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Board Game Reviews

Empires: Age of Discovery by Eagle-Gryphon Games 2015 (2007)

The re-released Age of Empires III also received a new name and a considerable component upgrade, but since I never reviewed the original I thought I would do so using this new edition.

Designer: Glenn Drover

Overview

Final Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star christmas_star(4.5 out 5 Stars)

When Age of Empires III was first released in 2007 it was presumed that it would be a game that attempted to mimic the PC game as its namesake would suggest.  Contrary to that, Age of Empires III, now Empires: Age of Discovery is actually a far closer match to the classic Sid Meiers PC game, Colonization.

In Empires players take on the roles of nations from the age of exploration on a mission to explore the new world.  This is of course done in a competitive and sometimes combative manner but Empires is not a war game, but rather a worker placement game with area control.  A combination that today is a lot more common than it was back in 2007 when Age of Empires III was a lot more unique.

Components

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star (3 out 5 Stars)
Tilt: christmas_star

Pros: High Quality Components, Fantastic Art, Over-sized for easy handling.

Cons:  Very expensive for mostly unnecessary upgrades.

While the components of the previous version Age of Empires III where very good, in this deluxe version of the game the components get a significant upgrade.

The gameboard is quite large, with fantastic art and plenty of room for the components which is good as the game becomes quite busy during play so the large  size is really appreciated.  The plastic worker units are larger and weightier than you would expect for game pieces and there is a brick ton of them, far more then you need in your average game.  The molds are good quality and easy to identify and the rest of the components like cards and tokens are all of great quality with appealing and thematically correct art to get you in the mood for exploration of the Americas.

This is a visually impressive edition of the game, with great quality components, there is no doubt about it but the question is whether or not this new deluxe edition is worth the 100 dollar price tag.

Bright, big and elaborate, Empires: Age of Discovery is a visual treat.

While I’m always happy to shell out extra dough for a deluxe edition of a game, my assumption is that deluxe means, above and beyond what you would expect from your normal version of a board game and while certainly there are visible upgrades from the original edition they hardly qualify for the term deluxe .  The qualify of the game board, pieces and tokens are really not a whole lot better than what you get in say Tide of Irons, Twilight Imperium or Cry Havoc.  I get that there probably is justification to raise this game to the upper levels of heavy miniature game release cost, after all Twilight Imperium also costs 100 bucks but I just felt a bit meh on the whole calling it a deluxe edition and passing it off as something more than normal quality level components.  This is a more expensive edition with better components than the previous edition but it does not meet the requirements to be called a deluxe version nor does it exceed the norm.

I’m not sure that should affect the games score any, but if you ask me if you already own Age of Empires III there is no reason to upgrade, even if you are a fan.  If you want to get into this game and find an opportunity to buy the original version, you should definitely do that instead.  There is nothing in the old edition that was poorly done, the quality of Age of Empires III was excellent and while this is an upgrade its well over double the price of the original,  which personally I don’t think was worth it.  Especially since this upgraded version takes up the box space on your shelf of two other normal sized board games.

The difference between the Age of Empires III version and new Deluxe version are insignificant, hardly worth double price.

I’m not disappointed with this edition and I’m certainly going to get over the cost I shelled out but given the opportunity to do it again, I would seek out Age of Empires III on the secondary market and save myself some money and shelf space.

Theme

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star (4 out 5 Stars)
Tilt: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star

Pros: Very good connection between mechanics and theme, great art goes a long way to bring atmosphere.

Cons:  Age of Discovery theme is not for everyone.

I’m a bit biased and simultaneously prejudice when it comes to certain themes like Age of Discovery, I think it’s largely because I have an image in my head about what a game with this theme should be.  Very much the same with X4 space games and Civilization based games.  There is a PC game image I have in my head that I believe board game with these themes should try to capture.  For example with X4 it should be Master of Orion, with Civilization games it should be the obvious Sid Meiers Civilization and when it comes to games about the age of discovery, to me it means the game should emulate another Sid Meier game, Colonization.

Colonization is a classic, you won’t come closer to a board game version than Empires: Age of Discovery.

Is it fair?  Perhaps not and I will say that I’m willing to overlook a failure to meet that thematic essence if the alternative is equally good but thankfully with Empires: Age of Discovery that was actually not necessary.  Thematically, it encapsulates the theme of Colonization with near perfection, in fact it does so not just thematically but also mechanically in a lot of ways creating an even deeper connection to that premise.

