Game: UR

Thread: Re: To Ur is Divine

ChernobylCow — 2008-08-26T03:05:02+00:00

Just missed out on it on Tanga for 16.99 + 5.99 shipping. Was working and didn't have time to read your review, you would've sold me. I've also spent too much on LPs and other games since.

Thanks for the quick read.

Maybe a little bit more about player interaction? Down time?

Thread: Re: Ziggurat Building Has Never Been So Challenging

verandi — 2008-08-21T21:13:03+00:00

petegrey wrote:

There is one other way the game ends instantly. You are required to swap tiles at the end of your turn, and you cannot swap for the same type of tile you just used. If tile swap failure occurs-it ends the game instantly.

Of course! What a mental lapse. In fact, the game ending from all the tiles being occupied is just an instance of the game-end condition that a player cannot swap his tile. So to be concise there are just two end-game conditions: if a player cannot swap his tile and if at the end of a full round (play gets back around to the original start player) all the ziggurats have been built.

Thread: Re: Ziggurat Building Has Never Been So Challenging

petegrey — 2008-08-21T18:22:36+00:00

Good review!

There is one other way the game ends instantly. You are required to swap tiles at the end of your turn, and you cannot swap for the same type of tile you just used. If tile swap failure occurs-it ends the game instantly.

Towards the end this can really sway the game in your favor if you see an opportunity.

***BTW-Funagain games is selling this at 55% off right now. That made it $18. You have to add it to your cart in the warehouse sale page to get that price though.

http://www.funagain.com/control/rc?p=springsale08&VIEW_SIZE=...

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

kneumann — 2008-08-21T18:14:54+00:00

Any update on this? Thanks

Thread: Ziggurat Building Has Never Been So Challenging

verandi — 2008-08-21T17:34:32+00:00

UR is a phenomenal 30-45 minute game that plays very differently but equally well with 3 or 4 players. I will get into these differences later. First, a little overview of the game's mechanics.

In UR, players represent kindgoms of ancient Mesopotamia. Although the game when set up looks quite abstract (the board consists of a bunch of tiles laid out in a grid, and the player pieces are wooden cubes), the mechanics do make sense thematically, as you'll see in a minute. I'd compare it in this sense to Tigris & Euphrates, where the theme is simulated albeit at a highly abstracted level.

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This is a snapshot of game end at the online turn-based implementation of the game at MabiWeb.com (image courtesy of Jason Spears).

So the 6x6 grid of "civilization" tiles comprises the map on which the different kingdoms will be born and (perhaps) collide. Each tile is double sided and shows a different facet of civilization (read: color) on each side. For ease of play, there is a mini picture on each side that shows what color is on the other side. The astute observer of a game in progress will also notice that players each have a single civilization tile in front of them. This is because civilization tiles have a dual function- not only do they make up the map but also they will determine which actions are available to a player on his turn.

At the end of his turn, a player will exchange the tile in front of him with one of the unoccupied tiles on the board. Thus, the geography of the board is actually changed after each player turn, as what was before a blue tile over there in the corner is now a red tile. But what do these colors mean? They are the different facets of civilization (Agriculture, Politics, Culture, Commerce, War, to be exact). On the board, they serve as terrain and will have different effects when certain actions occur. In a player's hand, they represent the different actions he can take.

So when he exchanges his tile, a player not only decides where to change the geography of the board (perhaps to help himself or thwart another player), but also commits to which actions will be available to him next turn. Likewise, a player can see which actions are available to other players on their next go, based on what Civ tiles they have in their hands. If I see that player X doesn't have War on either side of his Civ tile, then I know he can't attack me on his next turn.

So what is the goal of the game? To expand your civilization, of course! In abstract terms- at the end of the game you'll score for each tile that you control, i.e. have cubes on. So your goal each turn is to either take over new tiles or get more cubes on the board in preparation to take over tiles later.

