Game: VOC! - Founding the Dutch East Indies Company

Thread: Re: Leaving the harbour

Pyjam — 2008-10-27T23:08:29+00:00

I'm still hoping for an official answer.

Thread: brainstorming some tweaks to the advanced game

toguopp — 2008-07-15T18:54:30+00:00

VOC! – Untested tweaks to Advanced Game

1. Give 2 Daaldar to any captain who returns to Zealand/Middleburg with at least one type of good in the hold of the ship. In addition, give two more Daaldar to the captain for every two types of goods the ship has in its hold when the ship returns to Zealand/Middleburg.

Variation 1a: The above might give too much income to ship captains, even though it gives them an incentive to help others. The following is a simpler rule that might also be more balanced: Give 2 Daaldars to any captain who returns to Zealand/Middleburg with at least two types of goods in the ship; and there are no extra bonuses for having even more than two types of goods.

Note that, in either version above, we’re referring to all goods carried by any merchants of *any* player on the ship. And two types of goods means, for example, to have at least one Textile chip *and* at least one Pepper chip on board when you return to Zealand.

2. The Advanced rules say that during the New Orders phases (of the ship convoy years), unclaimed contracts (those without a player piece) are given to Amsterdam. On the other hand, during the Sales Phase (Phase 5), contracts that were not fulfilled on time by a player are simply discarded. Instead of discarding these late contracts, give these to Amsterdam as well. This creates more cooperation in the game, because it makes players understand that if Amsterdam wins, nobody wins. It’s like Republic of Rome!

But I’m not entirely sure this second tweak is necessary. Some orders go unclaimed in the New Orders phase, because there is a disincentive to just claiming a contract, since you lose money if you don’t fulfill a contract in time. But there might not be enough unclaimed contracts to make Amsterdam a real contender, without this second tweak. But on the other hand, because you actually lose money if you don’t fulfill a contract on time, in the Advanced Game, that might be enough to make Amsterdam a contender.

3. Follow the regular rules as is, of only turning up three new contracts at each New Orders phase (which happens only on the ship convoy years). Even if you are not a claimant on a contract, you can pick up goods to store in your warehouse by tagging along in a ship (and the more merchants you have in a ship, the more you can carry), and you can gain income as a ship captain (with my optional rule above).

4. I’m not sure it would be wise to allow negotiations such as: “if you go to such and such port, I will give you 5 Daaldar from the proceeds when I return to Middleburg”. Such a kind of negotiation is not in the rules and would be hard to enforce or to keep track off. My ship captain bonus rules above should take away the need for this kind of negotiation. There are enough other forms of negotiation in the rules: where to navigate and the trading of goods and negotiation of sales in Middleburg.

5. Encourage ship captains to visualize before drawing and to draw *quickly* through the open areas that they feel are safe. The game takes much longer if people always draw slowly.

……………………..

All the above points of discussion are motivated from the following insights made in JR Tracy’s excellent session report found here and at consimworld:

Our Indian Ocean journey has a promising start, but we take three years (and a sailor) to negotiate the Bab el Mandeb coming and going. That leaves us with a small disagreement on the quarterdeck - I need to get back home before my contract expires, but David needs to get to Ceylon because *his* contract expires the next year. Dan is captain, and finds my argument (and a 60% cut of my contract) more persuasive. David takes this in stride, crossing Dan off his Christmas card list and promising an interesting sailing experience should he succeed to the captain's post. Dan, with only my one command to work with, sails for home. I expend my one instruction with 'south' to get him pointed toward the finish line. Dan approaches the line...and stops a quarter inch short and turns north! I think he's just messing with David and David thinks he's betraying me. Eyes firmly shut, still sailing, Dan turns south again...and stops once more, still a quarter inch short of home, and opens his eyes. He pulled off the double - my contract expires worthless (well, actually with a five point penalty to me) and David is still pissed off! Sweet!

…..Dan had us turning over six contracts at a time for five players. In his previous experience he thought the rules-mandated three contracts led to too much competition for contracts and not enough cash flow. I disagree - just because one person has a contract doesn't mean no one else can profit from it. Negotiation is at the heart of the game and the most successful voyages had everyone with equal interest in the outcome.

Dan's adjustment had the side advantage of shortening the game time to about three hours

Thread: Re: Leaving the harbour

Thommy8 — 2008-04-17T01:12:36+00:00

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will come along and answer this question, but as I read the rules, it seems that any ship with at least one sailor on it sails during Phase 4. The captain could choose to sail a tiny amount and stop I suppose, but I think that the ship does at least leave the home port in Phase 4 if it has any sailors.

Thread: Re: Preparation Question for Advanced Rules with 4-5 players

Thommy8 — 2008-04-17T01:11:16+00:00

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along and answer this question. The only thing I can think of is that the 4th and 5th player at least have the option of stealing a contract from the first three players by proposing to complete it by an earlier year. Since this question is pretty old, maybe you've played a bunch since then, and can shed more light on it than me.

