Game: Mwahahaha!

Image

Aarontu — 2008-12-01T20:32:24+00:00

The dice

Image

Aarontu — 2008-11-02T23:22:47+00:00

Lord Wang's player area (showing player board with resources and doomsday device, and minion and empire cards)

Thread: Re: In what order should players decide on Resource Point allocation?

AgentQ — 2008-10-28T16:57:09+00:00

I've played this game more than a few times, and what we've done is ask if everyone's done with Creation as a whole before moving on to Rivalry. It's important to have some resources in your stockpile during the phase in case some Dirty Trick cards effect either one of your piles. At the end of the phase, though, most of it should be in your device, unless you've broken your holding limit or want to go first next turn.

Thread: Re: Why is playing time "N/A" on BGG?

Aging One — 2008-10-11T00:44:19+00:00

Actually, the rules say "usually takes a couple of hours to play".

Thread: Re: More Fun Than Sharks With Frickin' Laser Beams on Their Heads

jcb231 — 2008-09-22T19:48:43+00:00

I got a quick game of this in yesterday. A friend of mine brought it to our Sunday game night. Unfortunately we waited until the end of the evening to open it up and try it out, so we were all a little tired and realized we should always try the new game first while we're fresh.

Anyway, from what little time we spent with it, it was very fun. We ran out of time to finish the game, but I look forward to playing it again, with proper time and attention to devote to it.

And to put the issue to rest....no way in heck does this compare to Killer Bunnies. I can't think of a good comparison game, but Killer Bunnies isn't even on the same chart as this. Both games are a lot of wacky fun though...Killer Bunnies is far less structured and shares little to no of the same play mechanics.

Thread: Re: More Fun Than Sharks With Frickin' Laser Beams on Their Heads

jcb231 — 2008-09-20T17:38:56+00:00

I haven't played Mwahahaha yet, but I'm not sure how you could read that review and think the games compared. Doesn't seem like they'd have any real similarities other than being card games that encourage player conflict.

Image

Aarontu — 2008-09-16T01:56:17+00:00

All of the game components (quite a lot for the small box!)

Thread: Re: Sorting, Storing, Putting it all Back in the Box

gmonk — 2008-09-14T14:48:37+00:00

You've got a 'sorting guy'? Man, I'm playing with the wrong group!

Thread: Re: Why is playing time "N/A" on BGG?

Aarontu — 2008-09-13T16:18:27+00:00

Probably because it doesn't say on the box and no one has updated it yet. It think it is about 60-90 minutes?

Thread: Why is playing time "N/A" on BGG?

JohnnyDollar — 2008-09-13T11:57:15+00:00

Anyone have any idea why the playing time is listed as "N/A"? Maybe someone who knows could update it?
Or is it some kind of live-action real-time game that never ends?

Thread: Re: In what order should players decide on Resource Point allocation?

Pudsy — 2008-09-09T06:12:16+00:00

Thanks - that sounds like a good way to handle it.

Thread: Re: In what order should players decide on Resource Point allocation?

Aarontu — 2008-09-09T00:09:39+00:00

Pudsy wrote:
The only clue I can find is on pg. 10
"If there’s ever a dispute about who may do what at any given time,
players act in order of Initiative for the turn (in a clockwise manner),
starting with the Initiative winner."This is probably the answer. If two players are waiting for each other before finally deciding where to put their resources, I would say the player with initiative has to first.

Thread: In what order should players decide on Resource Point allocation?

Pudsy — 2008-09-05T07:11:59+00:00

So far we've only played half of a game as a trial run.
We got most of the rules no problem & had fun with it.

One query we had is about the decision to split your resource points between your stockpile & your doomsday device. The rules are clear that all players can move resources freely between the two places at any time during the Creation Phase only.

The question is though, what happens if one player wants to make their decision based on how another player (or players) split their resources?

Obviously the exact numbers of resources each player actually has at the beginning of the next turn will usually have altered due to attacks on Lairs and resources won so it probably wouldn't come down to an "I add one, you add one, etc." But still, I can imagine that it might matter in some cases.

My best guess is that the Initiative Winner chooses whether to go first or last for the Creation Phase (for receiving Resource Cards), and so that same order should apply to the "locking in" of your Resource Points at the end of that phase.
ie. if you receive cards first, then you also have to finalise your Resource Point allocation first.

I'm sure there was some mention of this during my first read through of the rules, but I could also be imagining it! And wading through all those pages again isn't fun (although they're actually well written & cover most situations, they're just way too long!)

The only clue I can find is on pg. 10
"If there’s ever a dispute about who may do what at any given time,
players act in order of Initiative for the turn (in a clockwise manner),
starting with the Initiative winner."

Probably not that big an issue anyway, but it seemed like something you might want to do during a game. Just thought that someone else might have wondered the same?

Thread: Re: A detailed review of Mwahahaha!

Volkazz — 2008-09-03T12:46:25+00:00

The complaints we had were

1. The French kept caving in (what - so we name which areas we're threatening - so what?) so we couldn't unleash our weapons on them...

2. Once you threaten the world there are no real choices left. we did start thinking about allowing a player to trigger their device if the world dd not back down.

