Game: Techno Witches

Image

EndersGame — 2008-11-27T16:41:59+00:00

Inside joke: the artwork on the box cover features designer Heinrich Glumpler (see GeekList 35957 for more)

Thread: Re: Techno Witches Not Just For Kids

Great_Mazinga — 2008-09-17T14:50:07+00:00

He's probably thining in terms of playing AT local stores. If that's where he plays, I can see that perspective. My groups mostly play in people's homes, but I still like to browse shelves and buy local, as well as online sometimes.

Image

spearjr — 2007-10-22T12:07:03+00:00

Obstacles and home base

Image

spearjr — 2007-10-22T12:04:13+00:00

Plethora of curves

Thread: Re: Questions to owners

KingCroc — 2007-08-05T22:39:54+00:00

Bergbau wrote:
The rules are the only language dependent thing in this game.

Your son might like it. I think it is a bit too fiddly. If he likes "cool" components, he might also enjoy the features in this game.

/Strömer, from Sweden

"Fiddly" is one of those keywords on BGG that doesn't really mean much. People seem to use it whenever they don't enjoy a game, but just because a game isn't your thing, that doesn't mean there's anything necessarily "fiddly" about it.

I think any kid could understand Technowitches really easily. Especially since the game teaches everyone how to play it in four increasingly complex game variants. I've played it with very young children and they picked it up easily. It's one of my favorite truly All Ages games and the rules do a terrific job of simulating a racing dynamic.

Anyone can learn this game and be playing it in minutes, including kids (and even thick-headed non-gamers).

Thread: Re: Questions to owners

NetSapiens — 2007-08-05T21:58:29+00:00

Excellent Heinrich,

perhaps you can tell me if there's a pdf or other online version of the rules in English? I did buy the German version, as it was on sale, but my German is terrible, so I'm pretty sure I'll get something wrong if I try playing with my own personal translation

Thread: Re: Questions to owners

nosferrari — 2007-07-31T11:08:35+00:00

Hi,

the complete material is shown in this picture at my website:

http://www.erlkoenig.ws/hrrg/website/home/receiver.php?do=Sh...

There is no text on the component itself but there are several scenarios (each one a game for itself) described in german.

And - do not hesitate to contact me directly on any issue either here or via www.erlkoenig.net - I am always eager to support anybody buying my games :-)

Best Regards
Heinrich

Thread: Re: Questions to owners

Bergbau — 2007-07-31T08:00:22+00:00

The rules are the only language dependent thing in this game.

Your son might like it. I think it is a bit too fiddly. If he likes "cool" components, he might also enjoy the features in this game.

/Strömer, from Sweden

Thread: Questions to owners

NetSapiens — 2007-07-31T07:40:28+00:00

I am considering getting this game, but need answers to the following:

I can get my hands on a German version, but is there actually any language content in the game beyond the rules?
I would love to play this with my 8-year old. Is that possible, or is the game too complex?

Thanks for your replies.

Thread: Re: Size - How big is this?

Ampa — 2007-07-28T03:36:59+00:00

Thank you - that is great. Time to treat the family to a new game I think

Thread: Re: Size - How big is this?

nosferrari — 2007-07-27T07:22:56+00:00

nosferrari wrote:

For reference: I am a relatively slender person (73 kg, 178 cm)
Heinrich

That is my left hand in some of the pictures - this is the reason to include this ... just in case you wondered :-)

Best Regards
Heinrich

Thread: Re: Size - How big is this?

nosferrari — 2007-07-27T07:15:30+00:00

Hi,

the long straight edge of the "magic book" measures 15,5 cm.

Now take a look at this picture from one of the bonus scenarios:

http://www.erlkoenig.ws/hrrg/website/home/receiver.php?do=Sh...

For reference: I am a relatively slender person (73 kg, 178 cm)

Hopefully this helps - the next time I will ensure to include some object in the pictures with known measurements - THANK YOU for this tip!

Best Regards
Heinrich

Thread: Re: Size - How big is this?

chockle — 2007-07-27T03:48:24+00:00

I don't remember exactly how big the actual pieces are, but I played once on a 3' x 5' table and it was big enough. You could probably play on a 3' x 3'. Hope that helps.

Thread: Size - How big is this?

Ampa — 2007-07-27T02:21:04+00:00

I'm on the verge of searching this game out, but would like an idea of its size…

It is imposible from any of the images to guage how big the pieces are - too small and this could be rather fiddly, too big, and I'll need a new table to play on!

Can anyone give me an idea of scale? For example, how wide are the curves (I#m guessing about 1 inch / 2.5cm)

Thanks

Thread: Re: New scenario available

Ampa — 2007-07-27T02:13:26+00:00

Bonus Scenario 1: Dogfight

Bonus Scenario 2: 8 Player

Image

fsumarc — 2007-06-15T15:57:02+00:00

Techno Witchws english edition game box back

Image

Capitaine Grappin — 2007-03-27T17:03:36+00:00

The duel

Image

Capitaine Grappin — 2007-03-27T17:03:18+00:00

Yellow wizard

Image

Capitaine Grappin — 2007-03-27T17:02:52+00:00

A wizard and his spellbook

Thread: Re: What if your figure collides with an obstacle?

generalpf — 2006-12-30T07:54:12+00:00

Thanks Heinrich. Your game is great!

