January 30th, 2019
The Polar Vortex came in with a vengeance so what’s a group to do when they get stuck inside? Play a bunch of games, that’s what! And, with that, Frostbowl 2019 was born!
First game up… With the wind chill hitting -50 outside we wouldn’t think of actually going anywhere. But that didn’t stop us from going on a Tiny Epic Quest! See what I did there?
Tiny Epic Quest is another game in the long line of the Tiny Epics series from Gamelyn Games. This one is definitely one of Katie’s favorites. By day, you move your heroes around the modular map to position them optimally for the night ahead. By night, you roll dice in an effort to learn spells, explore temples, and fight goblins. But don’t get to greedy with your dice rolls or it’s sure to backfire on you..
Speaking of.. This play we had been fairly even with quests and progress through the temples when I decided to press my luck. I just needed to roll one more mushroom to bump my magic level up enough to learn a spell before resting. With 3 health remaining the only thing that could hurt me was rolling 3 goblins on the 5 dice. Feeling fairly confident, I took the risk. I think you know what happened.. I rolled the 3 goblins, which wiped out my remaining health, sent my heroes home, and essentially negated my entire second turn. I would never recover. That, coupled with some shrewd gameplay by Katie, lead her to a very lopsided win. I will hate goblins for the rest of my days. Katie 1 – Dave 0
Next up was Abyss. Since it was so cold outside it really made us long for the beach and warmer climates. As another one of our favorite games, we decided to finally add in the Kraken expansion. Let’s get Kraken, shall we? I’m so very sorry..
Abyss is a visually beautiful game for 2-4 players by Asmodee that finds you exploring the ocean depths for powerful allies, using their influence to gain the favor of Lords from various houses, and securing undersea locations in a quest for the most influence. The Kraken expansion adds in the tainted Nebulis, or “dirty” money, smuggler Lords, and new locations that allow you to press your luck for additional treasures and influence. But while the Nebulis spend like regular pearls, beware having too many or you’ll attract the unwanted attention of the Kraken!
Katie started off strong by gaining some pretty powerful ally cards while exploring and got a jump on her very first smuggler Lord pretty early. In an effort to gain one of my own a bit sooner, I scooped up a pile of ally cards from the court but with them, a few Kraken cards as well. While these cards are neutral and can be used as any faction using them forces me to gain Nebulis. What’s the harm in a little dirty money? I picked up my first Lord at the expense of a few black pearls. That would come back to haunt me.. While I had a hard time getting rid of Nebulis, Katie’s Lord allowed here to “launder” one each turn in exchange for a clean pearl. I clearly wasn’t going to shake the Kraken.
As the game end drew nearer, I had to resort to something drastic if I hoped to pull out a win. Since I was stuck with the Kraken and the 5pt penalty I pooled my resources, recruited an expensive Lord, and with it, one of the new Loot locations. It was all or nothing when I began drawing cards. My first card was worth 7pts. Good start. The only bad draw would be another 7. Bet you know where this is going.. Yep, another 7, a bust, and I triggered the endgame. Pressing my luck has been my downfall so far today. When the dust settled Katie took the game by 11pts. Katie 2 – Dave 0
With Katie already up two games to none I decided to shake things up a bit by bringing Royals to the table. While the theme of nobles vying for dominance in 1700’s Europe isn’t quite our cup of tea at least we would both be on even ground since neither of us had played it before. Due to the fairly dry theme and wooden cubes it’s been on our Shelf of Shame ever since it was tossed in for 5$ when we picked up Viral a few Gen Cons ago. Might have been played sooner had it involved some monsters, spaceships or maybe some aliens. Just sayin’..
Royals is a game for 2-5 players by Arcane Wonders. In it, players find themselves vying for control of various 17th century European cities and countries by playing the different country cards to place different nobles in power. Have a presence in every city in a country and you gain victory points. Have the most influence in a country during one of the 3 scoring periods and you can gain additional victory points. But beware the intrigue cards! By playing the right one with the right country cards your opponent might assassinate your noble and take over majority and with it valuable points!
Since we were both new to the game it started out with a lot of card drawing. Once we started to get the cards needed to place some nobles it was off to the races. Katie decided to spice up the theme a bit by calling the nobles by the actors she thought they looked like. She got a low cost Marshall (Antonio Banderas) into Spain early and never looked back there. I quickly took over Germany so that left France and Britain as the regions that were most sought after. The period point differences in those countries were the widest so we jockeyed for majority in both. I had a fairly strong grip on Britain with a King (Ron Perlman) and a Princess (Natalie Portman) so focused on France. Katie had a slight majority there but with a few more cards I would have a shot to take out the Countess (Taylor Swift) and steal the majority. Pressed my luck with the card draw and as luck would have it, got both the France and the intrigue card I needed to do so. About time! With that, I was able to lock up the points needed to secure the win! Dave is on the board! Katie 2 – Dave 1
With the first Frostbowl beginning to wind down Katie grabbed Red7 for the final game of the night. Think Uno meets Fluxx (but not really..) It’s kind of hard to explain for such a little card game. But it won’t stop me from trying below!
Red7 is a quick card game for 2-4 players by Asmadi Games. From a deck of 49 cards you have the numbers 1-7 in each of 7 colors. Of those, the cards are ranked from the lowest Violet 1 all the way up to the highest Red 7. Each player is dealt 7 cards and an additional face up card to determine who’s winning. Play begins with the other player. That’s the goal. To always end your turn winning. Or you’re out. Simple as that. How do you make sure you’re winning? Well, you can play a card in front of you that best satisfies the rule showing, or change the rule showing so your cards on the table best satisfy the rule. Or play a card and change a rule to do the same. Clear as mud huh? My head always hurts a little from this one..
As it was getting late and we weren’t up for a full game to 40pts we decided to play a best of 3 to determine the winner of this one. First round was pretty quick when I got a hand full of 4+ Violet cards. I was able to play a high card to continue but Katie pulled the Red 7. Since I couldn’t play a higher card, and the rule change on Violet is most cards below 4 (and I had none below 4) I was stuck. Round 1 goes to Katie.
Round 2 I ended up with a good mix of cards. I was able to somehow play my entire hand before the end by playing cards, changing rules, and the like. Having the Red 7 in a hand does help with breaking ties. Round 2 goes to Dave.
The tiebreaker round 3 was a close one, both of us able to play most of our cards before getting stuck. While it was close and down to the wire I got stuck with a Red 5 that I wasn’t able to play as a rule for highest card – mine was a Violet 7, Katie had a Green 7 – nor could I play it to my pile to satisfy the most cards below 4 rule. Very close game but Katie takes round 3 and the best of 3. Katie 3 – Dave 1
And with that, the inaugural Frostbowl comes to a close. We played some games, had a lot of fun inside while the temps outside kept dropping. Through everything we played I put up a good fight but in the end I pressed my luck a few too many times and the dice or cards made me pay. Congrats Katie for games well played and taking home the Frostbowl 2019 crown!