This weeks played baord games Dead of Winter, Sentinels of the Multiverse, Eminent Domain

 

 So a couple of nights spent playing boardgames this week saw a new game for us played and the return of an old favorite. 

Sentinels of the Multiverse

As usual we played a game of Sentinels and as usual it did not go well for us. We were Haka and Blockhouse vs The Chairman in the Dok'Thorath Capital. First off, this was another villain that would have been better if we had been three players. Beyond that we just were unable to do much damage to the villain throughout the game. On the plus side we did not keep losing equipment which was good as we had a lot to lose, but the only thing really doling out damage was the environment right up to the time the villain flipped as they became immune to environmental damage

Dead of winter

Are new to us game this week was Dead of Winter, a post apocalypse zombie survival game. We played the two player coop game and did not do that well in the first play, but it was new to us. On Saturday we pulled it out again this time we were in a somewhat better state to play the game. This time we were able to win (even though we may have eaten Fat Earl😲)  

After two tries at the game I am still not certain about it. I suspect we need to add some more players to add more energy to the game. The crossroad cards do add a level of story telling to the game that is much appreciated and reading them out loud is a must. With more players you may wind up with a traitor which throws the players a curve ball. Even if you do not get a traitor each player will have a secret objective that may conflict with the group needs (though it also might overlap the needs of the group) It was a fun enough game that even though it has a fairly high random aspect to it does manage to create a bit of atmosphere.

Eminent Domain

A personal favorite of mine this simple deck building game presents players with a lot of options to win the game. It is a game of space exploration, expansion and development. Like many deck building games everyone starts with a basic deck of cards (in this case 10 cards) and then through a series of turns adds more cards to that deck while at the same time trying to refine their deck by either adding special cards and/or removing cards from their deck. 

Players alternate turns as the leader. There are three phases that each player will perform each turn.

1. Play a card for an action (optional)
   
2. Select a role
3. Cleanup their play area and draw cards to fill their hands
   

Cards have different effects depending on whether they are played as an action or as part of a selected role. There are reasons to play a card in either way and that is part of the joy of the game. You will sometimes need to decide which way is better for the current situation. 

When one selects a role you select from 

• Survey - Draw from the planet deck keep one to eventually settle
  
• Research - Allows you to gain improved tech
  
• Produce/Trade - create resources or trade resources for influence points
  
• Colonize - Add colonies to an unsettled planet you own or flip a fully colonized world to settled
  
• Warfare - add fighter crafts or conquer a planet
  

The key with this phase is that the non leader player(s) are able to follow the leader (with less power) or if unable or unwilling, they can draw a card into their hand. The ability to follow means that even when it is nit their turn players remain active in the game. It also means that they are sometimes able to keep up with the actions of the leader (if they have the right cards in their hand) so the leader may have to think about how their decision on which role to select might benefit their opponent.

The game ends when one of the five role decks is depleted (at least for the two player game) Influence counters (victory points) come from the planets you own and the influence points you have accumulated from trade and certain advanced tech cards. Your path to victory is yours to choose. Influence is the currency and you get them from settling planets (by force or by colonization), produce/trade, and certain advanced tech cards. Will you focus on one aspect or spread out your actions. 

Regardless of your choice you will feel the pressure of time running out. There are only so many cards in each stack and if the players go for the same role often enough that deck will rapidly disappear so you better make certain you are getting as much influence as you can before the game suddenly ends.