Political Rivalry - Worker Placement Game Feedback Request

But I like rulebooks that are TIGHT, present the information is a natural way and that it all stems from logic. Not pages of information with numbers of which I have no clue what they mean or serve. You should ensure that you've sufficiently proofed your rulebook so that it is EASY to read by anyone outside of yourself.

Why? Because you know all the rules of the game in the back of your mind.

The REST of us, need to read the rules and see if things make sense. And that is hard to do when page numbers are wrong, there is arbitrary numbering on the board and it is not explained, etc.

Again sorry if I am being pickey... But when I read rules, I like to not have any surprises in the format and content. Sure the rules are a Work-In-Progress, but still I would expect typos or minor errors in spelling not the wrong pages and things don't relate to the right sections (but you've address that and that is good...) Now all you need to do is explain why those numbers and what do they mean.

Cheers.

#1 should be the bottom-right-most asset on the board and it has the Value #3.

Is this correct? Or am I totally lost???!!!

I had a bit of a "suggestion". Again you can use my ideas, adapt them or simply ignore them... That is all totally up to you.

But I personally think that the BOARD (US or UK) should only have the UK MAP and to SOMEHOW "streamline" the other elements in PLAYER BOARDS.

Again this is only my opinion, but I think the BOARD is TOO CROWDED and it doesn't really help to know anything in terms of Game Flow. Where do I get this concept??? Well from games like "Scythe" from Stonemaier Games.

Here have a look at this Link/URL:

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3060833/scythe

So you see the BOARD is the primary focus with some "tracks". Mostly kept away from the main playing area.

Next you will notice that each player has TWO (2) PLAYER BOARDS. As seen here:

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3068604/scythe

Well Item #6 looks to be a PER PLAYER sets of movement or actions. Again I may be wrong because I have NOT read everything... Like I said I will get to it. But hear me out! Because if you can get away with a something like a JUMBO card like at "The Game Crafter" as seen here:

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/make/products/JumboDeck

You can maybe make the UK MAP AREA/surface a bit larger and have a bit more spacing for the cubes.

(Of course this is not possible because in the movement area I read that players may move onto spaces of the other players... My bad.)

I just think this BOARD is TOO CHAOTIC and doesn't show any sense or form about how players move around... And those #6 Items are REAL PROBLEMATIC.

Item #1 and #3 (Trackers) and maybe #4 ... IDK. I would probably prefer something like "The BOARD" and some secondary areas on MATS or MINI-BOARDS.

Reading more of Item #3 (Rally Tracker). It says at the bottom:

Can you explain this a bit better???

I'm only starting to get through the rulebook based on the BOARD and the items on it. My ideas about "streamlining" the board is to make the game MORE INTUITIVE. Instead of seeing this "mess" (or chaos) of a board, if there were some kind of ORGANISATION.

Yes I understand, you have it all COMPARTMENTALIZED in your brain ... But when I LOOK at the UK Board... I'm lost. I don't even know where the game begins!

Granted having extra mats might be more expensive... It may make your game more PRECISE and INTUITIVE. Something VERY important in BOARD games. You want PEOPLE to LOOK at your board and go: "WOW! So COOL!!!"

Not ... "OMG! What is this??? Where do we start?"

I'm not trying to be HYPER-critical... I'm just giving you my honest feedback. I wouldn't suggest streamlining the board if I felt like it would be a WASTE of time. No, I am suggesting it... Because there is TOO MUCH going on quite frankly!

I'll try to make it to Page 10 by tonight. We've had our stumbling blocks because I wasn't exactly sure what all the page numbers were (because they were wrong) and the item numbers also (because #1 is #3 instead). But I'm slowly getting there. Right now I'm going to read until Page 10. And give you some feedback until there.

I'm sorry if I am so slow. I get stuck on things that to you are probably minor... But to me... Need to make sense before I can say that: "I understand..."

