How To Play Turing Machine

Turing Machine is a game where players compete to complete a three digit code. There are specific scenarios that you can do in the rule book. Or there is an app that has a ton more including daily challenges you can do for yourself.

So how does this work? Well, each player in secret creates a three digit code. Then they compare that against three (or fewer) of the criteria. Based off of the results, whether is passes or fails the criteria, someone either guesses or you keep going and create new numbers. The person who can solve the puzzle in the fewest rounds and queries is the winner.

So How Does It Work?

When you create a number you take some tiles. These tiles correspond with the number and color. You start by layering your first number on the bottom and stack up from there. Then you take the criteria card and flip it over so that the back side is on on the back of your number. It will show you a single opening which is going to correspond to a true or false assertion.

Which now asks, what are those assertions? It might be something like, the purple number is even or odd. Or it could be, there is a pair or numbers in the number, true or false. Now those both are very binary in nature. Either it is true that there is a pair of matching numbers or not. But others might be more complex. Is the yellow number greater than purple and blue, or is purple greater than yellow or blue, or is blue greater than purple or yellow. That has three options. So when you check, you know if only one of those is true or false, the one you are testing for based on your number.

Deduction and Guessing

As you test things you start to eliminate numbers and options as you go. The order is always the same as to what color number is first. And the rules will always let you nail down a single option. One of the big learning elements of the game is about figuring out how to create numbers that maybe make a certain assertion irrelevant because you figure out that answer another way.

When you decide that you know it, you get a guess. If you make your guess you complete it. If multiple people guess on the same round of the game, you check and see who completed it in the fewest number of checks. And if it is the same, both people tie.

What Doesn’t Work

I got nothing for this section. But the possible negative for the game going to be talked about in who it is for. Because it’s not really a negative, it is just important information.

What Works

The quality of the system is great. Now I only have played it on BGA, so I don’t own it, yet. But it is one that I want to get. And I want to get it because it is slick how it sets up and how you can play. They do a good job of making everything clear for setting up a puzzle without giving anything away.

That leads into ease of play. Being able to grab a scenario from online at the difficulty that you want is great. And it can go from standard, to harder to extremely hard depending on what parameters you put it. But no matter the difficulty level they make it easy to set-up.

I appreciate the changing difficulty levels as well. It really let’s me puzzle through at the level I want for a given play of the game. And it definitely does ramp up the challenge. I know people who would quickly be up for the challenges at the higher level. I also know people who would probably never want to move up to a higher level. Or at least it would take a while. So I like that selecting the level.

Who is Turing Machine For?

This is a hard logic puzzle. This doesn’t mean that it’s hard, per se. What is means is that there is nothing more than logic in the game. If you don’t like just sitting down and puzzling out what is happening this game is not for you. And it is a brain burner. I think it is a game that some people will know they won’t like. I think it is a game that after playing once you know if you like it or not as well.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Turing Machine

I find that I enjoy this game a lot. Turing Machine is a lot of fun, in doses. Now, I think I want to own a copy of it. Mainly because I want to, when I have an office space, set it up and leave it set-up so I can play the daily puzzle every day. And once in a while I might take it down to play with others, but it’d be a good brain burner to start a day with.

That said, I also know that this is not a game for everyone. So as I think about adding it to my collection, it is more about adding it for myself versus adding it to play with others. It is a great puzzle and thinky game. The downside is that it is purely a game where you are doing logic and deduction. It is great for some people and horrible for others, it just depends on how your mind works. And for me, I can make it work.

My Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: A or F
Casual Grade: A or F
Strategy (out of 10) – think logic: 9
Luck (out of 10): 0

Obviously a note on that gamer and casual grade. This is not a game that distinguishes between gamers or non-gamers. You might be better off being a gamer to learn the rules. But if you love a good logic puzzle but aren’t a gamer, you might love this game. If you are a gamer but you hate logic puzzles you won’t like this game. It is hard to give a grade beyond how much I like it, which is quite a lot.

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How To Play Dedale

Dedale is a card playing game where you overlap the cards to create different rooms to trap the minotaur in. This is a cooperative game that is able to be played solo. And the turns are very simple, as you play one of the two cards, overlapping other cards in the labyrinth. If you complete the goal before all the cards are played, you win the game. If not, you can restart that level and try again.

Now, that is the vast majority of the game. But I want to touch on the one rule of playing out cards. The first thing is that when you play out a card, you must overlap. And while you still have cards in your draw pile, you must overlap a square that matches the color of the square on the back of a card. So the game controls where you are able to play cards. When the draw pile runs out, you place your card however youw ant.

And let’s talk really quickly about what a level looks like. In one level you need to get torches in a row and then that room closed off. Another one you want to have only a single color in the room with the minotaur. And as you go up in level the difficulty level gets higher.

What Doesn’t Work

The difficulty is inconsistent in the game. And I don’t just mean with the leveling up. I think that the new levels are basically always more challenging. And I haven’t beat all of them yet. But because it is card draw there is a higher element of randomness to the game. And the more players you play with, the more random it is going to get. So as a solo game the first five levels might be extremely simple, but at three or four players way more challenging.

And I don’t think that the challenges are all that fun in the game. So each level provides something but it’s really a lot of variation on the same themes. And I think there is a missed opportunity. Everything is always, trap the minotaur in a room with a certain condition. Why not make it, give the minotaur a single path with a certain condition? It is possible to have more variety than the game has.

What Works

Now, there are some elements that does work. Firstly, the challenges while not super exciting, they do level up nicely in difficulty. As a two player game, myself and another player on BGA were able to comfortably handle them going up to about level 6. At level 7 it became much more of a challenge. Though, see what I said about where the challenge comes from above.

The game is also simple and fast to play. A turn won’t take long at all. You know your objective so you simply go for that. And the limit on where you play is going to mean that you are limited in what you do. Even as the labyrinth gets bigger it isn’t too much.

Who Is Dedale For?

I think this is a fun game for people who like a puzzle of a game. If you want a challenge of a puzzle that isn’t an escape room game, but is a good puzzle, Dedale is strong that way. It is a bit more random than something like Relics of Rajavihara a solo puzzle game that I love, but it is going to give you that sort of feel.

Final Thought on Dedale

So, I want to compare Dedale to Relics of Rajavihara. And I think the big thing is that I sold Relics of Rajavihara and I bought it back because I want to do the puzzles again. It is just a fun experience to set-up the challenge and see if I can figure it out. Dedale on the other hand, having to replay a challenge starts to feel like a slog. The puzzles don’t do enough for me to generate a ton of interest in what’s happening and that’s a flaw for the game.

