Last week, I was invited, along with my husband, to join a group of board gamers from our local Iowa City area on their annual gaming retreat. For this event, they gather at the Gamers Ranch, for day after day of board games and fellowship.

If you’re not familiar with the Gamers Ranch, it’s a short term rental/vacation property in the countryside, nestled among farms and open pastures, just outside of Bland, Missouri.  The site can accommodate groups of up to 20 people at a time and offers activities for indoors (frequently updated board game library with thousands of games including the BGG Top 100, arcade, LAN gaming pc area, Lego library, MTG library, miniature painting workshop area, reading nooks, and several large screen tvs for streaming) and outdoors (disc golf course, miles of hiking trails, a lake with boating, geocaching, fire pits, etc). The sleeping areas inside are well appointed with linens, toiletries, and wifi. Bonus for foodies: the kitchen is fantastic, offering a commercial fridge/freezer, large work area, and all the equipment you need to cook just about anything (they even provide a smoker!). Like other properties of this type, you just need to bring your own food, and you pay a base rate per night, plus a flat cleaning fee. Just a phenomenal property in terms of its amenities. The owner (Dave) has a home literally next door, and while he isn’t always around, he often is, so if you need anything (including some company to enjoy all those activities), he’s got your back. During our stay, because the retreat organizers have known Dave for a few years now, he was often gaming with us.

Our group from Iowa City was about 15 people, plus a couple of kids. My husband and I arrived a day after the event began as we were coming directly from a vacation in the Maldives and had 7 and a half hours of driving to get to the retreat from O’Hare once we got off our flight. Within our group, the arrangement was that one of the folks was in charge of all the meal planning and execution, and the rest of us took turns doing  cleanup after. For those of you who know me, you know that I often take on that role, and it’s a lot of work, so I was happy for once to be able to attend a fun event like this and just participate as a guest and not an organizer. The gentleman who handled all the meals (Mike) was an amazing  talent in the kitchen, and I’m pretty sure I actually cried with joy the first evening I was there when a delicious pile of BBQ ribs with all the fixings was placed in front of me. I joked that one of the best things about the retreat for me, as a woman, was getting to play the role of the typical privileged American white male where I can just show up at mealtime and something yummy and made from scratch is handed to me. While not a built-in amenity of the Ranch, it was an absolutely amazing enhancement to the whole experience.

Let’s talk about the games. Dave prides himself on having the latest and greatest new releases in the library and he delivered on that. I got a chance to play Mosaic from Forbidden Games, and to my delight, it was the fru fru version from the Kickstarter with all the upgrades (great game by the way, I hope to get a copy and play a few more times to write a review for you).

   Another recent release – Dog Park – was also on the tables, and this pattern of new games repeated itself many times over the retreat. I spent a good bit of time recovering from jet lag as the Maldives are 12 hours ahead of central time, so I didn’t play continuously as I usually do at game events, but I still got in plenty of games.  They included Mosaic, two games of Twilight Inscription (from Fantasy Flight), Tapestry (from Stonemaier Gamers) with all expansions, Brass Birmingham (from Roxley Games), and numerous games of Werewolf.   We wrapped up our retreat Sunday morning. I had hoped to get in another game or two before the 1pm checkout time, but as I’d stayed up till 4am playing Twilight Inscription, I needed to sleep in so I could be fresh for driving home. Once we were finally up, we said our goodbyes to all our new friends (before arriving, I only knew one person at the retreat) and were off. I’m home now, already two days into my workweek, and all I can think of is how much I can’t wait to go back with the group next year. I’m hoping perhaps even to organize a trip for the board game group we host at our hose each week as well. I highly, HIGHLY recommend you give the Gamers Ranch a visit with your favorite group of people. Go for the games, or the other activities, and have a great time. I think you’re really going to find it to be an amazing experience, just as we did.   

Note: If your drive home from the Gamers Ranch takes you by Hermann, MO as mine did, make sure to stop at the Wurst House for lunch and supplies (bring a cooler and ice packs to take home their award winning brats and summer sausages).

Expeditions is my favorite game in the Stonemaier Games portfolio to date. The game is a sequel to Scythe, and continues the narrative years in the future. It has taken everything I loved in Scythe and expanded on it, while chucking out everything I didn’t care for (the combat).

Designed by Jamey Stegmaier, Expeditions brings us into an age when a meteorite has crash landed into Siberia and things begin to go sideways for all who encounter it. One team after another sets out to investigate the crash site and they are never heard from again. No one knows what happened to them. Now it’s our turn to find out what’s really going on, each of us leading a competing expedition team into Siberia to bring back desperately needed answers.

