Killer Bunnies: Special Cards

As well as the cards you get in the starter and booster decks (which are all fixed, by the way, meaning that each contains the same cards), there are additional series' of cards.

The cards in the Omega Series are released at special events (eg. conventions), or sometimes you can get them for free when you buy a booster deck. We have the following:

• #5: Lord Of The Bunnies (bought from eBay for $US2.25 + postage)
• #7: No Supe For You (bought from eBay for 0.99 pounds + postage)
• #8: Hare E. Potter (bought from eBay for $US4.00 + postage)
• #9: Dago Bunny (free with red deck)
  
• #10: Baby Bunnies on Board (free with Starter Deck)

I've tried several times to get others, but the earlier ones go really expensive on eBay. The first one, for example, I've seen sell for over $US100!!! Also, I once saw the lot (all 10 cards available at the time) go for over $US300! That's a lot of nuts!

Then there is the Psi Series of cards, which come free in Bunny Blanks (packs of blank cards for you to make your own). You get two in each pack. We have:

• #1: Spider Bunny
• #2: Bunny Eye For The Carrot Guy
• #3: Shazbot! (this is a cool card! When you give it to someone, they're not allowed to swear, and if they do, they have to return a carrot - we consider only 'f***', 's***' and 'c***' as swear words)
• #4: After Darkness
  

Bohnaparte

So.... we got Bohnaparte the other week - one of two expansions to Bohnanza.

Now, don't get us wrong, Bohnanza by itself is great, but after a while of playing it, you start to feel that surely there's more to it.

Write-ups of this expansion describe it as Bohnanza meets RISK, so I think I immediately thought - fricken schweeet, in a non-nerdy kind of way.

Basically, this expansion adds another phase to the existing 4 phases there are in Bohnanza (I think). This new phase is the 'attacking phase' where you attack into properties (such as villages, cities, quarries etc). Also, coins are not saved to add up your score at the end of the game, but are used to finance your attacks.

At the start of the game, you layout all of the empty properties and each player is given a colour token to place on their Encampment, you then move from your Encampment into other adjacent properties when attacking. Each property gives the player who owns that property special abilities, and has a number of flags at the bottom of the card which you add up at the end of the game to determine a winner (if the deck is exhausted 4 times). Otherwise, the winner is the first player to take over 12 properties.

Which brings me to my next point, are they even called properties? I can’t think of any other name.

To take over a property, you need to pay one gold coin. You then select one card from you hand to attack with, and the defender chooses a card from their hand to defend with (or you flip up the top card in the Well to defend with if it is an empty property). Or the other option is you can attack with the top card from the Well, and the defender can choose to flip a Well card over to defend with too. I guess, if you have shit bean cards in your hand, you’re more likely to win using a random card from the Well.

Which brings me to my next point, “shit cards”. All bean cards have a number of them representing how many of them are in the game. Blue Beans for example have the number 20 on them. As they are the most common, I’m pretty sure they are the crappest ones to collect as you get less gold for them when you harvest as they are the most common. However, with this expansion they are the most valuable as you are guaranteed to win in the defense process (as 20 is the highest value card, and if both the attacker and defender reveal a Blue Bean card, the defender will always win in a draw). They are also of course awesome to attack with, durrr.
Chilli Beans are the next best card (18 value).

I feel I’ve done the worst job at explaining this game, and I guess it doesn’t help when on most occasions I’ve cracked the shits and started yelling (I still haven’t got the whole knack of the game yet)

Anyway, feel free to give us a call anytime to have a game with us!

Simon usually wins too (crapper).... Jules... should we write up the scoreboard so far?

Games Day

Saturday was going to be just a normal Saturday of doing not much at all, but it ended up turning into a fully-blown Games Day. We started playing at around 1pm, and didn't finish until close to 2am. Joe and Kim had stayed the previous night, after our long Triple J Hottest 100 BBQ on Australia Day, and the five of us (including Meals, Simon and myself), started some games pretty much as soon as we woke up. Over the whole day we played quite a few games indeed:

Mhing/Mahjong
We had actually planned to start the day with Mahjong - Joe had brought his set along with him. But we soon discovered that that could be a little difficult. None of us knew the rules, and the rules in Joe's set were written in Chinglish, which none of us can speak. Whilst I went searching on the net for a set of rules, Joe and Kim played a few hands of Mhing, and Joe broke our record for most number of credits from a single hand (18 crds = 512 pts)!! I also found many different versions of the rules for Mahjong - and most do seem quite similar to the rules of Mhing. The main difference seems to be the fact that you can have four-of-a-kind in Mahjong ("kong"). After all this pfaffing about, we gave up on both. Mahjong would have to wait for another day.

