Mark Englehart
United States
San Diego
California
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The fans of this game seem pretty evenly split on whether or not there is a runaway leader problem The division seems to be driven by game group: some groups experience runaway leaders all the time, some rarely.
Our group is one that experiences a runaway leader "all the time" (say 80%+) so we needed a balancing mechanism. If your group doesn't, great! And I encourage everyone to try the game as written first. If you find you need a balancer, here's what's worked for us:
The leader has a hand size of 4.
Everyone at least 5 spaces behind the leader has a hand size of 6.
The balanced sled bonus helps you catch up in straight-aways, what we needed was a way to keep it close in the curves, and that comes from limiting and expanding options.
Here's the mechanics:
1). At the end of your move, if you have taken 5 dents you are out of the race.
2). If you are still in the race and now in the lead, only refill your hand to 4 cards, but don't discard (yet) if you are at 5.
3). Once everyone had completed movement for the round, check position: the leader is limited to 4 cards, everyone else should have 5.
4). If two players are tied for the lead (i.e., leader is determined by who has the inside lane) or if the leader is holding 4 dents, then the leader draws to 5 cards.
5). Check the sleds furthest back. If it would take a move of at least 5 to tie for the lead, the player draws an extra (6th) card.
This idea was inspired by other Variant posts on this site; if yours was one, thank you. This variant has improved our enjoyment of the game, YMMV.
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Rob Robinson
England
Rotherham
South Yorkshire
Effortless...
... Mighty Trust Krusher
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How is it the catch up mechanic doesn't work as written?!?
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Mark Englehart
United States
San Diego
California
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The balanced sled bonus does not help most of the time in curves; either you will wipe your sled out crossing the speed limit bar or the straight move will take you wide to the outside of the track.
What we have experienced is that the person who navigates the first curve the best gets a commanding lead that the balanced sled bonus can't make up for.
As I have said, some game groups seem to have this problem and others don't. It is possible that as we play more, our collective grasp of card timing will improve and we will be able to have close races with the rules as written. Until then, no one in my group wants to play without this mod.
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Morgan Dontanville
United States
Brooklyn
New York
Plate of Shrimp.
Here we are folks, the dream we all dream of.
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zombiegod wrote: How is it the catch up mechanic doesn't work as written?!?
Because you don't have discretion with how many of the bonus moves you can take, often the player in the rear cannot use all their bonus without smashing into something, where the middling and leading players can. I just say that you can use any amount of your bonus.
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Rob Robinson
England
Rotherham
South Yorkshire
Effortless...
... Mighty Trust Krusher
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sisteray wrote: zombiegod wrote: How is it the catch up mechanic doesn't work as written?!? Because you don't have discretion with how many of the bonus moves you can take, often the player in the rear cannot use all their bonus without smashing into something, where the middling and leading players can. I just say that you can use any amount of your bonus.
Fair-do. But smash into a tree and you take damage then carry on moving, and smashing into the back of a sled only ends your turn with no damage/refresh.
BTW I hope to host a play by forum of Snow Tails soon.
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Morgan Dontanville
United States
Brooklyn
New York
Plate of Shrimp.
Here we are folks, the dream we all dream of.
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zombiegod wrote: sisteray wrote: zombiegod wrote: How is it the catch up mechanic doesn't work as written?!? Because you don't have discretion with how many of the bonus moves you can take, often the player in the rear cannot use all their bonus without smashing into something, where the middling and leading players can. I just say that you can use any amount of your bonus. Fair-do. But smash into a tree and you take damage then carry on moving, and smashing into the back of a sled only ends your turn with no damage/refresh. BTW I hope to host a play by forum of Snow Tails soon.
But there are speed thresholds that you can't exceed without getting royally humped. If you use your bonus over then you are just eliminated.
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David Larkin
England
Brighton
Sussex
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Coyote13 wrote:
What we have experienced is that the person who navigates the first curve the best gets a commanding lead that the balanced sled bonus can't make up for.
As I have said, some game groups seem to have this problem and others don't. It is possible that as we play more, our collective grasp of card timing will improve and we will be able to have close races with the rules as written. Until then, no one in my group wants to play without this mod.
I think the variability between groups is probably down to track design, shorter tracks with less straights means that there is less time to catch the leader
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