Game: Border Reivers

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Grimwold — 2008-10-17T18:47:56+00:00

Box Dimensions - 26.2cm x 20.3cm x 4.1cm

Thread: Re: Cheaper Postage To Europe

CaptainJax — 2007-06-26T12:33:31+00:00

Australia doesn't count as Europe either ;-)

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Cheaper Postage To Europe

shawn_low — 2007-06-26T00:41:21+00:00

CaptainJax wrote:
I just found out that posting Border Reivers to Europe is cheaper than I thought. The new postage prices are:

UK: £2.50 (first class)
Europe: £4.49 (airmail)
World: £7.80 (airmail)

Cheers,

Jack

Gah! Too late! Game is sold out.

Thread: 4-player Basic Game with LB Gamers

dwrigley — 2007-06-10T18:38:29+00:00

Leighton Buzzard Gamers were all set for a game of Border Reivers, one of the recent games from http://www.reivergames.co.uk. This is a limited edition ... so if you are tempted into buying ... "Too Late!!!!!". Jackson Pope, the designer will now probably post and tell me that he has a warehouse full of secretly printed copies ready to hit the streets (and Good Luck to him I say).

From the above website Border Reivers is "A strategy board game of conquest, intrigue and empire building, set in 14th-16th Century Northern England and Southern Scotland."

As the map is made of of tessellated triangular tiles there is no true historical representation of the borders region between England and Scotland. This is not a big issue for me, but I do know many players are keen on historical accuracy.

I have played 1 2-player game and 1 4-player game.

The first was with my better-half, Cecilia - who thrashed me into the ground with her rapid incursions into my territory, and the latter was with LB Gamers Andrew, Tony and Russell (9th June 2007) - who also thrashed me into the ground (yes I came last again, as is usual with most of my games ).

The game bits are very well made, with coloured wooden pieces representing armies, cities and towns, and plain wooden pieces representing castles and towers. The terrain is built from triangular cardboard pieces and range from Forests, woods, coastline, cultivated land and scrub. Several stand-up cardboard pieces are used for mountains. The included dice are: a d10 die for reinforcements rolls and 2 d6 for combat rolls.

A score card is provided to track the current worth (in gold) of each player, and finally there is a deck of cards which give additional capabilities to the various phases of a turn.

The goal is to reach 40 gold at the start of your turn.

The map varies depending on the number of players, the largest being for 4 players. You can use a default basic start map, or you can use advanced rules to give each player in turn to amend a basic map's positioning of forest, cities, mountains etc. This obviously gives more variability, more re-playability and some interesting thinking needed right at the start.
You start with zero gold, a single city, and 5 army pieces on your city tile. Each player on their turn gets to play any cards they have collected, obtain army reinforcements for each city they hold (rolling the d10)and obtain cards (another d10 roll for each city they have). The player gets to choose which card to select from the pack (no random effects here!).

To give some examples of the cards:
Guildhouses (Building): You get a second roll for card reinforcements in the city where you build Guildhouses. You may split your spending any way between the rolls.
Market (Building): The city you built this building in generates one extra income per turn.
Training Camp (Building): You get a second roll for army reinforcements in the city where you built the Training Camp. You may split your spending any way between the rolls.
Militia: When one of your settlements is attacked place an army from your pool in that territory.
If the army survives the resulting combat, remove the army from the board and return this card to your hand, or return this card to the deck and keep the army.

Do go to the website to see a more complete list of cards.

Rolling Dice is pretty random - and this is where you have another decision to make. Rolling a 0 means you get the card or army for free. To improve these 1in10 odds you have to spend 1 gold for each increase in probability ... so I can spend 5 gold on an army reinforcement roll to get an army if I score 5 or less on the d10 roll. I did find that I spent an awful lot of money doing this.... and maybe this is why Tony, who played much more conservatively, won the game.

Still .. an interesting mechanism and interesting choices.

After this, each army you have gets 1 action - either move (4 movement points), cultivate, settle, build fortifications, or operate the mine (ohh... I forgot to mention one of the terrain tiles has a mine on it).

Each terrain tile has a number printed on it giving its movement cost, ranging from 1 (cultivated land) through to 4 (forest). 4mp would therefore be used up to move onto a forest tile.
Cultivating is where your army decides to do a little work instead of sitting on their backsides all day - and here the terrain tile is improved by 1 point, so a 4mp forest tile is flipped over and becames a 3mp woodland ... and this can carry on down to a fully cultivated '1' tile. At this point, an army can use the settle action, and they are absorbed into a new town (and so are replace by a town marker). Two armies can settle where there is a town, and become a city (and so the town and armies are replaced by a city marker). You could decide to improve your border security and have your army build a tower, or have 2 armies replace an existing tower with a castle. These defenses improve the defence values on that tile of your armies during combat on that tile. After all these actions, any tiles with opposing forces get to fight.
Each side rolls a d6
score of (including any bonuses) 1-3 Lose one of your own armies
4-5 No Effect
6+ Remove one of opponent’s armies.
The bonuses depend on towers or castles and the size differences between armies. If your city is being attacked, and you are losing, the city will probably be razed (city becomes a town) and if the attackers win they can take over the town, or can sack it completely for the gold it will generate.... sigh ... all good clean fun!

If all this wasn't enough, you then get a treasury phase where you get income depending on the number of towns, cities and mine (if your army is occupying the mine tile).

How does it play?
As mentioned at the beginning, I have played this as a 2 player - and it worked really well. The turn sequence goes smoothly. All the rules are simple, and you have enough decisions to take to make it an interesting game. The 4-player game felt a little congested in the centre of the gameboard, and at the end of the game, the winner, Tony won because we could not attack his towns and (one) city in time - as all players would have had to enter tiles with opposing armies (and so forced to stop and fight) ... whilst Tony was simply falling back, defending his towns and City. I suppose it would be feasible to have a 'Diplomacy' varient where we agreed alliancies to permit armies to pass each other without fighting. The game Viktory II does this ... an alliance allows you to pass through (but not stop). Anyway, by the time we realised, it was too late ... so good for Tony!!.
I enjoyed the game tremendously. I like a game with an element of combat, plenty of decisions and choices, but not overly analytical (no grognard me!!) ... so this game presses all the right buttons with me!

I do well recommend the game, and look forward to new ones from Reiver Games !

Thread: Re: Border Reivers Limited Edition Sells Out

CaptainJax — 2007-06-08T14:02:53+00:00

Thanks Andrew,

It's gone surprising well. Please rate the gate once you've got a feel for it - it might help in my efforts to get it picked up by another publisher.

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Border Reivers Limited Edition Sells Out

Rew B Slippers — 2007-06-08T13:58:53+00:00

Congratulations on selling out the limited edition & the publisher interest.
Glad I managed to pick up copy #89 on the Saturday at the UK Expo (along with It's Alive). Played my first game of it today & really enjoyed it.
Best of luck with the new projects ... & with It's Alive, which is also a great game.

