The News Bulletin that Highlights www.SaskGames.

com Content

March/April 2016

Welcome to the SaskGames News Bulletin. We at SaskGames are working to strengthen the
gaming community in Saskatchewan by sending out a periodic bulletin to inform the gaming
community of events and other game related news.
Play On, Saskatchewan!

Looking For Group The Marketplace What’s Hitting the Table

Member bio info and people looking for The marketplace: Post items to buy, sell, Members share insights about games
game groups: HERE or trade HERE that are hitting their table HERE

2016 Gaming Goals Locally Developed Games Game Store Directory

Some members are sharing their 2016 There is a section for showcasing You can find a directory of Saskatchewan
gaming goals and progress HERE Saskatchewan made games & products game stores HERE
HERE

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 1

 Table of Contents Venues

Here is a listing of venues. Simply put,

venues are physical locations where
Google Map of Venues.................................................................................................2 games are played.
Coming Events................................................................................................................3 ComicReaders (Downtown Regina)
Upcoming Conventions & Expos..............................................................................3 Tramps (Regina)
Play With Your Food.......................................................................................................4 Dragon’s Den Games (Saskatoon)
ChewsDay Challenge (Regina)
Kickstarter Corner..........................................................................................................5 Games on Tap (Regina)
What’s Hitting the Table...............................................................................................8 Strategy Saturday (Regina)
Prairie Game eXpo (Regina)
The Yardmaster’s Report............................................................................................12 Wokbox (South Regina)
Through the Lens.........................................................................................................16 FRAG Game Days (Regina)
FOW: First Wednesday Night of Every Month Demo.......................................17 Adult Science Night (Regina)
Moosomin Board Lords
The SaskGames Word Search...................................................................................19 Miscellaneous Events
Call For Volunteers.......................................................................................................22
About SaskGames........................................................................................................22
Google Map
of Venues

Welcome To New Members

We would like to extend a welcome
to the new SaskGames members.
This is a list of members who signed
up during the previous month.
Welcome, and happy gaming!!

DraconicGamr FelixC
Heather78 wlow
Eric_004 HarlequinFame
mmcalon Anthony
Richardson
Bonesaw Ryddari
BigTurk eldon
JusticeTheBear scukes
ManOfScience dmg796
willy_high Getschelr
Cover Photo Credit xiaosen Jimbo
Cover photo by Dana Tillusz of the Boardgame Sandysidamo Michaelbaumet
Pikeman, a Looney Pyramid game. jkulbi Arclight306
If you have a photo you have taken and would like to showcase it, Ludocrazy Jbod
send to Photos@SaskGames.com Maia_ann SurplusOfPopes
jhenke Aetherian
If you want to discuss this issue, feel free to join the discussion
jstengler Haras
or post your thoughts HERE

Next Issue will come out on June 15th, 2016

Submission Deadline is June 1st, 2016.

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 2

 Coming Events
Here is what is coming up in the next 45 days. This is copied directly from the SaskGames site. Click on any of the following
events to learn more. If you know of additional events, please make sure they get set up on SaskGames so they will automatically
appear here. If you want, SaskGames has a full Calendar of events that you can view online.

• Tramp’s: Modern Magic - 13 May • Tramp’s: Weiss Schwarz - 19 May

• ComicReaders Downtown: Magic (FNM) - 13 May
• Tramp’s: Warhammer 40k Escalation League - 13 May
• Dragons Den: Board Game Night - 13 May
• Strategy Saturday - 14 May
• PWYF Megagame “Urban Nightmare” - 14 May
• Tramp’s: Cardfight Vanguard - 14 May
• Tramp’s: X-Wing - 14 May
• Dragons Den: Warmachine/Hordes - 14 May
• Dragons Den: Pokemon TCG - 14 May
• Comicreaders Downtown: X-Wing Tournament - 14 May
• ComicReaders Downtown: Magic (Modern) - 15 May
• Tramp’s: Warhammer 40k - 15 May
• Chewsday Challenge - 17 May
• Tramp’s: Pokemon Freeplay - 17 May
• O’Hanlons: Games On Tap - 18 May
• ComicReaders Downtown: Casual Magic (Cube) - 18 May
• Moosomin Board Lords Game Night - 18 May
• ComicReaders Downtown (Warmachine) - 18 May
• Dragons Den: D&D Adventurer’s League - 18 May
• SaskGames Executive Meeting - 19 May
• ComicReaders Downtown: X-Wing - 19 May
• Dragons Den: Warmachine/Hordes - 19 May
• Dragons Den: Living Card Games - 19 May
• Dragons Den: MTG Casual Play - 19 May
• Tramp’s: Modern Magic - 20 May
• ComicReaders Downtown: Magic (FNM) - 20 May
• Tramp’s: Warhammer 40k Escalation League - 20 May
• Dragons Den: Board Game Night - 20 May
• Dragons Den: Game of Thrones LCG Regionals - 21 May
• Tramp’s: Cardfight Vanguard - 21 May
• Tramp’s: X-Wing - 21 May
• ComicReaders Downtown: Magic (Draft) - 22 May
• Tramp’s: Warhammer 40k - 22 May
• ComicReaders Downtown: 40K Tournament - 22 May
• Dragons Den: Pathfinder Society - 22 May
• Chewsday Challenge - 24 May
• Tramp’s: Pokemon Freeplay - 24 May
• O’Hanlons: Games On Tap - 25 May
• ComicReaders Downtown: Casual Magic - 25 May
• Moosomin Board Lords Game Night - 25 May

Upcoming
Conventions & Expos
Here is a list of Gaming Conventions and Fan Expos. This list
contains events that are both local and abroad. As events
get set up on the SaskGames website, these events will
link to the listing and provide more details. There are many
fantastic events on the horizon for you to get your gaming
fix.These events provide a great opportunity to play some of
the longer epic games.

