I tried to come up with a theme for this Wednesday, but couldn't. The closest I came to a common thread between this week's games was during my thoughts on food for the evening, and it occured to me that microwaved popcorn nicely tied together RoboRally and Power Grid . Couldn't get Colossal Arena to fit, though.
I broke out my somewhat recently aquired RoboRally (the re-release by Avalon Hill). We had all played with the earlier version before, so I was curious how they would compare. I'm going to assume that anyone reading this already knows how to play the game, and focus on the changes which have been made. To put it succinctly, they went for quantity, not quality. The new box has all sorts of counters (life tokens, damage counters, power down tokens), bits (plastic robots, plastic flag markers, players mats, timer) and boards (4 double sided boars + 1 double sided starter board). None of it, however, is up to the quality standards of the original. The robots are squat, largely undifferentiated plastic figures which are painted to look like pewter. The boards are thick, but do not match the originals in heft and quality of finish. I don't want to be too harsh, however, because some of the additional stuff is pretty good. The plastic flags are quite nice because they do not obscure what is beneath them. The player mats are a nice idea (although they could have been MUCH smaller), and the timer is a welcome addition. The biggest change, rules and component wise, are the starter boards. Gone are "virtual robots", the kludgy mechanic which made robots indestructible for a turn as they scrambled away from the start position. Now, every 'bot gets it's own start spot on the new 1/3rd sized board and it's off to the races. I also want to mention what is probably my favorite part of the new release... the revamped course guide. There are now LOTS of layouts to choose from, categorized by difficulty and length (many with interesting variations, such as capture the flag, team play, moving flags, etc).
I chose a single board expert course described as "short" called "Raid the Vault" (I think). On my very first turn, I completely missprogrammed my robot (because I thought I was a different robot on another starting space). Basically, I flew right into a pit... That was the start of a very "interactive" race, which saw us interfering with each others' plans more often than not (and since we were making efforts to play quickly, we fairly often made mistakes on our own). In short, it was exactly what RoboRally should be: Chaotic and unpredictable. I died again on the second or third round (pushed by another robot off track, and spent several turns sitting in front of Luch's lasers until I killed myself to start fresh with my last life). Despite this, I successfully caught up to Kozure, the leader, and managed to make it to the end first for the improbable win!
We followed with Power Grid. The game started quite oddly with quite a few large power plants making it out very early. This had the effect of stalling the regular process of the "future" power plants making their way into the "present" market because every new plant we would draw was lower than those to come (and yes, we did remember to get rid of the highest one each round). I started strong with control of northern Germany (kozure, Shemp and Luch divied up the south), and a lead in powered cities, which gave me the cash to buy up some of the expensive plants early. Thinking that I could safely wait until later on to develop the rest of the north, I started hoarding cash so that i could make a charge south once step 2 came along... however two things messed up my plans: 1) Kozure made a daring push through my 2 city thick barrier to the north, and started gobbling up my cities and 2) My ranking as first bit me, because Luch had the same plan to charge the south of Germany once step two came around... since he was last he acted first and bought up ALL the cities I planned to take with his hoard of cash. i tried to learn from my mistakes and purposefully fell to last place in the ranking by not building for several turns. I thought of a plan: My early aquisitions of big power plants mean that I had capacity to power a large number of cities (14), while the stalled power plant market meant that even late in the game the other players still had small plants. I decided to hoard cash and wait for step 3, then buy up all remaining cities i needed to finish the game (9 of them) before the rest bought enough power plant capacity to power more than me. Amazingly, it worked! I ended the game before anyone suspected it was close to finishing (I think).
All this, and we still had time for a game of Colossal Arena. I hadn't played before, but I had heard very good things from my fellow WAGSters (who had played it on a few occasions when I couldn't make it). The game, on the surface, is very simple. 9 creatures (from a pool of 12) are layed out side by side, and the story is that they are fighting in an arena. On your turn, you MAY place a bet on a creature and you HAVE TO play a card numbered 1 to 10 on any of the creatures (not necesarily the one you bet on). Once all the creatures have a numbered card, the round ends and the one with the lowest value is "killed". Therefore, you bet on the ones you think/ hope will make it to the end of the 5 rounds of combat (bets in ealrier rounds are worth more), and you play numbered cards to boost the ones you want to survive or weaken the ones others have bet on. It's a tough decision, though, because you can only play one card each turn. The game is complicated somewhat because each creature has a power which can be activated by the player with the biggest bet riding on it. I didn't really get comfortable enough to benefit from the powers, but I'm sure that in the long run they should add some additional strategic depth to the combat.
The game started out normally (I assume). Kozure went long on two creatures by using two of his 5 bets in the first round. The third round seemed to go on forever, as players opted to save the creatures they invested in rather than attack and finish the round. With so much of the deck spent, the game ended when the last card was drawn. After the dust settled, I tied Kozure for points, but he won on the secondary win conditions.
I thought it had the potential to be a very good game. I was a little shell-shocked on this play because I tried to absorb the creature powers right away, and i don't think it was necessary. I definitely look forward to more plays, though! It's amazing what knizia does with the numbers 1 through 10!!! (High Society, Lost Cities, etc)
2 wins and a virtual tie. Not a bad night! (though we never did microwave any popcorn)
Colossal Arena: 7
Friday, August 19, 2005
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Killer Mechanics
My post a few weeks ago regarding Shadows over Camelot got me thinking about how specific mechanics can be so cool that they practically make the game. This is not to take away from the remainder of the system, but rather it's the kind of thing that takes an already great game and makes it excellent. I'll describe a few which I think deserve to be on this list and I'd like to hear from the rest of you on others I may have forgot...
Lord of the Rings:
This is the game that got me thinking on the topic. I feel that the Corruption track is a brilliant design... it's what differentiates this game from all other LotR games; the fact that Knizia went for the psychological aspect of the journey more than the physical one. As the hobbits get corrupted and Sauron approaches, a palpable sense of impending doom unites the players on the quest in a way that literal battle simulations do not. Genius.
Tigris & Euphrates:
The decision to make your lowest scoring colour your score makes the game. A small but important touch.
El Grande:
There are several very interesting mechanics here, but the two which stand out are the Castillo and the effect of the King on Caballero placement.
Power Grid:
The market for fuel is wonderful. If there had been a way to pull this off without the finicky upkeep, it would have been even better.
Ra:
The trading of the sun tiles is a fantastic idea... it adds a subtle but very important aspect tot he game. to a lesser extent, th destruction tiles are also a good way to make lots become worth different values to different people.
High Society:
No matter how much "stuff" a player has purchased, the poorest player at the end of the game loses. It's a small thing, but it changes the entire game from a straightforward money management game to a long series of perplexing decisions.
Puerto Rico:
The idea of picking a role for yourself AND for every other player every turn is quite interesting. What action would benefit yourself the most and your opponents the least? I describe this as the ultimate passive aggressive game!
Call of Cthulu RPG:
The system representing sanity is simple but very clever. The idea is that your stat for sanity is a percentage, and it's value goes down as you are faced with unspeakable horrors. Success rolls BELOW your current percentage prevent you from going insane when things get kind of ...creepy. I've been tempted to create entire RPG systems around this mechanic, I liked it so much! (if this has been done elsewhere, I don't know about it...)
*****
In conclusion, it becomes pretty obvious that Reiner Knizia is the king of "Killer Mechanics". If his games offer nothing else, they give us that (of course, they give much more...). Curiously, Princes of Florence, one of my favorite games, doesn't fit in this list very well... for me it's a very elegant assembly of mostly mundane mechanics.
Any others?
Lord of the Rings:
This is the game that got me thinking on the topic. I feel that the Corruption track is a brilliant design... it's what differentiates this game from all other LotR games; the fact that Knizia went for the psychological aspect of the journey more than the physical one. As the hobbits get corrupted and Sauron approaches, a palpable sense of impending doom unites the players on the quest in a way that literal battle simulations do not. Genius.
Tigris & Euphrates:
The decision to make your lowest scoring colour your score makes the game. A small but important touch.
El Grande:
There are several very interesting mechanics here, but the two which stand out are the Castillo and the effect of the King on Caballero placement.
Power Grid:
The market for fuel is wonderful. If there had been a way to pull this off without the finicky upkeep, it would have been even better.
Ra:
The trading of the sun tiles is a fantastic idea... it adds a subtle but very important aspect tot he game. to a lesser extent, th destruction tiles are also a good way to make lots become worth different values to different people.
