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***Basketball Stats PRO for iPad - Best courtside statistics application on the iPad*** *** Get the...
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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire in Tabletop Games
Feb 22, 2021
Excellent Work Placement Game
The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire- is a excellent work placement game. I love work placement games and this one is one of them. Lets talk more about the game.
Players sit in the roles of countries trying to develop industry and energy production over a period of time roughly from the end of World War II to the present day. Throughout the game, players will construct buildings, power plants as dice, and manage the pollution in their environment with the aim of scoring the most points.
To begin play, the main board for Energy Empire is seeded with starting Building cards. These are divided into three different sectors: Government spaces, Industry spaces, and Commerce spaces. A set of pollution tokens, depending on the number of players, is also stacked on a track as the game timer.
Once the game begins, it flows continuously without rounds. Each player chooses, on their turn, to take a Work Turn or a Generate Turn.
Work Turn- During this type of turn, players must place a single worker on the main board on one of the spaces which represent activities and resources to collect. For example, this may be gaining science, steel, or purchasing oil. Afterwards, depending on which sector the player placed their worker, they can activate any previously purchased buildings, assuming they have enough workers and/or energy. Players can also activate their nation card and move up on the United Nations track, which is a pure competition for end game points. Energy is also used if a player wishes to place a worker on a space occupied by another worker. The player must place additional energy under the worker until their placement stack is larger than any other already placed.
Generate Turn: This type of turn represents the player resetting their work potential for a new set of placing workers. They do this by first potentially collecting an achievement which represents end game points for a variety of goals. They then recall any workers to their Player Mat and discard all Energy tokens. Players can also spend any oil resources to gain oil power plant dice. Finally the player rolls any or all power plant dice they have. This might include Solar/Wind (green dice), Hydro Power (blue dice, limited to one per player), Coal (black dice), and Nuclear (yellow dice). The resulting number of lightning bolts on the dice are delivered as energy tokens to the player. If a clean energy source rolled the highest cardinal number, the player does not collect pollution. If coal, oil, or nuclear dice resulted in the highest number, then the player places a single pollution token into their environment. Players continue this process one after another until a predesignated number of pollution tokens are removed from the game. Players get one final turn and then points are tallied. Players receive points for keeping their player mat free of pollution, building power plants, the United Nations track, and various points for each building constructed.
The most engaging part of the game and the main reason to seek it out, comes from the theme of global power intrigue. The building cards show off the exceptional art in the game.
Manhattan Project: Energy Empire Cards
The global impact cards for the first half of the game are green with a milder impact. Once they go red, prepare for some serious negative events. On top of this theme, the actions associated with everything in the game fit just right. The concept in game actions connect directly to the theme concept. In addition, the country actions to move up on the United Nations track also represent the tone and success formulas for those countries. The mechanism for rolling dice to gain energy and how much pollution is delivered feels just perfect given the competing goals of clean environments and high energy production.
The worker placement mechanism itself (largest stack among existing workers) is not new, but it is just the right mechanism to promote the overall feeling of energy competition. Choosing the space on which to place a worker is highly engaging and the choices tense to maximize efficiency. It is easy to connect with both strategy and tactics in this game.
Even with this engagement, it is also easy to see optimal routes for gaining points assuming opponents follow their strategies. It’s not “easy”, but it is possible to not even worry about opponents blocking a particular path to victory with low numbers of players.
Its a excellent work placement game. One i highly recordmend getting and play.
Players sit in the roles of countries trying to develop industry and energy production over a period of time roughly from the end of World War II to the present day. Throughout the game, players will construct buildings, power plants as dice, and manage the pollution in their environment with the aim of scoring the most points.
To begin play, the main board for Energy Empire is seeded with starting Building cards. These are divided into three different sectors: Government spaces, Industry spaces, and Commerce spaces. A set of pollution tokens, depending on the number of players, is also stacked on a track as the game timer.
Once the game begins, it flows continuously without rounds. Each player chooses, on their turn, to take a Work Turn or a Generate Turn.
Work Turn- During this type of turn, players must place a single worker on the main board on one of the spaces which represent activities and resources to collect. For example, this may be gaining science, steel, or purchasing oil. Afterwards, depending on which sector the player placed their worker, they can activate any previously purchased buildings, assuming they have enough workers and/or energy. Players can also activate their nation card and move up on the United Nations track, which is a pure competition for end game points. Energy is also used if a player wishes to place a worker on a space occupied by another worker. The player must place additional energy under the worker until their placement stack is larger than any other already placed.
