Gaming with Kids: Stories

There are many wonderful aspects to hobby gaming.  One of those is story-telling: creating or imagining a narrative arc while exploring space, plundering merchant sailing ships, slaying dragons, building up a kingdom, or marching armies across a map.  Now, I'm never one to imply that any theme, however good, will actually make you "feel like you're there."  That's just silly.  After all, you're just pushing plastic, wooden, and cardboard bits around a tabletop.  However, there are often fun stories generated by great themes, and you will find your family or gaming group retelling these memorable moments long after the game is folded up and placed back upon the shelf.  These photos illustrate just a few of our recent stories.


Risk: 2210 AD - One of the novel reimplementations to this traditional
standard are Devastated Lands. These are randomly drawn (4) from the Land card
deck at the start of the game and marked with large, nuclear warning style counters.
For the remainder of that game, no one may claim, enter, or march through any of
these territories as they were laid waste in previous conflicts. As you might guess,
this mechanic can really change up tried and true strategies. In this game, we had
Southeast and Eastern Europe completely devastated and cut-off from Asia.
This isolation made for some unique interaction between Europe-Africa and
Africa-Asia. On top of that, the owner of Europe still received all 5 bonus armies
even though needing two less territories to secure and protect! Of course,
growing up at the end of the Cold War, it was easy for me to concoct a narrative
of the U.S. and NATO having once defeated the U.S.S.R and the Warsaw Pact
in a great nuclear conflict leading to such devastation!



Red November - Oh, those unfortunate gnomes! This title is one of our favorite
romps for its frantic chaos. Here, the entire ship's bow was flooded except for
the missile room - and it happened to be on fire while the missiles were also about
to malfunction and launch prematurely. Luckily as both events occurred, we just
happened to have two seagnomes already there. Hooray! One put out the fire,
while the second disarmed the missiles. Just then, it, too, flooded. Doom!
However, their brave and skillful actions saved the crippled vessel as a mere
fourteen minutes later, the two surviving crew members, cowering meekly in the
engine room (the only compartment not afflicted by flood or fire), were rescued.
Those that perished were posthumously awarded the Chit of Honor for their
service to Mother Gnomia in a patriotically, moving ceremony!

 

Axis & Allies 1942 - So anyone who has played a fair amount of A&A over
the years probably has that story of the loan Kraut tank fending off the entire
British Expeditionary Force in Norway; or a lone Yankee Infantry holding the
Imperial Japanese Army at bay in China for a whole round. Well, here we have
sort of the reverse: mass slaughter by the invaders! Just the fact that my five
Infantry and Artillery all hit on one roll when needing a '2' or less was amazing.
But when you also consider that I'm usually lucky to get even two hits in such
a situation, the 100% hit ratio was stinking hilarious! My kids sure were
impressed with their old man!



Bang! The Bullet! - It doesn't take too much imagination
to generate narrative in this well-themed card game.
Since it can get a little long in the tooth if players are able
to play a lot of Missed! cards and Beer cards to heal, then
we like the Dynamite as a means to thin the pack...hehe.
When laid before you, you must first draw a card as your turn
begins. If you draw a heart-suited card, then boom goes the
dynamite and you loose three life points! If it doesn't explode,
then pass it to the next person. Funny thing is, there are two
dynamites with the expansion, so when the second one is
played, you can eventually get both in front of you, doubling
the danger! Now, technically we may be playing that wrong
because you're not supposed to have two, similar blue-bordered
cards in your tableau. However, the Dynamite plays differently
than those others and, besides, it is much more fun when both
are played down! One time we had a pair of dynamite circling
around for five turns before one finally went off! Talk about
story-telling!