The Theme here is exploration, control of the new world and the butting opposition and competition of Europe’s other nations.  While a worker placement game, the mechanic is considerably more interactive thanks to direct conflict mechanics which fit the theme perfectly.  For example as you explore the new world and send colonist to control it, fights can break out, hence sending soldiers and building up a military present becomes part of the age of discovery here which sits just right into the game.  It’s of course not a war game and it shouldn’t be, exploration, resource management and development are are at the forefront of the theme but worker placement games without some conflict have a tendency to get quite boring even when thematically correct.  It isn’t a problem here.

I’m not sure Age of Discovery is a great theme in its own right that everyone will appreciate, but I personally love it as it reminds me of some classic PC games from the past like Colonization. Like it or not however,  Empires has captured that theme splendidly and to a degree respectfully unlike other Age of Discovery games I have played (looking at you Archipelago).

Now if you are a big fan of Age of Discovery games you might note that one element of Age of Discovery as a theme is naval combat and ship based elements which are included but only very abstractly here.   That part of the theme wouldn’t really fit into the global layout of Empires, but for those of you looking for something more down on the ground “sale ship” type stuff this is not the game for it. This fits the bill of a more “Civilization Building” & “Worker Placement” genre game in an Age of Discovery theme and in that regard Empires: Age of Discovery nailed it.

Gameplay

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star (5 out 5 Stars)
Tilt: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star

Pros: Very tight and balanced worker placement, varied worker powers is a great concept that works well.

Cons: Its a pretty long game, some repetitive patterns can emerge.

Empires: Age of Discovery is first and foremost a deeply nested Euro game based on one of the most recognizable  Euro mechanics there is, worker placement. More than that though it is a Worker Placement game in the absolute most classic sense and stripped down sense. If Glenn Drover is nothing else he is what I like to call a clean designer, a guy who knows how to trim down a games mechanics to the absolute minimal possible and use reliable, well tested mechanics to base his games on,  without hurting the concept or goal of the game.

Worker placement games are very popular right now and pretty much since they were introduced. Empires is one of the finest examples of the mechanic.

While Empires: Age of Discovery is not revolutionary from a game design perspective what it does is does amazingly well.

For starters the worker placement mechanic that drives the entire game is done in a fashion that ensures no matter how you approach the game its always super tight, exactly what you want out of a worker placement game.  Every decision you make, every worker you place can trigger analysis paralysis because while there are not a terrible amount of choices, every choice feels like a vital decision and there is very little wiggle room.  I especially like the fact that while placing workers during the main phase of one turn, your thinking about the placement of workers for the next turn.  This is because workers in Age of Empires are not all created equal and its in this core element of the game where all the deep strategy really happens.

There are normal workers known as Colonist but you also have specialty workers, experts in different fields that grant users advantageous when leveraged on a certain worker placement spot (or job).  For example you have missionaries who when sent to the new world expand the colony by two rather than by one (presumably by converting the locals).  You also have captains who are experts at exploring or builders like the name suggests are experts at building.  To get these workers you must convert colonist on one turn to make them available on the next and as such during the worker placement phase of the game you are put to the decision of doing something that will grant an advantage this round or invest in the next.

By mid to late game, many of the workers are converted to area control units on the map. Control on the map is one of several ways to score points in the game.

This is not the only tough decision that must be made, but because of this duality of worker placement and the fact only one expert of each kind is available each round to convert, it raises the competition for them dramatically.

There are other kind of races in the game that include taking trade goods to raise money which are absolutely vital to winning the game and of a very limited supply.  Gold is a key ingredient to expanding your developments which of course is another competitive space.  In each age, development tiles are available and you must not only get to them first to get the best advantageous (or advantageous that fit your strategy) but must have the gold to pay for them.  Suffice to say there is a lot to think about within that simple decision of placing a worker which creates both a very tight environment and very cerebral experience.

I think the real icing on the cake for Age of Exploration however is the commitment of the game to the theme of Imperialism.  These are European nations competing for control over new lands and in that conflict is inevitable.  One type of specialty worker is the solider and when he is sent to the new world he can be activated to make direct attacks against opposing colonist or even trigger wars across the entire new world.  This direct interaction takes this classic style of a worker placement game and gives players a way to actually assault each other.  Not everyone will be a fan of this mechanic but thematically its an absolute must have and without it the game would feel considerably less in line with the concept and theme of the game.  An important and well executed addition that does not devolve the game into a war game but it does create that additional tactical element that everyone must think about throughout the game as they send people to the new world.

