Game Review: Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 by Z-Man Games

Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 designed by Rob Daviau and Matt Leacock and published by Z-Man Games

OVERVIEW:

Building upon the success of two previous games, Rob Daviau and Matt Leacock have crafted a sprawling co-operative board game experience in Pandemic Legacy: Season 1. 

Leacock made the original Pandemic in 2008. It is a co-operative game where players crisscross the globe fighting the spread of four diseases while trying to discover cures for those diseases. Each player is a different character who has a special action only that character can do (like the Dispatcher moving other characters' pieces on the Dispatcher's turn (with permission)). The game requires a careful balancing of collecting and using resources (cards from a player deck). The diseases pop up in various cities and will cause problems when too many people get infected (causing "outbreaks" that spread to neighboring cities). The game is wildly popular for its co-operative nature, the difficulty in winning (it is not an easy game but it is not too difficult), and the heroic theme.

Daviau made Risk Legacy in 2011. Players competed militarily to control the world. The twist from classic Risk is that the players control different factions (not just different colors) that have the ability to take actions that other players can't. Even more, the player has two options of an ability and must choose one, destroying the other, i.e. it can never be used. The rules say to tear up the card or component and throw it away. Also, at the end of the game, players (usually the victor) will make permanent changes to the playing board. Subsequent games play a little differently, and more differently as more games are played. A campaign is introduced that changes the game and makes it more exciting as it goes on. The game is wildly popular for its innovations, the permanent changes made, and "something new" with each subsequent play.

Leacock and Daviau combined the Legacy concept and mechanics with the Pandemic co-operative experience. The result is a game that starts with an initial typical game of Pandemic that has a sudden change half-way through the first play. One of the diseases morphs, creating new rules and objectives for the game. Components are destroyed and stickers go on the board, changing how the game is played. As players win or lose each game, resources and rules are added or taken away. 

The campaign is played over an in-game year, starting with January and going to December. Each month, players have two chances to win. That is, if they fail the very first game, they get to play January again, though if they fail a second time, the game moves on to February. Ultimately, the players have twelve to twenty-four games. A victory brings bonuses but also penalties. The player deck includes "Special Event" cards that players can use to remove diseases, perform extra actions, or other special abilities. The number of these cards fluctuates--if the players lose, their budget is increased and they can add extra event cards; if they win, their budget is decreased and they need to be selective about which cards to include since fewer card will be added. As the game challenges shift, different cards seem more valuable than others.

The board also changes. When an outbreak happens, the overrun city starts rioting and panicking. If things get too bad, it becomes hard to move through the cities. Players can also add permanent stations (as in the base game) to help them move around the board and solve problems. Also, stickers become available to add to the player cards so they have more than the regular use of traveling around the board, building stations, or finding cures. Choosing which cards get stickers and when to use the abilities is a fun and interesting twist.

Game board from publisher's website with spoilers removed

Player characters get modifications, beyond just adding names to the characters (we had a Quarantine Specialist whom we called "Isa Lationist"). They can get special relationships with other characters, enabling them to trade cards, use extra actions, or other abilities. Individual abilities can also be added. If a character is caught in a city that has an outbreak, a scar sticker is added that causes a disability (like not being able to find cures). Too many scars means the character dies, i.e. permanently removed from the game. The character development is an interesting part of the game.

At the end of each play, players can make modifications to their characters or to the board, hopefully making things easier for the next game. Sometimes new components are added, creating new challenges. The initial objective of finding cures for diseases quickly changes with new, different objectives that are more or less easy. Often, players have the option of solving just three of a multitude of objectives. I don't think we ever had more than five objectives. When some objectives are solved, a reward is given and that objective is trashed. These expiring objectives often move the story forward.

The overall story is interesting and exciting, though obviously discussing it here would contain many spoilers. We enjoyed the storyline a lot, which leads to...

OUR EXPERIENCE

We played with an initial set of characters that remained consistent for the first few months. We lost the very first game, which meant our resources increased and we had a leg-up on the subsequent plays. The game is challenging but my wife and son had been playing plenty of Pandemic over the past year. They had a good sense of what was possible and how to set up future moves or avoid potential obstacles (like drawing a card that causes an outbreak). We had a mixture of successes and failures through the games, which kept things exciting for us. We were happy every time we got back to the game. 

Since our playgroup was limited to family members, we were able to play through the game relatively quickly, in less than two months. Having the Christmas holiday and some snow days helped too (along with no traveling over Christmas). The excitement had us returning, sometimes the very next day, to make more progress with the new things we just discovered. 

