Roll them Bones

Designing a dice game is incredibly easy, so easy in fact, that I’ll do it here, now, in the blog post header. Ready? Roll off 57 times between any number of players, each of them rolling the same die (six sided would be the best and easiest to obtain). Roll off on each draw. The player with the highest number of wins is the winner of the game. Roll off in case of tie. Done.

Image Source: BGG

Yes, I can already image your smirk as you’re smiling at my silly little game, and I know what you are thinking. But, honestly, I am too young to have had seen the prototype of Talisman over thirty years ago, and too smart to actually push for publishing a game which is won by the person able to roll the highest number of sixes. There are simply too many such games on the market already. 

Here’s the downside of working for a company that publishes board games: you can’t always write about stuff that frustrates you in gaming, simply because you’d have to point fingers at products made by your competitors. And that would make you look like a jerk. So, I decided that – if I am to proceed – I will use a very limited number of negative examples, and I will use only games I really enjoy, so that at least those who know anything about my gaming habits know that there is no ill will or bad blood here. 

Now, the essential problem of a not-so-good dice game (or of a game that relies heavily on dice), is the correlation between winning and rolling high (or, to put it in a more universal term, rolling within a specific range the game mechanisms tend to favour). If rolling a six always gives you more power, more resources, more options of using such a die, then it means that the game has a potential of being driven by luck more than by player actions. 

Image Source: BoardGameGeek

Let me use an example of a game I love – and a game that for the most part does dice very well. In Alien Frontiers it mostly does not matter whether you roll high or low, because almost any set of dice can be used productively on your turn. However, if you never roll high, you’ll probably never use the action that allows you to place a colony for the price of permanently removing one of your dice (one that came up with a six), and might have a big problem getting any Alien Tech cards (and without them your ability to manipulate scores is virtually nonexistent). 

Apart from the above example, Alien Frontiers is a splendid game, definitely one that’s been in my all time top ten since the first time I played it. It’s a game that will allow a better player (or a more experienced one) to win most of the times, but if two players of equal skill face off, the game will probably be won the player who rolls more fives and/or sixes, as only one location favours low scores, while the others either favour high, or use sets with any numbers. 

Image Source: BoardGameGeek

I’ve used Alien Frontiers as an example not to belittle the game (by Jupiter, it would be like belittling a good friend!), but to show that even the greatest of the dice genre are not completely free of the high roller problem. As far as I can tell, the only game that completely does away with favouring specific scores is Castles of Burgundy – and even the great Stefan Feld was not fully able to repeat this, as Bora-Bora seems to slightly favour rolling low. 

So, what should all this teach us? Well, that really good dice games should be built in a way that allows the players to use any rolls to their advantage – and that designing them so that they do exactly this is not easy, but we should still try. After all, the slight imperfection of Alien Frontiers does not prevent it from being a magnificent game, and a design many aspiring creators can draw inspiration from.

PS. Does all the above mean that we're working on a dice game? No. Nooo.

Yes.

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A Touch of Fate

“Dice are a thing now”, said one of my friends a few days ago, while examining my copy of Dice Brewing. I did not disagree out of fear of being disproven faster than paper disproving Spock. It would inevitably happen since Pandemic: The Cure and Nations: The Dice Game were conveniently sitting on top of my Essen haul pile, which I still failed to fully redistribute around my ever-so-packed gaming shelves. I didn't disagree, but I probably should have, as there is one thing he actually got wrong: the timing. Honestly, I am hard pressed to find a time when dice games were not a thing.

Image source: 
BoardGameGeek

It seems that dice games have been there always, either existing in the shadow of games they were merely the dice versions of (like Catan: Dice Game, Ra: The Dice Game, Alhambra: The Dice Game and dozens of others, including but not limited to – and I kid you not – Strip Poker Dice Game), or created from the start as titles that would use dice as the gameplay basis and stand on their own (like Kingsburg, Alea Iacta Est, the terribly overpunned Quarriors, the elusive Dice Masters series or the truly ingenious Alien Frontiers), without another property serving as a crutch.

But why are dice games so popular? Maybe it’s because the dice versions of other games are usually faster, simpler and lighter than their “bigger” cousins, so they may appeal to those of us who wish a similar experience, only in a shorter time frame? Then again, the same can quite often be said about “The Card Game” genre, which tries to distil full-blown board games into a smaller, more manageable, card-based experiences.

