Card Gaming

So I've been meaning to post something about Race for the Galaxy. I finally got my own copy for Father's Day a while back, but it's still been on the back shelf. It's a great game, it's got tons of depth, plenty of mechanics, a rich theme and atmosphere, and although it seems at first glance crazy complicated, it turns out after a play-through it's a cakewalk.

Thunderstone I've mentioned a time or two before already, but I did get another expansion for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. I ordered Doomgate Legion off of Amazon, but oddly enough they sent me Thornwood Siege instead, though the receipt clearly said Doomgate. Me being impatient however I just kept it and moved on.


I can personally make any game a 'beer and pretzels' game, but of the two titles here, Thunderstone is far and away the winner in the 'laid back and throw down some cards' with your buddies game. It's accessible across the board, easy to pick, and even non-gamers get it.

Race for the Galaxy on the other hand is a lot more technical, a lot more cerebral, offers lots of options to win but only if you know what you're doing. You can sit back and just throw down cards with your buddies, no problem, but the game won't be all that fun in the long run and all the tactical finesse the game has under the hood will be wasted.

Comparing the two games isn't fair, they're two totally different animals. Given that, they both should have spots on the shelf for many of the reasons they do share. Easy to set up and take down, easy to introduce to new players, fun in their own rights, and two genres are wonderfully covered in both sci-fi and high fantasy.

Thunderstone Mini-Campaign

This past weekend we broke out the Thunderstone and played for an evening. After toting this one to the cabin and back, the handful of games before and after said cabin, and this past weekend I can now feel satisfied that I've gotten my money's worth. It's a great game mind you, but with so many great games on the shelves it's hard to find time to make for new additions. This of course says nothing about Race for the Galaxy I got for Father's Day, but more on that much later, I've yet to even break the seal on that one.

Instead of playing a bunch of separate games and calling it a night we came up with some on-the-fly tweaks to the rules to link the games together. In essence we could play a "campaign" in one evening. Below I'll go over the changes, it was dead easy and did give a sense of continuity from one game to the next. There's probably better detailed and thought-out ways to do this, and I'm sure Thunderstone die-hards on the BGG have come up with versions that far surpass this. I've also got the Wrath of the Elements expansion, so this includes cards from that as well. All right, let's do this thing.

Game #1

• The first game is standard Thunderstone, we used the randomizer decks for everything, and had the expansions just mixed in with the regular stuff.
• The post-game was where it gets a little different. Each player got to keep two of the cards out of their deck for the next game. These could be anything; heroes, items, weapons, even slain monsters. The latter is a good idea if you have a monster that yields a particularly high gold value or even a high victory point value. It's also important to note at this point that none of these hero or village cards will be present in the next game.
• The winner of the game gets to keep a third card, and if a player was able to snag the Thunderstone itself, they keep that as well.
• We used the expansion TStone in the first game because it yields some light on its own and would be marginally worth something in your deck next game.
• Finally, randomly draw one of the three monster randomizer cards that were in the first game. This monster that you draw is your "theme" monster and will show back up next game.

Game #2

• The second game's setup is the same as before, just set up as a standard game with a couple of exceptions.
• Only two monster randomizers are drawn, remember you're keeping one monster type from the first game.
• Players shuffle in their 'keeper' cards from the previous game into their starting decks.
• At the end of the game players keep three cards each this time, with the winner keeping four. Note here that although none of the hero types are coming back, the third (and final) game's village will have all the cards randomized back in. Mind you, with all of the cards available, it's still a gamble if that favorite item of yours will show back up.

Game #3

• Setup for game three is a bit different. You'll randomize three monster types from scratch per usual, then add in the recurring monster from the first two games. This will give you four total monsters in the dungeon.
• You're going to shuffle in two Thunderstones in the bottom of the dungeon deck. Yes, you have to get both of them out to end the game. If the players didn't manage to actually grab the stones previously, just use those. Otherwise you can use the xp cards or something to proxy them in.
• The village gets an upgrade as well, we called it a 'city'. Just add in a third row of village cards to the village, this will give twelve village cards plus the standard four that are always present (dagger, iron rations, militia, and torch).

