Risk Legacy - Session Report - Game 3 (no spoilers)

Date: Sunday April 29, 2012
Location: Christine’s house

Turn Order and Faction:

1. Mark - Imperial Balkania
2. Trent - Khan Industries
3. Nathan - The Saharan Republic
4. Ben - Die Mechaniker
5. Jeremy - Enclave of the Bear

Due to the speedy Game 2 (about 45 minutes), the commanders immediately regrouped to play again. This time, there was no high die roll for Jeremy. In fact, he went last after Mark won the roll off. 

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Initial Placement

The faction selection went almost the same as last time, but the outcome of the game was anything but. Mark picked first and opted for Imperial Balkania, having seen Ben and Jeremy use it to great effect in their victories in the first two games. He also chose to further emulate the other two, and placed his HQ in Western Australia.

Trent reacquainted himself with Khan Industries and decided he’d give Africa a try. The grey army gathered in East Africa.

Nathan chose the third most popular Saharan Republic and founded a base in Alberta.

Ben then made a key move that basically scuppered Mark’s plans to use the expand-to-four-or-more-territories tactic, by placing the fortified HQ of Die Mechaniker in Southeast Asia. This would make it very difficult for Mark to move out of Halitosia; however that turned out to be the least of Mark’s problems.

Finally with the vast open expanse of Europe and Asia beckoning, Jeremy chose to place the Enclave of the Bear HQ in Great Britain.

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Round 1

Mark had the first opportunity to expand the territories of the purple army, but with Ben threatening him from Southeast Asia, he decided to only claim New Guinea and Indonesia. Claiming Eastern Australia would have been beneficial, but with the Major City of Bento located there, Mark did not want to lose the two troops just yet.

 The Stare Down

The next four turns saw all four players take control of a continent. Trent claimed all of Africa, then Nathan claimed all of North America, spreading himself thin, but only threatened by Jeremy in Great Britain.

Ben then made his move. He brought the full might of the red army’s 10 attacking units against the 9 purple defenders in Indonesia...and won. Easily. Ben completed dominated the battle, allowing him to take the rest of Halitosia including Eastern Australia. For the second straight game, Mark’s forces had been wiped out by Ben.

Red Wins Halitosia!

Having seen everyone else grab a continent, Jeremy, who was already one star down on everyone except Ben thought he’d get in on the action, and he claimed all of Europe. This was a strategically stupid move. He could easily have kept his main army together and knocked off the lone sand person in Greenland to stop Nathan’s 5-point continental bonus, but instead he chose to spread the green army all over Europe and make a very easy and inviting target for Khan Industries and The Saharan Republic.

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Round 2

It should come as no surprise, then, that that is exactly what happened. Boosted by their continental bonuses, Trent and Nathan both started heading in to Europe, with the Enclave’s HQ in Great Britain as the grand prize. Jeremy could do nothing but look on and clump together the few remaining troops he had.

Meanwhile, Mark had come back on to the board in Irkutsk and decided to lay low and not spread out, while Ben also wanted a piece of the tasty Europe pie, and came up through Afghanistan into Russia.

Trent was the first commander to lay claim to another faction’s HQ when he conquered Great Britain. Nathan immediately decided that that just wasn’t on, placed all his new troops in Iceland, and attacked southward. The die rolls were not good for the aggressor however, and after losing half of his army he pushed east into Scandinavia instead where a single Bear was ruthlessly butchered.

On his next turn, Jeremy tried to at least gain a card and take back Russia, but his demoralised troops were no match for the disciplined Die Mechaniker unit who obviously wanted the Smirnoff all to himself.

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Round 3

Round 3 began with Imperial Balkania eyeing off a return to their old HQ. Mark attacked into China and then marched towards the border with Southeast Asia. He paused for a moment while considering the strength of the fortified Die Mechaniker HQ, but decided to press on anyway.

It didn’t work out too well for Mark. The purple army was repelled and would have to wait for a future turn to try and reclaim Halitosia.

Trent took advantage of the extra troop for the newly acquired HQ in Great Britain, but it would only be used as defence for now as he mobilised the Khan Industries army in Egypt and attacked the Middle East. Trent’s plan was to succeed where Mark had just failed by taking Ben’s HQ and winning the game.

Unfortunately, his Egyptians proved to be piss poor fighters and went nowhere. It was then pointed out to Trent that he could also use the troops he had stationed at his HQ in East Africa to attack the Middle East. With renewed hope he gave it another try, and finally won the battle. His tired and depleted forces could do more for now, and Trent’s turn was over.

Now it was Nathan’s turn to go for the win. The ladies of The Saharan Republic first conquered Great Britain to wrest ownership of the Enclave’s HQ from Khan Industries, and then the quietly amassed Alaskan troops crossed the Bering Strait and started marching towards Southeast Asia.

For the third straight turn, Ben found himself on the defensive protecting his HQ. This time, the die rolls did not favour him, and Nathan made a winning roll to claim his third HQ and victory!

...Not...So...Fast...

Just as Nathan’s victory cry was in full force, a missile fired by the Enclave of the Bear landed amidst his troops. Ben’s defensive roll turned into a 6 and his final unit had a reprieve.

Nathan still had a troops left, but the die rolls went against him, and the red HQ remained in the hands of Die Mechaniker. With no attackers left, and silently cursing Jeremy for ruining his moment of victory, Nathan had to call it quits.

So we played on. Ben reinforced his HQ, then Jeremy succeeded in taking Russia and finally receiving his first card of the game.