Thread: Putting an earlier year marker on a claimed contract

Thommy8 — 2008-04-17T01:09:39+00:00

I'd love to hear answers to the two existing rules questions for VOC at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/141627 and http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/306974, and figured I might as well add a third rules question to the mix. Maybe someone will come along and give their thoughts on all three.

Page 3 of the corrected advanced rules from the Splotter website say:

"To prevent others from taking over your contracts, it is allowed to put an earlier year-marker on a contract you have claimed yourself."

Does this take a turn or not? That is to say, let's say Player A previously claimed a contract earlier in the game with an end year of 1592. Then let's say Player B spends an action on his turn to take over that contract by proposing an end year of 1590. Can Player A right then and there block Player B by putting 1589 on the contract? Alternatively, does this rule simply mean that Player A can spend an action on his own turn to change the year that he previously proposed on a contract when he claimed it? I think I'll play by the latter interpretation unless someone suggests otherwise.

Thread: Leaving the harbour

Pyjam — 2008-04-14T23:36:55+00:00

I don’t understand when a ship may sail. Does she sail only when she’s full (6 sailors and 6 merchants), or must she sail when at least one sailor is on board, or have the players the choice? In the last case, which player? The captain only?

Thread: Re: In The Land Of The Blind...

denverarch — 2007-10-27T23:19:09+00:00

Excellent review! I just spent last night punching the game and trying to learn the rules even thoughI have had it for months. I love the theme but it looks like it needs some more strategy for my group to like it. I have 3-4 good ideas to make it the ultimate Spice Trade game I've been dying to find or invent. Thanks for helping clarify the game rules and reaffirming that the game can appeal to deep strategy people.

Thread: In The Land Of The Blind...

Phelonius — 2007-10-27T16:03:48+00:00

The captain is a one-armed dwarf
He's throwing dice along the wharf
In the land of the blind
The one-eyed man is king...

We sail tonight for Singapore
We're all as mad as hatters here

--- Tom Waits, Singapore (Rain Dogs)

The Purchase: Every game purchase has a trigger - the thing that compelled you to trade your hard earned cash for a box of cardboard and plastic. For me, it was sitting at the table next to the one this game was being played at on two separate occasions. The raucous laughter and obvious high levels of interactivity put this quickly near the top of my list. And as luck would have it, a recent Math Trade brought this game fortuitously to my mailbox. I still had reservations, though, as the 'blind drawing' mechanic threatened (in my mind) to reduce this game to the Pictionary/Cranium shelf.

The Bits: The box is much smaller than I expected (especially for a Splotter Spellen release) but it is beautifully designed. I can't be the only one getting tired of box art representing various people loitering at the shipping docks. These boats are actually represented in the act of delivering (I looked really hard but still couldn't tell if the captains had blindfolds on). Inside the box, there is a beautiful, though admittedly busy-looking map of the world. This map is used only for putting the goods chits on. There are four smaller maps done on white boards that represent the near east (x 2) and the far east (x2) These maps are extremely simplified representations of the geographical areas that they cover, but are perfect for their purpose. The game also has cardboard bits (goods chits, warehouses, year markers, money in dalders), wooden bits (cubes that represent your men - sailors or merchants, depending on where they are placed) and a dry-erase marker for the white-board maps.

The Play: The rulebook does a wonderful job of introducing you to the historical period being represented. Where it fails is in splitting up the basic and advanced rules so that it is very difficult to learn the advanced game. Our group wanted to jump right to the advanced version, forcing us to jump backwards and forwards in the rulebook. We missed the occassional rule and had some early confusion. Checking out the 'Geek, of course, solved all of our problems. I highly recommend downloading the improved rules before attempting to play.

The following describes the Advanced Version of the game (the Basic Game has open contracts):

The players are merchants from Zealand competing with those bastards from Amsterdam in the spice trading markets. Players are forced to cooperate with each other to reach their destinations and fulfill contracts. The mechanics of the game do a good job of forcing this - a lone wolf player's boat is most definitely sunk.

The game is played in 6 phases:

phase 1 --- New Orders: every third year (the 'scurvy' years on the timeline), 3 new contracts come out for the players to bid on. If these contracts are not claimed (not fulfilled, but promised to fulfill) by the next scurvy year, Amsterdam adds it to its pile. These contracts can require 1 - 3 different or like goods and have various payouts/penalties on them.

phase 2 --- Scurvy!: if it is a scurvy year (as designated by convoys on the timeline), then the left-most sailor on each of the four boats is removed. The next sailor becomes the skipper. If the boat is rendered sailor-less, it is sunk.

phase 3 --- Investments: players each take a turn, and then each take another. They may choose one of the following actions:
------ Fitting a Ship: place four men(no less unless you run out of men or spaces to put them) onto one ship. You may split them between sailors and merchants but you must fill the lower numbered spaces first.
----- Bid on Contract: You may bid on a contract by placing a man and a year marker on it, the year marker representing the year you promise to fulfill the contract by. A contract can be claimed by another player if the bid an earlier year.
----- Pass or take back men from a ship still at harbour (this must be where those dock loiterers from the other game boxes come from).

