Lawless!,
a card game designed by Bruno Cathalla, is the latest in the Euro Games “Blue
Box” series of games. It is also,
in my opinion, quite likely the best. Although
several other titles in the series have been enjoyable (Dragon’s
Gold [Spring 2002 GA REPORT] and Castle [Summer
2000 GA REPORT] in particular), Lawless! seems to offer constant player
interaction and numerous strategic options and decisions.
In Lawless!,
each player represents a wealthy rancher, attempting to acquire land, graze and
sell cattle and possibly even strike it rich by finding gold on his
land.
The object is to grow wealthy and accumulate the most money and cards in
several categories. Of course, this
is the “wild west”, so there is an abundance of unscrupulous characters
attempting to foil your plans and steal your cattle and land. This requires players to hire cowboys and ranch hands in an
effort to protect their holdings and possessions.
The game uses
mechanisms found in several other games, including a card drafting mechanism
lifted directly from Dirk Henn’s Show Manager (Winter
1999 GA REPORT). All of the
parts seem to blend together nicely, however, so there isn’t a
“disjointed” feel to the game.
Each player has
six action points to spend per turn. Six
cards are available to “draft” each turn, with the cost in action points
varying from 1 – 6 depending upon the card’s location on the board.
The cost to play a card is listed on the card and varies from 1 (the most
common cost) to 6 (which is the rarest) and is in addition to the cost to
acquire it.
There is a wide
variety of cards in the game, the most common being land, cattle and cowboys.
There are also three “qualities” of these types of cards.
For example, cattle can either be poor (which depicts a pathetically
malnourished beast), good or prize-winning, while land can be either scrub, good
or excellent. The better the
quality, the more benefits that are derived.
The better the land, for example, the more cattle that can be put to
pasture on it; the stronger the cowboy, the better he is able to protect your
ranches.
The basic idea
is to acquire land, graze cattle on the land and protect your holdings with a
stable of cowboys. There is an abundance of cards, however, which can be used to
interfere with the plans of your opponents and cause them all sorts of trouble.
The “Take that!” factor in the game is very high.
Most of the really nasty cards, however, do require the player to expend
a large amount of action points to play them, so this does prevent the player
from taking other actions during his turn.
Deciding on which cards to play and whether to further your own
objectives or interfere with your opponents’ plans is always a tough choice.
The sequence of
play is fairly straight-forward:
An opponent rolls a die and
adds the number of cattle the player possesses to the die roll.
The player likewise rolls a die and adds the value of the cowboys he
employs and any fences he has erected to his roll.
If the opponent’s total is greater, then the highest valued cattle card
of the player is discarded. This
comparison is called the “Livestock Surveillance Test” in game parlance.
After this test, players
may either improve the value of their livestock (which is indicated by rotating
the cattle card 90 degrees) or sell them. Each
turn spent improving the value of livestock increases their value exponentially.
For example, a good herd begins with a value of $2 and increases by $2 on
each turn it is not sold.
The temptation is to not
sell livestock and instead spend several turns improving their value.
However, there are numerous cards that can be used to cause cattle to
roam away or cause the land to be worthless.
So, waiting too long to sell cattle can prove to be disastrous.
3. Perform Actions.
As mentioned, each player has 6 action points to spend on a turn. These points are usually used in drawing and/or playing
cards. If a player does not like
the selection of cards available on the board, he may spend 3 action points and
draw the top card from the deck.
Players may also execute
additional actions for each 2 gold spent. This
can prove quite useful, but since money also contributes to victory points at
game’s end, players must be judicious in its use during the game.
The
cards remaining on the board are then slid down to the lower costs slots and new
cards are drawn from the deck to re-fill the board.
The game
ends when either the supply of money or cards expires.
Victory points are then awarded for the following categories:
Ranches, cattle, cowboys and money.
Points are earned for 1st through 4th place in each
of these categories -- 5, 3, 2 and 1 point respectively.
The player with the most points wins.
The heart
of the game certainly lies in the card play, which is reminiscent of such games
as Family Business and Bang!
(Winter 2003 GA REPORT).
Build-up your own holdings, but also attack your opponents and hinder
their efforts whenever possible and feasible.
It certainly isn’t a game for the faint of heart or those who might
take offense at attack-oriented games. Even
though it has a significant level of nastiness, the system also provides ways in
which to protect yourself from most assaults.
So, there are steps you can take to mitigate the inevitable assaults.
The end result is a game that is rather fast-moving and filled with player interaction. There is a wide enough assortment of cards in the deck to keep the game fresh, but not too many so as to make it overly complicated. A player cannot put on blinders and doggedly pursue his own objective, as he is sure to be assaulted by his opponents. Likewise, he must keep a wary eye on the progress and holdings of his competitors and throw some problems their way at opportune moments. It is a game that requires constant decisions, some of which can be difficult, as well as a dose of intestinal fortitude and even a touch of luck. All of these factors are blended together very nicely and make for an exciting visit to the wild west! - - - - - - - - - - Greg J. Schloesser
