Review: Horus Heresy:: First game, first thoughts

Review: Horus Heresy:: First game, first thoughts: "

by pullsyjr

My friend Troy bought Horus Heresy the other day and I was the lucky one who got to give it the christening with him.



Contents

I love FFG games. I love punching out cardboard tokens and getting the little satisfying 'pop' as the things fall from their place. HH, from my experience, has far less tokens than other FFG products (I’m looking at you Arkham Horror!) with only two cards to punch stuff out of.



There are a large number of miniscule (epic scale for those old school 40k players) plastic miniatures; four coloured teams representing the Chaos forces (one colour for each of the Chaos gods found in the Warhammer universe) and one team for the Imperium.



I wasn't a huge fan of the minis in this box set. Two unit types are almost exactly the same (it seems that the only difference is that one has spiky shoulder pads which pretty much become invisible at such a small scale). The grey plastic they use on the Imperium models is rather boring too.



The final point about the miniatures is the fact that they have to be inserted into specific bases. This was rather tedious to say the least. I suppose in hindsight I prefer them that way (ignoring the mechanics of the game) as moulding figures with an integral base usually ends up with items that I personally find sub-standard.



Special characters were of the card variety such as those used in AH. It was odd to have such a different type of 'model', but it did make it a lot easier to identify.



There are eight separate decks of cards to sort through; five standard size and three 'half' size (another AH reference).



The board is a tri-folding one that has areas to remove so plastic inserts can be slotted into place before the game. I found these inserts to be quite frustrating to place but that may have been because the table we were using allowed for things to slide around every time you moved stuff. I understand that the first run of HH came out with a warped board, but the one we used seemed fine.



All up, the game is presented very nicely with few things that I thought could do with improvement. In typical FFG style there are lots of bits and makes for marvellous eye-candy.





Rules

Holy moley there’s a huge book to get through. It took over an hour to go through all the rules, and in the end we gave up and just jumped into the game referring to the tome as we required. It turned out that the rules are written in a very precise manner to expunge any rules-lawyering that may go on. Whilst it made the read a lot longer with a fair amount of duplications (and wouldn't really affect us much anyway) I imagine it would stop a few arguments between more serious players.



Whilst the rules presented a theoretically complicated game, once we got into play everything clicked into place for us with little or no difficulty. We did need to refer to the book on a number of occasions but the layout of the rules is fairly good so it was easy to find what we were looking at.



In saying that, there was no clear reason why the game is divided into “Acts”. Troy was puzzled a lot by this and when we found the blurb about it, there wasn’t really an explanation. I believe it was just to allow easy division of the Event cards but perhaps I was missing something that would become apparent in different missions.





Mechanics

HH is a diceless system based entirely around sequences of cards. To do something in the game, it needs to be done with a card that says you can. Personally I found this to be a great mechanic and presented some amazing strategic challenges. There were times during the game when both of us were literally playing edge-of-seat moves.



Given that HH is such an apparently slow moving game this was an unexpected yet welcome feeling.



1. Turn based moves

Turns are not necessarily taken on an alternate basis. Instead, whoever is further down the Initiative Track has to wait until overtaken by the opponent. This means that performing an Order that allows for a sudden reinforcement (for example) may result in the other player having up to three turns before you get to do anything more. I personally haven’t seen anything like it in a board game so was intrigued by the concept.



Does it work? Hell yes. I kid you not, but EVERY decision is crucial. Playing Order cards immediately means you get the benefit straight away but either can’t do anything for a large number of turns, or have a less effective move. Playing them Strategically however allows you to reign in your Initiative counter or gain more benefits, but means you have to wait to actually initiate the action.



It truly is a nail biting game when your opponent gets free reign for two turns. All you can do is watch events unfold.



2. Activations

When performing an Order, it will typically Activate the area played on. An area can only be Activated once, at which point all units that were subject to the event cannot do anything until deactivated. Usually deactivation occurs when a certain number of turns are made (identified by the Initiative Track) or by some cards’ special effects.



I was impressed with this idea. The first combat that I was subjected to (I was defending) was one that I managed to hold. Given the fact that the opposing units were then forced to wait for deactivation my initial worry about relentless and overwhelming strikes was allayed.



It also complicates the Orders that may be used. As well as figuring out whether to make the action immediate or Strategic, the player must also decide what area is best to Activate.



Whilst initially I was doubtful at this mechanic I found that it added a large degree of strategy to the game.



