face-up cards are discarded, four new cards are drawn face-up, and the other side goes.

When one person has crabs (and that is stated by another player), they discard their hand, draw four new cards, and someone gets a point (as indicated above- it depends who figures out you have crabs).  Play continues until the crab tokens (which are the point system) are gone from the 'pot.'

Review
This is a decent party game.  It's not my favorite, though the 'secret signal' aspect was fun.  For me, I have difficulty in games like this watching everyone like I ought- I get too focused on my own hand- but it's not a bad experience overall.

Rating: B-

Shadows over Camelot

Today's review is of the 2005 release, Shadows over Camelot.  For 3-7 players, it takes 60-90 minutes.

Overview
You are a knight of the Round Table, and there's a problem- all is not well in the land of Arthur.  Picts and Saxons gather on the shores, a black knight threatens the outskirts of the realm, excalibur is unclaimed, the holy grail cannot be found, Lancelot's armor is lost, there are rumors of a dragon, and there may even be a traitor in your midst.  Can you and your fellow knights stave off these shadows to restore the land? 

Shadows over Camelot is a cooperative game- everyone (except the traitor, if one is present) is fighting against the game.  After setup, each player in turn order does two actions- one evil and one good:

progression evil: (you must choose one of the following)
- draw a black card and play it (has a bad effect or places a card on one of the quests)
- place a siege engine outside Camelot (you lose if there are 12 outside Camelot)
- lose one life

perform a heroic action: (you must choose one of the following)
- draw two white cards (only if at Camelot)
- fight a siege engine (only if at Camelot)
- move to a new location
- perform a quest action at your current location (generally this means putting down a fight card)
- discard 3 matching white cards to heal one life
- play a special white card
- accuse a knight of being a traitor

board and components; image from here

Each knight has a unique special ability that can help the team, so read the knight cards and be familiar with that, as the abilities can prove invaluable.

The game is about completing quests to earn white swords for the Round Table (you win by having a majority white when the twelfth sword is placed).  Each quest- against Picts, Saxons, the Black Knight, Holy Grail, etc.- is about playing white cards from your hand(s) based on the quest's requirements.  Sometimes you have to play a set of matching fight cards (basic white cards with numerical values), sometimes a run of fight cards, sometimes discard any white card, sometimes play a grail card- depends what quest you're on. You get to lay down only one card each turn, so it will take a while to complete a quest.  And the black cards you draw on the 'progression of evil' step will place black cards on different quests (each black card drawn says where it goes), making that quest harder to complete and/or bringing it one step closer to failure.  If you win a quest, you get one (or more) white swords for the Table and other benefits.  If you lose, you get one (or more) black swords and other bad things happen.  So choose your quests wisely!

Example: winning the Pict quest occurs when five fight cards (valued 1-5) are placed before there are four Picts at the location.  If you and your team get those cards down first, you win the quest, and all Picts are discarded.  You get a white sword for the Round Table, and everyone gains a life, shares some drawn white cards, and goes back to Camelot.  But if you fail- if four Picts are placed before you get that run of five cards- all knights at that quest fail.  They each lose a life, go back to Camelot, a black sword is placed on the Round Table, and two siege engines are placed outside Camelot.  Each quest has different victory and failure conditions and consequences.

An additional wrinkle: the traitor.  At the start of the game, each person secretly gets a loyalty card, telling them if they are loyal or not.  With eight loyalty cards but only seven players, players don't know if there's a traitor or not (in our game, there wasn't).  But if there is, that person is secretly trying to get the knights to fail- which isn't hard to do.  The game ends immediately in failure if:
- there are 12 siege engines outside Camelot
- there are 7 black swords on the Round Table
- all loyal knights are dead
Anytime the rules require you to discard a card, it's always done face-down, meaning the traitor could be ditching great cards and nobody will know.  So be on the lookout . . .

Review
I liked this game.  One of the first cooperative board games, it's a fun experience.  The variety of quests is interesting, the black card draws add suspense and urgency, and the cooperative aspect is fun.  Placing only one card at a time on the quests can seem maddeningly slow, but that's probably the point (to add suspense and put the outcome in doubt), and does give a sense of accomplishment when one is completed.

In our game, we thought it easy at first (we completed a few key quests and ran up the white sword total easily), but it got really hard at the end.  If you draw a black card for a quest that's been completed, a siege engine is placed instead.  That means the engines can ramp up quickly once you've completed quests, risking the game and requiring knights to stay behind at Camelot to fight them off as others complete remaining quests.  So the game gets harder as you progress- a nice feature.  And we didn't even have a traitor- if we did, we surely would have lost. 