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Round 4

The fourth round then commenced with Mark adding troops to Siberia and taking Ural off Ben.

Having lost Great Britain last round, Trent was down to two Red Stars. He decided to take the heretofore unclaimed territories of Brazil, Argentina, and Peru and then knocked off Nathan’s troop in Venezuela to add a second continent to Khan Industries’ holdings.

Nathan then had another crack at winning the game. He placed all his recruits in Great Britain and set off on the war path again. This time, his eyes were set on Trent’s HQ in East Africa. The Saharans wasted no time in slicing through the Khanians in Western Europe and the ammo-deprived North Africa. All eyes then focussed on the battle for East Africa. 

There were no missiles left to influence the battle this time and the Saharan Republic proudly marched in to claim their third HQ, and Nathan won for realz.

Game 3 Ends

Victory! 

Nathan added his name to the board as the winner of Game 3 and then added the world’s second Major City when he founded New Nate City in Eastern United States. 

The hangers on all founded Minor Cities. Jeremy showed what he thought of his own performance in Game 3 by building the city of Smeg Head in Russia; Trent’s contribution was Fried Rat in Central Africa; Ben added Vindaloo in India; and Mark placed the city of Gulag in Siberia.

That brought the total of Minor Cities to eight. The sealed pack that is opened when the ninth Minor City is founded is almost certain to be opened at the end of the next game. We can’t wait to see what is inside.

Risk Legacy - Session Report - Game 2 (no spoilers)

Date: Sunday April 29, 2012
Location: Christine’s house

Turn Order and Faction:

1. Jeremy - Imperial Balkania
2. Mark - Khan Industries
3. Trent - The Saharan Republic
4. Nathan - Enclave of the Bear
5. Ben - Die Mechaniker

Initial Placement

Jeremy started first for the second game in a row, and having seen Ben pull off the win with Imperial Balkania last time, chose that faction. He deliberately placed his HQ in Western Australia in order to (a) claim a continent as easily as possible, and (b) ensure Ben could not place his HQ in his Major City of Bento in Eastern Australia.

Mark took Khan Industries with its one unit bonus per controlled territory with an HQ, and claimed Eastern United States.

Trent was third and chose The Saharan Republic, starting them off in Brazil.

Nathan, having played as Die Mechaniker in Game 1 decided upon a change and chose Enclave of the Bear as his faction. That was enough change for the time being though, as the familiarity of northern Asia called to Nathan, and he settled in Yakutsk.

That left Ben with Die Mechaniker, and he chose the haven of Great Britain from which to launch his empire.

 Initial Placement

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Round 1

The war then began with Jeremy taking Australia (losing only two troops to the Bento resistance) and leaving the bulk of his army in Southeast Asia, allowing him to take his first card.

Not wishing to lose any troops of his own, Mark left the minor city of B.F.I. in Eastern United States alone and settled in the territories around it.

Trent also started cautiously as the desert people took control of Peru and Argentina. Perhaps the ammo shortage scar in Venezuela turned him off from taking the continent too early.

Nathan then made the boldest move of the first round. With his eyes on the prize of the 3-coin Siberia card on the sideboard, he mobilised the Enclave army and marched them from Yakutsk though Alaska and Alberta and launched an attack on Mark’s troops in Ontario. The attack was successful, and Nathan maneuvered  back to Alberta while basking in the glow of a plan well executed... Except for one small, teensy weensy flaw. He’d forgotten to claim Siberia. With no spare troops left in Yakutsk to cross the border, the Siberia card remained on the sideboard taunting him.

Ben then took the final turn of round one. The red army of Die Mechaniker claimed Southern Europe and Iceland, then moved on in to North America via Greenland. But Ben wasn’t done yet; he smelled blood. With Nathan’s Enclave having battled Mark’s Khan Industries, Ben also wanted a piece of the action, He became Ontario’s third owner for the round and then retreated to Greenland.

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Round 2

That was just the start of the North American conflict. After Jeremy shot north through Asia to snaffle the Siberia card, Mark reinforced his North American holdings and retook war-torn Ontario for the resource card.

Trent then tried to get in on the North American action as well, but just like in Game 1, the Saharan Republic had trouble overrunning the bunker in Central America. Trent did finally claim that territory from Mark’s Khan Industries, but not without taking significant casualties.

Nathan was up next, and decided to conquer...wait for it...Ontario! Not content with sitting there, the Enclave of the Bear upped the anti again and attacked the Khan Industries HQ in Eastern United States. The attack was successful giving Nathan his second HQ and therefore third star of the game. 

The weakened Khan Industries were left with just three troops in Quebec, and keen to open the first secret envelope for eliminating a player, Ben thought he could do so by defeating Mark’s Quebecers. He did so, and took Mark’s only resource card, but unfortunately the rules state that a player is only eliminated if they have no legal starting territory to place their troops in at the start of their next turn. As there were still empty territories on the board, Mark lived to fight another day, and the envelope remained sealed, much to everyone's disappointment.

When his next turn began, Mark contemplated where his four troops would start. Despite Africa remaining relatively untouched, Mark couldn’t abandon his claim to North America, so Khan Industries started out anew in the previously unclaimed Northwest Territory and took a little revenge on the Enclave by claiming Alaska.

The blood continued to be spilled in North America as Trent attempted to take Eastern United States (and the former Khan HQ) from Nathan, but his attack was repelled.

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Mid Game

While all this action was taking place in North America, Jeremy continued to spread across Asia and Africa unchecked, and claimed his fourth resource card of the game without having initiated a single attack.