Thread: Re: Border Reivers Limited Edition Sells Out

CaptainJax — 2007-06-06T06:39:52+00:00

Thanks Robrob,

It looked touch and go for a while there, but it came through in the end

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Border Reivers Limited Edition Sells Out

Robrob — 2007-06-05T23:57:10+00:00

Good for you!

Thread: Re: Border Reivers Limited Edition Sells Out

CaptainJax — 2007-06-04T07:13:12+00:00

Thanks Frank! I've five more of my designs in the pipeline, in various stages of readiness. For all the latest info on my games designs check out my blog by clicking on my Blogger microbadge.

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Border Reivers Limited Edition Sells Out

eisenphx — 2007-06-03T22:34:31+00:00

Congratulations! Man am I glad I did order your game early on, it was well worth the effort of having it shipped here! When can we expect a new game-design by you? While "It's alive" sounds interesting, I am on the fence with it because you could change the theme so easily. Especialy with that kind of theme I wan't somethingtrue to it, so I'd like to playtest that one first. But I'm so impressed with Border Reivers that I would blindly order any new design by yourself. Keep up the good work!
Frank

Thread: Re: Border Reivers Limited Edition Sells Out

CaptainJax — 2007-06-03T21:26:13+00:00

Thanks Nick,

Looking forward to TCAD...

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Border Reivers Limited Edition Sells Out

Moviebuffs — 2007-06-03T21:06:44+00:00

Congratulations, Jack!!

See you at the Cast are Dice with It's Alive!

N.

Thread: Border Reivers Limited Edition Sells Out

CaptainJax — 2007-06-03T20:36:46+00:00

Hiya All,

The title says it all. The limited edition of Border Reivers sold out yesterday at the UK Games Expo. The final six copies disappeared in the first 3.5 hours of the convention. If you still want a copy I'm afraid you're going to have to resort to eBay.

There has been some interest from a publisher though...

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Militia, Spies and Siege Engines (A First Play Review)

denverarch — 2007-04-24T17:37:29+00:00

Good review. I'm working on a couple of designs too that are not meant to be balanced euros. They are diffiuclt and frustrating, but offer elation when plans go right, and lot of room for adpatation when they go poorly. I almost laugh out loud now when I play new Euros and everyone is within 2-3 pts until the last round when someone shoots ahead. Blah, it's getting old.
Sounds like a cool game. Can't believe his little home made effort got so high up on the BGG watch list.
Gambling mechanics sound cool. Capturing the essence of raising armies is great. Shogun has the same idea. You pay for 6 armies but only three might show up out of the tower. "Thanks for the fee, we were busy, hope the battle went well", you can hear the little cubes mumbling.

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Guantanamo — 2007-02-19T23:40:01+00:00

Contents spread out

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Guantanamo — 2007-02-19T23:38:43+00:00

2 player set up

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Guantanamo — 2007-02-19T23:38:00+00:00

Neutral pieces

Thread: Militia, Spies and Siege Engines (A First Play Review)

Jako — 2007-02-15T10:27:51+00:00

Firstly a disclaimer: Jackson Pope (the game’s designer) is a friend of mine, so please feel free to dismiss what I say. However, I have made this review as impartial as possible, read on, and it should be obvious. Obviously, being a friend of the designer, I’d heard a lot about the game and I’d seen the reviews and posts on the Geek. I was very wary of playing this game as I didn’t want to be disappointed or to offend the designer by falling asleep halfway through a session.

I’d previously had a look at the rules on the Reiver Games website and was a little baffled at the way that the game seemed to play. When I sat down to play a three player game on Saturday with Jack and one other; Jack explained the rules again and I was still somewhat confused, but we pressed on regardless.

The range of options on starting my first turn was a little overwhelming, but after a couple of turns, it all became obvious how everything works and I got down to my strategy.

The reinforcement phase uses a novel method; you have to gamble for them. Instead of the normal ‘I spend one gold to buy one army’ you say ‘I wager 6 gold for an army’ then you have to roll equal to or UNDER that number on a D10 (0-9) to get your reinforcement. This can lead to frustration (rolling a 9 when you gamble 8) or ecstasy (rolling a 0 when not spending any money). I suppose this just goes to show that no matter how much you are willing to pay your army, sometimes there is no-one willing to commit to your cause.

There are also 10 different cards which may seem to offer too many options at first, but as mentioned above they soon become self evident and you find yourself chasing after them (yes, you have to gamble for the cards as well).

When playing the cards you really feel that you are commanding an army that is performing that action. You don’t just play a card to reduce your opponents dice roll, you bring in a siege engine and smash his castle or you send spies out to find your opponents capabilities. And, again, it feels like you’re doing it, not just adjusting odds or adding modifiers.

The part I enjoyed most is the overall feel; as you look at the board you don’t just see tessellating tiles and wooden counters, you see fields being cultivated and armies building towns and castles. This game plays well, it’s not a beautiful, elegant euro; it’s frustrating, annoying and occasionally unfair. But I don’t buy games for ‘elegance’ I buy games for emotion and Border Reivers has bucketloads.

This may all sound a bit strange, but that’s the point. If you want refined, beautifully balanced rules and sterile gameplay, this may not be for you. If you want a game that comes alive on the table, with loads of action, anguish, empire building, militia, spies and, yes, siege engines, this is it.

Thread: Cheaper Postage To Europe

CaptainJax — 2007-02-07T07:27:47+00:00

I just found out that posting Border Reivers to Europe is cheaper than I thought. The new postage prices are:

UK: £2.50 (first class)
Europe: £4.49 (airmail)
World: £7.80 (airmail)

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Settlement spaces can't have towers or castles?

CaptainJax — 2007-01-29T15:32:08+00:00

Mal's right on every count :-) Thanks for covering for me!

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Settlement spaces can't have towers or castles?

malross — 2007-01-28T22:46:55+00:00

Innovan wrote:
Just to check, a space with a settlement (a Town or a City) should never have a fortification (a Tower or Castle) on the same tile? Nor should there ever be more than one fortification in one tile?

Correct on both points.

Innovan wrote:
If I have a level 4 red tile with two armies on it, could I build a tower there, then build a castle the next turn? Then cultivate the space later on in the game down one step at a time to a level 1 tile, and each time the tile is cultivated the Castle remains after the tile replacement? And then as a level 1 tile if I change an army into a settlement (a Town is required first), the castle I'd had all that time would be removed, since you can't have both a settlement and a defensive structure in the same space?

And correct on that too. Provided there's no settlement in the tile, a tower or castle can be played there. Subsequent cultivation does not remove the fortification from the board. That only happens when an army settles to create a town.

Of course, if you've been playing a variant of these rules, I'm sure Jack would be interested to hear what you've done and how it's affected play.

Mal.

