This game is largely similar to Wallenstein in terms of mechanic, with a few slight changes. Perhaps the most obvious is the change of map. Instead of Germany and it's open fields of opportunity, Japan's map is bordered by sea and it quite long and thin in comparison. As such, there were fewer chances for attacking, but at the same time, fewer chances to be attacked. With just six rounds (plus two scoring rounds) trying to connect your disparate territories seems impossible.
We arrived at eight, and after the rules were explained, we began at around nine. By nine forty, the first round was done and dusted. Sam felt his planned bedtime dissolving in front of him like a mirage. We ploughed on, picking up a little speed and getting a feel for the game. Dan instantly declared that war was fun, and did not hesitate to expand his territories.
As ever, Andrew found it impossible to sit still
By the end of the first year (at around eleven o'clock) Dan was in the lead. Usually, the person in the lead gets picked on by the others, but not so much this time. Steve ran out of money in the second half of the game, and never really recovered. His poorly reinforced regions were picked off by the rest of us.
The final round was slightly ruined by the fact that money didn't come out until the very end, which meant we had to exact our evil plans of domination with whatever money we had left over from our last evil plan of domination. Dan seemed to do very well exploiting his sea routes and all his buildings, meanwhile Sam managed to get a whole region to himself. All of which lead to the result finally being calculated at one a.m., leaving Dan very pleased that his win ratio was up to 66%, albeit with only three appearances.
1. Dan 47
2= Andrew 34
2= Sam 34
3. Anja 33
4. Steve 28
| Points | ||||||
| Adam | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Sam | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| Steve | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 11 |
| Joe | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 14 |
| Hannah | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 14 |
| Andrew | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| Anja | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 16 |
| Dan | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 21 |
Thanks for the game guys. I'm not sure it's an improvement on Wallenstein so much as a different map (and the special abilities/turn order thang, which is nice, even if we kept forgetting what our abilities were).
ReplyDeleteBut though I'm not in an insane rush to play again that's purely down to length really, I do like the game a lot. My personal downfall (or saviour, I have no idea) was the paralysis of fear rather than analysis. With so many armies clustered around the centre of the map, and Andrew's yellow battalions bordering my own safe-ish part of the board, I was (like the game in general) hedging my bets, waiting for an opportunity. Dan's pro-active stance (mostly invading neautral territories) paid dividends, and being Dan he clocked - and mastered - the building strategy straight away.
Well played everyone!
I should commend Anja for cajoling me into playing too, especially after she was on the receiving end of a mid-game salvo from most of her competitors - I was campaigning for a shorter game at the outset but I'm glad we played Shogun.
ReplyDeleteI realised this morning the guilty games are down to four!
ReplyDeleteFirst Train to Nuremburg, Comuni, Ys and Nautilus.
Though Arkadia is in the post...
Mmm, Shogun . . . jealous.
ReplyDelete