It's ok. Kinda fun with a silly theme. (Apparently it was originally about the sinking of the Russian sub Kursk, but then the designer thought this was REALLY fucking depressing, so he added gnomes)
It does, however, run head long, full tilt into the old co-op problem of "One person directing all the actions". Can be fun if you don't mind that so much.
Also the tiny board makes the score track annoying.
It isn't any bloody fun, is what's wrong with it. You are actually doing best at the game when you set up, and if you at that point refuse to do anything and put the game back in the box, you have won without having to do anything. The guy in our group who actually owns it always wants to play, but no one else will ever agree to participate unless we're feeling particularly generous and in the mood to drive glass under our fingernails while we humor his urge to waste our time playing.
The rulebook is also absolutely wretched, due to translation issues.
Still, you'd think it WOULD be fun, being about drunken gnomes on a nuclear sub.
How do you like Brood War Expansion? Necessary or just "Hey, pretty cool."
It was already integrated when we played, so I couldn't really tell you the difference. There's a joke that despite playing Starcraft many times, they've ever only actually finished one game. It takes a long time to play, you see. But, I do dig the stacking concept for placing orders and the diceless combat. Although that's just replacing one form of random for another (combat cards).
I kind of want to play a game of Star Trek that I saw in the stack of boxes they brought. Isn't that game like thirty years old? I remember seeing it around even when I was a kid.
Red November is a fun game, but it requires a certain mindset to enjoy and some people just don't have it.
Agricola is pretty much amazing.
Had my first game of Tales of the Arabian Nights today, 3-person game, and if I hadn't kept getting Scorned with only a couple Destiny points to go, I could have won. But no, it ended up with me having to go to Mecca first On Pilgramage and so being unable to beat Ali Baba to the punch at Bahgdad. :P
I agree with DarkPrimus. I think to enjoy Red November you have to be able to enjoy playing a game just because you are playing a game. If you're going to get frustrated by complete randomness, simple rules and very little ability to in any way interact with the outcome of the game, you won't enjoy it. Some people who enjoy strategy games can also just enjoy playing a game for the sake of moving pieces around, flipping cards and giggling. Some people don't enjoy that as much.
The rulebook is still absolutely terrible though.
Also, every time we play I get drunk, pass out, the room I'm in floods and I die.
Also, every time we play I get drunk, pass out, the room I'm in floods and I die.
At first, I thought you were talking about yourself, until I got to the room-flooding and dying part and realized you were talking about your gnome. Definitely wouldn't make for a game I'd look forward to play either, if that were the case. :P
I agree with DarkPrimus. I think to enjoy Red November you have to be able to enjoy playing a game just because you are playing a game. If you're going to get frustrated by complete randomness, simple rules and very little ability to in any way interact with the outcome of the game, you won't enjoy it. Some people who enjoy strategy games can also just enjoy playing a game for the sake of moving pieces around, flipping cards and giggling. Some people don't enjoy that as much.
The rulebook is still absolutely terrible though.
Also, every time we play I get drunk, pass out, the room I'm in floods and I die.
It certainly has many random events, but there's tons you can do to effect the outcome of the game.
It's a co-op game in the vein of BSG. It's a constant loosing battle. Your just trying to keep yourself alive long enough for the timer to run out.
"The Realist" -- You realize it's all frakked and you're all gonna die soon anyway. You win if, by the end of the game, each player has been airlocked at least once.
I've played it eight or nine times and only won once.
It's a game you go into knowing everything is going to go horribly, and just hoping you all go down in a hilarious manner.
...that sounds like BSG to me.
Someone always wins in BSG.
Although it can sometimes come close to a complete wipe with extremely bad luck... one of Rend's IRC games got perilously close to this point where a couple of centurions decided to march almost all the way down the halls of Galactica amidst loads and loads of gunfire from the completely human crew.
How do you like Brood War Expansion? Necessary or just "Hey, pretty cool."
I got to play for the first time on Saturday and I enjoyed it completely. I figured I would cause I like games like that. We played with the expansion, and from what I was told by the guy that owns it, it is a necessity. He said it balances it out a lot.
So I have the chance to get hold of Advanced Heroquest, now I've already got and enjoy Heroquest. Is there any big difference? Is it a different game? Large update? Or just a re-released version with amendments and clarifications?
