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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
It has been relatively quiet in The Shambles for the last few weeks, so I determined to spend this particular Saturday finishing my fascinating odyssey through the lifetime's work of E.Trevor Warren:
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Castaway/pic7408135.jpg)
Find food, water and wood to build a beacon and a shack and wait to be rescued from your island BUT watch out for the unfriendly natives!
Components: 1 x Board; 4 x Castaway + 4 x Island ownership marker (one per player); d6; 1 x Ship; 1 x Native Canoe; 2 x Native; 4 x Palm Tree; 4 x Freshwater Pool; 4 x Shack; 4 x Beacon; 1 x Wreck marker; 20 x Equipment tile; 32 x Equipment card; 35 x Chance cards./pic7408134.jpg)
Players first drift around the board and need to land on their own island (cannot share with another). Once landed, they wander about exploring face-down equipment tiles and dealing with chance cards that will reveal key elements (Palm tree, wood, water pool) and hazards (natives). Your castaway action for the turn is determined by the single ship that is moved in and around the islands - a shared action marker (sort-of) idea that appears in several other Trevor designs./pic7408136.jpg)
Once you have your shopping list of items, you move to the outer edge of the island and wait for the (action) ship to sail passed./pic7408139.jpg)
Notes:
- A 2 player variant is offered in the rules.
- This is a standard ETW roll-and-mover with a classic theme laid over the top.
Exactly
Buy an item from each of the four shops by paying the EXACT amount for them./pic7408138.jpg)
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Players start with £200 - four £50 notes - and must roll/move around the board (using one, the other or both dice) and use the action spaces to break up their notes and coins in order have the right selection of coins to pay the given amount. Players are assigned a specific item, in secret, at the start of the game./pic7408141.jpg)
Notes:
- Though a simple roll-and-move design, I rather like the smash up your currency mechanism. Not sure having a secret item(s) is particularly effective; I think I'd prefer if you simply laid the items out for all to see and then had the race element of players trying for, possibly, the same item!
- To be honest, anything with a Fray Bentos Steak & Kidney Pie in it gets a bonus point in my book!/pic7408142.jpg)
Elimination
Get as many of your 6 pieces into the centre of the board - moving from outer layers to the centre - while numping others' pieces into oblivion; the wrinkle is that the colour of YOUR pieces is secretly-allocated, so only you know. Some colours are neutral when playing with fewer than 6.
Two dice are thrown - one determines movement, the other shows the colour of the piece to be moved. Landing on an occupied space will bounce the occupant off the board and the moved piece one layer closer to the centre; when an outermost occupied layer 'loses' its last pieces, pieces in the (filled up) next layer can then be moved around. When all pieces off/in the centre, players reveal their colours and score accordingly./pic7408143.jpg)
Notes:
- The colour-to-move die makes everything too random, so would suggest replacing it with another d6 and offering a double-roll and a choice of first die (OR) second die ?OR? first+second dice for movement.
- As with Heimlich & Co, players could choose any colour to move/use to eliminate another piece.
- Could also have a race element by awarding more points for first arrival(s).
- A co-operative element should the neutral pieces score more than the player(s)?
Queue Jumping
Another variety mix of components in this simple race game where players have secret 'factions' they want to see reach the end before the others. Two dice are used to determine i) which faction has a piece join the board and ii) how far they move - leapfrogging over occupied spaces./pic7408144.jpg)
Notes:
- Having goal cards that contained a mix of factions to allow players to overlap in their placement interest eg. a dolphin, a Lego and a Soldier - cash-in the card AND the relevant pieces when something makes it to the end THEN take another goal card.
- Player chooses the piece to move rather than rolling a the d12; opens up possibilities for shenanigans!/pic7408145.jpg)
Typhoon
Save as many of your people and houses from the ravages of a Typhoon; you can reinforce your buildings with shutters to absorb weather damage if/when it hits!/pic7408146.jpg)
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Players put their HOUSE pieces on the main board - one at a time - and repeat the process with their PEOPLE. Each turn is split into three steps:
i) throw 2d6 and spend the pips as follows: move one person one square OR add a shutter to any undamaged house OR 'stand up' an injured person (a 'lying down' piece) THEN
ii) throw the d10 and d12 to determine the X and Y co-ordinates of the next 'hit' square (on an 11 or 12, the player chooses the value instead) - placing a yellow Typhoon disc - THEN
iii) process the damage/death if the hit square is already occupied - see the reference card./pic7408149.jpg)
Virtuoso
Roll and move, recipe fulfilment: collect tiles representing elements of your musical ensemble - the 'bingo' cards - with the first to do so being the winner./pic7408148.jpg)
When you land on a tile, you can take it for your board OR move it to ANY empty space on the board, face-up. Pink spaces allow you to navigate, diagonally, between the rings of the board while blue spaces give you an extra turn. Landing on another player's piece will send them back to the middle (HOME).
