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Thread: Stronghold:: Rules:: Official FAQ - questions

Vin_88 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:03:46 +0000

Ok, faq has been released but it is not perfect :P Still have some questions:

"Q: If at the start of the mele combat there is no defenders units at the wall section and there are some invider
units and wall sections is the stronghold automaticaly breached. for exmple one troll atacks a wall section with 4
wall markers. Does it mean the stronghold is breached.. or does the wall kill the troll (strengh 4 vs 3)? What
about heros do they block the breach if there are no other defenders before the attack?
A: The Invader will not break into the castle in such situation."

Troll is killed (by wall)? (suppose yes)

"Q: If the attcker activates "Accurate shot", is this then active for only one or for all "throwing machines"?
A: Yes."

So.. one machine or all of them? (suppose one)

FAQ
"Q: Is cannon fire simultaneous (declare all before checking) or can you fire them one at a time as you see the
results?
A: You can shoot one after another"

RULEBOOK
"The Defender points at the Foregrounds and Ramparts at which
each of his Cannons Fire. He then uncovers one card per Cannon,
removing killed Invader's Units."
"The Invader picks wall Sections at which his siege Machines fire,
uncovers the top card from each participating Siege Machine's
deck and determines the effects."

From the rulebook i understand fire is simultaneous, but in the faq its something different..

Thread: Prophecy:: General:: Card differences between ZMan edition and original?

Alexfrog — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:46:11 +0000

by Alexfrog

So I just played this with the ZMan edition, and then looking at my copy (which is from the earlier version), I see that there are a number of differences in the cards. For example, rats not giving you any 'pied piper' bonus, different strength values, etc, etc. Every card seems different!

What do people think about the differences between these editions? Does the zman version play better?

Thread: Dune Express:: General:: Vassal Project Started for Dune Express

softbug — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:45:12 +0000

by softbug

Hi,

Just to inform that i have decided to start a Vassal Project to allow to pay online at Dune Express...

I hope to finish it in 3 weeks max...

Well, the only thing that i need to make it like un real life is a picture on each face of dice made using a real dice.

Regards,

Grégory
www.VassalFactory.org

Session: Formula Motor Racing:: Quick gaming at its best

MerricB — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:19:30 +0000

by MerricB

After playing some [thing=30232]BattleLore Hundred Years War[/thing] with Nash, and with Liam and Def looking on interestedly, it was time to turn to a short, fun game that would allow me to catch my breath after a couple of great battles at Crecy.

That game was Reiner Knizia's Formula Motor Racing, perhaps one of the most out-of-character games to be produced by GMT in its history. However, it is also a really good game, perfect for some fast and furious action. The box says this is the quickest-playing auto racing game in existence, and I can well believe that. It's a fast and wild card game that just works.

]]>Def, considering his first game. I'm (as normal) playing Green.

Nash, Def and I played the first game, which was the first for Nash and Def and was "slow" as they learnt the rules, but speeded up appreciably as they got the hang of it. It's all about relative positioning in this game, and so there's no messy counting out squares and deciding what gear you're in. Either you're moving someone up or back in the relative placings.

Def won this game with one of his cars reaching 1st place by the end. It was going to be he last success in this sequence.

]]>Def and Liam. Def is playing Purple, and already his two cars are out of the race!

From there, I displayed an uncanny knack for rolling a 10-12 when I played cards that could cause cars to burn out their engines, and cars would disappear from the track with great frequency in the next two games. I didn't target Def in particular, but he was also extremely unlucky when pure random events occurred. Seeing Nash play a "Crash" card would almost guarantee that one of the cars lost was Def's!

However, it is part of the fun of this game that you don't stop playing just because both of your cars are smoking ruins on the side of the track! Def found new purpose in the race trying to stop me winning; a goal that he was joined in by Nash and Liam!

]]>End of Race 2

By now, our play was going by really quickly, and the last game lasted less than 10 minutes, with a lot of laughing and conspiring going on throughout. I was the first to have a car knocked out this time, but Def was still able to lose both his cars before we finished!

Red and Orange were non-player, so I was in 1st position (relatively) for players, with Liam (blue) behind and Nash (yellow) last of those who finished. Overall, my score was pretty poor - I think Def would have won if we'd really been keeping track.

]]>End of Race 3

However, this had been a well spent 40 minutes with my friends, and it'll definitely come out again. If there's one production flaw, its the similarity between the yellow and orange colours on the cards, which caused Liam ongoing problems. It's a minor point compared to how much fun we had with this light, mostly random, racing card game!

Thread: B.S. Degree Game:: Rules:: Game rules

knclark67 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:56:14 +0000

by knclark67

Please post rules. Greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Thread: Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel! - Kursk 1943:: Rules:: Lay Land Mine

fenyan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:49:12 +0000

by fenyan

When the Lay Land Mine action card is used, can the player choose which land mine counter to place (since there are different values of land mine)? Or, is the land mine randomly drawn -- if this is the case, would the draw be from the pool of black-numbered mine counters?

thanks,
...Fen

Thread: Micronesia:: Rules:: Ending the Game

Delinquent — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:46:03 +0000

by Delinquent

If I have read the rules correctly, the only way to end the game is to place the last island.

The reason I bring this up is that during the first game my friends and I played, we all had placed all of our settlements and buildings well before the island card stack was depleted. With only two cards allowing players to Explore, one of us was always stuck doing nothing--making the end take that much longer to reach.

This seems like it will happen every time, yet there is a 2 point bonus for having the most settlements placed, and a 2 point bonus for having the most buildings in play. Not only does the game seem to take too long, but it seems that the bonus victory conditions are pointless due to everyone having all there pieces played.

It doesn't make much sense. Are we missing something?

Thread: Steam:: Rules:: Auction in 3-player games

cunctator — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:34:33 +0000

by cunctator

(Standard game) In 3-player games, the first player to pass in auction phase doesn't pay nothing, rather than 1/2 his auction, right ? But what if only 2 players are left in the game (afer one is bankrupt and out of the game) ? What will the first player to pass pay, his reel auction, or still nothing ?...
thank you for the answer

Session: War of the Ring:: A blunder and a card - FP Military win

ender7 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:09:04 +0000

by ender7

Pretty tight game throughout, until the big blunder.

SA brought the S&E and Isengard to war in the first turn, bringing the Southrons up towards Pelargir, and the Easterlings to threaten the DEW line. In the meantime, forces from Dol Guldor went west towards Lorien. FP was moving the Fellowship consistently, but was getting caught each time with 3-4 dice in the Hunt box.

FP mustered the Elves to war in time to recruit two Elites into Lorien before the siege, and eventually dropped Legolas and Gimli there as well. Gandalf was lost in Moriah, even as Cirdan's Elves showed up in Pelargir, while the Corsairs of Umbar slipped in behind them at Lamedon, and laid siege to Dol Amoroth. Fortunately for the FP, Imrahil showed up to bolster the three regulars holed up there, bringing the siege to a stalemate.

Up north, the witch king and another Black Rider showed up to lead the Easterling army against the Iron Hills, and then to lay siege against Erebor. The North moved to war, and King Brand's Men showed up in Dale, joined by the Elves of Mirkwood.

In Rohan, Saruman continued to muster forces. Grima Wormtongue spoke poison to Theoden, who refused to bring Rohan to war, even as Uruk Hai massed at the borders and forded the river Isen. Fortunately, Gandalf the White appeared in Fangorn, and raised both Treebeard and the Hurons to blunt Orthanc's war machine, turning Saruman's attention north, towards Rivendell. Saurman's forces joined up with goblins from around Angmar and Mount Gundabad.

All the while, Lorien held fast under siege, bolstered by the arrival of Gimli and Legolas. Erebor was not so lucky, and fell to the Witch King - only to fall in turn to a relieving army of Elves and Northmen from Dale, who slayed the Witch King and ended the threat on the DEW line for good.

The Fellowship, which had been foundering in and out of Moriah, caught a break when no eyes turned up in the hunt box, allowing it to speed towards Minas Tirith. By now, Strider and Boromir had arrived there already, and Strider, crowned as Aragorn, heir to Isildur, led a large force to Pelargir to meet the Southron threat. Faramir and his Rangers harassed a Sauron army in North Ithilien before falling back to Osgiliath.

At this point, the stage was set. Erebor had been reconquered, but Rivendell had fallen. The siege at Lorien faltered, and a sortie was launched successfully. By now, Wormtongue had done his work, and Theoden, his riders, and Eomer were under siege in Helm's Deep. The North was stirring, with armies gathering in Bree, and the Elves of the Gray Havens were moving east as well. In Gondor, Aragorn and Boromir fell back slowly, retreating after a skirmish in Pelargir, but Gondor still held fast in Osgiliath. SA Forces from Moriah had begun moving west, and made extended camp in Hollin. Once more, forces were massing in Dol Guldor, and setting out towards Lorien.

With Rivendell and Pelargir in enemy hands, Dol Amoroth and Helm's Deep besieged, and forces bearing down on Lorien and Edoras, and with the Southrons and forces from Mordor slowly constricting around Minas Tirith, the war teetered on the edge of a blade. The Fellowship had made it to Minas Tirith, and was en route to Mordor when the discipline of the barbarian Southrons broke.

With Osgiliath still held by Faramir, the Southrons pushed north from Pelargir, seeking to lay siege to Minas Tirith. However, once they had entered Lossarnach, Faramir snuck the garrison (2 reg/1 elite/1 leader) in Osgiliath behind the enemy lines, south to West Harandor (on the FP's last die of a turn), and (on the first die of the next turn) split off one unit to take the empty Umbar, and moved on to Near Harad, threatening a 3rd VP at Far Harad.

The SA, refusing to be distracted by what it perceived as a minor threat, and confident in knowing that it could raise troops in Angmar and the surroundings via event card, thus preventing the FP from taking a 4th point, decided to continue moving north with the Southrons, laying siege to Minas Tirith after a brief skirmish below its walls.

But alas for the SA! The previously beleaguered Elves in Lorien raced with Legolas and Gimli Through a Night and a Day, running through the Dimrill Dale and capturing the empty fortress of Moriah, even as the orcs in Hollin looked on in disbelief. The SA, unable to dislodge either force before the end of the turn, went down in defeat thanks to the enormous blunder of overextending the Southron army up north before securing Osgiliath. Faramir's bravery in sneaking past the enemy, and the valor of Gimli and Legolas in breaking the siege at Lorien and leading the Elves to the gates of Moriah proved more important than the sacrifice of the Ringbearer, the might of Aragorn, or the wizardry of Gandalf.

If not for that mistake, it would have been a very tight race between an SA military victory and a ring dunk. I think FP would have taken it anyway - Fellowship had 1 corruption, Merry and Pippen were still in, all the FP special tiles were in the bag but none of the SA were, and the Fellowship was on the second track, with its last revealed position at Minas Tirith.

Thread: 18SX:: General:: Initial impressions after one match

BrenoK — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:08:00 +0000

by BrenoK

Quick impressions (as it's 3 in the morning as I type this)

I really liked the Action-point building system, specially when coupled with a destination-building element.

- Train rush is broken. Game uses an 1830-esque train roster with 1824/1844's rule of a train being sold away at the end of every SR. With no extra trains to feed up this demand, game gets ridiculously evil on the players rather quickly, specially coupled with the fact that you most definitely will spend some money building track and the game has incremental capitalization (companies get shares per share sold from the initial offering, and (incredibly weirdly) always at par price).

- Counting routes is not as much of a pain as I expected. Only very slightly more annoying than normal hex trains.

- Rulebook is not complete, there are many unanswered questions popped up during the game.

- Tragically enough, one player spilled quite a bit of coke on the game as we counted up final scores. Fuck. Game's not ruined, though, but I'll probably see if I can xerox the damaged parts...

Since one player severely disliked it, and we only have around 5 18xx players here in Brasília, chances of this one seeing some gametime again are somewhat slim. Too bad, it's a design with many interesting elements, and the main problem (the train rush being stupidly-strong) is easily fixable (just scrap the rule for the trains being removed every SR).

Review: Ystari Box:: Review of the Caylus Magna Carta: Royal Favor portion of the Ystari Box

Blue Steel — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:38:47 +0000

by Blue Steel

Caylus Magna Carta is my favorite board game ever made. So when I had the opportunity to acquire the Royal Favor expansion from the Ystari Box (out of a copy picked up in Essen), I had to take it.

The Ystari Box comes with expansions for five or six different games, which is an odd decision in and of itself. It has the effect of forcing people to pick up expansions they may not want and then trading them off piecemeal. I believe a few other companies are moving in the same direction, but for what it's worth, I am not a fan of the idea. That said, let me get on to the review of the Royal Favor:

What You Get

The Royal Favor expansion comes with two main portions: (1) the building cards, workers, and passing token for a fifth player to enjoy the base game and (2) a small board, replacement prestige buildings, resource cards, four wooden tokens for each player, and special joust cards for each player to play the Royal Favor version of the game.

The combination of a fifth player option and the Royal Favor rules and materials makes it the meatiest expansion in the Ystari Box and a good value for fans of the game.

On the Positive Side

The fifth player option is awesome, and all by itself well worth the price of admission. As a huge fan of the game, I absolutely love being able to get more friends into a match.

The Royal Favor expansion adds a lot of deep options and a very fresh, interesting new twist on the card game version of the modern classic original game of Caylus. You get even more of the feel of the original, with the ability to choose a favor with the use of certain buildings, construction of certain prestige buildings, or for making the most or earliest contributions to the castle in a round. The favor options include a quick victory point (up to 15 maximum that way), a random resource card that can be redeemed at any time, or advancement through three levels of six special powers.

The special powers are very interesting and make for some tough decisions. For example, you can gain the power to make your first two provost movements for free, or give up a worker for a coin, or give up a coin for a resource card, or give up a worker for the ability to build a building with one less resource of your choice, or get both the benefit of the primary and secondary effects of your own buildings when you place a worker on them, or pay a coin to get a victory point during the income phase.

I was afraid the expansion would undermine some of the elegance and purity of the base game, and it may to some small degree, but it adds a lot more interesting decisions without significantly lengthening the play time of the game, so for variety it is a fun and excellent option to have available.

On the Negative Side

The rules are very brief, but some examples would help clarify some of the potential confusions and ambiguities. There are a few of those in the rules, but they are very minor.

The fifth player color, purple, is a shade that is tough to distinguish from the red player cards in dim light, so that is unfortunate, but it is something most players can live with.

The fifth player workers are shaped differently (short and stout) from the other four players' workers. That seems strange as all the players no longer match, but it may be just a difference between the versions for different countries and some players may actually like the variety of slightly different worker tokens.

Perhaps the biggest potential problem over the long term, though, is that the favor options do not seem perfectly balanced. Admittedly, that is a preliminary assessment, and I may decide that the balance is adequate for sufficiently interesting games or that the balance is only slightly problematic and only with certain numbers of players. But specifically, at this point, I suspect that resource cards are a little on the weak side (too random and not as good as other options), and the powers to move the provost twice for free (even if you don't do it, having the power to do so and thus limit other players' abilities to thwart your plans) and especially the power to build your buildings with one less resource (with the sacrifice of a worker for the round) seem incredibly powerful. The elimination of a resource required on buildings gives you a tremendous benefit, and I personally think this level 2 power is better than the level 3 power of using both the primary and secondary benefits of your own buildings. It provides flexibility that greatly exceeds that of the resource cards, for example, saves the player time collecting the resource they no longer need which they likely would have had to collect a previous round, and saves money because they didn't have to pay a coin to make that worker earn the resource, as they would have if they collected the resource the traditional way (such as using a quarry). Faster, cheaper, and more flexible such that you can decide at the moment you build what resource you need?? That specific power is overpowered, and that makes the decisions a little too easy and too automatic.

In Conclusion

Though not as perfect as the base game, which I readily give a 10 out of 10 and recommend to everyone, I still find the expansion a great addition, particularly the fifth player option and the different way to enjoy the game in general. I would rate the expansion an 8 out of 10 and say it is definitely worth grabbing if you can get it by itself or if you want the other expansions in the Ystari Box as well.

Thread: A Game of Thrones LCG:: Rules:: How far can Immunity go?

Kubigaruma — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:20:30 +0000

by Kubigaruma

We are having trouble determining what immunity actually allows you to "ignore". Some examples of things that came up will help.

The Baratheon player issues a Power challenge with "Stannis Baratheon" [While S.B. is attacking and the defending player controls no Lord characters, that player cannot declare defenders.] against the Targ player. The Targ player only has "Warlock's Servitors" [Immune to character abilities] and therefore, no Lord characters. Can W.S. defend against S.B. due to ignoring his character ability?

Warlock's Servitors issues a Power challenge against a Stark player, who chooses to defend with "Ser Rodrick Cassel" [Ser Rodrik Cassel does not kneel to defend and gets +2 strength when doing so]. So, while defending against W.S, Ser Rodrick does NOT get the +2 strength and must kneel to defend?

Thanks for these answers and anything that might help clarify a general guideline for when we are overstepping the bounds of "ignore". It just seems really powerful for immunity to "X" effects to trump everything "X" that it might come up against. Granted we have only played two games and it might just be the nature of this game to have a lot of possible "work-arounds".

Thread: Arena - Roma II:: General:: vp race?

Lonster — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:38:20 +0000

by Lonster

It would seem like this version is much more of a race for the vp's. I guess I mean that once a player covers all their open slots and jumps out to a lead, then the other player doesn't have as much that they can do, because there aren't any/many cards to remove vp's from a players vp pool....other than due to open slots.

Am I missing something? Some subtle strategy? ....other than knock out cards from the leader's slots and grab vp's where possible.

Thanks

Thread: Death Angel:: News:: Death Angel 2nd Edition: The Hunted Track, Doom Points and Action Cards

DallasDesigner — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:34:20 +0000

by DallasDesigner

In DA2, deciding who Angel is hunting will be slightly more strategic than the original game.

=-= Doom Points =-=

To the side of the game board will be a scoring track to record how many ‘doom points’ each player has racked up. Whoever has the most doom points will be Angel’s primary focus and is more likely to encounter her. If players are tied for first place, they are hunted equally.

Players acquire doom points by taking Action cards from a face-up public pool of Action cards. Five cards are available at all times, and each card has a ‘doom value’. On a player’s turn, the player must either a) choose a card to add to his hand, gaining the amount of doom points noted on the card, or b) choose a card, flip it face down, and place another Action card face-up on top of it. The next player to choose this card also gains the cards beneath it at no additional doom cost.

Players can reduce their doom points in a number of ways:

1) Dying. This sets you back to 0.
2) Fighting Angel off. Forcing Angel to vanish will reduce your Doom points by 2x the amount of damage you did to her. So if you did 5 damage to her in combat, causing her to run, you would reduce your doom points by 10.
3) Finding a memento. Certain item cards are mementos. Players do not keep this card, but instead take the appropriate matching token. There is one copy of each token per player, as many players can find the same memento. Each memento found reduces doom by an amount noted on the card.

=-= Action Cards =-=

Action cards are duel purpose and allow the player to either aid their character or harm another. The aid portion of the card allows the player to do things they normally could not do, provide temporary bonuses, or get the player out of sticky situations. The harm side allows Angel to appear more often, move faster, do special attacks, etc. Examples:

Aid Effects:
- Furniture Toss : A one-time use attack, indoor only. Has a good chance of distracting Angel for a turn.
- Glancing Blow: Reduce damage from one of Angel’s attacks to 1 point of damage.
- Shove: Move Angel back two spaces
- Breaking and Entering: Automatically unlock one door
- Distracted: Reduce Angel’s movement to 0 for the turn.
- It was just a cat... : Cancel Angel appearing.

Harm Effects:
- Painful Landing: If a player fails a movement roll by 3+, the player also lands on something sharp, taking 2 points of damage.
- She Wants You: Automatically turn any Angel Wing roll to a 1.
- The Meat Grinder: Play this card when Angel is about to perform a normal attack. Cancel the normal attack and instead perform the Meat Grinder attack.
- Locked in a room: Re-lock one door
- Crawling Before Walking: If a player fails a movement roll by 2 or more, they may only move 3 spaces next turn.
- Lost it Somewhere: Immediately take an item at random from a target player and discard it.

Thread: Middle-Earth Quest:: Rules:: Sauron Starting Plot

Octavian — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:19:29 +0000

by Octavian

We assumed that the bullet points on the Starting Plot are executed in order. Thus, the Sauron player must play his influence prior to drawing and choosing plot cards.

Is our assumption correct?

Thread: PitchCar Mini Extension 5: The Cross:: General:: Any news?

Leezer — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:11:55 +0000

by Leezer

The only comment about this expansion is from someone who got it at Essen. Does anyone know anything about this? Will it ever be available in the US?

Review: Borderline:: Thrifty Review

Meat — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:55:21 +0000

by Meat

The Thrift Report
This game was pretty much a afterthought the day I bought it. Who can blame me for not thinking too much of it the day I found it? After all, I picked up not one, but two, copies of Blood Bowl second edition at the same time. But as it is a two player abstract, a particular weakness of mine, I snagged it as well. Truth be told I didn't have high expectations of this one. Would this borderline purchase be destined to be rethrifted?

Overview

In this perfect information two player abstract game, you are trying to move any one of your pieces across the board to your opponent's home row. The first to do so wins. You can also win by eliminating all your opponent's pieces, but this is rare.

This review is being written after a small number of plays against my eight year old son.

Components

In your sturdy rectangular box you get

- 24 player pieces for each player, 12 each in blue and red
- 1 folding board
- The rules

The playing pieces are plastic and trapezoidal in shape. A sticker is affixed on the top face. There are two kinds of pieces -- those with the number 1 in the white on a white field and those with the number 2 on a white field. The numbers from 1-4 are printed clockwise, one per quadrant.

Ah, the heck with it -- here's a picture that shows you exactly what I'm yammering about:

]]>

They're fine pieces, but nothing special.

The board is a grid, with nine rows and six columns. The first and ninth rows are the home rows for the players. The board is quite a bit longer than it is wide, and it folds once along the short edges. This leads to a rather awkwardly shaped box. Yeah, it's a rectangle, but it's a rather narrow and long rectangle, in such a size that it matches absolutely none of my other games. And I have a LOT of games, so this is no small feat. I would have preferred a more squarish configuration by folding the board along the longer edges. Or possibly a smaller yet form factor by having a quad folding board. The pieces don't take up much room, so the box is only as large as it is so as to accommodate the board. A better board configuration would have served them well, in my opinion.

The rules come on a single sheet of paper, folded booklet style. The actual rules take up the inner leafs of the booklet while play examples are on the back leaf. The front leaf is dedicated to the Title Page. While it's possible to learn the game from the rules, and the play examples are particularly useful, there are some glaring problems with the presentation. The least of which is a sentence that

Just like that. It dies in the middle. How that passed proofreading is impossible to know. Luckily the rules of the game are very simple, and the game intuitive enough that you can figure things out just from looking at the pieces and seeing the examples. But with this kind of shoddy quality control, is it any wonder that the publisher is credited with no other games in the entire BGG database?

As you can tell, I was quite underwhelmed by the components.

Game Play

The pieces are set up such that all your '2' facing units are in your home row and all your '1' facing units are in next row. Just like this picture:

]]>

I'm going to refer to the pieces by the number on their white quadrants, which face toward your opponent's side of the board.

Look at the pieces again -- you will see a number in each quadrant on the top face. This is the number of spaces the piece can move in that direction. So your 1 pieces can move one forward, two to the right, three to the rear and four to the left. I'll leave you to figure out how the 2 pieces can move. You have to move the exact number -- you can't move a 1 piece to the left, say, unless there are four squares on the board to the left of the piece. If there are three or fewer squares between this piece and the edge of the board you cannot move the piece to the left. Nor can you land on a piece of your own colour. You can jump over them, but can't land on them.

You capture enemy pieces by either jumping over them or landing on them. This will allow you to capture a maximum of four enemy pieces, if your enemy was silly enough to line up four pieces to the left of one of your '1' pieces, for example. I don't think that's likely to happen, in all honesty, but it's good to have a dream.

On a player's turn, he will move a single piece, possibly capturing an enemy piece but more likely not. Or not immediately, anyway. In the early part of the game players jockey for position and try to force an exchange from which they will gain an advantage. At this point you are likely to see a flurry of capturing. The end game sees a bit more space on the board (relatively speaking, of course) and the victor will find his way to his opponent's home row.

It all takes about 20 minutes or less.

Thoughts

My expectations for this game were quite low. Lack luster components, awkward rule book and, at first impression, simplistic gameplay all counted against this. As I said in my thrifting report, I almost didn't pick this up. It was basically an afterthought -- after I picked up two Blood Bowl boxes I thought about this one. There were a few reasons I picked it up: its price ($2), it's game type (2 player abstract) and its 'oddity' factor -- I had guessed that this would be an obscure game with little information on the Geek. And since I was right, I felt duty bound to add content, including a review.

So that's why I brought it out recently, so I could get an impression of the game based on more than 'gut feel from the rules', which was, in all honesty, 'do not want'.

Well, I gotta tell you, my gut was dead wrong. I'm not surprised that the game exceeded my expectations -- they were so low as to be almost non-existent -- but I was surprised with how much my expectations were exceeded. I'll say it simply -- this is a really good two player abstract.

Is it great? No. It will never raise to the level of the classics, obviously. Nor will it threaten the great modern abstracts. But if you like two player abstracts, I can say with almost perfect certainty that you will like this one.

So, what did I like about it? Well, there's a certain level of elegance in the rules -- they're just as complicated as they need to be to make an engaging game. With only two types of pieces you would think that you are overly limited -- I had at first. The first impression is that the game would be much more interesting if you had different configurations for the pieces. And while that would lead to more variety, after playing the game I can safely say that this is unnecessary.

As it is, the two configurations lead to some interesting limitations for your pieces, as you're limited to the exact number for each direction. Look at the pieces again -- you will notice that the '2' faces are opposite the '4' faces. Big deal, right? Well, it actually is, since your '2' pieces, starting on row 1 can only move to other odd numbered rows. Likewise, half your '1' pieces will be restricted to odd numbered columns and the other half to even columns. This may not seem like a huge deal, until you actually need a piece to be in the other configuration. It's like the bishop in chess -- you don't think it's a big deal that it's restricted to white, until you need it to be on a black square.

So, what is a game like? Like with many abstracts I see three distinct phases. The early game sees players positioning their pieces in formation. Pieces will move toward the center and occasionally near their enemy's side. Here you are usually keeping your advancing pieces protected by supporting pieces. Frequently the advancing pieces will be forced to retreat

Soon, the middle of the board will be quite cluttered and the middle game begins. At this point, one player is likely to force a situation where a series of captures is inevitable, and in such a way as to give himself a numerical advantage. A flurry of captures is likely, leaving a somewhat depleted board.

Which brings you to the end game, which is all about maneuvring your remaining pieces to score a victory. It's usually at this point that you regret not having a piece that can easily move to a particular column.

Is this a game that can stand repeated plays? I think so. I don't think you can play it into the ground and still be surprised by it, like you can with, say, chess and go. But if you've played it enough to get bored of it you've gotten your money's worth, I think.

Playing with children

The game is recommended for ages 8 and up. This is probably just about right. Younger kids who play other abstracts could easily pick this one up, though.

Against kids, you can handicap yourself by playing with fewer pieces. Or you can do what I do and allow 'take backs' for the kids, where they can undo a move after you show them how truly disastrous it was.

Who will like this game

Fans of two player abstracts.

Thrifty Details
Cost: $2
Value: High

Summary:
Intended Audience: Kids and their parents
Components: Underwhelming
Game Play: Very Good
Luck Factor: None
Skill Level: High
Fun Factor: High

Recommendation:

At thrift prices, fans of two player abstracts can't go wrong with this one.

About Thrifty Reviews
These reviews are for games that are not well represented on the Geek and are most likely to be found only in thrift stores or other second hand sources. The intent of Thrifty Reviews is two-fold: First is the desire to document under represented games and second is to help fellow thrifters gauge potential purchases. Anyone is welcome to write a Thrifty Review, and all thrifters are encouraged to write reviews for their finds.

Thread: Stronghold:: Rules:: Walls and wooden wall question

Walt Mulder — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:47:43 +0000

by Walt Mulder

The rules state that components are limiting. There are only five wooden walls in the game. The game uses the same pieces for wooden walls as the stone walls.

Q: When a stone wall is eliminated, does it go back to supply or is it removed from the game? If it goes back to supply, does it increase the number of wooden walls that can be built or are they limited to five at any one time?

Thanks.

Thread: Acquire:: General:: Components List for 1962/63 3M Bookshelf Wooden Tile Version...

Original_CorPse — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:33:29 +0000

by Original_CorPse

This isn't a list for the "World Map" Version, but rather the bookshelf sized 1962/63 Edition with Wooden Tiles...

Components List:
* 108 Black Hotel Tiles
* 7 Colored Chain Tiles
* 25 Stock Certificates for each of the 7 Chains
* 6 Card-sized Information Cards
* 1 Playing Board
* Money in the following denominations: 100; 500; 1,000; 5,000.

Thread: Fields of Fire:: Rules:: A few questions after first playthrough.

Felkor — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:18:39 +0000

by Felkor

So today I played through my first mission of Fields of Fire, and proved myself on the battlefield! While, mostly I just proved that I'm a horrible commander and desperately need to learn how to work my troops better.

Anyway, a few questions came up so I thought I'd ask them before I forget them:

1) One of the German Force Packages is 15, "Maneuver". The Description is "Squad Infiltration Attempt." What does this mean? I can think of a few somewhat reasonable possibilities, but none make total sense.

2) Platoon Movement - Can I do a Platoon Movement and move just part of the platoon that is on the card? I came across a situation where I wanted to move my platoon to an adjacent card, but the target card had too many steps on it to move my whole platoon. Can I just move part of it?

3) Is there anything "special" to keep in mind for point blank (same card) combat? From what I can tell, the only thing you change is that if the card has two Cover & Concealment numbers, you use the lower one. Is there anything else I need to keep in mind, ruleswise, for this situation?

4) If mines are attacking, do the defending units still use the cover bonus?

5) If there's a mine in a card with a unit in it, and another unit walks into the card setting off the mine, does it hit everyone or just the unit that walked onto the card?

Thanks for your help guys!

Thread: Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition:: Rules:: Strategic Bombing

neoOberon — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:18:29 +0000

by neoOberon

Wondering if someone can clarify Strategic Bombing runs in Axis and Allies for me please.

When bombers attack an Industrial Complex in a territory that also contains fighters, do the fighters/bombers battle after the AA fires?

Once said battle is over, then the bombers carry out their run?

Or do the fighters remain on the ground for the entirety of the SB runs?

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Choosing discard option when you do not have enough cards to discard - source?

Poor Frisco — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:03:25 +0000

by Poor Frisco

I can't convince my friends that you can choose a discard option on a crisis card, such as "Admiral discards 3 and President discards 2," even if the Admiral doesn't have 3 cards and the President doesn't have 2. Their logic is that, for example, you can't choose to discard a nuke if you don't have a nuke, so you can't choose to discard skill cards to discard skill cards. I know they're wrong - I just know it! - but I can't remember where I originally read that rule. I couldn't seem to find it in the FAQ or in the original manual. Does anyone have a source for it? It's gonna take more than "a bunch of people on the internet said so" to make them believe. Thanks.

Thread: Last Night on Earth: Survival of the Fittest:: General:: Still Waiting

troupkevin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:01:15 +0000

by troupkevin

Anyone hear anything yet...????

Thread: Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game:: Rules:: Question about using the Old Betsy Card, and the escaping of Zombies.

knowsnoboards — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:53:56 +0000

by knowsnoboards

It says in the card that for the following turns

"Zombies trying to move from that space must first roll a 5 or 6 to escape. When a Zombie escapes, remove Old Betsy from the board"

Does each Zombie have to roll a 5 or 6 to escape?

