Game: Age of Steam Expansion - Mars: Global Surveyor

Thread: Age of Steam Mars session report

dedefortin — 2008-01-09T03:10:45+00:00

On our first game on this map we really had a tough time trying to understand the rules even if our first language is french as the author. For this second game on Mars it went smoothier thanks to our experience of the first game and the questions and answers from this forum.

Setup of the game went well for the preliminary round as we knew better the value of each color. Martin shipped the important green martians on turn 1 and was able to keep it for the end of the game for the important bonus scoring. Martin continued on his move and urbanized right in front of Nathalie and builded before her and complicated her build. Mario also had a tough second turn as he didn't have enough money to make a decent build. Nathalie decided she had enough on next turn and even if she had turn order action she overbet Martin to win at 7$ for first build as she was afraid of what Martin could have done. From this turn the first move action became important as players were trying to win as many of these green markers before we run out of them as in our first game. Pierre made many loops in his area but there still wasn't many interesting shipping. During this time Martin and Mario shipped for 5 and 6 income on turn 5. Even if Mario gave 2 income to other players most of the time he was still neck to neck with Mario on the scoring track. From turn 5 we couldn't ship green markers anymore as there was only 1 gree marker left on Marsopolis.

The final scoring was very close and it showed that 2 players put their effort on green marker that were added on their score in the bonus scoring. This game was better than our first experience and it will be played more often in our group. It's not as good as the Moon map but it's very interesting with great interaction.

Final scoring:
Martin: 111
Mario: 109
Pierre; 97
Nathalie: 61

Image

Verkisto — 2007-08-11T22:03:47+00:00

Near the end of our first game.

Thread: Re: Components

AnakinOU — 2007-06-25T03:07:13+00:00

Crap...my copy arrived from Ludibay, containing nothing but the map. No rules, no nothing. The tube was crushed on one end, and missing the plastic cap.

Thread: Re: Components

willettejj — 2007-04-20T23:19:12+00:00

Thanks,

Boards and Bits emailed the rules that were missing. The Mars rules posted look much betterm, but I did need the Moon rules as there is not a file posted for them.

Thread: Re: Components

bazik123 — 2007-04-19T06:31:11+00:00

there shouldn't be a need to have the thread on hand as everything should be here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/fileinfo.php?fileid=22949

Thread: Re: Components

clearclaw — 2007-04-18T22:56:11+00:00

willettejj wrote:
Just got this in from Boards and Bits. The only thing it consiosted of was a double sided map. I cna get the rules off the geek. Am I missing anything else?

The rules should have come with it. Certainly the several copies of the map I ordered from Boards&Bits each came with copies of the rules!

Do note that the published English rules are not great. The various clarifications and corrections here ont he 'geek are useful -- enough so that I printed and laminated the threads and keep them alongside the rules.

Thread: Re: Components

IcemanCU — 2007-04-18T22:35:48+00:00

Nope. It's a map...you do use the green player discs as martians when using this map, but you aren't missing anything. I would note that my copy (ordered from the designer in France) came with rules (albeit nearly unintelligible ones).

Thread: Components

willettejj — 2007-04-18T21:43:34+00:00

Just got this in from Boards and Bits. The only thing it consiosted of was a double sided map. I cna get the rules off the geek. Am I missing anything else?

Thread: Re: Storage?

Malachi — 2007-04-12T16:55:11+00:00

CortexBomb wrote:
I opted for #2 myself.
I went for option 3, cut the map into quarters.

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I have all of my maps (and rules, goods boards, etc.) in a cheap version of the first case that clearclaw mentioned. All of the other bits are in the box from Carcassonne: Builders and Traders.

Thread: Re: Storage?

CortexBomb — 2007-04-12T14:38:48+00:00

I just keep all of my soft maps stuffed into the cardboard bezier games mailer. The hard ones still manage to fit in the base box, as I've evicted all of the wood bits into a Plano box.

I've considered the sort of solution JC has used though...

For your specific question: the Mars map is a real problem. It is a non-standard size for people in North America, and you basically have two choices:

1) You can keep it in a tube, which means that each time you pull it out it's going to be curly (without the nyuks)

2) You can fold it in half so that it fits with more standard size stuff (i.e.: bezier maps, Steam Brothers maps) but then it will have a nasty white gash down the centre because of the printing process used.

