Can a game that has more than its fair share of dice rolling catch the attention of this stuck in the mud fan of zero luck strategic Euro games? As it happens, yes it can! Nemo’s War has more than enough going on to make me feel in control of the direction of travel whilst bringing some good emotional highs and lows.
Nemo's War (Second Edition)
Designer: Chris Taylor
Artist: Ian O'Toole
Publisher: Victory Point Games
2017
How to Play:
Taking on the role of Captain Nemo from the classic novel 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, firstly decide your ‘motive’ for the game: perhaps you will choose Exploration which let you have a broad focus, perhaps War which will see you scoring more points for aggressively sinking ships – you get the idea – your motive will dictate your style of play for the game and the types of points that you will be wanting to chase (or avoid!)
Next, prepare a deck of ‘Adventure’ cards into a face down stack. You’ll reveal one card each turn. Not only will these Adventure cards have some narrative flavour text and artwork, they will usually have some kind of ‘Test’ which will see you needing to roll two dice to achieve a target in order to fulfil that test – ‘your ship has been attacked, roll a nine to avoid it’ or ‘you stumble across treasure, roll a ten to obtain it’ etc. It’s not going to a straight up luck-fest however – you can gamble some resources to mitigate usually by using one of three main tracks along the top of the main board that represent a) Captain Nemo b) his crew c) his submarine (the Nautilus) hull. So for example, before rolling two dice to try and fulfil a test that needs me to get a 9 or more, I could move my ‘crew’ slider along to add a +2 to the result of my roll. I roll an 8? Great, I gambled my crew so can add +2 so my result is 10. Yay, I pass the test and gain the reward / dodge the penalty. Unlucky though if I only roll a total of 4 as the +2 that I gambled my crew on still doesn’t mean I reach my necessary target - my crew take a hit and the more frequently I unsuccessfully gamble on any of my resources then the more they move closer and closer to the end of the board. Reach the end and its immediately game over.
Now you have navigated the card's Test, your actual turn commences. Roll the two dice again. Firstly draw from a bag some warships and place them on the main board in their corresponding numerical space – the waters are getting fuller with your enemies trying to hunt you down! The board fills with ships to the point you can’t place any more? Again, the game is immediately over.
The difference between the two values that you just rolled will also be the action points that you will have to spend this turn – so roll a 6 and 4 and you will have 2 action points to spend this turn. You can spend your action points to:
• Move around the oceans on the main board
• Uncover treasures dotted around the board
• Incite uprisings in the areas you visit
• Fight and hopefully destroy the warships that are incrementally and incessantly added to the board
• Fix your ship from any hits they have taken in battle or from the unsuccessful gambles that you have made on your crew, hull or Nemo,
• Buy upgrades to your Nautilus gaining ongoing powers / effects
Decide which action you want to take, pay the points needed to take that action and then roll the dice much like how you did with those ‘Tests’ mentioned before: roll two dice and try to reach a target, gambling resources if you wish.
(The mathematicians amongst you will be asking the question “what happens if you roll two of the same number? Do you end up with zero action points”. The answer is you have a ‘lull turn’ - very generally speaking yes, you end up with zero action points but each turn you can also choose not to spend points and carry them over just in case your next turn ends up being a lull turn – a delicious ‘shall I use all my action points now or carry one over just in case’ decision.)
Some of your actions, particularly the fighting of those ever increasing warships will also increase your notoriety represented by a separate (aptly titled) Notoriety track. As your notoriety creeps up, more powerful warships will be added to the draw bag and eventually if your notoriety gets too high and reaches the end of the track, then once again the game will immediately end.
Very crudely, that is it: Draw a card from the deck, read the flavour text, perform the cards Test, roll your dice, use the difference between the two to determine your number of action points, take one of a number of actions, roll dice to try and successfully perform those actions, mitigate using your ship resources – try not to bust on any of them, try not to become too notorious, try not to let the oceans fill with ships. All of which is easier said than done! Eventually, if you are lucky enough to have reached it, you will draw a Finale card with a final task / test to achieve. Pass that final test and you have reached the end of the game. Well Done.
The motive that you chose at the start of the game will dictate what endgame points you score - a mixture of being rewarded or penalised for treasures found, ships sunk, symbols of a specific type collected, places on the board that you have inhabited etc. Add up all of your points and hope you have achieved the target score of 220 to win. Get 219? You lose even though you made it to the end of the game. Better luck next time!
