Two Worker Placements and a Tile-Laying Game...

Sunday fun day! We had some friends over the house and played some board games, starting with the newest...

Euphoria

Now this was a game that I've been looking forwards to playing for quite some time. Euphoria is game where each player takes the role of a leader of a 1984-esque Dystopian society. You, and your closest henchmen, compete with other powerful individuals in an attempt to create the most gloriously backwards civilization possible.

Using a dice mechanic which combines worker placement with some press your luck elements. The game avoids the normal luck issues by using an interesting risk elements. Higher rolls might mean more resources, but also can gain you more knowledge for your workers. Knowledge is bad. As we all know, knowledge is power, and the last thing any Totalitarian wants is for his workers to have any power. Too much knowledge and you might see one of your industrious little dice forced into a 're-education' camp ( or whatever you want the worker dice pool to represent in your game).

Euphoria is an interesting game where even until the last moments you feel like the game can swing one way or another. I went from definitely losing to almost squeaking a victory utilizing the 'Disassemble-a-Bear' workshop. It was exciting up until the last moment, and certainly doesn't feel like a game with a singular winning strategy. Great theme, great mechanics- good fun!

Stone Age

 

Stone Age, on the other hand, is a classic worker placement through and through. There isn't much I can add here that hasn't already been said about Stone Age except that I (and two of the other three players) were totally crushed it. It is a game where you must proceed with a near mechanical understanding of the potential outcomes while juggling every piece of the puzzle or you WILL be left behind by a logically minded player.

The scores at the end of this game was 139, 87, 85, and 52. Unlike Euphoria which felt exciting and close right up to the end, the last few turns of Stone Age felt like forgone conclusions. It is interesting to note that the winner is an accountant by trade. I'm not saying, but I'm just saying. Maybe I shouldn't, since this was his second victory of the day- maybe the rest of us are just bad! Heh, playful griping aside, it is an excellently tuned machine of a game. If you like that sort of precision game play, try it out!

Castles of Mad King Ludwig

Who doesn't like building Castles? Designing hyper efficient victory points machines? Crafting realistic demesnes? Or just getting plain silly. This is the game for you. Again, this is a game that's been out for some time so I'm not going to review the game itself in any sort of detail, but it is a super sleek little tile-laying game. Most player interaction is done via the careful pricing and sale of rooms and hallways from the central board. As the Master-Builder (a rotating title) you choose the prices of all the rooms and are paid by other players, while being forced to actually choose the room they WANT last. This leads to all sorts of dilemmas- do you put a high price on the room you want and pay out the nose? Or do you go low and hope no one else notices its value.

One of my favorite parts of this game is that it comes with a built in distraction. In Stone Age every turn near the end can turn into a soulless slog as you take your turns in the seemingly endless wake of the clear winner (or winnerS). In Castles of Mad King Ludwig you don't have that problem. Getting crushed? Just have fun building your castle! This way you can take your moral victories (Oh, I have a way cooler castle than you!) and keep having fun.

I should note that this game utilizes the Secrets expansion- adding in Swans, Moats, and Secret Passages. Fun elements that can be incredibly powerful to end game scoring if utilized properly- Moats especially are potential game winners!

Finally I (the Red Player) manage to break our friend's (Yellow's) winning streak!