- V -
- Vabanque
Bluffing game set in a casino. Players take turns adding money to
various tables, then place their three characters face down. As in
Royal Turf,
one of them is only a bluff. The other two are a doubler and
a cheater. Then each player moves his pawn up to four spaces
clockwise. Only tables having a pawn pay out. Cheaters steal
from doublers, but do not get paid if there are no unfriendly
pawns at their table. There is a semblance of control with
three or four players, but matters become quite difficult to
analyze when it gets to six. There is some advantage to going
last because everyone's activities are visible before one must
choose and even though this privilege rotates each round, if
it can be used to gain a big lead on round one a win can be had
by keeping all profits down in subsequent rounds. But otherwise
there's not much here for master strategists. Fans of the many
tactics of
Citadels
will probably also like this comparatively stripped down
Faidutti-Colovini effort. Being more abstract yet simpler,
it probably fits even better for an inexperienced crowd than
for the hardcore.
- Valdora
It's strange that the same inventor has just been praised in the
last review,
but then no one can hit a home run every time. This
pick-up-and-deliver affair is set in a fantasy world, but
without any fantastic elements. More correctly it could be
called imaginary medieval. Certainly the idea that there are
gems all about the countryside just waiting to be grabbed up
is positively dreamy. But let's suppose that they are actually
buried in the earth and no one has bothered to look there before.
Actually, it's not easy to grab them; for each type of
different jewel one needs to have the
right kind of equipment card, e.g. horse, shovel, pick, hammer and
chisel (as we drift further from any sense of theme). Players
also want to pick up commission cards which specify the type
of jewel wanted and to where they must be delivered. The way
in which these are distributed is perhaps the most interesting
facet here. The cards are stacked on wooden holders around the
board which have two faces, permitting the cards to be turned
like pages in a book. A visiting player can either take a card
on offer or turn a page, paying each time, until something
desireable is found. Movement is different as well; one can
move as far as desired, but traversing a city burns a
provision. (Sometimes it seems like the theme has actually
been designed to work against the mechanics.)
So players travel about picking up equipment, demands and
jewels and silver, which is available at the mine where
they replenish up to six pieces. Delivering on a contract gets
one of the tiles of the same color which have been arranged in
a circle of stacks. If that color's stack is empty, the player
grabs from the next available one. This can be kind of a dirty
pool since players tend to specialize in a particular color
and then the one who happens to finish his color first starts
grabbing the color another player is working on. It's hardly a
catch-up mechanism and since these are worth quite a few
points, borders on a rich-get-richer syndrome. Beyond this,
good play seems to mainly be about identifying an efficient
circular path and then repetitively following it, somewhat
mindlessly. The player happening on the best one is the likely
winner unless someone should disrupt it, but as the old
question goes, "who bells the cat?". It has been suggested
that there are various strategies based on what one is
collecting, but in reality the decision tends to be rather
overwhelmed by the coincidence of the board arrangement.
All of which is kind of too bad
because Franz Vohwinkel has done his usual bang-up job
with the artwork and there are plenty of nice bits. The
instructions are clear and well-written, though as time goes on
it would be better for these booklets to stop using two-column
format. As more and more gets read on-line, having to scroll
down and up and back down again just to read a single page
gets a little irritating.
[Traveling Merchant Games]
LLMH5 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Low; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 5)
Michael Schacht; Abacus-2009; 3-5; 8+
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Valley of the Kings: Premium Edition
The card abilities failed to excite. Very little interaction.
Disliked having to remember what's in my deck and having to keep
checking what I have already banked because of the set collection
scoring. Overall, feels underdeveloped because it's just not fun
deciding between alternatives that work out to almost the same
thing most of the time. (Playing a card to acquire one vs. just
buying one outright. Banking a card via special card via banking
one free anyway. And so on.)
- Vampir (Vampire)
Knizia card game of collecting matching cards drawn from the Count
Dracula tale. Not a bad little game. Bad luck in the draw,
especially concerning wild cards may irritate, but it
plays quickly and there are at least two different strategies to try.
- Vanished Planet
Cooperative game for up to six who attempt to restore a shockingly
vanished Earth. On a hexagonal map players pilot their ships to claim
production points and meet mission goals. The resources yielded are
used to purchase from a myriad of building options. Meanwhile, each
turn evil spreads outward one hex level per round, oblierating all
in its path. If it reaches the outermost edge all the homeworlds are
destroyed and the players have lost. This is only prevented if a
sufficient number of mission points have been achieved. These
missions are the first problematic point as some are simply too
difficult. For this reason a player must draw another one, wasting a
precious turn and is still without guarantee that the new one is
feasible. On such vagaries of chance does game success often depend.
There is a purchasing system which in the original game is
presented in a manner far too complicated to use. This is addressed
by post-production game aids, but seems to show a lack of
blindtesting or learning from its lessons. In contrast with games by
Days of Wonder or the recent
Siena,
which deploy too little useful information on the board, this one
probably provides too much, tending to detract from the aesthetics.
Next time at least the pronunciation guides and the URL can be
omitted I think. Cooperative games without the tension added by
truly differing positions, e.g. a traitor, are not for me. But for
fans of this category, at least there are the science fiction theme
(is it getting rarer?) and back story to enjoy as well as a
palpable sense of tension as the evil enemy visibly increases. And
although the rules do notp rovide for it, it's very easy to
conduct turns simultaneously which keeps duration down.
[Vanished Planet]
LHMM5 (Strategy: Low; Theme: High; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 5)
- Vasco da Gama
Another place your agent affair (cf.
Pillars of the Earth),
a mechanism which despite being only a few years old has worn
out its welcome surprisingly quickly, this time from Italians.
Thematically it doesn't seem to know its history. Players are
supposed to represent rival captains under the command of the
title character and heading for various ports on the route to
India, but actually the practice during all of the commands of
the Portuguese admiral and later viceroy was to have but a
single expedition. Player choices are to hire crew and
captain, pick ships and launch them. Of course these things
need to be done in the right order, unfortunately limiting the
strategic options, which is somewhat compensated for by the
larger, more difficult to fill ships paying off at a better rate.
