We were three players again, so my plans to pick Cosmic Encounter and Space Alert were dashed. Instead, I chose Fury of Dracula and Entdecker.
Fury of Dracula
Kozure and I have been Dracula numerous times, so Shemp tried his hand as the count for the first time. After the usual rules recap (man, this game has a lot of rules), we started the search. Kozure and I decided after a few turns that Drac was likely in the east... and a bit of searching there revealed his trail as we had hoped. Shemp managed to elude us for a while, but didn't manage to leave the east. Cornered by our four investigators, he tried to escape to sea. Unfortunately for him, I had stormy seas in hand and I was 99% sure I knew which sea space he was in. Even more unfortunate (for Shemp, anyway), after I picked correctly he revealed that to get back to land he needed to cross his path! After losing the blood and clearing his trail, we knew exactly where he was and we closed in for the kill. Outnumbered, outequipped and forced to fight during the day the vamp was slaughtered over the course of a few combats. At 1.5 hours, this was likely the shortest game of Fury of Dracula ever.
This game is interesting because while there is definite room for skill, strategy and cunning, the order that the cards come out can create situations that heavily favour one side or the other. In this case, the only "mistake" Shemp made was to leave himself no way out if he was ever forced to return to land. If I didn't have that card, he would have made a perfect escape and we would have lost him.
While it wasn't a normal session, it was still fun. I wonder whether Shemp will want a rematch next week?
Entecker
Entdecker is a game that I picked up in a math trade, and which exemplifies the problem with good games that don't stand out. For whatever reason, even though the game is enjoyable it lacks a certain spark. I mean, the theme of sea exploration is well captured by the mechanics, the idea of the players creating the regions to be scored is one I quite like and there is no denying that the seascape created in the game is quite attractive. Still, it's ultimately a Carcassonne and El Grande mash-up, a VP fest. As Kozure pointed out, it's also a little long for what it is.
It does work though, and I do do enjoy playing it.
Even though Shemp hadn't yet played it, he did very well. He snagged a couple of big islands, and my attempts to come in 2nd in as many islands as I could didn't pay off. When the native huts where all tallied, he beat me by about a dozen points.
Showing posts with label Fury of Dracula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fury of Dracula. Show all posts
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Where...are...you? (Clue: The Great Museum Caper, Fury of Dracula, To Court the King)
Shemp and Bharmer were out this week, but in an email to us Shemp mentioned we should take this occasion to play Lord of the Rings: Sauron and Clue: The Great Museum Caper, since he hates them and he won't be there. I wanted to play Fury of Dracula, so I couldn't completely satisfy his request, but 1 out of 2 ain't bad, right?
Clue: The Great Museum Caper
I'm not sure why I keep bringing this one out, because it just doesn't seem to work. There's a part of me that really wants this to be a really good casual-friendly game (as it's described by many on BGG), but each session ends the same way... the thief didn't have a chance. I thought that playing with 3 players would be better balanced than with 4, and it was, but not probably enough. In our two games, the thief was caught easily before there was much danger of a successful escape with 3 paintings. Maybe rolling d6 for the detectives is too much or maybe the layout of the board is too restrictive. Fortunately (unfortunately ?), I got another glimmer of hope during the final few moves of my turn as the thief which will probably cause me to give it yet another go: I don't think I"ve been capitalising enough on the order of movement of the detectives. In other words, If I move between each detective's turn I am much safer running towards a player that just moved because I will get to move once or twice before that player gets another turn. I'm pretty sure I've been letting the location of the pawns and my objectives dictate my move, and possibly the game would be easier if the thief took greater advantage of the timing aspect.
Still, it's so easy to get backed into a corner by the detectives... I'll probably give it one last try at some point and then trade it away.
Fury of Dracula
Another game of hidden movement, but this one far more successful in design. Fury of Dracula is a game I really enjoy as a change of pace. It represents, to me, many of the great things "Ameritrash" games bring to the table (well integrated theme, mostly) but streamlined with eurogame sensibilities to make it a manageable and reasonably smooth experience.
Dracula was played by Kozure this time, so this was my first game ever on the hunters' side. Luch had Lord Godalming and Seward. I had Van Helsing and Mina. Kozure played an excellent game of cat and mouse, starting out in the east and snaking around us while convincing us that he was elsewhere (in fact, a lucky card draw revealed that his starting location was right next to us, and yet he managed to evade us and remain hidden most of the game). A well armed Van Helsing did manage to find and attack the count in Munich and inflict enormous damage with his stake and sacred bullets but he fell a few points short of sealing the deal... Dracula escaped and a hapless Mina soon wandered into a well protected catacomb where she died and gave Kozure the victory.
