Author Topic: Brettspiel Advent Calendar 2015 - day by day (Read 39759 times)

Paul · « **on:** December 01, 2015, 12:45:03 PM »

Hello!

This is a thread started tonight where I will be opening one hatch each day from December 1st to December 24th and give some feedback for each expansion. The rules will be posted on their (Frosted Games) official website each day for the expansion it correlate in German and English downloadable as .pdf. French was added on December 3rd as well.

Many of you probably know which the expansions are that comes with the box, but it could be fun to have a little more in depth of what these expansions actually do. Each post will represent one day on this thread. Feel free to comment and suggest! I most likely don't even own half of these games so I can't test them yet, and certainly not every day consecutive.

Update: Corrected the mistake of the German rules, they are NOT in Dutch as was pointed out further down this thread.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2209.0

Paul · « **Reply #1 on:** December 01, 2015, 01:02:53 PM »

December 1st

Original size: http://sydby.com/carcassonne/screenshots/collection/20151201_BrettspielCalendarDiary/01__DSC_0100.JPG

The Story
Santa needs wool for his new coat and the coats for his elves. Help out Santa Claus and he will help you in return!

Content
1 hexagonal new tile with Santa's home.
1 Santa Claus with stand (both cardboard)
11 tokens (roughly 1 cm squared)

Preparation
The game follows the same setup as normal play with a few modifications.

The new hexagonal tile (Santa's home) is placed where the number 2 is and the number 2 tile itself is placed on the tile marked with the number 12.
This merged location of 2 and 12 gives production to players adjacent this tile when rolled either a 2 or a 12.
Santa Claus cardboard figure is placed on Santa's home tile.

The Added Rules

There are 4 rules for this expansion. I'll paste exact quote to leave for interpretations.

Quote:
1. Moving Santa Claus
If it is your turn and – after rolling for production – you give Santa Claus 1 wool (i.e., you return the wool card to the supply), move him to any terrain hex not occupied by the robber (my ref: no punctuation after this sentence)

If you give Santa Claus 2 wool, you may even move him to the hex occupied by the robber and chase the robber away, in which case you place the robber on the desert.

Important: You are not allowed to move Santa Claus more than once during your turn.
End quote.

My own thoughts for this rule
The first paragraph suggest that you are forced to give Santa 1 wool and then move him, which is unusual. Could this be an error in translation? Well, continue reading, this might not be a mistake.

This extra phase during each turn may slow the game down a bit. I am fond of expansions that adds a little extra here and there, not permanently every turn so this is not something I'm used to.

Quote:
2. Receiving Gift Tokens (One or More)
If you move Santa Claus to a terrain hex, all players who have one or more settlements or cities adjacent to that hex receive 1 gift token.

If you move Santa Claus to the “Home of Santa Claus” special hex, all players who have one or more settlements or cities adjacent to that hex receive 2 gift tokens.
End quote.

Quote:
3. Placing Gift Tokens
If you have at least 2 gift tokens, immediately return 2 gift tokens to
the supply and take any 1 resource of your choice in exchange.
End quote.

My own thoughts for this rule
Here is where things gets confusing (for me at least). You can give 2 tokens away (see rule 1) and move the robber but rule 3 states that you have to give away 2 tokens immediately as soon as you have 2 tokens to trade in for any resource of that player's choice. This leads me to believe that the rules are meant to work in tangent somehow.

Quote:
4. Moving the Robber
You are neither allowed to move the robber to the hex occupied by Santa Claus nor to the “Home of Santa Claus” special hex.
End quote.

My own thoughts for this rule
Pretty much self-explanatory aside from the sentence error.

Final thoughts:
As I mentioned earlier in this post, I'm not used to expansions that interfere every turn and although I have played (Settlers of) Catan I do not own the game myself.

Thanks for reading!
Paul

Rules in German: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CAT_Advent_Manual_D.pdf
Rules in English: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CAT_Advent_Manual_US.pdf

Paul · « **Reply #2 on:** December 02, 2015, 05:16:08 AM »

December 2nd

Original size: http://sydby.com/carcassonne/screenshots/collection/20151201_BrettspielCalendarDiary/02__DSC_0103-0104.JPG

In the second slot there is an expansion for Fields of Arle.

Content
1 Peat-Fired Brickworks (the Torfbrandziegelei tile)
1 Peat Power Plant (the Torfkraftwerk tile)
1 Coach wagon

Setup
With an easy setup of mixing one tile with the rest, and adding the remainder two to their respective location adjacent other tiles of the same type, you are all set to play!
(This makes more sense if you already know how to play the game so don't worry about it.

)

The Rules
From what I understand reading the rules (for this expansion) it does not add much new content but another means of trading goods and using the coach to cut down trips needed. Doesn't sound that bad really.

The main game itself is quite interesting as the creator has roots to the real location where this game is taking place. Also, two of the tiles in this Advent expansion comes with a little story, sort of a true fact about the location (of East Frisia).

