Treats and Treaties

Sunday was Stan's birthday party - his actual birthday is in a couple of days - but before we set off for the annual Three Hours of Carnage Including Putting Cake Into Fizzy Drinks, there was time to try out Rajas of the Ganges, the game that has already made Martin recoil at its very mention and Sally shiver at the memory of her crappy History GSCE exam. With those endorsements ringing in my ears, I set it up in the front room and had a gander at the rules. Then, sensing it was a Stanley game, I called him down to play it.

board looking busy

workers looking confused

So in Rajas of the Ganges you are the aforementioned Rajas, seeking to  out-Raja all the other Rajas by developing your province with buildings and markets, until eventually there ain't no other Rajas around here but you. Designed by Markus and Inka Brand, the couple behind Village and A Castle For All Seasons, it was always going to be as Euro-y as Guy Verhofstadt, and so it proved. It reminded me slightly of Marco Polo too, in that there is dice-rolling, but then dice are spent rather than placed - they don't return to you, so you have to make your workers generate dice for future actions. Yes! It's worker-placement too. It's lots of do stuff to get stuff, and I suppose the only new thing about it is the winning conditions - you're simultaneously pushing your markers along a cash track (counter-clockwise) and a glory track (clockwise). When two markers of the same player meet, the end-game is triggered and the person whose markers are furthest past each other wins.

 Province

Inevitably, this person was Stanley, who won in convincing style whilst my markers could barely see each other by peering across about a third of the board. We both loved it, but outside of Martin hating it I'm no longer sure who likes what at GNN. I'm certainly up for playing again, though, and soon.

Theistically accurate depiction of god of Euros

There was now the three-hour cake-throwing interlude...

...after which Joe and Sal pitched up on the sofa to watch Blue Planet while Stan and I played 878: Vikings - Invasion of England. The title does most of the explanatory work here, so suffice to say Stanley was the invading hordes (Norsemen and Berserkers, serving Leaders, of whom one appears per round) and I was the defending Thegn and Housecarl, with occasional feeble help from the Fyrd. Over a maximum of seven rounds the vikings arrive in great numbers, and the English counter-punch as best they can. The vikings win by controlling 14 city shires at the end of a round; the English win by having the vikings control none at all. Or - as with happened to us - you can end the game by forming a treaty - two of the same side need to 'sign' the treaty in order to trigger the game end, at which point the Vikings need to control 9 or more city shires.

Thegn considering movement. Housecarl considering rebelling

With one eye on bedtime I triggered the treaty in round six. Stan had played his Norsemen and I had played my Thegn. With my Housecarl I bombarded into three city shires, and won back just one of them. One I had most hoped to win had been defended successfully, and to my chagrin I realised I'd left an undefended city shire behind!

Coming over here...

There were just the Berserkers to go, and they had to win three shires. One was a gimme, but Stan couldn't see how, despite his well-supported leader, he could win two more - he was shackled by having only one movement card and could move only two armies. But working together we spotted a way it was possible. As Leaders can move, fight, and then move again, he could take two shires - but only if he defeated me on his first roll in combat in the initial battle, as any further battle rolls would cost him a movement point.

Arthur - the only English Leader in the game - just watches on 

until round five, when he suddenly gets involved

As it turned out, the Berserkers and Norsemen were in feisty mood, and my treaty-playing lassez faire turned out to be the petard that hoisted me. Never mind! We will fight another day.

It's a more asymmetric game than the predecessor I've played (1812: Invasion of Canada) because as you would expect the Vikings are very much the aggressor here - the English are simply defending, and play very reactively. But there's still room for tactics, and the dice-rolling throws up the odd surprising - and funny - result. Good, solid, pillagey fun.