I challenged my game group to come up with a rewrite of the Twelve Days of Christmas for a boardgamer. Anne's attempt was judged the best.
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
A Race for the Galaxy
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Three geek gold,
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Four game podcasts,
Three geek gold,
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Five railway games,
Four game podcasts,
Three geek gold,
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Six spinning fingers,
Five railway games,
Four game podcasts,
Three geek gold,
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Seven game expansions,
Six spinning fingers,
Five railway games,
Four game podcasts,
Three geek gold,
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Eight days spent gaming,
Seven game expansions,
Six spinning fingers,
Five railway games,
Four game podcasts,
Three geek gold,
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Nine days in Essen,
Eight days spent gaming,
Seven game expansions,
Six spinning fingers,
Five railway games,
Four game podcasts,
Three geek gold,
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Ten days in Europe,
Nine days in Essen,
Eight days spent gaming,
Seven game expansions,
Six spinning fingers,
Five railway games,
Four game podcasts,
Three geek gold,
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Eleven annual leave days,
Ten days in Europe,
Nine days in Essen,
Eight days spent gaming,
Seven game expansions,
Six spinning fingers,
Five railway games,
Four game podcasts,
Three geek gold,
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Twelve thousand air-points,
Eleven annual leave days,
Ten days in Europe,
Nine days in Essen,
Eight days spent gaming,
Seven game expansions,
Six spinning fingers,
Five railway games,
Four game podcasts,
Three geek gold,
Two drawstring bags
And a Race for the Galaxy
Tuesday 20 December 2011
Saturday 17 December 2011
First Impressions of Discworld: Ankh-Morpork (December 2011)
Ankh-Morpork is a city state in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. It would be a disservice to Terry Pratchett and fans to make a serious, heavy boardgame set in Ankh-Morpork. You might expect a Discworld themed game to be designed by Steve Jackson (of Munchkin fame), but in fact Discworld: Ankh-Morpork is designed by Martin Wallace.
This is a much lighter game than I expected from Martin Wallace. Game play is basically play a card from your hand and do what it says. Everyone has their own secret objective, and a hand of cards which they use to establish minions and build buildings in various districts of the city of Ankh-Morpork. The cards are all illustrated in a style that is familiar from the book covers and most cards have special action text plus several icons at the top. These icons relate to the standard actions. Most actions on a card are optional but must be executed in order of the icons (from left to right). For each building you own, you may execute an additional action associated with the region it is in (only one building allowed per region). There is reverse hand limit, at the end of your turn if you have less than 5 cards you draw until you have five again. Many of the cards allow you hurt other players collectively or individually. For example the Fire Brigade card allows you to choose someone else's building. They must give you $5 or it burns down.
In addition to the main card deck and the 7 secret mission cards there is a card for each region and 12 random event cards. The secret missions are such things are gaining control of a set number of regions in the city or owning $50 worth of buildings and cash. As this is Ankh-Morpork, the throbbing economic heart of the Discworld, money plays an important part in the game. Given the designer; it is unsurprising that there are loans. There are also trouble markers. When a minion arrives in a region that already contains a minion, trouble follows. The existence of trouble prevents the erection of buildings and allows assassination.
In the first game we played my goal was to establish control in 4 regions to win. Peter guessed and blocked me the first time. But two turns later I managed it. I don't know what the others were trying to do, it wasn't obvious. My second game was Anne's first game. This time we concentrated on frustrating each other and the game took longer, before Peter won by getting minions into 10 areas of the city. There were attempts to confuse the other players by making it look like we could be going for two different goals. In the third game I started with the aim of making $50 which seemed hard. I grabbed what ever money I could and established as much control as possible to disguise my real goal. When the opportunity arrived to swap goals, I got the goal of 8+ trouble markers. Trolls and Demons arrived shortly after to create 10 trouble, though I expect I could have got to 8 without them.
If you are looking for a heavy strategy Martin Wallace game with multiple paths to victory then this is the wrong game for you. If you are looking for a non-serious, take-that, game with thematic art and jokes about the Discworld series then this is your game.
This is a much lighter game than I expected from Martin Wallace. Game play is basically play a card from your hand and do what it says. Everyone has their own secret objective, and a hand of cards which they use to establish minions and build buildings in various districts of the city of Ankh-Morpork. The cards are all illustrated in a style that is familiar from the book covers and most cards have special action text plus several icons at the top. These icons relate to the standard actions. Most actions on a card are optional but must be executed in order of the icons (from left to right). For each building you own, you may execute an additional action associated with the region it is in (only one building allowed per region). There is reverse hand limit, at the end of your turn if you have less than 5 cards you draw until you have five again. Many of the cards allow you hurt other players collectively or individually. For example the Fire Brigade card allows you to choose someone else's building. They must give you $5 or it burns down.
In addition to the main card deck and the 7 secret mission cards there is a card for each region and 12 random event cards. The secret missions are such things are gaining control of a set number of regions in the city or owning $50 worth of buildings and cash. As this is Ankh-Morpork, the throbbing economic heart of the Discworld, money plays an important part in the game. Given the designer; it is unsurprising that there are loans. There are also trouble markers. When a minion arrives in a region that already contains a minion, trouble follows. The existence of trouble prevents the erection of buildings and allows assassination.
In the first game we played my goal was to establish control in 4 regions to win. Peter guessed and blocked me the first time. But two turns later I managed it. I don't know what the others were trying to do, it wasn't obvious. My second game was Anne's first game. This time we concentrated on frustrating each other and the game took longer, before Peter won by getting minions into 10 areas of the city. There were attempts to confuse the other players by making it look like we could be going for two different goals. In the third game I started with the aim of making $50 which seemed hard. I grabbed what ever money I could and established as much control as possible to disguise my real goal. When the opportunity arrived to swap goals, I got the goal of 8+ trouble markers. Trolls and Demons arrived shortly after to create 10 trouble, though I expect I could have got to 8 without them.
If you are looking for a heavy strategy Martin Wallace game with multiple paths to victory then this is the wrong game for you. If you are looking for a non-serious, take-that, game with thematic art and jokes about the Discworld series then this is your game.
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