Risk: 2210
We hadn't played Risk: 2210 in a very long time (a year or two I think!), and with five of us there, we thought it high time to dust it off and have another go. Kim was the only one that hadn't played before.

Risk: 2210 is built around the same style of combat as the original Risk, and indeed the rest of the Risk spin-off's. However, there are significant differences in this version, compared to the original:

• There are no missions - the winner is decided by how many territories are owned after 5 turns (or "years").
• There are additional units - various "leaders" may be recruited, each of which have different advantages, and may use the d8 to attack/defend, rather than the d6.
  
• Expanded map - there are additional territories, in the sea, and even on the moon! The relevant leaders need to be in play to access these regions.
• Action Cards - these provide various bonuses (eg. additional units, prevent attacks on your territory, cut invading armies in half, etc, etc).
• Energy - this is the currency of the future, and is used to recruit leaders, and buy action cards.

Risk: 2210 can be played by 2-5 players, but more players significantly increases playing time. Our game with 5 people took close to 4 hours!

After making an ok start in year 1, my team went very rapidly down-hill. I was wiped off the board before the game ended. The scoreboard after year 5 looked liked this:

Pos	Player	Pts
1	Joe	38
2	Kim	31
3	Simon	12
4	Meals	5
5	Jules	killed in year 4

Hotels
This is a game that we used to play quite a bit a very long time ago. As Joe pointed out, it's a Milton-Bradley game, and probably a bit too mainstream for us these days. :P Anyhow, we were in the mood for something light, and Simon, Joe and I had a go. Basically the game is like a really watered-down version of Monopoly, but probably just as much fun. And it's almost entirely based on luck. I have to say, we had quite a laugh while we were playing, but I especially did since I laughed all the way to bank as I bankrupted the others. It was pretty even most of the game - we were all pretty much earning the same as we went around the board, but a few unlucky rolls for the others made the difference. Simon dropped out first, and after I picked up his hotel ("The President", no less), the writing was on the wall for Joe.

Risk
Whilst Joe, Simon and myself were playing Hotels, Dwayne and Sana rocked up. They couldn't be bothered waiting for us to finish, so they started a 4 player game of original Risk with Meals and Kim. And as far as games of Risk go, this was a behemoth! We've found that most games only last for about 30 minutes or so, but after an hour and a quick sneaky-peek at all of their missions it still looked quite evenly balanced. Meals eventually made it across the line first. Good show!

For Sale
Whilst the others finished off their game of Risk Simon, Joe and I played a couple of games of For Sale. This is a really quick and easy game. Each only goes for about 15 minutes, with one round of bidding for properties, then another round where the properties are exchanged for cheques. The one with the most money at the end is the winner. Easy! I won the first game and Simon won the second.

Killer Bunnies
We were all ready at that point to come together for a big 7-player game, and Killer Bunnies it turned out to be. This was the first time that most of the others had seen the pink deck. It actually turned out to be quite a fun game, but early on Meals, Simon and I realised just how over this game we were getting - we hadn't played in quite a few weeks. We played whilst watching The Family Guy, and the game only went for about 90 minutes. At the end, Dwayne had collected most of the carrots, and also picked up those from people that didn't have a bunny (because he had the most cash). Simon also decided to move my single bunny at the end (because he won the zodiac draw), and thus relieved me of the single carrot I had picked up during the game. The carrot went to Dwayne, and as luck would have it, it ended up being the winning carrot!

The Great Museum Caper
Dwayne and Sana left after Killer Bunnies, and we decided to end the night with a very unmemorable game of The Great Museum Caper. The game claims to be based on Cluedo, but probably more resembles Scotland Yard. Joe and Kim both had a go at being the thief, but both were caught and hence stole zero paintings. That brought us close to 2am, and left us hating The Great Musuem Caper and vows to never play it again.

