Chris started with the double dragon. I knew it was a strong strategy and I tried to mess him up as much as possible. However, I think multiple people need to be wary of the strength of the 1st turn double dragon to weaken it.

Thats very interesting. I didn't realize it was that strong. Most of the time you are fighting for your own points you generally don't look to slow someone down unless you have the option of two otherwise equally good choices.

This game is too short! We started the 3 victory condition game and I reached it in the 2nd turn. So we extended to the long game of 4 victory conditions, and Chris won on the next turn. Even the long version of the game is too short. I think 5 victory conditions might be right for this card.

I think this game has a lot of promise, but it seems like it ends before you get going, which is a bit disappointing.

Jeff I've been playing the medium length game. I'm not sure which one, but it clocks in at about 75 to 90 minutes. I find it pretty fulfilling as far as length goes. I enjoy longer games so I just jumped into the medium one having heard how short the other was. I think a longer game lets you develop more strategies for winning. I like the game quite a bit.

While the time length is ok, it seems counter intuitive for a strategy game to have so few rounds (2-3). Your "long range" planning is non-existent, and the end seemed to be abrupt. Look at Pillars of the Earth as a game with a similar mechanic, which lasts 6 or 8 turns? That seems better to me.

Also think of the rolling first player mechanic, it doesn't really "even out" player opportunity unless all players get to be first at least once. For instance in our 5 player game, I sat to the right of the first player in turn 1, but the game was over by turn three (and two!), so I never got to go first.

Perhaps this would be different with a more experienced group of players, or as Jeff said, if we had tried to play more defensively. It just seems that provided scenarios should allow for more turns. Maybe if you only played with 3 meeples, it would help. Or maybe a different scenario would be more to my liking.

Played the medium scenario again last night with 5 players. Tribune was obligatory. It lasted 6 rounds. I'd have to say medium scenario is good length for me. Red may be too long. Maybe.

This was an introductory game for Chris. I managed to get a bar, a road, and a Circus Maximus. I picked up a merchant client from the bar and I did merchant one turn which netted me 17 points (3 cards into the vault). I ended the game with Todd and Chris amassing huge quantities in their stockpile.