Party Game Mini Review-Werewolf

The Keen observer will notice that I have put up a link on the bottom left titled "Werewolf".  It's a free, fairly simple game that I've enjoyed immensely.  So I am now spreading the word.

I would describe the game, but that would be redundant for anyone that actually goes to the link.

We always play with a couple variant Villagers.

1. 1 Villager is a Hunter Villager.  When he/she dies, the player may pick one person to kill.  The picked person is out of the game.

2. 1 Villager is a Little Girl Villager.  That player may peek during the Werewolf phase of night, but if the Werewolfs see her, she will almost certainly be their next victim.  This has never happened in-game, but speculation has risen as to what would happen if the Little Girl didn't try to be secretive, and opened her eyes with the werewolfs, who would then have to quietly figure out who was pretending to be the werewolf.

I enjoy the deception in the game, but I'm usually the Moderator, as I'm the main advocate for getting people to play it.

Hope you enjoy it! (Assuming you can ever get a group big enough to play)

Carl

Board Game Review-Pandemic

Pandemic was my kick-off into co-operative games, my first one.  I've loved co-ops ever since. Working with your friends instead of against them just makes games more fun, in my opinion.  (I tend to exaggerate my love of back stabbing for humor's sake)


Pandemic is very well-designed in difficulty.  Most of the games I've played have boiled down to two outcomes: the game burns us, or we barely scrape a win. 
So, the basic premise: Each player is a disease hunter, each with their own specialty.  You rush around the world, trying to balance destroying the 4 different kinds of disease before they become too prevalent and finding cures for the 4 by getting someone with 5 cards of a disease type, which players can pass to each other under certain conditions.  You get two cards that can be used for cures each turn, but it works as a timer, because once that stack of cards is gone, you lose.  Nice mechanic: you can discard cards to fly to their assigned cities for free. An example of balancing collecting cards for the cure versus fighting the diseases.


It's a good game that anyone can play, but it has a larger learning curve than Castle Panic, since it is more complex.  The theme is well done, with a little above-average artwork.  They went for a fairly tame theme, which works for me.  Unlike most co-op games, in which the world dies by zombie or alien invasion if you lose, instead, the world merely dies of disease. :)
The stock game might become repetitive, but the expansion adds in a lot of replayability with the different modes of play and additional characters you can throw in.  Unfortunately, the expansion is another $30 onto the already $35 base game.

Publisher Stuff:
Publisher: Z-Man Games
Players: 2-4 (expansion "adds" a 5th, using the exact same rules as with 4 players)
Ages: 10+
Playing time: 45-60 minutes




Summary
Pros:
-Well Designed
-Tense for 80% of the game


Cons:
-Possible for one person to start playing dictator, especially once the tension ramps up

I'd give it a 9.0, I will never turn down a chance to play it. 


P.S. I'm a little out of it since I just had my wisdom teeth removed Friday, so if there are any questions, shoot up a comment and I'll fire back.


P.P.S. I wrote this before Christmas, and I guess I was really out of it, since I never posted it.  But I've polished it up a bit, and here we are!

I'm feeling productive again.

I'll be trying to get back to the attempted one-update-a-week schedule.  I am also painfully aware of how terrible my previous efforts at humor and reviewing have been, as well as the articles exceeding length.  Instead of editing them, though, I'm going to press forward and keep bringing out new material.

Hope you had as great a Christmas as I had,

Carl