Does it only take 1 Zombie roll of a 5/6 to remove Old Betsy?

For example, there are 4 Zombies on that space, and the 1st one automatically rolls a 5/6, it means that all zombies are able to escape already, correct?

But if the 1st one didnt roll a 5/6, and the 2nd Zombie rolled a 5/6, then that Zombie plus the remaining 2 Zombies can already escape right?

Thread: Lost Cities: The Board Game:: Variants:: If you play mostly two player, try leaving these cards out each game

booned — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:50:45 +0000

by booned

If you play this game often and mostly two-player, you'll have found it a mild annoyance to draw thirty cards out of the deck after shuffling, for each round, for each game. My wife and I just leave the following cards out all the time.

In each of the five colours, remove one each of values 0, 1, 2, 8, 9, 10. So remaining in the deck will be one each of the above values and two each of values 3 through 7.

This is the identical card mix as in [thing=40832]Keltis: The Card Game[/thing].
This change has a few effects. Obviously it keeps you from having to remove thirty cards each round of each game you play. But now, since it is now known exactly which cards are in the deck, you may be able to make better-informed decisions as in the 2-player card game.

Session: Baltic Gap:: Four beginners play three turns of Baltic Gap

Eric Brosius — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:21:25 +0000

by Eric Brosius

Four of us played Baltic Gap at GBG, our monthly wargaming event, today. We started setting up just after 9am and finished in about an hour. I (Eric) then taught the rules to Tom, Chris and Paul. Chris wanted to try the Russians, and Paul joined him, with Chris taking the right wing (2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts) as Paul took the left wing (1st Baltic Front.)

Tom took the German left, facing Chris, and I took the German right, facing Paul. We played Scenario 5.4, in which the 1st Baltic Front makes a deep thrust into the German rear as the 2nd and 3rd Baltic Fronts smash straight into the German defensive line.

Chris duly smashed into Tom's lines. This didn't turn out so well, as Tom achieved defender surprise several times and used artillery placed in reserve to disorganize Chris's key attacking stacks. Eventually Chris achieved a breakthrough in the middle near Idritsa, shoving an assault brigade through with the 5th Tank Corps hot on its heels.

]]>

It was a different story further south, where massive Soviet forces under Paul's command poured onto the board. The Soviets had more trouble with lack of supply than with German opposition, though the German infantry holed up in some Wooded Bog hexes to protect themselves from the Russian tank and mechanized units. In the picture below, three Soviet mechanized brigades have destroyed a German regiment and swept into the German rear.

]]>

The Germans feel completely overwhelmed, but the Soviets are on a tight time schedule in this scenario. They had captured Shvenchionys, one victory town, on the initial phase, but Stavka was demanding more, and in fact if either side fails to hold an adequate number of victory point towns at the end of each turn, the game can end in an autovictory. The Germans were approaching autovictory, so Paul and Chris made some risky attacks. The Russians sent forces out toward Utena and Ukmerge, where the Germans appeared to have nothing but a few weak alert and security units, but the Germans had hidden StG III assault gun battalions under the stacks and the Soviets weren't quite able to capture either town.

]]>

We had played three complete turns in just over six hours of play time, enough to start getting a feel for the elements of the game system but not enough to have the feeling yet that we know how to use those elements effectively. In particular, Paul was running short of supply (as was Eric) and you can't move those tanks and trucks without fuel.

If the game had gone further, Eric and Tom had some challenges on their hands trying to withdraw their slow-moving infantry westward to escape the threat of the Soviet incursion. The battle was just changing from a fairly static affair to a running fight.

One feature of this game and this series (the Operational Combat Series) is the feeling of desperation on both sides of the table. I could see that it was hopeless to hold back the Russia hordes, while my opponents could see just how hard it was to keep up with the relentless victory point schedule. In some sense, one could almost say OCS is a bidding game, in which you bid with your SPs to make the moves that are worth most to you.

Session: Combat Commander: Mediterranean:: Blitzkrieg Checked--aaand how!

Malacandra — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:20:59 +0000

by Malacandra

Setup
We were going play an RSG tonight. We rolled Marc's 30 sider for a map and it came up 16, which I was looking at in the Playbook. Glancing at the scenario for that map, I saw that it was the straight up, good ol' French and wanted to give it a try. So we went ahead with the scenario in the book, with Marc rolling high to take the Germans. (And, to be honest, I kinda wanted to have a go as the French! Call me crazy!)

The French have to protect a sunken road which the Germans are trying to take. The map is designed for this scenario specifically as it has a long gully running along the road and the hexes at either end are objectives (4 and 5 worth 7 and 10 respectively). These crossroad hexes are able to see all gully spaces and any space along the sunken road can see any other space in the gully and also the objectives. While the objectives were open on the road, there were buildings next to each of them.

I set up my four squads in the gully road and after the Germans set up, then I set up my leaders and teams. On my left, an HMG team. On my right the leader had the LMG and the team the 60mm mortar. Both were in foxholes and this allowed coverage of good chunks of the map as well as the whole gully-road. The Germans were in two large groups, one on the right and one on the left, with the HMG on my left. The Germans began their advance...

The Battle
Without any fire cards to start, the French were at a disadvantage. This let the Germans head their way slowly and they couldn't do anything about it. Finally, I got some Fire orders but not before the HMG on my left was harassing my squad in the foxholes on the left. The foxholes weren't as good cover as the building since they were on the road. So they advanced into the buildings.

On the right, the Germans slowly made their way forward, firing their weapons into my other foxhole. I lobbed mortar fire onto a hex with a German leader and squad and a sniper got a headshot on the leader, taking him out!

Starting with 30 VPs, the French have a good thing going, but if they lost both those objectives, that's a 34 point swing! I was fortunate to get some quick Time Triggers and trickle the VPs to my side.

Back on my left, my HMG couldn't do anything! The German HMG was tearing those guys up! Broken, they advanced into the sheds behind the buildings so they would have some cover. While that prevented the Germans from blasting them, it just gave them the opportunity to move up and take that building!

Broken, and adjacent to that German HGM, they were quickly cut down by heavy fire.

At that moment, the Germans had to discard on their turn and that gave the brave defenders a sudden reinforcement: a Weapon team with HMG that popped up nearly right in the center of the board in a patch of woods. He immediately let loose with a withering attack on the right hand side, pouring fire over the wall and into the orchard, cutting the Germans to pieces. [The attack roll was a 29!] Mortar fire landed on them, finishing those guys off. Even though the leader on the right was also gone, the Germans were shredded. The HMG guys in the middle of the board also tore up the HMG crew on my left. But it wasn't long before fire from some other squads wiped out my good HMG.

Finally, the whole mess of broken HMG guys and leader managed to advance in to Objective 4, on the left. With two Ambushes, my squad was done for and there was a 14 VP swing!

Fortunately, I managed to get some wire into that hex. With all of his units in that squad broken, I Advanced in with one lone squad! He was a BAR squad with a 5+1 melee FP (boxed). But there was an Ambush as he charged into the wired foxhole! The Germans, with a 1 FP rolled a 4 and rerolled, passing the big bullet. I rolled with my now 2 FP and got a 3! The bullet goes back. Anothe rthree! The French are massacred!

I was ready with another squad but couldn't get the Advance I needed. A lone squad from tattered right hand group had hopped the wall and gotten into the building objective next to 5. Those men began firing at the mortar squad.

It was at this point that Marc pulled his last card and caused a Time Trigger! With the marker now at Sudden Death at 7, Marc rolled a 5. He passed the bullet and rolled a 6! The French held out! Victory was theirs! They won with 22 VPs, though if Objective 5 had fallen, that would have been only 2! Plus, they were quickly filling up the Surrender track (though they had pulled an Elan event and upped it by one earlier). Viva le Francais!

Game Notes

First of all, I am very proud to have survived and won as the French! They are indeed tough to play. Since these were no mere ordinary French, but tough and disciplined Moroccans, that surely had something to do with it.

One of the keys to playing the French, I think, is to use every card's action and Defender special actions if available. Even if it was just Advancing or moving units along the road, you NEED to burn cards. With a discard of only one, it's often better to "waste" as many cards out of your hand as possible in order to get rid of cards.

The other thing that gave me a great boost was getting that second HMG and sticking it in the center of the action, taking out that big chunk on my right flank! My original HMG was a sad loss that never had any traction and was overrun far too quickly!

As I reflect upon the battle, the squad in the building next to Objective 5 was actually quite close to taking the objective. In this particular scenario, these two objectives really are key. With the possibility of a 34 point swing for grabbing them, that's pretty much the German goal.

We really enjoy playing using the RSG, but we've found going back to hit some of the published scenarios that they are really good. So much tactical goodness in one game!

Oh, and did I mention I won as the French!

Thread: Colonia:: Rules:: How many cubes each player has at the beginning?

rps00 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:18:09 +0000

by rps00

There 38 cubes in each colour.

I think each player will have a different number of cubes according to a number of players who join the game.

Then, in each case(total players), how many cubes each player has?

...

3 - ?
4 - ?
5 - ?
6 - ?

Thread: Revolution: The Dutch Revolt 1568-1648:: Rules:: Looting question

glenn69 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:09:28 +0000

by glenn69

Rules state that after looting a town a neutral playing piece is placed in the province. Does anything happen to the playing piece that is in the town that is looted?

Thread: Combat Commander: Pacific:: General:: Number of maps in upcoming Pacific Expansion

jcikal — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:53:19 +0000

by jcikal

Anyone know how many maps will be included in the 1st Pacific Expansion? My guess is 8 since that seems to be the standard for expansions unless of course it's a big expansion (yay!) which would include 12 maps (Mediterranean), otherwise 8 is the standard.

Thread: The Sorcerer's Cave:: Variants:: variant movement.

apeloverage — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:36:36 +0000

by apeloverage

An untested idea for comment.

Before moving, players declare whether their party is moving carefully, normally, or recklessly UNLESS they're moving across a snake pit.

Players moving via a stairway may NOT move recklessly, only cautiously or normally.

CAUTIOUS MOVEMENT:

Dead End: The party stays where it is and the move ends.

Trap: The party is aware of the trap. If the party includes a dwarf it can move into the area and disarm the trap. In any case they can stay where they are, or spring the trap and fall, encountering the space below.

Snake Pit: The party stays where it is and the move ends.

Monsters (with or without treasure): The party can choose whether to encounter the monsters, or stay where they are.

Treasure with no monsters: The party moves into the new space, and may take the treasure. The move ends.

Secret Door or Stairway: The party moves into the new space, and finds the door or stairway.

Empty: The party moves into the new space, and the move ends.

NORMAL MOVEMENT:

Dead End: The party can stay where it is, or move in another direction.

Trap: If the party has a dwarf, they can move into the new space and disarm the trap. If there's no dwarf, or they choose not to disarm it, they spring the trap and fall, encountering whatever's in the space below.

Snake Pit: The party is aware of the pit. They can stay where they are, or try to move across the pit, rolling to avoid falling in as normal and ending the move afterwards.

Monsters (with or without treasure): The party can choose whether to encounter the monsters, or stay where they are.

Treasure with no monsters: The party moves into the new area. If this is the first area the party has moved into on this move, they can take the treasure OR go again. Otherwise they can take the treasure or not, but the move ends in either case.

Secret Door, entered via its equivalent Stairway: The party moves into the new area, finds the secret door, and ends their move.

Secret Door, otherwise: The party moves into the new area. If this is the first area the party has moved into on this move they can go again. Otherwise the move ends. The party does NOT find the secret door. If they end their move, they can spend the entire next turn finding the door (ie they don't get to move), or can move off at any speed, leaving the door undiscovered.

Stairway: The party moves into the new space. They find the stairway unless they end up in combat with monsters. Whether they get to move again depends on the other contents of the area.

Empty: The party moves into the new area. If this is the first area the party has moved into on this move they can go again. Otherwise the move ends.

RECKLESS MOVEMENT:

Dead end: The party can stay where it is, or move in another direction.

Trap: The party springs the trap, even if they have a dwarf.

Snake pit: Everyone must roll to see if they fall in, as for moving across the pit. The move then ends. If they want to move around the pit they must do so next turn, rolling again to avoid falling in.

Monsters (with or without treasure): The party must encounter the monsters.

Treasure with no monsters: The party doesn't see the treasure, and can move again or end their move. If they end their move, they can spend the entire next turn taking the treasure (ie they don't get to move), or can move off at any speed, leaving the treasure.

Secret Door: The party does not find the secret door.

Stairway: The party will find the stairway if there is a dwarf in the party, and not otherwise. If they use the stairway their movement becomes normal.

Empty: The party can move again.

SNAKE PITS:

Movement around a snake pit is handled as for the original rules ie everyone rolls, and the move ends immediately afterwards.

SPRUNG TRAPS:

If a party springs a trap, their movement speed doesn't matter: they encounter the new space as in the original rules.

Session: Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game:: Epic Ending to All Hollows Eve

halfbent — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:33:33 +0000

by halfbent

After this scenario becoming a quick favorite in our usual group of my brother Matthew, Jacob, and myself; we immediately sit down and set up for another night with the AHE scenario. It begins as the mighty heroes Becky / Jake (played by Matt) and Sally / Johnny (played by Jacob) are selected at random, and they plop themselves in the middle of the board with a decent starting set of weapons, but alas, no fire this time.

The heroes go for a quick effort in searching out the elusive Zombie Master, burning through four of the possible Townsfolk, spending precious few turns searching, leaving just enough time for Jake to rummage up a blowtorch on the far SE of the board. Over in what seems like another world, the fifth townie is interrogated in the Junkyard revealing just another friendly townie. The heroes realize that just south of their position lies what they have been looking for all this time - TO ACTION!

Sally rushes in to save the day hoping to end this terrible curse in one quick blow, with the helpful Becky in tow. Sally unfortunately falls to an untimely demise losing her lighter and adding backup for the now confident Zombie Master! Only a handful of turns remain for the grimacing heroes.

The heroes scramble to avoid the horde, leaving behind an ominous gas tank on the ground the horde seems to think nothing of, bloodlust in their eyes as they decend on a pair on seemingly defenseless meatbags.

Becky fell to a single zombie while the great Father Joseph, wielding no weapon but his mighty Faith, fends off the remaining 7 zombies, and scampers off to live another day. Meanwhile the strange Mr. Cartwright sneaking through a building decides to pop off a single flare at the innocuous gas tank sitting amidst the horde. BOOOM! A mighty explosion ensues, leaving a swath of destruction, claiming Jake and his blowtorch in the confusion, along with a score of zeds; however what's this... the Zombie Master remains scorched and clenching his book with a mere 5 turns remaining in the game!

The fortuitous Sherrif, stepping in for the fallen Jake gets a stroke of luck and picks up a lighter from his starting "Just What I needed!" card, and charges in hoping to save the day for our heroes!

Sherrif teaming up with the beaming Father, now with an armful of dynamite, cut into the Junkyard hoping to end this terror once and for all. Father throws his holy explosives, gibbing the Zombie Master once and for all dropping his book to the ground! Sherrif, once again being no help, misses the zombie struggling with the Father, and sighing, hands his lighter over with a godspeed hoping for the best next turn. Three short days remain..

The horde closes in, but alas, cannot get what they need to get close enough to their precious book and block the heroes second wind charge! Father rushes in, burning the vile book, cheers and ends what was unquestionably, our most epic ending to any scenario we've played so far. Two days remaining, the horde was put back into the ground!

--Some of the days/details may be slightly off, I took horrible notes. Only started taking them when the events started to clearly start to get intensely interesting in that one little corner of the board. We ended the night after this one game, not wanting to spoil the epic game we had, and played a quick game of Carcassonne and called it a night.

Thread: Creepers:: News:: Geekgold for a review!

Mar_cus — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:33:14 +0000

by Mar_cus

You want to earn some Geekgold? It's really simple. Play it and write a review:

- 8 Geekgold for English review
- 12 Geekgold for English review with images
- 5 Geekgold for review in other language than English

Thread: RAF: The Battle of Britain 1940:: Rules:: Question about Light Loss Box in LION

BartowWing — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:26:24 +0000

by BartowWing

In LION, how do British aircraft leave the light loss box? I am sure I am just overlooking it but I can't find it in the rules.

I see where British squadrons leave the re-arm box and the landing box during airfield operations but I just can't seem to find when (or how) British Squadrons leave the light loss box on the RAF toteboard.

Thread: Mecanisburgo:: General:: Teaching Mecanisburgo - any advice?

dbarree — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:13:49 +0000

by dbarree

I am faced with the task of teaching this game to 3 people that have never played it before. All are experienced gamers but I still think this will be a difficult game to teach. I have read over the rules in their entirety 3 times and have re-read individual sections more often. I have also played trial games solitaire to make sure I am understanding the finer points. I have printed out multiple copies of all the players aids I can find in the files section. Now, since I have a few more weeks to prepare for this, I am asking for any advice from people that have already introduced this game to new players. As a frame of reference, the most recent game this group has learned at the table was Planet Steam. If anyone has any tips or suggestions on how best to teach this game please post them here.

Thanks in advance.

As a bit of background information, I had this game listed "for trade" because I couldn't get anyone interested in playing it. Once I put it up for trade, people took notice of it and now it looks like I'll be keeping it after all.

Session: Cowboys: The Way of the Gun:: Butch and Sundance's Last Stand -- or maybe not

wargamer55 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:12:58 +0000

by wargamer55

On the 101st anniversary of the gun battle in Bolivia that ended the outlaw careers of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, my step son and I played the scenario depicting that event in Cowboys: The Way of the Gun -- Scenario 20 Butch and Sundance's Last Stand, Nov. 7, 1908.

As it looked to me that it would be a pretty tough scenario for Butch and Sundance, I took the two famous Outlaws, while he took the Bolivian townsfolk and the reinforcing cowboys (who presumably represent Bolivian soldiers.

The Bolivians started off a bit cautiously approaching the Yanqui Banditos, so Butch and Sundance were able to make a dash for the corral and the horse. A couple of long-range rifle shots from the Bolivian townsfolk missed, except for one shot that hit one of the horses. (We were not playing with any of the optional rules, so that first hit had no effect on the horse.)

Once Butch grabbed a rifle off the horse the two outlaws decides to blast away at the townsfolk to get them to back off and over the next few turns they managed to hit five of the townsfolk, while only taking one hit in return. This gave the outlaws quite a few bonus cards, but a couple of them were "Town Folk" cards which were not playable for the outlaws by special rule.

By now the first reinforcements were getting into range, but the Bolivians were cautious again, after having seen so many of their friends gunned down and they spent a lot of effort maneuvering into position while trying to stay out of the line of fire.

The outlaws mounted up, and after a brief feint towards the right and center they made a dash for the board edge along the west side of board A, aided by an adrenaline card, dunning down one more townsfolk. Butch was able to ride off scot free, but Sundance had a close run of it, taking several more hits and losing the wounded horse. A fortuitous Health card kept him alive and he ducked into the back door of the Saloon to get out of the line of fire of most of his pursuers. The Bolivians followed Butch into the Saloon and he made his escape by jumping through the window and off the board, although he took one last bullet on the way out.

The end result was a victory for the outlaws, with Sundance getting away clean and Butch escaping with one hit point left. None of the six reinforcing cowboys was injured (or even shot at) but the Bolivian Townsfolk took heavy loses, losing six out of the original starting eight, although they were reinforced with two more through the play of a Town Folk card.

It was a very near-run scenario and if it wasn't for drawing that Health card the outlaws would have lost. Overall I think it's a tough scenario for the Outlaws. Not only are they outnumbered, but they can't take any losses. The outlaws have the advantage in skill, being +2 for all shots, but they can't afford to stay and shoot it out. In our battle the number of hits ended up being pretty even. The outlaws hit and killed six townsfolk (6 hits) while the Bolivians also got six hits -- two on a horse and four on Sundance (one canceled by a Health card.)

Despite the fact the Outlaws won this time, I'd expect them to lose more often than not, especially if the Bolivians try to maximize their shots and don't worry overmuch about losses. The Bolivians should especially be bold with the reinforcing Cowboys. They take four hits to kill and if the Outlaws are busy shooting at them, they're not escaping.

From my game blog at http://pawnderings.blogspot.com

Session: Small World:: Sorcerers Finally Came Through! (Sort Of)

JYoder — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:12:19 +0000

by JYoder

When I've picked up Sorcerers in past games, I've been excited at their multiplying potential. However, it's really never panned out. I've played mostly 3 player (4 is best IMHO but I don't always have that many) and when I first come on the board with them, I do so seeing I can swap out 1, or maybe 2 single tokens from my opponents if they are close enough. But after that, everyone is wise to it, and will rarely leave singles anywhere on the board, much less nearby.

Then I played a 4-player game last night, and Sorcerers came up with Dragon Master. (Evil grin.)

It was my third turn. The first region I attacked surprised everyone as it contained one of my declined races, but then they watched my following attacks which enabled me to swap out 1 of each of their tokens for 3 more. (Giving me a total of 13 tokens.) Very satisfying, which was also made possible via the Dragon Master to punch through a final group of 4 tokens to reach that last single token.

Now, how the rest of the game played out, I can't take total credit for. Because in total, I swapped in an amazing 9 enemy tokens for new ones. Much of it came from smart use of the dragon to punch through defenses, but I admit, a lot of it came from poor playing by others. (Hence the reason I say "sort of" in my title.) As a result, I rode them all the way, resulting in 11 total Sorcerer tokens by the end -- 1 more than I had started with.

I won the game, beating the 2nd place player by 15 VPs. (Another reason I never put them in decline is because even by the end of the game, my initial declined race still had 4 regions on the board.)

However, I'm guessing that'll be the most satisfaction I ever get from Sorcerers. Not only because of the paired ability, but from some poor planning by others. Otherwise, I can't envision them multiplying that effectively in general. Has that been the experience of others?

Thread: Space Hulk:: General:: Tilesystem - Space Hulk 1rst edition tiles

theTak — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:05:42 +0000

by theTak

Hey folks. I'm looking for a tilesystem package for Space Hulk 1rst edition images. I'm currently using 3rd edition which works without a hitch but I'd like to have the graphics match if at all possible, I'm sure all you fellow geeks understand!

Thanks for any pointers and as always happy gaming

Thread: Successors (3rd Edition):: Variants:: Successors with Commands and Colors Ancients

xenophon10 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:53:43 +0000

by xenophon10

I've prepared a document to play Successors with a different battle systems using Commands and Colors Ancients unit type. Has optional extended naval combat as well. email bender622@yahoo.com if your interested.

Reply if you can help me figure out how to upload it!

Thread: American Megafauna:: General:: Solo Map

caradoc — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:33:04 +0000

by caradoc

My small dream is that one day I will make a map for the solo version of the game based on Gondwana. It should be a fairly simple affair, I am just not that good at this sort of thing.

In any case, if anyone has some neat images of reconstructions of the Gondwana Super-continent like this one (though the labeling is not desired):

I would love to hear about it!

The map is completely un-necessary by the way, but it would be extra nice to play on!

Cheers,

Giles.

Thread: Richard III: The Wars of the Roses:: General:: So, better than HotS?

Dodya — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:15:49 +0000

by Dodya

I read the other thread about choosing one over the other, but that was back in September. But now that the game has been tried and tested, which do you think would serve as a better intro to block wargaming?

Thread: Agricola:: General:: Scoreboard?

matmo — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:03:42 +0000

by matmo

I think having a scoreboard a-la Carcassonne would be nice at the end of game, counting points player by player for each single category thus viewing the development on the board like a race (using maybe a stable as counting pawn).

It might add some suspence during points counting and help newbies figuring out where they lack important points too...
Anything I could download somewhere to print out without having to open Carcassonne every time?

THX!

Review: Toxic Crusaders Card Game:: Toxic Crusaders, Reviewed By a Troma Fan

RyanStrong — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:56:35 +0000

by RyanStrong

I bought this for a few bucks on Ebay in 2004, and I just got around to breaking the shrink (!) and actually playing the thing. I was a fan of this show when it was on nearly twenty years ago, and became a lifelong Toxic Avenger fan a few years after that.

So there's a fair bit of nostalgia involved, here. Is it enough to make this game worthwhile? Not really.

This is an exceedingly simple game. One part War, one part Memory, with a few interesting new mechanics thrown in.

It basically goes like this: Two decks of mini-cards (imaginatively labeled 'Pollution' and 'Pollution Solution') are laid out Memory-style. Each player is given an even number of 'Good Guy' and 'Bad Guy' cards, (strangely) numbered 6-10, which are kept face down in front of them.

On a player's turn, he or she flips over a 'Good Guy' card, while the player on their left turns over a 'Bad Guy' card. If the Good Guy wins, they get to flip one card from each Memory deck, trying to match up colors--to find a 'solution' to each 'pollution' if you will. If the Bad Guy wins, the Good Guy's turn is over, and the Bad Guy gives the spinner a flick. If the spinner points at Toxie, he gets a chance at a match. Play continues to the left (with the former Bad Guy becoming the new Good Guy). Play continues until all memory cards are matched, with the player who made the most matches being the winner.

A simple game, indeed. Playable even by small children, who would probably enjoy the cartoony monsters and environmental theme. Speaking of the art, it's bright and well-done--fun to look at and highly serviceable. The same could be said of the components, though they're a little on the cheap side (I'm guessing this game was probably in the $10 range).

Ultimately, this game wasn't much fun to play as an adult. Then again, I bought this as a Troma novelty, and not as a board game, and I'm actually impressed by how solid the rules are. Most of the tie-in games I've played have been a lot worse than this.

The Good: great theme and artwork, a glow-in-the-dark spinner (which serves almost no purpose, but is cool nonetheless), good for kids, cheap if you can find it.

The Bad: overly simplistic, not much fun for adults.

Thread: Blood Bowl - Third Edition:: General:: List of components?

eejit — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:51:04 +0000

by eejit

Hey, does anyone know where I could get a complete list of components for the basic 3rd ed game and the death zone expansion?
Would be a great help in buying a second hand copy!
Cheers in advance

Thread: Ghost Stories:: Rules:: Ghost Stories: Yang Phase With 12 Ghosts

Ashitaka — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:44:42 +0000

by Ashitaka

What happens during the Yang Phase when a player requests the help of a Villager (ie. Taoist Altar) that brings a ghost into play when there are already 12 out?

We've ruled that the active player loses a Qi?

Thread: Fields of Fire:: General:: Engineers - do they have any unique abilities?

CaanDo — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:42:21 +0000

by CaanDo

I'm starting Normandy mission 6 and will be using engineers for the first time, but am having a hard time finding anything about them. Do you just use them like regular troops or do they have some abilities you can use?

Thread: War of the Ring Collector's Edition:: General:: A letter to French Players

cybernex — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:39:50 +0000

by cybernex

First of all, please excuse me for taking so long to reply on the subject of the "lost" french edition of the WAR OF THE RING COLLECTOR'S EDITION.
The combination of two shows (Essen and Lucca) in a row let me with precious little time left to tackle the subject (as may be guessed by the time and date of this post!).

There are a few things which I think it's necessary to clarify, answering the rightful disappointment for the non-existence of the french edition.

Nexus has a licensee, Asmodee, which is the publisher of WAR OF THE RING in France. While Asmodee recently made a public claim that they did not have any intention of working with Nexus again in the future, no such claim was made before, either publicly or privately.
While we knew and discussed with Asmodee's management various problems and concerns they had with Marvel Heroes, such a radical statement was never made to us before.

It is true, however, that Asmodee has been completely negligent in replying to our proposals regarding the game, to the point of not showing up at least at two of the meetings set up for this purpose.

This lack of reply, of course, put our decision-making process on the subject in a stalemate (which possibly was exactly what was intended) as we could not consider or evaluate properly the possibility of using a different partner for a french CE, until it was too late to do so.

However, until mid-october, with the mass-production just starting, it was still technically possible for Asmodee to do a last-minute choice to join the production of CE.
This is the reason why I solicited the interested customers in France to let Asmodee know about their interest in a French CE. Everybody knows the reply from Asmodee (from which we learned about their "grudge" with us), a reply which only came after our formal announcement on the game production run.

Infact, when the time arrived to call the final decision on the production run and the languages - because the CE was to be announced 'officially' in Essen - we still had received no reply from Asmodee.
At that point, we had to decide and declare the production run (which was set to 2000 copies, based on the agreements with FFG and Phalanx) and I feel we are bound by what we said.
While I have been tempted to increase and extend the print run by the reactions at the show and by the proposals I received there and afterwards, I think it would be unfair at this point to be "flexible" about our commitment to this production run, which is a part of what make this edition valuable for those who purchased it already.

Moreover, extending the production run at this point to more than 2000 copies would be technically difficult and costly (as many items are manufactured completely, and setting up a new production line for a few hundreds more units is not feasible without further increasing the cost), and, as I said before, it is also not fair as being contrary to the publicly announced production run.

It is definitely possible, in theory, to do a "French Collector's Edition kit", but in fact that kit exists already - it's the normal game cards and rules. Printing the rules, cards and boards in 200-300 copies will be so expensive (and that expense would come on top of the normal CE cost) that I would not think it would be wise for us to do and for people to buy, when for about the same money they can just buy the regular game.

I hope everybody understands that it is and was in Nexus Games' interests to service the French market with a fully translated edition of the WOTR CE.
We put the maximum effort to do a French edition of all of our games, and we've been very lucky to find a loyal partner in Edge/Millennium to this regard.

It is very unfortunate that the French CE is lost to an old grudge between Nexus and Asmodee (which was not so readily apparent to us) and to the lack of clarity of our current licensee in providing a clear negative answer to us.

While in the end Edge voluntereed to support us on this project, it was too late to deal with this possibility properly.

This loss is bad for all French fans, but is also a very significant loss for us, as a company and on a personal level, as France has been such an important market for this game.
We have learned a very important lesson, in a tough way.

Thread: Combat Commander: Pacific:: Rules:: Overstacking and Melee?

fatgreta — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:29:40 +0000

by fatgreta

Hi again,

As I read the rules, players may over stack a hex to their hearts' content, if they're prepared to deal with the consequences. Does over stacking have any impact on melee? If not, couldn't a player send, for example, three full squads and two leaders into a melee hex, if the melee was important, or if it was likely that the hex would not be in LOS for a fire attack for a turn? This would seem a more likely Japanese strategy than US, since they act just before melee is finalized.

Again, thanks,

Chris

Thread: Combat Commander: Pacific:: Rules:: Setup Question

fatgreta — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:23:04 +0000

by fatgreta

Hi,

When the scenario guide says setup "X" hexes deep, where do I start counting? For instance, in Ichiki Attacks, the Japanese setup 1 hex deep. If that's the hex along their side of the map only, then they (if I did it correctly) are forced to violate the 8 soldier figures to a hex rule in initial setup (unless the far right beach hex is a legal hex, I assumed it wasn't).

Thanks,

Chris

Thread: Combat Commander: Pacific:: Rules:: What is the Ambush Position Deck that comes with the Commonwealth forces?

fatgreta — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:20:45 +0000

by fatgreta

Hi,

I'm using the (excellent) Vassal mod to solo this game, learn the rules, etc. In a Commonwealth Scenario (Ambush at Moguang) in the box with their hand cards is a "Ambush Position Deck" full of chits with letters on them. I can't find anything about them in the rules - does anyone know what they're for? I haven't even punched my counters for this game, so I'm not sure if they're CW only? Scenario specific?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

Thread: Dungeon Twister 2: Prison:: General:: Good Game BUT Poor Components

elfrododumbo — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:20:18 +0000

by elfrododumbo

OK, this is a good game and the solo is great, but I really am rather disappointed with the componets.

The minis are rather cheap-looking (most are bent but that can be fixed), the chits are "flaking" and the flimsy plastic insert is such a pain ! I removed the insert and made my own but by that time the chits flaked and the cards are dreadful. I cannot see the latter lasting long.

