ChiefPointThief wrote: ↑16 January 2024, 20:03
There are several chess like games but volto was the first I played in which players pieces were hidden. I liked that aspect. It also has a weird set of rules in which some pieces can’t capture and you can lose for capturing certain pieces. Kind of makes it a bluff game. I only played once and didn’t experience what you mentioned. I would rate at least good.
As far as now boarding yes it can be super quick. I even do a speed trial in which I try to complete it as fast as possible. If you want a more think about every move game I would suggest playing the 2p variant. Start on the 3/4p map (add jfk) then when you are ready adding Seattle as well (5p map). This offers a great challenge and your moves have to be thought out. Any missteps and it is game over. For an even bigger challenge you can do 2p on the 5p map with vips and for the ultimate challenge you can double the vips.
Thats a great hint for Now Boarding, thanks!
And regarding Volto, I might be a bit picky there because my main game is an abstract (Go for like 7-8 years now) and Volto just felt a bit "off" to me in how the game progresses.
Also some more impressions from the meantime:
The Wolves (
Good)
The Wolves is a pure area control game, where you build dens and move wolves to gain majority in different regions of the map or around specific locations. I really do like the gameplay, the turn by turn choices and the way your future options change based on which actions you choose. On any given turn, you can move wolves, build dens (that help with majority) or upgrade them, create new wolves and take over opponent wolves. The game isnt really about static building up of bases and a lot about moving your wolf pack to be in flexible positions, shifting majorities, taking over relevant spots or single stray wolves of your opponent and gets a very strategically fluid feeling because of that.
My favourite mechanic though, is the way you can choose actions. You have 6 double sided action cards, each showing a territory. Every action you choose needs 1-3 cards for the territory you want to do that specific card in and after that action the cards you used flips and shows other territories for your next action. That creates a very, very intriguing puzzle, where you are not only deciding on your current move, but also planning your potential options for your next moves. That can be rather tricky, balancing out immediate needs with the option to stay flexible to react to your opponent on certain endangered territories.
That is awonderful mechanic and people who are remotely interested in this game definitely should check it out for how it changes the flow of an area control game, especially with the 2 player variant. There is a bit of a downside to be aware of though, as that same mechanic will definitely induce some analysis paralysis as every action you take cascades down to the next action you can take and the one after that, potentially locking you out of moving to/building/affecting some amount of tiles entirely for potentially multiple turns. The game also feels just a tad too long for the type of game it is, even at two players, and I honestly dont think I would ever want to play it with 5 players, considering how much downtime and that would entail. Its also rather hard to intuitively judge your opponents actions because of how much any single movement/influence upgrade changes the reach of your opponents actions, further adding to the difficulty of judging your own actions and how to prevent your opponents moves from being effective.
I do like it a good bit, but probably wont end up playing it a whole lot because of the length of upwards of an hour, even on BGA. Still, even with my whining, I would recommend checking it out, I can easily see this game resonating with plenty of players.
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Saboteur (
Okay)
It is a bit weird to finally get to play a game that I already have in my game collection for like 7 years. So whats Saboteur about? In Saboteur, you are trying to be the first to dig up a gold card hiding in one of 3 possible spots on the right side of the board, unless you are the titular Saboteur trying to prevent everyone else from reaching their goal. To do so, every player plays a card each round, that either adds to/blocks the dungeon pathway you are building, or plays special cards that allow you to block other players from playing any pathway cards.
At the core of the game is a social bluffing game, where you try to guess who is a miner and who is a saboteur. The game allows for some subtle trickery, where you can try to convince others of you being a miner, so they wont block you from playing cards. Why did that other player discard a card? Is he trying to not advance to the goal? Is he trying to just waste turns or does he really not have a card to dig for the gold? The game makes you constantly doubt who is playing which role almost until the very end for every round.
The game is exciting, but its also a bit mean as you are actively trying to trick and backstab others, leading to some misunderstandings where even miners might end up backstabbing each other for fun or out of misunderstanding. Because of the somewhat randomized miner/saboteur setup split, the game can also feel a bit pointless or unfair, and despite technically being a rather simple game, it can drag a lot if people really agonize about every single move and how that might help them to influence others.
The game definitely isnt bad. Its a bit simple and might need some house rules on the setup, but the game might be a valuable addition for your game collection as it plays for up to 12 players in a very small package, allows for some meanish backstabbing hijinks and might even be something werewolf players can get behind with hidden roles.
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Captain Flip (
Good)
Another little game surprising me despite having a rather low BGG score. Its a push your luck game, where you draw a double sided tile from the bag, decide if you want to keep it or flip it. If you flip it, you will need to keep the the other side and place it on your board. As you can probably guess, those tiles can make points in different combinations, some tiles allow you to gain a point every round, some give you 3 points if they dont share the row with another character or a tile that gives points based on the amount of tiles you already placed in the same row. Due to that, there is a good bit of puzzling trying to figure out where you might want to place any given tile, potentially leaving other spaces open for combinations that you are waiting for.
All of that is pretty standard, but this game has 2 neat tricks up its sleeve. First: The cannoneer is the tile that gives the most points, but if you have 3 of them at the end of the game on your board, you immediately lose the game. This amps up the push your luck element, where you decide to take a quick point boost in return for increasing the danger of being eliminated entirely. The second trick is that there is a card that allows you to flip an already played card and even if that seems like a small touch, I absolutely love that and the different combinations it allows and how it ties into the flipped tile choice you have at the beginning of every turn. Maybe you want to flip the cannoneer as he already gave you 5 points, but you dont know what the other side holds? Or you decide to flip another card, that has a combo card on the backside that you didnt need 5 turns ago, but that will now end up being very effective?
That all creates a very breezy play. You only need to decide if you flip a tile and where you place it. The flipping decision however is actually pretty meaty, asking you every turn how much you want to risk for potentially higher payout. There are obviously luck elements at play here, sometimes screwing out of certain combinations or giving you bad luck with the draws, but as there are enough ways to mitigate your risks, I would argue that playing and knowing this game inside out definitely gives you enough of an edge that random chance might screw you over once, but that doesnt make it an entirely luck based game. The different combinations, little map challenges, slight danger for the push your luck element, card interactions, short game time and family friendly rules makes this a very nice and breezy family game, that I can also easily see as a decent filler game for gaming groups.
Definitely like it and would love some expansion abilities. Its an entry game that offers enough depth for anyone. Fun little find.
