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I have read the title translated in to English about four times and the explanation twice as many times. It’s a pun in German I don’t get it. But then as some one (probably an English man) once said 'A German joke is no laughing matter'. It has been explained in the forums on the geek. The game was going to be going to be called ‘Heartland’ and from a thematic and sales (to an English speaking population) point of view might have been a wiser choice.
However, Germany is the top board game market so a game about farming in the mid west got saddled with a pun (no pun intended). Not that it effects game play at all it’s just that unless you are a lover of Germanic sounding games you might let this slip under the radar, which would be a pity because it is a good game. The game box only has German text on it, however English rules are included in the box and the game is language independent.
In my last review of a farming themed game, Finca, my only gripe was that it was not as colour blind friendly as I would like. I have no such problems with the art work of Eine Frage. The tiles for the different vegetables are coloured in distinct earthy tones with the five different products of the earth drawn accurately drawn the potatoes don’t look like the beets’ and the corn looks like corn and not wheat. Like Finca 'Eine Frage' has top production values; the tiles are made of thick card stock, and the board is attractive and satisfyingly solid.
Eine Frage is a 2 -5 player game about farming in the mid west my wife describes it as cross between dominoes and 3d Carcassonne and if you add in the, obligatory, multiple path to victory thrown in in the form of barnyard technology with a choice between instant points or longer term gain then you have the game in a nut shell.
The solid and good sized board is divided into two areas, the barnyard and the fields. Unlike the fallow fields of Agricola there are crops all ready growing on the board and ready for harvest. The field half side of the board is a, roughly, hexagonal grid of squares with the five crops (potatoes, Corn, Wheat, Beet and Rapeseed) spaced evenly on the board, rather like a rooty patch work quilt.
The other components include 60 large tiles divided into two halves, on each half is one of the crops some of the tiles have the same crop on both halves of the tile. These tiles are shuffled and each player gets three random tiles as their stating hand. They also get a set of five single tiles, each tile depicting one of the five crops. These tiles have two tech advancement symbols on them, the larger tiles might have two, one or none on each half of the tile. Each player also gets five markers to record their advancement up the barnyard tech columns and two farms which they may use later in the game given sufficient barn yard tech.
The barn yard is five columns wide by seven rows high and at the top of each column is placed three tiles; a chicken at the bottom, a pig tile in the middle and a cow on top. Each of these tiles is worth a random number of victory points, the chicken from 1 -5, the pigs 6-10 and the Cows 11- 15.
Next to the tech advancements column is a column for the players farms, depending on the number of players the farms are placed on different rows, for example in a four player game all the players first farms are on the third row and the second on the fourth row.
Six of the double halved tiles are mixed with a tile that signals the last round and then everyone is good to go.
Player turns are pretty simple. You play a tile , either one of your three big tiles or one of your five small tiles. How you lay the tile depends on what you want to with it. If you want instant victory points you lay your tile so that one or both of the halves add to exiting fields of the same crop. On the first turn the layout of the board means you could create one area of three and another of two. You would then score for each half of the tile you have laid, one point for each orthogonally connected square. If the tile laid has the same vegetable on both halves you score the same area twice. In my first two player game this led to some very large crop areas being created as it seemed too good not to go for the points on offer. However, this is a dangerous tactic because if one of your opponents has a double tile they can score mega points with one move.
There are some restrictions on placing the tiles. They can not be placed so that either half of the tile is placed over the same type of crop and they must be able to lie flat on previously placed tiles or the base board. To be able to create a flat surface for a tile you can use one of your small tiles turned over as a leveler. Handy if you want to create a huge harvest area for scoring but using up a precious tile that can be used to further your progress up the barn yard tech tree. There are other restrictions on placing tiles on your own or other players ‘farms’ but more on this later.
The second action available to players when laying your big tiles is to not score the area you have created and to use the symbols on the crop to advance your market up the respective crop column in the Barn yard. You can do this for either or both sides of the large tile, or the small tile (which always has 2 tech symbols). By taking this action you are forgoing immediate victory points for the ability to create a farm and claim one of the animal victory point tiles at the top of the barnyard. For each tech symbol on the tile allocated to the barnyard you move up a row on the respective crop column. When all of your five markers have reached or passed your farm you may immediately place the wooden on a tile on the board. This area is now yours and can never be claimed by another player. Moreover, at the end of your turn (and every turn thereafter) you score points for the number of squares covered by the area in which sits your farm. So farms provide a permanent source of income for no more actions. However, they don’t last for long as expanses of open fields. Whilst, both you, other players can not add to your farm area and score victory points they can (and will) lay tiles on it to cut down the size of the farm and create new crop areas for instant scoring. You can’t add to your farm and nor can other players score the area by adding a tile adjacent to it.
If your tech marker reaches the top of a barnyard column you remove the market from the game and claim the top animal tile.
And after playing a tile you draw a new one to bring your hand size up to three.
The game enters it’s last stage when the main pile of face down tiles have been drawn, then players draw from a pile of seven shuffled tiles, one of which is the end of game tile. The current round is finished, players reveal the point’s values of their animal tiles and add them to there score. Most VPs is the winner.
At heart 'Eine Frage' is an abstract game, a genre I’m not normally a fan of. However the fantastic quality of the components (not to mention the game play!) gives it a sufficient veneer of theme for me to enjoy playing it and I enjoy it a lot; it plays in about 30 minutes. It is moderately challenging, provides different routes to victory and rewards good timing. It has proved very popular with the younger gamers in my family (Ages 8 to 11). To win you have to play break up other people’s farms so gamers who don’t like a little mild take that might not be so keen. I would thoroughly recommend this as a family game and for gamers who fancy a night away from the heavy stuff.
Showing posts with label Our Favourites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our Favourites. Show all posts
Our Favourites : Finca
I am not a fan of the gaming sobriquet ‘Spouse friendly’ for me it sits alongside Other non PC phrases ‘ such as ’er indoors’ and ‘the Mrs’ . In my house ‘Spouse friendly’ games include ‘Le Havre’ and ‘Power Grid’ - neither which are particularly ‘Spouse Friendly’.
So what do gamers mean by ‘Spouse Friendly’? In a pejorative way it means games that are easy to play, relatively quick, don’t have plastic soldiers, have nice components and a fluffy fun theme - ‘Wasabi’, ‘Alhambra’ and ‘Lost cities’ come to mind.
In a positive way what most gamers (men) mean by ‘Spouse Friendly’ is any game that their wives, partners or lovers will play. Because most of the time when we want to play a board game games there’s only one other person to play with and therefore the choice of game has to be one she will play. Even better is one she will ask to play and, in my household, Finca is one such game.
A Nuremburg 2009 release Finca - ticks a lot of modern game design, politically correct, boxes lovely presentation, easy to learn rules, something in it for casual and serious gamers alike, and plays in 45 minutes. Now I’m beginning to get a little wary of these S dJ wannabees , but being a sucker for the Balearic Isles I could not help opening this one.
And like the Balearics the contents of the box are most attractive the board is divided into two areas, a small and colourful map of Mallorca divided into to ten regions on one side , a picture of a twelve sail windmill on the other. There are also six types of wooden fruits (ok some of them are nuts, but simplicities sake i’m going to call them fruit from now on) in vivid colours. 42 tiles depicting the types and number of fruits required to claim them ranging from 1 to six fruits of different types and six of one type (these tiles are marked with question marks) , twelve windmill sails, representing the different types of fruit with two sails per fruit. There are also some donkey cart tokens ,four ‘power’ play tokens in each colour ,6 wooden ‘fincas’ and two types of bonus tiles.
How does it play? 2 -4 players compete to supply the markets of Mallorca with fruits, by supplying the markets players receive a fruit tile worth victory points- do this in the most efficient way possible and you gain the most victory points for the fruit tiles and other associated bonuses.
To set the game up forty of the forty two fruit tiles are shuffled and are placed face down in each of the regions. The top tile in each pile is then turned face up. The ten small bonus tiles depicting one or two fruits are also randomly placed face up one in each region. The twelve windmill sails are placed randomly one on each Windmill sail space, and a number of donkey carts (dependent upon the number of players) are placed in the centre of the windmill. You are then ready to play.
[Small side note did you know there is only one Windmill left in urban London? The only reason I know is that it sits at the end of Blenheim Gardens, home to the Gurus]
Each player has a number of meeples. They take it in turn placing a meeples on one of the sails depicting a fruit, they then receive one of the fruits they have selected. This sail selection is rather key because after the initial placement each player on their turn can either move one of their meeples round the windmill. Or, two go to market and claim fruit tiles.
Now the meeples movement/ fruit collection mechanism is the heart of the game and what makes it so much fun - think of it as a fruity rondel. On your turn you may move one meeple clockwise around the windmill. You move one space for every meeple on the space you start from and you collect one fruit for every meeple on the sail you land on. So if your meeple starts on a sail on it’s own it moves one sail and it if lands on an empty sail then it collects one of that fruit. Trying to plan your meeples movement / fruit collection is key to the game so that you have enough and the right number of fruits to claim the fruit victory point tiles in the second of actions. Landing on a tile where there loads of farmer meeples thus earning loads of fruits for future use might appear the optimum movement. However, there is worm in the apple of that tactic. If there is not enough of the limited number of fruits for you to collect from the ‘bank’ then everyone else has to return fruits of said type to the supply and you then take your fruits from the newly replenished supply. Voila - a fruit monopoly! So amassing large number of fruits brings the return all fruits closer and players need to keep a keen eye on opportunities to monopolise fruits and punish those guilty of hoarding.
Every time one of your meeples crosses a line that runs through an equator of the windmill you get a donkey cart. The same rule about supply applies to Donkey carts as to fruit, if a player has earned a donkey cart and there are none in the supply then every one has to return their donkey carts. Why do you need a donkey cart? You must expend one to take the second action which is to claim fruit tiles. In the second action available to players ,having returned a donkey cart to the supply you may claim tiles up to a value of six fruits - that could be one tile with six fruits on or (any combination of tiles with a total value of six. As long as you hand over the right fruit types the tile is yours. Some of the tiles have one type of fruit only, some more than one and some a question mark which requires all of one type of fruit.
