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The Gaming Parlour
Automobile by Martin Wallace
Freya’s Folly by Don Bone
Washington’s War by Mark Herman
Roll Through the Ages by Matt Leacock
Planet Steam by H. G. Thiemann
Gamesnight …22nd June …Automobile
Despite history dictating that gamesnight begin at 8.15, Dicken is becoming persistent in appearing at 8.00. To counter this habit Kendall sends son Tim to answer the door and is delighted to hear him declare, ‘Dad’s in the bath’. Kendall is tempted to appear in a towelling robe, but settles for T-shirt loosely covering shoulders – (he cuts a manly figure – ed).
Dicken meanwhile is already setting up the game – determined to get to bed in good time. Kendall has been re-assembling his house (again) after the installation of fitted wardrobes during the day. The conundrum is that Kendall (as ever) tries to squeeze time before games, while Dicken sensibly tries to keep the lid on the evening.
Rob is next to show, apologising that he hadn’t confirmed earlier. Both Kendall and Dicken swear blind that there had been e-mail correspondence. That just leaves Paul B to arrive. He’s running a little late, so Kendall (aided by Dicken) recounts the tale he (Paul) is likely to tell: a trip to the Grand Prix at Silverstone. The phone rings. It’s Paul asking if he should give Kendall a lift. Communication seems to be out of kilter this week.
Paul arrives and is so taken with the Automobile board (all those lovely cars, but what year was each built?) that any other conversation is quickly glossed over. Rules are explained and the game is underway.
Let it be said here and now that for this reviewer Automobile is unquestionably the best Martin Wallace game so far (yes, better than Liberte, Age of Steam, Brass, Tinners Trail, After the Flood, Princes of the Renaissance, Last Train from Wensleydale etc.) and one of the best games in this era of game designing. If you haven’t played it, you should. And for this very reason, this review will NOT ramble on about how we ate kettle chips and humus, drank John Smiths and forgot some rules whilst remembering others. No, this review will pick out some features of the game this evening that help show why the game is special and if you desire an explanation of the rules please see reviews on BGG.
- Paul built two mid-range factories and a parts factory on turn one and continued to churn out cars until the end of the game. In doing so he managed to acquire thirty (!) loss markers, yet still challenged for the lead.
- Rob built three bottom range factories and a parts factory to compliment the two bottom range factories he already had. He then produced at full tilt from both factories, consistently out-competing Kendall.
- Dicken played ultra-conservatively, yet felt compelled to take a $500 loan (Rob was the only other with a loan).
- Kendall never reached full production in any factory without taking losses.
- No-one built a single deluxe factory or car until turn three.
- Random tile draws were consistently average or better until turn four, at which point demand for deluxe and mid-range cars plummeted.
- Use of bonus sales from executive decisions had little or no impact in the game.
- By placing extra distributors, Rob made significant gains early in the game, but in the final turn two distributors making losses cost him the game.
‘Good replay value’ is an under-statement. The game doesn’t work the same two times running; so much so that experienced players feel uncomfortable to the point of squeaky bottoms. Each decision feels, and is significant. Players have to concentrate hard to avoid elementary errors (number crunching), but have to use intuitive skills to gauge how others might play and how the game might thereby evolve. There is a fierce competitive edge; blinking first is not a good idea.
- Final scores Kendall $4620, Rob $4600, Dicken $3960, Paul $3960
Great game!
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Games-night …… Freya’s Folly by Don Bone
Dicken is surprised to see Kendall accompanied by Derek only. Jamie and Roz have some extravagant excuses. Kendall suggests Carol might make a fourth player, but Dicken prefers to see her complete the cleaning of their car – after all his mother-in-law is buying it.
After some Ragnar Brothers house-keeping, tonight’s game hits the table. Kendall has read the rules in advance and so promptly asks Derek and Dicken to sort the multi-coloured components. This proves un-necessary as the set-up requires a good deal of random placing of ‘jewels’ onto spaces in the mines, which will then be grabbed by players’ dwarves. Jewels are returned to the surface and used in various combinations to create jewellery depicted on ‘Settings’ cards. A special piece of jewellery uses amber only; this is the Brisingamen of Freya.
The World Cup is mentioned by Derek and Dicken commiserates that like England, New Zealand have only managed to draw their first game. Derek doesn’t see it that way. He’s still euphoric at equalising in the third minute of extra time.
