"A Hot Time In The Ol' Town Tonite!" - Scoville

Now that my library has exceeded 160 games, I 'm getting pretty picky RE: what I add to my shelf. In order for a game to reach the "promised land", it has to fit into one or more of the following three categories:

1. Awesome theme. The game itself might be hot garbage, but I want it because its got a horror / sci-fi or fantasy IP that's I'm obsessed with. For example: I just ordered this friggin' thing. *pleasedontsuck*, *pleasedontsuck*, *pleasedontsuck*
2. "I'm the best at what I do and what I do is...pretty darned entertaining." A game doesn't hafta re-invent the wheel, but it needs to do what it sets out to do really well. For example, even though I  already own a disproportionate number of worker placement games, I still bought Rajas of the Ganges and Champions of Midgard because they're not only gorgeous to look at, they're both really solid games with original angles.
3. NKOTB. The new acquisition features an element or mechanic that isn't represented by anything else in my collection.

Today's game falls solidly into the latter silo and, via today's play-through and review, I'm hoping to explain why. First up, here's the game's description right from Tasty Minstrels' webzone:

"The town of Scoville likes it hot! Very hot! That means they love their peppers – but they're too busy eating them to grow the peppers themselves. That's where you come in.

"You've been hired by the town of Scoville to meet their need for heat. Your role as an employee of Scoville is to crossbreed peppers to create the hottest new breeds. You'll have to manage the auctioning, planting, and harvesting of peppers, then you'll be able to help the town by fulfilling their orders and creating new pepper breeds. Help make the town of Scoville a booming success! Let's get planting!

"A round of Scoville consists of a blind auction, which determines player order, a planting phase, a harvesting phase, and a fulfillment phase. Each round, the players plant peppers in the fields. Throughout the game, the available opportunities for crossbreeding increase as more peppers are planted. When harvesting, players move their pawn through the fields, and whenever they move between two planted fields, they harvest peppers. If, for example, they harvest between fields of red and yellow peppers, they crossbreed those and harvest an orange pepper. Harvested peppers are then used to fulfill the town's peppery desires!"

Need a full job description before you begin...um, breeding?  Well, click on the following link to read the full rules and start growin' them Guatemalan Insanity Peppers.

GAME PLAY-THROUGH

Blue...Sean

Red...Natalie

Green..Charlize

ROUND ONE

Sean wagers five coins while Natalie wagers one and Charlize offers zero. Sean starts first, placing his Turn Order Disc in the first player spot, with Natalie taking second place and Charlize up last. Sean then selects the single Orange Pepper Auction Card while Nat takes the two Blue Peppers and Charlize snaps up the remaining single Red.

In the Planting Phase, Sean plants a Red Pepper next to a Yellow, while Natalie plants a Blue next to a Red and Charlize drops a Yellow next to a Blue.

During the Harvesting Phase, this Turn Order is reversed. Charlize needs an Orange Pepper, so, after starting out on the star space, her Farmer Meeple moves two spaces west, ending up between a Red and a Yellow, which generates precisely what she wants. Natalie's Farmer enters the board, trucks two spaces east and lands between a Blue and Yellow pepper for the Greenie she needs. After casting off from the starting spot, Sean moves his Farmer dude two spaces, ending up between a Red and a Blue, which cross-breeds into a Brown!

Things revert back to the Player Order during Fulfillment. Sean spends a Blue and an Orange Pepper to buy the 3-point "No Mild Left Behind" Recipe Card. Nat opts to pass, while Charlize spends one Red and one Blue Pepper to collect one of the Market Cards, which gives her a prized Purple Pepper and a Veep!

ROUND TWO

During the bid, Sean proffers five bucks, Natalie bids zero and Charlize reveals two. Sean opts to go first, Charlize stays in the third position and, by default, Nat will be second. This arrangement gives Sean the opportunity to snatch up the Red and Blue Pepper Auction Card, while the gals are stuck with some generic double Yellows.

When it comes to Planting, Sean becomes the first player to plant a Brown Pepper, so he takes the appropriate 4-point Award Plaque. Natalie plants a Blue Pepper next to a Yellow, while Charlize drops a Yellow next to a Red.

Charlize Harvests first, collecting an Orange Pepper. Nat's Farmer ends up between a Yellow and a Blue to earn a Green and Sean comes to a halt in a similar spot for his own Greenie.

Everyone passes during the subsequent Fulfillment phase.

ROUND THREE

Now broke, Sean bids zero, while Nat offers three and Charlize offers four. The new Auction Cards are pretty underwhelming, so Charlize picks the last spot, Natalie ends up first and Sean is now stuck in the middle (♫♪♪"With yeeeeewwww!"♫♪♪). Nat drafts the Red Pepper Auction Card and her two rivals both end up with double Yellows. 

Natalie then spikes a Blue Pepper into the turf next to another Blue. Sean plants a Red next to a Red while Charlize embeds an Orange close to a Red. As the first player to plant an Orange Pepper, Charlize scores the two-Victory Point Award Plaque!

Charlize is also the first to Harvest, moving between Red and Yellow for an Orange and then between Red and Orange for a Brown Pepper. Sean matches Red and Blue for Purple, passes between two Reds for, um...two Reds and then settles between a Yellow and a Red or an Orange. Natalie maneuvers between two Blue Peppers for a double Blue payout and then spends her "Double Back Once" Bonus Action tile (!) to generate a Green from a Yellow / Blue combo and then comes to rest in a similar spot for yet another Green!

Fulfillment is a lot busier this time out! Nat returns a Yellow and Red Pepper back to supply to buy one of the Market Cards, which gives her a Victory Point and a free Orange Pepper. Sean pays a Purple, a Blue and an Orange to complete the "Fair to Middlin'" Recipe Card for 5 Victory Points! Charlize invests a Red and Orange Pepper to get a Market Card which gives her a windfall of one Brown Pepper, three dollarinos and a Veep!

ROUND FOUR 

Both Nat and Charlize wager two coins while Blue reveals an empty hand. Natalie decides to go first, followed by Charlize and then Sean. Natalie helps herself to the single Blue Pepper Auction Card, leaving her opponents with single Reds.

Nat Plants first. Surprisingly, she uses her "Plant One Extra Pepper" Bonus Action Tile to seed both an Orange and a Green. As the second player to plant an Orange and / or Green Pepper, she nabs the remaining Award Plaque. Charlize also decides to drop the same Bonus Action Tile, placing an Orange next to one of its kin and a Purple next to a Brown and an Orange! Immune to this outbreak of madness, Sean conservatively plants a Red Pepper next to another Red and a Blue.

During the Harvest Phase, Sean dispatches his Farmer between two Red Peppers (picking up two Red), shuffles betwixt a Blue and Red for a Purple and then finally comes to rest amidst a Blue and Orange for a Brownie. Charlize sashays between a Purple and Orange for one White (!) and then between two Orange Peppers for a rare Black (!!!). Natalie gets a Green from a Yellow / Blue combo, a Brown from a fusion of Orange and Blue and finally produces a White from Orange and Green!

Next up: Fulfillment! Natalie acts first, spending two Green, two Blue and one White Pepper to polish off the "J‘s Juicy Morsel Chili" Recipe Card for 10 Victory Points. Charlize then cashes in Yellow, Brown and Black Peppers to complete the "Baby Steps" Recipe for 8 Victory Points. Not to be outdone, Sean trades in a Green, a Purple and one Red to table the 5-point "Two Alarm, Tops" Recipe! He also decides to sell one Red back to supply for two cash, since there's a total of four Red Peppers planted on the board.

ROUND FIVE

During the Bidding, Sean bets nothing, Nat reveals two and Charlize bets zero. Natalie decides to go first and Charlize stays in second place, leaving Sean bringing up the rear. When it comes to selecting Auction Cards, Natalie snatches up the Yellow and Blue, Charlize takes the lone Blue and Sean ends up with a single Yellow.

Out of the gate, Nat opts to plant a single Yellow Pepper between an Orange and a Red. Charlize  decides to drop a Red Pepper next to a Yellow and a Green. Sean then plays his "Plant an Extra Pepper" Bonus Action Tile to plant a Brown Pepper next to another Brown and a Yeller. Since he’s the second player to plant a Brown Pepper, he gets the remaining Award Plaque!

Blue Harvests first, positioning Farmer Meeple between a Yellow and a Blue for a Green, then passing between two Blue (for double of the matching color) before cutting one space north. Unfortunately, this leaves him stranded next to a sad, lone Pepper, which don't generate jack shit. Next up, Charlize trucks between a Purple and an Orange for a rare White, squeezes a Brown (?) out of a Red and Orange and then stops betwixt a Red and Yellow for an Orange. Nat the Brat then navigates past a Yellow and an Orange for one Brown and then reaps two Purples from a pair of Red / Blue hybrids.  

During Fulfillment, Red spends one Blue Pepper to get a Market Card for three Coins and an equal number of Victory Points. He also sells one Yellow Pepper for two Coins, since there’s four of 'em on the board. Charlize follows suit, selling one Yellow for two and then Sean pawns off two of the same, garnering four dollah, dollah billz, y'all.

ROUND 6

During betting, Charlize wagers three, Natalie offers up two and Sean reveals thin air. Charlize decides to take the third slot, while Nat selects first player and Sean is smack dab in the middle. Nat then hops on the Green Pepper Auction Card, Sean takes the Yellow / Red combo and Charlize ends up with double Red. 

Planting is next, so Natalie jams a Purple in the ground next to a Yellow, Sean buries a Red next to a Yellow and a Blue and Charlize seeds a Green opposite two Yellows and a Red.