Thread: Re: Siege Engines reduction?

malross — 2007-01-28T22:37:11+00:00

Yep, that's exactly how it works. The Siege Engine card takes effect immediately before battle commences (e.g. reducing the castle to a tower), the card is returned to the deck, and then the battle is played as normal. In your scenario of 1 army attacking a castle that's defended by 1 army, using 2 Siege Engine cards does indeed result in a straight 1-on-1 fight.

And you're right that Siege Engines can't be used against towns or cities.

Hope this helps.

Mal.

Thread: Settlement spaces can't have towers or castles?

Innovan — 2007-01-28T13:56:24+00:00

Just to check, a space with a settlement (a Town or a City) should never have a fortification (a Tower or Castle) on the same tile? Nor should there ever be more than one fortification in one tile?

If I have a level 4 red tile with two armies on it, could I build a tower there, then build a castle the next turn? Then cultivate the space later on in the game down one step at a time to a level 1 tile, and each time the tile is cultivated the Castle remains after the tile replacement? And then as a level 1 tile if I change an army into a settlement (a Town is required first), the castle I'd had all that time would be removed, since you can't have both a settlement and a defensive structure in the same space?

Thread: Siege Engines reduction?

Innovan — 2007-01-28T05:33:39+00:00

How does playing Siege Engines work?

With one of your armies you attack a Castle with a defending army and play Siege Engines. Do you automaticly remove the Castle from the board and replace it with a Tower piece, then resolve the battle between the armies with only the Tower bonus on the other side?

So if I sent one army against a defending army with a Castle and played two Siege Engine cards, the first card played would remove the Castle piece and replace it with a Tower, the second Siege Engine card would remove the Tower from the board as well leaving nothing, and then it would be an even odds between the two sides for the battle on an empty plain, but even if I lose, the defensive structures were completely removed from the board for that space?

And you can't use siege engines against settlements or cities?

Thread: Border Reivers deck composition

Innovan — 2007-01-28T05:18:20+00:00

2 Ambush
6 Guildhouse (Building)
4 Insurrection
6 Market (Building)
6 Militia
2 Reiving Party
6 Saboteurs
6 Siege Engines
6 Spies
6 Training Camps (Building)
---------------------------
50 Total cards

Thread: An enjoyable game, but mechanics could be better

jpeter — 2007-01-23T21:37:23+00:00

I played this game at the Beyond Monopoly club in York. I enjoyed playing it, and it was an interesting experience to play a game with the designer. It's difficult for me to comment on gameplay after only one game. The concept seems to work well, but I was hindered by poor dice rolls which prevented me from doing much in terms of 'reiving'.

I was impressed that somebody could self-publish a game and that it was all of a high quality. I did feel that the flippable board tiles were a hindrance. I think a static board would be better - with sections that could be demarcated for different numbers of players - and markers that could be used to denote cultivation, forest, mining etc. (instead of flipping a tile).

I also found the number of dice rolls involved a little tedious. Instead of rolling for each city, I would replace it with a development chart - where you go up one pip for each city and city improvement. This would mean only two dice rolls maximum (rolling once for an army, and once for a card) instead of potentially ten or more per turn - (although it would need to be tweaked to give the possibility of getting more than one army on a dice roll).

I'd like to play it again to get a better feel for it

Thread: Re: Free Shipping to US - Limited Offer!

kentreuber — 2007-01-19T05:24:01+00:00

What the heck, I'll take the last one. Where are you staying in San Francisco. Are you going to have any time for games in the evenings. I'm not that far from SF.

Thread: Re: Free Shipping to US - Limited Offer!

CaptainJax — 2007-01-18T19:30:26+00:00

I've had two more orders in the mean-time - only one slot left!

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Free Shipping to US - Limited Offer!

swaits — 2007-01-18T19:15:51+00:00

I'll take you up on that. Look for payment & postal address in the next few minutes.

Update: Paypal of GBP30 (US$60.65) sent [should include postal address].

Thread: Re: Free Shipping to US - Limited Offer!

pittc — 2007-01-18T18:51:09+00:00

Sounds interesting, Jackson. I'm in. Payment and shipping address forthcoming.

-Pitt

Thread: Free Shipping to US - Limited Offer! - Offer Closed

CaptainJax — 2007-01-18T12:40:37+00:00

I'm in San Francisco for work next week, so I thought I'd offer free shipping & handling to my US customers, to counteract the expense due to the ludicrous exchange rate.

Please note: Due to limited suitcase space this offer is limited to the first FIVE people to respond to this thread. Payment must be received before 12 noon (GMT) on Monday 22nd January, as I fly out on Tuesday. Postage will be via USPS Package service, on Friday 26th January (the first chance I'll get to get to a Post Office).

I've now had my five takers, so I'm afraid the offer is now closed.

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Strategy Guide

CaptainJax — 2007-01-16T22:51:35+00:00

Border Reivers Strategy Guide
Here's an introduction to strategies that can help you win a game of Border Reivers, which you decide to use depends a lot on circumstance, and the way you like to play.

Placement of Forests, Mountains and Mines (Advanced set-up rules)
If you play the advanced set-up rules (which is really recommended after your first couple of games) then it is important to remember during the placement that which starting position is yours is not decided yet, so don't place the forests, mountains and mines to strongly favour one starting position, as you don't want to give that advantage to your opponent. Generally it's a good idea to place the mine somwhere central to avoid a big advantage to one player. You can place the forests and mountains defensively or out of the way if you prefer a more open game.

Cultivation
Ideally you want to cultivate the route between your first city and your fortifications, other settlements and the mine. If you intend to attack an opponent later then cultivating the no-mans land between you can mean the difference between reaching them and not. If you've got an inconveniently placed forest in your territory remember that you can cultivate it all the way down to a cultivated plains tiles, which will make movement much faster through it.

Movement
In the early stages of the game it is important to move into position to claim the part of the board you want to defend. Your goals at the beginning are to race to your borders to build fortifications to defend your territory, and to get to the mine if you want to gain the monetary advantage, or fight for it. Leaving people behind to defend your cities is important, especially if your opponent has a card in their hand (it could be a Reiving Party or Insurrection), and leaving an army or two to cultivate also is advantageous.

Mining
Whether or not to contest the mine is an important decision. It can require far more armies to defend than you initially expect, as the income advantage it gives often tempts people into attacking it. If you do decide to try to claim it, defend it with two or more armies to reduce the risk of Ambush attacks.

Fortification
Fortifying your borders with towers and castles is an important part of the early game, as you want to stake a claim to an area of the map (possibly including the mine), and to put a buffer zone between your cities an your opponents. Towers are good, but for the cost of moving an additional army into the tile, a castle is much better. A castle defended by two armies is a very strong defence, with four attacking armies needed to just get even odds in a fight.

Building Cities
Each city you control provides you with three income every turn, but it requires three armies to create - possibly leaving you weak in defence. You can gain the same income by building three towns (which also requires three armies), but the big difference is that a city gets you two extra reinforcements rolls, each with a 10% chance of getting a reinforcement. Guildhouses and Training Camp cards provide an alternative route to the extra rolls - without sacrificing armies.

