As we all gather to celebrate in the holiday season, it provides us with an opportunity to express our gratitude to you for the last year. So first and foremost, on behalf of the whole FallCon committee, thank you for your support of our convention and activities over 2009.

In preparation for our 2010 convention, we recently encountered an unexpected challenge.  Much to our dismay and disappointment, we discovered we could not secure our regular gaming weekend of September 17-19, 2010.  We tried to find a workable solution to retain our usual date but to no avail. Unfortunately, our existing venue is not in a position to accommodate us on this date and other venues that meet our standards are simply outside the bounds of fiscal responsibility when considering the size of our convention. Therefore, we need to announce that our new date for next year’s FallCon is October 15-17, 2010.  Note that only the date has changed; the location of the Calgary Marlborough Community Hall still remains our venue of choice.

We are well aware that your gaming plans may be disrupted by this news, especially those of you who travel from outside of Calgary to attend our convention.   We are also aware that we will likely miss seeing some of the regular faces that make our event so distinctive. And for that we are truly sorry. However on the other side of the coin, we are also excited that the new date may bring many new faces.  Bottom line, FallCon is continuing forward and we have already secured both September and October dates for 2011. Based on attendance and your feedback, we will take this opportunity to see which date will be more attractive to you.  An announcement of that date will be made after our October 2010 event.  Comments and concerns are always welcome in our Contact Us page or on our Blog.

May the spirit of Christmas, the laughter, the fun and the gathering of family and friends surround your gaming table and home.   We look forward to a new year with anticipation and hope that we will see you across the game table sometime soon in 2010.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Roll Through the Ages – Review

Roll Through the Ages was first published in 2009 and is designed by Matt Leacock who also designed Pandemic. This game attempts to simulate the building of a civilization from the early Bronze age to the present in about 30 minutes! This review was originally published on BoardGame-Reviews.com.

Roll Through the Ages:

• Designed by: Matt Leacock
• Published by: Gryphon Games
• Number of players: 1-4
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Player ages: 8+

A Quick Overview

Each player is the leader of a civilization starting out in the Bronze Age. Through the use of dice, players accumulate citizenry and food, build monuments and cities and develop technologies to advance their civilization.

Of course, civilizations are not prone to disasters such as war, drought and pestilence.

As a leader of a new civilization, do you forsake your citizenry and force them to develop monuments and cities? Or do you slowly advance and ensure a peaceful development?

These are a few of the questions you need to ask yourself while playing this game!

Game Play

At the beginning of a turn, a player:

• Rolls special dice
• Feed the populace
• Collects commodities
• Builds cities
• Purchase developments

The dice in this game are the fun part! They are oversized, wooden, six-sided dice and have beautiful carvings on them. Each side provides an important aspect for a cvilization’s growth.

Dice can be re-rolled up to two times unless they are disaster icons (shown by a skull and crossbones) or a specific development is purchased.

After the dice are rolled, players then make the best use of the items on the dice to advance their civilizations. Of course, the populace needs to be fed and it is important to keep an eye out on the food stores.

Observations

Roll Through the Ages is a quick game. It comes in a compact box and is very heavy owing to the cribbage-like, wooden player boards and dice. Included are many sheets to keep track of your civilization’s progress.

It is a nice twist to “simulate” civilization development through the use of dice but it is not satisifying for players who enjoy civilization type games.

One of the things other players have suggested to me is to extend the game ending conditions just a little bit to give a “fuller” experience of the game.

The last round is typically the round where five developments are bought. By extending this from five to six developments, players can feel a bit more satisfaction to the end of the game.

I like this game. It’s not as challenging to play and player interaction is limited. However, my younger gaming group (11 and 13) love it! They love rolling the dice and allocating resources and goods and feeding their populations.

There is a solo-play option to this game and it is satisfactory; I prefer playing with others over the solo-play.

For use as an introductory game or as a nice way to start (or end) an evening, I would recommend it.

Happy gaming.

Thushyanthan

Timbuktu – Review

Timbuktu (or “Tombouctou” for the international version) was first published in 1993 and is designed by Dirk Henn. The goal of this game is to get all your camels and as many goods safely to Timbuktu. Along the way, while resting at oases, thieves will steal your goods.

Using your deduction skills, you attempt the hoary desert crossing with (most of) your goods intact!

This review was originally published on BoardGame-Reviews.com.

• Designed by: Dirk Henn
• Published by: Queen Games
• Number of players: 3-5
• Playing time: 45 minutes
• Player ages: 10+

A Quick Overview

Each player is a merchant attempting to safely cross the Sahara with their caravan of camels and goods to reach Timbuktu. Along the way, players will be accosted by thieves at the oases.

The successful player is the one who crosses safely to Timbuktu with the most amount of valuable goods in his caravan.

Over the course of the game, each player will receive information about which goods and which camel resting stalls (called pitches) will be stolen from. Using deduction skills, players move each of their camels from one desert oasis to the next.

