Is Descent: Journeys in the Dark (2nd ed) For Me?

For whatever reason, I've been seeing a number of posts in different boardgame groups about whether someone should get into or try out Descent: Journeys in the Dark. Now, I'm a fan, so this isn't really a review. I am going to talk quite a bit about the game, so if this somehow helps you decide that the game is for you (or not your cup of tea) then great! I'll try and tell you what it is (and what I don't think it is) and why I enjoy it. I'm also going to use this as an excuse to show off my set of painted figures...

First off (since I already mentioned it), there are a lot of models/figures in the game. What you see above are all of the monster figures and all of the heroes that come in just the base game (as also mentioned, the above figures have all been painted by yours truly - if you buy the game, they come unpainted). Nine sets of monsters and eight different heroes come packed into the original set. And for those that want more, there is a LOT more. There are small expansions and large expansions. There are expansions that are nothing more than additional monsters and heroes to add more variety to whatever you currently own. Some monsters and heroes sets are more interesting than others (which is of course, subjective). But with the ENORMOUS library of expansions to choose from, you should be able to find something you like.

Assuming of course that what you are looking for is a fantasy dungeon crawler. Descent is exactly that - a fantasy based game set in FFG's Runebound universe of heroes and monsters. A scenario is setup (either for one simple session, or as part of a longer campaign of linked scenarios) and played and typically takes a couple minutes to setup (and tear down), and then will take roughly 90 minutes to play. Sometimes it might be faster, sometimes it can take longer, but this is a reasonable ballpark (this is considerably different from the first edition of the game, where scenarios were a multi-hour affair). Some scenarios have one team racing to get past the other side, some are target specific (keep this guy alive or knock that guy out kind of deals). Some are just stay alive long enough to claim victory.

As with many games of this style, combat and skill checks are done with dice. Descent has a number of custom 6-sided dice in various colors and depending on your skills, bonuses, and equipment, you roll a number of whatever dice you are supposed to roll to determine the outcome. If that sounds like every other dungeon crawler game you've ever played, well, Descent doesn't try to be something different, it just tries to do what it does really well - provide you with variety.

Let's start with the heroes. There are essentially 4 major archetypes (fighter, mage, thief, and healer to phrase it in a way most folks with any fantasy experience will understand). After selecting a character, you receive a card with that character's stats. Then you select their "class". Each archetype has a variety of "classes". Each class is a set of cards. The cards have some starting equipment as well  as set of skills and upgrades that can enhance your character as they earn experience (which can happen in some scenarios, but more often between scenarios in an ongoing campaign). The base set comes with a few classes for each type and the big and small box expansions have more types as well. One particular character can play quite differently depending on the class you choose as well as what upgrades you take.

But wait, how does it play? Well, the original, traditional version of the game is one (the Overlord) vs many (the heroes). And to keep it interesting for the Overlord, the Overlord also picks a class from the bad guy stuff. Their set of cards allow you abilities to thwart the heroes in a variety of different ways (which I can't describe, because I NEVER play this way). The Overlord also gains experience, so the "growth" happens for both sides. Each side takes turns - the heroes trying to thwart the Overlord, and vice-versa until one side achieves the scenario goal.

Wait, I never play that way, so how do I play? A few years back, FFG introduces an app (available on mobile/tablet devices as well as Mac/Windows machines) called Road to Legend. Road to Legend automates the Overlord side, making the game a co-op/solo game. You tell the app which expansions you own, and it provides a number of different campaigns for you to play through which incorporate your materials. And for those that don't have time (nor desire) to play multiple scenarios, the game has an option called The Delve, which is a randomly generated dungeon crawl. No real story, just a set of rooms strung together with monsters and traps to work through/around.

And if you are thinking the app replaces the game, it does not. It is nothing more than AI for your monster encounters and some additional story guiding. You still have to have the game and all of its glorious cards, counters, and bits to play the game.

What else might be interesting about the game? Well, during and after a scenario, your standard dungeon crawl stuff happens - which is to say that sometime you find stuff (equipment) and sometime you can visit a village store and find upgraded weapons and armor (and other fun stuff) for your characters. So not only do you expand your character's skill sets, but their equipment. And is there stacks of equipment... One thing FFG likes to do is print cards for their games, and Descent is no slouch. You'll find stacks of equipment cards in two sets (one is a little more advanced than the other and is meant for later on in a full campaign). There are also travel cards, which provide a little bit of extra flavor to the game and provide a story for getting from point A to point B.

So there you go. Is Descent for you? Well...

