Ra – Review

Ra was first published in 1999 and is designed by Reiner Knizia who also designed Winner’s Circle and Amun Re. Since Dr. Knizia Since Dr. Knizia has a doctorate in mathematics, most of his games are mathematically balanced and many feature auction mechanisms. This review was originally published on BoardGame-Reviews.com.

Ra:

• Designed by: Reiner Knizia
• Published by: Rio Grande Games
• Number of players: 2-5
• Playing time: 60 minutes
• Player ages: 12+

A Quick Overview

Ra is an auction and set collecting game that is played over 3 rounds, or epochs. During each epoch a player has a chance to bid on a variety of tiles to improve his position during the game.

The heart of this game is the once-around auction where players have one chance to place a bid or pass. If players place a low bid for valuable tiles, they may easily be outbid by other players.

Another enjoyable aspect of the game is the push-your-luck element. Do you initiate an auction now or do you wait just a bit longer? Of course, while you wait, the auction track will fill up with tiles…

Game Play

On a turn, a player may make one of the following choices:

• Draw a tile from the bag
• Invoke Ra and force an auction or
• Play a God tile

Drawing a tile and placing it on the availble auction track is the most common. These are the tiles that players collect and use to score points. Not all tiles are valued equally to all players.

This is where a player must make judgements and bid wisely for the tiles.

If a player decides that the available tiles are too valuable, it just might be an appropriate time to invoke Ra and force an auction.

Invoking Ra is not always a sure bet as the invoking player may be forced to bid on the available tiles if no one else bids on them.

God tiles are drawn from the bag and placed on the auction track to be bid upon later. The use of God tiles allows a player to take discard a number of God tiles from his set and take a equal number of tiles from the auction track.

The epoch is finished when the Ra track is filled up. Players then score their points, discard appropriate tiles and start a new epoch. The game is finished at the end of the third epoch and the winner is the one with the most points.

Observations

Ra is a good auction game. Though it was initially published 10 years ago, the allure of simple and elegant rules keeps this game fresh and exciting.

Another great thing about Ra is that it can accomodate between two to five players which makes is versatile for gaming nights!

The current publisher of this game is Rio Grande Games and they make great games. The game is easily available at many fine hobby stores at a reasonable price.

What I like about this game is that it is accessible by younger players. I have found that the younger they are, the harder it is to make approriate valuations of the tiles up bid.

The push-your-luck element is something that is utilized well in this game. For the younger players, this has been a positive aspect of the game because it builds a fun tension about the game.

One of the things that is a bit more difficult for the younger players to understand is that monuments are only scored at the end of the third epoch. Not only that, the scoring mechanism is a bit convoluted and makes the game slightly more complex.

However, with more plays, younger players will get the hang of it.

One final note that I’d like to make is that if you get the Rio Grande Games version of this game (the box cover is pictured above) make sure to replace the included bag. I found the bag far too small to contain all 180 tiles required for the game!

For my game, I replaced the Ra bag with a bag from Railways of the World.

Happy gaming.

Thushyanthan

Domaine – Review

Domaine was published in 2003 and is designed by Klaus Teuber, designer of the Settlers of Catan series of games. This is a highly confrontational area enclosure game. If your gaming group is looking for a more “in your face” kind of game, then this is surely it. This review was originally posted on BoardGame-Reviews.com.

Domaine:

• Designed by: Klaus Teuber
• Published by: Mayfair Games
• Number of players: 2-4
• Playing time: 90 minutes
• Player ages: 12+

A Quick Overview

Each player takes on the role of a power hungry prince vying to cut up the absent king’s territory. The goal here is to establish your territories by placing borders, sending your knights out and responding to aggressive overtures by other like-minded princes.

This game is an area enclosure game that the goal of this game is to claim ownership of the limited areas in order to score the most points.

Player interaction in this game is very high because territories (and points) gained are very much at the expense of other players. Keeping an open mind to see the success of your longer term plans while balancing the need to react to other players is key to playing well.

Game Play

At the beginning of a turn, a player:

• Collects income
• Play an action card / Sell an action card
• Replenish hand to three cards

Income is important because you this is how you purchase new cards and play action cards. So a careful balance of your income is needed to ensure strategic and tactical plays.

Card actions are the biggest part of this game. There are only a few different action cards and after the first few rounds game play is a bit faster. Players must be careful and plan their card plays accordingly to make use of their limited actions.

There are two game ending conditions. The first is when one player reaches a particular score. The other is when the deck of cards runs out and all players have played remaining cards in their hand.

Observations

Domaine is an “aggressive” game because during the mid- to end-game, points are obtained at the expense of another player. For instance, if one player expands their domaine into another’s territory, the other player loses points and the expanding player gains those “lost” points.

When this situation occurs, it is almost like a personal attack against another player. At least, this was my initial perception. Other players among my regular gaming groups felt the same.

That being said, however, I enjoyed subsequent plays because it offers a different feel than other games in my collection.

It is a good game and it plays easily within an hour or so. What I do enjoy about it is the tension and how you have to balance tactical plays against the longer term strategical play.

Would I recommend this game? “Yes,” but with some hesitations. It’s not a game that I would introduce to someone new to Euro-type games. I would suggest this game for those that like more mainstream games similar to “Risk”.

Happy gaming.

Goa was published in 2004 and is designed by Rudiger Dorn who also designed another one of my favourite games, Jambo. This is a resource management game with a bit of an auction mechanism thrown in. This review was originally posted on BoardGame-Reviews.com.

