COMPONENTS

One of the most interesting features of the core game is its simplicity.  I don’t mean that it’s too easy to play, or that it poses no mental challenge, but that the game materials themselves are not unnecessarily complex.  The edition that I purchased comes with two sets of cards (Doors and Treasures), an instruction book, and a single die.  That’s all that it takes to form one of the most enthralling game experiences of my board game history.  The die is just a standard d6, but the cards and the instruction manual are really what stand out.

RULES

Wait – the instruction manual?  That’s right, the manual is terrific.  It is written very much tongue-in-cheek, with lines like “Any other disputes should be settled by loud arguments among the players, with the owner of the game having the last word” (Munchkin official rules).

The cards are the gem of this board game.  Kovalic did (and does) an amazing job illustrating the cards in a way that makes them informative while hilarious.  Each card is unique because even similar cards (such as class cards) are differentiated by gender or some other marker.  Some of the curses and such have had my group laughing hysterically.

DIFFICULTY

Munchkin was designed specifically to bring the RPG style gameplay to an audience not necessarily familiar or comfortable with that style.  Because of this, the game strives to make all situations in game fathomable and straightforward.  It took my group only a couple of complete rounds to grasp it enough for gameplay actions to be second nature and strategy to become a factor.

FUN FACTOR

A large amount of the enjoyment we pull out of playing Munchkin is derived from how crazy and excited we can get while playing.  As far as my group is concerned, this is not a game to be played quietly.  One of my cousins was a thief and was constantly yelling out ‘”BACKSTAB!” to everyone (even if he wasn’t capable of doing it at that time), and on another round a different player tried to play two Warrior class cards on himself, prompting a stream of double class jokes for a few nights afterward.

OVERALL

Especially considering the low cost of the core game, Munchkin is an overwhelming winner in my book.  The expansions are not needed to have fun playing this game, but I intend to at least pick up some of them.  Even with just the original set, the game varies enough through turn order, luck of the draw, and crazy item swiping and trading that the replay value is huge.

The premise of Betrayal at House on the Hill is that the players are a group of adventurers exploring an old haunted house.  The house is gradually revealed, tile by tile, as the players move throughout.  Traps, monsters and mayhem await in nearly every room of the mysterious mansion.  Eventually, one or more of the adventurers will succumb to the terror of the surroundings and turn on the other players.  After that point, the objective of the game is to defeat the traitor and flee the house!

COMPONENTS

Betrayal at House on the Hill contains a lot of pieces and parts.  There is no traditional board, as the playing area appears and expands as the players wander through the house.  In order to give that impression, the house is made out of tiles that get added to the house when a player passes through an unexplored door.  The room tiles are detailed and relatively easy to understand; a couple of the doors and windows are hard to pick out.  Each player chooses one of six pentagonal cardboard pieces that have a characters abilities and stats.  These numbers provide for dice mechanics during play.  The cards also correspond to one of the plastic miniature characters

As with many games in Avalon Hill’s catalog, this game comes with a stack of cards that are divided into events that occur when rooms are explored, items that players can use or carry, or omen cards that can be items, events or curses.  Events can be beneficial or harmful to the player who triggers them, causing various effects such as moving the player around the house, damaging or boosting the player’s stats, or affecting the other explorers.  Items can be weapons or accessories that change the stats for the owner, and they can also be used to affect gameplay. Omen cards are a combination of event cards and item cards.  Some of the omens will immediately affect either the explorer who drew the card or everyone playing.  Other omen cards are held as items and used in the same manner.  There is a also a twist on the omen cards – they are the catalyst for the traitor.  Every time an omen card is drawn, the dice are rolled to determine if the “haunt” starts.

The game also includes a large amount of punch-out cardboard tokens.  These represent everything from monsters to effects and secret passageways.  The monster tokens are used to represent the monsters or henchmen involved in the haunt, while the effects are usually placed in a room to show that special rules apply.  Event cards usually call for those tokens.

The quality of the game pieces is decent.  High quality cardboard is still cardboard, however, and the edges and corners of the pieces can be damaged.  The character cards and the turn counter have plastic sliders that are attached that can damage the edges.  The cards are laminated and are the same weight and quality as standard playing cards.  The floor tiles are uniform (other than the special three-square long entry tile) and lay flat, though the entry tile can get warped.  I recommend getting a small tackle box or something similar to hold the tokens.  Early on I realized that the built in box dividers were inadequate to hold everything, and the dividers in the tackle box help to sort the different types of tokens to make it easier to find specific pieces.

