Game: Amulett, das

Thread: Re: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

JeffyJeff — 2008-09-10T03:09:07+00:00

Eric posted a blurb on his BGN site that Face 2 Face Games is going on a hiatus, not out of business, and still plans to publish this game soon.

Thread: Re: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

JeffyJeff — 2008-08-26T03:32:31+00:00

JeffyJeff wrote:
http://www.thoughthammer.com/product_info.php?products_id=16... says estimated release date of "October 2007"... but below that is "Please Note: The publisher has stated that this game is 'temporarily on hold'. We apologize for this unforseen delay and will update this page as soon as we find out any new information." so it doesn't even sound like it will come out this year
The above catalog page at TH now says `The release estimate is "some time in 2008"' so we can continue to hope?

edit: ps: the publisher's page at http://www.face2facegames.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=catalog.d... says "Release Date: Delayed T.B.A." which is what I think it's said for a while.

Thread: Re: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

sisteray — 2008-04-25T16:00:14+00:00

I can't wait for 2005!

Thread: Re: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

Castef — 2008-03-20T13:43:56+00:00

No news yet.

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Toynan — 2007-11-17T15:55:42+00:00

Close up on gems

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Toynan — 2007-11-17T15:53:37+00:00

Close up of a card transleted in french

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Toynan — 2007-11-17T15:49:30+00:00

Each player has ten chip to bid with

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Toynan — 2007-11-17T15:37:58+00:00

Cards stack

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Toynan — 2007-11-17T15:36:10+00:00

The begining of the game

Thread: Re: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

JeffyJeff — 2007-08-10T13:18:31+00:00

Henry Rhombus wrote:
ixnay66 wrote:
2005, huh?
Yeah, the delay is a real pity. Now F2F is talking about a 2007 release due to various wheelings and dealings and attempts to bring the game out in the right way.
http://www.thoughthammer.com/product_info.php?products_id=16... says estimated release date of "October 2007"... but below that is "Please Note: The publisher has stated that this game is 'temporarily on hold'. We apologize for this unforseen delay and will update this page as soon as we find out any new information." so it doesn't even sound like it will come out this year

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Florian Ernst — 2007-05-04T11:29:04+00:00

Larger, Cleaner Box Front without any stickers

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Florian Ernst — 2007-05-04T11:27:11+00:00

Artwork sample - Rules Cover Illustration Scan

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Florian Ernst — 2007-05-04T11:26:24+00:00

Artwork sample - Metal Ressource Cards and their backside

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Florian Ernst — 2007-05-04T11:25:48+00:00

Artwork sample - Energy Spells and backside of cards

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Florian Ernst — 2007-05-04T11:25:02+00:00

Artwork sample - Misc Spells

Thread: Re: Blue Spell Cards

gotswe — 2007-03-08T22:22:42+00:00

Question:
As I recall when playing the game (I don't have the rules available right now), I believe the rule clarifications for these cards used the word "Mitspieler", which to me appeared to indicate that you can only remove stones of your opponents and not those on your own cards. Could someone who is familiar with the rules please clarify if this indeed is the case? Thank you.

Thread: Re: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

Henry Rhombus — 2006-12-04T07:55:19+00:00

ixnay66 wrote:
2005, huh?

Yeah, the delay is a real pity. Now F2F is talking about a 2007 release due to various wheelings and dealings and attempts to bring the game out in the right way.

Thread: Re: Blue Spell Cards

Florian Ernst — 2006-11-30T17:24:56+00:00

For one file that outlines the spell card effects, it states that for the spells, Black Hole and White Lightning, 'you may remove one/two energy stones from any spell on the table', respectively.

FWIW, this pretty much matches the rules as present in my edition (2001 Goldsieber Germany):
For "Sog der Finsternis" (presumably "Black Hole") it states "Remove up to two energy stones from arbitrary spells", elaborating that you may spread the loss over two spells and players, but you don't have to, and that the affected players receive those stones back for their storage. For "Sog des Lichts" (presumably "White Lightning") just likewise, however simplified due to only one stone to remove.

HTH,
Flo

Thread: Blue Spell Cards

michaelsch86 — 2006-09-18T04:47:09+00:00

This came up as I was looking through the various files available online here.

For one file that outlines the spell card effects, it states that for the spells, Black Hole and White Lightning, 'you may remove one/two energy stones from any spell on the table', respectively.

On the other hand, in another file of spell card effects, both Black Hole and White Lightning spells are described as having the following effects: 'you may remove only one / up to two stones from any other Blue Card(s) in play, including your own', respectively.

Obviously, both card effects are completely different. Anyone has any idea which of the rules is correct?

Michael

Thread: Re: Influence In Wall Area?

Jonathan Degann — 2006-06-28T05:41:47+00:00

If it's bordered on at least one side by a wall, it's a wall area. It might also have pyramids too - in which case it will count for both.

