How to Play Zenith

Zenith is a two player head to head card game. You are competing for favor on different planets. But it’s not just about pulling that favor to your side of the track and getting a reward and token for it. There is more going on in the game as well.

The game can end in one of three ways. Either one player has three favor from a single planet. Or a player has four favor all from different planets. And the last way is that a player has five favor. So how do you get get favor?

You play from your hand of cards to get favor, or at least to move the planet token towards you on the track. When the token makes it all the way to you, you gain a favor token and the track resets. Let’s talk some about how the cards work.

Cards

Each card can be used for three different things. The main thing is playing out underneath a planet. You play it to the matching color planet on your side and then you activate the abilities. One is always going to move it closer to you. The other abilities will trigger to give you different benefits. These generally are gaining the resources in the game, which we’ll talk about soon.

The other two ways to use cards are based off of faction of the card. You can spend a card to gain the leader token and gain a bonus. This is a “free” action in that it uses your action for the turn, but it doesn’t cost any money or other resources. The other thing you can do is spend a card to go up on the research track. This generally manipulates the main board state or gains you more resources. But you need the rarer resource to play that.

Resources

Generally, you get resources from two different ways. Either from that research track or from playing out cards to the planets. There are two different types of resources. Zenethium is the rarer one, and one that I hope I have spelled correctly. This is for the research track. Each level of that track, for each faction, costs one more. So first level is one, then two and so on.

The other one is a more standard money or credits. These are used for playing out the cards to a planet. But as you play out cards to planet you start to get a discount. Each card on that planet discounts the next card to that planet by one. So cards, eventually, or possibly, can be free to play out.

This playing of a card and spending resources is the main loop of the game. And it continues with players doing one action at a time until a win condition is met, like I mentioned above. No counting points, or anything like that, when someone wins, they win.

What Doesn’t Work

There is an element of luck to the game. You might be going for a particular strategy and just not draw the card color that you need. If you need to get a lot of Venus cards to get your third, you better believe it will feel like they don’t show up. That said, it’s not a major negative because you can pivot and there are ways, with the leader token, to have a larger hand, or to move on the Venus (in this case) track without playing a Venus card. You just need to be smart about it, though sometimes it really is just pivot and play defense for a bit.

What Works

Artwork

Firstly, and not because it’s the most important element, but because it jumps out at you, I want to talk about the artwork on this game. The art is great, the graphic design is good. And while there are a lot of symbols you learn what they are quite quickly on BGA. I think that Zenith should come with player aids in the box, if the company wasn’t planning on them, because that’d be helpful, but you wouldn’t need them after a couple of plays.

Multiuse Cards

I also really like how you can use the cards for multiple things. It’s always a tough decision as you look at the cards and want to use them on the planets. But you know that it won’t work out perfectly for that. And the difference in hand size of being the leader or not, just one card, actually does open up so many things. And, I didn’t mention this, if you take the leader when you already have the leader you get the bonus and flip it over so you now have two more cards. But that said the research tracks are powerful and exciting as well. So you want to do everything.

Speed of the Game

Now, this one I like for two different reasons. The first being that turns are very fast. You do one action. And yes, that action might require some thinking about it, because your opponent can mess with your cards on planets, not with your hand though, so you need to think. But with that speed of the turn, the game isn’t too short.

There is be a chance for the game to go really fast, and I’ve played some fast ones. But often times it really becomes this back and forth tug of war battle that you need to strategically look for the advantage that you can get. So it feels like you do something in the game. There is and isn’t that rush towards the end of the game that is so great. And when you win, you feel like you accomplished something.

Who Is Zenith For?

I think this is for people who want a good two player head to head game. Yes, there are a lot of abstract ones out there. But Zenith is going to give you a bit of theme, at least in the artwork. And there is less of that skill gap that can develop in some abstract games. So if you know you or someone often can play two players, this is a good fit for that.

My Final Thoughts on Zenith

I really like the game a lot. It works well on BGA, and I have played this more than a handful of times at this point. And I think I’ve won every single way. The first couple of times the games went faster as all the players were fresh to the game. But as time has gone on, it’s definitely become more of that strategic game, and I love figuring out what my hand is going to be good at.

