Wave 2 in hands - Thoughts?

Hey guys, I got my wave 2 stuff today, I was wondering if anyone else has yes, and if so, what are your thoughts. Don't take this post as a complaint, because it is not. For the price I paid for these to be shipped to me (a tad under retail when all was said and done), I feel that the money I spent got me some good products that I am happy with overall... the value of what I am getting for what I am paying is fine for me, I have read others thinking it was not, but it seems ok to me.

My one negative thought however, is the paint quality on the wave 2 stuff seems a little poorer than the first set. This confuses me because I thought all of these minis were made at the same time and just repackaged/released in two waves? What gives? The paint is not 'horrible', but it isn't as good as wave 1 (which some people already hated), overall I'd say it looks like some corners were cut either to:

A) Save Money by lowering the quality of the paint, or

B) Get them 'out the door' faster to meet a rapidly approaching deadline.

Remember, it isn't 'bad' in my opinion, just not as good as the standard that was set in wave 1. Slight disappointment, but not horrible, just a bit 'messy' I guess you could say.

In any case, I wanted to ask if anyone else had them, and what their thoughts were on the quality compared to the original stuff.

Session Report: The Phase 10 Sweet Spot

For the last few months we've (my wife and myself) been going to my Parent's house for game night. The night changes based on our schedules, but we usually have been meeting once a week and have been trying an assortment of games, but we usually always play Phase-10 at least once per gaming session.

It is a great game, and everyone likes it... but that's the problem, everyone 'likes' it, but nobody 'loves' it. There is always something about it that makes it not a perfect game for us. Some of us don't like the length, some don't like how the rounds go, we've tried the Master's Edition, variants from the rules, variants online, etc., but still, something has never been quite 'perfect' with the game... heck, I've even guy the Phase-10 Dice game to try that out.

Well, last night we found the sweet spot, we played a game of Phase-10 that everyone loved. It was fast and fun and we used a combination of the original game with a variation and an element from the Master's Edition, overall the game worked out great, and I thought I'd post the method here for anyone who may be in a similar situation - trying to find a way to play this that everyone will enjoy.

First, we used the first variant rule from the original game to make the game quicker... We played 10 hands and each player advances to the next phase whether they completed the phase or not... this made the game time about half of what it normally had been running (4 players, we finished in about an hour, whereas previously the games too up to 2 hours). Basically in the first round, we were all going for Phase-1, then in the second round we were all going for Phase-2, etc., at the end of the game, whomever had the lowest score was the winner.

In addition to the faster game play, this also made the game easier to play and keep track of. No more "I'm going for Phase-3, she's going for Phase-2, You are still on Phase-1, and he's already on Phase-7" confusion that the normal game would sometimes pose... Actually, if you haven't yet played Phase-10, let me not mislead you, it isn't THAT confusing, but like I said, in recent weeks we've been trying many variants, and also the Master's edition, which lets you go for any Phase you want at any point you want to, which basically causes confusion going into the first phase.

This also made the game more interesting for a few reasons... With us all on the same phase, some of the phases became quite a challenge. In phases 4, 5 and 6 (going for a run of 7, 8 and 9), the phases got harder each time because with a run of 9, everyone was in need of almost every card... Also, in phase 8 (7 cards of one color), the phase was fun and challenging. With 4 players, the chances of two people going for the same color were pretty good, and luck was with me because I was delt a completed phase from the start, so I went out fast. My Parents and Wife scrambled to get rid of high cost cards and complete the phase before I could go out, and my Wwife and Dad both ended up going for the blue color at the same time, which basically screwed them both. My Mom, in an effort to 'skip' me twice in a row to buy them some valuable time, didn't realize until it was too late that she already had her phase (she thought she was a card short), she realized this as my second skip expired and I took my final turn, going out just before she could put her phase down. I taunted her that if she wasn't so busy trying to plot and scheme with her plans to skip me, she would have gone out as well, and with 2 wilds in her hand at the time, that move pretty much cost her the win at the end.