Thread: Re: What if your figure collides with an obstacle?

nosferrari — 2006-12-30T07:47:24+00:00

Hi,

I just checked the rules text and you are correct - the figure itself is not mentioned.

At least the picture in the section "flight abort" shows that the figure itself may not touch an obstacle.

And concerning your question: yes - you remove the last placed curve and place your figure behind the last "legally" placed curve.

By the way: at my website (see below) there are free rules to download for a "dogfight" bonus adventure and rules for up to 8 players with a quite different game play using simultaneous play (and two copies of "Techno Witches").

Best Regards
Heinrich (Glumpler)

www.erlkoenig.net

Thread: Re: What if your figure collides with an obstacle?

generalpf — 2006-12-28T14:56:58+00:00

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

The rules definitely do not tell you to abort the flight if the playing figure itself encounters an obstacle. Only a piece of the flight path can cause an abort, according to the rules as written.

Now, say your flight path goes unobstructed, but your playing figure hits an obstacle. What do you do then? All your flight path has been laid. The rules indicate the piece of flight path that encounters an obstacle would be removed, but that's not the case here. Would you remove the last piece of flight path?

Thanks. This is a great game!

Thread: Re: What if your figure collides with an obstacle?

nosferrari — 2006-12-28T14:48:03+00:00

Hi,

the rules *should* say that a flight is aborted if a curved tile *or* the figure itself cannot be placed without touching an obstacle.

I will re-check the rules text about this - but the intention is that it is definitely not allowed to place the figure on top of an obstacle - sorry if the rules are unclear about this point.

This is quite important because the curved tiles are designed in such a way that it is always possible to fly away from an obstacle even if the figure is nearly touching it. This cannot be ensured any more if it would be allowed to place the figure on top of an obstacle.

By the way - it is allowed to run a flight path *below* the upper nose of an opponent's figure. This happens time and again since the base of the figures is a little bit shorter than the upper part. But anytime a curved tile or a figure touches anything else than the flat surface of the table - abort the flight.

Best Regards
Heinrich Glumpler

www.erlkoenig.net

Thread: What if your figure collides with an obstacle?

generalpf — 2006-12-27T06:35:20+00:00

The rules are clear about what happens if a section of your flight path intersects with an obstacle, but what if the flight path is clean and an obstacle is encountered after you place your figure?

In almost all situations it's okay to place the figure over top of the obstacle, place the flight tail normally and simply choose a tight turn on your next turn, but we encountered a situation where a figure ended up so close to a castle that no turn would get it out of the way.

Say you considered a flight path aborted if the figure would collide with an obstacle, would it be fair to cancel out the last section of flight path played?

Cheers!

Thread: Re: New scenario available

BruceGee — 2006-12-03T00:38:38+00:00

I couldn't find any new scenario, at least in the English section.

Thread: Techno Witches, the first run!

Gorfinger — 2006-10-16T01:35:20+00:00

So I am off to visit my brother, a figure in my life whom I credit the whole concept of getting me interested in playing board games and I decide I would like to play test the rules for this game in a quick run through with him. I would have to say that within seconds of playing he had the mechanics down like a pro, I was avidly impressed *considering in the past 4 years he has been playing the game of life with a brand new baby rather than playing board games... yea it was a bad pun* we have a few incidents where we hit a building... or if we would have kept going 2 or 3 lol and it turns out to be a jolly ole time. I would have to say that this game is going to be on or near the top of my most used games for two reasons:
1) All Hallows Eve is coming and it’s about witches so that makes it an instant favorite.
2) The basic game mechanics are easy enough that you can have your friends up and running in little as I would say 2 minutes and the game can become entertaining enough with the concepts of keep away and races. This game was built with intent to make it malleable for more than one player group... wither it be racers, wacky game lovers, or battle your friend’s gamers. This game delivers BUT remember its a light game so don’t expect to be running a Role Playing Game or a three hour invasion of Normandy on it lol its purely for pulling off the shelf and having fun with the kiddos. My brother has already asked me to find him a copy for him and his daughter *who aptly loves Ants in the Pants* and I am currently preparing to Demo this game at my upcoming Gaming convention. Two thumbs up, well created game!!!

Jay

Image

Brain — 2006-10-04T02:38:17+00:00

Image

Brain — 2006-10-04T01:46:15+00:00

Thread: Re: Techno Witches Not Just For Kids

generalpf — 2006-09-19T14:49:36+00:00

Edbryan wrote:
Overall I think it was well worth $25. Cheaper if you support the hobby destroying online stores.
I'm not sure how [cheaper prices] -> [more games purchased] destroys the hobby. Seems to me like it supports it.

Thread: [Review] Techno Witches

TomVasel — 2006-03-28T23:10:54+00:00

I can certainly say that with Heinrich Glumpler I am always impressed with the total originality of his games - both in theme and in mechanics. I was therefore ready to be surprised when he sent me his latest game - Techno Witches (Rio Grande Games, 2005 - Heinrich Glumpler). The name was certainly uninspiring (sounded like the game was trying to rake hold of the Harry Potter craze), but I knew that the chances of the game being interesting were high.