I'm curious how many Dracula victories are directly a result of Mina's death. Both of ours have been.
The reason I think this game succeeds so well is that the rules are fairly streamlined and the amount of dice rolling and modifiers which need to be kept track of a kept to a minimum. Also, the "hidden character" works because finding it is not the only goal... you also have to kill it. This means that the tension inherent in trying to pin down the count (or in evading the characters, if you're Dracula) doesn't operate in a straight line. You may have to find, fight and find again several times over the course of the game. I like it because it avoids the *cheap victory* feeling you get in Clue:TGMC (for example) when you accidentally land on the thief and win the game. My only complaint is that it takes too much space on the table for all the bits and character cards, that the game runs a little too long, and that the combat system is a little clunky (all the separate decks, the downtime it creates, the fruitless "loops" which can occur in combat). I'm not sure what system could have improved on these points without sacrificing flavor, but it would be interesting to come up with one.
To Court the King
Luch left us, so me and Kozure tried out To Court the King, a dice rolling game which seems to try to mash together Yahtzee and (insert random renaissance Italy themed euro... Louis XIV? Princes of Florence?).
Game play is simple enough. Roll three dice, set at least one aside, and roll again until all dice have been set aside. According to the result of the rolls (a pair, a full house, a straight), you may be able to purchase a card which will give you a special power towards all your subsequent rolls. Maybe you'll be able to roll and additional die, set the value of one of your dice, re-roll a die, etc, etc. The first player to roll 7 of a kind ends the game and then a final roll-off determines the winner.
Deciding which character cards to try to purchase, and then how to best use their powers, is fairly fun. I imagine for more than 3 players the downtime might get too high, and there is the real potential that the best choice will eventually become too easy to pick out, but it will take more games to know for sure. I wish there was a bit more tension in the choices, however. It would have been nice, for example, if collecting 1s somehow yielded powerful cards to offset the risk of going after such a weak suit. As it is, 6s are always better than 3s or 1s. Higher totals always win. Different viable strategies might have made it more engaging.
I can't really say that it grabbed me too much, but it certainly wasn't bad (I guess I'm just not sure in what circumstances I'd want to play it in the future... it's got too much going on for non-gamers, it's too long for filler and too random for a serious game). I think I'll prbably trade it sooner rather than later.
In the game we played, I made it to seven of a kind first, but the queen it gave me was not enough to let me win the game. Kozure took it with 8 (or 9?) of a kind.
Clue: The Great Museum Caper
I'm not sure why I keep bringing this one out, because it just doesn't seem to work. There's a part of me that really wants this to be a really good casual-friendly game (as it's described by many on BGG), but each session ends the same way... the thief didn't have a chance. I thought that playing with 3 players would be better balanced than with 4, and it was, but not probably enough. In our two games, the thief was caught easily before there was much danger of a successful escape with 3 paintings. Maybe rolling d6 for the detectives is too much or maybe the layout of the board is too restrictive. Fortunately (unfortunately ?), I got another glimmer of hope during the final few moves of my turn as the thief which will probably cause me to give it yet another go: I don't think I"ve been capitalising enough on the order of movement of the detectives. In other words, If I move between each detective's turn I am much safer running towards a player that just moved because I will get to move once or twice before that player gets another turn. I'm pretty sure I've been letting the location of the pawns and my objectives dictate my move, and possibly the game would be easier if the thief took greater advantage of the timing aspect.
Still, it's so easy to get backed into a corner by the detectives... I'll probably give it one last try at some point and then trade it away.
Fury of Dracula
Another game of hidden movement, but this one far more successful in design. Fury of Dracula is a game I really enjoy as a change of pace. It represents, to me, many of the great things "Ameritrash" games bring to the table (well integrated theme, mostly) but streamlined with eurogame sensibilities to make it a manageable and reasonably smooth experience.
Dracula was played by Kozure this time, so this was my first game ever on the hunters' side. Luch had Lord Godalming and Seward. I had Van Helsing and Mina. Kozure played an excellent game of cat and mouse, starting out in the east and snaking around us while convincing us that he was elsewhere (in fact, a lucky card draw revealed that his starting location was right next to us, and yet he managed to evade us and remain hidden most of the game). A well armed Van Helsing did manage to find and attack the count in Munich and inflict enormous damage with his stake and sacred bullets but he fell a few points short of sealing the deal... Dracula escaped and a hapless Mina soon wandered into a well protected catacomb where she died and gave Kozure the victory.
