Pioneers

GaGarfieldstar7.0

#1 Nice game. [c] Theme: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Not really --> Gameplay: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]A little bit repetitive --> Interaction: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Not much --> Artwork: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Nothing special --> Luck: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Not much --> Strategy: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Build the longest network? --> Components: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok --> Play duration: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Easy to teach: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Good --> Rules quality: <!-- size 7]Not read --> Setup time: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Normal --> No downtime: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Normal --> Replay value: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Nah --> [/c]

EvEvanstar5.9

In this game players are spending money to lay down roads, buy tiles full of meeples, and then moving the shared stagecoach meeple into a unresolved spot, removing the colored token, and dropping off a matching meeple in that area. Each meeple type has a special ability when dropped off which is interesting. When a stagecoach token is empty it's worth it's printed points, and at the end of the game you get 1 point per one of your meeples connected through a chain of your roads. Much of the challenge of the game comes from the tight economy. Players get a base income of $3 per turn, which can be increased to as much as $5 with the right turn order luck and/or planning by picking up yellow spots. On other players turns you have opportunities to drop a meeple after they do in matching color by giving them $2, and you have to also pay other players to traverse road spots they own. This results in a lot of money being handed back and forth. Starting turn order might be a little bit of an issue with the game, as the randomly distributed tokens might only put one yellow 'income increasing' tile near the start of the map. This might give the player who grabs it a bit of an advantage, but it's hard for me to say if it's actually a problem or not. Overall, I like how you have a limited number of meeples, and so choosing the right carriage to take is actually important. It's also a shortish game, with a little bit of that Steam sensibility to it in the way you can take some advantage of other player's actions by paying them. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ★ Clever or interesting mechanisms ★ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ★ Multiple plays stay interesting ★ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★☆☆☆ Raw enjoyment