Meadow

My number 5 favorite game of all time is: Meadow.

Thematically, Meadow is about taking a walk and enjoying nature. This is something that I am very good at doing, when it doesn't actually involve leaving the house. This makes Meadow the perfect game for me. Mechanically, Meadow is all about collecting and combining sets of cards, and what beautiful cards they are!

Every card in Meadow is a unique watercolor painting. Playing the game is relaxing and joyful. The cards themselves have symbols that represent what the card requires to be placed. This creates a kind of ecosystem that makes sense. Birds need to live in trees. Predators need prey. Things like this.

Creating sets in front of you gets you points, and points wins you the game. Adding cards to your hand involves selecting cards from a grid. Every player has little pointy card board bits representing pickets - as in the slats that make up a picket fence, and places them to point at the card that they want.

The pickets have numbers on them (1-4 and there's one wild.) When you place your picket pointing into a row or column, you count a number of cards into the row or column equal to the number on the picket and add that card to your hand. You then have the option to play one card from your hand to the table in front of you if you want to. This is usually a good idea, assuming you have a good place to fit the card into your ecosystem.

In addition all pickets play double duty. You can shove the flat side of your picket into the ground at the campsite (a separate board) to take a special action. These actions allow you to play extra cards, take extra cards, or add new areas where you can play special landscape oriented cards.

Planning for the placing of cards is essential and the action economy of the game is tight. All together Meadow is a very satisfying experience. It's beautiful, it's relaxing, it's fun ... it's perfect. That makes Meadow my number 5 favorite game of all time!

Royalties (Part 5)

[OH] Off Hand

Perform a Royalties $ Action and consult the table below:

$ Effort Base Item       [s]  [h]  [d]  [c]  Keywords
  2-6    Buckler         +0   +0   +1   +0
  7-11   Small Shield    +0   +0   +1   +1
 12-16   Shield          +0   +0   +2   +1
 17-21   Kite Shield     +0   +0   +3   +0
 22-27   Tower Shield    +0   +0   +4   +0
 28-33   Spiked Shield   +0   +2   +3   +0
 34-39   Main Gauche     +0   -2   +0   +0    XA
    40+  Bulwark Shield  +0   +0   +5   +0

[RF] Ring Finger

Perform a Royalties $ Action and consult the table below:

$ Effort Base Item       [s]  [h]  [d]  [c]  Keywords
  2-6    Band            +0   +0   +0   +1
  7-11   Ring            +0   +0   +1   +0
 12-16   Estate Ring     +0   +0   +1   +1
 17-21   Cluster Ring    +1   +1   +1   +1
 22-27   Vintage Ring    +1   +1   +1   +2
 28-33   Signet Ring     +1   +1   +2   +1
 34-39   Antique Ring    +1   +1   +2   +2
    40+  Claddagh Ring   +2   +2   +2   +2

[TS] Torso

Perform a Royalties $ Action and consult the table below:

$ Effort Base Item       [s]  [h]  [d]  [c]  Keywords
  2-6    Rugged Clothes  +1   +0   +1   +1
  7-11   Quilted Armor   +1   +0   +2   +1
 12-16   Leather Armor   +2   +0   +2   +2
 17-21   Studded Leather +2   +0   +3   +2
 22-27   Chain Mail      +1   +0   +4   +1
 28-33   Breast Plate    +2   +0   +4   +2
 34-39   Plate Mail      +0   +2   +5   +0
    40+  Full Plate      +0   +3   +6   +0

[WT] Waist

Perform a Royalties $ Action and consult the table below:

$ Effort Base Item       [s]  [h]  [d]  [c]  Keywords
  2-6    Rope Belt       +0   +0   +0   +0    ★+1
  7-11   Sash            +0   +0   +0   +0    ★+2
 12-16   Belt            +0   +0   +1   +1
 17-21   Studded Belt    +0   +0   +2   +1
 22-27   Wide Belt       +1   +1   +1   +1
 28-33   Girdle          +1   +1   +2   +2
 34-39   Studded Girdle  +2   +2   +2   +2
    40+  Plate Girdle    +2   +2   +3   +3

Keywords

Extra Attack (XA) - During Combat Step 2 perform 2 separate Hit ♥ Actions. These can be against the same or different targets.