On your turn, you'll get to perform the two actions depicted on your tile (front and back). So without further ado, let's get into what these actions are:

Agriculture(Green): When you take the Agriculture action, you're gonna get 2 cubes on each Agriculture tile you control on the board. However, you'll first have to lose a cube from each tile you control that isn't orthogonally adjacent to one of those Agriculture tiles. Thus, this action is most effective when all tiles you control are either Agriculture tiles or adjacent to your Agriculture tiles. Early in the game, this is easier to accomplish; but as your empire expands, you will find yourself hard pressed to avoid controlling tiles that are not adjacent to your Agriculture ones. In thematic terms, you must at some point move beyond an agriculture-based society.

Culture(Yellow): When you take the Culture action, you get a cube on each tile you control that is adjacent to a Culture tile you control. However, other players who control tiles adjacent to your Culture tiles will also benefit by getting a cube on their tiles. In effect, culture radiates a positive effect to its immediate surroundings (this vaguely reminds me of Civilization the computer game). Culture is thus very good if you set yourself up so that your controlled Culture tiles are surrounded by other tiles you control. In contrast to Agriculture, which makes expansion difficult, Culture encourages you to expand (you'll optimize your Culture action by controlling all four tiles that are adjacent to each of your Culture tiles). However, your opponents can also benefit from your Culture actions, so you want to avoid having your Cultural "hubs" on the border with an opposing kingdom.

Commerce(Purple): When you take the Commerce action, you get a cube on each Commerce tile you own for a) each enemy controlled tile that is adjacent to it, and b) each edge of the board that is adjacent to it. The thematic idea here is that you're doing commerce with other kingdoms on the board and also with "foreign" kingdoms off the board (thus you get extra cubes for being adjacent to the edge). Thus, if a commerce tile you controlled was completely surrounded by other players and/or the edge of the board, you would get 4 cubes on it. Another example: a controlled Commerce tile in the corner of the board will get two cubes on it when the Commerce action is taken, one for each adjacent edge. Commerce tiles on the edge or at the corner are obviously good. Otherwise you'll need to be adjacent to other kingdoms to get the benefit, which has its risks (but is ultimately inevitable anyhow).

Agriculture, Culture, and Commerce help you get cubes on the board.

Politics(Blue): When you take the Politics action, you may rearrange your cubes on the board however you wish, moving cubes from one tile you control to another. This is an important action as it allows you to shift your influence from one end of your kingdom to another (even if your kingdom is split into disjoint parts, you can still move cubes freely between any tiles you control). Unlike all the other colors, blue tiles on the board confer no advantage and serve no function other than scoring at game end. Often, a Politics action will be performed in preparation for...

War(Red): When you take the War action, you may make as many attacks as desired. An attack is always from a tile you control to a tile that is either unoccupied or controlled by another player. An attack can only be made if it will succeed, so in other words the combat system is totally deterministic. You must lose 1 cube + 1 cube for each cube on the tile you are trying to attack (which in the case of an unoccupied tile is 0), and then move at least 1 cube to the conquered tile. So if you have 4 cubes on a tile and are attacking an adjacent tile with 1 enemy cube on it, you lose 1 + 1 cubes (both your 2 cubes and the enemy cube are removed from the board), and then must move either 1 or both cubes you have left from the attacking to the conquered tile. This action can be repeated as often as desired, and you may attack from a newly conquered tile. There are two special cases where you get an exemption from the initial 1 cube penalty: if the attacking and conquered tile are the same color, or if the attacking tile is a War tile (Red). So if attacking an unoccupied tile from a War tile, I don't lose any cubes, and simply decide how many cubes to move from the attacking to the conquered tile. Thus, War(Red) tiles on the board serve as great launching points for invasions, which must be considered both offensively and defensively.

A couple other rules that need mentioning...

There is a limit of 5 cubes that can be on a single tile. So for example if you perform the Agriculture action but already have 4 cubes on one of your Agriculture tiles, you'll only get 1 cube on it rather than 2. This also means that you can't just build up a gazillion cubes on one tile to launch an attack from.