You probably won't believe this, but Ontario then changed hands for the umpteenth time in the game, this time being reclaimed by its original occupants controlled by Mark. Mark refrained from trying to retake his HQ however.

This was a wise decision as The Saharan Republic also had their eyes on the prize, and they took over control of Eastern United States from Enclave of the Bear. This put Trent into the lead with three red stars.

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End Game

Despite Nathan claiming a few northern Asian territories from Jeremy, and Ben settling the whole of Europe, nothing was going to stop Jeremy. The Purple Tide’s game plan was executed flawlessly, and the first turn of the fifth round brought Game 2 to a close.

End of Round 4

Jeremy traded in his four resource cards for a star, and then placed his seven starting troops in Japan. From there he strolled through Kamchatka into Yakutsk and claimed his fourth Red Star by conquering the three troops defending the Enclave of the Bear HQ.

Victory! 

For his victor’s reward, Jeremy decided to name the former Australian continent. The continent would henceforth be known as Halitosia. The Minor Cities of Brass Monkey (Alaska) and Potville (Eastern Europe) were also founded, the Brazil card gained a third coin, and the Siberia card gained its fourth coin.

Risk Legacy - Session Report - Game 1 (no spoilers)

Well here I am back up the vacuum thingy after a lengthy hiatus with a series of session reports for Risk Legacy. Due to the nature of the game, there will be spoilers, but not for the first few games.

Date: Friday April 20, 2012
Location: Trent’s house

Turn Order and Faction:

1. Jeremy - The Saharan Republic
2. Trent - Khan Industries
3. Ben - Imperial Balkania
4. Mark - Enclave of the Bear
5. Nathan - Die Mechaniker

The game sat sealed on the table at Trent’s house, with the players appreciating the box and anticipating the goodness that lay within. Then the game was opened and the minimalist board was revealed, ready to be adorned with stickers and scribbles, and to play host to war.

The game was set up, the extra money allocated to twelve random territories, and each Faction received a random starting power.

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Initial Placement

The Commanders were now ready to begin. The dice were rolled, and a 6 from Jeremy gave him the honour of being the first to choose a race and a starting location. He chose the Fremen Saharan Republic who had the ability to take their manoeuvre action at any time during their turn. The eight starting units were placed with their HQ in Argentina,  a strategic choice that would hopefully allow easy capture of South America and give the versatility of expanding into North America or Africa. Jeremy would find out that things were not going to pan out quite as he had hoped.

Trent sat to Jeremy’s left and was the next to choose. He took control of the blue/grey armies of Khan Industries and ambitiously set up his base in Great Britain. Khan Industries’ power would allow Trent to place on additional troop in each territory he controlled with an HQ. 

With the easily defended south eastern continent still up for grabs, Ben could not resist placing his Imperial Balkania in Eastern Australia. With the special ability of collecting a card for expanding to four or more territories, Ben sought to take an early lead in the quest to earn red stars.

Ben was followed by Mark who, whether because they were in his favourite colour of green, or because he just had a Dothraki fetish, chose the Enclave of the Bear. Mark placed his HQ in Alaska with an obvious eye to settling North America, but also allowing easy access to Asia. Mark was also hoping to benefit from the Enclave’s power that allowed instant conquest of a territory if he rolled a natural three of a kind and defeated at least one enemy troop. Unfortunately, with such low odds of rolling three of a kind (approximately 1 in 62) Mark was to be the only player who did not get to use his faction’s power during the game. 

Nathan was the last in line, and faced with a choice of Die Mechaniker or Die Mechaniker, he wisely chose Die Mechaniker. With only the continents of Africa and Asia without an HQ, Nathan chose to place his troops in Siberia. While of no real benefit through the early to mid game, the red team’s power of a fortified HQ (giving +1 to both defensive dice) would prove valuable in the late game.

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Round 1

The first turns panned out pretty much as expected. Jeremy took all of South America as well as North Africa to allow for future expansion in to Africa, his faction’s natural home. Trent split his forces between Northern, Southern, and Western Europe, already worried about the potential threat of the sand people.

Ben claimed the Australian continent and placed the bulk of his army in Southeast Asia, allowing him to claim the game’s first Resource card for expanding to four territories. Mark then pushed east and west from Alaska taking Northwest Territory, Alberta and Kamchatka. Finally Nathan split his troops between Yakutsk, Irkutsk, and Ural.

End of Round 1 

(And I'll just add my apologies now for the low quality of some of the pics in this and future session reports)

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Round 2

The Saharan Republic aren’t a greedy bunch, and were content to move into Central America while reinforcing the deserts of North Africa. Unfortunately, the paranoid and greedy Khan Industries weren’t too happy with their southern opponents sitting just across the Mediterranean, and initiated the first aggression of the game.

Not only that, but Trent pulled out the first scar of the game: an ammunition shortage which he placed in North Africa. With his high die roll reduced by one, Jeremy’s unfortunate Saharans were decimated, leaving him with no eastern defence. Trent took full advantage of this and moved in to Brazil to deny Jeremy the continental bonus. 

The Saharan Republic’s HQ in Argentina was ripe for the taking with only one unit defending it, but Trent did not wish to risk further depletion of his forces, and left his units in Brazil.

Khan Industries take Brazil. The Saharan Republic plots revenge.

Quietly content to see battles taking place elsewhere, Imperial Balkania spread themselves across southern Asia, earning Ben another Resource card. 