For a game that is a puzzle to try and solve, having randomness is not a good thing. And I also look at it as I think about games where I overlay cards. I own Grove and Orchard which I love. This one tries to do more with the levels and puzzle and just takes the fun out of the fast game.

Now, this is all pretty negative. And I don’t love Dedale. I don’t think it is a horrible game either. I think that it is mainly just a pretty boring game. And I think that there are better puzzle games out there or card layering games out there. So while I had some fun with it, the more I played it on BGA the less interesting it became.

My Grade: C-
Gamer Grade: C-
Casual Grade: B-
Strategy (out of 10): 3
Luck (out of 10): 7

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How To Play At The Helm

At The Helm is a hand management and deck building game where you are trying to beat three challenges. Each challenge is going to want different symbols played out to beat it. Some want a lot of sails played in a single turn. Others want a lot of sails total but it isn’t turn based, or it could be attacks or money that they want as well.

To do this you need to play out cards from your hand of three cards. Every card does some different effect and some of them might do two different ones that you choose between. But a lot are going to give you that attack, sail, or purchase/money. As well as they give you health which you need in the game.

After you play one or two cards each turn you draw back up to three. If there is a broken heart symbol on the card you take a damage (or two from some). You might also lose health from triggers on the challenges you are going after. Such as the giant squid deals you a damage if you damage it with the harpoon.

Then, if you run out of cards, you automatically get a card from the market. Huzzah, free purchase, but once all the cards are gone and you need to reshuffle you lose the game. But if you defeat all three challenges, you win the game.

What Doesn’t Work

Variety is going to be my one negative for the game. I talked about how there is some variety in the game on the stream. But that mainly comes from changing up the challenges. I think that there are good deck building strategies, but those strategies never change, at least not much. So it’s about those challenges. I think I say this a lot about the Button Shy Games, but with only 18 cards, it limits what you do, so almost all of them you probably want an expansion for it to add more variety to the game.

What Works

Let’s talk two things that I generally mention either as a negative or positive. But the game is very fast, which is good, most Button Shy Games are. And for a small solo game, I want it to be that. But At The Helm is also a consistent footprint that isn’t too large. I like that it’s a fixed footprint as well. There are some that I’ve played where the footprint can vary considerably or be dynamic throughout the game.

The hand management aspect of the game works well. I like that determination of how many cards to play because the more you play each turn, the faster you get through your deck. But if you dig for specific cards, well, you likely will find that you end up in trouble because you aren’t fully optimizing what you do.

And I think adding cards to your deck in this game is interesting as well. I did call out that one element of the game is not obvious, and I missed it, because it’s tucked in part of the rules where it doesn’t make as much sense. Not a big negative, but I like how when you run out of cards to play you get to add in a card. That is a good countdown timer and it means that you don’t always need to buy cards.

Who Is At The Helm For?

I think that people who enjoy a good puzzle of a game are going to enjoy At The Helm. Now, I think it’s less of a puzzle game than some. This one is more about reacting to the cards you get in hand and balancing that line of healing up and spending time doing that, versus working on the challenges. So people who like that puzzle but also that hand management or deck building aspect of a game should enjoy this one. And this one is better than some for people who travel as well.

Final Thoughts on At The Helm

I enjoyed this game quite well. I think that it’s one that is easier to understand the rules than some. I do think that the rules needed that tiny bit of extra work. Mainly, where do you place certain key parts of the rules would make a lot of sense. I get that it’s probably a me issue because I should have read everything better. But I suspect there are a number of other players of the game who missed the adding purchased cards to the hand rule as well.

The game is fast, and I like the aesthetic of the game. I think that it works very well and it really does feel like a tightly designed game. The theme is just there enough through that aesthetic as well which is nice. I don’t love it when a game is just all mechanisms with a theme that could be anything. But, with At The Helm, I don’t think that it’s that.

And the game play is so fast and consistent in what you are doing, it feels less lucky than some of the other games. And it feels more like a game than a puzzle than some of the other solo games from Button Shy. For that reason, I do enjoy this one more, and while I suspect that an expansion or two would make it more playable in the long run with that variety, it works really well as it is.

My Grade: B+
Strategy: B+
Luck: C-

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How To Play A Nice Cuppa

A Nice Cuppa is a solo only game about getting the steps of brewing tea in the right order. From picking your tea and mug, steeping it, and eventually sipping on it. The game has seven steps for brewing your tea. Of course, brewing tea, there might be some distractions, these are worry cards in the game. So you need to try and not let the worries get the best of you.

For each round you flip up a worry card. Each worry is going to give you a direction on how to move your steps of brewing tea. So while you want them to end up in order, you need to work with the movement rules that you are given. Each spot with a worry face up, you do that movement, and you must do them in order of left to right. Then you flip your tea brewing cards over to their their other side above worries. If that side that is up is a focused side, that worry goes away.

At the end of the game, you count the cards that you have in order. You find where you have your one card and count from there. You get two points per card that is focused and one per card that is unfocused. Then you lose a point for any worry that remains.

What Doesn’t Work

Honestly, I don’t have much for this section. This is a nice compact solo game in terms of what is does. I think that there is a level of luck in the game. But that’s kind of the point of the game. So for someone who wants maybe a puzzle that is always going to have an optimal solution, this is not going to be an ideal game for them. It is a puzzle, but it’s a very adaptive puzzle as you need to figure out how to order and position the cards.

What Works

First off, I like how compact the game is. I have had a problem with some Button Shy Games, well one in particular, Sprawlopolis, where it is a small game with only a few cards, but it takes up space. While A Nice Cuppa isn’t the smallest in terms of footprint, games that Button Shy makes, it is one that is easy to fit onto a table. I think I could even fit it onto a TV tray if I wanted as well.

I also like the adaptability it makes you play with. You need to think about how the cards are going to interact with each other. You see me puzzle through some of that and start to think about deeper strategies on yesterdays stream. Like how do I set-up cards for next turn maybe by swapping cards versus always just putting stuff in order. Because, depending on what rules are out there, being in order might not be helpful to you.

It is nice that A Nice Cuppa has more worries than just seven as well. That means that there is less predictability but more replayability. I don’t know what is going to show up when I flip a card. And it might be a swap or movement that I need. Or it might mess everything up. That means that I need to adaptable as I play, which is something I enjoy in a game. I don’t want to always play with the same strategy.

Who Is A Nice Cuppa For?

