Game: Funkenschlag

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ZiggyZambo — 2007-03-31T17:27:27+00:00

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ZiggyZambo — 2007-03-31T17:27:05+00:00

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ZiggyZambo — 2007-03-31T17:26:24+00:00

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Werbaer — 2007-02-17T12:09:48+00:00

flat shot of the box cover

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itiswon — 2007-01-19T17:56:11+00:00

500 limited edition

Thread: Re: Compared to Power Grid

Werbaer — 2006-12-15T14:41:30+00:00

paulclarke339 wrote:
The game certainly had more turns, even that 3 player Power grid because the deck is larger.
Not only because the deck is larger. Mainly because connection costs are higher, and payouts are lower; and you also need to connect more cities.

Thread: Compared to Power Grid

paulclarke339 — 2006-12-15T01:07:25+00:00

I played this for the first time, approaching the wrong way round (2nd edition first).

It was 3 player, when I normally do Power Grid with about 5 players. The game certainly had more turns, even that 3 player Power grid because the deck is larger.

We played in the 3 southwest regions.

I got the plant #1 for 2 quid, which I though was cheap.

I fluctuated between 3rd place and 2nd place for the first few turns, before settling on 2nd, however Peter was on first and managed to pull ahead, whcih I wasn't expecting based on what I had read on the geek. A few times he got a good plant at face value which I was annoyed at because I didn't want to bid against him because I needed my money for network building- my capacity exceeded my number of cities.

That was what won him the game, but I don't know what I could have done about it other than risk a lot of money on buying something I didn't want.

Compared to Power Grid, the route laying seems more expensive because there are no free connections and very few cheap (under £10) connections. Also you have to watch out for malicious "spiking" whereby you get blocked out of cheap links.

The end game seemed to drag a bit, but I look forward to playing it again with more players.

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JSE0508 — 2006-09-09T12:46:55+00:00

The Powerplants

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JSE0508 — 2006-09-09T12:46:49+00:00

The Money

Thread: Re: Rules

aquabob79 — 2006-07-17T21:04:05+00:00

Are there any English rules at all for Funkenschlag? I got this game and don't have a way to play it. I emailed FF and did not get a reply.

Thanks for any help, Bob

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brianeikunst — 2005-03-01T21:03:35+00:00

Back of box

Thread: Re:Best Number of Players

Fawkes — 2005-01-19T23:40:29+00:00

snooze;

As with most German multiplayer games, I find PG to be best with 4. It delivers the tension in the auction, in the market and on the board, without dragging the game out. Expected playing time: just under 90 minutes.

Thread: Re:Best Number of Players

Eric Brosius — 2005-01-19T23:27:16+00:00

snoozefest (#78639),

Best with 4 or 5 in my opinion, though it's still good with 3 or 6. I haven't played it with 2, but some people enjoy it as a 2-player game.

Thread: Best Number of Players

snoozefest — 2005-01-19T20:51:23+00:00

I have had the 2nd edition (Power Grid) for a while now. I recently got the original, but have not had a chance to play it yet. What is (are) the best number of player(s) to have for this game? Too slow with 6 (I think Power Grid drags a bit with 6, or even 5 players)?

Thanks.

Thread: Step 2 transition timing.

dkeisen — 2004-09-15T15:45:14+00:00

In Power Grid the rules are very explicit that step 2 starts after the building phase in which someone builds to 7 cities.

Here, it just says in the rules "The step 2 starts after the first player has connected his 8th city during phase 4: Building." That is, once he has done that he can build into cities that are already built into by someone else without having to wait until the next turn.

I have been told that this is an explicit change between Funkenschlag Classic and Power Grid. But I also note that one of the guides to Funkenschlag here on the Geek gives the rule as it is in Power Grid.

What's the story here? Is there a formal ruling?

Thread: Session Report

Eric Brosius — 2004-08-15T15:01:54+00:00

FUNKENSCHLAG
(Eric, Rich, Joe, Mike, Paul L.)

Joe arrived at MVGA toting Funkenschlag under his arm. Designer Friedemann Friese has come out with a new, streamlined version of Funkenschlag entitled "Power Grid" but Joe wanted to play the original version, which takes longer and imposes decisions that are a bit more painful. We're not easily frightened at MVGA, and Funkenschlag was a favorite in its original version, so we were happy to accommodate Joe's wishes. Rich and Eric had each played four or five games of Power Grid at WBC and were just as happy for a little variety. After a bit of milling about as we decided who would play at which table, we sat down to give it a shot.

In Funkenschlag, like in Power Grid, players take the roles of electrical utility owners. The winner is the player who powers the most cities at the end of the game (after all, it's public service that matters and not money.) Players earn money by selling power and spend it for new power plants, fuel and power line construction. Power lines are built by drawing on the map with markers, just as in Empire Builder and other crayon rails games. The most distinctive feature of the game, however, is a deck of power plant cards. The power plants differ in the type and quantity of fuel they use, the number of cities they power, and the minimum purchase price.

The game starts with an auction in which each player buys a power plant. The cheaper plants take more resources and power fewer cities. Players also buy resources and build lines in reverse order corresponding to the number of cities connected and their largest plant, so those with smaller plants get better building opportunities and pay less for fuel. Joe got the lowest numbered plant in the game, the #01 coal burner, though he paid a stiff price for it. Eric got the functionally equivalent #03, and Rich got the #02 oil burner, knowing oil is more expensive early on.

In Power Grid the game ends when one player connects fifteen cities, but in Funkenschlag it's twenty cities. This means in most cases you need to trade up several times before you have the power plants you want to end the game with; you can hope to win Power Grid while only buying four plants all game, but it won't work in Funkenschlag. The payoff chart is also less generous in Funkenschlag, so you must watch your money very closely. We extended our networks city by city while saving money for fuel and the occasional power plant purchase.

The power plant market stagnated for several turns as no one bought any of the scrawny plants on display (we did use the rule from Power Grid that says the lowest plant should be discarded after any auction in which no plant is bought.) All of a sudden, the big capacity 6, 7 and 8 plants started to become available and bidding started again in a frenzy. Joe paid $85 for one capacity 7 plant, while Paul L. paid well over $100 for the capacity 10 coal burner.

Everyone was feeling bullish, but reality soon set in. There were so many big plants running that the coal and oil supply ran out. Joe and Paul L. both had plants to power 20 cities, but they could not buy fuel because Eric, Rich and Mike were scooping it all up earlier in the turn order. No one wanted to connect another city for fear of sliding to the back of the fuel-buying queue, so we sat at 13 or 14 cities paying huge prices for fuel and gathering money gradually. At this point Joe could see that he had no chance to win (the power plants were all used up so he couldn't think about switching to a more plentiful fuel.) He minimized the size of his loss by connecting 20 cities, knowing he would not win.

Mike was the connection leader at this point, so he won with 17 cities. Joe had 20 connected, but he could power only 12 while the fuel crisis lasted. Rich and Eric could have built to more than 17 and powered all the cities they built to, but they didn't see the end coming.

Final scores: Mike 17, Rich 14 + $136, Eric 14 + $84, Joe 12, Paul L. 10.

