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Dudes on a Map Board Games: Chess to Root

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06 Feb 2019 10:31 #291634 by Jackwraith

ThirstyMan wrote: More offended about him being a Liverpool fan than anything else.


YNWA

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06 Feb 2019 10:59 #291641 by Erik Twice
I think a large reason of the modern popularity of zombies and other "survival" stuff is the idea of having this opportunity to take justice by your own hand and come out on top while those that had success in normal society die or struggle.
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06 Feb 2019 11:10 #291645 by Jexik
Going back to color choice in games, I tend to gravitate to Red, but it's a pretty popular color, so sometimes I'll just go by whatever color shirt I happen to be wearing that day, or I'll pick whatever the least threatening color is, like White or Yellow, hoping to be ignored and messed with the least.

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06 Feb 2019 11:12 #291646 by hotseatgames
I pick yellow just because I usually find it easier to read. A lot of games will put blue text on black, for example, and I have to strain to read it.

Many games also do a poor job of differentiating blue and purple.

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06 Feb 2019 11:23 #291648 by Shellhead
My color choice depends on the game. My favorite color is green, but it's not a strong preference, so I often let everybody else pick their color first. In some games, the color is tied directly to a specific character or faction, and that choice matters more to me than color. For example, I'm not a big fan of the color yellow, but I prefer to play yellow in Cthulhu Wars because I like the strangeness of the separate mythos surrounding the King in Yellow.

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06 Feb 2019 12:43 #291665 by Ken B.
Mmmmmm...Cthulhu Wars. That game basically killed all other Dudes on a Map games for me. I'll still play it, anytime, even to this day.

It's essential design as a Dudes on a Map game is just sublime. Asymmetry like few other games have managed, to the point where you feel the identity of each faction without an overflow of flavor text forcing the issue. Threaded turns keeping everyone involved and active at all times. The Power resource management means you have to not only be thinking about your current move, but *all* your moves for the rest of the turn (yes, this is stolen from Chaos, but hey, steal from one of the best). Buckets of dice but controlled randomness. A combat system that refuses to be "all or nothing" and allows you to accomplish your goals and bully people around without eliminating them entirely. I could go on and on.

I suspect the genre's near-and-dearness to our hearts is because so many of us gravitated into the hobby on the backs of one of these titles. Whether it was Samurai Swords or Risk or Axis and Allies, our brains were trained to see this as a default game type, a familiar face and shape to guide us from game to game. It provides personal identity in the game space by way of factions/abilities. We get something visibly "ours" and suddenly we're very keen to defend and expand it. Our best friends get to be our worst enemies, worthy of destruction, if only for a couple of hours. The physical layout and spacing of armies and territories leads to dealmaking and alliances not always specified in the rules but makes us all manipulators and brokers of promises (and sometimes, lies.)

There is something magical in the genre, and it will always remain my gravitational force that keeps me tethered to the hobby.
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06 Feb 2019 12:47 #291666 by Jexik
I'll never own Cthulhu Wars because it costs too much for pieces that I don't want. It's too over the top in it its production. And the people I know who own it aren't people I play with often enough to really earn it. I'll keep Nexus Ops and even Small World around though.
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06 Feb 2019 12:53 - 06 Feb 2019 14:01 #291670 by Jackwraith

Ken B. wrote: Mmmmmm...Cthulhu Wars. That game basically killed all other Dudes on a Map games for me. I'll still play it, anytime, even to this day.


Great points. I've only played a couple times, but I get this. Petersen did a great job of keeping the factions distinct in function, so that even without the gigantic garish "minis", you still get the flavor of Black Goat or King in Yellow or whoever.

I still have my copy of Shogun/Samurai Swords. I will never part with it. That Battlemaster series is one of the best things that MB (not that MB) ever did.
Last edit: 06 Feb 2019 14:01 by Jackwraith.
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06 Feb 2019 12:55 #291672 by Jackwraith

Jexik wrote: I'll never own Cthulhu Wars because it costs too much for pieces that I don't want. It's too over the top in it its production. And the people I know who own it aren't people I play with often enough to really earn it. I'll keep Nexus Ops and even Small World around though.


Small World is an interesting case. It's clearly a DoaM game, but because your faction only exists for a couple of turns before you pick up a new one, I never quite get the attachment that I do in other games of that style. That impermanence pervades the gameplay, as well, so I always felt I was going back over the same ground that I took two turns ago, not because of my actions or my opponents' but simply the game, and it never felt satisfactory to me.
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06 Feb 2019 13:02 #291673 by Ken B.

