Today I will be reviewing Fox in the Forest by Renegade and Foxtrot Games. Fox in the Forest is a trick taking game for 2 players that takes about 30 mins to play!
In this game you will be using a deck of only 33 cards, 1-11 in only three suits. (Moons, Keys & Bells.) The majority of the deck is made up of regular numbered cards in the three suits.(2, 4, 6, 8, 10) Wait a minute, you say!! There are some numbers missing and you are right. On of the coolest things about this game is that all the odd-numbered cards have special abilities when play!
Here the run down:
1’s
3s
Now, where have I seen this before….?
5s
7s
9s
Sounds cool right?
Goal & Game Play:
Goal: Be the first player to score 16 points, (short game) or 21 points, (long game)
Game Play:
Deal each player 13 cards/ There will be 7 cards left over. Flip 1 card over and set it aside next to the deck. This suit starts as the trump suit for the hand. Non dealer starts by leading anything they want. You must follow suit whenever possible and if you can’t, play any card you’d like. Once everyone has played a card, a winner is determined. Either highest card of the suit lead, highest trump played or a special card is played, like a 1 or a 9 are played.
All of the odd-numbered cards powers either happen as they are played or are used to evaluate a winner at the end of a trick. Just read the text on the cards.
This continues until all 13 tricks have been played. Afterwords, each players scores based on the chart below.
2 double sides player aids
As you can see the scoring can be tricky to work with from hand to hand. So, stay alert! After scoring, shuffle and deal the next hand! The first to reach the target score wins!
My Review:
I love this one!! Fox in the Forest hit all the right buttons for me. I am a big fan of trick taking games and 2 player games. Once I heard about this game, it sounded interesting. Usually with card games like this, I will see if I can find the rules and make up a mock deck with just playing cards and give it a go! So I did, and it worked out very well.
There are a lot of reasons i love this game:
The design on this game is great. The fact that it’s a 2 player only trick-taker and it just works really well with the back and forth that you get into during each hand. You want to win X number of tricks to score the most you can, but you don’t want to get too many
This game is a traditional trick-taker at heart, but has just enough spice with the odd cards having powers that makes every game a bit different
Beautiful artwork
Easy to teach, hard to master!
Negatives:
The game comes with victory point chips to keep score. I must be old-fashioned, just give me pen a paper.
I really enjoyed this game. If this sounds like something that interests you, look out for it at GenCon this year! I know I will be getting a copy.
Today, I’ll be reviewing Bethel Woods by Garphill Games This game was successful on Kickstarter . Bethel Woods is a co-operative game for 2-4 players ages 12 and up, and about 40 minutes to play.
In this game you and the other players are trying to construct all 6 pieces of the Daydreamer machine to protect the orphanage from the terrors of this futuristic world that this game is set.
Setup:
Setup for this game couldn’t be easier. The game comes with a double-sided game setup/ malfunction player aid on the back. NOTE: When setting up, none of the machines can be in a critical state. More on that later.
Very handy
Randomly deal 1 of the 8 available character cards to the players.
Front side
Back side
There are enough cards for everyone to have a character and an unused card for the player aid which is a nice touch.
So this is what a game will look like when all done:
Game play:
The start player will take all pawns at 1 machine in a single direction, start dropping them off 1 at a time using a mancala-type mechanic. As soon as you drop of a pawn onto a machine, check to see if the pawn you placed matches at least 1 of the colors of the Malfunction at the machine. If the colors match you get to take the malfunction off the board. (ex: your last pawn is a blue on #5 and 1 blue is already there. Therefore you remove 2 blue malfunctions from #5.) Any malfunctions removed this way are taken off the board and now known as Knowledge You can never hold more than 7 knowledge at one time, discards any extras/
Once knowledge is gained, it can be used in 3 primary ways
Constructing the Daydreamer
Uncovering spies
Using your character’s ability
To end your turn, you must place 3 malfunctions from the bag and place them accordingly The next player in clockwise order now takes their turn.
Spies/Machines Going Critical
If at any point a machine gets a 4th malfunction, that machine goes critical and a spy will enter the board. When a machine goes critical 2 things happen.
The malfunction tile next to that machine is flipped over. This will affect the game immediately.
The top spy from the spy stack is drawn.
A spy will lower the number of malfunction needed at a machine to go critical by 1
On the spy it tells you where to place it, and which two colors are need to remove him.