Gaming Report: Bang! The Bullet and Mag Blast



For his birthday, we bought our son Bang! The Bullet.  Okay, fine, yeah, I bought our son Bang! The Bullet. So, what's your point...?!  This card game was high on his wishlist and he has actually been asking for it since seeing a couple of video reviews on the Geek - like months ago!  I'll do a full review in time. We've played three 5-player sessions in the past week.  Cory must have some "birthday boy mojo" as he's been on the winning team all three times - in fact he's yet to be gunned down!  In our inaugural game, he pinned on the shiny, plastic star and cleaned out the town.  Then in the next two games, he was the last outlaw standing after ruthlessly sending the sheriff off to Boot Hill in a rough-hewn, pine box.  Well, actually, he played an Injun card to take care of the last lawman - and that's when he couldn't shoot her because she was holed up in a hideout and out of gun range!  Hope comes ever so close - she has the touch for drawing the really good cards, for some reason.  So far on the plus side: a unique and fun theme, fluid mechanics, good balance, replayability, and great value.  On the minus side: some rules ambiguity, too many Missed! cards, questionable length, and alcohol (I'll explain latter).



This is just such a cool pic! From the blog peaeater.com.



Yes, we have the silly art edition. And dig it!



This all, naturally, led to some rounds of Mag Blast.  I'm not sure I documented how many, but probably four or five games of between 3- to 4-players.  Which means that I stood not a chance in any of them.  My kids seem to think I'm more comfortable with my particles scattered across the cold, vastness of space - so they gang up on me.  In two player combat, I can hold my own and admit I'm very lucky with the card draws to do so (especially since I get the Recyclons a lot, who get to draw reinforcements every time a ship anywhere is destroyed).  In the massively chaotic, George Lucas inspired, multi-player space battles - not so much.  However, at least in one game this week I know, I was not the first player vaporized!  So perhaps something build on...

Gaming Report: Risk 2210

Quick note: This will be the last post of the year.

We recently acquired Risk 2210 A.D. and the kids were anxious to dive straight into it.  They really enjoy these epic, dudes-on-a-map games.  Part of me understands for the obvious reasons of how awesome they are.  But part of me is surprised, too, since the strategy is often difficult to grasp at younger ages and the down time between their turns is often agonizingly glacial.  Despite the lack of challenge (not the reason I play with my kids right now, anyway) and their sometimes frustrating lack of focus, I was more than willing to oblige.

North America was evidently quite devasted from the "last war!"

This will get a fuller treatment in a future review, but for now, Risk 2210 is a very nice improvement over the original game.  The theme is stronger.  The ocean and lunar territories significantly altar the old strategies.  And commanders and command cards throw in a fun amount of unpredictability and chaos while leveling the playing field no matter how far or behind you may think you are.  The dice can still destroy all your plans, as poor Cory discovered in trying to take Europe.  Brendon nearly beat me just in acquiring four command cards that awarded him bonus points at the end of the game.  Hope came close to victory, too, by deftly taking over the entire Moon, until I caught on in the last turn that she'd beat me if I didn't counter-attack there.  Lilly learned that, just like in old Risk, you can't try to take and hold Asia!  And they all laughed as I lost Australia to a back door sea invasion.  There's a lot to keep track of in this re-imagined version.


Hope begins her lunar conquest.



Interestingly, there is a five-turn limit, which means the game ends quite abruptly.  While certainly a great improvement over the day-long slug-fests of old, you still must plan on spending 3-4 hours, nonetheless.  Down time between your turns is also still a problem.  And ironically, the turn limit is one of the negatives I have with the game after our one play - just as you're finally gearing up to implement a massive campaign, it's all over!  Oh well, I guess that can be easily remedied if all players agree to a turn or two extension.  Although just when I agree to a 6th turn is when one of the little twerps will no doubt draw a scatter bomb card and wipe out half my MODs!

Making use of the sea.

Gaming Report: Mission: Red Planet, Red November, Sorry! Sliders

Who would have thought that a re-worked Sorry! game would create so much fun?  Put a little ball-bearing in the bottom of the pawns, slap a track down onto a target, and laugh away a solid hour before you know it.  We also have Sorry! Spinners which creates a good deal of hilarious agony.  Just as you're one space away from crawling into your safe zone, some one spins the board and your home fades away in the rear view mirror.  That revision still includes the random card engine.  But Sliders is a pure dexterity game.  If you've seen shuffle board or curling, just imagine pushing your little pawn down a small track to a center target to score points and/or to knock off your opponents.  This simple gem comes with four different targets and a few different track configurations to provide even some surprising variety.  And it's a wonderful family game.  Despite the skill factor involved, there really isn't much advantage given to adults over kids.  Well, at least in my household!


