Opening the Gate

Dang! I knew this would happen, the one Gateway game I don’t own ends up winning the poll… Now I have to talk about Ticket To Ride!

Ticket to Ride is a Train Game, well sort of. It has Trains in it and to me that would seem to deter more people than Trading, Building and Diseases, but apparently not. TTR has some things in common with Rummy and other “Set Collecting” games, except that it combines cards with a board. In the game you collect cards, hoping to get several of the same colour. The colours match the routes on the board which are all different lengths. When you have enough cards of the right colour you can claim a route and score points.

In addition to that you also have a series of Destination cards, two points on the board you need to connect in order to score the points on the card and avoid taking those points as minus at the end of the game, which is the penalty for not completing them.

The game is pretty simple, although the various expansions/maps have added different bits and pieces to increase strategy and have thus complicated the game more over time. It sounds like a good gateway game and as the poll has proved it is a popular, but then, why is it not in my collection?

There are many reasons, firstly that I don’t think the game sounds that interesting and that is really the kicker for me. If I can’t get excited about it I can’t bear to part with my cash.

Which brings me to point 2. TTR is the most expensive of the Gateway Games that I offered as choices in the poll. TTR has an RRP of £35, that’s £5 more than Settlers, £10 more than Pandemic and £15 more than Carcassonne.

However, what Ticket to Ride has going for it, more than any of the others in my opinion, is the fact that Days of Wonder have gone to the trouble of producing a tutorial video. Catan.com has a great flash based, interactive teaching thing, but you still have to read it all and it’s 35 steps longs. As for Z-man and Rio Grande, both companies publish the rules as PDF’s which is fantastic but that is where the help stops. (I should mention that Z-man publishes all of their Rules, quite often in advance of the release, RGG however has some but not all of it’s games with PDF Rules and I have noticed some of them are out of date or badly formatted).

If you want to know more about Ticket to Ride, check out the Days of Wonder website, or Board Games with Scott, Board To Death Tv or The How To Play Podcast

My Vote

But what did I vote for? As readers of this Blog will know I got into this hobby through Settlers. I thought it was fantastic and I’ve used it as a jumping off point with my family and friends, but if I was going to teach someone board games now… well… I’d use Carcassonne.

What? After this lukewarm review? Yes and here is why. Carc is simpler than TTR or Settlers, you do precisely one thing on your turn, choose a tile and put it on the table. Yes the scoring is a little more complex than Settlers or Ticket to Ride, but the core mechanic is simple enough for a child to understand.

Secondly, Carc is the cheapest, you can easily buy the game plus an expansion for what you’d pay for Settlers, you could have two expansions for what you’d pay for Ticket To Ride. If you teach someone a new game and they love it and they say “That’s great, where can I get it and how much?”, they are much more likely to purchase the game if you say “£13.99 on Amazon” than if you say “£33.99”

So, why not Settlers?

Sooooo many people have been brought into the hobby through this game, including myself, in fact it was the first review on the blog, all those months ago.

The problem for a new player in Settlers is that you can have a horrible run of bad luck. Poor placement of your opening Settlement can lead to disaster, as can poor rolls for resources.

I have a lot of respect for the system and the ways that the expansions adapt and change the game to make each experience different, but I’ve also become jaded by it. Too many times have I sat through the arguments about who put the robber on whose land. Who cut who off and built where they were going to build. Too many times have I heard people moan that their numbers haven’t been rolled and that that is the only reason they aren’t winning.

In short, for my Family, Settlers has become more about the Metagame than about the theme and that makes me not want to play it.

And Pandemic?

No votes at all for what I would consider the simplest of the co-op games. I guess I wouldn’t use it as a Gateway game either, unless I was planning on getting players into playing more complex co-ops like BSG or Red November.

Expansions

It seems that every great game has expansions, but that could not be more true than with Gateway Games. All of them have at least one, Carcassonne has 8 large box expansions and at least 5 small box ones.

It is said that Game Publishers make more from expansions than they do the core game and only successful games will sell expansions, therefore it stands to reason that the more expansions a game can support the better it is?

Well… Maybe…

Anyway, that’s about it form me for this week. Thanks to all the voters, next week’s poll will be about what you do first when you buy a new game. 

Traders and Barbarians: The Rivers of Catan

It’s been a long time since I did a Catan scenario review, mostly because I’ve been trying to get a 2-player game of it in so I can do a full review. I still haven’t managed it though…

Rivers of Catan is another of the “reprints” included in the Traders and Barbarians box, although as I understand it the scenario has been updated enough for it to count as new. It is also responsible for the fastest game of Settlers I’ve ever played. The game took 25 minutes, no sevens were rolled and my opponents continually argued over who was building to the contested Wheat port first. Doubtless to say, I won.

