Forum Overview :: Reviews :: Mark's Boardgame Roundup part 1

[quote name="mark"]Here is a bit of what I have been playing lately: <b>Oasis</b> A German-style game from the States' premier designer is.... really okay. This is a guy who can make great games, but really gets off in stealing his own ideas. In this game, every player is a nomad who must do something in the desert. I can't really remember how the theme works. Basically, you play cards to increase you holdings in 4 different suits, each of which is divided into two sub-suits, the number of items you have in each sub-suit are multiplied together to get your score for that suit. Highest score wins at the end of the game. Each turn, players turn over some number of cards from their hand (you can opt not to play as many to refresh it). The current first player then gives up his right to be first player to which ever player he chooses in exchange for the cards they just displayed. And so one with the second player, etc. In this manner, you can bid to have priority in the next bidding round and potentially get cards in suits that you need. This is obstensibly a boardgame as the cards let you play tiles or small wooden camels onto the board, but really it is a heavily disguised cardgame. Which would be great, as it would probably play faster and be cheaper. Not bad, but nothing too special, and I understand one of the weaker Alan Moon's games. Recommendation: A solid eh. I understand his Union Pacific is far superior. Availabilty: Moderate. <b>1825</b> A distant revision to Francis Tresham's (of Civilization fame) 1829 which was a railroad game that spawned his classic 1830 (which was made into a great computer game). 1825 takes 1829 and strips it down to a 2-4 hour game, probably the first game on the long end and the later games on the earlier side. Many players say they finish it in about 2 1/2 hours after a few games. Players are all railroad tycoons in England during the 19th century. By purchasing stock and running companies (well or into the ground) your goal is to be the richest when the bank runs out of money. Aside from an initial deal of ownerships, the game is completely luck free. There is first a share dealing round as player dump and buy stock and possibly start new companies. Then there is the operation phase where-in each player with a company builds track, upgrades stations, buys trains and then runs them. After the money comes in, he can either distribute it equally among the shareholders (likely increasing the stock price) or alternately save the money for the companies future expensives (which causes the price to fall). This is a great great game that has the meat of an 80s/90s game without the excessive length. Recommendation: Very good. Buying stock is tactical while running companies is largely strategic. Very deep game. Pretty cool. Availability: Very low. Must be ordered directly from Mayfair's website if you live in NA <b>Acquire</b> This is a classic Sid Sackson game (a man who Monty once referred to as his hero, or something) from the 60s that still holds up today. Players are hotels moguls playing tiles onto a grid (which represent hotel chain) and wheel and deal trying to merge small companies with larger ones to get huge payouts. A really cool game that is a little unintutive at first, but really quite simple to learn and complex to master. Has been rereleased many times, more recently as a "new economy" game where players are running tech companies instead, which probably makes more sense. I like this a lot but not everyone in my group does. Recommendation: I like it, but some people find it a bit alienating or confusing. Might seem luck driven for a while until strategies start to cement. Availabilty: Still available in stores I think. It's is always on ebay for not much money, but make sure all the tiles are included or the game will be unplayable.[/quote]