Castle Combo

The Game

Castle Combo is a simple tableau game. You take turns buying cards from a market to place in your own 3x3 grid. The cards score points in different ways and also have various powers. You try to create a combination that works well together. You start with some money, and you will spend money buying cards. Some cards help you earn money. At game end, leftover money may help you score points if you have the right cards. The game ends once everyone has his 3x3 grid filled. 

The market at the centre of the table consists of two rows. Cards from each row come from their own deck. One row is characters living inside the castle, like the nobles and the soldiers, and the other is those living outside, like the farmers and the labourers. There is a messenger next to one of the rows. You can only buy cards from the row he is located. If you want to buy a card from the other row, you need to pay a key to move the messenger. Some cards when purchased move the messenger. 

When you buy your first card, you don't need to decide yet where exactly in your grid you want to place it. As you add more cards, you just need to ensure you don't go beyond the 3x3 grid. Cards have various powers. Some generate income, some give you discounts for future cards. Every card scores points based on a specific criteria. You may score points based on how many of a certain icon that you have, or if you don't have a specific icon, or where the card is positioned in the grid, or what kind of cards you have in the same row or column. Everyone's collection of cards is public information, so you can look at what your opponents have and tell what kind of cards will be useful to them and what will not be.

The game ends once everyone has nine cards.

The Play

This is a simple tableau-building game. You do your best to collect a set of cards which together score many points. You have to pay some attention to your components and try not to leave good cards for them. Most of the time you probably want to take care of your own scoring. You can work on denying your opponents, but if you are too busy trying to deny everyone you are probably not maximising your own score. Money can be tight. There was once I could not afford any card and I had to spend that turn taking a face-down card. A face-down card has no abilities. It just lets you take some money and keys. 

At game end some cards let you to store money to score points.

The Thoughts

This is an introductory tableau-building game. It won't be interesting for seasoned gamers, but it can work for non-gamers as a gentle introduction to modern hobby games. 

The Guild of Merchant Explorers

The Game

This is a game about exploration. You start at the capital at the centre of the map, and you place explorer cubes extending from there to various parts of the map. There are different things to discover and to score points for. The interesting part is how your progress will reset at the end of every round. All your explorer cubes will be removed. To protect yourself from losing all progress, you need to establish outposts, so that in future rounds you can start exploring from these outposts as opposed to starting at the capital again. 

This is mostly a multiplayer solitaire game. It also feels like a roll and write game, despite having no rolling or writing involved. Everyone plays the same map, but you have your own board and you place cubes on your own board. The game comes with different maps so there are different scenarios you get to play with. Every turn, a card is revealed from the deck, and it tells you how you can place your explorers. You know the basic exploration deck, but every game there will be some random advanced cards added which help you explore in powerful ways. There are cards for each terrain type. Usually a card will tell you how many explorer cubes you can place, and on which terrain type. Since you know most of the deck, just not what order you will draw the cards, you can somewhat plan your exploration. 

When you explore, you establish an outpost by completely filling a region, i.e. a connected group of similar hexes. You place your outpost on one of these hexes, and it will stay there permanently. Some hexes have coins, and coins are your victory points. You score points by placing a cube on these hexes. Some hexes contain treasure chests. You draw a treasure card when you access these hexes. They give various benefits. This is a blind box gacha thing. Some hexes are trading posts. You need to connect two of them to score points, and the point value you score is their individual values multiplied. 

These purple buildings were my outposts (technically called villages). This was the start of a new round, so all the explorer cubes had been removed. However with outposts having been set up, I had many options. 

The game is played over four rounds. In the first round only one random advanced exploration card will be introduced. In the second round, this same card stays in the deck, so you know what it is just not when it will show up. A new advanced card will also be introduced, and you won't know what it is yet. In the third round, the previous two remain, and yet another new one is introduced. In the fourth round… You think I’m going to repeat the same thing right? Then you’re wrong. A new card will NOT be introduced in the fourth round. However one repeat card is added which lets you use one of the three previous advanced cards one more time. After four rounds are completed, the highest scorer wins. 

