On Bristol 1350 and Other Games
May. 27th, 2021 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
danieldwilliamI recently took delivery of Bristol 1350 by Facade Games, after backing their Kickstarter last year.
Had the first couple of games of it whilst my sister was visiting it. It has a lot in common with the other Dark Cities games (Salem 1692, Tortuga 1667, Deadwood 1879).
They are all semi-cooperative, hidden role, social deduction games. I like them all.
Bristol - you are trying to escape the Plague in Bristol on three carts. To win, either get out of the city on a cart where no one has the plague, or if you have the plague, make sure everyone else gets it.
Salem - find the witches, or if you are a witch, turn everyone else in to a witch, or kill them.
Tortuga - control pirate ships and the island of Tortuga to make sure that your nation wins the most gold - or if you are Dutch that everything is even.
Deadwood, make sure your gang of outlaws has stolen the most money in round one but that you brought the best gun for the final shoot-out when your gang turns on each other.
The Captain especially like Tortuga and I think that's my favourite.
The Dark Cities games have some nice mechanics which work well with the fundamentals of the game as a semi-co-op, hidden role, deduction game. I particularly like the use of dual teaming.
In Bristol and Tortuga you are part of two teams. The team controlling the cart or the pirate ship and the faction you belong to (plague victim vs healthy or in Tortuga, British, French or Dutch). You have to work together to maximise the potency of your vehicle but make sure that your vehicle is being used to further the overall aims of your faction.
Bristol 1350 has a nice mechanic where the players control the speed of each cart at the risk of spreading the plague and you can pick up useful information about people from how they operate that mechanic.
I think they are all very elegant games.
Like all social deduction games they play better with a high number of players (not ideal for a time of plague). Bristol 1350 has a mechanic for introducing dummy players so you can play with smaller numbers. Tortuga plays fine with 5 (2 British, 2 French, 1 Dutch) but it's a different game than if you are playing with 9 (4 British, 4 French, 1 Dutch). With fewer numbers it's easier to figure out who is who and the game is then more about working the mechanics as a team to win. With higher numbers more time is spent working out who is who.
Salem I think only works well with more than 7 people. Deadwood I'm less familiar with but I think it also plays better with more people. I'm drawing a distinction here between plays differently with smaller or larger numbers compared to works well as a boardgame. I'd play Tortuga or Bristol with 5, I'm not sure I'd try Salem with 5.
As a collection the four games are amongst my favourite games. Will need to have a think about my top ten games but I think Tortuga is dead cert for inclusion.
Had the first couple of games of it whilst my sister was visiting it. It has a lot in common with the other Dark Cities games (Salem 1692, Tortuga 1667, Deadwood 1879).
They are all semi-cooperative, hidden role, social deduction games. I like them all.
Bristol - you are trying to escape the Plague in Bristol on three carts. To win, either get out of the city on a cart where no one has the plague, or if you have the plague, make sure everyone else gets it.
Salem - find the witches, or if you are a witch, turn everyone else in to a witch, or kill them.
Tortuga - control pirate ships and the island of Tortuga to make sure that your nation wins the most gold - or if you are Dutch that everything is even.
Deadwood, make sure your gang of outlaws has stolen the most money in round one but that you brought the best gun for the final shoot-out when your gang turns on each other.
The Captain especially like Tortuga and I think that's my favourite.
The Dark Cities games have some nice mechanics which work well with the fundamentals of the game as a semi-co-op, hidden role, deduction game. I particularly like the use of dual teaming.
In Bristol and Tortuga you are part of two teams. The team controlling the cart or the pirate ship and the faction you belong to (plague victim vs healthy or in Tortuga, British, French or Dutch). You have to work together to maximise the potency of your vehicle but make sure that your vehicle is being used to further the overall aims of your faction.
Bristol 1350 has a nice mechanic where the players control the speed of each cart at the risk of spreading the plague and you can pick up useful information about people from how they operate that mechanic.
I think they are all very elegant games.
Like all social deduction games they play better with a high number of players (not ideal for a time of plague). Bristol 1350 has a mechanic for introducing dummy players so you can play with smaller numbers. Tortuga plays fine with 5 (2 British, 2 French, 1 Dutch) but it's a different game than if you are playing with 9 (4 British, 4 French, 1 Dutch). With fewer numbers it's easier to figure out who is who and the game is then more about working the mechanics as a team to win. With higher numbers more time is spent working out who is who.
Salem I think only works well with more than 7 people. Deadwood I'm less familiar with but I think it also plays better with more people. I'm drawing a distinction here between plays differently with smaller or larger numbers compared to works well as a boardgame. I'd play Tortuga or Bristol with 5, I'm not sure I'd try Salem with 5.
As a collection the four games are amongst my favourite games. Will need to have a think about my top ten games but I think Tortuga is dead cert for inclusion.
