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| Issue 5 | November 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The contents for this issue are:
It has been an extremely busy month. For those living in some world where the concept of time is all relative, its Uncle October, which means new academic year, more students, and the like. As part of my job I give tutorial in C programming for our students, this being the only second year I have done it. Last year was fine, and this year was supposed to be about the same: 9am - noon every Monday giving two tutorial classes, which mainly mean helping individuals, rather than a 'taught' tutorial. Over the semester they are given three assignments which I also do the marking for. Last year this worked out fine, apart from the few cases of students handing work in several weeks late and expecting an almost immediate mark when by which time I was usually in the middle of some different task. Now you probably think what's a few days? Well a few days late would not mind but it was usually weeks! Several students handed work in after the Christmas holidays, just before the first semester ends. We do not have a policy of zero-marking, just a penalty system. So I would mark these programs with the students getting around 18 out of 20 (the programming is fairly simple so it is easy to get full marks), which would then be reduced by a late penalty depending on how late they were - in the case of the very late ones to about 2 out of 20!
This year the work load has increased quite a bit, since I have been asked to do sets of notes for them (at this rate I will be teaching it in a couple of years! Just about the time when I will be applying for a lectureship post, with the increase in salary it accompanies. Our department is expanding continuously - a lecturer from computing got the lectureship post that came up about five months ago; another lecturer transferred from our parent department a couple of months ago; we took on two research assistants last month; and another two lectureship posts are available; with the interviews under way at the moment.). I produced one set of notes (four sides of A4 - they are only supplemental notes), and was then asked to produce a second set, this time on graphics functions. After they were completed, in double quick time (I was given three days to do them!!) I was asked to put them on hold, because the students were not ready. This was the fourth week of the classes by which time they should understand the basics, but most of them did not. A typical example is a student came up to me, one lunch time, with a problem about the first assignment [The first assignment is a set of very simple problems, including one that asks for two numbers and outputs them in ascending order]. The student explained his problem like "I am having a problem with this question. You have asked us to produce a program that reads in two numbers and outputs them in ascending order. You have given us an example program that reads in two number, adds them together and out puts the sum, but you haven't shown us how to put them out in ascending order." Those amongst you who can program will probably have tears streaming with laughter, for the rest I shall explain: programming is about problem solving, in this case you take the example program and instead of adding numbers you compare them. It turns out that although there had been two weeks of tutorial classes, he had not been to any yet.
Well it is now past the deadline, its now 7pm, so a quick chat before I get ready to go out. This week, like most of October, has been extremely busy although for a change I got away by 5pm. Most of the zine is ready, with just the rest of this page to fill and the last four pages (games & back page). I managed to resist spending 400 on upgrading my computer to a pentium, even though I went into the trade desk and looked at the prices. I really need more hard disk space, since I want to succumb to the evils of Windows 95, but I am still recovering from the large wallet dent called summer holidays. Though I guess three figure sums on credit cards will be small change to some of you. Since I already have a hard disk and CD-ROM drive, then purchasing a new hard disk is not an option unless I upgrade the motherboard (which if I am doing, then may as well be up to pentium level). I will most likely opt for getting an I/O Zip drive, which means I can back up my current drive before wiping it and installing Win95 in a minimalist version. It also will be highly useful because of its portability: on the World Wide Web will be free applications, which may well be 10MB, which means trying to put it on eight or so standard 3.5" floppy disks.
I am always on the look out for new subscribers and willing to send off free samples, since the best advert for the zine, is the zine itself. The obvious problem is getting the zine's existence known about. In this, it has occurred to me that there is an untapped resource, you lot. Many of you probably play in games in other zines, most likely with people who do not know of GAME. Well I wonder if you have mentioned GAME to these people? In your next letter you could give them your opinion of the zine, and if they want to see a copy, then all they need to do is write, phone, or email me, and I will pop a copy in the post to them
Well it's Sunday morning, the zine is finished, and I am glad to report there has been no Diplomacy NMR's. Yesterday afternoon after I had finished adjudicating the games, I went off to have a look at the IO Zip drives, and purchased one from Maplins. One evening, or next weekend I will back up my hard drive and install Win95. I have licensed version, which was given to me by someone who has gone to WindowsNT, just in case you were wondering.
Cheers
Nic
Mark Stretch, Kidlington.
