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The Great Western Trail by Eggertspiele 2016

March 15, 2017 5 Minutes

The Great Western Trail is a German Euro game about an American tradition, the old west cattle drive and as strange of a combination as that might sound to be, the fascination with the old west actually tends to be quite strong in Europe. In Great Western Trail however players don’t take on the roles of traditional “movie” cowboys, having shootouts in the OK coral but rather they take the more historically accurate role of cowboys moving cattle across the landscape of the old American west.

I have to admit when I first started hearing buzz about this game I was immediately intrigued, and it was quite specifically because of this more real cowboy theme. The idea of a western based euro game about the economics of the cattle drive, as unusual of a theme as it is got my attention but even more than that was the fact that someone made a Euro game that wasn’t about Mediterranean trading or worker placement really sounded like someone finally realized that both of those elements are seriously played out at this point in game design.

Overview

Final Score: (3.1 out 5 Stars)

In Great Western Trail players traverse a series of trails with a wide range of stops where they can perform a variety of activities including resource and hand management. Like most heavy German Euros, the game pits players against each other in a very non-confrontational environment, but one rich in strategic decisions and tough choices.

With many routes to victory using a combination of some classic designs and some very new ones, Great Western Trail is an intriguing puzzle to be unraveled.

Components

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: Components made to last, very nice colorful art style.

Cons: Lots of Iconography to learn and remember, player sheets are a bit thin.

Component quality coming out of European publishers has really improved dramatically over the last few years and while there is still a lot of reliance on wooden tokens, Great Western Trail boasts very high quality board, card and card board components. There is very little to complain about here, this is a game built to last. I would argue that the player boards are a bit thin and they are easy to damage thanks to combination of thin cardboard paper and hard corners, but of all the components in the box these sheets are the only thing that comes out a bit weak.

The game is colorful and bright, with a cartoony art style that is appealing to the eye. Of course like many Euros it’s also very busy with a lot of iconography.

Its a very colorful game with a clean, cartoony look capturing the western feeling/theme quite nicely. Their is a brick ton of Iconography which adds a fair amount of time to learning how to play, contrary to first impressions the iconography is extremely logical and after a play of the game becomes second nature and easy to understand and remember. By the time I was in my third game the manual stayed in the box despite the fact that even in a third game we were still discovering new elements with new iconography on them. This clarity is needed and you’ll be glad that its there as it makes this rather complex game a lot easier to grasp in the long run.

For a Euro game or otherwise, Great Western Trail looks great on the table and while there are a lot of moving parts all of the mechanics and components mesh well in a logical easy to understand manner. Initial learning curve aside, I think its thanks to the art style, iconography and logical combination of art and mechanics that makes this complex game a lot easier to learn and to play.

Theme

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: A good choice of theme for the mechanics in place, the art helps a lot to give it a bit of extra energy.

Cons: The theme is largely irrelevant and pretty feather light, there are some missed opportunities.

While I love the selection of the theme and certainly the art styles helps a great deal to bring it to the table, like most Euro game the theme is a thin layer added largely to facilitate artistic choices. I would argue that they picked a very good theme when comparing them to the mechanics, it certainly works but if you are looking to experience the old west in a board game, this one does it just on the surface at best.

There are cowboys here, but you’re not exactly going to feel like Wyatt Earp here. The connection between theme and mechanics is fairly limited.

This is a game about mechanics and while there are some interesting abstraction mechanics added to the game like the hand of cards being your cattle, buildings being stops along the trail that also has various hazards and such, you aren’t exactly going to feel like you are in a role of a cowboy here.

Given the very minimal interaction between players as well, you can’t help but wonder if they missed an opportunity in this game to create some take that mechanics. You can’t help but feel the absence of certain elements in a western theme game like some six shooters, sheriffs or bad guys but I suppose since those things didn’t drive me to the game it feels weird to judge it negatively for not having them. Still its a game about cowboys in the old west given the minimal interaction, the game ends up feeling less thematic as a result.

Like many victory point mash up games, it never ceases to amaze me how a game that appears so busy and full of life is effectively a solitaire game. GWT is not as bad as Caverna, but it’s definitely in the same category.

All that said, like most Euro games it becomes very easy to overlook and dismiss the theme as you focus your energy on the mechanics and Great Western Trail is really no different. The theme in short is really not that important here.

Gameplay

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: Dynamic setup, non-traditional euro mechanics and thinky gameplay make for a great combination. Very good victory point smorgasbord.

Cons: No real catch up mechanics in place, pretty limited player interaction.

All games generally live and die by their mechanics but its in particular true about Euro games because they often share so many of the same mechanics and aren’t focused on theme, but thankfully in the case of The Great Western trail, there is sufficient deviation from the standard fare of role selection and worker placement that it allows the game to stand out.

There are a number of things to really like about Great Western Trail, I think the most notable however is that while its a pretty weighty Euro with a lot of strategic juice, turns are very quick and the activities of a turn are pretty straightforward and easy to understand. The choices might be tough, but what you actually do on your turn is very simple. Move your cowboy and perform the action on the space you land. Conceptually it falls into the easy to learn impossible to master category and I think above all else this is the zone in which Euro games find the most comfort and simultaneously excel at. Great Western Trail is a wonderful example of this.

Personally I been exhausted by many of the traditional euro mechanics like Worker placement, action or role selection mechanics and I think the the real strength of Great Western Trail is that its a very strategic and thinky game that does not fall back on these tried and true cores. Instead it ventures out into some new territory which I found to be a breath of fresh air. Its nothing I would call revolutionary, but its a new dynamic puzzle and that can be a lot of fun with the right group.

Russian Railroads is often hailed as one of the best among the Victory Point Mash up Euros, but its based on a very static, tried and true worker placement mechanic. I like GWT a lot better mainly because it does something fresh and new in the genre.

The combination of movement, hand management and resource management along the way works really well to create some really tough choices. You sort of build up a route that works to the strength of your selected strategy for scoring points and while Great Western Trail is very much a Victory Point Smorgasbord, you do have quite a few variations on what you can go for and the initial setup is dynamic as is the way the games tokens that can affect strategy are so you end up with a wide range of variation between plays. This of course helps with re-playability a great deal but what it really means for the game is that you can’t sit down with a strategy planned in advance, a problem a lot of Euros suffer from. You really have to look at the board, see what buildings are available, where neutral buildings are initially placed, what workers are available, what cards are in the market place and then you can think about how you are going to do strategy wise.

