Game: Arena Maximus

Thread: Re: The Universal Head ARENA MAXIMUS Rules Reference v3

pekin2121 — 2008-07-28T16:37:03+00:00

NICE!

Thread: Whip crack away!

zombiegod — 2008-07-24T00:52:02+00:00

This session was restricted to a two player game, comprising the yellow/human charioteers Vs the Black/Hell Hounds of Chaos.

A bumpy start area sees both charioteers sustain a little damage right from the off, but before long they are trundling along nicely at a steady lick of around 3 Whip cards.

A lot of blocking by the yellow chariot keeps the black chariot in check for the first quarter of the track. That is until the black chariot gets irate with the constant blocking and decides to get a little rough, fiercely ramming yellow at every available opportunity.

Eventually yellow gets taken off the track due to a brutal two set Whip attack, and loses out on a few rounds of distance whilst repairs are administered.

Slowly but surely black makes a large gap between him and his opponent, and by the time yellow gets back on circuit black is almost onto the second straight.

Yellow quickly lashes his beasts back into action, spurred on by a Hasten spell. The track now opens out nicely in front of him with barely any hazards between him and his rival.

Black on the other hand faces a tough decision, plough over the next couple of rock littered tiles and take his chariot close to breaking point, or stop and repair? If yellow is to so much as cast a Fireball at the chariot it will be shattered, so wisely black stops and repairs his chariot.

Yellow catches up and casts a Teleport spell to clear one of the two rock tiles. He takes a little damage and gallops onwards.

Blacks chariot returns back onto the track. Whipping his steeds he casts a Transport spell which brings both chariots nose to tail.

The speeds remain steady and low. Both players not wanting to risk any more damage than is absolutely necessary, all their concentration spent on overtaking and blocking.

Suddenly both players have the dame genius idea and begin burning through the deck as quickly as they can. Their plan - 'Discard as many cards as possible (except for a 'blue' Transport) and hope a magic Wild card gets drawn'. This happens to excellent effect and both players then spend the next good few rounds either effortlessly transporting past each other or track hazards.

Blacks luck eventually ran out, and in trailing position he draws no 'Wild' magic cards.

Yellow, having drawn some Whip cards, has to change his plan also, whipping his steeds up to a speed of 5 and simultaneously casting a Hasten spell.

The entire track is now visible.

Black speeds up as much as he can, his frothing beasts biting at the wheels of the leading yellow chariot. His discard round has given him a few decisions to contemplate. He has enough rein cards which would stop yellow making quite a strong block attempt, and enough whip cards to make a ram attack.

In a final attempt Black rams his opponent with 2 sets full of force, which Yellow takes full on the chin. Seemingly oblivious to the huge damage sustained Yellow then lays out a nice hand of 2 Rein cards, Black is now unable to match this and is driven back to the previous tile.

Black slumps back in defeat, his road rage having got the better of him. The 3 Rein cards ideally suited to match, make a simple pass, and possibly block next round.

Yellow cheekily slows his chariot down to 2, refreshes his hand to 7, and trots over the finish line as the adorning crowd showers the triumphant charioteers with a shower of roses.

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zombiegod — 2008-07-07T16:56:24+00:00

Card Deck

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Mar_cus — 2008-02-22T00:43:25+00:00

Cards.

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Mar_cus — 2008-02-22T00:42:41+00:00

Player cards.

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Mar_cus — 2008-02-22T00:40:55+00:00

Arena Maximus.

Thread: Re: Optimal number of players?

Mondior — 2008-01-06T06:10:59+00:00

Just played it tonight for the first time (ended up buying it also). We had five players and it was pretty chaotic with lots of crashes and whipping!!!

Thread: Re: Optimal number of players?

xIAx Count Zero — 2008-01-06T04:26:36+00:00

2 is playable, but this is a more the merrier game. 5 players is a little random, but its also tons of fun and really chaotic as I assume real chariot racing would have been. save this game for a night with a handful of buddies and a cooler full of brew :laugh:

Thread: Optimal number of players?

killjoy00 — 2008-01-05T20:02:38+00:00

It seems like 2 won't work but 3-5 should be best? Is 5 too random?

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mdu2boy — 2007-12-21T03:03:07+00:00

From Bobby Tweak's game night

Thread: $5 sale purchase, first play.

dsutherland — 2007-12-20T17:16:19+00:00

Setup/History

I picked up Arena Maximus as part of the Fantasy Flight $5 sale and finally got a chance to play it at the weekly West Haven, CT Boardgame Meetup.

We had a full 5-person game, and it was the first play for all present, and i went about explaining it, section by section from the rulebook which i had read through twice previously.

The Game

Our board layout started off interesting with one of the health squares as square one, making it not very useful, and with the second square being a jump. Due to a misinterpretation of the rules, we thought we had to have enough speed to move onto the jump, and clear it, using up those three moves as part of the jump. (we realized this mistake by the second jump of the game). This made for a more challenging start, but actually it didn't cost anyone anything. Most of use used some planning and/or magic to get our speed sufficient to clear it.

The first few turns went fairly slow as for each move there was a bit of explaining what could be done at each step. The more and less aggressive of the players became apparently fairly quickly. With one of the 6 strength chariots Ana took much of the early damage, one dink at a time, and with the comment of adding to her hit list. Rob started his role of the executioner attacking Ana causing our first crash.

In the mean time, my slower dwarf chariot was a bit behind the pack, but trudging along with Maciek which i would most of the game, and taking a bunch of hits from him, when i was weak. To my dismay i never seemed to have the cards for counter attacks, and he kept pretty low on damage for half the race. Even worse to the battling between us was i had to keep using up my cards to counter rather than die which messed with my ahead planning for the obstacles on the track.

As we approached the second jump, Rob rammed me for critical damage causing me to crash, right before a jump, rock combo coming up. Maciek then came in knocking Rob's last couple of damage causing us both to be out at the same time. The problem i had was i only had a beast score of 1, and was one tile away from a 3 whip jump. Not much i could do (drew no magic to help), so immediately after getting going again, I take two damage on a jump.