Had my first game of Tales of the Arabian Nights today, 3-person game, and if I hadn't kept getting Scorned with only a couple Destiny points to go, I could have won. But no, it ended up with me having to go to Mecca first On Pilgramage and so being unable to beat Ali Baba to the punch at Bahgdad. :P
Had another game of AN last night. I ended up being imprisoned in Samarkand for about seven consecutive turns, while one of the other players consistently worked her way towards victory (I was also a Wounded, Envious Donkey-man at this point, although I eventually got rid of Envious). Eventually, she sauntered back to Baghdad and announced her victory the turn after I got freed. I was three D and three S points away from winning (and in Samarkand) so there was no way to complete the game -- but I had an opportunity to enter the Cave of Wonders and I'd never seen what happened in there, so what the hell.
I used my last turn to head into the cave. Bang: 3 Destiny Points, 3 Story points, Wealth +3, and a Treasure. "Oh well, too bad I'm way out here at the ass-end of Asia."
I idly read my treasure card, just to see what it is: A Hairless Ape. Trade it in to be transported to any space on the board.
...
I appear in Baghdad in a puff of smoke and claim the victory.
I don't know if I was technically allowed to use the Ape at that point in my turn, but we all agreed that it was too awesome to play any other way.
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UtsanomikoBros before DoesRollin' in the thlayRegistered Userregular
Ok, let me tell you guys about a game called Planet Steam.
Now, from what I was told there are only 500 copies in the world. Not sure if this is true or not, but no one at the game fest heard of it, as far as I know. But of all the games I played over this weekend, this was by and far the most intense and interesting experience. And in the end utterly rewarding. The game is relatively simple, but at the same time complex with all the different interactions.
I'm going to try my best to describe this game and how it's played. I'm not good at this type of game, but I will do my best.
Unfortunately BGG doesn't have many good images up of the gameboard and such. I'll use this:
This is, as the caption on BGG indicates, the start of a 5-player game. This isn't a shot of the whole board game, though it is where the "main action" happens. I can't remember what they're called but the man hole covered things are where you'll be able to place your tanks, that you purchase. You can see what they look like on the right.
Eventually your game board will look like this:
This is a 3-player game. Those silver things are the tanks. The "add-ons" on the tanks determine what your tank will produce when it's the produce phase. The white add-on produces energy, the grey produces ore, and the black produces crystal. No add on will produce water, and the dome on top of some tanks is called a compressor cap and that doubles the production of that tank.
Each of these resources are used to purchase different things. Some are a bit more valuable than others in some aspects, but for the most part the actual value of the resources is determined by you and your fellow gamers.
This is where all the action happens (in my opinion):
This is the market. The left of the picture is the current market value of each resource. The right is the supply. The + and - numbers to the far right of the supply determine how that resource will move up or down in price. So on the left, each resource is at their starting position for the game. Crystal worth 6, Ore worth 8, Water worth 7, and Energy worth 7 (can't really see, but I'm sure it's 7). Each resource is set to 0 on the supply, which is not their starting values. I can't remember them, but they're not at those values. So this means that during a certain point of the game, which happens multiple times, those resources will increase two spaces on their value and become more expensive, in order to encourage people to start selling their resources to fill the market back up.
So each player starts with 2 covers on the board, as illustrated above. I played a four player game and the set up may differ, but our covers were separated a space. So Blue and Yellow would move their left most cover one space to the left and Red, White, and Green move theirs to the right. But in any case, that's it. The other covers you see are spots you cannot place yours at except for a few exceptions, which we'll get into when we discuss placing the covers.
Next thing is each player gets these:
These are your carriers. They carry your resources. The upper left is the amount of that particular resource that it will carry and the right is just it's upgrade number. You start with one and upgrade to 4. When I played 2 of mine were still at 1, one was at 2, and one was a 3. So you're not going to do a whole lot of upgrading them, but you do want to upgrade some.
First thing you do is you auction off for these:
These are the character cards. You start with 120 (I believe) credits and you go around bidding on first pick of those characters. Person that wins the first bid gets to pick first, so they can pick any character. The number on the characters determine their play order. Also, each character has a special ability. Since I played a four player game, I can only describe the first four. Don't know anything about the 5th.
