Review of Conquest of Pangea
The idea of the Pangea, a super-continent, is an interesting topic and makes for some great reading on the internet. And, in retrospect, it's a clever idea for a game; and when I saw the bright pieces and theme of Conquest of Pangea (Immortal Eyes Games, 2006 - Phil E. Orbanes), I was immediately intrigued. The game looked strategic; and after reading the rules, I was ready to dive in.
What I found left me with mixed feelings. A couple of the mechanics I found simply enjoyable, such as the drifting away of the continents, and how power cards were used. At the same time, the entire package felt a bit "off" - with slightly convoluted rules and a bit of a runaway leader problem. The game simply isn't intuitive, and a player can be frustrated if luck doesn't go their way - especially when continents break away. I did enjoy the game, although I found it a bit clumsy and over-inflated; it's one of the few games that I would describe with the word "fiddly".
Rather than explain the rules in detail, which would take a bit of time, I'm simply going to summarize how the game works. Each player is attempting to control valuable areas on the different continents. As areas fill up with a players' population markers, fights break out that are resolved using power cards - cards that can be used for temporary advantages. As the game progresses, different continents break off from the Pangea, causing any player's pieces that are there to be isolated from the others, except under special circumstances. Evntually all the continents break away from Africa, and the game ends. The player with the most Dominance points is the winner!
Some more detailed comments on the game…
1.) Components: As I said, it was the colorful contents that drew me into the game in the first place. I liked the puzzle aspect of how all six continents fit together on the board, and how one simply slides them off during the game. The cards are all high quality, although they had one trait that drove me nuts for a while. There are “White” power cards and “Yellow” power cards; and I couldn’t figure out which was which, until I finally looked at the card backs, and noticed he word “Power” was white on one card and yellow on the other. I thought this was a bit subtle (especially as the “White” power cards have a yellow front!). The pieces for the players are hexagonal pyramids which stack and fit nicely in indented spaces on the continents. The little terrain tiles also fit snugly in the continents, although I found them a bit tiny to deal with – especially during game setup. Everything fits inside an unnecessary plastic insert (bags are necessary – but are included, although they are cloth bags) inside a nicely designed box with good artwork.
2.) Rules: There are six full-colored pages of rules with examples and illustrations. Most things are explained clearly, but I still had to refer to the rules several times during the game (it’s not completely intuitive), and a FAQ was necessary. I’ve found that the game sinks in for most people about halfway through the game, and I’ve found it slightly difficult to explain exactly how one goes about winning the game.
3.) Setup: One of the bigger problems with the game is that setup is done by the players themselves in a semi-random fashion. Those who have no idea of the game’s strategy can really have their legs cut out from underneath them by some poor moves in the beginning. A bad setup can ruin your game completely (more than Settlers!). I think that I would almost promote a total random setup rather than the one the game mentions, because players have just enough options to hurt themselves if they don’t understand the finer details of game tactics.
4.) Breakin' Up: I really enjoy the mechanic of having continents break away from the main mass; it's interesting and sounds like fun. The actual mechanic, however, is completely random. One never knows which of the six outer continents will break away, so there's no way to really plan. If a continent that contains nothing of yours (due to an unfortunate setup) is the first to break away, it's very difficult to get to that continent. You might have a "Raft" card or the "Aqua" ability, but both of those take a bit of luck to get and just getting to the island is not enough; a player really needs to establish a more than a simple foothold. It got to the point that if a player wasn't on a continent when it broke away, they basically signed off on that continent and concentrated on others.
5.) Power Cards: I enjoy/dislike the power cards quite a bit. First of all, I think the general idea of them is very interesting. A player who captures two of the same type of terrain gains the matching "Yellow" power card. This yellow power card not only gives the player a special ability, but also gives them some "power points" that they can use. A player also gets one or two "White" power cards at the end of their turn, depending on the actions they took, drawn from a deck. Several of the white power cards give a one time bonus of power points, others allow a player to "renew" (tap - for all you Magic players) the card multiple times. The Yellow cards are all "renewable". A player has five Power stones a turn and can use them to pay for their actions, adding in yellow and white power cards to supplement this. The white power cards can be used for anything, adding in the same point value; while the yellow power cards give a different amount of points, depending on the action and terrain (they give the highest when on their corresponding terrain). This all works very well and is a rather clever system, knowing when to use your cards is important, because a player might want to save them for another player's turn, when they attack them. But there is one annoying problem with the White power cards, and that is that they are drawn randomly from a deck. Some of them offer a one time use of two power points; others a renewable two power points, others a one time use of five power points. This can be frustrating, especially when your opponent gets two powerful cards and uses them to smash you - who can't really do anything about it? Also, since the Yellow cards are given out at according to terrain, a player who has poor luck at the beginning of the game in setup can have very few of them, making them an easy target for resource-rich opponents. Yes, it's possible to overcome this, but it's an uphill battle.
