Game: Cape Horn

Thread: I finally take Cape Horn out of the closet

Gnomekin — 2008-07-16T17:31:38+00:00

I had heard about Cape Horn for quite a while on various lists. It is an older Euro title and, while it’s never made anyone’s top ten list, it seems to quietly stay in print. So, when I had a chance to pick it up cheap, I did so. Cape Horn then went into the game closet and stayed there.

I realized it was time for me to start getting some play into the pieces of my game collection that have never seemed play so Cape Horn came out of the closet and hit the table.

Cape Horn has a lot of elements that I’m used to. You have tile laying, you have multiple victory conditions, you have the fact that it’s a race game, you have preprogrammed movement, and you have the potential for some fairly vicious (i.e. fun) player conflict. Yet, they come together in a way that makes Cape Horn feel different than any other game I’ve played.

Each player controls a ship that is trying to round Cape Horn. The board is divided up into three zones and there are three checkpoints for each zone. Yeah, the yellow checkpoint for zone I is in zone II but it’s still the checkpoint for zone I. To win, you have to either reach two different colored checkpoints in two different zones and then cross the finish line OR you have to reach three different checkpoints in all three zones.

When you move your cute little wooden ship, you move the distance and direction that is indicated on the wind tile you are on. You must land on another wind tile but when you place wind tiles, they must be adjacent to another wind tile (diagonal does count, though). Thus, you are creating the race track as you go and you are programming out your next move.

That means, though, that you are also telegraphing your move and that means other players can interfere with your plans. In fact, they are definitely going to interfere with you because that’s where all the interaction and conflict in the game is. If you don’t play nasty or at least aggressively, Cape Horn loses a lot of what makes it sing. But if you’re nasty, oh, it sings.

There are other rules, including a resource called sail points that you can use to move in special ways but that’s the game in a nut shell.

I brought it over on game night at Abe’s place to play it with Abe and Greg.

The first thing Abe and I did was mix up Cape Horn with Cape Good Hope because we assumed we were sailing around Africa. Greg told us we were wrong and we argued with him until he pointed out that the map on the board was CLEARLY South America.

Thus chastised, I went over the rules and we started to play.

Both Greg and I started towards the temptingly close red check point in the first zone. However, Abe had realized the potential of disrupting other players’ paths. He created an ugly vortex of wind tiles around the zone which slowed us down. Neither Greg nor I played nasty enough to keep him from getting two tokens and crossing the finish line.

Well, having learned a few things, I insisted we play again. Greg and Abe had had enough fun the first time round they were eager for a second game.

This time out, both Greg and I were willing to play rough. The game became a steady series of laying down traps and coming up with counters for those traps. Both Greg and Abe were going for the two token and crossing the finish line victory so I pursued getting three tokens.

This included laying a false path of wind tiles for them to mess with while I spent three sail points for a special move that put me on a wind tile that they couldn’t block that would land me on my third checkpoint.

When all was said and done, all three of us enjoyed Cape Horn. It’s a game that we would not only play again, we were starting to think of other players who we would like to play it with. It is fast to set up and play and easy to teach but it has a very nice level of nastiness and conflict that keeps the game engaging and interesting.

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dcorban — 2008-04-24T18:53:18+00:00

German "Kap Hoorn" - The rear of the box.

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dcorban — 2008-04-24T18:52:20+00:00

German "Kap Hoorn" - The front of the box.

Thread: Re: Maximum wind tiles in hand

Gamegrunt — 2008-01-08T00:02:20+00:00

ymir wrote:
Hi
Is there a maximum wind tiles in a player's hand?
Is it a maximum of six wind tiles accumulation?

How about a ship on a tile that moves diagonal left two space, which will take it off the board?

Does this mean, that ship cannot choose to move diagonal 2 space left,in this case?

Thanks!

Six tiles is the hand limit. A ship cannot make the move described-it would be illegal.

Gg

Thread: Maximum wind tiles in hand

ymir — 2008-01-07T23:08:24+00:00

Hi
Is there a maximum wind tiles in a player's hand?
Is it a maximum of six wind tiles accumulation?

How about a ship on a tile that moves diagonal left two space, which will take it off the board?

Does this mean, that ship cannot choose to move diagonal 2 space left,in this case?

Thanks!

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fractaloon — 2007-10-24T02:46:45+00:00

Detail from the game board... this is the finish line.

Thread: Re: Cape Horn: Quick and easy; decent fun

TheCat — 2007-10-20T01:28:21+00:00

I think you'll find if you play with serious gamers who don't have problems with the directional aspect of the tiles and are willing to be brutal in tile placement to delay their opponents, it's a much better game.

Thread: Cape Horn: Quick and easy; decent fun

crobledo — 2007-10-03T17:43:46+00:00

I'm a very diverse gamer, who enjoys playing all types of games. I usually enjoy Euro games the most and party games the least, but there are exceptions to both. I am 24 years old, and play board games at least twice a week if not more with very varied demographics. I am trying to give more focus to my opinions and perceptions in my reviews instead of regurgitating component lists and rulebooks, especially for older games that other people have reviewed multiple times.

Overview

I picked up this game a few weeks after having played it for the first time with some friends at one of my groups. We were looking for a quick game, not to complicated, so we decided to give this a try. Cape Horn is in essence a racing game, where players are trying to be the first to sail around Cape Horn and cross the finish line. Along the way players have to pass specific checkpoints in order to win. It hasn't seen tremendous amounts of play in my group since I bought it, but the few times it has hit the table we have had a good time.

What you get in the box

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The game includes a ship miniature and a player mat for each player, a game board, and many wind tiles. It also has chits for players to mark the visited checkpoints and wooden markers to keep track of sail points.