In order to remove a spy you must drop your last pawn at the spy’s location and discard the required knowledge. Once defeated, the spy will return to the bottom of the spy stack
Note: Multiple machines can go critical at a time, but only spy will be placed a turn
Constructing the Daydreamer/Winning
To win, all you need to do is construct the 6 pieces of the Daydreamer! Easy right? Nope! Each of the machine are connected to a path in the center of board. Each path has 2 color options Only 1 of the 2 will be used. You need to end you movement in the center with that color pawn and discards 1-6 of 1 type. of malfunction. It doesn’t have to always match the color of the pawn placed.
Keep in mind that once you send a pawn into the center it will stay there for the rest of the game!
Lastly there are 3 ways to lose this game
all 6 spies are out on the board
4 machines are critical at the end of a player’s turn
When there are no malfunctions left in the bag to draw.
Here are some pictures from one of my last games:
Looking good
2 more…
Almosyt there…
Just 1 more…
We ended up losing! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
My Review:
So what do I think of Bethel Woods? This is a very solid game. For starters, this game is a breeze to set up everything needed can be found on the setup card provided! The Mancala style gameplay makes this game really simple to play, but also gives some strategic depth to the game. I am a fan of co-op games and this one fits right in. Bethel Woods could be a cousin to Pandemic but played in less time. It has the same level of tension as the game goes on. On you turn it is very simple. Pick a group, move in a single direction picking up malfunctions along the way. Don’t be fooled though, while turns go quick in this game, the game can turn bad just as quickly with the spies and the machines going critical all around you. I find this balance of your choice will alter the game for better or worse with one move!
Okay, so, on the negative. There’s not a lot to say here but if you play a lot of co-op games this next statement won’t be a shock. Depending on the players this game can suffer from Alpha Gamer Syndrome or AGS! I have noticed AGS once during my plays and it was kind of annoying. I know they mean well but sometimes you can’t think three turns ahead.. So just be aware of AGS!
This games also reminds me a little bit of Five Tribes with the ever-changing board state. In these types of games, I have a little mantra that helps me during games. “Don’t look at the board, don’t look at the board!” It’s hard to plan but I do best when it gets closer to my turn.
So, to date I have played this 4 times now and lost every time. We’ve gotten close but never won! This I think is a good sign of a co-op game.
Over the past couple of years, dexterity games have become quite popular, with many titles coming into the marketplace. Building off of some concepts of games like Crokinole, a new flicking game is out that puts a play on cutting class in school, trying to avoid the hall monitor and get into some mischief.
Enter………Ice Cool from designer Brian Gomez, published by Brain Games Publishing. Ice Cool is a dexterity game for 2-4 players, ages 6+, and it plays in about a half an hour.
QUICK GAME SUMMARY
In Ice Cool, the game is played over multiple rounds. In each round, one player takes on the role of the Catcher (hall monitor) with the other players taking on the role of Runners. The Runners goal is to skate around the school, through certain hallways to gather up fish and collect points. The Catcher’s goal is to catch the runners and take their IDs to score points. A round will end when either any Runner has collected all 3 fish tokens of their color or The Catcher has caught all Runners. Then start a new round and repeat. The game ends when each player has been the Catcher once.
OVERVIEW OF GAME PLAY
I am not going to go over all of the rules in-depth, but if you want to read the rules, click the link –> GAME RULES
The first thing that has to be done is to assemble the game board, which is made up of smaller boxes that all fit together to form the play area. All of the boxes are numbered
Each of the game sections is numbered.
and each of the doorways is color coded to match up.
Just match up the colors to build the game board.
When everything is finished the board looks like this:
The board set up with players.
Each player chooses a color and takes their player pieces.
Some of the player pieces including ID, color reminder and fish token.
One player takes on the role of the Catcher and places their penguin in the kitchen. All of the penguins are plastic with the pieces weighted at the bottom where when the piece is at rest is stands up straight. All of the Runners will place their fish tokens over the doorways that are marked with a fish icon.
A bit about the Runners…
In turn order, starting with the Runners, each one will start in the classroom and flick their penguins around trying to get through hallways to collect fish and score points.
The starting spot in the classroom for the Runners.
Players need to move completely through a door with a fish token to be able to collect it.
S
Skating through this door will gain the yellow player a fish.
This is accomplished by flicking the penguin in a way that it will move through the doorways to score.
Flicking is the way to move the penguins.
There are a number of different techniques that can be used to flick the penguins around. The video below produced by Brain Games shows some great moves that can happen in the game.
