The Tao of Gaming

Now that I've read the Dungeon Lords rules, I'm totally getting that. (When Z-Man releases it). I just realized, though, that I'm way behind on Vlaada's games ... I still haven't tried Space Alert or League of Six.

Regarding the Essen thread: Michael wrote: "I'll believe that the L5R boardgame is coming when I see a physical copy of it somewhere. " True. I wasn't considering an L5R boardgame, just the other games they are promoting.

Larry recommended Peloponnes (and I did notice his review of it). As for his other points...

Endeavor is also quite good, for those who are fond of Euros.

For the games that haven't been released yet, I seek out the prototypes that you avoid, Brian, so I can attest that Fabrikmanager, Macao, Dungeonlords, Campaign Manager 2008, and Burger Joint are all very good. BasketBoss appeals to me, since it's an approach to sports gaming (a GM building a team where the players' abilities change with time) that I've tried a few times in the past with my own designs

First off: I only avoid prototypes while I'm at conventions. I'm perfectly willing to waste a few hours of normal gaming time on a prototype. (You may remember I tried the Leaping Lemmings prototype). So if you want to send me a copy of your great prototype, fine. (I have turned down a few review copies recently, but no prototypes).

• Endeavour (which I still think should have used the British spelling, so it shall be referred to here) has been bought by a local. So, done.
• I may buy Burger Joint. But I don't need more two player games.
• With BasketBoss, I'm in Larry's boat. (Almost exactly. I've designed a GM style teambuilding game (about soccer). Basically it was my response to Footmania, which intrigued but didn't fulfill the promise. And I played LEFL/EEFL (aka United aka Fireside Football) for years as a PBEM. So I'm interested in the theme as well... [Perhaps I should pull my soccer game out and take another look at it, but it wasn't terribly good.] Now I'm looking at the team-management games on the geek. Are any of them good? (I suspect there are more that aren't tagged as well, yet).
• Some expansions are possible (Roma, Le Havre, Agricola).
• Most of the other titles are still on a 'wait and see' basis.

Just as it isn't Christmas season until after Thanksgiving, you shouldn't speculate about Essen until October. So while I haven't been able to avoid it completely, I haven't really been looking at it. Hell, I haven't violated all the games I made in my last two orders (although I've managed to play most of them ... only Shadow Hunters and Say Anything untouched, and Arabian Nights only once).

But that doesn't stop lots of people from putting up their Essen decorations early, and while my general strategy of not being an early adopter has served me well, that's no reason not to window shop.

I'm glad to see AEG trying to break into board games, even though I have no reason to think I'll like their catalog (since, you know, I haven't investigated it until just now). There's a soft spot in my heart of L5R (although I haven't played much this decade).

JKLM's Ascendancy? Well, a space empire and whatnot in a few hours would be nice. But I went through the Civ in two hours grail search. Lots of dead knights, there. Some good treasures, but no grail.

So, this is the open question thread? Any games at Essen making you squee like a child? Fabrikmanager? That unknown game with 25 copies only? What?

It would be more revealing to say that Puerto Rico's way to win (as compared to Le Havre's) is front-loaded. What you have to do is defined in the early game, after which you are relatively free to do what you want. Whereas Le Havre's is endgame based. You are relatively free in LH, for example, to muck around with a variety of early strategies (with some constraints) as long as you load up on the coal once that starts.

I see no reason to consider Le Havre a "multiple paths to victory" game. So (contra Larry) I see no reason why moving this critical path to the front (and the corresponding freedom to the end) magically relieves Puerto Rico of the same charge. My gut is that Through the Ages is similarly front loaded.

If you want to say that PR isn't 'one way to win' because my description is too vague, that's a different charge. ("Focus on getting early income, usually via a high value trading good" isn't nearly as specific as "stockpile cole, convert ship"). Also, PR and TtA give you a greater percentage of "non-scripted" actions ... its not a binary decision.

I feel that LH gives you relatively few unscripted actions, in comparison. Certainly the fact that after 10 games of PR I was in no way tired of it speaks that it is more free-form.

And all those games are still interesting if everyone knows the secret.

As for the other comments, I've no idea if Automobile really falls into this category, or is just a pure tactical optimization game.

Update: The lesson, as always, is to "smoke the crack" to get comments flowing.

So Le Havre won the IGA.