The Play

I learned the hard way about the need to plan for the future. A round ended much quicker than I expected and I hadn’t set up any outpost. The map is large, and you can’t try to do everything. You will probably need to focus on some areas and sacrifice others. This will somewhat depend on the advanced exploration cards that turn up in your game. It also depends on where you have set up your new bases for exploration, and the order the cards are drawn. 

It is fun to plan your adventure. You can’t make exact plans since you have no control over the order of the card deck. The advanced exploration cards always bring some excitement. They are the big breaks. Sometimes you make bets, hoping the cards turn up in a certain order. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes you need to adjust plans. 

The Thoughts

The Guild of Merchant Explorers is a pleasant family game. It’s multiplayer solitaire for sure. Think of it as a solo game that you play together with friends to compare how well you do given the same conditions. The exploration is an interesting puzzle to solve. You decide how much risk you want to take. You try to grab opportunities that come your way. 

King and Peasant is out

King & Peasant is a game from local Malaysian designer Poon Jon. We got into game designing and publishing around the same time, about 4 years ago. We are among the current batch of active game designers and publishers in Malaysia. We have been attending many of the same events and activities. We often did playtesting together. King & Peasant is a game I have seen since its much earlier form still being playtested. A limited local print run was done in 2023. Now this is the official full production run. I have a copy of the limited edition, and when the 2025 edition was released I quickly grabbed a copy too. 

King & Peasant is a 2-player card game and a microgame. The main components are just 18 cards. One player is the king, the other the peasant. The peasant wins by assassinating the king, and the king wins by either surviving or catching the assassin. The king must draw a card every turn. If the card drawn is the assassin, he loses. The peasant wants to manipulate the deck so that the king would draw the assassin, or he can directly murder the king when all the guards have been disposed of. 

I love the art. This is new art. 

Most cards have two powers, one for the king and the other for the peasant

It is nervous being king. When your opponent fiddles with the deck, you can't be sure whether the next card will be the assassin. You might try to get rid of that card, but if it turns out to be a decoy, then you have just wasted a valuable action. 

Being peasant is challenging. Unlike being the king, who draws a card every turn, if you want to draw a card, you need to spend your valuable action. 

The king and the peasant's actions are different

Full colour rulebook

For more details, check out the official webpage.

boardgaming in photos: Board Game Arena

Han, Allen and I kind of rediscovered BoardGameArena.com recently. We have played on BGA before, and we have played premium games too. When we wanted to play a premium game, one of us would just subscribe for a month, and the if the next month we were not playing, we would cancel the subscription. Now Han has subscribed to the premium service, and he has been initiating many games, some with all three of us, and some just two. That is why I have been blogging so much about games I've played on BGA. We play many new-to-us games, and also some that we have played before. We have been doing a lot of homework reading rulebooks. We need to do that because we now play in asynchronous mode. We don't arrange times to go online at the same time. We take our turns separately as and when we are online. Since we don't meet up for one of us to do the rules teaching, all of us need to read the rules and learn the game ourselves. 

We play some games we have played before, and for some of these which I didn't think much of before, I found new joy in them. My opinions shifted a little. Now whenever I turn on my laptop I feel a little excited. Is it my turn now? Although we don't meet online and we don't have any table talk, playing in this manner is like having pen pals. In case you need an explanation of what a pen pal is, click here. 

Ark Nova was a game I didn't think much of when I first played it. It is hugely popular, and I can see why, but I didn't find it all that amazing. It isn't anything particularly innovative. Now that I have played more on BGA, I find that it is joyful to play. It is satisfying to build my zoo step by step, and to complete one mission after another. 

For such a complex game, the user interface is done pretty well. I think they put a lot of effort in making it user-friendly. It makes the play experience enjoyable. I imagine playing such a game with so many components would be a major pain if the interface were poorly designed. 

