Game: Blue Moon Expansion - Buka Invasion

Thread: Re: Pirate Poker or Gem?

Zen Postman — 2008-11-25T13:03:39+00:00

Bairoth wrote:

I am presuming that the reader is au fait with the basic Blue Moon rules.

I wasn't au fait with au fait.

Thread: Pirate Poker or Gem?

Bairoth — 2008-11-25T02:23:23+00:00

Should I Buy the Buka?

This review of the Buka Invasion deck (Blue Moon) is aimed at the casual Blue Moon player who has collected some, or all, of the eight base people decks (without having explored the Emissaries and Inquisitors Expansion decks) and is wondering whether the Buka deck is a meaningful addition to, or an unnecessary complication of the game. I must prefix my review by saying that I am a completionist, and whilst not being at all enamoured of the seeming departure in game mechanics of the Buka deck from the eight base peoples, purchased it anyway so that my OCD compulsions could be appeased.

And thank goodness I did!

Ships

I am presuming that the reader is au fait with the basic Blue Moon rules. As with all the best games, Blue Moon's rule-set is deceptively simple on first play, yet delightfully intricate the more you delve into the game.

The two new mechanics added by the Buka deck are Bluffing and Ships. These both fit in perfectly with the crafty Asian-origin pirates depicted in Steve Prescott's exquisite artwork.

Ships are a way of putting aside 2 to 4 cards (depending on which ship you use) so that you can offload them onto your hapless opponent at a later stage in the game. Ships are played into the Influence Area (opposite side to the Leadership Area) at the Beginning of Turn phase, instead of a Leadership card. You fill them with any cards you wish from your hand (except Leadership or Influence cards), face-up, instead of playing Support cards during the appropriate phase of your turn. There are enough Buka Character/ Leadership cards with special power text enabling you to play more than one Support card per turn to allow you to mitigate the potential loss of playing a card in the Support/ Booster phase when loading a ship. Ships in the Influence Area aren't discarded when a fight is over either, and you can be loading more than one ship at a time. It is one of the joys of the game to watch the growing consternation on your opponent's face as your arsenal of ships fills with cards. You can land a ship at the Beginning of Turn phase instead of playing a Character card and, as the Buka Character cards are treated as Free if played from a ship, you can offload an entire ship's worth of cards into the combat/ support area to potentially annihilate the opposition and secure a dragon or two.

I concur with other BGG contributors comments on loading a ship - don't be too fussy about which cards you put into your ships! Any card loaded into a ship is another empty slot in your hand for drawing from the deck at the end of your turn. For this reason the ship 'Sea Devil' is a gem as it allows you to immediately load 3 cards onto it, meaning you get to draw 5 or 6 new cards at the end of your turn and can potentially land a fully loaded ship at the start of your next turn.

Bluffing

Bluffing was the Buka deck concept with which I had the biggest gripe before actually playing it. Why introduce a gambling/ poker type element into a fighting card game?

All but 4 of the Buka Character cards have the Bluff icon on them. There are few Support/ Booster cards (see below) meaning lots of Characters in the deck and lots of Bluff icons. You play a Character card face-down during the support/booster phase if you want to bluff, where it is treated as having a value of 2 in the current element and is played into the Support area. The element of the Bluff icon on the Character card is depicted as orange for Fire (3 of these in the Deck), black for Earth (3 of these) or white for Empty Bluff (12 of these). Once you announce your power for the turn your bluff is set, and your opponent can decide, at the start of their turn, to accept your bluff and play their cards or call your bluff. The element is the bit that's a bluff or not. So if your opponent calls your bluff, they're saying that you've lied about the element on the Bluff icon of your face-down Character card. As you can see from the relative distribution of elements and Empty Bluff icons, the more often you use the bluff the more likely you are to be caught out by your opponent. The penalty for 'fibbing' is the immediate loss of a dragon AND retreat, conceding at least one more dragon. If you're really good at pretending to be anxious and get your opponent to call your bluff mistakenly (ie you weren't lying about the Bluff element), they immediately concede a dragon to you, all your bluff cards in play are discarded and the fight goes on.

This last scenario is where the craftiness of Reiner Knizia shines through. Your opponent may choose to take a 1 dragon loss in order to get rid of your support cards (ie bluff cards), reduce the power they need to match and perhaps end up taking the fight by 2 dragons overall.

There are only 2 designated Support Cards and 1 Booster Card in the deck and the Buka Character card values are relatively low compared with some other decks (eg Terrah, Vulca). You therefore cannot play the Buka without bluffing at some point during the game to supplement your power. Do it too little and you'll easily be out-muscled by some of the other decks. Do it too often and you'll bleed dragons until you're dry.

A few last words on bluffing. There is an 'out' for the bluffer. If the Element of the fight changes (eg Mutant), or the fight is going on longer than you'd anticipated and you're worried that the opponent will call your bluff and catch you out, you can discard your bluff cards at any Beginning of Turn phase. It also helps, if you're playing against the Buka, to keep a mental note of how many Fire or Earth Bluff icons have come up during the game. The bluff cards all have to be revealed to you at the end of the fight and there are only 3 of each element in the Buka deck.

Other Deck Components

The remainder of the deck is peppered with icons and special power text. It's almost as if it was decided that they might as well throw in one of each icon (except the Gang icon and Pair icon) to keep things interesting. There's the only (to my knowledge) Character card with both a Protected icon and special power text, a Retrievable Character card, a Free Booster card, a non-Mutant Character with both Stop icon and Shields and even 2 character cards with no icon at all (a rare occurrence in this deck).

The B.P. (Brotherhood of Pirates) character cards each have special power text which, when the right conditions are met (and these are different for each card) allow them to be played as if Free (unless they're played from a landed Ship, in which case they're effectively free anyway).

Lastly, to add variety to your favourite preassembled people deck, there's a way of including Buka cards into it. There are 6 Buka families of five cards each, labelled on the cards as Ba to Bf. Simply take a family out each (you and your opponent) and add it to each of your chosen people decks to increase the number of cards from 30 to 35 (+Leader). I haven't tried this one yet, but it could add variety to the preassembled decks if you want an intermediate to Deck Building.