Meanwhile after recovering from her crash, Ana hung back, regrouping and staying out of harms way. A bit of fear after being the target prehaps, but probably not the best move as it can be hard to catch up.

Maciek managed to block me (by my choice as my alternative would have taken damage a couple tiles later) and then Rob took out Maciek for his(Rob's) 3rd kill, and we figured he would then target Lori, who had been quietly going around the track, not really confronting anyone.

At this point, Lori had nice speed on had pulled away as we got to the last third of the track, which was mostly open tiles. Rob made a run at her as she was almost to crash damage, but just couldn't make it. As we came into the last turn, we knew it was a battle for 3-5th as the first to place were assured. I drew a magic and teleport card allowing me to jump from last to 4th, barely. Ana, Maciek and myself were on adjacent tiles, Ana in third after throwing on some speed the last two turns and moving back into the pack.

Lori of course took the win, with a huge set of speed at the end allowing her to stay out of Rob's range. Showing that in some cases, the one who doesn't aggress can come out a winner. At least the first time.

Thoughts

We played with the magic option, and i think it would have lacked some with out it. I've been wondering if not having your speed cards count towards your hand size would allow for more interaction as you'd have more cards to use. Not that there wasn't interaction, just seemed to me that i was always lacking cards to do so, even with a speed of two or three. But lacking more plays i probably won't know.

The start of the game went slow. But as we got later in the game and everyone knew the options, we just ran the list of what the options were each time for people to yay or nay, speeding it up considerable.

It was a fun game, well worth the $5 sale price. I'd pull it out again, especially with a group of people who like the fighting type of interactions and battles.

Thread: Re: User Review

King Bing — 2007-09-20T06:40:25+00:00

faartknocker wrote:

The point I'm trying to make is that what determines whether or not you'll like this game is not your AGE, but what TYPE of gamer you are. I like long games too, but I can certainly appreciate a good slapfest as well.

I absolutely agree with that. My favorite games are Tiger & Euphrate and Java, and I like very much Arena Maximus. A far better game than Ave Caesar: more tactics and more fun.

Thread: Re: User Review

faartknocker — 2007-08-23T18:46:36+00:00

Overall, a good review.

However, I respectfully disagree with your assertion that the game is geared toward teenage gamers. It is certainly not geared toward people who like long, developmental games such as Puerto Rico or Settlers of Catan. If you enjoy growing crops, harvesting food, trading and/or watching your grass grow for hours, then this game is certainly not for you.

This game is intended for those who enjoy a good smash-mouth experience with a healthy dose of tactics and strategy thrown in. The point I'm trying to make is that what determines whether or not you'll like this game is not your AGE, but what TYPE of gamer you are. I like long games too, but I can certainly appreciate a good slapfest as well.

Cheers!

P.S. An extra "life" point is in fact TWO extra life points when you consider that it is on both sides of the card. If you have a slow chariot or one with poor attack capabilities, you have to modify your strategy and tactics accordingly. I have found that the game is very balanced indeed.

Thread: Re: Regarding spellcasting, ramming, blocking and attacking.

Ladislaus — 2007-08-21T15:46:16+00:00

See page 5 of the [url=http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/PDF/arenamaxrules.pdf]Arena Maximus Rules (PDF):

Arena Maximus rules, page 5 wrote:
Casting Spells

During your turn, you may cast a spell from the Spell List. Each spell costs one skill of a specific color. In order to cast a spell you must discard from your hand 1 magic card and 1 other card with the proper skill on it.

For example, the "Hasten" spell requires a yellow skill icon. In order to cast "Hasten," you must discard 1 magic card and 1 card with a yellow power icon on it.

Remember, because magic cards are wild, they can be used in place of any skill icon. Therefore, you may cast any spell by discarding 2 magic cards. Most spells can only be cast at the beginning of your turn. See the Spell List for complete details on spell effects and when they can be cast.

Counterspells
By discarding 2 magic cards, you can "cast a counterspell" that will cancel any spell that has just been cast. You may do this at any time immediately after another player casts a spell—even though it is not your turn.

Thread: Re: Regarding spellcasting, ramming, blocking and attacking.

axeme — 2007-08-21T11:34:37+00:00

It's been a while since I've played, but I thought that you can only ram, block and attack other chariots on the same tile. When you've crashed I don't believe you're considered on a tile, but instead, off the track. So I don't believe you can do any of those things, including casting a fireball at a crashed chariot.

The same for the crashed chariot not being able to block, etc.

* Finally, can one cast more than one spell during one's turn?
I believe the spell rules say that you can cast a spell at the beginning of your turn, and not spells.

Once again this is from memory, but I remember having a similar discussion on these topics in one of my gaming groups and we believed this to be correct.

Thread: Regarding spellcasting, ramming, blocking and attacking.

faartknocker — 2007-08-21T01:48:56+00:00

Please help me with these. I couldn't find the answers specifically in the rule book.

The situation is that you have a damaged chariot sitting on the outside of the track.

1) Can another chariot use the fireball spell against that chariot if it has been repaired? (After it's first turn after crashing)

2) Can the chariot on the outside of the track be rammed?

3) Can the chariot on the outside of the track block other chariots?

4) Can the chariot on the outside of the track be attacked with whips?

5) Can the chariot on the outside of the track counter attack?

* Finally, can one cast more than one spell during one's turn?

Thanks to whoever is kind enough to inform me. Cheers!

Thread: The Universal Head ARENA MAXIMUS Rules Reference v3

UniversalHead — 2007-06-12T23:40:57+00:00

I hope you enjoy ArenaMaximus_v3.pdf - the Universal Head ARENA MAXIMUS Rules Reference v3 (Jun07). Rules summary / reference sheet.

This is part of a new 'range' of rules summaries and reference sheets that have version numbers to keep track of changes. The entire range is available at www.headlesshollow.com

It consists of one small one-sided rules summary and reference sheet. Print out one for each player.

As always, for best results print on card, laminate and trim to size. Enjoy!

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Hex_Enduction_Hour — 2007-05-25T13:33:34+00:00

A game of AM with my son

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Hex_Enduction_Hour — 2007-05-25T13:32:51+00:00

Chariot cards

Thread: Which chariot is best?