V.

Thread: Re: A detailed review of Mwahahaha!

Dweeb — 2008-09-03T11:22:35+00:00

For instance, if players can dogpile the front runner, how do you ensure there's an endgame while the game's still fun for everyone, rather than everyone just getting bored

I was sorry when I heard that the game had this problem, and it has kept me from buying the game. This is probably the most common design flaw in games.

I roll a 6, 5, and 4. You roll three 5's. My 6 beats your first 5, my 5 cancels out your second 5, and your third 5 beats my 4. We each scored one success. Conceivably, both attacker and defender could benefit.

If I understand correctly, this is just like Risk but without ties going to the defender.

Thanks for the nice review.

Thread: A detailed review of Mwahahaha!

steveg99 — 2008-09-03T02:55:43+00:00

SUMMARY
Exciting Premise, Tepid Execution

INTRODUCTION
I found myself at DragonCon looking for a game to play while hanging out with friends. DragonCon is unusual in that it's been around about twenty years, it's a huge convention spanning three hotels, and hosts 25,000+ attendees (basically, GenCon numbers), yet most publishers in the game industry ignore it completely because it takes place in the southeast U.S. Since White Wolf has its roots in the Atlanta vicinity, they tend to be the exception, and are often the only ones in the exhibit hall actually doing any exhibiting. That's how I came across their current crop of board games: Murder City, Exalted, and of course, Mwahahaha!

Of the three, Mwahahaha! immediately caught my eye with its slick, colorful production values and zanily evil premise. Each player selects a board that depicts an evil genius bend on world domination, such as Dr. Hitler (an ape with hitler's brain implanted, complete with obligatory transparent dome), Dr. C'Horthtuk (the cthulhoid "scientist that should not be"), and Dr. Dookie (apparently a master of scatological super-science). With each card sporting a lavish illustration and a distinctively stylized logo, this is probably where the game racks up a lot of impulse buys from fans of Austin Powers or The Venture Brothers. To further add to the crazy motif of world conquest, players also have a large set of doomsday devices available to them--anything from the run-of-the-mill big bomb or souped-up computer virus to such over-the-top terrors as a supernova trigger or ice-age inducer. These are the central elements of Mwahahaha!, and are likely to evoke a lot of initial laughs and grins.

GAMEPLAY BASICS
The goal in Mwahahaha! is to stockpile four sets of resources--energy, money, structure, and eureka--with which you'll build up your doomsday device until it's deadly enough to pose a threat to cities, states, nations, and ultimately the entire planet. The first evil genius to get the world's collective governments to knuckle under to his/her/its demands is the victor. In order to prevent your fellow malefactors from beating you to the big-time, you can assault their infrastructure directly with "minion" cards (such-as jump-suited guards, ninjas, or killer apes), or you can thwart them in a more passive-aggressive manner with "dirty trick" cards (including such dastardly tactics as kidnapping the rival's beloved mascot, or passing along the location of the rival's secret lair to a do-gooder secret agent or superhero).

The game plays out in turns consisting of three phases. First is the Creation Phase where all players attempt to amass resources, either through playing "raw material" cards or through trade with other evil geniuses (and it goes without saying there are "betrayal" cards that allow you to renege on your end of a trade). The resources can then either be left in a stockpile, allocated to their chosen doomsday device, or spent to purchase cards that will strengthen their power base (such as the aforementioned minion cards).

Next comes the Rivalry Phase where players can raid each other, using minion cards for both offense and defense.

Finally, during the Domination Phase each player can issue a doomsday threat to a city, state, nation, or the world; the grander the threat, the greater the amount of resources that have to be allocated to the doomsday device before the threat can be issued. Successfully threatening the world wins the game, while a successful threat against the others provides more resources for the villain's stockpile.

ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE
The production values may be slick, but they're not very efficient. The box can barely contain the many component pieces, which are all dumped in without the benefit of separating trays or baggies. The doomsday device is a circular piece of cardboard, which is supposed to turn in the hole provided for it on the evil genius's sheet. However, the fit is too tight for that. The dice are lousy little green things that are hard to read or find if they're dropped on the floor.

The rules can be rather hard to decode. As with other White Wolf games, there are sections of flavor text mixed in with explanations of core game mechanics. Note to White Wolf: if you're going to do that, then use a layout device such as borders or fonts to distinguish the fluff from the actual rules.

Probably the most damning aspect of Mwahahaha! is that it sets players up to expect a uniquely wild ride every time they play, but the experience is actually not very dynamic at all. Be it energy, money, structure, or eureka, one resource is no different from another, and the only point in having them broken up into four categories is to limit their fungibility. Likewise, the villains seem to implicitly promise diverse strengths and weaknesses, but from a mechanical perspective they're identical; each harvests certain resources better than they do others, but since resources are homogeneous, that doesn't do anything to create diverse strategies. Likewise, the doomsday devices are just repetitions of the same four patterns, simply requiring different combinations of said homogeneous resources.