Just four boxes were returned to the shelves 'unseen' so I expect to have the last leg of Warren exploration done-and-dusted before March is out; then begins the process of formally writing up my first Museum 'academic' paper and laying on a special exhibition/installation of the whole lot!
As it turned out, the Spring sunshine brought folks out into the open more than expected and I ended up talking and guiding instead which means I've still got a handful of boxes to rifle through. Boffo also turned up - at a rare loose end - for some 2 player gaming:/pic7408150.jpg)
I was very pleased to get the chance to play Oranienburger Kanal for the first time - my copy still languishes in shrink at home - and it was a rather delightful experience./pic7408151.jpg)
We tied on 126 each, following different paths...(ticks box)
It's everything you'd expect from Uwe: a little bit Fields of Arle, a sprinkle of Glass Road and a whole lot of Euro goodness. Though slightly-fiddly in places, I pronounce it a worthy addition to his admirable canon.
Everyone Needs A Shed
Life and Games (but mostly games) from Tony Boydell: Father, Grandfather, Husband and Independent UK Game Designer.
Archive for Warren Collection
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Trev-ial Pursuits
06
Jan
2023
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
Onward, pals; yet more dusty curiosities await...
12 Results Football Pool Game
Correctly forecast the results of 12 football matches (Home, Away or Draw); deck of cards is used to simulate the scoring of goals for H or A and you can add your own goals to influence some final results:/pic7241210.jpg)
Reveal a card and process a match then (optionally) add one of your own pegs to any match (red for a H goal, B for an away)./pic7241209.jpg)
The game ends when one player has run out of their pegs (diff number at start depending on player count); score for correctly-forecast Away (2) and Home (1) wins and the Draw (3). ETW notes last player advantage on the rulesheet, so suggests playing a number of rounds equal to the number of players. This is very similar to Daily Mail Footer-Pool.
Tsunami
Players race their pieces to the top of the board to escape a moving line of markers that represent a tidal wave; one die moves your pieces, the other the wave. Several cars are available to move groups of escapees (rather than individuals)./pic7241211.jpg)
ETW discusses using the dice in different ways for a different pace; there is a rule about keeping the wave across three rows that might be more interesting if it was replaced with 'must stay connected' and allowed to move more organically.
The Dodgy Race Game
A card-driven race game borrowing heavily from THUNDER ROAD ('scrolling' race track); two board pieces that make up four, overall sections of the scrolling race track./pic7241212.jpg)
Doesn't feel like there's enough going on to make it a fully-engaging race; THUNDER ROAD has the combat element that adds real excitement.
Supermarket
Roll and move customers around the central board where players have shops in each corner; customers passing through your shop buy goods and you use money received to buy more goods to then sell on - first player to achieve an amount of money is the winner./pic7241213.jpg)
Components: a board; dice; customer pieces (different colours and referenced by the Chance cards); deck of Chance cards./pic7241214.jpg)
Awayday
Transport your four passengers, one each, to the destinations on your Destination card; roll and move to station platforms, catch trains (multiple pieces in each) and disembark etc. Ludo-esque./pic7241215.jpg)
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Dodge the Dinosaurs
Roll and move with obstacles; get your pieces across the board and 'escape' from the swamp monster and dinosaurs; pieces are of different 'sizes' (Men, Women and Children) which have different movement rates according to the custom die-roll (M=4, W=3, C=2, D=all dinos, S=all swamp monsters, A=choose any). Points are scored according to the different types of person who escape successfully; most points wins./pic7241216.jpg)
Oddly - and a little disturbingly - there is 'combat' possible between players: roll the custom die and the closest letter to the beginning of the alphabet wins. Monsters eat tribespeople - naturally - and if you get a Child to escape, you can bring an 'eaten' person back to life at the Start./pic7241217.jpg)
This reuses the bits from DINOSAURS - THE GAME with a little nod to LOST VALLEY OF THE DINOSAURS.
