Wolfie!
Ted, Jacqui and I got in a game of Beowulf tonight. [Inclement weather, sigh ...] It made a good first impression. Not great, but I think I'm going to fall into the "Don't mind the luck" camp. Despite having a similar feel (and mechanics) to Lord of the Rings, a very differen game. In LotR, players cooperate to handle the vicissitudes of events. [You know that you'll see the events, and the order ... but how long do you have?] Here you know the exact order of the events, but you have to manage your cards. Both games deal with managing risks, but in different ways. No full review, but I'm thinking about it.
Part of my thinking is that it was very gracious of me to let everyone else win. And I do mean everyone, since ties split the victory. Definitely want to play again; I'm interested to see how it plays with different numbers. Two players should be ... odd.
posted by Brian @ 8:43 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Good Time, Good Game
Enjoyed the game and the hospitality Wed night. When I got home, I put most of my d6 into the game bag. Thanks for the gift!
I like Beowulf, and I'm anxious to play some more. I think different numbers of players would be pretty interesting, although 2 seems like a stretch.
Game Description
The theme is cool, IMO, and the theme is unusually strong for a Knizia game, although it's still a bit thin compared with other games. The theme helps it feel like an RPG.
At the abstract level it's largely an auction game, but many of the rewards are not easy to quantify. You win cards or gold, which might eventually help you win fame (VP). During various points you have the option to take risks. If you "win" the risk, you get a minor benefit; if you "lose" the risk, you get a minor penalty.
RPG-like boardgame
The really cool thing is that the abstract portion really supports the theme and RPG quality. It was reading Chris Farrell's review on BGG that helped me sort this out. Chris points out that you are constantly making decisions with unclear outcomes. You mostly don't have an auction directly for VP, you try to win things that win other auctions that eventually get you fame (VP). That means you have to make subjective evaluations in the context of uncertainty, which is a lot like life and therefore a lot RPGs.
The best strategy is probably to take calculated risks, and not to be afraid to suffer some downside.
The game is scripted, unlike life or an RPG, but I think the replay value will be decent. The cards add an element of chance, and the rest of the group also impacts you a lot.
A neat game, and I'm looking forward to more plays.
I've only read a few comments on Beowulf, but they've all been positive. Am I mistaken that it's a cooperative game? I was sure I had seen that someplace, but all the descriptions of gameplay suggest that is very much not the case.
I was pleased to see that Antike didn't get played last night, since that means that the odds of it being played at a later date when I am present are greater. :)
Beowulf is not cooperative, but it has a "cooperative air" about it. It is similar to Knizia's LofR which is cooperative. Also, it's got a quasi cooperative feel in the sense that everyone progresses through the 'adventures' exactly together.
The competitive part is that in each 'adventure' (fight Grendel, search for the sea hag), people will fare differently based on how they play their cards. Fighting typically takes "fighting" and "bravery" cards, while searching requires "cunning" and "navigation". If you contribute to the most to a given adventure, you get the best reward (win the auction).
It's worth mentioning that most of the adventures/auctions don't have a purely bad reward. It's typically something like "take a scratch [small wound] and get two cards", while a really good prize might be 5 VP.
I remember being pretty excited about beowulf before it came out. That enthusiasm slowly waned and pretty much disappeared after reading a few reviews and comments. My understanding is that its like LotR competitively which is weird because as much as I love LotR, its a game of controlled randomness and luck. Make that multi-player head to head and it seems like it just wouldn't work.
Of course its Knizia we're talking about here. He's the king of making a concept that seems boring or lame and making it unusually fun and addictive (I believe he may have sold his soul to the gaming gods). Reading the rules to Blue Moon, I was almost positive that I had purchased the worst game ever.
Now Blue Moon is firmly in my number one game slot.
Simon said:
"LotR ... [is] a game of controlled randomness and luck"
I've never played LotR, but Beowulf is largely a game of controlled randomness and luck. The key element here is controlled, and that's what has me so excited right now.
You cannot calculate exactly what is going to happen, like you can in chess, but you do have a lot of information about the probabilities and likely requirements. You have plenty of range for planning. For example, given that you have only a little cunning available, and considering that the next several adventures all require cunning, should you take a risk to get some? Do you need to be top in the next few adventures? Maybe you should bluff on the first and conserve all your cunning for the second?
What's so interesting to me philosophically, is that the situation is too complex to be calculated exactly, or maybe my brain is just too small. Instead of trying to calculate things out, you have to base your decisions on intuition and judgement. IMO, these are some of the highest forms of reasoning.
I may change my mind on this final point, but I think this is a highly strategic game with low tactics, which is a strange combination. What I mean is that you need a big picture plan (strategy), but attempting to calculate move-response-move (tactics) is virtually impossible. You are stuck with general principles. More often you see games where the tactical considerations trump big picture planning.
Deep Ted. Reading all this makes me hurt because I know I won't be gaming with y'all until after 12/26. For now I'll just dream about playing Beowulf....
The dragon began to belch out flames and burn bright homesteads; there was a hot glow hat scared everyone, for the vile sky-winger would leave nothing alive in his wake....
I totally love LoTR and really like Arkham Horror, and so I was looking forward to another cooperative game, especially one with the theme of Beowulf and by Knizia. Like others, I quickly pushed it down below my must-by threshold once I read the decidedly mixed reviews and read over the rules. I'm still wary, but looking forward to giving it a try.
Cool, I'm not the only one with Blue Moon fever! What a great game that is.
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