The numbers of fruits on the tiles are victory points. When the last tile is taken from a region the face up bonus tile is awarded to the player with the most matching fruits on their victory point tiles depicted on the bonus tile. These tiles are worth five points and can make the difference between victory and defeat. A wooden Finca is then placed in the empty region. When a set number of Fincas have been placed the game ends. There are also bonus tiles awarded for completing a set of six tiles worth one to six victory points.
At the beginning of the game all players have a set of power play tiles which they can expend once during the game. If the tiles are not used they are worthy two victory points each. Two of the tiles help your meeples on the windmill, one allowing a double legal move and one allowing you to move to any sail on the windmill (without passing ‘go’ and collecting a Donkey cart). On the island side of the map one tile turns your donkey cart in to a juggernaut allowing you to deliver a total of ten fruits to markets and the other allows you to deliver one less than the amount required on a tile.
Finca is a tactical game that requires you to re-evaluate your options every turn, in a two player game you have some measure of control as you can make some plans for meeple movement around the windmill, whereas in three of four player the game demands keeping flexible and taking advantage of opportunities as they arise.
If I have to level a criticism, at Finca it would be that, as a colour blind gamer, the olives and almonds look the same to me, and I find it a little bit of a struggle to differentiate between the drawings on the tiles. A minor niggle , however I much prefer to use my negligible brain power thinking about the best move not what is a legal move.
Finca is not going to set the world on fire, or be a game I’m going to champion to my geek buddies. It is has it’s place in my collection for the ‘what shall we do for 45 minutes before dinner’ category and I think it’s going to see regular outings for that reason. It also works well as a gateway, it’s looks lovely and most important of all ..it’s Spouse Friendly.
So what do gamers mean by ‘Spouse Friendly’? In a pejorative way it means games that are easy to play, relatively quick, don’t have plastic soldiers, have nice components and a fluffy fun theme - ‘Wasabi’, ‘Alhambra’ and ‘Lost cities’ come to mind.
In a positive way what most gamers (men) mean by ‘Spouse Friendly’ is any game that their wives, partners or lovers will play. Because most of the time when we want to play a board game games there’s only one other person to play with and therefore the choice of game has to be one she will play. Even better is one she will ask to play and, in my household, Finca is one such game.
A Nuremburg 2009 release Finca - ticks a lot of modern game design, politically correct, boxes lovely presentation, easy to learn rules, something in it for casual and serious gamers alike, and plays in 45 minutes. Now I’m beginning to get a little wary of these S dJ wannabees , but being a sucker for the Balearic Isles I could not help opening this one.
And like the Balearics the contents of the box are most attractive the board is divided into two areas, a small and colourful map of Mallorca divided into to ten regions on one side , a picture of a twelve sail windmill on the other. There are also six types of wooden fruits (ok some of them are nuts, but simplicities sake i’m going to call them fruit from now on) in vivid colours. 42 tiles depicting the types and number of fruits required to claim them ranging from 1 to six fruits of different types and six of one type (these tiles are marked with question marks) , twelve windmill sails, representing the different types of fruit with two sails per fruit. There are also some donkey cart tokens ,four ‘power’ play tokens in each colour ,6 wooden ‘fincas’ and two types of bonus tiles.
How does it play? 2 -4 players compete to supply the markets of Mallorca with fruits, by supplying the markets players receive a fruit tile worth victory points- do this in the most efficient way possible and you gain the most victory points for the fruit tiles and other associated bonuses.
To set the game up forty of the forty two fruit tiles are shuffled and are placed face down in each of the regions. The top tile in each pile is then turned face up. The ten small bonus tiles depicting one or two fruits are also randomly placed face up one in each region. The twelve windmill sails are placed randomly one on each Windmill sail space, and a number of donkey carts (dependent upon the number of players) are placed in the centre of the windmill. You are then ready to play.
[Small side note did you know there is only one Windmill left in urban London? The only reason I know is that it sits at the end of Blenheim Gardens, home to the Gurus]
Each player has a number of meeples. They take it in turn placing a meeples on one of the sails depicting a fruit, they then receive one of the fruits they have selected. This sail selection is rather key because after the initial placement each player on their turn can either move one of their meeples round the windmill. Or, two go to market and claim fruit tiles.
Now the meeples movement/ fruit collection mechanism is the heart of the game and what makes it so much fun - think of it as a fruity rondel. On your turn you may move one meeple clockwise around the windmill. You move one space for every meeple on the space you start from and you collect one fruit for every meeple on the sail you land on. So if your meeple starts on a sail on it’s own it moves one sail and it if lands on an empty sail then it collects one of that fruit. Trying to plan your meeples movement / fruit collection is key to the game so that you have enough and the right number of fruits to claim the fruit victory point tiles in the second of actions. Landing on a tile where there loads of farmer meeples thus earning loads of fruits for future use might appear the optimum movement. However, there is worm in the apple of that tactic. If there is not enough of the limited number of fruits for you to collect from the ‘bank’ then everyone else has to return fruits of said type to the supply and you then take your fruits from the newly replenished supply. Voila - a fruit monopoly! So amassing large number of fruits brings the return all fruits closer and players need to keep a keen eye on opportunities to monopolise fruits and punish those guilty of hoarding.
Every time one of your meeples crosses a line that runs through an equator of the windmill you get a donkey cart. The same rule about supply applies to Donkey carts as to fruit, if a player has earned a donkey cart and there are none in the supply then every one has to return their donkey carts. Why do you need a donkey cart? You must expend one to take the second action which is to claim fruit tiles. In the second action available to players ,having returned a donkey cart to the supply you may claim tiles up to a value of six fruits - that could be one tile with six fruits on or (any combination of tiles with a total value of six. As long as you hand over the right fruit types the tile is yours. Some of the tiles have one type of fruit only, some more than one and some a question mark which requires all of one type of fruit.
The numbers of fruits on the tiles are victory points. When the last tile is taken from a region the face up bonus tile is awarded to the player with the most matching fruits on their victory point tiles depicted on the bonus tile. These tiles are worth five points and can make the difference between victory and defeat. A wooden Finca is then placed in the empty region. When a set number of Fincas have been placed the game ends. There are also bonus tiles awarded for completing a set of six tiles worth one to six victory points.
At the beginning of the game all players have a set of power play tiles which they can expend once during the game. If the tiles are not used they are worthy two victory points each. Two of the tiles help your meeples on the windmill, one allowing a double legal move and one allowing you to move to any sail on the windmill (without passing ‘go’ and collecting a Donkey cart). On the island side of the map one tile turns your donkey cart in to a juggernaut allowing you to deliver a total of ten fruits to markets and the other allows you to deliver one less than the amount required on a tile.
Finca is a tactical game that requires you to re-evaluate your options every turn, in a two player game you have some measure of control as you can make some plans for meeple movement around the windmill, whereas in three of four player the game demands keeping flexible and taking advantage of opportunities as they arise.
If I have to level a criticism, at Finca it would be that, as a colour blind gamer, the olives and almonds look the same to me, and I find it a little bit of a struggle to differentiate between the drawings on the tiles. A minor niggle , however I much prefer to use my negligible brain power thinking about the best move not what is a legal move.
Finca is not going to set the world on fire, or be a game I’m going to champion to my geek buddies. It is has it’s place in my collection for the ‘what shall we do for 45 minutes before dinner’ category and I think it’s going to see regular outings for that reason. It also works well as a gateway, it’s looks lovely and most important of all ..it’s Spouse Friendly.
Our Favourites: Planet Steam
(This game is part of BoardGameGuru's exciting import range and provides a challenging economic management game)
The Gurus have played this with 3,4 & 5 players and it is equally good with all three groups.
====What it is & what it is not====
On first glance the production seems to point towards an adventure game set in a sci-fi universe, perhaps with variable player powers and exploration.
It is absolutely not that game - you'll want Android perhaps.
What Planet Steam is, is an economy and efficiency game more akin to games like Power Grid or Age of Steam.
In every turn you will experience two auctions, a detailed supply and demand system and agonising decisions over production levels.
You wont be blowing stuff up or exposing conspiracies here.
As usual, the player with the most points wins, but as is the case in many games, points here are synonymous with money - meaning every purchase doesn't just affect cash flow - it affects your score!
======Features Of The Board=====
The board features dynamic tables for prices of goods and their intrinsically linked supply level on the left - as supply changes, depending on its level the price may alter as well. Crucially this supply is not restocked between turns and will only increase if players are willing to sell to the market. Players usually will do this once the price goes up to a significant level.
On the far right is tank supply. All production in planet steam relies on tanks.
To place a tank and produce anything, players will need available "platforms" in their colour. These will be played in the large grid in the middle of the board (players start with two each). Some spaces are prefilled with "neutral" platforms that block them to the players.
The rest of the board is made up of spaces for the supplies of production bits and goods as well as certain information (chiefly regarding tank costs when none are available in regular supply)
The goods available in the game are Quartz, Ore, Water and Energy. To produce anything other than water, a tank must be upgraded using one of the pieces that slot into its side, designating it as an Energy Tank, Quartz Tank or Ore Tank.
======A Turn=====
(any omissions here - especially costs - are for brevity's sake not necessarily because I've misunderstood the rules!)
In reasonable detail, every turn goes as follows;
First Auction: Players bid for the first choice of "specialist", which will determine turn order and special powers. If available, the winners of each round of auctioning will also get a bonus good.
Second Auction is for a bonus platform, its eventual location decided by the player who picked the Venturer specialist card, crucially shown prior to auctioning.
Next, all players choose where they want to build their own cover for this turn. They nominate a location and roll the dice, on a 4-6 they can place the cover in the nominated spot, on a 1-3 they must place it on another empty space in either of the same column or rows. (See concerns, below)
You can see from this that one player (who won the second auction) will have placed two platforms this turn instead of one.
