Origins 2013

Origins

 June 12^th to the 16^th 2013

Saturday - Day One

Origins Game Fair is Columbus Ohio is full of excitement, anticipation and fun.  For me, the dealer hall is the main attraction but there are many other things to do and see at the show.  There are LARPS, CCGs, Role-playing Games, Miniatures Games, the Board Room (filled with games to play), the Origins Costume contest, the Origins Awards, kid's rooms, and new this year an Electronic Game Room. 

Last year's dates made it difficult for many people to attend, which lead to a smaller crowd and fewer sales for the vendors.  Compared to last year, this year’s event seemed better attended both by vendors and attendees.  I also liked that there were more artists in the dealer hall this year.  Some of the notable artists were: Larry Elmore, Sarah Wilkinson, and Nigel Shade. Some of the vendors were: Stronghold Games, Queen Games, iello, Steve Jackson Games, Academy Games, Eagle Games, Stoneblade Entertainment, Rio Grande, Mayfair and many more.

We stared out this year’s Origins at Academy games with a demo of the recent Kickstarter success 1775.  The people at Academy Games were incredible and took us through this light war / area control game.  I tend to enjoy these types of games when they are card driven and include dice, so my husband thought this might be a hit with me.  I guess he was correct because before the end of the demo I was looking around for a copy to buy.  

1775 is a two to four player game with British Regulars and Canadian Loyalists versus the Continental Army and Colonial Militia.  Play is asymmetrical, as the dice and cards given to each player offer different strengths and weaknesses.  After a few turns, and a better understanding of the rules, play moved quickly and the game eventually ended in a tie.  The rulebook states this means the French Canadians make the whole area their colony.  I loved the negotiation and discussions that occurred between the players.  The game's artwork is also beautiful.  Look for a full review from me on this game later this summer!   

Next stop was Catalyst Game Labs to check out Leviathans miniatures game.  The miniature airships are certainly eye catching.  We were given a quick rules review and turn example and it looked promising.  Miniatures games are always intriguing to me but they can also be off-putting with their complicated rules.  Leviathans offers different rules sets for new and advanced players.  The rules would take a bit to learn but after a few plays you would know them well and could move on to more advanced play.  I unfortunately didn't get our demonstrator's name but he was extremely enthusiastic about Leviathans and got me more excited about the game.

 After a few demonstrations we took a tour of the entire dealer hall.  From my perspective there seemed to be more people in the hall than last year, and they must have been buying games because a few vendors were already sold out of some specific games.  I wasn’t able to pick up the Escape expansions I was looking to purchase.  I did get the new Seasons expansion and the iello version Innovations: Echoes.  I was surprised by this purchase because I didn’t know iello had gotten license to sell Echoes of the Past in the US.  Innovation is a game I enjoy and, though I don't mind the artwork of the Asmadi games version, this artwork is amazing and I look forward to playing the “pretty” version.  We also played a Demo game of Castellan from Steve Jackson Games.  Then came time for one of my favorite things to do at Origins, and that is to stop by Chessex Dice and pick up some of their absolutely beautiful dice to add to our games.  It is an easy way to make your games look a little better.  We picked up extra player dice for Defenders of the Realm, a nice D20 for Formula D, and other games.

Time seemed to go incredibly fast and after a late lunch and one more trip through some of the dealer hall, we were able to get a demo of Mage Wars.  Even though they have been at the last few Origins we haven't had a chance to play.  We almost didn't get a chance this year, but Ray D'Arcy and some other volunteers took time while running a tournament to set up a game and run us through the rules.  This was another game I feared would be overwhelming to learn but with their help and suggestions we were soon casting creatures and spells and trying to be the best Mage.  I ended up losing but had a great time getting there.  A big thanks to the amazing volunteers who took their own time to show us this great game.  Since the dealer hall had closed at this point I couldn't pick up the game but it is certainly now on my buy list.  

Not quite ready to head out we stopped by to see the giant Catan sets at Mayfair and the miniature displays and went to see the Board Room.  Day one passed quickly but I was looking forward to my first Sunday of the con.