This was my zoo. I was very lucky with my starting hand. I had four bird cards. Two had no prerequisites and could be played easily. The other two had prerequisites, but for one of the card the prerequisites would be fulfilled once I played the first two cards, and for the other card, the prerequisites would be fulfilled once I played the third card. This was a perfect line-up. Fate had a plan for me. I had to double check that I wasn't actually playing with any pre-set starting hand meant for new players. 

Han's zoo had many African animals.

The Castles of Burgundy is a modern classic which I've never quite agreed with regarding being a modern classic. It's decent but not amazing. It's just another Eurogame. From my recent play, I found myself liking it more than I expected. Not enough to make me want to buy a physical copy, but at least if someone suggests it I'd be more receptive now. 

I was quick to build all four of my castles (dark green). 

By game end, I completed my castle, ship and pasture spaces. 

One problem with playing on BGA is I don't have enough patience to read game rules properly. If there is a tutorial, I'd play it hurriedly and proceed to play the actual game, without paying much attention to the detailed rules or trying hard to remember them. BGA enforces rules and handles execution. The player just needs to make the decisions, and the decisions are presented as multiple choice buttons. Sometimes I just click without fully understanding all the implications, because I'm lazy to read up. That's not ideal, because it means I'm playing without fully appreciating the game. I miss out on some of the nuances. I think some games don't quite click with me not because the game isn't good, but because I don't spend enough effort to understand them. I may feel differently about them if I learn them properly. Maybe. However we keep trying different games and I don't have patience to go back to a game I don't find interesting the first time round. That's the tragedy of being spoilt for choice. 

I keep saying I'm not going to play solo Daybreak any more, and yet I still go back to playing it solo on BGA, because it's convenient. Now I only play at the highest difficulty, i.e. I draw two cards which make the game harder, one changing the starting condition, and the other augmenting the winning condition. Now that I have played the game more, I find that my win rate is no longer that close to 100%. With some of the harder variants, and if I get unlucky with my card draws, I will lose. Generally I still expect to win, but now that I have experienced that sense of danger, the game returns to become more interesting. One particularly hard scenario was starting the game with 0 resilience in all three areas. Normally you start with 1 in each area. 

Obsession is one of Julian's favourite games. I have played it before, and I felt it was fine but not spectacular. Now that I have played more on BGA, I find myself enjoying it more. I try to hold parties every round. My ideal is to keep collecting guests and rooms and to keep the parties going every round without pause. If I manage the work schedules of my workers well, I will fully utilise them and have enough hands every round. When guests attend parties, they get tired, and I need to do a reset before I can invite any of them again. However, if I keep making use of guests who introduce me to new friends, I can keep the parties going quite long before I run out of friends to invite and must do a reset. Now I love guests who have good connections and introduce me to more guests. This sounds like the BNI business networking that I do. 

See how many friends I have! This is like showing off your Facebook profile. It is fun to keep organising bigger and better parties, inviting more famous celebrities. This is why development games are attractive. People enjoy making progress. 

Han and I still play Ascension on the mobile phone. This one was rather extreme. He scored 148 points! Normally the final scores are around half that. This was an absolute slaughter. 

This is Star Realms. This too was extreme. When Han was down to 9 health, I had 102, a difference of close to 100. I had many Federation (blue) ships, and they often gave health. Gosh I've played so many games of Star Realms but I still don't use the proper terminology. 

I recently attended a business event at a cafe, and noticed that the cafe had a few games. Inuk was one of them.  I didn't play it. I just checked it out. This copy didn't have the rulebook, probably lost. However it was in generally good condition. I looked up BoardGameGeek.com afterwards, and found that it was a game about talking emotions. So this is the kind of game which is more activity than game. 

These are some of the cards. They seem to explore pretty deep and serious emotions like loneliness and trauma. Heavy stuff! 

