Thread: Re:

ejvandekaa — 2005-09-23T08:57:01+00:00

One of the nice aspects of the game is the map and the way you mofe on it. There are triangles on the map. those are large or small to denote areas where one can walk very far or just a short distance.
I realy liked this war of displaying terrain dificulcy.

Evertjan van de Kaa

Image

Luke the Flaming — 2004-09-22T01:09:58+00:00

Image

Luke the Flaming — 2004-09-22T01:09:55+00:00

Thread: Re:Session Report

mi_de — 2004-08-18T10:43:52+00:00

randall (#49448),
Sorry I missed out! Damn trains...

Thread: Session Report

randall — 2004-08-16T19:41:24+00:00

Some two months ago, I bought this game based upon the looks of it. It has a beautiful large board, made up of triangles of different sizes. It is divided in four areas, one for each of the elements earth, water, fire and air. Furthermore, it has cities (twelve of them), mountains, and lakes to make up the landscape. Add gorgeous counters for creatures and equipment, and it is clear why I couldn't resist. Only now could I give it a try, together with Jeroen, Lajos, and Charissa.

The premise of the game is simple: each player is an alchemist, trying to create the elixir of life. This is done by combining the four elements using a variety of equipment (which you don't have at first) in your laboratory. So the task at hand is to gather gold to buy the necessary equipment, and collect the right elements. To help you in this task, you can summon (or however alchemists do this) creatures such as Behemoths, griffins and other legendary creatures, each with its own abilities (e.g. strength, movement, and combat ratings).
The game has a closed (and tight) economy: you start the game with number of gold coins, dependent upon the number of players. (A total of three gold (in the optional "money is less tight" rule we used) for each player: two in his possession and a third randomly placed in a city.) Money you spend is placed in a city at random, and can be claimed by a player by besieging and conquering the city.

A turn consists of five phases:
1. Each turn starts with a counting phase, in which the player order is determined by the number of creatures one has. One should also check (and probably update) the creature counts, as there can only be a certain number of each creature.
2. Secondly, there is an alchemy phase. Each player takes three or more cards (depending on bonuses), either Movement, or Creation cards. A movement cards allows you to move your alchemist during this phase, creation cards can be used to summon creatures. This is also the time when your alchemist can merge elements, if he is in his laboratory with the right equipment.
3. The third phase is regular movement: each summoned animal may move a number of triangles equal to its movement ability, pick up items and declare combat. You may also move your alchemist again this phase (5 triangles for free, or more with cards).
4. After movement follows combat: each declared combat is fought out at this moment. Combat proceeds in rounds, until one side is defeated or has fled. Each round, both sides select a creature to fight. You throw a number of dice equal to its attack number, each '5' scores one hit, each '6' does two. As soon as a creature is reduced to 0 defense points ("hit points"), it dies. If one of your dice is a '1', the other side may flee. Besieging a city proceeds in the same way, except that the city has high attack and defense numbers.
5. The turn ends witha market phase. A caravan moves from city to city, setting up a market in two cities each turn. If your alchemist is in town, he may buy some pieces of the required equipment.

This doesn't seem too complicated, does it? Well, the rulebook that comes with the game does a terrific job of obscuring the actual rules. In fact, the rulebook is just a collection of notes put in more-or-less the right order (from their website: "The rules are still gathered from notes and getting organised"). This makes it hard to play the game for the first time. I had read the rules some time ago and remembered the big picture, but it sure wasn't easy to find the precise rules, let alone explain it in sufficient degree to the others. I hope that they will post a set of updated rules soon, and make sure that it is complete: some things just weren't explained (or at least, we could not find them using the index).

