Bastille (2018) Review
The French Revolution is a period rich in events of the History of France. Yet, quite surprisingly, this is a subject that has not been too emphasized in the board game realm. Worse, the majority of the games dealing with this period come from foreign authors. A lack of interest or imagination for it ? Not enough good mechanisms to approach the best of this atmosphere? A lack of interest in this period? A difficulty to treat this event playfully? I admit that when I saw that the theme of the game Bastille was about this period, neither one nor two my curiosity was peaked. Bastille therefore offers to dive a few weeks before the events of the capture of the famous French prison (and the shift from a society led by royalists to a society led by the bourgeoisie). Each player embodies a revolutionary faction that is preparing for this famous day. But for that, you will need support, weapons, money, recognition of the land. Bastille is a game released in 2018 by Christoph Behre published by Queen Games. The arts are by David Cochard. He shows us that he can have a fairly wide range of art styles. The game's turns are played in two stages. At first, each player has four influences tiles. Everyone will play their tiles on the different places available. Each location can only accommodate a certain number of tiles on the locations indicated above. Once the spaces are filled, no one can no longer settle in this area. Each slot can only receive one tile. As soon as all the players have played their tiles, you’ll move on to the second phase. The second phase corresponds to the resolution of the actions. This is done in the order of the spaces. Then, depending on the power of the tiles influences present and in case of a tie, it’s the leftmost tile, the players will perform the actions indicated on the different places. Queen Game takes the opportunity to make you travel through a revolutionary Paris. You’ll start with the Bank of Paris. This allows you to make money based on the power of your played influence tile. The first player to resolve the action receives the right to become the first player. Continue with the Notre Dame de Paris. This area helps to improve a tiles influence for the players. The tile played on it is replaced by a tile of higher level. This action is essential and knowing how to use it at the right time without spending too much time can tip the game. The bonus for the highest token is a victory point. Heading this time Versailles. Here, at each turn will appear tiles offering two possible bonuses to the players who have settled there. The first player will choose first, the second will take what is left. Each bonus varies depending on the tile revealed. To infiltrate the capital, nothing better than to prepare for an invasion from below. The "visit" continues therefore through a forced passage of the Catacombs. There are only two slots available. The first player to perform the action will put two henchmen in a bag, the second will put only one. These goons occupy a special place in the game and will be used during the scoring. Neglecting them can make you lose the game. Place Louis (named after the french "good king") is a zone of perpetual conflict between the various factions. It is here that you will recruit influential characters found in the form of cards. The characters are divided into three groups: peasants, soldiers and nobles. Each card has different characteristics but also a purchase cost which is more or less important. To recover a card, you have to pay for it in gold. This value is lowered depending on the influence tile played. Example: You play a tile worth 3 to buy a soldier with a gold cost of 7. You will then pay only 4 gold to acquire him. In addition to the number of flags, diamonds, crowns and victory points, the characters have a weapon box. If it is white, the character is already armed. If the box is red, you must acquire a corresponding weapon before the end of the game at the risk of losing points. There are also monks who will serve as a joker in the composition of groups. The choice of characters is important especially to best resolve the objectives on mission cards. Recovering the right cards before others can quickly becoming crucial. To finish the visit of the Paris of the time, we propose to you come to the main location and recover weapons within the Bastille itself. Capital building but mostly symbolic, this royal prison is full of ways to arm your faction. But the places are expensive. The first to resolve the action will move their marker the same number of its influence tile plus a bonus space. The second will advance only the amount of the influence expended. The further a player is on the track, the more victory points they will score. Giving them the priority on the choice of weapons available. Apart from the last player (who will collect only one), the others will win two weapons among those visible. The positioning on the track of the Bastille is very important. Neglecting can cost you the game. But that's not all. There remains a last place to visit. Center of power after the king, the States General where the wealthiest members of the three orders of the Kingdom gather. This place allows players to collect mission cards. These objectives resolved at the end of the game will more or less guide you during the game, especially in the choice of recruitment of character cards. Fulfilling its objectives brings you a lot of non-negligible points. But it's not so easy. Each mission is in