Middle Ages

The Game

Middle Ages is a game from Marc Andre (Splendor). You compete to collect tiles to add to your kingdom. There are eight different types of tiles, and they generate income (i.e. victory points) in different ways. They also have various abilities. Usually the more tiles you have in one type, the more powerful they become. You play 16 rounds, and the highest scorer wins. 

Middle Ages is a reimplementation of Majesty: For the Realm from 2018. One big change is how the tiles are picked. 

Tiles are laid out in rows, with each row having a number of tiles one more than the number of players. You take turns placing your lord on a tile in the current row. The earlier your turn is, the more options you have. The last player still has two options. This is how you pick tiles. When you pick a tile from a row, you are also deciding the turn order for the next round. Whoever picks the leftmost tile will go first next round. This is an important consideration, especially if there is an important tile you must get next round. When you start the next round and move your lord to your next pick, you claim that tile you lord is vacating. The tile goes to your player board, and its powers take effect. So you see there is a delay in the tile power getting triggered. It is not triggered when you claim the tile. It is triggered when you pick a tile next round. 

Tiles have various powers. Most help you make money (i.e. victory points), some attack your opponents. When you gain a barrack, you attack everyone else in the game. Whoever has fewer forts than you have barracks loses a tile. Many tiles affect or are affected by other tiles. There are combos which help you make more money. 

You will keep adding tiles to your player board. That tile on the right is land you have lost due to attacks. It is possible to recover such lands. 

An event occurs every four rounds.

The Play

This is a game with a simple core mechanism. The tile powers take more time to explain. However it is important to understand how the tiles work, so that you can make meaningful choices. The game has ample player interaction. This is not just about the attacking and defending. It is also about people wanting the same tiles. You need to know what your opponents are trying to collect, and you have to decide whether to compete or to spend your efforts elsewhere. 

I went military. I had many barracks and forts. Forts and farms combo well, so I had many farms too. 

The Thoughts

This is a light strategy game and family game. Pleasant, with decent interaction, and the tiles have some fun combos. 

Splendor Duel

 

The Game

Splendor Duel is the two player spinoff of the hugely popular Splendor. It retains the core mechanism and adds on some new ones, making it a little more complex. Think of it as slightly advanced Splendor and specifically designed for two. 

The core idea in the game is you collect gems then spend them to claim cards. Cards act as discounts for future cards you claim, and some cards have point values. The game is a race to reach a specific number of victory points. 

In the game there are gems in five colours, pearls and gold. I'll call them all treasures. Pearls are rarer than gems and no cards give pearl discounts. Gold is best because it is wild. Unlike the original Splendor where you may collect any three treasures available, in Splendor Duel you claim treasures from a 5x5 grid and you claim up to three in a straight line. Treasures are not immediately refilled. It is only done when a player performs a special action. When replenishing the board, it likely will not be full, because there are still treasures in the hands of players. The number of treasures is finite. 

Cards in the game have price tags - what are the treasures you need to pay to claim it. When you have the right treasures you can pay to claim the card. From that point onwards the card is a discount voucher. For example if you claim a red card, in future you can always pay one red gem fewer when you claim any card that requires red gems. This doesn’t seem like much initially but it will add up. 

Let’s talk about how you win. Some cards have point values. If you reach 20, you win. If for any one specific colour you have 10 points, you also win. In the screenshot above I have four points in red. Some cards have a crown icon. This is effectively another type of victory point. If you get 10 crowns, you win. So there are three win conditions. 

There are several other quirks, e.g. some cards have one-time powers. Scrolls are a special currency which let you claim an extra treasure. Your opponent gets a scroll when you perform certain actions, like refilling the board. Like the original, when you claim a single gold, you also reserve a card. Reserving means claiming a card without making payment yet. The card does not take effect and only goes to your reserve area. You have to pay for it on a future turn before it takes effect. You can reserve a card for the sake of denying your opponent. Also, this is the only way you take gold.