No Name (The Game of Peterborough)
Move your two pawns up/down/back/forth to create grid intersections where you place tiles in your colour; aiming to create blocks of 4 or more for scoring (removal); hitting an occupied spot can shunt the whole, connected group. Scored blocks are based on their proximity to the centre of the board where the spaces are worth more points (the combined value of the pawns' positions on the edge tracks)/pic7241219.jpg)
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Move-It
Roll and move around the board collecting the items you need to complete your JOB card; first to complete four JOB cards is the winner./pic7241221.jpg)
Components: 1 x Board; d6; 4 x Lorry pieces (one per player); 16 x Goods pieces; 16 x Job cards; 1 x Roadworks chit./pic7241222.jpg)
Whippit
Roll and move/set collection. Players are randomly-dealt a hand of cards, each representing one of the ten (!) types of piece on the board: Red wooden piece, footballer, house, lorry, cat, dolphin, Pawn, Boat, Snake, Soldier. Each set of pieces have five colour variants./pic7241224.jpg)
Players roll a d10 (which type of piece moves) and the d6 (how far); landing pieces on top of other pieces 'catches' them and can be claimed by a player who holds the appropriate matching piece card. The winner is the player who empties their hand of cards first./pic7241225.jpg)
It's a bit bonkers, this one.
Whippit looks entirely like Trevor was staring at a box of miscellaneous components and had a yen to get them all into the one game; the set collection, movement and capturing are all traditional elements of his designs, of course.
Finally, for now, and nestled amongst the re-labelled cartons was this mock-up copy of a notable, published work:/pic7241223.jpg)
Do you recognise this one?!
It's great to see Trevor was aware of the wider, 21st century gaming world...
Fri Jan 6, 2023 6:20 am
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
There are still three piles of boxes on that top shelf in the corner of the Museum even though, officially, I have now been through 51 (fifty-one) prototypes of Mr Warren's board and card games. My inner critic is gauging these designs against the mass market - the non-gamer Public - rather than my own community of head-scratching tacticians and strategists; after all, there's far more of them than there are of us! As always, the potential varies enormously but it is certainly there:
Beat The Odds
Roll two pairs of d6s (red and white), adding their pips to see which two tokens move up the track toward the finish. Each player has a number of GOAL cards - there are 11, each uniquely numbered between 2 and 12 - which are the number tokens you want to finish ASAP: the first player whose tokens have all reached the finish is the winner./pic7213426.jpg)
To mitigate the die-rolling, one could include changes such as:
- don't restrict the pairs to being the same colour added, allow all four dice to be rolled and then pair them (total them) as you would want;
- Weight the GOAL cards so they have a scoring value commensurate with the bell-curve of rolled number chances eg. '12' is worth more than '6';
- allow drawing of new GOAL cards (choose 1 from X);
- duplicate 5, 6, 8, 9 cards; remove '7' altogether - make 7 force you to move a token 'down'?!; and,
- change winning to be based on most points achieved.
Salvo
A sea battle game where players roll-and-move a shared token around the outside of the board to gain effects; this lets their ships move/drift with the changing winds into a position of attacking/damaging/sinking an opponent's ship(s)./pic7213428.jpg)
There is a three phase turn for each player:
1. WIND (drift)
2. DICE - move around the outside track and resolve any effect(s)
3. ACTION - play out action cards (usually initiating battles)
When half a player's ships are sunk, opponent can sail into their Harbour and win./pic7213429.jpg)
The weather 'drift' mechanic is a novelty within the world of these designs and reminds me a bit of Drake and others.
Outburst
Move the shared, coloured pawns around the board and into locked positions (N, S, E and W from your perspective) so they match your (randomly-dealt) PATTERN card. The custom die roll determines which colour can be moved the regular d6 amount; special sides '1' and '2' allow you to move 1 or 2 pawns in any colour of your choice. Pawns in 'HOME' cannot be moved again (they are locked into position),/pic7213430.jpg)
Change(s)? How about a smaller board with random obstacles on? Fewer pawns with chameleon (wild) pawns? More options on the PATTERN cards? Remove the dice altogether?!
Knock-A-Lot
It's a kind of communal LUDO! Score the most points by moving the (shared) colour counters around the track - land them on squares matching their colour OR knock other pieces off altogether./pic7213431.jpg)
Each counter colour has an associated coloured die: roll the 3d6 then move a counter in each of the colours the rolled amount - always move RED then BLUE then YELLOW. Rules for rolling DOUBLEs and TREBLES. Score points - using your marker - on the same track; these can end up interfering with the shared counters too.
I like the 'chase' idea, with the fixed die roll resolution encouraging colours to bash up against the others. Sharing scores on the same track gives an extra element of interaction/interference that ought to be built on eg. pay points to amend die roll(s) but put you in range of 'chasing' counters...there is definitely something to be explored further here!