6.) Time Cards: The time cards are an interesting concept; they are used to measure how long the game lasts, which continent breaks off, and special events that happen each turn. I'm not sure I like the special events too much, however, since some of them are rather nice; and it can be annoying to have a player use one against you on a whim. If I spend a lot of time and strategy on conquering a certain continent, it can be undeniably frustrating to have another player simply get lucky with a card draw and whipe out two of my units, swinging the odds in their favor. A little randomness is a good thing, but in a strategic game like this, the chaos the cards add is really unacceptable - at least to me, and really dropped my appreciation of the game.
7.) Combat: Other than the randomness of the cards, I do really enjoy the combat system. A player has to determine whether the cards they have are worth using in battle. Should one attack, using every card they have, or save some for the inevitable counter-attack? Should I use Hills Yellow card for one point in my attack or save it for its value of "3", when defending in hills? This is a good point in the game; and even though it's a hard road to take over a territory, it can be done with some great satisfaction.
8.) Fun Factor: Conquest of Pangea has some really good ideas and utilizes some of them in a very effective way. The problem is that the game is rather convoluted, and players spend a lot of the time trying to figure out just what they are doing, rather than enjoying themselves. Also, enjoyment can be squelched when a player is hit by string of negative event cards, having little or no recourse.
I like chaos in games and enjoy it when it is applied properly. However, when a game seems to have a much deeper underlying strategy behind it, as Conquest of Pangea does, this chaos becomes incredibly frustrating, rather than endearing. To see my carefully laid plans undone by a few cards, or to watch a powerful player get more powerful, due to pure luck really doesn't sit well with me and dampers my enthusiasm for the game. There are a lot of clever mechanics in Conquest of Pangea, including the continental drift, the timeline factor, and the combat system; but they don't come together in a clear way, and one is left with a somewhat messy feel afterwards. I do look forward to more of Mr. Orbanes games, as I feel he has some very clever ideas. They just didn't pan out for me in this game.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.thedicetower.com
What I found left me with mixed feelings. A couple of the mechanics I found simply enjoyable, such as the drifting away of the continents, and how power cards were used. At the same time, the entire package felt a bit "off" - with slightly convoluted rules and a bit of a runaway leader problem. The game simply isn't intuitive, and a player can be frustrated if luck doesn't go their way - especially when continents break away. I did enjoy the game, although I found it a bit clumsy and over-inflated; it's one of the few games that I would describe with the word "fiddly".
Rather than explain the rules in detail, which would take a bit of time, I'm simply going to summarize how the game works. Each player is attempting to control valuable areas on the different continents. As areas fill up with a players' population markers, fights break out that are resolved using power cards - cards that can be used for temporary advantages. As the game progresses, different continents break off from the Pangea, causing any player's pieces that are there to be isolated from the others, except under special circumstances. Evntually all the continents break away from Africa, and the game ends. The player with the most Dominance points is the winner!
Some more detailed comments on the game…
1.) Components: As I said, it was the colorful contents that drew me into the game in the first place. I liked the puzzle aspect of how all six continents fit together on the board, and how one simply slides them off during the game. The cards are all high quality, although they had one trait that drove me nuts for a while. There are “White” power cards and “Yellow” power cards; and I couldn’t figure out which was which, until I finally looked at the card backs, and noticed he word “Power” was white on one card and yellow on the other. I thought this was a bit subtle (especially as the “White” power cards have a yellow front!). The pieces for the players are hexagonal pyramids which stack and fit nicely in indented spaces on the continents. The little terrain tiles also fit snugly in the continents, although I found them a bit tiny to deal with – especially during game setup. Everything fits inside an unnecessary plastic insert (bags are necessary – but are included, although they are cloth bags) inside a nicely designed box with good artwork.
2.) Rules: There are six full-colored pages of rules with examples and illustrations. Most things are explained clearly, but I still had to refer to the rules several times during the game (it’s not completely intuitive), and a FAQ was necessary. I’ve found that the game sinks in for most people about halfway through the game, and I’ve found it slightly difficult to explain exactly how one goes about winning the game.
