first impressions

Revolution!

04.05.10 Revolution! This sounds really exciting, like a spring clean! This time we are going to do it totally different! Preferably our way! Reality is that this soon turns out in sheer terror, and it doesn't really gets clean of all the clotted blood either. Well, what a nice theme we have here! Luckily in 'Revolution!' we deal with the revolution and the involved change of powers in a more abstract way by occupying various locations in the city. The revolution can be called succesful on our part if we have been able to put our stamp upon it and occupy the most important buildings with a majority, and scoring the accompanying points for it. With this we are glad that we are back on home-ground: planning actions and placing tokens.
This planning in fact is done by bribing, black mailing or using physical strength on the various characters on the player board, and all players get a handfull of money, blackmail and force markers at game start. These markers are placed secretly and simultaniously on a maximum of five out of twelve characters. Will a player try to make the general his stooge? Using physical strength does not impress him, but maybe he is sensitive to blackmail?
When all players have finished placing their markers, the results are revealed and the board is worked. The player who has placed the most markers on a given character, may perform its action. Often this is the placement of a player token at a specific location, together with one or more victory points. Often force markers, black mail markers or money can be collected that can be allocated in a following round. The spy and the pharmacist enable a player to change, remove or place tokens on a location. The game ends immediately when all locations are full with player tokens. The player with the majority in a location gets the points for it, and the player with the most points wins the game.
Here's why 'Revolution!' doesn't work: players have to allocate all the markers at their disposal; withholding one or more for a future round is not allowed. All means go back into the supply, even when a player did not win the character and therefore could not perform the action nor in a tie where all players forfeit the right to play the character - the chits go the supply. This could lead to the situation where at an early stage of the game a player, by mere luck - because of the blind bidding - wins all or most of the characters, thereby effectuating a sequence where he over and over wins the bets over multiple rounds. Empty handed players start a round with five gold from the supply, but these are only of limited use as there is a rank in bets: first force, then blackmail, and only then money. This way, players starting a new round with only money will have a great chance of missing out, and often: again.
Playing for a majority suggests tactical play, but with the use of the spy it is possible to remove a player's token and replace it by one of your own, even if this location is already full. The same goes for action of the pharmacist. This makes all planning totally useless, and players are left with the feeling: why bother? Even in the last turn there is the possibility of a change in majority. It does not happen that often, but all players, like real bourgeois, had the sighing: revolution, once but never again!

Revolution!, Philip duBarry, Pegasus Spiele, 2010 - 3 or 4 players, 10 years and up, 45-60 minutesxxtop

Pandemic

18.04.08 Thunderbirds are go! The world must be saved! Deadly viruses walk about, and it is up to us players to counter this danger as a team. This will be done in a precise and military operation, where hopefully we are in time to put down all sorts of bird flu, chicken plague or mortal ant cough, and afterwards we are invited at the castle of the World President and his wife to be his guest for a week as a reward for the effort. Well, we just make up this reward, as the rules merely state the imminent danger we are faced with. At the familiar map of the world several cities are depicted, connected by a network of lines. Along these lines the viruses spread, and we as players move along these same lines. At game start some cards are drawn to indicate the infected sources. Each player gets a character card that has a special ability. City cards can be used to fly to a city, but of course it is cheaper but slower to walk along the lines. The two city cards a player takes in his hand at the end of a turn can be used to develop a vaccine: five city cards of the same colour and a players pawn in one of the research centers, and the first part of the battle is won. After the development of a vaccine each player in his turn may spend an action to suppress the virus. When all cities infected by that virus have been cleared, the virus has been eradicated and will not show up again, as after each player turn infection cards are drawn: at start only two, but after each epidemic (card) one additional. After such an epidemic mostly already infected cities get an additional cube to indicate the increase of the infection. If a city would get more than three cubes, the virus spreads along connected lines to all adjacent cities which now all get an additional cube of that virus. This may result in a chain reaction if the receiving city would also exceed the three cubes limit - now there you have the problem our team faces in a world cup! Time flies by, and if eight outbreaks have occured it is Finito, The End, all lost, and mankind as we know it from a famous tv series has ceased to exist. This also happens when the city card stack is depleted, so we need to move on and work together well! For Pandemic, we might not have been thouroughly clear about this, is a game players play as a team against the game system. Normally games of this kind are kind of dull, with little to none challenge. This game system however, is very cleverly designed, and the Thunderbirds feeling (yes, it exists!) to save the world from disaster is well present: 'Now if you take the charter to Dubai, I could give you the needed card for Paris. In the meantime Marijn builds a research center somewhere in your vicinity where in next turn you could invent the blue vaccine. Barbara as a medic then could swipe clean some dangerous spots, as in San Francisco the situation is highly critical. Now let us just hope we will not have another epidemic...' Brains, any further suggestions?
Pandemic, Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2008 - 2 to 4 players, 10 years and up, 45 minutesxxtop

