The last couple of weeks I enjoyed quite a number of great games, in particular the opportunities to game have come from outside of my normal gaming circles which made for some very interesting and fun experiences.
Deception Murder in Hong Kong Score: 4
I picked this game up on a whim and while it was very well received among my standard gaming group, to the surprise of no one, it was particularly interesting to see how it held up among non-gamers. I took this bad boy with me on a family skiing trip and we played it several times with people who quite literally had their first modern board gaming experience.
Whether your a gamer or not, everyone loves solving mysteries, making deception a truly universal game that can reach everyone.
In a 8 player game Deception Murder in Hong Kong not only held up but was a hit in the purest sense. It engaged everyone, the discussions went off the rails and we spent the evening confused, accusing and counter accusing each other all night. It was a blast!
Its really no surprise to me that this game is held in such a high regard, while the premise is simple, there is something about trying to unravel a mystery that is universally human and Deception Murder really taps into that with perfection. I have quite a few different social deduction games and while I love them all, I think this one is probably one of my favorites at the moment. Highly recommended.
Camel Cup Score: 3
Sometimes called Camel Up, this race betting game is not something that I would ever bring to board game night at the club, but as a family game, Camel Cup really has just enough game in it to keep an old school gamer like me invested, while being sufficiently silly and simple for non-gamers and casuals. I was really surprised by this one, I mainly bought it for the kids, but I really wasn’t expecting it to make my personal shelf.
Camel Cup makes getting the family to the gaming table very easy, gambling is just something that appeals to everyone when its not for real money.
Camel Cup is essentially a gambling game and I think that in itself is really where casual family games do really well. Gambling mechanics ensure that no one is expecting to win based on “strategic play”, you sort of push your luck, roll the dice and hope for the best, but Camel Cup does offer up just enough decision to trick you into thinking you might just be able to out think your opponents. As a family game, this is among the best I have played in recent years. Light hearted fun for the win.
Grimslingers Score: 3
A friend of mine picked this one up on a whim, I think mainly because he liked the theme and art work. We weren’t expecting much from it when we dropped it on the table, but to our surprise, it was actually super fun.
Some of the coolest art in one of the best themes in a card game I have seen in a long time.
With fantastic artwork, and kind of a weird science-fiction western theme where you can be a gun wielding cat (for example), this is a game effectively about trying to outguess your opponents, read their mind and asses “the most likely plays”. I can see how this game might land a bit flat if you played it with strangers, but among friends, people who you know a thing or two about the personalities, this one flourishes. Its really just a mind game, one with simple mechanics and plenty of interesting decesions.
While I enjoyed it one on one, I think this one in particular was much better with 3+ players. Really cool concept, a simple game that gets everyone involved instantly. Like it a lot!
Kingdomes Score: 3
This Knizia classic is actually one of the few games from this designer I like. While its a bit mathy, I think I like it because its very intelligent while being very easy to teach so you can introduce it to a group of non-gamers and they won’t feel like idiots. It rely’s less on your skill as a gamer and more just on plain old fashioned intelligence.
I don’t like math, but this game somehow manages to make it fun.
It makes a good “camping” game, as it takes up very little space (at least the old version which I have). Always really liked this one for non-gamer gaming.
Roll For The Galaxy Score: Full Review Coming Soon
Man I feel like I’m talking about this game all the time right now, but it really hit on all pistons for me. Its really hard for me to say exactly what it is about this game that “does it for me”, but I believe its kind of a combination of simplicity, science-fiction theme, dice element not driven by luck yet with strategic depth that really requires a lot of exploration.
One of the biggest surprises for me in a very long time.
I loved the game it was based on “Race for the Galaxy”, but I always struggled with that one mainly because its such a bitch to teach. Roll for the Galaxy captures all the same elements of Race For The Galaxy, yet manages to be far simpler to teach, yet still has that “impossible to master element”.
Just a fantastic all around game, so much more then the sum of its parts.