It is not a cheap game to buy. I really expected better components for the price.

Yes, most of you will probably disagree Maybe the next edition,(if there is going to be one, will rectify the poor quality of the product.

Thread: Dungeon Twister 2: Prison:: General:: Good Game BUT Poor Components

elfrododumbo — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:19:11 +0000

by elfrododumbo

Review: Machtspiele:: Impressions after 7 plays

jsnell — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:17:51 +0000

by jsnell

I don't usually write reviews, but after each game of Power Struggle (7 times in the couple of weeks since Essen) I've been more and more impressed with the game, and it's been a massive hit locally. And yet it seems to have mostly been ignored in the post-Essen buzz in favor of titles that were hyped more. So here's some disjoint impressions of my experience with the game so far.

I won't explain the rules: they're not complex, but there's a lot of them, so you're better off just reading the rulebook if that's what you're looking for. Have a look at Tim Harrison's review ( http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/460891) for a rules overview.

Summary:

This is an absolutely fabulous game that has not yet fallen flat on any playing. Everyone we've played it with has liked it a lot, whether they're from the Dominion or Age of Steam part of the gamer spectrum. It's pretty rare for us to play anything except fillers multiple times in a row, but for Power Struggle playing a couple of games in a row seems to now be the norm.

It's a game with a great theme that rewards skilled play, has massive amounts of player interaction, and has just about the right level of luck and uncertainty for me. And better yet, it's a game where those with less skilled seem to be having lots of fun while losing. It even plays very quickly after just a little practice. What's not to like?

More details:

Part of the charm of the game is the theme of office politics. I play mostly with a group of people from work, so a game that allows making snide comments about office politics certainly works much better than a generic medieval eurotheme. And the theme really does support the play: it seems obvious that the game was built around the theme rather than having a "funny" theme slapped on top of some generic resource optimization game.

The basic mode of gameplay is that each player takes one action per turn. There's about a dozen actions to select from (e.g. hire more workers, buy shares, found new departements in the company). Our experience will only last around 10-15 turns, so the number of actions in a game will actually be very small. You need to make each one count, and probably have a good plan from very early on. Sespite there being so few decisions in the game, there's still a lot of depth since there are so many perfectly valid options on every turn.

The game ends when somebody gets 4 VPs. The main way of getting VPs is to reach a certain threshold on one of the 5 scoring tracks (e.g. influence, which you get mainly by having your people on the company board or as the chairman, or corruption which you get by accepting or offering bribes). Additionally you can get one extra VP by achieving a secret goal: each player has a randomly chosen nemesis whom they need to beat on a randomly chosen set of 3 VP tracks.

The BGG description of Power Struggle claims it's an area control game. I'm not sure it really counts as one, but if it does, it's certainly the most devious implementation of the idea I've seen. The basic idea is that players can found new departments in the
6 divisions of The Company, or merge or shuffle around existing departments. At the end of each round the player with the most managers in each division gets to be the new division head, and gains a modest special power.

The sneaky part is that you don't really win the game by controlling the divisions, it's rather that you win the game by *losing* control of the divisions that you usually hold just for a short time. This comes up in a couple of different ways:

First, other players can give you bribes to get the special power away from you. This is usually good for both the briber and the bribee (both will gain steps on the corruption track, the briber gains access to a more powerful version of the original power, and the bribee gets a little bit of money). So you'd usually like to take over the divisions whose special power you don't want, but somebody else does. This ensures that you can bribe somebody else for the powers you really want, and somebody else will be looking to bribe you.

Another way in which it comes up is that the best way to get steps on two of the score tracks is to either resign or get booted out of the position of division head, which will let you retire to either the board of the company (for influence) or become an external consultant (for experience). And really it's a waste of actions to spend an action retiring, you'd much rather just ensure that somebody else feels compelled to spend actions taking over the division instead. But of course you want to control some divisions, so you'll be doing somebody else the same favor elsewhere.

So if you're burnt out on the terms "area control" or "area majority" (I know I am), don't let them scare you. This is a very different take on the idea.

The main concern I had after a couple of plays was that the secret goal mechanism would be unbalanced. Based on those games, it seemed like some of the goals should be a bit easier than others, and being your own nemesis should be easier yet. And in a game where every little bit counts, having a secret goal that can be achieved one turn earlier is actually a huge benefit. Likewise there were concerns that if two people end up as each others' nemeses and have overlapping goals, they've lost.

But it just isn't working out that way, the goals seem to be beautifully balanced in practice even if not on paper. And we've had a 5p game where a pair of players with 2 out of 3 overlapping goals were each other's arch enemies, with what we had previously thought to be the weakest goal sets, and still were 1st and 2nd.

Given the secret goals are well balanced, the main effect is that you usually don't know exactly who is winning, or even how far away from winning somebody is. This is a nice feature, as it keeps the mid game from bogging down in endless analysis of who needs to be blocked from winning. Of course at some point in the end game somebody might need to tip their hand, and if they're close to winning, can expect others to collude to delay the victory, but that isn't the norm. Since I don't really enjoy games of ganging up on the leader, this is a great feature.

The rules are a bit hairy (it's a 16 page rulebook), and you can expect to have some trouble with explaining them the first time around. That said, we seem to be able to explain the rules pretty quickly now after doing it a few times.

Likewise you should expect the first game to be pretty slow as people struggle with all the available options and play inefficiently, and then to speed up as they understand the system. The BGG game description currently suggests 90-120 minutes for a 3 player game, and longer for more players. This hasn't been our experience after the very first game. We can get a 5p game in at under 90 minutes reliably even with some new players in the mix, and the latest 4p game I played was over in an hour.

But other than those couple of issues with the first game, there isn't a lot to complain about. Do yourself a favor and try this twice.

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Need clarification on "Sleeper Phase" rules.

AsthmaticZero — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:17:34 +0000

by AsthmaticZero

I just played my second game (first was the 2-player variant, this was with 3 players) and I need a rule clarified for me.

When you create the Loyalty deck during setup, is that deck ever altered for the sleeper phase? In our 3-player game, the single Cylon player revealed himself before the Sleeper Phase. If the Loyalty deck is untouched when the Sleeper Phase occurs, there are obviously no "You are a Cylon" cards in the deck... so how does this affect the game at all?

The people I was playing with said that it probably meant that you need to recreate the Loyalty deck just like in setup and deal out the cards so there is a chance for a second Cylon, which we did when we couldn't find what I considered an actual clarification in the rulebook. There ended up being 2 Cylons, and I, as the only human player left, lost.

Thread: Battleground: Fantasy Warfare:: Rules:: Playing area

Wulf Corbett — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:02:05 +0000

by Wulf Corbett

I've been playing (and losing...) this for the last three weeks running, and every time I've been struck by how cramped the official play area is. The starting positions are only 1" out of range of a decent archer, and I have no problem buying enough units for 2000 points so they have to double up to fit the official width!

Does everyone here play the official size map? If not, how big do you use? Are there official guidelines? I figure it's important, since you collect Command Points every turn after the first, so if you start too far apart you can have gathered a whole deckfull in hand by the time you get across a 6' battlefield at 3.5" a turn...

Thread: Ants! :: Rules:: Some more rules Questions

0ddjob — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:57:57 +0000

by 0ddjob

hi, I bought this game at Essen without even playing it ;-) it just looked like the kind of thing we would like. Now we have had today our first play testing session after reading the English rulebook (the German has some mayor spelling mistakes and is not as clear in the wording), and we still have some questions:

1. Can you walk through friendly ants with your Serge-ant?

2. we assumed this would be like this, but can Serge-ant walk through food?

3. Can Peas-ants get on top of food piles? (serge-ants can, we assumed peas-ants too).

Some further comments:
we played with serge-ants not being able to walk through the supply chain, which I assume is correct, and it took a lot of time to finish the game. After 4 Hours (a 4 player game) we decided to stop because we it would simply take too long. the game was rather weird anyway. One person was almost destroyed right from the start through an event. She sat there for an hour trying to build up something again, until some other player with 8 Serge-ants decided to put her out of her misery. Some other player decided to do only defence and never attack, and in the end we just gave up all together. Funny thing though, everyone enjoyed playing and none was bored, even if the game took forever. At one point during the game we ran out of food, because one of the players stockpiled like 30 pieces. Is there a limit or a rule for this, because it seemed rather silly at the time.

All in all still a very enjoyable experience. If I could only find a way to speed things up a little

Thanks in advance for all any answers you may provide.

0ddjob

Thread: Uruk: Wiege der Zivilisation:: Rules:: Settlement Stones to Supply?

davebo — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:53:00 +0000

by davebo

The rules say that when a god comes you take a settlement stone and put it into the supply. This makes me think that they're available somehow, but they indeed aren't. Why not just say "take them out of the game", am I missing something?

Thread: Löwenherz:: Rules:: Runnign out of the little black walls

aro246 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:42:44 +0000

by aro246

In our last game, we ran out of walls. What do we do?

Review: Ici, c'est la France! The Algerian War of Independence 1954-62 :: Fighting for Algeria

wifwendell — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:24:22 +0000

by wifwendell

[thing=29379][/thing] is the first game released by Legion Games, and (as far as I can tell) the first game published by Swedish designer Kim Kanger. I think it is a fine debut for Kanger and Legion. Ici is a wargame, but a wargame with a twist: the conflict it covers (Algeria’s war for independence from France) was an insurgency, not a conventional war. It attracted me because I knew relatively little about the Algerian war of independence, and because of the increased attention being paid to COIN (counter-insurgency) because of the wars now underway in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Components

Ici is an attractive game. The 22"x34" paper map depicts most of Algeria (all but the extreme south, which is Saharan desert) and a little bit of its neighbors Morocco, Tunisia, and West Africa. There are several kinds of terrain - coastal regions, where French troops operate most effectively; mountains and dry mountains, where mechanized French units are less powerful; and the Sahara, with few people and little reason to operate until oil is discovered. The map has seven "wilaya" (the FLN name for the military districts it divided Algeria into for operational purposes), each of which is subdivided into regions. FLN can only move limited forces between wilayas. In addition, there are three major cities (Alger, Oran, Constantine) that are regions unto themselves, and several towns and cities which are separate from the regions, and (along with the major cities) can give the FLN greater mobility and operational points. The non-Saharan regions have symbols to denote how heavily populated they are, ranging from 1 (least) to 3 - the more populated ones are harder for the FLN to control, but the FLN can recruit more forces.

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On the map are several tracks and charts - tracks for the size of the French police forces/static garrisons (troop density), French public opinion, the effectiveness of the FLN (lower is better), and the Population Track (0-20 where 20 is pro-French) which shows the attitude of the populace in each of the 25 non-Saharan regions with significant populations (none for the Saharan areas). Here I have a minor gripe - the population track gets a bit crowded, particularly early in the game where nearly all are grouped around the 11/12/13 positions. I ended up pulling some of the markers down into the Sahara and using Post-Its to keep track of the level. Each of the regions will be in one of four political states: (from most to least friendly to France) Support, Activist, Purge, and FLN. There is also a chart showing the attitude of the Pied-Noirs, the ethnic French residents of Algeria, and a Government Crisis Scale which keeps track of how things are going back in Paris.

The 344 attractive 5/8" counters include French regiment-sized units and the units of the FLN - the strong zonal commandos, moudjahidine fighters, and moussebiline irregulars (FLN units collectively are called faileks), and various game markers. They really are attractive - and as advertised, easy to remove from their cardboard frames. Also included are charts describing French and FLN political events, a player aid chart with sequence of play and other info, and a 16-page rulebook that includes designer notes and hints. Oh and four six-sided dice.

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Gameplay

Turns in Ici are three months long, beginning with winter 1955 and ending in fall 1962, though the game can end earlier; there is also a scenario that begins in 1959. In each turn, both players must if possible play a political event, each of which can only be played in certain years, and only once per chit. Drawing the event chits is random but before the game each player can select four events to include in his hand. Events will variously affect some or all of: French popular support; Pied-Noirs attitude; and the attitude of Algerians in some or all of the regions. Keep an eye on French popular support. When it reaches zero, there is a referendum, where the odds of winning depend on where each region is on the 0-20 scale of the Population Track. After the first referendum, French popular support resets to 20; if it hits zero a second time, there is another referendum and the game ends.

After playing political events, the FLN player recruits new units, and the French player brings in reinforcements if any, replaces dead units (mandatory), and rebuilds damaged units to full strength. The FLN player then can move his units and conduct "structure attacks." France moves his units, and searches for and attacks faileks. Then the FLN followed by the French player conduct insurgency and counter-insurgency actions respectively. Move the game turn marker, and continue.

Operation points (OP) are used for every action except playing political events. The number available per turn varies; France begins with 10 OP, and gains an additional OP each turn until a maximum of 20 is reached. However, this number is reduced if the FLN has units in Tunisia, Morocco, and/or West Africa. The FLN gets a base of 10 plus 1, 2, or 3 (depending on the population level) for each region that France does not control, minus the FLN level (remember, low FLN level is better), max 20. Movement requires relatively few OP; a failek only expends an OP to enter a French controlled area, and the French only burn OPs when passing THROUGH an FLN-controlled area - and mechanized units don’t even have to pay that.

Combat is pretty simple. The French player spends 2 OP and searches for faileks in the designated region; this is easier in coastal regions, harder in pro-FLN regions. If he finds, French units pair up with whatever faileks were found (not necessarily all of them) and both players roll die, hitting on 5-6. The French units though usually roll two or four dice each AND add the difference in the quality of the unit. Most full-strength French units are quality 3 or 4, while only zonal commandoes are quality 3. French units have two steps and faileks only one, so combat if it happens typically favors the French.

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But the FLN, if it successfully checks against its FLN level, can conduct its own structure attacks. From the French perspective these were acts of terrorism. Kanger describes structure attacks as bombings of cafés, farms, and the like "to promote fear, make the country ungovernable, and to increase the antagonism between the Pied-Noirs and the Moslems." The game effect is to make the region more hostile to France - and if it is in one of the three major cities, it will reduce French OP by 1-3.

Remember the regions can be in Support, Activist, Purge, or FLN level. Both players use OP to move regions their way politically (this is a bit abstract but represents propaganda, assassinating pro-French activists, building local cells, infiltrating/purging FLN cells, etc), and the French can resettle Algerians to make it harder for faileks to concentrate in a given region. Which brings up an interesting mechanic - troop density and control of a region. France controls a region if the population level of a region (1, 2, or 3) plus troop density (zero at game start, maximum 4) is at least two times greater than the number of faileks in the region. FLN controls if the number of faileks equal or exceeds population level + troop density. If neither has control, the region is contested, which is usually good enough for the FLN player. Control can change at any time such as when the FLN rplaces a new unit, in the middle of combat, or during FLN movement. French military units do NOT influence control directly. Troop density (which can be raised by various French political events) is an abstract representation of police and local security forces; the units you move around are the ones actively trying to defeat FLN faileks, as opposed to providing security for the populace.

Although French troops alone cannot improve attitudes (in fact, if too successful military action makes the locals more resentful), it is important for the French to chase and defeat faileks - France can only play counterinsurgency actions to make the region more pro-French if it CONTROLS the region. And the FLN can only play insurgency actions if an area is FLN-controlled or contested. Because of turn order, the FLN can move (or recruit) enough faileks to a region to make it contested or FLN-controlled before the French can respond.

At the beginning of the game there are very few French units on the map, and troop density is zero, so it is relatively easy for the FLN to contest/control regions, and therefore to make more areas pro-FLN through insurgency operations. But throughout 1955 and 1956, new French troops come on. At first, this HURTS the French player because bringing in reinforcements (mandatory) costs OP. But once they are on, the French can start trying to strike the FLN in key areas. Then the FLN may begin to emphasize structure attacks to reduce each region on the Population Track, thus making an FLN victory more likely in a referendum.

There are a couple of ways to win. One is for the French to control every non-Saharan region. It can be done - the French achieved this in my one solo play in 1959. The FLN wins as it did historically by driving the French government level to collapse. Either player can win by the second referendum, which will happen on the last turn in 1962 or when French popular support drops to zero for the second time.

]]>

Conclusions

[thing=29379][/thing] is a very different creature compared to most wargames. Objectives are not geographic, although control of regions is important. But the action focuses on attempts to influence the population, and combat is abstract and one-sided in favor of the French regulars. That is appropriate for a game on an insurgency such as this. Ici has several elements that reflect modern thought about insurgencies and COIN operations. The real center of gravity is the attitudes of the Algerian people, and secondarily in this case of the significant Pied-Noirs minority. Combat plays a role, but only to the extent that it helps improve security (i.e., prevent FLN structural attacks) to allow France to control a region and conduct COIN actions to make the people of a region more pro-French. Police and security forces (abstractly represented in this game by troop density) are critical. Resettlements if done correctly can make it harder for insurgents to operate by isolating them from the people; this wasn’t successful in Algeria (and IMHO failed badly in Vietnam, where it was not done well), but the Malays and British employed population control with great success during the Malay Insurgency.

I’ve played this once through (I has another solo play where I screwed up a couple of rules and had to restart) so take this with as many caveats as you like. From this one+ game, I like Ici very much. The rules are simple, but the interactions between them are complex, and I found the FLN and French both faced difficult decisions about what to do next. This is not a short game (Kanger estimates the 1955 scenario to take 8 hours although I think one or two experienced players could do it quicker), but I find it immersive, informative, and entertaining. Thumbs up.

Thread: D-Day at Omaha Beach:: Strategy:: Earliest Infantry Attacks on WNs?

craig104 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:23:44 +0000

by craig104

OK, Does anyone have any good strategies for attacking those WNs early (before turn 7)? I feel like I am doing something wrong because I can never get anything moving before turn 9.

Session: Alhambra - The Dice Game:: Finally Getting Some At Home, With The Wife.

da pyrate — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:22:28 +0000

by da pyrate

Denise and I used to play a lot of games at home - just the two of us - it was nice.

This year has been a disaster for Denise regards the amount of time she has. She has a strong desire to do nice things, and to be helpful and to volunteer.

Well, this year she has had several family members give birth and, in each case, has made an intricately embroided baby blanket. She has had a couple of weddings where she has wanted to make something personal as a gift. She is making bridesmaids dresses for her daughter's forthcoming wedding. She has had other family members have personal disasters where she has gone in to help solve their problems. We have practically no time for two-player games anymore.

Yesterday afternoon she looked at me and said, "I've had enough - I need a game - something simple."

We agreed on Alhambra: The Dice Game. We played the basic game - not the Alcazaba variation.

It's a nice game - we had played it only a few times before, and not recedntly. I have only played it as a six-player, four-player and three-player game. Denise had actually played two-handed once before.

Having finished the game I must say I like it best as a two-player game. I find that most people, not including myself, take an unbelievably long time to decide what to do each turn. The two-player game moves along much more quickly.

Round One - Denise got better dice than I did - I was able to win only two building types - Towers and Chambers - I was able to pick up four points of bonus tiles and led after the first round by 13 points to 10.

Round Two - Denise's dice were magic - her first three turns put her on the six or seven spot on three different building types.

Round Three - Denise's dice were still great but there were tough decisions regarding whether to take the two spot advance or the single spot plus the bonus tile - I think Denise may have made some sub-optimal choices here. At the end of the round I had 48 points to Denise's 40.

Round Four was a disaster for Denise. Each round so far I was able to go second, which is a big advantage on the last throw of the round. Denise was getting poor dice and I was in most cases able to go past her on my second throw of the dice - I think I won all five building categories this round.

Round Five - there were not a lot of decisions to make now. I was going to win in Towers, Chambers and Mezzanines. Denise was going to win in Gardens and Pavillions - all that remained was to see who would take the majority in Manors and who would contest which bonus tiles. In one of the rounds Denise wanted to get some red dice - in all three throws (24 dice) she scored not a single red. On her last throw she came up with four chambers, two towers and two pavillions - she just sat there, for ages. I said, "Look at it - it doesn't matter which one you take - they are all only going to give you third spot." She said, "I just want to think about it and feel sorry for myself for a few seconds."

Final score - David 176 and Denis 158

Next time we might have a look at the variation - this is a good two-player game.

]]>

Session: 1861: The Railroads of the Russian Empire:: four players making their fortunes in the Russian Empire

dilago — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:22:07 +0000

by dilago

Yesterday we had played a game of 1861. There were four players:
Remco, Erik, Eldert and I (Bas). Eldert and Erik are the less experienced 18xx players, Erik had played 1861 once before, Eldert only 2 other titles. Remco and I have played 1861 once before, but have played about a dozen times other 18xx games.

Remco and Eldert won 2 privates each, Erik got one, I didn't win a private. There was some bidding on all of them, they went for face value or 5-10 roubles above. I won the Nikolaev for 160, thought I think that was a mistake, I was hoping to take one of the other Moscow-based minors and one of the south-Moscow ones. But Erik got the K-R, Remco took the M-NK. After that I decided to try the Sint Petersburg SPW. I don't really think the N & SPW is the best combo, but after being stuck with the Nikolaev, might as wel try this strategy. I was planning to go for the R-O in the second stock round. Eldert paid 160 for the K-B (a big mistake, he found out later in the game). The OK/RO/MV/KK were not sold on the first stock round.

In the first set of OR's Erik connected the MK and KR (he only bought one train for each, didn't transfer 1 train from MK to KR). MNK did connect to Nizhnii Novogrod, SPW to Poland, KR to Poland.

Second stock round, Remco bought the MV (planning to connect it to the MNK), Eldert bought the KK, I did buy the RO, Erik did buy the OK.

In the first OR of the second set of OR's the new companies bought the remaining 2-trains. I made a mistake to transfer 1 train from N to SPW, so I had to retransfer it from SPW to RO (should have transfered it directly to RO). No conversions/merges yet after this OR.

Third stock round: Erik started the D, Eldert started the MB, I started the V, Remco started the E (if I recall correctly).

In the next set of OR's Erik merged the MK/KR/D into the SW. I merged the SPW/RO/N int the GRR. Both the SW and the GRR got a token into Nizhnii Novogrod to position themselves for the Ekaterinburg-Moscow connection. Remco, after bypassing the now blocked Nizhnii Novgorod, merged MNK/MV/E into the SW. Eldert merged the KK and MB into the MVR. The KB, OK and V were kept alive as minors.

I lost count a bit on what happened exactly after that, but anyhow my intentions with the V were just running it out with a 3-train and then folding it into the State Railway, as was Erik's intention with the OK. Eldert decided later on to convert the KB into a public company (MKN). Later in the game my GRR, Erik's SW and Remco's NW were continuously paying out, Eldert held up payment for the MVR and MKN once or twice (which hurt him a lot in the end) to save for new trains. All players invested early in the big 3 companies of each other, not so much in the poor MVR and MKN companies of Eldert. I started a fresh new public company in Ekaterinoslav (south west of Kharkov): the SE, which helped me make up space in the GRR to buy the first 8-train. Erik's Moscow-Kharkov based SW and Remco's Moscow-Voronezh based SW were able to buy the two 5+5 trains. In the end all 6 public companies had 2 trains: the two companies with 5+5 trains ran for 1040-1080 in the end, the other companies for 710-740-820-850.

Final scores (after 6 hours):
Remco: 10795
Bas: 10057
Erik: 9138
Eldert: 5442

Remco won with the starting combo of MNK-MV. Previous time we played I started with those two and won.

Erik had the MK-KR combo, I think that's also a potentially winning combo. Especially because he had them both from the very start. I think he should have transfered his 2 train from MK to KR immediately, so that KR starts with two 2-trains from the second OR on. Maybe his OK minor didn't help enought either, but still he was close in the end.

I made a few mistakes early on, I had a lot of money to start with, should fall into the Nikolaev-trap. Nikolaev is nice, but paying 160 for it is probably too much. I was happy to be able to secure a token in Nizhnii Nogorod. In the later stages of the game I think starting the brand new public in Ekaterinoslav did help me a lot to regain position, but couldn't overtake Remco.

For Eldert it was his first game of 1861. I think you really need to experience the potential of some minors and the weakness of some others (especially te KB and OK). Not paying out with his public companies a few times didn't help either. It would have been much better to pay out, and use his own money to buy new shares to inject money into the company.

Compared to the first time we played 1861 we were already much more agressive with the minors. 4 of the second batch of 6 started up. Minors are a great way of making money, while the risks are low. It's not so bad if they end up in the State Railway. I wouldn't be surprised if next time we played all of them would be bought up (last time I think only 1 of the second batch was bought). However, we did a lot of cross-investing in each others public companies. Only 6 of the potential 8 public companies were used, Next time I expect more public companies on the board.

Conclusion: great game, the minors are really fun in this game. The end is a bit annoying with all the calculation of the max-routes, but that's part of 18xx. We do use poker chips with denominations on them - no computer, but we did use a calculator at the end.

Session: El Grande: Grandissimo:: No King On The Board!

mjdehayes — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:16:34 +0000

by mjdehayes

After finally working our way through every other variation of El Grande we had, we sat down last night and played our first game of Grandissimo. The general concensus was that this was the best of the variants.

An interesting thing happened before the last scoring round worth mentioning. In round 7, the red player played the Revolution card (which puts the King in the Castillo until the next scoring round when he is then released "in exile" to Portugal) and the green Grande was declared the new King per the card rules. To clarify, that meant that the green Grande, for the rest of the game, was to double as the green player's Grande as well as the King and could be moved around as normal per King rules. So, if before the final scoring, the green player somehow got a first place scoring where his Grande/King was, he would get a +4 bonus. We found that development interesting but then things got strange.

The blue player played Coupe (which requires all Grandes but his own to be placed in the Castillo until the next scoring round when they are then released to the location secretly selected on their discs). For the rest of the game there wasn't going to be a King on the board! I recalled that at the end of the Grandissimo rules the author wrote that not all card combinations were played out during play-testing and that if we came across something weird we were to just make the best of it. I didn't think much of it at the time but we had to make a decision on what this meant. So, we decided that since there weren't any adjacent regions to the King, players could only place new caballaros in the Castillo. This made the ship and those special actions that manipulated caballaros a LOT more important. Traffic in Spain, for the most part, came to a grinding halt for the remainder of the game.

Thread: Tichu:: Rules:: After passing, are you out of hand?

dougbass68 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:07:14 +0000

by dougbass68

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I couldn't find the answer:

After I pass, if it comes back around to me again, may I play a card, or am I out and must keep passing until the hand is finally over?

Thanks in advance!

Thread: Greed, Incorporated:: Rules:: Phase 8

melgaco — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:02:37 +0000

by melgaco

Everybody (CEO, CFO & COO) can quit the board of the company on this phase? Or COO decides who will be fired?

Thread: Berlin - Red Victory:: Variants:: ASL - ATS conversion

hreschreiter — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:58:27 +0000

by hreschreiter

Really enjoying this campaign here now has woken up thirst for more.

Having played the campaign of RB via ASL in the past, I have got the itch to try the same thing again - but in ATS.

Has anyone any experience in that, or any hints / links to help me get this project rolling, e.g. for conversion ratios, how to use the cloaking thing better? I have seen the 'ATS on the table' website which covers scenarios for RB, but not the campaign.

Any help is much appreciated, many thanks in advance!

Thread: Dominion:: Variants:: 177 made Fan made cards in German

STOCKBROT — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:23:04 +0000

by STOCKBROT

Hello World

on the german website

www.hiespielchen.de

there are 177 made Fan made Cars for Dominion.
Just click the Dominion Game, then 177 neue Karten and then index, then you can take a look at them. They are in german. There are a lot of intersting ideas, and as i sad tey are already made!
Enyoy!

Thread: Arkham Horror:: General:: How can you seperate the Core from the Expantions?

booored — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:15:41 +0000

by booored

Hi there

Going to try playing Illsmouth now I think i have the core game rules under control. Still I want the option of making the game run in its original forms but I can not see a way to identify the components of the original game and the xpacs. Currently I have Illlsmount and Black Goat.

Anyway... I can see that the all the cards all have a symbol linking it to a certain expansion. Illsmouth is a small anchor and the black goat cards us a small ... um... multi-headed thing.

Still on the Monster Cards I see no identifying marks.

Q:- How can you tell the monster cards from the xpacs from the monster cards in the original core game?

Thread: Baltic Gap:: Rules:: Supply and adjacent is good enough

pepe le moko — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:15:40 +0000

by pepe le moko

Am I right to think that the adjacent is good enough only applies when an HQ or an extender are involved?

Also does this work on both ends of the supply line, between the HQ and the supply source and also between the HQ and the unit in the field?

Thanks.

Thread: Ghost Stories: The Village People Expansion:: General:: How can I get a set of this?

yoyomama — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:13:23 +0000

by yoyomama

I'm in Tucson, AZ.

Does any one know how I could get a this expansion?

How about the B-Rice and Chuck No-Rice cards?

Thread: At the Gates of Loyang:: General:: MISSING PIECES

shieldwolf — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:07:29 +0000

by shieldwolf

Is anyone else missing pieces? I am missing all the Leeks.

Review: Darwinci:: Intelligently designed game

Danjell — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:02:39 +0000

by Danjell

I was able to get my hands on one of the first copies sold at Essen and have since played a couple of games. The lack of activity in the forums surprises me a bit, because this is a really nice game when you want something quick but above the level of a filler.

Components
You get some great pieces with this game. The gems used for bidding are naturally what catches the eye first and they both look nice and feel good to play with.

Then there are the Leonardo squares that you don’t really need in order to play the game but there’s nothing wrong with them.

You also get a cuboid dice which you use to keep track of bidding rounds. Mine even has metal inlays as I got my limited edition copy in Essen

The game is played with paper money that has good artwork on them (along with the motto: We trust in modern science) but it is still paper money.

The counters, both the bones and jewels, are par for the course.

Then there is the Darwin counter that acts as a reminder of who gets to make one additional gem placement. This one is a letdown. There is a picture of Darwin (the famous monkey caricature) on one side and a rules reminder on the opposite side. This should have been a small playing piece instead if you ask me.

Gameplay
The game consists of three basic elements. Bidding, set collecting and (a hint of) push your luck. First, the players offer bone pieces to the market. All pieces are then bought through a clever bidding system. Every player gets to allocate the gems in their possession. It is allowed to play both opponents gems and your own.

In phase one you have to play opponents' gems if you have them and then you may place one of your own gems. In the subsequent phases you get to place two gems of any kind. The player who had the fewest number of tiles in his Leonardo square gets to place one additional gem during phase two. After all three phases the player who has the most gems on a tile gets to keep it. He pays the original supplier of the tile all his gems but one.

Then the players place their tiles in the Leonardo square forming a 3x4 (or 4x3, this can even be changed mid-game) playing field. Finished creatures score points according to number of tiles and extremities (please see my question at: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/459197). To make things interesting there are also some rotten bones that award their owner negative points.

Every turn there is also the option to score one of five jewels that are sometimes printed on the tiles. The longer you wait the more points you’re likely to score but you then run the risk of not scoring a jewel at all.

The game ends as soon as one player has played twelve tiles. The player with the most points win.

Summary
The rulebook is bad but manageable. The examples are unclear and some rules are a bit ambiguous. This is acceptable in heavier Euros or wargames but a light game like this ought to be delivered with a better set of rules.

There is also an "advanced" version that simply consists of substituting one of your gems for a gem worth twice as much as a normal gem.

The theme, though pasted on, is good and a game can be finished in 30 minutes after spending 10 minutes explaining the rules.
The game is playable with three players but becomes a bit more asymmetrical and fun with four or five players. I recommend it as a game to play before everyone has shown up or after half of the game group has left.

Thread: Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game:: Rules:: Dump the gas and run!

Archimiedies — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:56:00 +0000

by Archimiedies

So this is a little maneuver my brother figured out the other day when we played and toasted a few of my 's because of it. I figure it's a good sanctioned way to do things but just incase I missed something...