Reinforcements Spending
Generally I spend all my money for the first half of the game trying to build up a strong defence before saving up for an economic victory. In a 2-player game a military victory is more likely, so ensuring you have enough armies to defend yourself is important. I favour cards slightly over armies in general, but if my opponent has more armies than me, or I need to get the mine off them, I will spend on armies instead.

Combat
Combat in Border Reivers is particularly bloody - in a straight fight the most likely outcome is that both players suffer heavy losses. Each round of combat has the potential of killing 1 or 2 armies from one side, 1 from each or none, so attacking or defending with two armies or less can make for a very short fight. To improve you chances of winning your best bet is to defend castles or attack with significant weight of numbers (outnumbering your opponent by two to one or more). When defending bear in mind that you can retreat to any empty territory adjacent to the one in which your were attacked - a sneaky move behind enemy lines can be a nasty shock!

Cards
The cards in Border Reivers are often underrated, but can be exceptionally powerful used in the right way.

Ambush
This card only affects armies in a tile where there is no town, city, tower or castle - i.e. an empty tile. This makes it most effective at the beginning of the game when people are cultivating tiles, and as a surprise attack on a defended mine, to give you an unexpected advantage. Ambush is one of the cards that if you succeed you get to keep the card, which can make it very powerful with a little luck. To counteract it your best bet is always keep your armies in pairs, but that will slow you down a lot at the beginning of the game.

Guildhouses
Guildhouses allows you get an extra reinforcements roll for a city. This allows you an extra 10% chance of getting a card every turn, and in addition gives you the possibility of getting two cards in a single turn. If you're playing a cards based strategy this is a good card to have, and the earlier you get it the more benefit you get. To counteract it you'll need a Saboteurs.

Insurrection
Possibly the most powerful card, this card can win a game in the early stages or seriously hamper a player later on. It allows you to attack a city or town with a temporary army from out of nowhere. Since a successful attack on a city allows you to steal 6 gold from an opponent and will limit their ability to get reinforcements (if you don't have any cities you don't get to roll for reinforcements), this can be very dangerous. Can also be used before attacking, to give you an extra army when attacking a city. The best defence is to keep an army in your cities and towns or get a Militia card for defence.

Market
A simple card and a good one. It's one extra gold a turn, the equivalent of a new town, without the loss of an army. This money can be used for card or army reinforcements, and also towards winning the game by getting 40 gold - very versatile. To counteract it you'll need a Saboteurs.

Militia
Another very useful card. Allows you to get a temporary army to defend your cities or towns - since it can be used anywhere, and if you succeed you get to keep it, it's a very powerful card. When defending a city that's unprotected against an Insurrection it gives you a +2 bonus, significantly reducing the chance that you'll lose 6 gold and your city, and it gives towns a chance to fight back.

Reiving Party
This is another card that you can keep if it survives the turn. It allows you to steal 3 (or 4 with a market) from an opponent for a net gain of 6 (or 8) gold, a significant reverse in the early stages of a game, and it can delay (or even prevent) a player winning by cash. Since it can only be defended by real armies, the Militia and the city itself are useless against this, which means it can also be used to draw an opponent's armies back from the front, or to force them to spend heavily to buy an army to defend. The best defence against this is to keep armies in your cities.

Saboteurs
Used to destroy an opponent's building.

Siege Engines
Used to reduce an opponent's bonus when attacking a fortified position, or to defend against an opponent playing Siege Engines on you.

Spies
Used to determine what an opponent is intending to do to you, and prevent them playing that card. It needs to be bought in advance, as it cannot be used the turn it is collected. Can also be used to defend against an opponent's Spies.

Training Camp
Training Camp allows you get an extra reinforcements roll for a city. This allows you an extra 10% chance of getting an army every turn, and in addition gives you the possibility of getting two armies in a single turn. Since armies are used for defence and building cities this is a good card to have, and the earlier you get it the more benefit you get. To counteract it you'll need a Saboteurs.

Thread: Re: Border Reivers Reviewed in BBC MindGames Magazine

CaptainJax — 2006-12-23T09:57:33+00:00

Hiya Van,

I'm not sure, I might approach the magazine to see if they mind me re-printing it here after the magazine has moved on to the next issue - I doubt they'd like it while it's available in the shops.

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Border Reivers Reviewed in BBC MindGames Magazine

Vanderdecken — 2006-12-22T22:36:12+00:00

Good to hear it Jack,
Is there any way to find the review online for those of us across the swimming hole?

Best wishes for the holidays and coming New Year!

—Van

Thread: Border Reivers Reviewed in BBC MindGames Magazine

CaptainJax — 2006-12-22T12:28:35+00:00

Border Reivers is reviewed in Issue 08 of BBC MindGames magazine, a games and puzzles magazine released in the UK on 2nd January 2007. Pop to your local newsagents to buy a copy and see what they have to say about Border Reivers.

Cheers,

Jack

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CaptainJax — 2006-11-29T22:27:13+00:00

Close-up of the prototype FIMO pieces

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CaptainJax — 2006-11-29T22:27:10+00:00

Prototype featuring FIMO pieces

Thread: Re: Bilingual Border Reivers Review: English and Portuguese

CaptainJax — 2006-11-10T06:50:37+00:00

rdsmith wrote:
So, does this mean that there is a professionally made edition of BR forthcoming, as you intimated? (I hope, I hope, I hope!)

Great review, and best wishes Jack.

Ray
It all depends on how well the limited edition sells - if this goes well enough to convince me that I could sell out of a professional run (which of course would have to be many more copies), then I'll do it :-)

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Bilingual Border Reivers Review: English and Portuguese

rdsmith — 2006-11-10T01:49:21+00:00

So, does this mean that there is a professionally made edition of BR forthcoming, as you intimated? (I hope, I hope, I hope!)

Great review, and best wishes Jack.

Ray

Thread: Re: Bilingual Border Reivers Review: English and Portuguese

CaptainJax — 2006-11-09T10:23:00+00:00

One slight correction:
The Insurrection card is never returned to your hand - whether the attack is successful or not.

Cheers,
Jack

Thread: Re: Bilingual Border Reivers Review: English and Portuguese

CaptainJax — 2006-11-09T10:19:25+00:00

Hey Hugo,

Thanks for the excellent (and very flattering review), I really enjoyed the back and forth nature of the game we played together and look forward to a re-match at Beyond Monopoly some time. I would recommend your review, but seeing as I don't want to appear as shilling my game I'll settle for a

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Bilingual Border Reivers Review: English and Portuguese

hmocc — 2006-11-09T04:03:12+00:00

(This bilingual review - English and Portuguese - is published in http://bodegueims.blogspot.com/ )

And we finally arrive to my first game analysis: Jackson Pope's "Border Reivers" (Reivers pronounced as reavers like in the "Firefly" TV series) is the "victim" since I believe that not only much hyped games are good games, and although it didn't make it to Essen this year, it will get there sooner rather than later, essentially because it is, in my humble opinion, a very good game.