Another update discovered: Each day I receive an E-mail with some info and storyline about the expansion and the game in general. At least from what I could translate.

All in Dutch I'm afraid. It's not correlating to the actual expansion though, so that's confusing. December 1st mail was not about Catan, that's for sure!

Rules in German: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/arler-erde_adventskalender_regel_D.pdf
Rules in English: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/arler-erde_adventskalender_regel_ENG.pdf

Link to the base game on Boardgamegeek: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159675/fields-arle

SRBO · « **Reply #3 on:** December 02, 2015, 07:33:25 AM »

The rules are in the german language. not dutch

Hounk · « **Reply #4 on:** December 02, 2015, 01:43:50 PM »

I've read the Catan-rules in German, and you are not forced to give Santa the wool. It is still one of the expansions, I can easily let pass, like "Big Game" or "Hochzeitsturm", but thanks for the thread.

Paul · « **Reply #5 on:** December 03, 2015, 03:03:59 AM »

Quote from: SRBO on December 02, 2015, 07:33:25 AM

The rules are in the german language. not dutch

This has now been corrected. Thank you!

Paul · « **Reply #6 on:** December 03, 2015, 03:05:01 AM »

Quote from: Hounk on December 02, 2015, 01:43:50 PM

I've read the Catan-rules in German, and you are not forced to give Santa the wool. It is still one of the expansions, I can easily let pass, like "Big Game" or "Hochzeitsturm", but thanks for the thread.

This is why I quoted the English rules word for word. For there it does not say anything about this being optional.

Paul · « **Reply #7 on:** December 03, 2015, 03:48:59 AM »

December 3rd

In the 3d slot there is an expansion for Colt Express adding one single card.

Content
1 Station card: The North Pole

The Rules (quoted from the .pdf file)
At the end of the game, each Bandit gives his highest purse to the imp.

Another famous game which I've yet had a pleasure to play. Maybe next year I get a chance to try out some of these games that comes with the calendar!

Rules in German: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Colt_calendarDE.pdf
Rules in English: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Colt_calendarEN.pdf
New! Rules in French: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Colt_calendarFR.pdf

Link to the base game on Boardgamegeek: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159675/fields-arle

Paul · « **Reply #8 on:** December 04, 2015, 03:41:34 AM »

December 4th

In the 4th slot there is an expansion for Las Vegas adding another slot machine.
Las Vegas is a dice game where players rolls a set of standard 1d6 (6-sided tiles numbered 1 to 6) and then taking turns placing them on a slot machine correlating to the number they rolled.
It's like a different form of Yatsy but instead of scoring points players wins money.

Content
1 Slot Machine cardboard

The Rules
The 7th slot machine is played almost like the other slot machines (1-6) with exceptions of players able to add any dice to it and then taking turns adding more dices with some restrictions (rules downloadable below).

Rules in German: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/advents-regel-las-vegas-DE.pdf
Rules in English: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/advents-regel-las-vegas-EN.pdf

Link to the base game on Boardgamegeek: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/117959/las-vegas

Paul · « **Reply #9 on:** December 05, 2015, 06:13:48 AM »

December 5th

(Apologies for the flash in the center of the image.)

This Saturday brings about the 5th expansion, Bean Market, which is for... Bohnanza!
A card game that has been around since 1997 and spawned over a dozen expansions and some revised editions. The (base) game seems great for those relaxed evenings. I also like how everything are made like cards, even the "tokens" such as beans and coins. This makes it good for travelling and you don't have to worry about tokens flying under the seat when in the backseat playing.

The base game involves players (originally 3-5 but revised edition supports 2-7) to make coins to buy beans for planting and then harvesting.

Content
48 Quarter Bean Dollars (also known as QBDs in the rules)

The Rules
The rules for this expansion has some visual aids which is always good. This expansion adds a market row of five cards where players can use a QBD during their turn to buy one of these face up cards instead of buying a random card from the original pile. Players are able to trade in a regular coin for 4 QBDs as well.
Also mentioned in the rules are some of the expansions that this is playable with.

Rules in German: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Bohnanza_Bohnenmarkt_Regel_200x260mm_300dpi_DE.pdf
Rules in English: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Bohnanza_Bohnenmarkt_Regel_200x260mm_ENG_300dpi_EN.pdf

Link to the base game on BoardGameGeek: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11/bohnanza

Paul · « **Reply #10 on:** December 06, 2015, 12:30:23 PM »

December 6th

(Apologies for the crude image quality.)

Got a bit late this Sunday but here it finally is. The 6th hatch and it revealed an expansion for Loony Quest!
The base game is a drawing game much in the style of what appears to be like a video game. The basic principal is looking at an image, each one unique with layout and mission objective. You then get a transparent sheet and draw on it. Lastly, you take the transparent sheet and place it on top of the image to see how close you were to that mission objective.

