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Vince, Pt. II · 12-25-2011, 09:46 PM

So for Christmas we as a group ended up getting Seafarers of Cataan, Dominion: Intrigue, Balloon Cup and both Resident Evil Deck Building Game expansions, Outbreak and Alliance.

So far we've tried Seafarers and Balloon Cup.

After only one game of Seafarers I'm mildly impressed and interested to play a few more games to see how it holds up with different scenarios. I like the flexibility of being able to build ships as well as roads, and the gold tiles/alternate victory points vary things a little as well. In our one (three player) game, I was really the only one who expanded via the ocean however (my entire strategy revolved around it, from the get go), and one of the other players was completely bottled up in relatively short order, rendering her experience to be rather frustrating. More playing time will be necessary, but I'm not sure that the game offers enough differences that we'll play it rather than just firing up the original version of Settlers.

Balloon Cup, picked up solely because of Jim's recommendation, is fantastic. It's only a two player game, but the concept is very simple and there is a LOT of strategy involved. The gist of the game is as such...

You have a hand of 8 cards, and there are 20 different places to play your cards, separated into 4 different locations. Each location has room for an increasing number of cards on each side - the first is one card on either side, the second two, the third three and the fourth four. Each location has two sides: one for you and one for your opponent. Each turn you play one (and only one) card, but you can play it on either side - and it is often a good strategy to play harmful cards into your opponent's area. When a location is completed, the value of the cards are totaled up, and the player with the most (or least, depending upon the location) value claims the cubes on the location. Cubes are separated into 5 different colors, and are used to purchase one of the 5 different trophies - the first player to pick up 3 trophies wins the game. Once a location is claimed, it is flipped over and given new cubes. Play continues until someone has three of the trophies.

I've only played a few games, but I'm really excited to get back into it and develop a good strategy.

12-25-2011, 09:46 PM	#216
Vince, Pt. II Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Somewhere More Familiar	So for Christmas we as a group ended up getting Seafarers of Cataan, Dominion: Intrigue, Balloon Cup and both Resident Evil Deck Building Game expansions, Outbreak and Alliance. So far we've tried Seafarers and Balloon Cup. After only one game of Seafarers I'm mildly impressed and interested to play a few more games to see how it holds up with different scenarios. I like the flexibility of being able to build ships as well as roads, and the gold tiles/alternate victory points vary things a little as well. In our one (three player) game, I was really the only one who expanded via the ocean however (my entire strategy revolved around it, from the get go), and one of the other players was completely bottled up in relatively short order, rendering her experience to be rather frustrating. More playing time will be necessary, but I'm not sure that the game offers enough differences that we'll play it rather than just firing up the original version of Settlers. Balloon Cup, picked up solely because of Jim's recommendation, is fantastic. It's only a two player game, but the concept is very simple and there is a LOT of strategy involved. The gist of the game is as such... You have a hand of 8 cards, and there are 20 different places to play your cards, separated into 4 different locations. Each location has room for an increasing number of cards on each side - the first is one card on either side, the second two, the third three and the fourth four. Each location has two sides: one for you and one for your opponent. Each turn you play one (and only one) card, but you can play it on either side - and it is often a good strategy to play harmful cards into your opponent's area. When a location is completed, the value of the cards are totaled up, and the player with the most (or least, depending upon the location) value claims the cubes on the location. Cubes are separated into 5 different colors, and are used to purchase one of the 5 different trophies - the first player to pick up 3 trophies wins the game. Once a location is claimed, it is flipped over and given new cubes. Play continues until someone has three of the trophies. I've only played a few games, but I'm really excited to get back into it and develop a good strategy. Last edited by Vince, Pt. II : 12-25-2011 at 09:48 PM.