1 - Gets to go first at everything. Each phase goes in turn order and she gets first crack at it all. No other power.
2 - Gets to pick a spot on the board to auction off for a "free" cover. It's free cause otherwise you only get one per turn, this will give the winner 2. This player will always pay half of the highest price. So if I have it and I bid 30 dollars, and everyone passes I would only pay 15. You round up, as well. So 31 would've been 16.
3 - This guy places his token at the bottom of the board, which will double the production of everyone in that column.
4 - This guy gets a building permit (I'll go over that later) or 15 credits.
After this, you go on placing your covers. You choose a spot on the board you want to place your cover and then roll the die. If you roll 1 - 3 you fail. 4 - 6 you succeed and get to place the cover on the spot you chose. If you fail, you still get to place your cover, but it must be either horizontal or vertical of where you chose and legal as well. Or instead of that, you can use your building permit and that gets you the spot without rolling. You can also use the permit to build your cover on a spot that has one of the other covers on there that I said you couldn't build on before.
After this, each player "antes" up a water for activation of their covers. Then you go, in player order, purchasing the tanks. The supply is on the right and you start at the top where they're cheapest and go down and they get more expensive. After you buy them you place them on your covers and then upgrade them to produce the different resources. Also, I forgot to mention the red column down the middle is a steam vent in which you will produce water for free (which I'll explain a little more). So it's a pretty decent spot to have.
After everyone has purchased their tanks and their upgrades, we go in player order to "harvest" resources. Depending on how you upgrade your tank will determine what you produce. If you had a tank on the "free water" space I described you get a water. If you had a tank that produced an energy, you get a free energy. If you had one that produced crystal, ore, or water (on a non free water space) you pay an energy and get your resource. If you had compressor cap on top of it, you get double the resource. Forgot to mention, but you get water if you don't upgrade the tank. So the base tank produces water by default.
After this you go into the market phase. Starting in player order they decide first on crystal. Buy or sell. After they do that you adjust the supply marker, if needed, then adjust the price according to current supply. Then go to the next player for crystal. Adjust each. Third and fourth doing the same thing. Then go to Ore and do it, then the same for water and energy. After this, you build new tanks in the supply until either the supply is full to the top or until you run out of either ore or energy. Each tank takes one of each out of the supply and if there isn't sufficient supply only a few tanks could be made.
Then each player decides, in turn order, to purchase builders permits or builders license. Builders license is nothing more than 50 credits that cannot be spent. So they come up during scoring.
You do this through 5 or 6 turns, can't remember, and then whoever has the most credits at the end wins the game.
Why this game is so intense.
You run out of money FAST! Money, or credits, are the basis of the game. You start out with 120, I believe, and you use it in almost all the phases. And the only way to get money is to sell resources. Well if the resource you have a lot of is already high in supply, you're probably not going to get a lot for it. So the market place is such a big part of the game. The way people buy and sell will drastically change the way you play your game. You have to adapt to the situation and do it fast or you will fall so far behind you won't be able to catch up.
There are also only 7 of those Builders Licenses, so get them before they're gone. 50 credits at the end of the game is so valuable. From our game, it's pretty clear that the person with the most of those will win.
I didn't get a single one during my game and came in dead last. If you get a chance to play, go for it. You won't regret it.
Played more BattleLore (using full Lore Council rules, 6 points) yesterday. I BattleLore. I still had that $40 credit with this game store and couldn't decide what to get, so I ordered the Call to Arms expansion and the dwarven Scottish army box. I'm antsy for the heroes expansion to come out.
So I played race for the galaxy for the first time the other night with a friend. It was quite a bit of fun, to be certain, but I really wish there was more interaction between the players. It kind of felt like I was playing competitive solitaire.
I'm also curious as to what the expansions add to the game.
The first expansion adds goals. I got to play it for the first time. Basically you pick random goals and you get VPs for them.
There are two kinds. Most and first. Most is the first with the most of a certain thing similar to Settlers. Have to get to the requirement first then maintain it without someone taking over.
First is the first to get something or do something. First to discard a card/cards after having too many at round end. First to get a 6 cost development, and so forth. You get it, you keep it.
