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Hidden Hoard
7.0
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HiddenHoard is a traditional board game of chance and skill for up to six pirates. By a process of...
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Roll Player in Tabletop Games
Jun 12, 2019
Are you up for some role play? If so, you’ll have to find a different website for that. But if you’re up for some *roll* play, then you’ve come to the right place! Welcome to Roll Player – a strategic game of dice rolling, card drafting, and character creation!
On your way into town, you bump into a mysterious stranger. He tells you that he’s on a quest and is looking for companions to share in the journey (and loot!). A sneaky rogue like yourself might just pick-pocket the man and be on your way. But as a warrior, maybe you’ll go along for some action! What? You’re a wizard? That’s ok! Every good adventuring party needs a character knowledgeable in the mystical arts! The point is, your character is what you make it, and that is exactly how Roll Player works – think RPG character creation, but game-ified!
You take turns rolling dice and drafting cards to hone up your skills and attributes – the player at the end of the game with the best adventurer (determined by Victory Points) is the winner! You start with a set race, class, and backstory that determine your end-game attribute goals, and any extra Victory Points are up to you! How will you manipulate your dice to achieve your goals? How can you draft the perfect skills to outperform your opponents? The possibilities are endless!
Having played Roll Player at least a dozen times, I can honestly tell you that I thoroughly enjoy it. Rolling dice and drafting cards seems simple enough, but the amount of strategy needed to try to meet all of your end-game goals is what makes Roll Player a fun challenge. This game requires more thought than others, but I don’t think that necessarily makes it any harder to learn or play. I’ve found that once I help walk a new player through their first turn, the rest of the game is fine, and turns generally pass quickly enough too (as long as your opponent doesn’t suffer from AP…) so that the game doesn’t actually feel that long.
All in all, Roll Player does make you think, but it’s not such a heavy game that it’ll feel super serious. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a 17 / 18 (Josh has yet to play it).
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2018/12/03/roll-player-review/
On your way into town, you bump into a mysterious stranger. He tells you that he’s on a quest and is looking for companions to share in the journey (and loot!). A sneaky rogue like yourself might just pick-pocket the man and be on your way. But as a warrior, maybe you’ll go along for some action! What? You’re a wizard? That’s ok! Every good adventuring party needs a character knowledgeable in the mystical arts! The point is, your character is what you make it, and that is exactly how Roll Player works – think RPG character creation, but game-ified!
You take turns rolling dice and drafting cards to hone up your skills and attributes – the player at the end of the game with the best adventurer (determined by Victory Points) is the winner! You start with a set race, class, and backstory that determine your end-game attribute goals, and any extra Victory Points are up to you! How will you manipulate your dice to achieve your goals? How can you draft the perfect skills to outperform your opponents? The possibilities are endless!
Having played Roll Player at least a dozen times, I can honestly tell you that I thoroughly enjoy it. Rolling dice and drafting cards seems simple enough, but the amount of strategy needed to try to meet all of your end-game goals is what makes Roll Player a fun challenge. This game requires more thought than others, but I don’t think that necessarily makes it any harder to learn or play. I’ve found that once I help walk a new player through their first turn, the rest of the game is fine, and turns generally pass quickly enough too (as long as your opponent doesn’t suffer from AP…) so that the game doesn’t actually feel that long.
All in all, Roll Player does make you think, but it’s not such a heavy game that it’ll feel super serious. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a 17 / 18 (Josh has yet to play it).
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2018/12/03/roll-player-review/
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Sequoia in Tabletop Games
Mar 17, 2021
Sequoias are some of the largest trees on Earth, growing hundreds of feet tall and living for thousands of years. A few summers ago I had the chance to visit northern California, and spent a day hiking in a forest full of redwoods and sequoias. The sheer size of the trees was breathtaking, and that hike remains high on my list of favorite vacation spots ever. So when I saw a small game based on those behemoth trees, I was instantly transported back to NorCal, and knew I had to give this game a shot!
