From: Arnaud Bouis Subject: Short Geronimo Review Doug Luke writes: >Now that I see that Geronimo is appearing in the stores, does >anyone have a short review of it? I am interested in the period >and in the game design. How does it play solo? I would think >that this would be an ideal solo game, given the radically >different goals of the Indians/Americans. Let's go...review-express, a new Consim service, costs 5 Brownie points. I bought Geronimo and well, I think it could be played solo well, though as usual I would find it boring. It is can be played solo a bit like BLACKBEARD. Geronimo is definitely designed for 4-5 players. First, the components. They are gorgeous. The map is nice and is area-based, each big area being a state, or a state-to-be. The 32 tribe cards are outstanding. Each has a photograph of an indian of that tribe, plus diverse info. There is also a deck of event/action cards. It is a typical Rich Berg effort: lots of tables and die rolls (too many for a boardgame IMO....looking at endless charts is boring). Each turn, the players roll to see in what order they will get to choose their side. One will take the US cavalry, the others, Indian tribes. Remember, each turn this will change. Your goal is to score as many VP'seach turn. Play proceeds in rounds. Every round a new population counter is added, as well as maybe the railroad extended or gold mines discovered ... you can't stop those bloody Whites from overruning the West. and then an action/raid is conducted by the active indian player; or US cavalry moved by the US player. Indians get VPs for making successful raids, winning battles, and the US, for the same, but he makes most of those points by getting states admitted to the Union. For this the number of colonists, railroads, etc...in the territory must reach a certain level. Achieving this during HIS turn make the US player win lots of VP's. He also eradicates Indians by adding White populations, since the resources of the territory are gradually divided between its occupants. Well, divided in an unusual manner. The colonists eat the resources first, and the Indian tribes share what is left. If not enough is left fot the indians, the tribes must migrate, or die. When enough of its members are dead, a tribe will become "civilized" and go to reservation, i.e. go virtually inactive. That's basically what the game looks like. The event recreate the flavour of the epoch. Union general counters and Indian leader counters add up to all this. I have a big reproach here: Whenever you go to war with a tribe you must find its leader(s)/war band counters in the countermix, and it takes forever. Otherwise, the game looks good. I have not playtested it except solo (played a coupla turns) Hope it helped you. Arnaud. P.S Each turn the Indian players divide about 18 of the Tribe cards between themselves. So if you play with few players you'll have to handle lots of tribes per turn ! 5 is ideal, with 4 cards per player and interactions between indians (some tribes are friendly while others are natural enemies). "I will say nothing and do nothing to restrain our troops from doing what they deem proper on the spot, and will allow no mere vague general charges of cruelty and inhumanity to tie their hands" -- Gen. Phil. Sheridan "Tosawi, good indian" - Tosawi, Comanche Chief, to Sheridan "The only good indians I ever saw were dead" - Sheridan, in reply to Tosawi