Please talk me out of buying "A Few Acres of Snow"

It's getting lots of hype, but much of it is probably Wallace fanboy ratings inflation. Plus it's overpriced and there will be at least a year of arguing about whether it is balanced. Plus, it's overpriced and the components are cheap. Yet it is calling to me.

It is overpriced. Wait a while and get one used. Now that Mayfair is going to distribute AFAoS in the US, the price should drop. Also, I'd recommend reading the rules online and/or playing someone else's copy first. Does anyone know if vassal support is in the works?

-Will

No, I won't talk you out of it.


I am no Wallace fanboi. The game is, however, that good.

I hate fucking shuffling....

It's a deckbuilding game, so it's obviously the exact copy of Dominion. And there's not enough variety in the cards (Dominion came with 500 cards, this has only 110), it obviously needs a dozen expansions right out of the box. It's a typical kitchen-sink design we got used to from Mr. Wallace. I was bored out of my mind after half a game, when all the possible combos of each faction became obvious. Nightfall is the better game.

/s

I'm going to be reviewing this next week. If you want a serious criticism, it's that the game is almost crushed under the weight of its own enormous decision tree and has a steep learning curve as a result.

A wargame with deck building is ridiculous. This is obviously a "mechanic before theme" game, i.e. Wallace probably thought to himself "I want to create a deck building game" first and "I want to make a game about the French-British wars in North America" second.

A Few Acres of Snow has syphilis. Not the good kind, either.

Schweig! wrote: A wargame with deck building is ridiculous. This is obviously a "mechanic before theme" game, i.e. Wallace probably thought to himself "I want to create a deck building game" first and "I want to make a game about the French-British wars in North America" second.

This is probably true, but it actually offers a surprisingly sound justification in the rules: that during the conflict men and materiel from Europe was hard to come by, took a long time to get across the Atlantic, and what arrived wasn't always what was asked for.

Sure, I'll talk you out of it. Do you like being completely fucking frustrated? If you do, this game is for you. I love having a great plan and not being able to execute because the fucking card doesn't come in my hand.

There are some cards you simply HAVE to buy. It's not a fucking option, you cannot win if you don't take them.

There's really no war. You occassionally get to take your opponents stuff or destroy it.

This is a Euro game in which the optimal strategy is to build settelments and then turn them into cities.

Not a fan.

Well I love it, so that should be reason enough for you lug heads not to buy it.

Every once in while I start dreaming about games. Over the last year there have been 3 games I've dreamed about. Twilight Imperium 3 after playing 4 games straight at WBC and after getting drunk for the first time in long time, Earth Reborn after playing 2 games late night while I was under the influence of Oxycodine and A Few Acres of Snow after my first game not under the influence of alcohol or drugs because my brain was still thinking of all the things I should of, could of done during the game. The last time I became so obsessed over a game was after playing Caylus and Age of Steam for the first time. Man I'm joning for some snow action right now.

So if you you hate Caylus or Age of Steam you'll probably hate A few Acres of Snow.

If I haven't talked you out of buying it. You might as well fork over the the dough to Martin Wallace and company right now.

My trusted gaming buddies are very divided right now on this game, Quarriors and King of Tokyo, all of which seem pretty interesting and would probably work with my mutant wargaming eleven-year-old who is in the other room teaching himself Python.

It's refreshing to have some genuine unknowable mystery in my boardgaming purchases, however.