The main innovation is the unpredictability of costs to take
actions. A cost point on the track is determined by revealing a
card. Then players take turns placing on various positions,
acting earlier costing more, of course. Only after all are placed is
another card revealed which adjusts the price up to three
spaces in either direction. Probably meant as a catch-up
mechanism, it can result either in absolute glory or utter
disaster, which, either way, is probably way too much of the
outcome to load onto a single card turn. Especially so when a
playing lasts ninety minutes or more.
MLMH5 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Low; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 5)
Paolo Mori; What's Your Game-2009/Rio Grande-2009; 2-4
[Amazon]
- Vegas Showdown
Game of casino development. Surprisingly, unlike the real
world, players need have no concern whether customers will
actually arrive. Instead, the rule is, "if you build it, they
will come". Also surprisingly, certain casino features are
limited in their supply. Just because the opposition have
built a fancy sports lounge doesn't mean you get to do so as
well. These items are both limited and also doled out via
– you guessed it – auctions. In this case the
auction style is that previously used by
Evo,
Amun-Re
and since by League of Six
(probably all originally inspired by real life charity silent
auctions?). Some casino features are available every turn
while fancier ones only appear via cards (which also generate
a special event). Unlike in other games employing this
feature, cash is very tight here and often items are not bid
upon at all as their minimum prices – which decrement
each turn – cannot be met by anyone. Frequently the big
decision is not what to buy, but whether it's better to buy or
save money. What's being purchased are cardboard tiles in
three shapes and sizes and having doors at particular edges.
Players attempt to fit all of these into their personal
casinso displays, not only in the designated areas, but to
fill up certain areas and also to create a continuous end to
end path via open doorways. It can be sort of a game of
Tetris to manage it all, but it need not become tricky
unless the player wants to do it that way. It does appear
possible the play the entire game without ever employing a
re-arrangement action, but these are fortunately available if
one makes a mistake or wants to reconsider. The card events could
have used more work as often they are meaningless if they appear
at the wrong time, unless of course one doesn't like random events
in which case this is not a bug, but a feature. There is an income
mechanism which deserves notice. Players are tracking two
quantities, base income and number of visitors (so they do
come into it a little bit) and each turn receive funds equal
to the lesser of the two. So the idea is clearly to always
acquire features which improve the lesser number. Rigorously
playing by this principle will soon make you the richest
player at the table, but, cleverly, anyone doing this isn't
doing well at all in terms of points. Players need to manage
the trick task of navigating a middle path and picking the
best times to deviate from the pure income path. This is made
more challenging by the existence of pre-requisite tracks. One
needs to first have a lounge to have the right to place a
fancy lounge, and so on, up to four levels. Unfortunately, the
high level of ingenuity of these systems is matched up with
uninspiring components. Although they are clear and
functional, they're also rather bland, especially considering
that the topic is the excitement of Sin City casinos. On top
of this, some of the main board auction tracks are too close
to the item stacks, making it difficult for half the table to
see what's going on. Clear red marker chips, shaped track
tokens and an insert resembling a real gaming area are nice
touches, but why put so much effort into these minor items and
ignore the titles that are at the heart of the experience?
The player mats are paper as well.
Played briskly, this can complete in about ninety minutes and
the variable appearance order for the auction items should
make this worth at least several plays. The mystery of which
player is actually leading at any going time – since
there are so many ways to score points – is a challenge
to solve as well.
[multi-multi auction games]
MMMH6 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal rating: 6)
Henry Stern; Hasbro Avalon Hill-2005; 3-5
- Vendetta
This Doris- and Frank-designed game by Hexagames is set in the
mob world of Sicily. In reality it is a matter of wooden cubes
dominating an area in which the crucial strategy is to tie the
number of cubes with the player to your immediate right. Beyond
this it is mostly a matter of luck not to be in one of the
devastated areas. Nice and clean but ultimately not very
rewarding. Be sure to find an Internet version of the English
rules as those provided must be one of the top ten worst ever.
[Periodic Table of Board Games]
Frank Nestel & Doris Matthäus;
Hexagames/TST-Enterprises-1991; 3-5
- Venedig
Maybe it's the many canals? The intertwining peelings of land
and water? Or maybe the well-defined neighborhoods. Whatever
the reason, Venice must be a strongly thematic place as it has
inspired many German-style games, including
Inkognito,
Venezia,
San Marco,
Doge,
Die Sälen der Venedig
and others. So seductive is it that the American game designer
Alex Randolph
even made it his adopted home. This one is by
Klaus-Jürgen Wrede, who when he is not burnishing
Carcassonne,
has also created
Die Fugger,
Downfall of Pompeii,
Mesopotamia,
Dragonriders,
Anasazi
and
Krone & Schwert.
Here he presents an intertwining of elements seen elsewhere,
but not in this combination. There is card drafting similar to
Web of Power.
There is points tracking similar to Canyon.
Big City
could have inspired the card-collection-in-order-to-build system.
And, as friend
Andrew
points out, like so many German-style games, it deliberately
makes your life hard. You say your ideal sequence would be (1)
get cards, (2) clear space and (3) build? Too bad, it's just the
reverse. You would like to draw from the pile before drafting
a discard? Sorry, you can't. These are positive features of
course, at least mostly. There are some interesting wrinkles
to go with them too. By first discarding one can get three
deck cards instead of the usual one, but only if the discard
doesn't match any of the existing types (there are four types
in all). There's a cooperative aspect too – multiple
players' cards can go into a single building, the player
contributing the most getting the main points, the rest only
half. Generally these numbers are large enough that a strategy
of only being a secondary builder will fail. The scoring track
itself is more than ordinary in two ways. First, it uses the
Ursuppe
idea that no two scoring pieces (here gondolas) can occupy the
same space. Players clearing swamp tokens from the board
receive these tokens which show 0-2 gold on the reverse side.