Generate Turn: This type of turn represents the player resetting their work potential for a new set of placing workers. They do this by first potentially collecting an achievement which represents end game points for a variety of goals. They then recall any workers to their Player Mat and discard all Energy tokens. Players can also spend any oil resources to gain oil power plant dice. Finally the player rolls any or all power plant dice they have. This might include Solar/Wind (green dice), Hydro Power (blue dice, limited to one per player), Coal (black dice), and Nuclear (yellow dice). The resulting number of lightning bolts on the dice are delivered as energy tokens to the player. If a clean energy source rolled the highest cardinal number, the player does not collect pollution. If coal, oil, or nuclear dice resulted in the highest number, then the player places a single pollution token into their environment. Players continue this process one after another until a predesignated number of pollution tokens are removed from the game. Players get one final turn and then points are tallied. Players receive points for keeping their player mat free of pollution, building power plants, the United Nations track, and various points for each building constructed.
The most engaging part of the game and the main reason to seek it out, comes from the theme of global power intrigue. The building cards show off the exceptional art in the game.
Manhattan Project: Energy Empire Cards
The global impact cards for the first half of the game are green with a milder impact. Once they go red, prepare for some serious negative events. On top of this theme, the actions associated with everything in the game fit just right. The concept in game actions connect directly to the theme concept. In addition, the country actions to move up on the United Nations track also represent the tone and success formulas for those countries. The mechanism for rolling dice to gain energy and how much pollution is delivered feels just perfect given the competing goals of clean environments and high energy production.
The worker placement mechanism itself (largest stack among existing workers) is not new, but it is just the right mechanism to promote the overall feeling of energy competition. Choosing the space on which to place a worker is highly engaging and the choices tense to maximize efficiency. It is easy to connect with both strategy and tactics in this game.
Even with this engagement, it is also easy to see optimal routes for gaining points assuming opponents follow their strategies. It’s not “easy”, but it is possible to not even worry about opponents blocking a particular path to victory with low numbers of players.
Its a excellent work placement game. One i highly recordmend getting and play.
Big Time Gangsta
Games and Entertainment
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NOW WITH BOSS FIGHTS, NEW GANGSTAS, PIMP YOUR PAD & NEW WEAPONS!! Small time thugs don't survive...
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Vamp on the Batwalk in Tabletop Games
Feb 12, 2021
I think I could be a vampire. Not that I THINK I’m a vampire, but I think I could live(?) with being a vamp. Not the sparkly kind. Just the normal kind. Or maybe the “What We Do in the Shadows” kind. Yeah. At least initially I don’t think I would care much about being the most fashionable vampire in the group, but I could see why some of the elder vampires would need SOMETHING over which to compete and obsess. Maybe I could be one of the judges.
Vamp on the Batwalk has players take on the personalities of one of these fashionable elder vampires competing in the latest fashion show. The only problem is that vampires are unable to see themselves in mirrors, so they cannot really assure themselves that they look marvelous; the other vampires will have that privilege. Which vampire can win the most fashion shows this year with limited knowledge of how they look? Who would… stake… their reputation on mere fashion shows anyway?
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup invert the bottom of the box and insert it into the back of the box top lid to create a runway. A “batwalk,” if you will. Each player will choose a vampire and place their standee on the batwalk Start space. They will also take the matching Reference Card. All Vamp Cards matching the vamps in play are collected, shuffled together, and five are dealt to each player. Whichever player is most fashionable goes first and the game may begin!
Vamp on the Batwalk is a trick-taking game where players know not which cards they hold. Instead, their hands are facing all other players in order to suss out which cards they may be holding. The first player will open the game by playing any card from their hand. The next player also will play any card they wish, and so on until all players have played a card.
Once each card is played the “lead” card may be switched depending on the rules of the game. Should all cards played be of the same suit the highest card played is the lead card and wins the trick. Similarly, if the first card played remains the highest card in that suit and no other cards played earn the lead card status, that highest card wins the trick.
However, when a card is played that is the same value (a three played on a three of a different suit) the newest card with the matching value “Steals the Show” and becomes the new lead card. Some cards feature a star for the value. These star cards will always take the lead unless a garlic card has been played to trump the star. Garlic cards typically are the lowest-ranking suit, but when played in the same hand as a star become the trump suit.
Luckily, the reference cards have handy reminders for these special rules. After all cards from the hand have been played, players check who is winning the fashion show based on points earned during the round. If this is the end of the third round the vamp with the most points wins! If not, the player to the left of the most recent first player then becomes the first player for the next round.
Components. This game features an ingenious scoreboard that is just so fun to use. Having the box double as the scoreboard runway was such a great decision and it works flawlessly. The cards are all large tarot-sized (I think, I’m no tarot-master) and feature some really great art. The player standees are fine, but only four or so can actually fit on a space on the runway without creating a mess. All in all I adore the components and art style here.