During a game of Expeditions, all players are seated around the game board, which is made up of individually placed hex tiles laid out as shown above. At the bottom of the game board is an insert affectionately known as the base camp. The base camp holds the glory scoring track, some reminders for end game scoring, and serves as the physical start point for player mechs. Each player also has a small board – their faction board – in front of them, featuring both a guile (turquoise) and power (orange) marker as well as a track for these markers to move up and down during the game. A player keeps their hand of cards face up to the left of their faction board and plays cards from their hand to their tableau on the right side of their faction board.

All players perform their expedition work using mechs and meeples. The mechs are used to venture out from the basecamp, traveling from hex to hex (the move action) to gain access to the benefits printed on the tiles (the gather action). Mechs also provide asymmetrical powers for each player.  The meeples are used in conjunction with laying down cards in your tableau (the play action); most cards have a special ability that can be activated by placing a meeple of the matching color on the card when it is played. As with Scythe, players must select a different group of actions (choosing from move, gather, play, and refresh) to complete each turn. For example, if you moved and gathered last turn you cannot do so again this turn, but you could move and play, or gather and play, or refresh (this is where you pull all your cards from your tableau back into your hand and all your meeples back onto your player mat). A nice bonus is that on the turn after each refresh turn, you may do three actions instead of two.

The play action is the most complex action in Expeditions as it involves so many different abilities. You play a card from your hand to your tableau, gain the card’s core value (bump up your power and/or guile by moving your token up the track), and then optionally activate the card’s ability using a corresponding meeple from your available pool. Both the core value and the ability of a card may be enhanced if you meet certain conditions as specified on the card. As detailed in the rulebook, the card abilities can be instant or ongoing and include:

Rescue: take a card from your tableau and put it back into your hand and return any meeple to your available pool.

Gain: take a card from the indicated location (either one of the faceup cards between the hexes or the draw pile) and place it in your tableau; do not gain the core value or activate its abilities.

Discard: discard a card from your hand to your tableau; do not gain the core value or activate its abilities.

Trash: return the indicated component (card or token) from your player area to the box; it is out of the game.

Activate: activate another card’s ability without placing a worker on it.

Solve: pay the indicated solve cost on the card, gain the benefit shown below the solve cost on the card, and tuck the card under the top of your mat in the solved quests area; you must be on the indicated numbered hex to do this action and you can only solve 4 quests during the game unless otherwise indicated. The number of quests you complete is a factor in your end game scoring.

Vanquish: spend your power or guile (moving your token down the track on your faction board) to take the topmost corruption tile on the hex your mech is on; spend power to vanquish power corruption tiles (orange) and guile to to vanquish guile corruption tiles (turquoise). These corruption tiles are drawn blind from a bag and placed when the hex tile is first flipped.

The move action is pretty straightforward and most of the spicy adventure here is moving onto unexplored hex tiles to flip them over and see what benefits they offer and how much corruption someone will need to vanquish in order for everyone to gain access to all the benefits on the hex tile.   Because most of the game tiles are shuffled randomly and placed facedown, there is always variability in the layout and you never know what is going to be on the other side of an unflipped tile you’ve moved onto. Maybe the hex tile has the benefits you’ve been searching for, or maybe it’s no help to you at all right now.

The gather action is also pretty straightforward. You simply collect the benefits visible on the hex tile where your mech is located. These benefits are varied and include options like gaining more cards into your hand, gaining new meeples, and playing cards from your hand.  There are three special benefits that can be gathered: upgrade, meld, and boast, but these benefits only become available once all corruption on the tile is vanquished. Upgrading a card lets you pull an item card from your hand or tableau and tuck it under your player mat so that only the ongoing ability is visible. Now the item’s ability is permanently activated for you and at the end of the game each upgraded card is also worth victory points (coins). Melding a card is almost the same as upgrading one except you meld meteorites instead of items and when you tuck them under your mat you get a meld bonus as specified on the card, plus you receive all your previous meld bonuses again. Boasting is the action of putting one of your scoring stars on the basecamp boasting track, selecting one of the glory categories for which you have met or exceeded the goal. Once a player puts down their 4th scoring star, the end game is triggered and each player gets just one more turn. If you’ve played Scythe, or other Stegmaier designed games, this end game triggering mechanism and scoring is very familiar to you.

It’s easy to outline and teach the basics of how to play Expeditions, as I’ve done above, but solving the puzzle aspect of the game more efficiently than your opponents is hard to master and the answer to winning the game. It’s also what makes the game so enjoyable. The artwork is pleasant, the components are well made (as with all Stonemaier games), but the reason to buy this game is for the logic puzzle at the heart of it. You’ve got to take into consideration your mech special ability and how to leverage that to improve the efficiency of your process flow. You’ve got to time your refreshes just right in order to extract maximum value from your play, move, and gather activities. You’ve got to balance your work toward solving quests, upgrading items, and melding meteorites so that you’re in a position to place glory tokens for meeting the goals in these areas. And the unique aspect of this game wherein your hand is always laid down in front of you on the left of your player board means your possible play action choices are laid out for all to see, so you’ve got to keep a close eye on what your opponents are doing and how close they are to meeting the glory token goals and ending the game before you can complete everything you want to. And unlike in Scythe, nobody is coming to steal your resources, so it’s all thinking and no fighting.