Street Fighter CCG

The Street Fighter CCG is part of the Universal Fighting System (UFS) set of games that allow you to mix any UFS cards with other UFS cards regardless of the genre. This allows for some interesting crossovers. The UFS system is quite complex for anyone coming from the likes of Magic: The Gathering or, say, Snap.
The premise is two combatants squaring off in a theoretical arena, controlling a character which is placed down during setup. Cards are drawn from each player's draw pile, which represents the gamut of abilities, moves, and fighting knowledge of the character. Each hand represents
these aspects that are currently available to the character. The idea is to play moves that reduce your opponent's vitality to zero, whilst keeping your character's from depleting.
Playing cards involves a difficulty check which incorporates playing your own cards against your own deck. Very offensive cards have high difficulty, but provide a low check score, and vice versa for safer cards. This adds another dimension to deck building as you must balance the deck to gain maximum effectiveness. Naturally, rarer cards generally offer higher scores in both areas.
There are offensive, defensive, combination, and tactical cards, but the most important are the foundation cards which, while don't directly affect your opponent's vitality, represent the training and preparation of your character and allow your character to perform more difficult moves.
While enjoyable to play, the game takes a while to get going and unless you have purchased a few boosters, the outcome will largely depend on luck, no matter how good your choices of play are.
In terms of games I would give Street Fighter a rating of average. But in the sense of a collectable item, I would say it's quite good, especially for those who have been fans of the franchise since way back when SF2 was in the arcades. All the moves available in the video game (and more) are available as cards, and opening a booster to find Ryu's Shouruyken is just as satisfying as pulling off the move in the arcade.
The UFS system works quite well too as a gaming and sales mechanism. The ability to increase the number of genres without requiring a new fanbase or starting a new play system is marketing genius.
If I could find a fault with this game, the biggest would be the instruction manual. It's hopeless and seems like it's been translated into english from another language. Your best bet is learn from someone who has played a few games.

I've played this game against Jules and Joe, and won most of the games. I would put this down to having played a few CCG's before, but like I said before, most of it is blind luck without a fully customised deck. Be prepared to hand over some dosh if you are serious about this game.

Mhing

This is a game that Aaron gave to Meals for her birthday. Neither of us had heard of it before, but it looked interesting, and boy are we pleased that we discovered it! Hours of entertainment! We spent quite a bit of time playing with our friends on our recent stay at a beach house in Phillip Island.

About the Game
Mhing is a card game and according to our mate Joe, it is quite similar to Mahjong (and also according to Joe, whilst Mhing is really good, Mahjong is better). Like Gin Rummy, the aim of the game is to build "sets". You are dealt 13 cards, and when you go "Mhing" (ie. complete your hand), you end up with 4 sets of 3 cards and 1 pair. The sets may either be "triplets" or "sequences". Only the player that goes Mhing in a particular round scores points. At the end of the round, you count the number of "credits" that the hand is worth, and convert that number into "points". Essentially, each additional credit doubles your number of points (not exactly, but it follows this trend). So, your aim is to make a higher scoring hand, but the risk is that you may get beaten to the post.

Play jumps around the table depending on who wants to claim the last card that was discarded - can be very frustrating when you turn is continually skipped!

It is a very easy game to learn to play, but working out how to the score a hand, as well as learning a strategy for building higher scoring hands, takes a while to master.

Players: 2 to 6
The ideal number to play with is probably 4 people, or perhaps 3. With more people, it becomes quite hard to put together monster hands, and obviously the game goes for a lot longer. It can be played by just two people (Meals and I had a great time with just the two of us - see below for the result), and you can put together some huge hands. In fact, the highest score has so far come from a two-player game (12 credits). However, play just passes back and forth, rather than jumping all around the table, and it is a little mundane.

Playing Time: 15 mins to 3 hours!
This is very variable, and really depends on how long you want to play for. One round of play is very quick, but if you were to play a full game (first to 500 points) with 6 people, you would need an entire evening.

Sample Game
Here is the first full game that Meals and I played last night (first to 500 points). It illustrates how the credits are converted to points, and the typical score for a hand.

