Twist and Shout

Jeff Hallet of 2-Halfsquads podcast fame, hosted a 4-player game of Dungeon Twister Sunday.   DT is as much of a puzzle as it is a game, with very chesslike play.  I've played it once before and it was fun enough to give another go.

Normally DT is played one on one.  Each player chooses 4 of 8 characters each of which has different abilities.  A mapboard is then constructed of randomly placed hidden tiles.  Each player also has a set number of items which they place face down on the map.  After that, the game starts and the winner is the first to get 4 VP's which are acquired by exiting your characters off the opponents board edge or killing opposing characters.   It's a pretty simple game one can play in an hour.

But Gary busted out the 4-player version which i believe makes the game much more interesting for a couple of reasons.  First, each player uses all 8 of their characters instead of just 4.  Second, it is extremely hazardous to try and cross the middle of the board as one can get attacked from 3 different sides.  Lastly, there is the "gang up on the leader" aspect which is inherent to multi-player games. 




Doug and Gary focus whilst i smile for the camera.

 So, we start off by placing are items and characters.  Doug and i both make the mistake of placing some of our onboard characters close to the exit, but this means they are easy pickings for each other.   Jeff also leaves his Wizard hanging in the wind and i'm able to fireball his ass.  Jeff, who forgot his fireproof suits, gets two more fireballs and is down 3 characters early, while Doug and i amass 3 VP's each.

Gary is playing pretty conservative--in other words he's playing smart--and keeping his characters massed together except for one of his fast guys who is able to blow through Jeff's line and exit.

Mayhem in the Dungeon.

Doug then wacks another one of my characters who i placed too close for him, and is sitting on 5 VP's--you need 6 to win in the 4-player game--while Gary and i are at 4 and Jeff has 1.  Doug has another of my characters trapped and looks like he will get the kill, but some tile twisting by Jeff and some quick moves by Gary look to keep him from the winning VP.

Alas, time is running out for Doug who has to leave for a family function so when Gary goes for the kill, i play my max combat card to prevent it, which allows Doug to finish off my character for his 6 VP and the win.

Overall, it was a enjoyable game.  It is a game that can suffer from over analysis which certainly happened early on.  Mid-way through the game, Jeff and i both downloaded chess clock apps to our phones and started timing moves.  It is suggested to have a 2 minute time limit per move, something which i wholeheartedly agree with.  Next game we will definatly do this.



Naked Twister!  Well, not really...

 Thanks to Jeff for being a great host, and check out the 2-Half-squads podcast if you haven't.

  http://www.the2halfsquads.com/