Pete Belli
United States
Florida
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Feudal is an abstract strategy challenge that includes some wargame elements and some of the characteristics of chess. It was published in 1967 as part of the 3M Games Bookshelf Series.
I found a copy of Feudal in a thrift store for two dollars. I tried to resist the urge to buy this vintage game... but it was futile.
A superb review which contains some excellent analysis...
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/81283
...was created and posted on BGG by...
Ken Jarosz
United States
North
Ohio
...so rather than discuss the details of the game strictly from that viewpoint I would like to discuss the relationship this unusual title has to games being published by the modern board game industry.
People do judge a game by the cover...
The first thing most Geeks will notice about Feudal is the bookcase style box. The package features a textured surface which is supposed to imitate a leather bound volume. The gilded lettering is meant to reinforce that impression. Savvy graphic artists working in the hobby today know that placing some jazzy type and a small picture on the spine of any game designed to be stored vertically will boost sales. The 3M imitation book configuration is classy but it would probably fail to make much of a splash in today’s market.
The front cover of the box is beautiful. The colorful image not only conveys crucial information about the game -- a medieval conflict, squares for movement, the depiction of some form of terrain, three dimensional figures, etc. -- but the cover also sets a mood with the castle in the background. The subtitle reads The game of siege and conquest and the "conquest" keyword would be a winner in today’s internet search engine derby.
The back cover is typical of the 3M product line. Each game was pictured in a setting that whispered elegance and sophistication. This image is from a game called Foil which was part of the 3M series...
...and shows a game set up inside a luxurious apartment with stunning (by groovy 1960s standards, anyway) ultramodern décor.
The back cover of Feudal also shows a game in progress. The room appears to be part of a castle with stone walls, heavy wooden fixtures, heraldic flags used for decoration, and candles. Although the stuff looks like it came from the prop department of a low budget Robin Hood movie the concept is consistent... create a kind of mysterious curiosity that leads the potential buyer to a purchase.
Modern game publishers know that a large percentage of their games might be purchased online instead of being displayed in a typical retail environment but the art on the back of the box is still a vital part of the game’s ability to sell itself. Looking at my collection I see several modern titles with wonderful pictures of the components on the back of the box along with a brief description of play. Few of these games attempt to create a mood with techniques used by the artists who created the Feudal package.
One more comment about the box: modern publishers who use large labels pasted on the side of plain boxes in a laudable effort to cut packaging costs should remember what a game looks like after a bit of careless handling...
...although this box did take 40+ years to receive that amount of shelf wear!
Feudal could be a classic Euro abstract, or maybe early Ameritrash...
The figures used in Feudal are of excellent quality and this should be expected since 3M was a major plastics company in the 1960s. The sculptures are interesting and the details are crisp and clean. My miniatures were still in wonderful condition after 40+ years with no broken spears or damaged swords. Compare this image of the entire set...
...to the condition of the figures found in a typical vintage copy of Conquest of the Empire or Shogun. The toy soldiers from Feudal are equal in quality to anything produced for modern games by publishers like FFG. Quality always shows.
The board is plastic and it is ugly. Since 3M was a plastics manufacturer with teams of engineers who could probably mold stuff like this in their sleep the plastic board is entirely appropriate. The homely appearance seems to be common in many abstract strategy games (Feudal is a hybrid wargame/abstract design) and truthfully the drab board takes nothing away from play
Vintage rules that give me the blues...
Feudal uses a set up procedure that combines one interesting and unique element with one dull and dreary element. The unique element is the cardboard screen that is positioned between the players as they place their units. Neither player knows where the enemy castle is located and how the enemy army will be deployed. This is a simple technique that could easily be incorporated into modern game designs.
(Please allow me to share a childhood Geek memory... we used a similar method to set up our plastic athletes when playing that frenetic electric football game as kids. A piece of cardboard would be positioned at the line of scrimmage and the offense and defense would set up in formation. The screen would be removed and that awful buzzing noise that drove my poor mother nuts would begin.)
The dull and dreary element of the Feudal set up procedure is (unfortunately) still with us today -- a system that allows the players complete freedom to position their miniatures almost anywhere on the board.
