The Year of Wallace (II)
May. 8th, 2008 11:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aI've now played Martin Wallace's newest game, Toledo, twice. I'll be writing a review of it for next Wednesday, but I figured that I'd record my more off-the-cuff thoughts here.
It's a very light game. You place businesses, and then move pieces along them, both trying to collect resources from the businesses and to get to the end of the movement track. A lot of the pre-release info suggested it was Martin Wallace's Caylus. I'd be more inclined to call it Martin Wallace's Backgammon. Don't get me wrong: it's got some nice tactics and some fun systems, but it's by no means a deep game.
Whether it's a long game is another question. Both of my games have taken about an hour. Yet people on BGG whine about it ending in 20 minutes. Ironically, this is the same problem that Caylus has: the game length can dramatically telescope based on players. In this particular case, I suspect that people ending the game quickly are most often playing it badly. You can rush for the end, but you'd better make darned sure you're ahead when you do. Also, this is a feature that shows up in other Wallace games: I've rushed Mordred (unsuccessfully, and I'd call it bad play to have done so), and I've also rushed Perikles (and got away with it by the skin of my teeth).
I don't like this light Wallace fare as much as I like his heavier stuff. La Strada was kind of fun, but it hasn't hit the table in over a year (maybe two?). I don't object to Mordred, but I don't really adore it either. Wallace's strength is his weighty game.
It's a very light game. You place businesses, and then move pieces along them, both trying to collect resources from the businesses and to get to the end of the movement track. A lot of the pre-release info suggested it was Martin Wallace's Caylus. I'd be more inclined to call it Martin Wallace's Backgammon. Don't get me wrong: it's got some nice tactics and some fun systems, but it's by no means a deep game.
Whether it's a long game is another question. Both of my games have taken about an hour. Yet people on BGG whine about it ending in 20 minutes. Ironically, this is the same problem that Caylus has: the game length can dramatically telescope based on players. In this particular case, I suspect that people ending the game quickly are most often playing it badly. You can rush for the end, but you'd better make darned sure you're ahead when you do. Also, this is a feature that shows up in other Wallace games: I've rushed Mordred (unsuccessfully, and I'd call it bad play to have done so), and I've also rushed Perikles (and got away with it by the skin of my teeth).
I don't like this light Wallace fare as much as I like his heavier stuff. La Strada was kind of fun, but it hasn't hit the table in over a year (maybe two?). I don't object to Mordred, but I don't really adore it either. Wallace's strength is his weighty game.