Skull

Skull (or Skull & Roses, as it is also known as) is the perfect bluffing game for parties, drinking, travel and just casual late night chats. We have mentioned it briefly before when this blog was first set up, and it is still a firm favourite in the household. I have played this game abroad, on trains, in restaurants and over dinner. It's portable, easy to teach and pick up and fast to play. I have even taught it to people using playing cards, just 3 hearts and a spade per player. 

In this 3+ player game, each player starts by playing a card face-down, then each player in turn adds one more card to their stack, unless they feel cocky enough to challenge. The challenge consists of the player saying how many roses they think they can reveal from what has been laid down on the table without revealing a skull. Other players can outbid them, aiming to reveal even more roses. The highest bidder must then turn over the coasters starting with their own stack first. If they reveal only roses they win, if they reveal a skull they lose, sacrificing one of their cards at random and putting it out of play. Two successful challenges will win you the game, or if you are the last player left with cards. 

The base set comes with six sets of coasters but it is possible to play with more if you buy extra sets. If you have played Liars Dice aka Perudo, then you will already be familiar with the set up, as both games tread similar territory. I highly recommend this, I truly believe it is a must-have for all households.

Anna

Wyvern: The Card Game

Sometimes you can find rewarding and special things by looking in strange corners and asking questions like 'what's in the box?'. There has been a mystery box behind the counter at my local games store for ages, I wasn't sure if it held anything for sale because it was all closed up, but on the off-chance I asked if it contained any promo cards for board games. There were no promo cards inside but there was a collection of unopened decks and booster packs of the game Wyvern, an out of print two player card game that came out in 1994. This was one of the first collectable card games to pop up after the success of Magic; The Gathering, yet for some reason Wyvern has not stood the test of time as strongly as Magic. Magic cards are dominating the counters and Wyvern is shut up in a box, so it felt good releasing those decks from the box...and into my bag for a bargain price!

Wyvern is officially classified as a fantasy collectable trading card game, but I see elements of deck building and bluffing. You are, in essence, building a deck to play with and trying to trick your opponent into unearthing the hidden terrain whilst throwing gold at your dragons to tempt them into doing your bidding. The dragons represented on the cards are based on dragons from mythology, and the cards have a real 90s fantasy aesthetic pleasure.

I have been playing lots of friendly tournaments of this game. My dragons have been wiped out a lot, but they have held out for a long time and I've managed to get a couple of wins in. Maybe I would do better if I weren't so tight with my gold. It is a solid game, with lots of unexpected turns, you get really involved with your opponent - watching each other like hawks! Here is a little guide to the game play:

Players have 25 gold pieces and two decks of:

15 plus Dragon Lair draw pile

35 plus Action/Treasure cards

* terrain cards belong in the dragon lair

To set up the game players shuffle the dragon lair pile and the treasure horde pile separately. Both players take the top six dragon cards from their lair pile and look at them secretly, then arrange them face down to create the battlefield, putting them in two rows of three cards. Front row dragons can attack your opponent's first row, only flying dragons can fight over one row, and super flyers can attack over two rows - so bear that in mind when selecting where your dragons (and secret terrain) will go. Both players also draw a hand of seven cards from the treasure horde draw pile.

Terrain can be mischievously placed in the rows to deter your opponent, as terrain cards have negative effects for the other player if they reveal it, hurrah! Another bonus is that after your terrain card has been revealed and used, it can be replaced with a fresh card from your dragon lair. The new card is placed face down in your battlefield. However, if the terrain is revealed using a Scout dragon then the tables are turned and the terrain card is discarded with no effect.

There are seven phases of the game, it is turn-based but some phases allow both players to participate:

Phase One

Draw a card from the treasure horde pile.

Phase Two

Place a treasure card with special effects by one of your battlefield rows. If it costs gold then pay the price from your precious gold pile, depositing the spent gold into a collective 'gold mine' pile.

Phase Three

You may change positions of any two cards in the battlefield, including treasure. You can always peek at your own face down cards if you need to remind yourself what is hiding there, I do all the time!

Phase Four

Action! No matter whose turn it is, both players may play as many action cards as they wish starting with the player whose turn it is. Action cards are played one at a time. It is hard to reign in the greed here, as it is so tempting to bombard the round with action cards that pump up your dragons or weaken your opponent in advance but remember you only draw one card per turn, you don't draw back up to seven after your go. There are cards in the deck that allow you to draw more, but it is a gamble.    

Dragon Slayer Action cards may also be used during this phase, if it is your turn. These are handy and can be used to block your opponent from using certain dragons.