I’ve a half dozen or more games of Expeditions under my belt, and some very close to winning scores, but I’ve yet to win a game. Still, I keep coming back for more, and I know that someday I might finally crack the puzzle wide open and figure out how to make every step of the process work together for my win.

Please note, for all you solo players out there, Expeditions comes with a robust automa mode.

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Publisher: Stonemaier
Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
Artist: Jakub Rozalski
Players: 1-5 (We played with 3, 4, and 5)
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): About 90 minutes per game
Game type: worker placement, hand management
Retail Price: varies; direct from the publisher https://stonemaiergames.com/games/expeditions/

Rating:

Jenni’s rating scale:
OUI: I would play this game again; this game is ok. I probably would not buy this game myself but I would play it with those who own it and if someone gave it to me I would keep it.
OUI OUI: I would play this game again; this game is good. I would buy this game.
OUI OUI OUI: I LOVE THIS GAME. I MUST HAVE THIS GAME.
NON: I would not play this game again. I would return this game or give it away if it was given to me.

Last year I reviewed Expeditions and ranked it #1 among all Stonemaier games on account of the challenging intellectual puzzle it presents. This year I have played my way through the new expansion, Gears of Corruption, and I’m delighted to let you know that it makes the base game even better. That the expansion so cohesively builds on the base game should not be a surprise to anyone who closely examines the original box for Expeditions. All expansion components perfectly fit in that box including the 2 new mechs that nestle in the placeholder cubbies clearly made for them.  That can’t be coincidence. There might a few features rolled into Corruption of Gears that were developed as a result of consumer feedback on the base game (I’m looking at you, wild meeple), but my theory is that Stonemaier did a Lord of the Rings maneuver with this game and its expansions, designing the entire game with most of the additions integrated up front, and then breaking it into base + expansions for marketing and distribution.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the components and features in Gears of Corruption:

 

• 2 new mechs
• Both new mechs use map tokens as discards to gain a benefit. The Scarecrow adds an extra action to your refresh turn while the Mole lets you access hex actions covered with corruption tokens. The Mole felt especially powerful in play.
• Replacement mech mats for the original mechs + 2 new mech mats for the new mechs
• The new mech mats are GREAT. They have inset spaces for the guile, strength, and action tokens to prevent player components from sliding off the mat during player.
• Hero worker meeples
• These meeples function as wildcards, and everyone is given one at the start of the game. This speeds up play and helps avoid the heavy disadvantage for the 3rd player and after who can’t get to the gain worker hex on their first turn.
• Replacement discovery card for one of the original cards in the base game + 5 new discovery cards
• The cards are all items and most if not all of them provide ongoing benefits in the form of when you do X also do Y
• 7 mech cards
• These cards are used for drafting/assigning a mech mat to each player and they also provide a list of starting resources to shorten the length of the game
• 12 corruption cards
• These cards are used both to control an additional mech on the main board (representing a malicious presence among us) that inflicts penalties on players whose mechs it would otherwise bump into AND to provide additional corruption targets for vanquishing by players. If all the corruption cards are vanquished, the corrupted mech wandering the board returns to the box, the threat eliminated. Three cheers to the player who accomplishes that!
• 4 pairs of new starting cards (character + companion)
• The new character/companion combos are pretty standard but one of the pairs (Baaliahon & Zephon) plays off the corruption card scoring added with this expansion. I played as this fellow and was competitive in all my games. A+ would recommend! ***Interesting side note: While I was researching the origin of the name Baaliahon (turns out to be a Phoenician name that means so that Baal will favor), I came across the website for the artist and worldbuilder on Expeditions, Jakub Rozalski. He’s got fantastic stories and lore for the game as well as additional artwork on the site and I encourage you to check it out at https://jrozalski.com/projects/JvAvPZ
• 6 new corruption tiles in lower values that the base game
• These tiles have a strength of only 2, making it easier to remove them.
• 6th player capacity
• Playing with an additional player DOES increase the game length, but this is well balanced by the time saved thanks to the new hero worker meeples and mech cards
• Additional coins & map tokens

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Expeditions Gears of Corruption is a fantastic (although not absolutely mandatory) expansion for players who love the base game, like me. But this is not one of those expansions that fundamentally alters the overall feel or play of the game so if you’re among those that didn’t go gaga for the base, this will do nothing to change your mind. Yep, I see some of you over there complaining about the solitaire racing aspect of Expeditions and lack of strong player interaction, and to you ladies and gents I say go back to Scythe where you belong.

