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1001 Nights of Gaming
- H -
- Hab & Gut
"Goods and Chattels" is the latest entry in the hobby's long
history of stocks and shares games. But in accord with the
present age, it's no longer enough to make the most money.
As in the later
Livingstone,
one must also donate to charity since the lowest donor is
disqualified. Curiously, in both the amounts donated are
secret – hardly thematic as normally donations are accompanied
by large amounts of publicity. But it does make for a more
random, uncertain and guesstimating game of bluff.
Players may buy and sell any of the stocks, which begin on a
level playing field, but the performance of the various companies is
based on cards played to send prices up and down. And there's a
twist. Between each pair of players is a wooden card holder
just large enough to stand a hand of overlapped cards. During
card playing rounds each player in turn chooses one from either
side. Tactically, the situation is similar to
Palmyra (Buy Low, Sell High)
where the key initial realization is that any negative cards
one holds will not be played; thus, one should begin investing
in the stock(s) for which the most negative points are held.
In this way with a little luck one quickly gains allies, i.e.
those holding the positive cards for these stocks. "Luck"
because not all cards are in play; those needed might be
stuck in the deck. But if not, one can watch one's
holdings grow and grow and then when they appear to have
peaked, sell and torpedo the stock. Of course as the game
proceeds, the reverse can work also: start by lowering the
stock and hold back the cards which would let it climb.
But there's a definite fragility in the implementation here
because it requires that one's neighbors understand and share
the approach. They should do so because basically they can benefit
from it just as much, but there is always the possibility that
– for whatever reason – they will not.
Then all of one's plans can go for nought and both players suffer.
So appreciating this one requires the ability to tolerate
considerable intrusion of others in one's choices. It's not
nearly as bad as in
Die Hanse
where both are trying to sail a single ship in diametrically
different directions, but it's there. It also doesn't have a
very thematic business performance system such as one finds in
James Clavell's Noble House,
but then it doesn't have that game's often unfair "take that!" cards
either. Special mention should be made of the award-nominated
presentation. Besides the wooden racks, there is a long green
board with largish pawns as well as a lot of
beautifully-illustrated cards. There is paper money, but
it looks so good that some national currencies might be jealous.
Rules and systems are straightforward; playing time is around
three-quarters of an hour and it works well with five players,
which is becoming rarer these days. It's less something for shares
fans than an oddly different kind of challenge. To date, only
published in Germany.
MMHH6 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: High; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 6)
Carlo A. Rossi; Winning Moves Deutschland-2008; 3-5
- Haggis
Tichu
is quite a popular card game hereabouts and this site even
runs an annual tournament for it. So the gravitational pull from this
version for two or three players was rather strong. In
deciding what to preserve from the original game, its
creator accomplished three insights: (1)
playing the most powerful cards, i.e. bombs and the
dragon, is more interesting when you have to give
away the trick; in fact, making players give tricks captured
via bomb, as is the case here,
would be a good change to make in regular Tichu;
(2) having bombs is fun, so each player starts with a
couple before play;
(3) having lots of options for how to combine cards is
fun so these are increased.
So far so good, mostly. In particular having a bomb all the
time makes it less fun and it becomes clear that a big part
of the fun of a bomb is missing, that fact
that no one else knows you have it.
It's also kind of fiddly fishing out the Jack, Queen
and King cards that form bombs out of the tricks at the end of
every hand. Tichu tropes that are missing include
card passing which is a little disappointing and not having
partners, but that's more your fault for not getting four
than the game's. There are four suits and no aces. Since all
of the face cards are special and wild, the normal strong card
is the 10. Bombs can also be formed from the combination
3-5-7-9 if all four cards are of different suits (the weakest
bomb) or if all four cards are the same suit (the
strongest bomb). Discerning such a bomb in the hand isn't easy,
at least not at first, simply because the combination is hard
to spot regardless of whether the hand is organized by rank
(recommended) or by suit.
The cards are sparingly and simply illustrated,
but have a certain quaintness for all that, and
are of reasonable physical quality. This is
Tichu in feeling only, but nevertheless engaging and
challenging, it being far from immediately obvious how to play
well. In fact it is another notch up in the complexity scale
which has been a problem for some of our players.
By the way, since this has no
special cards it is easy to make a "try before buy"
using traditional cards, but if you like it you'll want the
real thing because the point values are printed on the cards.
[Frequently Played]
LLMM6 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Low; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 7)
Sean Ross; Indie Boards and Cards-2010; 2-3
- Halma (Stern-Halma, Star-Halma, Chinese Checkers)
Abstract invented in the 1880's Britain was originally played on
a square grid and later adapted to a six-pointed star pattern. As
far as I can determine, there is actually no actual connection
with China, the qualifier being used to denote a "weird"
version of the usual game. Strange, because actually the word
halma means "jump", not in Chinese, but Greek. Has a
problem in that one player can unilaterally "break" the game by
parking one of his own pieces in someone else's destination. But
it is great fun to plan and execute very long and complicated
jump patterns. First published by E.I. Horsman of New York
in an 1885 version which could only accommodate at most four
players. Milton Bradley claims to have procured rights from the
inventor and was much later granted copyright on that basis. The
Chinese Checkers version was granted a US patent in 1941.
Old versions are collectible mostly depending on the quality
of their marbles. Only the later versions offer the six-pointed
version which could be played by up to six.
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Halunken und Spelunken
Fairly quick game about a ship captain haunting taverns in order
to shanghai sailors. The taverns are arranged in a circle and
three would-be sailors are found in each. Players each have an
identical set of cards with which to move their captains and it
is usually obvious to which spot each one wants to move, but the
trouble is that the slowest movers always go first and moreover,
can bump any they land on. Trying to figure out all of the results
in advance can be quite a challenge. In addition, players not
only want to get the higher-numbered sailors, but also to collect
a set of the same color and prevent others from doing same.
An absorbing game with an appropriate look. A variant with a
randomly moving captain called "Black Jack" is not recommended
for the serious as it destroys much of the planning.
Alex Randolph; 1997
- Hamburgum
The latest in the games using the rondel system
(Neuland,
Antike,
Imperial)
returns from the military theme and takes up the topic of
cathedral building. It's surprising, by the way, how popular
this topic has been over the years in games such as
Krieg und Frieden,
Keythedral,
Pillars of the Earth
and others. This time, however, it's not a single cathedral,
but a series of them, each of them comprising five distinct
stages. Each stage requires an increasing number of materials,
which a player must purchase in a non-building round. Very
cleverly, only the last step requires a bell – represented by
an actual small, metal bell – the purchase of which is
the tip-off of a player's intentions. Besides the five
cathedrals there are many other features. Players can take
over pre-printed buildings around the city map which must be
done in an ever-expanding network, at least until a player
completes his first cathedral. A primary function of buildings
is to produce one of three types of products, which are later
sold to earn the money that goes into the wood and brick that
are needed to advance cathedrals. Product price is indicated
by a market whose prices, interestingly, only go down, one
level per building created. Shipping is an important aspect of
selling as a player may only ship units depending on the
number and capacities of the ships he owns. Ships tend to lose
capacity as time goes on since new ships force older ones to
lower capacity positions. Other buildings provide various
special effects and eventually these replace products as a
source of income, but perhaps their most important aspect is
the interaction with cathedral scoring. Completing a fifth of
a cathedral grants a tile which gives a scoring bonus. The
first tile is a flat bonus, but the rest tend to depend on the
player's holdings. The number of ships or a particular type of
building is multiplied by the tile value to score at the time
the player chooses. A player can only hold back one tile of
each type, however, so timing is clearly an important
situation. I see this primarily as an opportunistic evaluative
game. Winning is not really a matter of picking a strategy to
follow, but of looking around for available opportunities and
judging the best one. Maybe a particular action would
generate, say, four victory points, but perhaps by looking
around you can find another that yields five. This is the
sort of decisionmaking that mostly applies. Tactically, by the
way, since after the first cathedral segment a player may
choose from any of the four remaining tiles the second tile is
one of the two best to take: it's cheaper and there are more
options. The other best choice is the fifth tile since there
are considerable bonuses for finishing. The game setting is
medieval Hamburg – its Latin name providing the title
– with the reverse side showing Londinium (London). The
city used does not appear to make a great difference in play.
The artwork is attractively realized, there are components
galore and the communication design is nicely realized as well.
Duration tends to be rather over an hour.
LMHH5 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Medium; Tactics: High; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 5)
Mac Gerdts; Eggert-Spiele-2007; 2-5; 90
Amazon
- Hameln
Multi-player game by Fragor, the bits fans who brought us
Shear Panic.
This time the very cute bits are rats, a cat and the Pied
Piper of legend. In the hamlet of Hameln families seem to have
two main interests: making money and breeding. The former they
achieve by choosing a work action where their father figures are,
thus producing goods that are sold during a later action. But
working has side effects. For one, it generates rats, too many of
which eventually loses the house. For the house's mother figure,
working also generates a child, of random gender. When children
of both genders arrive in the town, one of their owners can
have them marry, which is a way for one player to make another
out of pocket as it's the male who pays for the house. Besides
the two main activities there are also side games such as the
chance to buy victory points or to employ the cat or buy the
piper's attention. When it comes to victory points, it seems
like an English school of game design is forming since as in
Richard Breese games, one feels the desire for a spreadsheet
in order to optimize performance over the many categories. But
many of the sub-systems here are quite charming, especially the
way that actions have side effects and the way bringing rats
to one's house affects the neighbors. But somehow the overall
architecture does not feel quite right. Some features such as
the influence wheel and many of the houses can go unused. Often
too the optional actions are not appetizing enough to use. Maybe
the most disturbing of these admittedly minor issues is that
a lot of what a player can do can be determined by the type
of children he happens to draw, particularly if it happens to
get extremely skewed. For example, a player drawing almost all
females can probably win fairly easily by occupying many houses
paid for by others. It's not just the luck that can be a problem,
but also that a player can have too few reasonable choices.