Final Thoughts

The Buka is, to steal others' words, a finesse deck; a love-it-or-hate-it deck. The Flit probably also fits this description. I thought that it seemed gimmicky and contrived at first glance, clanging with the gradual deck progression of previous peoples. Pirate poker without a traitor or mutant, who'd want to play that? Well, I would actually!

This is a great example of not taking things at face value. After a few plays it quickly becomes evident that the Buka fit into the Blue Moon family perfectly and that the two new mechanics are well balanced enough to complement, rather than overpowering, the other decks. They're a brain-burner at first, trying to 'resource manage' your cards so that you can load ships whilst not neglecting the current fight. Trying to keep track of how many Bluffs of an element you've played before so that your opponent doesn't catch you out on the one turn that you fake it. There's also an increased element of luck of the draw with this deck, as there is with the Pillar. If the ships aren't coming out, it could be a short game for the Buka.

Buka Invasion is up there with the best Blue Moon decks, if you give it a chance. You may get trounced the first few times you play it, but as with the Flit or Mimix, if you put the time in it will reward you handsomely. I rate it an 8 out of 10.

Addit
Word is that the decks are out of print, so if you're sitting on the fence about whether or not to buy to Buka, I suggest you go out and grab a deck or two today!

Thread: Re: Rules for the Buka Invasion

Dearlove — 2008-08-24T09:54:22+00:00

yapma wrote:
Can I ask another question? What is the advantage of playing a character card as if it had a free icon. I can always play a character card, and unless they have a pair icon, the powers are not combined. So, except for dumping cards, who cares?

Of course, I am probably missing something (again).

Two things. First "the powers are not combined" isn't so. PAIR - and FREE and GANG for that matter - are about restructions on playing cards. The rule on combining powers is about active cards, and comes in later in the turn.

But second, as I recall, there's a question in the FAQ list which is something like "What use is a FREE icon?". That should given you a more thought through answer.

Incidentally this question isn't specifically about the Buka Invasion, so you'd probably be better off ansking it under the main game. I watch that regularly (and others do too) but here I happened to spot a new posting on the front page of the Geek, otherwise I only check here occasionally.

Thread: Re: Rules for the Buka Invasion

yapma — 2008-08-24T05:56:43+00:00

Thanks C.D. That was fast. And yeah, the rules do say that. Don't know why I kept missing it.

Can I ask another question? What is the advantage of playing a character card as if it had a free icon. I can always play a character card, and unless they have a pair icon, the powers are not combined. So, except for dumping cards, who cares?

Of course, I am probably missing something (again).

Thread: Re: Rules for the Buka Invasion

Dearlove — 2008-08-23T08:38:10+00:00

yapma wrote:
Dearlove wrote:

Discarding it. That always happens if you land it.

When do i discard it?

"Immediately before you announce your power"

Thread: Re: Rules for the Buka Invasion

yapma — 2008-08-23T08:11:33+00:00

Dearlove wrote:

Discarding it. That always happens if you land it.

When do i discard it?

Thread: Re: Buka Invincible With This Inquisitor

caltexn — 2008-04-28T17:14:14+00:00

Rygel wrote:
I would like to see a deck breakdown.

I'll see if I can get that for you.

Exactly what cards were you using with the Buka? It does not seem right that the Buka should get the stompy.

I agree! The cards that had the real power were the ones that discarded my boosters from the combat area, or cleared out the combat area to the ~~discard~~ draw pile. He tried to always play these characters from a landed ship after I had amassed a lot of power, thus depleting my best cards and causing me to have to match his power.

Just to let you know, when he used a different inquisitor, I beat him with the Flit 7-4 in 3 rounds.

Thread: Re: Buka Invincible With This Inquisitor

caltexn — 2008-04-28T17:06:15+00:00

kilrah wrote:
What was the tactic of the Buka Player? With 45 cards it should be impossible for him to get much use out of the ships (especially if you lack the promo one) and also the bluff cards will be almost worthless due to the high dilution.
So whats left? Mostly moderately high values. Should be fairly easy to simply crush them with high values. Sure this might backfire due to the brotherhood cards once or twice, but thats it.
Oh and make sure you have enough Mutants/other cards with shields to block the ship attacks.

It seemed that the extra cards gave him (my son) too many options. The text based cards were the ones that really killed me, not so much power, unless he landed a ship loaded with characters.

He did not have a promo ship - I don't even know what this is.

He did use his bluff cards effectively, and rarely bluffed, which I noted when he discarded.

Using the Mutants of course would be great, but it seemed difficult always to meet the criteria.

Thread: Re: Buka Invincible With This Inquisitor

Rygel — 2008-04-27T17:46:49+00:00

I would like to see a deck breakdown.

Exactly what cards were you using with the Buka? It does not seem right that the Buka should get the stompy.

Thread: Re: Buka Invincible With This Inquisitor

kilrah — 2008-04-27T09:20:45+00:00

What was the tactic of the Buka Player? With 45 cards it should be impossible for him to get much use out of the ships (especially if you lack the promo one) and also the bluff cards will be almost worthless due to the high dilution.
So whats left? Mostly moderately high values. Should be fairly easy to simply crush them with high values. Sure this might backfire due to the brotherhood cards once or twice, but thats it.
Oh and make sure you have enough Mutants/other cards with shields to block the ship attacks.

Thread: Buka Invincible With This Inquisitor

caltexn — 2008-04-27T03:39:28+00:00

We've had some great games with the different peoples' decks playing with the emmisaries. When we played our first deck-building games, it didn't go so well. We played the Buka Invasion against 3 different people decks and they stomped them all. The games were played with the Buka player choosing the Inquisitor Weave-Tongue (+15 cards and +10 moons).
The results were: Easily beating the Hoax 5-0; Crushing the nasty Khind 8-0; then beating the Flit 4-0 in a close game until the end, when the Flit ran out of cards (Flit resigned).
In all these games, none of the opponents gained a dragon to their side. It was not really even close.
It seems like if the Buka get too many cards with this Inquisitor, along with the extra draw per turn. They can easily overcome any opponent with these extra cards by loading ships and having extra cards available t counter virtually any move. I forced my opponent to use a different Inquistor, and finally beat him with the Flit, but barely, after a close game.
Has anyone else experienced such a struggle against the Buka with this paricular card?

