The first Star Trek Picard episode titled "Remembrance" hits all the right notes as it plays out a beautiful introduction to the latest Star Trek series. The Mature Minded Gamers will be covering each episode weekly on our podcast. Check out our thoughts on Episode 1.
Live Stream
Friday, January 24, 2020
Monday, January 20, 2020
Pandemic Season 1- Play Session
The MMG legacy group got together yesterday, and we continued our Pandemic Season 1 journey. We are in the second attempt of May. Check it out and don't forget to like and subscribe!
Thursday, January 16, 2020
We got 3 new Kickstarter Board Game Preview Episodes
Will and Eric cover the latest hotness in board gaming this week. Including Return to Dark Tower, Foundations of Rome, and Dungeon Party. preview Check them and hit that subscribe button!
Return to Dark Tower
Foundations of Rome
Dungeon Party
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Secret Hitler - Played and Reviewed!
Secret Hitler is a 5 - 10 player social deduction game produced by Goat, Wolf, & Cabbage and designed by Mike Boxleiter, Tommy Maranges and Max Temkin. The game plays in around 20 minutes per round, but will give you many hours of fun each time it's brought to the table.
In each game of Secret Hitler the players are divided into two teams. One side being Fascist and one side being Liberals. The numbers for each is dependent on the number of players. Example in a five player game three players will be Liberals while the other two are Fascist, one of those two Fascist being Hitler himself. Only the Fascist will know the identity of other Fascists and the Liberals must figure out whom they can trust before six Fascist agendas are passed or Hitler is elected Chancellor. In order for the Liberals to win they need to enact five Liberal policies or assassinate Hitler.
SETUP:
During setup of the game, envelopes that contain either Liberal, Fascist, or Hitler, secret role cards are passed out to each player. Players will then secretly look at the cards in their Envelopes, being careful not to share this information with anyone. Then one player is randomly assigned the President role. It is this players job to instruct all players to close their eyes. All Fascist players should be asked to open their eyes (rules for 7+ player counts vary) so they may identify each other. After being instructed again for everyone to close their eyes. Then finally ALL players open their eyes and the game can begin.
GAME-PLAY:
At the start of each round the President must first nominate a Chancellor. They may nominate any player whom was not President or Chancellor in the previous round. After the President gives the placard to his nominee a voting round begins where ALL players use yes or no voting cards to either elect or veto a nominee from being elected. If the vote is a tie or the majority denies the nomination, then the Presidential placard is passed to the next player clockwise of the current President. If three election fail in a row then a random agenda card is enacted from the top of the deck.
When the vote for the nominated Chancellor has passed, then the President will draw three random Agenda cards. They secretly select one to discard and Secretly give the other two the Chancellor. The Chancellor will discard one unseen and place the other face up on the agenda track that matches the policy chosen.
When an agenda reaches a Presidential Power on the Fascist Agenda Track, The President MUST use that power before play can continue. Some abilities give the President powers to look at players party membership card or execute another player. If the player eliminated is Hitler, the Liberals automatically win the game. However, if the executed player was not Hitler, do NOT have that player reveal anything. This helps maintain a level of conspiracy on whether a Liberal or Fascist was eliminated.
COMPONENTS:
Component quality is some of the best available in board games today. The game includes multiple foil inlay boards with different abilities for the Fascist track. The agenda cards are VERY thick colored cardboard. The President and the Chancellor placards are wooden with rules printed on the back of each. The other cards are good quality card stock and the brown envelopes are thick but would love to have them have a way to snap them shut to make them easier to mix.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Don't let the name of this game scare your gaming group off, it is nothing more that a social deduction game with interesting mechanics, fantastic game-play, easy to understand rules and fantastic components. For the amount of game-play, the quality of components and memories you will make, the price point for Secret Hitler is a steal at $35.00 on Amazon. While the high player count may be hard to pull off, if you have the people, this is a must-play.
Scoring a 20 isn't easy and puts this game in a MUST own category for us here at the MMG. It's the best social deduction game we've reviewed thus far.
In each game of Secret Hitler the players are divided into two teams. One side being Fascist and one side being Liberals. The numbers for each is dependent on the number of players. Example in a five player game three players will be Liberals while the other two are Fascist, one of those two Fascist being Hitler himself. Only the Fascist will know the identity of other Fascists and the Liberals must figure out whom they can trust before six Fascist agendas are passed or Hitler is elected Chancellor. In order for the Liberals to win they need to enact five Liberal policies or assassinate Hitler.
SETUP:
During setup of the game, envelopes that contain either Liberal, Fascist, or Hitler, secret role cards are passed out to each player. Players will then secretly look at the cards in their Envelopes, being careful not to share this information with anyone. Then one player is randomly assigned the President role. It is this players job to instruct all players to close their eyes. All Fascist players should be asked to open their eyes (rules for 7+ player counts vary) so they may identify each other. After being instructed again for everyone to close their eyes. Then finally ALL players open their eyes and the game can begin.
