Category Archives: The Barley
Monday Brews: 9-9-13
It’s another Monday. Bummer. But I’m here to help. If you didn’t get to play any games or drink any beer this past weekend, then please feel free to live vicariously through me. Not only did our group have the first board game night of the season, but my wife and I also had company over that love to play games and enjoy beer.
So here’s the list of the Boards & Barley that I enjoyed this past week:
The Barley:
Vintage Oktoberfest: During our softball team’s banquet I enjoyed this Oktoberfest. Our team won our league and we were able to hand out some very cheap t-shirts from the league as a prize. They didn’t even mention what sport we won or what year we won it. For all we know the league bought a thousand t-shirts back in 1986. But I digress… This was an enjoyable beer on a night of celebration. I’d drink it again!
Vintage Cat’s Pajamas: After I had the Oktoberfest I followed it up with the Cat’s Pajamas. This is a nitrogen conditioned North English Style Brown Ale. And it was quite delicious. Plus, I love the name! So I’d probably get this beer again as well.
Sierra Nevada Flipside Red IPA: My first selection at our group’s game night was the Flipside Red IPA. I’m not normally an IPA kind of guy since I feel like brewers often just throw a bunch of hops in and label it as “special.” I’d rather have a different beer style where a brewer actually has to work for something special. Never-the-less, this was a decently enjoyable beer. It didn’t possess an overabundance of hops, which left room for some real flavor.
“I’m only gonna have one beer… I promise!”
Hofbrau Oktoberfest: I only bought one beer for game night. But fortunately it was the big beast you see on the right. This 5 liter behemoth was enough to treat everyone accordingly at game night. And it was delicious. And it was only $20. That’s a way better deal than throwing $15 at 30 PBRs. Just sayin’.
Potosi Gandy Dancer Porter: This is a beer that I’ve wanted to try for a while and never had the opportunity because I haven’t been buying a lot of beer. Fortunately my game playing compadres for the weekend threw down and snagged a sixer. So I was able to have one of these funnily named brews. For those unawares, a Gandy Dancer was someone who laid and maintained railways before the work was done by machines. And for those interested, I may or may not choose to design a game of the same name and thus try to earn a part of the train game market. Oh, and the beer was okay. I probably wouldn’t go out and buy it myself, but I’d enjoy it if someone else bought it. An interesting fact about Potosi Brewing Co.: It is home to the National Brewery Museum.
Title Town Jolly Roger: This was my second IPA of the weekend. Can someone check my temp? Well, this is about the least IPA-ish IPA that I’ve ever had, so it wasn’t too obtrusive for my palate. My friend brought some in his growler and I enjoyed Title Town beer during the Packer’s disappointing game. Oh well.
The Boards:
The Little Prince: I almost had the victory in our four player game. But the Baobabs caused me to fail. Beware of the Baobabs!
Rialto x2: It turns out that the demo we did at GenCon was taught to us incorrectly. That’s annoying. We were not taught the correct use of the Gondola cards. We were taught the highest bid puts out the gondola tile, and no one else did anything. The correct rule is that when you play a gondola card you take councilman from the general supply and place them into your personal supply. This changes things a lot and makes the game more enjoyable. So I got to play it twice over the weekend and despite losing both times, thoroughly enjoyed it.
7 Wonders x2: (Once base only and once with Leaders & Cities): Our group loves 7 Wonders. The first time I played it over the weekend I scored an absolutely miserable 35. That was with the base game only. The second time I played it we included the Leaders and Cities expansions, which makes the game quite a bit deeper. Unfortunately I had some bad leaders that only netted me 4 points.
I had almost as much fun trying to pronounce the city names as I did playing the game.
Trains x2: My friend Jeremy picked this up at GenCon and I was finally able to play it. First things first: I’d now rather play this than Dominion. I thought the game was really enjoyable. While basically being a Dominion type game I thought it offered enough interesting new stuff to make it enjoyable. I would probably buy this if I had any sort of budget for buying new games right now. My only question about the game is how can they trademark the very basic common word “Trains”?
Kingdom Builder x2: (With Nomads & Crossroads): I love Kingdom Builder. I love how simple it is in terms of mechanics and how deep it is in terms of strategy. So I jumped at the chance to pick up the Crossroads expansion at GenCon despite the Queen Games booth never offering discount pricing. This is another GenCon purchase within our group that I finally got to play over the weekend. (Note: I still have yet to play Targi.) I thought the Crossroads expansion added quite a bit to the game without changing the overall concept of the game. I’m looking forward to playing again!
Castles of Burgundy: Since this is one of my favorite games I was happy when it was selected over the weekend. I was unable to claim victory but I sure had a lot of fun trying. This game, once you get over the learning curve, is a truly excellent design. My only problem with the game is that they chose the Papyrus font.
