alli-alli-alhambra

this one is an interesting little card management, tile-laying game based on the andalusian moorish castle, the calat alhambra. each player is building one of the may palaces that makes up the alhambra by managing placement of tiles, each worth a certain number of victory points during the game and at the end.

to acquire more tiles each player has to pay a cost for them in one of four denominations (depicted by 4 different colors, orange, green, blue, and yellow).

each turn, a player can take one of three different actions:

•  draw a currency card. a player can take one card of a denomination above 5 and any combination of cards so long as the total denomination doesn’t exceed 5.
• purchase a building tile. if a tile is purchased for the exact amount, the player then gets another chance to take an action. no change is given for tile purchases, so if a tile cost 5 yellow coins, and all you have is an 8 yellow coin card, then you pay 8.
• rearrange or exchange a tile. players can move a tile from their reserve or to their reserve, or they can swap a tile between their alhambra and the reserve. the only constraint is that the new tile has to legally fit into the space of the tile sent to the reserve.

playing this game with me are jacob, jeff, and dave.

here is jeff looking dapper and debating the cost and placement of a tile...

..and here is dave contemplating his next action.

i like alhambra. It’s pretty easy to learn, game play is pretty straightforward, and it’s much easier to score than other tile-laying games like carcassone. i would recommend alhambra as a way to get new eurogamers to take the next step to something a bit more complex, but not overly so.

box image is property of queen games.  all other images property of little mens.

neuroshima hex

another board game that wasn't originally on my list for 30 games in 30 days.  xenite from "little green monsters" introduced this one to me. 

based on the polish role playing game neuroshima, in neuroshima hex, you control one of several factions battling for survival in the post-apocalyptic ruins of north america.  in the simple one-on-one battle games, the action takes place within the black outlined area in the middle of the board.   

between your specialist actions and your troops' abilities, the middle board area is just big enough for a battle or two in the space of an hour.  here is the board at the start of the game: 

xenite (who is playing the moloch, a vicious machine intelligence that specializes in armor and ranged combat) has placed his hq on the board edge and i've place mine smack dab in the middle.  the reason for this is that my troops (the mutated borgos) are more deadly in close combat and my hq can improve their speed in melee, which is the reason for this deployment only a few turns later. 

 

as you can see the number of forces on the board wax and wane as infrequent combat begins taking it's toll on our troops.  

for most of the game, xenite controlled a good portion of the board and kept my forces contained with his shooting.  if not for one of my troops allowing me to negate the power of his hq, xenite would have completely wiped me from the board.

but some clever deployment and sacrifice on my part in the late game meant that the battle was a draw, and my borgos would live to fight another day. 

take that you moloch bastards! 

even though our battle took place in just a small part of the board, the game designers actually encourage you to create your own scenarios to take advantage of the rest of the board, and with the variety of images beneath each hex, you're only limited by your imagination as to what sort of scenario you could create!

i liked neuroshima hex quite a bit, and i don't think i'd pass up an opportunity to play.  

box image of neuroshima hex is property of portal games, all other image property of little mens

it's pretty much an homage to the entire sci fi ourve.

before last night’s game, i had only played race for the galaxy once before, and while i enjoyed the game, i didn’t really grasp the way that the rules and the cards worked together.  that point of view changed last night. 

at its core, race’s game mechanic balances card management and action choice, but there is a synergy between the various cards that a player can have in their tableau and the actions chosen by all players at the beginning of a round that rewards smart choices and flexible planning. 

playing are aaron, jacob, and i.  here you can see aaron explaining the various actions to jacob.

as we started and the game progressed, i continued to get more and more development opportunities…

… while jacob made a run collecting alien-centric worlds and developments…

…and aaron pulled some military, but seemed to miss out on the cards he really wanted. 

at the end of the game, jacob was the winner with a massive 54 victory points.  i was in second place with 34 victory points and aaron had 32. 

now that i’ve got a better grasp on how race for the galaxy is played and the various interactions possible, i think that this one will be a game that i play a heck of a lot more.

race for the galaxy is property of rio grande games.  all other images property of little mens.