A quick look at the games I played at the UK Games Expo 2013
Alhambra First Impressions UK Games Expo 2013
Alhambra is a tile laying game by Queen Games. Use money to buy tiles for your play area but if you buy for ‘exact change’, meaning the right amount of money, you play another action.
Very enjoyable and light.
Alhambra Update 18/05/2018
Since first playing the game at the UK Games Expo 2013 I’ve played it a few times since.
It’s a weird one for me, it’s one of those games that when I think about it I don’t like it, but when I play it I enjoy it… No idea why.
I like the efficiency required to play this game well. You can take money but do you take several small amounts or 1 big one? Do you skip that to buy a tile and if you do do you place it now or put it to one side?
Do you even buy a new tile or build an existing one you bought earlier?
Then you have to consider which tiles you place where in your play area. You have to pay attention to those oh so important walls so you give yourself options later, but also they will score you points.
Then you have to think of the colours and how you match up to the other players for scoring?
There’s a lot to consider and because the system is so easy to play it’s not too taxing on the brain 🙂 It’s the same level as Ticket to Ride with a good simplicity to strategy ratio.
This is a game I would never suggest, but wouldn’t feel too bad about being asked to play.
New York (Alhambra Re-theme) Mini Review
A re-theme of Alhambra to early to mid 20th Century New York.
If you want Alhambra without the looming pressure of a load of expansions, this is a good (cheap) option 🙂
4/10
Guildhall Review UK Games Expo 2013
Guildhall is a set collection game from AEG.
It sold out on the day so that probably tells you how enjoyable it is.
You have a choice of 2 actions per turn
- Discard any cards and draw up to 6
- Play a Guild member
- Complete a Score
You can’t play people from the same guild more than once per turn.
You can’t play a guild member if you have the same one of that colour already in your guild.
Each guild member does something different. Assassins kill people, Traders trade guild members, Dancers let you draw cards and take actions…
Completing a mission gets you points and an additional awesome action.
It’s a very fun game. Well worth picking up.
Guildhall Update 18/05/2018
So this game is simple and fun.
You’re either gaining cards, playing cards into sets or cashing sets in for points. The larger the set the more powerful the ability you get when you add to it. But, the larger sets are more vulnerable to attacks from opponents.
Each of the Guilds is good, yeah you may have your favourites but none of them are cards you wouldn’t want to activate at any point.
But, It’s too ‘take that’ and stressful for me and it’s a ‘race to a target number of points’ game which I generally don’t like.
I wouldn’t seek this one out and I would avoid playing it if possible… But don’t let my opinion put you off giving it a go.
I’ve only played the base set but there was an expansion or two for the original. They released a ‘Fantasy’ series which has a number of boxes with different guilds you can mix or match.
Also, the rule book says it’s a “one pig town” but the guy on the box is clearly holding 2 pigs 🙂
Lords of War Review UK Games Expo 2013
Had a chance to demo Lords of War.
It’s a tactical war game where you place cards onto a board and you they attack in different directions.
It’s interesting and fairly fun. I personally feel it would be 10x better if the creatures were square and it was 4 player.
It’s coming out as an app so I’ll pick that up rather than a physical game.
Lords of War Update 18/05/2018
I mean, I don’t like this game at all, I didn’t even pick the app up.
There are some decent parts of the game. The tactical placement of cards in order to get the best out of them. The combat is fine and the abilities on the cards are OK and they make you think about how you use each one.
Now, to be honest, I don’t remember much about the game which is usually a bad thing although it has been 5 years 🙂 I do remember being told it was similar to a game in Final Fantasy? Hopefully, that makes sense to you and if not you can be on my team 🙂
It’s not a unique game either really. There are games like this around if not exactly the same they may use this similar combat style.
But no, not really a game for me this one.
Yes, it’s tactical, yes there are A LOT of possibilities for races, abilities etc and it could have been really good, but it’s not.
I agree with my initial impression, square cards, larger grid and a 4 player option would have been better. Maybe it exists, I don’t know, I’m not that bothered about looking into the game any further. (Although curiosity got the better of me and BGG says the game plays 2-8)
There are games like Summoner Wars that do it a lot better with a more interesting game system.
Keyflower Review UK Games Expo 2013
Keyflower from R&D Games. On my to buy list for this weekend.
I picked up 4 other tile games by various methods yesterday so this will need to be special.
It’s basically a normal city builder but you can bid and/or activate central tiles.
It’s an interesting system that allows for flexibility on your turn.
Love the bidding, upgrading etc. very tactical.
There is a lot to think about so AP comes into play. As the guys I’m demoing with will tell you 🙂
Keyflower Update 18/05/2018
I bought this game at the UK Games Expo 2013 and played it several times over the next few months.
I like the look and feel of the game. It’s very ‘sweet’ with the cute tiles and different colour Meeples. The screens have a nice ‘homely’ feel in front and behind them which is really really nice.
The tiles are nice and the little town you build up looks really pretty.
The bidding is cool too. The way you need to match the colour of already placed Meeples and can ‘outbid’ by just placing more. You also have a fair bit to think about when bidding when you look at the tiles and the ships coming in, which do you need?
You put it all together and use movement points to move resources around all that is really great.
But, the problem is towards the end of the game you can gain tiles that score you plenty of points. This is fine but you’re not sure which ones will be available so you don’t know what to aim for, right?
You might have gained all the coal in the world and found it worthless at the end of the game. Or, maybe you accidentally gained a tonne of coal and then you happen upon a tile that makes that Coal a game winner.
It’s the only thing that lets Keyflower down.
Green Meeples for the win! 🙂
Shadows Over Camelot: The Card Game Review UK Games Expo 2013
Shadows over Camelot: The Card Game is a hidden role, bluffing memory card game.
It’s very different.
Roles are dealt out, someone is a hidden baddie.
Each player reveals a card from the top of a deck which essentially has 5 suits numbered 2 to 5.
Each suit also has a ‘?’ card which is the square root of each ‘?’ card for that suit revealed so far.
You reveal cards from the top of the deck covering the ones underneath. The goal is to remember when one of the suits totals 11, 12 or 13 and go on the quest for that suit.
If it does you win and gain X white swords depending on the suit.If it doesn’t you lose and gain X black swords depending on the suit.
So lots of maths and memory.
The goal of the hidden bad guy is to bluff and make sure the team go on the mission while it is OVER the goal total.
It’s not that impressive.
There are Morgana cards that can be revealed that have several effects, the most important being that no one is allowed to communicate in any way until a Merlin card is revealed.
That made the game interesting as out of the 6 of us, 5 hadn’t played and the first card out was Morgana.
Merlin cards do stuff too, usually to help you in some way.
It wasn’t great but we had fun and it was good playing with new people.
Shadows Over Camelot: The Card Game Update 18/05/2018
Not one I think about to be honest. I’ve played the Shadows Over Camelot: The Board Game a couple of times since this and while that’s better, it’s only OK
So yeah, five years later, not much to say really. Better games are available if you’re playing the card game or the board game.
However, the mix of bluffing, deduction and memory with a traitor is fairly unique.
So that was UK Games Expo 2013. An enjoyable event for my first time!
Jesta ThaRogue