I'm curious how many Dracula victories are directly a result of Mina's death. Both of ours have been.
The reason I think this game succeeds so well is that the rules are fairly streamlined and the amount of dice rolling and modifiers which need to be kept track of a kept to a minimum. Also, the "hidden character" works because finding it is not the only goal... you also have to kill it. This means that the tension inherent in trying to pin down the count (or in evading the characters, if you're Dracula) doesn't operate in a straight line. You may have to find, fight and find again several times over the course of the game. I like it because it avoids the *cheap victory* feeling you get in Clue:TGMC (for example) when you accidentally land on the thief and win the game. My only complaint is that it takes too much space on the table for all the bits and character cards, that the game runs a little too long, and that the combat system is a little clunky (all the separate decks, the downtime it creates, the fruitless "loops" which can occur in combat). I'm not sure what system could have improved on these points without sacrificing flavor, but it would be interesting to come up with one.
To Court the King
Luch left us, so me and Kozure tried out To Court the King, a dice rolling game which seems to try to mash together Yahtzee and (insert random renaissance Italy themed euro... Louis XIV? Princes of Florence?).
Game play is simple enough. Roll three dice, set at least one aside, and roll again until all dice have been set aside. According to the result of the rolls (a pair, a full house, a straight), you may be able to purchase a card which will give you a special power towards all your subsequent rolls. Maybe you'll be able to roll and additional die, set the value of one of your dice, re-roll a die, etc, etc. The first player to roll 7 of a kind ends the game and then a final roll-off determines the winner.
Deciding which character cards to try to purchase, and then how to best use their powers, is fairly fun. I imagine for more than 3 players the downtime might get too high, and there is the real potential that the best choice will eventually become too easy to pick out, but it will take more games to know for sure. I wish there was a bit more tension in the choices, however. It would have been nice, for example, if collecting 1s somehow yielded powerful cards to offset the risk of going after such a weak suit. As it is, 6s are always better than 3s or 1s. Higher totals always win. Different viable strategies might have made it more engaging.
I can't really say that it grabbed me too much, but it certainly wasn't bad (I guess I'm just not sure in what circumstances I'd want to play it in the future... it's got too much going on for non-gamers, it's too long for filler and too random for a serious game). I think I'll prbably trade it sooner rather than later.
In the game we played, I made it to seven of a kind first, but the queen it gave me was not enough to let me win the game. Kozure took it with 8 (or 9?) of a kind.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Oh where, oh where, could our little count be ? (Fury of Dracula)
Kozure, Shemp and I played our 2nd game of Fury of Dracula Wednesday night. I was Dracula once again, but unfortunately I wouldn't enjoy the same success I did last time...
The hunters started out spread across the board. Mina was the only hunter in Eastern Europe, so I thought I'd start there (in Sarajevo, I beleive). Lucky for me, Mina quickly picked up a piece of equipment she felt another Lord Godalming should have, and promptly exited the east to go give it to him. This ultimately allowed me free reign on my half of the board as the hunters systematically swept the west. It was looking liek a cake-walk for a while, but then disaster struck... Mina had returned to the east and was beginning to search there. She was two cities away from a vampire which would mature as soon as her turn ended. I felt confident. To my horror, Mina rode some fast horses to the site of Dracula's young vampire and destroyed it in broad daylight.
This was an enormous stroke of good luck for the hunters. Until that point, they had not even found my trail. There was about a dozen destinations Mina COULD have searched that turn, and any of them COULD have been on my trail. I still don't really understand why Shemp felt the need to play that card when all the cities surrounding Mina were equally viable targets, but it turned out to be very useful for them, indeed (Shemp must have some sort of spidey sense).
I had been delt a big blow, but somehow I still felt pretty good. I hadn't sufferred a single point of damage, hadn't been forced to resort to a voyage by sea, and they still couldn't really know where I was. I tried a bold move and attempted to slip right between the oncoming Dr. Seward and Van Helsing as they headed east and I headed west. It was a bad gamble, as Van Helsing found me rather quickly. In the dark of night, I chose to teach him a lesson and attacked rather than try to escape. Van Helsing was almost killed, but he escape my wrath before I could finish the deed. Day had dawned, Van Helsing had healed himself, and I decided to head north rather than push my luck further.