Also, there is a hard limit of 20 cubes in your supply, so even if you are super-effective at getting cubes on the board, you will still hit a hard ceiling where you can't get any more.

There are also other moves you can make instead of taking the actions on your Civ tile.

* You can opt to sacrifice one of your Civ actions to simply place a cube on a tile that you already control (both actions can be sacrificed to do this twice). This obviously isn't very efficient, but sometimes you'll need to add a cube or two to a specific tile in order to reinforce it, or perhaps there simply isn't anything better to do.

* You can also sacrifice both of your Civ actions to place one cube on an unoccupied tile anywhere on the board. This is the only other way besides War to control new tiles and is also very powerful in that it lets you establish a presence anywhere on the board, even far away from where your original kingdom is (you could then on a subsequent turn use Politics to shift a bunch of cubes to the newly colonized tile and launch an attack- sneaky!)

* Lastly, you can sacrifice both of your Civ actions to build 1 or 2 Zigurrats. You can only build a Ziggurat on a tile where you have 5 cubes. Those cubes are removed from the tile and returned to your supply. You then place the Ziggurat on the tile and a cube of your color from the supply to indicate your ownership. At the end of the game the tile will still score for you, but for the time being the tile has ceased to exist, and that space is now a hole in the board. Building a Ziggurat can be useful for getting cubes back into your supply, as well as creating a barrier to protect your kingdom (sort of like disaster tiles in Tigris & Euphrates, but because of the smaller playing area even more effective). Ziggurats also count during scoring. Guess I should get to scoring, huh?

Scoring works like this: at the end of the game, you count the face up side of each tile you control. You also get to keep the tile in your hand, and can decide which side you want to count. You then arrange your controlled tiles in sets of different colors, so if I have 2 green tiles, 2 yellow tiles, and 1 red tile, I would arrange them in two sets: green-yellow-red & green-yellow. Each set scores separately based on how long it is, 1/3/6/10/15/21 for a set that is 1/2/3/4/5/6 long. Thus, it is advantageous to have conquered tiles of different colors. A Ziggurat counts as its own color tile, thus allowing you to have a set that is 6 long (all 5 colors + the Ziggurat), although the Ziggurat can also be added to sets of less than 5 colors. So in the above example I'd score 6 points for my green-yellow-red set and 3 points for my green-yellow set.

This is a very interesting twist! It means that although during the game controlling tiles of the same color will generally make your individual actions more effective (e.g. Agriculture), at the end you want to have as many different colors under your control as possible. It matters as much which tiles you control as how many (in fact, it probably matters more). Since getting that extra different color will score you an increasing number of points, it also means that huge point swings can occur when players gain or lose specific tiles. If I've got tiles of every color + at least one Ziggurat, and someone conquers my only Blue tile, I've just lost 6 victory points. Regaining control of a Blue tile will get me 6 points back, while gaining control of a tile in the color I already have the most of will just get me 1 point.

The scoring system also rewards building Ziggurats, cause they are the only way to score a 21 point set. But a Ziggurat requires 5 cubes to build, which could otherwise be used to attack or needed to defend. There is an interesting balance between expanding your civilization, defending it, and investing in building Ziggurats. Since in addition to the cubes you lose the function of the tile you build the Ziggurat on, it is not advisable to build them too early. However, they are limited (there are only 5), so you need to make sure you get in on one or a few before they've all been built by other players.

All the Ziggurats being built is one way the game ends. The other way is for all the tiles on the board to be occupied. These end-game conditions create interesting late-game subtleties that I won't get into- you'll have to discover them for yourself!

There is also a setup round before the game starts where you place your starting kingdom, and there's a lot of strategy involved there. I won't get into it but hopefully my other strategic discussions regarding the different actions have suggested some possible opening moves.

In conclusion, UR is a fantastic game that has many subtleties you will spend repeated plays learning. Unfortunately, the abstract appearance and the "what do I do?" feeling cause a bad first impression when people try it, but if you persevere you will find a gem here. I've played dozens of times and find it phenomenal. Hopefully this review will give you a jumpstart in understanding this game and getting past the learning curve.

