What if there would be a central island? Separated into 8, for example. Each parcel of the island would have its own number of loot.
Click on the picture to see it bigger.
What if I placed the treasure cards directly on the board and, if possible, on the direct island. If not, a pile outside of the board? In that case, I’m going to need a counter on the island.
What if the central island would be surrounded by small islands and reefs? Fixed or random place? Placed by players or predetermined?
What if the central island became the starting point? Fixed place or free access?
What if … !
Legitimate questions that I will have to find an answer to.
These are interesting leads that will dictate the future.
Event cards will be used during the rocket’s journey to its destination. Such a long journey and in conditions of lack of experience, one cannot have a quiet trip…. It is hoped that the problems encountered will be small and not too significant.
Draft Stage
I’m in the stage where I put my ideas on paper. This implies that during development, I will probably have to redo them… and maybe even several times. But I’m confidence, I have several cards created and the starting format always holds up. If there are changes, it may be minor.
Game Play
With the few cards created, I tested the effect in game and I like it! Again, I don’t feel the need to make any changes on the cards at this time… That’s a good sign.
Hope
I wish I could do a playtest! But there are too many elements missing and there are too many grey areas in the rules and even in the game to make one.
It depicts a 17th century family of settlers who will have to farm to feed their family and become the largest farm in the region. The life of the settlers was not easy and the game makes us feel it. The game starts with 2 workers (farmers) and you can increase the family to get more workers.
Material
I will talk about the version that I have which is the reissue made by Fun Forge. The material made in good quality and we like the meeples of farmers, resources and wooden animals. The board is adjustable according to the number of players.
Setting up :
Depending on the number of players, we install the necessary extensions to the central board. Some boxes will accumulate resources or animals as long as a player does not claim them, in which case the counter starts from zero and begins to accumulate again.
Other boxes are for a fixed bonus. A player goes on this case, he knows what he gets. Each round, a new card is revealed and at the same time, a new action case.
Sequence of the game
Each round is divided into a number of rounds. In each round, the player must place 1 of his farmers on 1 of the unoccupied case. Performs the action(s) linked and passes to the next player. I won’t list all the possibilities of action but for example it can be the gathering of wood, buying sheep at the market, plowing a land, sowing our ploughed lands, the expansion of the house… The choice is large and varied.
This is the way to play as long as players have 1 farmer that is not used. As the game progresses, players will have additional farmers.
After some rounds, a stage is added. During this stage, players will harvest what has been sown, feed their farmers and expand their herd.
Aware of the game, players will have the chance to activate cards that will bring him significant bonuses. Minor improvement and knowledge are unique cards that at the beginning of the game are randomly dealt. Unlike major improvements cards that are unique but are at the center of the table and follow the hard law of the fastest.
My Review :
There are several paths to victory and… it’s a chance! We quickly find ourselves unable to do everything and will be blocked by the choices of others. It is in the category “cut-throat”.
We would like to do everything and we need everything! We arrive at the end and we feel that we could not have done anything. After many plays, this impression fades and we understand that we must maneuver according to opportunities.
Our efforts will be directed towards the expansion and improvement of our house, the cultivation of wheat and vegetables or our herd of animals. Not to mention that we must feed our family and therefore find a way to get there or else we receive a malus for each farmer who will not be fed.
We must forget about the perfect farm that we would like to have….
I love this game! I love it. But I understand that it is not for everyone. The only advice I can give to new ones: «Do not seek perfection but the best possible» and everything will be fine.
I gave it some color. It now looks like my old board.
Old:
New:
Little reminder about the why of the new board.
1- I realized that often during my test games, one side of the board was abandoned. So we ended up with a few lines of Zombie that were not targeted by the players. From turn to turn, we had to keep moving them. Some Zombies here and there are fine, but often it was tedious because of the large number of drifting Zombies.
2- I took the opportunity to add a score track to the board. The track will make the score more concrete. The players, «in theory», will react more in front of a rise in score of an opponent. Before, it was blurry and the players took some time before taking actions to catch him.
After 8 or 9 hours of hard work, I finished making my grid on a transparent vinyl. I plan to reuse it with a different background, the space!
I started by printing a grid in several copies to create a huge grid all well aligned.
But above all, I will produce a huge tray on a transparent tablecloth. The idea behind is to be able to change the image below for other projects.
I embarked on this adventure without knowing that I had just started a big contract. Once finished, I love the result! But I don’t want to do it again. I hope it will last long!!
In the form of a chronicle file, I present to you some adventures experienced by players over the years. It’s unfortunate that (too) often I don’t take picture of played adventures.
Mission Case 05: Haunted Mine
In the royal properties there are mines of precious stones. On the continent of the Kingdom there are several mines. Mines of all kinds: ferrous metals, gold, coal, precious stones, and other. This is one of the strengths of the Kingdom. Many belong to the King and others to private individuals.
One of these royal mines is known as the Whisper from Beyond the Grave. According to the legend and supported by many testimonies of workers, the mine would be haunted by several ghosts. Ghosts that would be the remnants of ancient peoples who ruled before humans. In recent years, the mine has been abandoned. The workers did not want to go.
Since then, animals and a few criminals have been there. They live there.
The Royal Guard was dispatched to take over the mine.
Mission characteristics
The challenge was once again, in a corridor environment. Narrow corridors in addition, with a lot of blind spots. Long-range weapons would not be effective here.
Some rooms allow for multi-party fights. Players must be careful not to fall into a trap and become separated from the group.
30 Rails is a Roll & Write available in PnP on BGG. Simple and efficient, we must build a railway network to connect stations.