duplicate. Thus, the competition will be even more enraged between the players, especially in the choice of buying characters. At the end of a turn, players check who has the most flags. These are present on the character cards. The player with the most number of flags will win the end-of-round bonus. The second player with the most flag wins the second prize. Without changing the course of the game, the flags are absolutely not to neglect. If you let a player recover all the bonuses alone, it will give them a significant advantage. Always be careful not to get too far behind. The game is played over eight rounds. Half way through the game, so at the end of the fourth round, you’ll proceed to a first scoring round according to the characters and their icons on your possession. Five henchmen will also be taken from the bag. The player, whose color matches, has the right to choose a bonus from those still available. Players also collect weapons based on their position on the Bastille track. A second count will take place at the end of the game, ie at the end of the eighth round. To be honest, I was really pleasantly surprised by this game. Mixed between the game of influence and placement of workers, Bastille is a surprising game that hits the mark. When you read the rules, you have the impression of being faced with a basic game. And yet, once inside, one quickly realizes the constant tension. Every decision is important and the timing to achieve it is paramount. It is necessary to know how to moderate each action, without necessarily arriving too late, because speed is a key notion in the game. For example, Notre Dame is an important zone in order to increase the value of your tokens of influence. But if you perform this action too often, you will only waste time. You need to know how to juggle the need to increase your capacity for action without unnecessarily losing action in other places on the board. Having the biggest is not always the best way to win. As you can see, a lot of actions are needed. But of course, you can not do everything. You will try to balance your choices to achieve as close a possible to a perfect route. The choice of your recruitment is one of the most important mechanisms of the game. Guided by your mission cards but also the desire not to distance themselves from the flags, not to mention the fact of winning victory points, the choice of cards will be done drastically. Choosing first becomes the important thing, but it will not be so easy. Places will quickly become expensive. Do not forget to equip your characters well. Getting into the Revolution without being armed can be very costly. Indeed, you will lose points based on the number of unarmed characters you have at the end of the game. And the negative amount increases very quickly. Bastille is not a game that invents or reinvents its style of play. However, it works particularly well. The game has easy-to-understand rules that read very quickly. Once read, do not go back. The iconography is extremely clear. Everything is indicated on the board precisely and efficiently. Everything is fluid and the rounds are linked precisely. The game manages to create a special atmosphere, a constant tension between the players but also between themselves. The choice of actions seems simple but is rather complex in the sense that everything is important. Players must not leave large margins for others, try to respect your initial plan while adapting constantly to the evolution of the game. The interaction is ubiquitous. At any time, a place where one thought to be immune in the choice of its action can switch following the choice of an adversary having a stronger value of influence. One can regret finally, as often in this type of game, the absence of a strong theme. The illustrations, and the way the game unfolds, try to get as close as possible to this period and get us into it. Unfortunately, we are still a bit too close to the German style gameplay. However, this does not spoil the fun. This is thanks to a dynamic and steady pace from the beginning to the end of the game. The number of players also limits the possibility of the release but for the more adventurous, a variant two players exist on Boardgamegeek. Bastille offers a non complicated game at the level of rules but with a hidden depth that is strongly pleasant. There are several ways to score points, several ways to play, ensuring strong replayability. The game does not seem to script and varies a lot from one game to another depending on the situation. It mixes well known mechanisms while managing to keep the players in suspense. More than a nice surprise, a real success for its category that I can only advise you. Technical note 9/10 Everything is legible and everything is clearly indicated on the board making everything extremely fluid. The rules are short but well written. The material without being exceptional, fulfills its role well. However, we regret the lack of plastic bags or efficient storage in the box. My score BGG 8/10 (Very good, enjoy playing and suggest it) A very nice surprise. A game that despite a classic coating offers constant tension. The interaction is ubiquitous. The game manages to provide an effective mix of mechanisms while remaining fluid and simple. A family / family+ game more than deserved to benefit from more exposure. We can regret the fact that the theme passes a little in the background despite an obvious willingness and high level illustrations. Combined Rating 8.5 / 10 And now it's up to you to play.
