Big Drunken Tiger Kickboxer : Fatal Killer

It's a semi random title, and although it was actually the name of our hand of "Kung Fu Samurai", it appropriately sums up the theme of the evening: Frankenstein creations.

The bulk of the evening was spent playing an unholy union of HeroClix and Robo Rally (RoboClix? HeroRally?). Essesntially, we formed teams, as usual, but played on the RoboRally boards. To make up for the relative freedom of movement alloed to us by ditching the programming cards, we made the course pretty long... 4 boards, start flag int he center and the next 4 flags in the corners (in such a way that the board needed to be crossed diagonally between flags). In RoboRally, that would be a recipe for a 16 hour game, in Robo-Clix (Henceforth christened) it took about 1 1/2. Since I'm a HeroClix dummy (I'm not a comic book fan, and therefore can't really tell the superheros apart, or know what they are supposed to do), I picked my team based on cool figurines. I wound up with Iceman, Doc Oc and a sniper. I don't really recall the other teams that well, but here goes: Luch had Blade, Daredevil and a blue/orange guy with a gun; Kozure had Captain America, Storm and another girl, Shemp had Jeanne Gray, Toad and Rogue.

Either way, random beat out knowledgeable this night, as I somehow cruised to victory. Doc Oc seems to be the ultimate RoboClix character, since his combination of leadership (which potentially allows a second action), Willpower (which allows pushing without damage) and climbing (which allows him to break away without rolling, and otherwise ignore character and terrain hindrances) proved extremely powerful. Iceman, with his ability to put up barriers, could also have been very useful... (Side note: My original plan was to put up barriers around the flags and have Doc Oc climb in and out on successive actions... I wasn't really able to get the timing right. Oh, and Ice Man died).

Other MVPs:
Kozure's Captain America, since he was in second place
Shemp's Jeanne Gray, for throwing many a character into a pit.
Luch's Blade, for taking a lickin' and keepin' on tickin'

All in all, a fun game. It improves on HeroClix by making the terrain an important feature, and for giving direction to an otherwise random fight-fest. I'm still a little uncomfortable with the rules (esp. the move OR fight rule, which gives an ENORMOUS advantage to the few characters who can do both... like the magneto clan). Also, I realized that if I had been killed, I would have been twiddling my thumbs for an hour or so until the game ended (since everyone else had pretty much abandoned chasing the flag in order to take me down). I think that Kozure's suggestion was a good one: Take the team to 200 points, so that more actions can be undertaken concurrently (chase the flag AND kill the leader).

Next up was Kung-Fu Samurai, a silly card game involving making a movie and sending your protagonists and antagonists to fight the characters of other movies... or something. Either way, the game was fun (and funny). This one is firmly entrenched in the Star Munchkin/ Chez Geek "play to have a good time" type game. Strategy is pretty much nil, it's mostly about having a chuckle at the cards and seeing how the whole thing plays out (oh yeah, and you get to make up a kung fu movie title at the beginning, too!). Draw cards, fortify yourself, screw yer neighbour, end your turn. Draw cards, fortify yourself, screw yer neighbour, end your turn. That type of thing. More than Star Munchkin or Chez Geek, there is quite a bit of text to read, and more cards in your hand each turn, which slows things down a bit more than the others. It's probably my least favorite of the three, but still fun for what it is.

RoboClix: 6.5
Kung Fu Samurai: 5.5