Mark Jackson
United Kingdom
London
None
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Block Mania / Mega-Mania Review
Aside from Matt Thrower's excellent review HERE, I have felt for a while that Block Mania was rather under-represented on the Geek. Admittedly this could be partly due to the infamous Games Workshop files purge of 2009, however this review is intended in some way to readdress the balance by taking another look at this piece of Games Workshop history by Richard Halliwell of "Space Hulk" fame.
Instead of a conventional review I'm going to try and give a more personal insight into what I think makes this game worth reconsidering. Forgive me if I grow sentimental.
The Box
Block Mania hails for an era when Games Workshop made games that fitted in a box you could hold in one hand. Instead of vast, floppy, fragile monstrosities that spilt out their contents in darkened cupboards, that buckled under their own weight into flat battle scenes of broken plastic and torn paper, that had to be resorted and reboxed into anonymous plastic trays, these early games were compact little universes each with their own quirks and inconsistencies.
This was back in Realms of Chaos era Warhammer (before the beloved Fimir were removed from memory and the creatures of Slaanesh still had the courage to bare a breast or two). Back then Games Workshop offered you the choice of spending a little time in one of these self-contained little universes, some of which happened to be drawn from one of the most important British cultural artefacts of the latter-half of the 20th Century: 2000 AD.
The Background
So that brings me to Block Mania. A little cityscape in a box. A Mega-City in microcosm. And as the Judge Dredd universe is in itself the re-imagining of Anglo-American society pushed to extremes, so Block Mania is in some ways a perverse and nihilistic poem to the council estates of Great Britain in the 1970s and '80s.
It is a game that needs its story. The scattershot nature of its mechanics rewards those (in the most radical Ameritrash tradition) who are willing to apply the theme, and have some knowledge of setting to do so convincingly. If, for example, you have with you some charismatic raconteur or other who can spin the unfolding story into the history of Mega-City One then so much the better.
The Game
And regarding those scattershot mechanics. The rules are not written in a manner that is conducive to playing out of the box. This is unfortunate as a player with knowledge of the game will frustrate those who are learning as one plays. The only way to make this game an enjoyable experience for all is to reformat them (with the occasional tweak for consistency). The number of sub-clauses that crop up means that a concise revision of the rules is impossible (and, indeed, against the spirit of the game), however reformatting is highly recommended so that players can move through the rules as they move through a turn until the basic game is grasped.
As a paragon of theme-heavy, luck-oriented, rule-exception-riddled, Ameritrash it is not for those who take strategising seriously. Arbitrary and merciless, it is not a duel or a test of skill but the orgiastic performance of an existential and heartless kitchen sink realism corrupted into science fiction burlesque. Each decision is an investigation, each role of the dice a further canto in the unfurling of a grotesque parody of inner city prejudice and paranoia presented in a bureaucracy of statistics, an ideology of urban planning, an offensive parody of stereotypes and social housing.
If you feel that there are those who can see the poetry in the machine, those whose personalities can cope with the the game's unfairness, its perversity and its unhelpful board design then give it a go. Read the comic (2000 AD progs 236-244), rewrite the rules, find a pet-free environment and don't care who wins because today, dear readers, we are playing against the game, not against each other. To misquote Robin Lydenberg on William S. Burroughs: "There is no victory in Block Mania, but it does offer a temporary retreat from the relentless battle of the streets."
Conclusion
The game is a work of art. It explores its subject in its mechanics as well as its theme. Perhaps, ultimately, its message is that in small groups (of 2-4 players) we can, in some small way, all get along; that we might be able to see the reward as the journey not the spoils.
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Miguel Sanhueza
England
Brighton
East Sussex
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Jacky Blue Note wrote:
Arbitrary and merciless, it is not a duel or a test of skill but the orgiastic performance of an existential and heartless kitchen sink realism corrupted into science fiction burlesque. Each decision is an investigation, each role of the dice a further canto in the unfurling of a grotesque parody of inner city prejudice and paranoia presented in a bureaucracy of statistics, an ideology of urban planning, an offensive parody of stereotypes and social housing.
Does Pseuds Corner in Private Eye accept online submissions...?
Interesting read nonetheless!
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Bryce K. Nielsen
United States
Elk Ridge
Utah
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And there really aren't any other games out there that show what it's like living in Mega City One! Love Block Mania, just wish I would have bought those miniatures for the game when they were first selling them.
-shnar
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Anders Pedersen
Denmark
Copenhagen N.