This idea sounds so good until you really think about it.
I can almost hear the sales pitch from the 1967 staff meeting now: "Every game will be different! These figures can be set up in hundreds of possible combinations!"
Uh oh. Hundreds of possible combinations. So new players will be fumbling and stumbling as they analyze the best deployment locations for their armies while they are still absorbing the rules and trying to remember which unit is the squire and which unit is the sergeant. No, no, no, no.
There is another issue. Analysis paralysis. Imagine your most persnickety game buddy evaluating the mathematical probabilities of the positions for each of these miniatures.
Another challenge can occur if players with different experience levels are involved. The green recruit is going to be wandering in the unit placement wilderness while the veteran is cruising down the proven strategy autobahn. Allowing the players to enjoy what used to be called "free deployment" is certainly acceptable as an optional rule or as part of the advanced rules.
What is the most effective way for the overworked and underpaid game designer to handle this situation?
This intriguing question requires an answer divided into two parts:
-- For the basic game provide an established set up procedure with lavish illustrations which both players can reference as they deploy their forces. Sure, this rule might lead to patterned play or predictable strategies but patterned play is better than no play at all... and no play at all is what happens when new players get frustrated with a game.
-- For the "intermediate" game provide strategically sound initial positions for a portion of the army units and then allow the players to deploy the remainder of the miniatures as they choose. The designer provides enough guidance to prevent a player from losing the game in the first few moves while still offering a variety of strategic decisions.
Feudal in the board game pantheon...
Looking back 40+ years at this vintage game we can see how much things have changed in the board game hobby... and how much they have stayed the same. The packaging may be more colorful but the sizzle still sells the steak. I never bought a copy of Feudal when it was new but the box art alone probably would have snagged me back in the days of bellbottoms and peace symbols.
I still remember how my middle-aged heart skipped a beat the first time I saw some pictures of S.P.Q.RisiKo! here on BGG. I can think of several other interesting modern games that blend styles and mechanics into a creative mixture the way Feudal did all the way back in 1967.
Feudal is still a prince among games. Good sir knight, we humble peasant spearmen salute you.
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Barry Kendall
United States
Lebanon
Pennsylvania
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As a teenager I was enthralled by the "Feudal" box offered for sale in--of all places!--a well-respected men's clothing store!
Seven or eight years later, I saw it being played while at college and, in spite of my penchant at the time for hex-and-counters "simulations," decided I had to buy one.
Enjoyed playing it for a while, put it away, got it out now and again for a game or two.
When I learned that "Commands and Colors: Ancients" would have blocks, not figures, I started buying up copies of "Feudal" at flea markets. Cut the pegs off the bases. Figures work great for "C&C:A--only thing lacking is enough Archers and Javelins, easily remedied using other 20mm plastic figures by Hat, Italaeri, Revell, etc.
Among my seven or eight sets is one, in the 3M box but of curious origin, in which the Prince is not on a rearing horse with couched lance, but stabbing downward with his lance in fine imitation of St. George dispatching the dragon. This whole set of figures is sized the same, but just a tad less crisp in detail, than all the rest.
Your essay, contrasting '60s game chic with 21st century offerings, is interesting and well-done.
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Was George Orwell an Optimist?
Spain
Corvallis
Oregon
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Barry Kendall wrote: As a teenager I was enthralled by the "Feudal" box offered for sale in--of all places!--a well-respected men's clothing store!
First one I saw was in a department store downtown. I didn't wait, though, bought it on the spot.
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Was George Orwell an Optimist?
Spain
Corvallis
Oregon
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Good review, Pete. The only place where we differ is the setup thing - it never bothered me. I've had a lot of fun with the game over the last 40+ years, and expect to teach it to the grandchildren in the not too distant future.
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pete belli wrote: ...and shows a game set up inside a luxurious apartment with stunning (by groovy 1960s standards, anyway) ultramodern décor.
As I just mentioned in a geeklist, 3M: It's not just games...it's a style of living.
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Barry Kendall wrote: As a teenager I was enthralled by the "Feudal" box offered for sale in--of all places!--a well-respected men's clothing store!
