IELLO Press Release - Games Shipment

In case you ever wondered how long it takes for games that are produced in Asia to get to the United States, IELLO is tracking their latest shipment on their website. - Jeff

From the IELLO Website

Our next shipment of games is on its way!

We have 18,000  KoT + Heroes of Normandie on the sea.  You can track the shipment by clicking here: Track Shipment

Game Review - King of Tokyo

King of Tokyo
Number of Players	2 - 6
Play Time	30 Minutes
Ages	8 Years and up

This week I go back to the lighter side of things and take a look at King of Tokyo.

King of Tokyo is a game where the players take the roles of various different giant monsters that are all trying to be the one who ends up in control of Tokyo and destroy the other player’s monsters in the process.

King of Tokyo has elements of dice rolling and card drafting in it.  The players take turns rolling six dice taking the results that they want rerolling the ones that they do not want twice after the first roll.  After the second reroll the effects from the roll take place.

The dice have the following symbols:  1, 2, or 3 points of destruction which are given to the player if they get a set of three or more in their turn, Energy which give one energy point for each one rolled and can be used to buy mutations, Healing which heals one point of damage to a monster for each one rolled, and Whack which causes one point of damage to the monster in Tokyo if the player is outside Tokyo or one point of damage to all the other players if the player is inside Tokyo for each one rolled.

The players are divided into two groups the player or players inside Tokyo and the players outside Tokyo.  If a player is inside Tokyo their attacks affect everyone outside Tokyo and they get 2 points of destruction per turn they remain in Tokyo, but they cannot heal any damage they take.  They may retreat from Tokyo when they take damage from another player and the player that damaged them then takes their place inside Tokyo.

The players outside Tokyo on the other hand only damage the player inside Tokyo.  The big thing that they can do that the player inside Tokyo cannot do is heal with the Healing rolls, which is important to their survival.

One of the important and in some cases unbalancing parts of the game are the mutation cards.  There are always three face up mutation cards the cost between 2 – 7 Energy to purchase.  The mutations have a variety of different effects on them that allow the player to do special things like reroll dice, cause extra damage to the other monsters, and give them extra destruction points.  A player my purchase one of these cards with their stored Energy during their turn.  Some of the effects of the mutations are obnoxious and in many cases are guaranteed game winners.

The game ends when one of the players scores 20 Destruction points or all but one player has been eliminated.

I cannot say that this is one of my favorite games.  I can see why it is popular as a light game and can be fun because of the press your luck element that many gamers enjoy.  Part of my bias has to do with my not having figured out a decent strategy to follow.

I have tried the hold back and bide my time trying to build up my power method without success.  I have also tried the aggressive all out attack method with no success as well.  There is a definite luck element involved in the game as the players’ actions revolve around dice rolling and the drawing of cards from a deck to determine what mutations are available at any given time.  Even with that high element of luck I feel that there is an underling strategy that is eluding me.  This is mostly because the same players seem to keep winning the game.

If you are looking for a light game with a high luck element or a press your luck game then you should definitely take a look at King of Tokyo and its expansions.  If you like your games less luck driven then this is not the game for you and you should look at a game like Bazaar as an alternative.

If You Are Interested In Purchasing This Item:

                   

After Action Report – Thursday Night Gaming @ Paradise Perks, October 3, 2013

I was back a Paradise Perks for Thursday Night Gaming this week.  The attendance is was 15 – 20 people which is still low compared to what it was during the summer.  There were four games being played at any time.

This event had a very royal theme for me.  Both games that I played had the work King in their title.  However being crowned the winner in them seemed to elude me.

The first game I played was Kings of Air and Steam.  It is set in a Steampunk world where the players are owners of freight hauling networks that use airships and trains to deliver products from factories to cities that demand the product.

There are four steps to a round in this game.  The first is for the player to plot the movement of their airship.  Each player has a set of movement cards that they use to plot 4 movement actions during the second phase.  The player then moves into the second phase where the players execute their movement actions one by one in order along with an additional action which includes things like upgrading their airships or trains, or delivering loads from their depots to the destination cities.  The third phase is where the players play taxes on loads that they still have in their possession after the movement phase is complete.  The last phase is when addition demand is created for loads product is added to the factories and other general upkeep happens.

The player with the most money and best infrastructure wins the game.

Early on in the game I figured it was more important to have a strong train network.  It appeared to be the way to move loads to their destination faster.  So I spent the first couple of rounds upgrading my trains and expanding my network of depots.  As their got to be more loads available at the factories later in the game, I started to upgrade my airship so I could carry more loads.  With this I was able to develop a nice route around in a area of the board that allowed me to be able to deliver product one or two times per round.  Unfortunately, I did not place my depots as strategically as I could so one of my prime delivery points was almost too far away and caused some delays in deliveries.  As a result my potentially winning combination was only able to get me to second place.

The second game I played was King of Tokyo with the Power Up Expansion.  In King of Tokyo the players are monsters trying to destroy Tokyo.  The one who can reach 20 points of destruction first without being destroyed wins the game.

