Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

The Game

Gloomhaven was once the #1 game on BoardGameGeek.com. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a standalone game set in the same universe and not an expansion. It uses similar mechanisms and is slightly simplified. It is currently ranked #9 on BGG, which is amazing. Whether Gloomhaven and Jaws of the Lion should be ranked so high is debatable. They are legacy games, which means to truly experience it, you need to be committed to play through the whole campaign. Players who are willing to make that kind of commitment are probably big fans of the genre. They are already inclined to like the games. Those who are not very interested will not likely buy or try the game. So legacy games naturally filter out players who may not rate them high. This is how they have some advantage over non-legacy games in the BGG rankings. The Pandemic Legacy games which I like have this advantage too. 

Jaws of the Lion is a fantasy-themed roleplaying tactical battle game. This type is not really my cup of tea, but given the opportunity to try this popular game, I was happy to give it a go. The game is scenario based. One game is playing a specific scenario in the scenario book. Every scenario has its own map setup and objectives. The game comes with 25 scenarios. That's not as many as Gloomhaven, but if you manage to get 25 plays out of a game, it's great value for money. 

I picked this character to play - the bomb guy. There are four characters to pick from. Every character has its own deck of cards. Your actions in the game are all driven by your deck. At the start of a game, you hold all your cards in hand. Every turn you play two cards to perform actions. Each card has two halves. You must use the upper half power of one card, and the lower half power of the other. As you play, you will eventually run out of cards. You will then need to perform a reset to take your played cards back into your hand. As you do this, you randomly lose one card. You go through this cycle multiple times and you will have fewer and fewer cards. You must complete the mission before you run out of cards. This is the time pressure you have to face. 

This is a cooperative game, so you are working together with your fellow players to complete the mission. As you gain experience and money, you upgrade yourself and buy equipment. These are the legacy elements of the game. 

The tutorial (learning scenarios) in Jaws of the Lion are well done. You don't need to read through the whole rulebook to start playing. You just follow the tutorial booklet. There are five tutorial scenarios, and they introduce rules to you bit by bit. By the end of the 5th scenario, you will know the full rules. The first two scenarios are a little simple, but from the third one onwards this very much feels like the full game. Map setup is easy, because the maps are already printed in the booklet (see photo above). You don't need to assemble scenario maps using multiple game pieces. You still need to place some monsters and treasures, but overall it's not much work. 

The cards are the core of the game. At the centre you see an initiative number. Of the two cards you play on your turn, the one with the lower number determines your initiative. Lower means you go earlier. The monsters have initiative values too. If theirs are lower, they will move and attack before you do. On this card above, the two tiny numbers on the left, at the corners of the upper and lower sections, are the basic actions. You may choose to forgo the main actions for these instead. The basic actions are moving two steps and melee attacking at strength 2.  

This is an event card. These cards have story elements. You read the passage, then decide what you want to do. The outcome can be good or bad, and is only revealed after you make your decision. These events are mostly random and generic. You draw them from a deck after all. 

One of the four characters you can play.

There are different types of monsters, and within each type there are different levels. The yellow and white bases represent monsters at different levels. 

This game component is used to keep track of monsters in play. It shows the health points, movement range and attack strength. The six sections on the sleeve are used to track injury dealt to up to six monsters of this type. Slot number 4 has two round tokens, which means monster #4 on the board has been dealt 2 damage. 

These two are equipment cards. You spend money to buy equipment. Any leftover money can be kept for future games. This is part of the legacy element of Jaws of the Lion. Some equipment are worn, e.g. the boots. You can't wear two pairs of boots at the same time. You can't carry too many weapons at any one time, since you only have one pair of hands. 

This little board is used to keep track of elements in the game. Elements are a kind of magic force. There are six types of elements. Some actions you take generate specific elements. You shift the marker for that element to the rightmost position, signifying that this element type is available. Certain actions when taken with the presence of specific elements become stronger. At the end of every round, the element markers shift one step left, representing the elements waning. Eventually the markers will return to the leftmost position, which means the corresponding elements are no longer active. Characters can generate elements for themselves and for one another. This is one way you cooperate and boost one another's abilities. 