High Society:
No matter how much "stuff" a player has purchased, the poorest player at the end of the game loses. It's a small thing, but it changes the entire game from a straightforward money management game to a long series of perplexing decisions.
Puerto Rico:
The idea of picking a role for yourself AND for every other player every turn is quite interesting. What action would benefit yourself the most and your opponents the least? I describe this as the ultimate passive aggressive game!
Call of Cthulu RPG:
The system representing sanity is simple but very clever. The idea is that your stat for sanity is a percentage, and it's value goes down as you are faced with unspeakable horrors. Success rolls BELOW your current percentage prevent you from going insane when things get kind of ...creepy. I've been tempted to create entire RPG systems around this mechanic, I liked it so much! (if this has been done elsewhere, I don't know about it...)
*****
In conclusion, it becomes pretty obvious that Reiner Knizia is the king of "Killer Mechanics". If his games offer nothing else, they give us that (of course, they give much more...). Curiously, Princes of Florence, one of my favorite games, doesn't fit in this list very well... for me it's a very elegant assembly of mostly mundane mechanics.
Any others?
Thursday, August 11, 2005
A Visit to Arkham
What’s that, Martha? Visitors?
Well, by all means, woman, send them in.
Set a spell, fellas. Make yourselves at home; Martha and I were just gettin' ready for the shindig down in Innsmouth tonight.
Arkham? Ayuh, everyone ‘round these parts knows Arkham. Big city. Big trouble. At least, it ‘twas, until the last new moon.
What happened? Oh, boys, that’s a story longer’n my arm and twice as hairy. Sure you don’t want to jes’ rest your feet and have some lemonade?
No? I suppose you city slickers are always in summat of a hurry. I reckon that was part of the reason for’n the way things ended up.
‘Tall stahted with a fellah from the city, an investigator - I think they call themselves “private eyes” nowadays - He came snooping around the police station, asking strange questions. Weren’t too much later that a tahl dandy, used to be a magician, showed up near the Olde Magick Shoppe, asking a lot of the same questions. All these folks asking questions attracted the attention of our local journo, fellah from the Arkham Advertiser, nice young man. Can’t say as I recall his name. Anyways, that’s when the trouble started.
Ayuh, I said trouble. Wicked trouble, the kind that has crittahs pickin’ you up in slimy tentacles and throwing you down the road apiece. Odd stories came from the boys pulling in the pots down by dockside, ‘bout an island with strange lights and stranger rituals. Pretty soon, those three young men I mentioned came a’ pokin’ their noses ‘round, lookin’ to get to that island. Right after, a schooner came in all of its own, letting out all manner of trouble right onto the street that the magician was walking down. Everyone could tell that magician was in for a bad spell.
What’s that Martha? A pun? Ayuh, I reckon that was a pun. Finest kind.
Well, soon those boys were runnin’ all over Arkham, poppin’ in and out of glowin’ disks of light like rabbits down holes. Once or twice they came back lookin’ a might wild-eyed and haggard, like someone run ‘em through a ringer once or twice. Most of the time, they ended makin’ funny marks on the ground, and the disks never came back. Round then, the Egyptian exhibit came to town, which they seemed powerful interested in. All sorts of stories whirlin’ around town ‘round then, dark creatures in the streets, zombies, cultists, maniacs, and stranger things, things from the stars with wings. People in dark robes with forked tongues… they were the scariest, so I hear tell – at least the investigators seemed to avoid fightin’ ‘em.
The private eye, he was loaded for bear, as we say ‘round these parts. He took those crittahs to task, and brung a cartful of them in to the police to put in storage. They wanted to deputize him; he had earned it twice over, but for some reason, that never happened. The magician, well, he was a fragile sort. Kept on running into something in uptown, big and mean… think they said it was called a “dhole”. Anyways, that thing kept him holed up in St. Mary’s… the hospital… for quite a while. As for our hometown photographer, he disappeared for the longest time. When he showed up again, he kept on muttering about Elder Races, Cities and Cleaners or somesuch.
Sure you fellahs won’t have some lemonade? You will? That’s fine. Ah… there now, isn’t that refreshing? Ayuh, the wife makes it special… very tart.
It was a interestin’ time. We had a whole family murdered in their home, and for a while a mysterious Black Man was peddlin’ something over in Southside. We even had the Feds come in and clean a lot of those dark things off the streets, government-style. The three men panicked a little when it seemed like all their good work was going to be undone, but they figured it out, and got something in return. While they were worrying about not having all their work undone, a few more of ‘em glowing disks showed up, spewing all manner of crittahs all over Arkham. ‘Round bout then the General store closed up and the owner left town. Lot of fellahs left town. Somethin’ spooked ‘em wicked bad.
Well, with all those new glowing places and only four neighbourhoods that were safe, there was a reckoning. People ‘round these parts said it was quite a light show, pistols and spells and whips and shotguns ‘a blazin’. They say they came very close to banishing Yig; they did their best, poor misguided souls.
In the end, well… Arkham’s a different place these days. Never did see those poor boys again, ‘cept maybe in the new friezes they’re erecting over a ways by where they’re putting up Yig’s brand new Temple. They look powerful scairt, even carved in stone and clutched in Yig’s gentle talons. Ayuh, Yig’s a beneficent ruler, so long as yah stay on Yig’s good side; otherways, it’s off to the stone of sacrifice and, well, you’ll know more about that than I by the 'morrow. There's some as 'round here that weren't mighty happy to see Yig come to rule, but those of us who've always expected him, well, it's like the Fourth of July and Christmas and the Black Feast of Shub-Niggurath all rolled into one.
Oh, fellahs, yah look powerful uneasy. Don’t worry, Yig will take you under his feathered coils soon enough, and it’ll all be over. Ayuh, that cold feelin’ creepin’ over you is one of the finer paralytic poisons, courtesy of Martha’s lemonade and our lord Yig hisself. You fellahs probably won’t feel a thing.
Don’t worry. I think the good folk down at the Innsmouth shindig will take a shine to you right proper. They'll treat you fine, afore'n you go.
It’s going to be a wicked good party. Wicked good.
Well, by all means, woman, send them in.
Set a spell, fellas. Make yourselves at home; Martha and I were just gettin' ready for the shindig down in Innsmouth tonight.
Arkham? Ayuh, everyone ‘round these parts knows Arkham. Big city. Big trouble. At least, it ‘twas, until the last new moon.
What happened? Oh, boys, that’s a story longer’n my arm and twice as hairy. Sure you don’t want to jes’ rest your feet and have some lemonade?
No? I suppose you city slickers are always in summat of a hurry. I reckon that was part of the reason for’n the way things ended up.
‘Tall stahted with a fellah from the city, an investigator - I think they call themselves “private eyes” nowadays - He came snooping around the police station, asking strange questions. Weren’t too much later that a tahl dandy, used to be a magician, showed up near the Olde Magick Shoppe, asking a lot of the same questions. All these folks asking questions attracted the attention of our local journo, fellah from the Arkham Advertiser, nice young man. Can’t say as I recall his name. Anyways, that’s when the trouble started.
Ayuh, I said trouble. Wicked trouble, the kind that has crittahs pickin’ you up in slimy tentacles and throwing you down the road apiece. Odd stories came from the boys pulling in the pots down by dockside, ‘bout an island with strange lights and stranger rituals. Pretty soon, those three young men I mentioned came a’ pokin’ their noses ‘round, lookin’ to get to that island. Right after, a schooner came in all of its own, letting out all manner of trouble right onto the street that the magician was walking down. Everyone could tell that magician was in for a bad spell.
What’s that Martha? A pun? Ayuh, I reckon that was a pun. Finest kind.
Well, soon those boys were runnin’ all over Arkham, poppin’ in and out of glowin’ disks of light like rabbits down holes. Once or twice they came back lookin’ a might wild-eyed and haggard, like someone run ‘em through a ringer once or twice. Most of the time, they ended makin’ funny marks on the ground, and the disks never came back. Round then, the Egyptian exhibit came to town, which they seemed powerful interested in. All sorts of stories whirlin’ around town ‘round then, dark creatures in the streets, zombies, cultists, maniacs, and stranger things, things from the stars with wings. People in dark robes with forked tongues… they were the scariest, so I hear tell – at least the investigators seemed to avoid fightin’ ‘em.
