Art Society – Tom Franklin
I picked up a copy of Art Society based on my friend and colleague Justin Bell’s excellent review of the game. After weeks of heavier games, I thought my gaming group would like something lighter.
Art Society is a shape-laying game where you’re trying to cover all the spaces on your board. Unlike many current games, the shapes here are simple rectangles, and your board is square, making for easier planning. Players take turns being the Auctioneer, meaning they pick the paintings up for bid that round. Highest bidder takes first choice, then the second, third, etc. Your new painting gets placed on your board, touching at least one side of another painting, then the next player sets up the next auction.
Justin discussed what makes Art Society such a good light game, but I want to tell you about the production of the game. The paintings themselves are alternative takes on famous images, and come with half-circles around the edges that show how many spaces on the board it will cover. The board has slight round bulge that matches those half-circles so the paintings stay in place better. The bidding indicators are paper auction bidding paddles. Perhaps best of all is the box insert. We’re talking angled slots that match up exactly with the size and shape of the paintings, making choosing paintings (and putting the game away) a breeze.
If lighter games are your thing, you should check out Art Society.
Ease of entry?
★★★★★ – No sweat
Would I play it again?
★★★★★ – Will definitely play it again
Read more articles from Tom Franklin.
On Mars – Will Hare
I’ve got a good buddy of mine who worships Lacerda. I was obviously not the biggest fan of Galactic Cruise, so the numerous comparisons to Lacerda had me hesitant to jump in to his other games. My first was Speakeasy, and it was a pleasant enough time. It didn’t set my world on fire, but I didn’t actively dislike it. Then, he introduced me to On Mars. I’m beginning to think these games just might not be my jam.
On Mars took about an hour alone for the teach, and this is coming from a teacher who has played this game many dozens of times. There’s something about games that are this heavy and take this long that just melts my brain from the start. Which… is an interesting phenomenon, considering I’m in love with Barrage and Terra Mystica. I think with this one, I never fully understood what the pace should be for scoring points, and then endgame just suddenly arrived seemingly out of nowhere, catching most of us off-guard. I’d be willing to try it again, but that length is a deterrent. I just want to see what everyone else loves about his designs. I didn’t hate this experience, but both of my Lacerda introductions so far have left me feeling overwhelmed by the number of interlocking systems and failing to understand how they all feed into each other.
Ease of entry?
★★☆☆☆ – Not an easy onboard
Would I play it again?
★★★☆☆ – Wouldn’t suggest it, but would happily play it
Read more articles from Will Hare.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Vendetta – Thomas Wells
I’ll always go for a multiplayer Battle Line-adjacent game, and this one has a lot going for it. Basically, players get a deck of nine cards, have roughly the same two starting cards, and each round get an additional card added to their deck. You play 2/3/4/5 cards in round 1/2/3/4, and you play these cards to central locations in an auction to win points and a card that generates resources from that location. You also have a blood resource that you use to bid when you play at locations. It’s not that complicated, but there are seven factions to choose from (the game goes to 5), and each one has special cards. It’s not a lot of cards, but there are a lot of interactions.
Games like this I often evaluate based on vibes. There’s a lot of complexity and room for cleverness, and I think this one is pretty well developed where nothing feels crazily broken because everyone has crazily broken powers. It’s a fun time, and if people don’t get too sweaty about it, wraps up in around a half hour. I’ll be trying to get more reps in on this one.
Ease of entry?
★★★☆☆ – There were a few questions
Would I play it again?
★★★★☆ – Would like to play it again
Read more articles from Thomas Wells
Rock Hard 1977: Ear Candy – Justin Bell
As I highlighted in my review of the Rock Hard 1977 base game, this title really lands best with players willing to forego the very obvious issues with the design. The event cards make the game almost too swingy, the money is too tight and too tied to the variable nature of the Job cards each player is dealt when play begins, and at least one of my games had a very serious “runaway leader” problem. My strategy game friends hated Rock Hard 1977, while more casual players loved it as long as they leaned into the game’s 1970s drug-fueled rock theme.
Rock Hard 1977: Ear Candy is the base game’s first expansion, and a number of elements popped up that reminded me of what might kill the joy from a game when swingy event and gig cards rear their ugly head. Ear Candy is a “more is more” expansion, with more cards for the Hang Out decks, more public goals, more private goals, more jobs, more managers, and more gigs. So, if you have played the base game to death and need more ways to shake up the flavor text, Ear Candy is worth a look.
But the only new base game innovation is to spice up the Hire Indie Promo area with the ability to move up the Hit List, a new side board that doubles as a fourth way to earn eight points through a milestone by moving up the charts. This is done whenever a player takes the “Write a Song” action to flavor a song based on the colors of the four non-wild symbols in the Hang Out area from the base game. Thankfully, this does not add more time to a game that already runs 30+ minutes too long, but it doesn’t add much flavor nor give players the sense that they really are writing singles that are flying up the pop charts. Just two years old, Rock Hard 1977 has not aged well, and this expansion will do nothing to boost the interest level in a title that is fine as-is with the base game content. Remember, strategy players: avoid this game, because you won’t enjoy the moment when you have been building towards playing at a large venue only to draw an event card that closes that large venue only for the current round.
Ease of entry?
★★★★☆ – The odd bump or two
Would I play it again?
★★☆☆☆ – Would play again but would rather play something else
Read more articles from Justin Bell.
7 Wonders Dice – Andy Matthews
It is almost inevitable that every popular tabletop game will eventually get a roll & write. When I heard 7 Wonders Dice was coming, I was mostly curious how the smooth simultaneous cardplay would carry over to a dice version.
The production level of this game is quite high. Large chunky dice with full color printed icons. Thick cardboard box, with some nice enhancements on the inside to make it a better dice rolling surface, and honest to goodness player boards that use grease pencils instead of dry erase markers.
But sadly the high production value didn’t do enough to hook me with the otherwise bland and largely uninteresting gameplay. By now we’re familiar with how roll and writes tend to work. Someone rolls the dice, then all players make their selections. 7 Wonders Dice offers no player interaction, no way to prevent another player from advancing. Even the Barracks (red dice), only reward you when taking that action (as opposed to penalizing another player). Progress is made by simply checking off marks on your board, with no real sense of excitement or accomplishment…after I did nothing more than select a die.
If you really enjoy 7 Wonders, this might be a good game for you, but you might also just want to keep playing the card version.
Ease of entry?
★★★★☆ – The odd bump or two
Would I play it again?
★★☆☆☆ – Would play again but would rather play something else
