Steam】Spring Break is for Relaxing and Playing Bodogames at Home! PC Board Game Special Part 3

PC Board Games Part 3

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Shogi-style strategy game "MIYAMOTO S

Tanto Cuore, a card game full of moe elements

Patchwork, a digital version of the classic competitive board game

1. A hot battle unfolds on a 4x4 board! Shogi-style strategy game "MIYAMOTO S

• MIYAMOTO S" (hidekihanida)
• Genre: Strategy game
• Release date: January 30, 2022
• Price: 930 yen (as of March 14, 2022)
• Copyright: (C) 2022 hidekihanida

The feeling of playing a simulation RPG in which you have to think carefully about your next move is similar to playing chess or shogi.

MIYAMOTO S" is also reminiscent of Shogi. It is a card game for one player played on a miniature board. It may sound like a contradiction if I say "a card game set on a board," but I will explain this point later.

The first thing that catches the eye is the unique visual with a Japanese flavor. The opening sequence, in which a board game box snaps open to start the game, is sure to be so impressive that bodoge enthusiasts could eat as many bowls of rice as they like just from this alone.

The rules of this game are that players take turns moving their frames on the 4x4 board, and the first player to defeat the opponent's master frame wins. In Shogi, the pieces are placed on the board in advance, but in this game, the pieces are transformed by placing the cards dealt to you on the board. This is exactly what a "card game set on a board" is all about.

Each frame has its own strength and attack power, and once per turn, the player can inflict damage equal to his or her attack power on any frame within the attack range. When a frame is damaged, its health decreases, and when its health falls below zero, the frame disappears. It may be easier to understand if we call this a simulation RPG-like system.

In addition to cards that have the effect of placing panels, there are "magic" cards that take effect immediately after they are used. There are various types of cards, such as cards that deal damage to specified enemy panels or cards that increase the attack power of specified panels, all of which have the potential to overturn the war situation.

In addition, there is no "cost" to spend when using cards in this game. You can only place up to six frames on the board, but there are no other restrictions, so as long as you have cards in your hand, you can use them as many times as you like during a turn. However, you can only place frames in the squares adjacent to your frames, and frames cannot be acted on the turn they are placed on the board. The key to success in this game is to always keep these restrictions in mind, anticipate your opponent's next turn's action, and deploy your cards while conserving your hand at times.

Incidentally, there are various types of panels with different abilities, such as those that can attack immediately the turn they are placed, those that can be placed next to the enemy, and those that can attack several squares ahead, etc. One of the interesting aspects of this work is to make full use of these abilities to hunt down the opponent's master panel.

The ultimate objective of this title is to advance through all eight stages while defeating the opponent's master frame, and to defeat the big boss, "Miyamoto," the swordsman who awaits you in the final stage.

For each stage cleared, a card is obtained as a reward to strengthen the deck, and this deck-building element is one of the most exciting aspects of this title. However, there is no element of compressing the deck by removing unnecessary cards or reinforcing cards, and the deck-building element of this title is very loose. Nevertheless, this loose deck-building system seems to match the tempo of the game, which can be played quickly and easily, a point that left a favorable impression on me.

As the Japanese-style worldview suggests, the big boss "Miyamoto" is based on the famous "Musashi Miyamoto. Miyamoto Musashi is a legendary swordsman who was undefeated throughout his life. Miyamoto in this game has an amazing cheat level of strength, with 50 physical strength, an attack range of up to 2 squares away, and the ability to permanently +1 the attack power of all enemy panels except his own. In fact, not only "Miyamoto," but all the bosses in this work are generally strong. The overwhelming bosses are many times stronger than your master coma and possess special abilities, so you have to think carefully about how to attack and defend against them.

Even if you don't make it to the final boss, you can use the money you earn from defeating bosses along the way to unlock new master panels with various abilities. This is one of the elements that make the game interesting and deep. As the strategy changes with each new master frame, the game becomes more challenging and enjoyable to play over and over again.

MIYAMOTO S" offers the fun of thinking like Shogi or Chess, but in a light, easy-to-play format. It is a recommended game for those who like board games and puzzle games that require careful thinking, as well as for those who like simulation RPGs.

2. Hire cute maids to enrich your mansion (deck)! Tanto Cuore" is a card game full of moe elements!

• Tanto Cuore" (Japanime Digital, Wedontknow Games)
• Genre: Board game
• Release date: May 12, 2021
• Price: 1,010 yen (as of March 14, 2022)
• Copyright: (C) 2021 Japanime Digital, Wedontknow Games

Many people may associate maids as representative of "moe. Although not as vigorous as they were at the height of the Akiba-kei boom, there are still many maids standing on street corners in Akihabara advertising maid cafes, and one gets the feeling that "this is Japan's moe! I can't help but feel the momentum of "this is Japan's moe! The "Tanto Cuore" is a card game featuring such maids.

