Rampage Games was one of the first booths I sat down at during CT FIG, and their game Elements was my first play of the day. I actually sat down to play while they were counting down the end of their successful Kickstarter campaign, so this is a game we’ll hopefully be seeing available to sale soon.

Elements is a card game where you’re trying to use base elements to create an object. Each object is worth points, and the more complicated it is to make, the more points it’s worth.

Each turn a player will draw a card, roll the dice, choose one of the actions available based on their rolls, and work on laying cards down to build their item. There’s also gems that can be earned that will count as an element, can be combined to become a more complex element, or even give bonuses to completed items.

Elements was really quick to learn, fairly light, and very entertaining. It’s minimal design works well, and there’s plenty of opportunities to mess with other players, so it never feels like you’re playing a game of solitaire while racing to see who wins first. It’s a game I’ll be adding to my shelf, as I think it’s one I could get a lot of play in with the kids.

Rampage was also showing off a bunch of their Game Crafter produced games: Aurora, Iron Horses, Woodland, and Adrift. I didn’t get a chance to play any, but got the rundown on each of the four. Out of all of them, Aurora really caught my eye. It’s a game about building a star system to support intelligent life. I’ll have that one in for review soon, so I’ll see if lives up to my expectations!

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With a beautiful design, and excellent cooperative gameplay, it’s no wonder Guardians of AsunDur was a runner-up for CT FIG‘s Best in Show award. While still unpublished, the game shows great promise, and is already playable and enjoyable.

In Guardians Of AsunDur players take control of six angels working together to restore Virtue in a world that’s being corrupted by Vice. All six angels are always in play, no matter the amount of players (the game handles 1-6 players). This means that angels are as evenly distributed as possible between all players. Players choose the order in which angels are activated at the start of the game, then move around the board trying to construct Light Strongholds in the spaces. If the players get to 7 points before the forces of Vice do, they win.

Of course it’s not that simple. Dark Entities can enter the board through card draws, pushing the dark score up each time by the amount of previous Entities on the board. Also, each turn there’s a Vice stage where more corruption enters the board, and can spill over into other spaces a la Pandemic’s Outbreak mechanic. Thankfully each angel also has a special ability they can use once per turn. Actually, let me correct myself. Guardians uses an interesting mechanic where only another player in the same space as an angel can ask to use it’s special power. The player controlling that angel can’t activate their own. This really forces the players to interact, plan their moves, and work together towards victory.

Unfortunately when I played we lost, not paying attention to Dark Entities entering the board until it was too late.

I’m really looking forward to more games of Guardians of AsunDur, and I’m interested to see which publisher is going to pick it up. It was originally picked up by Game Salute under the name Feather and Flame, but the design is now back in the hands of Darrin Horbal, the game’s designer.

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I could have included Brass Empire in my Pax East 2016 coverage, but while I saw the game there, I actually got a chance to sit down and play the game with its designer at CT FIG.

Brass Empire is a deck-building game that bears some resemblance to Star Realms, yet takes the idea of starships and outputs a bit further using buildings, employees, and machines. While you’re building up your deck you’re also contracting buildings to give you more resources and power, and deploying units to attack your opponent and defend yourself. All of this is wrapped in the Steampunk work of Cobalt.

I’m a big fan of deck-builders, and Brass Empire definitely fits into my top 3 favorite deck-builders of all time. The theme is awesome, the gameplay is tight and tense, and the ability to play a solo variant against a boss card is excellent in a pinch when you don’t have another player.

Brass Empire is currently up for pre-order and is scheduled to be shipped in June, first to Kickstarter backers and then to pre-order customers. I’m eagerly awaiting mine so I can give it a shot with my 10-year-old.

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending, and judging at, the first annual Connecticut Festival of Indie games, hosted by Geek Fever Games at Elm City Games in New Haven, CT. Jason Miceli of GeekFever served as MC and organizer, while Matt Loter of Elm City Games (and Prettiest Princess Games) was the overly enthusiastic, yet charming, host.
The day was full of gaming, with loads of indie game developers showing off their designs to a building full of attendees. Every nook and cranny was filled with booths, and a lot of laughter good times were had all around. It was hard to believe when 4:00pm rolled around and it was time for the judges to meet and pick their favorite games in each category. It took about an hour of deliberation, but the winners were announced shortly after 5:00pm.

Best Artwork:
Dragoon, Lay Waste Games

Best 1st Impression:
Moon Quake Escape, Pair of Jacks

Most Innovative:
Depths of Durangrar, Creative Cove Games

Most Spirit:
Oh My Gods, Gameworthy Labs

Best in Show:  
Dragoon, Lay Waste Games

Best in Show runner-up: Guardians of AsunDur, DPH Studioz
Best in Show runner-up: Grab the Booty, Counter Meta Games
Best in Show runner-up: Originz the Superpowered Card Game, Flavor Faction

I’d like to congratulate all the winners. Competition was tough, and there was a lot of great games shown at the festival. CT FIG was a huge success, and I can’t wait until next year’s festival to see what it brings.

I’ll have some more coverage of what I saw at the show soon, so keep a look out.

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