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Matt Thrower
United Kingdom
Bath
Somerset
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Block Mania is one in the long series of 80's Games Workshop "classic" board games. It's based on aspects of the 2000ad comic Judge Dredd strip and it's very heavily themed: if you don't know or don't like Judge Dredd then you're not likely to enjoy this game. However, you don't need any more than a passing familiarity with the stip to get the most out of playing Block Mania.
The game is in essence a light and extremely chaotic wargame. Each player is in charge of a city block which has decided to settle it's disagreements with a neighbouring block through violence. There are two boards in the game, one representing each block and the boards sit side-by-side with the blocks joined at ground level and by three different higher level bridges. The object of the game is simply to cause as much damage to the enemy block and it's inhabitants before the game ends.
Rules
Players take turns in an I go, you go fashion. The turn begins with a player rolling two dice for "command points" which can be used to bring new units on to the board or to activate and move existing units. This is followed by a defensive fire phase when enemy units armed with missile weapons can attempt to fire on the active players units. Whether they succeed or fail they are then flipped over and cannot be used in the enemy players' next turn. The active player can they use his own counters to fire on enemy units, close assault enemy units or to try and damage city block squares by setting fire to them or, if they have units armed with heavy weapons, actually destroying block squares with direct fire. They can also fight fires in their own block. Units can engage in combat whether they were activated in movement or not but they must be flipped over and cannot then be use for defensive fire in the next phase.
There is also a deck of cards with the game. At the start of the game sixteen of these are dealt off the top and go straight on the discard pile. Three are then dealt to each player. A player can use his cards whenever he wants, within certain restrictions, but must take a card at the end of each turn and can never hold more than three at a time. The cards do various things - they can give free re-enforcements, extra command points, provide combat bonuses or penalties and many oher things besides. Once the deck is exhausted, the discard pile is shuffled and turned over and the other side of the cards are used instead. In this endgame phase each player must play once card a turn and the cards now represent the forces of law and order showing up to stop the block war. Cards slow down, impede or arrest (remove) enemy units and the game then continues until there's no more units on the board.
Combat and damage are handled fairly simply. In most cases (shooting, fire damage, block collapse) a dice is rolled and any damage modifiers (prited on the weapon counter or the number of fire/damage markers in a block square) added. If the total is six or more then the enemy is destroyed, or the square is damaged by fire or collapses if already damaged. In close combat each unit rolls a dice and adds their modifiers and highest total wins.
The game has a large amount of special rules for various different unit types and weapon types. There's just about enough to be manageable in time but for the first couple of plays you're going to be referring to the rulebook a lot to try and work out what these things do. There are also some annoying rules amibguities - for example incendary weapons can start fires in the target square when used against an enemy but the rules are unclear on whether this is obligatory or optional - a vital point if you don't want to set fire to your own block!
Components
Components are typical of mid 80's wargames. There's lots of counters printed on moderately thick cardstock which is okay but I can imagine they'd wear if subjected to enough play time. The cards and boards are good quality and shouldn't present any problems. One major gripe I do have with the components is that there simply aren't enough markers in the game. It's very easy to have more collpased squares on a block than there are collapse markers in the game. Fortunately this is fairly easy to remidy since game play won't be affected at all if you cook up a batch of home made ones to use instead. There's also a minor issue with the point where the boards join since it's unclear whether this is one square or two but this shouldn't affect game play as long as you decide which it is and stick with the decision through the game.
Game Play
Block Mania is chaos right from the off. This isn't your thing if you want carefully considered gameplay. While there is a definate element of strategy the key to the game is in the hands of a dice - block collapse. If a square collapses there's a 2 in 6 chance of each square directly above it to collapse. If one of those goes, then there's a 2 in 6 chance of each square above that to collapse and so on. It's thus possible for one initial collapse to lead to a fairly hefty and dangerous chain of collapses through the building entirely through luck. Once you've got 5 collapse markers there's also a chance each turn for your whole block to fall down (pretty much guaranteeing you'll loose unless the enemy block is also on the brink of collpase) and this is also governed by dice. The strategy comes in sneaking past enemy units to get into the best positions in their block to start these chains of collapse.
The game is very amusing on the sheer scale of destruction that it represents. Some of the weapons and counters are particularly nasty and can lead to much glee for the owning player when they unleash their deadly payload on the enemy. There's also a lot of scope for starting accidental fires in your own block or destroying your own units through carless arson and block collapses.
The theming is very well done in spite of the slew of special rules that result, and the scope of those rules is kept just within a managable context - you'll have got used to most of them by the end of your first game. They add a lot to the fun factor if you're a fan of Judge Dredd and some of the special rules add a lot to the chaotic brand of entertainment the game provides. For example the "futsie" units which represent lone psychopaths can be moved by either player regardless of who owns them!
There are a few flaws in the game mechanics. It's very easy (through card play) to damage the bridges linking the two blocks very early in the game which makes ground level the only way to travese between the blocks, turning those squares into a bloody battleground. It's also a shame that the innovative end game mechanic using the justic cards to slowly bring the game to a halt doesn't often come into play - one or other block will usually have collapsed first. However probably the biggest flaw is that it's very hard to recover from a situation once fires or collapse in your block has got out of control. Units which are firefighting can't attack enemy counters to stop them starting more fires. Once things are getting out of hand, they're likely to stay that way and your only hope is to desperately try and damage the enemy block enough so that it'll collapse not long after your own does!
Conclusion
You're going to like this game if you get a kick out of 2000ad or if you're the sort of gamer who likely inflicting destruction on your opponent for the sheer hell of it. If you are the more considered type who likes abstracts/and or non-random play, stay well away. I'm in the former camp and although I think the game is fun it does have some significant flaws. I'd give it a 6.
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Chris Morse
Wales
Merthyr Tydfil
not the nose, not the nose!!!
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Good review. I just bought it and the rulebook is a bit daunting.
Hope to figure it all out soon though.
What I think may be the biggest drawback with this game though is having to all sit in a row as you play and lean over each other to attack etc.
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