Gone Viking!—A Double-Take Review

Vikings seem to be the new pirates. There are TV shows, an upcoming reprint of the great Kiesling game by that name, and now we're seeing a few new games added to the fray. Gone Viking! is a trick-taking game with a pantheon of twists on the genre. Is it a longboat of fun, or should it be sacked? Let's find out.

The Overview

Gone Viking! is a trick-taking game from Francois Valentyne (who designed the first Ticket to Ride Map Collection), for 3-5 players, ages 13+, that plays in 45-60 minutes. You'll be attempting to win tricks (and therefore wealth), which allows you to buy Ships. But if you're too wealthy, the Jarl will visit and expect some of your hard-earned plunder. The winner is the player who earns a certain number of Wealth tokens, depending on the number of players.

We received a prototype review copy, so the final pieces will definitely be better than these. And it's possible some gameplay will be tweaked.

The Components

54 Cards--These include 4 God cards, 48 Plunder cards (in four suits), 1 Jarl card, and 1 Trump Tracker card.

41 Wealth tokens--These include 5 Books, 6 Coins, 7 Hammers, 8 Fists, 10 Trees, and 5 Ships.

The Setup

First, separate the Wealth tokens, and give each player two Tree tokens. Then you'll create the deck by adding and removing cards based on the number of players. Shuffle in the four God cards, and deal out a hand--the number of cards in the hand is also determined by the number of players. Then place the remaining cards into the center as a draw pile. Use the Jarl card to cover the suits that aren't trump; on the first turn trump is set to Books. Select a start player--called the Raid Leader. Now you're ready to play!

The Gameplay

The first thing you can do is swap out cards. In turn order, each person can choose to pay one of your Wealth tokens to swap up to two cards with two new ones. You can do this as often as you want (and can afford).

Now you go raiding--which is the part where you play out the hand and win tricks. The Raid Leader plays one or more cards of the same suit. If you choose to play more than one card, you combine the numbers to determine the number you've played down. So a 7 is the same as someone playing a 5 and a 2. As with many trick-taking games, play goes clockwise, and each player has to follow suit if they're able. If they're not able, they're free to play any card--including trump if the led suit wasn't trump.

Once everyone has played, the person who played the highest card of the led suit wins the trick—unless someone played trump, in which case the highest played trump wins. If there is a tie, then no one wins the trick and the cards are simply discarded. The winner takes a Wealth token of the type used to win the trick—and if none of that type are left, the winner takes a Tree token.

The winner leads the next trick. Continue on this way until everyone is out of cards. Because you can play more than one card on a trick to "boost" it's power, some people might run out of cards earlier than others. If that happens, the person just passes.

There are four God cards, which are the highest numbers in each of the four suits. You can play these in one of two ways. You can play it as a "regular" card, and you simply count the value on the card. If you play it with another card of the God's suit, you can play it as a God card. You play the other card(s) as usual, but place the God facedown. Once the trick is fully resolved, the God card is flipped over. If there was already a God card in play, the new one replaces the old one, which is discarded. A God card can never be played as a God card by itself—it must always be played with another card of the same suit.

Each God card has a Raid Power, and a Home Power. The Raid Power takes effect as soon as the card is flipped over, and the Home Power kicks in for a God card that survives until the end of the round.

Odin (Books)

Raid Power: Immediately choose trump, and no boosting is allowed (only single cards can be played).

Home Power: You gain two additional Wealth tokens from the supply when the round is over.

Freya (Coins)

Raid Power: Choose trump if there is none, and any player who wins a trick also gains one Coin token from the supply.

Home Power: All other players must return one Wealth token of their choice to the supply.

Thor (Hammers)

Raid Power: Removes trump, and players aren't forced to follow suit. The highest value card(s) take the trick.

Home Power: You can return any four Wealth tokens in exchange for a Ship token. (I'll explain that shortly.)

Loki (Fists)

Raid Power: He doesn't affect trump, and the lowest-valued cards win the trick.

Home Power: Gain one Wealth token from the supply or steal one from another player—but you can't steal a Ship).

When the hand is played out, three things happen in this order.

First, you apply the Home Power of the last God card standing.

Second you build a Ship if you can. You can turn in one of each type of Wealth token—or four Tree tokens—in exchange for a Ship token. This can only be done once per turn.

Third, the Jarl visits the player who has the most Wealth. Each Wealth token is worth one point, and each Ship is worth four points. If there's a tie, count up the value of all Fist cards won during that round, and whoever has the most among the tied players breaks the tie and receives the visit. The Jarl will take half of a person's Wealth tokens, rounded up. Ship tokens are safe from the Jarl's visit, however...