Jormi_Boced — 2007-04-15T03:05:52+00:00

Has anyone who has played this game a lot found one chariot to be better overall?

Thread: Review - Arena Maximus

CliffRo — 2007-03-29T01:37:34+00:00

Arena Maximus (Fantasy Flight 2003) is a racing/hand management game. Players must race chariots in a fantasy-themed race through various obstacles while whipping or blocking those who get in their way.

While the premise sounds great and the balancing of the game seems well done, the game was not all that engaging for me. Only 2 types of cards are essentially in the game, with the 3rd a wild card that can be either one of the other 2. I like how your speed counted against your hand limit so it felt like you were getting more and more out of control the faster you went, but the fun wasn’t there for me. The game also lasts a lot longer than it should. If the track was half of its size it might have been a good length, but as it stands, it draws on long enough to wear out its welcome.

Each player begins by drawing a random Chariot from one of the five available. Each one has different ratings for Beast, Driver, and Chariot. Beast is the acceleration value, Driver is how many cards a player can discard, and Chariot is hit points. The total of all points on each of the Chariot Cards equals a total of “10” to keep them balanced. Players take their Chariot Card and Chariot Token and unused ones are placed back in the box out of play. The Start/Finish Line Tile is placed on the table. The Straight Track Tiles are shuffled face down and six are placed without looking at them in a line extending to the right of the Start/Finish. Then the Curved Track Tiles are shuffled in the same way and 9 are placed to form turns 1 &2. Then 7 more Straight Tiles and 9 more Curved Tiles are placed to finish the track. The remaining 4 Straight Tiles are placed back in the box without looking at them. The first 3 Straight Track Tiles past the Start/Finish Line are turned over revealing the obstacles the players face, or lack there of. The Racing Deck, consisting of Whip, Rein, and Magic Cards is shuffled and 7 cards are dealt to each player. Players may look at these cards. The rest of the deck is placed in the center of the track so everyone has access to it. The Damage Counters are placed in easy reach of everyone and a Starting Player is determined at random. The Starting Player places their Chariot with the beige side up on the inside of the track next to the Start/Finish Line. Going clockwise around the table, each player places their Chariot, beige side up, below the last Chariot placed until all Chariots have been positioned.

Play is determined by the position of each players Chariot. The player in last place takes their turn, then the second-to-last place, etc. until all players have had a turn. When Chariots end their turns in the same tile, they are stacked with the Chariot that entered the tile being placed below the Chariot(s) already positioned in that tile. At the beginning of a turn, the Chariot closest to the track moves before the ones lower than it. When a player is done with their move, they flip their Chariot Token over revealing the other color so it is easy to determine who has completed their move.

Each Turn consists of 4 Phases. Those Phases are:

1)Set Speed: A player may change their speed during this phase by adjusting the number of Whip Cards or Magic Cards in play for their Chariot. A Player may play Whip Cards or Magic Cards from their hand to speed up or slow down. The Beast Score on the Chariot Card determines how many cards may be played to accelerate or be discarded from their Speed Pool to decelerate. A player may also just maintain their speed if they wish.

2)Discard: A player may discard a number of cards from their hand up to their Driver Score.

3)Draw Cards: A player must draw cards from the Racing Deck back up to 7 INCLUDING the cards they are using in their Speed Pool. The Faster the Chariot is moving, the fewer cards in that Player’s hand to use for avoiding objects and attacks. If the Racing Deck is exhausted, the discards are shuffled to form a new deck.

4)Movement and Resolution: A player MUST move their Chariot a number of tiles equal to the number of Whip Cards in their Speed Pool. Their Chariot Token is moved on the inside of the track. As each tile is entered, it is Resolved in the following manner:

Resolution

When a Tile is entered, the following 4 steps are taken in order:

Ramming: The Player who is moving decided is they wish to Ram a Chariot which is in the tile they are moving into. If they wish to Ram, they must discard sets of 1 Whip and 1 Rein Card. Magic Cards may be substituted for either type of card. For Each set discarded, the target of the Ram takes 2 points of Damage. The defender may discard sets of their own to nullify sets of the attacker. For each set nullified in this manner, the attacker takes 1Damage instead. The attacker may not play more sets than their Driver Score rating and the number of sets they play must be determined before the defender plays their sets. The Player who moved into the tile may conduct rams on different Chariots if more than one is present. Each Ram is conducted as above, resolving one before the next Ram is conducted. A Player may only Ram a given Chariot once per round.

Blocking: After all Rams are conducted, players in a Tile that is being moved into may conduct a Block. This is done by discarding Rein Cards or magic Cards from their hands. The Blocker may not play more cards than their Driver Score. The moving player must play a number of Rein Cards or Magic Cards equal to the number the Blocker played or their turn ends and the Chariot does not move into the Tile. If more than one Chariot is in the tile they may both Block. The first Blocker to the left of the moving player decides how many Rein Cards they wish to play to Block. When that is determined the next opponent to the left determines how many Rein Cards or Magic Cards they wish to contribute. This continues until all Blockers in the same tile have played. No player may play more than their Driver Score. The moving player then must play a number of Rein Cards or Magic Cards equal to the sum of all the Blocker’s cards to move. After this Resolution or if no player Blocked, the moving player places their Chariot Token in the Tile they were moving into.

Tile Effects: If a tile has a picture and symbol on it, the effects of that tile are resolved. There are several different types of Tiles:
Empty: No Tile Effect
Rocks: Each Rock Tile has a Rein Rating. A number of Rein or Magic Cards equal to this rating must be discarded. For each fewer card played than the rating, the Chariot takes 1 point of Damage.
Jump: A Jump Tile has a Speed Rating. If a Chariot does not have a number of Whip or Magic Cards in its Speed Pool when entering this tile, it takes a number of points of Damage equal to the difference in speed versus the rating.
Hazard: Each Hazard Tile has at least 1 Skill Icon printed on it. A player must discard a card that has this symbol on it or a Magic Card in order to pass the hazard. These symbols appear on both the Whip and Rein Cards. For each symbol that the player does not play, their Chariot takes 1 point of Damage.
Recovery Stables: A player MAY end their movement in this Tile even if they were moving fast enough to continue out of the Tile. If a Player chooses to do so, they discard all Damage Tokens on their Chariot, discard all cards from their Speed Pool, Discard as many cards as they wish from their hand and draw back up to 7, and then their turn ends.
Start/Finish Line: The game ends after the turn in which one Chariot passes the Start/Finish Line.