Interesting. I've always wondered where 3M were available at the time.
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Barry Kendall
United States
Lebanon
Pennsylvania
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Gary, I can remember seeing them in adult departments of several department stores around Harrisburg, PA, in the same places they sold briefcases, travel kits, wallets and the like. They were definitely displayed as adult-level items, not as kids' games, where I saw them.
The men's clothing store was a place where my dad worked a couple evenings a week for some years. I don't think they carried them long, but they were probably there because a jobber suggested them along with the men's accessories items (like those wallets and travel shaving kits).
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Jim O'Neill (Established 1949)
Scotland
Motherwell
I aten't dead yet...
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I bought my copy in a game store that concentrated on miniatures in Johannesburg in 1976. I was quite friendly with the owner, who could be a bit laconic at times.
After I purchased it, I asked him if he wanted a game at the weekend and he replied, "Come back in six months".
He was right, there is a lot more to this game than meets the eye.
Jim
Est. 1949
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Isaac LaRue
United States
Shavertown
Pennsylvania
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My grandmother had a copy of this game, I used to always love to play it whenever we went to visit her.
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Pietro Del Mar
United States
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Very groovy review, Pete.
I just picked this up two days ago at Goodwill for $3 and want to play it even more now.
Pete
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Gordon Adams
United Kingdom
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Reminder to myself: take it out of the wrapping paper ! Apparently it is in excellent condition 
A cousin of mine bought me a copy of this game from an auction (he knows the games I have and carries that list with him when he goes to auction houses).
Pete, you were lucky to get it for that price. The receipt I have (including the extras that auctions add) was: $72.00 !
Hence, my reminder 
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Brad Miller
United States
Seattle
Washington
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garygarison wrote: Barry Kendall wrote: As a teenager I was enthralled by the "Feudal" box offered for sale in--of all places!--a well-respected men's clothing store! Interesting. I've always wondered where 3M were available at the time.
Yep, that was my intro to 3M and even AH games as well. Malliard's men's clothing at Prarie Village. My dad had Oh-Wah Ree and Twixt, so I had catalogue access there, to get me interested, but for goods on the shelf, that was where they were. Urbane and sophisticated men played 3M games, (with a drink in their hand I might add).
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Michael Howe
United States
Cromwell
Connecticut
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Isn't this game terribly unbalanced? The player to move first can deploy aggressively; the second player must use a defensive setup from which he may never be able to counterattack. At least that's how I found it when I played it many years ago. I think it needs some house rules.
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Bob
United States
Nebraska
In a man-to-man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.
Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.
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oneilljgf wrote: He was right, there is a lot more to this game than meets the eye.
Was he by chance a Transformer? 
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Was George Orwell an Optimist?
Spain
Corvallis
Oregon
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mhowe wrote: Isn't this game terribly unbalanced? The player to move first can deploy aggressively; the second player must use a defensive setup from which he may never be able to counterattack. At least that's how I found it when I played it many years ago. I think it needs some house rules.
Yes, the player who sets up first will deploy more offensively, but no, that does not result in the game being terribly unbalanced. Chess gives the initiative to white, but the better player still wins with black.
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William Hostman
United States
Eagle River
Alaska
Gaming in Greater Anchorage area, Alaska since 1978. Looking for Indy-willing RPG players in Eagle River (or willing to drive to Eagle River). Geekmail me if interested.
Yes, this really is what I looked like when I uploaded that avatar. Not that it's quite current anymore.
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mhowe wrote: Isn't this game terribly unbalanced? The player to move first can deploy aggressively; the second player must use a defensive setup from which he may never be able to counterattack. At least that's how I found it when I played it many years ago. I think it needs some house rules.
Since the game is about attrition, and sacrifice-lures are hard to set up to defensive advantage after turn 1... No, not terribly unbalanced. There is a slight advantage to the 1st player, but such advantage is far stronger in quite a few other "supposedly balanced" games.
Both players need to keep in mind both the offense and defense modes.
If, however, you play with the "move 1 per color per turn" variant, it's far closer to chess.
Really, the imbalance is to the first to lose a significant number of troops without giving as good a got.
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Posted Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:41 am
