Downtime Habit

Today on Two-Player Tuesday we tackled Olympos again. We both like the game and its mechanisms but I have a problem with its inevitable "downtime". Since actions are paid for on a time track, and it is always the last player on the track who plays next, it is possible for someone who has, for example taken a "wonder" for seven time spaces, not to have a turn for a long time. Even in a two player game there could be two or three plays before he has another chance. If his opponent suffers from "AP" the wait can be huge and as it is more than likely that the other player's choices will affect his own, there is only a limited amount of advanced planning that can take place.

At one point I did the washing up and made a pot of tea while waiting for another turn. Still it was an enjoyable game and a very close one. My own cause was not helped by the Zeus card which compels one to discard all destiny cards. Although we were equal on Zeus points and this therefore affected both of us, Crabro only had only one card to my six. More importantly one of them was a star which I was about to to include in purchase of a wonder.

In the end I managed to obtain the wonder but didn't recover from the loss of the cards (six points in themselves, plus additional from their use). Only myself to blame for not using some earlier I suppose. The scores ended at 37-43.

As I declined another immediate return to Olympos we turned to a game I have been trying to get played for a couple of years: Dungeons and Dragons the Fantasy Adventure Board Game. This and two expansions were irresistible when they turned up very cheaply at a remainders book shop and a charity shop, because the components are so attractive. They have colourful specialist dice for example and most important of all have large and highly detailed "minis".

The game from Crabro's point of view had even more downtime than Olympos because as the "DM" he had only one turn in five at the best of times, and when the "heroes" were exploring a room without monsters or traps, he had nothing to do even when it was finally his turn. This game may have potential with higher level scenarios injecting more action and excitement and perhaps would become more interesting still with more people taking on playing the heroes but as it was the first two levels were very easy, and would have been even easier, I subsequently found out, if we had been playing it correctly.

If we never play it again I think it should still be possible to justify the low-cost purchase by using the lovely figurines in other games. It should also be possible to devise a way of playing it without a Dungeon Master, either solo or co-operatively.

Είναι όλα τα ελληνικά σε μένα ...

Tonight there were only four for Thursday Games Night and we played Olympos followed by Alhambra with elements of the fifth expansion: The Power of the Sultan.




Olympos was an attractive looking new (2011) game from Ystari designed by Phillip Keyaerts who also designed the Vinci reboot, Small World which I really liked.

I found I liked Olympos too but I had some reservations. Primarily the problem for me was the huge amount of downtime if you took certain actions which meant you didn't get another turn for some time.

Actions are regulated by a time track and certain actions move you a considerable way. The two main actions are expansion and development.

Development moves you a massive 7 stages on the time track and expansion can also mount up, especially if it involves "combat". Combat works on the basis that the attacker always wins but can get expensive in time terms if your opponent has a lot of "swords"

There are some nice and original-feeling mechanics here and an attractive board. The fact that the last player always gets to play next and can move a short distance on the time-track making him STILL the last player and hence the next to play, can mean it is a long time before your next turn. That aside though I enjoyed it and for once also won it.

Alhambra is a simple colourful and pleasant game which I invariably lose. Tonight was no exception, but for a change we introduced a couple of the many mini-expansions. These were the caravan and the art gallery from expansion set 5: The Power of the Sultan.

Like all the expansions to Alhambra that I've played so far, these didn't make huge changes to the rules, although we did find this time that the game seemed to take quite a bit longer and it almost looked at one stage as if the game would end before the second scoring round card had appeared.

There was some confusion over the scoring of this one. I noticed that ProfMudlark had moved Crabro's scoring token on after scoring green buildings whereas it was me who had the most and Crabro should not have been entitled to anything for that colour.

In the confusion, as scores continued to be put on, it took a while for me to be able to register my doubts so it was difficult to satisfactorily resolve. Sadly it would not have affected my position anyway. I think it might have taken the win away from Crabro and given it to the Professor though