There are two maps on which the game can be played, the classic North American map and the world map.  While the maps change, the rules don’t and with the exception of a couple of minor differences these two maps just offer some variety in playing fields.

This is a very tight, well thought out worker placement mechanic with more interaction than you normally get from games like this.  Its incredibly well balanced, creates lots of tough mini decisions and an enormous amount of tension from the very first round to the very last.  The included expansion called “builders” adds another worker type (the builder) but having played with it for the first couple of games I can’t imagine why you would not always auto include it, its a really great expansion that should almost be treated at this point as a standard part of the game.

The Gameplay in Empires is smooth, with a simple flow that is easy to remember and works in a logic way that becomes second nature to everyone at the table after the first round.  There are no gotcha mechanics and while there is definitely something to be learned from game to game, this is one of those easy to learn impossible to master games.  I wouldn’t call it a good introductory game, there is sufficient complexity here to disqualify it, plus I think its a bit too long to work as such.  Still for a gaming group who enjoys Euro mechanics this is an incredibly clean game that gets right to the point and bury’s you in tough decisions.  For a worker placement game is has an incredible amount of tension that goes well beyond the typical “you took my spot” arrangement.

There are a number of ways to trick out Empires, the most common is getting some golden metal coins. This would have been a nice upgrade one might expect from a Deluxe edition yet was omitted.

If the game has any drawbacks mechanically its that its not 100% clear where you actually stand point wise at any point in the game.  Points are only scored three times during the game, at the end of each age and its really difficult to predict where anyone will end up.  Scoring kind of feels like trying to guess who will come out on top after the apocalypse.  Everyone is doing everything they can to stop, block and damage everyone else and its not that hard to be successful, so its really just a question of how much you can hang on to during these scoring periods.  This is in particularly true at the end of the game when battles and wars can really decimated opponents chances of winning.  This actually creates a good amount of tension but it is very unpredictable and results during the scoring rounds can swing quite widely.

I personally think this is ok for the game, it really doesn’t hurt it but if your the type of player that wants to be able to calculate and control how many points you will earn you might find it frustrating to see other players always throw their two cents into blocking your efforts and screwing up your scoring.  In fact I found that blocking other people is a much better strategy then trying to score yourself in many cases, so this is a tactic you can expect to develop in every game.

Replay-ability and Longevity

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star (4 out 5 Stars)
Tilt: christmas_starchristmas_star

Pros: Dynamic gameplay allows for a wide range of strategies to explore.

Cons: Its best with 4+ players, anything less and a lot of the tightness evaporates.

When it comes to Longevity and Re-playability of a game, there are certain types of mechanics that are almost always successful and worker placement is definitely one of them.  Its just by design made to create dynamic situation.  Every placement of every worker in every round will completely alter how that round and ultimately that game will result and the effect is very dramatic in terms of results.  This I believe attributes to the fact that so many of the top games are in fact worker placement games.

In the case of Empires this is equally true, thanks to the worker placement mechanic this game is truly dynamic and will play differently pretty much every time you play.  Now that said there is a kind of sequence to certain events and certain spots will always be sought after first which kind of creates some default opening moves but this is typically attributed to a type of strategy a person is going for.  For example if you are going to go for a builder strategy your first move will always be to grab the builder as this is of course a key to your strategy.  This can make the game feel a little bit predictable at times but I think you would need to play it a lot to really start to see that pattern emerge.

I do believe this games longevity while a direct result of the worker placement mechanic is not all that it hinges on.  This is a very beautiful game that looks amazing on the table, its easy to teach and offers a wealth of strategic gameplay.  This is going to draw people in and you are going to get requests to “play it again”, in particular from Euro game fans despite its Ameri-Trash appearance.

Conclusion

Empires: Age of Discovery is a smash hit in my humble opinion, a game that has earned a place in my personal collection which is become tougher and tougher to qualify for.  Considering its a reprint of an older game I’m actually surprised.  In fact it has kicked out Kingsburg and Dominion to make room on the shelf which was a pretty tough culling for me as far as my collection goes.  But I do believe this game is that good.

I highly recommend this game though I would caution that I’m not sure that the Deluxe edition was really worth the rather high price tag, I would say if you have an opportunity to buy the Age of Empires III version of the game you should probably do that.  There was nothing in this Deluxe version that really stood out as an absolute must have over he regular version of this game.  That said, I have no regrets, its an amazing game that belongs in the collection of any serious gamer.