The Fluff

While some settlers have totally committed themselves to fishing, others are settling near the rivers of Catan. These rivers are proving to be the true lifelines of the island. The river trade is flourishing particularly well—as reflected in profits of sheer gold!

No wonder that soon roads are appearing along the rivers, and mighty bridges are crossing the water. Everyone wants to be the wealthiest settler of the island. But it often happens that, while one gets rich, many others get poor. How will you fare?

Unboxed

With this scenario it makes more sense to talk about the bits before I explain how it works.

Included are:

• Two rivers (in three pieces)
• Two Frame Pieces
• 12 Bridges, 3 in each colour
• 1 Wealthiest Settler Tile
• 4 Poorest Settler Tiles
• 40 Coins

All these pieces are nice, the rivers add some very nice variety to the game, you could easily include one without using the rules for them just to change the look of the game board. The frame pieces are rather unnecessary and are included for aesthetic purposes only, they are also not double sided so can’t be used as extras for seafarers. The bridges are the usual solid wood bits you’d expect from Settlers although if they had been a bit longer they would have worked better in my opinion (plus you could have used them in the latest Carc expansion instead of the ridiculously tall ones RGG are using,)

As with all Settlers scenarios the rulebook is well laid out and all questions are answered. Also on the Catan website you can find rules for combining the River with other T&B scenarios as well as with Seafarers and Cities and Knights.

So what about the Rules then?

First off remove 2 mountains hexes, 2 hills hexes, 2 pasture hexes, and the desert hex. Build the frame and place the rivers in both of the four hex rows.

Then fill the gaps with the normal hexes. When placing the numbers place the 2 on the 12 tile, that hex now produces resources on a 2 and a 12.

Then players places their settlements in the usual way. If you place a settlement on any intersection on a river hex you receive a Gold Coin. If you place a road on any path on a river hex you receive a Gold Coin. You cannot build roads on dotted lines (across the river) only bridges and you cannot build bridges as part of your starting settlements.

During the game there is a bonus victory point for the Wealthiest Settler, the player with the most Gold Coins. Only one player may own the title, if there is a tie for most gold neither player gets it. The opposite is true of Poorest Settler, the player or players with the fewest number of Gold Coins get minus 2 victory points.

Thus gold is a valuable resource. Gold Coins can be traded at 2 for 1 with the bank but only twice during any one turn, after that the market is flooded with gold and the exchange rate rises to 4:1 until the next players turn. You can earn extra Gold Coins by building settlements and roads along the river or by building bridges. Bridges cost 1 wood and 2 clay and immediately give you 3 Gold Coins.

Building on the Swamps at the end of the rivers still generates Gold Coins, but like the desert they give you no resources. The game is played to 10 VP.

Thoughts?

Rivers looks very nice, all the pieces are fun to use, I like the coins and the idea that you are taxing people for using your roads and bridges. Like I said before I wish the bridges had been as long as the side of the hexes just from a visual perspective.

As for game play, I find that Rivers makes for a shorter game in general, you can decide for yourself if that is a bad thing or not. 2:1 trade on Gold makes finding resources faster and means you don’t need to have a settlement on every resource. Also that bonus victory point makes a lot of difference and you will find yourself weighing your decisions on how to build and spend resources and gold against the possibility of having to take that –2 VP penalty.

Overall I think Rivers is a great addition to the game. For simplicity you could remove one of the rivers and the wealthiest/poorest cards if you wanted a small change to the core game.

Combined?

I combined this variant with Seafarers (Scenario 9: New World) placing the rivers one on either side of the map so that they flowed into the frame. The game was played first to 12 VPs and I found it to be a really enjoyable experience. The pressure of Gold Coins and Wealthiest Settler was diluted slightly by the ability to expand on the larger map, but this made the rivers feel like part of the game rather than a focal point and I enjoyed that.

The only thing I will say about this was that it did become possible for one player to continually generate gold by building a ship by on the River and then moving that ship on their next turn and building a new one the river. It was an interesting scheme but it was not in any way game breaking though. This is definitely one scenario I will be trying again!

Don’t forget to make your voice heard about which gateway game you would use to introduce new players to board gaming in this week’s poll.

Silver Line-ing

So this week we’re talking about Fantasy Flight’s Silver Line games. First off, thanks to everyone who voted in the poll for giving me something to ramble on about this week. So lets take a look at the results.

In first place, and no big surprise I have to say, was Citadels. You can check out my thoughts on this excellent card game here. Since I wrote that review I’ve played a significant number of games of Citadels and I’m still really enjoying it. I’ve also played the game 3 player, which I found immensely enjoyable and even a little more strategic. In a three player game each player gets 2 characters per round. This allows you to set up a synergy between them. For example if you know the assassin always kills the merchant, then take both characters. You can use the same trick with the Bishop and the Warlord to stop people defending against the Warlord when you destroy their districts. If the Bishop has already gone why not take the assassin and target the Bishop. It all makes for some very interesting play styles.

