board games

[Standup]

Originally posted by Feephi


There's quite a bit of Dune PBEM going on online if you're interested....

Problem is, the games take forever to complete..

Thaks for the suggestion but i have to admit that i don't have the game at the moment (ebay perhaps...) when our group moved away we divided the games up without much thought. I got, amongst others, Swords and Sorcery, Down with the King and half of Freedom in the Galaxy (no idea why only half).

[Brundlefly]

Originally posted by Standup


Thaks for the suggestion but i have to admit that i don't have the game at the moment (ebay perhaps...) when our group moved away we divided the games up without much thought. I got, amongst others, Swords and Sorcery, Down with the King and half of Freedom in the Galaxy (no idea why only half).

Ownership of the actual board game is not necessary to play Dune PBEM online. The person acting as GM for the game will usually have a website where a graphical representation of the board will be used to maintain locations of troops and spice. You can d/l pdf files of the game rules and player shields online as well. GM will make sure that each phase of the turn will proceed in an orderly fashion and will weave the turn's events into an ongoing story for the players. Treachery card bidding is conducted via chat room when possible.

If you can get a good group of people together, it can be fun. In the last game I played I was the Guild. I frustrated everyone by holding my troops off-planet the entire game, saving them for a few crucial battles at the end. A google search for 'dune pbem' should get you started if you have any further interest.

[rah]

From the web site

http://www.gamesinabox.com/junta.html

Junta
designed by Vincent Tsao, Ben Grossman, Eric Goldberg, published by West End Games
Currently Unavailable

2 - 4 hours for 2 to 7 players Availability Info

Larger Picture Awards
Games Magazine Games 100 for 3 consecutive years

Game Contents
160 large full-color counters, a 17" by 22" mounted full-color map, a 12-page booklet with rules and play hints, 72 card deck, 96 play money bills, 3 dice, all in a box approximately 12" x 9" x 1.7"

Box Description
Power! Who will be the next El President of La Republica de los Bananas? With the Peasants and the Church on your side, plus a few million pesos to grease the right palms, it could easily be you...

Money! But where to get that few million pesos? Your Air Force was never on the receiving end when the former El Presidente distributed the yearly budgets, so you're broke. (He felt the budget money belonged in his Swiss bank account.) Perhaps if you can find a professional to assassinate the Admiral before he gets to the bank...

Intrigue! Assassins cost money too, but with the Monarchists on your side, something can be arranged. Now the question is, where to catch the Admiral? At home? At his mistress's? At the bank...

Revolution The Admiral didn't go to the bank, and someone else was elected El Presidente. As a loyal citizen, you order your Air Force to defend la Republica (and your power base) from another corrupt regime. As the planes fly overhead and the tanks rumble from the barracks, the coup is on! Will you triumph to become the new El Presidente for Life? Or will you be sent to the firing squad?

Junta is the game of power, intrigue, money and revolution in an all too familiar banana republic. In this multi-player game, the players, as the ruling families of la Republica, connive, cajole, threaten and ally their way to the fattest Swiss bank account.

Players and critics alike have recognized Junta as a classic among games. The Washington Post praised the tense fun play, Games magazine named it as one of the 100 best games for three consecutive years, and players find the game to be deliciously addictive.

Easily the most Machiavellian co-operation game ever invented.
GAMES Magazine

Funny and cynical. The action is set in a very rich, very poor banana republic
New York Magazine

[rah]

and a well thought our review posted

July 19th, 2000.

In the old B.C. (Before College) days, I didn't really play board games. OK, that's not true, I picked up the occasional game, but my selections weren't really that good. Old "gems" like Yaquinto's Beastmaster and Supremacy. I was young.

Junta was one of the games that changed my life. Relatively fast paced and fun to play, with or without alcohol. Looking back on the game, I realize now that Junta's reputation is living on the coat-tails of other games, at least for me. Even when it was one of the four games I played, it got a lot less play than Cosmic, Illuminati or Wiz War.

Junta is the game of banana republic dictatorship. Each of the (preferably 7) players is striving to divert as much cash as possible from the budget to their own private swiss bank account. Here's roughly how it works.

Each player has a number of cards to show which factions of the vote they control. Each turn, El Presidente re-assigns the other players to various positions, such as General, Chief Spy (The Ministry of Internal Security, or "Minsect" in our group), Air force and Navy. There are three generals. Then El Presidente gets the years budget, frowns and declares that the Generous Superpower was not very generous. ("It has been a tough year.") The budget goes, of course, to the players. It's voted on, and if the budget passes, divvied up amongst the fortunate players. If it fails, the Minsect can force it through at gunpoint or let it fail (and then El Presidente keeps it). Of course, players are often playing cards to get additional one-time votes or other effects.

Then each player secretly chooses where they are going to be during the turn. Then come the assassination attempts. If you kill someone, you get all of their cash on hand and they sit out for the turn (until their brother-in-law takes over the family business). In some respects assassination is a luck shot, since you have to guess where people are, but people tend to go to the bank (to move money into the swiss account) and to HQ (to start a coup) fairly often. You need a card to kill someone, except that the Minsect gets a free attempt.

After assassinations resolve, then players have to decide whether or not to coup. If there is a coup attempt, then the board comes into play. The board depicts a little city. Coups last for seven (?) turns, as players struggle to control the Radio Station, and other 'key' areas. But before the coup starts, each player must declare rebel or loyalist. The rebels get a turn first, and then you go around.