After having played the game at PsychoCon2006 (2-player game against Jack) and also at home, my early impressions remain unaltered: Overall good components, interesting theme, simple enough rules and excellent playability in a 2 to 4 player game that plays in under 90 minutes and has a definite feel of light-civ game.

The game takes us to the Scottish Borders in XVth century Britain. Northern English and Southern Scottish clans are constantly involved in bloody skirmishes, pillages and raids whilst both English and Scottish crowns "turn a blind eye to the chaos". Players take on the role of a warring Border clan trying to expand, develop and defend itself against neighbour clans and dominate the region. Dominion will have to be militar (conquering all your neighbours) or economic (having 40 gold at the beginning of the turn).

COMPONENTS (3.5/5)

The components are of very-good build quality for a home-assembled first edition. A laminate scoring sheet to keep track of the players' points; Same durable material for game's 50 cards; The map tiles which are triangles instead of hexes, double-sided, and are made of strong card with the same laminate finish as the scoring sheet, making them very sturdy and resistant (they will be much handled during games). The remaining pieces are all wood: towns and cities are coloured wooden disks, armies are coloured octogonal prisms and fortifications (towers and castles) are white cubes and cylinders. Although I consider the scoring sheet and land/board tiles to be of good build quality, there are just a couple of issues that I think prevent them from being outstanding, and are mainly to do with the design:

1) The board tiles are double-sided and some will be turned/replaced during a game. This makes for a fiddly experience as the players turn or replace the tiles because by doing it the adjacent tiles (with or without wooden bits) will be messed with and require further reorganising;

2) The scoring sheet layout is a little confusing in the beginning, with the scoring track being divided into 5 columns (I think of it as stacks), each starting numbers from the bottom, but players normally tend to get used to it by the time their gold goes from 9 to 10 or 19 to 20.

3) The artwork is also somewhat basic: it does the job but can and should be improved in next editions.

I think that an overall 3.5 out of 5 for the components is due, considering, as I said, that this first edition of the game is home-made.

THEME (4/5)

The theme is really interesting and the game "fits in" nicely. Although the game components do not give much away in terms of its theme, the gameplay does and you really feel involved in 'guerrilla-style' warfare throughout the game. The economic factor and the "subterfuge" cards add to the flavour of the game.

So, here I tend to give it a 4 out of 5.

RULES (4/5)

The rules are simple. Having said that, it is always better to have the author of the game to play with you if you're playing for the first time. I was very lucky to have played my first game with Jack and he was a really good teacher. If, by any reason, you are not as lucky as I was, the rulebook is very straightforward and offers a few examples of game play, as well as detailed explanations of the rules and game setup images.

I would say that new players should get into the game in about 15-20 minutes, maximum, when starting by reading the rulebook. This means that a 4 out of 5 is only due to the fact that only the rulebook cover is printed in colour and all the remaining pages in black and white.

PLAYABILITY (5/5)

Here is where the game really shines! After the game setup, players play in turns, which are divided in 6 turn phases: 1) First Cards Phase; 2) Reinforcements Phase; 3) Actions Phase; 4) Combat Phase; 5) Tax Phase; 6) Second Cards Phase.

The game-setup (or setup phase) is where players lay the board (tiles) according to the number of players, choose playing colours and decide who goes first, before actually starting playing the game.

The First and Second Cards Phases refer to card play. In the first one, at the beginning of the turn, the player may play any card that reads: "At the beginning of your turn...", whereas in the second, at the end of the turn, the player uses, if he/she wants, any card in his/her hand that reads: "At the end of your turn...".

"There are 10 cards to choose from in Border Reivers..." are the words printed on the rulebook. There are, in fact more than 10 but only 10 different ones.

"Ambush" and "Insurrection" cards give players additional armies in combat situations, which are removed at the end of combat and return the card to the hand of the player who played it. Similarly, "Militia" and "Reiving Party" have the return to hand mechanism but to different outcomes (Militia defending settlements and Reiving Party stealing from them).

The "Market", "Guildhouses" and "Training Camp" cards are buildings cards that you play in front of you to give you something every turn: extra gold (Market), a second roll for card reinforcements (Guildhouses), and extra rolls for army reinforcements (Training Camp). Another card, aptly named "Saboteurs", will return a building card that is in play back into the deck.

"Spies" will let you look at your opponent's cards or prevent an opponent from using his/her "Spies" on you. And finally, "Siege Engines" allow you to reduce fortifications' levels, or, similarly to "Spies", return a "Siege Engines" used against you.

Reinforcements Phase brings the opportunity to spend that gold, which is burning holes in your pockets (but also which might win you the game in the end...), in new armies or cards. Here the mechanics are quite clever: for each city a player has, he decides how much he wants to spend in TRYING to get a card or an army. By "trying" I mean rolling a 10-sided die, which, in turn, means that if you decide to spend, say, 9 on a card, you definitely get that card. If, however, you decide to spend only 3, in order to get your card, your roll will have to result in a 3 or less. The beauty here is that the 10-sided die has a zero (0) face, which comes in handy (if you're lucky), when you don't have any gold, like in the beginning of the game.

Actions Phase is where you do all the work: moving armies, cultivating lands, building fortifications (towers/castles), settling (armies settle to become towns or cities) and occupying the mine tile.

In Combat Phase, well you know, players' armies sort out their differences if they happen to occupy the same tile on the board. Combat is resolved by rolling 6-sided die (each player) and adding to the result of the roll any bonuses obtained by having fortifications (defending player) and/or superiority in numbers (both players). Towns and cities also count as armies and are "downgraded" if they lose their battles.

Taxation Phase is the last with the active player earning "gold" for each city, town and the mine (if it is under the control of the player), and lastly the already mentioned Second Card Phase takes place and it's the end of the turn.

GAME EXPERIENCE (4/5)

As I said, playing your first game against the author of any game makes, arguably, the perfect learning session. Apart from that, Border Reivers is an outstanding light civ game: It's got resource management; It's got tough decisions; it's got strategy; it's got tactical conflict; it's got innovative or unusual game mechanisms; it's got player comebacks; it plays amazingly well with 2 (and as I and you can imagine, it will play even better with more); and appears to have great replayability.

My only qualms are to do with those small issues of game design and the artwork, which I think can improve in future editions.

On the whole, I think this game is a solid 4 ut of 5) and leaves me with great expectations for Jackson Pope's upcoming creations. I have bought one copy of this first edition (limited and numbered- 100 copies, mine's no. 30), signed by the author, which adds even more value to an already great game!

•

(Esta resenha bilingue - Inglês e Português - está publicada em http://bodegueims.blogspot.com/ )

Chegou (Finalmente!) a hora da minha primeira crítica. A "vítima" chama-se "Border Reivers" (Reivers pronuncia-se como reavers - como aqueles canibais da série televisiva "Firefly"), é da autoria de Jackson Pope, e escolhi-o, pois acredito que nem só os jogos "da moda" são bons jogos, e este, ainda que não tenha sequer marcado presença em Essen, irá fazê-lo dentro em breve porque é, na minha humilde opinião, um jogo muito bom.