Dice games are a really mixed bag, suffice to say, there are a lot of really bad ones. In fact up until the last couple of years I doubt I would have been able to scrape together 5 dice games I actually liked. That however has definitely changed in recent years. Not only are there a lot of great quality dice games out there, some I would even categorize as reaching well beyond the simplicity that is usually associated with the genre.
Enjoy the list
1. Roll For The Galaxy
This was one of the biggest surprises for me in a very long time, absolutely love it.
While the review is still pending, I can give you a preview, in short, I loved it. In fact Roll For The Galaxy inspired me to make this list. It is effectively everything I love about Race For The Galaxy, but with dice. Its far simpler to learn and play then its predecessor, yet maintains that intensity and theme that makes Race For The Galaxy such a fun game.
I love the fact that despite beyond a dice game, there is actually a tremendous amount of control over the game. You are not going to lose this game because you “rolled bad”, it’s definitely a strategy game, one that rewards clever players. My absolute favorite aspect of Roll For The Galaxy is that it brought to the foreground that mind reading aspect of Race for the Galaxy, being far more prevalent here. You really want to guess right about what your opponents are going to do and what they want you to do so you can throw them for a loop or when the tables are turned leverage their actions on your turn.
Absolutely fabulous game, I was hesitant to try it and I’m very glad I did, it really earns its interstellar stripes.
2. Nations The Dice Game
Clever and quick, its one of the few games that does justice to both the dice and civ building genres.
Its no secret that I’m a big fan of Civilization building games, both Through The Ages and Nations are in my collection not to mention many others like Twilight Imperium. Unfortunately when it comes to replicating civilization building games in dice form there are a lot more disappointments out there then pleasant surprises (I’m looking at your Roll Through The Ages!)
Nations The Dice Game however was not only a pleasant surprise, it’s become one of my favorite games to play on Yucata.de where I have at least 3-4 games going at any given time. Oddly its one of the few games on this list not on my shelf yet, a problem I will be remedying in short order.
Now I will admit, this was one of those games that sort of grew on me over time. It wasn’t love at first sight, but I definitely consider this one of the best dice games out there not only doing justice to the genre of civilization building but in its own right being a fantastic strategy game.
3. Star Wars: Destiny
FFG could have made lots of money from me, instead they got zero thanks to the decision to make this a CCG. Too bad!
Of course Fantasy Flight Games needs to have a moment in the sun on this list too, but well deserved. Star Wars: Destiny despite disappointing me horribly for being a CCG rather than an LCG, still earns its rank in the number 3 slot. Really well constructed design that pits classic and new heroes and villains against each other in a weird abstracted format where the Millennium Falcon can for some reason attack Darth Vader? Whatever, Its weird but its a really well designed, very easy to learn, quick and dirty and just plain fun.
Now I will admit I’m not a collector, this is strictly an online affair for me so perhaps I’m cheating but I simply can’t get over the CCG thing with this game, especially coming from FFG where they have this wonderful, proven LCG concept. Oh why or why did you do this to me FFG!
4. Dungeons and Dragons: Dice Masters
D&D feel with the D&D time frame.
The Dice Masters series is one of those oddities where the game didn’t win me over until I found the right theme for me. I tried the various super hero versions and it just didn’t do it for me, not until I tried Dungeons and Dragons.
Call it nostalgia or nerdiness if you like but I love D&D and while I consider the mechanic to be fun, its really the thematic representations and how it flows through the game that I love in D&D Dice Masters. It really captures that D&D essence and its an absolute blast to pit a variety of D&D factions and monsters against each other. It conjures up imagery and sings thematically. There is nothing quite like dropping an Owl Bear to counter that pesky Elf Wizard! Quick, simple, really the perfect filler.
5. King of Tokyo
Instant classic!
King of Tokyo is a take that game, one that is so simple and so to the point and so thematically perfect that I can’t help but add it to this list. You roll dice and attack the guy who foolishly decided to be in the middle. Its just fantastic and while I would say of all the games on this list, this is the only one that I can say with 100% certainty will work with any group, any time. This is not a gamer’s game, its a game for everyone, making it an easy add to anyone’s collection.
Honorable Mentions
We really need to squeak in a couple of honorable mentions, it would be criminal not to.