Dominion: While I’ve lost a little of my love for the game, it’s still enjoyable every once in a while. We played with a mix of cards from the Dark Ages, Prosperity, and Intrigue expansions. It was a strange mix of cards though. After playing Trains a couple times over the weekend I realized that I enjoyed the lack of “Attack” cards in Trains, and disliked them in Dominion.
Cave Troll: I hadn’t even heard of this 2002 Fantasy Flight game until I saw it in the bag of games that my friends brought over. I played a two player game of Cave Troll and was able to win the game. It seemed to me like an interesting take on chess with a fantasy theme. While it was interesting I probably wouldn’t suggest the game above others like Trains or Kingdom Builder.
Hanabi: I also had the opportunity to teach the recent SdJ winner to the visiting friends. We scored 19 out of 25, which is pretty decent for having two new players. We were hindered by discarding both white number 3 cards without realizing it. That cost us a few points. This game is pretty fun and I’ll play it again if for no other reason than it is simple to teach but deep to strategize about.
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So those are the Boards & Barley I enjoyed this past week. You can see that it was a pretty good week of games and beer! What did you play or drink that you enjoyed this past week?
There’s Fungus Among Us! My Review of Morels.
“Amateur Mycologists have questionable Morels” ~ from Brent’s shirt at GenCon
During my trip to Gen Con 2012 I was able to meet a nice guy named Brent Povis with Two Lanterns Games. Brent was a really nice guy and so was his wife, who taught my friend Jeremy and me the game.
Morels is a two player game that has you going on a hike in the woods foraging for mushrooms. Should you pick the mushrooms at your feet? Or do you want to hike a little further for that other mushroom that looks a little tastier? Players are on a foraging hike that will allow them to gather mushrooms of different kinds. Once you’ve got three or more of the same kind, go ahead and fry them up! You’ll get bonus points if you can use butter with 4 of a kind (+3 points) or cider with five of a kind (+5 points). Some mushrooms are worth more points, but there are fewer of them. So you have to plan accordingly on your hike. On any given turn you can grab one of the first two cards available, or you can pay any number of walking sticks to walk further down the path and grab a card that you would rather have. There is definitely a lot of strategy with your choices in the game. When you’re hungry for mushrooms, or ready for a great two-player game, then pick up a copy of Morels!
Here’s a look at the setup to start the game:
This is the special version with hand whittled sticks and plastic frying pans. I’m jealous.
Each player starts with three cards. Eight cards are placed along the foraging trail. And each player starts the game with one frying pan. On your turn you can take one of the first two cards. Or you can pay sticks to forage further along the trail. You pay one stick for each card you walk beyond the first two cards. So if you take the fourth card from the end you would be paying two sticks. When you’ve got a set of three or more like mushrooms you can fry them up by laying your set down by the frying pan, or by laying it down with a frying pan card. That’s the basics of how you play.
The Upside:
Length of the game: As I have gotten more and more into awesome games my wife has kind of been left behind. So I am always on the lookout for a new, lighter game that she’ll enjoy. That’s one reason I picked up The Little Prince at GenCon this year. She also doesn’t care for games that are over an hour. So to have a game like this that takes a half hour at most with people who know how to play, it’s perfect for us.
Theme: I don’t like mushrooms. It’s mostly because of their texture (I have a weird texture-sensitive palate). However, I love looking at mushrooms and other fungi in nature. So the theme of walking through the woods on a foraging hike actually sounds pretty cool to me. Plus, you’re not trying to build a castle or earn victory points. This is just a mushroom game where you get points for cooking mushrooms.
The Downside:
Endgame: While I could almost equally put this in the Upside category I’m putting it in the downside because there are often situations at the end where you don’t really have any decisions to make. I enjoy games where decisions get more important right to the end. You can have a play of Morels where, based on the last cards to come up, you just don’t have any fun decisions to make. I can forgive that because it’s not always the case and because the game plays quickly. But it needed to be mentioned.
Designer Perspective: What would I change?
This game works pretty well overall so it was a little tough to think of something to change. Basically this is a set collection game where the ability to procure sets is very structured. There is strategy in what mushrooms you take as you are collecting the sets, but there isn’t a huge “Take That” capability in the game. It never feels like I can really strongly affect my opponent. My change to the game would be to add a few cards to the game that each player starts with. These cards would be one-time use abilities. One specific ability I would like would be to take a card without having a card decay. Another ability would be to take a card and replace it with a blank spot along the foraging trail. Both of these abilities could add interesting twists to the strategy while providing a little of the “take that” concept.
Beer Pairing:
“Ommegang! This is so good!”