The Play

The learning scenarios in Jaws of the Lion are very well structured. I could start playing very quickly. Although the first two scenarios were short and simple, the experience of learning the game was smooth and easy. Now I am not a particular fan of fantasy roleplaying battle games. Jaws of the Lion doesn't feel particularly different. To me, it is mostly just another one of this type of game. The core mechanism of managing your cards is interesting. This is a little different from other games of this type that I have played. You don't roll dice. Sometimes you draw from card decks. There is still some luck. However you can plan out many steps in detail. Much of the game is deterministic, like how the monsters behave and the effects of your actions. You can plan meticulously. Completing a mission is like solving a complicated puzzle. It is planning a long sequence of actions, taking into account how the monsters will react to your actions.  

Allen and I ganging up on a monster

Some maps have treasure chests

These acolytes in red are a pain

Water snakes

The golem is slow, but incredibly strong

For some scenarios, the booklet is not big enough for building the entire map, so a supplementary booklet is used (see the lower part of this photo). 

This time it is he hero being surrounded by monsters

The Thoughts

A few years ago when Gloomhaven was still the #1 game on BoardGameGeek, I almost started a campaign with a few other friends. The pandemic was still happening then. We never got around to start our campaign because we were busy with all sorts of different things. Now that I have tried Jaws of the Lion, I consider that item on my to-do list checked. Jaws of the Lion is pleasant but not surprising for me. Take that with a grain of salt, since it is not my type in the first place. The card mechanism is interesting. The scenarios are immersive. I'm not sure yet whether I'll continue. I still have not done tutorial scenario 5. Since I have only played a handful of scenarios, I can't comment on the overall legacy campaign and the story. That should be an important part of the experience. I'll share more if I do continue the campaign. 

boardgaming in photos: Ali Baba and Ra

The game I am planning to publish this year under Cili Padi Games is Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. It has gone through many rounds of playtesting, but I still needed to get it cold tested. I asked Julian and his gaming group to cold test for me, i.e. I hand them the game and the rulebook, and they learn to play by themselves without me guiding them or answering any questions. I was there, but they pretended I wasn't. The cold test is an important test for the rulebook and the game component design. I can't be there to teach every person who buys my game, so the rulebook and the components must be as fool proof and conducive to understanding the game as possible. 

Just to make sure I don't set wrong expectations - the game on the table is A Feast for Odin. Only what's in Julian's hand (left) is Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. 

I observed and learned a lot by just watching them play. Which rules they were unsure about and how quickly they were able to clear it up by looking up the rules or by referring to the game components were all important information for me. In their first game, it took only one round for Arief to win. That was a short game. It has happened before. That particular round they made it to the higher rewards. It was a little sudden. Maybe it is a problem. I decided not to implement any unwieldy additional rules to eliminate the possibility of short games. Just let that be a possibility. 

The group quickly proceeded to start a new game. This time the length was more normal, about 6 to 7 rounds. As they played, they came up with suggestions on how to modify the components. They even started implementing some of their ideas. That copy of Ali Baba had no component to help keep track of the current sum of all face-up cards. Players have to keep track of it in their heads. It's just one number. If you forget, you have to count again. Julian's group took out a 12-sided die to do the tracking. However after a while they found it tedious to fiddle with the die to find the right number, and they abandoned it. After the game, they gave me more suggestions. This was a very fruitful playtest session. 

Once I got home I started making improvements. I added a yellow background colour to cards with sun and moon icons. This provides a much stronger visual reminder to players to check for the presence of both a sun and a moon. I also added the Cave card (bottom left) to help players keep track of the sum. Initially I was worried whether it would be tiresome. I tried playing with it, and it turned out okay. I may test this more with other groups. 

I asked younger daughter Chen Rui to help me test the various 2-player variants of Ali Baba. She was the one who did the most playtesting with me when I designed Dancing Queen. That's the convenience of designing 2-player games. It's easier to get playtesting done. At one point I planned to make Ali Baba a 3 to 6 player game. I felt it wouldn't be as much fun with 2 players. Later on I decided to tweak it to support 2 players. I knew with less than three some dynamics would be missing, so the game needed to offer something interesting for two. Adjustments were necessary. I came up with several ideas, and tried them all. Having now compared them, the variant I will go with is when drawing from the deck, you draw two and pick one to apply. If you draw the Boss, you must apply the Boss (i.e. you will lose that round). Using this variant, I give a bit more control to the players. In a two player game, you only have one opponent and thus only three face-down cards you can reveal. Your options are limited. Drawing two from the deck and picking one initially felt overpowered. However after some playtesting, I found it wasn't as overpowered as I thought. The Boss rule makes drawing from the deck riskier, balancing things out a little. 

Dancing Queen is going to Hungary. This couple is gamers from Hungary visiting Malaysia. They bought some games from BoardGameCafe.biz including my Dancing Queen. I am always excited to see Dancing Queen reach new countries. 

