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Study in Emerald Impressions?
Shellhead wrote: I'm impressed by how so many comments over at BGG express a mixture of interest and confusion. Many found it interesting, but can't decide if they like it or not.
That's generally how I felt about it. It seemed like it could be fun with some experience and the right group, but I could say that for a lot of games, so I wasn't convinced it would be worth the effort.
I'm interested to hear how the Vassal and other F:AT games go.
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First, I made a huge mistake coming into the game of not realizing that the player agent assassination card was also a one use card. Once I found that out (duh), it made me realize that the pace of the game is COMPLETELY different than I thought it was. Agents become vastly more important because they can consistently pull of assassinations (if they have the power) while loyalists scramble to murder them.
The agents in this game, unless they are parked in like Berlin, are really super vulnerable. If you get a bead on who is who, I can see this being a very violent game because the assassination of other agents is not terribly hard, in fact is super easy in some cities.
Finally, I didn't experience the real craziness in this game since I played 2 player and we drew loyalist/restorationist so it was a straightforward point fest with pretty zero sum outcomes. Actually, I think that 2 player is a PERFECT introduction to this game and would highly recommend seeding the deck with a bland resto/loyalist matchup with two players to familiarize with the mechanics. Furthermore, reading how Wallace intends to change the game in an eventual reprint tipped me off to what could be taken out in our first game---specifically I took out the permanent effect cards, which may not be in the next print, and I took out the double agent chits, which did not feel critical. I will put them back in in our next game.
An interesting question is if this is the ideal version of this game. Here's a quote from BGG on the new version he playtested:
I got to play the prototype of ASiE v2 with Martin Wallace at PAX Aus on Sunday and was able to find out quite a bit about the new version:
(I'll share what I can without explicitly explaining mechanics, because I'm sure some will change, and the game is still far from release)
* The aim with the redux is to reposition the game as a more mass-market version of the game, with the hope of appealing to not just the hardcore boardgamers, but also Neil Gaiman fans, Holmes fans and people into Cthulhu
* As such, the game has been stripped down to the core elements - still a deckbuilder, still with bidding for influence. The semi-teamwork idea has been retained but tweaked to be less fiddly on scoring, and less punishing for the team with the last place player. (Losing team lose vps, instead of wholesale elimination.)
* The deckbuilding is now even more a central element of the game. In our session, Martin brutalised us with some very canny card acquisitions.
* Permanent effects have been absorbed into the main market of cards as normal cards.
* Agents have been massively simplified to make them quicker to get to the board, more effective, easier to move and, most importantly:
* Assassinations has been massively simplified, but still retaining some of the nuance and limitations of the original. ASiE Redux is a much livelier game on that front.
* Sanity can go very quickly for Restorationists, perhaps a little too much so - I'd like to see a few more opportunities to improve sanity.
All this adds up to a much faster game (I think we were done in about 30 -40 mins) that should be infinitely easier to teach as well. It doesn't really replace the original, but stands alongside it. Martin also told us that there won't be any easy way to convert the original as the new version is too different and I'm inclined to agree. As ASiE v2 will be aimed at mass market, it should also be cheaper than the original, and if this is the case, I'll be quite comfortable buying it when it pops up. In the meantime, it's given me some ideas to do a 'beginners game' variant of the original to make teaching it a little easier.
The bad news is that with the new one on the way, the original will not be reprinted, so snap them up while they're out in the wild."
I think for me, it is. I like the idea of all kinds of crazy cards, some of which are corner case. We'll see if/when the new reprint comes out, but I think I'll still be pretty pleased with my original version. This game is unique.
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Gary Sax wrote: Also, Grudunza, I assume you never got any love from Martin Wallace on approval for releasing an ASiE VASSAL module?
No, but I've meant to share it with a few friends, privately, to at least test out. Totally spaced that until you just mentioned it. Will try to get it ready soon.
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