One of my beefs with Le Havre is that despite its dynamic nature and simple complexity style design, it has a pattern that becomes apparent and rather predictable after several plays. GWT manages to dodge that quite a bit thanks to the many dynamic elements that really shift attention to a wide range of strategies from game to game.

While the interaction is quite thin, one point of interaction is the placement of buildings which can tax players, create stalling points and with hazards can add additional hurdles for players who put their buildings in riskier, but more profitable spots. This really helps a lot to make the game feel like your playing with others, though the impact of their decisions still has pretty minimal impact on you. In a lot of ways Great Western Trail can feel a bit solitaire, in particular in two player games but in 3 and 4 player games I think the games interaction makes deeper cuts and I definitely recommend to play it this way.

The personal player board is also very important in the game, what actions you unlock here and where you place your tokens on the train track are critical for getting good positioning of future runs through the trails. There is a lot to think about and plan here. There is a lot of investment in strategies as well so you have to make good choices throughout if you hope to win, there really are no “big moves” but rather slow and steady build up of smart choices that pays out in the long run. For better or for worse, in Great Western Trail it can be pretty hard to catch up if you fall too far behind as players who make wise choices will get momentum that is difficult to halt. In a lot of ways Great Western Trail is very much about building a functioning engine which acts as a sort of race and its in this that the competition and tension of the game really exists.

When and how you unlock your personal player board actions is really important to a good long term strategy. There is this mix between long term strategy on the player board, several moves ahead strategy of your hand of cards and turn to turn strategy with your movement. The combination creates a lot of tough decisions.

I think the inability for players to do much to slow down a player with a lot of momentum kind of hurts the game. You can find yourself about halfway through the game falling hopelessly behind or watching one player get far ahead and effectively have to play a game to its conclusion knowing who will win since mid game. Its hard to say how often this would happen in a game of experienced players, I would venture to say not very often, but given that the game takes about 30-45 minutes per player in a four player game, if you are 1.5 hours into a 3 hour game and you already know who is going to win with no way to stop them it kind of spoils the tension built up at the start of the game.

With all that in mind I have to say that I really enjoyed the thinky elements of the game mechanics. For a victory point focused Euro, this is a really good one and I have played quite a few at this point. Given options like Russian Railroads, Voyage of Marco Polo, Terra Mystica or the always popular Caverna, I think I prefer Great Western Trail, if for no other reason than the fact that its not driven by rather stale and over cooked worker placement mechanics.

In Great Western Trail what you are going to do isn’t just a question of this turn but this and perhaps even the next run. You have to be able to see your actions many moves in advance and there is a bit of luck and risk vs. reward elements here so you can take some chances. There is a lot of satisfaction and reward for good decisions and I think Euro gamers in particular will find a lot to love in Great Western Trail.

Replay-ability and Longevity

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: Dynamic starts and dynamic draws of tiles and cards create a fairly wide range of unique games that will drive strategies, creating plenty of longevity and replay potential.

Cons: Victory Point Smorgasbords generally have a fixed shelf like getting boring after X amount of plays.

I think the most important element of a game with limited interaction is to find a way to make itself re-playable. In my experience, the less player interaction there is in a game the less likely it is that people will find any real longevity in the game. That said Great Western Trail does a lot to curtail this problem with its dynamic variations in setup and general “draw” elements, with its card management and tile reveals.

I’m not sure how long this game will stay in my collection, but I do believe that a game like this will wind up being someones favorite just because it really does have that spark of strategic depth and thinkiness I think a lot gamers enjoy. I always say that I don’t really understand why people are so captivated with victory point smorgasbord games, but they are and games like Russian Railroads for example see a lot of play and are beloved by a lot of people. I think Great Western Trail does very well in this genre/style of gaming, so much so that I actually like it a great deal more then most of the games of this type I have tried.

I have to admit part of the reason why I like this game is that I like the theme and while strictly speaking the connection between theme and mechanics is not particularly strong here, I’m still drawn to it. I think Great Western Trail is one of those, right people, right occasion type games where if you bring it out with the right group they will love it and want to play it repeatedly while other less Euro centric gamers are likely to find it difficult to get through even the first play. Great Western Trail won’t have that wide, for all gamers, appeal. Its a niche product, but one I think people like this genre of games will want to play repeatedly as there is a ton to discover and unravel here. There are many challenges and interesting puzzles to solve and its going to take a great many games to truly master this one.

This is a Heavy Euro with a ton going on, its definitely not for the feint of heart but all things considered I found that people will have that “aha” moment much sooner then what appearances might suggest.

I think the biggest boon to this game is the fact that it has a higher level of complexity but relatively simple round structure and I found that after my first couple of plays I still wanted to go back to try out the many other possible strategies and approaches to the game so I definitely believe there is plenty of longevity here.

I would also argue however that Victory Point Smorgasbords in general play themselves out and I would imagine at some point this game will make an exit from my collection, but I don’t think its going to be any time soon.

Conclusion

Great Western Trail is simultaneously a traditional Euro style victory point mash up and a uniquely styled game with fresh mechanics and interesting approach. Like many Euro games I find its a bit short on player interaction and I see that as a problem with many of my gaming friends who want to have mechanics that interfere and obstruct each other as part of a gaming experience. To me however you don’t buy and play a Euro game if you have issues with limited interaction and to be fair there are plenty of games that I like that have virtually no interaction like Race for the Galaxy for example. This in its own right is only a negative for people who have issue with it and I really don’t.

That said I do believe there was some missed opportunities in Great Western Trail as a “cowboy” themed game for more direct interaction. Its a Euro through and through and if you love Euro’s you will likely enjoy this game. I think its component quality, art style, clever mechanics, dynamic nature and fresh approach work together draw just enough interest to squeak into my personal collection. I’m drawn to it, I want to play it again and I think that’s a good sign as this is rarely the case for me with Victory Point Mash up Euros in this style.

Great Western Trail is a fun game, its unique within its own genre and while I would rate it as a heavy euro, its considerably easier to teach within its class among games like Terra Mystica, Russian Railroads and Caverna.

I recommend this game for Euro fans for certain, but I think unless you already have an affection for Victory Point Mash ups you should probably skip this one.

