Game: Rivets

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sauceybugger — 2008-11-04T23:41:35+00:00

Countersheets

Thread: Re: Rivets review: Return of the Teeny Bopper

Ed_the_Red — 2007-10-23T09:10:01+00:00

Wow, thanks! You deserve plenty of credit for encouraging reviewers; I hadn't realised quite how many games there were without any - I suppose I felt I couldn't contribute in that way as I rarely have new games before hordes of others.

I'm glad my first effort met with approval, I enjoyed doing it and it didn't take too long - so I would encourage all other potential reviewers to try. Who knows, I may pass along some of my GG to you!

Eddy

Thread: Re: Rivets review: Return of the Teeny Bopper

mistermarino — 2007-10-23T01:29:48+00:00

Congratulations, you're a Cordwainer Bird Award winner for reviewing this game. I'm really glad to see a review for this fun little Microgame. Enjoy your 5 GG.

For more information on how you can see to it that OOP science fiction, fantasy and horror games do not rot in unreviewed oblivion, see my Cordwainer Bird Award GeekList.

Edit: I just realized this is your first review! Welcome to the ranks of BGG reviewers, and have two more GG as a bonus.

Thread: Re: Rivets review: Return of the Teeny Bopper

Curtis Anderson — 2007-10-22T23:01:13+00:00

This game is IN PRINT and can be bought "new" (not second-hand) from Decision Games.

http://www.decisiongames.com/html/rivets.html

http://www.decisiongames.com/html/excalibre_orders.html

Thread: Re: Rivets review: Return of the Teeny Bopper

Hatonastick — 2007-10-22T21:58:10+00:00

Boppers also happens to be the name of a "race" of robots created by the author/programmer etc. Rudy Rucker. See "Software" and "Wetware".

Thread: Re: Rivets review: Return of the Teeny Bopper

cferejohn — 2007-10-22T21:53:26+00:00

incidentally, this name appears to have been invented solely to enable one of the types to be called a Teeny Bopper

Also so one can be called the "Big Bopper" I imagine (an American Rock-n-Roll singer who died in the same plane crash as Richie Valens and Buddy Holly).

Nice review. Sounds interesting.

Thread: Rivets review: Return of the Teeny Bopper

Ed_the_Red — 2007-10-22T20:39:02+00:00

Rivets was one of a line of Metagaming microgames (designed to be inexpensive but not simple) from the 70s and 80s. The premise is simple: all the people are dead, and the remaining Boppers (Battlefield Orientated Pre-Programmed Eradicator Robots) are fighting it out over the resources they need. The trouble is, these Boppers are pretty dense, 'average IQ only slightly higher than that of most kitchen appliances'.

Included in the small cardboard box is a small hex map (8" x 14"), a rules booklet and two sheets of counters which you have to cut out with a sharp knife. As you'd expect given the price point it is fairly basic.

Rules

The rules are staightforward. Each side buys a variety of units with differening combat strengths, movement and special abilities, manoeuvres them around a map on an I-go, U-go basis, and attacks the enemy. The result of combat are calculated according to the traditional CRT - odds combining with a die roll to determine whether either or both is destroyed or if one has to retreat. So, a quite traditional wargame?

Not quite! Due to the stupidity of the Boppers (incidentally, this name appears to have been invented solely to enable one of the types to be called a Teeny Bopper) each type is only programmed to attack one enemy type (this is done at the start of the game, though it is possible to reprogramme during the game). Thus, some tactical nuances (as well as those due to terrain) are brought in. Units attacked by enemies they aren't programmed to attack themselves suffer a penalty. The exception is the Tiny (pron. Teeny) Bopper which can recognise and attack all enemy units but is weak. Other types include Big Boppers, Jack Boppers, Light Boppers, Rocket Boppers and Dive Boppers (air units)

Additionally there are rules concerning air attacks, missiles and Bopper Control and Production Complexes (BCPCs). BCPCs represent the home base of each side, and are responsible for production of new units and reprogramming if necessary. Destroying the enemy BCPC is also the goal of the game.

