by TopherMel
A friend, Christian, and i completed a trial of this campaign style game and really enjoyed it. We'll playing another one again soon. Below I outline each game with some comments related to it and then go into some overall comments.
Pre Game Changes:
Prior to starting the game we decided to only keep 1 occ and 1 minor as we thought it would be too valuable to permanently possess 2 of each after each subsequent game. Instead we picked a second minor and occ that we would add to our hand of 6 drafted cards in the next round. The losing player from each game would be able to draft the second occ and minor first. While the first one to be kept was always from your own occs and minors.
Game 1:
VanderKlassen (Christian): 27, Ludd (me): 38.
In this game we saw our first score in the 20s since as long as we can remember. We attributed this in part to storing resources for our own future success in addition to pulling sheep 4th and family growth 7th. We both stored a total of 5 resources.
Game 2:
VanderKlassen: 46, Ludd: 60 (-10) = 50. I realized at game end that I had reaped a grain and veg in the first round despite playing The Layabout. I opted to take a 10 point penalty despite protesting that it couldn’t possibly have affected the game that much.
Being able to sow grain and vegetables in the first round of the game is VERY powerful. Not sure yet if it is too powerful. Also being able to keep a minor and an occ into the next draft was helpful, but did not prove to be as useful as we had thought.
Game 3:
VanderKlassen: 55, Ludd: 55
Three food/family member for the third game felt right. It was challenging, but not too challenging and with some combos going we made it work and were able to score well. With the tie we decided to each pick a second occ and minor from our own.
Game 4:
VanderKlassen: 62, Ludd: 72
I managed to build the mansion this game, which I kept for the final game which was the definitive nail in the coffin for the VanderKlassen family. However, we thought this card was too powerful and thought it might be better as a major occupation available in any game along with the half-timbered house.
Game 5:
VanderKlassen: 76, Ludd: 96
I was just flying this last game getting a great draft that included tutor and scholar as well as a number of bonus point minors. I scored 27 in bonus points!
OVERALL:
We really enjoyed this variant. The key things that made it fun is being able to build up some very awesome combos. It was interesting trying to make choices about going for REALLY valuable minor improvements or occupations that would benefit future games. The balance of cards changes and creates a new meta which is quite fun to discover.
We both had a blast and will play this again soon.
FUTURE CHANGES:
Put the minor improvements “Mansion” and “Half Timbered House” in the major improvements section available for any game.
In game 5 make it so that each family member also requires 4 food (babies 1)
OUTSTANDING ISSUES:
We tied one game and I’m not sure how to resolve a tie when there are more than 2 people playing for picking second occupations and improvements.
Being able to store vegetables may be TOO strong, but was also very fun… We may remove this option