Attacking: After resolving Tile Effects, the moving player may Attack any or all of the Chariots in their current Tile. To do so, the player chooses their target and may discard a number of Whip or Magic Cards equal to their Driver Score. The defender of the attack may discard Whip or Magic Cards to defend against the Attack. For each card not defended against, the defender takes 1 point of Damage. If the defender wishes, they may Counter-Attack after the Attack is resolved. The Counter-Attack is handled in the same way as an Attack. A Counter-Attack may not be Counter-Attacked. If multiple Attacks are conducted in a Tile, each Attack/Counter-Attack is resolved before a new one is begun. Each Chariot may only be Attacked by the player once during a turn. Opponents may not Counter-Attack if they are not Attacked.

When the number of Damage Tokens on a player’s Chariot exceeds its Chariot Score, it crashes. If the Chariot hasn’t crashed yet (showing the unbroken Wheel side of the card) it is still in the game, if it already has the Broken Wheel side showing it is out of the game and removed from the board. When a Chariot crashes for the first time, the player’s Chariot Card is flipped over to reveal the Broken Wheel side. All Damage Tokens are discarded and their Chariot Token is placed on the outside of the Track Tile they have crashed. If other Chariots have crashed already, they are placed on the outside of those crashed Chariots. On the crashed player’s next turn, the normal turn is not played. Instead, their Chariot Token is flipped over to the new round’s color and their hand is refreshed to 7 cards. On the next turn after this, their Chariot Token is returned to the middle of the Track and play continues as normal.

If a Player’s Chariot is in the last face-up Tile, then the next 3 tiles are revealed. If the player still has movement left they must continue their move into these newly revealed Tiles. Once a Chariot has moved as far as it can or is Blocked, it is flipped over and that player’s turn is over. When all Chariots have been flipped over, a new turn begins with the player in last place moving first. When a Chariot crosses the finish line it continues moving until it has used up its Movement for the turn. All Tile Effects after the Finish Line are ignored. A Chariot that crosses the Finish Line cannot be Blocked, Attacked, Rammed, or targeted by Spells (Optional Rule). A player in a “Kingmaker” position may not interfere with Chariots if they have no chance to win. The winner is the player who moved farthest past the Finish Line, ties being broken by whoever entered the Tile first. If all players but one have been eliminated by crashing, then the last player alive immediately wins.

My thoughts on this game:

Components: The Components for this game are fairly well done, especially for the price. All the Tokens are printed on good quality thick cardboard and have a glossy complexion to them. The Damage Tokens are small however, but are easy enough to tell how much damage each chariot has. The cards are of good quality themselves and very easy to tell which of the 3 types of card it is and the symbols on the rein and whip cards are large and easy to read as well. Each symbol is different so color blind players will not have a problem with distinguishing them. The Board Tokens are well made and fit together nicely to form a track. It is a very good looking game when set up.

Rules: The rules are set up fairly well. Some of the rules are written later in the rulebook than I think they should have causing a few questions from the impatient people. If the Tile Effects had been listed where they were first mentioned it would have been nice, but that is a minor gripe. There are plenty of examples that explain the game well and the rulebook is easily referenced. It may be easier to teach this game than play as in our first game we had several restarts due to missed rules. The rules are printed in brown and white (maybe grayish and white) on thin paper. They are sufficient, although those with really bad eyesight might have problems.

Balance: This game is really balanced well. None of the chariots seem to be dominant and the card distribution seems well balanced. Nobody felt like they were at a disadvantage due to being a “bad chariot”.

Interaction: This is where the game fell apart. There isn’t really much of a point to really interact with the other players. This is odd with all the rules for blocking, attacking, and ramming. The only maneuver that seemed used a lot was blocking. Attacks and especially rams weren’t used very often as the rewards never seemed to outweigh the risks as these left you severely depleted for the rest of the players’ turns at which point you could easily be destroyed.

Player Elimination: This game has player elimination and it can happen fairly quickly if a player gets over-zealous or just plain unlucky. By the end of a game it is almost guaranteed that multiple players will have been eliminated.

Fun Factor: Arena Maximus was not a very “fun” game in my opinion. The lack of interaction made the game drag on as not much was happening. It wasn’t a horrible game that I dread playing, but I would be surprised if it ever gets opened again as there are far better racing games out there. I liked how you could get going really fast and start running headlong into things because you couldn’t hold enough cards in your hand to circumnavigate obstacles, but it was just a lackluster experience each time. This game shows up from Fantasy Flight for 5 dollars and it may be worth that but I would suggest getting a more exciting racing game.

Arena Maximus is not a game I would introduce to non-gamers. It is an easy game to grasp once play gets started, but it is not very engrossing. The early player elimination problem is also another reason I wouldn’t want to play with non-gamers as that tends to really discourage them from further playing of anything. The game can take a while (1-1 and 1/2 hours) so it is really not a filler game and would better be used as a warm-up game than anything.

Clifford Roberson

Thread: Re: A few rules questions

prizziap — 2006-12-29T02:05:07+00:00

Thanks, we got in a 4 player game today. The stretch down the first strait away was absolutely brutal. Much more conflict than with 2 players. We haven't tried the spell rules out yet, but will most likely use them next time.

Thread: Re: A few rules questions

axeme — 2006-12-28T14:45:11+00:00

We've always played it with 4 and it's been a blast.

You've been playing correctly for the most part. You can attack with a fireball at the beginning of your turn to any chariot within three tiles, including any in the same space as you are starting from. The standard attack only occurs when moving into a tile, as you've noted.

