Game: Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage

Thread: Re: online play?

dale larson — 2008-05-11T11:07:34+00:00

Where is a decent CyberBoard gamebox? Somebody created an updated one for the Valley Games release but it looks like it never saw the light of day.

Dale

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Bill Romaniecki — 2008-05-10T07:49:59+00:00

The "Long March" is estimated to have covered 8,000 miles in 370 days. This is day 189 (approx.) of the long voyage of the Hannibal generals.

D - :d10-5:

Thread: Re: The superstack

Toi San — 2008-05-10T02:54:18+00:00

Thanks Merric, that helped a lot.

So the probability of something happening is based on the probability of it not happening.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Bill Romaniecki — 2008-05-10T04:29:02+00:00

otrex wrote:
A quick note to my BGG friends:

I have confirmation that the generals did make it into port in New York City on the 5th.

However, as is Valley Games luck, they've been "randomly" selected for inspection by U.S. Customs. Yes, this at least the second time our goods have been selected for inspection in the last year. I don't know if it's because we're a Canadian company bringing in goods from China into a U.S. port, but this might be a good day to purchase a lottery ticket.

Probably ordered by an irate customer who works in U.S. Customs. :D

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

otrex — 2008-05-10T02:28:32+00:00

A quick note to my BGG friends:

I have confirmation that the generals did make it into port in New York City on the 5th.

However, as is Valley Games luck, they've been "randomly" selected for inspection by U.S. Customs. Yes, this at least the second time our goods have been selected for inspection in the last year. I don't know if it's because we're a Canadian company bringing in goods from China into a U.S. port, but this might be a good day to purchase a lottery ticket.

I'm going to make this into an official announcement via a newsletter this weekend, but I wanted to give everyone the heads-up now that I've been passed the info.

We are in contact with a handling agent at the port who will advise once the "random" search is completed. We're hoping that it takes less than a week, but I don't know the U.S. Customs inspection process well enough to make more than an educated guess.

More on this as soon as I have anything. Don't despair, we're not far away from delivery time.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

gb1469 — 2008-05-09T11:51:58+00:00

What has happened to shipload of Generals? Pirates? Cyclone? Product Recall?

Hijacked, held hostage, and taken for ransom...

I'd given up on the generals and VG long time back. Same as I've done with GRD and Total War (refund should be coming), as well as Avalanche and Island of Death (need to email them if I don't receive the game I paid for two years ago). Oh well, I have more games than I can possibly play anyway...

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Bill Romaniecki — 2008-05-09T11:13:02+00:00

Countdown Error. In the excited anticipation of the arrival of the Generals the countdown was started a day too early.

Today is :d10-6:

:d10-6: :d10-6: :d10-6: :d10-6: :d10-6: :d10-6: :d10-6: :d10-6: :d10-6: :d10-6:

An ominous silence has enveloped North America! No updates from Okotoks.
What has happened to shipload of Generals? Pirates? Cyclone? Product Recall?

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

desertfox2004 — 2008-05-09T07:07:04+00:00

kduke wrote:
It took TI3 to rehabilitate a similarly plagued Twilight Imperium although it is still a grind and not for the faint of heart. But, Titan is coming back pretty much unaltered and other than for aging fan-boys like myself, I seriously doubt it will light any fires under the newer generations of gamers.

Richard, you've put your finger on a real dilemma for Valley's plans on many games. Are they "reprints" in terms of "nicer components but no changes to the rules-- aside from maybe cleaning them up a little to make them easier to understand?" Or do they go the TI3 route and "rehabilitate" the game-- or even less than that, just change SOME things that ease, improve, or speed play?

I had a little involvement with Hann. and Titan and there was such intense feedback about "DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING" that it really hand-cuffed the development. We saw a few places where things might have gotten smoother or where a short-cut might have reduced a case where something was complex and rules wordy for minimal game effect... but generally felt we had to take a hands off approach. Do they make the game "better" for more people but risk heavy negative postings from the devotees who would find any changes blasphemous? For the most part, that answer was always 'no.'

And thus we are here now.