Mwahahaha! also suffers for not taking into account the issues that have to be considered with every game where it's possible to gang up on one player. For instance, if players can dogpile the front runner, how do you ensure there's an endgame while the game's still fun for everyone, rather than everyone just getting bored and calling for an evil detente? At some point the rules needs to end the game with either nobody winning or by providing secondary victory condition. Likewise, this type of game needs rules that allow for putting someone out of their misery permanently when they're demolished to the point where they're just defenseless prey for others.

ON THE POSITIVE SIDE
I've already mentioned the best thing Mwahahaha! has going for it. Namely, the premise will tempt many into playing it, and getting people to give a new strategy game a fair chance is often the biggest hurdle.

The Rivalry Phase offers the most interesting strategic element due to the game's opposed ice-rolling mechanic. Instead of the winner-takes-all roll-off most have come to expect in gaming, in Mwahahaha! the dice rolled by a player aren't added together. Rather, they're individually arrayed and compared to the opponent's dice in a manner that allows for both players to simultaneously score hits against each other. The highest number the attacker rolled is compared to the highest number the defender rolled. If they're equal then they cancel out, but if one's higher that counts as one success for the player who rolled it. Then they compare the second highest number the attacker rolled to the second highest the defender rolled to see if one's higher, and so on. So, say we're both rolling three dice against each other. I roll a 6, 5, and 4. You roll three 5's. My 6 beats your first 5, my 5 cancels out your second 5, and your third 5 beats my 4. We each scored one success. Conceivably, both attacker and defender could benefit.

Another fun element is the accumulation of maniacal and humiliation counters. A player can gain or lose standing as a menace to mankind through certain actions. A maniacal counter adds a bonus to threats made with the doomsday machine, while a humiliation counter confers a penalty. The main decision of whether or not to accrue one of these counters comes when a doomsday threat fails. You either have the delicious satisfaction of pushing the button and making a glorious example of your victim, which earns you a maniacal counter at the expense losing both your doomsday weapon and some of the resources you poured into it, or you can let the victim slide thus earning a humiliation counter. It's one of the few areas where long term decisions aren't consistently cut-and-dried.

The dirty trick cards add another much-needed dynamic element to the game, but the problem with them is that few of them alter gameplay in any significant way. They usually just provide minor benefits or obstacles.

BOTTOM LINE
A revised edition of Mwahahaha! would likely work out the kinks, attempting things they should've done in the first place, such as making the villains mechanically distinct instead of only superficially distinct, or assigning different values to the different resource types.

Thread: Re: Sorting, Storing, Putting it all Back in the Box

WereIdes — 2008-08-10T03:14:56+00:00

We ended up tucking all the counters into individual baggies (because our sorting guy refused to sort them again) tucking them creatively between the stacks of cards to keep them from getting mixed up.

Thread: Re: Sorting, Storing, Putting it all Back in the Box

SeiZMiK — 2008-07-27T16:30:09+00:00

Hmmm... I resorted to using a pouch to keep the dice and one for all the counters. Don't bother separating them... It is futile, and mad scientists, like myself, prefer some chaos. Another pouch for the doomsday devices. I stored the cards outside the box in two deck boxes which are bought, but I think you should be able to squeeze them into one if you make the box yourself, or find something that can store the cards. I think it's easier that way but you'll have to carry 2 boxes instead of 1. ;]

Thread: Mwahahaha! provides a good mix of humor, short term strategy, and random chance.

CWRicheson — 2008-07-25T01:43:23+00:00

In Short
Mwahahaha! provides an enjoyable gaming experience for anyone interested in a middling complexity super science flavored board game showcasing a moderate to high amount of random chance and a moderate amount of strategy. Take on the role of a mad scientist bent on world domination and compete against your friends to be the first one to hold the Earth ransom, and along the way use all the Minions and Dirty Tricks you can to get a leg up on your rivals! It’s a fun game, but while it does offer plenty of important decisions along the way the random elements keep it nicely in the realm of goofy beer and pretzels gaming.

The Good: Cheesing it up by taking on the role of your mad scientist can really add a lot more fun to the game. The mechanics do a good job of creating distrust among the players while still encouraging trading. Explaining the rules to others was not difficult.

The Bad: Repeat games feel the same. The rulebook does clearly state rules, but it could really use some reorganization and a formatting overhaul. This game probably won’t hold your attention except as an occasional change of pace.

The Physical Thing
Mwahahaha!’s main components include 10 Mad Scientist cards which serve as resource tracking boards for each player and 20 Doomsday Device cards which are used to, well, destroy the world. These components are very attractively done and easy to work with in play. While I call them cards, they’re strong pieces of cardboard that can easily stand up to many games without any problems.

Mwahahaha! also makes use of a large variety of cards, each of which features a quality illustration. Given the humor aspect of the game, just looking at a lot of the cards for the first time is good fun. A bundle of six sided dice and a large assortment of small game tokens are also included in the box. All materials easily fit back into the box, and cleanup is fairly easy.