I opted for #2 myself.

Thread: Re: Storage?

clearclaw — 2007-04-12T07:22:55+00:00

yubm wrote:
Anyone have a good way to store this map? It's WAY bigger than any of the other maps I have. I was looking to get a cool storage case like Sterling Babcock has
(http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/165644), but this one won't fit!

Any suggestions?

I use a legal size file tote for my Age of Steam stuff much like this one:

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=809840

Cost is approximately $30. Compared to Sterling's case, which I also considered, this has the advantages of:

1) Being closed/sealed on all sides. Sterling's case is open at the bottom and along the edges of each storage compartment. This means that spills, the case accidentally being placed or falling into a puddle etc can get the contents wet. For me that's unacceptable.

2) The case is large enough with standard legal size hanging file folders to comfortably hold:

- all the the Warfrog maps plus all the early Bezier Games maps, two copies of 20,000 Rails under the Sea, Moon plus ReUnion Island, a dozen or so folded paper prototype maps that I'm working on, and perhaps more importantly to you, a laminated copy of Mars/Moon folded in half
- all the various map's rules
- a plano box containing all the track tiles, wood bits coins etc
- a poker chip tray plus 100 poker chips
- a nice wood bowl from Ikea for the goods cubes
- six cast iron metal trays for player's track tokens
- a roll of masking tape for sticking down the various single sheet maps I've printed/collected (see below)
- a leather valet tray to use as a dice tray

http://www.ebags.com/products/index.cfm?modelid=47457&source...

3) The case is just tough. I've stood on it. I've used it as a seat. I've dropped it. It has bounced around my car trunk for weeks. The contents are safe.

All the rest of my Age of Steam maps, including a second rolled laminated copy of AoS:Moon/Mars I carry in a plastic telescopic blueprint tube:

http://www.artstuff.net/alvin_extender_tube.htm

Thread: Storage?

yubm — 2007-04-12T02:56:40+00:00

Anyone have a good way to store this map? It's WAY bigger than any of the other maps I have. I was looking to get a cool storage case like Sterling Babcock has (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/165644), but this one won't fit!

Any suggestions?

Thread: Age of Steam Mars session report

dedefortin — 2007-04-05T02:45:27+00:00

Martin, Adrien, Nathalie and Pierre were ready to try a new Age of Steam tonight. The new Mars expansion was our choice. We were anxious to try it since one of our favorite AoS map is the Moon from the same author, Alban Viard. Even if we're french speaking we had a tough time readung the rules. We had to check twice for the set up phase of the game and the rules concerning the martians.

We were finally able to start the game then to begin the round 1. Adrien was tough on the other players when he began the bets at 4 for the first 4 rounds and we all went down. So Adrien was able to choose the loco. action in the firts rounds. Nathalie and Adrien started in the western part of the map and Martin and Pierre choose the eastern region. But right on second round Adrien and Nathalie crossed the map and went to the east so it was very crowded in this area. Adrien had a strong start and after 3 rounds he had 10 income while the 3 other players were only at 4 income. Adrien won the bettin round 5 and choose loco but Martin decided it was enough and in the next round he won the loco action over Adrien. On turn 6 Pierre decided not to take any additional shares and had to step down during the betting round and Martin won this bet. Martin was then on his way to victory when he made 2 nice deliveries of 6 income each, he was also the best player to win some martians that would give him bonus points in the end. At the end there wasn't much area left to build and we had to fight hard for the last deliveries since there was also not many goods left on the board for nice deliveries.

The pace of the game was very slow but we had fun. We'll make another landing on Mars very soon.

Final score:
Martin: 103
Pierre: 97
Adrien: 88
Nathalie: 76

Image

bazik123 — 2007-03-18T09:38:48+00:00

game end. yellow winning with 9 martians sent

Thread: Re: more various questions

CortexBomb — 2007-03-14T16:14:04+00:00

The virtual track rule of thumb is used for understanding how track claiming works...if you try to take it literally it would not be legal to urbanize any town that has an opponent's track connected to it because you would be either stealing track from them or connecting directly to their track.