You know, you have a rare talent. You have now managed to get Dave Horton to agree with me twice - what can I say? I'm shocked.
NC: For my next trick I will get Richard Sharp (the right wing editor of Dollocks-bross) to agree with Spring Offensive editor Stephen "Labour-Lovie" Agar. Maybe that's too much to hope for, and so I should settle for getting Comrade Kim Head (Life's Rich Propoganda) to believe that Chris Palm is a moderate!
Simon Langley-Evans: well where do I start? I don't make a habit of objecting to house rules. Other than GAME, I don't recall doing it anywhere else in the past five years.
NC: So you thought you may as well go to town? First you object to mine, and then to my first external GM. Maybe I will ask you to GM a game, and then you can write it to object to your own. Seriously though, I tend to look at House or Variant rules and if I do not like them I do not play. That said I obviously do not mind discussing them in the letter column, what budding zine editor wouldn't when they are faced with blank pages poking out between covers of the zine that just refuse to be pulled together (asking the zine to breath in doesn't work!). In Diplomacy on the Internet many games have the comment "if you don't like the rules, don't sign on" attached to waiting lists. Although this is usually for minor changes on the standard game, such as whether the game is DIAS/NoDIAS (Draws Include All Survivors), what type of press is allowed, or how far appart the deadlines are; people (or maybe just Americans??) tend to sing on and then ask for the rules to be changed!
As GM, Simon has the perfect right to run the game any way that he likes. However, he might find it difficult to obtain players, which are after all the life blood of any zine. I for one see no reason to play under Simon's rules, when there are better places to play under sensible rules.
NC: Define better places!!! Actually Dave Horton's subzine almost moved to GAME, so there would have been two choices for Intimate - though how would I process someone who mearly asked to be put on an ID list?
Oh, and who on earth came up with this idea that it is meant to be a simulation. It is no more a simulation than chess is. It is an abstract game that happens to be played on a map of Europe.
NC:Err, I think it was described as meaning simulating the standard game
Will you be able to keep your turnaround up when your size increases. When running games at university, I could turn everything round in an hour. OMR's too big for that sort of thing.
NC:I hope to. I try and have all but the games ready by the deadline, so then I only have the games section to do, and the final bit of pulling everything together. Diplomacy and most variants do not take long at all and so far the "other" games are fine. My aim is that if a lot of non Dip games come into the zine they will be mainly done by outside GM's and will have longer deadlines (six week turns with three week turnarounds; thus they will be published bi-issue-ly, and will not affect the main turnaround.
Simon Langley-Evans, Southampton.
Thanks a lot for GAME 4 - a good read as ever. For your letter column in GAME 5 you can include this final word on the ID rules, and I mean FINAL.
NC: I am not sure just saying it is the final word, will mean it will be! These zine and sub-zine editors are a stuborn lot - besides, I am sure we can spin it out for another few issues yet. Such as what if both players stab the same power? If it is in the same turn, does this mean neither side can have the mercenary in the future? What if the first player stabbed the power one season and the other player did so next season, does the mercanery still stay with the second player or does it say "sod you lot" and storm off taking the game board with them!
The infamous treachery rule was compared to a stab in the 7 player game, that might produce a permanent freeze in relations between two powers. The counter argument to this was that players may negotiate an end to their differences, appologise, grovel, forgive and forget. Ideally this is true, and it is a bad player who will not forgive a stab. I'd argue that the opportunity to do so is actually quite rare. Either a stab is executed well and results in the stabbed player being wiped out, or it results in a long and protracted battle. At the end of this the players may agree not to fight on any further, but active cooperation in an alliance against another power often will not occur. In my years of playing postal dip, I think I've managed to come to a peaceful settlement with people I've botched a stab against only once and people who've stabbed me have either done me in, or not even bothered to try and negotiate a peace, even when I've approached them.
NC: I should have put the comments from the previous paragraph here really! It is a pity I am not using a sophisticated word processor instead of just a fine tip pen, placing dots on paper, trying to emulate a bubble-jet printer!
Which brings me on to another issue.... Why do people play postal dip if they can't be bothered to write? I've noticed recently some people don't even write in Spring 1901. More than half of the pleasure in playing dip is the negotiating, wheeling and dealing and downright dishonesty and you can't be a good player by not doing this. Regular writers are few and far between now though and I'm starting to think that anyone who writes to me in a game must be honest (thats asking for it!) or they wouldn't waste the time and the price of a stamp.