The rules make sense and have no anomalies. The only criticism I would have is that the authors are very fond of acronyms and this can get quite annoying. Sample sentence: "Since the BB is PTA LBs, it must attack the LB." It is unclear whether this is done to save space or because it was felt that the style fitted the genre!

Several different scenarios of increasing complexity are included and it is very easy to design more.

Gameplay

Generally quite fun, with some decisions to be made about where to attack, how to get the best odds, whether to make a sacrificial attack in order to get better odds elsewhere, and so on. It tends to be a bit of a slog, with lines of boppers fighting it out, rather than quickly shifting blitkreigs. When one side has the upper hand they tend to keep it. Although the BCPCs are tough, they can be worn down fairly quickly, so a losing player is not left in that position for too long.

Conclusion

A game will typically last between 30 and 60 minutes and is quite a satisfying experience, though probably not one you would want to return to that often. However, given the price, and the fact that you could buy half-a-dozen micros for the cost of one conventionally produced wargame of similar complexity, I don't think this is anything to complain about.

All in all, one of the most solid and enjoyable of the microgames.

Thread: Description, counter manifest and comments

ltmurnau — 2007-10-01T22:08:51+00:00

Text originally appeared in Simulacrum #27.

RIVETS

Designer: Robert Taylor
Publisher: Metagaming Concepts

Rivets was produced in three editions: a 1977 bagged version, a 1979 bagged version with different cover art, and a 1979 boxed version with the same cover art as the latter.

Players: 2
Playing time: 1 hour
Era: post-apocalyptic future
Scale: 1 robot/counter, ?/turn, about 1 km/hex

Components
1 – 20 page rules book
1 – 8x14” hex map of an anonymous piece of countryside
1 – sheet of counters, single-sided
1- box (in the boxed edition)

Counter Manifest

The first edition had strip-cut, red-on-white and white-on-red counters. The missile counters were half-size. The second edition had die-cut counters, with full-size missile counters.

First Edition (red and white units)
Second Edition (blue and white units)

Unit
Tiny Bopper (1-4) 8 each, both editions
Light Bopper (1-6) 10 each, both editions
Rocket Bopper (2-5) 8 each, both editions
Jack Bopper (3-4) 8 each, both editions
Big Bopper (5-3) 8 each, both editions
Dive Bopper (6-6) 2 each, both editions
AA Missile 4 each, first edition; 5 each second edition
AG missile 3 each, first edition; 4 each second edition
AM missile 3 each, first edition; 5 each second edition
Inferior Complex 2 each, both editions
Superior Complex 2 each, both editions
Neutral Complex 1

Player’s Value
This was one of my early and abiding favourites. There is enough variation in the types of robots, combined with the ability to re-program them during the game, to keep trying out new strategies and force mixes for some time. Unlike many other tactical science-fiction games, this one had a third dimension: the Dive Bopper, a helicopter-like robot unit, carries different types of missile to launch at other units or the enemy’s production complex.

Note: A company called Martian Metals produced a line of Rivets miniatures back in the early 1980s. Not many were produced and they are now quite rare.

Support Material

Analysis: Space Gamer 14 (designer’s notes), Space Gamer 25 (strategy)
Reviews: Ares 1
Scenarios/ variants: Space Gamer 17 (combining Ogre and Rivets), 26 (adding human units)

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sikeospi — 2005-12-13T17:17:58+00:00

Rivets: part of the map for the game Rivets

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sikeospi — 2005-12-13T17:17:58+00:00

Drawings of the Five Rivets: Jack, Rocket, Tiny, Dive, and Big

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The Maverick — 2005-02-21T03:21:59+00:00

Back, 1977 bagged edition

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The Maverick — 2005-02-21T03:21:59+00:00

Cover, 1977 bagged edition

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The Maverick — 2005-02-21T03:21:59+00:00

Back, 1979 bagged edition

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The Maverick — 2005-02-21T03:21:59+00:00

Cover, 1979 bagged edition

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The Maverick — 2005-02-21T03:21:58+00:00

Back, boxed edition

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The Maverick — 2005-02-21T03:21:43+00:00

Cover, boxed edition

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artfuldodge2 — 2004-11-19T13:26:07+00:00