KoffeeKlub Evening 6th of January

New year, but old favourite as we follow-up last Sunday's demo with a full evening focused on Race For The Galaxy (RftG). RftG is a strategic card game themed around building galactic civilizations through technical, economic and social developments. 

As usual we'll be at The Black Knight this Sunday between 7pm and 11pm, so please join us if you'd like to try this one out.

"You do not take from this universe. It grants you what it will." - Dune Messiah

GamesReport: 28-Dec-12 Dreadball!

On the last Friday of 2012 I took my son Jack down to The Black Knight Gaming Centre in Larne for a try at Mantic Games newest Boardgame. I'm a big fan of Games Workshop's Bloodbowl and the classic Bitmap Brothers Speedball games so this game ticked a number of boxes for me. I wanted a game that I could play with 11 year old son so Dreadball was worth a shot.

AndyA was on hand to demonstrate the game for us and in no time Jack had a evil looking band of less than merry Orcs and Goblins facing my wimpy looking Humans. We got some of the rules wrong but we certainly got a solid feel of the gameplay in the first game. Jack's Orcs ran rampant and by the end of about four turns, called Rushes in the game, he had killed most of my team, scored a strike, and crucial removed my final player from the field. Needless to say he was enjoying himself.

We fired up a second game with Dad taking a much more careful strategy of targeting of the more squishy goblins and using dodging more often. I got the win, but some of this must be put down to a tired opponent. I can see a lot more tactical options in this game which will come to the fore after playing a few matches and having your players get more experience and abilities.

Overall I was very happy with the game and can recommend it as a light and fun game best enjoyed as part of a league.

Posted with Blogsy

KoffeeKlub Evening 23rd of December

It's Pirates this Sunday as we play Merchants & Marauders for the first time at Koffeeklub. Join us on the high seas for a night where ooo's and arrr's be in full flow! 

We'll be at The Black Knight this Sunday between 7pm and 11pm, as always everyone is welcome to join us. 

"Damn my blood... I scorn to do anyone a mischief, when it is not for my advantage." - Greybeard, The Pirate

GamesReports: 2/9/16-Dec-12 Battlestar Galactica, Dominion and Shogun

I've experienced a little bit of game fatigue over the past few weeks and selecting likely games for our KoffeeKlub sessions has been a little trickier than usual. Much of this is down to the sheer number of games played over the last six months, which has been by far my most productive gaming time ever.

Perhaps it's time to take stock and consider some new titles for early 2013. Suggestions welcome :)

They had a plan...

2nd of December Session - Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar made a welcome return to KoffeeKlub and with determination and resolve we humans intended to beat back the Cylon threat and restore balance to the universe. Hell we even reduced the food level on purpose to prevent the sympathiser becoming another Cylon player... ...It was in vain though as Cylons Chris Graham and Andy Agnew succeeded in reducing our resources and destroying humanity. Ah well...

A Busy Day On Galactica

9th of December Session - Dominion

It's been far too long since we last played Dominion, published by Rio Grande Games. Once again Andy Agnew and Chris Graham came out on top in two randomised card-set games from the original box, but as always it was lots of fun.

Dominion Day

View from the Tower - Shogun

16th of December Session - Shogun

We opened with a couple of games of Bluff, a firm KoffeeKlub favourite, before moving onto Shogun for some 15th/16th century Japanese warfare. Shogun is played over two game years, each made up of three active seasons (spring, summer and autumn) and one scoring season (winter). During the active seasons players expand their territories and construct buildings to increase their influence in different regions.

Although the map gives the impression of a risk-style area control game, Shogun is more about gaining influential control in each region by building castles, temples and theatres. In our game ChrisG took an early lead as black during game year one and remained strong enough in the central region to protect his newly constructed buildings during game year two. 

Shogun - Final Board

You can see from the final board position (left) that black (ChrisG) dominate the centre and faced little trouble from the other players once he'd built up his forces. Yellow (Me) finished second, but should have taken an early opportunity to mess with black in the centre as by year two it was too late. Purple (AndyA) and Blue (DaveB) threatened to have a mighty battle on the southern island, but a fate card prevented blue's final attack due to purple's temple. Red? (GaryB)... really had a tough time of it, finishing up with only three areas under his control.

