Second Star to the Left

Category Archives: Card Game

Even When It’s Hectic

Posted on Posted in Board Games, Card Game, Party Game, YouTube .

Three back to back to back weekends of vacation – that is nothing to complain about. It is hectic but fun! But trying to figure out how to keep videos going up twice a week when I’m not home to film and I’m not around to edit (and you know, work occasionally so I can keep my job!) has been a rollercoaster.

The thing is, it’s still fun. I don’t actually get stressed about deadlines because they’re self imposed. I am having a blast making/editing the videos and learning new things as I go. Sometimes, they drop out of order because I’ve recorded a couple with my sister, or I had a theme in mind. When that happens, I can see where things have gotten better. When an older shows up after I’ve upgraded sound, I can hear that there has been improvement (or hear how it needed it then!)

I made this little unboxing video of B Movies. Sure, we have bigger boxes coming soon, especially now that no buy challenge is coming to an end, but I wanted to try out using a top down set up for recording. I wanted to see how a two camera setup would work out for me.

Also, I am thinking it might be time to upgrade to a better camera. My phone has been doing all the work and Premiere has been working wonders when I edit. What I want is to be able to have things set up to record whenever we want. No, we don’t have room for a studio! But I want to streamline things a bit and keep improving. I have a long way to go but it has been crazy fun so far.

2nd Star Review – Lovecraft Letter

Posted on Posted in #newboardgametuesday, Board Games, Bring it to the table?, Card Game, Second Star Reviews .

Sure you could look at this as too much of a good thing. But you could also rejoice in two of your favorites being blended to create something that works better together. “You got Cthulhu on my Love Letter!” “No, you got Love Letter on my Cthulhu!” *cue music* (No? Just me? No one else remembers the Reeses Peanut Butter cups ads from way back when?)

The truth is, that I initially balked at both another Love Letter version and the idea of one more obligatory Cthulhu themed edition of a classic game. But look at this beautiful game – Tarot size cards, included sleeves, heavy poker chip style markers. Jump in, bluff, deduce, and go a little insane.

2nd (two player rating) – Like all Love Letter games, this works fine with two people. Fine but not optimal. The deduction becomes mere card counting (especially with some cards face up in original discard) and the chances that you will have a shortened round dramatically increase. But, the theme means there are more cards in the deck, making it harder to count, and that insanity might come into play. While I prefer this game with 3-4, it’s still a favorite at 2. 3/5 🌟🌟🌟

S (setup, take down, instructions) – This game couldn’t be simpler. It’s a small deck card game and set up takes less than a minute. Just remove a few cards from the deck and you’re off. If you’ve played Love Letter before, the instructions are almost unnecessary (aside from the few changes for insanity) and if not you’ll be playing quickly. The reference guide is clear and well organized so no wasted time flipping through to find answers. 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

T (tactile, components, artwork, etc.) – This game is a large spooky step up from ordinary Love Letter. The deluxe, book style box is sturdy and well designed. The cards are perfect Lovecraft – and did I mention the free sleeves?! It is such a pleasure to play that I think it gets to the table just so we can enjoy the feel of the game some nights. 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A (action, mechanics, general gameplay) – If you’ve played Love Letter before then you are familiar with the deduction style of the game. If you’ve played anything Cthulhu before, then you know that your sanity will be at risk. These work together very well to add a bit of push your luck/chance to the base game. If you are playing as “insane” at any point during the round, you will need to make a sanity check before your turn. Luck to choice ratio is pretty well balanced but does lean a little towards luck in a two player game. 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

R (replay factor) – This game is on our 10 games played 10 times list for 2018. I am confident that we will blow past that goal easily. It’s a great warm up game or a quick filler. It’s also a great way to introduce someone to Cthulhu games before diving into the complicated fun that some of the others can be. Removing some cards at the beginning of each round keeps things different every time. 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Final Thoughts – We were bound to like this as we are fans of both Cthulhu and Love Letter. Our concern going in was the over-saturation of both of these on the market. Did we really need another Love Letter? How much Cthulhu is too much? But this small box game is worth taking the chance. The theme makes an already strong starter game even stronger. Plus, who doesn’t need to go a little insane every now and then? 4.6/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

2nd Star Review – Arkham Horror Card Game

Posted on Posted in #newboardgametuesday, Board Games, Bring it to the table?, Card Game, Deck Builder, Second Star Reviews .