The private eye, he was loaded for bear, as we say ‘round these parts. He took those crittahs to task, and brung a cartful of them in to the police to put in storage. They wanted to deputize him; he had earned it twice over, but for some reason, that never happened. The magician, well, he was a fragile sort. Kept on running into something in uptown, big and mean… think they said it was called a “dhole”. Anyways, that thing kept him holed up in St. Mary’s… the hospital… for quite a while. As for our hometown photographer, he disappeared for the longest time. When he showed up again, he kept on muttering about Elder Races, Cities and Cleaners or somesuch.
Sure you fellahs won’t have some lemonade? You will? That’s fine. Ah… there now, isn’t that refreshing? Ayuh, the wife makes it special… very tart.
It was a interestin’ time. We had a whole family murdered in their home, and for a while a mysterious Black Man was peddlin’ something over in Southside. We even had the Feds come in and clean a lot of those dark things off the streets, government-style. The three men panicked a little when it seemed like all their good work was going to be undone, but they figured it out, and got something in return. While they were worrying about not having all their work undone, a few more of ‘em glowing disks showed up, spewing all manner of crittahs all over Arkham. ‘Round bout then the General store closed up and the owner left town. Lot of fellahs left town. Somethin’ spooked ‘em wicked bad.
Well, with all those new glowing places and only four neighbourhoods that were safe, there was a reckoning. People ‘round these parts said it was quite a light show, pistols and spells and whips and shotguns ‘a blazin’. They say they came very close to banishing Yig; they did their best, poor misguided souls.
In the end, well… Arkham’s a different place these days. Never did see those poor boys again, ‘cept maybe in the new friezes they’re erecting over a ways by where they’re putting up Yig’s brand new Temple. They look powerful scairt, even carved in stone and clutched in Yig’s gentle talons. Ayuh, Yig’s a beneficent ruler, so long as yah stay on Yig’s good side; otherways, it’s off to the stone of sacrifice and, well, you’ll know more about that than I by the 'morrow. There's some as 'round here that weren't mighty happy to see Yig come to rule, but those of us who've always expected him, well, it's like the Fourth of July and Christmas and the Black Feast of Shub-Niggurath all rolled into one.
Oh, fellahs, yah look powerful uneasy. Don’t worry, Yig will take you under his feathered coils soon enough, and it’ll all be over. Ayuh, that cold feelin’ creepin’ over you is one of the finer paralytic poisons, courtesy of Martha’s lemonade and our lord Yig hisself. You fellahs probably won’t feel a thing.
Don’t worry. I think the good folk down at the Innsmouth shindig will take a shine to you right proper. They'll treat you fine, afore'n you go.
It’s going to be a wicked good party. Wicked good.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Gonna get Got
Short Session report:
No new games this week. We started out with a game of Ticket to Ride:Europe and then played Pueblo 3 times.
Even though Kozure couldn't make it, Mrs. Duchamp joined us to make a foursome (the minimum needed to play with double routes). She caught on quickly and we all fought for routes in a surprisingly crowded board (I've been playing the base Ticket to Ride online, and it doesn't feel nearly this crowded with 4 players). Shemp managed a very long route and lucked out with a long ticket which had all three of his initial short tickets inside of it. I butted heads with Luch over a connection to Venezia (which I eventually got, but paid dearly for). I was far too idealistic when I drew tickets later into the game, keeping all three (for a total of 5)... Due to incredible luck drawing cards on my last two turns, I came VERY close, but I was one turn short (I only needed to put a station to finish them all!). In the end, Shemp won with a considerable lead, enough that even had I made all my tickets I still would have been short 2 points (of note, Mrs. D. did very well on her first go, successfuly claiming 5 routes. Conversely, Luch had a hard time and missed many of them, ending with a score low enough to get lapped by the leader!)
Next, we played Pueblo. We tried the "advanced" game, by bidding for turns and using 1 of the sacred sites (pieces which are placed on the board which make those areas off limits for the game). It seemed be a good addition, but we craved even more complexity. We then tried another with 3 sacred sites, to see how difficult it would become. The impact was fairly significant. Right from the start, players are forced into very unattractive moves and tough decisions (a connundrum which gave birth to the phrase "I'm gonna get got", the title of the blog). I enjoy the change of pace this game offers, and I definitely prefer the advanced game (although I still don't quite see the advantage of bidding for turn order on the first turn.. maybe the advantage of that will come apparent with time). Overall, it's a bit of a brain burner but it's definitely fun to play. We closed the evening with a final game of the base version, since we didn't really have time for anything else. I was lucky enough to win the first two games, but Luch won the last.
No new games this week. We started out with a game of Ticket to Ride:Europe and then played Pueblo 3 times.
Even though Kozure couldn't make it, Mrs. Duchamp joined us to make a foursome (the minimum needed to play with double routes). She caught on quickly and we all fought for routes in a surprisingly crowded board (I've been playing the base Ticket to Ride online, and it doesn't feel nearly this crowded with 4 players). Shemp managed a very long route and lucked out with a long ticket which had all three of his initial short tickets inside of it. I butted heads with Luch over a connection to Venezia (which I eventually got, but paid dearly for). I was far too idealistic when I drew tickets later into the game, keeping all three (for a total of 5)... Due to incredible luck drawing cards on my last two turns, I came VERY close, but I was one turn short (I only needed to put a station to finish them all!). In the end, Shemp won with a considerable lead, enough that even had I made all my tickets I still would have been short 2 points (of note, Mrs. D. did very well on her first go, successfuly claiming 5 routes. Conversely, Luch had a hard time and missed many of them, ending with a score low enough to get lapped by the leader!)
Next, we played Pueblo. We tried the "advanced" game, by bidding for turns and using 1 of the sacred sites (pieces which are placed on the board which make those areas off limits for the game). It seemed be a good addition, but we craved even more complexity. We then tried another with 3 sacred sites, to see how difficult it would become. The impact was fairly significant. Right from the start, players are forced into very unattractive moves and tough decisions (a connundrum which gave birth to the phrase "I'm gonna get got", the title of the blog). I enjoy the change of pace this game offers, and I definitely prefer the advanced game (although I still don't quite see the advantage of bidding for turn order on the first turn.. maybe the advantage of that will come apparent with time). Overall, it's a bit of a brain burner but it's definitely fun to play. We closed the evening with a final game of the base version, since we didn't really have time for anything else. I was lucky enough to win the first two games, but Luch won the last.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Working poorly as a team
An interesting session this week...
We played two new games, and they both shared a common theme: Making it look like you are cooperating while in fact pursuing your own goals.
First up, the "blockbuster" release of the summer: Shadows over Camelot by Days of Wonder. For a guy who started off unimpressed by Days of Wonder (after Ticket to Ride and Mystery of the Abbey), I've gone on to purchasing and enjoying quite a few titles! (Ticket to Ride: Europe, Memoir '44, Pirate's Cove and Shadows over Camelot). does this one live up to the hype? I say yes.
Shadows over Camelot belongs in a very small niche: cooperative boardgames. After you remove hack and slash type miniature games (Doom, Betrayal at House on the Hill, etc), the only other game of this type that I know of is Lord of the Rings by Reiner Knizia. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the game is held up against it's famous cousin as it gets reviewed. In fact, as we sat down to play Shemp commented on how he was looking forward to playing this one particularly to see if it was cooperative games he hated, or just Lord of the Rings (I don't share his opinion on LotR, as you'll see below).
The production values for the game are quite high. The boards are nicely illustrated and lots of little plastic miniatures are included. A few minor issues: The boards are unecessarily different sizes, making their layout on a table a little messy. Also, the grail quest board doesn't actually fit in the box... an odd oversight; The way the main board folds has already caused creases at the inside corners; The rules could have been better organized, making it difficult to locate certain pieces of information. In addition, certain design decisions are questionable, like listing all but one abilities of Merlin cards on the card... making it extremely likely to miss.
Game play takes a bit of explaining, but once it starts it's fairly straightforward. I'm undecided about the types of groups I'd be looking to introduce this one to... It would likely take an enthusiastic group of non-gamers to want to take this on, but it shouldn't be too difficult if they wanted to learn.
The basics are simple: Do something bad (draw and play an evil card, add a seige engine to the attack against Camelot or lose a life point) and follow it with something good (Go to a quest, play a good card, etc). That's pretty much it. What makes this game hard to win (really hard, as it turns out), is that the sheer number of quests, and the speed at which the odds stack against the players, is quite difficult to manage. To top it off, one of the players MIGHT be a traitor, purposely making bad moves and wasting resources to make it even less likely that good will triumph. The inclusion of the POSSIBILITY of a traitor in any individual session seems to be the game's defining characteristic (along with the cooperative play), and it truly does add an interesting dimension to the game.