The legacy aspect is fun, though some of us have a hard time tearing up cards or destroying components. Losing characters, which only happened a few times, was not so traumatic. The game comes with a variety of characters and new ones are added that help with the new objectives. Adding stickers to the board and to the rulebook (with explanations of new rules) was not a problem. The growing complexity never got too far out of hand, though we did miss a key rule in the first few games (adding the rioting stickers to outbreak cities) that probably made things easier than it should have been. The final state of the game is not playable but is a satisfying conclusion to the story. Assuming you achieve the final objectives.

Players can calculate a score at the end based on the state of the world and what they accomplished over the twelve to twenty-four games. We had an average score. That was a bit anticlimactic but we played for the fun experience, not the score.

Even though we ended with a board game we can't play any more, we thought we got our money's worth, considering the quality of the story and the game. Also, the number of plays is good, we have a bunch of games that we've only played two to five times. Getting twenty plays out of one game is satisfying.

Recommended, though you need a play-group that is dedicated to playing through the whole game.

SPOILER FINAL PICTURES OF OUR GAME!

The final state of our world!

The history of our campaign!

Twelve Games of Christmas 2018

We decided to challenge ourselves to play twelve games over the Christmas season. Being Catholic, that meant we had until January 13, 2019, which is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. That's celebrated on the Sunday after Epiphany (January 6). Epiphany was on a Sunday in 2019, giving a full week after to finish. So we had plenty of extra days to get the games in. Here's what we played:

1. Patchwork Express designed by Uwe Rosenberg and published by Lookout Games

Based on his hit game Patchwork, Rosenberg strips down the mechanics to a two-player version. The game is still pretty relaxing and laid back. Players are putting together a patchwork quilt by getting variously shaped pieces and adding them to their board. Buttons are used as a currency during the game. Different patches cost different numbers of buttons. Time is also a currency, because each patch takes a certain amount of time to add. The time track governs whose turn it is. Whoever is behind on the track can buy patches until they catch up to the frontrunner, so it is possible to buy more than one patch before the opponent has a chance. The mechanics are simple and easy to learn but the variety is good with the random ordering of the patches. We like it, especially because the game easily runs under half an hour and it isn't particularly stressful.

2. Sagrada designed by Daryl Andrews and Adrian Adamescu and published by Floodgate Games

This game was a Christmas present, probably my favorite. I did a dual/duel review of it back in the summer where I compared it to Azul. Players build stained glass windows using translucent dice that are drawn, rolled, and drafted each round. The game has some tension but not very much player conflict. It plays in less than an hour, which we like because we have a hard time carving out blocks of time for gaming.

Our four-year old often insists on playing. While the mechanics are a bit beyond him, we have an easy time guiding him along. I recommend the game highly!

3. Unlock! The House on the Hill designed by Fabrice Mazza and published by Space Cowboys 

This game is a variation on the "escape room in a box" genre. The Unlock! series has several different games. Each game uses a set of cards and an app, though the app is good for all the games, so players only have to download it once. The game comes with a tutorial scenario that introduces the basic ways to use the cards. Some cards show locations and indicate other cards players "discover." Some cards are objects (red and blue) that can interact with each other causing new things to happen. Other cards (green and yellow) require the player to enter codes or other information into the app to get feedback. Players have sixty minutes to solve all the puzzles and finish the game.

In The House on the Hill, players are investigators going into a house where a bunch of teenagers read an excerpt from The Book of the Dead and unleashed all sorts of paranormal badness. The investigators need to find the book and undo the curse.

The puzzles are fun and none are too difficult. The trickiest thing is that numbers are sometimes hidden on cards, so without close examination important clues could be left out. The app asked us whether we wanted to have automatic help for hidden numbers. We said yes since it was our first time. We probably won't use that feature in the future. We finished in time with the following result:

So we finished in 48 minutes and 2 seconds with zero hints (the lightbulb). We tried two wrong combinations and got a six-minute penalty (the skull and crossbones). We had no penalties for machines (the green cards) and three penalties for wrong codes (the yellow cards). Three minutes for each penalty means that we really finished in 33 minutes of real time. We scored the full five stars at the bottom.

This was a fun game and is replayable, since the cards aren't torn up or folded like in Exit: The Game games. We'd have to wait a while so we can forget how to solve the puzzles. Or we can have the fun of watching friends play it.

4. The Lady and the Tiger designed by Peter C. Hayward, Allysha Tulk, Kevin Carmichael, Ken Maher, JR Honeycutt, and Philip Tootill and published by Jellybean Games

The Lady and the Tiger is actually five different games that use the same set of components (thus the six designers (two designers created one of the games)).