- May 2016 - Prairie Game eXpo - Regina, Saskatchewan

SG Fundraiser @ O’hanlons - April 2016

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 3


It is 2016 and that means another Play With your Food event!
This year’s version will be held October 15th at the Souls
Harbour facility on Dewdney Avenue. We are hoping to have
120 participants again this year spending an amazing 24hrs
playing board games and raising money for an amazing
charity!
Over the 4 years this has been running almost $80,000 have
been raised – last year alone we raised $38,275 which was a
monumental achievement!
March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter
Play With Your Food
by Murray Bennett
This year we have set our goal for $25,000 but I know with this
amazing group of people we can smash that!
Registration is live right now if you want to get a team together
and enter the event. Please go to PWYF.ca to register your
team and get going on fundraising!
Some teams already have active fundraising projects on the
go and I know there are some creative ideas out there! Once
you have an idea make sure to post on Play With Your Food:
A SaskGames Charity Initiative so everyone can see what you
are up to and contribute to your team’s success!
Also, please stay tuned to the web page for an announcement
of Saskatchewan’s second MegaGame coming soon. All funds
from this will go to Souls Harbour!
http://pwyf.saskgames.com
Page 4
 Kickstarter Corner
by Nicole Persram

The Kickstarter Corner is a thread under the SaskGames Forum dedicated to current, upcoming and past Kickstarter crowdsourcing
projects. Kickstarter is a platform where users can pledge money towards a project, and if that project meets its minimum funding
goal, the product will be made. There has been a big board game boom on the platform, and it’s a good opportunity to either get
games before they hit retail or to get a lot of extra goodies or promos, while helping fund the games you are interested in. Show your
support to new ideas, new opportunities, and aspiring game creators and go back something on Kickstarter Corner.

One of the exciting features of this set is that it comes with

Pyramid Arcade is a complete boxed set of 22 of the best
games for the Looney Pyramids. Whether you are new to
Looney Pyramids or have been playing with them for years,
this game set will bring you endless hours of enjoyment!
From fast games to long games, luck games to strategy
games, simple dexterity games to brain-burning puzzle
games, games for two and games for ten.
Many of the games in this collection are pure abstracts, but
some will take you to other worlds. Get ready to become
everything from a microbe fighting for control of a petri
dish to a galactic overlord commanding an interstellar
space fleet. You’ll build rockets, hack computers, send
armies across epic battle fields, and fight as both insects on
a flower petal and space marines teleporting between lunar
outposts.
a deck of Arcade Cards which depict each of the 22 games.
These cards essentially form a playable table of contents. They
can be used to help choose which game you want to play and
what components you will need to play it. They also tell how
long it will take to play, how difficult the game is, and how
many people can play.
All those game details will be on one side of the cards,
with a unique “patch” design for that game on the back. We
thought about making these cardbacks uniform; however, the
choosing process is more about considering all the options
than randomly selecting a card, and when randomness is
desired, the chooser can simply close their eyes.
Pyramid Arcade has its origins in a story Andy wrote in 1987. He
described an imaginary board game played with colorful little
pyramids, called Icehouse, which was as commonplace and

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 5

 popular in Andy’s fictional reality as Chess or Backgammon
in ours. He also put forth that the game was originally played
100,000 years ago, on Mars, and that knowledge of Icehouse
had been passed down from the ancient Martians who’d fled
their dying planet so long ago. Andy described this imaginary
game with a tantalizing level of detail: long on some specifics,
but with a lot of hand-waving required by the fact that he
hadn’t actually learned how to design games yet.

The concept of Icehouse took fire in the imaginations of some

of the people who read the story, including one of Andy’s
oldest friends, John Cooper, who came up with a working set
of rules for a game very much like the one Andy had described,
and Kristin Wunderlich, Andy’s co-worker at NASA and future
wife, who dreamed of starting a company to publish this
new game as soon as she saw Andy and John playing it as
obsessively as the characters in Andy’s stories.

They started publishing hand-made pyramid sets back in

1989, and after a few years they started inventing more games
for the pyramids. But the challenge of getting real plastic
pyramids manufactured was difficult to overcome back then
(they had no Kickstarter!), so Kristin challenged Andy to invent
something that would be easier to publish (“How about a card
game?”) and that’s how Fluxx got started.

Fluxx was an instant success, which allowed their new

company, Looney Labs, to finally create the first injection-
molded pyramid sets, in 1999. Since then, they’ve changed
the way they sell the pyramids a number of different times
as gameplay innovations have taken them in new directions.
As the number of games for the pyramids continued to grow,

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 6

 so did the complexity of the system. What game do you start
with? What equipment do you need? Where do you find all
the rules?

For many years they’ve been selling the Pyramids in a minimal

way, with products like Ice Dice, Treehouse, and Pink Hijinks
which featured just a couple of easy games as starting points,
and boxes simply of pyramids, for the DIY pyramid gamer
to create their own collections. Meanwhile, Andy has been
creating yet more cool games, but not releasing them, saving
them up for this, the ultimate pyramid game collection. Six of
the twenty-two games in Pyramid Arcade are unpublished,
but well tested.

Pyramid Arcade is the culmination of over 25 years of iterative

design and product development experience. This one big
box will have everything you need to play an incredible range
of fun board games. Get ready to plunge into the creative,
challenging, and addictive world of Looney Pyramids!