The second expansion apparently adds a lot of military to the game and allows you to take over military worlds. But I wouldn't be able to tell you more than that.
Also, the first expansion adds a single player variant to it.
And as far as it feeling like playing solitaire faster than the other player, that's correct. You're just hoping to play solitaire faster than them. You're racing... for the galaxy. See what I did there?
I don't find it to be multiplayer solitare. You're constantly trying to predict what other players are going to do. Do you want to play explore for the bonus, even though that other play has a small hand, or would you rather just get your card and then get the bonus for develop? Red Player has a lot of worlds with goods on them, so why don't I hold off on playing my consume card so I can piggyback off theirs and settle this world I finally have cards for?
Every aspect of the other players hand and tableau play into your decision making. You may not be killing their mans, but everything they do (From selecting an action to playing a new card) affects you in some way. I think I recall an essay from one of the developers arguing that the game is extremely far from the multi-player solitare stereotype. I will see if I can find it.
In my opinion, the Gather Storm exp is a total waste. Hardly any cards, I don't play solitare, and the goals i don't find too interesting. Still trying to decide if I want to bother with Rebel V Imp.
And as far as it feeling like playing solitaire faster than the other player, that's correct. You're just hoping to play solitaire faster than them. You're racing... for the galaxy. See what I did there?
Clever girl.
Thanks for the feedback, both of you.
Perhaps, starmanbrand, I didn't get the same feeling of caring what the other player(s) were trying to do because I was playing with only one other person and we were playing the variant where you each get to play 2 phase cards (i guess you'd call them that) a turn.
Maybe I'll give a better feeling of strategic depth playing with 4 players.
Edit: Also, reading the article you linked, it's quite clear that I haven't begun to pick up on the game's subtle nuances of strategy at all yet.
And as far as it feeling like playing solitaire faster than the other player, that's correct. You're just hoping to play solitaire faster than them. You're racing... for the galaxy. See what I did there?
Clever girl.
Thanks for the feedback, both of you.
Perhaps, starmanbrand, I didn't get the same feeling of caring what the other player(s) were trying to do because I was playing with only one other person and we were playing the variant where you each get to play 2 phase cards (i guess you'd call them that) a turn.
Maybe I'll give a better feeling of strategic depth playing with 4 players.
Edit: Also, reading the article you linked, it's quite clear that I haven't begun to pick up on the game's subtle nuances of strategy at all yet.
Yeah a two player game is more of a race and a three player game you pay more attention to what you're opponents are doing.
You should still pay attention in a two player game, but it's no where near as bad. Especially since you're playing with the two action card variant. Then you're going to have a lot of overlapping actions which tend to not really matter.
Played more BattleLore (using full Lore Council rules, 6 points) yesterday. I BattleLore. I still had that $40 credit with this game store and couldn't decide what to get, so I ordered the Call to Arms expansion and the dwarven Scottish army box. I'm antsy for the heroes expansion to come out.
This is where I don't show off the copy of Heroes that's sitting next to my monitor, is it?
PMAvers on
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Make sure you're clear of mind when playing. I was dizzy afterward from all the thinking. There's so much to think about and trying to predict what others are going to do. It is a true gamers game, though. Everyone that played it seemed to really enjoy the game thoroughly.
Played more BattleLore (using full Lore Council rules, 6 points) yesterday. I BattleLore. I still had that $40 credit with this game store and couldn't decide what to get, so I ordered the Call to Arms expansion and the dwarven Scottish army box. I'm antsy for the heroes expansion to come out.
This is where I don't show off the copy of Heroes that's sitting next to my monitor, is it?
...
Actually, gratz. Test / review copy?
Do we have an official release date on this, yet? All I see is "Fall 2009."
Played more BattleLore (using full Lore Council rules, 6 points) yesterday. I BattleLore. I still had that $40 credit with this game store and couldn't decide what to get, so I ordered the Call to Arms expansion and the dwarven Scottish army box. I'm antsy for the heroes expansion to come out.
This is where I don't show off the copy of Heroes that's sitting next to my monitor, is it?
...
Actually, gratz. Test / review copy?
Do we have an official release date on this, yet? All I see is "Fall 2009."