You want your platforms to be adjacent if possible, and ideally one in the central row (where a water producing tank will work without needing energy)
Next you enter the building section, where in turn order (as determined by your specialist card) you buy tanks, upgrades for those tanks and extremely valuable compressor domes (that increase a tank's production and are the most valuable in terms of end points). In this phase you must always spend one water in order to do anything at all.
You may choose to move your tanks and their upgrades around as much as you like without cost. If two or more tanks producing the same thing are adjacent you achieve "synergy" and your production increases as a result.
You can then buy upgrades for your "carriers", which represent your maximum holding of any of the four major goods, with every upgrade you can hold onto more of the goods at a time, if you're willing to pay the cost.
Once all this building has done, the players produce at their tanks. Each tank costs by default one energy to use (barring energy tanks) and produces one unit of its relevant resource.
The exceptions are the energy tanks (which produce one unit of energy without cost) and plain ol' water tanks, so long as they are in the central column they need not use energy.
Tanks with "synergy" will produce extra goods depending on how many there are - extra production is equal to number of tanks minus one.
e.g. If you have two energy tanks next to each other, they will produce one unit of energy each as normal, and one extra for synergy (2-1) so three in total.
You also get an extra produced good in each powered tank in the column above the energy coupler, a special piece placed by the player who chose the "Fireman" specialist card in the first auction.
Once all goods are produced, the marketplace comes into play.
In order, the players choose whether to buy or sell first Quartz, then Ore, then Water and finally energy, bearing in mind that the prices will change after each players decision depending on the level of supply. This means the last player may see no goods available in the market or an deflated price when they want to sell.
The balance of where you want to be in the turn order for optimum sales and purchases is utterly crucial - mess this up and nothing will go right for the whole game.
Next the players have the option to spend some of their goods on "licenses", one of which is worth $50 at game end, and the other allows them to avoid having to roll the dice when placing platforms and also to place a platform where a neutral platform is currently placed.
After this, the players turns are over and a global "update" phase occurs, where new tanks are made available if possible, and things are rest for the next turn.
New tanks will only be produced if there is at least one of both energy and ore available and the number produced is equal to the lowest supply of either (i.e. it costs one energy and one ore to make a tank). The goods for making these come from supply, so the entire remaining supply of ore or energy will be used up at the end of every turn.
If there is none of either available, no tanks are produced at all, meaning the price of the missing good jumps up.
Once this production is determined, specialist cards are returned to the pool and the next turn begins.
======Game End======
Once all turns are done, players count up their points not yet converted to money (I won't go into too much detail) and I would recommend turning these into cash to enable easier counting.
The player with the most money wins.
======Is it any good?======
I think so, yes.
It is not a game I will ever be wonderful at, despite winning my first game I have since been very quickly out of the running in the later ones.
I do think anyone who likes Power Grid will get a lot from it - if you think of the tank placement as a far more integrated version of the placement of towns in that they directly affect your future turns in much more detail, and they are directly worth points when created or upgraded.
I also like, as in Age Of Steam, that points=money=points, where every decision to purchase you make costs you points as well as money.
My one huge concern with the game is its reliance on the dice for placement of covers - there is nothing to prevent you rolling the "wrong result" every single time you try and place your tile which would undoubtedly ruin your chances.
Without wanting to overstate how this one aspect can affect you, by unlucky rolls you lose synergy, choice and much of your efficiency.
With the game relying on some fairly well balanced systems it just seems odd that a 50/50 chance is given such rein over your success.
======Variants I'd like to test======
A late aside on ideas that we have come up with after our games;
First, an option to pay in order to avoid the dice rolls. Though this would have to be carefully priced to avoid devaluing the building licenses.
Secondly perhaps a specialist who allows you to perhaps attack your opponents platforms - for player interaction perhaps less preferable to....
Thirdly, shared synergy in that you could join up your tanks with your opponents for mutual gain. I don't want people to be able to say "no" to it, but certainly there should be a cost to move your tanks if this variant is to be used.
======Finally...======
Whatever your feelings about the game, and whether you agree with my opinions or not, I hope you enjoyed reading the review and get to play games as much as you wish.
Hurrah!
A
The Gurus have played this with 3,4 & 5 players and it is equally good with all three groups.
====What it is & what it is not====
On first glance the production seems to point towards an adventure game set in a sci-fi universe, perhaps with variable player powers and exploration.
It is absolutely not that game - you'll want Android perhaps.
What Planet Steam is, is an economy and efficiency game more akin to games like Power Grid or Age of Steam.
In every turn you will experience two auctions, a detailed supply and demand system and agonising decisions over production levels.
You wont be blowing stuff up or exposing conspiracies here.
As usual, the player with the most points wins, but as is the case in many games, points here are synonymous with money - meaning every purchase doesn't just affect cash flow - it affects your score!
======Features Of The Board=====
The board features dynamic tables for prices of goods and their intrinsically linked supply level on the left - as supply changes, depending on its level the price may alter as well. Crucially this supply is not restocked between turns and will only increase if players are willing to sell to the market. Players usually will do this once the price goes up to a significant level.
On the far right is tank supply. All production in planet steam relies on tanks.
To place a tank and produce anything, players will need available "platforms" in their colour. These will be played in the large grid in the middle of the board (players start with two each). Some spaces are prefilled with "neutral" platforms that block them to the players.
The rest of the board is made up of spaces for the supplies of production bits and goods as well as certain information (chiefly regarding tank costs when none are available in regular supply)
The goods available in the game are Quartz, Ore, Water and Energy. To produce anything other than water, a tank must be upgraded using one of the pieces that slot into its side, designating it as an Energy Tank, Quartz Tank or Ore Tank.
======A Turn=====
(any omissions here - especially costs - are for brevity's sake not necessarily because I've misunderstood the rules!)
In reasonable detail, every turn goes as follows;
First Auction: Players bid for the first choice of "specialist", which will determine turn order and special powers. If available, the winners of each round of auctioning will also get a bonus good.
Second Auction is for a bonus platform, its eventual location decided by the player who picked the Venturer specialist card, crucially shown prior to auctioning.
Next, all players choose where they want to build their own cover for this turn. They nominate a location and roll the dice, on a 4-6 they can place the cover in the nominated spot, on a 1-3 they must place it on another empty space in either of the same column or rows. (See concerns, below)
You can see from this that one player (who won the second auction) will have placed two platforms this turn instead of one.
You want your platforms to be adjacent if possible, and ideally one in the central row (where a water producing tank will work without needing energy)
Next you enter the building section, where in turn order (as determined by your specialist card) you buy tanks, upgrades for those tanks and extremely valuable compressor domes (that increase a tank's production and are the most valuable in terms of end points). In this phase you must always spend one water in order to do anything at all.
You may choose to move your tanks and their upgrades around as much as you like without cost. If two or more tanks producing the same thing are adjacent you achieve "synergy" and your production increases as a result.
You can then buy upgrades for your "carriers", which represent your maximum holding of any of the four major goods, with every upgrade you can hold onto more of the goods at a time, if you're willing to pay the cost.
Once all this building has done, the players produce at their tanks. Each tank costs by default one energy to use (barring energy tanks) and produces one unit of its relevant resource.
The exceptions are the energy tanks (which produce one unit of energy without cost) and plain ol' water tanks, so long as they are in the central column they need not use energy.
Tanks with "synergy" will produce extra goods depending on how many there are - extra production is equal to number of tanks minus one.
e.g. If you have two energy tanks next to each other, they will produce one unit of energy each as normal, and one extra for synergy (2-1) so three in total.
You also get an extra produced good in each powered tank in the column above the energy coupler, a special piece placed by the player who chose the "Fireman" specialist card in the first auction.
Once all goods are produced, the marketplace comes into play.
In order, the players choose whether to buy or sell first Quartz, then Ore, then Water and finally energy, bearing in mind that the prices will change after each players decision depending on the level of supply. This means the last player may see no goods available in the market or an deflated price when they want to sell.
The balance of where you want to be in the turn order for optimum sales and purchases is utterly crucial - mess this up and nothing will go right for the whole game.
Next the players have the option to spend some of their goods on "licenses", one of which is worth $50 at game end, and the other allows them to avoid having to roll the dice when placing platforms and also to place a platform where a neutral platform is currently placed.
After this, the players turns are over and a global "update" phase occurs, where new tanks are made available if possible, and things are rest for the next turn.
New tanks will only be produced if there is at least one of both energy and ore available and the number produced is equal to the lowest supply of either (i.e. it costs one energy and one ore to make a tank). The goods for making these come from supply, so the entire remaining supply of ore or energy will be used up at the end of every turn.
If there is none of either available, no tanks are produced at all, meaning the price of the missing good jumps up.
Once this production is determined, specialist cards are returned to the pool and the next turn begins.
======Game End======
Once all turns are done, players count up their points not yet converted to money (I won't go into too much detail) and I would recommend turning these into cash to enable easier counting.
The player with the most money wins.
======Is it any good?======
I think so, yes.
It is not a game I will ever be wonderful at, despite winning my first game I have since been very quickly out of the running in the later ones.
I do think anyone who likes Power Grid will get a lot from it - if you think of the tank placement as a far more integrated version of the placement of towns in that they directly affect your future turns in much more detail, and they are directly worth points when created or upgraded.
I also like, as in Age Of Steam, that points=money=points, where every decision to purchase you make costs you points as well as money.
My one huge concern with the game is its reliance on the dice for placement of covers - there is nothing to prevent you rolling the "wrong result" every single time you try and place your tile which would undoubtedly ruin your chances.
Without wanting to overstate how this one aspect can affect you, by unlucky rolls you lose synergy, choice and much of your efficiency.
With the game relying on some fairly well balanced systems it just seems odd that a 50/50 chance is given such rein over your success.
======Variants I'd like to test======
A late aside on ideas that we have come up with after our games;
First, an option to pay in order to avoid the dice rolls. Though this would have to be carefully priced to avoid devaluing the building licenses.
Secondly perhaps a specialist who allows you to perhaps attack your opponents platforms - for player interaction perhaps less preferable to....
