The Game – Spire’s End

Honestly, we’ve covered all of the big points thus far with the dice mechanic and replayability of the story. When it comes down to it, Spire’s End is a pretty simple game, same with Spire’s End Hildegard. So let’s talk about it compared to other solo experiences.

I think that both of the games fall into an interesting category for me. They are small enough where I’d consider just pulling them out and playing them. The amount of room they take up isn’t that much. But with that said, there is a lot of story and a lot of reading, which makes it harder to land on when I would play them.

It has a small footprint, like I said, but unlike a game like Orchard or Dice Conquest where I can play them wherever, I need the head space for Spire’s End. It isn’t a game that I would play at the bar. And that is fine. But at the same time, it’s not a bigger campaign that I’d be apt to stream. It is great for some time like right now. It is a filler option for me to stream. But in my normal life, it is large enough that I need to carve out space for it.

That to me is an interesting combination. And while I really like the game, it isn’t going to explode in plays like Orchard has because of that fact. But because it is simple, it’ll probably be one that I carve out time once or twice a year to sit down and play in an evening.

Upcoming Streams

So streaming for the rest of the year, I don’t think that I am going to miss a day. The 26th is the one that’s most up in the air as if I will stream or not, but I expect that I will. As for what is getting streamed. This Wednesday at 8 PM it’ll be Spire’s End Hildegard. And next Monday at 8:30 PM, central, it’ll be Spire’s End and finishing that up. In fact, in the next just over a week, a week from tomorrow, I’ll be finishing up both versions of Spire’s End. And if things go poorly for Hildegard on Wednesday, it might be sooner.

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Spire’s End Hildegard Replayability

One question that is fair for story driven games is how replayable are they? Because once you’ve seen the story, does it branch enough for you to come back again and play it. Or will it be the same story over and over and over again?

That is an issue with something like TIME Stories, a game that I really enjoy. You go on a run, and if you fail, you do it again. But the story doesn’t change. Now there is reason for that, you know where to go and can make the run faster. But at the same time, you do it twice, it isn’t bad, three times, it starts to repeat a bit more, and you try and optimize it as much as you can to go as fast as you can.

For Spire’s End and Spire’s End Hildegard that is much less of a problem. The first chapter of Spire’s End Hildegard, I went through less than half of the cards. And this time, I maybe used a quarter of them. So chapter two is going to offer me a ton of new choices if I come back. There were areas that I couldn’t do because I didn’t have an item. And there were areas that I skipped over because I did have an item. And there is a conversation that I didn’t use, but I suspect might be an option as well.

The game does a good job of giving you enough story that it makes sense. Plus, I think it probably keeps a few cards generic enough so that no matter how you get to them, you always make it to that particular card. But how you get there, it offers a lot of options.

Bonus Game – Dice Conquest

Not a review, yet, but I suspect this is one that is going to get into the rotation of solo games when I want a small one, like Orchard, or I still need to play Grove. Dice Conquest is a simple game, roll the die, use it the best that you can. That works great, and the monsters, well I can see them getting very familiar work well. I know I’ll want more monsters eventually, but I don’t need them because they come out randomly.

As for the luck in this game, obviously this game is very lucky. You roll dice and then place them with minimal ways to interact with them. You can reroll but that doesn’t always help. But I think the game does two interesting things. Firstly, if you’re playing solo it keeps the game so short and fast it’s easy to knock out.

Secondly, with more players you would have more powers in the mix. I suspect that the game would slow down a lot at that point. But it’d become less lucky because you’d be able to activate more critical hits. Or you could activate more special abilities which would give you a bit more control. And it’d probably change it from being a light, fast filler game to more of a puzzle, which could also be good.

Upcoming Streams

So I can keep this simple again. Next week, barring something like Frosthaven coming in (it hasn’t shipped yet), it’ll be more Spire’s End at 8:30 PM central on Monday. And then on Wednesday, Spire’s End Hildegard at 8 PM central. I hope that you can join me for them and always feel free to toss in suggestions when I come to a choice. I need to get better about pausing to see.

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Spire’s End – Dice Mechanics

So, one area that the two games definitely will be compared is on the use of dice. Spire’s End has two different dice and one of the sets of dice are really normal. And the other is using the dice much more specifically for combat for actions in the game.

And I don’t really have a strong feeling which I like better. Both of them do offer a high amount of randomness. I think that both of them do try and pull back on that randomness in different ways. In Spire’s End, it allows you to pick your attack. Basically a resource to use of health pool, I think of it as energy where you are expending more energy which leaves you closer to being taken out. But those tend to hit easier because they have lower targets for at least doing some damange.

