I recently backed Cornish Smuggler on KickStarter. My wife came across the game purely by accident as the designer's brother lives in the same village as us. Being an avid game I was keen to offer my support.
If you have never heard of KickStarter it is a website designed to promote crowd funding for ideas and products. Companies place their idea on to the website, give an overview and request financial backing from any interested parties. Board Games have become a very popular submission on KickStarter and allow small companies and independents the opportunity to create their game and bring it to market. Using more traditional routes (submitting to publishers) can take a long time and often prevent games from being made if they are deemed to risky or not commercial enough.
If you want to know more about the game, visit the KickStarter page here or visit the designer's website Grublin Games.
I was drawn in to the game due to the theme; what's not to like about smuggling along the Cornish Isles! The designer, Henry Jasper, seems to have captured the essence in a board game and the accompanying artwork really compliments the game and theme..
Examples of Art
I do urge anybody reading this to take a look and consider lending your support. Board Games are quite niche now and it is not often that we get great games produced by independent designers as the cost can be quite prohibitive.
Playtesting
I was also luck enough to be accepted as a playtester for the game and was provided with a Print and Play copy of the game (basically, all the files in digital format). I painstakingly printed and cut out the map and associated cards... probably close to 100! It took the best part of a whole evening, but it was worth it.
Below is my experience of the game and a mini review.
Play Test and Session Report
3 Player game
Wortsenawl - Chris
Dakeeps - Stephen
Neutral - A.I.
The game lasted approximately 2 hours, 3-4 turns, but was not
completed.
Please note, the game was played on a pre-production, print ‘n’ play,
version of the game (using rules V#9.3.7)
Below follows a detailed session report of the game, review and general
commentary and questions raised. As a caveat, it was recognised by both players
while reading the rules, that this version has a placeholder on pages 22 and 23
for examples of plays and these would have likely proved invaluable in our
understanding of the rules.
I will place questions throughout the report as and when applicable,
but there will be an appendix at the end which refers to these questions and
any others that have been raised, but do not have an obvious home throughout.
I am also not going to focus on the finer detail of the rules, as these
can be viewed either on the Kickstarter homepage, BoardGameGeek.com or by
watching this video.
Game Setup and Rules
I had a very brief pre-read of the rules, but decided not to over
familiarise myself with the rules because I wanted both myself and Stephen to
approach the game as a new players (as we would any other game) and to see how
we fared both playing and understanding the rules.
Playing a ‘Print n Play’ version of the game we had a great deal of
improvisation to undertake. This is an important point to make and will be
explained in more detail at the end. For now, hearty (seems an appropriate
word) thanks go to:
Magic the Gathering for the cards backs, goods tokens and ships.
Invasion for providing gold (plain wooden cubes) and INFluence
(coloured cubes)
Dragon Hunt for network counters
An assortment of glass tokens (customs) and large wooden tokens
(reputation) were also used.
Why Include an A.I. Player?
Before moving on to the review proper, I will explain the decision to
have a 3rd A.I. player. Initially we were going to play a 2 player
game (myself vs Stephen), but decided that in order to get a better feel for
some of the mechanics and strategy it would be a good idea to introduce player
3. We both played the A.I. player and simply had it take the most obvious
decision at any given point; almost like a beginner, not thinking too far ahead
and without too much strategy (the latter being easy, as neither of us had a
clue what we were doing!). It worked surprisingly well and did not slow the
game down too much. What it did mean was that we both could not take for
granted the next turn as good were bought from under our noses, customs were
alerted earlier than they would otherwise be and characters were taken that
would have benefitted us both greatly.
The Start... or setup*
We had the neutral player start as Player 1, his first network counter
was placed in ‘Mousehole’. I chose ‘The Isles of Scilly’ and Dakeeps chose St.
Levan.; immediately regretted the placement, but elected to keep the counter
there to see what affect it had on his game.
My choice was because the character I selected at the start providing a
bonus for selling in the Isles of Scilly (and it is also free from the
attentions of customs). I am not speaking of the other players’ character
selection (each player draws two characters and selects one to keep), because
there was no immediate benefit from the abilities. For the same reason, I am
not speaking of the chosen storehouses (used for hiding goods; each player
selects one at the start of the game).