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Camp Grizzly (2013) Review
We are in 1979. As every year, the Grizzly Camp opens its doors. You do not know the famous Grizzly holiday camp? It’s picturesque wooden cabins, lake, fun activities, Jody and his guitar, the serial killer, ... wait what? But that's not on the brochure? Ah yes anyway, I will have to look out for that next time I want to send my children on vacation ... Good ... Good luck children. Dad believe in you! Camp Grizzly immerses you right in the heart of the most famous Slasher and the ubiquitous references of Friday the 13th. The game was financed by Kickstarter in 2013. It was created by Jason Topolski and published by Ameritrash Games. Because of the theme and the general atmosphere of the game, this is not a title directed towards the youngest ones. Camp Grizzly allows you to embody monitors of the famous colony. While everything seems to be going well, a mysterious teddy bear killer (yes, you read that right) is here. Nobody seems to be able to compete with him and no one is safe. He kills his victims indiscriminately, whether they are monitors, visitors or charming children. Fortunately, you will be able to try to fight against him thanks to ingenious plans, straight out of your imagination (horror films you know, no?). During the game, you will have to make some choices to try to survive as much as possible. In the face of a relentless killer the best survival is often to think of your own survival. But will you sacrifice the others for this? This is a cooperative game. You win together or you lose together. You will have to act in harmony to succeed, at best, in repelling the incessant attacks. If unfortunately some of you disappear (it's sad ... but you must see the bright side of things), it will open up more spaces and with luck, Otis (the name of the killer) will be slowed down. The installation of the game is done fairly quickly. Each player chooses a monitor. Each monitor has the same number of health points but different abilities. Camp Grizzly is proud of its instructors. Let me introduce you to our team: the beautiful Jody and his guitar, C.J. our local sports champion, the beautiful Tracy who is ... Tracy, Kevin the lifeguard, the nature specialist Sherry and the talented Karen. With them, your children will have a summer they will not forget. Here, there are no figurines. The characters are represented by standees. Each player also starts with Survival cards. The principle of the game is simple. Four ideas are available to you. To survive, one must succeed in bringing one of these to fruition. Final cards represent the plans of the ideas.You can choose to escape to a Van, take the boat, call for help at the Ranger Tower or hide in the barn. Each plan consists in first finding specific objects that are scattered throughout the camp. Of course, you do not know exactly where they are. You have only a vague idea but there is always the possibility that it is something else. It's up to you to find them. Once you have found the three required tiles, you start the second phase of the game: the final step. Just like in a movie of the genre, you thought you won but the evil is everywhere. Once the objectives are in hand, you then return the chosen card. The finale gives new activities to complete in order to really survive this night. It is only at the end of these new goals that you will know whether you have won or not. Not so easy to escape the horror. The game starts with the monitor. Starting with the first player, each instructor performs their turn normally before moving on to the next. The first thing you can do is move yourself. The number of possible spaces is indicated on your profile. You can of course move where you want if you can. For example, you can only go to a locked bungalow if you have the key. Or if you go through a box with Otis, he takes the opportunity to try to hit you. Not nice the ugly sir. But movement points are also used for actions. You can also, during your turn, pay a travel point to pick up objects, equip weapons, save campers (if it is possible), move you in the side roads (faster but it is at the risk of your losing). Once your movement point / action quota has been spent, you will need to draw the first Cabin card. Sometimes it's good things like weapons, objective pieces or objects to better heal or defend yourself. Other times, these are not always favorable events. Otis can sometimes take the opportunity to break in and eat you (uh!) or attack you. Once the card is resolved, we move to the end of your turn. You may be able to equip items or weapons that are in your backpack, pick up things on your space, or trade with other monitors. Then, once all the heroes have played, comes the turn of Otis. Otis is a good guy. Very resistant, very sporty, very muscular, very many things but he is clearly not nice. Nobody really knows who he is, but he is not there to butter the sandwiches. Otis has only one goal: to make a massacre and exterminate you. Of course, his primary target is the animators of the colony. But if by the way, some children slide on his blade, it will not disturb him too much. He's like that Otis. A good guy who does not speak much but who acts quickly and well. Otis moves the number indicated on his reference card. Sometimes he will be hidden in the woods and may come to a place where no one is waiting for him. Otis still has some ethics. He primarily targets spaces with the fewest people. Then, in case of a tie, the space with the monitor who is most scared (which happens ... often). Still equal? He then heads for the most wounded. After that it's random. He does not waste time scratching his head. If by chance, he goes through another players space, he stops and tries an attack (sacrificing a child or a cameo to slow him down and all that ...). Once he has played, you'll start again a turn, if there are any players surviving. Otis does not worry about locked doors, he smashes everything if necessary. I often told you that Otis was trying to make an attack. Indeed, it is not necessarily automatic. If the killer stops on a box of a cameo, well there no contest, he goes directly there. By cons, if a monitor is in the corner he can try to protect everyone in the household. A monitor has the choice to fight Otis or run away while panicked. If the facilitator has a weapon they can try