Next you'll see if someone has won. With 5 players you need seven or more Wealth tokens; with 4 you need eight or more; and with 3 players you need nine or more—keeping in mind Ships are worth four.

If no one wins, the player targeted by the Jarl becomes the new Raid Leader, gathers up all the cards, and deals out a new hand. The new Raid Leader also gets a free swap of up to four cards, and gets to choose trump.

If there's a tie for winning the game, whoever among the tied is the new Raid Leader wins.

The Verdict

Firestone—I'm a big fan of trick-taking games. I'm not terribly good at them, but I really, really like them. So a new one with some cool twists definitely caught my eye. Gone Viking! doesn't stray too far from the familiar formula, but has enough unique aspects to make it a good addition to the genre.

Jeremiah— I have a specific set of friends who love trick-taking games, and I enjoy them myself. Euchre is—from what I hear—an Ohio phenomenon; while other areas of the country play the game, it's rampant here. I enjoy it, but I don't like how often the fifth trick is a throwaway trick, or that if you have the lead and both bowers and the ace of the trump suit you can basically lay down three cards and be assured at least one point for the hand. Gone Viking adds a greater margin for strategic error, and causes the player to think things through, while adding fun and interesting twists along the way!

Firestone—There are some interesting choices to make here. "Do I play a God card as a high suit, or as the God card for its power?" "I want to take as many tricks as possible, but one fewer trick than some other player, so the Jarl visits him instead of me. How can I accomplish that?" I like when plays aren't obvious, and they don't seem to be here. God cards are cool and powerful, but it's definitely not something where you always want to play one if you can. Some of their powers will guarantee a visit from the Jarl. And the Boosting mechanism is cool, too. You can play extra cards to win a trick, but it will keep you from winning one other trick every time you do it.

Jeremiah— Yes, everything you just said is why I like this game. The mechanisms of the game allow for decision-making rather than funneling you into one base strategy. Using the God cards to alter/reverse/remove trump add a good level of chaos, but also evens the playing field, especially if the front-runner chose trump and happens to have a great hand dealt to them. I really enjoyed the fact that the chaos in the game only served to balance the game—it wasn't simply chaos for chaos' sake. Mind you, I enjoy games with heaps of chaos driving them, but this game doesn't need that type of chaos, so it works well! It should also be noted that Boosting is a great way to ensure you score that one token you need to build a Ship, protecting your wealth from the Jarl; it's another strategic decision to make on how you play your hand.

Firestone—The Jarl mechanism seemed harsh at first—and it is! But it's a good way to reign in the leader and give other people a chance. Plus both the Jarl and the grab-a-Tree-if-the-token-is-gone mechanisms keep people from hoarding.

Jeremiah— Yep, the elements that may seem chaotic or harsh have been well-thought-out and keep the game balanced, but they don't needlessly prolong the game or the inevitable; there's plenty of room for players to catch up, and for the lead to be exchanged between players.

Firestone—The one thing that keeps this from being a great trick-taking game for me is that you're not playing with all of the cards every hand. I like to know exactly what's out there. Sure, I don't know which player has what cards. And I have a crappy memory, so I usually screw up keeping track of what's been played anyway. But I don't want to have to wonder if the card is still in the draw pile. I know the draw pile, and the ability to swap some cards at the beginning, is part of the unique gameplay here, but part of the fun of trick-taking games is playing whatever hand you're dealt as well as you can. That's not really possible when there are a number of unknown cards still in a draw pile. I want control, and I don't have as much as I want here.

Jeremiah— Sheesh! Suffer from megalomania much? I get what you're saying, but from my point of view, the most frustrating thing about trick taking games is getting dealt a terrible hand and sitting there, having to take it while someone else runs roughshod over the rest of the table and having absolutely no power to stop them. It's a wasted hand, and it is terrible! Being able to swap cards alleviates some of this. True, you may still end up with a hand full of poopy cards, and it is costly, but it's a calculated risk; to me it gives the player more control than I'm used to having in a trick-taking game, and I like that, a lot.

Jeremiah's Final Verdict— There is something familiar to most casual/non-gamers about trick-taking games. Most people have played Hearts, Spades, or Euchre. I remember playing my first game of Hearts at a very young age. Gone Viking takes age-old mechanics and weaves them into an interesting, but not overbearing, theme, and adds some nice depth, creating a much less abstract experience—while mitigating some of my major frustrations with the typical trick-taking game. This is a really fun, light-weight game, so I say: Put this game on your table!

