Cave-In Review

Boardgames are not like chocolates. They have very few things in common, however. However, much like that familiar Gumpism; with some boardgames, you never know what you’re going to get. Thus, a new boardgame term is coined: The Chocolate Box Game. Star Scrappers: Cave-In from Hexy Studios is my first Chocolate Box Game.

The box art features a surly looking sci-fi bloke reaching for a sci-fi glowing thing, while typical sci-fi looking robots are in the background doing sci-fi stuff. Flip the box over and you’ll see it’s a modular board and with cards, and the description will tell you that you’ll be mining crystals (the board) using mercenaries (the cards) and also that you’ll have to be mindful about being attacked/raided by other players. The premise of the game is very simple, in fact, the game itself is pretty straightforward. Your goal is to collect as many crystals and in as great an array as possible. You’ll do this by playing cards that colour match those crystals and where their combined total power equals or exceeds the value of the token you’re after.

This is much like the back of a chocolate box telling you that the ingredients are cocoa, milk and sugar.

As a Chocolate Box Game (look, I’m making it a thing ok, #ChocolateBoxGame) what you get inside the box is far more than this. Cave-In, on my first play, caused lots of the those “Oh that’s interesting” moments. There is a deck drafting element to this game, a set collection angle and a sort-of programming thing going on too. But, these are all just small parts of the bigger whole and it does each of these things just ever-so-slightly different to what is “normal” and to what I was expecting. For one thing, the crystals are really the reward, mining them is actually very easy, getting to the point where you can do that, well, that’s different.

“So how do we get new cards?” was the first question asked after player one had taken their turn.  Well, there are two ways. The “Nice and Slow” or “Fast and Nasty”. One of the actions a player can take is to recruit just one mercenary from the docks, paying the cost by a card in hand that is one rank lower. But as you can only do this action once, and for the biggest crystals you’ll need to equal 10, this is a very arduous way of drafting your “deck”. The faster, more erratic way is to Raid your opponents. This method wins you all but the top card of their discard pile. But, it’s the only thing you can do that turn, and because you didn’t draft/choose the cards yourself, it means you are essentially playing out of someone else’s pocket.

The rulebook calls it a ‘Raid’, invariably, we were calling it ‘Attack’, but actually it’s more like ‘Head Hunting’. Why bother regaling you with this distinction, well, because there is an interesting (and slightly masochistic) twist in that you can ‘Raid’ yourself, re-circling those spent cards back into your hand, which sounds great if you’ve got loads of good cards, but, timing, or rather; the sequence, is everything. Cards played don’t go into your discard pile straight away. They go from hand to table, and then once everyone has taken their turn, they are then added to the discard pile. This is important because in the turn you play all your good cards, you are basically advertising your wares to your opponents: those cards will be in your discard pile next turn and be ripe for the picking. Turn order comes into play here, but so does the hand limit.

I’ve called it a deck drafting, but really it’s just a hand of seven cards, with up to another seven in your discard pile. Hardly a deck, by any stretch of the definition because of this re-circling aspect to the cards; Cave-In creates this “collective deck” between all players, which will be completely unique each game, even if the same factions are used, as it will depend upon how players recruit and interact with one another. The cascading cards means that the concept of ownership is smudged and muddied too. You can recruit the merc you know an opponent wants, but unless you plan on keeping it in your hand, they’ll be able to pinch it in a turn or two. This creates a sense of movement, of fleeting fluidity, that you’ll have to work with what you’ve got now because it could all change very quickly.

There is also something rather brilliant going on with the discard pile, the phase of a turn is to put all played cards in your discard pile, once you hit 7 cards, those on the bottom of the pile are removed from the game – which is a nice way of thinning out those starting weaker cards without having to spend an action or time doing it. The last card on the deck is your Leader, this means that their special ability kicks in at the start of your next turn. Low-level cards will let grab the appropriate coloured crystal, but the higher-ups, they can play a pivot role in your tactics. It feels like the natural order of board games has been subverted, “But, but, I’ve used it. I’ve discarded it. What do you mean I use it…again?” I know, I know, calm down, it’s okay. This double whammy of programming style card-play was a standout feature of the game for me, it really caused every player to stop and really think, not just about their short-term goal of this term, but their next, and the one after that. Weighing up the potential reactions of their opponents. The ability to plan ahead in any strategy game is vital to success but rarely does a game guide you on the process like this does.

You’ve mined, recruited and even picked up a useful artefact or two but now the mine rumbles its imminent collapse. In short, the endgame is brought about by the mine collapsing – hence the name of the game. You’ll advance along the Cave-In track each time any resource deck or pile is depleted, with some crystals adding to it too. This rather nicely pulls the game together, creating a funnel of action as, to begin with there seems no threat, but soon, that treat of collapse is all too real.