The hunters spent quite a bit of time clearing my trail. They did not want to chance any maturing vampires! Sadly, I was ddrawing none, so they didn't have much to fear. They then drew the card which allows Dracula to teleport to any destination, so I went to Spain and made a Dark Call. I now had 3 young vampires I could sire, and therefore a new lease on life. Beef, some guy I left behind in central Europe with a shotgun and a knife, gave the Dr. a tougher fight than he expected (see the post titled "Beef...STAKE" by Kozure). The hunters where hot on my trail, though, and a few lucky guesses* brought them quickly onto my path. Combat wasn't going so well for me anymore, and a heavily armed Dr. Seward knocked me around a fair bit (I stupidly tried to fight back, taking heavy damage before I escaped).
I was down to 5 life. I tried to get away from my predators. Mina found me and played Heroic Leap. I rolled a 5.
I lost.
Well, once more I quite enjoyed the game. Playing as Dracula is quite exciting, as close calls and interesting twists of fate are fairly common in the game. There is a fair amount of luck involved in the draw of cards, and the roll of the dice in combat but I haven't yet felt like anything I was doing was pointless or anything. On the hunter's side, things might be a little different. Having now played with three, I think this is the ideal number of players. With two hunters apiece, decision making is quicker and if Dracula manages to incapacitate a hunter for a few turns (though fog or bats, for example) the player can still participate through his 2nd one. It's still long, and it's still complicated, but it's fun and you wind up with a much more interesting story arc than most german games provide.
The hunters started out spread across the board. Mina was the only hunter in Eastern Europe, so I thought I'd start there (in Sarajevo, I beleive). Lucky for me, Mina quickly picked up a piece of equipment she felt another Lord Godalming should have, and promptly exited the east to go give it to him. This ultimately allowed me free reign on my half of the board as the hunters systematically swept the west. It was looking liek a cake-walk for a while, but then disaster struck... Mina had returned to the east and was beginning to search there. She was two cities away from a vampire which would mature as soon as her turn ended. I felt confident. To my horror, Mina rode some fast horses to the site of Dracula's young vampire and destroyed it in broad daylight.
This was an enormous stroke of good luck for the hunters. Until that point, they had not even found my trail. There was about a dozen destinations Mina COULD have searched that turn, and any of them COULD have been on my trail. I still don't really understand why Shemp felt the need to play that card when all the cities surrounding Mina were equally viable targets, but it turned out to be very useful for them, indeed (Shemp must have some sort of spidey sense).
I had been delt a big blow, but somehow I still felt pretty good. I hadn't sufferred a single point of damage, hadn't been forced to resort to a voyage by sea, and they still couldn't really know where I was. I tried a bold move and attempted to slip right between the oncoming Dr. Seward and Van Helsing as they headed east and I headed west. It was a bad gamble, as Van Helsing found me rather quickly. In the dark of night, I chose to teach him a lesson and attacked rather than try to escape. Van Helsing was almost killed, but he escape my wrath before I could finish the deed. Day had dawned, Van Helsing had healed himself, and I decided to head north rather than push my luck further.
The hunters spent quite a bit of time clearing my trail. They did not want to chance any maturing vampires! Sadly, I was ddrawing none, so they didn't have much to fear. They then drew the card which allows Dracula to teleport to any destination, so I went to Spain and made a Dark Call. I now had 3 young vampires I could sire, and therefore a new lease on life. Beef, some guy I left behind in central Europe with a shotgun and a knife, gave the Dr. a tougher fight than he expected (see the post titled "Beef...STAKE" by Kozure). The hunters where hot on my trail, though, and a few lucky guesses* brought them quickly onto my path. Combat wasn't going so well for me anymore, and a heavily armed Dr. Seward knocked me around a fair bit (I stupidly tried to fight back, taking heavy damage before I escaped).
I was down to 5 life. I tried to get away from my predators. Mina found me and played Heroic Leap. I rolled a 5.
I lost.
Well, once more I quite enjoyed the game. Playing as Dracula is quite exciting, as close calls and interesting twists of fate are fairly common in the game. There is a fair amount of luck involved in the draw of cards, and the roll of the dice in combat but I haven't yet felt like anything I was doing was pointless or anything. On the hunter's side, things might be a little different. Having now played with three, I think this is the ideal number of players. With two hunters apiece, decision making is quicker and if Dracula manages to incapacitate a hunter for a few turns (though fog or bats, for example) the player can still participate through his 2nd one. It's still long, and it's still complicated, but it's fun and you wind up with a much more interesting story arc than most german games provide.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Beef... STAKE. (Fury of Dracula)
Me not know why funny man in black cape ask me to attack English bloke. He give me knife and gun-thingy and say "You vill vait here in ambush for Dr. Seward. Vhen he arrives on the east road, prewent him from pursuing me."
