Jurassic Park: The Board Game - "Raptor"

Continuing my series on two-player games that don't suck, Raptor burst onto the scene last year and made a pretty ferocious splash.

Looking for the high-concept premise? Welp, here's some John Hammond-esque exposition to set things up, pilfered directly from Board Game Geek:

"Mama Raptor has escaped from her run and laid her eggs in the park. A team of scientists must neutralize her and capture the baby raptors before they run wild into the forest.

"Raptor is a card driven boardgame with tactical play and some double guessing. Players use their cards to move their pawns (scientists on one side, mother and baby raptors on the other) on the board. 
 
"Every round, the player who played the lowest ranked card can use the corresponding action, while his opponent has movement / attack points equal to the difference between the two cards values. The scientists can use fire, can move by jeep on the tracks, and can even call for reinforcements, while the mamma raptor can hide in the bushes, yell to frighten the scientists, and call for her babies."

Still looking for the full script? Then click on the following link to get Dr. Ian Malcolm's full take on the game chaos theories.

***

Session Play-Through

Factions

Ellie - Raptors

Dennis - Scientists

Ellie kicks things off with a 4-point "Mother's Call" while Dennis lays down a 7-point "Fire". Ellie's special action kicks off first so she moves the Baby Raptor on the lower right-hand tile as well as the one on the lower left-hand tile, placing them adjacent to Mama on the same tile. Dennis now has three action points to spend so he moves the Scientist on the upper left-hand tile three spaces so that he's aiming his tranquilizer gun at mama!

Next up Ellie plays a 9-point "No Effect" while Dennis plays a 5-point "Fire". His action activates first so he puts down two fire tokens, one just to the north of the Scientist near the left-hand side of the board and one in between the two Scientists on the right. Ellie then gets four actions so she moves Mama Raptor one space north, then four spaces in a straight line to the right-hand side of the board and then she uses her third action to shred a Scientist into jerky. Then, with her final remaining action, she moves a Baby Raptor in the upper right hand tile one space north.

In the next round Ellie plays a 3-point "Fear" card and Dennis tables his 3-point "Jeep" card. It's a push!

Ellie then opts to play a 2-point "Disappearance and Observation" while Dennis plays a 9-point "No Effect" card. Ellie's action activates first so Mama vanishes off the board! Now the Scientists have a whopping seven action points to work with! Dennis moves the Scientist on the lower left-hand tile one space east and then uses another action to knock out an adjacent Baby. He then uses his remaining five actions to move the Scientist in the lower left hand L-shaped board just south of the sleeping Baby. Mama then reappears in the lower left-hand tile just a few spaces away from the unwitting Scientists.

Thanks to "Observation", Dennis is forced to plays his 2-point "Reinforcement" card face up. Ellie then responds with an 8-point "Fear" card. Two new Scientists appear, one on the upper left-hand tile next to two Baby Raptors and the second one emerges onto the upper right-hand tile next to another Baby and a pile o' rocks. Ellie now has six actions to spend so she moves Mom one space to the right, then one space north and then uses two separate actions to murder both Scientists. For her last two actions she moves one space north and then uses her final action to rouse her sleeping Baby.

In the next round Dennis plays a 4-point "Sleeping Gas" while Ellie tables the 1-point "Mother's Call and Shuffle" Card. Her effect triggers first so she moves a Baby on the upper right-hand tile and puts it adjacent to her. She then shuffles all of her used Action Cards back into a new deck. Dennis then uses one action point to knock out a Baby Raptor on the upper left-hand tile then moves a Scientist in the lower right-hand tile two spaces west.

Next up Dennis plays a 6-point "Reinforcements" card and Ellie reveals a 5-point "Recovery" card. Her effect wakes up the one sleeping Baby Raptor and she spends the second action point to de-trank Mama.

Dennis then plays a 1-point "Sleeping Gas and Shuffle" card while Ellie plays the one point "Mother's Call and Shuffle". Its another push!

Dennis is forced to drop his last card: the 8-point "Jeep" while Ellie turns up a 4-point "Mother's Call". The two Babies next to the Scientist are moved away and placed next to Mama. Dennis responds by tranking Mama again and then moving the Scientist on the lower left hand tile two spaces west and then putting the adjacent Baby to sleep. Dennis has no cards left so he's forced to re-shuffle and draw three new cards.