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Publisher: Stonemaier
Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
Artist and Worldbuilder: Jakub Rozalski
Players: 1-6 (We played with 3, 4, and 6)
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): About 90 minutes per game
Game type: worker placement, hand management
Retail Price: varies; direct from the publisher https://stonemaiergames.com/games/expeditions/gears-of-corruption/

Rating:

The new Deception medic 'Wrench' gets his first taste of combat.

 I love this little cassette bot, he's so cute. I must make some more.

Skyfire brings the rain.

Exclusive offer from Giveaway of the Day and ToomkyGames! No third-party advertising and browser add-ons! Travel across the Indian continent with a tiger in this exciting puzzle adventure. The friendly large cat will throw the balls wherever you point, so aim carefully. Group together three or more balls of the same color to make them disappear from the chain. Creative powerups will help you navigate each of the levels, which get more challenging as you progress.

• Original powerups;
• Unlimited play;
• Clever game mechanics.

The post Next Week on Xbox: New Games for June 24 to 28 appeared first on Xbox Wire.

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Steph Caskenette made these awesome illustrations.

Frosty Entertainment via Eneba has 50-Day of Game Pass Ultimate via Xbox Live Gold Conversion for ~$7.75 when you follow the instructions below.

Note, this offer is for Current/Existing Game Pass Ultimate Members only. Expired/New users can redeem up to 3-Years worth of Xbox Live Gold codes and convert their Xbox Live Gold membership to 2-Years of Game Pass Ultimate by joining Ultimate Membership. (3:2 Ratio)
 
Deal Instructions:

• Click here to visit the product page
• Click Buy Now and go to cart
• Click on "Got discount code?" and apply code GoldUS
• Proceed to checkout
• Select payment method PayPal/Credit Card (service fees will be applied here)
• End-price should be ~$7.75
  • Note, price is subject to change by a few cents due to currency exchange rate volatility.
• Redeem code on Microsoft Store or on your Xbox Console/App
• Your Game Pass Ultimate membership will be extended for 50 days per each code.

About Game Pass Ultimate

• Includes Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass with over 100 high-quality games to play with friends on console, PC, phones, and tablets, plus an EA Play membership, all in one membership. (see the current list here)

Melon Game via Eneba has 13-Months Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Subscription via Xbox Live Gold Conversion (Digital Delivery) on sale starting from ~$56 when you follow the instructions below.

• Note: Offer valid for New or Expired Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers only. For current/active Game Pass Ultimate Members, check this thread.

Deal Instructions:

• Click here to visit the 3-Month Xbox Live Gold Membership product page.
• Click 'Buy Now' on the product page
• In cart, add 5x additional units to your cart (for a total of 6x 3-Month Subscription Cards)
• Click on "Got discount code?" and apply code GoldUS
• Proceed to checkout with 6x 3-Month Xbox Live Gold Membership subscriptions
• Select PayPal or Credit Card as your payment method
  • Note, a service fee will apply here
• Your total should be ~$44.64 (price might vary slightly due to currency exchange volatility)
• Next, click here to redeem your 6x 3-Months Xbox Live Gold codes to your Microsoft account
  • Note: Opt out of 'Recurring billing'
• Next, Join Xbox Game Pass Ultimate by purchasing a 1-Month subscription from GCMGAMES via Eneba for ~$11.14 (price after service fee).
• Next, click here to redeem your 1-Month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate code to your Microsoft account
• You will be prompted to upgrade your Xbox Live Gold to Game Pass Ultimate with a 3:2 conversion. You will have 12+1 month of Game Pass Ultimate after conversion.
• Final total price for 13-Month Game Pass Ultimate membership after conversion should be ~$56

You can use these discounts if you are a nw QVC customer.

NEWQVC30: $30 off your first order of $60 or more.

NEWQVC20: $20 off your first order of $40 or more.


https://www.qvc.com/electronics/video-games/games/_/N-t5dt4Zs45awhZ1ys8py7Z1z12kus/c.html?limit=96&sort=Newest+First&ro=s45awhZt5dt4Z1ys8py7Z1z12kus&navSrc=REFINE#plModule

Edit: this is actually a targeted promotion.

Sony started a new promotion today.

Buy and activate a ps5 console before October 20th and get a free digital download from the following games:

○ Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

○ Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered

○ God of War Ragnarök

○ Horizon Forbidden West

○ Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut

○ Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

○ Demon’s Souls

○ The Last of Us Part I

○ Sackboy: A Big Adventure

○ Returnal

○ Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection

○ Death Stranding: Director’s Cut

Full promotion:
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/legal/upgrader-program/