Sequoia is a game of dice rolling and area majority in which players are trying to grow the largest trees across different forests. To setup the game, lay out the 11 forest cards on the table within reach of all players, and randomly assign a 1st and 2nd place token to each card. Each player receives 5 dice and 20 tree tokens in their chosen color. The game is ready to begin!
On each turn, players will simultaneously roll their 5 dice – keeping the results secret from all other players! After rolling, players will create 2 pairs using 4 of their dice (one will be left out). Everyone reveals their pairs at the same time, and will place a tree token on the card that matches each of their dice pairs. For example, my pairs might be a 5 and a 2, and a 6 and a 6, so I would put a tree token on the 7 and 12 forest cards. Play continues in this manner (rolling dice, creating pairs, and placing tree tokens), until players have placed all of their tokens. Once all tokens have been placed, the game moves to the scoring phase. For each forest card, the 1st and 2nd place tokens go to the players who have the most and 2nd most tree tokens on the forest card. Once all cards have been scored, count up final points, and the player with the most points wins!
I have to start off by saying that Sequoia really surprised me. I was expecting a fast, light game, and that’s what I got. But I also got a game with a fun amount of player interaction and strategy that keeps all players engaged. You may not know what forest cards a player will choose each turn, but you can see who has already played tree tokens to each card, which can help drive your strategy. Do you want to directly compete with everyone and really pile on the tokens to win 1st place on a card? Or do you want to spread your tokens around to as many forest cards as possible, and hopefully maximize points that are otherwise being ignored by opponents? Especially since the 1st and 2nd place tokens are randomly assigned and have differing values, you really don’t know which forests will yield the highest points until the end of the game. Sequoia is a Yahtzee-esque game that allows direct player interaction, and that elevates the overall gameplay for me.
Let’s talk about components for a minute. These components are great. The forest cards are a nice thick card stock. The tree tokens and 1st/2nd place tokens are all good chunky bits that will definitely hold up over time. And the dice are nice little d6’s that are easy to read and fun to manipulate. The color matching with the dice and tree tokens is also really nice, and I appreciate that uniformity for each player color. All in all, a high quality production for such a small game.
If you ask me, I think Sequoia is a perfect filler game. It is super fast to teach and play, the setup/cleanup takes literally seconds, and it provides an engaging and fun gameplay. Beyond being a filler game, it is a great small standalone game as well. Want something fast to play while the oven is pre-heating for dinner? Pull out Sequoia! I also love that it is simple enough for younger players to understand – it is a numbers game, but you can also visually see what your opponents are working towards, and that lends itself to a good amount of player interaction. Definitely a game that I can see getting a decent amount of table time in my group! Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a sky-rocketing 8 / 12. Check it out, you might be surprised!
Sequoia is a game of dice rolling and area majority in which players are trying to grow the largest trees across different forests. To setup the game, lay out the 11 forest cards on the table within reach of all players, and randomly assign a 1st and 2nd place token to each card. Each player receives 5 dice and 20 tree tokens in their chosen color. The game is ready to begin!
On each turn, players will simultaneously roll their 5 dice – keeping the results secret from all other players! After rolling, players will create 2 pairs using 4 of their dice (one will be left out). Everyone reveals their pairs at the same time, and will place a tree token on the card that matches each of their dice pairs. For example, my pairs might be a 5 and a 2, and a 6 and a 6, so I would put a tree token on the 7 and 12 forest cards. Play continues in this manner (rolling dice, creating pairs, and placing tree tokens), until players have placed all of their tokens. Once all tokens have been placed, the game moves to the scoring phase. For each forest card, the 1st and 2nd place tokens go to the players who have the most and 2nd most tree tokens on the forest card. Once all cards have been scored, count up final points, and the player with the most points wins!