Dennis plays his 6-point "Reinforcements" while Ellie plays her 9-pointer. Two new Scientists appear on the edge of the lower left hand tile while Ellie gets three actions to spend. One of her Baby Raptors runs for it, moving three spaces west!

In the next round Dennis plays a 4-point "Sleeping Gas" card while Ellie plays a 3-point "Fear". The latter happens first, spooking a Scientist on the upper left hand tile. Dennis then spends his one action point to capture a sleeping Baby!

Ellie then drops her 8-point "Fear" while Dennis plays his own 9-pointer. The two Scientists who just came onto the board proceed to soil themselves without any further ado. Dennis then uses his lone action point to rouse the fearful Scientist on the upper-left hand tile.

Next up Dennis plays a 3-point "Jeep" card vs. Ellie's 7-point "Recovery". The Scientist on the middle lower tile moves one space west and one space north to put him adjacent to a Baby. Ellie then uses two actions points to run a Baby off the board and then two actions to move another l'il guy towards the exit.

Ellie plays a 2-point "Disappearance & Observation" card while Dennis plays his 8-point "Jeep". Ellie's card effect happens first so Mama disappears ninja-style, yo. Dennis then uses three points to revive his three Scientists. One who's standing next to a Baby immediately tranks it while a cohort standing next to him moves up one space north and then uses the last action to capture it! A pissed-off Mama then reappears right around the corner!

Dennis is forced to reveal his next card first which turns out to be a 1-point "Sleeping Gas & Shuffle" card. Ellie plays her last card, a 6-point "Disappearance and Observe". After the baby on the upper left hand tile is knocked out, Dennis gets all of his cards back. Ellie then spends five actions, but this is reduced by two because of the trank effect. She moves one space south, one space east and then mauls another Scientist! Since that was Ellie's last card she gets them all back again for her next turn.

Ellie then revelas a 5-point "Recovery" while Dennis edges her out just slightly with a 4-point "Reinforcement" card. Dennis's last two Scientists appear on the board, one on the lower left hand tile and one on the middle lower tile. Ellie then gets three actions to spend. With the tranquilizer effect preventing Mama from reaches her sleeping Baby, she decides to spend her single action to ginsu yet another Scientist! Not a bad consolation prize, but time is running short!

Dennis plays his 1-point "Sleeping Gas" while Ellie plays a 4-point "Mother's Call". The Scientist's card effect plays out first, and the Baby on the lower middle tile is knocked out! Mama would normally have three actions to spend but now only has one so she moves adjacent to the closet scientist on the lower left hand tile.

Ellie plays a 7-point "Recovery" card and Dennis surprises her by revealing his powerful 9-pointer! The two Babies wake up and Mama recovers one damage but Dennis responds by immediately re-tranking her again and then moving that same dude one space north!

Next up Ellie plays a 6 point "Disappearance & Observation" card while Dennis plays a 4-point "Double Sleeping Gas". Once again the two Babies are knocked out and unfortunately two actions aren't enough to budge Mama at all!

Dennis plays a 5-point "Fire" card while Ellie turns over an 8-point "Double Fear". The former activates first and the two Scientists on the lower left and lower middle tile create a wall of flame to hem in Mama. Ellie responds by using her actions to stomp out the fire to the north.

Ellie drops her 9-pointer while Dennis plays a 2-point "Jeep". The Scientist to the north moves adjacent to the Baby and the Scientist on the middle tile moves one space north. This leaves Mama with four actions. She moves north one, murderizes a Scientist and then shreds another!

Next round Ellie plays a 3-point "Fear" card and Dennis plays an 8-point "Jeep" card. The Scientist in the upper left hand tile immediately craps himself but then Dennis uses three actions to move the next closest Scientist in to snatch up the last Baby.

Winner: Scientists!

***

REVIEW

PROS

• The card play mechanic, with the lower revealed number triggering a special ability and the higher number generating action points equal to the difference, is quite clever. A particularly sharp player will keep their eyes on cards played across the table in order to get off a timely special event or rack up some badly-needed actions.
• Since there's multiple ways to win you'll likely find yourself switching or reacting to some mutable mid-game strategies. It also ensures that most games won't last any longer than thirty minutes. 
• The rules summary sheets included in Raptor are top-notch. Literally everything you need to know is summarized on these two handy-dandy cards.   
• As for the rule book itself, it's great. It's clear, jokey, thematic and the inclusion of strategy tips is a major plus. 
• Both sides play out completely different from one another. The Raptors are fast, clever, vicious and resourceful. The Scientists are all swarmy and have to use their distance-based attacks and card abilities to try and contain things. 
• It's tense! As the Raptor player your emotionally involved in the plight of your Babies and as the Scientists you're literally in fear of your life the whole time.
• The game is stunningly beautiful. The art on the Terrain Tiles and Action Cards are first class. The 3-D rock piles don't just look great they virtually eliminate any line of sight screw-ups.      
• The minis are incredibly cool. And they didn't even cheapen out with the Scientists; all ten figures have a unique sculpt!

