Monthly Archives: March 2020

A mini look at Epic Card Game Digitial

Uncategorized

I’m totally enjoying my games of Epic Card Game digital against my friends. And that includes my losing streak of having never won against one of them.

Our format of choice is Dark Draft. Which I’ve said many times I think that this is my favourite format for the game. Unlike a regular draft, you have an idea what cards your opponent has but you don’t know exactly. Mainly because you know what four cards they were given but you don’t know which two they kept and which two were discarded. I like that mystery.

Sometimes though due to the nature of the game type, luck of the draw, etc. More time is spent drafting than actually playing.

Once it was an option to purchase (you only pay for cosmetic stuff like this and to enter official events/tournaments) using my credits I hit on my avatar for the game that won’t change.

I love the pack alpha art. It fits me as leader of my own “wolf pack”.

The other thing I’m currently spending my hard earned Kickstarter credits on are the foil versions of cards when they become available.

I like how foils work in Epic and Star Realms. For the concept works better digitally than in a physical version. Although they are pretty cool in real life.

I actually like how the actual game looks during play. Granted it doesn’t have those flash animations of the likes of MtG:Arena and Hearthstone. But you don’t miss them or need them. Unlike the two mentioned competitors this is completely free to play. And the bit I like a lot, just like Star Realms, when playing against friends you get 48 hours between turns. It means playing can fit in around what you are doing in the real world, and allow you to play with friends in different time zones.

Granted games take longer to play this way. But that’s a price I’m willing to play. Plus you can play in real time if you wish. It’s nice to have the choice.

This is definitely my preferred way of playing the game. It means I get to play it for starters. That’s always a good start.

You can find me on Epic and Star Realms as Whitespider.

What annoys me about Imperial Settlers

rant

After a day off writing for this blog. Which we all know was a welcome break for both parties, you the reader and me. I’m back looking at one thing about Imperil Settlers and 51st State that annoys me.

But first for the record I really do enjoy both games. It’s allowed to not love everything about a game. This post is about the one thing I don’t love about these two games.

What bought this all on? The imminent arrival of last years expansion for Imperial Settlers, Amazons. I finally got round to getting it. After all it was the only expansion that I didn’t own. There are a couple of promos I think I’m missing but they are less important (I bet that has surprised one or two out there).

It’s the expansions for Imperial Settlers that are the source of this annoyance.

Amazons is the third ‘big’ box expansion for Imperial Settlers. Like the other two it adds a new faction and mechanic to the game. There are also three ‘small’ box expansions that focus on adding a new mechanic.

When it comes to playing the game you have to decide what expansions to play with.

In the rules for the expansion they give you two options.

The first is what they call Open Play.

This allows you to “mix any Common and Faction cards from any expansions with the corresponding cards from the Imperial Settlers base game. Have fun, but remember that a deck constructed this way may not ensure balanced play.”

That last sentence is the important bit. You may not see a single card from an expansion, or get the card you need. Which is why I’m least likely to use this option unless it’s for a single expansion.

The other way is what Portal call Standard Play.

“This is the only format allowed in tournaments.

Common cards come only from the base game. To build your Faction deck, you may mix the Faction cards from the Imperial Settlers base game with the Faction cards from exactly 1 expansion.”

51st State has a similar thing with it’s expansions in that you can only chose one expansion and you shuffle those cards into the common deck. It has no equivalent to Open Play.

What I find frustrating is that you have to decide which expansion and mechanic you are going to play.

So if you want to play one of the ‘small’ box expansions you are limited to the base game factions. If a player wants to play one of the ‘big’ box factions then you are limited to the cards from that expansion.

The problem as I see it is that with a new faction there is a new mechanic, and cards for the other factions to make use of the new mechanic. Then if you want to also play with one of the mechanics from a ‘small’ box expansion you are obviously breaking the Standard Play rule of using just one expansion.

If the other players have to choose between the two is there an imbalance that favours the new faction?

I also think that deck building for new players is an additional thing for them to learn. Something that might put them off and find hard.

Unless you do the deck building before hand (additional time and making decisions in advance on what to play) time for players to deck build needs to be factored into the overall play time. The game also stops becoming something you can just grab off the shelf and play. Which the base game allows you to do.

The limitation to one expansion and mechanic is something that frustrates in both 51st State and Imperial Settlers. On one hand I like the focus and making sure you get to play that new mechanic. On the other having to chose one over the other, and having to play multiple times to try them all, is frustrating. Back to back games in a single session is a rarity (unless it’s one of the filler micro games). As is between sessions. It could be months and years between plays (the draw back of big collections and too many games to play).

So that’s the side of the game that frustrates me.

Update on planning session 7 #3

D&D, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

It’s a hard battle with inner demons, but I’ve nearly avoided being distracted from planning session 7. The current minor detour has been about how they handle planeswalking in D&D. Something that players and DMs will want to do once the new MtG/D&D Theros source book comes out. Between that, Ravnica and the Plane Shift pdf’s there are plenty of MtG planes to explore. But more about this in another post.

Yesterday I did share on Twitter what I thought was a handy tip for DMs that I stumbled upon (yes I’ve not got round to fully reading it yet) while looking at the Infernal Contracts section of the Descent into Avernus campaign book.

Why am I mentioning this here?

A copy of that page from the book will be going into my DM folder for D&D and will be used within the current campaign. The monster table that is rolled against for monsters round Baldur’s Gate is something easily updated to match the ecology round the town in your own campaign.

Although the original plan, or thought anyway was that the Infernal Contract for the player I mentioned in the previous prep post was not something that would or could be done soon.

After watching this D&D Beyond video and reading this encounter from the D&D Beyond encounter series they did leading into the Avernus campaign. I think I should have something prepared in case the appropriate opportunity presents itself.

The suggestion by Chris Perkins in the video of a devil appearing after two failed death saving throws making an offer to save the players life is a pretty cool idea. But the idea of an imp following the party around constantly trying to tempt the party and in-particular the character I had the idea for originally seems pretty fun too.

The encounter also has a pretty cool contracts table that can be customised to my needs for the campaign as well.

So you can see having this stuff prepared and readily to hand for the session and subsequent ones is pretty important now.

I do love how organic this homebrew campaign is. Being able to react to player decisions is pretty cool. It allows me to do stuff like the above.

Off to prep more.