Thread: Re: Rules for the Buka Invasion

Dearlove — 2008-03-25T08:19:55+00:00

Oldman20 wrote:
Anyway, here is the link from over on the emissaries and inquisitors: allies page:

http://www.blue-moon-games.com/us/regeln/gesandte.html

There doesn't seem to be any response from that web page.

Yes, Kosmos discontinued it (which is mentioned in the FAQ list).

In such cases, the place to go is the Wayback machine at http://www.archive.org (also, I think, mentioned in the FAQ). And indeed, you can get to see that page at

http://web.archive.org/web/20070809043025/http://www.blue-moon-games.com/us/regeln/gesandte.html

However (and the name sugggested) that's the E&I rules, not the Buka Invasion rules. I'm not certain, but I don't recall the Buka Invasion rules being posted. Trying links within the archived site I can't find the Buka Invasion rules. But maybe someone will find something I have missed.

Thread: Re: Rules for the Buka Invasion

Oldman20 — 2008-03-25T07:19:42+00:00

Thank you very much for the information. I think I get the basic ideas, which is helpful. But my experience with Blue Moon (which I really enjoy) is that the devil is in the details. When I first read the rules, I felt like there were lots of things missing, and then I read the FAQ and some discussions and I realized that everything that you need is on the cards and in the rules. I just had to read it very carefully and do *exactly* what the cards and rules say.

Anyway, here is the link from over on the emissaries and inquisitors: allies page:

http://www.blue-moon-games.com/us/regeln/gesandte.html

There doesn't seem to be any response from that web page.

Thanks again for your response (and general support of Blue Moon).

Thread: Re: Rules for the Buka Invasion

Dearlove — 2008-03-24T18:52:25+00:00

Oldman20 wrote:
I recently got the Buka Invasion off Tanga and I don't have a rulesheet for it. Either I lost it or it doesn't have one. Either way I can't figure out the rules for bluffing, influence and ship capacity from the FAQ.

Of course that isn't the role of the FAQ. Though oddly enough the Buka Invasion rules are probably the closest to fathomable from the FAQ list, if you put together the About the Buka Invasion section with the specific rules sections covering these points. But there are probably points missing.

OK, here are the highlights, see if they help.

Ships. You first play a ship, then you load it, then you land it, then you play cards from it, then you discard it.

Playing it is a leadership phase action (instead of playing a leadership card, Hyla card etc.). It goes off board (in your Influence Area) and lasts even after a fight ends.

Loading it. Put a character, booster or support on it instead of playing a support card. Anything that allows more support cards allows loading more cards. But never more cards (in total, built up as slowly as you like) that its capacity.

Landing it. A beginning of turn phase action, you move it from your influence area to in front of you.

Playing cards from it. You can play cards from a ship as if they were from your hand. Actually more than that, with a landed ship (and no special power text allowing it) you can't play character, booster or support cards from hand, only from landed ships. Buka characters played from a ship are played as if they have a FREE icon.

Discarding it. That always happens if you land it.

Bluffing. There are three BLUFF icons, FIRE BLUFF, EARTH BLUFF and EMPTY BLUFF. You can play a character card with a BLUFF icon (any sort) face down as a support, subject to usual playing support rules. Don't show it.

All such cards are called bluff cards, they have a value 2 in the current element. That's regardless of which BLUFF icon they have. They don't count towards the six cards for two dragons, but otherwise are support cards.

Your opponent may not like this, and can call your bluff. If, for example, the current element is fire then your bluff is good if all your bluff cards have a FIRE BLUFF card, bad if any have EARTH BLUFF or EMPTY BLUFF (or ignored icons - but I'm not going to summarise the interactions of ignoring and bluffing here). (Note that "good" and "bad" aren't terms in the rules, I'm summarising.)

If you bluff is called, and is bad, you lose a dragon. And then you have to retreat, losing more dragons. If your bluff is good you win a dragon, but lose all your bluff cards, and the fight continues. But you matched your opponent's power (calling bluff is just after that).

Is there a link that has the English text for the rulesheet that covers these topics. I found a link for a rulesheet on the Emissaries and Inquisitors forums but that link is dead.

Can you post that link, dead or not. There may be a way to use it.

Thread: Rules for the Buka Invasion

Oldman20 — 2008-03-19T01:44:17+00:00

Greetings,

I recently got the Buka Invasion off Tanga and I don't have a rulesheet for it. Either I lost it or it doesn't have one. Either way I can't figure out the rules for bluffing, influence and ship capacity from the FAQ. Is there a link that has the English text for the rulesheet that covers these topics. I found a link for a rulesheet on the Emissaries and Inquisitors forums but that link is dead. Can anyone help me?

Sincerely,

M. Leibig

Thread: Re: Buka Families: 35 card decks

photocurio — 2007-11-28T20:29:51+00:00

Makes sense, Chris. I never got the emissaries and inquisitors packs. Those are the only two I don't have (they are on order though). So, I had no idea there were rules that allowed more than 30 cards.

Thread: Re: Buka Families: 35 card decks

Dearlove — 2007-11-28T19:47:21+00:00

Let me add a different comment. Why is it as it is?

Blue Moon (the basic eight decks) offers two modes of play - out of the box, or advanced (deck building). Each has its own appeal (I'll play either). When the Emissaries and Inquisitors decks were designed, as they don't offer simple playable decks, they still had to offer an option to people who don't want to design decks, and the emissaries were created.

Now on to the Buka Invasion. Obviously they are playable out of the box, and can be used deckbuilding, so they satisfy the two basic requirements without needing the families option. But as I think I say in my article on the creation of the deck (same page as the FAQ list) the idea of a deck of six mercenary bands actually pre-dates the full Buka deck, and it seemed good enough to keep. But it was (in origin) aimed at the emissaries idea, which is why they are added to the deck, rather than the deckbuilding idea, which the subtract five cards and add five would be.