That is a very simplistic, broad overview of the main flow of the game. I’ve left out more than a few of the nuances and complexities. This game is by no means the heaviest in the world and its actions are probably on the surface as straightforward as I have described above but there is detail behind everything that you will do. Now usually at this point I would say something like “so go and have a look at the rulebook to give you a better idea” but if I am being honest, I think that might be counterproductive. The rulebook is extremely detailed – almost too much detail which I suspect might put some people off. Instead, I think have a look at a playthrough video on this one to get a better feel for things and I recommend Slickerdrips excellent playthrough here.
Solo Headlines:
Nemo’s War is a first for me. Despite being an exclusively solo player, this is the first game that I have played which is a solo only game. Though I have played many a game that could be described as multiplayer solitaire and my preferences probably do steer towards games that generally have low player interaction and feel like solo optimisation puzzles. So Nemo’s War doesn’t particularly feel out of place, but regardless it’s the first solo only game that has made its way into my collection. Ok, the rulebook technically says that it can be played multiplayer – well I say that, each person would simply be cooperatively doing the same things a solo player would be - “you roll the dice, I will place the ships on the board”. More than one person I suppose could sit behind the board and collectively agree what the moves where going to be each turn. But this not a multiplayer game and I don’t think that it is a cooperative game either. It’s a solo only game. So where usually I would use this section of my reviews to outline all of the specific differences and thoughts about a game’s solo mode, here I get to move swiftly on to talking generally about the game…
General Headlines:
I’m a stuck in the mud, creature of habit Euro player. I’m not a big fan of luck - I want to feel like I am in complete control of the direction of the game and owning all of my decisions for better or worse (usually worse). Normally I would be a complete board game snob, take a look at dice rolling and move on to the next dry strategic Euro, all judgemental / high and mighty. So what was it about Nemo’s War that made me stop and take a look? A few things…
It’s clearly a well-respected solo game and as a solo player I could no longer avoid a critical mass of solo players praising it. What I was hearing in that acclaim about Nemo’s War was “there is lots of dice rolling, but there are so many opportunities to mitigate dice rolls that you still feel in control of choices” and “this still feels like a Euro”. My curiosity was piqued - a chance to play my first solo only game, and to get a little out of my usual comfort zone… but not too far.
I also had a couple of pleasant previous experiences of games with dice - enough to make me not completely averse to the suggestion of playing another. My first introductions to this wonderful hobby were two games based on intellectual properties that I love: Back to the Future: Dice through Time and Doctor Who: Time of the Daleks. While it has been a good while since I have played either of those games, neither will ever leave my collection for sentimental reasons and I recall fondly the emotional thrills and spills of chucking dice and being able to mitigate for bad rolls. It just turned out in the end that I liked dry strategic Euros more and so my dice / luck days seemed to be well behind me…
Until now.
I took the plunge, picked up copy of Nemo’s War and it turns out the voices were right - yes there is lots of dice rolling, but there are so many opportunities to mitigate dice rolls that you still feel in control of choices and yes this still feels much like a Euro. And I’ll say it now, I really enjoyed this game – with some caveats.
From the box art, to the main board, to the illustrations on each individual card the art work here is really nicely done by the much respected Ian O’Toole. Ian has also done a great job incorporating the bulk of all of the main rules and flow of the game on the board itself – no separate player aid needed, the board IS the player aid. I’m not going to pretend that in the first game or two that I wasn’t having to refer to the rulebook frequently. I was. But having the main board also acting as a player aid is great. And it is probably needed here as there are subtle complexities to each action that would be hard to internalise even after repeated plays. Being able to read them ‘at a glance’ directly on the main board makes things a whole heap easier and saves repeated flicking through the rulebook.
In my first game I attempted to fully immerse myself in the theme of the game, studiously reading each cards narrative flavour text, nodding appreciatively at the lovely art on each card, seeing myself as being part of some sort of emerging story. But I confess that by game two I was simply chucking dice, bombing around an ocean picking up treasure and blasting at warships with the overarching setting of the game falling away. But I have to say that while the Jules Verne setting ebbed away quickly, the thematic flows of the game still jumped off the board well and I was still suitably immersed in what I was doing.
That immersion is enhanced by you choosing your ‘motive’ at the start of the game. By default the rulebook suggests that you take on the motive of Explorer for your first game(s) as that specific role lets you do a little bit of everything. Other motives though see you specialise in specific areas. This gives more than a bit of character to your actions as well as making each game feel different. While I confess that I didn’t play all of the motives, I think they are great for long term replayability.