By the third game you should have some cards you've really come to dig over the course of your journey. You're also going to find these cards, presuming you kept good cards, are going to allow you to tackle the dungeon sooner and more often. We followed the format above and had a lot of fun, which was the bottom line. You could fill in the blanks easily enough and come up with a real narrative too. Our recurring monster for this evening were dragons, so that could've been worked in easily enough. It was nice to have the games linked however loosely they were, and it did give a sense of a bigger picture when it was all said and done.

The Games of CabinCon V

More follow-up here. Above is the hoard of games that made it to the cabin, I think this is all of the boardgames. There was also a Wii and an XBox 360, but those were ancillary. Below is what we actually did play, followed by the games I personally played in parentheses. I always keep a loose track of what's being played, besides, this stuff is always fun to track over on Boardgamegeek.com. On to the games:

7 Wonders= 5 (1)
Forbidden Island= 2 (2)
Ascension= 4 (1)
Martians!!!= 1 (1)
Settlers of Catan= 1
SoC: Cities and Knights= 1 (1)
SoC: Trails to Rails= 1
Race for the Galaxy= 2 (2)
RftG: The Gathering Storm= 4 (4)
Agricola= 2
Thunderstone= 3(1)
TStone: Wrath of the Elements= 2
Who Would Win?= 2 (2)
Total Games Played= 30 (15)

We ended the cabin on a high-larious note with a couple of games of Who Would Win?. This "debate" game that is an absolute blast. Basically you have a have a deck of cards that has real and fictional people in it, two people get one card each. Then you have a deck of activities, occupations, and the like, it's flipped over and the debate begins. You have about twenty seconds (timer is included) to plead your case to your friends as to why your character/person/historical figure would win at said event. We had some great matchups, such as King Kong vs. John F. Kennedy in art and Pokemon vs. Mahatma Ghandi in cooking. Of course I thought I had the best card when I drew Stephen Hawking vs. Cleopatra...until the event was lifeguarding! Winners and losers are determined by your peer group around the room. This game is the living embodiment of what it is to be a party game.


This Settlers of Catan variant, Trails to Rails, looked pretty cool. The board was massive, much larger than it looks here. Most of the same tenants and mechanics apply, but since I sat this one out I don't know exactly what all of the differences are.


Since I recently paid good money for Thunderstone and the first expansion, I'd like to say that it was a big hit. I don't know about "big", but it was played five times. I think part of this is because of ease of set up, and once you have the basics down it's a very easy game to play. Plus it helps that the basics aren't overly complex. I asked some of the folks their impressions and a couple of them just loved the game, a couple of others were kind of 'meh' on the issue. Having played it myself now many times I can see where its got legs, especially in a low-game environment. You'd have to dedicate playing time to it, but that's really like all games. I think it is best served as one of the primary games of a given group for a while, less so as a 'pick up' off the shelf game.


Now I did get in a game of Catan, but it was my favorite of the expansions; Cities and Knights. It's a totally different game, and I loved it. I don't know why I don't own it myself (well I do, money!) but I'd like to add a copy to the collection some day. If you've played Catan then you're probably familiar with all the expansions, and if you don't own Cities and Knights, pick it up, you won't be disappointed. Now if you don't own just the base game...go! Get it!


If you follow boardgame circles, you'll hear the name Agricola pop up, and often. No, it's not pronounced like a soft drink, but like a Roman name. Anyway, Agricola is a powerhouse of a game, with about a hundred different strategies and techniques to win. You want theme? You're a friggin' medieval farmer trying to support your growing family, come on! This game is awesome. I was surprised that there were four people at the cabin who hadn't played it, so I stepped aside and let them have at it. I think there's now four new converts.