Beef always remember exactly what people tell him. Beef not always understand good what they say, but Beef always remember. Me not know what 'prewent' or 'pursuing' mean. But me find good bush. Funny man have sharp pointy teeth and look at Beef funny, but Beef obey him anyway. Beef like funny man's big doggies and funny flying mousies.
So Beef wait in bush for English Doctor to come. When he arrive, Beef yell "Beef smash!" and attack him. Doctor look all not scared and shoot his big long gun at me, but Beef tricky and shoot him first. Bloke look surprised and bleed a little bit. Then Beef pull out knife (Beef like knife...s. They all shiny and pointy.) Doctor come at Beef again, but Beef quicker and stabby-stabby him in arm. Doctor look angry now and pull out pointy stick. Beef not think pointy stick make good weapon, but Beef attack anyway. Beef miss Bloke. Bloke miss Beef. Beef think this funny. Not know why Doctor not think funny.
Now Doctor take out knife again. Beef think this not good way for Doctor to help people, but funny man in cape say 'prewent', so Beef will 'prewent'.
Doctor get really angry and put knife right in Beef's head. This hurt not so much as Beef think, but Beef fall down. Doctor say:
"Poor misguided fool. This evil monster now employs imbeciles in his growing legions of unholy servants. I pray for your soul, sir."
Then Doctor leave all in hurry. Beef bleed a lot.
Hard to move with knife in head. Bleeding stop not too long. Beef hope funny man with cape get away from mean English Doctor. Doctor make Beef feel funny and bleedy.
Beef have had worse boo-boos. Someday, Beef will hurt Doctor back. For now, Beef lay down in comfy pile of leaves. Stupid Doctor.
[A game of "Fury of Dracula" lead to a victory by the hunters, but not before a certain "Man with Pistol and Knife" made more trouble than was expected for Dr. Seward over several rounds of combat. I'll leave to Shemp and Easy the details of the chase - I had to immortalize "Beef" in the blog for now]
Beef always remember exactly what people tell him. Beef not always understand good what they say, but Beef always remember. Me not know what 'prewent' or 'pursuing' mean. But me find good bush. Funny man have sharp pointy teeth and look at Beef funny, but Beef obey him anyway. Beef like funny man's big doggies and funny flying mousies.
So Beef wait in bush for English Doctor to come. When he arrive, Beef yell "Beef smash!" and attack him. Doctor look all not scared and shoot his big long gun at me, but Beef tricky and shoot him first. Bloke look surprised and bleed a little bit. Then Beef pull out knife (Beef like knife...s. They all shiny and pointy.) Doctor come at Beef again, but Beef quicker and stabby-stabby him in arm. Doctor look angry now and pull out pointy stick. Beef not think pointy stick make good weapon, but Beef attack anyway. Beef miss Bloke. Bloke miss Beef. Beef think this funny. Not know why Doctor not think funny.
Now Doctor take out knife again. Beef think this not good way for Doctor to help people, but funny man in cape say 'prewent', so Beef will 'prewent'.
Doctor get really angry and put knife right in Beef's head. This hurt not so much as Beef think, but Beef fall down. Doctor say:
"Poor misguided fool. This evil monster now employs imbeciles in his growing legions of unholy servants. I pray for your soul, sir."
Then Doctor leave all in hurry. Beef bleed a lot.
Hard to move with knife in head. Bleeding stop not too long. Beef hope funny man with cape get away from mean English Doctor. Doctor make Beef feel funny and bleedy.
Beef have had worse boo-boos. Someday, Beef will hurt Doctor back. For now, Beef lay down in comfy pile of leaves. Stupid Doctor.
[A game of "Fury of Dracula" lead to a victory by the hunters, but not before a certain "Man with Pistol and Knife" made more trouble than was expected for Dr. Seward over several rounds of combat. I'll leave to Shemp and Easy the details of the chase - I had to immortalize "Beef" in the blog for now]
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Furious, after all... (Fury of Dracula, Transamerica x2)
It's good to be back.
First off: Congrats to Shemp (& Hilaria). This week we played at their new house! It's a big step, and I for one am very happy for them.
In my absence, I managed to accumulate a number of new games. The group was kind enough to indulge me this week and I was able to choose a few of them to try out. I picked Fury of Dracula and Transamerica as filler.