CONS

• There can be a bit of confusion concerning  knocking out Baby Raptors and waking them up since both card effects and action points can be used to accomplish this but both are done differently. 
• I can't shake the feeling that this game might have some balance issues. Feel free to leave a comment if you think the game is skewed towards one of the factions... 

***

There's been a fair amount of games with the words "Jurassic" and "Park" printed on them but it took twenty-two years and two Italians to do it right. Raptor is fast-paced, easy-to-learn, thematically engaging and tactically rich.

As such I give this one four pips out of six with a tilt up towards a brachiosaur's neck waddle!

***

Looking to tear a scientist a new one or help endanger a species? Then click on the image below to learn more about Raptor and ensure that this blog doesn't go extinct!

Wonders Never Cease - "7 Wonders: Duel"

Greetings, Exalted Ones!

I always get asked "What's a good game for two people?" Now some game snobs might turn up their nose as such a question and claim that there's no such animal, but I think that's patently ridiculous. Chess, Space Hulk, BattleLore and most of my all-time favorite war games are only for two people.

In fact, there's a ton of great options, including games that either scale down well for two, like Splendor, or games that are specifically designed for a tandem, like Lost Cities. And since I tend to steer away from games that you have to tweak heavily in order to get them to work for two people, my preference is to recommend games specifically engineered for a duo.

One of the best new examples of the latter is 7 Wonders: Duel. 

Before I present a detailed play-through of the game, here's some background info right from the realm-rulers at Repos Production, first in the form of a super-slick promotional vid:

And then via this synopsis on Board Game Geek:

"In many ways 7 Wonders: Duel resembles its parent game 7 Wonders as over three ages players acquire cards that provide resources or advance their military or scientific development in order to develop a civilization and complete wonders.

"What's different about 7 Wonders: Duel is that, as the title suggests, the game is solely for two players, with the players not drafting card simultaneously from hands of cards, but from a display of face-down and face-up cards arranged at the start of a round. A player can take a card only if it's not covered by any others, so timing comes into play as well as bonus moves that allow you to take a second card immediately. As in the original game, each card that you acquire can be built, discarded for coins, or used to construct a wonder.

"Each player starts with four wonder cards, and the construction of a wonder provides its owner with a special ability. Only seven wonders can be built, though, so one player will end up short.

"Players can purchase resources at any time from the bank, or they can gain cards during the game that provide them with resources for future building; as you acquire resources, the cost for those particular resources increases for your opponent, representing your dominance in this area.

"A player can win 7 Wonders: Duel in one of three ways. Each time that you acquire a military card, you advance the military marker toward your opponent's capital, giving you a bonus at certain positions. If you reach the opponent's capital, you win the game immediately. Similarly, if you acquire any six of seven different scientific symbols, you achieve scientific dominance and win immediately. If neither of these situations occurs, then the player with the most points at the end of the game wins."

Looking for the full rule of the law? Then click on the following link to gain the knowledge of the ancients!   

***

So here's how a typical game can shake out:

Age One

From the initial spread of options, player one Mark takes a free Clay Pool while player two Cleo selects a free Quarry. This, in turn, reveals the Baths.

Mark then opts for the free Garrison, which moves the Conflict Pawn one space in Cleo's direction. Cleo responds by taking a free Bath.

Mark then snatches up the Tavern which gives him a tidy l'il windfall of four free Coins. This reveals the Wood Reserve which Cleo is quick to procure for three Coins. In turn, the Workshop is flipped over.

In order to buy the Workshop, Mark is forced to do a Trade action. Since Cleo has no Buildings that produce Papyrus it only costs him a whopping two Coins. Cleo then decides to burn the Pharmacist to gain three Coins, getting the additional one thanks to her Wood Reserve.

Next up Mark snags the Theater fo' free. With the Stable, the Altar and the Guard Tower all now revealed as options, Cleo sinks one Coin into her Wood Reserve to gain the lumber required to buy the Stable. This moves the Conflict Pawn one space back towards the middle of the board.