This feels like a game that a lot of people should enjoy. The artwork is good, the theme is fun, though barely there, and it is going to give you that good strategic feel. So for me it’s one that I know I’ll want to get when it comes out into print. It’s going to be a go to two player game, maybe not up there with Dice Throne, but it’ll get played probably as often as games like Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle-Earth and Hanamikoji, which from me is really high praise.

Have you checked this one out on BGA?

My Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: A-
Casual Grade: C+

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How To Play – Lost Ruins of Arnak

The goal Lost Ruins of Arnak is to accumulate as many points as possible. You do this by going up a research track, exploring locations, defeating monsters, and buying cards to put in your deck that will give you abilities and points. You do all of this over five rounds.

The main actions you do on the board are activated by placing out workers. But you only get two workers per round and rounds do not only last two turns per person. While those workers can be used for big pieces of the action, such as exploring a location, gets golden idols – worth points – and then fighting monsters at those locations, also worth points. Much of the game is around pushing up a research track and buying the cards.

The research track, if you make it to the top, is one of the best ways to get points. Though, when everyone knows that and works towards it, the points that you get don’t differ massively. But if you don’t make it to the top, you will be behind. But in game, it mainly gives you additional resources to spend. The cards are where you get more of your additional actions. Buying and playing the cards really gives you an opportunity to create an engine of what you are doing.

What Doesn’t Work

Two things, that at least without the expansion, I feel like don’t work extremely well. The first is how important the research track is. And this is really the main complaint. You need to make it to the top of the research track. If you don’t, you might do really well in other areas, but you will end up behind in points. It is just too much to catch up on. Now, that isn’t to say you can ignore everything else. The points are that much, and like I said, the research track when everyone makes it to the top is less impactful. It’s just very important to make it to the top.

The other thing is maybe more of a personal thing. But I wish that I had one more round. Granted, you’d be pushing less on the research track and optimizing for that if you had one more round. But with one more round, I feel like I could just have that one more great turn where I am using all of those cool cards that I put in my deck more than once, maybe twice. I say this knowing that most likely what would happen is I’d want another round. So five is solid for the game to keep it from going too long. But I wouldn’t mind six.

What Works

Deck Building

The deck building in this game is meaningful. And I really appreciate that. In a lot of bigger deck building games, yes it matters, but you end up with so many cards, and cycle through it so many times, you can buy whatever you can afford, for the most part. A thinner optimized deck might be better, but if you get points on cards, might as well add in another card that gives you points. Here it really matters because you don’t get that many and you don’t see them too many times.

I also like that with the deck building the cards you buy go on the bottom of the deck. So, with a thinner deck and drawing up to five cards in hand each turn, you see cards fast. I buy two cards on turn one, I know I’ll see them and can use them on turn two. Not having that delay of waiting for them to get shuffled in, and then they could be shuffled to the bottom of the deck is really nice.

Items and Relics

And I like with the relics that you get to use them right away and then they go to the bottom of the deck. Thematically, if you get supplies, they are shipped in, so you get them soon but not right away. If you get a relic, you’ve found it in the ruins. So you can use that right away. But as a trade off it uses your explore tokens to get it, which you need for the map, and has a cost for future uses.

Worker Placement

Finally, with the worker placement, I like how that grows with options throughout the game. At the start of the game you put your workers on camps to just gain resources and then hopefully you can explore fast. The locations that you explore cost a bit more to activate in future rounds, but you can activate them again, or anyone can. So now you are able to go to those spots as well and activate them. Which probably give you more resources or a variety of resources.

I also like with the worker placement that you only have two. More workers certainly could give you a ton more to do, but with the tight number of spaces to start, you’d have to add in more. And it makes how and when you use them even more impactful. If you can find a way to move a worker through an item or a relic, that is huge. And it is a really interesting part of the puzzle of the game as to how you can utilize your workers.

Who Is It For?

I think this is for someone pretty early into hobby gaming. I wouldn’t introduce hobby board games to someone with Lost Ruins of Arnak. But if they have played some other games, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Catan, and the likes, I don’t think this game is too bad to pick up.

Or it is for someone who might not be that interested in worker placement. I am someone who thinks worker placement is fine, but thematically not many of them interest me. Lost Ruins of Arnak has that fun Indiana Jones type them on a worker placement game. So that intrigued me more so, and with deck building pulled me in. I think it can be an entry point or a worker placement that is easier to get people to play.

