Discworld: Ankh-Morpork Review

Quite a while ago, I requested a review game from Mayfair.  Due to my previous reviews, they thought that I might enjoy Discworld: Ankh-Morpork.

In Ankh-Morpork, each of the players takes on the role of a different character attempting to take control of the city.  However, these goals are secret.  Some characters might be attempting to control a certain number of territories, some may want their minions throughout the city, some are trying for money, other want trouble, and one character just wants to thwart everyone else until the deck runs out.  To do this, the gameplay is fairly simple.  On your turn you get to play a card.  This card will allow you to do various things - place minions, assassinate minions, build a building, draw more cards, earn money, and possibly play more cards.  After you have played any cards that you are allowed to play, you draw back up to five cards, and play passes to the next player.  Once someone has achieved their victory condition, and still has it at the start of their turn, they win!  If this never happens and the deck runs out, then one of the specific roles wins.  If he's not playing, then you add up points to find a winner!

Let's start this review off with a confession.  I've never read any of the Discworld books.  (Though, now that there are two games about them, I'm thinking that maybe I should!)  So, just like I said with Guards! Guards!, any of the flavor or humor of the game will be missed on me.  So, I'll just be reviewing it in terms of gameplay.  If you are a Discworld fan, I think that it's safe to assume that you will like the game better than I did, simply because there's an entire layer of the game that is I'm missing!  So, at the end, when I give a score, I think that you're safe to add 1-2 points to that score, if you enjoy the theme.  With that said, let's start talking about the game itself.

The seven different secret characters

The crux of the game are the secret identities/agendas.  If this is something that you enjoy, then this game is one that you should consider.  When playing Ankh-Morpork, just like playing any other secret agenda game, it is very important to attempt to bluff a different agenda.  Are you attempting to control a certain number of territories?  It might be smart to start off the game spreading out as much as possible so that everyone thinks that your agenda is to have minions all over the city.  This way they will spend all of their efforts (and good cards) on stopping you from completing the wrong agenda - which may allow you to swoop in and complete your actual agenda.  I thought that this part of the game worked well, and so I consider this a pro for the game.

The next thing that I liked about Ankh-Morpork are the "trouble markers."  Trouble markers are placed on territories any time a minion is placed in or moved to a territory that already has a minion present (and doesn't already have a trouble marker).  This trouble marker does two things - it allows assassinations to occur, and it prevents buildings from being placed.  However, as soon as a minion leaves the territory (through movement or assassination), the trouble marker is removed.  These markers really added quite a bit more strategy than I would have initially assumed.  It seems like they are always in the opposite state of what you want - if you're looking to build a building, then it seems like there is going to be a trouble marker there, and if you're wanting to kill someone else's minions (ok, you're always wanting to do this - but, if you are wanting to do this and actually have a card that lets you), then there will inevitably be no trouble marker.  So, Ankh-Morpork has an interesting dynamic in trying to figure out how to add or remove trouble markers while still being able to do the action that you actually care about - instead of simply helping the player after you.

The third pro that I will mention for Ankh-Morpork is that it is really simple to teach, and I think that it could be easily learned by anyone, regardless of how many games they have played in the past.  I consider this to be really important, especially since I think the game will appeal to Discworld fans and not just "normal" board gamers.  This means that, if you are considering buying this game for someone that you know that is a big Discworld fan, but they haven't played a lot of strategy board games, then Ankh-Morpork is a game that they should be able to learn without feeling too overwhelmed.  Which means that they'll actually play it!  (Which is a good thing - a played game is always better than an unplayed one.)

Example cards - I missed all the references

However, I still had some complaints with Ankh-Morpork (really, just one major complaint).  My complaint was that there seemed to be too much luck involved in what you draw.  Specifically, cards that allow you to play another card are better than anything else.  This is because they allow you to chain cards together to turn into a super-card.  For example, a card that lets you gain $3 and then play another card doesn't sound that great.  However, if you have another card that lets you play a building, then suddenly you have the ability to gain $3 before building a building - and there's a good chance that the $3 will provide you with the funding that you need to complete that building.  And, if that card allows you to play another card, then you might also get to play a minion on your turn.  And if that lets you play more cards... you get the picture.  So, cards that allow you to play an extra card are better than any others.  Then, there are some other cards that are just drastically awful.  There is at least one card in the deck that does nothing.  Nothing.  Playing it is the same as passing on your turn.  It is only helpful if you get a bonus for discarding or if an opponent plays something that forces you to give them a card - because then it will clutter up their deck, instead of yours!

Overall, I give Ankh-Morpork a 7.5/10.  But, as I said before, you have to keep in mind that this score is completely devoid of enjoying the theme.  If you enjoy the Discworld theme (or just really love secret agenda games), then I think that Ankh-Morpork will be a great choice that you should definitely consider buying, or at least consider looking for an opportunity to play.  If, like me, you have never read any of the Discworld books, then I still think that you can enjoy Ankh-Morpork, but there are probably games that you will enjoy more.