On Mark's turn he decides to buy the Clay Reserve for three Gold. This, in turn, reveals the Logging Camp which Cleo promptly snaps up for a whole one Coin.

Next up Mark nabs the Guard Tower for free, which nudges the Conflict Token one space in Cleo's direction. On Cleo's turn she's itchin' to build the Piraeus Wonder. One of the required Wood comes from the Logging Camp but then she has to spend one Coin to get the second from her Wood Reserve. The Stone she needs is mined directly from her Quarry. Now she just needs one Brick, so she pays three more Coins to the bank, the additional +1 cost due to Mark's Brick- producing Clay Pool. The final construction step is burying a card in the sequence, so she burns the Altar and promptly takes another turn! Knowing that Mark really needs Papyrus, she callously discards the Press right in front of him for three Gold!

Since Mark's opponent doesn't have any Glass-producing structures yet, he only needs to spend two Coins to get the one Glass required to buy the Apothecary. This reveals the Palisade and the Clay Pit. In response, Cleo pays one Coin to pick up the Pit.

Mark battles back, picking up the sorely-needed Lumber Yard for free. This frees up Cleo to purchase the Palisade for two Coins, which, yet again, swings that Conflict Token pendulum right back to the middle of the Game Board.

In the final play of the Age, Mark nabs the Scriptorium for two Coins! With that requisition, he's half-way to a Scientific victory!

Age Two

 
Normally the player with the weakest Military chooses who begins the next Age but since this a dead heat, the last active player, I.E. whoever played the last card of the previous Age picks who goes first. That's Mark, so he picks himself to start! Problem is: he can't afford anything right now so he burns the Walls for four Coins (with a +2 bonus coming from his Clay Reserve and Tavern). This reveals the Laboratory. Cleo is also poor as a church mouse and must make a big decision: dump the Customs House which makes Glass and Papyrus cheaper or the Laboratory which would give Mark a Progress Token. She decides the turf the latter for three Coins, enjoying a +1 bonus thanks to the Wood Reserve.

It comes back to Mark and he blows the four Coins required to pick up the Customs House. This reveals two news cards: the Archery Range and the Parade Ground. Cleo already has one Brick and one Wood for the latter so she pays a measly two Coins for the Papyrus since Mark has no matching Buildings. This gets her the Archery Range, which shifts the Conflict Token back two spaces in Mark's direction.

To prevent losing Coins to Cleo's surging Military, Mark spends one Coin to get a Papyrus from his Customs House and one Coin to get a Clay from his Clay Reserve. Coupled with the Brick from his Clay Pool, he buys the Parade Ground, which shifts the Conflict Token back to neutral ground. Cleo then burns the Library to keep it away from Mark and to generate three Coins for herself.

Mark responds by picking up the Drying Room for free. This reveals two new cards: the Barracks and the Forum. Cleo then uses the prerequisite Water symbol on the Baths to acquire the Aqueduct for the low, low price of zero! This flips over the Statue.

Mark can't resist picking it up the Statue since it's free thanks to the Theater . Eventually, though, he's going to have to generate some Coinage. Cleo replies by spending three Coins and a Brick from the Clay Pit to pick up the Forum.

Mark fires back by roasting the Rostrum for five Coins. This reveals the Glass-Blower and the Dispensary. Cleo responds by building the awesome Circus Maximus, getting one free Glass from the Forum, Wood from the Logging Camp, one Stone from the Quarry and buying the last Stone at the discount rate of two Coins, since Mark has nothing that produces Stone. To add insult to injury, she buries the School underneath it to keep it out of Mark's hands. The Circus lets her destroy one of Mark's Brown or Gray cards, so she goes after the Drying Room. It also shifts the Conflict Token one space in Mark's direction.

Mark decides that its time to start fighting back. He overpays for the Temple of Artemis by spending two Coins to wring one Glass and one Papyrus out of the Customs House. The Wood comes from the Lumber Yard but then he has to pay three Coin for the required Stone, the cost of which is inflated by one "thanks" to Cleo's Stone-producing Quarry. Of course, a card has to be sacrificed to complete the building process so Mark turfs the Glass-Blower. For constructing the Temple, he gets a whopping twelve Coins back and can now take a free turn. He snatches up the Barracks for free which, once again, pushes the Conflict Token back towards the middle of the Board. Cleo responds by picking up the incredibly-versatile Caravansary with two Coins, the required Glass coming from her Forum and the Papyrus coming from a two-Coin trade back to the bank.