Hero has gasoline and weapon/lighter (doesn't matter). Hero rolls a 6 on movement (or whatever is really needed to do this). Hero moves 5 then discards the gas onto the adjacent square diagonally and moves the last space away from the can, out of the blast range, completing his 6 movement. Then on his range weapon phase he blasts the can.

I figure since the card says "At any time during your move, you may discard to douse your space or any adjacent space with Gasoline" (emphasis added) that it is totally fair and cool. I heard some muted mumblings from the heroes (go fig) about how cool and perhaps over powered it was. I never thought it was OP but they wanted it checked. Any takers?

Thread: Goblins:: Rules:: Flying Troops Question

madherb — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:53:48 +0000

by madherb

Is this interpretation correct?
This card enables you to go anywhere on the map, as long as you only pass empty fields and revealed cards on the way.
You however are not allowed to pass other player's armies or unrevealed cards.

Thread: Return of the Heroes:: General:: Paste-ups?

KakarisMaelstrom — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:46:49 +0000

by KakarisMaelstrom

There are a lot of things wrong with this game.... particularly the rules.

But in addition, I know some of the overlords aren't clear. Like for instance, you might need a Magic Bow and if you don't have it, you're at a disadvantage. However, the overlords are printed inconsistently and so you might not realize that.

I'm thinking about doing paste-up's. My question is 1) has anyone already done these and I could just get the files and 2) if not, does anyone know where I can find a list of everything that's wrong and would need to be fixed?

Thread: Maria:: General:: Maria, Siam, God's Playground

BlackSpy — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:41:26 +0000

by BlackSpy

Which of these should I get for my brother, father and me to play over Christmas?

A couple of hours is probably the right length of game as a maximum, but as with everything if something is good enough extra time can always be found.

My brother and father are both excellent at chess etc, I don't want to take them on at a title that is basically the same skills!

Thread: D-Day at Omaha Beach:: General:: Is it worth playing if all your tanks

gbaker59 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:40:45 +0000

by gbaker59

are reduced to two strength units on turns 1 and 2? In my first game tanks didn’t help at all since they were reduced to two step units and I never drew the right barrage card combination. Now in my second game the same thing has happened. The only thing that might change is I might barrage more, probably wasting actions, in the hope I get a lucky card draw.

Has anybody won without a 4 step tank unit?

Thread: Ambush!:: Rules:: movement and action rounds

giants nut — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:39:18 +0000

by giants nut

Hi.
During action rounds , if you have a movement allowance of 4 , can you use it all without looking up paragraphs as you go ? Or have i got it wrong and movement is the same as when you are in oprerations ( looking up the paragraphs ). ?

Many thanks in advance from confused Dave !

Thread: Goblins:: Rules:: Kidnapper Questions

madherb — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:32:59 +0000

by madherb

(1) If you take goblins tokens from another player, are you allowed to take them from the player's machines as well?

(2) Are you allowed to take goblin tokens during phase A from another player instead of taking them out of the pool?
(The card states '... each time you must take a goblin from the pool ...')

Thread: At the Gates of Loyang:: General:: On preorder @ Gamesurplus for $52

kneumann — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:27:41 +0000

by kneumann

[thing=39683][/thing] on preorder for $52: Link

Thread: Goblins:: Rules:: Shaman Question

madherb — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:16:55 +0000

by madherb

The shaman comes into play in phase A.
Are you allowed to take an additional goblin right after you played the ahaman card or does the effect start to work from the next round on?

Thread: Goblins:: Rules:: Question: Revealing of Cards

madherb — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:11:57 +0000

by madherb

Is a card revealed any time a player moves / is moved on an unrevealed land card?
This would mean even if a player is moved outside of his own movement phase B.

Thread: Flat Acting:: Variants:: Two new variants!

JohnnyRyce — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:03:41 +0000

by JohnnyRyce

We've got some variants for those players who want a different type of strategy. Check them out at our website http://www.eyelevelentertainment.com/downloads/variants1.pdf.

We'll see if we can't get them posted here also. Thanks for checking out Flat Acting!

Thread: Goblins:: Rules:: Catapult question

madherb — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:03:30 +0000

by madherb

What happens if the goblin flipped for the catapult at the start of phase C survives?
The card states [...] no movement nor advantages for you.
However movement takes place in phase B.
Should the previous movement be reversed?

Review: Villa Paletti:: Gaming with 3-year old: Villa Paletti (versus 3 other kid games)

kochamkinie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:56:39 +0000

by kochamkinie

To quickly remind the context of this review: I recently came back from working abroad, and in a weeks time I introduced my kids to 4 games at almost the same time: [thing=6351][/thing], [thing=37196][/thing], [thing=17329][/thing] and [thing=2596][/thing]. I tried to review all for of them separately, but with comparisons to each other to better show their advantages and disadvantages. This is the last installment of the series, Villa Paletti; previous reviews may be read here:

[thread=447756]Gulo Gulo review[/thread]
[thread=448042]Sorry Sliders! review[/thread]
[thread=450704]Tier auf Tier review[/thread]

Contrary to previous three games I bought this one having in mind some of my friends playing Jenga, rather than my kids. I simply thought that it will be too challenging for 3-years old kids. Well, apparently I was mistaken ... but let's start from the beginning.

My kids immediately like the colorfull box and its artwork. I think they were slighlty dissapointed that the inside included only blank wooden pieces instead of small figures of people (as depicted on the cover, I have the Wigggles edition of the game). This is an obvious disadvantage of the game from kids perspective, since they'd rather play with animals/figures (see Tier auf Tier) than columns with no drawings on them. Anyhow, they liked the components and were anxious to give it a try.

]]>

The rules are again straightforard and explaining them even to younger kids takes no time. We usually play the variation where we don't use the dice and don't care about the colors - we're just trying to build the highest tower possible. However, have recently tried playing the one-color per perspn rule it also went smooth.

]]>

The biggest surprise for me this time was the relative ease of the game for my 3-years old daughters. I was expecting the pulling out the columns would require a super-steady hand + some tactical thinking. To my astonishment it looks like it is easier for my kids to play Villa Paletti than stacking the tower from animals in Tier auf Tier. Well, even in the first game we managed to build a 4-level tower and both Iga and Lilla were playing without any help from me.

The hook is such a great thing in this game that it warrants a separate paragraph. My kids didn't notice it at first, but after I intriduced the hook to them they only wann play with it. It's interesting, since it makes pulling some colums easier, but others are definitely easier to get using bare hands. It also adds additional dexterity skills to be learned by kids.

]]>

My kids play this game very competetively and on a high level. Sometimes they overuse the hook; they also tend to stick to the column they have initially chosen, even if it is clearly a bad choice. In this respect they sometimes need a bit of guidance, but in most cases they are able to build a really high tower. The time needed for a single game is around 15-20 minutes, again perfect for kids this age. They are usually playing just one game and rarely requesting a rematch.

Do I like this game? Definitely yes, I believe it can be a lot of fun both for kids 3+ age as well as adults. It's easy enough for kids but can be also quite difficult and competetive when playing with original rules - even for adults with steady hand. I've yet to play it with adults only but I'm really looking forward to it.

Do my kids like the game? They like it enough to never refuse a game when I ask them to play, but rarely suggest playing it on their own. I believe it's a similar case to Sorry! Slider, which is also a lot of fun, but looses with Gulo Gulo and Tier auf Tier due to the abstract (at least for kids) theme. Anyhow this game is so versatile I would recommend it for families with kids of any age.

To sum it up: my ranking of these 4 games based on my games with kids:

1. Villa Paletti
2. Tier auf Tier
3. Sorry! Sliders
4. Gulo Gulo

But I believe my kids would rank them:

1. Gulo Gulo
2. Tier auf Tier
3. Sorry! Sliders
3. Villa Paletti

Thread: Scripts and Scribes:: General:: cool idea for "custom" box

kswingruber — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:54:58 +0000

by kswingruber

[c]
[/c]While wandering through Michael's (a craft store) last night, I stumbled upon a cool paper-mache box shaped like a book. It would be just the right size for this game, and was only $3.99. A little paint, and you'd have a very cool box to store the game in!

[c] [/c]]]>

If there's not a Michael's near you, I'm sure you can find one in your own FLCS (friendly local craft store), or even procure one online...
[c]
[/c]

Thread: Goblins:: Rules:: Gravedigger Question

madherb — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:53:44 +0000

by madherb

Is he really ment to re-flip surviving goblins?
Or shouldn't rather the dead goblins be re-flipped?

Review: Intrigue:: [Video Review] - "Go for the gut. He's soft there. "

UvulaBob — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:46:17 +0000

by UvulaBob

Here's a mini-review I threw together while bored at work.

Please to be keeping it clean and coming out boxing!

Youtube Video

Thread: Dogfight:: Rules:: Couple of rules questions

Mondior — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:41:07 +0000

by Mondior

Just received the game this afternoon. Rules can be read in about 5 minutes. Very short and a bit unclear in spots. I did play this for about 2 minutes at Origins but do not remember much.

Once a plane is moved does the die come off the stand? Or is the plane stuck with that particular die roll for the entire game?

During the ready phase, if one of your planes has been captured you may take one of them and place it on the board. Do you immediately roll a dice for it or does the plane use the roll that was on it prior to capture?

Session: The Killing Ground:: TKG: A comeback to wargaming

Sr. Ulé — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:23:51 +0000

by Sr. Ulé

A game of TKG is a risky bet for a group of players that, for last few years, have been seen playing anything but wargames. But after so many RPG, Euros and non-wargame multiplayers we felt something was missing.

We needed planning grand strategies and implementing the minutiae of tactics. We didn't felt like facing a multiplayer wargame (previous experiences had not been that great), but a big game where we could divide many people in 2 sides. So someone recalled another group member having TKG in his game collection and we decided to give it a try (The Longest Day, Scorched Earth or Hells's Highway being the other alternatives).

The rules are a certainly long and little bit fuzzy, so while we looked for a place to play it and we set up the game, we have sorted out the main discussions (in particular the Daily Corps Support rule interpretation, solved with CSW forum help). Here you have the pregame situation.
]]>

Last Friday (2-11-2008) we began the Campaing Scenario, though losing a couple of steps. Two group members do not have the feel for complex wargames. This can become an issue if the game lasts long... as it seems it will! We only can meet in Friday nights and the play time span is from 22:30 to 02:30. One week to setup and one week to do the first turn... It is probable that once we get enough practice with the combat system the game will speed up. I must admit the first turn combats, though long to solve, have a true epic feeling with all these sequential column shifts! (they will be described in the next post).

This is the setup position:
]]>
Three allied players: Toni (HQ), Warrior (American) and Ulé (British/Canadian)
Three german players: Julio (East), Regne (Center) and Joan (West).

Last note: Normandy being such an assimetrical campaing and we players having such a strong latin character, I hope the dice average out evenly in the first few turns. If one side gets too lucky in the early moves, I would be not that surprised if
the other players complained about game balance...
and suggest we play something else...
to rally the two sidelined colleagues!!!
(haven't I warned this could become an issue?).

So I don't know how this game will end. This uncertanity gives an extra flavour to an awesome game. I will try to enjoy it while it lasts!

Thread: Chaos in the Old World:: Rules:: Temporal Stasis vs. The Blood Call's God

pahapasi — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:09:37 +0000

by pahapasi

Does Khorne need to pay extra power points to move figures with "The Blood Gods Call" to region with "Temporal Stasis" played?

Thread: Dominion:: Variants:: 16 Boost Cards

masonlouie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:08:00 +0000

by masonlouie

It's about time I got around to making a card type of my own or at least a mechanic. gf1024 made one. wodan made two. Hell, even donaldx made a new one and he's got the the whole publishing apparatus to deal with!

Boost Mechanic
The boost mechanic is a new subtype of action card: Action - Boost. How it works is that cards that have an optional boost ability may be used instead of the regular action ability. It's a bit of templating which translates to "or you may discard X boost type cards and [do some cool ability]", otherwise just the regular action happens. Finally, if a boost card is selected as a Kingdom card, also include the deck of basic 20 Nitro cards as an additional Kingdom pile in the supply.

Nitro (the basic one included in all games that use at least one boost card)
Action - Boost
cost 3
+1 card
+1 action
-----------
Boost 1: +1 coin, +1 card, +1 action

Power Digger
Action - Boost
cost 4
+2 cards
-----------
Boost 1: Set aside cards from the top of your deck until there are 3 non-boost cards. Put all set aside cards, boosts and non-boosts, into your hand.

Turbo Boost
Action - Boost
cost 3
+1 buy
Gain a Nitro.
-----------
Boost 1: Gain 3 Nitro.

Temple of Boom
Action - Boost
cost 2
+1 action
Trash all non-boosts in hand.
-----------
Boost X: Gain a card that costs 2X.

Fun Factory
Action - Boost
cost 5
Gain an action card.
-----------
Boost X: Gain X non-boost action cards.

Destiny Magnet
Action - Boost
cost 5
+1 card, +2 actions
-----------
Boost 1: Gain 2 Nitros.
Boost 2: +1 action. Each player draws 2 cards and reveals their hand. For each boost card, gain it and put it in your hand. Each player who lost a boost card, gains a Gold.

Boost Hall
Action - Boost - Victory
cost 6
+1 action
+1 card
-----------
1VP for every 4 boost cards.

Primary Colors
Action - Boost
cost 5
+1 coin
+1 buy
-----------
Boost 3: Gain a Copper, Silver, and Gold.
Boost 5: Gain a Estate, Duchy, and Province.

Booster Rocket
Action - Boost
cost 4
+2 actions
Gain a Nitro.
-----------
Boost 1: Reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reach a non-boost card. Put that card in your hand and discard the rest. Gain a Nitro card.
Boost 2: Reveal the top 5 cards of your deck. Gain a card that costs up to 2X where X is the number of boost cards revealed.

Boost Supply
Action - Boost
cost 4
+1 buy
Gain a Silver.
-----------
Boost X: Gain X boost cards and X Coppers from the supply.

Gut Dozer
Action - Boost
cost 4
Trash a card. If you do, gain a Silver and put it in your hand.
-----------
Boost 1: Trash a boost card and gain a non-victory card.
Boost 2: Trash any number of boost cards. For each boost, gain a non-victory card and put it in your hand.

Time Thaw
Action - Boost - Duration
cost 5
+3 cards
-----------
Boost X: Each other player sets aside X cards from the top of their deck. At the start of their turn, discard one of the lowest cost cards from the cards they set aside.

Slag Rupture
Action - Boost
cost 4
Each player gains a Nitro.
-----------
Boost 1: Each other player reveals their hand. If at least one player has a boost card, +4 cards. Otherwise, gain 2 Gold.

Market Boost
Action - Boost
cost 4
+2 coin
-----------
Boost 1: Add an out-of-game pile of a boost card to the supply and gain a card from that pile.

Reboost
Action - Boost
-3 coin
+1 action
Place all played boost cards back into your hand.
Trash this card.
-----------
Boost 1: +3 coin

Boost-Spiracy
Action - Boost
cost 4
+2 coin
-----------
Boost 1: +3 coin, +3 cards, +1 action

Notes:
1) For a few of the cards, the calibration is a little high. But only a little because to use a boost ability, you have to discard a boost, so you're really playing 2+ cards for the ability. And to underscore the point, none of the cards go crazy if you Throne Room them under most situations.
2) I realize the theme of this set isn't exactly medieval. I suppose I could transpose some kind of magical theme, but I'd prefer something less hackneyed. Suggestions?
3) I really hate to use templating, especially after suffering from the ravages of Race for the Galaxy's pictoglyphics, but boost abilities tend to be more complex than regular actions and I don't like squinting at tiny tiny text if I can avoid it. Any ideas for clear and succinct wording?
4) I'm wondering if I should also add a set of 20 Boost-Spiracy cards (or some other simple boost card) along with the basic 20 Nitro cards to mitigate the reliance problem of boost card availablity.

Thread: Ghost Stories: White Moon:: Rules:: Question regarding the Zhou Family

Sonnenblume — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:58:52 +0000

by Sonnenblume

When you save the last member of the Zhou family during a barrier phase, what happens? Do you get a second barrier phase immediately afterwards?

We had this come up during two games now and after that you have essentially won the game, it leaves the board in a pristine state.

Thread: Pandemic:: General:: Can't get excited. Oh well.

Soaker — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:41:59 +0000

by Soaker

I have played this game a handful of times and have yet to really enjoy it. But, just like breaking up with that S.O., the "It's not you, it's me" mantra really does apply. I mean the theme is great and plays out really well, better than most; the design and mechanics are brilliant; player interaction is consistent (obviously), more....? Thing is, I just don't find myself excited or engrossed by this game the way I do so many others. The reality is, I have yet to play a cooperative game that I enjoy, so that may very well be the issue. Shadows over Camelot turns my face green, Pandemic keeps me going to the fridge and the bathroom for breaks, and Arkram Horror is a slog for sure. So, I gues I just suffer from an insecurity that makes me feel the need to best some one else in a board game. Which may explain why I even feel successful when I am 3rd out of 4 players, and devastated when I come in last. Anyone got the number of a good therapist?

Thread: We the People:: Rules:: European War and Don Bernardo Galvez

cdippel71 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:37:33 +0000

by cdippel71

OK. So my wife and I are playing right now.

She played European War, but the French Alliance has not been played yet, so we are going to reshuffle at the end of the Strategy Phase.

Now she is playing the Don Bernardo Galvez card in order to send 2 of my British CUs off to fight the Spanish...

BUT...

The errata [6.2] says that the playing of European War prior to the French Alliance does not activate the Don Bernardo Galvez card.

I say that this means my wife is out of luck and I don't lose 2 CUs.

Am I right?

Thanks,
Sergeant Chris Dippel,
His Majesty's 9th Regiment of Foot,
The Royal Welsh Fusiliers

Review: Super Munchkin:: : A Super Munchkin Review

Focuscoene — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:37:29 +0000

by Focuscoene

There is a place for Super Munchkin, it's just not often found on my game table. There a couple friends that attend my game nights who swear by the Munchkin series (and Steve Jackson in general), and actually it was their enthusiasm for this game that got me looking at the world of board games more closely to begin with.

Super Munchkin, especially when compared to other light card games I have like Bohnanza, Eco Fluxx or Apples to Apples, is totally arbitrary and requires very little strategy. You basically draw cards that add to your power level (pretty much every card does this), and you either have a power level high enough to kill the monsters power level or you don't. If you kill a monster, you gain a level (not a power level, more like an experience level like in RPGs). The first to reach ten of these experience levels wins. That's it. It takes a while to do, and it doesn't take much thought to do it.

There's an added element of being able to "team-up" with another player to combine power levels to defeat a monster. You can say, for example, I'll give you this card that has plus 3 to your power level and one random card if you help me kill this monster. The player can then bargain with you, accept, or decline entirely. That's the only part of the game that gets interesting, really.

I'll admit that the cards are nice, they're colorful and sport funny themes like "Too-Much-Coffee Man". And sometimes at a game night, you get sick of thinking and just want to draw cards and play them (usually once everyone has had a bit to drink). But honestly, most people would rather play Apples to Apples if they don't want to think too much, or Eco Fluxx, since at least those don't require you to do any math. Unless you or your gamer friends are serious Steve Jackson fans, I don't see any reason to add this one to your collection.

On a side note, I've also played Munchkin Cthulu and found that that was even worse, we ended up taking out the cultists entirely, which was the one thing that set it apart from the others design-wise (though we enjoyed the theme).

Thread: Creepers:: News:: Time for Creepers!

Mar_cus — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:30:49 +0000

by Mar_cus

Are you ready to play Creepers? Files are uploading to BGG (and I think it will last a while), so I will give you mirrors for them.

Color version:
» English rulebook (pdf 3.70 MB)
» English rulebook for print (pdf 3.69 MB)
» Polish rulebook (pdf 3.69 MB)
» Polish rulebook for print (pdf 3.68 MB)
» Board A3 (pdf 1.45 MB)
» Board 2xA4 (pdf 1.45 MB)
» Tiles (pdf 298 KB)

Black & white version:
» English rulebook (pdf 4.02 MB)
» English rulebook for print (pdf 4.01 MB)
» Polish rulebook (pdf 3.91 MB)
» Polish rulebook for print (pdf 3.91 MB)
» Board A3 (pdf 801 KB)
» Board 2xA4 (pdf 861 KB)
» Tiles (pdf 379 KB)

Color / black & white version:
» Tiles to print on color paper(pdf 63.6 KB)

Review: Citadels:: I Knew You'd Go For The Architect: A Citadels Review

Focuscoene — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:14:56 +0000

by Focuscoene

There's a lot of hullabaloo surrounding this game on the geek (I've noticed a lot of "Citadel Fan" microbadges), so naturally I had to seek it out. And I must say, I'm pleased I did, though I don't think this one is necessarily for everybody.

One thing I can definitely say about Citadels is that it does get better with every play, as you learn the different ways the cards interact with one another, and the different ways different people might go about this. Citadels is the type of game where you really have to try and guess what the other players are going to do, while trying to lead them to think you're going to do something you're not. For those of you who prefer what my girlfriend calls "strategy you can see", meaning things like Carcassonne, Samurai or Chess, this game may not be for you.

The idea in Citadels is to build districts using gold, each district is worth the amount of gold you spend on it, and the first player to get eight districts played concludes the game. Points are then added up, with bonuses going out for things like being the first to finish or having one of each color district, and a winner is declared.

For every round in Citadels, the players get to pick which character cards they are going to use in order to either accomplish something in their own district or thwart something in someone else's (for example there is a character who can destroy an opponent's districts, and there is also one that can build three at a time instead of one). You also get to choose characters to discard, so no one really knows who has what. And that's where the heart of the game lies: figuring out who has what and playing things accordingly.

This bluff-calling, play-to-the-other-players style of play really appeals to me, especially when playing against people I know really well (though I imagine playing against people you don't know at all would be equally as interesting). My girlfriend, however, did not find this enjoyable. She'll still say yes to a game most times, but prefers games with a more even playing field. What I'm saying is: games that use this kind of sometimes arbitrary mechanic can be a turn-off to some gamers, maybe even be frustrating because it was a guess that caused your loss, not a poorly placed piece.

I also will say that the fantasy-heavy theme could turn some people off initially, a lot of folks see that and think Dungeons & Dragons right off the bat. An unfortunate stigma, but it exists nonetheless. (For the record, fantasy themed games don't turn me off personally in the least, I actually tend to prefer them.)

Before I wrap things up here, I want to point out two things. The first is that the two-player game is significantly different from 4 or more, and I found that 4 or more was much more exciting and complex, while two was just two people going for one of two or three characters and discarding the other. Still, 2 player is certainly fun enough as it is, but I'd rather play Carcassonne or an abstract strategy.

The other thing I want to discuss is the Dark City Expansion, which came with the version of Citadels I bought. This expansion is fairly weak, I feel. The original character cards are intertwined so nicely, while the Dark City characters are more just good. There's a character that lets you not pay to build a district, for example. This isn't strategy, it's just a free district. Why replace the Merchant (which you would have to do), who allows only one extra gold, plus extra for green cards? The other problem is the purple district cards that come in the expansion are way too useful, especially when compared with the original deck.

So that's that. Personally, I love Citadels. I think it's intelligently designed, and would rarely turn down a game. The negative things I've said about it aren't for me, they're for other gamers, and when writing a review I believe one must consider gamers of all types (minus the age demographic). I would love to see another expansion, one with perhaps more strategic characters to offer.

Review: Samurai:: Shogun Your Stuff: A Samurai Review

Focuscoene — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:03:09 +0000

by Focuscoene

Last night was my first play-through of Samurai. I played with my girlfriend and another couple, thus playing with the maximum number of players allowed to play. It seems to me that playing with four would be ideal, though I'm going to be playing a two-player game tonight so I may need to retract that statement.

Samurai is a tile-placing, area control game with different tokens that have different numbers, colors and symbols on them. The numbers correspond to the level of "influence" that token has, the colors correspond to the player, and the symbols correspond to which piece the token is influencing.

That right there about sums up the way the game works. Your goal is to surround pieces (there are three different types) with your influence. If you and the other players have a piece completely surrounded, that piece is awarded to the player who has the most influence (meaning the highest number that corresponds to that type of piece).

What makes it more interesting than simply "surround and collect" is that the player with the most of a certain type is more likely to win, though a tie-breaker is included that spices that up. If two players each have the most of a certain type, the two of them both remove the pieces of that type, and add up THE REST of the pieces they have. Whoever has more in that department is then declared the winner. This creates a wonderful balance of trying to claim one certain type, while simultaneously making sure you're getting enough of everything else.

The mechanic, while relatively simple, comes with an enormous amount of depth. I, and the others, were reminded of Carcassonne, which is the most commonly played game in my collection.

There are also tokens that serve as "wild cards", which can influence any type of piece it is touching, as well as a couple of special tokens that enable you to move pieces or tokens.

The game did not take us very long to figure out (we were unclear as to whether or not you get your tokens back after a piece has been surrounded because it looked like we wouldn't have enough tokens. I have yet to play enough to see if this ever becomes a problem, but I can safely say that it did not become a problem for us during the four-player game), and once we did we all immediately fell in love with it. I think it says something extra that the people playing were a good mix of regular gamers and occasional gamers.

I am also inclined to say that the game will likely be different every time, like Carcassonne, because different people are going to place things differently which shifts the flow of what you are trying to do.

All in all, I have to say I recommend this to any and everyone. It's light enough that my friend's girlfriend, who had been drinking and rarely plays strategy games (she loves Pandemic, though), loved Samurai just as much as I did, and I play strategy games as often as other people in the room will let me. I will be sure to pick up Through the Desert next.

Thread: The Sword of Rome:: General:: Have an opportunity to grab SoR for $85 new in shrink...

timrichter9 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:42:31 +0000

by timrichter9

SHould I grab it? Or should I wait for the P500 reprint?
It appears that there are a couple on BGG marketplace, but they are over $100.00.
Not familiar with the P500 system. It is not assured that it will ever make the cut right??
Thanks
Tim

Thread: Men of Iron - Volume I : The Rebirth of Infantry:: Rules:: multiple attackers vs. multiple defenders

atilla66 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:39:16 +0000

by atilla66

I recently bought Men of Iron and played for the first time about two weeks ago. One issue about the rules has really been nagging me. There does not appear to be any explanation in the rules regarding shock attacks by multiple attackers against multiple defenders. On page 8 of the rules, an example is given involving an attack by unit x on unit b, and an attack on unit c by units y and z. Where in the rules does it say that unit x could not also participate in the attack on unit c? After all, units b and c would still only be attacked once, albeit unit c would be attacked once by three attackers for a strength advantage DRM of +2. One possible interpretation that a set of defenders must be attacked by the same set of attackers. So if unit y was adjacent to both unit x and y in the rear with unit x as shown in the example, then presumably x and y could combine to attack unit b, then combine to attack unit c. Unit z would be unable to participate in this particular configuration of attack because, it can only be adjacent to b or c, not both.
The configuration involving b and c next to x and y in this example is pretty common in this game, and yet nothing in the rules says that if unit x attacks unit b, unit x could not also participate with unit y in an attack on unit c.
I sent this question to the designer Richard Berg as a private message on this website and after two weeks received no response. Perhaps, I should have sent this message directly to GMT games. Are there any Men of Iron veterans out there who can enlighten me on this subject?

Thread: Senjutsu: Dynamic Samurai Combat:: Rules:: Anyone able to post/send the rules for this game?

Der Mater — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:34:50 +0000

by Der Mater

Hi everyone,
the subject says it all. Any chance of getting the rules?

Thanks in advance!

Thread: Diplomacy:: General:: Diplomacy for the PC at Five Below for $5

BugLaden — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:24:58 +0000

by BugLaden

Subject says it all.

Diplomacy
for the PC
at Five Below
for $5.

Five Below Store Locator

Thread: Arena - Roma II:: General:: who is publishing in the u.s.?

rickert — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:14:34 +0000

by rickert

I know that Roma is listed as a Rio Grande game. Will Arena be also?

Session: Advanced Squad Leader:: Agony, Ateball and Angel

Crom Cruach — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:13:26 +0000

by Crom Cruach

Iwo Jima.
February 1945.
Saturday afternoon.
Teatime…

Jones: “I’m gonna kick your ass.”
Me: “A million green counters couldn’t take this island in a hundred turns….”

Well…actually Jonesey came up with that line, but it makes more sense if I say it, as he had the marines. My contribution to the banter was mocking the fact his mum made him sandwiches and he’s 35! Very good sandwiches though.

Ben has long bemoaned the fact no-one will ever play caves with him, and if they do he has to defend as they can’t be arsed looking up the rules. Well I like the more exotic rules, and I’d played caves once before against Trev Edwards and it wasn’t Stalingrad, so I was game.

You know straight away by looking at the scenario card that this isn’t some girly Chapter A only, straight infantry handbag affair like Fighting withdrawal or Von Tettau’s attack. Nope this is a scenario card for men…MEN!...I tell you! None of this…ooooh I don’t like playing chapter G….pout…but aren’t there are lots of SSR’s?...lip quiver. You lot might as well p*ss off and play Combat Commander or something. YOU MAKE ME SO ANGRY!!!! DRIBBLE. PUT THAT HYPODERMIC AWAY…I DON’T NEED ANY MEDICA…Snore…

Awwwww righttttt…..ladeeeez and gentleman…in the green corner…straight from the halls of montezuma and the shores of Tripoli….we have the lean…the mean…the green…killing machine…The guys with globes…the fathers with flags…the one…the only…UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS!!!!

Fifteen squads of 7-6-8’s ( 7-6-8’s!!! filth!!! self deploying, non disruptable cheaters!)
Nine crews – 2-2-8’s and 1-2-8’s ( There are grudge SSR’s that MG’s/ LATW/Lt mortars must be fired by crews or there are penalties – but crews firing MG’s don’t cower)
Six M4A2 Shermans, one of which is the flamethrower version.
No less than seven leaders including two -2 dudes.
Couple of flamethrowers, six DC’s and the usual other stuff.
150mm Naval OBA (It never runs out!) HE only
80mm battalion mortar OBA (HE & S)

And in the yellow corner…please show your appreciation for…direct from the land of the rising sun…the defenders of the living embodiment of the sun goddess Amaterasu…Kuribayashi’s men…they ain’t gonna banzai no more…we stripe but we don’t break…please give it up for the glorious 145th infantry regiment of the
Imperial Japanese Army…

Four Elite and Six 1st line squads, six crews and five leaders (only one -1 though)
HMG, 2 x MMG, FT, 4x DC, 2 x 50*mtrs.
150* ART , 2x 47L AT guns.
70mm OBA
7 super duper Iwo Jima caves, mines, trenches, wire and two pillboxes.
(The caves are super-duper because they are HIP even when not in concealment terrain, and the cave complexes extend four hexes instead of two from the primary cave.)

It’s a knockdown eight and a half turn fight, victory to whoever’s left standing…on Hill Peter…at game end.

Setting up on the Critical Hit map before we started…I have to say the map is kewl. Nice big hexes and a very different tactical problem from usual. The marines have to cross the V shaped Motoyama airfield #2 (which has a small level one hill in between the two arms of the V) then struggle through the volcanic ash open ground. Which counts as sand so 2MF open ground for infantry, and a 3MP bog check for the tanks. You then get to struggle up the cliffs and hills to get to the high ground. Oh and it might rain making all your smoke useless. Semper Fi Mac.

All my experience with Japanese is that it really isn’t worth getting into a stand up fight. Especially not with US Marines. The caves are not there for the +4 TEM, they are there so you can take the unexpected shots, and then skulk away and reappear somewhere else. It is not worth revealing your position to take a shot, unless you have a decent chance with negative mods to get a casualty reduction or better. Breaking the marines is pointless, like Arnie they’ll be back, and if you stay around to DM, or try to double break them, the U.S firepower will hurt you more.

