Santiago – Review

Santiago is an auction designed by Claudia Hely and Roman Pelek in 2003 and is currently published by Z-Man Games. (This review was originally posted on BoardGame-Reviews.com)

Santiago:

• Designed by: Claudia Hely and Roman Pelek
• Published by: Z-Man Games
• Number of players: 3-5
• Playing time: 75 min
• Player ages: 10+

A Quick Overview

Each player is an plantation owner in Santiago competing to grow a variety of crops. Each round, players bid on a variety of crops and ensure that they are irrigated properly.

Careful cooperation with other owners will ensure proper irrigation else your crops run the risk of drying out and providing no income for you!

The winner is the player who has the most successful plantations.

Game Play

The heart of Santiago is the first part of the game which is an auction for a variety of crops. There are 5 different crops and one crop per player becomes available each round.

The auction style is a once-around, unique-bid auction which means that players only have one chance of making a bid. Oftentimes, it is not best to be the one to be first in the auction.

The player who bids the least (or passes first) becomes the Canal Overseer.

The second part of the game is the irrigation phase where players try to place plantation tiles (won during the auction) in strategically viable locations.

Choice of locations is important because a player can choose whether a crop is watered or not.

And now comes the interesting part of the game: negotiating with the Canal Overseer! Each player takes turns placing a bribe for the Canal Overseer to place a water canal.

After this, the Canal Overseer can choose to take any bid(s) or pay 1 more than the total highest bid and place the canal anywhere.

Each plantation yields, to the owner, crop per worker multiplied by the size of the plantation itself. The player with the most money wins.

Observations

This is a negotiation and auction game. If you like games with these mechanics, then you will probably enjoy this game.

This game can be aggressive due to the auctioning and bribing of the Canal Overseer. Often a crop tile will not be irrigated and to get water to it requires the cooperation of the Canal Overseer. If another player decides to provide an opportunity for the Canal Overseer to build elsewhere!

This can cause some consternation for some players (myself included!) but it is fun.

I own this game and I have played it a few times. I think it is a good game and can be played in about an hour or so. It can be used as a tool to teach mathematics to younger players but I feel the 10+ age requirement is ideal.

Another thing to note about negotiation games is that they are very dependent on group dynamics and personalities. If players are equally skilled at making trades/bargaining then this is an excellent game providing much needed table banter.

Otherwise, if there is a mis-match between player skill sets, then it is quite easy to bully the weaker players.

Happy gaming.

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Mykerinos – Review

Mykerinos is an area control game designed by Nicolas Oury in 2006 and is currently published by Rio Grande Games. (This review was originally posted on BoardGame-Reviews.com).

Mykerinos:

• Designed by: Nicolas Oury
  Published by: Rio Grande Games
  Number of players: 2-4
  Playing time: 45 min
  Player ages: 10+

A Quick Overview

Each player is an archaeologist in Egypt working on behalf of several patrons. Over the course of four “seasons” each archaeologist investigates several parcels of land and extracts the bounty of the ancient civilization.

Each parcel of land is sponsored by a specific patron and the player with the most influence in a parcel receives a reward. These patrons also wish to unearth the treasures of the pharaohs and put them on display in a museum.

The museum has wings for each of the 5 patrons and, at the end of the game, a great exhibition is held. The archaeologist/player with the most artifacts in the museum and who has the greatest influence among the patrons wins.

Game Play

On a player’s turn, he has a choice among four possible actions:

• Start a new excavation
• Extend an excavation
• Pass
• Appeal to a patron (after season 1)

By choosing to start an excavation, the player can send a single worker into a particular parcel of land. Extending an excavation allows the player extends the excavation by up to two workers.

If, in a previous round, the player has successfully won a parcel, it is possible to obtain a favour of the patrons. Each of the five patrons provide a particular advantage to the player.

Once players have all passed in succession, game play then moves into the resolution of land parcels. In the first three seasons, there are 4 parcels of land; six parcels in season four.

The winner of the parcel is the one with the most workers. The winner can choose to either exhibit in the museum or take the respective patron card (to be used during the game and for points at the end).

Depending on the winner’s choice, there may be some benefits for the second and third place majorities in each of the parcels.

After the end of the fourth season, the winner is the one with the most victory points.

Observations

When this game first came out in 2006, I thought it was a great little game. It is tense and plays in about 45 minutes.

It is an area majority/area influence game and these are the mechanisms that I enjoy a lot. However, since 2006, there have been quite a number of games that were more satisfactory.

A few players have argued that Sir Brown is overpowered and that getting a few Sir Brown patron cards early in the game is a very strong advantage.

That shouldn’t put you off from ensuring that you have a viable strategy in museum placement as this is how the majority of points are scored.

Another point to note is that it doesn’t hurt to be in 3rd place when parcel resolution takes place. In a few cases, being in third place will net you some patron cards to be used later on in the game.

I would recommend this game if you are looking for a game that plays quickly and provides some tense decisions.

Happy gaming.

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Here's a new video that we made for Fallcon 22. This is just to whet your appetite for Fallcon 23! Hope you enjoy it!

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Louis XIV – Review

Louis XIV is an area control game designed by Rudiger Dorn in 2005 and is currently published by Rio Grande Games. Mr. Dorn also designed Goa and Jambo. This review was originally posted on BoardGame-Reviews.com.

Louis XIV:

• Designed by: Rudiger Dorn
• Published by: Rio Grande Games
• Number of players: 2-4
• Playing time: 100 min
• Player ages: 12+

A Quick Overview

Each player is a member of Louis XIV’s (also known as the Sun King) Court and carry out missions and goals at Versailles.

Players, through the careful playing of influence cards, secure favours from other members of the Court. Each of these 12 members of the Court provide various items to the players which help fulfill missions and thus earn victory points.

Securing favours from these 12 courtiers (represented by 12 board tiles) is determined by the player with the most influence markers.

The player with the most victory points wins.

Game Play

On a player’s turn, he plays an influence card. The influence card can either be a curtain (wild) or indicate one of the 12 members of the Court.

Each courtier card is worth up to 3 influence markers which the player places on the board from his personal supply. Instead of playing on the board, the player can choose to add 3 influence markers to his personal supply from the general supply.

The wild influence cards are valued at 2 influence markers.

When placing influence markers on the board, the player places markers starting on the character on the card. The wild influence cards allows the player to start at any courtier.

The round ends after all but one of the influence cards are played. Then the winner of each of board tile is determined and receives their reward.

Play lasts for four rounds. The winner is the one with the most victory points after four rounds.

Observations

I like Rudiger Dorn’s games and this one is no exception.

Louis XIV can easily be played in about 45-60 minutes by experienced players and provides a lot of enjoyment. Setup time for this game may take a couple of minutes or so but it is worth it.

In the game play above, I didn’t mention anything about Louis XIV but his presence is very subtle. You see, Louis visits one of the 4 courtiers closest to him every round and grants a gift to the winner of that courtier.

This provides yet another way to obtain tokens to fulfill mission cards.

So you see, there are quite a number of things that a player has to keep track of in this game. And that is something that I find quite enjoyable.

I have played this game with all the player counts and I enjoy each one of them. A 2 player game is great fun and a 4 player game provides much angst.

What a delight!

Happy gaming.

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