This title is a digital version of the deck-type card game "Tanto Cuore. The original analog version was released in 2009, more than 10 years ago, and the English version was released in 2011, expanding overseas and receiving high acclaim both in Japan and abroad. In the world of "Tantokuore," players take on the role of the master of a mansion, or "master. The master's goal is to hire many maids and improve his mansion (deck). The highlight of the game is the cute maids depicted on the cards!　The maids are so full of charm and individuality, created by a team of gorgeous illustrators, that you will be tempted to look at them while the game is going on.

This is a so-called "deck-building" card game, in which players acquire cards each turn to strengthen their own deck. It has a similar feel to "Dominion," a well-known board game masterpiece, and "Heart of CrownPC," which was previously featured in the "PC Board Game Special" section, so if you like these games, you are sure to be hooked.

The victory condition of this game is to earn victory points called "VP. The player who has the highest VP of maid cards in his or her deck at the end of the game wins the game as the "best master". By the way, "best master", how fascinating it sounds. ...... I guess we have no choice but to aim for it!

Let's take a look at the rules and game flow of "Tantokuore" from here.

When the game starts, each player is given a deck of 10 cards. Five cards from the deck are then added to the hand. The first thing a player must do is to purchase the maid cards lined up on the screen using the cards from this hand that give money. The purchased cards are discarded, but when all the cards in the deck are gone, the discarded cards are shuffled back into the deck, so the more cards the player purchases, the more cards are in the deck.

In this game, money is called "haato " and purchasing maid cards is called "hiring. The fact that "haato" is used instead of "heart" is a point of particular interest. In short, you hire maids with "ha-ha-ha" instead of money, which is a very warm worldview. ......

There are three main types of maids that can be hired with "ha-ha-ha". The first is the "General Maid" in the blue frame. This is an action card type maid that is effective when used on your turn. Each maid has a different effect, such as gaining additional "ha-ha", drawing additional cards, or interfering with the opponent, and some maids directly lead to VP, the victory point. However, in order to use these "ordinary maids," you need to earn "Gobou-service" points, as the name implies. Basically, you get only one "Gobou-service" point per turn, but you can get additional points depending on the maid's effect. The maid's "service" is a kind of chaos when written in words, but in any case, "haato" and "go-service" are the keys to this work.

Next is the "soba-servant maid," the head maid in the green frame. It is an unfamiliar word, but "soba-service" means "to serve close to the lord. This card is not as effective in serving as a general maid, but it is a card that can earn VP, victory points, which can greatly affect the outcome of the game. Basically, the shortcut to victory is to get this Maid-in-Chief, but each Maid-in-Chief has its own peculiarities, such as having to pay 2 points of service to get VP, and the "haato" required to purchase them is huge. One of the most interesting aspects of the game is the "fun of thinking," which involves building a deck each turn while thinking about how to efficiently get VPs from the maids.

Next is the "exclusive maid" in the black frame. The difference from the blue-framed maids is that there is only one of each type of maid, and once a maid is put on the field, she has a permanent effect. The effect of increasing "haato" and draw each turn is simple but powerful, so if you have one on the field, you will want to hire it before your opponent does, but be aware that "exclusive maids" are, as the name suggests, exclusive, so hiring a new exclusive maid will destroy the previous cards.

By the way, my favorite exclusive maid is Amber Twilight. With her devilish appearance, eye patch, expressionless face, and slightly erotic outfit, she has an aggressive visual appeal that I like. However, she comes at the cost of reducing victory points by 3, which is just like a devil's daughter maid.

In addition to the fun of strengthening one's deck, I believe that the charm of this game lies in the existence of various winning strategies.

I mentioned earlier that acquiring Maid-in-Chief cards is a shortcut to victory, but that is only a "shortcut," and there are many ways to earn VP for victory in this game.

For example, "Saffron Virginie," a common maid, has the ability to gain two "haato," but she can be converted to VP by spending Gobou-service points to have her "serve" as a "soba-servant," and by "serving" multiple "soba-servants," additional VPs can be earned. There are also other cards that can be used to gain VP in addition to the Maid-in-Chief, such as the 3 Crescent Sisters, which can be used to gain additional VP by having all 3 sisters "serve" together, and Anise Greenaway, who has a powerful effect of +3 draw and +1 employment frequency, but can also gain 3 VP just by having her in the deck. The game offers a variety of strategies, depending on how your opponent plays. I felt that this game design, which creates a completely different battle situation each time you play, makes this game highly addictive and makes you want to play it over and over again.