In the end, I like the variety, suspense, theme (Arthur!), cooperative play, and the ability to include more players (going up to 7 is nice, and unusual for a strategy game).  It seems complicated at first, and there is a lot going on, but it gets easy (to understand) fast, and hard (to win)- a good combination.

Rating: A-

The Alps (Stephen O'Shea)

In The Alps, Stephen O'Shea offers a travelogue of his trip through this incredible European mountain range.  Starting in the west, he drives through Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, and Austria.  Along the way, he shares the sights (breathtaking scenery, quaint villages, fascinating architecture), experiences (amusing locals, oblivious Dutch campers, heart-stopping roadways), history (famous feats, horrific battles), geology (how the mountains were formed and their distinctive regional variations) and culture (food, language, legends, literary and movie ties to the regions).

I don't normally read travelogues, but this was a nice read.  O'Shea is an great writer, and I enjoyed his excellent prose, featuring fascinating facts, interesting observations, and dry wit.  As a travelogue, know what to expect- this is not a systematic or thorough treatment of the region in any sense (historical, cultural, geological); it's a retelling of one man's journey through this amazing portion of the Earth, with asides relevant to a particular area.  And as this portion of Earth happens to be my favorite part of the galaxy, I quite enjoyed the experience (and now have a few more places on my bucket list).

Rating: A

Unearth

Today's review is of the 2017 release, Unearth.  For 2-4 players, it takes 30-60 minutes.

Overview
Civilization was once glorious, but is now fallen.  Your job is to use your delvers (dice) to claim ruins and unearth your heritage.  On your turn, you:
- can play one or more 'delver' cards (optional)
- name one ruin on the board, choose one of your die to roll, and place the rolled die on that ruin.

If after either step, the combined numerical value of dice on a ruin meets or exceeds the ruins printed value, the person with the largest value die on that ruin claims it.  Those players with di(c)e on the ruin who didn't claim it get to draw X delver cards, where X = the number of dice they have on the card.  A new ruin is drawn and placed in the play area; play continues until all ruins have been claimed.

components; image from here

Rolling high values is nice, as it increases your probability to claim a ruin.  But rolling low is not necessarily bad, either- if you roll a 1, 2, or 3, you get to claim a stone.  Stones are placed on all ruins as they come into play; low-rolling players get to claim a stone from them as they place their die (or from the bag, if all stones are gone on the ruin card).  Players use stones to construct wonders- they create a hexagonal pattern with their stones and, upon completing a ring, can earn a greater wonder (if the stones are all the same color), lesser wonder (no color restrictions), or named wonder (earned by playing stones as indicated on the named wonder card) with special abilities.

game in progress; image from here

When all ruins have been claimed, points are totaled.  As a set collection game, you get points based on the number of ruins of a given color (there are five different colors) you collect.  Then, you get additional points based on your wonders.  Highest total wins!

Review
I really liked this game.  Boardgamegeek calls it a "bend-your-luck game of dice placement and set collection;" it's a good description.  What ultimately appealed to me is the options you have- low rolling can actually be desired in some cases- and you always get something for your efforts.  And between ruin cards and wonders, there are multiple ways to earn points, so even if you're not claiming many ruins, you may be building wonders to keep you in the running.  Delver cards can help a lot and are a nice consolation price for not claiming a ruin.  My only ding is the theme- I love it, but it's pasted on here; I wish it were more integrated somehow.  That aside, though, this one goes on my want list.

Rating: A

The Balkans: A Short History (Mark Mazower)

In The Balkans: A Short History, Mark Mazower covers the history of the Balkans (the region in southeast Europe shown below) in just 156 pages.  He looks at the land and its inhabitants, its time in the Ottoman Empire (almost 500 years, from the fifteenth century to the twentieth), the World War years, to the present (2000).  He argues that, contrary to Western opinion, the region is not as violent or backward as many believe.  In fact, this religiously and ethnically diverse area enjoyed relative peace and coexistence under Ottoman rule until the nationalistic movements on the rest of the continent in the twentieth century stoked tensions and ultimately led to multiple wars.

image from here

Overall, I liked this.  Mazower writes well, he seems fair to both sides of contested histories, and I love brevity.  This one is almost too short, though, and more focused on dispelling popular misconceptions about the people than delivering a history of them; I'm going to look at a longer treatment.

Rating: B+

Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi, Vol. 2 (Various)

Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi, Volume 2 collects four stories, set ~4000 years before A New Hope:

The Freedon Nadd Uprising
Nomi Sunrider's training (now on Ossus) is cut short as she's called to help on Onderon.  There, she works with Ulic & Cay Qel-Droma and their master Arca to put down a revolt, fighting servants of the Dark Side drawing their strength from the spirit of Freedon Nadd.  Will they prevail?  Meanwhile, descendants of Empress Teta (Satal and Aleema Kemo) go to Onderon hoping to understand a Sith artifact they found.