Diagram
of starting board. Green markers are customs (St Ives and Penzance at game
setup). Network counters in Mousehole (P1), Isles of Scilly (P2) and Penzance
(P3).
Ships were then selected by each player and this caused a little
discussion. Ships (or rather their holds) are each a different layout, so not
all goods and goods combinations will fit into all ships. The player needs to
be a little cautious when purchasing goods in order to maximise the transport
capability.
We had a few questions around this aspect of the game:
Q1: All ships are marked starting ships, which implies there are ships
that can be gained throughout play, though there is no reference to this
anywhere. Perhaps this is a hangover from previous iterations.
Q2: In the rules, P12, there is reference to a ship called ‘The Lady
Grace’. This ship is not in the PnP version of the game, though starting ship
#205 has the same layout. Again, perhaps a hangover.
Q3: It was also noted that while ship holds have a different layout,
they also have a different number of hold spaces / available hold spaces. The
ships vary in size from 15-24, with available hold space from 12-16 space. Why
then would a player elect to take a smaller ship?
Finally, we each placed our ships. Each player elected to place their
ship on a merchant square (where goods are bought from). This is a valid move (as pointed out in the
rulebook, p4) and I cannot fathom any reason why this would not be the default
opening move of every player, every game.
*Setup order is selection of Ship;
Storehouse; Character; Starting location of Network counter; ship space. We
followed this pattern, but I did not record my review in this order.
Turn 1
Each player starts with
REPuation equal to the reputation of their network as denoted by their chosen
character cards, 10 x INFluence and 10 x Gold.
Reputation, Gold and Influence are used to perform Actions throughout
the turn. Each player takes 1 Action and then the games moves in clockwise
order until everyone has passed or no further actions can be taken.
The first turn is (it appeared to us) typically the longest. At later
stages of the game, it seemed that player’s actions are restricted either by
lack of INFluence, REPutation, Gold or a mixture of these.
The first turn broke down as follows (approximation).
A.I. used their actions to buy a good size 5, buy a character to
increase their network (5 gold) and then moved until it reached land and then
Land its goods at Mousehole, selling them at the mid range.
Chris used 7 Gold and three actions to buy a 2, 2 and 3 size
shapes. The last gold was used to by a character(network in Sennen) which
provided benefits for selling in a size 2 town. The rest of the turn was used
to move to the Isles of Scilly and land the 2 size 2 goods.
Stephen used his actions to purchase a size 2 and a size 4 good.He
then proceeded to move toward the mainland, landing goods at St Levan.
At the end of the turn we had bought 6 of the 16 good shapes, had spent
all our gold and only I (Chris) had retained any influence.
Our impression was that it was going to be a short game. No goods had
yet been sold though, although each player was moving into a position to do
this. However, we were very aware that each of us had pretty much exhausted all
our INFluence and Gold.
Turn 2
We started collecting our new INFluence based on the total reputation.
Stephen appeared at a disadvantage now, having no INFluence or gold carried
over and only 3 reputation from his starting character , converting to 3
INFluence for this turn. Furthermore, the starting position of Stephen’s
network in St Levan meant his goods could be landed, but not sold.
A.I. and Chris had both increased their network and therefore, their
INFluence.
Chris became the first player. Both goods were sold for low and mid
prices, additional gold and INFluence was gained by motivating the characters
in network. A loan was also taken at this point to fund more goods being
bought. Also, having about 6 more INF than the next nearest player meant I had
freedom to make a lot of choices after all other players had finished. This was
used to move back to a merchant and buy another two good shapes.
A.I. Started by selling his size 5 good to get some gold, then moved
back toward the nearest merchant ship (I cannot remember the amount of gold/REP
that was gained in the transaction). Following my lead, he also took a loan to
buy another character and more goods. Some of the loan was also used to buy an
additional character to increase his network.
Stephen was out of gold and had only a small amount of INFluence so
moved his landed goods and network to a place where he could sell. He then too
took out a loan, before moving back towards the merchant ships.