Thread: A few rules questions

prizziap — 2006-12-28T11:16:28+00:00

Hello,

I got this game for Christmas and am having a lot of fun with it! So far only had 2 player games but we should get in some races with bigger fields soon! Anyways here are a few questions we've come up with:

1. Is a player allowed to attack an opponent that is in the same space they are at the start of the turn before they move to the next space? We've been playing no.

2. If a player reduces his speed to zero, may he attack any other chariots in the space he started (and ended) his turn in? We've been playing no.

3. If a player reduces his speed to zero, may he take advantage of the health station if there is one in the space he started (and ended) his turn in? By the same token if he drops his speed to zero must he negotiate any rocks, pits, jumps in his space again? We've been playing no- that a spaces special effects (good or bad) only affect a chariot the turn it initially moves into the space.

Thread: Three players, first try

MurWiz — 2006-12-20T16:06:28+00:00

I broke out my $5 copy (yay, GenCon bargain bins!) for the first time last night for a quick game with my two sons (age 23 and 20). The rules were pretty easy to grasp, although the whole sequence of "ram? block? tile? attack?" on each move was a little obscure until we had run through it a few times. I will definitely "demo" this process with new players, as it's both the core of the game and the hardest thing to learn cold.

Adam played conservatively at first, keeping his speed pool low compared to the others (we were at 3-4, while he stayed at 2-3). This gave him the opportunity to ram whoever was in second place (usually me), whenever his cards worked out, or attack when he had whips and we didn't (obvious when you drained out your hand on the previous turn).

As perennial second-place during the first half or so of the lap, I was stuck between defending Adam's sniping, or attacking Nathan (the leader), which I tried to do opportunistically. However, eventually my bad card draws led to a crash, which put me behind and in need of a catch-up. A "stable" tile provided a chance to heal up damage, but not for me: my crash occurred just before it, and the next tile was a 3-jump. Only Nathan could make practical use of it, as neither Adam or I had the acceleration to make the jump after without damage (since "stabling" requires a drop to zero speed).

Eventually, I crashed again when a bunch of rocks showed up during my headlong flight at speed 4, and I couldn't draw enough reins to avoid them. That took me out, and when Nathan and Adam crashed for the first time, Adam's low acceleration couldn't catch Nathan's heavy whip, and Nathan took the win by one tile.

This is a great little game; I really like the mechanic of high speed limiting your hand size and thus simulating the "going too fast to swerve around hazards" feel. Can't wait to try this with 4 or 5 players!

Thread: Re: Slow But Steady . . .

prizziap — 2006-12-14T09:52:07+00:00

Thanks for the report. I've got a $5 gift certificate at Cardhuas, and I'm trying to figure out what to use it towards. This game is one of the few I'm tossing back and forth. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Thread: Slow But Steady . . .

JVKhoury — 2006-12-14T07:13:59+00:00

Played a five player game of this yesterday. I was yellow. We decided starting order would go in descending order of health (so the slowest chariots would go first, more or less.)

1. Red
2. Blue
3. Black
4. Yellow
5. Green

We also normally play with the start/finish in the middle of the first straightaway, which is mostly due to OCD, even if it means a 3 jump could come up in the first 3 tiles (it once came up as the FIRST tile in a game two years ago.)

Opening turns

>>Red started out nice and slow, as usual, 1 space.
>>Blue jumped out of the gate fast, laying down 2 in the speed pool and a magic speed boost (Blue ALWAYS had a magic card or two in this game). Red forced him to discard a rein to prevent the block, but worse were the tiles Blue turned up for the end of his movement, including a 3 Rein. Blue ended up with 4 damage after his FIRST turn.
>>Black, Yellow, and Green moved out slowly, 1, 2, and 2. The requisit ramming and blocking of the jammed tiles took place.

Most of the early part of the game was marked by a speed pool of 2 for most chariots, once or twice going up to 3. There was a lot of slow going and fighting, ramming, etc early on. It seemed most of the difficult tiles came up fast, not to mention that we later discovered that the 4 unused tiles were ALL blank, so there were few "safe" spaces. Magic was used in abundance.

>>Blue continued rather recklessly, and crashed before completing the first turn. He had a pretty good lead and was still vying for first when he came back to the track.
>>Yellow came up on a color hazard after he drew dead on his hand refill, knowing that he was doomed to crash, he double rammed Black, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Both chariots crashed spectacularly, more casualties even before the first turn was complete.
>>Red took heavy damage, but with his 8 health, just kept chugging.
>>Green, "can't we all just get along?" managed to keep himself untouched.

Mid Game

>>Blue kept a good pace and was usually in the lead. Good use of magic (notably teleport) kept him away from the other players. Finally, with the buffer he'd wanted so badly to create earlier on, he seemed to play more carefully. He took no more damage.
>>Red continued to rumble along. He had 7 damage and looked done for. But Blue, up front, had revealed a healing stable near the end of the straightaway. Red pulled out a speed boost and swooped into the pit stop.
>>Green, and his damage free chariot, began to get noticed by the other players. He tried to co-exist, but we wouldn't let him.
>>Yellow recovered well from his crash, getting up to speed quickly and back into the fray. He came up behind Green and gave him a ram for good measure.
>>After his crash, Black managed to pull NO whip cards. He cast his own speed boost, but after that he was crippled, his beast rating meant that he could only add one whip per turn to the speed pool. He never caught up. But, he did cast a fireball, which crashed Green, just for spite.

End Game

So, 4 of the 5 had crashed. The other, Red, not only had managed to avoid crashing, but after his pit-stop, was damage free. The final leg of the course was mostly barren, it had almost ALL of the jumps, several clear spaces, and just a few hazards. Speed would be key in the end.