The thing you have to remember is that the 6 track pieces are virtual and contingent. When you place the tile, you are considered to be the owner of any of those 6 tracks which would NOT be connected directly to someone else's track/network. The virtual tracks exist only as the tile is placed, and the only reason why they're referred to as virtual track (actually, I don't even think they ARE called this, it's my shorthand) is because after that instant, where the tile checks to see whether you are taking control of any unclaimed track, then the "virtual track" ceases to exist.

All of this long-hand is just a convoluted way of explaining that urbanizing next to unclaimed track gives you control of that unclaimed track. It does not prevent you from urbanizing outside your network except in an isolated circumstance listed below:

Edit:
Related to your question is an interesting point though: say someone had abandoned track next to a town (i.e.: had left track behind that could be claimed via urbanization). Given the contiguous track rules you could NOT urbanize that town and claim the track unless you would be able to connect that track to your network during the turn either by extending that track or by connecting the newly urbanized city to your network.

Thread: Re: more various questions

bazik123 — 2007-03-14T09:41:15+00:00

3) if urbanizing a town is considered to be extending one's track, and you are supposed to be able to trace your path back to your landing space, then shouldn't it be not allowed to urbanize towns that you haven't connected to (I mean that you will not be connected to even after urbanization)?

Thread: Re: more various questions

CortexBomb — 2007-03-14T00:16:28+00:00

1) Bases do not get goods or martians.

2) AFAIK, yes.

3) Yes, this is covered under the base AoS rules. When you urbanize the New City is considered to have one track running out of each hex side, if any of these connect to unclaimed track, then you claim the track.

4) No. If that was possible it would have been noted either in the rules or with a notation on the map.

Thread: more various questions

bazik123 — 2007-03-13T23:39:05+00:00

- do starting bases get goods and/or martians? (they are supposed to be colorless cities)

- can you send goods to someone else's base in first round?

- can you urbanize towns you are not connected to?
- if yes, what happens when you urbanize a town you are not connected to and finish an unclaimed track section? do you claim it? (this second question is why we decided you probably cannot urbanize far away towns - as urbanizing a town supposedly means extending existing links).

- can you build a connection between cities 2 and 3 as you can in korea or germany? (I mean build it by placing your marker on the hex side they have in common)?

Thread: Re: Martians (again)

CortexBomb — 2007-03-13T17:35:54+00:00

Not a problem, and I apologize for the confusion which was caused by the wording I used in my file, undoubtedly.

I have uploaded a 1.1 version of the file to fix this issue, hopefully it will appear soon.

Thread: Re: Martians (again)

SteveK2 — 2007-03-13T15:58:40+00:00

My thanks to you both.

Thread: Re: Martians (again)

CortexBomb — 2007-03-13T15:53:26+00:00

Yes, a city with a martian is both green and its normal colour.

Thread: Re: Martians (again)

nabla — 2007-03-13T15:53:11+00:00

correct +
when you move the martian to another city where there is a martian, then the color of the city is only yellow , purple or blue
You keep the martian in front of you

Thread: Martians (again)

SteveK2 — 2007-03-13T14:12:21+00:00

I've just received the expansion from Ludibay (many thanks!), and I've read the rules and Cortexbomb's rewritten rules. I still have one question.

At the end of a previous thread on how Martians work:

nabla wrote:
Clarifications about martians
the green discs present in a city affect the color of the city. Then the color of the city is green and yellow if the city is yellow or green and purple if the city is purple and so on...
It is a kind of Korea, but for only one color, + the fact that green disc births when a blue cube arrive in a blue city.
you can deliver martians as a good cube (stop when they meet another green disc, income...)

Am I correct in reading this as saying "a city with a Martian in it should be treated as being TWO colours: the colour of the city (yellow/purple/blue) and also green" - in other words, a city with a Martian in it accepts Martians and/or cubes of the city colour.

Image

Verkisto — 2007-03-12T01:40:39+00:00

Produced copy of the map.

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

bazik123 — 2007-03-11T10:36:45+00:00

[joke] the rules as written make this a good game to play with newbies - I will be forced to bid high to make sure I get yellow, and then on top of paying more for turn order I'll have the worst starting position... meaning there is a built in handicap for newbie players here [/joke]

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

bazik123 — 2007-03-11T08:05:21+00:00

thanks. in fact, this i feel this map could use a clarified rules version to be sold with it...

