Bidmeadman's Besties: June

This month's Bestie is a short, compact, perfectly formed 2-4 player game called Love Letter (AEG).

No need for fancy extras, like a box.

Princess Annette is heartbroken, following the arrest of her mother, Queen Marianna. As a player you are a suitor looking to court Annette and bring her some joy and affection. However, the Princess has locked herself in the palace, so you must rely on intermediaries to carry your love letter to her before the day is out.

Love Letter consists of 16 cards, each has a character, an ability and a number on it. There are eight characters in total, so some of the cards are duplicates. At the start of a round each player gets dealt a card. On a turn you draw a new card and then discard one of the two cards in front of you, activating the ability of the discarded card. A player wins a round by being the last player to be knocked out, or - if the deck runs out with two or more people still in play - by having hold of the card with the highest value. Rounds continue until someone has won a predetermined number of rounds.

I've never seen so much back story and characterisation in such a small, simple game. Love Letter is among a series of games based within the fictional city-state of Tempest. The rulebook gives a small insight into the world, along with setting up the story behind Love Letter and giving detailed descriptions for each of the characters on the cards. It's an awful lot for what is essentially a 20 minute game of deduction and luck, but the theme feels genuine and purposeful. The artwork is beautiful and thematic too.

Love Letter is an ideal filler game or warm-up game. It's short, relaxing and simple but with just enough deduction, bluffing and luck to keep things interesting. It is, absolutely, one of my favourite fillers to play. It's also ideal for a lazy Sunday afternoon, when you are all sleepy from too much food but still have a hankering for a quick game. My wife and I have discovered that it's possible to play a game during breakfast, while the little one is busy munching on toast.

If you plan to play around food I recommend card sleeves.

The abilities are well matched with the values on the cards. The higher scoring cards are what you want for winning the game, but they are risky. The longer you hold on to a high card the more likely someone's going to play something that sends you out of the round. You have to think on your feet and adapt to each card that gets played, being mindful of what cards have been played, and therefore, which ones are likely to be in your opponent's hand.

The mechanics couldn't be simpler: draw a card, play a card - and you never have in your hand more than two cards. But the card abilities are varied and unique, and all have a great synergistic quality (not always in your favour). The balance of the cards and the simplicity of play means no one has a clear advantage while playing.

If you are looking for a quick, casual card game that is easy to learn and relaxing, with enough strategy, luck and theme to bring you back again and again, Love Letter would be hard to beat. I struggle to think of another game I've played that balances simplicity and enjoyment so well.

Coming Soon... Castles of Mad King Ludwig

I've got a new game! Look:

I've been wanting this game for a long while and - thanks to Father's Day and an over-generous wife - I finally own a copy.

So here is a brief intro post detailing the game with some unboxing photos. Then, soon, I will tell you what it's like building castles for The Mad King!

Castles of Mad King Ludwig (Bezier Games) is a tile-placement game for 1-4 players in which you are tasked with building a castle for Mad King Ludwig. This is achieved by buying room tiles and placing them in front of you, connecting them to create a crazy castle layout. Building rooms earns you points, and connecting the right combination of rooms will earn extra points.

Each player in turn gets to take on the role of the Master Builder. The Master Builder starts the round by drawing room tiles and placing them in the order they wish on the Contract board, setting the prices the players will pay. Then, starting from the Master Builder's left, each player chooses which room they will buy and build, paying the Master Builder. The Master Builder goes last, purchasing from the remaining available rooms and paying the bank. Then the next player takes on the role of the Master Builder and restocks the Contract board with room tiles, rearranging them as they wish.

The art of Castles lies in setting the prices for rooms strategically; hopefully steering your opponents away from rooms you wish to own without paying too much yourself, and trying to get the most money out of people. There are bonus cards which reward extra points for collection certain types of rooms, but I will go in to these in more detail in my main post, along with the various room bonuses and the point system.

So, I will be back in a while (after June's Bestie) to express my first impressions of Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

While You're Under My Roof...

...you play by my rules

(or, why it can be no fun gaming with me)

I love to have people over to our house for games. It's the central hub of gaming activity within our social circles. I love to get snacks in, put together a music playlist, and generally make people feel welcome. I love being introduced to a knew game, so I love to offer that experience to my friends and family whenever I can. And I love to play by the rules (I say love, it's more of a need).

I have been teased many times for the way I rigidly enforce the rules during games. But the way I see it, if it's my job to pour over the rulebook and learn a new game, and hold it together and walk people through it while others are learning, then I reserve the right to play by the rules. Also, if I'm hosting a game night, and I'm providing the game, I reserve the right to lay down some ground rules about playing my games in general. And enforce them! Is that so much to ask?

So, here are a few things that I like people to keep in mind when coming over for a game. If you can stick to these things then I'm sure we can have lots of fun!

Don't Bend The Cards

I don't tend to sleeve my cards. It's an expense I can't afford. Plus I don't like the idea of having to re-box some of my games to fit sleeved cards. So most of the time my game cards are nude and vulnerable. I don't want them to be all dog-eared and creased after a few trips to the table. This mostly (mostly) applies to younger players, and it's hard repeating this rule 5 times during a game because you're not being listened to and not sound like a massive square. But there you go, I'm a massive square!

Curb Your Analysis Paralysis

Game time is precious when you're a parent, there's not a lot of it. I don't want to reach the end of the night and only be half way through a game. Now, I understand that some games require thoughtful decision making, and if it's a particularly heavy game I will wave this rule, but we rarely play deeply strategic games as a group. so does every move need to take 10+ minutes? If it's your first play of a game you're not going to know the perfect strategy, so don't agonize over your first move for ages. Just get stuck in and make mistakes.

Let Me Explain The Rules

I understand some people learn better by doing, because I am usually one of the those people. Unfortunately I am also rather anally retentive and so if the game is new to more than one of the players at the table I need to be allowed to explain the rules. All of them. In detail. I just do!
And by all means humour me and glaze over while I explain. But don't expect me to make decisions for you when it's your turn because you didn't listen.

If It's A Co-op Game Don't Be An Alpha Gamer

"I think if we're going to win what we want is for you to move over here and pick up this item, then you need to use your special ability to move him over to me so he can give me this card, and then I'll move over here and do this, which gives you space to move here and collect this item. OK, that's what we'll do." 
This rule is probably more for me than anyone else. When trying to enjoy a co-op game there's nothing worse than one player making all the decisions. Actually there is one thing worse; one player making all the decisions, and then moving everyone's player pieces for them!

Let Me Win Occasionally

Just follow these rules and let me win the odd game and I'm sure you will be invited back. Fun 100% Guaranteed (not a guarantee).

!!!