Brettspielcafe.com is back!

Finally, the new www.brettspielcafe.com is back in business.

This will be the last post here on blogger, thank you for everyone who's visited and commented. Head over to:

http://www.brettspielcafe.com

for more information and commentary on German-style board games!

Even newer site...

Here's a link to my "even newer" BSC site, using Wordpress.org (instead of .com), which has all the fancy equipment...

http://nssidesign.com/dev/oberheu/

BSC2.0

Friends... I am testing a new site, powered by Wordpress (shout-out to C.F.).

It has a much more powerful interface, should make reading and participating in the discussion even easier. I'll post in both places for a while and see how it goes.

If you want to "test drive" the site, check it out here:

http://brettspielcafe.wordpress.com/

- - - D.O.

Fed Commander

I haven't posted very much about Star Fleet Battles (1979), or it's newest version, the simplified Federation Commander (2005). I used to play SFB... a LOT... from about 1985 to about the end of 1991. Tab, Mark Hamilton, A.T., Brian and a few others played large games lasting all day. I had a fleet of painted miniatures and a large black hex-map that traveled with me to friends homes.

Life and gaming tastes change of course. And with a family and other responsibilities (like a job) it's pretty difficult to devote a full day to gaming any more.

ADB, the designers of SFB, recognizing the impact of German-style gaming in America (2-hour length and attractive components being a feature) decided to cash in by making a simplified version of their mammoth SFB. I criticized it pretty heavily in my comments on BGG at the time for being cheaply made, with little "heft" in terms of game components compared to just about any big release today.

It appears the game is doing very well however, perhaps bringing back a number of old-school SFB players who have the same time-problem that I do. They release game content for free every few months or so in their on-line newsletter. There have been many new ships, cards, rules and rule-sets release.

Although it would seem almost impossible to keep up with all the releases because of cost and time, a gaming group that was passionate about the topic (science fiction space-ship shootouts) and that was willing to share ownership could have a rich universe to play in.

Game Mechanics

After a nice game of Seafarers (my first in... many years) won by D.B., J.R.B. and K.B. and I sat down for a friendly discussion about some game ideas that have been rolling around in our heads.

This post is a "placeholder" until I solidify it, for some geeklists with game mechanics.

GL 1
GL 2
GL 3
GL 4
GL 5
GL 6
GL 7
GL 8

GL 9
GL 10
GL 11
GL 12

GL13
GL14

Menagerie

Gray and I are working on a custom game, we've titled "Menagerie". A combination of influences inspired the African safari theme. The general mechanic is "explore, expand, trade, collect".

We collected parts for a number of other games that I have spares for: Hansa, China, Mesopotamia, Mare Nostrum, and Struggle of Empires. The board is completely changeable, thanks to the hex-tiles of Mesopotamia. The figures are from some 1/24 scale figures my parents gave the kids and have ancient middle-eastern garb. Tam bought a tube of animal figures from the craft store. There are "goodie-huts" in the form of house-pieces from China.

The game is 4-player, and goes in rounds. Each round lets each player take 3 actions, which include moving, exploring a territory and uncovering it's inhabitants (natives, animals, or treasure), renting a "specialist", or converting native tribes to your side. Players collect commodities collected from friendly native tribes, and trade them with each other at the center of the board (never more than 3 moves or 1 turn away from any player). They can later trade treasures into a museum, or turn animals into a zoo for money or victory points.

We are working on rules for the "specialists", characters that can be added to your team and that have special abilities similar to Agricola. The one pictured here we are calling a "ranger", he adds one victory point for each animal collected, and gives a modifier to the die roll when attempted to "collect" an animal discovered on a new tile.

We hope to use commodities collected each turn from "friendly natives" to trade for large improvements that upgrade a position. Twelve unique commodities would form a set that could be turned in for a museum that would allow players to harvest their treasure, a zoo for keeping animals, a large camel that represents a logistics network allowing for more efficient movement of goods, and a trade tent that facilitates rapid trading between two players anywhere on the board.