Kingsburg
I didn’t put it on the list because strictly speaking you can make a fair argument that its not a dice game but a worker placement game, an argument that justly kept it off the list. None the less, I think its a fantastic game and while it was culled from my collection it had nothing to do with the quality of the game and everything to do with the tough standards I have for my personal shelf. A really great game, one I highly recommend to new comers and while its “dice game” status is questionable, I still think it deserves mention.
Voyage of Marco Polo
Another questionable choice for a dice game list, but Voyage of Marco Polo is a game I like mainly because of the dice. I think its such a clever way to make use of a dice mechanic and while it definitely leans more towards the Heavy Euro zone, its clever dice mechanic design cannot be ignored!
The Great Western Trail is a German Euro game about an American tradition, the old west cattle drive and as strange of a combination as that might sound to be, the fascination with the old west actually tends to be quite strong in Europe. In Great Western Trail however players don’t take on the roles of traditional “movie” cowboys, having shootouts in the OK coral but rather they take the more historically accurate role of cowboys moving cattle across the landscape of the old American west.
I have to admit when I first started hearing buzz about this game I was immediately intrigued, and it was quite specifically because of this more real cowboy theme. The idea of a western based euro game about the economics of the cattle drive, as unusual of a theme as it is got my attention but even more than that was the fact that someone made a Euro game that wasn’t about Mediterranean trading or worker placement really sounded like someone finally realized that both of those elements are seriously played out at this point in game design.
Overview
Final Score: (3.1 out 5 Stars)
In Great Western Trail players traverse a series of trails with a wide range of stops where they can perform a variety of activities including resource and hand management. Like most heavy German Euros, the game pits players against each other in a very non-confrontational environment, but one rich in strategic decisions and tough choices.
With many routes to victory using a combination of some classic designs and some very new ones, Great Western Trail is an intriguing puzzle to be unraveled.
Components
Score:
Tilt:
Pros: Components made to last, very nice colorful art style.
Cons: Lots of Iconography to learn and remember, player sheets are a bit thin.
Component quality coming out of European publishers has really improved dramatically over the last few years and while there is still a lot of reliance on wooden tokens, Great Western Trail boasts very high quality board, card and card board components. There is very little to complain about here, this is a game built to last. I would argue that the player boards are a bit thin and they are easy to damage thanks to combination of thin cardboard paper and hard corners, but of all the components in the box these sheets are the only thing that comes out a bit weak.
The game is colorful and bright, with a cartoony art style that is appealing to the eye. Of course like many Euros it’s also very busy with a lot of iconography.
Its a very colorful game with a clean, cartoony look capturing the western feeling/theme quite nicely. Their is a brick ton of Iconography which adds a fair amount of time to learning how to play, contrary to first impressions the iconography is extremely logical and after a play of the game becomes second nature and easy to understand and remember. By the time I was in my third game the manual stayed in the box despite the fact that even in a third game we were still discovering new elements with new iconography on them. This clarity is needed and you’ll be glad that its there as it makes this rather complex game a lot easier to grasp in the long run.
For a Euro game or otherwise, Great Western Trail looks great on the table and while there are a lot of moving parts all of the mechanics and components mesh well in a logical easy to understand manner. Initial learning curve aside, I think its thanks to the art style, iconography and logical combination of art and mechanics that makes this complex game a lot easier to learn and to play.
Theme
Score:
Tilt:
Pros: A good choice of theme for the mechanics in place, the art helps a lot to give it a bit of extra energy.
Cons: The theme is largely irrelevant and pretty feather light, there are some missed opportunities.
While I love the selection of the theme and certainly the art styles helps a great deal to bring it to the table, like most Euro game the theme is a thin layer added largely to facilitate artistic choices. I would argue that they picked a very good theme when comparing them to the mechanics, it certainly works but if you are looking to experience the old west in a board game, this one does it just on the surface at best.
There are cowboys here, but you’re not exactly going to feel like Wyatt Earp here. The connection between theme and mechanics is fairly limited.