Kendall starts and sends a dwarf into the mine. One action takes it to the first lantern; a second action takes it to a small cavern where a couple of jewels are housed. These are snaffled up. Kendall looks smug.
Derek starts his two actions by taking an Ability card – the bat. His second action is used to send a dwarf into the mine.
Dicken also takes an Ability card – stamina. His dwarf also heads into the mine, but is able to jump Derek’s, taking it to a second lantern. This jumping of dwarfs is the core movement mechanic and works nicely. Only two dwarves can be jumped (unless the Ability card – stealth, is used), which means small teams have to work their way down the mine together before working their way back up again. Of course other dwarves may be going up and down at the same time, so there’s quite a lot of bumping and barging.
There is a pleasant selection of nibbles and a pot of humus is soon being dipped into periodically.
Meanwhile, Dicken is becoming irritated by Kendall’s inability to flip his dwarf counter at the appropriate time. One side (only) shows jewels and is used once a dwarf has collected from a cavern; important as a dwarf may only make one such collection (unless the Ability card – stamina, is used). The jewels themselves are too numerous to place on the dwarf counter, so these are placed in the dwarf’s barrow (on an array). Besides which an Ability marker may be already on the counter.
Fiddly? Not really. Also, the rules are brief and pleasingly specific. They even have a ‘Frequently asked questions’ section and this is immediately useful when the assembled players ask one of the Frequently asked questions. Perhaps not surprisingly some of these Frequently asked questions are asked frequently.
The Settings cards are becoming tempting. Getting the right combination of jewels can be helped by using an action to visit the Black Market for swaps. Dicken sifts through the available jewels (there aren’t many) like a man panning for diamonds. Derek remembers that he had intended washing his hair; time can be so precious.
Bats have been loosed, strength used and the threat of a thief averted. Abilities ain’t what they used to be. No card of the Brisingamen has been assembled, yet Dicken is well on his way to completing all six pieces of jewellery he needs to end the game. Kendall and Derek urgently rush their jewel-laden dwarfs from the depths of the mine. Suddenly everything starts to happen…..
Kendall has finished his third can of John Smiths and requests more beer. Dicken obliges with a birthday bottle of Speckled Hen. Delicious, but twice the alcohol level of his previous beers!.
Kendall completes a Brisingamen card (Hurrah!). He is rewarded with five Free Action tokens. Up to three of these may be used to extend a player’s turn. If unused they will be worth points at game end. Kendall goes on a spending spree and polishes off another Brisingamen card. Derek and Dicken respond with more Setting card completions and then Dicken knocks out the third Brisingamen (such a long word to keep typing!) card.
It’s evident that Dicken can end the game next turn, but Derek’s emerging dwarfs get the job done by completing the fourth and final Brisi… (bugger it) card.
A quick points calculation reveal a tie between Derek and Kendall. The rules don’t suggest a tie-breaker, so there’s a hand-shake and forced smile. Ironically Dicken was trying to persuade Derek to NOT complete the BC, but had that happened Kendall would have won. Why Kendall sided with Derek remains a mystery.
A few jewels find their way under the table and Derek is after them like a shot. Sometimes you can take role-play a little too far.
A good game, but a little more speed in taking a Settings card (one action) and Completing a setting card (one action) would help. It might also make the 50 minute game a more realistic possibility.
It will get played again but not too often methinks, but maybe with a Ragnar tweak?
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News from the Frozen North: Washington’s War by Mark Herman.
A Brief History of the World (Ragnar Brothers) was released last October and on the whole has been well received by the gaming world. No bones were made about it being a re-working of a classic, and on that basis it has been given a warm welcome. Martin Leathwood, reviewing the Eastbourne 2010 gaming weekend, writes:
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”Not a new game but a great improvement, now taking about thirty minutes per person. An excellent blend of an ‘experience’ game coupled with good fun and the need to make wise choices. The luck of the dice plays a part but less so than in the original game. However, it is still a joy when a single Macedonian unit fights the Huns to a standstill or the Romans don’t turn up at all.”
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In the eyes of the Ragnars, it does everything that they set out to make it do. And so tonight we shall see if Washington’s War can do the same for We the people.