After several games, I must say that I like Techno Witches quite a bit. I don't think I'm enthralled with the theme, although it does work; I can't keep spaceships or planes out of my head. Techno Witches is actually a sort of game system, with the rules for four games included with the rules, another bonus game online, and more can be created by players. The mechanics of the game take a bit to get used to, which is why the games in the rules teach one thing at a time until the final two (most fun in my opinion) games compile everything together. If the idea of flying around on mechanical broomsticks, trying to outmaneuver other players, sounds like fun, then you'll probably be very pleased with Techno Witches.

Each of two to four players takes their novice magician piece, which is mounted on one of them new-fangled jet brooms, and the matching magic book of that color. Each magic book is a semicircle token with spots for five curves on it. Using castle tokens, hut tokens, and following the diagram in the rules, one of the scenarios is set up on the table. Each player places their jet broom on the table in their starting location with a flight tail behind it. Piles of twenty curved pieces are placed near the board, and one player is chosen to go first.

On a player's turn, they have two simple options - either take one of the curves from the piles and place it adjacent to the next numerical spot on their magic book or fly.
When a player decides to fly, which they MUST do if they have filled all five spots on their magic book, they follow these steps -
- They remove their jet broom from the board.
- They place the first curve so that it connects to their flight tail the same way it was connected to the book.
- They place their next curve, if any, connecting to the first curve, etc.
- After placing all curves, they place their jet broom at the end of the final curve.
- They then remove all curves and return them to the supply piles.
- The flight tail is moved up to be behind the broom.

If at any time, during a flight, a player's flight path or jet broom comes in contact with another player's jet broom or an obstacle - a flight abort occurs. The player places their jet broom at the end of the last legally placed curve, discards all the rest of their curves, and their turn is over.

In some scenarios, players can fly backwards and can place a curve behind their book to show this. There are also a few other special rules for each of the four games in the rules.
Game 1: Players race to be the first to catch a cat token.
Game 2: Players race around a course, coming back to their home base, backing in.
Game 3: Players attempt to catch a cat token and hold onto it as long as possible.
Game 4: Players are attempting to catch a technophobe (a crazy flier).
Game 5: (found at http://tinyurl.com/b558x). Players try to stay up in the air as long as possible.

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: The jet brooms are three dimensional cardboard cutouts that look good and work well, although without a drop of glue, tend to fall apart occasionally. The rest of the tokens, such as the palaces and huts, are round cardboard tokens that are of good quality - just like the curves. The curves are split into ten pairs of identical curves, and show sparkling trails of pixie(?) dust on them. They fit together rather well, and it's easy to slide them onto the table and connect them with one another. We did often forget which end was next to the magic book, but gentle reminders from other players often helped alleviate forgetfulness. Everything fits into a nicely designed plastic insert in this medium-sized square box. The artwork on the jet broom and box is rather cartooney, showing witches flying around on vacuum cleaners (heresy!), etc.

2.) Rules: The rulebook is rather well done, as a player simply plays each game to learn how the rules work. I probably won't ever play the first two games again, as they are simply an exercise on how to fly, but isn't' this the way that several people like to learn ("let's just PLAY the game!")? Techno Witches is much better explained by doing and showing rather than saying, and the website and rulebook both do an excellent job of explaining with a lot of color illustrations and examples. Still, the mechanics aren't always intuitive, so expect some people to have trouble with the backwards flying, etc.

3.) Theme: The title "Techno Witches" just does nothing for me. I recognize the popularity of magic users, thanks to those books about Hogwarts, but it just seemed odd for me to suggest to a group of guys to play a game about dueling sorcerers on souped up broomsticks. In the fifth scenario, they are actually shooting at one another, so why not use spaceships or airplanes. Then again, this hang-up on the theme may simply be me.

4.) Curves: I'm really impressed with the choices of the angles and lengths of the curves. It's often difficult to tell them apart at a glance, which I think is a good thing, as it makes flying much more tricky. I suppose after dozens of games, players will know the exact curves to use in every situation, but I like the uncertainty of wondering if a curve you will use will work. Even after dozens of games, I'm not sure anyone is good enough to be able to work out in their head all five curves in advance. At first I was a little concerned that a player would get himself into a position that they couldn't get out of, but the designer assured me (and I confirmed) that the curves were designed in such a way that at least one of them could always be used.

5.) Flying: If a player places one curve, then flies, and then places another curve, then flies, etc., they will probably fly better and safer. On the other hand, a player who places five curves, then flies, will be much faster, although they are taking a chance of having an aborted flight. One slight nick can throw a player off course, and so players are constantly presented with the question of whether they will fly fast, or safe. In a game in which collisions with other players are important, these decisions are even more important. And fun.

6.) Games: As I said, the first couple of games are okay but are mostly for learning purposes. The third and fourth games are much more interesting and can be played multiple times with the third (ramming festival) as my favorite. It is pretty easy to design your own scenario - go to some destination, play tag, capture the flag, etc. As I said, one scenario is already on the web, and I'm sure more can/will be designed.

