You Sank my Battleship! (Midway:Avalon Hill)

Is it just me, or are wargames making a comeback?

So many blogs I've been reading seem to be focussing on them lately, I can't help but think that their popularity is slowly resurfacing. Personally, I haven't ever played them, but I am curious. I was therefore fairly excited when Kozure suggested that we play Avalon Hill's early 90s wargame "Midway". This particular battle involved the Japanese trying to take control of the island of Midway for use in the war. The Americans were defending. He introduced it as a game specifically designed to appeal to less "hardcore" players... a good thing since we were complete newbies. Note: It's supposed to be a 2 player game, but we played it 4 player by forming teams.

First reaction: Hmmm. Lots of tiny cardboard pieces. Very low production quality. Poor graphic design. Not a good start. Still, it's an older game, and a wargame at that. I was willing to get past it.

There are three gameboards. 2 are identical maps of the waters directly surrounding the island of Midway. Similarly to Battleship, players each secretly set up their pieces on the board, with some constraints (A gamescreen showing turn order and game modifiers keeps each player's board hidden from the other). The third board shows a magnified view of a section of water, for use during battles. Many counters make up the carriers, battleships and airplanes (though I bet it's a very small number by wargame standards).

Kozure and I played the Japanese, leaving Luch and Shemp as the Americans.

The bulk of the first few turns involves each player sending out planes to "scout" the ocean, trying to pinpoint the location of the enemy. Once located, fighter planes, Dive Bombers, etc can swoop in and attack the carriers. The game takes place over 4 "days" (approximately 20 turns) and victory is determined using VPs gained by sinking opponent's ships. The searching and sneaking part I enjoyed, the combat...not so much.

It became immediately clear that the Americans had far superior reconaisance capabilities. They swept the board looking for us, and we could only go so long before they did. Scout planes seemed to outnumber ours 4 to 1! Still, we made some headway before they cought us. We managed to have our inferior forces sink some of the American boats, without getting hit too hard in return. When we called the game, we were ahead in VPs, giving us a technical win. I'm sure that the tide would have swung the way of the Americans had we continued to the end, however (we were simply too outnumbered... made worse by the fact that we lost many planes to get what we did).

Impressions: For wargamers, this may indeed be light fare. For eurogamers (... me anyway), the fiddliness and lack of polish took it's toll. My biggest problem with he game was the constant shuffling around of the tiny stacks of cardboard from one map to another. I didn't like that I needed to do it, and I liked even less that it didn't seem like the location of tokens on the enlarged board mattered much. To compound the problem of shuffling pieces around, the fact that the "home location" of the tokens isn't always indicated makes it easy to misplace parts between turns.

Disclaimer: We didn't finish the game, and surely many potential events didn't happen. Any of those things could have explained the necessity of some of the design decisions I am questioning. Also, right to the end of our game, I wasn't clear on how our goal was supposed to play out (was the battle at Midway, had we reached it, going to be the same kind of sea battle we had been doing the whole time? Would we win automatically if we reached it? Would the enlarge map be used differently in such a ship to ship combat?

I think that a modern redesign of the game could yield a very fun, and much faster, version of the game. For instance:

1) Revamp the graphic layout of the tokens, reducing their number and making them somewhat larger if necessary. Each should now have symbols to represent the purpose of the stats.
2) The 4 step turn order was not terribly useful, but waiting on each other for each step took a fair amount of time. Since both teams are operating in secret, it would be much faster to simply call 1 phase "upkeep", then handle searches according to initiative (and combat if necessary).
3) The balance of the d10 rolls seemed wrong. When the game hangs so much on whether you've matched, doubled or tripled a result, it seems odd that this die is used. You don't need to roll particularly well to triple a 1, but a 10 is an entirely different story. The roll is entirely secondary to the bonuses. Now that I think about it... that's proabbly the point (though it's not how I percieved it as I was playing)
4) In practice, the action on the enlarged board was fairly repetitive. Carriers were always placed for maximum coverage by other ships, and they were almost always the target of attacks. There is therefore very little difference between this and having just one token representing the entire fleet and adding a bonus to represent the remaining firepower of the fleet. As the fleet is damaged, the coverage bonus would dwindle (representing the loss of those allied ships defending the carrier). The enlarged board could be eliminated entirely! This would reduce the game to two boards, a dividing screen and the tokens representing the fleets (the tokens representing individual planes and ships would be eliminated). Markers for "scouted areas" would make nice additions. I bet that game could be played in under an hour.