What Makes It Tick

What Makes It Tick: Twilight Imperium Part I

March 2, 2017 5 Minutes

One of my favorite games of all time, Twilight Imperium can only be described as a thematic epic, a game of galactic civilization building and management, dripping with intrigue, politics, diplomacy, trade, war, exploration and just all around 4x goodness. I always say that if I was to be stuck on an island with 5 of my best friends and we could only bring one game with us, this is definitely the one I would choose. With near infinite re-playbility, mountains of strategic depth and an almost overwhelming set of variants and options this has to be one of the most dynamic board games in existence.

Starting this month I will be focusing in on Twilight Imperium both in this blog, on the pod cast and in my own personal gaming group.

Now I realize that Twilight Imperium is a rather niche thing. We are talking about a pretty complex game that really requires 6 dedicated players and runs the better part of 6 hours. Not to mention the science-fiction subject matter. We are talking about a game here that eliminates a lot of people in a lot of ways. For those of you who hear science-fiction, epic, six hours, six players and it brings a smile to your face, then this article series is definitely for you.

This is already a very long game when setup in the standard way, but fans being fans will do crazy setups like this that will take days as opposed to hours. There is a special place in hell for these people, I’m looking forward to meeting them.

In the course of this article series we are going to explore this game inside and out. We are going to look at strategies, the races, tricks of the trade, pitfalls and most importantly how to win. First however let’s just kick things off with a general overview, lets assume for a second you don’t own Twilight Imperium yet and you are considering picking it up. Consider this a sort of list of important things to know about TI3.

It’s a game about a war but not a war game

Whenever I describe TI3 I always begin by telling people that despite appearances, while this game is definitely about a great galactic war, it is not mechanically speaking a game of war. Now don’t get me wrong here, you will definitely be fighting. You will build mighty space fleets and send them into grand battles, fighting over planets and resources, but these aspects of TI3 are really a distraction and perhaps better to say an extension of the treacherous intrigue, diplomacy and politics that are the true driving force of the game.

Looking at an image like this it’s not hard to imagine someone mistaking this for a war game.

To win Twilight Imperium you must score points and there is only one way to do that which is to complete public and secret objectives. Waging war for war’s sake will not win you the game in all but the rarest circumstance, or when using some select variants and its very much more likely that simply going on a war path even when pursuing points will ultimately lead you to a crushing defeat. So always keep in mind as you approach TI3 that while you must always build up your military and prepare for war, successful players will use their war machine with precision, as a means to an end and most commonly to distract their opponents from their real agenda which should always be kept hidden.

This is of course also important if you are buying this game because you think it’s a “war in space” game, it’s not and you definitely should not buy this game if that is what you are after.

This is more a hobby than a game

While I would never fault someone for giving TI3 a try, the truth is that TI3 is designed from the ground up for dedicated players, people who are interested in studying and learning about the ins and outs of this complex game. This is an event game, something you plan an evening around, going into it knowing it’s going to take up the whole night. It’s not a game you simply pull out on a random board game night. It’s definitely not for casual gamers either and for best results it’s important that all participants prepare for the game by reading the rulebook on their own. In other words, it takes motivated, interested players who are eager to play to be successful.

There are a lot of mini mechanics built into the options and variants of TI3 like the political system for example. Its important everyone familiarize themselves with these else getting a good experience becomes very difficult if not impossible.

I note this here because if you are considering purchasing TI3 you must keep this in mind. You want a gaming group setup ready to dive in with interest and excitement, a group that is aware of what TI3 really is and be on board with it. You don’t want to twist arms and convince reluctant people to play this game, it simply does not work out well and given the expense of the game, it would be a shame to shell out so much money for something that collects dust on your shelf.

Getting both expansions with the core game is really kind of a must. TI3 is kind of an all or nothing thing. The good news is you will never have trouble finding someone to sell it to if you take good care of your game.

So be sure you really have a gaming group ready to commit to the game before you buy, else you will find yourself like many do, on the forums posting “looking for TI3 games in X, Y area”. You don’t want this big beautiful box on your shelf that never see’s the light of day.

It’s a game for 6 players, no more no less

This might be a controversial opinion and so I say this with full disclosure that this Is just that, my opinion. To me, TI3 with anything more or less than 6 players changes the experience and in most cases considerably reduces it to the point where I would consider other games before I play a 3, 4 or 5 player game of TI3. Here is how I see the breakdown.

3 Player Game
In a 3 player game the core problem is that intrigue, politics and diplomacy suffer greatly and since this is really the focus of the game, that is a real deal breaker for me. You have a triad so any alliances or political coordination results in a 2 on 1 situation and this makes for a very poor TI3 experience in my humble opinion. TI3 really shines in an environment of multiple political plays, diplomatic situations and intrigues motivated by a field of players, without it, it really just becomes a game of war rather than a game about a war. It effectively devolves into an overly complicated game of RISK.

The 3 player setup is a triangle so at least the map is balanced, but without the intrigue, diplomacy and politics it makes for a very shallow experience.

4 Player Game
This is probably the only alternative I would consider to be “ok” in a pinch or when one is desperate to play, but still largely skip-able especially considering the wide range of awesome 4 player games available. The main problem here is that each player gets 2 strategy cards which diminishes the game greatly because you know with 100% certainty every secondary ability of every strategy card will be played. The dynamic becomes predictable and it really gives certain races a much bigger advantage then they would normally have throwing the balance off. The map is even which is good and I don’t necessarily hate 4 player games, but generally speaking I think there are better options out there in the 4x genre for a 4 player game than TI3. I think new players will hate it considerably less, but as you gain experience you will recognize the subtle differences.

5 Player Game
This to me is the worst of the bunch largely because the map is so uneven. You end up with 3 players affected negatively by their home world position at the start of the game and this really makes it tough especially for the middle (5^th player) who has 2 players only 2 hexes away. While there are some modifications that can be made to the map as released in the expansions, or via the standard rules of handing out some added trade goods, these solutions are imperfect at best. I have never cared for any of these solutions and personally avoid 5 player games to avoid the diminished experience. You especially want to avoid a 5 player game as you are introducing it to new players, the game will immediately be accused of being horribly unbalanced and unfair.

