Mentioned previously:
This game is yet to be released, and they are offering a PnP version in exchange for a review so I took their offer on BGG hehe.
I made this game last minute (the night before OTK, in fact) and grabbed whatever I have at that time as temporary component for the game. Used Power Grid (the only box that fits the map nicely), Citadel cards (it was sleeved already so I can just slide in the new paper in front of the card) and Cashflow (which explains the cheese). Blasphemy, some would say.
Yeah yeah I know, the board is not perfect. Some of the things seem out of place. But hey, it's free :P (well technically speaking the printing and cardboards aren't free )
Some issues with the PnP version:
I'm from Malaysia, and perhaps the standard paper size we use is different (we use A4 size), so some part of the board was not printed (out of printer range due to difference in paper size). I'm not good with tech stuff so I cant help it. You can see the white lines, those are areas where the printer missed.
I hope that the publisher can realign the PnP version to make the board centralized in the page, for the sake of other international players who wish to buy the PnP version first. :)
Natural History/Progression:
Game ends when one player's village is burnt, or when all the tiles have been drawn. Winner is the player with the coolest village.
Basically the game is played with each player taking turns doing these 4 things in order:
1. Assess damage
Check if any lava is flowing into your village.
+ Increase 20 degree for each unblocked lava.
+ Walls with lava will be challenged - roll dice for both the lava and the wall (+modifiers depending on material), highest wins and lava wins in case of tie.
2. Place tile
Draw a tile at random and place it on the board. Tile placement rules are pretty intuitive - the new tile must connect to existing tiles logically.
+ Claim resources if place new tile on spaces with resources printed on it.
+ Draw a card for each lava flow you directed into someone's village.
+ The wall have to be challenged and destroyed in order to place a new tile behind the wall
3. Play cards
Each start with a hand of 3. Cards can be used by applying the card effect or traded
+ Trade 2 cards for additional tile
+ Trade card(s) for the resources printed on the card.
4. Build a wall
On any space on board or on your village.
+ Walls provide modifiers for dice roll: +0 for straw, +1 for wood, +2 for stone
Additional rule:
There are 3 Zones. As your village heat up, you'll reach Danger Zone 1, 2, and 3 before your village finally burns up. Each zone unlocks a different advantage for you (build additional wall, draw card, additional tiles).
The first person to reach each zone gets to place a special eruption tile anywhere on the board and then other villages heat up by 30 degrees. This mechanic is designed so that the last player can catch up with other players.
Diagnosis:
A light tile-laying game with some amount of hand/resource management, with dice.
Yay:
+ Rules, especially tile placement, is intuitive and VERY easy to teach and understand
+ The catch-up mechanisms - additional advantage for the player(s) in danger zone, everybody else heats up when someone reaches a new danger zone
+ Love the artwork, the individual tiles look great even in PnP!
Nyeh:
- Your options are pretty much limited to the tile you have drawn, not much 'difficult' choices. This is good I guess for new gamers, so that they don't get overwhelmed. I have a friend who was thrown into Agricola straight and it was traumatizing!
- I didn't like the part where one can draw cards when placing a tile with lava flow directed to other players village. I understand that it sort of provides incentives to direct lava to others, but in most of my games players are very aggressive at claiming cards this way. Personally I'd prefer to see more clever placement of tiles to subtly direct lava flow away from your village. Tiles are often placed offensively than defensively. Maybe it's just my gaming group. But thematically speaking, one's priority would be to protect his village and in the process of doing that lava had to be directed to other villages for survival. Instead I see players kept finding ways to place tiles next to opponents' village and drawing cards, hoping other village burns faster than you.
Prognosis: 5-round survival rate - 70% (how likely that I would still want to play this after 5 plays).
First I must say that I tend to gravitate towards medium/heavy games with less luck and more control, so my opinion can be somewhat biased. I suspect that for me, I won't be actively suggesting my usual gaming group to play this game. But if someone wants to play, I'll be OK with it. When there's a group of new gamers, Eruption will be a game that I would introduce to them first.
I can't comment on the quality of the actual component of the game, but I expect that there will not be a problem with it. I'd recommend that you try this game first before buying it.
This is the kind of game that you might want to bring out once a while when your mind needs a break from heavy games or while waiting for your other friends to arrive to play Dominant Species with you.
In the end, one must keep in mind that this is a light gateway game. Don't expect it to be what it isn't, and I believe you'll have loads of fun with your friends playing this game.
"Hey hey, not my village again!"
"What?! My stone walls were crumbling one after another and his straw wall still stands! That's one crazy straw wall!!"
Reposted from BGG.
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