Valerie Putman:  Prose on Cons—Great Lakes Games

The post-Essen gaming sessions are occurring everywhere.  I am in Indiana playing games for the weekend with friends from all over the Great Lakes states.  I have friends that are meeting in Boston this weekend for post-Essen fun as well.  Next weekend I’ll be seeing even more friends in Dallas for BGG.con—which I saw at least one person refer to as “little Essen.â€?  Whether it is in a post-Essener’s gaming basement, at your weekly game night, or at a gaming weekend in a hotel in the middle of nowhere, the new games from Essen are finding their ways into the hands of those enthusiasts who have followed every report and read every review and are happy to finally get to see the new games for themselves.

Games I’ve played for the first time this weekend (and their rating on a scale of 1 – 10):

Through the Ages (8) A little fiddly and a bit of down time, but no more so than some of my other favorite longer games, like Roads & Boats.  We played the simple game first and immediately decided to play again with the advanced game.  So all in all, I was playing Through the Ages for about 6 hours—and I absolutely loved every minute of it.  The simple game really is just enough to teach the rules.  I’d really only play it again if all the players were new.  As long as you have at least one or two experienced players, go ahead and jump into the advanced game.  I’m really looking forward to the full game (estimated at 7 - 8 hours), perhaps over Thanksgiving break.  Through the Ages is an “engine gameâ€? or, as I prefer to call it, a “snowball game.â€?  Like Zeptor or Roads & Boats, it is a 2.5 – 4 hour game in which you slowly build up your resources and your ability to produce more resources.  The key is to do this as efficiently as possible.  The civilization theme really works for the game and I am kicking myself for not picking this one up at Essen.

Yspahan (7) At the other end of the spectrum, Yspahan is 45 minutes of quick turns, yet still full of interesting choices.  I really enjoy games that give me a full board game experience even when I have less than an hour to play.

Hameln (5) For starters, let me go ahead and whine that this game is based on traditional family structures and the male meeples are the bread winners in the game and the female meeples just pop out babies.  Also, all marriages must be heterosexual and there is no inbreeding allowed.  While having nothing to do with the fun factor of the game, I do prefer the open-minded nature of a game like Funny Friends.  Okay, now that I’ve stepped off my soap box, I’ll say that the game just didn’t click for me.  On each turn you activate your male pawns, your female pawns, or you marry off children, or you sell goods.  All the while you are trying not to be overrun by rats.  There was nothing wrong with the game, but it just fell sort of flat for me.

Games I played for a second time this weekend (and their ratings):

On the Underground (7) Still like this one very much.  This one was played quite a bit this weekend.

Factory Fun (7) Still puzzly goodness.  This one was quite popular this weekend as well.

Khronos (7) This game has sooooo much potential.  Players are traveling through time and erecting buildings that then ripple through time and appear in other ages.  The theme is great and the time travel effect is spectacular to watch unfold as the game progresses.  However, there are a few things about the game that keep it from being really great.  First, both of my games were with 5 players and the down time was boring.  A lot can change between turns and you can’t really plan ahead.  Second, you get a new hand of cards at the end of each turn.  You can pay to replace some of those cards at the start of your turn, but it is possible to spend several frustrating turns trying to get the cards you really need.  I have read the variant suggested by the designer for players like myself who want more hand management options (which basically boils down to playing two cards as a wild card) and I would consider it.  But I also see the designer’s point when he argues that it would change the game considerably.  The more people spend coins to change cards, the less they’ll be able to travel in time.  Also, the smallest buildings may not be built enough if players can more easily get sets of the same color.  I haven’t decided yet if I’ll include the variant in my next playing.  My third complaint is that the start player might have too strong an advantage on scoring turns.  Like in Tikal, each player scores after they take their turn.  So the first player can spend little to score uncontested points.  The next player must spend more to outdo them, and so on.  Since start player doesn’t change, the same player benefits from going first in both scoring rounds.  All in all, I think the game has enough potential that I still rate it a 7, but I am going to insist on only 3 players the next time I try it.

