Barbarossa

[togashi]

Barbarossa is set in a fictional Second World War setting, where cute German military girls rush against Moscow to defeat the evil magician Stalin.

The game takes over the in game deck building mechanism from Dominion. Each player starts with a small deck of resource cards and during the course of the game one buys cards from an open card pool to build a deck of cards to play with. Goal of the game is to conquer Moscow. If Moscow falls the player with the most victory points wins. Victory points are acquired by conquering different cities and/or strategical positions during the game. Every time you attack a city, event cards from an event deck are drawn (e.g. General "Winter").

In Barbarossa there are 6 different kind of cards.

The Supply Cards: provide points to buy other cards from the open card pool.

Unit Cards: The use of these cards require "Operation Points" (Each turn you start with one Operation Point) and deliver the military strength to attack cities or strategic positions (or in other words gain victory point cards).

Operation Cards: They give you a one time bonus in different forms. After use they are not just discarded but put out of play.

Deploy Cards: They stay in the players play area and deliver bonuses in different forms every turn.

Target Cards: The cities and strategic positions which deliver VPs, also if you conquered strategic positions it becomes easier to attack cities.

Event Cards: If you attack the Target cards an event is drawn and stuff happens.

Like all of Arclight's Deck Construction games, the illustrations are provided by quite some famous Japanese fanzine artists.

[togashi]

My copy arrived last Tuesday. Had to spend half a day doing paste ups. But well worth it. Played it for the 1st time with Talismanic last Thursday. The game was so much fun..... and I don't mean the pictures

After the 1st 5 minutes, the artwork doesn't matter as the gameplay is engrossing. It felt more like Thunderstone than Dominion as there are Objectives to conquer. Like Ascension, you have cards that stays in play. The game does feel like that you have an army pushing for Moscow.

Overall, topnotch game.

My deck building game ranking at the moment:
1) Barbarossa
2) Thunderstone
3) Ascension: Chronicles of the Godslayer
4) Dominion

Coming this week:
Resident Evil DBG

[Fed]

Played this with Togashi earlier and I must say, its a really good game.  If you like deck building / strategy games, the art is irrelevant.  IMHO the art is a poor excuse not to get the game if you like the rules. (This is coming from a conservative, non-anime fan person!)  Sure, playing it around "normal" people it will raise eyebrows but you can always get the limited edition / WW2 pics one.  I could say I like this better than Thunderstone since it is able to combine elements from previous deck building games and made them work.  Comparing the two:

1.  TS relies mostly on the luck of the draw.  B has element of control since you have "permanency" in your cards / army and you can plan ahead.
2.  Random event cards make sieging cities a non-static affair.
3.  I noticed there wasn't much down time and it plays fast. (I enjoy watching how the other players' turn / combos work out.  haha.)  In TS when you don't have enough attack power you are reduced to go shopping or resting.  When you get those harder dungeon setups, it can take a while before someone had enough muscle / magic to whack something in the dungeon to make it move.  Here you can try to do some combos and see if you can make a worthwhile attack or a good buy (Or both!).

Maybe in time if I get to play more and with new expansions, this might even topple Dominion in my list. (I don't seem to like where Dominion is going.  Too many set-specific cards that doesn't seem to fit with other stuff.  I'm looking at you, Alchemy!)  Looking forward to play this again and that El Alamein. ( Can I play as the Brits? )

Thanks for the game, Doc.  Beginner's luck, yes?

[togashi]

Nah, you played good. You were able to get a good engine running that my blitzkrieg was not able catch up.

Final score: 85-63

[Fed]

Aye.  Those Aid cards are real good.  If a player doesn't get one, he / she'd be at a disadvantage.

Was there any more cards that we didn't use in the game?  Or is the random card removal during setup the only way to get a "varied" card selection setup?

[togashi]

Nah, we played with the full correct rules.

[Fed]

Nah, we played with the full correct rules.

Ah ok so all of the cards have been used. (Except the randomly removed one)  I would've wanted more variety but hey.  Its good already.

[maskmanjoe]

 Carlos, lets play next week!

[togashi]

Sure, both Barbarossa and El Alamein?

[maskmanjoe]

Sure, both Barbarossa and El Alamein?

Base Barb first (you still need to teach me) then lets add the exp kagad

[togashi]

Not a problem. Maybe we can game on Tues or Thurs

[Talismanic (Mark)]

Not a problem. Maybe we can game on Tues or Thurs

Can I join in the tank battle action?

[Gerald]

Me too, if its okay.  Pero depende pa where you guys will be playing.

[maskmanjoe]

Not a problem. Maybe we can game on Tues or Thurs

Can I join in the tank battle action?

wooo tank battles! Hey mark I thought you we put off by the art of the game?

Ge, if Tue and Thurs, most probably Ortigas area...

[Talismanic (Mark)]

No, I'm not put off by the art, that's Tom. I just don't want to play that at home, so I ordered the one with real tank pics.