We played Labyrinth (by Philip Tootill), a two-player game where we had to move our cubs (five colored tokens) across a grid of cards to their home card. On each turn, the player moves one token and then swaps two cards, at least one of which has to have a cub on it. The trick is that the player can't swap just any cards. It has to be two of the same color or two ladies or two tigers. And the choice is further limited by only one of the two colors (blue or red) or one of the two types (ladies or tigers) depending on what was chosen previously.

The game is very "thinky" and thus prone to analysis paralysis. Happily, my wife and I aren't so ambitious that we try to work out all the possibilities. My wife won pretty handily. I'll have to have a rematch.

5. Machi Koro designed by Masao Suganuma and published by IDW Games and Pandasaurus Games

We had family over for New Year's Day and they played several games. My wife and I started Machi Koro with them, though my wife swapped out half-way through to play with the children. It was fun, maybe because I won?

The game is about building a city, starting with a Wheat Field and a Bakery. Players roll a die (or two dice later in the game), collect money if the number matches their cards, and buy a new establishment. As the city grows, players get more money with which to buy better expansions. The goal is to buy four special expansions (Train Station, Shopping Mall, Amusement Park, and Radio Tower). The first to buy all four wins the game.

It's a light and quick game that anyone can learn and enjoy.

6. Muddy Swampy Jungle Game by Martin Handford and published by Candlewick Press

If you think Martin Handford's name sounds familiar, you must have had more than a passing glance at a Where's Waldo book. This game is in book seven, Where's Waldo? The Incredible Paper Chase. We tore out the board and punched out the pieces from one of the pages. We had to supply our own six-sided die. Players roll and move along the board, hoping to get to the finish line before everyone else. The spaces occasionally make you move forward or backward, or perform silly tasks like reading one of the tongue twisters from the cards.

The game's board

Our preschooler loves the game, so we've played it several times. We probably won't play it without him, because we are that type of parents.

7. The Lady and the Tiger (again!)

We tried out one of the other games from number four above. This game is called Doors. It's a two-player game in several rounds. In each round, one player is the Collector and one is the Guesser. Both players draw one of the door cards, so they have a specific color (blue or red) and character (lady or tiger). The players deal out four of the general cards face up. The Collector chooses one of the face-up cards (which is immediately replaced from the draw pile). The Collector is trying to get four cards that match their color or character. The Guesser gets to discard one of the four face-up cards and can try to guess the color and/or character of the Collector. Successful guessing gets points; unsuccessful guessing gives points to the Collector. As soon as someone scores, the round is over. The roles then switch for the next round. Play continues until one player has scored ten points.

It's an interesting game but I am terrible at it. We played twice and, including both games, I scored four points. Yikes!

8. Sagrada (again!)

We played a four-player version with my brother and my preschooler. The preschooler enjoyed drawing dice and rolling them more than anything else. So he makes a good aid.

9. Forbidden Island designed by Matt Leacock and published by Gamewright

This classic co-operative game is a favorite at our house. One reason is that everyone can play it. As a co-op, we work together to gather the treasures off a sinking island. The mechanics are very straight-forward--even our four-year old can play along and make some reasonable decisions. We did succeed though we played with one of the easier island shapes (there's a jpg with alternate layouts for the island on Board Game Geek). The components are fantastic and the outcome is usually positive.

10. The Lady and The Tiger

We tried out a third game, Favor, an auction game. Each player starts with five gems and a secret identity (one of the door cards). Cards from the deck are played to the center. On a player's turn, the choice is to flip up another card in the center or to call an auction. During the auction, each player gets to bid a number of gems on the whole set of cards in the middle. Whoever called the auction has the last bid, so the last chance to get the cards. If the auction caller wins the cards, his bid is split among the other players. If another player wins, the auction caller gets the bid. So the gems move around. Once the cards run out, a final auction is held. The cards that match both characteristics of a player's secret identity are worth three points; one characteristic is worth one point; no characteristics are negative two points. The two wild cards can alter attributes on one card. The game runs for three rounds. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.

I'm usually pretty bad at auction games but this went well. I still lost but I actually scored a reasonable amount of points.

11.  Machi Koro (again!)

A sweeping victory by Mommy in a tricky three-player game.

12. 13 Dead End Drive

Aunt Agatha has died with no relatives, so a bunch of friends and servants vie to inherit her fortune. Her home is full of booby traps (the fireplace, the stairs, a falling suit of armor, etc.) ready to knock off the twelve claimants. There's also a small deck of cards that are the "portrait on the wall" showing who is the most likely claimant at the time. The board is three-dimensional, so the deck of cards actually sits on the back wall like a portrait. The traps are a plastic stairs, statues, etc., that have a little lever to activate the trap and knock over the doomed playing piece.