Sunday - Day Two

Sunday started out quieter but there still seemed to be a good crowd.  I'm sure this is normal for a Sunday, but this was my first time visiting Origins on a Sunday.  I was expecting a smaller crowd but thought that a few dads may have been given a present of a day at Origins as a Father's Day present.  Of course since there were no day passes available on Sunday a few may not have come just for Sunday.

We spent most of the day in the dealer hall talking with the dealers and playing demos.  We first headed to Zvezda to check out some of their new games.   We were interested in "Armada Invincible," a new ship combat game using the Art of Tactics system found in many of Zvezda's games.   The game is due out sometime in September or October and only a prototype was available.  

The ships are amazing and will look even better when modelers get their hands on them and start detailing them.  Those familiar with The Art of Tactics system will be able to pick up on most of the rules quickly.  My husband and I have been looking forward to a good Tall Ship combat game and now there are two that look promising, this and Sails of Glory.  We will have to keep our eyes on both to see which one will be our choice.

 

While at Zvezda we also checked out some other upcoming games:  The Battle for Oil and the new Disney licensed games for Cars and Planes.  The Battle for Oil is a 'what if' game, where the US and Russia enter a hot war in the Middle East over oil.  Players will be fighting with infantry, tanks, and even helicopters.  

Their children's game for Cars was a racing game with a modular board.  Of course you can buy more models of characters not found in the base game.  The Planes game looks a lot like a Wings of Glory game for kids.  Instead of fighting players will be racing stunt planes through cones.  Of course there will be lots of extra characters you can purchase for this one, as well.  All of these games look amazing and should be coming soon.

After Zvezda we headed over to AEG to check out Guild Hall.  I have heard a lot of praise said about this game and wanted to try before we bought it.  We were given a quick demonstration and decided to pass for now since the demonstrator said that while it works with two players, it's definitely better with more.   

Because they were so nice to us yesterday, we decided to go back and talk to Academy Games some more.  I wanted to hear about their upcoming game Bloody Crossroads: Gettysburg and their upcoming Underground Railroad game.  

We talked with Uwe Eickert, his wife, and his son.  They took a lot of time to explain many of their upcoming games with us. It is very evident how much love and how much pride they put into their games and company.  They also put a lot of time and effort into their research, development, and artwork.  This shows in the products we saw at their booth.

 

Gettysburg is tentatively scheduled to come out next year and it sounds like it is going to be a great game. The map for the game looks suitable for framing.  The game will focus on the three days of the battle but may also offer some 'what if' scenarios that have been debated throughout history.  So now we can finally find out what would have happened if Lee had listened to Longstreet.  He also talked about some other possible games with the Gettysburg theme with similar mechanisms to 1812 and 1775.

They were also very excited about Freedom: The Underground Railroad.  It is a cooperative game where players are working to bring runaway slaves to freedom in Canada.  Players must both raise money for the Abolitionist Cause and move runaway slaves to Canada.  One to four players can work together to bring an end to slavery.  Events can both hurt and help players as they work from a time period that spans from early 1800's to the Civil War.  Players will definitely need to work together to win this game.  I absolutely love the theme.  Look for this one coming to Kickstarter soon.

I always look forward to visiting Jolly Roger Games and we talked to Jim Dietz about his current Kickstarter Kremlin.  He was very excited about this "labor of love."  He talked about how he would be offering a few rules sets to please all the fans of Kremlin that want both the classic rules and those who would like an updated rule set.  He was also excited about the new artwork modeled after 1930 Soviet propaganda style.  The price point for Kremlin is great and there is still time to join the campaign!

He also talked about another game in the works called Antebellum.  This isn't the most common theme for games so it's another great choice for Jolly Roger.   He described the game as having different boards as you travel through the period, and what happened on one board will have an effect on the other.  It will be one I keep my eye on, but it seems like this may be a few years before it is out.

While talking we also stumbled upon a fact about Jolly Roger that I had not noticed before; product numbers for their games are more significant than they may first appear.  The number relates to the game's time period such as the number for Founding Fathers corresponding to the Constitution.

I am a sucker for tile laying games and wanted to check out Voluspa from Stronghold Games.  Steven Buonocore from Stronghold is also a great person to talk to at Cons.  I don't know how he has so much energy.  We were able to get a demo with Dan Patriss of the Geek All-Stars.  He was amazing and a blast to play with.  It was great getting to know him and playing a fun game with him.