Spell Power (★+x) - While this item is equipped gain face down cards in your tableau equal to x. Face down cards are used for casting spells.

Cartographers

My 6th favorite game of all time is Cartographers.

In Cartographers, players are drawing a map. Everyone has some graph paper and we are all drawing little symbols on the paper to make a map ... but, fun. Cartographers is really fun.

Cartographers has a set of cards that shows different shapes and symbols. The symbols represent different terrain types: farm lands, forests, water, villages, and monsters. The shapes are like Tetris type shapes that you have to fit on your paper. The symbols are simple and easy to draw even if drawing isn't your thing.

Each turn a card is flipped over showing either one shape and two symbols or one symbol and two shapes. You choose which you want to draw and add it to your paper. Everyone has the same score objectives. things like have farm lands next to water or have forests at the edge of your paper. Things like that.

We all have the same goals, but our maps won't look the same, and that's a big part of the fun! Scoring objectives are also shown on cards and can change every game. The game is played over four rounds, that are presented as seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter. Each round scoring objectives change. There are four objectives on cards, A, B, C and D. In spring players score: A & B. In summer B & C are scored. In fall C & D are scored, and in winter D & A are scored. So, each objective gets scored twice.

In addition to the terrain, there are also monsters in the deck. Monsters work like other terrain shapes, but when a monster card is flipped, you hand your paper over to your opponent to draw the monster shape on your paper. Monsters score negative points for every empty space next to them. So, the way to deal with monsters is to fill in all the terrain spaces around them.

When we play Cartographers, Julie and I break out the colored pencils and go to town. I often call Cartographers, "coloring book - the game" and I mean that in the best possible way. There is just something so satisfying about sitting around the table with coloring pencils drawing and coloring little shapes. It makes me feel like a kid again and I love it!

Marvel United

My number 7 favorite game of all time is: Marvel United.

Marvel United is a cooperative game designed around the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe. I believe that there are two core sets readily available: Marvel United - which features members of the Avengers, and Marvel X-Men - which features members of the X-Men.

In Marvel United, players play cards from their hand to a row of cards called, "the storyline." After every third card is played to the row, a villain card is flipped from the top of the villain deck and its effects are applied. There are six locations arranged in a circle where your hero pawns (and the villain pawn) can move. Each location has a threat on it that must be resolved. There are also likely to be "people" tokens at these locations, some innocent bystanders that must be protected, and some criminals that must be apprehended.

Players have three core tasks: 1 - resolve the threats on locations, 2 - apprehend criminals, and 3 - rescue civilians. These are all separate from the ultimate task: defeat the super villain. Defeating the super villain is how you win the game, but you can't even damage the super villain until two of the three tasks listed above is completed. This requirement preserves the cinematic feel of the game, giving it a kind of story arc. This feeling is amplified by the fact that after you complete your first required task, villain cards are flipped up after every two cards are played to the storyline instead of every three.

One of the coolest innovations of Marvel United is the storyline. Players each have cards that show action icons for: movement (used to jump from location to location,) attack (used to apprehend criminals) and heroics (used to rescue innocent bystanders.) When you play a card to the storyline, you not only get to use the icons on the card that you just played, but also the previous hero card in the storyline. This means players are constantly discussing plans as they try to play the best cards for themselves and for the player whose turn follows them. This innovation makes Marvel United one of the most "cooperative" cooperative games that I have ever played.

Marvel United's brilliance doesn't end there. Every player gets to play a unique superhero. Every superhero has their own deck of custom cards. These cards all show the core three icons in various combinations. So, once you know how to play, trying out different heroes is easy. But, each hero deck also contains a few cards with special rules (explained in a text box on the cards) that are unique to that hero. These decks are very thematic, and you feel like you are playing Iron Man or Professor X when you play with their hero decks.

The different villains are the same. Each has a villain dashboard that lists the way the villain works and how the heroes win or lose the game. Each villain also has their own villain deck and a unique set of threat cards that are placed on the various locations. Oh, and locations all have special benefit powers to help the heroes, but these can't be accessed until the threat to the location is resolved.

