ANTS stand eigentlich nicht auf meiner Einkaufsliste. Doch dann spielte meine Frau es auf der SPIEL25 an, kam strahlend zurück und erzählte von der unerwartet befriedigenden Engine, die sich über mehrere Runden organisch entfaltet. Ihre Begeisterung war ansteckend genug, dass ich mich an die Regeln setzte — und schon nach den ersten Partien wurde klar, […]
Working in the biomedical field, I’ve developed a pretty strong stomach for blood, guts, and gore. But going fishing? Eughhh! That’s where I draw the line for grossness. Shoving a hook through your helplessly wriggling bait, smelling the putrid sourness of dying flesh as fish get gutted, and having hours on end of nothingness to […]
There have been plenty of times in my life when I wished I was as smart as Sherlock Holmes. Or at the very least, had his memory for details and facts. It would certainly make parts of my day job a lot easier. Alas, I don’t have his brain. But Unlock!: Short Adventures, Inside the […]
You are a Ratzia boss, head of a family in the secretive rat mafia. To stop in-fighting and prevent any family from getting cheesed off, Ratzia bosses use a system of auctions to decide who gets which job or territory. Welcome to life in Ratzia, a retheme of the classic Knizia auction game RA. But […]
Tierwesen mit mechanischer Begabung, die aus Zahnrädern, Stahl und Energiekristallen eine von Propellern in der Luft getragene Insel bauen? Ja, gut, warum nicht? Wir Brettspielerinnen und Brettspielern sind ja so einiges an Themenwelten gewöhnt und wenn es in Propeller Island halt nun das sein soll: Dann bitte! Genauso gut wie jedes andere Thema! Dass das Thema dieses […]
Neko Syndicate had me at cat clans. The premise is that a feline-led organized crime clan is vying to take over the sushi trade in Japan. Anyone who has spent any time around cats knows they are diabolical. Cute. But diabolical. Cats are furry little overlords who demand our attention, food, and devotion; on their […]
As most regular readers here probably know, city-building games are my jam. Foundations of Rome is one of my top 5 board games of all time, and I love Frostpunk both in digital format and the board game adaptation. So when I found out about Dawnmaker, a city-building and deck-building game set in a smog-filled […]
As the Queen of Knizia here at Board Game Quest, it’s my duty to play as many Knizia titles as I can. Botswana is not only one of those titles, but a game I was quite looking forward to. So let’s see if this is a Knizia Classic, or a Knizia Cluster. Botswana is a […]
I’ve now played High Frontier, 3rd Edition, High Frontier 4 All and I owned Rocket Flight (aka Lords of the High Frontier). I’ve never played 2nd Edition, but as far as I know, there was no second edition, but I’m sure a comment will correct me. I’ve gone from “indifferent” to “suggest” back to “indifferent” and I’m back to “suggest.”
Not a blanket suggest …. I see a yearly game that involves all of the expansions1 and that 10 hour behemoth is not for me. High Frontier has a snowball growth. The first exo-factories give you better patents (hopefully) which means your second rocket has first opportunity to explore and exploit key sites.
This may not be true of the most experienced players (several of which are in that yearly game). but it’s certainly true at my level and in one of my three games so far this year I busted site after site in my first hour, squandering my early launch advantage. If I had rolled well, though, I would have snowballed in a positive way. Like many of Phil Eklund games, HF is more simulation than game, with scoring tacked on. That sounds too harsh — the scoring scheme is actually reasonable. Quite often the ‘winner’ is the person that objective observers would say “Yeah, that space agency did the best.” But me personally, when I’m getting snowballed, it’s can be a bit of a drag. Three hours is often enough to determine that.
There is also the brain-burn factor. High Frontier isn’t as complex as Magic Realm, although the fact that its in the same conversation is telling. No, High Frontier’s brain burn is the paradox of choice. In the Realm, you start of with a world where you are going to wander around for a bit … the great treasures could be anywhere. Sure if you are hunting dragons you will have some preferred destinations, but the early game is exploration. In space, we’ve got decades of exploration done before the first mission launches. The map is known, and cosmically complex.
Even ignoring anything past the asteroid belt2, your first mission has plenty of options limited by hydration, distance in burns and/or time, landing thrust …. and also preferences relating to spectral type and risk management. Then you have to calculate fuel, and High Frontier’s ingenious implementation of Tsiolkovsky’s rocket equation take some time to think about. Even initiates with a few games under their belt (such as myself) have to ponder mission planning.
After about three hours, I’m tired.
That being said, I’d like to learn the Bernal and TW thruster rules (some modules in HF4), so I watched the heavy cardboard rules video (and am watching the playthrough) and I’ve set up a solo game (of HF3) which I might play off and on. A solo game has the “I can get up and come back to it tomorrow” advantage.
So, High Frontier is back into the suggest rating. I’ve re-caught that particular bug.
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(I forgot to publish this earlier).
Quarters — Bridge (60+ sessions)
Dimes —1846 (2x), Chu Han (2x), The Gang, Pagan: Fate of Roanoke
Nickels — Air Baron, Jump Drive, 1862, Fishing, Glory to Rome, LotR: FotR Trick Taking Game, Race for the Galaxy, Shards of Infinity
A fair chunk of gaming was with the TaoLing1. All of Pagan, Air Baron, Jump Drive & Shards were with him (and most of my ’62 and Chu Han). Now that he is no longer a student, I expect a much lower count next year …
I think I played ~90 unique titles, which is honestly fairly high. Full List on BGG
As is always the case, most new games are firmly in indifferent category, but maybe with a novelty bonus. I think my Game of the Year is likely Chu Han, but even that is somewhat disappointing, because for games by Tom Lehmann, I’m hoping for 100+ plays, Chu Han petered out just north of 20. It’s a disappointment that most designers would kill for, but still.
And that was kinda it. Nothing set my world on fire. A mediocre year, in my book. Other new games of note were Dragon’s Down (my thoughts on DD vs Magic Realm), the new Caylus 1303
I’m also saddened that I only got in 3 games of Stationfall and Pastiche. Those need more plays.
My Weds night group has pivoted into 18xx for a large percentage of the sessions which accounts for most of my ’46 plays (20+) as well as Shikoku 1889, 18 India, 1822PNW, 1822MX, 1848 Australia. I got in a game of 1833NE, and am looking forward to its GMT release. (I also play some 18xx online on 18xx.games)
I’ve also been writing most weeks at the 20th Century Project.
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