Am I done with Le Havre? It certainly seems like it (haven't played it in four months). While I agree that it's a better design than Agricola, the relative sameness of the buildings (from game to game) means that its easy to exhaust the novelty ... and since I think there is one true path to victory in Le Havre, well, there you go.

Should Automobile have won? All my concerns for Le Havre count double against Automobile, but I've only played twice, so I could be wrong. (Note -- that was rhetorical humility only. I'm not wrong. After a few more plays the strategic interest will be sucked dry).

Should Dominion have won? It's tough to argue against a game that I've played several hundred times (online). Clever design (and novel), lots of fans. Theoretically a worse design than either of the other two games, but enough variety to overcome it, and probably the only game of the three likely to hit 25+ hours of enjoyment.

Of course, BSG surpassed that before Pegasus came out, so that tells you who I would have voted for.

Speaking of BSG (and I am, now) -- I've been thinking about Variants. I think I'd like to play with random destinations ... you randomly roll between using the Kobol card and New Caprica card during the sleeper phase. And I'd like to see Pegasus ship enter and leave the game; this mirrors the show, to be sure, but as it stands Galactica isn't rarely threatened with destruction. Off the top of my head, I think

• Pegasus should show up the first time a "Ship" card is drawn. (This also helps balance a hard game versus an easy one ...
• You Pegasus damage chits equal to "Distance - 1" every time you jump (So, jump 3, Pegasus takes two damage). Anyone on Pegasus when it is destroyed winds up in Sickbay.

I'm happy with the "Occupation authority destroys prepped ships" variant we tried, and I'd add two minor New Caprica fixes.

1. Destroyed ships are only revealed to the cylons (so humanity doesn't gain info when things are destroyed).
2. A "Basestars bombard" result adds a basestar in front of Galactica if there are none around (usually via a double nuke). Just to keep things tense.

Overall these change will make things harder for humanity, but given that our balance is at 50/50 that doesn't bother me (unless testing shows I've misjudged things).

Thoughts idly flitting around my head, like butterflies:

• I probably wouldn't kill for a Euro-styled Days of Decision, but maiming seems acceptable ... (Brought on by reading the first chapter of World at Arms). Hell, I may check out the current crop of grognard style games that simulate the diplomatic efforts of the opening days.
• Off hand, if I were going to design that, I'd start by stealing the timers from Space Dealer....take as long as you like for diplomacy, but keep moving those timers to do stuff ...
• (I think our group will be playing Here I Stand soon, that should scratch the itch).
• The annoying thing about the Pegasus agendas is that they are (inherently) a good idea, poorly implemented.
• My new order arrives in a few days, and includes Shadow Hunters. I'm probably done until a post-Essen order (if that).
• After missing it the last few years (and the Gathering), I'm inclined to just skip BGG con. A mini-con, though...
• I entered the Tasty Minstrel contest (why not?) since I'm going to get Alexfrog's homesteaders just out of general principle. Terra Prime may be good, too.
• 'Tasty Minstrel' seems a poor choice of company names, unless they plan on avoiding fantasy settings. (On the other hand, "You are a dragon trying to eat the best tasting humans around..." is a better theme than 60% of the recent crop of Euros).
• $50 to launch a hedgehog in space seems ambitious, but if you count space as starting at roughly 1K up... (My fastest time is 7 days).

The last one was (paraphrased) "Driving this car was a religious experience, sadly it was Lutheranism." (My google-fu has failed me, I can't find the actual quote).

Regarding KFC's "Double Down" sandwich (which uses Chicken Breasts instead of bread) ... Nathan Rabin writes:

Like grief, the Double Down is experienced in stages

I've now played Uruk a second time, recently with the full compliment. I find the game charming, especially its propensity to lull you into taking a few convenient actions instead of necessary ones. Not quite short enough, perhaps too random, probably doomed to live in the back of the closet ... once I've played a few more times. I'll call it $20 well spent.

I've also recently sent off a cheque for more acquisitions ... Pegasus, Arabian Nights, Fits, Shadow Hunters and Say Anything. I suspect I'm done for a while (although I could be talked into a few more titles).

Our group has been discussing the need to reboot a few games ... I think we'll be aiming for Here I Stand, War of the Ring, Indonesia. I was recently thinking about "Games I should play again" and those were the obvious choices (along with Combat Commander). I should want to play Paths of Glory again, but it's second tier, due to length. Replaying 3-6 hour games just seems better than 10+ hour games. 7 Ages appears on our list, which douses that theory in cold water. But destroying the Incas with a volcano amuses me more than watching the Central Forces slowly succumb to attrition.

