Registration for the 2017 Connecticut Festival of Indie Games is now open! The festival will be held on June 3, 2017 at the Tabletop Shop in Newington, CT. Tickets are $10, and upon arriving at the event guests will receive $5 in store credit to spend.

Along with registration, CT-FIG has set up a giveaway for the following games:

• Plus Word by Geek Fever Games
• Raid & Trade by MAGE Company
• Captains of Industry by TMG
• City Hall by TMG

Just head on over ct-fig.com to enter. Prizes will be awarded the day of the event.

CT-FIG is an awesome event. I’ll be there again as a judge for the Figgie awards.

Hope to see you there!

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Shoot Again Games was at CT FIG showing off two new games: Looting Atlantis and Conspiracy. Of the two I only had a chance to play a quick game of Looting Atlantis.

The premise of the game is simple. Atlantis is about to be buried in lava, so you and the other players are trying to loot as much advanced technology before escaping to a different, less advanced civilization where you’ll live your life out as a wizard, or some other such person of power.

Each turn you’ll add lava to the board, having it creep slowly to the outer edge. Piles of cards encircle the board at every space. Each color card has its own way of scoring at the end and its own special power. After advancing a line of lava you’ll have to actions you can use to move and take cards. You can also play a card as a free action to use its power. Some cards let you take more actions, some protect you from other cards players might play to hinder you, and some cards are used to score higher points with other cards. When the board is filled with lava and each player has escaped then the points from all the cards are added up.

It’s a simple enough game to play. The real trick is making sure you’re grabbing cards that will score you the most points. Some cards will only net you a large score if you have a lot of them. Some cards are worth a meager amount of points unless you have a card that greatly increases the score for each in your possession. You also need to take into account the special powers of the cards. Sometimes it’s worth using a card and losing it to gain a card or cards that will improve you score even more.

At first glance, the game looks really chaotic with its piles of cards wrapped around the board. Once you get the hang if it, it’s not so bad. Then all you need to worry about is getting the best groups of cards that you can.

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Yanaguana Games was showing off both Shipload o’Gold and Stir Fry Eighteen. I only had a chance to play the latter, and I’m really glad I did. It’s an eighteen card microgame where players are trying to cook up a high value stir fry each turn. Each dish must contain noodles to start. Ingredient cards can then be played to add value to the dish. Certain ingredients combine well with others for bonuses and protein cards are highly valued.

Players can also trade in two of an ingredient to draw different cards, or play a protein to draw the amount of cards listed on that type. The cool part here is that these cards are played face-down so players can try and bluff. Get called out and you discard all your cards and your turn ends. Don’t get caught? Awesome for you.

It’s a fairly straight forward game that plays very quickly. Players play until a certain point score is reached, usually 50. One of the best parts about this micro fry? It’s only $10.

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There’s something satisfying about pushing The Big Red Button, and Super Weapon knows it. Designer Chris Fong has created a delightfully light and simple game where the whole point to prep and launch your own weapon of mass destruction against other players. This is done by rolling the dice and matching them to your weapon’s launch codes, two randomly drawn cards attached to your weapon. Once you have your codes you can deal damage to an opponent and sometimes even active other special effects. You then discard your codes and draw two new ones.

That’s the game at its most simple. There’s also agent cards you can draw and play that provide special actions to take. Sometimes it’s copying a die number. Sometimes it’s disarming a code off an opponents cards. Each is different, and each provides a bit more depth to play. In the end, the last player standing wins.

Like I said earlier, the game is very simple and very light. That in no way, shape, or form diminishes how fun and satisfying it is to play. My only complaint is that being a Game Crafter game, it’s a bit pricey for what you get, coming in at $36. If they could get that price down a bit I’d say this one would be a must-buy.

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A standout game at CT FIG, No Regerts is a game about badass tattoos, and lame tattoos. At its heart, it’s a game of hand management. You’re trying to get good tattoos on your body, which you have to pay by discarding another good tattoo while trying to use bad decision cards to play bad tattoos on other players. Bad tattoos are free to play on yourself, and sometimes can be helpful when combined with a card that lets your sever your own limb and swap it with someone else’s, or a card that turns that turd into a work of art for positive points. The game ends when a player fills all six body parts with three tattoos each. Points are added up and the player with the most wins.

I had a blast trying this game out. The art is amazing, the gameplay is fast and easy, and half the fun of the game comes from developing a sort of narrative about people’s tattoos as they’re played. David and Sam are awesome people and their passion for their game shows.

No Regerts is currently up on Kickstarter and is almost fully funded. All it takes is a $25 to make sure you get a copy of the game when it does and, if you’re feeling generous, you can pledge $3000 to make Dave get a real tattoo of your choosing.

No Regerts is a game you can feel good about funding without having Regerts of your own. No Bad Decisions here.

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It’s always awesome to get to hang out with Lay Waste Games. Once again they were showing off Dragoon, this time at the CT FIG Mid-Year Event in Newington, CT at the Tabletop Shop. While they weren’t showing anything new, I did happen to get a bit out of them about an upcoming Dragoon expansion.

Soon, it seems, we’ll be able to play Dragoon with 5 or 6 players, and these two extra player characters won’t be dragons. The Barbarian and Rogue will indeed allow the game to handle up to 6 players, but can be used as a replacement for a dragon in a game with any number of players. What can these new characters do?

