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Hobbes
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A Few Acres of Snow

Thu Mar 01, 2012 9:24 pm

This looks right up my street period wise - has anyone tried it?

http://www.wargamer.com/article/3159/editorial-wargamer's-wargame-of-the-year-2011-awards

http://www.treefroggames.com/a-few-acres-of-snow-2

I was reaching for my credit card until I saw there were no dice.
Playing face to face with beer and pretzels always seems far more fun when you can shake a die and see the look on your opponents face when you get a good roll.
In fact shaking the dice in his face before you get a good roll is also fun. Card based games just seem a bit dry in that situation.

Maybe this is a game to be enjoyed with a sober neighbour.

Chris

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Philippe
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Thu Mar 01, 2012 9:58 pm

I would think that a great weakness of card-based games is that you can't pretend to drop the dice on the floor and knock the table over when you bend down to pick them up...

Moving right along, wouldn't it be easier to play a card-based game while imbibing? You never know where those pesky dice are going to scatter to, unless you've invested in a dice rolling tower.

Dominoes and Mah-jong don't use dice, but you can clack the tiles down to prove a point, and the tiles won't get messed up if you spill your drink on them.

On a more serious note, there's a YouTube video somewhere by that Italian game reviewer that covers Snow in a fair amount of detail. If you haven't seen it yet you might try looking for it. I watched enough of it to get a sense of what the game play is like, and it looked very appealing.

The original version of Kingmaker didn't use dice to resolve battles. Battles were noisy and gleeful affairs, and rarely resolved sober.

And never forget that the Spartans and the Vikings both believed that every important issue needed to be considered drunk and sober. And you only act on something if your soused and sober opinions are in agreement. They did their sober and drunken deliberating in different orders, however, and I can't remember who did which first.

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Bernadotte
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Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:04 pm

No dice, but lot's of fun !
The game is sort of "broken". There is an unbeatable british-strategy. But this strategy is not that easy to play against an experienced french player ! Anyways, with one or two houserules this games is easy to learn, easy to play and lot's of fun :thumbsup:
You even can play it online or via PBEM here: http://www.yucata.de/en/GameInfo/FewAcresOfSnow

Regards,
Bernadotte

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Hobbes
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Location: UK

Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:05 pm

Thanks chaps. I will keep the credit card in my pocket but keep the game high on my list of potential birthday presents. My neighbour and I were playing Small World last year and had to introduce a dice element to every attack as there was not even any slapping down of anything. We used the dice in such a way as there was no great change in the gameplay - but at least it added that moment of tension and bravado.

I have never heard that about the Spartans and the Vikings - wonderful!

Cheers, Chris
P.S. I just drop the cards, beer, crisps, cat on the floor Philippe - the results can be the same.

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nemethand
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Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:06 am

I own the game and played it a few times with my wife. It is fun to play, have some strategic as well as tactical element, and usually ended after 2-3 hours of play. No dice is usually a pro for me. The game is also nicely done.

If you are a fan of the FIW, I think it is good choice. Not exactly a wargame (like Wilderness War) but a nice Euro.

Taillebois
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Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:41 pm

I thought it was the Persians who Herodotus describes as debating serious issues, like going to war, drunk, then debating again sober. If they came to the same policy sober as they had when drunk they would act on it.

Seems pretty sensible to me. Trouble is my best ideas and strategies occur when I am drunk, but by the time I am sober I have forgotten them.

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