Forum Overview :: Reviews :: Settlers counter rebuttal

[quote name="FABIO"]Brick is USUALLY the stopgap, you fags, because it's required for the most vital components: roads and towns. YES there are other ways to score points, but a lack of resources is a lack of resources, and once an opponent's road cuts yours off and isolates you then you're screwed. Ports? A tool for the already rich players that just happen to be short of one resource and can afford to trade in at a 3:1 exchange rate. There's no way someone who's behind is going to catch up like that. Plus, as Choson's iron law of die-rolling states, the game is largely who lucks out on die rolls, therefore it must suck. [quote name="mark"]<b>Junta</b> I don't know if I should sell this or not. On one hand, it is selling on ebay for ~3x as much as I bought it for. Another version is apparently coming out soon, but I don't put too much faith in that. Anyway, Junta is a classic and somewhat flawed game about ruling a banana republic, named Los Bananos. Every player represents one of the predominant families of the country. Every player has one or more positions within the government (General, Admiral, Intelligence Director) that are assigned by the current president for life. Each turn, foreign aid money arrives in the country (7 bills, but the exact amount is secret) and the president proposes a budget which may or may not pass. The goal of the game is to get the most money in your swiss bank account before the aid money runs out. This can be a challenge because people are trying to assassinate you (not a big problem, you can come back as a different member of the family on the next turn), rob you, or start coups against you. During a coup, the game goes into wargame mode where generals control armies that attempt to take over the important parts of the country. At the end of the coup, players controlling buildings declare if they are with or against the revolution, a new president is declared and some people get assassinated. This is not a bad game, but it is pretty long (6+ hours with 7 players) which puts it into the category of games which are too long to play in an evening and only come out a few times a year. Also, the wargame component is sort of fun, but suffers from a This Game Does Many Things versus This Game Does One Thing Well issue where the running the country and the wargame phases are a little disjoint and not exactly balanced in either case. Still, this is a game that I like having in my collection, is a little bit rare, and is fun those few times a year that it comes out. This game has sort of a rep among the Euro gamers as sucking, but I think its strength outweigh its weakness, even if not by a lot. Recommendation: If that description sounds awesome to you (coups, assassinations, and embezzling) and you play with a group that doesn't get pissy when people are picked on, its not a bad game. Its pretty long though, and is better with more players, so keep that in mind. Availability: Not very. Pretty expensive right now, although apparently a reprint is coming later this year.[/quote] Sounds like a more drawn out, less fun version of Guerilla.[/quote]