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

themilkcrate — 2008-08-13T07:28:47+00:00

I would be interested in an expansion as well!

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

Isamoor — 2008-07-28T14:41:07+00:00

I'd be interested in acquiring them if they weren't too difficult to get a hold of.

Development tiles do sound like a fun addition to the game.

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

verandi — 2008-07-25T22:21:00+00:00

Pa°L° wrote:

That's the idea. No more points for set, just for development tiles. When a certain tile has been bought, the game is over.

The idea of development tiles sounds interesting, but changing the triangular scoring mechanism is basically creating a new game that is not UR. Which is fine, but then it is more like a new game (that shares some mechanisms and can be played with the same set of components) rather than an expansion. My curiosity is unabated, but I'm at a loss to offer any insights as I'm not familiar with this "new" game.

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

Pa°L° — 2008-07-25T12:01:30+00:00

verandi wrote:
Pa°L° wrote:
I would like to know: who would actually be interested in such a thing?

If you mean game play I think it is perfect, so much so that I'm curious what you could possibly add in an expansion- care to give us a teaser?

Happy that the game play is perfect to you. Rather than 'improved', I would have better said 'twisted'. I was messing around with an idea about (a) giving some more 'civ' flavour (though probably it will never be considered a civilization game), and (b) helping keeping track of the points of the various players.
The idea is a set of 'development' tiles, that during the game are 'bought' by the players and 'paid' with cubes taken by tiles of some colors. These tiles will give a mix of points and special powers.
For example, the 'Irrigation' development tile cost s3 cubes from green tiles, 2 from yellow and 1 from blue, and allows its owner to 'mantain' (ie not to lose cubes) tiles djagonally adjacent to green ones during an Agriculture actions. And maybe it confers also 5 points.

That's the idea. No more points for set, just for development tiles. When a certain tile has been bought, the game is over.

Comments?

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

verdigast — 2008-07-25T06:47:40+00:00

easterly1 wrote:
mo

It is on the web at Mabiweb.com

Good to know. I'll check it out.

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

easterly1 — 2008-07-25T04:37:28+00:00

mo

It is on the web at Mabiweb.com

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

verdigast — 2008-07-25T02:03:00+00:00

Yes, I would definitely buy an expansion and would also be happy to playtest. I was also interested in adapting UR to a computer and/or web game.

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

ontangent — 2008-07-25T00:45:50+00:00

yes, i would

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

GeoMan — 2008-07-25T00:00:57+00:00

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

Freidenker — 2008-07-24T23:28:56+00:00

Yes, I would be interested.

It would also be great if there was an official 2-player variant included.

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

Coffeebike — 2008-07-24T18:35:13+00:00

Count me in! I'm happy to playtest as well.

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

clearclaw — 2008-07-24T16:51:01+00:00

+1.

Thread: Re: 5/6 Players?

petegrey — 2008-07-24T15:39:49+00:00

As is, I realize that >4 would be too much.

But what about if an El Grande style of bidding on turn order was used?

A set of cards 1-10 (or whatever) that once played through the set gets picked up and used again.

Its something I've considered but not put into action yet

Thread: Re: 5/6 Players?

verandi — 2008-07-24T15:27:13+00:00

The 3 & 4 player versions of this game are remarkably different, and I find them both enjoyable. I do agree that more than 4 players would probably be too much chaos and inability to affect other players far away from you on the board.

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

petegrey — 2008-07-24T15:00:07+00:00

Definately yes! I would offer to help playtest, in fact.

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

verandi — 2008-07-24T14:52:39+00:00

Pa°L° wrote:
I would like to know: who would actually be interested in such a thing?

Totally interested! UR is a fantastic game that is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

Pa°L° wrote:
And what aspects of the game (other than the ruleset) would you like to be fixed or improved? Let me know.

Do you mean the components? I find the components quite satisfactory. If you mean game play I think it is perfect, so much so that I'm curious what you could possibly add in an expansion- care to give us a teaser?