(I suspect that community ratings on this one will have a higher
standard deviation than most simply depending on how much luck has
happened to enter into the various playings.) My surmise is that
the game might not have had enough development and playtesting
time; otherwise there would be some measures to try to keep
matters in tighter control. Still, it's not overly long and
the pieces are truly wonderful. The board could be a bit less
garish and cluttered, perhaps sporting a more rustic look instead.
LHMM6 (Strategy: Low; Theme: High; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 6)
- Hanabi & Ikebana
In the cooperative game players do not compete against one
another, but only cooperate to accomplish some goal. Since in
such affairs the competition, often being nothing more than the
order in which cards emerge from a deck, has no intelligence
or psychological edge, rather than "game", "activity" seems the
appropriate term. Another typical problem is that
at least one player feels they know best what to do and
becomes the director of activities, which tends to reduce the
fun not only for others, but for the director as well. Having
a tendency to be such a director, this reviewer is no fan. But
this is a short and simple card game – how much trouble could
it cause? Actually only is such a game, the
Ikebana competitive game Using the same cards not yet
having been tried. Hanabi resembles Indian Poker or
Code 777
where players see all other holdings, but not their own,
continually displaying four to five hand cards. The Japanese
title from the French inventor of
7 Wonders
means "fireworks" as players try to complete the high tension
affair of five different fireworks launchings (represented by
five suits). To do so in each suit they need to play first a
"1" card, then the "2", then the "3", etc. all the way up to
"5". The fifty-card deck has fewer cards available as
ranks grow higher. Players may only play their own cards, but
must follow the rules; playing out of sequence earns an error
chip and the table may only accumulate two before ending in
failure. On a turn one either plays a card, discards one or
imparts information to another, but in a tricky and clever way. One can
point out either rank or suit, but must point out every card
of that rank or suit. From just this bare information, the
recipient must work out what to do; it's often far from obvious.
Each bit of information given, however, expends one of a
finite number of blue chips so it is vital to be as efficient
as possible. It's true that discarding a card gets a blue chip
back, but since play ends when the deck runs out, going past
thirteen or so discards makes winning impossible. Important to
good play are that each player ensure that the next two
players are provided for, i.e. have something to do and won't
be forced to discard at random, which has the potential of
losing something vital. This is a small package affair so
there was no room for card racks, but such would be quite
useful as the hand tires. Holders from
10 Days in Europe
seem to work well. The artwork is a bit bland, especially
considering the topic. For those who dislike the
cooperative genre there is no relief here; it's still frustrating
when you know what needs to be done, but others don't see it
and so things go wrong. It doesn't really prevent anyone from
being a director either. The only saving graces are the short
playing time and simplicity.
On the other hand, this does seem to please a
lot of players, especially the more intuitive set and those
who often otherwise do not enjoy strategy games. If you do
try it, some house rules may help. Players should feel free to
rotate or change the positions of cards to help them remember
what they have been told and players should also be free to
remind others of what they have already been told. It's
difficult enough without needing to be a memory game as well.
Re-published later in 2010 as just Hanabi by Asmodee, Abacus
and Cocktail Games.
[Spiel des Jahres Winner]
[Frequently Played]
LMML5 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 5)
Antoine Bauza; Les XII Singes-2010; 2-5; 25; 8+
- Hanafuda
Card game somewhat reminiscent of Casino though much
simpler feels like it is mostly random. The challenge of
remembering which card goes with which is greater than any
strategic consideration. The card sets look wonderful,
however. Translation: "Flower Cards".
- Hand and Foot
Traditional card game of the Canasta family
does not really add anything to this type of game, but lessens
the experience by forcing players to deal with a nightmare five
decks and unendingly numerous points.
- Händler, Die (Merchants of the Middle Ages)
Trade and negotiation game has some interesting features such as
individual player powers and dilemmas about what actions to take,
but in the end appears to be a carousel ride. Very
physically attractive and all of the things happening on the board
are very interesting to watch, but the player feels very little
control of his horse. Particularly problematic are the blind
bidding and draw of the free "status upgrade" cards. Beware some
translations into English which introduce errors.
Personal Rating: 5
Richard Ulrich & Wolfgang Kramer; Filosofia Editions-1999; 2-4
- Händler der Karibik (Port Royal)
"Merchants of the Caribbean" is a press-your-luck card game set in
the Caribbean along the lines of Cirkus Flohcati (Zircus
Flohcati), but with more things going on in the back end.
Each turn players reveal cards hoping not to draw two
ships of the same type before they stop and draft either money or
personnel. A big difference is that after the current player
finishes drafting the others may also each take a card, provided
they pay the main player a coin card (as in Bohnanza card backs
serve as coins). Personnel cards make drawing cards easier and in
some cases offer special abilities. Many also provide victory
points, ten of which plus a particular pair of personnel provide
the goal. This works fairly well, but the other-player drafting
slows things down too much. A press-your-luck game should be fast
and simple, but the other-player drafting continually interrupts
the action. Probably omitting this would work much better. Just
start each player with a pirate and two extra coins and have ships
grant two more coins than printed to compensate. Strategically,
the two most useful cards appear to be the Governor, which permits
taking an extra card each turn, and the Admiral, which gives more
money without having to take a card.
Alexander Pfister; Österreichisches Spiele Museum e.V./Pegasus Spiele-2013; 2-4; 20
- Port Royal: Just One More Contract... (Port Royal: Ein Auftrag geht noch...)
Expansion kit that permits cooperative and solo play – not
tried. Also there are contracts on which players can work during the
game. While interesting, these do not seem to have a great effect on
play. The chief addition of interest are more types of personality
cards. They don't fundamentally change play, but add more options
and don't do any harm.
- Händler von Genua, Die (Traders of Genoa, Genoa)
In the German Baroque era was invented the Wunderkammer
(chamber of wonders), a collection of, say, a unicorn's horn,
a Greek statue, singing roosters of precious metal, clocks with a
procession of little figures that paraded at noon and much, much
more. With this title one can now play the board game equivalent
of such a marvel. Here is a game of collecting cards linking board
spaces, another of using wares to fulfill contracts, another of
placing tokens to connect two spaces and yet another of owning
properties and earning rents, all running at the same time.
And it is all negotiable! Nor is this all. Poking in here and
there are special tiles which permit players to "break" the
usual rules à la
Cosmic Encounter.
It's not surprising with so many mechanisms that any feeling
of Renaissance trading companies has been lost. The player is
clearly to take comfort in the many strategic options. But how
well pursuit of a strategy can work is an open question. The
player turn begins with a dice roll to determine the placement
of a token stack. Then the player extends this stack up to five
squares, direction being based on the concessions he can wrangle
from his fellows. As the space that a player needs may not even
be reachable, he tends to find that often he either does nothing
or becomes involved in the other types of strategies to the
distraction of his original goal. In addition, the opportunity
to concentrate on some paths is made more difficult by the fact
that building ownerships can only come from the Cathedral (why
is the bishop in charge of title deeds?) which itself is owned
by a player. It would have seemed that strategy would have been
reinforced had ownership been tied more to the place of benefit
rather than all stemming from one place. This would permit
the player to use, for example, the post office, even when no
token landed there. Instead, the owner of the Cathedral tends
to monopolize all properties. The overall effect is to make
skillful play more opportunistic than long-term. Players wary
of negotiation games should know that there is a lot of it.
Every player turn includes a negotiation with every other
player as a rule. Many of these are rather perfunctory –
"I'll pay you 5 ducats to use the post office" – opening the
question of whether the wide openness of the negotiation system
is truly worth all of the trouble and extra time it requires.
With players who want to carve up intricate deals, matters could
conceivably take a long time to conclude, although the built-in
geographical nature of things tends to reduce this. Overall,
should be appealing to players with a sharp eye for the value of
everything, like negotiation and enjoy lots of little buttons
and whistles to play with. Invented by Rüdiger Dorn,
unexpectedly also the creator of
Zauberberg by Ravensburger.
Games of the Italian Renaissance]
- Die hängenden Gärten (The Hanging Gardens)
There isn't much here to do with the famous hanging gardens of
Babylon, but much ado about drafting, placement and set collection.
This publisher is known for changing inventor's themes – perhaps
this was the case here as well? Each player begins with a blank
playing card, subdivided into six squares. A turn begins new cards for
drafting being revealed. Each of these contains one to four
symbols, often more than one of the same. A player must take a
drafted card and place it so that all symbols overlay another card
(regardless of whether any older symbols get covered). Should an
orthogonally-connected group total three squares or more, a palace
can be placed and a square scoring tile claimed. The larger the
group, the better the choice of tiles. Reminiscent of
Volle Wolle,
these reward their collection in various ways. One series gives a
good value for having just one tile, but grows only slightly for
the second and third. Another begins at zero and grows steeply.
Then there are leader tiles whose values depend on the
number of corresponding tiles owned. And so on.
The aforementioned palace piece both obstructs future cards
and introduces the inhibition that new cards may not utilize
existing symbols unless they are no longer connected to their palace.
This leads to the technique of trying to form groups roughly
in an L-shape with the palace being placed at the end of the
short bar. Then if a card can overlay the corner of the L, the
symbols of the long bar are once again available for use. It's
not easy to describe and even harder to realize. The other
main decision point is whether to score a group immediately or
wait until it can grow larger. This decision point may be a
bit too weak as only rarely does anyone bother to wait.
Speaking of that, there's can be a fair amount of downtime and
a tendency to become a "grandmother game", i.e. a game in
which someone tries every single possible combination before
deciding. As there's not that much interaction, this can
become dull. As a partial remedy, the next first player,
after having taken his turn, can draw and privately examine
the next set of cards. There is sometimes some interaction in
terms of taking tiles that an opponent wants, but not a great
deal. The artwork, especially on the tiles, is especially
attractive, though more indianesque than bayblonian, including
quite a nice-lookinng tiger. Overall, this is an example of the
kind of low conflict affair which is not without its challenges
and which can be used to attract those who find games too
competitive.
Din Li; Hans-im-Glück/Rio Grande; 2008; 2-4
LLMH6 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Low; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 6)
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Hangman
Traditional word game in which one player must guess letters of a word
one by one without missing too often. It helps both players to know the
relative frequence rates of letters, which varies depending on how one
tabulates it, but in English is something like ETAONRISH...