Voluspa is named for the oldest poem of Nordic Mythology.  The 12 different tiles in the game were different creatures and characters from Nordic mythology, such as Odin and Loki.  The characters and creatures allow players to block, capture, and intimidate the other tiles to score points.  Players gain points when they place a higher power tile next to lower power ones.  For example, placing a Thor worth seven next to a dragon worth five would give the player two points, one for each tile. 

The game was easy to learn and play, but offered a lot of meaningful decisions, especially at the end of the game.  The entire game was back and forth and came out close in the end.  Dan was a lot of fun to play with, but since it was sold out we didn’t pick up a copy of the game.

Stronghold Games also had a great promotion going on when you had a demo.  They gave you a ribbon for each demo and after five demos (one was not in the Dealer hall) they gave you a percentage off of one of their games.  This would have been great if I had been there more days so I never made it past one demo, put I did get a nice ribbon.  

 After the disappointment of not being able to pick up Voluspa we went to visit Catalyst Game Labs.    Yet again I was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm and willingness to spend time to show us and discuss their games.  When John Rogers found out that I was a teacher he was even more excited to talk to me about how I use games in my classroom.  

He showed me Struggle for Power.  I  wasn't familiar with it, and it may make a perfect addition when I discuss European history in my 7th grade Geography class.   We, of course, ended up picking up Leviathans as well. This may not be the easiest game for me to pick up but it just looks so amazing.  

We hadn't forgotten about Mage Wars and picked up the core set and a few expansions from Arcane Wonders.  They helped us pick out the best set for us and were happy to spend even more time telling us all about what each set came with, how different mages worked best for different types of players and so forth.  We were also able to get some very nice promo cards for the game that will work well with the mages we will most likely play with.  I am very excited about this game and can't wait to get it to the table.  I also have a great feeling about future of Mage Wars.

By this time the end of con was quickly coming and we had fallen into a common trap of Cons... we didn't eat lunch.  So by now we were very hungry and headed to a great late lunch at Ted's, a nearby restaurant specializing in buffalo burgers and some Jeni's ice cream for dessert at the North Market. 

Though Origins was over, there was still more gaming for both of us.  We were lucky enough to meet with Rob Dougherty of Ascension and Magic fame.  He showed us his upcoming two player deck building game, Star Realms.  I will be doing s separate post for this later on, but I think this is going to be a very popular game.  

It is a space combat game with direct player conflict, something I haven't seen in the deck building games we play.  It is its own unique game but you can see the Magic, Ascension, and CCG influence showing.  There are four unique factions with unique abilities that encourage players to buy cards of the same faction in order to trigger some of those abilities.  I had a blast playing it and am very excited about it coming to Kickstarter soon.  Rob said it should be around $15 dollars and come in a small, portable package.  The artwork for the game so far is gorgeous.  I love that one faction, called the Blob, uses bioengineering and has a ship that looks like a humpback whale.

I have been going to Origins for a few years now, and every year I leave with a good feeling about the board gaming industry and especially the people.  From the Origins staff and volunteers, to the companies and game designers, everyone is excited about games and are open and willing to talk with people about the company and their games, answer questions, and lend a helping hand.

I am also amazed at what I didn't get to do at the con.  There is so much more from the boardroom, to the special guests, RPGs, and other events I feel like I have just began to scratch the surface.   Of course all of this is what keeps me coming back each year.  I am already looking forward to next year!

A special thanks goes out to my husband for taking all the wonderful pictures for me and being ready and even ahead of me whenever I wanted a picture.

Other Picture Credits:  Coen Velden (Coenst),Brian Mayer (bmayer)

Ascension: Immortal Heros

 

Ascension:  Immortal Heroes is the newest expansion for Ascension.  To learn more about how to play the game check out my previous review.  This review will focus on the newest elements added to ascension by Immortal Heroes.  

Immortal Heroes is a standalone game, but it can also be combined with any previous set.  Alone it can support 1-2 players alone.  If you combine it with other Ascension sets it can support up to 6 players.  