Thread: Re: Buka Families: 35 card decks

Dearlove — 2007-11-28T19:31:36+00:00

As noted above, Emissaries make 40 card decks (assuming you have both E&I decks), with Inquisitors you can have 30, 35, 40 or 45 card decks, and standard Buka family added decks have 35 cards. All multiples of 5 though.

(OK, let me get my own nit-pick in first. If you only have one E&I deck you make 38 or 39 card emissary decks. But that's not really intended to be a long-term option.)

Thread: Re: Buka Families: 35 card decks

milank — 2007-11-28T19:12:28+00:00

I've played both ways and enjoyed both, but I like adding the cards to the initial 30. Also, the Emissaries decks make it possible to add even more.

Edit: also remember that you can play the entire Buka deck as you would the original.

Thread: Buka Families: 35 card decks

photocurio — 2007-11-28T18:43:39+00:00

I had been playing with the Buka families with my girlfriend for a while, but it turns out we were playing wrong. I had been adding the family to a pre-constructed deck according the the normal deck building rules. This meant taking out the three 'guest' cards, and taking out two more cards, so that the deck would conform to the 30 card, 10 moon deck building rule.

But now I read in the FAQ that you can simply add a Buka family to a pre-constructed deck without the withdrawals, making a 35 card deck! Your opponent must add a family too. This seems like a very significant change. 35 card Blue Moon? Weird. There is always some detail in Blue Moon that throws me every time I think I have the rules right.

It is of course perfectly legal to play the way we had been, adding the Buka and subtracting other cards according to the advanced rules. And that works very well too.

Image

Firepigeon — 2007-09-09T22:23:26+00:00

Highres Back cover Box

Thread: Re: Samurai Pirates

ccarlet1 — 2007-07-08T01:52:26+00:00

By the way, don't read anything much into my nitpicking, I'm glad you like the deck.

No problem. I appreciate the commentary.

Thread: Re: Samurai Pirates

Dearlove — 2007-07-07T16:33:45+00:00

ccarlet1 wrote:
Yes, I am probably stating it a little strongly, although lowering your opponent's score by whatever his bluffs are worth, even if his bluff is legitimate and you lose a dragon, can keep you in the fight when you believe your chances are good.

Oh, yes, and it's a designed feature.

Or, if you are down two dragons, and your opponent has six cards--its do or die--you might as well call the bluff.

In an ideal world, you would never have a safe (in the sense of nothing to lose by doing it) bluff call, it would always cost you something (even if you also gained). But this is one case where that doesn't apply. However you've got to be exactly two dragons down, forced to retreat, and your opponent has bluffed. Uncommon enough to be acceptable. (The case that we did get rid of is the reason for the "bluff cards don't count towards your six for two dragons" rule.)

By the way, don't read anything much into my nitpicking, I'm glad you like the deck.

Thread: Re: Samurai Pirates

ccarlet1 — 2007-07-07T16:11:13+00:00

Please play me with that approach! Most of my bluffs aren't - and if you start calling them heavily they all won't be. In principle whether to bluff and whether to call bluffs is a problem in game theory (although I've never been able to create even a simplified model of it of any value) which will result in some bluffs, some calling. It's clear enough that most bluffs shouldn't be (the penalty is large) which suggests not too high a rate of calling them either. I don't think it's as high as more often than not, but I can't prove it.

Yes, I am probably stating it a little strongly, although lowering your opponent's score by whatever his bluffs are worth, even if his bluff is legitimate and you lose a dragon, can keep you in the fight when you believe your chances are good. Or, if you are down two dragons, and your opponent has six cards--its do or die--you might as well call the bluff.

Thread: Re: Samurai Pirates

Dearlove — 2007-07-07T09:15:40+00:00

ccarlet1 wrote:
Ships are played to the left of the board during the Leadership phase.

I see you like to play one way round! If it's your left, it's your opponent's right.

"Master" Character cards:
Commodores and Captains Cards:
Other character cards:

Putting aside the cannoneers and B.P. cards (which we are agreed are useful categories), thematically I tend more towards "officers" (Commodores, Captains, Sailingmasters - Sailing Master is an old Royal Navy position) and "men" (Boatswain, Coxwain, Quartermaster, Powdermaster - that's an invention - and Lookout). Note that for the Buka at least officers just have power (values technically), men can actually do something (special power text). Any resemblance to real life is purely coincidental.

Mutant:

Technically it's not a mutant (this matters when deckbuilding, it has a moon cost, but not for the Buka) and actually thematically the Buka wouldn't have had mutants either. But in practice it plays like one.

Calling the bluff is worthwhile more often than not

Please play me with that approach! Most of my bluffs aren't - and if you start calling them heavily they all won't be. In principle whether to bluff and whether to call bluffs is a problem in game theory (although I've never been able to create even a simplified model of it of any value) which will result in some bluffs, some calling. It's clear enough that most bluffs shouldn't be (the penalty is large) which suggests not too high a rate of calling them either. I don't think it's as high as more often than not, but I can't prove it.

Thread: Samurai Pirates

ccarlet1 — 2007-07-06T18:57:08+00:00

In reviewing this deck, I am assuming that the reader is familiar with the basics of how Blue Moon is played. I will attempt to give an idea of what it is like to play with this deck, its strengths and weaknesses, and what makes it different than other decks.

Artwork:

The Buka are Asiatic-looking pirates, drawn in a slightly cartoonish manner. The backgrounds are generally pleasant blues, greens, and purples, with characters in exotic looking Eastern armour or costumes. The artwork is good, ranking somewhere in the middle of the nine decks.

Play:

The Buka are an interesting deck to play, with quite a range of possible ways of using the cards compared to other decks. When playing them, you may not be able to bring all of their possibilities to bear, but their potential is quite powerful. Playing against them, there can be quite a bit of tension.