Mechanics and Play
Play starts off with players selecting (randomly or by choice) the Mad Scientist they want to play. What differentiates the scientists is that each one can process only certain amounts of Raw Materials each turn, and each one has a special ability relating to Raw Materials. The two types of special ability both involve turning down Raw Material cards for automatic materials of certain types, either a choice of 2 of two different raw materials or 3 of a single raw material depending on the scientist. In play it seemed like the villain that could take 3 automatically had a slight edge in the early game, since these materials are used to purchase Minions and Empire cards. Individual scientist strengths and weaknesses are one of the reasons trade can be an important part of the game in larger games. Because of this I’ve found that two player games of Mwahahaha! don’t seem to work as well as larger games, and that about four people is the sweet spot.

After picking a scientist players choose a Doomsday Device from a random deal of 3. Matching up the scientist with the Doomsday Device is important because different Devices need different amounts of materials, and so some devices work much better with some villains. There is a second element of strategy with the devices in that they’re all on a likelihood of success / cost to use continuum. The more expensive devices tend to be more reliable and have a greater chance of success, so it’s a trade off. The game offers players opportunities to become more or less villainous and gain bonuses when using the devices, so device selection can easily control the way a player will play the rest of the game.

With scientist and device selected play begins. Every turn players draw their hand up to five for Raw Materials, gain one Dirty Trick card, and then set about using those materials. The scientist’s attributes determine how well certain raw materials can be processed into useful materials. Some are good at using Money, others Energy, etc. Players may trade with one another, but a player’s hand can never be revealed. This is to make sure the Betrayed cards, found in the Raw Material deck, can be used to sucker friends and foes out of their cards. The first portion of a turn is spent resolving trades, processing materials, and purchasing Empire and Minion cards.

Empire cards allow a player to process more raw materials while Minions can be used to raid an opponent’s holdings to gain materials or steal away Empire cards. In play a lot of the game’s strategy can be found with these two card types. Players can only have a limited number of each, and since Empire cards only apply to one resource type and Minions can only attack and defend certain resource types it becomes a challenge to try to focus on the player’s immediate needs. If you must process more Eureka (a material) then attacking an enemy’s holdings with Minions that are good at attacking Eureka may be the best way to go. If your opponents need Structure then getting some high Structure-rated minions to defend your assets is important.

After the resource management of the start of the turn, players take turns attacking one another’s holdings with Minions and trying to cause havoc. After that, anyone with a working Doomsday Device gets to use it to try and threaten a city, state, country, or the world. The mechanics of this are a simple comparison of d6 dice rolls, with the scientist typically having a slight to large advantage over the target. Minion attacks work the same way, using a nice simple mechanic that’s easy to remember. If the government gives in to the villain’s threat then the villain gets a reward. If not, then someone’s going to have a bad day.

The game has a variety of options for gaining Humiliation and Maniacal counters, which provide a penalty or bonus when trying to intimidate a government. If a government doesn’t give in to a villain’s demand, for instance, the villain can blow up the Doomsday Device and destroy the government in order to show how damn scary they are. This destroys the device and forces the villain to start anew, but the alternative is to slink away and accept a Humiliation counter.

So, each turn everyone does the resource management part of the game and manages their Minions, Empire cards, Raw Materials, and other options. Then everyone chooses whether to attack another or not in turn. Then those who are able threaten governments with the Doomsday Device. All the while Dirty Tricks are being played for large variety of unpredictable effects. Various sub-rules come in to create even more strategy along the way. For example, if a villain threatens the same target level twice (e.g., city then city) the villain gets a reward but also gets a Humiliation counter for such a lack of ambition.

In play I was having the most fun with a larger group of people. It takes about four for the trading aspect of the game to really kick in. With two people it just didn’t seem worthwhile to ever trade since my opponent was about as skilled as we had too good of an idea where each other stood. With more players this changes and it adds more of an unknown element to the game as well. One of the things I enjoyed about it was that it was unclear who was going to win until the end. When one player gets close a few attacks can deplete their Device and delay them for a few turns. We found that the game offered a good mix of strategy and randomness, and there were always meaningful decisions to make.

My Take
I recommend Mwahahaha! to anyone looking for an entertaining board game that offers a good mix of humor, short term strategy, and random chance. It’s not going to satisfy anyone out to flex their mental muscles, but it’s an excellent choice for lightening up the mood or entertaining a friend. If you’re the type of person who likes to roleplay a bit while you board game and will actually throw out the occasional diabolical laugh (“Haha, Idaho, my Asteroid Attractor will destroy you once and for all!”) then the theme of the game will kick a lot of butt.

I received a complimentary copy of this game to review.

Thread: Sorting, Storing, Putting it all Back in the Box

Quixote171 — 2008-07-19T04:39:23+00:00

Wow - there's a lot more in there than I expected!

Anyone have any great ideas for sorting and storing it all?

Thread: Re: Mad Scientis Powers

Beholm — 2008-07-19T03:20:44+00:00

The Mad Scientist Powers allow you to take 2 less resource cards to harvest the resources that the power allows. This happens at the start of the creation phase, before you play any cards. This allows a scientist to gain more than his "allowance" per turn.

Thread: Mad Scientis Powers

Waaru — 2008-07-13T09:20:09+00:00

The mad scientist power regarding taking two fewer cards in order to harvest resources has proved ambiguous in our first game. When it say 'receive two fewer cards in order to harvest two energy or two eureka automatically' do you need to use a card to do it?
Thanks

Thread: Re: Attacking a lair question...