Now, several games also employ this mechanic of holding your hand of cards outward for opponents to see, but here the players never really are told which cards they hold. In Vamp on the Batwalk the card play is silly and mostly a guessing game, at least in my head. One can never truly know all the cards they hold because each round not all cards are used. This adds another layer of difficulty in trying to guess what you are holding. This may turn off certain gamers, but it’s a silly way to play the game and I love it.
At the end of the day, this is a game about vampires putting on a fashion show. I feel like once I decided not to take it so seriously I began enjoying it so much more. Sometimes it’s a surprise to win a trick with a 2 of garlic. A throwaway card usually can win if a star is played. Or thinking you have THE card to win the trick only to have someone else Steal the Show and beat you out. It’s just chaotic silliness and I’m smitten.
If you are at all anything like me and can put aside the need to win at all times and at all costs, you will enjoy this one. It is wacky, has an amazing theme and excellent components, and is just a fun game to relax with or to help recharge after a brain burning sesh. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a blood-slurping 8 / 12. Even though I think the blue vamp is eerily similar to Travis McElroy, the almost-coolest-Travis, this one is a hit for me. Go grab it if you like fun games that don’t tax the brain a whole lot.
Vamp on the Batwalk has players take on the personalities of one of these fashionable elder vampires competing in the latest fashion show. The only problem is that vampires are unable to see themselves in mirrors, so they cannot really assure themselves that they look marvelous; the other vampires will have that privilege. Which vampire can win the most fashion shows this year with limited knowledge of how they look? Who would… stake… their reputation on mere fashion shows anyway?
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup invert the bottom of the box and insert it into the back of the box top lid to create a runway. A “batwalk,” if you will. Each player will choose a vampire and place their standee on the batwalk Start space. They will also take the matching Reference Card. All Vamp Cards matching the vamps in play are collected, shuffled together, and five are dealt to each player. Whichever player is most fashionable goes first and the game may begin!
Vamp on the Batwalk is a trick-taking game where players know not which cards they hold. Instead, their hands are facing all other players in order to suss out which cards they may be holding. The first player will open the game by playing any card from their hand. The next player also will play any card they wish, and so on until all players have played a card.
Once each card is played the “lead” card may be switched depending on the rules of the game. Should all cards played be of the same suit the highest card played is the lead card and wins the trick. Similarly, if the first card played remains the highest card in that suit and no other cards played earn the lead card status, that highest card wins the trick.
However, when a card is played that is the same value (a three played on a three of a different suit) the newest card with the matching value “Steals the Show” and becomes the new lead card. Some cards feature a star for the value. These star cards will always take the lead unless a garlic card has been played to trump the star. Garlic cards typically are the lowest-ranking suit, but when played in the same hand as a star become the trump suit.
Luckily, the reference cards have handy reminders for these special rules. After all cards from the hand have been played, players check who is winning the fashion show based on points earned during the round. If this is the end of the third round the vamp with the most points wins! If not, the player to the left of the most recent first player then becomes the first player for the next round.
Components. This game features an ingenious scoreboard that is just so fun to use. Having the box double as the scoreboard runway was such a great decision and it works flawlessly. The cards are all large tarot-sized (I think, I’m no tarot-master) and feature some really great art. The player standees are fine, but only four or so can actually fit on a space on the runway without creating a mess. All in all I adore the components and art style here.
Now, several games also employ this mechanic of holding your hand of cards outward for opponents to see, but here the players never really are told which cards they hold. In Vamp on the Batwalk the card play is silly and mostly a guessing game, at least in my head. One can never truly know all the cards they hold because each round not all cards are used. This adds another layer of difficulty in trying to guess what you are holding. This may turn off certain gamers, but it’s a silly way to play the game and I love it.
At the end of the day, this is a game about vampires putting on a fashion show. I feel like once I decided not to take it so seriously I began enjoying it so much more. Sometimes it’s a surprise to win a trick with a 2 of garlic. A throwaway card usually can win if a star is played. Or thinking you have THE card to win the trick only to have someone else Steal the Show and beat you out. It’s just chaotic silliness and I’m smitten.
If you are at all anything like me and can put aside the need to win at all times and at all costs, you will enjoy this one. It is wacky, has an amazing theme and excellent components, and is just a fun game to relax with or to help recharge after a brain burning sesh. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a blood-slurping 8 / 12. Even though I think the blue vamp is eerily similar to Travis McElroy, the almost-coolest-Travis, this one is a hit for me. Go grab it if you like fun games that don’t tax the brain a whole lot.
Narcos: Cartel Wars
Games and Entertainment
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Power. Loyalty. Warfare. Product. It’s all fair game when you run your own cartel in the official...