Charlize kicks off the Harvest Phase by collecting a Brown from a Yellow / Green combo, generating double Reds and then settling down between Red and Blue for Purple. Next up, Sean gets Blue x 2, slides by a Red and a Blue for a Purple and then spend his "Double Back Once" Bonus Action Tile to earn a Green from a Yellow and Blue mix. After Natalie scores double Reds, she grows a Brown from Green and Yellow and finishes up with a bouncing baby Yellow birthed from Red and Orange. 

Natalie then launches into the Fulfillment Phase by spending a veritable rainbow of Brown, Green, Orange, Purple, Red, Yellow and Blue Peppers for the "Dude, Where’s My Tongue?" Recipe Card. Next up, Sean sells three Peppers for a Market Card which gives him two Purples, two monies and a Victory Point. Not to be outdone, Charlize cashes in a White, Brown, Purple and Blue for the "Uncle Zeke's Five-Alarm Belly Warmer" Recipe Card. She then swaps three Red Peppers for a Market Card that gives her two Orange Peppers, two space bucks and a Veep!

ROUND 7

After bidding shakes out, Charlize decides to take the third player slot, Sean nabs first and Nat goes second. The Auction Cards are divvied up thusly: Sean -Red and Blue, Natalie - Blue and Charlize - Yellow. 

Sean drops his "Plant One Extra Pepper" Bonus Action Tile and places a pair of Purple Peppers (try saying that five times real quick) on the board, one next to a Green and a Blue and another beside a lone Blue. Nat embeds a Blue Pepper next to a Purple and an Orange, while Charlize buries an Orange next to a Green.

Harvesting begins with Charlize shifting between a Yellow and Orange for a Brownie, dispatching her Farmer between Orange and Green for a White and then shufflin' between a Green and a Purple for another Downtown Julie Brown. Natalie crosses Red and Yellow for an Orange, a Red and Orange for a Brown and then comes to rest in the middle of Purple and Orange for a White. After scoring double Blues, Sean gets his first Black from two Purples but then discovers that he can’t move any further. D'oh! 

Fulfillment sees Sean selling two Blue Peppers for some cold, hard cash. Red opts to pass but Charlize spends two Red, two Brown and two White to pay for the "Belfort Blast Furnace" Recipe Card. She then sells one Orange Pepper for two money. 

ROUND 8

During the Auction, Sean bets three, Natalie wagers three and Charlize proffers one Coin. Blue decides to go first, Nat goes last and Charlize is left with second. Sean adds the two Blue Peppers to his pool, Charlize takes the Yellow and Blue Auction Card and Natalie ends up with the single Blue Pepper.

Sean is the first to plant a Black Pepper, so he collects the appropriate six point Award Plaque. Charlize slam dunks a Blue next to a Red and a Yellow, while Nat drops a White Pepper next to a Brown. This is also a first, so she wrangles the matching five-points Award Plaque.

Natalie gets a-Farmin'....moving her Meeple up one space between a Brown and a Red. Unfortunately this yields a hot, steamin' basket of jack squat...but she bounces back by netting a pair of Browns by travellin' down the ol' Hershey Highway. Wait, that doesn't sound right. Um, you might wanna ignore that last part. Charlize then gets her own Brown action (?) by positioning between Orange and Blue, then collects a Green from a Blue and Yellow and then finishes her turn with a Purple from Red and Blue. As for Sean, his avatar nabs him a Purple from Purple and Black, a White from Green and Purple and a Brown via Orange and Blue.

Sean exchanges a Green Pepper for a Market Card worth five money and then trades in three Blue Peppers for six more Coins. Charlize scores another Recipe Card, "The Buck Stops Here", using a White, Green, Orange and Purple. Finally, Nat turns in five Brown Peppers for the "Appalachian Gems Rustic Heat" Recipe Card.

Now that the players are down to only two Recipe Cards, the Afternoon Phase of the game is skipped. One more round will be played and the game will end after the Fulfillment Phase of that round!

FINAL ROUND

Both Charlize and Sean reveal two bucks while Natalie contributes all three of her remaining Coins to win the Auction. She decides to go first, with Sean opting for third and Charlize in the middle. Nat then helps herself to the Purple Auction card, Charlize picks up a Red n' Yellow dual pack and Sean is left with the single Red.

Natalie jams dat newly acquired Purple boi in tha durt between another Purple and a White. Green decides to bridge a Red between an Orange, Yellow and a Blue and then Sean drops a White-hot pep  next to a Black and a Purple.

Sean begins the final Harvesting Phase by moving his Farmer between a Blue and a Purple for Brown, then matching two Purples for a Black and finally marrying a Black and a White for an 11'th hour Ghost! Charlize splices a Yellow and Red together for an Orange, then collects a Brown from Red and  Orange and then halts between a Purple and an Orange for a White. Natalie then snaps up another White by splicing a White and Brown together, smooshes two Purples together for a Black and then finally settles in between some Purple and Blue peppaz for another Brown.

During the last Fulfillment Phase, Nat invests a Blue and Orange Pepper to collect one of the two last remaining Market Cards, claiming one Brown Pepper, three cash monies and a Victory Point. Charlize pawns three Yellow Peppers at two Coins apiece for a total of six. Sean then sells a whopping four Red Peppers and, since there are total of seven Reds planted, the grand total is 12 points

FINAL SCORING

MARKET CARD POINTS

Sean: 1 Natalie: 3 Charlize: 3

POINTS FROM RECIPE CARDS

Sean: 13 Natalie: 37 points Charlize: 44 points

POINTS FROM AWARD PLAQUES

Sean: 13 Natalie: 7  Charlize: 2

UNPLAYED BONUS ACTION TILES 

Sean: 4 Natalie: 4 Charlize: 8

MONEY

Sean: 10     Natalie: 1     Charlize: 4

TOTAL POINTS

Sean: 1 + 13 + 13 + 4 +10 = 41

Natalie: 3 + 37 + 7 + 4 +1  = 52

Charlize: 3 + 44 + 2 +8 +4 = 61

WINNER: CHARLIZE (GREEN)

***

REVIEW

THE GOOD

• At its heart, Scoville isn't a complicated game. You bid on turn order, plant a pepper to set up a future play, move your figure to get what you need and then sell stuff for money and / or Victory Points. An expansive rule set doesn't give the game its depth, it's just the challenge of parsing out how to best accomplish your goals.
• Speaking of goals: there's a nice variety of them to go after. Notwithstanding the Recipe Cards, which come in a variety of different complexities and matching reward tiers, you can also get a lot of mileage out of being the first to plant a Ghost Pepper or sell a stockpile of valuable stuff. Even the Market Cards can be leveraged to get something valuable out of something that's virtually worthless.
• Not only does the Auction Phase dole out some potentially awesome free peppers, it also lets players get creative RE: the timing of key actions. Is your ideal pepper combo already on the board within walking distance...but its in the middle of a mosh pit? Then pick third place to move your Farmer first! Is your Farmer off in some deserted corner of the field with no rival jobbers around? Then plant your peppers first, knowing that you'll be free to take a tranquil stroll and Fulfill those Recipes at your leisure!
• With three players, it isn't particularly competitive but, as you might imagine, it gets petty cut-throat with a full compliment of six. 
• No other game in my library involves mixing primary colors to make secondary colors. If anything, visual artists and painters will love this game!     
• Also, what other game has a plethora of pepper pieces...and a recessed board to plant them in? 

THE BAD

• You may wanna cherry pick the people you play Scoville with since it's the Kobayashi Maru of analysis paralysis games.  

THE UGLY

• Okay, so the game's art design is a tad grade school art class. By the same (wooden pepper) token, I'd argue that the look of the game is thematically in lock step with its inherent goofiness. 

***

For being deceptively simple, surprisingly think-y and wholly original, I hereby award Scoville the top prize in the (now apparently annual) YAFGB Gamey™ Awards! Six pips outta six, yo! 

***

BONUS: Important Rules To Remember

• If a bid is tied, the tied player who was earlier in the previous turn goes first. Zero bidders don’t get to choose at all, they just drop down (in previous turn order) into the available spaces, from lowest number to highest.
• Auction Cards are selected based on Turn Order, as is Planting.
• A pepper can only be Planted orthogonally adjacent to another pepper.
• For Award Plaques with multiple peppers, planting any one of them will earn you that Plaque.
• Bonus Action Tiles don’t allow you to claim multiple Award Plaques.
• Harvesting is done according to reverse Turn Order. In the first round, Farmers begin on the star in any facing and can move up to three spaces, but must move at least one. You can’t pass through or share a space with another Farmer. 
• A Farmer can be change direction at the start of a turn and can turn left and right at junctions but can’t double back.
• You produce a pepper for every space between two planted plots according to the Breeding Chart. 
• Fulfillment is also done in Turn Order. Visiting the Market, Competing in the Cookoff or Selling Peppers (up to five on one color only) can be done in any order, but only once per round per player.
• Bonus Tiles: you can play multiple tiles on a turn.
• Time Check (Morning): (1) Count the number of remaining Recipe Cards. If there are fewer cards than players in the Morning (a rare occurrence), skip the Afternoon. Play one more round and end the game after Fulfillment. (2) Then count the remaining Market Cards. If the card and player counts are equal, then it’s still morning and you play a new round. If less cards than players, move to the Afternoon. Discard any Morning Market Cards, draw new ones from the Afternoon Deck to refill to the same number the game started with and return the remaining cards to the box.
• Time Check (Afternoon): (1) Count the number of Market and Recipe Cards. If less cards than players in either of the two locations, play one more round and end the game after Fulfillment.  
• If fewer than players in BOTH categories, immediately go to final scoring!

***

Hey, folks! Wanna keep me well-supplied with new review material...as well as a healthy supply of jalapenos? If you're digging these reviews, please consider buying me a Coffee! Even a coupla bucks helps when it comes to keeping me motivated. 

Until next time, keep safe and game on!