At first glance, all the components seem of good quality and sturdy material. The player mat (or 'logbook') is very well done, as it has a great summary of the rules and the turn order printed right on it. When I teach this game to new players I have them read the mat first, and I can usually explain the rest of the rules in about 5 more minutes. The same can be said for the sail point track. The starting position for the marker is printed on the mat, so we always remember when we start a new game after not playing for some time. The board also features pre-printed locations for starting pieces and where they go according to the amount of players. The minimal setup time for this game is great.

If there is a fault to be found with the components is the wind tiles. The tiles are placed on the board, which is divided into three zones. When the wind tiles are placed in a zone, they must be facing the right direction. The first time we played the game, we had trouble differentiating which side of the tile was the top and which was the bottom, since you cannot always tell by looking at the arrows. You have to look at the number printed on the tile and the gradient of the back ground. Still, new players require a few turns in order to really grasp the tile placement.

Setup and Game play

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Each player takes a mat, places the sail point marker in the starting position and their ship on the board corresponding to their order (player playing first places his/her ship on the "1" spot on the board, second player on the "2" and so on) and grabs their starting tiles and the colored markers for the checkpoints. Then you place the numbered checkpoint markers on the board on the matching squares, and you are ready to play.

Game play proceeds in a very simple fashion. Turn order is:

1. Get a sail point

2. Place wind tiles (as many as you would like from the ones you have available, following placement rules)

3. Sail (choose a direction from the ones available on the wind tile your ship is sitting on, and move the amount of spaces listed)

4. Collect new wind tile(s).

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You may also do some special actions by spending sail points, which are all listed in the player mat (see image above).

The object of the game is to be the first one to cross the finish line after visiting 2 different colored checkpoints in 2 zones, OR be the first to collect 3 different colored checkpoints from the 3 different zones. From our play experience, both ways to win are pretty equal in terms of difficulty to complete. In order to explain the checkpoints, look at the image of the board above. If you notice, there are three clusters of the checkpoints (they don't necessarily correspond to the zone divisions on the board). The first one is the most irregular one, since the red checkpoint is a little farther west that the other two. There is a green, a red and a yellow checkpoint in each zone. The important part, is that once you collect a color in one zone, you may not collect that color again, or another checkpoint in that zone.

Placing wind tiles correctly and sail point management are the secrets to winning this game. You place wind tiles in order to advance your ship AND hinder your opponents. However you have a limited supply of tiles, so making the best use of them is crucial. Like I mentioned in the components section of the review, something that took some time to get used to was figuring out the orientation of the wind tiles. In the board image above, you can see that it is divided into 3 zones, the yellow, the blue and the red zone. The top of the tiles placed in the yellow zone must face south, in the blue zone they must face west and in the red zone north.

Overall Experience

We have fun when we play this game; it is just not as memorable as other ones in my collection and therefore usually gets outplayed by other games. It is a simple game, VERY easy to learn and VERY easy to set up. My fiancée is not a big gamer (other than party games) and she was able to get into this game and have fun. The tiles mechanics vary a lot depending on who you play with. I have played games where we were not as cut-throat about the tiles, and I have played others where people were more worried about hindering other players than advancing their own. It seems the common strategy in our group is to hang around 2nd and 3rd place in order to keep people focused on deterring the leading player and pulling off the win closer to the end.

This is a game to pick up if you have non-hardcore players in your group and you find it cheap at the store.

Fun: Difficulty: Length: (max: 5)

-Carlos Robledo

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fractaloon — 2007-09-11T23:42:04+00:00

A larger photo of the board.

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fractaloon — 2007-03-09T11:32:02+00:00

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fractaloon — 2007-03-09T11:30:38+00:00

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FitisGames.be — 2007-01-03T13:52:31+00:00

French version

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FitisGames.be — 2007-01-03T13:47:01+00:00

Thread: Re: Gameboard Belies the Rules

stray_flux — 2006-05-26T15:35:34+00:00

I think the rules make this point pretty clear. I don't have my Rio Grande Rules here but the translation on the geek says the following:

rules translation wrote:
Note: although the zones and areas are similar, they are not exactly the same. Specifically, the yellow nautical station for zone I is in the second area (blue) as are all the nautical stations for zone II. All of the nautical stations for zone III lie in the third area (red).

Warning: total assumption on my part below
[o]I assume that "areas" and "nautical zones" were originally intended to be the same but in play testing it was found that the yellow station was too easy to get to so they moved it into the 2nd "area" (or some such)[/o]

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Timotheous — 2006-05-04T13:10:41+00:00

Thread: Re: Covering a wind tile

TheCat — 2006-04-18T19:29:32+00:00

Yes, that's right. Sorry for any confusion I engendered.

I would further clarify:

If the active player can reach a tile during his/her current turn in any way, including using sail points for extra moves, then the active player cannot cover that tile with another one.

Thread: Re: Covering a wind tile

DSHStratRat2 — 2006-04-18T01:07:04+00:00

TheCat wrote:
DSHStratRat2 wrote:
In other words, we don't let you cover any tile that you could possibly reach on the same turn you placed it.

Right, that's what I said. Perhaps I should have used the words "upcoming move" instead of "upcoming turn."

It wasn't the "turn vs move" terminology that confused me, it was the "a player" vs "you" switch. Actually, what you said was:

We've always played that you cannot cover a tile if there is any way a player can reach it in the upcoming turn. If the player has or will have 5 points available, this means you can't cover a tile within a double-move-range of their ship.