Meanwhile an agreement was forming between the Enclave of the Bear and Die Mechaniker. Mark withdrew all bar one of his troops from Kamchatka, and a non-aggression pact was made between Kamchatka and Alaska. The two new friends thus continued expanding into their own continents.

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Round 3

The Saharans then had their revenge and retook Brazil. It was not a pretty battle, and both sides paid dearly for this war. Khan Industries licked its wounds and decided that consolidating its hold on Europe may well be the better option.

This continued to be good news for Ben’s faction as he continued to spread into unclaimed territories in Africa and gain another card without having to engage in battle.

Eyeing the continental bonus for North America, Mark’s Bears pushed southward, and decided to take Central America from Jeremy’s beleaguered Saharans. Despite placing a bunker in Central America, the Saharans defences were once again overwhelmed. Jeremy not only lost control of Central America but also suffered the indignity of another ammunition shortage scar played against him in Venezuela, losing his continental bonus once more.

Left mostly alone in northern Asia, Die Mechaniker quietly continued to amass troops. Confined to just a few territories, Nathan wasn’t seen as much of a threat by the other players - a fact he was using to his advantage.

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Mid Game

The mid game settled into a semi routine. Mark claimed North America; Trent claimed Europe and also became the first player to trade in four cards for a red star; Jeremy kept losing the bulk of his troops to either Mark or Trent;  Ben continued to reap the advantage of troop bonuses from holding so many territories as no other player wished to make themselves vulnerable by taking out Ben’s thinly spread troops; Nathan continued to trade Mongolia with Ben, build up his forces, and cajole the other players (rather successfully) into waging war upon each other.

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End Game

Then the end game was upon the world.

The first major push to attempt to win the game was Trent’s. Except he didn’t realise it. He decided that he wanted to deprive Mark of the North American bonus, and pushed into Greenland. With three red stars in his possession (two star tokens plus his HQ in Great Britain), Trent only needed to capture one more HQ. All he had to do to win the game was take his ten or so troops in North Africa and defeat Jeremy’s two units in Brazil and one unit in Argentina. 

But he didn’t. Being too worried about defending Europe and not seeing the game ending move right in front of him, Trent ended his turn.

This proved to be a great relief to all the other players, and to Nathan in particular. There was a good chance he was about to take the win on his next turn. He was planning to trade four cards in for a red star and then break his treaty with Mark by taking the bulk of the Die Mechaniker army across to Alaska to capture the Enclave of the Bear’s HQ.

However this also failed to pan out when Nathan’s plan was unwittingly thwarted when he was attacked by Ben.

Trent may still have had a chance to win on his next turn, but the Saharan Republic were not going to be defeated so easily. Jeremy traded in seven coins on his next turn to claim 17 bonus troops to go with the 3 regular reinforcements and the 2 bonus troops for holding South America. Most of those 22 troops went into Brazil, and with blood on their minds, the Saharans engaged in a bloody war for North Africa, ending Khan Industries’ immediate chance of victory.

From then on almost every turn saw one faction or anther have a tilt at victory. Mark’s Bears pushed into Europe through Iceland and then captured Trent’s HQ in Great Britain. Mark’s influence could go no further however, as he was unable to break the Saharan's hold on Venezuela.  

Other than Trent, Ben was the only other player to trade in cards for a red star, so he too was seeking just one more HQ to conquer. The path of least resistance was through Africa to South America, but he failed in his bid to conquer Jeremy in North Africa.

Trent recaptured Great Britain and looked to the red menace in the east. The battle for Siberia became perhaps the most one sided large battle of the game. Die Mechaniker’s faction bonus kicked in big time. Not only adding one to both defensive dice, but having the added bonus of a bunker in Siberia, Nathan’s troops cleaned up the attackers with ease.

The game could not last forever though, and Ben finally managed to put together enough troops to take North Africa from Jeremy before pushing through the token resistance in Brazil and Argentina and capture the Saharan Republic’s HQ, thereby earning his fourth star and victory.

Victory!

It was most definitely a hard fought game that had plenty of chances for victory. It was Ben, though, who became the first to sign his name on the board. For his prize he chose to found the Major City of Bento in Eastern Australia. 

As all other players held on, each chose a lesser prize as well. Jeremy and Mark chose to add Minor Cities to the board (Jezeru in Peru, and (B.F.I (don’t ask) in Western United States), while Trent and Nathan chose to add a third resource sticker to two of the Territory cards (Great Britain and Siberia respectively).

All players throughly enjoyed the game and no doubt learned a thing or two about the mechanics of Risk Legacy. Expect a tougher battle for the world in Game 2.

2011 Games Record

Update at 26/12/11: Yeah, so this didn't happen. Blogging lapsed somewhat completely in 2011. I have no idea whether things will improve blog-wise in 2012. Maybe the new addition to the family, The Hatchling, will inspire me.

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As per usual for these Games Record thingamies, I'll update this list during 2011 as games get played. But that's not all. For no extra cost, I'm going to provide monthly breakdowns as well. Talk about bonus content. All free, no freemium!

The Year So Far (at 17 April 2011):

Total different games played: ??