Galaxy
Area control game driven by movement of your two 'shuttles' around the outside of the board (roll and move); drop off ships in star systems (star systems are yellow or red and are colonized by your red or yellow shuttle) adjacent to your shuttle's position - special rules for accessing the central two systems. As you move into other players' starting zones, can take one of their pieces off a star./pic7213434.jpg)
When a system (4 stars) has a certain number of player ships in, resolve who has conquered it and place a scoring marker there; when a player has conquered the requisite no. of systems, they have won./pic7213436.jpg)
Inside-Out
Roll-and-move / recipe fulfilment - themed to household rooms; draw cards at random to try and complete the furniture needed in your room (a GOAL card given at the start of the game); can sell unwanted cards to a salesroom and buy others that you need./pic7213435.jpg)
If I were to tweak this, I'd have more goal (room) cards and duplicate items across multiple goals eg. a TABLE needed in the DINING ROOM, the STUDY and so on; however, it's much too light a theme and too random in its play to hold up to much scrutiny.
Updown Handicap
Roll and move race game with players selecting their three preferred horses (in secret) before the race is run. The dice (2d8) are rolled with values X and Y and a horse is moved eg. horse X is moved Y spaces OR horse Y is moved X spaces. There is a limit of 3 horses in a space - leading to blocking - and rules for clearing the JUMPS./pic7213437.jpg)
The race is run for top three and then points awarded to each player based on their horse and position predictions./pic7213438.jpg)
I think I'd open up the scoring and award points for all eight positions with bonuses for matches in the top 3. Maybe, also, introduce a once-per-game JOKER effect to double the move of one of your horses eg. cost = reveal your prediction list?
Batch 5 complete. And I've not even shown you the details of the folder of correspondence yet!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
It's proving to be quite the intrepid exercise: unpacking, photographing, cataloguing, interpreting, cleaning up and re-packing the MANY prototypes in The Warren Collection! This is a cursory whistle through the latest batch - more batches to follow - and you'll get no prizes for noticing there are emerging themes to Trevor's canon; there is a lot of potential, though...
Ace
It's Tennis; the ball moves around the court, hits the net and/or scores in some way with the player piece 'following' the ball when it's moved to give the sense of running around the court. 'Ace' has two ways of resolving the action:
by rolling dice (2 x custom d6 and a custom d10); or, by drawing and playing SERVICE (40 of) and PLAY (50 of) cards from shared decks.
While there's no specific agency in either version, a card-play driven mechanism would allow for choice and quicker play; I really like the way the tennis player moves around following the Ball!/pic7214824.jpg)
Components: 2 x Player; tennis court board (hand-painted wood); ball piece; a pair of handsome, hand-made, wooden score wheels for GAME and SET (2) plus the appropriate DICE/CARD version equipment.
Top Team Quiz
Answer questions correctly to collect players and make up a complete team; first to complete a team - or have the highest score when the game ends - is the winner./pic7214825.jpg)
Components: Board; deck of question cards; 57 football player cards (team players, reserves and 'aces')/pic7214830.jpg)
Foursomes
Roll-and-move to draft face-up (RED) and face-down, random (BLUE) letters and put them on your player board to make four letter words; first to form an agreed number of 4-letter words is the winner./pic7214826.jpg)
Components: Board; 4 x player pieces; d6; 269 x Letter tiles (in RED and BLUE)
Rainbow
Roll-and-move, set collection with the seven colours of the rainbow. See also GAZEBO. Components: Board; 4 x player piece; 28 x colour tokens (4 each in 7 colours); 1 x white (wild) token and a deck of Chance cards./pic7217932.jpg)
Transformers & Transposers
Move all of your pieces (5) from one side of the hexagonal board to the other. Throw 2d6 and use one value as first exit, other value for next exit - so you'll move one piece two spaces each turn. Extra rules for rolling a double and can bounce other peeps' pieces to empty spaces./pic7213397.jpg)
Disappointingly, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with transforming or 'transposing'!
This is similar to a LOT of edge-to-edge fayre including local Newent designer Vilnis' Vexagon!
King of the Castle
Each player takes a turn as the ATTACKER and DEFENDER scoring points for successful attacks/destroying attackers, as appropriate; after the two games, most 'Merit' points is the winner./pic7213405.jpg)
Attacker rolls a d20 and divides the number of (surviving) attacker pieces to determine each's movement - any remainder is added to one of the attackers. Defender rolls a d6 to place 'missiles' to block travelling OR directly-hit an attacker. Movement is always 'up' for the attacker and, eventually, to destroying the garrison at the 'top' of the board.
Aside: there is a 'safe space' area in the middle of the board which is a separate piece due to the main board being a re-purpose of something else that had a square missing in the centre!/pic7213406.jpg)
Stuck?!
There is a little control in the Attacker movement but, of course, entirely dependent upon the roll of the d20. In my first 'go', I managed to be blocked from moving anything on my two attacker rows by two missile pieces - not sure how I'd get out of this (no mention in the rules). It would be cool to allow garrison pieces to move as well - ie. come out of the castle and 'meet' the attackers - as well as allowing attackers to attack (blocking) missiles!