Thread: Re: Mars: Global Surveyor: A Review for the Connoisseur

CortexBomb — 2007-03-11T03:05:05+00:00

Clarification:

As I have mentioned in my personal comments, this review was reflective of my impressions of this map prior to learning that the initial auction for colour is split from the special action auction, and that players have to pick starting locales in reverse order.

I cannot speak definitively without replaying the map, which will likely be a while, but I can say that I will probably dislike what that does to the initial round. The normal map play will, naturally, still be engaging as usual.

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

CortexBomb — 2007-03-11T02:16:21+00:00

Just for reference: because of this thread, and others, I have uploaded a TXT file that contains clarified English rules for this map.

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

CortexBomb — 2007-03-11T01:51:16+00:00

I largely concur, if the auction was separated and allowed the winner to select their starting locale first the case could at least be made...but I think with this clarification the auction for player colours should be pass-pass-pass-pass in all but the most unusual circumstances.

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

clearclaw — 2007-03-11T00:28:35+00:00

nabla wrote:
After the first player have placed its disc color, the game begins with the standard rules : shares, auction, buildind, transportation...

Just to be extremely specific:

There are no expenses to be paid immediately after the player colour auction and before the first shares issuance round.

bazik123 wrote:
one note - with this special auction in place there seems to be no reason not to have the winner pick his place in the starting order...

The only reason a player would ever bid in the player colour auction is if they valued a particular token colour over their positional advantage in the game. As such I expect every reasonable player would instantly pass in the player colour auction, thus rendering the auction moot.

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

bazik123 — 2007-03-11T00:07:49+00:00

thanks from here as well.

one note - with this special auction in place there seems to be no reason not to have the winner pick his place in the starting order...

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

CortexBomb — 2007-03-10T22:18:46+00:00

Quite, and the clarification is very useful. I didn't realize that the auction for player colours was separate from the auction for special actions.

Thank you for replying/clarifying.

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

nabla — 2007-03-10T22:07:33+00:00

to clarify my franglais ;-)
before begining the game, and before the firs auction of the basic game, you can not choose your disc color
there is a special auction (and only one) to determinate a first player, a second, a third and a last player (the auction is the same than in the basic game :first and second pay all what they bid and so one) As it is before the beginning of the game, you have only $10 in cash, and you can not bid higher than you own.
then the first player (the winnner of this special auction) can choose one color , the second do the same, and so one. After every players have choosen their colors, the last player place on disc of his color on the hex base, the third one does the same until the first player (the winner of the special auction)
So the winner of the special auction can choose its disc color but not the base where he can begin the game. The last player can not choose their color but decide exactly where he begins the game
After the first player have placed its disc color, the game begins with the standard rules : shares, auction, buildind, transportation...

Clear? ;-))

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

CortexBomb — 2007-03-10T18:04:43+00:00

Eh, I tend to analyze things down when they interest me, but in an all-newbie group I don't think it would be a huge, huge deal.

The thing with this map is that the only really difficult thing, relative to standard AoS, is the initial auction/piece colour selection, beyond that play is fairly standard.

I think with the rules as written the choices are slightly more opaque, but it's not a killer by any means. I think with a newbie group I would just warn them: 1st in the auction is still potentially powerful, but going last is not as bad as it might appear.

I don't think any mistakes in the first phase will necessarily lead to bankruptcy or anything of the sort. What a bad first round would do is set one's income back, and lessen one's winning chances, but it's not a recipe for a death spiral by any means. Beyond the first round any starting locale can be fixed fairly easily because of the wrapping track...you can get anywhere on the board in a relatively short amount of time, and urbanization is always available to fix colour issues.

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

bazik123 — 2007-03-10T17:53:52+00:00

I am inclined to try my first game with 'the winner of the first auction chooses his place in player order track' variant... I am intending to play this with newbies (this'll be the 4th game for them), and am afraid that with your interpretation they will be out of the game by a mile after the first auction.

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

CortexBomb — 2007-03-10T17:38:56+00:00

Engineer is less useful than normal, IMO, because it only offers a track cost discount. Loco and Urbanize are, of course, the 1-2 actions, 3-4 are not as clear. Turn Order was definitely a solid option for people going for the cheap-skate strategy, as usual. Really, both the 3-4 slots are tough here, as they should be.