Many questions were raised during this round:
Q4. Can you re-position goods in your hold at any point?
Q5. Getting loans is simply an action, or does it cost
INFluence/REPutation? (It probably should).
Q6. REPutation gained from characters, is this immediate or only at the
start of the following turn?
Q7. There were also questions raised over motivation (using abilities)
of characters. The rules state you have
to pay their motivation cost. This confused us for a while, wondering if that
was the gold cost on the card. We thought that could not be right (AI was
trying to motivate a card to gain 1 INF or Gold of each player, but the card
cost if this was the rule would have been 5 gold).
In the end, we resorted to checking every secret card. Only 2 seemed to
have a cost and only one of them explicitly stated the motivation cost of the
card. This should perhaps be made clearer, that cards are free to motivate
(once per turn) unless there is a cost to motivate printed on the card.
Turn 3
This was to be the final turn as we ran out of time. I think it was
clear that I was probably going to win, (though Stephen may disagree and put
that down to my ego), having enough gold to pay off my loan from the sale of
goods and enough left over to continue purchasing more. Having also the largest
network, I was also gaining 11 INFluence a round, a great deal more than
Stephen, and a little more than the A.I. But I also had three items in my ship
(3, 4 and 5)
Stephen, I think, was running behind as in the previous turn he had
taken the drastic measure of using REPutation where he had run out of
influence.
A.I. Not sure really, though integral to our game, I didn’t pay enough
attention to the final position.
I think turn three left only 2 or 3 goods shapes on merchants, but we
still only had 2 additional customs on the board, so we were still pretty much
free to land goods where we pleased on the board.
End
Game. Only 1 additional customs marker, though turn 4 would have provided at
least one more. As you can also see, there are only two goods shapes left.
I am on the left, with large gold circles being 5 gold and small cubes
1. Enough to pay of the loan it is sitting on, plus note the filled hold. My
ship is currently in Sennan with no customs nearby. No INF to carry over, but
the black circles represent 11 REP.
A.I. is in Mousehole, but his items are not in the picture.
Stephen is the red ship. He has 10 gold, enough to pay off his loan,
but only 1 INF left and 2 REP.
Questions raised:
Q8. When a Custom’s officer is moved from the track to the board, where
is it placed? I would make the assumption that the player with the least gold
decides (as per customs movement) or at the position where the goods were sold?
My final conclusion
The game moves at a good pace due to the mechanic that sees each player
take a single action moving clockwise round the table (with each turn lasting
until no further actions can be taken or each player has passed).
There a plenty of actions available to each player, which gives the
impression that many different strategies could be employed to gain victory.
However, further plays are definitely necessary to see how well each strategy
works.
Obviously the first turn seems much longer than the rest due to the
starting INFluence and gold, but it felt necessary in order to allow for each
play to buy gold and increase their network so that they have a chance to sell
it again.
We didn’t experience much threat from customs and by the end of the
game we had only just got a third custom’s marker on the board. This couple
with the fact it appears that the player with the least gold can place custom’s
markers anywhere on the board, it seems highly plausible that new placed
counters are put too far away as to make any difference to the game. It would
be perhaps be good to see the customs track move forward once each turn (or
something similar).
Is picking up goods and selling them to the Isles of Scilly not a
viable option? Yes, it is a size 2 town, but there are plenty of size 2 and 3
goods, plus no attention from customs. Granted, you wont make a tonne of money,
but you might be able to force the end game before anyone else does either.
This is to be explored in another game.
I also don’t think it is scalable to 5 players without additional goods
shapes being made available, either by larger merchant ships, or by additional
merchant ships being added.
Due to the fact we had only 2 goods cubes left to be purchased as the
start of turn 4 we felt It would also be nice to see some way of the merchant
ship being restocked, for example through events. How many turn on average do
3-4 player games last in your experience?
At the end of the game, we both agreed with had a really enjoyable time
and that we looked forward to another game, but equally, we struggled to see
how a large network could be created, or indeed why you would need one.
With regard to the secret cards, they didn’t play a part in our game at
all. Obviously, with this being our first game it is not clear whether this is
generally the case, or just the way our game panned out. The only card that did
get used was me using it because I could, not because I needed to.