Jackpot
Trivia-based game where wrong answers cause your (and other player) tokens to end up in the jackpot line; when you reach the 'top' of the board - answering Qs correctly - you win all pieces on the jackpot line./pic7213407.jpg)
This seems like quite a nice skeleton scoring structure for ANY trivia game, to be honest: pay tokens into a POOL when you answer incorrectly and win the pot (and some of your tokens back) when you reach a certain threshold. Could play until one of the players has lost all their tokens (ie. short game if played with non-trivial folk!)
El Dorado
A race game where players vie to be the first to get home with a GOLD bar. Getting the GOLD is played out in a sequence of mini-games:
- STARTIA: roll-and-move around the square track and buy/collect different bits of equipment; then,
- go to SETOFIA (possibly pick up a PARTNER), buy a Ship & sail to RESTIA; then,
- RESTIA: roll-and-move around the square track and buy/collect different bits of equipment; then,
- go to EL DORADO and look for the gold in a grid of 36 face-down tokens; then,
- race home/steal gold from someone else before racing home!/pic7213410.jpg)
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Components: Lots of equipment tokens (various types matching the requirements on the player boards); double-sided player boards showing STARTIA and RESTIA needs; central map board showing all locations, connections between them and holding the components and Chance cards; chance cards for ROAD, SEA and FOREST connections. Player pieces (2 each, one is a 'PARTNER')/pic7213422.jpg)
Ultimately, the game is a sequence of mini roll-and-move games subject to the whims of the d6 and the draw of Chance cards. It wasn't clear whether the PARTNER piece was simply an ingredient OR could/should be repurposed ie. would be good to have two pawns moving on the RESTIA/EL DORADO side to double the searching, help mitigate rolls in the city, deal with Chance cards etc./pic7213423.jpg)
I have a soft spot for the bigger story designs in Trevor's catalogue (see also ALASKA GOLD and MOTORWAY); if only he could've discovered CCGs and Settlers of Catan and Tikal, they would've shown him a new direction to build upon!Quote:Thought: Obviously, the 'Chance' card plays a massive part in Mr Warren's arsenal and it's easy to get sniffy about them; however, I posit that they've never gone away but simply reformed themselves into Event cards - players no longer feel victimized by fate as individuals because we've replaced them with effects that victimize EVERYONE insteadGame With No Name
Roll dice to determine which of your pieces move on the grid; you're aiming to collect one each of four different colours before your opponent does. The colour tokens start face-down, randomly distributed, across the board./pic7213424.jpg)
Word Chase
Write down four six-letter words, in secret, then play a game of moving your chaser piece around the board trying to catch your opponent's word pieces (numbered 1 thru 4); when you pass over OR land-on such a piece, you can ask for a letter or a specific letter in the word of that piece's number. The sooner you guess the word(s) correctly, the more points you score; when one player has had all four words guessed, the player with the most points is the winner./pic7213425.jpg)
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
Sorting through more of the Trevor Warren prototypes generates a lot of 30 year old waste!
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I’ve been decanting components into ziplocs so, hopefully, everything will be in excellent condition after another 30!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
Another week, another minor dent in the Warren Archive; while many of the prototypes follow a fairly typical 'old school' (ie. luck-based, low agency) feel, there continue to be suggestions - here-and-there - of being able to apply modern design sensibilities to Trevors works. The ultimate aim is to compile a shortlist of candidates for some proper design re-engineering - all, of course, in his name.
Qwhist & Qrummy
Roll and move around the board collecting (traditional playing) cards with which to play the best Whist (Qwhist) or the first (Qrummy) hand./pic7151174.jpg)
Board; pack of regular playing cards; two pieces per player; d6; current 'Trump suit' indicator cards (4). Strong LUDO elements (roll and move, 'send home'). Qwhist ends when a player has 11 cards and that triggers an assignment phase that brings everyone else up to 11 cards for a final WHIST face-off (11 tricks) - the player with the most tricks is the winner. The wrinkle here is the drafting of cards from piles as you move around the board; the cards you leave behind give you info as to what other players might be picking up. Qrummy is quicker in that you're racing to get a rummy hand for the win./pic7151175.jpg)
Greenfingers
Roll-and-move around the track to collect seeds, sow them and germinate them - as seeds germinate, they increase in value (number of plants) and the player with 'the most germinated seeds' is the winner./pic7151176.jpg)
Components: Board; spinner (for random generation of extra germinated plants); player pieces; d6; 4 x Greenhouse pieces (gained with Chance cards); Chance cards ("compost heap"); tokens for keeping track of number of plants germinated.