Will give you more feedback later this week. I doubt that you want to publish this game "tomorrow" so we have time for me to get through the rules and give you HONEST feedback where there are challenges and difficulties.

Cheers @Jay!

Note #1: Yeah we may have "stumbled" a bit with the first few pages... But there is a LOT going on there. And to understand it, may take a little time for reflection.

Just think about that... And I think things like #3 Rally Tracker could BE SEPARATED and put into another SIDE BOARD. We'll get to it. Just an example of what I am thinking about. I'll read some more and as I get more familiar with the design (hopefully), I'll be better positioned to offer BETTER and MORE CONCRETE ideas.

For now, it's just "first glance" feedback.

Note #2: Again for you to THINK ABOUT. What if you had a nomenclature that was more OBVIOUS. Like "Squares" for Cubes and "Circles" for valid moves (or positions)???

Something like this could go a LONG way in demonstrating that CIRCLES is where players may move onto (SPACES) and SQUARES is how players affect the ranking and help to win the game.

Like take Item #3 (Rally Tracker) as an example. You have 3 Types of Rallies: UK, Regional and Local. Instead of using the "bull horns" as SPACES (which is NOT A Square or a Circle), you could have SQUARES (because I think they affect the RANKING in the game, right???)

Again I may not be completely correct just yet. But it gives you an EXAMPLE. Plus each "bull horn" has a SYMBOL and a COST... Too much going on in that little area and I've yet to read all about it.

Don't worry, I'll get to it. Soon enough!

@Jay ... I'm waiting until I hear back from you. I've reviewed Page 1 to 10 and would like to know your own thoughts on the extra page (#4 vs. #8), your ideas and interest in "streamlining" the board and how it would be possible to offset some of the different items on the BOARD itself to a PLAYER MAT or a Secondary Mini-Board, etc. Just wanting to see how OPEN you are to IMPROVING your design. And what you think of the nomenclature concept (Squares for cubes & influence, Circles for Paws & Positions, etc.)

It's hard to come up with concrete things that need fixing. You may disagree and that is your right; in the end it is your DESIGN. But I'm just pointing out some ideas and changes that could be RELATIVELY minor and have a BIG IMPACT.

In any even, please read through these entries/comments and let me know what YOUR thoughts are!? Cheers.

Just because you can't move to a space occupied by another meeple... Doesn't mean that your game has a prominent "Area Control" mechanic. It's like saying "Sorry!" is partly an "Area Control" mechanic. That's ridiculous...!

Also having a "Worker Placement" mechanic just doesn't simply mean have 4 or 5 Action you can take ... I think you've "stretched" the terms quite a bit to say that your game has mainly a "Worker Placement" mechanic.

To illustrate... One of my designs called "Crystal Heroes" focuses on a STRONG "Area Control" mechanic. How and Why?! Well you play tiles into the play area and as you do, you LIMIT the amount of moves that your opponent may do with his or her own tiles. And this "Area Control" mechanic often resolves itself in the very last or previous to last turn (since the game plays in 12 Rounds).

Personally I already FEEL like this game is more of a "Action Selection" mechanic and I've explained why you cannot call it "Worker Placement" or "Area Control" in the TRUE sense of those mechanics.

And I'm just being honest. This is my own take on the game.

If I was the game's Developer, I would suggest doing something like this:

This leads me to something by FREEING all those spaces on the board that are "frivolous" in terms of this particular design. Like I said, just because you have spaces on to move, doesn't mean this game has TRULY a "Worker Placement" mechanic.

Again, I'm not poo-poo-ing on your game. I'm just offering you my own opinion to (IMHO) how to IMPROVE the game.

I haven't read all the rules, only the components and setup. I'll be reading more this week (not all week but in-between activities).

But again being HONEST, I think I LIKE the direction of going towards "Action Selection" given "Action Tokens". I know you have your mind set on the game (because like most designers... people mostly want to hear that their game is the best and is 100% great as-is). Well I'm not one of those people. I've worked with Joe Pilkus who was a Developer on TradeWorlds... And I've taken Blind Playtesting Feedback and revised the game when it was even 90% completed.