Total number of plays: 53

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January Summary:

Total different games played: 11

Total number of plays: 18

February Summary:

Total different games played: 7

Total number of plays: 13

March Summary:

Total different games played: 7

Total number of plays: 12

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Games In Detail

1 January 2011 - The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game (Play #1)

Jessica (aged 3) def The Giggling One and Jeremy

1 January 2011 - Man Bites Dog (Play #1)

Sandi (605) def The Giggling One (410), Jeremy (380), and Danny (340)

1 January 2011 - Man Bites Dog (Play #2)

Jeremy (550) def Sandi (490), Danny (460), and The Giggling One (445)

1 January 2011 - Dixit (Play #1)

The Giggling One (43) def Sandi (40), Wynne (38), Jeremy (31), and Danny (23)

2&8 January 2011 - A Game of Thrones LCG (Play #1)

The Giggling One (15) def Jeremy (2)

4 January 2011 - Settlers of Catan (Play #1)

Jeremy (10) def Brian (9), The Giggling One (7), Paul (7), Darren (6), and Narelle (6)

7 January 2011 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #1)

Christine (11) def Jeremy (8), Steve (4), Maka (4), Bernd (4), The Giggling One (2), and Gypsy Anna (0)

7 January 2011 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #2)

Christine (12) def Steve (9), Jeremy (8), The Giggling One (7), Bernd (7), Gypsy Anna (2), and Maka (0)

7 January 2011 - Are You the Traitor? (Play #3)

Gypsy Anna (10) def Christine (9), The Giggling One (8), Maka (6), Jeremy (5), Steve (5), and Bernd (3)

7 January 2011 - Dice Town (Play #1)

Splat (35½) def Jeremy (25½), Christine (23½), The Giggling One (20½), and Steve (10½)

7 January 2011 - Mississippi Queen (Play #1)

Jeremy (1st) def Christine (2nd), Splat (3rd), Steve (4th), The Giggling One (5th), Bernd (6th), and Kam (7th)

7 January 2011 - Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition (Play #1)

Steve (Seer), The Giggling One (Villager), Bernd (Villager), and Christine (Villager) def Kam (Werewolf/Sorcerer) - with Jeremy as the Moderator

7 January 2011 - Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition (Play #2)

The Giggling One (Seer), Steve (Villager), Kam (Villager), and Christine (Villager) def Bernd (Werewolf/Sorcerer) - with Jeremy as the Moderator

22 January 2011 - Dominion: Prosperity (Play #1)

The Giggling One (44) def Sam (42), Jeremy (34), Martin (17), and Chris (17) - "Beginners" set

22 January 2011 - Dominion (mix) (Play #1)

Chris (15) def The Giggling One (14), Jeremy (7), Martin (6), and Sam (4) - 9 random Prosperity cards (Quarry, Talisman, Mountebank, City, Contraband, Vault, Hoard, Goons, Peddler) + Moat

22 January 2011 - Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition (Play #3)

Bryarne (Werewolf) and Steve (Sorcerer) def Ewan (Seer), Sam (Lycan), Chris (Hunter), Michael (Villager), Christine (Villager), The Giggling One (Villager), Bernd (Villager), and Martin (Villager) - with Jeremy as the Moderator

22 January 2011 - Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition (Play #4)

)Sam (Seer), Ewan (Lycan), Christine (Hunter), Bryarne (Villager), Steve (Villager), The Giggling One (Villager), Bernd (Villager), and Martin (Villager) def Chris (Werewolf) and Michael (Sorcerer) - with Jeremy as the Moderator

22 January 2011 - Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition (Play #5)

Bernd (Tanner) def Ewan (Werewolf), Sam (Sorcerer), Martin (Seer), The Giggling One (Hunter), Steve (Idiot), Bryarne (Villager), Chris (Villager), Michael (Villager), and Christine (Villager) - with Jeremy as the Moderator

4 February 2011 - Martian Fluxx (Play #1)

Jeremy def The Giggling One

4 February 2011 - Martian Fluxx (Play #2)

Steve def The Giggling One and Jeremy

4 February 2011 - Martian Fluxx (Play #3)

Jeremy def The Giggling One, Steve, and Haydn

4 February 2011 - Martian Fluxx (Play #4)

The Giggling One def Jeremy, Steve, Haydn, and Dan

4 February 2011 - Martian Fluxx (Play #5)

Jeremy def The Giggling One, Steve, Haydn, Dan, and Mark

More to come...

 

Review: Are You the Traitor?

It’s been some time (read: ages) since I wrote a review, so it’s time to remedy that with a review of Looney Labs’ Are You the Traitor?


I’m a big fan of Werewolf, and I particularly enjoy moderating games. Of course, being a moderator means not participating in the game as a “player”, so it’s good to be one of the villagers every now and then.

One of the other “issues” with Werewolf is that once you’re night time fodder for the werewolves, or a victim of the noose during a day phase, your participation in the game is over and you have to watch the rest of the game play out from the sidelines (although this can have its own voyeuristic fun).

If you are one of those people who doesn’t like that aspect of Werewolf, then Are You the Traitor? could be the game for you. It features similar secret roles and a good team and an evil team, but everyone plays at all times, and everyone can change roles multiple times throughout the game. It does, however, max out at 10 players, but can be played with as few as 4.

OK, that’s enough of the lycanthropic comparisons for now. Here’s what you get in a game of Are You The Traitor?: 56 cards.

Well, 56 cards and a rule sheet.

The cards themselves come in three types: Character, Wizard Alignment, and Treasure cards.


At the start of each round, the character cards are shuffled and each player receives one card face-down. You can end up as one of four characters: The Key Holder, a Guard, a Wizard, or the eponymous Traitor (insert evil organ music here).

The number of each type of character is determined by the number of players. For example with four players, there will be one of each character, but with 10 players, the split is: 1 Key Holder (there is only ever 1 Key Holder), 2 Traitors (double the trouble), 3 Wizards (triple the wizardry¹), and 4 Guards (quadruple the, er, guardiness).

