Fantasy General II revisits a classic title, over 20 years old, and hurls the series into the 21st century. How does the style and set...
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Fantasy General II - Invasion
Fantasy General II revisits a classic title, over 20 years old, and hurls the series into the 21st century. How does the style and setting hold up, and how have the advancements in game design over the past couple of decades been used to improve over the original?
The original Fantasy General, as the name implies, and as you may already know, is direct re-theming of Panzer General, the game that launched a thousand spiritual sequels. The core gameplay will be familiar to anyone who has played Panzer Corps, Order of Battle, Warhammer 40k: Armageddon, or any number of other games featuring turn-based combat on a hex grid, in which the player carries over units from mission to mission in a lengthy campaign. Sound familiar? I'm sure you've played something like it before. While Fantasy General II does not break any innovative new ground overall, it does offer a very satisfying rendition of this gameplay style.
Fantasy General II picks up 300 years after the events of the first game, which focused on the "Shadow Wars" which ravaged the land, leaving a shattered world fought over by numerous factions. This is especially true for the various barbarian clans of the west, who have been set against themselves by the powerful Empire of the east. No one has been able to unite the clans for many years, and they instead squabble among themselves. As the player, you take on the role of Falirson, son of Falir One-Eye, who is the chief of your barbarian clan. While the game opens with some simple missions where you fight and raid other clans, before long you are swept up in a high fantasy story of mysterious wizards, forest dwelling witches, and trolls galore.
One aspect I love about the game is how it gives you plenty of chances for some light role-playing via choose-your-own-adventure style choices. These pop up both in and out of battle, and almost always have some kind of tangible effect. Choices that benefit you in the immediate moment can sometimes have consequences down the road in a different mission. What would be a simple, meaningless dialogue choice in most games, can sway the morale of your entire army in Fantasy General II.
The writing and story are well done overall, avoiding the common pitfalls of such games by skipping on cliche, over the top characters and instead offering a set of characters who are grounded and speak in a realistic tone, given their circumstances. Important characters and even your own troops will speak up to offer valid points about what they think you should do or say when faced with a dilemma, and sometimes choosing what you believe is "right" will be met with sharp consequences.
In addition to hero units like the protagonist, your army is yours to create and customize as you see fit. Units you recruit are retained from mission to mission and gain experience in battle, allowing them to level up and become more powerful over time. You begin with just two unit choices, young barbarian warriors that are either male or female. These raw recruits then proceed up one of the two class trees as you scrape together the resources and cash needed to make the promotions. These can be tough choices, as you only get a very limited number of these resources (weapons, armor, and mana) and you have a need for just about every type of unit.
The various unit types you can field all have advantages and disadvantages, special traits, and distinct roles in combat. There are shock troops, skirmishers, soldiers with shields for stopping ranged attacks, mounted warriors and ranged attackers of your own. Units can pick up special items over the course of battles, and use these to further specialize themselves. For example, an early item you get is a magic ring that makes the unit holding it fight better in forest terrain. While that might sound like a minor thing, there are numerous small tweaks like this which make all of your units feel unique. Your various individually named squads can also pick up permanent perks from one-time events hidden away here and there in the campaign, making them feel like they have a bit of history to them. It can really hurt to lose a unit that has been with you since the beginning, and has accumulated multiple boons. I'll be honest, I've reloaded more than once in order to save such a unit.
The campaign is a sprawling 30+ mission affair that will take quite a while to work your way through. Though I have not finished it entirely, I can say that so far the missions offer a good amount of variety. Some have you escorting a character through hostile territory, others task you with defending against invading hordes, and of course many involved you attacking enemy positions and defeating their army. Many areas of the map are covered in fog, and hide secrets well worth seeking out. Ancient ruins, caves, and more can be explored by your troops in order to find treasure and items. Temples give your entire army a buff as long as you hold them, and mana pools offer a steady supply of mana points for your magic users. There are also usually villages scattered around the map that can replenish your losses mid mission.
One neat thing is this game is how casualties work. Every unit has a health bar. This starts off filled with green, but after combat sections will turn red. These are "wounded" soldiers which can be restored by having the unit spend its entire turn resting. Sometimes though, the red sections will be lost as well, these units are "killed" and cannot be restored except by visiting a village or replenishing them between missions. I really liked this mechanic, as it forces you to choose between pushing your forces hard, or slowing down to let them rest and be replenished. There is another mechanic which puts pressure on you to complete missions as quickly as possible, essentially the longer the battle goes on, the more civilians who flee the area, leaving no one around to tax after the battle. Without funds, you can't upgrade your units or buy new ones.