3. Combat

Combat is undertaken again with cards. For the total unit strength of an army, they receive a number of cards which gives them a mixture of attack damage, defensive bonuses and special abilities. In addition if one or more Heroes partakes of the fight they get one or two Character cards which has the same detail as the standard combat card, but with extra bonuses specific to the hero.



The fight is divided into both Attacker and Defender, which is then separated into Passive and Active. The prior is less important than the latter. The Active is the one who can deal damage and activate valid special abilities. The Passive can block the damage but deal none in return. Then the Active/Passive forces change over for the next round. Each combat is fought over a certain number of turns with the Defender retaining their position if there is no definite resolution.



I felt that the limited options with the cards made combat a tactically complex event. Whether to use the limited resources for dealing or soaking damage become a primary concern. The special abilities could also change the outcome of the battle if used properly, so it may be better to absorb a lot of damage and to get the funky part out, than to play it safe and not kick the enemy in the teeth from left field.



4. Events

Another feature of HH are the Events that occur at certain times. These provide bonuses for one side of the game on each draw and move the “story” along. From what I saw, these cards didn’t cause unreasonable or overwhelming benefits but more allowed for subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) shifting of the strategic layout of the game.





Playing the game

We played the introduction scenario; a 'historical' recreation of the Heresy siege. I was on Team Evil whilst Troy was Team Good. At first setup I was thinking that a loss was inevitable. The forces out on the table were about 4:1 in favour of my opponent. Luckily, and I feel this is a massive credit to the whole system, things were pretty evenly matched.



It is true though that there were large swathes of the board that either did nothing all game, or very little. However I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. It allows for the threat of activity to be held against each player.



In the end I won the game. I managed to hold all four Space Ports in a final 'do or die' rush costing 3 Initiative steps to play which put me just past the point where I could claim that as a victory condition. It was a very close call and I felt threatened by Troy the entire time. I’m sure that this feeling was reciprocated.





Thoughts

I loved this game. The mechanics, whilst seemingly clunky, all worked together. The combination of the limitations imposed by the cards created truly anxious moments and very tough decision points. I don’t think HH would have been as good if any one of the mechanics was removed; rather I felt that it worked because it was a puzzle made up of a lot of constituent pieces.



The game forced a focused attention to certain areas, and also required us to think both offensively and defensively. Attempting to overwhelm an opponent with a mass of units was no guarantee of success given the Attacker/Defender system in conjunction with the Active/Passive roles. The limited combat cards did seem 'clunky' to begin with, and did have the potential to limit the effectiveness of the force, but we quickly learned how to maximise opportunities whilst minimising damage.



In no way did HH present a realistic view of large scale battles. This is particularly true in a futuristic setting, regardless of how archaic this future may look. I think HH would work precisely the same in any background, just changing the scale and the technology presented. The fact that there isn’t “realism” when it comes to the setting may annoy people looking for a more fluid representation of fast deployments via air or whatever, but it didn't bother me in the least.



HH definitely isn't suited for everyone. It DOES struggle with an apparent lack of progress, particularly when both players only place Strategy cards without activating them. If you're after something with troops moving dynamically across the board then try a different game. In fact I found that very few of my units moved at all...



All in all, I thought HH was awesome. The strategy involved was great and the limitations are what made the game so good. I can't wait to give it another bash!





So people don’t call me a Games Workshop or FFG lackey, here’s a brief background of Troy and myself:

Troy has some bias against FFG games. He loathes Arkham Horror for the huge amount of rules. All the bits drive him nuts. Rune Wars is another one that he can't stand for the same reason. So despite coming into this game expecting very little it was great to see that he really did enjoy HH.



I personally DESPISE Games Workshop with a passion. I know only the basic knowledge of the Horus campaign (ie, Horus and the Emperor fought each other) so I am sure I missed some nuances of the 40k universe. I don't care; as I stated above the game could have been set in any environment with equal result."

Cloudberry Games Starts to Sprout

Cloudberry Games Starts to Sprout: "

In March 2009, I published a column highlighting two companies that were formed to help game designers bring their creations to a larger audience, whether for exposure or for the larger goal of publication.

One of those companies, Cloudberry Games, which was founded in 2008, has now emerged from its incubation and beta-test period to start inviting game development projects on a wider basis. Here’s a summary of how Cloudberry Games works from that previous column:

Cloudberry Games has developed a system that will help designers publicize and develop their games while simultaneously finding an audience. Says [co-founder Rustan] Håkansson, “An author creates a developer account on the webpage, which costs €10 per year, and starts a new project. He or she enters all the information there is about the game, including the rules. We check that it is at least a reasonable start of a game, and accept it as a project. With this, Cloudberry Games licenses the game from the author.” The game can be a new design or a previously published game that has since gone out of print.