NC: I have been in games where I have written to players for each of the first five or six seasons without getting any reply, before giving it up as a bad job. It also seems to be certain people who are constant re-offenders. I guess the only way around this is to put a previso on your request to go on a list that you do so so long as certain people are not on the list.
John Langley Nottingham.
NC: First I will explain this is a letter John sent me on email after a couple of letters, when I found out he worked in the Library. Just to set the scene, that is.... incase you were baffled by the first line.... I suppose I could have included the other letters too, but didn't..... Anyway here's the letter.
As to "minding the books", well I don't do much of that. My job is teaching the computers to mind the books!
NC: I wondered what those computers on trollies were doing wondering down the the bookcases when I was last in our library ;-)
Ah yes, I expect they were cataloguing using the new Scan-O-Matic bar code system. You'd be suprised how much computing there is in library work these days. There are those who say it will all be computers soon - why do we need books when we've got the Web?
NC: You have obviously not tried to read one on a screen then? I have 20" high resolution monitors, and even they cause eye strain!
For example: According to this piece of paper on my desk "Chris Partridge reports on the mind boggling prospect of sending solid objects through cyberspace" (The Times August 1996). I'm asking our computing centre why they aren't yet able to offer this over existing Campus TCP/IP connections? Be clear - this is an important development:
Recent work on the Library's Information Strategy demands that we consider ways of making the Library a "one-stop shop" for all the readers' information needs (including books if they really feel the need for that sort of thing). In order to make room for all the new PCs that we'll need, the Librarian has asked us to store all the books in stacks in the University Sports hall.
Users would then view "virtual shelves" through the new Library VR Web OPAC whilst sitting in an expanded version of the Library Coffee Bar (which is where I know from personal experience that most students do their work in the Library). This would cover, ultimately, the whole of the Main Library, and Subject Librarians would find a new role in acting as coffee counter supervisors, and in "waking up" those who had forgotten where/who/what they are.
Books would then be transmitted via the cysberspace link from the Sports Hall to the Porter's Station, where the readers could pick them up on their way out. The Library Computer would automatically register the transaction and (with the AI "Deep Thought" options in version 9.33 that the sales rep announced in his 6 hour presentation last week: "Library Computing for the Millennium - the future of Virtual ParaGliding in a structure-rich semiotic hyper-environment") the DEC Omega would send a VR message to readers holding overdue books. This would become progressively more intrusive according to the time that the book was overdue. Thus at Warning Level One the orang-utang would be quite small and cuddly, but at Warning Level Three he would obscure most of the reader's viewpoint, and would look _very_ cross. After this the AI unit could decide exactly when to beam the book back to the Sports Hall - right out of the reader's hands if necessary.
There are a few things we'll need to discuss at the next Library Systems Team Meeting:
There are reports that Windows 2001 ("Huddersfield") won't support proper routing of cyberspatial object link embedding and that in the tests they did in Bristol they found that some books got returned either with the text printed in reversed (mirror) type, or with the author's name changed to "William Gates". This causes havoc with the Authority File, and most of Cataloguing have put in for early retirement.
Our Training Officer is to give a training session on setting Circulation Parameters- how to get the orang-utan to be polite to Professors. She will need Virtual Seminar Room 3, could the Counter Supervisor's PCs be set up to give them a dual boot option to enter separate realities as required?
Also the Senior Networking Information Officer's new machine has arrived and he may ask for more help with the set up. Apparently the first time he tried it with the new AI voice recognition chip it was OK, but since he tried using it to attend that VR conference in Rio "Libraries in Computers 2003 understanding why we still need readers", it's been sulking because it thought it should go by itself and just says "Whaddya think I am, a blinking coffee machine" whenever he asks it to write the Annual Report.
I told him he'd be better off using Virtual DOS...
NC: Thanks for that John, a nice round off to a shorter than usual letter column.
by Richard Scholefield
They reckon that Bletchley Park (BP) saved an additional three years warfare in World War II. I believe they are correct.
During the war the Germany had to send many coded messages to its forces and these had to be sent in code. Our intelligence services realised that these codes could be broken and therefore the intentions of Germans would be known before they happened and we could react. Early on in the war Sir Winston Churchill set up Bletchley Park (BP) to intercept and break these codes. On the whole they were successful.
