The Games

These are two classic games well-known by people who like this sort of thing. Dominion is the classic deckbduilding game. A deckbuildling game is a game where you start out with some cards and add to your deck by attaining more cards in the game. Dominion does this by buying more cards with your treasure cards. Magic is a game hailed by nerds everywhere because it goes straight to the point – get some cards for creatures who fight and spells to be cast. Also, I’m reviewing this from a standpoint of only having played Magic on Steam and Dominion with no expansions.

The Strengths

Dominion makes you feel nice when you play it. You’re building up your little deck and trying to get victory point cards. Magic makes you feel powerful and awesome (unless you’re losing). Both are really fun though.

THE BATTLEZONE

Strategy- Not really sure who to give this to in regards to strategy. I’m inclined to say Dominion because everyone starts out the same with the same options as everyone else. In Magic, the players start out with different decks. A lot of it is the luck of the draw and what cards you have available at what time and how much land you have. However, it would be unfair to say that Dominion has more strategy, because it really doesn’t feel like it while you’re playing, and you’re too absorbed in Magic to realize that you’re not strategizing. See, in battles, you have to decide when to attack, what to block, what spells to use, when the best time to use your instant spells are, all that stuff. I really can’t say for this one. But if you’re going to talk about outside of the game, then Magic. Because people who get obsessed with Magic will spend hours and days working out how to maximize the efficiency of their decks.

Fun Bits- Again, difficult. Dominion is very happy. Think Owl City. Magic is very intense. Think Dark Knight. Did I just compare an artist to a movie? Yes I did, and I’m not apologizing. If you like happy stuff, then go with Dominion. If you like intense stuff, go with Magic. But to be fair, there definitely are more components to Magic, the artwork is better, the names of spells and creatures are cooler, and the abilities are way more interesting. So, even though this could go either way depending on your taste, I’m going to give it to Magic because if you’re ambivalent (like me), you’ll have to be honest and say that Magic does this better.

Complexity- Magic. Unless you’re very experienced. Basically, as long as you understand the cards that you’ll come across and the way your own cards work in your deck, then Magic shouldn’t be that complex. And it goes without saying to anyone who’s played Dominion that Dominion isn’t complex at all.

Game Variation- Probably Magic. Dominion starts out the same each time, except for the available cards that you can buy in the game. That does change it a lot, but in Magic, there’s always a change of cards and card order. Unless you’re boring and use the same deck over and over. But I guess people who have their “perfect deck” will do that. But they’ve still got to face new opponents each time.

Overall Gameplay- Overall, Dominion will make you happy you played it. It gives you a sense of accomplishment for getting a bunch of good cards whether you win or lose. Unless you’re very unlucky. However, Magic will absorb you so that you forget that you’re just picking up and putting down cards. You’ll think you’re actually fighting with your creatures and spells.

THE VICTOR

I hate to have one of these win over the other. Really. I think they’re both so very awesome. They both have like one thing I think should be better. I wish Magic had more strategy, because for all its intensity, I feel like the winner should deserve to win more on skill than luck. I also wish Dominion could absorb you more. It does, but nowhere near as much as something like Magic. I guess… this is like trying to ask if Merry or Pippin is better. Except if Merry and Pippin were very different. Bad example. Oh well, Magic makes me feel more awesome than Dominion makes me feel happy. So there you go, Magic wins. I’m sorry, Dominion.

So, a few days ago was the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who. Google had an awesome game on their home screen, three doctors (2 of which have thousands of devoted fangirls) were in one episode, and all the nerds rejoiced (even celeb nerds. Who can forget Nathan Fillion’s kind remark on Doctor Who’s age?)

In a belated celebration, I will touch on some of my favorite parts of the entire ordeal. Then I might get angry at the end about some of my least favorite parts.