 

Board Game Reviews

Quick Plays & Reviews

I have had an opportunity to try a number of games in the last few weeks and I think it’s time for some quick reviews.

Jamaica by Asmodee 2007
Score: (2.9) christmas_starchristmas_star

Colorful and thematic, its a very magnetic game, but mechanically it’s more a game for children then gamers.

I have played this one a couple of times now, my first exposure was years ago but It recently found its way to the table at board game night at my gaming club and I think I’m ready to put a score to it.
Jamaica is essentially a racing game with some fun & quirky card mechanics and resource management to make things go. It’s a simple game, but there is a cleverness to how the race is manipulate, a kind of combination of some dice and card play decisions. It’s a very streamlined, easy to teach, easy to learn mechanic that makes Jamaica a very relaxed game to get to the table. I think the one really memorable take away from this game is its visual appeal, it’s a very colorful, very pretty game with sturdy components and very firm stylized art. While there is strong theme here from the art work, for how simple the mechanic is, it has a very good connection to that theme for Caribbean pirate racing mechanically as well. Jamaica falls into the “light-casual” category of board games mechanically, though I found that there was enough interesting decisions and strategy in the game to sufficiently entertain a veteran gamer for a quick run through.

It’s nothing I would rush out to add to my collection and I definitely felt that it’s a bit overhyped for what it is. Much like Small World, it takes the light-casual element a bit too far and wanders into that “for kids” category which is typically a type of game I don’t mind playing but it’s nothing I want to own, nor would I suggest it even as an entry level game for someone. This is at its heart a family game with young children in mind sufficiently entertaining for adults to not get bored on family game night but for a gaming group I found the game too simple to make the table. If you have kids between the ages of 6-12 I think this might be a good pick, but for gamers I think there are considerably better racing games with more umpf than Jamaica offers to fill a game night with.

Le Havre by Lookout Games 2008
Score (3.25)christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star

It looks like a Euro because it is one and like many Euro’s it has that simple to learn impossible to master design that Euro game lovers will appreciate.

I used to own this game and ended up giving it away to some friends, but now that it was back in print I snatched it up. Le Havre is an economic simulation game where players take on the roles of business men working in the city of Le Havre, trading, manufacturing and selling goods. It sounds complicated but the true beauty of Le Havre is precisely the fact that the game is super simple. You can effectively write the core rules on a napkin and while it has the appearance of a complex, busy Euro with lots of moving parts, it plays more like a casual game, yet boasts a fairly advanced level of strategic options. You could say it’s one of those easy to learn impossible to master type of games, something that is often said about great Euro’s and this Euro is no different.

Now it is a Euro game and it does have a rather flat theme, though I personally love great economic games and I often give Euro’s considerably more room to breathe with the themes as they tend to make up for it in the area of gameplay and replay ability. If you’re looking for a game to wow you visually or with its theme this isn’t going to be that game. La Havre’s strength is in its gameplay and re-playability, exactly where you would expect it for a euro. It plays great with 2-3 players, which is a great niche unfilled in my personal collection I was happy to see plugged up. This is a classic, it’s not going to blow you out of your seat by modern game design standards, but I it’s held up considerably better than most old school Euros have. You will definitely appreciate a game you can pull out and just start playing without a lot of rules explanation while still getting a quality, thinky strategy game.

Roll Through The Ages: The Bronze Age
Score: (1.65)christmas_star

I try hard not to judge a book by its cover or be some sort of gamer snob but sometimes you just have to trust your instincts, it looks terrible because it is terrible.

Ok I’m a huge fan of Through The Ages, it ranks as one of my all-time favorites at this point so I thought, hey why not a short dice based version of this game. In fact I had considerably higher hopes for this one then one might presume about a dice game, it is after all a Matt Leacock designed game, a man I hold in the highest regard as a game designer.

Unfortunately Matt really missed the mark here. I should not judge this game too harshly it is after all a quickie dice chucker, but dice chucker or not there where some key decisions in this design that really broke it apart for me. It was quirky with odd and unnecessarily complex rules for resource management while simultaneously being too slow for a dice game. At the start the game it just feels like you don’t have enough dice to do anything and because of how the odds are shaped, getting more dice just makes the whole thing more swingy thanks to negative effects on the dice. It’s actually this precise effect (negative dice results) where the game kind of falls apart.