Phase Five

Battle it out or swap a dragon! You can either attack one of your opponent's dragons by paying one of your dragons to swoop in, or you can swap one of your dragons/terrain for a fresh one from your lair. When you awake a face down dragon you pay gold equal to its strength, plus any extra if the card shows the gold coin symbol. Once the dragon is face up, you don't need to pay for it again to fight (unless someone turns him over). Indicate to your opponent which one of their dragons you want to fight. If it is face down then they must pay the price to reveal it. Whoever has the highest strength, including any modifiers from treasure cards in play, is winning here. Battle Action cards may be played in this phase to help out, some cards add strength to your dragon or decrease your opponent's strength.

Phase Six

After the battle or terrain exposure is resolved, there is a second action phase.

Phase Seven

The player discards back down to seven cards, if they had more.

The game ends when one player has no dragon or terrain cards in their battlefield. The winner scores 25 points plus one point for every remaining dragon and terrain on the battlefield and one point per remaining gold pieces. The loser scores half of their leftover gold.

Wyvern is a great two player game, that gets even more in-depth when you start trading, adding extra cards and swapping out old ones. It is fun trying out the different set-ups and the deck content. As the decks don't seem to have a limit in cards, you can get pretty epic with this one. I think I do prefer it to Magic. I know there is more variation in themes in Magic (I have a vampire deck, woohoo!), and lots more scope for future deck building as the game is still going strong, but there is something satisfying about playing a retired dragon card game. Maybe I like feeling archaic.

     

Right now I am still playing around with the combos. Terrain cards are great traps unless a scout reveals them, but it's all part of the risky dragon business! Gold is my Achilles heel, The stronger the dragons are, the more expensive they are to field in battle, and I'm still trying to find a good balance between dragon strength and gold expenditure. I either rinse out my gold too early or hold onto it so it is too late to use it effectively. I will be playing this a lot more to find my groove!

If you like the sound of this game then ask your local shop keeper if they have any decks knocking about from the 90s :)

Marisa x

Dark Is The Night

Whilst scrolling through Instagram I came across Dark Is The Night, a game currently on Kickstarter (with just over two days to go!) and it sounded like a fun two player game to try out. I am always on the prowl for filler games that stimulate and entertain, and lately I've developed an appetite for hidden movement and deduction games - I blame Captain Sonar and Noir for that. So I got semi-creative, fashioned up a make-shift board and grabbed some miniatures to act as player pieces with some crudely drawn tokens to see how this game plays. 

The hunter is camping out, keeping her wits about her, while a cunning monster lurks in the darkness, circling its prey. This hunter is no sitting duck, she is equipped with two arrows, a tasty morsel of meat and a trap. Like all good hunters, she came prepared. She knows which direction the monster starts in and can then attempt to deduce where the beast actually is. She could fire an arrow into the dark hoping that it will strike the monster, she could leave a trap that deters the monster and will alert her if it gets too close, or she could place a piece of meat somewhere to tempt the hungry monster out of the shadows.

Players act as either the hunter or the monster, taking it in turns to move one space on the board then use an action. The hunter is represented on the board by a figure sculpted by Chad Hoverter, who worked on Mice & Mystics, and the monster has a dial it uses to track its movement in secret. Playing as the hunter, you are constantly trying to work out where that tricksy monster is with the use of your tokens and a bit of logic. The monster has nothing to lure the hunter towards them but it has the Feint token which allows it to secretly move 0-2 spaces once a game.Then it could end up right in your path, ready for dinner! After the hunter uses the last token you have five turns left before the finale. The monster could eat the hunter, the hunter could kill the monster or maybe no one kills anyone - and they all go hungry tonight!

We played loads of games in a row, then after dinner and miniature painting we squeezed a few more games in. It is an enjoyable and quick game, that is easy to set up and simple to learn. The game is produced by Ape Games, and designed by three university students studying game design. Go and check this game out here if you enjoy fast deduction games and trying to stalk your opponent.

Marisa xx       

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you! I hope 2017 brings you all an abundance of happiness and also some new games to play. After Christmas and my birthday I have a few new additions to the collection, which I look forward to playing, and then sharing my experiences of them here. 2016 was the year of discovering deck building and set collection games on a grander scale, so I will continue checking them out whilst experimenting with everything I can get these eager mitts on. 

Tonight I will be punching out and playing my surprise Christmas present: Lords of Waterdeep! I still have a thing for worker placement games, and this one is just so beautiful. Annoyingly I am back to work tomorrow, which means no more staying up until 3am playing games for a while...maybe until Friday.

Have a great week, everyone :)