This is a game about mechanics and while there are some interesting abstraction mechanics added to the game like the hand of cards being your cattle, buildings being stops along the trail that also has various hazards and such, you aren’t exactly going to feel like you are in a role of a cowboy here.
Given the very minimal interaction between players as well, you can’t help but wonder if they missed an opportunity in this game to create some take that mechanics. You can’t help but feel the absence of certain elements in a western theme game like some six shooters, sheriffs or bad guys but I suppose since those things didn’t drive me to the game it feels weird to judge it negatively for not having them. Still its a game about cowboys in the old west given the minimal interaction, the game ends up feeling less thematic as a result.
Like many victory point mash up games, it never ceases to amaze me how a game that appears so busy and full of life is effectively a solitaire game. GWT is not as bad as Caverna, but it’s definitely in the same category.
All that said, like most Euro games it becomes very easy to overlook and dismiss the theme as you focus your energy on the mechanics and Great Western Trail is really no different. The theme in short is really not that important here.
Gameplay
Score:
Tilt:
Pros: Dynamic setup, non-traditional euro mechanics and thinky gameplay make for a great combination. Very good victory point smorgasbord.
Cons: No real catch up mechanics in place, pretty limited player interaction.
All games generally live and die by their mechanics but its in particular true about Euro games because they often share so many of the same mechanics and aren’t focused on theme, but thankfully in the case of The Great Western trail, there is sufficient deviation from the standard fare of role selection and worker placement that it allows the game to stand out.
There are a number of things to really like about Great Western Trail, I think the most notable however is that while its a pretty weighty Euro with a lot of strategic juice, turns are very quick and the activities of a turn are pretty straightforward and easy to understand. The choices might be tough, but what you actually do on your turn is very simple. Move your cowboy and perform the action on the space you land. Conceptually it falls into the easy to learn impossible to master category and I think above all else this is the zone in which Euro games find the most comfort and simultaneously excel at. Great Western Trail is a wonderful example of this.
Personally I been exhausted by many of the traditional euro mechanics like Worker placement, action or role selection mechanics and I think the the real strength of Great Western Trail is that its a very strategic and thinky game that does not fall back on these tried and true cores. Instead it ventures out into some new territory which I found to be a breath of fresh air. Its nothing I would call revolutionary, but its a new dynamic puzzle and that can be a lot of fun with the right group.
Russian Railroads is often hailed as one of the best among the Victory Point Mash up Euros, but its based on a very static, tried and true worker placement mechanic. I like GWT a lot better mainly because it does something fresh and new in the genre.
The combination of movement, hand management and resource management along the way works really well to create some really tough choices. You sort of build up a route that works to the strength of your selected strategy for scoring points and while Great Western Trail is very much a Victory Point Smorgasbord, you do have quite a few variations on what you can go for and the initial setup is dynamic as is the way the games tokens that can affect strategy are so you end up with a wide range of variation between plays. This of course helps with re-playability a great deal but what it really means for the game is that you can’t sit down with a strategy planned in advance, a problem a lot of Euros suffer from. You really have to look at the board, see what buildings are available, where neutral buildings are initially placed, what workers are available, what cards are in the market place and then you can think about how you are going to do strategy wise.
One of my beefs with Le Havre is that despite its dynamic nature and simple complexity style design, it has a pattern that becomes apparent and rather predictable after several plays. GWT manages to dodge that quite a bit thanks to the many dynamic elements that really shift attention to a wide range of strategies from game to game.
While the interaction is quite thin, one point of interaction is the placement of buildings which can tax players, create stalling points and with hazards can add additional hurdles for players who put their buildings in riskier, but more profitable spots. This really helps a lot to make the game feel like your playing with others, though the impact of their decisions still has pretty minimal impact on you. In a lot of ways Great Western Trail can feel a bit solitaire, in particular in two player games but in 3 and 4 player games I think the games interaction makes deeper cuts and I definitely recommend to play it this way.