Rotterdam

26.07.07 In the harbour of Rotterdam, until ten years ago the largest in the world but now ‘only’ the largest in Europe, there is a lot of activity. It is a nice idea to use this as a topic for a game, promoting the brand ‘Rotterdam’ at the same time.
At the start of the game each player is dealt three assigment cards. On these cards are a combination of products which can be obtained by delivering goods in one of the four harbours; handing in the combination on the assignment card earns the points depicted on it. Each of the players puts a ship on one of the four starting positions and loads it with one of the four goods: grain, fruit, oil or, somewhat peculiar, containers. Form these starting positions a system of fairways leads in coloured sections to the four harbours, each of them accepting a particular good. In a turn, a player calls out a colour, after which all of the ships that have this colour in front of their bow must move onto. Of course a player will call a colour that will move his own ship(s), but if this is not possible then it is always nice to call a colour that will manoeuver ships of the other players the wrong way so they will not arrive at their planned destionations. Once in the right harbour the good is delivered and the player may draw a product card that will have one of the two products offered/produced in this harbour; the ship goes back to the player to be brought into play in a ffollowing round.
At three intersections of the fairways an anchor is shown; the player who has his ship on such a symbol a the end of the movement phase may draw a chance card to play onto the other players: rob, exchange a good, confiscate, or use it as a wild card for a good, or a victory point, whichever is shown. When a player has assembled twelve points from his assignment cards the game ends; not exchanged product cards in a players hand also score, and the player with the highest total wins the game.
‘Rotterdam’ goes lame in three ways: it suggests to be a tactical game, but it’s not. Calling a colour for movement that each player must follow is too arbitray and chaotic. Of course another player can be hindered, and a colour can be called that leads him off track, but ultimately a player will focus on his own ships because it is difficult enough already to reach the right harbour. A delivered good earns a player a product card, but there is a 50% chance he will draw the one that is not on any of his assignment cards. To make things worse, a player can be robbed from his good, even at his destination harbour!
This all makes it a very random game that has no motivation at all to play optimal, as it simply lacks the supposed depth. Even as a family game it offers little challenge, being the stereotype of ‘just a game’ driven by luck. As for the illustrations: three (!) illustrators are credited, and none of them seems to be able to draw a decent slice of bread!
We do not see how this chaotic movement in the harbour could promote Rotterdam; a harbour of such size usually is equipped with an up to date organised logistics, and everyone comfortably arrives at his destination! With the implemented robbery it more resembles the piracy in the Street of Malaya! Not all sea movement is without risk, this is generally known, but there are places one can better avoid...
Rotterdam, Hans van Tol, The Game Master, 2007 - 2 to 4 players, 8 years and up, 60 minutesxxtop


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A more tactical game The game could have benefitted from priority cards instead of the chance cards it has now. Such a priority card, of which each player would be dealt three at game start, would show one of the colours of the fairways, or an anchor. When calling a colour, a player could follow that colour, or use a priority card to move one ship according to the colour of his priority card. By playing the anchor, he could decide to stall one ship. The anchors on the board would be cancelled. A player would acquire a new priority card for each of his ships that at the end of a round has entered its wrong destination harbour.

Ponte del Diavolo

04.04.07 My wife sees things, really! She sees 'em when we play Zèrtz, when we play Dvonn or Hive, and lately she sees 'em during Ponte del Diavolo too! Oh yes, I see 'em too, occasionally, but not as often or clear as she does. It really frightens me, or frustrates me, to be more exact. The case is that she sees tactical possibilities that I fail to see, or only see when it is too late. Frankly speaking, I have to acknowledge her superiority in these abstract games. Notwithstanding this, I keep a good heart each time I play such games with her, not in hoping to win, but to keep the score as close as possible to hers, and, in a next game, try to decrease this gap. This is my private war, my agenda, with my own targets, because any hopes to win from her in these games are futile. But it is so simple, even this time: in a turn, place two stones on the board, or place a bridge. Four adjacent stones form an island which is worth 1 point; connected with bridges these score more in the known string: 2= 3, 3= 6, 4= 10, and so on. An annoying restriction is that an island may not grow larger than four, and stones of the same player may not be placed diagonally next to these islands either. Further, stones may not be placed underneath bridges, and bridges may not be placed over stones. Simple, eh? It is because of this simplicity that gives the game its strength, together with its sober but wonderful execution; it could as well be a Japanese game! This makes it strange, why the publisher chose to put a rather carnivalesk illustration on the box cover - as Venice stands for magic? But it could as well be that the target group does not get reached because of this. Why not show the beautiful game as it is, in all its simplicity - show the potential buyer there is a wonderful, abstract, fascinating game inside, by giving the box front a more suitable cover. And if I could win the game only once, sometime in the future, I am satisfied even more...
Ponte del Diavolo, Martin Ebel, Hans im Glück, 2007 - 2 players, 10 years and up, 30 minutesxxtop