Memorial to astronauts

after just five rounds.

Just three turns later,
the body count rises.

We played one 5-player session of Mission: Red Planet.  This game is fascinating in that it predictably finishes in one hour.  I'm still amazed every time it happens.  That length is one of this title's strongest draws.  It is quite chaotic and tends to be confrontational, but its brevity and light theme (which is nonetheless well integrated) soften the interaction.  The game is very tight with limited turns.  If you waste one of them, or are the victim to a well-timed attack, you need to recover quickly.  The kids really enjoy this, but are still working on the optimal strategy in playing the various roles.  The other issue at hand is a one-track mind in focusing on their secret bonus missions which, if completed, score extra points.  If they are able to accomplish that, they reap some big rewards.  However, if they fall short, it proves problematic because they've ignored the normal scoring method, at the same time, which is to place majorities in the different regions on Mars.  This game was particularly cut-throat - lots of astronauts paid dearly!  This is a very good game.



All rooms flooded or on fire!



The Kracken! Ironically, it would have eaten us at

the same time we ended up being crushed by the deep!



We also set out for another 5-manned mission on the Red November.  This time I was able to convince my kids we should remove all of the "Respite" cards from the Event Deck.  I'm not sure they'll go for that again!  Just after the first two gnomes played, we already had four rooms on fire.  In less than fifteen minutes, we narrowly fixed the pumps to avoid asphyxiation.  Then the Kracken came.  Luckily we had an aqualung and harpoon which Brendon bravely took out to sea and slaughtered.  Then he promptly passed out on a faint check and died.  Alas, we shared his fate not too much longer.  Every single room on the sub was either flooded or on fire.  We were descending fast, but couldn't get to the Engine Room as it was on fire and none of us had an extinguisher or grog.  Even the Captain's Room was on fire, preventing us from raiding his personal stash for some of that "liquid courage" with which to fight the blazes.  We were finally crushed in the ocean depths in the 30th minute.  Pretty funny, if you ask me.



Crushed in uncontrolled descent!

Gaming Report: Red November

With pics, this time!  We got in two games of this chaotic, scramble-fest.  One 4 player session and one with 3 players.  The kids really enjoy the cooperative nature.  And I don't have to do all the thinking because they have caught on very nicely.  We won both games with only a couple of close shaves.  That's been the case with the last few sessions.  I'm trying to talk them into removing the "Respite" event cards in the future so we have fewer breaks.  I think it's much funnier when you're rushing to the missile room to try an prevent an ICBM from launching into your stern!  At any rate, this is a deceptively, good, puzzle-solving title.  Sure, it's got drunken gnomes trying to ward off the Kracken with a harpoon pop-gun!  But figuring out who's in the best position with the most favorable amount of time does work the brain - especially for younger gamers.


About mid-game. A couple of fires and flooding. Nothing too bad.



I'm (red) trapped in the Captain's cabin until yellow extinguishes the fire,
or I swipe some grog from his personal stash!



Gaming Report: Small World, Dominion

Per our usual, we got a couple games worked in while I kept a keen eye on one of the craziest weekends in college football, ever.  First, the boys and I played Small World.  This is really a true gem.  It is light-weight and light-hearted.  It involves spite and conflict without player elimination and providing plenty of opportunity for pay-back at the same time.  It scales perfectly from 2-5 players.  The artwork is a delight.  It is simple to learn and play.  The replayability factor is high with the random mixing of races and powers each game.  And it's quick with little downtime.  It's just about perfect to play with kids.  The only main drawback is that it's really very light.  Some people prefer games with more meat and strategy.  Even my kids.  Not all the time, though.  Cory was able to nab the Spirit Amazons and then the Ghouls.  I forgot who his third race was, but it didn't matter.  With the Spirit power, he was able to have two races in decline and with his second race being Ghouls, he was able to attack even in decline.  That led to lots of points and he ran away with the game!