The personal player board is also very important in the game, what actions you unlock here and where you place your tokens on the train track are critical for getting good positioning of future runs through the trails. There is a lot to think about and plan here. There is a lot of investment in strategies as well so you have to make good choices throughout if you hope to win, there really are no “big moves” but rather slow and steady build up of smart choices that pays out in the long run. For better or for worse, in Great Western Trail it can be pretty hard to catch up if you fall too far behind as players who make wise choices will get momentum that is difficult to halt. In a lot of ways Great Western Trail is very much about building a functioning engine which acts as a sort of race and its in this that the competition and tension of the game really exists.
When and how you unlock your personal player board actions is really important to a good long term strategy. There is this mix between long term strategy on the player board, several moves ahead strategy of your hand of cards and turn to turn strategy with your movement. The combination creates a lot of tough decisions.
I think the inability for players to do much to slow down a player with a lot of momentum kind of hurts the game. You can find yourself about halfway through the game falling hopelessly behind or watching one player get far ahead and effectively have to play a game to its conclusion knowing who will win since mid game. Its hard to say how often this would happen in a game of experienced players, I would venture to say not very often, but given that the game takes about 30-45 minutes per player in a four player game, if you are 1.5 hours into a 3 hour game and you already know who is going to win with no way to stop them it kind of spoils the tension built up at the start of the game.
With all that in mind I have to say that I really enjoyed the thinky elements of the game mechanics. For a victory point focused Euro, this is a really good one and I have played quite a few at this point. Given options like Russian Railroads, Voyage of Marco Polo, Terra Mystica or the always popular Caverna, I think I prefer Great Western Trail, if for no other reason than the fact that its not driven by rather stale and over cooked worker placement mechanics.
In Great Western Trail what you are going to do isn’t just a question of this turn but this and perhaps even the next run. You have to be able to see your actions many moves in advance and there is a bit of luck and risk vs. reward elements here so you can take some chances. There is a lot of satisfaction and reward for good decisions and I think Euro gamers in particular will find a lot to love in Great Western Trail.
Replay-ability and Longevity
Score:
Tilt:
Pros: Dynamic starts and dynamic draws of tiles and cards create a fairly wide range of unique games that will drive strategies, creating plenty of longevity and replay potential.
Cons: Victory Point Smorgasbords generally have a fixed shelf like getting boring after X amount of plays.
I think the most important element of a game with limited interaction is to find a way to make itself re-playable. In my experience, the less player interaction there is in a game the less likely it is that people will find any real longevity in the game. That said Great Western Trail does a lot to curtail this problem with its dynamic variations in setup and general “draw” elements, with its card management and tile reveals.
I’m not sure how long this game will stay in my collection, but I do believe that a game like this will wind up being someones favorite just because it really does have that spark of strategic depth and thinkiness I think a lot gamers enjoy. I always say that I don’t really understand why people are so captivated with victory point smorgasbord games, but they are and games like Russian Railroads for example see a lot of play and are beloved by a lot of people. I think Great Western Trail does very well in this genre/style of gaming, so much so that I actually like it a great deal more then most of the games of this type I have tried.
I have to admit part of the reason why I like this game is that I like the theme and while strictly speaking the connection between theme and mechanics is not particularly strong here, I’m still drawn to it. I think Great Western Trail is one of those, right people, right occasion type games where if you bring it out with the right group they will love it and want to play it repeatedly while other less Euro centric gamers are likely to find it difficult to get through even the first play. Great Western Trail won’t have that wide, for all gamers, appeal. Its a niche product, but one I think people like this genre of games will want to play repeatedly as there is a ton to discover and unravel here. There are many challenges and interesting puzzles to solve and its going to take a great many games to truly master this one.
This is a Heavy Euro with a ton going on, its definitely not for the feint of heart but all things considered I found that people will have that “aha” moment much sooner then what appearances might suggest.
I think the biggest boon to this game is the fact that it has a higher level of complexity but relatively simple round structure and I found that after my first couple of plays I still wanted to go back to try out the many other possible strategies and approaches to the game so I definitely believe there is plenty of longevity here.
I would also argue however that Victory Point Smorgasbords in general play themselves out and I would imagine at some point this game will make an exit from my collection, but I don’t think its going to be any time soon.