The main features of this deck are bluffing and ships. To bluff you place a card with a bluff icon in the support area, during the support phase, face down, and it is worth 2 in the contested element. Your opponent may choose to accept the played card, or call your bluff. Whether it is legitimate or not depends on the icon, on the card. Almost all of the character cards have a bluff icon on them (a question mark) and most of them are white, while some are the colour of earth or fire. If the card you are bluffing with has the same colour icon as the contested element, then if your opponent calls your bluff, you immediately attract a dragon, and the fight continues with the bluff card now in the discard pile. If you are actually bluffing, then your opponent immediately attracts a dragon, and you are forced to retreat, with your opponent attracting whatever dragons due to him becuase of the retreat.

Ships are played to the left of the board during the Leadership phase. During your support phase, they can be loaded with a character, booster, or support card. The entire contents of the ship can then be landed during the beginning of your turn, delivering a heavy hit.

These two mechanics give a very different feel to the Buka, whether you are playing them or playing against them. Managing your ships, and planning your bluffs make this a very interesting deck to play.

What follows is a description of the cards found in this deck:

"Master" Character cards: As you might expect on a ship, the characters are grouped in ranks (they can also be grouped as families for deck-building purposes). Two of these cards have fairly high values by Buka standards (4/2, 3/4), and the other two have very powerful text. Quartermaster Kura Ko allows you to play any number of support cards, which can really help you load a ship to the gunwhales whithout having to load one at a time in your support phase. Powdermaster Yina Ko increases your bluff cards to 4.

Cannoneer Character Cards: These six cards have all of the fire/earth bluff icons, and all have earth values of 4, with fire values ranging from 0-2. Losing a bluff can be costly, so saving these cards for bluffs is good idea when possible. They have no special power text.

Brotherhood of Pirates Cards: These five cards all have values of 3/3, and all have special power text, which allows them to be played as if they had the free icon if the described conditions are met. Some of the conditions tend to be race specific, like having two or more active character, or booster cards, or cards with icons, while the other two are more general: six or more cards in your opponent's combat and support area, or two or more support cards. The middle scores also make them useful as battle starters, or for loading on ships if you know that there special power text will not be relevant.

Commodores and Captains Cards: The two Commodore cards have the most powerful values (5/4, 4/5) with no special power text and no bluff icon. The Captain cards are also high value (4/4, 4/3), one of which has a retrieve icon and the other a bluff icon.

Other character cards: The remaining three character cards are of low value, but have powerful special text. Lookout Dolora Paal (1/1) allows you to discard all of your opponent's active booster or support cards. This one can be very handy if the score is brought down to zero. Boatswain Mena Marn prevents your opponent from having more than one character card at the end of his turn. Coxswain Mora Marn is especially powerful if launched from a ship, as it allows you to discards all cards, except active protected cards, from your opponent's combat area. If at all possible this card should be placed on a ship.

Boosters: The Buka only have one booster card (2/2), which has a free icon, and special power text which prohibits your opponent from calling your bluff. This is an extremely powerful card, as it allows you a foolproof bluff for one turn.

Support: There are only two support cards. Armory (1/1) allows you to play an additional support card, which is useful for loading ships. Duplicator of Fire doubles the fire value of one of your character cards.

Influence: These are the three ships, which can carry 2, 3, or 4 cards, and be landed with their contents played. The Sea Falcon only has a capacity of 2, but you can also play cards from your hand when it is landed (character cards landed from a ship are considered as having the free icon, so you can play a character card on this ship from your hand). The Sea Devil, with a capacity of three, allows you to immediately load it with three cards from your hand. This is a great card to get early in the game. The Rising Sun has a capacity of four.

Leadership: The Buka only have one leadership card, which allows you to search through your draw deck and play either an influence card, or a character/booster/support card on an existing ship. A very good card to have early if all your ships seem to be near the bottom of the draw pile.

Mutant: The mutant only has values of 2/2, and can be played if you have no cards in your influence area.

Strategy/Tactics:

Loaded ships are extremely valuable for success with the Buka. You only have one leadership card in this deck, so getting the ships on the table is not difficult. Loading them, however, can be a chore, so whenever you get a chance to play extra support cards, maximize the chance. The Sea Devil is especially good to have because you can fully load it immediately and draw a whole hand full of new cards, so when you play the leadership card, that is a good ship to get.

The Sea Falcon is also very powerful as you can play cards from your hand, which allows you to add some special power text from your hand. The Rising Sun, if you can get it loaded up to capacity, can deliver a deadly punch.

In general a fully loaded ship will always prove vital, even if it is not loaded with high valued cards. It keeps you in the game and gets you up to six cards very quickly, so don't be overly picky about loading your ships, just get them on the board and loaded.

The Buka may often run out cards before other decks because of loading ships, so your end game can be greatly helped by having a ship near the end to pound your opponent, and prevent them from winning dragons through attrition.

If your ships are all buried in the bottom of the draw deck, you will definitely have a tough go of it.

Bluffing is very interesting. It boosts your score when you need it, and if you have the correct icon, you're in a good position because the worst that can happen is that you will lose your two points and gain a dragon if your bluff is called. You can take it a step further and make it look like your legitimate bluff is a real bluff to force your opponent to call your bluff. That may make them hesitant about calling your bluffs in the future.

When using an earth bluff icon, you are giving up an earth value of four for two, but gaining a support card. When using the fire bluff icon, you are getting at least as much fire value from your support card as you would if you played it as a fire value character card.

If you don't have the correct icon, you will be losing at least two dragons if your bluff is called. It is definitely worth the risk if you are in a do-or-die situation. Also, you can remove your bluff cards at the beginning of your turn if you don't want your bluff out there for longer than a turn, or if the element has changed because of a mutant.

Calling the bluff is worthwhile more often than not, you may lose a dragon, but you also lower your opponent's score, and that can keep you in a big fight where two dragons are at stake, giving you a one dragon gain if you eventually win. Moreover, it keeps your opponent on her toes about how she bluffs.

Conclusion:

This is a more technical deck in that you have to manage loading your ships, bluffing, as well as the usual play. I like this deck quite a bit for those reasons. This is an interesting deck because it has more options.

I give it an 8.

Thread: Re: Playing Buka online with LackeyCCG - need scans!