Sometimes the board is too artsy to quite see what is intended. When in doubt, remember that it's just a normal hex map. The sides may be squishy, but if you see it as a hex map, it can be clearer.

Thread: Influence In Wall Area?

droolster — 2006-06-28T01:51:31+00:00

In reading the English Translation of the rules, the spell card "Influence In Wall Area" allows you to pay 2 less than the bid in a wall area. What area(s) are considered wall areas? I get the city area, but wall?

Also, is the city area with the pyramid in it also considered a pyramid area?

Thread: Re: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

ixnay66 — 2006-05-25T16:58:28+00:00

2005, huh?

Thread: Re: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

Henry Rhombus — 2006-04-22T21:49:44+00:00

Starsunsky wrote:
So, do anyone know if there are any rules or cards changed in the new version?

As far as I know, the rules are not changing other than clarifications on when you can do what. Wizard's Brew will include an expanded number of spell cards, although I'm not sure exactly how many more. The artwork on the cards is superb, and I can't wait to see the finished product!

Thread: Re: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

Starsunsky — 2005-09-26T16:10:24+00:00

So, do anyone know if there are any rules or cards changed in the new version?

Thanks.

Thread: Re: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

Steve99 — 2005-08-18T03:55:38+00:00

Wow I can't wait.

Some of the geek reviews were rather negative but on the one occassion that I played it, I certainly didn't feel the need to change any of the rules and all I wanted to do was play it again. Sadly the owner of the game never brought it back to the games group.

Now that the cards have been enhanced translated into English, this will be a definite buy for me.

Thread: To be released by Face2Face in English as Wizards Brew.

shawn_low — 2005-06-15T05:13:04+00:00

Yup, for those of you wanting this game. Hold on a little bit. Face2Face has announced an english edition sometime in 2005.

Thread: Session Report

Miss Panda — 2004-11-28T13:48:53+00:00

Before we even got started Kevin announced that this was his favorite Alan Moon game after just 1 playing. Jimmy said that didn't make sense because a game can only be a favorite if it's played A LOT! Jimmy said "Ticket to Ride" was his favorite after 20+ playings. Kevin then insisted Jimmy was being childish and this set off a whole discussion with neither backing down. I say they're both type Alpha males marking their gaming territory.
Anyway, I initially had crummy Magic cards and didn't get into the flow until about mid-game. You really are at the mercy of other people because no one knows for sure what the other players cards are and with 5 people it's a lot to keep track of. Fortunatelly for me Mike blundered the Wizard into prime Panda territory and I quickly acquired 5 jewels. Of course this set Kevin off whining to everyone that I was going to win (instead of him). Jimmy finally put himself in a great position with Magic and cards in hand but had to help me to help himself. Luckily Jeff out-bid him for a jewel then blundered the Wizard into a wall space where my cards were wild and Jimmy could only play gold. I won without opposition, Mike took 2nd with Jimmy/Jeff/Kevin being tied for last.

Thread: Session Report

clearclaw — 2003-10-13T16:10:39+00:00

Dave, Roy, GregW Eddie and me then picked up Das Amulett. Dave and
Roy had played before, but Dave was more familiar with the game and so
lead off into the rules.

Bits complaint:

The cards suck, badly. The metal symbols are non-standard -- they
didn't bother to use either the standard ISO symbols for the
different metals, or any of the common alchemy symbols, but rather
made up something of their own which was even less clear. The
colours of the gold and copper cards are also too similar. The
artwork on the spell cards is attractive but is too low-contrast for
the text and the eye from the necessary symbols again. This makes
the spell cards seem unnecessarily opaque to understanding at a
glance.

The board is fair, but appears cluttered. It is essentially an
array of hexagons distorted to not appear as hexagons. Unlike
Colovino's Clans, which also has a simple hexagon tessellation for
the board, Das Amulett's distortions significantly remove clarity.

You can see the various semi-standard alchemical symbols used the
various metals here:

http://www.chemsoc.org/viselements/pages/alchemist/alchemy.h...

After a hesitant start full of grumbles at bad cards and the bizarre
them/mechanics mix we started off.

Das Amulett has a steep learning curve. While there is nothing
particularly unique in the game mechanics, their interactions and
progressions are not immediately obvious.

Metal cards multiply rapidly in players hands from the very few at the
start of the game to hands of 20 or more near the end. As such the
value of a metal card follows a descending graph. Additionally the
curve of the metal card progression is not smooth. Spell cards and
jewels provide significant hills and valleys in the rampant inflation
curve. The value of spell cards is also severely contextual and
inconstant with different cards not only appreciating and depreciating
strongly as the values of metals changes, but also being strongly
affected by what other spell cards the player also has, as well as the
those in the possession of others.

