Only You Can Stop This From Happening in AGE OF GODS Hot

I recently played Age of Gods. Not at all bad for a light fantasy euro.

Edit for a little depth on that statement:

There's a lot of combat, which is good. The combination of outcomes makes dwarves being aided by necromancers a nice variation on standard fantasy concepts. All races in the game are pawns of the gods (I liked playing the God or War, would probably like playing the God of Death). The player as a god can try to resurrect a dead race, with varying effects. The "god" mechanics did kind of come through for me.

Not saying it's a great game (I think I rated it a 6), but it was fun and I would play it again. The rearranging of fantasy standards and the destruction of servant races for a gods own ends are what stood out for me.

I don't know where you hang out, Barnes, but if where you got that picture is any indication then I'm glad I'm not you. Jeebus but that has to be the worst case of "geeky goth grrrl" art EVAR.

Hmm...maybe I shouldn't post what band's catalog I've been listening to non-stop over the past couple of days...it might incriminate me.

When they say you're killing "Undead Elf Pirates", we all know what they really mean.....

This is not good news. I do have a copy but it has not hit the table yet.

Has Steve "Zeus" Avery played this yet?

That has to one of the stupidest goddamned pictures I have ever seen. Why in the hell would cobwebs form on an undead elf. It's not like she's "really" dead, she's undead, which means she still walks around and shit. As soon as she starts moving- "poof" -all that hard work those poor spiders put into building their homes is instantly evaporated. I imagine that it would only take a few times before the spiders got pissed off and decided to make house somewhere else.
Besides, I happen to know for a fact (emphasis mine) that spiders don't start to build their webs on bodies until the bodies stop moving.

Christ, you people are gay.

I met some cool gamers in Huntsville tonight and stopped by for a few minutes. They were setting up Age of Gods, and I gotta admit, it looks like fun. If I hadn't been short on time I would've had them deal me in.

It's got the variable player powers, fantasy races, dice-based combat, crazy card effects, fortifications, wagering, and elven genocide. What's not to like? It reminded me of a cross between Britannia and Vinci but with cards and more player powers.

I think Age of Gods is a blast. I wrote about it here:

http://drakesflames.blogspot.com/2008/01/board-game-review-age-of-gods.html

Long story short, I thought it was a great meeting ground between Ameritrash and Euro. It's got elements of both, and while I can understand some of the criticisms, for me, it boils down to the fact that I really, really like playing this game, and would play any time anyone asked. In fact, after the first couple times I played, the game would get put up and then we would sit around the table going, 'you know, I think I might have been able to exploit the weakness in the humans' location if I had revealed my dwarves a little earlier,' and then my wife would go, 'shut up, nerd.'

it boils down to the fact that I really, really like playing this game, and would play any time anyone asked.

Well hey, there you go...I think the game does have an audience, and I do think that some people will likely get more out of it than I did.

I don't think it's a total failure...as I said, there are compelling elements to it but I think that the theme and concept just don't match up with some of the gameplay elements. There's too many weird contrivances and Euro-ish concessions that cripple it.

I _really_ don't like the whole mutual pieces mechanic coupled with the hidden identity thing in any game...that's just never worked for me. It reminds me of CLANS, which I'd rather not be reminded of.

Can we make a game that eradicates the mouth breathing losers that draw pictures like "Zombie Elf Pirate" above? Nothing says "winner" like fan art.

We played AoG last night. And, we were honored by the presence of a real deity, the venerable god of dice and theme (and the Guitar Hero) himself, Ken B.! Thanks for stopping by, Ken!

Anyway, we played AoG last night, 5 players. It was our first time to play the game. I spent a little time explaining the rules, and the rules are pretty simple. Initially, we were a little down on the game, as our combat rolling was really sucking. But toward the end of the game, when it was pretty well known which player controlled which 'chosen people,' it became a lot of fun, tag-teaming and womping the leader. One guy, who was an early and strong leader, finished the game in fourth place. I, who was an early victim, managed to come back to finish within 2 points of the winners (2 players tied for the win, with 16 pts).

The game was rather chaotic, as you'd expect from a French game, but it turned out to be quite fun. I did think that 5 was a bit too many for the game, because there was a little too much certainity, in that all-but-one of a level of races was controlled by a player. I think that 3 or 4 players would be optimal. We'll definitely play AoG again, at least one more time anyway.

I think that AoG could well be one of those games that you either love or despise. But, there probably won't be too many folks who just 'kinda like it.'

Chuck

P.S. Oh, and Ken, thanks for calling us cool. :-)
P.S.S. I hope you'll stop by to boardgame with us again, sometime soon.

Absolutely, Chuck, it was great meeting you guys. I hope to become a semi-regular. Our group used to do the monthly thing but we've fallen out of it a bit, and I miss it.

I sat in for the rules explanation for this and would be glad to give it a go next time.

I liked that part, actually, even though I ended up getting picked on for handling it poorly on turn 1. Maybe I liked it because I hadn't played any mutual hidden-control-thingy before. I thought that really made it interesting though. What I didn't like was that once you reveal your guys to use their racial power card you can't use them any more. That's just lame.

My thoughts exactly! I was forced to reveal my Level 4 race (the Humans) in Turn 2, to use their jihad power to keep them from being wiped off the map. Once a race is revealed, they have a huge target painted on them, especially if you're a leader.

It would definitely seem more equitable if a revealed race could use it's special power during later turns. Then, they'd also have more cards left to potentially use as bets.

When to, or when NOT to, reveal a race is a really tough part of this game.

Or, play the race-card, if you will :D I think revealing a race you control is generally handicap enough to "balance" the fact that you get a spiffy one-use power.

Ken is in Huntsville? That is where I spent my extended weekend, along with Steve Avery.

I did buy Age of Gods, and I expect to find it a pleasant diversion. That's about it.

Age of Gods does commit the cardinal sin of not having any single piece in the game that can be identified as YOU or MINE. Imperial suffers from this as well.

The similarly-themed Mythology (Yaquinto) escapes this by giving each god proper special powers, and a Kremlin-like control system so that you know which or the few heroes and monsters are owned by a god at one time.

I actually strongly prefer games where you can point to YOU on the board. It weakens the theme slightly if you cannot do that. (And in most AT games, you can at least point to your starting capital/home world, as the game makes it quite clear what happens if it gets stepped on. )

But not even being able to point to a MINE seriously weakens the game--making it more of an exercise in shoving bits around while points pop out. (Which I don't mind, actually, if the shoving bits around is REALLY well done.)

So Age of Gods does at least have thing killing other things. And so I'm rather certain that my guess of "pleasant diversion" is where it will stand if I get around to playing it.

Yeah man...next time, look me up while you guys are in town.

I'll be in ATL the week of March 24th...probably try to hook up with Barnes and Martin then. And give Steve Avery lots of grief while I'm there.

The Gods do each have a special power, though it was more akin to Cosmic Encounter's race "flares" than anything. The thing that I actually liked about this game was the "hidden-hand" element of it. I also found it was reasonably in-line with the theme (Gods tried to hide their influence on things to prevent open warfare amongst themselves. The poor bastard mortals become pawns in proxy wars.) If you reveal your favored race, you instantly paint a bullseye on your own forehead; however, the individual race powers [at least with the "level 4" races] was sufficiently strong enough that you could swing the balance late in the game even if you locked that race into its spot on the board.

I do agree, however, that "less than 5" is the sweet spot as there is more uncertainty about which races are "unsponsored" and the players will be less likely to be forced (or tempted) to play their race cards early in the game. I thought that the game required some bluff and bluster as part of the actual game play, which I find fun.