Bidmeadman's Besties: January

I've decided to pick 12 games in 2015 and write about one at the end of each month. They may be old or new, but the one thing they will have in common is that they will be personal favourites of mine.
January's game is...

Betrayal at House on the Hill (Avalon Hill/Wizards of the Coast). Or Betrayal. Or BAHOTH Or Betrayal at HOTH. You get the idea.

Set within the walls of a dilapidated, spooky mansion the players take on the roles of explorers uncovering the secrets hidden within the many rooms and corridors of the sprawling House on the Hill. The players work together to discover useful items, encounter supernatural events, and develop their characters. At some point one player will inadvertently begin the Haunt: One of 50 different scenarios, which pits one of the explorers - now the Traitor - against the rest in a bid to achieve their fiendish, corrupt goal. Will the heroes manage to foil the evil plans of the Traitor (and the house) in time, or will the Traitor emerge victorious in his/her evil plan?

There are 12 different characters to choose from in the game, represented by 6 miniatures. Its like having 6 characters, each with two personalities.

Each character has a unique set of base stats, which can increase and decrease as they encounter various things within the house.

The game board is made up of room tiles which are drawn randomly by players as they move through the house. This means with each play-through the house will be set out slightly differently.

The only house where the only access to the kitchen
is through the garden.

The thing that is really unique about this game compared to the other games I've played is the Haunt. Each time a player draws an Omen card they must perform a Haunt roll. If the roll is a success the game continues as it was, everyone working together to explore the house. If the roll fails then the Haunt begins, and one of 50 scenarios is chosen, based on the card drawn and the room it was drawn in, and someone is revealed to be the Traitor! This means that until this moment no one knows what the second part of the game is going to be.

Although I would love to go into detail about some of the scenarios I've played, I don't want to risk spoiling anything if you are yet to play this game and think you might like to. But I will say that a lot of horror staples are here; werewolves, zombies, mummies, aliens, psychopaths. It's all here to enjoy, and the Haunts can be quite different from each other.

And of course the worst of them all: Spiders!

I do love to get caught up in a thematic game, and I'm a sucker for spooky (sometimes slightly naff) horror. For me Betrayal invokes the feeling of 80's horror movies. Movies like American Werewolf in London, Return of the Living Dead, Fright Night; those kinds of decent horror films that were fun and had elements of humour. I used to do a lot of horror roleplay (based heavily on Call of Cthulhu), and although playing Betrayal is very different from running a roleplay campaign, its nice to have those elements of horror storytelling and character building in a very accessible board game. There are definitely other games out there that are more immersive with stronger stories, but the replayability due to the multiple Haunts (and always different board layout), the co-op and competitive gameplay, and again, it being such an accessible game (its so easy to teach) makes this one a real winner for me. I've had some great evenings with this game; evenings of tense, thrilling, campy horror. Dig out some snacks, dim the lights, put on some spooky music, and enjoy!

And remember to read your event cards using your best Vincent Price impression.

Oh, and the dice are great! If you've read my previous post you will know that I love me some dice!

Elder Sign and Dungeon Roll: The thrill of the dice

I find it really satisfying playing a game in which I'm required to roll, and keep rolling a handful of dice. That can be in the form of a game like Elder Sign, with layers of strategy and player interaction and choice. Or a game like Dungeon Roll: simple, compact, quick.

Elder Sign (Fantasy Flight Games) is a cooperative game set in H.P. Lovecraft's literary universe. You each play an investigator exploring a museum, on the hunt for Elder Signs to seal off an Ancient One (massive monster) before it awakens and destroys the world.

It sounds very dramatic, but the real drama lies in the dice rolling. You move your character token to a card, representing a room in the building, then roll 6-8 dice to try and match the combination of symbols on the card. If you fail to match a row of symbols with some of your dice you must discard one and roll again. Continue to fail and you will run out of dice - and incur a penalty. Succeed however and you will be one step closer to sealing off that ancient, unspeakable evil.

There is more going on in Elder Sign other than dice play - items to collect, cards with (mostly) adverse effects, smaller monsters that can make their way into the rooms, etc. - but the dice are the important part. The strategy and fun come from figuring out the room best suited for the dice you can roll. How can you and your fellow players most effectively pool their resources and character's special abilities to make this turn a success? Because the penalties are harsh and the bad guys are ready to pounce, so you better do all you can to make the odds swing more in your favour.

Dungeon Roll (Tasty Minstrel Games) is a push-your-luck dice game themed around a dungeon crawl. Each player takes it in turns to roll the party dice consisting of six different companions (and a scroll!) and use these companions to explore the dungeon's levels, fighting monsters and collecting treasure. The player to the left of the current hero gets to roll the dungeon dice; these consist of monsters, potions, dragons and chests.

When party dice are used to fight monsters or quaff potions they are sent to the graveyard out of play. Each time the hero ventures further into the dungeon with his/her companions more dungeon dice are rolled, so choosing to push on in the hopes to get more loot and experience points becomes a tough decision with each roll.

There's not a lot more to Dungeon Roll other than a few hero cards with abilities and some treasure tokens (it has a satisfyingly chunky d10 that's used to mark the current dungeon level), there's certainly not as much depth as there is in Elder Sign. However both games share the same thrill in the luck of the dice.

At the centre of both games is that moment of clutching a bunch of dice in both hands, hoping as you shake them to throw some symbols that will really pay off; willing them to land in the perfect combination and turn the tide. Then there's the release as you let them fly, and the tiny pause as you skim the dice faces, hoping you've got the right combination of Fear, Terror and Lore symbols to defeat that last remaining cultist. Or a healthy mix of Goblins, Skeletons and Oozes to make your opposing hero quake in her boots. And finally, the feeling of elation - or disappointment - as you see your fate staring up at you from the table top in those dice faces... and then the next player picks up the dice and it all happens again.

It's an important gaming experience that these two very different games have at their core. One is a casual competitive game, the other is an intense cooperative game. Both succeed in using the roll of the dice to generate excitement and suspense. And when you're deep in the game - and those dice fly - it's hard to beat that thrill.

Welcome!

Welcome to The Draw Deck. A place where I hope to convey my passion and enthusiasm for board games, and share with you some of my gaming experiences.

I've been playing board games and card games for years, but only recently has it become a slightly obsessive pastime/hobby (my wife might contest my use of the word slightly). My passion has rubbed off onto my friends, and I now have a solid gaming group; each with their own tastes and styles. The only issue is we've all come to this at a slightly inappropriate time. All starting families; all have jobs; all living in different towns. Its hard finding the time to get together and game. I have a one year old daughter, and although I cannot wait to get her in to gaming, she's currently a little young to join in.

I am trying to introduce her to them subtly and gradually

Through social media I have discovered a network of pleasant, passionate gamers that are ready and willing to share their love for their hobby through reviews, photos, how-to-videos etc. So I thought why not join in!?.
I started The Draw Deck in the hope that I might squeeze myself into this community of loyal gamers, and have a conduit to release my thoughts/gripes/opinions/love for these games outside the time I occasionally get to actually play them.

I hope through this blog I can express the reasons why I love gaming, why my friends and family love gaming, and why I hold it in such high regard as a worthy social (and solo) activity. I hope also that it may give me an excuse to buy even more games!