You’ll gain victory points in various ways; mostly through mining crystals but it feels a little more fiddly than it may need to be, especially given the flow of the game, the allocation of points seems jarring; each time I’ve played we’ve resorted to grabbing a piece of paper and pen to tally everything up. One of the best ways to score points though is by collecting crystals with symbols markings, collecting a full set of six will seriously bolster your score, if you are fortunate enough to get a few partial sets too and you are laughing. However, the scoring of these sets seems so big that it forces play in that direction and only that direction, to the point where it doesn’t seem to matter what else you have collected en-route to this finale, as long as you have a set or two, this also devalues the “normal” crystals somewhat too, making them feel more like an inconvenience that they are there instead of their higher point scoring kin.

This #ChocolateBoxGame surprised me when it first hit the table, the novel approach to the discard deck and the lingering power held within it, the cascading and collaborative pool of cards used really caught my attention and these aspects of the game that will still be there next time it comes down from the shelf. I love the way this game encourages you to think and plan, how you can play this game either defensively, aggressively or very fluidly and still get a lot out of each experience.

This review was based on a retail edition of the game provided by the publisher.

Dead Man’s Doubloons Review

Land Ahoy! Grab your shovels and cutlasses boys, there’s treasure to be a digging and throats to be a cuttin’! I’ll lead a party ashore to pillage, explore and return with all the booty I can carry, you lads on the ship, follow the code and keep those filthy pirates at bay! Dead Man’s Doubloons from Thundergryph Games is a pirate adventure game of island exploration, naval battles of action programming and a doubloon-laden trove of take-that style mechanics.

Game: Dead Man’s Doubloons

Designer: Jason Miceli

Publisher: Thundergryph Games

Artists: Matthew Mizak

Player count: 2 - 6

Runtime: 40 - 60 mins

Doubloons and cannon balls will fly back and forth as easily and as frequently as the curses and name-calling. Each player will be desperately racing for the treasure buried at the peak of mount Zotétmon, once it has been claimed it’s all hands on deck as you either try and sail away as quickly as possible or send the wretch with all the gems down to Davy Jones’ Locker!

Right out of the docks I’m going to tell you some straight up facts about this game.

1. The artwork and components (especially the deluxe versions photographed here) are flippin brilliant.

2. The gameplay is ruthlessly take-that: sensitive souls beware!

3. The rulebook and insert are worse than a rum-infused hangover where you spent the night in a hammock in a cramped and smelly boat on rough seas.

[caption id="attachment_2713" align="alignnone" width="1600"] It's a manic and dangerous time on both land and sea[/caption]

Dead Man’s Doubloons tells a story over two game phases, the first; finding the treasure, followed by getting away with it. Using your rather lovely captain meeple you’ll slowly explore the unnamed island, judging and picking your route to spot marked “X”. There are various routes to the top, some more perilous than others, and some more rewarding. You’ll have to choose your way according to your needs and desperation; the blue coastal path is by far the longest but the safest, in contrast, the most direct route, red route, has a steep cost but will let you play catch up to the other captains.

[caption id="attachment_2716" align="alignnone" width="1600"] Losing two crew means your ship's special ability is lost, and for the Razzias this means doubloons could soon go missing too[/caption]

You see, you’re not alone looking for the treasure, in fact, your not the only pirate with that piece of the map. At the beginning of the game the map fragments are dished out to each player, and over the first few turns when taking the Quest action you’ll find additional fragments to better aid you in uncovering the treasure. Now, whenever you take a quest action to advance along a route on the island, any pirate who also has the same type of fragment you have declare you are following, well, they also get a free move. This quickly becomes an interesting choice, as you desperately try to keep your opponents back but advance yourself, send them blindly forward to suffer a cost you then don’t have to. It’s perfectly possible, you just need to pull off the right action at the right time against the right opponent. Which is about as easy as getting a bunch of sailors to clean up their language.

[caption id="attachment_2710" align="alignnone" width="1600"] With the right three cards, played at the right time you can quest and sail to victory...hopefully[/caption]

All the actions are managed using a programming mechanic with a slight variability via the multi-use cards. You’ll start the game with five cards and providing your crew doesn’t get pinched or killed you’ll stick with five cards, three of which you’ll use each turn, placing them face down in front of you. These cards present a simple set of actions, you’ll perform. The top of the card is your ship movement, and then you have a range of choices such as questing, attacking, repairing your ship or boarding one of your opponents. Each player, in turn, will complete a card’s action choice before play moves onto the next player, so you have those scant few moments of having a quick look around the table, mainly at the pirate you’re hoping to attack, trying to work out if, how and when you will launch your attack.

