These Pecan Sandies Might Kill You (Forbidden Desert)

Pain.  That's the first memory you have.  The second is one of falling out of the sky.  The third is flying over the Forbidden Desert.  That would explain the heat.  You cough, and hear the creak of various seats and metal around you.  You call out, and everyone seems to be intact, but you quickly come to the conclusion that unless you can find that flying machine that brought you here, you're going to all perish from dehydration.  Let's just hope it get's up in the air...

BACKGROUND:  Forbidden Desert is part of the Forbidden series of survival co-operative games.  It is for 2-5 players, and was designed by Matt Leacock, artists C. B. Canga and Tyler Edlin, and published by Gamewright.  By taking a role, players work together to collect all the pieces of the machine and fly out before they die.



GAMEPLAY:  Each turn consists of a sequence of 2 events: A player may take up to any 4 combination of actions, and then Sandstorm cards are drawn.  These actions consist of removing sand markers on their tile or any orthogonally (or any non diagonally) from them, moving orthogonally to a space with less than 2 sand markers on it, flipping face-up a sand free tile they are on, and picking up a part.  At any point a player may share with another player water or items with a player they share a space with.

SANDSTORM:  The 5 by 5 grid will always have an empty space, where the storm is.  At the end of a turn, flip Sandstorm cards equal to the number on the Sandstorm Meter level, move the indicated number of tiles so that the 'storm' moves in the direction on the card, then place sand markers on the tiles moved.  If the storm can't move, nothing happens.  If a Storm Picks Up card is drawn, raise the Meter level, and draw that many cards next turn.  If a Sun Beats Down card is drawn, all players lose a level of water on their cards.



END:  Some tiles have arrows to determine where an Machine piece will end up being.  Players must find all 8 'clue' tiles to find where the Machine pieces will be, gather them up, and get to the Launch Pad! tile.  However, there are three ways to lose:  If any player reaches the skull and crossbones on their canteen or the on the Sand Storm meter, or if there are no more sand markers to add to the board.

CONCLUSION:  After reviewing Forbidden Island, and playing Forbidden Sky (expect a review on that one as well), I can confidently say that this is so far, my favorite version of the Forbidden series of games.  The flow feels a lot better, without losing the struggle of obtaining victory.  I would say the biggest problem I had was something a lot of co-op board games struggle with, and that's punishing a larger group than a smaller one.  It would make sense to go through a game with a full party and win more often than with 2 or 3 players, but it always seems like the opposite happens.  Still, this is a great game, and the best in the franchise, so go out and uncover your own copy today at your local game store.

Beast Wars (One Night Ultimate Werewolf)

Thud.
That's all you hear, all you want to hear as you run through.  The adage holds true, don't outrun the beast, outrun your friends.  The howl pierces your ears and sends shivers down your spine.  Just keep running, you tell yourself, but you know it's too late when you skid to a stop, and see the den.  The den with 2 other werewolves.  This is the One Night, and the Ultimate Werewolf is here.



BACKGROUND: One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a hidden role game for 3-10 players.  It was created by Ted Alspach, Akihisa Okui, and Gus Batts,and published by Bézier Games in 2014.  Like in typical Werewolf fashion, players take either the role of Werewolves or Villagers, and attempt to kill the other.

GAMEPLAY:  Each player is dealt a random number token, and character role face-down.  There are more role cards dealt face down in the center.  Then, all players close their eyes, called the Night Phase. Using either the app or reading the effects from a narrator, the role cards are read in a specific order with various effects happening



WINNING:  Once all roles have been read, and all the effects determined for the night, the Day Phase happens, where players vote off a character or characters in the case of a tie.  The player voted off reveals the card in front of them, which is not necessarily their starting card.  Generally, is a Wolf is voted off, the Villagers win, and vice versa, but sometimes that may differ depending on the card.

CONCLUSION:  When I first heard the concept, Werewolf in 1 night, I admit that I was...hesitant.  Part of the fun is detection, and reading people, which one night wouldn't allow for very well, so I thought. Yet, this feels like the natural evolution of where Werewolf should go.  The game seem short initially, but that allows for a more intense guessing of characters.  The roles are fun and unique, and the game flows well once you get the hang of it, which takes less than a minute.  I would love a Mafia skin of this game, as there is already an Alien, Vampire, and Super Villains version of this game.  Obviously, purists and people who love longer Werewolf games aren't going to like this as much, and because the app is so helpful and fluid, this will turn some people off who enjoy narration and putting their own twist on the world, but I still say those people should at least try this version out, if not to replace the other version, than at least to give these worlds a fair chance.

Diggy Diggy Hole (Splendor)

You turn the jewels in your hand, checking the quality carefully.  True, you may be some minor noble who doesn't know a Princess cut from a Radiant, but that's beside the point.  These look good, and you have always been able to find contacts to make them seem better.  Your job isn't to make, it's to sell the splendor of these jewels, and sell you shall...



