Day 21: Strategy Games for Children

     I hope you had a great weekend and maybe played a game with your family. The games we have talked about so far have been for at least age 8 and up. I was wanting to give some ideas of games for younger children.

     An oldie but goodie is Perfection. In Perfection players have 60 seconds to fit 25 pieces into the corresponding hole. The board is pushed down and after 60 seconds it springs up causing the shapes to fly around. Perfection is for ages 5 and up. It is very addicting! 

     Blokus is a good game that was published in 2000. It is also recommended for ages 5 and up. Players use transparent colored tiles and take turns laying their pieces so that at least one corner touches their color. Play continues to no one can place a tile. The last one with a tile wins.

   


Cranium Cariboo is good for children ages 3-6. Children learn colors, shapes, numbers, and counting. It is a cooperative game where players draw cards and open treasure hunt doors that coorespond to their card. Once the door is open they look for a ball. When a six balls are collected they win! This game was published in 1998. I hate that we missed this one!

     Farmyard Bingo by Fisher Price is good for the really young! It is recommended for ages 2 and up. Our son got it for his first birthday. We played it for MANY hours! Players pull a lever and a chip comes out of the barn with a fun boing noise! Players match the chips (farmyard animals) to their card. The first with three that match wins. It is never too young to start playing a game. 

     There are many great educational games online for children. But there really is no substitute for sitting down together and playing a game. The laughter and lessons taught are priceless. These kids games almost make me want another baby! Almost :)

Day 20: Sunday Morning Coffee and Chit Chat

Gaming is catching on! Gaming groups are everywhere! If you are interested in trying some more strategic games think about checking out a local gaming group. You could check out your area and see if there is a local group.

Marty participates with the Queen City Gaming Club. They meet every week. You can go every week, every other week, once a month, or just whenever you can make it. I have friends who go to gaming nights as a date night! I have gone on ladies nights, special gaming events and community projects. It is a great way to try a game out before you buy it or get suggestions from other gamers.

The community projects are great for the whole family. Some of the volunteer projects have been teaching games on regular basis at a local school, library, and even Discovery Place which is a hands on science. If you are wondering what sort of "strategic" games we play with children come back tomorrow!    

Our oldest son is starting a tabletop gaming club at his school. He said that students come up to him in the cafeteria asking to be a part of the club! They really like role playing games, but will play a variety. I think it is so exciting that young people are interested in playing games face to face. Teenagers today have many options for entertainment. I am so glad that they choose to game because it keeps them home and out of trouble! :) We hope that Adam gets the club up and running this year and then our middle son, Travis, can take over next year!

This afternoon cruise the internet and see if there is a local tabletop gaming group in your area. It is a great way to meet people and in some cases participate in community service. After church today I am going to attempt to read Call of Cathulhu by H.P. Lovecraft. I REALLY enjoy playing all of the Lovecraftian games but have never read any of his works. Writing about the literay games motivated me to read it! Have a great day!

Day 19: Literary Games

     Ahhh...my favorite time of year! Sitting at the football game last night we drank hot chocolate and had our coats on. I love Fall and Winter. I love to sit on the couch in my flannel pajamas with birds drinking coffee and reading books on them! And of course I am drinking coffee and also reading books! I can't get enough of books. I am old school and prefer a book over the kindle. I like to imagine the characters and I feel like I am part of the story with them. Books are great!!!!! Now we all know that games are great!!!! So what can be better than books and games? Yep, you guessed it, games based on literature!!! Your favorite characters brought to life by you!

     My first introduction to literary gaming was several years ago. We were anticipating the release of Lord of the Rings and Marty decided we needed to read the books. After the movie was released Marty started playing the Lord of the Rings card game. He played it for years and started his monthly gaming group then. When he started playing the Game of Thrones card game he sent me to the library to get the book so he could read it and know about the story and characters. Well, Game of Thrones is 835 pages long. That looked like an eternity to Marty. It looked like a nice weekend to me. So, of course, I read it and loved it. And I filled Marty in on all the info. While I never played the Game of Thrones card game I did like looking at the art and the artists interpretation of the characters. I also thought it was pretty cool that a game was based on a book.