Swapping out different villains greatly effects the difficulty of the game. Playing against different enemies with different heroes will give you a varied experience that can be as difficult or as easy as you want it to be. Locations are also variable. Your play area is made up of six of these, but you have many more and you can swap them out randomly.

Marvel United is all about modularity. The heroes and villains can be changed. The board locations can be changed, and yet even with all this variety setup is quick and easy. The game is easy to table and easy to play.

If Marvel United had any weakness it would be that the villains in the base set feel a bit lack luster. I would recommend getting the X-Men set first, and then if you like it, picking up the original base set to add the variety of new heroes. I said that Marvel United is all about modularity. Well, with that modularity comes variety. Marvel United is also all about variety. 

There are over 100 heroes and about half that many villains currently available for the game. Sadly, most of these are not available in standard retail. Happily, the publisher has launched a Kickstarter every year since Marvel United's release offering new content and allowing backers to order previously released content. So, if you want to go down that rabbit hole (which I have,) you can.

For it's theme, modularity, variety, ease of play, cinematic feel, scalable difficulty and cooperative play innovations Marvel United scores high marks with me and lands as my number 7 favorite game of all time.

ROYALTIES (Part 4)

Spell Books

While Spell Books are part of the Main Hand tables along with weapons, they are not equipped like weapons or other royalties. Spell Books are consumed on use and become a permanent part of your character's arsenal. They do not however increase your character's Repute $ value as other equipped items do. When you consume a spell book for a spell that you already know, you increase that spell's level by one.

Spell Power ★

Spell Power ★ is used to pay for the casting of spells. For every unique spell that you have learned you increase your Spell Power ★ total by one. Increasing a spell's level makes that spell more powerful, but does not increase your Spell Power ★ total. 

For example: If you know the spells: Firebolt Level 2 and Teleport Level 1, you will have a Spell Power ★ total of 2. One Spell Power ★ for each of the two distinct spells: Firebolt and Teleport. 

Spell Power ★ is represented by adding face down cards to your tableau. This means that cards that have been turned face down as a result of taking damage can be used to cast spells as well. To use a face down card, you "exhaust" the card by rotating it sideways to show that it has been used.

[MH-H] Spell Books (elemental)

Perform a Royalties $ Action and consult the table below:

$ Effort Base Item       Keywords

  2-6    Fire Bolt          FS

  7-11   Ice Bolt           IS

 12-16   Teleport     

 17-21   Lightning Bolt     LS

 22-27   Fire Ball          FS

 28-33   Ice Storm          IS

 34-39   Mirror Image

    40+  Chain Lightning    LS

Keywords

Fire Damage - Spell (FS) - Double the value of the highest card flipped when inflicting damage to monsters that are vulnerable to fire.

Ice Damage - Spell (IS) - Double the value of the highest card flipped when inflicting damage to monsters that are vulnerable to ice.

Lightning Damage - Spell (LS) - Double the value of the highest card flipped when inflicting damage to monsters that are vulnerable to lightning.

Fire Bolt

Cast this spell in place of a Hitting ♥ or Shooting ♠ action. This spell can target any one monster in either the threat or the shadow areas. Flip cards from the top of the deck and reduce the monster's might by the total value of the cards flipped. You must exhaust one face down card for each card flipped. You cannot flip more cards than the spell level of Fire Bolt. Place a fire token on the monster card.

Ice Bolt

Cast this spell in place of a Hitting ♥ or Shooting ♠ action. This spell can target any one monster in either the threat or the shadow areas. Flip cards from the top of the deck and reduce the monster's might by the total value of the cards flipped. You must exhaust one face down card for each card flipped. You cannot flip more cards than the spell level of Ice Bolt. Place an ice token on the monster card.

Teleport

Cast this spell in place of a Crossing ♣ action. Move target monsters from the threat area to the shadow area or from the shadow area to the threat area. You must exhaust one face down card for each monster that you target. You cannot target more monsters than the spell level of Teleport.

Lightning Bolt

Cast this spell in place of a Hitting ♥ or Shooting ♠ action. This spell can target any one monster in either the threat or the shadow areas. Flip cards from the top of the deck and reduce the monster's might by the total value of the cards flipped. You must exhaust one face down card for each card flipped. You cannot flip more cards than the spell level of Lightning Bolt. Place a lightning token on the monster card.