Lilly hit me up later for a session of her favorite game: Dominion.  I still enjoy this game, but am starting to get a little bit of a "samey" feeling.  Of course, we just have the base game, so the Intrigue expansion may be the ticket, despite my general distaste for expansions.  The other tactic we may have to employ is the card randomizer; but it's just not always extremely convenient to jump online to crank that out quickly.  Lilly tends to pick many of the same action card piles.  The Woodcutter + Village + Market tends to be the strategy as the best option of drawing extra cards while laying down lots of actions and nabbing additional buys.  I won this time, exacting my revenge from the last game in which she successfully went after me heavy with the Thief!

Gaming Report: Citadels, Dominion, Lifeboat

Ouch!  An entire week since my last posting?  I hope to fix that this week with some thoughts on kids and abstract themes, plus another review.  But the weekend was nice - other than Kansas State being exposed by the dreaded Sooners.  Oh well, still another great rebuilding tenure under Snyder's second commandership in the Little Apple.

We got in a 4-player session of Citadels for the first game of the weekend.  I prefer the 5- or 6-player versions.  With only 4 players, there is an extra character laid down before the draft.  While that might not seem like a major deal, it still narrows the guessing mechanic - especially for the first player who might choose the Assassin and/or Thief and then know right away the only four characters left.  And say they do choose the Assassin, and then one of the last four is the Thief, well now there are only three characters that they have to pick from to attack.  That can be quite an advantage!  But I'll admit it does add a good deal of tension to the variant.

I played two 2-player sessions of Dominion, one with my brother-in-law from Green Bay who was in town with family.  I've mentioned introducing the game to him previously and he's a natural at it with his hardcore Pokémon background.  We both had the samd idea in going after the Village, Festival, and Market fairly heavy, but I spent a couple turns on the Bureaucrat, as well.  Unfortunately, the free Silvers provided little advantage.  In the end, he was able to nab one extra Province that proved the difference.

Then all of the kids and I took on Lifeboat to end the weekend.  I think the kids were tired from playing with their cousins and staying up late the two nights before, because they were more sensitive than usual to the ganging up and back-stabbing.  Tempers flared in this session and I almost had to end the game early!  But that is not usually the case.  We were able to finish amicably in the end.  I hated myself and so tried early on to take out everyone else, starting with the big First Mate (Lilly).  However, since I was the weakest character, Lady Lauren, it was tough going and included a lot of bribery.  My one advantage was that the First Mate was my secret love, so I knew other people wouldn't be rushing to his (her) aid.  Unfortunately, she had the flare gun which added another 8 points of strength making her virtually untouchable.  On top of that, she had the parasol which protected her from one thirst every round.  As I was Lady Lauren, I managed to grab all the jewels which gave me double points for them - diamonds are a girl's best friend!  But it was Hope, the next weakest with Sir Stephen, who just quietly rowed all game long and saved up paintings (his double points), and won the game.  I think this was the first game of Lifeboat we've played in which everyone survived - and remained conscious even!

Gaming Report: Dominion, Mag Blast

Seems like we have a routine around here – which is logical as you need one when raising seven kids!  The weather was gorgeous, again – I can't believe it was the "Third Saturday in October" (go Vols!), and yet it was 73 degrees!  So we enjoyed football and bikes and trampoline and other things outside.  We only snuck in a few quicker games inside.

I played Dominion with the boys.  This game is a really nice fit for my kids, in particular, because of their background and enjoyment with Pokémon.  For those familiar with that collectible card game, my kids really appreciate that there is no number limit on a single card in Dominion.  Many times when putting a Pokémon deck together, they wish they could include more than four of some cards.  With Dominion, they can just go after whatever they want, regardless of the number of copies already in their deck.  But then again, this leads them to loading up on particular favorites and tardy acquisitions of Victory cards.  Therefore, perhaps a single card limit would be of benefit in teaching how to balance your deck?

