Friday Filler: Chariot Race

Chariot Race is a ‘Roll & Race’ board game. Now lots of board games are races, involving the rolling of dice to move. For example, Snakes & Ladders and Ludo are both children’s classics, both involving races, but Chariot Race is a modern board game and uses its dice rolls to create different effects and determine what a player can do from turn to turn, much like the earlier King of Tokyo. In the game, the players are charioteers, standing in their chariots, reins and whip in hand, javelins and caltrops to one side, ready to race, to the sound of the roaring crowd of the colosseum. To win, a player must be first across the line after completing two laps of the arena. Unfortunately, his rivals will not only do their best to outrace him, but they will also do their best to stop him—dropping caltrops into his path if he is behind, throwing javelins at him if close enough, and even ramming him! The result is a fantastic spectacle for the crowds and glory for the winner who can survive long enough to cross the finishing line. All this will be done according to the rolls of the dice—can a player slow his chariot down enough to get round a corner without risking damage or speed up to catch his competitors? Can he change lane to avoid an obstacle, a rival charioteer and his chariot, or caltrops thrown in his path? Can he attack a competitor? Can he gain the Favour of Fortuna and make repairs to his damaged chariot or alter the results of the other dice? Only the bravest of the brave and luckiest of the lucky charioteer will be able to find out in Chariot Race.

Published by Pegasus Spiele, the biggest draw for Chariot Race is the fact that it is designed by Matt Leacock, who is best known for designing Pandemic, the board game of the CDC attempting to find cures to diseases before they overwhelm the world. Where Pandemic is co-operative, Chariot Race is not. It competitive, combative even. Designed for two to six players aged eight and up, it can be played in fifteen to forty-five minutes, is easy to set up and play, and includes advanced options too.

The core components consist of a double-sided game board, six chariot pieces in different colours, six double-sided chariot boards which match the chariot pieces, twenty wooden caltrop markers, eighteen pointer clips, and five dice. There are also Dolphin tokens to indicate if a player is on his first or second lap. Everything is in full colour and easy to use in play. The game board depicts the oval of the colosseum with three tracks. On the one side, this is plain, but on the other, it is marked with heaps of stone which will damage any chariot which runs over them. The chariot boards are marked with three tracks—the Damage Track, the Speed Track, and the Fate Track. The Pointer Clips are used to track these numbers. The amount of Damage a player’s chariot has taken restricts its maximum speed and the amount of dice the player can on his turn. The five dice are marked with Horse (Normal movement), Double Horse (Sprint), Steer, Attack, and Favour of Fortuna symbols. In play, a player will use these to alter his chariot’s speed, change lane, attack his competitors, and alter his luck.

Initial order of the chariots is determined randomly and then the turn order works from the chariot in the lead backwards, that is, from front to back. A player’s turn consists of six phases—Repair, Adjust Initial Speed, Roll Dice, Obtain the Favour of Fortuna, Move, and Attack. The Repair and Attack phases are optional. In the Repair phase, a player can spend three Fate Points to repair his chariot by up to three points of damage. The Adjust Initial Speed requires the player to check that his chariot’s Initial Speed does not exceed its current Damage Value as more damage reduces its maximum speed. The player than rolls the dice, the number again determined by the chariot’s current Damage Value. Then the player rolls the dice. A player can reroll as many dice as he likes once, but can spend Fate points to reroll again or to adjust a single die face to any non-Fortuna side.

Once a player has rolled the dice and made any rerolls, he begins applying them to his chariot. To Obtain the Favour of Fortuna he records any Fortuna symbols rolled on the dice. He can have a maximum of six. Then he can Move and Attack. However, actual movement is equal to his chariot’s Speed, and what the Horse (Normal movement) and Double Horse (Sprint) symbols do, is adjust that Speed. Horse (Normal movement) symbol lets a player adjust his chariot’s Speed, up or down, by one, whereas the Double Horse (Sprint) symbol lets a player adjust his chariot’s Speed, up or down, by two, but at the cost of a point of damage. The obvious reason for adjusting his chariot’s Speed is to catch up with another chariot, whether to pass it or ram it, but he may also need to slow down. This is because he might want to avoid another chariot or because he has to career around a corner! Both ends of the arena are marked numbers—higher numbers on the outside, lower numbers on the inside. If a chariot has a Speed higher than this number when it crosses through it, the chariot suffers damage. The inside track is shorter, but tighter, and so their number is lower. The outside track is longer, and its number is higher. On the expert board, which has stone heaps, the player might slowing down to avoid hitting them.