Ra is a game I played a lot of when I first became a boardgamer. Julian has a copy of the latest deluxe version, with art by Ian O Toole. The Ra marker is huge. I should have put my hand in the photo for scale. 

The tiles in the game are not cardboard but wood. Red in this game means something bad. The first tile is a Ra tile, i.e. the countdown mechanism in the game. The other three are disaster tiles - drought, war and earthquake. 

The tiles in the first row are not Ra tiles, although they do look like the Ra tiles in previous editions of the game. These are actually the backs of the tiles. Yes, this edition has art on the backs. Previous editions have blank backs. The tiles in the next two rows are the monuments. 

First row, from left to right - pharaoh, god, gold, flood and Nile. Second row is the five different civilisation tiles. 

The Axis & Allies series will have a North Africa game! I call myself an Axis & Allies fan, but I have not been playing it for a long time. I still own many games in the series. I'm still a supporter because nostalgia. When I eventually get this, it will probably get one play and then sit on the shelf for a long time. I still haven't played Rommel in the Desert again. #firstworldproblem #toomanygames

Upin & Ipin

The Game

Upin & Ipin is a popular cartoon TV show in Malaysia. It is hot is Indonesia too, and is also aired in several other countries. It was first released in 2007, and now in 2024 it is still going strong. If the twin brothers Upin and Ipin were 5 years old in 2007, they would be 22 now. 

Upin & Ipin: Ke Sana Ke Sini the boardgame is based on the characters in the TV series and their village. The game board (above) shows their village. It is a 8 x 6 grid, basically a chess board. You can see roads, but movement is based on the grid, not these roads. 

Some squares on the board are homes, shops or other buildings. Those with photos are homes and the photos show who live where. For a kid to enter a home, the host must be at home. You can't enter other people's houses when they are not around. That's basic manners. And this is one of the traditional values the game designer Effendy aims to convey. At the homes and buildings you can collect items with various powers. 

These are the item cards. You may carry at most three of them.

Upin & Ipin comes with 10 different scenarios. This means 10 ways to play the game. There are some basic rules which don't change from scenario to scenario. Every scenario has some unique rules or modifications to the basic rules. Your objectives will be different. Some scenarios are cooperative. Some are team-based competitions. Scenarios have different setups and use different combinations of characters. 

On your turn, you have 3 options. First, you may move any one of the characters on the board. You do not play a specific character. Anyone can move any character. This is something a little unusual. Your second option is to choose a character card. The third is to choose a location card. You may have at most one character card and one location card in hand. If you take a new one, you must surrender the old one. 

This is a character card. You may use the card power at any time, after which it is returned to the pool. You can use the card to allow the character one more step. Normally a character only moves one step. You can prevent another player from moving a specific character. You may allow a character to be moved on consecutive turns. Normally after a player has moved a character, the immediate next player may not move that same character. Only the player after that may move this character. Using the character card of the specific character, you can circumvent this restriction.  

This is a location card. There are also three ways you can use it. You can allow a character to enter the specific home when the homeowner is not at home. You can prevent another player from entering a home. When another player claims an item from the location, you may piggyback on that and get one for yourself too. 

Dice in the game are bicycles. When you ride a bike, you move as many spaces as what you roll. This can greatly increase your mobility. However there is a price to pay. If you have items, you must discard one each time you ride a bike. 

Let's talk about the first scenario. It's Operation Rooster. Now this rooster is an important secondary character in the cartoon. It appears all the time. In this scenario, it starts at one corner of the village, and moves about randomly. The children start at the other corner of the village, and want to catch the rooster. You win by getting one child to catch the rooster. Remember, you are not any one specific child. You can move any child. If you help one child get close to the rooster, you may be helping an opponent catch it, not yourself. Character cards can be important in this scenario, because you can use them to prevent specific characters from moving, or have them move an additional step. These can mean winning or losing. 

The rooster moves based on the die roll of an 8-sided die.

It can get quite rowdy, with a whole bunch of kids running after the rooster. 

Victory points are represented by chicken drumsticks, the favourite food of Upin and Ipin. 

This is Scenario 6. The eight kids are divided into Team Blue and Team Yellow. This is a team-vs-team contest. Everyone starts at the playground. Your team objective is to capture 7 locations, including Upin and Ipin's home. You capture a location by simply entering it. However, you can easily lose a location. Once you leave, an opponent can enter and capture it. If an opponent enters an occupied location, a fight ensues (okay, let's be nice and call this a "strength comparison"), and the winner controls the location. The defender wins ties, and thus has a slight advantage in... umm... strength comparisons. 