The variant spell cards appear balanced in Das Amulett, but also seem
the weakest element of the game. Due to their random appearance it
seems difficult to significantly react to a new power imbalance before
another spell card appears which ratchets the game unbalanced in
another direction. The result seems somewhat unpredictably staccato
with the game lurching to significantly different balance points from
turn to turn.

In the end Dave won with 8 jewels with Eddie close behind with 7, Roy
and GregW with 6 different jewels, and myself in the tail with five
different.

Thread: Session Report

JimF — 2003-05-16T14:44:10+00:00

Well my first Session Report. A bizarre game that I had to record somewhere.

Playing were me, Steve, Sebastian and Pickles!

Steve, Sebastian and I had all played Amulett a few times before, but Pickles was new to the game as well as our gaming group - don't know why he's called Pickles but that is what he said his name was.

After a brief review of the rules we began by dealing each player their initial 2 spell cards. Pickles had been dealt the card that allows you to pay 2 less cards for bids in Pyramid areas and also the card which allows you to play 2 less in areas above the Wall. You will note that I will concentrate on the game from Pickles point of view - the reason for this should become clear by the end of this report.

We told Pickles he could discard either or both of these cards. Initially he wanted to keep both, but we suggested they didn't go torgether that well and he might want to consider replacing one of them. We should have kept our suggestions to ourseleves as it turned out. He decided to discard the above the Wall card and redrew the card that gives you an additional gem when you win a gem in a Pyramid area. We all said that went very well with his retained card.

Now onto the spell auction phase and this is where Steve, Seb and I must all take the blame for being equally naive and probably focusing too much on what we wanted to do. Anyway Pickles picked up 2 cards. The first was the card that makes all your metal cards wild in Pyramid areas and the second was the card that lets you pay 1 less card than your bid. We had a debate over whether this should be cumulative with his initial card that gave a 2 card rebate in Pyramid areas. In the end we decided to treat them cumulatively though we could find nothing on this in the rules.

Some of you may see where this is going by now. I think during the game I had an uneasy feeling at about this point. So it was gem auction time. We're in the City area with a PYRAMID to start. Seb has the pick the number of auctions card and decides on 6 auctions (little did he know). Pickles has 7 metal cards and wins the area with a bid of 6. His spell cards let him take 2 gems and regain 3 of the spent metal cards leaving him with 4 cards. Surprise surprise he moves to another PYRAMID area outside the city where all his cards are wild and bids 4 which noone has more of in that type of metal. Again he get 2 gems and regains 3 cards. He does this twice more and wins the game in 4 auctions with 8 gems with the rest of us left open mouthed.

The game had lasted a total of 2 or 3 miuntes and most of that was spent explaining the card functions to Pickles.

I feel it unfair to give Das Amulett a rating based on this playing - it might still be quite high just for the shock and amusement value. My previous few games of this have all been close run affairs where I have done well going for the grey metal spells and hoarding metal to use when the time is right. However, such long term planning was blown away in this game.

Thread: Session Report

tipsyweasel — 2002-12-10T17:20:55+00:00

We can always count on Bob to bring cool new games, and tonight was no exception. Das Amulett was the second hit of the night.

The game has basically two rounds of multiple auctions. The first is to get spell cards that will be used in the second round. The "money" for these auctions are the 10 energy points that each player has. When a player wins a bid, he must place that many points on the spell card. So you're not just trying to outbid the other players, you're allocating your own resources. We all thought this was a very slick and new game mechanic. I got some good spells in the initial deal, but I didn't really recognize this fact until later. I only put 2 and 3 points on them, but I should have done something like 5 and 5.

The second round is a series of auctions to claim stones off the board. The first person to get 7 unique or 8 total stones wins. I did well at first, picking up 4 stones, but then my time ran out on my spells and progress halted. Carlos won stone after stone and ended up winning the game.

We all enjoyed it very much. Bob had gone to the trouble of printing out the english version of the cards and put them in card protectors. That made the game very easy to play.