Thirdly, shared synergy in that you could join up your tanks with your opponents for mutual gain. I don't want people to be able to say "no" to it, but certainly there should be a cost to move your tanks if this variant is to be used.
======Finally...======
Whatever your feelings about the game, and whether you agree with my opinions or not, I hope you enjoyed reading the review and get to play games as much as you wish.
Hurrah!
A
Our Favourites : Small World
During my last game of Vinci (a game now out of print) a strange image popped into my head. I saw the Prince of Wales at the Spithead review, celebrating his mum’s Diamond Jubilee, in 1897 surveying the greatest navy the world had ever seen. He turns to her prime minister, the Marquis of Salisbury and says:
“This is as good as it’s going to get. Shall we go into decline? “
"Yes Sir . With your highness’s approval I suggest we come back in the middle-east with special tech oil development"
“Make it so my lord, Prime Minister"
Unfortunately the one Special Power that all real empires share is the special power ‘can’t go into decline until forced to’ So, to me at least, the idea of putting an empire into decline seemed a bit silly, yes they decline but there is no guiding intelligence behind it. Now that personal thematic tick is totally removed in Small World - you are chucking Elves, Giants and amazons around the fantasy Small World - historical reality does not matter.
And what a great fantasy world it is - not only do you have Halflings but they can be pillaging, you can have Stout elfs and Diplomatic Trolls. The oxymoronic mish-mash of fantasy races and powers is a joy. My first play was punctuated by laughter as race/power combos were revealed. Attracted to the silly combos I was duly thrashed by the very sensible combos of Dragon Master Sorcerers and Berserk Amazons. I think every one knows this is a remake of Vinci. The basics are very simple and the rules are available on the Days of Wonder website.
In summary:-
1) You choose a race special power combo,
2) You conquer provinces of Small World with said race,
3) You score points for provinces occupied on board,
4) Repeat 2) and 3) with your race until it has gone as far as you think they can then put them into decline
5) Start your next turn by going back to 1) with a new race power combo.
It plays quickly, requires good timing and an eye for a good combo.
Apart from the fun factor game play what really stands out for me is the production values and the care and attention that have gone into making this game.
1) The artwork is fantastic, funny and informative
2) The rules should be a template for rules writers everywhere they are so clear and concise
3) The player aids are 12 by 12 double sided sheets in full colour. See points 1 and 2 above
4) There are two double sided map boards to provide a different map board for 2, 3 4 and 5 player games
5) It comes with a tray for the race counters
6) The RRP is much lower than games which seem to have terrible rule books, or counters that rip upon punching out
Days of Wonder have fabulous production values and they have excelled themselves with this game - other producers take note - This is how it should be done- no errors and totally customer focused
For the Vinci owners amongst you (I include myself in that number) it does not feel like re-themed cash in on an old title. Why?
1) There is an improvement in play balance,
2) The hidden VP’s helps to stop ‘bash the leader’
3) The game ends after a set number of turns rather than a set number of VPS which improves ability to plan ahead
4) It scales well from 2 - 5 In conclusion
I am glad Vinci has been in to decline and we have a new power, Small World.
Our Favourites : Le Havre
Brian Wilson of Beach Boy’s fame went mad shortly after hearing ‘Sgt Pepper’ by the Beatles he felt that the pop music bar had been raised and he had to respond but before he could finish, his masterpiece, ‘Smile’ he lost his sanity. The album was locked away for forty years only to be re-recorded and released in 2004. This work was met by bewilderment and disappointment by fans forty years for this? It was as if the lost Library of Alexandria was found only to contain a shopping list for sandals and pomegranates. The reason ‘Smile’ was a non-event was it lacked context, maybe if it come out forty years ago it would etched itself in to our musical consciousness.
Now Le Havre on the other hand has context coming out of its ears the context is Agricola. We only had a year between these two games and for most of us it was a mere six months. In my gaming groups we have stopped playing Agricola because Le Havre just seems to do it better - or so it seems. I find it impossible to think of playing Agricola without reaching for Le Havre, and every time I play Le Havre I make a mental note to play Agricola again. The games are intertwined and I am not sure if Le Havre is a great game in it’s own right or great because of Agricola. Maybe if we had to wait forty years for Le Havre it would be another ‘Smile’ a non event.
My first impressions of Le Havre were that it was a re-mixed Agricola; the designer acknowledges this and his debt to Caylus. However with more plays I believe Le Havre is much more than a re-mix and I suspect it deserves to stand on its own two feet as another work of genius from Uwe Rosenberg.
Le Havre has 300 or so less cards than Agricola and simpler game mechanics, but the choices seem far more bewildering first time you play. This is because, though the number of cards in the game is smaller, they are all going to be on the table at some point (with the exception of the special buildings). Compared to Agricola, where you only have to worry about your own cards, this can seem at mind blowing the first time you play, and I know has put some off the game from an initial outing. But persevere to your second game and the building functions and their relationships become less intimidating.
Thematically it’s spot on again. Whereas in Agricola, you come out of your hovel faced with weeds and mud you know is going to be back breaking labour to turn it into a farm, in Le Havre, you are coming out of your town house, puffing on a Gauloise and sniffing prosperity carried on the Manche air. Starvation is not on your mind it’s all about deciding the best way to turn a few Francs; is it exporting the finest agricultural produce in the world, or sending it to Paris or shall I become an industrialist? Choices choices.
How does it play?
The board (it’s almost unnecessary) is pretty simple. It’s a repository for basic materials (Francs, Fish, Wood, Clay, Iron, Cole, Grain and Cows). These materials also have their own offer spaces from which players can pick up accumulated goods (ala Agricola). There are also seven turn markers that players in turn place their ship markers on. There is space for the different ships that become available as the game progresses, a space for building proposals and for special buildings.
The basics of game play are very simple too. On your turn you place your ship maker on the next available space, fill the ‘for offer’ spaces with the basic materials listed on the turn order tile (these are placed randomly on the seven turn circles at the beginning of the game). You then do one of two things – take one pile of goods from an on offer space or use a building by putting your marker on the building and taking the action listed on the building. You can also buy or sell buildings at any point of your turn.
The buildings come in three types, the starting buildings have already been built by the town and be using them you can build new buildings from the available proposal section. The too build section is three rows of cards which have been shuffled in to three columns then sorted (lowest number first) by number order. The first three cards in each column are available to be built (or bought) the rest are visible for all players to plan ahead. You can also buy and sell buildings. After a player has taken the seventh turn of a round then everyone has to feed (Agricola again).The food cost increase through out the game and a player can substitute Francs for food. Each round card doubles as a ship that becomes available to be built in the following round. The round card tells you how much each player has to feed, whether there is a harvest or not (if there is you gain another cow if you had two and another grain if you have one), the card also tells you if the town is building a special building and or the town may build the lowest numbered building proposal. If a player has built any ships they provide a permanent source of food. If he is still short he has to take a loan of five francs. For each loan a player has he loses seven victory points at the end of the game. He has to find one Franc in interest each round, no matter how many loans he has. Loans can be repaid at par at any time and can even be cancelled by using the local Court building. Coming to Le Havre for the first time from Agricola I tended to avoid loans, because as we know from Agricola not feeding is a very bad thing.
However, in Le Havre failing to feed is not disastrous and can be a good short term tactic. I imagine credit was in short supply in 17th century Germany, not so in Le Havre. You might be short of the readies at turn end but you take those excess Francs you borrowed to the butcher on the next turn and slaughter that fine herd of Charolais, live off steak for the next few rounds and visit the tannery to turn the hides into leather and cash and pay off that loan. In Le Havre not having a ready supply of cash is a bigger sin than not feeding.
Why do you need the cash? Well for it gives you victory points at the end of the game, but more immediately the buildings of the town and those built by other players have an entrance fee. The fee is either cash or food, with cash being able to be substituted for food.
All of the basic goods in Le Havre have on their flip side the developed equivalent for fish its smoked fish, cows its meat, Clay its brick To develop these basic goods you will need to use buildings such as the bakery to turn your grain into fine baguettes. To use a building it has to have been built by a player of the town. If you built it it’s free to use, if it’s some one else you have to pay them an entrance fee. To convert basic goods to their developed flip side there is also an energy cost energy comes from wood, its developed side Charcoal, Cole and its developed side Coke.
The early buildings either give you additional resources or convert these resources into there developed side very necessary to help you get a food engine going. Later in the game the buildings help you turn your goods into money and thus victory points. I mentioned earlier that on some round ends the town builds ‘Special buildings’. At the beginning of the game the deck of 42 special buildings is shuffled and the top six are used in the game. These, unlike the building proposals, are not visible to the players until they are built. These buildings can be very powerful and change a player’s strategy when they come out. The ‘Wharf’ building(s) is usually built about of a third of a way through the game. This moves the game into a new phase as it allows the buildings of ships. The first ships available to be built are wooden, then iron, then steel and at the end of the game luxury liners. Ships provide a permanent food source, victory points and the ability to export your goods for cash. The luxury liners only provide victory points. Ships abilities get better the further up the tech tree they are. Shipping goods require the ‘Shipping Line’ building to have been built and it allows players to spend energy (three per ship) to export goods on the ships they own thus turning them into cash, the more advanced the ship the more goods can be sold. With the exception of cows, the developed goods sell for a lot more than undeveloped goods. Players are usually trying to find a strategy that will let them make one or two visits to the shipping line at the end of the game for large points. Goods can also be sent to Paris for sale but it’s a less profitable activity than selling abroad.
When the last round is finished all players get one last action, and for the only time in the game players can simultaneously use the same building. Handy if you have timed things to perfection for one last lucrative shipping action. Unlike Agricola, where family members, come back to the farm at the end of a turn, in Le Havre your marker stays on the last building you used until you move it to another building or the building is sold to the town. This can rather frustrating if someone is sitting on a building you really want to use, however denial is not too important in Le Havre. If the building you want to use is blocked there are going to be some good choices elsewhere, and if the building is in demand from other players then shift your strategy elsewhere.