Most quests revolve around playing "fight" cards in the requested order or combination (a straight for the saxons and picts, two pairs for the Jousting tournament, etc), with the hopes of completing the required set in time. The quests themselves are an interesting mix of solo and group quests, quests which happen once and then dissapear and those to reoccur endlessly until the game ends. A few quests lead to items which can aid the characters (such as excalibur, which makes a knights attacks more powerful). There are many difficult decisions here: The grail quest is very difficult once evil starts making progress, so initially it seemed that completing these typess of quests early made sense. However, a completed quest increases the danger of the seige assault on Camelot dramatically since any evil cards drawn which would have added to a completed quest turns into a new seige engine instead! It will take a few more games to figure out a winning strategy...
For the curious, Shemp's final analysis was that he quite enjoyed this game (as did the whole group, I think). Therefore, it was Lord of the Rings he hated, not cooperative games! Me... as much as I like Shadows over Camelot, I still prefer Lord of the Rings. The corruption track from that game remains one of the most elegant, thematic and clever mechanics in any of my games (standing a few steps away from Sauron near the end of the game creates a wonderful tension and sense of impending doom). Also, the episodic nature of the system, with various scenarios and much needed reinforcements which need to be aquired along the way make the quet truly feel epic and daunting (and fosters a unique sense of camaraderie and cooperation along the way).
As good as Shadows over Camelot is, I find it less exciting to accumulate white swords at the round table... despite the fact that it is the most important quest on the board, it is the least memorable and quite disjointed from the action going on. The quests themselves are a little underwhelming since they boil down to playing a poker hand over a series of turns (an odd mechanic which doesn't tie in very well with the theme of the game, in my opinion). Also, the fact that all hell breaks loose on all fronts at the same time means that there is no "progression" to the game... it's all one long episode. Luckily, the mix of perpetual quests vs one offs changes the feeling of the game as it goes (mostly in the sense that as the one time quests are finished, the seige engines start coming fast and furious). Also, the Traitor throws a very interesting psychological twist to the game (maybe at the expense of the group camraderie, but that's okay)
The group didn't fare too well in our first two attempts... Although I was the traitor in the first game I can't claim any responsibility for the win... the knights ran from quest to quest in a fruitless attempt to stem the tide of evil. Ultimetely, the dragon did us in. In the second game, we agreed to focus more and finish of quests early. We complete Excalibur right away, and got quite far on the grail quest... but then we realized that the price of completing a quest early is quite high: seige engines began overunning the kingdom and we could not keep up. Had a great time trying, though!
The second game of the night was a "new to us" game called Pueblo. I picked this up because two of my favorite games are by Wolfgang Kramer, and Blokus has been a big hit with just about everyone I've introduced it to. Obviously, I was hoping that the two would mesh well in this game and produce another hit. Pueblo is a much simpler game than SoC, where players are supposedly working toghether to build a Pueblo under the watchful eye of the tribe's chief. Everyone has a number of blocks of their colour, and one less neutral blocks. Each turn a block is played from the players supply. The chief is looking for signs of the builders pride (blocks of the player's colour) and will punish that player every time he sees it! the strategy, therefore, is to hide your coloured blocks behind neutral ones or other player's blocks. Pretty straightforward, and quite fun. It can be a bit of a mind bender to figure out how to place the blocks, but it's not exactly a brain burner either. Shemp demonstrated his superior grasp of spatial logic and soundly trounced us (although Luch was in the running until the Chief's final walkaround...). I played this with my mom when I first bought it and she thought is was very good as well, so I think it will have a wide appeal.
Shadows over Camelot: 8
Pueblo: 7
We played two new games, and they both shared a common theme: Making it look like you are cooperating while in fact pursuing your own goals.
First up, the "blockbuster" release of the summer: Shadows over Camelot by Days of Wonder. For a guy who started off unimpressed by Days of Wonder (after Ticket to Ride and Mystery of the Abbey), I've gone on to purchasing and enjoying quite a few titles! (Ticket to Ride: Europe, Memoir '44, Pirate's Cove and Shadows over Camelot). does this one live up to the hype? I say yes.
Shadows over Camelot belongs in a very small niche: cooperative boardgames. After you remove hack and slash type miniature games (Doom, Betrayal at House on the Hill, etc), the only other game of this type that I know of is Lord of the Rings by Reiner Knizia. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the game is held up against it's famous cousin as it gets reviewed. In fact, as we sat down to play Shemp commented on how he was looking forward to playing this one particularly to see if it was cooperative games he hated, or just Lord of the Rings (I don't share his opinion on LotR, as you'll see below).
The production values for the game are quite high. The boards are nicely illustrated and lots of little plastic miniatures are included. A few minor issues: The boards are unecessarily different sizes, making their layout on a table a little messy. Also, the grail quest board doesn't actually fit in the box... an odd oversight; The way the main board folds has already caused creases at the inside corners; The rules could have been better organized, making it difficult to locate certain pieces of information. In addition, certain design decisions are questionable, like listing all but one abilities of Merlin cards on the card... making it extremely likely to miss.
Game play takes a bit of explaining, but once it starts it's fairly straightforward. I'm undecided about the types of groups I'd be looking to introduce this one to... It would likely take an enthusiastic group of non-gamers to want to take this on, but it shouldn't be too difficult if they wanted to learn.
The basics are simple: Do something bad (draw and play an evil card, add a seige engine to the attack against Camelot or lose a life point) and follow it with something good (Go to a quest, play a good card, etc). That's pretty much it. What makes this game hard to win (really hard, as it turns out), is that the sheer number of quests, and the speed at which the odds stack against the players, is quite difficult to manage. To top it off, one of the players MIGHT be a traitor, purposely making bad moves and wasting resources to make it even less likely that good will triumph. The inclusion of the POSSIBILITY of a traitor in any individual session seems to be the game's defining characteristic (along with the cooperative play), and it truly does add an interesting dimension to the game.
Most quests revolve around playing "fight" cards in the requested order or combination (a straight for the saxons and picts, two pairs for the Jousting tournament, etc), with the hopes of completing the required set in time. The quests themselves are an interesting mix of solo and group quests, quests which happen once and then dissapear and those to reoccur endlessly until the game ends. A few quests lead to items which can aid the characters (such as excalibur, which makes a knights attacks more powerful). There are many difficult decisions here: The grail quest is very difficult once evil starts making progress, so initially it seemed that completing these typess of quests early made sense. However, a completed quest increases the danger of the seige assault on Camelot dramatically since any evil cards drawn which would have added to a completed quest turns into a new seige engine instead! It will take a few more games to figure out a winning strategy...
For the curious, Shemp's final analysis was that he quite enjoyed this game (as did the whole group, I think). Therefore, it was Lord of the Rings he hated, not cooperative games! Me... as much as I like Shadows over Camelot, I still prefer Lord of the Rings. The corruption track from that game remains one of the most elegant, thematic and clever mechanics in any of my games (standing a few steps away from Sauron near the end of the game creates a wonderful tension and sense of impending doom). Also, the episodic nature of the system, with various scenarios and much needed reinforcements which need to be aquired along the way make the quet truly feel epic and daunting (and fosters a unique sense of camaraderie and cooperation along the way).
As good as Shadows over Camelot is, I find it less exciting to accumulate white swords at the round table... despite the fact that it is the most important quest on the board, it is the least memorable and quite disjointed from the action going on. The quests themselves are a little underwhelming since they boil down to playing a poker hand over a series of turns (an odd mechanic which doesn't tie in very well with the theme of the game, in my opinion). Also, the fact that all hell breaks loose on all fronts at the same time means that there is no "progression" to the game... it's all one long episode. Luckily, the mix of perpetual quests vs one offs changes the feeling of the game as it goes (mostly in the sense that as the one time quests are finished, the seige engines start coming fast and furious). Also, the Traitor throws a very interesting psychological twist to the game (maybe at the expense of the group camraderie, but that's okay)
The group didn't fare too well in our first two attempts... Although I was the traitor in the first game I can't claim any responsibility for the win... the knights ran from quest to quest in a fruitless attempt to stem the tide of evil. Ultimetely, the dragon did us in. In the second game, we agreed to focus more and finish of quests early. We complete Excalibur right away, and got quite far on the grail quest... but then we realized that the price of completing a quest early is quite high: seige engines began overunning the kingdom and we could not keep up. Had a great time trying, though!
