Dead & Breakfast Review

Publishers:          Braincrack Games

Designer:            Rodrigo Rego

Artist:                   Louis Durrant

"Relax," said the night man. "We are programmed to receive, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." The Eagles, Hotel California

 

[caption id="attachment_2506" align="alignnone" width="4032"] It's behind you!!![/caption]

 

Your eyelids are heavy, you've been driving all night, and because you went left when you really shouldn't have, and then because the battery died on your phone you lost your way.  Behind schedule, in the middle of nowhere, you stop to rest for the night at a delightful, ivy-covered bed and breakfast.  The warm yellow glow of lights in the window, the cheerful and friendly blue door invite you in.  And yet, your skin crawls, something screams inside you to run, hide, tear away from this place and never look back. But...but you’re just so tired.

Welcome, to Dead & Breakfast.  If that introduction sounds all too heavy and morbid just take one quick glance at this delightful artwork from Louis Durrant and you'll realise I'm simply been melodramatic.  In this game of tile placement you'll be building up the most horrible and frightening of hotels, by ensuring you have the most elaborate and cohesive array of ghouls, ghosts, witches, and cursed dolls to scare even the hardiest of lone travellers, but at the same time trying to ensure the outside of your hotel looks as inviting as possible, with long, continuous vines of flowering ivy.

 

[caption id="attachment_2504" align="alignnone" width="4032"] BCareful placement to get these flowers and creatures into just the right spot.  I hope[/caption]

 

Dead & Breakfast is wonderfully simple to teach, and equally quick to get started, turning devilishly taxing.  You’ll build a hotel in a grid of five by five, selecting double window tiles from a central pool, placing them next to an existing tile to create your hotel tableau.  Once a row is completed you’ll select one of the four available guests waiting for a room, and you’ll cover one of your windows with this guest, each of which is terrified by one of your creatures in either the row or column in which they’re placed.

You'll score points in two (three, if using the bonus cards) ways, the ‘biggest’ and most obvious method is your ill-fated guests.  By aligning your guests in a row and/or column that has those beasties you'll score points, potentially lots of points.  However, equally, as important though is your second source of points: flowers (obviously these are scary flowers as is fitting of a haunted hotel).  Each hotel lobby (the brightly coloured front door) needs to be offset in the most delightfully twee way with flowers of the right colour, so by placing tiles with that colour flower that connect back to your lobby/door, you'll score points. Bonus points, ah well, they’re bonuses for doing stuff aren’t they, like aligning your guest orthogonally, or having your vines spread off the edges of your hotel.  These bonuses add an extra layer of strategy and complexity to the game that some may want to help elevate to a more serious game, but there is enough going on without to enjoy the game for most.   

 

[caption id="attachment_2510" align="alignnone" width="4032"] A gallery of creatures[/caption]

 

The scoring of both the guests and flowers come to a rather lovely juxtaposition.  You can't win by solely focusing on one method over the other, although ivy is lower scoring, it is a steady "revenue" of points you can't simply ignore.  This scoring balance hangs perpetually in front of you like some malicious spirit, taunting you with good choices, but rarely the perfect collaboration of orientation, creature, vines and flowers, and when it does appear another player, of course, wants it.  It is within this delicate balance that this game really shines.

 

[caption id="attachment_2503" align="alignnone" width="4032"] Your awaiting guests[/caption]

 

Don’t be lulled into thinking just because it’s cute, and uses a simple tile placement mechanic, and because it’s easy to teach that these things combined make a simple game.  With each turn you must make the best decision from those options available, it’s a game or careful, calculated loss, of forward planning, of keeping your options open, but succinct enough that you can close those literal and metaphorical holes in your plan later and maximise your scoring.  After a quick rules explanation, I’ve seen players jump straight in, with a clear-cut defined plan of action, only to come stumbling to a halt as by the time it's their turn again the landscape has changed, their plan has to adapt, and much like the ivy that creeps along the walls, it has to grow and change.

 

[caption id="attachment_2509" align="alignnone" width="4032"] The ghost, making its way around the available windows[/caption]

 

The ghost that mournfully meanders around the central pool of visible window tiles will dash your hopes of picking up that which you need.  The bonuses demand you sacrifice your optimal placement of guests or creatures with the sweet promises of extra points at the end.  The bright, pretty flowers will twist and turn, fighting every attempt to tame them and simply get them where you want.  This game wants you to be tricked (or treated) Dead & Breakfast is far more than it seems, it is possessed of a game greater than the mere sum of its components, yet remains ectoplasmically-slick in terms of its rules.  You will be beguiled by its charm and its appearance,  not noticing its hidden depths until you are a couple of turns in, and by which point it will be too late to escape.