Components

There are 30 Honor token included.  15 large red 5 Honor Tokens and 15 small 1 Honor clear tokens.  Those familiar with the game will recognize this as the same honor tokens included with previous sets.   

184 cards are also included.  These cards include 2 personal starting decks which include 8 apprentice and 2 militia cards.  There are also the 35 "Always available" cards: 1 Cultist, 2 Fanatics, 16 Mystics, and 16 Heavy Infantry cards.  There are 69 center deck cards which include a mixture of monsters, heroes, events, and constructs.  40 Soul gem cards are included.  I explain these in a bit.  There are also 20 "New Event" cards. 

Soul Gems

Soul Gems are a new type of card introduced in Immortal Heroes.  These cards represent the spirits of heroes who fought against Samael in the Great War who were trapped by Kythis when he took control of the Well of Souls.  Each Soul Gem shares the art and effect of Heroes from previous Ascension sets, but they are not heroes themselves.

 

The Soul Gems are not shuffled into the center deck at the beginning of the game.  They are shuffled together and set aside in a face down pile with the Always Available cards.  When a card effect tells a player to gain a Soul Gem, that player takes the top card of the Soul Gem deck and places it face up in front of him or her.  The player may play that Soul Gem to gain its effect at any time during that turn.  At the end of that turn all Soul Gems he or she controls are banished.

Ongoing Trophy

In Storm of Souls, all the Trophy Monsters provided a single effect and were banished once used.  In Immortal Heroes, some Trophy Monsters have lasting effects, indicated by the word "Ongoing."  Just like normal Trophy Monsters, these Monsters provide their Honor reward immediately when defeated and are then placed face up in front of you.  They continue to provide their effect for as long as they remain in play under your control.  For example with the Growmites, you gain two honor when you defeat another Growmites.

 

Alternative Event Rule

One of my favorite things added with Immortal Heroes is the Alternative Event rule.  This makes the events a more significant part of the game and allows you to control the number of events that occur in your game.

You remove all the Event cards from the center deck and shuffle them together in a separate pile.  These are then put in a face down stack near the event zone.  Included in Immortal Heroes are 20 "New Event" cards.  Five are shuffled into the center deck for each set you are including in the game.  So if you are playing with Immortal Heroes only you would shuffle in five events.  If you are playing with Chronicle of the Godslayer, Storm of Souls, and Immortal Heroes, you would shuffle in 15 of the cards. 

Every time a "New Event" card flips off the center deck, reveal a card from the stack of Event cards and put it into the Event Zone as if it had flipped off the center deck.  As an option you can choose to begin the game with a random event already in play.

My Thoughts

If you read my other review for Ascension, you already know that I really enjoy this game.  It is one of my favorite games to pull out on a weekend because of the quick set-up and fast play. The base game alone has offered hours of enjoyable game play.  And all the previous expansions have added extras things like Fate and Events that increase both the re-playability and variety of the game. 

 

For the most part my husband and I don't mix the expansions together with the base game.  We tend to play them alone with perhaps a few promo cards mixed in.  Each deck has a different feel and strength and work well alone.  Each expansion has felt like a standalone game that could easily be mixed with the base game or enjoyed alone.  This won't be the case with Immortal Heroes.  It truly feels like an expansion rather than a separate game.  So it will probably rarely be played alone.  Many of the cards were expensive and it was hard to build up the deck enough to buy them.  This slowed the game down and left us buying more Mystics and Heavy Armor than we would have wanted.  Because of this and the fact that the basic game play rules aren't included in the game Immortal Heroes would not be the first Ascension set I would suggest for new players. 

This is really the only criticism I have for Immortal Heroes and it really isn't much of one at that.  Some of the new cards may be expensive but I really enjoy the powers that they add.  The "World Tree" construct, for example, allows you to gain up to five honor a round, which could quickly drain that honor pool. 

Soul Gems add interesting twist to the game and a bit more randomness.  You never know what cards you may draw a Soul Gem.  What is drawn can make you quickly change your strategy to take advantage of it, or help you defeat that monster or gain that expensive construct you weren't able to with you card hands alone.  The Soul Gems are fun to play with and add a new element but they aren't something I will play with every game. 