"Can I Haz Baby Yoda Xpanshun?" - Star Wars - Outer Rim

Although The Force Awakens was practically engineered to rekindle fan interest in Star Wars, it was actually the triple punch of  Clone Wars, Rebels and The Mandalorian that pulled me back in. By the time I finished watching the latter, I really wanted to play a sandboxian adventure game set in the  fringe-ier bits of that wonderful galaxy far, far away.

Welp, leave it to Fantasy Flight to do their Kylo Ren-esque mind probe on me and crank out dis sucka...

Here's FF's HoloNet sales pitch for Outer Rim from Board Game Geek:

"Take to the stars and become a living legend in Star Wars: Outer Rim, a game of bounty hunters, mercenaries, and smugglers for 1-4 players!

"In Outer Rim, you take on the role of an underworld denizen, setting out to make your mark on the galaxy. You'll travel the outer rim in your personal ship, hire legendary Star Wars characters to join your crew, and try to become the most famous (or infamous) outlaw in the galaxy!

"But it won't be easy since the warring factions of the galaxy roam the outer rim, hunting down the scum that have proven to be a thorn in their side, and other scoundrels looking to make their mark see you as the perfect target to bring down to bolster their own reputation. Do you have what it takes to survive in the outer rim and become a living legend?

"In more detail, a game of Outer Rim takes place over a series of turns that sees players taking dangerous jobs, tracking down bounties, upgrading their ship, and more, all in service of gaining more and more fame. Regardless of the path you take to get there, your goal is to gain ten fame, which can come from a variety of sources, such as completing your character's personal goal, collecting on bounties and jobs, delivering illegal cargo, taking down patrols from the various factions struggling over the galaxy, and enjoying the finer things in life by purchasing luxury items with your hard-earned credits.

"While the path to victory may be different for scoundrels finding their way in the Outer Rim, everyone starts from the bottom with a simple starship. Your player board not only tracks your fame progress, but also contains slots for your ship, your character card, gear, reputation, modifications, jobs, and bounties." 

If you wanna know more, feel free to dive into the Jedi holocron of knowledge that it the game's full ruleset right here.

SESSION PLAY-THROUGH (8-FAME MATCH)

Han starts things off. He's currently flying a relatively crappy G9 Rigger, which has a base speed of 6, augmented with a +2 thanks to the cocky smuggler's special ability. Laden down with cargo, Han races across the galaxy, travelling eight spaces from Lothal to Tatooine. Still stuck in deep space, Han decides to sensor scan the region. Unfortunately, this alerts a Hutt patrol to his presence! In the ensuing skirmish, Han rolls 2 Focus results versus a Crit by the Hutts! This results in a "defeat" right out of the gate, so Han loses 3000 credits, discards the Secret concealed under his character card and ends his turn! Yikes! The Outer Rim is a tough place, yo!

As for Bossk, he started the game with a bounty for Dr. Evazan's gnarled head. He starts the search effort by guiding his G-1A Starfighter to the Ring of Kafrene. Before looking for the (not) good Doctor in earnest, the Trandoshan hits up the local markets, discarding a Jet Pack on the top of the Gear Deck and revealing an Armored Vest, which he buys for 3000 credits. This moves the Imperial Fleet patrol three spaces, which ends up in the same system. Mercifully, Bossk doesn’t have a negative reputation with the Imperials...yet! During the Encounter Step, the bounty hunter attempts to Encounter the white token in the same space, but it turns out to be Garindan. Since Bossk has neither a negative Imperial reputation or a positive Rebel reputation, the Strength Test is ignored. Thinking that the snout-nosed Kubaz spy might be helpful in tracking down Evazan, Bossk hires him for 2000 credits.

Having barely survived his encounter with the Hutt gank squad, Han uses his Planning Step to repair the damage to his ship. Since he didn’t move, he once again dares to scan the sector of space he's in. He discovers the Rebel Patrol that drove the Hutts away and saved his ass. With one of the Rebel ships damaged in the fracas, Solo offers to use his Tech knowledge to help them. He rolls two Hits, repairs the problem and gains a positive reputation among the Rebels!

Meanwhile, Bossk continues to scour the galaxy looking for Garindan, using his Planning Step to fly to Naboo. Now that he's completely out of money, the Trandoshan decides to take on another bounty. Plot twist: that new bounty turns out to be Garindan! At the same time, the Imperial Patrol continues to shadow him, but since they still don't have any dirt on the bounty hunter, they leave him be. Naturally, Bossk immediately turn on Garindan but he rolls zero Hits. The spy, on the other hand, rolls a Crit, wins the firefight and Bossk takes 2 points of damage. By the time Bossk "comes to" his quarry has fled the scene and is already on a charter ship back to the Ring of Kafrene. Undaunted, Bossk encounters a Contact Token on Naboo, which turns out to be a Black Sun Agent. The bounty hunter rolls a Crit on his subsequent Influence Test, adding the Agent to his crew!

Han's ship finally limps into Mos Eisley spaceport on Tatooine. He delivers the long-delayed Moisture Vaporators, gaining 5000 credits in the process. Impressed by the windfall, he decides to take on another Cargo Job, this time for a Food Supply job cargo which pays 1000 credits. At the same time, however, the Hutts manage to track Han back to Tatooine! In the subsequent Encounter, Han rolls one Crit and one regular Hit while the Hutts only roll one. This is enough to defeat the Hutt death squad, so he gains 5000 credits for eliminating his rivals! Unfortunately, this raises the ire of the Hutts and they send out an even deadlier patrol to seek revenge!

Bossk wisely decides to abandon his pursuit of Garindan, choosing instead to take on some odd jobs for 2000 credits. He also picks up a Job Card called "Rescue from the Mines". In doing so, the Syndicate Patrol token moves three spaces towards the bounty hinter. Bossk then decides to take advantage of his neutral Imperial reputation and explore Naboo. After stumbling upon a suspicious late night gathering in an alley near Theed Palace, he attempts to Test Knowledge. Unfortunately, all of his rolls are Focus results, so the Skill Test fails but he keeps the card for the matching Secret.

Hoping to bury the ol' vibroaxe with a Hutts before things get completely out of hand, Han jets off to Nal Hutta, which is just two parsecs away. There he delivers the Food Supplies, collecting 5000 credits and gaining one positive Reputation with his former enemies, so that now he's on neutral ground with them. The savvy smuggler then takes a Market Action, opting for another Cargo Job. He then invests 2000 credits in some Smuggling Compartments, which he immediately installs. Now that the heat is off of him, Han explores Nal Hutta, eventually encountering a group of bounty hunters looking for Secrets or Bounties. Since Solo has neither, the encounter is turfed without effect.

Bossk departs Naboo, making the long journey towards Kessel. En route he decides to encounter his current nav point. With no patrol in the same space and a neutral Syndicate reputation, Bossk is privy to a distress call from a ship trapped inside of a giant space slug! He rolls a Tech test, getting one Focus and one Hit. Unfortunately, since he’s unskilled in Tech, this is a failure and his ship suffers three points of damage. Yikes!

Han putters around, doing odd jobs and earning 2000 credits in the process. He then picks up a Stolen Weapons Cargo Job, which involves a 2000 credit down payment. This activates the Imperial Patrol, which moves three spaces towards him. He then pokes around Nal Hutta a bit more, and discovers *surprise, surprise* that there’s an active bounty for Hondo Ohnahka.

Given the chance to to track down Dr. Evazan on Tatooine, Bossk decides to pop down there while he's headed to Kessel. First up he performs his Character Action, which is allows him to recover damage on both himself and his ship. Hearing that there's a Cargo Job destined for Kessel, he drops the 2000 credit purchase cost to cram these Stolen Supplies away in his ship's hold. This prompts the Syndicate Patrol to move three spaces in his direction. He then investigates the white Contact Token there...which turns out to be Dr. Evazan! Unfortunately, Bossk totally whiffs his combat roll, scoring zero hits. Naturally, Evazan scores 2 Crits (!) on his counter attack for a net 4 damage (!!!).  Mercifully, Bossk's Armored Vest saves his life!

Han jets over to Tatooine and attempts to deliver his Stolen Weapons. Unfortunately, he rolls a Crit where he needed a regular Hit, so he has to resolve Card #1. He rolls a single Hit with that card, so there’s no effect. Han escapes detection and decides to bide his time, immersing himself in the local underground scene. In his subsequent Influence Test, he rolls one Crit and resolves card number 40. As it turns out, Han can't resist the temptation of a sabacc match against Bossk. Unfortunately, the Corellian rolls no Crits and Bossk instantly sees through this comically-bad hand. Skilled in Tactics, Bossk rolls two Crits and handily wins the card game. This entitles the Trandoshan to either take 6000 credits from the other player or a trade ship sheets with him. Naturally, he opts to take the money, which mercifully ends another disastrous turn for Solo!

Deciding that he needs more firepower to deal with these pesky bounties, Bossk scrounges up an additional 2000 credits by performing some local gigs. During the Action Step, he resolves his own Personal Action to heal 2 damage from himself and one from his ship. Then, after dropping a sizable 8000 credits on an MPL 57 Grenade Launcher, he heads back out to find Evazan. As a side note, acquiring this weapon prompts a Rebel Patrol to land on Tatooine. In the subsequent scrap, Bossk rolls 3 Hits and 1 Crit while Evazan just rolls 1 Hit. After subduing his quarry, Bossk takes him prisoner.

As for poor Han, he can’t seem to catch a break. He spends his Planning Step doing odd jobs in an attempt to make up some of the money he lost in the sabacc match. In his Action Step, he attempts to unload the Illegal Cargo still sitting in his ship's hold. He rolls a Blank but, thanks to his Smuggling Compartments, this lets him turn the blank into the Hit needed to successfully deliver the cargo. This  earns him 7000 credits and one Fame! Emboldened by this, he pays the 1000 credits required to take on a Coaxium Cargo Job destined for nearby Ryloth. This moves the Imperial Patrol four spaces, and they land on the desert planet. Things are getting hot...in more ways than one! Having finally learned his lesson, Han decides to keep a low profile for the rest of his turn

NOTE: Ham Salad action figure not included!