Conclusion
Great Western Trail is simultaneously a traditional Euro style victory point mash up and a uniquely styled game with fresh mechanics and interesting approach. Like many Euro games I find its a bit short on player interaction and I see that as a problem with many of my gaming friends who want to have mechanics that interfere and obstruct each other as part of a gaming experience. To me however you don’t buy and play a Euro game if you have issues with limited interaction and to be fair there are plenty of games that I like that have virtually no interaction like Race for the Galaxy for example. This in its own right is only a negative for people who have issue with it and I really don’t.
That said I do believe there was some missed opportunities in Great Western Trail as a “cowboy” themed game for more direct interaction. Its a Euro through and through and if you love Euro’s you will likely enjoy this game. I think its component quality, art style, clever mechanics, dynamic nature and fresh approach work together draw just enough interest to squeak into my personal collection. I’m drawn to it, I want to play it again and I think that’s a good sign as this is rarely the case for me with Victory Point Mash up Euros in this style.
Great Western Trail is a fun game, its unique within its own genre and while I would rate it as a heavy euro, its considerably easier to teach within its class among games like Terra Mystica, Russian Railroads and Caverna.
I recommend this game for Euro fans for certain, but I think unless you already have an affection for Victory Point Mash ups you should probably skip this one.
One of my favorite games of all time, Twilight Imperium can only be described as a thematic epic, a game of galactic civilization building and management, dripping with intrigue, politics, diplomacy, trade, war, exploration and just all around 4x goodness. I always say that if I was to be stuck on an island with 5 of my best friends and we could only bring one game with us, this is definitely the one I would choose. With near infinite re-playbility, mountains of strategic depth and an almost overwhelming set of variants and options this has to be one of the most dynamic board games in existence.
Starting this month I will be focusing in on Twilight Imperium both in this blog, on the pod cast and in my own personal gaming group.
Now I realize that Twilight Imperium is a rather niche thing. We are talking about a pretty complex game that really requires 6 dedicated players and runs the better part of 6 hours. Not to mention the science-fiction subject matter. We are talking about a game here that eliminates a lot of people in a lot of ways. For those of you who hear science-fiction, epic, six hours, six players and it brings a smile to your face, then this article series is definitely for you.
This is already a very long game when setup in the standard way, but fans being fans will do crazy setups like this that will take days as opposed to hours. There is a special place in hell for these people, I’m looking forward to meeting them.
In the course of this article series we are going to explore this game inside and out. We are going to look at strategies, the races, tricks of the trade, pitfalls and most importantly how to win. First however let’s just kick things off with a general overview, lets assume for a second you don’t own Twilight Imperium yet and you are considering picking it up. Consider this a sort of list of important things to know about TI3.
It’s a game about a war but not a war game
Whenever I describe TI3 I always begin by telling people that despite appearances, while this game is definitely about a great galactic war, it is not mechanically speaking a game of war. Now don’t get me wrong here, you will definitely be fighting. You will build mighty space fleets and send them into grand battles, fighting over planets and resources, but these aspects of TI3 are really a distraction and perhaps better to say an extension of the treacherous intrigue, diplomacy and politics that are the true driving force of the game.
Looking at an image like this it’s not hard to imagine someone mistaking this for a war game.
To win Twilight Imperium you must score points and there is only one way to do that which is to complete public and secret objectives. Waging war for war’s sake will not win you the game in all but the rarest circumstance, or when using some select variants and its very much more likely that simply going on a war path even when pursuing points will ultimately lead you to a crushing defeat. So always keep in mind as you approach TI3 that while you must always build up your military and prepare for war, successful players will use their war machine with precision, as a means to an end and most commonly to distract their opponents from their real agenda which should always be kept hidden.
This is of course also important if you are buying this game because you think it’s a “war in space” game, it’s not and you definitely should not buy this game if that is what you are after.
This is more a hobby than a game
While I would never fault someone for giving TI3 a try, the truth is that TI3 is designed from the ground up for dedicated players, people who are interested in studying and learning about the ins and outs of this complex game. This is an event game, something you plan an evening around, going into it knowing it’s going to take up the whole night. It’s not a game you simply pull out on a random board game night. It’s definitely not for casual gamers either and for best results it’s important that all participants prepare for the game by reading the rulebook on their own. In other words, it takes motivated, interested players who are eager to play to be successful.
