Ha, I love your Easter Island discovery, Mr. Napkin!
Yeah, that’s one of the most intriguing things about Greenland. The world is freezing over, the food is going away, our people are dying out, and the winner is the one of us who can ride it out the best. And, oh yeah, let’s fight amongst ourselves just for good measure.
The concept reminds me of Dominant Species a little, but that game is such a mathy beast, and it’s not so much about collapse as adapting to changes, some of which involve depleting terrain and food supplies. Dominant Species is so abstract, too. Greenland, as befits a Phil Eklund game, is just soooo deliciouslly specific. It mostly reminds me of is Navajo Wars, which is another very specific, very human game about fighting off collapse and conquest. Hmm, two GMT games.
I have not played Lords, but I have seen it, and I know a little about it. Pax is like a much, much more playable version of Lords, with some of the flavor excised. That is not an issue, however, since Pax is still loaded with flavor. It’s very much like they squeezed so much that is interesting about Lords into a simpler, but still complex, card game. I can only advise anyone to try Pax, it is one of the best games I have ever played.
Well I’m still listening to Collapse. It probably was Giants I was thinking of. I was mistaken about the focus. I did get reminded a little about GMTs Conquest of Paradise. It’s about the spread of the Polynesians in general so Easter exist there on the map but it’s problems are not specifically addressed.
I kind of wish that Eklund would throw in with a company like GMT that could give a little more development. Sierra Madre, as Phil’s own company, exist for a reason and I think part of the magic of an Eklund game is that the vision is less compromised. It’s also one of it’s flaws. A company like GMT might also figure out how to keep High Frontier and Pax in print. But I don’t think Phil is ready for that and that’s ok. These are of course my impressions. I haven’t talked to Phil or anyone associated with Sierra Madre about their company philosophy and why they do what they do.
Ordered a copy of this after Tom Mc pointed out in not so many words that I would be an idiot not to do so. Miniaturemarket still has it available for preorder at 24.50, if anyone’s interested.
Now, I just wish they would go ahead and get it in stock, dagnabit!
I bought direct from Sierra Madre for $35 + $9 shipping. No idea how long it will take to get here but according to his site there are 1882 copies left for sale.
Yep. #1 benefit would be that they might hire someone else to write the rules. You may remember that I did a rewrite of the High Frontier rules a while back, because I could see that the game was not half as hard to understand if it were presented coherently. The problem with the High Frontier rules is that relevant information is scattered all over the place.
Of course, I don’t have Greenland, so I haven’t seen the rules. Maybe they’re clearer.
I just received my copy of Greenland yesterday, and I’d say the rules are mostly pretty straightforward and well written and organized. Much, much better than High Frontier or Bios: Megafauna, IMO.
And, wow, this looks like an interesting game. Still trying to get some of the ideas straight in my mind. It is simpler than Pax, but there are faint echoes from that game, and it’s still fairly intricate and complex. I think I might get a three player game Monday. The only bad news is I will have to explain the rules to the other two. It’s amazing how much game Eklund can pack into a small deck of cards.
It is weird. Looking at Sierra Madre, they list 1874 copies of the game available, yet I ordered just recently (along with BIOS Megafauna) and BIOS is shipping from CLS games in Atlanta and Greenland is shipping from Germany. Sierra Madre is in AZ, just for reference.
Played my first real game tonight with two friends who are really good gamers, although more in the pure Euro sense. It was really more of a demo game, to explain the rules, and nobody really knew what they were doing.
I had the Tunit, and finished second with 21. Winner was Thule with 22, Norse ended with 17. The Norse and myself stayed Poly throughout, while the Thule went Monotheism on the second to last turn after he found himself with 5 iron, and some cards that he could cash in for more iron. By the last turn, most of Greenland was on the ‘cold’ side, although the New World was still warm. I was surprised it was that close. I was pretty sure I was going to be last, but I happened to get a few births on the last two turns, which made a big difference. Norse seemed to mostly go with ‘get domestic animals’ strat
There were not a lot of marriages (in fact, I had the only one), nor were there many raids. We had some hilarious Decimations that had the winner down to one cube (his Alpha) on the second to last turn. Everyone was just trying to learn the game, for the most part. I want to try to explore the strategies with the Poly/ Monotheism flip more than we did in this game, along with the raiding game.
I was worried that these guys would not much like this game, but I think both of them warmed up to it, and seem to want to play more. I very much enjoyed the game, despite having to teach it to two complete novices. I think it strikes a nice balance between history sim/ chaotic game. Not as crazy as Pax, but not as dry as, say, Bios: Megafauna can seem at times. I would say it took us, from the beginning of rules explanation to the end of event card 10, around two and a half hours. I think the 90-120 minute range that the game claims is pretty accurate for the three player game when people know what they are doing.
Glad you got it played, thanks for the report. I was wondering about the time it would take. It sounds as harrowing and tight as I’d imagined. I can’t wait to get into it myself.
Yea I had no clue at all about Pax Pamir. It’s the best kind of race, whichever hits first I win. Both of the games have a hook for me. Of course one or the other could be terrible ;) but I love to see interesting takes on mechanics and subject matter. I’m still sore I never picked up the first but people speak highly of the system. It’s just a shame that Sierra Madre games go out of print quickly. The economics of doing a run of games and getting them distributed is tricky and Sierra Madre seems to take a conservative approach. Can’t blame them for that but it doesn’t leave a lot of room to decide on a game.
I’d be very surprised if Pax Renaissance isn’t good. It’s basically being designed by Matt Eklund, who did a lot of the design for Pax Porfiriana. Pax Pamir definitely interests me, and I will buy it, but I’ll be taking more of a chance on that one. I don’t know if Greenland is totally sold out everywhere yet, but it does sound like there will be a reprint. It’s a really good game, everyone.
Glad to read your game report, Mike. If I can’t play this, it’s nice to read about people who can!
Once you know the game, I can’t imagine marriages not being an important factor. For instance, who wouldn’t want the Tunit ability to appoint elders without paying wood? As a Norse or Thule player, I’d pay the Tunit handsomely for that daughter!
As for raiding, it seems that if you build up enough of an advantage with weapons and whatnot, raiding another player – especially if that player is having a tough time and can’t defend himself – can be a very effective way to go. But, yeah, as with most games, it’s hard to be aggressive until you’ve gotten a game or two under your belt.
We talked about raiding after the game, Tom, I think the consensus was ‘I’d have loved to have done that, I just never had enough people!’. I actually got screwed pretty hard midway through the game, since one of the 12+ Decimate events was drawn, when I had 12 hunters, and the other two had 10 and 11. But they got screwed a couple of turns later when a Feud event came up, and I had a Chief, and neither of them did. I think it’s pretty important to maintain a Chief. I almost forgot, I even got hit by the freaking VD decimate due to my marriage. It’s a miracle that I almost won.
Marriage for the Tunit is almost a must. I married the Norse Daughter with the +2 hand size. I do think there is a lot of room for strategy in the game, despite all the disaster management. I am looking forward to playing more.