- Hansa (Hanse)
Michael Schacht game of late-medieval merchants trading in the
Baltic Sea, a topic previously visited by
Die Hanse
and
Kogge.
This isn't really a merchant game as there is only one ship
which players take turns moving almost wholly to their own
benefit. When the ship stops in a port, only the active player may
buy a good, trade one in for a depot or consume a depot to make
a sale. Moreover, the ship's movement is restricted by one-way
paths, including one over land. Since a lot of points come from
depot presence in every port, this plus healthy sales can be
a path to victory. Another may be to make a few big sales and
trying to end play quickly. But really, decisions are mostly
tactical. Almost all of the game state is board state and that
changes so dramatically when it is not your turn that there's
little point in planning, making downtime a bit prosaic. This even
applies to three-player outings, so make sure all your opponents
are speedy ones. The graphics remind of Die Hanse and
are very attractive, but the publishers have opted for beauty
over clarity. The details of the options and scoring are not so
simple that they don't deserve to be printed somewhere on the
game materials. One of our players forgot them several times
in his first game. The publishers' choice is puzzling because
this will really only appeal to the audience for lighter games,
just the group who can use some play aids. After all, just
because the help guide isn't given doesn't mean it isn't needed.
Symbolic language could have been used to support the multiple
languages of the release. A tip when playing this game. Because
of the open nature of it, and the extreme need to count,
take backs are frequent. To ease reconstructing the recent past,
every time the ship moves, place the coin paid on the route itself.
When the player makes a purchase, place the coin on the office
of the player purchased from (or the city if none). These two
simple steps make a surprising amount of difference. For a later
trading game also by Michael Schacht, see
Valdora.
- Hansa Teutonica
This inventor has a talent for tightly-integrated conceptualizations.
It's the development of the ideas that have not always gone as well
as might be hoped. In
Kogge
the mechanisms for many became a bit overwhelming while
the blind bidding turned some off from The Great Whisky Race
But this time the idea has matured into near perfect completion.
Staying with his interest in northern climes, this time the map
depicts the cities and towns of the south Baltic coast also
seen in the seafaring ventures
Hansa
and
Die Hanse.
But this time the action is terrestrial as pieces are placed to
complete trade routes. Completion requires that a player own every
piece in the two to four station route. Others may want to place
on such a route because then a player may use an action to dislodge
them which not only allows the "victim" to relocate this piece nearby
but also to place a second piece from off map. Completing a route
triggers several events. Those that are good for others include that
the route is cleared and that those having pieces in the endpoint
cities receive victory points. On the other hand the current player
gets to add a piece to one of the endpoint cities or may take a
special advantage should one be associated with that route. In
addition the player takes any rule-breaking chip which has been
placed on the route and at the end of the turn gets to draw and
place a new one. Special advantages are mostly to do with
improving player capabilites, e.g. number actions, number of
pieces pulled from supply, victory point multiplier and level
of office one can place. In effect then this is a technology
tree to manage, or at least a set of bottlenecks to manage.
There is also an area of the board that provides points in large
installments should one invest there. Finally immediate points
are provided for having a piece in every city of a pre-set very
long route as well as end of game points for having majority
control of cities in one's longest continuous route To top it
all off, play is not completed after a set number of turns, but
when someone reaches the magic number of points, adding to what
it should already be quite apparent is a large number of interrelated
factors to weigh and think about, as well as a variety of strategic
paths to explore. Board and components are
attractively realized and the communication design is pretty good,
though some of the textless chips may be difficult to interpret.
The board is two-sided depending on the number of players and looks
to be well thought out in each case. There are a fair number of
wooden pieces. Play usually lasts an hour or more. Possible
detractions would be limited to three minor ones. One, there are
chips which permit removing others' pieces, a pretty aggressive
action that can annoy. Two, having the same starting chips in the
same locations each time could lead to stylized play in the
early game, though this probably wouldn't last long. Third, it's
possible to shoot yourself in the foot by reducing your supply
of pieces down to just two, which can be quite difficult to recover
from. This should probably only happen to first timers, but it
would have been better if there were a rule to save oneself from
this as it can lead to the "I had a bad experience the first time
so I'm never playing again" syndrome. The only other issue is that
the instructions could have been clearer, but this is being addressed
by on-line efforts. Overall this is relatively light on rules, yet
good on approaches and options. While not for kids, this should
appeal strongly to the experienced.
[clarifications]
HMHM7 (Strategy: High; Theme: Medium; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 7)
Andreas Steding; Argentum Verlag; 2009; 2-5
- Hanse, Die
Gorgeously-illustrated game about sea trading in northern Europe.
The unique feature of the game is also the source of many players'
dislike of it. Each player owns a whole ship, but he gives half of
it to the player on his left and the player on his right gives half
a ship to him. On his turn, the player moves both of the ships in
which he has an interest. The trouble is that the two players may not
agree on the direction the ship should go. It does not rear its ugly
head early, but later if a player looks like a winner, this can be
quite frustrating and even result in a ship essentially spinning in
a circle and not get anywhere. Important to play with reasonable players
who can remain calm in the face of disappointment.
Credit Frank Gerwin for wonderful period-feel graphics –
his work is more often seen in role-playing games.
[Traveling Merchant Games]
[6-player Games]
[variant]
[rules translation]
[Pirate Games]
- Haps
Two-player card game with each player taking three sharks trying to find
a square meal. The light, innovative topic is enhanced by
attractive artwork. A little bit reminiscent of
Halali! (Tally Ho!),
but here most of the card locations are pre-programmed face down by
the players. This gives more control, but does introduce an unwelcome
memory element. Overall very tactical and the scoring system would seem
to need more development, but not unpleasant. Also possible are
a few weird stalemates which can prevent the game from ending.
Title is a slangy reference meaning something like "mouthful"
or "big bite".
[Krimsus]
- Hare and Tortoise (Hase und Igel, Haas en Schildpad)
David Parlett game in which players are all ostensibly hares, but may
behave like tortoises. Tends to be a tactical race in which group think
is important, but different strategies, e.g. go fast, go slow, rely on
chance cards, are possible. (Chance cards are likely to hurt as much as
help so should be used sparingly and usually only when needing a
miracle.) Can be played at more than one level of sophistication
and thus should appeal to a wide audience, although some find
it overly mathematical.
Hase und Igel and Haas en Schildpad are German and Dutch
titles respectively.
[Spiel des Jahres Winner]
[6-player Games]
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone The Game
Movie tie-in games are usually a bad idea, but suppose you've
been asked by some young fan to provide one anyway. Would this
be a good choice? Provided are six square boards comprising
six different sub-games and play proceeds from one to another
in sequence. Game four, forgetting that there may be more
than two players, is just
Chess
or a simplified version thereof, both of which are too long
for this setting. Most of the others, being simply
roll-and-move affairs, are stunningly prosaic, only two
offering even a scintilla of interest. "Sprout's Challenge"
finds each player trapped inside some vines. Players have a hand
of vine tiles which they can place to start freeing their own
trap if they are adjacent to tiles already placed, but must
place to an opponent's trap otherwise. It's mainly a matter of
luck, but as the various vines are so similar it's a real
pattern-matching challenge. The last one, "Snape's Challenge",
is something of a gambling game in which players must guess
whether or not they are holding the two lowest cards. Not
much, but as good as it gets here. The overall would have been
improved had each sub-game influenced the next, but for the
most part they don't, or don't very much. Or maybe they do,
but the instructions are so ambiguous about this and many
other matters that none can be sure. Boards are 10x10" and
seem to be made by a metallic paper, but they're quite thin
and despite employing an interlocking puzzle technique, have
trouble staying together. There are 117 cardboard chits, all
made from cheap, thin cardboard and three card decks, also not
very nice. The best things are the character cards with
plastic stands, but they're too large for the spaces. The best
thing to do with this, another shining star in the University
Games universe, even should you find it for two dollars in your
local thrift shop, is to avoid. If there is a good Harry
Potter game out there, this is not the one.
LMLL3 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Low; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 3)
(unknown); University Games; 2000; 2-4; 8+
[Amazon]
- Hart an der Grenze
"Hard by the Border" makes smugglers out of the players, but
all take turns as the opposing customs official each round. The
latter's job is to make sure nobody is bringing any contraband
items into the country via their suitcases, i.e. putting the
wrong cards into real metal boxes. Players acquire the stuff
via random card draws each turn, only some of it is illegal –
the valuable stuff, tequila and such – the rest much less
so – sombreros, caracas, and so on. There are actually
three levels of lying players can choose in their declarations.
Besides not lying at all, there is carrying contraband –
always illegal – and also the smaller lie of of carrying
things they don't declare, a good idea simply due to the rule
prohibiting carriage of more than one item type. Regardless, it's
the official's job to determine who is getting away with the worst
lie and attempt to throw the book at them. Now begins the bribery
phase. as the accused may be willing to give up some profit in
exchange for not losing everything. But the official has to be
careful as it's counter-productive to accuse an innocent. There
are two rounds of this and at the end of each players may secrete
away some of their cards for an end of game majority control
contest, removing, however, their value as items. The metal boxes
are attractively decorated in appropriately garish designs and the
cards clear and descriptive. The more that players can role-play
this, and laugh, and joke around, the better and more fun it is.
Still, there is ample room for
Poker-style
skills here. Many players
have these of course, but 'tis strange how often the innocent
seem to get accused and amazing to find that so much has crossed
the border totally unseen. While there's little science to this,
it is just a tiny bit more than the usual party game and should
be a good bridge between those who don't care for the lighter
stuff and those who do.
[Party Games]
André Zatz & Sérgeo Halaban; Kosmos; 2006; 3-6
LHMM6 (Strategy: Low; Theme: High; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 6)
- Hattrick
Trick-taking card game with a baseball theme and a title
which usually refers to hockey. The trick is divided
by two players. Players must try to collect some kinds of
cards and not others. Defensive play can be quite important.
While interesting, players often seem
at the mercy of the luck of the draw.