For a mushroom foraging hunt one might suspect bringing along a light beer that goes down easy. They’d be wrong. For most meals with mushrooms you’ll find the Belgian or French beer styles quite accommodating. So my preferred beer pairing while playing Morels would be the Ommegang Abbey Ale, which is a Belgian Dubbel style ale.
Ommegang sounds foreign, but they are a New York based brewery. So don’t let the name fool you when you go into the beer store looking for a nice foreign beer. For those looking specifically for Trappist beer, which comes from Trappist monasteries, there are only 8 recognized Trappist sources: Achel, Chimay, Gregorious, La Trappe, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Westvleteren. Of those I have had all except Gregorius and Westvleteren, which I am hoping to remedy in the near future.
Overall Rating:
I’ll rate this with two players in mind and thus it’s rating is compared to only two player games. The fact that I can get my wife to play this game means a lot, and that helps it’s rating. Overall I enjoy this little gem. We specifically love playing this game when we are camping since it feels like we are actually out foraging for mushrooms. I’m giving this game 8 out of 10 on the BGG scale:
Very good game. I like to play it. Probably I’ll suggest it and will never turn down a game.
Tuesday Brews: 9-3-13
Yesterday was Labor Day. That meant I was at home doing anything besides labor. (I actually got quite a bit done). But it also means that I didn’t post a Monday Brews article. Well, today is the Tuesday after Labor Day and I am calling it “Redemption Day,” as I attempt to redeem for the lack of a Monday Brews article.
So let’s get down to the Boards and Barley coverage, where you will find a couple of surprising beverages…
The Barley:
Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest: Tis the season when the weather changes and Oktoberfests become my go-to brew of choice.
New Glarus Staghorn: This is one of the best, if not the best, Oktoberfests out there. Just plain awesomeness in a bottle!
Ben Franklin’s Honey: I think there are only three bottles of my second homebrew remaining. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Redd’s Strawberry Ale: The first entry that doesn’t quite seem right here. Over the weekend I saw one of these in my parent’s fridge and figured I should try it. It was VERY sweet and VERY strawberry. It didn’t taste alcoholic at all (and probably wasn’t very alcoholic). If nothing else, it was an interesting taste experiment for my tongue.
Bud Light Lime: Another intriguing outcast that makes the list this week is Bud Light Lime. I’m not sure what happened. One moment I was enjoying a nicer beverage while partaking in a fantasy football draft and then all of a sudden a Bud Light Lime shows up for consumption. I’ll blame the Bud Light Lime if my fantasy football season goes awry.
Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy: I couldn’t let that list end with an Anheuser-Busch InBev product. So I finished the weekend strong with a nice refreshing summer brew. The Summer Shandy has had a good run. Unfortunately with the weather cooling down and the leaves thinking about changing colors, this product probably won’t be making this list again for a few months. See you next summer, Summer Shandy!
The Boards:
The Little Prince: For future reference, this will likely make this list often over the next few months. So good!
Dungeon Roll: This one will also likely make this list often over the next few months. I played it with my 4yo daughter and let her pull all the treasure tokens out when I earned them. Then at dinner later in the week she was playing with her food and having me “roll” it. Then she would decide whether it was a treasure chest or a monster. There were many more treasure chests than monsters.
Prototype components for The City Beneath.
The City Beneath: This is my friend Adam Buckingham‘s game based on his novel by the same name. It is a steampunk heist game that very much revolves around the different abilities of the characters. In the game you are trying to get away with the heist while making other people take the blame. It’s still a prototype but it is really enjoyable and I hope he keeps developing it. It definitely has legs!
Mars Needs Mechanics: I’m interested in learning about the original theme of the game. I wanna say it was an African black market or something along those lines. We had a good time playing the game, though we stretched it to handle 5 players instead of the box-recommended limit of 4. The economics of the game are very interesting and the art is very enjoyable. Nicely done Ben Rosset and Bryan Fischer!
Skyline: This could be the go-to filler du jour for a while. It comes in a small box, has awesome dice, and plays relatively quickly. And I think the gameplay is pretty interesting as well. There is a high reward factor when you can top off one of the sky scrapers!
Tsuro: It seems my list is populated with filler material lately. This game is fun and plays very fast.
Scoville: I was able to teach the game to two different groups at my FLGS on Saturday. Two people in the second group said they loved it and would have bought it if it had been on the shelf. At that point I let them know that it will likely be on Kickstarter in November (so keep your eyes open for that!). They also received the buttons that Ken Grazier produced for me!
MarsPost: This was an unpublished prototype that I had the chance to play. It’s a very interesting take on worker placement. The concept is you are mining asteroids from the asteroid belt and utilizing a post on Mars to turn the resources into buildings and thus points. While it is a little rough around the edges I very much enjoyed it!
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That’s the weekly Boards & Barley. What was your favorite beverage or board game this past week??
400th Twitter Follower Giveaway!
Can you win the awesomeness?