The other thing we did differently, was a rule we pulled from the Master's Edition that we all seemed to like. Basically it introduces a 'save' pile. Each round, instead of discarding a card, you can 'save' one card from your hand to put to use later in the game. I found that I would end up with the ability to put my phase down, but would hold off a bit, trying to get a skip or wild card to save for later, or if I had a completed phase in my hand that used a wild, I'd continue to play for a bit to see if I could find a replacement and save the wild's. The ability to have a couple of wild card sitting in my save hand was a big help. You don't need to own the Master's set to add in this rule, it is pretty basic and no new cards are needed, just remember when you use a card from your save deck, you draw it instead of drawing a new card, and you can't draw more than one saved card at a time (you can't pick up 3 wilds from your deck play them all at once).

So all in all we think we found a method of playing phase-10 that everyone was really happy with, and we'll play with this method again next week and probably 'set in stone' that as our house method of playing.

Oh, in case anyone was wondering on the final scores:

FIRST PLACE

Dad-Rock with 185 points

SECOND PLACE

D-Rock with 255 points

THIRD PLACE

Mom-Rock with 285 points (she probably would have won had she not tried so hard to keep me from winning in Phase 8, that was her downfall)

LAST PLACE

Wifey-Rock with 315 points.

FFG - So the rumors ARE true!

I had posted back in July that I had heard FFG had made a decision to no longer carry AT-43 or Confrontation, at the time nobody seemed that rumor was true and everything was just fine and dandy... I even got a nasty email from a well known "FGG Volunteer" who will remain nameless, who basically said "How Dare I start rumors about this"... however, I just now read this press release and it seems as though the rumors are true!  One point for Cardboard Carnage!!!

Roseville, MN, Thursday, October 16, 2008

Fantasy Flight Games to Discontinue Distribution of New Products

from Rackham

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) announced today that it will, effective immediately, no longer be distributing new releases for Rackham's AT-43 and Confrontation lines. FFG will continue to supply backstock of these lines while supplies last.

Specifically, FFG will not be distributing product from Wave 8 (originally scheduled for late September) and forward. Retailers and Distributors interested in these new products are encouraged to contact Rackham directly.

FFG extends its appreciation to the retailers and distributors who have carried these lines under our tenure, and to Rackham for allowing us to distribute its beautiful range of games and miniatures in the past many months.

Fantasy Flight Games

Jeremy Stomberg

jstomberg@fantasyflightgames.com

Phone: (651) 639 1905

Review of Management Material

Note: There are three different games, all of which have the same rules and concepts using different themes (Marriage Material, Management Material and Management Material: Information Technology), I am only going to review the Information Technology version since all three would have nearly identical reviews.

We took out a copy of this game the other night for our weekly family game night and decided to give it a shot. I've had the game now for several years, given to me by a local gaming store owner as a prize for something, and it has sat, alone, in my game closet the whole time.

First, I'll start off by saying this game is either going to be something you will like, or hate, and that is going to be based on how you play it and how serious or how fun you decide to take it.

On this particular gaming night, the players were myself, my wife and my Mom and Dad, who both recently started to get into gaming. 

First I'll give you my thoughts on the game itself, which appears to be from a small company or self-publisher, but the quality itself is actually quite good - in fact, when held up in comparison to more main stream games from larger companies (such as Phase 10 or Uno for example), the quality of the cards is almost at the same level, quite surprising and nice to see that the publisher didn't cut corners and take a cheap way out like so many other games I won't mention here.

Basic game play is pretty easy, and I will give a basic rundown of how to play without copying the entire set of rules over. Each player is an employee in a company, and as the game plays, jobs will be drawn from a deck on the table, each player (who is an 'employee') tries his hardest to get out of a job by coming up with a good excuse. The job (project) will have a number, such as Project "5", and in order to get out of the project you would need an excuse that is equal to or greater than that number.

You can use many small excuses, or one larger one, but you may not want to give up a good (high point value) excuse too quickly, there are some high point projects that you might get stuck with. The first person to reach 30 points of projects is out of the game, and the game contines until there is only one employee who has managed to talk his way out of almost every project given.