I now realize that you were talking about one person, but it looks as though you're talking about two. Your wording makes it sound like you can't cover a tile if ANYONE ("a player") can reach it in their upcoming turn. When you say "if the player has this, then you can't do that," it sounds like you're limiting the active player's choices according to the position of another player.

I now assume that what you meant was: if the active player can reach a tile during his current turn, then the active player cannot cover that tile with another one. That's how my group plays it, and it sounds like yours does the same. Have I got it right yet?

Thread: Re: Covering a wind tile

TheCat — 2006-04-17T03:44:43+00:00

DSHStratRat2 wrote:
In other words, we don't let you cover any tile that you could possibly reach on the same turn you placed it.

Right, that's what I said. Perhaps I should have used the words "upcoming move" instead of "upcoming turn."

Thread: Gameboard Belies the Rules

DSHStratRat2 — 2006-04-15T19:12:18+00:00

Has anyone else had a problem with the way Cape Horn's game board belies its rules?

In at least a couple of places in the game's rules, it mentions that there are three nautical stations in each of the game board's three zones. Yet every time I look at the board, I see two nautical stations in the East, four in the South, and three in the West.

Maybe I'd better check again.

Yep. There they are again. Two in the East, four in the South, and three in the West.

Why this nit-pick? Because it's not a nit! This three-stations-in-each-zone baloney messed my group up!! We always played that you couldn't get a yellow token in the East! We'd race like hell to collect our red or green ones there, and then pick up an easy yellow token in the South, where there were two yellow nautical stations! If your wind cards didn't allow easy travel to the closer one, you picked up your yellow token at the farther one.

During our last game, somebody was perusing the rules and discovered all these references to "three nautical stations in each zone," and we eventually figured out that there were supposed to be three stations in each zone despite what the actual game board presented us. It will probably change our strategy quite a bit when we finally start playing the game right!

Don't get me wrong, we all like this game a great deal. And since we were all playing under the same misconception, no one was cheated by our mistake. But the game would be less confusing if the #1 yellow nautical station on the game board was located in the East zone, as the rules claim it is!

Thread: Re: Covering a wind tile

DSHStratRat2 — 2006-04-15T18:51:27+00:00

TheCat wrote:

We've always played that you cannot cover a tile if there is any way a player can reach it in the upcoming turn. If the player has or will have 5 points available, this means you can't cover a tile within a double-move-range of their ship.

I don't know if this is the official interpretation of the rules and would be interested in hearing what the official ruling might be.

Me too, because your interpretation is certainly one that never occurred to me (not that this makes your interpretation incorrect, of course).

My group plays that you cannot cover a tile if there is any way YOU can reach it during your current turn. Otherwise, the use of this strategy would be all too obvious: place a great tile over a lousy one, then spend 5 points making the double move to place your ship on it.

The way we interpret the rule, however, gives it two uses. Either you're playing a "dirty" tile over a good one in order to slow your opponent, or else you're playing a good tile to set up your own move on your next turn.

In other words, we don't let you cover any tile that you could possibly reach on the same turn you placed it.

Thread: TVB - 3 Player - Around the Horn we race, but never to SF

RPardoe — 2006-02-26T07:12:19+00:00

Our second game of the evening was Cape Horn - a game that Dave had acquired in trade, but had yet to get to the table to play. Cape Horn is a race game wherein players are racing their ships around the southern most point of South America. Movement is via "wind tiles" that indicate the distance and direction from the currently occupied space to the next. There is a bit of resource management as players have a hand of wind tiles to manage as well as "sail points" which allow additional actions such as move again, ignore the current wind tile, and draw additional wind tiles. Sail points are gained slowly gained (additional points can be gained by not moving) but quickly spent as actions usually cost multiple sail points. Also on the map are navigational way-stations in one of 3 colours in 3 different regions. The winner of the game is the first to reach 3 different coloured way-staions in each of the 3 regions. Or the first to reach 2 differently coloured way-stations and then race to the finish line on the way to San Francisco.

Our three ships started abreast, but Dave quickly tacked over to hug the Eastern coast of South America hoping to reach the Red #1 way-station. Jeff sailed straigh hoping to reach the Yellow #1 way-station. Rich had first tried to draft behind Dave along the way to the Red #1 - but suddenly found himself stalled and was forced to change sea lanes and follow Jeff. With the first markers collected, the race continued to the second markers deep in the south of Region 2. Dave headed for Yellow #2 while Jeff was headed for Red #2. Rich realized that being behind he would waste time trying to follow the other ships, so decided to change tactics and sail for Region #3 to pick up his second marker and perhaps sprint for the finish line.

With Dave and Jeff picking up their respective markers, they both now needed the Green #3 to complete their sets and win. Jeff then managed to play a wind tile that would point directly for the Green #3 and placed his ship on it setting up the win for his next turn. Dave's only hope was to reach the Green #3 before Jeff on this turn. Dave had the necessary tiles to maneuver to the way-station, but a second moves costs 5 sail points and Dave needed to ignore the current wind-tile at an additional 3 sail point cost. But Dave had only 6 sail points so couldn't afford the move. At this point, the game was conceded to Jeff.

An interesting maneuver, resource management game. Rich found himself hampered by drawing a lot of wind tiles with only 1 movement point while it appeared that Jeff and Dave did have more wind tiles with movement of 2 and 3. But to be fair, Jeff and Dave did spend their sail points to get more wind tiles while Rich perhaps spent his points to "ignore" his current tile. As new wind tiles cost 1 sail point while ignore costs 3 - 3 wind tiles can be drawn for a single ignore action. Therefore, it is probably a bit more economic to have a larger collection of tiles rather than forcing movement ignoring the current tile.

