Tiger King? More like Elephant Emperor! Let's play John Company

FINAL VICTORY POINTS AS FOLLOWS

@Diddums 2 Manors, 1 Patron of the Arts, 1 Investment Bank=9.

@Matt_W 1 Share, 1 Manor, 1 Patron of the Arts, 1 Professorship, 1 Investment Bank=9

@CF_Kane 2 Manors, 1 Patron of the Arts, 1 Investment Bank, 1 promise held by Larkin=7

@Kolbex 3 Manors, 1 Fashionable Clothes, 1 Domestic Newspaper, NO PROMISES NOTHING TO SEE HERE=11

@Lantz 3 Manors, 1 Patron of the Arts, 1 Professorship, 1 Investment Bank=12

@rho21 3 Manors, 1 Professorship, 2 Investment Banks=9

Unless my count is incorrect, it appears that Lantz “I haven’t picked up this game” Walsh is the winner!

Congratulations to the Walshes!

Some thoughts:

  1. Thanks to all players and observers!

  2. My apologies for the rules confusion and slowdown towards the end there.

  3. I still don’t understand why the forum stopped accepting my images halfway through.

  4. The rules should be altered for Captains and Officers. With only six turns, a two turn lag on them makes them often not worth taking. Frankly there are a lot of things that may turn out to matter on only one or two turns (like who owns shipyards, or who’s purchasing them.)

  5. This game should have more turns. But shorter ones. Somehow.

  6. After I have recovered from this, at some point, I may consider doing a ten round game, with the private firm rules.

  7. Running games is SO hard, I was already grateful for those who do it but now I’m doubly so.

Sincere and heartfelt thanks to Cuthbert for running this game. It was clearly a ton of work and he handled this arcane, fiddly game superbly.

Some thoughts:

This is clearly a game that benefits from multiple replays with the same group, if nothing else because the players are more familiar with the rules. I think the setting is fantastic, but it’s really so incredibly complex. It probably benefits from multiple playthroughs to understand the strategies to pursue.

At the same time, because so much of the game is predicated on negotiation, I am of the opinion that an optimal session needs to be real-time (maybe Vassal + Discord). So all in all, I would say this is best experienced as a game that a regular gaming group plays once every two weeks.

Reading the BGG forums, I tend to agree with the consensus that using all 6 families is too many. There should be some overlap between officeholders for more chaos/fun/motivation to take down the leader.

I agree with everything you said! Thanks very much, Cuthbert!

This was really fun and a really cool game. It’s hard to get a handle on the game’s flow or what our objectives should be, but I feel like I started to in the last couple of rounds. I’d be down to play again! Thanks much @Cuthbert!

Thanks so much for running the game! Moderating is a lot of work and it’s got to be hard balancing the flow vs letting people negotiate in a game like this.

I agree on your sentiments I think. Just to expand on my comments a bit, I felt like there was a lot of intricacies out there, but lots of them just didn’t seem to matter. Maybe in another play through with different early game or starting rolls to set it down a different path would make more sense. But I felt like I was often in a decision making role but ultimately there was really only 1 rational decision to be made at the time.

Maybe if running this game of Pathologic I’ve semi-committed to doesn’t break my spirit I’ll do a forum game of Pax Pamir.

I love Pax Pamir! Hands can be open in the game, so the gamerunner can play.

I, too, love it and struggle endlessly to get it played. TTS has a mod of the second edition.

Thanks @Cuthbert! I had a good time, even if I ultimately blew any chance I had of winning on turn one. I know how much of a challenge it can be to run one of these, and greatly appreciate you taking it on.

I also remain impressed by Cole Wehrle’s ability to create interesting games. I’d be in for Pax Pamir if we ultimately decide to go that way.

Thanks, everyone! I would also be up for Pax Pamir if that were to happen, or any of these games played in real time, if people had a few hours. I’m glad everyone had a good time.