Play like an Egyptian

Jake and I (Chris) started with a two-player game called Scarab Lords.

It plays like a collectible card game, but it has 2 pre-built decks -- there's no collecting or deck-building, it's all built for you. So it has the strategy of a CCG, but you can just jump right in.

I enjoyed this game quite a bit. Jake and I only got in 2 games, but I could see it being a quick game with some hearty strategy and a reasonable amount of luck. A game could probably be as short as 3 minutes, or as long as 20.

As is the case with most Reiner Knizia games, resources are at a premium. You each start with a hand of 6 cards... if you'd like more, you generally have to skip your whole turn. Some cards allow to draw new cards without turn-skipping.

Each turn then consists of 4 parts -- phase 0, phase 1, phase 2, and the Supremacy phase. The cards indicated during which phase they can be played. During the supremacy phase, the power and influence over different zones are investigated, and power shifts back and forth. When you have power, it actually can give you some extraordinary abilities, increasing your power and putting your opponent on the defensive quickly. The power in the game has a lot of momentum... especially if the person behind has a bad hand of cards -- skipping a whole turn to get good cards can be devastating.

Chris won two quick games against Jake, but then other players started to arrive, so we moved on.

Apparently, a sequel has been created: Minotaur Lords! And the games have the same rules, so you can crossover the sets of cards. Now it looks a little more like a CCG... *-sigh-* I guess I'll have to buy that one, too.