Wannnnnnt iiiiiit.
Actually, a lot easier. It was for sale at GenCon. :winky:
Hopefully that means it'll be heading to stores soon...
Grabbed my camera, and although it looks like I had it set to "suck", here's a few quick pictures.
The first expansion adds goals. I got to play it for the first time. Basically you pick random goals and you get VPs for them.
There are two kinds. Most and first. Most is the first with the most of a certain thing similar to Settlers. Have to get to the requirement first then maintain it without someone taking over.
First is the first to get something or do something. First to discard a card/cards after having too many at round end. First to get a 6 cost development, and so forth. You get it, you keep it.
The second expansion apparently adds a lot of military to the game and allows you to take over military worlds. But I wouldn't be able to tell you more than that.
Also, the first expansion adds a single player variant to it.
And as far as it feeling like playing solitaire faster than the other player, that's correct. You're just hoping to play solitaire faster than them. You're racing... for the galaxy. See what I did there?
I played several games with both expansions yesterday (first time playing with the new expansion).
First off, in any version of Race when you are just learning the game it plays somewhat solo yes. However, if you are playing the game well you damn well better be watching what everyone is playing and thinking very hard about what they are going to do next. That is where a lot of the skill comes in to the game, correctly figuring out what actions your opponents will pull so as to increase your own tempo of play.
As to the new expansion: It is great. I am definetly going to buy it as soon as a copy is available. It adds a bunch of options for Rebel and Imperium worlds, some misc stuff (including the Monolith, a 8 cost 8 point alien windfall world) and the ability to conquer planets (eg: steal them from what other players have in play). Though this doesn't come up too often it is a cool addition.
I don't find it to be multiplayer solitare. You're constantly trying to predict what other players are going to do. Do you want to play explore for the bonus, even though that other play has a small hand, or would you rather just get your card and then get the bonus for develop? Red Player has a lot of worlds with goods on them, so why don't I hold off on playing my consume card so I can piggyback off theirs and settle this world I finally have cards for?
Every aspect of the other players hand and tableau play into your decision making. You may not be killing their mans, but everything they do (From selecting an action to playing a new card) affects you in some way. I think I recall an essay from one of the developers arguing that the game is extremely far from the multi-player solitare stereotype. I will see if I can find it.
In my opinion, the Gather Storm exp is a total waste. Hardly any cards, I don't play solitare, and the goals i don't find too interesting. Still trying to decide if I want to bother with Rebel V Imp.
I think Gathering Storm is downright vital for the starting worlds alone. And the cards it adds really flesh out the basic set. Definetly a must if you like the game.
I am curious to see some reviews/play reports and see how it actually plays out. But the idea of having unique heroes running around the field sounds pretty excellent to me.
I think Gathering Storm is downright vital for the starting worlds alone. And the cards it adds really flesh out the basic set. Definetly a must if you like the game.
I admit defeat- The new starting world cards are vital.
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UtsanomikoBros before DoesRollin' in the thlayRegistered Userregular
I think Gathering Storm is downright vital for the starting worlds alone. And the cards it adds really flesh out the basic set. Definetly a must if you like the game.
I admit defeat- The new starting world cards are vital.
There are some cool new starting worlds in Rebel vs Imperium as well. One of them has the "draw a card at the start of every development phase" power. Another is a rebel world.
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No, I had never heard of the game until I heard Darkewolf mention it and he just has some things to say about it is all
Yeah, Darkewolfe refused to pull it out and play when aznman and I joined him. He doesn't seem to like it much.
It's ok. Kinda fun with a silly theme. (Apparently it was originally about the sinking of the Russian sub Kursk, but then the designer thought this was REALLY fucking depressing, so he added gnomes)
It does, however, run head long, full tilt into the old co-op problem of "One person directing all the actions". Can be fun if you don't mind that so much.
Also the tiny board makes the score track annoying.
Other then that, it's ok.
The rulebook is also absolutely wretched, due to translation issues.
Still, you'd think it WOULD be fun, being about drunken gnomes on a nuclear sub.
It was already integrated when we played, so I couldn't really tell you the difference. There's a joke that despite playing Starcraft many times, they've ever only actually finished one game. It takes a long time to play, you see. But, I do dig the stacking concept for placing orders and the diceless combat. Although that's just replacing one form of random for another (combat cards).
