This upcoming game night Friday Night Dice will not just be featuring a single game, but rather a trilogy of games by acclaimed designer Stefan Field.
Field has become a behemoth in the tabletop gaming community by producing a plethora of quality Euro games (Euros are games that focus on resource management, worker placement, development, and/or trade). Generally Fields games are distinguished by interesting ways of forming your 'actions' which culminate in a vast array of methods to scoring Victory Points. His games are certainly not known for their themes, with some gamers complaining they are simply 'pasted on,' however, he has brilliant gameplay and fluid mechanics. Personally I find the theme complaints shallow as the ones used are more than adequate and even if they're a bit light, the gameplay itself more than makes up for it.
The three games that will be featured are Castles of Burgundy, Trajan, and Bora Bora - his three highest rated games at Boardgamegeek.com (and also the only ones owned by members of our group).
Bora BoraBora Bora is a game themed in the tropical island of (you guessed it) Bora Bora. In it you are the head of a clain of tribal peoples trying to be the most influential of the island.
The unique action system in Bora Bora involves rolling dice and placing them on various actions. The catch is that you can only but dice on an action if it is lower than all of the dice already present. Additionally, the higher your dice number, generally the better the action becomes. This creates a lot of tense decisions as you ponder using your low dice first to ensure the action you need and block other from it, but risking not being able to use your high dice at all.
In addition you will be hiring tribesmen and tribeswomen with certain specialties that subsequently give you actions. Like all of Fields games there is more to do than you can accomplish.
The smooth, albeit somewhat complex mechanics, create a very enjoyable games with a lot of decisions. This is probably his most complicated game we'll play and while the rules can be a bit hard to grasp at first, by the end of you'll be ready to play again with a more cemented strategy.
Rahdo Runs Bora Bora:
Ryan Metzler Reviews Bora Bora:
Castles of Burgundy is Stefan Field's highest rated game on Boardgamegeek.com (as of this post #12).
In it you are Renaissance Aristocrats trying to develop the nicest land in the region (again, the theme is light, but vaguely present). To do this you will build buildings, develop livestock, and trade goods.
Like Bora Bora, you use dice to take actions. In this one each action has different 'depots' and the dice only allow you take goods from the depot you rolled. I.E. If I want the cows in #1 I need to roll a 1. There are ways of altering these dice rolls and manipulating the actions so that further actions occur.
This is his least complicated game we will play and my wife's favorite strategy game of all time. It is very fluid and very enjoyable. Even if you lose you'll feel like you did something.
Rahdo Runs Castles of Burgundy:
Ryan Metzler's Review of Castles of Burgundy:
TrajanTrajan is the newest of these three games to be released and while not as high as Burgundy on BGG, it is considered by many to be Field's finest game. It is my personal favorite (and will be the one I play as well as teach).
In this one you are leaders during the reign of Caesar Trajan at the height of the Roman Empire. Through architecture, trade, military conquest, and clever beurocratic negotation you are tasked with becoming the most prestigous - as with all Field games, this will be measured in victory points.
Trajan features an incredibly unique action sequence. As you can see in the picture, each player will have a board similar to a Mancala game. You will pick a 'bowl' of cylinders and one at a time lay them out in clockwise order in the other bowls. Whichever one you end on, that's the action you pick. If the "Trajan" tile's requirements are met (the two colors shown are in the bowl whose action you are taking) you get a bonus action that round.
It is a fascinating and fun mechanic that brings a high level of enjoyability to the game. Choices about and there are several ways to win this game. Again, it is my personal favorite of the three.
Rahdo Runs Trajan:
Ryan Metzler's Review of Trajan:
All of these games feature 2-4 players and will take about 2 hours. Either my wife or I will teach them to everyone playing and will be on hand to answer any questions.
And as always there will be other games available if none of these suit your fancy!
Blessings!
-Lee Nicholas
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