I also got in a few games of Mag Blast with Lilly.  She's really taken a shine to this mad-cap gem.  I like it because it is quick to set-up, play, and break down.  It takes up little space (well, certainly a two-player session).  Plus it requires relatively little concentration – so we can play on the floor while I watch football.  For some reason, Lilly is extremely unlucky at this game.  At least I don't think I can chalk up all my victories to skill, given the nature of the game, but I routinely destroy her and really have no explanation as to why.  The fact that she keeps requesting to play, then, I feel is testament to the title's enjoyability.

On a concluding note, I hope to expand these gaming session "reports" in the very near future by including a few shots of our games in progress and some further thoughts from the kids.  Maybe have them give it a go at writing some reports, as well...

Gaming Report: Kingsburg, Red November

As usual, we had to squeeze some gaming in around a full schedule.  The next kid in line wanted Kingsburg.  And then the kid choosing after that went with the same selection!  I think that’s a pretty good endorsement for a game’s child friendliness.  You can read my latest review, if you did not see it already, but this is a very nice introductory Euro game.  Very attractive, good range of choices that do not overwhelm you, and with dice!  Once again, it is clear that you cannot concentrate on military alone.  Our first game was only three-player, with Cory edging out the win on a nice balance of military and religious buildings.  Our second game is not complete (due to unforeseen circumstances), but I’m currently trying out a “diplomatic” strategy with the bottom row towards the Embassy to generate a victory point after every season.

Then with visits for the foster kids on Saturday, Cory and I boarded the Red November.  He really likes this title.  He now asks for it more than Mag Blast, even.  We scrambled like chickens with our heads cut-off until a missile malfunction in the 95th minute turned out our boat in to glass – or would have if we weren’t underwater.  This game is always tense and right up to the final minutes.  We actually had the Kraken threat this game, but were able to kill it before eating us.  However, with only two gnomes left to deactivate the missiles, that entire half of the sub was on fire with a blocked hatch in the way!

Gaming Report: Attack!, Mag Blast, Red November

The weekend was a little easier, schedule-wise, but it was also absolutely beautiful, weather-wise.  So we spent some good time outside, and managed a little gaming, too.  Kids were in-and-out, too, with visits and spending the night at other places - so no 5 player sessions.  The main game was (is) a 4 player game of Attack!  This light, dudes-on-a-map, strategy dice-fest still takes us a minimum 3 hours, so it's one that gets played over several days as we have time.  It is still set-up as of this posting with hopes to wrap up tonight.

For a little while, it was just me and my son, so we got in a couple 2 player games of Mag Blast and Red November.  He quickly destroyed me in Mag Blast even though his race was weak.  We blasted away at each other with a fury, destroying many fleet ships until he played the dreaded "blast-direct hit-catastrophic hit" combo on my command ship - game over!  Then we spent a frenzied hour aboard the Red November.  Or actually I should say 56 minutes.  That's right we were four minutes from rescue when our boat was crushed in the deep depths of the Baltic Sea.  Crazy thing was that I managed to get in the engine room with an engine manual, but it was on fire, which means I had to extinguish that first!  Didn't get that last turn.  We got our revenge on, well...um...fate, I suppose...in a 3 player game later in the weekend.  Perhaps it was an anomaly, but that game was not as frantic?  Either we were extremely lucky or the 3 player version is not as optimal.  Of course, there are a couple of variants to add that could ratchet up the destruction upon the next 3 player voyage which we set sail.

Gaming Report: Lifeboat, Cribbage, and Rummy

Once again it was a packed and busy weekend with family visiting from out-of-town because of my youngest daughter's 4th birthday.  The kids and I got in a couple games of Lifeboat, including one in which we introduced the game to my 12-year old nephew - a new hobby gamer, maybe?!  I think my next review will be on this cutthroat, little gem and I'll have the kids weigh in on it, too, next time we play.  This game can cause some "issues" because it involves things like shooting the person next to you in the face with a flare gun.  Some feelings will get hurt, but it's manageable.  I won the first game as the Captain with Sir Stephen as my ally (he loved me - which may sound disturbing if you're not familiar with the game - but its legit - trust me).  I had to avoid fights with the First Mate.  The second game I was Sir Stephen but unfortunately I loved myself (now, come on, admit it, you're intrigued) and so had no ally.  My kids like to gang up on me when possible, and I was knocked unconscious and thrown overboard - end of game for me!

