Welcome to the first ever installment of the Clash of Chaos and Confetti!
The Premise
Each week we’ll face off in a best of three series playing a different board game from our collection. The winner claims the moniker of C&C Clash Champ for the week. The loser gets to feel bad about their board game playing abilities. The lesser player also gets to choose the game for the next week.
We will maintain a record of wins and losses throughout the year to see who finishes 2022 as the ultimate board game champ in our household.
Using a handy-dandy random number generator, Circadians: First Light gets the honor of being our first game.
The Game – Circadians: First Light
Circadians: First Light is a dice placement game built on the premise of explorers working to farm, trade, harvest, build, negotiate, mine, and research in order to carve their place on a new planet.
Dice placement is how you decide where to invest your resources, hoping to create a system that proves fruitful in further resources and societal benefits (points). With only eight rounds and a random event each round, there are a lot of hard, strategic choices to make quickly.
Interested in buying Circadians: First Light? You can purchase it through our Amazon Affiliate Link or ask about it at your FLGS!
Chaos’ thoughts going-in to the challenge:
First, I pray that weekly head-to-head competition doesn’t destroy our marriage. Only kidding; we’re good and I’m glad to get the excuse to play a few games with my wife. In all seriousness though, I plan to crush Confetti. I would love to go down in the history books as the inaugural C&C Clash Champion.
Confetti’s thoughts going-into the challenge:
I really like Circadians as a game. It can be very think-y, although I tend to not think through my turns as much as I should. I’ll enjoy seeing if my strategy of doing what feels best in the moment can carry me to victory. I’m excited to beat Chaos since he always thinks he wins everything.
Game 1:
Though we both enjoy Circadians: First Light, neither of us have actually played it since 2020 (and often we try to block that year out). We reviewed the rules and jumped in. Both of us felt a bit rusty, questioning our strategies but slowly gained confidence. Admittedly, the rule book was on hand so we could consult it as needed.
Despite Chaos playing as Sable Lesedi and Confetti as Akira Hope, our strategies played out similarly, each of us valuing negotiation and headquarter points over all else. Turns out we played so closely to one another that we both ended up with scores of 61. That caught us by surprise. Thankfully, Circadians has a built-in tie breaker mechanic. Having two more dice than Chaos, Confetti claimed the first win.
Game 2:
Feeling a lot more comfortable with the game, we entered round two with our chosen champions: Chaos counting on Naira Sol’s algae cost reducing ways and Confetti returning to
Akira Hope and her farming die manipulation. Our strategies differed greatly this time out. Chaos quickly forged ahead negotiating for points and grabbing as many points as he could in the headquarters. Despite claiming that items were stupid in the last game, Confetti took full advantage of their playing benefits and points-accumulation this time.
Knowing the game was close, we grabbed as many last second points as we could in the final round. As we tallied up our scores, we laughed as our final tally took shape. We ended up tied again: 60 to 60. This time, the built in tie-breaker favored Chaos and he took the win having one more die than Confetti.
Turns out, we are more evenly matched than we assumed. A win is a win, but we both hoped the final round would prove to be a bit more decisive and less dependent on tie-breakers.
Game 3:
During the third game Chaos played as Rosalyn Ashford, allowing him to gain an extra die each round if he had less than five. He hoped having an extra die would give him more choices during the game and possibly set him up well if another tie occurred. Confetti took over Chaos’ first round character, Sable Lesedi. After missing out on the end of game harvesting points last game, Confetti clearly valued free harvester movement.
The game started off well on both sides, with both players leaning into their respective strategies even harder this time. Chaos crushed Confetti in negotiations, but Confetti went all in on high points-giving items. They both had fully stocked farms and garages. Confetti got a hold of more points giving pieces though. Their harvesters brought home the same amount of points. Chaos grabbed some last minute gems. Confetti couldn’t bring in any.
When we entered the final scoring phase, we saw it being a tight game again. This time however, a true winner did arise. Confetti eked out a win at 61 to 59. Despite her first game complaints about items, they proved to be the foundation of her victory.
Your Winner and New C&C Clash Champion is: Confetti!
Chaos’ post-challenge words:
Congrats to Confetti. She played well but this really could have gone either way. I think some of the random round events favored her, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes. I have no shame in defeat. All great underdog stories have the heroes losing at first, only to rise to a glorious and inspiring victory later. This is just the beginning of our clashes and I see Chaos reigning supreme in the long run.
Confetti’s post-challenge words:
It’s always nice to pull out a win, especially when it’s been as close as this one was. I didn’t think I had the last game, but dropping a 12 point item in the last round really sealed the deal. Not sure how I’ll do going forward, particularly with Chaos choosing the next game, but I can always say I won the first clash.
Next Week:
Chaos chooses Santorini as the battleground. Can he prove he too is capable of victory? Meanwhile, Confetti plans to use this gods and construction game to build a winning streak as C&C Clash Champion.
Only one can get their way. Find out next Thursday who that is, and keep reading the rest of what Chaos and Confetti has to offer as we drop updates throughout the week!
Chaos & Confetti 