Enigma was the coding machine and Ultra was the name given our intelligence service that broke the codes.
The Enigma machine was like a type writer but with lights. When the user pressed a key, say for example 'P' then the letter 'S' might light up. However, when the 'P' was pressed a second time a different letter would light up. Every time a letter was typed into the Enigma machine the code would change. I understand the basic system is still used today to send coded messages by radio.
Enigma, if used properly by the Germans in W.W.II would have been unbreakable if the operators of the Enigma Machines had not been careless. In enciphering the messages the operators were told to repeat the beginning of a message. This and other operator habits enabled the codes to be broken. However, sometimes the codes took many days to break and the information reached our forces in the field too late.
There was however, times when the codes were broken quickly. Hitler once sent a message to Rommel in North Africa and Montgomery got the message before Rommel because Rommel's was slightly delayed.
They believe that at some moments during the war BP knew more about the intentions and positions of German units than Hitler did.
The Poles knew of the Enigma Machine back in the early 1930's and broke the early codes before the war started. Some of the Poles managed to get out of Poland and into France when Poland was invaded . Later when France was invaded a very brave Frenchman named Col. Bertrand brought an Enigma Machine back from France. This with other vital information enabled the British to break the codes early on in the war.
Bletchley Park claims to have significantly affected the Battle of Britain by breaking the codes and informing the RAF how many German Bombers to expect and where the targets were. Codes changed every day and it was a race to break the codes quickly in order to inform our intelligence people of the intended German movements etc. Some codes may have been broken early in the day and if they were not this placed pressure on the staff of BP because they new there may have been considerable consequences if they were not successful.
There were 12,000 people working in Bletchley Park at the height of operations. There were 7,000 people working on the code breaking etc. together with 5,000 support staff.
Bletchley is at the 'cross-roads' of railways. I believe people commuter by train from places like Oxford, Bedford, Northampton, Leighton buzzard, and Cambridge.
The stress imposed on the staff of Bletchley Park must have been tremendous as they were not allowed to talk to anyone about their work except those colleagues they directly worked with. They worked in cold wooden huts in eight hour shifts - 0600 - 1400; 1400 - 2200; and 2200 - 0600. For the majority of them the work was not very exciting.
All employees were paid directly from the Foreign Office and all signed the official Secrets Act before they really knew what they would be working on. So, everything that happened in BP was most secret and people did not know what others were doing just across the corridor from their place of work. On one occasion a young girl told an admin. assistant what she did and received a severe dressing down.
It was not until 1976 that the slow truth about BP came out and then only slowly as most of the people who worked there were still under the oath of the Official Secrets Act.
The German Morse messages were picked up by radio stations around BP and then taken to be deciphered within the Park. In helping to build Milton Keynes I remember building a housing estate over one of these radio stations. At the time we had no idea what this radio station was. In fact I do not believe the people working in the radio station during the war knew. Everything was most secret.
The novel Enigma by Robert Harris is a good read and goes a long way to explaining the goings on at Bletchley.
Events such as the sinking of the Bismarck, the Turpitz and many other German ships was, for the most part, down to BP. My Uncle was in the RAF and was being brought back to England from Malta by the Cruiser HMS Kenya. At Gibraltar it was ordered to co-ordinates in the middle of the Atlantic to intercept a German U Boat supply ship called the Kota Penang. The Kenya went to the co-ordinates specified and launching its spotter aircraft to locate the German ship found it and opened fire on it at 12,000 yards. My Uncle witnessed the sinking of the Kota Penang from above the Kenya's bridge. The date was October 3rd 1941 and they were some 750 miles off the coast of Spain. My Uncle says the Kota Penang caught fire and blew up. HMS Kenya then sped away to avoid any German submarines that might have still been in the area and in doing so broke the its previous top speed.
At the time my Uncle Ronald was unaware that BP had supplied the information and I am sure no one on board the Kenya knew the truth. They were just told it was spies!
Many other German ships were lost through the good work of Bletchley Park. Unfortunately there were occasions when the codes were not broken. The 'channel dash' made by Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Printz Eugen on 11 February 1942 was one of the occasions when BP did not break the codes until three days after the event. The channel dash was when three German ships sailed successfully up though the English channel in day light.