I kind of want to play a game of Star Trek that I saw in the stack of boxes they brought. Isn't that game like thirty years old? I remember seeing it around even when I was a kid.
Agricola is pretty much amazing.
Had my first game of Tales of the Arabian Nights today, 3-person game, and if I hadn't kept getting Scorned with only a couple Destiny points to go, I could have won. But no, it ended up with me having to go to Mecca first On Pilgramage and so being unable to beat Ali Baba to the punch at Bahgdad. :P
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
The rulebook is still absolutely terrible though.
Also, every time we play I get drunk, pass out, the room I'm in floods and I die.
At first, I thought you were talking about yourself, until I got to the room-flooding and dying part and realized you were talking about your gnome. Definitely wouldn't make for a game I'd look forward to play either, if that were the case. :P
It certainly has many random events, but there's tons you can do to effect the outcome of the game.
It's a co-op game in the vein of BSG. It's a constant loosing battle. Your just trying to keep yourself alive long enough for the timer to run out.
It's a game you go into knowing everything is going to go horribly, and just hoping you all go down in a hilarious manner.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
...that sounds like BSG to me.
And next week we get to add in airlocks. :winky:
"The Realist" -- You realize it's all frakked and you're all gonna die soon anyway. You win if, by the end of the game, each player has been airlocked at least once.
Someone always wins in BSG.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Although it can sometimes come close to a complete wipe with extremely bad luck... one of Rend's IRC games got perilously close to this point where a couple of centurions decided to march almost all the way down the halls of Galactica amidst loads and loads of gunfire from the completely human crew.
I got to play for the first time on Saturday and I enjoyed it completely. I figured I would cause I like games like that. We played with the expansion, and from what I was told by the guy that owns it, it is a necessity. He said it balances it out a lot.
Had another game of AN last night. I ended up being imprisoned in Samarkand for about seven consecutive turns, while one of the other players consistently worked her way towards victory (I was also a Wounded, Envious Donkey-man at this point, although I eventually got rid of Envious). Eventually, she sauntered back to Baghdad and announced her victory the turn after I got freed. I was three D and three S points away from winning (and in Samarkand) so there was no way to complete the game -- but I had an opportunity to enter the Cave of Wonders and I'd never seen what happened in there, so what the hell.
I used my last turn to head into the cave. Bang: 3 Destiny Points, 3 Story points, Wealth +3, and a Treasure. "Oh well, too bad I'm way out here at the ass-end of Asia."
I idly read my treasure card, just to see what it is: A Hairless Ape. Trade it in to be transported to any space on the board.
...
I appear in Baghdad in a puff of smoke and claim the victory.
Looks like SPACE HULK is on its way back into production.
Now, from what I was told there are only 500 copies in the world. Not sure if this is true or not, but no one at the game fest heard of it, as far as I know. But of all the games I played over this weekend, this was by and far the most intense and interesting experience. And in the end utterly rewarding. The game is relatively simple, but at the same time complex with all the different interactions.
I'm going to try my best to describe this game and how it's played. I'm not good at this type of game, but I will do my best.
Unfortunately BGG doesn't have many good images up of the gameboard and such. I'll use this:
This is, as the caption on BGG indicates, the start of a 5-player game. This isn't a shot of the whole board game, though it is where the "main action" happens. I can't remember what they're called but the man hole covered things are where you'll be able to place your tanks, that you purchase. You can see what they look like on the right.
Eventually your game board will look like this:
This is a 3-player game. Those silver things are the tanks. The "add-ons" on the tanks determine what your tank will produce when it's the produce phase. The white add-on produces energy, the grey produces ore, and the black produces crystal. No add on will produce water, and the dome on top of some tanks is called a compressor cap and that doubles the production of that tank.
Each of these resources are used to purchase different things. Some are a bit more valuable than others in some aspects, but for the most part the actual value of the resources is determined by you and your fellow gamers.