Tanto Cuore" is a fusion of cute maid card illustrations and a deep strategic strategy that becomes more and more addictive the more you play. The game offers not only a single-player mode with challenging elements, but also a multiplayer mode where you can play online with friends or strangers, which is a nice feature. If you are interested in the game, please play and try to become the "best master".

3. create a giant embroidery with puzzle and backgammon! Patchwork" is a digital version of the classic competitive board game

• Patchwork" (DIGIDICED)
• Genre: Board game
• Released on December 6, 2016
• Price: 720 yen (as of March 14, 2022)
• Copyright: (c) 2016 DIGIDICED

Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever embroidered?　I have absolutely no experience with sewing machines, embroidery, or knitting, but whenever I see embroidery works, I am impressed by those who have the skills. Patchwork" is a unique board game about embroidery.

This is a digital version of the competitive board game "Patchwork" for two players.
The original analog version was designed by Uwe Rosenberg, creator of the award-winning masterpiece board game "Agricola," and has been a popular game played around the world since its release in 2014. The first thing that catches the eye about this work is its cute graphics. As the name suggests, the theme of the game is "patchwork," and every inch of the screen is designed to look as if it were made with embroidery, which makes the game relaxing to look at.

To give a brief description of this work, it is a game that combines puzzle and backgammon elements. However, it may be difficult to imagine how these two elements are fused together to form a single game. Let us introduce the basic rules and the flow of the game.

First, the player's objective in this game is to make a blanket by placing small fabric pieces of various shapes on a 9 x 9 quilt board. Some of the fabric pieces have buttons attached to them, and the player receives one point for each button. However, a penalty exists: if there is a gap in the blanket, the player loses 2 points for every square. As the tutorial owl says, "Because you don't want a blanket full of holes, do you?" and he is tremendously persuasive.

There are two actions a player can perform on his or her turn.
The first is to purchase one of the three fabrics displayed. The other is to advance his or her frame on the backgammon and collect the button. The word "backgammon" appears here, but in addition to the 9 x 9 quilt board described earlier, the game board in this title has a "time board, " a backgammon board with paths laid out in a spiral pattern. The game ends when both players' frames arrive at the goal located in the center of the time board. By purchasing a piece of cloth and sewing it to the quilt board, the game is advanced by the number of the hourglass mark on each piece of cloth. Incidentally, the other number marked with a button on the cloth cloth is the price of the cloth. You can buy the cloth you want by paying for the buttons you receive as you advance through the backgammon game.

The cloth pieces you buy are placed on your quilt board to make a blanket. You can rotate the fabric pieces 90 degrees to the left or right, or turn them inside out, so be careful to place them on the board with as few gaps as possible and sew them in place.

The first player to complete a 7x7 blanket with no gaps will receive 7 bonus points. The "place the pieces as tightly as possible" element is very reminiscent of a Tetris-like puzzle game: choose an L-shaped piece of cloth or a long stick-shaped piece of cloth that is difficult to place, or choose a piece of cloth with a strange shape but with many buttons to score points in the end, Or you can choose a piece of cloth that you don't want the other player to take and try to sabotage the game. ...... This is the point where the mind-boggling game of chance is born, and it is one of the most exciting parts of this game.

Now let's move on to backgammon. As mentioned above, the game ends when both players reach the goal of backgammon, but the objective of this game is to create a blanket of 9 x 9 squares. In other words, if the quilt board is not fully filled and the player continues onward, he or she will lose the game.

There is one more important rule in this game: the player with the backgammon frame behind him or her takes the next turn. This means that the same player may play consecutive turns. Therefore, an effective strategy is to buy a piece of cloth that will advance enough to not overtake the opponent's frame, aiming for consecutive turns and sewing more pieces together. However, the dilemma arises when you have to move forward to get the buttons to buy pieces. ...... Furthermore, there is one square of cloth placed on the backgammon that only the player who passes first will get, and you want to get as much as possible to fill the gap in the blanket, however, the dilemma is that if you move too far ahead, you will have less chance to buy the pieces...! ...! Despite the simplicity of the rules, the main attraction of this game is the various conflicts that arise, resulting in a tumultuous turn of events.

Patchwork" offers a unique playing experience that combines the puzzle element of laying out the pieces without gaps and the anomalous Sugoroku element of having to be careful not to advance too far ahead. While the analog version is fun to play, the greatest appeal of the digital version is that you can easily play online with friends, and there is no need to calculate the score or clean up after playing. If you are interested in this game, please check it out.

Let's have fun with board games on Steam during spring break!

So, we have introduced three recommended board games.
The best part of board games is that you can get together with other people and have fun, but with Steam's digital board games, you can play alone or with friends far away. We hope you will enjoy playing the digital board games introduced here this spring break!