Why should devotees have the larger say - they already have their copies. The attention should be paid to getting new fans. If changes from the original are likely to increase the potential sales (e.g. making the game more accessible to new gamers, incorporating updated design features, etc.), they should be made. The biggest marketing mistake that a game company can make is to lend too much weight to the opinions of the hardcore fans(just ask any survivors from SPI).

Thread: Re: The superstack

Pyjam — 2008-05-09T03:52:22+00:00

So, the probability for at least one campaign card is : 1 - C(64-6,7) / C(64,7) = 51,60 %
Isn't it ? ;)

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

kduke — 2008-05-09T02:24:51+00:00

It took TI3 to rehabilitate a similarly plagued Twilight Imperium although it is still a grind and not for the faint of heart. But, Titan is coming back pretty much unaltered and other than for aging fan-boys like myself, I seriously doubt it will light any fires under the newer generations of gamers.

Richard, you've put your finger on a real dilemma for Valley's plans on many games. Are they "reprints" in terms of "nicer components but no changes to the rules-- aside from maybe cleaning them up a little to make them easier to understand?" Or do they go the TI3 route and "rehabilitate" the game-- or even less than that, just change SOME things that ease, improve, or speed play?

I had a little involvement with Hann. and Titan and there was such intense feedback about "DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING" that it really hand-cuffed the development. We saw a few places where things might have gotten smoother or where a short-cut might have reduced a case where something was complex and rules wordy for minimal game effect... but generally felt we had to take a hands off approach. Do they make the game "better" for more people but risk heavy negative postings from the devotees who would find any changes blasphemous? For the most part, that answer was always 'no.'

And thus we are here now.

Thread: Re: AH version vs Valley Games?

GlennG — 2008-05-09T05:01:23+00:00

bkindt wrote:
The only problem I have with the new version is that its way too hard to differentiate the provinces in Italy due to the coloring and hard to see borders. Because of this, end of turn scoring is needlessly tricky.

Agree with that. Although you get used to all the Italian provinces after repeated plays, but the borders are real hard to discern.

Someone had a province chart. I think it makes sense to mark control as you go along rather than count at the end of the turn. Same problem in other games like Twilight Struggle.

Thread: Re: AH version vs Valley Games?

Rhand — 2008-05-09T02:37:05+00:00

I just think it would be great to have a larger, "cleaner" map like the ones on display here. Other than that--I'm in love with the game and have been since I opened the box in '96. I actually spoke to Stuart Tucker at AH a few months before the release way back when; Don Greenwood used to take calls, too. I'm a big fan of Breakout Normandy, and Don even gave me a few strategy tips over the phone. It's great to read what designers have to say on the BGG as well. I was really fascinated with the Mark Herman comments on the FTP thread.

Thread: Re: The superstack

MerricB — 2008-05-09T02:26:54+00:00

It's a quite well understood area of probability.

If you toss a coin 10 times, there is a 50% chance each time that it will come down heads.

What is the chance that it will come down tails 10 times? 0.5^10, or 0.098% (that's pretty low).

So, the chance of it coming down heads one or more times? It's 99.9%!

One coin toss: 50% chance of one or more heads.
Two coin tosses: 75% chance of one or more heads.
Three coin tosses: 87.5% chance of one or more heads.
Four coin tosses: 93.8% chance of one or more heads.
etc.

A similar calculation is done in the case of drawing cards from the deck. The probability of drawing at least one campaign card is equal to 100% - (the probability of drawing no campaign cards).

Cheers!

Thread: Re: The superstack

Toi San — 2008-05-09T01:57:27+00:00

Err... you're wrong.

The chance of rolling a 1 on your next roll remains 1 in 6 every time you roll regardless of what happened before. However, when you roll a number of times, the chances you'll have rolled one or more "1"s increases. (Flip a coin 100 times. Are you telling me there's only a 50% chance you'll have gotten at least one head?)

Cheers!

If that is so, how do you calculate the odds of getting heads in 100 coin tosses. If it's not 50%, it's certainly not 100%, and it's not anywhere in between.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

nix342 — 2008-05-09T01:08:00+00:00

Are there negative dice?