If a penguin is flicked out of the game play area, just place it back where it started, however the turn is over. Penguins can be flicked over doorways, but in order to collect fish the penguin must go THROUGH the door. When a penguin goes through a door with a fish token of its color on it, the token is taken and a fish is collected. A card is drawn from the fish card deck that awards points. Each fish can be worth 1 to 3 points. The fish cards are placed face down in front of the player, partially covering their color reminder.
Fish cards that award points.
Eventually, the Runner will be caught by the Catcher. If this happens, the Catcher takes that Runner’s ID. The Runner can still collect fish to score points.
A bit about the Catcher…
The Catcher’s goal is to catch the Runners and take their IDs. For a Catcher to take an ID, all it has to do is touch the Runner. The Catcher is always last in turn order.
The Blue player is the Catcher and just touched the green Runner and will take their ID.
In the pictures you see red lines on the boards. These are used as boundaries to place a penguin on if it is too close to a wall to flick or gets stuck in the middle of a doorway. The rulebook explains how to deal with those situations. Also, if your penguin is moved when it is not your turn, either through a doorway or into the Catcher, you resolve those effects. That means it is possible to gain a fish card or lose your ID when it is not your turn. If a player, including the Catcher wishes, they can gain an extra turn by revealing two cards that have a value of 1 on them. There are ice skate icons on the bottom of the cards. Revealing the two cards at the end of the turn gives that player ice skates and allows for an extra turn. Multiple extra turns can be taken in a row if there are enough cards to be used.
A round will end when either a Runner collects all three of their fish tokens OR the Catcher catches all the Runners. At the end of the round, starting with the Catcher, each player draws 1 card for each ID card they have. So a maximum of 4 fish cards can be gained by any player at the end of each round. Reset the board for another round just like the start of the game, with a different player taking on the role of the Catcher. The game will end after each player has taken on the role of the Catcher once. There are rule variations for a 2-player game where each player has to be the Catcher twice. The player with the most points is the winner.
IMPRESSIONS
PROS
Simple Rules
Convenient box in a box storage
Quick Play time
Wide audience range
CONS
Boxes may shift some during play despite being clipped
No variable board setup
Uneven skill levels can result in blowout scores
Ice Cool is my first experience with Brain Games since they are rather new to the US market. I have to say that Ice Cool is fun game. It is no wonder that the game has won awards, most notably 2016 UK Games Expo Best Children’s Game, and 2016 Game of the Year Award from Creative Child Magazine. Now to me Ice Cool is not just a kid’s game. Adults can enjoy this as well. I like the theme of the game, with a fun play on cutting class to go get some food. I like that the rules are simple and players will be up and running in just a few moments. There is even a nice tutorial in the rules that shows flicking techniques and has the players do a practice lap around the board.
With some practice, going through the door won’t be a problem.
The game play itself is rather simple. Flick your penguin to do what you need to do… either collect a fish token or catch a Runner, depending on what your role is. The design of the penguins, with their shape, offers some cool moves, like making them curve, and also making them jump walls. Now me, personally, I am like a bull in a china shop when it comes to flicking games, with bad aim, and no finesse when it comes to the flick. However, I was able to make my penguin jump a wall. I think this is the strongest point of the game. All the while, when flicking the penguin around, players are developing fine motor skills. So Ice Cool can be used in Occupational Therapy sessions besides being played as an activity. The points collected are purely based on the luck of the draw, but I do like the “catch-up” mechanic where players may reveal two “1” value cards to get an extra turn. This can help at least give a jump on getting another scoring opportunity. The game plays quickly, in under 30 minutes making this game great for schools for rainy-day recess as well as a lunch game at work. And one thing I really like is the way the game stores, with each box being slightly smaller than the next and they stack inside each other.
I did have a minor issue with the boxes staying perfectly aligned during game play. The boxes are held in place with 1 wooden clip and I had instances of the boxes shifting. It is not a major issue, but it does have an effect on the size of the door opening.
Sometimes the boxes may shift.
In the picture above, the two boxes are supposed to be offset, but notice the dots in the doorway, as they have shifted during play. I do like that the game boxes stack inside themselves for storage, but I do wish there was alternate board setups to change things around. Again, not a big issue, but after while, seasoned players will have a strong feel for the board layout and that will work to their advantage over players with less experience.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ice Cool is a quick, fun game that can be enjoyed by a lot of different types of people. With a 30 minute or less play time, younger players will stay engaged the whole time without losing interest. The game is great for developing fine motor skills when it comes to flicking techniques. With uses for school and also Occupational Therapy, Ice Cool branches out beyond the gaming table. If you are looking for a dexterity game that involves flicking, Ice Cool is one you will want to check out.
