Larry Levy:  Six Months of Gaming, Part 1

Well, I’m back from the Gathering and, as usual, I had a fantastic time.  I was all set to relate my hits and misses from the con when I realized I hadn’t discussed any of my gaming opinions since before Essen.  So rather than focus exclusively on my Gathering experiences, I thought I’d briefly give my thoughts on all the games I’ve played in the last six months.  Many folks still haven’t had time to sample a lot of the Essen games, so hopefully this is still of interest.  I’ll be listing the games in order from most to least liked, so Part 1 of the report contains my favorites from the time period.  On to the games!

Automobile – (3 games) Easily my favorite game from the Gathering and it might be the best game I’ve played since the sainted Through the Ages.  It has the depth of Brass, my Game of the Year from 2007, but is considerably more intuitive.  Players build factories for different car models, which come in three flavors (economy, mid-sized, and luxury models).  There are two ways to sell them (to distributors and to the general public), both of which have maximum demands.  You are penalized for overproduction, as well as for having to maintain obsolete factories.  Most money at the end of four turns wins.  There’s much more, of course, and it all hangs together beautifully.  It’s a very challenging system, with minimal luck, and really requires you to look ahead and anticipate your opponents’ moves.  I loved it with both 3 and 4 players and I see no reason why it wouldn’t be equally as good with 5 experienced players.  This is scheduled to be released in June and I can’t wait until I get to play it again!  I’m working on a review of the game, so more details in a few days.  Rating:  8.5 (and possibly rising).

Le Havre – (6 games) My Game of the Year for 2008.  Like many of the game’s fans, I prefer this to Agricola, and for the same reason they usually list:  having to choose the best of several attractive options gives the game a more positive feel than planning on how to accomplish one or two key actions.  Both are excellent games, but I like Le Havre better.  The semi-random ordering of the buildings for each game affects play far more than you’d expect, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see this innovative mechanic used in other games.  Another very attractive aspect of the design is that even though the number of available buildings to perch in is constantly rising, many lose interest as the game goes on, so that the number of likely buildings to choose from remains roughly the same, making AP less likely.  Rosenberg and Wallace are my two gaming gods of the moment and I eagerly anticipate each of their next releases.  Rating:  8.5.

Steel Driver – (4 games) More gaming goodness from the Treefrog line.  This gives you a lot of interesting decisions in a relatively short period of time.  Far from finding the endgame to be chaotic, I think it’s the key to the whole game.  You don’t have to be able to predict where each cube will go; just having a rough idea of the eventual value of each stock will allow you to play well.  And don’t underestimate the effect of how a player who controls two neighboring companies can manipulate their value.  This and Chicago Express are both offsprings of Winsome’s Pampas Railroads (a game I like a lot), but while CE seems to be about playing the players, SD is more about playing the system and judging how that will affect the players’ decisions.  Both are viable approaches and both are fine designs, but I find the decisions in Steel Driver to be much more enjoyable (and, for me at least, more predictable).  Rating:  a strong 8.

Small World – (1 game) As a big Vinci fan, I was skeptical about this one, but happily I like almost everything that Days of Wonder did with it.  The board and the pieces weren’t too busy at all and, since they’re more attractive than the plain but functional Vinci components, that’s a plus.  The game might be a bit short (I won my game with only 3 civs), but the fixed length felt appropriate and the ending wasn’t particularly abrupt, so that may turn out to be an improvement as well.  My one concern is that the grayed-out declined units are a little difficult to distinguish, so it might be important to play this with a good light source.  Other than that, it has all the goodness of Vinci in a shorter package and what for many people will be a more attractive theme.  A good job by DoW and I’m very happy that this great game will now be widely available.  Rating:  8.

Airlines 2009 (working title) – (1 game) Alan Moon has been playtesting his sequel to Airlines/Union Pacific for a few years now, but this was my first chance to try it out.  And I liked it a lot, probably more than either of the parent games (both of which I’m very fond of).  It looks like it’s far along in the development process, but details may change, so I won’t go into specifics.  The synopsis, though, is that the basic line extension for the airlines/railroads is similar to the other games, but this is now a free player choice – the route/track deck (probably to the relief of quite a few fans) is gone.  There’s also an economic element to the game that I think fits very well.  Oh, and there’s an equivalent to UP stock, but the way of acquiring it is better than the plethora of variants found in the older game.  All in all, a very nice package and maybe the best thing Alan’s done in quite a while (I like Ticket to Ride, but I’ve always had a soft spot for this system).  Abacus is going to try to get this done by Essen, to help celebrate 20 years of their producing big box games – with the first one being none other than Airlines – but there’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to get it done in time.  Whenever it gets released, though, this figures to be a must buy for me.  Provisional rating:  8.