Back in March I hit the 200 follower plateau on Twitter. At the time I gave away a copy of Love Letter. This time around, since there are twice as many of you, I’m making the prize that much better! This time I’m going to give away a copy of Smash Up.
Why Smash Up? Because all you Twitter Followers are a smash up of awesomeness with people who write blogs, manage Ludological Portfolios (I’m looking at you, Brian!), design games, playtest games, love games, and even some of you who succumb to the desires of the barley!
Here’s how it works. All you have to do to qualify for the prize is this:
- Live in the US (Sorry international readers. Shipping is expensive)
- Tweet @ me (@EdPMarriott) your best made up smash up deck of beer or board game related factions. It’s doesn’t have to be both. Add #BnBSmashUp to your tweet.
In the game each player has a smash up of two different factions. So one player may be Wizard Ninjas while another player is Robot Dinosaurs. So tweet me your best smash up that’s related to beer and board games! The more creative and interesting, the better chance you have to win!
I’ll choose a winner tonight at 8pm Central. So make sure you have your tweet in before then!
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UPDATE (8:30pm): The winner has been chosen! Congrats to Eric Leath of Games & Grub for the Smash Up deck that made me laugh and cringe at the same time:
https://twitter.com/GamesAndGrub/status/373176791474507776
And two honorable mentions go to J. Alex Kevern for his nice, rhyming Smash Up Deck and to Todd Edwards for this Specific Gravity Paralysis:
https://twitter.com/Wininoid/status/373210640887709696
Unforunately only Eric wins the prize. Thanks to everyone who participated. I hope you enjoyed the giveaway contest. My next giveaway will be when I hit 600 followers. I’m hoping that giveaway will be a prototype of Scoville!
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And just for fun I made my own base:
Not very playable, but it helps me celebrate 400+ awesome followers!
The Monday Brews: 8/26/13
Here we are… either recovering from con crud (thankfully I wasn’t struck by that beast) or desperately looking forward to Spiel (alas, I will not be able to attend). Never-the-less we keep pushing forward in our consumption of barley-derived beverages and cardboard creations.
It’s Monday, so it’s time to recap the Boards and Barley that I enjoyed last week:
The Barley:
Leinenkugel’s Honey Weiss: With the summer coming to an end since I live in Wisconsin, I have to finish off the Honey Weiss that I have. So I enjoyed one of these while participating in a Fantasy Football draft. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to have helped my draft choices.
Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest: I know, it’s a little early for Oktoberfests. But it’s one of my favorite beer styles, so I enjoy it when I can. I liken it to drinking Egg Nog in November even though it’s really a Christmas beverage.
New Glarus Spotted Cow: This one is a staple for many Wisconsin beer enthusiasts. It’s technically a farmhouse ale, but I would almost put it in a class with cream ales. It’s easy to drink and it’s delicious.
That’s it for the Barley this week. Let’s see what I played:
The Boards:
Hanabi: My level 1 friend Jeremy and I taught Hanabi to our wives. Mine was bored with the game. But she admitted she’d be willing to play it again. I think we ended with 19 points, though, which is pretty decent.
Giving new meaning to “Push Your Luck!”
Via Appia: This was a GenCon purchase of Jeremy’s and I was particularly excited to play it. There is a really cool pusher mechanic where you can try to push stones off and earn the corresponding stone tiles. This game wasn’t a very complicated game, but I had fun with it. I’d like to try it with 3 or 4 players rather than just two. Image from BGG.com.
Scoville: On Saturday I visited with some friends in the Chicago area and they requested to play Scoville! So it hit the table and I was able to try out a newish variant with bonus abilities. They enjoyed the game though one player ended with a really low score. And the bonus abilities worked well enough for me to add them into the rules as a variant.
The Little Prince: If you read my review of the game last Friday then you already know that I really enjoy this game. It is so much fun and I love the little intricacies of the strategy.
Dungeon Roll: I went on a nice solo delve for the first time and was pleased with my result. Using the Archaeologist I was able to score 26 points. My big success was slaying a dragon in Level 2 of the dungeon. I love the whole presentation of the game. It felt like I was actually delving a dungeon and using my heros to defeat enemies. I’m looking forward to my next delve.
So that’s the Boards and Barley I enjoyed last week. But I need to mention one other thing today…
It’s Time for a Giveaway! Almost…
I hit 400 followers on Twitter over the weekend. I can’t believe so many people follow me and read my blog. You all are awesome and I’m inspired by you guys every day. So as a way to show my appreciation for the Twitter game design community I’m giving a game away. I haven’t decided which game to give away, or how I’m going to do it, but later this week I’ll post an article all about it. That will likely be on Thursday. So keep tweeting and enjoying the boards and barley!
Thanks for reading!
Boards and Barley 