• Do you want a game with lots of variety (even if I only ever own the base game)? - yes, there is a good bit of variety even if you just have the base set. You can replay the same adventures with different characters and different skills and experience different monsters as well.
• Does it ever feel like the same thing? Sure, sometimes it does. If you only have the base game, it will eventually start to feel similar, even with different hero combinations and monsters, but if you get a little bit more (and that is a damn slippery slope, I know) - the variety amps up a lot.
• Do you have to play with a DM/bad guy/Overlord? Nope. The Road to Legend app is FREE and  while there is some in app content you can pay for, there is plenty that is free (seriously, a good amount to use is free).
• Do you have to use the Road to Legend app to play? Not all all, in fact, you don't have to use the app to play solo either. To play co-op or solo without the app, you have a couple of options. There are a couple of really good solo systems the community has built like RAMV. There are also a couple of Print on Demand co-op scenarios from FFG that more or less give you almost the same experience as the Road to Legend app, but in card form.
• Is there a strong story here? Strong? No. The narrative is a lot more loose. I mean, the campaigns have some overarching story, but to be honest, the story is not tight. You get a couple of paragraphs that setup each scenario (and how it ties to what you are about to do) and one or two more at the end of each. The gaps are left up to your imagination.
• Does this have a role playing (D&D) kind of vibe? Not so much. It is a tactical fantasy game of heroes vs monsters. It is a dungeon crawl with a loose story as fluff between scenarios.
• I've played Warhammer Quest - is this like that? Yes, but WAY WAY MORE. WHQ basically felt like the same thing every single quest. Same monsters, same hallways, same heroes. This is WHQ on steroids with a couple double espressos.
• Do I have to get expansions? Nope, the game is good out of the box, it just gets more interesting each time you add more. 
• Do you need it all? Nope, at a certain point, there are diminishing returns. If you play a lot, you'll want the added variety, but if you don't, you can be plenty happy with the base set and maybe one or two expansions.

I hope that helps. If you are interested in seeing all the stuff I've painted so far, check out some of my previous posts over the last couple years and see my list here.

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Marvel Champions - She-Hulk vs Rhino

Well, my return to Marvel Champions went much better this time around. I decided to give the She-Hulk a try this time around (using the basic aggression and standard cards) against the same scheme and setup. After the last beatdown I took, I came at the game with a different approach.

This time, I decided to slow play the scenario a little and try to get an ally and some helper cards in play before punching the first stage Rhino's clock. This approached worked really well for me, especially with the She-Hulk. Her Jennifer Walters alter-ego kept the threat down on the scheme, and I also lucked out with a distinct lack of bad guys latched on this time. Because of this, I easily handled She-Hulk's nemesis and the couple of distraction schemes that popped out.

I'm going to have to go back to Spider-man at some point, because frankly, I don't think Rhino was too tough this time. If the first play was a 8 or 9 difficulty, this was a 5. Yes, I can up his difficulty and maybe I would have lost this time against a stacked Rhino, but...

Keep in mind, the Rhino is essentially that first learning scenario - he isn't meant to be so hard as to keep you from wanting to explore the game (which also means (I hope), he and the scenario are probably really vanilla). I still have a couple more heroes to check out - I don't know yet if I'll mix in other bad guy stuff or save that for the other bad guys, but I do want to see what all the base game has  to offer.

So far, this Marvel Champions has my interest, but really only for occasional solo play - it isn't quite as cool as Marvel Legendary, but its hella faster to setup and tear down. I'll let you know how it goes.

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Marvel Champions - First Play

After reading Eric B's take on Marvel Champions, I wanted to give it a spin. I mean, here is a new co-op (ie solo for me) LCG with the best license on the planet. After finding an excuse to acquire the game with another purchase (it was free shipping), I found myself with the new game on my porch today. Despite a number of post saying they struggled to learn the game, I felt ready for the challenge. I had watched one how to play video, and mechanically, I was not sure where all the confusion was coming from.

After my first play, I am only confused by reports that people were getting lost learning the game. FFG really could have just included a double sided cheat sheet (half sheet sized) and that would have been enough to get people through their first couple games (and honestly, there isn't enough to have to remember that I think you'd need one after one play, unless you don't play again for months and months.

So, first thing you do after opening the box and punching the counters and assembling the dials, is open two packs of the cards. I was keeping it simple and went with the Spider-man starter set and the Rhino villain set.

Yes, I had to sleeve the cards... It is an LCG. If you are mixing and swapping cards, they won't wear evenly. Leave me alone.

Anyway, the starter sets are basically ready for you to shuffle up and start playing. So I did. Not really knowing what to expect I spent a few minutes looking at my cards, going back and forth to the rules to figure out how I'd use allies and some keywords (you know, first play kinds of things). Then I dove in. I went all out early on and took down the Rhino(I) with a Swinging Leg kick attack card and with some help from Nick Fury himself.

This game is easy! What did I expect? You don't really deck build... See, you pick a hero, then you add a group of aspect cards (Justice, Aggression, Protection, or Leadership) and then you fill it out with some generic basic cards.  As a core set, those aspect cards are set. So "deck building" here was closer to Smash Up! then true deck building. And you know what, I was ok with that and still bought this game. Future card sets will make the experience more customizable, but out of the box, you mash  up and play - easy peasy.

Here's the thing. The game isn't easy. I had no clue what was coming. The Rhino picked himself up and decided to beat the crap out of me - but not by himself. Nope, what happened was, things got Murder Hornet scary really fast. First, I got unlucky and the Vulture came to play. So now, after beating the Rhino for the first time, I suddenly have the main scheme going south quickly and TWO side-schemes to try and stop. Also, Hydra joined the fray and a Hydra bomber decided he'd try to help take me out.

I'm no pushover, so I called in the Black Cat to try and slow down the Rhino's scheme, but then a Hydra guard and The Shocker showed up to beat me up. Bye bye Black Cat. Spider-man had to limp away as poor puny Parker and try to heal up, which gave the Rhino time to nearly complete his scheme.

Nearly I said! I wasn't done yet. With a decent draw and some help from Aunt May, Spider-man was able to heal up and get back into the fight with his buddy Daredevil, who helped to thwart the Rhino's plans and helped me rid myself of the Vulture. With a spider-tracer on the wimpy bomber, I was further able to reduce the schemes. Unfortunately, the great sacrifices meant exposing Spider-man to a brutal beat down and knock out.

