Initially, you’ll mostly use free or stock art in this stage, and although different implementations both prettier physical prototypes along with digital prototypes (I prefer Tabletop Simulator) will allow you to playtest more broadly with other gamers and designers.
This stage of prototype can cover a long period and involves most of the playtesting polishing your game system and mechanisms. This is when you’ll balance your game, make sure the complexity is right, trim the fat, and learn how to onboard players to a smooth experience.
Stage 3: Custom Components
The third stage of prototyping involves sourcing custom components for your game. For many designers this is the final stage before a crowdfunding event and includes assembling review copies. That said, we skipped this stage of prototyping on our most recent project (Sigil), and I expect us to skip this stage altogether going forward.
Since we know we are making manufacture prototypes for reviewers (see Stage 4), it’s more economical for us to source our custom components directly from our manufacturer.
There are a lot of great options for sourcing custom components including print on demand solutions if your goal is to have a modest print run and are willing to accept the high per unit cost.
Some that I’ve used in the past and have had a good experience with are:
Keep in mind that there are some limitations to sourcing custom components – for instance, I found it extremely difficult to source custom wooden meeples in the US.
Stage 4: Manufacturer Prototype
More indie designers should be taking advantage of this option for prototyping. Once your print files are done, you can send them to your manufacturer (see How to Find a Manufacturer) and commission them to print some copies offline (they won’t shut down a full inline printing press).
You can have copies of your game made to your actual specifications – with all of your custom components, and all of the finishes you can expect in your final production run.
I was learning Star Wars The Clone Wars Board Game | A Pandemic System, and while setting up, I ended up reading the back side of the villain card just to understand the mechanics of the game. Is the back side supposed to be hidden information or just another phase of the game?
I think an approach that is more useful to most designers is to get pen to paper as soon as possible and start playing, and tweaking, and iterating.
Either way, eventually I get my components out in front of me and I get to ask myself the most important question: is it fun?
And, if you haven’t realized it by the fact that I am writing an entire series on publishing this game, Froggy Bazaar is fun, it is a lot of fun.
It also works, right out of the bat the gameplay was smooth. There is still a lot of work to do, but I’m already confident that we have something on our hands that people like (although we’ll eventually need blind playtesting to really solidify that assumption).
Quick Overview
Within the next few weeks I’ll have a Tabletop Simulator version of Froggy Bazaar up for general playtesting, but for now I think it’s worth giving a brief overview of what this game is mechanically.
Froggy Bazaar is a tableau building and movement game, where you play a frog hopping from lily pad to lily pad collecting bugs (dice) to add to your rucksack. End of game scoring is based on secret and public bugjectives based on the pattern of dice (numbers and color) in your rucksack.
On a player’s turn they have three optional actions
Hop to an adjacent lily pad – collect the die on the tile to add to the top row of your tableau. Then replace the die with a random die from the bag.
BIG hop – re-roll all dice on the top row of your tableau and re-distribute them (get one bonus froggy buck).
Go to market – trade dice the top row of your tableau with the communal market.
The game ends at the end of the round when a player fills their rucksack (12 slots). Whoever has the most points wins.
Early Playtesting
In early playtesting with my closest circle, I’ve answered two of the most important questions about Froggy Bazaar – 1. is it fun? and 2. does it work?
I am in the process of making a basic Tabletop Simulator version so that I can test the game with a broader group of people – like our Pine Island community, and a broader group of friends and colleagues.
As dealer, I would be afraid to open 1NT with 12-14 for fear that one of my two opponents might clobber me with a strong (15-17) 1NT hand.
If all pass to me in later positions, at least one of my opponents does not have an opening hand, and in fourth position neither has such. With a balanced 13 in last position, I figure that the other three hands each have 7-11 points, and even if partner has the weakest of the three remaining hands, we’re no worse off than even (13+7=20).
If I had a good five card major, I’d open one of the major. But suppose by distribution is 2-3-4-4, that is skewed to the minors. A bid of a minor would invite opposing overcalls in the majors, while 1NT forces the next bid to come at the 2 level.
Does anyone (of note in the bridge world) bid a weak 1Nt in late position and a strong 1NT in early position?
