Tag Archives: Card Games

Braggart! – Review

DisclaimerThe copy of Braggart played was supplied free of charge by Games Lore LTD for review purposes.  At Drunken Goblin we will review products sent to us the same way as if it was purchased by ourselves.

Description

The box compaired to the size of a mouse

Imagine a old fashion Inn, then add a few heroes regaling the clientele with fantastic story’s of fighting dragons and saving damsels in distress.  Are they really telling the truth or are they just trying to tell the most fantastic boasts so they don’t look like a weakling?  Well with Braggart your the one making the boasts and setting other story’s straight.

Braggart is a card game released by Spiral Galaxy Games and supplied by Games Lore Ltd.
It supports 2 to 6 players aged 10+ and has a playing time of 30 – 45 minutes.

When Braggart arrived I was genially surprised.  Other card games, like Munchkin and Death Angel, usually have over sized boxes and can be a pain in the arse to carry around.  Not so with Braggart, the box is skin tight with just enough room to hold all the cards.  It fits nicely in the pocket or bag for easy transportation but if your going to take this game anywhere secure it with an elastic band as it has a tendency to open in transit.

Contents

Inside the box there is 120 cards split between:

6 X Summary Cards:
One for each player with a summary of how the rounds are played.

1 X My Round Card:
Designates who goes first in the round and changes from player to player according to how low their scored was in the last round.

92 X Boast Cards:
14 X Scene – Where the deed took place.
32 X Deed – What the player did.
32 X Foe – Who were you acting against.
14 X Result – What the outcome was from your deed.
11 X Ploy – How to screw the other players by stealing their cards or drawing more cards from the boast deck.
8 X Liar – Allows you to interrupt another players boast and swap out a boast card.
2 X Outrageous Liar – The same as the Liar card but allows you to swap out two cards

The rules are surprisingly simple and all fit on a single piece of paper.  This made a nice change after trying to understand the Mansions of Madness rulebook.  The rules are explained in an easy to follow format and was only made complicated when I tried to explain it to the rest of my family, I’m not very good at rule explanations as anyone in my game group will testify.

The cards are of a really nice quality and feel they would stand up to a good battering without purchasing card protectors.  The artwork on the cards match the fun feeling of the game and were continually commented on during play.

A selection of cards from Braggart

A selection of cards from Braggart

Play Time

So onto playing the game and it’s really simple:

Each player is dealt a starting hand of four cards from the boast deck.  One of the players starts with a “My Round” card which designates which player goes first and changes throughout the game at the end of each round.

Draw Phase

A number of cards matching the amount of players are drawn from the boast deck and turned face up in full view. Then, starting with the player holding the My Round card and going clockwise each player takes a card from this selection and adds it to their hand.

Players Actions

Then each player takes a turn.  During their turn players have the opportunity to either:

Go to the bar:

  • Draw the top three cards from the draw pile which ends their turn.

Make a boast:

  • Play any number of ploy cards, following the instructions as written on the card.
  • Play at least one Deed card and one Foe card.
  • They also have the option of adding a Scene and Result card to add points to the boast.
  • Other players can play Liar and Outrageous Liar cards:

Once everyone has had a turn the round ends and it proceeds to the scoring phase.

Scoring

Scoring takes place by adding together all the coin numbers on top of the played boast cards.  The player with the highest scoring boast places all their played cards into their scoring pile.  The other players are allowed to add one card from their boasts to their own scoring pile.

End of Round

The player with the lowest boast score that round then takes the My Round card and the next round begins.

End of Game

Rounds continues until the boast draw pile is depleted. Then at the end of that round each player adds together their boast cards in their score pile and the winner is the player with the highest score…Easy!

Overall

Braggart Box Art

Braggart Box Art

The Good

  • Nice artwork
  • Easily portable
  • Easy to learn
  • Humorous
  • Can get quite tactical with the Liar Cards
  • Can get into the role of being the boastful cad

The Bad

  • Luck of the draw with the cards
  • After a couple of games the humour can get stale

I liked Braggart and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to try a game that usually wouldn’t peek my interest. The game was fun and the humour on the cards really adds to the game.  It definitely fits into the “filler game” category as when we played the game a couple of times in a row the humor did start to fade and everyone began to lose interest.

I will be using this game in my Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay session as it fits in with the fantasy world. It will also raise their spirits before I crush them in the grim world of Warhammer. (Insert evil laughter)…

UK Games Expo 4th – 5th June 2011

Just had the email confirming the UK Games Expo dates.