Ah, speaking of good game, we're here looking at 7 Wonders. It's a good game, and accessible by gamer and non-gamer alike. It "learns" fast and has lots of replay value, it's a solid addition to the shelf and can be broken out even during the holidays with that brother-in-law who always looks down at you and your 'toy soldier' hobby. For me, I'm personally not quite as enamored with the game as everyone else seems to be. It's good mind you, but I'm not racing out anytime soon to pick it up. Haha, what a segue...and a pun!


I have a new favorite game, and it's called Race for the Galaxy. I will be racing out to buy this one, probably in a day or two actually. Race for the Galaxy has got it all, theme, gameplay, mechanics, style, the works. As an interesting side note I never even came close to winning, not once, but I still had a blast every single time I played. I love, love, love this game. Each turn has phases, and you're plopping down planets that produce goods, or you have robots that help you settle more planets, or you have an uplifted alien species to help acquire targets militarily. So many different ways to win, different strategies to try. Somebody should send a copy to Mik's Minis so you have good blogging karma for centuries to come. I will immortalize you with praise and song!


Martians!!! isn't the most finely tuned engine under the hood, but it is fun nonetheless. The conclusion we came to however was that this wasn't the best game considering how long it took to play and the fact that with a 20+ boardgame horde sitting just seven feet away it was too tempting to give it up and grab something else. If you are having friends over with the express purpose to play this one game for the course of the evening, you're golden. It's random and light-hearted and makes for a heck of a beer and pretzels game. It's lacking a little depth but you do at least get a whopping 100 Martian figs!


Good ole Catan, the regular 1995 insta-classic. I didn't play this version but only because I was in something else at the time. I've already droned on about this earlier when talking about the Cities and Knights expansion, so moving on...


I guess the deck-building game Ascension is going to wrap up this post. Theme is king here as the deck-building mechanic is kind of bland and the different strategic avenues are somewhat limited. But if you want a cool setting that involves a pantheon of gods, daemons from beyond, steam-punk monks, mechanica, druids, Elves, and more you will dig it. I see a trend developing in quick to learn and fun to play games, not a bad thing. Ascension falls into this particular niche quite nicely.

There you go, a bit of a wrap-up of the games we recently played. Enjoy!

Bringing the Thunder...Stone!

I've added a new game to the vaults here at Mik's Minis, the deck-building card game Thunderstone. As you can see from the pic, I not only picked up the base game, but the first expansion as well, Wrath of the Elements.

For me theme wins out over gameplay and even innovation. I'm all about theme, and that's what drew me to TStone initially. Well, that and the fact that all my friends already own Dominion, another (excellent) deck-building game. There are similarities between the two, but they're also worlds apart. Thunderstone is a fantasy game through and through; Elves, magic, monsters, and the like. Your goal is to assemble a party of adventurers, equipment them with weapons, spells, and other items, and go into the dungeon to slay some fiends. The game is basically a cross between the flavor and action of Munchkin and the mechanics (loosely) of Dominion. Sounds like a good hybrid in my book.


It's a card game, so after you've shelled out $40-$60 bucks, and get ready for the big opening, well, it's kind of letdown. Just know you're getting...cards. Not minis, not game pieces, no markers or chits, not even a meeple. Just cards. If you're buying it in the first place, you know already, so moving on...


I kept opening, sorting, opening, sorting, over and over. This took the better part of my morning, but it was worth it in the end. I didn't realize the expansion box was oversized on purpose in order to hold all of the expansion cards plus the cards form the base game, very cool. I also didn't realize the expansion box came with raised and labeled card dividers for both sets in order to sort them properly. These are pretty much a must.


When it was all said and done I realized much to my delight that bottom of the expansion box (seen loaded here with all the cards from both sets) fit snugly in another box. Over the holidays I picked up a gift box of Wild Turkey 101, which came with a bottle and two glasses. Well the two went together like they were for one another, so now I have a fancy-pants box holder.

For the most part this was more of an "unboxing" post, which the kids tell me is 'so hot right now'. I have a couple of TStone games under my belt already and I do like it, I'll have to get into mechanics and gameplay later though. Until then, enjoy!