Friday Night Gaming: Vanished Planet, Bang!
January 9, 2009
Vanished Planet
This small-press cooperative game has some of the most poorly organized rules I have ever had to use. For example, we weren't sure if a player's ships were eliminated when their home planet was destroyed. It took me a while, but I found it under the section called Satellites are Special, describing the satellites were you draw Goal cards.
The premise is not unlike Pandemic in Space! Basically, there is a giant space blob that starts in the middle of a large hex map. On each player's turn, the blob grows out one hex toward that player's home planet. As the blob grows, it also becomes a navigational barrier/hazard, making things tougher. To win, you have to gain a number of victory points (5 per player) before the blob destroys the last home planet. VPs are gained through completion of goal cards that you draw, but you can only hold one at a time.
You begin your turn by drawing an Event card, which often provides some benefit like a free Resource, but there are a couple of nasty cards in there as well. For example, the Creature Growth card advances the blob one more hex toward you. The number of such cards, like Epidemic cards in Pandemic, are the primary means of adjusting the difficulty. We played the standard difficulty with two in the deck and Merwin got them both. Later, when it was clear his home planet was doomed, but he was racing to complete his goal, he debated about grabbing one more Resource. We convinced him not to because if he drew another Creature Growth card (the deck had been reshuffled by now), we wouldn't complete his goal. And sure enough, he drew that fateful card on his turn. But since he took the brunt of such cards, it gave the rest of us more time.
You then spend your turn moving your ship, placing one of your 10 influence tokens on planets, nubulae, research stations, asteroids, and markets to gain Resources like colonists, energy, research, ore, and money. You then spend those Resources to create Personnel like diplomats, doctors, engineering, scientists, and soldiers. Personnel plus more Resources are spent to create Equipment. And finally, Equipment, Personnel, and Resources are used to build Upgrades, including new ships, faster engines, and mines that can hold off the blob.
There is also an opportunity for trading. You can trade one Resource or Personnel with another player on your turn. This is vital since what you'll probably be missing something specific you need to build the thing you want. We handicapped ourselves through three-quarters of game not realizing you could trade Personnel or Mines. The rules say something to the effect of "we suggest trading the same thing (Resource for Resource, Personnel for Personnel)." This and other areas of the rules make me think they just couldn't decide on what the official rules should be. I sympathize with this plight, but I don't find it acceptable in a published, non-beta, game.
Goals consist of performing missions such as creating a specific piece of Equipment and dropping it off at a special location or having influence markers on 7 areas of a particular resource. Typically, they are worth 2 to 4 VP, so every player needs to complete two goals to "pull their weight." You get goals by visiting Satellites that end up being engulged by the blob by the 5th turn or so. You can only have 1 goal at a time, but by the time you finish your first goal, the Satellite will be gone, so you have to build a new one to get a second goal.
I started with a rare (only?) 5-point goal of visiting every other home planet, a nigh-impossible task. Brian said the examples in the rules mentioned this as the toughest goal, which I took a challenge. It took me a long time to gain momentum, to gain resources, to build the translocator drive that would let me jump instantly anywhere on the board. Without this Upgrade, I would have never been able to finish my goal, but I did get my 5 vp.
The first part of the game is about placing tokens, building some initial upgrades (like a second ship!), and homing in on your goal. The second part the game is a mad scramble to build things and travel to where you need to complete your goal. The third part and endgame is getting second goals that can be completed in two or three turns (and building mines to buy time). I found the pacing really worked well with victory and defeat running neck-and-neck down to the wire. However, there can be a lot of downtime between turns, especially in a 6-player game, so I spend some time away from the game, watching television while the others played.
We won with a turn to spare. No one else died after Merwin, and we erected a monument in his honor. Well, we talked about it, anyway.
Besides the horrendous rules, fiddly nature of building stuff, and 3-4 hour playing time,* it is a fairly straight-forward, hectic cooperative game. But like Pandemic, I felt that it would work better as a computer game, and it is really a single-person game spread over multiple people. The solo (one planet, one race) version might actually be harder because of the lack of trading, but having one person playing multiple races and their resource collection and development would be too much to handle (without a computer).
I think there was interest in playing this again. If we did, it would probably be with the expansion rules that give each alien player special bonuses and has a faster/harsher Creature Growth. Also, I will suggest using an optional rule that will make winning the game harder, but management easier. In the standard rules, you can collect Resources at any time, including before, during, or after moving and building. I suggest just collecting them right after drawing an Event to help keep play moving (by limiting options and making each turn a little more regimented).