Eric's rating: 8. Many of the decisions in Funkenschlag are richer than those in Power Grid. On the other hand, it's easier to "wedge" the game in Funkenschlag, and that's what happened this time. It's not good when a player loses any chance to win and must go through the motions for the rest of the game. This game was wonderful most of the way through and disappointing at the end. I also can do without the crayon aspect of the game; Power Grid handles power line construction more cleanly.

Thread: Re:Help

msaari — 2004-07-27T14:28:30+00:00

kenjohns (#46929),

You can branch anywhere. You don't have to connect to cities. You don't have to start from the area you chose.

Have fun, but I think Power Grid is far superior to original (and if someone else wants to follow Kendall's lead, my copy of original Funkenschlag is up for sale, including a home-made map and OHP pens to use with it).

Thread: Help

kenjohns — 2004-07-27T12:51:34+00:00

Having played POWER GRID I was encourage to obtain and try THE ORIGINAL.

Most rules we can surmise from PG but in the absense of a proper English translation can any one confirm, or deny, these:-

1. Branches can only be from Cities.
2. Lines must connect to Cities i.e. part lines may NOT be built.
3. Does the first city have to be in the area that you chose at the start or anywhere as PG.

Thanks.

Kenjohns

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cbrua — 2004-06-06T19:42:18+00:00

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cbrua — 2004-06-06T19:42:18+00:00

Thread: Re:Elimination of crayons in 2nd Edition?

Malachi — 2004-04-17T04:47:04+00:00

Frog (#33001),
Oh, I would also speculate that you could print out the maps for the first edition found here as well as the rules and use the components from the second edition to play the old way.

Thread: Re:Elimination of crayons in 2nd Edition?

Malachi — 2004-04-17T04:18:32+00:00

Frog (#33001),
Wow. I really didn't expect that to have changed the way it did.

I've played the first edition twice and I can say that the new version will probably help shorten the game and get rid of some of the analysis paralysis that occurs when the players are trying to figure out when, where, and how to draw new power lines, and how much it will cost. That's probably the biggest drag point in the first edition.

On the downside, it eliminates some of the tactics that the crayon version has where you build lines in ways that make it more expensive for other players to enter the same region. Of course, that's not totally a bad thing, imho.

I think the new version will help keep the focus of the game on the core aspects of the power plant auction, resource management, and money management.

Of course, I'll have to hold my final judgement until I've played the new version.

Thread: Elimination of crayons in 2nd Edition?

Frog — 2004-04-13T03:55:34+00:00

I've not played the original, but looking at the map this seems like a fairly big departure from the original game. Does anyone who has played the original have any sort of opinion on whether this will have any major effect on the gameplay?

Thread: Re:Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

txrobpam — 2004-04-04T00:40:14+00:00

Bribaba (#31538),

Thanks!

TXrobpam

Thread: Re:Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

Bribaba — 2004-03-26T20:15:59+00:00

txrobpam (#31499),

http://www.adam-spielt.de/phpshop/index.php?PHPSESSID=bfb0e0...

Click on the Info tab.

Thread: Re:Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

txrobpam — 2004-03-26T12:30:27+00:00

Jape (#30985),

Hi - can you send me a link to the picture of the new Power Grid reprint?

THX

Rob

Thread: Re:Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

Jape — 2004-03-20T11:20:14+00:00

At adamspielt it is available in the new edition already. They also show a picture of the new gameboard. The game seems a lot more streamlined and aimed at a slightly less hardcore gamer public. Looks good!

Thread: Re:User Review

icheyne — 2004-03-12T22:29:50+00:00

icheyne (#30106),
I asked on Spielfrieks. Matthew Frederick found it, changed his player aid, and uploaded it:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewfile.php3?fileid=4835 (53kb)

It speeds the game up by increasing the amount of money.

Thread: Re:User Review

icheyne — 2004-03-10T16:43:20+00:00

Mecki wrote:
the alternate revenue table from the author.

I have not heard of this table and it's not obvious on the main page. Where is it and how does it change the game?

Thread: User Review

Mecki — 2004-03-09T23:03:52+00:00

During the last year, I've played this one regularly. It is the only "German" game I regularly play (some time ago that was Puerto Rico, but no more), and I'm not tired a bit.

I feel that nearly all reviewers are of the same opinion: The game has very good mechanics, the components are of questionable quality, and the game length is high for a "German" style game. I agree with this assesment, if the target group are non-gamers, of the casual variety.

For me (and I consider myself experienced/grognard), I find 2-3 hours not very long. Compared to wargames (where game length is measured in months) it's next to nothing. Jokes aside, Empire Builder and the like also take as long, and 18xx longer. Just because the rules aren't as long and Funkenschlag doesn't seem that complicated at first, it shouldn't really be compared to other simple games.

I actually find longer sessions more interesting than shorter ones, and in consequence dislike the proposed speed-up rules like auto-eliminating the lowest plant or the alternate revenue table from the author.

Game length increases if there are no good power plants available. Both proposed measures lead to better plants being available (resp. to rewarding expansion at all cost). But I really like these stalemates where all players feel that they have their optimal selection of power plants, and all feel that if they buy one of the available crappy plants, they will loose (or make available a very good plant to the other players). If such a situation arises, at least one player commits an error: him who has the lowest net income *must* break the stalemate, even if it looks like adding insult to injury. If he doesn't break it, he will loose for sure. His only hope is that at some later point he'll get compensation. Since the stalemates most frequently occur in the early and middle game, there's always a good chance at the end game. Usually the other players know who suffered most, and they tend to give some good plant to some straggler, lest the direct competition gets it. Sometimes, the straggler turns out to be a leader in disguise.

So this is not a game for the weak at heart, you have to calculate precisely, always be aware what the other guys can to (to themselves or you) and never give up hope. The balancing mechanism is one of the best I've seen.

For me, this game is an ideal combination. Few rules, immediate appeal to beginners, and lasting pleasure for seasoned players.

Thread: Re:Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

mbialeck — 2004-02-26T15:31:23+00:00

Fawkes wrote:
Let's hope they upgrade the components, even if it leads to an increase in price point.
Would this be the first RGG-published game to feature crayons?

I heard through the grapevein that the boards will have pre-drawn routes kind of like Pfeffersaecke I guesss.

Can anyone verify this?

Mike
bsw DrDNA

Thread: Re:Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

Corwyn59 — 2004-02-25T12:17:38+00:00
Malachi wrote:
Corwyn59 (#28587),
Considering that my biggest problem with the original is that it takes too long for what I get out of it, I look forward to trying the new, shorter version.

sure but i'm thinking of the short lowenherz version which is a good game but not a terrific game like was the original one !

hope the new funkenschlag will be as good

Thread: Re:Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

Malachi — 2004-02-24T17:07:21+00:00
Corwyn59 (#28587),
Considering that my biggest problem with the original is that it takes too long for what I get out of it, I look forward to trying the new, shorter version.

