Tasty Minstrel Games Pioneer Days Board Game

Chimera Station is a blast of a game. It's a euro-style worker placement game where you play wacky looking aliens (who look like they belong in a Simpson's Halloween Special!) competing with each other to build Chimera Station and gaining victory points along the way. Along those lines, Chimera Station has many of the typical tropes of such euro-style games: building modules (buildings) that add worker spaces and new abilities, a 'feeding your workers phase" (but don't despair, it's not that bad), perks which give the player a unique, special ability and so forth.However, Chimera Station comes with a brilliant twist: you can customize your alien workers! Yes, your workers are plastic alien figures that can be taken apart LIKE LEGOS and have special "genetic components" "spliced" into them (via a 'splicing chamber' worker space)! These components enhance your worker's abilities. Brains make your workers smarter and help you gain the victory point value (if any) of the worker space they occupy. Claws allow you to displace other player's workers from their occupied worker spaces so you can use them, or defend themselves from another player's clawed worker (i.e. canceling the ability). Leaves provide that modified worker with his (its?) own food source making the 'feed your worker' phase much easier. Tentacles allow your workers to gather and extra resource.Each worker can have a maximum of two (2) genetic components. Furthermore, you can DOUBLE UP on the same components for double the effect! For example, double tentacles let you get 2 additional resources; double brains let all your workers score VPs (via a special command module); double leaves lets your workers produce extra food; double claws lets you displace a worker with only one claw, or defend against a worker with two claws, and so forth.This makes for tremendous levels of variability and strategy! Replay ability is also enhanced by the possible FOURTY (40) station modules that can be built, of which (on average) 50% won't show up from game to game! Chimera Station has a lot of other great features about it. The production values (especially the KS version) are excellent The game only lasts five (5) rounds, so it lasts rarely more then 90mins, unless you're playing with many AP-prone players. Resources are plentiful! This is NOT a super resource, action tight, game like Agricola. Chimera Station is much 'lighter' and less stressful then those types of Euros. If that's the kind of game you like, then Chimera Station is probably not for you.But if you want a fast, fun, non-stress filled game that both families and gamers can enjoy, then GET THIS GAME!

Fantastic game! As an avid board gamer with shelves upon shelves of games, this one has quickly worked its way into my top 10, right up there with the likes of Viticulture, Stone Age and Lords of Waterdeep. The designers did a wonderful job.At it's heart, Pioneer Days is a light euro-style Western game that primarily involves dice drafting. The die you draft on your turn allows you to get resources (like wood, medicine and cattle), or you can instead opt for coins, or you can grab a follower to accompany you on your westward journey. These followers give you (and only you) a special ability when you pick them up, but they'll also help you focus your game toward a specific end-game strategy (such as collecting the most cattle or wagons).You'll meander across the Oregon Trail, making your way from town to town along with your opponents. Each town is looking for a different set of resources and all players will know what these are in advance each round. Provide what the towns need and you'll earn favors (victory points) that you'll score at the end of the game. But getting from town to town isn't easy ... disaster is always looming.The real pulse of this game lies in the disaster track -- it provides a wonderful mechanic that keeps every round steeped in tension. There are four potential disasters -- famine, disease, dangerous storms and raids. Each disaster will wreak havoc on a specific component or resource -- for example, famine will dwindle your cattle stock while disease can kill off your followers. But having a healthy stock of another resource can mitigate the disaster -- for example, each medicine will prevent a follower from succumbing to disease.When a disaster strikes, it hits every player. So even though you're competing against the other players, you'll work together a bit to ensure you don't trigger one of these disasters at a critical time. Of course, if one such disaster wouldn't hurt you much, you might actually compel it to trigger through your dice drafting choice for that round, thereby inflicting chaos upon your hapless competition while you skate by relatively unharmed (you, devil!)Even if you've navigated your game beautifully, always side-stepping disasters and carefully maintaining your full entourage of cattle, followers and resources, the last round throws you a major curve ball as EVERY disaster has the potential to trigger (often a few at once). No one gets away unscathed ... and that's part of the fun.If you're looking for something light, easy to learn, but full of nuance and interesting strategic choices, this is a great title to add to your game collection. Highly recommended!

This is a really entertaining dice drafting game with great thematic elements. It’s like Oregon trail: the board game... if there was one (we won’t count the “real” Oregon Trail card game; it’s not worth your time). This game on the other hand, is fantastic. Easy enough my 6&8 year old kids can play but enough strategy that every adult I’ve shown enjoys their time with it. Solid components, too. Turns are snappy and meaty even though you’re only ever just picking some dice out of a bag and rolling them, then choosing how to spend one of them. It’s a simple mechanic that has far reaching consequences. This combined with wagon management, a posse of townsfolk, and disaster mitigation, make this game a feast of fun decisions.Definitely staying in my collection.

Dice drafting goodness, It has a ton of things you need to look out for.

We've only played with the two of us- about a dozen times so far, and we had fun every time! I can see this working with up to four players.Nice challenge as you balance filling your wagon with needed supplies, money, and cattle to gain VPs and to protect against Storms, Raids, Famine, and Disease, along with utilizing powers of supplies and Townsfolk, and trading supplies for "Favors" (Victory Points) when you get into Town.I watched a great Playthrough by Rahdo on Youtube to get the gist of how to play, along with reading the directions. Very logical... you'll develop your strategy by paying attention to details on the Town cards, Supplies, Dice section, Townsfolk, and the Disaster Track.Highly recommend!