JonnyG — 2008-07-03T16:59:15+00:00

Thanks much, I'm hoping to get this onto the table Saturday night. Sounds fun.

Thread: Re: Attacking a lair question...

Gstealer — 2008-07-03T16:33:45+00:00

Ignore the FAQ...it is wrong. I emailed the company.

Thread: Attacking a lair question...

JonnyG — 2008-07-01T01:31:55+00:00

When attacking a lair the rules state on page 24 that each success let you steal a resource.

Yet the faq on page 36 says that if both sides get 2 successes it's a stalemate and you get no resources.

Seems like a contradiction.

Thread: Re: A Question About Time

Gstealer — 2008-06-28T16:08:33+00:00

We played our first game with four players in two hours. None of us had ever played before and only one had read the rules. I think you can get it down to probably the 90 minute mark pretty easy.

Thread: Re: Cycling Empires

Zeromus — 2008-06-23T21:02:14+00:00

Oh, that makes a huge difference! Thanks!

Thread: Re: Cycling Empires

Capoeirista — 2008-06-23T17:53:14+00:00

Bear in mind you can only sacrifice one in a given Creation Phase. We have also played this rule wrong once.

From page 13 of the rules:
Willingly cashing in an Empire Card during the Creation Phase grants a one-time payment of its Resource rating and type, after which the Empire is discarded. You can willingly cash in only one Empire Card per turn, and only during the Creation Phase.

Thread: Cycling Empires

Zeromus — 2008-06-23T17:35:19+00:00

From what I can get from the rules it is perfectly legal to buy an empire, immediately sell it for its resources, and then buy another. The problem is that because the values are pretty well balanced between 1, 2, and 3, you can do this almost indefinitely until you get the resource you want. While yeah, the empire deck will eventually run out, this still seems like a pretty lame way to use them and makes it much easier to get the resource your lair can't produce.

Thread: Re: Yes, hello? I need a brick delivered...oh, it comes with a game - that's great!

geekgeek — 2008-06-17T15:56:31+00:00

24 transparent green dice with pink pips!

Actually I was extremely surprised at the weight of the box, after opening up the game, I realised that the weight was mainly composed of the player cards which contains details of your evil genius. Those things are made out of some darn solid cardboard!

Thread: Yes, hello? I need a brick delivered...oh, it comes with a game - that's great!

chrisnd — 2008-06-17T15:32:36+00:00

Has anyone noticed the weight of this box? I picked it up at my FLGS this past weekend, and realized that the game and its contents are heavier than a box of Descent with expansions, even though it is no larger than a Settlers of Catan (3rd Ed) box!

Exactly how many dice are included? The box only says "all the dice you need". I am assuming that Mwahahaha is single-handedly keeping Chessex in business?

Thread: Re: Ninja misprint?

ngoike — 2008-06-01T02:53:30+00:00

A number of my cards have the structure icon highlighted, but with no number. We play them as having no value, based on comparing them to other cards.

Thread: Re: Anyone else have a problem with the World Threat rule?

ngoike — 2008-06-01T02:52:20+00:00

Based on my plays with the game, it's done so that players have to also allocate resources to win initiative.

If the player has enough resources tied up with their dooms day device to make an attack against the world, odds are they can't also win initiative. This allows the other players a chance to attack the player before they can trigger their device. With the proper minions, you can hopefully keep them from triggering the device.

The cheaper dooms day devices allow for more resources to be left in the stock pile, but are much more difficult to get 4 successes with. So the player tends to need more time to build up the +1 tokens.

If multiple players could trigger their device for the win in a turn, then it would be very difficult to stop both of them from doing so.

The game does seem to require that players focus on the person/people in the lead.

Thread: Re: Discarding Empire Cards for Resources

Beholm — 2008-06-01T01:23:04+00:00

Actually, on page 37 under the FAQ there is an indirect answer to your question... 3rd Q from the top asks:

"I have cashed in Raw Material Cards to harvest Money points to the limits of my Lair and Empire Cards. Another player wants to trade me Money Resource points in the same Creation phase. Can I take them?"

A: Yes the limits imposed by your Lair ratings and Empire Cards only apply to what you can harvest from Raw Material Cards. Recieving actual Resource points in trade is fair game. You can trad for as many resource points in the same Creation Phase as you can get.

I read this to mean that the limit is only imposed on what you can collect. After collection, anything that changes the limit only affects the next time you collect.

Image

jhliu — 2008-05-29T06:23:12+00:00

Tensions rise. Mad scientists plot.

Thread: Re: Quick play variant

Jugular — 2008-05-28T21:58:53+00:00

Try removing the resource cards and let people just produce their max (incl. empire cards) each turn, remove or edit the dirty trick cards so they're all useful all the time then hopefully the game moves a little quicker. Oh and remove the rule about only one player threatening the world per turn. That should speed the game up and take out some frustrating and boring bits too.

Thread: Discarding Empire Cards for Resources

jhliu — 2008-05-28T08:13:27+00:00

This question came up in my last game and I didn't see anything in the rulebook to specifically clarify.