Portobello Market

25.2.2007 In Portobello Market you are not a mushroom merchant, but a stallholder on the biggest and most famous antique market in the world. For over three hundred years all kinds of antiques and antique like items are being sold here. In the game it is your job to get your stalls on the most lucrative places to score the most victory points. The board shows a map of the market area with streets that connect eleven market squares. A player starts with stalls in his colour and action chips of 2, 3 and 4 value. In his turn a player decides how many actions he wishes to take by turning over the corresponding action chip. There are two kinds of actions: place one or more stalls in the streets, or place a customer on one of the squares. Stalls can only be placed in roads that are directly attached to the district the bobby is in; a district is an area enclosed by streets. The bobby can be moved freely during a player’s actions, however this can cost him victory points when he does not have the majority of stalls in the street the bobby crossed. Instead of placing stalls a player can also place a customer which is blindly drawn from a bag and placed on an empty square of his choice. The two types of customers, poor or rich, decide the scoring factor when a street has been fully built with stalls and has customers at both ends; all players with stalls in the street then score points for the value of their stalls. Twice per game a player may claim a district instead of taking his regular action by placing one of his action chips in a district of his choice. He then gets points for his stalls from the adjoining streets in the district multiplied by the placed action chip. When only one empty square on the board is left, the richest customer, ‘the lord’, is placed there and gives the highest possible scoring factor for all streets leading to this square. At the end of the game, when one player has placed his last stall, all not fully occupied streets in connection with the lord are scored, other not fully occupied streets elsewhere on the board do not score. The actions in Portobello Marker are simple and transparent, which makes the game very accessible for inexperienced gamers. However there are enough tactical choices to be made, which also makes it an interesting game for experienced gamers. This could be a possible SDJ candidate! Marijn Vis
Portobello Market, Thomas Odenhoven, Schmidt Spiele, 2007- 2 to 4 players, 8 years and up, 30 minutesxxtop

Pillars of the Earth

07.10.06 Two to four people participate in building a cathedral. At game start, each player gets three laborers: a mortar mixer, a carpenter, and a mason. These laborers are used to turn the collected resources in a round (sand, stone and wood) into victory points, necessary to win the game. Resources may be collected by picking one or more worker cards from a open set of seven cards; two other cards are new laborers that can be bought from the initial 20 gold. A player may have a maximum of five laborers working for him. The worker cards show a number in one of the three resources that can be claimed with a varying number of small wooden worker tokens; each player can assign all 12 of these every round and place them at the appropriate quarry or in the woods. Left overs, when not enough workers are left to 'buy' a worker card, are placed at the wool manufactory. After this, the starting player draws one builder token at a time from a cloth bag; each player has three of these in his players colour.
The first player drawn must pay 7 gold to place his builder on one of 14 locations on the board, or pass and leave his token momentarily on the '7' spot. The second player pays 6 or must pass, etc., untill all paying players have placed their builders on the board or have passed. After this, all passing players may place their left over builders, one by one, for free. Then, in chronological order, all actions on the 14 locations on the board are carried out. First, an event card is read out loud that affects all players, except the one player that has placed his builder at this location. The resources now may be collected, and the players get their workers back for a following round. Taxes must be paid too, and the players that did not place a token at the King's location, must pay from 2 to 5 gold, decided by the roll of a die. There are locations where privilege cards can be taken, some of them have an immediate effect, others may be saved for a future round or occasion. At the village are two labour cards; one for each player that has placed his builder there. At the market additional resources may be bought or sold, and finally, the starting player ends the round by placing one of the six wooden parts that form the cathedral. After six rounds the game ends.
Players constantly move between decisions like pumping up their gold, or converting the resource cubes into victory points, and this is what the game makes fun. Adding certainly to the atmosphere of the game are the beautifully illustrations by Michael Menzel; the mapboard is full of detail. The labour cards could be seen as an example of a romantic Soviet view of the labor classes, but this is not meant to be critical at all, the illustrations are simply very well done!
There is much more in the game that has not been said; we keep that for a full review. But what kind of game is it? The 'collecting scarce resources and trading them in for something more valuable-game' resembles many other games. But because of this familiarity players instantly feel comfortable when playing the game, no matter if it resembles 'Game X-Light' or 'Game-Y Medium'. The parts of the cathedral are only used to mark the starting player of a round, they serve no other function. But again this is not to be taken negative, would it have been left out, it would have felt somewhat strange for a game on cathedral building. And it feels good to see a publisher who puts superfluous material in a box!
Two players are done within 90 minutes; four players need some twenty minutes more. After that, we are left with the feeling that we have experienced a very good game, maybe even one of the highlights of this year.
Pillars of the Earth, Michael Rieneck & Stefan Stadler, Kosmos, 2006 - 2 to 4 players, 12 years and up, 90 - 120 minutesxxtop