Deck building games are still a rather new breed of board game. I’m always shocked when I’m reminded that the granddaddy, old geezer of deck builders, Dominion, is not even ten years old yet; however, its safe to say that the genre has made a big splash and there are deck builders at every turn clawing at your wallet like some massive horde of raving undead screaming “BRAAAAINSSSSS…and don’t forget to shuffle well….”
It’s pretty clear that the market for deck builders has not wavered in the slightest as more and more games get released with countless expansions. Deck builders have a way of forming an almost cult like presence with its followers. There are purists that insist that Dominion is the end all, be all and every game that has come after are just wannabes, while others have latched on to highly interactive deck builders like Star Realms and then there are the new kids on the block…deck builders with a game board! Woah!
So where does that put Draconis Invasion, the new deck builder from designer Jonathan Jeffrey Lai and Keji Inc.? Let’s find out.
I think we need to get something out of the way right off the bat. It’s impossible to ignore the fact that Draconis Invasion is clearly inspired by its great granddaddy, Dominion. It just has a lot of similarities. Is that a bad thing? Yes and no.
The similarities are seen in a lot of deck builders of this ilk. The core mechanic of using a starting hand to slowly build a better deck throughout the course of the game is here. A fixed market of better cards that you want is there. Junk cards are often put in your deck which may inhibit a turn you’ve been setting up for. In this game, they call them Terror cards and we will get to those in a second because they are much more important in this game than others. There are three types of cards: money or gold, action cards, and attack cards…wait…attack cards? Oh yes, my pretties, be patient for a moment.
So it has the basic formula for a deck building game. But then it does some things that make it stand out just enough without trying to jam a bunch of NEW, SHINY STUFF down your throat.
And I appreciate what they have done here.
On a turn in Draconis, you can play a single action card from your hand to do cool stuff like trash junky cards or draw cards or give other players terror cards (I suggest you cackle wildly while doing that) and then you can do one of a few options. You can buy an action or defender card from the open market with your gold. The more expensive the card is, the better it is usually. That’s a pretty standard, yet essential part of any deck builder. It lets you hop in the driver seat and attempt to build the best deck you possibly can.
And now get ready for some different stuff.
The second thing you might do on your turn is get new campaign cards. These cards act like secret agendas. Accomplish whatever task the card says to do and you will get bonus points at the end of the game. I love it when games do things like this. They help direct your game should you choose to pursue a secret quest dealt to you.
What kinds of things do these secret missions, campaign cards want you do, you ask? They simply want you to kill more stuff!
You see the way you get points in Draconis is a little different. There are big hulking monsters that are called Invaders. You wanna kill em and kill em good. You do this with your attack/ defender cards that you’ve been acquiring from the market. Kill a creature and its worth points at the end of the game. The secret missions on your campaign cards will grant you bonuses if you kill specific monsters. It’s all very simple until you realize that your Defenders are super greedy monsters as well! That’s right. Nothing is free in the game of Draconis Invasion (well…except those cursed Terror cards that I’m gonna get to…I promise). Those Defenders will help you, but you have to pay them with a specified amount of gold from your hand. This is a great design move because it forces players to really diversify their deck through the choices they make in market purchases.
Okay…time to talk about the Terror cards. Because I really think this is my favorite part of Draconis. Terror cards are junk cards that don’t help you do anything at all. They just occupy a space in your hand where a better card could have been. You get these from a variety of places, sometimes self inflicted…but that’s not the cool part. The Terror cards act as a crazy train of a game timer. Every time somebody plays a terror card from their hand this evil little D6 die goes up once. If it ever ticks up to 6, then an event card is revealed. These are cards that punish the players, especially the player that is currently in first. It’s an awesome catch up mechanic that you don’t see often in this style of deck builder. It also acts as a timer because there is a limited amount of event cards and when they run out, the game ends. So it leads to some interesting situations. Sure you want to give your opponents lots of terror cards, but at the same time it will dramatically speed the game up and if you aren’t ready for that it could blow back up in your own face!
On top of all that, Draconis Invasion is a simply stunning game. The artwork is top notch, components are great, the custom terror die is a nice touch, and it even came with nifty labeled dividers for every card type. It’s definitely not lacking in the production department.
So let’s run Draconis Invasion through the FRAK! Test.
