From: "Matthew S. Taylor" <matthew@KLGAI.COM>
Subject: Re: Viceroys

March, Robert writes:
>Hello,
>With all the talk on this game, I was thinking about the
>subject in general. Many years ago, I picked up Viceroys by Task
>Force Games.  I pulled it off the shelf the other day to just
>flip through the rules.  What are people's experience with this
>game (if any)?  Is it worth the trouble of trying to get a game
>going or does it bark?  It looks kind of interesting, but looks
>can be deceiving. TIA.

I loved this Game and played it a fair amount.  It does have some
quirks, but some of them are part of its charm.

Quirks - The map can be hard to read at times, causing
expeditions to go awry and plans to fall through.  You cna relove
some of this by pre-game discussions of the "is this spot land
or ocean" sort.

Charm - The map can be hard to read . . . Hey, this is a game of
exploration! 

Quirks - quite a bit of paperwork and record keeping is required
by the playes 

Charm -  The players are rewarded for taking on the more onerous
jobs.  At the start of the game the various tasks are given out
as offices with pay game money to the players that take them on. 
This helps them develop their game position.  To the civil
servent belongs the spoils!

Quirks - the rules are generally clear but are open to some
interpretation.

Charm - one of the offices is rules lawyer - any to players who
can not quickly agree must pay the r.l. for a decision!  Inspires
cooperation and both players must pay up.

The game is well balanced for 2,3,4 or 5 players, less so for 6
and 7.  This is because the Russian and Ottoman players are not
really playing the same game, and the Russian/Ottoman dynamic is
such that which ever one moves before the other at the start of
the game will get a bonus for being the first in Asia and the
first to bring stuff back [a VP issue].  Also, the Turks are
restricted to non-ocean going ships and can build them in the Med
only.  I frequently tweaked this to allow the Turks to build
ships on the red sea to ply the China trade as happened
historically.

The seagoing players [Portugal, Spain, England, France, and the
Dutch] each have some national differences and advantages, and
additional "national" advantages can develope through card play. 
The game can be played historical with staggered starts [Spain
and Portugal get out there early] or as every body into the pond
at once [more fun IMO]

There are varients out there to allow for Chinese, Japanese, and
Incan/Aztec players.

Play this game!  PBEM anyone?

--

Matthew Taylor

Home:  matthew@clark.net
Work:  matthew@klgai.com