Quick initial thoughts.

• This is different enough from Marvel Legendary to hang out in my collection for a bit. I'll need to try the other heroes and see what the other sets of cards are like to find some things that suit me.
• Quality is what you'd expect from FFG (and too many counters like you'd expect from FFG).
• I don't understand the insert. Obviously it was meant to hold the (sleeved) cards, but they didn't give any dividers or things to keep the cards in place. Nothing. The box isn't even standard square for them, so the bazillion of solutions like Broken Token won't fit. It was a much better offering than the normal "no attempt". But come on!
• There is no campaign. It is just scenarios (even the expansions out so far are not campaigns). I'm confused at this. FFG is expert at this by now. Yes, the barrier to entry is lower to make it more appealing, but the whole LCG appeal is also in customizing your deck scenario after scenario in a series of connected content, not in finding an uber deck.

Well, this needs some more plays, but I'm not terribly disappointed with what I found in my first playing. I hope this has some legs and I look forward to what comes about.

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Online Gaming During COVID

COVID-19 may have us all stuck at home - no game nights with friends, no gaming conventions, and no trips to our FLGS. That doesn't mean (despite the meme) that WE can't play - it just means we might need to play some online games.

I have previously talked about my favorite games for the iPad, but this time around, I'm going to talk about playing games online (mostly from an async) perspective. Prior to the quarantine, it had been a while since I explored the online gaming scene, but working from home coupled with others I know wanting distractions caused me to jump back in (and learn/re-learn some games).


There is a long list of games here - I hope you see how many good games are out there and find a game or two to play during this trying time. Here are some of the games I've been playing and my thoughts.

Hansa is online at - https://www.michaelschacht.net/pbm/ . The site and the interface are a little dated, but the game is one of those quick distractions that I still enjoy enough to own a physical copy. This is a little action point game / pick up and deliver (vaguely) that is fast enough to be a filler.

Over at yucata.de (which is where I used to play the most), I've played a few old favorites and picked up a couple new games. What is funny is that most of the games I play on yucata (with a couple of exceptions) are not games I'd suggest at the table - I tend to aim for games where I can pick up the action when I have time and lighter fare - things yucata does well at delivering.

Let's face it, To Court The King is a fancy yahtzee. I hadn't played this in ages and after another play, I realized why - it boils down to a race for dice and if you miss gaining the cards that give you more dice, you probably have lost. There is a singular path to victory and that's have the most dice. The game is otherwise clever and fast, but manipulating the dice and pressing your luck doesn't outweigh the fact that you must get more dice pretty much every time you roll.

Thunderstone, to this day, is still one of my favorite deck building games. Though I rarely pull it out to play at the table, I own the entire Thunderstone (original) set, including all the promos. Yucata only has the base game and the first expansion, but that still is a lot of game. I would probably be all over this one more if they added even one more expansion set. The online implementation can be clunky at times, but isn't horrible (certain cards can really drag with multiple players online which can suck, so this might be best as a 2-player matchup).

About every two years, I play St. Petersburg and remember why I don't play this game. I'm sorry, but it is just not a good game. Once you know the cards, there are no interesting choices to be made - if you want to win, you play a certain way and hope the cards you need come out. In what way is that interesting? Luck of the draw determines the winner. Some will argue that you play what you get, but that doesn't hold up for this one - you can't adapt and overcome.

Can't Stop is my all time favorite press your luck game - I have played it over 900 times on yucata alone. It is pure and simple and a great distraction. This is a genius of a game and has never been done better. I'm still playing this (right now) on Boardgamearena.com (where it is also available).

Thurn is one of those non-descript euros. Not quite area control, not quite route claiming. I got burnt out on playing (losing) to a buddy of mine at this game, but played a couple of games because he was interested. There is a little luck, but it is not a heavy game, so I can live with that being part of the game. A solid 6 = I'll play on occasion, but probably not likely to suggest it. It's one of those, I'm too lazy to learn a new games, so I'll play this mediocre one with you...

Yspahan is one of those games where the rules are not hard. The game isn't heavy, and yet my mind does not grok how to do well at this game. There are dice, but here, I don't feel like luck is the determining factor - your choices matter. Nothing about it is intuitive to me and I can't tell you why. I don't dislike the game, but I don't love playing it since I seem to be missing some key piece of the puzzle. I keep playing because I think I'll figure it out someday.

Guildhall was a new one to me. This was pretty easy to learn and there aren't so many options that a beginner is overwhelmed. This is a card game where you are trying to do some set collection. Each type of card has a set of colors and you want to collect full sets. Each type has some power that lets you manipulate things - including other players tableaus. It wasn't bad, but didn't grab me and make me want to play it again ten more times either.

Cacao (and all the expansions) was another new to me game that was easy enough to pick up. This is a light tile placement game where you play a tile with workers printed on it. This is pretty luck-of-the-draw, tactical play game, but it is straight forward and easy to pick up.

This and Yspahan... I find this interesting, but my buddy Nathan destroys me at this every single time. I have tried a couple of different tactics, but he just kills me every time. I'm not sure what I don't grok, but I just don't see what I'm not doing right. This is a tile laying game, each player building their own tableau. The trail of available tiles is laid out such that you move your pawn up the trail to take a tile - then whomever (it could be you again) is at the back of the group, takes a turn. You have to balance not taking turns to jump out and grab a good tile vs taking some mediocre choices in order to get "more". Its clever - I however appear not to be as clever as the game (or Nathan).

