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Hyperborea
Michael Barnes wrote: Yeah, I got it in yesterday too...it looks really good, but I predict that the dudebro Ameritrasher crybabies will give it the same reception that Eclipse got, but replace all instances of "TI3" with "Runewars".
There are some really fun-looking concepts...I like the look of how development works, filling up "meters" to buy cubes and having a decision to hold for a couple of advancements to double up. Killing ghosts (do what now) looks like really just a way to do neutrals, but the light tomb-raiding adds just enough of an adventure angle. Components look great, tons of Euroglyphics but it's clean-looking and modern.
My main concern is if it can deliver on the 25 minutes per player claim...if that's the case, this could be a really good one. If it turns into 3, 4 hours...I dunno.
Also, armored mastodons.
So hypothetically...if this game plays in about the same time as Runewars, is it a failure? It seems that this is meant to be a streamlined 4x conquest style game set in a fantasy world.
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- Michael Barnes
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But with that said, I think this is the only new game this year (that I've played at least) that supports six players. So with six, I think you have to be a little more lenient in terms of time limit.
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- Michael Barnes
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Got in a three player game last night...lured some friends over with promises of pizza and beer, sent the kids off to the grandparents, wife was on a job.
I _think_ this game is really good, but I don't think the AT dudebros are going tolike it AT ALL and will likely spin off all kinds of "thematic" reasons to dislike it. But for my money, it is as others have suggested in the vein of Cyclades/Kemet. Light/medium weight DoaM with Euro elements.
The main thing that impressed me is that this game, more than any other I've played so far, really rolls the full deckbuilding/"bag building" concept into the entire process. Commiting guys to use cities or search ruins means that they're locked down until the reset, when your "deck" runs out and you "reshuffle". Which in this game really means putting cubes back into the bag. It also carries on one of Dominion's secret weapons, the significance of combos. This game is all about working out combinations to source movement, attack, advancement and so forth. This means that even though you are limited by the three cubes you draw, the turns are fairly loose in terms of what you can do. So you can choose to put cubes on a couple of techs but not complete them for activation and hold off on using your cities or searching ruins in hopes of pulling of BIG, sweeping turn down the road. Or you can use your resources a little at a time over the bag cycle.
Map is small, exploration is over quickly, and there's lots of fighting in the middle. Battle is done by generating sword points, each kills an enemy dude. There is no defense unless you've used a tech to build forts that only last for the round. Big incentive to attack EVERYBODY, which is kind of brilliant. You have to get a set of enemies to cash in, once you have a set you get VPs for every kill beyond that. The only thing is that I don't think that works nearly as well in a three or four player game as it does in a five or six player game- there should have been a tweak there to require TWO sets or something.
Components, great, art great. Price, too expensive. Gameplay- went long, but we were chit-chatting and drinking so that's OK.
I'm thinking it's a yes on this one...hope to do a six player at this week's Hellfire Club.
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As I posited before, it's very much a game firmly planted in the Euro/AT hybrid that will appeal to people who enjoy Mage Knight/Eclipse/Cyclades/Kemet.
We got in a 4 player game which lasted about 1.5 hours, not including teaching and setup/breakdown. The racial powers are very interesting and with just a couple of unique starting conditions the game seems very different. There's also a clever thing where the starting hexes are geared towards the Race you are playing. I randomly drew the Purple Mages which focused on cloning, and my starting hexes had cities focused on Movement, allowing me to spread across the board.
The movement is enjoyable and relatively easy in this game, the combat is also an enjoyable experience although not tense (it's deterministic and easy to kill things).
The main thing that sort of resonated with me was the sort of two-step process of getting your engine going. It's not exactly like Dominion/Mage Knight where you can just add cards (cubes) to your deck (bag) and then proceed. You need to plan quite a bit more as you are adding cubes, but the cubes are useless on their own. They need Advanced Technologies and action spaces to be placed on. So you can't just add more Red cubes to fight more, you need to first acquire fighting Techs so you have action spaces to place those cubes. The game does offer great flexibility by many spaces allowing you to place any color cube, so if you go heavy Red you can still use those Red cubes as parts of a Move or Develop action.
It definitely doesn't feel like a thematic game, but there's enough theme that I wouldn't at all call it dry. The effects on the Advanced tech cards coincide with their flavor nicely. However, I never felt like my army was highly mobile when I gained the Flying Mounts tech, as it allows you a single Fly movement per refresh. It didn't feel the same as Eclipse where you upgrade and your entire fleet is now beefed out. That's fine and didn't take away from the game, but it's something to be aware of.
If you didn't play with Racial powers the first game, beware of Blue, Barnes. If they take their draw 3 cubes ability, they can dominate if left unchecked. I don't feel the powers are unbalanced, but certainly some are easier to use and take advantage of.
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Review just went up:
www.2d6.org/2014/10/hyperborea-a-written-review/
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- Michael Barnes
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Very unique, and I think it's probably the most evolved instance of "deckbuilding" in the Dominion mode yet.
Purple is who I'm seeing rule...their ability to put people out instead of taking the ghosts is a good one, especially if you get something like Peace Treaties. I've seen a purple player have all of their pieces out by the end of the first 1/3 of the game.
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Our games have been pretty balanced. Blue dominated one game because the player did very well and we left him unchecked. Red can be very fun to play if you want to get aggressive. Hell, nearly every race has an interesting ability choice.
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