Given all the Coinage that Mark just picked up, it makes sense for him to build The Great Lighthouse. The Wood comes from the Lumber Yard but he still has to pay three Coins for the Brick and two Coins to his Customs House to get two Papyrus. Mark then burns the Sawmill to bring this tremendous Wonder into being. Cleo then realizes that, thanks to the Logging Camp, the Caravansary and the Forum, the Courthouse is stone-cold free for her and worth a respectable five Victory Points.

With valuable resources coming from both the Great Lighthouse and his Clay Pool, Mark gets the Dispensary for free. Once again, Cleo is destitute so she plays keep-away with the Shelf Quarry and picks up five Coins.

Mark then spends one Coin to generate Papyrus from his Customs House to snag the Temple.

Age Three

Once again the Military is in prefect equilibrium so Mark decides to play play first and erect a Statue of Zeus. With nearly everything provided by The Great Lighthouse, all he has to do is pay two Coins to produce the required Papyrus via the Customs House. He buries the Magistrates Guild to complete this Wonder, destroys Cleo's Clay Pit and then shift the Conflict Token one space in her direction. This, in turn, reveals an Obelisk. Cleo immediately picks this new monument up for free, with the Stone coming from the Caravansary and the Quarry and the Glass coming from the Forum. 

Next up Mark snags the Pantheon for free since he has the prerequisite Sun symbol on the Temple. This reveals the Observatory and the Siege Workshop. Cleo goes after the Appian Way, which requires one Papyrus (from the Forum), two Brick (one from the Caravansary and three back to the bank), and two Stone, one of which comes from the Quarry and the other in Trade for two more Coins. To polish it off she torches the Observatory. This produces several immediate effects: Cleo collects three Coins from the Bank, Mark loses three and she takes another turn! Using the prerequisite Target icon on the Archery Range she picks up the Siege Workshop for free, which, in turn, moves the Conflict Token two spaces right back at Mark.

On Mark's next turn he picks up a complimentary Lighthouse, thanks to the Jug symbol on the Tavern. That puts four more Coins right back into his coffers! Meanwhile, Cleo picks up the Palace, with the two Glass coming from the Piraeus and the Forum, the Wood from the Logging camp, the Stone from the Quarry and Brick coming from the Caravansary.

This flips over the Arena, which Mark gets for free thanks to the Great Lighthouse. This also generates a whopping six more Coins for him, two for each Wonder! Cleo then goes after the Tacticians Guild, getting the two Stone from the Caravansary and the Quarry, one Brick for three Coins from the Bank, and the Papyrus from the Forum. This nets her a nice four-coin windfall as well!

Thanks to his Scrooge McDuck pile of Coins, Mark builds his last Wonder, the Pyramids. One Stone gets quarried from the Great Lighthouse, but he has to pay six Coin in total for the other two. He then parleys one Coin into a Papyrus via the Customs House. The last construction step is to discard an available Building so he chooses the Town Hall. With the titular 7'th Wonder constructed, Cleo has lost her chance to build the Colossus. As a consolation prize, she jumps all over the Builder's Guild, spending two Coin to get a Stone and mining the second from the Quarry. The Brick she needs for this purchase comes from the Caravansary with the Wood from the Logging Camp and the Glass from the Forum. This reveals the Chamber of Commerce.

Mark spends two Coins to get two Glass from the Customs House. The Wood and the Brick comes from The Great Lighthouse, which is all he needs to pick up the Academy. This, in turn, unlocks the Port. Cleo uses the Glass from Piraeus, Papyrus from the Forum and Wood from the Logging camp to snatch it up. This nets her two Coin for every Brown Card she owns, I.E. four Coins.

Now its Mark's turn and he's a bit stuck. He really doesn't want the Chamber of Commerce so he burns it for a whopping seven Coin. Unfortunately, this gives Cleo the ability to buy the mega-powerful Circus. To do so she pays one Stone from the Quarry and the other one she gets in Trade for two Coins. One Brick comes from the Caravansary and for the other she's forced to pay three Coin (+1 due to Mark's Clay Pit). This pushes the Conflict token two spaces in Mark's direction, which, in turn, forces him to discard two Coins! This also reveals Fortifications.

