|
|
|
|
Valerie Putman: Bitten by the collector bug—AoS expansion maps
What do 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the Sun, London, a Disco Inferno, a Soul Train, Eastern US & Canada all have in common? They are all Age of Steam maps I have ordered or plan to pick up at Essen. Has the AoS Expansion train horribly derailed under an avalanche of new maps? Yes. Will I enthusiastically buy them all and cry for more? You bet.
First, I’ve never been a collector. In fact, this weekend Tyler and I are taking a critical look at the games currently on the shelf in order to weed some out. We’ll be selling them at the auction at Buckeye Game Fest next weekend. If a game isn’t a favorite (rating an 8 or above) and it doesn’t fill some important niche (gateway game, games that the family will play over the holidays, etc.), then it will be on my “to sell� list. Of course, Tyler will rescue all the war games and his favorites, but we should still be culling the collection quite a bit. So it’s not that I’m a gamer who has to have one of everything. But man, do I want all of the Age of Steam expansions. All of them. Every one. Even the bad ones. I have no idea why.
Age of Steam has risen to the esteemed position of “my all time favorite game.� So that might be the reason right there. I love to play AoS and if I’m more likely to get someone to play it with me because I have a cool new map that you haven’t tried before, then keep the new maps coming. I also really like knowing a “game system� so that I can have new experiences with new rules, but still have an element of familiarity that allows players to analyze the game competitively from the first go. (Or end up bankrupt by really pushing the limits of the new rules! Go ahead Dale, I know you want to pour some more salt in the wound.)
I also tell myself that I can quit buying them at any time. It’s not like a CCG where I have to keep buying more components to be able to play. Really, I could stop. It might be okay if I buy a few maps here and there and play the ones I don’t own at big game events. That might be fine. But…. Wouldn’t it be cool to say you have every AoS map ever officially released (and some unofficial ones that you’ve printed on your school’s plotter and laminated)? Uh oh. This is going to get ugly.
I’d rather be gaming,
Valerie Putman
Posted by Valerie Putman on Sep 24, 2006 at 03:00 AM in Columnists, Valerie Putman / 1226
Comments:
You must register with BGN in order to comment. Registration is free, but if you appreciate the news, previews, reviews and other material posted on Boardgame News, please consider becoming a member to keep the info flowing to your screen!|
Valerie: I don’t see all the expansion in your BGG collection at http://tinyurl.com/q8fbr (no Germany, South america, Eastern USA, China, Souh Africa, etc)
Posted by Mario Aguila on Sep 24, 2006 at 09:12 AM | #
|
|
Mario,
Actually, what I really like about the Moon and the Sun is that cities can change color. On the Moon the color cities are black at night. On the Sun, color cities can move to new locations, leaving a colorless city behind. This allows for so many new shipment options and this is my favorite part of AoS. I love solving puzzles (particularly spatial relations puzzles and logic puzzles), and trying to find the optimal shipping options for the cubes you have available is fun. I do wish there were more two-player maps. Reunion Island was good, but not great. Posted by Valerie Putman on Sep 24, 2006 at 09:30 AM | #
|
|
For 2-player maps, the Scotland one on BGG is very good. While you are in Essen, talk to John Bohrer about the AoS maps from last year/this year. He HAS to reprint them. You see, I didn’t realize that Warfrog would not be reprinting the Winsome maps anymore, and I missed out on both the ‘05 and ‘06 map sets. This makes the collector bug in me weep. The only maps you mention that I haven’t preordered or don’t own, are the Disco Inferno and Soul Train Maps from Ted Alspach. Ted is a really great guy but i just can’t bring myself to terms with those maps. I was really excited to hear of their release before I knew the theme. I’m still deciding if the purist in me will win out over the parakeet, or the other way ‘round… Dave Posted by David Fair on Sep 24, 2006 at 12:00 PM | #
|
|
I just bought London-Sun, but I agree with David about Disco Inferno and Soult Train. Posted by Mario Aguila on Sep 24, 2006 at 02:38 PM | #
|
|
Regarding Disco Inferno/Soul Train, even I would have a hard time purchasing/playing them if I wasn’t the designer. I’m by no means a RR purist, but still, those two seem really out there. However, the theme and the mechanics work really well together, especially on the Soul Train map. And so far, I’ve felt really good about anything I’ve designed in that I haven’t compromised the theme to make a game/design more marketable. I’m sure that at some point, that will happen, but the things I’m working on myself I have total control over, and I like the idea that the mechanics for these maps really started with the theme, and not the other way around. The lyrics for The Trammps “Disco Inferno” inspired the two key mechanics in the map of the same name; it’s hard for me to imagine re-theming it to “Age of Steam: Vancouver” or something equally bland (no offense, Rick...hee hee). On the other side of the coin, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see a lot of comments from folks pre-ordering those two maps that state that the “fun factor” of the theme was the reason they purchased them. Posted by Ted Alspach on Sep 25, 2006 at 06:49 AM | #
|
Next entry: The Dice Tower: Special Episode 3 - Interview with Scott Alden
Previous entry: Matt J. Carlson: Second Place for the Win