The Cloudberry staff, gamers, publishers, artists and other designers can access this project – reading the rules, downloading files to print and play, making suggestions, tagging it – and the original designer can then make changes or improvements as desired based on the feedback he’s received. Artists can also participate in game projects, either voluntarily with the hope of future royalties or on a commission basis by Cloudberry.

Once the designer feels the game is finished and Cloudberry Games decides that interest in the game might merit a printing, the company will take quotes from printers, establish a quantity and price, then open an order window for thirty days. “We will either print the game or take it back and await further improvement or more interest later,” says Håkansson.

In fact, the developer membership is only €5 annually, something intended (I believe) to keep out the tire-kickers while still being accessible to a wide audience. Twenty games in various stages of completion are currently listed in the Cloudberry Games database, and developers can peruse them, download rules, offer suggestions, and so on. It will be interesting to see what rains down upon gamers from the clouds…

(Disclosure: I’m working with Rustan Håkansson on a new version of Boardgame News.)

"

Review: Risk 2210 A.D.:: Risk 2210: Fixes Some Problems, Adds Some New Ones

Review: Risk 2210 A.D.:: Risk 2210: Fixes Some Problems, Adds Some New Ones: "

by brokenimage321

Risk has a bad rap. People complain about all the flaws in the game--the 12 hour playing time, Australia, the randomness, etc. etc.

Risk 2210 fixes many of these problems rather elegantly, but also introduces some new ones. This review is a quick summary of improvements on the original Risk and problems that remain to be fixed, as well as my thoughts on each one.



(Note: this is not intended to be an exhaustive review; I only touch on gameplay elements that are relative to the points I'm discussing. I recommend looking up another review, or, better yet, the rulebook, if you want to learn more about how the game is played.)





Risk 2210 Fixes:



-The Static Board. Although not as bad of a problem as, say Axis and Allies, the typical Risk game is rather predictable: Whoever has Australia will defend it vigorously and never lose it, the guy who has Asia will never ever hold on to it, etc.

In Risk 2210, 4 territories are chosen at random. These territories receive a Nuke token, meaning that they've been destroyed or contaminated or something; nothing can enter or move through these territories.

Believe it or not, this small change has a HUGE impact on the game. The layout of the map is rather dramatically changed, shaking up the game. For example, I've had several games where Australia is inaccessible, one where North America lost half its territories (but kept its full continent bonus), making it easier to hold, and another where the Middle East became a choke point between three continents.

This is my second-favorite change; the board feels different every single game. It really ups the replayability value.



-Australia. Australia's cool, if you own it. Otherwise, it's a thorn in your side, and completely unassailable.

Risk 2210 adds two additional routes into Australia, both composed of several Water Colonies (read: additional spaces). These extra entry points force the Australia player to spread out his forces, but the Water Colonies act as a buffer, making sure that conquering Australia will never be a cakewalk.

I think this is a really elegant solution to the tendency to 'Turtle' in Australia. In most other Risk variants (e.g. The Clone Wars), the 'Australia' continent simply has a second entrance. This nullifies most of the defensive properties of the continent, making it much less appealing. The way it's implemented in 2210, Australia is still quite defensible, but not impossible to take.



-Counting. 'OK Red, your turn.' 'How many reinforcements do I get? One, two, three, four....Oop, forgot the Middle East. One, two, three...'

Risk 2210 adds a Scoreboard, which players use to keep track of how many territories they own, along with the amount of reinforcements they get. During play, it can be adjusted quite easily, and, if you lose track, players can count (when it's not their turn) to double-check.

This is my single favorite addition to 2210. In fact, I find it difficult to play without the Scoreboard now. Although it's not hard to count, it slows the game down considerably. This is another small change that has a huge impact on the game.



-The Randomness. Risk is, at heart, a dice-based wargame. With heavy emphasis on 'dice.' It's not uncommon for two defending armies to hold out against seventeen, or for an offensive force to breeze past an evenly-matched defending force like they weren't even there. Once or twice, it's amusing. After twelve times in a row, it gets old.

Risk 2210 adds elements that allow a player to influence his luck. Generals can be purchased which allow the player to roll 8-sided dice (instead of the regular 6-sided), which gives him a higher chance of winning. Players can also buy 'Space Stations' defensive, land-based (go figure) fortresses, which allow players to roll 8-sided dice while defending, as well as providing extra troops.