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 7


Taken straight from the forum on
Saskgames with the same title, this is a
series of reviews, highlights and options
from the player Ryan Newell.
February Report
The wife has had an itching to play
some Arkham Horror recently, so we
played a few games of that. I have 3
big expansions and 3 small expansions,
which is really too much to incorporate
at one time: the footprint becomes
unwieldy, the amount of administration
increases with each option you include,
and the flavour of each expansion
gets diluted in those massive decks of
cards. So we now select one expansion
March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter
What’s Hitting the Table
for each play and focus on all of its
goodies and just ignore card draws from
other expansions (we simply discard
them during rather than remove them
beforehand).
In the first game, we utilized Innsmouth
Horror. We allowed too many gates
to open, which awoke the Great Old
One, Bokrug. He devoured us quickly
since we neglected to weaken him
throughout the game by killing his
followers. We used The Lurker at the
Threshold in the second. This was a fairly
long and epic game, though perhaps a
little light on tension until the end. We
managed to seal three gates in one turn,
which allowed us to have the requisite
number of elder signs on the board
for victory. We were lucky, though,
that a seventh gate didn’t open while
our three intrepid investigators were
traveling through the Other Worlds, or
Ghataothoa would have devoured our
world without mercy.
We also played back-to-back games
of Firefly: The Game, both using the
“Down and Out” scenario from the small
Esmerelda expansion. Like Arkham
Horror, this game is bloated now with
all the expansion material, but in this
case we prefer to play it all-in. The
wife creamed me in the first game but
By Ryan Newell
I won the second in a very tight race.
This is actually a pretty good scenario
for playing shorter sessions, and it’s a
little more competitive since you are
using a small common pool of available
jobs rather than each player having an
individual hand of jobs to work.
The two of us also played a couple games
of Eclipse so I could refresh the rules for
a big 6-player game that I’ll be running
in the near future. She beat me in a tie-
breaker in game one. I ended up with
a much higher score in game two after
she became over-aggressive with her
number of actions in the final round and
had to give up a lot of influence to avoid
bankruptcy. She also underestimated
the offensive capabilities of my cruisers
(no hulls; all guns and initiative). I need
to find a better storage solution for this
one. My box must have at least 40 zip
lock baggies in there.
Page 8
 Tried another game of A Study in
Emerald (second edition), this time
with 4 players. I had a better handle on
strategy but didn’t manage to improve
my score very much. Maybe I didn’t
have a better handle on strategy...
I also tried Isle of Skye: From Chieftan
to King. Never heard of it before. It
reminded me of Carcassonne when the
rules were first being explained, but
once we started playing it reminded me
more of something like Alhambra with
a Knizia-esque auction phase. And with
Feld-ian “points salad” scoring. I liked
the simple auction phase, especially
having to valuate your own tiles that will
be up for sale based on what you want
to keep and what you think others will
be willing to pay. The tile laying phase,
though, is pretty straight-forward and
not terribly interesting. Since you each
have your own tableau, you can’t really
mess with other people.
--
I took part in three sessions of
Codenames, which is far and away my
favourite word/party game. The best
moment of the day came in when an
exasperated opponent said, “let’s just
touch fork.” And they did. And it gave
them the win.
I taught Thunder Road a few times.
This 80s Milton Bradley title, inspired
strongly by the Mad Max movies, pairs
perfectly with beer and pretzels. I died
historic. Witness!
March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter
I played a game of Rhino Hero, which
I’d never heard of before. It’s a combo
of Jenga, Uno, and building a house of
cards. It’s quite fun, though I prefer my
tower-fall-down games to be made with
wood. The noise is important. Which
is why I quite enjoyed a few sessions
of Villa Paletti. When that sucker falls,
neighbouring tables look up to see
what just happened. I managed to do
pretty well at that one, despite my shaky
fingers.
I was in a 4-player game of A Game of
Thrones (first edition). I played as the
Lannisters and took Westeros with 5
strongholds in final scoring, winning in a
tie-breaker. I enjoy this game more now
than I did when I first played it years ago.
It’s aged well, I think.
I took part in a game of Railways of the
World. I stretched my rail line from the
Gulf of Mexico to Minnesota. And took
out a lot of bonds to do it. I ended up in
last place, but I have the moral victory of
establishing an important shipping line
that will benefit America’s north-west
for generations. (I take moral victories
where I can get them.)
I was taught the game Guildhall, which
is a tableau builder with some screwage.
Unfortunately, I think the screwage
tends to mostly extend the length of
the game, so it’s both welcome and
unwelcome. Fun little game, though.
Just maybe a bit too long.
I took part in an epic game of Eclipse.
Six players and almost five hours. All the
fixings, including the freshly released
Shadow of the Rift expansion. This was
probably the craziest, most combat-
filled, and unpredictable game of Eclipse
I’ve played. Very fun and competitive.
This really needs to hit the table more
often. I think I still prefer Twilight
Imperium 3, but this is much easier to
get to the table with the people I most
commonly game with.
I tried Risk 2210 A.D.. I’m a big fan of
Rob Daviau and Craig Van Ness. I think
they’re superb when it comes to making
family-friendly games about killing each
other with dice. There were only two of
us for this session, which isn’t at all ideal
for this type of game, so I hope to play
it again soon with four or five players. I
ended up crushing my opponent using
the brilliant strategy of rolling really
high on my dice. His strategy of rolling
really low didn’t work nearly as well.
I also got to enjoy a few hilarious
sessions of Space Alert. I just... I want to
look out the window so much...
--
I played a couple solo games of Lord of
the Rings, once to refresh myself on the
rules, and once to try incorporating the
Battlefields expansion. I lost really badly
in both sessions. The expansion boards
are extremely ugly (they’re baffling
flowcharts when taken out of context)
but do change up the game quite a
bit. And they definitely ramp up the
difficulty. It’ll take me a while to find the
proper balance between focusing on the
hobbits and their long journey to Mount
Doom and the Fellowship protecting
Middle Earth from the incursions of
Sauron’s minions.
Sometimes I get over-enamoured by
long, epic games with lots of theme,
so I end up not playing games like For
Sale as often as I should. What a little
gem (it reminds me a lot of another
little favourite, No Thanks!). I won
both sessions we played because I was
teaching a couple of newbies and there
is a bit of a learning curve on how to
value the cards you’re bidding on. The
second game was much closer than the
first, though.
Page 9