>>Blue put some hurt on Red, but just couldn't do enough to crash him. He bypassed the last hazard with his old chestnut, teleport, and cruised up, one space shy of victory, and damage free. But there were two others who had yet to go that turn. Blue ended up in third place.
>>Red just kept pumping up his speed after his pit-stop. He threw down a speed boost and rumbled through the last two hazards, soaking 3 damage. Blue tried to block him, but his driver score was just too low and he could only throw up one rein card to block, which Red was prepared for. Red rolled into victory lane by exact count.
>>Yellow, who had been breathing fire in third place for a few turns, turned on the afterburners and put his speed up to 6. He roared down the course, taking 4 damage from the hazards he didn't even try to avoid. Blue again tried to block, but Yellow's lone card was a magic, which he used as a wild. Red had nothing left to try his own block, but it didn't matter. Yellow didn't have enough speed to pass Red, instead, he landed just behind him on the Finish line (the first player to reach the space wins IF he isn't passed by the end of the turn)
>>Black fought it out with Green for fourth place. He got his hands on two magic cards for a speed boost and it was all over.
>>Green, who had started out last, wound up finishing last.

1. Red
2. Yellow
3. Blue
4. Black
5. Green

It was a good time had by all.

Image

Geosmores — 2006-12-04T21:43:12+00:00

Close of board and pieces during a game.

Image

ManlyWan — 2006-12-02T02:46:16+00:00

Counter Sheet 5.

Image

ManlyWan — 2006-12-02T02:30:44+00:00

Counter Sheet 4.

Thread: Re: Attack question

ronster0 — 2006-11-04T16:04:25+00:00

Yes, you can ram each one, one at a time. Then they can try and block you. Then you resolve terrain effects. They you can can attack each one, one at a time.

Thread: Re: Attack question

zombiegod — 2006-11-04T12:11:57+00:00

Yes you can. Look under the rules section 'Multiple Attacks'.

Thread: Attack question

pendragon13uk — 2006-11-04T10:50:49+00:00

We played this for the first time last night (and enjoyed ourselves), but a question - I'm the Dwarf chariot, driver skill of 1, I move into a space containing 2 chariots, I can ram and attack eachof them once, yes?

i.e. I can play one set of cards on each viable target in each 'phase'

thanks

Thread: Design your own Chariot + add 1.

kenjohns — 2006-09-05T14:40:09+00:00

A great little game!

Here’s a variant which we will be playing next time.

Make up a set of Chariot Cards with BLANK score numbers – these can be as artistic or as basic as your skills permit.

Laminate or cover with Clear ‘sticky back plastic’.

After choosing the first player then, in reverse order, player design their own chariots. They have 10 points, which can be split as they choose between the three ‘scores’ - with at least 1 point in each. The only proviso is that they may NOT design exactly the same chariot as previous player. The points are entered into the space with a crayon or non-permanent marker – so they can be rubbed out for the next game.

X 6

If you make up a sixth card – then using the blank chariot supplied, you can upgrade to 6 players.

You can also use 6 players in the standard game by making a sixth card and adding your own numbers, (1/2/7, say), to it instead of leaving blank.

It seems obvious but perhaps I should mention that with Six players, you cannot play with the “Special Rule”, where you are immune to skill icons of your colour, (unless you radically redesign the tiles and the cards!!).

Thread: The first shall be last?

kenjohns — 2006-09-05T14:03:48+00:00

"The player in last place takes the first turn..."

Yet in 'stacking' - the first player to enter the tile leaves first!

I would have thought that the first player to reach a tile, was the first, NOT the last; after all if there is a 'Tie', on the same tile at the end, then the first player to reach that tile is the Winner.
??????????

Thread: Re: couple of questions

kenjohns — 2006-09-05T13:20:23+00:00

In answer to the second question - I would say Yes - A crashed chariot has, surely, got to be last.

Thread: Re: SkookumPete's Last Hidden Tile Suggestion

Michael_M — 2005-09-08T07:21:17+00:00

Yeah, it's a great variant! I'm suprised that it's not part of the real rules.

Thread: SkookumPete's Last Hidden Tile Suggestion

Dinky_Gnatbane — 2005-09-08T02:14:33+00:00

The number of tiles is such that there is always one hidden curve tile just before the finish line, which adds a nice element of tension as the battered chariots are streaking for the finish. However, there are no extra curves, so anyone who knows the game well knows what this tile is and can adjust speed if necessary. I'd suggest putting the finish line one position further along the track, so that the last hidden tile is a straight section. In that case, because there are four unused straight sections, the last hidden tile could be any one of five.

This option was originally posted in the General Forum of Arena Maximus by SkookumPete, I just took the liberty of copying into this Forum so it would be more visible. :p

Thread: Re: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

Bandit Ripshawd — 2005-09-06T02:47:34+00:00

Heh Heh... I'm checking in 12 hours late! :-P

Thread: Re: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

Stevve15 — 2005-09-06T01:33:52+00:00

Checking in but I've been told I've been eliminated :(

Thread: Re: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

xandryyte — 2005-09-05T15:34:00+00:00

Checking in

Thread: Re: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

richtoosoon — 2005-09-05T15:32:42+00:00

Checking in.

Thread: Re: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

schenker — 2005-09-05T15:31:00+00:00

Hello, I'm here!

Thread: ==Amazing BGG Race Clue Box==

snipy3 — 2005-09-05T15:17:31+00:00

Please don’t post here if you are not one of the competitors. Moderators, please don’t remove this thread for the sake of the contestants until they complete the first leg of this race. I will post telling you when the leg is over, which won't be long. Thank you.

Clue:
Sticking with the FFG theme, make your way to the page with this game description: Players are trying to escape the dragon's lair. Each turn a player places a tile or moves his Hero. Many tiles have a special icon, allowing players who occupy them to take special actions. Some examples would be take a gold, steal a gold from another player or destroy a tile in play.

The competitors are:
Bandit Ripshawd
Richtoosoon
Scfishman
Schenker
Stevve15
Xandryyte

Thread: Re: couple of questions

zombiegod — 2005-08-29T23:49:29+00:00

nenl wrote:
I'll post the first rules questions on Arena Maximus!

Situation: The Elves pass the finish line in good shape and are later rammed by the Dwarves who moved later in the turn, causing the Elvish chariot to wreck. The Dwarves end in the same tile.

Are the Elves still "ahead" of the Dwarves -- i.e., do wrecks after the finish line affect the position of the players in determining a winner?

Once a chariot passes the finish line it is immune to any attacks or tile effects. Ties are won by the player who entered the tile first.