Can you use an Empire to process Raw Materials, and then discard that same Empire card for the one-time bonus? I could go either way on this, but I thought that maybe you couldn't because then the total amount you can process drops below what you've already processed.

Any opinions?

Thread: Re: Quick play variant

jhliu — 2008-05-28T08:07:17+00:00

This sounds interesting--I agree with you that the game takes a bit too long for what it is, and I was hoping for a way to play it a bit faster. What happened in my second time playing was that four of the five people formed alliances (2 teams of 2 each) so that in essence it was a 3-player game, with both groups pooling their resources into one weapon. It didn't really go with the spirit of the game, I think, but it did get to a finish.

I may try your variant out next time I play and see how it goes.

Thread: Ninja misprint?

pethulhu — 2008-05-24T21:38:10+00:00

I noticed that the structure icon on the ninja minion card is highlighted, but there is no attack dice number.
So, what is the misprint?
Is the highlight wrong?
Or is the number missing?
Or is it only me?

Thread: Re: Question on attacking a lair

monkeyrobot — 2008-05-07T10:40:54+00:00

Guys,

Thanks for clarifying this. I was going crazy, too.

Thread: Re: Cheat Sheet incoming

oridyne — 2008-05-02T12:16:15+00:00

Hi,

did not know you had started a thread here so I posted a comment on the file with some minor corrections.

Thread: A Question About Time

RecklessJester — 2008-04-30T20:17:31+00:00

How long does this game last? It seems that with "messing with the others" mechanic that game length will definitely vary even between two games with the same number of players. Can this be played in hour? Can it take 3-4 hours?

Thanks.

Thread: Re: Anyone else have a problem with the World Threat rule?

gf_ripper — 2008-04-28T17:24:52+00:00

It was somewhat possible but he already had so many resources that everyone else had just allocated to their own doomsday device and I couldn't get a empire to save my life that produced energy. It just ended up where he had more resource then all the other players and until all 3 of us attacked him there was nothing we could do to stop him.

Thread: Re: More Fun Than Sharks With Frickin' Laser Beams on Their Heads

Binzer — 2008-04-28T13:59:02+00:00

Great review. I must say, the title of your review alone was almost enough to sell me on the game. The rest clinched it.

Image

Guantanamo — 2008-04-28T01:49:26+00:00

Sample Minions

Image

Guantanamo — 2008-04-28T01:47:18+00:00

Sample Empire Cards

Image

Guantanamo — 2008-04-28T01:45:10+00:00

Sample Dirty Trick Cards

Image

Guantanamo — 2008-04-28T01:38:03+00:00

Sample of Raw Materials

Thread: Re: Anyone else have a problem with the World Threat rule?

The Schaef — 2008-04-27T19:27:58+00:00

Was there no way that someone else could have put resources into their stockpile to win initiative? Say, for example, threatened on a lower level and perhaps taken a shame marker in the process?

Thread: Cheat Sheet incoming

shidara — 2008-04-25T16:20:52+00:00

I just submitted a PDF of a cheat sheet for this game that I created. Now, seeing as I have yet to actually PLAY the game, I'm not 100% sure I got everything correct. So anybody who's played, please take a quick look over it when it finally appears, and let me know if I've made any horrifying errors.

Look for it in the Files Section whenever it gets approved.

Shidara

Thread: Re: More Fun Than Sharks With Frickin' Laser Beams on Their Heads

The Schaef — 2008-04-24T21:40:48+00:00

There are no "good cards", per se, but there is a Dirty Trick whose flavor text suggests that you tip off a do-gooder to the nefarious schemes of an opponent, and he goes and does something or another that's bad. I don't remember exactly what it does, something mundane like losing resources I think, the do-gooder aspect is all in the thematic material on the card.

Thread: Re: More Fun Than Sharks With Frickin' Laser Beams on Their Heads

OrangeCat X — 2008-04-24T20:11:39+00:00

I am interested in this game as well.

How much art are on the cards and components? Love to see a few scans.

Also, the "screw you cards" do do-gooders pop up now and then to be crushed by your minions, or is it just villian-villian action?

Thread: Re: More Fun Than Sharks With Frickin' Laser Beams on Their Heads

mjfassio — 2008-04-24T18:35:58+00:00

I saw this game at a convention recently and it looked like a really great theme but I was unsure as to the gameplay. Now I definitely have to find a copy!

Thread: More Fun Than Sharks With Frickin' Laser Beams on Their Heads

The Schaef — 2008-04-24T17:07:39+00:00

Shortly after the release of this game, our friendly local reseller made an appearance at a CABS session with several copies for sale. After watching a game in progress, I realized I had no choice but to purchase this game on the spot. It was too perfect for my gaming tastes and those of the people I tend to game with.

Boiled down to its simplest elements, Mwahahaha! is a resource-gathering game with a lot of player conflict. A LOT. Each player assumes the role of a mad scientist and his/her corresponding lair, selects a doomsday device, and builds an empire that will produce the resources he needs to power his device and hold the world hostage. Conflict resolution takes the form of rolling a crapload of dice against other mad scientists or against the people you are threatening with your doomsday device.