Any five gold that they spend advances them a space. So one
wants to wait until in last place and then spend to reach
exactly each of the more advanced players, in this way earning
free moves equal to the number of players minus one. After
that it may be a good idea to play a big point building to
hamper others' abilities to do the same. The second way that
the track comes into play is that if one's gondola is adjacent to
the district where construction occurs, the builder draws at
random a higher-valued treasure. Thematically, there's less
here than in
Carcassonne
– for what do the gondola's position and the gold values
represent? Otherwise, it's similar in complexity and level of
luck. Player choices are mostly of a tactical nature.
Sometimes luck of the draw and of the discards combine to keep
for too long a player in a frustrating rut, while there is
little players can do to hamper a leader. Good players can
probably devise ingenious ways to deploy the one-point
buildings, however. A special nominal player is created for
the two-player version. As there are many successful city building
games, this is a tough category to take on.
LMMH6 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 6)
Klaus-Jürgen Wrede; Amigo-2007; 2-5
- Venezia
Still another point of view on Venice, this time a modern,
unusual one, that of pigeons "targeting" hapless tourists. Players
secretly allocate their pigeons to the Venetian districts trying
to score points by achieving majorities. This reminds of El
Grande as does the multi-stage mechanism by which
more pigeons become available to allocate. Central to
this competition is a square grid representing the Piazza
San Marco. Players allocate pigeons to the empty squares
of their choice and then, via a sturdy, dual spinner, two
tourists and a pigeon hunter appear in random locations.
Players now move their pieces using either the king's move from
Chess
or the jumping moves of Halma.
The goal is to arrive adjacent to or, especially, atop a
tourist. Each such provides new pigeons for the nest, from
which they may later depart for either the home area on the main
board or the allocation supply. In addition, reminiscent of Go, a flanking pair of pigeons removes
an opponent's to the graveyard. This whole plaza sub-game,
despite being paradoxically relegated to a small portion of
the board, is really the center of interest. Not only does
it feel akin to the real life flocking of birds, it combines
features that result in a challenging set of decisions. How many
pigeons are needed to ensure a good re-stocking of the nest?
What are the best positions to ensure access? In particular, in
what ways can the pigeons of others be used for jumping without
also providing jumping opportunities in return? How important is
it to get points vs. denying them to others or indeed removing
them? All of these are fun problems to solve intrinsically, but
unfortunately this is significantly undercut because by mid-game
little of it matters. By then the player doesn't care about
re-stocking because nothing is available anyway. He also doesn't
care about eliminating others either. Indeed, he hopes others will
eliminate him as only by having the most in the graveyard can he
get some out. Well, to be fair there is another way which is by
use of one of the event cards, subject of another guessing game
subsystem. But since simultaneous card choices cancel out one
of them, it can take a long time, as can the game in general,
much longer than one feels it ought for the level of strategy
involved. Surprisingly, considering the frivolous topic, this
turns out to be a system analysis game of moving pieces quickly
through the various stages, but with so much randomness that it
will be difficult to find many
players to like all of it as a piece, even if many would enjoy
some of the parts. Despite inherently good ideas, apparently
no strong developer made a decision about what this should be
and it remains neither fish or fowl. The inventor usually makes
games for children; at the time of this writing his only other
title for adults is Im Zeichen des Kreuzes. Event cards
have significant German-only text.
- Venture (Wirtschaftswunder, Die Bosse)
Sid Sackson card game from 1968, originally part of the
3M line, is thematically about constructing horizontal
monopolies, mechanically a double set collection game (as is For Sale). At the end of each turn
players draw two money cards, some of which have high values,
while those of low value become considerably more valuable
if collected in sets. These money cards are used to purchase
industry cards, each of which has a color and from one to five
(out of a possible six) letters. These industries are grouped
so that they contain at most one of each color and share at least
one letter. Some of the money cards are Proxy Fights which permit
buying a card from another player. Others are surprise scoring
cards which is the earliest use of the idea that I know of;
it was later much exploited by Alan Moon and others in games
like Airlines,
Union Pacific,
Reibach & Co.,
and
Stimmt So!.
Perhaps the most interesting feature is the complex decisionmaking that
occurs when the player pays to more efficiently and safely
re-group and re-order his holdings. This subsystem
could really make for a game all by itself and surprisingly has not been
employed very much since; the only exceptions which come to mind are
American Megafauna
and the solitaire game Spider. One caveat: the industries
do not come in all possible combinations. This makes the game
rather difficult for the first time player to win as he may
wait forever for a card which simply does not exist. It would
therefore be a good thing if players were presented with a
summary of cards before play. Another oddity is the scoring,
which rewards the player more for quantity of cards collected
than quality, even though quality is more difficult. The game
has had a hard time making its way probably because of its mixed
message; the dry topic fails to match the fair amount of chaos
and opportunity for mayhem. Had the topic been pirates, it
would probably have found a huge audience; instead it reached
the $4 bargain bin. Perhaps someone will republish one day.
Play this with an experienced group as common defense against a
leader is a necessary feature. It's also best with at least four
players as otherwise the pool does not churn quickly enough to
be interesting. Update: Matt Crawford writes "The game Summit
(1961) also has this mechanism. There's a deck of event cards
– each player gets one per turn – and four of
them are Scoring cards." [cards summary]
- Verflixxt! (That's Life)
Simple race and collection game for 2-6 players controlling
multiple pawns, one of which must each turn be moved the amount
showing on a die roll. The "board" is composed of a path of tiles,
some conferring points, some removing them and some reversing
the sign of the negative ones, i.e. a -10 becomes a +10, making
the -10 a valuable property if a corresponding tan
tile can be secured, a tricky business. Being the last to vacate a
tile is the way to collect it, but here one contends not only
with other pawns, but also with non-player "guards", the moving
of which is an alternative to moving one's pawn. (Lest moving
guards take over play, it is only permitted where a pawn also
stands.) Good play, as in
Around the World in 80 Days,
should consist of being out in front or
hanging in the back, but never being stuck in the middle. There
is a lot of "finding other things to do" in order to avoid
abandoning a tile to others or, when finally forced to do so
anyway, of choosing the least harmful alternative. Very good
players can estimate the likelihood of the latter in advance and
attempt to avoid a cascade of problems. But however good or bad
a player may be, it cannot be denied that the very large role
played by just a few die rolls can easily upset the fate one
deserves. That one's choices are challenging yet often in the
end meaningless is similar to a game I like actually, namely
Halali!,
but this one lacks the twin saving graces of theme and extended
puzzle-solving. Instead results a frustration akin to that
of cruel
Backgammon,
raising hopes only to dash them. As the disappearing board
and concept of guards are fun and intriguing, it's really too
bad. Possibly a variant employing movement cards rather than dice
would help, if it can avoid being too slow and calculative, that
is. Looking further out, this simple system might someday work
quite well in the context of a larger game. The German title, when
spelled with just one "x", means "cursed!" or "confound it!"