Thread: couple of questions

nenl — 2005-08-29T22:12:46+00:00

I'll post the first rules questions on Arena Maximus!

Situation: The Elves pass the finish line in good shape and are later rammed by the Dwarves who moved later in the turn, causing the Elvish chariot to wreck. The Dwarves end in the same tile.

Are the Elves still "ahead" of the Dwarves -- i.e., do wrecks after the finish line affect the position of the players in determining a winner?

Another question -- is a wrecked chariot on the outside of the track deemed to be last of the chariots on the same tile? I believe yes, but just curious.

Great game!

Thread: Arena Maximus in Ohio

nenl — 2005-08-29T22:08:34+00:00

I was back home visiting family and took "Arena Maximus" with me. Big hit. I played about a dozen games over the course of the week with various people, games with 2, 3, or 4 people. Every single game but one ended up with more than one player being in a position to win during the last turn; one game ended when the moving player used his last rein card to negotiate some rocks only to be blocked on the finish line. At least 2 games ended with a wreck just short of the finish line. Another game ended with the Dwarven Steamroller flying at a speed of 5 (!) across an obstacle-strewn terrain to win right before the last of the wheels came off. Great fun and quick & easy to teach.

Thread: Stack Order

zombiegod — 2005-02-15T21:31:17+00:00

What's the best way to keep tabs on play & stack Order when multiple crashes & moves occur on the same tile?

As broken/repairing chariots are placed on the outside of the track, and racing chariots on the inside, turn order gets a little confusing.

Any ideas/solutions appreciated.

Thread: Re:Polish Edition

zombiegod — 2005-02-13T21:36:06+00:00

NickB wrote:
I like the free standing chariots on the track. Much nicer than the little tokens that sit outside the track.

Nick

The stands look very similar to the ones from the 1st edition of Drakon.

Thread: Re:Polish Edition

NickB — 2005-02-11T16:52:26+00:00

I like the free standing chariots on the track. Much nicer than the little tokens that sit outside the track.

Nick

Thread: Re:spell question

zombiegod — 2005-02-04T10:30:56+00:00

wkover (#82699),

We allow players to swap straights with curves. Although this makes the track look a little strange visually, we assume the spell would be powerful enough to alter the straights/curves. It's just a matter of it not transfering well onto cardboard.

Thread: spell question

wkover — 2005-02-04T02:37:23+00:00

When using the spell that switches two empty track pieces, can players switch curved tiles for straight tiles -- and vice versa?

My thought was that players should only be allowed to switch similar types. Otherwise, the track would change shape in a goofy way.

Thread: Re:Polish Edition

zombiegod — 2005-01-31T09:53:14+00:00

zombiegod (#81241),

I reckon the octagonal 'Driver' counters are used for noting who has moved per round.

As the chariot counters are stood up in this version it looks like the 'Driver' counters are flipped when you have taken your move rather than the chariots.
;)

Thread: Polish Edition

zombiegod — 2005-01-30T18:23:18+00:00

Hi,

I see from the photo's of the Polish edition that there are a few differences between this and previous releases.

I like the clear stands and would be interested in incorporating these into the U.K. release. I wonder if anyone knows where to get these, or a suitable substitute?

Secondly I notice there are a set of Octagonal shaped counters. Could someone explain what these are, and are used for?

Thanks in advance,
:zombie:god

Thread: Re:Session Report

snoozefest — 2005-01-04T18:24:06+00:00

snoozefest (#74253),

Sorry - this was supposed to go under Dracula! I just submitted a copy there. Powers that Be, feel free to delete this and dock me 1 GG!

Thread: Session Report

snoozefest — 2005-01-04T16:10:36+00:00

2 games, first with 5 (me, Mary, Brian, Sarah and David) then with 4 (David had to leave to go watch his TiVo'd game before it finished).

We played the first game incorrectly: we just went round and round, wondering why the heck you bother flipping your chariot token over! I had the 3/2/5 chariot, but I ended up being the 5th player, so I was stuck behind everyone and got blocked (and later rammed and whipped, 'cause I was an easy target with only 5 HP). I could never get out in front, so could never take advantage of my acceleration. And I was so easy to pick off that I was repeatedly rammed - ended up being the only player taken out of the game. David got in the lead, and took off for the win. Just before the end, I'd read the rules again and discovered our error, but we finished this game out as we'd started it. David won.

Second game: this time, I ended up with the 1/1/8 juggernaut. The 3/2/5 which I'd had last time ended up going last again in that first round (B got it this time). B was much more conservative, holding onto his cards even more than in the last game. Again, I ended up being picked on "'cause he's so tough we have to start chipping away at him"! Of course, that same reasoning didn't work last game for me! Clearly, Sarah (who'd had this one the last time) is better at convincing people than I am! B played very conservatively, and made it 3/4 around the track with only 1 damage, while the rest of us had all broken down - me first, of course. Finally, we rammed him into the repair shop. No one seemed to want to ram S, so she constantly had a handful of cards and rammed or whipped as she saw fit. She almost broke away from the pack (where she would have gone on to win, most likely), until they finally decided to stop her. A few rams/whips, and she broke down, too. Despite all of this, we were still fairly close to one another. One of the recovery stables never come up - it was one of the 4 random tiles left out of the game. It turned out that the other one was the very last space on the track ... entirely useless for all of us. Just before the end, we managed to completely destroy S's chariot. I could only hope to cross the finish line (and not go beyond), but M chose to block me, so I didn't even finish the lap! She did not block B, which I think was a mistake (although I suppose I don't know what was in her hand) - at their speed/acceleration, if B caught up to her (which she allowed him to do), he would pass her at the finish. And that's exactly what happened. Brian won, after a longish lap around the track.

Most people enjoyed the game, especially Sarah, who seemed to be particularly effective at manipulating other players' actions. It was a pretty good game, although I'm sure I'd have had more fun if everyone hadn't chosen to repeatedly bash my little chariots! Still, not a bad game. However, I think you really need to play this one with a timer - it's no fun just sitting there! We still have to try the spell version sometime.