As the course is laid out as players set sail, the game is likely to have a different flavour each time. Not much that can be done to directly impact other players other than to occupy a desired spot or change a wind tile on the board. So the game might have a bit of a solo race feel, but there might be enough interaction to have a tight race as preferred sea lanes are likely to be developed as the game progresses.

Thread: Re: Covering a wind tile

TheCat — 2006-01-20T16:34:49+00:00

Brassjester wrote:
The rules say that the tile you cover 'cannot be reached by your ship's move, including the Ignore Normal Move special move'. What about the double move option? Does this still count, ie: should the rule read 'Cannot be reached by any normal OR Special Move in your turn', or can I cover a tile then move onto it using a 5 pt double move?

We've always played that you cannot cover a tile if there is any way a player can reach it in the upcoming turn. If the player has or will have 5 points available, this means you can't cover a tile within a double-move-range of their ship.

I don't know if this is the official interpretation of the rules and would be interested in hearing what the official ruling might be.

Thread: Covering a wind tile

Brassjester — 2005-10-22T22:43:28+00:00

The rules say that the tile you cover 'cannot be reached by your ship's move, including the Ignore Normal Move special move'. What about the double move option? Does this still count, ie: should the rule read 'Cannot be reached by any normal OR Special Move in your turn', or can I cover a tile then move onto it using a 5 pt double move?

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Jeff — 2005-09-13T12:10:36+00:00

One player (neutral) is racing for the finish line while the others go for a different victory condition.

Thread: Session Report

Codexier — 2005-07-06T15:00:59+00:00

This was our first time playing Cape Horn. I really like the components of the game, they look very nice on the table. After a few minutes of rules explanation, we got started. And had a blast!

We played this game more as a screw your opponent game rather than a win the race game. Lots of laughs as a player would look down and finally notice you totally screwed his approach a turn ago (called the "oh shit" moment). What's cool about it though, is that there is almost always a way around the problem, but it can put you behind quickly.

We had fun figuring out the strategy and flow and most of us ended up going in circles or backwards more than once.

In the end, I won by getting 3 markers, but one more turn would have had either DG or RB winning by getting 2 and going over the finish line. GP was way out of the race spinning around in a corner of the board.

We all had a really fun time and I think everyone thought of the game well.

Thread: Re: Fun end to a poker night

Blackberry — 2005-06-15T17:13:28+00:00

So, it was fun, but you hated it because it wasn't an hour long?

Thread: Fun end to a poker night

raynovich — 2005-06-14T23:01:34+00:00

Here is my first session report.

We decided to play this game at 11:30pm after a long night of
poker, in which I won (yeah!). Anyway, the competition for the evening
was Jason K., Michelle, and myself. Jason K. always likes to read the
rules himself, even if I know how to play and can teach the game. So
he spent about 15 minutes going over the rules, after which we began.

By a die roll, I was seeded first, Jason K. second, and Michelle third.
I got off to a great start because of a 3 space ahead tile. Jason K. and
Michelle had to start off by going slow with poor tile option at the
beginning of the game. I was able to collect sail points and make it
to the first check point easily. Jason K. actually began following my
path a turn behind me. Meanwhile, Michelle had to take a very poor
path due to her third place start and poor tile choices (She also did
not read the rules and was at a disadvantage).

Midgame, I was firmly in the lead but I had no tiles left due to the
rapid movement of my ship and the need to place all of my tiles. This
created a situation where I needed to use valuable sail points to pull
additional tiles, while Jason K. followed me, and Michelle was still
pulling up the rear.

After I had reached the second marker in the second region, Jason
convinced Michelle to heed my progress, less I would win the game. In
his successful convincing argument, I was unable to move efficiently
forward. I use the last of my sail points to pull additional tiles to go
for the 2 markers and finish line win. I also put some obstacles in
front of Jason to heed his ability to win with a 3 marker win.
Unfortunately, I forgot that Jason could use 3 sail point to move any one
space and pulled off the win.

What I learned: Do not take a rapid lead in this game. It is much better
to save your "great" tiles for the endgame. That way you do not appear
to be the early leader that everyone tries to stop which allows the second
place person to slide to victory.

I am not a fan of the under one hour games. It leaves too much to
chance, and does not have the long term strategy that I crave. However,
many gamers today seem to want shorter games. My loss.

Thread: 2 Player Variant

p0pcult — 2005-01-31T19:09:45+00:00

Thinking about how to rework this title for two players led me to the following conclusion: With more players, you have less control over the wind on the board. Thus the following untested idea for a 2-player variant:

-Each player races 1 ship.
-All normal rules are in effect, with the addition of the following:
-On your opponents turn, before it is his/her turn to play a wind card, you draw a wind card randomly and play it face down, according to normal placement rules, but only on an empty space. A face-down wind card is revealed (and remains face up for the rest of the game) only when a ship ends a move on it. Obviously, the ship that is on the wind card must deal with it accordingly.

This should add some hidden information and indeterminacy that playing with fewer players tends to take away. Please post comments if you have an opportunity to try this variant.

Thread: Re:Session Report

Gamegrunt — 2005-01-19T04:24:02+00:00

sodaklady (#78050),

Mary,

Thanks for the session report. I haven't played the game a whole lot (3 or 4 times) but I've done the "lay down all the tiles you have to set up the next move." Of course, another player can opt to block your destination tile, in which case you'll be spending the 3 sail points to ignore the wind and set out on a revised course.

I enjoy the game more than the people I play with, but then again, I'm a chess player, and I appreciate the forward thinking that a game like CH encourages.

Gg

Thread: Session Report

sodaklady — 2005-01-18T20:29:07+00:00

My husband, Richard, and daughter, Cori, and I sat down for our first game of Cape Horn.