We started out the evening with Transamerica as people slowly arrived. Shemp, Hilaria and I started, but we dealt in the other two as they showed up (fairly easy to do with this game). This is a very light game with a train theme. Every player is dealt 5 random destinations on the USA map and hope to be the first to have all of them connected by railroad tracks. On a turn, a player can play 1 or 2 segments of track, depending on the terrain. Tracks aren't "owned", so as you connect to the tracks another player has previously laid, you are free to use and expand from them.
The heart of the game is trying to second guess where your opponents are headed. If they are going somewhere which is useful for you, you let them spend their turns laying tracks to go there while you expand the network in a direction which is advantageous to you. It's very easy to play, and I like it for what it is (and it's handy to have around for younger gamers or others who aren't too enthusiastic about complexity). I think there is some skill despite the high luck, because I lose so many of the games I am sure I am "bad" at it. Online, I often see the same people winning fairly consistently. Predictably, in both this game and the second one I came in last.
The main event was Fury of Dracula. This is a new version of a game released by Games Workshop in the 80s (none of us have played the original). Essentially, it involves one player, assuming the role of Dracula, traveling through Europe in secret as a group of 4 hunters try to track him down and defeat him. Another way to look at it would be to say that it's similar to Scotland Yard, but Dracula bites back! The board and bits are very nice and definitely evocative of the theme.
The execution of the hidden movement is interesting: Dracula travels the board in secret by playing a face down card on each turn which represents where he has traveled to. He then plays an encounter on to that card to represent a trap for the hunters should they ever travel to that city. Dracula's trail can only get 6 cards long, though. After that, the trail runs cold. As new cards are laid, the oldest cards drop off. If a hunter travels to a city on the trail, Dracula must reveal the card and the hunter must face the encounter the Count has left behind.
Dracula wins by getting 6 victory points. Points are gained each day he evades the hunters, each time he sends a hunter to the hospital and each time he matures a new vampire. Hunters win by destroying the Count.
It sounds fairly simple and straightforward, but as is often the case with games like this the basic system is supplemented/ complicated by a wide variety of special rules, actions and events: Time progresses through day and night, and Dracula's abilities change accordingly. Movement options include road, rail and sea (each with their own rules and conditions). Dracula has a number of powers he can use instead of playing a regular location. Combat has it's own sub-system of rules. Hunters can search the towns and villages they travel through for items to use in combat to supplement their starting hand. An "Event" deck contains cards which allow all sorts of things to happen (some to be used by the hunters, others by Dracula). The "traps" Dracula leaves behind all have their own effects. Etc, etc. None of these things are bad, and in fact I'd say the flavour of the game is pretty spot on. I'm just saying that opportunities to play a game of this complexity and length aren't going to be as frequent as I had hoped for a game with such a cool and engaging theme/ presentation.
Being the most familiar with the game, I played Dracula. The 4 hunters where split up amongst Shemp, Luch and Kozure and we started. Their initial placement had them spread out across eastern and western Europe, but they didn't play anyone in Spain so I started there. My secrecy didn't last long, however... By sheer luck, Lord Godalming found me on the 2nd turn in Madrid. Luckily, without equipment, he was powerless to defeat the minion I had defending me. It was a rough start, and things only seemed to go downhill from there! I had a poor hand of encounters, so I took the time to play the "Dark Call" card and got a few vampires and the assassin. I went south to Alicante and set out to sea. My plan was to head to Cagliari and sire a vampire, then head elsewhere to distract the hunters. My inexperience bit me hard. I though I'd be really clever and double back to Cagliari through the Tyrrhenian Sea, hoping to trick the others into thinking I had gone farther than I did. The hunters, being a methodical bunch, weren't fooled and found me anyway (immediately destroying the vampire I had sired). Problem was, all paths leading out of Cagliari were already in my trail! I was blocked. Thankfully, night fell at the start of my turn and I was able to use my "Double Back" power to cross my path and escape. Out of desperation I went all the way north by Sea and landed in Plymouth. The hunters fanned north, having already narrowed by location down to a few locations. I succesfully fooled them into thinking I was heading to Eastern Europe through Amsterdam by playing my power cards as though they were hot on my trail. It worked long enough for me to sire a vampire in Swansea. I went north to Edinborough for an escape out to sea again just as the hunters had discovered my ruse and were closing in on me.
By now, it was only day 2, but I was already in very dire straights. I had played poorly in the start, costing me my location and a lot of blood at sea. The hunters were very lucky and had been drawing event cards nearly 4 to 1 in their favour. My dice rolling in combat could not muster a success for the life of me.