Thread: Comment on buying power plants

Mecki — 2004-02-23T17:11:00+00:00
After having played about 20 games of Funkenschlag, I'd like to share some thoughts on power plant buying. The most striking fact is that after 20 sessions some patterns do repeat, but there's no "winning strategy".
It's still an exciting game, which regularly ends very close, even when players have different degrees of skill.
I think that the single most important aspect in the game is buying power plants. The value of a plant can change at any time in unpredictable ways. The player has a maximum of control which plant he buys at what time, and in the bidding rounds there's a maximum of direct player interaction. Also, there are different strategies (conservative vs. risky or impetous) and a certain amount of luck is involved, too.
So, which plants to buy? First this depends on the resource market. Games with 4 players or less tend to have a tight market, with 5 or more resources are usually available more freely. Then plants with lower face value are preferable because of "position" - people with cheaper factories take their turn later (given same number of cities). And then the amount of available money is important - will you still have enough left to buy resources and connect cities?
The #01 factory usually costs 15-20 in games with 4 players or less, 10-15 in 5 and 6 player games. The other "at start" plants rarely cost more than face value. It is very important to be aware that with plant #06, #07 or #09, it is useful not to connect a city on turn 1, and instead go for 2 in turn 2 (better position i.e. cheaper resources) in turn 2.
From there on, the real fun starts. I don't really like eco power, they give too bad position and have to be replaced. They also make resources cheaper for the other players. Good plants are #25 and #26. Plants like #29 and the smaller nuclear and trash plants are next to useless. I've never seen a game where #14 actually was used to supply cities. The only reason to buy it is to get a new one into circulation.
#60 is usually overrated. It runs for only two or three turns, sometimes only one, and people usually bid way too much for it. I've seen bids up to 138, but it was never worth that much. A fair price should always be oriented at what else is available, e.g. if there's #54 and four coal cost 26, the max price for #60 would be 80, unless the bad position will hurt.
Always consider resource price together with plant price. One game was won by the guy who bought #30 (3 trash - 6 citys) for 72, because trash was at 2, and everybody else had coal and oil plants with coal and oil at 7. It took three turns until finally somebody else got a trash plant, coal and oil meanwhile at 8, and by then he had developed enough of a lead to carry it home. Of course the other trash plants could have shown up earlier, but like this it's an example for a risk well taken.
Also don't forget position. If you get the opportunity to buy an expensive plant at face value (because you're the last one left in the bidding round), be careful not to get nailed to the lead position. I once bought #34 early in phase 1, and lost, because the others wouldn't connect more cities than me, and I had to pay too much for the resources for my other plants. OTOH I once won with buying #25 in game turn 2, although I was unable to buy any resources and only earned 10 in that turn.
So for each decision there's an example where it can be right, or wrong, and what's your truth has to be decided by you alone. Now I've got to hurry for this week's game of Funkenschlag at the local gaming club.

Thread: Re:Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

fellonmyhead — 2004-02-21T10:27:27+00:00
Corwyn59 (#28587),

I've a feeling the new version won't be too difficult to lengthen; perhaps you would even be able to use the original rules.

Thread: Re:Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

Corwyn59 — 2004-02-21T09:45:26+00:00
m_r_tyler (#27036),

i am a bit sceptical about shortening the game in the new version

will it be so much good than the original ?

Thread: Re:Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

m_r_tyler — 2004-02-02T23:33:32+00:00
Fawkes (#26462),

I am very excited to see that Rio Grande Games will be producing an English version of Funkenschlag. That is a game I have been wanting to purchase for some time but was holding out in hopes that it would be reprinted in English. Looks like I made the right call.

I emailed Jay Tummelson to find out if Power Grid's components (particularly the map) would be upgraded from what you get with Funkenschlag. He replied that "the game has been upgraded considerably." Life is good.

Thread: Funkenschlag to be released by RGG as 'Power Grid'

Fawkes — 2004-01-26T03:09:11+00:00
Let's hope they upgrade the components, even if it leads to an increase in price point.

Would this be the first RGG-published game to feature crayons?

http://www.riograndegames.com/

Thread: Session Report

Jonathan Degann — 2004-01-21T21:35:58+00:00
What a treat - to be able to get a big-ass 3.5 hour game on the table during a Wednesday! This just never happens because some of our group just will not play a long game during a weekly session. Tim had long been interested in playing it, I'm always up for a big meaty game, and we needed something that could handle 5 players.

I'm starting to acknowledge Dave's comment that it is not an economic game, it is more about "timing" when to take the lead. I'll rephrase that as a flaw: The game intends to be an economic game. However, its mechanism of avoiding a runaway leader, by giving advantages to trailing players, ends up dominating the game. Consequently, so much of it becomes about manipulating these features to your advantage.

Our game was a little unusual in that some good mid level plants came out early. I played a strategy of trying to avoid buying plants which would not last me a long time. It worked in getting me to an early lead when I leapfrogged other players by holding out for a plant in the low 20's while others were buying plants in the teens.

Eventually, people started catching up. When it was time to buy a new plant, "all the good ones were taken", so I allowed myself to gradually slip to 4th place, hoping that it would give me an advantage in future auctions. Instead, crappy plants came out, round after round. I kept holding off, letting people get ahead, and seeing cities that I "should have" been connecting to (but held off from) being taken away from me. But I stayed the course.

In Step 3, I finally got a decent plant, but not one big enough to win with, and the best nearby cities were now expensive or unavailable. Instead of going for the nearby cities, I went the long way into a corner of the board that only Mike had developed. My extra investment in getting out there helped me expand inexpensively.

During the end game, the final plants ended up fetching huge bidding wars, which I actively fueled. Time after time, the bids got too rich and I dropped out. This is what won me the game. While it came a bit late, I was able to get my last plant "at cost", while my opponents had exhausted their resources bidding for their last plants. All the turns I was just "waiting things out" enabled me to build up a big war chest, and I connected a huge quantity of cities. Subsequently, I triggered the game end, while my opponents with the better plants could not afford to keep up with me in connections.

We had a circumstance come up which I had never considered. With 5 players, it takes 18 cities to trigger game end. It is possible to deliberately trigger the game end and win the game, even though you can't supply all 18 cities! I could have done this - but it took others to point it out to me. Had I connected to 18 cities in an earlier turn, I'd have been able to supply 17 of them, but since nobody else connected to 17, I'd have won.

Thread: Rules

mbooker — 2004-01-21T21:28:04+00:00
Is there an English set of rules around except for the jpg scanned ones posted on this site? I have ordered the game but fear that the rules will only be in German.

Thread: General Comment

Zamboni — 2004-01-04T02:57:19+00:00
Finally had an opportunity to play a this game and it is excellent. Being the first time, I assumed that being in the lead was a good thing but alas the game has a unique way of keeping the leader in check. It certainly was a fatal mistake. regardless I would rate this game as an 8/9 and I am ready to have another go at it. Could become one of my top ten.

Thread: Session Report

Mike Mayer — 2003-11-06T15:25:20+00:00
Tonight - Funkenschlag! As we played, we listened to old Club 8, older Matthew Sweet, and the new Belle & Sebastian.

I'm not surprised that my wife likes this game, even though it's considered a gamer's game. She loves Empire Builder, she likes resource management, and likes games where it's hard to directly hose someone. F-schlag is a pretty good fit for her. The only thing lacking is beautiful components, but that's half-fixed since I printed out the larger map from the BBG.

Anyway, this was our second go playing this as a 2-player game. I purposely kept myself from trying to hose her in the building phase (see above comment), and she did likewise for me I think. So victory came down to the person who managed their bids and recourses the best.

She did. By far.