to push Otis while fighting. For this he rolls a die, and another player rolls a die for the teddy bear killer. If the defender's number is higher, the attacker is pushed back. Otis disappears in the woods. If not, all the characters in that cabin take damage. If a monitor becomes panicked, not only do they take as much damage as Otis's strength, but they also have to run as many squares as their panic value. The teddy bear is invincible and immortal, you have no hope to kill him. There is another thing to note about this surprise guest, Otis. The more people he kills, the more powerful he becomes. The sight of blood seems to have an invigorating effect on him. As the number of dead on the corpse trail increases, Otis will become powerful. He can increase his movement and his attacks with more and more effective dice (d4-d10). If the number of victims reaches thirteen, you have no hope. The game ends with a beautiful defeat. The game components are not consistent. On the other hand, everything breathes the theme. Cards, ambient black humor, illustrations, texts, abilities. Camp Grizzly plunges us with pleasure directly into a Slasher style films. This is also one of the reasons why the game should not be put in all hands. Violence and sexual allusion may be present throughout the game. Otis is relentless. You can not kill him, just run away. And again only if you can do that. Weapons are scarce and time is running out. This constant pressure is really well transcribed. At every moment the fear of failure invades us. The play area is ultimately quite small. Nobody is safe and there is no hiding place. Otis can also arise at any time. As a result, your decisions will have an impact on the future. And at the same time, this desperate atmosphere allows players to embark on heroic actions. Sacrifice for the common cause or play individually and increase the risk of dying faster. There too, you can make groups of one and separate yourself with each new death. The ability to choose between the different plans is a good thing in terms of replayability. Even if in the first part of the game it comes down to not necessarily finding the identical objects, in the second part the final stage changes completely from one mission to another. And of course, you'll find all the "ingenious" plans that young victims try, as a last resort. A treat for those fans, with references and winks dissimilated everywhere in the game. The game is very heavily based on its theme. You have an allergy to randomness? Flee right away. Dice, cards,tokens face down, luck is everywhere. The game is however clearly enjoyable in its mechanics. Simple, there is no need to return to the rules, the explanation is done quickly like the immersion. The idea, for example of the choice between moving on longer safe roads or trying the adventurous shortcuts at the risk of getting lost is excellent and adds to the pleasure of the theme. Even if Otis is not played by a player, his performance is really well done. Simple, not superfluous. But it allows to feel the tension related to the chance of his appearance or his destructive force. You can very well say that you have time to spare, letting him move slowly and kill some NPCs on the way, thinking that it gives you time. However, remember that the more he kills, the more powerful he becomes. And the more powerful he becomes, the more he becomes unmanageable. Of course, do not expect a game with a huge dose of strategy. We are clearly in the Ameritrash style of play. Replayability is quite important as the game is hard to win. By cons, for those who are less fan of the theme, a certain repetitiveness can be felt once the main missions tried. For fans, you will enjoy playing and replaying. Camp Grizzly is above all a tribute to films of its genre. And with it, it's a success. Everything is there. Finally, one of the biggest faults is that it is very hard to find. I do not even speak of expansions. It's a shame because in the genre, it ranks among the best. Technical Score 8/10 The material of the game is functionable but nothing extraordinary. The atmosphere is well transcribed and there is a lot of winks or references to the genre. Everything has clear iconographie, despite a rule a little vague at times. My BGG Score 8.5 / 10 (Very good, enjoy play and would suggest it) The theme is omnipresent. Otis puts pressure on players who are constantly trying to escape death. The game is simple to play, easy to explain. Replayability is important if you love the theme. The difficulty is present, which is even more pleasant for a cooperative. Combined Score 8.25 / 10 Now it's your turn... a song of ice & fire miniatures game |
Designer: Vlaada Chvátil |
This is one game that stands out from every other work of placement that I have played, as it has an ingenious system for who goes first and the number of actions you can take. In every round you’re going to be sending your Imps out either individually or as groups. The larger the group, the larger the possibility you have of choosing which action you wish to take. Action Spaces are limited but also very unique.. In your home base, and behind a shield, players will be creating groups with their Imps. So you could send each Imp out individually and therefore take as many actions as you have Imps. Or place them in groups, which will almost guarantee the action you want. The larger the group, the more chance you have of going first. This idea adds a wonderful element of deduction and bluffing, in regards to what actions players will possibly take. You may desperately need a new cage to place a new pet into your store. But if you know the other players all need a new cage as well, you may be the player that misses out, unless you send three or maybe 4 Imps out this turn. Even just this small part of the game is a mesmerizing puzzle. Should you jump the queues in the marketplace or wait your turn.
Another nice thing is, when it comes to your turn to place out your Imp or Imps, and all the actions that you wish to do are taken, you can leave your some of your team at home. These little helpers won’t go to waste, as they can clean up the poop left by the pets that you have or maybe get themselves a paper around and earn a little bit of money. On top of that, it’s advantageous to have some imps at home just in case one of your pets get a little too aggressive and tries to escape.