It is believed that BP had a big input into the breaking of Japanese codes and in doing so highly influenced the out come of the battle of Midway. As a little extra interest to that there is a story of Japanese lesson being given in a crash course in Bedford because of the small number of Japanese speaking Britons around at the time.
No radio messages were ever sent out from BP because with radio directional finding the enemy would have found BP. All the outgoing messages left by motor cycle dispatch riders in all whether.
Here are some other interesting facts about Bletchley Park.
Where did the pigeons fly back to that were given to the French resistance ? - Bletchley Park.
I understand Churchill spent sometime at BP and had a flat at the back off the main house.
The 'D Day' landings or a part of them, were planned at BP.
There were 40 motor cycle dispatch riders arriving at BP every hour.
Only one bomb ever dropped on BP and this landed harmlessly just SE of the gate where the motorcycles dispatch riders came in. This was by accident as the Germans never suspected what went on in Bletchley Park.
The first computer was in BP. And it has recently been rebuilt.
By the end of 1942, BP was reading some 4,000 German high grade signals and smaller numbers of Italian and Japanese signals.
Published by Gold Sieber Designed by Klaus Teuber
Reviewed by Mike Siggins
2-4 Players About 60 mins
If there was one game announced at Nuremburg that had everyone itching to play, it was this one. Klaus Teuber has enjoyed a phenomenal string of successes in recent years, so the gamers, and the pundits, were waiting for yet another winner. Sadly, Entdecker isn't going to fit the bill. And rest assured this is not another Siggins vs Siedler situation, it's just that the game doesn't have much going for it. It is I believe designed purely as a family game: entertaining, fun, and marginally involving, but luck oriented, low on skill and never managing to shift out of second gear.
Entdecker is a game about exploration, and the game promises much in this respect. The board depicts a large area of the Pacific, gridded with squares. The players represent explorers trying to map the entire area, and to be first to discover new islands. Exploration is depicted by drawing and placing square tiles on the map. These might show open sea, or coastlines of islands varying in size and shape. All of the tiles have exploration routes marked on them, but sometimes these are one way - into a dead end. Other tiles are marked with question marks which as well as the usual geography, generate a random event. The player's task is to follow the exploration routes and find as much land as he can. When land is discovered, you can place units (scouts, forts, settlements) on the island in the hope that when the island is fully discovered you will hold the majority of units and score victory points - the bigger the island, and the 'finds' (potatoes, breadfruits etc) - the more points. As players explore, the map gradually fills and each island is resolved in turn. Victory points tick up around the side of the board, and when the map is full, the winner is determined. In our experience, all this takes an hour or less.
In more detail, players are given gold to start and everyone gets the same income top up each turn. Tiles cost gold to buy, and you can choose how many you explore in a turn - money permitting. Units cost money as well, and have the added benefit of requiring a payment if another player starts his turn from a tile you occupy. Exploration is simply a matter of taking a tile, seeing if it is legally playable (ie matching land to land, sea to sea on all sides) and then moving the ship onto it before drawing again. Your turn ends when there are no more exploration routes, you choose to buy and place a unit or you have used all the tiles you bought. You can choose any part of the map to start your turn, as long as there are unexplored areas and routes to them. In play, the players move in from the edges of the map, usually taking great leaps into the void initially. As each explorer places tiles, the sea and islands start to take shape, constricting movement and options, but providing 'forward' jump off points for later expeditions. Some islands will be tiny, but useful for the odd point, while others show signs of covering the whole map - at first it feels like you have found Australia, but with experience you find that they will invariably turn out to be many smaller ones instead. Throughout the game, you are looking to place your important, but scarce and expensive, units and make sure you are the player who completes the island so you can claim the 'find'.
