Every 100 Games Series - 7 Wonders

I'm finally caught up with my reviews! My 5,300th game played was 7 Wonders on a Sunday afternoon with my buddy Ryan from Minnesota and my wonderful wife. I was surprised, I had not reviewed this game yet since it currently is my 4th most played game ever with 83 plays. So here is the review of a game that I've played many times, so you know that I know it in and out.

Game Play
In 7 Wonders 2-7 players, are controlling ancient civilizations building up their science, military, commerce, and industry, not to mention their specific ancient wonder like the Pyramids or the Colossus! It is a drafting game, simply meaning you get a group of cards, choose one, then pass the rest to your neighbor. It is all done simultaneously, so nobody has their own turn.This is done over three ages and the the scores are added up for the winner. You have to balance getting resources, in order to build better buildings in the future, with money to buy resources from your neighbors, with just working on your wonder to right your name in history! Usually games take about 30 minutes, with any number of players.

Components
The art in this game is what drew me in. I think it is absolutely great. It shows temples, market places, fortresses, and all the other ancient world buildings you would expect to see in glorious and detail color drawings. There are a ton of large Tarot sized cards, 7 wonder boards showing the wonders of the ancient world, and tokes for money and military points. The iconography makes sense for the most part, though it can be a bit overwhelming for a new player.

Strategy & Tactics
Without expansions, the game can be very much a tactical experience. You do need to take into account what you'd  like to do in the future and what your opponents are doing in order to at least consider taking a card that they want. However, the more of a specific type of card you get, the more likely you will get more of that type of card, since some cards allow you to build the next age's card for free. The game does seemed balanced, but like any other game, if you allow your opponent to do something unfettered, then you will probably lose.

Overall
I love 7 Wonders. Without a doubt one of the greatest games of all time in my opinion. I remember playing it for the first time at GenCon on a prototype version and immediately trying to purchase it from them there, even though none were for sale. What really makes it shine is that 7 players can play it, it is a deep filler game, and it only takes 30 minutes to play even with that many players. They are going to do 7 expansions for it (at least that is what I've heard) so there will be plenty of variability if you want it. Though I've only bought the Leaders expansion and am happy with just it.

Recommendations
Family Gamers - Surprisingly to me, this is not a great family game, unless your family are gamers. I've played it a few times with my family and icon confusion ensued. It became more of a stressful game than a fun game at that point.

Civ Games Fans - I think this is a try before you buy. In my mind most people looking for a civ game want a deeper game than this, but if you are looking for a civ themed game, then for sure pick this up, because the art really gives it that feel.

People Who Don't Like Confrontation - This game is perfect for you. There is some military in it, but you don't get to choose who you fight and it isn't that personal. So let your war mongering husband (which often is me) build that huge military. He can't wipe you out anyways.

*Every 100 Games Series - Back in March of 2006 I began tracking each session of the various board and card games I play. I soon got the idea to write a review on every 100th game I played, one because I like writing reviews, and two because it is interesting to see what game I review next. You can find a list of all of them here: Every 100 Games Series Reviews. All images are from BGG and if you follow their URL you can find them there.

Every 100 Games Series - One Night Ultimate Werewolf

During Geekway to the West, I played this game 12 different times. One of those times was my 5,200th played game. One Night Ultimate Werewolf was the go to filler for me during that convention, since so many people already know the basic premise of the game and we could get it going quickly.

Game Play
Well, if you've ever played Werewolf/Mafia, then you know the basic premise of this game. There are hidden roles such as werewolves, seer, villagers, masons, town drunk, and other roles that are dealt out to all the players secretly. There are also three roles that are put in the center that nobody knows about. Then everyone closes their eyes, werewolves open their eyes to see who the other werewolves are, other roles do various things such as switch with another player, look at other player roles, open their eyes to see who is on their team, etc. Once all the special abilities have been taken, the game begins. Basically everyone talks and vote simultaneously for the person they think is a werewolf. Whoever gets the most votes is lynched and the game is over. If a werewolf dies the villager team wins. If a villager dies, the werewolf team wins. That is it. Usually takes about 10-15 minutes and doesn't even need a moderator like the regular version of Werewolf!