Now, I know that the multitude of counters (and the particular stats of each chit) is part of the attraction for wargamers. Clearly, that's not who I'd be aiming for here.

Anyway... I enjoyed trying one of these types of games, even if it didn't turn out to be my cup of tea. Did it dampen my enthusiasm to try out other wargames? No. Rather, I would say that it added "focus" to my search. Having read the rules to a few "block" games, I think that they might do exactly what I enjoyed about this game, while avoiding much of what I didn't. Besides, they are interesting as history lessons if nothing else.

Conspiracy. Intrige. Paranoia.

3 games. I think the "theme" is clear. Italian Sausages, clearly a "suspicious" food, provided sustenance.

In attendance: Easy, Kozure, Luch, Shemp, Sonja.

Kozure hadn't yet arrived, so we started with Conspiracy (a 4 player game). We settled into our roles (I was Paris, Shemp was Tokyo, Luch was Washington and Sonja, new to the game, flexed her command of the German language as Berlin).

Brief recap: Conspiracy is a game where each player represents a major power who wants to reclaim a secret briefcase located at the center of the board. 12 spies (each with a terrible pun for a name), occupy the board... but they aren't controlled by particular players. Instead, the players are given $10 000 to "bribe" the spies to do their bidding. Since bribing is secret, no one ever really knows which spy is working for who until someone tries to make a move someone else doesn't want. And since additional bribes can be made throughout the game, loyalties shift.

As is often the case in this game, the likely winner changed several times over the course of the game. There aren't many "steps" between the center of the board and a player's home base (3 being the shortest route, I think), so it's not uncommon for the briefcase to move a single square and have everyone suddenly realize that a particular player is suddenly in a position to win.

My memory is hazy (as always), but I beleive I blew "Peking Tom"'s cover fairly early on... a character several players had invested heavily into. With "Miss Behavin'" nearby I tried a quick snatch and grab of the suitcase towards Paris but was intercepted. Soon after, Shemp looked like a threat as a series of characters under his sway gathered near Tokyo and seemed unstoppable. Through cooperation, we managed to get it out... and into Sonja's territory. She was within one move of winning, but it was not to be.... Luch, who's initial large investment in "Rock Bottom" seemed to be going to waste (since NO ONE was moving him anywhere), was pleasantly surprised to see that character suddenly find himself with the case 2 squares from his base. We had no way of stopping him.

Next up was Intrige. This was our first game with 5 players (Kozure had arrived by now), and the dynamics are quite different with an odd number of players! In a 4 player game, 2 pairs of players usually end up helping each other (using the term loosely!). With 5 players, things aren't quite as even, and "Friendships" (again, used loosely) come and go much faster. Backs were stabbed all around, and I can't think of any particular alliances which lasted more than a turn or two (Though my France saw a lot of Shemp's American employees, and vice versa, until the final few turns). Shemp had the unfortunate luck of being deemed the leader early on and was hopelessly shut out for the 2nd half of the game because of it. Sonja and I managed to accumulate quite a bit of wealth as things went on, but I ended the game with a very tiny lead for the win.

Last up was was Paranoia, Mandatory "Bonus Fun" Card game. I was pleasantly surprised last time as this seemed to be a decent game, for a "Take That" system. I liked that the "missions" focused the card play rather than letting it be a free for all. I liked that each player had objectives which would naturally lead to backstabbing, chaos and "general hilarity". It seemed to work, and we laughed a lot, so I was happy with the purchase (despite some of the obvious shortcomings concerning graphic design and play length issues). Having played it a second time, though, I'm not so sure. For whatever reason,things weren't "clicking". We kept forgetting the fiddly rules about discarding treason counters for exposing/killing traitors. We missplayed the way characters are meant to come back to the game after they get killed. etc, etc. I looked through the ruledbook too many times for a game of this "weight". Also, I had more hands filled with cards I couldn't use than last time. All these things contributed to a hand that wasn't much fun. I hope to try it again, with a cheat sheet at my side, but it's not likely to get many more chances if it goes like that again.

The same... but different.

Ahhh, two well loved games... but each with a twist making them feel "new" again.

Puerto Rico was first up. I've had the expansion for quite a while, but never felt like I knew the base game well enough to give it a try. Dictator Luch was tired of waiting, and so we threw it in. What do you know? It was pretty good.

Playing Puerto Rico without knowing the buildings was a strange and daunting feeling. Now I know (again) what it's like learning this game from scratch... pretty intimidating. The new additions were not all included, as the rules call for a "draft" of the buildings to start. Essentially, if the base game had 2 buildings which cost 3 dubloons, then the game with expansion is limited to the same (etc, etc). This ensures that some of the balance is maintained.