Second place went to Colossal Arena, although I expected it to be a closer run thing between these two games. Colossal Arena is a game of monster battles teamed with gambling and it sounds like a lot of fun. I actually had the opportunity to pick this game up a few years ago for £5 in TK Max (a shop in the UK with a bizarre and ever changing mix of stock) but because I’d never heard of FFG I ignored it. Now it’s out of print in the Uk and the FFG re-print seems to be taking it’s time getting here, but this game is definitely on my list.

Last place is shared between 3 games, Chaos Marauders, Drakon and Red November which I reviewed last week. I have to say that I’m not that enthused by the concept of Chaos Marauders and that Drakon has never really been on my radar but maybe I’m wrong.

I had hoped that there would be some votes for some of the other games from this range that I have considered buying. Mag Blast, a game of ship combat in which you must make make laser blasting noises or score no points. CIA vs. KGB a game of espionage set in the Cold War and Aye, Dark Overlord, a card game in which, after your bosses plan fails, you make excuses and point the finger at your fellow minions to prove that if wasn’t your fault.

I really think that the Silver Line games range has a large number of unique gems (except for Letter of Marque) and I’d love to be able to pick them all up. Thanks to everyone who voted, a new poll will go up tonight and there will be a Traders and Barbarian’s review next week.

Until then… Keep on Gaming.  

Red November

This week we’re talking about Fantasy Flight’s Silver Line games and that brings me to this week’s review Red November.

I first read about this gnomish co-op game of disaster aboard a submarine around Christmas time in one of FFG’s Family Games suggestion articles. I loved the concept, but the reviews on BBG were less than favourable in most cases. However, when I found the game on ebay for just £13 inc. P&P I decided “what’s the harm?” and bought the game.

The Fluff

So, what’s the game about? You are a Gnome aboard the Red November, the doomed submarine. Besieged by floods, fires, defunct missiles and the abominable Kraken you must fight to survive for sixty minutes until you can be rescued. Luckily there is plenty of grog around to make the whole experience that little bit more pleasant.

Gameplay

So, how does the game work? The main element of the game is the Time Track that runs round the edge of the board, going from 0-60. The track is marked with Event Markers, every time you pass one of these something bad will happen or something bad that had already happened will get worse.

On your turn you can move around the sub, but doing so takes time. You can move through as many rooms as you like at the cost of 1 minute per hatch you opened, plus 1 additional minute for every flooded room you move through. Once you have moved you may take one of several actions, generally these are “Fix It” actions or “Take Item” actions. Once you have taken an action your turn ends and you move your marker on the time track forward the number of minutes you spent moving and performing your action (you mark this using a white marker so you don’t forget how many minutes you used). As you pass the icons on the Time Track you now draw Event Cards and resolve them. Play then passes to the player whose marker is furthest back on the Time Track.

This process of moving and actions continues until you are all dead or until you are rescued.

Disasters

Like other co-op games Red November is driven by disasters. Unlike, for example Pandemic, however, the disasters are VERY random and also varied. I’m not a huge fan of Pandemic (at the moment, I need more plays to be sure) and part of the reason is you know, until you draw an Epidemic card, that cities with 2 or fewer cubes are safe and you can ignore them. In Red November all disasters occur in a room decided by a die roll so you never know what is going to happen and where. I like it, but I can see why some people will find this luck element frustrating.

The disasters in Red November are as follows:

Fire – To be able to enter a room on fire you need to have a Fire Extinguisher or Grog. The only action allowed in a room on fire is “Extinguish Fire” but it should be noted that opening an unblocked hatch is NOT an action. A fire in Room 5 effectively cuts the sub in half and if you don’t have either of the above items you can be serious screwed!

Flood – When a room is flooded the “high water” level can be lowered by opening a hatch, the water then equalises and both rooms are at “Low Water”. Low Water slows most actions down by adding 2 minutes to the time it takes to perform them. It also adds an extra minute to movement through the room so pumping the water out can be a good idea. The only action that can be taken in a room at “High Water” is no action, but again it should be noted that opening an unblocked hatch is NOT an action. However if all the hatches are blocked, you are screwed! Any amount of water in room, High or Low, will extinguish a fire or prevent one from starting.  

Timed Destruction – There are four Timed Destruction Events, exploding missiles jammed in the launch tubes, failing oxygen pumps, the enormous Kraken and engine failure. Whenever you draw one of these cards they are placed ahead of you by 10 minutes. If they are not fixed by the time every player’s Marker has passed them then the sub is destroyed and you all lose.