You could (and did ) make the case that the rules as written make the game slightly easier for newbies, which I suppose is the case in a certain sense, only because the penalty for going later in the order is not as bad as it generally is, for the first round only. That said, I think it also muddles the early game, because winning the auction becomes of varied value. You still have the opportunity to take the Loco or get the urbanization, but your position on the board will be effectively crippled, or at least significantly weakened because you cannot control your initial starting locale, and hence, your initial ships...which is the entire vale of picking your starting colour to begin with.

As I said, I think for my preferences, the normal player order procedure for each phase makes more sense in that it attempts to goad players into issuing an unhealthy number of shares early in the game. If they don't, they will likely end up finishing late in the order, and be screwed with a bad action, a bad colour choice, and a bad starting locale. If they do, then they will have the benefits which mirror those above, but will have to deal with extra debts. Again, I think this is a more interesting situation, because it forces players to ask themselves how much is too much for the sorts of advantages that 1-2 in the order offer.

Conversely, the questions that the reverse order picking of locales asks are completely different, and less inflationary. The first player to bid has to simply ask whether the Locomotive or the first pick of starting locale is worth more to them. If they want to go cheap, then, the best strategy would probably be to just drop out immediately. They will be forced into taking whatever colour is left-over to them, but that will almost assuredly be mitigated by being allowed to start wherever they want on the board. Additionally, they will likely be able to take either First Ship or First Build, depending on their anticipated neighbour, and insure that they have a two link shipment of some sort, either via martian delivery or a normal goods cube. It's not absolutely optimum, but I do think with the reverse placement, the value of going first is significantly cheapened, and, depending on the group, this could end up giving a disproportionate advantage to the people who were randomly placed early in the bidding/share issuing order, because they can simply issue perhaps 1 extra share, bow out of the auction immediately, and still end up with a decent first round. Additionally, they will then, in the next round, be able to issue shares aggressively to win the Locomotive, and end up having the best of both worlds.

The person who outright wins the auction with the rules as written is not in quite as nice of a position. Granted, they get to take the Locomotive, and granted, they get first pick of colour, but those are only advantages if they can either set up a 3 link shipment (impossible without using someone else's track) or two 2 link shipments, which is certainly possible, but largely contingent on having a setup which facilitates that through goods and/or martians.

In practical terms, track building patterns are going to allow players to set themselves up fairly easily by buying tracks directly from their landing port into each of the twin cities nearby. This then allows players to send a martian to the landing port and then back out to the other city, or to ship a good of the city's colour out to the landing port and then back to the other city.

Goods distribution will definitely affect patterns though, another potentially solid build is to build a tight between the two cities, and a link to the landing pad, allowing for two length shipments that way.

Another interesting aspect is the imbalanced starting positions. The NW is, of course, next to Olympus Mons, while the NE is, cube distribution being equal (which it never is) the most powerful position to start at, because it allows a very nasty track pattern of (gentle into eastern city, straight into western city, tight curve between the the two which allows for 2 length martian ships, two length ships of the city's colour to the other city, and two length ships of the player's base colour from one city to the other and then back to the base). The NW can use a similar pattern to create a plethora of two ships, also assuming that the southern neighbour doesn't interfere. The problem is this though: the NW is in tough shape if it can't execute this pattern, because it has no towns nearby, two ships are still likely, but not as possible from as many sources. The two southern landing spots are each balanced. If building before their northern neighbours, either will allow for two ships back to the landing pad, but neither offer the sort of degenerate mini-circle route action that the northern ones can.

In practical terms, the double 2 shipment isn't impossible for the start player, even with the reverse order picking, but it's certainly much less likely, and it is basically up to the caprice of the other players to allow the auction winner to do what they want.

So, in short, I actually think the proper rules make the game more difficult to read, because, IMO, optimal play would depend on a very careful evaluation of the board and "You'll do this, and then you'll do this, so I'll do this" scenarios. In the abstract, I think going last in the first auction and positioning oneself to go first in the second round would probably be my preference, mainly because getting at least one two length shipment should not be impossible from any position with correct track placement and role selection. The person in seat 1, meanwhile, could be sitting very pretty, or they could be in quite bad shape unless the board goods distribution is generous in the right way. The real problem with this, then, as I mentioned above, is that there is no way to position oneself to go last but for random chance. The first player to bid will basically have the option to issue minimal shares and drop out before anyone else can, thus setting themselves up for round 2. The other players are then left in a tougher position, number 3 is still in ok shape, because they can place their station across from seat 4, and presuming seat 4 doesn't take first build, they can assure their track options will be optimal. Seat 2, following this scenario, knows they will be across from seat 1, and they are in tougher. They will have to build after seat 1, and have a much smaller advantage via the urbanization action.