After a few turns, we grew comfortable with the tile placement of this racing game--you don't have to lay tiles in your path but they do have to connect to already placed tiles. After we had each picked up our first token, Cori decided to start the nastiness and placed tiles which took me on a detour and sent Richard backwards.

On my way to the 2nd token, I decided to start playing ahead of my path and layed my whole hand of 4 tiles which layed out a lovely path to the second token and forwarded me to the 3rd. I felt very satisfied with my plan and would win in 2 moves. Unfortunately, this is when Cori noticed she could spend 5 sail points and move her ship twice. When she did this, it set her ship right on the 2nd token, which blocked my move and gave her the game.

Before you post my error, I must state that I just realized that this did not, in fact, block me since the one time that more than 1 ship can be on a tile is when there's a token on it. I could actually have taken my turn and won the game.

We all enjoyed the game very much because we are drawn to games where planning, nastiness and some control over your situation are involved. The downtime isn't too bad if you spend other people's turns planning your own movement; if you spend it talking, the game could drag as you sit trying to sort out your many options.

This is a very clever game which I'm glad to have in my collection.

Thread: User Review

dralius — 2004-11-18T16:19:34+00:00

Cape Horn review

First off I think I should mention that Cape Horn is in no way a sailing simulation, it does not take into account any of the factors that effect a real ships movement such as wind direction and tacking.

It is on the other hand a well balanced tile game with a nice sailing/racing theme woven in. The rules are written well and have enough examples so that it can be fully learnt in the first play without a lot of re-reading. It having two possible goals; reaching one flag in each zone or skipping one and running to the finish line not only allows a player who has fallen behind or made an error that keeps them from collecting a marker a chance to win but also makes it more difficult for the other players to interfere with you winning the game.

Interfering with another player’s movement is not always easy or desirable so leader bashing although possible is not a major element of play and is only likely to show up near the games end when one player is very close to winning. In the games I played despite the best efforts of the other players to stop the leader they were still able to win with cleaver tile placement.

The play is more tactical that strategic due to randomness from the tile drawing. Player’s buildup points as they progress that may be spent to help with movement so that an unlucky string of tile draws can be overcome; this includes ignoring the wind directions on the tiles which also helps a player overcome interference from other players. These sail point are best banked for when you really need them, either when you get stuck or at the end of the game to aid in your win.

Cape Horn is unique and should appeal to those who enjoy light strategy that involves some interaction between players and a little luck.

D.E.W.

Thread: Session Report

TheCat — 2004-09-21T19:08:36+00:00

I got a quick move three as the first player, and then the other two players pushed me even farther with their wind tiles, preventing me from obtaining a group I station marker. I didn't realize how thoroughly the other players could ruin my plans and placed my next six moves out on the board. Naturally, they sacrificed their wind tile placement to overlay my tiles, sending me off in odd directions.

By the end, I had picked up II and III station markers, with the other two players picking up I and II markers. Two of us raced for the finish, only to be beaten by the remaining player, who snuck in for her third station marker to win the game.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2002-10-28T14:35:10+00:00

Spouey had seen this game at a local hobby store and expressed interest in it. So, we enticed Elizabeth and Keith into playing.

Although they had played previously, Keith and Elizabeth both seemed confused on how the movement tiles are executed. They both fell behind early as it appeared Spouey and I were destined for victory. We were both using the strategy of collecting 2 tokens and then racing for the finish.

However, since we were the perceived leaders, we constantly had adverse tiles placed in our path. This allowed time for Keith to grasp the mechanics and strategies and put himself in position for the win. Sure enough, we were unable to stop him as he collected his third token and claimed the victory.

Ratings: Keith 6, Spouey 6, Greg 6, Elizabeth 4

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2002-06-16T15:48:48+00:00

Kap Hoorn: Four of us tried to sail around Cape Horn. I explained the rules to Matt, Adam & David. I had just received this game, so it was also new to me. We set sail, but it was awkward as we tried to figure out what was a good move. David went to the Argentine coast and grabbed the red nautical station. The other 3 headed to the yellow
station that is actually in section II. I got to the yellow station first and set up my exit to the red station in section II. I drew poor tiles and Adam jumped ahead and grabbed the red station with a 3 to the west arrow under it. He then went the 3 and was in striking distance of grabbing his 3rd station and the victory. None of us had
tiles to stop him (and he was close enough to spend sail to ignore real bad tiles). Adam won and the game was over quickly. We all looked at each other and asked `Is that it?'
David and I would like to try this again. I doubt Adam or Matt will. I'm sure there is a game here and we just played poorly to allowed Adam that easy victory.
Score: Adam wins with 3 different colored nautical stations from different zones.

Thread: Session Report

Dan Bosley — 2002-06-15T13:33:18+00:00

Next up was Cape Horn - the inaugural voyage for the 5 of us: James, Bonnie, Rick, Joe, and me. Interesting game, and just a bit different.

Each of us has a ship, and we are racing around Cape Horn. I guess that’s why they didn’t call the game “Greenland”.

During your turn, you may place wind-tiles that show the wind direction and its strength. Your ship can then move to another wind-tile, based on the wind direction and strength of the tile your ship is on when it left that space.

Your object is to either be the first player to have arrived at 3 different colored naval stations, OR to have arrived at 2 of the stations and then have crossed the finish line first instead of going to a 3rd station.

The placing of the wind-tiles is key. You obviously want to maximize your movement. But the other players can place wind-tiles that will hinder you, causing you to backtrack when you really don’t want to do so. And it is a race. And a close one, too.