3.) Setup: One of the bigger problems with the game is that setup is done by the players themselves in a semi-random fashion. Those who have no idea of the game’s strategy can really have their legs cut out from underneath them by some poor moves in the beginning. A bad setup can ruin your game completely (more than Settlers!). I think that I would almost promote a total random setup rather than the one the game mentions, because players have just enough options to hurt themselves if they don’t understand the finer details of game tactics.
4.) Breakin' Up: I really enjoy the mechanic of having continents break away from the main mass; it's interesting and sounds like fun. The actual mechanic, however, is completely random. One never knows which of the six outer continents will break away, so there's no way to really plan. If a continent that contains nothing of yours (due to an unfortunate setup) is the first to break away, it's very difficult to get to that continent. You might have a "Raft" card or the "Aqua" ability, but both of those take a bit of luck to get and just getting to the island is not enough; a player really needs to establish a more than a simple foothold. It got to the point that if a player wasn't on a continent when it broke away, they basically signed off on that continent and concentrated on others.
5.) Power Cards: I enjoy/dislike the power cards quite a bit. First of all, I think the general idea of them is very interesting. A player who captures two of the same type of terrain gains the matching "Yellow" power card. This yellow power card not only gives the player a special ability, but also gives them some "power points" that they can use. A player also gets one or two "White" power cards at the end of their turn, depending on the actions they took, drawn from a deck. Several of the white power cards give a one time bonus of power points, others allow a player to "renew" (tap - for all you Magic players) the card multiple times. The Yellow cards are all "renewable". A player has five Power stones a turn and can use them to pay for their actions, adding in yellow and white power cards to supplement this. The white power cards can be used for anything, adding in the same point value; while the yellow power cards give a different amount of points, depending on the action and terrain (they give the highest when on their corresponding terrain). This all works very well and is a rather clever system, knowing when to use your cards is important, because a player might want to save them for another player's turn, when they attack them. But there is one annoying problem with the White power cards, and that is that they are drawn randomly from a deck. Some of them offer a one time use of two power points; others a renewable two power points, others a one time use of five power points. This can be frustrating, especially when your opponent gets two powerful cards and uses them to smash you - who can't really do anything about it? Also, since the Yellow cards are given out at according to terrain, a player who has poor luck at the beginning of the game in setup can have very few of them, making them an easy target for resource-rich opponents. Yes, it's possible to overcome this, but it's an uphill battle.
6.) Time Cards: The time cards are an interesting concept; they are used to measure how long the game lasts, which continent breaks off, and special events that happen each turn. I'm not sure I like the special events too much, however, since some of them are rather nice; and it can be annoying to have a player use one against you on a whim. If I spend a lot of time and strategy on conquering a certain continent, it can be undeniably frustrating to have another player simply get lucky with a card draw and whipe out two of my units, swinging the odds in their favor. A little randomness is a good thing, but in a strategic game like this, the chaos the cards add is really unacceptable - at least to me, and really dropped my appreciation of the game.
7.) Combat: Other than the randomness of the cards, I do really enjoy the combat system. A player has to determine whether the cards they have are worth using in battle. Should one attack, using every card they have, or save some for the inevitable counter-attack? Should I use Hills Yellow card for one point in my attack or save it for its value of "3", when defending in hills? This is a good point in the game; and even though it's a hard road to take over a territory, it can be done with some great satisfaction.
8.) Fun Factor: Conquest of Pangea has some really good ideas and utilizes some of them in a very effective way. The problem is that the game is rather convoluted, and players spend a lot of the time trying to figure out just what they are doing, rather than enjoying themselves. Also, enjoyment can be squelched when a player is hit by string of negative event cards, having little or no recourse.
I like chaos in games and enjoy it when it is applied properly. However, when a game seems to have a much deeper underlying strategy behind it, as Conquest of Pangea does, this chaos becomes incredibly frustrating, rather than endearing. To see my carefully laid plans undone by a few cards, or to watch a powerful player get more powerful, due to pure luck really doesn't sit well with me and dampers my enthusiasm for the game. There are a lot of clever mechanics in Conquest of Pangea, including the continental drift, the timeline factor, and the combat system; but they don't come together in a clear way, and one is left with a somewhat messy feel afterwards. I do look forward to more of Mr. Orbanes games, as I feel he has some very clever ideas. They just didn't pan out for me in this game.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.thedicetower.com