The Steer symbol allows a chariot to change lanes. Lastly, the player can use the Attack symbol to inflict damage on his rivals. First, by dropping a Caltrop on the track which another chariot might ride over and take damage from, and second, by throwing a javelin at a rival chariot. Another means of inflicting damage is to ram a chariot, but this inflicts damage to both the ramming chariot and the rammed chariot. It is possible to destroy a chariot, whether through poor handling round corners, riding over caltrops, being rammed, or having javelins thrown at it. A destroyed chariot means the player is out of the game, it leaves wreckage which does the same damage as a caltrop.

Chariot Race includes rules for two- and three-player games, with teams of chariots rather than singles. This enables a player to keep playing if he loses a chariot. Besides the alternative board on the other side marked with stone heaps, the chariot boards each have a different chariot on the back. They add a degree of variety to the game and a bit more individualism to the game.

Physically, Chariot Race is underwhelming. The components, done in full colour, are on thin card. The chariots are cardboard standees rather than wooden or plastic pieces. The dice are decently done though. Consequently, the feel is of a game with a lower budget and less durability. The rule book though, is clearly written, easy to read, and includes examples of play that ease learning the rules.

Chariot Race is primarily luck driven, with little in the way of player choices or tactics. Does a player race ahead to get a good start or hold back and avoid the carnage upfront as players battle for the lead, only to push forward on a chariot that has taken less damage and can thus maintain a higher speed? Other than that, a player is really only trying to make the best use of his dice rolls from one turn to the next. The result though tends to be a chaotic free-for-all, a brawl on two wheels drawn by thundering hooves and steaming nostrils of the horses. So, in the way Chariot Race does make a good filler. It is light, easy to understand, and quick to play. However, a group wanting something more thoughtful, less combative, but of a similar length, might try Ave Caesar. For more detailed, simulationist version of chariot racing, the classic Circus Maximus would be a good choice.

Ultimately, Chariot Race feels just a little too light, a little too lacking in depth for repeated play, and not enough choices. The variant rules do not add enough to keep the players’ attention for more than a few games, and ultimately, Chariot Race is more going to be remembered for the designer than the design.

When Boulders Roll...

The Adventurers is a push your luck, race against the clock, memory based and luck based board game from Alderac Entertainment Group heavily inspired by the exploits of Indiana Jones. Twelve adventurers have journeyed deep into the South American jungle and now stand at the entrance to the Temple of Chac, the Mayan god of Rain and Thunder. Once inside they have choices aplenty. Do they stop and look for treasure as the walls close in? Do they stop and look for clues that might get them across the lava pit? Do they stop and attempt to unlock the vaults that continue valuable treasure? As the giant rock rolls faster and faster towards them, do they leap into the river and swim in hope that they can get out before being swept into the abyss below? Or do they rush across the rickety bridge and make that final run for the exit before the giant rock reaches the end and seals everyone in? The player will face all of these choices during a game of The Adventurers. With the right decisions and a little bit of luck, an adventurer will get out alive and with some treasure. The wrong choice and bad luck will cast the intrepid adventurers to an eternal entombment, or hopefully a quick death...

The Adventurers is played out on a square board that depicts the Temple of Chac. The route from the entrance is linear, beginning in the Walls Room and winding its way past the Lava Room and the minor vaults to the Underground River and the rickety Wooden Bridge, past the main vault, before reaching the exit. Each player controls a pair of adventurers who will enter the Temple one at a time and move towards the exit, making decisions based upon the adventurer's skill and the number of action points he has from turn to turn. There are six skills in the game: Leap, Linguistics, Lock Picking, Sprint, Stamina, and Swimming. Each of these skills is a one shot affair and are divided between those that can be used in specific circumstances and those that have a general application. Leap, Sprint, and Stamina can be used anywhere, while Linguistics can only be used determine if a glyph indicates an unsafe tile in the Lava Room; Lock Picking to open one of the treasure vaults; and Swimming to get out of the river more easily. In general, the more specific a skill’s application, the more likely that it will affect a player’s tactics. For example, a character with the Lock Picking skill is more likely to try opening a treasure vault, while a character with the Swimming skill will probably try to swim the Underground River.