phase 4 --- Sailing!!!: This part is the crux of the game: in order to represent the dangers of sailing these little-known waters, the skipper sails blind. Placing the marker at the starting line (representing the last of the known waters) and closing his eyes, the skipper starts to draw a line to what he hopes will be his destination harbour. Any other player that has a sailor on that ship may yell out one of five instructions (north, south, east, west, stop) for each sailor that he has on that ship. Any illegal or additional instructions are penalized by 5 dalders. The skipper may, at his choosing, stop sailing at any time in order to leave the ship safe for the next turn. If a ship's path should cross land, the other players must yell out Land Ho! loud enough for everyone in the venue to be distracted from their own games and the offending skipper is thrown overboard. The next sailor in line will take over the skippering duties in the following year. If no sailors are remaining, the ship and all of its goods are sunk. A good (or brave but stupid) skipper can choose to sail into a harbour, leave his eyes closed and sail on in an attempt to hasten a journey (maybe you shouldn't have taken that short contract after all). A ship must make it back to the starting line to safely get the goods to Zealand.
After all 4 ships (or at least those with sailors on them) have sailed, this phase is over.

phase 5 - Sales: any contracts that can be met are resolved. It is highly unlikely that a single player will have acquired all of the goods he needs to fulfill an order, so trading amongst players is pretty much essential. Some players may be able to play a successful game without every fulfilling a contract themselves. Any contracts that are due but were not met are penalized at this point.

phase 6 - New Year: the year marker moves up.

The game ends suddenly, when the VOC card (which was set up to be one of the 7 last cards) turns up. The player with the most money will be the winner, as long as he has more money then the cards that Amsterdam has accumulated (regardless, he still has beaten all of the other players and is still qualified to act smug/gloat/sing his own praises).

The Skinny: This game has trading, negotiating, bidding and planning. But let's be honest here - its the blind sailing that makes the game; everything else is there only to justify closing your eyes with a marker in your hand. This is a highly interactive game that can rapidly get loud and boisterous. Though we tend to play deeper, more strategic games, all of the players at our table had a fantastic time with this one. We rapidly learned who made good skippers and who tragically didn't.

There is a lot of fun packed into this little game. It can run a little on the long side - especially since there isn't a lot of meat on the bones - but its definitely worthy of hitting the table again.

Oh, and make sure to remove that nice table cloth. Some skippers be reckless.

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henk.rolleman — 2007-06-30T20:59:37+00:00

Front Box of the Dutch Edition

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henk.rolleman — 2007-06-30T20:54:48+00:00

Mocca for Coffee

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henk.rolleman — 2007-06-30T20:45:07+00:00

Details of the VOC founding card

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henk.rolleman — 2007-06-30T20:41:36+00:00

Extra special map in the dutch edtion for education on schools

Thread: Re: VOC!

denverarch — 2007-06-08T20:33:03+00:00

Great review I'm sold. I want to sponsor a Spice Trade Theme night and this would be perfect.

Thread: Re: VOC! - short for Voice Out Cry!

Guantanamo — 2007-06-08T18:03:42+00:00

czrdup wrote:
Okay, yeah I am sorry that I crashed the boat... now that I have played through a game and had a chance to think back on it, I would have tried to make it back.

I actually liked this much more than I thought. The reason I was kind of worried about it, was that I thought that if you wrecked the boat, everyone dies.

In retrospect I can see a strategy to this game.

But in the end, I still think that you should have offered to split the card with me if we made it back... I was playing a negotiation game there, but like I said, even though at the time I thought I was making a good game decision, I am sorry that I wrecked the boat.

Problem was Neil was in position to take it with Angelica too, so I don't think I would have gotten it anyway. So, I had nothing to bargin with. So, any deal I wouold have made would have been a lie (in my black and white thinking).

Thread: Re: VOC! - short for Voice Out Cry!

czrdup — 2007-06-08T18:01:30+00:00

Just to clarify, Wade, if you get this game and teach it. The players have to realize that the game goes much quicker than it seems. While we were playing I felt like I had much more time. Basically this is because the boats don't come back to port that often. But the game is really flying by.

Since I didn't understand that (not that Mike didn't explain the mechanisms, but at the time I made the choice to crash the boat, I figured we would easily make it back to port 3 or 4 more times), I thought that I could wreck the boat and only hurt Mike. It turns out that we didn't make that boat back to port the rest of the game.

Now that I have played, I want to go back and play again with the sense of urgency. I still feel like this is a bit of a party game, in that if you take it too seriously, it will be frustrating, but I do feel understand the need to play this as a coop.

Thread: Re: VOC! - short for Voice Out Cry!

czrdup — 2007-06-08T17:54:25+00:00

Okay, yeah I am sorry that I crashed the boat... now that I have played through a game and had a chance to think back on it, I would have tried to make it back.

I actually liked this much more than I thought. The reason I was kind of worried about it, was that I thought that if you wrecked the boat, everyone dies.

