I wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t find it too fiddly. The only ‘negative’ I can see with it is the disconnect between heroes and the rest of the game, and even that isn’t a huge deal (and is, as you say, ‘fixed’ in the expansion anyway). I think it plays quick after a learning game, and works really well for the theme.
I, personally like the aforementioned card-based combat- it makes combats go really quick, with a minimum of fuss.
But of course that’s one of the big elements of the game, and what turns it into something other than multiplayer solitaire; there’s a reason that “be the first player” is on the board, for when you know that you absolutely need something and it’s been in contention.
Thank you guys for the news about LOTR: The Card Game. I just drove 40 minutes to a game store to buy it, calling ahead for them to set it aside. Got there, paid, drove home, sat down to play, and they sold me the frigging Reiner Knizia LOTR game. How did I not read the effing cover of the box past the word Rings?
FWIW, I like Runewars much more than Starcraft. It feels much more like a 4x game to me, and everything about it flows better. But I’ve never been a big Starcraft fan…
So you’re the guy the family sends to the video store who comes home with a copy of Transmorphers.
That’s painful, Dave, but if they won’t let you return it it’s a fun co-op game if you have a group that likes the theme. We liked it a lot until one of our guests spilled a giant glass of wine on everything. And if you accidentally bought Knizia’s The Confrontation then congrats because you now own a masterpiece.
Thanks, Tracy. :) I already own Confrontation and agree that it’s a perfect two player game. I’ll try to swap games tomorrow! I just really wanted to play the card game tonight.
ShivaX
4367
That’ll teach you to not drool over your purchase in the parking lot.
Well said! I was WAY the heck too calm. Arrrrrrgh.
Bummer. I had an annoying transaction at my local game store today too. Amazon just looks better and better all the time.
What was your bummer transaction?
Lorini
4371
Just played another game of Ora, this time with four players for the first time. Four players of this game is much harder than three or two, and yes, the resources are a lot tighter than in the three or two player game.
Just as a mention, Ora doesn’t have Agricola’s first player mechanic. Instead the first player rotates, except that the first player gets two turns and everyone else gets one. So you get 1, 2, 3, 4, 1 new turn 2, 3, 4, 1, 2 etc. I like it a lot better.
Dave, hope you eventually get the right game to the table :)
Lorini, that sounds neat. That game is definitely on my radar.
We played a 4 player game of Eclipse last night. It took about 4 hours since we were going slow making sure we were doing everything right.
Near the end of the game the two leading players (at least it looked like they were leading) went in for a massive all out battle for the galactic core. Afterward the remaining ships in each player’s fleet went on bombing runs through each other’s territory wiping out the majority of their populations. Both players were pacing around the table barely able to keep their hands steady when moving their bits around the board. It was tense and it was awesome.
I ended up playing defensively going for VP’s through diplomacy and the construction of monoliths. I discouraged attacks with a smaller fleet of immobile starbases. My strategy didn’t work out as well as the more aggressive players and I ended up in last place.
The remaining player was isolated until the last couple rounds of the game. He actually ended up winning since there were so many ancient ships around him guarding some of the best systems. By the time he was able to defeat the ancients the game was over and his empire was huge.
Everyone was thrilled and eager to play the game again. There are so many great choices that allow you to personalize your empire and strategy. On the negative side, there are a lot of random selections that could doom an empire before it even gets a chance to get going. The selection of explore tiles is huge as are the effects of discovery bonuses.
The random combat reputation bonuses (which were talked about earlier) didn’t seem as bad as I was expecting. You only get to keep one of the reputation tiles per combat from a limited selection of reputation tiles. The effect being that people participating in combat early in the game choose the higher value reputation tiles. Later combats will have fewer of the high value tiles available. Its not perfect, but it can easily be gamed in a way that will almost always reward the best players the most.
The mechanic makes sense in that light. It’s both a way of rewarding early combat, which might cost you in other ways, and it provides diminishing returns for participating in a lot of combat.
Lorini
4375
Thank you for that. That as a mechanic makes more sense than what I had understood previously.
Djscman
4376
I’m shopping for someone who is looking for a game that is “like 7 Wonders, but is not 7 Wonders.” He was not more specific.
Does anyone have any recommendations? I think he means something like a fun, uncomplicated (?), thematic card game. I don’t know if he has Dominion, should that be the go-to recommendation? I know he’s played quite a bit of Magic: The Gathering, Catan, Killer Rabbits, Munchkin, * Fluxx, and an old boxed copy of 1830.
Thanks in advance!
malkav11
4377
I’m not sure how close this is exactly, but for me 7 Wonders, while mechanically quite different, occupies much the same enjoyment space that Race for the Galaxy does. Simple rules frameworks, modified primarily by individual cards. Heavily symbol-driven. Fast play but lots of strategic possibilities and tough decisions.
That’s a tough one, as 7 Wonder’s simultaneous “drafting” mechanic is uncommon in such a game. Games where you draft don’t typically do it as a primary mechanic.
The closest I can think of in spirit would be Agricola or (Booster Draft) Magic, but the main gameplay mechanics of those aren’t that close to 7 Wonders. Race for the Galaxies has a bit of that with the simultaneous role selection I guess, but that feels much different to me than drafting.
Put another way, I imagine he’s not the only one looking for such a game, but I’m not sure it (yet!) exists. Try again next year when the inevitable variations on the theme pop up.
aganazer
4379
I would check out Glen More and Innovation. I don’t own either, but I hear them compared to 7 Wonders a lot. Both are highly regarded games.
Hard to think of anything really similar to 7 Wonders. RFTG and Innovation aren’t bad suggestions. You specified card games of any theme, but if you think it’s the civilization theme in particular your friend likes, I would recommend Roll Through the Ages. If 7 Wonders is “Civilization: The Short Card Game,” then Roll is “Civilization: The Short Dice Game.”