She won by 104 bucks in the tiebreak. I was lucky to have a tiebreak at all. If she hadn't forgotten to buy coal the previous turn, she could have powered 24 cities to my 21.

Thing is, I was only a few bucks behind, by my calculations, going into the third step. She was suffering under the burden of 2 uranium plants (with only 1 uranium resource appearing each round), so I thought my chances of winning were pretty good. Then I made the mistake of letting her get the 60 fusion plant for base price. I thought for sure the game was going to end before she could make back her money. But it didn't. I was forced to by a 50 oil along with the recourses to power it for several turns.

Ugh.

She consoled me by telling me it was a learning game. Thing was, it was only a learning game for her. I've played at least four times, so I should have known better.

This was the second night in a row we played this game. That means it's a hit. Her only complaint is it does take a long time, so you have to lock down an evening to play it. Otherwise, shlag-away!

Mike Mayer
mayer3@optonline.net

Thread: 2-player game

Mike Mayer — 2003-11-04T00:20:15+00:00
I played F-schlag 2-player for the first time and noticed that even though the author advices against hording resourses as a general rule, I think it's a viable strategy when there's only two players. With only two, it's easier to time one's purchace with one's manuevering to buy resourses first next turn to always get a better price than your opponent. And since every gain for 'me' is a loss for 'you,' one's strategy isn't diluted by other players (as it is in a more multi-player game).

Also, Wind power is somewhat weaker, since if your opponent isn't buying resourses, they're all the more cheaper for you. Still though, Wind power is not to be overlooked. The longer the game goes on, the more powerful it is.

Mike Mayer
mayer3@optonline.net

Thread: Session Report

warlock — 2003-07-15T12:46:17+00:00
Funkenschlag has a bit of an odd theme. It's about generating power to supply to cities over crayon power lines. The game played in five phases. The first phase, determining player order, sounds trivial but is fundamental to the tactics of the game. The order is determined according to the number of cities each player has connected. This directly leads to advantages in the other phases so players need to carefully decide how many cities they can afford to, and at the same time afford not to, connect.

In the second phase, each player will have an opportunity to purchase a power plant. Each plant has a minimum cost, a fuel requirement, and powers a certain number of cities. More expensive plants tend to use less resources to power more cities.

Each player may purchase fuel in the third phase. The market simulates the effects of supply and demand quite well. As players buy a particular fuel, the price rises for future purchases. This is done strictly in reverse player order, so the leader will go last and in all likelihood will pay dearly.

The fourth phase sees players joining the dots on the board as their power networks snake from city to city. This gives ample opportunity to sneak connections into cities before an opponent gets there first, either preventing them from connecting or raising their cost to do so. This provides much of the tension in the game.

Finally, players decide how many cities to power, burn the required fuel and collect income from the grateful denizens of the cities.

This was a four player game. I'd played once before, Andy Oggie and Tel had never played. As such, we took the advice of the designer to play a short game and only played to connect eight cities. The full game ends when twenty are powered. The point of the short game is to allow new players to make really dumb, game wrecking moves without having to play the rest of a long game with no chance of winning.

The board is in the form of a map, separated into sections each with eight cities. Each player picks a section and the others are crossed out. This just gives an initial layout, with each player beginning in one sector. Anybody can build anywhere in the remaining sectors, and connect to any cities. However, only one person can connect to a city in the short game. The game started with Oggie in the middle of the board and the rest of us left, right and below him. Not surprisingly, Andy and Tel sniped at his borders and managed to each grab a city or two which no doubt Oggie had mentally mapped out as “his”. I'd have done the same but found myself hindered with fuel costs after buying a power plant requiring three items of fuel and purchasing last from the market. I'd stupidly picked a start point too near to mountains aswell, and thus expensive to build through, so my network growth started very sluggishly.

Oggie therefore launched a major fuel line sortie in my direction, trying to capture one of "my" cities. This led to an arms race between the pair of us, forcing us to race for cities before the other could snap it up. This pushed us out in front of Tel and Andy in cities connected, guaranteeing us high costs for fuel. We also needed to invest a large sum of money to purchase power stations to supply our expanding empires. In theory this should have given Andy and Tel a clear run at the board, as each had an uncontested area of the board to expand into. However, Andy decided to pursue a bizarre Scrooge strategy, trickling fuel into an ancient pair of power stations to supply juice to only a couple of his cities. This left him struggling behind the curve. I don't expect we’ll be seeing a repeat of this tactic in future games. By the time he finally upgraded to a more efficient power station the game was all but over.

Tel bought a wind powered station, allowing him to power three cities for free. This didn't give as much benefit as would be imagined however as the game ended just a couple of turns afterwards. He thought he had pulled off a stealth victory when he jointed three more cities in one turn to hit the magic total of eight. Oggie, however, had last draw on the board and enough cash to also link his eigth city. Cash in hand is used to resolve ties, giving Oggie the win by one Electro note.

Of the four of us, I’m usually the most attracted by meatier games and not surprisingly enjoyed the game the most. I liked it a lot. The general opinion was a definite thumbs up, but that the game ended too suddenly. Everyone agreed that we need to play through a full game to see if that gives a more satisfying conclusion – indeed, a couple of players suggested carrying on the current game to 20 cities. I’d imagine ratings to be higher for a full game. I was surprised how little contention there was in the auctions. Most plants went at cost price, with people conserving money for building. I’d expect to see more heated auctions in the longer game. I’d like to see this one played frequently but I suspect its length will prevent that. Most of our gaming sessions only run to about two and a half hours. It took us over three to play this game, and I think the full game would probably take about another hour.

One criticism I’ve often seen of this game is of the quality of the components. Specifically, the board and the market chart are quite flimsy and need to be bent to fit into the box, and crayons can be hard to wipe off the board. I colour copied and laminated the board and we used a set of wet erase pens. This worked very well, so I wouldn’t let the quality of the map put anybody off the game. The other components are a generous supply of wooden bits and a stack of cards representing the power supplies – these are more than adequate.

Scores – Oggie 8, Tel 8, Paul 7, Andy 5
Ratings (/10, for this session) Oggie 7, Tel 7, Paul 8, Andy 7

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2003-04-26T15:35:24+00:00
I've now seen someone pay 182 bucks for the Fusion power plant which must be close to a record. And they won. We hit Phase 3 unusually early, whilst the city connections were around 11 or so I think, hence the payoff. The good thing about this game is that your mistakes are always made in the valuations of the power plants, and so there's always a regret you can fix in the next game. An 8 after 4 games.

Thread: Rules Tweaks

paevett — 2003-02-13T15:51:40+00:00
Having played the game about 10 times now I agree that it is excellent, but in need of tweaking. Many suggested tweaks have recently been offered on spielfrieks, and our group has thought of others. For those with few plays, or those who (like me) have had the nagging feeling that it could be better, here is a list of minor changes:

1. The board needs to be changed -- the 3 city triangle in the NW corner of the central area imbalances the game. Those cities are just too close. Every game we have played the winner has started in that area, unless a second player also started there -- but then they both suffered. I would say fix it any way you feel comfortable with, either moving one city further out or adding more mountains or combo of both.

2. Speeding the PowerPlant Market Churn -- I really love the suggestion from David D. to remove the lowest plant on any turn no one makes a purchase. This avoids the occasional bogging that happens mid-early game. The game can last about 15 minutes too long, so this would help.