There is no combat in the game, but you can do things like steal a treasure space from an unsuspecting player, or convert (bridge) a village over to your side. You can block other players from using the trade tent if you own it, and charge players whatever you like to use your trade network. You receive a profit share when they use your museum or zoo. You can also place draw location tiles in favorable or unfavorable positions near your neighbors, for a price.

It's coming along pretty well - Gray and I have been having a ball building it out. Will keep you posted.

Oh, and we're open to suggestions on a more appropriate name. Click "comments" below to add your suggestion! - - Dave

Tigris...

Have found a new zeal for face-to-face Tigris and Euphrates after JRB received a gift copy. We played a 3-player, and (although I lost) it was a lot of fun. The tactile experience coupled with the live "tile in hand" bidding or battle sequence added another dimension to the game.

I've played perhaps 100 games on Boardgamegeek, play-by-email style. I look forward to making my move each day, but have found it to be pretty formulaic. The live dimension included bluffing, intimidation, "bash-the-leader", and all the great psychological nuances you'd like to see in a multiplayer game.

I stumbled upon this old Geeklist while doing some housekeeping, which has some really interested facts about the online version of the game. A review might help my face to face game...

Everything you always wanted to know about T&E

Strange maps

I love maps (have a few mounted on the walls of my game room), and somewhere found this very cool site that covers "strange" ones.

This one is of an alternative layout for the city of London, in hexes...

Have a look at this site...

Strange Maps





This one is very interesting... It is a map of "what aliens are watching". It shows how far the first television broadcast frequencies have traveled in space...

Don't ask me why, I find this post amusing.

Civilization... the original

Played this the other day with JRB and his son. Had a great time. Wikipedia does a description as well as I could. Check it out, along with links to the game at the bottom.

From Wikipedia:

"Civilization is a board game designed by Francis Tresham, published in Britain in 1980 by Hartland Trefoil (later by Gibson Games), and in the US in 1981 by Avalon Hill. The game typically takes eight or more hours to play and is for two to seven players.

Overview

The Civilization board depicts areas around the Mediterranean Sea. The board is divided into many regions. Each player starts with a single population token and grows and expands his empire over the course of turns. Each player tries to build the greatest civilization.

As each nation grows, adding more and more population to the board, players can build cities in regions they control. Each city grants a trade card to the owner, which allows trade with other players for any of nine commodities, such as iron, grain and bronze. Along with trade come eight calamities such as volcanoes, famine and civil war, which destroy population and cities. Trade cards are combined in sets to purchase civilization cards, which grant special abilities and give bonuses toward future civilization card purchases. The civilization cards grant access to abilities such as agriculture, coinage, philosophy and medicine.

The goal of Civilization is to be first to advance to the final age on the Archaeological Succession Table (AST). The AST contains fifteen spaces and players are advanced on the AST each turn. The AST starts at 8,000 B.C. and ends at 250 B.C. At several points, however, certain conditions must be met (such as, the civilization must have a certain number of cities) in order to advance. Since most civilizations do not meet the advancement criteria at all stages on the AST, games usually last more than fifteen turns.

Civilization is unusual in that it does not focus on war and combat as many games of its genre do. Instead, players are encouraged to trade and cooperate in order to advance. War and combat are entirely permissible, however, and are sometimes inevitable. In fact, the game is designed to limit player's geographical expansion possibilities, forcing them to deal with other civilizations militarily, diplomatically or otherwise if they wish their own civilization to reach its full potential.

Trade (via trade cards) is the most important activity in Civilization. Trade cards give the player's civilization wealth, which ultimately help the civilization advance on the AST. Cards are more valuable the more of one type the player possesses. For example, one salt is worth 3 points, two are worth 12 points, and three are worth 27 points. If a player possesses all the cards of one type, he effectively corners the market and gains the most value for his cards. Many "trade sessions" can become quite vocal and exuberant as players try to out-trade one another. Trades are done in groups of three or more cards. Since players are only required to tell the truth about one of the cards and the total points value they are trading, calamity cards can be slipped into a trade, thereby avoiding receiving the primary effects of the calamity.