Firestone's Final Verdict—Despite my lack-of-control problem, I liked Gone Viking! This would be a great game to bust out with some friends who have played Spades or Euchre and are looking for something new to try. It's not heavy, but it's not too light, either. There are some neat and unique mechanisms that force you to think through choices. I like that.

Thanks so much for reading. Gone Viking! is on Kickstarter right now, and they're already over halfway to their modest goal.

We'd like to thank The Flux Capacity for providing review copies of Gone Viking! This in no way affected our opinions on the game; this was not a paid preview. 

You can subscribe to TOG by filling in your email over on the right, we'd also love to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and of course there's more TOG where this came from on our Podcast!

Choose One!--A Double-Take Review

chooseonecover

DONOVAN: What... is... happening...? (His skin turns brown and leathery and stretches across his bones until it splits. His skeletal hands reach for Elsa's throat, choking her. Indy rushes forward and pushes Donovan away. As he falls the BODY BREAKS INTO FLAMES, then SHATTERS AGAINST THE WALL.)

KNIGHT: He chose... poorly.

 - Indiana Jones, The Last Crusade

Today we take a look at Looney Labs' latest party game, Choose One! The decisions you make during this game will stir up conversation at your game night, party, or other social gathering.

Let's take a look!

The Components

chooseonebits

The box includes a small board that is really more of a score track, with a start space, 1-10 spaces and a finish space. It's a bi-fold board.

300 Choose One Cards--These are the main/only mechanism to the game; they all have two choices on them: One choice has a white background while the other is purple.

20 Voting Cards--10 white, and 10 purple,and each player receives one of each at the start of the game.

10 Pawns--These are random pieces, everything from a from a wooden car to a plastic hot dog.

1 Felt Bag - To store the pawns in.

chooseonecards

The Setup

Setup is quick and easy: Each player selects a pawn and takes 2 voting cards (one white, one purple). Players place their pawns on the "Start" space of the board and you select a beginning player.

The Gameplay

The first player assumes the role of the "Chooser" (yes, that's what they call it in the rules), and the Chooser chooses a card, looks at the two choices on the card, and places a voting card that indicates their choice face-down. All the other players reveal their vote (we always did it on a count of three, so that players wouldn't have an advantage if someone knew the Chooser better than others). After the votes are revealed, scores will be tallied and pawns will be moved. If no one guesses the correct (matching) choice, the Chooser scores 2 points. If at least one player guesses correctly, each player who chose correctly gets 1 point (including the Chooser), but if everybody guesses correctly, then no one scores.

Once a player moves into the Finish space, he or she wins. If there's a tie, play enough extra rounds to declare a winner.

The Verdict

Jeremiah--The components for this are really quite simple: The cards are a little thin, but the design is colorful and the colors for your choices are quite easily distinguished. I like the hodge-podge of items that are used for the pawns and the little felt bag is a nice touch. If I had one small complaint about the components, is that typically games of this type also come with a smaller box within the larger box to hold the cards. This does not. So you find yourself passing the game box around or leaving it on the table, it was a little clumsy at times, but definitely did not ruin the experience for me.

Firestone--I agree. The different pawns are fun, and certainly in keeping with Looney Labs' aesthetic. And I agree about the box, too. Even a functional divider would have been helpful, but this was just "Here's a box full of cards. Good luck keeping them organized!" Not a deal-breaker at all, though.

chooseonecards2

Jeremiah--The concept of this game isn't terribly original, but it's still fun. This game makes for a perfect ice breaker for social gatherings. I don't know that it's all that great for a gamers' group, unless it's used as a filler for a group of gamers who don't know each other all that well.

Firestone--This didn't work with gamers at all. We ran through a round, realized it was an ice-breaker game and not really a how-well-do-you-know-your-friends game, and quit. The problem is that the questions aren't equal. I know...I know... I'm overthinking the cards in a party game. Maybe. Some of the questions create genuine unknowns, where even friends wouldn't know which you'd choose. "Flower Garden or Vegetable Garden?" or "Butterflies or Fireflies?" Those are choices most of my friends won't know. But then there are ones such as "Mac or PC?" or "Rock or Country?" Well anyone who knows me is going to know the answer to those.

So overthinking? Sure. But I don't think this is a good game for people who already know each other. It would be a fine icebreaker game.

Jeremiah--This game actually came at the perfect time for me: It showed up right about the time I took my new position in youth ministry. I've used it to get to know students a little better, strike up conversation and had some good laughs around the table with it. I've even pulled random cards from the box and used them during a youth service as an ice breaker to get everyone talking.