Final Thoughts on Lost Ruins of Arnak

I really enjoy Lost Ruins of Arnak. And I suspect that I will enjoy it more as I add in the expansion stuff. It changes up the board for the research track. And it gives you variable player powers, which is something I really like. I like being unique as I play. But even without that, I really enjoy the puzzle of the game.

My negative of the research track is less around it not being interesting. The research track is pretty fun. It is more that you need to do the research track and get to the top to really have that much of a shot at winning the game. But, like I said, everyone needs to do that, which means that the points aren’t too different and it does come down to everything else in the game.

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

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How To Play Under Falling Skies

Under Falling Skies is kind of a tower defense style game where there is a mothership coming towards your underground base and there are small ships coming down as well. You are trying to keep the small ships from reaching landfall and blowing them up, as too many land, you lose. Plus then you need to research the alien mother ship before it hits landfall.

In the game you roll dice and you place one per column. The dice can be used to get energy, unlock new areas, launch fighter ships, research, or fire flak cannons. Then the alien ships will move down based off of the number on each die. But they move down one less in a column where the flak cannon is firing.

Research you get to move up on the research track as much as you can based off of the total of your dice values. Energy you gain based off die value, and the fighters you launch deal damage to certain spots in the sky based off of the die value. Finally, the little drill that unlocks new areas advances to where the die was placed. You check and see if you’ve researched the last thing, otherwise the mothership lowers.

What I Don’t Like?

One thing that isn’t my favorite in the game is the amount of house keeping that the game has. By that I mean everything I need to check. It slows down some parts of the puzzle of the game. When I place a die, I need to look at see how far they will move down. Then after all the dice are placed, I need to calculate that and move the ships again. It’s not too much or too slow, but it is more than I like.

It’s a minor thing that is more of an annoyance that I don’t like, but the ships are too pointy. Yes, this is absurd to complain about, but it’s something I don’t like. The edges of the alien ships are sharp, and I’d prefer something that’s smoother. It does also make them slightly harder to pick up. So since they are harder to pick up now you really jam your fingers onto them.

What I Like?

I really like the theme of the game and the speed of the solo play. I call this Space Invaders, but you win by blowing up the mothership. So it feels like Space Invaders mixed with Independence Day. So the theme really works, and then it’s a fast game as well. I do think the house keeping does slow things down, sometimes, but after a play, I knew how most things worked.

I also like the dice placement element. What I didn’t mention is that you roll once. Now, there are ways to roll again, if you place a white die. But the idea that higher value dice are more powerful, but they also move ships further. So the whole thing creates a good puzzle. You want to do a lot of research, you want to launch powerful fighters, you want more energy. But all of those move the alien ships further.

And while I haven’t won yet, I like that the game is always close for me. In my three plays, each one ends with me needing to get that last push of research and just ending up short. I probably need to focus a bit more on research sooner. But I love a cooperative game where it’s always on that edge of will I win or not, and Under Falling Skies, it’s on that edge.

Who Is It For?

Under Falling Skies is a solo only game, so that’s going to limit who it is for. Unlike some solo games where you maybe could kind of have a person playing the bad guy, this one is so automated with the aliens that it wouldn’t be f un. Actually, you as the player make the decision what the aliens do based off dice placement. So this is a game for a solo gamer.

I don’t know what this is the first game I would get, though, for someone who wants to get into solo gaming. There is just enough house keeping that it might feel like a lot to start. And with a bigger box size and price point than some solo games, I think there are better ones to test the water with. But if someone is looking to take the next step into solo gaming, Under Falling Skies will be great.

Under Falling Skies – Final Thoughts

Is Under Falling Skies my top solo game? I don’t think so, but it is very enjoyable. I really like how the dice placement works in the game. And the theme, for me, helps sell the game. I played Space Invaders growing up, and while that wasn’t my main computer or video game, there is nostalgia too it, same with Independence Day.

And one thing that I haven’t mentioned is the campaign mode. There is a reason that I haven’t mentioned it, I have yet to play it. The base game, thus far, is enough. There is variability just with the cities you have there and that changes up the bunker. There is so much variability just with the base game that the campaign, I will get to, but one eventually.

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

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