	Jules			Meals
Rnd	Crds	Pts	Tot	Crds	Pts	Tot
1				12	128	128
2	12	128	128
3				10	64	192
4				5	32	224
5				5	32	256
6				5	32	288
7				5	32	320
8	11	128	256
9				10	64	384
10				7	32	416
11	11	128	384
12				6	32	448
13				5	32	480
14	1	2	386
15	5	32	418
16				4	16	496
17	8	64	482
18	6	32	516

You can see that as the scores get closer to 500, it really becomes a mad dash to be the first to Mhing. When Meals reached 496 points (and hence only needed a two credit hand for victory), I knew I had to be the first to Mhing, even if I only got a low scoring hand out of it. Luckily I was dealt quite good hands for the last two rounds, and only needed a few cards to make a reasonable amount of points.

Killer Bunnies: Scoreboard

As mentioned in a previous post, Meals, Simon and I have been doing a tournament for each of the Killer Bunnies (Quest) expansion decks. The deal is: whoever wins the tournament does not need to chip in for the next deck (ie. the two losers have to split the cost). We split the cost of the first deck (blue) three-ways, and in fact the second deck (yellow) comes included. The cost of this starter was about $55, and includes 110 blue cards, and 55 yellow cards. In general, each expansion adds a further 55 cards (and cost about $25).

Expansion Decks
Most decks introduce an additional element to the game. This list is a rough guide to those additions.

Blue: 8 carrot cards, cabbage and water cards, 6 twelve-sided dice (blue, yellow, green, orange, violet and black)
Yellow: 4 additional carrot cards.
Red: 4 additional carrot cards, 1 twelve-sided die (red), defense cards, red bunnies.
Violet: 4 additional carrot cards, 1 twenty-sided die (clear), specialty bunnies.
Orange: 6 pawns (yellow, blue, green, orange, violet, red).
Green: 1 twelve-sided die (zodiac), zodiac cards.
Twilight White: 1 twelve-sided die (white), 2 pawns (white, black).
Stainless Steel: Card stands, super bunnies.
Perfectly Pink: 1 twelve-sided die (pink), 1 pawn (pink), pink bunnies, rank cards.

The remaining decks will be reported on when we get them!

Tournament Scoreboard
And finally, on to what this post was originally supposed to be about - the all important scoreboard for the tournaments we have completed thus far (the pink deck tournament is currently in progress).

	Games Won
Deck	Simon	Jules	Meals	Winner
Blue	6	7	5	Jules
Yellow	4	6	4	Jules
Red	4	5	1	Jules
Violet	3	4	1	Jules
Orange	0	4	1	Jules
Green	2	2	5	Meals
White	7	4	2	Simon
Steel	3	7	5	Jules

As you can see, the tournaments were played to different scores (some were first to 7, others were first to 4). This depended on how keen we were to get the next deck!

Successful Gaming

A lot of people will tell you that the key to successful gaming is to get involved and have a good time. Pfftt. My key to successful gaming is to get everyone else to do the work for you. Mundane tasks like setting up boards, shuffling cards, gathering seats. Let the other suckers do this for you and you're well on your way to being a success in the real game. The social game that accompanies every board game. First things first. Choose your group carefully. Get a group that has just enough people to need you to play, but not too many so that your absence won't be missed. Secondly, feign interest in playing the games. This is especially convincing if you don't actually give a rats if the game gets played at all. That way, when asked if you want to join in, respond lethargically, "Yeah, sure. Do you wanna set it up, and call me when it's done?" Usually, the instigator will be happy to do this as they were the one who wanted to play in the first place.
When called, sit down and enjoy the game.
Conversely, at the end of the game, if you win, scoop up and chuck all your pieces or cards into the box with gusto, and get up away from the table ASAP. It helps if you cover your getaway with prancing about and exclamations of your gaming supremacy. These actions will give your half-assed packing up the facade of overexuberant clumsiness, which no one will pick you up on.
If you lose, knock a small number of your playing pieces over (but not too much) and storm away from the table in a fit of abuse and swearing. Never smile. It's good to be on home ground here so you have a room to retreat away from persecution.
All this can take time to perfect so its always an idea to head away from bringing in new faces to games. Each attempt at getting away with a game with minimal effort is a balancing act. Too little and you'll end up helping the other schlubs with the setup and pack-up. Too much and the backlash might end up with you doing the packing all yourself.
Happy gaming.
...
And by happy I mean slack.