Fire Ball

Cast this spell in place of a Hitting ♥ or Shooting ♠ action. This spell can target all monsters in either the threat or the shadow areas. Flip cards from the top of the deck and reduce those monsters' might by the total value of the cards flipped. You must exhaust one more face down card than the total number of cards flipped. You cannot flip more cards than the spell level of Fire Ball. Place a fire token on all monsters damaged by the spell.

Ice Storm

Cast this spell in place of a Hitting ♥ or Shooting ♠ action. This spell can target all monsters in either the threat or the shadow areas. Flip cards from the top of the deck and reduce those monsters' might by the total value of the cards flipped. You must exhaust one more face down card than the total number of cards flipped. You cannot flip more cards than the spell level of Ice Storm. Place an ice token on all monsters damaged by the spell.

Mirror Image

Cast this spell in place of a Crossing ♣ action. You create a number of Image tokens equal to the amount of face down cards you exhaust to cast the spell. Each time that you would take damage, discard an Image token instead. You can never have more Image tokens than the spell level of Mirror Image.

Chain Lightning

Cast this spell in place of a Hitting ♥ or Shooting ♠ action. This spell can target all monsters in either the threat or the shadow areas. Flip cards from the top of the deck and reduce those monsters' might by the total value of the cards flipped. You must exhaust one more face down card than the total number of cards flipped. You cannot flip more cards than the spell level of Chain Lightning. Place a lightning token on all monsters damaged by the spell.

Elemental Spell Tokens

Fire Tokens - During the Monster Movement phase, move the monster normally then reduce the monster's might by the value of the movement card (double this if the monster is vulnerable to fire.) Discard the fire token.

Ice Tokens - During the Monster Movement phase, a monster with an ice token does not move. Instead, discard the ice token.

Lightning Token - During the Monster Movement phase, do not move the monster. Instead, reduce the monster's might by the value of the movement card (double this if the monster is vulnerable to lightning,) and discard the lightning token.

Stay tuned!

In the meantime feel free to join my Facebook Group or leave a comment below to discuss this post and anything related to RPG's and geekdom!!

Radlands

In a post-apocalyptic future, water is the most valuable resource. Warring camps battle over supremacy and resources and of course, water.

Radlands is my number 8 favorite board game of all time. Radlands is a two-player head to head battle card game. Players begin play with three camps and 3 water tokens. The water tokens are expended to pay for cards that you play from your hand. When you play a card it is placed in front of one of your camps. You can have up to two cards in front of each camp. Your opponent must destroy all of your camps to win. If there are cards in front of a camp, these must be eliminated first.

Game play in Radlands is very dynamic and very tactical. Cards are played and destroyed quickly. Incredible card combos can be created, but its tricky to keep cards in play long enough to see these combos occur. A good player will learn to bait their opponent and sacrifice good cards to create combos with other cards that appear weaker up until that elusive combo kicks in and creates major chaos!

In addition to the cards in your camps, there are raid cards. These cards move through a track each turn, triggering when they reach the end. Raid cards are a great way to damage camps, but your opponent can see them coming and prepare for them.

Radlands is one of the best tactical card games that I have ever played. All of the camps have special powers and which camps you get will influence your strategy during play. It's clever. It's quick. The combos are many but elusive, and it feels great every time that you make one work. The art on the cards is neon bright and super stylized. It gives Radlands its own special feel.

Since the first time that I played Magic the Gathering way back in 1994, I have had a passion for head to head tactical card battle games. Radlands might be the best of the best. It certainly is the best of those currently available, and it's my number 8 favorite game of all time!

Red Rising

My #9 Favorite Board Game of All Time is: Red Rising!

Red Rising is a card drafting hand management game. There is a central board that facilitates the drafting mechanic and tracks some game resources. Those resources are influence in the government, military strength, and raw materials mined from mars. Each of these contributes to your score at the end of the game.

Gaining resources is done with cards, and the cards are also worth victory points. Each card has some kind of power, this will usually have to do with gaining resources or manipulating the cards on the board to give you access to the cards that you want. 