The second game of the night was a "new to us" game called Pueblo. I picked this up because two of my favorite games are by Wolfgang Kramer, and Blokus has been a big hit with just about everyone I've introduced it to. Obviously, I was hoping that the two would mesh well in this game and produce another hit. Pueblo is a much simpler game than SoC, where players are supposedly working toghether to build a Pueblo under the watchful eye of the tribe's chief. Everyone has a number of blocks of their colour, and one less neutral blocks. Each turn a block is played from the players supply. The chief is looking for signs of the builders pride (blocks of the player's colour) and will punish that player every time he sees it! the strategy, therefore, is to hide your coloured blocks behind neutral ones or other player's blocks. Pretty straightforward, and quite fun. It can be a bit of a mind bender to figure out how to place the blocks, but it's not exactly a brain burner either. Shemp demonstrated his superior grasp of spatial logic and soundly trounced us (although Luch was in the running until the Chief's final walkaround...). I played this with my mom when I first bought it and she thought is was very good as well, so I think it will have a wide appeal.
Shadows over Camelot: 8
Pueblo: 7
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Egypt, We Hardly Knew Ye...
After a somewhat prolonged hiatus (due in no small part to the birth of my new son), we made it back for the final(?) chapter of our Beyond the Supernatural RPG campaign. So, of course, the big question is: Did we prevent the destruction of Egypt? Of the world? Did the supernatural evils cross through the portal and enslave all of humanity?!!!
Can't rightly say, actually.
What I CAN say, is that the horrible die rolling which plagued our characters last session was replaced this time with VERY good luck. When Stan tried to do something, it often actually worked (Highlight: He was trying to hack off a vampire's head with a hunting knife, it turned into a bat and tried to fly away, Stan bit it's head off before it could, and then spit it out at a startled nearby vampire). When Helmut rolled initiative, he often went first (to put this in context, I don't think he had EVER gone first before this night). When Sam fired his gun, he rolled a hell of a lot of 20s.
The session started out with the characters in dire straights. All three were terribly wounded. The vampires were corralling them in a side tunnel while deKoonig, the head vampire, went off to complete the ritual which would open the portal to the big demons from beyond. In a bold, risky and (most of all) desperate attempt Helmut and Sam attacked the vampire guards in order to create a distraction so that Stan could escape with Professor Aziz. Stan and the professor rushed to the site of the ritual in order for Aziz to conduct his own counter-ritual, presumably to either shut down the gate or capture the demon (we didn't know which). Stan did his best to keep the vampires away, but he was quite outmatched (and outwitted. Note to Stan: if you have only a small amount of holy water, don't risk it by holding your hand out and saying "I have holy water here"). Luckily, Sam and a surprisingly quick Helmut came to help as things were getting sticky. Helmut's fire bombs were proving very effective, and Stan was having some luck sawing heads of of the vampires. In a bit of awful luck, when Stan managed to drop the container of holy water directly into deKoonig's mouth, hoping to burn him up from within, deKoonig managed to swallow it completely unharmed!!! (he rolled a 20 on his poison save). Eventually, the creatures did get to the professor and killed him before he could finish the ritual. Helmut, using his genius ability in Lore, managed to complete the ritual on his own, just as the evil ritual was completing and the gate was opening.The heros were surrounded by a circle of white light as a result of Helmut's incantation, and they moved forward and collided this aura with the evil darkness which was spreading.
There was a blast. Then there was darkness.
Then there was a field, mushrooms, a strange man... and no Egypt.
Stan could sense that wherever he was, it was a place with far more magical energy than the Earth he knew. Whatever the outcome of the incident in Egypt, Stan, Sam and Helmut were no longer around to see it. This was a different place, and quite possibly a new beginning.
With a campaign 10 years in the making now at a close, we called it a night for the RPGing. I had a great time playing it, and I want to thank Shemp again for being the GM. Stan McCormick, Auto Mechanic and Ghost Hunter, will always be one of my favorite characters.
We still had about an hour before we had to go, so Luch pulled out his new copy of Bohnanza and we gave it a whirl.
Bohnanza is a card game about planting beans. Players have to plant the most profitable crops possible, and must trade with other players in order to maximize their opportunities. Once the deck of cards is run through three times, the game ends and the richest player wins. The game system is quite clever in a few ways:
1) Players can only plant two varieties of beans at one time (three later in the game). The goal is to collect as many of that card as possible since the payout increases the more cards are in the set. The problem is that the mechanic of the game forces players to plant the first card in their hand every round... if there's no room for the card in an existing patch, one of the them has to be uprooted and thrown away (whether it's worth money yet or not). The only way to get rid of a card from your hand that you don't want to plant is to trade it away. This mechanism leads to constant trade from all players and is very effective at keeping all players involved and interested at all times (no matter who's turn it is).
2) When crops are cashed in, a number of cards from that set are kept as money. This effectively reduces the number of cards of that variety as the game progresses. There are so many varieties that it's hard to keep track of them all, but knowing what's out there and what isn't is a big advantage when planning the crops to pursue.
Although the theme is quite silly, there is a certain level of skill needed to understand what to trade, how to plan ahead and when to negotiate. I thought it was quite a good game, but I don't think I'd ask my sister to play it. As it turns out, beginners luck was on my side and I managed a win, but the game was pretty close and it felt tight right to the end!
Rating:
Bohnanza: 7.5
Can't rightly say, actually.
What I CAN say, is that the horrible die rolling which plagued our characters last session was replaced this time with VERY good luck. When Stan tried to do something, it often actually worked (Highlight: He was trying to hack off a vampire's head with a hunting knife, it turned into a bat and tried to fly away, Stan bit it's head off before it could, and then spit it out at a startled nearby vampire). When Helmut rolled initiative, he often went first (to put this in context, I don't think he had EVER gone first before this night). When Sam fired his gun, he rolled a hell of a lot of 20s.
The session started out with the characters in dire straights. All three were terribly wounded. The vampires were corralling them in a side tunnel while deKoonig, the head vampire, went off to complete the ritual which would open the portal to the big demons from beyond. In a bold, risky and (most of all) desperate attempt Helmut and Sam attacked the vampire guards in order to create a distraction so that Stan could escape with Professor Aziz. Stan and the professor rushed to the site of the ritual in order for Aziz to conduct his own counter-ritual, presumably to either shut down the gate or capture the demon (we didn't know which). Stan did his best to keep the vampires away, but he was quite outmatched (and outwitted. Note to Stan: if you have only a small amount of holy water, don't risk it by holding your hand out and saying "I have holy water here"). Luckily, Sam and a surprisingly quick Helmut came to help as things were getting sticky. Helmut's fire bombs were proving very effective, and Stan was having some luck sawing heads of of the vampires. In a bit of awful luck, when Stan managed to drop the container of holy water directly into deKoonig's mouth, hoping to burn him up from within, deKoonig managed to swallow it completely unharmed!!! (he rolled a 20 on his poison save). Eventually, the creatures did get to the professor and killed him before he could finish the ritual. Helmut, using his genius ability in Lore, managed to complete the ritual on his own, just as the evil ritual was completing and the gate was opening.The heros were surrounded by a circle of white light as a result of Helmut's incantation, and they moved forward and collided this aura with the evil darkness which was spreading.
There was a blast. Then there was darkness.
Then there was a field, mushrooms, a strange man... and no Egypt.
Stan could sense that wherever he was, it was a place with far more magical energy than the Earth he knew. Whatever the outcome of the incident in Egypt, Stan, Sam and Helmut were no longer around to see it. This was a different place, and quite possibly a new beginning.
With a campaign 10 years in the making now at a close, we called it a night for the RPGing. I had a great time playing it, and I want to thank Shemp again for being the GM. Stan McCormick, Auto Mechanic and Ghost Hunter, will always be one of my favorite characters.
We still had about an hour before we had to go, so Luch pulled out his new copy of Bohnanza and we gave it a whirl.
Bohnanza is a card game about planting beans. Players have to plant the most profitable crops possible, and must trade with other players in order to maximize their opportunities. Once the deck of cards is run through three times, the game ends and the richest player wins. The game system is quite clever in a few ways:
1) Players can only plant two varieties of beans at one time (three later in the game). The goal is to collect as many of that card as possible since the payout increases the more cards are in the set. The problem is that the mechanic of the game forces players to plant the first card in their hand every round... if there's no room for the card in an existing patch, one of the them has to be uprooted and thrown away (whether it's worth money yet or not). The only way to get rid of a card from your hand that you don't want to plant is to trade it away. This mechanism leads to constant trade from all players and is very effective at keeping all players involved and interested at all times (no matter who's turn it is).