I think that a lot of Button Shy fans are going to enjoy the game. I compared it to both Numbsters and Fishing Lesson in terms of some of what it does. How do you create rules that are going to work to get stuff in order. If you or someone you know enjoys that type of game, A Nice Cuppa is going to be another one of those games. And I think I like it better than Fishing Lessons. But as I think about it with Numbsters, they do enough different that there is likely room for both in a collection.

Is A Nice Cuppa My Cup of Tea?

I like A Nice Cuppa quite well. I like how small it is, and I appreciate how quick it is to get to the table and how quick it is to play the game. It’s a great puzzle that makes you think on your feet. And I feel like the more I play it, the more strategies that I’ll have with it. Will they work out always, certainly not. And sometimes, like my last game, you’ll just get something that ruins it for you. But I enjoy coming up with a good way to handle the puzzle of the game.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: C+

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule.

• Monday night, time varies, I plan on starting up a campaign game again soon. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to be my shorter games like A Nice Cuppa. And I plan on playing through a number of the Button Shy Games that I own. Plus I’ll sprinkle in Top 10’s as well, which might include one coming up soon with Top 10 Crowdfunding Games I backed in 2024.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat. And let me know what games in this list are your favorite or that you want to try.

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How To Play: Exit: Hunt for the Golden Book

Someone has lost the Golden Book of everyone who has been naughty or nice and you’ve been tasked with finding it. And that’s all the premise that you get for the game.

After that it’s a series of puzzles that you need to solve, one per day. And without spoiling anything, I can’t go into what they are, but it does seem to be different each day, I’ll say that much. Mechanically, though, you don’t know what door to open next, and that is the main thing you’re solving each puzzle. You move from one door on the box to another based off of a numerical three digit key that you find. And you know if you are right if the directions that you use from the decoder give you the symbols that match on the door.

What Doesn’t Work?

I think for some people this is going to be a game that is just too easy. We’ve done four puzzles and we had a little bit of an issue with one of them, but the other three were simple and easy to figure out. And even this newest one, I think we should have done better on it. But some puzzles are going to be more apt to trip people up than others.

What Works?

Now, on the flip side, I think that those puzzles are about right for what it should be per day. It’s odd to have the same thing as not working and working. But the puzzles take about 5 minutes to maybe 10 minutes if you’re going slowly, or on the first day where there is a prologue to read as well. But that’s what I want from a game like this one. I don’t want to sit down every evening or morning and spend 30 minutes solving a puzzle. 5 minutes is a great amount of time.

Who Is It For?

Now, the previous two sections were short because I think it’s more important to talk about who this game is for. Again, I don’t want to give away too much about the game. But this is an advent calendar and it’s one that’s meant for families to do. My wife and I are doing it and having a good time. It’s beyond what my 4 year old can help with, but in a few years, by the time he’s 7, he probably could. Because it’s that simple.

But that is the point, it is supposed to be that simple so that it can be a quick family activity. Exit: Hunt for the Golden Book is meant to be a family project not something focused on hard core gamers. That is a good thing, because it’d be lacking if it was focused on more. It is one that I definitely recommend for people who want a fun little activity to do each day, a fun little puzzle to solve.

Final Thoughts on Exit: Hunt for the Golden Book

I enjoy my experience with Exit: Hunt for the Golden Book. And I think I might like it better than a normal Exit or Unlock game. Yes, it is easier to play. But the benefit of that is that anyone can play it. And you don’t pick a time to play it. It is just something you fit into your day. Not like the other escape room style games which you might plan your day or gaming session around for a day. This keeps it nice and short.

Plus, there is more story. Probably should be something that I like. But I like story, and Exit: Hunt for the Golden Book has more. Most escape room style games give you a bit of a story. But Exit: Hunt for the Golden Book gives you some each day. Yes, it bounces around a lot, but it’s there and that makes the experience better as well.

I definitely can see getting one each year, as long as they keep doing them. And that’s saying something, it’s a repeated buying experience. I feel like I’d play an escape room style game again, but I am not seeking them out as I once was. Something like Star Wars Unlock or Lord of the Rings Exit sound fun. But a random box, less so. But the advent calendar gives you that right amount of thinking for each day and just enough puzzle.

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Games Played at Gen Con 2022

Lost Ruins of Arnak

There are a few games that I have had on my shelf where I need to play my copy. Lost Ruins of Arnak from CGE was one of those games. And I got to play two games of it at Gen Con, including one full game. Needless to say, and if you saw the video, I liked it. It is a good game with interesting worker placement, light deck building and a great theme. I was worried that it might be more worker placement than I want, and while everything is mechanical, the theme makes it fun.

Ready Set Bet

This is one that is new, not even out yet. Ready Set Bet is a real time horse racing and betting game. One person is the caller who rolls the dice and shouts out horses as they move forward. The other players, in real time, are putting down bets on horses and trying to make the most money. You can rotate who the caller is, but the game goes so fast, and it is a fun role, that when I played it one person called.

This is a great con game. Everyone is around the table getting excited and shouting or getting into it. And you almost need to stand around the table so you can toss in your bids. It’s clever and fun and plays fast. And I could see getting this one and playing it a few times in an evening and having a great time.

Jekyll vs Hyde

This one I played twice as well. Jekyll vs Hyde is a trick taking game but with a twist or two. Firstly, it’s two player with one person being Jekyll and the other Hyde. The person who is Jekyll wants to keep the number of tricks as even as possible. Win too many or lose too many and Hyde advances on the board to the monster side. The Hyde player wants to get that difference up to get across the board. It is a fun idea and feels different, plus who top suit is determined for a trick is interesting as well. Not a two player trick taking game I need, but one I’d gladly play.

First Rat

First Rat has a silly but great theme. The moon is obviously made of cheese and you are rats trying to build a rocket to get to the moon. It is an interesting game where you are pushing your rat meeples up a track. You can push one up fast, unlock more rats or you can go slower and try and combo getting resources to build your rocket.

What you do on your turn is simple. You move one rat up to 5 spaces, or two rats up to 3 spaces as long as they end on the same color. But just that is a great puzzle. Plus how you pick what you do and what you’re going for works really well. It is a game that I wouldn’t have tried if it weren’t for Gen Con.

Draftosaurus

A game I already know I love and I own everything for. This was later one of the days at the con. I wanted to play a game but most of the bigger ones were either shut down as they take too long or already in the swing of things. Draftosaurus was easy to just sit down and play. The game is so light, but still it’s a lot of fun to play.

NFL Five

One that I demoed and came home with because if you demoed you got a demo copy. This is basically a way to sell packs of football cards, and specific ones, for the game. I describe it was rock paper scissors but instead of there being a tie option, you just need to watch. So it’s a guessing game that you can mess around with a little bit. It’s very light and just fine, but it was free and it was open for demoing so why not give it a shot.