Goa:

• Designed by: Rudiger Dorn
• Published by: Rio Grande Games
• Number of players: 2-4
• Playing time: 90 minutes
• Player ages: 12+

A Quick Overview

Each player takes on the role of merchant at the beginning of the 16th century. The goal here is to become the best company by trading spices, sending out colonists and developing various cities of India.

This game is a resource management game which means that the goal of this game is to develop certain parts of your company whether it be plantations, shipping abilities, income generating abilities and so on.

Player interaction in this game is generated by the auctions which occur eight times during the course of the game. It is here that players compete with each other to procure items that will help them develop their trading companies.

The winner is the one has succesfully developed the strongest trading company.

Game Play

The game is broken into 2 rounds of four turns each. Each of the turns is then further broken into (at least) three player actions.

Each turn begins with an auction that will give players a chance to bid for tiles which provide certain benefits for the player’s company. After the auction finishes, each player then takes their player actions.

Player actions are the biggest part of this game. Players must be careful and plan accordingly to make use of their limited actions to develop the best trading company.

Each action is a “micro” step which builds up an economic foundation for their company.

Do players advance in finance instead of developing their shipping capabilities?

Or do they balance their developments?

Observations

I like Goa very much. I think this game is an excellent game and that it plays well for 2, 3 and 4 players. It is also definitely a “gamer’s game”, a term used for games that have more involved mechanisms.

If you are interested in exploring the possibility of a more complex game (than the ones that have been reviewed to date) then I would strongly recommend this one. I find it to be a very rewarding game that plays in about 90 minutes.

What I like about this game is that there are many things going on and it is a challenge to keep track of these things. Money management and the auctions are very rewarding. “Do I bid on this tile? Or hope that another one will open up?”

If you get the Rio Grande version of this game, keep in mind there is a rule change from the initial, German printing. With Rio Grande’s rule change, the “Expedition” development track becomes overly powerful and, in my mind, prevents this game from being as fun as it should be. (I’ll post this rule change as a comment)

One of the things that I like is that points are awarded on an additive basis. For example, developing two tracks to the fifth level is far more rewarding than developing five tracks to the second level.

You have to begin the game with a few general strategies and refine them as the game progresses. During the early- to mid- game, if you haven’t gotten a firm strategy going, then you will have a hard time with the rest of the game.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe this is a game that the younger players (12 and under) can easily take to because it is very involved.

As well, finding this game will be difficult as it is out of print currently. I have heard that a reprint will be available sometime in 2010. In the meantime…

Happy gaming.

Thushyanthan

Leonardo da Vinci – Review

Leonardo da Vinci was published in 2006 and is designed by “Acchittocca”, a team of four Italian designers. This is a resource-management game where the aim is to procure resources to complete inventions requested by Leonardo. This review was originally posted on BoardGame-Reviews.com.

Leonardo da Vinci:

• Designed by: Acchittocca
• Published by: Mayfair Games
• Number of players: 2-5
• Playing time: 90 minutes
• Player ages: 12+

A Quick Overview

This game is a resource management game where the aim is to acquire a combination of resources (wood, glass, rope, brick, metal) to research certain inventions requested by Leonardo.

Players vie with each other by sending out their apprentices to various parts of the city to obtain resources at the best rate, develop new research labs, buy mechanical robots to tinker in the labs and so on.

Once the inventions have been researched, Leonardo will award the inventor a sum of Florins.

The winner is the one with the most Florins at the end of the game.

Game Play

Players will typically begin with a lab, a few apprentices and the master along with some Florins. A few inventions are revealed and play starts.

The game lasts for a total of nine rounds. In the first seven rounds, players are able to visit the city and obtain resources and research. In the last two rounds (rounds eight and nine) players can only perform research on requested inventions.

The whole game is about balancing the money you receive for inventions (Florins) with the items you need to buy to research/develop better inventions.

The most valuable inventions are “Gold” inventions which provide the lab that completes it 20 Florins! This is where the large majority of points are obtained. However, the “Gold” inventions also require 15 weeks of research!

Successful players are the ones that are able to carefully time their inventions, raw materials and money to complete a variety of inventions.

Summary

In the rule book, there is a suggested setup for new players and an “Expert” setup. Personally, I find the “Expert” setup to be far more rewarding to play than the normal setup.

It allows you to start the game with an idea of several strategies to develop.

Leonardo da Vinci is a game that I consider “dry”; i.e. it is a numbers and efficiency game. For some, this may be boring but I like it and it has stayed in my game collection since I purchased it a couple of years ago.

There are a number of things that I like about this game. First, I like the short playing time. Typical games last about 75 minutes which I have found to be the optimal playing time for a number of people that I have introduced this game to. Keep in mind, however, that your first game or two will last about 90 minutes or so.

Another element of the game that I enjoy is the worker placement. Players are free to add workers to any part of the city but once placed, they may not add any more workers to that area. Masters, of course, are able to join their apprentices as needed!

This makes for interesting tactical and strategic decsions. Do you secure your position for a particular resource and limit yourself? Or do you place conservatively and react to others’ decisions?

For resource management games, there are usually many decisions that need to be made with a limited number of actions. This is quite interesting and lends itself well to repeated plays. As well, there are a number of strategic paths that players can explore.

I haven’t yet introduced this game to younger gamers (12 and under) because I think it involves keeping track of several elements throughout the game and that may be difficult for some of the younger players.

I think this game is a good introduction to the more complex, resource management games and I would gladly recommend it.

Happy gaming.

Thushyanthan