Book the time off NOW!

UK Games Expo – 4th-5th June 2011 – Birmingham

UK Games Expo

HI there.

The UK Games Expo 2011 Trader Pack is now available.

We look forward to seeing everyone again next year. We have already started our plans and have begun taking bookings for games traders as well as hearing news of new releases for Expo. More news on all that at Christmas.

Our plans will include looking at expanding the Saturday seminars and talks to Sunday. They were a big hit this year and the only complaint we got was why were they not on Sunday as well!

We also have ideas to deal with the Saturday am queue by having a second entrance and allowing attendees to collect tickets earlier.

Best wishes and happy Bonfire night!

Richard

If you have not been to the UK Games Expo you are missing a brilliant weekend of roleplay, boardgames and cosplay.

Visit the website at: http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/

Magic the Gathering

This weekend I had the chance to get a few card games to the table, including a few that I had not played or had not seen table time for a while.

First up was Magic the Gathering. My nephew had been asking about this game and as I had a few packs laying around I thought “Why not give it a go?”  I had a pack of green cards which were given away free as a promotion when I purchased the Xbox 360 version of Magic the Gathering and while I was picking it up from my friendly local game store (FLGS) I also took the chance to pick up 2 more core sets.  The pack of free green cards were exactly the same as the cards used in the Xbox game so switching to the table top version was quite a easy experience.

Now, I have not played Magic before as I have a tendency to stay away from the cult of the popular, let’s just say I’m more Android than iPhone, so I also wanted to show him some other alternatives to the collectible card games available.  So I grabbed a handful of boxes including Warhammer Invasion, Munchkin Bites, Race For The Galaxy, Dominion and I was off. I also took Starcraft the board game along just in case we overdosed on card games.

The story behind Magic the Gathering is a massive fight between two wizards on a battle field. Both players take turns summoning creatures and use them to attack each other. When you are being attacked you can use any of your creatures, which had not been used to attack during your last turn, as a meat shield to stop your wizard taking any damage. There is also different effects and artifacts that can be played to effect your wizard, creatures or spells in play. Power can be generated by playing lands to the table which can then be spent each turn to trigger new cards.

For the games we played I stuck to the green cards from the free pack and also added any other green cards from the core sets. My nephew tried different combinations of colours over the three games and it looks like sticking to the one colour makes things a lot easier.

As with most card games I feel that winning is mostly down to luck and having the right cards come up at the right time is everything.  Making sure the deck you are pulling your hand from is well balanced with a good variation of lands, creatures and spells can make all the difference. The pack of  green  free cards looked to be well balanced even with the extra cards that I had added.  The balancing issue was proven right as during the first game as I dominated due to my nephew having a lack of any creatures to play. Literally a hand of basic lands, power sources, are fine but once they are on the table you need something to spend them on.

The next game was more balanced and I started on the defensive as there were quite a few power cancelling cards in my nephews hand and he was able to get more creatures to the battle field. But again I was able to weather the onslaught by putting a few lower power creatures in the way to soak the damage until I had enough power to take him down. This made it two wins to me.

The third game was all over the place with the most amount of creatures being summoned but again I was able to get the win by storing power to get the bigger creatures on the field with spells adding to the damage dealt.

So the real question is am I going to jump into the mainstream and start playing Magic as my main game? The short answer would have to be no. I have done the collectible card thing before and while I loved the Garbage Pale Kids I also remember the amount of money you had to spend to collect the sets. At least with the Garbage Pale kids you get chewing gum and they had a funky smell. Also I have seen the teen pandemonium that is Magic tournaments at my local FLGS. I think that honestly has to be my idea of hell.

So I think I will stick with my roleplaying and board games for a while longer before I join the cult of Magic the Gathering.


Calling All Gamers – On The Prowl For A Great Game

As you may have noticed I’m off to the UK Gaming Expo on Saturday but I need help.

This has to be one of the best excuses to pick up a new game but I have nothing on my wish list and I need your suggestions.

Whether its a brilliant role play system or a board game that has caught your imagination just leave me a comment below and let me know what games have caught your eye recently.

Board Game Geek The One & Only

If you are into gaming then you will probably already know about Boardgamegeek.  If not then you are missing out on one of the best websites for gaming ever made.   With a massive user base there’s tonnes of user created content and as many reviews as one person can handle.