     My favorite games based on literature are the Lovecraftian games. Arkham Horror, Mansions of Madness, Elder Sign, and soon to be released Eldrage Horror (can't wait!) are based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. A whole world has been created around his works. The setting and characters are the same across the games. I am hoping we play Arkham at our Halloween party!

     For fun I goggled games based on literature and was surprised to find a lot of games. Some of the ones I found are; Around the World in 80 days, Hamlet, Nemo's War (Jules Vern's Nemo, not Disney's :) ), The Road to Canterbury, several games based on Beowulf, and how about Pride and Prejudice! These are just a few games that I found published in the 2000's. There were several more from the disco 70's and new wave 80's! Games like Dune, The Company War, Darkover, Dragonriders of Pern, and the Forever War are just a few. Game covers have developed over time!

     Listen up middle and high school English/Literature teachers, you have instant lessons that will capture student's attention and stimulate writing! Students could write different scenarios or create a game from a book they are studying in class. Or these games may stimulate an interest in anyone for literature! Between historical yesterday and literary today, good grades are in the bag!

 

Day 18: Historical Theme

   Historical gaming is for the history/war buff. Most of the games are actually a subdomain call Wargames. Most of the games use miniatures. In the wargames players re-create wars through history using miniatures. When we go to gaming conventions (future post) we always walk by the wargames area. It is usually several rows of tables filled with intricate scenery depicting the Civil War, World I, and World War II. The gamers are intently moving their soldiers, cannons, tanks, ships, or planes. Just watching will spark interest in brushing up on your American history! There are also games of European history. One of the things I like most when watching the wargames is seeing the age difference of everyone. You see children with their grandparents enthralled in the game! Young children are fascinated by the scenery and miniatures. It really looks like history coming to life.

     My 13 year old came home just this week and mentioned that two of friends play Memoir 44, a miniatures World War II game. This game uses battle cards and dice rolling. It is recommended for ages 8 and up. If there is a particular time in history or battle you are particularly interested in, you can most likely find a game for it!

     You don't have to be a history buff to enjoy wargames. My father-in-law has a private airplane license. His hobby is flying his Beechcraft Skipper. He likes to play the game Wings of Glory. Players are fighter pilots during World War I/II and use their miniatures to perform moves to win. Wings of Glory is also recommended for ages 8 and up.

      This may be stretching it as for as historical, but 7 Wonders is a good game for 2-7 players. Players use cards and trading to build their architectural wonder of world! This game will spark interest in the wonders of world. These games are great to use as students study American and World history. They really bring a chapter of history to life!

Day 17: Steampunk

     Oh goodness! I wish I didn't have to work and could just sit and write all day about Steampunk. It is my current favorite everything! (except my family of course :) ) I want to move into a town where everyone just lives steampunk. I often find myself  reading steampunk books, dreaming over steampunk clothes, watching League of Steam web series, drooling over steampunk jewelry and daydreaming about clocks, gadgets, and gizmos!  So what is steampunk?

     Steampunk has several definitions and like Science Fiction essays and papers could be written on the topic.  This is my personal defintion when I describe it to my friends: Steampunk is alternate history which takes place during the Victorian Era and technological advices are powered by steam. The setting is most often London, England or the American Wild West but is actually worldwide. Steampunk takes historical events and figures and creates a different history! Fantasy creatures such as vampires and werewolves also find their way into Steampunk. Steampunk is actually a sub-culture! I could write 31 days on Steampunk, but this is gaming!! Gaming introduced me to Steampunk. We were at  a gaming convention and I saw these wonderful costumes and asked what it was. My son told me oh that's Steampunk and I was hooked! Thank you gaming world, again!

     I am learning through these blogs that we have been very one sided in our gaming themes. We play all different types of games, but most seem to have a fantasy theme. In thinking of what we have played, I haven't played any Steampunk games! Shocking! I had to look to Boardgamegeek for help. This is the list of their top ten Steampunk games:

     Planet Steam - Commodity Speculation/Trading (similar to Settlers of Catan)

     Mission: Red Planet - Hand Management

     Warmachine - Miniatures (my family playes this game)

     Wiraqocha - Area Control/Dice  This is the description of Wiraqocha. This is the game going on my              Christmas list!