The Barbarian will play very similarly to a Dragon with the exception that it levels up during play. Its level will dictate what cards it can play, and when. The higher the Barbarian’s level, the better cards it’ll have at its disposal.

The Rogue plays completely different. Instead of a cave, the Rogue will have 9 tunnels that it places around the map during play that serve as both his means of claiming as well as swift transportation. Each tunnel will have a hidden trap on the underside of the tunnel tile that will be revealed when the tunnel gets destroyed.  Another different aspect to the Rogue is that it doesn’t use cards. Instead, the Rogue will have around six pieces of equipment, of which only a certain number of items can be equipped at a time.

Different pieces of equipment can give the Rogue new abilities or modify its abilities,when equipped. An example given was a Grappling Hook that changes the Rogues’s movement from 1 to 2 spaces. As long as it’s equipped the Rogue must move two spaces. Another example is a Poison Dagger that can help the Rogue defend against Dragons and the Barbarian. Swapping equipment will take an action, so playing to Rogue will require a bit more planning on the player’s part.

Dragoon is an amazing game, and if this expansion sees the light of day I can only see it becoming more exciting.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

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Originz: The Superpowered Card Game is a game of super powered combat. Inside the box is 12 pre-constructed decks, each representing a different ability. Players can use these decks as is, or customize them to their own desires.

Game play is quick, and your deck represents both your abilities and your health. Play cards wisely to destroy your opponent, but make sure you don’t run out. Once you’re out of cards, that’s it for you. It’s an interesting mechanic trying to balance card use and your health.

The prototype looks excellent, and Flavor Faction (local to me in Simsbury, CT!) will be launching a Kickstarter for the game around October. I got a chance to play at CT FIG, and the gameplay is fast and brutal. I played the Super Speed deck, and I quickly got all my best cards out and forced my opponent to zero cards before they were able to do much. Card play and combos are super satisfying, and I can’t wait to have a change to dig further into the decks and some customization. Seeing as Flavor Faction is right around the corner for me, I’m hoping to get that opportunity sooner rather than later!

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It was hard to miss Gameworthy Labs‘ booth at CT FIG, seeing as they were dressing in togas and had a GIANT banner. It’s no wonder they won the Most Spirit award at the end of the day. Of course their game, Oh My Gods!, also was a runner-up for Best in Show. I’ll be going more in-depth with the game soon, as a review copy is on its was to my doorstep, but I’ll give you a quick overview.

It’s like Guess Who on steroids.

Well, not really. That would do a disservice to the game. What it is is a clever deduction game with a bit of bluffing and strategy tossed in. One of the Greek gods has stolen Zeus’ bolt, and it’s up to the players to figure out who. This involves trying to figure out what the other players have in their hands, cleverly using your Gods’ powers to stack the deck in your favor, and finally guessing who the hidden thief is.

I played a quick demo game at the show, which had a limited roster of gods to play with and played in around 5 minutes. It was a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to dig into the full game with all it has to offer!

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Small Cave Games was showing off three games at CT FIG, two of which I had a chance to play at the show.

The first game I played, GATUCA, is a DNA dice-building combat game. Players roll dice, match up their results to items they wish to buy on their boards, and resolve those actions. There’s combat actions, defensive actions, and actions that let you purchase, alter, or reroll your dice. By the end of the game each player is rolling massive amounts of dice and trying to break through their opponent’s defenses.

Next was This is Just a Test, a game about stockpiling resources with a cold-war era theme. It’s sort of a worker placement, resource management game where you need to make sure you get the best stuff, hoard it, and hope you’re prepared for one of three outcomes: nothing happening, the dropping of the bomb, or a Russian invasion. Each turn event cards are played that can either further along the maturity of your items, or end the game immediately depending on the draw. It’s tense, with a lot of tough choices.

The last game at the table, Ophidian Wars, is a card battle game that’s already making some waves over at The Game Crafter. It’s a game of sci-fi gladiatorial combat that uses a unique flow mechanic. As long as you play positive (+) cards you can continue to act. As soon as you play a negative (-) card, the control of the game now moves to the opponent. The 69 card deck contains everything two players need to play the game, or each player can customize their decks with multiple copies of the game. I took a copy of this home to review, so I’ll have more to say on this later.

Overall a really strong looking line up!

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There’s a lot of 8-bit inspired board and cards games out there right now, and Super Hazard Quest knows that. What they’re hoping to do is provide you with a play experience that actually feels like and old 8-bit video games. Players will explore explore randomly generated dungeons where they’ll have to complete the right actions to move through the rooms and reach checkpoints. Can’t do it? Back to the start with you. Of course there’ll be enemies along the way. Bosses to. Oh, and the other players.

The SHQ team currently has a Kickstarter campaign going with 15 days left. The game is already funded, so now they’re working on stretch goals. A $25 pledge will get you a copy of the game, while higher levels will get you expansions, and even a prototype of the game right now.

I briefly had a change to see the game at PAX, and got a bit better look at CT FIG. I’ll be interested to really give the game a good sit down and play to see what it’s like with a group. I’m a sucker for the style. Let’s hope I’m a sucker for the gameplay, too.

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