ChrisG's dominance with black

Final result: 

1st ChrisG (black)

2nd GaryG (yellow)

=3rd GaryB (red) 

and AndyA (purple)

5th DaveB (blue)

We finished the evening with a quick game of For Sale, which ChrisG also won!

 

KoffeeKlub Evening 16th of December

Peace has enjoyed too much time at KoffeeKlub recently and the time for war is once again upon us. Which Daimyo will embrace the way of the warrior and lead his people towards honour?

Daimyo

Find out at The Black Knight this Sunday between 7pm and 11pm, as always everyone is welcome to join us.


"The way of the warrior is a resolute acceptance of death." - Miyamoto Musashi (1584 - 1645)

A bumper Christmas for iOS releases

Christmas is almost here and app developers have been busy working on their gaming releases for the holiday season. 

I've already posted on the KoffeeKlub Facebook page about a number of recent releases, but this should serve up a more comprehensive look at the gaming releases that have caught our eye recently.

Stone Age 
Campfire Creations have developed this very popular 2008 Spiel Des Jahre nomination for the iPhone/iPad. Stone Age is a worker-placement game for two to four players. The goal of the game is to score the most civilization points by collecting resources and using them to construct buildings and other advancements. It's an excellent transfer between board and smart device, but I can't help feeling that something gets lost in translation with certain titles.

Features: Solo play vs. 3 different AI opponents, Pass-and-Play multi-player for single device, tutorial, remote multi-player through Game Centre

Release Date: Available Now
Price:  £2.99

Stone Age

  
Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge is a turn-based strategy wargame from Shenandoah Studios covering this famous World War Two battle from the Ardennes counter-offensive, December 1944 through January 1945. Hoping to d/l this one today!

Features: Retina Graphics, Tutorial, full rules, strategy guide, day-by-day history of the Bulge campaign and remote multi-player through Game Centre

Release Date: 13/12/2012
Price:  £6.99

Battle of the Bulge

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Version
The Enhanced Edition of Baldur's Gate (for iPad) includes remastered versions of both Baldur's Gate and its expansion pack, Tales of the Sword Coast. It features three new characters, a new quest the "Black Pits" and the ability to use all classes/kits from the beginning. The draw here for me is a nostalgic one, so I hope that this doesn't end up being a play-once game.

Release Date: Available Now
Price:  £6.99

Baldur's Gate

Artemis: Spaceship Bridge Simulator
Artemis is a multi-player game for iOS devices from Incandescent Workshop LLC. It simulates a spaceship bridge by networking iOS devices together to run the main screen, helm, communications, engineering and weapons control. This may be a game for a niche market, but is sounds like a lot of fun... if you can get the players...  

Release Date: Available Now
Price:  £1.99

Artemis: Spaceship Bridge Simulator

2013
Looking ahead to 2013 and Space Hulk will get it's own release. Not much in the trailer yet, but some details are available from the developer's site: 

Based on the best-selling board game and set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Space Hulk is a 3D digital turn based strategy game that recreates the classic claustrophobic board game experience for single player and multi-player cross-platform play between PC, Mac and on iOS.

Space Hulk is set in the isolated corridors and tomb-like chambers of an ancient vessel lost in the graveyard of space. Players lead a small army of fearless Space Marine Terminators to battle in a ferocious fight for survival against hordes of predatory alien Genestealers.

The main features are:

• Blood Angel terminator squad
• Fearsome Genestealers with challenging AI
• Thematic 3d environment
• Single player campaign based on the "Sin of Damnation" hulk
• New coop multiplayer levels against the Genestealer AI
• Multiplayer head-to-head recreating the board game experience against a friend
• Cross platform multiplayer between PC, Mac and iOS
• Level editor with ability to share creations
• Game expansions in the future as DLC

 

KoffeeKlub Game Of The Year 2012

We've played a lot of games this year and thought it might be fun to open a vote for the KoffeeKlub Game Of The Year.

Our list was narrowed down to these finalists:

A Few Acres of Snow

Battlestar Galactica
Bluff
A Game Of Thrones (Winner 2012)
Race For The Galaxy
Eclipse
Shogun

Twilight Struggle

Pandemic
Power Grid

The KoffeeKlub Game Of The Year for 2012 is A Game Of Thrones by Fantasy Flight Games. Our thanks go out to everyone who voted and congratulations to Justin Dougherty, who won a copy of the game courtesy of The Black Knight Gaming Centre.

KoffeeKlub Game of the Year 2012