Skip navigation

Splendor

This game is recommended for people who like 7 Wonders. Since we love 7 Wonders, we decided to try out this game.

First, game play is nothing like 7 Wonders, but like 7 Wonders, your strategy can easily be foiled by the plays of others.

20150524_164023930_iOSSince gold coins can be so useful, they tend to disappear quickly at the beginning of the game, and some players hoard them. The first few times we played everyone reserved a card and took a gold coin on their first turn. This strategy can work out well if you choose the right card to reserve.

Read More »

Dead Panic: Part 3 of 6: Play by Play

This is part 3 in the Play-by-Play version of a Dead Panic play through. If that all sounds strange, head to the intro post

The Professor (David) was bait.

Space Cat (Father Michael) was able to get another radio piece. The Professor used his shotgun to kill two zombies, and Chubby Unicorn (Julie) killed a brawler with the elephant gun.

The Event this time was Looters. The Professor, Shutter (Ray), and President Gamer (Al) all discarded cards.

The second survivor made it into the cabin, but we also lost a wall.

Dead Panic 3The Professor killed two more zombies, Chubby Unicorn killed two more, and President Gamer killed a brute and damaged another zombie.

Dead Panic: Part 3 of 6

This is part 3 in the story mode of a Dead Panic play through. If that all sounds strange, head to the intro post

“Is that another radio piece?” Al asked.

“Fantastic!” Sandra exclaimed.

Before anyone could talk him out of it, Father Michael made another mad dash for the radio piece. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it back inside without drawing the attention of the zombies. He decided to wait for a better moment.

David fired his shotgun and killed one of the undead brutes lurking outside. He then used its last round to kill another. Despite this, there were still more zombies descending on the cabin. Julie grabbed an elephant gun, practically disintegrating a zombie with its single shot, and then searched around for any more useful items. She uncovered another shotgun and handed Al some grip tape.

“Ugh, what is this?” Sandra asked. She was holding a tire iron in one hand, and a jar of some kind of muck in the other.

Ray hefted a crow bar and was about to answer but was distracted by Al. “What are you looking for?”

“The flare gun. I just had it,” Al replied.

“You lost the flare gun?”

Read More »

Castle Panic plus Wizard’s Tower and Dark Titan

As a group we’ve played Castle Panic several times, and we’ve enjoyed the Wizard’s Tower Expansion, so when we saw the Dark Titan expansion, it was an easy buy.

We had to do a refresher on the game because we’ve played Dead Panic more recently and, while similar, there are some very different aspects to game play. As usual, there were times in the game when things looked really bad. We had several Mega Boss monsters out, things were on fire, there were plagues. It was craziness! We prioritized keeping the Wizard’s Tower intact because the wizard cards were helping us to keep monsters with special kill zones in those zones (i.e. the Gargoyle). President Gamer relied on the regular Castle cards over the Wizard’s Deck, while the rest of us took a mix of cards. We managed to light Agranok on fire, but unfortunately a single fire can’t kill him since his last two HP have to be taken at the same time. Thankfully when we lit him on fire, we were also able to move him back, giving us more time to destroy him.

Read More »

Dead Panic: Part 2 of 6: Play by Play

This is part 2 in the Play-by-Play version of a Dead Panic play through. If that all sounds strange, head to the intro post

Because of the attracted by gunfire event of the previous round, Space Cat (Father Michael) was still bait.

Space Cat was able to pick up the radio piece left behind in a single turn by using the Trail Mix card. Meanwhile President Gamer (Al) found a zombie in the cabin (Graaaaagh!).

We drew the event Panic and everyone moved 1 space clockwise.

Dead Panic 2We then drew the last survivor (he killed two zombies and then died), so we just needed to get all the radio pieces. A Sprinter cracked a wall. Space Cat damaged a brute, the Professor (David) killed a zombie with his favorite weapon (crossbow), and Clumsy Ninja (Sandra) killed two. Shutter (Ray) tried to fight the brawler (from Graaaaagh!), but rolled a 6 and took damage.

Dead Panic: Part 2 of 6

This is part 2 in the story mode of a Dead Panic play through. If that all sounds strange, head to the intro post

“Look! Is that a piece of a radio?” Julie was pointing to the ground near the newly risen zombie.

“If we can find enough pieces, we might be able to call for help,” Sandra suggested.