This is probably my favorite Feld game and I was really happy to see it hit yucata.de - of course, I didn't play it much, so I was happy to get in a game of this. The game I played, we all got to pick our board - since I don't play much, I just played one that looked fun to me. Turns out, some boards win more (based on stats from yucata players). Not sure if it would be better to have everyone on the same board or not. Regardless, this is Feld point salad at its best.

Chaos and "take that!". That's what this game is. There are two phases of the game - place your people in a city that is about to be flooded with lava and in the second phase, try to race them out before they get covered in lava. There is a TON of randomness to this light game, but take the silliness for what it is. This is much better at the table where you can curse the other players for burninating your people.

Of all the new games I've learned, this and Hawaii might be my favorites of the bunch. Here, each player is trying to build settlements while avoiding the skurge of raiders that will make it so that you lose points. Your expansion choices can be costly, or if played right, free. That balancing act of getting what you want vs taking what you can get keeps this lighter game interesting.

I often feel like I'm the only person that prefers this version of the game (vs Small World with its horrible graphical choices). Yucata offers a couple of different maps (including 2-player) so that makes it even better. This is a no luck conquer game, whose main decision points are when do I start over and should I spread out to conquer her or there? Quick and fun.

This is a classic action point game with a lovely 3D spatial aspect (and the 3D part is not for show, its an integral part of the game). It might be best with 2 players, but is also good with 4 (I don't care for it with 3 players). There are some fun tricks to play and managing your special tricks to steal away some points is where the fun of the game lies. I wish they had the other Kiesling and Kramer games from their Mask Trilogy. I haven't played this in a long while and I got killed. Very rusty.

Now we venture over to BoardGameArena.com (BGA) - this site has a number of games with really decent implementations. It definitely has a lot of nice looking games and a fair number of different ones. Hawaii was the first thing I learned to play on BGA and it has some similarities to Vikings in that each player is trying to fill out their tableau with pieces that make up islands. The mechanism for getting those pieces is very different (as is the scoring). This has a bit of an engine feel to it as well, as some of the things you pick up can and will help you as the game progresses. A decent light-medium euro game.

I love Backgammon. We played this a ton as a kid, so I was happy to find a decent online version at BGA. The fact that it keeps stats is cool too. The only thing that is missing (and its a big one) is the doubling cube. That and players that won't concede a game at which they have ZERO (literally) ZERO chance of winning. I still love this game.

I really like this lovely little abstract. As a two player game. It plays more, but feels a little uneven. The game itself is simple - following the placement rules, place a tile and then build one of your three types of settlements. The first player that can run out of two types of settlements wins. You lose if you can't place anything legally. Its simple. It is 3D. Its mean. A great little game.

Hive is another great abstract game that has this "always on the edge" feels to it and allows for a fair bit of clever play. There always seems to be another trick you can use to get out of trouble or force the other player's hand. I'd rather play this and only this as an abstract over something like Chess anytime and every time. Not sure its is my favorite pure abstract, but it is right up there.

Everyone likes the king of tile laying games right? BGA allows you to play with a couple of expansion sets and lets the creator pick some of the scoring rules as well. I have a limited patience for Carc - it always starts becoming a "who can be the biggest jerk" kind of thing when we play. I try to go in knowing this, but still...

And there you have it. A list of things I've been playing online recently. Here's the thing, this is a mere fraction of the choices available. I did learn four new games and shook off the dust on a number of others. I have a few other new and dusty games in the pipeline for the next installment!

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Marvel Legendary - Civil War Starts With a Bang

Started my new solo campaign. For details see my previous post. This is based on BGG user Sky Zero's campaign and solo rule set. This time around, we are using the expansion set Civil War. I went non-random with my hero selection for the first round. I wanted to be sure to include Speedball (to match the only New Warriors hero with the scenario that actually kicked off the Civil War in the comics. I also felt like I needed to include Captain America (the CW version) and the Falcon (as buddies). I rounded out the bunch with Hercules/Amadeus Chou and The Patriot/Hawkeye.

Campaign Scenarios

Scenario 1: Nitro the Supervillain Threatens Crowds
Mastermind: Misty Knight
Villains: Heroes for Hire & Underworld
Henchmen: Hand Ninjas

I'll just say it - my hero grouping sucked and I got my ass kicked. I didn't defeat a single Mastermind. It was one of those games where every single draw was mediocre and my deck never had direction or synergy. The heroes I bought had very few option for speeding things up - neither deck thinning nor draws. Some of that is just luck - I picked my set of heroes based only on theme, not on what their cards could do. Unfortunately, I wasn't really enamored with any of the stuff I saw.

Of course, part of playing is making the best with what you have, but man, it would have been really hard to come up with a plan that might have changed the outcome. Also, the sidekick thing distracted me - I should have really ignored them. Having them in the deck is all well and good if you are drawing a lot of cards, but otherwise, they are just in the way of your deck.

Not sure who my next set of heroes are going to be, but I'm going to go with another blind draw of heroes and see if it doesn't work out a little better. I hope the scenario and Masterminds aren't going to amp up the difficulty. Not sure my ego can take another hit like this ;)

See you next time!