Firestone--I can see it working well for that type of situation, but not many others.

Firestone's Final Verdict--This game is just too niche for me to recommend it. As a game where you're supposed to gauge how well you know people you already know, it doesn't work for me. In an ice-breaker situation, it would work fine. But it's just not my favorite party game. Unless you just took over a youth group, I have to recommend leave this one on the shelf...

Jeremiah's Final Verdict--This is a fun game for the right settings. It's definitely a light party game, but at the same time it's pretty flexible so those settings are easier to find than you may think. Overall It's a fun little party game that will strike up great conversation and shared laughter with both strangers and friends! Put this on the table!

We'd like to thank Looney Labs for supplying us with review copies of Choose One! This in no way influenced our opinions.

Have you played Choose One!? Do you agree with us? Let us know in the comments!

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Hegemonic--A Double-Take Review

Space, the final frontier... Hegemonic is a new 4X game for 2-6 players from Minion Games. For those who may not be familiar with 4X games the four X's stand for eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate. So maybe they should be called 4-eX games? Anyway. Hegemonic takes place in space, as players act as the rulers of different "houses" looking to expand their reach and control in the galaxy. What did we think of Hegemonic and the final frontier? Let's take a look!

The Overview

Like most 4X games, you'll start with a little, and grow your space, units, and power--eventually clashing with other players. But unlike most 4X games, this is done with influence, and not big fleets and the roll of the dice.

There are TONS of pieces, parts, and cool bits to this game. We'll list them here, but if you'd like to see them live and in video. Click here to see our unboxing video on YouTube.

1 - Galactic Core Board, which is the center of the game play and has a turn order tracker on it.

9 - Five-Sector Galaxy Boards - The five sectors are hexes, and you use a certain number of these boards depending on the number of players in the game.

The bits - there are an even number of all of these split into six colors -blue, green, orange, purple, red, and yellow.

90 - Industrial Complexes - two of these are used for score tracking.

54 - Political Embassies

72 - Martial Outposts

18 - Quantum Gate pairs

18 - Political Agents

18 - Fleet Units

1 - Score Tracker Board

48 - Sector Tiles - These have an assortment of possible bases that can be built on them of varying powers and ranges; this will all make sense shortly. Some of them also has a background color, which means it's part of one of three different Factions that can lend support in conflicts.

36 - Action Cards - This makes a set of six cards per player; they're all all the same set of cards, but they have different colors to let you know who played what.

54 - Tech Cards - This is a deck of cards with technology on them that can be advanced, or power values that can be used to help you win a conflict.

1 - Arbiter Token - This is the 1st player token but also has some benefits in game play.

12 - Leader Cards - These are optional and add some more options to the game play.

81 - CAP Tokens - this is the game's money

6 - Player Board - Very cool two-layer boards that hold all of your bases and show how much each costs to build, how much money you can keep at the end of a turn, and how much you gain at the beginning of the next turn.

The Setup

There are examples for setup, depending on how many players are in the game, but it should be noted that there is also a specific number of sector tiles and boards to put into the game.

Eight sector tiles are randomly selected per player, which create a draw stack. Choose a start player. Each player places his or her starting tile--each color has one on--the board. There are suggestions on where these should be placed, and they cannot be placed on the Core Galactic board. Each player then places one Industrial Complex, one Political Embassy, and one Martial Outpost on that starting tile. Each player then in turn draws two tiles and plays one adjacent to their starting tile--this one can be placed on the Core Galactic board--and then places the other one face up next to the draw stack, which creates the "Sector Pool" that will be used for the remainder of the game. Then each player is dealt two cards from the Tech Deck.

The Gameplay

After you've set up, play moves through six different phases. The first two phases start with the Arbiter, and then things get interesting. Here's a quick rundown of the phases.

Phase 1: Collection--Players receive CAPS equal to the highest "gain" number value for each track on their board--Industrial, Political, and Martial--that has an empty spot on it. In other words, the more they've built from one of those tracks the more money they get at the beginning of the turn.

Phase 2: Expansion--This is a pretty simple step. You draw one tile from the Sector tile draw stack, place it faceup in the Sector Pool, and then select any tile from the Pool to add to the board. It can be placed on any empty space, except for the very center space where the turn order tracker is.  Then you draw two cards from the tech deck, and either discard one of them, or pay the cost denoted on a card to advance that technology. You also can only advance a tech if you have built that specific track to the particular tier denoted on the card--for example, if you've built your martial track into the second tier, but the card requires a martial tier of three, you can't advance that technology just yet.