As well as the typical tropes of the game like this (buy them, feed them, clean them, play with them), you also have some other thematic elements. Elements like, if you wish to buy a new cage you will need to send out at least to imps to carry the heavy thing back home. Or if you wish to buy a new pet, the Imp that you send needs to have some money. As I said this ties in with the reality and consequences of real life. Not planing correctly can screw you up. And even if you miss out on the actions that you wish to take in one round, it won’t affect your overall strategy because there are other options that you can take. I have never felt stuck in regards to being short of things to do. Although that may change if I played against a very aggressive player, as they would snatch spaces away from me just just stop me taking them.
Now I’ve yammered on and on about this worker placement thing and how different it is to other worker placements, but that is only one corner of the game. You’ll be nurturing these pets that you bought, conditioning them to win competitions and to hopefully sell them on to a loving and caring evil demon Lord. When all actions have been taken you will have to care of your pets on the next phase. You will collect a number of different coloured cards, depending on what is depicted on the age of your pets. These cards have a variety of conditions for the pets, whether they be hungry, angry, magical, or need to go to the toilet. You will then assign a number of cards, again depending on their age to each pet that you own. Then act out the consequences of those cards. For example, if you were sign food to one of your pets then they need to eat. And depending on their diet you will need to feed them that commodity. Otherwise they get a little sad. Same if you assign a play card to a pet, meaning they wish to be played with. Again if you have no imps at home to play with these pets, they get a little sad. Sadness is a killer, as if they become too sad, they will slip off their mortal coil, from depression. The pets can also get very angry and break out of their cages if you were assigned to many angry cards to them. They can also get sick from sickness cards if they’re in a cage with lots of poop. So balancing out all these cards becomes a nice little puzzle, especially when you have multiple pets at the same time. Which pet get which card.
And assigning these cards are very important in regards to the competitions and selling them pets to willing owners, that are then next phases. Competitions like the angry pet show or a talent show will require players to have a signed certain cards to a pet. Each card will give them points from the judges but they will also lose points if, for example, the judges are looking for poop or sickness or even mutations for magic. Doing well in the competition will boost your stores reputation. Selling a pet to a willing owner works the same as the competition, which means the card you’ve assigned will apply to the customer that enters the shop that round. Forward planning is essential in these instances and luckily due to a timeline on the round track, you can prepare for those customers that will arrive and those competitions too.
Now there is a little bit of downtime as you refresh the board from round to round, adding new pets and placing out food on market stores. And if you’re playing with less than four players, you’ll be moving drone imps that block certain action spaces from round to round. But again a lot of this is thematic. When you replace pets from the main board, any older than three years old will be taken to the abattoir and their reminding flash will be put into the meat market. So it’s not just a case of “it’s the end of this round we need to remove these cubes and move out there”, everything has a thematic reason for why it is moved, taken off the board, added to the board and you will even find yourself commentating and maybe even talking to your pets and your Imps as you play.
The whole game is rounded off with some stunning artwork and some neats little components. For example, the eggs when placed face down and shuffled will become the pets. Turning these over will reveal random pets with a little disc in the interior. This moving disc will show the age of your pet and the older your pet gets, the more its value increases as well as the number of cards that you will draw. Having more cards for a creator we'll make them more troublesome. This can lead to some funny storytelling as creatures may have very strong magical powers which new take them and teleport them to another dimension. Or they just become pooping machines that your poor Imps have to clean up behind. And the of variety of special powers and different needs as well as the possibility of multiplying your score are all available in different facets in the market. And there is no end to the amount of fun that can be had even just naming your pets.
Now you may have noticed that in all my writing here I have not mentioned that players do this or players move that etc. This is because the rules of the game are in the theme and vice a versa. And you'll find yourself forgetting things like the market phase and replacing it with your own catchphrase like “let's go shopping.” But the game is not on rainbows and butterflies, as we are dealing with pets which will grow in a dungeon. You may find yourself getting lost in your first few games. Everything you see in the game is of images and icons which will guide you through. Meaning that you will have to pull up the rulebook from time to time to double check things, as the iconography takes a while to digest. And while there are a majority of very large chunks of Rules that are easy to retain, there are also some tiny rules of slightly insignificant things that you will need to keep checking. But eventually you will pick it up and play will start streaming fluidly maybe on your third or fourth playthrough.
This game is the ultimate worker placement game of all time. It's funny as well as fun with its humorous and well-written rulebook. Plus the really cute and slightly sadistic artwork which accompanies the dungeon Lords and the pets. The components comprise of different materials from a wooden score me pool two plastic imps and standard tokens and cards, but everything looks stunning on the table. We love this game so much that we slightly upgraded it with some special tokens that resemble poop instead of brown cubes. And I have already invested in the expansion, Dark Alleys but have never gotten around to playing with it. Although we have added the adorable pets in the expansion into our base game. Maybe one day …
Technical score 9.5 out of 10
Stunning visuals, fantastic theme, excellent strategy and bags of laughter, all in this one box. I can only fault some of the components that are used to attach the disc to the egg, as they were missing. The upgraded components, if included in the game would make this a 10 out of 10.
