Trashdome: Cyclades vs Mare Nostrum (closes July 3rd)

WELCOME TO TRASHDOME!

This is part of a series of bloody matches to the death. Show support for your favorite game so it will do better in the fight. You can support it by writing why you think its the better game and more importantly by betting (i.e. voting for) it. Please make it clear for when I check the bets later. You have until Sunday when I tally the bets and declare the winner. I will reserve my bet for any tie-breakers.

Although you should be familiar with both games, there is no rule that says you have to have played both of them. The only rule in Trashdome is this;

Two games enter! One game leaves!

This weeks Trashdome is: Cyclades vs Mare Nostrum

Thanks Matt for the suggestion

VOTE: Cyclades

A tough choice, but Cyclades scales well but MN is really only great with 5 (or 6 with the expansion). Production values are a push; I like the classic look of MN but Cyclades' art and minis are fantastic.

MN is probably the better game on some absolute level but it's harder to get it to the table due to length and player requirements.

Didn't we do this one already?

Cyclades is a very fun game. It has the tense auction that should appease Euro-players, and the cutthroat interaction that will satisfy ATers. It plays fast, looks great, and I think it has a lot more depth than I originally thought, due to the mythological creatures.

Having said all that, Mare Nostrum is the clear winner here. It's way more epic, has even fewer rules, and has a lot more subtlety than Cyclades. To be fair, the games don't really occupy the same design space, but if we're talking a conflict-driven game of antiquity, Mare Nostrum wins every time.

Vote: Mare Nostrum

VOTE: Cyclades

With the mythos expansion?

Vote: Mare Nostrum

I was disappointed by Cyclades within the first 1-2 games.

Vote: Mare Nostrum

VOTE: Cyclades.

If my wife ever leaves me, you'll find me sitting in a corner, dryhumping the box and wailing "Give it to me, Athena, you know you like it"

May be the best DOAM game evar. Probably not, but I love it just the same.

This isn't a contest. It's a smackdown and Mare Nostrum is going to be taking the crown.

Cyclades is a fun game but MN manages the impossible: to weld a completely open conquest game, variable player powers, Euro-style analysis and a civ game together and not only that but fold it into a two-hour play time. Even just thinking about that concept is jaw dropping. With the expansion mixed in it has vast re-playability and is unconditionally one of the very best DOAM games ever made - there's nothing else like it.

Vote: Cyclades

A beautiful game! A top shelf game in my pad. Reaction has been great from all players. Components best in the business, playtime perfect, has the Krakin!

Love it!

Mare Nostrum is out of print isn't it? Hmmmmmm, I can't find it for sale

Vote: Mare Nostrum

I haven't played cyclades. I would like to some day, but nothing about it makes me want to rush out and buy it sight unseen.

Mare Nostrum is a great game though. get 4,5 or 6 people together who understand what the game needs you to do, and there is something special there. when it works Mare Nostrum is just a great conquest/diplomacy/expansion game with an easy to play ruleset and surprising depth.

with new people who don't watch out, the game can crash to the end and be a poor experience.

But, if you look at what you said, LJ, you need 4-6 people who understand the game really well to get it to be great. Cyclades (I know you don't know) requires 2-5 people with a pulse and a modicum of strategic skill to be a fucking blast.

That's why I voted Cyclades, besides the fact it's beautiful, has great bits, and is awesome in every conceivable way. But I may be biased.

SuperflyTNT wrote: But, if you look at what you said, LJ, you need 4-6 people who understand the game really well to get it to be great. Cyclades (I know you don't know) requires 2-5 people with a pulse and a modicum of strategic skill to be a fucking blast.

That's why I voted Cyclades, besides the fact it's beautiful, has great bits, and is awesome in every conceivable way. But I may be biased.

Cyclades absolutely requires experienced players to be awesome. If there's much disparity the game will end very suddenly. Players who don't know how to use the mythological creatures will often leave cheapies for other more experienced players.

And if you ask me, Mare Nostrum looks every bit as gorgeous as Cyclades. It's a more fragile game, but its ceiling is so much higher. Cyclades is a terrific rock-em-sock-em game, lean and mean. But it's no Mare Nostrum.

Vote: Mare Nostrum

Epic game, packed with action every time, always a great metagame. Easy to learn but lots of depth, colour and surprises.

Thanks for the reminder about this absolutely stellar game. It is now at the top of my list of games to play in July.

SuperflyTNT wrote: But, if you look at what you said, LJ, you need 4-6 people who understand the game really well to get it to be great.

Much as I hate to disagree with someone that voted for the winning game alongside me, he's wrong. That crash ending to Mare Nostrum will happen once, and once only, and 90% of the time it'll be the player controlling Egypt winning (appropriately enough) by building the pyramids. Once everyone has seen how easy it is to collect 13 tax cards they'll be watching Egypt like a hawk in future games to make sure it doesn't happen again. And in any case, that's how my first game of MN ended and it was still so jaw-droppingly brilliant that we set it up again right away for another game, in spite of it being 2am on a weeknight.

This is probably good time to pimp my review of MN:
fortressat.com/articles-boardgame-review...-mare-nostrum-review

Vote: Cyclades