David & Goliath
seems to work better for a game of this type. It might be improved
if there were a card passing rule added before play begins.
[6-player Games]
- Hatz Fatz
Some games, even if intended only for children, just don't
seem to make any sense at any level. This one is a card game
vaguely similar to
King's Breakfast.
Here the cards are illustrations of various animals including
the ostrich, mouse, buffalo, cat, donkey, turtle and frog, all
quite cute actually. These are distributed face down on the table
except for five in each player's hand. On a turn a player either
turns up a table card or throws a hand card into the box top. In
the latter case there ensues a mad scramble in which they try to
be the first to slap as many up cards matching the discard as
possible. Ties are broken by the player who can make the sound
most closely resembling that made by the animal. At the end a
player's score is the sum of all the products of cards he has
gained with cards of the same type in the box. The thing is,
there is no decision making at all about when to play a card,
unless it be to save all cards until the very end, in which case
why are any cards face down in the first place? The system might
have made sense if only the current player could claim cards or
if the game were played following the King's Breakfast.
rules, but as they are there's really very little interest. Get
this one only if you like pretty pictures and want to invent
your own game.
LLLL3 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Low; Tactics: Low; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 3)
Anselm & Malte Ostertag;
Pfifficus-Spiele; 2004; 3-7
- Havana
While the title might suggest a card game version of
Cuba,
this one set in the same place, and by the same publisher,
is mostly something else.
It is true though that once again each player has his own
hand of role cards which are played simultaneously from a deck.
Moreover each role is numbered and this determines the order
of operations. Actually, each player always has two cards face
up and replaces one each turn. The card on the left is treated
as being a tens digit, that on the right a ones. The game
pivots around the idea that the lower values permits going
earlier while higher numbers have greater powers. Moreover,
there are lots of cards which benefit from going as early
as possible, either because they only permit acting on a
following player or because they permit taking half of what
remains of some supply (if someone else has already taken half
you can imagine how little is left for you). There is no
board, but the other bits include hard cardboard building
tiles which can be acquired by spending some combination of
cardboard money chips,
meeple workers, building material cubes and having an architect card
showing. Each building provides a number of victory points
commensurate with its cost, but this leads directly to the
problem of the ending. It's not a problem of duration as it
finishes in good time at right around forty-five minutes. But
the idea that achieving fifteen points provides a win does not
feel in any way natural. Indeed, it's often the case that
opponents cannot even detect that the goal is reachable, but
then someone buys two or three tiles and it's suddenly over.
This leads to the second issue, that of having to stop
leaders. There are cards which permit doing so, but no real
way to coordinate activities and too often even if a possible
winner is detected, some player(s) might take one for the team
while others benefit by not doing so and instead take the win
because of what is in effect the kingmaking efforts of others.
This might work out okay for two (untried), but ends up being
problematic and unsatisfying for more. It does deserve kudos,
however, for a different, interesting mix of cards, for
short, clear instructions and two very well written player
aide cards.
LLHM5 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Low; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 5)
Reinhard Staupe;
eggertspiele-2009/Rio Grande-2009; 2-4
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Havoc
Card game for 2-6 subtitled "The Hundred Years War". Players
represent unnamed mercenary captains who during their turns either
draft cards or compete in "battles" by adding cards to their face
up displays. Displays are ranked according to a modified form of
the rules of
Poker
– extended to handle combinations of up to six cards.
The winner(s) of each battle receive point cards which vary
depending on which of the pre-programed eight is being contested.
Battles are given historical names and dates, but otherwise lack
thematic significance, as does the combat itself, as no one really
inflicts any casualties – virtually all committed forces are
simply lost. Note too that even though mercenaries were rife in the
era, this was still basically a war between England and France, yet
the game takes no notice of the binary nature of this. As I happen
to know that inventor K.C. Humphrey is a
Tichu
fan, maybe we'll eventually see a partnership variant? Comparison
with Tichu seems apt because both games share the fun
possibility that a collection of small cards in the right
combination can overpower a few larger ones. This game adds timing
and sensitivity to other player statuses to the mix as it's often
possible to win a battle with mere meager offerings if it comes at
a time when others are mostly depleted. The mechanisms are not
particularly original – Poker-like contests are in
Sindbad,
programmed events in
The Merchants of Amsterdam,
and drafting in many games – but this combination of all three is
innovative. Impressive too is the card artwork and quality from
small press
SunRiver Games.
I especially enjoy reading the short bits on medieval weaponry when
someone is taking too long at their turn. Having seen prototypes of
other SunRiver games, I expect even more than this worthy first
effort in the future.
[6-player Games]
MLHM6 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Low; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 6)
- Le Havre
While in a cafe recently, an older man came over to
ask about this game. It became apparent he is French
when he pronounced this title a lot better than I did. "Is it a
French game?" he wanted to know. Hearing "No, German, actually," he
walked away with nothing more than a deflated "oh". So much
for Franco-German relations? Actually there is little in the
game that relates to France; Le Havre's being a port is the
important fact. But there is a certain Gallic charm to the
cartoon artwork that may give this feeling – credit this
to the fine work of artist Klemens Franz. In terms of play,
it's a matter of drafting, allocation and backward planning.
The players' tokens play a game of leapfrog on a line of seven
round tiles. As each is visited, two pictured items are added
to the current supplies, i.e. wood, iron, clay, food, grain,
cattle, etc. In what tends to be a rather short turn, one then
either drafts an entire supply pile or moves one's other token
to a new building. The critical rule is that just as in the
designer's
Agricola,
an occupied building cannot be used by others (apart from some
special exceptions). But as each player has only one token,
there is much less contention. Also, still present is the idea
of cows breeding, grain being harvested and the
turnly requirement to provide an ever-escalating amount of
food. It doesn't particularly fit the theme, but does cause
dilemmas as players are otherwise trying to make as money as
they can. Some examples of the thirty-two buildings
– represented by full size cards – which come in
five types – builders, goods earners, goods processors,
money makers and endgame points – include an arts
center, a bridge over the Seine, a shipping line and so on.
There are also several ships which can earn a great deal.
Shipping is probably something one wants to do at the end of
the pre-set number of turns. To do this, one needs to first
acquire mass quantities of some raw material(s), then process
them using a building and possibly also energy which must also
have been accumulated or processed to finally create valuable
processed goods, all the while dealing with the need to keep
the food supply coming and also with other players wanting to
draft the same things and use the same buildings. Opportunism
plays a large role and it can also be confusing as one needs
to make long term plans, but can only execute a tiny bit at a
time. Can you remember all that you planned? Play tends to be
fairly solitaire in nature – the most dramatic interaction
probably being others drafting what one wants – but the
planning is so absorbing that it's possible not to notice.
There isn't really a catch-up mechanism or way to target a
leader. Instead, play tends to be fairly balanced and leaders
difficult to identify. The fiddly process of replenishing
supplies occurs just as much as in
Agricola,
but as it happens just a little bit at a time, is perhaps
easier to tolerate. Somewhat inelegant and also confusing at
first is the idea that an unowned building can either be
"built" using raw materials or "bought" using money. This
feels like a late addition that didn't get properly
integrated. But the fact that players own buildings which
others can then use for a minor fee is a good idea indeed.
This game of hundreds of chits tends to several hours of
duration, though there are shorter scenarios that can probably
keep it down to about two. The three-player setting may be the
best in terms of minimizing contention and the time needed for
the constant context switching between players that very short
turns require.
Uwe Rosenberg;
Lookout Games; 2008; 1-5
MMMH7 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 7)
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Hazard
Re-creation of a game described as played by the pilgrims in
Geoffrey Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales.
The nicely-made board looks medieval
and depicts twenty-three characters from the story. The
game is a race around the circle, but curiously movement
depends on the amount that players gamble on whether the
player will make his roll. Interesting ideas, but they do
not seem fully developed and it is far too easy to give
the game away to another player, accidentally or otherwise.
The package is probably only of value as a way of introducing
the literature.
- Hazienda (Hacienda)
Multi-player game of establishing rancheros on the Argentine
pampas. This Wolfgang Kramer design feels similar to the
series he has created with Michael Kiesling – the most recent
being
Australia
– but Kiesling is absent from the credits this time. On the
other hand, as the publisher is Hans-im-Glück, we can be sure
that active editor Bernd Brunnhofer has played a significant role.
Fundamentally a matter of claiming (and presumably taming) map
hexagons which correspond to drafted cards, the game is one of
placing long tentacles of animal pieces, also one per card.
Activities cost money which is earned by reaching cities – the
larger the connected group, the more it pays. But money is not the
ultimate object, points are. These are primarily derived from
connecting to the most cities with the largest group, although
there are also lesser ways to earn both points and money. In sum
then, this is a very territorial situation driven by card drafting
and sometimes restricted by money bottlenecks. As the map is wide
open, its nature can vary widely from playing to playing, mostly
depending on how strenuously players try to cut one another off. I
suspect that good play involves finding situations where one can
both cut off and at the same time do something profitable. Or it
can be played entirely in friendly fashion, as a pure race, in which
case the winner is probably the one luckiest at drafting. That is
one area where there can be some imbalance, especially with
fewer than four players and with the animals, as some of the
latter are randomly removed before play and may skew
chances for the player(s) unlucky enough to start that type of
group. (This can be exacerbated by opponent hoarding.) But the best
strategy of all is "Let's you and him tussle" – as in
Euphrat & Tigris,
newbies may wind up winning a lot of those games in which the older
hands mostly pick on one another. One thing that's done quite well
here is timing the exit as it neither overstays its welcome nor
finishes before the situation has been able to sufficiently
develop. The feeling is conceptually easier and lighter than
Australia,
but without anything really new or fancy; it's plainer. This is a
solid effort that just works without calling attention to itself.
It's not a war game, but I shouldn't be surprised if fans of that
genre didn't appreciate the territorial nature of this. For those
who enjoy really studying a game to learn the best ways to win,
there is plenty of scope here for multiple plays and evolving
strategy and tactics – what's the ideal shape of an animal group
that runs between a city and a lake? This replayability is
generously enhanced by the printing of a second board on the reverse
side. Probably best for four as five is rather crowded and three
not sufficiently so.
Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Medium
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Hearts
Traditional trick-taking card game comes in many forms.
Players attempt to either avoid taking the Queen of Spades and
all hearts or, conversely, to attempt to take all of them.
Much of this game is in the initial diagnosis of the hand.
By the way, the apparent original meaning of the English term
"shoot the moon" means to remove furniture in the night without
paying the landlord.
- Heckmeck am Bratwurmeck (Pickomino)
Reiner Knizia dice roller for 2-7 is in the same family as his
Easy Come, Easy Go.
Here the goal tokens for which players roll 8 dice resemble
Dominoes
tiles, each of which features a dice total to equal or exceed plus
a victory points value. The clever bit is that upon each roll only
dice of a single, previously not reserved rank may be reserved.
Tiles may also be stolen from opponents, but only if the dice total
is an exact match. Failure to take any tile removes an unowned one
from play, hastening the finish. While all would seem to be well,
practice is somewhat disappointing. The as-yet-unmentioned ability
of a player who has taken several tiles to cover and thus protect
all earlier collections often leads to the situation of the decision
being basically settled quite a while before the obvious have been
proven. This appears especially true when the number of players is
low. If you habitually play in a large group, this may work for you
as a light outing, however. The dispensable theme of chickens
barbecuing worms is a take off from the more successful
Hick Hack in Gackelwack.
One can see how Bratwurst has been altered to
Bratwurm while eck means corner.
Actually a more basic version of this earlier had an earlier life as
Octo
in Knizia's book
Dice Games Properly Explained
([Amazon UK]
The book's very detailed discussion of the best move for every situation
is fascinating material for analytical types.
[Frequently Played]
[6-player Games]
Strategy: Low; Theme: Low; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Medium
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Heimlich & Co. (Under Cover, Top Secret Spies)
Game of bluff and secret victory conditions has a spy theme.
Light and serviceable. Serious players will prefer
the more challenging advanced rules. Reminiscent of
The Great Balloon Race,
Halunken und Spelunken
and even
Citadelles,
although here stripped way back to the bare minimum and mostly
devoid of theme. The 2001 edition adds cards which perform
"special effects", probably intended to add more interest for the
hardcore gamer crowd, but really they don't add anything except
a lot more time and randomness.
[Spiel des Jahres Winner]
[6-player Games]
[Holiday List 2002]
- Hellas
This two-player game of ancient combat among the Aegean isles
has a close and instructive relationship with its undeclared
sister game,
Fjords,
but more about that anon. In this one, each turn a player
faces three possibilities: (1) place a new tile and try to
claim it; (2) supplement armies, fleets and cards;
or (3) attack. Tiles are hexagonal and show either a slice of
coast or an island. They must be placed so that all seas
eventually connect (in Fjords all lands must be contiguous).
If the tile matches up to a tile where a player has a ship,
possession can be taken of it. Some tiles contain temples
which become points of contention since a player holding a
majority of them gets to do four things rather than three when
supplementing. Cards received at this time can be in any of
three varieties: advantaging sea activities (card backs show
Poseidon), military (Ares) or miscellaneous (Zeus). Apart from
optional cardplay, attacks are entirely deterministic. If the
invaders come overland and at least match the number of
defenders, they destroy them and win. Over seas one extra army
is required. Any tile can station at most three armies so
there are limits to massing as well. There are no supply
requirements though a successful attack often admits the
possibility of new targets. Modulo cards, only one attack is
permitted per turn as well. The goal is a race to control 10
tiles. Sometimes, if players are not careful, this can occur
simply by exploration with not shot ever being fired, as it
were. More frequently, players build up to around eight via
exploration and then conflict develops, particularly since at
least one Poseidon cards permits an extra exploration which
could then win the game. Cards in general here are rather
problematic as the decks are so unbalanced. It's easy for a
single card to be a game winner, yet on the other hand
sometimes a player wastes actions collecting several cards
only to find them all useless. This is the most troubling
feature and one of course that Fjords entirely lacks.
Otherwise the two games provide a window into the design
process. Here is a basic mechanism, turning over hexagonal
tiles and placing them advantageously to grow a world. Now
given this, what can the players do with the setting?
Fjords stays with a German-style game, providing more
placement, that of farmers and farms, becoming a game of
putting down stakes and cutting off the opponent. In this one,
players become more active, employing their armies to destroy
one another, but without going as far as the chaos of a true war
game. That would be a third possibility, but this is more a
hybrid of the two. It should of course appeal to those who enjoy
war games – the plastic soldiers and ships may help in
this regard – and can be a bridge between those who do and
those who prefer otherwise.
Strategy: Medium; Theme: High; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 6
Franz-Benno Delonge; Kosmos/Rio Grande/Tilsit; 2002; 2
- HellRail: 2nd Perdition
Essentially a train game, but with unusual topic of carrying souls
deeper into the nine levels of hell, all accomplished via a deck
of square cards. Cards are nicely and amusingly illustrated and
placement resembles something of a pipe-connection game à
la Linie 1/Streetcar,
but one in which the trains are running as the tiles are still
being laid down (and picked up).
Four pewter engines are nice, though small.
A bit random due to the vagaries of luck of the draw and dice.
Four player games seem to work much better than three as more track
tends to get on the board sooner. Strategically, one should consider
that there are more deliveries starting at the lower numbers than the higher.
It never made as much sense as when uttered in this game, "Where in the
hell do you think you're going?"
This game is a follow-on to the original HellRail.
[Traveling Merchant Games]
GalloGlass
- Heroes Incorporated
Multi-player game of comic book super heroes, using characters
invented for the game – no doubt to avoid licensing fees
– who tend to resemble the most popular ones found in the
comic books. Randomly-distributed tiles form a city grid on
which the heroes operate. Crimes are generic in nature and hop
to an adjacent location each round. The difficulty of a crime
(and also its victory point value) are curiously not an attribute
of the crime, but of its location. Heroes need to travel to that
location and simply roll a die higher than its value. At the
end of the round the player having rolled the highest gets the
credit on a victory point track. Adding flavor and variability
are special powers for each hero as well as special cards. While
the special powers seem both balanced and sensible thematically,
the cards are much less so, some being particularly useless
depending on which heroes are in play or
the stage of the game. Each hero is described by a large card and
represented on the "board" by a matching cardboard standup figure.
The artwork feels average and has some unfortunate typeface choices –
that of the character PYRE looks like it reads DYKE. The game was
probably never blind-tested as there are pretty serious holes in the
instructions. (A post-publication on-line version appears to address
all of these.) Surprisingly, play is fairly smooth otherwise, except
that with all the luck and also the lack of a catch-up mechanism, may
make the last round or two may be too much of a foregone conclusion.
Compared to
Marvel Heroes,
this is a better game for more than two – in fact for just two it's
not at its best as there is too little competition – but still is
probably for comics fans only. After all they can get into the
role-playing possibilities and make the game more than it is.
[Quest Machine]
Strategy: Low; Theme: High; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 5
- Heroes of the World
Depicting the entirety of world history, this majority control
affair from the inventor of
Azteca,
sports an good concept, i.e. that the value of a region becomes
known only gradually so that players must constantly readjust
their efforts. That this simple idea has not been pursued much
in majority control games before is probably explained by its
inherent flaw: as players are constantly fixing up their
positions relative to others, whoever acts last has a tremendous
advantage. As a fix this player should be forced to pay a
very large price for the privilege, but unfortunately that's
not the case at all here. The map of the world has is divided
into several large regions, i.e. Africa, Middle East,
Mediterranean, India, China, America, Europe, Asia-Pacific
and Russia. Play is divided like a
football match into two halves with a scoring round after
each. The driving mechanism is the multi-function card played
to begin each player-turn. Each of these names and displays
an historical figure along with brief background information.
Not all of these are the conquerors one might expect.
Alongside Caesar and Napoleon there are Plato, Mozart and
Ibn Battuta. Each of these cards provides money, more pieces,
and either a chance to add value to a region or perform an
attack, occasionally both. Adding pieces, each card names one
or more regions corresponding to the leader's historical
sphere – often rather liberally as the game struggles to
cover all regions fairly, Africa being rather rare –
where this can be done. These regions also dictate where any
values (victory points) can be placed, this being accomplished
via technology chit draw from a cloth bag. Second half chits
are wisely worth more than those of the first. The number of
chits each region can take is fixed; at scoring the player
having the majority of pieces in the region receives all of
its points; the second-placed player receives half and the
third-placed player the value of the lowest chit, which could
be zero. Attacks are also restricted to the named areas and
are anyway rather chancy affairs, being based entirely on the
roll of a single special cube and having the magnitude
specified by the card. The attacker usually has a slight
advantage, but two or three of the possibile results can
really hurt. Notice that existing strengths in the region have
absolutely no bearing on the matter, so a good idea is to
attack where one has a single piece and the opponent the many,
the reason being that even if one gets the usually unfavorable
"counterattack", resulting in equal losses to both sides, the
attacker only loses the one, but the defender the full number
specified on the card. Money, besides being indirectly
convertable to points, is used to move pieces between regions
as well as purchase separate "wonder" cards which
provide both victory points and a special rule-breaking power
which may be used once per half. Examples include Tenochtitlan
and the Great Wall of China. Since early acting players can
get these more easily than others, maybe this was an attempt
to balance the last acter wins problem. But if so it has not been
implemented correctly since a round ends when all but one
region's technologies are complete, i.e. whenever someone
makes a lucky card draw. Thus this first player might well be
the last player also! This is not the end of problems either.
Card drafting is placed at the start of the turn rather than
at the end, slowing things down for no very good reason. It's
questionable whether these cards are well balanced anyway.
Certainly their extreme variability puts newcomers at an
unneeded disadvantage. Then there is the usual petty diplomacy
fragility inherent in systems where any player can pretty much
attack any other. Having the potential to go to two hours,
it's hardly a quick affair either.
On the plus side, the cards are fun and even
educational, several rather obscure figures being included.