2) When crops are cashed in, a number of cards from that set are kept as money. This effectively reduces the number of cards of that variety as the game progresses. There are so many varieties that it's hard to keep track of them all, but knowing what's out there and what isn't is a big advantage when planning the crops to pursue.
Although the theme is quite silly, there is a certain level of skill needed to understand what to trade, how to plan ahead and when to negotiate. I thought it was quite a good game, but I don't think I'd ask my sister to play it. As it turns out, beginners luck was on my side and I managed a win, but the game was pretty close and it felt tight right to the end!
Rating:
Bohnanza: 7.5
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
All about the Benjamins
Short one this week:
With JayWowser with us for another visit, we played a few games he hadn't yet tried... Traders of Genoa and Pirate's Cove.
Traders was good fun... the stinginess of our last game wasn't quite as apparent and the session felt more fun for it (in my opinion). It lasted a bit longer than most... 2 1/2 hours. Not sure why, other than we didn't lose a single round to the market place, whereas we normally lose at least one (and, to be fair, it WAS a 5 player game). I tried to go for a "Privilege" strategy, with a plan to collect 1 for 1 tokens and random goods and then trade them in one shot for a pile of privilege cards (since I knew that no one would ever give me any once they knew I was going for it). It didn't quite work out because the five player game left very few privileges on the board, and the ones I did manage to get didn't work togehter that well. I think I played okay, but in the end Luch's ownership tokens brought hima pile of money which no one could touch.
Alas, I came in last!
One thing which frustrates me a little about this game is the limitations put on trading. I bought this one because it was described as "the german answer to negotiation/ trading games such as monopoly". In this game, Shemp was trying to get a few privileges in order to extort a pile of money out of me. this should have been a good move (and in Monopoly, it might have worked), but in ToG, the trading is forced into revolving around small immediate trades (who wants THIS action). There is no opportunity to shift things around by trading outside those confines. There is no real opportunity for a move like Shemp was attempting, and that is a shortcoming in my book. Any suggestions on how to fix this?
In the end, we only had time for a half game of Pirate's Cove. Not sure what Jeff thought of this one, but if he didn't like it, I would hope he'd give it another chance... we were really rushing through it and much of the flavour didn't come through.
Still, I had a great time as usual. Until next time...
Easy
With JayWowser with us for another visit, we played a few games he hadn't yet tried... Traders of Genoa and Pirate's Cove.
Traders was good fun... the stinginess of our last game wasn't quite as apparent and the session felt more fun for it (in my opinion). It lasted a bit longer than most... 2 1/2 hours. Not sure why, other than we didn't lose a single round to the market place, whereas we normally lose at least one (and, to be fair, it WAS a 5 player game). I tried to go for a "Privilege" strategy, with a plan to collect 1 for 1 tokens and random goods and then trade them in one shot for a pile of privilege cards (since I knew that no one would ever give me any once they knew I was going for it). It didn't quite work out because the five player game left very few privileges on the board, and the ones I did manage to get didn't work togehter that well. I think I played okay, but in the end Luch's ownership tokens brought hima pile of money which no one could touch.
Alas, I came in last!
One thing which frustrates me a little about this game is the limitations put on trading. I bought this one because it was described as "the german answer to negotiation/ trading games such as monopoly". In this game, Shemp was trying to get a few privileges in order to extort a pile of money out of me. this should have been a good move (and in Monopoly, it might have worked), but in ToG, the trading is forced into revolving around small immediate trades (who wants THIS action). There is no opportunity to shift things around by trading outside those confines. There is no real opportunity for a move like Shemp was attempting, and that is a shortcoming in my book. Any suggestions on how to fix this?
In the end, we only had time for a half game of Pirate's Cove. Not sure what Jeff thought of this one, but if he didn't like it, I would hope he'd give it another chance... we were really rushing through it and much of the flavour didn't come through.
Still, I had a great time as usual. Until next time...
Easy
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Attaching a Rating to Fun?
Sooner or later, as a collector or as an afficianado, you start to make the inevitable "lists".
Best game, worst game, top 10, top 50, etc., etc.
I just finished the exercise of rating all the games we've played as a group over at BGG. It's pretty hard - you realize how relative a lot of your preferences are and how souless a simple 1-10 rating can feel.
Some games are good for quick, silly rounds, others are good for long, brain-burning sessions. How do you attach a rating to fun?
I noticed while rating games at BGG that they use a system based on how often you are willing to play a game - which might skew the ratings if you're generally an enthusiastic player or otherwise quite jaded.
There are a few games in our repetoire that, while I appreciate their technical artistry and execution, I don't feel like playing all that often. In at least two major cases (Tigris and Euphrates and El Grande) I rated games a full point lower than the majority of BGG ratings just because I don't really enjoy them as much as others seem to do. In other cases, I've rated games higher than they probably deserve from a technical standpoint, just because they have sentimental or personal elements to them which evoke a more emotional rating.
So, my ratings are a combination of technical appreciation with gut feeling like/dislikes.
What's your personal system?
Best game, worst game, top 10, top 50, etc., etc.
I just finished the exercise of rating all the games we've played as a group over at BGG. It's pretty hard - you realize how relative a lot of your preferences are and how souless a simple 1-10 rating can feel.
Some games are good for quick, silly rounds, others are good for long, brain-burning sessions. How do you attach a rating to fun?
I noticed while rating games at BGG that they use a system based on how often you are willing to play a game - which might skew the ratings if you're generally an enthusiastic player or otherwise quite jaded.
There are a few games in our repetoire that, while I appreciate their technical artistry and execution, I don't feel like playing all that often. In at least two major cases (Tigris and Euphrates and El Grande) I rated games a full point lower than the majority of BGG ratings just because I don't really enjoy them as much as others seem to do. In other cases, I've rated games higher than they probably deserve from a technical standpoint, just because they have sentimental or personal elements to them which evoke a more emotional rating.
So, my ratings are a combination of technical appreciation with gut feeling like/dislikes.
What's your personal system?
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Get out of Town you Yellow-Bellied Galoot!
‘Chinaman’ Choy narrowed his already squinty eyes and spoke in gravely tones.
“Get out of my town,” he said evenly, without fear.
The notorious Baker gang stood unflinching, hands poised over Colt Peacemakers and Winchester triggers.
“This here’s our turf now, Chinaman. Best you go on back to San Antonia and take up laundrywarshing.”
Choy surveyed the quartet of gunslingers arrayed against him, “Abilene’s mine, Baker. You and your kin ain’t welcome.”
“Then I reckon this comes to shootin’ irons,” Jeb Baker growled. He went for his gun.
A fusillade of pistol fire rang out. At the end, only the Chinaman still stood, short-shadowed in the noon-day sun.
“I told you to get out of my town,” he spat.
* * *
This week’s theme was “Cowboys and Cutthroats: 19th Century American Capitalism”. In keeping with the theme, dinner was beef burritos and pork and beans, supplemented by jalapeno chips and gummy worms (worms – tequila – get it?). The game for the evening was Way out West. A session of US Patent Number 1 had also been planned, but a late start and enthusiasm for our first game put the nix on that idea.
Way out West is typically described as a tile placement game. It is, in a sense, but it also has a strong wargame-lite element to it which gives it a bit more kick than your average session of Puerto Rico or Tigris and Euphrates. The concept is that the players are robber barons / gang leaders / venture capitalists in the gunslinging, cattle-rustling Wild West. The board depicts five old west towns (San Antonia, Kansas City, Abilene, Dodge City, and Deadwood) of various maximum sizes, each with a upper limit on the number of ranches and buildings that can be placed there. The players begin with $25 and three cowboys. The cowboys are placed one at a time in turn order determined randomly at the beginning, and then the game begins.
The game mechanics seem dense at first, but after an initial hump, they come across (to me, at least) as rather elegantly refined to allow for interesting strategies but also reflect the theme very well.
There are 12 turns (9 in 5 or 6 player games), and every third turn is a money-making turn. The round begins with a short bidding round, beginning with the first player of the last round. The bids proceed until a player does not bid, at which point the player puts in any money already bid (if any) and places his turn order marker on the turn order track. Bidding continues until all the players drop out and the turn order for the turn is determined.