The board is made up of four locations and cards are placed on each. You only have access to the top card of each location. So, if there is a card lower down the stack that you want, you need to figure out how to get to it.

During play, you place a card from your hand down on a location and activate that card’s ability. Then you pick up one of the top cards from a location to put back into your hand, this activates the location’s special ability. Three of the locations give you one of the three in game resources, the fourth gives you a special game piece and activates your special player power.

Oh, yeah. All players have a unique ability that is activated when you gain this special game piece that I forget what it’s called. The piece is worth some victory points at the end of the game, and some cards will score higher if you have it at the end of the game. So, it’s a thing.

I have kind of buried the lead here, because the crux of the game play in Red Rising is in the interactions between the cards at scoring time. All the cards have scoring conditions. Some cards like being matched with certain colors (factions) others don’t want anything to do with certain factions. (So, that card scores less, or even loses you points if you have the faction that it doesn’t like in your hand at the end of the game. There are many other scoring conditions as well; this is just one example.

The greatest part of the end game scoring is from the cards that you are holding in your hand, that means that you are constantly looking for which cards to pick up and which ones to throw away to optimize your score. There are a lot of cards and a lot of things to consider. That makes Red Rising puzzley and challenging.

Red Rising is based on a novel series. I haven't read any of the books, but I love the game! So, knowledge of the series isn’t needed, but I have heard from some online reviews that a familiarity with the stories only enhances the experience of the game. So, if you like the novels then you might want to give my #9 favorite game of all time a try!!

ROYALTIES (Part 3)

[MH-C] Bows (piercing)

Perform a Royalties $ Action and consult the table below:

$ Effort Base Item       [s]   [h]   [d]   [c] Keywords

  2-6    Sling           +1    +0    +0    +0  R

  7-11   Short Bow       +2    +0    +0    +1  R, N

 12-16   Light Crossbow  +2    +0    +0    +2  R, N

 17-21   Hunters Bow     +3    +0    +0    +3  R, N

 22-27   Longbow         +4    +0    +1    +3  R, N

 28-33   Heavy Crossbow  +4    +0    +0    +4  R, N

 34-39   Composite Bow   +5    +0    +1    +4  R, N

    40+  Great Bow       +5    +0    +2    +5  R, N

[MH-D] Staves (crushing)

Perform a Royalties $ Action and consult the table below:

$ Effort Base Item       [s]   [h]   [d]   [c] Keywords

  2-6    Torch           +0    +1    +0    +0  F

  7-11   Short Staff     +0    +1    +1    +0  ★+1

 12-16   Long Staff      +0    +1    +1    +1  N, ★+1  

 17-21   Gnarled Staff   +0    +2    +2    +1  N, ★+2  

 22-27   Composite Staff +0    +3    +3    +2  N, ★+2

 28-33   Battle Staff    +0    +4    +4    +2  N, ★+2  

 34-39   War Staff       +0    +5    +4    +3  N, ★+2  

    40+  Scepter         +0    +5    +5    +0  ★+3

[MH-E] Clubs (crushing)

Perform a Royalties $ Action and consult the table below:

$ Effort Base Item       [s]   [h]   [d]   [c] Keywords

  2-6    Sap             +0    +1    +0    +0  

  7-11   Club            +0    +2    +0    +0 

 12-16   Truncheon       +0    +2    +1    +0   

 17-21   Mace            +0    +3    +1    +0    

 22-27   Morning Star    +0    +4    +1    +1  

 28-33   Flail           +0    +4    +1    +4  

 34-39   War Hammer      +0    +6    +2    +2  N

    40+  Maul            +0    +7    +2    +3  N

[MH-F] Axes (slashing)

Perform a Royalties $ Action and consult the table below:

$ Effort Base Item       [s]   [h]   [d]   [c] Keywords

  2-6    Hand Axe        +0    +1    +1    +0  

  7-11   Hatchet         +0    +2    +1    +0  

 12-16   Axe             +0    +4    +1    +0  

 17-21   Broad Axe       +0    +6    +1    +0  

 22-27   Hunter's Axe    +0    +7    +1    +1  N

 28-33   Shepherd's Axe  +0    +5    +3    +2  N, ★+2 

 34-39   Battle Axe      +0    +9    +0    +1  N 

    40+  Great Axe       +0    +11   +0    +1  N

[MH-G] Polearms (piercing)