I played another game of A Study in
Emerald, this time with three players. I
think the board isn’t congested enough
in the early part of the game at this
player count. It needs four or five for
players to really rub shoulders (and
elbow each other in the ribs).
I broke out Mansions of Madness
for the first time in a long while, using
the ‘Til Death Do Us Part Print-On-
Demand expansion. I got to play as
an investigator, which was a rare treat.
My fellow investigator and I made the
mistake of trying to kill all the zombies
that the Keeper was sending at us, which
cost us too much time. In the future, I’m
just going to try and evade them. This
isn’t a combat game, it’s a Scooby-Doo-
esqe mystery game, but I can’t not try
and shoot things in the face that are
shambling towards me.
My buddy is a huge fan of the entirely
unique Sherlock Holmes Consulting
Detective. I got him a copy of the old
expansion, The Mansions Murders,
which adds five more cases to solve and
includes a twist on the existing system
by adding a three-level mansion as an
uber-location for each case. We solved
March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter
case #11: The Termination of a Teetotaler
with little difficulty, and then went back
and solved the secondary mystery
(each case typically has more than just
the primary case to solve). Fun stuff, as
always.
Another six-player game of Eclipse. The
base game was always a superlative
design, but the expansions and promo
material really have helped it grow as
it’s become more of a satisfying balance
between being an efficiency engine
with combat and a thematic sandbox.
Which means it now sits precisely in my
wheelhouse. This was the first game in
which I saw Alliances being used, and
those two players ended up sharing
victory. (A hollow, yellow-bellied victory,
but technically still a victory.)
I took part in a very fun tournament of
Baseball Highlights: 2045, an early
fundraiser for the 2016 Play With Your
Food. Neither my teammate nor I did
a very good job of building our decks
with any kind of synergy, so we did
increasingly poorly as the round-robin
went on. We did not qualify for the semi-
finals. Neat game that does a surprisingly
fun job of melding abstractions of both
the game of baseball and the business
of baseball. Fans of Blood Bowl: Team
Manager would find a lot to like here
(and vice versa).
I tried the game Boss Monster: The
Dungeon Building Card Game, which I
received from my brother for Christmas.
He doesn’t know anything about
games, but the game’s box caught
his eye. Which it should, because the
game’s box is awesome. The game
itself is pretty decent, too. It’s a very fun
theme (playing the bad guy in an old-
school side-scroller) and the mechanics
are pretty clever. I’ll probably get the
expansions since I don’t think the base
game has enough variety to have a lot
of longevity.
I tried Thunder Road with just two
players. The game benefits from the
added mayhem of a full complement of
players clogging up the road.
March Report
More Through the Ages: A Story
of Civilization with the wife. She
absolutely crushed me in a game that
had a strange lack of new areas to
colonize, so population was very low.
I squeaked out a victory in a rematch.
I’m now at the point where the rules
are completely and fairly permanently
internalized, which is great because this
game was previously a bit intimidating
to teach. Now I could teach it in my
sleep.
I’m a big fan of one vs. several / hidden
movement games (like Fury of Dracula
or Letters from Whitechapel), so was
quite excited to try Specter Ops. There
were five players for this session, which,
at that player count, adds the extra fun
of a hidden traitor. It’s a clever game,
and definitely fun, but I feel the muddy
map and less relatable theme relegate
it below the best-in-class titles listed
above.
I played in an epic, five-player game of
Xia: Legends of a Drift System with
pretty much all the fixings. I’m pretty
ambivalent on this one after one play.
I’m impressed by the breadth of this
sandbox in space but, in the end, it has
the same qualities that made people
move on in the 90s from games like
classic Risk: it’s overly reliant on dice,
goes on for more hours than it needs to,
and has lots of downtime between turns.
Page 10
 Really, its most interesting qualities are
shared by other similar games that I’d
probably opt for instead of Xia if given
a choice (Merchant of Venus and Firefly
being its closest cousins; Mage Knight
is a more distant cousin but still has
an obvious family resemblance). I did
have fun with Xia, but I think it would be
better with fewer players to quicken the
pace and shorten the overall play time
(I’m guessing three players would be the
sweet spot).
I’m not a fan of 7 Wonders. I once read
a comment in a forum comparing it to
a knitting circle and I thought that was
apt. 7 Wonders: Duel improves on its
progenitor by narrowing in on active
rather than passive competition. The
additional victory conditions are also
welcomed. Chintzy production, though.
The small building cards are thin and
weak while my wonder cards came
badly warped.
Bounce-Off is beer pong for kids. It’s a
cute novelty that I’d play again but don’t
need in my games closet.
I struggled through teaching a game
of Imperial, which was new to all
five players involved. I say struggled
because a) the rulebook is overly vague
in places, b) I hadn’t internalized the rules
beforehand as much as I should have,
and c) it’s just such a different, intricate
design. I don’t mean it’s a complex game
March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter
-- despite what the rulebook would have
you believe, player actions are incredibly
quick and straight-forward -- but
rather it’s intricate in how the various
elements of the game interact. It’s not
at all obvious at the outset what one
should do to start laying the foundation
for victory. Between the conflicts (or
peaceful movements) unfolding on the
map, the importance of taxation to fill
the national treasuries, knowing when
to trigger investments in a way that will
be to your own benefit while also being
to the detriment of the other players
(and knowing how to cushion yourself
so that others can’t trigger investments
at your own detriment)... there is just so
much to consider with each and every I lost a fairly competitive game of
action. A very impressive design that Twilight Struggle in the semi-finals
takes the foundation of Diplomacy and of the 2015 Play With Your Food
builds something quite unique. fundraising league. It really seemed
more competitive than it was, though.
-- I got lucky with the scoring cards I was
dealt in the first two rounds that I was
Still more Through the Ages: A Story of able to play as headlines, which gave
Civiliazation. A few close games, one me (the US) an early lead. By mid-war,
of which ended in a tie. I suspect this though, the map was painted in red,
will be my most played game this year. especially in the higher scoring regions.
The fact that it takes us only about two I finally succumbed with the final card
minutes to set up certainly helps. played in the final round: Africa scored
6 for my opponent, causing an instant
win of 20 points. I’m very glad I joined
the league; I definitely have a deeper
understanding of the game than I used
to. Now I just need to get a copy of the
Deluxe version...
Following that, we played two games of
Summoner Wars. We swapped races
in a Fallen Kingdom versus Mountain
Vargath matchup. The Mountain Vargath
Mage Knight Board Game finally hit won both games, bullying the undead
the table in 2016. We played the full with their more powerful attacks. Each
conquest (competitive) scenario using race has such a distinct flavour that
characters from the base game. I ended comes through very strongly in how the
up having a pretty dominant session games unfold.
by managing to attain a total of 15 (!)
advanced action cards, a few spells,
and a few artefacts by the time we were
done. Next time, I think we need to
jump into more of the scenarios from
the Shades of Tezla expansion.
I taught another game of Taj Mahal.
For the most part, the rules are pretty
simple, but there are a few nuances I’ll
have to remember to emphasize next
time I’m teaching it. I think it is a solid,
second-tier Knizia game.
Page 11
 THE
Yardmaster’s
Report
by Tyler McLaughlin
Train games are a very interesting niche of our hobby.
There are a significant number of games in the genre of
varying styles and complexity. There are also a number
of passionate hobbyists that specialize in this genre.
This column will feature the stylistic musings of Tyler
McLaughlin from Medicine Hat. He will keep you “on track”
with any information you need on train games.
My Dinner With Federico
In my time dabbling with train games, now and again
something truly spectacular will come along and surprise
me. Just when I thought I had seen it all, a novel mechanism
will pop out of the woodwork, or an interesting and elegant
solution to a thematic difficulty will introduce itself as if
by magic. These moments are not only as inspiring as they
are uncommon, (to me anyway. You may be more easily
impressed…) but they serve us as a hobby in general and
help to facilitate the progression of design. These ideas, (and
you can see evidence of this all over modern game design) are
borrowed, turned over, squeezed and pressed flat into new
games, parts of games, the scoring tie breaker of games, you
name it.
The reason I bring this up is because even rarer are the occasions
when something wholly original, something new and exciting
waltzes into your periphery. (Food Chain Magnate. Look it
up.) When these moments happen, you have to be ready. You
have to be able to recognize the moment for what it is, you
have to know enough to seize it and run with it. You have to
grab hold and make it yours. I always want the best for my
readership, (both of you guys are sweet.) so instead of wishing
you exciting opportunities in gaming, I will instead wish you
the foresight and knowledge to recognize what exactly the
exciting opportunities are that present themselves to you.
Here’s the part where I get to tell you about one such
opportunity where I kinda - sorta caught on to what was
happening. Roughly forever ago, I started to get interested
in this whole 18xx business all the kids were going on about.
I looked around and found out what was commercially
available and what wasn’t. I decided my 1st 18xx purchase
was to be 1856, for a few reasons. It was available for a good
March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter
price, it was set in Canada and it seemed like a good idea at
the time. Once I had bashed my head against the rules for a
while, I was convinced I could teach my friends, they would
love it and I would be on my way.
Our first game of 1856 (and everyone’s intro to the system)
took us 14 hours to not finish. I was pretty disappointed,
but NOWHERE NEAR as upset as the people I invited to that
debacle. Swearing, gnashing of teeth, rubbed temples and
a large collective sigh at the beginning of every operating
round were the order for that afternoon. (Remember, these
are people that would talk about Power Grid as being a heavy
game…) I had underestimated my new game’s ability to lay
out gamers and overestimated my friends enthusiasm for
my new game. (POR: We now routinely play this game to full
completion in around 3.5 hours…)
Fast forward a bit (a couple of years anyway) and I decided
to try my hand at Print and Play 18xx. I could explore more
titles, try some things I would otherwise not be able to and
it was going to be cheap. (I’ll touch on just how daft that last
thought was in a subsequent article.) 1800 is a 2 player offering
from Railgamer Magazine that a BGG user did a graphical
overhaul on. I started there because it was very small and if
I screwed it up really badly, I wouldn’t be out too much time
or money. Unfortunately, it’s not much of a game, more like
a representation of some things that are possible within the
system. Good thing for me I was too naive to really know any of
that and pretty happily played a half dozen games. It wouldn’t
be until a while later when I would realize that it was kind of
lame. Next, I made the choice to build Federico Vellani’s 1849.
I chose this game because I always wanted to visit Sicily and
because it was very small and if I screwed it up really badly, I
Page 12
 wouldn’t be out too much time or money…. dinner with Federico.

