In any case, for the uninitiated, the game puts players on an island with five traditional basic resources (wood, brick, rock/ore, sheep, wheat) and one unconventional resource (the bandit). Players are given the task of building settlements and roads in the pursuit of expanding their empires. Much of the game is centered around resources that are randomly placed on the board. Since resources are used to build roads and settlements, there is also heavy emphasis on trade. For instance, if you don’t have enough brick production, you can trade with other players for brick in exchange for whatever it is they want. The bandit is used to halt resource production (e.g. placing it on a “sheep” resource piece will halt sheep production for the adjacent settlement until someone moves it). You can also trade three resource cards for one of another kind or trade via ports (that have their own conversion rates). The last important playing piece is the … I don’t remember the name of the cards, but they allow you to take certain aspects of the game under your personal control for your turn. For example, normally, you only control the bandit when you roll a seven. There is a card that will give you control of the bandit and place it wherever you want. You can kind see where I’m going with this.

All of this is done with the sole purpose of accruing “Victory Points.” You get points for building settlements, having the biggest army (by buying bandit cards) and building the longest road (there are a few other possibilities, but I don’t recall them at the moment). Outside of those very basic rules, players can do almost whatever they want. Trade three of one resource for one resource? Sure. Use your roll w/the bandit to threaten someone into giving you resources? Not only fine, but encouraged.

I didn’t really get the feel for the game until my third play through. When the game says “you can trade for anything,” it really means it. At one point, I traded a friend futures in my ore production. Other strategies included my attempt to completely dominate two resources with careful management of the bandit and trade while playing my two other friends against each other. Even with the many options on the table, the game is still subject to a few problems. It’s really easy to figure out the two basic strategies of the game. Most players either go straight to road building or army building (biggest army or longest road = 2 victory points each). There is a middle road, but it’s harder and you have to be a little sneaky. There are apparently more “advanced techniques” for ruining friendships, but I think I’ll stick to casual play styles for now.

In the end, I really like this game. There is a heavy trade element in addition to an attack element that is carefully limited. It also teaches the power of reciprocity very quickly (keep banditing blue and they’ll find a way to screw you). You really are trying to build a civilization. Well, at least on a casual basis, anyway.

The game is set in a Lovecraftian city where all sorts of portals to unknown lore related extra-dimensional locations spring up. The point of the game is to close the portals and kill the monsters that come from those portals before the countdown timer runs out. Oh, did I mention there was a countdown? At the beginning of the game, you randomly draw an ultimate evil and, depending on which you draw, the instant game will be limited by the corresponding number of rounds. To “win,” you either have to seal all portals before you run out of rounds or you can simply fight the “ultimate evil” or you simply lose if you pick the wrong ultimate evil. Strategy-wise, your group is basically working together and has to decide to either attempt to shut down portals or to bulk up with the intention of killing the ultimate evil. There is a lot of long term thinking involved due to the round limitations. Luck is also factored into it in the form of rolling dice and drawing random cards. For example, one of our party members was completely debilitated by a curse that he could not remove for the entire game. That curse he had basically lost us the game.

Overall, a rather complicated game with complicated mechanics, but really easy to pick up and learn while you play.