Rock Band The Beatles just came out.

Finally got in a (two player) game of Uruk. It's fine. I want to try it with 3 or 4. More thoughts later.

For Roll through the Ages, thinking about Lou's complaint (regarding medicine) and my wife's amazing ability to roll only Grain or Coins in the early game led me to consider a variant -- Pestilence costs you 1 VP for each city past your starting one. Thoughts? (Since I'm convinced you can't really win unless you get to 5-6 cities in a timely manner, this slightly helps the person who is late to that parade ... but perhaps I'm wrong about the 5-6 city thing).

Looking at this geeklist, the following thoughts popped into my head.

• Ameritrash is apparently like pornography .... in that you can only define it by knowing it when you see it. That, and occasionally inappropriate plastic. (Survive is Ameritrash? Really?)
• Apart from linguistic games, I can't argue with the list. I've played almost every single title (or tried to, in the case of Magic Realm ... and I briefly owned a copy).
• The two games I haven't played are entirely due to lack of access (Space Hulk and Tales of the Arabian Nights), and I'm undoubtedly playing the latter when I get a chance. And the former just announced a reprint...
• That being said, I won't play a few of the games anymore. Despite Peter's withering attack on Talisman, I enjoyed playing it at one time, but a recent game reminded me why I stopped. It was fine, until the expansions started coming out. I've been actively avoiding Junta for a few years.
• Dune has never done anything for me, but I recognize I'm in the minority.
• I'm with the commenters — where the hell is BloodBowl. Football? Check. Plastic, check. Dice, check, violence, check. Lots of chrome, check. And mate. Still, the list hasn't been invented that doesn't have at least one glaring "Where is that" and one "WTF, mate?", so one or two omissions are expected. (BloodBowl is over 20 years old, I think). Illuminati (as "Beer and Pretzel classics") probably belong as well.

My nodding sagely is partially due to my intro to gaming. (The first games I played as a freshman were Cosmic, Wiz-War, Kremlin, Talisman and Junta, with a game of Titan that confused me to death). I guess I got lucky that my first game group only played a few games ... they settled for classics. Just something to consider when introducing new players to gaming.

With the upcoming release of Pegstivus, I'm getting ready to place my order ... Ideally I'd like to just do one big online order, but I'm still not sure where or what. (I don't really need to buy Pegstivus, as there will be quite a few local copies, so it's not a pressing issue).

What will I be buying? Well, that assumes more planning than I normally make ... right now there are two categories

Good titles I'd buy, but there is a local copy, so I don't know:

• Pegstivus
• Automobile (also, a reprint)
• Snow Tails
• Dominion + Intrigue

Unknown titles that intrigue me, and there's no local copy (italics mean I know little about it, so chime up):

• FITS
• Say Anything
• Steel Driver (based on Larry's comment)
• Pruesschise Autobahn
• Masters of Venice
• Planet Steam
• Shadow Hunters
• Tales of the Arabian Knights
• Die Hexer von Salem
• Uruk
• Roll through the Ages
• Endeavour (based on some comments from last time)

It may be that I'll just look at the various online shops, see who has what, and then decide based on availability. But if a) Any of you want to hcime in on the games I hadn't mentioned before (in italics) or b) trade me your copy then that will solve that. (I'll pretty much trade for anything on that list).

(I just noticed that Roll Through the Ages is now $20 at Boulder ... at that price I think I'm willing to take the chance. Yes, this is the price I pay for not playing games at conventions, but $20 at risk is better than my time at gaming conventions for a game that may never get published).

A fair amount of gaming, but having just gotten Netflix, I've been catching up on TV and movies instead of posting. Thanks to Larry for describing the differences between Steel Driver and Wabash Cannonball in the comments. Despite liking most of Wallace's games, I haven't gone out of my way to keep up with his newer stuff ... in fact, the reviews tend to knock me out. But I'll have to give it a try.

I also want to congratulate Alexfrog for the imminent publication of his first game, Homesteaders. I just skimmed the rules, but our tastes for heavier games so closely match that I'll get a copy.