The Play

Splendor Duel feels familiar because most the elements in the original are here too. If you like Splendor you will feel right at home. Despite appearing simple, this is a game you should play with a plan in mind. You should look at the high valued cards and plan how to be able to eventually afford them. The cheaper cards that you claim should be part of a deliberate long term plan and should not be picked at will. You need to watch your opponent to see if you are aiming for the same cards. If you are not going to beat him to a specific card, you might as well switch tact and aim for something else. You can be nasty and reserve a card you know he wants. Just remember your reserve can only take three cards. 

The Thoughts

The beauty of the original Splendor is in its simplicity. Splendor Duel still has a smooth gameplay experience, in that every turn is simple and short. However it does add several elements and give you more to think about. You can’t take any treasure you want. You are limited by the positions of the treasures on the grid. An important skill still required is having a long term plan and aligning individual turns to maximise your progress towards your long term goal. Gosh this sentence sound like I’m doing management training. 

Splendor Duel is a light to medium strategy game. It’ll work as a gamer spouse game. 

War Chest

The Game

War Chest is a two-player abstract battle game with a deck-building element. You send soldiers to fight on a hex-based board. You win by controlling 6 bases on the board. 

Each player has four different troop types, and they are all unique. So there are 8 different soldiers in play. The soldiers have different abilities. Generally they don't differ by attack strength, defense strength or health points. Think of all of these as being just 1. So this is like chess. Anyone can one-hit KO anyone else. Let's talk about the deck-building element first. 

At the start of the game, for each of your troop type you have some discs. Some are in play, but some are not yet in circulation. You need to perform a purchase action to bring them into play. Every round, you draw three discs from your bag, and you and your opponent take turns spending a disc to perform an action. The disc you spend determines what you can do. You can't see the discs in your opponent's hand, so you don't know what he can possibly do that round, until he actually performs actions. Most of the time you can see the disc spent when he acts, so you can keep track of how many discs in which colours he has spent. However sometimes the disc spent is hidden, so you may not have full information. 

Actions you can perform include deploying a soldier, moving a soldier, attacking with a soldier, fortifying a soldier, buying a disc, and changing the turn order. Most (but not all) discs belong to a specific troop type, which means you can only use it on that specific soldier. Every cycle that you go through the discs in your bag, you know how many actions one soldier can take. It is limited by the number of discs that soldier has in your bag. This is the deck-building in War Chest. 

The troop types have various unique abilities. For example, light cavalry can move two steps instead of one. The lancer makes a long range attack, but it can only make such long range attacks, which must be in a straight line. They can't do a normal melee attack. The ensign can move other soldiers on the same team. This is a supportive role. When you kill the opponent's soldier, he is not lost permanently. Your opponent can resurrect that soldier by spending the associated disc, redeploying him to a controlled base. 

Bases are scattered around the board. Each player already controls two at the start of the game. You control a base when your soldier occupies it. You can spend a disc to lock a base, allowing you to retain control even if your soldier leaves. However such a base is still vulnerable to your opponent's soldiers. 

The Play

The game looks chess-like, but a big difference is how you must manage your bag of discs and keep track of your opponent's bag too. You don't know exactly the discs in your opponent's hand, and thus you don't know what moves he can make. I was rather sloppy when playing the game, probably because I played in asynchronous online mode. I didn't properly keep track of Han's bag. Not even my own. It is no wonder I fared poorly. I wanted to do something with a specific soldier, but I forgot I had run out of discs for him. My tempo was off. I did not deliberately tune my disc distribution. I probably should have planned more deliberately which discs to buy and even whether to buy at all. If I focus on only getting more discs for one or two soldier types, they might become more nimble because there are more of their discs compared to the others. 

The Thoughts

War Chest is not quite my thing. Partly because I'm not really into chess-like games, and partly because I am sloppy with keeping track of the bags and discs. Because of that, it feels like I am highly restricted in what I can do.