Snow Tails – (7 games) Probably my favorite pure racing game ever.  Most racing games bore me, but I love almost everything about this one.  The movement mechanic is wonderfully clever and elegant and the courses are truly evilly designed.  We played with The Riddler in Columbus and even the experienced players were sweating it out.  Just a terrific job by the Lamonts.  Even though it may be a bit rules heavy, I’m still predicting this will make the short list for the SdJs and I think a win isn’t out of the question.  We’ll see in a couple of months.  Rating:  a strong 7.5.

Royal Palace – (4 games) One of my favorites from Essen.  The nine palace rooms give a nice twist on allocating actions and it scores with its speed of play.  The game is also quite balanced, with multiple ways of winning.  The theme is total nonsense, of course (even more so than with most Euros), but that doesn’t bother me.  I haven’t tried shuffling the rooms yet; I suspect this will make it more challenging, but should give it a nice bit of variety.  Good stuff from newcomer Xavier Georges.  Rating:  7.5.

Diamonds Club – (2 games) Interesting middleweight design from Dorn.  The extended auction for the items (via placing coins) is quite clever and the rest of the game is solid as well.  And I don’t think the Forest strategy is unbeatable at all – if anything, I’d rather play a high money strategy, which is much tougher to defend against.  Actually, the game seems quite well balanced.  I can see this becoming a regular in the rotation, when you want a shorter game with a bit of meat on it.  Rating:  7.5.

Bonnie and Clyde – (8 games) Finally!  And it’s nice to see that the gameplay is as good as I remember it.  I have to say I’m disappointed with the physical production, but employing Mike Fitzgerald’s suggestion to use markers to show which melds have been made in the multiplayer game will make things move quicker.  Mechanically, it’s a bit simpler than the other Mystery Rummy games, since there’s only one kind of gavel card, but the interesting ways you can manipulate the getaway car more than make up for it.  Hopefully, this will sell well enough that it won’t be the last of the series, as I’d love to see what other ideas Mike has up his mysterious sleeve.  Rating:  7.5.

Jet Set – (2 games) Just a really nice, very well balanced design by Kris Gould.  The only thing you gotta say to newcomers is, I know there’s a surface resemblance to Ticket to Ride, but this is not a light and frothy game, it’s a thinker!  Not a heavyweight by any means, but one where you’ll have to plan and look ahead and where money is tight.  It seems that getting your Final Flight down is just about essential, but I have no problem with that.  Nice job, Kris.  Rating:  7.5.

Freitag (working title) – (1 game) Friedemann Friese’s 2013 prototype that he only works on on Fridays (which is what Freitag means in German).  Not much point in commenting on a game that won’t make an appearance for four years, but I did want to say that this is perhaps the best model for a stock market game I’ve ever seen.  Some player control, but not too much, and picking the stocks to buy and sell is more than just guesswork.  It did seem that players could get screwed by the timing, but it’s possible that will be alleviated once you get more experience with the game.  I intend to keep a close eye on this, as it’s most promising.  Provisional rating:  7.5.

Roll Through the Ages – (18 games) I had some concerns that this game might be too short, as my first two multi-player games all ended quickly with someone buying five developments.  But my three games at the Gathering were all quite good and had an appropriate duration.  So I’m back on board.  Really, this could be the perfect “let’s play something quick while we’re waiting for the other group to finish up” filler, particularly since there’s at least as much skill as there is luck.  I don’t like the physical construction of the dice, but the game is good enough for me to overlook that.  I’ve also played 13 solo games and it plays very well in that format as well.  Rating:  7.5.

Dungeon Lords (working title) – (1 game) Petr Murmak, the publishing half of Czech Games Edition, was in Columbus playtesting the latest prototype from the designing half of the company, Vlaada Chvatil (of Through the Ages fame).  As usual, I’m limited in what I can say, but this features a new twist on dungeon crawls, complete with the usual innovative mechanics and very funny touches that we’ve come to expect from CGE.  An early warning:  once this is released, the humorous theme may lead you to believe that this is a lightweight, but don’t be fooled; there is some serious game in here.  This is a system that will have you laughing, but will also kick your ass the first couple of times you play (think Galaxy Trucker, only tougher).  I struggled along with the other players, but I also liked it a lot.  Assuming it makes its anticipated Essen release, it figures to be a must buy.  More details as the publishing date gets closer.  Provisional rating:  7.5.

Masters of Venice – (1 game) This is an economic gamers game from Frank DiLorenzo of R&R Games, a publisher which usually features the lighter titles.  It revolves around some interesting supply and demand market mechanisms and invites the players to exploit them.  The game is packed full of stuff and I’m sure a developer would tighten things up by lopping off a few of them.  But one advantage of being your own publisher is you can release your game the way you want it and I have to say that all the elements do hang together (as opposed to, say, some of the Ystari games, which though very good, tend to include everything but the kitchen sink).  My first game was long and even after a full play, I’m still a little uncertain of what the good strategies are.  But I enjoyed myself and I suspect further plays will bring both more understanding and a shorter duration.  The question you have to ask yourself is if your group will be patient enough to deal with this game’s considerable learning curve.  Rating:  7.5.