]]>Before I go into detail about the gameplay, I have to begin with a comment on the components. There are a BUNCH of them. The size of the box is roughly the same as Race for the Galaxy, but whereas the Race box comes with 100ish cards, a small pile of chits, some instruction cards and a lot of wasted space, this box is packed from top to bottom, even after punching out all the cardboard bits. The very heft of this box took me by surprise when I picked it up the first time, as I imagine will happen with nearly everybody. With the thick and colorful boards, the loads and loads of cards, the piles of cardboard bits, and the 20 transluscent green dice, it is an Ameritrasher's dream come true. The only thing missing is a collection of sculpted miniatures for the characters.

]]>The game begins when each person selects, at will or at random, from ten different mad scientists. There is a wide variety of colorful characters, including a witch doctor, a stuffy Brit robot, a fuedal Japanese warlord, and Hitler's brain in a giant gorilla. The characters are represented by large thick cards, which contain a picture of the character, resource stats, a special power, and flavor text including a catch phrase and a description of their evil lair (flying aircraft carrier, undersea base, orbital station, etc). To the left is a circular hole large enough to hold one's doomsday device. Players draw three of these twenty circular devices and then select the one they want to keep. They vary from giant lasers to zombies to triggering a supernova, and everything in between.

]]>Each character has stats that represent the amount of resources they are allowed to collect by cashing in Raw Material cards. The doomsday devices have their own set of stats, representing the amount of resources you need to collect in order to threaten on four levels, and the number of dice you roll versus the world to see if they give in to your demands. There's a general correlation between cost and yield; a device requiring only a few resources will not have much of an advantage in the number of dice rolled, while others requiring a lot of resources can have nearly double the amount of dice to roll, and yield more resources for victory. So deciding whether you want to aim high or low, and knowing what kind of resources you can produce easily, factor into your decision of which device to keep.

]]>A turn is divided into three distinct phases. The Creation Phase begins with each player drawing a new Dirty trick card (more on this later) and new Raw Material cards in four different resource types: Energy, Structure, Money and Eureka. There are also Wild cards that can be used to produce any resource, and Betrayed! cards which I will detail later. The players can cash in these cards for Raw Materials in varying amounts, up to the limits imposed by their lair. Each mad scientist has a resource which he cannot produce at all, so there is always a need to find other ways to get the materials you need. For starters, their special power allows them to take a resource (often the one with a limit of 0 or 1) rather than take 2 of the cards they would draw. Players may cash in as many or as few cards as they wish, but with a hand limit of only five cards, any cards you keep will impact your draw on the next turn. Resources are represented by cardboard counters added to the stockpile on your character card.

There are a number of uses for the resources generated by these cards. You can purchase Minion cards that serve as your attack and defense forces during the Rivalry Phase. You can purchase Empire cards that increase the limits on production from Raw Material cards. This is another method of offsetting low or no production from your lair's base stats. You can also dedicate resources to your doomsday device, removing them from the stockpile and making them unavailable to purchase other items. Having resources out of your stockpile protects them a little better from other players' attacks, but the player with the largest stockpile has initiative on the next turn.

Players can also trade during the Creation Phase. In this game, you are free, even encouraged, to trade everything but the kitchen sink. Players can trade any cards of any type, resources, negotiate truces in exchange for goods, just about anything the two parties agree on, except your mad scientist and doomsday device. Trading is another good way to get resources you are lacking, especially when commodities grow scarce (more on this later). But beware! Someone can offer to trade Raw Material cards with you, but instead of the Structure card he promised you, you get... BETRAYED! He gets the card you offered him, and you get the shaft. This is only one example of how play can get downright brutal over the course of a game.

]]>Once players are satisfied with the state of their evil empire, they move on to the Rivalry Phase. Players take it in turn to send their Minions out to attack another player's Empire cards or lair. Minions have ratings in each of the four resource types, which indicate what kind of Empire cards they can raid, or what kind of resources they can raid from a lair, and how many dice they can contribute to the battle. Opponents can use their own Minions to block if they are rated in the same resource type, and add one to two dice for "base security". Victorious raiders can take or destroy the Empire card, or take resources from the lair they attacked. Both sides have an opportunity to kill off Minions based on the success of the dice roll.

Lastly, there is the Domination Phase. Each player has an opportunity, if they have enough dedicated resources, to threaten with their doomsday device. As mentioned before, a player can threaten on any of four levels: city, state, country, world, but do not have to do so in succession. They roll dice against "the world" (represented by another player) and if they succeed, they get free resources in their stockpile. There are also various ways that players can earn counters that add to or subtract from the dice rolled in these threats. First player to successfully threaten the world (Level 4), dominates and wins the game.

Dirty Trick cards are the X factor in the game, any player can play them at basically any time (some can only be used in certain phases), and they have any number of effects that help the player or stab an opponent in the back.

Resolving dice rolls is more difficult to explain than it is to understand. Essentially, players compare their results from highest to lowest, not unlike Risk. A higher result is a success for the corresponding player, same result is a wash. When one side has more dice than the other, a result of 3 or higher is a success. The number of successes in dice rolls determines a lot of different things: resources taken from a lair raid, hit points applied to Minions, the success or failure of a threat in Domination Phase, etc.

