Richard the Lionheart (CMON)

In the 12th century, England was ruled by King Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart. This was a time of crusaders, and Richard believed it was his duty to lead troops to the Holy Land against the Sultan Saladin. Wars are never that neatly compartmentalized, and while Richard was away his younger brother John Lackland (Prince John), not only sat on the throne in Richard's place, but also tried to seize it from him. Recently, CMON published a game called Richard the Lionheart, which transports players back to the 12 century and asks them to ally with Richard or John, rally support for their chosen leader, and see who is on the throne when the dust settles. Richard the Lionheart is a game for 2 to 6 players, ages 14+. It takes about one hour to play and retails for $70.

Game Play
Richard the Lionheart is a game of alliances, but ultimately it will only have one winner. If you play with an even number of people, you will divide up into forces for Richard (Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, and Maid Marion) or forces against him (Prince John, Sheriff of Nottingham, Bishop of Ely, and Isabella). When there are an odd number of players, a neutral party is introduced (Leopold of Austria at three players or Marie of France at five players). (Note: With 4+ players, there will also be some additional NPC merchants and mercenaries to help you.)

The game is played on a map of England, where you and the other players will be traveling through different locations. Each of these locations is color-coded to match support for Richard or John. Therefore, locations that match your affiliation can only be activated by you and will only provide you advantages. While you are traversing England, there will be events to deal with, which give special scoring opportunities or actions that occur. There are also edicts that give you bonus points. Most importantly are the influence cards. This is the meat of the game, because it is these cards that will determine each round how the Crusade is faring. Is Richard winning the battle or is Saladin? Is the King close to returning or still far away? And lastly, is Richard's treasury full or are the coffers almost bare? You may want Richard to win the battle and come back early since you feel you are in the lead, but another Richard supporter might want to slow his return down so that they can be his favored servant and seize the victory! The game will end with either Richard's army winning, Saladin's army winning, Richard returning, Richard's treasury being exhausted or playing ten rounds.

Positives
1. Theme - It's nice to see Robin Hood and the Sheriff in a game, where they are not the sole focus of it, merely pawns in the grand stage of things. A lot of people might not like the fact that the Crusades are used as a backdrop, and feel that it sanitizes them by not addressing the atrocities of them, but I think this game mixed history with legends to create a compelling setting.

2. Art and Miniatures - The art in this game is very reminiscent of the Middle Ages and some of the boards feel like you are looking at a tapestry of sorts. There are also highly detailed miniatures in this game, which is what you come to expect from CMON.

3. Player Boards and Player Count - Each character in the game provides you a different starting amount of coins and a special ability that other characters don't have. I love asymmetrical player powers, because it makes you alter your strategy each time you play. As for the player count, the game can accommodate between two and six people, and as mentioned above, each count gives you a different setup. This too adds replay value and gives you a unique experience each time you play.

Neutrals
1. Components - With the inclusion of miniatures in this game, it makes the game feel deluxe. Unfortunately, the coins and prestige tokens are both made of cardboard and it makes you wish that they had been wood or plastic at least. (We'd all love metal, but metal is expensive.)
2. Semi-cooperative nature - I am the type of person who either likes a full cooperative experience or a semi-cooperative experience with a hidden traitor. In this game, you're playing with a team to win, but if you don't have the most points on your team, you won't win.

Negative
1. Price - The most unfortunate part of this game is the price point. At $70 MSRP, this game prices itself out of a lot of people's budgets, especially families.

Final Thoughts
Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable game with a theme that I could really sink my teeth into. The game does a nice job of abstracting the Crusades into a manageable format and the game play is fun at all player counts. As stated above, I don't like the semi-cooperative nature of this game, because I'd rather win/lose as a team or have a traitor on my team. It's not very fun with newer games explaining to them that their team won, but they didn't and leaves some people scratching their heads. Therefore, I would say if you are a fan of this period in time, consider picking up the game. If you are not, the game might still be for you, just at a lower price point than MSRP, so wait for a sale.