On the flip side, with Spire’s End Hildegard, you aren’t expending your own life. Instead, you need to match symbols. And the dice have more combinations of sides that you can hit with. Now, sometimes it isn’t more because you can’t use certain symbols which makes that process trickier and more random. And in all fairness, I probably shouldn’t have spent all my rerolls or skills on waffles. But the process offers good decisions to determine what you keep.

Both definitely do interesting things. As I write about them, I think I might prefer Spire’s End version of dice combat or challenges. Mainly because I can choose more of what I do, I at least can pick if I do a basic attack or a hard attack. I might find that changes over time, though, as I use more of the skills in Hildegard based off of those cubes.

Upcoming Streams

So, on Wednesday, the link isn’t up yet, it’s more Spire’s End Hildegard at 8 PM Central. And then Monday it’s more Spire’s End at 8:30 PM Central. And as we get closer to the holidays, that’s my plan to keep playing those games. I know I do have another solo game or two showing up, including a small one, so depending on how long these streams take and how long I survive in the stories, I’ll possibly pull some of those new games out as well.

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Etsy Order

I’m going to start calling out upgrades that I’ve gotten from Etsy or other places. While they aren’t really board games, I think some people will be interested in them, and it’s fun to talk about how I’m making my games easier to get to the table or look prettier on the table.

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition Boards

So, this is a game that I already own, but I didn’t get it on Kickstarter. On Kickstarter the player boards are double layer. That means that the cubes recess into them nicely. In the retail box version, the player boards are just thin cardboard. Thankfully it took weeks for people to get overlays up on Etsy. So I bought some acrylic overlays for the player boards. This will basically keep the resources locked into place better so you know how much you produce. I can either just set them on top of the boards, or I might get a clear drying glue and affix the overlays to the boards, we’ll have to see.

Board Game Geek Store

Railroad Ink Big Boards

So, I really like Railroad Ink, and I got to play Railroad Ink Challenge with a group of eight on Saturday night and it was great. The game is thinky but not too complex. This basically takes Railroad Ink and puts it onto a bigger board. Instead of being a 9 by 9 board, I think it might be 15 by 15. Thankfully you get more rounds to try and score as many points as possible. If you haven’t tried Railroad Ink I really do recommend it. These big boards will just be a fun add to the game for me.

Miniature Market

Like I said, Miniature Market gave me a $10 off code for my birthday month. So, not too shockingly, I bought a game. Well, I bought two games. I considered a few others, but the one game I wanted, Rise of Atlantis was sold out, which is okay. I am kind of waiting to find that one used sometime.

Root: Riverfolk Expansion

So, last Point or Order I bought Root. This Point of Order, I got the first expansion before I even played my copy of Root. Why, well, because I have played Root before. Sure, I will explore more in the base box, but I really liked it when I played. So more Root is good. The Riverfolk expansion adds in The Riverfolk Company, The Lizard Cult, another Vagabond and more stuff. So I’m excited to have that one come in and get added into future plays of the game. I need a group to learn the game and play often. Root is really a lifestyle type of game.

Flick of Faith

Awaken Realms is one of my favorite companies that makes board games. They have a sibling company, Awaken Realms Lite that makes, well, lighter-weight games. One of those games is Flick of Faith. I wanted to get this for a long time but could never find it. Flick of Faith is a dexterity game where players flick discs to score points. It almost has a crokinole type feel to it, from what I’ve heard. And Flick of Faith was $30-35 versus $150 for a crokinole board. Plus there are god powers which you use to change up the game. Seems like my type of game. And I want to pull it out at a game night.

Favro Games

Spire’s End

Almost missed this one but I recently talked about Spire’s End: Hildegard. This is a solo generally game where you are taking Hildegard through a story, fighting monsters and more. it is based off of Spire’s End. And while you couldn’t get Spire’s End on Kickstarter with this new one (besides 50 copies), but it just came back up for pre-order on the Spire’s End website. This one is a bit darker in nature, from what I can tell, but still has a chunk of the amazing artwork. So I am really excited to dive into that when it comes, though I suspect that will be a while before it does.

Which Do You Want To Play?

That’s the list for this bit, I don’t believe anything else has come in, though a new Marvel Champions expansion might be in soon, I’m not sure. I don’t know when the next one will be, there are some Geek Up Bits from Board Game Geek for Dice Throne Season 2 that I want to get, but they aren’t in stock yet. But let me know which of the games that you want to play?

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