I could go on at further length here, but I think the bottom line is that the scenarios that these rules create are actually a good deal more complicated than a straight placement would create. If you place in order, you know that winning is very, very good and losing is very, very bad. These rules create strange questions. With the benefit of extra evaluation, I actually am interested in pulling this map out again now and seeing how the early auction runs now.

Thread: Re: olympus mons

bazik123 — 2007-03-10T16:53:01+00:00

I am late with doing my homework, but better late than never:
Olympus Mons is Solar System's tallest mountain, which means the 'impassable' interpretation seems correct. Nice thematic touch that I was too ignorant to spot without wikipedia's help.

Thread: Re: olympus mons

CortexBomb — 2007-03-10T16:44:00+00:00

It has black lines around it, which I assume means you cannot build on it in any way...granted, the lines are slightly thinner than normal, but I would be surprised if it worked any other way.

Thread: olympus mons

bazik123 — 2007-03-10T09:34:12+00:00

is the olympus mons hex special in any way? is it a colorless city, or is it a simple plain hex, or is it something else?

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

bazik123 — 2007-03-09T23:09:02+00:00

you've written somewhere that mars would be good for beginers if not for the first auction... perhaps with the rules as written this simply is a good one for newbies?

oh, and players 1-3 get Loco, Urbanise, Engineer with only 4th player having nothing reasonable (assuming Urbanise and Engineer are as useful here as they usually are, I've yet to play this one...)

Thread: Re: picking starting locations

CortexBomb — 2007-03-09T20:22:15+00:00

and as I replied on my list:

Interesting, I must have missed that in the translation of the Franglais...

Apparently I'll need to get back to this one of these days...I will say, that rule will completely throw the opening auction for a loop and soften it, as it seems that players will either want to go first or last, with people in-between getting the shaft. That, IMO, would be ok if there was an artificial way to go last (i.e.: a "Go Last" special action) but with a standard auction, it gives an unfair advantage to the early bidders who don't want to compete for the engine.

Conversely, playing with players selecting their starting locale in player order, the auction still works but is very high stakes, as the last place player really gets the screws put to them. I like those sorts of situations in Age of Steam, personally, so I rather liked the effect on the system.

(For what little it's worth: After some contemplation, I doubt I will ever play with the correct rules for the reasons stated above...)

Thread: picking starting locations

bazik123 — 2007-03-09T19:20:24+00:00

I've asked this on CortexBomb's geeklist, but I guess this is a better place... He writes:

Players each choose a starting locale, with 4 set spots at symmetric spots on the map...the nasty part is that these are chosen in player order based on the auction, so the last player has to take the starting spot that they are left with, though this is largely mitigated by the wrapping nature of the map.

This would imply that you pick bases in turn order, when the rules as I read them seem to imply you only choose colors in turn order, but place them on the board in the opposite order. big difference. so how is it? the english rules for this expansion are extremely poorly written, so I am not quite sure of anything that is not confirmed by someone here... If I am right, isn't it better to be last in the turn order auction that being first? (except for being the last to pick actions)

"In the order phase, players choose their colour of dicsc among black, yellow, blue and purple. Then, in the opposite order, each player ' amarse ' on each bases planned for that on the board game in putting a disc of their colour on the base."

Thread: Mars: Global Surveyor: A Review for the Connoisseur

CortexBomb — 2007-03-05T17:35:13+00:00

Age of Steam Expansion - Mars: Global Surveyor: A Review for the Connoisseur

===========================================================================================
Initial warning: this review, and all of the future reviews I do that are labelled "For the Connoisseur" are going to be reviews of expansions. This review assumes that you have familiarity with the base game prior to reading this, and gives my opinion on the value of the expansion for base game owners.
===========================================================================================

Mars is the second map released by French designer Alban Viard. It is available on a single, over-sized sheet of paper with Viard's other map, the Moon, on its backside. As of 2007, the map is available in the Geek Marketplace, and retails for 20 Euros plus shipping. The size of the print run is unknown.