So, what about complaints with the game? This is one of those games where there really aren't any glaring flaws to discuss, but the experience overall probably won't blow you away. It's a fun, satisfying game, but not unlike games you have played before. With at least two expansion packs promised in the future, I suspect we will see even more variety in units and perspectives in terms of the story in due time. The core game will certainly please anyone who likes this sort of gameplay and wants a fantasy version of it. It's one of those games you can load up in under a minute and find yourself having a fun time just like that. I look forward to seeing where they take this series in the future.
Fantasy General II is available directly from Slitherine as well as on Steam and GoG.
- Joe Beard
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: JOURNEYS IN MIDDLE-EARTH from FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES A new all-time favourite! There have been many gam...
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THE LORD OF THE RINGS: JOURNEYS IN MIDDLE EARTH
There is a wide variety of different sizes and configurations that build up to create an evocative landscape, such as the one below.
While we're discussing the terrain, I'd strongly recommend that you sort the tiles according to their numeric order at the beginning of each adventure for ease of finding and to maintain the smooth flow of the narrative.
Here the app provides one of its best roles. Each adventure - called a Chapter - begins with you being instructed on the placing of a limited landscape, created from usually one to three tiles with a slight mist encompassing the direction(s) in which the land will develop as you explore it. Text and voice describe what you can see and also you're shown where to place such things as exploration/ encounter/threat tokens and the minions of evil themselves. A banner headline will also state your current objective.
Now you have an idea of how the land lies and what it looks like, I'll move on to the figures in the landscape. Surprisingly, the six heroes that you can choose from seem the weaker element in the physical casting of the models. All tend to have broader, solider plains, as seen with Legolas and Aragorn here.
On the other hand, this did make them much quicker and easier to paint.
The final items in the box are two superb booklets. The first is the slim Learn To Play booklet. Abundantly illustrated, it is one of the clearest and easiest set of rules that I've read.
A quick read through and you really have all the basics you need to play the game. Backing it up is a much more substantial booklet - titled the Rules Reference.
At last we have one who narrates the narrative text in suitable tones, doesn't make mistakes[very few glitches have so far been encountered] and handles so many of the mechanics of the three-phases of the sequence of play.
I tested out the potential for diverging storylines by playing out the opening Chapter four times and was very pleased with what I discovered. The first thing was that each time played the map differed in its development. Next, though certain events did have to occur in order to complete a Chapter, the locations and order might change, incidental characters [what are often termed NPCs -i.e. Non-Player Characters] might change, along with many other elements.
At other times you will be conversing and interacting with characters, trying to gauge which response might be the best choice in the circumstance: outright aggressiveness, helpfulness, simple kindness or a neutral tone. This is especially true of the Chapter where your goal is to uncover a spy!!
However, as I've already made clear, I've had so much in depth fun, excitement and absorbing adventure from this game purely from this first Campaign that the minute a second Campaign became available to buy, that's exactly what I've done, as well as buying the Middle-Earth game-mat to set everything out on.
So my next crucial decision will be whether I set out on this first Campaign again with a new combination of characters and new roles or plunge into the second Campaign. Whichever I decide, I wholeheartedly encourage you to take the first steps on that famous road that goes on for ever and get a copy of The Lord of The Rings: Journeys In Middle-Earth.
Approx. cost £68.35
Antony and Cleopatra by Hollandspiele "Hail, Antony's Legions". Thus began a fif...
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Antony and Cleopatra by Hollandspiele
Antony and Cleopatra
- (1) 22" x 34" map
- (88) 5/8" counters
- 12-page rulebook
- 4-page Player Aid
- 2 Player Display Sheets
- 20 Province Cards
- 1 six-sided die
The Western (Octavian) starts with eight 'Experienced' legions, with three more as first turn reinforcement. The Eastern (Antony), starts with six 'Experienced' legions, with one as a first turn reinforcement. However, the Eastern player also has four regular legions at the start. The Western Player can also reinforce his troops with eight experienced legions from the Off-Map Garrisons. If the amount of legions Off-Map goes below eight, the Western Player has a 'Troubles' Phase. This represents invasions or rebellions that occur Off-Map. If either of this happens the Western Player cannot take any more Off-Map reinforcements until the Off-Map number of 'Experienced' legions reaches eight again. The naval might of the Eastern player is pretty daunting for the Western player. These are the separate naval forces:
Western Player
Light Squadrons - six
Transports - one
Eastern Player
Heavy Squadrons - six
Light Squadrons - two
Transports - three
The game plays and feels very historical. You do not feel that you are moving troops and ships from a generic point in time. The game is won by Prestige Points. You gain or lose points by losing/winning battles or if your capital is captured. If you or the other player has five or more points than the other player, the higher player can try to cause the lower players troops or a province of his. This is something that happened frequently in all of the Roman Civil Wars.
