Das Zepter von Zavandor: The Quick and Dirty

Das Zepter is an economic game with a fantasy veneer that was released in 2004 to quiet acclaim. The game is a redevelopment of an older title called Outpost, and attempts to rectify some of the larger issues of that title, such as the runaway leader syndrome.

The basic idea of the game is simple: players invest in gems, which provide income. This income is then used to either buy more gems (which is limited), buy artifacts or sentinels (which allow you to break the rules of the game or get discounts) or acquire knowledge (which gives you some special power). The game winner is determined by victory points, which are accrued by having gems (more expensive ones are worth more), by having maxed out knowledge tracks, by having purchased artifacts, and most notably, by having purchased special "sentinels". Sentinels are absolutely critical for success in the game, and also function as the game ending condition. They have only one purpose: to provide victory points, and each of the 9 available provides bonus points for different specializations. The game ends when 5 of the 9 that are available are sold.

Zepter is a heavier game, and one that rewards experience. There are some minor random elements, such as the order that the artifacts come out (somewhat regulated) and the precise amount of energy that gems produce from turn to turn, but the game tends more toward strategy than tactics.


Game length:
Approximately 2 hours for 4 players. 3 experienced hands can get through it in about 1.5 hours. I have not played it at the high scale, though it reportedly takes about 30 minutes per hand.


Suitability for:
- Casual Gamers - Close to nil. Too much long term strategy, a lot of fiddly rules.

- Medium Weight Game Fans - Moderate. If they are interested it has potential, but I think it would be best to let them recommend it, not the other way around.

- Heavy Weight Game Fans - High, given that they like economic optimization games such as Power Grid.


Scales:
I have played Zepter with 2, 3, and 4. It works at all of these scales, but the sweet spot of those seems to be 4. I have not played it with either 5 or 6, but probably wouldn't recommend it unless the players were all experienced, because otherwise the downtime seems as though it could become excessive. Zepter uses a "take your entire turn" system instead of a "everyone do A, everyone do B, etc." one, so having fewer people at the table is a good thing. That said, having 4 is my preference because the artifacts and sentinels are not bought outright by players, but are rather auctioned, and that auction becomes more interesting with the extra hands at the table.


Replayability:
The initial learning curve on the game will probably give you a solid 5 or 6 plays, beyond that it comes down to personal preferences. There is a built in replay factor in that players each start with different resources and starting knowledge based on what character they draw, but the overall feel of the game doesn't change that significantly from character to character, each simply requires a slightly different approach.


Factors you might want to keep in mind:

- Player Interaction: Tenuous. The only form of interaction in this game comes from the auctions for artifacts and sentinels, and, possibly, in manipulation of the victory points as they determine player order, which in turn can saddle those high in the order with extra expenses. People who like a lot of direct interaction in their games will probably dislike Zepter.

- Low Luck / Equal Experience Recommended: Like any lower luck title, Zepter has a rather nasty experience factor. If one person has played it more than the others at the table, they are going to likely run away with the game simply due to their knowledge of the economics, and, presumably, due to heightened efficiency. This factor should subside after everyone is at 3-5 games of experience, but that initial period could be a rough one if the newbies have to face down a veteran repeatedly. The game does have a built in way of penalizing the leader, but that will not keep an experienced hand from crushing newer players, it will just slow them down slightly. In games between people of roughly equal skill the leader penalty does keep things interesting though, and seems to accomplish its goal.

- It's in German. Reports say that the second edition is going to have multi-lingual bits, but for the time being this is a German only title, and it has quite a bit of language on the cards and player boards. Paste-ups are available for the ambitious, and do make the game easier to pick up and play.

- The theme is only a veneer. Do not buy this expecting to be transported to the world of Zavandor because this is, as I have tried to emphasise, a pure economic game of investment, and reinvestment.

- Recommended if you like games of efficiency such as Power Grid, Princes of Florence, and Goa.

Nice review. This is an excellent game for people who love auctions. I just though I would confirm that the game scales very well to six players. As far as length goes, we take 3.5 hours for 5 people (We are all experienced players, now)

Length really varies from group to group. The mechanic where you pay for things with mixed types of currencies where you need to add up the value of each of them to reach the total you want to spend really slows down some players while affects others not at all. I've played games that took upwards of 5 hours and while Das Zepter is one of my favorite games, a 5 hour game of it is brutal.

I personally could not imagine having players take that long to do the math. I think Dave is highlighting a potential problem though: if the people you're sitting down with are not good at quick mental math then this game is a definite pass. I have never played a game that was much over 2 hours, and I can get out a 3 man game in under 1.5 hours now, so the idea of a 5 hour game is almost beyond comprehension to me.

On a related aside though: I have a calculator in my Power Grid box for people who want to add up all of their end game connections quickly, I imagine one could do the same for Zepter if players are having difficulty with the math to speed things up a bit.

The pattern that has been showing here, and very clearly, is that the more experienced the players are, the longer the game will take.

Where are they losing speed JC?

I know my game has sped up considerably now that I know the game. Not having to continually check to see what artifacts and sentinels are available, what a given knowledge does, and all that seems to make things cruise along at a good clip.

The game for us flows right along until Sentinel time. First it's time to figure out who can buy a sentinel and will they? Then it's check the rules time because even thought i've played a dozen games I can't tell you which sentinel give points for a Crystal of Protection versus a spellbook. Then it's bid time, but the problem is each sentinel changes in value as the price changes. If I bid more I can't get the factory bought as well. Further complicating things is the sell off and buy two sentinels vs. keep what you have. Then the is always the question os whether I should be buying a sentinel at all, the Talisman is still available. It seems like if I don't buy a sentinel this turn the game won't end , so I should buy a Talisman, but then I can't buy a sentinel next turn, so maybe I should buy a chalice of fire then I can buy a sentinel (maybe not the optimal one) and a factory. etc.. etc... etc.... this all takes time, and plenty of it.

I'd say the last two turns take upwards of an hour alone for my group.

I don't know exactly. I've yet to play DZvZ (not high on my interest list). What I've done is to watch three different groups play DZvZ and to ask them about the game. All three have reported the game lasting longer with experience. (In fact David Eisen is a member of one of the groups, tho I haven't asked him about this)



You may rightly suspect Analysis Paralysis. All three groups are highly competitive and will analyise as far as it will take them.

Nice review.

Yeah, we have the game down to 20 minutes per person for 3 and 4 players and around 25 min. per person for 5 and 6. Our experience in terms of game flow accords with CortexBomb's.

Granted, we're playing it twice per session