Dearlove — 2007-03-13T23:54:50+00:00

Octavian wrote:
Isn't it available on the official Blue Moon homepage, along with every other card?

On the Kosmos site I think the Buka are only available in German, not in English - unlike the other decks.

If I'm wrong, please let me know.

Thread: Re: Playing Buka online with LackeyCCG - need scans!

Octavian — 2007-03-13T19:00:32+00:00

Isn't it available on the official Blue Moon homepage, along with every other card?

-MMM

Thread: Playing Buka online with LackeyCCG - need scans!

rgnet1 — 2007-03-13T12:40:30+00:00

So I've entered all the meta info, just need the card art scanned! I'd be fine to cut up several virtual "sheets" of cards into individual images. The resolution should be high enough to create a 230x409 JPG for each card.

Does anyone have the Buka deck, access to a decent scanner, and too much time on their hands?

I'll upload the complete BM plugin with configured Buka deck and Families if anyone can oblige!

Thread: Re: Can bluff cards be loaded onto ships as support?

zefquaavius — 2007-03-13T03:03:50+00:00

drewchap wrote:
It's good to know that characters played off ships have some flexibility.

Buka characters have some flexibility, but other characters get no special treatment. Enjoy!

Thread: Re: Can bluff cards be loaded onto ships as support?

drewchap — 2007-03-13T01:48:47+00:00

Thanks everybody! I actually did find a line in the rules that talked about loading as only possible face up.

It's good to know that characters played off ships have some flexibility.

Thread: Re: Can bluff cards be loaded onto ships as support?

zefquaavius — 2007-03-12T12:34:42+00:00

In general, I totally agree with you, ramis, but there are times that being able to deploy bluff cards from a ship can be incredibly powerful. You will know that day, because all the planets will be in alignment. Seriously, if you get Quartermaster Kura Ko and Letter of Marque loaded onto a ship, or you make use of Sea Falcon, which lets you play cards from your hand on the turn in which it lands, you might specifically want to use cards in that way. Yes, your opponent will know what they are, but if your opponent can't get rid of them, or knows that they depict the correct element, it can allow a powerful play.

I don't know about you, but I often get desperate while playing the Buka, and any way I can make use of the cards in my hand is worth considering.

Thread: Re: Can bluff cards be loaded onto ships as support?

ramis — 2007-03-12T02:56:29+00:00

Yes you can putt bluff cards a chip.
But Why do that?
You have to expose the cards if you load them on a ship.
Your bluff cards loose a lot of strategy power if you load them on a ship. It just seem to me like a bad move.

Thread: Re: Can bluff cards be loaded onto ships as support?

zefquaavius — 2007-03-12T00:50:04+00:00

Thank you, CD!

Thread: Re: Can bluff cards be loaded onto ships as support?

Dearlove — 2007-03-11T13:34:39+00:00

I replied to a mail on this (I've been away) but Nathan has it nailed - probably better worded than my mail too.

Thread: Re: Can bluff cards be loaded onto ships as support?

zefquaavius — 2007-03-05T12:00:42+00:00

My understanding is that you can load any card from your hand onto a ship, which would include cards with Bluff icons. Cards with Bluff icons are not technically bluff cards until they are in play face-down. So, you can load cards with bluff icons face-up onto a ship, and on the turn that you land the ship, you can play them as bluff cards, as if you were playing from your hand. Of course, your opponent will already be keenly aware of what your bluff cards are, since she just saw them face-up on your ship. Even so, I have found it useful to make this very play, especially with a well-timed Letter of Marque (You may not call my bluff.).

Keep in mind, though, that only characters (and only Buka characters, at that) on the ship get to pretend that they have the Free icon, so without the use of someone like Quartermaster Kura Ko (On my turn, I may play any number of support cards.), you probably won't be dropping much of a bluff-bomb on your opponent.

Thread: Re: Can bluff cards be loaded onto ships as support?

Aldaron — 2007-03-03T18:55:51+00:00

Yes. They load like any other card.

Thread: Can bluff cards be loaded onto ships as support?

drewchap — 2007-03-03T16:58:06+00:00

The rules mention that bluff cards must be played into the support area, so I'm interpreting this as "no." But the section about loading ships makes it sound as if anything that can be considered support is fair game.

The Buka have so few support cards without using bluff, so...?

Thanks for any help!

Thread: Re: Some questions about Buka Invasions

Dearlove — 2007-01-31T18:48:48+00:00

Quizoid wrote:
This may sound a little silly, but I can't find that FAQ, here, on FF, or on Kosmos (unless it's in German). Where is it?

There's a link (not a file - and that's deliberate) on the main Blue Moon page here on the Geek. As ever Google is your friend, try the first hit when you enter Blue Moon FAQ. I'm tempted to stop there, but as I'm in a good mood, http://www.mnemosyne.demon.co.uk/bgames/bluemoon/

There is a German FAQ list, but it's not exactly the same (as I recall, there's a comment in the FAQ on this).

Thread: Re: Some questions about Buka Invasions

Quizoid — 2007-01-31T17:04:42+00:00

This may sound a little silly, but I can't find that FAQ, here, on FF, or on Kosmos (unless it's in German). Where is it?

Thread: Re: The old-school (Vulca) versus the new-school (Buka)

Dearlove — 2007-01-30T18:44:52+00:00

Octavian wrote:
Declining to start serves two purposes: you flush weak cards from your hand and you always force the Buka into the first play, which means they miss another Support phase and you can hit with full power again in retaliation. A third purpose is it speeds up your own deck, countering that strength of the Buka - you'll get to more of your powerful cards, even if the Buka burn through their deck.

(Looks like the Spanish Inquisition arrived - unexpectedly of course - with the third purpose.)

Declining to start, whether against the Buka or not, is a tactic which, rightly or wrongly, I tend not to use much. (I'm referring here to declining to start when your hand is OK. Declining to start when you have problems - e.g. just the one character - is another matter.) Of course the Buka (or whoever) can decline back, and they can even play a ship while so doing. If you get into a declining match, it's advantage whoever is already dragons up. Declining is obviously best for those circumstances where you are (naturally, or just by chance right now) fairly agnostic to the choice of element.