Our first play-through was painless enough, rules and time ----
wise (I had gotten better at this by now). What struck me was
how, and for lack of better phrasing, “special” this game was.
I knew I really liked it, but couldn’t explain why. I used to just
tell people it was because the map was nice, but that was me
dodging a question I felt I couldn’t explain. (See paragraph
2….)

Fast forward a lot more time. 1849 is in my top three games
of all time, (not just 18xx). I consider it to be one of the most
balanced, arduous and intriguing games in my collection and
I will drop just about anything else to play it every time. It was
recently put back into print about 20 years after its original
release and rightly so. A good friend of mine had a hand in
setting it all up with the publishers and I saw this as my
opportunity to do a write up on the designer of my favorite
18xx and one of my favorite games, Federico Vellani. Here
are a few excerpts from a letter I wrote to him in an effort to
explain his indirect impact on my life and my desire to ask him
some questions. Tyler Mclaughin - . Where did your love of 18xx start and
what made you decide to try your hand at design in the
“More than anything, I wanted to thank you. Many years back, I first place? At the time you designed 1849 (Which was
was just getting my feet wet in the 18xx hobby and I discovered originally titled 1850 I believe.)
that there were quite a number of games in the series/system
Federico Vellani - I began with “serious” boardgames in 1981.
that were only available in limited quantities and/or as files that My first game was AH’s Third Reich, and today my collection
had to be hand made. I remember thinking that it was ridiculous includes more than 700 titles. I met 1830 in a shop in King of
that I had to make these games if I wanted to play them, but Prussia, Pa., in 1987. I bought it, along with Central America
decided to soldier on. Worst case scenario, I would have a game I from Victory Games and a host of other military boardgames,
made I could trade or give away if I didn’t like it. “ for no particular reason beyond its general attractiveness.
From then the 18XX fever in Italy really took off, beginning in
my hometown (Modena) and rapidly spreading thru the whole
“This was then, and is still, my favourite 18xx title (and is in my peninsula. By 1991 we had a national gaming federation (FIGF)
top three games of all time) and is likely responsible for the bulk with its bulletin (Cavalli di ferro & facce di bronzo - Iron horses
of how I spend my gaming time these days. Your game (and & brazen faces), and a tight calendar of encounters all the way
by extension, you) shaped how I view the hobby, what games I from Turin to Palermo.
spend the most time with, what lengths I will go to manufacture
In that same period I began thinking about designing a 18XX
a game and most importantly, opened a door to a wealth
title with an expanded financial aspect, and in a few months
of terrific people I have met and am now able to call friends. 1841 came out. That title has been widely acclaimed by
Although we have never met, you have had a tremendous hardcore 18XX gamers, but I never considered it a real success:
impact on my interests and spare time.” too long and complex for a group game and really attractive

“So thank you. Thank you for your contributions to the 18xx
hobby. Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you
for the countless hours of enjoyment I have yet to experience
from your games.”

What follows is an e-mail discourse between he and I. I will

drop the usual facade of flying people to my house for an
afternoon of kidnapping and forced interview for this round.
While Federico has only two games which saw professional
production, (1849 and 1841) he did have a few other designs
which almost saw the light of day and one that was mostly
stillborn as of this writing. Federico was kind enough to share
photos of his projects and to my knowledge, this would be
the first place those photos were shared. What follows is my

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 13

 only for hardcore 18XX gamers. I then began thinking about
a small game, that could be played in a few hours by 3 or 4
people and could be used to introduce new players to 18XX.
1850, soon to be renamed 1849, was then born. The game is
still widely played, and I consider it a real success.

T.M. - How often are you playing these days? What games
from the last 5 years have really impressed you?

FV - Actually I abruptly left the 18XX world in 1998, as it was

really incompatible with my job with Andersen Consulting
(running the national federation, editing the bulletin, several
weekends of gaming, designing and testing my games etc.).
I’m still following the world of military boardgames. In the last
few years I’ve been very impressed with titles like Labyrinth
and the COIN series. Very clever, instructive, and entertaining.

T.M. - Am I right in thinking that the tournament scene

in Italy was pretty active around the mid-90’s? Did you
compete/ are you still competing and how often were/are
there events?

FV - Every year we had about 6-8 “18XX only” events. Beside

those we had a 18XX at the yearly national gaming convention.
I did compete when able.

T.M. - Please describe to us what 1827 was in terms of

your design goals and what you felt the most important
changes to the system were. Please elaborate on why you
made the choice to split the game in half. East and West,
and why you decided to design a Jr. Variant.

FV - 1827 should have been a very flexible “playable monster”.

The northeastern part was very manageable, probably only
slightly heavier than 1830 (but you could add the southeast),
with a more demanding western half, and, obviously, a really
gigantic full game. There were some innovations: when you
had certain routes you could buy very lucrative “named
trains”, and beside trains you could “buy” a few “leaders” who
could help your fortunes in some ways. Probably 1827 was
too crowded with features, in a baroque way. With 1827jr. I
wanted to recreate the success of 1849: a small game set in
the U.S. with some 1827 features.