In one sense, you are creating a sea-maze with the wind-tiles (since ships can only move onto wind-tiles, not onto empty spaces).

I had the lead at the beginning of the game, but then the other players started hammering me. Well, not literally. Anyhow, let’s just say that a bit of bad wind was passed on to me. So to speak. And my ship was becalmed.

Meanwhile, Joe was heading for his 3rd (and victory-clinching) naval station. We tried to thwart him with bad-direction wind-tiles, but it soon became apparent that he was going to get there pretty darn soon, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. That is one thing to note about the game. A turn or two before the game ends, you can see who is in position to win, and there’s little, if anything, you can do to stop them.

However....

Quiet, snake-in-the-grass Bonnie was calmly setting herself up for the other winning condition - first across the finish line with 2 stations reached. And she ALMOST did it. While we were concentrating on slowing Joe down, Bonnie had nicely set herself up with some accumulated sea points to give herself an extra turn.
And she used it, but fell short of crossing the finish line by ONE space. Then came Joe’s turn and he won.
But Bonnie almost did it.

Congrats to Joe on a great win and to Bonnie for an almost win!

Meanwhile, Rick, James (say, I’ve heard of him...) and I were sadly losing our lunches overboard, caught in the turbulent seas around the Cape Horn.

Good game. I look forward to playing it again.

Ratings:
Rick - 7.5, even though we don’t give half ratings. There’s one in every crowd....
James - 7
Bonnie - 7
Joe - 7
Dan - 7

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

If all Cape Horn had going for it was the wind-tile laying then it would have hit the trade pile 2 months ago. What keeps it viable is the sail points ( Thorsten Gimmler doing the Kiesling/Kramer routine). Having 2 different victory conditions adds to the suspense. From 5+ plays, I've come to the conclusion that the best Cape Horn contests happen when players get nasty and make the leaders predicament miserable by covering up tiles already played or playing ones that would result in backwards movement. If everyone stays in their own little world and only plays offensively, the game ends very abruptly with a runaway leader. With experienced players the game improves and the finish can be very tense.

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Beware the rules translation gaffe! According to information from Rio Grande Games, it is intended to be legal to pay 5 sail points to move your ship an extra time on your turn and on the same turn pay 3 sail points to ignore the directions on the wind card and move your ship once to a wind card in any of the eight neighboring squares. The sentence in the translated rules, "Each move must follow the normal movement rules," which would seem to deny this possibility, is nowhere to be found in the original German, and apparently was added by someone who wasn't taking into consideration that the paying of 3 sail points is one of the three SPECIAL movement rules.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

This game takes some thought, and some repeated playings, to get used to the mechanism. Players are trying to sail their vessel around Cape Horn and must reach two 'navigational' points before making a race for the finish. Another option is for them to reach a third navigational point, in which case they win automatically without having to bolt for the finish line.

Movement is dictated by the laying of wind tiles, which list various directions in which a player can move. For instance, one tile may show arrows and numbers which require a player to move '2 spaces forward', or '2 spaces forward, and 1 space left or right'. These tiles come in a variety of possibilities and must be managed to maximize one's movement in accordance with one's intentions. Of course, other players may place tiles in your planned path which will alter your movement capabilities, thereby forcing you to adapt and change your plans.

The board is divided into three regions. In each region, there are three navigational markers, one each in red, yellow and green. A player can win in one of two manners:

1) Reach a navigational marker in two different territories, but they must be of a different color. Then, that player must reach the finish line first.

2) Reach a navigational marker in three different areas, but they each must be a different color. The game ends immediately with that player victorious.

The basic idea is to manage one's tiles so that a logical movement path can be established to quickly get one to the required navigational points, while at the same time trying to lay tiles in such a way as to disrupt the paths on one's opponents. An intriguing idea, but frankly it falls a bit flat. I played twice and put it firmly in the same category as last year's Freibeuter (which I do enjoy a bit more than this one). I'll play it, but probably would never request it.

In addition to this game, I played another game of Cape Horn during the Gulf Games convention. For some reason, the movement arrows on the tiles were a constant source of confusion for the players. Despite the best effort of Jay Tummelson and myself at explaining and demonstrating how the system operated, players were still getting confused even during the latter stages of the game. Again, I think it takes repeated playings to become accustomed to the system.

In this game, John was the first to reach a navigational token, but was quickly followed by Jay and I. Jay burst out into a lead as John and I struggled to reach our second token. Fortunately, I was able to lay a series of tiles which forced Jay to slow down, while John seemed mired at the tip of the Cape. I was able to catch Jay and lay a path which I felt would lead me to victory.

Fortunately for me, Jay spotted that instead of angling for a race to the finish, John was setting himself up to grab his third navigational token, which would have earned him the victory. Jay placed a few tiles which made this task more difficult for John, and neither Jay nor John was able to lay the necessary tiles to prevent me from scooting across the finish line to claim the victory.

John enjoyed the game a bit more than I. Again, I'll play it, but not likely to make the purchase.

Ratings: John 7, Greg 6

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Doug writes:

First time out at Billabong, with Billabong newbie Craig Mc. joining Alan, Doug, Julian and Ann-Marie for a clipper race around Cape Horn.

This is essentially a tile laying game where you must position wind tiles in such a way that it gives your ship an advantage. The wind tiles have a 'strength' as well as one or more directions on them, and when your ship begins its turn on these tiles, they may move the 'strength' in spaces, in any of the directions indicated. However, the move must end on another wind tile.

The object of the game is to visit either two sailing stations (situated around the board) and sprint across the finish line at San Francisco, or visit three separate sailing stations (one per zone) and win instantly.

