23 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2024
    1. If you have studied the historical campaign, you may wonder if the same operational plan can be duplicated in the game—with the same results.  The answer is yes.  The unit capabilities and game mechanics allow for a repeat of history, but there is always the other player to consider.  As with history, the two sides have nearly the same number of infantry divisions, tanks, mobile units and artillery.  The German advantage is most evident in airpower—the Luftwaffe dramatically outclassed the Allied air forces in the campaign (and so it is with the game).  Only the German player who knows exactly how to employ their units with careful attention to the movement and combat sequences, event card use, the hidden unit dynamic, and especially the air rules—will be able to duplicate the historic success of the 1940 Wehrmacht.  And even then, the historic result was only possible because the Allied response played almost perfectly into Germany’s hand.  But there is more than one path to a decisive result, and the game allows for multiple campaign plans for both sides.  The rules are set up to mirror the operational, command, and doctrinal differences between the two opposing sides, but the contest is designed simply to re-create the same historic “canvas” upon which both players may then paint—the issue will be decided by a combination of player decisions and the fortunes and fog of war.
  2. Nov 2023
  3. Oct 2023
  4. Jan 2023
    1. This seems to have an interesting relation to the tradition of wassailers and "luck visitors" traditions or The Christmas Mummers (1858). The song We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Roud Folk Song Index #230 and #9681) from the English West Country (Cornwall) was popularized by Arthur Warrell (1883-1939) in 1935. It contains lyrics "We won't go until we get some" in relation to figgy pudding and seems very similar in form to Mari Lwyd songs used to gain access to people's homes and hospitality. An 1830's version of the song had a "cellar full of beer" within the lyrics.

      I'm curious if the Roud Folk Song Index includes any Welsh songs or translations that have similar links? Perhaps other folk song indices (Child Ballads?) may provide clues as well?

  5. Dec 2022
    1. Keeping track of research materials used to require an excellent memory, exceptional bookkeeping skills or blind luck; now we have databases.

      Love the phrasing of this. :)

  6. Jul 2022
  7. Apr 2021
    1. I really like the ideas in this game: the theme, what it's trying to accomplish (explore the problems with imperialism, if I understood correctly), the game board, the game in general. I want to like it.

      but, I don't think I would like this one enough due to the luck and relying on other players' whims (trading) mechanisms:

      • Dice Rolling
      • Push Your Luck

      You can risk a lot getting an expensive estate, but if you push your luck too much, your risk/gamble won't pay off and you'll permanently lose that [pawn] and those victory points.

    1. Requires you to play multiple rounds (i.e. short games) to balance the scores
    2. Luck over-rides strategy
    3. You can't avoid the comparisons to Carcassonne even though the scoring mechanic is very different. It just looks the same, and the tile placement phase feels close enough to be familiar. However, this familiarity starts to nag at you, only adding to the frustration when tile placement is clumsy and luck-driven unlike Carcassonne. The comparison is not favourable for Fjords.
    4. There is a tendency in short luck-heavy games to require you to play multiple rounds in one sitting, to balance the scores. This is one such game. This multiple-rounds "mechanic" feels like an artificial fix for the problem of luck. Saboteur 1 and 2 advise the same thing because the different roles in the game are not balanced. ("Oh, well. I had the bad luck to draw the Profiteer character this time. Maybe I'll I'll draw a more useful character in round 2.") This doesn't change the fact that you are really playing a series of short unbalanced games. Scores will probably even out... statistically speaking. The Lost Cities card game tries to deal with the luck-problem in the same way.

      possibly rename: games: luck: managing/mitigating the luck to games: luck: dealing with/mitigating the luck problem

    5. You can strategise to a degree by trying to block off a potential peninsula (cut off between two mountains for example). This can start a little race to claim this area. e.g. I cut off an area with one of my houses.
    6. Luck is a major factor. As discussed above, sometimes the map seems to build itself and you draw tiles which you HAVE to place even though they are aiding your opponent.
    7. f you cannot place it, it is set aside for use later in the game if an opportunity arises. (Tiles are set aside a lot.)
    1. My wife's first description of playing Fjords was that it felt a bit like playing Othello, in that you had to think too far ahead. I don't see it that way. I think that the luck of the draw & the fact that a tile must be played if it can, means that you can't always plan too far ahead. Often you have to try to work out how to make use of what you've got.
    1. Sometimes it requires more luck than strategy to complete the levels because of the building queue system.
  8. Jan 2021
  9. Aug 2020
    1. As a web designer, I hate that "log in" creates a visual space between the words. If you line up "Log In Register" - is that three links or two? This creates a Gestalt problem, meaning you have to really fiddle with spacing to get the word groupings right, without using pipe characters.

      Sure, you can try to solve that problem by using a one-word alternative for any multi-word phrase, but that's not always possible: there isn't always a single word that can be used for every possible phrase you may have.

      Adjusting the letter-spacing and margin between items in your list isn't that hard and would be better in the long run since it gives you a scalable, general solution.

      "Log in" is the only correct way to spell the verb, and the only way to be consistent with 1000s of other phrasal verbs that are spelled with a space in them.

      We don't need nor want an exception to the general rule just for "login" just because so many people have made that mistake.

  10. Dec 2019
    1. Many people luck out like me, accidentally. We recognize what particular path to mastery we’re on, long after we actually get on it.

      Far too many people luck out this way and we all perceive them as magically talented when in reality, they're no better than we, they just had better circumstances or were in the right place at the right time.

  11. Oct 2016
  12. Oct 2013
    1. all your brothers are ugly, but you are handsome yourself; or when you find a treasure that everybody else has overlooked;

      this is interesting. Genetic looks are considered luck!

  13. Sep 2013
    1. "Good luck" means the acquisition or possession of all or most, or the most important, of those good things which are due to luck.