To bring balance to the Force, Mark feels compelled to buy that Fort. One Brick and one Stone comes from The Great Lighthouse, but he also has to spend one Coin to get Papyrus from his Customs House and three Coin to get the other Stone (+1 due to Clea's Quarry). This edges the Conflict Token back two spaces towards the center of the board. Knowing that if Mark nabs that University he'll win the game, Cleo gets a Brick from the Caravansary, one Glass from the Forum and one Papyrus from the Piraeus to play keep-away. This, in turn, brings up the Praetorium.

Mark doesn't have the eight Coins needed to build the Praetorium so he burns it for a whopping seven Coins! Cleo, just to be evil, decides to snatch up the Gardens, knowing that Mark can get it for free. She gets one Brick from the Caravansary, pays three Coins for the second Brick (+1 due to Mark's Clay Pit) gets one Wood from her Logging Camp and then pays one Coin to get the last Wood from the Wood Reserve.

In the last move of the game, Mark makes like Koch brothers and buys the Senate. One Brick comes from his Clay Pit, the other comes from his Great Lighthouse, which also provides the Stone. He then pays one Coin to the Custom House to get the final ingredient: Papyrus.

FINAL SCORING

Military

Mark...0 Cleo...2

Blue Buildings

Mark...22  Cleo...31

Green Buildings

Mark...7 Cleo...2

Yellow Buildings

Mark...6  Cleo...3

Purple Buildings

Mark...0 Cleo...13 (8 Points for the Builders Guild and 5 points for the Tacticians Guild)

Wonders

Mark...16 Cleo...8

Progress

Mark...0  Cleo...0

Treasury

Mark...12 /3 = 4  Cleo...10/3=3

Final Totals

  Mark: 0 (Military) + 22 (Blue Buildings) + 7 (Green Buildings) + 6 (Yellow Buildings) + 0 (Purple) + 16

(Wonders) + 0 (Progress) + 4 (Treasury) =  55

Cleo: 2 (Military) + 31 (Blue Buildings) + 2 (Green Buildings) + 3 (Yellow Buildings) + 13 (Purple Buildings) + 8 (Wonders) + 0 (Progress) + 3 (Treasury)  = 62

Cleo wins!

***

Review

Pros 

• I like how the difficulty scales up during the three Ages. In other words, after skimming the rules you can pretty just right into the first Age. Then, when more complicated options pop up, you can just pause the game, look up the appropriate iconography and then jump right back into the action. It's like a form of in-game programmed learning. 
• Since Military or Scientific Victories are a constant threat, you have to be vigilant at all times. Handing your opponent one of these wins is like dropping a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. 
• The ability to burn cards to generate Coins and turf things to construct Wonders is a major part of the strategy. I.E. you have to pay a lot of attention to avoid handing your opponent a big play on a silver platter.
• Since half the cards are face up, your encouraged to ponder future strategies. Conversely when unexpected cards pop up, you're forced to think on your feet.
• I like how the cost of resources is based on your opponent's holdings. Not only does this simulate inflation rather nicely, it could, in theory, make certain resources almost cost prohibitive in some games. In the above example both players didn't have a lot of gray and brown Resource Cards and this kept the Trade rates relatively low, but I can see the next game being completely different. This sort of variance certainly bodes well for game re-playability. 
• Timing is critical! Its great to get first dibs on newly-flipped cards and the timely construction of a Wonder can also be a tremendous boon. Not only do these things give you some handy windfalls and / or permanent resources, some even give you the chance to take another turn. Time this perfectly and you can go on a mini-run that advances your strategy or shuts your opponent down cold. 
• I like how the winner is always in doubt until the final score tally. I love how the Guilds and the Progress tokens make the scores just "swingy" enough to let someone come from behind.
• The cards, the Coins, the Game Board and the Conflict Token are all top-notice. The art is also quite nice. 
• Thematically, it does kinda feel as if you're developing an increasingly-sophisticated civilization. 

 Cons

• Not much, actually. Some of the iconography is a challenge to memorize and you may find yourself reaching for the Help Sheet quite often at first. Plus the whole "player who chooses who goes first in the next Age is the last active player" rule seems a bit odd at face value, but clearly it didn't have a massive impact on the sample game above.

7 Wonders: Duel shocked the heck outta me, especially when you consider that I'm lukewarm at best on its parent game, which I especially dread with a full compliment of players. In a refreshing twist, this two-player version is short, sweet, and surprisingly nuanced.

As such 7 Wonders: Duel scores five pips outta six with a tilt up into the lingering and slightly awkward gaze of the Colossus of Rhodes!