Phases 3-5: Action Phases--All three of these are identical. You'll be playing an Action card from your hand, resolving the cards in the order of the number on the card (they're 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, and 4), and then getting your card back. You do this three times, and then move on to the next phase.

Phase 6: Arbitration--At this point in the game, whoever has the most money receives the Arbiter token. Then players pay money to the general supply until they have no more than the lowest "retention limit" value that is revealed on their board. These show up in the spaces that you build your bases from. The more you've built, the less you keep at the end of the turn--think of it as administrative costs for your growing empire...

And then you score points at the end of each turn. Players add up their power (or influence) on each 5-sector board: Whoever has the most gets six points, whoever has the second most gets three points, and if any other players simply have presence there they get one point. You get an extra two points for being the only player on a board, and an extra one point for each score awarded on the Core Galactic board.

Then you go back to phase one and do it all again.

The game ends on the round that the board is filled. The board is scored one last time and whoever has the most points wins.

Action Cards

We really need to take a minute to explain some of the Action cards, because this  is where the meat of the game lies. There are a lot of options, and a ton of housekeeping that comes with the Action Phase, so let's dig in.

Each Action card has several actions you can choose from, and all of them allow you to choose up to two Actions. Most of them have a Basic action that allows you to use one of the actions to gain two Caps, or draw one tech card and advance one or discard one.

Here's a quick overview of the cards:

Assault - 1 - This action allows you to attack from one type of base to a non-alike base, for example you can attack with a Martial Fleet to an Industrial complex or Political Emabassy. This is a "Destroy" action so doing this only weakens your opponents and you don't take over the area you assault.

Industrialize, Politicize, Martialize - 2 - All three of these cards have the same number, and each does the same thing but for a different area of influence: Industry, Political and Martial. This Action card allows you to choose from the Basic action, or to build new bases -of the type you selected--and/or gates, fleets, and agents. Each base built has a "range" and "power" value printed on the tile you build them on, ranging typically from 1-3.

You can also choose to attack and "Takeover" the same type as you are building this turn. This allows you to not only weaken your opponent but allows you to takeover and build the same type of base you just destroyed.

Subvert - 3 - This action card gives you the Takeover ability of the number 2 action cards, but you can do it with non-alike types of conflict--like card number 1, you can attack Industrial and Political with Martial power.

4 - Discover - This card gives you three options: Capitalize, which lets you to gain more money--often a power play to gain the Arbiter token next round. Survey, which allows you to add another tile from the pool to the board. Research, which allows you to discard and redraw Tech cards.

We feel we should also spend some time on the conflict-resolution mechanics of this game, this is where the game grinds to a snail's pace.

There are three distinct battle systems used in Hegemonic. Which one you use depends on what power you are using for your attack - Industrial, Political or Martial. And each of those areas has a unique defense value that is totaled.

When you attack with Martial power you must have a fleet in play, then pay to move that fleet, and pay to attack--based on the power of the base you're attacking. Then you calculate the attack power of your fleet by the number of one base that has the "range" to reach the fleet, and all of the bases that have the "range to reach that supporting base --and your gates can add other bases because they create adjacency and add your fleet's power, which is denoted on your player board and dependent on the tier you have reached on the Martial track . You then add up the total defense power of the defending outpost, which is simply adding the power of the defending  outpost, along with any  outposts that can reach it with its own range, along with any outposts that are within the defending outpost's range, and the power of any fleets that may be on the defending outpost's tile. Then you add the power of one tech card--using the icons on the bottom to match the type of conflict--and then total up the power and see who wins. It's THAT simple!

Industrial doesn't have fleets or agents so you can only attack within one complex's range adding attack and defense power from outposts that are within range, and a tech card from each player's hand.

And Political conflict is much like Martial conflict except you move your agents and only draw support from political embassies that are within range of your agent and then those around the board that are on the same Faction (color) as the supporting embassy.

There are a couple of advanced rules options, including Leader cards that let you do some really fun stuff.

The Verdict

Jeremiah--Let's talk about the components first. Everything in the box is really top notch. It's very well designed both artistically and graphically. It's a really great game to look at. The way the Martial outposts stack is cool in both form and function. The player boards are great and ingenious too. All the plastic mini bits just fit and work. My chief complaint about the components has to fall upon the rule book. The layout and explanation of the conflict, especially, leaves a lot to be desired. The gameplay is really complex with tons of moving parts and things to keep track of, and having anything short of an amazing rule book to reference was very frustrating at times.