In retrospect I can see a strategy to this game.

But in the end, I still think that you should have offered to split the card with me if we made it back... I was playing a negotiation game there, but like I said, even though at the time I thought I was making a good game decision, I am sorry that I wrecked the boat.

Thread: Re: VOC! - short for Voice Out Cry!

Guantanamo — 2007-06-08T17:24:36+00:00

The first two games were a lot of fun!

The first one was played by 5. We were into the shipping and the trading/gaing money was secondary. We had a lot of fun.

The second was late at night at a con and with only 4 players. We had fun, but I wouldn't recommend that. It took way to long. Partly because we planned to much and partly because it was so late. I also, think it works much better with 5 players. Also, we got more into the screw each other in the filling of contracts part. So, it did turn ugly once.

This session was ok, I do think I need to play it with people that play it for fun and not to win. The funny thing is, I tend not to like party games. So, my friends started calling this a party game to annoy me. But, they are right, it's what it should be.

I'll play again. Maybe even with the same people. But, will have to go into it with the mindset that they are going to take it serious. Everyone jsut wanted to take it too serious, which then also rubbed off on me I guess.

5 players who want to have fun shipping is best. It's ultimately a coop game.

Thread: Re: VOC! - short for Voice Out Cry!

denverarch — 2007-06-08T17:11:01+00:00

I have been eyeing this. So you did not have a good experience and would not play again? Would ou be eager to play with someone who was more predisposed to the game?

Thread: VOC! - short for Voice Out Cry!

Guantanamo — 2007-06-08T16:24:58+00:00

So, I bought this a while back cause it just sounded strange.

This is the third time I've played it.

We sat down to play; Charles, Neil, Angelica, Mike and myself. Only Neil and I had played it before. (Neil's experience was at a con at 2 in the morning).

I explained the game. And when talking about navigating, I did ask that we don't spend to much time talking about what commands everyone wants when. The last time we played it took a long time to play, because everyone wanted to plan out the entire route before starting.

So, we set off playing.

During the first 'To East and Back phase', someone cut it very close to a coast. But, I said 'it's a friendly game, we don't have to argue about something that's on the line'. Boy was I wrong.

Shortly after that, I was giving commands. The Captain was going right into an island and we needed to go west to avoid it. But, I yelled out east and he turned right into part of the island we needed to miss. Mike just started going off "I don't understand why you did that to me!" It was as if I have out a knife in his back and he didn't believe that it could have been a mistake.

Angelica on the other hand kept confusing her East from her West when being the Captain. Several times someone would yell East and she turn West right into an Island. So, one a voyage she did this again. I yelled East and she turned West. This time she didn't hit an island though and kept going. So, I needed her to turn East. Her having just turned the opposite direction on the last command, I figured I'd out think her and yell the opposite. This time, however, she paused and thought for 30-45 seconds and turned the direction I actually called 'right into the island'

The first few turns were filled with crashes, so we weren't picking up a lot and sure weren't taking them back. So, 3 contracts had already been discarded to Amsterdam before the first contract was actually filled.

Near the middle of the game, we still had not been very successful at picking up things and delivering them to market. We have finally gotten a full ship that include TWO peppers. The first peppers to be obtained. There were even a couple contracts out with peppers. Another boat had just gotten back with commodities from the west. So, if we got back with ours, we would have been able to fill 3 of the 4 contracts. As long as we didn't fill the big 17 point one. Well I could fill the 17 point by myself, so they demanded payment from me or the captain was going to sail into land and sink the ship. (He was alone, but with a fairly good shot at home). I didn't have any money, so couldn't pay him. Also, I pointed out that I wasn't the only one that could fill the 17 and my better bet was negociating for the 2 pepper 10 contract. If I would have gone for the 17, It probably would have been bid down to 3-5 points. Also, I was worried about how many contracts were going into Ampsterdam, so figured we'd be better knocking out three contracts. (the other commodities on the ship could have filled other contracts with trades). But, without money or any hope of making money, they decided to sink the boat. SOOOOO, frustrating. I really didn't understand giving up all those contracts and ability bargin, because one other person MIGHT be able to fill one contract (I might add, the only one on that ship that hadn't filled a contracts was me, THEY HAD MONEY)

Only one contract got filled that round and there weren't any more ships at sea with needed commodites. So, for the next three turns we just got to watch contracts go to Amsterdam.

Nearing the end of the game, we were getting a ship back to port. The ship was going well and just needed an slight correction to the East. So, Mike yelled out West forcing the ship right into the island. Being the jerk I am, I said "I don't understand why you did that". Which of course drew "I didn't mean to!". "aaahhhh so now you understand"

The VOC! card came up quickly after that. In the end only a total of 5-6 contracts were filled. Yet, Amsterdam had 7-8. The score almost didn't matter with Amsterdam having over 50 points; there was no way anyone could win, so we all lost. I didn't even get one contract filled. Neil and Charles were the only ones that got any real money, but even those two combined wasn't more the Amsterdam.