The excuses come in the form of the player's hand, which you add to by drawing 2 cards from the excuses deck each turn. In addition, the player has a chance of drawing a 'recognition' card, which can be used to screw other players who have excused their way out of a project.

Here is a quick rundown of a turn and how it might go...

On my turn, I drew a project called "Locate a Good JAVA Programmer", it is a 3 point value project, which means I need to either come up with 3 points of excuses to get out of it, or the project is mine, and the card value is added to my score (remember, when you reach 30 project points you are out of the game - apparently getting a promotion out of the office and away from your friends who continue to come up with reasons to get out of other projects).

In my hand I have a few excuses, The first excuse is a 2 point excuse "Virus ate all network files", the next excuse is also a 2 point excuse "Error 404 - File Not Found", followed by a 9 pointer "I have a date tonight" and an 11 pointer "Blue Screen of Death".

Since I want to hold onto the 9 and 11 point ones later for a larger project, or as a card to save me from going out of the game, I put down my two smaller excuses, which total 4 points. Since my assigned project was only a 3 point project, I have gotten out of it and it is passed onto the next player, this process then repeats itself.

The "Recognition" cards could have been used once I displayed my 4 points of excuses, another player could have basically commended me once I gave my excuses, this would in turn raise the project point value up, and if the other player could have raised it up over my 4 points of excuses, then I'd have been stuck with the project.

For example, In the above scenario, when I put down my two 2-point excuses and 'gotten out' of the project, my wife could have given me a recognition. An example would be a 2 point recognition called "I'll order in a sandwich for ya!" which essentially is an incentive for me to take the project. Since the point value of the project was 3, and my wife added a 2 point recognition, the total point value became 5. Since I had played only a total of 4 points of excuses, I would have been stuck with the project (I could have put down one of my higher point value excuses here, but as I had said, I wanted to hold onto them until later when I really needed them or for a game winning move).

The cards are beautifully illustrated by Cartoonist Roy Schneider (no, not the old dude form Jaws), he did an amazing job at some awesome cartoons which really add to the feel and fun of this game and bring it to life. As with the card quality, if the publisher had opted for an illustrator who was not as skilled, or went with 'clip-art' or generic text, the game probably wouldn't have been considered.

So hats off to them for not holding back on their efforts to create this game with top notch graphics and quality.

With that all being said, I have to now go back to one of my original points. You are either going to love this game, or hate this game, and to be honest, the first 5 minutes or so of game play we all really hated this game, but once we got into the feel and fun of it, and started to really act out excuses and play things up a bit with some minor role playing, the game actually started to grow on us and became a lot of fun.

Actually, my Wife, my Dad and myself all loved it, my Mom just wasn't catching on and has gone so far as to say she'll never play it again. She is more of a Scrabble/Trivial Pursuit type of person anyways.

Quality: 4/5 (Way to go for not skimping out on quality here)

Game Play: 3/5 (Not bad, not the best, but fun in the right mood)

Artwork: 5/5 (excellent cartoons)

Fun Factor: 3/5 (some will love it, some wont)

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Session Report: Phase 10 - Master's Edition

Well, I thought I'd write a review on this game, but since there are only 5 posts here currently, 4 of which are reviews, I decided my time would best be spent writing a short session report and giving my thoughts on the game.

For the last few months my wife and I have been getting together with my parents for a weekly game night. This started as a game of Scrabble a few months ago, and has since turned into a quest for new and exciting games each week, since everyone was pretty happy with the standard Phase-10, I decided to purchase the "Masters Edition" the other night in Wal-Mart.

As you can read in the other reviews, this is basically the normal Phase-10 game with the optional rule that allows you to attempt any phase you want and also adds a "save" pile to your play area. Each round you can save a card to use in later rounds if needed.

The game itself went pretty well, although it was a little confusing on the different phases being able to be completed at any time, and as my father pointed out, it kind of made the game a little harder to play because you could normally develop a bit of a strategy (such as - "I better not put down any fives because to person to my left needs them" - and things such as that), it becomes more difficult to try and keep track of what everyone is doing.