Anxious to get paid, Bossk jets off to Kessel. In deep space, he decides to scan around his current nav point. He intercepts a transmission intended for someone else, quietly banks this Secret and keeps on truckin'.

NOTE: kick ass Bossk figure not included.

Han flies two nav points to Ryloth during his Planning Step. During his Action Step he delivers the Coaxial Crystal, gaining 5000 credits and one positive Imperial Reputation. While on Ryloth, he hears rumors of a used ship for sale, which turns out to be a battered YT 1300 light freighter. He immediately pays the whopping 20,000 credit asking price. Sure she’s a bit beat up, coming to him with three damage, but it also fulfills Han's Personal Goal, which is to have a ship valued at 15,000 credits or more. He earns one Fame and flips his card to the "Skilled" side. Thrilled by this turn of good fortune, Han decides to take on a Bacta Supply job. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the 1000 credit investment to accommodate it. Although it pains him to do it, he sells his Smuggling Compartments to accommodate the cargo. This moves the Hutt patrol three spaces in his direction.

After Bossk arrives on Kessel he rolls 1 Hit, delivering his Stolen Supplies, earning him 1 Fame and 7000 credits. After taking a Character Action to recover 2 damage to himself. He then takes a Market Action, investing 1000 credits to pick up Salvage Card, which moves the Rebel Patrol four spaces in his direction. Then, during the Encounter Phase, he attempts to rescue a local governor's son who fell in with an unsavory crowd and found himself in the spice mines. This requires Bossk to test Knowledge to locate an alternate entrance, but he fails to roll the required Crit. This leads to Plan B: going in guns a-blazin' versus the pike sentinel guards. Armed with his grenade launcher, he rolls five dice and gets six hits...two regular and two Crits! The Guards dice up three hits in reply: one Crit and one regular. He defeats the guards but also takes three damage in return, nearly dying in the process. He currently has 4 damage but, thanks for his Armored Vest, he's still alive! Unfortunately, the door to the prisoner's cell is so corroded with rust he needs to roll a Strength test to open it. The one Hit he generates is just enough, which lets him spring the prisoner and make good his escape. He gains 8000 credits and one Fame, but also loses favor with the Syndicate. Note: in a strange twist, having a Black Sun agent on board earns him a bonus 2000 credits for this venture.

After series of rough bounces, Han decides to just heal all of his damage and repair his new ship during the Planning Step. Feeling refreshed, Han then takes a Market Step, taking on a job called  Rooting Out Spies for his ol' buddy Maz Kanata. This moves the Hutt patrol three spaces in his direction and they touch down on Ryloth. While passing by a junk pile he comes across a wrecked IG-type battle droid. After re-activating it, Han learns that the droid was a former bodyguard. He attempts to reprogram the thing using Tech and rolls a Hit! The droid joins the crew, adding +2 Strength as well as the matching attribute.

Knowing that piloting isn't his strong suit, Bossk eschews travelling via the Maelstrom, choosing instead to depart Kessel via the traditional nav points. He then uses his Ability Action to heal two points of damage. It’s a darn good thing that Trandoshans can regenerate! Rested up a bit, he decides to chance an encounter with his current location. His scans reveal a derelict transport that's completely abandoned. Bossk salvages the cargo, taking a hit to his reputation with the Hutts, so now he's neutral with them.

Blasting off in the newly re-dubbed Millenium Falcon, Hanuses the nine (!) movement points at his disposal to move all the way from Ryloth to Takodana. Looking to help out Maz, Han spends 1000 credits to hire someone who's adept in local knowledge. In the subsequent test, Han must pass an Influence check. Although he rolls one Hit, he;s unskilled, which means he needed a Crit, so this is a failure. The information broker betrays Han and her minions try to murder him for poking around. In the resulting shoot-out, the smuggler gets a surprising three Hits and the goons roll two. He wins the fight, taking only a single damage in the process. The contact tries to flee, but Han's local connection knows a shortcut through the hideout's basement. The resulting Knowledge Test scores a Hit, just enough to pass through without damage. They catch up to her, resulting in a running firefight. Han fires from a distance, scoring a single Hit on his first attempt. Unfortunately, that’s not enough...he needs a Crit! The same result happens on the second attempt, so he takes another damage, but the third time's the charm! He takes down the spy, completes the job, discards the hired help, and then gains 5000 credits and one Fame!

After Bossk touches down on Mon Calamari, he delivers the Salvage, gaining 5000 credits and one Rebel reputation. He also delivers Dr. Evazan to the authorities, scoring a whopping 10,000 credits and a Fame. Once again, his Personal Action pays off and he heals two damage. Positively rolling in cash, Bossk decides to take a Market Action, picking up a 3000 credit nav-computer which will add 1 to his ship speed. Unfortunately, he's still 1000 credits shy of his personal goal, which is to have at least one mod and two gear with a combined cost of 15,000. After deciding to check out the local space port, he bumps into a Wookiee bounty hunter by the name of Black Krrsantan. Not only is Bossk fresh out of active bounties to share with him, the Trandoshan's reputation of being a wookiee-slayer sparks a fight. Bossk rolls a grand total of three Hits and one Crit while his rival only scores two Hits. Although the wookiee is defeated and removed from the game, Bossk gets nothing for the kill. BOOO! C'mon, that's gotta be worth at least a Fame point!

Han decides to spend the first part of his turn healing three damage. He then heads off to the Market, picking up a DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol for 3000 credits. This moves the Syndicate Patrol three spaces in his direction. Before shipping out, Han explores Takoana a little bit. As it turns out, Imperials have been sniffing around the system and Maz accuses Han of bringing them there. He takes a hit to his reputation with the Impies just to stay in her good graces, which allows him to resolve a new card involving a clandestine meeting with a code breaker. Sensing that he's getting in way over his head, Han decides to step back a bit.

Now on a roll, Bossk jets off to Cantonica, which is 5 parsecs away. After regenerating 2 damage during the Action Phase, the Trandoshan attempts to offload his illegal Stolen Cargo. Unfortunately, he doesn’t roll a Hit, which results in some "unwanted attention." Since he rolled the Focus symbol, he overhears that the Rebellion is in desperate need for the cargo he's looking to sell. He callously disregards their plea, choosing to deliver it elsewhere. This causes him to lose one Rebel Reputation, but the goods are moved and the resulting 7000 credits are banked.

Han decides to stay on Takodana for one more turn, collecting 2000 credits by doing some odd jobs for Maz. He decides to cycle the Market Deck, revealing a Vibroknife, which he decides not to take. Instead, he accepts a job for the Hutts, which involves hijacking a merchant freighter. This moves the Syndicate Patrol three spaces in his direction. During the Encounter Step, he decides to hang out at Takodona Castle, bumping into Bib Fortuna while he's there. Han tells the majordomo about Bossk's past transgressions against Jabba, which causes his rival to lose one Hutt reputation.

After pursuing some odd jobs on Cantonica, Bossk cycles the Ship Deck. By some wonderful coincidence, the next vessel turns out to be a YV-666 Light Freighter, which he immediately purchases! He decides to celebrate his new ride, re-dubbed the Hound's Tooth, by hitting the town. He finds himself embroiled in a game of chance in a run-down sector the city. Feeling lucky, the bounty hunter drops a 2000 credit bet and rolls the chance cubes. Sure enough, he gets a success...netting him a cool 5000 credits. Everything's comin' up Milhou...er, Bossk!

Han jets off to the Ring of Kafrene. Before tackling the hijacking job, he to scare up some additional  crew. He decides to cycle the Job Deck, revealing a card called "Hutt Favor", turfing the bounty on Hondo in the process. This also moves the Hutt Patrol four spaces. Undaunted by his skeleton crew, Han proceeds with the hijacking job. First up, a single Hit ensures that the Falcon docks with her prey without a hitch. Once onboard, they need to remove an access panel to try and slice the freighter's computer. Fortunately, the IG unit rolls one Hit on its Strength check, which is more than enough to succeed. Now it's Han's turn to shine! Unfortunately, his Tech roll results in back-to-back Focus results: a failure! This sets off an alarm and the Falcon suffers a point of damage in the resulting chaos. Desperate to flee, Han tries to blow up the docking clamps now holding his ship in place. He manages to roll a Crit, freeing the Falcon while accruing no extra damage.Things get even worse when a Black Sun escort fighter shows up and attacks the Falcon. Han's gunner generates only a single Hit on 4 dice but the attacking fighter delivers a punishing Crit and single Hit for a total of 3 damage! The Falcon gets away, but, sadly, the job is a complete bust.

Bossk continues to loiter around Cantonica, collecting 2000 credits for various odd jobs. He then sells his Armored Vest for a 3000 credit, um...credit to buy a Vibroknife for 1000 credits. This allows him to complete his Personal Goal, so he flips over his Character Card and scores one Fame in the process. This also moves the Syndicate Patrol 4 spaces in his direction. He then opts to explore Cantonica, crossing paths with the protocol-droid-turned-bounty hunter 4-LOM. He decides to spend the 3000 credits to hire the merc, just to gain the Tactics skill and +1 to ground combat.

Ask for Han, he's forced to burn his Planning Step in order to repair all of the damage to the Falcon. Looking to increase his odds, he pays 5000 credits to install an Ion Cannon on the ship. He then doggedly attempts to tackle the job again. After Han's flawless Piloting check, the IG-unit's Strength test is bungled, resulting in the Falcon taking a point of damage. Han rebounds with a Crit on his Tech check, slicing the computer like buttah. In the subsequent dogfight, Han rolls two Crits and two regular Hits for a total of six damage. The Black Sun escort fighter rolls one Critical and one regular Hit, the latter of which is cancelled by the Ion Cannon, so it's a net two damage. Han wins the combat and finally completes the job, collecting 5000 credits and scoring well-earned bump in Hutt Reputation as well as +1 Fame.