7 & 8 Player Games
TI3 is already a big epic, very long game but at 7 & 8 players it gets too long even for the most dedicated veterans. You are talking about a 8+ hour game here and while I imagine initially some might be attracted to the size of the game there is just too much down time and the game runs too slow to be worth it. The experienced is diminished considerably and it becomes too messy to manage.

At the end of the day the perfect, sweet spot is a 6 player game and this is really what you should be shooting for with your gaming group. I would argue that all player counts can be modified and house ruled to be improved, in fact in later articles I will be talking about some of those house rules and home brewed variants that improve the game for other player counts, but in as a whole, out of the box, 6 player games is where it’s really at its best.

The Shattered Empire Expansion Is a must

Twilight Imperiums greatest strength is its dynamic nature and unfortunately in the original game there is a strategy card called “Imperial”, the number 8 card, which really breaks the spirit of those dynamics. This is corrected in the Shattered Empire Expansion (as well as Shards of the Throne) by introducing alternatives to this card. This issue is lovingly referred to as the “Round Robin” effect.

Getting 2 Victory Points in TI3 is very difficult, only a fool would pass on a strategy card that just gives it to you for doing nothing.

The Round Robin Problem
The issue which most TI3 players are familiar with is the round robin effect of the imperial strategy card. This card effectively gives you 2 free points simply for activating it and 2 victory points in TI3 is huge. What ends up happening is that every player will quickly realize that whenever you can take the Imperial card you must take it. Since the person with the speaker token picks strategy cards first, the obvious play if you are the second player during the strategy phase is to get the speaker token hence you will be taking the “Initiative” strategy card which does just that. Another words the round robin effect is that the speaker takes the Imperial Card and the second player takes the initiative card so he can get the Imperial card next round. This shuffles down the line and eventually all players will make this move at least once.

This happens every round resulting in most games with the first two picks of each strategy phase being the same. This goes around the table resulting in each player eventually getting his 2 free points. The idea here is to speed up the game but there is a negative effect that comes into play at the very end of the game, which creates the arguably game breaking impact.

If you can’t get the Imperial card you must take the Initiative card, making this the other culprit in the predictable round robin cycle.

What happens is that the average TI3 game takes about 7-8 rounds, which means that 1 or 2 players will end up getting the Imperial card twice, aka 4 free points. This means that the player who gets the speaker token in the first round of the game, something determined randomly with dice at the start of the game, will end up getting 2 more points than everyone else in round 7. Making him the most likely winner of the game as he only needs to produce 6 other points to win the game (you win at 10 victory points) by round 7. Not an all to difficult task with most races under normal circumstances. Any experienced player knows that you aren’t winning the game unless you score a point each round so scoring 6 points by the start of round 7 is something all good players learn to do well.

This round robin cycle is terrible for the game, in particular at a table with more experienced players but in general it is just bad. Fortunately the Shattered Empire Expansion resolves this by offering alternatives to the Imperial card (more on that later).

Now there are of course ways to house rule this so this is not the only reason to get the Shattered Empire expansion. The additional races, action cards, political cards, all of the alternative strategy cards not to mention the added variant options all improve the game dramatically. It’s my recommendation that if you purchase TI3 you automatically purchase Shattered Empire with it directly. I would also recommend you pick up Shards of the Throne while you’re at it because frankly this game will not be in print forever and the print runs FFG does make are usually small so if you are going to get into TI3 you pretty much want to go all in.

The most commonly used solution to the round robin problem is the bureaucracy strategy card.

That’s just my opinion of course but these expansions add so much to the game, improving the experience so dramatically that if you end up loving TI3, you’re going to really hate yourself if you did not get the expansions along with it. Besides, this game is always sought after so if you take good care of it you will not have any trouble selling it later if you end up not liking it and recouping your money.

Final Considerations

The final consideration I think anyone considering getting into TI3 should make is definitely to make sure you understand the design aspect of the game. I think most people who look at this game would categorize it as “Ameri-trash”. It’s packed full of miniatures, its thematically driven and it uses dice and lots and lots of cards. The thing is that if you remove the miniatures and dice, pretty much every mechanic in this game is effectively a “Euro Game” mechanic. In fact, I would consider this a kind of cross over game, but if you don’t like Euro games, if you don’t like Euro mechanics you will find a lot to dislike about TI3.

Prior to the Euro invasion you would never see “victory points” or “objectives” used in an American made game. Just one of the many good things to influence American designers..

TI3 makes heavy use of things like Role-Selection (works like Puerto Rico), command move and bidding just to name a couple. There is a ton of Euro influence here mixed in with the Ameri-Trash luck/randomness. I would argue it blends the best of both worlds but in the end this blending of design styles might not be for everyone so be sure you really read the rulebook and consider how you feel about this infrastructure that TI3 is build around.

Ok I think that is a good start to the series, keep an eye on the upcoming articles!

Best of List

Year End Review 2016 Edition

February 20, 2017 5 Minutes

Its a new year by my count and abandoned new years resolutions aside there is only one thing left to do on the checklist. Its time look back at 2016 and make Gamersdungeon.net’s choices for the best of the year. Like last year we are going to pick the best designer of the year, best game company of the year and of course the best game of the year.

Like last year I have asked some members of my gaming group to anonymously throw in there two cents so we will have a look to see what some of my friends think as well.

Enjoy the article!

Best Game Designer Of The Year

Corey Konieczka

It was a very competitive year, a great year for a lot of designers but the work horse that is Fantasy Flight Games greatest asset had a hell of a year.

Star Wars Rebellion is the kind of game that Corey specializes in. Big, bright and epic.

He kicked off his year with the highly anticipated Star Wars Rebellion which for most game designers would have been a lifetime achievement, but for Corey that’s just another stripe on the battle suit. He was knocking out content for Star Wars Imperial Assault all year long including The Bespin Gambit the third expansion major expansion. He topped that off with a number of Mansions of Mandness expansions for the new second edition while simultaneously dropping FFG’s new addicition, Star Wars: Destiny that has risen in popularity to a ridiculous degree.

Suffice to say the man had a good year and while most of the games mentioned here are not exactly what I would call my personal favorite, you can’t deny Corey’s amazing productivity.

Honorable Mention

I think its important to name a few of the up and comers who might not have the amazing support of a large company that guys like Konieczka get yet still manage to put out some amazing games.