I think the negative effect on dice (the dreaded skull) was an unnecessary addition. Just a simple golden rule for designers out there; When making a dice chucker, don’t put negative effects on the dice, make negative impacting effects be part of player decision instead. Blanks are ok but a dice chucker should be about using your dice results (resources) and trying to find clever ways to extend the results(resources) as far as you can take them, it should not be a judge and jury result, aka, roll the dice and see what horrible things happen to you. This sort of negative dice mechanic takes a game already largely driven by luck and just overemphasizes that fact, making any decisions you make in response largely irrelevant compared to the smack down you get from just rolling badly.

I wasn’t fond of the components either, the whole wooden pegs thing was just very unthematic and unnecessarily fiddly, not to mention ugly. This was a 2008 released game so I suppose we should be a bit more lenient here but all and all Roll Through The Ages was a hard pass for me.

Best of List

Top 5 Most Anticipated Games of 2017

Well its official, its 2017 and the apocalypse has not come yet although thanks to Donald Trump you won’t have to wait too much longer. In the meantime, we may as well presume that the human race will survive another year and talk about games coming to us in 2017.

So here is my list of top 5 most anticipated games of 2017.

Rising Sun by CMON

These miniatures are begging to be painted, but I love that CMON went with a light brown color as this is a very Japanese hue that really works for the game’s color scheme.

I absolutely love Blood Rage, it was definitely the sleeper hit of 2015. Eric Lang is an amazing designer in his prime but anyone who knows me knows that while I appreciate all themes, when it comes to my list of favorites medieval Japan definitely has to be at the top of the list. Rising Sun is dubbed the spiritual successor to Blood Rage based in Medieval Japan and that combined with being an Eric Lang games makes this an auto buy! Eric Lang has recently tweeted that the game is complete and is now in development, the final stage of testing and preparation for release. I’m giddy with excitement!

The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire by CMON

The concept of running your own mafia crime family in a competitive board game that offers the opportunity to “wack” your friends is not something I intend to pass on.

I said he was in his prime but Eric Lang is really more like on literal fire making his second appearance on the list with The Godfather. Now I love mafia stuff but mafia games like Star Trek games are typically very bad. My hope here is that Lang behind the wheel The Godfather can be to mafia games what Fleet Captains was to Star Trek games. I’m already in love with the concept and the art work, so assuming Lang is the genius we all know he aspires to be, the addition of fantastic gameplay should not be a problem. Really have high hopes for this was, I want to wack people!

Tau Ceti: Planetary Crisis

I’m a sucker for 4x games, but I have actually passed on most of them over the last few years. Twilight Imperium is a tough act to follow, but I have a good feeling about this one.

A game by unknown game designers, published by an unknown publisher, Tau Ceti’s is yet another among a sea of games that attempts to re-invigorate the 4x space game genre. Now the odds are against it here but the reason I put Tau Ceti on the list is because I really like that “Archipelago” of players competing against each other, but having to cooperate on certain elements in the course of a game. In the case of Tau Ceti, players are effectively trying to do all the usual expansions, technology research, trading and politics that you might find in games like Twilight Imperium, but at the same time they must deal with the crisis that take place on the different planets and colonies in the Tau Ceti system or deal with the consequences for failing to do so.

I love the concept, I don’t know that these designers and publishers are going to be able to pull this off, but they have done a great job of creating a solid concept and developing nice visuals for a game of this type, so it just leaves the really important work of actually designing a good game. I will definitely be keeping an eye out on this one.

Raise Your Goblets

It just reminds me of the princess bride, one of my all time favorite movies. I love the concept of trying to slip one past your friends.

Ok this one caught my eye mostly because of its original (I wish I thought of that) concept. Basically it’s a game where players are sitting around the table drinking from goblets in an imaginary kingdom and the goal of the game is to poising each other by slipping special poison tokens into each other’s goblets. Like a scene from Princess Bride the goblets will be shifted around, players can put antidote into their own goblets as defense and a few other little quirky bits of randomness. It’s a bit of a funny party game for shits and giggles but like is often the case these simpler “focus on fun” type of games usually go over quite well and it could end up being the Sheriff of Nottingham of 2017.

Terra-forming Mars

I don’t know how this one got past my radar, but it went out of print fast as hell and has received nothing but rave reviews. I MUST OWN IT.