The Key Holder and Guards are on the side of goodness while the Traitor is, as one would suspect, captain of the evil team (note: there are no actual captains, but given the title of the game, anyone playing a Traitor has a right to a certain degree of cockiness).

That leaves the Wizards. These guys can be good or evil. That’s where the Wizard Alignment cards come in.


Anyone who is a Wizard must reveal his or her Character card. They are then given an Alignment card which must be kept secret. In any game with two Wizards, one will be good and one will be evil. Things get more interesting in a 9 or 10 player game when there are three Wizards. At least one is Good and one is Evil, but no one knows what the actual Good/Evil split is.

Now the Key Holder, while quite an important role, doesn’t get to remain as secret as he or she may wish. If there at least 6 players, then everyone except the Wizards gets to know who the Key Holder is. So it’s ye-olde-close-yon-eyes-thou-casters-of-magic-while-yonder-Key-Holder-makes-it-known-the-Evil-Magic-Key-is-in-his-or-her-possession time.

The last reveal belongs to the Traitors. If there are two Traitors (as there are in 8-10 player games) then everyone must close their eyes and allow time for the Traitors to open their eyes and identify each other.

After that it’s a free-for-all with unstructured conversation between all players. Everyone tries to figure out who everyone else is with suspicions flying left, right and centre. Who looks shifty? Which of the Wizards is good and which is evil? Who are the dastardly Traitors?

This can go on for some time or be over very quickly. The round ends when one player points to another player and cries “Stop!”

Why would they do this? Well, the thing is each player has a job to do. Everyone except the Traitor(s) has a target they are trying to identify:

The Evil Wizard, who wants the Evil Magic Key for his or her cunning and evil plans, is trying to find the Key Holder.

The Key Holder wants the Evil Magic Key to be destroyed and so wants to give the Key to the Good Wizard.

The Good Wizard and the Guards, meanwhile, are on the hunt for a Traitor.

The Traitor doesn’t have a target player so his or her job is to lie low and try to help the Evil Wizard.

If any player thinks they have identified their target, that’s when the finger pointing and “Stop!” calling come in. The round ends immediately and everyone reveals their cards. If the player who called “Stop!” has correctly identified his or her target, then everyone on that team (good or evil) wins the round and receives a Treasure card. If the person is wrong, then the members of the other team each get a Treasure card.


The Treasures are valued from 0 to 5 points, and the idea is to collect at least 10 points worth of the shiny stuff in order to win the game. This can be aided using the 1 Point Magic Rings which you can trade in in order to steal a random Treasure card from one opponent. You’d better hope that person doesn’t have a worthless Gilded Statue, as you have to take that card if the person has one.

Once the loot has been divided, all the Character and Wizard Alignment cards are shuffled and re-dealt, and the next round begins. You may very well find yourself on the opposite side of the Good/Evil divide and gunning for the Key Holder instead of trying to protect him or her.

This keeps going, round by round, until one person reaches the 10 point threshold. At that point, everyone else curses their misfortune (read: inability to bluff well) and quite possibly voices the desire to play again.

And that’s the game. From a fairly simple premise, the game can get quite clever with players learning how to play in their best interests. If you are the Good Wizard, you not only want to find a Traitor, which can be difficult, but you can also appeal to the Key Holder to give the Key to you.

Similarly if you are the Evil Wizard, you probably want people to think you are the Good Wizard. If you can convince the Key Holder to point to you, then you win. Of course, you don’t necessarily want everyone to think you’re good, as you also win if a Traitor, who knows the identity of the Key Holder, can surreptitiously point out the Key Holder to you.

And that’s just the start of the strategies. Usually at last once in games we play, the Traitor just comes right out and shouts “Key Holder!” while pointing at that player. It then becomes a race between the Evil Wizard on one side (who now knows who the Key Holder is) and the Good Wizard and Guards on the other (who have just had the Traitor revealed to them) to point at their respective targets. It usually comes down to whoever is most on the ball. And in the race to point to someone, players can often point to the wrong player!

There is even more room for cunningness with the maximum number of players. With fewer players, and only two Wizards, it is in the Evil Wizard’s best interest to claim that he or she is the Good Wizard. Christine tried the truth once when she was the Evil Wizard. No one targets the Evil Wizard, so Christine’s plan was to announce herself as the Evil Wizard so the Traitor would then point out the Key Holder to her. Unfortunately it backfired when the Key Holder (me) immediately pointed to the other Wizard and shouted “Stop!”

With three Wizards in play however, there is an incentive for an Evil Wizard to claim he or she is evil. As the Key Holder can’t be sure if one or both of the remaining Wizards is good, the Traitors have time to secretly signal the Evil Wizard. Then again, there’s nothing to stop a Guard pretending to be a Traitor and signal secretly to the Evil Wizard and point him or her to the wrong target...

And so it goes. On most occasions I’ve played this we played more than one game. It’s quick, easy to learn, and a lot of fun. There’s just something about secret role games that tickles people’s fancy. It’s the thrill of having your own little secret and being able to keep that secret or, even better, convince the other team you’re on their side.

On the down side, whether you win or lose a round is often outside your control, and whether you win or lose the game can come down to the luck of the Treasure card draw. But hey, if you get screwed by the Treasure cards, then that’s just an incentive to play again.