I think I'd be right in saying that this isn't a bad sounding game. It has all the right ingredients for a tactical challenge, has a good theme and the mechanisms work well. Where it goes awry is having next to no interaction, a rudimentary skill element and, worst, a large dollop of luck. This latter manifests itself in both the drawn tiles, the 'finds' and the island formations. If you start the turn needing to move in from the edge of the map, or explore around an existing island, and happily lay out four gold pieces for four tiles, there is a more than average chance that you'll get a tile that either ends your turn, or takes you in the opposite direction from that desired. To an extent, you go with the flow, and everyone fills the map up pretty randomly. It doesn't feel like this, but that is what happens. Even buying just one tile doesn't help as the luck element is still there, and you just move slower. The random events are equally basic. If you take one, and eventually you'll have to, there is a 50% chance of a good event, and 50% bad. Admittedly you can usually take these as the last action in a turn, minimising the bad ones, but even so one player in our game found three treasure chests full of gold, and all I got was storms and revolting natives. Finally, because there is precious little skill or logic to island formation, as we've seen, the islands just seem to form in their own sweet way. You can sit there and decide whether to put a fort on, in the vain hope you'll be on the right land mass, but you may as well flip a coin.
All this would be fine if the net result gave you any interesting decisions to make to cosmetically temper the luck. It doesn't. Unless you are intellectually challenged, it is 99% obvious where to explore next, and deciding how many tiles to buy, or whether to build a settlement, is predictable stuff. About the only aspects that will give you any cause for thought are preserving money - which is scarce to say the least - and trying to work out whether an island will be a huge one, with mucho victory points, or a desert island worth but two. All this might be excusable if the game had any sense of real exploring, but again it doesn't. The sole atmospheric element is the gradual uncovering of the islands, with the formations of land, straits and lagoons providing a mild aesthetic diversion. But not for long. Again though, as I believe the game is targeted at the family audience, we need to make allowances here and not criticise the game, too much, for what it is. It does at least work.
Sadly though, for gamers, the only other saving grace, interaction, is also non-existent. Apart from the race element in trying to discover and control the most islands, there is next to no interaction between players. Events happen to you and you alone, you explore alone and there is nothing you can do to actively affect your rivals. For this reason it hardly matters if you are playing with 4, 3 or 2. Indeed, the best game we had was a two player session which not only moved along quicker, but had a much closer result the luck element carries right on through to the victory podium. The only vaguely interesting choice is placing your units, either as claims on a hopefully large island, or as 'blockers' to prevent a rival following in your footsteps.
As one might expect with a Gold Sieber/Teuber game, the components are of a very high standard and even at UK prices, it represents good value for what you get in the box. Of course, one has to take gaming value into account as well, and here the game cannot be worth #25 of a gamer's money. Given the subject matter, I am not surprised to find that the rules have a few holes. The biggest problem is deciding on how to fill out areas of the map that are surrounded (ie can't be explored) because depending on which order you put the provided 'filler' tiles in, the surrounding islands take on different characteristics. So, while you thought you might have put a fort on a rival's island, when it comes to be completed you are in fact linked to another land mass... Again, the luck element.
Entdecker is a game that, I'm sure, will fit right into the German family market and will no doubt be a good seller for GoldSieber. What it isn't is a game you, as gamers, should get too excited about and almost certainly should play rather than buy. Like Siedler, the mechanisms are largely uninspired, the theme is again slightly abstracted, and it is has a considerable, even overpowering, luck element. All that said, it looks good, is entertaining, quick and makes for a passable 'mid session' game or closer. Personally, I can't see myself playing it many more times than the three I've already enjoyed, and I must say that one of those was to double check to see if I'd missed something - it has that slight nagging quality of having more to offer, if you are with me. However, I don't think I have missed anything, and this remains a largely unassuming game. So, a buy if you enjoy fast, simple games with nice pieces and a fun theme, but not if you like a little challenge with your gaming.
Invented by Richard Garfield.
Published by Wizards of the Coast.
Reviewed by Julie M. Prince.
Game play: 8 Components: 9
When I first heard that Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering, had a new game about to come out, I thought, "Great, another collectable card game to blow all my hard-earned money on."
But don't let the Garfield name fool you. Except in terms of originality, Robo Rally bears absolutely no resemblance to M:TG (which should come as good news to those who, like me, are utterly burned out on Magic and its many imitators).
In Robo Rally, each player controls a robot, guiding it through a hazardous path to try to be the first to reach the final goal. Cute pewter robot miniatures are the players' pieces; they look better painted, but you could leave them bare if you prefer. The game also comes with two decks of cards: the movement deck and the option deck. Each turn, players are dealt up to 9 movement cards, depending on how much damage their robots have taken. The movement cards include Move 3, Move 2, Move 1, Back Up, Turn Right, Turn Left and U Turn. Players program their robots five moves at a time, and once the program is activated, it cannot be changed.