First of all, the Day of the Doctor was cool. It was mostly really awesome. It had its problems, but they weren’t big enough for me to really mind that much. Now, I know it was important and all because of the thing that happened (this page is supposed to be spoiler free, so yeah…), but I mostly want to concentrate on the inhaler girl. (Is her name supposed to be Yes? If I missed it, I feel bad about myself)

She was more than just a character in my mind. To me, she represented fangirls around the world. They’ll cosplay and obsess over their fandoms, and find joy in that. But when she’s backed into the corner repeating, “The Doctor will save me,” he doesn’t come. The fangirl grows up and solves her problem. She is still able to appreciate and obsess her fandom, but she is able to operate in the real world and cooperate with people, as shown in her last appearance.

Also, all the encounters between the three doctors were simply amazing. ‘Nuff said.

But this is supposed to be a fun page, not a critiquing one (pretend I don’t do board game battlezones) or even that much of a thinking one (remember my ships of the week?). So here’s one of my favorite Doctor Who fan videos. You know, fan videos are one of the most underappreciated art forms out there. I might put one up a week now that I think about this. Anyway, maybe I’ll start now. Here’s one about the eleventh doctor. All the clips are taken from series 5, my absolute favorite season of television, ever. Enjoy. (Look at that, I didn't even get angry. It must be very late right now)

THE GAMES


I'm going to put the two simplest nerdy games against each other. Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. (Simplest is a relative term) I really like both of these games, and this is actually the first time I'm going into this without knowing who the victor is going to be. I'll have to figure that out.



THE STRENGTHS

So there's Settlers of Catan. Anyone related to nerdy gaming appreciates the simplicity of this expansion game. Settle near resources which you harvest when the die rolls say you harvest them, and use those resources to build roads and more settlements to harvest more resources. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, you can upgrade settlements to cities or buy development cards for the opportunity to have knights, victory points, additional knights, some helpful cards, and even some more knights. Every settlement is worth a victory point and every city is worth two victory points. You also get extra points for stuff like largest army and longest road. Fun for people who love to expand by using resources.


There's also Ticket to Ride. This is even simpler and attracts nerds and non-nerds. Basically set train tracks across North America using different colored train cards to lay down a track to connect two cities. For the length of the track you lay, you receive points. You have three destinations (with the option to get more) and they give you additional points based off how hard the two cities are to connect. When you run out of trains, the game ends and whoever has the most points wins. It sounds very simple but is actually a ton of fun to play. 


THE BATTLEZONE

Strategy- Of the two, Settlers of Catan requires more strategy. Where you'll put your settlements and connect roads to require more thought that putting together train tracks in the most logical connection from point A to point B.

Complexity- Again, Settlers of Catan is more complex. As I said before, point A to point B.

Fun Bits- Although Ticket to Ride has the most awesome map and little train pieces, Settlers of Catan has different topographies and resources and extra helpful development cards. Maybe this is a bit of my perspective (maybe Sheldon likes trains more than erecting settlements), but I think Settlers of Catan has more fun bits.

Game Variation- Ticket to Ride can give its players different routes and different cards every time. Settlers of Catan gives you a new map every time. I think it evens out.

Overall Gameplay- It's really fun to imagine yourself making train routes across North America and getting track cards to wow your opponents with your new track that you lay. It's also really fun to build your little empire. In any game. And Settlers of Catan keeps all the fun about empire building and sets aside a ton of the complexity that drives so many people away from empire building games.

THE VICTOR


It is fun to make trains. I'll admit that. But as I review my notes, I have to admit that I personally like starting my own little tribe much better. There's more dominance and fluidity. Also, I think I may be playing Ticket to Ride wrong. Because whenever I play it with my sisters, we always tell each other where we're going to go so that nobody gets upset with each other for getting in anybody's way. Probably a lot of the fun is in blocking people, but we don't like that. So we go for die rolls in attaining resources. Anyway, I say Settlers of Catan wins.

The Games

All right, I've put this off for far too long. The real reason I really kicked out ships of the week to put in board game battlezones (besides my lack of creativity for making new ships every week): to advertise the awesomeness of Twilight Imperium, my favorite board game of all time. Sort of a spoiler in regards to who's going to win this one. I decided to put it up against Axis and Allies because that comes closest in my mind to Twilight Imperium. However, I'm in the middle of my first game of Civilization, so that assessment may change. But for now, I'm putting Axis and Allies vs. Twilight Imperium.