[caption id="attachment_2714" align="alignnone" width="1600"] The dreaded ghost ship prowls the waters, dishing out extra damage and carrying cursed doubloons, it's also immune to taking any further damage which makes them something to avoid[/caption]

This tandem play keeps engagement up, since one phase of the game is not reliant on the other, however, neither can be ignored. Once a route on the island is mostly explored playing catch up can be very safe, likewise if your ship is sunk it returns as a ghost ship, unable to take any more damage, but able to dish out extra - further to this it means that any doubloons or gems are cursed, but it turns out un-cursing yourself is “easy” it just requires five of those fateful coins.

Once the treasure is found, all players who are at the big X or even near it get to dig for some gems, then its all back to the ships and off you go. At this point the Captain Cards are shuffled into the deck, these when used advance the game end condition. All those landmark tiles that previously marked the route on the island, well they are now ‘exploits’ throwing them at your opponents, or should you need a little boost keeping them for yourself. It’s in this second stage of the game that there is quite a dramatic shift of pace. The player who thinks they’re in the lead just needs to stay away and stay afloat until they can cause the game end. For everyone else, it's a free for all.

[caption id="attachment_2712" align="alignnone" width="1600"] With a heap of diamonds each captain returns to their ship hoping to escape intact[/caption]

As is fitting for the theme, this is a cut-throat game from the off you’ll be firing, boarding, stealing, pillaging and it won’t stop. In fact, it gets worse. So, player beware, if you don’t like this style of game this isn’t for you. I had a blast, and thoroughly enjoyed my second and subsequent playthroughs of this game.

I didn’t enjoy my first game though, and if this were a “First Thoughts” style review it would read very differently. The rulebook is utter shite. I could sugar coat it, but I’d be doing you, dear reader, a disservice. My first playthrough was more or less out of the box with the rulebook open - because I was excited to play it - that excitement faded quicker than a wotsit when a sailor realises too late that that mermaid is actually a manatee. There is no anatomy of a player board, no indication as to what separates a Captain card from the seemingly identical action cards, the two-player variant is hidden at the back of the book as the third possible game variant - with no previous clue as to it even being there (making this game very flat in a two player game in my humble opinion).

Regarding my other irk about this game, the insert...well it’s clear the good folks at Thundergryph games tried really, really hard, but they missed the mark by a clear margin. Yes, it holds everything nice and safe. Too safe, getting those delicate looking ships out of the plastic insert...well, you know that feeling when you tear a cardboard counter when punching it? Now imagine it is a unique fragile plastic pirate ship. Removing this from the insert and putting them back is also an exercise in holdings one’s breath.

[caption id="attachment_2717" align="alignnone" width="1600"] There is a beautiful, tense moment before the first card is flipped, where all your plans and schemes could still work![/caption]

But, these “problems” are easily passed once you’ve dealt with them once, so you can get on enjoying this game, preferably at the higher player count, with a gaming group that is going to enjoy dishing out and taking damage. At two and three players though this game does suffer somewhat. You see as you lose crew, and you will, often and frequently, your hand size is reduced, from five to four, and then shortly after to three. At this point you are really on the back foot, you have no choice over how your ship moves, which, means the multi-use aspect of the programming become moot. With fewer ships on the board, you can often find yourself just sailing around not doing anything. Which, is pretty rubbish, because you’re still in the game but your role is perfunctory, not something you want in a game.

There are a number of modes of play, which in some ways feels a little like there is too much going on, as if designer and/or publisher couldn’t decide what should be cut, or kept having cool ideas that just bolted on to the game, but few of them feel truly at home. The Curse of the Black Gem feels a little unbalanced, and the “advanced” alternate Island board is a hot mess which might be fun if you can decrypt the rules for it - I gave up halfway through and house ruled it because I was sick of trying to figure it out.

[caption id="attachment_2715" align="alignnone" width="1600"] A fabulously colourful game with plenty of character and great take-that action[/caption]

All that being said, however, Dead Man’s Doubloons can tell an exciting story, and it does so in a very fun way. It is very easy to fall behind in this game, so providing you are ready for that type of game and know that when you start sliding down that slope you have to immediately claw it back. Dead Man’s Doubloons is simply (once you’ve figured out how to play), pretty and a lot of fun. Refreshingly this game comes in around the £40 mark, which is absolutely bang-on for this type of game.

Also: Pirates!