3. Disallow Spiking -- While there is strategic play on the board, especially in setting yourself up to be 1st to choice cities, and even more so to be second to nearby cities, there is no reason for board play to dominate a great auction game. Also, as noted, the game already runs a bit long for our group's taste - why bog it down with gamey tactics that bear no relation to the theme. Our house rule is that each player may only have one spike (a power line NOT yet connected to a city) at any time. In other words, draw lines to connect to cities - not to gash others. A single spike can strategically limit others (and is necessary at the start of the game) without resorting to dramatically slower play.
-- PAE

Thread: Session Report

Michael Becker — 2003-02-02T17:33:25+00:00
After our game of Santa Fe Rails we decided to play a 6 player game of Funkenschlag. Joining me were Jason (teamed up with Jim), Weng, Mike M., Mark, and Dave. T.. After a brief explanation of the rules the game started. I made a point to ensure everyone understood that every dollar was important in this game and that it might not be the best idea to get too far ahead in the city building race as your supply costs can greatly increase. It was around 9:45pm and we had to leave by 11:30 so I asked everyone to play quickly and plan ahead.

I choose an oil power plant with a low number for my starting plant. With hindsight a coal plant would of been a much more efficient option...

I noticed that the resource pool never became very depleted during the game. Therefore, the cost of resources stayed low throughout the game and in my opinion this reduced the skill in competing for power plants. If I ever play another 6 player game I will make a note of changing the supply chart. I think this would of made the game a bit more interesting.

Weng was the only player never to play a "crayon" game and it took him a bit to catch onto the building costs. Jim and Jason took an early lead in building. Also, they bought quite a few plants throughout the game, and I thought that this was unwise, but they didn't really lose any momentum. Jim left to play Adel Verpflichtet half way through the game and therefore Jason took sole command.

We entered stage three around 11:15 pm and therefore decided to play two final rounds. I started my power grid in a relatively secluded area and had enough power to supply thirteen cities so I was hoping I would have enough money to build to the thirteenth location. Unfortunately, I was a few dollars short. I connected twelve cities and supplied them in the final turn. (I had two wind plants and a coal plant). Mike M., Weng, and Jason were also able to connect 12 cities. Mike M., Weng,Jason and myself all had enough power to supply our cities. The game would boil down to money...

And Jason and Mike M. tied with $24 each. I came in second with $15 followed by Weng, Dave T., and Mark. What a close finish!

The post game discussion was brief because the bartender wanted to finish cleaning up, but everyone concluded that they would definitely play again. My previous suspicion that the early leader cannot be caught is again left in doubt. I guess, I will have to play a few more times to confirm.

Thread: Session Report

Michael Becker — 2003-01-27T22:45:14+00:00
After the SuperBowl and a quick game of The Bucket King Jim, Mike M. and myself decided to play a shortened game of Funkenschlag. This was Mike M.'s second playing, and Jim's first. Jim is a big fan of money games and I think he owns most of the train games in existence so I was pretty sure this game would be right up his alley.
After a quick explanation of the rules we started the game. We didn't start until 11:00 pm and I wanted to leave no later than 12:30 am (it's tough to get up for work at 7:00) so we made an effort to play relatively quickly.
The game went very well. Jim rec'd a cheap wind power plant early in the game as he was the only player with enough money to purchase. We thought he might run away with things, but he was a bit behind in his network building. Mike M. rec'd a very efficient oil plant pretty early as well and this helped his early game. Unfortunately, I didn't upgrade to more efficient plants soon enough. I deliberately stayed behind to ensure my resources were purchased as cheaply as possible. By 12:15 we entered Stage II of the game. All three of us had built connections to nine cities. Mike M and Jim were able to supply all nine locations. I was only able to supply eight cities and therefore came in last place. Mike M. had a few more dollars than Jim and therefore won the game.
Without question this game is wonderful. Every dollar is important and you have to react to your opponents decisions to succeed. Hopefully I will be able to get a full game going at game night on Thursday...

Thread: Alternate Map Viewing

rshipp — 2003-01-16T21:33:45+00:00
Anyone else find it impossible to view all the alternate map tiles using the latest versions of Ghostscript and Ghostview?

Randy...

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2002-09-12T14:15:50+00:00
Players: Nige, John W, Mark K, Mark G, Garry

At last got to play this latest game from Friedemann Friese. His past record is a bit hit-and-miss, but I've seen plenty of good reports about this one, so I had high hopes. Players are trying to build an electricity supply network to a pre-determined number of cities. We played the introductory game in which the target is 8 cities. Each game turn is played over a number of phases. Firstly, power plants are auctioned off, followed by the purchase of resources used by your plants. Then you develop your network on the game map and finally you supply the cities you have connected to generate income. These phases work together pretty well and as the order of play differs from phase to phase, being the lead player in one phase turns out to mean you are also the last player in another phase. Also, money is very tight in the game and you never have enough to do exactly what you want to, so you need to plan ahead on what your spending strategy is going to be until you can generate more income. The game seems to work very well and I can only see the longer version adding more interesting decisions, as cities become opened up to more than one player.

It may suffer a bit from the rich-getting-richer syndrome, but I guess that makes the leader a target and, providing other players keep in reasonable touch, it ought not to become too processional. In our game, however, John definitely suffered from poverty. He tarried outside the cities a bit long and found someone else marching in before him. Sorry, John, yes I know it was me. That left him with less income than others in the middle game and hampered his ability to develop his network quickly. Mark K managed a coup in being able to buy a wind plant very cheaply. It suddenly appeared in the active market at a time when only he and Mark G were left in the auctions and only Mark K had the money to pay the minimum price. He took good advantage of that, not needing to buy resources as urgently as the rest of us and so being able to concentrate on his network. Nige saw the danger Mark posed and marched across the map pinching his nearest cities, but Mr Moneybags was still able to pay to get to far-away places. At the end there was nothing we could do to stop him connecting to his 7th and 8th cities and claim the win, with three of us left together on 6 cities.

I liked Funkenschlag a lot and so did the two Marks. Nige, however, felt it a bit repetitive and that downtime was a problem. I hardly noticed any significant downtime (the others might say that may have been because I was the cause of it) and the only real time when you were not involved was when others were drawing their networks on the board - which didn't take long anyway. The big disappointment for me was the board, but you get that with some smaller publishers. Now if Queen or Hans Im Gluck decided to republish it, that would, I'm sure, be phenomenal.

Result: Mark K 8, Nige 6 + 15 cash, Garry 6+11, Mark G 6+10, John W 3

Ratings: Mark K 8, Nige 6, Garry 8, Mark G 8, John W 7

Thread: Session Report

Jonathan Degann — 2002-08-13T13:01:33+00:00
This was my third time playing this game. At 3 hours, it is a long game, but I was playing with a group that was well familiar with the game (all Westside Gamers), who could handle the administrative aspects smoothly, and so the game never dragged or felt long.

The game hits the sweet spot of "my kind" of game - a heavily economic game which focuses on managing resources and which includes a market mechanism (the variable price of commodities). This is the sort of game I tend to do well at, and yet I've never won Funkenschlag. This time, I came in third in a field of five.