[6-player Games]
MLHM5 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Low; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 5)
- Vernissage
Game about modern art posits the player as an art
dealer/critic/paparazzo trying to make as much money as
possible. It ventures into realms beyond Modern Art
as players not only sell paintings, but publish critiques
and scandals. A very nicely-realized and often humorous
presentation accompanies the usual clean mechanics from designer
Klaus Teuber.
For most players, probably a near miss.
The game can run a little bit long for what is happening
and in some games one player's chances may be ruined from the start if
he is dealt paintings whose value everyone else is content to destroy.
A modification that would help would be that at the start of the game
all place their starting
three cards under the board until played and are permitted to disown
them at the end if never played.
The variants mentioned at the
Game Cabinet
about losing Might cards seem to be a good idea as well.
- Verrat!
Players represent conspiring trios of viziers attempting to overthrow
the Sultan. Each player has three vizier figures, one short, one fat and
one tall – a three-part dial is used to program movement
of the wooden figures either to a city to acquire a power card or
to a courtier position of rank 1 to 12. The winner is the first
player able to acquire all six types of cards and the position
immediately to the right of the Sultan. Extra wrinkles are that
each turn all of the courtier positions are rotated clockwise
and that the 1 (lowest) position allows the holder to steal a
card from a player holding two of a kind. The current holder
of the highest total positions gets to move first, important
since when traveling to positions the rule is first-come,
first-served. Players employ another dial to vote each turn,
adding up their courtier positions to choose a victim who is
thrown into prison. Escape is only possible if a clemency card
can be acquired – otherwise, after three turns the vizier
is removed from play. Despite the two-minute (timer included)
interval for discussion and negotiation, players often only
succeed in stalemating one another as the tried-and-true location
mechanism from Adel Verpflichtet
is here deflated since viziers who arrive at the same city have no
interaction apart from neutralizing one another. Players are thus
reduced to random guessing. At the same time, there is a strong
need to play defense by leaving viziers in the city where they
can vote away the leading player. Yet staying in the city does not
help lagging players to catch up, so deciding when it is safe to
leave the job to others is extremely difficult to make. This mix
of high randomness with the need for a high level of expertise is
likely to make the game unpalatable for novice and expert alike.
Fans of bluffing games with this kind of theme will probably
prefer Basari. Strategically,
since only players holding at least four cards can be imprisoned,
it may be possible to try remaining at three and simply attempting
to send as many opponents as possible to prison. But this
possibility is weakened by the rule preventing direct movement
from position to position. Title means "Treachery".
- Verräter
"Board" game played entirely with cards, the title means "Traitor".
At the start of each turn
players secretly choose roles to play and then resolve a combat via
card play. Winning confers points, but at the end so does collection
of certain cards as well as points given for choosing two of the roles,
one of which is is the Traitor. Surprisingly good game for such limited
components. Strategically, playing the Strategist role is usually
the best idea.
Meuterer is a subsequent game
of the same type by the same team.
Marcel-André Casasola-Merkle; Adlung-1998; 3-4
[Buy it at Adlung]
- Victory & Honor
Unusual four-player partnership trick-taking game with a Civil War
theme. Each player has before them a placard, divided into left, right
and center. On a turn a card may fill any of these positions and this
position determines which player goes next: left to the player on the
left, right to the player on the right and center to the
partner. The corresponding areas on each placard together
constitute a trick which is not resolved until all positions
have been filled. There are four suits, one of which is the
trump suit, identified as the last suit introduced. There are
cards such as cavalry scouts and artillery that have special
effects; that of the latter is to bombard its closest neighbor
out of existence regardless of type. Scoring is also unusual, each
player receiving points by multiplying the number of generals (the
highest value cards) taken by the number of cards in the same suit
(reminiscent of Twilight).
Because of the many considerations involved in three ongoing
tricks and the side effects on trump and next player selection,
play is considerably more deliberate than in other such games. The
fact that there are more than the usual number of rules and
exceptions doesn't help with the downtime either. A further
issue is that unless a player's hand is quite skewed – in
which case it's a good idea to work for the long suit to become
trump – many plays don't have much rhyme or reason. It's
simply impossible to tell whether a given play will be better
than another. On the other hand it can be fun to try and find
meaning anyway. Apparently the topic was originally Napoleonics,
but switched to the War of Secession because public domain photos
were cheaper than commissioning artwork. I wonder about the
sense of that because there are so many starving artists about
– you would think some would work for very little just
to get their work seen. Possibly it's just an issue of there
being no good way of publishers and artists finding another?
Someone invent a website please. In any case, the photos work
fine as well and the re-theming doesn't hurt the game. In fact
the photos lead to a new sub-game: guessing the identities of
the various generals pictured in the photos.
[Two vs. Two Games]
LLML6 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Low; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 6)
Ty Douds; Jolly Roger-2004; 4
- Viking Fury
This project must have been a labor of love for the two
guys who made it as the Ragnar Brothers have even given
themselves viking names. And it should come as no surprise:
vikings also play a prominent role in a previous effort:
History
of the World. Here we have another example of that
paradox that has somehow crossed my table a lot lately: a
game about war that is not a war game (other examples being
Tahuantinsuyu and Im Zeichen des Kreuzes). There
is a lot of history in it though – thumbnail history at
least – as players can "go a-viking" to all the places
the real ones did and even do some things, like conquer Antioch
or Constantinople, that their historical counterparts never
dreamed of. They also raid, trade and even reach North America,
although absent any special exploration rules. But at no time do
they really fight one another, even though real vikings sometimes
did that too. Rather players content themselves with play of
"take that!" cards – each showing a different rune –
in order to affect one another. Beyond that, Europe is treated
something like a large department store, the players competing in
a ginormous shopping spree. It's not even an empire-building game
really. If it were, money earned from trading would be plowed
back into bigger and better expeditions. It must have been that
gold was no object back in those days as players simply sail out
fully loaded again and again. But it's a spree with restrictions.