Space Alert – (1 game) After many attempts, I’ve concluded that I’m just not a big fan of cooperative games.  I guess I like the challenge of going up against my fellow players too much.  Probably the only one I’ll ever request is Vlaada Chvatil’s Space Alert.  For one thing, coordinating the players and getting through the missions is a genuine challenge.  For another, there’s so much going on that this game is the only one to truly lick the bane of co-ops, which is one or two players directing all the other participants and playing the game for them.  Finally, it’s just a whole lot of fun.  I guess all of this is no surprise, as Chvatil’s brilliance as a designer is that he is able to successfully tackle some of the “impossible” problems in gaming (like a Civ Lite game that actually works, for example).  Truly, this is one of the most inventive and talented minds we have in gaming today.  Rating:  7.5.

Confucius – (1 game) This is a fascinating game based around the concept of giving gifts to the other players, which gives you some limited influence over their actions (until they can give you an even nicer gift).  This unique mechanic is surrounded by many other game features – maybe too many.  Consequently, we were constantly checking the rule book, despite having a veteran of the game on hand.  It’s an awful lot to get your head around, but I hope like hell that they all pan out, as the game has tremendous promise.  It’s impossible to say if they will or not without several more plays and, to be honest, I don’t see my group investing the time necessary to master this.  But I’m glad I got to play this at least once and I’m full of admiration for the job designer Alan Paull did with the game.  Rating:  7.5.

Masters Gallery – (2 games) This is accurately described as “Modern Art without the auctions”, which doesn’t sound interesting at all.  But it actually works very well and is reminiscent of the notable older fillers Knizia used to crank out with great regularity.  Essentially, the game keeps the scoring system of Modern Art, puts special symbols on some of the cards, and then lets the players just play the cards in front of them instead of winning them in auctions.  The resulting game is surprisingly good and well worth trying out.  This is scheduled for release next month.  Rating:  7.5.

(As an aside, Masters Gallery is part of the Gryphon Games Bookshelf series, from FRED.  This is a really strong set of older and newer titles, which includes For Sale, Money, Roll Through the Ages, High Society, Incan Gold [Diamant], and Gem Dealer [Ivanhoe].  (There’s also one clinker, which I’ll get to in a future report.) Since the publisher is FRED, I don’t expect these titles to be cheap (I think most of them run $25 or so).  But someone new to the hobby looking to assemble a collection of superior fillers could do worse than pick up the bulk of this series.  Excellent job by FRED of assembling such a fine group of games under one umbrella.)

Giants – (1 game) I need to play this some more to crystallize my feelings about it, but at first blush, it appears to be an interesting take on temporary alliances in a competitive game.  Not only can players gain VPs by helping out an opponent, but two players with objectives in similar areas of the board can combine forces and really put themselves ahead of their competitors.  I struggled with this aspect of the play, but I could certainly appreciate the value of such strategies.  So I think this will prove to be a good and different kind of game.  It’s one of what is suddenly a plethora of titles based on Easter Island, but I think the mechanics fit the theme better with Giants than with any of the others.  The bits are also terrific.  Rating:  7.5.

Pandemic – (2 games) A solid, quick-playing cooperative game.  The key mechanic is the way cards are shuffled back into the deck to encourage the spread of the diseases; it really is an excellent idea, particularly because it’s so simple.  I’ll happily play this, even though it doesn’t grab me quite as much as it does many other gamers.  Then again, as I mentioned earlier, I’m not a huge fan of co-ops.  I like Space Alert better, but this is still a very nice effort and, together with Roll Through the Ages, shows that Matt Leacock has arrived as a first-rate designer.  Rating:  7.5.

After the Flood – (1 game) This pushes all of my buttons and my only game of it was reasonably enjoyable.  But our game devolved into a series of delaying tactics, since it appeared that the last player standing each turn had a huge advantage.  Combat favors the attacker quite a bit, so we did everything we could to stick around until we could steamroll over our opponents.  This gave the game a very peculiar, and quite negative feel.  The bad news is, a number of other players have had this happen in their games.  The good news is, quite a few experienced players say this isn’t a winning strategy and are effusive in their praise for the design.  Given this (and the fact that Martin Wallace is no dummy), I’m willing to believe we might have been victims of groupthink and would like to try this again.  Sadly, I was unsuccessful in arranging a game at the Gathering (which did nothing to qualm my doubts about the title), but I hope to scare up a session in the near future.  Until I can manage this, my final ranking of the game remains in doubt.  Rating (for now, at least):  a very tenuous 7.5.

Those are the best games I managed to play in the past six months.  In my next report, I’ll cover the good, but not great games I played over the same period of time.

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