Components
There isn't a whole lot to this game. Just some rules and role cards with cute art on them. They are more like tiles than cards, which if it is anything like my copy of Avalon, will see a lot of wear. Perhaps regular sized cards that could be sleeved would've been better. However, the game only costs like $12, so just buy another copy if it gets too worn out.

Strategy & Tactics
You got to be a good liar or be able to read other people. The same things that apply in regular Werewolf apply in this game. You try to catch people in a lie, try to see where they slipped up in telling their story. Perhaps it is you who takes a chance and says you are the Seer, hoping against hopes that the Seer is one of the 3 cards in the middle and nobody else can refute you. The game is all about the slow con or the fast one.

Overall
I loved this game for several reasons. It is very fast. It doesn't require a moderator, which though fun, can be a big downside in regular Werewolf. There are enough variety in the roles to give each game a different and fun feel. There is no player elimination, which can be a huge downside in regular Werewolf. To wrap it up, this game is absolutely great and for the price, I don't think you can go wrong, unless you absolutely hate hidden role games.

Recommendations
Resistance Owners - This is me. So this recommendation is to me as well as others. Buy the game. Sometimes people get tired of playing the same lying, hidden role game out there. This one gives you options.

Regular Werewolf/Mafia Players - I'd say get this as well. It might not be the same as Werewolf, but if you only have 8 players, I think this is a better choice. Even if you have 10 players, I still think it is a better choice, simply because of player elimination. I'm not sure I'll ever play a regular version of Werewolf again.

Honest Abe Gamers - Don't bother. Still lots of lying in this one. So if you don't like doing that or just are really poor at it, then you might skip this one. Sometimes it is a good thing to be a good liar or maybe it is a good thing that you are a bad liar?

*Every 100 Games Series - Back in March of 2006 I began tracking each session of the various board and card games I play. I soon got the idea to write a review on every 100th game I played, one because I like writing reviews, and two because it is interesting to see what game I review next. You can find a list of all of them here: Every 100 Games Series Reviews. All images are from BGG and if you follow their URL you can find them there.

Every 100 Games Series - Arctic Scavengers

Back in March, I made the best math trade of my math trade career and got several games I enjoy quite a bit. One of those games, which also happens to be my 5,100th game played, is Arctic Scavengers. A deck-building game, where players are placed in 2097 during the next ice age and where over 90% of the population has died off leaving everyone else to scavenge for survival!

Game Play
Arctic Scavengers is a deck-building game, where players spend food or meds to purchase from pre-set piles of items and tribe members. They then use these various items such as rifles, toolkits, spears, with their new tribe members like the thugs or scouts to fight over other important tribe members or items in the contested deck. Then when you play with the expansions that are included in the game, you can also build buildings to store cards, have a leader that gives you a special ability only, and several other tweaks to the game. The game ends when that last contested card is taken, which happens each round by comparing the fighting ability of the tribe members, and then players count up their population points which are on tribe members. The person with the most points gets the win.

Components
This has the worst box insert ever. A game like this, with lots of cards, needs a good insert, but though there are spaces for all the cards, the box insert with the extra boards makes it so the box won't shut and sticks up maybe an inch. So I cut as much off the bottom of the insert as possible, however that still didn't work. Right now I have the cards in baggies. I'm going to make my own insert. As for the rest of the game, a few card board pieces, but mostly cards. The art is sort of dark, matching the theme, but I like it. Quality of the cards is nice as well.

Strategy & Tactics
There seems to be a lot of strategy this game. You can try and win by getting a lot of strength to fight for the contested cards at the end of the round, which can result in a lot of points, but are more random. You can just work on getting the big point scoring options on the board or try and win the three different majorities in buildings, tools, and meds if you are using the expansion. You always have the option of trashing cards, so that makes for a lot of great decisions as well.