BGG Score 9 out of 10
(excellent - very much enjoy playing)
This may be unfair as I have only ever played this game 14 times and only with two players, but every game has been a challenge and a barrel full of laughs. Even young children will pick this up with some storytelling, due in part to the thematic ideas attached to the mechanisms. And every game was a memorable experience with my daughter.
Combined score 9.25 out of 10
Now it's over to you...

Guilou say:
"Dungeon Petz is a super original game, both in its theme but also in its mechanics. After the excellent Dungeon Lord, Vlaada delivers us once again a true nugget. Be careful not to be fooled by the cute illustrations and his Tamagotchi theme. Dungeon Petz is a challenging game. You will need to play several times before you start to master the beast.
Chance holds an important place but goes well with the quirky and offbeat theme.
You’ll feel affection for the small critters and almost regret selling them to the highest bidder ... or make them unhappy for lack of good care.
Passing the discovery of omnipresent humor (whether in the game or in the rules), it remains a game of management, rather sturdy but with an unpredictable dose of luck. Luck that can be more or less controlled when you start to know the game. Dungeon Petz is an excellent game that has suffered from the comparison with his big brother Dungeon Lord at its release. But the two are quite different. The theme is extremely well done. Making animals happy while respecting buyers' demands is not easy.
A very good game, a Vlaada title from his great era, a challenging game but very pleasant."
Rescue Polar Bears:
Data & Temperature (2017) review
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Coming from a first Kickstarter in 2016, Rescue Polar Bears quickly found his audience. But very quickly, the game appeared to be suffering from some defects. In 2017 at Essen, a new version was published with adjustments making it even more pleasant. This is the version I will tell you about.
Polar Bears Rescue: Data & Temperature is a game by designers Jog Kung (Cat Town) and Huang Yi Ming (The Deception of Antiques: 12 Chinese Zodiac Bronze Heads). It has been published by TwoPlus Games (Cat Box).
No surprises on the theme, the game is located at the North Pole. You are sent to head a rescue mission on the Arctic Ocean. Each player is behind the controls of a lifeboat. But who should we save? Polar bears of course!
The melting ice is accelerating and your team is responsible for recovering as much data as possible while preventing the disappearance of these adorable (but dangerous) hairy creatures. The recovered data will be used to raise awareness of the danger to the governments of the world (utopian?). You will therefore have to cooperate (with such a theme, what a surprise!) to carry out your objective.
For the set-up, nothing more simple. You take all the tiles, mix them, and install them face down on the board. Once done, we turn them over and remove the empty Ocean tiles. That's it, your playing area has appeared.
Among the available tiles, you will find three kinds: the ice banks numbered from 1 to 20 (where the bears can evolve), the empty Ocean tiles (which you will remove) and the tiles with a buoy (the tags can help you). We install the two bases, with the helicopters (essential), which will come to our rescue. We return a map position that allows us to define the location of the first data to be recovered. After putting the thermometer at 8 ° C, we turn over an alert token to know which number of the first ice sheet is in danger. Then install cute cubs and their parents. All that remains is to choose our boats and go.
Playable from 1 to 4 players, you can choose from five different boats. As in many of these styles games, each boat offers very different abilities. Several factors to take into account such as speed, the number of actions, the possibility of transport, power but also upgrades possible (two per boat). The initial choice is important. Each offers interesting possibilities and all are very useful in their own way.
Your rescue team can do its job. On your turn, you have three actions to perform from the possible actions (you can do the same several time):
- to move : as many spaces as your ship allows;
- collect a data / ship a bear : if you are adjacent to an ice floe, you can collect data or have a single bear embarked for each action (being careful of the available space);
- land your bear cargo (also called "save polar bears") : if you are adjacent to a base, you can save ALL the bears in your boat for an action;
- break the ice : does an ice floe prevent you from moving? No problem ! You are equipped for that. So you can go in, destroy it, which will remove the tile from the board. Positive effect: the temperature drops by 2 ° C (the water has cooled) / Negative effect: one tile less, end of game faster. An action to use sparingly so.
Of course, there are some specific actions for some boats, like finding more data, shipping more bears etc.