  ***   

Wanna fiddle while your opponent's city burns? Then click on the following link to learn more about 7 Wonders: Duels and help this blog become the stuff of legend!

♩♬ Mike Likes To Push The Pram-A-Lot! ♪♫ : "Shadows Over Camelot"

As I've mentioned before, my discovery of Settlers of Catan back in 1997 led to an adult board gaming Renaissance that continues to this very day.  Although Euros played a major part in this revelatory experience, it was the new wave of super-thematic thematic "Ameritrash" that really ignited my obsession.

One of those pivotal early titles was Shadows Over Camelot, a highly-evocative, Arthurian quest game that brought quality components and stunning graphic design to a whole new level.  Even more innovative were the game's unique mechanics.  Instead of competing against one another, players tried to work together as Knights of the Round Table in order to defeat the game itself.  As if that wasn't challenging enough, designers Bruno Cathala and Serge Laget also added a highly original "Traitor" component which allowed one of the players to achieve victory through deceit.  

Kinda sparks the old yen for adventure, huh?  Your quest, should you chose to accept it, is clearly delineated in this here blurb from Days of Wonder:

"As the incarnation of the Knights of the Round Table, you join forces against the game itself in an attempt to protect Camelot.

"Your victory hinges on the successful completion of legendary Quests, such as the search for Excalibur, the Holy Grail, or Lancelot's Armor; the tournament against the Black Knight; and numerous wars against the Saxons and Picts.

"But beware... all is not as it seems among these noble Knights. One of your number might yet turn out to be a traitor-in-waiting, biding his time while sowing havoc and destruction from the Shadows!"

Lookin' to get all Thomas Malory up in this be-yatch?  Then click on thine link to view the full Morte d'Arthur.

***

To save Mike some babysitting expenses we took our weekly board gaming night on the road to his place this past week.  After Mike expedited the bed-time process by giving his kids some Dramamine-laced Cheerios, we set of on our path of adventure.

THE ROLES

Andrew...Sir Galahad - Yellow

Me...King Arthur - Red

Dean...Sir Palamedes - Black

Mike...Sir Gawain - Green

In order to take advantage of Arthur's special ability to exchange cards, I lingered in Camelot in order to pick up as many helpful White Cards as possible.  Unfortunately, Excalibur quickly started to drift away and I was forced to take the field in an effort to recover it.

The biggest challenge in Shadows Over Camelot is that you really have to pick and choose your battles carefully.  Indeed, unless your playing with a full contingent of knights, there's really no way to win every single challenge.  For example, in our game it didn't take very long for the Black Knight to get ahead of us and pretty soon we were forced to abandon it as a lost cause.  Instead, Andrew decided that Galahad's time was better served in recovering Lancelot's Armor.  

As Sir Palamedes, Dean tried to prevent the Holy Grail from slipping away into oblivion.  Unfortunately, the game's quest is just as challenging as its fictional namesake.  By rights, it really needs to be tackled by several knights at once.  As a solo quest, Dean really had his work cut out for him.  

Not long after our hallowed land was overrun by a bunch of Pricks...er, Picts.  Fortunately, Mike's Sir Gawain got down there post haste and started kickin' ass and takin' names.  By exerting Gawain, Mike managed to beat them all off (!), giving us a quick edge in the race for White Swords.   

In an effort to stem the incessant tide of Black Cards, we ended up plunking down some really early Siege Engines.  Most of the Black Cards we did turn up were pretty heinous.  After suffering through Morgan's blight, we were then forced to ditch a set of Merlin Cards in order to avoid the siren call of Guinevere.  Although it seems like an extreme reaction, getting dragged back to Camelot in the middle of a Quest can really screw things up.  

Although it was a hard-fought contest, Andrew secured the bridge and won the right to don Sir Lancelot's Armor.  This was a particularly valuable acquisition, since it gave Andrew the ability to banish some of the nastier Black cards to the bottom of the deck.   After this major triumph, Sir Galahad celebrated by popping back to Camelot to replenish his cards and ponder his next move.  

Meanwhile, I kept plugging away at the Excalibur Quest which turned out to be the epitome of frustration.  Just as I managed to get the legendary sword to within a few spaces, a damnable Black Card would come along and tear it out of my grasp!  After musing over my trials and tribulations, Andrew decided to come to my rescue.  I'm sure his motivations were entirely honorable and had nothing to do with his ability to waltz in and 'yoink' the sword away after I did all the heavy lifting.  Jerk.      