Still a 6/10.

Thread: Session Report

snoozefest — 2005-01-04T16:03:17+00:00

Our first game of the new year, and it had to be this! Actually, it's not a bad game - nice modification of Memory. Unfortunately, neither of us is a fan of memory games!

I was Dracula, Mary was van Helsing. The Count was pretty lucky - found 2 juicy victims almost immediately. He threw some barriers around vH, keeping him from interfering with the hunt. In the meanwhile, vH had to fight a few of my minions, and then managed to burn himself when he tried to steal my amulet. I drank another Englishwomans sweet life away while vH was still whining about the fickleness of Lady Luck. Fate finally turned his way, as he found one of my new favorites just arising from his day's rest - vH staked him with no mercy! He soon found 2 more of my young children, and the hunt was on! We fought briefly, getting a glimpse of each other's plans. He must have landed a lucky blow - I managed to find one more victim, but wandered almost aimlessley afterwards ... maybe he poisoned her, made her a willing sacrifice? I must have given something away, for he soon found the 4th newly sired vampire! Where was the 5th woman ... my tasty young treat before retiring for the night?!? I dared not fight with vH again - I carried the location of my last child in my head, and could not risk him gaining that information! vH, too, was searching frantically. I finally managed to put my child's location out of my mind, and was about to pounce on the Doctor when he managed to find my young one! He tortured him first, before destroying him! I was distraught, and walked away, never to return!

Comments
Well, I thought I was doing pretty well at first. But then I couldn't remember where I'd been, and couldn't find the last victim. I was pretty sure M was still holding the card, but I was holding my last one, too! I didn't want her to know. I spent a few turns looking, and finally managed to drop the card. I thought I had her fooled - actually, I did: she turned up a few other locations in her search. I was finally ready to look at her hand, but it turned out I was 1 turn too late - she found my last coffin (in a location I'd forgotten about!). This is really Concentration Plus. The additions (barriers, ability to change your own cards, moving/fighting the other player's pieces) are good. If I liked memory games more, I'd rate this higher. My rating may go up if I play this more. But I'm just not very good at these games, and don't enjoy wandering around forever looking for that last victim. So, for now this only gets a 4/10. But M dislikes memory games even more than I, so this may never hit the table again!

Thread: Re:User Review

shekbo — 2004-12-15T19:11:35+00:00

Steve99 (#69737),

I agree with your accessment. It took a game and a reread of the rules before we understood the drawing mechanism and it's implications.

Before you tinker with the rules or order within a turn, consider that if the trailing players go first in a turn they will not only have the opportunity to catch the leading players to also they potentially have a larger hand when they do. That way they can be more successfull ramming or attacking.

We found that a speed of 3 became the average. A speed of 2 gives you more cards in your hand to mess with the other players and a speed of 4 is probably the max you can safely maintain.

I like this game more each time I play it. Thanks for the review.

Tom M

Thread: User Review

Steve99 — 2004-12-08T15:47:24+00:00

This is not a review of the rules (for which there is ample information on this site) but a review of the gameplay.

Having read all the reviews to date I was not the least bit inspired to buy purchase this offering.

I'm pleased to say that after purchasing this a few weeks ago and having played about 8 games, that I consider this to be an undiscovered gem.

There are 4 phases to the turn:
1) Play magic spells
2) Adjust speed by adding/removing whip cards from your speed pool
3) Discard and draw back to 7 cards including the cards in your speed pool.
4) Moving forward as many tiles as you have cards in your speed pool.

At the core of the game there are only 3 card types: Whip, Reigns and Miracle. Two of these cards allow for a surprising amount of options: ram, block, attack, counter attack and defense against all of these actions.
The magic card can be used to give one of 5 advantages when played with another card (for extra speed; swapping tiles; healing damage; skipping past opponents and firing a missile at them). An icon on each of the whip and reign cards determines which spell is on offer.

Surprising then that the game lays itself open to the criticism that it is very confusing to play for the first couple of games. There are several reasons for this confusion.

The main one is coming to terms with discard and draw mechanism in the middle of your turn. It is difficult for beginners to appreciate: when they need to play and when they need to hold cards and what could happen to them before they get a chance to replenish their hand in the middle of their next turn. This skill can take 3-5 games for most players, by which stage most reviewers here appear to have lost interest in the game.

However, if you can get several opponents to perservere to this stage, it's then that the real fun begins. Players then realise the true worth of each card. A Whip card can be used to ram or attack or even defend against these actions but each card used is one card less acceleration at the start of your next turn. Through experience you learn when you can afford to be aggressive and when you need to accept a hit.

Other subtleties that I like about this game are the decisions to be made about which cards to keep and which to discard; whether to use a card for it's magic properties or it's attacking/defensive qualities. There's also the decisions to be taken about maximising speed which leaves you with fewer cards to do all of the above. After all it's no use have a speed of 7, if you get blocked on your first move and have no reign card to steer past the block.

The only real objection I have against this game can be easily overcome. According top the proper rules the round order can change for each round with the last player going first.

The rule is obviously intended to give those coming last
a better chance of catching up and creates more opportunities for conflict as each charioteer passes the other. This is entirely unnecessary as there are enough conflicts in the game anyway (some say too many). Also, those who find themselves in front are hampered by not being able to see more than 2/3 tiles ahead, while the backmarkes can travel a lot faster knowing all the dangers that they face.

This round order change rule simply adds to the beginners confusion. Beginners have enough to cope with try to come to terms with when they are next going to be able to refresh their hand and what might happen before then.

I honestly believe that you are better deciding on the round order at the beginning of the game and sticking to that, all the way through the game.

The component's are of fairly good quality, graphics are ok too. However, some some plastic racing miniatures would have added immensely to this game. The small cardboard chariots are pretty measly.

Nevertheless to sum up, this is the best of the race and conflict titles that I have played and is amply pays back anyone who perserveres through the first 4 games. I can see this one getting played every now and again for a long time to come.

Thread: Re:Blank Chariot Marker

Steve99 — 2004-12-03T07:32:01+00:00

zombiegod (#27080),

Simple but smart. I like it!