The save pile worked out great for me, nobody else seemed to be using it until more towards the end of the game, but I was constantly putting wild cards into it as I got them, and as the game got towards the end, and I was in last place, I was able to pull out some fast victories in the final turns, bringing me up to second place.

The overall thought was that the Masters Edition was pretty good, but not great and nothing really overall better than the original. When we play again in the future, we'll probably end up playing the regular version and make a house rule to add the 'save' pile into the game.

Review: Zobmondo!! You Gotta Be Kidding

I bought this? You Gotta Be Kidding... (pun intended)

Ok, I made an impulse buy at Wal-Mart and bought the "You Gotta Be Kidding" card game, it isn't the exact game that is shown here, but since there is no entry for it (and it is not worth an entry of it's own - trust me on that one), I thought I'd give a report on it here. Initially I was going to give a session report like I have always done on games played in the past, however, since I noticed that there were no entries at all, I thought I'd combine my report into a review and give my thoughts on the the game play, components, etc., to help others decide more if they'd want to purchase this or not. 

The retail price I got this for at Wal-Mart was $2.00, it didn't say if it was a special sale price or actual retail price, I found it in the toy department on the end cap that has all of their card games. I figured I'd take the shot at two bucks.

Now for a little background... the last couple of months, my wife and myself have been getting together with my parents once a week for 'game night'. It started off as an innocent game of Scrabble a few months ago, and has now turned my non-gamer parents into the type of people who are now calling us up to ask if we can come early or bring more new games. We are not yet to the level of pulling out a copy of Tide of Iron or anything, but all in all it has been a fun time for all mainly sticking to party games and family games. This has been a great experience for me, and is really the main reason I got into this 'game' hobby to begin with, to spend quality (fun) time with friends and family members...

A few weeks back I was in Wal-Mart and purchased a copy of the "You Gotta Be Kidding Me Card Game", which as far as I can tell is the same game as this except only comes with cards. This was one of the new ones we decided to try out.

The game itself comes in a small deck pack like games such as "Phase 10" or "Rage", upon opening the pack you find a stack of cards which are not quite card sized and have square edges. The overall quality is poor, non-glossy and not able to stand up to a lot of wear and tear (I doubt this game will see enough play time to actually wear down the cards, but I thought I'd mention it), the overall stock of the cards would (in my opinion) be considered poor.

There are also 2 colored tokens in the box as well, numbered 1 and 2, as near as I can tell there is no reason for the color difference since the numbers are printed right on them, but whatever.

Basically, the first player reads one of four questions on the card, and everyone else playing tries to guess which answer you have selected (which you have picked by placing a token in your hand with a number 1 or 2 on it). Questions are goofy and fun and some are disgusting, but in a funny way. An example of this would be "Would you rather eat a cup of your own snot or drink a cup of monkey spit". Then you secretly place your answer (token) in your hand and everyone guesses, whomever is correct gets a card and the next person reads a question, the winner is the first person to 6 cards.

Well, we did the first few turns and it wasn't too fun and a little boring, apparently if we had a couple of 12 year old boys playing with us that could make fun at the questions we'd have had more fun, so then we decided to put a twist on the game and go ahead and make it part of the game to give a specific reason WHY you would have picked the answer. In the above example, had I chosen "Drink a cup of monkey spit", I'd have to explain why I'd rather do that over eating a cup of my own snots... the game suddenly became a lot more fun.

The length of the game for 4 players was quite short, in fact, we were done in maybe 10 minutes, so we decided to double the play to 12 cards for the win.

The overall thoughts were that this game was decent, but probably not something we'd pull out specifically to play. It would make a great filler game if you were planning on a get together and waiting on somebody to show up, especially if you introduced some house rules. Also, I think that a more 'adult' version of this game would probably be more fun. I think it was made for ages 8 and up if I recall correctly, so they obviously had to tone down the subject matter a bit.

Quality: 3/5 (About Average)

Game Play: 2/5 (Might be ok as a filler game?)

Artwork: 1/5 (Nothing Special)

Fun Factor: 2/5 (Add some drinking and you might have a winner!)

Overall Rating: 2/5