I was down to 6 blood when Mina went to Cadiz to try to block any escape plans I might have had through Spain . Thankfully, my vampire successfully matured and I was within 2 points of winning. A single bite on Mina would win me the game. It was night, I had a few good cards and the rest of the hunters were still in Northern Europe. I gathered all the Fury I could muster and rolled in from the Atlantic to attack her.
What followed was quite a battle. You see, a more intelligent/experienced Dracula would have noticed a few things:
1) The hunters had an ally which prevented me from playing Fangs or escaping without paying 2 blood each time.
2) The hunters had 2 points of resolve to come join the battle.
My initial battle with Mina was terrible. 7 rounds and I was never able to roll a success when it mattered. I was down to 3 blood, she was unaffected. One by one, each hunter "teleported" to Cadiz using resolve (and one event card) and fought me. It was then that I discovered that my luck wasn't bad at all... A whole game's worth of luck was being saved up for this very moment! I not only survived the onslaught of a well equipped Lord Gadalming, Dr. Seward AND Van Helsing, but I managed to kill a previously healthy Mina through physical damage for the WIN.
Fury of Dracula turned out to be quite a fun game. There is skill in playing the characters, but there is also quite a large amount of luck to the way it plays out. At least for our first playing, it made for an immersive and compelling experience, with good tension. At various points, I thought things were hopeless, and others I felt I had the upper hand. There is no doubt it's long, however. We only made it three quarters of the way through the 2nd day when I made my "go for broke" move and the whole thing still clocked in at 2 1/2 hours! Things could be shortened through experience and faster play, but the fact is that strategizing is fundamental to the game for the hunters... so I doubt it will shorten substantially.
P.S. I discovered we did play a few things wrong, minor and major.
1) When I matured the vampire, I should have cleared my trail of cards. This would have given me many more options to escape out of the North Sea. Oh well.
2) When Dracula is at Sea, time does not advance. Estimating I was at sea 8-9 times means we would have been back a full day... affecting my victory points and the hunter's resolve. That's a big one!
3) The hunters should have each payed a cost of 2 health to use the resolve power, but that wouldn't have changed anything in the end.
Transamerica:7
Fury of Dracula:8
First off: Congrats to Shemp (& Hilaria). This week we played at their new house! It's a big step, and I for one am very happy for them.
In my absence, I managed to accumulate a number of new games. The group was kind enough to indulge me this week and I was able to choose a few of them to try out. I picked Fury of Dracula and Transamerica as filler.
We started out the evening with Transamerica as people slowly arrived. Shemp, Hilaria and I started, but we dealt in the other two as they showed up (fairly easy to do with this game). This is a very light game with a train theme. Every player is dealt 5 random destinations on the USA map and hope to be the first to have all of them connected by railroad tracks. On a turn, a player can play 1 or 2 segments of track, depending on the terrain. Tracks aren't "owned", so as you connect to the tracks another player has previously laid, you are free to use and expand from them.
The heart of the game is trying to second guess where your opponents are headed. If they are going somewhere which is useful for you, you let them spend their turns laying tracks to go there while you expand the network in a direction which is advantageous to you. It's very easy to play, and I like it for what it is (and it's handy to have around for younger gamers or others who aren't too enthusiastic about complexity). I think there is some skill despite the high luck, because I lose so many of the games I am sure I am "bad" at it. Online, I often see the same people winning fairly consistently. Predictably, in both this game and the second one I came in last.
The main event was Fury of Dracula. This is a new version of a game released by Games Workshop in the 80s (none of us have played the original). Essentially, it involves one player, assuming the role of Dracula, traveling through Europe in secret as a group of 4 hunters try to track him down and defeat him. Another way to look at it would be to say that it's similar to Scotland Yard, but Dracula bites back! The board and bits are very nice and definitely evocative of the theme.
The execution of the hidden movement is interesting: Dracula travels the board in secret by playing a face down card on each turn which represents where he has traveled to. He then plays an encounter on to that card to represent a trap for the hunters should they ever travel to that city. Dracula's trail can only get 6 cards long, though. After that, the trail runs cold. As new cards are laid, the oldest cards drop off. If a hunter travels to a city on the trail, Dracula must reveal the card and the hunter must face the encounter the Count has left behind.
Dracula wins by getting 6 victory points. Points are gained each day he evades the hunters, each time he sends a hunter to the hospital and each time he matures a new vampire. Hunters win by destroying the Count.
