My formative tv years were the 70’s and 80’s. I grew up watching “classics” like Kung Fu, The Water Margins, and Monkey, among many others.

But you are probably thinking wtf has this got to do with board games? Today I was meant to be playing Mechs vs Minions with Diego at our usual gaming hang out. However there was a little hiccup in the plan. Yep where we planned to play wasn’t actually open because of the bank holiday. So we had to go to an alternate venue to play. Naturally the new place Wetherspoons isn’t ideal for Mechs and Minions. So I had quickly nipped back home, and picked up a selection of 2 player games more suitable for a pub environment.

Yes I know I still haven’t established a link, bare with me.

Out of the selection of games I’d taken along we went with my kickstarter deluxe copy of Tao Long: The Way of The Dragon. Yes I was finally getting the game to the table. Within the game there are several modes to the game play. There is a novice/rookie mode called Grasshopper, then an intermediate mode called Monk, followed by the Master mode, and then finally a “The Chosen One” mode. As you advance the more sophisticated the game play gets, until you get to the The Chosen One Level.

Which as the screenshot above shows from the rules is pretty intense.

But it’s that rookie grasshopper mode that is my link to the opening sentence. Who from my generation would not think of that classic series and the flashbacks to the monetary and Caine’s journey to enlightenment? Or even the British comedians who did comedy skits based on those scenes on 70’s tv?

But back to the game. The components in this edition of the game, and the neoprene board are fantastic, and despite a simplicity stunning. And for being in essence an abstract game really generates an oriental feel to the game. I like Tsuro, but for me this is going to be my duelling dragons game of choice. It has that aerial battle feel, but with more strategy involved.

The strategy comes in the form of the Ba Gau part of the board where you select the action you want to take. There is some hard decision making going on here. You want/have to take a move, but if you do it leaves your opponent open to attack you, or manoeuvre into a more favourable position. This is surprisingly deep considering how simple a mechanic it is. But in Master mode it gets even deeper and more complicated! But we didn’t play at that level today.

If you rethemed this game as light cycles, it could be the light cycle arena from Tron (a movie I love) or a board game of snake (That old Nokia game).

We played the following map layouts: The Field, The Valley, The Gorge, The Torus, and The Cave.

Naturally our first game was The Field while we got used to the rules, flow of a turn, and discovered a couple of misplays. We then worked our way through the map layouts introducing new game elements such as portals and obstacles. We hit The Torus and it’s much smaller play area last and played about 4 games with that layout. Out of 8 games I won just 1. Yes Diego royally kicked my butt at this game. The only break in our games was when we stopped to consume out burger and chips for lunch. Hey it’s the safest thing they do at spoons. Very little for them to get wrong.

Despite that thrashing from Diego I enjoyed playing the game. It joins a handful (if that) of great abstract games I have in my collection now. I think Tao Long will make it in the bag for games to take to UKGE to hopefully play.

I did have my revenge on Diego afterwards by boring him with how I don’t get these youtubers and what kids see in them. Plus other ramblings of some-one who has seen better years. But still a great day gaming with a great friend, who will make a fantastic dad when his daughter arrives at the end of the month.