Catapult Feud

Another one I own, this was me wanting to set down my bag after I bought Burncycle. Catapult Feud is fun, it’s fun building the castles and launching balls to try and knock it over. The game is barely there, but the toy factor is so high, who even cares.

Fit to Print

This is one that I believe was on my too demo list. Fit to Print is about making your best front page for a newspaper and scoring points based off of that. It was fun, and interesting because of the real time aspect to it. You start out picking out tiles which are articles, pictures, and ads for your paper. Then when you’re ready you try and set-up your layout as fast as possible to score the most points.

The game is simple and fun, and the real time element that didn’t bother me. I think because the feeling wasn’t intense. I had three minutes to do everything. But I never felt like there is too much time pressure on it. Nor is it like Fuse where it is always counting down. It’s fast moving and light fun, but the real time doesn’t add stress.

Spicy

Spicy was a bit of a miss for me. This is a bluffing game where you put down cards of different spices and they need to go up in numerical order, though you can skip numbers, but always ascending. You need to call out when someone lays down a bluff. Playing with masks makes the game trickier. And at three it was just okay. For me, the concept of the game and what it pulled off was less interesting than a bluffing game like Skull.

Galaxy Trucker

Here’s another game with a real time element that I like. I wanted to demo the new version of it, which I did. And I don’t really feel the need to upgrade my copy. Nothing seemed to have changed too much, so might as well keep what I have. I enjoy Galaxy Trucker because again it’s a real time game or a game with real time elements, but one that doesn’t take itself too seriously. And then if you are lucky, you can build up your ship so it won’t blow up, if you are lucky.

Let’s Dig for Treasure

A push your luck game. This one is very simple, you pull cards until either an evil skeleton gets you or pull up two worm cards. But you can bank your points whenever you want. The artwork on the game is fun, and as the person who demoed it said, it’s a restaurant or bar game. One that’s small enough you can take it along and pull out and play easily. Not much thought or strategy to it, but it works well enough.

FYFE

This is a random game that I got to try because the table was open. It reminds me a bit of Village Green and Calico. You are putting down discs to complete different scoring objectives in rows and columns. But you need to think about rows and columns so that you can score as many things as possible. It gets tricky as you start to have limited options to fill in and now which thing do you think it’s more likely to be able to get and score. Not one I needed to add to my collection but not a bad game.

Knights of the Hound Table

This is a small game that I was tempted to pick up. Knights of the Hound Table is a head to head battler. You put down one hound as an attacker, one as your defender, and one for their power. Then you compare, take damage and buy cards to improve your deck of hounds. The artwork is cute on the game, the game play with picking which power to use is interesting. Better for a small box head to head game than I expected.

Village Rails

I mentioned Village Green, Village Rails is from the same company and it shows. You are making rail routes to score points. Keeping track of where the tracks are going is trickier than what is in Village Green. But you don’t have the column and row scoring in Village Rails. So it is slightly easier, I’d say, and just as fun. Plus the artwork on the cards is amazing and the game itself felt pretty relaxing. A small box game I’d want to add to my collection.

Coatl

Not a new game but Coatl is about building out your best Coatl to score points. The game play is fine, it is basically collect pieces then build out your Coatl. I wish that the game would move slightly faster than it does because of how light it is. The toy factor is fun, but that is not enough for me to really recommend this game. It is more going to be one of those fine gaming experience that I’d play again but wouldn’t seek out.

Flamecraft

Flamecraft was only there for demo, I was kind of hoping it’d be there for sale. But Flamecraft is a worker placement game with dragons. You are trying to collect resources to improve shops and end up with the favor in the end. How you play is simple, you either go to a place and collect resources or to fulfill a contract. What makes this game is the artwork. I wish I had backed it for that, and now that I’ve played it, at least a few rounds, I suspect I’ll add it because of how cute it is.

Starship Captains

A new game from CGE, I snuck my way into a game the first day. And I got to play the full game which is nice. It is an action selection game where you build up a little bit of an engine, fly around, and try and complete contracts and defeat space pirates. The game moves quite fast, I would say too fast, though that’s probably a good sign that it leaves you wanting to do more and to try again to do even more.

Meadow

Meadow is one that I knew I wanted to see because it’s pretty. But looking at it and watching the GloryHoundd play of it, I thought it likely wasn’t for me. You can watch their video below. But the game itself was fun to sit down and try. I’m still torn on it because it’s a very thinky and pretty game. I am worried that AP would set in too much if I picked it up. I even found myself having to think through what I was doing for a bit. It’s one I’d love to try again though.

Asking for Trobils

Another one that was played on the GloryHoundd Youtube channel. You can see that play below. A worker placement game that is very light but a good amount of fun. You are basically building up traps and things to get Trobils which are worth points. Two players was fine with the game, I feel like it’d do a bit better with more and with a tighter board where you bounce each other more.

Twilight Inscription

One of the big games I wanted to try out at Gen Con. This is a 2 hour roll and write game based in the world of Twilight Imperium. It delivers on what it promises. And I don’t think that the game is too difficult to follow. There is just a lot later in the game when you get a ton of resources to spend and figuring out how to do that in the most efficient way.

The game comes with four boards. So you activate one board each time, whether combat or exploration, or whatever else they might be. And you do need to do a bit of everything, but you can really focus in on how you want to score your points. A fun game that I want to add to my collection.

Dwellings of Eldervale

Another game that I own but I hadn’t played. Sitting down at Gen Con is a great way to learn a game that you don’t know or you want to know more about. Dwellings of Eldervale was a lot of fun to mess around with. The core game play is fun for it and I like that this is a worker placement game but it feels so much bigger than that. You can do a ton of big things and just have fun with it. And there is no trading in the Mediterranean.

Oathsworn: Into the Deep Woods

And yet another game that I own. Oathsworn just came in before I left for Gen Con. I was almost tempted to move it to the top of the queue but Stars of Akarios First. We didn’t do the city and story part of the game. I say city, it could be different map locations where the story is happening. But we got into the combat and that was fun.

What I really like is how you can push your luck. You can draw cards for hits and you can pick how many to draw. You can roll dice and pick how many to roll. The more you roll of the white dice the more damage you can do. But at the same time the closer you are to busting.

Hero Realms

Hero Realms is one that I played day one and bought day two. And I even got crushed when I played it. But I really enjoyed the lighter deck building of the game. And I thought that it worked well for what it is. Plus it’s a two player game and battler game that is easy to learn. And the deck building combos are not hard to understand. I picked up the cooperative expansion as well which will be fun to mess around with.