I have to start off by saying that Sequoia really surprised me. I was expecting a fast, light game, and that’s what I got. But I also got a game with a fun amount of player interaction and strategy that keeps all players engaged. You may not know what forest cards a player will choose each turn, but you can see who has already played tree tokens to each card, which can help drive your strategy. Do you want to directly compete with everyone and really pile on the tokens to win 1st place on a card? Or do you want to spread your tokens around to as many forest cards as possible, and hopefully maximize points that are otherwise being ignored by opponents? Especially since the 1st and 2nd place tokens are randomly assigned and have differing values, you really don’t know which forests will yield the highest points until the end of the game. Sequoia is a Yahtzee-esque game that allows direct player interaction, and that elevates the overall gameplay for me.
Let’s talk about components for a minute. These components are great. The forest cards are a nice thick card stock. The tree tokens and 1st/2nd place tokens are all good chunky bits that will definitely hold up over time. And the dice are nice little d6’s that are easy to read and fun to manipulate. The color matching with the dice and tree tokens is also really nice, and I appreciate that uniformity for each player color. All in all, a high quality production for such a small game.
If you ask me, I think Sequoia is a perfect filler game. It is super fast to teach and play, the setup/cleanup takes literally seconds, and it provides an engaging and fun gameplay. Beyond being a filler game, it is a great small standalone game as well. Want something fast to play while the oven is pre-heating for dinner? Pull out Sequoia! I also love that it is simple enough for younger players to understand – it is a numbers game, but you can also visually see what your opponents are working towards, and that lends itself to a good amount of player interaction. Definitely a game that I can see getting a decent amount of table time in my group! Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a sky-rocketing 8 / 12. Check it out, you might be surprised!
The Marinated Meeple (1848 KP) rated Coimbra in Tabletop Games
Jan 14, 2020
Great use of Dice to set the parameters of the turn (3 more)
Not Luck Based
lots of push and pull, this affects that....
relatively quick if players play.... each action is quick...
Finally got around to it, it's great!
I've played it twice so far, back to back games, cause we were anxious to do better in the 2nd game... it's great so far.
The Oregon Trail Card Game
5.2
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Relive all the excitement of trying to survive one of the most unforgiving trails in American...
Corsairs of Valeria
8.0
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With the current Commodore lost at sea, you and your fellow Corsairs have set out to complete the...
Otway93 (567 KP) rated Resident Evil 2: The Board Game in Tabletop Games
Oct 25, 2019
Game (4 more)
Pieces
Expansions Available
1-4 Players
Tension
Cost (1 more)
Packaging
Excellent game, though far too expensive!
A truly superb game that thoroughly surprised me!
At first I was a little sceptical about how Resident Evil 2 would translate to a board game, but the creators managed to capture the story and the horror perfectly, somehow making everybody involved absolutely terrified, just like the game!
The game is slightly complicated for those new to dice based games (me included), but I believe it to be an excellent starter for beginners.
The game is also unusually for 1-4 players, though I can't imagine it being much fun solo.
Another plus is the number of expansions, all enjoyable, but just like the core game, they are all considerably expensive for what's involved.
The cost is the main issue with this game, the core game costing between £60-80, and expansions anywhere between £15-30 each.
The expansions, with the exception of the rather good B-Files Expansion, contain very little, and add very little. They contain very little and still use the same amount of packaging, using a lot of plastic and wasting paper and cardboard.
At first I was a little sceptical about how Resident Evil 2 would translate to a board game, but the creators managed to capture the story and the horror perfectly, somehow making everybody involved absolutely terrified, just like the game!
The game is slightly complicated for those new to dice based games (me included), but I believe it to be an excellent starter for beginners.
The game is also unusually for 1-4 players, though I can't imagine it being much fun solo.
Another plus is the number of expansions, all enjoyable, but just like the core game, they are all considerably expensive for what's involved.
The cost is the main issue with this game, the core game costing between £60-80, and expansions anywhere between £15-30 each.
The expansions, with the exception of the rather good B-Files Expansion, contain very little, and add very little. They contain very little and still use the same amount of packaging, using a lot of plastic and wasting paper and cardboard.
The Marinated Meeple (1848 KP) Jun 12, 2019