Before a land can be "settled" – a euphemism for conquest
– it helps if some viking has already traded there and also
any prizes in the land must have been raided. As it's unlikely a
player could do all these things in a single expedition –
settling has a high rate of failure – what happens is that
players enable one another. So a lot of one's success centers
around timing, accurate forecasts of others' plans and being
open to opportunity. Approaching it for the first time be aware
that many of the points are in settlement, but these are the
hardest to access. So it's likely players will each have similar
amounts of these and victory will go to whomever performed best
in the other areas. For example, there are the Saga cards which
provide 10 points each to the player who has the most in category,
one of Norway, Sweden or Denmark. These cards list tasks to be
completed similar to a railroad game and are probably Viking
Fury's most innovative feature. Their completion elegantly
drives transitions into successive epochs, more difficult sagas
and ultimately the timing of the finale. They also have a lot
of effect on play decisions as it really behooves a player to
concentrate on a single area of the map. A playing lasts two
hours or more with some feeling of downtime when there are
more than three players. Physically, the "towel" format map
from Kings
& Castles is back, but looking better than ever,
in fact somewhat resembling the infamous Vinland Map. Some may
be thrown off because the water is depicted as lighter than the
land, but for the vikings the water is where the action was so
it makes sense. One gets used to it. More serious objections
are the unbalanced Rune cards – "Odin" seems very powerful
for example – and that there are probably not enough die
rolls. A player
who goes on a lucky streak can get too wide an advantage. There
can be a fair amount of luck in being at the right place at
the right time too, e.g. near Constantinople when its Saga
card comes comes up. So Viking Fury limits somewhat its
audience from the outset. It also attempts to simultaneously
satisfy theme, strategy and fun. Hooray for the Ragnar Bros!
So few games even try. But some of the balance issues probably
mean this will just be an occasional play for strategists yet
should be a big hit for fans of theme and excitement.
- Villa Paletti
This stacking dexterity game for up to four won the Spiel des
Jahres (German game of the year) award for Zoch and Canadian
inventor Bill Payne in 2002. The basic conceit is the fairy
tale about how boxes are stacked to reach the moon. When you
run out of boxes, you know what to do, right? Simply remove
the one from the bottom and add it to the top . Here players
own pillars in various shapes which support up to five levels
of platforms, if you can get that high. After the third level,
players begin to track who has the most points that high . the
various shapes having varied values. When further addition
becomes impossible, or it all comes crashing down, the last
points leader wins. While this sounds like a pure dexterity
exercise, the awards jury must have seen it as more than that,
and rightly so. Although removing a pillar can be a test of calm
nerves, deciding where to re-place it is a strategic matter. How
close should you locate to others? Closer to the center would
be good so as not to upset the platform, but closer to the edge
may be easier to remove later. Most of all, how can you avoid
being the sole support for a side as this means your post will
never be moved again. There.s also strategy in placement of a
new platform as you try to make your pieces easy to pull and
others. impossible. The fact that positional choices permit a
practically infinite number of non-discrete options is a rather
refreshing change from the usual strategy vehicle. On the other
hand, lack of real theme and significant difference from playing
to playing may cause it to pale for the experienced player. So
see this one as a bridge between the experienced and the not,
and one which may lead to other, more intricate games.
[Spiel des Jahres Winner]
[Frequently Played]
MLML6 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Low; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 6)
- Vinhos
The
2010 Essen games show
featured no fewer than four
wine games. Nor is this the
last, or even the last about Portuguese wines as
Vintage looms on the
horizon. The inventor of this one has confessed that
Die Macher
is one of his favorite games and it's a fair call that these
layers upon layers, upon layers, of mechanisms make this the
Die Macher of wine games. Originality? A little.
Choosing one's turn option is a matter of jumping within a
nine-space grid. Jumping more than one space away or into
another's space costs extra. Unfortunately one of the options
can provide a "wine expert" tile which negates this cost,
prosaically undercutting this challenging mechanism. You will
have been told that there are only fourteen options per game,
but that's only technically true. Fairly soon in it's also
possible to burn a wine (thematic fail) and thus enlist the
help of one of three wine mavens who permit executing another
option, or at least a partial version of same. The other
slightly original mechanism is a victory point matrix. Make a
wine good enough to place in it and you receive immediately
the victory points displayed for that row. But at the end
players also receives majority control points for the columns.
Beyond this, players do the expected things: plant grapes in several
regions (each of which offering a different special
benefit), add wineries, cellars or workers to improve quality,
recruit the aforementioned experts, visit the bank,
sell wine for money, sell wine for victory points
(thematic question mark) or visit the wine fair which not only
enables the mavens, but also enters the player's wine in the
wine competition subsystem. This is the sole area to feature a
catch-up mechanism as the later a player enters, the more
intermediate points can be earned, and presumably a better
chance at winning the thrice-awarded fair points, which
unfortunately do not reset between fairs. Other thematic
issues include the thematically-mysterious cubes which are produced for
taking various actions. These increase wine values for the
associated region. Interesting because they can be used by
anyone having grapes in the region, the question is what they
represent. Reputation? If so, why do they disappear after use?