Victory points at the end of the game are totted up from a player’s francs, victory point values of buildings and ships, some building provide extra victory points for owning buildings of a particular type. Seven points per loan outstanding is deducted from this total - the highest total is the winner.
The semi-random way the buildings come in to play can cause quite different game experiences, and that’s one of the things I like about the game after spending so much time playing Agricola. Agricola has a prescribed order of play sometimes it can feel stifling. The ability to do things in Le Havre depends on the buildings draw; it’s a little more random, a bit Gallic. Some Anglo-Saxon players have found it a difficult to adjust to a more free form game after the strictures of farming in Germany.
Another plus point for Le Havre is that all the buildings are available to all the players there’s no complaining that some one got a ninja hand draws.
I don’t think Le Havre scales as well as Agricola the solo game is not as much fun and the game allows for five players but is not a great experience. I think the sweet spot is three players, for a more open game two players is great and feels tougher and tighter with four. Another criticism levelled at Le Havre is that it is longer than Agricola which is true however it does not feel as is time is dragging when you play.
I have yet to meet anyone who has played Le Havre who has not played Agricola first, some prefer it others are not as keen. I think any one who has played Agricola should give Le Havre a try and if you love great development games but were put off by the theme of Agricola then this might be the ticket, after all sea air is preferable to wading through mud.
Now Le Havre on the other hand has context coming out of its ears the context is Agricola. We only had a year between these two games and for most of us it was a mere six months. In my gaming groups we have stopped playing Agricola because Le Havre just seems to do it better - or so it seems. I find it impossible to think of playing Agricola without reaching for Le Havre, and every time I play Le Havre I make a mental note to play Agricola again. The games are intertwined and I am not sure if Le Havre is a great game in it’s own right or great because of Agricola. Maybe if we had to wait forty years for Le Havre it would be another ‘Smile’ a non event.
My first impressions of Le Havre were that it was a re-mixed Agricola; the designer acknowledges this and his debt to Caylus. However with more plays I believe Le Havre is much more than a re-mix and I suspect it deserves to stand on its own two feet as another work of genius from Uwe Rosenberg.
Le Havre has 300 or so less cards than Agricola and simpler game mechanics, but the choices seem far more bewildering first time you play. This is because, though the number of cards in the game is smaller, they are all going to be on the table at some point (with the exception of the special buildings). Compared to Agricola, where you only have to worry about your own cards, this can seem at mind blowing the first time you play, and I know has put some off the game from an initial outing. But persevere to your second game and the building functions and their relationships become less intimidating.
Thematically it’s spot on again. Whereas in Agricola, you come out of your hovel faced with weeds and mud you know is going to be back breaking labour to turn it into a farm, in Le Havre, you are coming out of your town house, puffing on a Gauloise and sniffing prosperity carried on the Manche air. Starvation is not on your mind it’s all about deciding the best way to turn a few Francs; is it exporting the finest agricultural produce in the world, or sending it to Paris or shall I become an industrialist? Choices choices.
How does it play?
The board (it’s almost unnecessary) is pretty simple. It’s a repository for basic materials (Francs, Fish, Wood, Clay, Iron, Cole, Grain and Cows). These materials also have their own offer spaces from which players can pick up accumulated goods (ala Agricola). There are also seven turn markers that players in turn place their ship markers on. There is space for the different ships that become available as the game progresses, a space for building proposals and for special buildings.
The basics of game play are very simple too. On your turn you place your ship maker on the next available space, fill the ‘for offer’ spaces with the basic materials listed on the turn order tile (these are placed randomly on the seven turn circles at the beginning of the game). You then do one of two things – take one pile of goods from an on offer space or use a building by putting your marker on the building and taking the action listed on the building. You can also buy or sell buildings at any point of your turn.
The buildings come in three types, the starting buildings have already been built by the town and be using them you can build new buildings from the available proposal section. The too build section is three rows of cards which have been shuffled in to three columns then sorted (lowest number first) by number order. The first three cards in each column are available to be built (or bought) the rest are visible for all players to plan ahead. You can also buy and sell buildings. After a player has taken the seventh turn of a round then everyone has to feed (Agricola again).The food cost increase through out the game and a player can substitute Francs for food. Each round card doubles as a ship that becomes available to be built in the following round. The round card tells you how much each player has to feed, whether there is a harvest or not (if there is you gain another cow if you had two and another grain if you have one), the card also tells you if the town is building a special building and or the town may build the lowest numbered building proposal. If a player has built any ships they provide a permanent source of food. If he is still short he has to take a loan of five francs. For each loan a player has he loses seven victory points at the end of the game. He has to find one Franc in interest each round, no matter how many loans he has. Loans can be repaid at par at any time and can even be cancelled by using the local Court building. Coming to Le Havre for the first time from Agricola I tended to avoid loans, because as we know from Agricola not feeding is a very bad thing.
However, in Le Havre failing to feed is not disastrous and can be a good short term tactic. I imagine credit was in short supply in 17th century Germany, not so in Le Havre. You might be short of the readies at turn end but you take those excess Francs you borrowed to the butcher on the next turn and slaughter that fine herd of Charolais, live off steak for the next few rounds and visit the tannery to turn the hides into leather and cash and pay off that loan. In Le Havre not having a ready supply of cash is a bigger sin than not feeding.
Why do you need the cash? Well for it gives you victory points at the end of the game, but more immediately the buildings of the town and those built by other players have an entrance fee. The fee is either cash or food, with cash being able to be substituted for food.
All of the basic goods in Le Havre have on their flip side the developed equivalent for fish its smoked fish, cows its meat, Clay its brick To develop these basic goods you will need to use buildings such as the bakery to turn your grain into fine baguettes. To use a building it has to have been built by a player of the town. If you built it it’s free to use, if it’s some one else you have to pay them an entrance fee. To convert basic goods to their developed flip side there is also an energy cost energy comes from wood, its developed side Charcoal, Cole and its developed side Coke.
The early buildings either give you additional resources or convert these resources into there developed side very necessary to help you get a food engine going. Later in the game the buildings help you turn your goods into money and thus victory points. I mentioned earlier that on some round ends the town builds ‘Special buildings’. At the beginning of the game the deck of 42 special buildings is shuffled and the top six are used in the game. These, unlike the building proposals, are not visible to the players until they are built. These buildings can be very powerful and change a player’s strategy when they come out. The ‘Wharf’ building(s) is usually built about of a third of a way through the game. This moves the game into a new phase as it allows the buildings of ships. The first ships available to be built are wooden, then iron, then steel and at the end of the game luxury liners. Ships provide a permanent food source, victory points and the ability to export your goods for cash. The luxury liners only provide victory points. Ships abilities get better the further up the tech tree they are. Shipping goods require the ‘Shipping Line’ building to have been built and it allows players to spend energy (three per ship) to export goods on the ships they own thus turning them into cash, the more advanced the ship the more goods can be sold. With the exception of cows, the developed goods sell for a lot more than undeveloped goods. Players are usually trying to find a strategy that will let them make one or two visits to the shipping line at the end of the game for large points. Goods can also be sent to Paris for sale but it’s a less profitable activity than selling abroad.
When the last round is finished all players get one last action, and for the only time in the game players can simultaneously use the same building. Handy if you have timed things to perfection for one last lucrative shipping action. Unlike Agricola, where family members, come back to the farm at the end of a turn, in Le Havre your marker stays on the last building you used until you move it to another building or the building is sold to the town. This can rather frustrating if someone is sitting on a building you really want to use, however denial is not too important in Le Havre. If the building you want to use is blocked there are going to be some good choices elsewhere, and if the building is in demand from other players then shift your strategy elsewhere.
Victory points at the end of the game are totted up from a player’s francs, victory point values of buildings and ships, some building provide extra victory points for owning buildings of a particular type. Seven points per loan outstanding is deducted from this total - the highest total is the winner.
The semi-random way the buildings come in to play can cause quite different game experiences, and that’s one of the things I like about the game after spending so much time playing Agricola. Agricola has a prescribed order of play sometimes it can feel stifling. The ability to do things in Le Havre depends on the buildings draw; it’s a little more random, a bit Gallic. Some Anglo-Saxon players have found it a difficult to adjust to a more free form game after the strictures of farming in Germany.
Another plus point for Le Havre is that all the buildings are available to all the players there’s no complaining that some one got a ninja hand draws.
I don’t think Le Havre scales as well as Agricola the solo game is not as much fun and the game allows for five players but is not a great experience. I think the sweet spot is three players, for a more open game two players is great and feels tougher and tighter with four. Another criticism levelled at Le Havre is that it is longer than Agricola which is true however it does not feel as is time is dragging when you play.
I have yet to meet anyone who has played Le Havre who has not played Agricola first, some prefer it others are not as keen. I think any one who has played Agricola should give Le Havre a try and if you love great development games but were put off by the theme of Agricola then this might be the ticket, after all sea air is preferable to wading through mud.
Our Favourites : Canal Mania
Now I don’t know many people who have a Mania about Canals though do occasionally see bargees puffing on pipes, working complex looking locks and generally having a peaceful time on Regent’s Park canal. Looking at recreational canalistas it’s hard to imagine that Briton’s Canals were once the arteries of the early industrial revolution. They are a fascinating historical subject, both economic and social, but compared to the belching steam of the early railroad canal’s have not fired the creativity of games designers or imagination of gamers.
However, The Ragnar brothers (Angola, Fire and Axe, History of the World. Monastery) are inspired by the less trodden path’s of gaming theme and in Canal Mania they have created a game faithful to the subject and also great fun to play.
Why do I like it so much?
1) Canal Mania scales perfectly between two and five players
2) It’s complexity sits nicely between gateway games like Ticket to Ride and more complex fare such as Railroad Tycoon or Age of Steam
3) Its quick to play a 2 player game can take 45 minutes and a five player game can finish in 90
4) The rules can be understood after 10 minutes but it also provides challenging tactical game play
Canal Mania has similarities to several Train games, Like ‘Ticket to Ride’ you need to connect cities to score points for contracts (think ‘tickets’) awarded by parliament and like Railroad Tycoon/Age of Steam you move goods along your (and other players network) for victory points. There are some key differences though unlike Ticket to Ride you can’t just build canals any where you like they have to be between towns and cities that match the Parliament cards you have selected and unlike Railroad Tycoon placement of goods is involuntary if certain cards are selected and then there are restrictions on where goods can be placed.
