I’d heard about Settlers of Catan a hundred billion times, at least, as it’s widely called “The Fazzer Of Ze Euroz Gaming”, and I’ve heard it panned by Ameritrash folks as a gaming atrocity. Although not as widely hated, at least publicly, as renaissance farming or weenie trading games, it has been the subject of scorn and ridicule. “It doesn’t have a body count”, they said. “It doesn’t have much player interaction”, the said.
I don’t hate to be wrong, but I really hate to be wrong like this. I broke my own rules, which was stupid in and of itself, and I deserve the outrage that I will be receiving from people who I told were wrong. So, here goes: Reiner Knizia can make an Ameritrashy adventure game. There. I said it. I’m even prepared to say that as highly improbable as it is, the game he made is not only not atrophy your testicles from boredom, it in fact is brilliant fun. I still can’t believe it myself, but it’s true. Star Trek: Expeditions (ST:E) is a really, truly fun, thematic co-op adventure game that not only adheres to its theme, but does so well.
I think I am reaching the conclusion that I like cards games a lot more than I thought. Don’t get me wrong, I am partial to an sort of games, and Ameritrash does get my attention more often than not. Can’t help it… miniatures, brightly coloured boards, tons of pieces. Even with near to impossible to understand mechanics and not very well written rules, I still like them.
From GenCon 2011 until just recently, companies have decided that dicefests are the new deck builders. We’ve seen Elder Sign, Quarriors, Bears!, Martian Dice, and now King of Tokyo come to fruition, and I’m quite excited that publishers are finally realizing that deck building has been done to death.
So here we have a recent issue of Against the Odds Magazine, which is a very interesting publication on military history with a game in every issue. What more can I ask? Years ago, I used to subscribe to Strategy & Tactics magazine and I’ve played games published in the Wargamer, so this is all familiar ground for me. The magazine is of high quality with excellent articles, artwork, etc. and I highly recommend it to war gamers.
