Review of Antler Island
In an email from Gordon Lamont, he mentioned to me that “we certainly cannot be accused of unoriginal themes!” And certainly that is the truth, made evident once again in Antler Island (Fragor Games, 2007 – Gordon and Fraser Lamont). In Antler Island, each player plays a stag that is preparing for the rutting season, the player who breeds with the most does, while fighting the other stags is the winner! An interesting theme to be sure (if interesting to explain to young children), and with simplicity of play to match earlier Fragor Games’ offerings.
With beautiful components (typical from this company these days), Antler Island is an easy game to explain to folks, as they simply are programming their stags to move, eat, fight, and – well, rut. The game has similarities to more complex programming games, such as Robo Rally, but falls into a much more friendly category, even though a player is highly encouraged to go head to head with other players. It’s sometimes difficult to stop a runaway leader, and strategy is often obvious; but the game works on an easy, enjoyable level – and I’m glad to see Fragor Games returning to the fun game methods that made them popular in the first place.
The game board, which changes if there are three or four players, has three levels of an island – with several outside spaces, each denoted with either a yellow, red, or blue spot, six middle spaces (three of which are marshes), and one center spot. Each player takes a control mat of their color and places two antler pieces onto the head of the stag pictured there. Several “doeples” are placed near the board, as well as some piles of food tokens (which range from “1” to “3” in value). A colored die is rolled, and a food token is randomly placed in each spot with that matching color on the lower level; and then it is rolled again for a different color – on which players place their stag piece. A doeple is placed on the remaining empty spaces, as well as the three non-marsh spaces on the second level. Players take one random food counter and place it below their control mat. A pile of “wily” tiles are shuffled and placed in a pile, with the top one flipped face up. The player with the most money on them gets the starting marker, and each player places a scoring piece of their color on the bottom of the “doe track” (which goes to “12”). Players are given five action tokens of their color, and the first round is ready to begin.
At the beginning of each round, players place their five action tiles next to four different options on their control mat. Three tiles are numbered, showing the order in which they will be played, while one is an “X” – meaning it can be played at any time; and the last is blank, which is used simply as a bluffing device. Once everyone has placed them, play starts with the first player. That player turns over their “1” tile or their “X” tile, whichever they like. However, once they have played their “X” tile, they have no choice but to go in numerical order. The actions that occur are:Move: The player moves their stag into an adjacent area – either on the same level – or up or down one level. Stags may never go into marshes. If two stags occupy the same space, they will fight.
Eat: The player may take one face down food token from the space their stag occupies, adding it to the area below their mat, although they may not have more than five food tokens there.
Grow antlers: The player may spend as many of their food tokens as they want to add another antler piece to their stag. Two points of food is worth one antler, although a player may cash in a single food chip for one antler piece. If a player grows to an even number of antlers, they may take the face up wily tile, flipping a new one on top of the pile.
Rutting: The stag may enjoy life with the doe in their tile, removing it from the board, and moving their scoring marker up one space on the doe track.
Players continue taking actions (although they may be unable to take an action, depending on where they are) in turn order, until each player has taken four actions. At this point, new food tokens are added to the ground level; and all does still on the board move directly up one level, staying at the top if there. New does are added to the bottom, and the game continues.
Fights are fairly simple, as first the attacker places an amount of food tiles in front of their card. The defender places a similar number of tiles (both players are limited to playing three tiles maximum). Each player has a chance of retreating; otherwise, the players flip the tokens, adding the number of food there to the number of pieces in their antlers. The player who wins the fight (or didn’t retreat) wins, and any played food tokens are lost (except if someone runs away like a liver-hearted coward). The winning stag gets the top wily tile, and the losing stag (in battle only) loses one piece from their antlers. Wily tiles are played to allow players to take a one-time special action. The different tiles are: Speed: Move one additional space
Greedy: Eat one additional food piece
Rut your stuff: Make out with two does.
Diamond antler: Don’t lose an antler piece when losing a fight.
Roar: Attract all adjacent does into your space
Rope-a-dope: Retain one food token after a battle.
The game continues until one player reaches twelve (three player game) or ten on the doe track. This signals that the current round is the final round. After that round is over, players get one point for the space they are on the doe track, plus one point for any additional does they may have snagged the last turn, three points if they are currently on the center space, and one point if they are currently in the middle section. However, a player may NOT win unless they have won at least one fight with another stag during the game (even if that stag simply turned tail and ran).
The advanced game gives players cubes of their own color, which are captured by other players if they lose a stag battle. At the end of the game, players get one point if they have all of their own cubes and additional points if they have one cube of each other player’s color.
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: Antler Island is simply gorgeous, from the box cover to the board, which actually sets up three dimensionally (slightly) if only to add a thematic level to the game. The stag pieces look like Christmas ornaments, and the doeples are simply little wooden does. The antler pieces are brown wooden sticks (like the roads in Settlers of Catan), and the other tokens are cardboard tokens that are thick and easy to handle. There’s even an overlay piece for the board in a three player game. The only thing that I find odd is the use of an “X” for a wild, as an “X” often symbolizes cancelation for me. This is no big deal, and the game is sure to elicit a lot of looks when you bring it out; it conveys the theme quite well.