Most of my stuff was on the hill, with some caves positioned to cover the runway, but nothing in plain sight. I had a pillbox on top of Hill Peter but out of LOS with mines and wire protecting its flanks, so that when the marines finally got to the top, I could flame them. To begin with I had most of my guys starting in the cave complex to be totally safe from OBA, with only the MG crews and a couple of squads with LMG’s in the caves, and some squads in trenches well out of LOS. I did have a suicide detatchment forward, with one HIP half squad in a crag hex between the two arms of the runway, a tank hunter hero and a 47L gun in a scrub hex by the mini-hill, which might get some flanking shots. It’s a terrible thing when you have to treat Sherman’s like they were Tigers.

Not sure if I read this right – one of the SSR’s - UV4 says “Delete Sand from those prohibited types…(i.e Caves may setup in non-depression crestlines if sand is that cave’s level.”
For some reason I thought this meant my caves could look over and down the plateau. Instead it meant the marines had a free ride over the runway. It meant my observer with a phone was useless. I briefly considered jacking it in but decided to play on. (I think Ben said after the game it didn’t make that much difference but as usual he’s talking s***.)

For the next few turns, comparatively little happened. I had one cave which I redeployed a crew/HMG/9-1 combo to, and it killed a crew, broke a squad or two, and knocked a HS with a FT off a Sherman, and made a hero. Return fire was surprisingly ineffective. Ben was using my captured 47L to fire AP at the pillbox for one flat attacks. He’s got a thing about captured weapons – every since he read about someone hooking up a captured gun to get the needed exit VP to win, he gets a childish glee over using them. I think he got one pin result and set off a sniper over several turns. Pathetic.
His fire group of mortars and MMG’s was positioned too high up and didn’t have LOS to anything. It rained, then rained heavily. I was desperately trying to correct a spotting round from my OBA into my observers limited arc, but it kept deviating out of the cave LOS until the phone broke and was no use at all. Meanwhile his NOBA was devastating the forward slopes of the hill mass, not killing anyone but a critical destroyed the pillbox on top of Hill Peter, wire got uprooted, mines cleared and lots of shellholes placed for cover.
You’d think there was some kind of rule to prevent unlimited fire like that wouldn’t you? Hmmm. Meanwhile the marines progressed slowly towards the hill base. And it was slowly, several tanks bogged (we did play runway hexes adjacent to sand could bog – not 100% sure that’s right), and the rain and sand meant it was slow going. The marines took the longer route to the Japanese centre and left. I shifted guys around underground so the first marines up the hill were going to walk into a flamethrower attack.

The rain stopped. The first guys up the hill got flamed, lost a half squad to a 12 MC, and as they’d spent 4mf getting there. I decided to final fire and FPF. Twice. My 8 morale squad turned into a half squad. Jones ran a squad, leader and hero through a 12 residual attack and shrugged off the resultant MC’s. A couple of other shots were ineffective and suddenly he was right next to the victory hill and out of my caves covered arcs.

I had to come out of my caves to stop this threat. I maneuvered to soak up his fire with a 8-0 with a DC, while moving a couple of concealed stacks adjacent. A squad and a leader got melted by NOBA and didn’t make it – but it looks like I’ll be able to mop up this breach in my lines.
At this point he calls down WP on his own position. Of course he passes all the MC’s. One of my squads rolls a 12, the other with a HS and leader go beserk so they can’t advance in, and the WP strips concealment from everyone. A really good (though lucky) move – except for the fact the marines have no WP OBA only Smoke!

Man…more marines came up the hill, a close combat killed a squad each. The marine flamethrowing tank came up and stopped two hexes from a cave. I’d shifted my flamethrowing halfsquad there – it fired with a 4TK chance, missed and the return fire was a snakeyes from the tank. At that point I’d had enough and gave up.
Jones took a camera phone picture of the top of the hill with a squad, a leader and a hero and saved it as wallpaper. Personally I thought this kind of thing showed his low class as the hero had died, and for some reason he never took camera pictures of his defeats.

Even so it’s a long time since I enjoyed getting beat so much. Usually I’m quite childish and sulk. But this scenario is fantastic, and on my must play again list. In fact I have a year to prepare the Japanese defense until Jonesey returns again. Of course next time, the runway will be properly covered, the Marines won’t have WP, and the 150mm NOBA will have to obey G14.68 “Offboard NOBA observers may only place an AR in/adjacent to a known (to him) enemy ground unit and must make an extra chit draw if a friendly ground unit is within six hexes of that AR.” So you know the NOBA rules do you Ben?

Thread: Castle Panic:: Variants:: closed hand VS open hand

Bobagabe — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:09:04 +0000

by Bobagabe

The game instructs you to play open handed, with all cards on the table.

It seams that this would lend the game more to group think.

It might also make the trading more interesting if you couldn't see everyone's cards.

Any thoughts on a closed hand variant?

Session: Agricola:: Ronbo vs. MisterG: Match5Game1, or Hey, Look, Ron Does Win Upon Occasion!

MisterG — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:54:12 +0000

by MisterG

My buddy, Ron, has occasionally voiced complaints that I tend to post sessions of Agricola that I win more often than not. This is amusing not only because it’s true (after all, it’s far more fun to publish session reports where you do the handing of posteriors on platters rather than the other way around), but also because Ron’s never bothered to investigate this site (even though he has Internet access) and has therefore never read any of these reports. You hear what I’m sayin’, Brian?

No matter. In the interest of fair play and the illustration of various principles of proper play in Agricola, what follows is yet another 2-player competitive farming exercise in which Ron emerges triumphant. I will leave it to Constant Reader as to the whys and wherefores. Standard game: deal ten, drop three draft, and it’s off we go…

Round One/Sheep
Geoff – Occ/Woodcutter
Ron – 3W(3)
Geoff – 1G
Ron – SP + x

I open with the best Ock I have—trust me, nothing else was even close—and although I’m able to work it for a solid 6Wood over the course of the game, it’s just not enough. Ron counters with a predictable wood grab. With no playable Minors in my hand, I go eenie-meenie and pick up a grain. Ron jumps on the button, despite his own lack of a playable Minor as well. He wants that reed.

Round Two/Sow & Bake
Ron – 1R(2)
Geoff – 3W(3+1)
Ron – Occ/Seasonal Worker
Geoff – 1C(2)

And, it’s the reed he takes. I haul in some enhanced wood, and Ron drops his first bomb, the powerful Seasonal Worker. Uh-oh. I nab the clay for the potential fireplace.

Round Three/MIMI
Ron – 3W(3)
Geoff – Fish(3f)
Ron – DL(2f +1G)
Geoff – MIMI/Fp2

Ron pursues his favored wood-hogging strategy, goaded (perhaps) by my having the Woodcutter in play. I clear the pond to assure supplies, and Ron puts the Seasonal Worker to the same task. I claim my fireplace, despite the urge to snipe the reed, since I can’t see that that will help me.

Round Four/Fences
Ron – 1R(2)
Geoff – 3W(3+1)
Ron – Occ(-1f)/Clay Deliveryman
Geoff – SP + Stone Tongs

Ron stifles my building plans by swiping the stacked reed again, and I naturally take more enhanced wood. Ron now delivers a hammer blow by availing himself to a long-term 9Clay. Ouch! That doesn’t bode well at all. I respond with a button grab and one of my favorite Minors, which is, in fact, one of the few decent ones in my hand. It eventually translates into a utile 3Stone. We both feed easily.

Round Five/Family Growth
Geoff – 3W(3+1)
Ron – BR(1) + x
Geoff – Sheep(5)burn4
Ron – FG + Copse

I lead off the Fifth with another bolstered wood haul, and Ron properly recognizes the threat to his early expansion opportunity. He immediately builds a room, else I block the space by putting out a few stables. I torch most of the sheep, filling meat lockers to overflowing, and Ron then adds a new hire, playing the Copse for a point and a shot at some extra wood. We don’t think too highly of the Copse, but in this case it turns out to be a decent play.

Round Six/Renovation +MIMI
Geoff – 1R(2)
Ron – 1C(4)
Geoff – BR(1) + 2s
Ron – MIMI/CH4
Ron – 3W(3)

Finally, I’m able to pick up some reed; Ron responds with an easy clay grab. I build a room and pop out a pair of stables, hoping to breed animals, if possible. Ron claims his hearth, and snipes the timber to prevent me from getting a 6Wood next Round. This seemed very much like a scripted Round.

Round Seven/Stone
Geoff – 3W(3+1)
Ron – Fish(4f)
Geoff – FG + Guest> (-2f)
Ron – Sheep(2)burn2
Ron – PF

My first play this Round feels critical, and in retrospect, I probably miscued by taking the wood, bonus stick or not. Had I taken the fish or fried woolies, Ron would have been forced to take the other, and then I could have camped on Day Laborer. This would have compelled Ron to waste a peep on grain, and then lost both of his grain to feed his family, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He’d have still been free to plow his field or snipe the wood, but I’d have emptied his silos and larder, and left him in a precarious position in Stage Three. Ah, well, spilt milk and all that. I add a much-needed worker, and cough up for the Guest as well. I’m under serious pressure myself. Again, we both feed without difficulty, and I am momentarily encouraged by my own surplus.

Round Eight/Boar
Geoff – 1R(2)
Ron – PF
Geoff – 3W(3+1)
Ron – DL(2f+1V)
Geoff – 1S(2+1)
Ron – S&B (1Vf/1Gf/2Wf)
Geoff – MIMI/Well (5f>)

With an eye toward further growth (and loathe to let Ron forestall me yet again), I snag the reed. Ron plows a first field, and I hack down more timber. Ron exercises the Seasonal Worker to pick up tomatoes (wait, is that a vegetable, or is it not?), and I boost the boosted stone for obvious reasons. Ron now farms furiously, including a few new stands of trees. I claim the Well and all its goodness. Things are looking up…maybe.

Round Nine/Vegetables
Geoff – 1C(3)
Ron – Boar(2)burn2
Geoff – Sheep(2)burn2
Ron – Occ(-1f)/Wood Collector (5W>)
Geoff – 3W(3+1)
Ron – SP + Guest> (-2f)

I take the clay, worried that Ron will snap it up; I should have bitten the bullet and built another room, and possibly another stable. Ron fries boar, I do likewise with the woolies, and Ron ocks himself another timely set of wood. Recognizing that he’s going to seize the button, I stupidly snipe wood instead of nailing down the button myself to guarantee first crack at room-building next Round. As expected, Ron retakes the button, and activates the Guest for himself. We both feed, and I can feel things looking right back down at the ground again.

Round Ten/Stone
Ron – BR(1) + x
Geoff – 1S(2+1)
Ron – 1R(2)
Geoff – Fences(13)
Ron – 3W(3)
Geoff – Ren>C +Fp2>CH5
Ron – FG + Writing Desk

Snickering, Ron builds another room. Again, I clear stone, and Ron takes the last reed he’ll need for the game. Desperate, I fence a standard three-pasture layout. Ron sequesters the wood I probably should have taken, I renovate and upgrade my fireplace, and Ron adds another dude and pointed Minor of situational usefulness. Regardless, I know I’m in trouble.

Round Eleven/Cattle
Ron – Boar(2)burn2
Geoff – 1S(2+1)
Ron – Sheep(2)burn2
Geoff – 1C(2)
Ron – Occ(-1f)/Market Woman + Occ(-2f)/Schnaps Distiller
Geoff – Cattle(1)burn
Ron – DL(2f+1V+2G)

As the midgame nears its end, I’m wishing more and more fervently that I had a choice card or two to aid my agricultural efforts. Ron torches livestock with abandon while I scramble for useful resources, and then uses the Writing Desk to bang out two more Ocks that spell my doom. I fry the cattle to make ends meet, and Ron delivers a nice one-two punch with a twice-enhanced visit to Day Laborer. Nice for him; not so nice for me. All I can think is, “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

Round Twelve/Plow & Sow
Ron – 3W(6)
Geoff – P&S (PF +1Gf)
Ron – PF
Geoff – Fish(4f)
Ron – 1S(2)
Geoff – SP + Guest> (-2f)
Ron – Ren>C + Pottery

Ron clears the 6Wood, I plow a first field and plant some meager grain, Ron plows in response, and I haul in some food. Ron takes stone for a Major, and I make a last, futile button grab, activating the Guest once again. Ron complacently renovates and takes the obvious Pottery. I find myself whimpering like a whipped dog.

Round Thirteen/Family Growth w/o
Geoff – Cattle(2)
Ron- P&S (PF +2Vf/1Gf)
Geoff – FG w/o
Ron – 3W(3)
Geoff – Boar(2)
Ron – Fences(14)
Geoff – Sheep(2)
Ron – SP + Guest> (-2f)

I take the four-point cattle drive; Ron tops that with more intensive farming. I add my fourth worker, Ron tops off his wood for fencing, I herd boar, Ron fences, and I herd woolies. Ron drives the last nail into my coffin with a button grab and the Guest. I burn a zombie sheep to feed the shambly. The pain is nearly over.

Round Fourteen/Renovation + Fences
Ron – P&S (PF +2Gf)
Geoff – 1S(3+1)
Ron – Cattle(1)
Geoff – 1V
Ron – FG w/o
Geoff – PF
Ron – Boar(1)
Geoff – Ren>S +Stone Oven (4f)
Ron – DL(2f+1V+2G)

The last Round is fairly textbook elimination of negatives and completion of point sources. Some may argue that I should have taken FGw/o as my second play, but the six-point swing value wouldn’t have mattered, since this would have removed at least one neg-elim from my roster of plays; I’d have lost by at least one point, no matter what. The crux of this game was the action count, and I came up on the short end of that stick. I burn a pair of woolies, Ron puts the Schnaps Distiller to work and uses excess grain, and families are fed. It’s over, praise Ceres.

Final Score (Occupations Played, Minors/Majors Played)(Wood taken/bonus)(Rounds as Starting Player)(Total Primary/Secondary/Tertiary Actions)(Points Per Primary Action)(Food Spent)
Primary Actions are those actions first taken when a player claims a space with a family member. Secondary Actions are the “extra” actions allowed by certain spaces, such as a Minor Improvement when taking Starting Player, or Baking after Sowing. Tertiary Actions are all other “extra” actions enabled via card play or the seasonal rules of the “Through the Seasons” variant. Note that the “TtS” variant has two Action Spaces that allow Secondary Actions: Spring and Autumn.

Ron – 41 (5 Occ, 4/2)(21/9)(7)(43/7/7)(0.953)(50)
Geoff – 36 (1 Occ, 3/3)(18/6)(7)(38/7/10)(0.947)(40)

Player Fields Pastures Grain Veg Sheep Boar Cattle Unused Stables House Peeps Pts Bonus
[c]Ron - 5(4) 3(3) 8(4) 4(4) 0(-1) 1(1) 1(1) 0(0) 0(0) 4C(4) 5(15) (5) (1)
Geoff - 2(1) 3(3) 1(1) 1(1) 1(1) 3(2) 4(3) 4(-4) 2(2) 3S(6) 4(12) (8) (0)[/c]

Play efficiencies were, for all intents and purposes, statistically identical; the win was clearly a function of the extra actions Ron generated, and in no small part due to the timely appearance of Family Growth in Round Five. Argument could be made that Ron’s card holdings were superior to mine, at least in the Occupational category, but the peripatetic Guest seems to have made little difference (we both played it twice). I think my key error lay in Round Seven, when I should have pressured Ron’s food supplies and spiked his grain holdings. Constant Reader may feel otherwise.

Btw, Ron beat me even more senseless in Game2 of this match (44-32), mostly on the strength of a classic Round Seven button grab play of the Wooden Hut Extension. His PPA dwarfed mine; I made the mistake of early renovation to clay to get out the Maid, and misplayed the reed as a result. Ron came back from a three-action deficit, dominated livestock acquisition, and thoroughly thrashed me.

He’s getting pretty good at the 2-player game.

Next report: Oh, I Dunno, Maybe Another Game That I Win. As always, thanks for reading, and all comments, questions, and such will be duly acknowledged.

Thread: 18NEB:: General:: Any ETA?

msaari — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:48:02 +0000

by msaari

Does anybody have a clue when this might be available from Deep Thought? It's just that I currently have an order in that's at current rate done in March or so and if 18NEB is ready by then, this might be something I'm interested in buying.

Thread: Citadels:: Rules:: queen

hammertime7777 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:37:48 +0000

by hammertime7777

The rule states you get 3 gold if you sit near the king,does that mean the one to his left or both?

Thread: Pandemic: On the Brink:: Rules:: Can you discard at any time?

Gstealer — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:16:05 +0000

by Gstealer

So I know you have to discard if you have more than seven cards in your hand, but can you discard cards if you have seven or fewer?

The only reason I ask is in we had the special card that lets the active player go through the player cards discard pile. One of us had a colored card they needed, but had fewer than seven cards in hand. We wanted that person to discard it and then when the player who needed it activated, play the special and have them pick it up so they could cure the color.

Thread: Too Many Cooks:: General:: Misprints in the latest edition?

snowman882 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:05:01 +0000

by snowman882

I just bought what I think is the latest edition from Funagain. The three "10" cards (one each in the three basic suits) are printed with a "0" rather than a "10". (The bouillon and overflow cards are correctly printed, but there is an additional zero with no ten present in each suit)

Sort of confusing! Any further confirmation out there?

Thread: Warhammer: Invasion:: Rules:: Corruption clarification

skutsch — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:04:57 +0000

by skutsch

Ok, here's the situation.

Evil Empire declares an attack against the Quest zone with units A, B, and C.
After the attack and units are declared I play a Corruption tactic, corrupting unit A.
I am assuming that I can do this, even though the attack has already been declared, and that unit A "goes home" but that unit B and C are forced to go through with the attack.

Is this correct?

Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark:: General:: Do you folks mix your expansions?

Doc Sonic — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:54:55 +0000

by Doc Sonic

I was wondering how may of you combine treasures, characters, skills, ect from the various expansions when you play?
Do you feel this affects the game balance at all? I think it would with adding in Monsters the quest doesn't call for and I'm against this. But, how about the other stuff?

Thread: Arcana:: Rules:: Militia Deck & Questions Regarding Militia Variants

Devonelle — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:36:06 +0000

by Devonelle

Not sure if it's explicitly mentioned in the rule book - is the military deck supposed to be face up or face down on the table?

Also, when using a location card that either returns an opponents agent to their resource deck or swaps it to another location, can these be used to target militia? [I'm assuming the militia cards could not be placed in the opponents resource deck?].

Thanks in advance...

One other thing I'm wondering is if this is going to become another expansion-ridden game like Dominion. I feel the balance is nice now although some of the 6 power arcanum personality cards can be overpowering at times.] I can envision "curse" type cards that could possibly negate [or lower] opponents influence, but other than that, I'm happy how the game plays now.

Thread: The BoardGameGeek Game:: Rules:: Double set scoring

koby_shachar — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:29:01 +0000

by koby_shachar

It is clear that duplicate games do not score anything (in a 4-6 players game) but do I score a double set?
I guess it is difficult to achive but I almost did it in our first time 4 players game.

Thread: Dominion:: Variants:: 10-card set: Interaction?

GregF — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:27:14 +0000

by GregF

Based on a comment I made in another thread. The idea is a set that showcases some of the interaction in Dominion without any attack or explicit interaction cards.

Cellar
Chapel
Village
Woodcutter
Workshop
Gardens
Feast
Smithy
Throne Room
Festival

I knew I wanted something where Gardens were feasible along with other strategies, so I started with the Size Distortion set in the rules. Had to remove Militia and Witch obviously, so I replaced it with Smithy (to make some comboing with the Villages to make the Village more desirable) and Festival (to make a 5-cost card that'd be in high demand.). I was worried about Lab making Chapel+Lab too strong, so I swapped in Throne Room because everyone loves Throne Room. (And Throne Room makes the tempo of the Gardens rush even more tense, since coming out of nowhere to grab three Gardens on a turn is feasible)

Play a couple 4-player games with this and tell me that Dominion doesn't have player interaction.

Thread: Kahuna:: Rules:: Drawing cards

yeeshkul — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:20:27 +0000

by yeeshkul

I would like to ask you guys how many cards (if any) we draw after each round (i mean when the card deck gets exhausted). Do we discard our hands and draw 3 new cards at the start of the next round, fill our hands up to 3 or anything else?
Sorry i have just German rules and have quite a limited knowledge of German language. Thank you.

Thread: Blitzkrieg General:: News:: That New Map

martimer — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:17:47 +0000

by martimer

Pre-Order the new map at http://www.ugg.de/bg/bgdelumap.shtml

Looks great, and the game is still fun!

Thread: Origo:: Rules:: Two Rules Questions: Attacking and Scoring Track

Drew1365 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:17:02 +0000

by Drew1365

Okay, a couple questions came up in our recent game, and Steve McKeogh's translated ruleset (thanks, by the way!) was unclear; nor could we determine the answers from checking out the original German rules.

1. In regards to supporting attacks: It's clear that both defender and attacker get 2 points for supporting cards and 1 point for adjacent units. However, what was unclear is whether the attacker got 2 points for the card he plays to make the attack. If I play a card that allows me to attack a space, and then two cards to support that attack, do I get 6 points from cards? Or just four?

Furthermore, it's clear from the rules that the defender gets a point for the unit that is attacked (as well as for each adjacent unit). But does the attacker get one point for the attacking unit?

2. For the scoring track, the rules say that if you would end up on the same space as another player, you move ahead to the next open space. But in our five-player game we were all so tightly grouped that we were constantly leap-frogging like this. It became clear that the order in which scoring was done could make a critical difference. For example, if two players were one point apart, and both scored one-point for country majorities, if you scored the person with the lower score first, that player would essentially score two points. Then the other player would likewise score two points by jumping over him. But if you scored the higher-scoring player first, both would only score 1 point as required.

We alternated between having the player with the lower score move on the scoring track first, and the player closest to the start player move first. Couldn't decide which was fairer.

Thread: Race for the Galaxy:: General:: My issue with genie

Dywnarc — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:03:12 +0000

by Dywnarc

I have been enjoying playing race online alot lately. I am thankfull for the programers and site managers for creating such a great system.

However, I have a MAJOR issue with play ediquite.

I understand some players play slow, and others cruise the net or whatever between the plays. I also understand if you want a fast game you should post that and create your own.

But even with all that, it appears players feel free to wander off, or not make a play for silly amounts of time.

Also others will need to "step out" or "take a brb" with out ANY communication whatsover.

I think Genie should create an option for a time limit on players that can be set into games. If a play takes more then 5 min, the comp auto makes one. a dicline action if possible, or just do the stuff they have to, so that players that are dedicated to games can play.

I am making this post while active in 4 games where no plays have been made in 4, 17, 23, 35 min resprectivly.

In NONE of these games as naybody said a word as to what is going on.

Just a friendly note to those that play online, please play in resonable time, and COMMUNICATE with the other players!

Thread: Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition:: General:: Modifying AA50 into AA40 P+E, possible?

andrey_gta — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:59:46 +0000

by andrey_gta

My group has puchased AA50 game recently(below market price) and want to know how cn we enjoy it beyond 2 years.

With AA40 coming out in 2 parts....I feel that AA50 can be modified...

what will it take?

Thread: No Dice:: Rules:: A question about the starting triangle

Uneksija — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:52:23 +0000

by Uneksija

Hi!

I just found about this game after seeing it mentioned on some Geeklist. No Dice seems like it could be fun, and I'm going to try it with my friend, but there's one rule I'm not 100% sure about and I was wondering if anybody could help me here.

On the "Colonnade rules", it says that you can place a piece out of game to the starting triangle or to the next open space of the track. On the review here entitled "No Dice: A fast-playing, clever abstract", it says the following: "In addition to moving a piece, a player usually has another option. If the player’s own recycle space isn’t occupied, she can place one of her pieces that is not currently on the board on the recycle space. This is her entire move. The recycled piece can be the one that began the game off the board or one of the ones that has already exited the board. In either case, this means that there is one more piece to move around the board, but the addition of this extra piece may nonetheless improve the player’s overall position. If the recycle space is occupied, by either player’s piece, this option cannot be taken."

So according to Colonnade rules, there is no way of preventing the other player from placing a piece out of game onto the board. According to the other rules, you can prevent the other player from placing a piece out of game onto the board by occupying the other player's starting triangle.

Which one of the rules is the correct, official one? Something tells me that the Colonnade rules are the correct one, but I don't have the original game's rules so I can't check them. Please help

Thread: Cosmic Encounter:: General:: FFG - When can we expect Alien Previews about the Cosmic Incursion Aliens?

rjburns3 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:47:49 +0000

by rjburns3

I love the art for the aliens that we've seen, and I love hearing the names of Locust and Magician, as well as the "classic" powers of Fungus, Deuce and Sniveler, all forthcoming in the Cosmic Incursion Expansion.

But I'm dying to know - can we expect the return of other classic aliens such as Empath, Plant, and Filth (the art on FFG's homepage sure looks like it could be Filth)? Will Eon's original Doppelganger return, will it be Mayfair's awful version, or an even newer FFG version? Skeptic doesn't get a lot of love, but could it maybe - oh please - just MAYBE be one of the 20? Could I even dare to hope that Patrick Riley's version of Ethic -- an improved version that does NOT need Lucre -- has returned?

How about some more awesome homebrews that have never been published? Is Magician Gerald Katz's Conjurer? (If so, that is most excellent.) Locust sounds cool -- does it bear a resemblance to some old idea of Cedric Chin's or is it a totally new power that has sprung fully-formed from the head of Kevin Wilson? Will Cedric Chin's most excellent Pisces (a power that allows you to "Go Fish" by asking for a card from an opponent, and if they have it, you receive it) show up? How about Jack Reda's simple yet quirky (and potentially quite dangerous) Lunatic (an amazing power)?

Will any of the other CE Online aliens be making an appearance? It's not possible to make Dork and Brat board game aliens - is it?

I want to see our new aliens!

Thread: Burg der 1000 Spiegel:: Rules:: English Rules?

tgbruiser — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:47:40 +0000

by tgbruiser

Does anybody have an English rules translation they can post?

Thread: World at War: Blood and Bridges:: General:: World at War or Lock n Load?

ooNOFXoo — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:40:58 +0000

by ooNOFXoo

I wanted to inquire as to whether anyone owns both World at War and a Lock 'N Load game (Band of Heroes for example) and which one they thought was "better". Better obviously means different things for different people. What I am looking for is the game system with more tactical options and variety. I currently own Eisenbach Gap and while I enjoy it, I am not sure if I should pursue it (buying Blood and Bridges and the soon to be released Compendium) or try out Band of Heroes.

Obviously neither of these will offer ASL depth (thank god!) but I want to put my time and money behind the system with a little more "depth". What do you guys think?

Thread: Ergo:: General:: Availability?

Cinnibar — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:37:49 +0000

by Cinnibar

Any word on when this gets released? My FLGS has instructions to snag one ASAP.

Thread: Tikal:: Rules:: Auction passing...

shadow9d9 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:37:48 +0000

by shadow9d9

What happens if all 3 players pass? The last gets it for free?

Thread: Lord of the Rings:: General:: Is LOTR harder with 2 hobbits than with 4? A quantitative analysis – including F&F

Tommaso 73 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:36:27 +0000

by Tommaso 73

Background

There has been a lot of writing on the subject on this forum: according to what I've read, it is a general perception that LOTR is harder with 2 hobbits, especially when playing with the F&F expansion.

This concerns my usual way of playing. Sometimes I play with my wife but I mainly play solo (very seldom we play with another couple). When playing the 2 of us we find it rather awkward to play 2 hobbits each, but then, with only Frodo & Sam, it get significantly harder. This is also true when I play solo: I find it a bit boring to keep track of 4 different hobbits, but with only 2 I have a hard time in F&F, when with 4 I win 50% of games with Sauron @12.

Therefore I decided to make some calculations to see whether it's me or the game balance... I hope that you will find it useful. Comments are very wellcome!

Summary

4 hobbits have an advantage vs 2 hobbits. In standard LOTR, the game is balanced only with Sauron @10. 4 hobbits have an advantage with Sauron @12. This advantage is as big as the advantage 4 hobbits have in F&F with Sauron @10. In both cases 2 hobbits can be helped in many ways; my suggestion is either to deal all cards in Rivendell and Lothlorien, and then discard 1 card for each Hobbit; or use also Merry and Pippin special F&F powers and normal powers as 1-shot special cards. In both ways we just close the gap and give 2 hobbits the same odds and experience 4 hobbits have.

In F&F with Sauron @12 the advantage 4 hobbits have gets even bigger, so that both suggested measures should be implemented to help 2 hobbits.

Acknowledgments

You could check this thread: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/29419 which inspired for quantifying things. Also this file is interesting for an example of quantitative analysis of cards and movement: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/35446. I thank Bryan Stout and Rich Moore for their work. You could also have a look at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/367307 which addresses the same question from a qualitative point of view. Thanks to Xander Fulton for that.

Approach

I initially tried a thorough approach, calculating everything and then comparing, with any number of hobbits. It turned out to be a monster excel spreadsheet impossible to handle. So I opted for a “differential” approach: I will only consider differences between 2 and 4 hobbits play, neglecting things that do not vary.

Moreover, I will only consider 2 and 4 hobbits, as in my case it never happened to have 3 or 5.The standard measure unit is 1 black/white dot, equal to any 2 random hobbit cards according to the “not playing cards” activity, or to a generic Foe in F&F. When doubting, I will choose conservative estimates, i.e. values which underestimate 4 hobbits' advantages, as my thesis is that they do have one. There are a lot of “hidden” assumptions which are not stated for brevity, (this is too long already!). I am happy to discuss them if you are interested.

I will describe each cost/asset aspect separately, avoiding a scenario-by-scenario analysis whenever possible. I will refer to standard LOTR as “Vanilla” for clarity. The results will be estimated differences between 4 and 2 hobbits, giving positive results when 4 are at an advantage, negative results when at a disadvantage.

Corruption pool

4 hobbits can absorb twice as much corruption as 2 hobbits. So if Sauron is at 12, the difference is:
+ 24 dots. Same applies for Vanilla and F&F. When tuning difficulty, this difference varies, so we will find different advantages for different difficulty levels.

The Eye of Sauron

Of course, each Eye is worth 2 dots for 2 hobbits and 4 for 4 hobbits.

Event Tiles, Events, Scenario turns and Scenarios

For simplicity, I will assume the same number of turns for 2 and 4 hobbits in any scenario. This is a starting point for calculations and shall be verified a posteriori. It simply means that I assume no differences in turns, strategy and actual play in any scenario, estimating the cost of doing so for 2 and 4 hobbits.

Moreover, for F&F I will assume that only 4 Scenario are played: Bree, Isengard, Mordor and a random one among the other 3, so that any value concerning those is weighted 1/3. When calculating the cost of an event, if there are more than one option, I will consider them to have the same probabilities and average them; events from 4th onwards are weighted 50% as they will not be hit in every game.

As for event tiles, if we assume that we move a hobbit in the case of “one hobbit receives 2 corruption or Sauron moves 1” then there is no difference in 2 or 4 hobbits play. Regardin the cost of Sundials with discard 3 symbols is slightly different. Discard cards has roughly the same value for 2 and 4 hobbit (0.5 dots each); same applies for shield; life tokens are more valuable for 4 hobbits, and an extra life token per board will be included in calculations regarding them.

For Foes calculation, see below.

The die

This is one of the most important elements in the game. My assumptions: Sam suffers less from the die; this is more important in two hobbit games, as he is more likely to be the one that rolls. I assume that he rolls twice as much as any other hobbit, i.e. 66% in 2-hobbit game and 40% in 4 hobbit. These values will be needed later.

