Game: Elfenwizards

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big-pink-rabbit — 2008-08-07T13:38:49+00:00

Elfenwizards Dragon

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godongi — 2005-01-11T02:44:01+00:00

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godongi — 2005-01-11T02:44:01+00:00

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montsegur — 2003-07-02T12:46:19+00:00

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montsegur — 2003-07-02T12:46:17+00:00

Thread: Session Report

derk — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

George, Ken, Aldie, Neil, John, Derk

George picked this game up a while back for a song, and had extolled its virtues several times. We all sat down rearing to go, when we belatedly found out that George didn’t know the rules half as well as he thought he did. We did a group read of the rules (something I personally detest), and haltingly began the game. I’m told that the game is a derivation of Kremlin, but I’ve never actually played that game, so I can’t verify that. The game is actually pretty straight forward. The object of the game is to accrue points by having your magicians take up positions in a reverse tree-like advancement scheme. The further up you go, the more points each office is worth, and the fewer positions of that level are available. You’re given a metric buttload of dice to determine how many political points you’ll have for a given turn, with some method of re-rolling the dice that you deem unacceptable (too low). Players go around the table putting their dice next to the candidate that they wish to back for the coming election, and after all players have put their dice out, a simple count of the power determines who will advance, and who will fall down to a lower office. After four turns, the player with the most office points (or the person who takes the top office twice in those four turns) wins.

John was the first first player and I was second, which meant that he and I each had the possibility of getting into the top wizard position on the first turn. Since I got to go after him, however, I could counter virtually every move he made. That, combined with my healthy die rolling, meant I took the top office quite handily. That also meant that John was doomed to hover on the bottom rung for the first turn because he’d devoted all of his resources to the top office. Aldie and Ken seemed to have a little tryst worked out, but Ken got the best end of the deal for this turn at least. While Neil and his “this is my first attempt at this game, so I’m liable to do just about anything…” attitude devoted practically all of his minor spell chips (each is worth one point for advancement, but you only get a limited number of them and you can buy them back later for two pips) to defeating George for the second highest office. That’s not as to say that George was suffering, as he was able to counter with several low grade promotions for a nice mid-game total.

The next round saw the game leaders, Neil and George, take some serious hits as a new order was enforced. Aldie and Ken were still working together for most of the elections, but again, Ken seemed to come out looking much better than his counterpart. Poor Aldie seemed to get dogged at practically every turn. John and I had been working together in a pseudo-cooperative fashion, as I needed a friend with my fairly high point total. And John’s total wasn’t terribly impressive. However, that was all to change. John and I had been pretty effective horning our way further and further up the chart, but when the advancement chart narrowed from four to two, it was the moment of truth. I just assumed that we’d split it as we’d done in almost all the previous elections, but John had other plans (the bastard!). He was thinking to ace me out of both positions, which basically made the game a straight up dice-a-thon. My results were about average, whereas John’s dice came up spades. There was nothing to do but sit back and wait for the Grim Reaper. The rest of the players were jockeying for position in this last, and most important, round, but it would all be for naught. John had played me for a fool, and I fell in hook, line and sinker. As an additional bonus he took the victory too (and knocked me clear back to last place in the process).

John: 9 + 14 + 19 + 20 = 62
Ken: 12 + 15 + 17 + 11 = 55
Aldie: 12 + 10 + 13 + 18 = 53
Neil: 16 + 16 + 9 + 11 = 52
George: 18 + 12 + 8 + 14 = 52
Derk: 17 + 13 + 15 + 6 = 51

Well, it certainly was an interesting game. I realize that it’s a luck prone game, as many of the early White Wind games tend to be. But at the same time, there’s enough room to maneuver that it isn’t completely luck-based. In fact just a few more points on that final group of dice and I would’ve won. But at the same time, I tend to like my negotiation games with a little less luck involved, as the main component of the game should be the negotiation, not whether or not certain random events happen. I’ve gotten pretty screwed over in Chinatown for the same reason, but I think perhaps it’s a little more pronounced in this game. The components are simply great, and it makes me wish that I’d been collecting games back when the White Wind 1200’s were being issued just so I could get some of those games without having to donate a kidney to finance it.

Thread: Session Report

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

Present: Julian, Donna, Alan, Doug, David, Janet

Doug Adams writes:

Nearly back to full strength tonight, with David turning up half way through a reading of ....

I picked this up to complete my "Elfen" set, not really knowing much about itas a game, apart from a vague feeling it was Qvo Vadis with dice. That sums it up, I think, but it really has a nasty streak in it! Despite some confusion with the rules, the rather befuddling rulebook was read and off we went. I managed to defeat Julian to become the first High Wizard, while down on the lower levels of the tree Alan appeared to be upsetting some people, mainly David. Round 2 saw my wizards on the bottom rung (at Magician level), and I got them all up to the second level safely. Julian was elected High Wizard on turn 2, and Alan appeared to be relishing the opportunity to stick his thumb into many pies!

Round 3 saw Janet become High Wizard, and looking hard to beat - in her own words ...

"..I didn't really understand what was happening in the early game, all I knew was people kept supporting me!"

... and that early support had her in a great position, 7 points up on Julian and Doug going into the final round.

This was David's 15 seconds of fame as High Wizard, but Janet had done enough. I totally goofed the last turn, trying to take both positions below High Wizard for 18 points total in a bid for second place. I committed all dice there, but David thwarted me but supporting Donna instead of himself, and made sure I couldn't get both wizards promoted.

Scores were:

Janet: 16 + 19 + 15 + 12 + 6 minor spells = 68
Donna: 9 + 11 + 17 + 20 + 1 minor spell = 58
Julian: 17 + 16 + 10 + 8 + 6 minor spells = 57
Doug: 16 + 12 + 14 + 13 + 0 minor spells = 55
David: 8 + 12 + 15 + 15 + 4 minor spells = 54
Alan: 18 + 12 + 10 + 11 + 0 minor spells = 51

We were a little confused over the rule stating you must place 2 major spells, 2 minor spells or one of each on your turn - or pass. Pretty clear, then it goes on to say if you only have one major spell or one minor spell then you may place the one spell. This was interpreted literally that you could just place, for example, one major spell if you only had one dice, irrespective of how many minor spells you had. I think this was wrong, but I lost the argument...

Doug's rating: interesting.... 7 but this may swing either way.

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2000-01-06T17:18:40+00:00