Dark Lords of the Sith
Exar Kun, a disciple of Master Vodo-Siosk Baas, is intrigued by the Dark Side.  His quest for forbidden knowledge takes him to Korriban and Yavin 4, where he learns from the long-dead Naga Sadow's work, guided by the spirit of Freedon Nadd.  Meanwhile, Dark-side Adepts Satal and Aleema strengthen their hold on the Empress Teta system, attacking the Jedi and killing Master Arca in the process.  Ulic attempts to infiltrate them and turns to the dark side to do so.  Nomi and Cay mount a rescue attempt . .  but it's too late.  Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma have fallen to the dark side . . . and become the Dark Lords of the Sith.

The Sith War
Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma are on a quest . . . to restore the golden age of the Sith.  After defeating and conscripting a band of Mandalorians, Qel-Droma takes them and Aleema Kemo to invade Coruscant, while Kun corrupts a handful of Jedi Knights and convinces them to turn against their masters.  Qel-Droma's attack is repulsed at great cost (Master Vodo Siosk-Baas is among the fallen), but he escapes and returns to Kun, who launches the next phase of his plan: striking at Ossus itself, the great Jedi world and home to its famous library.  The Jedi have little time to evacuate or collect all the world's learning . . . can they survive?  After battling there, they prepare for a final confrontation . . . on Yavin 4, Kun's base.

Redemption
Ten years after the Sith War, Nomi Sunrider calls a Jedi convocation at Exis Station to discuss the future of the Republic.  While they congregate, Ulic Qel-Droma, deprived of his Force abilities by Nomi at the end of the Sith War, seeks isolation on Rhen Var to mourn his actions and consequences.  But when Nomi's daughter, Vima, finds Ulic to become his student, Nomi is forced to confront the man responsible for so much pain and death.  Is there any return- any redemption?

Review
My review for these tales is identical to volume 1.  These are classic Star Wars tales from Dark Horse Comics, looking at the history of the Jedi thousands of years before Luke Skywalker.  The stories are interesting enough, though the pace is lightning-fast and dialogue poor.  Recommended for fans of the 'original' (pre-Disney) Star Wars universe.

Rating: B

Carcassonne: Gold Rush

Today's review is of the 2014 release, Carcassonne: Gold Rush.  For 2-5 players, it takes 35 minutes.

Overview
Gold Rush is a twist on the original Carcassonne.  Like its parent, it's a tile-laying game, where you draw and place a tile each turn, and place workers to gain the most points.  Everything in the base game is represented here, in some way.  Cities (original game) = mountains here, abbeys = towns, roads = railroads, workers = cowboys, etc.  Please see my original post for more in-depth treatment; here, I'll cover only the differences.

In Gold Rush, whenever you place a tile with a mountain, it has a symbol with 1-3 gold nugget(s) on it.  Randomly place that many mining tokens on the space- these can be picked up by players on subsequent turns.  On your turn, you:
- draw and place a tile,
- place a cowboy on the new tile OR place/move your tent to a mountain OR take one mining token from a mountain where your tent is located,
- check if any of your cowboys are on completed features.  If so, they can be scored and returned to your pool.

game in progress; image from here

The game goes until the tiles are all placed.  Then remaining cowboys on incomplete features are scored, gold nuggets (from the mining tokens) are scored, and final scores are tallied- highest total wins!

Review
If you like Carcassonne, you'll probably like this.  Some prefer it to the original; I like them both, but have a mild preference for the twists in this variant.  The main twists are tents and mining tokens, and (in my opinion) they do add something valuable to the game, giving you meaningful choices that the original does not (do I place a cowboy, move my tent, or take a mining token?  There's almost always a decision, whereas the base game lacks this if you've placed all your workers).  Both versions are winners.

Rating: A-

Dragon's Hoard

Today's review is of the 2014 release, Dragon's Hoard.  For 2-4 players, it takes 30-45 minutes.

Overview
You are a dragon, hunting for treasure in a field of sheep.  Each player gets a hand of four cards to begin; a common draw deck is placed between them and the top four cards are laid out to form a 'field.'  On your turn, you:
- draw 2 cards (or 3, if you have fewer than 4 in your hand at the start)
- take up to 2 different actions: 1) play an action card, and/or 2) play a treasure card.

Once a player has laid down ten treasures, total points are tallied, and the highest wins!