7.) Fun Factor: The game is fun because players enjoy moving their jet brooms around and using the curves in different combinations. I don't think people will enjoy the game because of the theme, but rather because of the way they can "fly" their folks around. It reminds me a bit of Wings of War, although not quite so simple. The game is actually rather easy; it just takes some people a bit of time to get used to how the curves interact.

I like games with an interesting twist, and I love games that have a lot of different ways to be played. By only changing a detail here and there, or adding a simple rule, the entire face of Techno Witches is different for each game. This allows for great variety, a good thing in my book and keeps the game fresh and invigorating. The theme is slightly odd, one that I wouldn't have used, but it is interesting and fun enough that I'm sure to play it many times in the future. I'd love to see the game expanded with more curves and ideas - Techno Witches is a complete game, yet one begging for more ideas. That alone makes it worth getting. Goodbye, Quidditch; hello, Techno Witches!

Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.tomvasel.com

Thread: Re: First Game of Techno-Witches

nosferrari — 2006-03-20T21:57:22+00:00

Hi,

so you inventend your first Techno Witches adventure :-)

One tip: when creating a race use the rule, that the flyers behind you will choose the hut that you must reach to win the game (see the "Bumblebee run" for this).

Since we all know that there are a lot of expert flyers out there, this balances the whole game turning it into the family game it is intended to be.

For a more aggressive game see my first bonus adventure "Dogfight" (see game entry).

I will soon provide rules for 8 players (you might have to twist a lot of arms then ;-)

Best Regards
Heinrich

Thread: First Game of Techno-Witches

Ocssalg — 2006-03-20T16:05:11+00:00

I had received Techno-Witches in my latest game order and was itching to try it out. I read the rules and I tried a few games by myself, but there’s nothing like a real game. Last Friday night I talked my wife Sarah and my teenage daughter Meg into giving it a spin.

Basically on your turn you either choose one of the available cardboard arcs and add it to your spellbook (carefully preserving the chosen left or right-turn orientation), or fly, which means you lay down all the arcs starting from your previous position. If your arcs and your witch don’t hit anything, you place your witch at the end of the arcs and return the arcs to the middle. If you hit anything (another player or one of the “castle” obstacles) you only go as far as you can without hitting, but still return all your arcs.

The beginners game is to start from individual “huts” one side of the starting line, navigate through a fields of eight obstacles (“castles”) and be the first to touch the cat token on the opposite side. From my solitaire trials I had decided that the simple race to the cat was too easy, even for a first game, so I announced it would be a race to the cat and back to the starting hut. That change worked out well. It meant the flyers had to U-turn after touching the cat and head back into the face of the others.

At the start I headed out to the right and the other two headed out to the left. We all underestimated the amount of curvature in the arc, so we swung out wider than we expected to. Choosing more arcs before flying gets you there faster, but is riskier because a misjudgment in arc radius at the beginning of a flight can make the rest of the arcs useless. I demonstrated this as I curved back in but hit a castle at the beginning of my third flight and wasted the rest of my arcs. The other two got their swerving under control but came in toward the cat more carefully. They tended to fly around the field of castles rather than through it.

Sarah touched the cat first, but she had a problem turning around because I came right after her and cut her off. That is, she couldn’t make her first move without hitting me, so she had to wait until I moved out of the way. I found it is a good strategy to move to a place that blocks another person’s flight path. When I was ready to move, I made a good start on my return trip, before Sarah was able to start, and by that time Meg came up behind and touched the cat coming from another direction.

Our flying was more skilled on the return trip, swerving around castle obstacles, but I had too much of a lead from my successful turnaround, and got back to my starting hut first. Sarah and Meg were flying home from different directions so they didn’t block each other, but each had obstacles to circumvent. Each made a mistake and crashed once, but it was Sarah who came in second by a nose.

Like RoboRally, the game is interesting when players interact with potentially colliding paths, and is less so when there is no interaction between players. Games should be set up to maximize inter-player contact. Meg and Sarah felt they simply weren’t so good at flight planning via choice of arcs with different curvature, and I think it will take a little arm-twisting to get them to play again.

Thread: Scenario: Hide & Seek

tonycrider — 2006-02-20T21:38:06+00:00

Extra Equipment: one eight-sided die.

Set up: Place the eight castles in any random fashion on the table excepting castle 1 which is placed in the center. Place the cat at castle 1 (just to the side but touching). Each player places his or her hut just outside the area containing the castles and takes his or her color marker and places it near his or her spell book. Finally, each player places the broom against the hut in the normal starting position.

Objective: Catch the cat.

Rules: When a player's flight path or broom touches the cat, he or she scores one point and moves his or her colored marker to the next numbered castle (or castle 1 if it's the first time that player touches the cat). The die is then rolled. The cat immediately appears at the castle corresponding to the die roll. The cat should be oriented so that it is between castle 1 and its new castle, unless the cat reappears at the same castle, then it is placed on the opposite side of the castle from where it was touched. Each player now has the option of aborting their flight plan. If a player chooses to do so, he or she simply returns the flight segments on their magic book back to the draw pool.