Once your three actions are completed, you slide into the breeding phase. It seems that polar bears are not aware of the danger. As a result, they continue to live normally. Which inevitably implies love between bears, and the potential appearance of new cubs because of the life’s miracle. But for that, you have to roll a dice 20 (ah, didn't you know that's how polar bears breed?). If the number of the die matches a tile in play, the miracle of nature does its job. If there is a male and a female, two new cubs are born. If there are only cubs, they grow (either in male or female). And if there is nothing, or there are not enough miniatures in the reserve or bears of only one sex, the temperature will go up by one degree.
Because yes, once the reproduction done, the heat continues to climb. So, we roll the temperature dice and increase the marker of the number indicated (possibly add the +1 bonus).
It is going to get more and more hotter in this part of the Ocean Arctic. And this is not the time to take a vacation. But what happens if the temperature reaches or exceeds the token of the tile where there is the alert counter? What it must scientifically do when the temperature is above the resistance of the ice ... the numbered ice pack melts and disappears. Positive effect: it will cool the water by 5 ° C. Negative effect: the end of the game approaches.
But what about the bears on it? Fortunately, polar bears have a minimum of survival instinct. It's like when a boat uses the icebreaker action or if after a birth, there are not more enough space on the tile. They will seek to move on the adjacent tiles that can accommodate them. Because yes, the ice is quite small. They can only accommodate three bears / cubs at a time. For those who unfortunately can not find a place, they find themselves in the water. It is known that polar bears are good swimmers. But actually not here. So, we have the chance to count on a helicopter team to come and save them. Phew. Except that we only have enough fuels for six flights (in the normal play), which is the rescue of six bears. After that... if by chance a bear drowns, your team would have failed in its holy mission.
The end of the game occurs if you win or lose. To win, one goal: to recover a sufficient number of data. To lose, it's even easier. If a single bear disappears or the temperature reaches 20 ° C, you lose.
Does it seem hard to win? It's because it is. The game is simple in its rules, but very hard in the possibility of a victory. It’s necessary to be vigilant, on the lookout for the least critical situation. Be careful, critical situation can often happen. You will have little respite in this excellent game. If you think you are saved, there is a problem that you have not seen. You can adjust the difficulty and add ice float tiles, which block the movement. The boats must therefore use the icebreaker action to move forward. In this case, the temperature does not drop.
Behind a cute design, exceptional material, we are not in the simple family game. To win, you have to think and be ready to find the parry at the right time.
To help you, in addition to helicopters, you can win cards (limited number) by stopping on the buoys. These cards can save your life. But you will have to play them at the right time. Which upgrades to choose and for whom are also important things to consider.
Rescue Polar Bears: Data & Temperature is smart to talk about a vital ecological problem without being preachy. The two designers have found the perfect recipe to combine playful fun with awareness. The theme is ubiquitous whatever one does.
Even if it is indicated 8 years on the box, and that it is quite possible to play there in family, the game offers a challenge worthy of experts. To win, you will not only have to rely on luck.
From the start with the selection of boats, any choice during the game will have a significant impact on the future and any error is expensive. Especially for bears. They are so adorable that we can only want to save them. The material is really exceptional. Resin bear miniatures are beautiful and cute as they should (even if they can slightly deteriorate rather quickly). The boat embossed cardboard adds a nice 3D side. Tiles and tokens are made of cardboard. Cards of good qualities. Everything is well thought out and ergonomic. We are far from the beautiful game that hides gaps of interest or replayability. This one is very important: set up always different, rise of random waters, choice of boats, appearance of data ...
Rescue Polar Bears: Data & Temperature is a very good surprise. A game that deserves its place in any game library. A beautiful, intelligent, interesting game, carrying a strong message, while allowing to have fun great pleasure. A blow of heart certainly.
Technical Score 9.5 / 10
Exceptional gaming equipment, everything is at the service of the theme. Simple to set up, the miniature bear resin make their effect quickly. Perfect alliance between ergonomics and beauty.
My BGG Score 8.5 / 10
(Very good - enjoy playing and would suggest it.)
A very good challenge, a theme omnipresent, huge replayability, fun and intelligent. A cooperative game that requires cooperation every moment. Short rules, well illustrated and easily understood.
Combined Score 9/10
And now it's over to you ...
Space Gate Odyssey (2019) tested
Designer: Cédric Lefebvre |
This is a first impressions of a game that a friend owns. Therefore, I have never read the rules and will not be using the correct terms of Space Gate Odyssey in this article. But this is the impression that I got from playing it. A game where you will be building a space station from a control center somewhere on another planet. And your goal is to populate other planets with your colonists, using a Stargate system. Beam em up, move em about and zap them out there. A worker placement, construction, puzzle, go forth and multiply game.
