The physical necessities of Shadows of Brimstone keep this game from being the top shelf contender, but I had a pretty good time when I played.
I like the diabolic oater theme, and the two dimensional artwork is quite appealing as are the cards for the monsters. The Depth Track and Darkness events were cool features that enriched the atmosphere. I also like the way in which the asymmetrical tiles fit together and the manner in which the exits are determined.
But these gargantuan tiles--and some of these figures--are better suited for a Texan than a New York apartment dweller, and the number of card decks in play--about 15--and varied tokens and figures also require lots of space. The end result is that I felt like I spent a lot of the game setting things up and taking things down and looking for pieces, rather than just playing the game. Mage Knight certainly has lots of bits, but that game is deeper than Brimstone, where the playing (in this admittedly more novel world) is mainly straight forward moving and combat. And since most of the valuables (money & shards & XPs) are geared toward campaigning rather than one shot games, which I often prefer, this elements adds little to the adventure. I bought my copy second hand, since I am not a miniature builder, and the fragility of these figures inhibits play to some degree for me as well.
Overall, the exploratory aspect (eg. tile laying), the theme, and the two dimensional paintings make this an appealing presentation of gargantuan game that is a bit too ponderous for me to regularly play, especially now after also acquiring better-suited games like 'Perdition's Mouth Abyssal Rift' and 'Runebound Third', but I intend to try it again.
One Deck Dungeon (2016) Review
One Deck Dungeon is a small dice chucking game that didn't really work for me. Aesthetically, the illustrations look like a teenage Canadian version of anime, and the choice to have ALL characters female and of different ethnicities further hampers the old world feel with a modern, 2016 agenda. Additionally, the lightweight, rounded dice fly everywhere and from a tactile point of view, this feels like I'm throwing marbles rather than rolling dice.
I like the idea of turning over doors to see what is inside and then facing the monster or traps--and that thematic conceit is what makes this game slightly different than just mere accounting. But this idea is injured greatly by perhaps the worst/least thematic mechanic I've come across in a game like this: even if the monster or trap badly injures the heroine, the heroine claims the loot of that monster or trap in a "success". While one can intellectualize this as an abstraction of a back and forth combat, if my character gets whipped by a monster in battle, I don't want to gain that monster's treasure. For the major part of this game, I am rolling dice or slotting dice into little boxes, and pretty soon, this starts to feel like more of an abacus than a game.
I'd like a cool solo adventure game that does not take up the setup time, playing time, or space of Perdition's Mouth, Shadows of Brimstone, Runebound (3rd), or Mage Knight (all of which I enjoy and recommend), but One Deck Dungeon is not the one for me, nor is it even as enjoyable as the other small dice chuckers that I've played like Space Hulk or Tiny Epic Galaxies.
Raid on St. Nazaire (1987) Review
Raid on St. Nazaire felt like more of a combat simulation apparatus than a board game and often, this thing was a clerical foray of dice accounting.
So the comments by other players about the tedious, near endless dice rolling for the water attacks are not overstated: I had one turn that lasted twelve rounds in the Harbor and (one of the) Dockside attack phases. So that's 24 rolls (of 3 dice) to hit, plus other guns fired in the Dockside phase (about 6 of those). Each of these 30 attacks against me required 3 dice to track (so that's now 90 dice rolled), then two dice to determine the severity/type of hit (now we're up to about 150 dice rolled), then often another roll to determine the number of crew or commando strength or weaponry lost. So if possibly rolling 175+ dice against yourself in a single part of a 17 step turn sounds fun, Raid on St. Nazaire was designed for you.
For those of us who are not clerical robots, the boat oriented phase of this game may prove very time consuming and often tedious. I spent more time looking at paper and dice and the dense, badly laid out rulebook than at the actual board or characters.
Once the titular land raid commences, things get more interesting very quickly and certainly there is a sense of accomplishment at this stage because so many ships have been sunk and so many injuries and deaths have occurred. A lot of the landings and targets (read: choices) are determined ahead of time by history/this system, which also adds to the feel of this being a simulation.
The activation and placement mechanisms of the Germans troops are well done, as are the linear movement rule system and the requirements for a proper English bombing. Still...these latter positives cannot wholly overbalance the tedious first portion, but the game does have some pluses if you survive the dice rolling tsunami that it takes to get there.
I can see playing this simulation again once or twice, but not often, though it is a memorable clerical undertaking that occasionally resembles a "game" and possibly influenced the development of great, modern solitaire wargames like D-Day at Omaha Beach.
Flash Point: Fire Rescue (2011) Review
One of the most enjoyable games I know that can be played in less than an hour, Flash Point Fire Rescue is a superior, more detailed variation of a dire situation game like Pandemic. Instead of dealing with abstractions in a distant global setting, FPFR puts the players (or player) in a burning house where collapsing walls, exploding hazmats, and imperiled victims compete for every precious action point while the second hand of destruction moves forward.
A good combination of luck and skill, this game is a fun and exciting losing battle in which players must make life saving and life ending decisions every turn and hope that the courses chosen and the courses neglected result in the most saved people.
The character skills also mix things up nicely, though maybe the Imaging Technician's special skill of identifying Points of Interest is too powerful (choosing that character really improved my success rate right away), but the game is smart, exciting, and the deployment of the vehicles is an especially fun variable. Behold the deck guns!
Unlike Agricola (which is clever but has far too much piece relocation/counting for my taste), Pandemic (which is fairly decent but kind of annoying and very abstract), and Catan (which I thought was quite dull), Flash Point Fire Rescue is a good gateway game that fires my gamer imagination and can show off the merits of modern board games to curious non-gamers as well. A simple but instantly engrossing struggle against ever worsening odds with depth and a bunch of nice details.
Thunderbolt Apache Leader (2012) Review
Thunderbolt Apache Leader is a terrific solitaire wargame wherein the player recruits, builds, and arms his flight team for multi-part campaigns. While I may not always be in the mood to spend the major part of an hour setting up a game, this logical, well designed, beautifully packaged solitaire gem is probably the only solitaire game that I'd rank above Ambush!, Mage Knight, and D-Day at Omaha Beach, and the preparation does have the benefit of getting me invested in each particular squadron.
Thunderbolt Apache Leader has simple combat math, but a ton variables such as the changing maps, the various planes/choppers, the wide assortment of weapons, the varied types of defense, the specific types of aircraft damage, and the growing characters/pilots. Add to these factors the manner in which low altitude flying interacts with the terrain, how pilots handle those flights, how enemies scramble for cover, and how pilots get stressed out...and the narrative becomes very deep and detailed very quickly without feeling especially heavy.
The knocks that I have against the game are small. The set up time is really long, and the need to start aircraft inside the the hexes on the first move (rather than at the perimeter) seems a bit counterintuitive. Also, I like for game components to fully track all needed data--and not necessitate actual pencil and paper bookkeeping--but pencil and paper are needed here.
These are three minor gripes that keep the game from perfection for me, but at present, if I whittled my game collection down to one solitaire game, it would be this one. And if I whittled my collection down to one wargame, it would also be this one. Bravo, Dan Verssen and DVG games.