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Legendary - A Civil War Campaign

Time for a new solo campaign. This time I'm making my own and sharing it. This is based on BGG user Sky Zero's campaign and solo rule set. This time around, we are using the expansion set Civil War. I mostly stuck to the new content from the box and hopefully this comes across thematically matching to the original Civil War storyline(s) - it isn't perfect (but doesn't have to be, right?)

Campaign Scenarios

Scenario 1: Nitro the Supervillain Threatens Crowds
Mastermind: Misty Knight
Villains: Heroes for Hire & Underworld
Henchmen: Hand Ninjas

Scenario 2: Reveal Heroes' Secret Identities
Mastermind: Baron Helmut Zemo
Villains: Thunderbolts & Great Lakes Avengers
Henchmen: Sentinel

Scenario 3: Imprison Unregistered Superhumans
Mastermind: Authoritarian Iron Man
Villains: Superhuman Registration Act & Registration Enforcers
Henchmen: Mandroid

Scenario 4: Superhero Civil War
Mastermind: Maria Hill, Director of SHIELD
Villains: SHIELD Elite & CSA Special Marshals
Henchmen: Cape Killers

The rules that I'll be following are:

Villain Deck Setup

1. Select a mastermind and scheme then set the villain deck up per the normal 2 player rules
2. Set up the hero deck using 5 heroes (or adjusted if the scheme requires it)

Hero Deck Setup - Use only heroes from Civil War set!

1. Select your heroes
2. Remove each hero's unique high card and set it aside
3. Shuffle the remaining hero cards and deal 10 into a small stack
4. Add unique hero cards back into large stack and shuffle
5. Place small stack of 10 cards on top of shuffled deck 

Solo-Campaign Variant Play

1. Draw your hand of 6 cards
2. Draw 1 hero card and add it to HQ following the same rules as the villain city track (ie, leftmost is taken out of the game (not a KO, just removed).
3. Draw 2 villain cards and resolving each
4. Play your hand as per the rules
5. Rinse and repeat

Gameplay

HQ New Recruits: At start of round you'll be drawing one new hero card to add to HQ. The new hero card goes in the rightmost spot of HQ and pushes all existing cards to your left. The card in the leftmost spot is then pushed out of HQ and removed from the game. This keeps the cards available in HQ fresh and puts a timer on how long you have to recruit before a hero is deployed to fight other evils invading the city!

HQ Refill: Per the rules, refill HQ after recruiting a hero or a villain triggered KO. But instead of refilling the spot the card was removed from, place the new card in the rightmost spot of HQ and slide all other cards to your left. HQ operates identical to the villain city track when new heroes are added.

Please Note: In the first round skip the "HQ New Recruits" phase.

After playing a scenario (win or lose), you may keep ONE non-unique hero card from your deck (from that scenario) that costs four or less recruit points and permanently add it to your starting deck. Once a hero has been permanently recruited into your starting deck, that hero set is no longer available to be chosen for play in future scenarios for that season. When adding a new hero card, remove one S.H.I.E.L.D. card of the same attack or recruit type. If the card doesn't have a type or multiple types, you can pick either. Regardless, you start each new scenario with 12 cards in your starter deck.

Even Heroes Need a Break!

You are not permitted to use the same hero sets in the hero deck two games in a row. Even heroes need a break sometimes! This means you have to plan out what your sets are going to look like from scenario to scenario, especially going into the last two scenarios.

The Villains

Do not perform the "Final Showdown" after defeating a Mastermind in a scenario. His "Mastermind" card will instead be added to future scenarios within a season. See next point below.

After defeating a Mastermind, add his "Mastermind" card into the villain deck for all remaining scenarios within a season. Master minds in the villain deck always perform their master strike when drawn and if they escape.

The Other Players

The term "Other Player" is represented by the hero deck. 

• Ignore when the other players gain a wound or have to discard bystanders or villain/mastermind cards.
• If the other players would KO heroes, it applies to the Hero Deck
• If other players would discard heroes, it applies to the Hero Deck and the card(s) are cycled to the bottom of the deck

That's it. I hope this is a fun way to explore the content of this expansion.

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Final Showdown - X-Cutioner's Song

Finishing up this week's session reports on my solo Legendary campaign (as described here). This campaign centers around the content in Dark City. I decided I would limit my choices of heroes to exclusively the Dark City options.  Last time, the Mastermind was able to narrowly defeat me, and I didn't want a repeat of those events, so was excited for this last chapter.

Scenario 4 & Final Showdown: X-Cutioner's Song
Mastermind: Apocalypse
Villains: Four Horsemen and Streets of New York
Hero Villain: Hulk
Henchmen: Phalanx + Mr. Sinister, Mephisto and Kingpin Mastermind cards

**Note, I screwed up and forgot to add the phalanx henchmen, which I believe made this scenario harder, as the hulk hero cards were more common.

For this scheme, a hero set (The Hulk) is mixed into the villain deck. and the hero is captured like a bystander (there are no bystanders mixed in). This makes the villain harder (+2 attack). Defeating the villain does gain you the hero, so the Hulk was a nice addition to my setup. The scheme twists KO all the captured heroes (Hulks). When 9 non-SHIELD heroes are KO'd, you lose. To make matters worse a lot of the baddies KO cards. A lot of them have a "other players reveal and KO" actions in fights - in this version of playing solo, "other players reveal" means flip over cards from the hero stack - which is a guaranteed KO. I also got a nasty surprise when I attacked Apocalypse...