There are a couple of special "break the rules" rules - each turn you gain 1 sailing point, and sailing points are valuable - they allow you to:

* draw extra tiles at the end of your turn

* ignore the directions on the wind tiles and move to an adjacent tile for three points

* have another turn for five points

* you can choose to not move on your turn to gain an extra sailing point.

As this was the first game for everybody, we had the maximum number of players, and were playing a spatial awareness tile laying game, it all added up to the magic word "downtime". Personally, I didn't find the downtime that bad, as I could plot my move along with a few alternatives in case of knobbles, in advance, and managed to take my turn in perhaps 60 seconds. Julian thought the downtime was a real problem, however it appeared that a good portion of that downtime was spent discussing the downtime, and during the first half of the game while we were all learning the rules!

The only problem I could see with the game was the fact that because you could play several tiles on your turn, you could put a lot of effort into hindering your opponents, as well as trying to help yourself along at the same time, therefore the race could degenerate into a struggle with no player making too much progress. However, that didn't really happen, because if you were stuck on a "backwards" tile, you could simply pay three sail points to skip sideways onto a good tile. If the tile you slipped onto had multiple directions leading off it, you could be difficult to stop as you could disguise your planned path to victory.

So what happened....well, Doug in the player 5 position took the red sailing station close to South America, while the other players all tacked, gibbed, and whatever else clippers do to reach the green sailing station over near the eastern edge of the board. As all the players were so far away, Doug decided to try and skip around the Cape, into zone 3, pick up a second station token and race for the finish line - expending all his sail points to do so.

Big mistake, as that move put a large sign over Doug saying "Kick me", with Alan audibly painting the sign and Craig doing the kicking in the form of various nasty wind tiles in Doug's path. Doug couldn't do much about it other than accumulate three sail points and try for the sideways skip to search for a way forwards.

Craig appeared to be leading the pack of four players who had progressed into zone 2 and the game was much closer than Alan was claiming - in fact, Craig on claiming his second sailing station token was only a couple of moves away from claiming an instant win on the station in zone 3. Alan was stalking Craig, while Julian and Ann-Marie appeared to be caught in a whirlpool in zone 2.

Doug was still thrashing about with a meagre supply of sail points when Alan and Craig made their bid for victory, by playing strong '3' wind tiles to cut the corner of the Cape and beat it north to the finish line. Doug knobbled Alan, which forced a change in plans to try and win by claiming his third sailing station token. However Craig, in a strong move played wind tiles in such a way that he couldn't be stopped (Question: do you need to land on a wind tile across the finish line? Does it matter?), so it was up to the four other players to try for an instant win before Craig had another turn.

Alan was the only player who had a chance of this, and it all came down to his tile draw. It didn't happen for him, and Craig won the game. Alan seemed to think that this was unfair because Craig had an extra turn over Alan, and Alan could have finished the game with this extra turn. Not sure what to make of that, however my impression is that the many variables of tiles, sail points, etc, would nullify out any bonus gained in having an extra turn.

Scores:
Craig Mc: 2 stations and across the line
Doug/Julian/Alan/Ann-Marie: 2 stations

Doug's rating: 6, based on last night's game, but I expect it to climb a notch or two. The "downtime" issue that Julian seemed to think was there seemed to disappear - meaning the initial confusion while we were all in zone 1 had disappeared by zones 2/3 as we became accustomed to the rules. I can see that this is a reasonably good game, where you have to hoard good tiles/sailing points, and try to look as inconspicous as possible before making your bid for victory. I'd certainly play it differently next time, and could see this being a good four player game. Julian certainly didn't like it from about a third of the way in, and I'm not sure about the others.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

It was our second attempt to gather people in a "public place" (a bar which is kindly and freely opened just for us!) and to initiate a regular "rendez-vous" for the Liegian gamers (JdL). Well, it's a long way to...

We started with 3 players (Bina, Boulou and myself) but we were joined by Solange and Roy.

We don't give up and are going to organize an "information campaign"!

(Bina, Boulou, FredhoT)
---------
I played this KOSMOS (released in french by TILSIT) twice last week and agreed to explain it. I won my second match so was quite confidetn about my skills about it!

The beginning was quite chaotic with lots of "bad" tiles placed in order to hinder my fellow sparing-partners. The winds were quite contrary! I assured my path by placing good tiles and saving 5 navigation points to be able to move twice at the end of the game, when it will have become crucial! Boulou tried to follow my way, while Bina chose to get two beacon chips and reach the arrival line. I prefer to get the 3 beacons!

I had one turn in advance on Bina, but Boulou spend 5 nav points to move twice and placed his ship just on my next space! So I was blocked and lost one turn, which gave Bina the final victory! Boulou created a Kingmaker situation in a game which did seem to suffer such a situation! Any other similar experience? We found that there is a very strong luck factor with the drawing of the tiles! Also once again a feeling of a very dry game.

Final ranking: 1) Bina - 2) FredhoT - 3) Boulou
Ratings: Bina 5 - FredhoT 6 - Boulou 6

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Alex, Craig and I stormed our way around Kap Hoorn. I was lucky enough to pick up three '3' strong tiles in the first 4 or so goes which allowed me to charge into the lead. Despite numerous pu ... I mean hosage attempts, I was able to get three different coloured tokens from each zone just as Alex and then Craig were making their way into zone 3. Craig's comment: "You spend so much time trying to pus the other players, you sometimes forget that you have your own go as well"

The good thing about the hosage in this game is that you have to plan in advance and the leaders are able to hose the other players often just as effectively. It then becomes a ballet of plan and counterplan.