RULES

The rules of this game are somewhat complicated, as there are a large number of situations to cover.  There are three rule books included: the main rule book, a scenario book for the explorers and a scenario book for the traitor.  The scenario books apply to when the haunt begins, which is when the traitor is revealed and the game object changes.  In each scenario book the conditions for the haunt to begin are listed, dictating which player is the traitor based on who started the haunt, which room it was started in, and what card was drawn.  The main rule book covers the basic rules for the game, as well as the different card types.

Unfortunately, the rules that were shipped at the time of printing were incomplete, contradictory, and unbalanced.  Hasbro supplied new rules and haunt scenarios, along with corrections to existing rules on the game’s website.  The game can be a little frustrating and slightly unfair, so players shouldn’t try to play without the supplemental materials.  This is the largest problem with the game in my mind, but since the company supplied corrections it isn’t a deal breaker.

DIFFICULTY

There are dice involved, but this should not give the impression that the game is random or easy.  The dice act more like they would in Dungeons & Dragons, used in combat or to tell if an event or condition applies to the player in question.  The first half of the game is very straightforward, exploring the house and following the instructions on the cards that are drawn.  However, after the haunt begins the rules become quite a bit more complicated, because after that there are combat rules and more creatures involved.  Each haunt scenario calls for different things; some require strategy, others require luck, and sometimes the traitor or explorers just need to hold on for a certain amount of time.  Betrayal at House on the Hill is definitely a game that requires time and thought, and isn’t something to be undertaken just to pass the time.

FUN FACTOR

The game stays pretty fresh in each play through, even after a lot of games, because of the haunt mechanism.  Selection of a scenario is sufficiently random and keeps the second half of the game different from the last time through.  There is a small chance to get the same scenario twice in a row, but it is a rare occurrence.  Every game really requires a group of people who are willing to play together, but it is especially important in this case.  Even though the traitor is chosen based on the luck of the draw, that player is then pitted against the rest of the players.  It is both a strength of the game and a weakness.  The haunt scenarios aren’t all perfectly balanced (purposefully) and sometimes the traitor can feel that the odds are stacked against him, just because the other players can work together.  However, it usually works out all right and the next scenario could be unbalanced in the other direction.

Betrayal at House on the Hill is one of my favorite board games.  It’s also the most played out of the newer games in my collection.  I don’t really own any other games that are like it – it is pretty unique.  Unfortunately, Hasbro only printed it for a short time, and it is out of print.  Apparently the game is popular, as there aren’t even very many used copies available.  Probably the only way to get it is to pay for the overpriced copies out there, watch for a good deal, or hope that Hasbro reprints the game.

The players are participants in a bet to see which person can cross the United States by rail the fastest – sort of an Around the World in 80 Days kind of thing.

COMPONENTS

The game includes a large game board with a map of the United States, with cities connected by a number of colored train routes.  There are five wooden circle score markers, one for each player, which are used to mark the number of points the players earn on a number track on the outside of the board.  Each player gets 45 plastic train cars in the color of his score marker.  The game also comes with a handful of extra train cars, three for each color, in case any get lost.  Along with the rule book, there are 144 colored cards that correspond to the train routes and various other game mechanics.

RULES

The rules are clear & concise (which I’ve come to expect from Days of Wonder games).  The play rules begin with an overview of all the phases in each turn, then goes into detail of each phase.  One of the interesting things about Ticket to Ride is that the players can only choose to do one of three things each turn.  It leads to a bit of strategy, as the players need to plan ahead to build a route, and sometimes even to have a backup plan in place, since playing a route is a little like gin rummy and has to be done all at once.  This can lead to another player jumping on a route before the first player has all the cards necessary.  The game designers/publishers (whoever is responsible for the rule book) have also done a good job of detailing possible situations to avoid rule disputes.

DIFFICULTY

Ticket to Ride doesn’t require much deep thought to play.  As I mentioned above, a little strategy comes into play, and players need to think a few turns ahead in order to win.  Planning past the next turn isn’t necessary to enjoy the game, however, just to play hard for a win.  It’s possible to win without much strategy, especially if the other players don’t strategize much.  The individual phases of each turn aren’t difficult to figure out at all.  The most difficult concept for my group to grasp initially was the difference between the plastic train colors and the colors on the cards.  For the record, the colors on the cards correspond to the route colors, and the colors of the plastic trains only serve to identify which player owns the route.  Scoring isn’t difficult at all, as the scoring tokens just slide around the numbers on the edge of the board.