Cards are double-sided; the back has a colored sheep, which you use to pay for treasures.  The front has treasure or action cards.

You can draw cards from the top of the draw deck or the field (replacing them with the top card of the draw deck).  You'll know the card's color (since you see the back), but not the treasure/action on the front (until you draw it).

Action cards are roles (knight, princess, wizard, etc.) and give some ability- drawing cards, skipping an opponent's turn, etc.

You play treasure cards by paying the cost and laying them in front of you. If, for example, a treasure shows 3 purple sheep, you must discard 3 purple sheep cards to play that treasure.  A treasure's point cost (tallied at game's end) shows how many points it's worth.  Some cards ('lairs') give you bonuses for playing more of the same color treasures.

game in progress; image from here

Review
The art is amazing (see below); the rules are simple, and the twists are fun.  There's a good balance/tension between playing cards or using them as resources.  It's a simple game, with not a lot of depth, but it's a nice 'filler' game.

image from here

Rating: A-

Tiggy

A few days ago, we turned in "Tiggy."  Our beloved 2010 Volkswagen Tiguan, needing significant repair, was traded in for a new vehicle.  This post reflects on who she was, and what she meant to us.

Beginnings

We bought Tiggy in 2010, when we lived in Germany.  Our daughter was one month old, and I had just totaled my dear Gold 1.  We needed a new car, and Tiggy fit the bill.  A 2010 Tiguan, she was a smaller SUV with enough backseat space for tall adults to sit comfortably, with plenty of pep for autobahn travels.  We never gave her a 'proper' name, calling her Tiggy or (on occasion) Tiggy Pop.  Tiggy would stick with the children.

Adventures

Tiggy was with is from February 2010- August 2018.  During that time, we had many adventures.    The highlights:

2010-11: Our first real road trip as a family of three, we drove her to Prague in June 2010.  We'd subsequently take her on many European adventures; after Germany and Czech, we'd take trips through France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Austria.

Tiggy in Prague, 2010.  After driving her in, she was lowered underground to dissuade theft.

Touring our local Rhein River region.

Amsterdam!

July 2011: Papa and I drove her from Germany to our new home in England.  We took a few days to explore the sights along the way, stopping at Verdun, Rheims, and Dunkirk on the continent before taking the ferry to Dover (enjoying the white cliffs!).  After arrival in England, we saw Canterbury and Cambridge on our way up to Harrogate.  It was quite the adventure driving her on the left-hand side of the road!

2011-14: Great Britain adventures!  Tiggy safely carried us on many road trips in England, Scotland, and Wales.  Most were day trips, taken with my daughter when my wife was pregnant.  And in July 2012, Tiggy takes our new arrival, a son, home from the hospital.  We loved English Heritage sites (castles and abbeys), Cornwall, and a personal favorite was driving her through the North York Moors.

Summer 2014: In America!  Tiggy for the first time in the USA.

2014-18: First home and commute!  Tiggy was there as we shopped for homes and became first-time home buyers in 2014.  She'd get me safely to work . . . she was in the shop a few times, but for minor things.  At this point, we used our other vehicle to transport our family of five (we had a third child in 2015), and so Tiggy was mostly mine (and she drove in only four states- PA, MD, DE, and VA).  I added some stickers, and the kids loved riding in her; they'd often request to do so on the weekends.

August 2018: The end; the 'check engine' light came on one Sunday afternoon, and a shop visit confirmed our worst fear: a new timing belt (and maybe more) was required.  Time to turn her in.

Tiggy in the shop lot

Reflections

After Gold 1, I didn't think I'd enjoy another car as much.  But Tiggy grew on me, and I'm genuinely sorry to see her go- the whole family is in mourning. 

She rarely gave me any problems; none in the 18 months we owned her in Germany. 
in England:
- broken radiator
- flat tire (I drove over a screw in Cornwall)
in America:
- dent in front quarter panel (I nicked a post at a Sonic)
- dents in door panels (from careless parking lot incidents by others)
- dead battery (not unexpected)
- electronic brake malfunction
- chips in windshield (some might big ones, but they were fixable)
- sticking gas tank panel (easily fixed)
- timing chain and probably more (thus causing her demise)

That's it- almost 9 years, 105,986 miles, 11 countries, 4 states, with just one major issue.  And even that would have been covered by a VW class action lawsuit just released, had she been under 100,000 miles.

It sounds so silly, but when I lose a car, I feel a part of me is lost. Why?  It was "just a car."  But Tiggy was with us through three kids, adventures in Germany and England, our first home, and our transition back to America.  She was a consistent part of our ever-changing world.  And so we mourn.  Tiggy, we miss you.  Long may you ride.