There are a lot of mini mechanics built into the options and variants of TI3 like the political system for example. Its important everyone familiarize themselves with these else getting a good experience becomes very difficult if not impossible.
I note this here because if you are considering purchasing TI3 you must keep this in mind. You want a gaming group setup ready to dive in with interest and excitement, a group that is aware of what TI3 really is and be on board with it. You don’t want to twist arms and convince reluctant people to play this game, it simply does not work out well and given the expense of the game, it would be a shame to shell out so much money for something that collects dust on your shelf.
Getting both expansions with the core game is really kind of a must. TI3 is kind of an all or nothing thing. The good news is you will never have trouble finding someone to sell it to if you take good care of your game.
So be sure you really have a gaming group ready to commit to the game before you buy, else you will find yourself like many do, on the forums posting “looking for TI3 games in X, Y area”. You don’t want this big beautiful box on your shelf that never see’s the light of day.
It’s a game for 6 players, no more no less
This might be a controversial opinion and so I say this with full disclosure that this Is just that, my opinion. To me, TI3 with anything more or less than 6 players changes the experience and in most cases considerably reduces it to the point where I would consider other games before I play a 3, 4 or 5 player game of TI3. Here is how I see the breakdown.
3 Player Game
In a 3 player game the core problem is that intrigue, politics and diplomacy suffer greatly and since this is really the focus of the game, that is a real deal breaker for me. You have a triad so any alliances or political coordination results in a 2 on 1 situation and this makes for a very poor TI3 experience in my humble opinion. TI3 really shines in an environment of multiple political plays, diplomatic situations and intrigues motivated by a field of players, without it, it really just becomes a game of war rather than a game about a war. It effectively devolves into an overly complicated game of RISK.
The 3 player setup is a triangle so at least the map is balanced, but without the intrigue, diplomacy and politics it makes for a very shallow experience.
4 Player Game
This is probably the only alternative I would consider to be “ok” in a pinch or when one is desperate to play, but still largely skip-able especially considering the wide range of awesome 4 player games available. The main problem here is that each player gets 2 strategy cards which diminishes the game greatly because you know with 100% certainty every secondary ability of every strategy card will be played. The dynamic becomes predictable and it really gives certain races a much bigger advantage then they would normally have throwing the balance off. The map is even which is good and I don’t necessarily hate 4 player games, but generally speaking I think there are better options out there in the 4x genre for a 4 player game than TI3. I think new players will hate it considerably less, but as you gain experience you will recognize the subtle differences.
5 Player Game
This to me is the worst of the bunch largely because the map is so uneven. You end up with 3 players affected negatively by their home world position at the start of the game and this really makes it tough especially for the middle (5th player) who has 2 players only 2 hexes away. While there are some modifications that can be made to the map as released in the expansions, or via the standard rules of handing out some added trade goods, these solutions are imperfect at best. I have never cared for any of these solutions and personally avoid 5 player games to avoid the diminished experience. You especially want to avoid a 5 player game as you are introducing it to new players, the game will immediately be accused of being horribly unbalanced and unfair.
7 & 8 Player Games
TI3 is already a big epic, very long game but at 7 & 8 players it gets too long even for the most dedicated veterans. You are talking about a 8+ hour game here and while I imagine initially some might be attracted to the size of the game there is just too much down time and the game runs too slow to be worth it. The experienced is diminished considerably and it becomes too messy to manage.
At the end of the day the perfect, sweet spot is a 6 player game and this is really what you should be shooting for with your gaming group. I would argue that all player counts can be modified and house ruled to be improved, in fact in later articles I will be talking about some of those house rules and home brewed variants that improve the game for other player counts, but in as a whole, out of the box, 6 player games is where it’s really at its best.