Jamey Stegmaier for the smash hit of the year Scythe definitely deserves a slap on the ass for a job well done. Scythe again, I find myself saying this all the time, is not my personal favorite but I recognize the amazing design work and sheer amount of testing that must have gone into that game. Really great achievement.

The jury is still out on this one for me, but you can’t deny its hype and the love people show it. Its definitely an attention getter in 2016.

Jacob Fryxelius who gave us the amazing Terraforming Mars. Now personally I have just played one game of this so far, but what a fantastic design. The balancing effort that went into this game, the dynamic and unique mechanics that its based on, it all deserves praise and if this is going to be the quality of work from Jacob in the future, he has a very bright one ahead of him.

Best Company Of The Year

Fantasy Flight Games

Ok so they are getting it two years in a row from me and yes maybe I’m playing favorites here but if you look at it objectively you just can’t make this stuff.

Clearly I’m a bit biased when it comes to FFG, I love their stuff pretty much always, but there is no denying the amazing year they have had in 2016.

Not only did they complete a major merger that rose them to one of the most economically powerful table top gaming companies in the industry with world wide control, they are also responsible for hands down some of the best games of 2016, not to mention the continued growth of their existing lines, in particular their miniature games X-Wing and Armada.

Forget the endless stream of Android Netrunner, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Star Wars and many other LCG’s. These countless expansions are barely newsworthy yet they amount to more content then any 5 of the top companies out there would even be capable of producing from a production stand point let alone a talent stand point. What I’m really talking about here is the new stuff.

Star Wars Destiny, Star Wars Rebellion, Doom: The Board Game, Mansions of Madness: Second Edition and New Angeles. I’m talking about wave after wave of X-Wing, Armada, Battlelore and Imperial Assault. Fantasy Flight Games is a machine of productivity, yet the quality of the work never faulters and I think this is the most amazing aspect of FFG. Most companies that get into their late “McDonalds” stage of development start to break down, in particular in the area of quality but not FFG. The content they produce is always top notch and while I’m not always a fan of every game they put out there is no disputing how well they fair.

In my humble opinion Star Wars Destiny was near perfect with one exception that pretty much killed it for me. Its a CCG instead of a LCG. A minor difference, one that determines if I’m going to buy into a collectible game or not.

Today FFG has no less then 17 games in the top 100 games of all time on boardgamegeek.com. Its really important to understand the significance of this number, Boardgamegeek.com is traditionally a veyr conservative Euro game audiance. Consider that today among the top 10 games of all time you have bore fests like Terra Mystica, Caverna, Castles of Burgandy and Puerto Rico. No offense to fans of these games, they may be great games but you can’t possibly expect anyone to take you seriously in the idea that these games out ranks the likes of X-wing, Armada and Imperial Assault just to name a couple. These games aren’t even in the same league.

Star Wars Armada continues to get support from FFG and it had an amazing year as a game. Completely revived the game for me.

Ok I’m not going to go on a BBG rant here but suffice to say in my humble opinion no one does it better than FFG and this year they have already proven what I have already known. They are taking over the board gaming universe, so sit back and enjoy the occupation.

Honorable Mentions

Z-Man games definitely deserves an honorable mention and its not because they had some sort of amazing year with their releases, though Feast of Odin should not go unrecognized, but its really there general support of their existing lines. You just have to love a company who stays dedicated to the games they make and continue to support them via new content and expansions. So many companies create great games and then quickly abandon their audience as soon as they realize that maybe its not quite as big as they had hoped.

This year Z-man put out expansions and added content for Cacao, CamelUp, Carcassonne, Merchants and Marauders, Stone Age, and Pandemic. Some of these games are over 10 years old and Z-Man continues to support their fan base knowing its appreciate it and frankly I can’t think of too many companies that would put out an expansion for a 10 year old game, it certainly wouldn’t be Fantasy Flight Games. Noted and appreciated!

Game of The Year

Terraforming Mars

Picking game of the year is always a tricky proposition as I did not play all games that came out in 2016 and there are quite a few on my list that might deserve this spot more then Terraforming Mars. That said I can’t think of a game that captured my attention more then Terraforming Mars. In fact it was on my, most anticipated games of 2017 list because I had missed it last year, it went out of print and I wasn’t sure when I would get to try it. Well I finally did and it was love at first sight.

This is the must own game of 2016, there is no question in my mind.

I think the most notable thing about Terraforming Mars aside from the really cool theme of terraforming a planet is that its so well balanced and tested. You can see that a lot of love went into this game to ensure its as perfect as it can be. There is a lot going on in this game on many levels and while I would not call any of the mechanics revolutionary, I would say that they are the offspring of some really great concepts that have been evolved here. You have elements of 7 Wonders and Race for the Galaxy put to really good use in this game.

In the end though I think the reason why I chose Terraforming Mars is because it combined fantastic mechanics with a really great theme to create a truly unique release in 2016. As a gamer above all else I want to be surprised by a game. I want that moment where you pick up a game because you are interested in the theme and then discover that its everything you hoped it would be and more.

Honorable Mentions

Star Wars Rebellion definitely gets a nod from me as the Star Wars story in a box game, though personally I felt that it was a little less exciting then I hoped it would be. Its definitely no War of the Rings and while I can’t quite put my finger on it, it just wasn’t 100% fully there. Great game none the less and I think if it was not the last minute play with Terraforming Mars I think I may have chosen Star Wars Rebellion in its place.

Another honorable mention has to be Tides of the Underdark. This highly underrated deck builder saw a lot of play time in my gaming group this year and it was unanimously hailed as a great game, which I completely agree with. Its a simple to the point deck builder with area control driven by a great theme. If you love D&D this is definitely among the best board games in the line along with Lords of Waterdeep. Really looking forward to seeing an expansion to this one in 2017.

D&D is a great franchise to base games on and I’m glad that Lords of Waterdeep wasn’t just a one hit wonder. Tyrants is a fantastic game.

The Crew

Like last year I have asked members of my gaming crew to throw in their own two cents here and like last year I have kept their identities secret.

Player 1

Game of The Year: Tyrants of The Underdark

Company Of The Year: Fantasty Flight Games

Designer Of The Year: Rodney Thompson (Tyrants)

All good choices, I considered Tyrants of The Underdark for game of they year myself. I would argue that releasing one good game doesn’t qualify a person for Designer of The Year, but Rodney Thompson is also responsible for the wonderful Lords of Waterdeep which I know this player favors as well so I can understand the choice.