The crayon-rails aspect of this game interests me least. What I really like is the decision process behind buying new power plants. I think that I hang onto inefficient plants too long - but I do believe that neither is it a good idea to have to pay to replace your plants too frequently. I think I'd ramp my game up a place if I nailed down this part of the strategy.

OTOH, I improved my position this time by not hoarding commodities. In Funkenschlag, a given plant might use 2 coal units to supply 4 cities. So it is generally burning 2 coal units per turn. A player may hold onto double, in this case four coal units, at any time. I would tend to take advantage of this, feeling that it helped drive the price up for opponents, and stabilize the price for me. Following a discussion and analysis, I now rarely do this. I realize that, more than anything, you drive the price up for yourself. I think the only time it is worth doubling up is when you are trailing one turn, and expect to lead in the following turn. When you are trailing, you can buy fuel cheaper than when you are leading, so if you see your position changing, it may be worth stocking up.

The game began with a bidding war for the #1 plant; it's final price was a whopping $12. It's advantage is that, in the early game, owning it defines you as a trailing player, giving you access to cheap fuel. I bought the #5 plant inexpensively, and although it has some advantages, it put me into the lead early on, and cost me heavily when I purchased fuel. This mistake, and its long term cash flow consequences, kept me in the back of the pack for the first phase in the game. However, I think that some well timed delays in buying new plants did help bring me back up to third place by game end.

To me, the game works well despite some glaring weaknesses. The most problematic for me is that a 3+ hour game should have more of a beginning, a middle and an end. Funkenschlag goes through broad phases, and has a board that develops, along with developing capital base, but the sort of decisions you're making in the first three turns are pretty similar to the ones you're making in the last three turns. Much of my affection for it comes from the fact that it is a real *business* game, and I am often surprised at how well it is received by the Spielfrieking public despite its monolithic nature.

Ratings: Jonathan D. (8)

Thread: Re:General Comment

JeffG — 2002-06-10T19:04:23+00:00
I've played Funkenschlag each way, once with only one power plant discard and once with regular discards. The one-discard game definitely got stuck with no useful power plants available for purchase. The many-discard game also got stuck, but for only one or two turns. It wouldn't
surprise me if one-discard worked well in 6 player games while many-discards worked better in smaller games, but I suspect that many just plays better in general. Then again, I don't feel that tinkering with rules is any sort of heresy

--Jeff

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2002-04-09T14:33:24+00:00
Brian rummaged through my shelf of games in search of something new, and having played Iron Dragon and a big fan of it, he pulled out one of the new games in my collection.

It's very easy to get people interested when you tell them you draw with crayons in the game.

Getting through all the phases proved to be a bit daunting with 6 players (Zach, Brian, Eric, Sarah, Steve, and Fireball), but after 3 turns things picked up. Everyone loves to ooh, ahh, and curse themselves when the replacement plants come up that make their recent purchases look cheap and unusable.

Fireball switched to another color after realizing the yellow wasn't showing up, and was somewhat less upset when the creator apologized in the translated rules.

Eric figured buying in bulk and stockpiling his coal would afford him more petty cash later to eek out a lead in getting to cities. By the time we got to the 3rd Phase he had switched over to garbage, which had become dirt cheap (excuse the pun).

Brian went the ecological route, ending up with two high-powered Wind Generators and the Fusion Plant (60), allowing him to power 14 cities, but Eric's cheap garbage plants gave him one more powered city in the final turn giving him the win.

The game ran a bit longer than expected - I attribute this partially due to the fact that a loud game of Super Smash Brothers was being played halfway through by other guests, but also that there were 6 players - it seems to bog down the procedure a bit too much when a sixth player is planning moves.

Everyone agreed that the map needs to be enlarged and put on plexiglas and perhaps use dry-erase markers instead of crayons, and in colors that show up better.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2002-04-09T12:37:05+00:00
With the arrival of John, the group couldn't resist his please for a game of Bluff. I excused myself to take care of some business, but rejoined them for a fantastic game of Funkenschlag. Ashton departed, leaving five of us for this excellent game from Friedemann Friese.

When choosing the regions that would be in play, we were all surprised when Lenny actually selected the 'Ice' island. All of my previous games had omitted this territory. Ultimately, Lenny made this territory one of his primary goals and it served him extremely well.

Everyone was made aware of the potential power of the 'wind' plants, so they were hotly contested in most of the auctions in which they appeared. The wind plant that can supply three cities went for an astonishingly high price of $37. When all players are aware of the potential value of the wind plants and bid accordingly, it really does help prevent one player from grabbing a nearly insurmountable lead by using the 'wind plant' strategy.

The game was excruciatingly tight and tense. All of us were in competition for the lead. I managed to break ahead of the pack during the second phase, but, of course, this meant I usually had the last opportunity to purchase commodities. What assisted me tremendously was the fact that there were very few uranium plants in production, so I was usually able to purchase the resources my plant required at reasonable prices.

As the game drew to a close, I was on the verge of winning. However, the resources I required to successfully supply all of my plants were being depleted before I had the opportunity to purchase them. I literally went two complete turns on the verge of winning, but just couldn't acquire the necessary resources. This allowed my opponents to close the game and make the ending dramatically close. I finally managed to get another uranium plant on the final turn and purchase the required resources, successfully supplying 19 cities, one more than required by the game end rules. However, both Clyde and Lenny also managed to supply 19 cities, so the winner would be determined by remaining cash. Clyde only had $3 remaining, but both Lenny and I tied with $19 remaining! A tie!

Finals (with cash in parenthesis): Lenny 19 (19), Greg 19 (19), Clyde 19 (3), Ian 18, John 18

Ratings: John 9, Greg 8.5, Lenny 8, Ian 8, Clyde 8

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2002-02-06T21:57:13+00:00
Second time to the table for this outstanding game from Friedemann Friese. Jim mentioned that he really wanted to play this one again and his sister, Melissa, was very interested in playing, too. No problem for me, as I loved my first playing prior to Christmas (see full report on December 18, 2002 Session Report). We were joined by Keith, Lenny and John.

I've not been a huge fan of most of Friedemann's games, so when I heard about this one, I was dubious. However, I began hearing some positive buzz about it from a few trusted gaming buddies, so I took a chance and purchased a copy. Let me say that my buddies were correct ... this game is outstanding! It combines several different mechanisms -- auctions, resource market/management and crayon rails -- and does it fabulously. Each is present, but none overwhelms or dominates the game. They blend together extremely well and the game flows along very smoothly. Every decision you make during the course of the game is important, so you must constantly be alert and on top of your game. A false move or two can cost you dearly. In fact, that's about my only real concern about the game. I fear that if a player makes a blunder or two early, he may well find himself unable to catch the rest of the pack and be out of contention. I'm not necessarily sure this is a bad thing when playing with experienced players, but newbies may be at a disadvantage. Thus, I would strongly suggest that advice and assistance be given freely to those new to the game, particularly in the first of the three phases.

For those interested, I've described the game in a bit more detail in my December 18th Gaming Session report. Another playing or two and I'll render a full review. However, unless some hidden horror is uncovered in a future playing, my verdict will likely be: EXCELLENT!