Depois de ter o jogado/aprendido na convenção de jogos PsychoCon2006 (fiz um jogo a 2 contra o autor), e também em casa, as minhas primeiras impressões continuam inalteradas: Componentes de boa qualidade, tema interessante, regras simples de aprender e excelente jogabilidade num "light-civ" que se joga em menos de 90 minutos e que aceita entre 2 e 4 jogadores.

O jogo leva-nos às regiões fronteiríças entre a Escócia e a Inglaterra nos séculos XV e XVI, onde clãs de ambos os lados se envolvem em confrontos sangrentos, raides e pilhagens, enquanto os monarcas de um lado e do outro fecham os olhos à confusão. Cada jogador assume o papel de um desses clãns, tentando expandir, desenvolver e defender-se contra os clãs vizinhos e, eventualmente, dominar a região. Esse domínio pode ter 2 vertentes: militar (conquistar todos os oponentes) ou económica (começar um turno com mais de 40 peças de ouro). Esta última parece ser a mais comum forma de terminar o jogo e talvez a única que permite fazê-lo dentro do tempo previsto.

COMPONENTES (3.5/5)

Os componentes são de muito boa qualidade em termos da sua construção, que é, impressão gráfica à parte, feita à mão pelo autor nesta primeira edição.

Uma folha de pontuação com acabamento laminado; 50 cartas do mesmo material; Os "tiles" que constituem o tabuleiro de jogo sendo triangulos, em vez dos mais comuns hexágonos e feitos com o mesmo acabamento laminado que os torna bastante resistentes, já que por terem 2 faces diferentes, serão sujeitos a repetidas "viragens" durante os jogos e, todas as restantes peças do jogo, em madeira (de qualidade "meeplesca" alemã), que incuem aldeias, cidades, exércitos e fortificações (torres e castelos).

A meu ver, a única pecha (de maior) do jogo está no design de alguns componentes, que embora eu considere serem de boa qualidade em termos dos materiais e sua construção, não serão tão fantásticos em termos da sua funcionalidade:

1) Os tiles triangulares com 2 lados diferentes, apesar de serem uma aposta numa mecânica pouco vista, tornam-se, durante o jogo, um pouco "complicantes", já que o serem "virados" durante o jogo, leva a que se mexa (não intencionalmente) nos "tiles" adjacentes e nas peças sobre estes, o que pode ser considerado aborrecido, pois ter-se-ão de recolocar todas as peças deslocadas.

2) A folha das pontuações, ou melhor o seu "layout" gráfico com as casas de pontuação divididas em 5 colunas (eu tento imaginar as colunas como pilhas de moedas, já que a pontuação representa o "ouro" de cada jogador) é um pouco confuso ao princípio, pois em cada coluna (pilha) a contagem começa do fundo e não do topo como habitualmente. Por altura da pontuação (leia-se "ouro") dos jogadores passar de 9 para 10 ou de 19 para 20 é que isto causa maior confusão, mas é nesses precisos momentos que se percebe como funciona.

3) A produção artística do jogo é algo básica, mas serve o propósito, embora eu ache que este é um aspecto que pode ser fácilmente revisto e melhorado em próximas edições

No cômputo geral, acho que os componentes são o elo mais fraco deste jogo, mas levando em conta o facto de ser uma produção "caseira", 3.5 em 5 é uma nota justa.

TEMA (4/5)

O tema é bastante interessante e o jogo enquadra-se bem nele. Embora os componentes sejam algo básicos (quase abstractos) e não "denunciem" o tema, a jogabilidade, por outro lado, envolve os jogadores num ambiente de guerrilha pós-medieval, apimentado pela presença do factor económico-civilizacional e pelas cartas de "subterfúgio".

Assim, aqui dou-lhe um sólido 4 em 5.

REGRAS (4/5)

As regras são simples. Dito isto, é sempre reconfortante ter o autor do jogo a explicá-las no primeiro jogo que fazemos, e eu tive essa sorte, já que o Jack se revelou um excelente professor. Se, por qualquer razão vocês não tiverem a sorte que eu tive, o livro de regras não é complicado oferece explicações e exemplos das regras e imagens do "set-up" do jogo.

Eu diria que novos jogadores devem tomar cerca de 15-20 minutos para ler e assimilar as regras para começarem a jogar. O facto de o livro de regras ser a preto e branco (apenas a capa é a cores) é determinante na minha apreciação: 4 em 5.

JOGABILIDADE (5/5)

É aqui que este jogo brilha! Depois da preparação ("setup"), o jogo desenrola-se por turnos, que se subdividem em 6 fases (1 turno = 6 fases): 1) Primeira fase de cartas; 2) Fase de reforços; 3) Fase de acções; 4) Fase de combate; 5) Fase de impostos; 6) Segunda fase de cartas. Falarei das cartas mais adiante, para já concentremo-nos no turno.

Antes de começar a jogar há uma fase de preparação (vulgo "setup"). É aqui que os jogadores colocam os "tiles" que vão compor o tabuleiro de jogo, escolhem as cores com que vão jogar e decidem que joga primeiro.

A Primeira e Segunda fases de cartas referem-se, como o nome indica, aos momentos do jogo em que normalmente se jogam cartas. Sendo a primeira no princípio do turno, as cartas cujo texto diga "At the beginning of your turn..." ("No princípio do seu turno...") serão para jogar aqui, tal como as cartas cujo texto é "At the end of your turn..." ("No fim do seu turno...") serão para jogar... adivinhem lá... exacto: no fim do turno.

O livro de regras diz que existem 10 cartas para escolher em "Border Reivers". De facto existem mais do que 10. Para ser exacto, 50. Mas destas 50, só existem 10 diferentes, ou seja, há 5 cartas de cada (5 x 10 = 50).

"Ambush" (Emboscada) e "Insurrection" (Insurreição) são cartas que dão ao jogador exércitos adicionais para situações específicas de combate. Estes exércitos são removidos do tabuleiro no fim do combate e a carta volve à mão do jogador. Similarmente, "Militia" (Mil_ícia) e "Reiving Party" (Bando de Salteadores) apresentam o mecanismo de devolver a carta para a mão, mas para desfechos diferentes ("Militia" para defesa de aldeias e cidades, "Reiving Party" para saquear aldeias e cidades).

As cartas de "Market" (Mercado), "Guildhouses" (Guildas) e "Training Camp" (Campo de Treino), são cartas de edificios que cada jogador pode colocar na sua área de jogo e permanecem lá até que sejam removidas por outra carta ou o jogo acabe. Elas dão ao jogador algo extra em cada turno: Ouro extra (Market), um segundo lançamento de dados para reforços de cartas (Guildhouses), ou um segundo lançamento para reforços de exércitos (Training Camp). A carta que remove estas cartas-edifício da mesa chama-se "Saboteurs" (Sabotadores).