We the people was Avalon Hill’s card-driven simulation of the American War of Independence. It has always been a Ragnar favourite, combining as it does an interesting unbalanced military campaign, a clever game system and some entertaining random events. For several years, Phil and Roger played it as their two-player game of choice, Phil being particularly pleased since Roger – being Roger – developed a penchant for trying to make the British win – something that the system seemed gleefully keen to frustrate. But on to the spawn of We the people - Washington’s War.
Washington’s War uses similar systems to its forefather. The game operates at two levels – the military and the political. A spread of cards offering 1, 2 or 3 operations points. British generals tend to require 3 points to move, the Americans 1 or 2 points. As a result, strong stacks of British regulars alternate sitting doing nothing with plodding around trying to do damage to small, manoeuvrable American armies. The political level uses one of those systems that feels gamey to begin with, but after a while becomes just part of the game. It is basically Go, in that you spread your Political Control markers out to try and cramp up the enemy and, if possible, surround, isolate and thus destroy him. The Go similarities are even more apparent in that you can survive if your markers connect to an empty space – a nice gaming mechanic but something that doesn’t seem to have a lot in common with the realities of 18th century colonial warfare.
Phil takes the Americans, Charlie the British. Early hands favour the British despite the Declaration of Independence being played early on in the proceedings (1776 oddly enough). Very soon there are lots of British troops on the map and precious few Americans. A turn of big British 3-operation point cards is followed by one in which the British are virtually catatonic. George Washington manages to take control of Rhode Island (a tiny state that still counts the same as Virginia or New York at the end of the game), but then gets crushed by General Howe. Phil’s invasion of Canada is successful for the second game running, and it looks like it will be tight. However, the wheels come off as three-quarters of the way through the final turn the British play a combat modifier card, and – to Charlie’s delight – replace it with the Major Campaign event. The lights go off throughout North America. Goodnight Philadelphia.
So how do the two games compare? Physically the board for Washington’s War is light years ahead. It is bigger, the various states are much clearer and it has an excellent chart for keeping track of the alignment of the various states. Combat has been altered significantly – the old card-driven system has been ditched (sadly in some ways because it was hugely entertaining) for a simpler, faster modified-dice system. Getting into a fight is still very luck-based, but it is faster and does give you a better idea of your chances. One common sense change is to allow all events to have an alternative effect – in We the people you could find that half your cards were useless; now, whilst they still might be of limited use, you can at least do something with them. Other changes include tougher winter attrition for the Americans, a British amphibious attack option, a less drastic penalty for lsong George Washington and a more demanding system for bringing the French into the war; individually they don’t make a huge difference, but added together they seem to bring the British onto an even par with the Americans.
Overall judgement? Mark has done a good job. It’s nice to see a good game being improved like this. Some might say it’s the gaming equivalent of a greatest hits album, but that would be very unfair. Unlike a novel or a piece of music, you can go back to a game and improve it as an experience. The knack is to leave the best things in place, to pick up on the weaknesses of the original and to add quality systems that enhance the original features. Now, get down off the horse, give it some oats and put it away in the stable.
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News from the North: Roll through the Ages by Matt Leacock
It is Friday, 8.15pm, and the first night of the Ragnar annual bash in Derbyshire (really north Staffordshire but for a mere quirk of geography). Phil and Roger appear almost seconds after Kendall and Gary; Richard has been in situ a full half hour. A pulsating discussion ensues on the relative merits of fish and chips (Richard), takeaway pizza (Phil and Roger) and homemade sandwiches (Steve and Gary). And so to the first game of the weekend.
Phil has brought a new game along. His wife has continued her dalliance with show business and has just ‘played her game’ on Deal or no Deal (to be screened on May 19th – put in it your diaries now). “How much has she won?” Phil cannot say - apparently Channel 4 employ shady characters whose job it is to listen in on the conversations of ex-contestants. Any mention of the filthy lucre will result in them leaping out of their hiding places and making off with the ‘winnings’. The Ragnars are sceptical about how much Phil’s wife actually has won; this is based on a series of snidey remarks about the current state of Phil’s wardrobe, footwear, car etc On the other hand, he has been allowed to splash out on a new game – Roll through the Ages – so she must have won something.