Bossk jets off to Lothal, which is five parsecs away. He decides to hit up the Market, getting a bounty for Greedo. This prompts the Hutt patrol to move four spaces in his direction. He then checks out the  green contact on that space, who turns out to be Boshek. The bounty hunter decides to drop the 2000 credits required to hire the expert Pilot, giving him the matching skill.

Once again, Han spends his Planning Phase repairing the damage to the Millennium Falcon. He spends the rest of his turn prospecting for a Targeting Computer Mod, which moves the Rebel Patrol three spaces in his direction. He then explores the local underground, running into a starship "hot rodder", who offers the top three cards of the Market Deck, including some sweet Maneuvering Thrusters and a Quad Laser Cannon. Unfortunately, due to his painful lack of funds, the destitute Corellian has to pass.

Bossk continues to chill out on Lothal, acting as temporary muscle for a local crime lord to collect 2000 credits. Unbeknownst to Boshek, the ruthless Trandoshan hears about a bounty on his co-pilot's head and immediately turns on his ally. Bossk starts this capture attempt armed with  his Grenade Launcher, a Vibroknife and backup from 4-LOM. He rolls of grand total of four Hits and one Crit hit for a total of six while the surprised Boshek can only manage 1. As a result, he's captured.

Han manages to scrounge up 2000 credits while loitering around Kafrene. He then cycles the Cargo Deck, spending 1000 to accommodate some Food Supplies. This also moves the Hutt Patrol four spaces in his direction. They touch down in the same system but Han currently enjoys a positive reputation with the Hutts, so it's all good. He then resolves an Encounter Card, getting into conversation with a local *a-hem* jizz wailer (look it up) who claims to be "the most famous musician in this corner of the galaxy." He offers to write a song detailing the smuggler's exploits, but since Han isn't technically the most famous character right now, it's gonna cost him. Begrudgingly, Han pawns off his blaster to come up with the 8000 credits required for payment. It's a solid investment, though, scoring him a much-needed Fame. He's now at 6!

The Hound's Tooth has just enough movement required to make landfall on Nal Hutta. He immediately delivers Boshek, gaining 8000 credits and bringing his Fame up to seven. In a bid to get the eighth and final Fame point to win, Bossk cycles the Luxury deck. He passes up the Undercover Agent card, opting instead to pay 2000 credits to take on some Stolen Weapons, hoping to cart them off to Tatooine next turn. This moves the Imperial Patrol three spaces in his direction. They arrive on Nal Hutta, but since he has a neutral reputation with them, everything is copacetic. Bossk then bumped into local alien dudebro Ponda Baba. With a successful Strength test, the Aqualish goon is put into his place and, suitably Beta-cucked, he joins the Trandoshan's crew.

Between the Millennium Falcon's obscene speed and Han's special ability, he gets all the way to Nal Hutta on one turn! The smuggler then delivers the Food Supplies, collecting 5000 credits and re-enforcing his positive reputation with the Hutts. This also completes his Ship Goal since he has two Mods and just delivered a Cargo! It’s now a race to see who gets that final Fame point! After cycling the Job Deck, Han learns of Jabba's Hidden Stash which moves the Hutt Patrol three spaces in his direction. He then decides to poke around on Nal Hutta, passing up an open bounty on a Black Sun agent.

As if there's nothing to it, Bossk flies his Illegal Cargo to Tatooine, unloads it with an effortless Hit roll, collects 7000 credits and gains one more Fame for the win!

REVIEW

PROS

• I like the Outer Rim map board and the recessed ship control panels. The latter is particularly sweet since your trackers won't fly all over hell and/or creation if someone mistakenly bumps into the table.
• The rules are remarkably clear and intuitive and I didn't spend a metric crap ton of time looking stuff up.
• Of course, I'm gonna compare this to both Firefly and Merchants & Marauders and, frankly, I think it beats both of them handily! Both of those games have a tendency to come to a screeching halt during the "Aim to Disobey" actions in the former and combats in the latter; a situation that's completely remedied in Outer Rim. In addition, the patrol system here is very elegant and doesn't require a ton of book-keeping. Another point: even when you're floating around in deep space, you still can get into misadventures, so it feels as if your turn is wasted. Put it this way: I'm seriously thinking of turfing both of those other titles!  Frankly, I think the only other game that holds a candle to it is probably Xia with the expansions. 
• My session reports shows just how thematic the game can be. 
• Between the ships, mods, characters, crew, equipment and jobs there's a decent variety here.
• The balance seems pretty decent to me, at least with these two characters. Despite Han getting consistently kicked in the space-cubes, he still only lost by one Fame! 

CONS   

• Given that most of the cards are without art and, even less forgivable, we don't get any ship models ("BOOOO!!!"), clearly the price point is high just because the words "STAR" and "WARS" are plastered all over the box. I subbed in minis from the old WOTC Star Wars Miniatures game, 'cuz I just thought anything else was a travesty. 
• The game abstracts a lot of stuff, which may annoy a certain segment of hardcore gamers. Personally, after gnashing my teeth at the design failures that hobble it's competitors, I'd prefer breezy over chrome-y with a title like this.

*** 

With it's planet-hopping pace, rich thematic content and no shortage of tough scrapes to get in and out of, Outer Rim scores five pips outta six, with a tilt up towards the top of Chewbacca's furry pate! 

IMPORTANT RULES TO REMEMBER

• After you buy a card from a Market Deck, reveal the top card. If there is a Patrol Movement Icon on the revealed card, you must move that Patrol. This is not triggered if the top card is discarded for some reason.
• Patrols move towards the player who revealed it along the shortest path. They can move through the Maelstrom. 
• Planets with Faction Icons on them typically allow you to gain Reputation with that particular Faction or reward you for having a positive reputation with them.  
• The back of Encounter Cards also shows the most common reward that appears on those cards.
• If a Contact is not discarded it remains on the board where any player may Encounter it. 
• Above every Job Card's Name is a list of Skills that will be tested, with anything in italics indicating that a failure on this attribute will cause the Job itself to fail. 
• Use the color on the Bounty Card to match Contact Tokens to avoid wasted searches.
• If the revealed Contact Token matched your Bounty Card, you don't draw its Database Card, you can choose to Fight it. If you win the combat but are also Defeated, you can still either Eliminate or Capture the Contact. 
• Remove the Contact Token from the game when it's Delivered or Eliminated. Also remove the Bounty Card from the game after you gain the reward.

"If It's Not Scottish...It's CRAP!" - Glen More II: Chronicles

So, a few Cabin Cons ago I had a chance to play the original Glen More by Matthias Cramer. Immediately smitten by the game, I declared that I'd be ordering it as soon as I got home.

"I hate to tell you this but the English version is out of print," Andrew replied. "The German version is still available, though."

After exhausting every avenue to hunt down an English copy of the game through my discount channels, I took a long, hard look at the German version. But as soon as I saw the names printed on the tiles, I knew I wasn't going to buy it.

"How can I be swept up in the Scottish theme when the villages are called 'dorfs'," I remember muttering to myself.

Soooo this pretty much killed my interest in procuring a copy of Glen More. Fortunately Andrew was there to spark my hope.

"Don't give up yet," he assured me. "I've heard rumors that they're reprinting it!"

Thankfully he was right. Cramer and his new publisher Funtails have brought the game back in a deluxe new incarnation that features completely re-vamped art, several new base game elements as well as eight (!) mini-expansions, all for around seventy bucks online!

So, what's this thing about? Well, here's the game's appropriately-beefy description from Tha Geek:

"Glen More II: Chronicles is a sequel to Glen More, expanding the gameplay substantially compared to the original game.

"In Glen More II: Chronicles, each player represents the leader of a Scottish clan from the early medieval ages until the 19th century, a leader looking to expand their territory and wealth. The success of your clan depends on your ability to make the right decision at the right time, be it by creating a new pasture for your livestock, growing barley for whisky production, selling your goods on the various markets, or gaining control of special landmarks such as lochs and castles.

"The game lasts four rounds, represented by four stacks of tiles. After each round, a scoring phase takes place in which players compare their number of whisky casks, scotsmen in the home castle, landmark cards, and persons against the player with the fewest items in each category and receives victory points (VPs) based on the relative difference. After four rounds, additional VPs are awarded for gold coins and some landmarks while VP penalties are assessed based on territory size, comparing each player's territory to the smallest one in play.

"The core mechanism of Glen More II: Chronicles and Glen More functions the same way: The last player in line takes a tile from a time track, advancing as far as they wish on this track. After paying the cost, they place this tile in their territory, with this tile activating itself and all neighboring tiles, triggering the production of resources, movement points, VPs, etc. Then the player who is last in line takes their turn.

"Improvements over the original Glen More include bigger tiles, better materials, new artwork, the ability for each player to control the end of the game, and balancing adjustments to the tiles for a better suspense curve. The game is designed to consist of one-third known systems, one-third new mechanisms, and one-third improvements to Glen More. The "Chronicles" in the title, a set of eight expansions to the base game, are a major part of these new mechanisms. Each Chronicle adds a new gameplay element to the base game. 

"Another major change to the game is the ability to invest in famous Scottish people of the time, who are represented through a new 'person' tile type. Persons not only have their own scoring, they also trigger one-time or ongoing effects on the tactical clan board. This adds a new layer of decision making, especially since the ongoing effects allow players to focus on a personal strategy of winning through the use of the clan board."   

Looking to unite all of the MacRules under the MacBanner of Clan MacBrain? Click on the following link to venture in the Highlands of knowledge!