The games main mechanic is worker displacement. There will be a control room board depicting five rooms, each with a 3D table in it. Each room has its own action and each player has a number of scientists in each of these rooms. On the players turn they will take one of their scientists and move into another room to perform the action they wish to take. Each scientist in that room, of the same players color will be able to perform the action. Move a third scientist into the teleport room and you can teleport three groups of colonists onto your space station. Which can be great for you. It's a party in the teleport room. Woopie! But what the bummer will be is moving a scientist into a room where they are alone, meaning you perform the action only once.
And to add a downer to the bummer is if another player has three or four of their scientists in that room, they can perform the action on your turn as well. Three or four times, depending on their number of scientists. So you are basically allowing the other players a free pass to do what they want as well. This means you’ll have to plan your actions carefully and either space out to your scientists or group them together for powerful actions. At the same time you’ll need to think about if you want to help out the other players or not. This lends itself to a nice back-and-forth between the players and also lots of interaction in the game even when it’s not your turn.
Each player will have their own individual space station in front of them made up of a number of tiles. A teleport room will provide you with some colonists that will help build the station and colonize other planets. You’ll be expanding this space station with the help of your scientists in the control room, as one of the actions will allow you to draw tiles. Think of it as building an ant farm or creating a route for the lovable Lemmings (Oh No! pop). These tiles come in three different colors and have three different functions.
The functions include Teleporting rooms, where your colonists will arrive at your space station. Corridors, that when constructed will allow you to recruit more scientists in the control room, or robots (which are non-moving scientists) or upgraded scientists (which have the power of doing an action twice). And finally for lack of a better turn, the Stargate tiles, which when half full of colonists will zap them to one of the planets chosen at random at the beginning of the game. The color of the tiles is very important as you build your labyrinth of a space station. As three of the control rooms match those three colors. Moving a scientist into the green control room will allow one of your colonists to move from an adjacent tile into a green tile. Whether it be Corredor, Stargate or Teleport room. Again the more of your scientists in that room the more colonist can move about the space station.
There is an intriguing balancing system to the game, to stop runaway leaders. As your score goes up, the amount of colonists and scientists at your disposal goes down. You’ll be using these meeples to keep track of the tens of units of your score. This hurts a little when you have to use a colonist. But it hurts a great deal more if you have to remove a scientist from the control room.
Once a planet has its complement of colonists it is removed from the game and scored. And the Stargate moves on to another planet. If there are no more chosen planets left, the Stargate moves on to the home world and colonists which go through that Stargate will score points directly. When there are no more planets to explore and all the Stargates have been placed on the home world the game ends. You’ll do the final scoring which also includes a penalty for any open doors on your space station, a little like Galaxy Trucker (in space, everyone knows who left the door open). So constructing this in an adequate manner is important, not only to be efficient but also to be complete.
The game is small and cute but still takes up a lot of space. Control room, planets, piles of tiles, everybody's space stations sprawling everywhere. With mini meeple colonists which can be a little finicky and meeple sized scientists that have suits that they slip in and out of accidentally. It’s sad to say but it’s all a little bit too miniaturized. Yes the game takes up a lot of table space and fits nicely in a ticket to ride size box but it suffers with the finicky components. Plus there are very small icons on the space station tiles. This can sometimes lead to forgetting that you have a teleporter or a Stargate portal on the tile. And in a game where there is this much player into action, it would be useful to look across the table to see your opponents station and easily discover what they have built.
tested - liked -want to play again
Catch The Moon (2018)
By Fabien Riffaud |
Let’s start by saying that dexterity games are not my bag, baby. Although I do own one, that I got as a christmas present many moons ago. Wobbally is it’s name and I find it amusing because it’s a tower constructed from coloured marbles. And like Jenga, you’ll need to remove one every turn, without knocking the tower over. I have adapted the rules from the different variations that came with the base game to create my own fun version. But, all in all, I don’t hold dexterity games with any great esteem. I prefer to use the muscles in my brain than the muscles in my finger tips.
So why am I reviewing a dexterity game?
Technical score 9.5/10 Solid whimsical components compiled into a elegantly packed box. A well composed rulebook which tell a simple story of how to play. My BGG score 8/10 (Very good - enjoy playing and would suggest it.) It's no stairway to heaven or to making me like dexterity games. But it is light and fluffy with some nice twists in this genera. Easy to get anyone to play to pass a happy 5-10 minutes Combined score 8.75/10 Now it’s over to you... |
Alone (tested)
(2018) |
Tested - Liked - Want to play again soon
Cuzco - Tested (2018)
By Michael Kiesling, Wolfgang Kramer |

Tested - Liked - Want to play again soon
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