I like this change. It's nice and adds a little flavor (the generals have different abilities), but it isn't as drastic as other changes.



-The 12 hour game time. Risk ends when there's one player left standing. This is fine and all, when you play against a computer, but with humans? Risk has a tendency to stretch on for a long, long time, often unreasonably so.

Risk 2210 introduces a new mechanic, where the game ends after turn 5. Players then score points equal to the amount of reinforcements they'd get on their next turn, and certain cards (worth extra points) are added to the total. Whoever has the most points wins.

This drops Risk from a 12-hour game to a 2- or 3- hour game. It's still not ideal, but it's much better. However, this introduces a problem, which I'll discuss shortly.





So, Risk 2210 does a lot of cool things. But what problems does it have?



Risk 2210 Breaks:



-The Last Turn. Risk 2210, along with the time limit, introduces the concept of a 'last turn.' Thus, whoever goes last on the last turn has no need to play defensively. They can spread themselves as thin as they want, and it'll be OK, because no one's gonna hurt them. Meanwhile, all the other players are furious as they see their continent bonuses (and, therefore, points) evaporate in a puff of dice rolls.

This, in my opinion, is 2210's greatest weakness. The last turn is simply broken. I think a quick variant would be enough to fix it, but I have yet to hear one that I like; I have a suggestion of my own, which I'll tell you about in a little bit.



-Bidding For Turns. Risk 2210 introduced the concept of a cash-based economy to the Risk franchise. It's drastically simplified, though; you get 'Credits' equal to the amount of troops you recieve each turn. These Credits are used to buy Generals, Power Cards, and Space Stations, as well as bidding for turns.

By turns 4 or 5, there is generally someone that has more credits than he can spend. Thus he can outbid anyone for turn order, selecting the all-powerful Fifth Spot on the Last Turn.

An idea I have to fix both this problem and the last one is rather simple: on the last turn, players select Turn Order in reverse order of scoring; thus, whoever has the fewest territories picks first. He can decide if he wants the Fifth Spot, or if he's afraid he'll get destroyed by his rivals before he's able to go. Conversely, the most powerful player will get stuck with the third, second, or (gasp!) first spot, whichever is considered least desirable by the other players.

I must say, though, besides its broken-ness, I don't like bidding for turn order. It just doesn't seem to add all that much to the game, and can often get a player frustrated if he's consistently going third (generally the least desirable).



-The Moon. 'Didn't you hear? The Moon is the new Australia.'

The Moon is a spiffy addition, but, because it starts empty, is generally one of the first to be taken. After someone owns it, they generally start dumping troops on the three landing zones, effectively making the Moon impenetrable. If anyone tries to land on the Moon, the Moon's owner plays all kinds of defensive cards he's been building up, destroying the attacking army and urinating on their robotic corpses. The Moon's owner then chills on the Moon for the entire game, not interacting with anyone else unless it's a missile salvo or some half-hearted land defense (after all, he has the Moon. What concern are land-based territories to him?). And, if he decides he is sick of kickin' it up in the sky, he can play a card to come back down, dumping all the troops he's been saving on top of some poor sap who didn't bother to look up.

I don't think I've seen the Moon actually be contested for more than a turn or two, in all my games. Again, it's spiffy, but it just introduces a bunch of new problems.







Final Judgment:

I really enjoy Risk 2210. Overall, I think the changes were positive, and it adds a whole new layer of strategy to what was essentially a dice-rolling game. Just about everyone I've played it with enjoyed it too; the one exception was a guy that ended up winning anyways.

And, the best part? If you don't like the changes, you can play regular Risk, too. The board is the standard Earth board, and the territory cards (used for randomly selecting territories) can be used for reinforcements as well. The Scoreboard can even be used to keep track of how many reinforcements a set of cards will give you!

The pieces have even come in handy for other games. You get a set of five pawns in five colors (the Generals), which you can use for your print-and-play games, or old-school Dr. Lucky. You get a set of about 500 tokens (the armies) in three denominations and 5 colors, which you can use for pretty much anything. In this regard, the armies are more structurally sound than, say, Clone Wars armies, and smaller than Risk(2003) armies, and are in a generic-enough shape to be used for just about anything. The Credits (round cardboard chips in two denominations) can be used for scoring. And, you get dice. Who doesn't need more dice?



All in all? Highly recommended, especially if you already like Risk. I've gotten my money's worth many times over.



