Quick Hits: Dungeon Lords and Tobago

So far on Beware the Gazebo I've generally tried to have longer write-ups on games I have a lot to share. Unfortunately game night happens once or twice a week and we usually only get one or two games tabled. Every now and then one of those games strikes me as something worthy of a longer post but usually I don't feel like I have a full posts-worth to say on a weekly basis.

So to try and write a bit more I thought I'd introduce another new segment: Quick Hits, shorter impressions on games I've been playing recently. This way I can put down thoughts on games I played in the past week or two without having to do a larger write-up. Some games will be brand new to me, others classics and I might revisit games from time to time to give revised thoughts.

(image by karel_danek @ BGG)
Dungeon Lords

I've already professed my love for Vlaada Chvátil games here a few times now so there was no way I could pass up his newest game, Dungeon Lords. Inspired by the classic computer game Dungeon Keeper, players take the role of evil overlords preparing their dungeons for the onslaught of heroes at the end of the year. Points are awarded for keeping your dungeon intact, imprisoning heroes and having the most of all the various resources the game. Whoever has the most points at the end of two years wins!

Dungeon Lords is Vlaada's take on the worker placement genre. Each player simultaneously plans three actions they will take that for the current season, places their workers on the appropriate spots on the board and once all workers are placed the actions are resolved. There are two small twists that set it apart from other worker placement games, though. First, the last two actions you play for the season will be unavailable to you next season, forcing you to plan ahead. Second, any given action may only be performed by three people. The later you take the action the more lucrative it is but you risk being blocked by your opponents. I thought the system worked really well and was familiar enough while still adding a little something new.

As you take actions your evilness on the "Evilometer" will rise and fall. At the end of each season the most powerful heroes are assigned to the most evil players and at the end of the year they'll romp through your dungeons. Each season you may build tunnels and room, hire monsters, purchase traps and gather the necessary resources to put your dungeon together. Then the heroes stomp through, destroying your beautiful dungeon while you try to fend them off.

(image by Toynan @ BGG)

Overall I thought Dungeon Lords was a lot of fun. It's easily the most thematic worker placement game I've played; you really feel like an evil overlord (or maybe evil project manager) trying to come up with clever ways to kill off those pesky heroes. Like many of Vlaada's games it is tough to teach, though, as you need to understand the second half of the game to make sense of the first half. Once we got going everything clicked nicely and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. It plays up to four but I think four will really be the only way to play as you end up with "dummy" players with fewer which is a mechanic I've never found to work well in other games.

Folks seem to be itching to play this again so hopefully I'll have more thoughts once I get more games under my belt. Right now I give it a big two thumbs up!

(image by muka @ BGG)
Tobago

I really like the concept of deduction games but not always the execution. Clue is fun for what it is although it is a bit easy once you have a good system down for tracking information. Mystery of the Abbey, on the other hand, was downright painful. When I heard Tobago had sort of a deduction element I was immediately intrigued.

In Tobago, players drive their ATVs around the island trying to collect hidden treasures. The catch is that the exact location of the treasures is unknown so you have to discover clues to figure out exactly where they are. In a clever twist, players play cards that actually define where the treasures are at!

The map is made up of different terrain types and there is always a "largest" of each type along with some landmarks (huts, statues, trees). On your turn you may either move your ATV around or you may play a map card to help narrow down where one of the four treasures is located. Map cards define some feature of the map and possibly a relative location like inside the largest forest or within two spaces of a hut. When you add a map card to a given treasure it must narrow down the treasure's location. Eventually the treasure will be narrowed down to a single spot on the map and someone may swoop in to get it.

(image by LanaDove @ BGG)

That's already a pretty fun twist on the deduction concept but the game also has a push-your-luck element to gaining treasure. Everyone who helped locate that treasure is dealt treasure cards valued 1 to 5 along with a possible curse. You get to look at your cards, then all are turned in and shuffled up with one random treasure. A random treasure is then offered in order and you may either take it or pass it up the line. If you know there's a 5 in the pile and 1s and 2s keep getting offered, you'll likely want to hold out for that big haul and let others take the small stuff. The catch is that there could be a curse hidden in there which immediately ends this treasure dig plus all those who didn't take rewards yet on this treasure have to lose their best treasure collected so far!

I was really surprised at how much there was to take in. At first it seemed like narrowing down the treasures would be easy but things can be really vague to start and with four treasures to track it can be a little overwhelming. I think with more plays that feeling will go away but the game could be a little intimidating for some. The push-your-luck element is a lot of fun but there are only two curses in the game so the suspense kinda goes away once they've been exposed. Finally, it's really hard to remember that you can drive through water spaces on the map! My brain is so wired to think water spaces are not valid to move on that it took most of the game to remember that was even an option.

Overall I enjoyed my first play of Tobago but it didn't seem to be as good of a gateway game as I anticipated. It seems ripe for a computer version where the game could more easily and quickly track the possible locations for a treasure. Yes, the game does come with cubes to help you mark the possible locations but I found we spent more time trying to find all the valid spaces on the map than I expected. Still, Tobago was fun and I look forward to future plays... I'm just not sure it will be as "wife friendly" as I originally hoped.