The option deck includes special abilities that can be programmed into the robots, such as a double-barreled laser or a tractor beam. Options typically are designed either to mess up the other robots (by scrambling or randomizing their programs, pulling or pushing them off course, or doing extra damage when shooting them); or to help your own robot (by allowing it to move differently than the regular rules provide, giving you an extra program card each turn, etc.)
The game also comes with 6 boards, representing the factory floor where the race takes place. The factory floor is fraught with peril for the robots. Players have to time their programs just right (and then hope other robots don't push them off course) to avoid having their robots walk into a pit, be crushed by factory equipment, or be shot by the factory's built-in lasers. (Walking into a pit or being crushed means the robot dies instantly. Each robot can take 9 laser shots before it dies; however, there are special spaces on the boards where robots can repair their damage or pick up option cards). The board also has potentially helpful elements, like conveyor belts and gears which automatically move your robot (programming around these can be very tricky).
Each robot also has a laser mounted on its front. All lasers fire automatically each register phase (each turn consists of five register phases, including movement, board element movement, and laser fire). Lasers always hit the first available target.
The first 3 points of damage only cause the player to be dealt one less card per turn (i.e., if your robot has 2 points of damage, you get 7 cards instead of 9). When you have 5 points of damage, your fifth register becomes locked (meaning you are stuck with the movement card you had programmed for the fifth register phase, until you repair the damage or until you die). Each robot has 5 lives; when a robot dies, it starts from the last goal or repair point it had reached (these points are where the robot is archived). A robot can repair one or two points of damage by finishing a turn sitting on a repair space; it can repair all its damage by shutting down for a turn, but you have to announce your plans to shut down 1 turn in advance. Players put 1-6 goals on 1-6 boards, agree on a starting point, and the race is on.
This is a fun and exciting game, but it can be extremely frustrating, too, especially when you're on your third try to reach the first goal, and some jerk pushes you off the board again. Of course, you can always push him off the board later!
The artwork, playing pieces, cards and boards are all very high quality, with nice computer-generated pictures on the option cards. However, the rules could be written better. They do not offer any guidance at all on the placement of the boards and goals. As a result, we tried several different ways, with varying success:
First, we tried using all 6 boards, with 1 goal per board. This was amazingly slow ... after 4 hours, the leading player had only reached the fourth goal. Part of the problem, however, was that differentpeople in our group tend to program their robots more quickly than others; some would take less than a minute, while others would still be puzzling over their cards 5 minutes later. It might be a good idea for all the players to agree to a programming time limit at the start of each game (2 minutes seems reasonable).
Then we tried using just 4 boards, with 6 goals spread over them, crisscrossing. This didn't work either; the game was still too long.
Finally, we tried 6 goals on one board (note: this won't work with all of the boards; some of them would be too easy with six goals because they would all have to be placed at the edges of the board). This works great with up to 5 players (we haven't tried 1 board with more than 5 players, but it would probably be fine). Interaction between the robots was maximized; even if a player pulled out to a good lead, he still had to contend with laser shots and shoving matches with other robots. The game takes about 2 hours this way, which to me is a good length.
If you prefer a little less mayhem, you might try 6 goals spread over 2 boards. Also, for a shorter game, you could use 1 board and only 4 goals. You'll probably want to experiment to see what works for you.
Robo Rally relies equally on luck and skill. The luck is in what cards you are dealt and how the other robots' movement affects you. The skill is in making the cards you are dealt get you where you want to go, while maneuvering around the hazards and using the helpful board elements.
Robo Rally costs about US$35, and is available at specialty game stores. If you can't find it in your area, The Three Trolls carries it (call 1-800-342-6373). It's a fun game; and since it's different every time, it would be hard to get sick of Robo Rally. Check it out!
for 3+4 players by Klaus Teuber, Kosmos-Spieleverlag
Reviewed by Knut-Michael Wolf
When the Settlers of Catan were released, this wasn't the full version of the game, as Klaus Teuber had it in mind. This was due to marketing reasons. As the game has become such a success, the outstanding parts are to be released in February 1997 as an expansion set.
The following parts are to be included:
Ships are like roads: they may be built along the shore or between sea hexagons. Building costs are 1 wool (sail) and 1 lumber unit (hull). As long as a shipping line isn't completed, i.e. as long as it doesn't connect two settlements or cities on differents islands, it may be changed: You may take the leading boat and place it somewhere else. There are no building costs for this reconstruction.