Firestone--I agree on the components. I was blown away by the 2-layer player boards. All of your stuff fits right in the spaces, and if you bump it you won't have to spend 10 minutes righting everything. The plastic bits are cool, and I totally agree: The stacking Martial Outposts are cool. The Sector tiles are colorful, and interesting, and convey a lot of information using colors and icons in a nonobtrusive way.

Jeremiah--The expanding and exploring portions of Hegemonic are really, really cool. It all made a lot of sense, and was fun to plot out what you could do on your turn and think ahead and try to figure out what the other players were looking at as well. The monetary system works really well too. As you build you find out how necessary it is to build evenly, and the more you build there's a good chance you'll lose out on being the Arbiter because the cost to build increases as well.

Firestone--One of my favorite things about this was the Sector Pool. I really dislike the randomness of the tile draw in Eclipse. "Hey, I drew a crappy one! Hey, you drew an awesome one! Good for you!" Blech. Now, it can absolutely still happen that an opponent will draw exactly what she needs, and you won't, but at least you're not stuck with the one tile you drew. There are always options in the Sector Pool, and that tile that was useless to your plans earlier might be important to your plans now...

Jeremiah--The battle system, though, made the game feel unnecessarily bogged down. We trudged through each and every conflict, and had to dig into the rule book to find answers. I understand: There are three different types of power on the board, and they all use their power differently. Awesome. But there is just SO much to keep track of, it really kept us from wanting to attack the other players, which kind of stinks in a game that's designed to be one quarter eXtermination.

Firestone--Yeah, the conflict resolution is CONVOLUTED. It's not enough that you're trying to figure out what you need to do, and what you think your opponents might be trying to do, but when you add on this extra layer of conflict resolution, it's enough to make your head explode. Just like Jeremiah, every time there was a conflict, we'd have to go through all of it, step by step, and resolve it. Anther problem was that even if you were THINKING of attacking someone somewhere, you had to figure this whole thing out by yourself, because you didn't want to telegraph your move. But that meant more time, and a greater chance that you'd screw something up since you're doing it alone. "Okay, so if I attack there, I'll have to do it with that power, so I'll have to play this card. So now we add up his power, and then mine comes from there, there, and...there, so that's...and then I'll have to play this card, and hope he doesn't have that card..." Ka-BOOM!

I know it sounds like we didn't like it, but I like everything but this aspect. Unfortunately, this aspect is a huge part of the game. This isn't enough to keep me from playing the game, and I think it will get easier as you play more. It's just something you should know going into it.

Jeremiah--Our game group is split pretty much right down the middle about Hegemonic. Myself and a few others liked the game and see how much fun it can be. Others just couldn't abide the intricacies and the multiple battle systems, and all the housekeeping that went into it. I will say there is nothing in this game that makes it unfriendly to family players, or deeply offensive, other than the very involved and intensive learning curve. The theme is fun and exciting, but the game is long and laborious; many casual players will not make it halfway through the instructions.

Firestone--Yeah, this is a gamer's game for sure. I played twice with gamers, and they all thought it was pretty good, but they were all put off by the conflict resolution. Some of them would play again (as would I), but some would be fine never playing again.

One good thing was that our first game was with four brand-new players, and we finished in just over two hours. That's just not happening with Eclipse and Twilight Imperium III...

In the end, this doesn't feel much like a 4X game to me. Sure, you're drawing tiles and expanding and taking things over. And there's technology, and all of the things you'd expect in a 4X game. It just didn't feel like one... What it really felt like was an area-control game--El Grande if El Grande decided to do CrossFit, maybe...

Jeremiah Final Verdict--Hegemonic is not for the faint of heart. I have to give this one somewhat of the benefit of doubt. To be fair my game group does not often play 4X type games, it's mostly Euros, cards, co-ops and the like for us. So this was a pretty new experience, and deeper level of strategy game than most of us have played. I get the feeling a few of us may get together and sit down with this one and really enjoy it. But a table divided can not stand, so we had a rough time getting through this one a few times. The art, concept, and deep mechanics are well thought out. Maybe a little too well thought out. Don't even think about putting this on the table with kids, family or casual gamers; it's simply too much for those situations. If you're into 4X games, and love deep, and at times tweaky mechanics, this will be right up your alley, so in that setting, I say Put This One on the Table.