Perform a Royalties $ Action and consult the table below:

$ Effort Base Item       [s]   [h]   [d]   [c] Keywords

  2-6    Spear           +0    +2    +0    +0  

  7-11   Pike            +0    +2    +0    +2  N

 12-16   Trident         +0    +3    +0    +2  N

 17-21   Glaive          +0    +4    +0    +3  N

 22-27   Bardiche        +0    +4    +0    +5  N

 28-33   Brandistock     +0    +5    +2    +4  N 

 34-39   Haliberd        +0    +6    +0    +5  N 

    40+  Scythe          +0    +5    +2    +5  N, ★+2

Keywords

Ranged (R) - this weapon uses the Shoot ♠ Action when making attacks. This weapon can target monsters that are in the shadow area.

No Off Hand (N) - you cannot equip an off hand item while using this weapon.

Fire Damage (F) - Double damage inflicted for monsters who are vulnerable to fire.

Spell Power (★+x) - While this item is equipped gain face down cards in your tableau equal to x. Face down cards are used for casting spells.

Explorers of the North Sea

This is it! We have entered my Top 10 Board Games of all time!!

... and at number 10, we have:

Explorers of the North Sea

Explorers has a lot in common with my number 11 game: Terra Prime. Both are pick-up and deliver / exploration games. Both assume players are part of a shared community and are therefore exploring for the common good. This means no direct player versus player conflict. Players are each exploring a shared world and trying to gather wealth and resources better than the other. In Terra Prime, players are space ship pilots of the far future. In Explorers of the North Sea, players are Viking travelers on sailing ships.

I'm amused that two games that produce some very similar game experiences have landed right next to each other in my rankings. I suppose that speaks to just how similar an experience the two games produce. There are some key differences. With Terra Prime, the world (galaxy) is randomly generated. In Explorers you have control over the world that you are creating. 

As you draw and place tiles, you get to decide where they go and what the world looks like. You select a tile from a few available to you and find someplace to fit it into the world like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. Then you sail your ship, or walk your vikings overland to capture livestock or conquer settlements.

Some tiles have enemy ships that you have to fight, but you can always choose to avoid these if you wish. The viking meeples and the little live stock meeples (sheeps, pigs, cows and chickens) actually sit inside your little viking boat, and once the boat is full it's time to go back to the mainland to unload.

Everything that I said about Terra Prime being, "board game comfort food" applies here. In fact I think I may get even a bit more "zen" about my experience in Explorers of the North Sea. I love placing the tiles to create the waters and the lands of the North Sea, and then sailing my little boat around.

I get so involved in discovering and experiencing the world of Explorers of the North Sea that I often forget that I am playing a competitive game with scoring objectives. In fact I don't think that I have ever actually won a game. I think it speaks pretty highly of the game play experience, that Explorers of the North Sea, a game that I have never won, makes my Top 10.

For its enjoyable puzzle piece world creation and tactile toy like little men and animals in boats, Explorers of the North Sea claims the honor of being my 10th Favorite Board Game of All Time!

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Terra Prime

My 11th favorite board game is Terra Prime, which is a "pick-up and deliver" game set in outer space. 

Terra Prime refers to "the home world." Players all start at Terra Prime and fly off into outer space to explore strange new worlds. Unlike the altruistic motivations prevalent in Star Trek however, in Terra Prime each player is an independent contractor hoping to make the most profit by discovering valuable resources and bringing them back home.

Each player has a space vessel at their command. This vessel has limits in range, defenses, and cargo space. As you play, you will sell discovered resources for money. You can use that money to improve your ship. This is vital if you want to explore the furthest reaches of space and survive. Dangerous aliens lurk at the edge of the final frontier, and you will have to be able to destroy them if you want the most valuable loot.

I really have a soft spot for this game. Game play is simple and clean. The theme of space exploration appeals to me, and unlike a great many other space games, players all work separately but together in the service of Terra Prime. You won't be attacking to destroy what another player has built. I don't mind player versus player combat if the game is all about combat, but when the theme is space exploration and trade, that's what I want to focus on. Terra Prime lets me do that.