Victory conditions: 5 Points.

Optional 3D Flying rule: Players may freely cross paths. If a player's flight plan crosses another player, simply move the non-moving player out of the way while completing the flight plan. Once completed, return the non-moving player back to his or her original position. You cannot move or cross the non-moving player's tail segment (if you must, you are caught in that player's jet wash and your flight aborts) and you cannot end your movement if your broom would occupy the non-moving player's position (again just abort the flight at the last legal position).

Rule clarification: In the official rules, it states that a flight plan whose first segment is invalid "suspends". A suspended (as opposed to aborted) flight merely ends the players turn without returning the flight plan segments to the draw pool. However, in the case where the first segment crosses an immovable object, this rule clearly causes that player to be permanently stuck. In this case, the flight is aborted, not suspended.

Thread: Re: Cost

RichardT — 2006-02-17T11:37:25+00:00

Thanks for the responses - I was just having a bit of a vent

I'd get the game from Germany if I could find the English rules somewhere, but no luck so far.

The cost in the UK has more to do with the way we get the games than anyone deliberately hiking the price up I suspect. They go from Germany to the USA then come back to us, so we get to pay for them going over the Atlantic twice, AND pay whatever import tax applies to goods from the USA.

The extra scenarios look good, and I'm sure I'll get the game at some stage (ie when English rules are online )

Richard

Thread: Re: Cost

nosferrari — 2006-02-17T08:43:20+00:00

I do not know a lot about prices of boardgames in the UK so I cannot be of any help whatsoever regarding this topic.

In the case of Techno Witches it may help that I am providing new bonus adventures at www.erlkoenig.net from time to time that will reduce the "total costs of ownership" ;-)

Thread: Re: Cost

Innocent Bystander — 2006-02-17T04:36:42+00:00

Isn't there only 1 uk distributor and haven't they been done in the past for some kind of unfair trading practises?

Thread: Re: Cost

GeoMan — 2006-02-17T02:45:59+00:00

UK is really expensive but Greece is also expensive! (Bausack (Zoch) = 90 euro! for example)

Do as i do and buy your games from Germany.

Thread: Cost

RichardT — 2006-02-17T00:48:03+00:00

This looks like a fun game which I'd quite like to get hold of, but the wonder of UK pricing strikes again

I can buy this from Germany for 12 Euros (about £9.00), from the USA for about 16 Dollars (again about £9.00), but in the UK it's £22.00!!!!!! The UK trade price is higher than the retail price in Europe or the USA!

Do Rio Grande want us to buy their games or not?

Image

shawn_low — 2006-01-17T01:52:47+00:00

Witch house pieces up close.

Thread: Re: Techno Witches Not Just For Kids

ixnay66 — 2006-01-11T01:09:42+00:00

Edbryan wrote:
Overall I think it was well worth $25. Cheaper if you support the hobby destroying online stores.

I bought mine for $16 by not supporting the hobby apparently while saving $9.00 in the process.

Thread: Re: French or english rules ?

nosferrari — 2006-01-05T16:55:06+00:00

Hi,

the copyright for the english rules belong to Rio Grande Games but Jay Tummelson was so kind to allow me to provide the english rules pdf file for personal use to (prospective :-) )owners of the german version "Zauber Stauber".

Please contact me and I will provide you with the (slightly corrected) english rules pdf file.

Further informations and bonus adventures will be provided at www.erlkoenig.net .

Best Regards
Heinrich - the Erlkoenig - Glumpler

Thread: Re: French or english rules ?

Teemu Salohalme — 2006-01-05T09:14:55+00:00

Hi!

Are those offical English rules somewhere to be found? I would like to order this game from Germany but the missing English rules make me hesitate a bit. I read the short rules but I think there's more in the official rules.

Thanks!

Thread: Cat's Tail

Sky Knight X — 2005-12-20T18:17:09+00:00

Ah, this is my favorite perch. No one bothers me up here on the tallest spire of this small castle. I can clean myself in peace, and the view is great. Lick, lick, lick.

Huh? What’s that dreadful noise? *shiver* Oh. It seems like the witches are at it again. One never really does get used to the sound of vacuum cleaners. Grandma says it’s passed down through the genes. She says that in the old days brooms were used for riding and, vacuums were used in homes, where many a cat’s tails were injured. Barbaric.

Lick, lick. It is always amusing to watch the witches try to control their vacuums, but that young witch in green is coming uncomfortably close. “Meow, Hey watch it! You are going to crash into the castle…”

“Meoooowwwwww! Helllp!” I have been swept off the spire by this clumsy witch! She’s out of control. Eek! I am going to fall! I’ll just climb up here on top of her hat like so… And sink my claws deeply into her head like… this!

That’s mildly better, and her scream of pain was satisfying. I hope she gets me to the ground safely. Oh, oh, the young male witch is approaching fast. Meow, “turn, turn!” CRASH!

Now, the young red male witch has me. Huh? He is flying around laughing. Hey, wait a minute. This is no mistake. They are playing a game, and I am the prize! How humiliating. Meooow!