Dead & Breakfast is live on Kickstarter from the 23rd Feb, and you'll even be able to try the game out yourself via Tabletopia.



This review and pictures are based on a review copy of the game, as such the game and components may look different from the final product.

 

Review: Farsight

Game Name:	Farsight	Published Year:	2017
Game Publisher:	Braincrack Games	Player Scale:	2 – 4
Game Designer:	Jamie Jolly	Run Time:	60 mins

Governments have fallen.  States have collapsed.  Kings, Presidents, and Emperors have been deposed.  The corporations rule now, vying for control of markets, customers, resources and land.  What started in the mid twenty-first century as acquisitions and mergers soon became monolithic hostile take-overs; it wasn’t long after, that the hostility spilt from the boardroom and the stock-markets to the streets; to the ruins of the fallen towns and cities.  Farsight puts players in control of a small army, made up of general infantry, giant mechanoids and highly skilled specialist soldiers.  It is with this force of men and machines that they seek to take control of key battlefield objectives and to do so at any cost.

This is a quick-play wargame, bringing you all the deep strategy you would expect from a wargame, but with far less set-up and far less faff, with the game being started almost immediately out of the box.  Common attributes, such as hit points, movement and unit differences have been stripped down to their essentials so there are no charts or tables of figures, all the information you need is on each troop card.

The game is broken down into four phases: Events, Deployment, Specialist and Battlefield.  Event cards are drawn from the Event Deck which can range from unearthing a network of hidden tunnels, to a meteor shower or tornado, and all of which impact the following phases in some way.  Deployment, unsurprisingly, is when each player, in turn, adds another unit to the battlefield.

The Specialist phase is where this game really starts shaking things up and the big “Unique Feature” stamp is applied refreshingly, interestingly, and liberally.  These units don’t appear on the board, instead, they are deployed on the enigmatically named Shadow Map – a dry-erase mini version of the battlefield.  Specialists Units have, as their name suggests; special abilities: Spies are used to neutralise the “Fog of War”, forcing an opponent to reveal their otherwise hidden unit and Saboteurs sabotage units as they come in range.  To combat these there are Assassins – guess what they do?  They hunt out opposing Specialists and, well, they assassinate them.  Obviously.  This phase is perhaps the most exciting aspect of the game, watching as an Assassin slowly closes in on your lone Saboteur and the cool, smug satisfaction that comes with chalking up another “kill” is grimly fulfilling.

The Battlefield Phase is where all the movement and action takes place and this is where the streamlined warfare mechanic in Farsight really shows off.  All units are deployed as cards, face down – to represent the fact the enemy doesn’t know what type of unit it is.  Whilst in this hidden state a unit may move up to three squares – once revealed this become two squares.   Units can’t move diagonally and one unit per square.  Easy.  Simple. Elegant.  Combat is dealt with in an equally efficient manner.  Number of dice equal to Attack strength against number of dice equal to Defence Strength are rolled with applicable modifiers.  Each hit is a wound.  After three wounds/hits the unit is destroyed.

Not to make this game sound like a German car, but it is the mechanical efficiency of
Farsight that makes the game so engaging; so quick out of the box, and to play.  Unit types, movement and combat are so uncomplicated and intuitive you won’t be faced with a situation where you don’t know what do to.  The “unnecessary” considerations that bog and slow down traditional tabletop wargames have been replaced by no-nonsense board game mechanics, merging these two game formats to create something with both a tactical and strategic depth, but also with a very short set-up, tear-down and run time.
Now, I’m not a fan of dicey games so the fact that this game comes with diceless rules is a big ol’ tick in the win column, placing Farsight very securely away in the strategy corner of the chance vs. strategy showdown.  It also has a semi-co-op play mode, playable as
one-on-one, two-on-one, or two-on-two, as well as the ability to build customisable armies.  The artwork from brian Coughlan, Volkan Kucukemre, and Jakub Vykoukal is top notch and helps transports players visually to the grim and dreary dystopian future. The miniatures (by Toby O’Hara) that will be an optional extra look jaw-droppingly-flippin’ fantastic too.  However; the look and lore of Farsight don't transcend from the artwork and graphics into the game, which of the four factions a player chooses having little effect on army build, tactics, or strategy.