Again game play is simple.  The players take turns rolling six dice taking the results that they want rerolling the ones that they do not want twice after the first roll.  After the second reroll the effects from the roll take place.

The dice have the following symbols:  1, 2, or 3 points of destruction which are given to the player if they get a set of three or more in their turn, Energy which give one energy point for each one rolled and can be used to buy mutations, Healing which heals one point of damage to a monster for each one rolled, and Whack which causes one point of damage to the monster in Tokyo if the player is outside Tokyo or one point of damage to all the other players if the player is inside Tokyo for each one rolled.

The players are divided into two groups the player or players inside Tokyo and the players outside Tokyo.  If a player is inside Tokyo their attacks affect everyone outside Tokyo and they get 2 points of destruction per turn they remain in Tokyo, but they cannot heal any damage they take.  They may retreat from Tokyo when they take damage from another player and the player that damaged them then takes their place inside Tokyo.

The players outside Tokyo on the other hand only damage the player inside Tokyo.  The big thing that they can do that the player inside Tokyo cannot do is heal with the Healing rolls, which is important to their survival.

The Power Up Expansion give each monster a set of cards with special powers that are unique to that monster.  In order to activate them the player must roll 3 heal points.  The player then draws two cards from the deck and chooses one to keep in their hand.  The card that is kept in the player’s hand may be played out in front of them at any time.

This game of King of Tokyo did not go as badly for me as my previous play of the game.  I was not eliminated during play of the game.  I think this had something to do with all of the players not rolling much in the way of damage.  I am pretty sure I did not use the Power Up deck correctly.  I only got one card out into play, but did manage to get a couple of mutations.  I did manage to come in last.  I think I do have to figure out what dice are the best ones to choose at what time during the game, but I do not know if I want to put forth the effort.

My stats of the event are:

Game	No. of Plays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	Avg.
Kings of Air and Steam	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-		2.00
King of Tokyo	1	-	-	-	1	-	-			4.00
Totals	2	-	1	-	1	-	-		-	3.00

                   

Scorecard Review – August 2013

August is over so it is time for another scorecard review.

August

August was a very active month for me.

I played 24 games at 9 events in August for an average of 2.67 games per event which is up from the 1.8 games in July.  This is still not as high as the 3 games per event in April but it is a definite improvement over July.

My number of wins remained the same as July with 3 games won.  I came in second 8 times, third 6 times, fourth 4 times, fifth and sixth 1 time each.  These stats do not include the team win on Pandemic.  My average standing for August was back to 2.67, which is down again from July’s 2.33.

I played four games more than once:  Airlines Europe, Bazaar, Iron Dragon, and Martian Rails.

I played seven games for the first time in August:  A Dog’s Life, Circus Train, Kolejka, Nefarious, Star Trek: Catan, Tsuro, and Uchronia.

My stats for August are:

Game	No. of Plays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	Avg.
A Dog's Life	1	1	-	-	-	-			1.00
Airlines Europe	2	-	2	-	-	-			2.00
Bazaar	2	-	-	1	-	1	-		4.00
Circus Train	1	-	-	-	1	-	-		4.00
India Rails	1	-	1	-	-	-	-		2.00
Iron Dragon	2	-	1	1	-	-	-		2.50
King of Tokyo	1	-	-	-	-	-	1		6.00
Kolejka	1	-	-	1	-	-	-		3.00
Martian Rails	2	-	1	1	-	-	-		2.50
Nefarious	1	-	1	-	-	-	-		2.00
Pandemic	1	Played
Paris Connection	1	-	-	1	-	-	-		3.00
Saint Petersburg	1	-	-	-	1				4.00
Small World	1				1				4.00
Star Trek: Catan	1	-	1	-	-	-	-		2.00
The Hanging Gardens	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1.00
Thurn and Taxis	1	1	-	-	-	-	-		1.00
Trans America	1	-	-	-	1	-	-		4.00
Tsuro	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	2.00
Uchronia	1	-	-	1	-	-			3.00
Totals	24	3	8	6	4	1	1	-	2.67

Year to Date

The total number of games I have played year to date is 78 games at 32 events for an average of 2.44 games per event.  This is up 0.09 from our last check in.

I have won 9 games year to date with my three wins in August but had a couple of fifth and sixth places added.  This brought my standing year to date to 2.77.  This is down 0.03 from our last check in.

Below are the stats for my most frequently played games year to date.

Game	No. of Plays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	Avg.
Iron Dragon	6	1	2	2	1	-	-		2.50
India Rails	4	-	3	1	-	-	-		2.25
Martian Rails	4	-	2	2	-	-	-		2.50
Airlines Europe	3	-	2	1	-	-	-		2.33
Bazaar	3	1	-	1	-	1	-		3.00

Even with three victories in August my overall stats for the year did not improve.  This is due to a couple of catastrophic failures one in King of Tokyo and one in Bazaar.  If I can maintain a good win ratio and eliminate the catastrophes in September I still have a chance to improve my year to date stats.