Fun? It is. I’ve enjoyed playing Draconis a good deal. It’s simplicity is nice and it certainly would be a great deck builder to start with. The player interaction is pretty minimal but I think that’s okay for this style of deck builder.
Replayability? There’s a lot of variety here since you get to select what cards go into the market. Play with a different market and you are playing a different game. There are a lot of different cards in the base game alone and seeing how half the box is empty I see expansions are inevitable.
Affordability? It costs about $50 or so which is pretty standard for these bigger box deck builders. I’d say based on the art alone the game is worth that and the high replayability ensures you will get your hard earned moneys worth.
Keep? Totally. This one will see play at my table. Is it one I will grab all the time? Maybe not, but since it’s so accessible when it does hit the table we will be able to get down to business very quickly without having to consult the rule book every time. That’s a small blessing but a big part of why I like Draconis Invasion in the first place. If you enjoy easy riding, smooth deck builders with great production, look no further.
DISCLAIMER: The copy of Draconis Invasion used in this review was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
This is a preview article for a project currently on Kickstarter
Game Designer Sean Howard of Good Knight Games has created a new game that challenges players to navigate through a mysterious Victorian mansion to save “Uncle Alfie.” Uncle Alfie has been researching interplanar travel and unfortunately has become stuck in one of the planes of existence. To free him, players must navigate through the mansion to free him. The problem is…..every room is locked and they can only be opened by using a runic key.
At its heart, Unlocked is a race game that is driven by a set collection mechanic. Players will be collecting rune cards, casting them to build keys that will allow players to move through the mansion, where each room is locked, trying to be the first to save Uncle Alfie and win the game.
This is easier said than done because Unlocked: The Mansion of Mana has some interesting twists to it:
The runes must be cast in sequential order to build the keys.
All of the keys in the game are unique
Each key has an ability that can be used to either help you or hinder your opponent(s)
For setup, the key deck is prepared by first removing any necessary keys, shuffling the remaining keys, and arranging a number of them in a tableau of 5 columns. The number of cards used will vary based on the number of players. The remaining cards in the key deck are set aside in a face-down pile.
Key cards set up
Then the rune cards are shuffled , 4 cards are dealt to each player, and then “The River” is created in the center of the table based on the number of players. The remaining rune cards are placed in a face-down draw pile, with room available for a discard pile.
The River for 3 players
A quick round of Wizard’s duel will determine first player.
Before we jump into the actual game play, we need to take a look at the Key cards themselves. Each key card has information on them. First, there is the key image itself and the name of the key. There are a number of different icons on the cards, but a reference cards is available for each of the players that explains what they mean. Each card has a rune requirement on the left side of the card. There are a number of runic symbols in a vertical column(s) that show what runes are required to build the key and/or upgrading certain keys. Each key has an ability symbol on it, an activation track which shows if a key is ready or exhausted, and also a symbol that explains when the key is active.
One of the many key cards in Unlocked
A player’s turn has 4 phases that are executed in order.
Phase 1: Activate Keys – during this phase reuseable keys that have been exhausted are readied, and any keys that a player wishes to use during their turn, players will exhaust.
Phase 2: Draw Runes – during this phase, players will draw new cards into their hand. Players will draw 2 or 3 cards depending on if the cards were drawn from the face-down draw deck, the river, or the discard pile. These cards will either be runes or special cards. The special cards can be played at any time during a player’s turn.
Phase 3: Cast Runes – during this phase players play rune cards to the table in front of themselves in order to build keys. This is where the heart of the game lies. When players cast runes to build the keys, the runes must be cast in sequential order of the rune requirements on the corresponding key card. Players can play out as many cards in their hand as they want during this phase, but they are limited to having 2 unfinished keys in front of them. When a key is built, that player claims the card in the tableau by placing a token on it in the ready space of the key’s activation track and then discards the rune cards used to build the key. Multiple players can claim the same card, and players can claim the same card multiple times to gain the key effects for multiple times.
Working on completing a sequence to create a key
Some interesting things to note:
Special cards can be played that help players and/ or add some player interaction to the game.
If a player ever gets a rune stolen from their incomplete key tableau, and runes in the sequence after the stolen rune are placed in the discard pile. *this can be quite nasty*
This one is quite annoying!!
If a player wishes to start a new key sequence and already has 2 incomplete sequences, that player may discard one of the sequences.