This is where all the action happens (in my opinion):
This is the market. The left of the picture is the current market value of each resource. The right is the supply. The + and - numbers to the far right of the supply determine how that resource will move up or down in price. So on the left, each resource is at their starting position for the game. Crystal worth 6, Ore worth 8, Water worth 7, and Energy worth 7 (can't really see, but I'm sure it's 7). Each resource is set to 0 on the supply, which is not their starting values. I can't remember them, but they're not at those values. So this means that during a certain point of the game, which happens multiple times, those resources will increase two spaces on their value and become more expensive, in order to encourage people to start selling their resources to fill the market back up.
So each player starts with 2 covers on the board, as illustrated above. I played a four player game and the set up may differ, but our covers were separated a space. So Blue and Yellow would move their left most cover one space to the left and Red, White, and Green move theirs to the right. But in any case, that's it. The other covers you see are spots you cannot place yours at except for a few exceptions, which we'll get into when we discuss placing the covers.
Next thing is each player gets these:
These are your carriers. They carry your resources. The upper left is the amount of that particular resource that it will carry and the right is just it's upgrade number. You start with one and upgrade to 4. When I played 2 of mine were still at 1, one was at 2, and one was a 3. So you're not going to do a whole lot of upgrading them, but you do want to upgrade some.
First thing you do is you auction off for these:
These are the character cards. You start with 120 (I believe) credits and you go around bidding on first pick of those characters. Person that wins the first bid gets to pick first, so they can pick any character. The number on the characters determine their play order. Also, each character has a special ability. Since I played a four player game, I can only describe the first four. Don't know anything about the 5th.
1 - Gets to go first at everything. Each phase goes in turn order and she gets first crack at it all. No other power.
2 - Gets to pick a spot on the board to auction off for a "free" cover. It's free cause otherwise you only get one per turn, this will give the winner 2. This player will always pay half of the highest price. So if I have it and I bid 30 dollars, and everyone passes I would only pay 15. You round up, as well. So 31 would've been 16.
3 - This guy places his token at the bottom of the board, which will double the production of everyone in that column.
4 - This guy gets a building permit (I'll go over that later) or 15 credits.
After this, you go on placing your covers. You choose a spot on the board you want to place your cover and then roll the die. If you roll 1 - 3 you fail. 4 - 6 you succeed and get to place the cover on the spot you chose. If you fail, you still get to place your cover, but it must be either horizontal or vertical of where you chose and legal as well. Or instead of that, you can use your building permit and that gets you the spot without rolling. You can also use the permit to build your cover on a spot that has one of the other covers on there that I said you couldn't build on before.
After this, each player "antes" up a water for activation of their covers. Then you go, in player order, purchasing the tanks. The supply is on the right and you start at the top where they're cheapest and go down and they get more expensive. After you buy them you place them on your covers and then upgrade them to produce the different resources. Also, I forgot to mention the red column down the middle is a steam vent in which you will produce water for free (which I'll explain a little more). So it's a pretty decent spot to have.
After everyone has purchased their tanks and their upgrades, we go in player order to "harvest" resources. Depending on how you upgrade your tank will determine what you produce. If you had a tank on the "free water" space I described you get a water. If you had a tank that produced an energy, you get a free energy. If you had one that produced crystal, ore, or water (on a non free water space) you pay an energy and get your resource. If you had compressor cap on top of it, you get double the resource. Forgot to mention, but you get water if you don't upgrade the tank. So the base tank produces water by default.
After this you go into the market phase. Starting in player order they decide first on crystal. Buy or sell. After they do that you adjust the supply marker, if needed, then adjust the price according to current supply. Then go to the next player for crystal. Adjust each. Third and fourth doing the same thing. Then go to Ore and do it, then the same for water and energy. After this, you build new tanks in the supply until either the supply is full to the top or until you run out of either ore or energy. Each tank takes one of each out of the supply and if there isn't sufficient supply only a few tanks could be made.
Then each player decides, in turn order, to purchase builders permits or builders license. Builders license is nothing more than 50 credits that cannot be spent. So they come up during scoring.
You do this through 5 or 6 turns, can't remember, and then whoever has the most credits at the end wins the game.
Why this game is so intense.
You run out of money FAST! Money, or credits, are the basis of the game. You start out with 120, I believe, and you use it in almost all the phases. And the only way to get money is to sell resources. Well if the resource you have a lot of is already high in supply, you're probably not going to get a lot for it. So the market place is such a big part of the game. The way people buy and sell will drastically change the way you play your game. You have to adapt to the situation and do it fast or you will fall so far behind you won't be able to catch up.