Gra Gra Company (5) This game is a fun gimmick at big events, but there really isn’t much to this activity of rolling and stacking dice.

Sigh.  And the game I didn’t get to play….

Notre Dame Jay Tummelson sent me home from Essen with the demo copy of Alea’s new game.  I’m bringing it to BGG.con next weekend along with the other new Rio Grande releases.  At the moment, I still only have the German rules to the game.  Since James Miller had played it at Essen and we did have someone who could translate the German rules when we had questions, we thought we’d be able to give this one a try.  Unfortunately, we realized we still had a few too many rules questions to do the game justice and we decided to just oooh and ahh over the bits instead of potentially playing the game wrong.  Hopefully by next weekend…..

I’d rather be gaming,
Valerie Putman

© 2006 Valerie Putman

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Comments:

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Yeah, it occured to me as I struggled through my game of Hameln last week that its theme was much more objectionable than that of the more controversial Emira.  Of course, it’s set in the fourteenth century!  This probably just goes along with accepting historical games with slavery, such as Struggle of Empires. I keep being horrified by the durations I hear reported for Through the Ages while being more and more jazzed by its potential.  I gotta try this game out soon. Posted by Larry Levy on Nov 5, 2006 at 11:35 AM | #

Larry, I should clarify that the rules of Hameln are quite clear about the theme applying to that particular time period.  I certainly don’t think the Lamont brothers are closed minded!  I also want to stress that many of these reactions after just a single playing are likely to need updating after additional plays.  Generally I prefer to play a game several times before commenting on it at all Several games were left out of my report, now that I’m posting....  I played Space Dealer again.  We lined up all the timers and turned them over and arranged them from slowest to fastest.  We then assigned the timers to players so that we each had a balance of slower and faster timers.  With that simple precaution, I am happy to say that the game is quite fun.  I also played Mr. Jack (the detective won) and Section X...more on those another time! I’d rather be gaming, Valerie Putman Posted by Valerie Putman on Nov 5, 2006 at 05:25 PM | #

One point about Through the Ages… We the advanced game in about 3 hours (though we had played the beginner game beforehand).  It went quickly and didn’t feel like 3 hours dale Posted by Dale Yu on Nov 6, 2006 at 07:44 AM | #

So, Valerie, do we have a date for Through the Ages on Thursday night, starting at 11pm or so? Just kidding. ..or am I? Posted by Jon Theys on Nov 6, 2006 at 01:45 PM | #

Actually, Jon, Dale and I thought that we might play Through the Ages while teaching games at BGG.con.  It’s the kind of game that can be walked away from while I teach a game for 20 minutes and then pick up where I left off.  Of course, that does mean that it will be a 6 hour game and not a 3 1/2 hour game! And you know I do love those late night long games!  Ah...fond memories of Roads & Boats starting at 1am....  Age of Steam at midnight....  Let’s just say that it isn’t out of the question to see me starting a game of Through the Ages at 11pm.  It’s just not likely to happen Thursday night--I have a full day of teaching before I arrive. Posted by Valerie Putman on Nov 6, 2006 at 01:55 PM | #

/me jealous.  This is the longest span between gaming events in my year and I’m finding it pretty hard to get through.  I may have to pick up BGG.con or one of the invitationals for next year. Posted by Jay Bloodworth on Nov 7, 2006 at 09:46 AM | #

Careful Jay....  It starts with an extra con here and an extra event there....  Just to get you through the withdrawal symptoms.  You tell yourself you could quit any time.  And before you know it, you are attending 17 events a year and 3 week stretch without seeing your gaming friends will give you the shakes. Posted by Valerie Putman on Nov 7, 2006 at 10:19 AM | #

Boardgame cons...one of the few legal addictions remaining. See you tomorrow! Posted by Anye Mercy on Nov 8, 2006 at 12:57 PM | #

Hmmm....that and my 8 cans of diet pepsi a day caffeine addiction. Posted by Valerie Putman on Nov 8, 2006 at 12:58 PM | #

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