Kendall in one of his forays North has already played this. He found it interesting without being completely blown away. According to Counter it is considered “addictive”. This might be a bit strong, but it has the honour of being the first game of the weekend. It is a smart-looking game – some nice cribbage-style boards, pegs, seven wooden dice and a chunky scorepad that promises many a game yet to come. Players in turn roll the dice Yahtzee-style – you can roll the dice up to three times – and use their results Civilization-style to develop your kingdom. ‘Workers’ allow you to build more cities (roll extra dice) or to construct monuments (extra Victory Points), ‘food’ allows you to feed your people, ‘coins’ provide you with spending money to buy developments (offering dice bonuses and Victory Points) whilst ‘goods’ give you the capacity to generate even more income. Muddying the waters are ‘disasters’ which provide lots of goods, but also, depending on how many you roll, penalty points.
The Ragnars – being Ragnars and being five – decide that, even though it specifically states that it is a game for two to four players, all five will play it. Phil does have to draw himself a little chart to take the place of a cribbage board, but that should be fine. At this point the designers would probably have leapt out of their hiding places and shouted ‘No! Four players yes, five players never!!” And how right they would have been - the game doesn’t so much ‘roll’ as creak along. Dicken at a very early stage demonstrates a knack for rolling three disasters (this exports three penalty points to each of the other players). Cue massed outrage. Roger is underwhelmed, Richard so-so whilst Kendall is particularly bitter. Phil enjoys it, whilst Dicken loves it. But then he has won at a canter.
To be fair Dicken, Phil and Jason return to it on the Sunday morning and play two further very enjoyable games. Certainly it works much the better for having fewer people. There is a suspicion that consistently rolling the three-disasters could be a game winner, whilst an early house rule increases the number of developments needed to trigger the game end from five to six. Nevertheless, a good buy and one that will no doubt appear regularly at future Ragnar bashes.
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Planet Steam by H. G. Thiemann
It is Thursday night following the day time thaw and the roads now glisten with headlights glare rather than the grey slush that has kept so many of us in our homes during the snow falls and freezing wind of the past week or so. Dicken and Kendall make the relatively brief journey to Peter’s burning with a keen desire to play Planet Steam again before they forget all the rules drummed into them at Derek’s place a couple of weeks ago.
Kendall has driven and speaks eloquently during the journey of the game designing process and the buzz that comes from putting a mechanism into a game that really delivers the goods. We are only halted in our discourse by the opening of the door by Pierre and it’s game on!
Planet Steam is a fantastic looking game – lots of specially designed playing pieces and artwork to die for – production standards through the roof and thus a commensurate price tag. This is not a cheap game and fortunately it delivers like an expensive game should, no disappointments that the game falls short of the ‘look’.
Phil and Paul are waiting and following a brief recap of the rules and an explanation of the advanced rules – we are playing with all the variants tonight, just as the rules state (no house tweaks), we are off.
Paul makes a top bid of 30 credits for the first choice of character card and chooses Lady Steam – she allows you to go first in almost everything. Kendall raises an eyebrow at the amount bid but Paul insists that in previous games this has been the sort of amount considered reasonable and that going first is good, very good. Paul has forgotten that he is playing with 5 tonight and the game only lasts 4 turns – he continues to play with some aplomb however until the end of the turn and then declares that he might as well go home now as he has ‘botched it’, spending too much and also not realising that prices at the end of the first turn plummet.
Dicken claps him supportively on the shoulder and insists that he is not out of it and that a comeback is possible. The others nod and Kendall relates how he had botched not one but three turns in the first game he played – the reassurance intended is blunted somewhat when he admits to coming last – but it is well meant and play continues with more thoughtful bidding from all at the start of the second turn. Dicken and Peter have purchased ‘Deeds of Ownership’ in the first turn and wink conspiratorially as they tuck them away – these babies are worth 50 credits each at the end of the game and only cost 1 ore and 1 quartz each.
Turn 2 sees all the tanks bought up with Dicken missing out (1 credit short of the required amount). He keeps his disappointment to himself as there is quite a poker like element of bluff involved in Planet Steam. You don’t want to give your strategy away as other players actions can easily influence what you can buy and sell. Frustrations are axiomatic in this game as you will often see the price of what you wish to buy or sell move in the wrong direction given your place in the turn order.