Thread: Re: The old-school (Vulca) versus the new-school (Buka)

Dearlove — 2007-01-30T18:36:20+00:00

Jackwraith wrote:
Now, here's the big question. The rules state that 'Buka character cards on the landed ships MAY be played as if they had the FREE icon.' That doesn't say that they have the Free icon, so I left out all of the cards that state 'your icons are ignored' or similar prohibitions. Correct or no?

No. See the FAQ. But they only have it for long enough to play the cards. So "before" cards that affect FREE icons can be useful, but "after" cards aren't. Specifically

Impenetrable Fog (Terrah) - before, effective.
Mekarthas the Shrewd (Hoax, but in Aqua) - before, effective
Rout Retainers (Hoax, E&I: the Allies) - ineffective
Man-shu-Ran (E&I: the Allies) - needs a real FREE card for it to be playable, i.e. Letter of Marque

also

Evil Eye (Terrah, E&I: the Allies) - stops you playing the ship, but does nothing to stop it landing
How dare you! (E&I: Blessings) - ditto
Erupta (Vulca, E&I: Blessings) - after, effective

Incidentally there's an FAQ on which ship functions can be blocked and which can't. You can't stop a ship from landing, but you can make landing it a bad idea.

Thread: Re: The old-school (Vulca) versus the new-school (Buka)

Octavian — 2007-01-30T05:54:36+00:00

Jackwraith wrote:

(Would these two be used to prevent the play of the ship in the first place, or its landing? Or both?)

Ships (or any cards) are considered played when they come out of the hand and placed anywhere other than the discard pile or deck. So How dare you! only works when the ship first comes out. And should certainly be used for that effect!

Of course, another anti-ship strategy is to simply not allow the Buka to load them. Keep the power high enough that they don't have an opportunity to continue, or need to use the Support phase to match power.

I wonder how an anti-Buka strategy revolving around playing strength fast and declining to start after a retreat would work. Declining to start serves two purposes: you flush weak cards from your hand and you always force the Buka into the first play, which means they miss another Support phase and you can hit with full power again in retaliation. A third purpose is it speeds up your own deck, countering that strength of the Buka - you'll get to more of your powerful cards, even if the Buka burn through their deck.

-MMM

Thread: Re: The old-school (Vulca) versus the new-school (Buka)

franklincobb — 2007-01-30T03:24:32+00:00

Awesome analysis! I'm glad my session report generated the great strategy discussion.

Thread: Re: The old-school (Vulca) versus the new-school (Buka)

Jackwraith — 2007-01-30T03:10:49+00:00

Dearlove wrote:
OK, who wants to count anti-ship cards in each deck?

Octavian already listed the Hoax. I figured I'd list cards that not only stop ships from landing, but can absorb the hit and keep the other player in the fight, like mutants.

Vulca:
Ember, if the Buka don't have text.
Infernal Armor, if the fight is in Earth.
Zig-nur-Don.

Mimix:
Neth-sur-Pot, assuming the card number is right.

Flit:
Highchirp can save a fight by getting rid of the right character.
Tittertweet, if the Buka are coming with text.
Cheepchirrup
Proud Phoenix Phil, if the fight is in Earth.
Fel-nar-Gan, but typically not if the Buka have waited to land a couple rounds into the fight.

Khind:
CoolCat and CoolCop together.
TopDog, if he can get the right character with a Bluff icon.
Drown Resistance
Den-bal-Ton

Terrah:
Ferro Fos, if the Buka have text.
Kabu Kat, if it's not the Sea Falcon landing.
Baku But, if it's not the Sea Falcon landing.
Corona Cos, if the Buka don't have text.
Silento Sol, if the fight is in Fire.
Cloying Mud, if any Buka has a power great than 4.
Provoke Earthquake
Ras-mus-Pan

Pillar:
Heat Haze, if the Buka have text.
Pen-dor-Nith, but rarely.

Aqua:
Aquatic Armor
Sas-van-Son, but rarely.

Now, here's the big question. The rules state that 'Buka character cards on the landed ships MAY be played as if they had the FREE icon.' That doesn't say that they have the Free icon, so I left out all of the cards that state 'your icons are ignored' or similar prohibitions. Correct or no? If they do count as having the Free icon, then they can be stopped by cards like:

Impenetrable Fog (Terrah)
Mekarthas the Shrewd (Hoax, but in Aqua)
Rout Retainers (Hoax, E&I: the Allies)
Man-shu-Ran (E&I: the Allies)

Otherwise, the only other cards that work are three of the best:

Evil Eye (Terrah, E&I: the Allies)
How dare you! (E&I: Blessings)

(Would these two be used to prevent the play of the ship in the first place, or its landing? Or both?)

Erupta (Vulca, E&I: Blessings)

Thread: Re: The old-school (Vulca) versus the new-school (Buka)

Dearlove — 2007-01-29T23:34:23+00:00

Octavian wrote:
The Hoax have five Ship-Killers:

These split into two groups, as you've partially indicated.

Play before ship is landed to dissuade/prevent it

Bethenitana the Storyteller "If I retreat, you may not attract dragons" (opponent won't play the ship against you if she is active)
Brain Drain "On your turn, you may not play more than one card."

Play in response to ship landing

Hank Highflyer Hawk "character cards ignored except Flits"
Var-dis-Nar (Mutant)
Inscrutable Armor (Fire armor booster)

(HHH may look like he fits in both groups, but if played before a ship, the ship can still land and the Hoax player will have to cover HHH and match the ship.)

To the Buka, the second group are those to fear, you can see the first group coming. (That isn't to say you don't fear Brain Drain, in fact as it prevents you loading a ship or playing a bluff card it's particularly annoying - but not just as a ship killer.) Three of them, three ships. But of course it doesn't necessarily work that way.

OK, who wants to count anti-ship cards in each deck?

Thread: Re: The old-school (Vulca) versus the new-school (Buka)

Octavian — 2007-01-29T22:17:43+00:00

When playing against the Buka it is very important to know your own deck and which cards you need to save as Ship-Killers. A ship is good at making a really huge sudden strike, but if you can prevent it from landing, prevent the Buka from making full use of the landing, or get past the full onslaught the Buka are set back to square one.