Firestone Final Verdict--I'm very conflicted on this one. The components are top-notch. The art direction, and "small" decisions, such as having three distinct shapes for the powers, and stackable martial triangles, are inspired. It doesn't much feel like a 4X game to me, so it's not going to replace Twilight Imperium III. And while I like area-control, this one has such complex resolution on conflict that I would rather just play a classic such as El Grande. But I still liked Hegemonic! I just didn't love it. There's very little luck. It's interesting. It looks great. It's obviously well-thought-out. As long as you have the correct expectations going in, I say Put This on the Table!

We'd like the thank Minion Games for providing review copies of Hegemonic. This in no way affected our opinions on the game. 

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oddball Aeronauts--A Double-Take Preview

You're at the doctor's office. Or the DMV. (Shudder...) Or in line at at amusement park. Or waiting to buy tickets to a Radiohead concert. You're bored. You don't have a surface to play a game. But you have the sudden urge to battle it out for pirate-like supremacy of the air. What will you do?! I have just the thing...

The Overview

Oddball Aeronauts is a 2-player card game where you're trying to force your opponent to discard all of his or her cards. It's for ages 9 and up (which seems about right), and plays in about 15 minutes.

The Components

Note: We were sent prototype copies of the game. The quality and exact component list may change before publication.

Cards... That's it. No tokens. No nothing. Just cards. The cards are broken into two types:

Faction Cards - There are 2 decks of 24 cards per Faction. These cards have 3 skills listed on them - Sailing, Guns, and Boarding. Each of those skills has a primary "Skill Level" and a "Skill Bonus." We'll tell you a little more about that in a minute. These cards also have Special Abilities that will either affect this turn, or the next turn.

Event Cards - There are a total of six Events in the game, but with rule updates only three of them will come out in the game play. These Events come into play from one player's deck but affect the whole game and both players have to deal with its effect.

The Setup

Give each player a Faction deck, and randomly shuffle three Event cards into one of the decks. Players then hold their deck face-up towards them so they can see what is now the top card's face. The rules say to play Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine the starting player--the starting player is the one who loses. And you're ready to go.

The Gameplay

The game is played in rounds, and each round is essentially a portion of a battle between two rival Factions.

Before we go into how the game actually works, there are some interesting concepts and actual physical mechanics that should be noted and understood. As you probably noticed, the entire deck is being held by each player at this point. The goal of the game is to get the other player to discard all of their cards. It's a war of attrition. When a player discards a card they turn the card face down and puts it at the bottom of the deck. Once one player gets to his or her first face down card, they've exhausted their deck--and lose. Certain abilities and round results will allow players to recover a card, and in this instance players search down in their deck to the first face down card and then turn it face up, thus keeping more cards in the game. Some have an ability to add a bonus in the next round after it's discarded. They've printed this bonus on the back of the card in the top corner, so in this instance the card is discarded and then pushed up to reveal that bonus for use in the current round. There are also some abilities that take effect that round, and use the same mechanism to reveal the ability to your opponent by pushing the card up, without revealing the face to them.

The rounds are broken down into 5 phases:

1. Events -- If the player with the Event cards has an Event in their top three cards, it's brought out and dealt with. Or continues its effect on the round.

2. Announce Skill -- At this point each player will fan out their top 3 cards, and determine which skill they will use--Sailing, Guns, or Boarding. You're allowed to look past your top 3 cards to see what is coming up next, but you can only use up to your top 3 cards. Once both players have decided what skill they will use, they announce it and the next phase commences.

3. Play Cards -- Like we just said, you can choose to play up to 3 of your top cards. By playing more than one card you are supporting the top card in the fight. So you'll be using the top card's "Skill Level"--which is the big number on the top for that skill--but for the cards below it you'll be using their "Skill Bonus" value--which is the smaller number on the bottom of that skill. You also can only use the special ability of the top card. Once both players have decided how many cards they will play, the lead player--the one who lost Rock-Paper-Scissors--will count to three and each player will hold up X number of fingers: X being the number of cards they intend to play.

4. Winner of the Round -- Players reveal the cards they are playing, and show the total of their Skill, by adding up Skill Level, Skill Bonus and any Special Ability Bonuses that may be applied, and the player with the highest level of Skill wins the round. If there should be a draw, then no one wins and the cards are discarded.

5. Win Result --After one player is declared the winner of the round, both players discard any cards they played, and then you resolve the results. If the winning player used Sailing, they recover 2 cards. If they used Guns, the loser discards 2 additional cards. And if they used Boarding, the winner recovers 1 card and the loser discards 1 additional card.

The winning player starts the next round as the Lead player and you do the whole thing over again.