Terra Prime's satisfying game play loop: discover worlds, gather resources, return home, sell resources, upgrade your ship so that you can go back out to discover worlds ... is so thematically intuitive and natural that it makes Terra Prime a sort of board game comfort food. I enjoy that very much!

That's why Terra Prime is my 11th favorite board game of all time (and space)!! Coming Up Next: we enter my board game TOP 10!!

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Firebolt

I will continue with the treasure tables in my next post. I wanted to take a minute to talk about a possible spell system for use in CTE. The magic system that I have in mind will introduce a new resource: Magic. Spells require Magic to cast.

Consider this possibility for a Firebolt spell.

Firebolt

This spell can target any one monster in either the threat or the shadow areas. Flip cards from the top of the deck and reduce the monster's might by the total value of the cards flipped. You must exhaust one Magic for each card flipped. You cannot flip more cards than the spell level of Firebolt.

Magic Spells Ignore Menace

Lots of new things here. First is that the spell doesn't take the monster's menace into account at all. It just does damage directly, but the amount of damage is random for each card flipped and magic spells don't have a trump suit.

Spells Level Up

There is also the matter of the spell's level. When you find a spell book, you read the book to learn the spell. The first time that you do this, you gain the spell at level 1. Each time after this that you read a spell book for a spell that you already know, this will increase the spell's level by +1.

You Control the Level at Which You Cast a Spell

It's always a good idea to increase a spell's level when you can. You will always be able to cast a spell at a lower level when you don't want to exhaust too much Magic. That brings us to our last two points: Exhaust and Magic.

Magic Comes From The Face Down Cards In Your Tableau

Magic is represented by the face down cards in your tableau. This means that under normal circumstances you will only have Magic to cast spells if you have taken damage. However some items will give you Magic allowing you to add additional cards to your tableau. These Magic cards will always stay face down.

Exhausting A Card Means Turning It Sideways

Exhaust is a game term that just means to rotate a Magic card 90 degrees to show that it has been used. That's it. That's the basics of how a spell works in CTE.

Potion Economy

There will also be Magic potions that will allow you to replenish an exhausted Magic card and Life potions that will let you remove damage. As you play through the CTE campaign you will acquire items of equipment that you won't want to use. These will be able to be "sold" for potions.

Life Potions

Minor Life Potion - If you have fewer than 3 face up cards in your tableau, flip over one card. If this card was exhausted, rotate it 90 degrees. (Face up cards are never exhausted.)

Magic Potions

Minor Magic Potion - choose one exhausted face down Magic card and rotate it 90 degrees. This Magic card is no longer exhausted.

More coming soon! In the meantime feel free to leave a comment below and/or join my Facebook Group to discuss this post and anything related to RPG's and geekdom! Stay tuned!!

Cavemen - The Quest for Fire

My number 12 favorite game is: Cavemen - The Quest for Fire. Cavemen is a card game where each player begins with a few cavemen and a cave, each represented by cards. You also have a few teeth (dinosaur trophies) and some food. Food and teeth are represented by cardboard tokens.

On the cards are symbols representing what that cave person does well. Some are good at hunting, others exploring, and some are good at inventing. Inventing is vital to gaining helpful cards and fire. Inventing fire is how you win the game. But you have to survive long enough to do this. You need to hunt to get food to feed your tribe. You also need teeth. Teeth are currency. 

Players use teeth to bid for turn order. Players draft cards from a central supply to grow their tribe. The person going first gets to draft one more card than everyone else. This is huge. But, there is a price for going first. When feeding your people, the first player must have one food token for each cave person in their tribe. All other players only need to feed one food total for their whole tribe. Working harder to earn that extra card must make everyone really hungry. That may seem like a huge price to pay, but going first is such an advantage that it's worth it. You also need to hold the first player token (a conch shell) in order to invent fire, and inventing fire is the way you win the game. 

I love simple tableau builders like this, but what makes Cavemen so special is its charm. The game play is really good, but the cards ... the cards are really something special. All the art on the cards are photographs of scenes sculpted from modeling clay. They are amazing! This game is so much fun, I love the setting the theme, the art and the game play. Cavemen - The Quest for Fire is my number 12 favorite game!

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