"

Review: Werewolf:: The PLAYMOBIL® Legion reviews "Werewolf"

Review: Werewolf:: The PLAYMOBIL® Legion reviews "Werewolf": "

by EmeraldYam

NOTE: This review consists primarily of images, and thus make take some time to load on slower connections. My apologies.

Editor's Note: For an overview of the 5-player variant favoured by Centurion Maximus and his men, see How to play werewolf with less than 7 players. Many thanks to the core members of my BGG werewolf posse, Jeremiah_Lee, Raid1280 and fograsher.



For more PLAYMOBIL® Legion Reviews, check out The PLAYMOBIL® Legion Geeklist.



paperfred's PLAYMOBIL® Legion microbadge: [microbadge=11405]



Legal Disclaimer: PLAYMOBIL® is the property of Geobra Brandstätter GmbH & Co. KG. Despite what the images in this review might suggest, absolutely no PLAYMOBIL® figures are included in Werewolf. Apart from spending large amounts of money on their beautiful toys, I have no affiliation with PLAYMOBIL®.



Edited: Lots of typos. That's what I get for editing while sleepy."

Review: Tikal:: Tikal - A Board Game Odyssey review

Review: Tikal:: Tikal - A Board Game Odyssey review: "

by crazylegs

I've been tracking my game purchases in this geeklist, but as the posts seem to be more like 'impression reviews', it makes sense to post them as such, too.



Background: Tikal was bought in a bundle of games which I took on a weekend away to France with my girlfriend to try out. I’d been looking forward to playing this game for a while; when I joined BGG I found this list, which seemed like as good a place as any to search for games I might like, and Tikal immediately appealed to me. The theme is great, nice artwork and I love tile-laying games as they make for exciting, often surprising plays which are never quite the same.



Reading some reviews I suppose I was a little wary of its reputation for lengthy decisions, but I figured I’d just have to hurry people along if that happened I also made sure I read the nice little rulebook thoroughly before the first play - especially after my girlfriend’s less than enthusiastic reaction to our first play of Stone Age; another game that’s a bit longer than our usual ones with quite a few decisions to make (it’s since grown on us both).



First impressions: I tend to notice the box first, obviously, and this one just seemed oddly large considering the contents. As the board folds up quite nicely I’m not sure what the need is for such a long box, but hey. Tiles etc. were of high quality and the artwork was engaging and colourful. I like.



First play: Despite reading and re-reading the rules beforehand, we still had to refer back to them quite a few times in our first run-though. Nevertheless play proceeded smoothly and everything seemed logical enough (not really intuitive, but fairly straightforward in any case). It’s certainly a slower game than others I own, but that hasn’t put me off and once you get used to it decisions become quicker, if not necessarily obvious - but that’s part of the fun! A bit of good fortune with the treasure tiles gave me an early lead and I ran out the winner, although not as comfortably as it seemed I would early on.



Ongoing play: My girlfriend thought Tikal was only ‘OK’ (she’s not so keen on the ‘Action Point’ system apparently. Now she tells me!), but I managed to get her to play a few more times over the weekend and, as I suspected, it grew on her. It’s still not her favourite and I concede it is a bit slower than we normally like our games to be while the 10 points thing can get annoying at times - we end up counting out loud and I must admit I prefer systems like this to give you a number of set options rather than adding up your points, but at least it’s different.



I’ve also noticed that, at least with two, the player who goes second tends to win and this seems to be due to the slightly strange ending, where the player who puts the last tile gets, in effect, 20 points to move their men into the best scoring positions. I’m sure this is to balance the advantage of going first but it does seem a little strange as from now on we will have to flip a coin to see who goes second!



In sum: I really like Tikal, despite what I see as its shortcomings. Hey - no game (well apart from Scrabble...) is perfect! The theme works for me and I find the excitement builds as the game goes on, as well as the number of options which can slow things down even further, but again this needn’t be too much of a problem if you don’t agonise too much about it. It’s only a game, after all! However, it’s not for everyone and it seems to be a game you have to be in the mood for specifically (rather than just in the mood for a game, or even for a long game). I guess this will result in limited play time, but I can live with that; it just means the times I do play will be extra special



Most quoted: 'Five...six-seven-eight...nin..no wait...nii...er...nine-ten!'

Seldom seen: Glut of expedition members.







Postscript: I rate this 7/10. Actually, that may increase to 7.5. I've found a fan of the game in my brother so it's nice to get it out when he comes to visit. It's on the long side, but when I have the time to play I always enjoy it."