On the gaming front -- Playing Automobile again cements my feeling that it's solid. Our group seems to be fairly conservative, we probably average less than one unsold car per player per round, and sometimes miss selling a few cars. That may also be the nature of 5 player games, a bit more conservative (since pushing production only hurts 1-2 of your opponents, and risks getting stuck yourself, it would be more viable with less opponents). Again, I have a vague concern about the scripted nature of play ... it would be nice if something changed in the setup each game (beyond the tiles). Still, happy to have a local copy.

My first play of Snow Tails didn't disappoint. A nice change of pace from Ave Caesar. Finally had a chance to use a takeover in the new Race expansion, but it was so late that I had a better play available. Playing with the goal cards and takeovers adds time to the game, perhaps too much. Normally I'd be playing this to death, but with so many new games (and new local gamers) it's hard to get to the table. And with Pegstivus showing up this week, I doubt that will change. (The name comes from Festivus, specifically, "The airing of grievances."

While playing 1v100 live (which has too much of a speed element to make winning from the crowd a likely event, even if you know all the answers), I was delighted to see that the prize was Carcassonne. It's presumably for sale as a small download game (probably for $5-10).

Developing a Euro for XBox (or the MSN network) would be relatively easy, and makes a nice bonus revenue stream for Rio Grande. (And some games on BSW would be vastly improved ... Settlers really demands a voice chat when playing).

I imagine there must be other RGG games on XBox live, but probably only the most widely known and accessible. I doubt we'll be seeing a Puerto Rico any time soon ... but, who knows?

I should also mention that the guys from Penny Arcade were funny co-hosts... 1v100 live has too many commercials but at least the "Host interruptions" improved.

I just got the Race expansion, but haven't played it yet. Now that players get two homeworld and get to pick one, I'm interested in trying out the goals, which didn't excite me when they first came out.

After playing some of the worst bridge I've inflicted on the world in the last year, I had a nice game at the "Pro-Am" yesterday. Almost won it, too. And having several people go "You count as an amateur?" felt nice. I'm trying to understand some of Geza Ottlik's writing about Squeeze play. The odds of me ever finding these at the table are zero. Still, I am counting the hands out a fair percentage of the time. So I'm making a better class of errors at the table. I hope.

I just posted my "Four Thousand Games" played geeklist.

I first saw David desJardin's "Dice chess" on r.g.b, I think. For those who haven't heard of it, it has the following rules.

1. Play a game of chess
2. Both players roll a die, the winner of the chess game gets to add +1 to his roll.
3. Hi roller wins.

This came to mind when I was playing Hanging Gardens again (after playing it once a year ago). Hanging Gardens has the clever spatial building mechanic to build towers, but then the reward for building a tower is a tile draw and tiles score via set collection. Sometimes a cheap tower gets you a great tile, sometimes a great tower gets you nothing. Pretty random. You also have a card draft and sometimes the last player will always get an OK tile, and sometimes the first player gets nothing good.

All the skill gives you a bonus on your die roll. To be fair to Hanging Gardens, skill probably gives you +2.

Coupled with some cards that practically guarantee a tile versus terrible cards that can barely be played, I really should hate this game instead of being lukewarm towards it.

Now, I can understand the appeal of the luck ... people with poor spatial grasps have trouble with this game, and would get pummelled if you just scored some formulae for how big each section you built was. Still, it feels hacked on. I don't see how you can categorize a game as dice chess and like it.

Regarding Qwirkle ... it may have one more level of expertise than I thought. You can set up plays to block Qwirkles ("Bingos" in scrabble, earning a bonus for long plays) and tile tracking plays a role, but as it is (to my mind) a filler I doubt I'll ever make the effort during play to do much beyond score as many points as possible.

Our second game of small world had a high variance between scores, so that's good. I still feel that the same criticism of Vinci (you just pound on the leader) is still there in Small World (you just pound on the perceived leader). In a strong group, the difference diminishes. To whit, in this game I lost 6 provinces to Berserking Ratmen (Aaiiiee) on the final turn, and lost by ... 2 points. So, kudos on proper assessment of the leader board to all involved. I like that this is smaller and faster, but think its a bit too small. I'd like a few more races/abilities. I'd like a game to have maybe 3-4 civs per player. Also, you definitely want a starting auction for player order, I think. There are some brutal combinations and many mediocre ones.