***

TWO PLAYER GAME PLAY-THROUGH

Clan Red advances to Ratharsair, placing the tile just below her starting village. Karen then uses the  Movement Point she generated to shift her Scotsman into her Home Castle. The newly-acquired tile generates 1 Barley and a new tile is added to the rondel.

Clan Blue advances to Abernethy, and Ewan places the tile just north of his starting village. After using the resulting Movement Point to send his Scotsman packing off to his Home Castle, the newly-cleared forest produces 1 Wood and a tile is added to the end of the rondel.

The bot-die is rolled and comes up "2", which eliminates Bo Ghaidhealach. A new tile is added to the end of the track and the turn passes back to Clan Red.

Karen with Clan Red advances to Ballachulish, which she places just to the south of her Home Castle. Ratharsair produces 1 Barley and her brand new quarry produces 1 Stone. Finally, a new tile is added to the end of the rondel.

Clan Blue advances to Kerry and places the tile just to the north of his Home Castle. After Abernethy produces 1 Wood and Kerry produces 1 Sheep, Ewan adds a new tile to the end of the rondel.

The Red Clan claims Inshriach and places it to the right of Ballachulish. After Karen gets 1 Barley (the tile max), 1 Stone and 1 Wood, she adds a new tile to the end of the track.

The die is rolled it comes up "1", which strikes out Balvenie. This is replaced by a new tile at the end of the rondel.

Ewan with Clan Blue hooks up with Robert the Bruce, who introduces him to Clan McKenzie, earning him a free Barley (placed in his Home Castle) and 1 cask of Whiskey, which starts his supply. A new tile is then added to the end of the track.

A die rolls a "3" turfs Iona Marble. A replacement tile is then added to the rondel.

This exhausts the "A" stack of tiles, and a scoring round begins. Both clans have an equal number of Scotsman in their Home Castle, so that’s wash. Both have 0 Landmark Cards, so that’s also ignored. Clan Blue has one more Whiskey cask then Clan Red and subsequently scores 1 Victory Point. Clan Blue also has one more Person Tile, which nets them another point!

After selling 1 Barley for 1 Coin, Clan Red skips ahead to meet with William Wallace, who gets her in tight with Clan Chisholm. After this newly-acquired Scotsman is parachuted into Ballachulish, she adds 1 Barley to her Home Castle as well as a new tile in the rondel.

Clan Blue shifts one space ahead on the rondel to take Achfary, placing it just to the left of his starting Village. This adds a new Scotsman to that tile as well as 1 Wood to neighboring Abernathy, maxing out its capacity. A new tile from the "B" stack is then added to the rondel.

It’s still Ewan's turn, so he advances to Aberfoyle, placing the tile just east of Kerry, which adds a second Sheep to that tile. Aberfoyle's trade ability then kicks in, so the two Sheep go back into the supply for 4 Victory Points. After a Movement Point is used to shift a Scotsman in the Home Castle north to Kerry, a new tile is added to the end of the rondel.

Clan Red pays 1 Wood, 1 Stone and 1 Barley for Donan Castle, which is placed to the east of the  Home Castle. A new Scotsman appears on this tile and Karen collects the corresponding Location Card. This lets her parley with Clan Monroe and retrieve the Bo Ghaidhealach tile, which she drops in just south of Raitharsair, generating 1 Cattle, 1 Barley and 1 Stone. A new tile is then added to the end of the rondel.

The die comes up "2", which jettisons Loch Lochy and adds a new tile to the end of the rondel.

Next up Clan Blue sells a Wood for one Coin. They then advance to Drumbeg, placing the tile just to the north of Kerry. After a new kilted meeple is placed on that tile, the Scotsman in Kerry a Movement Point to head back to the Home Castle. Then 1 Wood is placed in Abernethy, 1 Sheep is dropped in Kerry and 2 Coins are paid to get a Cattle. The Cattle and 1 Sheep go back to the supply for 4 more Veeps. Finally, a new "B" tile is added to the end of the rondel.

It's still Clan Blue's turn so they advance to Glen Mhor, paying 1 Barley to place the distillery just north of Abernethy. This adds 2 casks of Whiskey to Ewan's supply! This also Activates Abernethy, but there’s no room for the extra Wood. After a new Sheep is added to Kerry, a new tile is placed at the end of the rondel.

The die eliminates Castle Stalker on a roll of "2" but then a replacement tile is added to the rondel.

Robert Stewart introduces Karen to Clan Gunn, which nets her 1 Cattle and 1 Sheep, which are placed on her starting Village and Castle respectively. A new tile from stack "B" is added to the rondel.

It’s still Clan Red's turn so they advance to Pulteney, which is slotted in just south of Ballachulish. Karen settles up, paying 1 Stone which earns Clan Red 1 Whiskey barrel. Karen then uses the Pulteney tile to magically transmogrify 1 of her Barleys into Whiskey. Then the Scotsman-adjacent tiles Activate, so she also collects 1 Cattle from  Bo Ghaidhealach, 1 Barley via Ratharsair, 1 Stone mined from Ballachulish and 1 Wood hacked down from Inshriach! Wow, what a haul! A new "B" tile is then added to the end of the rondel.

Clan Blue selects Culbockie and places the tile to the north of Aberfoyle. After that tile generates 1 Barley and Kerry births a Sheep, Aberfoyle returns 2 Sheep to supply for 4 more Victory Points. A new tile is then added to the end of the rondel.

The die comes up "1", eliminating Galloway but then a new tile is added to the end of the track.

Karen heads off to Loch Shiel, placing it just west of her starting village. After plunking a new Scotsman down on that tile, she adds 1 Whiskey to Clan Red's supply. The resulting 1 Movement Point diverts a Scotsman from Ballachulish to Pulteney and Ratharsair gets 1 Barley, but it's maxed! A new tile is then added to the end of the rondel.

After spending a whopping 3 Coins to get a Cattle and 2 more to get a Stone, Ewan then discards both of them, along with 1 Lumber, to claim Duart Castle, which he sets up just east of his Home Castle. After adding a Scotsman to that space and the corresponding Location Card to his supply, Ewan gets 1 Coin back and 2 more monies after he befriends Clan MacLeod. A new tile is then added to the end of the rondel.

A die roll of "2" turfs Lochridge and a new tile is added to the rondel.

Clan Rouge advances to Tomintoul Fair, paying 1 Wood to place it just east of Donan Castle. This generates 1 Wood from Inshriach. One Cattle, Wood and Stone are returned back to supply to generate a respectable 6 Victory Points via the newly-placed trade tile. Finally a new tile is added to the end of the track.

Clan Blue advances to Glaikmore, paying 1 Wood to overlay the tile on top of Culbockie. With the resulting Movement Point, the Scotsman in Duart Castle moves into his Home Castle and a Barley is added to Glaikmore. A new tile from stack "B" is then added to the rondel.

Clan Red lays claim to Cheviot, placing the tile just west of Loch Shiel, gaining a Sheep in the process. The final "B" tile is added to the rondel, so the game is paused again for scoring.

Clan Blue has one more Scotsdude in his home castle than Red, so he scores 1 Victory Point. Red has one more Landmark Card than Blue so Karen gets a Veep. She also has tied for Whiskey barrels so no more points there. Finally, Clan Red has one more Person Tile than her rival and scores another single Victory Point. The tables are turning!

The die roll comes up "2", removing Loch Lochy and adding the first "C" tile to the end of the rondel.

Clan Red selects Elgin, placing the tile just south of Loch Shiel. Subsequently, Cheviot gets 1 Sheep and the starting Village generates a Movement Point, so the Scotsman in Donan Castle moves to Tomintoul Fair. Ratharsair would get Barley but it's maxed out. Bo Ghaidhealach generates 1 Cattle and, after Elgin is Activated, the 2 Sheep and 1 Cattle are sent back to supply for a whopping 7 Victory Points. A new "C" tile is then added to the end of the track.

After Blue meets Mary Stuart, she introduces Ewan to David Hume via Clan McKay for 2 Coins. A new tile is then added to the end of the rondel.

A "2" on the die eliminates Halkirk and a replacement tile is added to the end of the track.

Clan Red pays 1 Cattle and 1 Sheep to overlay Inverness on her starting Village. This lets Karen place a new Scots(person) on that tile and nets her the Inverness Location Card, which, in turn, adds 1 Barley to the new tile and a Whiskey cask to her supply. This also generates 2 Movement Points, so the new occupant of Inverness treks over to the Home Castle. This also generates 1 Stone in Ballachulish and would give 1 Barley to Ratharsair but it's capped out. Unfortunately, Karen doesn't have any of the livestock required to activate Elgin, so she just adds a new tile to the end of the rondel.

It’s still Clan Red's turn so she's off to meet with Fionnghal nic Dhomhnaill. Try saying that five times real quick! Karen pays 1 Coin to pick up some drive-thru haggis for Clan McDonell, which lets her Activate one Material Tile and 1 Whiskey tile. After she collects 1 Stone in Ballachulish, Pulteney lets her transfer 1 Barley into a Whiskey keg! After that amazing turn, a new tile is added to the end of the rondel.

After the die knocks out James II, a new random tile is randomly selected to replace on the rondel.

Clan Blue leaps ahead, placing Dunface just north of Achfary. The new tile produces 1 Sheep, Abernethy gets 1 Wood and a new "C" tile is placed at the end of the track.

Karen guides Clan Red to Clachaig Inn, paying 1 Whiskey barrel to construct it just south of Tomintoul Fair. This generates 2 Victory Points but it also Activates Inshriach for 1 lumber and triggers the Fair. This lets her trade in 1 Barley, 1 Stone and 1 Wood for 6 more Victory Points. A new "C" tile is then added to the rondel.

A die roll of "1" means that Rothiemurchus is discarded and a new tile is placed on the rondel board.