Batman: Everybody Lies

I actually got this to the table last night again. But I did a prologue for it at Gen Con at an event. I’ve written and talked about it twice before. See my Highlights here for more information. But this is basically the Detective system with Batman theme from Portal Games.

The biggest change to it is adding in hidden personal goals. It means you might advocate for something for your character that you might not otherwise think about. Or that you might suspect is a red herring because it’ll answer a question for your character. It still is not competitive and the main focus is on the main case. But because of that personal goal it makes it different to play via Zoom like I did last night.

Long Shot – The Dice Game

I almost forgot that this was at Gen Con. But I’m glad I didn’t. A horse racing roll and write game, Long Shot is a lot of fun. I even picked up a copy to bring home. In this game you roll dice and move horses forward around the track. At the same time you are putting bets on horses, filling in spots on your board, and trying to be the person who has the most money at the end of the game. The whole track and physical board element of the game makes it feel different and the game isn’t that complex.

Caesar’s Empire

This is another one of those sit down and play a game because I needed something to do. And Caesar’s Empire is a just fine game. You basically are building our routes to get to cities and score points. The two player game needs a slight rules clarification, possibly. But the whole idea is that you can build off of other people’s roads. Is it worth it to get some points if you are giving them more points. All you do is build onto routes each turn. The game is okay, not one that I’d recommend that highly.

Paint the Roses

Paint the Roses is a great deduction game. It is hard to explain, I feel, without the board but with the board it is easy to explain. The general idea is that you’re trying to get the garden perfect and not have the queen of hearts take off your head. But each of you have a hidden (or multiple throughout the game) things that the queen wants. It might be two red roses next to each other or a diamond and heart shaped topiary next to each other.

You place a tile on your turn and then everyone puts down their clue tokens if it matches. So if I have two red roses and I place down a red rose next to two others. I put down two cubes. Basically giving information that I have two matches. And everyone puts down their clues. Then you need to make a guess on someone’s card. If you get it right you move ahead and the queen of hearts moves ahead one. If not, she moves head faster. Really great puzzle that I want to play again now.

Mythic Mischief

Probably one of the hotter games of the con, I got to play Mythic Mischief in a two versus two game. I suspect I’d like it better as a one versus one game. I also suspect I’d like it better in the blitz mode where you only can take so much time to do your turn.

Mythic Mischief is an abstract game with some fun powers and cool characters. But it’s also a game that induces a ton of AP (analysis paralysis) and for me that knocked the game a lot. The game just isn’t heavy enough to make it worth the amount of time and thought. If I want something like that, I want a big game, not this lighter heavily produced game.

Final Thoughts

I did what I wanted to do, I played a ton of games. I believe that is maybe up to 29 plays and 27 games? But either way, it is a lot and I had so much fun with it. I do want to do a Top 10 list of all of those games, see which my top ones were. So expect to see that tomorrow most likely.

What were the top games that you got to see if you went to Gen Con? And in particular, which ones were the top you got to play or demo?

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But, like I said, the list is at the end, and I’m not sure how much I should stall before I get to the video and write-ups on the games. Streaming will continue next week, I’m not sure what I’m going to be streaming up until the new year. Probably some solo games and talking on some board gaming topics. But 8 PM Central will be when the streams continue, at least for now.

100 Through 91

90 Through 81

80 through 71

70 through 61

60 through 51

50 through 41

40 through 31

30 through 21

20 through 11

Top 100 Games 2021 Edition – 10 Through 1

10. Blood Rage

Higher on my list being as high as number two before, Blood Rage has slipped a little bit. The last time I played it, it was still a lot of fun, but didn’t land quite as well. Probably didn’t help with two new players and a four player game. I think I like Blood Rage best at 3, and I don’t mind it at two.

Still, I love Blood Rage because it has great action management, the area control is fun, but it’s the drafting that really makes the game. A different choice in drafting means that you score in a completely different way and have a different strategy. And, that might be some of it for me too, I just am used to drafting for a lower number of players, so I need to adjust my strategy, which is never a bad thing, when more emerges in how to play the game.

Buy on Miniature Market

9. Cartographers

The only roll and write in the Top 10, though, so many on the list, (stats coming later). But this one is my favorite for the theme, for the monsters, and for the scoring. It really does so many things in an interesting way. Cartographers is all about mapping out a section of a kingdom. You put in towns, fields, farms, rivers, and I feel like I’m blanking on one right now. But they all score differently and differently each game.

And the scoring is very good because you score four different things, but each of them only twice. So you build out your map to try and optimize that scoring depending on the season. So in spring you score something that isn’t then scored again until winter. It’s simple, but it’s clever, and then there are monsters. And monsters make Cartographers interactive. You put a monster on your opponents board in the least ideal spot to cost them as many points as you can.

Just that interaction is so different when it comes to a roll and write game. Most roll and writes can be played solo because what everyone else does doesn’t matter that much for you. With Cartographers, it doesn’t, completely, but that monster interaction is just fun to add into the game.

Buy on Thunderworks Games

8. Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Dropping slightly from last year, Marvel Champions has slipped just because I haven’t played it as much as I should. Marvel Champions is a life style game of battling your favorite Marvel heroes (X-Men eventually, hopefully coming), against your favorite villains.

I like that this is a deck construction game. I haven’t gotten too far into that, but it’s something that I miss from Magic: The Gathering. But for me, I think the game itself is more fun than Magic, Magic didn’t even make the Top 100, I don’t think, because I haven’t played it in so long.

The superhero/alter-ego thing also works so well for me. I like that I can play as Spider-Man and be flipped on the Peter Parker side and the bad guy won’t attack. Why, because Peter Parker, who is he? The villain just schemes away giving Peter a chance to recover. When you flip to Spider-Man, though, now the villain comes after you. But they scheme less, so it’s balancing the game in a very thematic way.

Buy on Miniature Market

7. Mansions of Madness: Second Edition

Another bigger game on the list, this one is all about exploring mysteries in an app driven game from Fantasy Flight games. Mansions of Madness delves into the world Arkham Files to deal with monsters, cultists, and Lovecraftian mysteries.

The app is great in this game, though, I know for some people that will be a turnoff. It means that everyone can be playing the same game, though, one person doesn’t need to run everything. The app keeps points of interest as mysteries as you unfold what happening in the mansion, town, or where ever you might be. And it means that they can introduce puzzles into the game in a great interactive manner.