Potion Explosion (CMON)

I think it's safe to say that many of my readers are big fans of Harry Potter, probably not as big of fans as my wife, but who is? When I heard and read about the game Potion Explosion, I thought, "This kind of sounds like Harry Potter. My wife will love this!" In Potion Explosion, you and your fellow opponents are students in Albedus Humblescore's potion's class. With only four ingredients (Unicorn Tears, Dragon Smoke, Ogre Mucus, and Fairy Dandruff), you are competing to complete the most potions and score the most points. Potion Explosion is a game for 2-4 players, ages 14+. It takes about 45 minutes to play and retails for $50.

Setup
1. Before you play the first time, assemble the Dispenser following the instructions.
2. Fill the Dispenser randomly with all the ingredients (marbles) mentioned above.
3. Give each player a Desk Board.
4. Give the Starting Player Token to the person who most recently prepared a drink.
5. Take all the Potion Tiles and remove two types either at random or by choice.
6. From the remaining Potion Tiles, each player takes two random starter tiles (marked with a gold star) and places them on their Desk Board.
7. Shuffle the remaining Potion Tiles to form five stacks.
8. Put the Skill Tokens in a stack depending on number of players, which will trigger the end of the game after everyone has the same number of turns.

Game Play
1. You must choose and take one marble from the dispenser. If this triggers an explosion (two of the same color marbles collide), you take all the connected colors of that explosion.
2. You may also ask for a little help from the professor and take one marble from the dispenser. You don't get to claim any marbles from a triggered explosion, and the little help token is worth -2 points.
3. You may also drink one of your completed potions, which gives you a special ability, such as stealing ingredients from an opponent or activate a potion you have already used once.
4. Take all the ingredients, which you gained from the previous three steps, and place them in your incomplete potion tiles, matching the color (unless you drank a potion that let you ignore color). If you complete a potion, it gets flipped over and put in your completed area. Any marbles you cannot match, are put in your ingredient pool (max of three).
5. Refill the dispenser with any leftover marbles or marbles from completed potions.
6. Draw back up to two potion tiles.
7. Claim a skill token if you completed three potions of the same kind or five unique potions.
8. When the game ends, add up your points from potions and skill tokens. Subtract any help tokens. High score wins.

Review
Potion Explosion is a very fun game with a great feel to it. The game is very simple to learn, as it really comes down to picking a marble that produces the most chain explosions, while also matching the potions you need to complete. The theme is very tongue-in-cheek with their reference to Harry Potter, but people who aren't fans of the famous wizard will not feel in the dark when playing the game. The age rating on this game is 14+, and I think a lot of that has to do with the marbles being a choking hazard, but children as young as 8, maybe even younger can pick up this simple game. I personally consider this a great game to play with the family, young children, and non-gamers, as it provides a unique and dynamic experience that will suit these audiences well.

The components in this game are a mixed bag, which I have come to expect from games that bear the company logo Horrible Games (I'm looking at you Steam Park.). The cardboard didn't punch out as cleanly as it could have and the paint on some of the marbles was chipping right out of the box. Does this take away from game play? No, but it is disappointing from an aesthetics viewpoint. The big positive of the components is the ingredient dispenser. It is a clever use of cardboard that is not only fun in its delivery of ingredients, but it also serves as a randomizer, with the player never knowing exactly where the marbles will fall.

After the components, my biggest complaint about this game is that it only plays four people. The groups I play with are generally bigger than four, so I feel like I will never get a chance to share this game with them unless some are out of town, which is a shame, because it is really fun and seems like it should have accommodated more people without needing to buy two games. Apart from my complaints, I really enjoyed the game, and my wife did as well, so that makes this an easy recommendation for me. There is supposedly an expansion coming out later this year, so if you are a fan of this game, like me, be on the look out for it!

This game was provided to me for free by CMON in exchange for an honest review.