Numbro
Roll 3 x d6 and use all of them in conjunction with any of the basic mathematical operations (+, -, / and x) to get cover a number on your board; the first player to cover their whole board (numbered 1-36) is the winner./pic7151177.jpg)
Components: 2 x player board with spaces for 1 thru 36; 72 counters to 'cover' spaces that have been achieved; 3 x d6./pic7151178.jpg)
The designer's note includes a message about playing with more people by putting the 1-36 grid onto a piece of paper instead: it's a roll-and-write!!!/pic7151180.jpg)
Counter Attack
Score points by matching the position of coloured counters you move 'on the board' with objective cards in your hand. A shared piece on a roll-and-move track determines what piece(s) you're allowed to move on your turn on the main board - landing counters on specific main board spaces may achieve an objective./pic7151179.jpg)
The setting up of given positions of pieces to score points mirrors a number of published games such as CLACKS! (modern) and SQUARE UP; would swap the d6 for a pseudo-rondel approach (like PATCHWORK) and also remove some of the objectives, at random, from the deck. Maybe introduce 'blocking of spaces' too?!
Soccardo
Draw and reveal cards from the top of the deck to implement the movement of the ball between players; entirely pre-determined by the deck with no player agency./pic7151181.jpg)
Components: Board (football pitch); 10 x Footballers (numbered 1-5 for each team); 1x Ball; 106 x Playing cards with special actions on./pic7151182.jpg)
Perhaps give each player a hand of cards with a simple play one out process; re-draw to hand size when ball goes out of play?!
Space Race
Use cards to move toward, and land on, the planets of the solar system; it's a card-driven race game with simple draw (from deck/top discard) to help you collect the cards you need; unfortunately, you're entirely dependent on the quality of the random draw/what's on top of the discard pile./pic7151183.jpg)
Components: Board; 6 x Player pieces; 48 counters (8 per player); 100 card deck/pic7151184.jpg)
Hexit
Ludo-esque; there are two spaces of your colour in the middle of a giant hex board and you need all four pieces on ONE or two piece on each of the TWO. Driven by roll-and move around the outside with the landing spaces instructing you what to move, how far, other penalties etc/pic7151185.jpg)
Zudo
Deliver four of your counters home - roll and move/pick up and deliver - move piece around the outside to trigger actions - can pick up and drop off counters (yours and other players) along the way./pic7151186.jpg)
Board; 4 x player pieces; 20 x player counters (5 each); d6; deck of Chance cards. Rather like the pick-up-anyone's-piece-and-deliver element - good screwage possibilities!/pic7151187.jpg)
Gazebo
Roll dice to move letters around the board (Gazebo die tells you which letter to move); move your piece to intercept them. Spell the word GAZEBO before the others./pic7151188.jpg)
Components: Board; d6; special GAZEBO die; 24 x Letter tiles (enough for each player to spell GAZEBO)
Zap!
Get as many of your 15 pieces across the numbered-square board without them being zapped (eliminated); spend your 3 movement points any way you wish and then roll a special die and the d10 to see which COLOUR / NUMBER space is 'hot' ie. zaps anything on it. Rolling 'pink' on the special die means you take a Chance card instead./pic7151189.jpg)
Components: Board; 60 x counters (15 per player); special die (d8) and a d10; 48 x Chance cards./pic7151190.jpg)
I rather like the idea of using a mechanism to decide 'hot spaces'; would probably make the board smaller to make more events happen. Love the idea of moving other players' pieces onto a single colour and then mass blasting!/pic7151191.jpg)
Jigpic
Everyone is building up a single, giant picture (one deck with cards that make up a bigger picture): play out a card OR pick one up - first to empty their hand is the winner./pic7151192.jpg)
Clever Clogs
Scattergories but with cards.../pic7151193.jpg)
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Seriously, we're not even into the stuff on the high shelves yet!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Another weekend sees another session of exploring the Warren Legacy! I've noted that among the pure designs, Trevor has also made up copies of published games for his own pleasure and (occasionally) a tweak to the formal rules - two examples of this are Zoch's Niagara (!) and the classic Cathedral.
Armageddon
Escape from Earth on ships (roll and move your way to a launch pad) then fly to a new planet. Some similarities with Escape from Atlantis in that evacuating spaceships can carry multiple players' pieces and have a majority 'Captain'. Roll and move takes place in two circles on 'Earth'; space element has combat-ish bits. First player to get X tokens to the planet is the winner./pic7146765.jpg)
Components are: 1 x Earth board (two rings of spaces); 1 x Space board; d6; 10 tokens per player; 5 white 'general' spaceships; 2 x Alien spaceships (attackers); 1 x Deck of Inner circle Chance cards; 1 x Deck of Outer circle Chance cards./pic7146767.jpg)
The two levels of board - a game of two halves - is a novel touch, though not unique for the time (the late 1980s) q.v. Talisman, Mr Alan Paull's own City of Sorcerers and several others I can't bring immediately to mind.
