Notes from Eighth Playtest

Playtest with 2 people ran 35 minutes (not including rules teach) and we completed 14 rounds.

End Game

This was a teaching game, so no new experiments, just one last run through with the turn track and equipment cost the way it is. Equipment is easy to obtain. Play is balanced, we went with Bow & Arrow vs. Atlatl & Spear, and that extra arrow that comes with the bow helps.

The rules are fairly simple and easy to explain, most of them are pretty intuitive (which is the hope if theme is really driving the rules), but at the moment there still feels like there's a fair amount of rules, and it's hard to remember all the little exceptions without a written copy of the rules or player aids. As I finish writing this first draft of the rules I'll either come up simpler ways to explain things, or consider how to remove them.

Here's the story from this game: I started out with a lucky early lead, showed how to take advantage of the market and picking up a pouch. Then I got eaten by a wolf (after celebrating drawing one, since hide was 5 in the market) and Brandon surged back. He killed the wolf, picked up a pouch, and caught up in territories. By end game we were tied in territory, Brandon had the high score in Gather, and he'd guessed correctly with his H || G pick. A nice introduction to the game I hope.