Overall
I really like this game. I've yet to play it with 2 players, but with 3, 4, or 5 players I enjoy it a lot. Currently for 2014, it is my favorite new-to-me game. It fits a great spot in my collection and is the next step in deck--building for those not-so new players out there. The theme is really carried out I feel in the game, simply by having that contested deck that players fight over. When you do that, it really becomes important to read the starting player's bluff to know if you should fight over that card. Digging in the junkyard, which I haven't even mentioned above, is also very thematic as you can get junk literally and nothing else. This is a game that will continue to remain in my collection for a long time.

Recommendations 
Dominion & Ascension Owners - Get this game if you can find it. It fits that different spot between the two. Dominion has all its cards out at the beginning, Ascension is random every round, this is right in-between with lots of player interaction for a card game.

Thematic Fans - I think you can pick this one up. It isn't the 3 hour slug fest you are used to getting in on, but it is still a 45 minute slug fest with some good theme.

New Gamers - I don't think this is for new gamers. You'll probably want to start with Dominion or Ascension in the deck-building category first. Then if you either don't like those or have played those out, then you can go to this one for more complicated game play or another twist to see if you like it.

*Every 100 Games Series - Back in March of 2006 I began tracking each session of the various board and card games I play. I soon got the idea to write a review on every 100th game I played, one because I like writing reviews, and two because it is interesting to see what game I review next. You can find a list of all of them here: Every 100 Games Series Reviews. All images are from BGG and if you follow their URL you can find them there.

Every 100 Games Series - Love Letter

I've now played 5,000 games since March of 2006. That is a whole lot of games. If you like numbers, let me break it down for you. That is 625 games a year, 52 games a month, 1.71 games a month. Now some of those games took 4 or 5 hours to play, one of them 8.5 hours, but most of them are of the under one hour variety. The 5,000 game played was Love Letter by AEG.

Game Play
Love Letter is part of this new "Micro Game" trend going on, where a lot of game is made from a small amount of components. In Love Letter there are 16 cards, numbered 1-8, that have some special powers. The goal is to be the person with the highest numbered card at the end of the round or somehow knock your opponents out through the round so that you are the only player left. If you do either of these things, you get a point, and the first to 4 points wins. A turn is simply draw a card, play a card, that is it. Extremely simple game.

Component
As I said above, only 16 cards come in the game, with some red cubes to indicate score. That is it. The original version of the game came in a bag. Now they have multiple versions of the game and all of them are available in a small box. I personally purchased the original Japanese art version of the game, because at that time it was the only one with a box, but I like the Tempest branded artwork best.

Strategy & Tactics
There aren't a lot of choices in this game. Since you just draw and play a card. However, it is all about odds. You know there are exactly 5 soldiers, so if you've seen 4 other soldiers already, then your opponent has less of a chance of having a soldier. This game is more about playing your opponent, with what card you have, than it is about the deep developed plans of an ultimate world victory.

Overall
I think Love Letter was a good purchase for me, but it won't ever be in my Top 50 Games of All Time (said with a deep echo-y voice). I've found that the game can take too long for what it is. I got it for a quick filler that is really simple to explain, sometimes though the filler portion doesn't fit is, as I've played a couple games that lasts 45 minutes. Usually, I'm not a house rule type person, but I've started house ruling this one to play only to 3 points and sometimes 2 points. Which, in my mind, means the game didn't accomplish what it was intended to accomplish.

Recommendations
Ladies - Yes, I'm going to stereotype here, after all isn't that what my recommendations always are? I think ladies would like this game. The theme of a princess and love letters, the very fast explanation of rules, this one has gone over well. Even with my mom, who avoids games like the plague unless they are word games.

Fire Fighters - That's right. I've always wanted to recommend a game to fire fighters. I'm going to recommend this one for no particular reason.

Hardcore Gamers - This is probably a pass, unless you are going to keep it like me, not for playing with gamers of any sort. Just for family gatherings. It doesn't fit the filler time frame, it isn't that strategic, there are just a lot of other options that accomplish your goals in a game day.

*Every 100 Games Series - Back in March of 2006 I began tracking each session of the various board and card games I play. I soon got the idea to write a review on every 100th game I played, one because I like writing reviews, and two because it is interesting to see what game I review next. You can find a list of all of them here: Every 100 Games Series Reviews. All images are from BGG and if you follow their URL you can find them there.