Danger Planet session. 10-player Formula De, 5-player Formula De Mini, 3-player Siesta.
Players were Kevin, Karl, Eric, Adam, Mark, Adam, Cindy, Brian, Scott, myself. Adam was a new player to the game.
This is a die-rolling game with a racing theme.
Basically, a player chooses a valid gear, and rolls the appropriate dice (not numbered normally, but with an appropriate range of numbers for the given gear) and moves that number of spaces on the track. The track is huge. Then, taking turns, players must stop the appropriate number of times on them, or bad things happen.
This was the second session of the five session Formula De league. We played two laps on track 25, Wisconsin.
This was an interesting map because all the choices that needed to be made, straddled between choosing one of two dice. I mean, you could fall short with one or overshoot turns with the other. Also, the long stretches entice players to shift into sixth gear and brake fiercely for the curves. There was one two-stop curve, and the rest were closely packed one-stop curves.
Well, Brian starts off bemoaning his bad luck -- his engine often blows in fifth or sixth gear. Sure enough, his was the first car to go out in a blaze.
I went out second. And three fireballs quickly follow (in the same turn, I mean!) , soon after completing the first lap -- Karl, Adam and Adam. (If I only didn't spend engine points to boost myself into those corners!)
Eric went up in smoke next. Then Scott.
In the end, it was only the conservative players who were generally in last place who crossed the finish line -- Kevin, Mark and Cindy.
I never saw conservative players do so well before. This is a map worth trying again.
Game lasted 180 minutes. Final scores were:
Click here to buy Formula De at FunAgain.com.
Click here to buy the Formula De pack containing track 25, Wisconsin at FunAgain.com.
Click here to learn more about Formula De at BoardGameGeek.com.
Players were Brian, Adam, Adam, Karl, myself. New players to the game were: Brian, Adam, Adam, Karl, myself.
We spent 5 minutes going over the rules and setting up the game.
This is a dice-rolling game with a racing theme.
Like its big brother, Formula De, This game is played on a race track board with miniature cars.
Players get their turn in the order of their car's position on the track. Players shift gears, and choose the appropriate die for that speed to roll. (The dice are not numbered from one, but from a minimum number for that gear, and the numbers are not linearly distributed.)
Unlike its big brother, this game does away with the stats (tires, brakes, engine, body) and instead uses twenty Life Points in the form of tokens. These tokens are used to compensate for overshooting turns and taking damage.
These tokens are meant to make the game move along a lot faster.
Also, the sixth gear die is missing.
The game is meant to be compatible with its big brother, Formula De.
Although the game is compatible with its big brother, it comes with two maps which are half the size of the typical Formula De track. Also, one track only has two lanes instead of the usual three. That's the track we played for one lap.
We played this game to get our Formula De fix after dropping out of the league race so early. Also, since this game just came out, we wanted to evaluate the differences and see if it does play quickly.
I must say that it did seem to go quickly. There's less to think about when using generic Life Points instead of the usual stats. I'm eager to try these rules on a standard Formula De board.
One thing that's missing that would be nice is a small reference card that actually tells me what things cost and what the limits are.
Game lasted 25 minutes. Final scores were:
Click here to learn more about Formula De Mini at BoardGameGeek.com.
Players were Adam, Karl, myself. Adam was a new player to the game. Adam had the first turn.
We spent 5 minutes going over the rules and setting up the game.
Siesta is an abstract game with a thin siesta theme.
Each turn, a player places three different tokens on a game board, a sun, rooftop and/or shadow. Each shadow cast by a sun across rooftop(a) scores a point, and there's a bonus for casting from both sides exclusively. When any one type of piece is used up, the game ends. The player with the most points wins.
Karl brought this game at my request. I like this game very much for the thought it takes, the quickness of the game, and the nice appearance as the board develops.
Game lasted 14 minutes. Final scores were:
Click here to buy Siesta at FunAgain.com.
Click here to learn more about Siesta at BoardGameGeek.com.