Plastic piece fanciers will probably enjoy the warrior and
horsemen as well. There is some theme present, obviously,
though it's hard to say what players really represent and some
leaders operate in unlikely areas. Although this doesn't
really work, it should appeal to fans of
El Grande,
resembling an underdeveloped variation on that game, which,
despite its thematic faults, at least resolved a number of
these problems over a decade ago.
[Buy it at Amazon]
LMHM5 (Strategy: Low; Theme: Medium; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 5)
Pascal Bernard; Huch & Friends/Sirius Products; 3-5; 2008
- Herr der Ringe, Der (The Lord of the Rings)
Reiner Knizia-invented game about travails of hobbits in the
Tolkien novel of the same name. Not really a game in the
usual sense as the title character does not appear as a player
and the player-hobbits do not compete against one another, but
only versus the game and their previous scores. Thus it becomes
much like a solitaire card game with several kibitzers. Worse,
it is almost always quite obvious what should be done while the
challenge of trying to figure out one's opponents is wholly
lacking. On the positive side, is quite nicely presented and
probably represents the best of what the German games industry
could do with such a topic as it would certainly never do to
have any player represent Sauron's evil. Indeed, although in
later editions Professor Tolkien's prefaces expressed disdain
for the idea that his stories could be allegorical, he wrote
the dramatic battle with the Balrog demon at the height of the
Battle of the Britain and one doesn't need to think too hard to
guess which German the Sauron character might represent. Perhaps
there was one once, but at this moment it is still hard to
recall any game made as a movie tie-in being good enough on
its own terms. Even being a big fan of the novels does not
help one to appreciate the game in my opinion. I read the
novel five or more times during my teen years and have read
several of the later books as well. Update: there have been
two expansions, the second of which now adds Sauron as a player
working against the team. This plus a variant which permits team
members to compete may succeed in rescuing the game for me.
The Complete Lord of the Rings
with Reiner Knizia (video)
A
- Herr der Ringe, Der - Die Zwei Türme das Kartenspiel
Reiner Knizia card game vaguely based on the Tolkien The Two
Towers volume. Cards are employed to represent landmarks on
the route from Amon Hen to Minas Tirith with other cards randomly
interspersed to make the number of turns between each different
every time. These turns are consumed with card drafting, either
from the deck or others' leavings. The goal is to create same
suit, same symbol combinations that match one of the symbols
at the upcoming landmark where three point awards await those
who have amassed the most. This tends to be a quiet endeavor
as each carefully remembers what opponents are collecting and
what has been discarded. So even though luck of the draw plays
a big role, it is not without challenge. But what we have here
is not the fish, but the bait, for if successful, it will be
purchased by the Tolkien movie fan who after playing it
may be encouraged to find more where that came from and become
a Tolkien game fan. Eventually he or she may thus enter
fully into our wonderful hobby. This then is the nature of
the audience. For aficianadoes, we have seen this before and
there is too little which is new and too little variation. It
will probably be more of a gift item than something requested
more than once. On the other hand, the short length makes it
hard to turn down when offered.
Card art showing the heroes of the tale is based on movie stills.
- Herr der Wichtel, Der
"Lord of the Leprechauns" is the translated title of this set-collection
card game. There seems to be a play problem as no player ever
wants or is forced to release any good card, which makes set collection
well nigh impossible. This also can make it difficult to end the game
as no one can achieve a qualifying set. The mechanism by which the
leprechaun cards promenade back and forth during play is quite innovative
however. May possibly be better with only three players or so, which is
so far untried by me.
[Krimsus]
- Herr der Ziegen
One major mystery of the past decade or so has been the
disappearance of the minor hit,
Kupferkessel Co.
Sure, the fact that it only accepted two players was a knock
against it, but on the other hand, that never stopped
Lost Cities.
Fortunately the problem has finally been rectified with the
appearance of "Goat Master", which not only accepts two, but
also three, four or five. The theme has changed away from
alchemist apprentices to goats and shepherds, which is a tie-in
to the creators' previous
Ziegen Kriegen ("Goat Wars", a trick-taking game).
But more importantly, gameplay has changed. Now there are five
of each type of card, numbered 1-5, rather than just four, and
one tries to collect a mere majority in a type, not all. There
is a dilemma here as one's reward is not the point collected,
but those uncollected points which yet remain on the pasture.
As in the original, collection is done by pawns traveling
around the perimeter and selecting a card from the row
opposite. The card taken goes into a hand of size two, from
which is chosen the next movement card. A special case is a
sheep dog card which confers no movement, but permits swapping
the pasture positions of two goats. The goal here is to drive
one's own goats to one's stable at the edge of the display
as such goats will have their values doubled. A second type of
special card is the goat milk cocktail which is part of a pure
majority control game, the player having the most receiving
their value in points and the second placed, forgivingly,
receiving half points.
The beginning player sees his start-of-play resources as
hand cards and goat position, but the experienced player also
recognizes that high value goat cards which are already next to his
pen require no dog to move them and are thus resources as well.
The goat cards, charmingly illustrated
to resemble Elvis, Einstein and others, are the very cute
realizations of Michael Menzel (known for his work on
Stone Age
and
Im Jahr des Drachen).
The wooden goat pawns are
fairly large and most resemble Scottish terriers, but one can
see them as billy goats. Actually, shouldn't they really be
shepherds? There are also ten smaller wooden goats per side
and square cardboard constructions to serve as stables. The
box insert is colorfully illustrated cardboard. The original
was meant for players as young as 6. Due to the majority
control aspect, this is probably no longer the case. On the
other hand, the memorization aspect is gone and a measure of
uncertainty and decision added as a player has more than one
option for which card to play next. Recommended for all
audiences 8 and above.
[Translation]
Günter Burkhardt; Amigo; 2008; 2-5
Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 7
- Der Hexer von Salem (The Witch of Salem)
board by Vohwinkel
|
Realization may have been slow, but it's become apparent that
Michael Rieneck is one of the most promising designers going
right now. That he enjoys reading is clear from his titles
alone:
Around the World in 80 Days,
Asterix & Obelix and
Pillars of the Earth.
What's more, these games are not only good, they make greater
attempts than most in the German design school to incorporate
their themes. This is even true for
Cuba
(designed with Stefan Stadler) where the laws are an
especially thematic feature. Here he is working from
novels by German author
Wolfgang Hohlbein,
who has created a pastiche of the Cthuloid works of H.P.
Lovecraft. Appropriately enough, this game too is a pastiche,
of the Lovecraftian
Arkham Horror,
one which provides an instructive demonstration in
streamlining an overly heavy and lengthy design. Both games
have players working together to detect and close off rifts to
other dimensions. In both, horrible monsters have arrived and
threaten not just the investigators, but all humankind. The
original makes a great fetish of movement, distance and
obstructing monsters being major issues. Here each player has
a deck of location cards and on each turn simply plays a
different one to automatically go there. Returning to
Miskatonic U. restores the deck for re-use. Obviously the
interest here is in the higher level decision of what's best
to do rather than the mundane details of getting to a
location. Each location does tend to collect a monster which
must be braved, but it only does a little damage per visit,
and that determined by the simplest of die rolls. No longer
will an encounter generate a knockout blow all in one go. At
the location will be up to three item chits, each available at
a different price for the player to buy. This is far more sane
than repeatedly running around trying to find something which
is supposed to be there, but often isn't (because one can't
make the right die roll or draw the right card). Besides being
used to destroy monsters, each of which is vulnerable a particular
group of three items, items can be used to regain sanity,
discern rifts or find out which of the big bad monsters is
the real threat. The concepts of strength and physical weapons
like guns and dynamite are gone. It's okay; they were
redundant to the sanity system and it is more special to the
genre anyway. Closing a rift used to be quite a long rigamarole of
traveling into it and hoping to avoid random disasters. Now
it's just a matter of knowing where the rift is and having a
mystical item of the right type. There are still new monsters
entering every turn and they just tend to fill up locations in
clockwise order. Monster activities are depicted not by moving
them around, but by having subsequent appearances of a monster
still on the board have some nasty effect (different for each
monster) on the players. New
to this version are a sort of countdown track which gives
players a scary visual of just how badly they are doing as
well as the Sorcerer character who travels about randomly via
event cards and is of help to them wherever he ends up
standing. He is represented by a largish white pawn. There are
also largish pawns for the players and beautifully illustrated
materials by the great Mr. Franz Vohwinkel. But with all the
aforementioned great strides, it's unfortunate to have to
report that this design goes three steps too far. First, there
is no differentiation of the player characters. Variable
powers are always fun and it's really too bad that they
weren't included here; the only cost would have been a little
bit more playtesting. Second, and this is rare for a German
school game, player elimination is possible. (This might be
fixed by permitting potions and/or sanity-restoring events to
be applied to eliminated players.) Finally, and
most damning of all, the concept of a winner is omitted.
The players either all win or all lose, removing completely the
all-important inter-player competition. Alas, the games world
seems to be going through another one of its mad fads and this
time it's the cooperative game. It can only be hoped that its
passage will be brief.
Michael Rieneck; Kosmos; 2008; 2-4
MHLM5 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: High; Tactics: Low; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 5)
[Buy it at Amazon]
- Hexenstich
Trick-taking card game by Dirk Henn could probably be translated
as "Witch Tricks" or "Magic Tricks". Features suits in three
colors, each of which contains cards marked both with numbers and
one of these three symbols: witch, fairy or dwarf. Players must
follow suit by color, but the symbol most often played decides
who wins the trick. Taking fairies scores points while witches
lose them. Instead of dealing all them out at once, cards are
replenished during the hand. Nice illustrations give a pleasant
feeling of twilight in a magical forest. Game play is mainly
tactical and somewhat subject to luck of the draw.
- Hextension (Take It Easy, Take It Easy XXL)
Puzzle-like game in which players each work on filling out a
private hexagonal grid in the most pleasing fashion, and for the
most points. The original version forces new tiles to be placed
adjacent to the existing ones while later rules are more free
form and allow them to be placed anywhere. Either way seems to
work fine and preference seems to mostly depend on which version
one tried first. There is little to no interaction, but because
of the nature of the game, works as well for two hundred players
as for four. Graphically I thought it would have been nice had
the most valuable colors been drawn in thicker lines and the
less valuable ones in gradually thinner ones. As it is, the
game can even be played by the very young by just having them
try to make nice, continuous lines and then having someone older
do the arithmetic. Overall a nice challenge full of agonizing
decisions that both gamers and non-gamers can enjoy.
