Time of Crisis, from #gmtgames. I had heard a bunch of good reports, but I was honestly not that impressed. It’s a classic multiplayer king-of-the-hill game with completely open scoring where everyone starts in their corners with exactly equal resources and exactly the same options, and then slugs it out using a strictly attritional combat system in an entirely predictable manner in which nobody can really gain major advantage. So it just grinds on. I think it might be OK if you could just whip through it in 1.5-2hr, playing without thinking about it too much, but it’s also a total AP trap that’s likely to go 4hr at least, so that’s not great. Games like this make me sad because the technology has existed for years or decades to make them interesting: hidden goals, hidden scoring, Ascension-style card acquisition limitations, orthogonal sudden-death victories a la Successors, combat systems that are high-stakes but not strictly attritional, asymmetrical starting positions or capabilities, and so on. This period is ripe for a Pax-type game; I hate to keep saying this, but Pax Pamir does this in a much more interesting and engaging manner (as does Pax Porfiriana). I hate to pile on, but in addition to the gameplay issues, Time of Crisis has a bunch of technical execution problems as well: a cruddy rulebook which doesn’t clearly address some basic stuff, inconsistently-executed subsystems, a map that is way to large and always looks empty, and lots of mediocre recycled art. I’ve ripped on in quite a bit, but Time of Crisis does have some novel ideas. But there is just so much better stuff in this space: Conquest of Paradise, Pax Pamir, Pax Renaissance, at least half-a-dozen 504 worlds that include Military in I or II, Victory or Death. Heck, in the time it takes to play this (4hr-ish with 4p) you could play Eclipse, Titan, or Successors. Anyway, I might try it again if people wanted to, but very disappointing. #bgg #boardgames #boardgamegeek #timeofcrisis