Game play

A game starts with a single population token, which begins on a specified area on the edge of the map board. The area the first unit begins in is based on the specific civilization represented (ie. on the island of Crete for the Cretans or in Africa for the Egyptians). As the first few turns progress, the population expands exponentially. Each zone on the map has a printed number representing the number of population token which can be supported there. Eventually, the player will decide to convert some of his excess population into cities. Certain areas on the board (where cities existed historically) have a square printed in them to designated them as city sites, which require six population tokens to produce a city -- non city sites require twelve such tokens.

Those players who have built cities are permitted to receive trade cards with a commodity printed on them (hides, salt, cloth, etc.) later in the turn. There are nine decks, and players obtain progressively more valuable cards based on the number of cities they have. Those with five cities receive a single card from each of the decks one through five, for example. Players may have up to nine cities. Cards gain value exponentially, so two value "3" trade cards are worth twelve points, while three are worth twenty-seven points. It is to the player's advantage to collect multiple cards of a single commodity, as four or five of a single commodity can be quite valuable.

After all movement (population units and ships) and conflict has been resolved, trade begins. The various players trade their cards in an effort to gain multiple cards of the same commodity. After all trade is complete, players tally up the value of trade cards in their hands with an eye on purchasing civilization cards. These are available in a variety of arts, crafts, sciences, and more. Examples include: Astronomy, which allows a player's ships to sail across otherwise impassable zones in the middle of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and Agriculture, which allows all the player's areas to support an extra unit of population.

The downside of trade is that calamities are randomly hidden in the trade card decks. Some are played immediately, while others can be traded away. Many cause immediate destruction of cities, while others force the player to liquidate a considerable amount of his assets. In some cases, collateral damage can be meted out to other players as is the case with famines and epidemics. Calamities can reduce a player from first to last in one fell swoop, especially if the player is hit by several in a single turn. The nature of the game tends to allow players to recover within a few turns, however. Many of the calamities can be mitigated by specific civilization cards, such as Engineering (good vs. flood); this specific card is often purchased by the Egyptians, whose homeland is flood-prone.

The goal of the game is to advance through the Late Iron Age and become the most advanced civilization on the map board. This is accomplished through clever game play and purchase of several high-value civilization cards. A winning player will typically have Literacy, Law, Philosophy, Democracy and a variety of lesser value cards (but not too many of the low-value arts & crafts)."

Whew! Want to check out the manual and game pieces/cards? (thanks Bob Brandt)

Manual

Quick reference (custom)

Markers

Cards, Cards and Cards

10 months...

Wow... it's been 10 months since I've posted to BSC. There has been some gaming, and a lot of news. So much, it's been difficult to keep up!

I'll be up and posting again soon, so stay tuned!

Essential bridge links

Bridge continues to be popular! I've assembled some bridge resources for you to enjoy.

FREE bridge games and demos:
===========================

Easy Bridge - This game is rather old, but it is free and functional. Mark reports that the computer bids "crazy" about 25% of the time. I would say that it does not respond well to preemptive bidding. If you pass low point hands it seems to get to it's contracts okay. Only plays rubber bridge, or single hands (part-game, game, non-trump, slam). Great for non-trump play and slam bidding practice.

Wbridge5 - This game apparently won the ABCL 2008 computer bridge tournament, and it's free (!). It's written by a French programmer, but although a little more "stark" that Easy Bridge, it's apparently much more powerful.

Bridge Baron - This program is $64.95, and is a very polished and professional package. It has a suppliment book available for purchase, and you can also purchase ABCL tournaments from past years to play against, just as if you were a participant - you get the same duplicate deals, and it shows you how you would have faired against competition in the event. It is slick, and in it's 19th version appears to have everything but the kitchen sink included. The free demo is worth checking out. As of 12/7/08 there is apparently a $5 discount available at Amazon.