My hero setup was: Angel, Bishop, Cable, Domino, and Colossus. Turns out that Colossus and the Hulk played well with each other - I was generating a ton of attack pretty early on. Angel was doing his thing and I was drawing a ton of cards and it felt like things were going to be easy. I was wrong.

The Masterstrike cards with Apocalypse basically force you to put any non-SHIELD starter cards back on your deck. At least three time I basically had 0-1 cards left in hand. Wasted turns are never good. Then, I got more bad news. The first time I attacked Apocalypse, three heroes got KO'd. Ugh. I had to hope that crap wasn't going to happen the whole time. The second time I attacked Apocalypse the card revealed said that if it wasn't the last Mastermind card, rescue six bystanders and put the Mastermind card back in the stack! I got this card THREE TIMES. If my heroes had taken advantage of the number of bystanders I had, I'd have finished in record time as I had at least 25 bystanders rescued very quickly.

Unfortunately for me, this is what actually happened - I pulled a hand and ended up with 27 attack. There were two cards left in the Apocalypse stack. I pulled the card I wanted (ie, not the one that had to be last) and that card KO'd two heroes from "other player's hands". That brought the KO total up to nine and I lost the scenario with 15 attack left, which would have taken out the last card and won the scenario. So very close. Frustratingly close.

My deck ended up a mix of Colossus, Angel, Hulk and sprinkling of Domino. Maybe 1 each of Bishop and Cable. Interestingly, I did not end up with more than 1 card of cost 5+. Being able to draw a lot of cards that were doing between 3-6 attack each was plenty of offense. Colossus is a great hero if you have the ability to mitigate wounds. He will generate a lot of them, so you have to be careful if you use him in certain scenarios.

The campaign ended up being a 2-2 affair, but was fun. Working against Masterminds and villain stacks that I'm not used to playing while managing hero rosters is a pretty decent way to play Legendary solo. If you are interested in the solo rules - check it out on BGG.

Marvel Legendary continues to impress me each time I play it. The schemes are taken from major story lines and somehow have managed to capture the essence each time. I'm probably going to plow forward with creating my own four scenario campaign based on the Civil War set next. I'll detail it out so that others can play along if they want. Until next time - make mine Marvel!

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Dark City - The Mob Takes Over

Continuing this week's session reports on my solo Legendary campaign (as described here). This campaign centers around the content in Dark City. I decided I would limit my choices of heroes to exclusively the Dark City options.  After the first two scenarios I had to sit down and figure out who I wanted in the last scenario and who was left that I could put together for a reasonable group in the third scenario. I settled on the group of Punisher, Blade, Daredevil, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawler for the third scenario

Scenario 3: Organized Crime Wave
Mastermind: Kingpin
Villains: Streets of New York and Emissaries of Evil
Henchmen: Maggia Goons + Mr. Sinister and Mephisto Mastermind cards in the villain deck

I don't think I've played this scenario before, but let me say, it was interesting and challenging. And it beat me. The crime wave is represented by the Maggia Goons. When one comes out, you draw another villain (which is harsh since the solo campaign rules have you draw twice anyway). Scheme Twists? When a twist comes out, any Maggia Goons in the city escape and any goons you've defeated are shuffled back into the villain deck (its like their lawyers keep getting them out of jail). You lose when five goons escape.

I got VERY lucky and most of the twists came out when there were no goons in the city. I did not get lucky late in the game, when I had a chance to win. Before I could defeat the last Kingpin card, I got a string of six goons in a row that just was the end.

The Kingpin, Streets of New York villains, and the Maggia Goons all were bribable, which is an interesting twist - essentially you can use purchase power to take them out. That makes it sound easier, but if you are using your stars for taking out a villain, it means you are not adding to your hero deck. On the flip side, it makes the heroes that are available a little more flexible.

I will also say this - if I had had Ghost Rider as a hero set, this scenario would have been pretty easy. Being able to KO villains from my defeated villains would have ELIMINATED the Maggia threat (or at least reduced it).

Anyway, here are my quick thoughts on the heroes I had available to me:

• Punisher - He needs to be with other "tech" heroes to really shine. I didn't buy much of his cards as a result. In fact, my decks have been very tech thin so far. He had some interesting cards for thinning decks if there had been more tech.
• Blade - Blade felt a little generic. Like a non-special medium hitter. I saw one or two interesting cards, but only his "big" card was great for me (not sure his big card would have been as great in a multiplayer game - you got attack equal to the number of villains in your defeated pile. Solo, I was getting like 7-9 (since the goons kept getting taken out) at a time. Multiplayer, that might have been more like 4-6
• Daredevil - Daredevil has some interesting cards where you can get more attack if you know the top card of your deck. He has a card that lets you buy a card to the top of your deck, so his cards play well with others when you know the top card and/or can draw.
• Jean Grey - She seems geared to rescuing bystanders and supporting other hero combos. I didn't go for her cards much at all in this setup.
• Nightcrawler - another middle weight attacker who's Teleport ability gives you some flexibility (teleport lets you set that card aside for use in your next hand as an additional card). I was also able to leverage the other cards as combos to make his attacks much better. He definitely needs attack and support in your deck to really shine.

One more scenario to go in the campaign. I'm going to go with Angel, Bishop, Cable, Domino, and Colossus - hoping for a better outcome next time.

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Legendary: Dark City

As you know, I loves me some Marvel Legendary. Not only do I love the system, as an old school Marvel comic fan, this game lets me play out some of my old favorite story lines (ish). Whatever, this game is a lot of fun for me. Because of Legendary DXP (the reskinned, app version of the game) I have a strong familiarity with the base game schemes, villains, and of course the heroes.

