Let’s be honest… that does sound like an awesome game. Designers, get on it! But this is really about my two favorite games I took out for a spin in April. Both of these games look light and fun, and fun they are, but their lightness is deceptive. They are a little meatier than their first impression…. but not bunny stew meaty.
First up is the delightful BUNNY KINGDOMS from Iello. In this game you are amassing a bunny army to take over the lands… but only if you draw the right cards. BK is a card drafting and area control. Each round you choose a card and pass your hand around, eventually acquiring cards from all the hands being passed (note: we played a 2 player game which has an interesting drafting variant with four hands and a discard pile in play). There are several types of cards, the most important being the ones that denote the spaces on the board, in a numbered and lettered grid pattern. So if you draw the card B6, you can settle that section on the board. Other card types include straight up victory points, kingdom upgrades (allowing you to build bigger castles), and other “if X then Y” cards for scoring. The basic scoring each round is based on your castles and how many towers you have connected and how many resources are in those connected kingdoms. So if you have 2 castles with two towers each and a kingdom that included wood, carrots, and fish, then you score 4 (number of towers) x 3 (number of unique resources). There are a variety of strategies you can employ – bigger kingdoms with more resources, smaller kingdoms with lots of towers, horde the straight VP cards, or dominate in one area (for example the card that gives you x # of VP based on number of squared where you produce carrots). The board is lovely, the art on the cards is great… and it’s bunnies! Who can not love a game with bunnies. It’s also deceptively intense and strategic, between the card drafting, the VP hording, and the board management. I give this game 5 out of 5 carrots!
Here’s a quick start for your Bunnies from Peace, Love & Games
A game that just came out a few weeks ago and I tested at GAMA might be my new favorite in the “roll the dice and see what cards you get” genre.
Space Base from AEG is a take on the popular Machi Koro with a few more moving parts, TONS more card options, and a lot more strategy. The basic premise is you roll the dice and you get money, VP, or energy (which in turns helps you retain more of you “money” each turn). You spend the money to buy cards to add to your base. The base is a board numbered 1-12 (wow, that corresponds with the numbers on 2 d6’s!). Each slot has a cart with a benefit if you roll that number.. and you get to choose how you apply your roll. Roll a 4 and a 3, you can get the benefits of the 3 and the 4 OR you can use them as a 7. When you buy a new card you replace the one on your board, but it doesn’t go away, it now lives on top of your board and gives you a new benefit whenever someone ELSE rolls that number. So in a 5 person game you can potentially get money, VP, or energy on every persons turn, making your march to ultimate space domination that much quicker. Last weekend I played a 2 player with my husband, and it was neck and neck in the beginning, then he started buying tons of cards.. but I hoarded my monies and bought VP. So we used two strategies and it came down to one last roll of the dice (his) for either of us to win… thankfully his roll got me 5 VP and I won, but it could have gone either way. I was a huge fan of Machi Koro, but I think Space Base definitely replaces that as my go to for more something dicey and cardy. Teaching it to my husband took a few turns for him to get the rythmof buying, swapping, looking to see if he gets anything on my roll. I would say Machi Koro is a good gateway to Space Base. I give it 4.5 rockets out of 5.
Here’s a better “how to play” than I can give with word spewing –
Feature image from LeeAnneKortus – DeviantArt
Space Bunnies and Their Base Kingdoms- a review of my two fave plays of April from @alderac and @ielloUSA, with a link to "how to play" video from @PeaceLoveNGames Let's be honest... that does sound like an awesome game. Designers, get on it! But this is really about my two favorite games I took out for a spin in April.
