Mare Nostrum

So a while back I wanted to get this but never pulled the trigger and then it went out of print. I just finally traded for a copy so I have two questions:

1. Anything important to keep in mind when trying to figure it out? I remember hearing it sucks to be Greece or something? If that's something we won't figure out for a while though, don't tell me.

2. How crucial is the expansion? We're not talking Shattered Empire here are we?

The biggest thing to remember is that the game can end very suddenly, with the Pyramids being built. A lot of people I know think they should be excluded, but that really hurts Greece and Egypt a lot.

The expansion is FANTASTIC. The only time to play without it is maybe the first couple games, because digesting all of the options at once is a bit much. Other then that though, it opens the game up like you wouldn't believe.

Awesome trade dude. You'll love it.

It's one of the best games ever published. I'm serious. It's a masterpiece. You might not think so at first, but give it time to develop and your group is going to adore it. If they don't, fire them.

It's really important that players understand how the checks and balances work in the game. It's NOT "horribly broken" or any of that other "played it one time to rate it on BGG bullshit". Greece is just as competitive as the other nations, particularly with the expansion and a player that understands to USE THE FUCKING BOATS.

You'll learn as you play to manipulate the roles, the trading round, and the other processes to your advantage. This is one of those games when you've got six players with experience it becomes _amazing_.

It can end suddenly when players are dumb and trade taxes to Egypt. That's a huge mistake, but there again when players understand how things are set up and that there are these checks and balances, it's not an issue.

I think the expansion is essential. It gives you the mythological creatures, which are just bad ass. It also gives you the god cards, which add some serious power to the game. Both elements increase the "nuclear threat" level in the game, which is a ton of fun. One of the best things about the expansion is that it actually has a full rulebook that includes BOTH the base game and the expansion. All games should do that.

It's not like SHATTERED EMPIRES in that it redresses some design quirks or in that it adds a sort of buffet of add ons, but I think it's just as important.

The only thing I don't like about it is that messing with the commodities cards is kind of a pain in the ass. There's got to be a better way. At one point, I thought about doing it all on whiteboard or something.

San D,

I hear a lot of different takes when playing with the expansion. What rules do you choose to use from the base set and what rules do you use from the expansion? Can you use the expansion's rules with less players? More importantly, if you don't have six players is it still better to play with the additional rules in the expansion?

The times we've used it, we've used the whole thing. That includes our first game where, yes, we traded taxes to Egypt and they won. It's a little like Cities and Knights of Catan, where you want to use the whole thing, but it pays to let a new player try the original game first.

The coolest thing about the expansion is that it just adds so many more ways to win. I haven't begun to scratch the surface of what the game has to offer. Barnes is totally right about the checks and balances of the game. You really need to keep the other players from winning, while still furthering your own cause. We still haven't gotten there yet. Usually when we try to keep someone else from winning, someone else wins. This happens the last time we played. Atlantis basically won suddenly, because no one had bothered them for the whole game. Wins can sneak up on you like that, but it gets better with experience.

I highly recommend that you print out copies of this list of cards that I put together and give every player a copy: dl.dropbox.com/u/8054229/mare_nostrum_cards.pdf

Print it double sided and you'll get 2 copies per sheet. If you don't have something like this people need to search through cards to see what they do, or read the rulebook. There are a lot of cards and looking them up would bog the game down.

The Mythology expansion is awesome (that's the only way I've played it, and I can't imagine playing with anything less. Bribing the favour of gods is such a crucial part of the game.)

I am easily confused by rules, and I found Mare Nostrum was very straight forward and clear. I played it with a table full of newbies and we had a blast.

Super fun game!

Well fuck, now I need to find the expansion. Thanks jerks.

Has anybody heard more about the reprint?

Ugh, looking through the God cards every fucking turn was agony.

I don't know. I liked Mare Nostrum (Will Kenyon blowing his top with Rob Martin and getting into a fight) but I guess the card trading thing leaves me a little cold in civ games. I know it's the keystone of the original civ and many games use it, but it's just not really my bag.

Gary Sax wrote:

Ugh, looking through the God cards every fucking turn was agony.

I don't know. I liked Mare Nostrum (Will Kenyon blowing his top with Rob Martin and getting into a fight) but I guess the card trading thing leaves me a little cold in civ games. I know it's the keystone of the original civ and many games use it, but it's just not really my bag.

I remember the fight more than the game, in some ways! Our game was a bit odd, from what Steve (and others) told us, too. It was fun and still on my want list.

Gary Sax wrote:

Ugh, looking through the God cards every fucking turn was agony.

I don't know. I liked Mare Nostrum (Will Kenyon blowing his top with Rob Martin and getting into a fight) but I guess the card trading thing leaves me a little cold in civ games. I know it's the keystone of the original civ and many games use it, but it's just not really my bag.

I remember the fight more than the game, in some ways! Our game was a bit odd, from what Steve (and others) told us, too. It was fun and still on my want list.

I was reeeeaaaally hoping Kenyon was gonna pop Martin in the mouth! Now that would have been epic.

Seriously folks, you gotta get yourselves to any and all Trashfests: booze, junk food, hurt feelings, Barnes going all rock n' roll and not showing up, and not to mention crazy gaming.

Ahhhhh good times.

I didn't get any booze. Let's just say that a case of beer is going to be in the trunk of my car next time.

Gary Sax wrote:

I didn't get any booze. Let's just say that a case of beer is going to be in the trunk of my car next time.

That's because your bitch ass was too slow in grabbing some of Avery's Green Goblin.

It's a great game, my group loves it. Not everyone I play with is a good enough strategist to grasp the checks and balances that Michael mentions, so we've hit the "Wha, it's over?" problem a few times. Some people want to house rule the build cost of the Pyramids to 13, but my opinion is that with a full table of decent players you shouldn't need to do that.

And yes, Matt, you do definitely need the expansion. Krakens!