The Ongoing Trophy is also a nice addition.  Previous expansion gave up Trophy Monsters with a onetime effect; these new monsters add an ongoing effect for the rest of the game.  Kythis, of course, adds the very powerful effect of a Soul Gem gained each turn.  I just have to remember use the effect of my trophy monsters each turn. You will also want to make sure you have room to lay your trophy on the table.

I like the addition of the Optional "New Event" cards.  I've always liked the event cards and the different bonuses that they give.  I enjoy when the change and like the variety during the game.  So adding five of the New Event cards to the deck for each game being played with and keeping the events together makes me happy.  I see more events come out and I can use every  event card from every game no matter what expansions I'm playing with.  I know this could be done without the use of the "New Event" cards but it certainly makes it easier.

Overall I really like this expansion.  It adds some nice features and awesome new cards but doesn't add a lot of complexity.  It keeps the simple quick game play that so endears Ascension to me.  But Immortal Heroes is probably best played mixed with other decks, rather than alone.  And don't forget it doesn't come with the base rules, just the expansion rules.  Anyone looking for some and interesting add-on to Ascension should definitely look into Immortal Heroes.

Quick Stats:
Designers: Robert Dougherty, John Fiorillo, Justin Gary, Brian M. Kibler,

Artists: Eric Sabee
Publishers: Marabunta, Stone Blade Entertainment, Gary Games

Players: 1-2
Game Length: 30 minutes
Ages:8 and up

Picture Credits:  Albatros (Lowengrin), Johnny H (PublicEnemy), László Stadler (stadi), Johnny H (PublicEnemy), gamerfront.net , Johnny H (PublicEnemy), MTV Geek, László Stadler (stadi), Johnny H (PublicEnemy)

Thanks for sharing your  beautiful photographs! 

Kickstrarting Now: Glory of the Three Kingdoms Preview

I admit, I never saw myself as a player of CCG's or even living card games.  The expense was probably the biggest drawback to me.  There's always more and it is oh so tempting to buy those new cards with new abilities and new characters.  But my defenses have broken down and I am started to see past the "must have expense" of these cards and are seeing the value and the fun factor of the games themselves.  Glory of the Three Kingdoms is definitely one of these games.  I'm very excited about this game in its last few days on Kickstarter.  So if you are reading this head on over and pledge on this wonderful new living card game.



Goal of the Game:

Glory of the Three Kingdoms (GOTK): Guandu Core Set is a two player, battle driven, Living Deck Building Game (LDBG). Each player starts with a unique starting deck of 12 cards and acquires addition cards from the province during the game to build and customize his/her deck of cards.

GOTK is battle driven card game in which players strategically deploy hero, unit and item cards into the battlefield during battle actions and engage in a confrontation. In the Guandu Core Set, the type of battle engaged in is called clash. The victor of each clash takes a glory token from the opponent and may also capture the opponent’s hero.

When a player takes all the glory tokens from his/her opponent, he/she wins the game, immediately, by a total victory. Other than achieving a total victory, when two out of four province decks are depleted, or a player acquires six or more tiger tallies, the game ends and player with the highest victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the most tiger tallies wins. If there is still a tie, both players share the glory.

Note: Source of Victory Points:

1) Province Cards -  (such as tactics and gold cards in Guandu Core Set) that have victory points in the lower right corner.

2) Tiger Tally - the first pair of tiger tally cards is worth 2vp, two pairs are 5vp and three pairs are 10vp.

3) Unit - every 5 unit strength of a unit type is worth 1vp. For example, a total of 5 footman unit strength is 1vp, a total of 6 archer unit strength is 1vp, and a total of 12 pikemen unit strength is 2vp.

4) Glory tokens - each Glory token is worth 2vp.





Components & Set-Up

Starting sets are similar for both houses.  Both Cao Cao and Yuan Shao start with 12 cards.  There will be five hero cards, four gold cards, and 3 Unit cards.   Each player also
receives the player aid for either Cao Cao or Yuan Shao. 