Ok this is actually a game that is already released but it was received so well by the time I had heard about the awesome concept of a game of terraforming planets, it was already out of print. For those of us that missed the train, we have to wait for god knows how long for the next printing. The game is very pretty, great concept, already getting amazing reviews, people are raving about it like it’s the second coming of Christ. Very excited!

News

5 Minutes of Gaming: A New Podcast Series

I have been running this blog now a little over 3 years and while I consider it largely a forum for my own amusement I have over the last 3 years gotten something of a following.  At least, a few people that read my blog off and on and show some interest in it via E-mail.

Now I have actually never made my E-mail public on the site so I know that people that email me are getting that address from some of the forums I frequent.  Suffice to say I have always had comments off on the site (largely to avoid dealing with spam) but also because for the most part I put information out I’m not terribly interested in feedback.

This year I’m going to change that a bit.  First, I have posted my e-mail address officially on the blog (its gamersdungeon.net@gmail.com by the way, feel free to email me!) and the second thing I’m doing is launching a new segment for the site, a podcast called 5 minutes of gaming.

5 Minutes of Gaming is effectively going to be a mini podcast that I will record daily (or close to it) in my car to and from work.  I will use the time for mini reviews, to answer questions and any other general gaming related musings.  I’m actually not 100% sure about the format to be honest, I’m mostly doing it to see if I enjoy it and if the technology is simple and quick enough to do this sort of thing without too much fuss.

Enjoy the show, the first episode is already up.

Best of List

Top 10 Games All Game Designers Should Play

Perhaps the most common theme among gamers is that we are all in a way all amateur game designers. Most us dream of creating a game from our own imagination or based on our own theories on game design, or simply concepts we think would make a great game. I don’t think I have ever met a gamer immune to this very natural instinct. That said I do believe that the only way to truly be a game designer is to experience the widest range of games possible. I firmly feel that there are certain games on the market today that are so unique and so expressive in terms of what can be done with game design that they absolutely must be played by all would be game designers. I would imagine there is a brick ton more then what is on this list, but if you have aspirations, this is probably not a bad place to start. Enjoy the list!

REX: Final Days of an Empire

There was a time when REX actually lived in my top 10 best games of all-time list and for good reason. It’s an amazing design. It’s effectively a remake of the classic DUNE which stands out as one of the very few games in recorded gaming history that was released in the 70’s and is still has a place in modern gaming. This should give you a pretty good clue about how distinct its design is, very few game designs can stand the test of time like this.

REX is a fantastic and very unique area control game with special powers, unique victory conditions and is infused with player interaction mind games as a non-mechanical, very natural, caveat that actually carries the game far beyond appearances or rulebooks. It is a unique blending of mechanics, theme and gameplay that draws out a very unique gaming experience you will not find in games often. I do believe it takes a very special lot to appreciate this game and I will admit that doing research to determine whether or not you will like this game is insufficient. In fact even playing it once or twice is insufficient. This is one of those games you will have to play 5 or 6 times before you you really recognize what its really about and why it is without question an objective work of genius… yes, I just turned an opinion and stated it as a fact, that’s how certain I am that like it or not, REX (aka DUNE) is a piece of board game design brilliance not to mention history, a true original among a flood of imitators and pretenders. I’m not surprised at all to see this game continue to get attention decades after release.

REX is definitely a must include for any board game design education, not only is it an amazing game to play it boasts a lot of great lessons for a would be game designer.

The Duke

I would argue that chess is a must play classic, a core concept game for basic board game design that every game designer should explore. To put it simply Duke is effectively an expansion for chess, or perhaps more accurately, chess 2nd edition. A game that arguably increases the complexity and challenge while maintaining that elegant simplicity of the classic. Duke turns things 3 dimensional mechanically creating a far wider and more intriguing gaming experience than the classic chess, more than that though while abstract as chess is, it oddly feels thematic. It has that Ancient Art of War feel to it, as if you are in a war tent playing a game with a fellow commander while you wait for the real battle to start. Its exercise for the brain and an absolute must play for would be game designers.

Duke has been reprinted in a few different ways but it never really caught on which I found strange given how purposefully unique it is. You don’t see it played anywhere and while I think it might be partially because it’s both an abstract game and a two player game making it kind of niche, being rather boring to look at probably doesn’t help much either. I mean we are talking wooden tiles here, not exactly a game with modern board game pazzas! But I would argue that if you released Chess today, no one would care to play that either for the same reason. To me The Duke Is an absolute must play if you plan to be a game designer if for no other reason than to show you just how much power couple of lines of rules can have. This is a perfect example of less is more design.