The Strengths

Twilight Imperium: A game of epic galactic conquest in which you play as an alien (or human) race. Starting from your home system, you can go out and colonize planets, attack other races, and build your empire in an attempt to fulfill your secret objective as well as various public objectives that come into play. Turn order is determined by strategy cards which assist you during the game round. It's an incredibly complex game, and it takes about an hour and a half to fully explain, so please understand that the above description does not begin to explain the awesomeness of it. Also, it leaves out a few, very minor problems.

Axis and Allies: A game where you play as either America, Britain, Germany, Russia, Japan, or a combination of Allied or Axis powers starting out during 1942. For every geographic territory you control, you receive a certain number of IPC points which let you buy more stuff for whatever country you are playing. It has a great mixture of land, naval, and air combat. It probably expresses grand-scale combat better than any other game I've played.

THE BATTLEZONE

Strategy- At first I was going to say that Axis and Allies needs  a ton of military strategy, but because Twilight Imperium has more than just military (it also has politics, trade, colonization, production (I guess Axis and Allies has production too), objectives, technology, etc) it has more strategy. However, I have to admit that I find Twilight Imperium strategy easier than Axis and Allies strategy. Maybe that's because I'm not that good at military or I just work better with spaceships. Probably it's because I don't like the naval warfare in Axis and Allies even though it's done very well. It's not a fault of the people who made Axis and Allies, I just don't like having to fight almost two different wars on sea and land. So, I guess it's more like Axis and Allies has two very specific strategies (sea and land) that require a lot of thought, whereas in Twilight Imperium there are many strategies, but more luck because of action cards, domain counters, and whatnot. So, it sort of depends on what kind of person you are.

Complexity- Twilight Imperium wins this battle hands down. Unless you think it's too complex. But I like complexity. There's so much depth to Twilight Imperium that there's almost an infinite number of strategies to take to win depending on the infinite board variations. Granted, Axis and Allies is pretty complicated, but it doesn't come close to Twilight Imperium.

Fun Bits- Again, I have to say that Twilight Imperium wins hands down. There're so many little space ships carefully designed and beautiful artwork. Fantasy Flight even made a whole history for each of the eighteen different races. There's an interestingly made tech chart and interesting racial abilities. The action cards make the game so much fun for me, which is why I love the Yysaril Tribes so much. I could go on and on with the little things that make this game so much fun, but I'll stop here. I guess if you like World War II, then that'll make Axis and Allies fun.

Game Variation- Once again, Twilight Imperium wins hands down. In Axis and Allies, there is one board with the same five countries who always place the same units in the same locations and start out with the same IPC number. It's not very varying. However, Twilight Imperium changes the board with each game, changes the races each game, changes the domain counters on the planets each game, changes the placement of action cards, political cards, and objective cards each game, changes the strategy cards each round... It goes on, but again, I'll stop.

Overall Gameplay- Now, I'm not going to lie and say that Axis and Allies isn't fun to play. It is. Who wouldn't have fun making alternate history, having Japan attack Alaska, and devote a lot of mental resources to figuring out how to militarily defeat your opponent. But when compared with Twilight Imperium, it doesn't stand much of a chance, at least in my books. Twilight Imperium allows you to conquer the galaxy and really make your race thrive. It wins.

TWILIGHT IMPERIUM IS THE VICTOR!


So not much more needs to be said. 

I will now begin a new series that will (hopefully) continue. It’s called the Board Game Battlezone, because I will set up two board games which market to similar customers, and analyze what makes each of them good and which one is better.

Now, I will use the term board game very liberally, as at some point, I’ll probably pit Dominion against Magic: The Gathering (and maybe even pit DnD against Dragon Age), but anyway, just a warning. I considered calling this just: Game Battlezone, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it as Board Game Battlezone.

So, for the first Board Game Battlezone, I’ll put probably two of the first really great board games against each other: Chess and Go. 