There are 64 Province cards.  Included in the province cards are 8 Tactics cards, 7 Item cards, eight gold cards, eight Tiger Tally cards, and thirty three Unit cards

There are also eight six sided dice used to indicate the basic strength and extended strength of unit groups; and six glory tokens.


Setup – Player Area:

1) Each player selects a faction and takes the twelve starting cards and one player aide card of that faction. The number of starting cards may increase when playing with faction expansion cards.

2) Each player takes three glory tokens and four six-side dice.

3) Each player shuffles his/her starting cards face down to form a player deck then draws five cards from the top as his/her starting hand cards.

4) Each player rolls two dice, the player who rolls the highest number is the starting player. If it is a tie, roll again.

Setup - Province:

Shuffle the remaining cards face down and divide them into four decks of 15 cards each. Remove the remaining cards from the game.  The number of remaining cards will increase when playing with expansion province cards. The Hero Pile is not used in the Guandu Core Set.

After placing four province decks in the middle of the table, reveal one top card on each province deck, from left to right. When a card with a sorting symbol (three down arrows on the right) is revealed, immediately place it in its province pile and reveal the next top card of the province deck. In the Guandu Core Set, there are four types of province cards that have sorting symbols: footman, pikemen, cavalry and tiger tally cards.

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• If the next top card also has a sorting symbol, continue the sorting process until a card is revealed without a sorting symbol.
• Each province pile can hold up to three cards. If the pile has reached its maximum number of cards, the card with a sorting symbol must stay on top of the province deck.

When all four province decks have one face up card on top, the game begins.

Glory Begins:

The Starting player takes the first turn of the game, they are also called the active player.

There are three turn phases each turn:

1. Province
2. Actions
3. End

Turn Phase 1 – Province

(Skip this phase in the first turn of the game.)

If all top cards of the province decks are facing up, the active player must first trash one or two face up cards in the province (both province decks and province piles).

If one or more top cards of province decks are facing down, exam all province decks from left to right.

• If there are face up cards with a sorting symbol, begin the sorting process.
• If the top card is facing down, reveal the card and begin the sorting process, if necessary.

When all province decks have one face up card on top, continue to phase two.

 
Turn Phase 2 – Action

The active player may take up to four actions per turn in the following order:

1. Standard Action - optional
2. Standard Action - optional
3. Battle Action – only available AFTER first two rounds
4. Standard Action – only available if the active player completes the battle action - optional

When a player’s deck is depleted during the game, reshuffle the discard pile to form a new player deck immediately. Note: the discard pile is different from the play area.

Standard Action – When taking a standard action, players can either (1) play the standard
ability of a hand card, or (2) acquire/buy one face up card in the province, except tiger tally.

(1) When playing standard ability of a hand card, follow the instructions on the card and
place the hand card in the play area. If the card has a gold value (not the cost of the
card), it is ignored.

•  Example: The Longbow item cards standard ability is to "Draw one card" and the owner may buy one archer card. It also has a gold value of 2.

(2) When buying a face up province card from province (decks and piles), pay the exact amount or higher (of the cost in the upper right corner) with one or more hand cards gold value then place the hand cards and the target card in the play area.

• If there are two or three cards in one province pile, the player may buy any one of them.
• Extra gold spent is wasted.
• Players may purchase two or three tiger tallies per standard action.

Battle Action – In Guandu Core Set, the type of battle players engage in is called Clash. There are five phases in a clash: (1) Declaration, (2) Martial, (3) Formation, (4) Engagement, and (5) Resolution.

Each player may play no more than one tactic card from their hand per phase. If both players want to play a tactics card at the same time, the active player must play it first. Once the defending player reveals his/her tactic card, the active player cannot play a tactics card in that phase.

(1) Declaration. The active player places a hero hand card in the battlefield and chooses an opponent to declare a Clash. If the target player surrenders, the active player takes one glory token from the opponent and the turn ends immediately. If target player chooses to defend, continue to phase 2.

• If active player does not have a hero card on hand, he/she cannot take the battle action.

(2) Martial – Attacker (active player) draws three cards from his/her deck. If defender (target player) does not have hero and unit card on hand, he/she reveals their hand cards, then draws until they have at least one hero and one unit card. The defending player takes all card(s) drawn and places them in his/her hand.