A Basic Summary

Mars is a 4 player only board that notably features the track-wrapping that Viard introduced on the Moon. There is also a sub-focus on the "Martians" present on the map, which are represented by the green player discs. Martians that players deliver are kept in front of them and score bonus points at the end of the game.

Important Changes

- There are no red goods.

- Prior to the game players have to bid for colour disc choice, and their initial starting location on the map. Player track must be contiguous throughout the course of the game, so one's starting locale is a fairly important decision. The colour disc choice is a strange sub-aspect to the game, which only impacts the first round. In short, when a player chooses their colour for the game, they also choose a starting locale and mark it with one of their discs. For the first round only, goods of the chosen colour can be delivered to that player's landing site.

- Martians. Each city starts with 1, and each newly urbanized city also starts with 1. More appear in the blue cities each time they receive a blue good shipment. Martians, in essence, are green goods which make cities that they are present in green. Hence, a Martian that is delivered must stop at the first city it comes to which has a Martian present. They pay out income just like normal goods. They also offer a bonus 2 VPS (the equivelent of 2 pieces of track) at the end of the game, which makes them lucrative delivery choices.

- The Wrap. The board wraps like the Moon. Each border hex has a number next to its edges, and these have corresponding numbers on the opposite side of the board. Players can thus build off one edge of the board and appear on the other. The wrapping is more noticeable here than on the Moon because players have a standard track allowance here (3 pieces per round) whereas track is more restricted on the Moon.

Scale

As stated, this map is explicitly designed for only 4 players. There are 4 landing spots on the map, and 4 colours to be auctioned off. I personally have no interest in doing so, but i do not see any reason why 3 players wouldn't work as well, though the map would be significantly softer.

How Challenging is this map?

This is actually rather hard to rate. In terms of play, this map is not much different from normal Age of Steam, and the lessons that players are already aware of will not be altered. The Locomotive is still the most powerful action, Urbanization is still the second most powerful action. Engineer is slightly altered to offer a track discount, but it is still not a power role.

The only thing that keeps me from saying "A good map for beginners" is the initial setup portion of the game, which is both important and fiddly. The initial auction sets not only first round deliveries (due to the colour allowing special shipments in the first phase) but the player's starting locale, and also involves their first role selection. I don't think a poor showing in the opening auction will completely kill you, but I think it is quite important, moreso than a standard map.

I would say this is a good intermediate map. If your group has played a bit of Age of Steam, and understands how to play a tight game, then this should not be a hard transition. I would probably not suggest this for absolute beginners though.

Difficulty level: On a scale of 1-5 with the base game being 1, I would rate this a 2, with the initial auction perhaps bumping it to 3.

What do I think of it?
I think Mars is a very solid offering. The wrapping allows players to move across the board with startling speed, and competition seems fierce every step of the way. The Martians offer an interesting sub-game which is nicely balanced. I particularly like how the delivery of blue goods creates Martians, hence, players are often reluctant to deliver blue goods, hence, goods are often tighter than they appear.

I do have some slight reservations about this map and how much it will see play on my table, but that is mainly because of my library of maps. I do not think this is one of the absolute best maps available, and the 4 scale, which this map calls for, is a sweet spot for many top tier Age of Steam maps. That said, the competition here is very good, and I have enjoyed playing this map.

Should I buy it?
Well, this map is fairly priced given the other AoS maps that have been released lately. If you do not own the Moon, then I give a full endorsement of this map, mainly because in totality, this is one of the better expansions available. I know, the theme is not trains, but ignore the theme, these maps are solid, and will offer you some quality entertainment.

For those who already own the Moon, I think a more reserved reply is in order. I would probably recommend trying this map out first, mainly because, as I alluded to above, the 4 scale only thing. This will, naturally, vary in importance based on the size of your map library, but the completionists out there, and there are a lot of us, will have more trouble actually getting this map out onto the table, so I think a bit more caution is in order. That said, if you have a consistent group of 4, and you want something a bit more advanced than the base game, but not completely out there in terms rules changes, then this is not a bad thing to pick up.

