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David G. Cox Esq.
Australia
Lighthouse Beach (Port Macquarie)
NSW
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Savannah Tails
Ostrich Racing for up to Five Competitors
Designed by the Lamont Brothers
Published by Fragor Games (2009)
Already I suspect that some of you are more than a little confused. “What horses?” some of you must be thinking.
Let me state, categorically, from the very start, the Lamont Brothers have never designed, published or even played a horse racing game.
It is simply an expression that I feel is appropriate to use when discussing Savannah Tails. Many of the comments and one of the reviews insists on comparing Savannah Tails to the previous Fragor Game, Snow Tails.
I would ask you not to do this.
Imagine that you have been driving a large Mercedes, have really enjoyed it and decided to buy yourself a new model. You decide to buy one of the class A models. After buying it you decide that it is too small, you don’t like it, you don’t think it is as good as the limousine and you can't believe that Mercedes made the A-class in the first place. Perhaps it was designed with someone else in mind.
There are times that the limousine may be the car to use and there may be other times, when you are looking for a parking spot that the A-class has it all over the bigger model.
This is the case with Savannah Tails. It is a very good game – it is very different to Snow Tails. There are times that I will bring out Snow Tails and there are times I will bring out Savannah Tails – and it will all depend upon who is playing because the two games are aimed at different groups of people.
Components
Wooden ostriches – nice, but not spectacular.
Five Sets of Cards (one for each player) – good thickness and attractive.
Player Aid Cards – because they care. Not essential but they are useful.
The Rules – the Lamont Brothers are silly people and I do like the humour that they use in their rules.
25 Tracks Cards – these are the pieces that make up the track. I have mixed feelings about these. They are laid together in different permutations. This is good as it allows a lot of variety when playing the game. It is a bit fiddly to make up a track and I use Perspex to lay over the cards to give a stable playing surface. It is very easy to put a card down the wrong way (so that the coloured paths don’t match) – if you do this someone will point out your error, make you feel like a goose and then you have to spend more time fixing the track. The track cards are double sided and this is good as there is an easy side and a difficult side – this allows you to make a track as easy or as hard as you want it to be.
Playing the Game
The game is easy to play. There are four different coloured paths from the start line to the finish line. The first ostrich to cross the finish line wins – if two ostriches cross on the same turn then the one that goes furthest past the line wins.
Each turn you play a card – it will have a number and a colour. You move that number of spaces and finish on the coloured track that matches the card you played. You are not allowed to weave – you must never move away from the colour path that matches your card – you choose when to change lanes but always towards your chosen colour for that turn.
There Must Be More To It Than That!
You’re right – there is.
As the track has corners, being on the inside lane will give you an advantage – BUT…
There are waterholes – moving through a waterhole will allow you to use one of three special bonus cards/actions. Sometimes going through a waterhole will slow you down and give you a bonus action. You choose which is more important. AND…
Some of the track cards have hazards such as quicksand or animals that will slow you down. You have to workout how to use your cards in such a way as to maximise your speed (or minimise your delays)…AND
You can’t move through other ostriches – if an other ostrich gets in your way you have to go around it. Sometimes this is a nuisance because if you stay on the same coloured lane for your entire move you get a bonus.
There are lots of interesting choices to make while playing Savannah Tails.
Each player has an identical set or cards that will be shuffled at the start of the race. The game is very much one of managing your hand of cards so as to maximise your benefits to get around the track as quickly as possible. The game plays quickly (20 minutes for a race) and is highly interactive. So far all the races I have competed in have had a close finish (all birds finishing on the same turn or the last bird being just short of the finish line). As I have won all the races so far I can only assume that the skill level required to play this game well is extremely high. It would certainly be suitable for family games nights with children and adults.
If quick easy fun games don’t appeal to you then you will no alternative but to get the stretch limousine out of the garage, phone up your friend who has Snow Tails, drive over to their place and just hope that you can find a parking spot.
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tim Tim TIm TIM TIMMY!!
Costa Rica
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which game would you get if you could only get 1, this or Snow Tails
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Posted Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:33 am