So, it ended up a frustrating game, they all took the game way to serious, which in the end made us all lose in more ways then one. Although, we didn't plot and play every sail pahse so the game went a lot quicker.

Also, we were playing basic first edition rules. I do see that there are corrections to the rules. One of which would have meant the cards would not have gone into Amsterdam as quickly. But, in this case it wouldn't have mattered.

Thread: Re: VOC Session Report

jrtracy — 2007-04-26T16:08:24+00:00

mogli43 wrote:
Excellent session report.

Could you explain some more about the rules holes, and how to "plug"
them?

Roy, as it happens I'll be getting together tonight with a couple of guys who also enjoy the game - we'll give it some thought and I'll try to post a summary in the next couple of days.

JR

Thread: Re: VOC Session Report

mogli43 — 2007-04-26T11:43:43+00:00

Excellent session report.

Could you explain some more about the rules holes, and how to "plug"
them?

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dipdragon — 2007-02-03T19:49:06+00:00

VOC Warehouses, Year Tokens and Commodities

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dipdragon — 2007-02-03T19:47:59+00:00

VOC Vliegent Hart Board

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dipdragon — 2007-02-03T19:46:32+00:00

VOC Money Tileset

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dipdragon — 2007-02-03T19:45:42+00:00

VOC Gecroonde Board

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dipdragon — 2007-02-03T19:44:35+00:00

VOC Contract Card Front and Back

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dipdragon — 2007-02-03T19:43:27+00:00

VOC Box Rear

Thread: Preparation Question for Advanced Rules with 4-5 players

pmboos — 2006-12-24T13:36:53+00:00

In looking at (even) the corrected rules - you start with 3 cards up, but then in the 1585 year you do not turn up an additional 3? (Or any for that matter...) Seems like if you are playing with 4-5 people some folks are not going to get in on a contract at all. Could someone mention the rationale behind this?

We plan to play tonight (Christmas eve) and I want to be sure I understand this part of the rules clearly. the rationale will help me understand and explain the possible screwage factor. My guess is that once the ships sail east, all you do is pick up contracts in Phase 3, so you are best to invest in sailors and merchants first and then decide on contracts afterwards...

And with a closing thought - I can't see ANYONE wanting to pick 1585 as a completion year for a contract - seems insane!

Thanks!
Paul

Thread: VOC Session Report

jrtracy — 2006-08-30T21:06:20+00:00

We finally got a chance to try this navigation game, known as either VOC ('Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie') or Naar de Oost! ('To the east!'). Each player represents a merchant from the Zeeland town of Middleburg, trying to compete with Amsterdam for exotic commodities from the far east. The commodities include nutmeg, cinnamon, tea, coffee, cloth, cloves, and pepper.

Every three turns a set of contracts are drawn from a deck - each represents a number and quantity of commodities that must be fetched back to Middleburg in order to collect a certain amount of money. When a player chooses a contract, he also picks a year by which time he promises to fulfill it; failure to do so incurs a penalty, usually about half the completion value. Contracts vary widely - cloth is easy to get, with an accessible port loaded with four cloth tokens, but cloth contracts don't pay much. Pepper has a better payout, but the pepper tokens are strung out one per port along treacherous straits. Tea is a big ticket item, but the round trip to China is no picnic.

Players have at their disposal four ships, two for the Indian Ocean and two for the Pacific Ocean. The trick is the ships are usually crewed by several players, creating a cooperative element. In crewing a ship, a player alternates between merchant spaces and sailor spaces, and can only place four pieces in a given action (with two allocation actions per year/turn). With six merchie and six sailor spaces, a typical ship sails with three players each with four pieces committed.

After contracts are claimed and ships fitted, the real fun begins: sailing to the east! The last player to place a sailor is the captain, and his shipmates offer navigation advice. The ships are sailed by having the captain trace the path using a dry-erase pen on a glossy map of the relevant ocean. 'How hard can that be?', you might ask. Well, pretty hard - because the captain has his eyes closed. His shipmates are allowed one instruction per sailor they have aboard - legal instructions are 'north', 'south', 'east', 'west' (bet you didn't see that one coming) and 'stop'. If the ship bangs into a landmass, the open-eyed players call out 'land ho!' and the ship loses the captain. Should the ship lose all its crew, it sinks along with any commodities aboard; the only solace is the players get their crewmen back and the ship is immediately available next turn for a fresh journey. Ah, ships at sea face one further hazard - every three turns scurvy strikes and claims a sailor aboard each ship. In sum, it's a hazardous enterprise.

Our game was a museum-quality spectacle of sound strategy and crisp execution, right up until the first gamepiece was played. I claimed a contract for coffee, available in friendly Mocca, on the Red Sea, a mere 3/4" past the straits of Bab el Mandeb. 'Piece of cake', I think to myself, and figure I can get it done in four years. Sheeyah, right. I'm joined on my journey by Dan and David, looking for cloves and cinnamon between them, available over in Malabar and Ceylon. By game end, this particular trip was known as The Voyage of the Damned.