Pa°L° wrote:
I am thinking about a very small print run by now, probably handcrafted.

I'll probably buy it regardless, but hopefully it will not be too expensive for U.S. customers?

Thread: Re: Interested in an expansion?

kneumann — 2008-07-24T13:47:38+00:00

Yes.

Thread: Interested in an expansion?

Pa°L° — 2008-07-24T12:01:53+00:00

For a while I've been thinking about designing and releasing a little expansion for UR, for its small niche of passionate gamers . Different ideas have come to my mind, but I would like to know: who would actually be interested in such a thing? And what aspects of the game (other than the ruleset) would you like to be fixed or improved? Let me know.

I am thinking about a very small print run by now, probably handcrafted.

Thread: Re: First Impression Session Report - Caution: BrainbURn ahead!

Stormparkiet — 2008-07-13T21:42:50+00:00

Isamoor wrote:
I'm not sure of the german rules, but do be sure to play the war action correctly. You don't have to pay a cube if you attack *from* a red tile. You also don't have to pay a cube if you attack *from* and *to* the same tile color.

I need to try this game out some more. It's an intriguing little game.

Aaah, so that's what they were trying to say! The wording for the 'war' action made little sense, something about paying one less 'if the illustrations match'. I thought you could only attack from red tiles, so that changes a lot.

Thanks for the clarification, it makes a lot more sense now!

Thread: Re: First Impression Session Report - Caution: BrainbURn ahead!

Isamoor — 2008-07-13T14:53:21+00:00

I'm not sure of the german rules, but do be sure to play the war action correctly. You don't have to pay a cube if you attack *from* a red tile. You also don't have to pay a cube if you attack *from* and *to* the same tile color.

I need to try this game out some more. It's an intriguing little game.

Thread: First Impression Session Report - Caution: BrainbURn ahead!

Stormparkiet — 2008-07-13T07:59:08+00:00

Preface: I've committed myself to writing a 'first impression' session report for every 'new-to-me' game I play, then if feeling inclined to do so, follow up with a review. This is FISR #4.

I picked up UR for pretty cheap at my local game store, remembering having read on BGG that it's a pretty underexposed game. With that price and the fact that I hadn't ever seen a copy before, I quickly scooped it up even if I remembered little about what it's about.

Reading the rules made me pumped to try it out - it had a civ theme! The method of expanding and scoring seemed intriguing. The best part was that it was even recommended with 2, even if the rules were written for 3-4. That meant I could try it out even sooner (like, right away), AND that the odds of it seeing play regularly went up dramatically.

The first play was a bit chaotic, in the sense that we had to review the rules some more (it's more complex than you'd think from reading the rules), and also because, well, frankly, we had not a clue how to play this correctly! Seriously, this game left me feeling helpless like I haven't experienced since learning how to play go. I forgot one or two times that I could only choose an action if it was on the tile I was holding, but thinking about for which tile to swap each turn was just too much, there's so many options to consider. Wow!

So we just muddled through, sweating and struggling, until we realised that hey, this game ends when one more ziggurat is built! At this point, I had one ziggurat and my wife two, and it was she who built the last one (2-player variant only needs 4 to finish the game). I thought I'd lost hopelessly, but even if she had 3 ziggurats to my 2, she only had 3 different tiles, partly because of my totally random act of war a couple turns below. That would have been a good move, if I'd any idea what I was doing. I on the other hand had a row of 6, one of 4 and one of 3, leaving me comfortably ahead. Somehow.

Anyway, it was an experience, this first game of UR, and I find myself wanting to play again, to improve. I love that feeling . So, great first impression, very nice addition to the collection, even if I can't see us selling this to anyone other than very experienced gamers.

Thread: Re: Frustrated with UR? Didn't like your first game? Read this...

verdigast — 2008-07-01T08:50:39+00:00

Portland? Isn't that far down in the distant Southlands?

I get down there about once every three years, so I'll look for you when I do!

