WIP 1
May 2, 2023 | ≈ 785 words | Townsfolk Tussle Wind The Film Furnace Pompiers
What I Played
so i played a few games this past week
these are my thoughts
Townsfolk Tussle
i played townsfolk tussle again for the first time in a couple years and i never knew how much easier the game is with 4 characters. I picked the blopsy twins to be more of a “support” player and base blopsy can supercharge a team especially once everyone gets a ranged weapon (and we know how mandatory ranged weapons are). 3 people doing 6+ damage in a round is significant even in a 4 player game where the boss’s health is scaled up. I spent 90% of my turns standing around supporting with sounds and somehow this video is still relevant after 3 years. I did notice that if you’re only attacking the boss, the game feels incredibly boring since your entire turn is moving towards the boss and rolling a die to hit. It’s definitely more fun when you’re working towards your feats of mettle during the fight. I wish the weaknesses were mandatory but available to hit from the start, it would make the fights a lot more dynamic instead of just bashing mindlessly turn after turn. But definitely would play again.
Wind The Film
played a bunch of games of Wind The Film (Photograph) and I’m glad someone in one of my games vocalized something I should have found obvious after my first play. This game is a train wreck in slow motion, and the end of the game should produce mass carnage. Each turn you’re forced to take actions. you’re forced to move the car on the train tracks knowing a train is coming full speed ahead, knowing there’s not enough time to move the car out of the way, knowing your hands are tied the whole game with each step of your turn forcing you to take the action whether it’s beneficial or not. yet the game gives you enough agency to dovetail these steps together to make some grand florishes, and this is about as simple as a set collection game can get. good planning makes great plays, and the feeling of setting up each of your turns to properly take those forced steps and taking advantage of them instead of getting run over by them makes this one of the best small card games i’ve played in a long time. friend said it best, it’s a little too clean of a design but players cause the carnage.
Furnace + Interbellum Expansion
played furnace with the expansion which is a game you played before and probably felt real dry and mathy and brown which it is. the game is just getting cards that let you get stuff and spend that stuff. the expansion lets you get stuff once but a lot of it at once (which i find funny) and also special powers. a lot of them. every round some new special powers will come out that once per round you can add to a card to power it up. special powers. it’s not an insignificant thing, special powers. special powers like, get a discount on a coversion. or get an extra coal when you produce coal. or even specialer, get an extra money each time you make money. wow. i sound facecious but it really is a cool addition. still 4 rounds, still insanely fast. just a bit more to think about each round with a much much higher baseline for scores.
Pompiers!
last thing i’ve played is pompiers, a mission based trick taking game which are words that make sense to a very specific group of person. generally groups where playing tricks, trump cards, and following suit have a specific meaning and teaches all the rules to a game in 10 seconds. 10 tricks a hand, 5 rounds, trump is random, can lead trump, must follow suit, points are winning specific tricks in the round. simple game, and yet the drive to finish every mission and to cut others out of certain missions is a great friction that forms an interesting puzzle each round. a simple trick-taker that takes what i enjoy about the crew and puts an endearing spin on it. speaking of, i don’t like the crew that much anymore. I don’t like when people make you feel dumb when you’re supposed to be working together. a thing that I deliberately avoided by not playing most video games and something that I don’t think about anymore. Something I really don’t find necessary to be honest lol. Unforced conflict seems pretty lame in the context of genuine enjoyment and empathy above the table.
These are just my thoughts.