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

johnhe0414 — 2008-05-08T08:43:29+00:00

BILL!
Where is six ???? Keep it going.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Sunray11 — 2008-05-08T07:18:25+00:00

WalterLai wrote:
There's a good chance that Carthaginian generals may not make the trip to those who ordered from overseas unless you play your cards right.

:laugh:

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

BagpipeDan — 2008-05-08T06:45:43+00:00

nexttothemoon wrote:
That's not meant as a knock against the games themselves or Valley games either... it's just that those kinds of games aren't generally the type that the masses will want to play very often... lots of enthusiasm to buy and "collect" them because of their reputations... but little follow through in actually getting them played.

Rather that they can play very often. They're long games, but I would gladly pay $50 for a game of Titan that gets played twice, just to be able to play what I think is one of the best games ever made again. And I am not a "collector," I'm 20 and a new gamer, I just really like it and love having an opportunity to play this gem. Game play stats are not always in correlation with how valuable a game is to someone.

Thread: Re: First Punic War from the "General"

mavo — 2008-05-08T02:06:09+00:00

Mmmmh... noone ever tried this so far? Ok, all my hope is on Paul :)

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

WalterLai — 2008-05-08T01:59:50+00:00

There's a good chance that Carthaginian generals may not make the trip to those who ordered from overseas unless you play your cards right.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Bill Romaniecki — 2008-05-07T09:55:35+00:00

:d10-7:

Cleaned mailbox. Oiled and adjusted the hinges to ensure that it opens and closes properly. Installed fog lights on the box to enable the mailman to find it in inclement conditions.

Hopefully Homeland Security does not have Hannibal on the Watch List with Nelson Mandela.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Bubslug — 2008-05-07T08:16:22+00:00

nexttothemoon wrote:

That's not meant as a knock against the games themselves or Valley games either... it's just that those kinds of games aren't generally the type that the masses will want to play very often... lots of enthusiasm to buy and "collect" them because of their reputations... but little follow through in actually getting them played.

Quite. Die Macher is indeed an excellent game and an English version finally put it in reach of an English speaking audience. I like it but truth be told we don't get it on the table that much owing to its length and complexity. It is a game that needs to be played regularly to appreciate fully and I'm afraid that just isn't going to happen.

Titan is a throw back to classic AT slugfests. I have to admit I'm down for it but only out of nostalgia (having missed getting my own AH copy when they were available), and I have no illusions about the likelihood I'll get any one to play it. It would not get past the design checklist for out of date mechanics if it was a proposed new design: roll and move, player elimination, and extreme downtime. It took TI3 to rehabilitate a similarly plagued Twilight Imperium although it is still a grind and not for the faint of heart. But, Titan is coming back pretty much unaltered and other than for aging fan-boys like myself, I seriously doubt it will light any fires under the newer generations of gamers. "Hey I think my dad used to really like this game!" does not sound like a clarion call likely to go viral...

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

johnhe0414 — 2008-05-07T07:32:46+00:00

Bill,
Were is our "7"? Please, continue the countdown!

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

nexttothemoon — 2008-05-07T12:17:48+00:00

Ogma wrote:
A) Interest in Hannibal has, for me, sadly waned of late. Perhaps the Generals will inspire me to blow the dust off the box, though...

B) No interest in Titan. Played it once ages ago and it is just too chunky/clunky/old school for my tastes now. Newer games do it so much better. This, in my opinion, did not have to be reprinted.

Not to sound pessimistic as I think it's great these older "classics" are being brought back into print and made available again... but games like Hannibal and Die Macher have a difficult time reaching the table for a lot of people that bought those reprints. I noticed the owners stats for those games have swollen but the number of plays for each game aren't rising all that quickly... meaning there are a lot of pretty unplayed games decorating gamers shelves. I expect much the same from the Titan and Republic of Rome reprints (and Liberte as well if that happens).

That's not meant as a knock against the games themselves or Valley games either... it's just that those kinds of games aren't generally the type that the masses will want to play very often... lots of enthusiasm to buy and "collect" them because of their reputations... but little follow through in actually getting them played.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

otrex — 2008-05-07T06:01:53+00:00

kduke wrote:
I'll do my best to provide updates once we know the generals have cleared the U.S. port.

Does that mean that, as of May 5, they had not cleared the U.S. port?

