The Joys of Red November

 Red November has quickly become one of my favorite games.  I even enjoy playing this game solo.

 It is the best "bang for your buck" game out there.

Here's why:

 All that and a bag of chips?

Packed into the slim silverline package comes a ton of bits and cardboard.  FFG has mastered the "cheap but cool" game corner with silverline titles like "Citadels", "Colassal Area", "CIA Vs. KGB" and "Red November" definitely has its value thing workin'

You get 8 plastic gnomes, 9 plastic markers, a simple yet thematic and beautiful board, 3 wooden cubes (yeek!),  a nice deck of cards, a 10-sided die,  and dozens and dozens of cardboard chits. Add to this a nice slimline rulebook and you begin to see why, once everything is punched out, it barely fits in the box. The insert is their typical cardboard split-level, but really needs to be thrown out in order to fit everything in the box.

The cards are, unfortunately, tiny--but a full-size deck of cards wouldn't fit.(they would've needed to expand to the "Cavetroll" style box for that) The cards are good quality and, can be shuffled, though not easily. 

The plastic gnomes are well molded, but fragile at the connection point because they were going for an "action" pose with the gnome running frantically.

And oh FFG and their cardboard.  This company knows cardboard better than any I've seen. This goes back to their "Diskwars" games and has only gotten better over the years. 

Everything about this title's components screams FFG quality in a tiny package.  All for $24.95  I really can't stress the value you get here enough.

What kind of game is this?

Firstly, this is a co-op game with a little screwage built in (and more in the optional rules.  Everyone plays a gnome on the nautical nightmare: The Red November a submarine bent on killing itself and its crew. Your job is to keep the sub afloat until help arrives.

Red November compares well with other co-op games. I've played "Lord of the Rings", "Vanished Planet", "Shadows Over Camelot", "Arkham Horror" and "Battlestar Galactica" If I were to rank it among them, it would be second only to "BSG". But that really isn't fair because the 2 games are sooo different in mood and playstyle.

Having taught and played all of the above, Red November was the easiest to teach. Why? Because all of the "gameness" (to which I'm referring how the game is programmed to challenge and defeat the players) is contained in the deck of cards. The cards you draw are determine what goes wrong on the sub.  There's no multiple tile draws, multiple card draws, foes to manage, or other things that may intimidate new players.

The hardest concept to grasp in the game is how time is used. On your turn you may do anything you wish,  but it all takes time. To this end, the outside edge of the board is a timer set to 6o minutes. When it reaches zero for all players, the game ends. If the sub is afloat, everybody wins, otherwise everybody loses as the sub has managed to kill them all.

Time and its use

To move around the board takes time, to pick up items takes time, to put out fires takes time--you get the idea. What you can do on your turn is move to any room on the ship that isn't on fire or flooded or jammed shut. (these are all common problems on the good ship Red November)  Once you get where you're going, you can attempt to do something--but right, you guessed it--it takes time to do it. 

So let's say you enter a room on fire and want to put out the fire.  Well first of all, you either need a fire extiguisher or having consumed your liquid courage. (you can't enter a room on fire without a fire extiguisher or having drank some grog)  Items give you bonuses to attempt jobs--in this case fire extinguishing--so you start with a +3 in either case here.

Now, you can try to roll a 3 or less on the 10-sided die (all tests are against the 10-sided die), or you can spend time improving your firefighting skills--1 minute per 1 bonus on the die. So let's say you spend 5 minutes--then 3 (for your liquid courage) + 5 = 8 or less. If you succeed--great, its out! If not....then the fire continues to burn and you may have a real problem.

The player then moves a generic timer along the outer edge of the board for each minute he spends. Then he moves his own timer to catch up to where the generic on is. As the timer moves, it stops on triggers for events and the random event card is drawn--most of the time something bad, but sometimes nothing happens--which is good...  Once his timer has caught up, then the next player takes their turn.  Make sure your players understand how time works in this game. It's crucial to getting the most from it.

The variety of challenges is what makes this game so great. From fires breaking out, to rooms flooding with water, to even a kraken attacking the ship, there's almost always some crisis that has to be dealt with. There's a definite frantic tone and mood that this game brings to the table, unlike any other co-op game I've played so far. Partly this is due to the small amount of downtime. Players turns usually take less than a minute. The rest of the tension comes from the deck as you draw disaster after disaster and wonder how you're gonna survive!  Many games we've made it to the last player's turn only to lose on the last card drawn!!! NoOOOOooo!!! WE OVERHEATED AGAIN!!!!

What's not to like?

The fact that the game is working hard to KILL YOU DEAD can be frustrating or exhilerating depending on whom you play with. I love this game for the tension it creates among the group. But, if you're one of those who simply hates losing--this game will kill you.  Even at its easy setting, its challenging.  There are some "basic" strategies to playing, but because of Bruno Faduitti's notorious chaos factors built into that simple deck of cards, sometimes your best play will still get you killed.  Add to this the die roll (Oh I can roll an 8 or less...&#*!!@&!!! ) and nothing's a given.  Oh sure you can play it safe and go for the auto succeed (You can use time to get it to a 10 or less) but...that next event may just sink you!

There is player elimination. If you pass out (and you can because of drinking too much grog) in a flooded or on fire room, then you die--simple as that. It doesn't happen often, but it can upset some players. Thankfully, the game is shorter than others so you don't sit out too long.

There's little screwage. If you happen to find a pressure suit then you can escape the sub and leave your friends to die while you live the high gnome life, but you can only do this at the very end of the game--10 minutes to rescue or less. And, IF they survive, they all win and YOU LOSE!!!! But, if you're hoping to be the cylon-gnome of the crew then nuts to you! No traitor roles here.

So what do you really think?

This is simply THE BEST co-op game out there that I've played so far.(haven't played PANDEMIC yet and BSG isn't really a co-op game IMHO) It's easy to teach, the bits are FFG Fabulousness, the gameplay is great with plenty to do and tension aplenty, it plays in an hr or less so you can try again after it's done killing you the first time, and, did I say it before??? IT'S ONLY $24.95!!!  There's so much to like about this game!  And it's replayable! So what it doesn't have this expansion or that expansion. It will keep you coming back for more because this game is fun at what it does best---trying to kill you. AND IT'S EVEN FUN SOLO!! In this case, you manage 3 gnomes. Because the game is easy to play, you can manage those 3 gnomes easily. I've run myself through this gauntlet as often as Dungeonquest!  One afternoon I played 3x on my own simply to try and beat the little #%$$!@&  only to lose each time.

By the way--I'm really a gnome...

If I sound like a fanboy or some gnome employee of FFG its because this is a game not to be missed IMHO.  If you don't like co-op games because of their "gameness" (the game plays you) then give this a try. Bruno's chaos factor ratchets the tension up in this game unlike any co-op game I've played, and many regular boardgames for that matter. If co-ops seem too "Euroish"for you--get over it!!! This game has an Ameritrash heart through and through. The closest comparison would be a co-op version of Dungeonquest. I don't THINK the game can kill you on the first turn, but you never know. Just 'cause it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it can't! (okay 1st event--my room is on fire, next event--my door is jammed shut...uh guys?)

 Try this game and get your doomed gnome on!