Each player gets several of the characters to play (though the roles are secret). On a turn, the player rolls two dice and moves two of the characters (not necessarily their own characters). If a character lands on one of the booby trap spots, the player draws a card from the trap deck. If the card matches the trap, it can be discarded and that character is eliminated. Otherwise, the card is kept in secret to use later on a different trap. Also in the trap deck are detective cards, which move the detective closer to the front door. If the detective reaches the front door, the game ends. If the dice roll is doubles, the player has the option of putting the top portrait card on the back of the deck, introducing a new "likely claimant." If the portrait is ever of someone who has already been knocked off, the card is discarded and the next card is the current portrait.

The game is novel (for its time, 1993) in having multiple ways to win. A player wins if one of their characters leaves when their portrait is on the wall, or if the detective shows up when their portrait is on the wall, or if all the other characters are killed. Only the first and third win conditions are under the player's control, but still it's nice to have a variety of options.

The game is out of print, so it's super-expensive online. Maybe you can find it at a thrift store for a reasonable price?

Game Review: Forbidden Desert

Forbidden Desert designed by Matt Leacock and published by Gamewright

Matt Leacock is the designer of the hit games Pandemic and Forbidden Island. Forbidden Island is often described as a "lighter" version of Pandemic. Now his highly anticipated Forbidden Desert has come out. I played it at the 2013 UK Games Expo, bought a copy, brought it home, and have played a few more times.

The story of the game is that you and one to four friends have flown a helicopter to the middle of a desert where an ancient city is buried. You all came to find a legendary flying machine, but a sandstorm has kicked up. The helicopter crashed and now you frantically search for the missing parts, hoping to rebuild the flying machine before thirst or the storm get you.

The game is played on a 5 by 5 grid of 24 desert tiles. Those of you quick at math will realize that leaves one empty space in the grid. This space is the storm. It will move around during the game, dumping additional sand on tiles, requiring more effort to dig out the ancient city. If too much sand piles up (i.e. the sand markers run out), all the players lose the game.

Sample play area from the rules book

Players randomly choose different roles (archeologist, climber, explorer, meteorologist, navigator, water carrier) who have different special abilities. The roles also have a water meter indicating how much water they are carrying. As the storm continues, occasional "Sun Beats Down" cards will cause everyone to drink, reducing their water. Three of the tiles look like oases, where a well can provide additional water. Too bad one of them is a mirage! If one person runs out of water and the sun beats down again, all the players lose the game.

Players perform up to four actions during their turns--either moving, removing sand, excavating the city, or picking up a part. Excavating is required as it will eventually reveal the location of the missing parts. An excavated tile is flipped revealing either a part of the city (the player then draws an artifact that gives a special one-time power), a tunnel (which provides an artifact, shelter from the sun beating down, and the ability to move to other revealed tunnel tiles), the launch pad (where the players must go after gathering all the missing flying machine parts) or a clue to a missing part's location. Each part has two clues, one indicating an up/down axis, the other a left/right access. Once both are revealed, the part can be placed on the appropriate tile where a player can pick it up. If it isn't buried in sand. Then the player will have to dig.

After the actions, storm cards are drawn. The number depends on how intense the storm is. Most cards move the storm around and cause sand to accumulate on tiles. I've already mentioned the "Sun Beats Down" card. Another type of card increases the storm's intensity, possibly upping the number of storm cards drawn. If the storm intensity track gets too high, all the players lose the game.

Top row is storm cards; bottom row is some of the artifacts

The game is a fun co-operative game with really great parts and interesting game mechanics. The tiles and sand markers are thick, sturdy cardboard, much like the tiles in Forbidden Island. The parts for the flying machine are solid plastic components (again, like in Forbidden Island) and fit into the main machine well.

Flying machine and parts

Ready to escape!

The way the storm moves and builds up obstacles works well though it is not immediately obvious how it works. The rules explain it fairly clearly. Game play is fun and exciting like Leacock's previous games with players discussing what the best plan is. The game seems to favor fewer players. On the one hand, two players can't be all over the board. On the other hand, they can support each other better with water resources. With five people scattered in each corner, the sun beating down is more of a problem and the water resource has been the make or break part of the game for the larger groups I've played with.

Zombie Apocalypse Appropriateness: Since this is a co-op game, it could be played solo with any number of the roles taking turns. The game is a little bulky to carry around. It doesn't really give players any zombie fighting or surviving skills, but it is so much fun it will be a great mental diversion from the grimness that comes with living in an apocalypse.