Game Play

Before beginning the game, each player loads up their camels with a variety of goods. With the Queen Games version, each players mat has two sides. One side is a beginner, pre-allocated goods table and the other side is for players to allocate goods as they wish.

Then each player will be dealt 3 cards which detail the nature of the thefts that will occur at the next oasis.

At the beginning of a turn, every player:

• Chooses a camel card to play
• Simulataneously reveals their camel card and then …

Starting with the first player, moves their camel to a free spot at the next oasis.

Camel movement is the most interesting part of the game because you have to be careful about where your camels move. Movement may also be restricted due to placement of the camel in the previous oasis.

Landing at certain spots at the next oasis will cause players to pass on their cards (theft information) to the player on their left.

While it may seem best to get all the information on the thieves as early as possible by causing the cards to be passed on, there is an advantage to ensuring that this information doesn’t get passed on.

Using your deduction to move your camels to safe spots or causing other players to move their camels to spot that will have a theft is all part of your strategy.

Observations

This is a deduction game and for some players that may cause grief! I am not a strong player when it comes to these types of games so I usually avoid them. However, this one is a fun game and one that I don’t mind playing occasionally.

Players who are new to Euro-type games will think “Guess Who” or “Clue” when deduction is mentioned but I don’t believe that these are appropriate comparisons.

The first edition of this game did not allow players to record information which I think causes this game to be more difficult for a lot of players. The Queen Games edition explicity states in the rules that players may record information.

The addition of the Queen Games rule makes this into a more friendly and casual game than something that is cerebral and memory-oriented.

I have also introduced this game to younger players and they don’t quite understand why it is necessary to keep track of the thief cards that have been seen. However, they seem to enjoy it regardless.

As far as game production is concerned, Queen Games has never disappointed me in this regard. The camels are cute little wooden pieces and the boards are sturdy and colourful!

Is this a good game?

I think so. The game is different enough from a lot of games that it warrants inclusion in your game library. However, if deduction games aren’t your idea of a good time, I would cheerfully pass on this game.

Happy gaming.

Thushyanthan

Ra – Review

Ra was first published in 1999 and is designed by Reiner Knizia who also designed Winner’s Circle and Amun Re. Since Dr. Knizia Since Dr. Knizia has a doctorate in mathematics, most of his games are mathematically balanced and many feature auction mechanisms. This review was originally published on BoardGame-Reviews.com.

Ra:

• Designed by: Reiner Knizia
• Published by: Rio Grande Games
• Number of players: 2-5
• Playing time: 60 minutes
• Player ages: 12+

A Quick Overview

Ra is an auction and set collecting game that is played over 3 rounds, or epochs. During each epoch a player has a chance to bid on a variety of tiles to improve his position during the game.

The heart of this game is the once-around auction where players have one chance to place a bid or pass. If players place a low bid for valuable tiles, they may easily be outbid by other players.

Another enjoyable aspect of the game is the push-your-luck element. Do you initiate an auction now or do you wait just a bit longer? Of course, while you wait, the auction track will fill up with tiles…

Game Play

On a turn, a player may make one of the following choices:

• Draw a tile from the bag
• Invoke Ra and force an auction or
• Play a God tile

Drawing a tile and placing it on the availble auction track is the most common. These are the tiles that players collect and use to score points. Not all tiles are valued equally to all players.

This is where a player must make judgements and bid wisely for the tiles.

If a player decides that the available tiles are too valuable, it just might be an appropriate time to invoke Ra and force an auction.

Invoking Ra is not always a sure bet as the invoking player may be forced to bid on the available tiles if no one else bids on them.

God tiles are drawn from the bag and placed on the auction track to be bid upon later. The use of God tiles allows a player to take discard a number of God tiles from his set and take a equal number of tiles from the auction track.

The epoch is finished when the Ra track is filled up. Players then score their points, discard appropriate tiles and start a new epoch. The game is finished at the end of the third epoch and the winner is the one with the most points.

Observations

Ra is a good auction game. Though it was initially published 10 years ago, the allure of simple and elegant rules keeps this game fresh and exciting.

Another great thing about Ra is that it can accomodate between two to five players which makes is versatile for gaming nights!

The current publisher of this game is Rio Grande Games and they make great games. The game is easily available at many fine hobby stores at a reasonable price.

What I like about this game is that it is accessible by younger players. I have found that the younger they are, the harder it is to make approriate valuations of the tiles up bid.

The push-your-luck element is something that is utilized well in this game. For the younger players, this has been a positive aspect of the game because it builds a fun tension about the game.

One of the things that is a bit more difficult for the younger players to understand is that monuments are only scored at the end of the third epoch. Not only that, the scoring mechanism is a bit convoluted and makes the game slightly more complex.

However, with more plays, younger players will get the hang of it.

One final note that I’d like to make is that if you get the Rio Grande Games version of this game (the box cover is pictured above) make sure to replace the included bag. I found the bag far too small to contain all 180 tiles required for the game!

For my game, I replaced the Ra bag with a bag from Railways of the World.

Happy gaming.

Thushyanthan