Why yes, there’s a reason Medici is a classic

I have long known that Medici is considered to be one of Knizia'a classic designs. Back in the day, it was considered to be part of Kniza's Auction trilogy, a concept so sprawling that it eventually became Kniza's two auction trilogies. And, intellectually, I have always appreciated it. However, I had almost never played it. Mostly because no one in any of my circles owned a copy so I was much more familiar with Modern Art, and Ra and High Society and Aman-Re, among other Knizia designs. (Sadly, I have yet to play any incarnation of Dream Factory, also considered a highlight of his auction games)

That changed during a recent reunion with old gaming buddies. One of them had added Medici to their gaming library and it became the game we played more than any other during that weekend. And my intellectual appreciation of Medici became a true appreciation.

Out of all Knizia's auction games that I've played (and I'm honestly not sure how many the man has published), Medici is the absolute purest. Even High Society, which is arguably less complex, has more little twists. In Medici, there is only one type of auction, one around with the current dealer going last. You are competing for majorities in categories that don't change. And points and money are one and the same, which makes things both simpler and more anxiety inducing at the same time.

Scarcity is what gives Medici its edge. Players are merchants in Rennaissance Florance, which I guess makes this sort of a trading in the Mediterranean game (Is that joke still a thing?) You are loading up boats but each boat has cargo space for only five cards. Over the course of the three rounds of play, you will only get fifteen cards. Unless the game gets nasty. Then you might get less. You have no room for chafe. And you have to focus on only a couple of types of good. If you can't corner a couple markets, you will discover the sorrows of bankruptcy.

Where the game really lets you learn to hate each other and the number random generator gods is dealing out the cards for each auction. The dealer can deal out one to three cards but there has to be at least one player who can take that number of cards and if the load is bigger than your empty spaces, you can't make a bid. if you're not getting locked out of bids, everyone is being too nice. And the dealer can push their luck and end up with a lot that adds up to garbage.

Every element of Medici is simple. And that's something that Knizia often does. So many of his games aren't intricate but instead offer complex choices in a simple framework. Medici is a shining example of this. It offers a much fuller, richer game experience than an overview would make you expect.

Medici isn't perfect and it can be very unforgiving. If you go into the third round underwater, I honestly don't think you will be able to pull ahead. You have to have a gameplan from the start. I think Ra is more forgiving, so I do like it more, particularly for a general audience. However, there is a reason Medici stays in print and stays on the table.

Cthulhu Armageddon is a delightful Halloween read for after the world ends

In his foreword to Cthulhu Armageddon, the author C.T. Phipps compares his book to Brian Lumley’s work, specifically The Transition of Titus Crow.

Really? No. Phipps is selling himself far short with such a comparison. 

While both works deal with idea that humanity can win at least some battles with Mythos horrors, Lumley includes Titus scaring off Yug-Sothoth and befriending Cthulhu’s twin brother.

In comparison, Cthulhu Armageddon is an existential scream of despair.

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In the world of Cthulhu Armageddon, the stars have already become right. The Great Old Ones have risen. The world has been razed. Tiny remnants of humanity desperately try to survive and will be entirely gone in less than a century.

It’s Mad Max: Beyond R’lyeh.

The main character is former military ranger named John Henry Booth and the book is ultimately about his conflict with the necromancer Alan Ward. So, while the setting is a Lovecraftian nightmare, it’s about two guys duking it out. And their battle, which escalated to a small war (there’s not enough people left for a big war), is still inconsequential for the Great Old Ones.

Mind you, Ward has mutated himself into an eldritch abomination and Booth is blessed by Nyarlathotep (and that’s just the tip of the iceberg ) so it’s ultimately a stretch to call either of them human. And they are still beneath Cthulhu’s notice.

Yeah, there are some cool action scenes in the book that would look great with a big special effects budget. And Booth does come out the winner against Ward. However, it is clear that these are fleeting, momentary victories. In the end, it charges nothing for Cthulhu and its kin.