They looked at the radio piece.

“Someone would have to go out to get it,” Al said.

Father Michael was munching on his bag trail mix. He had offered to share, but no one else felt like eating.

“I’ll get it,” Father Michael said.

The rest of them protested, but Father Michael insisted.

Read More »

Castle Panic and Wizard Tower Expansion with guests

Guest Players: Broadway, Mermaid, and Smurfette

For my birthday, I had a few friends over, and we ended up playing Castle Panic (one of my favorites!).  The Professor and I were the only ones who had experience with this game, and we suggested we play with our cards face up on the table.  This let us talk out a lot of the strategies and answer questions the new players had about their cards.  We had some unlucky Monster draws at the beginning of the game (Giant Boulders, Flaming Boulders, Plagues, and Draw Additional Monsters), but found the Wizard Deck to be extremely helpful in dealing with the repercussions.  Smurfette also had a few awesome turns that helped keep the monsters at bay.  Things were beginning to look bleak, though.  We had three walls left (all had been rebuilt at some point and one reinforced), and just two Towers (one being the Wizard Tower), but we managed to pull off a win.  Mermaid thought it was fitting that I dealt the final blow, it being my birthday and all.

Read More »

Dead Panic: Part 1 of 6: Play by Play

This is part 1 in the Play-by-Play version of a Dead Panic play through. If that all sounds strange, head to the intro post

Space Cat began and was bait. As usual with the first round, everyone took Cabin cards. There’s not much else to do, and it’s the only place to get weapons.

Since the zombies are typically too far out to hit during the first perform actions phase, the Event card didn’t really do much. We drew Attracted by Gunfire, but no one had fired a gun.

We also got lucky with our first zombie draw. We drew two survivors. These tokens carry the radio pieces we need.
Unfortunately one of them died immediately in a fight with a zombie (thereby becoming a zombie) which meant we’d have to venture out of the cabin for that radio piece. The bright side was that he took three zombies with him, and the other survivor managed to kill one zombie.

We then moved the zombies, and a few were in range of our weapons.
Space Cat killed one, Chubby Unicorn one, Clumsy Ninja two and wounded another.

Dead Panic 1No zombies were in range for the Professor, Shutter, or President Gamer.

Oregon

  • Space Cat – Yellow, Coal Mine
  • Chubby Unicorn – Green, Church
  • The Professor – Red, Store

The game begins

The game begins

It had been awhile since The Professor and I played Oregon, so I actually used the rule book to go over the game.  I think the scoring is the most difficult part because it varies so much from building to building, and sometimes you can score multiple times (Churches allow for this), and other times you only score once (Groups of Farmers).  Despite this, game play is fairly simple, and we picked up on it quickly.  The Professor started out with an early lead, but Space Cat quickly came from behind and left us in the dust. 
Mid-game

Mid-game

No matter what we did, we just couldn’t catch up to her.  The Professor had a chance with his coal and gold, but despite the 40 extra points he gained from that, Space Cat was still ahead.
We beat Space Cat... briefly

We beat Space Cat… briefly

Read More »

Dead Panic: Part 1 of 6

This is part 1 in the story mode version of a Dead Panic play through. If that all sounds strange, head to the intro post

Father Michael groaned as he came to. He gingerly touched his head as he slowly opened his eyes. He recognized the others. There was David, a personal trainer, Julie, a delivery driver, Sandra, a police officer, Ray, a paramedic, and Al, a construction worker. It took him another moment to remember where they were and what had happened. It appeared the zombie apocalypse had begun. They had run for their lives and ended up in a cabin in the woods. Zombie infested woods, so they probably weren’t as safe as they could be. He reached up to touch his cross, and found the front of his shirt was damp. His hand came away bloody.

“What?” he croaked.

“We’re not sure where all that blood came from,” David said from his post near a couple of windows, “but it’s not yours. It’ll probably attract the zombies, though, so be careful.”

Father Michael nodded in return. With the zombies still lurking a safe distance away, they all decided to see if there was anything useful in the cabin. Father Michael found a pistol with two bullets and a bag of trail mix while David discovered a working chainsaw and a toolbox containing a hammer and some nails.

“What kind of people own this place?” Julie asked holding up a rifle and an ax, and then passing another rifle to Sandra.

Read More »