This simplification of war gaming I think is one step too far, with the reduction in asymmetry meaning a fundamental aspect of war gaming: my orcs versus your elves, isn’t there.  This does mean that each and every win, will be down to your ability to manage select and coordinate your troops, as opposed to any army or racial traits.  It is the player that wins rather than the army, as all information is universal it arguably achieves Jolly’s goal of finely blending the big rolling battles of war gaming, with the stripped back, open, and game of chess.

Leaving much of the rigmarole usually associated with tabletop war gaming behind, Farsight provides an accessible, engaging and strategic wargame, and it does so quickly, elegantly, and effortlessly.  Stunning miniatures and artwork alongside simple mechanics means getting this to the table again and again will be easy and rewarding.

Review: Downsize

Game Name:	Downsize	Published Year:	2016
Game Publisher:	Braincrack Games	Player Scale:	2 – 6
Game Designer:	Lewis Shaw	Run Time:	Less than 30 mins

You’re the Boss, the CEO, the Big Cheese, and you only care about one thing:  profit.  In this rapid-fire (pun intended) light, small box, card game you’ll want to make money fast, and sack employees off faster to Downsize efficiently.  Get out while the going is good to sit back on your nest-egg of Returns while your opponents duke it out over that last pitiful million dollars.  This is Lewis Shaw's Downsize.

To say this game’s mechanics are slick and simple is an understatement; each player may take one of two actions (or one of three, if playing with the Market Movements expansion that also comes in the box).

Hire an employee or Fire employees.

When you Hire an employee you draw a card from the Employee deck and add it to your hand.  Employees come in two types; Specialists and Standard.  Specialists can be played (Fired) on their own, with the effects written at the bottom of the card carried out immediately.  Standard Employees are fired in pairs, and this is the meat of this game.  Each pairing gives a particular effect; so when I Fire a Corporate and an Investment employee,  I take two Returns cards; which is very good.  Instead, I might want to Fire a Corporate and a Legal employee, which will enable me to also fire that really annoying chap from HR at the same time.  The game ends when either all of the Return cards are gone (any players left with employees at this point will have to pay them off, losing valuable Returns), or, all players have Downsized, and have no Employees (no cards).  The winner then is the player with the most money.  Easy!

All the pairing combinations and their effects are on a handy reference card (and on the reverse of this you have the rules and game end information.  On a card!)  Function and form meet splendidly in this game in a way that would make all but the most austere Bauhaus followers applaud (politely of course).  The strict minimalist design and vibrant bold colouring means reading your hand and reference card is easier than loading new paper into the office printer.  And yes it could easily be argued that the game is “sexist” and that all the employees are male, but it could also be argued that people that say that are petty because women wear ties to you know!   This game can be taught and fully understood within minutes, it is compact and light enough to play on a lunch break, or

[caption id="attachment_530" align="alignright" width="311"] Literally playing on my lunch break[/caption]

on a games night when you’re waiting for fellow gamers to finish their game or to just turn up (let’s face it, someone is always late).

Chance does play a significant role in this game, and a duff hand of cards can leave you reeling, while starting off with a healthy amount of Corporate, Investors and maybe even and Auditor or two can mean you’ll not only pick up plenty of Returns, you’ll also be able to “steal” (or Audit) your opponents, making it an almost landslide victory for you.  But the deck does run through very quickly and tides can change, and even if they don’t, it is such a short game you will find yourself declaring a best-of-three (or five or seven etc.).  Do not take this to mean there is little strategy, far from it, with only four standard employees, the combinations of the pairings can mean very different things, and keeping your hand size down, but down to the right cards is a tricky balance.

The optional expansion: Market Movements, adds far more depth of play, and some real cut-throat moments.  This game has great player interaction, often you’ll be Auditing an opponent’s Returns pile, or Head Hunting their best Employees, but with the expansion (it comes in the Boardroom Edition) you’ll be launching Smear Campaigns, (my personal favourite) Hacking, Tax Bills or, if you are being especially nasty to a player who has already Downsized, the Bailout.  All of these flavourful cards adds more gut-wrenching punches to game that already has players taking off their ties and rolling up their shirt sleeves.

If you love your high-fantasy and super detailed artwork then the minimalist look of Downsize might not appeal to you, but give it a go and you’ll be sucked into a fun, challenging, and quick hand management game faster than HR can process another sexual harassment case against that guy in IT.  Still unsure about buying this game, well I saved my best argument for last, the ace up my sleeve, my trump card you could call it: