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Filed under Reviews on May 18, 2004
Tagged: board games, Fist of Dragonstones, Lord of the Rings, Risk, Settlers of Catan
I was a bit surprised to read Lukahn’s post in the forum asking where today’s blog was. I guess it still hasn’t hit me that I actually have an audience. So, my apologies for the delay, and on with today’s topic.
I think I mentioned a while back that my RL gaming group was slowly dissolving. We were down to just three members for the last couple of months. That’s not enough to play D&D, so WanGai started bringing some “board games.”
I put board games in quotes because, except for LotR Risk, these games don’t use your traditional board, if they use one at all. The first game we started playing was Fist of Dragonstones by Days of Wonder. It’s a bidding game in a fantasy setting, where players try to win cards that help them or hinder their opponents. There are expansion packs of cards you can buy to augment the ones that come with the game, and I believe there is an online version as well.
The Risk Lord of the Rings Trilogy edition is fast becoming my favorite version of the game. The object is not to take over the map, but to earn the most Adventure points before the Ring reaches Mt. Doom. The only drawback is that the maximum players possible is only 4. That, and WanGai can’t seem to remember half the rules.
Finally, I played my first game of Settlers of Catan this Saturday. Originally created and released in Germany, it is available in the U.S. from Mayfair Games. The board is made up of individual hex tiles that represent a resource (e.g., ore, brick, grain, wood, and wool). You put the tiles together, randomly or using the default map, to form an island. The object is for the players to build a settlement on the island by spending and trading resources. Like LotR Risk, there is a maximum of four players, but an expansion is available that increases the number to 6.
All three of these games are incredibly fun. I’m almost sad to see us switching back to D&D now that we’ve moved days and found 2 more players.
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