Week 16 (17th - 23rd February 2014) - Warhammer Paths to Victory, Beneath the City of the White Wolf: Fondling the Shaft of My Mighty Warhammer.

As per usual, I've ended up engaging in ludic self-indulgence late on a Sunday evening (and let's be honest, what better time for it?). This time around, I've been indulging in my private passion for a bit of Warhammer self-love, throttling the old gaming pole-arm in search of a bit of spirit self-satisfaction. Being a massive fan of the Warhammer universe - one which is very much primed for a bit of the old innuendo (power-fisting anyone? How about a spot of rear penetration using a rod of retribution?) - today I engaged in a bit of tomfoolery with Games Workshop's 'Paths To Victory' chose-your-own adventure rpg books. Making use of the old 'Fighting Fantasy' format, these books adapt a simplified version of GW's wargaming system to the solitaire gamebook format, and quite effectively.

On this occasion I played the Beneath the City of the White Wolf gamebook, to good effect. Typically of the warhammer universe, this fuses gritty fantasy with a Call of Cthulhu-like investigation into strange and reality-bending cults to pretty good effect. Whilst this recapitulates the classic 'Fighting Fantasy' format, GW certainly know their audience - this is definitely written for the more mature gamer, incorporating typically whacked-out GW ultra-violence with oddly prescient political statements (my encounter with a group of the rat-catchers discussing the problems of capitalistic wage-labour in the sewers under Middenheim).

Great stuff. On the Gaming Self-Abuse Guage (tm), this scores 7.5/10.

Week 15 (10th - 16th February 2014) - Okko: Furiously Polishing My Katana and Some 'One-Handed Photography'

Sadly, another rather late entry this week - something I aim to rectify shortly. Again, the consequence of this is that this post will be relatively brief, with a view to revisions being made early next week. This week's choice is Okko: Era of the Asagiri. Part of my ongoing 'series' of fantasy-based games, Okko is effectively a miniatures skirmish game (not unlike last week's entry) set in an alternative fantasy version of Japan, and presented in boardgame form (miniatures and terrain being replaced by very nice cardboard standees and geomorphic boards representing the interior of 'typical' Japanese house).

The game pits warbands of demon-hunters against villainous Oni, and involves an interesting mechanic involving dice with elemental symbols on their faces which allow characters to activate special abilities when rolled. That said, I did initially find the game to be a rather pedestrian implementation of IgoUgo mechanics involving fairly standard move/shoot/melee procedures. I

Additionally, this is not strictly speaking a solitaire affair, but due to the fact that no hidden information is typically involved in gameplay, Okko can be soloed fairly easily. Production values are outstanding, but my initial experiences lead me to suspect that there might not be much outside of the lovely look of the game to commend it. That said, I have only played the basic introductory scenario so there may be more to Okko - the only problem being that this initial experience hasn't really suggested that the game may be worth revisiting. On the Gaming Self-Abuse Gauge (tm) this currently scores a 6.5/10.

 

A badly taken photo of the game set-up. The shaky camerawork here is, I imagine, a result of some one-handed photography (if you know what I mean) - presumably in anticipation of some hot three-way action (the scenario displayed being, of course, played with three characters on either side).

Week 14 (3rd - 9th February 2014): Dwarf King's Hold - Beating Off The One-Eyed Bone Monster

Update to come, but the game was played a couple of days ago. Photo below says it happened. Poor production values, but excellent game coming in at an 8/10 on the Gaming Self-Abuse Gauge (tm).

Dungeon tiles laid out to play the first scenario

 

As per the post title: a Dwarf warrior prepares to administer a damned good bludgeoning to a monocular skeletal beast

 

Ok, just a quick update. As part of the series of fantasy-themed games I'll be playing for the next few weeks, I've chosen a game that has been on my shelf for a while, but another as-yet unplayed offering: Mantic Games' Dwarf King's Hold. Basically, this is a fantasy version of Space Hulk, where two asymmetric sides (Dwarfs outnumbered by Undead) battle it out using miniatures in mission-based scenarios in the eponymous dungeon environment. The game rules are relatively simple, but their simplicity belies the fact that the game involves a significant degree of tactical nuance and depth. The game also plays fairly quickly (I managed two games in under an hour) depending on the scenario chosen. I have to say, this is an outstanding game - at least in terms of gameplay.

Where Dwarf King's Hold suffers a little is in production values. The game comes with over 30 plastic miniatures (which need to be assembled and painted), and these are of solid quality but nothing exceptional (the miniatures displayed in the photos above are not from the game - I already had a number of painted Games Workshop Dwarf and Undead miniatures, so employed these in my first games). The dungeon tiles and counters are workmanlike, but are relatively thin when compared to the quality of similar tiles one finds in games such as Fantasy Flight's Descent, and the game box is a very flimsy affair. Another downside is that the game isn't really set up to be playable solitaire as some hidden information is involved - so on this occasion I ended up playing both sides. As such, this doesn't quite fit the description of being a solo game.

These issues aside, the game is eminently playable, and an excellent introduction to skirmish-level miniature wargaming with a fantasy theme. As per the above, this still retains its score of 8/10.

Week 13 (27th January - 2nd February 2014): The Lord of the Rings Bord Game - Fingering My Own Ring

 

What it says in the post title.

Well, I'm up to week 13 which - for good or ill - represents the quarterway mark through my 52 week journey of ludic self-abuse. Continuing the fantasy boardgame theme, this week I've given another Tolkien co-op game a go: Riener Knizia's The Lord of the Rings boardgame. As per last week's post, my time is limited at present, so I'll be keeping this short - with regard to which, this blog is primarily intended as motivation for my personal journey through my gaming collection, not an attempt to offer in-depth game reviews. Even so, time permitting I may return to some of the shorter posts in order to add more depth (last week's Runebound certainly warrants this, it being one of my favourite games of all time).

Lord of the Rings game setup

Lord of the Rings is a lovely little game, albeit a little abstract for my tastes (to be expected given the designer). Regardless, the game is quite a nice little representation of the hobbits' famous journey through the narrative of Tolkien's epic. The game's core mechanic is card-based, with each player (who each take on the role of one of the named hobbits from the novel) using cards drawn throughout the game which are then used to complete various tasks or overcome specific challenges during each turn. This will ultimately lead to the players completing the journey to Mordor and casting the One Ring into Mount Doom, or become corrupted by the Ring's influence and thus lose the game.

This latter occurs as players are also tasked at various points in the game with rolling the Mordor dice, usually with dire consequences: either moving the hobbits towards the Sauron marker on the main board, or moving Sauron towards the hobbits. If at any point Sauron and the hobbit who is currently designated as the Ring Bearer end on the same space, the Ringberarer is corrupted and Sauron is victorious. The game is relatively challenging, and took me about an hour and forty minutes to play from start to finish (I lost on this occasion). One potential issue from a solitaire perspective is that the game has to be played using a minimum of two hobbits/players, and each player is required not to reveal their cards to other players. However, the rules do allow players to communicate freely the content of their hands, such that playing solitaire is not really a problem if the no reveal rule (which seems somewhat redundant anyway) is simply ignored.

This being another of Fantasy Flight Games' fare, the production values are extremely high, and notable for the inclusion of famed Tolkien artist John Howe's illustrations on the game boards.

Overall a solid little game, especially for fans of Tolkien. If a little abstract, the game nonetheless does give a sense of the story of LotR. On the Gamic Self-Abuse Scale (tm), this scores 7.5/10.