They are also moving into role-playing games as well which is a fantastic move.

Visit the site http://www.boardgamegeek.com/

Board to Death Video Reviews

Are you interested in game reviews? Cant be bothered to read? Like watching videos? Then I know just the site for you.

Board to death is a site for video reviews of the latest and greatest games about town. Head there now and have a look because the production values are very good and hey, at least you wont have to read anything!

Visit the website and Enjoy! http://www.boardtodeath.tv/.

The Dice Tower

At Drunken Goblin my reviews won’t usually go into great detail about the game rules and the mechanics as  I like to stick to how the game plays and if I think the game is fun and entertaining.  If you want to hear some fantastic reviews covering everything about the game you can try The Dice Tower.

Tom Vasel writes reviews, records audio podcasts and has even moved into video.  Just thinking about it brings me out in sweat, he’s a busy man. You can check out The Dice Towers website here.

http://www.thedicetower.com

Download the audio pod-cast to your trusty mp3 player and listen on the way to work.  Then you can check out the YouTube channel here.

http://www.youtube.com/user/thedicetower

Keep up the excellent work Tom!

Wings of War Review

Wings of WarThrowing my spitfire into a tight turn I anticipate that my enemy’s next move will bring his plane into my arc of fire. With total control of the aircraft I release small bursts from my twin linked machine guns as the enemy flies through my kill zone. Smoke billows from the back of his aircraft and I start to plan my next manoeuvre, this time he will not get away so lightly.

That one statement pretty much explains how I feel about Wings of War. Not since I was a little kid holding my arms out and running around the school playing field making engine noises have I had so much fun pretending to be a World War 2 fighter pilot.

On our last gaming Sunday we were able to have a quick battle using just the basic rules. No concept of using height but just the twisting and turning of getting your opponents plane into your firing arc.

When the game first starts you have to decide how fast your plane is moving, fast or slow, and what manoeuvre you will be performing. Then you plan your second speed and manoeuvre choices so that you are always planning you next move one step ahead. This makes anticipating what your opponent will do incredibly important.

Components out of the boxAirplanes are printed onto small playing cards, models are available, which list how much damage the plane can take and also what damage it deals when firing at short or long range. It also tells you which manoeuvre deck you plane uses.

There are four types of manoeuvre deck that can be used, each with different turning templates and distances. One of these are placed in front of your aircraft card each turn, then you move your plane so the back matches the finishing position according to how fast or slow your plane was travailing.

Damage dealt if the enemy is in your firing line and within short or long range which is measured by the included template ruler. If the ruler does not touch the other player’s card then it is out of range. Each plane card list the number and type of damage tokens (A,B or C) that needs to be drawn to see how much damage the plane received, these range from zero upwards. These are added together with any damage previously received and kept secret. If your plane receives damage equal or greater than your planes damage limit it is blown out of the sky.

With the basic rules Wings of War is a fantastic game for a Sunday afternoon and we had an absolute blast with it. Then we had a look at the advanced rules and decided they were too complicated for a Sunday and moved onto Small World.

Aye Dark Overlord Review

Box ContentsThe dark lord Rigor Mort-is has sent his minions out into the world to do his bidding. The only problem, they forgot to do it, and now the minions are in for an ass kicking. Who will get the blame? Who can think fast and pass the buck? Who will get their masters withering stares? Who will end up in the Dungeon for torture practice?

This game had been sitting at the back of my gaming cupboard for quite a while and I was able to get it to the table last week. What I found was that this little tiny box of cards contain a massive amount of laughter and fun for everybody in my gaming group. So much fun in fact that I shouted myself to a sore throat in just 1 hour.

The Aye Dark Overlord box contains two set of cards, one for actions and a second for hints. Each player is given the chance to come up with an excuse using the hint cards in his hand and then pass the buck with an action card. Action cards can also be used to interrupt another player to adjust the lie being told with a added hint card just to make things interesting for the active player.

In the great tradition of the radio show “just a minuet” if you stumble in your story or take too long to answer you get a withering stare from the Dark Overlord player, get three of these and you are toast. Of coarse you could throw yourself at the Dark Lords mercy and you might get a reprieve.

This is a fantastic little game that is going to get a lot more plays in the future. I think I might pack it for the group camping trip we have planned in the summer. Alcohol and thinking fast…..I feel a lot of withered looks coming on!