How does it play?
Two to five players compete for victory points that are awarded for 1) completing canals 2) The type of canal counters used in completing the contract and 3) Shipping goods.
The board depicts the major industrial cities, towns and ports of England they are colour coded for goods placement and shipping. The distinction between towns and cities is only important when placing goods . Superimposed over the board is a hexagonal grid with most towns being no more than four hexs from any other, terrain type is either easy or difficult to build in and it is on these hexes you will build your canals. Each player has the same set of canal counters 16 stretch canals, 12 locks, 4 aqueducts and 3 tunnels. Each player also receives an Engineer card who will help you build your canals beware though these engineers are a fickle bunch and don’t expect to keep your starting one for long.
Five starting contracts are placed face up on the table to be selected by the players and the rest of the contracts are shuffled and then a sixth starting contract is placed on top of the pile. Each contract will command you to construct a canal between two towns, sometimes they instruct you to connect the two via an intermediate town each contract specifies the victory points awarded for completing the canal which also doubles as a maximum length in hexes for the canal (Parliament doesn’t want you greedy early capitalists stretching the Canal’s unnecessarily). The contracts represent real Canals and add to the thematic fidelity of the game. Each player is given one junction contract (anywhere to anywhere maximum two hex length) which he can use later in the game, and he will because their use is crucial to completing high scoring networks or sneaking into other peoples. More on this later. The build cards are shuffled and five are drawn and placed face up by the board.
The build cards depict a length of canal and they match the starting canal counters of the players. There is also a Surveyor build card that acts as a wild card and some of the build cards have a colour block on them matching the colours of the towns and the cities. Like Ticket to Ride players will have the option of either choosing three face up build cards or using cards in hand to build a canal. If a face up card is selected that has a colour block on it then the player must place 2 goods tokens of the appropriate colour on matching cities or towns their being a hierarchy in which they can be placed (connected cities, connected towns, unconnected cities, then unconnected towns). Choosing where to place goods tokens and knowing that goods are most likely to appear in cities is a key part of the strategic process in building a network.
To build a canal stretch cards are played from hand. The same canal type can never be placed next to another of the same type and must be able to be placed in the map terrain. So for instance a nice easy two hex canal from London to Maidstone would need a Stretch and a lock piece and to play them you would need a stretch and a lock card. Easy. With canal pieces that need to be cut into more difficult terrain you need more cards to play them. An aqueduct requires 2 marching cards and a tunnel three. A surveyor card can substitute for any other type of card.
So you need to collect a fair number of cards to make your build actions efficient. Never fear because the engineers make the process that much easier, one allows you to substitute a lock or stretch card for each other, 2 others reduce the card requirement by one for ,respectively, building aqueducts and tunnels, one chap allows you to use a surveyor card as two other cards and the last allows you to take four build cards. I mentioned earlier that these engineers are fickle at the beginning of your turn one of your possible actions is to swap your engineer for any other players which they can’t refuse.
If a contract is fulfilled by building the canal then points are awarded for the value of the contract and the type of canal used in the build - stretches are worth zero points, locks one, aqueducts two and tunnels three.
The other actions available at the beginning of your turn are to select a new contract from the face up tile (or one of your two available anywhere to anywhere contracts). You can only ever have a maximum of two contracts in play. You can also swap engineers or you or you can discard the five face up build cards (ala Thurn und Taxis)
The second part of your turn I have described take build cards or build a canal.
In the last part of your turn you can ship goods. Shipping goods involves moving goods along a network of canals as far as you can with the restriction that it can not go through the same colour town twice. You score points for the number of towns or cities the goods travel thorough including the start and the destination. If you use another person’s network they score points for towns they connect to on the goods travel route.
In any phase you can, instead of taking an action, take blind a build card from the top of the build draw stack.
Fittingly, the end of game is reached when a player passes the ‘Railway’ age marker the end is nigh for players and canals. Play continues until one player reaches a pre-determined number of points (for example 50 points in a five player game), then the current round finishes and two further complete rounds are played. Then players move goods in turn until no more can be moved.
Scoring contracts provides the bread and butter points in the game with success going to the player who has best managed to create an efficient goods shipping network, partly by having a monopoly on some goods, partly by having the longest canal routes and by being able to deny points to other players by shipping goods available to a number of players. The ‘junction’ contracts are vital to strategy as they allow you to either complete your network or even better tap in to other players to siphon off goods they were hoping to keep to themselves.
I thoroughly recommend Canal Mania as a next step up from the Ticket to Ride series , for train games enthusiasts who like to try something a little different or for anyone who loves games where the theme is an integral part of the game.
However, The Ragnar brothers (Angola, Fire and Axe, History of the World. Monastery) are inspired by the less trodden path’s of gaming theme and in Canal Mania they have created a game faithful to the subject and also great fun to play.
Why do I like it so much?
1) Canal Mania scales perfectly between two and five players
2) It’s complexity sits nicely between gateway games like Ticket to Ride and more complex fare such as Railroad Tycoon or Age of Steam
3) Its quick to play a 2 player game can take 45 minutes and a five player game can finish in 90
4) The rules can be understood after 10 minutes but it also provides challenging tactical game play
Canal Mania has similarities to several Train games, Like ‘Ticket to Ride’ you need to connect cities to score points for contracts (think ‘tickets’) awarded by parliament and like Railroad Tycoon/Age of Steam you move goods along your (and other players network) for victory points. There are some key differences though unlike Ticket to Ride you can’t just build canals any where you like they have to be between towns and cities that match the Parliament cards you have selected and unlike Railroad Tycoon placement of goods is involuntary if certain cards are selected and then there are restrictions on where goods can be placed.
How does it play?
Two to five players compete for victory points that are awarded for 1) completing canals 2) The type of canal counters used in completing the contract and 3) Shipping goods.
The board depicts the major industrial cities, towns and ports of England they are colour coded for goods placement and shipping. The distinction between towns and cities is only important when placing goods . Superimposed over the board is a hexagonal grid with most towns being no more than four hexs from any other, terrain type is either easy or difficult to build in and it is on these hexes you will build your canals. Each player has the same set of canal counters 16 stretch canals, 12 locks, 4 aqueducts and 3 tunnels. Each player also receives an Engineer card who will help you build your canals beware though these engineers are a fickle bunch and don’t expect to keep your starting one for long.
Five starting contracts are placed face up on the table to be selected by the players and the rest of the contracts are shuffled and then a sixth starting contract is placed on top of the pile. Each contract will command you to construct a canal between two towns, sometimes they instruct you to connect the two via an intermediate town each contract specifies the victory points awarded for completing the canal which also doubles as a maximum length in hexes for the canal (Parliament doesn’t want you greedy early capitalists stretching the Canal’s unnecessarily). The contracts represent real Canals and add to the thematic fidelity of the game. Each player is given one junction contract (anywhere to anywhere maximum two hex length) which he can use later in the game, and he will because their use is crucial to completing high scoring networks or sneaking into other peoples. More on this later. The build cards are shuffled and five are drawn and placed face up by the board.
The build cards depict a length of canal and they match the starting canal counters of the players. There is also a Surveyor build card that acts as a wild card and some of the build cards have a colour block on them matching the colours of the towns and the cities. Like Ticket to Ride players will have the option of either choosing three face up build cards or using cards in hand to build a canal. If a face up card is selected that has a colour block on it then the player must place 2 goods tokens of the appropriate colour on matching cities or towns their being a hierarchy in which they can be placed (connected cities, connected towns, unconnected cities, then unconnected towns). Choosing where to place goods tokens and knowing that goods are most likely to appear in cities is a key part of the strategic process in building a network.
To build a canal stretch cards are played from hand. The same canal type can never be placed next to another of the same type and must be able to be placed in the map terrain. So for instance a nice easy two hex canal from London to Maidstone would need a Stretch and a lock piece and to play them you would need a stretch and a lock card. Easy. With canal pieces that need to be cut into more difficult terrain you need more cards to play them. An aqueduct requires 2 marching cards and a tunnel three. A surveyor card can substitute for any other type of card.
So you need to collect a fair number of cards to make your build actions efficient. Never fear because the engineers make the process that much easier, one allows you to substitute a lock or stretch card for each other, 2 others reduce the card requirement by one for ,respectively, building aqueducts and tunnels, one chap allows you to use a surveyor card as two other cards and the last allows you to take four build cards. I mentioned earlier that these engineers are fickle at the beginning of your turn one of your possible actions is to swap your engineer for any other players which they can’t refuse.
If a contract is fulfilled by building the canal then points are awarded for the value of the contract and the type of canal used in the build - stretches are worth zero points, locks one, aqueducts two and tunnels three.
The other actions available at the beginning of your turn are to select a new contract from the face up tile (or one of your two available anywhere to anywhere contracts). You can only ever have a maximum of two contracts in play. You can also swap engineers or you or you can discard the five face up build cards (ala Thurn und Taxis)
The second part of your turn I have described take build cards or build a canal.
In the last part of your turn you can ship goods. Shipping goods involves moving goods along a network of canals as far as you can with the restriction that it can not go through the same colour town twice. You score points for the number of towns or cities the goods travel thorough including the start and the destination. If you use another person’s network they score points for towns they connect to on the goods travel route.
In any phase you can, instead of taking an action, take blind a build card from the top of the build draw stack.
Fittingly, the end of game is reached when a player passes the ‘Railway’ age marker the end is nigh for players and canals. Play continues until one player reaches a pre-determined number of points (for example 50 points in a five player game), then the current round finishes and two further complete rounds are played. Then players move goods in turn until no more can be moved.
Scoring contracts provides the bread and butter points in the game with success going to the player who has best managed to create an efficient goods shipping network, partly by having a monopoly on some goods, partly by having the longest canal routes and by being able to deny points to other players by shipping goods available to a number of players. The ‘junction’ contracts are vital to strategy as they allow you to either complete your network or even better tap in to other players to siphon off goods they were hoping to keep to themselves.