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 14

 T.M. - How active is the Italian/Sicilian 18xx community?
How involved are you these days? What sorts of games are
favoured by the community?
FV - Actually I’m not involved, but you can see it’s still VERY
active. http://joomla.pbemitalia.it/
T.M. - The Italian 18xx Magazine Cavalli di ferro & facce di
bronzo* (referred to hereafter as Cdf&fdb) featured ads for
your prototypes quit often. What was your involvement
with the magazine and what was the general scope of the
publication?
FV - I was the editor. The general scope was to support the
FIGF’s activities.
T.M. - How long has Cdf&fdb been out of print? To your
knowledge, is there a decent source of back issues?
FV - I think it all ceased back in 1998. I know of nowhere to find
them now.
T.M. - I have it on good authority that you took a fairly
demanding job in 1998 and all of your design work came
to a halt. Do you have any plans to return to design when
you decide to stop working or is this a part of your life you
have moved past?
FV - Actually I stopped working in 2013, but I really don’t think
to return to 18xx gaming: it was really too demanding.
T.M. - What are your principal goals when designing a
game? For example, is playability more or less important
than historical accuracy? Which game do you feel best
captured your intended model and why?
March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter
FV - For a 18xx game historical flavour is important, but
historical accuracy is not. Every 18xx new game should try to
beat the almost magical balance of 1830: accessible to almost
everybody, hard to master, good balance between finance
and operations, not too long to play, each game different from
the previous.
T.M. - When you were designing games, what was the first
thing you would consider when starting a new design?
Was your process different for each game, or did you have
an agenda or routine to follow going in?
FV - In 1841 I wanted a game set in Italy with a very strong
financial side. In 1849 I wanted a light game: less people
than 1830 (3 to 4) and less time. The routine was pretty
straightforward: historical research, rules writing, physical
design of the components, private playtesting (with a small
group of friends), public playtesting (with a slightly larger and
diverse group).
T.M. - How far into development did you get with 1833?
Are you able to tell us anything about it? (Setting?) I
understand there are no track tiles, how does that work?
FV - 1833 was set in New England. It should have been an
almost purely financial game, with operations limited to
Page 15
 the buying of trains. The routes became available by buying
“private companies”. I really don’t know how well it could have
worked.
T.M. - Your recent collaboration on the 1849 reprint with
All-Aboard was a very happy surprise to me. Can you
describe how this all came to pass? Also, how does it feel
to have two games in print and still enjoyed 20 years after
their publication?
FV - I actually did not collaborate in any way, but having it in
print, and with a beautiful edition, is a great satisfaction.
T.M. - The current 18xx landscape is ramping up. More
games are produced now than at any other time in history.
What implications do you think this will have on the hobby
itself?
FV - I think that games should be played. Given a fixed
number of 18xx gamers, too many titles available could cause
a “market fragmentation”, with the consequential difficulty
in organizing tournaments. 20 years ago we already had to
select the titles for competitive play: actually we choose 1830,
1849, 1856, and 1870, because they were the only 18xx titles
with a large enough base of players. If a 18xx game cannot
gain a strong enough number of supporters it will rapidly be
forgotten, even with a beautiful production and a professional
distribution (e.g.: 1835 from Hans-im-Gluck).
T.M. - Do you have any advice for budding designers?
FV - Try to design in the simplest and most elegant way
possible. Too many rules, too many items, too many exceptions
Through the Lens
Some boardgames are very pleasing to the eye when set up, it is great to capture some of those moments in pictures. Do you have
some game related photos you would like to share with the group? Send them to Photos@SaskGames.com
Wednesday night gaming at O’Hanlons
March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter
to the general rule can kill a game. And keep an eye to gaming
length.
T.M. - How long did you spend in the Playtest phase with
each game?
FV - About one year for 1841. 1849 took a lot less: it just felt
right from the beginning.
T.M. - Who is your favourite designer and why? Favourite
18xx title and why?
FV - I really think that Francis’s 1830 is still the best, but I could
have missed something.
I would like to thank Federico for his time and contributions to
the article. I will sign off as I usually do, My usual offer still stands,
you can contact me personally at pt.mclaughlin@shaw.ca or
on either BoardGameGeek or SaskGames under the username
“e.e.goings” and I’m always looking for new geek-buddies. I
will always make myself available for questions and help to
get you started in this end of the hobby. I even have some
files I can share for some of the harder to find PnP stuff. In all
the time I’ve been writing for for Sask Games, I have received
very little response from my offer for help and trades, so I will
be offering up one free handmade game of my choosing to
the first 2 people to contact me and mention the Sask Games
Newsletter. (Let’s see who reads all the way to the end).
Until next time, choo choo.
Warmachine
Page 16
FOW: First Wednesday Night of Every Month Demo
February Demo (Feb 3rd, 2016)
Starting off the second Demo of the year I went with Early
World War II: after the Great War Demo ran last month. The
next Demo will be Mid World War II, followed by Late World
War II, then Vietnam. Next is the Arab-Israeli War.
This Demo marked a low point in my Flames of War Hobby:
• No one showed up for the Demo – but I won’t dwell
on that. The Demo program has been highly successful
in recruiting new players and I will continue to do my
part in contributing to its successes.
• I have not heard from the Battlefront Rep in three
weeks – but I won’t dwell on that. One of our latest
successful FoW Regina Rifles recruits moved away to B.C.
and is looking to run his own Demos there. Meanwhile,
other members of our local group have expressed
interest in doing so as well here. My speculation is that
the Battlefront Rep is also experiencing growth in other
areas and is a lot too busy for me.
• I ran a large tournament in January that I did not get to
play in – but I won’t dwell on that. It is just disappointing
that the community is growing and I don’t get to play in
it.
• Still having trouble locating a large enough venue for
March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter
By Lance Mathew
the FoW Regina Rifles Regional rapidly approaching for