[6-player Games]
[Top 10 Games for 7 or More Beginners]
[shop]
- Hi Ho Cherry-O
Game for children up to the age of six invented 1966 is about
racing to pick cherries and drop in one's bucket. As all
actions are dictated by a spinner, chiefly of use in learning
counting. Attractively-made.
- Hibernia
The multi-player war game is a difficult form. But this groundbreaking
design set in Iron Age Ireland has made so much progress that this
commentary isn't even going into the
war games section.
Player elimination, kingmaking, turtling, all of these and
more tend to plague this type of game. In addition, the few
methods of resolving conflict
(e.g. CRT, "to hit" roll, etc.) have become rather stale.
All of these are addressed here. First, each player begins
with a single cube in one of the four castle spaces on a board
with counties in four colors. The player rolls a special die
showing these colors to determine which matching provinces he
can attack. He also receives a free attack. Alert readers will
now be wondering about the other two die faces. One is "wild",
permitting an attack on any color of county while the other
aids in scoring. After the attacking is done, the player
advances his piece on the scoring track, the spaces of which
are not numbered, but colored. Advancing on the track is a
matter of owning counties in the corresponding colors. For
example, if the next two spaces are both yellow, possessing
two yellow counties are needed to progress. If owning only one,
the scoring die result permits the die to substitute for the
missing county. The method of attack is to count the number of
owned regions bordering the target region and then place cubes
from supply or from elsewhere on the board into the region.
Then both sides eliminate symmetrically until only one side
remains. Defeated units are considered fled, but can be
rallied whenever the player is willing to forego an attack.
This lets the opponents rally half of their units as well,
however. Besides the die restriction on where attacks can
occur, no player can be attacked in his last two territories,
thereby keeping everyone involved. Even a small position can
make progress on the track, though it becomes slow toward the
end as two of each color is needed and each of the colors is
in short supply in one part of the board. It's also possible
to reinforce one's areas instead of attacking, thereby enable
a defensive strategy. Another good idea is that the center of
the board is a four corners situation in which,
uncharacteristically (and a little unthematically) one can
attack from and to any of the four counties. This permits
anyone to attack anyone else and generally lets anyone get in
attacks on the current leader. The graphics by the designer
are acceptable and it's nice that it comes in a rather small
package. This packaging is somewhat flimsy and the board has
some trouble lying flat. All of the board elements are quite
clear, however. The instructions are also clear, if a bit
casual. The scoring result on the die may be a bit too
powerful, especially in the second half, but probably
something was needed to prevent a stalemate. Maybe something
slightly less strong would have been possible. Finally, the
die and the scoring track feel very un-thematic, but there may
enough going on otherwise for many players not to mind.
Altogether this is a simple, yet absorbing system with challenging
decisionmaking that lasts about forty minutes. It seems also
that this system could easily be expanded with technology
trees, events or other ideas, or transported to other settings.
Finally, along with
Cambria
(which now has a Cumbria expansion by the way)
we see developing a pleasing Celtic Nations series of games
and no doubt a next installment to anticipate.
Eric Vogel;
Vainglorious Games; 2009; 3-4
MMMH7 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: Medium; Personal Rating: 7)
A complimentary copy of this game was received for
purposes of review.
- Hieroglyphs Game, The
Abstract, uncomplicated
(ages three and up), some strategy, large luck component,
instructional (good way to learn the hieroglyphs).
Components are a board on which is depicted a 9x10 grid.
Many of the boxes have depicted in them a hieroglyph along
with the representation of its sound in English. There
are eight unique double-sided word sheets and during the game
each player will use one. These contain eight numbered words
rendered in hieroglyphs. There are twenty black plastic chips,
a die, rules and a plastic scarab beetle. Players take
turns rolling the die and moving the beetle about the board.
The first player chooses the number of the word each will
work on. Whenever the beetle ends on a square containing
a hieroglyph that matches one in the word, the player covers
it with a chip. On the other hand, if already covered by
a chip, the chip is removed. Rolling a six gives another
turn. First player to finish a word gets two points and
starts a new round. Game to six.
[Ancient Egypt games]
- High Bohn
Could
Bohnanza
be combined with
Puerto Rico;?
Well sort of. The title reference is to the film
High Noon,
the famous Gary Cooper Western. This expansion kit for the
base game adds twenty-two Cognac Bean cards as well as sixty
others in the form of buildings. Each bean type used in the
game has four associated buildings which have costs of 1, 2, 3
or 4 coins derived from sales of that type of bean. A player
may only buy one of each type of building. The cheapest
variety simply provide extra victory points, but the others,
e.g. general stores, banks, jails, etc., also provide special
advantages in the game. This special version enhances the
value of deep bean collections so wise players will be open to
the so-called accelerated trades, i.e. hand to hand trades,
that help make those feasible. Overall the buildings and their
special effects make this a fun and refreshing take on beangriculture.
It may also bring back to the bean table those no longer
interested in the original game. On the other hand, some
purists may object that the new elements travel too far from
the game they have come to love.
Also included in the package are the thirty-six cards that
comprise an expansion to the game
Al Cabohne,
Prohibohn (not reviewed here).
Uwe Rosenberg & Hanno Girke; Lookout Games/Rio Grande/Amigo; 2000; 2-5
MMMH7 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 7)
[Buy it at Amazon]
- High Society
Reiner Knizia card game from 1995 sees players bidding from
identical holdings to acquire valuable items as they are turned
up from a deck one by one. However, one must not spend too much
as the winner must not have the least amount of funds remaining
by the end. The ending is determined by the "ticking clock"
mechanism and there are a few wrinkles in the prizes: cards
which double, halve or subtract. Probably too chaotic to be
taken very seriously, but invokes very interesting feelings
in players as they must try to navigate a middle path. In
addition, they must constantly re-evaluate their positions,
re-calculating expected values as each new card is gets sold.
It's also necessary and challenging to figure out how much
something is worth from the moment it's revealed as cards bid
cannot be picked up during the auction except to drop out.
As information is fully trackable open cash holdings may be a
good idea. Update: re-released in English in 2003 by
Überplay in a somewhat
overproduced edition. The box is larger with plastic wells
not deep enough to permit completely closing the box on the
hard-to-shuffle prize cards made from inflexible cardboard.
- High Stakes
The casino-themed game uses all of the mechanisms of Monopoly, but exacerbates its
excessive randomness even further by changing the rent payment to
a forced gambling attempt. The best thing here is the presentation
as the built-up green plastic structure really does evoke a
casino table. The closeable storage areas built into the side
were a good idea too although it doesn't ever seem to stay closed.
- Hispaniola
Trick-taking card game with adjunct board. Before each hand
players each bid a secret hand card to determine trump. The nice
and tricky thing about this is that the highest card wins and yet
is removed from play. There are multiple ways to approach this,
based on one's characterization of the hand. An unbalanced one
may make it worth bidding high, but it could be just as useful
to create a void or dump a low card. The color of the led card
corresponds to an on-board ship illustration which the trick
winner gets to occupy. As they fill up, earlier players are
kicked off onto a penalty track somewhat akin to that of Adel Verpflichtet. On top of this,
taken tricks can be given away – the two players who end with
the most cards suffer penalties. This one is a good illustration
of the danger of appearing to be in the lead as players are
constantly deciding which player to penalize. Normally this is
calculated based on current position plus potential. But as
much of the potential is in hidden hand cards and scores are
only re-calculated at the end of a hand, a high score is often
succeeded by a very low one. It's much better to aim for a
medium score each round instead. Overall, while sometimes a bit
arbitrary, this does feature intriguing decisionmaking – often
tactical – and is a worthwhile lighter entry, even if it won't
steal the wind of its trick-taking forebears. Probably best
with at least four players.
- History's Mysteries Card Game
Mike Fitzgerald Rummy-based
card game created for the History Channel television network.
Players collect up to ten different popular legends such as
crop circles, Big Foot and the Loch Ness monster. The gavel card
feature usual to the Mystery Rummy series is here omitted and the
instructions are simpler. The unique feature revolves around the
ability to declare layoffs as fact or fiction and adjust one of
the original melder's cards as well. These constitute votes that
confer extra points to those backing the right side. The ninety
cards are slick and sturdy with decent artwork. Accompanying text
differs from card to card making it unfortunate that the subject
is more sensational than historical. As large negative scores are
possible, there is less "science" here than in any of those in
the series, but as a passable game that ties in with the network's
program it succeeds in what it set out to do. Experienced players
may find it a good choice when playing with non-gamers, especially
as it accommodates up to six. [6-player
Games] [Holiday
List 2003]
- Hit the Spot
Action game in which players must cause a metal ball to travel
upwards along two parallel rods fixed at one end by continually
opening and closing the gap between them.
- Hive
In this two-player-only free-form game of hexagonal tiles,
a player attempts to surround the other's queen piece. The
intermediate goal should be to place and move so as to keep
the opponent in profound doubt regarding the true plan, not a
difficult task considering the variety of special powers.
(Keeping the play secret from even yourself, as I do, doesn't
count.) While this is definitely different from all but a
handful of pure abstracts (see
Tactic Blue),
it has a feeling reminiscent of
Chess,
though usually requiring much less time. Of course this appeals to
fans of games with few rules and no fiddliness. The variable powers
give it a leg up over other pure abstracts, even if at the end of
the day that's where it remains. The first two
editions featured much desired wooden pieces onto which
stickers were applied, the third, large, sturdy bakelite
pieces.