At least this witch has a drop of talent. He reminds me of that young Potboy, or Potsy, or Potter or whatever his name is. He is supposed to be a prodigy with this flying business. Wow. He just flew in between the young witch and the old yellow guy. Hmmm, they can’t seem to catch this boy. He has made 4 skillful turns. He has a pet owl, I understand. I hate owls. Although, I wish I were an owl right n…

SWOOSH “Reeeoooowww” Ouch! The old purple witch has me by the tail, “yeooowww!” I can’t stand it. My dignity! She just made one turn, going for another…

SWOOP “Ahhh” The old yellow witch, Dumb Dorf? Is that his name? He has me by the scruff of my neck. I can’t seem to be able to control my muscles. Fine, I’ll just go limp and relax. That’s it. Curl right up into a little ball and just hang here.

How long has he been, flying? No one is even near him. They can’t catch him. He has won, it seems. Good. Let me down on the ground, nice and gentle like. Just like that. Now, I’ll quickly run… “Yeoooowww! My tail! My tail! Turn it off! Turn it off!

Players:
Craig = Yellow = 5
Jamin = Red = 4
Skyler = Purple = 2
Dane = Green = 1

Thread: The Octathon : Tarot's 2-player scenario

Alan Kwan — 2005-12-17T01:59:16+00:00

This is a scenario primarily designed for 2 players. The players run a long, winding course, designed to force more cornering, and cause more "interaction". Although it can be played by more than 2, it will probably become too crowded.

Set-up:

Put the 8 castles, in numeric sequence, in roughly a straight or
curved line, table space permitting (see sample picture). The
distance between one castle and the next should be about one
magic book. The castles define the course, so it is best to give
some thought as to how the race will unfold when laying the
castles. Put two huts before castle #1 as the starting places,
and two huts after castle #8 as the finishing places. Each
player puts his token on castle #1.

]]>

The Race:

After choosing a starting hut (using the standard procedure), the
player needs to cross or touch the imaginary line between (the
centers of) castles #1 and #2. He needs to touch the line with a
flight path (not one which is aborted), his play figure, or his
flight tail. When he does so, he moves his token to castle #2,
and must then next try to pass between castle #2 and #3. And so
on.

In other words, the player needs to cross or touch the line between every two consecutive castles. When the player touches the line between castles #7 and #8, he puts his token on castle #8, and he can then land (backwards!) at one of the finishing huts and win the game. (You can land at either hut; there is no need to choose a target hut before you land.)

Strategy:

You are not required to actually cross each line; you can turn
around or back up after touching the line. Depending on the
course, this can be a very useful strategy. You can be very
efficient if, in a flight, your play figure touches a line after
executing the forward part of your flight, and your flight ends
by backing up and orienting towards the next target - this is
allowed.

You can also deliberately block your opponent by stopping right
on the line, especially lengthwise, making it more difficult for
him to clear the line without running into you (which is a flight
abort).

This is a somewhat lengthier race, and there is no special
mechanism to help the player behind to catch up. But because
this is a 2-player game, if you feel that you are hopelessly
behind, you can just concede the game and play again.

Thread: Re: Techno Witches: light & fast fantasy racing on broomsti

BeyondMonopoly — 2005-12-15T22:36:10+00:00

Oops, wrong link. Try this one:

http://www.erlkoenig.ws/hrrg/website/home/receiver.php?do=Sh...

Thread: Re: Techno Witches: light & fast fantasy racing on broomsti

molnar — 2005-12-15T20:30:16+00:00

That link takes me to an online solitaire version...
which is great...
and I suck at, just like the actual game, so it's realistic...
but I don't see anything there about scenarios.

David

Thread: Re: Techno Witches: light & fast fantasy racing on broomsti

BeyondMonopoly — 2005-12-15T17:25:52+00:00

There is a scenario available for download called "Dogfight" that works great for 2 players.

http://www.erlkoenig.ws/hrrg/receiver.php?do=StartGameInput&...

Thread: Re: Techno Witches: light & fast fantasy racing on broomsticks

Alan Kwan — 2005-12-15T15:10:33+00:00

fizzix wrote:
While the game suggests 2-4 players I have found that 2 is a bit boring because you don’t feel the “chaos” that you would expect in a magical race. Perhaps the proper scenario can make a good two player game.
I'm pretty sure that the scenario is the key. The first two book scenarios allow "too much room" for 2 players. The course needs to be tougher, to force the players to "interact" and to force them to make more turns (and hence, errors and chaos). I'm working on this.

Thread: Re: Techno Witches: light & fast fantasy racing on broomsticks

dr glaze et al — 2005-12-06T20:20:37+00:00

And not Mucich. Dusseldorf, of course.

Thread: Re: Techno Witches: light & fast fantasy racing on broomsticks

dr glaze et al — 2005-12-06T20:18:46+00:00

fizzix wrote:
“Techno Witches” doesn’t really grab your attention when you hear it does it? It makes me think of a bunch of pale-skinned, black turtle-neck wearing, Europeans dancing to Kraftwerk in a club in Munich.

