Friday, May 5, 2017

Oh, is that how an official rondel works?

A little while back, I wrote about rondel games. In particular, I wrote about how I really had no idea what they really were. Then the official series of rondel games, there did not seem to be a consensus about what a rondel really was.

That was when I decided that I needed to try one of the official roundel games out. Since Antike Duellum is on Yucatá, that was how I decided to find out how they really work.

It will take me some more plays before my thoughts on Antike Duellum are settled enough for me to write about the game. However, if this is what a rondel is really supposed to be a like, then none of the games I have played that have been labeled as rondel really count. :D

Which is not to say that they were bad games. Finca, for instance, is a game I really love and I hope it comes back in print so more people get to play it. What it really means is that people throw the term rondel around too much. :P

Anyhow, the rondel in the only game I've tried so far is a series of different actions on a circular track, looking like a pie graph where everything is worth the same. You can move it up to three spaces for free and then you pay for every space after that.

What really surprised me is that the other players position on the rondel affect you in anyway. It is really just a way of limiting choices and making sure you don't do the same thing over and over again.

At least for Antike Duellum, this was actually a good system. While the individual moves are simple, they add up to complicated gameplay. The rondel helps keep things organized.

Anyway, you don't need a rondel to be a good game and not every circle track is a rondel. So far, I'm having fun with Antike Duellum but I don't need to run out and play every rondel game.


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