One of the newest board games in my collection is In the Year of the Dragon, a game set in feudal China. This is the latest in the "Alea Large Box" series (#12), and designed by Stefan Feld -- the same man who created the previous installment in that actually-rather-unrelated series (Notre Dame).It's a really diabolical little game with a simple but very clever mechanic at the heart of it. Throughout the game, you recruit workers in different jobs to help you. Most workers come in two varieties: one that provides greater output, and a second that provides you more points on a non-scoring track that determines turn order. Choose workers with greater output, and you'll fall behind on that turn order track. And going last in this game sucks beyond the telling of it.
It's also a diabolical game on another level, in that the subtitle of it well could have been "Everybody Dies." The game lasts twelve turns, and there is a grace period of two turns at the beginning where things are safe. After that, it's pretty much one disaster after another for every turn, a relentless death march that kills off your workers steadily until the end. Even if you manage some of the calamities, others will get you, so it's not really a matter of avoiding the "bad things," but figuring out how you'll pay the penalties for the "bad things" and not give up too much ground.
I've played it three times now and enjoyed it every time, though I have yet to win it. It has all the classic German board game elements... pressure to want to do everything at once when you can do only one thing, subtle interaction with your opponents where you mess them up not outright but by your own actions, and a need to plan several turns in advance.
At this point in time, I'd say I prefer Stefan Feld's earlier game, Notre Dame, over this one, but there's no question in my mind that this is another winner. No one I've played it with so far has had quite the level of enthusiasm for it that I have, but I think only one has been completely turned off by it. I think that means it'll get to stay "in the rotation" for a while.
Hopefully at least long enough for me to win it for once.
In any case, I'd rate it an A-. It's a very satisfying game for people who like their games on the "thinky" end of things, but without getting bogged down in excessive length (it takes only 60-90 minutes to play) or too many wargame-like bits.
6 comments:
Extremely good game. When I first bought it, we played the hell out of it. And yes, some mechanics seem really powerful (like getting a double priviledge on the first turn), but none is broken. I've managed to win my fair share of games, and I've always gone down a different path.
(Along the same line, a coworker really tried -- over several games -- to build a "priviledge engine" and he could never quite make it work. He'd always finish second, but never first.)
I'm glad you heeded my advice (i.e. gun to the head) and got the game. Where did you order it from?
And who's the rapscallion who didn't appreciate it? Assuming you can convey the identity of said person without exposing them...
FKL
PS: Just got back from seeing Wall-E. Phenomenal. Seriously.
FKL --
The one who didn't appreciate us is the same one who whipped us all at Eketorp the time we played it together.
Go figure.
Wall-E is definitely on my list. It's one I don't want to fight the crowds over, though, so I'll probably catch it at a late show some time during the coming week.
That's a damn shame.
Although I've found that most first-time players of In the Year of the Dragon tend to say they dislike the game when they get trounced on their first game.
(And most of them come around after a second play and do say that they rather like the game.)
Is this what happened with our esteemed player?
FKL
She did lose, but I don't think that was it. I think is was purely a matter of theme. All the death and disaster turned her off. She said something like "this is not a happy game."
I guess I'd be the "no one" then because I really enjoyed it. I thought it had a lot of depth, but not the 2 hour price tag of Notre Dame or Caylus.
I also thought all the "death and disaster" added some (admittedly dark) humor to the whole thing.
I will admit that part of the reason I enjoyed it is because no one at the table had played so we were equally screwed from the beginning.
Smurf -- your games of Notre Dame really last two hours? Over here they're about the same length as In the Year of the Dragon.
And I've never heard of a game of Notre Dame taking more than a hour -- maybe an hour and half if you have to pause for a national anthem or something. :)
FKL
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