9 September 2014
I'm deliberating on whether or not to exclude the MOLE PANIC cards in favour of another action card. Before I implemented the new action card however, I wanted to play a few sessions without the MOLE PANIC card available. For these two games, I played a two-player match where each player had no MOLE PANIC cards in their deck. The resulting deck for each player was 16 cards.
I also learned of the immense potential in the CAVE-IN actions in this game session...
GAME 1: Red 29, Black 24
This was a relatively even matchup, though it led me to believe that the starting player had some sort of advantage. The score was relatively close however, so I wasn't too worried about this.
This was a "vanilla" setup, with players starting at opposite ends of the board.
The endgame was not surprising. The score spread was less than 6 points, including 2VP added to Black with Cave-Ins.
GAME 2: Red 19, Black 31 (AKA "What the...?")
Okay, this one was a complete blowout, something I'd really not seen yet. Before I elaborate as to what I think led to this, let me explain that I wanted to try a different starting layout, having the opponents separated only by one hex. I was also intrigued with the use of Cave-Ins in a two player game, which wasn't very common. Here's the start:
Black decided early on that they weren't happy with Red's encroachment on their home hex (facilitated by the cozy start-space placement), so installed two Cave-Ins that blocked it off from entry. The board layout contributed to this, allowing Black's complete safety and all but eliminating Red's chances of expansion or support. The Red "push" was effectively neutralized, allowing Black to simply run all over the field. A hasty placement of three moles on a six-point hex by Red late in the game sealed the deal for Black's victory, as they filled in the rest of the hex with their own to Claim it.
I'm still surprised on occasion by this game, which means I've still plenty of testing to do...For example, do I need to scale back the Cave-Ins to one token each? I don't know yet.
I still remember reading how many hours of solo testing went into Agricola, and although this game is NOWHERE near to that game in terms of complexity, I am beginning to appreciate the value of test after test after test after test...
I'd also like to add my apologies for the quality of the photographs. I'm in the midst of moving (which explains the dirty condition of the rug!) and the sun is going down sooner these days, which I hadn't anticipated before snapping a few photos.