     We are in the early XXth century, but the world is not as we know it. In 1895, exploring Amazonia, Auguste Copperpot discovered a gate to a lost valley, occupied by a primitive civilisation. Wiraqocha Valley was the name he gave to this remote Eden. This world enclosed a treasure that was going to revolutionize modern sciences, namely the Somnium, an orange luminescent crystal showing amazing properties. It can be used as fuel, affects matter and even time. Immediately, this virgin land became a new Eldorado for European colonists. Empress Victoria II decided to send several conglomerates to share this promised land and reap the fruits to her benefit. Zeppelin fleet, full of scientists, adventurers and looters, clouded the Atlantic sky.

Wiraqocha Valley is represented by an adjustable board consisting of 22 hexagonal tiles, each of them being identified by a number from 1 to 12, or a dice combo (pairs or straights). In his turn, each player rolls some six-sided dice, combining them to take possession of territories, or to protect from the opponents the ones he already owns. Every hexagon affords resources or special capacities, which are means to influence die results to fit one’s strategy. There are three ways to win: bring back a huge cargo of Somnium to the Empress; acquire enough scientific knowledge to build the Leviathan, a terrifying weapon serving the Kingdom; or find in the temple depths the four relics that will allow you to reach
Wiraqocha’s treasure.

     Dystopian Wars - Miniatures

     Leviathans - Miniatures

     Grind - Dice (this is a steampunk sport game)

     011 - Auction/Bidding

     Khronos - Area placement/hand management

     Girl Genius: The Works - Strategy card game

     As I am ready to post this blog I realize that I was not dreaming. I was in the year 1895 with H.G Wells and his time machine. He took me on a whirlwind journey through ten steampunk games! Here I thought it was the am, but it is pm when this blog is posted. I do apologize! I even missed my tea!



   

Day 16: Science Fiction

     When I think of science fiction and gaming I automatically think of Star Wars and Star Trek. This is strange because I know sci-fi is so much more. I have always enjoyed reading science fiction. A sci-fi world easily translates to games. Still, as I write the Star Wars theme is playing in my head with an occasional whooooop whooooop of a light saber with "Beam me up Scottie" in the background!  While trying think of a definition for Science Fiction I thought I would just look up the definition. Oh boy, there some deep definitions and discussions on science fiction! I am just going to use a general definition, science fiction is fiction based on imagined future science or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets. We will use that definition to talk about some sci-fi games you may like.

     Science fiction is a widely popular theme not only in gaming but in pop culture in general. Star Trek and Star Wars are huge franchises and have a large following. There are several Star Wars themed games. There are also games which are just sci-fi and space oriented. I realize as I am writing that we haven't played many sci-fi games. I had to rely on Boardgame.com to help me out!

     Collectible Cards - WARS trading card game

     Deck Building - Eminent Domain...I have played this and I like it a LOT!

     Role Playing - Warhammer40k, Star Wars: Age of the Empire...we played this at a gaming convention. I       liked it because it had special dice.

     Miniatures - Star Wars X-Wing, Battletech, Warhammer 40k

     Co-op - Battlestar Galactica

     Dice - Space Cadets Dice Duels

     Worker Placement - Alien Frontiers

     I think my family needs to check out some science fiction games! Check out some of these games! Live long and prosper!

5 Minute Initiative: Warmachine High Command

In this 5 Minute Initiative, Marty and I discuss the new Privateer Press deck building game Warmachine: High Command. The game was designed by David Carl who also did Heap for PP and part the Warmachine MKII team. High Command sales for $29.99 online with a MSRP of $44.99. In the box you will find:

• 89 Cygnar cards
• 89 Khador cards
• 89 Protectorate of Menoth cards
• 89 Cryx cards
• 15 Winds of War cards
• 15 Location cards

Marty does a great job of going over the game and how it is played. The full rules can be downloaded here.

Hordes: High Machine was just released, but it plays the same way and can be played with Warmachine. If you are looking at a different deck building game, give High Command a try. And listen to our 5MI for our personal thoughts on the game.

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