Here at The Treehouse we’re lucky enough to have staff who enjoy what they do. Our front-of-house team all share a love for games and a desire to share this with the world, not to mention a massive amount of expert knowledge on the subject, which is only building and developing as time goes on.
As we approach our first birthday, some of our staff have decided that recommending and teaching games to customers in the cafe just isn’t enough of an outlet for their enthusiasm. So, they’ve decided to create both a brand new blog and a Treehouse podcast to share their thoughts on all things games-related with the world.
Introducing Patrick Lickman and Matt Turner, the instigators behind what you’re about to read/ hear. They’ll no doubt be familiar to many of you who’ve visited the cafe, as they’ve been with us from the start and are here rather a lot! Patrick is the main author behind the blog, while they’re very much co-conspirators on the podcast.
If you find the results suspiciously professional for a first-time effort, that’s because Matt is something of a podcast veteran, with 185+ episodes of his excellent Life’s a Pitch podcast already under his belt. The Treehouse podcast will also be featuring other members of our team, starting with lovely games guru Jenny episode one.
We hope you enjoy their efforts! If you like what you hear, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. If you have any feedback for us on the content, we’d love to hear from you via Facebook or Twitter, or by email at contact@treehousesheffield.com.
Parks was a monumental hit for Keymaster Games when it was released in 2019. We backed the original printing while on Kickstarter and it quickly became a game night staple. Parks is still one of my wife’s favorite games of all time.
The second edition of Parks was released this Spring and this box contains more than a minor facelift for this modern classic. In this review, I’ll cover some of the changes to the game and hopefully help you decide if this new edition should hike its way into your collection.
A Hike in the Woods
Throughout a game of Parks, players are hiking trails, collecting tokens that can be turned in to experience National Parks that roll out during the game. There are gear cards that help you along the way. Players can take photos that are worth victory points at the end of the game. In the original game, you would hike the trail a total of four times, with each trail being slightly longer than the last.
In Parks Second Edition, you can tell that time and experience has led to a tighter and more refined game. First off, the rulebook has been tweaked, refined and structured in a way that is easy to digest. Instead of taking four hikes on trails that grow throughout the game, players now hike three times on a trail that has a set number of spaces. The overall playtime doesn’t seem to be impacted and we never felt like we were missing out on the fourth hike of the game.
The trail is now built into the central board and the perks at each trail site are tied to tokens that are distributed before each round. You still get the variability, it just happens differently. Players are still given two hikers to walk the trail, with the ability to extinguish their campfire if you want to share a space with another hiker. Landing on a trail site lets you take the action on the token and collect any weather tokens that are available from the trails setup at the start of the round.
As you reach the trail’s end, you’ll get to determine what final action your hiker takes and gain a bonus if you’re the first to take that action. Once there is only a single player left on the trail, they proceed to the trail’s end to take their final action(s).
New Additions
In the six years since Parks original release, we’ve seen two different expansions that add new mechanics and depth to the game. Inside this second edition is a good chunk of the content from those two expansion. Some of the cards from the Wildlife expansion is present in the game as well as the camping mechanic from the Nightfall expansion. Keymaster Games has also included a specialty die that was part of the Trails game published in 2021.
Not every element from these expansions came over and I think this is a good thing. It feels like the best parts from each of these properties made the final cut. The Camping Mode is something that you can add into your game or leave out entirely. Your choice.
When your hiker lands on a trail site with a tent token, you can take the normal resources on the site or utilize the tent to take the resources on any open Campsite. Adding in this bonus content and rebalancing the game feels really good.
Players will notice a new Passions card in this new edition of the game. This replaces the goal cards from the previous edition and is given to players at the start of the game. Completing a Passions card allows the player to earn a gear effect or earn an end game bonus.
The Upgrades
Let’s talk about some of the upgrades that Parks Second Edition brings. First off, I really love the player boards that come with this new edition. These boards show a backpack representing the number of tokens you can carry along with your canteen on the left side of the board. Visually, these are excellent and the canteen mechanic has been revamped.
When gaining a canteen, players now add a token from the central board onto their player board. When you add water to your canteen, you can trigger the tokens in that row, earning those bonuses. This gives players more control and agency as they plan for future rounds. Each canteen has three rows, allowing for three different combinations of tokens that can be paired up.