There are three adults in the game. Any player can move any of them. This works the same way as the kids. In Scenario 1, the rooster is a target everyone chases after and it is not controlled by anyone. In other scenarios, you control the rooster in the same way as the other characters. There is one special rule regarding the rooster. Kids may not enter the rooster's space. So you can use the rooster to block a child's way. For that child to enter the space occupied by the rooster, first the rooster must be moved away. 

Eggs are one of the items. It can be used to increase your defense or attack by 1. Items are single use. Once you use them, they are spent and returned to the pool. 

In Scenario 6, location cards are used for keeping track of locations captured. They cannot be claimed and used in the normal way. Different scenarios have different rule adjustments, but most of the basic rules remain the same. 

The Play

This game is made for people who have watched Upin & Ipin. It is a mass market game, and not a hobbyist game. The game mechanisms are not new to gamers, but to non-gamers, there are some new concepts. The group I played with was mostly non-gamers. They were pleasantly surprised by the idea that players do not control specific characters. This game introduces some fresh ideas to non-gamers. The rules are mostly straight-forward. On your turn you either move a character or pick a card. The different scenarios have different additional rules, but they are manageable for non-gamers. 

I did a 6-player game, and despite the large group, the game moved briskly. Your turn is quick and simple. There is little down time. Although we had a mix of experienced gamers and non-gamers, the game worked fine. This is the kind of game which parents and children can play together. It is not too simple that parents will find it dull. There is enough luck that children have a decent chance of winning. 

The yellow and blue bases indicate the teams the characters belong to. Not all scenarios are team-based. 

I seldom appear in photos in my own blog, because most of the time when I take photos, I shoot game components and games in progress. This time Sufiz took a nice photo with me in it. Just to clarify, I am the one on the right. 

The Thoughts

Upin & Ipin is a mass market game designed for children and families. It is not a gamer's game, but I like that it introduces some modern boardgame concepts. The target audience is people who enjoy the cartoon. Teenagers and young adults may no longer watch Upin & Ipin, but they might have watched it when they were younger. Playing the game will be a trip down memory lane for them. 

Being gamers, we tend to be sceptical about boardgames using well-known intellectual properties. Sometimes they are just money grabs, using the IP to make more money, when the game itself is poorly designed. Upin & Ipin has heart. It was developed with the spirit of the cartoon series in mind. In addition to presenting the characters, stories and values in game form, it also introduces some modern gaming mechanisms to the mass market. I hope it brings more players to the hobby.

Obsession

The Game

Obsession is set in Victorian era England. You are an upstart aristocratic family. You grow your prestige, expand your estate, network with other nobles, climb the social ladder, and you do all of these by holding parties! Technically it's called holding an activity, but it's much easier to understand by calling it what it is. It's a party! You need to have the right facilities, the properly trained servants and enough prestige to invite the guests you want. You'll gain benefits from the party, and you use what you've gained to plan the next party. The game is played over a fixed number of rounds. The highest scorer wins the game. 

At the top left you have a round track. The spaces on the track indicate special rules that apply for specific rounds. On this board there are two cards - the Fairchild kids - a young gentlemen and a young lady from the famous Fairchild family. Throughout the game players will compete to befriend them. There is a reckoning every four rounds, and whoever wins the favour of the Fairchild family gets to invite one of the scions to parties. 

 

This is the main board, and it is primarily a market for buildings - that row of square tiles along the bottom. Building prices start at 300 Pounds (leftmost tile), and get more expensive as you move right. Whenever you buy a building, all remaining tiles are shifted left, and then a new tile is drawn and placed at the rightmost spot. 

This is the player board. At the bottom left those pawns in different colours are your servants of different types - valets, housekeepers, butlers, footmen and so on. They are needed for different purposes, e.g. some buildings will only work if a specific servant type is present. Some guests require a specific servant type to serve them. Now servants need to take breaks. Working for an aristocratic family is stressful. They can't work consecutive rounds, those lazy bums. The three boxes here are to help manage which servants are available and which are on leave. 

The tiles in five colours on the right are your buildings. Think of them as facilities, rooms and equipment at your estate. I'll just call them buildings. Everyone starts the game with the same set. Building tiles are double sided. Often the front side is worth negative points, and the back is positive. You need to use a building just once to flip it to the upgraded side. The building tile specifies the requirements for holding a party - any servants needed, how many guests, and the prestige level of your family. The benefit of holding a party is also shown, e.g. money, prestige or getting acquainted to more nobles. Some buildings cannot be used for parties. They just give you new special abilities. 