Vanilla – 2 hobbits
Sam: (2+0.5+1+1+1+0) = 0.92 dots
Frodo: (2+1+1+2+3+0)/6 = 1.5 dots
Weighted average = 1.11 dots

Vanilla – 4 hobbits
Sam: (4+0.5+1+1+1+0) = 1.25 dots
Others: (4+1+1+2+3+0)/6 = 1.83 dots
Weighted average = 1.60 dots

With F&F a value for the average Foe is needed. This depends on the value of the die so that it would need feedback in the calculation. Therefore I assume a fixed value of 1 dot (1 turn to defeat a Foe with “not playing cards”).

F&F – 2 hobbits
Sam: (2+1+1+1+1+0) = 1 dot
Frodo: (2+1+1+2+3+0)/6 = 1.67 dots
Weighted average = 1.22 dots

F&F – 4 hobbits
Sam: (4+1+1+1+1+0) = 1.33 dots
Frodo: (4+1+1+2+3+0)/6 = 2 dots
Weighted average = 1.73 dots

The Ring and other die rolls: Corruption and Sauron movement

I refer here to die rolls and corruption due to events, the Ring and scenario boards in general, plus Gollum. I consider all rolls as they lead to differences due to the values calculated above. I just list values per board, considering the usual 50% chance from 4th event onwards, and averaging when multiple options are possible (with reasonable probabilities); blitz in Mordor is assumed. Costs are evaluated according to the assumptions stated before.

2 hobbits
Scen. DR S c Ring Brd Van F&F
Bree 2 1 0 1 0 5.7
100%
Moria 1.25 0.5 1 0.5 4.1 4.4
33%
Isen. 1.5 1 1.5 4.9
100%
HD 1.5 3 1 1 9.9 10.3
33%
S 1.5 1 1 0 4.8 5.1
33%
Mor. 1 1 2 4.4 4.9
100%

Total 23.2 22.0

4 hobbits

Scen. DR S c Ring Brd Van F&F
Bree 2.5 1 0 1 0 10.1 100%
Moria 0.25 0.5 3 1 0.5 7.8 8.0 33%
Isen. 2 1 1.5 7.8 100%
HD 2 3 1 1 18.4 18.9 33%
SL 2 1 1 0 8.8 9.2 33%
Mord. 2 1 2 8.0 8.7 100%

Total 43.0 38.5

Key:
R = roll (due to event)
c = corruption (due to event)
S = Sauron (due to event)
Ring = die roll for using the Ring
Brd = roll on the board

Note: Preparations is included in Bree

Therefore the difference is:
Vanilla = -19.8 dots
F&F = -16.5 dots

Hobbit cards

The average value is 0.5 dots for a generic hobbit card. However, wilds are worth more than other symbols; grey cards are worth more than white ones, as there are less of them and you want to play two cards each turn. Different values apply for Frodo and Pippin due to their special ability.
Let us consider a generic non-wild white hobbit card to be the reference, so that it is worth 1 card unit (CU). A generic wild hobbit card can be 50% more valuable, 1.5 CU (for a detailed analysis of why 1.5, see http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/29419 . This is tricky to estimate, I agree with 1.5 because this is an average estimate for the whole game, so that I still value 2 generic symbols more than 1 wild; in a given situation, this could not be the case). For grey cards, I assume them to be 20% more valuable when played to move a marker, because they allow to play 2 cards instead of 1 in one turn; however, 1-symbol hobbit cards get also played as “paying the cost” or “discards”, so that being grey or white makes no difference in this case. An average here is 10% more, or 1.1 CU per card. I still have to consider Frodo's ability: generic non-wild white hobbit card are worth 1.5 CU for him; calculating averages leads to 1.25 CU for 2 hobbits and 1.125 for 4 hobbits. Pippin's ability will be evaluated later.

Hobbit card split is: 12 wild, 20 grey, 28 other. So the average card value is 1.25 CU for 2 hobbits, 1.19 for 4 hobbits. For 2 hobbits, I will also need to convert CUs to dots, to estimate the value of extra cards that 2 hobbits have to draw to close the gap with 4 hobbits. As 2 generic cards are worth 1 dot, this gives 2.5 CU = 1 dot, therefore for hobbit cards
1 wild = 0.6 dots
1 grey = 0.44 dots
1 other = 0.4 dots

How many hobbit cards are drawn in the game?
Bag end: 12 for 2 hobbits; 24 for 4 hobbits.

Preparations:
according to the Die values, 1 roll by Frodo is worth 2 dots at most, so is is always worth doing = 4 random cards (2 dots).

Lothlorien:
2 card for each hobbit, assuming 50% probability = 2 for 2 pl, 4 for 4 pl.

Helm's Deep:
Orcs attack the door: 1 card for each hobbit, assuming 50% probability = 1 for 2 pl, 2 for 4 pl. - negligible

Shelob's Liar:
Gollum: 2 card every non-active hobbit = 2 for 2 pl, 6 for 4 pl
Event #3: 1 card each = 2 for 2 pl, 4 for 4 pl

Mordor:
Sam saves Frodo = ignored (not taken)

Ring-bearer: 3 times (4 boards) 2 random hobbit cards = 6 cards

Total: 28 for 2 hobbits, 48 for 4 hobbits. Converted to Card Units, 57.2 CU to 35 CU. The difference is 22.2 CU, i.e. 8.9 dots, both for Vanilla and F&F

Feature cards

I assume that play on the board is the same for 2 and 4 hobbits, so no difference here. Differences come from Rivendell and Lothlorien. To estimate them we need to convert Feature cards into dots. For non-yellow cards we have:
1 symbol grey cards = 0.44 dots (as per hobbit cards)
1 wild grey cards = 0.66 dots (10% more that wild white cards)

For 2-symbol card, if used to pay the cost of anything, they are worth twice as much as 1-symbol cards. However, if played to move any marker, they use less turns to do so, at a rate of 1 white-grey pair with 2 symbols each = 2 white-gray pair with 1 symbol each + 1 extra turn, worth 1 dot. Considering grey cards to be 20% more valuable that white cards allows to solve the equation, which leads to:
2-symbol (non wild) white cards =1.21 dots
2-symbol (non wild) grey cards = 1.46 dots
2-wild white cards = 1.55 dots
2-wild grey cards = 1.85 dots

[it is not relevant here, but we can include remaining cards:
Elessar: 3-symbol (non wild) white cards =2.24 dots
Gollum & Gandalf: 3-wild white cards = 2.74 dots
]

Yellow cards are harder to value, I will stick to the 2 dots value estimated by Bryan Stout.

We can then add all cards up and estimate how much is worth 1/3 of the lot, which is what 2 hobbits miss:
Rivendell = 18.4 dots; 1/3 is 6.1 dots
Lothlorien = 16.6 dots; 1/3 is 5.5 dots

Therefore, for Vanilla the difference is 11.6 dots. For F&F, Moria will be skipped 2 out of 3 times; if skipped, we can visit the Elves.
With 2 hobbits, we pick 2 (yellow) cards and roll once = 4 – 1.22 = 2.78 dots
With 4 hobbits, we pick 4 (yellow) cards and roll once = 8 – 1.73 = 6.27 dots
which means that it is always worth doing it.
The difference is 3.49 dots; average difference for Moria+Lothlorien considering skipping is 4.2.
So, total difference is = 9.1 dots

Events requiring cards

Considering just “each player” events gives the following list: (notice that each non-wild symbol is worth 0.5 dots because it could be played with grey card or wild cards also, even with multiple symbols)

Bree
Nazgûl: 50% chances of 1 fighting per hobbit, 50% prob. = -0.3 dots

Rivendell
The Fellowship of the Ring: 1 friendship symbol per hobbit = -1 dots

Moria
Event #2: 1 hiding symbol per hobbit = -1 dots

Lothlorien
Galadriel: 1 wild per hobbit = -1.2 dots

Shelob's Liar
Faces of the Dead: 1 wild per hobbit, 50% prob. = -0.6 dots

Total difference for Vanilla = -3.8 dots
Total difference for F&F = -3 dots (1/3 of each skippable scenairo)

Shields & Gandalf

I agree with 2.5 dots per card as estimated by Bryan's thread. So shield are worth 0.5 dots. There are events asking for shield per hobbit, which give differences for our study:

Bree
Nazgûl: 50% chances of 1 shield per hobbit, 50% prob. = -0.5 shields

Lothlorien:
2 shields per hobbit, 50% prob. = -2 shields

Isengard
Voice of Saruman: 50% chances of 2 shield per hobbit, 50% prob. = -1 shield

Shelob's Liar
Faces of the Dead: 3 shields per hobbit, 50% prob. = -3 shields

Mordor:
Sam saves Frodo = ignored (not taken)

Moreover, with 4 hobbits shields are split among 4 instead of 2. If we assume the same probability of having 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 shields (if I have more I buy Gandalf and have those as remainders), the average remainder is 2 per hobbit, which will go wasted at the end of the game (well, points actually). So the difference is = -4 shields

Total difference for Vanilla = -9 shield = -4.5 dots
Total difference for F&F = -8.5 shields for F&F (1/3 chance of playing Shelob's Liar) = -4.25 dots

Life tokens

I have already assumed that the same number of turns is played on each board; I have already taken into account that 2 hobbits have to draw more cards to compensate the 4 hobbit advantage in cards. Therefore to be coherent I have to assume that the same number of Life Tokens is collected on each board, leading to different corruption according to the number of hobbits. (4 hobbits could play cards to avoid it but I am not going into that kind of tactic analysis here, just pricing everything).
With optimal strategy it can be assumed that 2 hobbits are never corrupted due to missing life tokens, 4 hobbits receive at least 1 dot (need 11 tokens with 10 available – 5th ring doesn't count). A more realistic approach (slightly suboptimal, including discard 1 life token for conditional Sundial) is to consider 1 dot per board for two hobbits and 5 dots per board for 4 hobbits. Notice that there is no corruption in Mordor.
Therefore, total difference is = -4 dots per board = -12 dots (also for F&F if 4 boards are played)

Healing
There are so few cases which are “each player” that it is negligible.

Foes

In a typical play with 4 boards you will face all the Foes (although maybe you will not want to defeat them all – I assume the Black Gate variant). I only consider Foes that cause differential costs according to the number of hobbits, i.e. those that imply die rolls, Sauron movements or Life Tokens discards.

Of all Foes, 7 are the most expensive (I list they cost, not their names): Move Sauron 1, Discard 3 Life Tokens, Discard 3 wild, 3 corruption, Roll 1 die (x4). As for Event Tiles, I assume a standard strategy as a reference: using Fire Brand and Fire Storm for defeating 3 Foes of the above, and “not playing cards” to defeat other 2. You will then pay the cost of the “Roll the die” for 2 foes. As a roll costs 1.73 vs 1.22 dots, this means 1 extra dot for 4 hobbits.

Additionally, 4 hobbits will suffer more from life token discarding. We can assuming Life Tokens always cause 1 corruption for 4 pl, but for 2 pl. just 50% of the time (0.5 dots), and also that 1 spare Ring is always available. This means that only 4 Foes actually give different costs: discard 1 heart, discard 1 sun, discard 2 generic tokens and discard 2 rings (for the others I will discard the extra ring). This assumption gives an extra 2 dots for 4 hobbits.

Therefore, the difference is -3 dots.

Standard hobbit powers

Standard hobbit power have already been included in the previous calculations (Frodo: white hobbit cards value; Sam: die roll cost; Merry: life tokens needed). for Pippin, playing any 2 cards is very situational and could be worth half a turn (0.5 dots) maybe on 25% of Pippin's turns. If playing 4 boards, a good estimation could be having 9 turns per board and only 4 in Mordor. This means 28 turns, 7 for Pippin, so 1.75 turns with bonus, i.e. 0.88 dots.

F&F hobbit powers

Frodo's power has the same value with 2 and 4 pl. Sam's power, however, is more valuable for 4 hobbits. If we assume that his power is used to prevent Sauron from moving 2 steps (a good example could be in Bree) this gives a value of [benefit – cost of a full die]:
2 pl. = 4 – 1.67 = 2.33
4 pl. = 8 – 2 = 6
Difference = 3.67

Pippin's power is straightforward, 1 extra turn for 1 dot (although in some situations could be a lot more valuable, e.g. in Mordor). Merry's could be estimated to be used to defeat at least a 2-life-token Foe, or 2 1-token, for a value of 2 dots (but if used for defeating life-token Foes among the 4 newly drawn for the Helm's Deep + Shelob's Liar double skip, then it is priceless!). This gives a bonus of at least 3 dots.

Total difference is then 6.67 dots

Summary

The following table summarizes all previous results

Difference 4 vs 2 hobbits (dots)

Van. F&F
Corruption pool 24 24
Die & Sauron -19.8 -16.5
Events & Tiles 0 0
Hobbit cards 8.9 8.9
Elven cards 11.6 9.1
Cards from events -3.8 -3
Shields & Gandalf -4.5 -4.25
Life tokens -12 -12
Hobbit powers 0.88 0.88
Foes -3
F&F Hobbit pow. 6.67

Total 5.28 10.8

Conclusions

4 hobbits have an advantage versus 2 hobbits. In standard LOTR, with Sauron @12 this is estimated to be around 5 dots. However, with Sauron @10, it would be only 1 dot, and with Sauron @ 15 it would be 11 dots, so that Standard play is well balanced with 2 and 4 hobbits provided that you play with Sauron @ 10 or so. If you wanted to play with easier Sauron, with 2 hobbits you would need to implement one of the measures depicted for F&F (see below).

In F&F the advantage becomes greater: with Sauron @12 it is around 11 dots, 7 dots for Sauron @10 and 17 dots for Sauron @15.

With Sauron @10 for 4 hobbits, in order to offset the imbalance of 7 dots ONE the following could be done:
- Move Sauron to 15 (3 dots x 2 hobbits = 6 dots)
- Deal some extra cards: 2 hobbit card per hobbit per scenario (1 dot x 2 hob x 3 scenarios = 6 dots)
- Deal some extra cards: deal all elven cards. 2 Hobbits miss 6.1 dots worth of cards in Rivendell, 5.5 in Lothlorien. One solution could be to deal half of the missing cards, i.e. 5 cards each hobbit in both places, and dealing 3 cards if Moria if skipped and the Elves are visited (3 dots + 2.75 or 2 dots = 5.25 dots). To even increase it more, you could deal 6, discard 1 card for each hobbit.
- Make Pippin's and Merry's powers available, both F&F specials (3 dots) and standards ones, which could be used as specials (play any 2 cards once – 0.5 dots – and need 1 less life token, once – 1 dot). To boost the value, cards could be “pooled”, i.e. available for either Frodo or Sam, any time. (4.5 dots)

My preference goes to the last 2: slightly more cards from the elves or special powers to bring Merry and Pippin back into the story.

As F&F is harder than standard LOTR, if you wanted to play with Sauron @12 then you need to implement TWO of the previous measures to make it as 4 hobbits go.

Critiques

A lot of aspects lie outside the scope of a quantitative, static analysis. This is a list of the major ones that are pros for 4 hobbits:

- Sacrifice play: with 2 hobbits, losing one Hobbit to Sauron is a big hindrance; with 4, it could actually be an advantage, even losing 2 hobbit,s especially after Lothlorien (take all the cards, then play as 2 hobbits the last boards)
- Scenario skipping: this is slightly easier with 4 hobbits due to Merry's ability, especially for the “double skip”
- Actual play on scenario boards: 2 hobbits lack cards, therefore they will choose “not playing cards” to draw some, even to get out via events. This will lead to more turns than the “reference strategy”, so that the disadvantage that they have towards 4 hobbits will be probably experienced as the inability to finish the main track and facing more events than 4 hobbits do
- Randomness: as 2 hobbits miss some cards in Rivendell and Lothlorien, which have very different values, there will be a huge impact of which actual cards they miss.

These are the cons for 4 hobbits:
- Actual play on scenario boards: 4 hobbits have more corruption pool which goes mostly to dice rolls and Sauron movements; then they lack Life Tokens, so they will play more cards than the “reference” strategy considered for the calculations on side tracks to get more tokens.
- Sub-optimal play: with 4 hobbits you have to face the random split of cards, which could be really nasty, especially with “active hobbit” events. Moreover, with four people you won't take the optimal decision as much as with two people (this does not apply to 1 or 2 people playing 4 hobbits)

My guess is that they overall favor 4 hobbits vs 2, but it is not a big mistake to assume that they simply even out.[c][/c]

Review: Machtspiele:: POWER STRUGGLE on the Brain

GamesOnTheBrain — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:35:39 +0000

by GamesOnTheBrain

Power Struggle

by Bauldric & Friends

First off, I'd like to mention that this is my very first review. I've been a member of this site since 2003, but I've never been much of a writer. So why, after so many years, am I writing my first one? Because no one else has, and this game deserves attention. So please be gentle.

Oh, and one more thing. I wrote the latter half of this review while suffering from stomach flu, so if I all of the sudden become incoherent, you know why. =P

OVERVIEW

In Power Struggle, players act as corporate puppeteers, pulling strings from the shadows of a big company. Players strive to increase their power and influence within the company by hiring and firing employees, creating new departments, acquiring the special services of division heads, investing in stocks, controlling the board of directors, and bribing other players. The first person to achieve 4 of the following 6 conditions wins the game:

- at least 7 points on the Influence track,
- at least 18 points on the Shares track,
- at least 4 points on the Main Department track,
- at least 9 points on the Corruption track,
- at least 1 counsel in 3 different divisions on the Counsel track,
- defeating your Archenemy.

COMPONENTS

Upon opening the box, you'll find an abundance of colorful, high-quality components: a large and lavishly illustrated board, a number of event and archenemy cards, gorgeous paper money, over 100 meeples (managers), 60 cubes (employees), player aids, bribe folders, and thick privilege tiles. Eggertspiel never seems to fail at delivering extraordinary components.

RULEBOOK

The rulebook, unfortunately, is the most disappointing part of the game. It seems to be organized well, but there are quite a few typos, errors, and unclear rules -- at least in the English translation. With divisions, departments, main departments, department heads, division heads, employees, members of the board, a chairman of the board, and many other terms that are sometimes not adequately explained, things can get awfully confusing.

I read the rules front-to-back twice and reviewed them a 3rd time before playing, and yet we still referenced the rulebook at least twenty times in our first game. This is not to say the game is terribly complicated. It isn't. Most of the actions available to the players make perfect sense. There are simply quite a few different actions available, and quite a few ways to score points, and wrapping your head around it all can be tricky.

On the positive side, the designer has gone to heroic effort to highlight these errors, in threads such as this one:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/4171617#4171617

GAMEPLAY

Power Struggle is primarily an area control game -- complete with variable player powers and frequent backstabbing -- played in a series of rounds. Each round consists of a directors' meeting followed by 4 to 7 department turns.

A directors' meeting is simply a preparation phase for the round, where the players elect a new chairman of the board and determine new division heads (both based on majorities), assign privilege cards to the chairman and division heads, score influence points, and sort the event cards.

The player with the most members of the board of directors becomes the new chairman, and the players with the most department managers in a division, become division heads; the same player may hold one, none, or several of these positions. The chairman and the division heads each offer unique special powers. Obtaining them is crucial.

So what are these privileges?

- CHAIRMAN: At the beginning of the directors' meeting, you may create 1 new department with 1 employee.

- ACCOUNTING: If you buy shares, you may receive a larger number of shares than you pay for, depending on the current motivation
value.

- CONTROLLING: You may receive more money for each of your departments and during the payment event, depending on the current motivation value.

- DEVELOPMENT: You may entice 1 employee away from another player's department and add it to one of your own.

- HUMAN RESOURCES: You may receive additional employees from the general stock during the actions hiring employees and founding departments actions, depending on the current motivation value.

- LEGAL & PATENTS: You may dismiss 1 of your own employees in order to score 1 influence point.

- COMMUNICATIONS: At the end of the directors' meeting, you may sort the 8 event cards for the current turn.

In one of the more unique elements of the game, the head of the communications division next takes 6 random event cards, along with the payment card and the directors' meeting card, and creates an event deck with them in any order he wishes, with two restrictions: the payment card (where players are paid for holding certain positions and owning shares) must come before the directors' meeting card (an end-of-the-round card), and the directors' meeting card must be in the bottom half of the deck (the 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th card). The events and their order are only known by the head of Communications.

The events and their order impact the game in a number of ways. Many of the event cards raise or lower the motivation level, which in turn affects several of the privileges offered to the division heads, as shown above. Other events immediately penalize or reward players holding certain positions.

Next, there are 4-7 department turns, depending on how many event cards precede the directors' meeting card in the event deck. At the beginning of each department turn, the top card of the event deck is first revealed and resolved. Then, beginning with the communications head and proceeding around table, each player takes one action.

There are quite a few different actions available to the players, so I'll summarize:

Hire Employees, Found New Departments, and Restructure Departments involve adding or moving employees and department heads (henceforth called managers). The player with the most managers in a division will become the new division head during the directors' meeting. The number of employees is the tie-breaker.

Resign as Divisional Head: When the division head resigns, he may do one of two things: 1) move both the division head and all of his managers from that division to the board of directors, where they will score influence points during each directors' meeting and may become the chairman of the board, or 2) turn his division head into an external counsel -- one of the victory conditions. Either way, the division is closed, and all other employees and managers of the division, including those belonging to other players, are fired!

Bribe Other Players: A player can make a secret bribe (by placing cash in the bribe folder) to obtain a corruption point and a privilege card from another player. A privilege acquired through a bribe has a stronger effect than the standard privilege of a divisional head. If the bribed player accepts the bribe, he too gets a corruption point, but if he rejects the offer, he has to fire one of his employees!

Use a Privilege Card: See the Development privilege and the Legal & Patents privilege above.

Buy Points: A player can dismiss employees or spend money to advance on the competence (victory point) tracks:

- Influence: dismiss 3 of your own employees for 1 influence point

- Shares: pay an increasing amount of cash per share to buy stock, which counts towards a victory condition and pays out from the payment card event

- Main Departments: pay cash to create a main department (a department with 2 managers that can never be removed from the board -- due to resignations, for example) and score 1 point on the main department track

- Counsels: pay cash to place a manager on one of the counsel tracks

There are several other ways to get points, too. Influence can be obtained during the directors' meeting by holding positions on the board of directors. Main departments can be created and scored with the Found New Department action. And Counsels can be acquired with the Resignation action. On the other hand, Shares can only be bought with cash with the Buy Points action, and Corruption only comes from making or accepting bribes. Some of the privilege cards give bonuses to these actions as well.

Ok, so now that you understand the basics of obtaining points on the tracks of influence, shares, main departments, corruption, and counsels, you may be wondering, what is the 6th condition, defeating your archenemy?

At the beginning of the game, each player is given a secret archenemy color card and a secret archenemy competence card. The color card identifies one other player color, and the competence card lists 3 of the 5 competence tracks. This victory condition is fulfilled by leading the named archenemy at any time during the game on all 3 of the competence tracks listed. If you happen to draw your own player color as your archenemy, then you can fulfill this condition by leading *all* of the other players in 2 of the 3 competences listed.

If a player has at least 4 of the 6 conditions fulfilled on his turn, he may declare it. The remainder of the department turn is then played, and if he remains the only player with 4 conditions fulfilled, he wins. If any other player is able to meet 4 of the 6 conditions on the same department turn, then the player with the most money wins.

For the sake of brevity, I've left out many of the more finer details of the game, but you should now have a basic idea of how the game works.

MY THOUGHTS

So what do I think? Power Struggle is a mega-hit for me. It very well may be my game of the year. The game offers a number of fresh twists on standard area control mechanics, multiple paths to victory, and plenty of room for crafty play. The variable (and unknown) length of each round due to the order of the event cards and the enhanced power of bribed privileges are both ingenius.

I'm not the only one who loves the game. Says Eggertspiele's Wolf Wittenstein, "As far as I am concerned this is one of the best games for a party of three players that I have encountered in the last decade. The game usually holds the tension up to the very last minute." It's no wonder that the game won the Hippodice 2009 award for best full-length game, and it's also no wonder that Eggertpiele raced it to market within a matter of months. The freshman designer deserves a wild round of applause.

I can hardly wait for my next game of POWER STRUGGLE!

COMPONENTS:
RULEBOOK:
THEME:
STRATEGY:
LUCK:
INTERACTION:
GAMEPLAY:

OVERALL:

Thread: Age of Conan: The Strategy Board Game:: General:: A little tip about keeping score

drpetrov — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:32:49 +0000

by drpetrov

I have found that using one of your towers as your score marker, instead of the little cardboard disc, spices things up a bit. They are easier to see and pick up, and overall add a little bit of flavour to the game.

Try it... maybe you'll like it.

Peet

Thread: Dominion:: Variants:: Fan Card - Philosopher's Stone

Buggy — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:48:19 +0000

by Buggy

It is a touch too powerful, perhaps.

]]>

Thread: Pandemic:: Rules:: Special Events Cards

BSalm — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:47:19 +0000

by BSalm

I am contemplating buying this game and have downloaded the rules to try and get a feel for the game. The rules are very well done and clear cut. I do have one question though:

The rules state:

The Player Cards deck contains some Special Event cards.

Are all the Special Event cards shuffled into the Player Cards, or does the number of Special Event cards vary depending on the number of players in a game?

Thanks,
Bill

Thread: Richard III: The Wars of the Roses:: General:: best 2 out of 3

Stephen Crane — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:42:59 +0000

by Stephen Crane

Why not best 2 out of 3 campaigns instead of determing the winner at the end of the 3rd campaign? I just recently got the game and i'm in full tinkering house rule mode
I like that you can play the 30 minute or so Richard III scenario up to however long you want, neat game.

Session: Arkham Horror:: Did Halloween knock Arkham Horror out of the top 50

krechevskoy — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:37:49 +0000

by krechevskoy

I wonder how many other people played AH during the halloween weekend. And I wonder how many others like us, have ever been so polarized over a game, and possibly gave it lower marks when they were done. Sort of like when kids play with a Ouija board and are dissapointed at its lame and boring outcome. I find myself wondering how I can keep saying things such as "It is not the same, but it is" to defend AH as I slap it with backhanded compliments.

Just as a bit of background we had a larger group of people playing 2 different games of Arkham Horror(we wanted manageable, so no 9+ player games). One group played with 3+ expansions and all the fixins, smothered-covered. And our group wanted to go back and simply play only the original AH game.

This summary covers the original relase game, as I was not at the big tenticle table. Every so often I enjoy going back to the plain vanilla version of games that have been expanded. But calling AH vanilla is like saying "War and Peace" is a light read.

Both tables had set up a hard time limit, as we have had experience with these games going on too long. So even though we did not "finish" some of us still had fun.

AH is a game we play maybe once or twice a year, we screw up the rules for about the first few turns, then things start clicking. If we played more often, we would probably be more comfortable with the rules. But if we played more often some of our group would probably revolt.

The main complaint I hear amongst the dissenters was, "I do not feel like I am playing or contributing." This is my only gripe about the game. If you have a player that has sealed 3 gates, and they don't feel like they are playing or contributing, something with the system is broken. And this response is not an isolated occurance. But this feeling of along for the freefall is also what draws fans of Arkham Horror.

The above paragraph is also why I enjoy Arkham Horror. AH feels more like an event unfolding, once I read the BGG article to stop playing AH like a normal game and just enjoy the chaos, AH got much better. Even I admit after a game of AH, I sometimes feel like I just wasted 3 hours of my life on a game that frustrates the heck out of me. There is also the issue of having to rationalize some of the mechanics. I moved 2 spaces to help seal away a greater evil, what is that? But it is after I think of it about 3 days later I think back on it and I'm like "It wasn't that bad". I like these involved horror games, I played the hell out of Eternal Darkness, and Silent Hill when they came out, but those games offered a bit more capability than AH does.

Anyway after the play we found: Our rules recollection gets rusty, we all are frustrated at the games length for the lack of player capability (we are no experts, nor are we slouches), and we all agree the game does make everyone feel frustrated and hopeless, just like a real Lovecraft story. In fact after playing it I went back to BGG and docked it about half a point. AH is good, but after I play it, I want to play it less. It feels more like an aversion rather than I got my fill. But also Arkham is very love craft, I'm not supposed to feel all "disney" when I walk away from it. That is the point. If anyone remembers a certain line from harry Potter 3, when Ron tells Harry. "You're going to suffer, but you're going to like it."

Playing Arkham horror is going to be the same way people are about horror films, no matter how intrinsically good the movie or game may be, some people just are not going to enjoy it. And if you don't completely enjoy it teh same as horror enthusiests do, you are going to hear it from the fanboys for the rest of your life.

Thread: Paths of Glory:: News:: Online Paths of Glory 2009 BPA tourney

Herr Dr — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:35:25 +0000

by Herr Dr

60 players in the online (ACTS) Paths of Glory 2009 BPA tourney:

http://www.wamconvention.com/POG%202009.html

...now if we could just get an app on the ITouch for it, we could get a few thousand players

Thread: Tobago:: Variants:: 2 Player Variant - 3 treasures

fantasidhe — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:06:54 +0000

by fantasidhe

Last Night i played with my wife , i´ve noticed that there are too much treasures to choose , and every election are too much free compared with the four players.
I played this morning a 2p game with only 3 treasures avaliable and the game seems more tense , and the options seems to be more adjusted for 2p.
I recomend 3 treasures in the 2p games. Try it if you can.

Thread: Kingsburg - To Forge a Realm:: Rules:: Sawmill, Quarry and Goldsmith bonuses

Henkka — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:06:05 +0000

by Henkka

I'm pretty sure I got this right, but additional clarity wouldn't hurt, so..

I assume you can't use the goods that you receive from these buildings right away (because you get them at the end of summer, which is presumably after you have had your opportunity to build buildings)? That is, swap wood for 2 gold during summer and then use that gold to build a building.

Thread: Pursuit of Glory :: General:: Are we being flamed?

bradstock — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:59:53 +0000

by bradstock

You will notice that Pursuit's actual rating is dropping quickly since the new ranking system came out. I suspect that it is because I spoke against the new system. The recent and only 1 we have been rated is from Denmark, from whence a certain individual vocally denounced me for opposing the system. You will also notice that the rating of 1 is from a brand new Danish BGG user. Coincidence? Perhaps.

But this does show the ability for anger and revenge to be used to drive the rating system. When I spoke against the new ratings, I knew in my head that it was likely that Pursuit's ratings would drop, for I had heard that some BGG users resorted to this sort of retaliation. Now, with a large-selling game, that will have no real effect. But with smaller games, such retaliation can greatly skew things -- this 1 rating dropped us by .06, which is a huge effort to knock us out of the top 100 wargames by only one individual.

How do the powers that be at BGG handle that form of distortion?

Does anyone actually know how to deal with that sort of unfairnress (sort of a reverse form of the shilling the BGG organizers are worried about)?

I would expect our ratings to plummet again based upon my posting this statement. We shall see.

Thread: Brass:: Rules:: About the computer implementation...

fardoche — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:59:24 +0000

by fardoche

Hi

I just read the rules (twice) and gave it a newbie shot with the program available in the files section. Everything ran pretty smoothly until this happened:

At the end of the canal era, VPs were counted but somehow the marker didnt move up the scoring (income) track. In other words, when I started the rail era, I started with the same income amount than at the end of canal era

Is this a bug or should I keep track of the VPs separate from the income track?

Thread: StarForce 'Alpha Centauri': Interstellar Conflict in the 25th Century:: Rules:: Dumb Question

ctcharger — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:55:04 +0000

by ctcharger

I am reading the OOB for the first scenario. Does the Centauri player get a Starforce AND a stargate or just a stargate? Or are stargates noted on the map somehow? Is there a map key anywhere?

oops just noticed that everyone gets s stargate at their locations. Still have a question on the map key though.