After all of the effects have been resolved, if a player has no more active (face up) cards, they lose; if both players have no more active cards, it's a tie!

The Verdict

Firestone--What a terrific idea! I have no idea if someone's already thought about making a game that needs no surface to play, but who cares? It's great. I'll definitely be grabbing this game on trips and hikes and any travel I have to do.

Jeremiah--Yeah, I'm sure there are a few micro games out there that don't use a playing surface, but this is much more than a micro game, and I love the idea. You could easily play this on a table and lay down the cards you're playing for a round. But I love the thought that went into making it work without a playing surface. I played this with a friend while we were sitting on my couch. That's just cool.

Firestone--Yes, steampunk is all the rage now, so there's a part of me that wants to avoid everything steampunky, just on general principle. But I can't help myself! The artwork is really cool and evocative. The characters are interesting, and I'm kind of a sucker for anthropomorphic animals... Let's make this into a kick-butt cartoon!

Jeremiah--Yeah, I'm okay with the Steampunk movement for now. It's creative and imaginative, and it's just cool to look at; this game is no different. Steampunk is very much the Japanese Animation of this generation. I remember when Akira hit these shores; it was unlike anything anyone had ever seen and it blew up from there. Steampunk is riding that wave; I'm sure it will settle before long, but its carved out its niche and I'm sure it's here to stay. Lucky for us it doesn't involve sparkling vampires or any other lameness...

Firestone--With a box that small I wasn't expecting to be thinking too much, but there are definite, actual decisions to be made. Interesting decisions. You're always having to look at the next few cards and try to figure out the best way to play them, and when to tiptoe, and when to bum-rush.

Jeremiah--I totally agree. With not needing a playing surface, and holding all of your cards, I was really thinking along the lines of a streamlined micro game. But it's really not. Is it a 3-hour Euro? No. But the fact that you can plan ahead, and potentially throw a round so you can maneuver a card into a position to really slam your opponent hard in the next round, is a great mechanism, and adds a ton of strategic decisions to make. None of them are too deep that you get analysis paralysis, but enough to make the game really interesting and fun.

Jeremiah--If there was one thing I would add to this game components-wise, it would be something like three stones/tokens for each player. So instead of counting to three and sticking up your fingers, you would reach into your pocket and pull out a number of stones to reveal how many cards you're playing that round. It seems piratey to reveal stones in your hand, and wouldn't clutter up your non-existent playing area. But the fingers work fine.

Firestone--I've played this with adults, and they all thought it was clever and fun. Not super deep, but who wants to play Tigris & Euphrates at the doctor's office? I also played with my 9-year-old, and he loved it, once we got past the rules, which were a little hard for him to grasp at first. But as he was making his way through his deck, he kept seeing the next picture and saying, "Oh cool!" or "Aww....look at that one, Dad!" And then I'd have to remind him that he probably shouldn't show me his cards...

Jeremiah--I haven't played this one with either of my boys. My oldest could probably grasp it, and it would be good to work his math skills. Thematically and visually though I can't imagine many people that wouldn't think it's cool, including kids. The cards are just really cool to look at--very richly designed!

Firestone--I hope they come out with expansion cards, and maybe a way to customize your deck a little. It doesn't need that, but it would be fun, and give it some legs for the long-haul.

Jeremiah--I kind of don't want to see deck customization in this game; I feel like it could get unbalanced really easily, or just convoluted too much from what it is. It's a quick-playing game that you can throw in your pocket, laptop bag, etc. I'm sure there will be an expansion or two down the line--more events most likely--or maybe even another two decks that bring out more Factions. If there was a way to bring more than 2 players into the game, I'd be all for that, as long as it wouldn't break the game, because I really like it the way it is.

Firestone Final Verdict--oddball Aeronauts is a unique game. The footprint, artwork, and gameplay all combine to make a game I'm happy to play wherever I am. Even the DMV! I would say put this on the table, but it doesn't need a table! That's awesome!

Jeremiah Final Verdict--We totally agree on this one. oddball Aeronauts packs a lot of fun and strategy into about 15 minutes of gameplay. The unique mechanics and card design/layout seamlessly serve the purpose of the game, and don't come off as gimmicky at all. This a great play-it-anywhere game and yes, it doesn't need a table so, just go play it already!

oddball Aeronauts is on Kickstarter right now! They've got a little less than three weeks to go, but they're nearly funded! Yay!

We'd like to thank Maverick:Muse for providing preview copies of oddball Aeronauts. This in no way affected our opinions, and this was not a paid preview.

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