Material
As it is a PnP: We must print the grid sheet (1 per person) Have a pencil each and only 2 dice (1 black and 1 white)
Setting up :
Each player’s board is a square grid of 36 squares. Each row and column is numbered from 1 to 6.
With the help of a die, we will place on our grid mountains. The mountains represent boxes that will be unusable for the construction of our railway network. It gives a certain re-playability because we won’t be able to trace the same routes. We can, once, refuse to place a mountain and leave the square free.
Choose one of these mountains and place a mine on one of its 4 sides. For each station that will have access to the mine will increase the score given at the end of the game.
We choose a location by side of our grid to write a station numbered 1 to 4, without following a particular order. Two stations can be on the same line or column on opposite sides. For example, turning around the grid clockwise can have:
Station #2 at the top on column 5 Station #3 right on line 1 Station #1 at the bottom on column 5 And station #4 left on line 3
Finally, we choose a box that will be special that will give more points each time a railway goes through this box. It can be seen as an important place in the region.
The game
At each turn of a player, all players will play. The active player shuffles 2 dice (1 black and 1 white). Black gives us the shape of the railway that can be built (see the charter given with the game). You can change the direction and/or reverse it but you cannot change the shape of the path.
The white indicates in which row OR column the path in question can be constructed. Once a game we can ignore the black dice and/ or the white dice by changing the value according to our needs.
Once the grid is complete, the points are calculated. We will give points to the stations that will be connected and a bonus if the path passes through the special box of the important place. Every station that goes to the mine will give points.
My Review :
I really like this little puzzle. It is both simple to play and complex to master. To like the solo mode, you have to like the «beat my score» style. The game offers a score scale as an objective.
A big step has been taken. No more playing cards and welcome Action cards!
I have nothing personal against playing cards. On the contrary, I like them and I reconnect with them occasionally. The problem was that they were not adapted. I had a sheet with the list of cards and their associated effect.
During the game, we had to go back on the sheet repeatedly. I would say at least 2 to 3 times per round. We looked at the list when we drew a new card, we looked to visualize our choices and one last time to be sure we were playing the right card. And we had to watch once again when it was the Zombies’ turn. It never ended. Too much waste of time.
The cards being well confirmed, I could move on to the next step and remove a big negative point in the game. As the same cards are for players and Zombie, I created them with a double side. Simply by turning the card, we have information for the player or for the zombie.
If I have to make corrections to the action cards, it will probably be minor or very focused on a few cards. Add or eliminate some… who knows
Saturday we had a game day with Halloween background music and decorations. I must say a big thank you to the players who agreed to come and participate in our Halloween day. We had a great day. It is for days like this, that we make games days.
All the games played were first time for all. Before the day, I had read the rules of all but 1.
The brave: -Alexandra -François -Sebastien -and me
On the menu: – The Butterfly Collector (PnP, Escape Room) – Mephisto (PnP, Hand Management, Strategy) – Sorcerer (Deck Builder, Hand Management) – Trick Roll Treat (PnP, Roll & Write, Strategy) – Witch of Salem (Coop, Strategy, Hand Management)
Click on the photos to see them bigger.
The Butterfly Collector (PnP, Escape Room)
We started with a PnP planned to be a Solo of type «escape room» The Butterfly Collector. We played it in COOP mode as a trio (Sebas, Frank and I). We had stressful moments and an epic finale!! We will remember for a long time the most tense «Rock-Paper-Chisel» in history! We could see our minutes scratching at 10-12 minutes per card… No but… Take 12 minutes to realize that there is text on the back of a photo… Ost@# de Cal@#% … In any case, you must have played the game to fully understand the case. The game is good. I don’t think the game is particularly extraordinary. I don’t know if it’s the music, the atmosphere, the fact that we weren’t quite awake but… We tripped.
For the rest, we were joined by Alex.
Mephisto (PnP, Hand Management, Strategy)
We continued with Mephisto, another PnP. We play as adventurers who plundered castles and slaughtered creatures. Not very honest adventurers… We made a pact with Mephisto to be immortal, brave and find plenty of treasure. But to preserve this privilege, one must be the one who will «collect» souls of greater values. While Seb, Frank and I were doing our best with the weapons we found, Alex with a simple fork was mowing monster after monster. She didn’t win Mephisto’s favor, but she won our respect. Respect Alex!! If I see you, Alex, holding a fork, I’m going to stay quiet in my corner…
Sorcerer (Deck Builder, Hand Management)
Street fight between Vampires, Necromancers, Animists and Satanists to take control of the territory. The Satanists controlled by Seb quickly took the lead with ONE highly boosted creature. Some will say with the help of luck…. But not me… Not me… Finally… In short, after 2h30 of play (the box says 1h), a first victory is concluded by the Satanics. A third of the victories to be declared Big Boss. We concluded that we would stop there. But all loved the game despite the laborious tricks of learning. Even if we take execution speed, I don’t think we’ll be able to play it in an hour.
Trick Roll Treat (PnP, Roll & Write, Strategy)
Then we took our bag and went to pick some candy in the neighborhood with another PnP, Trick Roll Treat. I wanted a little Roll & Write of about 30 minutes. It took us 30 min to UNDERSTAND the game… Found the same morning, I didn’t have time to read the rules. Once done, it’s okay, we can release it next year but no more. I don’t remember who won, but if it’s not me, it doesn’t matter…. XD
Witch of Salem (Coop, Strategy, Hand Management)
Finally, a COOP, Witch of Salem. I don’t know if it’s fatigue or what…. We were miserable, pitiful, execrable…. So you understand…. We lost. The group liked it in general. Personally, I prefer Pandemic: The reign of Cthulhu to this one but there are many differences in the execution of the game so both have their place.
Penthragore (Patrice Boulerice) 