Star Trek: Fleet Captains


While there are a lot of different types of thematic games out there one could use as a way to exemplify and learn from on how theme and gameplay merging together is done right, to me, there is no game out there that does it with more precession than Star Trek: Fleet Captains. You often hear the term X or Y franchise in a box, well this is Star Trek in a box, but not just the shows but the very essence of the shows, movies and experience that is the Star Trek franchise.

This is a perfect combination of just the right mechanics, just the right art, just the right strategic flicks and pazzaz, fidly vs. functional and nerdy but not wordy design. It captures the very soul of Star Trek in a board game and if you are a proper trekie you will really get it when you play fleet captains. Which really brings the point home, there isn’t a card, miniature, tile, action or mechanic that doesn’t scream “STAR TREK” in this game. If you’re a Trekie this is an absolute must have, but if you’re a game designer trying to figure out how to bring theme to life in a board game, you won’t find very many examples that do it better than fleet captains. An absolute must play for game designers trying to get their head around how to infuse theme into their games.

Galaxy Trucker


I think one element of board gaming most game designers actually fail to understand is that playing a board game isn’t just about the game, it’s also about the evening and the people you spend it with. Games are supposed to be fun, they should put a smile on your face and while I would argue that there is a time and place for “haha” funny, Galaxy Trucker is a great example of how to fuse fun “haha” funny and “fun game” into a single box, inside of a single product. Unlike party games that try to draw out fart humor, Galaxy Trucker creates laughs by creating memorable moments in game that has just enough strategy to attract board gamers, but not enough to discourage non gamers. It’s really a great example of how to blend the world of gamers, non-gamers and how to create a game that will enhance an evening without making it about only gaming.

While I have heard of people who don’t like Galaxy Trucker, in my personal experience every person I have ever introduced the game to has absolutely loved it. I think the brilliance in the design is not its mechanics, but its flip on a basic premise of gaming in general. One thing that Vlaada Chvatil is amazing at is looking at game design from a perspective of experience rather than gameplay. For example in Galaxy Trucker you build a ship in a timed phase creating a bit of a frantic panic, while in the execution phase players lose control almost entirely and just watch the game unfold. It’s a very unique gaming experience. You would be hard pressed to find a game on the market that comes even close to something like it. Being able to tap into that “spark”, that ability to see what others miss is what separates a brilliant game designer like Vlaada Chvatil and everyone else. Sure you might or might not appreciate Galaxy Trucker, but you can’t deny that it’s a truly unique design and if for no other reason than that, as a would be game designer you must check this game out.

Love Letter


Game design comes in all shapes and sizes, but I truly believe that if you want to be a great game designer you should be able to take a small amount of mechanics, a couple of lines of rules and create a sensational game. Another example of less is more design, Love letter is essentially a dozen cards and a couple of tokens, yet it creates a truly strategic, dynamic, thinky and fun gaming experience. I actually think that being able to create a game like Love Letter is a test to see if you will ever be a good game designer because if you can’t create magic simply, you’re not going to do it when creating a more complex game. That’s just the reality of it and I firmly believe that even the most complex games are actually nothing more than mini designs (mini games) put together to make a grander game. So the ability to create simply and intriguing mechanics is really an important skill to develop as a gamer designer. I have personally seen a lot of gamers design games and it’s always the same story. They create a lot of fancy components and art but in the end the game itself is a slog fest that suffers from too many mechanics, too many rules and way too much weight to be functional. The ability to simplify is what separates an amateur from a pro. Love Letter is a perfect example of that in action.

Le Havre


Le Havre is a stone cold classic Euro game that does something very few games are able to pull off. It creates a very deep, strategic, very heavy and very thinky game yet manages to do it using a rule system that can be explained in under 30 seconds. In Le Havre you can take one of two actions every turn. That’s it, that’s the entire game. Either you take some resources, or place a worker. That is the entirety of the rules explanation you need to give before starting the game, yet by the end of the game your brain will be fried as you try to navigate the two impossible strategic decisions that must be made to win.