Since I'm on a solo kick for the game, I started up the second campaign (as described here). This time, the campaign centers around the content in Dark City. Dark City was one of the first expansion sets for Legendary and it brought a lot of content to the game. With that in mind, I decided I would limit my choices of heroes to exclusively the Dark City options.  The heroes here pretty much fall into three groups: X-Force, Marvel Knights, and X-Men. I have played with the cards from the set before, but not with any regularity, so for the first chapter of the campaign I randomly picked a set of heroes and ended up with a split of X-Force and X-Men in Wolverine (X-Force), Cable, Domino, Iceman, Prof X

Scenario 1: Capture Baby Hope
Mastermind: Mr. Sinister
Villains: Marauders and MLF
Henchmen: (Phalanax) - it was supposed to be Maggia Goons, but I put the wrong set in, oh well.

It took me a minute to get a handle on where I needed my deck to go with unfamiliar cards, but once things settled in, things were humming along. I snagged the big Cable card and by the end, I was pretty much just playing my whole deck. Results: 64 points, 7 villains escaped, 2 (of 3) twists happened... So I got out alive and just in time. Hero thoughts:

• Wolverine (X-Force): meh. Lots of draw more cards and feels like the cards really have to combo to work well. If you can thin out all the SHIELD cards, his cards get better.
• Cable: he packs a wallop (like you'd expect). I'm pretty sure I'm going to line him up for the last scenario
• Domino: She brings a lot of cheap flexibility to your deck (she can be either attack or recruit for most of the card) - also more draws. She isn't a big hitter, but makes your deck better with most of her cards. I'll probably use her with Cable in the last scenario
• Iceman: He needs to combo off other cards to excel. I never was in love with the cards I saw. I'll probably use him again in the third scenario
• Prof. X: better than I thought he was going to be. His cards were interesting and I need to play him more to decide how to best utilize what I saw.

I ended up deciding to keep a Wolverine card for the campaign (meaning he isn't available for the remaining scenarios. 

Scenario 2: Transform Citizens into Demons

Mastermind: Mephisto

Villains: Underworld and Four Horsemen

Hero Villain: Jean Gray

Henchmen: Phalanx + Mr. Sinister Mastermind card

I decided I needed to play out some Marvel Knights this time, so randomly picked three of them (Iron Fist, Ghost Rider, Elektra) and then rounded out the deck with two X-Men (Bishop, Angel) and my  Wolverine card. 

In this scheme, each twist adds 5 bystanders to a pile (goblins that can be "rescued" for 2 attack each). The problem with the Goblins is they added 1 attack each to the Jean Grey "Goblin Queen" cards. You lose when 4 Jean Grey cards escape. Well, I think I ended up having something like 18 cards in that stack pretty quickly, meaning that taking out the Goblin Queen wasn't going to happen - the attack was better spent going after the Mastermind (Mephisto). My deck started humming at exactly the right time and I gathered 22 attack and killed knocked out two Mephisto in the same round to end the game. Result: 32 points, 5 villains escaped (2 Jean Grey).  Hero thoughts:

• Bishop: another big hitter. His cards work well if you can KO cards. If you can thin, he's a good choice.
• Angel: I have experience with this set and yeah, he is overpowered. You can really get your deck draws going crazy and rescue bystanders a lot. He works well for most deck compositions
• Iron Fist: an interesting mix of cards, most cheap. Not quite sure he'd work with all decks, but he played really well with Elektra
• Elektra: Not sure what to expect, but she played well with all the cheap cards I had access to and was a heavy hitter for me.
• Ghost Rider: Mixed bag for me. His good cards seem to rely on you burning captured villain cards. I picked up a couple of his cards, but usually preferred other options

I ended up keeping a Ghost Rider card since I didn't figure I'd care about re-using his set of cards.

Next up: round three - one of the harder ones to put together. I can't pick heroes I just used nor do I want to use any that I want to use in the last scenario (one of the key points of the campaign is that you cannot use a hero set in back to back scenarios). So for round three, we might end up with the left-overs. See you next time.

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Still Legendary

During the month of June (2017), I discovered something new (old). A user on BGG had created a modified solo system for Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building game. First off, let me just say, I really like this game. It is one of my top 10 games. I enjoy non-generic deck builders (i.e. not Dominion) and this has been the best I've played.

Yeah, COVID helped me rediscover it again. In looking back at what I played, I realized that all I did was play the base set's solo rules rather than the modified version of the solo play by Sky Zero. Well, I replayed the first campaign - base set only. The results? A desire to play more. Also, a realization that my experience with the Legendary DXP app on my tablet made me a much better player (with the base set at least).

For those not familiar with the campaign structure, basically it is 4 pre-selected consecutive scenarios. You play with a two player setup, but only manage one hand. Heroes come in at the start of each round and push one out (much like the villains in the city track). You also do two draws on the villain deck each round. Between scenarios, you choose a new team of heroes - you can't use a hero set in back to back scenarios, which makes managing your 5 heroes each turn a little interesting as you gear yourself for the final scenario. After each scenario, you can buy 1 card (3-4 cost) and use it to replace a card in your starter hand. The trick being - once you buy that new "starter" card, you cannot use that hero again during the campaign. You have to plan a little. Not knowing the heroes as well this time around, I have to hunt for the cool combos while not taking someone out I'll need later.

