Stefan Feld - Euro Master

My first play of Trajan inspired a sense of De javu - at first a tremendous sense of excitement at the cleverness of the Mancala/Rondel core mechanic, a sense of frustration at trying to string together a set of actions, and lastly a little disconnect with the game - all the same feelings I have had about Macao and Die Burgen von Burgen, though with both of these it took multiple plays to get there. Feld is the master of the clever core action selection mechanic - the dice in Macao/Die Burgen and now the Mancala/Rondel. These three games also share the need to be efficient in use of actions, and each turn is best spent trying to put together two or three engine building/spoint scoring opportunities. They also share a wealth of ways to score points. They are all great designs - and all ones that I don't see myself playing very often. Why? I like my Euros to have a little bit more connection between theme and mechanics. The other problem I have is that with the myriad scoring paths and the resulting high scores it's not easy to have a sense of why I came first or last in close games. In my last game of Burgen three of us scored about 250 points with four points separating us - the post game analysis could not identify if an why one player had won and another last. The journey to that point was pleasant enough and required a lot brain power but the after taste was a bit bland.

Stuart Dagger, the editor of Counter Magazine, recently made an impassioned defence of Feld's lack of theme, saying that the game play made his games every bit as good as Martin Wallace's. However, its a connection that I can't quite make and therefore Feld's recent games are ones I am always keen to try but not ones I am going to seek repeat plays of. My favourite of his games is 'In the year of the dragon' - and I like it because the game is much tighter than recent offerings, is interactive and also there is, for me at least, a strong connection between the theme and the way the game is played. I am always intrigued by new Feld designs; and I hope that a future release might be theme lead and integrate Feld's wonderful gaming ideas into a strong story.

New Releases : 15th December

This week’s UK new releases are:

‘Axis & Allies Pacific 1940 Anniversary Edition’ – it’s big and it’s clever and it’s in limited supply.

‘Ren Faire’ is a card game about dressing up, like ‘Gloom’ it is printed on super quality see through plastic.

‘Alhambra Big Box’ has the base game and all five expansions contained in one monster sized box.

‘Hammer of the Scots’ is released in a 3rd Edition – this has a nice ‘proper’ board.

and

Arkham Horror Dice



Some more Essen releases have arrived:

‘Filipino Fruit Market’, from Bambus Spiel – the masters of trick taking game design have created two games about life in a fruit market

‘Santa Timea’ - Argentum’s other Essen release (the first Hansa Teutonica is back in stock) is a trick taking filler

‘Strada Romana’ – from Games from Italy is a game about collecting and delivering goods between Rome and its principal port.

‘Climate Poker’ – It’s a trick taking game with a ‘Top Trumps’ like mechanism. Quite topical

‘Kazaam Dice’ – a follow up to last year’s acclaimed ‘Kazaam’ from Polish publisher Wolf Fang

‘Macao (German version)’ . It’s brilliant and with a translation of the cards (i will provide) easy to play

And ‘Bamboleo Pizza’ – which could be described as Jenga for adults.

I have had some juicy restocks just in time for Christmas: -

Long ships, Ubongo, Ubongo Extreme, Ubongo - The duel, Hansa Teutonica, Galaxy Trucker, Galaxy Trucker – Big Expansion, Bausack, Uruk and Trans Europa

I am hoping to get the Imperial to Imperial 2030 upgrade kit next week along with restocks of Imperial, Hamburgum and Le Havre. I will put them on the site when they arrive so keep checking back.

News

Dungeon Lords is looking like it might be released before Christmas but too late to be posted to arrive before Christmas, and in an limited initial run (with a wider releases in February)

Please email me if you would like to reserve a copy, and if you have already reserved a copy please could you confirm that you still want a copy.

Infinite City and Thunderstone are now looking like February 2010 (at earliest) releases

Christmas last posts

For DHL UK please order no later than the 19th December

For First Class please order no later than the 20th December

For Standard UK delivery please order no later than the 17th December

For Europe please email me, airmail (items under 2 Kilos) the last order date is the 10th December, for larger items or multiple game orders the last order date is the 14th December



I have been so busy over the last week that the only game i have played is Sorry Sliders! (and i found that mentally challenging)