Thread: User Review

Eggo — 2002-10-30T16:17:58+00:00

Das Amulett

This relatively recent German offering includes many elements that I like: bidding, variable player powers, and fantasy. Well, the last element is really flavor only, as the game is rather abstract. Players collect gemstones – the first player to collect 7 different ones (or ANY 8) wins. Similarly to “Die Kaufleute von Amsterdam” there is only one token on the map – whoever won the last bid can decide where it moves next. The board is divided into various areas with 2 different gemstones initially (there are more than 7 different colours, with different total amounts in each colour), there are also “cities” with 3 different gemstones. All areas apart of cities have one metal symbol (there are 4 different metals of which each player initially receives one each). In these areas it is only possible to bid with this specific metal, only in the city can you use all 4. There are also areas with pyramids, and areas close to the “big wall”. These areas grant you special abilities, if you have certain “power cards”.
The power phase is the most interesting of the game: each player has a stock of 10 energy markers that will either be “free” or bound to cards. As many power cards as there are players are drawn and auctioned off. The amount of energy that you pay not only beats the other players amount, it also defines how long you can use a card, as each round one or two energy markers (depending on the strength of the power card) are removed – if there are none left, the card ceases to function.
Normally players will have from 2-4 “energized” power cards. Some of them let you draw specific metal cards each round, some of them make you select any metal card you want, some of them give you special bidding powers (for example forcing players to always bid at least 2 higher than you), some of them let you take energy away, etc. The abilities on the cards are varied and interesting, and basically through these cards the game is won.
After the power bidding a number between 4 and 6 is drawn, this is the amount of movements the single pawn will make. At each stop the players bid their metal cards that fit the area (it is very often possible to bid with ANY card – if you have, for example, a power card that allows you to do just that in a pyramid space, for example). The highest bidder takes the gem of her/his choice. Then s/he decides where the pawn will move next. It is very interesting to watch what gems other players have acquired so far, as it is often possible to move the pawn to a space where the leading player (preferably) will get a gem s/he already owns, thus making victory more difficult. But again, beware of the power cards, as some of them can move gemstones on the map!
The game is over pretty quickly, or rather more quickly than you wished for (“what, already? I wanted to win!”).
It makes you want to play again immediately, which is always a good feature in a game. Probably not an evergreen, but a very nice and deep game, with elegant mechanics and nice material. I thoroughly recommend it, though non-gamers might have to get used to the rather nebulous fantasy theme.

Moritz Eggert

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2002-10-28T14:34:48+00:00

This was teh new game of the evening. As far as I was concerned it was a complete disaster. I hadn't appreciated the way all the spells worked together and how much each was worth. Between that and taking the wrong metal cards at the wrong time, the game went rather pear shaped for me and I got stuffed out of site.

Simon eventually won with a full amulat from Eric & myself.

Thread: User Review

Eggo — 2002-09-08T13:39:05+00:00

Das Amulett
Publisher: Goldsieber

Author: Alan R. Moon, Aaron Weissblum

Tester: Aaron Haag

Game Tested: 1st release 2001

The Game: Travelling as one large group three to six players move across a board depicting a fantasy world with town and rural areas. In each of these areas gemstones are for sale (3 in a town area, 2 in a country area). The inhabitants of this world are willing to part with their precious gems if they are offered the resource they desperately need: metal. Each area of the map indicates the type of metal required (gold, silver, copper or iron). In their strive to collect 7 different gemstones (or any 8 of the 10 types) to win the game by filling the empty slots of a players amulet, hence the name of the game, players bid metal cards for the right to take one gemstone from the currently visited area. It goes to the player bidding the highest amount of the required type of metal. The group then moves on to an adjacent area of the map.

The third resource in this game are spell cards. The most important attribute of each spell is the amount of metal cards it creates per round (from 0 to 4). Most spells have additional effects, mostly on the bidding phase for gems (e.g. declaring a particular metal as a joker). Again, these spell cards are distributed to the player via a bidding round. And here the fourth and final resource comes into play: energy stones. At the start of the game each player receives 10 of these stones, which are used for bidding on spell cards and simultaneously as "energy" for a spell successfully bid on. Spells use up energy - high value spells at a higher speed than lower valued ones. "Used" energy stones are returned to the player and are again available for bidding on spells.

The game components are very well designed with plastic gemstones in easily distinguishable 10 colors and nicely drawn spell cards and a map board design that underlines the fantasy theme of the game.

Playing Time: The game can be explained in 5 to 10 minutes and played in about 60 to 90 minutes depending on the number of players.

Similar Games: Cosmic Encounter, Der Weisse Lotus

Westpark Gamer's Opinion: What sounds like a rather dry resource management game really is an excellent bidding game. As usual with this kind of game all players are permanently involved and there is hardly any waiting for a player to finish his or her turn. Since there are no real "killer" combination of spell cards the decision on whether to bid and if so how much is usually straight forward. Care must be taken though to not acquire too many spells that yield no metal cards as this can have a disastrous effect: you not only get no metal cards for bidding on gemstones but you also have insufficient energy stones for a few rounds to bid on better spells (because they are allocated to your spells).

Where bidding on spell cards is straight forward and fast (there is just one bid per player) we found a small problem with the bidding on gemstones: since only the amount of metal cards in a player's hand need to be disclosed but not their type a player may be tempted to drive up the price for a gemstone by bidding more than he/she is actually able to pay. In our opinion the rules should state what happens if a player cannot pay the required amount of metal cards.

Aaron's Rating: 7 (out of 10)

Westpark Gamers' Rating: 6.75

Thread: User Review

bengkohn — 2002-08-11T22:05:01+00:00

Das Amulett is a game that uses bidding and other mechanisms to create a lot of user interaction, but somehow falls short in almost all aspects.