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This game has been standing on my shelf for quite a while.
Is there a place I can find some revised rules or player aid?
The rulebook as written is what has caused the box to currently collect dust 
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John Middleton
United States
Laramie
Wyoming
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The games rules are actually very simple to grasp. Read through the book once and then through the Blockers manual and start playing.
Everything makes much more sense in the context of play. And you can reread the differences in the blockers counter types as they are drawn and come up rather than trying to remember them all at once.
Also play with two blocks to start because the circular board wrap with Mega Blocks is sort of odd at first.
After that you can reread and all is perfectly clear.
All of the old Games Workshop boardgames, with the exception of Talisman and Rouge Trooper (since they are both very simple), benefit from a single rule read through and then an attempt to play as actually handling the components and seeing the mechanisms working is the best way to learn them. Warrior Knights especially comes to mind here.
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It's just a ride
England
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
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Played this to death when it first came out, and jumped on the Mega Mania expansion when that was released too. Absolutely loved playing the jamming card on an opponent who was just about to send hordes of fatties, spugs and juves across the 'tween block plaza. It still sits on my shelf, battered and bruised, but much loved.
"I'm with Millhouse Nixon block, who you fighting with..?"
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Great game when you get past the badly written rules. Never enough fire counters though...
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Bryce K. Nielsen
United States
Elk Ridge
Utah
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And collapse counters
-shnar
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David Spitzley
United States
Belleville
Michigan
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I was just discussing this a friend last weekend. Back in the late 80s, we played a game of this that ended on the first turn: a fortuitous fire bomb discovered and immediately deployed in the basement of the opposing block took the entire thing down in one turn. Truly a sight to behold
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John W
United States
Sacramento
California
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Jacky Blue Note wrote: Admittedly this could be partly due to the infamous Games Workshop files purge of 2009... Na -
it was summarily ignored on the Geek well before then.
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Bryce K. Nielsen
United States
Elk Ridge
Utah
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reapersaurus wrote: Jacky Blue Note wrote: Admittedly this could be partly due to the infamous Games Workshop files purge of 2009... Na - it was summarily ignored on the Geek well before then.
Agreed. Most people don't know of the gem that is Block Mania.
It would make for a good Print-n-Play game, IMHO...
-shnar
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Mark Jackson
United Kingdom
London
None
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I always thought there was so much scope for expansion also. Juves looting Boing! from the Shopping Malls and bouncing between blocks, and perhaps the scope for very rare appearances such as Judge Death wandering randomly through the apartments of Buddy Holly, or the Phantom scrawling his way up Sammy Fox.
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John Middleton
United States
Laramie
Wyoming
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There was another expansion in an issue of White Dwarf that featured new counters that you were supposed to glue over the top of existing counters, I guess to keep the game balanced by avoiding too many powerful weapons.
It added rules for Jaeger Hunter Squads, Robo-Dogs, Sucker Guns, Spit Cannons, Thermo-Bombs, Nerve Gas, the Plascrete Virus, and Trip mines.
Very cool and i can see why they tried to limit the weaponry by the weird counter build.
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Mark Jackson
United Kingdom
London
None
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Some of these were very over-powered and I'd recommend a second set for the gluing in case you want to play only the core version.
The Jaeger Squads and the trip mines were the most interesting additions I thought. Jaeger squads had an activation of 0 so could always move in case some son-of-a-gun took away all your CPs at a crucial moment with a card, and the trip mines were a real defensive help.
I remember the robo-dogs being a annoying bit of errata being +3 in the rules and +2 on the counter.
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Jeff White
United States
Kyle
Texas
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shnar wrote: And there really aren't any other games out there that show what it's like living in Mega City One! Love Block Mania, just wish I would have bought those miniatures for the game when they were first selling them.
-shnar
You're in luck as Mongoose Publishing has a swell set of judge dredd minis they sell. Fatties, juves, crocs, superheroes, the whole line.
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/miniatures/judge-dredd.htm...
I've actually considered making a rudimentary rules summary and weapon/card cheat sheet, but not sure of the legality of it since the GW purge.
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Bryce K. Nielsen
United States
Elk Ridge
Utah
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Oo, thanks for that. I'll see which ones match up. Also, I wonder if UniversalHead would be interested in making a reference?
-shnar
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Mark Jackson
United Kingdom
London
None
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I always had a problem with the minis for Block Mania, seeing as it is a vertical game. Always thought they should be more like the Elgin Marbles.
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Posted Wed Feb 8, 2012 6:01 pm