(3) Formation – There are four steps in formation phase and both players take these four steps simultaneously.

1. Each player deploys a number of hand cards face down into the battlefield.

• The attacker may play one item card and two unit cards. If one or more of the unit cards can be classified as a veteran unit, the player may play another unit card of the same unit type. The attacker’s hero card is kept facing up.
• The defender may also play one item card and two unit cards. If one of the unit cards can be classified as a veteran unit, the player may play another unit card of same unit type. The defender must also play one hero card face down.  Each hero has one or more veteran unit status. For example, Cao Cao has veteran footman and cavalry unit status.

2.  After deployment, both players reveal all cards deployed.

• If a player doesn’t have any unit cards in the battlefield, he/she loses the clash immediately and follows the instruction in the resolution phase.
• If both players don’t have a unit card in the battlefield, Clash ends immediately in a tie, and the turn ends immediately.

3.  Players group all of their units by unit type.

4.  Players then use a die to indicate the basic strength of each unit group then use another die to indicate the extended strength of the group.

• 1. Basic Strength – Basic strength is the sum of the strength of all unit cards within the group. If the number is higher than the hero’s leadership value, then use the hero’s leadership value as the basic strength.

• 2. Extended Strength – Extended strength is a sum total of the value accumulated from hero, unit, item and tactic cards’ battle abilities. 

• 3. For Example, the attacking player declared a clash by playing Cao Cao hero card.

• a) During the formation phase, the player placed Footman 2 and Cavalry 2 face down in the battlefield.  Because all footman and cavalry lead by Cao Cao become veteran units, the player placed another unit card (Footman 3) face down in the battlefield. The defender also deployed his/her cards.

• b) Both players revealed all face down cards on the battlefield.

• c) Both players grouped his/her units by unit type. From the following cards in the example, Cao Cao is leading two groups, one cavalry group of one unit card and one footman group of two unit cards.

• d) Both players Indicated basic and extended strength of each unit group. From the above cards in the example:
• Cavalry group has a basic strength of 2 and no extended strength. Cavalry’s total strength is 2.
• The sum of footman’s strength in the footman group is 5. However, the footman group only has a basic strength of 4 because Cao Cao has a leadership value of 4 (value in the diamond). The footman group also has an extended strength of 1 because Cao Cao has a battle ability of Footman str +1. Therefore, the footman’s total strength is 5.

(4) Engagement – The attacker chooses one of his/her group to engage.

• If attacker chooses archer, they also choose which one of the defending group to receive the attack. 
• If attacker doesn’t choose a defending group, the defender chooses which one of his/her groups to defend.  If attacker chooses cavalry, they also choose a defending footman or cavalry to receive the attack. 
• If attacker doesn’t, or cannot choose a defending group, the defender chooses which one of their groups to defend.
• If attacker chooses footman or pikeman, the defender chooses which one of his/her groups to defend.
• After engaged groups, one attacking group and one defending group, are determined, continue to phase 5.
• If tactic card is played, adjust the strength accordingly.
• If both players do not have any unit cards at end of the engagement (due to tactics card’s battle ability), the clash ends immediately in a tie, and the round ends immediately.

  
(5) Resolution

• Compare the total strength (corrected basic + extended strength) of engaged groups.
• If the total strength of the attacking group is equal or higher than the defending group, the attacker wins. Otherwise, the defender wins.
• The victor takes a glory token from his/her opponent. If the attacker wins, they also take any one face up card from the province (deck and pile) and place it in the play area, as an extra bonus.
• The attacker moves their cards in the battlefield to the play area and continues to take the fourth action. 
• At the same time, the defender moves their cards in both the battlefield and play area to the discard pile and then draws 6 cards into their hand.
• If there is a  tie the active player’s turn ends immediately.  The defending player moves his/her cards in both battlefield and play area to the discard pile then draws until 6 cards are in hand.

Turn Phase – End:

The active player takes the following actions in exact order:

1. Play Area – Place Tiger Tally under player aid card and remaining cards in the discard pile.
2. End Game - If any player has six glory tokens, the game ends immediately, or if the active player has six or more Tiger Tally or two center decks are depleted, the game ends when the last player finishes his/her turn.
3. Refill – If the game does not end, draw up to five cards to your hand from your player deck.
4. After phase 3, the opponent player continues with a new turn.