The camera from the original Parks has been replaced with the Shutterbug token. This token gives the player holding it the ability to take a second photo each time they are given this opportunity.
Probably the most divisive change in this new edition has to be the art and illustrations on each of the sixty-three parks cards. The original game was built off of the Fifty-Nine Parks series. This series of art prints brought together some incredible artists that has raised more than $225,000 for National Parks since 2016. This artwork is beautiful, inspiring, and at times, inconsistent.
This artwork was part of a licensing deal that made Parks stand out within our hobby. While I loved the original art direction, I think that the artwork from Josh Emrich and Lisk Feng is stunning. As a package, the artwork and design works together so well. Each National Park card feels unique but there is a cohesiveness that wasn’t their in the original game.
Art is so subjective and every person will have an opinion on which version they prefer. I personally feel that this game is more consistent throughout because of the focused work of the two illustrators who worked on Parks Second Edition.
Final Thoughts
As a fan of the original Parks, this is an easy game to suggest for nature loving board gamers. I think the changes inside this box make sense as Keymaster Games moves away from licensing agreements that could challenge future printings and expansions of the Parks game line.
Parks Second Edition is a streamlined, well built, and cohesive game that improves on the original. The MSRP of $50 to $59 for this new edition may feel like a lot for a person who owns the original. The first edition of Parks is not broken and is still a fantastic game. More than anything, this new edition feels like an upgrade that is preparing for more Parks content in the future. That’s something I’m excited about.
After an emergency call from the leaders of the world, the team discuss the adorable area control game Bunny Kingdom, give some tips on teaching games to the uninitiated, and guest game guru Jenny Garner brings in Patchwork.
This came up last game I played. I purposely built Halicarnassus stages 2 and 3 both in age 3 with the expectation that I would be able to then play two cards from the discard at the end of age 3. Is that allowed?
Here’s the rulebook entry for Halicarnassus side b – doesn’t seem to restrict using two stage powers the same age?
The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
the first stage is worth 2 victory points and the player can look at
all of the cards discarded since the beginning of the game and build
one for free.
the second stage is worth 1 victory point and the player can look at
all of the cards discarded since the beginning of the game and build
one for free.
when they build the third stage, the player can look at all of the cards
discarded since the beginning of the game and build one for free.
Clarification : this special action is taken at the end of the turn in which the
stage is built. If players discard cards on that turn (for example, during the
6th turn of an age), the player can also choose from among those cards.
Illusions of Glory: The Great War on the Eastern Front (“IoG”) is a card-driven game simulating the First World War in eastern Europe. Its first edition was published by GMT Games in 2017 after the award-winning Paths of Glory, which simulated the entire war in Europe and the Near East in army/corps scale. IoG also came after the popular Pursuit of Glory, which focused on the war in the Near East and the Eastern Balkans in corps/division scale. IoG’s corps/division focus displays the relative strengths and weaknesses of the opposing armies in greater detail than an army/corps treatment does.
For those of you planning to attend this year’s ConsimWorld Expo in Tempe this July, you can attend a “Learn the Rules/Play the Game” Session and experience the upcoming Second Edition of IoG.
IoG Second Edition Mapboard
In IoG, the Allied Powers (“AP”) player brings massive forces to bear against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and their allies in the east while trying to avoid a game changing revolution in Russia. The Central Powers (“CP”) player must defeat Russia, hold off Italy, and win the upper hand in the Balkans or face demoralization and rebellion at home.
IoG Combat Unit Counters
Battlefield losses detrimentally affect the Troop Quality of major AP and CP combatants. Excessive troop losses and reinforcement call-ups will degrade their manpower pools and impair military capabilities. Territory losses may drain their National Will and cause domestic uprisings— which includes revolution in Russia’s case.
Strategy Cards give a player the choice of several actions—move units, make attacks, strategically redeploy, or rebuild damaged units. Each card also gives the player a choice between these actions and an historical event that provides a powerful and specific action (or combat advantage).
IoG Strategy Cards
Cards give the player Operations (OPS) Points to use in activating spaces containing his units for movement or attack. OPS Points can also be used to strategically redeploy units. OPS Points appear in the upper left-hand corner of the card. If they appear in a yellow square, the Event is played also. If they appear in a red square, the card is a Combat Card whose capability can be used in attack or defense.