I give this a PGA rating of 7 after 3 plays for a good game I like to play, borderline buy. Best with 3 players, ok with 4. With more players, the control slips. It does have somewhat of a catch the leader problem, but this may be alleviated with more playings and more experience with tile play (ie Hosage 101). It's themed quite well with boats tacking back and forward finding the good wind. Alex's comment: "Yep, that's quite good, I'd play that again" which is praise indeed from the games-taskmaster.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Quite a neat race game as far as the mechanism goes. You can play wind tiles, and have to move from one to another. On the one hand you want to move ahead, visiting certain squares on your way to victory - but on the other hand you want to slow down your opponents. And they may be going for the same squares...

I like it, but I wonder about the endgame. The ability to “override” the wind tile at the cost of 3 movement points has in every game been the key to victory - while it’s quite easy to stop a player from landing ON their “winning” square by playing wind tiles, it’s VERY difficult to stop someone getting to within a space or two. For this reason I would be tempted to change the rules, so that the ability to override the wind tile can NOT be used to land on a marker square (or cross the finish line). I think this may give people who’ve fallen behind early a chance to catch up.

Of course, I’m just saying that because I was one of the ones who’d fallen behind! I decided to try and stack up as many sailing points and a big hand of wind tiles right from the start, so I didn’t join the other three in rushing to the first green station and getting in each other’s way, but waited and then made a quick hop to the red station. However I got a bit stuck then, with a hand full of backwards tiles (which foolishly I didn’t just scatter in the way of the rest, because I thought I needed to get to the same station as Simon). This proved to be a big mistake, as Simon placed a tile on the second station that would let him get to one space from his third. Nothing anyone could do to stop him at this point.

Simon won. So Simon won (or shared the win) in every game on the day.

I don’t know why we invite him round…

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

It's been a LONG time since this Kosmos title hit the table. With four players available in our group, I figured it was about time to have it make a reappearance. The captains of the high seas were Jim, Elizabeth, Ashton and myself.

Sadly, I must have done a poor job of explaining the rules. Ashton and Elizabeth seemed continuously perplexed throughout the game and constantly kept trying to place tiles in illegal positions. Further, they never fully understood how ships would move and seemed to have trouble visualizing this. Undoubtedly, this effected their overall enjoyment of the game and tarnished their ratings.

Some football games are filled with blunders: fumbles, penalties, interceptions, wrong routes, etc. In fact, most New Orleans Saints games fit this description perfectly. Well, this game could easily have been mistaken for a Saints game as all of us, with the exception of Jim, made critical blunders. Elizabeth overshot one of the markers, while I carefully planned my route, only to discover that I had landed on a marker whose color I already possessed! Duh! Ashton simply kept moving in the wrong directions, constantly mis-reading the direction arrows.

Jim, on the other hand, must have been a ship's captain in a previous life. He sailed like and expert, whipping around Cape Horn and quickly securing his three tokens. In spite of my efforts to re-direct his ship, he successfully maneuvered around my obstacles and raced to the finish, claiming the victory.

Ratings: Jim 6, Ashton 6, Greg 5.5, Elizabeth 4

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Kape Horn Or Gay Porn as we call it around here. Rather late to try this - put off by some so-so comments. Quite pleasantly surprised by the game. Not a terribly deep game but a relatively undemanding way to spend an hour. Again, doesn't quite have the park to make me rush back and play but not a bad little game. I would rate it a 7.

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Jeff: "I see what you mean now when you said this was a 'pus-y' game". He was in the lead and got hammered towards the end. No further details unfortunately. Presumably Ken, Craig or Rick sunk his chances.

Thread: Preview

BoardGameGeek — 2000-07-09T18:09:36+00:00

Well, I've discovered I like tile-placement games (esp. those with some spatial awareness, like Entdecker, El Caballero, or Dschungel), I like racing games, and I like nautical games. Today I finally tried Cape Horn, which has all of those elements. Guess what? I liked it! :-)

Read like that, it looks like a no-brainer...of *course* I would like it! Still, almost all of the comments I'd heard about the game in nearly the past year have been lukewarm at best. So I stayed away. In fact, it wasn't until I found one on sale that I decided to take a flier on it. The same story applies to Entdecker, which kept me at bay with mildly negative reviews for some time before I played it, and found I liked it just as much as I thought I would.

Not to discourage all of the early reports we hear from Essen, Nuremburg, and "bleeding edge" gamers who have to buy all of the new stuff--I read and enjoy all of that. But it helps to know what kinds of games you like, I guess, and read between the lines on those reviews.

Back to Cape Horn, the first thing I like is its production. I've got the Rio Grande edition--is the Kosmos original any different? Attractive box art, map, and good rule summary cards that double as sail-point track & waypoint "logbook." (Though I wish they'd copied Entdecker and punched holes in the track, so that the markers are less prone to slip.) The wind tiles are almost plain, but that looks kind of right when the board gets nearly filled. Other bits (navigation markers, ships) are adequate, though nothing special. (How jaded I am these days!--those little wooden ship pawns are nice.)

I feared this game would devolve into overanalysis, but pleasantly we managed to get through the rules (quick) and play a 5-player game in an hour! In fact, if I had to say anything about length, I might say that it's over a bit too soon, but that's colored by the fact that I was left behind, and didn't manage to catch up. With one game under my belt, I now see this is a true race game, and you don't dare fall more than a turn behind (because their is a special double-move option for catching up).

There's also a nice mechanism to moderate the amount of hindering plays you can make on an opponent. Overlaying the tile of your opponent is not easy, and you give up multiple tile placements of your own to do so. Still, sometimes it's the thing to do, and you can certainly do it. Better yet, a skillful leader can plan for that and make plays that protect him from being hosed too badly. Good stuff!

-MJ