Actually, I may be the target audience for that game about Kraftwerk. Harry potter does nothing for me, but a race game about Kraftwerk would fetch a pretty penny from me. I mean I'd pay a LOT of money for that.

"Trans-Europe Express: The Boardgame" designed by Martin Wallace with stunning 8' by 14' game board art by renowned artist Paul Niermeier. Coming April 2006 from Eagle Games.

Build it and I will play.

Thread: Techno Witches: light & fast fantasy racing on broomsticks

fizzix — 2005-12-06T19:48:04+00:00

“Techno Witches” doesn’t really grab your attention when you hear it does it? It makes me think of a bunch of pale-skinned, black turtle-neck wearing, Europeans dancing to Kraftwerk in a club in Munich. If you look past the name, you’ll find the game is about witches racing on broom-sticks which, to me, means this game screams for a Harry Potter / Quidditch theme. More on that later…

Inside the box

Inside you will find many linen-finished cardboard pieces. There are bunch of “magic trails” of varying lengths and turn. There are also lots of small, medium, and large discs showing huts and numbered castles. You’ll also find a spell-book board in each of four colors. These are semi-circular cards with the numbers 1 – 5 going around the semi-circle and a spell-book in the middle. There are small tokens in each color and a “cat” token. Finally you’ll find 5 cardboard witches that fold up to make a 3-D figure of a witch riding a broomstick. Why five witches when only four can play? One is used in a scenario and doesn’t belong to a player. As you fold up the figures, it looks like friction should hold them together but don’t count on it. Even though I tried to carefully assemble these witches I still found that 3 of them wouldn’t stay together without glue.

Playing the game

Techno-witches is not a single race game, but rather it’s bunch of pieces and a general set of rules around which you design a race scenario. When you start a game, you pick a scenario and set up a course (which will differ every time). The beginner scenario is a race across the course to capture the cat token. There is also a “rugby” variant where you try to hit the witch who has the cat token as well as a slalom variant (hence the numbered castles). The game encourages you to develop your own.

After you set up the course you place your witch in a starting spot (usually a hut or the colored disk) and put a small “exhaust” piece on the back of your witch. Players now take turns. During a player’s turn he may choose one of the following:

A) Select a magic trail. I call this “casting a movement spell”. You can pick whatever trail you like from what is available and you place it on your spell book at the lowest open number. Note that the orientation of the trail is very important because the piece will later be placed so that the side of the trail touching the spell book is oriented towards the “exhaust” piece on the back of your broom. You aren’t allowed to pick up pieces and see if they will fit on the board or turn the way you want when you select a trail, you just take one and put in on the book.

B) Fly! You get to move your witch using all of the trails you have selected, if possible. First you remove your witch but leave the exhaust piece. Starting with the trail at the lowest position on your spell book you place your tiles one after the other on the board. If, as you are placing tiles, your trail hits an obstacle like a castle or another witch then you must remove that tile and all of the other unplaced tiles are lost. If the trail is OK but when you put your witch back at the end of the trail, the witch hits an obstacle, you still remove trail pieces until your witch doesn’t hit anything. After you safely move, you remove the all trail tiles that were played and place the exhaust piece behind your broom again. Note that if a player has a completely filled spell book , he must fly (unless there is an obstacle right in front of him in which case he can defer to the next turn and not do anything).

That’s pretty much game play unless a particular scenario has different rules (like one scenario where you steal the cat token when you bump into another witch).

Impressions

This is a light game that requires good spatial perception. You need to know which piece to take just by looking at it and so you have to estimate lengths in your head and visualize the curve of the trail without actually putting the piece on the board. There are some tactics to game play in both selecting tiles since you can choose to hoard certain trail pieces preventing others from taking them and in knowing when to fly so that you can take advantage of the trail pieces as they return to the pool. You can use your position to block opponents just like in a real race.

Make sure you have a nice table to play this on because that’s your board. I played one game on my colorful holiday tablecloth and found all of my spatial estimations were distorted. I wouldn't play this with obsessive-compulsive people because the pieces do tend to move around a bit as they are placed / bumped and I'm sure that would drive these people crazy(-ier).

While the game suggests 2-4 players I have found that 2 is a bit boring because you don’t feel the “chaos” that you would expect in a magical race. Perhaps the proper scenario can make a good two player game. 4 player games have a nice mix of interaction between the competition for getting trails and from board position. The lightness of the game also makes it an excellent choice for to play with young people.

It’s fun to fly the broom around while making whoosh sounds and thinking about Harry Potter. In fact I wish Hasbro people would take note of this game, buy the rights, and repackage it because I think the rule set is easy enough for kids to really enjoy it as a Harry Potter game. That being said, there’s nothing keeping anyone from designing Quidditch rules for this game system but I think that, to do it properly you would need more that 1 set so you could have enough trails. As it stands you could have a mini Quidditch game of 2 on 2 with one beater/bludger and one seeker with a randomly moving snitch token. I’m still developing rules for that.

I hear a lot of comparisons made between this game and Wings of War. I’ve never played WoW but I know I prefer the theme of this one. Overall I give this game a 6.5 because it is on the lighter side and I prefer a meatier game but I think that, every so often, Techno Witches is going to hit the table because it fills a pretty unique spot in my game collection… I don’t have anything else quite like it.