Play occurs in turns, each of which has 3-6 rounds in which a player will aquire one or more gems, 7-8 of which are required to win. A turn starts with an auction for Spells (special abilities), of which there are a number available equal to the number of players. After this, the player token, representing all the players, is moved by the last auction winner to a new space with gems to buy. An auction is held, and the winner gains at least one gem. This is repeated 3-6 times and then the turn ends after some accounting details.

Of course the special abilities change play. Some allow you a second gem if you win one, or change what you have to pay if you win an auction. Interestingly it is also these spells which give you income to bid with in the first place, the more powerful spells tending to give less amounts of the currencies needed to bid for gems.

There are some clever mechanisms along the way. There are four kinds of metals used as currency, and not all kind can be used in all auction spaces. The auction for Spells in the first place uses your pool of energy chits, not currency, of which you always have ten, buy they are temporarily unavailable as you bid on more and more spells, a self-limiting factor.

The problem with the game lies in the overall feel of it. With the spell auction at the start of each turn, and 3-6 auctions in the middle, not enough different things occur to make the game interesting. It seems to be lacking something. Most of the auctions for gems are a foregone conclusion as to who is going to win it, and this is chosen by the person who decides what space to move to (the winner of the last auction). It becomes an excersice in accounting more than a fierce bidding war.

The special powers, as well, seem unbalanced, especially in certain combinations. Since they are revealed one at a time to bid on, it is often impossible to prevent someone from getting these combinations.

The win conditions are clever, but not very meaningful also, a trademark of this game. 7 different gems will win you the game, or 8 in any combination. The diffence of one gem isn't enough of an incentive when, by winning the auctions and directing the path of the party, you can pick up many in a turn.

All in all, the game has a clever feel to it, but it quickly wore out its welcome. I purchased this in the same lot as some other games which feel a bit similar to me, and this one quickly hit the trade pile. I wanted it to be a better game, and it seems as if there is a game in there somewhere wanting to get out, but it never did.

Although I don't imagine myself a game designer, I can almost see what might have to change to make this a much better game. Rethink the spell powers, make the first person to move the party determined somehow else than by the winner of the last spell auction (perhaps the person with the fewest gems?) Make the victory conditions a little more meaningful (perhaps 7 different, or 6 in only two colors, etc.)

Rating: a generous 6

Thread: User Review

stephensj23 — 2002-08-08T12:36:24+00:00

Das Amulett is an open auction game with a special power's variant. Each region is populated with gemstones that players bid for to complete their amulets. When a player has purchased 8 gems or seven different, he or she immediately wins. Each region will only accept certain kinds of metals as well, so an individual with many cards but all copper, will be out of luck if the bidding is occurring in a silver province.

The special powers are also acquired in an auction format. Each players is assigned a number of spell points (which look exactly like black Chicklets). Spell points are used to bid on the special powers, which then power the spells. The spells are very powerful, and certain spell combinations can be a winning formula. Some are as mundane as substituting one metal for another in a winning auction while others let players take an extra gem if they win an auction! Every turn, spell points are spent as the special powers are used and the points can be reused to bid on another special power. Also, spells are used to supply the player with metal cards used for bidding as most cards give the player anywhere from 1 to 4 cards for bidding on gems.

In general, I did not like the game overly much. Spells are turned up randomly and there are insufficient spell points to guarentee a card. Only a certain number of spells will be sold each turn, and players ending up without cards are sunk. Likewise, certain card combinations are so strong as to be overwhelming. One specific combination lets a player win all ties and pay one less metal. If one is looking for a good auction game, try Ra or Modern Art. I rate Das Amulet a C.

Thread: General Comment

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

A bidding game with the cutthroat feel of Citadels. The game we played last night proved that Das Amulett provides some true nastiness. Do not play with people you intend to keep as friends!

Dan

Thread: General Comment

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

Does any of you know if Rio Grande is preparing the English version of this game? Too many cards in german and I do not like past-ups.

Thread: General Comment

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

Played two games of this for the first time the other night. One game was with four players; the other with five players. We had a great time! The interwoven mechanics really add dimension to the game. One constatly has to think steps ahead (in the Spell phase) to plan for board position and jewel capture. The spell cards really add some unique abilities which are sometimes trumped in importance by the types and number of metal one can receive for bidding in the jewel phase. A great game that would benefit from additional spell cards.

Thread: Session Report

ssmooth — 2001-11-28T10:33:00+00:00

After I'd started the evening by teaching them Lowenherz, Jeff, John, and Jeanette returned the favor by teaching me Das Amulett, a game they had all played before.

The rules explanation didn't take too long, and in fact I felt ready to start the game before it was all done, figuring I had grasped the main points and could have the details filled in as we went along. The main points:

1. There's a board separated into a bunch of regions with two or three jewels in each of them. The goal of the game is to be the first one to buy eight jewels (or just seven, if you can get seven different colors), these being auctioned off for the metal currencies, gold, silver, copper, and iron (which are essentially equal in value except that some regions accept one and some regions accept another).