It’s a fun game that has a lot of scenarios that you can play, and a lot of expansions that I’d like to own so that I can play any scenario out there. I like that it’s not campaign based but still gives me that immersive story feel that I get from some bigger campaign based games.

Buy on Miniature Market

6. Aeon’s End

Now, I already had Aeon’s End: Legacy on the list. To me, Legacy versions of games are different enough that they generally deserve their own spot. But as I play more don’t be surprised if Aeon’s End Legacy becomes lumped in with Aeon’s End and Pandemic Legacy becomes lumped in with Pandemic.

Aeon’s End is a deck building game where you are trying to drive back a nemesis from the town of Gravehold. Of course, that Nemesis isn’t going to be easy to beat as it attacks you, the town, and unleashes minions upon all of you as well.

The deck building aspect is a lot of fun. I don’t always love games with a fixed market, or at least competitive deck builders with that. It gives someone who can “solve” the buying puzzle the fastest an advantage. But in a cooperative game, that means that everyone can focus in on what they do best. And you need to, because, this is a hard game. If you haven’t played before I recommend starting with the easier version, Aeon’s End Legacy.

Buy on Miniature Market

5. Lords of Hellas

A big game from Awaken Realms this is my type of thematic, mechanical and just a little bit messy. Lords of Hellas has you in a Greek Cyberpunk Future, fighting mechanical monsters, building monuments and temples and taking over lands. There is a lot going on in this game, but also I don’t find it that hard to play. They do a good job with the actions, once you know what the actions are.

One thing I really love about the game is that you can win in multiple ways. If you control two of the large land groups, you win. Defeat three monsters, you win. Control five temples, you win. Or, if a monument is completely built, whomever controls it at the end of the third turn wins the game. So it has a nice variety of ways to win, and in a 5 player game, four of us were one turn from winning and the other person two.

Plus, Lords of Hellas has variable player powers, and that becomes even more variable as temples are built. You draft different powers and that can shape what you are doing. And what you are doing at the end of the game to win might not be the same thing at the start.

Buy on Amazon

4. Detective: A Modern Crime Game

Do you like Detective TV shows? This is it, but good. I know that’s not a selling point but Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game is an amazing deduction game. And the base box ties together a really interesting story.

Another game that uses technology which can’t be avoided. But it helps with the thematic immersion of the game as you look stuff up in the police database, or through a librarian to help hide information from people and spoiling the game. Plus, sometimes you get to look stuff up online because they tied in real world history to the main box of the game at least.

I like deduction and puzzles in games, and Detective, for me, does them the best. Something like the Unlock or escape room style games, those are fun to puzzle out, but Detective gives me the puzzles and the story. And the story is just interesting and brings it up that whole other level.

Buy on Cool Stuff Inc

3. Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Speaking of story, Tainted Grail has the best story of a board game that I’ve played. Detective is close, but Tainted Grail, I think, is better. It’s a game that immerses you in exploring different parts of the world of Avalon and the legends of King Arthur all will a grim dark fantasy twist to them.

It is very much a survival game to go along with the adventuring, but it works so well. Now, I do recommend playing on story more. While the survival aspect isn’t bad, it can really extend your game if you need to maintain the Menhir as much and if the monsters are a bit more deadly. And like I said to start with Tainted Grail, I want the story from this game.

The card play in the game is fun as well. And when you get into it, it goes pretty fast. At the start, it feels like it’s a break from the story that you don’t always want to have. But it’s still a good time and it makes the world and the choices you make feel bigger as you go through diplomatic and combat encounters.

Not Available

2. Dice Throne

Now for a different type of game, Dice Throne is much lighter, though not much smaller in terms of how much I have for it. In Dice Throne you are fighting either head to head or in a free for all against your opponents. And this is done by upgrading abilities, playing down statuses, and then rolling dice, like Yahtzee, to do as much damage as you can.

The game sounds simple, but with 16 different characters, they manage to make each one of them feel different. The Pyromancer deals out a lot of damage and wants to keep the fires of their fire mastery going. The Shadow Thief is stealing CP, the thing that allows you to play cards. The Gunslinger is going to fight a duel with you to see how much damage they take and can reload to deal even more damage.

I like this game at two, and I know some people don’t like it with more, but I do and I’ll gladly play king of the hill style with three or four people. The game adjusts y our health, so it doesn’t add that much time to the length of what you are doing. And soon I’ll have Marvel characters as well, which I’ll never complain about.

Buy on Roxley Games

1. Gloomhaven

Finally at Number 1 we have the number 1 board game on Board Game Geek and what has been my number one board game for several years. I have a tough time imagining Gloomhaven getting displaced, though, maybe it’s sequel Frosthaven will do that.

I just love everything about Gloomhaven, how big it is, how the combat works, the story (even though it’s not the best) and the different characters. It’s also that first massive campaign experience I’ve had. I did play Pandemic Legacy Season 1 before, but Gloomhaven is just a different animal.

Let’s talk a little bit about combat. I don’t love combat where I have to roll dice as the only thing that determines combat. The card play of picking two cards and then using a combination of the top of one and the bottom of another is just so interesting. And picking cards that won’t run through everything too fast and knock you out is important. Also picking cards that allow you to be flexible as you don’t know the order you’ll pay in.

Buy on Amazon

Top 100 Board Games

But that’s it, that’s the whole of the list of my Top 100 Board Games (of all time) 2021 Edition. Let me know your thoughts on it down below. What games to I have too high or too low? What is your favorite from my list?

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The Game

As you play this game, you are flipping over cards and filling them in on a bus line/subway line. For example, I flip a five and decide to fill in five spots on the blue line. I cross out that many spots and put the number five in the first open spot on the bus for green. This shows that I’ve filled in something on the green line once. I flip another card, it’s a four, I could fill that in on the purple line, but purple shares a station with green four spots out, and I already filled in that station, so I’d be wasting one if I filled in purple. So I put it in blue, and you do this until you have every spot on the buses filled in. There are some special cards as well, there’s a free space that allows you to fill in a spot, and there’s a transfer which scores you points for how many different lines come into that station. You get points for completed lines and for transfers, but you lose points if you have too many stations not filled in.

The Breakdown

The game does one thing that I really want my roll and write games to do, and that is that everyone plays at once. I flip a card and everyone picks and fills in on their own sheet a line. Theoretically that could mean that everyone would make it identical, but the odds of that are extremely low. But I generally want my light games like this one to have little to no downtime.