Thread: Red Barricades - ASL Historical Module 1:: Variants:: ASL - ATS conversion

hreschreiter — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:52:28 +0000

by hreschreiter

Hi everyone,

having played the campaign of RB via ASL in the past, I have got the itch now to try the same thing again - but in ATS.

Has anyone any experience in that, or any hints / links to help me get this project rolling, e.g. for conversion ratios, how to use the cloaking thing better? I have seen the 'ATS on the table' website which covers scenarios for RB, but not the campaign.

Any help is much appreciated, many thanks in advance!

Thread: Bobby Lee:: Rules:: 1993 Original Rules

vmi1983 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:39:09 +0000

by vmi1983

Hi Booby Lee Fans.

I have a copy of the original rules from 1993. I prefer the original rules
to the later versions. If you wish to play the game as it was orignally
conceived, please send me a PM.

I can send you a copy via email. I tried to up-load the rules here
but I believe the file is too large. Perhaps someone with more know-how
may be capable to reduce the pdf file.

Thanks,

Matt

Thread: Tales of the Arabian Nights:: General:: Is TotAN Worth It?

jininthenet — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:18:57 +0000

by jininthenet

Im a board gamer for a while, and have been playing mainly Talisman, Carcassonne, D&D Mini board game, Ingenious, Blokus, Betrayal at the House on Hill, Settlers of Catan, etc..

I came across a copy (only one) of this board game in my FLGS, and read the description at the box and found it very interesting. I'm tempted to get it but with the price tag for this game, i got to consider it cos it ain't cheap.. I would rather spent it on other board games instead if it's not nice..I'm not sure if TotAN is worth it...

My interest in board game is quite varied, as you can see from the list I mentioned.. I don't mind simple board game that do not require lots of strategies, thinking or complicated rules or system, main criterias Im looking for are fun, exicitng, high replayability, strong theme, some role play element is great though not a must, players interaction and quality bits...

I have read some of the reviews and they sort of gave me mixed feelings..and here are my major concern too:

1. Should I get the copy now or should I wait for another latest version soon to be released in december this year (it's the corrected version, I hope)? My concern is I hope not to buy a board game that I need to do many adjustment or corrections, or any at all. I just wish to get the perfect one (that's why I actually bought Talisman 4th edition Revised)

2. I know the theme is very suitable for younger gamers as it tells lots of stories as we play along, especially those bizare incidents that may happen to anyone anytime, much like Talisman. How does this game compare to Talisman in this aspect? Is this game suitable for adults like us? I rate and value Talisman highly, really enjoy the game..

3. Really concern with down time. How long does a player take to finish his turn in average? In Talisman, really fast, perhaps less than 30 seconds..

Thanks for all your feedback and advice. If I find it nice, I may just get it tomorrow..

Thread: Midgard:: General:: correct number of viking warrior pawns?

freelunch — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:06:00 +0000

by freelunch

I've just unsealed my [thing=23985][/thing] box and sat down with the rules to learn how to play and the number of viking warrior pawns in my box doesn't match the rules.

I have 12 each in three colours and 10 each of the other two. I know some games intentionally allocate more units when less players are playing - is that the case here, or should I have eleven of each colour as stated in the rules?

Session: Mr. Jack:: First play with the lovely wife

drjoe1e6 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:04:18 +0000

by drjoe1e6

The kids are tucked into bed, and it's dark, clear night. Perfect time for a walk through Whitechapel.

We set up the board, and I explained the rules, with an able assist from movement summaries here on the Geek. Thank you to all who contribute!! I took the role of Jack.

On turn 1, my wife managed to eliminate half the suspects. Good start! Still under a cloud of suspicion were Lestrade, Stealthy, Watson, and Goodley. We quickly realized that control of these characters would be key.

On turn 2, I brought three pairs of characters together. And I took a card for Holmes. All four suspects were witnessed; my wife got no new information. Turn 3 was similar.

Turn 4, Ms Stealthy proved her innocence as the 4th light went out.
Turn 5, As Whitechapel grew darker, I brought Lestrade & Goodley into the shadows. Dr Watson was cleared. Down to two. Would Jack escape?

Turn 6, Lestrade and Goodley both remained in darkness. And both were near open manhole covers, positioned for the big escape. Everything hinged on the next turn of the cards...

Turn 7, Both suspects appeared on this turn. My wife choose to move... Lestrade. Curses! Since Goodley did not perform an easy escape, Jack's identity was obvious. But I had one last hope. Using Goodley's whistle, I beckoned other characters to as far as possible from Lestrade.

Turn 8, I moved Ms Stealthy; she was the only with the range to catch the Ripper. Holmes and Smith were but one cobblestone away when the night ended, and Jack/Lestrade emerged victorious!

We look forward to more cat & mouse chases with Mr. Jack.

Thread: War on Terror:: News:: War on Terror no.5 in '50 Best Board Games' in today's Independent (UK)

TerrorBull Games — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:55:51 +0000

by TerrorBull Games

Bit of a shock when I opened the Independent today:

http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/outdoor-activit...

Yay!

Yeh, we know the list is a bit, shall we say, 'patchy' and we got beaten by Snakes & Ladders, but you have to give them kudos for putting such an anti-mainstream, relatively unknown game in the top 10. Would never have thought it. I'm impressed.

Review: Power Grid - Factory Manager:: Factory Manager Initial Review

Eisley — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:55:46 +0000

by Eisley

As someone who likes Power Grid, the idea of Power Grid: Factory Manager was very intriguing. I wondered if it was like Power Grid, or would it be too like Power Grid?

The goal is to earn as much money as possible in a limited amount of turns. Each player has their own factory and buys machines (to produce goods or improve efficiency) and warehouse space. Each manufacturing machine uses power and require workers if they’re not automated. Income is based on the lower of your manufacturing capacity and warehouse capacity, so you need to keep these two factors as balanced as possible and plan for expanding evenly too.

Your limited amount of workers are under great demand as workers are not only needed to run machines but are also used to bid on the turn order cards. The turn order cards that mean you take your turn towards the end of a round come with a discount on every purchase, so they can have quite an impact and going first may not be your priority. Workers are also used to buy new machines as well as remove old ones (which is important later in the game when you want to add machines but don’t have space).

Interestingly, the machines that will be available for purchase are selected each round by the players who each, and in turn, select a number of machines to be available for purchase (based on how many workers they have available).Any player can buy any available machine and any machines not purchased in a round will be available for selection for sale again next round. This is a very interesting mechanic as you want to bring out the machine you want to purchase but ensure there are other options too in case someone else buys it before you. Your turn order in that round plays a very important part in your decisions.

Each round you pay for your power usage which is simple and energy prices rise as the game continues. In our game, the price didn’t rise by much, and we all had machines that meant our power use was low anyway, so it didn’t seem that important. However, in hindsight, I can see that every Electro (the currency) counts. Twice I wanted to purchase the perfect machine for my round but was just a few Elektros short. If I’d saved 2 or 3 Elektros on power cost, things may have been very different for me (especially if the energy price had risen more rapidly as it can do).

I never bid any workers to get a turn order tile as most of my workers were committed to manufacturing, or would be needed for purchasing machines. I didn’t find this too much of a hinderance as the turn order cards seem well-balanced - going early in a round means paying full price, going later gets a discount. As a result, I mostly ended up being 2nd in turn order with no purchase discount. This didn’t bother me as the machines I wanted were always available (although I didn’t always have enough cash for what I wanted to purchase). Once again, what was critical though was for me to plan according to my turn order.

Overall, Factory Manager is an efficiency engine game (like Power Grid) but it is not a Power Grid clone and the gameplay is different. Working out which machine would best maximise profits but still be good for expansion later is tricky. Working out where manpower should be used is interesting. It’s all good, thoughtful gameplay. Even with all the thinking, I felt it played more quickly than Power Grid. The aspect I found most interesting was that you weren’t necessarily trying to be first or last in a turn - your game didn’t rely on it. Instead, you would adapt your strategy to suit your place in that round’s turn order, and that aspect was very nice. I own Power Grid already and, whilst I doubt I will buy Factory Manager, I certainly want to play it more.

James.

[Played with 4 players]

This review and other reviews of Essen Spiel 09 games on my blog at http://thegameofgaming.wordpress.com

Thread: Keltis:: General:: NDS version available (German only I tihnk)

jamessinden — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:49:50 +0000

by jamessinden

Looks like this is the latest game to be converted to the NDS after Catan and Carcassonne.

http://www.usm.de/produkte/cd-rom-dvd-rom/hobby-freizeit/spi...

Great news for gamers, lets hope its a success so more titles can be developed.

Thread: Struggle of Empires:: Rules:: Ottoman Empire / Mediterranean Land : why is there a distinction made in the rules ?

ubiq1er — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:48:06 +0000

by ubiq1er

I had my first game of SoE last night (a 2 player-game, i lost), and dreamt about the game all night (really).
When i woke up this morning, there were still some questions about the rules i wanted to ask. I found many answers on this forum, but there is still 1 question i have to ask :

Ottoman Empire / Mediterranean Land : Why is there a distinction made in the rules between these 2 land areas ?

Obviously, Mediterranean land and Ottoman Empire "share" the Mediterranean Sea (1 sea for 2 lands).
So when i read in the rules (even in the excellent rewritten ruleset by rgmnetid, in the files section) : "You can always move a navy to the six colonial areas, the Baltic, and the Mediterranean, but never to Central Europe, the German States, or the Ottoman Empire."
I just don't get it.

Does it mean ?
- The fleets that are in the Mediterranean Sea can be used to move an army to Mediterranean Land, but not to the Ottoman Empire.
- The fleets that are in the Mediterranean Sea can be used in an Attack against Mediterranean Land as well as an attack against Ottoman Empire.

Is this correct ? (sorry for my english, hope my question is still understandable)

Thread: Race for the Galaxy:: General:: SLEEVES!!!

kantpaper — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:44:56 +0000

by kantpaper

I think I'm gonna grab a copy of RftG this weekend. But I need to know what kind of sleeves are required to protect them over the long-term. Will penny-sleeves work, that is, do they "fit" the cards (I'm relatively new to hobby gaming--I think that is what the cheapest sleeves one can buy are are called)?

Thread: Agricola:: General:: Base Components and the 5-player Game

kantpaper — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:38:39 +0000

by kantpaper

I read somewhere, and now I cannot remember where, that the base Agricola does not come with enough wooden tokens to play a 5-player game; in such games, for example, you are eventually forced to use non-reed tokens to represent reed.

For those of you who have played the 5-player game with the base game components, have you had this experience? Was there a shortage?

(I do not current own a copy of Agricola, but I will be buying it some time in the near future and would like to know if upgrading to __-meeples is necessary.)

Thread: Talisman 4th Edition:: General:: Talisman expansions for other 3 corners of the board

jcikal — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:37:04 +0000

by jcikal

Will FFG release expansions to cover the other 3 corners of the board like the 3rd edition did? So far we have the dungeon (which is much improved I might say), which occupies 1 corner, but will we see the other 3 corners occupied as well?

Thread: Prussia's Glory:: News:: Reprint?

Davmog — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:20:41 +0000

by Davmog

Any chance of GMT doing a reprint of this game; getting a copy is like finding hen's teeth!

Thread: Endless Patrol:: General:: Anyone played this?

fatgreta — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:19:37 +0000

by fatgreta

Has anyone ever played this game? I'm just curious, among other things, to see if anyone ever sees this post. I'm also always interested in solo war games.

Session: Um Reifenbreite:: Solo play: Milaan - San Remo 2009 (Dutch)

ParisRoubaix — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:16:37 +0000

by ParisRoubaix

Milaan - San Remo 2009

Mijn oranje Angelsaksen staan niet in supervorm aan de
start van de Primavera (4/6/9/8).

Na een rustige start begint het gewriemel om positie te
kiezen en slechte vormkaarten zo snel mogelijk uit te
spelen zonder al teveel plaatverlies.

Nog voor de Cipressa regent het plotseling demarrages.
Gilbert is weggesprongen, Haussler rijdt erachteraan en
even verder doen ook Kroon, Cavendish en Rebellin een
poging om aansluiting te vinden.

Op de top van de Cipressa heeft zich een 8 man sterke
kopgroep gevormd, met daarin 3 kopmannen, Cavendish
en ook een waakzame Hincapie.

Van een peloton is na de Cipressa geen sprake meer: de
beklimming heeft een waar slagveld aangericht. In kleine
groepjes beginnen de renners aan de afdaling in
achtervolging op de omvangrijke kopgroep.

De verschillen zijn groot als de eerste renners aan de voet
van de Poggio komen. Onder impuls van alweer Gilbert
en Haussler is de kopgroep uiteen gespat. Hincapie rijdt
zich leeg voor zijn sprinter. Maar hoewel Cavendish nog
fris zit, heeft hij een gat moeten laten op de twee leiders.

Rebellin is de eerste achtervolger op bijna een minuut.
Gilbert en Haussler zitten niet stil, maar door het
fantastische werk van Hincapie vindt Cavendish weer
aansluiting vooraan.

Op het moment dat de twee Angelsaksen komen
aanpikken, kiest Haussler alweer voor de aanval. Gilbert
countert gemakkelijk, maar Hincapie kraakt.

In de afdaling heeft Gilbert zijn vluchtmakker gelost en
stormt alleen op de finish af. Haussler is ingelopen door
het oranje duo, waar Cavendish nu zelf het heft in handen
neemt. Toch bedraagt de achterstand al 25 seconden...

Een dramtisch moment: Gilbert valt stil, waardoor
Cavendish erin slaagt om met een jump nog net voor de
laatste rechte lijn aan het wiel van de Waal te komen.

Ook tegen een leeggereden Cavendish is Gilbert in de
spurt niet opgewassen. Een teleurgestelde Haussler wordt
derde op een halve minuut.

1. M. Cavendish
2. P. Gilbert 0.00
3. H. Haussler 0.36
4. G. Hincapie 1.30
5. F. Wegmann 1.42
6. A. Davis
7. K. Kroon 2.00
8. D. Rebellin
9. T. Hushovd
10. L. Paolini
11. A. Schleck
12. S. Garzelli
13. A. Petacchi 4.00
14. T. Boonen
15. L. Sanchez
16. S. Gerrans
17. V. Nibali
18. D. Bennati 5.36
19. M. Scarponi
20. F. Pozzato

Thread: Frontline D-Day:: News:: UK release?

Davmog — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:13:22 +0000

by Davmog

Hi, is this game going to be available in the UK. I see it's out in the US but can't find it anywhere in the UK.

Thread: Where There Is Discord: War in the South Atlantic:: General:: Historical result

jvdv — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:11:35 +0000

by jvdv

If you look at the chapter Campaign Assessment, what was the actual result achieved by the British? My knowledge of this war is somewhat limited.

Thread: Middle-Earth Quest:: Variants:: ME Solo

Old Dwarf — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:54:03 +0000

by Old Dwarf

..or I just got tired of waiting for Skeletor

Middle Earth Quest is an Adventure Game playable by 2-4 people.
unlike some Adventure Games it has an "Active"Villain player
(Sauron) & then 1-3 Hero's.This makes a Solo Game difficult as your not playing against a "System"

The Following Rules were developed to allow the Game to be played Solo.They follow the ME Quest Rulebook.All ME Quest Rules apply unless modified below:

SET UP:

As is but each side draws a Mission Card at random
& places it face down before them.It's NOT revealed until
the Game ends.

Roll on Hero Priority Table-This determines what Hero
attempts to do in the game. Roll:d6

1=Complete Quests(Starting & Advanced must be done first)
2=Destroy Plots
3=Kill Monsters
4=Destroy all influence locations over 3
5=Gather Favor
6=Stay untainted (remove corruption)*This is
a Secondary Priority roll again for 1st Priority
& reroll 6 result.

*Hero's lacking this Priority must roll d6 to remove
corruption on a roll of 5-6 besides the usual criteria.

Note 1- if Hero can't attempt to fulfill priority action
as The Priority doesn't exist on the Board.Reroll
at once on the above Table until you get a result
that can be fulfilled.The result now becomes
the new Hero Priority for the Game.

Note 2-Once the Hero has completed a Priority
(besides # 6)He rolls d6 on a roll of 1-4 he continues
the Current Priority (provide that Priority exists on the Board) on a Roll of 5-6 he Rolls on The Priority Table to choose a new one.Once the Hero has the #6 Secondary Priority it remains with him for the entire game.

Note 3-The Priority does not over ride choices that are
randomly chosen by dice.However the Hero may reroll
once only the choice die if it conflicts with his priority.
He must accept the 2nd roll.It also does not stop a
Hero from preforming another Priority if he has the
opportunity.(He lands on a Plot Location & Discards
a Plot ,etc-even though his Priority is Killing Monsters).

Note4-A Hero may always divert from a Priority to
go to an adjacent Location to pick up Favor,Remove Plots,Heal ,break an Influence Chain, complete a
Quest or consult with a Character -He do only once per Turn- See Note 5

Note 5-The Hero Priority means The Hero must
move to accomplish his Priority from where he is at
to the nearest Location where his Priority is Located.
He must use the Shortest chain of Locations to
do so measured by actual Location & NOT terrain.

Note 6-Starting the Game the only 2 Priority Choices
on the Board are #'s 1&2 Rolld6 Odd=1 Even=2

SAURON TURN:

1.Hero Rally as is
2.Story Step as Is
3.Plot Step-Sauron can only play a Plot if Plot/Shadow Action
is in effect (See Action Step)
4.Event Step-As is
5.Action Step-Modify,now Sauron must roll a die to see which
type of Actions he can use. If Action rolled for is filled
assign the other 2 Action Areas Odd/Even & Roll d6.

Rolld6:
1-2= Influence Actions
3-4=Shadow & Plot cards
5-6=Command Minions & Monsters

Note1- the Action Marker is always placed on the left most
vacant position in the chosen Action Area.

Note2-To check Shadow Pool possible Placement
of Influence Rolld6:

1-2=0
3-4=1
5-6=2

Note3-Sauron may not play a Shadow Card unless
he has the Shadow/Plot Action as a current Action.

Note4- when placing Monsters Sauron can always place
A Monster in any region that a hero is in or on a Plot ,
otherwise Roll d10 to randomize placement.
Sauron may chose exact Location within area to place the Monster.Placement of the Monster should be
the most advantageous for Sauron(protecting
Influence,blocking Hero's from Quests,etc.)

Remember all other ME Quest placement rules apply including the Black Serpent special rule.

Monster Placement Table

1=Gondor
2=Rohan
3=Enedwaith
4=Rhudaur
5=Mordor
6=Brown Lands
7=Mirkwood
8=Misty Mts
9=Grey Mts
10=Eriador

Note3-Command Actions modifications:

-Sauron may always move a Minion or Monster
if that move would cause the Minion/Monster to
enter the same space as a Hero(Sauron's Choice
if he does not Roll on Command Table)

-Sauron may always Heal Minion

-.Command Table Roll d6

1-2=Move Minion
3-4=Place Monster
5-6=Move Monster

If Option rolled not available re roll until get usable
result.Remember Movement & Placement follow
ME Quest Rules

Note4-Remember the Actions are in effect until the
next Action Step rolls for new Actions.

Note4-Possible increased Shadow Activity.At the
Start of the Action Phase roll d6 on a roll of 5-6
Sauron gets to roll for a 3rd Action.

6.Hero Draw Step-as is but cards are drawn face down
& not revealed until Travel or Combat

HERO TURN:

Special-Roll on Hero Priority Table if needed
( Note in most cases Hero will roll on the Table
during his turn)

1.Rest Step-as is
2.Ambush Step -as is
3.Travel Step-modified as follows:

-Movement Limits-Hero may always move to an adjacent
Location(providing meets ME Quest Rules criteria) after
that for each additional move during turn roll d6:

1-4=Move
5-6 =can't move anymore during turn.

Note1-Hero may look at Cards to determine Movement Icons
& if multiple choices randomly choose between cards

Note 2 - If Hero must expend cards that reduce his hand to 3 or
less cards he can't move.Exception he may move to enter
adjacent Haven or adjacent complete Quest /Remove Plot
Location if ME Quest criteria met.

Note 3-A Hero must always move unless under the
restrictions of above.However a Hero can stay &
explore the space he is in before he moves.A Hero
may also stay in a Haven he entered If he
conducts a Rest/Heal during the next Rest turn.

-Combat or Peril if Sauron has choice rolld6

Odd=Combat
Even =Peril

Note 1-If more than 1 Monster/Minion on Location
assign each a die & roll highest # fights

Note 2-If more than 1 Peril Card would qualify for use
assign each a die & roll highest # is used.

-Explore-as is

4.Encounter Step-if draw cards that qualify & which have
same # assign each a die & roll Lowest # is played.

GENERAL :

Combat:

-Cards are drawn face down & played from top down

-Heroes Agility Check to see if Hero uses some Agility
to draw extra cards roll d6:

1=1-2 Agility rounded down
2-3=2 Agility used
4-5=1/4 Agility rounded down used
6=1 Agility used

Note-if result rolled brings # to use to Zero then no
Agility is used.

Choices-where a Card or Counter offers choices assign each choice a die & roll,highest # is used.

Character Choices A Hero with a Horse or a Dwarf Hero
must chose to take favor.A Hero that already has an item
the Character offers must take favor.

FINALE:

As is except now the Mission Cards are revealed as per
ME Quest Rules(basically both sides now find out the Victory
Conditions.This allows for tension as both sides do not know
the the exact criteria that wins the Game.

Note on Time:

For the purpose of making Session Reports the
following applies:

1.Each 2 Location Traveled = 1week*
2.To Rest =1 week
3.To Explore =1 week
5.Use Shire Reckoning for the months
and consider each month =5weeks

*If only 1 Location traveled to it counts as 1 week.

Shire Reckoning Calendar

Note the Single days are used for reference only

2 Yule (Dec.22)
Afteryule (Dec/Jan)
Solmoth(Jan/Feb)
Rethe(Feb/March)
Astron(March/April)
Thrimidge(April/May)
Forelithe(May/June)
1 Lithe(June 21)
Mid Years Day(June 22)
Overlithe(in Leap year)
2 Lithe(June 23)
Afterlithe(June/July)
Wedmath(July/Aug)
Halimath(Aug/Sept)
Winrtefilth(Sept/Oct)
Blotmath(Oct/Nov)
Foreyule(Nov/Dec)
1 Yule( Dec 21)

Thread: Combat Commander: Pacific:: Rules:: Should Spider Hole a MUST for the Japanese player?

fatgreta — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:45:52 +0000

by fatgreta

This seems like an event that should be a 'may' for the Japanese player. I had Mifune one hex away from a suppressed enemy squad, waiting for an advance order, and got Spider Hole. Why would the Emporer's Hero voluntarily flee from such a situation (he had to move way back across the river in Ichiki Attacks, behind his own lines)?

I'm just wondering what other, more experienced players,think about this, as I'm just learning the game.

Thread: At the Gates of Loyang:: Rules:: Saleswoman Helper

violentvioletcat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:03:15 +0000

by violentvioletcat

Does the second power of this helper that say: "During the current Action phase, your Casual customers pay a bonus of +2 on the base price for all deliveries (regardless of how many Regular customers you have)." is in ADDITION to the bonus that I get if I have more Regular than Casual Customer?

bye,
VioletCat

Thread: War of the Ring Collector's Edition:: General:: Typo Errors On Cards

kookoobah — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:00:42 +0000

by kookoobah

Have errors on the cards been fixed? Like the one on the Gandalf the White card (Sauron minions instead of Shadow minions) been changed?

Thread: War of the Ring - Battles of the Third Age:: Rules:: Companions in Fangorn/Voice of Saruman, Companion movement while Fellowship is in Shadow Stronghold and He Sees, He Knows

kookoobah — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:35:38 +0000

by kookoobah

Is it correct that the Ents do not need to be mustered in order for an Ent to appear in Fangorn when the Voice of Saruman is used, as long as a Companion is in Fangorn? From a strict reading of the card, this seems to be the case, but it feels wrong thematically sometimes.

If the Fellowship is in a Shadow Stronghold (declared there), can a Companion separate and move out of the area?

Lastly, I'm just clarifying that the He Sees, He Knows ability is not mistranslated, and that it is really supposed to read as "declared" and not revealed or declared/revealed. Hunty seems really weak.

Thread: Rise of Empires:: Rules:: Progress tiles use / Pass action

matinciel — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:20:47 +0000

by matinciel

Hi there, some question after the first game, it seems they have been already discussed.

1- Progres tile : the progress tiles cannot be used the turn they have been bought.
Then in last turn for example some tiles are uselesss for example television ? You would gain the victory point at the next turn ?

Tiles that give ressources for every plains or moutains you have : do they work at the end of the first tunr ? (guess no).

2- Pass action in B turn.
The question is can a player can pass during a B turn (not taking an action disk) just wait.

Thread: Hive:: General:: Wood or bakelite

sagitar — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:52:30 +0000

by sagitar

I understand there are two versions of the game, the difference being in the material.

As I'm going to buy this game, I was wondering if it is possilbe to see from the box what material the playing pieces are made off.

Are the boxes in any way different, or does it say so on the box?

please enlighten me.

also learned the moskito expansion is out of production?
any truth in that?

Thread: Ave Caesar:: General:: Where to get card to make own boards?

Pogle — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:17:18 +0000

by Pogle

I have the Pro Ludo edition and would like to play the old courses from the original.

I've downloaded the course files from here and would like to mount them on card.

Does anyone know where I could get pre-made boards in different sizes so that I could just paste on the printed course sheets. Preferably boards that are ready cut and foldable.

I live in the UK so anywhere that does them that is closer to here the better

Thanks

Thread: A Castle for All Seasons:: General:: [GG] for English Card Paste-Ups

HuckmanT — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:17:18 +0000

by HuckmanT

Hey gang-

I bought the German version of this game at Essen thinking that it was language neutral, and it ALMOST is. There are six cards with German text on them:

Mauerbruch
Pest
Kornspeicher
Schneeverwenung
Burgfräulein
Dorfschänke

If someone will be kind enough to create paste ups (artwork is available in the images section) for me, I will gladly compensate with .

If nothing else, I would also be happy to make my own versions if I could be provided with an English translation. Thanks!

Thread: Perry Rhodan: Die Kosmische Hanse:: Rules:: The Planets order?

yeeshkul — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:16:55 +0000

by yeeshkul

At the start of the game: do i have to keep the planets in the same order like on the picture (rules) or can i deal the planets on the table randomly?

Thread: Carson City:: Rules:: Parcels Income and Parcels victory points actions

Kagliostro — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:11:03 +0000

by Kagliostro

For the "Parcels Income" and "Parcels Victory Points" actions, do you count only your free-property tiles or all of them (even the ones with building on it) ?

Thanks for this good game

Review: Dominion - Black Market Promo Card:: Black Market Review (Not Strategic but Fun)

thequietpunk — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:02:13 +0000

by thequietpunk

My wife and I recently purchased Dominion. As is the norm we quickly became addicted and played mulitple times a night. When we saw the promo cards here on BGG for $5 we couldn't resist.
Envoy has terrible card art and has yet to see any play.

Blackmarket however is a bit of a paradox. It has been stated that Blackmarket is in many ways more work than it is worth and buying one copy of a card really has no affect on your deck. This is in many ways true. When playing with a gaming group it would be mostly unused.

However, after playing with my wife and family (all of which are only casual gamers) Blackmarket adds some goofy amount of fun for a low price. It allows players to get fun or advantageous cards that in the long run don't change the game drastically, but add fun. It is fun to have the only witch or theif. Even Library and Village have been cool cards to get.

CONCLUSION:
Blackmarket is a card that is not generally going to change the outcome of the game. With an intense gaming group it will probably seldom be purchased even if it is in the supply. However, with casual gamers it is a very fun addition which adds a nice random factor.

I give it a 7/10, the best of the two promo cards.

Thread: Incan Gold:: General:: Does this game really work with 8?

danzuke — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:51:38 +0000

by danzuke

I have a bunch of people coming over and I really want to try out Incan Gold finally... but I wonder if the game is fun with so many people. Specifically I worry about all the treasure cards that are worth less than 8 and therefore have all their treasure left on the cards. Wouldn't you gain more treasure like by just cutting out early instead of sticking around?

It seems with 3-5 people just about every card would be able to be at least partially divided amongst the players, but in the 8 player games you could have a huge treasure pile that you'd just want to cut back to camp ASAP and just grab that treasure instead of exploring and dividing treasure. Am I right?

Is there a house rule of adding a few digits to the treasure cards to help them get divided? (for instance adding 3 to the treasure cards drawn)

I want to break this game out but only if I know people will have fun with it.

Thanks in advance!!

Thread: Finca:: Rules:: gust of wind

leandros — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:17:18 +0000

by leandros

hi

can i use Gust Of Wind and play my farmer on the same blade that have already be?

thanks in advance

Thread: Death Angel:: News:: Death Angel 2nd Edition: Angel Grove - Then and Now

DallasDesigner — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:16:24 +0000

by DallasDesigner

Elements of the Death Angel mythos are expanded on below.

=-= The Population -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

1954: Angel Grove - Population 312

A quite little farm community in Utah not far from the Nevada border. Primary crops include corn, barley, alfalfa hay, and rye. No notable attractions.

2009: Angel Grove - Population 0

An abandoned farm community decimated by a disease epidemic in 1955. Those who were not quarantined eventually flocked to the neighboring town Wendover or to Salt Lake City.

=-= The House -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

1954: The Ryan Residence

Home to Moriah, Joseph and Angela Ryan. Moriah and Joseph were born in 1908 and 1904, respectively, and were married in 1930. A year later, Angela Ryan was born. Farmers by trade, the Ryans worked through the great depression and saved enough to send Angela to school to become a teacher in 1950. Angel would return four years later to teach from the local one room school house, only a few miles away from her childhood home.

2009: The Abandoned House

Former home to Moriah, Joseph and Angela Ryan. Tradegy fatally struck the Ryan household in 1955. Moriah developed a severe case of catatonic schizophrenia, despite having no previous history of mental illness. Her husband Joseph, was found hanged in the corn field. A suicide note referenced time distortion and ramblings about escaping before being unborn. As for Angela - she simply vanished. With no one to care for Moriah, she passed away from starvation weeks after Joseph’s death.

=-= The Church -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

1954: First Church of Angel Grove

Father Morris cared for a successful Roman Catholic church not far from the town’s only general store and school. Known for his jovial spirit and selfless giving, Morris was well loved within the community.

2009: The Old Church

Long sealed and abandoned, some say the old church carries a curse or was somehow desecrated by the devil due to the horrible acts that took place in 1955. In the winter of 1955, Father Morris, long time caretaker of the church, began to trade away his calm and wisdom for fear and paranoia. He was convinced that the spirits of the dead were trying to get into the church, and he refused to leave. As his fears became more intense, his blood became the only sealant that would keep the unholy spirits from breaking inside. He coated the walls, floors, ceiling and doors with words of protection until he eventually died of blood loss and exhaustion.

=-= The General Store -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

1954: Doc Greenly’s General Store

Both the town’s doctor and general store owner, no one was better liked than Doc Greenly. A relatively young man of 32, he knew everyone in town, their birthday, their favorite flavor of ice cream, and was always the talk of Martha’s Weekly Knitting Party.

2009: The General Store

Doc Greenly’s General Store closed for business in late 1955, dying a premature death of heart disease. Those who attended his funeral noted how old Doc Greenly looked, and some even doubted that the man in the coffin could be the same person. The general store was taken over by another resident in town who later closed the store permanently after quarantine was declared in 1956.

=-= The Graveyard -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

1954: A serene home to many generations of Angel Grove residents, maintained by Father Morris.

2009: Overgrown and undisturbed for decades, nature has largely reclaimed this plot of earth, barely revealing any of the weather worn tombstones.

