Image

TabbySunLion — 2008-06-04T08:14:45+00:00

Nomads at UK Games Expo

Thread: Re: Nomads of Arabia Review

KrisWattsalpoag — 2007-11-13T06:59:56+00:00

"Man, it seems every time I post something to BGG, the first reply is somebody whingeing."

The whinge in question was caused by a legitimate problem with Wattsalpoag's communications. Our website was not sending along email messages, and our voice mail was not being handled correctly. (We are currently working to fix the website and other problems.)

As a result, the complaining party could not contact us to replace a damaged part. Thanks to his comment on BGG I learned of his problem, and have sent him the replacement part. And he has kindly removed his complaint.

So the whingeing served a good purpose: It let me know about the problems with the company's communication systems. (A silver lining to every cloud, I guess!)

And thank you for the review!

- Kris Gould
Wattsalpoag Games

Image

Ceryon — 2007-10-22T19:12:31+00:00

Game in play

Thread: Re: Nomads of Arabia Review

rafial — 2007-08-14T06:43:39+00:00

Man, it seems every time I post something to BGG, the first reply is somebody whingeing.

Thread: Nomads of Arabia Review

rafial — 2007-08-13T07:13:20+00:00

Nomads of Arabia is a clever dice powered racing game, with a neat gimmick, nice themeing, and good production values for the price. It caught my eye as I was wandering around at Dragonflight this weekend, and I was invited to take over a position in a demo game (with, as it turned out, the designer) and then later played a full game with five players after the designer left. I enjoyed it, but after getting up from the table I didn't immediately feel the need to buy, as it is a bit lighter and more chaotic than my usual fare. However by the next morning I discovered it had lodged in my imagination and wouldn't come out, always the hallmark of a good game, so the next day found me buying a copy.

The theme is a group of nomads accompanying a pilgrim to Mecca, and trying to earn some cash along the way. They do this by catching wild goats, donkeys, camels and horses in the wilderness, and selling them at cities they pass. But they dare not tarry overlong, or they will be left behind. The player with the most money when Mecca is reached is the winner.

The gimmick is the central play area on which the movement takes place. It is made up of rows of spaces, each printed on a separate strip. Based on certain events in the game the map is repeatedly pushed down so that strips fall off the bottom, and new ones are added at the top. Thus the players must continually run up the map, and you get a real feel of having to hustle to keep up with the pilgrim. Well, one caveat to that, but I'll mention it at the end.

Animals are caught by hiring herders, who are represented by dice with colored dots on them, corresponding to the four animal types (black for horses, white for goats, orange for camels, and brown/gold for donkeys). A player may hire two herders at any city for free, and three for a price. The player takes and keeps those dice until reaching the next city, when they must be returned. There is a limited pool of dice, so there is some strategy as to which dice to get, and how long to keep them. Then the player moves to spaces in the wilderness. These are are matched by color and picture to five large holding pens at the top of the board, which contain the available animals for that kind of terrain. The player rolls the dice and captures animals corresponding to the colored pips that come up (if they are available in the current terrain). If the supply of animals is getting low, the player may also choose to call instead of capture, by rolling the dice and then stocking the terrain with the appropriately colored animals as indicated on the dice. This however runs the risk of other players in the same terrain capturing the animals on their turn, before the calling player gets a chance at them.

Finally the player moves to a city, and sells animals at the market. The animals are sold into a market display, which shows the current price. As animals are sold, they cover up spaces on the market, driving the price higher. Thus the timing of sales can significantly influence the price you get. The player receives money cards for the animals sold, which acts as a score, and also a resource that can be spend to hire an extra herder, or to move faster across the map.

If a particular animal type runs out, or a terrain type is emptied of animals, that triggers a restocking procedure, again using the colored dice. The animals for restocking come from market (as do animals that are called), thus lowering the market price for that type of animal. This is also the event that triggers the drifting of the map, and any players caught on the segment that is removed are "lost in the desert" and lose most of their animals and and turn as they hurry to rejoin the pack. If the newly introduced strip contains a city, a disk is placed on that city which, in the early game, provides a bonus or a one-time special power to the first player to reach it, or in the late game, provides a boost to the market prices, or is in fact Mecca, which ends the game. The game is organized so that every other map strip includes a city, and their are twelve city disks, with Mecca hidden among the last six.

The map, in addition to the five types of colored terrain, includes impassable mountains and empty (desert) spaces. If player stops on a desert space, they cannot catch or call animals, but have the option to voluntarily shift the map. In my (admittedly brief) experience, this rarely seemed to happen, and in fact the rules prohibit doing so if it would cause another player to become lost.

The production values of the game are high. The board and map strips are standard linen cardstock, generously large, and feature simple but striking graphic design, and bold bright colors. The animals are represented by plastic hemispheres, which again are boldly colored, and about the size of the tip of my thumb, so significantly larger than the standard gaming stones. The dice are sturdy solid plastic, with a good heft, and the dots are painted on, not stickers, and look like they will hold up reasonably well. The game didn't *need* to be as large as it is, but the result is very friendly and eye catching, and I think ultimately enhances the play experience. It's what drew me in in the first place. My guess is that the game is the result of combining high quality printing with the clever assembly of bulk available components (the dice and animals counters), and the result is an attractive game that sells for significantly less than many games at its quality level. And I'd like to also mention that the board in my copy thankfully does not appear to be the crappy hyper-glossy pseudo-linen texture that is showing up in so many games these days. Production is only marred by the fact that colors on two of the dice don't match up 100% with the colors used on all the others. Once this is noted however, it should not cause trouble.

Finally, what caveats if any? Only one really. Based on my one and a half play experiences it seems like the game can play out in 30-45 minutes, which is perfect for the amount of weight it brings. However, there seems to be a built in assumption that the players will cooperate in clearing out the animal pools, thus triggering the map drifts, and the ultimate progress to Mecca. The thing is, there really doesn't seem to be THAT much incentive to move the map, and it is ultimately a voluntary act to fulfill the conditions that produce a drift. I worry that players might "bog down" in a rich field, continually repopulating (by calling) and draining the pools. Further plays will reveal if that is true, and if so I've already throught of a couple ways of patching it. Other than that, the game seems fundamentally sound. I would have like to see a chart printed on the board with the various restocking procedures, but that is a minor quibble.

So if you are looking for a big, shiny filler, and the idea of a push your luck style race game appeals to you, I'd recommend taking a look at this game.

Image

heccubus — 2007-04-09T16:37:50+00:00

Designer Kris Gould teaching the game

Image

heccubus — 2007-04-09T16:31:49+00:00

Nomads of Arabia: The Wandering Herds Game Cover Art

Game: Nomads of Arabia: The Wandering Herds Game

Image

Thread: Re: Nomads of Arabia Review

Image

Thread: Re: Nomads of Arabia Review

Thread: Nomads of Arabia Review

Image

Image