This was a bit tougher to explain than I thought, but the game seems like great fun and I'm thinking of buying this soon!

Here is a link to a YouTube clip where you can see the game in action in a tutorial way. As this is based on the Doodle Quest game, this is included in the video:

Content (calendar expansion)
1 alternate score board
1 alternate character token
4 bonus tokens

The Rules
The rules for the expansion (English) felt rather vague. Hopefully this makes more sense if you know the (base) game already. I'll just quote it which will make it easier than me trying to break down what it all means. And when I mean easier, I mean it for both you and I.

Quote rule (English .pdf file):
Ski : A player who has a Ski tile may discard it during the scoring step and place his score token behind the score token of the nearest opponent on the score track. For example, if the player in front has 15 points, the player who plays the Ski places his score token on the 14 points.
End quote.

Rules in German: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/LQ_WEB_promo-item-DE.pdf
Rules in English: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/LQ_WEB_promo-item-EN.pdf
Rules in French: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/LQ_WEB_promo-item-FR.pdf

Link to the base game on BoardGameGeek:

Paul · « **Reply #11 on:** December 07, 2015, 03:43:15 AM »

December 7th

Today's expansion is for a game called Doctor Panic
Note! According to BoardGameGeek this game will be published in 2016. I checked the official site as well and could not find any info about this game. Also, Doctor Panic may not be the final name. This game will be using a free downloadable app (or soundtrack?) that will work as a timer for the game.

The (base) game info quoted from BoardGameGeek as it seems to describe the game perfectly:
Quote:
In Doctor Panic, you are a surgical team from the most prestigious hospital in the area. Your goal: Work together as a team to save a patient who just arrived on a stretcher before time runs out!
To accomplish this, you need to perform a series of medical treatments that have been prepared before the game.
One or more players serve as overseers — emergency room managers, as it were — and they give tasks to the other medical personnel on hand: find a combination of drugs in this batch of cards; figure out the dose you need to administer by consulting this chart; stitch up a wound by "stitching" on a game board with needle and thread; and so on.
If you complete all of the treatments before the final heart attack on the soundtrack, you are victorious! If not, you'll have to receive additional training...
End quote.

Here is a link to a YouTube clip where you can see the game in action in a tutorial way. As this is based on the Doodle Quest game, this is included in the video:

Content (calendar expansion)
1 patient card: Klaus Santa

The Rules
There does not seem to be any additional rules. Santa Klaus has hurt his back and needs medical attention!

Rules in German: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/DoctorPanic_Goodies_santa_DE.pdf
Rules in English: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/DoctorPanic_Goodies_santa_EN.pdf
Rules in French: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/DoctorPanic_Goodies_santa_FR.pdf

Link to the base game on BoardGameGeek:

kettlefish · « **Reply #12 on:** December 07, 2015, 03:48:22 AM »

Hi Paul,
nice to see the videos in the postings...

Paul · « **Reply #13 on:** December 07, 2015, 03:50:15 AM »

Quote from: kettlefish on December 07, 2015, 03:48:22 AM

Hi Paul,
nice to see the videos in the postings...

Thank you!

And a big thank you also goes to Gantry. This little add to the forum has already helped forum members!

Paul · « **Reply #14 on:** December 08, 2015, 06:06:26 AM »

December 8th

Women likes to dress up in them and men likes women who do...

... and then there are men that likes to dress up in them and women who likes men that do!

Today's expansion is for the game Rokoko (or Rococo depending on language released in)

Pressed for time, I'll quote BoardGameGeek as it seems to describe the game perfectly yet again:
Quote:
Rokoko is a Eurostyle board game with an interesting take on deck-building. Each turn you play one of your employee cards and let that employee perform a task: hire a new employee, buy resources, manufacture a coat or dress, or invest in the ball's decorations. But not every employee is up to every task, so you must choose and lead your employees wisely – especially since each employee grants a unique bonus and some of these bonuses generate prestige points.
End quote.

A review of the base game can be found here. It also has some nice pointers near the end of the video:

Content (calendar expansion)
4 new dresses (tokens)

The Rules
These new dresses are pretty much like those that come with the base game except they come into play slightly later into the game. Also, these cannot be sold, like Soulbound items in World of Warcraft. Hate that.

Another thing mentioned in the rules .pdf file is that an expanson called Jewelry Box is coming next year in March (2016).

My own thoughts
I really like the art for this game and it always amazes me that the world of board games can provide solid ideas for themes other than Fantasy Adventure, tactical miniature and Zombie / Vampire related. I can certainly see myself obtaining this and as we have women in our gaming group I won't get bashed for it, at least not by everyone.

Rules in German: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Rok_AK_Regeln_DE.pdf
Rules in English: http://frostedgames.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Rok_AK_Rules_US.pdf

Link to the base game on BoardGameGeek: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144344/rococo