Thread: Techno Witches Not Just For Kids

Edbryan — 2005-12-06T16:13:50+00:00

I picked up Techno Witches to play with my six year old son. I'd seen it briefly at BGG.Con, and it looked like it might have been good for him to play. On to the review

1. Components (Rio Grande Version)
As typical with most Euros the components are very nice. Included are Four Witches riding the latest and greatest in brooms, there is an extra Witch riding an old school broom as well. There are four spell books which hold your Curves. Eight circular castles that provide obstacles to be avoided, four circular huts to be used as starting positions. Five flight tails, which mark the start of your flight. Lastly there are twenty curves, these are used to move your witch. The curves range in size and angle, from almost straight to almost 90 degrees. Almost forgot the Cat! The cat is a goal in a couple of the scenarios. The pieces are all sturdy, and language independent.

2. Rules
The Rules are well laid out, with scenarios interspersed. To play the basic game only one and a half pages need to be read. The full rulebook is 4 pages, of which 2 1/2 pages are the three advanced scenarios, only one new rule is introduced, backwards flight.

So how do you play?

It's fairly basic, on your turn you can do one of two things, Take a curve, or fly. Taking a curve is grabbing a curve from the available pile and placing it against your spell book. The direction of the curve MATTERS! So make sure you place it correctly. A spell book can only hold five curves, so if you have five, you must fly.

Flying is also fairly simple. Each broom has a tail marker at the end of it, and when a player flies, they remove the broom marker, and place their curves in order adjacent to their tail marker. So curve one is placed against the tail, then curve two is placed against curve one etc... Once all the curves are placed, place your broom at the end of the flight path, remove the curves, and place your tail at the back of your broom.

Ok, so what if you hit a broom or another obstacle (the castles) Well in that case you don't fly that curve, and toss all of your curves. Note that there is an error in the rule book. It states you keep your curves if your first curve is illegal...this should be MAY keep. You might do this if it is a witch in your way who is likely to move, if it is a castle...you might want to toss those curves.

Play:

This game is a lot of fun, the turns are fast, and furious, and it's amazingly difficult to judge where your broom is going to end up. The basic scenario is to touch the cat on the other side of the eight castles, and the first game we played ended up with only two players making it close, the others were stuck far behind. I'd recomend for new players to fly after one or two curves, even though this isn't efficent. But it'll save you lots of wasted turns due to a bad flight. The game reminds me somewhat of Roborally with the programmed movement, but it moves much faster. It's not going to kill your brain, but there is some thought involved, and a bit of risk...do I go for another curve, and risk one of my opponents flying in my way, or grazing that castle? This is well worth playing and I'm hoping it'll hit the table quite a bit this Christmas. It is also simple enough for my son to be involved, though he has a tendency to smack into castles.

The advanced scenarios are even more difficult, involving backwards movement, and even catching the TechnoPhobe ( the witch with the old broomstick) who moves whenever any other witch moves!

Overall I think it was well worth $25. Cheaper if you support the hobby destroying online stores.

Thread: New scenario available

GeoMan — 2005-12-06T01:13:55+00:00

Bonus scenario available here:

http://www.edition-erlkoenig.de/

Thread: Re: Stopping on the first piece?

nosferrari — 2005-10-23T11:24:51+00:00

I was to busy after the fair to take a look at the english rules (I am the author) but in the german rules it is an *option* to wait - not a mandatory rule.

If - after deciding to fly - it is not possible to even bring the first curve on the table the player has the *option* to just miss his turn keeping all his programmed curves at his magic book.

Alternatively the player may just decide to use the standard rule meaning that the flight is aborted normally - in this case he loses all his curves and will start programming new in his next turn (probably choosing a tighter curve to circumvent the obstacle).

As you said - it does not make sense to miss a turn if the obstacle is immovable.

Some flight siutations are described at www.erlkoenig.net (in english) and I will add new situations explaining this issue.

Best Regards
Heinrich (Glumpler)

Thread: Stopping on the first piece?

tool — 2005-10-23T05:18:26+00:00

We played the Rio Grande edition today and had an issue with the rule on what happens if the first piece you play turns out to be illegal. The English rules say that if this happens you do NOT discard your pieces, but put the first piece back on your magic book and end your turn. This is OK if you hit another witch, but if you hit a castle or other immovable object, you will never be able to move again, unless we missed some other rule that would allow for this.

Thread: Re: French or english rules ?

nosferrari — 2005-10-16T18:27:23+00:00

Hi,

for a short rule description in english visit http://tinyurl.com/duorx .

As soon as the official english rules are available I will provide them at www.erkoenig.net .

If anybody provides french rules - please mail these to my address - I will provide them as download at www.erlkoenig.net if there are no copyright problems.

Best Regard
Heinrich Glumpler

Thread: French or english rules ?

Ludo le gars — 2005-10-13T06:52:37+00:00

Hi,

Everything is in the subject : who can send me a translated rule ?

thanks,

Ludo