The new buildings have a broad range of effects.

Some explore new variations on old ideas (like the one that behaves like a factory, but gives bonuses to multiples of the SAME good)

Some bring new but straightforward concepts (like the forest plantations, which give discounts to buildings without needing to be manned and without the limits of quarries but take much more effort to aquire)

Others offer very strange ideas (like the black market which allows you to get discounts by trading in workers, victory points or goods... or the Union Hall which gives you victory points for pairs of goods before they are shipped... or the guest house, which allows up to 2 workers to reside until the player decides he/she wants them to be moved to somewhere else (a very powerful way to avoid having to wait for the mayor phase to occupy buildings or plantations))

Tili joined us for the game, giving us a full complement of players. I chose to try a "Corn Strategy" bolstered by the new Union Hall and the Guest House. In the rush to place the new buildings, I completely forgot to make sure the Wharf was available! Normally, focussing on corn and not getting a Wharf is deadly but (lucky for me) it didn't go too badly. We all suffered from "New" shock... we're not used to playing 5 players, and the new buildings threw us. This basically ensured we all played equally poorly, and spent most of the game just "trying stuff" (in fact, Shemp mentioned on many occasions that he couldn't formulate a strategy). Shemp and (to a lesser extent) Kozure tried to accumulate Forests. Tili played a straight game, but frequently found herself at the wrong end of the trader or captain, losing valuable opportunities. Luch got good mileage out of his aqueduct. I managed to accumulate many VPs through the Union Hall and shipping. The Guest House allowed me to man the corn fields as soon as I aquired them. I ultimately won the game, though it's only by luck since we were all shooting in the dark and I happened to pick a combination which worked well.

Next was Power Grid. Again, we've played this before but always on the Germany map, so we decided to try the USA. The South West was randomly determined to be out of play (hurricanes?). I placed in the far East, thinking no one else would follow suit since it was so heavily constricted from the "out of play" areas, but to my dismay Luch and Shemp both set up camp on the mid east. This left Kozure with the entire West half to play with (which is expensive at the Rockies, but it was quite an advantage none the less). Sure enough, as the game progressed the three of us in the East where fighting for every scrap of free space, and Kozure slowly absorbed the rest. Both Shemp and Luch eventually branched off into that half, taking 2nd and 3rd stations in western cities, but I was hopelessly stuck behind masses of unavailable conduit. Lucky for me, I always had JUST ENOUGH to do what I needed. I often had to overspend, but at least it was possible. At the end, Kozure made a critical mistake and only realized it too late (he forgot that in the 3rd phase he could buy powerplants from both rows, and instead purchased a lower capacity plant). I seriously lucked out and was able to buy the "50" power plant (a "green" plant which powers 6) uncontested late in the game which vaulted me back in contention. Shemp and I were both within striking distance and both went for the kill by going to 17 cities with the ability to power it all. It came down to cash... and Shemp had 1 DOLLAR MORE THAN ME.

1 dollar.

!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I lost a photo finish, but it was fun!

Power Grid is a very good game, and clearly a favorite in our group. It's not a personal top 10, though, and I'm hard pressed to figure out why. The only thing I can think of is that the game feels more like a "race" than anything else. Everyone is jockying for position, trying to make it to the finish line first (giving ground to the leader during the game where it is strategically effective), but it can feel a little like multiplayer solitaire. Other than indirect conflict, such as blocking a route of purchasing fuel another player needs, everyone kind of goes their own way (and the tight money supply pretty much ensures that making a move which doesn't benefit you just to "screw yr Neighbour" is pretty risky and rare). The most important part of the game, in my mind, is manipulating player order to try to stay in last place as long as possible... but EVERYONE is following that strategy, so again it's kind of a race. Funny, because Princes of Florence has the very same criticism: "there is little competition, it's essentially a multiplayer solitaire race to see who scores more", yet it's one of my favorites. All I can say is that in PoF, there are far fewer moving parts, the system is more elegant and the game is shorter. Different people will have different opinions, but that's mine.

One last note: Am I the only one who finds the mid game power plants basically useless? Every game, we just wait for them to cycle through until we get to the good ones. Not a huge criticism, but something I have been feeling is a bit "odd" in the game design.

Anyway, while Power Grid is not in my top 10, it's in my top 20, so I don't want to make it sound like I don't like it (and games right into the top 30 are ones I love to play).

Just thinking out loud...