So I think C.T. Phipps has done a good job creating a story of cosmic horror and despair. Which is what I want when Cthulhu is in the title. It’s the first of three books and I now want to read them all.

And if Booth punches Cthulhu out in the last book, I’ll revise the cosmic horror opinion.

Was Groosham Grange a precursor to Hogwarts?

I stumbled across Groosham Grange, a 1988 fantasy novel by Anthony Horowitz, due hearing about its similarities to the Harry Potter books. I’m actually shocked it took me so long to discover the book since Horowitz isn’t exactly an obscure author.

There is no way for me to discuss the book without spoiling the entire plot so…

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Truth to the tell, the fact that there is a sequel is a spoiler all by itself since, up until the end, it would have been quite believable that the book would end with the protagonist’s death, even though it’s aimed at a younger audience and a comedy.

And, while there are some striking similarities between Groosham Grange and Harry Potter, they are telling very different stories. If this was plagiarism, then we’d have to start accusing Lovecraft and Tolkien of plagiarizing Lord Dunsany.

David Elliot, seventh son of a seventh son, goes an academy of mystery after his hilariously abusive parents get a mysterious acceptance letter.

The biggest resemblance between the two series is David’s parents to the Dursleys. Except that Mr. and Mrs. Elliot make the Dursleys look like Brady Bunch. The amount of slapstick violence that happens between them would make the three stooges wince.

The actual plot is David discovering what is actually happening at Groosham Grange. Which, spoiler, is that it’s a witch’s coven as a boarding school. While blatantly obvious, it’s not fully revealed until the end, where David has to choose between joining or dying. 

The tone of the book is over-the-top comedy with a lot of wordplay and flatout horror. The school is a genuinely disturbing place and, as I mentioned, it would have fit the tone of the book for David to die at the end.

I rather enjoyed the book and I’m quite curious about the sequel. The book ends with a ‘start of darkness’ vibe so I do want to find out where Horowitz went from there.

The overall structure of the book is pretty predictable. However, the writing makes it a fun journey. It was a nice Halloween season read.

Last Light - part art installation and part galactic epic

 Last Light is an epic 4X game about the heat death of the universe. It's also short and 'simple' enough that you could probably get a game in on a work night.

I don't actually own a copy of Last Light. More than that, my one friend who does own a copy lives several states away. On top of even that, it’s not the kind of game I'd get out for the family so I don't actually need a copy. Still, glad to have learned it.

My friend owns the Kickstarter edition with all the stretch goals so it was like there was an art installation on the table. A board with two inner circles that revolve. Lovely model planets on stands. Last Light wouldn't look out of place in a glass case at a planetarium and made me think of Aughra's living room from the Dark Crystal.

My friend also argued that the game was very simple since the rules were all on the cards. Which would make Magic the Gathering a simple game and my friends who are tournament judges would have no reason to be there. With that said, the action cards do clearly lay out the structure of the game and help make it a lot more accessible.

My buy-in to Lost Light was Puerto Rico and Race for the Galaxy. While they are very different games, the similarities in role/action card selection structure helped me understand the core mechanics of Lost Light.

Another game that Lost Light brought back to me was Nexus Ops, although that has even less in common with Lost Light than Puerto Rico or Race for the Galaxy. However, it was Baby's First 4X Game for me and Lost Light brought back how I learned that you need to pay attention to all for the Xs. You need to eXplore, you need to eXpand, you need to eXploit and you need to eXterminate. You can (and may have to) specialize but you can't ignore an element.

Last Light has a lot of nice touches that I liked. The rotating board means everyone will end up in each other's business. The limits on refreshing action cards means you have to balance out your choices.  And the fact that collecting light, not military conquest, is the ultimate goal of the game makes the decision tree broader and more interesting.

Last Light isn't a simple game. Its a game that makes complex choices accessible. I'm glad I had a chance to play it.