the weekend of April 23rd – 24th – but I won’t dwell on
that. I had just better get cracking and get it figured out!
In other words Lance – suck it up and do not dwell on
things beyond your control; look at all the good that you
have accomplished. Yes, Lance I hear you loud and clear.
On the plus side of last night:
• I straightened/tidied up the large section of Flames
of War at Tramp’s Comics and Games.
• I answered a couple of players’ questions on what
was in stock at Tramp’s. Looks like they will be ‘buy ’ on
Saturday.
• I was offered a position on the Canadian Flames of
War ETC (European Team Championships). Wonder if
Cupcake would let me go to Greece…
• I was not late in picking up Minnie-me from his
cooking class.
Preparations are already underway for the Mid War Demo –
new FoW Business cards, hopefully a new Demo sign, posters
put up around town, and always – > the word of mouth!
Tet Offensive (Feb 20th, 2016)
Another successful mega game, known as Total War for
Flames of War transpired at Tramp’s Comics and Games on
February 20th. This was entitled the Tet Offensive. Historically,
the Tet Offensive was a massive operation launched by the
Nationalists against the South Vietnamese and its allies. As
per usual whenever the FoW Regina Rifles runs these large
Demonstration games we get people coming over to see
what is happening; having cool looking helicopters on a large
table never fails to impress. We had several people stop by to
check out the action; one purchased an Open Fire Kit leaving
the store only a single starter set!
In my honest opinion the Vietnam Flames of War era is a beer
Page 17
 and pretzels game, by which I mean it is the most laid back
and casual game experience: the Nationalists, Việt cộng and
PAVN mostly auto respawn, in slight contrast to the Free
World’s players who mostly are wounded instead of KIA.
Previously, we did a large Vietnam game this past Halloween
with two on two – now this time around it was three versus
three. Personally, I feel the Vietnam era is more suited for a
larger game experience compared to one on one games, yet
all the missions are set up for one on one. Still, after this past
weekend when we tweaked the mission to suite our larger
player count I firmly believe we should have let the mission
stand as RAW (rules as written) and left well enough alone.
Meanwhile, with three ‘Nam veterans (Matt, Chris, and I) and
three noobies (Brody, Sean, and Shawn) we set to play. With
three new players to the Vietnam era it only slowed game play
for the first round, which took over an hour. However, that being
said, a lot had happened in that first round. An ambuscade
was conducted by each Nationalist player – this is where we
tweaked instead of RAW where only a single Nationalist unit
conducts an ambuscade. All three were largely ineffective and
directly led to massive Nationalist losses – much like the Tet
Offensive in real life.
The only real effect of the ambuscade was to pin my ANZAC
forces in place, but it took two Nationalist companies to do so.
And, while my ANZAC could not go forward they stubbornly
refused to die or give ground, which was my only/major
contribution to the day’s event.
After lunch Chris’ Chuppas made their presence felt across the
entire table. And, while the helicopters hit like two freight-
trains they are incredibly fragile and littered the battlefield
with their debris.
Shawn, who had stepped in to fill the shoes of Stephen’s 25th
Infantry, was largely playing what I would call a WWII list in
‘Nam. It looks good on paper but performs poorly against
troops who do not fight fair. Shawn did all right with them but I
could tell both he and Stephen would have been disappointed
in how they performed. Regardless, thanks Shawn for being
the ringer.
Sean, who was the Việt cộng player, was unable to make his
special rules count or even bring in his Đặc Công. As Sean’s
opponent I was relieved, but as Sean’s friend I felt bad as I
had spent hours assembling the flame throwers he did not
get to use. Meanwhile, his snipers were everywhere sowing
confusion and chaos as well as shooting down helicopters!
Matt’s Ironclads are always scary and without some lucky
rolling on my part he would have rolled over top of my ANZAC.
Instead I pinned them in place allowing Shawn’s M48 Pattons
to come to my aid. Matt also brought in his BTR-50PK to end
Chris dominance of the sky.
Brody’s PAVN seemed to be the workhorse of the Nationalist
forces - which historically they were. He was involved in every
corner of the table and the middle to boot. It was Brody’s first
game with his own PAVN as normally Jace has borrowed them.
March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter
But, Jace had begged off as he was in Vegas at a Gymnast
event.
We all had fun and we even managed to finish early (well -
before Tramp’s closed). I’m thinking another Vietnam is in
store for later this year! I would also like to see another two
players; having four per side would make an even amount.
Next demo is March 2nd (1st Wednesday night of every
month), next tournament is Mid War March (March 5th), with
the next Total War game set up to be AIW’s Operation Moked
(June 4th). However, do not forget about FoW Regina Rifles
Regionals on 23rd-24th!
March Demo (March 2nd, 2016)
Mid War – my favorite era for WWII Flames of War! Mid War
March has a certain ring to it and with a demo on the first
Wednesday night and then a full scale tournament that
weekend – how could I go wrong?
Prior to me leaving for the demo I announced I was on my
way. A new name and face appeared in our Facebook page,
Stephen, who commented that he would like to come and
watch the demo, as he had just purchased the Open Fire
starter set. I said it was a demo and that he should instead play!
So, after setting up, Stephen arrived and we set to playing. I
had set the table up with the new petrol terrain tanks. They
are very attractive terrain pieces - so much so that when one
of our players saw me post pictures of the he wanted some.
Tramp’s Comics and Games put them aside and he picked
them up at the tournament = win win! Meanwhile, Stephen
tried out the panzer IIIs and IVs while I faced him with T34-76s
& T34-57s. It was a blood bath – brewed up tanks everywhere.
Stephen was hooked! I also had a great time!
As with most new players, I invited him to the next tournament.
He asked how he would do. I told him honestly that the first
two games would be rough and by the third game he would
be starting to come into his own. And, like most new players I
lent him an army. And, yes he did lose his first two games but
he did win his third!
Meanwhile, the next tournament is a huge event! Flames of
War Regina Rifles Regionals weekend of April 23rd – 24th!
Admission is $50.00 for swag, t-shirt, Saturday lunch, &
Sunday breakfast – with of course three games Saturday
and two games on Sunday! Any questions, please e-mail:
cigamnogard@sasktel.net
Page 18
 The
SaskGames
Word Search