Jackwraith wrote:

Jexik wrote: I'll never own Cthulhu Wars because it costs too much for pieces that I don't want. It's too over the top in it its production. And the people I know who own it aren't people I play with often enough to really earn it. I'll keep Nexus Ops and even Small World around though.


Small World is an interesting case. It's clearly a DoaM game, but because your faction only exists for a couple of turns before you pick up a new one, I never quite get the attachment that I do in other games of that style. That impermanence pervades the gameplay, as well, so I always felt I was going back over the same ground that I took two turns ago, not because of my actions or my opponents' but simply the game, and it never felt satisfactory to me.


I agree with this assessment of Small World to a point. It's fun, but feels like empty calories at times. I've never celebrated a win nor taken a loss particularly hard. It's appeal is primarily in the "let me see what I can do with THIS combination for a few turns."

Nexus Ops though is also one of the gems of the genre. I'd also never get rid of it. I even own both the old school and FFG vomit-nightmare-factory version. That to me is the genre distilled into its barest elements without losing so much of what makes these games sing.
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06 Feb 2019 13:10 #291676 by Joebot
Small World seems like a DOAM game in name only, not in spirit. It lacks a lot of the characteristics of a DOAM game, in that you have no real affinity towards your armies OR your territory. Everything is so transitory, that you never feel a sense of ownership or identity. I've never seen anyone try to broker an alliance, or backstab a neighbor. Nobody is ever emotionally invested in anything that happens to make those sorts of alliances worth the effort. "You took my mountain space? Oh well, I'll just get it back next turn." The tension in the game comes from trying to max out whatever goofy race combo you get, which makes it more of a Euro point-optimization game, and less like a true DOAM game.

Likewise, I've been playing Bunny Kingdom with my kids. I guess you'd call it "Rabbits on a Map" (ROAM). It's a fine game, but again, there's really no sense of ownership or identity because your bunnies, once placed, never move. There's no combat, no threat of losing your bunnies or your territory, and therefore no need for alliances. In fact, you really can't do much of anything to impede the other players, other than taking a card that they may want.

I guess just becomes something looks like a DOAM game doesn't mean it really is a DOAM game.
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06 Feb 2019 13:18 #291682 by Jexik
Small World is probably secretly best at two players where it's always clear who to bash.

There are a number of games like this that feel pretty bland at high player counts, but actually shine with 2, like 7 Wonders and Race for the Galaxy. Dominion too.
Tragedy Looper is another game, but very different than all of the above.

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06 Feb 2019 14:16 #291691 by hotseatgames
DoaM is my favorite genre (well technically area control but they are in general one and the same). If I could only play two of them for the rest of my days, they would be Cthulhu Wars and Nexus Ops.

Who knows, perhaps I'll add Lords of Hellas to that once I finally get my copy. End of February? Maybe? Hey, it's only late by 18 months or so.
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06 Feb 2019 14:41 #291693 by Ken B.
Oh hell yes, I forgot Lords of Hellas. That's an amazing one, too. And A Game of Thrones will always be one of my favorite classics.

I'm starting to feel like the Spanish Inquisition. "Our chief weapon is fear. Fear and surprise. Our TWO main weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency. Our THREE! Our THREE main weapons..."
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06 Feb 2019 15:41 #291698 by Space Ghost
My first DOAM was Wizard's Quest -- I think we ordered the bookcase version from Time Life back in the early 80s. I love everything about that game -- the armies, the heroes (Wizard and Knight), the Dragon that pillaged armies at random, the Peacemaker that made fighting in a specific region forbidden each turn, the frenzing orcs (I love that it has an Orc Frenzy phase), and the fact that the goal is to capture your three treasures (but there are four markers because one is a fake) instead of eradicating your opponent's army. I started playing this at around 7 in 1985 and will still play to this day.

After that, came Shogun/Samurai Swords, which was aided by the fact that I was reading James Clavell's books in the late 80s and early 90s. Then Nexus Ops, Runewars, and Cthulhu Wars. Those are probably my top 5 DOAM games (assuming I don't count War of the Ring as a DOAM game -- it just feels different).

But as Ken says, it really is part of your identity if you grew up in the 80s -- so I am up for trying any DOAM game at almost any time. I even like the Dragonlance armies of Dragons game.

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