Chris chooses to chase some cloth in Bengal, and Dutch, Chris and I launch a pepper expedition to Indonesia.

Our Indian Ocean journey has a promising start, but we take three years (and a sailor) to negotiate the Bab el Mandeb coming and going. That leaves us with a small disagreement on the quarterdeck - I need to get back home before my contract expires, but David needs to get to Ceylon because *his* contract expires the next year. Dan is captain, and finds my argument (and a 60% cut of my contract) more persuasive. David takes this in stride, crossing Dan off his Christmas card list and promising an interesting sailing experience should he succeed to the captain's post. Dan, with only my one command to work with, sails for home. I expend my one instruction with 'south' to get him pointed toward the finish line. Dan approaches the line...and stops a quarter inch short and turns north! I think he's just messing with David and David thinks he's betraying me. Eyes firmly shut, still sailing, Dan turns south again...and stops once more, still a quarter inch short of home, and opens his eyes. He pulled off the double - my contract expires worthless (well, actually with a five point penalty to me) and David is still pissed off! Sweet!

Meanwhile, Chris sails off to Bengal...alone! Yes, eyes closed, he sweeps north through the Indian Ocean and deftly pulls up a half inch or so short of port. He manages to complete this route two more times, one of them also solo, and so this is christened the Greenfield Passage.

Our pepper voyage is dicey and involves at least one "East! No, I mean West!" incident. Despite that, we cruise in with only one inadvertent landfall.

Over the course of the game, the Voyage of the Damned takes about nine years, Dutch leads an epic journey to China and back, Chris manages his aforementioned Bengal trifecta, and I twice give illegal commands. We also have a memorable simultaneous double command, where David says "South" just as I shout "Stop!" - two commands wasted. I'll leave it to you to guess which particular ship suffered that little beauty.

By around turn ten or so, the contracts run out and the game ends. Dutch wins, with about 44 points, with David coming in the high 30s, Dan in the low 30s, Chris near Dan's level, and me wallowing in the mid 20s. All told, it was a blast. The game has some massive holes, and Dan's tweaking of the contract phase might need another look, but the sailing is a total hoot and rightly the focus of the game. There is also some strategy involved with resource commitment - scoring hte choice seats on a ship and also possibly stealing contracts (by promising to bring them in earlier). With the right players in the right frame of mind, this game is a treat. If you like your hatches tightly battened, though, look elsewhere. I would be happy to try this again some time.

Thread: VOC!

DarrellKH — 2005-05-17T17:30:28+00:00

This review originally published in Boulder Games Game Notes #14

In the seas of the blind, the sailor with one eye kicks butt.

Splotter Spellen, a gaming company in Arnhem, Netherlands, developed something of a cult status with Roads and Boats. After all, how many games start the players with donkeys and geese, and end with them building currency mints? Roads and Boats is a little strange, even by European standards, but should be a mandatory experience for anyone who ever has to plan projects involving time-dependencies.

VOC! is the latest fare from Splotter Spellen, and has its own charming element of quirkiness. VOC! is not meant as an acronym (and if treated as such, should be pronounced most carefully). Instead, it stands for Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or Dutch East Indies Company. The game puts the players in the roles of investors and sailors from Zealand, one of the competitors to Amsterdam in the seventeen years prior to the formation of the Dutch East Indies Company. The players will claim goods delivery contracts, outfit ships, and attempt to cooperate in obtaining those goods, and bringing them home.

“Attempt” and “cooperate” are very much the words of the day, in VOC!. Attempt, because unlike other European games that look like it coming out of the box, this one relies in part on the dexterity and spatial perception abilities of the players. Cooperate, because like many other European games which it also resembles, without cooperation you are toast.

The board appears to be the reproduction of a period map, of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific, ranging from Saudi Arabia to New Guinea. On this map there are ten ports at which various goods are available. The fundamental object of the game is to get the proper goods back to Middelburg, Zealand, fulfill those contracts you have claimed, and in doing so make more money than the other players, by the end of the game. The main obstacle in this is the concept that you cannot navigate the seas without the cooperation of the other players. This reminds me of a similar concept found in Die Hanse, one of the first of the “Euro-style” games I bought.

One of the most humorous situations I have observed in recent years is the pitting of the average American gamer against a European game system requiring player cooperation. This dichotomy of philosophies is probably no more pronounced than in the case of American wargamers – and particularly young wargamers – confronted with the unpalatable task of (gasp!) cooperating. In this, RPGers probably have something of an advantage, if you can get them to play this game at all. They, at least, are accustomed to “traveling” in “hearty bands”, at least until such point that they think they can stab each other in the back, and run with the dragon’s treasure. But I have yet to see a game in which cooperation is crucial to the degree it is in VOC!

In addition to the game board, you’ll find beginner and advanced rules, 10 wood cubes each in 5 colors (representing players’ merchants and sailors), goods markers, contract year markers, money markers (thankfully of different sizes for each denomination) warehouse markers, contract cards, a high-quality, fine-point, erasable marker, and four little wipe-off boards that make the game so deliciously different.