We did opt to play the entire three phases in this game, and restricted the board to five territories as suggested in the rules. At first, we were a bit dubious about restricting the board this much, but in reality it worked wonderfully. The board was tight, causing lots of tough choices and territorial clashes with opponents. There are also a few other modifications with the six player rules, including the conclusion of phase one after one player connects to 7 cities (as opposed to 8) and the end of the game once a player connects to 15 cities (as opposed to 20). All of these worked very nicely.

>From our first game, it was obvious that Jim was partial to the Wind power plants. No, he is not a Al Gore groupie, but he likes the fact that these power plants do not require the consumption of resources to operate. The drawback is that they do require a hefty initial investment, but Jim had an eye on the long-term profitability of these plants. Sure enough, he was able to capture the first wind power plant available, but it cost him dearly (27 Euros). He was forced to forgo the mass construction of power lines the rest of us engaged in, but knew that eventually he would be able to horde some money and commence a building spree.

Sure enough, thanks to the turn order, Jim passed John and was the first to connect to 7 cities, forcing the game into Phase 2. Keith and I also connected to 7 cities on the same turn, but since we were after Jim in the turn order, these connections cost us 5 Euros more apiece! Proper timing is a VERY important tactic to be mastered in this game!

Jim, John, Keith and I remained neck-and-neck through most of the game. Melissa was only a step or two behind, but had been beaten to a few cities by both John and I. Lenny was suffering, having purchased a nuclear plant in an early auction which cost him a bit too much money. This set him back financially and he was unable to make the necessary connections to enlarge his treasury sufficiently enough to keep pace with the rest of us.

As the game entered the third phase, a big concern of all of us was to make sure we had the proper power plants to supply at least 15 cities. Thus, the late game auctions were extremely spirited. Often several of us found us just a dollar or two short of making another city connection. Proper management of your money is absolutely CRITICAL.

As the game drew into the final two rounds, it was clear Jim had a leg-up on the rest of us. Entering what was obviously the final round, we all recognized that Jim was going to be able to connect to 16 cities, while Keith, John and I would likely connect to 15 cities. The only way to possibly stop Jim would be to purchase ALL of the coal supplies, thereby denying him the three coals he needed to operate a vital plant. This would mean he would be unable to supply power to 6 of his cities, dropping him from a first place finish to a last place finish. After examining the holding capacity of all of our power plants, we discovered this tactic would be possible.

However, we felt uneasy about doing such a thing, as it was sort of like a 'kingmaker' situation. So, once the first player in the turn order (Lenny) opted NOT to purchase the six coal units he was able to hold, this tactic became moot. Jim was able to purchase the three coal units he needed and ultimately connected to 16 cities, capturing the victory.

Finals: Jim 16, Keith 15 ($32), John 15 ($21), Greg 15 ($2), Melissa 13, Lenny 10

Ratings: Jim 9,5, John 9, Melissa 9, Keith 9, Greg 8.5, Lenny 7.5

After the game, we discussed various occurrences and possible strategies. We also agreed that the situation which arose at the end of our game was NOT equivalent to a 'kingmaker' situation and that purchasing all of a particular resource in order to deny a player access to that resource is a viable and perfectly acceptable tactic. This is yet another factor player must consider. One, a player should purchase enough resources in advance of the final turn or two so that he can supply his power plants without being forced to purchase resources in the final turn. This way, he can insulate himself against such hostile tactics by his opponents. Second, a player can strive to secure power plants which do not require resources (Nuclear & Fusion). This, too, would prevent such hostile actions. Finally, a player can position himself so that he is not the obvious leader going into the final stages. Thus, he is far less likely to be the target of such actions.

So, what initially appeared to be a potentially ugly ending was, in reality, just another brilliant aspect of the game for which players must carefully prepare themselves. OUTSTANDING!

Funkenschlag is quickly rising in my rankings of games. One or two more experiences similar to this game will likely catapult it into my personal Top 10.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-31T23:37:59+00:00
Having had a chance to play the full game, I want to mention that it only adds 1 to 1.5 hours to the time. This is not bad considering that you are building to an additional 16 or so cities. But like many crayon rail games, your limited money and capacity makes for a slow start. Once you get to the end of phase 1 and the board opens up, players progress really increases. So the last moves are much more active than earlier ones. You also get into decisions involving what 3 power plant cards to keep to hit the 23-25 you'll need to win. These decisions don't really factor into the short 1 phase game as much.

Great game. Easily one of the best releases of 2001, in my opinion!
--
Ward

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2002-01-15T22:09:37+00:00
I hadn't given this game any consideration as I'm not a huge fan of Friedmann Friese's designs. I had purchased his most recent design, Fresh Flesh, sight unseen and was tremendously disappointed. I sold my copy after just two aborted playings.

However, I began hearing some VERY positive reaction to Funkenschlag on the net. After reading several glowing reports from folks whose opinions I value very highly, I decided to take a chance and purchase a copy. Plus, it was difficult to resist a game which combined auctions, crayon rails and a commodities market. We gave the game an inaugural playing and, boy, am I pleased! Funkenschlag is really a fantastic game!

As can be expected from a homemade design, the components are a mixed lot. There is the standard abundance of wooden pieces in various shapes and sizes, and the power plant cards are of decent quality and a good size. The board, however, is very amateurish and is 'rolled' so it will fit into the incredibly thick box. The problem is, try as you might, the flimsy map will not lie flat. I took Ben Baldanza's advice and purchased a piece of Plexiglas to hold the board flat. Of course, this also necessitated the purchase of colored dry-erase markers, but these worked extremely well and were easy to clean at the conclusion of the game.

The idea behind the game is that players are tycoons vying to acquire power plants and supply power to as many cities as possible. The rights to power plants are acquired at auctions, but the resources to 'feed' these power plants are purchased on the open commodity market. The fuel needed for these power plants vary and can include oil, coal, garbage and/or uranium. A few valuable plants actually require no fuel and operate solely from wind power. Al Gore would be very pleased!

Once the power plants are acquired, players begin constructing power lines across the land in attempts to connect to the various cities depicted on the board. This aspect of the game is very similar to crayon rail games, with player drawing the actual lines directly onto the map. The costs of constructing these power lines vary with the type of terrain being traversed. The challenge, of course, is to use your limited financial resources to construct these lines most efficiently and beat your opponent to as many cities as possible.

It is important to note that the game has three distinct phases. The major difference in the phases is the rule dictating how many player may connect to a city. During Phase 1, only one player may connect to a city. During Phase 2, two players may connect to a city, but it is more expensive for the second player to make this connection. During the final phase of the game, up to three players may connect to a city.

Once connected, players must supply power to these cities in order to derive income. In order to supply power, however, each power plant must have enough resources available as fuel. Power plants have a limit as to how many cities they can potentially supply, so the plants which have a greater capacity often cause a bidding war when they are up for auction. Further, each player has a limit (4) as to how many plants they may possess, so there is a constant cycle of upgrading one's plants. This, of course, costs money!

As mentioned, resources are purchased on the resource market. The order in which players purchase is important since as resources are purchased, they become scarcer and drive the price up. One tactic in the game is to position yourself so that you have first crack at the resources available and are thereby able to purchase them at a cheaper price than your opponents.