Game End and Winning the Game

When a player takes all the glory tokens from their opponent, that player wins the game immediately.

However, if game ends under one of the following two conditions, the game continues until the last player finishes their turn. In either case, the player with the highest victory points wins the game.

1. When two center decks are depleted, or
2. When a player acquires six or more tiger tallies.

In case of a tie, the player with most tiger tally wins the game. If there is still a tie, both players share the glory.
 
Scoring

Each Player accumulates victory points from the following cards in his/her hand, player deck and discard pile.

• Province cards (such as tactic and gold cards in Guandu Core Set) that have a victory point value in the lower right corner.
• Tiger Tally - First pair of tiger tally cards are worth 2vp, two pairs are 5vp and three pairs are 10vp.
• Units -  Every 5 unit strength of a unit type is worth 1vp. For example, a total of 5 footman unit strength is 1vp, a total of 6 archer unit strength is 1vp, and a total of 12 pikeman unit strength is 2vp.
• Glory tokens - Each glory token worth 2vp.

Video Overview

There is a wonderful overview of game play that the designer Ta-Te Wu has posted.  You can see Part 1 here:

Part 2: 

Kickstarter Bonuses
There are a lot of Kickstarter stretch rewards with one already being met.  Here are the Kickstarter rewards:

My Thoughts

I was really excited when I received the prototype for Glory of the Three Kingdoms.  I've enjoyed many of Ta-Te's games but this was completely different from his other games I have come to love and enjoy. 

I first love the artwork and theme of the game.  The pictures we have been shown so far are outstanding.  I'm very excited about the three new player mat choices because I absolutely love the one you see here.  I also like the theme.  I've been learning more the story of the Three Kingdoms and enjoy the connection between this history and the game.  The cards nicely reflect the history, technology and fighting style of the Three Kingdoms and Cao Cao. 

Their historical strengths and weakness are reflected.  For example, the Yuan Shao faction was known for its strong military and great wealth.  So, Shao’s starting units have a higher strength value than Cao Cao’s and many of their faction’s abilities have to do with gold.

Cao Cao was known as a clever tactician.  Winning with Cao Cao depends on the player having a good combination of units and tactics.  The player needs to know when to attack and defend.  Because of this the designer has said Shao is the easier unit to play, as a new player, but anyone will enjoy the challenge of Cao Cao's tactics. 
 
Factions coming in later expansions will add others strengths and abilities based on their history.  I'm excited for the possible combinations with all the factions.  I'm not sure who my favorite will be but I have enjoyed playing as Cao Cao so far, even if I usually lose.

Set up and game play is fast and fun.  I like the mix of deck building and battle.  Because of the way cards are drawn the same cards are never available to the players.  This means players must play a tactical game; and be aware what cards the other player is buying.  Some of the cards available for the province decks are pretty powerful.  You also must be aware of your hero's strengths and weakness when battling and purchasing cards.  If your hero gets a bonus with cavalry you may want to focus on that.  Otherwise it may be difficult to attack and even defend. 

Battle can be confusing when you first play, but watching Ta-Te's overview will really help you understand.  It also gets more intuitive the more games you play. 

This learning curve is another plus for the game.  You get better the more you play and that keeps the game interesting.  As you get to know the cards, as you get to know the strengths and weakness of your faction you will gain a deeper understanding of the game.  This does mean newer players are at a disadvantage.  Letting them play with an easier faction will allow them to gain confidence and a chance to learn the game without crushing them. 

I'm excited for Glory of the Three Kingdoms and can't wait to see what else will come out for this game.



Quick Stats:

Designers: Jerry Gu, Monica Liang, Ta-Te Wu

Artist:  Foresight Design
Publishers: Sunrise Tornado Game Studio
Players: 2
Game Length: 30-60 minutes
Ages: 12 and up
Mechanics: Deck / Pool Building, Hand Management

Photo Credits: Martijn Althuizen (Martinus), mazout mazout (mazout), Ta-Te Wu (tatewu)