Game Review: Cromlet

By W. Eric Martin
December 4, 2008

Publisher: Pywacket Games
Designer: Don Meyer
Players: 2-6
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 40 minutes
Rules Language: English
Links:

Version played: Production copy
Times played: Five, with 2 and 3 players

Don Meyer knows his strength when it comes to game design, and that strength is turning out uncomplicated, low-energy games that will engage Grandma and Cousin Bob at the table for thirty minutes while still leaving them time to catch up on what’s happening with distant family members. That was the feeling I took away from Gemlok, which I reviewed in June 2007, and Meyer’s Cromlet leaves me with the same impression: a game that’s different, but one that won’t threaten casual players.

The gameboard in Cromlet – a made-up word that has nothing to do with Conan – is an explosion of color. The look is early 19th century carnival in the choice of both font and design. Once your pupils contract, you’ll notice 24 cromlets – that is, rows of numbers – with each row being headed by a letter and containing 3-8 numbers.

Players start with a hand of cards, and each turn you play a card and mark one empty space with one of your colored tokens. The deck contains one color-coded card for each numbered space on the board, and if you can play the lowest number in a cromlet, then you must do so on your turn; otherwise you can play a card of your choice. The deck also includes a half-dozen wild cards, and you can play one at any time to claim any number.

Immediately after playing a card, you can choose to claim that cromlet as long as a chain of tokens covers all the lower-numbered spaces on that cromlet up to your token at the end of the line. Not all of the numbered spaces need to be filled, mind you; just all of the ones on lower numbers rom where your token is located. If you fill the last open spot in a cromlet, whether high, low or in-between, then you must claim it. You can claim only 4-12 cromlets depending on the number of players, and your score is equal to the numbers that you’ve covered on the cromlets that you’ve claimed.

Due to the “must play the lowest card if possible” rule, the early parts of the game are often spent staring at five cards that you can’t play while make forced plays that don’t seem to get you anywhere. The trick of the game, of course, is that you want to delay claiming cromlets as long as possible in order to nab those of high value, but given the plethora of wild cards and the unlikelihood of having all the cards of a color pass through your hand, you’re unlikely to claim that top spot. This leaves you teetering on the edge any time that you play a card in the 6-9 point range as that seems to be where people start laying out claims. Wait too long, and players can fill in the high value spots in order to dampen the score of a particular cromlet – assuming they have a choice of which cards to play, that is.

After five games, I’m still puzzled as to whether I’m missing any amount of strategy in the game or whether it’s so small that I keep overlooking it. Cromlet is good for killing off a half-hour and giving you a chance to socialize; some people find those attractive qualities in a game.

The game’s Grandma feel is completed by having facts about colors on each of the cards. The E cromlet is vermillion, for example, and E13 reads, “Vermillion – One of the oldest pigments used by human beings,” while E4 reads, “Naturally produced vermillion comes from cinnabar mined in China. This is why vermillion is sometimes called China red.” Four more facts about vermillion await you in Cromlet!

Source: http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/game_review_cromlet/

Game Review: The Thorn Princess and the Four Knights

Game Review: The Thorn Princess and the Four Knights

By Greg J. Schloesser
November 23, 2008

Publisher: Kanai Factory
Distributor: Japon Brand
Designer: Seiji Kanai
Players: 3-4
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 60-90 minutes
Rules Language: Japanese, English
Link: (Japanese) (English)

A young and temperamental princess has fled her home and taken refuge in an old castle on the edge of the kingdom. The king is desperate to have his daughter returned to him and charges four of his bravest knights to travel to the castle and escort her home. The problem is that the princess is quite spoiled, and it isn’t long before she begins whining about her needs and desires. Food, drink, clothing and more – she is difficult to pacify. A knight must successfully meet the princess’s desires and escort her safely to the king in order to win favor and the game.

Such is the story behind The Thorn Princess and the Four Knights, a fanciful game from Seiji Kanai and his Kanai Factory which Japon Brand sold at Spiel 08. Players represent knights charged with the task of escorting the spoiled princess back home, meeting her whims and desires as they do so. Players play cards to move around the kingdom, deal with the princess’s whims and other events, and battle other knights. The ultimate objective is to satisfy three of the princess’s desires and safely escort her into the king’s castle.

The game has not received top quality production attention. The board and markers are quite thin, with cartoon-like artwork. The cards, while also thin, do have decent artwork, and for the most part, the icons and graphics are easy to understand. The rules, however, are probably the most deficient, as they are difficult to follow and understand, particularly the section dealing with combat. This may, however, be a simple matter of poor translation.

The cards are the driving engine of the game. They are used for movement, for combat, and to randomly place markers or displace knights. Cards are in three suits – fist, sword, and scroll – and depict icons, which are used to determine movement capabilities. Further, each card will have a power ranking ranging from 1 to 12. The majority of actions and events in the game are performed or determined by the playing or drawing of cards.

Each turn, players will draw three new cards and perform as many of the eight possible actions as they desire. These actions generally involve playing cards to move, search for items, or battle an opposing knight in order to gain an item or control of the princess. A player may move as many spaces as boot icons depicted on the cards he plays, while the “power” number on a card is used for battle and searching. The idea is to gain control of the princess, then satisfy her cravings when she begins whining. These cravings are usually satisfied by obtaining a specific item, but sometimes she has other desires, such as desiring a fight between opposing knights.

When the princess is being escorted, she will begin whining on the following turn. A “whine” card is revealed, and the player has three turns to satisfy her cravings lest the princess explode in rage. If this occurs, the knight loses control of the princess, is randomly placed at a new location, and loses a previous whine card he may have collected. Since a player must possess three whine cards to possibly win, this is a costly penalty.