John Yianni; Smart Zone Games; 2001; 2
MLHL5 (Strategy: Medium; Theme: Low; Tactics: High; Evaluation: Low; Personal Rating: 5)
- Hoax (Sein oder Nichtsein)
Innovative game in which players continuously adopt different
roles in medieval society and thus gain certain powers. The
fine point is that each player has one true, fixed role which
is secret, but if ever caught out in his hoax, must depart the
game. The general concept is very attractive, but problematic
as the rules are confusing and the in the free-flowing play it
can matter which player says something first. Players may also
be out before the game is over, or the game may end before it
even becomes interesting. Revised and published as Die
Erben von Hoax (The Heirs of Hoax) which is said to be
less free-flowing.
- Höhlengrölen
Satirical card game about popular musicians from the prehistoric
era, or are
they? Mel Z? Bibi Biederspears? Slim Shabby? Some of these sound suspiciously
familiar? Yes, it's those wags over at
Krimsus
poking fun at the pop, rap, folk and metal industries.
Players represent producers creating these musical assemblages,
also boy bands and girl groups. The mechanics are quite
workable: draw two cards (one can come from the discard pile),
possibly create a band and then discard. A producer's bands
must always increase in value so the job gets more difficult as
time goes on, but each player begins with a singing teacher,
dance instructor and stylist who can help later on. The same
sex crossover groups are in a competition all their own, giving
points if they are the most valuable. Players interact mainly
in terms of what they discard and by getting their bands to
market first, which reduces by two the value of subsequent
bands of the same type. The thematic idea here is a good one,
but does not seem to go far enough in capturing the essence of
the modern musical scene. The truth is still more bizarre than
this reality. Where is the Frank Fontana/Milli-Vanilli episode?
Or the recent Christina Aguilera transformation? Or even East
Coast-West Coast rapper wars? This one was designed by Mark
Sienholz, but according to the credits apparently lacked the
contribution of Ralf Sandfuchs. In the past, the company's best
products, e.g. Strand-Cup,
have been collaborations between these two stalwarts. It seems
that perhaps the former contributes the backbone system and the
latter the flavor for that is what seems to be somewhat lacking
here. This, by the way, is not to criticize the sharp card artwork
of Lutz Winter who has done an admirable job. In a world in
which Showmanager,
a Vampire and a Wyatt Earp already exist, theme
and these caricatures are the best reasons to want this one.
In addition, the small deck of 48 cards seems best for two players
lest the deck and one's options become too quickly exhausted.
There is no practical text reading problem for non-German readers
although some of the jokes may be a bit opaque. Title can be
translated to "Cave Rave".
- Hollywood For Sale
Auction card game about collecting movie memorabilia.
Players take turns drawing the top card from a deck of items,
each of which has a victory point value. Then the item is auctioned
with only the drawer, who also participates in the bidding,
knowing what it is. The winner pays the bank, with the active player
receiving a commission of 100,000 if he managed to sucker someone
into buying a worthless card for over 300,000. There are a few
cards which double a player's score in a particular type of item.
The game ending is always a complete surprise as there is no ticking
clock, just an "end" card shuffled somewhere into the deck.
Reminiscent of
Münchhausen
as the only real talent is the ability to discern to what extent
the auctioneer is lying. Probably state-of-the-art back in the 1970's,
feels very antiquated and dull today. The only redeeming
feature are the amusingly titled and colorfully depicted memorabilia
cards which feature joke items such as the automobile of "James Splean"
(i.e. Dean), etc.
- Homas Tour (Demarrage, Um Reifenbreite)
Team bicycle-racing game whose German title means "by the width of a tire."
Bicycles move by card and/or dice, but may also draft, leading to
interesting situations of mutual dependency and bluff. Definitely
has a mathematical element as possible future positioning means a
lot, especially in relation to the hills which appear to be key to
the game.
Thus a race with at least two hills is probably the best way to play.
Advance planners who can outguess their opponents should do well.
As there are event cards every time one generates a "7",
you'll need some luck too.
The rules look longer than they are –
it should not be too difficult
and is more rewarding to start right in on the Advanced
rules, even on the first play. The map and riders are
nicely made and it seems to look very much like a
real race. Players should also note the victory awardings and the high
bonus for having the first cycle over the line, despite the fact that
one wins or loses as a team.
Originally released as Homas Tour by Homas Tour in 1979;
re-published as Um Reifenbreite in Germany and
Demarrage! in the Netherlands by Jumbo in 1991.
[Cycle Racing Games]
[Spiel des Jahres Winner]
Rob Bontenbal; Homas Tour; 1979; 2-4
Personal Rating: 7
- Homesteaders
This take on the settlement of post-Civil War America is in
the mold of
Puerto Rico,
players acquiring buildings which convey various benefits.
They come in four categories: residential, commercial,
industrial and special with examples being familiar Western
venues like the general store, bank and dude ranch.
Players are steered away from buying errors as well as
staying in theme as different buildings are available during
the three eras of play that comprise the ten game turns:
Settlement, Town and City. Items of consequence include
workers, gold, silver (money), copper, cattle, apples (food),
iron, wood, trade and victory points. Many buildings require
at least one worker to perform their special ability, some
permitting more than one to get extra production and some
permitting a choice of production modes. Acquiring buildings
works nothing at all like Puerto Rico, but stems from
multi-multi auctions
that permit purchase of licenses to buy a building in one or
more colors. Curiously, the bidding track for these licenses
begins not at one, but at three and after seven starts
increasing by more than one at a time. One player is
necessarily left out of the auctions and instead gets a
consolation prize by advancing on a (railroad) track that
gives a better reward the further one has traveled. Taking
loans is permitted and taking at least one probably advisable;
after that they multiply in victory points cost according to
the triangular numbers scheme. There is also an exchange
rate system that players can use at any time to buy or sell
virtually anything and get something else.
The artwork is somewhat drab and simple, but that is in
harmony with the topic. At least communications-wise the
different building types are distinguished both by color and
code. More problematic, and worse than in
Puerto Rico, which has the same problem, is that the
functions of the available buildings are difficult to discern
from a distance. This ties in to the general problem that it's
hard to see the roadmap of where one wants to go in the buying
program already; not being able to tell at a glance what the
buildings do makes it worse. But at least there are several
strategic paths to follow. Similarly, it's easy to forget what
counting every last bit of
production and income one has on a turn; perhaps something
could have been done to ease this. The third issue of this
type is that when buying, players tend to make complicated
transactions with the market to generate the required items
which often don't really get verified by other players and
thus can be all too error-prone. The small board is paper
thin, but the wooden bits – apples, black and white
cows, cowboys, copper bars, wooden planks and the like are
rather cute. Finally, and most unfortunately,
when it comes to presentation, a lot of the copies in the
first edition have water damage, some so much so that one
doesn't want to play them. Although this may seem like an
auctions game, a genre that has worn out its welcome,
in reality it's about bottleneck management, the auctions just
serving as unpredictable costs that must be managed. That the
unpredictability comes not from a randomizer, but from other
players just makes it better. In terms of theme, it feels like
maybe this could have had a larger scope and scale, but this
works as an economic/system venture that lasts the right
amount of time. One note tactically: even though by taking
loans it's possible to buy just about anything, one can
only buy and sell at the market using trade tokens. Thus, it's
important to produce a diversity of products or at least
two trade tokens a turn or risk not being able to buy the
necessary building when the time comes.
HMMH6 (Strategy: High; Theme: Medium; Tactics: Medium; Evaluation: High; Personal Rating: 6)
Alex Rockwell; Tasty Minstrel Games-2009; 2-4; 80
Amazon
- Honeybears
Small game for children of racing colored bears. Its
inventor, Reiner Knizia, has said that the game was not
necessarily intended for children and was originally about
merchants bribing their way to the Sultan in order to show
their wares. Actual play feels less like either of these
than like a stock or horse racing situation. Each card play
advances a like-colored bear either one or two spaces.
Joker cards permit moving any bear. Each bear has a score
depending on its position when the first crosses the finish
line – the more advancement, the more points, some being
negative. This is multiplied in some fancy ways with the
number of matching cards in each player's hand to determine
the score. There's a certain amount of bluffing going on
as one tries to get others to move the bear matching one's
own hand cards, but this rarely survives the early stages.
After that there is the dilemma of whether to improve one's
positive scores vs. trying to avoid too large negative
scores, at least in three-player outings.
In most games probably most concentration should
be on the former as others will probably address the latter.
With five, probably no bear will remain in negative territory.
Four most likely makes for the best experience.
The ideal hand is one composed only of one suit and jokers
and as that can sometimes actually happen, fairness can be
subject to the luck of the draw. players will also need
to overcome an offputting feeling as they realize that only
about a quarter of one's cards are saveable. Overall the
publisher's assessment of the correct audience seems correct
with interest for adults being more limited.
- Hong Kong
Two-player abstract game of perfect information by Reiner Knizia
is about the building of skyscrapers in Hong Kong, thinly. Actually
it's more a matter of who can build up faster and higher and thus cap
his opponent's buildings. Or try the strategy of trying to cover
territory. This strategic dilemma makes things interesting while the
double move pieces afford difficult tactical decisions. Thus
should appeal even to those who are not normally fans of abstracts.
- Hopfen und Malz
Early Dirk Henn game around an unusual and pleasant topic:
brewing beer! In the first half of this bipartite endeavor,
players draft cards from the tops of the beer, malt and water
stacks, spending to buy the best they can. Then in the second
half, contracts ranging from 10 to 100 are flipped up and players
use sets of three hoping to win once-around auctions for them.
Strategic dilemma is to manage to draft enough complete sets
while still maintaining cards of sufficiently high values. Moves
quickly, but is not particularly challenging. Many of the same
ideas have been more successfully realized in their later Premiere/Showmanager,
particularly the ability to pay to clear the entire drafting
field. As cards are nicely laminated, perhaps a good choice
for an evening of beer and pretzels. Title translates to "Hops
and Malt".
Dirk Henn;
db-Spiele
- Hornochsen
Card game similar to 6 Nimmt using the almost identical
specialized deck. In addition players receive cards labeled
"+5" and "x2" which
are used to affect the final point value. The game plays something
like an abstract, with minimal hidden information, and so involves
more analysis than one would expect from such a game.
Nickname: "Horno".
[6-player Games]
- Hungry Hungry Hippos
Dexterity game for children invented by Thomas J. McMahon
is only of passing interest.
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