"Spies" (Espiões) permite ao jogador olhar para as cartas de um adversário ou para o impedir de ver a suas (quando é ele a jogar "Saboteurs"). Por fim, "Siege Engines" (Catapultas) permitem reduzir o nível das fortificações, ou, como "Spies", devolver uma "Siege engines" jogada contra nós.

A fase de "Reinforcements" (Reforços) traz a oportunidade de gastarmos o ouro que trazemos nos bolsos (tenho que fazer aqui um pequeno parêntesis para lembrar que neste jogo, Ouro é igual a pontos de vitória), em novos exércitos ou cartas. A mecânica de jogo é muito interessante: por cada cidade que um jogador tenha, esse jogador terá de decidir quanto ouro vai querer gastar a TENTAR obter novas cartas ou exércitos. Quando digo "tentar" quero dizer lançar um dado de 10 faces, o que significa que se o jogador decidir gastar 9 ouros numa "tentativa" ele definitivamente obtém o seu reforço (carta ou exército). Contudo, se o jogador decidir gastar somente 3 ouros, ele terá de obter um lançamento de 3 ou menos para ser bem sucedido. A beleza desta mecânica reside no facto de que o dado tem uma face de valor 0 (zero), o que significa que mesmo sem gastar, um jogador pode ter a sorte de obter reforços (cartas ou exércitos). Isto é muito útil no início do jogo quando os recursos são escassos.

A "Actions Phase" (Fase de Acções) é quando o jogador faz todo o trabalho: mover exércitos, cultivar terras, construir fortificações, fundar aldeamentos ou cidades (com exércitos), e ocupar o "tile" da Mina.

Na fase de combate os exércitos dos jogadores resolvem as suas desavenças desde que ocupem o mesmo "tile" no tabuleiro. O combate resolve-se com o lançamento de um dado de 6 faces por cada jogador, ao resultado do qual são adicionados bónus por ter fortificações (no caso do jogador defensor) ou superioridade numérica (para ambos os jogadores. Cidades e aldeias também contam como exércitos e são "despromovidas" se perdem as suas batalhas.

A Fase de Impostos (Taxation Phase) permite ao jogador receber ouro de cada cidade, aldeia e mina que controlar e para finalizar o turno, joga-se a Segunda Fase de Cartas.

EXPERIÊNCIA DO JOGO (4/5)

Como disse anteriormente, jogar o primeiro jogo (seja de que jogo for) contra o autor desse jogo, é, possívelmente, a sessão de aprendizagem perfeita. Mas mesmo descontando o facto de eu ter tido esse privilégio, "Border Reivers" e um excelente jogo do tipo "light-civ" porque: Tem gestão de recursos; Tem decisões díficeis; Tem estrategia; Tem conflitos tácticos; Tem mecanismos de jogo inovadores ou pouco usuais; Tem reviravoltas; Joga-se bem com 2 jogadores (e eu imagino que se jogue ainda melhor com 3 ou 4); e parece ter imenso potencial de re-jogabilidade (cada novo jogo com características diferentes).

A minha única crítica vai para os pequenos problemas no design de alguns componentes e para a componente artística que parece ter ficado um pouco esquecida, mas que creio poder vir a melhorar bastante no futuro.

Resumindo e concluindo, penso que este jogo merece uma nota final de 4 (em 5), o que me deixa com elevadas expectativas para as novas criações do autor (Jackson Pope). Por achar que é um bom jogo, adquiri uma cópia da primeira edição (limitada e numerada - 100 cópias, a minha é a no. 30) o que adiciona ainda mais valor a um jogo já de si bastante bom!

Image

CaptainJax — 2006-10-30T21:20:09+00:00

A board laid out for a 3-player game using the variant layout

Thread: Re: Border Reivers At Psychocon 2006, Leeds, UK

El Jefe — 2006-10-20T20:18:35+00:00

I second Hugo, and thank you for the game and the work you have put into Border Reivers, Jack. I plan on being at BM tomorrow and will probably be bringing along my copy of BR.

Hugo, good playing China with you as well. Hope to see you both at BM soon.

-Jeff

Thread: Re: Border Reivers At Psychocon 2006, Leeds, UK

CaptainJax — 2006-10-20T11:53:11+00:00

Hugo,

You're very welcome. Thanks for buying a copy :-) Hope to see you again soon at Beyond Monopoly.

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Border Reivers At Psychocon 2006, Leeds, UK

hmocc — 2006-10-20T11:38:12+00:00

Jack,

I really enjoyed playing Border Reivers. Thanks for your patience in teaching me how to play and answering all my questions.

Regards,

H

Image

CaptainJax — 2006-10-07T09:06:18+00:00

Close-up of a game in progress.

Image

malross — 2006-09-22T20:59:02+00:00

Black wins, just surviving a couple of last minute insurrections.

Image

malross — 2006-09-22T20:58:51+00:00

Ian & Willy enthralled by my ability to win the game and simultaneously almost get wiped out.

Thread: Re: 2006-08-31 :: Game 3 :: 4 go reaving of the border

Grimwold — 2006-09-13T08:36:41+00:00

Yeah, I should've mentioned that there was only 1 hidden card in play, and it wasn't either of those

Thread: Re: 2006-08-31 :: Game 3 :: 4 go reaving of the border

CaptainJax — 2006-09-13T08:24:01+00:00

If you're in a position to win by a narrow margin you are vulnerable to the Insurrection and Reiving Party cards which can steal enough money from you to make a player in a close second place win instead. I've seen it happen a few times, and it makes for a very exciting finish.

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: 2006-08-31 :: Game 3 :: 4 go reaving on the border

Grimwold — 2006-09-12T21:58:14+00:00

Players: Grim, Jen, Simon and David
Duration: 90 minutes

While the other group were finishing their game of La Citta, four of us broke out Jen's copy of Border Reivers (by UK games designer Jackson Pope - who launched his game at the recent Cast are Dice convention in Stoke, and was promoting it at Beyond Monopoly in York when I was last there).

Only Jen had played before, so she set up the board and explained the game to the rest of us, as she went along. At Jen's suggestion, we used the setup variant where each player takes it in turn to place a section of mountains, and a heavily wooded area. This was instead of using the fixed setup that is described in the rules. Since Simon went first, he also got to place the mine.
This meant that I placed my city and pieces second (after Jen), so I was able to capitalise on the placement of the mine, and after a few turns of movement I had troops in place there.

I'd expected much more competition for control of the mine in the early stages of the game, particularly from Jen who could also reach it without too much difficulty, however it never came... partly I suspect due to it's secluded location (bordered on two sides by woods, and with a range of mountains nearby).

During the early turns, we all concentrated on cultivating our own little areas, settling a couple of towns and building fortifications. David in particular enjoyed cultivating lots of land around his city.. this was no doubt to make it easier for his troops to move around. All of us managed to get 1 card in play, with Jen, Simon and David going for the Training Camp, whilst I decided to go for the Market instead, to boost my gold production.