As mentioned, the princess usually desires a specific item: food, drink, clothing, etc. These items can be found in the corner spaces of the board, where a player must perform a search in order to successfully acquire the indicated item. Finding an item is a simple matter of playing a card, then revealing the top card of the deck and comparing the power numbers. If the card played is stronger, the player succeeds and takes a marker of the appropriate type. A player may continue searching until he is successful or desires to stop. Other items can be found by encountering the event token, which moves randomly around the board.

Fighting is the most complex and difficult to understand aspect of the game. Indeed, I’m still not sure I fully understand it. The attacker, followed by the defender, can play one or more cards. If playing one card, it is a simple matter of comparing the suits played, with the outcome being determined in a “rock-paper-scissors” format: sword beats scroll, scroll beats fist, fist beats sword. If both players play cards with the same suit, the higher power number wins the battle. If the attacker wins, he can either take an item from the defender or grab control of the princess. In either case, the vanquished knight is dispersed.

It is when the attacker opts to play more than one card that the confusion begins. The attacker must either play cards of the same suit or play cards of the same power but different suits. The defender plays the same number of cards, and they are all revealed. If the attacker plays cards of the same suit, both players tally the power value of their cards to determine the victor. If the attacker played cards of different suits, he may choose the card that is to his advantage to compare suits against a card of his choice that the defender played. If this doesn’t determine a winner, each player discards one of the played cards and battle again.

Complicating matters even more is that there appears to be a third method by which a player can play sets of cards possessing the same amount of power, but of different suits. This allows the player to tally the power values of each suit in a battle. Want more confusion? There are special power cards in the deck, and each knight has his own special power. These can also be used in battle to create even more confusing situations. No, the battle aspect of this game is NOT its strong suit. Indeed, I’m not even sure the game has a strong suit.

Other actions include using items, exercising a special power, and resolving whines or events. Events are generally a matter of drawing an event card and attempting to meet the requirements of the card. Usually, these involve a strength comparison similar to that used during a search. Success will often reward the player with an item that can be used to benefit a player in the future.

The objective of the game is to successfully satisfy three of the princess’s whines and escort her into the king’s castle. This generally takes 45 minutes to an hour, but the time can vary considerably. Since grabbing control of the princess is vital to satisfying her whining, the princess changes hands often, as the board is small and it is easy to move your knight to her location and battle her current escort. Any “whine” in progress is transferred to the new escort, who must satisfy it before the princess explodes. If a player has the necessary item the princess desires, he may grab control of her and quickly satisfy her desire. Otherwise, it may be wiser to wait to battle the escorting knight after the current whine card is resolved.

Each player’s turn is usually quick. A player’s hand limit is six cards, so there are only so many actions he can take before depleting his hand of cards. Often, it is wise to conserve a few cards for a subsequent turn in order to enter battle with more options. Quick turns are actually a blessing as the game itself seems rather basic, with few real choices to be made. There is a bit of opportunity for humor and role-playing but not much … and the little that is present does not save the game. Sadly, The Thorn Princess and the Four Knights is not one of the better offerings from Japon Brand, and it is a kingdom I prefer not to visit again.

Source: http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/game_review_the_thorn_princess_and_the_four_knights/

Catan Comes to PlayStation 3

The Settlers of Catan has already received widespread exposure on Xbox, and soon the game will be available on PlayStation 3 as well. Here’s what Guido Teuber had to say in a press release:

As of December 18, 2008, Game Republic is pleased to announce its release of the board game Catan, the first in its Board Game Republic series of casual downloadable content. Catan will be distributed via the PLAYSTATION Network, and plans exist to add PlayStation Home interactivity in the future.

Catan is the first in the Board Game Republic series of light, casual downloadable games! So far, the game is slated to be launched in Japan this month, soon to be followed by releases in other regions, including the U.S.

Source: http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/catan_comes_to_playstation_3/

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Jury told of murder confession letters

14 years for gun man

14 years for gun man

Sentenced: Ricky Prakesh Parmar

A DRUG dealer has been jailed for 14 years after four guns were found in his flat.

Police found an arsenal of weaponry as well as a stash of heroin after raiding Ricky Prakesh Parmar's flat in Wigan earlier this year.

Officers from the Xcalibre organised crime unit found two sawn-off shotguns, two handguns, bullets and cartridges hidden in a wardrobe and under a bed, along with a bag of heroin and a large quantity of cash.

The 26-year-old was arrested at his flat on Preistfields, Leigh, in March.

Yesterday, he admitted a variety of firearms offences as well as possession of drugs with intent to supply at Manchester Crown Court.

Speaking after the sentencing, DCI Alex Millett, from the unit, said: "The whole of Parmar's flat was littered with firearms, ammunition, drugs and drugs paraphernalia. He was clearly involved in high levels of criminal activity, and we are all safer for him being behind bars today.

"Parmar's conviction demonstrates the commitment of GMP to not only tackle the criminal use of firearms in the central Manchester area, but to work closely with our colleagues on division to target criminals like Parmar wherever they live.

"We are determined to combat people who are intent on owning guns illegally, wherever they are, and will continue to make every effort to ensure people like Parmar cannot operate anywhere in Greater Manchester.

"The sentence handed down today should act as a warning to other gun criminals that they will be dealt with severely by the courts and will be made to pay the price for keeping such dangerous weapons."


Source: http://www.theasiannews.co.uk/news/s/1083777_14_years_for_gun_man