Ankh-Morpork by Martin Wallace

[viscoos]

Hot off BGN

I'm a bit excited about this upcoming Martin Wallace game

I'm not a big fan of Discworld series, ang dami na kasing books I've only read Going Postal.  I am somewhat familiar with the lore.  I like his writing style, but I think its too much brit

I like Good Omens

anyway i'm looking forward to this game

[JayMata]

A board game set in the Discworld? Designed by Martin Wallace? I am so there! 

[Gaebril]

Awesome! I can't imagine what the game will be like. Will we be involved in the manufacture and distribution of sausages-inna-bun?

@viscoos: Sorry to hear that, but Going Postal is not a good first read since it's already in the "Terry Pratchett has Alzheimer's" era. I'd suggest (to everyone in general) to read Guards!/Men-at-arms/Feet of Clay to get a good feel of Ankh-Morpork.

[DJinn]

It almost had me with the "Each player has a secret personality with specific victory conditions" aspect, but I find it dubious/disappointing if it's just a "relatively simple: Play a card and do what it says" mechanic.

[viscoos]

I find it dubious/disappointing if it's just a "relatively simple: Play a card and do what it says" mechanic.

Battlelore/Battle for Westeros has the same mechanic well sort of

Ankh-morpork will be an area control, card-driven game and variable win conditions

haha im sure it will be deeper than that... i hope

[Talismanic (Mark)]

I'm a bit excited about this upcoming Martin Wallace game

I'm not a big fan of Discworld series, ang dami na kasing books I've only read Going Postal.  I am somewhat familiar with the lore.  I like his writing style, but I think its too much brit

I like Good Omens

anyway i'm looking forward to this game

The King's English or rather the Queen's still better than anyone else's out there. As a big fan of Monty Python, Dr. Who, and Terry Pratchett, I don't think anything can be too British.   

[Nychuus]

I'm pretty much sold on this as well...

[Adrian (the other one)]

I was sold on it, until I read a comment that Treefrog itself said on their website: "Ankh-Morpork will be the lightest game we've released so far."

I'll have to read the rulebook when it comes out, to see that I'm not buying Candyland set in the Discworld.

[Talismanic (Mark)]

Candyland set in the Discworld.

Ouch! 

[ClaroPaulo]

Im looking forward to this game I need to read more on the mechanics.. but on my want list for sure

[Talismanic (Mark)]

Okay, so I managed to get in two plays this evening and while the game is amusing and quite light, it also has some serious flaws that make me glad I am never playing it again. The main problem is if you play this with any fairly competent gamers, the game tends towards a deadlock with no one being able to complete their victory condition and eventually the deck runs out and the game ends. But, in a stroke of great game design one of the characters has as his secret objective to win that if the deck does run out he wins and no scoring takes place. Brilliant!

But what if you play without that character, well the game is certainly more playable as you removed a major "luck of the draw" element, but that defeats the design of the game and makes certain cards unplayable.

Moreover, the other characters whose objectives are not "control X areas" tend to have objectives that cannot be pursued directly and are rather difficult to do indirectly. Lord Ventinari needs to spread out his minions and be present in a majority of areas, but the moment you do, your minions start to get slain. Cryophase who needs to collect 50 dollars is similarly difficult to pursue due to the random events and cards that destroy buildings that you will need to build to get a steady income. Also The dragon king who needs 7a trouble markers on the board is very easy to thwart, it's ridiculous, because it is a dead giveaway when trouble markers are plentiful that other players will just start to get rid of them.

Honestly, the game depends on playing with inattentive people. And not gamers who monitor the board and point out when anyone is even remotely near to achieving a victory condition. Even better, play with some a$$ who actually takes turns for other players in placing  pieces just to thwart you- good job!

The theme of the game is so so, it's nice to see the ensemble cast and large bevy of characters of disc world on cards, though they are generally variations on the same actions. Certainly YMMV depending on the group, but I would rather read about disc world than play this ever.

[Adrian (the other one)]

I would rather read about disc world than play this ever.

Ouch sir.   My feelings are hurtz.

[JayMata]

Been reading about it on BGG. Maybe its because we are still new to the game, but they don't seem to have a problem with the personality balance. It's a consensus that Dragon King is the hardest to win with Cryophase the easiest (?!). Like London, I believe the game gets more strategic the more familiar you are with the cards (I'm already beginning to see certain patterns in the deck). I agree too with the BGG posters that a big portion of the game is FOOLING people into believing you are a certain personality so that they "eliminate" one type of personality so they begin ignoring it.

[Talismanic (Mark)]

Been reading about it on BGG. Maybe its because we are still new to the game, but they don't seem to have a problem with the personality balance. It's a consensus that Dragon King is the hardest to win with Cryophase the easiest (?!). Like London, I believe the game gets more strategic the more familiar you are with the cards (I'm already beginning to see certain patterns in the deck). I agree too with the BGG posters that a big portion of the game is FOOLING people into believing you are a certain personality so that they "eliminate" one type of personality so they begin ignoring it.

sure, a player can try to fool the others but at some point he or she has to attempt a winning play which is a dead giveaway as any attentive player will know. As to cryophase, i can see that it might be easy to amass money provide you have buildings to do it, but playing him can readily run afoul of the many random events in the game. Though it is hard to take money away from other players. In the majority of games with reasonably good players no one will be able to control x areas, place 7a markers, or spread out x minions. Thus the most likely contenders will be money if no one blocks the engine and commander vimes. Hence, it will be luck of the draw. Thus i would rather play jenga

[Adrian (the other one)]

Thus i would rather play jenga