Player 2

Game of The Year: Star Wars Rebellion

Company of the Year: Fantasy Flight Games

Designer of The Year: Corey Konieczka

Great choices all, pretty in line with my own. I think if we did a consensus of board gamers there is a good chance Star Wars Rebellion would be the peoples choice given the attention Star Wars has gotten in 2016.

That’s it for this year, hope you enjoyed our picks!

Board Game Reviews

Empires: Age of Discovery by Eagle-Gryphon Games 2015 (2007)

February 17, 2017 5 Minutes

The re-released Age of Empires III also received a new name and a considerable component upgrade, but since I never reviewed the original I thought I would do so using this new edition.

Designer: Glenn Drover

Overview

Final Score: (4.5 out 5 Stars)

When Age of Empires III was first released in 2007 it was presumed that it would be a game that attempted to mimic the PC game as its namesake would suggest. Contrary to that, Age of Empires III, now Empires: Age of Discovery is actually a far closer match to the classic Sid Meiers PC game, Colonization.

In Empires players take on the roles of nations from the age of exploration on a mission to explore the new world. This is of course done in a competitive and sometimes combative manner but Empires is not a war game, but rather a worker placement game with area control. A combination that today is a lot more common than it was back in 2007 when Age of Empires III was a lot more unique.

Components

Score: (3 out 5 Stars)
Tilt:

Pros: High Quality Components, Fantastic Art, Over-sized for easy handling.

Cons: Very expensive for mostly unnecessary upgrades.

While the components of the previous version Age of Empires III where very good, in this deluxe version of the game the components get a significant upgrade.

The gameboard is quite large, with fantastic art and plenty of room for the components which is good as the game becomes quite busy during play so the large size is really appreciated. The plastic worker units are larger and weightier than you would expect for game pieces and there is a brick ton of them, far more then you need in your average game. The molds are good quality and easy to identify and the rest of the components like cards and tokens are all of great quality with appealing and thematically correct art to get you in the mood for exploration of the Americas.

This is a visually impressive edition of the game, with great quality components, there is no doubt about it but the question is whether or not this new deluxe edition is worth the 100 dollar price tag.

Bright, big and elaborate, Empires: Age of Discovery is a visual treat.

While I’m always happy to shell out extra dough for a deluxe edition of a game, my assumption is that deluxe means, above and beyond what you would expect from your normal version of a board game and while certainly there are visible upgrades from the original edition they hardly qualify for the term deluxe . The qualify of the game board, pieces and tokens are really not a whole lot better than what you get in say Tide of Irons, Twilight Imperium or Cry Havoc. I get that there probably is justification to raise this game to the upper levels of heavy miniature game release cost, after all Twilight Imperium also costs 100 bucks but I just felt a bit meh on the whole calling it a deluxe edition and passing it off as something more than normal quality level components. This is a more expensive edition with better components than the previous edition but it does not meet the requirements to be called a deluxe version nor does it exceed the norm.

I’m not sure that should affect the games score any, but if you ask me if you already own Age of Empires III there is no reason to upgrade, even if you are a fan. If you want to get into this game and find an opportunity to buy the original version, you should definitely do that instead. There is nothing in the old edition that was poorly done, the quality of Age of Empires III was excellent and while this is an upgrade its well over double the price of the original, which personally I don’t think was worth it. Especially since this upgraded version takes up the box space on your shelf of two other normal sized board games.

The difference between the Age of Empires III version and new Deluxe version are insignificant, hardly worth double price.

I’m not disappointed with this edition and I’m certainly going to get over the cost I shelled out but given the opportunity to do it again, I would seek out Age of Empires III on the secondary market and save myself some money and shelf space.

Theme

Score: (4 out 5 Stars)
Tilt:

Pros: Very good connection between mechanics and theme, great art goes a long way to bring atmosphere.

Cons: Age of Discovery theme is not for everyone.

I’m a bit biased and simultaneously prejudice when it comes to certain themes like Age of Discovery, I think it’s largely because I have an image in my head about what a game with this theme should be. Very much the same with X4 space games and Civilization based games. There is a PC game image I have in my head that I believe board game with these themes should try to capture. For example with X4 it should be Master of Orion, with Civilization games it should be the obvious Sid Meiers Civilization and when it comes to games about the age of discovery, to me it means the game should emulate another Sid Meier game, Colonization.

Colonization is a classic, you won’t come closer to a board game version than Empires: Age of Discovery.

Is it fair? Perhaps not and I will say that I’m willing to overlook a failure to meet that thematic essence if the alternative is equally good but thankfully with Empires: Age of Discovery that was actually not necessary. Thematically, it encapsulates the theme of Colonization with near perfection, in fact it does so not just thematically but also mechanically in a lot of ways creating an even deeper connection to that premise.

The Theme here is exploration, control of the new world and the butting opposition and competition of Europe’s other nations. While a worker placement game, the mechanic is considerably more interactive thanks to direct conflict mechanics which fit the theme perfectly. For example as you explore the new world and send colonist to control it, fights can break out, hence sending soldiers and building up a military present becomes part of the age of discovery here which sits just right into the game. It’s of course not a war game and it shouldn’t be, exploration, resource management and development are are at the forefront of the theme but worker placement games without some conflict have a tendency to get quite boring even when thematically correct. It isn’t a problem here.

I’m not sure Age of Discovery is a great theme in its own right that everyone will appreciate, but I personally love it as it reminds me of some classic PC games from the past like Colonization. Like it or not however, Empires has captured that theme splendidly and to a degree respectfully unlike other Age of Discovery games I have played (looking at you Archipelago).

Now if you are a big fan of Age of Discovery games you might note that one element of Age of Discovery as a theme is naval combat and ship based elements which are included but only very abstractly here. That part of the theme wouldn’t really fit into the global layout of Empires, but for those of you looking for something more down on the ground “sale ship” type stuff this is not the game for it. This fits the bill of a more “Civilization Building” & “Worker Placement” genre game in an Age of Discovery theme and in that regard Empires: Age of Discovery nailed it.

Gameplay

Score: (5 out 5 Stars)
Tilt:

Pros: Very tight and balanced worker placement, varied worker powers is a great concept that works well.