Why removing tokens from the sale track produces such cubes
baffles as well. Luck is not absent. Each region produces
wine in red and white varieties and a player's estate (the
player board sports four of these) takes only one or the
other; only the top of the stack is available and it can be
painful when your color isn't there. Luck is also present in
the periodic weather/trend tiles that appear and can even
cause a weak vineyard not to produce at all. Finally there is
the luck of which experts are visible at the top of their four
stacks as only these can be drafted. Then for a different
style of luck throw in a little blind bidding for the wine
fair prize. Graphically this is a rather attractive, if quite
busy affair. The communication design is mostly there with
just about everything being fairly clear pictorially. Playing an entire
game correctly – not normally an issue – can be
a challenge, at least at first, just because there are so many
side effects to remember for each action. The components are
well done, including plastic wine barrels for all players. In
terms of large strategy there isn't a great deal. While it's
true you could start out getting all estates planted or maybe
doing just one and going for maximum quality on it in order to
get lots of money, by the end the player boards will all have
been planted out and look fairly similar. The special
abilities of the regions are only usable once per player and so
do not play a major role. There might have been a strategy to
make a lot of money, but this has been undercut by drastically
limiting the money track. A player needs to return to the bank
too often to remove money (merely to avoid wasting it) to make
this work. The entirety probably last three hours or more
and is probably best for three or less. Depending on the
situation, the fourth player can be in bad shape because there
are often only three good options at the start and not only
will he be forced to pay extra, he won't be able to secure
going first in the next round by visiting the fair early
either. Meanwhile someone else probably will do so and
this hapless vintner might even end up paying again for the
privilege. Despite all these disadvantages a measly 1 extra
monetary unit is his only starting compensation. It should be
noted that money is fairly tight and just like many
American-school games
Lords of the
Sierra Madre
comes to mind) there isn't much of a safety net. Spend too
much and have a couple of bad weather turns and it can all go
irretrievably and unwinnably south.
Is this worth replaying? Yes, and for two main reasons:
(1) you are keen to
make cost/benefit analyses and (2) to gain virtuosity. There
is probably a rhythm to be found between options and
activities with the mavens (each of which alternates between
two possibilities) and figuring out how to do this with
maximum efficiency while other players occasionally stumble
into the way makes a worthy challenge. Pronunciation should be
something like
veen·yohs
(from the American English point of view).
MMMH6 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 6)
Vital Laderda; What's Your Game-2010; 2-4
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Vino
Game about wine grape growing in Italy
by Christwart Conrad who also designed
Pfeffersäcke
and the somewhat similar
Zoff in Buffalo.
Chaos-free, apart from the initial draw,
and only weakly connected to the theme (most particularly
with regard to the vineyards given away by the government),
it is essentially an "impure abstract" in which lookahead and
understanding of the groupthink are strongly rewarded. Victories
are satisfying as it is not easy to see how to win. The small
purple balls resembling grapes look nice, but tend to roll off
the table rather easily. Apparently, by the way, the theme in
this one was always about wine, but was previously set in Germany
rather than Italy. The regions and grape varieties are a little
bit off, but probably only the true wine connoisseur will notice.
- Virus & Co.
Card game featuring a mix of bidding, bluff and "take that!" as
players avoid being the first to take 12 or more points of virus,
which becomes easier if they take injections, but anyone who
takes three injections is overdosed and suffers exactly the
fate he hoped to avoid. On a turn, a player drafts a virus or
injection to give to another. This player either contracts it
or pays (takes) a strength 1 pill to pass it to someone else
(not the player who communicated it to him). If the latter,
the next player must pay 2, etc. The costs spiral up quickly
so players will often find themselves simply taking the virus
themselves in the first place, which at least grants some
free pills. A third option is to play a Risk card, face down
on another player, who may either accept it or pay to give
it to someone else. At the end of the round, players score
positive points for remaining pills and negative ones for their
viruses. Scores often seem to hover around zero. The Risk cards,
about half good and half bad, offer a number of interesting
options including some which give point rewards for predicting
who will lose the round. These help in establishing logical
targets for your plays as does the humorous Herr Doktor card
which forces every player to call him "Sir" or else fork over
a tablet. The strike-at-will quality of the game is somewhat
tempered by the fact that normally one can only hit the player
to the immediate left or right, unless the especially virulent,
but weaker viruses turn up. Still there may be some unwarranted
attacks so players should be all of one
mind on whether or not behavior is to be logical or arbitrarily
mean-spirited. There is German text only on the Risk cards and as
these are all dealt at the beginning and played only once, they
are not a major problem if players are given translation sheets.
Both the illustrations of germs and the rules writing are funny
and cute. With its self-important doctor, emphasis on getting as
many pills as possible and ever-communicative diseases, Virus
& Co. has caught the gestalt of modern health care.
It will catch you too if you have at least four players –
the more the merrier – and can appreciate a lighter
game which really is something different. Wanting to see
more of the interaction of the Risk cards, few of which come
out in a round, should make you return for replays as well.
There are a few rules ambiguities. We can't be sure, but we
played that the next round is started by the player left of the
last player and also that each round begins by resetting all of
the tablets. Update: On this last, a recent post by the
publisher states that tablets are not reset, which seems unfair.
[card translations] [Take That! Card Games]
- Visjes (Ocean)
Rather unique-looking game about fishing. Fish are represented
by three different types of shells. There are rules for
growing fish beds and boats must harvest in a straight
line. Along the way there are also viruses and waves to
worry about. Almost an abstract in its features, but with
plenty of flavor. The game play holds plenty of interest as
well, except perhaps for the wave which possibly introduces
more randomness than some players might like. Seasim
is the 2004 realization, now only for two players, reversing
the direction of Isi to Morisi. The system is mostly the
same; changes in board layout, set-up and scoring comprise the
main differences. On the other hand the graphical presentation
is much improved with a colorful puzzle map. The shells have
been replaced with wooden fish in three
hues. Sharks are cardboard cut-outs that cleverly fit around
the type of fish each preys upon. Play continues to be just
as fun without the extra players and perhaps is improved as a
decent amount of prediction replaces the wild-ass guessing which
could previously obtain. I continue to enjoy these rare systems
featuring a non-player phenomenon – here the independent
growth of fish populations – as players do their best
to react. Some may find the fiddliness of this maintenance
tedious or too exacting, however – it does require some
organization. Other than that, however, like Corné's
previously effort, Zoosim,
this works well and should be fun for casual and experienced
players alike. [Cwali]
- Viva Pamplona!