I thoroughly recommend Canal Mania as a next step up from the Ticket to Ride series , for train games enthusiasts who like to try something a little different or for anyone who loves games where the theme is an integral part of the game.
Our Favourites: Settlers Of Catan
Ask many gamers what their first experience of Eurogames was and more often than not you will hear this classic mentioned.
Now in its Fourth Edition it is one of the most enduringly popular games on the market, and along with its expansions such as Cities & Knights Of Catan or Seafarers of Catan it provides scope for you to customise your own favourite way of playing.
On reflection it is easy to see why this title has been so popular, since it features many of the best features for new gamers, many of which were introduced in yesterday's "What Are Eurogames?" article, such as no player elimination, shorter playing time and several ways of scoring.
The game is extremely simple to play, and set up is easy, either using the suggested arrangement for your first game or randomly setting up in future.
The board is made up of hexes, made into a circular island shape - each player starts with two settlements and two roads along the edges of certain hexes. In the suggested set up the decision is made for you, but in later games you can choose your starting location.
On each hex is a picture showing what resource is harvested from it. That may sound intimidating ("harvesting resources? Oooo er...") but it takes the form of a dice roll - each hex has a number placed on it during set up and it produces goods whenever the number is rolled. Simple.
Anyone who has a settlement bordering the hex(es) that show the right number gets a card representing that resource whether it is their turn or not. These cards can later be traded for more roads, upgrading your settlements to cities or new settlements etc. The reason for expansion is simple - with expansion you get new resources and trading opportunities as well as those all important victory points.
There is a problem to be overcome before you get to confident, and that is that it is highly unlikely that you will be able to get all the resources you need without help. To get every bit of brick, stone or grain you need, you'll have to be prepared to trade cards with your opponents. This can lead to some intense wheeling and dealing as players try and balance the benefits of gaining goods in trade against the benefit of what they are giving their opponents - you must be careful not to help them more than you help yourself!
The winner is the first to get to 10 VPs, and this can be scored in many ways; each settlement is worth 1 vp, each city is worth 2 vps and there are bonuses for certain cards (1vp each) and having the longest road (2vps) and largest army (2vps).
While it has been around for a long time this game still feels fresh and exciting every time, partly due to the random set up and partly due to each group you play with having different dynamics when you try and trade. One player may be very hostile to trading at all, preferring to be aggressive in their expansion and gain independence that way, but others may prefer the softer touch approach of mutual assistance - you get to find this out as you go.
I have a soft spot for Settlers Of Catan anyway for a couple of reasons - first, it was my Gateway Game - the game that opened the door to other great experiences. Secondly, it was the game with which I got many of my friends to play with me - an easy to teach game that still gave an excellent challenge to all concerned.
I highly recommend this game to not only anyone who is wanting to get into gaming but also to everyone. It can be played by 3-4 players straight out of the box, though I purchased the 5-6 player expansion to give my bigger game group a chance at it.
Add to this excellent system the new ways of playing introduced in Seafarers, which allows you to play across a series of islands instead of one big one - with ships to build and pirates to worry about and the mutual fight against the Barbarian hordes in Cities And Knights, and you have many games all using similar systems that will bring fun and excitement to your home for game after game.
And who could ask for more than that?
...keep playing!
The BoardGameGuru team
Our Favourites: Co-Operative Games Special
We're big fans of innovation here at BoardGameGuru, and one area of games that is seeing lots of growth in popularity at the moment is Co-Operative games, and their evil twin, Semi Co-Operative Games.
The clue is of course, in the name, as far as co-operative games go. In games such as Arkham Horror and Pandemic, the games rules dictate a way in which the forces of evil or diseases spread across the land, and the whole set of players work together to overcome this problem.
Taking Arkham Horror as an example, each turn you draw a card which shows how evil will progress this turn; where gates to other dimensions will open which spill out evil monsters , where any monsters will move and many special effects too. These cards, in their presentation of challenges and development of the on-board situation are the heart of the game since they take the place of a human "gamesmaster" (such as those needed for roleplaying games) and allow all players to share the same goals.
In Arkham Horror, the players will socialise, agonise and organise together in a bid to defeat the forces of darkness and prevent the games major enemy, or "Great Old One" from awakening. If they do so, the players will usually have to defeat them in combat, but the odds are so often stacked against them in this final battle most groups try to avoid this if at all possible.
It's an intense and exciting game experience as you and your friends or family will fight monsters, explore dangerous and eccentric locales and ultimately try to win the game. The game is extremely tough, however and don't expect to win first time out.
Co-Operative games like Arkham Horror are excellent for groups who want to avoid the usual confrontational aspects of gaming. Since you are all working together there are myriad opportunities for creative problem solving as a group - meaning that valuable social interaction, one of the major advantages of the board gaming hobby over many other pastimes, is maximised.
In terms of complexity of rules Arkham Horror is far more complicated than Pandemic, but whichever you choose it will provide exciting challenges for your friends and family and they come highly recommended.
==================
If you are intrigued by what was meant by "evil twin" when I mentioned Semi Co-Operative games, read on.
These games are a relatively recent wrinkle in the gaming world, and are a great example of how modern board games are constantly innovating and improving on themes and mechanics to provide satisfying new opportunities for fun and learning.
The most famous example, some would say originator, of this sub-genre, Shadows Over Camelot, was published as recently as 2005. In this incredible game, you and your friends play the part of the brave knights of the round table, and by using the cards in your hand you stave off the forces of evil and try and complete such quests as the search for the Holy Grail, combat with the Black Knight or rescuing Excalibur from the water.
The difference between this and, for example, Pandemic, is that unlike that game not all the players are necessarily on your side - one of the Knights may be a traitor, secretly hindering your attempts to defeat evil while outwardly working for good.
I stress the word "may" in that last sentence, because it is always possible in any game that there is no traitor at all - and false accusations can be as costly as correct ones can be rewarding.
It's a wonderfully nasty twist to the co-operative game concept and makes for some memorable and frequently hilarious game nights.
For example, this weekend I was involved in a game and because I was certain a traitor was somewhere because various very helpful cards had gone missing, discarded no doubt by the nefarious ne'er-do-well that was hiding in the shadows.
I examined my fellow players' actions closely. In time, I became convinced that one of the other players, Sir Bors, was a traitor. He hadn't done anything obviously wrong, but his demeanour and reactions to the evil events seemed a bit off. I made the accusation that he was a traitor, as is my right - only to find he had been loyal all along! This false accusation meant that I had caused two white swords (the loyal knights' "score") to become black swords (and score for evil instead).
So my false accusation eventually led to the fall of Camelot, as the real traitor was elsewhere in the form of Sir Owain.
The great thing about Shadows Over Camelot is that despite the loss to the evil traitor we all agreed to try again immediately, since each game takes only about an hour and a half at most.
A similar idea has been developed into the tie in game for the new Battlestar Galactica series. In this game the humans are trying to protect themselves from the forces of the Cylons, a race of robots who have managed to create exact replicas of human beings as sleeper agents, who infiltrate the fleet and wreak havoc.
The game depicts this struggle by handing out the loyalty cards at the beginning and the middle of the game so someone who has spent the whole game thinking they were human suddenly changes sides. Of course, this is all secret information, so they are able to choose the right moment to reveal themselves and join their robot pals.
An excellent tie-in for fans of the show, since it captures the feeling of suspicion and desperation that pervades the series' best moments, it is also a fantastic game in its own right, presenting a severe challenge for the human players but with excellent game play for the Cylon agents too.
========
If you are interested in these or any other games you read about on this blog, our shop at BoardGameGuru is available for you to purchase them. Feel free to send any queries or requests for tailored game packages to paul@boardgameguru.co.uk
....keep playing!
The BoardGameGuru Team
The clue is of course, in the name, as far as co-operative games go. In games such as Arkham Horror and Pandemic, the games rules dictate a way in which the forces of evil or diseases spread across the land, and the whole set of players work together to overcome this problem.
Taking Arkham Horror as an example, each turn you draw a card which shows how evil will progress this turn; where gates to other dimensions will open which spill out evil monsters , where any monsters will move and many special effects too. These cards, in their presentation of challenges and development of the on-board situation are the heart of the game since they take the place of a human "gamesmaster" (such as those needed for roleplaying games) and allow all players to share the same goals.
In Arkham Horror, the players will socialise, agonise and organise together in a bid to defeat the forces of darkness and prevent the games major enemy, or "Great Old One" from awakening. If they do so, the players will usually have to defeat them in combat, but the odds are so often stacked against them in this final battle most groups try to avoid this if at all possible.
It's an intense and exciting game experience as you and your friends or family will fight monsters, explore dangerous and eccentric locales and ultimately try to win the game. The game is extremely tough, however and don't expect to win first time out.
Co-Operative games like Arkham Horror are excellent for groups who want to avoid the usual confrontational aspects of gaming. Since you are all working together there are myriad opportunities for creative problem solving as a group - meaning that valuable social interaction, one of the major advantages of the board gaming hobby over many other pastimes, is maximised.
In terms of complexity of rules Arkham Horror is far more complicated than Pandemic, but whichever you choose it will provide exciting challenges for your friends and family and they come highly recommended.
==================
If you are intrigued by what was meant by "evil twin" when I mentioned Semi Co-Operative games, read on.
These games are a relatively recent wrinkle in the gaming world, and are a great example of how modern board games are constantly innovating and improving on themes and mechanics to provide satisfying new opportunities for fun and learning.
The most famous example, some would say originator, of this sub-genre, Shadows Over Camelot, was published as recently as 2005. In this incredible game, you and your friends play the part of the brave knights of the round table, and by using the cards in your hand you stave off the forces of evil and try and complete such quests as the search for the Holy Grail, combat with the Black Knight or rescuing Excalibur from the water.
The difference between this and, for example, Pandemic, is that unlike that game not all the players are necessarily on your side - one of the Knights may be a traitor, secretly hindering your attempts to defeat evil while outwardly working for good.