So, how did the game actually progress? (This is a session report, after all.) We all started off by summoning creatures, either to fetch stuff, or just to feel safe. Lajos and Charissa made good use of portals during the game, and were quickly gathering their stuff. I myself tried to use some fast creatures to get the things that I'd need. This worked well up to three elements, but I took too long getting my fourth, having to walk across the board. (And see below for a rule that we got wrong.)
To conquer cities, we came up with the tactic of using your alchemist to create an army at the spot. However, this is one of the things that we did wrong: we didn't apply the maximum number of creatures correctly. In the "real" game, it is more likely that one uses portals to move an army from one city to the next.
Another mistake that we made was that we took a bonus card when we fused two elements, whereas the rules actually state that for each fusing that you have performed, you take a bonus card each round. This means that my strategy of slowly gathering the elements and then fusing them during a few consecutive rounds could stand up to the tactic of quickly merging two elements first and then gathering the third. When using the proper rules, you become more pressed to fuse as quickly as possible.
One thing that you have to pay attention to is the market. The caravan travels around the board, and if it happens to be on the other side, when you want to buy something, it takes a few turns for your alchemist to get there. (Especially, when you forget to bring along your gold in a rush to get there as soon as possible, as I did.)
In the end, Lajos and Charissa both created the elixir in the same round. The rules were very vague as to what happens next: according to the rules "play continues". But it does not say until when. Probably, until there is only one alchemist with an elixir left. We opted, however, to end the game right here. Opinions varied as to who had won, but it was evident that Jeroen and I had lost.

The game lasted about four and a half hours. Next time, this will probably be much shorter. One reason being that we would not lose as much time searching the rules as we did now, another reason being that you get a bonus card each round after fusing elements. This means that the game speeds up towards the end. I would estimate two and a half to three hours next time, which makes it a longer game, but certainly not too long. (But I have to say that I don't mind playing certain games for 6 or 7 hours straight. You might find otherwise.)

Ratings: Jeroen: 5, Roman:6, Lajos: 6.5. I must say, however, that my rating could probably go up a little next time I play it. If only the updated rules are published shortly...

Thread:

Lajos — 2004-08-14T13:49:31+00:00

I played Alchimech only once, but as there is no information on the game posted yet, I will nevertheless try to very briefly (!) review the game. (However, as this very brief review is based on a single experience I did not post it as a review but as a comment.)

The goal of Alchimech is to combine the four elements Earth, Water, Air and Fire in randomly predetermined quantities into an elixir. The four elements are found on a map (the map is divided in four parts that represent and supply the four elements) and can be carried around by alchemists or the many beasts that can be created by the alchemists (Behemoths, Griffins, Hellhounds, etc.). To combine elements the alchemists need labs and tools. Labs can be created like the beasts mentioned by the alchemists themselves. Tools have to be bought with gold from a travelling salesman in the city where that salesman at that point in the game opens a market. Gold in its turn can be obtained by conquering cities or stealing it from your opponents

All of this may sound simpler than it actually is. There are lots of additional rules and details. For example, the element of earth may not be carried into the area of air on the map. In fact, no element may be carried into its opposing element's part of the map. The game is further complicated by the fact that it is accompanied by one of the most unclear rulebooks I have every come across. Many details that may be important are not answered in the rule book; victory conditions are (in some cases) unclear; and during the game we were continually (and without much result) searching for answers on questions about the game and its rules.

From this, one could be tempted to conclude that Alchimech is a bad game. I think, however, it is not. First of all, there are some good things about the game. The theme and mechanics of the game are rather well thought out; the fantastic game board may be the most beautiful I have seen thus far and all other components are well designed and produced as well. Secondly, the many unclarities and possibly even flaws in the game do not seem to be fatal. I think the game can be fixed quite easily in fact, but as this conviction is based on a single experience, I may be wrong…

In conclusion, I would say that the only thing needed to make Alchimech a very enjoyable game at least, are improved and clearer rules. Considering the many contributions to this website, it probably won't take long until some fellow geek publishes these…

Image

Franqi — 2004-08-09T03:19:04+00:00

Image

hinj — 2004-07-12T01:53:14+00:00

Game: Alchimech

Thread: Re:

Image

Image

Thread: Re:Session Report

Thread: Session Report

Thread:

Image

Image