GAME-PLAY:
At the start of each round the President must first nominate a Chancellor. They may nominate any player whom was not President or Chancellor in the previous round. After the President gives the placard to his nominee a voting round begins where ALL players use yes or no voting cards to either elect or veto a nominee from being elected. If the vote is a tie or the majority denies the nomination, then the Presidential placard is passed to the next player clockwise of the current President. If three election fail in a row then a random agenda card is enacted from the top of the deck.
When the vote for the nominated Chancellor has passed, then the President will draw three random Agenda cards. They secretly select one to discard and Secretly give the other two the Chancellor. The Chancellor will discard one unseen and place the other face up on the agenda track that matches the policy chosen.
When an agenda reaches a Presidential Power on the Fascist Agenda Track, The President MUST use that power before play can continue. Some abilities give the President powers to look at players party membership card or execute another player. If the player eliminated is Hitler, the Liberals automatically win the game. However, if the executed player was not Hitler, do NOT have that player reveal anything. This helps maintain a level of conspiracy on whether a Liberal or Fascist was eliminated.
COMPONENTS:
Component quality is some of the best available in board games today. The game includes multiple foil inlay boards with different abilities for the Fascist track. The agenda cards are VERY thick colored cardboard. The President and the Chancellor placards are wooden with rules printed on the back of each. The other cards are good quality card stock and the brown envelopes are thick but would love to have them have a way to snap them shut to make them easier to mix.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Don't let the name of this game scare your gaming group off, it is nothing more that a social deduction game with interesting mechanics, fantastic game-play, easy to understand rules and fantastic components. For the amount of game-play, the quality of components and memories you will make, the price point for Secret Hitler is a steal at $35.00 on Amazon. While the high player count may be hard to pull off, if you have the people, this is a must-play.
Scoring a 20 isn't easy and puts this game in a MUST own category for us here at the MMG. It's the best social deduction game we've reviewed thus far.
Score Breakdown
Fun Factor - 5 Out of 5 Dice
Replay Value - 5 Out of 5 Dice
Components - 5 Out of 5 Dice
Ease of Learning - 5 out of 5 Dice
Replay Value - 5 Out of 5 Dice
Components - 5 Out of 5 Dice
Ease of Learning - 5 out of 5 Dice
Total Dice Score is a 20 out of 20
Friday, January 3, 2020
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game - Played and Reviewed!
Battlestar
Galactica is a 3-6 player sci-fi/deduction/bluffing game that takes about 2-3 hours to complete. Originally released in 2008 by Fantasy Flight games
and designed by Corey Konieczka. It is important to note this review is
based on a game that is over 10 years old and is long out of print. It
is also important to note that we are reviewing just the base game with
no expansions.
Battlestar Galactica is set in a science fiction world made popular by several television series / reboots. Players are trying to defend a Giant Space ship called the Galactica while it is trying to make it's way to Earth. During the journey you will be moving around Galactica doing actions and dealing with various crisis events. Beware though, not everyone is trying to get the Galactica to Earth. Some may be Cylons or sympathetic to them. They are trying to subtlety sabotage the teams efforts in passing crisis events. Even if the player is suspected and all players agree, it's not over yet, the Cylon could announce themselves as such and move to the Cylon command ship unlocking new Actions only available to them.
Having recently brought this one back to the table after several years of no activity I found myself reminded of past plays and fond memories. Being accused of being a Cylon by another player, heated yelling matches over loyalties, accusations flying, players attempting to throw others in the brig. I remember those times fondly and regard them as some of my fondest gaming memories of past fails and triumphs. Nothing will ever top my fondest remembrance of Battlestar Galactica.
Battlestar Galactica is set in a science fiction world made popular by several television series / reboots. Players are trying to defend a Giant Space ship called the Galactica while it is trying to make it's way to Earth. During the journey you will be moving around Galactica doing actions and dealing with various crisis events. Beware though, not everyone is trying to get the Galactica to Earth. Some may be Cylons or sympathetic to them. They are trying to subtlety sabotage the teams efforts in passing crisis events. Even if the player is suspected and all players agree, it's not over yet, the Cylon could announce themselves as such and move to the Cylon command ship unlocking new Actions only available to them.
During setup, you create a deck of loyalty cards. The deck is composed of "you
are not a Cylon" and "you are a Cylon" and possibly a "you are a sympathizer". The amount of each is dependent on the number of players.
At the beginning of the game each player is secretly dealt one loyalty
card. Players are to keep this identity hidden and only the Cylon(s) can reveal themselves if they chose. Doing so to early will not
allow you to subtlety create distrust and deplete precious resources.
On the Galactica you have 4 of these important resources. Food, Fuel, Morale and Population. Each of these in and amongst themselves are more of a way to create variation in the crisis events you will deal with. None specifically, have positives or negatives based on the current value, but if any of them were to reach zero then the Cylons win.
Crisis Events are one of the main ways resources are decreased and rarely increased. Some of these cards have specific tests that must be passed by the crew. Test are simple to understand, you are given a target number your crew must meet and a variety of colors to meet it in. The kicker is that color(s) donated to the resource pile that are not on the card actually hurt the final value and is the main way for a hidden Cylon to sabotage the ship.