Disclaimer:

This review was based on a full priced Deluxe Kickstarter edition paid for out of my own money from my own pocket.  As such, some of the contents may vary from retail editions of the game.

SUPERHOT Card Game Review

Game - SUPERHOT Card Game

Designer: Manuel Correia

Publisher: Board & Dice

Artist: Paweł Niziołek

Player Count 1 - 3

Runtime: 20 - 40 minutes

[caption id="attachment_2569" align="alignnone" width="2783"] A very pretty picture of SUPERHOT the Card Game[/caption]

SUPERHOT the micro deck building game is based on the very successful video game of the same name the crux of which is the move you move the faster time passes, stay still and so does time. Add to this very unique twist in the FPS genre a very eye grabbing and minimal art style and it’s easy to understand why the video game garnered so much traction. These fundamental aspects of what made SUPERHOT the video game it is have been downloaded on to cardboard to create an equally unique tabletop experience. It is a deckbuilding, hand management game where your cards not only represent your attacks and your defence but time as well. How does it do this, and how well does it? Well, dear user, sit down and jack in: your SUPERHOT card game review is loading.

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I always like to envisage and describe this game as if the player is playing a retro computer game of John McClane, a Steven Seagal character or >INSERT ACTION HERO MOVIE REFERENCE THAT MILLENNIALS WILL KNOW< as they have to neutralise a bunch of bad guys who are raiding/robbing/bad-stuffing in a building. In typical fashion, our hero is unarmed and must use their smarts, their wits and an unbreakable will to overcome the massive odds stacked against them. That is what is going on in my head when I play this game, and it is just one of the reasons I enjoy it so much.

[caption id="attachment_2580" align="alignnone" width="3917"] In Play as seen from above[/caption]

SUPERHOT makes full use of all of the 82 cards in the box, they circle around the play area in a very different, unusual and interesting way and, depending on where they are, it changes how you need to use or react to them. Now, I say “they circle around the play area”, but I use the word ‘circle’ in the loosest possible way. It’s more like a swirling tendril of movement. Much like watching a swarm of woodcutter ants as they do their “woodcutter-ant-thing”, you know that they have a plan, that they know what they are doing, but from the outside looking in, the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ seem hard to define. It is within this maelstrom of cardboard that the magic and mayhem of SUPERHOT the card game surges into action.

I don’t often like to spend a lot of time writing about the components and the rules of a game, but if I try and tell you how this game feels and flows and how it is interesting and worthy of your time and money without first telling you about them, you and I will both get lost very quickly. In short, to adequately describe a cake I need to talk about the flavours, and SUPERHOT has a very special flavour.

There are three types of card, mission cards, which will outline the objective for your current level of the game, these stack up until level three which acts as the finale. Easy, got it.

Bullet cards. Bullets are bad. When they are in their neat little deck, they are thankfully, less bad. When they are in any other deck or in the play area, then they’re in flight. And that is bad. When they’re in your hand, well, that’s worse. Have four of them in your hand, and that’s, well; it’s game over.

[caption id="attachment_2571" align="alignnone" width="4032"] What you really, really don't want in your hand[/caption]

Every other card is an obstacle, and that’s a pretty broad term for something that you’re going to interact with. Mainly bad guys, dudes with guns, dudes with shotguns, dudes with katanas, tables, pillars and pliers - yes pliers. All of these cards are multi-use use cards, when they are in your hand you make use of the top of the card, and when it’s not you use the bottom. Again: easy.

[caption id="attachment_2582" align="alignnone" width="4032"] The Line.[/caption]

Then there is The Line. This represents everything that is immediately in your vicinity - try not to think of it as a queue of things to interact with, the line is a representation of three-dimensional space. Its radial space, not lateral, despite the name.

With me so far?

Good.

Now, the cards in your hand are both the actions you can take, and most importantly, each card is also a unit of time. For the sake of convenience let’s call them seconds. The Line is everything that you can possibly interact within the next six seconds. Taking on a dude with a shotgun is going to require some real clout, as you have to equal or beat his defence with your attack/dodge/combination of both. The more cards you use, the longer it takes to beat him.

[caption id="attachment_2574" align="alignnone" width="4032"] 2 Dudes with Shot guns. Thats four bullets they'll fire if I can't take care of at least one of them[/caption]

When you play cards you put them in the Used Cards section (time spent). The obstacles you interacted with become assets you get to use in the next few seconds, i.e. you’ve stolen a gun, dodged behind a pillar, flipped a table etc. these cards then come into your hand. You’ll then draw more cards from your deck up to four of them (if you play it right you can end up with more than the starting four cards in your hand, this is you doing something I can never seem to do, something I like to call “Being good at SUPERHOT”). This represents the passage of time for you, the player.