Online Play
========

Bridge Base Online (BBO) - This free site is apparently part-owned by Bill Gates. It's been around a while, and has a slick interface, unlimited free play (with registration), and plenty of (free) tournaments to join. It is registered with the ACBL, meaning you can play in tournaments to get Master Points. There is generally a small fee to play in ACBL events. You can rent ($3/month) "robot players" to play against, or take empty seats if you wish. Excellent site, although somewhat minimalistic, and the help screens are worthless. You'd have to play at a bridge club or be quite well-read to understand all the screens.

Bridge Info
========

Northeast PA Bridge (nepab.com) - Home page of NEPA bridge. Nice page detailing what's happening in the area. Also has details of the March 2009 Steamtown tournament...

ACBL (American Contract Bridge League) - This site is the granddaddy of the bridge world. Has a lot of useful information here. Necessary to have a membership to accumulate Master Points in tournaments. Home of the official rules of bridge.

Bill and Warren play bridge

Did you know that the two richest men in the world play bridge?

Nice article here about Warren Buffet and Bill Gates and their exploits in the world of bridge.

Warren apparently played 4,800 hands in one year online at www.bridgebase.com , which I understand Bill is a part owner now.

Bridge

What is the best card game ever invented? Hands down, it's contract bridge (pun intended).

I learned to play bridge back in the early nineties, teaching myself with a number of books (Joy of Bridge by Audrey Grant, On Bidding by Alan Truscott, and the "Bridge in the Fifth Dimension" series by Victor Mollo). I had only one opportunity to play against humans, drafting a spades player named Todd Stokes who was a fellow-volunteer at Watchtower Farms. We played against another couple, who happened to be married, and who were quite good. We got our clocks cleaned.

The Macintosh computer was my partner after that, as I never got around to teaching bridge to my friends (although I may have tried to show my family once). I got a kick out of the game, and would occasionally try game out eventually against a program called "Easy Bridge" (available free on the 'geek).

Recently I introduced the game to my Texas Hold'em group, as we were all seeming to experience fatigue after monthly play since last December. It's been a hit with Mark, Chris, Jamie, Trudy, and Colin. We've played weekly on Friday nights, and have had a blast! We've played 4 nights so far, and we're building our player base and expertise.

I stumbled accross a book called "The Backwash Squeeze, and other improbably feats" by Edward Mcpherson. Reading that lead me to bridgebase.com, where I've played a few tournaments online. Turns out that bridgebase is apparently part owned by Bill Gates (!?), and is a fantastic site, with thousands of serious bridge players on from around the world at any one time. Pretty cool.

I managed to finish 14th out of 140 in a recent tournament (see screenshot above, I am "Phunt0m"), so I'm getting better...

Got web game?

Addictive flash games are back...

Gotta check this one out.

Spiel '08

Updated 11/1/08

Essen Links:

Nice Essen Gallery

Biggest Surprises

New games @ Essen, sorted by ranking

Kulkmann's G@mebox

Official Spiel page

ESSEN, Germany. The Spiel. From Wikipedia:

"Spiel

Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called Essen after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day game trade fair held in October (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the Messe Essen exhibition centre in Essen. Many german-style board games are released at the fair.

Unlike the other major German game fair, the Nuremberg International Toy Fair, Spiel is open to consumers as well as publishers and designers.^[1] The fair often has over 130,000 guests with 151,000 in 2006, although numbers were low in 2007 due to a German rail strike.^[1]

The Deutscher Spiele Preis, the International Gamers Awards, and Essen Feather are presented at the fair.

It is currently the biggest gaming convention for board gaming, RPG, ect. in the world, followed by Gen Con Indy in Indianapollis, Indiana. It is reputedly the biggest and best public show for boardgames, card games and CCGs, with designers and publishers demonstrating their newest games, retailers selling games at discount, and a large fleamarket with a wide range of new and used games. In addition, there is usually a hall of comic book sellers, and one or two halls with RPGs and live action material, and a hall of large inflatables and activities for kids. The show sometimes has computer games, but these are unusual.