If Ankh-Morpork sounds interesting to you, then you should check out Guards! Guards! A Discworld Board Game, Battlestar Galactica, and Cosmic Encounter.

I would like to thank Mayfair Games for providing me with a review copy of Discworld: Ankh-Morpork.

Guards! Guards! A Discworld Boardgame Review

The first game that I have heard of that uses Terry Pratchett's Discworld as it's theme is Guards! Guards! Because of the theme of the game, one of my friends immediately decided to buy it at GenCon, and I was honored to get to play it with her.

In Guards! Guards! the library has lost several of it's spells, and they have been scattered throughout the city. Since this job is far too big for any one individual, each of you has been assigned only five of them to return - indeed, even your share of spells is more than you can handle, so you go around recruiting allies. These allies will help return the spells to you once you have found them (navigated to them on the board). You must be careful, however, as some of your opponents want to look good by returning their spells first. Therefore, as you send your allies to return the spell, they might encounter some of your opponent's saboteurs who might attack them, or even try to convince them that they are working for the wrong person. After your allies manage to return to the library, the spells still aren't immediately returned - the library has defenses to prevent anyone from just walking in! You must pass various skill checks (depending on which spell is being returned) in order to get it all the way into the library. The first person to return all five of his assigned spells is the winner! (Oh, and there are also dragons and crazy luggage in the game.)

The first thing that I must confess in this review before writing any pros or cons is that I am not really familiar with Discworld. I have never read any of the books, and so I am forced to review this game only on it's merits as a game. I can tell you second-hand that the references to the books are quite amusing, and that my friend who owns the game thoroughly enjoyed reading through the ally cards, looking at the art, and reading the blurbs about each person.

The first pro that I see to Guards! Guards! is the crazy, runaway luggage. Specifically, the luggage is looking for it's owner (it won't find it), and so it is wandering around the city. And, unfortunately for you, it is apparently much bigger than you, as if you are in the same place you suffer enough injuries to go to the hospital! This is an interesting mechanic that is wrapped in a goofy theme and seems to work well. Each time a new ally joins someone's party, the luggage is moved a certain number of steps around the board (and his path has several forks in it that force the current player to choose a direction). Whereas this sounds insignificant at first, it is amazing how much a player's movement will be influenced by where they land on the path relative to the luggage. And, moreover, the person that doesn't pay attention to this may find himself in the hospital more often than not.

My second pro is that the game has dragons. I really like dragons and feel like they should be in more games. However, with Guards! Guards! you don't actually encounter them very often (in my limited experience). But, when you do encounter them, they can drastically alter the game! A quarter of the board will become fairly useless until the players choose to band together to defeat it (which is no easy task).

Now for the first con - I absolutely hate the end of game mechanic. On the final spell, you are forced to make a Magic 9 and a Guild 9 skill check to return it. This means that you roll an eight-sided die and add your Magic value (an attribute that you can increase throughout the game but that has a maximum of +5) to it  - and this number must equal or exceed 9. Next, you do the same with your Guild value. Magic and Guild are very challenging attributes to upgrade.  Some of the allies give you boosts to these stats, and when you return a spell you can choose to upgrade one of them as well. However, even if you get all of the possible upgrades, it still boils down to a die roll. And, since the games I have played have actually been fairly even between players, this ends the game with the players simply taking turns rolling until one of them eventually gets the die rolls that they need to win. Yes, the person that has more upgrades has a better chance of winning, but poor die rolling can indefinitely keep him from that goal. The more I think about it, the more this end of game mechanic reminds me of the one in Killer Bunnies, which annoys me so badly that I won't play it (Killer Bunnies)! At least in Guards! Guards! you are able to feel like you are in charge of whether or not you win, since you're the one rolling the die.

The next con to Guards! Guards! was simply that the game wasn't especially engaging. More than anything, it seems to be a race around the board to see who can hire the better allies and return their spells the fastest. Yes, there are some ways (like setting up Saboteurs and running them over with Luggage) to affect your opponents, but strategically, it doesn't always make sense to slow them down at the cost of returning your own spells (after all, a Saboteur can't return a spell for you while they have an ambush set up for your opponent). Some things affect your race to return the spells, but I think that good die rolling (when charming allies and returning spells - you can move 6 spaces each turn and don't roll to determine that) and which allies you have the opportunity to hire affect who wins the game much more than anything else. I simply found myself disengaged with Guards! Guards! each time that I played it.

Overall, I give Guards! Guards! a 6.0/10. Obviously, if I enjoyed the Discworld lore, this number would probably be higher. However, from playing it strictly as a game I was very disappointed. There were a few neat aspect to the game, but in the future, I would just assume play something else.