So yesterday was my first game of Oh No, There Goes Tokyo! a free print and play game about a giant monster destroying buildings and eating populace. With such a great theme, how could this game not be great?

Well I actually had fun playing it, but it did seem a bit broken. I will not go into details about the rules because you can find more information about those here:
a) http://www.bgg.cc/file/download/18624/ONTGT2a.pdf
b) http://www.bgg.cc/thread/142851
c) http://www.bgg.cc/thread/142851

I know this is supposed to be a 4 player wargame, but some rule complexities do not seem to fit with the scale and theme of the game. There are too many fidly rules and strange out of place mechanics.

Here are some of the problems I found with the game:

* Convoluted movement rules: some land units can not enter ruble, some can't. Some units have a bonus in rubble. Some units can be inside buildings (requiring you to flip the counter 180 degrees) or on top of rooftops (more on that later). The activation (deployement) of units is three phases before the movement of the same units instead of simply being in the same phase. This is unecessary because the units are deployed off the map and therefore can not be attacked.

* Godran has two modes of attack: smashing and aiming. Aiming is much better and does not cost more, so smashing is unecessary. Also, the rules for aiming are way too complicated.

* When Godran attacks, the units must adsorb damage points instead of simply being destroyed: 1 damage point = fleeing, 2 damage points = fleeing further, 3 damage points = a kill (more on that later).

* The research and development of a super weapon is a lot less effective than the activation of military units (more on that later).

* The bidding for Godran control is just strange and forcebly kept at amounts that are too low. The players have way too much money in this game and a 40 Mega Yen bid (the maximum amount) is not expensive. All bidding amounts should at least be doubled. Also there is no reason why you can not bid the same amount in following turns. I understand that the designer wanted Godran's control to shift between players instead of being hogged, but there are simpler ways of solving this.

But the main problem with the game is that Godran is too easy to kill!

Godran is supposed to be Godzilla. He is supposed to be terrorizing the neighborhood. In our game, the military would kick his ass. You actually wanted him in your zone so you could rack up points! For example, in a turn, you can activate 3 Mortar Units and 3 Half-Tracks (Transports) at a cost of 135 Mega Yen (you get 150 Mega Yen per turn if none of your production centers are destroyed). You can move that group four spaces per turn (which is a lot because Godran usually moves a bit less because he has to split 10 points between movement and obligatory attacks). The trick is then to move your 3 Mortar Units to rooftops (rooftops double the attack value of your infantry units). This gives you a total of at least 18 attack dice (3 mortar units on rooftops=3*3*2), with an average roll of 54! To Wound Godran you only need a roll of 36! This means that every turn, you can easily Wound Godran with only three units. Godran is a real wimp! In four turns you easily kill him (and don't forget, you keep on replacing the killed units with a steady supply) and it only costs you 540 Mega Yens at most!

If you want to kill Godran with a Super Weapon, it will cost you 475 Mega Yen, but you will not have a single military unit on the map. So you have to buy a helicopter to get it to Godran (50 Mega Yen). That's 525 Mega Yen and you have less than 50% chance of wounding him and even less to kill him. And you can be sure that if you do not kill Godran with your Super Weapon, Godran will destroy it. There goes your 525 Mega Yen investment in smokes.

What strategy would you select?
a) a 540 Mega Yen investment with an almost 100% of killing Godran in four turns, and if you fail there are no devastating consequences?
b) a 525 Mega Yen investment with a less than 50% chance of killing Godran in four turns, and if you fail you must start over?

So basically, military units are way too strong and Super Weapons too weak. Godran is also too weak: the maximum number of attack dice he can roll is 10 (in my previous example, the military rolled 18 attack dice, almost twice Godran's amount). For Godran to kill three tank Units, he has to roll higher than 18 (to destroy a unit, Godron must roll 3 damage points higher than the unit's strength), that means that 6 dice only give him a 50% chance of killing them!

Possible solutions

Simplify movement:
Land units can not enter rubble nor get on the roof of buildings. When a unit is in the same square as a building, it can not be attacked. If the building is destroyed, so is the unit. Units can not enter buildings other than being in the same square as one. Roads give a bonus of 1 space to movement. Godran cannot enter a space with a standing building or a military unit.

Controlling Godran:
Bidding for Godran is ANY amount! Players simply write the amount of Mega Yen they wish to invest (must be in increments of 5 Mega Yen). Also, if Godran starts his turn in your zone and also ends it there, you gain a FREE extra bid: 1 Mega Yen for the first turn, 5 for the second and then 20, 25 up to 40. You can only invest this bonus money for the control of Godran and you loose this bonus once you gain control. When controlling Godran, you do not gain VP for destroying your own units or buildings. Godran still does.

The turn order for the following phases starts with the player to the controller's left. Also change phase order as follows (this will advantage Super Weapons slightly):
1) Collect Mega Yen
2) Bid for Godran
3) Research / Development
4) Godran Moves and Attacks
5) Player Unit Activation and Movement
6) Super Weapon Attacks
7) Player Units Attack

Limit military unit attacks:
On a player's turn, he may only make one attack with his military units (this excludes super weapons) and the maximum number of dice he may use is 10! Therefore, even with a huge military force, you can only equal Godran's might and not surpass it!

More power to Godran:
For every damage point a unit receives it is destroyed.


Research:
With the current rules, once one player develops a Super Weapon, Godran's origins are revealed, therefore ending all research. I would suggest that once a player deploys a Super Weapon (other than the Death Ray) he rolls 1d6 and adds 1 for every 25 Mega Yen he invested in research. If he rolls 6 or more, the selected weapon uses column C for damage. If not, it uses column A. No two players may use the same Super Weapon.