Clan Blue advances to Kenmore Fair, paying 1 Wood and plopping it down just to the north of Drumbeg. After growing 1 Barley, he trades this in, along with 1 Sheep, to score 4 more Victory Points. A new tile is then added to the end of the rondel.

A die roll of "2" lands on and eliminates Dornie. A new tile from the "C" stack is then added to the rondel.

Clan Red pays 1 Coin for 1 Barley and 1 Coin for 1 lumber and then spends 1 Stone to claim Armadale Castle, which she constructs south of Inshriach. After adding a new Scotswoman to that tile, she collects the matching Location Card. Spurned on by a Movement Point, the Scotsman in Loch Shiel travels to Elgin. Karen then gets 2 Victory Points from Activating Clachaig Inn as well as 1 lumber for Inshriach and 1 Stone for Ballachulish. Unfortunately, the trade ability on Pulteney still has no fuel. Karen ends her turn by adding a new new tile to the rondel.

Since Karen is still further back on the track, she goes again, this time opting for Iona Abbey, paying 1 Wood to overlay the tile on top of Inshriach. This tile immediately Activates, generating 1 resource of her choice, so she opts for Cattle. She immediately sells this "harry kew" for 3 Coins! This also generates 3 Movement Points, so the Scotsman in Pulteney schleps all the way over to her Home Castle. After collecting another 2 Veeps from Clachaig Inn, she spends 2 Coins on both lumber and Barley to give all this stuff (plus her remaining Stone) back to supply for 6 more Victory Points via Tomintoul Fair. After this stellar turn she adds a new tile to the end of the track.

Clan Blue starts his turn by selling 1 Barley for 2 Coins. He then drops 3 Coins for a single Sheep so he can buy Soay and overlay it on Abernethy. In the resulting Activations, 1 Sheep is added to both Dunface and Kerry and 1 Cattle is added to Soay. Finally, a new "C" tile is added to the rondel.

The die is rolled and comes up "1", so the Muir of Ord is sent packing. Since the die is still in last place, it’s rolled again and this time it comes up "2" which discards Ayrshire. Two tiles are then added to the board, including the "World's End" tile which triggers a scoring round!

Red has 3 Scotsman versus Blue's 2 Scotsman in their respective Home Castles so Karen earns a Victory Point. Red has 4 Landmark Cards to Blue's 1 so, with a difference of 3, she gains 3 more Victory Points. Clan Red has 1 more Whiskey barrel than Blue, which earns her 1 more Victory Point. Finally Clan Blue has 4 Person Tiles versus Red's 3, so they score a single Victory Point.

Looking to put the nail in the coffin, Clan Red advances all the way to Charles I. They then spend 1 Coin to break bread with Clan Sutherland, generating a whopping 8 Victory Points from their 6 continuous River segments. A new tile from the "D" stack is then added to the rondel.

Clan Blue moves up to Achanarras, placing it just north of Glaikmore. This results in 1 Stone being furnished by that location, 1 Barley in Glen Mhor and a Movement Point. Kenmore Fair is Activated, so 1 Stone, 1 Sheep, 1 lumber and 1 Cattle is returned to the supply for 8 Victory Points! Since Stein Inn was skipped, 2 tiles are added to the end of the rondel board.

A "2" is rolled on the die, so it eliminates Coille Coire Chuilc and since Glengorm was skipped over, it's also thrown out. As a result, 2 new tiles are added to the rondel.

The die is rolled again and gets a "1", which dustbins Edradour. A new tile from the "D" stack is placed on the track.

Clan Blue advances to Taynuilt, which comes pre-loaded with a new Scotsman. Ewan also gets 1 Stone from Achanarras and 1 Barley from Glaikmore. After selling the Stone for 2 Coins and a Barley for 1, he spends 3 Coins to get another Cattle. It goes back, along with a Sheep, for another 4 Veeps courtesy of Aberfoyle. A new tile is then added to the track.

With a roll of "3", the die lands on the "World's End" tile, so it’s done for the game. A new tile is then added to the track.

Clan Blue sacrifices the Scotsman in Taynuilt to add Loch Ness west of Achfary and claim the matching Location Card. After Dunface produces 1 Sheep, Loch Ness lets Ewan get 1 of any tile's Resource so he gets Achnarras to produce 1 Stone remotely. A new tile is added to the end of the track.

Clan Red hooks up with Robbie Burns. She visits Clan McKinnon, getting 2 Coins and placing a brand new Scotsman in her Home Castle. Another new "D" tile is placed at the end of the rondel.

In Ewan's final move, he advances all the way to Elsie Inglis. He then sells 1 Sheep for 2 Coins and then pays 1 money to meet up with Clan Brody. Since they have 4 Villages, this results in a whopping 8 Victory Points being scored. A new tile is added to the end of the rondel.

Clan Red advances to Rothesay Harbour, placing it to the east of Tomintoul Fair. This gets her 1 Wood and 1 Stone as well as 2 Victory Points from Clachaig Inn. She then sells 1 Cattle for 2 Coins, 1 Stone for 1 Coin and 1 Wood for 2 Coins.

End game scoring: Red has 4 Scotsmen in their Home Castle versus Blue's 2, so they gain 2 Victory Points. Red has 4 Landmark Cards versus Blue's 2, so they get another 2 Veeps. They have 1 more barrels of Whiskey compared to Blue, so they get 1 Victory Points for that. And, finally, they're tied for Person Tiles with 5 each, so no points awarded there.

In final game scoring, both Clan Red and Blue have 15 tiles so there’s no points awarded there. Because Clan Red has Armadale Castle, all 8 of their Coins double in value for an additional 16 points! As well, Clan Blue gets 6 more points for their remaining Coins!

FINAL SCORES

Clan Red:  66    Clan Blue: 46

Clan Red Wins!!!

***

REVIEW

Pros

• Mechanically the game is super simple: just advance your meeple as far as you want on the rondel, pay for the tile you settled on and then add it to your design. But what tile you pick and where you place it is where the game gets deep!
• The bot-die makes the game perfectly playable with three people. It also speeds up the game nicely when you use it with three or four players.
• The production values are INSANE. Except for a few Person Tiles that make the depicted historical figure look like they're indulging in bath salts and not whiskey, all of the art on the board, tiles and cards is absolutely phenomenal.
• There are so many options to explore now! In the original edition of the game, it was just about dropping tiles to create a synergy between them. But here, in Glen More II: Electric Boogaloo, you also have famous Locations to explore and as well as the Person Tiles and the related Clan Board. 
• The only landmarks you have to contend with now with regards to tile placement now are rivers. The roads in OG Glen More resulting in a lot of take back turns and felt more frustrating than anything else. 
• In a lot of rondel games, you can jump way ahead to cherry pick your favorite tile, but then your opponent would get a slew of moves before they got ahead of the pack and passed the turn. And while you can still technically do that, you don't wanna have a lot more tiles than your opponent because the end game penalties are gonna wreck you. This means that a focused strategy is still required.
• Creating an engine is imperative and the game really rewards the completion of grand schemes. There's something supremely satisfying about dropping a new tile into the middle of an 8-tile square and reaping a crap ton of benefits. 
• The base game has plenty of replay value, but the presence of eight additional mini-expansions gives owners a metric crap-ton of options for such a low price point.
• If you're falling behind, don't despair! As the play-through example illustrates, it's pretty easy to storm back of you focus on a set strategy. 
• You can tweak the playtime. If you want a shorter game, place the "World's End" tile on top of the "D" stack. Want a longer game? Just place it in the middle of the final stack!   

Cons

• It's surprisingly fiddly. I guarantee that, during your first game, you'll forget to add tiles to the rondel after every turn and you'll probably cock-a-leekie-up what tiles Activate when you place a new one. For example, I know that Clan Red won the game I played out, but I can guarantee that there were miss-plays and the final scores aren't 100% accurate. I'm also confident that these issues would likely be mitigated after a few plays. Just remember: the location of Scotsmen dictate placement options and adjacency determines Activations.
• The language on some of the Clan Board rewards and some of the tile actions is kinda soft. For example, I'm still not sure if I interpreted this one properly.   

FINAL THOUGHTS

When I first played the original Glen More, I though the rondel mechanic was the greatest invention since sliced bread. Since then, many other games have employed the same gimmick, but this new iteration of Cramer's classic still feels fresh. It's far from perfect, but the Scottish theme, simple but nuanced game-play, Carcassonne-killing tile placement and overall value of what's in this gorgeous box makes it a must-buy in my mind!

Glen More II: Chronicles scores five pips out of six with a big-ol' tilt up to the top of The Royal Mile!

Review Quickie: "The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31"

Notwithstanding the fact that John Carpenter's classic sci-fi / horror remake is one of my all-time favorite flicks, The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 is quickly becoming my go-to deduction / social engineering game!

Game play itself is pretty straightforward. In clockwise order, players take turns being team leaders, revealing a new "Mission Log" to determine the head count and character skills required to tackle the next task. After hand picking their squad as well as a room to explore, team members secretly contribute equipment cards to try and overcome the challenge. If they succeed, they get to examine the room's contents, which will either be the equipment they need to progress or an alien, which immediately results in combat.

Of course, as in all other traitor mechanic games, one person around the table is secretly a "thing", looking to sow paranoia and chaos among the group. The alien player has to walk a very fine line, pretending to help at first so as not to cast aspersions on themselves. If they tip their hat too early, they could be subjected to a blood test to determine their true nature, get tied up with rope (skipping their Leader turn) or even incinerated with a flamethrower!

As more human players theoretically get converted, the "things" can dare to get more brazen when it comes to sabotage. Admittedly, the human team is hard-pressed to win, but that's just in step with the movie's theme. A human victory is truly cause for celebration!

