From: crl@oasis.icl.co.uk (Chris Lawson) Subject: Re: Lords of the Sierra Madre - Review or Comments? Tim Isakson (loiosh@io.com) wrote: : Anyone played this game (apparently currently by Decision Games, : originally by Sierra Madre Games)? It sounds like a good empire : building/economic/political strategy game, but I don't want to : gamble on a game that costs $50 without at least a few comments from : other folks - so, any reviews? comments? Snide remarks? : Tim I have the original and have recently played the new version, so here are some comments. I am still not sure just what the game aims to be, is it a 'serious' business/empire builder or is it a 'fun' chaotic game of kill your neighbour. I have played the game three times now, each with a different group of gamers, at the end of the game (i.e. when we decided we had enough) we were still not sure how it should really be played. It seems far to random to be a serious game and far to long and complicated to be a fun game. The game itself plays something like this. Each turn is a season (Spring Summer, Fall, Winter), you play a hasiendos and run a ranch (a hacienda). You purchase (via auctions) enterprises (such as mines, railway lines, ranches, banks, etc) and then spend time and money to bring them to fruition. These along with your ranch gives you potential income during the game which allows you to buy further enterprizes. It is also possible to buy police, soldiers, guns, etc. With these you can 'request' other players to pay you taxes. You could also use them to stop other players getting taxes out of you as well. Bandits, outlaws, Indians can also appear to make trouble. So each turn an event card is turned over. This can supply 0, 1 or 2 gold income to all the players. The card is then auctioned off (as long as it was not a calamity). It is also possible to purchase (via auction) other enterprizes, troops or new haciendas at this time (from a fixed set of cards that are available from the start of the game). You get income from matured enterprizes every turn and income from your ranch(es) during the summer of each year. You pay out money to bring unmatured enterprizes online (e.g. it takes 4 to 12 turns to complete a railway or a mine). At this point in the turn you go into 'tactical mode'. This is where troops, men, bandits, etc move around on the map collecting taxes, killing each other, burning down ranches and so on. This can last up to 45 tactical moves per turn (quarter). As I am not giving a good description of the game here I shall stop and give a few views on the game. The game starts with very little money, if a bad event turns up it can cripple the game (this could happen at any time during the game as well), any number of players could be wiped out due to a few bad event cards. The game is driven by the events and this could just make a game unplayable due to duff combinations coming along. The game seems just too random, for example you spend 8 turns bring a mine to maturity, you then roll a couple of D6 to see the mine output. This can vary between 0 and 4 gold per turn, it does not matter how long it took for the mine to mature, any mine can produce 0 to 4 gold. The rules themselves do not cover the kind of possibilities that can arise in the detail that is needed. The biggest problem is that no examples are given, just to have an idea on how you should be doing things. The new version makes the tactical moves easier but it did not address any of the other major flaws in the game, nor are the rules any the easier to understand. The game designers may not have any problems but they have failed to convey the message across on what you should do. So, too complex for a fun game (which I think it is aimed at) and too random for a 18xx style business game. If you want for info on the game or more views let me know and I shall try to waffle some more. If the game designers are on-line, then can they please tell people how the game should be played Chris Lawson c.r.lawson@bra0108.wins.icl.co.uk