Game(s) Played:
Session – Seasons
Game: Seasons
Designer: Régis Bonnessée
Players: 2 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Main Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Dice Rolling, Hand Management
Player(s):
In my humble opinion, Seasons is still one of the best, if not the best, boardgame converters for Magic: The Gathering players out there. Sure there are a lot of deck building card games in the market now ever since Dominion rolled on to the scene but few of them capture the same level of card interaction and satisfaction of a well executed combo that Magic: The Gathering has. It is perhaps doubly impressive that Seasons manages to do this with only a starting deck of 9 cards and still tie the game to a euro style game board with a dynamic market mechanism.
Better yet, the future conversion rates of Energy to Crystals is always known
To help out those new to Seasons, here is a "Play Better" report from our session on Seasons.
TIP #1 – Combo Drafting Is Just As Important As Season Drafting
When drafting, you're always looking for combo pieces such as a Power Card that allows you to summon for free paired with another high summoning cost Power Card, or a Power Card that gives you conversion bonuses to be paired with a Power Card that gives you the ability to convert. That being said however, unlike any standard draft in Magic: The Gathering, in Seasons you want to have what we call "All Color Good Stuff". Having all your Power Cards cost the same type of Energy Token is problematic because you may not be able to get the Energy Tokens you need when it is out of season.
Sorry, wrong season
TIP #2 – Get Your Discounts Early, Keep Your Irritants In The Middle & Leave Your Big Combos Late
In Seasons, each Player needs to separate their 9 Power Cards into stacks of three for the 3 years over which the game takes place. This tip (which gave me a respectable second place this session) is more of a general guide for new Players and not meant to be a pro strategy. There are quite a few utility Power Cards that give you discounts on summoning costs, free Energy Tokens, free dice rerolls and other free boosts which you should put in Year 1. I would then keep my Power Cards that affect other Players in Year 2 to bug them and kind of keep them off their game and save my big combos for last to ensure that I have the necessary resources to pull them off and also to diminish the chances of another Player disrupting my combo.
Also be lenient to "newbies" (ahem ahem) who might need to change their order 1 turn into the game
This is my combo: Olaf's Blessed Statue (+20 Crystals) > Amsug Longneck (Take back Olaf's Blessed Statue) > Olaf's Blessed Statue (+20 Crystals) > Runic Cube of Eolis (-20 Crystals + 30 Crystals)
We had two, TWO Kairn The Destroyers in play. It was like a toothache. Nobody tried to actively gain Crystals for 2 WHOLE Years.
TIP #3 – Do The Three Greatest Words In Magic
Having Power Cards unsummoned in hand at the end of the game results in a penalty per Power Card, nevertheless it is in your best interest to spend your "extra turns" trying to "Draw A Card". So plan your turns to summon everything in hand, and since you can always discard the card you've drawn if you don't like it, you should try to draw Power Cards in the turns where you don't have anything useful to do. Ultimately this was my mistake which resulted in me being second place. I could potentially have drawn Divine Chalice to put the Runic Cube of Eolis in to play for free instead of wasting the Crystals I had gotten off the second Olaf's Blessed Statue.
These three were actively rolling for "Draw A Card" whilst I was just waiting for the year to pass
Time Taken: 90 minutes
Results Of Game(s)
Winnah – Sean (135 VP)
Second – Justin (122 VP)
Third – Edward (113 VP)
Last – Moses (94 VP)
Probably my only complaint about Seasons - the teeny tiny scoreboard
Instead of the obligatory winner's pic, this time we have the loser's pic walking away (no la, actually he just had to rush off)
Session – Eminent Domain
Game: Eminent Domain
Designer: Seth Jaffee
Players: 2 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 45 minutes
Main Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Deck Building, Variable Phase Order
Player(s):
Eminent Domain is one of two games in my collection that I feel are "incomplete" and at the same time, don't feel compelled enough after playing the base game to get the expansion that, so sayeth others... "completes" the game. The feeling is particularly stronger with Eminent Domain because there were design choices in the base game (i.e. different sized fighters) that have no meaning whatsoever unless you own the expansion as well. In any case, many reviewers seem split over the value you get from the expansion, which leaves me inclined to trade or sell off my copy of Eminent Domain at this juncture.
Still, to help out those new to Eminent Domain, here is a "Play Better" report from our session on Eminent Domain.
TIP #1 – Colonize OR Warfare NOT Both
There are three ways to earn points in Eminent Domain but trading goods for points and gaining third tier Technology Cards are BOTH reliant on the third way, which is colonizing or conquering planets. I tend to favour conquering planets over colonizing them but you should watch what the other Players are leaning towards and follow them to create synergy where you can take the same role on other Players' turns. This was my mistake this round which led to many inefficient turns in trying to conquer / colonize planets.
You can see all my fighters whilst Sean & Edward focused on Colonies
TIP #2 – Three Of A Kind Is Best
Whilst Survey cards make your deck inefficient, you need to balance it with aiming to have three planets of the same type. This allows you to aim for the highest tier of Technology Cards which not only have powerful abilities but also do give Victory Points at the same time.
Here you see me with my inefficient 2 Metallic Planets & 1 Fertile Planet
And here you see Sean's winning tableau where he has already completed his 3 Advanced Planets and starting on his Fertile Planets when I forced the game to end
TIP #3 – Watch Out For The End Of Game Conditions
Like Glory To Rome (and even more so with the Escalation expansion if I'm given to understand correctly), the end of a game of Eminent Domain can be abrupt and sudden. So you do need to pay attention to those game end conditions and gauge how far away you are from the end then plan your turns accordingly. Also just as important is knowing when you should push for the game to end in order to preserve a lead or end the suffering.Time Taken: 30 minutes
Results Of Game(s)
Winnah – Sean (21 VP)
Second – Justin (19 VP)
Last – Edward (15 VP)
Seeing as we are only a few days away from Chinese New Year once this post goes live, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Year of the Rooster! So happy new year, year year got fish, big lucky big profitable and step step go high!
May you have more huat in your year!
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