Just think about WHY(?) you want "Worker Placement" and "Area Control" mechanics when the REAL "core" of what you are trying to achieve in the game is "Action Selection". And to me, this sounds GREAT. Because it has a VIBE of "What do I do NEXT?" And then when you take that 1x Boat Token, they MESS with your plans JUST LIKE how having a MEEPLE on a SPACE (where you get your "Area Control Mechanic"). And just like that, you've got SIMILAR GAME FUNCTIONALITY.

I'm not trying to BREAK your game. Like I said, I'm trying to bring a bit of "streamlining". And yeah, you can tell me to "Fuck off"... But know that I'm showing you how to make the game more understandable and offer NEAR IDENTICAL FUNCTIONALITY. Just a bit of a different way, which FREES up the requirement for your meeples and board "spaces" which are very chaotic in the board that I have.

Next, Board Size. Size isn't everything TBH. The problem is that there are TOO MANY "EXTRA" AREAS on the board. If you get rid of Item #6 and make those "Action Tokens" only. That's ONE STEP forwards. You already HAVE the tokens, it's just a matter of USING them better ... And adding to the pool given various distributions: like 3x Drive Action Tokens, 2x Plane Action Tokens and 1 Boat Action Token. Maybe 1x Scandal Action Token, 4x Rally Action Tokens, 2x Press Action Tokens.

Then I would create a separate board for Rally and Influence Trackers on a separate area. And another interesting IDEA is to have a "Tracker Manager" much like the Banker in Monopoly... the Tracker is managed and maintained during the game by one player (to ensure everyone does not worry about accessibility issues).

This is to address ... The BOARD. I've spoken my peace, you now know my opinion and like I said, you can use, adapt or ignore my ideas.

I hope you can take this and figure out what works best for you... Cheers!

Note #1: Been a long Father's Day... It's 11:30 PM EDT over here... And so I'll take the time to address your 2nd comment and see what I can make heads or tails of... Tomorrow. Cheers!

And please don't be offended. You can keep your game 100% AS-IS. That is entirely up to you. I'm just showing HOW I would do things a bit differently to get the game more intuitive and logical in terms of play...

Take for example Ireland. There are currently 20 Cube locations. What if you were to SPLIT this up into smaller groups of Cubes. And then you could have that the island is reachable by PLANE or BOAT... But then once on the island you could travel by CAR... To indicate which portion of Ireland you are currently campaigning in.

With a LARGER board, you can make these "sub-divisions" clearer and offer MORE in terms of locations to "travel to".

And then it makes the movement Tokens more "valuable" if you limit them in their quantity.

Give me an example so that I better understand your explanation...

With your current board areas, you are "forced" to keep adding more Voters from the Influence Trackers. Which is as-designed (Currently). With the additional sub-divisions (or REGIONS), what this means is that you DON'T need to get a GRAND TOTAL of voters to win the game. Let me explain and you'll probably see that it is a bit more like in REAL VOTING.

So let's say the REGION of "Yorkshire and Humberside" you get 6 out of 10 Votes. Means that you CONTROL 60% of the vote. This means that at most your competition can only get 4 remaining votes or a minority of Voters.

Why is this IMPORTANT? Because it allows that player who has 6 Voters in that region to focus his efforts on CONTROLLING a MAJORITY "elsewhere" in the UK...

So it creates this sort of BUBBLE of MAJORITY and trying to control various regions in order to defeat their opponents. And this is VERY TRUE, because once a REGION gets a MAJORITY, the opposing parties are LESS LIKELY to focus their own efforts in that area. Instead the opposing parties will go to REGIONS where there is not a majority and the balance can be swayed either way (for one of the other players).