* The box says 60 minutes.
Bang!
After the heavy, long game play of Vanished Planet, we needed something lighter that didn't require us to learn the rules. Even so, there was still some rules questions and misinterpretations by Brian and Ian, due mainly to assumptions they had, such as Indians not affecting the player who played the card. Robert went home after Vanished Planet, so we were down to five.
I was an Outlaw and began by opening fire on Merwin to my right. Why? Why not? I joked that it was because I wanted him to go out first again. During one turn in which I really unloaded on him, I commented that I was getting him because I couldn't reach the sheriff. But that wasn't true, since two of the cards I played were against any player, regardless of range. During my last round, I had a chance to knock out Merwin, but he used his special power and stole my last Bang! card after I played a Gatling. On his turn, I saw that Bang! again when he killed me with it. But he fell soon after me, revealing himself to be the Deputy, completely justifying my assault on him.
Ian the Sheriff was left to stand against the Renegade (Zach) and last Outlaw (Brian). We were playing with both the High Noon and A Fistful of Cards expansions, so things were a little crazy. At one point, Merwin and I were able to draw cards and play them, which I used to hit Ian, bringing him down to 1 life. Brian was in Jail at the time, and I probably should have used my cards to free him, but he got lucky and was able to finish off Ian. So, I kinda-sorta co-won, despite being dead. The end came as a surprise since we all assumed that Ian's ability to play any two cards as a Beer would make whittling him down impossible.
Though it was quite late, we went for another game, without the expansions (though Dodge City is always in play). As with last time, the Deputy (Zach) and first Outlaw (Merwin) fell quickly. As the Renegade, I managed to off Ian (the other Outlaw) and face down Sheriff Brian. But I was getting very unlucky card draws. I had a lot of Bang! and Missed! cards (which I could use for each other, as my special ability), but only my basic gun since Ian managed to bury both Volcanics before his death. At one point, both Brian and I were down to 2 lives each and unable to play Beer. Three times I played General Store only to turn over two of the same card, and twice, those were two Bang! cards. Eventually, my luck just petered out and Brian was able to off me, for his first win as Sheriff.
Vanished Planet
This small-press cooperative game has some of the most poorly organized rules I have ever had to use. For example, we weren't sure if a player's ships were eliminated when their home planet was destroyed. It took me a while, but I found it under the section called Satellites are Special, describing the satellites were you draw Goal cards.
The premise is not unlike Pandemic in Space! Basically, there is a giant space blob that starts in the middle of a large hex map. On each player's turn, the blob grows out one hex toward that player's home planet. As the blob grows, it also becomes a navigational barrier/hazard, making things tougher. To win, you have to gain a number of victory points (5 per player) before the blob destroys the last home planet. VPs are gained through completion of goal cards that you draw, but you can only hold one at a time.
You begin your turn by drawing an Event card, which often provides some benefit like a free Resource, but there are a couple of nasty cards in there as well. For example, the Creature Growth card advances the blob one more hex toward you. The number of such cards, like Epidemic cards in Pandemic, are the primary means of adjusting the difficulty. We played the standard difficulty with two in the deck and Merwin got them both. Later, when it was clear his home planet was doomed, but he was racing to complete his goal, he debated about grabbing one more Resource. We convinced him not to because if he drew another Creature Growth card (the deck had been reshuffled by now), we wouldn't complete his goal. And sure enough, he drew that fateful card on his turn. But since he took the brunt of such cards, it gave the rest of us more time.
You then spend your turn moving your ship, placing one of your 10 influence tokens on planets, nubulae, research stations, asteroids, and markets to gain Resources like colonists, energy, research, ore, and money. You then spend those Resources to create Personnel like diplomats, doctors, engineering, scientists, and soldiers. Personnel plus more Resources are spent to create Equipment. And finally, Equipment, Personnel, and Resources are used to build Upgrades, including new ships, faster engines, and mines that can hold off the blob.
There is also an opportunity for trading. You can trade one Resource or Personnel with another player on your turn. This is vital since what you'll probably be missing something specific you need to build the thing you want. We handicapped ourselves through three-quarters of game not realizing you could trade Personnel or Mines. The rules say something to the effect of "we suggest trading the same thing (Resource for Resource, Personnel for Personnel)." This and other areas of the rules make me think they just couldn't decide on what the official rules should be. I sympathize with this plight, but I don't find it acceptable in a published, non-beta, game.