I stress the word "may" in that last sentence, because it is always possible in any game that there is no traitor at all - and false accusations can be as costly as correct ones can be rewarding.
It's a wonderfully nasty twist to the co-operative game concept and makes for some memorable and frequently hilarious game nights.
For example, this weekend I was involved in a game and because I was certain a traitor was somewhere because various very helpful cards had gone missing, discarded no doubt by the nefarious ne'er-do-well that was hiding in the shadows.
I examined my fellow players' actions closely. In time, I became convinced that one of the other players, Sir Bors, was a traitor. He hadn't done anything obviously wrong, but his demeanour and reactions to the evil events seemed a bit off. I made the accusation that he was a traitor, as is my right - only to find he had been loyal all along! This false accusation meant that I had caused two white swords (the loyal knights' "score") to become black swords (and score for evil instead).
So my false accusation eventually led to the fall of Camelot, as the real traitor was elsewhere in the form of Sir Owain.
The great thing about Shadows Over Camelot is that despite the loss to the evil traitor we all agreed to try again immediately, since each game takes only about an hour and a half at most.
A similar idea has been developed into the tie in game for the new Battlestar Galactica series. In this game the humans are trying to protect themselves from the forces of the Cylons, a race of robots who have managed to create exact replicas of human beings as sleeper agents, who infiltrate the fleet and wreak havoc.
The game depicts this struggle by handing out the loyalty cards at the beginning and the middle of the game so someone who has spent the whole game thinking they were human suddenly changes sides. Of course, this is all secret information, so they are able to choose the right moment to reveal themselves and join their robot pals.
An excellent tie-in for fans of the show, since it captures the feeling of suspicion and desperation that pervades the series' best moments, it is also a fantastic game in its own right, presenting a severe challenge for the human players but with excellent game play for the Cylon agents too.
========
If you are interested in these or any other games you read about on this blog, our shop at BoardGameGuru is available for you to purchase them. Feel free to send any queries or requests for tailored game packages to paul@boardgameguru.co.uk
....keep playing!
The BoardGameGuru Team
Our Favourites : Agricola
The theme of Agricola - the need to feed our families and grow the homestead is compelling. In my first few games I found the attraction of developing my farm and feeding my family so strong I did not take much notice of the victory points awarded at the end of the game.
So how does it work? Each player starts with a board on which sits a two wooden rooms and thirteen additional empty plots. Each room of the hut contain contains a member of your family who you will use to take actions on the main boards and turn your small holding into a functioning farm. The main play boards are divided between fixed actions available from the start and spaces for additional actions cards that are turned over as the game progresses. The actions allow you to collect resources, use the resources to improve your farm or home, play occupations and improvements, change turn order and grow your family. Your aim is to gather, build and grow as efficiently as possible so that by the end of the game you have (hopefully) filled the empty plots with fields, pastures, stables, extra rooms for your expanded family and a store of grain, vegetables and live stock.
The game is divided into 14 rounds with 6 harvests (harvest grain, feed family, and breed animals), the first coming after round four and coming progressively faster as the game moves towards its finish. Victory points are awarded at the end of the game. However, feeding your family at each of the six harvests is essential to avoid heavy penalties. A starvation strategy does not work in Agricola – there are almost no actions which will compensate for the minus three points awarded to anyone who has to beg for food. And that is one of the beauties of the game. The victory point conditions steers you towards doing a little of everything. You want to be a pig farmer? Fine but you gain no victory points after your 7th porker. Vegetables your thing? No points after the fourth. Hate vegetables? Minus one point for none. Specialising in one type of food production helps feed your growing family and an efficient farm is a prerequisite to winning but of itself will not win you the game.
The hundreds of Occupation and Minor Improvements cards give the game its breadth and depth. Divided into four decks of varying complexity each deck can be played on its own or mixed with others. The cards really scratch a CCG itch, the combinations available in the fourteen hand cards are, for all practical purposes, limitless. The very thorough play testing is obvious. None of the cards seem broken, powerful cards are difficult to get into play before the end game , and rigid adherence to an opening hand based strategy will require tactical changes as the game progresses.
In my opinion the game scales perfectly from one to five. The solo game is a great way of learning the interactions and intricacies of the cards and reminds me of solving chess problems. I wonder how long it will be before we see a daily Agricola puzzle (“What is the highest possible score you can achieve with an opening hand of….?”). With two or three players it is possible to follow a strategic approach, with four or five Agricola becomes much more tactical.
Upon opening the box for the first time the number of components, cards and the set up of the board can appear overwhelming. Geek users have voted Agricola a Heavy-Medium game, which is true for the game play but not for the rules which are well written. The text on the cards is crystal clear – I have heard very few “how does this work?” questions when playing which is a credit to the designer, and Melissa’s translation. Most of the actions in the game are intuitive and because of the theme are quickly understood by new players. The ‘family’ game (played without Occupations or Minor improvements) is a great introduction to new players and enjoyable in its own right (My wife likes the family game but finds the cards daunting)
The box says half an hour per player and in my experience that has been the case – even with a table of new players who quickly grasp the concept of harvesting fields, feeding the family, building fences and breeding animals The game is less prone to analysis paralysis than most other games of this complexity despite the agonising choices and scarcity of resources available.
As you play more you become aware of other players strategies and play becomes a fine balance between progressing your farmyard, thwarting other players and opportunistic resource grabbing.
Given the random opening card draw the game is well balanced, and this again is a credit to the lengthy play testing process. Some cards are a little stronger than others, some become stronger or weaker depending on the state of the game and some combinations of cards can be very powerful. The luck of the draw tends to even out with very few games solely decided by the strength of the opening hand.
In conclusion I believe Agricola is a masterpiece. It is not perfectly balanced and none of the mechanics are revolutionary, however they just seem to come together to create a perfect gaming experience. I hope that I have managed to convey my passion for the game and that if you are yet to play it you will enjoy it as much as I have
EDIT: I have just soldout of this game - it is being re-printed and is expected back in the shop in April 2009. If you wouldlike to reserve a copy please e-mail me at paul@boardgameguru.co.uk
Our Favourites: BattleLore
BattleLore offers gamers the chance to play anything from a small historical battle between the French and English during the Hundred Years War to a huge, sweeping fantasy battle with magic spells being thrown, deadly creatures like the Giant Spider, and Dwarf or Goblin allies.It is this ability to customise your favourite battles that make BattleLore so appealing to wargame enthusiasts and fantasy fans alike.
In the box you get two whole armies' worth of plastic miniatures, a big pile of tokens and cards making this a great value package. You also will get a gorgeous map to play on, adaptable to any one of the scenarios included with the game using the landscape pieces, so that your battles can take place in anything from an open plain to dense forest - and all the rules you need to take this scenery into account in your battles are included.
Everyone would rather learn a game by playing it, instead of having to memorise a massive book before they can get it on the table. The mass appeal of BattleLore is assured by its approach to teaching you the game. Your first game will be a battle between two human armies, and as you move through the scenarios provided you will learn all the extra rules for each in turn, making the learning of the rules both fun and easy.
In summary, your turn consists of playing a card to order units, moving those units and then attacking with them. Different units have different skills, strengths and weaknesses and one of the most fun parts of the game is learning to get the most out of your army.
It takes minimal time to set up a battle, and each one will take somewhere between a half hour and an hour, meaning several games can be played in an evening.
Take a look at a game set up and ready to play, below.
From this picture you can see a full game set up (that is to say, one using all the rules). One glance is enough to get you wanting to sit down and play a game or two immediately.This picture shows two full armies facing off and ready to charge, as well as the order cards, magic spell cards and war councils. It should give a great idea of what to expect when you get started on the BattleLore journey.
All of the forest, river and hill pieces are removable, meaning a landscape can be set up in countless different ways, either by following the setup instructions in the scenario booklet, or by inventing your own epic confrontations.
For further ways to customise your own battles, the makers of BattleLore have released many expansion sets to give you even more allies, enemies and battlefields.
On the back of the board provided with the game is half of a giant board - the other half can come from a friend's copy of BattleLore - but you can always choose to make this Epic experience available to you by instead using a specially released extra board, available here. With the Epic Board setup, you can involve more players in your games, either with three a side using the Field Marshal and Generals variant, or two a side using the "Reluctant Allies" variant. Both of these options introduce a fantastic new team aspect to what is already a fabulous experience. It also includes many new scenarios for use with the larger format.
One of the hardest parts in designing your own battles is picking opposing forces that are different, yet balanced in strength enough to be fair - you can make this a matter of moments with the Call To Arms expansion - in a single box you are given the ability to create literally millions of army configurations, and this means no two battles need ever be the same again! It also contains many suggested battlefields to build for your custom armies to fight over.
Of course, if you find yourself growing tired of the same old units the option is provided to expand your game to include special packs, such as The Scottish Wars, The Hundred Years War, Goblin Marauders and many more - each provides new minatures representing exciting new participants in your epic battles. They also include the cards necessary to make them compatible with your other expansions, like Call To Arms, meaning great units like the Dwarven Cattle Riders can now take part in your own designs as well! These expansions each include new scenarios to play with the new figures, as well as those units in your original copy.
The BattleLore range offers a superb level of choice, customisability and fun for anyone even slightly interested in wargaming, and it is easy to teach, fast to play and has a real "just one more game" factor.
It is one of the true giants of modern gaming, we are proud to stock BattleLore and many of its expansions at great, great prices.
To purchase BattleLore follow this link. Any questions, as always, can be directed to Paul using this link.
...keep playing!
The BoardGameGuru team
N.B. At time of writing, the BattleLore range has recently changed hands, from the original publishers, Days Of Wonder, to Fantasy Flight - the publishers of Arkham Horror, Conan et al., . The means that over the coming months some of the expansions may not be available regularly, but rest assured that embarking on the BattleLore experience will continue to be as rewarding to its legions of fans as it has ever been. Fantasy Flight have a great reputation for the quality of their productions and their support for existing games - these expansions will return soon!
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