As far as my last information goes, they were due to clear port on the 5th, barring any extra attention from U.S. Customs. I have not yet heard if that happened though.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

kduke — 2008-05-07T05:25:17+00:00

I'll do my best to provide updates once we know the generals have cleared the U.S. port.

Does that mean that, as of May 5, they had not cleared the U.S. port?

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Bill Romaniecki — 2008-05-07T03:32:26+00:00

johnhe0414 wrote:
Bill Romaniecki wrote:
:d10-8:

Clearing the approach to the mail box!

I'm liking the countdown, reminds me of Christmas.

Nooooo! The Grinch could steal Christmas!

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

johnhe0414 — 2008-05-06T04:20:13+00:00

Bill Romaniecki wrote:
:d10-8:

Clearing the approach to the mail box!

I'm liking the countdown, reminds me of Christmas.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

BagpipeDan — 2008-05-06T02:59:32+00:00

bkindt wrote:
I stopped caring if I ever receive them long ago. Now, I'm having a hard time convincing myself to re-pre-order Titan.

You know you're gonna buy it anyways.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Bill Romaniecki — 2008-05-06T02:45:57+00:00

:d10-8:

Clearing the approach to the mail box!

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Ogma — 2008-05-06T06:54:09+00:00

A) Interest in Hannibal has, for me, sadly waned of late. Perhaps the Generals will inspire me to blow the dust off the box, though...

B) No interest in Titan. Played it once ages ago and it is just too chunky/clunky/old school for my tastes now. Newer games do it so much better. This, in my opinion, did not have to be reprinted.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

bkindt — 2008-05-06T06:23:12+00:00

I stopped caring if I ever receive them long ago. Now, I'm having a hard time convincing myself to re-pre-order Titan.

Thread: Re: AH version vs Valley Games?

bkindt — 2008-05-06T06:19:21+00:00

The only problem I have with the new version is that its way too hard to differentiate the provinces in Italy due to the coloring and hard to see borders. Because of this, end of turn scoring is needlessly tricky.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Fred 100 — 2008-05-06T04:22:46+00:00

It's the longggggg awaited sculptured replacements for the cardboard generals promised to those who pre-ordered the Hannibal reprint.

Thread: Re: Ranking Generals

Bubslug — 2008-05-06T12:33:49+00:00

In the matter of who's in charge of the defense yes, but what about the interception question? The FAQ suggests that the Army Commander must be whoever was left in charge at the end of the last activation of that army, and that person will be the only one allowed to react during the Carthaginian's turn (if the whole army is to be involved), and further, will have to be the one whose rating will be used in order to activate that same army in the future (whereupon changes could then be made). Sure, a subordinate could be dispatched with a detachment to intercept but that's not we've been talking about.

It's not how we've been playing it but I can see using the rule now that we've been shown it.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

johnhe0414 — 2008-05-05T07:23:32+00:00

otrex wrote:
Bill Romaniecki wrote:
This is Okotoks control. All systems are go. Begin the Generals countdown.

:d10-1::d10-0: days!

I'll do my best to provide updates once we know the generals have cleared the U.S. port.

Thanks Kevin! That would be great.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Bill Romaniecki — 2008-05-05T01:14:16+00:00

:d10-9:

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

francesco12345 — 2008-05-05T09:43:21+00:00

Begin the Generals countdown ?
What is it happening ?
I don't Understand.

Thread: Re: Ranking Generals

Philip Thomas — 2008-05-05T09:09:50+00:00

Surely it is irrelevant which of the two consuls the Romans declare is in charge when defending? Either way there is a 50% chance it will be the other general who fights, so there is no difference in the odds.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

Warbear — 2008-05-05T07:45:19+00:00

Bill Romaniecki wrote:
Begin the Generals countdown.

:d10-1::d10-0: days!

For me, the countdown has already reached 200 days.
Or more ...

:angry:
.

Thread: Re: Let the Countdown Begin!

otrex — 2008-05-05T06:26:42+00:00

Bill Romaniecki wrote:
This is Okotoks control. All systems are go. Begin the Generals countdown.

:d10-1::d10-0: days!

I'll do my best to provide updates once we know the generals have cleared the U.S. port.