The Adventurers comes with lots of cards, cardboard tiles aplenty, and numerous bits of plastic. There are Treasure Cards for each of the main locations on the board, including the Walls Room, the Lava Room, the Treasure Vaults, and Underground River. Each of the Treasure Cards has a value ranging from one to six. In general, the more difficult a Treasure is to obtain, the higher its value. Some Treasure Cards depict a casket and a die symbol, meaning that their value must be rolled for at the end of the game. There are also the twelve character cards. These depict each of the adventurers in full colour along with an icon indicating his skill, plus charts for determining his Load Level on the back along with his Action Points.

There are two sets of corresponding tiles, the Lava Room Glyph tiles and Glyph Clue tiles. The former are placed Glyph face down on the Lava Room and covered with the Dark Masking Card, a square of black that hides the tiles until someone enters the Lava Room. Four of the Glyph Clue tiles are randomly drawn and placed alongside the Walls Room where they can be examined by an adventurer and committed to memory ready for when he tries to cross the Lava Room. These four Glyph Clue tiles indicate the unsafe tiles in the Lava Room.

The plastic starts with the twelve adventurer pieces. These are sculpted to match the images and are very nicely detailed. Unfortunately, they are all uniformly grey and can be a little difficult to tell apart when placed on the colourful board. The other pieces of plastic include the two walls that will form the Walls Room, the Boulder that will chase the adventurers to the exit, and the rickety bridge for the Wooden Bridge. The Boulder is flat bottomed, so it slides rather than rolls, and the Wooden Bridge has several planks that are likely to be knocked loose into the abyss below as a procession of the overly laden adventurers race over it.

The mechanics from turn to turn are relatively simple. Starting with the Dicekeeper, a role that will pass around the table, the players take it in turn to roll for the number of Action Points they have to spend on their turn. To do this, each player rolls five six-sided dice, and for each die that rolls above a threshold determined by his adventurer’s Load Level, he gains an Action Point. For example, if an adventurer is carrying up to three Treasures, his Load Level is two and he has to roll two and over on each die. Carry between four and six Treasures, and the Load Level is three and he has to roll three and over on each die. An Action Point can be spent to move – walk, sprint, leap, or swim – one square; to examine any square for treasure, in the Walls Room, Lava Room, and Underground River; to examine a Glyph tile in the Walls and Lava Rooms; to make a single attempt to unlock a Treasure Vault; and to use any adventurer’s Skill. Once everyone has had their turn, the Dicekeeper draws cards to determine the movement of the Walls in the Walls Room and rolls dice to see if the Boulder moves. It moves one square for each result of three or more rolled. On the first turn, only one die is rolled, but this increases by one die each turn as the Boulder games speed until all five are being rolled at the end of the Dicekeeper’s turn.

In effect, the movement of the Boulder becomes the game’s timekeeper. As it moves faster and faster towards the exit, the Boulder closes in on the adventurers’ tail and they will find themselves having less and less time to act. At best the adventurers can hope for low rolls by the Dicekeeper when rolling for the Boulder movement, but it will definitely catch up with them. If the Boulder catches up with an adventurer, it will kill, as will falling into the lava of the Lava Room or into the abyss that the Underground River flows into, either by being swept in by the river or having the Wooden Bridge collapse under after attempting to carry too much across. It should be noted that an evil adventurer can jump up and down on the Wooden Bridge to make it more dangerous to cross for later adventurers. This can of course, go wrong for the malicious adventurer as the Wooden Bridge collapses under him...