On the game board, there are holding boxes for the contents of four merchant ships – the Woestduyn, the Liefde, the Hart, and De Maen. Not exactly Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, but these brave vessels are all you get. (They do have one advantage over other ships, however, in that when they sink, they’re available again on the next turn!) The Woestduyn and Liefde are navigated on the two wipe-off boards showing the western half of the game map. The Hart and De Maen are likewise restricted to the eastern half of the game map, shown on their respective wipe-off boards.

In the basic game, sailors and merchants are assigned by the color-coded squares found on each ship's holding box. In the advanced game, the players are given more freedom in assigning their personnel. Either way, there will be a row of sailors along the top of a ship’s holding box, and a row of merchants along the bottom. The leftmost player cube in the sailor row is the Captain of the ship. The leftmost player cube in the merchant row has the first option to pick up goods in a port.

Once a ship is “outfitted” with crew and merchants (or, in the advanced game, when the Captain feels he has enough men on board), the fun begins.

The Captain of a ship is given the wipe-off board for that ship, and the erasable pen. He places the pen at a start bar marked near the bottom (or “south” end) of the board, and closes his eyes. (Yes, you heard me right, he closes his eyes.) He then has the responsibility of blindly drawing a course on the map to one or more of the ports, without intersecting a coastline (crash) or going off the map. How does he do this you ask? Well, for every sailor on the ship that another player has, that player may call out a direction once. This direction can be one and only one word, from the list of “East”, “West”, “North”, “South”, or “Stop”. So, if Fred is the Captain, and Kevin has two sailors on board, and Patricia has two sailors on board, then Fred will draw the ship’s course with his eyes closed, and Kevin and Patricia will each be able to call out directions on two occasions. Fred can choose to stop drawing anytime he wishes – and this is almost always a prudent thing to do.

Considering the plethora of islands found in the west Pacific, this blind-but-slightly-informed navigation routine means ships can and will run aground – particularly for those new to the game. Whenever a ship does run aground, the left-most sailor on board (aka, the Captain) falls off, and the piece is returned to the owner. If this happens enough, the last sailor on board will fall off, and the ship sinks, taking all the merchants (and any goods they may have) to the bottom. As players gain experience with this exercise, they’ll learn such things as drawing more slowly, so people can help them better, and also learn to stop on their own sometime shortly after the last assistance is provided.

Provided a ship reaches one of the circles depicting a port on the ship’s navigation board, then the ship is considered to arrive at that port. It’s even possible for a Captain to manage to draw to more than one port on a turn, though I’ve personally only seen that happen once. Once the Captain stops drawing, merchants on board the ship obtain commodities from any ports reached during that move, starting with the first port reached, and with the left-most merchant on the ship. Each merchant can only “carry” one good back to Zealand, and may not exchange for a different good at a subsequent port, so a player must choose carefully. Alternatively, players are free to discuss trades, such as I’ll take tea back for you, if you’ll trade it for pepper when (if) this ship gets home.

Once the Captain has “turned the ship around” and is heading home, he must strive to cross a “bar” drawn near the bottom of the navigation board. This bar crosses less than half the width of the board, so beginners may wish to assume that the bar crosses the entire board, at least for the first few games.

In the advanced game, there is a year marker for each turn (1585-1602) in the game. When a player claims a contract, he must use one of the available year markers in doing so. If another player believes he can deliver the contract sooner, than he or she is free to snap up the contract from the current holder, and place an earlier year’s marker on it. (Kind of like Name That Tune.) So, if things are looking good for your own contract, it probably behooves you to “upgrade” your claim to an earlier year of fulfillment.

Contracts can also be fulfilled by cooperating players, and the profits split per whatever they agreed upon. Indeed, one viable strategy for the game is to pursue sharing of contracts with multiple players (though not too many with any one player), as this insures that multiple players will have a vested interest in the success of the pertinent voyage or voyages.

What contracts are not claimed by the players are snapped up by “Amsterdam” – a space on the game board representing Zealand’s main competition during this period. Whatever contracts Amsterdam claims, Amsterdam completes, and their contracts are totaled at the end of the game. It is therefore conceivable that “Amsterdam” defeats all the players.

The other difference in the advanced game is that players are not required to outfit ships based on the color-coding of the sailor and merchant boxes. The ship needn’t be completely manned to leave port, either. This adds an element to the game which is welcome in that it seems more consistent with the theme – your fortune being more dependent on mustering sufficient enthusiasm in others to co-sponsor the endeavor.