Thread: Re: Frustrated with UR? Didn't like your first game? Read this...

petegrey — 2008-06-30T19:50:23+00:00

Hey Mo- I see you are in Washington. Anywhere near Portland? We could get together for some UR or maybe you could come to a game night Thursdays at the Lucky Lab pub on SE Hawthorne?

Thread: Re: Frustrated with UR? Didn't like your first game? Read this...

verdigast — 2008-06-30T10:34:27+00:00

I will try both. There was something fascinating about the game and I kept thinking it would make a nice computer game as maybe even a solitaire game. There are some nice mechanics there, even though the theme seems a little thin.

Thread: Re: Frustrated with UR? Didn't like your first game? Read this...

petegrey — 2008-06-29T15:19:20+00:00

verdigast wrote:
I played this last week with two friends and it was definitely confusing. The player aid that came with the game wasn't helpful and there were a lot of mechanics.

Does it play well with 2 players?

Make sure you have the printed errata from the designer. It clears up the war rules especially.

I think it plays great using the 2 player variant listed here in the variants section. Especially as a learning tool.

Like I said in my post-give it a try 2 player, then go on mabiweb. It wont let you do anything illegal and is a no pressure environment.

Thread: Re: Frustrated with UR? Didn't like your first game? Read this...

verdigast — 2008-06-29T06:38:41+00:00

I played this last week with two friends and it was definitely confusing. The player aid that came with the game wasn't helpful and there were a lot of mechanics.

Does it play well with 2 players?

Thread: Frustrated with UR? Didn't like your first game? Read this...

petegrey — 2008-06-28T21:13:23+00:00

First of all- I think this is an incredible game. It is unlike anything else I've played to date and a I rate it a solid 10.

UR is an under-appreciated masterpiece.

But I've encountered a few people now that did not immediately appreciate this excellent game. They've gotten chewed up and spit out playing their first time in a 3 or 4 player game of this. Because the mechanic is so different and unique, its not immediately intuitive to some people.

I've played 2 player several times now. And I think its great!

What I feel it it is really exceptional for, however, is as a teaching game.

I've found if you sit someone down, newbie or someone that didn't like it their first time around, and have a patient 2 player game with them, letting them get used to the mechanics and showing them some of the tricks-they get more confident and are usually soon kicking my ass in a 3/4 player game.

I also suggest Mabiweb. There they can take their time with it. They can try different things out by resetting their turn before finalizing it. Mabi has a great interface too.

I'm looking forward to Paolo's (the designer) next work!

Thread: Re: "The Lake" - variant

Coffeebike — 2008-05-28T17:27:14+00:00

How about adding the ability to move over the lake - per normal movement rules, except players must move their cubes off the lake by the end of their turn or the move is illegal.

Unless you start your move on a red tile, you'd lose two cubes to move to an unoccupied tile via the lake, so there's a disincentive, preserving the sense of barrier, but also fluidity*. If you embarked from a red tile you'd just lose one cube when you landed on an empty tile. Moving from blue tile to blue is no loss.

Attacking from the lake would be very costly, but sometimes possible.

* = get it?

Thread: Re: 5- player 7X7 grid variant- would it work?

Coffeebike — 2008-05-26T21:15:21+00:00

Cool, Pete... let's give it a try and report back.

(This variant might be a challenge to play with my still-to-be-constructed Ur set with 12-inch tiles!)

Thread: 5- player 7X7 grid variant- would it work?

petegrey — 2008-05-26T18:20:09+00:00

I love UR and rank it a 10. I especially like it with 3 players, but think the 2 player variant listed here is great too.

One complaint I have heard about regular UR is that in a 4 player game, after you take your turn, there is often a lot of activity on the board before you get another turn. This can cause a lot of chaos in your kingdom and in your strategy.

How could this be worked around to scale it to 5?

When I made my custom UR set, I thought-why not make extras pieces to try and scale it up to 5 players?

A regular set of UR tiles contains 40. 4 of each type. So I made an extra 20 wooden tiles (in black, see my pics). Basically, I made another 2 per type.

