Havoc: The Hundred Years War

Received this game from Funagain Games yesterday. The production quality is very nice and the card art is interesting. I have a minor nit to pick about the box itself... If it's a card game, the box should hold a single deck of cards. Havoc (and many other card game boxes) require the deck to be split into parts (three stacks for Havoc) for storage. That's just a hassle and a nuisance.

Can't say much about the game itself yet as I haven't had the the chance to play it. It's essentially a "climbing" game with an historical theme pasted on. I don't mean this in a bad way. I like that the historical theme has been added to the game, but the game mechanic itself is independent of the theme.

The rumors and comments that H:THYW is "poker-like" is based on the fact that a "battle" (hand/round/trick) is determined by who has the best hand of cards and the card sets are scored in poker-like fashion (straights, flushes, straight-flushes, full house, pairs, two pairs, etc.) The game is not poker and not a poker variant.

Bits & Pieces...

Got a link to the latest Lost Battalion Games newsletter... which I looked at and saw that there is a new supplement for the Sergeants! game... the supplement includes some new maps and a number of new scenarios for Sergeants!... so I had to have it of course... while I was at it, I also ordered a copy of Battlegroup, a card game of WWII Naval combat... As a free add-on to my order, I am also getting a copy of the $5 game Battleships in Action.

Looks like I will be bringing a demo copy of Winds of Plunder with me to BGG.CON. Tony Nardo, the developer of Winds of Plunder was fishing for someone to demo the game on ConsimWorld and I volunteered. I like the game and even though it has "made the cut" in GMT's P500 program, there's still a long way to go before it gets published. I'd like to play the game at BGG.CON multiple times and maybe get some buzz going about the game.

eBay continues to surprise me... I recently sold an opened copy of the Magic the Gathering Collectors Set for well over 10 times what I payed for it... The Collectors Set was a boxed set of the entire Beta printing of MtG. The cards were printed with square corners and "Collectors Set" printed on the card back so as to make the cards illegal for tournament play. For casual play however, using card protectors, the Collectors Set is a great way to get some of the original powerful MtG cards like Black Lotus and the Moxes... the money will come in handy too as it will help pay for my BGG.CON trip!

Games on order:

• Medici
• David and Goliath
• Flaschenteufel
• Havoc: The Hundred Years War
• Boomtown
• Ice Cream
• Ole!
• Sergeants! Scenarios Book 1
• Battlegroup
• Battleships in Action

New Games on the way . . .

• Kimbo, "The Game of Fences" - my "namesake" game that I just had to have. Found a copy for sale on BGG.
• Havoc - "Going fast" at Funagaingames.com and I didn't want to miss out on this game.
• FLASCHENTEUFEL, The Bottle Imp - a fun trick-taking card game with a clever twist. A relatively unknown game that will be a welcome addition to my collection.

I got a few Amazon.com gift certificates for my brithday this year and so I went on a shopping spree:

• Medici - Recommend by Mark Johnson, among others. Happy to finally add this game to my collection.
• David and Goliath - A Tom Vasel recommendation. Looks like another interesting card game.
• Boomtown - Another game I've been meaning to add to my collection.
• Ice Cream - Impluse, spur of the moment buy.