There are also only 7 of those Builders Licenses, so get them before they're gone. 50 credits at the end of the game is so valuable. From our game, it's pretty clear that the person with the most of those will win.
I didn't get a single one during my game and came in dead last. If you get a chance to play, go for it. You won't regret it.
Lemme know if you have any questions.
I'm also curious as to what the expansions add to the game.
There are two kinds. Most and first. Most is the first with the most of a certain thing similar to Settlers. Have to get to the requirement first then maintain it without someone taking over.
First is the first to get something or do something. First to discard a card/cards after having too many at round end. First to get a 6 cost development, and so forth. You get it, you keep it.
The second expansion apparently adds a lot of military to the game and allows you to take over military worlds. But I wouldn't be able to tell you more than that.
Also, the first expansion adds a single player variant to it.
And as far as it feeling like playing solitaire faster than the other player, that's correct. You're just hoping to play solitaire faster than them. You're racing... for the galaxy. See what I did there?
Every aspect of the other players hand and tableau play into your decision making. You may not be killing their mans, but everything they do (From selecting an action to playing a new card) affects you in some way. I think I recall an essay from one of the developers arguing that the game is extremely far from the multi-player solitare stereotype. I will see if I can find it.
In my opinion, the Gather Storm exp is a total waste. Hardly any cards, I don't play solitare, and the goals i don't find too interesting. Still trying to decide if I want to bother with Rebel V Imp.
Edit- Article http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/299298
Clever girl.
Thanks for the feedback, both of you.
Perhaps, starmanbrand, I didn't get the same feeling of caring what the other player(s) were trying to do because I was playing with only one other person and we were playing the variant where you each get to play 2 phase cards (i guess you'd call them that) a turn.
Maybe I'll give a better feeling of strategic depth playing with 4 players.
Edit: Also, reading the article you linked, it's quite clear that I haven't begun to pick up on the game's subtle nuances of strategy at all yet.
Yeah a two player game is more of a race and a three player game you pay more attention to what you're opponents are doing.
You should still pay attention in a two player game, but it's no where near as bad. Especially since you're playing with the two action card variant. Then you're going to have a lot of overlapping actions which tend to not really matter.
This is where I don't show off the copy of Heroes that's sitting next to my monitor, is it?
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...
Actually, gratz. Test / review copy?
Do we have an official release date on this, yet? All I see is "Fall 2009."
Wannnnnnt iiiiiit.
Actually, a lot easier. It was for sale at GenCon. :winky:
Hopefully that means it'll be heading to stores soon...
Grabbed my camera, and although it looks like I had it set to "suck", here's a few quick pictures.
Cover
Tokens
Character Sheet
Cards & Minis
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I played several games with both expansions yesterday (first time playing with the new expansion).
First off, in any version of Race when you are just learning the game it plays somewhat solo yes. However, if you are playing the game well you damn well better be watching what everyone is playing and thinking very hard about what they are going to do next. That is where a lot of the skill comes in to the game, correctly figuring out what actions your opponents will pull so as to increase your own tempo of play.
As to the new expansion: It is great. I am definetly going to buy it as soon as a copy is available. It adds a bunch of options for Rebel and Imperium worlds, some misc stuff (including the Monolith, a 8 cost 8 point alien windfall world) and the ability to conquer planets (eg: steal them from what other players have in play). Though this doesn't come up too often it is a cool addition.
I think Gathering Storm is downright vital for the starting worlds alone. And the cards it adds really flesh out the basic set. Definetly a must if you like the game.
But ... but ...
But I want it.
I am curious to see some reviews/play reports and see how it actually plays out. But the idea of having unique heroes running around the field sounds pretty excellent to me.
I admit defeat- The new starting world cards are vital.
SPACE HULK. Right there!
What is wrong with you, people
Trying to hide their disappointment that it's only going to be a limited run, and if it sells out, then wellp?
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There are some cool new starting worlds in Rebel vs Imperium as well. One of them has the "draw a card at the start of every development phase" power. Another is a rebel world.