FUN FACTOR

The game takes a little while to play.  The box claims it takes 30-60 minutes, but as always that depends on the group playing.  My group contains a couple of people who agonize over every decision like it’s the most important thing in the world, which can drag out a game a bit.  I don’t think we’ve ever played for more than an hour.  The simplicity of the rules lets players focus on the game and stay out of arguments over details – especially since there isn’t a ton of direct competition in the game.  The background story supplied by the game isn’t important in gameplay, but applied well it can add a fun theme.

OVERALL

Ticket to Ride is absolutely a game to pick up for both a collection and a regular game night selection.  It instantly worked its way into our rotation and at least one of my cousins asks for it every time.  At around fifty dollars retail price, it can be a little steep for an impulse buy, but as a planned purchase it’s a good price.  I would recommend the game to anyone who asks – especially since it doesn’t fall into a specific niche genre that would turn players off.

Or so the back of the box for Stellar Conquest reads.

Stellar Conquest is a strategy board game published in 1984 by Avalon Hill, but it was formerly published by a game company called Metagaming Concepts.  Avalon Hill purchased the rights to the game, and touched it up.

At the start of play, four alien societies are poised to invade a large and hitherto unknown section of the galaxy.  Its recent discover has provoked much speculation among these civilizations over its suitability for settlement and exploitation.  Detailed studies show, however, that its relative youth when compared to the rest of the galaxy promises an abundance of habitable planets and mineral deposits without the threat of an indigenous society advance to a sufficient level to defend it.  Each player accepts the command of a Captain of the expeditionary fleet of one of these societies.  His mission is to gain control of the most habitable planets for his society.

Stellar conquest can be played by two or three players though it is best suited for four players.  I can vouch that the game is much more fun with the full complement of players, as the few games I’ve gone through with just two people took longer and were less interesting, as I only had to tailor my moves to counter a single opponent.

Stellar Conquest is no longer in print, so I bought a “near mint” copy off Noble Knight Games.  Since it’s an older game, the pieces representing the ships are cardboard squares.  Despite that fact, the board is rather nice and detailed, and though the system cards aren’t very heavy, they should hold up well.  The game includes a pad of player manifests, to write down you colonies and research, and to keep track of the systems you’ve explored.

The rules are very detailed, as are most of the Avalon Hill games.  However, they should be pretty easy to pick up – do a quick read through ahead of time for the first time you play.  I would suggest not spending too much time nitpicking over the exact rules, but there are some specific details that can fall through the cracks.  For instance, the first time I played, we missed the rule that scouts can ignore the eight hex range limit.

The game can get pretty confusing in a 44-turn session, especially if you have a lot of colonies.  There is a lot of math involved, but since you write it down as you go, it doesn’t get too bad.  I wouldn’t rule out a calculator, either.  Keeping track of your ship pieces can get pretty convoluted, but the task force board helps with that, as you can replace any group of ships (that you want to move as one) with one letter-based task force piece.

With four players, the gamesmanship gets pretty exciting, and keeping your plans and forces secret is a must.  The secrecy adds another element of fun to the game, and (at least with my group of players) the back-and-forth of the conversation gets pretty intense.  With the right group of players (e.g., people who don’t mind a lot of intellectual play and numbers) it can be extremely fun.

Yes, it’s an old game, and there are others out there that are better, but if you enjoy classic strategy games, this is a pioneer of the space genre.  I highly recommend it, especially if you have an interest in board games and are somewhat of a collector.

The newest edition comes with nicely painted metal ships and tanks (matching the countries’ colors) to represent the military pieces, and the game board is very colorful and easy to understand. You’ll need paper and something to write with to put down your moves for each spring/fall round, as the game doesn’t come with such things, although it does contain maps for scratch pads and country tiles to help remember who controls what supply center.  I suppose you might use the maps for moves, but that might be a little crowded.

The game can get rather tricky to fathom in its later stages, and it’s a very intellectual exercise, as a player has to maintain his alliances and deals, watch to see if his opponents are allying or if his allies are betraying him, and strategizing on what supply centers to strive toward.

The game is the most fun when played with a full complement of seven players, although it can be played with as little as two players. It gets to be a really fun game for a group of board game geeks – even people you just talk into playing should get really into the game, as the biggest part of the play tends to be the human interaction.

Diplomacy is quite possibly my favorite strategy based board game ever, mostly because of the political element to the play. The great thing about the game is that pretty much anyone can learn how to play, as the rules aren’t all that complicated. A session of the game can get somewhat long, but as engrossed in the game as I get, I have never noticed the length. I once played a full game with a bunch of people from my floor during my first year of college that took weeks.  We would do spring move in the morning, fall move in the evening and the rest of the day was for conniving.  If you are looking for a good board game to play with a good sized group of people and you enjoy strategy games, stop here first.