Asphyxiated, Crushed by Pressure, Nuclear Reactor Overload – The final three ways to lose the game are shown on three tacks on the board, should the marker reach the end of one these tracks you all die. The tracks can be reset to 0 (or 5 if you are passed halfway) by fixing the appropriate area (Oxygen Pumps, Engines or Reactor Core.).

When you try to “Fix” any of the above disasters you choose to take a certain number of minutes between 1 and 10 and roll a d10, roll equal to or under the number you pick and you fix the problem. Hurrah. Fail and you just wasted all that time and even worse you now have to draw even more events. Various item tiles give you bonuses on these rolls… 

 

Is it as Fun as it Sounds?

Yes! I like the game, although analysis paralysis slows the game down and steals away its thunder. The game is intended to be fast and frantic, if players don’t play this way its slow and interminable.

There is an element of risk to every move you make, especially when putting out fires whilst under the influence of grog. Grog allows you a +3 bonus to your roll, but you also risk passing out at the end of your turn. This moves your marker forward 10 minutes in time and triggers somewhere around 3 events. While passed out you can do nothing, if your room floods or catches on fire you die and are out of the game. Or, in my case, you wake up to see the missiles with 1 minute left til they explode, with a fire between you and the controls and totally alone because your “team mates” have donned their aqualungs and escaped LEAVING YOU BEHIND TO DIE!

Now there is something you don't find in Pandemic.

Unboxed

This is a Fantasy Flight game, so you would expect me to rave on and on about quality components in this section, but actually this section could be called “What’s not to like?” Ok… so what do you get in this tiny but well constructed box?

• 1 Game Board
• 8 Gnome Sailors
• 9 Time Keepers
• 3 Disaster Markers
• 4 Destruction Tokens
• 54 Item Tiles
  • 12 Grog Tiles
  • 3 Toolbox Tiles
  • 4 Engine Manual Tiles
  • 4 Pump Manual Tiles
  • 4 Reactor Manual Tiles
  • 3 Deactivation Code Tiles
  • 6 Crowbar Tiles
  • 5 Fire Extinguisher Tiles
  • 6 Water Pump Tiles
  • 1 Coffee Tile
  • 2 Aqualung Tiles
  • 2 Diving Gun Tiles
  • 2 Lucky Charm Tiles
• 15 Hatch Blocked Tokens
• 10 Flood Tokens
• 10 Fire Tokens
• 1 Action Die
• 8 Gnome Cards
• 56 Event Cards
• 2 Player Aids
• 1 Rule Book

Ok, that’s a lot of stuff in a box as small as Citadels and therein lies the problem. The tiles and disaster markers are very nice, thick card, usual FFG fair. The cards too are nicely designed and functional.

The board however is tiny… it’s too small. The most important element of the game is the time track and it’s not wide enough to fit the Time Keepers on it! The rules in fact suggest that the Time Keepers be placed on the table next to the track, but because the board is so small it shifts easily. A bigger box (say the same size as pandemic) would have meant a bigger board and better time track. It would have also not looked as daft when you play with the full 8 people crowded round a board that’s about the size of a sandwich.

Unfortunately the bad doesn’t end there, the plastic Gnomes all come bent (because they are crushed into the tiny box) so they refuse to stand up straight. Bigger box… better components! Other than that the components work well, the player aids are great, the rules can be a bit confusing until you separate “Moving” and “Actions” in your mind and then it all starts to make sense.

Solo Play

I don’t play board games solo, I don’t know why I don't but something in my head tells me that to do so would be like me to admit to having no friends. However, when I got Red November I thought I’d better play it through once to get all the rules straight in my head before I introduced it to the family and I had a blast! I should note here that the game is designed for 3 to 8 players, but to play solo I just played the role of three Gnomes (I tried one Gnome and died within 20 minutes).

Playing solo took me less than an hour and it was really tense. I felt like I was some kind of General, attempting to control a bunch of Drunken Gnomes who refused to do as they were told. I won two of the three solo games I played and it made me rethink my attitude towards playing games alone. 

Although the game is not designed for 2 players I can’t see why each player couldn’t control two Gnomes if you want to give this game a go.

That Conclusion-y Bit

So then, what can I say about the game? I love it, but I also loathe the compact nature of the components. If you like the idea of Pandemic, but you want more uncontrolled chaos (plus the ability to bash your team mates over the head with a crowbar) then I think you should give this game a go.

I picked my copy up pretty cheap, but had I paid full price I think I may have felt short changed. All in all a good game made in a less than optimal way.

Don’t forget to vote on this week’s poll and have your opinion heard on which is your favourite Silver Line game.