In turn order, each player selects one of several actions: build, hire a cowboy, buy cattle, move cowboys, start a gunfight, drive cattle, or place a farmer. After one round of selecting actions, in turn order, the players select again in turn order for their second action.
Building involves placing one of several types of building, all of which either earn money/VP, multiply money/VP earned, or provide additional security (Jail). Hotels earn $1 for every cowboy belonging to an opponent in the town during a money making turn. Stores earn $1 for each cow belonging to an opponent and $2 for each farmer. Stagecoaches earn $1 each time a cowboy comes into town from out East or leaves the town. Banks earn $2 for every other building or transport belonging to an opponent in the town. Trains double the income from all cattle in the town, not just those belonging to the player. Jails provide a sheriff which can fight for or against inhabitants of a town during a gunfight.
Hiring a cowboy brings in one or two cowboys at a cost of $1 each. Each player has a limited number of cowboys (and buildings, for that matter). Buying cattle works similarly, save that there are restrictions on where cattle can be placed – the towns are numbered 1 to 5, and lower numbered-towns must be more than half full before cattle can be placed in the next higher numbered town.
Moving cowboys involves moving cowboys already on a map, and is usually a precursor (or a result) of a gunfight.
Gunfights involve a simple dice-combat, with the side with the lower number of cowboys firing first, each die roll of 5 or 6 killing an opponent cowboy. When numbers are equal, combat is simultaneous. Cowboys have the option to retreat after the first round of combat, losing the round. This is the principle random / tactical element of the game; everything else is pure strategy. Winners of gunfights steal cattle, take over businesses, burn down jails, rob banks or kill farmers, depending on the target of the showdown.
Driving cattle involves moving a cow from one corral to any other empty corral on a map (useful to get your cattle out of a town with a farmer, or if your control needs shoring up elsewhere).
Placing a farmer is essentially a “screw your neighbour” mechanic. Farmers reduce income (and VP) from cattle in the same town. They also have the ability to displace a cow from the corral they are placed in.
The game is won by a tally of victory points. Buildings count for VP equal to the total number of buildings in town, as do cattle (1 VP) and the special “train” transport, which adds one VP to each cow. Players also earn 5 VP for the most money and 4 VP for being the most notorious. There is also a town bonus (equal to the size of the town) given to the player who “controls” a town by having the highest total of buildings and cattle in a town. Farmers subtract 1 VP per cow in the same town.
I find the theme of this game irresistible, and the integration of theme with game mechanic is very well done. Theme aside, however, this is also a clever little game of strategy and tactics, with a dollop of diplomacy and alliances thrown in for good measure. The only dodgy element of the game is the sometimes frustratingly random results of combat. Despite comments from other reviewers on BGG, I found that most combats, with one or two exceptions, resolved about how one would expect – the outnumbered cowboys usually lost, and when numbers were close or equal, it could go either way. I really enjoyed both games, and felt that despite a serious strategic blunder in the first game, I was having fun throughout.
I did note that Easy suffered what amounted to a two turn dearth of actions due to a daring bank robbery by the Shemp clan. I suppose one could blame Easy for leaving such a juicy target undefended, but we’re still learning. Hopefully that dry spell was not too painful for Easy.
As always, in re-reading the rules after a play through, I did discover two minor things which we did wrong – fortunately, I don’t believe that in either case that it had much effect on our game. First, all cowboys involved in a bank robbery must leave town and disperse to different towns (max one each) if there is a jail in the town that was robbed. I think the bank robbery only happened once, and I don’t think the dispersal of Shemp’s cowboys would have had much effect on the remainder of the game. It’s possible that there was no jail in the robbed town, so the issue may be moot. Second, you must have MORE than half of the corrals full before you can place in the next higher town - we played with if there IS half, you can place them in the next higher town (always when you have a cowboy there). That might have had a larger effect. We'll have to remember that rule for next time.
I thought after playing that I had gotten the “you always roll at least one die in defence” rule incorrect, but after a careful re-reading, it seems we had it right. This seems a little strange to me in that it’s just as safe to leave cattle undefended as to have a cowboy in the same town, but if you had a bank or a jail in town as well, it would be safer to have cowboys rather than depend on the intrinsic defence.
One thing that was not covered in the rules, FAQ or errata as far as I can tell, is what happens when all of the cowboys are killed in a simultaneous combat. We played it as if the defender won in this case. I will check on BGG for confirmation.
This is not a perfect game by any means, but I do find it very successful in a number of areas in which I rate “The Perfect Game”. I also found it fun, which is a key factor for me, at least. Another interesting twist in this game is that it is not economically smart to have a stranglehold on a town - you have to let the other hombres in to get a piece of their action. The various things that can happen in a turn do technically make this a little more dense than would be understandable for most non-gamers, but for me, I found this to be just the right combination of simplicity with diversity of options.
Hapi ran away with the first game (due in no small part to some spectacular gunplay by some of his cowboys) and Easy won the second. I suspect additional games will be closer, and I look forward to paying another visit to the Wild West very soon.
“Get out of my town,” he said evenly, without fear.
The notorious Baker gang stood unflinching, hands poised over Colt Peacemakers and Winchester triggers.
“This here’s our turf now, Chinaman. Best you go on back to San Antonia and take up laundrywarshing.”
Choy surveyed the quartet of gunslingers arrayed against him, “Abilene’s mine, Baker. You and your kin ain’t welcome.”
“Then I reckon this comes to shootin’ irons,” Jeb Baker growled. He went for his gun.
A fusillade of pistol fire rang out. At the end, only the Chinaman still stood, short-shadowed in the noon-day sun.
“I told you to get out of my town,” he spat.
* * *
This week’s theme was “Cowboys and Cutthroats: 19th Century American Capitalism”. In keeping with the theme, dinner was beef burritos and pork and beans, supplemented by jalapeno chips and gummy worms (worms – tequila – get it?). The game for the evening was Way out West. A session of US Patent Number 1 had also been planned, but a late start and enthusiasm for our first game put the nix on that idea.
Way out West is typically described as a tile placement game. It is, in a sense, but it also has a strong wargame-lite element to it which gives it a bit more kick than your average session of Puerto Rico or Tigris and Euphrates. The concept is that the players are robber barons / gang leaders / venture capitalists in the gunslinging, cattle-rustling Wild West. The board depicts five old west towns (San Antonia, Kansas City, Abilene, Dodge City, and Deadwood) of various maximum sizes, each with a upper limit on the number of ranches and buildings that can be placed there. The players begin with $25 and three cowboys. The cowboys are placed one at a time in turn order determined randomly at the beginning, and then the game begins.
The game mechanics seem dense at first, but after an initial hump, they come across (to me, at least) as rather elegantly refined to allow for interesting strategies but also reflect the theme very well.
There are 12 turns (9 in 5 or 6 player games), and every third turn is a money-making turn. The round begins with a short bidding round, beginning with the first player of the last round. The bids proceed until a player does not bid, at which point the player puts in any money already bid (if any) and places his turn order marker on the turn order track. Bidding continues until all the players drop out and the turn order for the turn is determined.
In turn order, each player selects one of several actions: build, hire a cowboy, buy cattle, move cowboys, start a gunfight, drive cattle, or place a farmer. After one round of selecting actions, in turn order, the players select again in turn order for their second action.
Building involves placing one of several types of building, all of which either earn money/VP, multiply money/VP earned, or provide additional security (Jail). Hotels earn $1 for every cowboy belonging to an opponent in the town during a money making turn. Stores earn $1 for each cow belonging to an opponent and $2 for each farmer. Stagecoaches earn $1 each time a cowboy comes into town from out East or leaves the town. Banks earn $2 for every other building or transport belonging to an opponent in the town. Trains double the income from all cattle in the town, not just those belonging to the player. Jails provide a sheriff which can fight for or against inhabitants of a town during a gunfight.
Hiring a cowboy brings in one or two cowboys at a cost of $1 each. Each player has a limited number of cowboys (and buildings, for that matter). Buying cattle works similarly, save that there are restrictions on where cattle can be placed – the towns are numbered 1 to 5, and lower numbered-towns must be more than half full before cattle can be placed in the next higher numbered town.
Moving cowboys involves moving cowboys already on a map, and is usually a precursor (or a result) of a gunfight.
Gunfights involve a simple dice-combat, with the side with the lower number of cowboys firing first, each die roll of 5 or 6 killing an opponent cowboy. When numbers are equal, combat is simultaneous. Cowboys have the option to retreat after the first round of combat, losing the round. This is the principle random / tactical element of the game; everything else is pure strategy. Winners of gunfights steal cattle, take over businesses, burn down jails, rob banks or kill farmers, depending on the target of the showdown.
