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A Gaming Life
Expansion Review – Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery & Foundations
When Stronghold Games announced that one of my favourite games, Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition was getting not one, but three expansions, I was pretty excited.
And judging from the hits on that post I just linked, you were too!
My friend who owns that game jumped on the Kickstarter for the trio of expansions (I think they are coming to retail individually in a staggered manner, but I’m not sure) and they finally arrived!
The Crisis expansion is a cooperative one and not one that we will probably play. As I said in my April Gaming post, we don’t really do many cooperative games at our game day.
But Discovery and Foundations were definitely on the docket!
Both expansions (as well as the original game) were designed by Sydney Engelstein, Jacob Fryxelius, and Nick Little with artwork by Nio Mendoza and were obviously published in 2023 since they just arrived.
This review is going to be about both expansions since both will forever be used in our games now.
Were they worth the wait?
Let’s take a look.
Read MoreTerraforming Mars – Prelude 2 Expansion Coming to Kickstarter Soon
(Edit: 9/4/23) – Rather than edit this post with a bunch of stuff, check out the announcement that the Kickstarter opens on September 5…and there is a lot of stuff!
(Edit 8/30/23) – While the campaign is not live, it’s up on Kickstarter so you can be notified when it does!
And it really sounds like there will be some great possibilities available!
(Edit 6/8/23) – I’m late with this, but apparently the Kickstarter will launch in September, but no specific date yet.
See here for some card previews, though!)
(Edit: 5/15/23) – More news about this from designer Jacob Fryxelius on Boardgame Geek.
He gave a breakdown of what’s going to be in this 54-card expansion, as follows:
“If you play with all expansions (Venus, Colonies, and Turmoil): Use all the new cards (5 corporations, 25 preludes, and 24 project cards)!
If you use only Venus: 5 corporations, 19 preludes, and 7 project cards.
If you use only Colonies: 5 corporations, 19 preludes, and 3 project cards.
If you use only Turmoil: 5 corporations, 19 preludes, and 8 project cards.
If you don’t use any of those expansions: 5 corporations, 16 preludes, and 0 project cards.
There are 6 project cards that require 2 of the expansions (for example Venus + Colonies).“
Sounds pretty good so far! He also mentioned that it will come to Kickstarter sometime in the next two months most likely.
Looking forward to seeing what’s all in there.
Now back to the original post.
Apparently, Terraforming Mars is getting one last expansion, something that will still fit in the Big Box (which I know you all love).
Called Prelude 2 (is that going to be its final name?), this expansion will include new project cards, 5 new corporations, ongoing Prelude effects, and Prelude cards that will focus on interacting with the other expansions.
That last one is what some people who own everything have been waiting for.
In addition, though, Fryx Games stated that there will be “a couple of other brand new TM-related items, among them a new promo pack, but also some secret new additions.”
Somebody on Facebook suggested that new Colony tiles would be great.
But who knows?
Thanks to BGG user Mak Vujanović for breaking this news on Boardgame Geek.
This is quite exciting as a fan of the game (though it has fallen a bit just because of the difficulty of getting it to the table).
What about you? Are you excited?
Or kind of in “wait and see” mode?
I understand if you don’t use all of the expansions, some of these Prelude cards may not be of interest.
But we’ll have to see how they take care of that.
More news when it hits Kickstarter (which there’s no indication of a date right now).
Expansion Review – Clank in Space: Cyber Station 11
Finally, my set is complete!
Clank in Space is always near the top of my games played. I just love the deckbuilding aspects, how the board works, and how you can end the game without any points.
Ok, I don’t love that last part, but that’s only when I’m the one with zero points.
Otherwise I laugh hysterically!
I also really enjoy the two expansions I’ve already reviewed, Apocalypse and Pulsarcade.
However, I just haven’t been able to get the Cyber Station 11 expansion to the table (other than using the cards) since I got it.
That finally ended last weekend, and I think I can finally review it now.
Clank in Space: Cyber Station 11 was designed by Evan Lorentz and Tim McNight with artwork by a fair number of people (check the BGG page linked above). It was published by Dire Wolf Digital and Renegade Game Studios in 2019.
This expansion adds a couple of interesting things to this already great game.
Since I explained how to play Clank in Space in my review, I’ll just go into the additions below.
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Asymmetry in Games
We’re back to Canadian Club after some Crown Royal over the last week or two.
That’s not bad, of course. It’s a mainstay!
But maybe that’s why I’m thinking about asymmetry in boardgames for this Friday Night Shot.
Or maybe not.
Actually, the reason I’m thinking of it is because of a post from fellow blogger No Rerolls, who did a Throwback Thursday to an old post about asymmetric games.
I haven’t read the old post yet. I didn’t want it to influence what I’m going to say and look like I was copying (but really, you should check out that blog. It’s a good one).
I got to thinking, with the brain cells that are left, what is it that we like so much about asymmetric games?
Or, if you hate them, why do you hate them?
Of course, the best example I can think of just off the top of my head is the wonderful Root by Leder Games and Cole Wehrle.
Root (and its many expansions) is a game about control of the Woodland map (but the expansions have offered different maps!) with every faction having its own way of doing things and its own way of getting points.
The game is a race to 30 points (unless somebody starts going for a Domination victory, but that’s different) and each faction does its own thing.
The Eyrie is trying to build roosts in a bunch of clearings but its restricted by its “decree,” where you have to play cards to it and then do those actions each turn. If you are unable to, you go into Turmoil, lose a bunch of points, and have to begin again (though your roosts remain).
Read MoreNew to Me – April 2023
As mentioned in my April Gaming post, April was not a banner month for games.
Too much time off and missing a regular game day really sank that.
It also affected my “new to me” games because I only got two of them played!
While I will admit that I enjoyed both games, there were really no knockout games that just floored me.
One might do that if I get the right players, but that certainly wasn’t this time.
The Cult of the New to Me was happy, though. Even though one of the games was from 2021, the other one was from 2015.
2015!
They were placated, though there’s always that undercurrent of rebellion if I play too many Cult of the New games.
Being a cult leader is hard work.
Anyway, without further ado (all of my ado rusted away before I could use it anyway), let’s get this show on the road!
Read MoreSpace Base: Genesis Coming…Soon From Alderac Entertainment Group
Two posts in one day!
But having seen this, I had to post it as soon as possible.
I saw a tweet from Alderac Entertainment Group over the weekend (it was from Friday but I didn’t see it!) announcing a new Space Base expansion coming out.
What’s this? Over 100 new ships, mechanics and colonies?
Sign me up!!!!
These three example cards look really intriguing.
Moving a set of dice three times! Gaining income based on how many sectors have deployed cards?
Wow.
Literally nothing else has been released about this (though designer John D. Clair apparently put up a Print and Play prototype version of it a couple years ago), including a release date.
I’m assuming it will be in the next few months, but who knows?
Stay tuned and we’ll find out more.
I have to say that I’m really happy this isn’t another “saga” expansion.
I like some of the stuff that came out in the previous two saga expansions (The Emergence of Shy Pluto and The Mysteries of Terra Proxima), but I didn’t really enjoy the saga format.
And I have to say that there is plenty of space left in the Command Station big box, so it will be good to have new content in it!
What do you think of this? Excitement? Derision?
Fatigue?
Let me know in the comments.
April 2023 Gaming
After a robust March of gaming, April took a bit of a downturn.
The lack of a convention along with missing a Sunday game day and being off for a week so there were no lunch time games that week, all of that combined to get a lackluster month of gaming.
But they were still fun and there were still some highlights!
Thanks to Boardgame Stats once again for the app that collects all of this stuff.
In April, I played 13 games a total of 19 times, and only two new to me games!
That post is going to be a bit short.
Anyway, here are those games shown in a grid format.
What were some of the highlights?
Let’s take a look.
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – How Do You Learn a Game?
We’ve come a long way in this hobby (especially wargames, since that’s what I used to play in my youth) since the days where there were very few games coming out each year so everybody who was interested in gaming actually was playing those same few games.
In those days, most players had the game, scanned through the rulebook, and just made do. I actually don’t recall how I learned to play things like Squad Leader, War & Peace, or the like.
I know I played with my brother, but I don’t remember how I learned them.
I was a kid. That was 40+ years ago. The memory fades.