My final Call: Good map, like it. Not up to the nearly untouchable standards set by Viard's Moon map, but still fun.

Note: Though I am now associated with AoS Team, the group that put out this map, this review was written prior to that.

Thread: Re: Martians?

nabla — 2007-02-07T09:06:21+00:00

Clarifications about martians
the green discs present in a city affect the color of the city. Then the color of the city is green and yellow if the city is yellow or green and purple if the city is purple and so on...
It is a kind of Korea, but for only one color, + the fact that green disc births when a blue cube arrive in a blue city.
you can deliver martians as a good cube (stop when they meet another green disc, income...)
There is no limit of number of green disc on a city. When there is no green disc on a city, the color of the city is only yellow, purple, blue...as the gameboard

Have a nice trip on Mars

Thread: Re: Martians?

nabla — 2007-02-06T13:06:48+00:00

Why not simply use and collect red cubes in the way you use green discs?

for many good reasons:
1) Martians are green
2) Martians are different than goods, so discs are different than cubes
2)if they are red cubes placed in a city, the basic rule does not forbid to pass trought this city. So discs have a different effect on the basic rule than cubes (+ VP at the end)
4) my friend ludovic gimet always plays age of steam with the green discs and i usually lose when we play together. So i have to find a way to forbid the choose of green disc. Ok it is not a good reason .... ;-)
5) I like breaking the standard expectations of age of steam players.

Thread: Re: Martians?

CortexBomb — 2007-02-05T16:17:14+00:00

Many thanks for the quick response, I'm looking forward to trying this map out soon

Thread: Re: Martians?

clearclaw — 2007-02-05T15:08:00+00:00

I'm not clear on why I'd bother to use green discs. Why not simply use and collect red cubes in the way you use green discs? They'd have the same net effect without breaking any of the standard expectations of players.

Thread: Re: Martians?

nabla — 2007-02-05T09:53:04+00:00

Do newly urbanized cities start with a green disc on them?

yes

the blue urbanized citie works as well Marsopolis and gets a green disk when you deliver a blue cube

Thread: Re: Martians?

nabla — 2007-02-05T09:50:54+00:00

do you seed out 1 green disc to each city at the start of the game?

place one green disc on each city at the start of the game

Green discs are effectively another good type in this game, and can only be delivered to a city that has a green disc present, correct?

correct exactly the same that a good type but green (stop when it meets a green disk etc..)

I ship a green disc for 3, do I still get 3 income, plus the 2 VP bonus at the end of the game

correct

when you deliver a green disk, you place it in front of you

Thread: Re: Martians?

CortexBomb — 2007-02-04T16:33:38+00:00

and, related to the above:

- Do newly urbanized cities start with a green disc on them?

- The blue urbanized city DOES start with a green disc (per the rules), but it DOES NOT get a green disc each time a blue cube is delivered to it, correct? (i.e.: it does it work like Marsopolis?)

Thread: Martians?

CortexBomb — 2007-02-04T15:57:56+00:00

Ok, I know that English is not the first language of the designer, so I could use some clarification here:

- Initial green disc placement: do you seed out 1 green disc to each city at the start of the game? (I know that 1 disc appears in Marsopolis each time it receives a blue good...)

- Green discs are effectively another good type in this game, and can only be delivered to a city that has a green disc present, correct?

- If a green disc is delivered, it is worth 2 VP to the person who delivered it at the end of the game...but does that delivery still pay out normal income? (i.e.: I ship a green disc for 3, do I still get 3 income, plus the 2 VP bonus at the end of the game, or is the disc only good for the 2 VP bonus?)

Thanks for the help...

Thread: Re: Order informing

CortexBomb — 2006-12-22T21:50:04+00:00

For reference:

with the current Paypal exchange rate that means with economy shipping the map is about 33$ USD

Thread: Re: Order informing

titalight — 2006-12-22T21:24:07+00:00

For shipping to USA it costs 5 euros for Economic surface mail or 8 Euros for Priority Airmail.

Regards

Cédric
www.ludibay.net

Image

nabla — 2006-12-13T15:30:56+00:00

two martians near Olympus mons....

Image

nabla — 2006-12-12T21:35:44+00:00

Image

nabla — 2006-12-12T21:31:38+00:00