Players allocate random dice to run their pawns in Spain's famous
bullish event, receiving Courage Points for demonstrating the
most bravery (lunacy?) before the crowd. Rules for pushing and
"embarrassing" others' pawns as well as slippery tomato fields
provide interesting tactical options. A rather large (not to
mention unpredictable) bull figure adds a lot of fun, as does
a nicely-illustrated board. Light fun for six or even more.
[6-player Games]
- VOC
One of a kind sailing and collection game by Jeroen Doumen and
Joris Wiersinga. The 17th century Dutch East Indies trade forms
the background, beautifully conveyed by an antique map which
graces the board. This same geography is rendered more abstractly
on four smaller boards suitable for drawing on with the enclosed
marker. Each small board corresponds to a different ship. On
this ship's turn its current caption attempts to draw a path to
a port offering goods without first crossing land. "Attempts"
because he or she is doing this blind! Hang with me a minute now,
those of you who are muttering "damn party
game" and ready to click onto the next review. It's really not
so bad like you may be thinking. This is by no means a party game
actually and if you tried it on a group who only play such games,
it would probably fail. Instead, when you are drawing, you will
find the other players on your ship, each of whom can give one
command word per sailor, are busy designing rather scientfic
methods to solve the challenge. Where should the ship turn to
pass through a complex archipelago? Should a "north" mean turn
completely north or just veer to, say, the northeast? Is there to
be a "stop" command or does the captain need to wing that? With
each runaground, the ship loses a sailor and thus a command word
so player must sometimes become especially ingenious. Always
layered onto this is the possibility that advising players may
disagree on the destination and so deliberately mislead –
a bad landing appoints a new captain – so you can see there
is plenty of scope for tactics. The rest of the system revolves
around usually straightforward negotiation on how the recovered
goods are distributed, sailing back to Holland and attempting
to fulfill various contract cards. On turns when no contract
is filled, all of the players are penalized by the amount of
the oldest card, so it may be that there is no winner. In fact,
this is a likely outcome for the first few games as players learn
how to play and avoid the Scurvy penalty for remaining too long
at sea. After that they can try out the advanced game which
introduces auctions to let players set values on aspects like
who is on a ship.
Splotter Spellen
really shows here the value of the smaller independent
publisher who can dare a creation this unusual and at the same
time make it work quite well. For when you close your eyes
and draw into the unknown it is a strange, uncertain feeling,
probably exactly like that experienced by those early mariners in
those days of uncertain weather, maps and waters. And at voyage
end, those sailing lines look remarkably similar to historical
sailing logs as well. Any true fan of theme should be well
pleased by the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie [United
East India Company].
[Jeroen Doumen]
[Splotter]
- Voleurs de Bagdad, Les (The Thieves of Bagdad, Die Diebe von Bagdad)
Set in medieval Baghdad,
the board shows the five principal city districts:
the Souk (market), Port, Bazaar, Kasbah, and Palace.
Each player represents a legendary thief, e.g. Ali Baba,
Scheherazade, Sindbad, etc. who has a unique vice or predilection,
as is indicated by the types of trade item cards each likes to collect.
Players also control thugs who go about robbing shops
which is the source of income.
Then they may trade gem, surprise and trade cards amongst themselves
à la
Civilization.
Then they purchase pawns, any of Caravaneers, Merchants
(can expel Caravaneers), Traders (can expel Merchants),
Assassins (can assassinate), and gems (sapphires, emeralds,
rubies, diamonds and fakes). Pawns are moved so as to
maximize profit and hamper those of others. Players may
attempt also to move the Grand Vizier, although others may
frustrate this. The game ends when the Grand Vizier
reaches the Palace. The players reveal their cards. The
winner is the one who has satisfied his private victory conditions.
If no one has the right gems, the winner is the one holding
the greatest value of gems.
The game is slightly troubling because of the lack of control
induced by hidden victory conditions, especially when playing
without the full complement of six. Suggest that each player
have a list of the possible victory conditions beforehand so as
to better guess whether anyone is poised to win or not.
Initiative passing scheme is clever, but it seems far too easy
to rob jewels and no way to defend against it. The Vizier with
the proper card can be moved the entire distance in one go, so
there is no reliable way to delay the outcome either. Thus much of
the game's outcome will depend on which player is lucky enough
to draw exactly the jewels he needs just by happenstance.
Strategically, it appears that for the most part the assassins
are a waste of time and it is best to simply saturate with cheap
operatives the area from which one needs jewels and to trade
cards generously. Presentation-wise, while the jewels and card
illustrations are quite nice, the board artwork, despite apparent
good intentions, fails on both practical and aesthetic grounds while
the cloth sacks provided are not really large enough.
Published in an English edition as The Thieves of Bagdad,
in German as Die Diebe von Bagdad.
- Volldampf
Third outing in the Railways series, after Lancashire Railways
and New England Railways
is set in Germany and given a German makeover by the folks at
TM-Spiele (which seems to act like Kosmos' import house) as well.
The basic system of moving cubes over railway segments is all
still present, but there is a different take on economics and
track building. In particular, the map is now subdivided into
regions and each segment a part of one of them. This permits
the design to do away with the system of track cards popping up
randomly and replace it with one of simply having region cards
appear. These cards are still auctioned, but players build any
tracks they like anywhere within the regions. Several birds have
been killed with one stone as this tends to create more fair,
logical, thematic and strategic building than before. Certainly it
should never anymore happen that a useless track not connected to
anything appears out of nowhere. In other changes, the somewhat
fiddly "inflation system" is gone, the replacement "catch-up"
mechanism being a free "take that" card to whoever is in last
place (rare is the Wallace game that does not offer a chance
to inflict some mayhem). In a nice further touch, players who
cannot move any useful merchandise also receive such cards,
which feel correctly balanced and useful. The loan system is
now such that they are never paid back, which feels weird, but
works since they cost victory points at the end, and is more
elegant. Unfortunately the potential for a kingmaker situation is
still present. The minor complaints about the previous outings
also still hold true: cubes which start in the color of their
destination and the namelessness of cubes still hold true, but
at least the presentation, with hardback board, is quite a bit
nicer than the others in the series, the only possible objection
coming from non-German readers since the action cards comprise
plain German text without graphics to help their understanding.