I’ll also confess as well that while the rigid Euro fan inside of me baulks at the idea of enjoying dice rolls, they do make for an emotional rollercoaster here – more than once I let out audible yelps of joy and cries of dismay as the numbers that I needed to find that piece of treasure or defeat that warship or repair my submarine revealed themselves. It certainly can be a bit deflating if you get a few bad rolls in a row but to be honest the rolling is so frequent and there are so many options to mitigate that over the course of the game it all averages out and the vast majority of the time feels like I am still in control over the luck. But the anticipation of the dice roll I admit was quite enjoyable – and tense!
That tension continues throughout the game when trying to ensure that you don’t trigger one of the games three lose conditions (not being able to place any more ships on the board / gambling one too many of your ships resources / maxing out your notoriety). Your motive will dictate which of those are harder to manage than others but in reality you are going to have to keep an eye on all of them regardless. With a few games under the belt I felt a little more comfortable ensuring that I was reaching the end of the game without triggering a lose condition but I would never say that it was with ease – it always felt like a tense “am I even going to make it to the end and be able to see what my score is”. On one hand that tension was great, on the other hand when you have sat for an hour and a half playing a game and a lose condition kicks in and its game over it can be pretty hard to take as you sit thinking “well what was the point of even bothering” and trying not to flip the table or just take a naked flame to the board. Losing without even getting the end can just feel unsatisfying.
…that said, I might make it all the way to the end by the skin of my teeth (and like I say, is a nail-biter and by no means a given) but if I haven’t then achieved a target score of 220 then again it’s an auto loss. Imagine the frustration of finally making it all the way to the end of the game but then slumping back at the realisation that my hard earned score just wasn’t good enough. Nemo’s War is an enjoyable game – but make no mistake, it’s not a jaunty, easy ride. This is a tough game to beat. It’s challenge doesn’t feel impossible but it definitely feels hard earned.
This is a two hour game with not much scope to make that shorter – and personally it feels slightly too long, at least for my tastes. I’m definitely in the camp of 60 – 75 minute games being my solo preference, though I am not adverse to games that are nearing the 120 minute mark. Some of those longer games fly by, others see me starting to flag towards the end and I would say that Nemo’s War is probably in the ‘flagging’ camp. I would like this game to be 20 – 30 minutes faster and I definitely was turning some of the later cards over thinking to myself ‘I hope this is the finale card and it means the game is now over’. Some people might really enjoy a longer game - each to their own.
While Nemo’s War might have slightly outstayed its welcome, shortening the game would likely lose one of the things that I like most about the game - it’s slow, incremental, claustrophobic tightening – and particularly the warships that start flooding the board at the start of each turn hunting down Captain Nemo. At the start of the game there are a few ships here and there but players are largely free to explore the oceans unimpeded. But over the course of the game not only do more get added, they grow in strength and become harder to beat and then gradually as the game progresses the number that get added at the start of each round increases – two added early in the game, then three mid-way and then four in the latter stages. You feel hunted. You feel confined. Spaces become restrictive. Battles are inevitable. Damage will be taken. Slow. Steady. Creeping. The tension escalates brilliantly in a way that I suspect it wouldn’t in a shorter game.
Lots of things to enjoy on the periphery of the main actions too – upgrading the Nautilus with special powers, the careful balancing act of whether to use actions to try and repair damage or whether to risk it and just plough on doing big things instead, deciding whether to give up some of your hard earned treasures and other resources to mitigate against possible bad dice roles, whether to keep any of your action points this turn and bank them for next turn just in case one of those lull turns arises. Lots of choices and decisions to consider as well as a nice balance between overarching strategic direction and a freedom to explore.
At a glance:
Nemo’s War is a game of constant plotting and scheming as the tension slowly and gradually builds. I might not be rushing out to find more dice / roll to resolve games but if I am going to own any, then I am glad it’s this one.
+ Beautiful art and table presence.
+ An excellent creeping tension as the game ratchets up the pressure.
+ While some Euro fans may not initially like the luck involved in dice rolling, there is more than enough mitigation which leaves players still largely in control
+ Still feels ‘Euro-y’ but with some nice twists to take players out of their comfort zone, but not too far
+ /- Lose conditions can abruptly end the game resulting in plays feeling unsatisfying
+/ - this is a quite a challenging game to play well. Expect to put some work in to reap the rewards.
- drags a little towards the end of its 2 hour playtime. Could have been shorter.
- Rulebook is a bit of a beast, though the main board helpfully doubles as a player aid.
Final Score:
7.5 out of 10 (a slightly shorter experience would have pushed this up to an 8. If you don’t mind longer games, give this one an 8).
Reviewed after 6 plays.
Comentarios