The Lone Wolf series of adventure game books are available for the downloading. These are not pirate editions, but available through the generosity of author Joe Dever:
“I would be especially pleased if my granting of the rights to distribute my books in this way was seen as my ‘millennium gift’ to all those devoted readers who have kept the Kai flag flying high, through all the good times, and the not-so-good. It would make me very proud indeed if this enterprise laid the foundations of a lasting legacy, securing the longevity of Lone Wolf by making my creation freely and readily accessible to current and future online generations. For them, for us, for Sommerlund and the Kai.…” Joe Dever 1999
I have in recent weeks played two games of Tea Garden and am itching to play it again.
Designed by Tomáš Holek and published by Capstone Games, Tea Garden combines deck building and hand managment with a hint of area control and track advancement.
Players have cards in their hands of varying strengths and abilities, which they play to do things like buy new cards, expand tea houses on the board, progress down a resource laden river, harvest or ferment tea leaves, sell tea to caravans, study at the university and advance up the emperor track. A turn consists simply of playing one or more cards and taking a primary action whose “strength” is the sum of the values on the card. Depending on the cards’ iconography, a player may also take a secondary action.
And that’s it. Play a couple of cards, do the thing (and perhaps a second thing), and it is the next person’s turn.
This is not to say Tea Garden is simple. There is a lot to think about, particularly regarding the sequence of actions. It is just that you will not be able to daisy chain a bunch of actions into a twenty minute long sequence of: I do this, which lets me do this, which lets me do that, which lets me do another thing et. al
Instead, players need to take one turn to set up their next, while paying attention to a board state that may change in the interim.
Tea Garden plays quickly, with just five rounds in which players will take three or maybe four main actions and perhaps a similar number of secondary actions. The “do a thing; next person’s turn” nature of the game makes it move quickly. Tea Garden does not overstay its welcome. Indeed, my feeling is always “I want one more turn.”
The game has nine pages of well-illustrated rules, three of which are setup. Tea Garden is not a game with a lot of rules overhead. The complexity is emergent, which to my mind is a sign of an excellent design.
Santa’s Workshop is a game I get out during the Christmas season for a couple of playings.
From Elf Creek Games, Santa’s Workshop is a light medium worker placement game about collecting resources to build toys on childrens’ wishlists.
It is, in many ways, a standard worker placement game. You place your elves on spots to pick up letters (toy orders), collect resources, hang ornaments on trees, help with the reindeer, upgrade the elves’ abilities, expand your personal workshop and fulfill orders (build toys) with the appropriate number of wood, metal, cloth and assembly tokens (which look like blueprints).
An interesting twist in Santa’s Workshop relates to the assembly tokens. In this, the first person to visit the assembly hall gets one token (many toys require two or more). The second person gets one assembly token AND a second if they “ask for help” from the first player in the assembly hall. If they do, the first player gets three points. The third and subsequent to visit may take up to three tokens, awarding the second person in that spot two points and the first three points for their “help.”
The first person to that spot gets only one assembly token, but can quickly run up the points.
Points are awarded for toys built, sets of Reindeer collected, upgrades to elves and your personal workshop, and for the amount of Christmas Cheer you you have displayed in building toys and hanging ornaments during three Santa Inspections over the course of the game. Going heavy on reindeer is a winning strategy, as is focusing on toy building and upgrades, or a mix of all three. I like that players have options.
Santa’s Workshop also has a good mix of the tactical and strategic. Jumping on opportunites as they present themselves is important, but so is upgrading so you have more options as the game goes on.
Santa’s Workhop is fun and doesn’t overstay its welcome. There are three rounds of three worker placements each, which makes it tight and relatively short. A group of focused, experienced gamers could easily finish this game in 70 – 90 minutes.
The game also has a built-in “easier” version for families, with a simplified version of the game board on the reverse side, and some lighter rules.
From Invisible City Games comes Zombie Wars, a free zombie board game. Zombie Wars: “Undead warfare between two to four rival zombie masters rages in the streets of Smallton�”
In this game you get to relive the politics of middle Tudor England as you strive to secure your candidate for the Throne… and keep your own head.
The game starts at the coronation of Henry VIII’s son Edward. It follows the history of mid-Tudor England for a further 25 years. You must plot to place your favoured candidate on the throne. You play the part of a faction of courtiers trying to preserve your power and influence. The game is solidly based in history (well, as solidly as I can make it). It is meant to be educational as well as entertaining.