Shipping lines must begin and end at settlements or cities. Ships and roads together form Trade Routes, so they both count when the Longest Trade Route is to be determined. When you play the Development Card "Progress" (Fortschritt), you may build ships instead of roads.
The gaining of special victory points depends on the scenario; e.g. you gain 1 special victory point, when you reach an island, where you haven't settled before, and build a settlement.
The rules book will contain several scenarios, it's not yet fixed how many. Some of them are to be seen on the photo-page. There is one that may be called "Die Entdecker von Catan" as you explore the game board as in Teuber's game "Entdecker". And of course you may invent your own scenarios. For instance according to Teuber's rules you are not allowed to build shipping lines leaving at the left edge of the game board and entering at the right edge. But if you play "Planet Catan" you may allow these "round the world" shipping lines.
The expansion set will contain material for 3 and 4 players - and a card with which you can order material for the 5th and 6th player directly from the published. The price of the expansion set isn't yet fixed.
At the Fair in Nuremberg in February 1996 a PC-version of the Settlers was announced. As Klaus Teuber told me, it will not be based on the original game, but on the card game. And it will be playable by 2, 3 and 4 players. The release-date isn't yet fixed.
Appart from the standard playing scenario there are another three scenarios. It is not yet determined whether they will be included in the rule-book.
Scenario "The Four Islands" (4 players)
Each player starts the game with two settlements, which he can place anywhere. If a player completes a shipping line to another island, where he hasn't yet settled, he gains a special victory point, if he builds a settlement. He gains 2 victory points, if he connects to a second island.
Scenario "The Great Passage" (4 players)
On each of the islands 2 players start with 2 settlements each. Special victory points are gained, when a settlement on one island is connected by a Trade Route (ships and roads) to a settlement on the other island. Shipping lines of 2 players may join to form a joint Trade Route.
Scenario "Ozeanien" (4 players)
You can call this "Die Entdecker von Catan": If you build a ship and enter unknown regions (question mark), you draw a hexagon from a stack or from a bag. The hexagon may be sea or terrain (with raw materials). This scenario makes it clear that The Settlers of Catan and "Entdecker" (Goldsieber) both were developed from the same source.
.The first piece of news is the fold of Ian Willey's zine The Mag With No Name. I do not know the reason behind this, but since TMWNN was a large zine with a lot of subzines it will probably cause a lot of heartache to many people.
This abrupt demise has caused one of the subzines to fall out of the
nest and flutter its wings. That's right Dave the Door-knocking
Disciple has decided to launch Cry Havoc into a fully fledged
mag(affectionately known as CHaZ - Cry Havoc the Zine). It aims to be a
six weekly zine (5-weekly and 1 week turnaround), with the usual
sarcasm, dip games, and the like - with the added bonus of a letter
column! I believe Dave would have jumped if he hadn't been pushed,
especially thinking of the number of times that Dave complained people
were writing letters into the TMWNN lettercolumn about something in CH.
For details, a sample, or just to tell him you really do have something
on the stove and cannot take a copy of his zine, then just write off
to:
Dave Horton, 51 Hafod Street, Swansea SA1 2HB.
Whilst visiting my local games shop I was given a flyer for Recon 96, subtitled The 4th Leeds Winter Games Show (the biggest Winter show in the North of England). It takes place on Saturday November 30th 1996 10am-4.30pm at Armly Sports and Leisure Centre, Leeds and has 100 trade tables. The flyer includes a whole list of exibitors. For information contact Keith Nathan, 15 Becketts Park Crescent, Leeds LS6 3PH. Tel (0113)278 8377.
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Quartz/Tween is the dual publication from Geoff Kemp, that has shown that splitting into two can improve reliability. These zines are issued alternatively every month (ie 2 bimonthly zines one produced per month) with Quartz concentrating on Diplomacy and Tween on a variety of other games. Both zines are A4 with the old two staples down the side fastening format. They contain a lot of games, with some reading material, and a strange page numbering system (Quartz seems like 4 subzines pasted together, each with its own page numbers, and Tween has given up on use any page numbers). For more info contact Geoff Kemp, 66 Torc Ave, Amington, Tamworth, Staffs.