For most of the game I was earning more gold per turn than the others, due to the mine and the market, though the others caught up a little bit when they went ahead on towns and cities. I was also trying to spend less as well... with a clear aim of victory by getting >40 gold. The others were earning a fair amount of gold too, but they were spending lots on increasing the chances to get cards or troops... with varied amounts of success.

Late on in the game, I was earning 11 gold each turn, and after a couple of turns without spending I was able to hit the magic 41 gold target, and by this time it was virtually too late for the others to do anything about it... I still had to survive a complete round, as the victory condition was on gold at the start of your turn, but I was too well defended for the others to reach me and attack my cities (the only way to reduce a players gold).

The last round however did turn into a bit of a combat fest, with David, who was unable to reach me, attacking Simon, followed by Simon retaliating against David, as well as having a go at one of my fortifications... and Finally Jen having a go at one of my other fortifications. I survived however and was declared the winner.

Final gold tallies were as follows:
41 - Grim
35 - Simon
27 - Jen
19 - David

Thread: Border Reivers At Psychocon 2006, Leeds, UK

CaptainJax — 2006-09-08T19:42:22+00:00

Reiver Games will be at Psychocon 2006 at the Travelodge Vicars Lane Hotel (formerly Riva Hotel) Leeds on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th October.

This is your chance to play Border Reivers with its designer and to pick up a copy of the signed and numbered limited edition without having to pay postage & packing fees.

For more information about Border Reivers visit: http://www.reivergames.co.uk/BorderReivers/index.html

For more information about Psychocon visit:
http://www.psychocon.co.uk

Thread: Re: Playtesting in York, UK

CaptainJax — 2006-08-04T18:36:40+00:00

Thanks Paul!

I had a blast last night, and Border Reivers was well received which was a nice bonus

I'll let you know when your copy is ready.

Cheers,

Jack

Thread: Re: Playtesting in York, UK

Social Work Dad — 2006-08-04T18:26:36+00:00

I was fortunate enough to be involved in playtesting 'Border Reivers' in York UK last night. I thoroughly enjoyed it! The game is deceptively simple; tactically it is challenging enough for most gamers. The art work is stunning and the production values are high which, given its independent production, is a real credit to Jackson Pope. I can't wait to own my own copy and play it some more. Well worth buying folks!: It deserves

Thread: Playtesting in York, UK

CaptainJax — 2006-07-18T07:48:08+00:00

Hiya All,

I'm arranging a blind playtesting of Border Reivers to check the quality of the rules in the next couple of weeks in York, UK. It'll be one evening in a pub or cafe.

The playtesting will involve playing the game out of the box and then providing feedback on the game and rules. Do the rules make sense to you? Is there an error in the game? That sort of thing. In return for your valuable time, you'll be credited in the rulebook as a playtester and I'll offer a 20% discount on pre-orders of the game which will be available in August.

You do not have to be an experienced gamer. I really need a range of players to get a good idea, so even if you are new to board games, please think about it. I need to know how many people are interested so I can choose a venue - if you're interested please PM me.

Border Reivers is for 2-4 players aged 12+, so older children are welcome, and takes about 30-90 minutes depending on what happens in the game. It is set on the lawless border between England and Scotland during the 15th - 16th Centuries, and players take on the role of Clans, trying to control their lands. It's most similar to Mighty Empires or Risk and is a mix of strategy & light wargaming featuring: dice combat, gambling for reinforcements, victory points and player elimination. It is possible to get eliminated, however the game usually doesn't last that long, or ends soon after. It's not like you'd be sitting around for ages after being knocked out at the start. The feedback will take 10 minutes at most.

More details about the game can be found here:
http://www.reivergames.co.uk/BorderReivers/index.html

Thread: Late Night Games

CaptainJax — 2006-06-12T22:05:38+00:00

Friday night, after a game of Ninja Galaxy, Dunk and I settled down for a game of Border Reivers. After several hours in the pub celebrating my birthday I was a little the worse for wear, but fortunately the late start (around 1:45am) and the drink were affecting Dunk equally.

Sadly all I really remember about the game (I told you I'd been drinking) was the Insurrection card. I chose one fairly early on and was gleefully waiting to play it on Dunk when he least expected it. It's one of the cards you have to play before your reinforcement phase (to stop you playing it the turn you pick it up) and for about five or six turns in a row I gave a little 'D'oh' after every reinforcement phase as I realised, yet again, that I'd forgotten to play it. I imagine in a game between normal players the conversation would go a little something like:

Aristotle: D'oh! I've forgotten to play a card! Do you mind if I play it now?
Boudicca: Chimp!
Confucius: Did you pick it up this turn?
Aristotle: Nope, a couple of turns ago.
Boudicca: Go on then.
Confucius: (under breath) Cheat.

But, since I designed the game, and I'm continually victimised for 'remembering' rules halfway through the game, I decided to play it by the book. In the end, Dunk picked an Insurrection and played it on me before I got to do it to him. He eventually won the game by annihilating me.

On Saturday we wnt round to Gav's for games. It was the end of a long day: we'd had a barbeque earlier in the day while watching the pathetic England match, then been to the casino and now we were playing games. To be honest we were all a bit too knackered, and despite me bringing two bags full of games only Carcassonne and Border Reivers got a look in. Gav and Ciara decided to play Border Reivers (mostly Gav) and I joined in. We set up a 3-player board and placed the forests, mountain ranges and mine. Gav was going first so he got to place the mine but was last to choose a start tile. I got a good location, slightly nearer to the mine than the others, and capitalised on it by quickly rushing in. I also moved the bulk of my armies to a choke point between two mountain ranges and fortified it, and fortunately, this was in front of the mine, so I didn't need to tool up there too. Ciara hadn't played before and admitted that she didn't really get the game until near the end, so apart from a brief attack we didn't really get involved much.

Holed up behind my fortification I felt fairly safe, so I tried to save my income. You can win the game by starting your turn with 40 gold, so I chose saving over reinforcements most turns, except a couple of occasions when I really needed something.

Since I had the mine sewn up, and Ciara was also playing defensively, Gav (who had played a couple of times before) took advantage of the quiet game to become Mister Civilisation. He quickly built the maximum three cities and several towns. He upgraded his cities to have markets and was getting income and reinforcements at a staggering rate. I was convinced he was going to beat me via economic means but he continued to spend his income building up an impressive army.

Meanwhile, I was crawling towards the requisite 40 gold. So slowly. Despite the mine, my save-not-spend strategy was limiting my reinforcements and hence my settlements, so my income was less than half of Gav's. Fortunately, Gav noticed too late and when he tried to steal my income in a last ditch attempt to stop me winning I was able to pull back from my fortifications to protect my settlements. Sadly for Gav, it was not to be. Although Dave had snatched a win from Wilka's jaws in exactly the same fashion last time we played, Gav was unable to do the same and I scraped a lucky win that I really didn't deserve.