You need something more to do

than just read a newsletter. How
about we put you to work with
a Word Search? Find the game
related words below. Can you find
them all? We will not give you the
words to find, only the following
clues:

The theme for this month

is most funded games on
Kickstarter. What have we
done?!

In addition to finding our

website and three slogans,
find 12 games funded by fans!

---

A number of you commented

that you really liked the word
search. We’re glad you like it
and we will try to make sure to
add one each issue. A couple of
people wished we would print
a list of the words. Part of the
challenge is using the theme for
the words to both identify then
find them. To help you out, we
will publish a list of words on the
website for those looking for a
hand. The list will be published
in the New Bulletin Thread HERE

By Nicole Persram

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 19

 THANK YOU to all of the
sponsors and supporters who
have helped Sask Games
become this great community.
Your contributions, small and
large go a long way towards
growing our hobby and
making these events possible.

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 20

 THANK YOU to all of the
sponsors and supporters who
have helped Sask Games
become this great community.
Your contributions, small and
large go a long way towards
growing our hobby and
making these events possible.

DONATIONS
Diamond Supporters
have given $1000+ in support
Platinum Supporters
have given $500+ in support
Gold Supporters
have given $200+ in support
Silver Supporters
have given $100+ in support
Community Builders have given up to
$100 in support

March/April 2016 - Sask Games Newsletter Page 21

Call For Volunteers Connect to Us!
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of the team. We invite people to be involved with our events, our newsletter, and
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The public venues can be viewed and accessed by anyone; the private venues are
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The result is a consolidated calendar which will show a variety of gaming events
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Nicole Persram
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Editor
Marc Bendig
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