Skill cards are the way players attempt to pass crisis events, but they also provide unique powers to help in keeping the Galactica flying. At the beginning of your turn you will be drawing a certain number of cards from the set number of skills your character has. If your character doesn't have the printed skill then you simply can't gain those in this step. From leadership, political, pilot, tactical and engineer. Each card also has a printed value that is used in calculation in the crisis phase.
On the Galactica you have 4 of these important resources. Food, Fuel, Morale and Population. Each of these in and amongst themselves are more of a way to create variation in the crisis events you will deal with. None specifically, have positives or negatives based on the current value, but if any of them were to reach zero then the Cylons win.
Crisis Events are one of the main ways resources are decreased and rarely increased. Some of these cards have specific tests that must be passed by the crew. Test are simple to understand, you are given a target number your crew must meet and a variety of colors to meet it in. The kicker is that color(s) donated to the resource pile that are not on the card actually hurt the final value and is the main way for a hidden Cylon to sabotage the ship.
Skill cards are the way players attempt to pass crisis events, but they also provide unique powers to help in keeping the Galactica flying. At the beginning of your turn you will be drawing a certain number of cards from the set number of skills your character has. If your character doesn't have the printed skill then you simply can't gain those in this step. From leadership, political, pilot, tactical and engineer. Each card also has a printed value that is used in calculation in the crisis phase.
After
you have drawn your skill cards you can move your character anywhere on
the Galactica and perform one action. Either from a skill card that
says Action or the action listed on your current location. These actions
will help you complete tasks or ward off enemy ships like Basestars, Raiders or Heavy Raiders. These enemy ships are
typically played on the board when a Crisis Event deploys them and will attack your ship. Damaging key locations on your ship that must be repaired to use its functionality. Or even board the Galactica sending Cylon troops to destroy all humans. You're not
defenseless though. You also have several Vipers ready in a launching
bay that you will deploy to defend your home. Biding time for the Galactica
to hit the FTL.
Faster than light travel or FTL is the way the humans win. At the bottom of some crisis cards a star symbol may appear if it does then you move a FTL marker along a track. Move it enough times and the Galactica will jump moving all enemies and civilian ships traveling with you off the board, essentially clearing all threat. You could even jump early but the sooner you do the more population you risk from the fleet not being as prepared. Once you jump the Admiral draws two destiny cards and chooses one. These cards have requirements that must be fulfilled such as fuel loss morale loss etc. Also, they have a numerical value. Once the humans reach eight total distance and jump one more time they win. When the Galactica has traveled four distance all players are then given another loyalty card! You may not have been a Cylon in the beginning but you are now! This doesn't replace your old card just adds to it. Meaning if you were a Cylon, and the second card said you are not, you are still a Cylon.
There are two more roles to discuss. Admiral and President. Being the Admiral of the fleet lets you make some important decisions. Like, where are we going, how far and more. The President lets you, for an action, draw a quorum card. Giving the president unique and helpful actions during the game. Also, some Crisis events make the Admiral or President decide how to resolve them and/or change Titles with other players.
Faster than light travel or FTL is the way the humans win. At the bottom of some crisis cards a star symbol may appear if it does then you move a FTL marker along a track. Move it enough times and the Galactica will jump moving all enemies and civilian ships traveling with you off the board, essentially clearing all threat. You could even jump early but the sooner you do the more population you risk from the fleet not being as prepared. Once you jump the Admiral draws two destiny cards and chooses one. These cards have requirements that must be fulfilled such as fuel loss morale loss etc. Also, they have a numerical value. Once the humans reach eight total distance and jump one more time they win. When the Galactica has traveled four distance all players are then given another loyalty card! You may not have been a Cylon in the beginning but you are now! This doesn't replace your old card just adds to it. Meaning if you were a Cylon, and the second card said you are not, you are still a Cylon.
There are two more roles to discuss. Admiral and President. Being the Admiral of the fleet lets you make some important decisions. Like, where are we going, how far and more. The President lets you, for an action, draw a quorum card. Giving the president unique and helpful actions during the game. Also, some Crisis events make the Admiral or President decide how to resolve them and/or change Titles with other players.
Conclusion
Having recently brought this one back to the table after several years of no activity I found myself reminded of past plays and fond memories. Being accused of being a Cylon by another player, heated yelling matches over loyalties, accusations flying, players attempting to throw others in the brig. I remember those times fondly and regard them as some of my fondest gaming memories of past fails and triumphs. Nothing will ever top my fondest remembrance of Battlestar Galactica.
Score Breakdown
Fun Factor - 4 Out of 5 Dice
Replay Value - 4 Out of 5 Dice
Components - 3 Out of 5 Dice
Ease of Learning - 4 out of 5 Dice
Replay Value - 4 Out of 5 Dice
Components - 3 Out of 5 Dice
Ease of Learning - 4 out of 5 Dice
Total Dice Score is a 15 out of 20
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Ryan takes a quick look at Sim Airport
Sim Airport
Ryan takes a quick look at the spiritual successor to all the Sim games
he played in high school. This game has some amazing depth and a fun art
style that will suck you into many hours. As the modding community
continues to grow this game will have tremendous replayability. In this
community member's opinion, Sim Airport is 100% worth the current under
20 dollars price tag.
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