Tuesday 17th January

So Cavern Tavern was good but not without issues. Was a fairly close scoring game, less then 10 points between the top 3 places would definitely play again.

There was a few questions about certain rules we had that could have been explained better, or just had no explanation at all.

The theme was great, artwork was nice, had limited asymmetrical player powers, hidden objectives and plenty of spaces on the board so you wasn't constantly competing for ingredients. Taking too long to complete a patrons order caused you to gain less points, and you ultimately get chewed out by your angry boss. Which was great, aside from how variable they was. Minor issue though.I hated being limited to what ingredients you could get purely down to your dice rolls, but at least you had the other spaces on the board to try and compete for (tough luck if your last to act!).


Also played Junk Art, had a lot of fun. Devilishly giving crappy pieces to your next player only to watch them fail was great. Does need to be played on a solid surface though, my 'art' almost fell over multiple times just from other people walking around the room.. O.o

psychomansam wrote:
Just seen this! Yes - next time

Awesome, I shall hold you to that!

AntW wrote:So Cavern Tavern was good but not without issues. Was a fairly close scoring game, less then 10 points between the top 3 places would definitely play again.

There was a few questions about certain rules we had that could have been explained better, or just had no explanation at all.

The theme was great, artwork was nice, had limited asymmetrical player powers, hidden objectives and plenty of spaces on the board so you wasn't constantly competing for ingredients. Taking too long to complete a patrons order caused you to gain less points, and you ultimately get chewed out by your angry boss. Which was great, aside from how variable they was. Minor issue though.I hated being limited to what ingredients you could get purely down to your dice rolls, but at least you had the other spaces on the board to try and compete for (tough luck if your last to act!).

Thoroughly enjoyed Cavern Tavern , despite its horribly laid out rulebook. I've had a look at the FAQ posted online for it, and there are a few interesting rule clarifications, such as being able to assign multiple dice to the cellar spaces to reach the required total, and finally an explanation for the reference cards, which basically show you the dice rolls required to get particular ingredients.

DaveB wrote:I really enjoyed "Mechs Vs Minions" - its got a great "out of the box" experience with lots of cool looking *stuff*. We found a couple of minor niggles in the rules that required a little interpretation but it was otherwise pretty clearly laid out. I like the way rules were introduces as the game went on, at the appropriate point.

We played three games, the tutorial and then a first and second attempt at mission one. First one we screwed up quite badly but we were well on top of things second time round. I really enjoyed it and look forward to playing it again soon  

Yes, Mechs vs Minions was great fun, totally agree it looks awesome out of the box, and it comes with storage for all the bits and pieces too. It's actually pretty simple mechanically but gives you a really good feel of (vaguely!) being in control of a mech. I particularly like the damage system, which instead of hit points uses cards that can mess up your mech's actions and/or make it do stuff you don't want it to, which really makes it feel like the mech has been damaged. Can't wait to continue the campaign!

AntW wrote:Also played Junk Art, had a lot of fun. Devilishly giving crappy pieces to your next player only to watch them fail was great. Does need to be played on a solid surface though, my 'art' almost fell over multiple times just from other people walking around the room.. O.o

I definitely concur that Junk Art is a lot of fun  but yes a steady table is vital! Despite that, the two games I played produced some amazing feats of balancing, particularly from Jen!

I wrote a post about last night and then closed the tab.

Terry Mystica was good and is a good game though I'd like the theme to be stronger, particularly with the races.
Tzaar has nice pieces and gameplay, especially if you survive a bit longer.

That's the abridged version.