My September Gaming

September ended up being my heaviest gaming month of the year so far and probably will be for the year on a whole. That’s because I went to a convention as a reunion with a bunch of old gaming friends.

I learned:

Paper Pinball - Mall Bats

The Walking Dead - Surrounded

Food Truck Madness (Alexander Shen)

Scout 

Portal Heroes

Last Light

Cursed Court

Spicy

Biscuits and Battles

Hadara 

Cat Ass Trophy

Point Salad

Dinks and Donkeys (playtest)

Last Light was the heaviest game I’ve learned in a while. In a past life, I’m not sure if it would have qualified as heavy, just toyetic. (A word I just learned existed, thanks to reading an article about the development of the Paw Patrol franchise lol) With that said, I was glad that I was able to follow along and enjoy myself.

I also really enjoyed Hadara. It doesn’t quite cross the line into being a Civ-light game but it is the kind of game that got me into board gaming. Enjoyable choices and a tempo that keeps the game going.

While it wasn’t a new game to me, Knizia’s Medici was the hero of our table. I played it more in one weekend than I ever had before. It is such a ridiculously pure auction game. I still like Ra more but Medici earns its reputation as a classic.

And I also learned some solitaire games as usual. The Walking Dead - Surrounded is a nice little tile laying game that gets a lot of its value through its advanced play.

Yeah, it was a good month.

My September PnP

 September wasn’t crazy busy for PnP crafting. Truth to tell, I have a feeling that the rest of the year will be busy enough that I won’t be crafting a ton of stuff. I definitely have more stuff in queue than I’ll make this year.

Mind you, I also want to play what I make, which means just crafting away isn’t much fun.

I made:

The Walking Dead - Surrounded + expansion 

One Page Mazes

Pont D’Avagnon

Butterfly Garden Duel - Solo version

Townspire (cards and Bunny Creek map)

Dinks and Donkeys (playtest)

I’ve had the Walking Dead in the line for months and I decided it was time, that it would be my big project for the month. It was better than I expected but you really need to play with the objectives, not just the base rules.

Butterfly Garden: Duel was another ‘larger’ build. I was very happy with Dr Finn’s recent R&W book and o wanted to try out some of his other PnP designs. This seemed like a good start. And I’m behind on my goal of playing g everything that Radoslaw Ignatov has made so Townspire was a no brainer.

Life can be crazy PnP can help you stay sane.

Good times at Mega Moose Con

In the middle of September, I went to the first table top gaming convention I’ve been to since 2019, Mega Moose Con in Richburg, SC.

The Pandemic really did a number on conventions and other table top gatherings. I realized that my only face-to-face gaming since 2020 had been with my immediate family. On the other hand, I really came to appreciate solitaire gaming and the Nintendo switch. 

The con was really a vehicle to have a reunion with old gaming buddies who I had originally met in college. It had been well over a decade since I had seen most of them. Which was my ‘fault’ since I had moved the farthest away by a long shot. 

With that said, Mega Moose was a really solid small convention. The only weak spot was that it didn’t have much in the way of dealers. Which really isn’t the draw of going to a smaller convention, just like the opposite is a true of going to GenCon and spending hours and too much money in a dealer hall the size of a football field. (I actually have no idea how GenCon’s dealer hall compares to a football field)

It had lots of gaming tables, certainly enough for the crowd. You could find a table but there wasn’t a sea of empty tables. The staff was friendly and helpful. The game library was solid. And the auction and flea market was actually one of the best that any of the gang could remember. 

I honestly didn’t know what it would be like to play games face-to-face again after being out of that part of the hobby for so long. (And I used to think of that as the hobby itself!) But it was like falling off a bicycle. It comes back automatically.

High points for me were learning Last Light and Hadara. However, the real star of the convention for us was Medici. We were a six-player table and we kept on going back to Medici. I played more Medici than I had ever played before and came to enjoy more than ever.

Good times.