It sounds fairly simple and straightforward, but as is often the case with games like this the basic system is supplemented/ complicated by a wide variety of special rules, actions and events: Time progresses through day and night, and Dracula's abilities change accordingly. Movement options include road, rail and sea (each with their own rules and conditions). Dracula has a number of powers he can use instead of playing a regular location. Combat has it's own sub-system of rules. Hunters can search the towns and villages they travel through for items to use in combat to supplement their starting hand. An "Event" deck contains cards which allow all sorts of things to happen (some to be used by the hunters, others by Dracula). The "traps" Dracula leaves behind all have their own effects. Etc, etc. None of these things are bad, and in fact I'd say the flavour of the game is pretty spot on. I'm just saying that opportunities to play a game of this complexity and length aren't going to be as frequent as I had hoped for a game with such a cool and engaging theme/ presentation.
Being the most familiar with the game, I played Dracula. The 4 hunters where split up amongst Shemp, Luch and Kozure and we started. Their initial placement had them spread out across eastern and western Europe, but they didn't play anyone in Spain so I started there. My secrecy didn't last long, however... By sheer luck, Lord Godalming found me on the 2nd turn in Madrid. Luckily, without equipment, he was powerless to defeat the minion I had defending me. It was a rough start, and things only seemed to go downhill from there! I had a poor hand of encounters, so I took the time to play the "Dark Call" card and got a few vampires and the assassin. I went south to Alicante and set out to sea. My plan was to head to Cagliari and sire a vampire, then head elsewhere to distract the hunters. My inexperience bit me hard. I though I'd be really clever and double back to Cagliari through the Tyrrhenian Sea, hoping to trick the others into thinking I had gone farther than I did. The hunters, being a methodical bunch, weren't fooled and found me anyway (immediately destroying the vampire I had sired). Problem was, all paths leading out of Cagliari were already in my trail! I was blocked. Thankfully, night fell at the start of my turn and I was able to use my "Double Back" power to cross my path and escape. Out of desperation I went all the way north by Sea and landed in Plymouth. The hunters fanned north, having already narrowed by location down to a few locations. I succesfully fooled them into thinking I was heading to Eastern Europe through Amsterdam by playing my power cards as though they were hot on my trail. It worked long enough for me to sire a vampire in Swansea. I went north to Edinborough for an escape out to sea again just as the hunters had discovered my ruse and were closing in on me.
By now, it was only day 2, but I was already in very dire straights. I had played poorly in the start, costing me my location and a lot of blood at sea. The hunters were very lucky and had been drawing event cards nearly 4 to 1 in their favour. My dice rolling in combat could not muster a success for the life of me.
I was down to 6 blood when Mina went to Cadiz to try to block any escape plans I might have had through Spain . Thankfully, my vampire successfully matured and I was within 2 points of winning. A single bite on Mina would win me the game. It was night, I had a few good cards and the rest of the hunters were still in Northern Europe. I gathered all the Fury I could muster and rolled in from the Atlantic to attack her.
What followed was quite a battle. You see, a more intelligent/experienced Dracula would have noticed a few things:
1) The hunters had an ally which prevented me from playing Fangs or escaping without paying 2 blood each time.
2) The hunters had 2 points of resolve to come join the battle.
My initial battle with Mina was terrible. 7 rounds and I was never able to roll a success when it mattered. I was down to 3 blood, she was unaffected. One by one, each hunter "teleported" to Cadiz using resolve (and one event card) and fought me. It was then that I discovered that my luck wasn't bad at all... A whole game's worth of luck was being saved up for this very moment! I not only survived the onslaught of a well equipped Lord Gadalming, Dr. Seward AND Van Helsing, but I managed to kill a previously healthy Mina through physical damage for the WIN.
Fury of Dracula turned out to be quite a fun game. There is skill in playing the characters, but there is also quite a large amount of luck to the way it plays out. At least for our first playing, it made for an immersive and compelling experience, with good tension. At various points, I thought things were hopeless, and others I felt I had the upper hand. There is no doubt it's long, however. We only made it three quarters of the way through the 2nd day when I made my "go for broke" move and the whole thing still clocked in at 2 1/2 hours! Things could be shortened through experience and faster play, but the fact is that strategizing is fundamental to the game for the hunters... so I doubt it will shorten substantially.
P.S. I discovered we did play a few things wrong, minor and major.
1) When I matured the vampire, I should have cleared my trail of cards. This would have given me many more options to escape out of the North Sea. Oh well.
2) When Dracula is at Sea, time does not advance. Estimating I was at sea 8-9 times means we would have been back a full day... affecting my victory points and the hunter's resolve. That's a big one!
3) The hunters should have each payed a cost of 2 health to use the resolve power, but that wouldn't have changed anything in the end.
Transamerica:7
Fury of Dracula:8
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