The character cards have a nice balance between turn order number and what your special ability allows you to do in the game and the Venturer, who Peter insists on calling the Ventura (must be a big Jim Carey fan) is highly sought after – he allows you to pick a shaft for auctioning off (extra to the shaft everyone gets each turn) and also allows you to pay half the winning bid if you yourself win the auction. Considering that each shaft with your platform on it is worth 25 credits at the end it’s an easy way to make profit and you get to go second in the turn! Bargain!
Some wheeler dealing goes on in turn 2 and Dicken although missing out on a tank gets himself another Deed of Ownership hee hee! And a Compressor (also worth 50 credits at the end).
Turn 3 sees the bidding going very low compared to the previous 2 turns - the boys are learning fast. Some tanks are built and Dicken gets one this time, but it will be his last – 3 in the whole game. Everyone else is trading as much as they can but Phil makes a cardinal error, selling all his energy for top dollar but leaving himself with none to feed his tanks to produce in the last turn. He is downcast but like the old gamer he is he has a plan…. But Peter and Dicken get to buy their 2nd and 3rd Deed of Ownership respectively and the last ones available to boot. Phil missing out due to the turn order.
The bidding is fierce in turn 4, both Dicken and Phil taking the bidding for first choice up to 28 credits in rapid order – the others fall by the wayside aghast at the heights these two old asteroid belters are prepared to ante up. Eventually Dicken decides his profit margin will be cut too thin if he continues and lets Phil have it – this lets Phil choose the IPF Agent (the Banker) who gets one of the resources available (an energy) and also lets him buy another resource for 1 credit (an energy) – see what he did? Now he has energy to power up his tanks!
The last turn sees the price of quartz and ore at maximum so lots of production and selling goes on with Paul making a fortune by selling first and Dicken making a pigs ear out of his decisions and probably losing 20 credits that he could have made. However, Dicken did get the Ventura, sorry Venturer and made 19 credits on that shaft/platform plus his own platform via a Building License acquired in the previous turn, so he’s not unhappy.
When everything is added up Peter reads the scores out and it’s Dicken first by 40 credits from Peter with Kendall, Paul and Phil bringing up the rear. Kendall queries the merit of the 5 player version if Dicken can win with only 3 tanks on the board, but Dicken had a lot of platforms plus the Deeds plus he’s the only player who has invested in a compressor (which by increasing the production of a tank in effect is like having another tank). So, Dicken defends his win as being the result of making the best choices available to him given the constraints of the game and that really is what Planet Steam is all about. More variables than in Puerto Rico but essentially it’s still about making the best decision at each point in the game plus some nice tenseness created by the auction system.
Planet Steam is good if not very good and I am sure will get more plays but it’s not for the faint hearted gamer, occasional gamers may get floored by having to keep making decisions, any of which can severely effect your chances in the game.
No evening is complete at Pierre’s without a spot of supper and a glass of wine and that is exactly how we end the night, chatting about the cricket (England facing a spanking in the last test against the Saffers) and planning our attempt on the face of Indonesia in a couple of weeks time.
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News from the Frozen North: Attila and Last train to Wensleydale (Treefrog)
Christmas has been quiet and, bar a play-test of the updated rules to Backpacks and Blisters, there has been little gaming. But now it’s the New Year and all that is about to change. Of the Ragnars, only Dicken and Spiller have been known to trawl the mysteries of Facebook – but not so Phil’s wife. Apparently she has ‘met up’ with Aidey, an erstwhile acting buddy from her days of yore. Whilst obviously interested to renew acquaintances with Lisa he is even more intrigued by the prospect of getting over to do some gaming. (Risk and Cluedo may not be quite Wallace- and Knizia-country, but the Ragnars all began somewhere). Aidey is keen. Very, very keen. It is the least Phil can do to get Charlie over and to summon Slade the Beast from his lair in Bradford.
Aidey arrives early (”to catch up”). He has had a traumatic journey. Frequent weather checks have taken place all day (a fresh layer of snow arrived overnight); Phil has sent detailed route plans; the wife has been ‘up Deanhouses’ earlier and has rated it as ‘fine’. Aidey eventually arrives quite a number of minutes late quivering -“My heart is racing” (and it won’t be at the prospect of meeting the Beast). For reasons best known to himself he has ignored Phil’s instructions and used his Sat-Nav. This has taken him along the back roads and down the very steep and appropriately named ‘Miry Lane’. This was tricky enough in walking boots earlier in the day – in a car in the pitch black on a road surface resembling the Cresta Run it verges on the suicidal. “I just put the brakes on and hoped”. Not a good start.