Nowadays, though, there are plenty of ways to learn a game, and it varies by the player!
This came to mind today when I sat down at lunch at my office and read through the rulebook for Skies Above Britain from GMT. I’ve been doing that for a few lunches now, going through the introductory scenarios as suggested in the rulebook, learning the dogfight mechanic, the attacking bombers mechanic, and today was the Intercept Phase.
I like this programmed instruction method, though the game is still boggling my mind a bit.
But back then, we didn’t have that!
Somebody usually has to read the rulebook, though not always.
This is where the quality of the rulebook can be an issue. Hopefully the rulebook is good enough that it can help.
I actually taught Wayfarers of the South Tigris after having read the rulebook twice and nothing else.
I didn’t even get the game out and look at it on the table at all.
When I taught the game, I used the same teaching order as the rulebook is, doing the concepts and then how a turn goes, etc.
That’s how I learned the game, and it seemed to work pretty well.
In the future, I may modify it slightly, telling people how a turn works before backtracking and detailing what those various actions mean.
But it was just the rulebook.
Nothing else.
Read MoreShards of Infinity: Saga Collection Coming Soon from Stone Blade
(Edit: 7/12/23) – The campaign went live a couple of days ago and I’m unenthused. This is a great purchase for anybody who doesn’t already have the game. The game is great and you should definitely check it out!
But if you’ve bought everything (or pretty much everything), the $60 (plus $20 shipping to the US, $35(!) shipping to Canada) this just is not a great deal for you. You’re getting the board. You’re getting upgraded spinners that will hopefully actually stay on the number you put them on. You’re getting some updated art work on the Destiny cards (no changes to the regular card art work, though apparently some of the cards themselves have been rebalanced).
There’s also an additional faction, so there are some new center deck cards for that faction as well. And Kickstarter exclusives! Can’t forget that.
If you don’t have any of this, this is a great deal. Eighty bucks for the game, three expansions, promos, exclusives, etc. But for me, this is a hard pass. Way too expensive for what I’m getting. Yes, I can sell what I have to make some of it back, but there are so many other options out there.
There is a $10 pledge manager discount if you prove yourself an owner of the game already, so that’s something I guess. But not enough for me. An upgrade pack would get jumped on in a flat second, but apparently that would be logistically impossible.
(Edit: 5/2/23) – Received an update in the emails that has a bit more information. And a picture!
Looks like the trackers will be updated (thank God!) along with new card art, all promos and all expansions. Will have to see if there’s any actual new material in the game, though.
That being said, I never bought the Shadow of Salvation expansion, so my decision will be a little harder.
And the box looks to be now a standard game-sized box, which isn’t bad.
Now back to the original post!
One of the more exciting deck building card games that I’ve played is Shards of Infinity (and its two expansions).
There’s just something about the game that’s attractive. It’s not hugely bloated with expansions, but the expansions it does have are very useful (including fixing one of my main problems with the base game).
Now Stone Blade Entertainment has announced something really cool, or at least the idea of it is cool.
The Shards of Infinity: Saga Collection will be coming to Kickstarter sometime in the near future.
There is literally nothing else announced about it, other than the fact that it will contain new promo cards, “added gameplay” (whatever that means) and “improved components.”
I found this really amusing after my mini-rant about Big Box games last Friday, considering this is, in a sense, a big box.
However, depending on the announcement, there are a few reasons why I might consider this one, or at least an “upgrade pack” if they offer one.
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Big Boxes, Are They Worth It?
It’s Friday, so you know what time it is, right?
The whiskey along with me looking at Boardgame Geek is making me think about Big Boxes and Collectors boxes and games, which makes for a perfect Friday Night Shots post.
Are they worth it?
First, I have to say that I’m excluding Garphill Games from this discussion because all of their Collectors Boxes are well worth investing in (even if the inserts suck, but Folded Space has our backs!). They actually are the size of a normal Ticket to Ride box at most, so their “collectors boxes” are “normal” size for a lot of games.
These boxes are still easy to cart around to game night without giving yourself a hernia.
As long as you get a good insert for them! (Have I said how much the inserts that come with them actually suck?).
But what about normal big boxes?
Read More
Dude! Take Your Turn! 