The exhibition centre is called the Messe Essen. It is in an area of Essen called Margarethenhöhe, in the South of the city."

Reports (with photos) have started to make their way across the gaming universe...

St. Pete expansion finally here?

Thanks to Boardgamenews for this article, detailing the cards of the new St. Petersburg expansion.

I like St. Pete a lot, but have played it face-to-face maybe twice? I have played it probably 100 times on brettspielwelt.de. I have been getting beat regularly lately too... Maybe this expansion will give me a better chance online (I doubt it).

Who's buying this expansion when it's available? Leave comments below and let's discuss.

Uwe interview

Interesting interview of Uwe Rosenberg (creator of Agricola) can be find here. Uwe really has a smash hit on his hands, Agricola is clearly a world-wide phenomenon. And he has a new game coming out shortly: Le Havre.

When asked about it, he said: "I hope, that the friends of complex games, also like LE HAVRE. But the target audience is a bit smaller than for AGRICOLA, even if the rules are explained faster."

Solitare Agricola

I've logged about 10 full games of solitaire Agricola now, and am having a lot of fun. I cracked open what appeared to be the "E" deck (which stands for "beginner" for some reason), and played about 6 games. I discovered quite a few more "E" cards in the shrink-wrapped pack of "I" cards, and have played 4 more.


So far my scores in the first four games are: 60, 63, 70, and now 76. I kept the Carpenter from the first game, Chief from the second game, Plow Maker from the third, and will be keeping Seasonal worker from the fourth.

What is fascinating is the different shortages and challenges you are faced with in the game as you progress. Food is scarce in game 1, then stone begins to become an issue. Depending on what occupations come up, you may have problems finding reed or clay - or at least "over-spending" for them and facing a lower score.

Reading some posts on the 'geek, I've taken a much more critical eye on the benefits (or lack) from different minor improvements and occupations. For example, Wood Cutter sounds like a good deal (+1 wood each time you pull wood) - but when you count the fact that you are only pulling wood 4 times in a game, and you must spend a action +1 food to actually place the Wood Cutter - you might as well just pull wood a fifth time and save yourself the 1 food!

Plow Maker is an awesome occupation, as it clearly saves you 1 extra move, usually two. You can plow three times and place 6 fields, saving you 2 full actions for the cost of 4 food (1 for the placement of the Plow Maker, and 1 each for the 3 extra fields you generate). That is a clear winner, and so much better than Mushroom Collector, Clay Mixer, Hedge Keeper, etc.

An exception is Stone Carrier, which might pay you out only 2 stone for the cost of an action and 1 food - this is probably well worth it if you plan on a high score, as stone is the ticket to Well, Stone Oven, Pottery and all the other "bonus" Major Improvements.

I did not do very well in my first game of Agricola with Kevin, but after 10 solo games I think I will be very competitive the next time we square off in this one...

What's latin for fun?

What a good time I am having with Agricola! Single player, unfortunately. But I have really been getting a kick out of "puzzling-out" different strategies, trying to optimize my score under different conditions.

I haven't timed myself yet, but I am thinking it's taking me about 30 minutes a game. Most of the early moves are easy of course, which is a great thing about Agricola that clearly will make it more approachable for young people and non-gamers. Rosenberg has made the game extremely scalable by using cards to carefully increase the resource production for 1 - 5 players. Since the different options are introduced somewhat randomly (4 different cards revealed in the first round, 3 in the second round, etc.) and one at a time, the players are shown progressively more options.

Advanced players can fuss about what cards come next, but even a successful guess may only uncover a small advantage. Newer players can blissfully take the most obvious choice, and as long as the keep the overall goal in focus, should feel like they are making progress.

And the gorgeous theme of the game means that players who are not into competition can feel like they are just "bettering their best score" with each game, not even competing.

I'll give it a few more weeks, but I am thinking this game moves to a nine on the 'geek in my ratings.

Check out this excellent single-player "record sheet" available on the 'geek.