Two OPS Points Used: One to Attack and One to Move
Separate sets of cards are provided to the AP and CP players. Each player increases his deck by elevating his War Status from Mobilization to Limited War, and then from Limited War to Total War. Since quite a few cards are discarded once their events are played, the momentum towards Total War builds as the game proceeds.
War Status Markers on the IoG General Records Track
There are Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring Turns representing 3 months apiece. However, this is where the similarity to Paths of Glory and Pursuit of Glory ends.
Turn Marker on the IoG Turn Record Track
IoG can be played by more than two players. With team play, the dynamics of player decision-making and interaction add an enjoyable social element to the game. While this might lengthen the game, the fun of negotiations between players is worth it!
The Impact of Cumulative Losses—“Troop Quality”:
IoG simulates the drain casualties have on available manpower and a nation’s officer corps. As Russian (“RU”), German (“GE”), Austro-Hungarian (“AH”), and Italian (“IT”) casualties mount, the drain on their national manpower reserves and officer corps is reflected by a Troop Quality Index.
Troop Quality Markers on the IoG General Records Track
Each of these Nations have a Troop Quality Marker that starts at a maximum value. When a GE, AH, RU, or IT corps is destroyed, the Troop Quality marker of that Nation moves –1 on the General Records Track (but the destroyed LCU can be rebuilt). When a GE, AH, RU, or IT corps is permanently eliminated, the Troop Quality marker of that Nation moves –1 on the General Records Track (and the eliminated LCU cannot be rebuilt). If a Strategy Card is played to bring GE, AH, RU, or IT reinforcements onto the mapboard, the Troop Quality marker of that Nation moves –2 on the General Records Track. These reductions will soon vex the affected player.
When the RU, IT, GE, or AH Troop Quality marker reaches “Poor Troop Quality”, reinforcements of that Nation are placed on the mapboard with a step reduction for each unit. Things do not get better—they can only get worse!
Political Considerations—“National Will”:
IoG simulates political upheaval in Germany and Austria-Hungary, in addition to Russia. The loss of home Victory Point spaces and Events may cause Rebellion to break out in Russia, Germany, or Austria-Hungary. These are represented by a National Will Index.
National Will Markers on the General Records Track
Each of these Nations has a National Will Marker that starts at a set value, moves -1 on the General Records Track for each home Victory Point space that it loses, and moves +1 for every home Victory Point space recaptured from enemy control. The National Will Level for each of those Nations is also affected by Events.
If downward movement of a National Will Marker reaches the “National Demoralization Level”, rebellion may break out in the that Nation. Rebellion is represented by placing two Uprising Units in that Nation during the Rebellion/Revolution Phase. Uprising Units can cut off supply to combat units, cause CP governments to collapse, and trigger the Russian Revolution.
Rebellion Markers in Petrograd and Pskov!
If all VP spaces in Austria-Hungary are occupied by Uprising Units in the War Status Phase, Austria-Hungary collapses and is out of the war. (Germany does not collapse.) If there is an Uprising Unit in Russia after the RUSSIAN FOOD RIOTS card is played, then comes the Russian Revolution . . . or does it? The RUSSIAN REVOLUTION card must still be played.
Strategy Cards Bringing the Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution—Maybe or Maybe Not:
IoG does not make success of the Russian Revolution inevitable. The game represents the revolution with a Russian Revolution Track having four Stages. During each of the following Rebellion/Revolution Phases, the Revolution Marker moves ahead one Stage on the Russian Revolution Track.
However, the Russian Revolution cannot advance Stages if all Uprising Units on the mapboard have been destroyed. This places Russia in a dilemma—either divert decreasingly effective combat units from facing the Central Powers or leave revolution back home unchecked.
As the Russian Revolution enters each Stage, the following occurs:
Revolution Stage 1: Russian reinforcement cards can no longer be played.
Revolution Stage 2: Russian units can no longer receive Replacement Points.
Revolution Stage 3: All full-strength Russian units are reduced one step.
Revolution Stage 4: All corps-sized Russian units are replaced by division-sized units.