2. Each player gets 10 black "chiclets" with which to buy "magic spell" cards at auction. When you buy a spell, you put the number of chiclets on it that you paid for it, and your use of the spell lasts as long as the chiclets last on the card, as they trickle back into your hand (to use to bid with again) at the rate of one or two per turn, depending on the card. The spells not only give you a certain amount of the metal currencies per turn, they also give you special powers to exert -- for example, one spell lets you use your silver as whatever currency a non-silver region accepts.

Those were the main points. The details, like the turn order sequence (which went, spells auctions, collect metals income, jewel auctions, trickle chiclets, start over with spells auctions -- a very slick cycle of game mechanisms, really) and the different properties of the different regions (some bordered a wall, some had pyramids in them, etc.) and what the different spells could do, I would let them explain as we went along.

Then we started the game by turning up the first spell card to be auctioned -- and it was in German! Never occurred to me. But the game's not out in English translation yet. So immediately we went to the rules translation to see what the spell could do. This left me floundering a bit for the whole course of the game, as I couldn't just look across the table to see what spells somebody had, but found myself asking questions like, "Does anybody have anything that lets them do something special in this region?"

Nevertheless, the game proceeded apace, and I felt as though I was doing reasonably well, getting two of the four spell cards auctioned in the first round and one of the jewels. In the second round I finally managed to buy a yellow jewel, which caused one of my spell cards to pay me an extra two gold in each metals income phase as long as the spell lasted, and in the third round I got a really valuable spell, one that paid off one of each of the four metals as long as it lasted -- though it was one of the spell cards that trickled two chiclets each round. But later I got a "battery" spell that let me transfer two more chiclets to that card, so it wound up lasting all the way through to the next to last round.

John, however, was getting closest to going out, as he was the first to get to seven jewels, so the other three of us joined forces to make sure he couldn't buy the one more he needed to win. In the course of that round, though, Jeanette got up to six jewels, all of different colors, so she also needed only one more to win.

That brought us to the spells auction phase, and Jeff turned up a card which allowed the winner of a jewel auction to move the marker for the next auction to any region on the board (instead of to a bordering region, which is the rule if you don't have a spell for it). I immediately spotted this as an extremely powerful card in the present situation and bid all six of my remaining chiclets for it! This got a "What in the world are you thinking?" laughing kind of reaction from Jeff, and I said, "It's my only chance to win."

I had five jewels of different colors, and I figured if I could win one more and then immediately hold the next auction in a region where I could win my seventh color, I'd have the game. But then somebody reminded me that I still had a spell that would let me take TWO gems if I won an auction in a region with a pyramid. Fortunately my current holding of metals was just what I needed. The first jewel auction was in a silver region, and even though it was for a color I already had, I had six silver in hand to win my sixth jewel. Then I moved the marker for the next auction all the way across the board to a copper region with a pyramid -- and two jewels. Eight out of my last twelve metal cards were copper, and nobody could beat that bid, so I won the game with it.

It was a last-ditch, come-from-behind kind of victory and, well, it felt good!

I have mixed feelings about whether I'll enjoy playing Das Amulett repeatedly. Games where players choose from a variety of special powers don't always appeal to me. I won this one because exactly the power I needed came up at exactly the moment I needed it, and that was fun -- but how much fun was it for the players who didn't have such a stroke of luck? Or how much fun would it have been for me if I hadn't? I don't know. I guess I'll have to see another game or two played and find out whether the drama of the ending can repeat itself in some form and whether I find it entertaining even when I'm on the losing end.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-08-22T15:52:12+00:00

4 players: William, Rick, Dan, Jy
(Played 2x)
Group enjoyment rating : 5.88

Das Amulett was one of the runners up for this year's Spiel des Jahres award (kind of the Oscars of board games) and has had some good press on the net. That plus the fact that it was designed by Moon & Weissblum (designers of "Capitol" which has been a favorite at our group) meant expectations were high. Then throw in the fact that the box was purple, and we had the makings of a great game. As soon as we finished playing Knights and wanted something meatier, I suggested this one.

This was our learning game and we made the best of it. The goal of the game is to get either 7 gems of different colors or 8 gems of any colors. You win gems on the board by bidding resources for them. You get to the gems you want my moving the "Hat" to different regions on the board, each region requiring a different resource (really just a different 'suit') for the auction. Now that isn't too exciting by itself, but what adds flavor to the mix is the play off the board (much like Capitol.) Off the board you have spells that give different powers to help you out. These powers only last a certain amount of turns, the duration of which is determined by how much you bid for the spell cards! So basically turn order consists of bidding for spells (the highest bids wins AND it determines how many turns the spell will last); then the metal phase where players collect suits of cards to bid with on the board; next the gems phase where the Hat is moved around the board and players bid for gems with their suits.