The little war game is pretty simple. You move a stack of counters and then fire. There are plenty of special rules (the Air force has a single paratrooper and some air strikes, and the Navy can bombard from the sea. In fact the game has the "Ceremonial Shelling of the Palace" enshrined into the rules). Some of the voting factions give you some troops, as well.

After the appropriate number of turns, you check to see if who has won, which is based on control of the five key areas. Each player who controls areas votes on whether to stay loyal or have a new leader. Most areas wins (unoccupied areas go to the status quo). Declared Loyalists must vote for the president, but rebels can vote however they please. A declared rebel can vote for ending the coup. But here's where it gets tricky.

If the coup fails, the president executes a declared rebel. The president can't execute a declared loyalist. If the coup is successful, the declared rebels have a vote on a new El Presidente, who can be anyone. The new Presidente can execute one person only, but it can be anyone!

Loyalty is somewhat rare in Junta. Declared Loyalists sometimes don't bother to oust rebels from the palace, since they are often happy with a coup (and would have to vote loyally if they occupied the palace). Everyone is nervous when a coup ends, because the victim of an execution is often the player with the most money on hand...to the victor go the spoils, after all.

During the game, favors and money are traded freely. You can pass cards, give away money, auction cards, whatever. The only rule is that you can't give away stuff during assassinations. (Future deals aren't binding, but that is so standard it's hardly worth mentioning).

So why is this game that I'm praising so highly the whipping boy of the beer-and-pretzels crowd? Well, a few reasons:

It really requires 7 players. It just isn't nearly as good with 6.
It's long. Three hours is a reasonable amount of time, but four is more likely. Worse yet, it's length is variable. Turns take some time, maybe 10-15 minutes. But if a coup hits, then the turn length doubles. Some games have coups every other turn. You could have one almost every turn. The rules require some even in order to declare a coup, but lots of cards fulfill the requirement, as does a successful assassination, budget failure, etc.
The war game and the rest of the game are different. There is a lot of fun in a coup...the first few times. But some people like the politicking and back stabbing. Some like throwing lots of dice and rolling in the tanks. Not many people really enjoy both for so long.
The deck of cards is small. Beer and pretzels games thrive on variety. But here the stuff you can get is relatively limited. The deck gets shuffled through 3 or more times a game. Compare that to Cosmic, where only a portion of the powers and cards are used in a game, or Illuminati, or Wiz War. Junta just needs more variety. I should make up a new deck of cards (using CCG leftovers) and quadruple the amount of cards. I think I may.
The rules are overly long. There is a set of rules for going into exile. They can be dropped. It's too painful. I have never seen anyone go into exile. If it were less painful, it would be worth doing. There are a lots of special cases. That being said, the rules are a great read. Full of fun cartoons and generally good...

Junta has sat in my closet for a long time, unplayed. But maybe it's worth trying to drag out of the closet again. The game is a classic, and justifiable so. But it is a classic with enough limitations to mean that it is years between playings.

[Brundlefly]

Originally posted by rah


Junta has sat in my closet for a long time, unplayed. But maybe it's worth trying to drag out of the closet again. The game is a classic, and justifiable so. But it is a classic with enough limitations to mean that it is years between playings.

Well, that sounds like an interesting game, rah. I dont have a group of 7 people that can get together in person for a game. Apparantly there are Junta PBEMs online, however. I think I'll find a PBEM game that needs an extra player and give it a shot. Thanks for the info.

[rah]

I was in a game club when I was in college so there were always a lot of people milling around looking to play something. I admit that it would be much harder to get a game going these days. They are right, 7 players makes for the best games.

[lord of the mark]

board games ive played.(just the ones i remember)

Candyland
Chutes and Ladders
Life
Monopoly
Risk
Stratego
(a game whose name i forget where the object was to LOSE all your money)
A world war one air combat game - designed for kids (was it called Dogfight?)
Broadsides - war of 1812 era naval game, also designed for kids
Chess
Checkers
Clue
Scrabble

then
AfricaKorps
1914
Kingmaker
1776
Sinai
Red Star/White Star
6th Fleet
Oil War
After the Holocaust (post nuclear civ type game by AH)

Then
Trivial Pursuit

Then
Candyland
Chutes and ladders

Lately
Life
Clue
Scrabble

[rah]

did you forget........
parchese
sorry
careers

I've played every game on your list.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by rah
did you forget........
parchese
sorry
careers

I've played every game on your list.

Parchese, Sorry, Careers. Yup.


You've played EVERY game on the list? ALL the SPI and AH ones? Im dumbfounded.

[Brundlefly]

Oh, I almost forgot..... ghettopoly.

[GhengisFarb™]

Originally posted by rah
I was in a game club when I was in college so there were always a lot of people milling around looking to play something.

College days were my golden age of board gaming too. Junta sounds like a lot of fun. Now that my units has been stationed in a swamp far away from civilization (as we knew it) we've started bringing in our old board games from the attics at home and playing them again.

We've gotten to playing 4-5 games of Axis & Allies and Conquest of the Empire a week.

[rah]

You must remember that I have a twin brother who also likes wargaming. We probably played about 90% of all the Avalon Hill games growing up.

[Ben Kenobi]

careers

That's lots of fun.

I'll bet none of you have played my favourite board game. Klondike.

[GhengisFarb™]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
I'll bet none of you have played my favourite board game. Klondike.

Are you kidding? They usually start melting before I get the wrapper off.