The AP player can suppress the Russian Revolution entirely by playing a LONG LIVE THE TSAR! card when all Uprising Units are destroyed. After it is played, Russian reinforcement cards can again be played, and Russian combat units can again receive Replacement Points.
Strategy Cards Suppressing or Hastening the Russian Revolution
The revolution remains suppressed until the CP plays a FALL OF THE TSAR card when Uprising Units are again placed in Russia. The Russian Revolution restarts, but still cannot advance Stages if the AP player destroys all the RU Uprising Units on the mapboard before the next Rebellion/Revolution Phase.
A Russian Collapse Does Not Assure CP Victory:
The Central Powers must still fight Italian, British, French, and Serbian units capable of capturing Victory Point spaces. If the CP player presses his advantage against Russia too far by triggering a revolution, the AP can play the TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK card to end the Russian Campaign, send German units to the Western Front, and weaken the Central Powers’ ability to fight other AP armies in the East. The decision to play TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK as an Event is momentous because the AP player loses the use a card worth 5 OPS Points or, alternatively, 10 Replacement Points!
Although TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK takes Russia out of the war, it has another role to play against a CP victory. When the CP plays RUSSIAN WAR WEARINESS, the game comes closer to Armistice—and perhaps a CP victory-point win—at the end of each Turn. This effect is canceled by playing TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK.
In IoG’s Second Edition:
(1) The mapboard has been revised to show terrain effects on combat and place names more accurately. There are also more Victory Point spaces.
(2) Casualty and reinforcement card effects on Troop Quality have been moderated so that reinforcement step reductions do not occur until 1916, as is historically accurate.
(3) The player taking fire must apply as much of it as possible to his units using adaptable guidelines instead of clunky scripted procedures.
(4) A unit that is Out-Of-Supply can still move or attack, but its movement and attack strength are minimized.
(5) A unit that can only trace a supply line to Supply Sources of other friendly nations can still activate for movement or attack, but at a cost of one additional OPS Point.
(6) Only German, Austro-Hungarian, Italian, and Serbian units may attempt to build a Trench in a Mountain space, only one trench building attempt may be made per space in an Action Round, and entrenching is attempted by rolling a die. A unit can move or entrench in the same Action Round, but not both.
(7) A defending unit forced to end its retreat in an overstacked friendly space is not destroyed, but is reduced by one step and continues retreating to the nearest friendly-controlled space or region where it will not overstack.
(8) Defending units in Forest, Mountain, or Swamp spaces can reduce a two-space retreat by one space by taking a step loss from any of those units, but a one-space retreat from those spaces cannot be stopped except by Combat Card.
(9) Defending units in Trenches do not have to retreat, and a retreating unit taking a two-space retreat can stop if its first retreat space is a Trench.
(10) Reduced-strength units that take another step loss are destroyed and go into the Replaceable Units Box. Units destroyed by combat when Out-Of-Supply are permanently eliminated. Reduced-strength units that are Out-Of-Supply during the Attrition Phase are permanently eliminated. Reduced-strength units that are forced to retreat into or through a space that contains enemy units, an unbesieged enemy Fort, or an Uprising Unit are permanently eliminated.
(11) A unit can move or assemble/disassemble in the same Action Round, but not both.
(12) Division-sized units in the Replaceable Units Box that are rebuilt go immediately into the Reserve Box. They can use Strategic Redeployment to go from the Reserve Box onto the mapboard or they can use Strategic Redeployment to go from the mapboard into the Reserve Box.
(13) Units that move or retreat into neutral nations are immediately interned to the Replaceable Units Box, but Serbian and Montenegran units entering neutral Albania are not interned until the end of the Action Phase and may use Strategic Redeployment to leave neutral Albanian ports.
(14) If a nation’s National Will reaches the National Demoralization Level before the Rebellion/Revolution Phase, the opposing player can immediately place two Uprising Units in separate spaces and/or regions of that Nation.
(15) If a Strategy Card cannot be played for its Event, it can still be played for its War Status Points.
Conclusion:
These features create a play-balanced game that is relevant, fun, exciting, challenging, and tense. You will enjoy playing the Second Edition of Illusions of Glory: The Great War on the Eastern Front.