There has been discussion about the card size and amount of text. Neither
I or Stephen found this to be a problem. The font size / type was clear and easy
to read.
I absolutely love the artwork and it really adds to thematic feel of
the game.
There were some rules issues, but for the most part they are clear and
bar a few exceptions we could find the answer to our questions relatively
easily.
Finally, I spoke about the Print ‘n’ Play at the start and said it was
important. When we had finished, we both agreed that the game was strong enough
that it did not matter that we were playing on a paper map, with pieces cobbled
together from other games. In fact, we never gave it a second thought which I
think is testament to how good a game it felt like we were playing.
Comments from Stephen/Dakeeps:
“I guess
my main ideas after play were that we (or I?) didn't quite get the point of the
game. Is this a game about landing, then selling the goods asap; or is landing
the goods only an early stage? But then, as you said, how do you get the money
rolling in to gain the later network advantage?
“I can
see this game getting runaway winners. Making the right decision in the first
few actions could decide your fate later - in fact I see other people talking
about some players winning while the others just look on, unable to take any
more actions.
“Maybe
there could be an extra action during your turn, where you can trade reputation
for influence?
“Overall,
I came away thinking that I'd had a good game, and wanted to play more. I won't
fully understand a game like this until I've had a few goes. Definitely looking
forward to the Example of Play area being filled out - I think that might tell
me a lot more about the game than the rules do.
“Next
time we test a game, I'd like to have a copy of the rules before the session -
help me get an idea about it. There's stuff I've read tonight that I didn't
realise. You may well have said things early on during our game, but it didn't
sink it (things like the object of the game, and the essence of building a
network - on page 5)”
Summary of question / concerns / clarifications /
suggestions (Q1-Q8 taken from main body)
Q1: All ships are marked
starting ships, which implies there are ships that can be gained throughout
play, though there is no reference to this anywhere. Perhaps this is a hangover
from previous iterations.
Q2: In the rules, P12, there
is reference to a ship called ‘The Lady Grace’. This ship is not in the PnP
version of the game, though starting ship #205 has the same layout. Again,
perhaps a hangover.
Q3: It was also noted that
while ship holds have a different layout, they also have a different number of
hold spaces / available hold spaces. The ships vary in size from 15-24, with
available hold space from 12-16 space. Why then would a player elect to take a
smaller ship?
Q4: Can you re-position
goods in your hold at any point?
Q5: Getting loans is simply
an action, or does it cost INFluence/REPutation? (It probably should).
Q6: REPutation gained from
characters, is this immediate or only at the start of the following turn? If
immediate, it could lead to a turn extension using REP for such actions as
hiring additional characters (note I am referring to REPutation collection, not
INFluence gained from REPutation).
Q7: There were also
questions raised over motivation (using abilities) of characters. The rules state you have to pay their
motivation cost. This confused us for a while, wondering if that was the gold
cost on the card. We thought that could not be right (AI was trying to motivate
a card to gain 1 INF or Gold of each player, but the card cost if this was the
rule would have been 5 gold).
Q8: When a customs office is
moved from the track to the board, where is it placed? I would make the
assumption that the player with the least gold decides (as per customs
movement) or at the position where the goods were sold?
Q9: Throughout the rulebook
it refers to resources. Is this merely interchangeable with INFluence?
Regardless, a little confusing and consistent terminology would be helpful.
Q10: In the rules under
Customs movement (p13) it refers to customs already being on a space where you
landed goods, if so, players should move the next nearest counter toward the
space (assuming detection of landing). Does this scenario assume the customs
marker already present has been bribed? This is not clear. If they haven’t been
bribed, why would goods be on the same space as the customs officer?
Q11: Perhaps I missed this
in the rule book, but have checked. How do you utilise a storehouse? Are goods
at that location automatically assumed to be in the storehouse, or is that an
action and if so what cost?
Q12: Are network counters
placed immediately upon hiring someone, or part of the turn upkeep?
Q13. I have not seen an
answer to the often asked question about game ending upon the last good being
bought (does this mean from a merchant, or bought from (sold by) a player?
