Board Game reviews

Since Gen Con Ellen and I have been on a board game kick. Before we left between the two of us we owned 2-3 board games. Mostly cheap card games such as Bang and Apples to Apples. We do enjoy playing thse games, but have never really gone out and increased our collection. This changed a lot with Gen Con. Since then between the two of us we have purchased 5 new board games. And I really enjoy every single one of them. So I will be reviewing them as I feel like it over the next week or two.

So Game #1 will be Chaos in the Old World.
Its a 4 player game, and not a very quick one, so it can be tough to get the right number of people to play. The game allows each player to take control of one of the Warhammer Chaos Gods and attempt to destroy the old world through corruption and battle. There are two ways to win. Every time you destroy a city you gain victory points. If your point total reaches 50 at the end of a turn you win. If mulitple people reach 50 at once, the person with more points wins. The Second way to win is the corruption dial. There is a different condition for each god to be allowed to turn their dial. Each turn gives you a bonus, and the last space on the Dial says you win. The Dial trumps the points as a win condition. Each god is incredibly unique and play vey differently. There are 3 unit types for each faction, Warriors who do the fighting, Greater Daemons, who do the fighting better, and Cultists, who you use to destroy the cities and corrupt the humans.

Khorne - The god of blood and battle. Khorne has the fewest cultists, making it hard for him to corrupt cities. His easiest win condition is to get his dial clicks. Khorne is allowed to turn his dial once each turn if he kills an enemy model. This is a very easy thing to do so Khorne is usually able to get his Dial turns very quickly.

Nurlge is the god of pestilance and plague. He has the most models, but his warriors are weaker then the others. Nurgle has the most clicks on his dial so he generally tries to win by corrupting locations and getting victory points.

Tzeentch is the god of magic and change. He is able to switch back and forth between the two roles and play the board as it develops. Tzeentch gains dial advancement by corrupting locations with heavy magic. Magic occurs when Tzeentch plays magic power cards or when there are Warpstone Mines.

Slannesh is the god of pleasure and pain. He is like Tzeentch in that he can play either the dial or the points. His dial is the shortest so it a strong way for him to win. Slannesh enjoys corrupting the powerful people of the world so when he corrupts cities with powerful heroes or nobles he gets to advance his dial.

So thats the general break down of the gods. Its a pretty fast paced game and its a lot fun. In the half dozen games I have played I have found that there is a good balance among the gods. I say this despite the fact that Nurgle has never won a game. I still think Nurgle is no more or less powerful then the other 3. It is a very fun game, and even people who know nothing of the world have enjoyed playing this game. In fact most of the people i have played with know nothing of the Chaos gods or the warhammer world and they still seem to enjoy it. The biggest knock on the game is the limited number of players. I understand that there are only 4 chaos gods and that is why there are only 4 players allowed, but I really wish that more then 4 people could play at once, were that the case the game would come of the closet more often.

I will give Warhammer: Chaos in the old World a B grade. The game is fun and the replay value is decent. It suffers from its small play size which is a shame as the game really is great.