Cons: Its a pretty long game, some repetitive patterns can emerge.

Empires: Age of Discovery is first and foremost a deeply nested Euro game based on one of the most recognizable Euro mechanics there is, worker placement. More than that though it is a Worker Placement game in the absolute most classic sense and stripped down sense. If Glenn Drover is nothing else he is what I like to call a clean designer, a guy who knows how to trim down a games mechanics to the absolute minimal possible and use reliable, well tested mechanics to base his games on, without hurting the concept or goal of the game.

Worker placement games are very popular right now and pretty much since they were introduced. Empires is one of the finest examples of the mechanic.

While Empires: Age of Discovery is not revolutionary from a game design perspective what it does is does amazingly well.

For starters the worker placement mechanic that drives the entire game is done in a fashion that ensures no matter how you approach the game its always super tight, exactly what you want out of a worker placement game. Every decision you make, every worker you place can trigger analysis paralysis because while there are not a terrible amount of choices, every choice feels like a vital decision and there is very little wiggle room. I especially like the fact that while placing workers during the main phase of one turn, your thinking about the placement of workers for the next turn. This is because workers in Age of Empires are not all created equal and its in this core element of the game where all the deep strategy really happens.

There are normal workers known as Colonist but you also have specialty workers, experts in different fields that grant users advantageous when leveraged on a certain worker placement spot (or job). For example you have missionaries who when sent to the new world expand the colony by two rather than by one (presumably by converting the locals). You also have captains who are experts at exploring or builders like the name suggests are experts at building. To get these workers you must convert colonist on one turn to make them available on the next and as such during the worker placement phase of the game you are put to the decision of doing something that will grant an advantage this round or invest in the next.

By mid to late game, many of the workers are converted to area control units on the map. Control on the map is one of several ways to score points in the game.

This is not the only tough decision that must be made, but because of this duality of worker placement and the fact only one expert of each kind is available each round to convert, it raises the competition for them dramatically.

There are other kind of races in the game that include taking trade goods to raise money which are absolutely vital to winning the game and of a very limited supply. Gold is a key ingredient to expanding your developments which of course is another competitive space. In each age, development tiles are available and you must not only get to them first to get the best advantageous (or advantageous that fit your strategy) but must have the gold to pay for them. Suffice to say there is a lot to think about within that simple decision of placing a worker which creates both a very tight environment and very cerebral experience.

I think the real icing on the cake for Age of Exploration however is the commitment of the game to the theme of Imperialism. These are European nations competing for control over new lands and in that conflict is inevitable. One type of specialty worker is the solider and when he is sent to the new world he can be activated to make direct attacks against opposing colonist or even trigger wars across the entire new world. This direct interaction takes this classic style of a worker placement game and gives players a way to actually assault each other. Not everyone will be a fan of this mechanic but thematically its an absolute must have and without it the game would feel considerably less in line with the concept and theme of the game. An important and well executed addition that does not devolve the game into a war game but it does create that additional tactical element that everyone must think about throughout the game as they send people to the new world.

There are two maps on which the game can be played, the classic North American map and the world map. While the maps change, the rules don’t and with the exception of a couple of minor differences these two maps just offer some variety in playing fields.

This is a very tight, well thought out worker placement mechanic with more interaction than you normally get from games like this. Its incredibly well balanced, creates lots of tough mini decisions and an enormous amount of tension from the very first round to the very last. The included expansion called “builders” adds another worker type (the builder) but having played with it for the first couple of games I can’t imagine why you would not always auto include it, its a really great expansion that should almost be treated at this point as a standard part of the game.

The Gameplay in Empires is smooth, with a simple flow that is easy to remember and works in a logic way that becomes second nature to everyone at the table after the first round. There are no gotcha mechanics and while there is definitely something to be learned from game to game, this is one of those easy to learn impossible to master games. I wouldn’t call it a good introductory game, there is sufficient complexity here to disqualify it, plus I think its a bit too long to work as such. Still for a gaming group who enjoys Euro mechanics this is an incredibly clean game that gets right to the point and bury’s you in tough decisions. For a worker placement game is has an incredible amount of tension that goes well beyond the typical “you took my spot” arrangement.

There are a number of ways to trick out Empires, the most common is getting some golden metal coins. This would have been a nice upgrade one might expect from a Deluxe edition yet was omitted.

If the game has any drawbacks mechanically its that its not 100% clear where you actually stand point wise at any point in the game. Points are only scored three times during the game, at the end of each age and its really difficult to predict where anyone will end up. Scoring kind of feels like trying to guess who will come out on top after the apocalypse. Everyone is doing everything they can to stop, block and damage everyone else and its not that hard to be successful, so its really just a question of how much you can hang on to during these scoring periods. This is in particularly true at the end of the game when battles and wars can really decimated opponents chances of winning. This actually creates a good amount of tension but it is very unpredictable and results during the scoring rounds can swing quite widely.

I personally think this is ok for the game, it really doesn’t hurt it but if your the type of player that wants to be able to calculate and control how many points you will earn you might find it frustrating to see other players always throw their two cents into blocking your efforts and screwing up your scoring. In fact I found that blocking other people is a much better strategy then trying to score yourself in many cases, so this is a tactic you can expect to develop in every game.

Replay-ability and Longevity

Score: (4 out 5 Stars)
Tilt:

Pros: Dynamic gameplay allows for a wide range of strategies to explore.

Cons: Its best with 4+ players, anything less and a lot of the tightness evaporates.

When it comes to Longevity and Re-playability of a game, there are certain types of mechanics that are almost always successful and worker placement is definitely one of them. Its just by design made to create dynamic situation. Every placement of every worker in every round will completely alter how that round and ultimately that game will result and the effect is very dramatic in terms of results. This I believe attributes to the fact that so many of the top games are in fact worker placement games.

In the case of Empires this is equally true, thanks to the worker placement mechanic this game is truly dynamic and will play differently pretty much every time you play. Now that said there is a kind of sequence to certain events and certain spots will always be sought after first which kind of creates some default opening moves but this is typically attributed to a type of strategy a person is going for. For example if you are going to go for a builder strategy your first move will always be to grab the builder as this is of course a key to your strategy. This can make the game feel a little bit predictable at times but I think you would need to play it a lot to really start to see that pattern emerge.