=-= Chester William’s Cabin -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

1954: Not much is known about the recluse Chester Williams. He only visits Doc Greenly’s general store once a month, and only at times when others are unlikely to be there. Doc Greenly observes that he is a quiet man, though cordial enough. The children in town have been told to steer clear of his cabin.

2009: Chester Williams was taken to Fort Douglas for quarantine in 1956 and was pronounced dead months later. His property was put up for sale and was purchased by an unknown buyer.

=-= The Schoolhouse -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

1954: This one room schoolhouse is run by Angela Ryan, an intelligent young woman her mother’s sly wit and her father’s cool demeanor. Though it is her first year teaching, she is masterful at conveying the information she wants to get across.

2009: Long abandoned, the schoolhouse is now home to a variety of nature’s children. The whereabouts of Angela Ryan, or ‘Angel’ as her father liked to call her, are unknown.

Thread: Cutthroat Caverns: Relics & Ruin:: Rules:: New Relic Questions

JimmyWolf — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:47:33 +0000

by JimmyWolf

I have a few more relic questions that came up:

1) Sword of Paragon - If a person plays an attack 25 with a portrait of the same sex, would my special attack 50 be a completely separate attack? Or is it more like Twist the Knife where I changed the person's attack to a 50 but it's MY attack now? This would determine if my attempt would cause a +25 or +50 damage to the creature.

2) Doom Encounter and Doom Charm - I am assuming "Event Card" is referring to cards specifically listed as Event! rather than any Treasure! cards (even though it is called the Event Deck).

Thread: Call of Cthulhu LCG:: Rules:: Dimesional worm & definition of "attacker"

oddfellow — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:41:56 +0000

by oddfellow

The "Dimensional Worm" card states:

RESPONSE: After Dimesional Worm commits to a story as the attacker, choose a struggle at that story. Resolve that struggle by counting (arcane) icons instead of its regular icons. The effect of the struggle does not change.

... how does one define "as the attacker"? Does this mean as the active player, non-active player or are these words simply superfluous and the card can be played at any point?

Thread: Battleball:: General:: Custom Painted Minis

AntoniusMN — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:39:50 +0000

by AntoniusMN

Got my first team done with a decent repaint, and am 75% done with the other team.

I'll post pics very soon...

Thread: Advanced Squad Leader - Starter Kit #1:: General:: Official ASLSK Scenarios

richfam — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:27:39 +0000

by richfam

This is a detailed listing of all of the official ASLSK scenarios published to date. The main listing shows where each scenario was published, and what mapboards are needed to play it. The chronology shows the historical progression of the scenarios, and may be helpful if you are looking for a scenario set in a particular time frame or theater. Players looking for a long-term challenge could even try playing through the entire chronology list in order!

All of this information is, of course, available elsewhere, on web sites like the ASL Scenario Archive, and in posts on other ASL forums. But I thought it might be helpful to have a thread here on BGG that could be quickly scanned by anyone with a scenario or mapboard question. I'll update this list as new scenarios are published by MMP, or as errors are found.

Scenario List
[c]
S1 Retaking Vierville ........ y ........... ASLSK1
S2 War of the Rats ........... z ........... ASLSK1
S3 Simple Equation ........... y, z ........ ASLSK1
S4 Welcome Back .............. y ........... ASLSK1
S5 Clearing Colleville ....... y ........... ASLSK1
S6 Released from the East .... z ........... ASLSK1
S7 Prelude to Festung Brest .. z ........... Op46
S8 Ad Hoc at Chef-du-Pont .... y ........... Op47
S9 Ambitious Assault ......... w ........... ASLSK2
S10 Paper Army ................ x ........... ASLSK2
S11 A Long Way to Go .......... w, x ........ ASLSK2
S12 Over Open Sights .......... x ........... ASLSK2
S13 Priority Target ........... x ........... ASLSK2
S14 88s at Zon ................ w ........... ASLSK2
S15 Hammer to the Teeth ....... w ........... ASLSK2
S16 Legio Patria Nostra ....... w ........... ASLSK2
S17 A Ridge Too Far ........... w, x ........ Op48
S18 Baking Bread .............. z ........... Op49
S19 Purple Heart Lane ......... y ........... Op50
S20 Joseph 351 ................ u, v ........ ASLSK3
S21 Clash at Borisovka ........ t, v ........ ASLSK3
S22 Another Summer's Day ...... t, v ........ ASLSK3
S23 Monty's Gamble ............ u ........... ASLSK3
S24 Sherman Marches West ...... t, v ........ ASLSK3
S25 Early Battles ............. u, v ........ ASLSK3
S26 Last Ally, Last Victory ... t, u, v ..... ASLSK3
S27 Stand for New Zealand ..... u, v ........ ASLSK3
S28 Out of Luck ............... u, v ........ Op51
S29 No Monumental Acclaim ..... w ........... Op52
S30 Ripples on the Pond ....... u, v ........ OpSE1
S31 Going to New York! ........ x ........... OpSE1
S32 Göring's Men .............. x, v ........ Op53
S33 Few and Far Between ....... u, y ........ OpSE2
S34 Twilight at Baerendorf .... x, y ........ OpSE2
S35
S36
S37
S38
S39
S40
S41 Sink's Encouragement ...... p ........... BP1
S42 One More Hedgerow ......... p ........... BP1
S43 Clearing Carentan ......... z ........... BP1
[/c]

Chronology of War
[c]
13 May 1940 S33 Few and Far Between .......... Holland
3 Nov 1940 S10 Paper Army ................... Greece

26 Apr 1941 S13 Priority Target .............. Greece
25 May 1941 S27 Stand for New Zealand ........ Crete
26 Jun 1941 S25 Early Battles ................ Lithuania
19 Sep 1941 S32 Göring's Men ................. Russia
11 Dec 1941 S6 Released from the East ....... Russia

26 Sep 1942 S2 War of the Rats .............. Russia
25 Oct 1942 S18 Baking Bread ................. Russia

14 Mar 1943 S21 Clash at Borisovka ........... Russia
10 Jul 1943 S9 Ambitious Assault ............ Sicily
10 Jul 1943 S11 A Long Way to Go ............. Sicily
10 Jul 1943 S22 Another Summer's Day ......... Sicily
10 Jul 1943 S31 Going to New York! ........... Sicily

6 Jun 1944 S5 Clearing Colleville .......... France
6 Jun 1944 S8 Ad Hoc at Chef-du-Pont ....... France
7 Jun 1944 S1 Retaking Vierville ........... France
8 Jun 1944 S17 A Ridge Too Far .............. France
8 Jun 1944 S41 Sink's Encouragement ......... France
12 Jun 1944 S19 Purple Heart Lane ............ France
12 Jun 1944 S43 Clearing Carentan ............ France
13 Jun 1944 S42 One More Hedgerow ............ France
18 Jun 1944 S16 Legio Patria Nostra .......... Italy
28 Jun 1944 S24 Sherman Marches West ......... Byelorussia
16 Aug 1944 S29 No Monumental Acclaim ........ France
26 Aug 1944 S7 Prelude to Festung Brest ..... France
28 Aug 1944 S20 Joseph 351 ................... France
17 Sep 1944 S14 88s at Zon ................... Holland
20 Sep 1944 S23 Monty's Gamble ............... Holland
10 Oct 1944 S26 Last Ally, Last Victory ...... Hungary
12 Oct 1944 S3 Simple Equation .............. Germany
16 Nov 1944 S30 Ripples on the Pond .......... Germany
23 Nov 1944 S34 Twilight at Baerendorf ....... France
16 Dec 1944 S4 Welcome Back ................. Luxembourg
16 Dec 1944 S15 Hammer to the Teeth .......... Germany
17 Dec 1944 S12 Over Open Sights ............. Luxembourg

26 Apr 1945 S28 Out of Luck .................. Germany
[/c]

Mapboard Usage
[c]
p - 2 scenarios
q -
r -
s -
t - 4 scenarios
u - 8 scenarios
v - 10 scenarios
w - 7 scenarios
x - 8 scenarios
y - 8 scenarios
z - 6 scenarios
[/c]

Thread: Peloponnes:: Rules:: disaster chits and disasters per game

ESPNY — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:11:45 +0000

by ESPNY

hi,
we just played this tonight for the first time and the question came up-
in a game-and every game-will ALL the disasters be triggered?

there was this part that wasnt clear:
pg 10 section 5.g reveal disaster chits

if the blank disaster chit (the 1 out of 16) is revealed, it is placed "back in the... box"

well..a few argued that it might have been a misprint and say back in the ..pile (or bag as we had added) thus causing the possibility that all events -might not- be triggered (which we thought was more fun mainly because after a few games/even one you would figure out just how to avoid the disasters or be well prepared for them if you could)

we thought that if it wasnt put back in the pile the next correction should say:
if the blank disaster chit is revealed (1 out of 16), it is "REMOVED FROM THE GAME".

anyway, i was writing to see what the designers intent is on this subject--do you get hit with all the disters every time you play or can there be some random nicety like putting it back in the pile so ..you just might not be sure that disaster might show up.
(or at least its a game variant)

certainly was worth the early import us cost -ordering it oct 1 before essen!

Thread: Carson City:: Rules:: Houses and Buildings

candoo — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:58:30 +0000

by candoo

What happens if you cannot afford a building for which you have won the action? Do you just forfeit the action?

What happens to the free house that comes with certain buildings if no roads lead to them? Can you save a house to build later? Or do you forfeit the free house?

Thread: Peloponnes:: General:: Peloponnes Demo - Spiel 2009 - Geekdo Booth

Aldie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:55:55 +0000

by Aldie

Vimeo Video

Session: Warhammer: Invasion:: Second Session: Rex gets schooled

rexgator — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:09:06 +0000

by rexgator

Had another chance to play W:I with fellow BGGer JMW23 this past Wednesday. He bought the core set after our first session so we were going to play "constructed decks". I have spent a lot of time looking at the cards and had planned out several decks. of course I left all those notes at home, so when I met Jonathan after work I had to try and put decks together from memory. We played 3 games. Once again I did not have the wisdom to take notes so I am going to give you a general sense of each game and what I saw as key points.

Game One Rex's Dwarfs versus JMW's Orcs

Jonathan had his orc deck set up to go when I arrived, I quickly grabbed all the dwarf cards and started throwing in neutrals that helped kingdom or protected capital. I also tossed in Infiltrate and Prepare for War. We had a brief conversation about the pros and cons of deck size. Jonathan is strongly in the camp of minimum size.

Early game was not too bad for me. I took a little bit of early rush damage but had some good cards going in the Kingdom and a Dwarf Scout and Runesmith out in quest zone. I had just drawn both heroes into my hand when disaster stuck. Jonathan had been investing heavily in his quest zone. I suddenly realized he had a pile of cards in his hands. Then he dropped Grimgor Ironhide into his sparsely populated Kingdom My big giant dwarf resource engine was kaput. Jonathon onthe other hand had some cheap kingdom cards to drop and I was done within a turn or two.

Lesson: Regardless of your plan, you better look at what your opponent is doing with his cards. Jonathon was pretty sure he was outdrawing me 2 for 1 for a good bit before nuking me.

Game two Rematch Dwarfs and Orcs

We reshuffled and played again. I was much more aware of card draw this time. I was dropping a development every turn and trying to balance between the three zones. I had some limited success dinging him. The problem this time was he had Smash 'Em All! out and I had nothing in my hand (probably not in the deck) that could kill the unit. A turn or two after he has the resources at 3, he sets it off ADN drops Troll Vomit In short order he has re-established a force in his battlefield that is whacking my undefended zones and again we are done in a few turns.

Lesson: regardless of your plan, sometimes the other guys is just better! Not really sure there is much you can do at this point in the meta about that particular Orc combo.

Game Three Rex's Chaos versus Jonathon's Dwarfs

We decided to switch things up a little for a final game. I had a better recollection of my notes on my Chaos deck and I quickly built it. This turned ouyt to be an intriguing game. Dwarfs actually got out pretty quickly with some defenders of the hold and Hammerer of Karak Azul. I was out in the first couple of turns with Servants of Khorne and a Savage Gors. Was getting my developments down as well but did not have any UNITS for the Kingdom. Jonathan was pumping his Kingdom and was starting to build a sizeable resource lead. This became a problem when he dropped a runesmith and in short order my kingdom was burning. On the plus side I had Horrific Mutation out and he was restricted in his defensive options due to having mostly low HP units. I was most excited when I got Vile Sorceress out in the quest zone. I managed to snipe down several of his units but he always seemed to have a replacement. I next dropped Warpstone Meteor in my quest zone which made me happy until I realized while it would corrupt his Runesmith it would not stop them from using their power up ability. At this point my kingdom was burning and I had some damage on my quest zone. His battlefield had 7 damage and his quest zone had 5. I did some figuring and decided to attack his battlefield in the hopes that i woudl kill enough of his guys to deploy some people to my quest zone. He wisely did not defend and then won the game on his next turn when he overwhelmed my Quest zone.

Lesson: Sometimes this game is a matter of "inches". I really enjoyed Chaos and I think I would have won if he did not have such an unusually fast dwarf start. I did suffer from not getting any good units to defend my kingdom.

Conclusion

Hard to remember the last time where I got skunked and really enjoyed the experience. Jonathon is a great CCG/LCG player and he is forcing me to improve my skills and thinking in these games. I feel that once we get some more cards this game has the potential to really take off. hope you enjoyed this report and look forward to seeing yours.

Session: Memoir '44 - Pacific Theater:: IndoBoardGames M44 League Season 3 - Match #25 Slopes of Mt.Austen

Nightrain — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:39:36 +0000

by Nightrain

IndoBoardGames M44 League Season 3
Match #25 - Slopes of Mount Austen

1st half
Steve(Allies) 5 vs Kin2x (Japs) 3

Allies began by playing Assault Left and in two turns successfully killed off two infantries at Gifu while suffering an engineer casualty. Japs infantries at the back of Gifu pushed to the front to reoccupy the field bunker but in the later turns, he was also killed by simultaneous tank and artillery attack.

While on the Japs left side, a brave 4-fig Japs did a banzai charge and rolled a 4 hits against a full figure infantry to gained a medal. Luckily for the Allies, they're holding 2 right cards, and in three consecutive turns, two Japs infs were also eliminated and Allies came out triumphant.

***

2nd half
Steve(Japs) 5 vs Kin2x (Allies) 2

Allies started pressing through their left flank but the earlier attack resulting in no hits as the Japanese played 1-1-1 back to back and able to reduced the engineer to 1-fig. Allies decided to strike with Armor Assault but the close attack didn't turn out as they expected as Japs recover one lost figure with Medic card and in the next turn, an armor was destroyed.

Japs defended the Gifu hill pretty well as the artillery and infantry attack produced hits and flags as well which kept pushing them back. Eventually, Allies got a hold of a big Artillery Bombard and with this card, two Japs were killed.

But the most interesting turn came when Japs was already leading to 3-2 when they played TFH, gave orders to 2 infantries and 1 artillery, and a full figure banzai charge rolled 5d and reduced an infantry to 1-fig while later being killed by artillery attack.
After reshuffling, Japs drew Ambush which was played in the next turn after an engineer tried to hit the advancing Japs. That engineer was pushed by a FLG and got two hits. Finally, the Japs Assault Center card eliminated that engineer and gave Japs the medal they needed to win the game.

***

Steve won the match by 10 - 5

Review: Lost Cities:: Hmmm, Knizia, I fear the veil has been lifted.

Anjohl — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:36:46 +0000

by Anjohl

Lost Cities was actually the second game I purchased. The premise sounded intriguing, and I liked the fact that it was a quick game for 2 players. Myself and Jay have logged at LEAST 30 games of LC in now (Only 2 of them are logged...we lost our complete scorecard which listed every game we played ever), and our most recent session was very telling.

I decided, in our games, to deconstruct the game. I wanted to try to play the optimum move on each turn. To do so, I decided to weight each possible action. For example, of 8 cards, each has two possible actions, play or discard. The methods I used to accomplish this weighting were divided into two categories: the card's real or potential use to me, and the card's real or potential use to my opponent.

Each category was further subdivided into cards I would likely discard as a play versus cards I would play. I also gave consideration to risk/reward, for example, if I had a White 2 on the board, a White 3 in-hand, as well as a Blue 4 which neither myself or my opponent can use, and wanted to try to draw Yellow or Red cards to flesh out my hand for a future expedition, it makes more sense to play the 3 than to discard the 4,

In my opinion, I played a very good game. Because of the risk factor, it's hard at times to calculate exact "pot odds" as in poker, since you are not aware of what your opponent has. So for example, if I want to decide if it's better to play a White 8 on a White 5, instead of discarding a card, I have to wrestle with how likely it is that I will get a White 6 or 8 without losing tempo (more on that later). Therein lies my biggest criticism of the game. I will elaborate on that later.

The problem that I keep seeing come up is that for the first 5-6 turns, you are basically a fool to play a card at ALL most of the time. If you play it safe and lay a 2 or 3, you give your opponent free discards of investment cards, along with making your expedition likely no more than a 10 score. If you play an expedition, your opponent will actively begin denying you those color cards. Then, the game devolves into tempo-screwage with random chance determining the winner. What ends up happening is the optimal strategy is to spend 5-6 turns "calibrating" your hand, to set up a 3-4 turn tempo run where you have predetermined card plays, while being able to draw off the deck instead of a discard pile. This is interrupted of course in situations where you must discard a useful card out of fear of discarding a card more useful to an opponent, retrieving it a turn later. This results in dramatically fractured tempo, and tends to lead to backups.

So in essence, the game is about chance's intersection with tempo. What cards you CAN discard can be clearly valued by any rational person, and that calculation becomes more exact as the board/discard piles fill. Because of that, the real strategy a player uses in LC is simply risk/reward, and monitoring tempo. Any player who realizes that the optimum play is to deny as often as possible, while drawing off the deck whenever possible, will do as well as chance will allow. As such, I cannot in good conscience give LC more than a 6. I am sorry Knizia, your game has elegance of design, but it ultimately fails as a serious strategic contest in every sense of the word. Blackjack or Draw Poker is likely less reliant on chance.

Thread: Field Commander: Alexander the Great:: General:: Parmenion too powerful?

manko — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:29:19 +0000

by manko

Is Parmenion too powerful?

I've been drawing my advisors at random instead of selecting them and drew Parmenion for the first time for an Issus campaign - the game was too easy to be enjoyed.
By the final battle Alexander had such an advantage in battleplans it was hardly worth doing the dice rolls.

Anyone else have a problem with Parmenion?

Thread: Power Grid:: General:: Expansion + DIY, has anyone tried it?

Anjohl — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:21:43 +0000

by Anjohl

My friend and I got to talking about how you could do Power Grid "on the cheap", and we came to the conclusion that it would be completeley feasable to buy an expansion, print the rules from online, buy whatever tokens you wanted for $5-$10 in a dollar/craft store, (You can get colored wooden tokens even) and have a $30 copy of PG!

I mean, I doubt we will *ever* use the base map again, so in hindsight, this method might have been a good idea for our group.

Has anyone done this? What challenges did you face? I figured the resource market might be a problem, but it would be feasable to track the resource market via pen and paper.

Thread: Field Commander: Alexander the Great:: Variants:: Suggested Insight- "native scouts"

manko — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:14:32 +0000

by manko

Play after any scouting roll.

Roll scouting dice a second time.

Use higher of the two rolls.

Thread: Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game:: Rules:: In the Burn Em Out! scenario, it says that "A Hero must start in the space....and discard an Explosive". Does the explosive need to ignited with a fire item? If so, does the player also get hurt/die since he is on the same space?

knowsnoboards — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:11:54 +0000

by knowsnoboards

In the Burn Em Out! scenario, it says that "A Hero must start in the space....and discard an Explosive".

Does the explosive need to ignited with a fire item?

Because it makes more sense in my mind if the item has to be ignited with a fire item for it to explode.

If so, does the player also get hurt/die since he is on the same space of the spawning pit and the item will also be discarded on the spawning pit space?

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Rules:: Newbie (Last one for today) - Doom Tarck fills so fast... ??

booored — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:02:29 +0000

by booored

Hi...

Ok.. another solo "learn" session is over.. thanks again for all your help as always guys. So here is my last question for today,

In every test game I have had the old one awaken before it seams I have really had a decent play.

Q:- You are ment to put a new doom token on the board every time a gate opens in a new location?

Q:- You can only remove doom tokens by uses a unique elder sign card?

So in a way you are not ment o madly close every gate you see? As it increases the chances of a doom token going on the doom track.

The only way to get the elder cards to remove things from the doom track is to buy them, and a few "draw card" commands form events and stuff. So... how do you get money? Just from a bank lone and a few retainers? How do you get retainers anyway?

Thread: Schinderhannes:: Rules:: District Card question

jschlickbernd — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:00:27 +0000

by jschlickbernd

Are you supposed to add a marker or subtract a marker with this card? If there are already markers of a type listed, are you supposed to add more markers where appropriate? If you add, do the markers have to have a direct road connection or can the connection be traced through another city?

I placed card 6 then I wanted to place card 36. What is supposed to happen with card 36?

Thread: Letter:: Variants:: a little spin on the solitaire variants

zefquaavius — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:43:39 +0000

by zefquaavius

I had fun playing like this:

Setup
Flip all the letter tiles face-up, and group them by size. Be sure you can see all the letters.
Give yourself 20 turn markers (coins, poker chips, cubes, use an abacus - whatever works for you)
If you want a speed game, reset the timer. Otherwise, ignore all comments about the timer hereafter.

Play
Spend one of your turn markers.
Flip the timer and roll the die, then select a letter of the indicated size* and play it according to the rules. If you fail to place it before time runs out, you blew your turn. Start back at . Otherwise, you may use any remaining time in to search for words.
Search for newly formed words if you have time left. Once the timer runs out, flip it again. Now, (continue to) search for newly formed words (and old words you missed) and write them down. Go! Go! Go! Once the timer runs out, the turn is over. Stop writing. Start again at

Which size the die indicates
1×1
1×2 or 2×1
1×3 or 3×1
2×2
2×3 or 3×2
3×3
If you are out of tiles of the indicated size, you must place the largest remaining blank tile adjacent to a tile on the board. The order will be 2×2, 1×3, 1×2, 1×1, 1×1, 1×1. If you've already gone through all the blanks, you start getting rewarded for your bad luck: Instead, play any available letter tile.

Scoring
Use whichever you like of the scoring methods recommended in the rules.

Playing without the timer gives you a nice, relaxing mental exercise. With the sand timer (or better, a timer with an audible end), you have a tense solitaire game.

Thread: Stronghold:: General:: Missing componets

mja4430 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:43:37 +0000

by mja4430

Just got mine, and am missing a bunch of cards. I have the hit and miss cards, the 2 trebuchet and alter cards. Seem to be missing all of the phase cards and the defender hit cards. Who should I contact to get replacement parts?

Also can anyone list the actions on the first game cards, so I can try it out while I wait.

Thanks,
Mike

Session: Power Grid - Benelux/Central Europe:: The Art of Hidden Reserves...And Power Grid Gets REAL....

Anjohl — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:39:40 +0000

by Anjohl

Jay and I converged at his house today for our weekly game evening. We decided to start simple in Benelux (Which is quickly becoming my favorite map), using Plant Deck 2, playing in the bottom 3 regions (out of convenience), 2-player game.

I decided to try a new strategy, and conceal my money for a change. Needless to say, it *worked* big time.

We started almost right next to each other in the northern part of the 3-region block, Jay in Brussel, and me in Antwerpen. We had an interesting scenario develop where I was skirting the top of the block, and he took Gent, which I interpreted as an attempt to block me off, and have the whole western section of the map to himself. I delayed him by paying the connection cost THROUGH Gent into Brugge, to at least give him an incentive to back off. It worked. Then, I noticed that he was in a position to Massfricht, and thus corner me in, forcing me to wait for him to break step 2. In order to stop this, I bought a 3-city chain from Lindhoven to Leige. We didn’t notice that I had in essence encircled him, and that play really put the hurt on.

In addition, Jay for some reason wasn’t buying power plants. He had purchased plant 4 and 11, and powered 2 cities for at least 3-4 turns, while I was firing the maximum I could, typically double what he was. This allowed me to garner a HUGE monetary advantage, which I used to strategically buy plants. I bought two 4-city plants, and held onto a 1-city green and a 5-city I had picked up. I realized that I only needed to flesh out my capacity by 7, so I planned to only buy 2 more plants, to really hold on to the money advantage. Jay finally scored an excellent 5-city plant and starting coming back, but I had the game to the point where I could just expand behind him, firing below my capacity, just to avoid being the first in score. It ended a staggering 216E-109E: our biggest blowout yet.

Game two was in eastern Europe, which we played the southeastern part of. I started in Bratslava, Jay in Budapest (I told him I thought he should have started in Miskolc). This game was interesting because he had a line from Zilvna to Szecid, and I had the areas between that line at Wein, plus Kosice and Miskolc. This game was a little strange, because Jay purchased a 2 garbage 5-city plant at cost while I held a 3 garbage for 5-city plant. He realized he had to be careful about using it, or I could deprive him by stocking six garbage tokens on my plant. I intentionally let him take the lead in order to really push that point across. My strategy was to try to force him to have to replace that plant quickly, costing him his investment. He outsmarted me however with a timely acquisition of a 4-5 city plant, and then step 3 hit, so my strategy failed. I did force him to fire fewer plants for a turn or two, so I feel it was worth it.

In this game, I bought very few plants. I followed my previous strategy of taking a decent 4-city plant and trying to hold it for the entire game. This way, my plant replacements are fewer, and if done properly, my costs would be much lower. This was a tense game, for two reasons. Reason number one was because our Power Gridding must have shorted the *actual* power grid, as power in the entire area went out in between mine and his resource buying! And of course, just as Jay managed to get out past his puppy (the destroyer of all things small and easy to scatter) to get a flashlight, the lights came back on!

Secondly, Jay went on a mass expansion from 13 cities up to 20 in one turn. I was worried that he had enough to expand to 21, since my plants only had 18 capacity total, and his had 21. I looked at my money, which I was all but sure was more than his by at least 50E, and realized he should not have enough for his 21st. And he didn’t. So I bought from 14-21 that turn, and fired all for the win.

In Jay’s defense, I think he was a little under the weather today, and thus his strategies were not as fleshed out. We had a good time regardless, and he *did* beat me two games straight in Lost Cities immediately after, one of which was an utter blowout. At that point I threatened to toss Lost Cities in a fire I have planned for a set of books by a certain religious writer popular among celebrities. The joys of board gaming!

Benelux continues to impress me, and I appreciate the subtle strategic undertones of EE better now, so we are definitely growing into our first expansion. After reading some of the rules, I want to tackle China/Korea next, since the markets in that expansion look crazy! Also, we have yet to go back to playing with Plant Deck 1 since I bought Deck 2…we just love the speed and power (punny) of Deck 2 so much!

Thread: Chaos in the Old World:: General:: Going to BGG.con? Want to rule the Old World?

SilentPartner — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:37:53 +0000

by SilentPartner

Anyone going to the con want to set up a game of CitOW? Have one player already interested, looking for 2 more.

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Rules:: newbie - otherworld movment back to arkham

booored — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:20:56 +0000

by booored

Hi...

When you complete the location event card for the 2nd space in a Otherworld location, do you move immediately to a matching gate in Arkham, or do you move there on your next movement phase?

Also, if there is a Monster at the only gate you can come back to Arkham though, do you still need to do all sneak checks? I thought I read that in the manual somewhere but I can not seam to find it.

Basically I have just passed the event on the 2nd part of an Otherworld location. There is only one matching gate to spawn at. This gate has a rather nasty monster sitting there....

This is how I thought it would go down.. please correct me if I am wrong.

1) I pass the event and move immediately to the gate location at Arkham and receive my explorer chit.

2) I can now immediately attempt to close the gate. Not doing any sneak or combat or horror check type stuff. As this is all in the Location Event Phase and NOT at the end of my movement phase (witch as fast as I know when that type of stuff happens)

3 - Option1) If I close the gate, as the monster here has the same icon, the gate marker becomes a trophy and the monster is sent back to cup.

3 - Option2) I fail the close teh gate check, the monster stays on board. No matter if i choose to stay on the location or move elsewhere as I now pass though my movment phase I need to evade / fight this monster before I can move or stay to attempt to close the gate?

Thanks again

Thread: Poo: The Card Game:: General:: When can I have this?

MainManDetroit — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:18:28 +0000

by MainManDetroit

Someone told me about this game at Gen COn and this is all I have wanted since.

Please, when will it be available to the masses?
-D

Thread: Stronghold:: General:: Bonus CD missing?

gpren — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:00:26 +0000

by gpren

My copy arrived this afternoon but there was no Crystal Viper CD. I pre-ordered direct through Portal. Was anyone else missing the CD?

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Rules:: Newbie - Question about monster cards

booored — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:46:46 +0000

by booored

Q:- These monsters simple have NO horror check? So you just skip teh horror check part of monster encounter?

I am pretty sure i got this but as i made the thread anyway for the above question.. just to clarify.

This means
-2 die during horror check, if fail loose 2 sanity
-3 die during combat check, if fail loose 3 health + you need 3 dice to come up as passes (so you also need 3 x5-6)

?

Thread: Kachina:: General:: Kachina Demo - Spiel 2009 - Geekdo Booth

Aldie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:29:47 +0000

by Aldie

Vimeo Video

Thread: Power Grid:: General:: Collector's Edition

endou_kenji — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:26:54 +0000

by endou_kenji

Was the collector's edition sold at Essen a promo-only edition or will it be released to the rest of us mortals who couldn't go?

Thread: 1866: The Struggle for Supremacy in Germany:: General:: Seeking "1866" playtest partner.

LaggingEdge — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:11:35 +0000

by LaggingEdge

Seeking a playtest partner for John B. Firer's [thing=41849][/thing] CDG simulating the Austro-Prussian War.

My experience with "1866" so far has been limited to solitaire, but it looks like a promising title and a solid addition to Blue Iguana's initial lineup. Gameplay feels like a cross between "Paths of Glory" and "For the People" in a streamlined, fast-playing package with lots of player interaction and a number of unique mechanics.

There is a Vassal module available. Live play is preferable since there is quite a lot of interaction (interception by inactive armies, pursuit after battle, and cardplay responses during opponent's moves, for example) that would make PBEM painfully slow. I'm on Eastern time and can typically game a couple of hours on Monday and Wednesday evenings and possibly during the weekend. Also use Skype. Hopefully we could arrange a regular weekly session.

Geekmail if interested or if you have questions. I'll set you up with the game files -- and teach you the secret 1866 handshake -- and get you in touch with developer Rob Doane, who will add you to the playtest Yahoo group.

Thanks, Chris

Thread: Fields of Fire:: Rules:: 4.3.5 RADIOS ... SCR536

Mraah — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:09:33 +0000

by Mraah

Hi all,

I don't know if anyone has started using the early handheld radios yet, but they definately bump the difficulty meter up a notch!

Before I ramble on, there's a great link I'd like to share over at google books that peaks into the US Army Infantry Division 1944-45 book by Osprey ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=POSRqpmFLu8C&pg=PA42&lpg=PA...

Ok, I love radios but I feel that I have to cry foul about the restriction when "under the cover marker" ... let me explain.

First, I have no problem with the SCR536 not working when pinned or under a cover marker. Since it's based on LOS then it's understood that when you are on a HILL that you can communicate two cards away following the rules under 5.2.1 Line of Sight.

Now, my problem is that if you're on the upper floors of a "Multi-Story" card then technically you're under a cover marker which negates the use of the radio. Here is where I cried foul.

I want to disregard the fact that being on the upper floor prevents radio usage but still apply the pinned rule.

Any thoughts or comments?

Thanks! Rob.