Another game I consider a "10" is El Grande. What if I give a set of bidding cards (like in the base set of El Grande) to each player? Each player gets a set of 10 cards, numbered 1 to 10. Players use cards to bid for turn order each turn after all players takes their turn, and once a number is used-it cannot be used by a subsequent player during that round of bidding. Cards used already must be displayed openly. After 10 turns, everyone gets to reclaim their cards.

I'm thinking that this would allow you to have more control in circumstances where you really need to take your turn before someone else can foil your plans. And at times when its not so important, use your lower numbered cards.

Also-for people that are a little less experienced, you would use a higher number of Agriculture (green) and Commerce (purple) tiles for the set-up and have an extra tile on the side of the board for swapping. For those more experienced, less Agriculture and Commerce and no extra tile for swapping.

I haven't put it to use yet. But will update when I give it a whirl.

Thoughts/feedback/suggestions are always appreciated!

Thread: Re: "The Lake" - variant

petegrey — 2008-05-26T17:59:02+00:00

olavf wrote:
I'd like to try this. Did you play it with 2 players?

I've tried the other variant listed for two players (and love it), but I haven't tried The Lake with 2 players. I'll bet it would work great, though!

Thread: Re: "The Lake" - variant

olavf — 2008-05-26T17:22:21+00:00

I'd like to try this. Did you play it with 2 players?

Image

petegrey — 2008-05-26T16:04:09+00:00

Custom made Ur set fits in small humidor

Image

petegrey — 2008-05-26T15:59:00+00:00

Homemade ziggurats

Image

petegrey — 2008-05-26T15:57:50+00:00

7x7 setup for a 5 player variant

Image

petegrey — 2008-05-26T15:56:45+00:00

"The Lake" variant setup. See details under variants.

Image

petegrey — 2008-05-26T15:55:00+00:00

Custom ziggurats for variants (includes 6th red ziggurat)

Thread: "The Lake" - variant

petegrey — 2008-05-26T15:44:17+00:00

First of all- I love this game! I rank it a 10. I feel it is an under-appreciated gem that is destined to become a classic.

I like it so much, I made a custom UR set that is all wood. I also made larger player tokens and special ziggurats.

While I was assembling the set, it gave me time to consider possible variants. Here is one we've tried a couple times called "The Lake".

The following shows only difference from regular play:

1. First of all- I made 4 extra blue tiles so they could be laid in the exact center of the board at setup. You can just as easily accomplish this during setup by leaving a 4x4 area clear that is considered water.

2. During initial player placement- you must place 2 adjacent (or on same tile) and a third that is not adjacent to this. This forces potential battles & interesting culture effects on multiple fronts right from the start.

3. Commerce (purple) tile is handled a little differently. In addition to its regular benefit of getting a token(s) if adjacent to board edge or opponents- you also get this benefit being adjacent to the lake.

We've tried this a couple times and it works pretty well (esp. 3 player). At the very least-it makes you rethink your strategy.

I hope others will try it and post thoughts/ideas here.

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petegrey — 2008-05-26T15:13:58+00:00

Custom set- 3 player start

Thread: Re: A question of emptyiing a square during politic

swedgamer — 2008-03-24T11:30:02+00:00

Thanks for clearing it out.

Thread: Re: A question of emptyiing a square during politic

petegrey — 2008-03-24T00:07:53+00:00

I'd agree and say it is.

On Mabiweb it does allow you to do this.

Thread: Re: A question of emptyiing a square during politic

clearclaw — 2008-03-23T22:26:54+00:00

Yes. While not common, this is a standard tactic.

Thread: A question of emptyiing a square during politic

swedgamer — 2008-03-23T21:26:26+00:00

Is it possible to move all your cubes from a square you own and leave none of them behind. This of course will give up your ownership, but still ... is it a legal action?