GAME 1

I got dealt some spell cards that gave extra bonuses for pyramid zones, so I tried to win a lot in those regions and it paid off. Dan also started quick out of the gate, while William was left behind as a result of almost no resource card bonuses on his spell cards. Rick started to put some heat on the leader in the last third of the game but Dan ended up with two very powerful spells allowing him to match the last bid (insetad of upping it) as forcing the next player to bid after him to up the bid by 2. And that combo handed Dan the game. He really played the combo out well.

Number of gems in Das Amulett: Dan 7 (all different), Rick 7, Jy 5, William 4

Ratings: Dan 6, Rick 6, Jy 7, William 4
Group avg: 5.75

Well, everyone was intigured enough to play a second game. So off we went...

GAME 2
Right off the bat, I shot myself in the foot. On the very first gem up for auction, I bid 8 cards and I only had 7 which meant I lost all my cards. Which meant I couldn't win anything in the first round, and my spells were useless. Dan and Rick ran out to quick leads leaving William and I in the dust. William got a quick burst securing 4 gems midgame while I finally managed 2. But in the end, Dan had the knack again.

Number of Gems in Das Amulett: Dan 7 (all different), Rick 7, William 4, Jy 3

Ratings: Dan 6, Rick 6, William 6, Jy 6
Group avg: 6.00

Well at the end of the game there was a quiet pause. Rick summed up the group feeling: "This game is just missing something." Dan commented that the game had no soul and that's rang a bell for me. The reason I don't like Reiner Knizia's games much is because they are too mechanical and have no soul, and I think Das Amulett falls into that category. But even the Renier fans in the group didn't like this one too much. No real enthusiasm for the game at all and William and Rick both said the game had very little interesting player interaction.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-07-30T01:35:11+00:00

Das Amulet- Brain was the only one who had actually played this before. The other 3 had seen games played or at least read the rules so the ramp up time was short. On the 1st turn I only had 2 metals for production, but I had 2 cool spells to begin with. I had the spell that allowed my metals to be wild in the wall districts (where we started) and the spell that allowed me to pay 2 less for each
jewel in a wall district.
I noted who drew what metals and kicked butt round 1. If only it had been longer than 3 auctions! I won all 3 auctions by paying 2 less for each jewel and picking districts where the others had less than 2 metals. That earned me front runner status with the reward of a big
target being painted on me. In the end though I never did get any metal production spells and was always on the short end of the bidding. Nick and Brain took the lead at different times. Dave had joined me in the low metal producing category. In the end clever play by Nick and bad placement of the wizard hat by me gave him a victory with 7 different jewels. Brian and I were tied with 5 and Dave was at ~3. It is a great game that plays relatively quickly and is great fun too.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-06-26T00:29:26+00:00

Saturday was set to be a big Games day and we had a nice total of 8-10 people come and go through the day. I had just bought a couple of new titles, so I excited to try some of these out.

First up, das Amulett.

Players: myself, Steve, Dave, Jim.

A couple of items about this game. First, my copy came with nowhere near the correct distribution of gems. (ie. I have 1 red gem, 8 grey, 5 clear, etc, etc) Second, Dave had been playing MUSH's all night so he couldn't pay attention for more than 2 seconds to anything. (We forced him to take a nap after this game - which actually didn't help)

Anyway, after running through the rules we started and I was able to pick up a 'get an extra gem if in a pyramid square' and 'pay one less for bids'. Another player grabbed the 'determine the number of gems auctioned this round' and choose 6; which worked out VERY well for me. I waited until everyone had used up there metals in bidding, then took two pyramid squares for very cheap giving me four different colour gems after the first round.

Unfortunately, after this (I stalled; I wasn't getting good spells or any metals, and didn't come back into the game for a couple rounds.)

The game quickly tightened up but I was able to take the game with a well bought, 'your bids must be increased by two'. I had a lot of cards saved from the round before and bid extra high giving me my last two gems. The next highest player had 5, while sleepy Dave never got above 2 or 3.

Overall, this is a very good game, well balanced with some cards being more desirable than others. I'd give it a solid eight, with the only downside that I didn't get the correct distribution of jewels. (But the game was bought from funagain, so I'm hoping there's no problems with a return)

Next up... Torres.