While the time and simplicity factor may be important, it is not truly distinguishing, and I believe it’s safe to say that the most important building block of dice games are (obviously) the dice themselves. And not only as a physical component, but as an unexpected randomizer that creates a specific dynamic to any game fully either dice based, or just using dice rolling as one of its cornerstone mechanisms.

Image source: 
BoardGameGeek

Although nobody would probably say that Castles of Burgundy, Troyes or Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia are “just” dice games, what makes those games what they truly are is the dice rolling and randomness management. The fact is that without dice none of these games would be what it is, and although we may argue over whether they would be better or worse, the dice based randomization is an element essential to each of them.

Whether the game revolves around pushing one’s luck or around careful dice manipulation, one thing stays the same: a player might be aided or hampered by what their dice come up with. And although the general consensus seems to imply that a good dice (or dice based) game allows low-rolling players to compete and even win, randomness always plays its part for better or for worse.

Modern board gaming is about smart designs that allow us to jog our brains and have fun while we’re at it, but it is not fully detached from the culture we live in. And that culture promotes the seemingly weaker, but determined individuals who fight against odds and win in the end thanks to their conviction, skill and a little bit of luck. Simply put: we like to see the underdog win, and sometimes, we are the underdogs.

Image source: 
BoardGameGeek

Although not exclusive to dice games, the randomness that levels the playing field is openly signalled by the use of dice rolling as a mechanism. For those, who like to play a decent turn despite a weak roll or to come back at the last moment thanks to a spectacular one, gaming is exactly the underdog fighting to the end – and sometimes even winning.

By no stretch of imagination am I trying to say that more randomness means better game. For some a luck based swing will be unacceptable, but for others chance helping them catch up after some botched turns is exactly what they need to feel invested in a game from the start right to the end. And it is still a win gained by wits and strategy, even if aided but a subtle touch of fate.

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The strategy review - Alien Frontiers

This is my second strategy review and I will talk about Alien Frontiers, an innovative game for 2 to 4 players, which I have played about 15 times.

Source: BoardGameGeek

Alien Frontiers is almost typical Euro-game, built around the worker placement mechanic with an element of luck and a light theme to create the atmosphere. 

Every player starts with three space ships depicted as six-sided dice. Every turn rolls each player rolls his 'ships' and takes actions with sets of one or more ships, striving to colonize an alien planet and gain victory points. 

There are several actions a player may take. The simplest actions are about gaining resources. The least valuable resource in the game (fuel - colored orange) is also very easy to get and it's always good to have enough, since it opens the door to more complex actions. The second resource (ore - grey) is a bit tougher to get since it requires players to place a ship with a value matching the highest already ship mining for it. So, as a first point in building a sound strategy, it is important to speculate the right moment to get this resource and make it as tough as possible for the other player to get it. If you have rolled at least three of your dice with high values (5, 6), use at least one of them to get some ore.

Building new ships is always a good idea. To do so, you need at least to roll a double. With a double, you can spend 1/2/3 ore and 1/2/3 fuel to build a new ship and the amount of resources you spend depends on how many ships you currently control (3/4/5). I will get back to the topic of building ships as soon as I cover the rest of the actions.

You can colonize one of the seven territories of the planet in three ways: spending a ship with value six (that means you lose that ship), having 3 identical ships and the same amount of ore and progressing on a track. When you colonize one territory, you add one of your "influence" there. The player with the most influence controls that "province" together with the Victory Points and the bonus.

Another important action is buying artifacts. They care cards which give you special abilities like modifying dice value, protection from stealing, etc. They represent one of the two keys to victory.

To complete the overview of action, you may spend ships with consecutive values to steal from other players resources and artifacts and you may also spend ships (ideally with with low values) to transform gas into ore.

Every action you take requires different values so you will never find yourself in the situation of not being able to do stuff with your ships. But there's a difference between simply taking actions and taking the right actions.

Source: BoardGameGeek

The most important key to building a coherent strategy in Alien Frontiers is to have artifacts which allow you to manipulate the values of the ships (=dice). Since you won't always rolls what you need, having a few artifacts will reduce frustration and increase the number of valuable actions. Most artifacts are 'eating' fuel, so have at least 3 fuel at hand. Speaking of fuel, since spending a ship with a value of 1 or 2 brings you 1 fuel, 3 or 4 - 2 fuel and 5 or 6 - 3 fuel, I recommend to use dice with odd values to get fuel if possible. Coming back to artifacts, if you're always able to create pair of identical dice and/or a die with a value of 6, you hold one of the keys to victory.