Saying that, though, I do think you have some interesting decisions to make. Odds are you won’t fill in every station or get every route, so you need to play where and when you are placing on lines so that you aren’t cutting yourself short. I did not mention one type of card when I was talking about that, and that is the skip card. It allows you to start in the first available spot on the line, and then skip over a group of filled in ones to continue filling it. So you have decisions when you get that to see how much you can fill up, because the more you put in, the more lines cross, and the more likely you are to not be able to fill in the full number on the card flipped, hence wasting some.

Components

I also want to point out the components for the game. They are really nice. It comes with dry erase markers which are nice, which of course means it comes with laminated or dry erase boards, so you don’t have to do that yourself. Or, you won’t run out of sheets as well if you don’t laminate. It also has an insert to keep everything sitting nicely, which it does. Overall, just well designed components for the game. The box might be a little bit large, but because of the insert, nothing rattles around.

Final Thoughts

Metro X is a very solid game. While I do think that there can be some interesting decisions in the game, it isn’t too difficult to teach or play. I think that will make some people believe that it doesn’t have decisions or that many hard decisions, but there are definitely a number in the game that I would consider tough as you try and optimize the puzzle, and I like that aspect of it and that aspect generally in games, easy enough to learn but interesting decisions.

Overall, I think that this game won’t be quite enough for some players, but a lot of people will enjoy it for how simple it is but for making them think. I like it well enough for that, and I’m definitely glad that I picked it up. The game looks nice, plays nicely, and is easy enough to learn and teach, and I think you need some games like that in most collections.

Grade

Overall Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: C+
Casual Grade: A

Have you played this roll and write game? What do you think of it?

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Numbers

A’s – B’s – C’s – D’s – E and F’s – G and H’s – I, J and K’s

L’s

Lazer Ryderz

We’re starting off with a light and silly one, this one is basically light bikes from Tron the board game, with all of the 80’s gloriousness. In fact, the box even looks like a VHS tape collection (though slightly too large for one). This game has you basically creating light trails, trying to knock other people out, but more so trying to get to objectives before everyone else does to claim them as points. It’s a bunch of silly madness but works well, and it’s one of those board games that gets you up and has you moving around the table as you try and strategize. Now, not all games need to do that, but I like simple games that do for a nice bit of filler.

Status: Played

Legacy of Dragonholt

This is an RPG as much as it is a board game, but Fantasy Flight created what is basically a simple RPG in a box. Oddly enough, not the only one that will be on this part of the list, that kind of has that choose your own adventure feel. This one caught my eye because of how simple it is to play, you aren’t rolling dice, you’re basically just making decisions, and if you have skills, you can use them to open up other paths that might have been closed off if you didn’t have them. The game tells an entertaining story from what I’ve gotten through, and I think there is plenty to explore, I really need to just sit down and knock this one out.

Status: Played

Legends of Andor (Journey to the North Expansion)

Legends of Andor caught my attention a while back as a simple fantasy adventure game. Now, it isn’t extremely simple, the game has good challenge to it, but it is a lot of fun to play. Legends of Andor is very much a puzzle game as compared to a normal fantasy dungeon crawl-esque game, you want to kill off all of the monsters, but here if you do that, it progresses the story too fast and you’ll end up losing. So it’s a balancing mechanic of keeping monsters out of areas that they can do damage, while also completing objectives but not rushing the story along too fast. I like it for a game that feels like it has a lot of traditional board game mechanics, but gives it a bit of a different feel with the puzzle like twist.

Status: Played

Letter Jam

Another GenCon game that I got to try there, I couldn’t pick it up because it was sold out. Let me say that the first experience I had with the game was questionable, this is a cooperative word game, and I don’t think that all the players knew it was cooperative because the gal giving a demo did a very bad job demoing the game. But I’ve gotten to play it since then, including a second demo of it at GenCon and that one was much better, and I have enjoyed the game every time that I’ve played this. This game borrows from Hanabi where your cards are facing away from you, but in this one, it’s a word game, you are trying to figure out what word you might have, but everything is all mixed up in front of you and only one letter of yours is up at a time. People are giving clues that use letters that they can see (so not their own), plus any additional letters that there might be or a wild letter so that people can narrow down what their letters are and figure them out before the end of the game so they can unscramble their word. Overall, a really fun and clever game, it also plays up to six which is awesome.

Status: Played

Lift Off! Get me of this Planet!

This was the first game that I ever backed on Kickstarter. Lift Off! is a cute little game with a million little meeples whom you are trying to get your color of meeple off the planet before it explodes and before your opponent does. To do this you have to prepare you launch sites by getting fuel, gear, etc. to them, and get meeples there ready to launch and wait for the right time of the day (or night) to launch. It makes a really interesting timing puzzle as you look to maximize how quickly you can get off the planet by what you can actually launch, and sometimes a spaceship, for example, might need a lot to launch so you’ll have to leave room on the ship for your opponent so that they can help you get it launched, while others, like a slingshot, might need basically nothing. It’s a fun family weight game or just a bit heavier that looks really cute and plays well.

Status: Played

The Lord of the Rings (Sauron Expansion)

This is an older Fantasy Flight game that they just reprinted with a fancy anniversary edition, and I think the older edition looks better. This game has you playing through the Lord of the Rings trilogy and it’s kind of a puzzle and push your luck game as you try and advance down the boards, playing through the major moments of Lord of the Rings, but you need to do the right combination of cards, and you need to keep your characters away from Sauron as well. This game is a bit like The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game, not in game play, but in how it handles the theme, where if you know the source material, that knowledge brings the theme more than the game play does. The Sauron expansion allows someone to play as Sauron against the group as well, which is a fun edition.

Status: Played

Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth

Another Lord of the Rings game, this one, while it has Lord of the Rings characters like Gimli and Aragorn, isn’t about the trilogy. Instead, you are playing through a campaign that comes before the trilogy as Bilbo is also a character you can play. The game is app assisted which allows it to do a lot of the house keeping for the monsters in the game. This feels like it’s based off of Mansions of Madness, and I know it uses the same base programming for the app as Mansions of Madness, but it gives you more exploration as well as then tactical combat. The game really plays in two types of scenarios, that exploration and then combat, which is fun, as you get something for all types of players. It also moves away from dice chucking like Mansions of Madness to a card system which works well.