However it is soon game on. Aidey, in the manner of a latter day Paul Daniels, produces a bag full of chocolates – three boxes of goodies and a bag of Minstrels. Phil smiles politely and adds them to the nibbles: Ragnars don’t go for sweets – rather effete – Ragnars eat Doritos and Sea salt and Balsamic vinegar crisps. However, just as the Ragnars have never tried to set up as a harem or to follow Huddersfield Town to the final of the Champions League, this is not to say they aren’t averse to something different. Slade and Charlie tear into the chocolates like there is no tomorrow. The evening is already successful.
First up is ‘Attila’. Last played and reviewed in 2001 (see elsewhere on the site) this made an aborted outing at the last Ragnar bash (Phil mistakenly thought it could accommodate six players). Touted as a game of Barbarian colonisation of the old Roman Empire, it bears more resemblance to various supermarket chains competing to buy up prime sites around the Huddersfield ring road. The ‘war’ is very cosmetic, the links to barbarian peoples non-existent; basically you invest in the most promising tribe and try to make sure they continue to do well. It does prove, however, thoroughly entertaining. Phil whips through the refreshingly short rules at breakneck speed; Steve and Charlie nod sagely; Aidey spends much of the game slightly puzzled. Phil trails at the halfway point, but then wins by several lengths from Charlie.
And so to Martin Wallace’s Wensleydale. Much has been made of the garishness of the map – nuff said (although ‘human entrails’ is an interesting addition to the genre). The game is Age of Steam come to the northern Pennines. White ‘rock’ and orange ‘cheese’ are spread around the map (“Shouldn’t it be Red Leicester?” quips Slade – a less than enviable standard of humourous remarks being established). Red and green customers pile into small towns throughout North Yorkshire waiting for the day a railway turns up so that they can satisfy their desire to ‘be a passenger’. Phil manfully works through the rules. Verbal flip-flops, beloved of Ragnars the world over, take place; Phil slogs on; there is a general air of ‘might as well start because we haven’t got a clue what to do’. Phil stresses that important bonus points can be gathered for each set of four items (cheese/rock/green passenger/red passenger). “Yes, yes, got it”. “So you can’t just build in one part of the map.” “Yes, let’s start”.
Phil and Charlie start from Northallerton and Darlington and head west for the riches of Leyburn and Aysgarth; the Beast opts to build from the deep south and builds towards Hawes; Aidey takes it steady and works his way from Ripon into the hills, and eventually south to Skipton. Phil and Charlie then compete to connect to the south by different routes (got to get those red passengers to somewhere); Slade creates an impressive cheese collection business around Harrogate; Aidey does some gentle mopping up, first in the north and then in the south.
Time to determine the winner. Slade proudly displays his vast range of rock and cheese.
“But you’ve got no passengers”. “I thought you had to collect pairs of cubes”. “What???” He is last, and deservedly so. Phil and Charlie remain locked in battle within a point of each other. And to everyone’s surprise (especially his own) Aidey is the winner, and by quite some way. In the three-player game, ambition is everything. Intriguingly this doesn’t seem to be the case in the four-player game. Clearly Wensleydale will have to be revisited, and sooner rather than later.
All in all, an excellent evening’s gaming. Aidey seems to have enjoyed himself. All he now needs to do is drive himself home.
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Games-night 26th November 2009 … Brief History of the World by Ragnar Brothers
Kendall and Dicken travelled all the way to Essen, Germany to meet Rob and Katrina, only to find they live ten minutes down the road in sunny Surbiton. A knock on the door and it’s ‘Welcome!’ to their first RB Games-night. Hopefully, there will be many more to follow.
Kendall has already set-up and, after a brief demonstration of his up-lighter the game is underway. Rob and Kristina shared the same hotel (as the RBs) in Mulheim, so several evenings were spent together in the games room. They learned BHOTW on the demo stand in the Spiel Fair, so rule learning is at a minimum this evening.
Empire cards and Event cards are chosen.
