Friday Night Gaming: Through the Ages, Mwahahaha!
May 29, 2009
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization
Merwin, Robert, Brian, and I tackled Through the Ages again. We went for the Full Game, which didn't add much complexity over what we had played before. Brian was running late so we took the time to do a run-through with Robert.
We played for about four hours before we called it for time and had only gotten through two-thirds of the game. In the end, Robert had a commanding lead, thanks to his early development of theatre. Brian was dogging him, thanks to his superior military and good use of Homer (who adds culture based on military strength). Merwin and I floundered in the back. I was able to gain some ground by attacking Merwin, who left himself weak after successfully colonizing new territory. This is how the game is designed--expansion makes you weaker, and weak players will be picked on by stronger ones. As it turned out, Robert was hording cards he wasn't supposed to (a misinterpretation of the rules by the newbie), which limited the opportunity for colonization, much to Brian's consternation. Though we enjoyed it (and Robert did well despite it being a "victory point" game), we agreed that we just couldn't bring it out until we had an entire day to play. No one knows when that might be.
However, it got me thinking about how to create a simple, fast civilization game that really plays in an hour. Maybe two with six players (TtA only supports four). I have some thoughts, but they aren't coherent enough to share.
June 5, 2009
With Ian joining us, we had our core five players.
Mwahahaha!
Mwahahaha! is a game about villains building doomsday devices and threatening the world. They start small, by ransoming a city, and progress to a state and then an entire country. Finally, the first to successfully threaten the entire world wins. The devices take resources, of which there are four types, which players get by drawing cards, trading with others, and successful ransoms. They also have puppet corporations that allow them to better aquire resources. Finally, they also have minions and gotcha cards with which to attack (or defend against) other players.
Each device uses a different mix of resources. Some require more and thus take longer to build, but their odds of success are better. Players are dealt three and chose the one they want to build. During the game, you can also swap out your device.
The premise is good, the mechanics fit the theme quite well. For example, you get bonuses for a) blowing up your device when the city/state/etc. doesn't bow to your demands; b) sacrificing minions; c) stealing and then discarding resources from another player. Similarly, you are penalized if your ransom demands are not met.
During the game, I think we all inadvertently cheated at some point. I kept confusing "Energy" (red atomic symbol) with "Eureka" (yellow light bulb) resources, taking the latter when I was entitled the former. Brian had the same problem. Merwin cashed in more cards than he was allowed. Because the resource and trading phase is simultaneous, it is very difficult to keep track of what everyone is doing and these types of mistakes don't get caught.
Dice rolls are used to attack other players and make threats with the doomsday device. The dice are compared Risk-style (high-to-high, down the line) and you want to get a certain number of successes to win. To threaten the world and win the game, you need four successes, for example.
During our game, we saw some pretty wild results (some saved by bacon, to be honest) which will definitely not be to everyone's liking. The card draws for resources, minions, etc. also add randomness to the game. And this would be fine and fun if the game didn't take two hours to play.
Merwin put it on his trading list.
At one point in the game, I played a card against Robert that robbed him of his chance to attack other players and made him a target for the other players. This move was immediately declared a "typical Patrick strategy." I was taken aback and amused, as I didn't think I had a typical strategy except being conservative (in Poker, I would be described as "tight"). But no, according to them, setting other players up so that I don't use my own resources against them is something I do consistently. It certainly fits my definition of diplomacy--"Let's you and him fight"--I just didn't realize I actually applied it (and I suck at Diplomacy).
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization
Merwin, Robert, Brian, and I tackled Through the Ages again. We went for the Full Game, which didn't add much complexity over what we had played before. Brian was running late so we took the time to do a run-through with Robert.
We played for about four hours before we called it for time and had only gotten through two-thirds of the game. In the end, Robert had a commanding lead, thanks to his early development of theatre. Brian was dogging him, thanks to his superior military and good use of Homer (who adds culture based on military strength). Merwin and I floundered in the back. I was able to gain some ground by attacking Merwin, who left himself weak after successfully colonizing new territory. This is how the game is designed--expansion makes you weaker, and weak players will be picked on by stronger ones. As it turned out, Robert was hording cards he wasn't supposed to (a misinterpretation of the rules by the newbie), which limited the opportunity for colonization, much to Brian's consternation. Though we enjoyed it (and Robert did well despite it being a "victory point" game), we agreed that we just couldn't bring it out until we had an entire day to play. No one knows when that might be.
However, it got me thinking about how to create a simple, fast civilization game that really plays in an hour. Maybe two with six players (TtA only supports four). I have some thoughts, but they aren't coherent enough to share.
June 5, 2009
With Ian joining us, we had our core five players.
Mwahahaha!
Mwahahaha! is a game about villains building doomsday devices and threatening the world. They start small, by ransoming a city, and progress to a state and then an entire country. Finally, the first to successfully threaten the entire world wins. The devices take resources, of which there are four types, which players get by drawing cards, trading with others, and successful ransoms. They also have puppet corporations that allow them to better aquire resources. Finally, they also have minions and gotcha cards with which to attack (or defend against) other players.
Each device uses a different mix of resources. Some require more and thus take longer to build, but their odds of success are better. Players are dealt three and chose the one they want to build. During the game, you can also swap out your device.
The premise is good, the mechanics fit the theme quite well. For example, you get bonuses for a) blowing up your device when the city/state/etc. doesn't bow to your demands; b) sacrificing minions; c) stealing and then discarding resources from another player. Similarly, you are penalized if your ransom demands are not met.
During the game, I think we all inadvertently cheated at some point. I kept confusing "Energy" (red atomic symbol) with "Eureka" (yellow light bulb) resources, taking the latter when I was entitled the former. Brian had the same problem. Merwin cashed in more cards than he was allowed. Because the resource and trading phase is simultaneous, it is very difficult to keep track of what everyone is doing and these types of mistakes don't get caught.
Dice rolls are used to attack other players and make threats with the doomsday device. The dice are compared Risk-style (high-to-high, down the line) and you want to get a certain number of successes to win. To threaten the world and win the game, you need four successes, for example.
During our game, we saw some pretty wild results (some saved by bacon, to be honest) which will definitely not be to everyone's liking. The card draws for resources, minions, etc. also add randomness to the game. And this would be fine and fun if the game didn't take two hours to play.
Merwin put it on his trading list.
At one point in the game, I played a card against Robert that robbed him of his chance to attack other players and made him a target for the other players. This move was immediately declared a "typical Patrick strategy." I was taken aback and amused, as I didn't think I had a typical strategy except being conservative (in Poker, I would be described as "tight"). But no, according to them, setting other players up so that I don't use my own resources against them is something I do consistently. It certainly fits my definition of diplomacy--"Let's you and him fight"--I just didn't realize I actually applied it (and I suck at Diplomacy).
Labels: Other Games
posted by Patrick at 11:14 AM
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