IMHO this make the game much more POLITICAL because SWING-REGIONS are going to be the ones that can make the difference. Like if 1-Player has 3 out of 10 Votes, the competition still has a chance to collect 6 or 7 Voters to WIN that region over to their side.

But do you see the difference??? By adding more regions, the "tactical" nature of the board is unlocked. And so is the additional amount of STRATEGY too!

Remember that I said to add a "WALKING" Travel Action which is sort of like allowing you to remain in a REGION?! Well if you were forced to LEAVE a region that has NOT been fully "converted" (Blue or Red or Green or Orange), the opponents can JUMP to the occasion and STEAL the Voters from that region, making for a much more SWINGY action...

IDK about end-game bonuses... Haven't read all your rules about those... And I don't know if you DIVIDE into REGIONS how you will consolidate POWER. Because just because you WIN the POPULAR VOTE, doesn't mean that you WIN the ELECTION! It depends how many AREAS you CONTROL in REALITY...

Maybe this is another NUGGET of things to think about (when it comes to scoring... end-game mostly) and also how to encourage competition in various REGIONS to win the game...

(Just some extra tid-bits to think about... especially about POPULAR VOTE!)

I was thinking with the POPULAR VOTE vs. WINNING THE ELECTIONS by Electoral Votes, you might want to use you "Scandal" Action to NEGATIVELY AVERSE the votes in a REGION.

So take that 6/10 Voters example... And One of the opposing parties plays a "Scandal" action and the could (for example), CONVERT "2 Votes" to the party playing the "Scandal".

This could mean 4 Red Votes, 2 Blue Votes (from the Scandal Action) and 4 OPEN and UNDECIDED Votes. Of course there is still the possibility for BLUE to get more Votes and take the majority, Red can do the same even if Blue kinda shifted the Voters intent... And it could be a TIE if the Green or Orange party take the remaining 4 Votes.

Maybe End-Game Bonuses can affect TIES (to break the tie for example). Again not there yet... Will read more and share more of my thoughts as I read!

Or close regions like 3 Red, 3 Blue, 2 Green and 2 Orange... could also have an End-Game Bonus trigger for TIGHT battles in the polls. IDK... one step at a time!

Note #1: On page 16 ... There is a Action to REMOVE 2 Votes. In addition to other penalties. So I'm BANG-ON with regards to HOW you had already planned and designed the "Scandal" Action.

It's just that with Electoral Voting (by REGION), those 2 VOTES can make a BIG impact in terms of CONTROLLING a region and thereby determining who wins in that particular region... Again I will read more. I think that most of my IDEAS are very SIMILAR to what you have... And just offer up a bit of more "streamlining" making the Actions selectable and dividing up the board ... Is really two (2) difference that are NOT too significant (they are rather reasonable) and the result is something much more "exciting" IMHO...

I took a look at most of the rule book. I had some thoughts that i will share. Feel free to disregard use or improve upon. Good luck with your game.

On Page 3 under 4 "sides" is confusing because it could be interpreted as players, could you use country instead?

The green party cards on pages 2 and 4 are different.

Could you make the round table a rectangular table, with the president/prime Minister either on the short end that is on the right or bottom. This would reinforce that the table is filled in either from left to right or top to bottom.

Like questccg I thought the travel mechanism was not quite carrying it weight in the game. There are a lot of potential fixes out there. The one I thought of was to just remove it to streamline the game.

Here is a possible simpler an near equivalent way for turn order. The player with the highest influence on any track is the first player. Ties are determined by a players second, third etc. highest influence markers. If still tied current play order is the tie breaker. Also if the tracks where one row high and stacked them you could easily determine player order.

Can you add some additional symbol to the regions to help the color blind? Ticket to ride does this on the train cards.

On page 24, for points 1 and 3. I think that an "on the influence track" is missing.

Could you make token color independent of political party? This is so that players can choose the preferred color, regardless of the party they are playing. It also allows the addition of extra parties to the game. If need be you can give players a token to identify that they are playing that color. This may mean that green party should be renamed.