Your hand cards are characters, i.e. guests you can invite to parties. You already start the game with some characters, some of whom are your own family members. During the game you will draw more character cards. Some characters need to be served by specific servant types if they are to be invited to a party. They also require your family to be of a certain prestige level. When then attend your party, they give you some benefit. 

On your turn you do just two things. You hold a party, and you buy a building. Both are optional, but you will want to do both as often as possible. When you invite a guest to a party, you play the character card on the table, and it becomes temporarily unavailable. Imagine being hungover. You need to forgo holding any party for one turn to take back all your played character cards. The whole game is about organising party after party. You buy buildings to hold more happening parties. You increase your prestige so that you can invite even more famous celebrities. You make sure you employ enough servants and get to know enough people to keep throwing fantastic parties. 

When the game ends, you score points for various aspects, including your character cards, your family's prestige level, your buildings and your servants. 

These are the front and back of the same building. The front is -1 Victory Point, and the back is 4VP. That's a 5VP difference. While on the front side, you need a footman (white servant) to hold a party. You need 3 guests. You need to have a Prestige of at least 3 (number in bottom left corner). If you manage to hold a party, you earn 300 Pounds and flip the tile to the upgraded side. From then on you use the upgraded side to hold parties. 

This is the Fairchild boy. If you become his buddy, you can invite him to parties. That little green man at the bottom left means you need to have a valet to serve him. The three lions at the bottom right means he advances your Prestige by 3 steps when he attends your party. Prestige increases one level for every 5 steps. 

These are objective cards. If you fulfil the criteria, you score points. You start the game with some cards. You'll draw some during the game, and will also be forced to discard some. This particular objective card highlighted requires that you own three specific buildings. If you have them by game end, you get 16VP. 

This madame is a big shot and it's not easy to invite her. You need a Prestige of at least 6 (top left corner). She demands two servants (bottom left corner). At game end she is worth 6VP (top right corner). If she attends your party, she gives you a victory card and increases your Prestige by 3 steps (bottom right corner). 

Some "friends" you make are not exactly good persons. This lady here is worth -2VP. You will want to try to use an unfriend ability to get rid of her before the game ends. If you invite her to a party, she reduces your Prestige. However parties do require a specific number of guests, and sometimes they require guests of specific genders. So when you are desperate, you might have to invite her anyway, even though nobody likes her. Sacrifices to make for the greater good. 

The Play

Obsession is a pretty typical point-scoring Eurogame. The core thing you are doing is holding parties. You plan and manage your resources to be able to keep holding better and better parties. It's a bit like project management. You have to make sure all pieces fall into place and you are not missing any crucial component. Just one small mishap, and the party may have to be cancelled, or you have to switch to a less wild party. This takes some organisational and planning skills. You have to plan when to not hold a party too, so that you can reset and put all characters back into your hand. 

Players compete for the Fairchild scions. Every season (a series of four rounds) you need to focus on a particular building type if you intend to befriend the Fairchild family. Some objectives require specific buildings too. I don't think the objectives overlap (I haven't checked), so you probably don't compete directly over objective cards. It's just that sometimes others may just happen to buy a building you want. Overall there isn't much direct player interaction. You do your own parties and you have your own hand of character cards. There are a few direct attack cards. I've used one of them. But there aren't many such cards. 

By late game you will have quite many character cards. 

The buildings in the five different colours have different characteristics. The blue ones tend to give special abilities and cannot be used for parties. The purples ones usually improve Prestige. The green ones give you money. 

The Thoughts

Obsession is a BGG Top 100 game. I've heard positive comments, and I was looking forward to try it. Now that I have played it, I find it decent but not remarkable. It's a game about planning and coordination. For every party you plan, you have to make sure all the elements are ready. You have to keep outdoing yourself, increasing your Prestige, inviting more famous nobles and using more fanciful venues. There are many things which score you points, but not really many different strategies. Everyone's central strategy is holding parties. There aren't significantly different strategies to pursue. It is in the small tactics that you try to outdo your opponents. So it's an efficiency game. Do the little things well, and in the long run you win the race. That feeling of climbing the social ladder is nice. It gives you a sense of progress. I would say the theme is executed well. This is literally a party game. Ba-dum-tss!