BACKGROUND:  Splendor is a tile collection game for 2 to 4 players, and created by Marc André with art by Pascal Quidault, and published by Space Cowboys.  Each player attempts to collect gems to gather more ways to collect gems and gather Nobles to your side

GAMEPLAY:  3 rows of 4 development cards are laid face-up.  Each turn, players may either gather 2 gem tokens of 1 kind, 3 gem tokens of all different kinds, 1 "wild" gold token and reserve a card in their hand so only they may play it, or spend their gems back to the center in order to buy a development card, according to its cost on the bottom left.  Players may only have 10 tokens at any time, returning any excess back to the center.



DEVELOPMENT:  Development cards count as 1 free gem in their top right each turn, and unlike the tokens, players are not limited to how many they can hold.  Development cards are also the only way to collect Nobles.  Nobles can only be collected at the end of a turn, when a player has the number of developments indicated on the Nobles card.

WINNING:  Nobles and various Development cards have Prestige Points in the top left.  The first player to reach 15 Prestige wins.

CONCLUSION:  Splendor is, should I say it?  Splendid.  There's a lot to like about this game.  It's easy enough that I can realistically teach all but the youngest of players how to play, but a depth most simpler games fail to reach.  The complaints I have are minor at best, laughably silly at worst.  First, games tend to be way too short.  It feels like you've just bought your first 2nd level Development, and the game is over.  The other is the amount of players.  Obviously, re-balancing this game would be hard for more than 4 players, but I would really like to make it so that might whole game night group of 5-8 players can play this together.  With the release of the Cities of Splendor expansion, that may end up becoming more of a reality sometime down the line.  Until then, as I said, this game is a Splendor to behold.

High Noon (Bang!)

The call of the west has brought you to this here town.  Layin' low, tryin' to make ends meet.  The Sheriff is who knows where, while the deputy has been keepin' an eye on ya.  Carefully, you glance over to your buddy, who nods.  You look the deputy deep in the eyes, makin' sure you know that he knows you ain't goin' for your gun. BANG!  The deputy drops.  BANG!  You look down and see blood on your shirt.  looking back up, you see the smoking gun that killed you.  Quite simply, you were betrayed.



BACKGROUND:  Bang! is a hidden role card game created by Emiliano Sciarra & Alessandro Pierangelini, and published by dV Giochi for 4-7 players.  Each person takes a role of either Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw, or Renegade, and try to make the faction the last one standing.

GAMEPLAY:  The Sheriff is revealed, but all other players keep their role hidden.  Each player also takes a character card with an ability and Bullets equal to the number on their card.  The Bullets determine the health of the player, as well as the maximum size of the their hand.  Players start by drawing two cards, playing any number of cards, and finally discarding down to the number of Bullets left.



BORDERS:  There are 2 types of cards, Blue-bordered cards, which are played in front, and Brown-bordered, which are played and discarded.  In order to hit an opponent, a player generally plays a Bang card, and the number on the gun determines the 'distance', or how far away opponents are.  To start, each opponent to a players left and right is 1 space away, with the number increasing both by the number of player between the two.

WINNING:  When you lose your last Bullet, you are eliminated from the game, unless a card says otherwise.  When you are eliminated from the game, show your role card and discard all the cards you have in hand and in play.  The Sheriff and Deputy's win when all Outlaws and the Renegade are eliminated.  The Outlaws win when the Sheriff and Deputies are all eliminated.  The Renegade only wins when every other role card is eliminated.

CONCLUSION:  Bang is a more aggressive version of Resistance or Secret Hitler.  Instead of playing your opponents slowly and politicking between turns, your actions moreso than most games show your plans, and you play the field quickly.  Obviously, for mechanics sake, players shouldn't know who's who, but that is going to turn off a fair amount of people.  However, if you're looking for a Wild West style of Mafia, or just have really wanted to try to shoot someone in Werewolf, mosey on down to your local game store and pick it up.

Explosive Declaration (Le Boomb!)

5...Your palms are sweating as the die gets closer to you.
4...You breathe deep as the player before you rolls nothing.
3...You shake as the die was cast, and now you have the bomb before you.
2...Nothing.  You wait in silence, praying the bomb is moved.
1...YES!  The bomb is passed, you are safe, for now.
LE BOOMB!  You were so lucky...



BACKGROUND: Le Boomb is a dice game for 2+ players, and was created by H. Jean Vanaise & Pete Fenlon, and published by Mayfair Games.  In short, the game is hot potato with a die and a bomb.



GAMEPLAY:  Each turn, a player rolls the die and passes it.  If a player rolls the lit fuse, nothing happens. When a player rolls the bomb, they are passed it.  Then, once any player rolls the explosion, the player holding the bomb is out.

WINNING:  The game ends once all but 1 player is eliminated, the last player standing wins.

CONCLUSION:  If you've ever played Dreidal or LCR, you'll know exactly what kind of game you're looking at.  For those that haven't, this game can be summed up in 3 words: Short and simple.  There's no strategy, no mechanical complexity, just you and the luck of the die.  Again, I'm gonna recommend this to those people who are unwilling to play most board games, or maybe children who have a short attention span, but that's about it.  There's plenty of really good games that you can pass on something this simple.