Rob is first to play as there is no Sumerian empire in the mix and he has Egypt. He confidently expands his empire from the capital in Nile Delta, and builds two pyramids courtesy of the Empire feature. He also uses his Event to build a fort in Levant. He collects 4 gold for his capital and monuments, 4 gold for dominance of North Africa and 3 gold for presence in Middle East.
Meanwhile, one large packet of crisps has been binned (sell by date September – see review of Canal Mania - 2007). Another has been opened along with humus.
Rob spent just a few minutes on his turn and Katrina takes even less time on hers. The Indus Valley empire starts with two armies and only the Event (Allies) causes deliberation. Kendall’s Event is Canaanites, a kingdom that springs up in Levant and, in so doing demolishes Rob’s Egyptian fort. The Shang Dynasty is a formality. And finally, Dicken enters the fray with the Aryans. Against all expectation he sends his armies through Caucasus and Anatolia, before attacking the Cannanites. Dice are rolled and the Aryans are successful. Being barbarians, they claim 1 gold for reducing the city (one of the many new rules). The final army is used to gain mastery of the Middle East
Dicken’s points tally is considerable and he takes the best of the three Bonus tokens.
The epoch ends.
Now much of this will sound familiar to those who have played one of the earlier versions of History of the World. But this is A Brief History of the World and there are loads of changes. If you want to know about these then go to the Design Notes on this web-site.
This first epoch may take twenty minutes with first-time players, but an experienced group should breeze through in half that time. A 4-player game takes about two hours to play; earlier versions would be about an hour longer. More speed is matched by better history…. But you’ve probably just read all this. On with the game….
In Brief:
- Epoch 2 sees Kendall rolling desperate dice to create a pathetic Vedic empire, Katrina’s Greeks dominate the Mediterranean, Rob’s Carthaginians overtake the Greeks, Dicken’s Scythians build an even greater barbarian empire. The lead stays with Dicken.
- Epoch 3 and Rob’s inexperience allows Dicken to be first up with Maurya, claiming massive amounts of gold. Katrina takes over China with the Han Dynsaty. Rob makes a very unimpressive fist of it with the Goths, managing to roll snake eyes on two occasions! Kendall is equally useless in India (again) as the Gupta’s barely scratch the Mauryan empire. Dicken leads by 30 gold – and has three top Bonus tokens
Desperate days, call for desperate measures – or at least more crisps. Rob brought extra supplies in the form of Kettle Chips, but Katrina and Dicken are declining the nibbles. Kendall’s children will not go hungry this week.
- Epoch 4 the fight-back commences. Kendall’s Huns over-run China, before more wayward dice rolling at the gates of India (again). Katrina builds a neat and tidy Byzantine empire. Dicken conquers China with the T’ang. Rob ponders the options for the Vikings before settling them in Brazil (!). He also manages to fox the Ragnars by landing an army in Crete (only one army can use the Atlantic navigation) – typical Viking treachery. Dicken leads still, closely followed by Rob.
Rob’s pondering has slightly slowed the game but there is also a dice rolling issue. Several players are of the type that prefers to roll second, and battles where two of those types are involved take considerably longer than normal. Names will not be mentioned … on this occasion. The psychology of rolling dice is interesting and perhaps we will dwell on this longer at another time….
- Epoch 5 and Kendall is first up again. This time the Mongols are doing what they do best! Dicken’s dice rolling deserts him and Kendall’s first attack yields the maximum 8 Invasion points – Dicken hangs his head in despair – what a time to roll a one!. The T’ang are rolled up, Genghis marches into India. Turning to the West the Mongol armies crash through to Egypt (all done in four attacks and about five minutes – marvellous!). Dicken’s Portuguese add a few precious lands in different areas of the World. Katrina is more specific; the Spanish wrest control of the America’s. Rob struggles in India (again) this time with the Mughals. Kendall now leads.
- Epoch 6. Rob plays USA, Dicken next with France, Katrina has Britain, Kendall finishes with Germany.
All very close Kendall leads, then Katrina, then Rob, then Dicken. Bonus tokens and the final result is ….
1st – Rob, 2nd – Kendall, 3rd – Dicken, 4th – Katrina. The bonus tokens have done the business for Rob!
Ah, but for the failure of Germany to land in India (twice!).
Ah, but for the Vikings in Crete!!
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