It’s a perfect example of economic simulation done right as well and I think that more than the simplicity of the mechanic is the reason to study Le Harve as a game designer. Economic simulation and resource management is the one place I see a lot of game designs having immense problems. In fact for most games I have played, including most beloved classic Euro’s often praised for their brilliance for their resource management and economic simulations are almost always way too complex, way too fiddley and ultimately far too easily exploitable. Which is why so many of the Euro classic are what I call puzzle games, where they are good, until you solve the puzzle, at which point it’s just a matter of repeating the same actions each time you play. Puerto Rico comes to mind as a good example of a horribly failed resource management and economic system design. Sure the first few times you play your trying to figure out the puzzle, but once you have that aha moment every game of Puerto Rico you ever play in the future will be exactly the same. There is a definitive “best way”, “best moves” approach to the game.

Le Havre is not the world’s best game (though I love it), but it is definitely the world’s best example of economy simulation done right and for that reason anyone looking to understand how good economic design works, this is a fine example and a really good place to start thanks to its simplicity.

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island


Ok first I will admit this is not my favorite game. Generally I’m not a huge fan of cooperative games, but we aren’t here to discuss what I like, so much as we are here to discuss objectively good designs and Robinson Crusoe is certainly brilliant if anything. I honestly have a hard time describing it, other than to say if you want to become a game designer, you must play this game because if you do, becoming a game designer will be easier for you.

There are so many great lessons about how to do it right in this game in terms of timing of mechanics, creating tension, putting players to tough choices and just a staggering amount of dynamic replay ability inside what amounts to a static game. The manipulation of cards and effects, the sort of thematic link to effects and just general capturing of atmosphere are all exemplified in this design. If you’re a fan of cooperative games and plan to design cooperative games, Robinson Crusoe is an absolute must.

Twilight Imperium


Many aspiring game designers dream of creating an epic, that big box super game that just does everything. Well let me just tell you that after nearly 3 decades of board gaming I can count on one hand the amount of games (game designers) that have come out in that time, that managed to pull this off. Truth is that most big box epics are actually epic failures. There really are very few success stories in this area and while there are plenty of games that will try to wow you with miniatures and their sheet size, mechanically speak I have never played one that is even in the same league as Twilight Imperium. It is the best EPIC level game on the market today and it is so by a margin so wide, there is nothing to look at in the rear view mirror.

This complex beast of a game does exactly what you want an epic to do, wows the living shit out of you with immense attention to detail and an amazing level of balance given the sheer amount of complexity in the game. It’s a galactic civilization building game that brings to life the entire genre reminiscent of the 4x PC games of old like Masters of Orion and Galactic Civilization. If you plan on creating an epic, in particular a space epic, Twilight Imperium is an absolute must play. It is one of the best examples of Epic done right on the market today.

Shogun (Dirk Henn version)


I’m not a big Dirk Henn fan to be honest, with the exception of Shogun I don’t like any of his games, but with Shogun he really nailed it. Shogun aside from its German twin Wallenstein is a truly unique game with design elements that you will not find anywhere else before or since. The use of the Cube Tower as a combat resolution mechanic, the pre-planning action phase, the unique order of play sequence it all combined produces one of the most fascinatingly strategic and simultaneously infuriatingly chaotic games I know and god I love it for that very reason. For a game designer this is an absolute must experience as it will show you just how far out of the box you can go despite the constraints of design that we sometimes feel we exist in. It really shows how you can take something seemingly gimmicky and actually give it purpose and fit it into a game so that not only is it functional but oddly thematic. Dirk Henn really tapped into that “I’m a general giving orders” theme found in Shogun, while still remaining true to the Euro roots on which the game is based. I don’t know that Dirk Henn is a brilliant designer, but he definitely had a brilliant moment when he made this game. One of my all time favorites!

Ticket To Ride


Ok so this last one is a simple game, a classic at this point but it’s also an amazing lesson of mechanic theft done right. See in game design, most of the greatest games, the truly genius ones that seem to proliferate beyond the cult board gaming culture into the mainstream are buried in classic design that was simply stolen. Ticket to Ride is a perfect example of that. What you’re looking at here is Gin Rummy. It’s really that simple. The designer took an old classic card game, added a game board with train pieces for scoring and created one of the bestselling games of all time since Monopoly. Here is the thing… it’s an awesome game. I have played Gin Rummy, I hate it, I love this game. It’s the same mechanic. Can you explain that?

This is why you really need to play Ticket to Ride as a game designer, there is magic in there and deciphering and understanding what that magic is, is very important if you want to be successful as a game designer.