Driving cattle involves moving a cow from one corral to any other empty corral on a map (useful to get your cattle out of a town with a farmer, or if your control needs shoring up elsewhere).
Placing a farmer is essentially a “screw your neighbour” mechanic. Farmers reduce income (and VP) from cattle in the same town. They also have the ability to displace a cow from the corral they are placed in.
The game is won by a tally of victory points. Buildings count for VP equal to the total number of buildings in town, as do cattle (1 VP) and the special “train” transport, which adds one VP to each cow. Players also earn 5 VP for the most money and 4 VP for being the most notorious. There is also a town bonus (equal to the size of the town) given to the player who “controls” a town by having the highest total of buildings and cattle in a town. Farmers subtract 1 VP per cow in the same town.
I find the theme of this game irresistible, and the integration of theme with game mechanic is very well done. Theme aside, however, this is also a clever little game of strategy and tactics, with a dollop of diplomacy and alliances thrown in for good measure. The only dodgy element of the game is the sometimes frustratingly random results of combat. Despite comments from other reviewers on BGG, I found that most combats, with one or two exceptions, resolved about how one would expect – the outnumbered cowboys usually lost, and when numbers were close or equal, it could go either way. I really enjoyed both games, and felt that despite a serious strategic blunder in the first game, I was having fun throughout.
I did note that Easy suffered what amounted to a two turn dearth of actions due to a daring bank robbery by the Shemp clan. I suppose one could blame Easy for leaving such a juicy target undefended, but we’re still learning. Hopefully that dry spell was not too painful for Easy.
As always, in re-reading the rules after a play through, I did discover two minor things which we did wrong – fortunately, I don’t believe that in either case that it had much effect on our game. First, all cowboys involved in a bank robbery must leave town and disperse to different towns (max one each) if there is a jail in the town that was robbed. I think the bank robbery only happened once, and I don’t think the dispersal of Shemp’s cowboys would have had much effect on the remainder of the game. It’s possible that there was no jail in the robbed town, so the issue may be moot. Second, you must have MORE than half of the corrals full before you can place in the next higher town - we played with if there IS half, you can place them in the next higher town (always when you have a cowboy there). That might have had a larger effect. We'll have to remember that rule for next time.
I thought after playing that I had gotten the “you always roll at least one die in defence” rule incorrect, but after a careful re-reading, it seems we had it right. This seems a little strange to me in that it’s just as safe to leave cattle undefended as to have a cowboy in the same town, but if you had a bank or a jail in town as well, it would be safer to have cowboys rather than depend on the intrinsic defence.
One thing that was not covered in the rules, FAQ or errata as far as I can tell, is what happens when all of the cowboys are killed in a simultaneous combat. We played it as if the defender won in this case. I will check on BGG for confirmation.
This is not a perfect game by any means, but I do find it very successful in a number of areas in which I rate “The Perfect Game”. I also found it fun, which is a key factor for me, at least. Another interesting twist in this game is that it is not economically smart to have a stranglehold on a town - you have to let the other hombres in to get a piece of their action. The various things that can happen in a turn do technically make this a little more dense than would be understandable for most non-gamers, but for me, I found this to be just the right combination of simplicity with diversity of options.
Hapi ran away with the first game (due in no small part to some spectacular gunplay by some of his cowboys) and Easy won the second. I suspect additional games will be closer, and I look forward to paying another visit to the Wild West very soon.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Darth Y'all
This week, we were able to discuss Revenge of the Sith fully, which natuarally lead to a couple of rounds of Star Wars: Epic Duels! Also on tap were a giant pizza from Pizzaville, and two rounds of Löwenherz - I don't believe either of those were related to Lucasfilm, but I can't be positive about it, either.
We started out with a round of Epic Duels, playing teams of two against two - Easy and I played the dark side, while Kozure and Luch were the light side. Everyone selects their characters, which come in sets of two or three, and have (in theory?) been balanced. A setting also needs to be selected - there are several included in the game, which represent locations from the Star Wars films, and are gridded off into squares. Each major character has a pre-designated starting spot on each board - secondary characters must be placed in immediate proximity to their major character. From here, the goal is simply to destroy the other side of the force.
Movement around the board is achieved by rolling a custom dice, which allows you to move either one of your characters, or all, depending on the outcome of the roll. After movement, a player may play cards from their character's custom deck, usually to harm another player's character, which would be allowed to play a card to defend. Some characters use close range attacks; others are line-of-sight. Characters attuned to "The Force" can sometimes attack in other ways, as well. Damage is counted on special cards that come with the game - some characters can withstand more than others.
I've probably played this game a five or six times now, but Wednesday was the first time that it has 'clicked' for me. I think the key to keeping this one fun is to keep gameplay quick, make sure you are fully awake, and don't take any losses too personally. Gaining some familiarity with the various characters helps things out as well, since all have different "special" cards that can affect your play tactics. I had a lot of fun with the first round and also a later one, where Luch and I were the dark side against Kozure and Easy's light side.
The experience of playing Löwenherz was quite interesting - it seemed that players' opinions shifted over the course of the night. We had played this game once previously, but had unfortunately made some errors, undermining our attempt to get a real feel for what it is all about. This night was a triumph for us in one respect - I think that we managed to play Löwenherz by the actual rules, a first in our experience with both it and it's cousin, Domaine.
The first game was a narrow victory for me, while Easy destroyed the field in our second round by pursuing a strategy for monopolizing silver mines - I personally don't think that strategy would work with the same group a second time, but who knows, really? I think that we started out the evening preferring Domaine, after one game preferred Löwenherz, and by the end of the evening preferred Domaine again - if that recollection isn't correct, I'm sure we'll all read about it in the comments!
Luch felt that Domaine plays quicker, with fewer options to consider. I'm not so sure about that, but thought it was interesting to see how two games with such similar concepts and rules can be changed by a mechanical tweak - in this case, replacing the auction of Löwenherz with the purchase mechanic of Domaine. All in all, I found the evening to very interesting, revealing new aspects of some games that we have played before.
A great success!
We started out with a round of Epic Duels, playing teams of two against two - Easy and I played the dark side, while Kozure and Luch were the light side. Everyone selects their characters, which come in sets of two or three, and have (in theory?) been balanced. A setting also needs to be selected - there are several included in the game, which represent locations from the Star Wars films, and are gridded off into squares. Each major character has a pre-designated starting spot on each board - secondary characters must be placed in immediate proximity to their major character. From here, the goal is simply to destroy the other side of the force.
Movement around the board is achieved by rolling a custom dice, which allows you to move either one of your characters, or all, depending on the outcome of the roll. After movement, a player may play cards from their character's custom deck, usually to harm another player's character, which would be allowed to play a card to defend. Some characters use close range attacks; others are line-of-sight. Characters attuned to "The Force" can sometimes attack in other ways, as well. Damage is counted on special cards that come with the game - some characters can withstand more than others.
I've probably played this game a five or six times now, but Wednesday was the first time that it has 'clicked' for me. I think the key to keeping this one fun is to keep gameplay quick, make sure you are fully awake, and don't take any losses too personally. Gaining some familiarity with the various characters helps things out as well, since all have different "special" cards that can affect your play tactics. I had a lot of fun with the first round and also a later one, where Luch and I were the dark side against Kozure and Easy's light side.
The experience of playing Löwenherz was quite interesting - it seemed that players' opinions shifted over the course of the night. We had played this game once previously, but had unfortunately made some errors, undermining our attempt to get a real feel for what it is all about. This night was a triumph for us in one respect - I think that we managed to play Löwenherz by the actual rules, a first in our experience with both it and it's cousin, Domaine.
The first game was a narrow victory for me, while Easy destroyed the field in our second round by pursuing a strategy for monopolizing silver mines - I personally don't think that strategy would work with the same group a second time, but who knows, really? I think that we started out the evening preferring Domaine, after one game preferred Löwenherz, and by the end of the evening preferred Domaine again - if that recollection isn't correct, I'm sure we'll all read about it in the comments!
Luch felt that Domaine plays quicker, with fewer options to consider. I'm not so sure about that, but thought it was interesting to see how two games with such similar concepts and rules can be changed by a mechanical tweak - in this case, replacing the auction of Löwenherz with the purchase mechanic of Domaine. All in all, I found the evening to very interesting, revealing new aspects of some games that we have played before.
A great success!
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