Phase 4: Meditate – During this phase, players must be down to their hand limit, which is 3 cards plus any key effects that increase hand limit. After cards are discarded, the river must be reset by shifting all remaining cards away from the draw deck and filling in replacements moving towards the draw deck. If no cards were removed from the river, the oldest card (the one furthest from the draw deck) is discarded and the cards shifted and a new one is placed into the river.
To win the game, a player has to be the first to have token on a key card in each column, showing a path from start to finish, ending the game immediately.
Be the first to get your tokens on a card in each column to win
IMPRESSIONS
There are enough things going on in this game to make it worth taking a look at. The biggest thing to mention is the artwork. I have to give credit to the artists Scott Rogerson and Margarita Kiseleva for creating a visually appealing presentation. Second, the game itself is engaging and will offer a quite a bit of replayability because of the sheer variety of key cards in the game and the number used. So the combination of cards will change the feel of each game.
The gameplay is very straightforward with the set collection, however, the need to play the runes in sequence is what gives the game some meat to it. So there is a lot more game that one may initially see. This challenges players to have to plan ahead in order to complete the keys. The special abilities of the cards are very cool, giving little twists here and there to make the game more interesting. The special cards are quite powerful and can really throw your opponents for a loop if used at the most opportune time.
The iconography on the cards is not too bad, and I am happy there is a reference card to use. But the first few games will be a little clunky trying to read the cards and looking up the icons.
I think there is a good balance of a euro style game, working to complete what you need to, and adding some player interaction that can create some “interesting” moments in the game, like swapping cards, stealing runes, or even adding a new column to extend the game.
So if you are a fan of set-collection games, this one has a little more substance to it and certainly worth a look.
Aye matey! Would ye like to join me crew? There be glorious booty for us to snatch from the farmer’s wife! She be makin’ the most scrumptious pies!
Pie Rats of the Carob Bean Farm by Wild East Games, which was successfully funded on Kickstarter is for 2-4 players (6 with the expansion)
Mid game
Action/Item Cards can be played whenever the card states
In this game each player is a rat captain trying to amass a crew strong enough to carry off pies from the windowsill of the Farmer’s Wife and score points.
Game setup:
1. Everybody chooses a captain card
2. Shuffle pie cards together and deal 10 facedown in a stack
3 Deal each player three cards from the main deck.
You are ready. Game Play:
At the start of each round, turn over the next pie card from the deck. Next in turn order, each player will add any charisma cards to their captain if desired. After charisma cards have been added again in turn order and any crew from your hand to the table
The next step is to decide if you would like to protect a crew member or attempt to lure a crew member away from an opponent again intern order. If you decided to lure, Target a player.
To lure an opposing crew member away, need to have a higher charisma total than the opposing cards loyalty total. (Your total charisma is made up of your captains base charisma plus any charisma cards placed on him.
If you decide to protect a crew member turn that crew members card sideways. That crew member cannot be targeted for being lured away that turn
The very last phase during a turn is to loot a pie. To loot a pie intern or just announce you are going to be losing a pie from the center of the table. In order to Luna pie you must have more strength points Dan the pie you are trying to boot in order to score it.
Once all six phases are finished everyone drives back up to three cards and the new round begins with revealing a pie. The six phases will continue until the last pay card is taken and all the player with the most points is the winner My Review: I don’t think this game is any good. Doesn’t seem to be much of a game here. A cute idea but not done well.. There were three major issues I had with this game:
Turn order is mentioned a lot in the rules for “strategic” reasons. After playing a few rounds, it seemed that there is no reason to hold back cards. Basically play all 3 cards so you could have a full hand for the next round .
Phases 4 &5 are separated, and I think they could have just combined into one phase altogether. (Phase 4 is to make a decision to either protect one crew member, or to lure one away. So, if you if you decide to protect, you would just be skipping phase 5, lure altogether.}
There are over 100 cards, and there are only 10 action/item cards in the entire deck.
I am an avid Kickstarter backer. Most of my games come from smaller companies and end up being decent and fun. I think this needed a little more polish. This might be okay for kids just getting into gaming, but I can’t see this one lasting too long.
I describe myself as a more-than-casual gamer, enjoying the hobby and sharing it with friends and family. I am married with children who play games with me. My series of video reviews called "To The Table" looks at games from a family perspective, focusing on the benefits each game offers. I am working to promote the gaming hobby, getting everyone involved. To contact me, my email is d-c-taylor@sbcglobal.net. Or, click my name above for my contact info.
Today I will be reviewing Fox in the Forest by Renegade and Foxtrot Games. Fox in the Forest is a trick taking game for 2 players that takes about 30 mins to play!