The Games

If you don’t know chess, you don’t know life.

If you don’t know Go, I’ll cut you some slack. Imagine a chessboard with small squares and a lot of lines. Now imagine black and white, almost Othello-like pieces. Those are the components. You take turns with your opponent placing your pieces on the intersections of the lines on the board. The object is to completely surround your opponent’s pieces with your own. If you do so, you capture all of the surrounded pieces by taking them off the board and you keep playing. Simple, yet elegant. And so astronomically difficult it can drive you sort of insane. It is even said that the Go masters play chess to relax. Yeah, that’s right.

The Strengths

Chess’s Strengths: It has cool-looking pieces with varied movements and a very straightforward objective. There’s enough simplicity so that anyone can pick it up, enough diversity to keep it interesting, and enough difficulty to consume the thought processes of great minds. It’s been around for a while and insanely popular for good reason.

Go’s Strengths: If you’re a person who enjoys Sudoku or Mensa stuff like that, you’ll just gobble this game up. It’s incredibly simplistic, but somehow so agonizingly complex that sometimes your brain will fry. Whereas in chess, you’ll have to think ahead a few turns to get away with being good, in Go, you’ll have to practically plan the whole game from the start if you want to have a foolproof strategy.

THE BATTLEZONE 

Strategy- Although chess has been renowned as a game for smart people, it pales in comparison to the mental capacities required by Go.

Fun bits- However, because Go is so bland, chess does have an upper hand in the more “fun bits.” (I’ll probably use that term more often, so let me give a brief explanation: Fun bits will be defined as nuances of a game that could be changed without fundamentally destroying the essence of the game and are there to add strategy, intrigue, and spice to the gameplay. In the case of chess, these would be the awesome-looking chess pieces and their movements, excluding the King.) While Go has just some black and white stone things, chess has awesome knights, kings, bishops, rooks.

Complexity: Both are complex games. In chess, you’ve got different types of things to worry about, whereas in Go you’ve got a ton of the same thing to worry about in a ton of places in different ways. For most, people I’d say Go is more complex, but possibly not in a good way, considering that many people like complexity to be tied to different aspects.

Game Variation:  Both chess and Go have the same game setup each game, and both can range from similar game experiences to vastly different. They’re about equal here.

Overall Gameplay: Overall, chess is more interesting whereas Go is more intriguing, if that makes any sense. There’s almost a character list of pieces in chess to choose to play with, each with their own personality. And there’s the simple yet infinitely complex game of Go. Those Asians really love simple stuff taken to extreme levels of thought. Or just simple stuff. Like Haikus.

THE VICTOR

Although Go is really a great concept, I have to go with chess. There’s a reason it’s more popular than Go. In chess, you feel like you’re really leading your people in battle, while in Go, it’s all, “hey look, there’s some black and white stones on a board.” Nothing against simplicity, but I think Go takes it too far. Plus, for me anyway, chess makes me think ahead as far as I can or even want to. In Go, I pretty much hope for the best when placing my tiles.

There you have it, tune in some time in the near future for another Board Game Battlezone!

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Frodo and Bilbo... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Live long and prosper over in Valinor, you two. Everyone else, enjoy this.

These two... 

That's all I'm going to say about this ship.

And also, there'd be a never-ending amount of sass and stuff. Yeah...

Usually, I'll come up with my own ships (or at least, what I think are my own ships. There are so many crazy people out there, someone's probably already shipped whoever you've shipped already) 

But today, I will steal probably one of the awesomest ships I've ever heard of. TARDIS/Imapla. 

One travels through time and space. The other stopped the apocalypse. Both are used as a means of transportation, and both are undeniably awesome.

So there you go. Even though neither of these are really people, they both are alive. Obviously the TARDIS is living, but I also consider the Impala to be alive, and my only evidence is what it did during the apocalypse. Anyway, I totally ship these two.

This is probably one of my favorite ships. On one hand, you have Clara Oswald, funny, quick-witted, and lover of a good time. And then you have George, who is just as funny and quick-witted, and he can make a good time out of anything.