#126: City of Iron 2nd Edition, Blood Rage, Our Favorites of 2016 and a Short Topic Extravaganza
Opening Banter and Reviews
Feature Review: City of Iron: Second Edition
In City of Iron, 2-4 players compete to build up a small nation in a world of machines, magic, and money. Become the leader of one of four rival nations: the industrious humans, the toad engineers, the scholarly Cresarians, or the clever hogmen. Produce goods like machine parts and bottled demons to gain wealth, or research steam-age technology and recruit mercenaries to control the continent. If you want to establish new cities, you’ll build schooners or airships to reach faraway lands and flying islands. Your cities have limited capacity, so you’ll have to decide what to keep and what to demolish when building advanced structures. The future of a nation is in your hands. Build unbreakable foundations for an empire or disappear into the dusty pages of history. Differences from the first edition: The expert cards have some new iconography and have been rebalanced The expansion town card deck is gone The auction for player order has been simplified The pay track for going later in the turn is gone A bonus coin replaced the pirates The timing of scoring rounds has been changed Players now have different end-game scoring goals depending on their contract cards and regions, rather than everyone competing for the same set of end-game bonuses
Designed by Ryan Laukat
Lookback Review: Blood Rage
"Life is Battle; Battle is Glory; Glory is ALL" In Blood Rage, each player controls their own Viking clan’s warriors, leader, and ship. Ragnarök has come, and it’s the end of the world! It’s the Vikings’ last chance to go down in a blaze of glory and secure their place in Valhalla at Odin’s side! For a Viking there are many pathways to glory. You can invade and pillage the land for its rewards, crush your opponents in epic battles, fulfill quests, increase your clan's stats, or even die gloriously either in battle or from Ragnarök, the ultimate inescapable doom. Most player strategies are guided by the cards drafted at the beginning of each of the three game rounds (or Ages). These “Gods’ Gifts” grant you numerous boons for your clan including: increased Viking strength and devious battle strategies, upgrades to your clan, or even the aid of legendary creatures from Norse mythology. They may also include various quests, from dominating specific provinces, to having lots of your Vikings sent to Valhalla. Most of these cards are aligned with one of the Norse gods, hinting at the kind of strategy they support. For example, Thor gives more glory for victory in battle, Heimdall grants you foresight and surprises, Tyr strengthens you in battle, while the trickster Loki actually rewards you for losing battles, or punishes the winner. Players must choose their strategies carefully during the draft phase, but also be ready to adapt and react to their opponents’ strategies as the action phase unfolds. Battles are decided not only by the strength of the figures involved, but also by cards played in secret. By observing your opponent’s actions and allegiances to specific gods, you may predict what card they are likely to play, and plan accordingly. Winning battles is not always the best course of action, as the right card can get you even more rewards by being crushed. The only losing strategy in Blood Rage is to shy away from battle and a glorious death!
Designed by Eric Lang
Gaming News by Tony T
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