I have to say I found the first campaign really easy. Here are the results.

Scenario 1: Midtown Bank Robbery
Mastermind: Red Skull
Villains: Hydra & Skrulls
Henchmen: Savage Land Mutants
Gambit, Rogue, Hawkeye, Storm, Deadpool (random)
62 points - no villians escaped

Scenario 2: Negative Zone Prison Breakout
Mastermind: Magneto
Villains: Brotherhood and Masters of Evil
Henchmen: Hand Ninjas and Sentinel + Add Red Skull Mastermind card to the Villain Deck
Spider-man, Black Widow, Nick Fury, Thor, Wolverine (random, except Wolverine)
I carried one Gambit card in my starter deck
66 points - 7 villians escaped

Scenario 3: Replace Earth's Leaders with Killbots
Mastermind: Dr. Doom
Villains: Enemies of Asgard and Radiation
Henchmen: Doombot Legion + Add Red Skull and Magneto Mastermind cards to the Villain Deck
Cap, Storm, Cyclops, Deadpool, Hawkeye (I picked this setup),
I carried Gambit and one Nick Fury card
74 points - 6 villians escaped

Scenario 4 & Final Showdown: The Legacy Virus (12 wounds)
Mastermind: Loki
Villains: Enemies of Asgard and Spider Foes
Henchmen: Savage Land Mutates + Add Red Skull, Magneto and Dr. Doom Mastermind cards to the villain deck
Hulk, Wolverine, Rogue, Black Widow, Iron Man
83 points - no villains escaped, only1 wound taken!

The Legacy Virus scheme can be rough if a lot of scheme twists hit early, but I ALWAYS had a tech in my hand when it came up and pretty much avoided wounds altogether. Honestly, knowing the cards made it really fast and kinda easy. Black Widow is crazy overpowered when you can grab bystanders left and right. Team her with Rogue and not sure many scenarios would be hard to beat.

I'm going to move onto the second campaign, which is Dark City stuff. My plan is to limit my hero choice to ONLY the Dark City expansion. This should make the first couple of games interesting as I learn about the heroes and their strengths. Don't get me wrong, I've played with some of them in the past, but not extensively like I have with the base set. As much as I enjoy the game, I know I'll enjoy learning more about cards I've had but not used on a regular basis.

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COVID Quarantine == Online Gaming

We are all in the same boat right now. Bored in Quarantine. I'm one of the lucky ones - good job (software engineer) that wasn't really impacted. I just picked up and started working from home. In fact, I got an added benefit - at my office, traffic to "game sites" is blocked, but obviously, not so much from home. 

Not that I'm spending all my time playing games, but it is a nice distraction to have an async game or two running. I have been mostly playing and learning games on Yucata.de, but have been spending some time on BoardgameArena.com too now.

I enjoy Yucata.de for the large number of games that keeps growing. It is also free. The games themselves can vary wildly in the UI, but generally are well done and rarely have I had issues with the platform or users.

Without further ado, I thought I'd share what I've been playing on Yucata.de since the start of all the COVID craziness:

• Can't Stop - one of my favorite distractions (I have logged over 900 games on Yucata.de alone)
• Thurn and Taxis - a decent Euro that we overplayed and which I always lose at to my friend Nathan
• To Court the King - another "distraction" game that I always lose to Nathan
• Guildhall - I quick new one I learned to play with fellow PBM'ers Eric B and Brandon K. This is a card game - something of an engine/combo game that was interesting, but probably has a limited amount of life/replayability
• Cacao - a tile laying/worker placement (your workers are printed on your tiles). Interesting, but not great depth. Certainly a bit of a luck factor, but works well for async as it is purely tactical.
• Glen More - One of Nathan's favorites (he always wins). I cannot figure out how to do well - it is just one of those that I can't quite grok how to play well
• Thunderstone - I love Thunderstone and the Yucata.de implementation is well done.
• St. Petersberg - I play this like every other year and as soon as I start playing, I recall why I don't play it. The base game is completely uninteresting - they choices are fairly obvious and luck of the draw early on heavily influence the outcome.
• Castles of Burgundy - one of Feld's best games and one that I really enjoy. I do ok, but haven't played enough to feel like I'm good at the game.
• Pompeji - total luck fest and a ton of take that! This one is fast, so a play every so often is ok, but this is much more fun face-to-face
• Vikings - another new one to me. A tile laying/drafting game. Nothing heavy, but another good tactical async game for the queue.
• Vinci - I like Vinci, especially as an async game. This is another mostly tactical game that is more interesting (to me) than a lot (you choices seem to matter more). 

Because of COVID, I was finally introduced to boardgamearena.com - another site where the games can be played async (but also live). BGA has also has a wide variety of games (and with some overlap!). BGA seems to have a nicer interface (generally), though it seems to have less or stricter "undo/reset" options than yucata.de's versions. At BGA, I've been playing:

• Can't Stop - what can I say...
• Taluva - I love this 3D tile laying sucker. I also don't like it except as a 2-player knife fight.
• Hive - This is such a good tense little abstract and the implementation on BGA is top notch. I haven't played in a while, so it was fun to revisit this. 

There are a bunch of good heavier games that I need to review the rules on that I want to play and or learn on BGA. Still just a matter of time. 

Regardless, it has been nice playing a little bit. COVID has been hard for everyone and its been nice to re-discover a distraction or two.

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