I haven't posted in a while, as my gaming has been fairly limited. However, I am compelled to post about an odd game that I absolutely love. Two points must be made before I begin:
1. I hate abstracts. Aside from Through the Desert and Polarity, I have an aversion towards most abstracts. Blokus was one of the first games I ever bought, and I really avoid playing it.
2. I also steer clear of anything dealing with a fantasy theme or a dungeon theme.
Those two points made, my favorite current game is Dungeon Twister. Basically a very tricked-out abstract with an odd-dungeon theme, it shocked me how great this game plays. There is an incredible amount of thinking to do, but the game never feels like it swamps you with its difficulty. I am yet to win a game of it (though I nearly beat Gertie last night--I had her within reach, had a lead of 4-1 and still lost....), but it is one of those games that is so engrossing, so well-designed, and just plain fun. The genius of the game is that, as you get closer to winning, your team gets weakened considerably.
I was a skeptic too. It has a weird theme, complete with Mekanorks, a goblin, a wizard, pit traps, etc. But, by the third time around, the game just took me. Gert is a fan as well--our recent sessions of Dungeon Twister have helped ease the tensions of moving.
Update: Finally beat her the other night. She must have been tired. Or some other excuse.
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charles and i were talking about this game last night. a lot of people are talking about this one, so i'm going to have to find someone around here that has a copy so i can see what all the commotion is about.
hey - let's make our own crokinole boards!
Yeah, we were talking about how I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. I played it one time and it just never clicked. This is one that sounds sooooo good on paper and went over like a lead balloon to me. It should be a tactical battle of the brains. It should be one of those great spacial games that I love where I can see a twist here giving me the perfect move to advance or hose my opponent. Nope. There are so many other two player games I'd rather play.
I have heard that the designer listed chess as a heavy influence for the game. I have played very little chess, but I do know that it is a highly tactical battle of the brains--in fact that may be solely what it is. If you can find someone who has as much understanding of the game as you do, then a well-matched conflict of the minds will emerge. This is true in DT I feel. Along about the third game we played, we both began to develop strategies. Soon, we began to attempt to counteract each other's strategies even before the game began.
A large part of DT takes place even before the first move of the game: the initial placement of tokens. Should you place your troll near your opponents starting line in an attempt to intimidate them, possible kill one or more characters? Should you place your fireball wand in the same square as your troll--guarding it until your wizard can get to it? Place your thief on the starting line, or in the middle, in an attempt to open up portcullises for her friends?
At least in the initial game, there are a good many ways to give your opponent the shaft, and render certain players useless. The Mekanork is especially good for this--find a square that, when turned a certain way against an adjacent square, forces the opponent to abandon plans of advancing forward. A good wizard w/ fire wand move will certainly give an opponent considering movement nearby pause.
I am not defending my post (OK, maybe I am) as much as I am trying to point out what emerged upon further play of the game. Cowboys: Way of the Gun disappointed me the first time I played it, and only got worse every time I played it in the future. I did not like DT at all the first time I played it. But, after several plays, I found myself thinking about it during the day, working strategies in my head. Not many games do that for me--I played AoE III, I got beat by a couple of VPs, but trying to form a strategy in that game only goes so far. DT however, lends itself well to both advance and post-game strategic thought. That may have more to do with game length than anything, but I could not stop myself from wondering about the game while I was away from the table.
Of the 2-player games that I have played, and/or own, I feel that Mr. Jack is about the only game that I might place with DT as something I'd rather play. I have only played a partial game of Twilight Struggle, but it seems to me that that game will be up there as well.
i think it's a winnner, ja, especially with paladins. it's hard to have a strategy in this game, one that works every time, because the elements are never the same, you are never against the same people, the rooms are always different, items are different... that is what makes this game interesting, i think.
--corrie
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