Since the map is different, those already enjoying the first
two will probably want this one as well. For those getting into
this series for the first time – railroading fans will be
interested – although more expensive, the
system improvements make for a much better game.
Title means "Full Steam".
Age of Steam
is a later follow-on in this series.
[6-player Games]
Martin Wallace
- Volle Hütte!
Stefan Dorra game of bar owners competing to
earn the most from patrons. In this inventor's MarraCash once the patrons
go in they never come out, but here they hop from pub to pub,
always in search of something new whether it be billiards,
dining, dancing or Fussball. The most appealing attraction is the
dilemma of which player to pull patrons from as it's only when
they leave a pub that its owner gets paid. This also opens up
slots for the owner to play cards bringing in new patrons. Thus
one way to win is a constant flow of customers in and out, but
a second way is by use of the cards whose payoffs vary directly
with the number of patrons at the moment of play. This system
also leads to dilemmas in composing the pub. Is it better to
have one of everything or would it be preferable, for example,
to own all four of the dance rooms? It's a bit unfortunate
that the drafting mechanism is a too limited to allow very much
experimentation in this area. It's too bad too that sometimes
play, constrained by luck of the draw, seems a little beyond
one's control. This grows with the dilemma of public money and
its analysis paralysis vs. private and not knowing what's best
to do. A different kind of confusion stems from vaguely written
instructions which leave some important matters such as the number
of patrons to transfer unclear. Components, artwork and unique
pawns are nicely realized although the indoor dining tiles look
too similar to the bar tiles at first glance. A good effort which
might have been great, or considering how many reprints are being
done these days (September 2003), may yet be great. Title means
literally "Full Hut", but a better idiomatic translation is what
every pub owner is looking for, a full house. As a design note,
it can be mentioned that the ability to choose when the payout
occurs feels better than having it pop up randomly as in, for
example, Union Pacific. But
such a system depends on holdings dominance shifting far more
quickly than it does in the latter game.
Personal Rating; 6
Stefan Dorra;
ASS-1997; 3-5; 45
- Volle Wolle [Wool Rules]
Just when it looked like the latest run of dice games had played
itself out, here comes another one, this time from an Italian
inventor,
Alessandro
Zucchini.
He has at least five titles to
his credit since 2005, the best known one probably being
Walhalla (Amigo, 2006, no English version so far). This
one is a bidding affair in which players roll to collect cards.
Usually such affairs have only a few cards which players fight
over and steal, e.g.
Knights;
Easy Come, Easy Go
or
Pickomino,
but here there are lots and lots of cards, forming a set
collection sub-game. The start of each round reveals several
cards and players set their dice targets in a simultaneous
blind auction. The bidder begins by trying to equal or exceed
his total on three dice, one eight-sider, one ten-sider and
one twelve-sider. Success permits claiming cards – the earlier
the better – else the player registers one die and
re-rolls the rest. Absolute failure earns a chip which can be
added to the total on some future turn or scored as a point at
the end. Then the next highest bidder gets to roll to claim
remaining cards, and so on. The lowest bidder automatically
gets whatever remains which is sometimes not good as there are
negative cards present. Deciding exactly how much to bid is
tricky as it must factor in not only the positive and negative
card values, but also the various bonuses and extra pips opponents
have available. Some lots have different values for different
players, for example card types which don't score unless
present in sets of three. There are are dog cards which one
wants to avoid having the most of. There is also the useful
bone card which transfers from player to player when certain
cards are taken. Players are supposed to use rely on memory
about what has already been taken, which can be somewhat
annoying, but in practice is not too bad. The cute artwork of
"Full of Wool" shows various sheep, the bad ones in black.
Players indicate their bids by attaching a small, clamp-style
clothespin to the edge of a card with numbers running around
it. The entire package is in the same sized, small, very convenient
box used by
Pick Picknick.
Perhaps what this game does best is keep turns short yet
interesting, because most of the players are waiting to see what they
will be able to claim or thinking about which order to put
cards on their stack, all of which keps the game short and
interesting as well. While this game accepts up to six,
probably it's much better with four. The two-player version
works fine.
LLMH7 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Low; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 7)
Alessandro Zucchini; Zoch/Rio Grande-2007; 2-6
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Volltreffer
Card game in three "acts". In Act I players draft cards, spending
victory points to do so, the costs being roughly equivalent
to worth although bargains are sometimes possible. In Act II
players meld with these cards to score points and in Act III,
play a trick-taking game trying to get closest to the magic
score of 66 without going over. Somewhat akin to
Pisa
and
Was Sticht
in the establishment of the hand, but here the mechanics
are cleaner, faster and not complicated by having to also set the rules
for play. Negotiating rules works out in a short game like
Njet!,
but becomes overly lengthy when combined with drafting. Trying to hit
an exact score duplicates all the maddening fun of
Oh Hell.
The title
means "Bull's-eye".
[rules translation]
- Vom Kap Bis Kairo
"From the Cape to Cairo" is a card game of building a railroad
from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo. As the instructions explain,
although Europe, Asia and the Americas have been crossed by
railroad, by 1900 the length of Africa had yet to be spanned. So
the race to be the first to complete crossing of eight terrain
cards is on. The dual-use cards show terrain to cross as
well as helpful tracks, the interesting dilemma being that a
track-heavy terrain will help construction for "right now",
but will cost more later. Players write bids on paper for the
ordering of drafting new terrains. Then they try to cross the
immediate terrain by use of a combination of helpful tracks,
turned up cards and money. Players facing a river at the moment
another completes a terrain receive a bonus track for later use
(neatly employing the card back). Completing a terrain provides
some money back. Challenging decisions are how much to bid,
which terrains to claim and which to leave for others and
whether to build quickly or wait to do it more cheaply. Artwork
is decent. It would be nice to see this re-done with better
written English rules and coins rather than pencil and paper.
Overall, works well, especially for such a small package,
and should especially appeal to train fans crossing over into
games. Update: those interested in this topic will enjoy
Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town
(2003) by famed travel author Paul Theroux.
[Ancient Egypt games]
LMMH7 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 7)
Günter Burkhardt; Adlung-2001; 2-4
[Buy it at Adlung]