Status: Played

Lords of Hellas (Dark Ages Expansion)

Another big and epic game, this one from Awaken Realms, it is an interesting game in that it does so many things in it. There is a drafting piece to the game, happens when you build temples, there is area control, there is fighting monsters, or fighting other players for control of the areas, you can build temples and statues, unlock new powers and go on quests. This game has a lot going on but really plays in a pretty straight forward way. I like all of what you can do because it feels like what you’re doing and what you can focus on is different than everyone else. I also like that it has four win conditions, controlling two regions and all of their sub regions on the map, controlling a number of temples, killing three monsters, or controlling a statue after it’s been built. This game is also really well balanced, we had a five player game and all of us were in a couple of turns of winning when the game ended and all of us had switched what our goal was for winning by the end as well. Really love the game.

Status: Played

The Lost Expedition (The Fountain of Youth & Other Adventures Expansion)

The Lost Expedition is one of my go to filler plus games. It feels like it’s just a bit more because it takes just a bit longer than some games, but definitely is straight forward enough to be considered a filler and it’s cooperative. You are creating paths in this game for your adventuring group to go down, during the day everyone plays down two cards (generally) and they go in numerical order, and you work together to traverse that path. In the evening, you go for another hike, this time it’s playing down the rest of the cards in your hand, but they don’t go in numerical order, but the order that you play them in. This creates some interesting game play, and for people who feel like there is an alpha gamer problem in cooperative game, The Lost Expedition counters that by not allowing that much sharing of information or really any during the card playing phase, and that’s the part that really sets up what you’re going to do.

Status: Played

Loup Garou

This is another choose your own adventure style game, more so than Legacy of Dragonholt. It has you playing through a graphic novel basically. Van Ryder games has put out a lot of them which have been quite popular. I grabbed this one at GenCon and I still need to get it played, but I like the concept and I’m very curious to try it to see if this is maybe something that I’d want to get more of. They really have about one play through per book per person, but it should be something you can then pass off to another person to play as well.

Status: To Be Played

Love Letter

Another early to my collection game because of seeing it Wil Wheaton’s Table Top, though, I think this was played on the first International Table Top Day if I remember correctly. This game is a little micro game where you are trying to get a Love Letter to the princess and you are doing that by trying to have the highest value card left in your hand when all is said and done, as long as it’s not the princess. But you can also knock other players out of the round, and if you do that, that can also cause you to win the round. It’s played over a series of rounds, but even playing up to 4 wins in a two player game, that goes extremely fast. It’s a nice tiny little game that has had a lot of versions of it put out.

Status: Played

I impressed myself there, out of all the games that start with the letter L that I own, I’ve only not played one of them. Granted, with another one I haven’t played my copy, Lazer Ryderz, but I want to once I can have more people over again. There is really such a wide variety of games in here, and I am going to go through at the end and do my favorite game for each letter, though for some that might be obvious.

What’s your favorite game that starts with the letter L? What game starting with L should I add to my collection?

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The Premise

The Characters

So let’s now talk about the level bosses. A quick recap on the concept for the level bosses, these are not levels of the characters, the character doesn’t have to be the level 4 boss to get to level 5 in character progression, in fact, I’ll be talking about some other ways to get XP in the future. But these are the bosses on the various levels of the MMORPG that the characters are stuck in. So to progress to the next level of the dungeon you need to defeat the dungeon boss for the level you are on.

What characters do on each level of the MMORPT will be leading up to the boss fight, and when you get to the boss fight, you better hope that you are prepared, there are four big things when it comes to the boss fight.

1. Evolving Boss Combat
2. Programmed Boss Combat
3. Vanguard Combat
4. Rearguard Combat

Let’s actually talk about them in reverse order of what I’ve put there. Rearguard combat is basically your guilds combat. These are the nameless people who you have in your guild and what they do in combat, is simply keep any minions or smaller bad guys off of you, the heroes, so you can fight the big bad. I want this to be pretty simple in how this works. You probably don’t send your whole guild after the minions or take your whole guild into battle with you, in fact, doing so will hurt morale and cause people to leave, so you need to try figure out the right amount. Too few and they’ll die and you might start taking minimal damage from the bosses minions, too many, you start to lose morale and members will start to leave the guild. But this is a one time thing that you set at the start of combat, basically a pre-combat thing so you can compare numbers with the minions and see what happens. You can also improve your odds, and your morale, by improving the equipment of your guild members, so you might need less to complete a battle if you do that.

Next we have the Hero Combat, this I don’t have nailed down, but I want to do some blend of die and card combat. I like chucking dice, but I don’t want it to be completely determine by what you roll and I want plenty of ways to mitigate the dice. No crit fail, you drop your sword and the boss cuts you in two, because there’s no respawning or restarting with that character. Instead, I want characters to have abilities to dodge, block, and survive, but at times attacks to be blocked of their own, or countered. I know that players will have some more powerful abilities that they can use as well. I want to go with a very MMORPG sort of feel, or video game RPG, where some things will take time to prepare or other things will have a cool down effect for an ability.

After that we have programmed combat for a boss. For video games there are a lot of videos showing exploits for a boss, because they are programmed, so they have patterns that they use. I want to emulate this in the boss battles, and I think this is how I can make boss battles seem very powerful with epic attacks and how do we beat them, all while giving the players a chance. When the boss attacks, that card goes to the bottom of the bosses attack deck, so for their first health bar, there might be only three cards, that means that you will know that is coming up and what attack to prepare against after a little bit, and after even less time if you’ve studied the boss. It takes it from being a more random style of combat to almost a puzzle that you need to figure out and beat. Now, just solving the puzzle could be really easy, but I want to combo that with the players abilities that might take time to cool down or prepare so that they can’t and won’t always have the ideal turn.

Finally, we have the evolving boss combat. Every boss is going to have two or more health bars. Most likely only the first level boss will have two, so it’ll always be “or more”. When a bar is emptied, like in a TV show where the villain gets knocked down and then comes back stronger, I always think of Power Rangers with this concept. I want to do something similar with the boss combat, the boss when their health bar hits 0, the first one or any but the final one, will add an additional one or two cards to their combat cycle and you might even remove a previous attack card from the combat cycle. So it’ll be something that the players can learn, but they’ll have to relearn the pattern and figure out the puzzle without knowing what might be coming up. Added to that, I want when the boss goes into red, so basically when it comes down to the final turn or two, I want some of those newly added cards to have additional abilities that will trigger as well, not a whole new attack, but something making the existing attack more powerful and harder for the players to deal with.

And then once defeated there will of course be loot and XP to be gained, wounds to be dealt with, and morale of your guild to be adjusted, but those are basically outside of the boss battle, and I’ll talk about them as time goes on.

What do you think of the combat idea? Is the idea of the puzzle and evolving boss combat style something that seems like it could work? Do you like chucking dice for combat (Sword and Sorcery), or do you prefer to have more card based combat (Gloomhaven)?

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