The Hoax have five Ship-Killers:

Hank Highflyer Hawk "character cards ignored except Flits"
Bethenitana the Storyteller "If I retreat, you may not attract dragons" (opponent won't play the ship against you if she is active)
Brain Drain "On your turn, you may not play more than one card."
Var-dis-Nar (Mutant)
Inscrutable Armor (Fire armor booster)

If they draw these, they need to be saved for when a ship hits ground. The Vulca aren't nearly as well prepared against in this respect, so you may find the Hoax fare a bit better.

-MMM

Thread: Re: The old-school (Vulca) versus the new-school (Buka)

Dearlove — 2007-01-29T21:33:38+00:00

franklincobb wrote:
I was amazed that a designer could have his newest deck be a close fight for one of his earliest...coming from the CCG world as I did, I'm just used to "power creep" being the nature of business.

Given what you've written, especially the above, you might find my article at http://www.mnemosyne.demon.co.uk/bgames/bluemoon (the Buka one) of interest.

Thread: The old-school (Vulca) versus the new-school (Buka)

franklincobb — 2007-01-29T20:39:59+00:00

Managed to pick up the new Buka deck for Blue Moon at the local shop on Saturday, so naturally lunchtime at work was spoken for...it was Blue Moon time!

I had read the rules and they seemed to add quite a bit of cleverness and new CCG-esque stuff without being overly complicated. The one thing that did concern me was the better-than-average raw power of the Buka characters, but their lack of "real" support and booster cards seemed to hurt them.

Anyway, I took the Buka, and my brother took the Vulca. The Vulca to us are just real powerhouses, capable of throwing massive amounts of strength out there, and we soon found out that we were right!

The first battle was the longest, and I'm not sure now whether I should've retreated earlier or I just underestimated the Vulca. During our first battle, it was a back and forth affair. I landed two ships during the fight and loaded up one of them with Buka as the fight went on. The power continued to escalate. He used his Mutant to shift it from Fire to Earth, but I used Ghost-Buka Guy to put it right back to fire.

He had limited my playing of Support cards at one point, but I played the guy who cleared out HIS support cards to help.

I wasn't going to use my ship but as the battle raged it seemed like a must. Still, dropping 10 points of Buka strength still didn't help as the battle raged on.

What was bugging me was the fact that I had trouble getting the appropriate "Bluff" cards. Playing the 'wrong' bluff and then having it called would've been disastrous, as he would've gotten the free dragon for the bluff plus two because we each had so many cards out during the battle.

He finally played the 7 STR Vulca with the Fire-doubler + his existing support cards, and I couldn't match him any longer. Retreat, and lost two dragons. Bah! Our decks were already half depleted, I believe we each had 14 cards used during that fight...

Still, the natural strength of the Buka let me crawl back in it. First, he didn't want to match raw strength with one of the captains, so he backed off, putting him at 1-0 for Dragons. Then I played a Bluff card on the next fight and he called the Bluff...but I had the right element, so a free dragon for me! We were at 0-0.

Our last few fights were trade-offs as dragons bounced back and forth. Mostly the raw strength of the Buka were keeping me in it but a few Vulca tricks plus their own natural strength kept things even.

Finally, I was out of cards, so the last series of battles began. Still at 0-0, in our next to last fight with Fire I couldn't match what he had, retreat. 1-0. Then I played the 0/4 Earth Buka, which he couldn't match, but that was my final card while he still had three left in hand. He couldn't match the 4 earth, and retreated...0-0, but I had run out of cards first, so I lost the tie-breaker.

Just a closely fought game. I was amazed that a designer could have his newest deck be a close fight for one of his earliest...coming from the CCG world as I did, I'm just used to "power creep" being the nature of business.

It's possible I need to 'figure out' the Buka--their Bluff ability specifically seems very tricky to master. It's possible by getting to know them better would allow them to defeat the Vulca more easily.

However, I'm not sure how the poor Hoax will do, coming out on the whipping end of the Vulca as they seem to do (I think the Hoax are 10-1 or something ridiculous in matchups with the Vulca).

Great fun, really enhanced Blue Moon, these extra decks are great!

Thread: Re: Empty Bluff

Dearlove — 2007-01-27T22:29:31+00:00

Favre4MVP wrote:
What are the "Empty Bluff" cards for?

OK, other people have answered that.

I assume they are bluffs that are "wild" and count as either Fire or Earth

Why would you assume that? If that were the case the rules would say so. The rules are in fact quite clear, you have to have a BLUFF icon to play the card, and an EMPTY BLUFF counts. You have to have a BLUFF icon that matches the element to be successful when your bluff is called. It doesn't say an EMPTY BLUFF icon matches either element (as opposed to a FIRE BLUFF or EARTH BLUFF icon) so it doesn't. The rest follows. You also may find the FAQ's general discussion of bluffing useful, and you might also think about the phrase "empty bluff" and what that usually means. (OK, that's not evidence, but it's a big hint.)

Thread: Re: Empty Bluff

Aldaron — 2007-01-25T22:39:37+00:00

Octavian wrote:
A card with no bluff icon cannot be used as a bluff at all.
This is why it is important to reveal all bluff cards when they are discarded: to confirm that they do indeed have a bluff icon.

Image

samoan_jo — 2007-01-17T21:12:24+00:00

full frame shot of the German edition (Kosmos, 2006)

Image

brel — 2006-12-08T17:44:34+00:00

The "Bc" Family

Image

brel — 2006-12-08T17:14:03+00:00

The "Bb" Family

Image

brel — 2006-12-08T17:11:07+00:00

The "Bf" Family

Image

brel — 2006-12-08T17:10:26+00:00

The "Be" Family

Image

brel — 2006-12-08T17:10:00+00:00

The "Bd" Family

Image

brel — 2006-12-08T17:07:59+00:00

The "Ba" Family

Image

brel — 2006-12-07T17:20:18+00:00

Similar Art

Image

mcnamarad — 2006-11-24T15:05:07+00:00