RDTN Episode 104: Mansions of Madness, Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu, Qwixx, Karibou Camp and Rant

To get in the mood for Halloween, we played two Cthulhu based games this month. First up was Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu by Asmodee games. This is a re-theme of the original Pandemic that has really been streamlined. We had heard that they had done this, but until we sat down and played it, didn’t realize just how much was removed. The trading is simpler, the use of cards to create effects when “outbreaks” occurs is a nice added feature, and the ease of travel helps getting around the map quicker. However, these changes don’t make this an easier game. The complexity is still here, but maybe without the analysis issues that sometime plague the original Pandemic.

Mansion of Madness is our next game and while we didn’t sit down and play together, we both had very similar experiences with the game. While really enjoying the game, the issue of glossing over the flavor text as the game goes on is one that seems to hold true for all of the FFG Arkham Horror type games and applies here as well. It is great to have the flavor in the beginning but then somewhere during the play, everyone is like, yeah, yeah, yeah, just tell me what have to roll to win. At least with the app, you can also quickly bypass it as well. Man, imagine if they had put a timer in it so you had to wait for the NEXT button to light up because they want you to read the text.

Rocky Mountain Gaming Vacation organizer, Michael Canavan stopped by the show and talked about Tony’s one convention next year. It is a small con, but at Breckenridge in Colorado. It took a location that offered hiking, rafting, and site seeing to get his wife to a gaming con. If you are interested, please check out the site and if you are on the west coast, you might want to give it a consideration. If you just want to see Tony suffer from Altitude Sickness, then this will be a must.

And finally, we rehash our summer movie picks and how we did. Marty was the big winner by grabbing the three big blockbusters this year and Tony came in a respectable third. If you are interested in the final results, you can see them posted in our BGG Guild. Thanks to everyone you played in the contest this year and hope you will back again next year.

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