[caption id="attachment_2581" align="alignnone" width="3784"] A very nice play mat to play the game on. This was a paid for extra, but I think was well worth it[/caption]

Now, for every second you spent doing something, that time now passes in the game, the line moves along like a conveyor belt. If you used three cards/seconds those obstacles that formed the first three seconds of the Line now pass into your discard pile. They are now behind you (for the time being). Important to note here is that it is the three seconds that passed, not necessarily what happened in those three seconds. So you don’t remove the first three cards, but the cards that are in the first three spaces.

[caption id="attachment_2577" align="alignnone" width="4032"] A Bunch Obstacles between you and victory![/caption]

Then the bad guys have their go, that’s when they’ll fire their guns, or hack at you with a katana. And when they fire their dreaded bullets. You’ll take the appropriate number of bullet cards and put them in the Object discard pile. They are now in flight, but you’ll have a little time before you have to deal with them.

[caption id="attachment_2576" align="alignnone" width="4032"] A huge array of mission cards, with a range of difficulties - I love how they compound one another in later levels[/caption]

Do you remember those really simple mission cards I mentioned earlier, and how they stack to create a finale? There is an important piece of information I didn’t mention, you don’t reset the decks between levels. All those bullets that were fired in level one, unless you’ve dealt with them, they are still flying around. Upon completing a level all you do is reshuffle the decks, draw a new hand and new mission cards. This adds such a great level of complexity to the game, a wonderful scaling and compounding of danger making level three an utter bitch. It creates a gravitas to your decisions, as something ignored, or not dealt with properly now, will come back and bite you once those decks are reshuffled.

[caption id="attachment_2572" align="alignnone" width="4032"] Engage Bullet-Time[/caption]

SUPERHOT has a very distinctive look, and one of the things it does is it allows the player to imprint their own vision/theme over what is presented to them (much as I discuss at the top of this review), this is facilitated and indeed encouraged by the low polygon minimalist art style. These “bad guys” are beyond race or gender (okay maybe not gender there is a definite lean towards a male physique and they’re called dudes, but you can’t prove anything). This for me is a really interesting and innovative step for representation in board games. On the flipside of this, where I see John McClane taking out a bunch of guys doing terrible German accents, you could play this game from the point of few as the antagonist, taking out the security guards for your own nefarious gains! By not identifying anything, you get to tell your own story.

[caption id="attachment_2578" align="alignnone" width="4032"] In play close-up[/caption]

Alternatively, you’ll just see a load of red and black blobs that you just can’t connect with in any meaningful way, and the game just won’t connect and resonate with you, but you should be able to pick up on this when you look at the cover of the box.

There are but two more important things o say about SUPERHOT. The first of which is that this game is tricky. For me at least I found it initially hard to get my head around the flow of the game and the movement of the cards. It is one of those games that if I don’t play it regularly I find that I still need to refer to the rulebook occasionally just for a clarification or a refresh.

The second thing is that SUPERHOT is a solo game at heart. Yes, it can be played at two players, and it can even be played at three (and these are as a co-op, versus, and even semi-co-op). But, it is meant to be a solo game, if you do fancy taking it on in either of the other modes, all players need to be au fait with the game at the one player count first.

[caption id="attachment_2579" align="alignnone" width="4032"] Even the backs of the card are pretty![/caption]

Sounds pretty cool, right? It is. It really is. It may also sound a little confusing, and it is that too, but, as soon as you get into the rhythm of movement, of thinking of the cards not only as actions but as time itself, the game clicks. The overriding theme of computer hacking from the original video game is enhanced here by the card art and layout of the mission cards, it is all incredibly apt as it provides a metaphor for itself, looking beyond the mere mechanics of the game to experience the game itself. One cannot help but draw a parallel to that of the Matrix, and specifically, that moment when Neo sees the code and understands that it is both there and not there at the same time.

With SUPERHOT, as soon as you stop seeing the mechanics, you’ll see the game.

Disclaimer:

This review was based on a full-priced retail copy of the game, bought with my very own hard earned cash.

[caption id="attachment_2570" align="alignnone" width="1968"] SUPERHOT the Card Game[/caption]

EndNote:

On researching this game to gain a fuller understanding of the designer, theme etc. I did learn that the implied role the player takes on is that of an Agent Decker, with a game of the same name upon which the mechanics of SUPERHOT are based.

 

Disclaimer:

This review was based on a full-priced retail copy of the game and a paid for play mat - because, y'know  "Pimping", all of which I paid for myself, out of my own pocket.