 |
||
|
Avalon Hill, 3M Parker Bros. Business European Mystery Politics Space/Fantasy |
EXCERPTS
FROM THE WINTER 1999 GA REPORT
SHOWMANAGER (Queen Games; about $30) The play's the thing in Showmanager where players are impresarios attempting to skillfully cast four different productions to reap the biggest profits. Showmanager is the graphically improved version of Dirk Henn's Premiere originally issued on the db Spiele label...Each turn, a player must either buy an artist or produce a show. In hiring an artist, the player claims one of the four cards on the artist board and pays the marked price. The remaining cards slide down a space (towards the zero price) and a new artist card is drawn...available to the next player. If the assortment does not meet with a player's approval, a player may, at the cost of 2000 DM, clear the board and remove all four artists currently on display, drawing four new artists to take their place. This procedure may be repeated as often as a player likes but money is tight in Showmanager. Use this power sparingly. Any artist can appear in a musical. However, certain artists are better suited to certain roles, as shown by talent points on their card...Miscast artists...are worth 0 points... To produce a musical, players meld precisely as many artists as needed for that particular show... Once a show is cast, the talent points of its artists are added...becoming the value of that musical production... Play continues until all shows are produced. At that time, players are awarded points based on the respective values of their productions in each city...Whoever has garnered the most points is the winner!... The rummy-like melding of artists... is enhanced by the ability to wipe the artist slate clean and to borrow against a production to finance other shows (but at the cost of possible future gains)... an impressive achievement. - - - - - - Herb Levy
FROM "POINT OF VIEW": MEDIEVAL MERCHANT (Goldsieber/Rio Grande Games; $39.95)Medieval Merchant... is another top-notch product...The board depicts a map of medieval Germany and is gorgeous as are the various bits and pieces that make up the game... In a nutshell, four players attempt to open and monopolize trading routes throughout ten regions of the country, gaining influence points along the way. Each turn, a player opens a new city for trading by playing a city marker worth anywhere from two to eight influence points...Branch offices...enable a player to secure income or to score influence points - but not both!...Problems abound, as the decision to either take income from a city or to expand one's holdings in that city become almost painful. Therein lies the main attraction of the game... Down time between turns is not significant...attractive and intriguing... an excellent gaming experience. - - - - - - Al Newman
|