Goals consist of performing missions such as creating a specific piece of Equipment and dropping it off at a special location or having influence markers on 7 areas of a particular resource. Typically, they are worth 2 to 4 VP, so every player needs to complete two goals to "pull their weight." You get goals by visiting Satellites that end up being engulged by the blob by the 5th turn or so. You can only have 1 goal at a time, but by the time you finish your first goal, the Satellite will be gone, so you have to build a new one to get a second goal.
I started with a rare (only?) 5-point goal of visiting every other home planet, a nigh-impossible task. Brian said the examples in the rules mentioned this as the toughest goal, which I took a challenge. It took me a long time to gain momentum, to gain resources, to build the translocator drive that would let me jump instantly anywhere on the board. Without this Upgrade, I would have never been able to finish my goal, but I did get my 5 vp.
The first part of the game is about placing tokens, building some initial upgrades (like a second ship!), and homing in on your goal. The second part the game is a mad scramble to build things and travel to where you need to complete your goal. The third part and endgame is getting second goals that can be completed in two or three turns (and building mines to buy time). I found the pacing really worked well with victory and defeat running neck-and-neck down to the wire. However, there can be a lot of downtime between turns, especially in a 6-player game, so I spend some time away from the game, watching television while the others played.
We won with a turn to spare. No one else died after Merwin, and we erected a monument in his honor. Well, we talked about it, anyway.
Besides the horrendous rules, fiddly nature of building stuff, and 3-4 hour playing time,* it is a fairly straight-forward, hectic cooperative game. But like Pandemic, I felt that it would work better as a computer game, and it is really a single-person game spread over multiple people. The solo (one planet, one race) version might actually be harder because of the lack of trading, but having one person playing multiple races and their resource collection and development would be too much to handle (without a computer).
I think there was interest in playing this again. If we did, it would probably be with the expansion rules that give each alien player special bonuses and has a faster/harsher Creature Growth. Also, I will suggest using an optional rule that will make winning the game harder, but management easier. In the standard rules, you can collect Resources at any time, including before, during, or after moving and building. I suggest just collecting them right after drawing an Event to help keep play moving (by limiting options and making each turn a little more regimented).
* The box says 60 minutes.
Bang!
After the heavy, long game play of Vanished Planet, we needed something lighter that didn't require us to learn the rules. Even so, there was still some rules questions and misinterpretations by Brian and Ian, due mainly to assumptions they had, such as Indians not affecting the player who played the card. Robert went home after Vanished Planet, so we were down to five.
I was an Outlaw and began by opening fire on Merwin to my right. Why? Why not? I joked that it was because I wanted him to go out first again. During one turn in which I really unloaded on him, I commented that I was getting him because I couldn't reach the sheriff. But that wasn't true, since two of the cards I played were against any player, regardless of range. During my last round, I had a chance to knock out Merwin, but he used his special power and stole my last Bang! card after I played a Gatling. On his turn, I saw that Bang! again when he killed me with it. But he fell soon after me, revealing himself to be the Deputy, completely justifying my assault on him.
Ian the Sheriff was left to stand against the Renegade (Zach) and last Outlaw (Brian). We were playing with both the High Noon and A Fistful of Cards expansions, so things were a little crazy. At one point, Merwin and I were able to draw cards and play them, which I used to hit Ian, bringing him down to 1 life. Brian was in Jail at the time, and I probably should have used my cards to free him, but he got lucky and was able to finish off Ian. So, I kinda-sorta co-won, despite being dead. The end came as a surprise since we all assumed that Ian's ability to play any two cards as a Beer would make whittling him down impossible.
Though it was quite late, we went for another game, without the expansions (though Dodge City is always in play). As with last time, the Deputy (Zach) and first Outlaw (Merwin) fell quickly. As the Renegade, I managed to off Ian (the other Outlaw) and face down Sheriff Brian. But I was getting very unlucky card draws. I had a lot of Bang! and Missed! cards (which I could use for each other, as my special ability), but only my basic gun since Ian managed to bury both Volcanics before his death. At one point, both Brian and I were down to 2 lives each and unable to play Beer. Three times I played General Store only to turn over two of the same card, and twice, those were two Bang! cards. Eventually, my luck just petered out and Brian was able to off me, for his first win as Sheriff.
Labels: Other Games
posted by Patrick at 2:22 PM
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