2.) Rules: An excellent rulebook is included with the game, with six pages of examples, illustrations, and clearly formatted and simple rules. I’ve explained the game to adults and children; and even though the box says “10+”, younger children can likely grasp most of the concepts, except the programming part. The game elements match the theme perfectly, and it’s simple and engaging.
3.) Theme: As much as I like the theme and don’t have any problem with it, it IS certainly ripe for players' innuendo; and I wouldn’t even attempt to play the game with a group of teenagers, because it would get old quite quickly. Kids won’t have a problem with it – the rules themselves mention explaining “kissing” rather than “rutting”. Still, I challenge you to play the game without smirking at least once, as the double entendres will surely unintentionally and perhaps intentionally arise. It’s probably not a big deal, but could cause problems amongst those who are juvenile.
4.) Programming: For some reason, there exists a category of people who just don’t get programming games, even one as simple as this. For this reason, I often recommend playing through an example turn if you have someone like this in your group, just so they can see that they may need to move first, then eat, then move, etc. On the other hand, people looking for a cousin to Robo Rally are going to find this game much simpler and perhaps with too few choices. For the level that the game is going for, I think it works out just fine, and the entire experience is easy and friendly.
5.) King of the Hill: At first I thought that three points for being on the top of the hill wasn’t that big of a deal, but it certainly has decided more than one game! The problem is, a player who spends their time simply rutting as many does as they see will find themselves unable to defend that position (unless they are crafty in their maneuvering) near the end of the game. So a balance must be sought. Sure, you could build a ten piece antler and have a pile of food, but the likelihood of that happening AND you snagging many does on the way is slim. Not only that, but to get to the top of the hill (which is a great place to meet the female deer, since they head that way) is far from the food, and a stag with no food will get trounced by one that is well fed.
6.) Fighting: It’s interesting that players must win one fight to win the game. This isn’t hard to do, but sometimes it will mess up your best laid plans and force a weaker stag to attack a stronger one just to get that single victory under their belt. The advanced rules push even more fighting, although I’m not sure it’s necessary – I’m fairly happy with the basic game – there will be at least four fights (likely more), and that seems enough as it is.
7.) Fun Factor: The wily tiles aren’t superbly powerful, but they can help a player get ahead in a round, which keeps them constantly sought after by players. Antler Island is going to be a simple fun game for families, as they attempt to outmaneuver one another on the hill. Many people will be attracted to the game because of the cute pieces; but the rules are basic enough to classify Antler Island as a “gateway” game, since it’s the kind of game that offers a little depth for a small amount of work.
Antler Island is not going to be a breakout hit, I think – like Shear Panic was. But it is engaging and may have a wider audience, if only because the entry level is very low. The pieces are tremendous, and the theme flows throughout (snickers included). I personally would prefer to play a game that offered a few more tactical decisions; but this is a great family game, so it will see more play in my household. Besides, my kids like trying to see how many does their stags can kiss. If they only knew…
Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.thedicetower.com
With beautiful components (typical from this company these days), Antler Island is an easy game to explain to folks, as they simply are programming their stags to move, eat, fight, and – well, rut. The game has similarities to more complex programming games, such as Robo Rally, but falls into a much more friendly category, even though a player is highly encouraged to go head to head with other players. It’s sometimes difficult to stop a runaway leader, and strategy is often obvious; but the game works on an easy, enjoyable level – and I’m glad to see Fragor Games returning to the fun game methods that made them popular in the first place.
The game board, which changes if there are three or four players, has three levels of an island – with several outside spaces, each denoted with either a yellow, red, or blue spot, six middle spaces (three of which are marshes), and one center spot. Each player takes a control mat of their color and places two antler pieces onto the head of the stag pictured there. Several “doeples” are placed near the board, as well as some piles of food tokens (which range from “1” to “3” in value). A colored die is rolled, and a food token is randomly placed in each spot with that matching color on the lower level; and then it is rolled again for a different color – on which players place their stag piece. A doeple is placed on the remaining empty spaces, as well as the three non-marsh spaces on the second level. Players take one random food counter and place it below their control mat. A pile of “wily” tiles are shuffled and placed in a pile, with the top one flipped face up. The player with the most money on them gets the starting marker, and each player places a scoring piece of their color on the bottom of the “doe track” (which goes to “12”). Players are given five action tokens of their color, and the first round is ready to begin.
At the beginning of each round, players place their five action tiles next to four different options on their control mat. Three tiles are numbered, showing the order in which they will be played, while one is an “X” – meaning it can be played at any time; and the last is blank, which is used simply as a bluffing device. Once everyone has placed them, play starts with the first player. That player turns over their “1” tile or their “X” tile, whichever they like. However, once they have played their “X” tile, they have no choice but to go in numerical order. The actions that occur are:
Players continue taking actions (although they may be unable to take an action, depending on where they are) in turn order, until each player has taken four actions. At this point, new food tokens are added to the ground level; and all does still on the board move directly up one level, staying at the top if there. New does are added to the bottom, and the game continues.
