Chess Month and musings on chessiness in games

Boardgames Shut Up and Sit Down
42

I can’t believe it’s abstract, but Through the Desert is. Unlike it’s other Knizia tile laying siblings - T&E, Samurai, Babylonia, Blue Lagoon - there’s no randomness in the game. It has a random setup, but the locations of the oasis and watering holes are all the same. No hidden info as the value of the watering holes are all public. Initial placement of riders are done by players.

And it’s also a brilliant game.

I also have Terra Nova. No random setup, as your initial placement of meeples are all chosen by the players. No hidden information. Despite this, the game felt different every time.

43

AKA Camel Go :grin:

5 Likes
44

I’ve played a lot of chess, and Twighlight Struggle comes the closest to me. Even though it’s not an abstract, I played chess a lot as a child and got extremely good at it. And Twilight Struggle has exactly the same massive choice of openings, but all but 3 will get you destroyed by a player who knows what they’re doing. With no real indication as to why this is without having a bunch of games and experience and post game analysis under your belt.

1 Like
45

Yeah, but by “3 openings” you (should) mean literally how you set up. There’s no playbook that works for exactly how those openings develop in response to the opening headlines and first move, unlike chess where the early moves are mapped out.

1 Like
46

Well I guess that cements the reason why I’m not into Twilight Struggle any more.

At least it’s not in the weird “post scripted openings” stage like chess was where the major openings were so scripted that sometimes players would try to steal an advantage by playing something bonkers expecting that their opponent won’t have studied it and will stumble into a pitfall attempting to press home their theoretical advantage.

(Yet. … Has it?!)

1 Like
47

I do that. I’m gonna pretend I do it intentionally.

I think there’s enough randomness in TS to keep it interesting for much longer, and accommodate a wider range of skill levels playing together. But I’m definitely not in the higher skill bracket. Obviously your milage may vary and sounds like it has.

2 Likes