If you’ve never played one of these secret role party games, or if you can’t muster the numbers of players needed for a decent game of Werewolf, or you just want to try something new that’s not overly taxing on the grey matter, then give Are You the Traitor? a try.


1. Back in my youth I used to play a Commodore 64 game called Wizardry. Not to be confused with the RPG of the same name, this one was an isometric “graphical adventure” game in which you walked round a dungeon trying to find hidden objects and shoot spells at monsters and walls. I seem to recall it was incredibly fickle. If you didn’t line up a spell precisely (usually by lining your character up on just the right crack on the floor) it wouldn’t hit its target and you pretty much had to start the game all over again (being the C64 you couldn't save your progress). Of course with the incredibly obscure puzzles, knowing exactly what to cast and where was nigh on impossible without the walkthrough that came with the game. Except the walkthrough was only for Level 1. I think I eventually trial-and-errored my way through Level 2 but didn’t get much further. I much preferred the isometric adventuring of Head Over Heels, my all time favourite Commodore 64 game.

Amuse-bouche: Return from the Great Beyond

So yeah, this Great Beyond thing. So great and beyondy that it's so easy to get lost in a non-blog world of beyondness.

Which is my way of saying I've been a slack bastard and haven't blogged in ages.

I have kept my game stats up to date, and I do have a half written draft for my World Without End review sitting here, and I have been playing lots of games. But yeah, I need to write more.

With that said, today's amuse-bouche concerns the games I've purchased in the last couple of months, and my brief thoughts on them so far.

Firstly we have Red Dead Redemption. Not a board game. I've been playing the hell out of it on my PS3 and loving it. I've played through the story mode once and I'm now playing through again in a bid to get 100% completion. Highly, highly recommended. Riding horses around the Wild West and shooting innocent people and bunnies has never been so much fun.

There's only one little teensy weensy problem with my quest to get 100% completion on Red Dead Redemption. And that is a little timesink game known as Starcraft II. I loved the original, and I'm really loving this one too. I'm 6 or so missions into the single player campaign and can also highly recommend this one, especially for fans of the original.

Starcraft II is pretty much more of the same as the original except with more polish and a lot of new units. And the Battle.net interface is fantastic. There are extra challenges to teach you more skills than the basic tutorial does, and I've also become somewhat of an achievement whore. There's just something about collecting achievements and getting those extra points that's so damn addictive.

The only negative thing I have to say about Starcraft II is the dialogue. The scripting is pretty average, and the voice acting is quite universally awful. Don't let that put you off, though, because overall it's a very polished and entertaining package, even if it is only one third of the single player game (with two more games due out in coming months to complete the campaign).

So, other than those two non-board games, on a trip to Brisbane last week The Giggling One and I picked up Dixit (her choice) and Fresco (my choice).

We played Dixit at a recent HoGS night and both loved its artistic simplicity. I thought it was a little light to win the Spiel des Jahres, but it's clever and family friendly.

I haven't played Fresco before. I've read (and watched) a few reviews and heard nothing but good things. It sounded like my type of game so I figured I'd take the opportunity to grab it while we were in a city that actually sells decent board games. :-)

Oh, and we also bought the Inns & Cathedrals expansion for Carcassonne. It was a spur of the moment decision, but having taken the basic game to Queensland with us (to have an easy-to-learn game to play with my parents), we wanted to flesh out our Carcassonne experience a little more. We're yet to play it, but hopefully we'll get a chance soon.
 

World Without End

Kingsbridge, England, 1337. It has been 200 years since Prior Philip’s cathedral was built. The cathedral still dominates the town, but now the monastery has been joined by a convent, and wool has become the major commodity traded at the market. This is World Without End.


If you’ve read Ken Follett’s novel on which the game is based, playing this game may well mean more to you, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable strategy game if you haven’t read the book. Because it is. The fact that it won the 2010 Spiel des Jahres Plus award is more than enough reason to check out this game. But seriously, read the book anyway. Ken Follett is a brilliant wordsmith and both The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End are fantastic reads.

In World Without End - I was about to start abbreviating the game as “WWE”, but I kept picturing big beefy blokes throwing each other around a ring, so I think I’ll stick with the full name – players earn victory points by undertaking various tasks around Kingsbridge. Rather than place workers on the board to signify what you want to do, each player instead has action cards. In the six rounds of each of the game's four chapters (yes, that’s 24 rounds all up but don’t worry – it’s not excessively long), you are allowed to choose 1 action per round from your 12 available actions. Everyone has the same 12 actions, so there’s no blocking another player from taking a particular action by getting in first. Of course, you can always make one action less desirable for another player if you jump in and grab that last wheat token or complete the building project they had their eye on.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s do this by the book and start by having a gander at the board.


It’s pretty isn’t it? Michael Menzel has done a fantastic job with World Without End. Around the outside of the board is the ubiquitous victory point track. Down the left side of the board are the field, quarry, and forest where the wheat, stone, and wood tokens are placed. A smattering of houses surrounds the wool market in the centre of town, along with various other buildings including the famous cathedral. The bottom left of the board depicts Leper Island where you will be able to build your own houses during the game. Finally, there’s a favour track forming an arch in the bottom centre of the board.

A sizable amount of extra stuff also comes with the game.


While stone and wood come in the ever-popular cube motif, the wheat actually looks somewhat wheaty which is nice. Wool and cloth are, erm, curvy, carpety shaped. Other (not pictured) "resources",for want of a better term, are represented by cardboard tokens. These include medical knowledge, piety, and loyalty.


For those interested in accumulating a little wealth, gold coins are also provided in three denominations.


