An Introduction To Board Gaming - Part 1 - German Games

For those of you who are new to the board gaming hobby, the sheer number and types of games can be rather bewildering. It's often easier to stick with what you know - Monopoly, Risk, Top Trumps etc - than to try something new that you might have heard little about. This article is the first in a planned series, in which I will attempt to get you up to speed on the different types of games that are available in order to help you make a more informed decision about what's right for you. To begin, we will look at German or German-style games, and what exactly that term means.

An Introduction to...

German Games

You will often hear references to German or German-style games on board game websites. Calling something a German-style game doesn't necessarily mean that it originates from Germany, but that the game has mechanics similar to those found in games that used to almost exclusively come from German game designers. As board games are an incredibly popular pastime in Germany, many of the world's most highly regarded game designers are German, and therefore the term has stuck regardless of where the game actually comes from. There are several defining characteristics of German-style games, as follows:

• No Player Elimination - This is probably the single most important characteristic of a German-style game. These games are played to a set number of points, and all players are always involved. This is directly opposite to many non-German games such as Monopoly in which player elimination is common. So why is this bad? Well, getting people together to play board games as a social 'event' is not exactly easy, and to then have several players sitting around doing nothing for the last few hours of the session isn't much fun for the players who have dropped out of the game - which means that those players are less likely to want to play again. The point being that everyone should be involved during the duration of a game - no one should have to sit and twiddle their thumbs while waiting for the rest of the group to finish.

• Short and Involving Gameplay - Another important characteristic that German-style games share is an easily definable goal that can be attained in a reasonable amount of time. Usually they are played to a set number of points (whereas in non-German games they are often 'Last Man Standing'). Also, the rules of these games allow more than just the player whose turn it is to be involved in some way - for example in The Settlers of Catan, which is widely regarded as one of the best German-style games available, each player on his or her turn rolls the dice to see which commodities are produced. Anyone who has a building on a tile matching the number rolled can collect commodities, even on someone else's turn. Catan is mostly a trading game - if you don't have the commodities you need, you are freely able to strike deals with other players as you see fit, so during trading on someone else's turn it is not uncommon for all players to be involved. Catan is played until someone reaches 10 victory points, which usually takes no more than 90-120 minutes. Contrast this with mammoth games of Monopoly which can often take many hours and still have no conclusion within reach.

• Minimal Luck and Many Choices - Many German-style games are based around player's skill rather than luck. As an extreme example of a game based entirely on luck, we have Snakes and Ladders. The players are entirely at the mercy of luck, with only the roll of the die to guide them. No decisions about where to move or how to get to where you need to be are able to be taken - rolling the die is the only meaningful interaction that the player has with the game - once the die is rolled, the number must be obeyed, and then if the player lands on a snake or a ladder, the appropriate actions must be taken. In German-style games, there are often many different paths that can be taken throughout the game, and different choices can often be made during every single turn. German-style games encourage the player to think for themselves rather than have dice do all the thinking for them.

• Simple, easily digestable rules - With all of the choice, interaction and strategy, it would be quite easy to think that German-style games would be too complex or hard to learn for anyone but the most dedicated gamer. Not so. Most German-style games are designed to be incredibly easy to learn, and they often have very short, clearly laid-out rules that can be learned and taught in a surprisingly short space of time. Filled with illustrated examples of play and turn summaries as well as many helpful reference materials (such as cards for each player with helpful summaries on), it is not at all difficult to understand and quickly grasp all the nuances in German-style games.

• High Production Values - German-style games are renowned for having very high production values - well designed, sturdy boards or colourful playing pieces are an example of the type of components that are included. German-style games are therefore seen to be very good value for money, as the components are well made and very resilient indeed.

• Credited Designer - Pretty much every single German-style game credits the game designer very prominently. Many designers of German-style games are very popular and enjoy a huge following, which leads to gamers choosing games based on who they are designed by rather than just looking at what the game is about. Reiner Knizia is probably the most famous and prolific of all German game designers, having designed over 200 published games.

So where to start with German-style games? It depends on what you are looking for. Let's run through a few now to give you a little help:

• The Settlers of Catan is a great family game of trading and resource management, playable by 3 or 4 players (or up to 6 with the expansion). Games typically last no more than 2 hours and are made exciting every step of the way with all players constantly involved in trading and production of resources. Every game is different to the last, as the board is randomly arranged each time, so the availability of different resources changes for every game played. This helps to keep the game feeling fresh even after several plays with the same group of people, and there is a luck element that helps to make the game less daunting for new players. There is a large range of Catan games, with some expansions that can be added to further enhance the main game as well as stand alone games such as Starship Catan and Candamir - The First Settlers that add to the main formula in order to provide different experiences for fans of the base game.

• Carcassonne is an excellent introduction to German-style games. Players take turns to draw a tile from one of several different stacks, and the idea of the game is to place these tiles to ones already laid and make cities, roads, closters and farms, placing your small wooden people in different places around the tiles in order to try and score more points than anyone else. Carcassonne is a game that works very well for two players, but can be played by up to five players. It often takes no more than 45 minutes to play, and scores are often very close which leads to very tense and exciting games! There are many expansions to Carcassonne which add interesting elements to the game and can be added either one at a time or all together to significantly affect the way that the main game is played. There are also quite a few stand alone games in the Carcassonne range, such as Carcassonne - Hunters and Gatherers, Carcassonne - The City, Carcassonne - The Castle, which all take the existing Carcassonne tile-laying formula and make it into a refreshing new game.

• Lord of the Rings by Reiner Knizia is a step up complexity-wise from the aforementioned two games, but once the rules are learned it is a very simple and interesting game. Non-confrontational, the players co-operate to beat the game itself. While player elimination is featured, it is not until just before the game comes to its natural end that a player is eliminated - and as the other players are co-operating anyway, those who are eliminate can still help out if they want! This game also has two expansions available - Friends and Foes (which adds extra boards and encounters) and Sauron, which allows the players to team up against another player who takes the role of Sauron himself. Highly recommended for fans of Lord of the Rings, this allows players to work together as a team, which is a very rare feature in games.

• Ticket to Ride is an excellent first choice, combining simple set collecting with varied strategic desicions to be made every turn. Players must collect different types of train cars and claim routes across the board, with longer routes worth more points.The rules are easy to digest and take no more than 3 minutes to learn, with games not usually lasting any longer than 45 minutes. For those after a very slightly deeper game, the stand alone Ticket to Ride: Europe is now also available.

This concludes the first 'An Introduction to Boardgaming' article. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to leave them at the link below.

Author: Jason M. Brown