Game Preview: Antler Island
By W. Eric Martin
June 30, 2007
Publisher: Fragor Games
Designer: The Lamont Brothers
Players: 3-4
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 45 minutes
Price: about €35
Release Date: October 2007
Whenever you hear someone complain about boring and rehashed themes in the future, direct them to this game, which features one of the oddest and most unexpected themes ever: You are a stag during the annual rut on a Scottish island. The time of the year has come for food, fighting, and females, and your goal is to stand tall as the dominant stag on the island.
Each player has an action sheet with four possible actions on it: move, eat, rut, and grow antlers. Each round, players allocate their five action markers—1, 2, 3, a joker, and a blank—to these actions; players place their markers face down (so the blank serves as a bluff), and the same action can be chosen multiple times. “For instance, if you are in the centre and there are four does, you may choose to select rut four times,” says Gordon.
The actions are then resolved in order, with players resolving the number 1 action in player order, then 2, then 3. “The joker action can be played instead of the next number in the sequence, though,” says Gordon, “and part of the game is planning which action to leave as the joker action to give yourelf a bit more flexibility in case things do not work out quite how you imagined them to!”
With all that antler growing going on, conflict is inevitable. By moving into an area with another stag, you challenge him to a fight. If both stags decide to fight, each player decides how many food tokens (worth 1-3) to add to his antler size, and whoever has the best combination of conditioning and antlers wins the fight. The losing stag has one of his antlers broken off and is chased down the hill by the winner. All food spent preparing for the fight is lost.
“This simulates what happens in the wild because as the stag in the centre becomes more tired it is more difficult for him to retain the centre area,” says Gordon. “The centre area becomes more attractive as the game progresses because it fills up with doeples. [Yes, doeples! Fourteen wooden ones in all.] However, food tokens only ever appear on the outside of the board and remain there. Accordingly, although a stag may capture the centre area, he will have difficulty holding on to it.” Antlers are easier to hold on to and grow, but that strength is more visible, painting a target for others.
As with last year’s Hameln, the latest title from Fragor Games is being released in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. [Note added July 3rd: This number was recently increased to 2,500 copies. See this letter from the Lamonts for details.] As the Lamonts note, those copies of Hameln were all preordered within three weeks of the game’s announcement, so if the clashing of antlers sounds good to you, don’t delay. Write to fragorpreorder@yahoo.co.uk with “Antler Island” in the subject line; include your name in the body of the message and let the Lamonts know whether you plan to pick up the game in Essen or will need it posted.
| Pictures - Click the picture for a larger version | |
 | The final cover, which was tweaked from the preliminary cover included up top |
 | The three levels of the gameboard, which are separated by feet that you can’t see in this image |
 | Detail on the gameboard |
 | A face only a doe could love |
 | Mug shot |
 | What you don’t want to see when waking up |
Posted by W. Eric Martin on Jun 30, 2007 at 10:30 AM in Game Previews / 5023
Comments:
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I’m surprised no one has commented on this yet. I mean, a game themed around deer sex! You’ve got to hand it to the Lamonts--they do come up with unforgettable themes! Posted by Larry Levy on Jun 30, 2007 at 08:19 PM | #
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This has got to be a joke? Right? If not, this should sell all of… oh, I don’t know… 25 copies? And I thought “Canal Mania” had a ridiculous theme… Posted by Ryan Bretsch on Jun 30, 2007 at 11:21 PM | #
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Ryan, the theme might not appeal to you, but I’d have no problem betting that the Lamont Brothers will presell all thousand copies before the start of September. Odd themes are a selling point for some people, and solid game play trumps theme for others, no matter how odd the theme might be. I’ve already placed my preorder… Posted by W. Eric Martin on Jun 30, 2007 at 11:45 PM | #
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And Ryan, what could your problem possibly be with Canal Mania? I mean, it’s an historical theme. Those canals actually traversed Great Britain prior to the introduction of railroads. It may not be to your liking, but it can’t be ridiculous if it actually happened. Personally, I think it’s the best thing the Ragnars have ever done and the theme makes it doubly attractive. Posted by Larry Levy on Jul 1, 2007 at 12:09 AM | #
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This actually sounds really interesting to me, I’m looking forward to trying it out. Posted by Tom Rosen on Jul 1, 2007 at 08:41 PM | #
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Any idea when the rules will be available? Posted by Oskari Westerholm on Jul 2, 2007 at 03:25 AM | #
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The best of all the games above is defintively Canal Mania.... oops, the article wasn’t about this great game! Anyway, I “jumped over” Leapfrog, as it seemed to be no game in it. I saw Shear Panic be played and was terrified of it’s abstraction and then I actually tested Hameln, as it’s seemed to be drooling by theme… which actually was true, but the game sucked. It was too random and uncontrolled even for one, like me, who prefers a good theme and enjoy quite a lot of randomness. I hope this is more of a game, but I consider these games too much hyped and I doubt that I will buy it even with cute and “sexy” deers :-) But anyway I wish the Fragor Games good luck with their new game, although probably not of my taste. I have a friend who has bought all of them and probably already has pre-ordered the new one…
My 2 cents from the lover of:
Posted by Carl Samuelsson on Jul 2, 2007 at 03:44 PM | #
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Let’s face it… if the intent is for Canal Mania or Antler Island to fill a niche market, more power to them. I can only assume the guys who come up with this stuff are not aiming for the mass market. Posted by Ryan Bretsch on Jul 2, 2007 at 10:14 PM | #
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Ryan, the Lamonts are printing 1,000 copies of Antler Island, so I think it’s safe to say mass market domination isn’t their goal. Of course, taking a step back, Days of Wonder and Rio Grande titles are just niche games as well. Sure, Ticket to Ride has sold 500K copies, but that level of sales pales next to real mass market games. Posted by W. Eric Martin on Jul 2, 2007 at 10:22 PM | #
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I guess the real reason for my astonishment over your comments, Ryan, is why you’re singling out Canal Mania as being “niche market” and not Puerto Rico, Euphrat & Tigris, Age of Steam, or any one of several thousand other games. Most of the games we talk about on this site would fit your definition of niche market designs. Posted by Larry Levy on Jul 2, 2007 at 10:51 PM | #
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Oskari, Gordon Lamont said that he and his brother would try to have the rules ready to post by early August. Posted by W. Eric Martin on Jul 3, 2007 at 04:56 PM | #
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Larry, this isn’t the first game themed around deer sex. At the least, Null Bock! used it in 2002—search without the ‘!’ on the Geek. (OK, I’ll admit it’s an obscure title, and I can’t think of any others. Anyone else?) Posted by Matt Ackerson on Jul 3, 2007 at 05:24 PM | #
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I’d forgotten about Null Bock, Matt, but that’s certainly another one. Whoda thunk we’d have TWO stag rutting games? Posted by Larry Levy on Jul 3, 2007 at 05:29 PM | #
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Hey, if T. Vasel can have his Crocodile Pool Party, then I can have my “Canal Mania” (LOL) (now officially supplanted by “Antler Island") So Nah. : ) Observation: Hmmm, I have obviously vastly underestimated the market for role playing pre-venison mating technique. Posted by Ryan Bretsch on Jul 3, 2007 at 06:37 PM | #
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