I do believe this games longevity while a direct result of the worker placement mechanic is not all that it hinges on. This is a very beautiful game that looks amazing on the table, its easy to teach and offers a wealth of strategic gameplay. This is going to draw people in and you are going to get requests to “play it again”, in particular from Euro game fans despite its Ameri-Trash appearance.

Conclusion

Empires: Age of Discovery is a smash hit in my humble opinion, a game that has earned a place in my personal collection which is become tougher and tougher to qualify for. Considering its a reprint of an older game I’m actually surprised. In fact it has kicked out Kingsburg and Dominion to make room on the shelf which was a pretty tough culling for me as far as my collection goes. But I do believe this game is that good.

I highly recommend this game though I would caution that I’m not sure that the Deluxe edition was really worth the rather high price tag, I would say if you have an opportunity to buy the Age of Empires III version of the game you should probably do that. There was nothing in this Deluxe version that really stood out as an absolute must have over he regular version of this game. That said, I have no regrets, its an amazing game that belongs in the collection of any serious gamer.

Board Game Reviews

Quick Plays & Reviews

February 8, 2017 5 Minutes

I have had an opportunity to try a number of games in the last few weeks and I think it’s time for some quick reviews.

Jamaica by Asmodee 2007
Score: (2.9)

Colorful and thematic, its a very magnetic game, but mechanically it’s more a game for children then gamers.

I have played this one a couple of times now, my first exposure was years ago but It recently found its way to the table at board game night at my gaming club and I think I’m ready to put a score to it.
Jamaica is essentially a racing game with some fun & quirky card mechanics and resource management to make things go. It’s a simple game, but there is a cleverness to how the race is manipulate, a kind of combination of some dice and card play decisions. It’s a very streamlined, easy to teach, easy to learn mechanic that makes Jamaica a very relaxed game to get to the table. I think the one really memorable take away from this game is its visual appeal, it’s a very colorful, very pretty game with sturdy components and very firm stylized art. While there is strong theme here from the art work, for how simple the mechanic is, it has a very good connection to that theme for Caribbean pirate racing mechanically as well. Jamaica falls into the “light-casual” category of board games mechanically, though I found that there was enough interesting decisions and strategy in the game to sufficiently entertain a veteran gamer for a quick run through.

It’s nothing I would rush out to add to my collection and I definitely felt that it’s a bit overhyped for what it is. Much like Small World, it takes the light-casual element a bit too far and wanders into that “for kids” category which is typically a type of game I don’t mind playing but it’s nothing I want to own, nor would I suggest it even as an entry level game for someone. This is at its heart a family game with young children in mind sufficiently entertaining for adults to not get bored on family game night but for a gaming group I found the game too simple to make the table. If you have kids between the ages of 6-12 I think this might be a good pick, but for gamers I think there are considerably better racing games with more umpf than Jamaica offers to fill a game night with.

Le Havre by Lookout Games 2008
Score (3.25)

It looks like a Euro because it is one and like many Euro’s it has that simple to learn impossible to master design that Euro game lovers will appreciate.

I used to own this game and ended up giving it away to some friends, but now that it was back in print I snatched it up. Le Havre is an economic simulation game where players take on the roles of business men working in the city of Le Havre, trading, manufacturing and selling goods. It sounds complicated but the true beauty of Le Havre is precisely the fact that the game is super simple. You can effectively write the core rules on a napkin and while it has the appearance of a complex, busy Euro with lots of moving parts, it plays more like a casual game, yet boasts a fairly advanced level of strategic options. You could say it’s one of those easy to learn impossible to master type of games, something that is often said about great Euro’s and this Euro is no different.

Now it is a Euro game and it does have a rather flat theme, though I personally love great economic games and I often give Euro’s considerably more room to breathe with the themes as they tend to make up for it in the area of gameplay and replay ability. If you’re looking for a game to wow you visually or with its theme this isn’t going to be that game. La Havre’s strength is in its gameplay and re-playability, exactly where you would expect it for a euro. It plays great with 2-3 players, which is a great niche unfilled in my personal collection I was happy to see plugged up. This is a classic, it’s not going to blow you out of your seat by modern game design standards, but I it’s held up considerably better than most old school Euros have. You will definitely appreciate a game you can pull out and just start playing without a lot of rules explanation while still getting a quality, thinky strategy game.

Roll Through The Ages: The Bronze Age
Score: (1.65)

I try hard not to judge a book by its cover or be some sort of gamer snob but sometimes you just have to trust your instincts, it looks terrible because it is terrible.

Ok I’m a huge fan of Through The Ages, it ranks as one of my all-time favorites at this point so I thought, hey why not a short dice based version of this game. In fact I had considerably higher hopes for this one then one might presume about a dice game, it is after all a Matt Leacock designed game, a man I hold in the highest regard as a game designer.

Unfortunately Matt really missed the mark here. I should not judge this game too harshly it is after all a quickie dice chucker, but dice chucker or not there where some key decisions in this design that really broke it apart for me. It was quirky with odd and unnecessarily complex rules for resource management while simultaneously being too slow for a dice game. At the start the game it just feels like you don’t have enough dice to do anything and because of how the odds are shaped, getting more dice just makes the whole thing more swingy thanks to negative effects on the dice. It’s actually this precise effect (negative dice results) where the game kind of falls apart.

I think the negative effect on dice (the dreaded skull) was an unnecessary addition. Just a simple golden rule for designers out there; When making a dice chucker, don’t put negative effects on the dice, make negative impacting effects be part of player decision instead. Blanks are ok but a dice chucker should be about using your dice results (resources) and trying to find clever ways to extend the results(resources) as far as you can take them, it should not be a judge and jury result, aka, roll the dice and see what horrible things happen to you. This sort of negative dice mechanic takes a game already largely driven by luck and just overemphasizes that fact, making any decisions you make in response largely irrelevant compared to the smack down you get from just rolling badly.

I wasn’t fond of the components either, the whole wooden pegs thing was just very unthematic and unnecessarily fiddly, not to mention ugly. This was a 2008 released game so I suppose we should be a bit more lenient here but all and all Roll Through The Ages was a hard pass for me.

Gamers Dungeon

All posts by 5 Minutes

The Great Western Trail by Eggertspiele 2016

Overview

Components

Theme

Gameplay

Replay-ability and Longevity

Conclusion