A Study in Emerald is apparently filtering out into the world now. Martin Wallace’s Victorian era anarchist game with horrible, tentacle ridden and generally unspeakable tyrants.
The game looks to be another deck builder behind a board game. I loved A Few Acres of Snow so this one has my interest. Five players can play with only one winner, however an ingenious pseudo team mechanic makes things interesting. If you race to the top of the victory chart and end the game you may be disqualified if the last player is on your side. Trouble is you might not know they were on your side until the end.
It was inspired by a great short story by Neil Gaiman.
Wait, is this a deck-building game ( a la Dominions) or a build your deck and play game (a la some other games that I lose interest in when I see that you have to pre-build a deck)?
The former is a fantastic mechanic for time-starved gamers. The latter keeps all the annoyance of half of TCGs, without the speculative aspect to recoup your money!
All the players have the same core deck composition, like Dominion. Unlike Dominion there is a board that agents move around and conduct actions on, using the cards. A Few Acres of Snow is very similar, totally different theme though.
I don’t really like Dominion but deck builders that add interesting things like this really appeal to me.
Last night I spent about forty minutes leisurely reading the rules. I feel pretty confident that the game will run pretty smoothly and Wallace has retained his few simple actions lead to interesting complicated choices mechanics.
I’m probably a little more comfortable than usual because I have experience with A Few Acres of Snow and Brass, other Walkace card driven games. I’m very eagerly awaiting an opportunity to play this.
Oh man. I love that short story, and I’ve been wanting a PC RPG in that setting ever since I read it. Perhaps this is a first step towards that dream being fulfilled.
Yea, I hope the world convinces Treefrog that this really shouldn’t be a one time only thing.
I should really be holding off those statements until I’ve played a few times. I get the impression the game will run well for me but you never quite get the full picture until you’ve got it on the table. I’ll still sacrifice any number of rival agents to Yog Sothoth to play. Just kidding there, I might be a Restorationist instead ;)
I played a couple months ago at a small, local, semi-invite-only con. I detailed my experiences here- my experience with the game is in a couple paragraphs down. Short answer- loved it. Hope I get to play more in the near future.
Mine arrived today as well! Last week, I got to play a couple of times with a friend’s copy and it was impressive how the games unfold differently based on which cards show up. The zombies and vampires, for instance. Good lord, I couldn’t believe how everything changed once a vampire started running amok or the zombie apocalypse kicked in. In one game, we had both things happen. Never mind the Elder Gods, there are vampires and zombies running around in Berlin!
I think I’m love with the idea of this thing, but the jury’s still out on the execution. I’ve been enjoying some back and forth with my friends about whether it’s going to hold up beyond the initial “WTF-ness” of the concept.
The idea is nice and wacky. There is a big hook for be there too. I like how it seems like will play easily enough. I am seeing a little fuzziness in the rules though. I also am not sure if the hidden role thing will hold up during play or if in order to win you end up being pretty obvious about what you are. And, I want to know how that pseudo team victory condition affects play.
I’ve played 4 games so far and am really enjoying it. Not sure it’s a top 100 but I’m planning on keeping my copy.
I was put off by the high price but I actually ended up getting it for a very good price. I feel like this is a game that will hit in waves. The initial gameplay, followed by an understanding of the meta game, followed by the subtle eureka moment when you put it all together.
Martin Wallace has been really good about clearing up those issues over at BGG. This thread, vetted by Wallace, is pretty much all the FAQ you need at this point.
I think it’s easy to get tripped up by the hidden roles when you start playing. I was all concerned about outing myself because I was a restorationist and I was worried about getting assassinated. But I think for your first games, you have to not care about folks knowing your role. Maybe down the line there’s more opportunity for mind games, but I don’t think that’s going to happen until you’re playing with a really experienced group.
As for the team victory condition – it’s more like a team losing condition – it’s HUGELY important. The cool thing about this game is that it can be pretty short. It’s relatively easy to just end the game if you want. The trick is ending it at the right time. And that’s what the team situation is all about. If you end when someone on your team is in last place, it’s all for naught. Everyone’s jockeying for position and timing. Which is why it’s not always a matter of loyalists hunting down and assassinating a restorationist’s main agent; they don’t want the game to end until they’ve secured their position!
Got in three more games of this tonight, including a two-player session. I think I’ve got my head wrapped around it now. Except for that time I glanced at my identity card when it was dealt and then misremembered it for the entire game. I managed to pull ahead a few points just as I drew my third madness token by assassinating the ruler of Vienna. “And that’s the game, gentlemen,” I said flipping over a green loyalist card. Wait, where did that come from? I thought I was a pink restorationist. I was killing royalty and driving down the war track and everything!
Other than that, it’s really starting to click for me. I’ve even gone so far as to Google some of the historical figures.
I’m not a big boardgamer, but the subject matter and artwork intrigued me enough to order a copy. I figure, worst case, if I can’t wrangle some friends into playing, I’ll probably get my money’s worth just by browsing through all of the cards. There are fewer easier ways to get me to buy something than by combining Sherlock Holmes and HP Lovecraft.