Fights are fairly simple, as first the attacker places an amount of food tiles in front of their card. The defender places a similar number of tiles (both players are limited to playing three tiles maximum). Each player has a chance of retreating; otherwise, the players flip the tokens, adding the number of food there to the number of pieces in their antlers. The player who wins the fight (or didn’t retreat) wins, and any played food tokens are lost (except if someone runs away like a liver-hearted coward). The winning stag gets the top wily tile, and the losing stag (in battle only) loses one piece from their antlers. Wily tiles are played to allow players to take a one-time special action. The different tiles are:
The game continues until one player reaches twelve (three player game) or ten on the doe track. This signals that the current round is the final round. After that round is over, players get one point for the space they are on the doe track, plus one point for any additional does they may have snagged the last turn, three points if they are currently on the center space, and one point if they are currently in the middle section. However, a player may NOT win unless they have won at least one fight with another stag during the game (even if that stag simply turned tail and ran).
The advanced game gives players cubes of their own color, which are captured by other players if they lose a stag battle. At the end of the game, players get one point if they have all of their own cubes and additional points if they have one cube of each other player’s color.
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: Antler Island is simply gorgeous, from the box cover to the board, which actually sets up three dimensionally (slightly) if only to add a thematic level to the game. The stag pieces look like Christmas ornaments, and the doeples are simply little wooden does. The antler pieces are brown wooden sticks (like the roads in Settlers of Catan), and the other tokens are cardboard tokens that are thick and easy to handle. There’s even an overlay piece for the board in a three player game. The only thing that I find odd is the use of an “X” for a wild, as an “X” often symbolizes cancelation for me. This is no big deal, and the game is sure to elicit a lot of looks when you bring it out; it conveys the theme quite well.
2.) Rules: An excellent rulebook is included with the game, with six pages of examples, illustrations, and clearly formatted and simple rules. I’ve explained the game to adults and children; and even though the box says “10+”, younger children can likely grasp most of the concepts, except the programming part. The game elements match the theme perfectly, and it’s simple and engaging.
3.) Theme: As much as I like the theme and don’t have any problem with it, it IS certainly ripe for players' innuendo; and I wouldn’t even attempt to play the game with a group of teenagers, because it would get old quite quickly. Kids won’t have a problem with it – the rules themselves mention explaining “kissing” rather than “rutting”. Still, I challenge you to play the game without smirking at least once, as the double entendres will surely unintentionally and perhaps intentionally arise. It’s probably not a big deal, but could cause problems amongst those who are juvenile.
4.) Programming: For some reason, there exists a category of people who just don’t get programming games, even one as simple as this. For this reason, I often recommend playing through an example turn if you have someone like this in your group, just so they can see that they may need to move first, then eat, then move, etc. On the other hand, people looking for a cousin to Robo Rally are going to find this game much simpler and perhaps with too few choices. For the level that the game is going for, I think it works out just fine, and the entire experience is easy and friendly.
5.) King of the Hill: At first I thought that three points for being on the top of the hill wasn’t that big of a deal, but it certainly has decided more than one game! The problem is, a player who spends their time simply rutting as many does as they see will find themselves unable to defend that position (unless they are crafty in their maneuvering) near the end of the game. So a balance must be sought. Sure, you could build a ten piece antler and have a pile of food, but the likelihood of that happening AND you snagging many does on the way is slim. Not only that, but to get to the top of the hill (which is a great place to meet the female deer, since they head that way) is far from the food, and a stag with no food will get trounced by one that is well fed.
6.) Fighting: It’s interesting that players must win one fight to win the game. This isn’t hard to do, but sometimes it will mess up your best laid plans and force a weaker stag to attack a stronger one just to get that single victory under their belt. The advanced rules push even more fighting, although I’m not sure it’s necessary – I’m fairly happy with the basic game – there will be at least four fights (likely more), and that seems enough as it is.
7.) Fun Factor: The wily tiles aren’t superbly powerful, but they can help a player get ahead in a round, which keeps them constantly sought after by players. Antler Island is going to be a simple fun game for families, as they attempt to outmaneuver one another on the hill. Many people will be attracted to the game because of the cute pieces; but the rules are basic enough to classify Antler Island as a “gateway” game, since it’s the kind of game that offers a little depth for a small amount of work.
Antler Island is not going to be a breakout hit, I think – like Shear Panic was. But it is engaging and may have a wider audience, if only because the entry level is very low. The pieces are tremendous, and the theme flows throughout (snickers included). I personally would prefer to play a game that offered a few more tactical decisions; but this is a great family game, so it will see more play in my household. Besides, my kids like trying to see how many does their stags can kiss. If they only knew…
Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.thedicetower.com