Having too many resources and stockpiling them is pointless. You will be the target of thieves. People tend to steal from those who have stuff in abundance, so simply harvest as many as you need for your current and next turn.

Stealing looks sometimes as the best option to get resources or cool artifacts. Use it wisely since people will not appreciate it. I would go as far as saying that you should not steal unless you have a way to protect yourself (specific artifact) and the theft will most likely grant you victory in at most 3 turns.

Having many ships is the second key to a good strategy. If you have only three ships you cannot transform one of your ships (value 6) into a colony, so you need at least four ships. Having only three ships decreased the probability of rolling the same value on two dice so it will be hard to get more ships. So, with three ships you will struggle to get the fourth, then you terraform and you're back at three, so back where you started. On the other hand, when you have five ships, the cost of the sixth is too big, you'll spend too much for a small gain. 

One way to optimize is to have five ships and try to control the roll so that you can do both of the following actions below in the same turn:

- sacrifice one ship of value 6 to build a colony

- spend two ships of the same value and two of each resource to build a new ship

You cannot do this every turn, but after a while you'll be able to do this every second turn. Depending on the experience of your opponents, this strategy alone gives you a chance to win of 60% or higher.

One of the other keys to success is to choose wisely the provinces where you send you colonists. I will not discuss this in details because it depends too much on the other players and their decisions, but I cannot help saying a few words. The province which give an extra ship will speed up your game a lot. Keeping it even for three turns may provide a key advantage over the other players. Another key aspect is spending the minimum number of colonists to control the maximum number of provinces. It may happen that your colonies will be the target of other players. Do not transform this into a war, simply optimize your strategy of sending colonists.

Alien Frontiers is an easy straight forward game but while playing it you face many tough decisions. That's what I actually love about this game, it allows many strategies and there's enough player interaction to make it stand out among its fellow Euro-games.

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Love it or hate it

So, it's been a while... we haven't been lazy, just so busy working on getting Warriors & Traders to board games enthusiasts and, of course, playing.

As one might guess, we're playing also other games besides Warriors & Traders. We put passion into it, we even fight and, ultimately, we learn and we enjoy.

Last Week I had the chance to play for the very first time 3 new games, all famous and all intriguing. The first and the best one was Sid Meyer's Civilization. 

It started slowly, with a 2 hours setup and with failing to understand what is what. So, we hated it, actually I will only speak for myself, I hated it. It seemed to me that if a game takes more than 180 minutes just to set up the game board, cards, armies and players, it's just too long. After a short break, I started over, this time trying to understand what I am doing. After only 1 hour, we stormed past the setup and started playing. Three hours and two liters of water later, I decided that I love this game. 

Usually board games are more interactive than single player computer games, but the later play much better. There's just more design space when you're not limited by the physical size of a box. I expected the same with Sid Meyer's Civilization, but I was wrong. It is the very first time that a board game plays better than the computer game. For all those looking for a complex strategy game, this is the answer. With the low amount of randomness and the huge amount of options, guided by one of the four possible ways to win, this game offers big space for re-playing and. This reminds me of Warriors & Traders.

I am so enthusiastic about this that I will not even say what are its minuses, very few, but noticeable.

Secondly, I got to play an incomplete game of Britannia. It was, least to say, one of the best war games I've seen. A big Bravo to the team making their way through Britain history and putting it in a box full of surprises. I will not comment more as I did not even get to finish the game (yes, it's long but it's worth your time), but I can say one thing for sure, it does not punish harshly the new player who makes a mistake in the very beginning. Even as a new player, you have a decent chance of winning or, at least, coming close.

Last but not least, I tried out Alien Frontiers. Although I am not a big fan of games with a lot of random, I had fun. We played twice, we spent three hours and we were laughing half of the time. It's not for strategy fans, it's for fun fans.

All three games have one thing in common, they generated strong reactions, some of us loved them and some of us hated them, for various reasons, from length of play, to heavy rule book or fear of loosing. But we all agreed that, whether loving or hating them, these games are from the special "make a difference" category.

This concludes my review for tonight with two promises, we'll write more often about the games we like and  soon we'll bring more news about Warriors & Traders.