A dead adventurer loses all of his treasure gained so far. If the player still has an adventurer waiting outside, he can enter the Temple of Chac through entrances created by the Boulder passing the Lava Room. As the adventurer is entering further onto into the Temple, there is less opportunity for him to gather treasure and he will need to find his way past the Boulder in front of him. Probably by swimming the Underground River and searching its bed for treasure. If this second adventurer is lost, then his player is out of the game.

The winner is of course, the player who gets one or more of his adventurers out of the Temple with the most treasure as determined by the value of the Treasure cards. It is entirely possible for nobody to get out of the Temple of Chac, and thus for everyone to lose.

For some, The Adventurers will be too much of a luck based game. True, what a player can do from turn to turn is determined by a roll of the dice, but it is up to the player to decide what he does with the results of the dice roll. One issue is the relative complexity of determining the safe Glyph Tiles in the Lava Room. While perfectly in keeping with the game’s theme, it can detract from an otherwise fast paced game and will probably be too complex for younger players. Also, once a player has lost one adventurer, he will find himself playing catch up with his competitors. That said, a game of The Adventurers can be completed in as little as thirty minutes and the likelihood is that you will get another game in before ninety minutes is up.

One factor limiting an adventurer’s choice is the number of players. More players mean more adventurers competing for the options in the Temple of Chac. It also means that the Boulder will move more often...

There is also the matter of cost. Given its plastic components and large number of cards and tiles, The Adventurers is by no means an inexpensive game. It gets even more expensive if the owner decides to add the painted plastic pieces that the publisher also sells. These are very nice though, the full colour adventurers in particular, which make the playing pieces far easier to distinguish than the grey of the set that comes in the game. Nevertheless, the core set feels a little overpriced given the lightness of the game play.

That game play is strong in terms of theme, and the players will soon find themselves invested in the exploits of their tomb raiding adventurers. It can be a lot of fun to see them pushing their luck in an effort to get that extra piece of treasure. It is even more fun when they fail and fall under the path of the rolling Boulder or burn to a crisp in the Lava Pit. Victory in getting out of the Temple of Chac is ever so sweet...

500 Word Review One

Before Dave went on holiday, he lent me a pair of Fantasy Flight Games titles to try out, both of which he had been playing with his family over Easter. One was the classic, Through the Desert, the other was Quicksand: A Game of Jungle Exploration and Danger Underfoot, which had proved be popular with his brother and his wife over the weekend. Designed to played by between two and five players, aged twelve and up, it is a race game with bluffing and secrecy elements that can be played in about fifteen minutes.

The language neutral components are all high quality, with a simple sturdy board, bright and easy-to-read cards, and wooden playing pieces. The rules are clear and simple, just two pages long for the four languages included: English, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. 

The aim of the game is get your explorer through the jungle to a hidden temple, but only you know which colour or role your explorer is. Movement is achieved by playing cards that match the colour of the explorer being moved, the more cards played, the further an explorer can move. Sometimes you have cards that match your explorer’s colour in your hand, allowing you move him, but other times not, in which case you have to play cards to move another explorer, which might belong to another player. The temptation is to race your explorer ahead, but then the other players will suspect that the rushing explorer is yours and will try to stop him. This can be achieved by moving him onto a Quicksand space or playing a Quicksand card on him. An extra card has to be played to get an explorer out of the Quicksand.

The obvious tactic is not to alert the other players as whom your explorer is, either by moving him too far ahead or having him lag behind. The other is to get as many cards through your hand as possible. First by moving explorers further along (which takes more cards) and second by moving explorers onto spaces that allow a player to discard at the end of his turn. Discarding cards prevents you from playing cards that will move a rival explorer and increases the number of cards (hopefully advantageous ones) you draw to refresh your hand back up to six.

Once an explorer has been moved to the hidden temple, his controlling player reveals himself. If this explorer is the first, his controlling player wins the game. If the explorer is uncontrolled, he returns back to the beginning and starts again, everyone knowing that he is uncontrolled and using him to use and discard useless cards. The game gets a bit clogged near the temple at game’s end, everyone trying not to move a rival’s explorer too close or onto the temple.

Quicksand: A Game of Jungle Exploration and Danger Underfoot is a quick and light filler game that because it can be played by adults and children alike, is also a suitable family game.