Thread: Session Report

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

DAS AMULETT - Alan Moon and Aaron Weissblum's new game from Goldsieber. My third play and the game continues to grow on me (my first play I felt a bit lost and didn't really grasp the game too well - my 2nd play was better). I'm definitely liking it more and more especially as I have a much better idea of the general flow of the game an the abilities on the spell cards. The goal of the game is for each player to try and collect 7 different colored jewels or 8 total jewels of any color. There are spell cards which give each player resource production and usually some special abilities that are auctioned off each round. With just 10 energy stones per player (which are used for this bidding) they get distributed to the cards based on the amount you bid (if you bid 3 stones and win the auction, you place 3 energy stones on the spell card and one or two of those stones are removed each turn so the card stays in effect for that player for a short timespan). After the spell auction and resource production (resources are gold, silver, copper and a 4th metal I can't remember!) we move into the main part of the boardgame where we traverse the board and auction off various jewels in various areas. This happens by auction with the resource cards (not the energy stones that were used to acquire the spell cards which produce the resource cards!!). The resource cards are paid out by the winner and a jewel is collected and placed in the amulet. There is lots of fine group-think in this game as one player nears the completion of their amulet - the other players will try to steer the marker on the board so they have more difficulty trying to obtain that elusive last jewel. The special powers really throw some interesting twists in the game - slightly reminiscent of M:TG type powers where you can often find 2 or 3 spell cards to work in combination with eachother - only a bit more simple (which I think is a good thing!). After 3 games the auctions are starting to flow better for me - I have some relative value of what the cards are worth as the game progresses! I think Andy who was a first time player gave an initial thumbs up and enjoyed the play as well. I'd really like to play this with 4 players that had all played before - I think the game begs to have players who are all familiar with the various spell cards and relative worth in the auctions. In any event this was a close and tense game with Andy and I working hard for our 7th different colored jewel as Matt and David were slowly making progress in an attempt to sneak out a win. In the end, Andy and I had to take a 7th same-colored jewel and so needed an 8th to win. On the final round we couldn't secure it and due to B&N closing we had to shut down one turn from the finish (it was clear SOMEONE was going to win next round - but it was unclear who). We decided on a shared victory. The German on the spell cards was not too difficult with David (a native German speaker) able to translate - and once we got familiar with the cards (or in my case re-familiar) the symbols along the bottom clue you in fairly well as to what the card does. And great bits - amulet, jewels, colorful cards and energy-stone chicklets to boot! I'm glad I played this again - Das Amulett is exactly the type of game that might be a sleeper hit for me and it's nice to find additional things you like about a game on subsequent playings. It goes to show a single play is not usually enough to judge a game (my first play left me feeling somewhat ambivalent about it and it's gone steadily uphill each subsequent play). The gameplay (without learning curve) has been very near 60 or 70 minutes in all 3 games I played. It worked well with both 4 and 5 players (the only two numbers I've played it with).

Thread: Session Report

cwmassey — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Das Amulett - Pitt, Jake, Rob and myself: This was my closer for the evening and though I didn't win, I finallly had a shot at winning after getting crushed the first few times I played it.

Everyone had a shot at the win going into what turned out to be the last round. Rob and I needed any two jewels to win. Pitt needed to different jewels and Jake needed three. We visited five spaces the last turn. Jake and Rob took early gems but spent too many cards to finish off their amuletts. Rob took the 3rd jewel and had a chance to put the wizard's hat in a territory that would force Pitt to collect 8 instead of 7. Instead he went the other way and Pitt edged me out in the fourth auction (I should have bid one more card damn it!!) and then moved the hat into the city and bid the rest of his cards which was enough for the win. Very close tight game. Out of the three recent Moon/Weissblum games, this is right up there with San Marco for me. Four players seems to be the right number for this game as well.

Thread: Session Report

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

DAS AMULETT - Pat's friend Jen had expressed an interest in learning the new game and newly nominated finalist for the Spiel des Jahre in Germany. Alan Moon was on hand tonight so Pat and I had to be careful not to screw up the rules to badly! Anyway, there were 4 players, Bob, Pat, Jen and myself. Only Jen was new to the game so we got her up to speed and set out to complete our amulets. It was a bit of a runaway leader problem with Bob - he started with one of those "Get one jewel in an area and take a 2nd jewel if available...". This got him 4 quick Jewels, but the combined forces of Jen, Pat and I managed to reel him in a bit in the next few rounds. A bit of energy stone depletion (courtesy of Pat) notched Bob down a bit and then we started a real slugfest on trying to accumulate jewels. Jen and I got off to a slow start - but in the rounds we lost we kept accumulating more and more precious metals that we finally were able to use to acquire our jewels! Bob got saddled with a duplicate color and so had to strive for 8 jewels. Pat had some great card combos - and had exactly as many resource cards as he needed to lock up his 7th and game-winning jewel. Bob was a close 2nd. Jenn and I were only about half complete with our amulets. The game is very good and worthy of the nomination for SdJ which will be announced in 2 weeks (Das Amulett is one of the three finalists). The game was tense - the bidding comes fast and furious and the mechanism of resource allocation coupled with special powers and then spending resources to acquire jewels is handled really well. This is my 5th playing of Das Amulet. For all that is going on, the game continues to come in around 60-80 minutes with 4 players (my preferred number with this game - 5 and 3 being equally good but 6 seems too long). We used Pat's set with English-paste-up cards although I find the symbols at the bottom are really very easy to follow once you get a handle on the cards during your first play or two. I look forward to playing this again!