The Railway Game
Pick up and deliver passengers and freight according to the requirements of your Task card(s); first to complete a particular number of task cards is the winner. Some routes require a series of steps taken across a number of turns eg. the use of a Ferry. Three special trains - in addition to the players' own train - can be used in/between certain locations./pic7146768.jpg)
Components are: 1 x Map board depicting mainland UK plus Eastern edge of Ireland; 4 x player trains; 3 x game trains; 2 x Game Ferry; deck of 24 Task cards; freight and passenger tokens./pic7146769.jpg)
This is a more advanced version of proper roll-and-move classics like Touring England (and its many spin-offs) where the simple 'get to place X' cards are now more involved mini-quests. The Railway Game certainly feels like it could fit very nicely into a modern, mass market environment - imagine the deluxe train and ferry pieces carrying actual passengers and crates!
One Man and His Dog
Each player takes a turn at running through the six events of a Sheep Dog Trial; scoring points in each 'mini game', the player with the most points overall is the winner./pic7146770.jpg)
The dice-driven mini-games are Outrun, Lift, Fetch, Drive, Shed and Pen; some of which involve the active player alone and some where the opponent plays an opposing/interfering part./pic7146772.jpg)
Components are: 1 x board divided into sections for each of the mini-games; 1 x Shepherd, 1 x Dog, 7 x Sheep (5 with a white base, 2 with a red base), 3 x Large custom dice (shepherd) and 1 x Small custom die (opponent, when needed).
Freddy the Fox
Roll then move - around the outside - to pay for and collect animals and special animals/people for your farm. If you can't afford the item upon which you've landed, the other players will get a chance to buy instead (a sort of fixed price auction mechanism): the cost is increased if none of the resource is available in the Market (and you need to buy from someone else) OR reduced as an incentive for 'last player to have a choice'./pic7146773.jpg)
Freddy the eponymous Fox moves around the Farms eating unprotected livestock. Animals can, therefore, be protected by building fences and/or the special animals/people; these pieces come with an ability reminder card when acquired! The game ends when the Market is empty of animals and players score points for the types (and qty) of animals they have in their Farm./pic7146774.jpg)
Components are plentiful:
1 x board with market (centre), farms (around the market) and the roll-and-move track (around the outside) - interestingly the East and West sides of the track split into TWO tracks and you can choose your path along them. Lots of animal figures, special animals and people and Freddy the Fox. Deck of Chance cards and four player pieces (moving around the outside)./pic7146775.jpg)
I like the split tracks on the sides of the board - giving you some choice of potential landing spots; the auction of resources each turn also keeps it ticking along. Again, as with many of the designs, the traditional approach of dice-based progress could be modernised to present a rather charming family game in the same theme: something HAßA-esque?!
Alaska Gold
Another example of Mr Warren's immaculate prototyping skills with the hand-made and painted wooden board (jigsaw-ed), the sleds and the gold nugget pieces:/pic7146776.jpg)
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Alaska Gold is a pick-up-and-deliverer: randomly distributed, face-down gold nuggets 'discovered' and taken to a main town after finding them. Your movement allowance is determined by your sled and number of dogs but watch out for Hazard cards! The first player to collect a set amount of gold nuggets is the winner./pic7146778.jpg)
'D' is for 'Dog'
The scaling of movement based on your dogs is a nice replacement to the random roll of dice; hazard cards can result in the loss of equipment, so it's not entirely controllable. Of course, nowadays I would key the health of your dogs with an upkeep (feeding) mechanism rather than ‘Chance’ ie. the more dogs you have (and the quicker you move), the more you need to consider their welfare!
To be continued.
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
The long road of exploring Trevor Warren's remarkable design collection began, on Saturday, with an initial eating away of the games with loose boards and tin-housed components. Equipped with laptop (for logging summary details in a reference spreadsheet), baggies (to relocate elastic-bound decks of cards etc) and various pens and spare boxes, I took a deep breath...
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Mr Warren himself!