Each player also gets their own supply of 4 houses, 2 donation seals, a scoring token, and most importantly, a nifty screen to hide stuff behind. Handily, the screen also has a picture to keep you amused and to remind you of the mandatory duties you must pay at the end of each chapter.


There are also seven buildings which may come on to the board during the game, and which you may help build by contributing resources. While the bridge and the tower come on to the board at the start of the first and third chapters respectively, the other buildings will only come on if the appropriate event card is drawn.


Speaking of event cards, each round starts with the topmost event card being drawn by the starting player for the round (the player who starts the game is the last player who built something, so if you want to go first in round 1, you may want to knock something together before you play). There are actually 11 event cards per chapter, but with only 6 rounds per chapter, 5 cards from each chapter won't be used.

If you have a glance at the picture above, you'll see that event cards come in two exotic colours: red and blue. Red means the event is one-off and immediate (you do what it says straight away). For example, the event card for Chapter III shown above reads "Each player receives his or her choice of either 1 wood or 1 stone or 1 medical knowledge." Blue cards, however, mean the event is long-term, and will generally last until the end of the current chapter. These events are not taken into account until the action card phase of each round (we're coming to that).

You may also have noticed that each event card also happens to have a picture of a resource in each corner. After resolving the event (if necessary), the current player gets to orient the card in any one of four ways. Each player then gets the resource that is facing them (it therefore helps if players are seated along each edge of the board). So yay, a free resource for everyone.

But the event card fun doesn't end there, oh no. Also depicted on each card is a little red arrow along one edge. The current player must also take this into account, for whichever direction the arrow ends up pointing then determines how the marker on the favour track moves (from 0 to 3 spaces). If the marker moves then the current player gets their own little benefit dependent upon the space it lands on. Bonuses like VPs, piety, wool, or wheat are available. Alternatively you could end up losing money to the outlaws. Funnily enough, most players tend to avoid that outcome.

Alrighty, so now everyone's got some resources, and the current player hopefully has a bonus. This means it's time to move on to the action card phase.


There are 12 action cards in total, and all players get exactly the same set of cards. Each turn you get to play one of your actions. These let you do things like gain grain, wood, stone, or piety, or build a house on Leper Island, or contribute resources to a building project. Each building project, by the way has its own little spot on the board so it seamlessly blends in with the rest of the artwork. Nice.


All of these actions have their perks, particularly the building project one as you can gain 3 VPs per wood or stone you place on a building. In the third and fourth chapters, the Medicine action can come in handy as you can gain stuff by curing residents of Kingsbridge of the plague. Each action card can only be played once per chapter, so some degree of planning helps.

Another tricky thing the designers have put into the rules in the action phase is a cunning little mechanic called discarding. You see, every time you choose one of your action cards to play, you must discard another card from your hand. This discarded action will not become available until the next chapter. This makes planning ahead even more vital, because if you find you want to play an action you've already discarded, then too bad. Of course, if you're not quite sure what you're doing, then planning can be difficult. So good luck with that, then.

I mentioned the plague earlier. The plague is a central theme of the novel, and it also plays a role in the board game. After the end of Chapter II, the houses in Kingsbridge, along with the outlaws, may become infected. This is achieved in the game by randomly distributing the plague markers face down on each house.

Thereafter, in Chapters III and IV, each event card also has a house number on it. That house's plague token is turned face-up to see how many inhabitants are affected by the plague. If you wish to cure a house, and therefore gain a reward (generally 2 VPs plus a resource), you'll need to not only play the Medicine action card, but also have accumulated enough medical knowledge tokens equal to or greater than the number of infected inhabitants. The good news is you don't lose medical knowledge by using it, so you can go on to cure another house in the next chapter (or indeed the same chapter if you use the Privilege action that allows you to repeat your last action).

And so the game goes. Players gain resources and then use them to do stuff in order to gain VPs. Easy.

Yeah, I'm fibbing a bit. If accumulating and using resources was all there was to it, this game would be a lot simpler, and a darn sight less frustrating (in a good way), than it actually is.

And that's because of the dues. Just like Agricola, where you have to worry about feeding your family when each harvest comes around, in World Without End each player is required to pay dues to the king at the end of each chapter. And he's a right greedy bastard.

Every player must pay two piety, two wheat, and a gold tax equivalent to the roll of the tax die (a d6 with sides 2,3,3,4,4,5 just like the tax die in The Pillars of the Earth). Failure to cough up the required dues results in loss of Victory Points as well as an additional penalty applied in the next chapter.


Not enough piety? Then it's penance for you miladdo. You don't get to choose your action card discard in the next round - someone else randomly chooses it for you. Ouch. At least you'll get an action in the next round, unless of course you can't pay your tax. Double ouch.

I found that ensuring you have the requisite resources to pay your dues is always in the back of your mind as each chapter goes on. That's not to say you can't do other things, because you can; it's just that it's a very delicate balance of accumulating a decent amount of resources, while avoiding those dreaded penalties. It can be quite difficult to play an entire game without once being penalised, especially when you only have control over the event card once or twice per chapter.

Frustrating though it may seem, and somewhat of a grind early on, World Without End is still a solid, enjoyable game. The mechanics are clever, and work in nicely with the novel. There is very little down time as everyone is involved in every round. There are just enough screw-your-opponent options in the game to be satisfying, but not game changing. And that's always a good thing.

If you like your "Euro" strategy games like Caylus, Agricola, or The Pillars of the Earth you'll like World Without End. I do.