While I game with my kids the most, I do get to play with adults, sometimes!  And that is generally when hanging out with family.  I've been playing cribbage since my grandparents taught me in high school.  My mom and I play when we're visiting one place or the other, so we got a few games of that it.  It's a really enjoyable game and I recommend it for those interested in different types of card games beside ones like poker, rummy, hearts, and spades.  Those are all good, too, though, and I played some rummy, as well.  In fact, that is one of the few games my teen daughter likes to play, so I enjoy it for that reason alone, really.  But there's only so much to the game - basic set collecting and hope you draw the right cards.  But replayability isn't the goal/focus in standard card games.  In fact, I think I need to write on replayability.

Gaming Report: Mission: Red Plant

Today we played Mission: Red Planet, Cory's favorite game. I like this game because it is really fun and easy to play. I like how the Discovery cards can change the ending score so you never know who is going to win until the very end. This time it was not as crazy because there weren't as many Discovery cards played. But there were a lot of rockets blown up and we were killing off each others' astronauts. It was really funny when dad's rocket got blown up with 3 astronauts on board! In the end, dad won with 48 points, I had 38, Hope had 34, and Cory had 31. It was a close game! :)

Gaming Report: Red November, Mag Blast

A packed weekend in which the kids had plenty going on, but we still made a little time for a couple board games.  I rolled out Red November for the first time with the kids.  I'm pretty sure I corrected the rules we missed when the brother-in-law and I broke the shrink on it last weekend.  It was indeed a frantic affair with one of the kids even about to abandon ship, but his path was blocked and we were able to avert the immediate disaster that was motivating his cowardice!  In the end we survived by the skin of our gnomish noses: one gnome remaining with 8 minutes left, trapped in a room with all hatches blocked, one tick away from both the oxygen pumps and the reactor completely failing, and three event cards to draw.  FUN TIMES!  The kids struggled a bit with the mechanics and the confusion, but that was expected for their first play.  Still, they had a good time.  As our first cooperative game, it was cool to see them think out the chaos management.  It was encouraging to watch as they analyzed which gnome had the best opportunity to fix various problems based on their location and items in hand.  It was also disconcerting and humbling to see them ready to abandon their loved ones without hesitation!  Ah, board gaming.


Then on to something decidedly not cooperative: Mag Blast.  We really enjoy this game.  Some decry it as an aimless filler, or overly light, or frustratingly random.  We like it because of all of those points.  It's humorous and quick.  And while by design it is super spiteful (you're blasting opposing vessels out of the stars!), it's usually quick enough to negate the drawbacks of player elimination.  The kids (okay, me too) really get a kick out of making the blast noises.  And they generally gang up on me.  Ah, board gaming.

Gaming Report: Dominion, Red November

Spent the weekend in Green Bay, WI, at my brother-in-law's and family.  He's a huge Pokemon player.  He and my nephew (10) play in a club, of sorts, up there every week at an awesome FLGS called Gnome Games.  They also play, and do very well, in tournaments up there.  Gnome Games supports pretty much all of the major gaming hobbies with open play, sponsored and official tournaments, and more, including Magic, L5R, board gaming, and miniatures.

Anyway, last time they were down here in Illinois, I introduced him to Dominion thinking it'd be right up his alley - as a Pokemon veteran.  Success!  So I brought it with me this weekend, even though it was going to be a busy one.  We did get one play in - which he won.  And since my kids also like to play Pokemon (though we're much more casual), we joined them at their weekly gathering at Gnome Games.  I, of course, couldn't get out of there without a purchase, so we now have Red November in the collection.  That night, instead of a rematch of Dominion, my brother-in-law asked to try out the new game.  Rock on!  I'm sure he won't abandon Pokemon for the hobby gaming ship, but it looks like he'll be more than keen to jump into any genre of game when he's here, or we're there.  And that's a win.