The Shattered Empire Expansion Is a must
Twilight Imperiums greatest strength is its dynamic nature and unfortunately in the original game there is a strategy card called “Imperial”, the number 8 card, which really breaks the spirit of those dynamics. This is corrected in the Shattered Empire Expansion (as well as Shards of the Throne) by introducing alternatives to this card. This issue is lovingly referred to as the “Round Robin” effect.
Getting 2 Victory Points in TI3 is very difficult, only a fool would pass on a strategy card that just gives it to you for doing nothing.
The Round Robin Problem
The issue which most TI3 players are familiar with is the round robin effect of the imperial strategy card. This card effectively gives you 2 free points simply for activating it and 2 victory points in TI3 is huge. What ends up happening is that every player will quickly realize that whenever you can take the Imperial card you must take it. Since the person with the speaker token picks strategy cards first, the obvious play if you are the second player during the strategy phase is to get the speaker token hence you will be taking the “Initiative” strategy card which does just that. Another words the round robin effect is that the speaker takes the Imperial Card and the second player takes the initiative card so he can get the Imperial card next round. This shuffles down the line and eventually all players will make this move at least once.
This happens every round resulting in most games with the first two picks of each strategy phase being the same. This goes around the table resulting in each player eventually getting his 2 free points. The idea here is to speed up the game but there is a negative effect that comes into play at the very end of the game, which creates the arguably game breaking impact.
If you can’t get the Imperial card you must take the Initiative card, making this the other culprit in the predictable round robin cycle.
What happens is that the average TI3 game takes about 7-8 rounds, which means that 1 or 2 players will end up getting the Imperial card twice, aka 4 free points. This means that the player who gets the speaker token in the first round of the game, something determined randomly with dice at the start of the game, will end up getting 2 more points than everyone else in round 7. Making him the most likely winner of the game as he only needs to produce 6 other points to win the game (you win at 10 victory points) by round 7. Not an all to difficult task with most races under normal circumstances. Any experienced player knows that you aren’t winning the game unless you score a point each round so scoring 6 points by the start of round 7 is something all good players learn to do well.
This round robin cycle is terrible for the game, in particular at a table with more experienced players but in general it is just bad. Fortunately the Shattered Empire Expansion resolves this by offering alternatives to the Imperial card (more on that later).
Now there are of course ways to house rule this so this is not the only reason to get the Shattered Empire expansion. The additional races, action cards, political cards, all of the alternative strategy cards not to mention the added variant options all improve the game dramatically. It’s my recommendation that if you purchase TI3 you automatically purchase Shattered Empire with it directly. I would also recommend you pick up Shards of the Throne while you’re at it because frankly this game will not be in print forever and the print runs FFG does make are usually small so if you are going to get into TI3 you pretty much want to go all in.
The most commonly used solution to the round robin problem is the bureaucracy strategy card.
That’s just my opinion of course but these expansions add so much to the game, improving the experience so dramatically that if you end up loving TI3, you’re going to really hate yourself if you did not get the expansions along with it. Besides, this game is always sought after so if you take good care of it you will not have any trouble selling it later if you end up not liking it and recouping your money.
Final Considerations
The final consideration I think anyone considering getting into TI3 should make is definitely to make sure you understand the design aspect of the game. I think most people who look at this game would categorize it as “Ameri-trash”. It’s packed full of miniatures, its thematically driven and it uses dice and lots and lots of cards. The thing is that if you remove the miniatures and dice, pretty much every mechanic in this game is effectively a “Euro Game” mechanic. In fact, I would consider this a kind of cross over game, but if you don’t like Euro games, if you don’t like Euro mechanics you will find a lot to dislike about TI3.
Prior to the Euro invasion you would never see “victory points” or “objectives” used in an American made game. Just one of the many good things to influence American designers..
TI3 makes heavy use of things like Role-Selection (works like Puerto Rico), command move and bidding just to name a couple. There is a ton of Euro influence here mixed in with the Ameri-Trash luck/randomness. I would argue it blends the best of both worlds but in the end this blending of design styles might not be for everyone so be sure you really read the rulebook and consider how you feel about this infrastructure that TI3 is build around.
Ok I think that is a good start to the series, keep an eye on the upcoming articles!
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