Let’s start off the New Year with our first #newboardgametuesday. (I will eventually come up with a snappy hashtag for that but right now all the good ones are leading to places we definitely don’t want to go.)
Cthulhu is always appealing to us over here. The catch is, it is a bit overused and often just tacked on to a generic game to sell a few more copies. Look how many popular games have a Cthulhu edition. But this game is built around the creeptacular, Lovecraftian mythos that is Cthulhu. It hovers between deck builder, tile laying game and RPG and does it eerily well. Our first try was filled with chaos and death…and we can’t wait to try again. Your character continues on battered and insane from one challenge to the next, campaign style, so choose wisely. How many games have you terrified of tentacles reaching up from the risers on the stairs? Wondering what would be digging its way out of the cellar floor?

2nd – (2 player rating) Being a co-op, I can imagine that this would work well with any relatively small number of people but with two? This game was quick and extremely challenging. 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

S – (setup/takedown/instructions) This is where this game suffers a bit. Setup, especially the first time, is fiddly at best. The cards are numbered but the numbers are so microscopically small, that reading them was exhausting. The cards need to be returned to numerical order after play (with the exception of those in your character decks) in order to make setup possible for the next round. Once you’ve run through the setup once, I’m sure that it will run much more smoothly but it is a long process. 3/5 🌟🌟🌟

T – (tactile, components, artwork, etc) The artwork and components are what we’ve come to expect from Fantasy Flight games. Solida quality. Appealing art. The spice text on the cards and in the books was genuinely frightening, and is what makes the game veer into RPG/storytelling territory. Moving through the story, exploring the rooms, playing through the encounter cards, was deliciously tense. 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A – (action, mechanics, general gameplay) This is a combination, card game, area exploration, deck building horror game. While there is luck involved (blind draw of situations and ghouls, etc) your actions and choices have very definite consequences. 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

R – (replay factor) The replay factor is average with this game. You would be going through the same scenarios, the spice text would remain the same, but the creatures and challenges you’d face would change every time. Also, it’s a campaign style game, making it unlikely that you are going to play the same scenario in back to back plays. 4/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Final Thoughts – We held onto this game for longer than we should after PAX Unplugged before playing it. We watched reviews. We watched tutorials. It all seemed a bit complicated. Don’t make that mistake. Put it on the table, follow the setup and just dive in. It is very intuitive and you’d be missing out on some creepy good fun by procrastinating. If you are a fan of Lovecraft, this is one of the best thematic applications that we’ve played. Exciting, tense and a good time – and that’s with our characters not even close to surviving. 4.4/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Kodama: The Tree Spirits (2nd ed) – 2nd Star to the Left Review

Gloom in Space – 2nd Star to the Left Review

Posted on Posted in Board Games, Bring it to the table?, Card Game, Second Star Reviews, Storytelling .

Take one of the best storytelling card games out there and add a dash of sci-fi fun.  That’s the idea behind Gloom in Space.  There’s Star Wars, Space Odyssey, Firefly, Star Trek, and many more inside jokes to bring out the evil laughter as you try to inflict as much Gloom as possible on your crew before their inevitable demise.  What could be more fun?

Given that we’re already fans of the Gloom series, it was a safe bet that we’d like this game.  What we didn’t anticipate was that it would become our favorite title in the series. That’s right.  Favorite.  Take that Munchkin Gloom.

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Saboteur: The Duel – 2nd Star to the Left Review

Posted on Posted in Board Games, Bring it to the table?, Card Game, Second Star Reviews, Tile Placing .

Dwarves working against each other down in the tunnels, battling trolls and cave-ins, to grab the most gold? We’re in.  Wandering about PAX East, we were immediately drawn to the artwork of Mayfair Games’ Saboteur: The Duel.  The two previous incarnations of the Saboteur title looked intriguing but The Duel was the two player version making it much more likely that it would get to the table.  The Duel is a quick playing, tile (card) placement, hand management game that had us laughing as we threw trolls and rock slides in each other’s path.

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