Despite the game's amazing components and straight-forward rules, there are some odd game play choices that are actually anathema to the film's plot. For example, the humans can lose the game if too much of the base is destroyed. This actually run's contrary to the films plot, which sees the survivors voluntarily attempting to destroy the base in a last-ditch effort to kill the alien invader.

The game might not be as thematically engrossing as, say, Battlestar Galactica, it does plays very briskly and in a fraction of the time. The experience is also no less tense.

The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 scores four pips outta six with a huge tilt up towards the skies...that you should be watching!

Review Quickie: "Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure"

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, loyal readers of this blog already know that I consider  "MARK I" deck-builder Dominion to be more of an introduction of a cool and original mechanic and less of a fully-realized game. But thanks to varied titles like Thunderstone Quest, Star Realms and A Few Acres of Snow, fans of this relatively-new game mechanic have a lot of intriguing options to explore.   

The landscape got even richer back in 2016 with the introduction of Clank!, a multi-faceted and rewarding deck-builder that pairs its board-based, dungeon-crawl theme with a ticking clock element, resulting a compulsively-playable game.

In Clank!, players are "master" thieves who are looking to infiltrate a subterranean dungeon below an abandoned castle in order to steal artifacts from a sleeping dragon. Aaaaaand we all know that always works out well. To that end, players begin the game with an identical deck of mediocre cards, five of which are randomly drawn and played out every turn to get your character moving into the maze. This also generates the Skill required to draft new, and generally superior, Dungeon Row cards into your deck.

Starting decks also include the titular "clank" cards, which represents the noise players make while they drunkenly careen their way through the dungeon.Whenever these cards hit the table, the owners have to contribute an equal number of their colored cubes to the board's "Clank Banner." Later, when the Dungeon Row is refilled with cards bearing the "Dragon Attack" symbol, these cubes are dumped into a black bag and then "X" number are randomly drawn based on the dragon's ever-increasing  Rage level. Any cubes that match a player's color are placed on their respective Health Meters, which simulates the dragon going after the noisiest interlopers. When this meter fills up with cubes, you die.

Well, not quite. If you die in the castle portion of the board, the locals drag your sorry ass out and you can still count your points. However, if you get knocked out in the dungeon level, the villagers are all like "Fuck dat!" and leave your charred carcass down there as a jerky treat for the dragon.

Since the goal of the game is to snag at least one artifact and get out, the first person to achieve this goal actually triggers a terrifying endgame countdown. On every subsequent turn, the escapee presides over an increasingly-nasty dragon attack and, after four rounds of this punishment, the dragon goes completely HAM on all the remaining interlopers, killing them wholesale. Needless to say, this mechanic really drives up the game's growing tension.

For a deck-building game that downright wallows in its blatantly-Ameritrash theme, it sure sports a lot of interesting chrome. Such as:

• Boot symbols generated by your cards let you move efficiently through the maze, but the board itself throws in a few wrinkles. Certain passageways have impassible locked doors, difficult terrain (requiring double movement costs), "wandering monsters" that guard corridors and cavernous Crystal Chambers that soak up excess movement. The board also "wraps around", Pac-Man style, yo!
• You're encouraged to incorporate cards featuring Swords into your deck to deal with those pesky, aforementioned wandering monsters. You can also use this potential damage to gank Dungeon Row as well as the poor, eternally-renewing Goblin, for profit.
• If you can reach one of the four mid-board Market spaces, you can then spend all of that stolen lootz on cool upgrades. This includes Keys to unlock doors, Backpacks to ignore the "one Artifact per intruder" limit and Crowns, which dovetail nicely with certain cards that appear in the Dungeon Row. 
• Adventurers can recover Major and Minor Secrets which feature helpful perks.
• Some chambers have a Fountain of Healing to provide much-needed rest and respite.  
• The sheer variety of cards that appear in the Dungeon Row gives the game a crazy amount of variety, including the ability to Teleport to inaccessible parts of the maze. 
• The flip-side of the game board features an even more challenging layout!

In fact, the only thing I really don't like about the game is it's woefully milquetoast art design. If this ever gets reprinted with some Warhammer-esque grit and a few expansions tossed in for good measure, I'll be all over it like a dragon on a nude beach.

The really great thing about Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure is that neophytes to the hobby won't find the rules overly  daunting but it's just meaty enough to keep veteran gamers amused. This one scores five pips out of six with a slight tilt down towards the subterranean depths!

***

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Game Night: "Fallout"

Sometimes the heavens align and I get a rare chance to throw down wif mah O.G. gaming peepz. Getting together with people I've known for years to take the piss out of each other, make the sort of puerile jokes that would make a 12 year old kid wince and experience a collective cardboard adventure together is downright therapeutic! I'd forgotten how much I miss this.

This past Wednesday night we tackled the tabletop version of Fallout, a fun but flawed take on the seminal video game series. For the record, Chad did a phenomenal job explaining the rules, so hopefully I won't dishonor his efforts here.

You start out by selecting one of Fallout's seminal character templates, such as the "Ghoul" (me), the "Super Mutant" (Dean, natch), the "Vault Dweller" (Alex) or the "Brotherhood of Steel Outcast" (Chad). Of course, every character has some sort of cool, thematic special ability. My Ghoul, for example, had a lower health cap but regenerated hit points whenever he passed through irradiated areas on the map. He drinks that shit up like lime-flavored Kool-Aid.

In order to keep track of your shiznit, every player gets a handy-dandy cardboard "pip boy", which you'll use to record skills, conditions, experience points, radiation levels and health. At the bottom of each template there's a place to equip your limit of one weapon, one armor and one companion. You also have a backpack which holds up to three unused items. 

The location tiles are head and shoulders above the shitty "drink coasters" included in Star Trek Fleet Captains. The muted and detailed art is super-slick and really evokes that post-apocalyptic vibe. As you can see, the character minis are great but the monsters are just wargame-style cardboard chits. Easy to read and nicely illustrated chits, I'll concede, but chits nonetheless. The cards are either miniaturized or made busy with a riot of micro print but this doesn't render them impractical, so no demerit there.

Striking out from the starting tile, players take turns performing two actions which they'll use to explore the concealed map, search locations for loot, get into assorted scrapes and pursue the expanding storyline. If your character is standing next to an unflipped tile you can use an explore action to reveal it. When you choose to move, you can typically can travel two spaces, but red-bordered difficult terrain eats up all of your movement while green bordered irradiated regions bump up your rad levels. If your radiation level ever intersects with your dwindling life points, you dead, son.

You can also croak in combat, which is cleanly resolved in a single die roll. As veterans of the video game will attest, it's all about hit location and the customized combat dice, featuring icons for arm, leg, head and body shots, elegantly reflects this. Each creature you fight is susceptible to certain types of damage and if you roll enough matching icons to overcome its "level", you'll kill it and gain some experience points. Re-rolls, courtesy of equipment, skills and being refreshed from the "camp" action, will hopefully mitigate a spate of bad luck.

You end up taking damage based the number of pips generated from the same die result, multiplied by the enemy's "level". In other words, a level two monster deals 8 damage with 4 pips to an unarmored character. Yikes! Word to the wise: find some armor and a decent weapon as soon as you can. Unsurprisingly, you're pretty vulnerable out in the wasteland without these two important assets.

Fortunately, as it is with most video games, death isn't the end of the game. After respawning back home and chucking out anything in your backpack, you're ready to strike out again. This might seem kinda weak sauce, but going "back to start" typically puts you so far away from any Victory Point goals, so I think its suitably harsh.

Leveling up in the game is ridiculously elegant and certainly reminiscent of the original IP. Just like in the video game, each character's abilities are covered by the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. acronym, which represents Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. After gaining enough ex pees to clear a level, you draw two new random letter tokens, cherry pick the one you like the most and then slot it into your pip boy. With the appropriate attribute now unlocked, you'll get a re-roll whenever your use the matching skill. Like I said, easy and elegant. 

But, honestly, the scenario details and the branching story deck is what gives the game its main appeal. For example, our scenario, featuring a turf war between two rival factions, set up a co-operative ticking clock situation, influenced our revealed character affiliations and determined the frequency of hostile threats on the board. Also, when you do an explore action, you're often faced with an Above and Below-style story adventure choice that challenges one of your character's skills in order to score some new reward or avoid a terrible punishment.

When these are resolved, it usually opens up a few new quests and avenues to explore. Needless to say, completing these quests provides the victory points you need in order to win. If anything, quests popping up all over the board makes the board game feel more like it's original source of inspiration than anything else.

Fallout is far from perfect, however. A full compliment of four players can really drag the game out, especially if someone is prone to analysis paralysis. We started at 7 pm and finished just after 11. Yikes!

Also, if you fall behind, the game has a tendency to keep kicking you right in the blocks. Given the fact that I was at full health and my irradiated surroundings promised plenty of potential recovery, I felt pretty confident taking my first low-level enemy right away. Unfortunately my notoriously-bad dice rolling skills were characteristically awful and, since I had no way to re-roll, I got spanked pretty badly right out of the gate.

That's when I found out that enemies go after the weakest characters first. Thematically that makes sense, but becoming the entire board's punching bag because of one bad call and some crap luck kinda blows.

And trust me, I tried to improve my odds. I really did. I took approximately one-hojillion in-town explore actions, just begging for the chance to go on a simple shopping trip and buy some basic equipment. But I got denied over and over again to the point where I had close to 30 caps (I.E. cash money for the uninitiated) and nothing to spend it on. I think I only scored some proper armor in the second or third final turn of the game.

But, you know something, I still liked this stupid game. Like, irrationally liked it. Granted, that's probably because I'm a sucker for adventure / exploration type story games, especially ones with a post-apocalyptic vibe. Lately I measure my appreciation for a game based on whether or not I'd play it again, and, given half a chance, I'd venture back into this cardboard wasteland anytime.

Fallout scores three pips outta six with a huge tilt up towards the perpetually ashen sky!