As mentioned earlier, the game is played in three phases. The rules suggest that players only play Phase 1 during their first game so they can become acclimated to the mechanics. Further, a few bad moves and decisions early on can severely cripple a player, so playing just Phase 1 acts as a learning experience for the players. We followed this advice and our game played to completion in just over 2 hours. It is my understanding that a full game only adds an hour or so to this time frame.

Our game was very competitive. Keith seemed to take the early lead, but Jim and I managed to connect to several cities in the third turn and were tied for the lead. Sadly, Willerd viciously encroached into my starting territory and claimed a city I had my eyes on. This forced me to travel East into Keith's territory, but he managed to beat me to a city I was attempting to reach. Lenny and Jim were left unthreatened, enabling them to progress unimpeded. Jim also managed to get a valuable wind-powered plant, enabling him to be less reliant on the resource market. This was enough to give Jim the victory.

Finals: Jim 8, Keith 7, Greg 7, Lenny 6, Willerd 5

Ratings; Jim 8.5, Keith 8.5, Greg 7.5, Willerd 7, Lenny 7

I'm eagerly looking forward to playing a full game of this excellent release.

Thread: User Review

ssmooth — 2002-01-04T19:37:54+00:00
We put this on the table for the first time with six players! Rather daring of us, having been warned that the game gets longer when you add players, and we added even further to the length by missing the special rule with six that you end the game when someone connects just seven cities (instead of eight as with fewer than six players). Nevertheless we got the game completed, including my explanation of the rules from having read them in advance, in under three hours. Knowing what we're doing, I'll bet we can run it in under two hours next time.

We've all played Mayfair Rails games before, and except for the prices being different, building the lines to connect the cities is the same in both games. In "the short game," since each city can be connected by only one player, we quickly found ourselves in a scramble to grab them before being scooped by somebody else in the neighborhood. Those of us who had made plans based on being able to connect our first three or four cities inexpensively soon found that we should have looked farther ahead to the problem of getting eight connected. Since there are only eight cities per player in the game (and that will be true with whatever number of players you have, as the board size adapts to number of players), the advantage eventually went to those who had a corner of the board behind them with some spare cities which were a lot farther away from everybody else. Since you've GOT to have cities connected to score for them when the game ends, this territorial part of the game is crucial. Though the game ends at the end of the round in which the target number of cities is reached, it's possible to connect multiple cities on your turn and thus finish the game with MORE than the target number. In fact Leon won our first game with nine cities. Of course you also have to be able to supply those cities with power on the last round in order to score for them -- but if you don't have the cities in the first place, it doesn't matter how much power you can supply. So the game is first of all about territory.

The same money ("Electros," I think the currency is called) you use to build track, you also use to buy power plants and to buy the resources to operate the power plants. The power plants are sold by auction, with a minimum bid for each plant printed on the card. By a rather complicated but actually rather clever set of procedures, the game starts with the power plants of the lowest minimum bids and least production capacity, with the bigger and better plants coming into circulation gradually. Everybody needs a plant at the beginning, but you never need more production capacity than the total number of cities you have at the moment; thus, in some of the middle rounds especially, it can be more prudent to wait a round in hopes of seeing a better plant come onto the market than to upgrade immediately. You can never have more than three power plants at a time, so the way it works out is, about the time you're connecting your seventh city, you've upgraded your plants to ones that can produce power for 2, 3, and maybe 4 cities. (In "the long game," where the number of cities to end the game is 20, the biggest plants eventually come into play, and you might finish with ones that supply 6, 6, and 8 cities.)

The different plants operate on different resources, and the resources are sold from a market where the price goes up and down using a simple but effective mechanism which I won't describe in detail here. Suffice it to say that the market gives you plenty of opportunities for your best penny-pinching tactics, where your purchase of a resource makes it a little more expensive for the next player. Much sought after are the wind-powered plants, which run without having to buy resources for them.

So those are your three expenditure categories: power plants, resources, track building, over and over in that order. At the finish line, you want to be the player supplying the most cities with power, meaning a) you're connected to the cities, b) you've got power plants to supply to that many cities, and c) you've got the resources in hand to run the plants. If there's a tie for number of cities supplied, the tiebreaker is most money left over, so ideally you want to have JUST enough resources on hand for that last round of supplying power, and not have wasted money on resources you're not going to burn.

We all found the game interesting -- some of us more than others -- but naturally had some concerns about its length. Normally we need a game to get down to around 90 minutes before we're really comfortable with it. I'm not sure whether Funkenschlag will squeeze down quite that far, or if everybody will be willing to go 120 with it. Perhaps this will be a game we tend to play with 3 players instead of 6. Well, we'll just have to try it again and see.

As a measure of how interesting we found the game, the three of us who stayed up late enough for games after games decided to play Funkenschlag again -- this time "the long game" to 20 cities. (In the round after somebody connects to his eighth city, access opens up and more than one player can connect to the same city.) The long game took Ward, David and me, not having to delve into the rulebook QUITE so often, about three hours to play, and Ward emerged victorious as the only player to connect to 20 cities in the final round and supplying power to all of them. That said, I lacked only a few Electros having enough cash to connect to my 20th city, and had I done so would have powered them all, so it was really an extremely close finish.

Though the finish line is different -- 20 cities in the long game, 8 in the short -- the endgame is very similar. So the shorter game will supply most of the same satisfactions as the longer game. Still the longer game is not THAT much longer, as more money is in circulation and you wind up building to your last 12 cities much faster than you did your first 8.

The game package is cheap cardboard and low-budget rather than the gorgeously mass-produced games we're used to seeing from Rio Grande and the big German publishers. The game board and production chart are bigger than the box and come out with a big bend in the middle (we wound up taping the board to the table to make it lie flat), so the first impression out of the box could have been better. But one graphic element I really did especially like was the cards representing the power plants, which are done in big bold solid colors, looking rather like silkscreen work. Appearance-wise, for me these were the saving grace of the game.

As for the play of the game, my first impression is that it is somewhere in the same neighborhood as Medieval Merchant or Vino, where you're playing with cash but cash is not the same as victory points. The cash flow of Funkenschlag is much simpler to deal with, though, as you're simply expanding and getting paid over and over. At the same time there is something of Vinci about the rhythm of the game, as you have to be in first place at the moment the game ends, so judging exactly when it's going to end and thus when to make your big push becomes one of the necessary skills of the game.

The whole system is really put together nicely, and my guess after my limited experience of two games is that Funkenschlag is going to have a lot of good replay value unless the sum of the cash flow management challenges comes to be seen too quickly as trivial... and at the moment, it looks to me more like we're going to enjoy nickel-and-diming each other with this one for quite some time to come.

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00
After two plays I can confidently say that this is my favorite game from Essen 2001. It has a great balance, good decisions and tensions throughout, and the turn order is a great way to keep the leader in check. While it may work better with four, it certainly works fine with five as well.

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00
Forgive my anal retentive mathematician's brain, but it seems obvious to me that there is a misprint
in the Income Table. If you follow the mathematical progression used to obtain the values in the
table (10+10+9+9+8+8, etc.), the income for supplying power to 4 cities should be $46, not $45.
Not a huge thing, but one that irked me, so I intend to use what I consider to be the "correct" value.

This is unquestionably a great game. It's longer than I usually like, but with very little downtime and
less intense gameplay than is usually found in games of this length, the time just flies by. My choice
as the best of the 2001 Essen games.