VOC! has a different feel than even most European games, thanks to the party-game-atmosphere, blind-drawing element. Not everyone will appreciate this element, and if you find yourself amidst a pack of uncooperative gamers, the overall impression of the game can be on the negative side. VOC! revolves around this concept, and if the game has a failing, it is perhaps a lack of other elements to augment the experience. In an eerily appropriate comparison, Reiner Knizia’s Merchants of Amsterdam has the Dutch auction clock providing an element of dexterity and levity, yet there are plenty of other considerations to occupy the players – enough that some dispense with the clock-based auction mechanism altogether. VOC! is perhaps too dependent upon its gimmick. I suspect it will be a game with a small but faithful following. I, for one, am willing to play it at a moment’s notice, but I know that some of my fellow gamers who have tried it are not of the same mind.

And if VOC! sounds to you like great fun when served with alcohol, just remember – friends don’t let friends draw drunk.

Thread: Session Report

sborton — 2005-02-05T14:06:20+00:00

S. had bought VOC as part of a fantastic value-for-money Splotter deal in Essen and decided that the time was right to sail the East Indies. Local Dutchmen/women B. and I. were recruited, as well as K. and C. The game was new to everyone, so the "basic" rules were used. As usual, your correspondent will not explain the rules in detail here, but readers who are not already familiar with the rules may be motivated to acquaint themselves with the game's rather unique mechanism after reading this report.

When S. started to go through the rules, he realized that he had committed the cardinal sin of first-time-game-explaining: he had not actually checked the designer/publisher website to verify that there are no errata for the printed rules. The first sign that something was amiss came when the rules for setup indicated that the starting year is 1590, when in fact the "year track" started at 1585. A quick post-session surf to the Splotter website revealed that this, and other questions, were resolved in a second edition of the rules.

C. chose the blue player, and immediately noticed that she was at a disadvantage: both of her ships (according to the fixed player-assignment scheme for the basic game) were assigned to travel the maps that were perceived as being more difficult to navigate, while the other players had their sailors more evenly distributed.

Despite this protest, and much debate about which words are exactly allowed for other sailors to use to guide the captain of the ship ("Can I say 'northwest?'" "No." "How about 'up?'" "No."), the navigation began.

Almost immediately the need for total silence during the navigation phase (except when giving official advice to the captain) was recognized. Even the slightest involuntary squeaks, undoubtedly produced by the sheer tension and drama of watching your nutmeg-laden ship brave the perilous Malacca straits, could be construed as hints for the captain. This became even more of a problem as curious onlookers from other games wandered over to see what all the fuss was about. Fortunately, most players and observers eventually learned to maintain discipline.

For S., an interesting aspect of the game was watching all the first-timers (including himself) quickly adapt to the drawing mechanism and formulate strategies for getting the best results. For example, I. began to "practice" her navigation route before committing pen to board. S., working in conjunction with K., developed the strategy of EEG-style movement to guarantee hitting the "blue line" on the way back to Zealand. C. would ask her fellow sailors to give advice only at certain times, so that she would have a better idea of her position.

The scurvy years proved to be a particular bane for S., who was normally quite careful to not run around so as to preserve his rank aboard his ship. But he was not so careful as to plan for the approach of the scurvy years, in which his captain would anyway die of this terrible gum-wasting disease.

In the first years of the game, when everyone was still getting their sea legs, it seemed that nobody would ever be able to return to Zealand alive. But although all players were eventually able to return some goods back to the home country, B. and I. managed to pull far ahead in the scoring by not only returning with ships full of trade goods, but by also having the right goods at the right time to satisfy several contracts. Tragically, their capitalist efforts were not enough, as when the game-ending VOC contract card was drawn, nobody had won enough contracts to beat the rising star of Amsterdam.

Despite the common loss of the game, the bold spice traders felt that the game was a worthy diversion. S. is now motivated to try the "advanced" rules, which add new dimensions of strategy to the game by allowing players to take risks by promising to fulfill contracts by a certain year and to influence which ships their sailors sail on.

Thread: Session Report

mi_de — 2002-11-11T16:32:31+00:00

As part of the marathon to celebrate Roman's birthday, we played our first game of Voc! We decided to stick to the basic game. Much to our misfortune, the first contracts were very high scorers. We found that we were all lousy ship captains. Stephan 'The Swift' had smashed headlong into India before the first mate 'Michael the Meek' could get out a direction. 'Captain Crash' Roman seemed to have magnetic attraction to big, immovable objects, as several captains were pitched overboard as we got our navigation skills down. Through the chaos (an accompanying gales of laughter from the gamers) Amsterdam (the Game) picked up contract after contract. Linda decided to go for the strategy of snapping up unwanted goods in the hope a contract would come up they would be useful for, since it generally took us 5-6 years to return to Holland, and it paid off for her on several occasions. Michael was hopelessly adrift, his warehouse full of goods nobody wanted, and always a step late in closing a sale. In the end, the combined score of the players was less than mighty Amsterdam, so we all lost, but Linda lost least and Michael ended up hanging from the yardarm.

I really enjoyed the game. Next time, we'll try the advanced rules to add some strategy, but we had a great time during the navigations: a lot more difficult than we expected. Especially the coffee run: we only managed to make it there once! On the other end, we managed to get to the tea port and return in only three years, so Capt. Crash and Mr. Meek had at least something to cheer about!