Whew! The Christmas season is already fading into the past. Every year I try to get a new game or two (aside from the console or PC games my kids usually get) for the family to enjoy. This year, I bought a rather huge board game called Descent: Journeys in the Dark.
A few years back, I started collecting Talisman game sets (Talisman: The Magical Quest Game). The game has long been out of print (especially the second edition). Most of the sets are around US $75, which is a bit steep for a game that quite honestly wasn't truly exciting. Earlier this year I started looking for a game to replace Talisman. There were only a few out there, but when I saw Descent, I was fairly sure that it was the one to buy.
The game is basically a dungeon crawl in the spirit of Dungeons and Dragons. There are characters with varying abilities, a ton of dungeon maze pieces, lots of treasure cards and rewards for the heroes. One of the best aspects of the game is that one player must be the dungeon overlord. This player controls all of the creatures and events that befall the heroes. In D&D terms, the overload is the dungeon master. The hero players play cooperatively to finish a quest. The game comes with nine main quests and dungeon layout schematics. Players "level up" each time they finish a quest (if desired). The game design allows you to build your own, custom dungeons and create your own quests, so the replayability of the game is technically endless. Expansions to the game are planned for the near future.
The Fantasy Flight web site for the game has a new database online that contains tons of player made scenarios.
I'll post a full run through of our first experience with the game (I played it with my son and daughter) soon. In the meantime, check out a few reviews from the gaming community over at Board Game Geek. BGG is a great place to start when researching new games to buy.
A few months back I opened this blog with an article about the Settlers of Catan and some online versions. Well, the same team that created "Xplorers" (the best Java-based Catan), has come up with "Toulouse", an excellent Java version of Carcassonne. If you haven't played the original tile-based, tabletop version, full instructions are available online at this site. I have become somewhat addicted to the game. It allows for up to five people to play online, and you can also play with bots to sharpen your skills. I can easily beat the bots, but most of the players play aggressively, so I have yet to win a game. I tend to try and build my own, little empire, which isn't the best strategy when playing with aggressive opponents. Check it out! It's completely free. AsoBrain Java Games. They have also released Java versions of Set and Barricade (called "Match" and "Roadblock").
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