There's a trilogy of German board games I call the "Bluuah! Collection." Designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling, they all feature on the box some mask-like face from a dead civilization going "Bluuah!" Case in point, the cover of the middle volume of the series, Java (as seen on the left).The games have some mechanical similarities beyond the superficial ones. All of them use an "action point" system, where players have a sort of menu of nearly a dozen different actions they can take on their turn, in any combinations and order they like, until they've spent their allotment of points for the turn. They're also all "territory control" games, though with fairly different strategies.
Java is the three-dimensional entry of the series. You stack land tiles on one another, creating village areas and jungle areas, then deploy your pieces out into the terrain you've created in a way to best maximize scoring possibilities. It's very interesting and rather clever.
It's also really prone to analysis paralysis. If you spend your action points right, you can squeeze out a really good score on your turn. And as I mentioned, you have a lot of options on how to spend those points. So you find yourself wanting to stare at the board for quite a long time, trying out every possible option in your head to see which one will squeeze out that extra point or two. And unfortunately, the other players don't really do anything on your turn, leaving them as a restless audience to your planning and re-planning.
Somehow, by a fluke, this recent time I played the game took only about 90 minutes. But I recall past experiences with the game that took in excess of 3 hours. Back in the time at my old job in Virginia, some co-workers and I set it up in the style of a play by mail game. We used a vacant office to hold the board, along with CCG cards to act as turn markers. If you walked in on your lunch hour and saw your card face up, it was your turn; take all the time you want planning, and just turn the next player's card face up when you're done. Games took several weeks to complete sometimes... but then, if you all actually sat down in person to play the game, it could feel that way anyway.
It's a shame, because I really want to like Java more. I remembered instantly all the things I liked about the game when I played it recently. There's just a lot of clever things at work in it. But you pretty much need to have a "shot clock" to put on the players, or a mutual agreement not to take it too seriously. (The latter is hard to do, because the level of strategy is high, so you can't help but want to take it seriously.)
So even though I do like the mechanics here, I must give the nod to the other two games in the "Bluuah! Collection," Tikal and Mexica.
2 comments:
Dude, the game was set up in a spare table in my office -- I feel insulted you remember it as a "vacant" office. :)
And yes, the game is best played in that fashion. I think the design is great, but it's WAY too prone to AP. Hell, even I fell into the AP trap playing this one, and it pretty much never happens to me (on the other hand, maybe I'd win more often if it did...).
So I never play Java anymore. Too long and too much downtime between turns. Oh, you can be involved in a festival a play *one* card amidst all that opponent thinking. Tikal and Mexica work out much better, and Mexica is my favorite of the three (and the only one I kept).
FKL
Indeed, my most horrible mistake. Perhaps I'm remembering us to continue using your office after you left to play the game? (Possibly we did so in honor of you?) :-)
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