Mike Banks
United States
Camp Hill
Pennsylvania
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OVERVIEW: Atolla Modulis is a free print-and-play expansion for Friedemann Friese's Power Grid, developed by Jean Claude Adelmand. While the expansion requires that you already have a copy of Power Grid (for the power plant & player aid cards, money supply, and the fabulous wooden bits), the complete set of Atolla graphic files and rules can be found here:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/taverne.ligue/funkensite/index.htm
COMPONENTS (a): The website has itemized access to all of the necessary JPG files: 11 City tiles, 9 Neutral tiles, 1 Resource Market tile, 1 Scoring tile, 2 Plant Market tiles, and 1 sheet of Connection Cost tiles (print 2x), as well as a PDF of the rules. These are all VERY well done -- the artwork is both beautiful in its own right, and completely consistent & recognizable to anyone who has played any of the existing Power Grid maps.
The City tiles each depict a random assortment of small tropical islands surrounded by ocean, with the familiar Power Grid artwork detailing a number of cities and their associated connections. There is one tile with seven cities, three with six cities, two each with five, four, and three cities, and one with one city. It is interesting and entertaining to note that many of the cities are named in honor of some of our hobby's great designers -- Kniziapolis, Santa Sackson, Teuberlin, and of course, Friedemanhattan, to name a few.
Also of interest is the fact that not all cities are directly connected on any given tile; though, each tile has three connection lines running out to each edge of the tile, making them completely interchangable in terms of physical placement.
Similarly, the Neutral tiles have a random assortment of spaghetti-like connection lines running to each edge in groups of three, although there are no cities on them, nor any fixed connection costs.
The sheet of smaller Connection Cost tiles is numbered from 1 to 30 -- and should be printed twice, to allow for the possibility of duplicates.
The Scoring tile seems to be an improvement over previously existing versions, as the player order seems more clear -- due to a brighter "light bulb" graphic; and, the critical Step 2/City #7 is marked in bright red -- in contrast to the rest of the blue/black city spaces.
Unfortunately, the Resource Market tile seems like a small step backwards -- in that, while the other versions have all been linear, this one is laid out in more of a grid fashion, making both replenishment and quick-glance analysis a little more difficult. I understand that the reason was a practical one -- to match the rest of the square tiles. Nonetheless, I ended up creating my own Resource Market tile that is more like what we are accustomed to; I expect it will appear in the Files section shortly.
The Plant Market tiles seem to be completely optional -- they look great, but neither add nor detract from the original function.
COMPONENTS (b): For assembly of these components, I must recommend following Tatsu's expert & detailed instructions found in the Files section. In brief, I printed on matte photo paper, sprayed four light coats of Krylon UV/Glossy, and mounted on 1/16" thick "white board" -- cardboard between two plys of paper, using 3M 77 spray glue, and trimming with a rotary cutter. My results were outstanding, with the added bonus that EVERYTHING -- including the France/Italy board -- fit back in the original Power Grid box, once I discarded the insert. But, it IS heavy!
GAMEPLAY: Essentially, Atolla is played exactly like Power Grid, if using the German/USA maps -- with the notable exception being that the board itself must be constructed first. Depending on the number of players, the number of cities to be in play is determined: 2 to 3 players use 21 cities, 4 use 28 cities, and 5 or 6 use 35 cities.
Fortunately, the number of cities on each City tile is printed in one of the bottom corners -- and there is also a handy chart in the rules which presents myriad options of tiles to use to get to the proper number of cities. Once agreed upon, these tiles are placed in any fashion the players choose -- the suggested initial goal being a grid of tiles that is 3x3.
Usually, there will be spaces left open, which are then filled with the Neutral tiles. My suggestion is to place all nine tiles in a way that affords a variety of connections and options -- it became clear in my early setups that there could be a SERIOUS bottleneck problem if gamers aren't careful to avoid it. Then again, I imagine there are some who might seek this sort of thing out on purpose.
The last aspect of setup is assigning costs to the connections that are created as a result of adjacent tiles -- this can be done by random draw, or (as I recommend) with purpose, by reflecting what similar existing costs are relative to their distance. Again, there is plenty of wiggle room for folks who want to really shake up how their board is laid out.
Once this is complete, money is distributed & away you go!
STRATEGY: Since only the layout of the board is different, it seems to be more an issue of tactics than strategy. As experienced players may have certain favorite playing areas and starting cities when using one of the existing maps, the thousands of combinations that are possible with the Atolla tiles are bound to throw a wrench in *somebody's* plans. Which is a good thing, I think.
At any rate, it is at least as important as ever that players start and plan wisely in Atolla, because it is possible that any random tile configuration will be far more unforgiving than the average US/German/France/Italy are designed to be, and it can be harder than ever to dig oneself out of a hole of poor decisions.
But, the payoff for playing well can be that much sweeter, too.
IMPRESSIONS: Atolla is a wonderful execution of a brilliantly simple idea -- reward existing fans, while enticing new ones. Thanks in no small part to the advice of those with experience at assembling this sort of thing, I am now the owner of an expansion I am proud to play and show off. Additionally, having what amounts to an unlimited supply of new maps for one of my favorite games has made the effort and cost of production a bargain at twice the price.
RATING: 9.5
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Chris Shaffer
United States
Portland
Oregon
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How practical would it be to play with modified power plant and material supplies? Could you duplicate France's reliance on nuclear power? Or adjust things to emphasize renewable energy?
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Mike Banks
United States
Camp Hill
Pennsylvania
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I don't see why folks couldn't follow the France Expansion rules -- I can't imagine how a different board layout would impact the plant auction/resource market variables, anyway. In any case, we haven't tried it yet -- it seems that the new layout issues have provided enough new variables for the moment.
I have heard others suggest that a mod involving Hydro/Geo-Thermal would be in order (& I agree), but I don't see how to incorporate that without some additional/replacement plant cards.
Maybe Maura will mock some up for us one day 
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Mark Voisin
United States
Haslett
Michigan
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by using this new style map, do the connections "wrap around" and connect to the other side of the board?
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Dzmitry Shaparau
Italy
Trento
TN
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Please, can anyone help me to download the files for this expansion? The site http://perso.wanadoo.fr seems to be down forever
And I couldn't find any other link...
I enjoy the PowerGrid, and really want to have the Atolla Modulis 
Just give a link, if it is somewhere on the net, or send it to my email (zzerga-at-gmail-dot-com).
(I can then even host the file, if it is ok for author rights.)
Thank you.
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Chris Shaffer
United States
Portland
Oregon
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See this thread for a link.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1007441
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Dzmitry Shaparau
Italy
Trento
TN
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Thanks a lot! Even if the images link there is also dead, there is a nice printable PDF, perfect to give a try.
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