I am very impressed with the game. The player is given so many choices in the game. Offense, defense, what do you choose? If you do play badly or are getting bad rolls, it is hard and takes a good player to pull your irons out of the fire. Thank you, Hollandspiele for letting me review a great game on one of my favorite subjects. Now, get to work on the Civil War between Sulla and Marius. Of course, I will take Pompey Magnus versus Caesar (it is so hard to write that name).
Robert
Underwater Cities gives players the opportunity to terraform the last ‘habitable’ spaces on Earth by building cities and their supportin...
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Underwater Cities
Underwater Cities gives players the opportunity to terraform the last ‘habitable’ spaces on Earth by building cities and their supporting infrastructure under the waves. That’s the premise at least of Underwater Cities which is a hybrid tableau builder and worker placement game. In the game, 1-4 players build tunnels, cities and other building on their own player boards by taking one of the available action slots on the main game board. That sounds like a dozen other tableau builders out there but there are enough wrinkles and differences here, aside from the theme, which will keep this hitting the table for some time to come.
Gameplay
Each round of the game, every player will take three turns. A turn starts off being a simple affair in which you choose a card to play from your hand of three cards and an action slot on the mainboard. If the chosen card and action slot colours match, you can do the actions on both, if they don’t you’ll be limited to just performing the board space action. This provides a significant amount of difficult decisions (this is a big plus), right from the beginning of the game.The mainboard |
Like most worker placement games when a board action slot has been taken no other player can take that action. The main game board is double-sided to accommodate 1-2 players and 3-4 on the other side. When playing with 3 or 4 players, there are 15 actions slots on the board, 5 each in yellow, red and green which correspond to the card colours. This means that a 3 player game will feel less congested than a 4-player game and your options to meddle, intentionally or not are limited. In a 4-player game, however, you’re constantly re-evaluating your decision as invariably the action slot you want to take has been, probably 3 times, before it’s your turn again…thankfully this will often happen sooner than you’re ready.
2-player end game - player board |
Finding these synergistic combos isn’t that easy though. During your ‘downtime’ you’ll be scrambling to choose which cards to keep and which to get rid of at the beginning of your turn, choosing a card to play for your action – assuming the action slot is still available and trying to find the most optimum combo. I never had the chance to play with anyone that I hadn’t taught the game to, but I assume that experienced players will be able to do all this as well as minimise the remaining options to their opponents. That was not me though, I found the size of the iconography too small to see clearly in your opponents’ area.
3-player middle game - mainboard |
There are a plethora of icons on your own player board to cover up as well, giving a specific bonus, which can – and often do permit additional actions to be taken. Which brings me onto another aspect of ‘tight’ worker placements that I enjoy. The Euro-gamers perennial struggle to ‘feed your people’. Not so much an issue in this game but overall resources are very tight. There are three production rounds separating the three eras of the game, after which you’ll feel like Croesus; this will be short-lived. However, I’ve nearly always found a way to do something worthwhile for my progress on my turn. I never felt like I was treading water (ba-dum tish), or as last player or out of the game.
Inside the rule book |
Components
There is a traditional bewilderment of icons in this game however after the first round or two of my first I found them all to be intuitive and easy to follow without referring to the rulebook. There is also a fantastic Player Info card which details the cost of each build and what they produce and how to conduct Production rounds. However, as mentioned earlier when those icons are in your opponents' area across the table, their size makes it difficult to see what they are, but this can be levied against most tableau builders.Good looking cards |
A random assortment of bits |
Criticisms
Aside from my component criticisms, my quibbles with this game are all fairly minor and I can easily overlook them. The first is one of scalability. I have not tried this solo, but the 2 and 3 player game feel quite different from a 4 player game. I prefer the 4 player game, as long as you’re not teaching the rules, otherwise, it can drag on. This goes against the bgg consensus that suggests 2 players is the sweet spot.After my initial sorting |
Much better, - still don't like those 3s |
Conclusion
With all that said, I do enjoy Underwater cities a lot. It gives players an array of decisions to be made and there are some really smart design choices that make this gameplay quick and it is definitely on the crunchier end of the spectrum. Discarding card(s) at the beginning of your turn makes so much sense.3 player end game - player board |
If you like thinking games and finding optimisation strategies with a minimal amount of player interaction then I can easily recommend this game.
I’d like to thank Asmodee for sending this review copy. Many local game stores will still have this in stock and you can use this link http://www.findyourgamestore.co.uk/ to support your FLGS or use their online shopping web store.
Publisher: Rio Grande Games
BGG Page: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/247763/underwater-cities
Players: 1-4
Designer: VladimÃr Suchý
Playing time: 2 hours +
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