Dean also kept slogging through the Grail Quest but without any back-up all he could do was maintain the status quo.  With the rest of us occupied by our own endeavors, it was pretty clear that Dean had no prayer of completing this Quest.  Instead he set out to create as much "defeat insulation" as he could.  Despite the fact that I kept feeding Grail cards to him like Pez, eventually he was forced to turn his attention to some more immediate fires which were breaking out all over the board. 

Chief among these was the Dragon.  Although Sir Gawain was able to make some serious strides against the deadly wyrm, he exhausted his cards and had to bail out before sealing the deal.   

  

True to his questionable form, Sir Galahad appeared in the nick of time and helped to recover Excalibur.  In addition to scoring two White Swords for the forces of good, this freed us up to help out elsewhere.  Given the fact that every Black Excalibur card would now add a new Siege Engine to Camelot, it wasn't difficult to see where we were needed the most.  

Things got even more dire when those blasphemous Saxons, led by Mordred, swarmed over the land and added even more firepower to attack on Camelot.  Just two catapults shy of defeat, Dean whiffed on his initial attack but his second strike was true.  I also managed to destroy a few of the marauding trebuchets and with the crisis temporarily averted, I went off to help Andrew slay a Dragon.

After proving victorious in that titanic contest, we found ourselves with a significant White Sword lead.  In fact, we were so far ahead that we completely ignored the Black Knight's second challenge.  Even when the Picts turned up again like a bad case of the clap, their initial numbers were insignificant.  Better yet, Dean's hard work on the Grail Quest really paid off, keeping that particular issue in limbo for the rest of the game.  In fact, only the Camelot Catapult Crisis seemed pressing.  

Although our loyalties occasionally came into question towards the end of the game, it's didn't result in any serious Accusations.  In fact, I was pretty sure that we'd beaten the odds and no-one around the table was a dirty, filthy Traitor.  Andrew, on the other hand, was completely convinced that I was the rat bastard, probably because I gave a Fight Cards to Mike when I could have used it on my own turn.  For the record, that wasn't evil, just stupid.  

We were so confident of victory that we tried to end the game as quickly as possible.  While I remained on catapult-smashing duty, Dean and Andrew polished off the Pict Quest once more in order to garner the last Sword and trigger the finale.

And with that, we'd achieved a decisive victory with eight White Swords to two Black!  

That is, until the Traitor was revealed...  

    

Unbeknownst to the rest of us, Andrew had deliberately snuck a bad apple in amongst the Loyalty Cards.  The Quisling role fell to Mike, who actually turned out to be the perfect villain!  Since he wasn't 100% clear on the abilities of the Traitor, he ended up playing things very, very tight.  In fact the only outwardly sneaky thing he did was abandon a few Quests prematurely under the guise of "running out of cards".  Brilliant!

Since we'd failed to out Mike as a baddie, two White Swords were flipped to the Black side, resulting in a tie.  And since Evil always wins ties because Good is dumb, Mike (and the board) walked away with a shockingly unexpected win!  

   

***

I really can't believe that this game is almost ten friggin' years old.  Even though superior titles like Battlestar Galactica have since come down the pike, nothing will ever supplant the love I have for Shadows Over Camelot.  

How much do I love thee, SOC?  Let me count the ways:

PROS

• Ludicrously gorgeous figures, board, cards and artwork.
• Straightforward, follow-the-bouncing-ball turn flow makes getting into the game super-easy.
• The Quest resolution rules are pretty straightforward.  
• Special Abilities insure that every Knight is distinct.  
• One of the earliest co-operative games and still one of the best.
• The game pioneered the awesome Traitor mechanic, which insures that the game doesn't suffer from overt B.V.S. (Bossy Veteran Syndrome).   
• Evocative theme bleeds through every aspect of the game.  

CONS

• Some of the Quest protocols a bit fuzzy.  For example, can the three, three-of-a-kinds played during the Dragon Quest be the exact same Fight Card value?  We assumed that they can't be, but this isn't clearly explained in the rules.  

***

Shadows Over Camelot will always have a home in my collection.  If there are some sensitive folks in your gaming circle that aren't keen on cut-throat competition, I highly recommend adding this one to your game shelf.

I'm giving Shadows Over Camelot a noble five pips outta six!

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Looking for excuse to plane down the corners of your dinner table?  Click on the link below to snag a copy of Shadows Over Camelot and help support my board gaming crusade!