Thread: Re: UR Strategy

easterly1 — 2008-02-29T02:31:57+00:00

don't forget you can attack from any tile, not just the red ones

Thread: Re: UR Strategy

cymric — 2008-02-28T20:54:40+00:00

Not tips beyond what is (I think) common knowledge, but one never knows...

1. The objective is to possess sets of tiles. Always expand agressively towards colours you do not yet own. Don't ever forget the tile you're holding is two-sided and the only tile you are allowed to turn over when building sets.

2. Expanding towards a tile occupied by another player is doubly good if it secures you a colour you do not yet have.

3. When putting down your tile, do so in the neighbourhood of other players if you can create a good 'single colour isle' in that vicinity. This makes such tiles far less attractive for expansion. The upshot is that they are more readily taken up by the players, so be careful here.

4. Try to create a little pocket of influence which you can protect with a minimum of cubes; working from or towards the edge of the playing area is ideal for this to work. The outside can be protected with a 'moat' of large concentrations of cubes.

5. Purple tiles need other cultures (or edges) in their vicinity to work. This is useful in the beginning, but not so in the end, because then the amount of cubes gets so large massive invasions can result (in case the tile is surrounded by others). I find it best to 'block' such tiles at one point with a ziggurat.

6. However, be careful with those ziggurats, as the placement of the fifth signals the end of the game. They tend to go slowly at first, but can all be gone in a matter of two or three player turns. This is a disadvantage as well as an advantage, and learning to time the placement 'just right' is a skill you need to work at.

7. Don't block cube generating tiles with a ziggurat too early in the game. You'll pay dearly for it as you effectively hamstring your growth that way.

8. One of the hardest things to do is to get to new tiles. If this is a new tile in your 'heartland', go for it by means of attacking an empty tile, preferably from a red tile as this avoids the penalty of one cube you'd have to pay otherwise (unless both tiles were of the same colour). Don't forget that once you select the red action, you can attack as often as you want provided you have the cubes for it.

9. Unless you are positioned far from the rest, you should collect cubes first, and expand later. Otherwise you'll just be a sitting duck for the rest.

UR is a game with lots of subtle balancing acts and little time to get them 'right'. Therefore, I find practise is the best method of improving play. Good luck!

Thread: UR Strategy

petegrey — 2008-02-28T20:11:19+00:00

Although I really like the play and mechanics, I'm getting repeatedly killed in this game.

Does anyone have any tips?

Thread: Re: 2 players variant ?

cymric — 2008-02-27T18:41:24+00:00

Search and ye shall find...

Thread: 2 players variant ?

alek — 2008-02-27T17:48:05+00:00

i read in the personnal comment that someone posted a two player variant... I can't find it in the files section.. just a dream ?

Thread: Re: Ur -- Session Report

Coffeebike — 2008-02-22T02:49:53+00:00

Thanks for the informative review and session report.

Ziggurats ... will serve as a “wild” tile at game’s end when tallying one’s score.

I suggest you consider Ziggs another type of tile for scoring, another suit in one of your sets of suits, not wild.

Thread: Re: 2 players game

petegrey — 2008-02-17T01:34:43+00:00

olavf wrote:
We do play it this way, with one little change:
The 3 tiles next to the board are in a pile. You put your tile under and take the upper tile. Choose from all three seemed to much choice.

Played it this way- Awesome!

Thread: Re: Looking for U.S. timezone players on MabiWeb

jdludlow — 2008-02-15T18:46:21+00:00

A new game is up. Same name and password.

If anyone else is interested, please let me know. We ran a couple of games simultaneously last week. The only criteria are that you want to play or learn UR and that you're in our timezones.

If you subscribe to this thread, you can stay updated on when new games form. I encourage others to start them up and post here too.

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xethair — 2008-02-11T04:50:21+00:00

Tile exchange, early game

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IYIaxximo — 2008-02-10T13:23:43+00:00

UR (lucca 2006)

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Coffeebike — 2008-01-12T02:05:43+00:00

UR with Custom version

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Coffeebike — 2008-01-12T02:01:05+00:00

UR - Custom Box open