Finally played a four player Le Havre. I liked the new buildings (The arts center and storehouse) that aren't used in the 2-3 player games. I keep seeing arguments about how there are multiple loan paths to victory, and all I can say is that I've yet to encounter it. Yeterdays game had me get up to 8 loans quickly, take a ninth loan reluctantly (and get mildly hosed because an entry fee kept me from getting a 10th loan when I really wanted it), and then earn ~90 Florins from two shipments (mainly Coke and steel) to pay everything off. I think I need to emphasize to new players that you want to build powerful buildings, valuable goods and ships, and feeding your people is definitely your lowest priority. I'm ready for more variability .... in addition to buildings, maybe a mini-deck of "How the world works" cards that change a rule (before setup). Off the top of my head — roll a d6:

1. Urban Renaissance — Flip up two special buildings at the start of the game.
2. Poor Urban Planning — Deal the buildings into three piles as normal, but only partially sort. Make sure that buildings 1-10 are first, 11-20 and next, and 21-30 are last, but do not sort inside those groups.
3. Credit Crunch — At the start of the game, roll a d6 and set it on the loan number. Any loan taken beyond that only provides 3 Fl instead of 4 Fl.
4. Credit Crisis — Interest payments equal 1/2 the number of loans you have, rounded up. [Perhaps this should be 1/3rd].
5. Dark Ages — After dealing out the standard buildings, randomly remove one building from the middle stack. It just won't be built. [Do not remove Brickworks, but anything else is fair game]
6. Financing Burden — Any player with 2+ loans is considered to have one less "(Marketplace triggering building)" symbol. Any player with 4+ loans is considered to have one less "Fishing" symbol. Any player with 6+ loans is considered to have one less "Hammer" symbol. These effects are cumulative. [Numbers may not go negative].

You get the idea. Just tweak a base rule for some variability. Obviously hitting loans is an easy idea.

I'm also ready to tweak a few buildings:

• Cokery — No money for conversion.
• Tannery — Increase limit to 8.
• Brickworks — No reprocessing brick to brick.

(The cokery is my effective fix to the colliery, as well). I think this is justified because Coke ships for huge amounts and triples your energy. Getting 20 Coal, converting to Coke, and shipping 18 of it (using 2 to pay costs) still gets you 90 Fl, down from 110 Fl. But if you'd only shipped 9 of it, you'd get 45 Fl, down from 65 Fl.

I increase the Tannery because converting Hides to Leather doesn't give you food (like the Smokehouse or Bakery), all it does is give you a shippable good. This way you can get enough leather to support 2-3 ships at once.

... discovers Settlers of Catan. Interesting article, mainly for unit numbers and a few anecdotes and the fact that I can apply to be a professor of boardgames at Curtin University of Technology in Perth. (To be fair, its taken me two months to notice this article).

Among the facts given:

• Rio Grande games sold over half a million units last year (of all titles), and claims growth of 30-35%.
• Settlers has sold 15 million copies so far.
• Settlers sold 600k copies in the US last year, up from 450k.

I dispute, however, the statement that the Settlers of Catan novel is "a must have for [siedlers] legion of fans."

[H/T] Newmark's Door

I have that song stuck in my head, so hopefully I'm not alone anymore.

Over at SABG, folks are discussing new game orders and I realized -- I don't have new games I'm pining for. I mean, I'd like Dominion: Intrigue (but I haven't bought Dominion: Dominion yet). The Race expansions is obvious. But ... I already have Vinci. I'd like to play the Martin Wallace new stuff, but I'm lukewarm.

Part of this, no doubt, is just showing my street cred as a curmudgeon.

I think I'd buy Shadow Hunters (if it were to suddenly appear on the store). That seems like one of those games that will survive 10-15 plays, even if it doesn't set the world on fire. But that hardly qualifies as pining.

Should I be pining for anything coming out? Anything recent?

Played a few games of Agricola, including a five player game.

I'm pretty much sold on Agricola. The five player game hit all my negative points ... five players, crappy hand versus good hands. I still enjoyed it.

A few more games of Phoenicia, and I'm still high on it.

A few face-to-face Dominion. I'm getting tempted to pick up Dominion and Intrigue, under the assumption that the new cards won't be on BSW.

Playing lots of bridge (as you may have guessed) and I'm fuming at my inconsistency. Today I placed an opponent on a 5141 distribution and defended accordingly.