One of the key aspects of this game is the limited assets available during the course of the game. Minion cards are recycled once you exhaust their pile, but once the other cards run out, that's it. In most games, you are unlikely to exhaust the pile of Empire cards or Dirty Trick cards. But Raw Material cards are scarce, and scale based on the number of players. Once those run out, players can no longer produce any resources. If they don't have enough to issue a world threat, they have to beg, borrow and steal. This is where things get really nasty. Players will blow up their Empire cards just to get a couple extra resources, raid each other crazy for that last bit of Structure they need, give away the farm for a couple extra Energy, make lower-level threats over and over again, anything to get the last few chips they need to complete their weapon. Even a game that has had a low level of conclict in early turns can turn very quickly at this point.

Some people might think this game is very luck-heavy, with all the card piles and dice rolls involved in managing the game. It can get streaky at times, and sometimes the dice just hate you, but in a general sense, I think the player is given a lot of options and a lot of ways to mitigate the chance factor. It also has the potential for some kingmaking/breaking, but in my opinion no more so than most games with a negotiation mechanic.

I really like the design and thematic material in the game. All of the components are bright and colorful, and different enough in color and layout that it is not at all difficult to distinguish the different types of cards. There could have been more flavor text in some spots, but most of what was included is a laugh riot. The slogans on the Empire cards are almost worth the purchase price of the game by themselves.

One issue I have is with the text on some of the cards. Some Minion cards have flavor text. Some have special powers. Some have flavor text AND special powers. They are all jumbled together in the same space. This can create a low level of confusion, and it slows down the game as players (especially the inexperienced) pause to read each card, not just to find out what they do, but even if they do anything. That, in my opinion, is an unnecessary hindrance. The Dirty Trick cards are even worse. By contrast, the Raw Material cards are very utilitarian, giving only the type and amount of resource with a brief textual description. Empire cards have a stylized name at the top and a (hilarious) slogan, and announce the type and amount of resource produced in large, clear letters. Looking at the cards, one would almost think they were laid out by two different designers.

Another minor point of annoyance, most resource types that are not rated on a Minion card are gracefully grayed out. But Structure is presented in light gray, and the corresponding icon on an unrated card also appears light gray. It makes it difficult to see at a glance whether or not the character is rated in that resource. The other types are bright and contrasted, and present no such difficulty.

A note about the rulebook: don't be intimidated. The rulebook is about twice as long as it needed to be (kind of like this review ) It has a lot of examples, and a lot of unnecessary text. There are entire paragraphs devoted to ways in which one might imagine how something that seems thematically wrong might fit if you just think outside the box, or suggesting ways to immerse yourself into certain aspects of the game. I don't need to be told how to role-play a theme. I just need to be told how to play the game. One or two rounds of play with one or more experienced players will teach you everything you need to know.

Most importantly, this game is just plain fun. If you aren't really turned on by theme, or if you are averse to dicefests, this game may not be for you. But if you game with a group that likes to immerse themselves in a game wholesale, making grand speeches about how they will unleash a horde of zombies on Utah as part of their master plan, and rubbing their hands with glee as they steal your much-needed Energy Empire card, only to blow it up in spite, then shame on you if you don't already own this game.

(8/10)

Thread: Re: Mwhahahaha, new game by CCP?

kunnagh — 2008-04-20T13:01:00+00:00

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/33581

Glad to hear this game lives up to some of the comedy expectations! I'm looking forward to trying this one.

Thread: Mwhahahaha, new game by CCP?

Skythian — 2008-04-20T12:03:22+00:00

I didn't get a chance to really see this other than in passing (my GOD it was crowded there!) but the CCP booth at NY Comicon was showing off a board game. I found out later it was called Mwhahahaha. THose are all the details I have aside from a report from MMORPG.com

"EVE Online has a booth over on the show floor. While our interview wasn`t today, we did end up poking around the booth a little bit. While we were there, we got a demo of one of CCP North America`s board games called Mwhahahaha. Yup. That`s really the name of the game. In it, you play an amusingly named super-villain who is trying to take over the world at the same time as four other super-villains with amusing names are trying to take over the world. This game is hilarious. I have never laughed so hard while playing a board game. If you ever have the chance to pick up a copy, please do so."

http://mmorpg.com/blogs/Stradden/042008/1544_NY-Comic-Con-Da...

Thread: Re: Didn't see this in the rule book but...

Kraggster — 2008-04-13T12:06:17+00:00

Creation Phase.

Page 17 - 18 of the rules :

"Dedicate them (Resource Points) to your Doomsday Device.... can be assigned to your Doomsday Device at any time during the creation phase."

Hope this helps.

Thread: Re: Question on attacking a lair

middleclassjoe — 2008-04-13T08:53:49+00:00

Awesome, I'm glad to see that I'm not crazy. Can't wait to try this one out with my group.

I bet I could fit those rules onto 20 pages.

Image

mrswooey — 2008-03-31T08:46:18+00:00

one of the ten mad scientists

Image

mrswooey — 2008-03-31T08:45:38+00:00

the dice still sealed