Mind you, it was also quite the busy day for visitors to the Museum and, so, my careful cataloguing and scrutiny was regularly-interrupted by curious browsers; no matter, the groaning table of mysteries was an excellent talking point as part of my usual Curator's 'spiel'*. So far, and this is literally just the tip of the prototypical iceberg, I managed eight games: unpacking, rules-reading, board-finding and re-storing in careful steps:
Pentagon
A Ludo-esque race game to get pieces 'home'; player pieces have different sizes and have variable movement rules accordingly./pic7141575.jpg)
This one is very intriguing; the idea of different pieces with different movement rates/blocking effects is brilliant and merits further exploration!/pic7141574.jpg)
Invader (The War Game)
Card-driven, area control using different military pieces - looks a bit like Dennis Wheatley's INVASION. Components are two sets of player military unit pieces (1 x Command, 4 x Tank, 6 x Artillery, 8 x Infantry), two smaller sets of 'neutral country' pieces, 11 x Bridge and a deck of 100 cards./pic7141576.jpg)
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Freebooter
Explore islands, using roll-and-move, and also move around the outer track for bonus effects such as moving your exploring pieces again, drawing chance cards etc. Aim is to explore places indicated on your Land cards (co-ordinates on the map, turn over land tiles) and see if you find treasure in sets; you can also attack other players for their treasure items as they attempt to return to Port. Components are: a large board, 4 x ship, 4 x playing pieces, 4 x landing party, Land cards with corresponding Land tiles (64), treasure pieces (taken from BUCCANEER), d6 and a deck of Chance cards./pic7141579.jpg)
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Waterhole
Ludo-esque race game to get animal pieces 'home' (the waterhole); predators try and eat the animals on their way. Components are: Large board, a set of animal pieces per player, custom dice, animal movement cards and chance cards, pieces for the predators./pic7141580.jpg)
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Outlaw
Be the first to rob a bank/stagecoach, rustle a steer, steal a horse and a case of rifles and avoid capture / attacks by first peoples. Roll and move yours/other pieces and race to collect the required items and return them to your hideout. Components are: a large board, the posse (8 pieces), first peoples (12 pieces), 4 outlaws (one per player), d3, custom dice, two stagecoaches (scrabble tiles) and tokens (4x Horse, 4x Steer, 4x Rifles and 6 x Gold)./pic7141582.jpg)
'Owizzy?
Cricket! A deck of play cards is divided into 10 sets of six (overs) and then each over resolved one card at a time; some card show a ball hit along a specific line and a die used to determine the distance (score)./pic7141583.jpg)
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Motorway
First to complete construction of your six motorway sites: 4 road sections, one bridge and one tunnel. Roll and move around the outside of the central board to earn income, buy resources and build the key sections (pay out). Lorries also move on your own board to deliver resources to the sites; special lorries (black and white) are used to 'deliver' Bridge' and 'Tunnel's. Sites must be completed in order -one of each resource type for each site./pic7141585.jpg)
This is the game that caught my eye as we were unloading Nicky's car last week: the hand-painted wooden boards with beautiful stencilled lettering, the gorgeous little trucks and the painted resources. While, currently, a roll-and-move race at its heart, I am fizzing with ideas of how to re-engineer it slightly to make it more palettable to a modern audience; indeed, I think this has the makings of a splendid childrens' game!/pic7141586.jpg)
With the sky darkening, eyes flagging and the homeward trek beckoning, I carefully stowed the remaining items in a safe place ready for the next session:/pic7141587.jpg)
The Top Shelf of True Opportunity!
Plenty more to discover still; I think I'll nip down an hour or so early for Wednesday evening games and work my may through a couple more!
*how lovely that 'scripted banter' and 'gaming' share a common word!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
Okay; deep breath. Back in the Summer, I was contacted by a gentleman whose Father had a small board game collection and wondered if the Museum might be interested in some of them. However, to one side of the photographs I spied a shelving unit festooned with hand-labelled prototypes - while some of the printed games were of interest, it was the shelves that got my tummy topsy-turveying. I enquired as to their form and function and it turns out that Mr E T Warren enjoyed (re-)designing his own games and the almost-entire catalogue was available, should I want it?!
Fast-forward three months to a drizzling late-October morning and a visit from Mr Warren's daughter - Nicky - complete with a fully-laden hatchback; here, dear friends, are the boxes and tins that comprise the life's work of a previously-unsung Designer:/pic7134537.jpg)
Boxes and boards.../pic7134538.jpg)
...and tins and boxes.../pic7134539.jpg)
...and tins and boards.../pic7134540.jpg)
...and boxes and cartons:/pic7134541.jpg)
The last item is a folder stuffed with publisher correspondence, patent applications and newspaper cuttings: a complete record of his post-retirement career:/pic7134542.jpg)
I understand that failing health now finds Mr Warren in full-time care BUT celebrating - this weekend - his 97th birthday::strip_icc()/pic7134628.jpg)
Happy Birthday, Sir!
Hopefully, the pictures Nicky took of the Museum will reassure Mr Warren that his wonderful endeavours are now in safe hands. This is quite the most remarkable honour and privilege; I am, quite literally, trembling in anticipation!
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