Game Notes #12

FUBI

a promo blurb from the producers of FUBI

      FUBI is a game for young and old alike. FUBI combines table-soccer and billiards on a 60 x 30 cm board that fits on every table.
      Ivo Orlovic, the inventor of FUBI, was born in 1947 in Zagreb, Croatia. As a child growing up in this impoverished country, he never had a chance to play with “real” toys. As a 12 year old soccer-loving boy he built the first FUBI prototype with just a few nails and a rubber band.
      Orlovic held on to his childhood idea throughout the years. And now he has finally created a professional version of FUBI. Until now, there has been no comparable game on the market, combining table-soccer and billiards and inviting players to challenge each other in tournaments again and again and again!!!

Regarding the Boulder Games’ description of Sid Meier’s Civilization: this game is definitely flawed, but definitely worth fixing!! I recommend that players use the following variants:

1. Start with resources exposed, scrap the event markers.

2. Use the obsolescence variant detailed on BoardgameGeek.

3. Use the combat variant linked to from BoardgameGeek.

4. Keep track of player production with pen and paper! This really speeds things up.

5. Use the online errata and comments on BoardgameGeek and Eaglegames forums.

The game suffers from a lack of playtesting but is a great game with just a few house modifications. It is long, but worth it!

LIBERTE’

a review by Jon Waddington

France in 1789 was a country in the grip of social and political upheaval. The reins of power were being tugged away from the monarchy by the increasingly influential bourgeoisie, while the lower classes, upset over centuries of abuse and repression, were agitated and easily swayed by the rhetoric of demagogues promising social and economic redressing of their grievances. Yeah, whatever. You don't really need to know any of that to enjoy LIBERTE’, a game designed by Martin Wallace and published in 2001 by Warfrog (though, curiously, the copyright date in the rules is 1999). As for me, I'm not terribly well-versed in the history of modern France. Sure, I've a passing familiarity with names such as Napoleon, Robespierre, Marie Antoinette, and Lafayette. The guillotine, the Bastille, and the phrase "Let them eat cake!" are not foreign to me. But I have a hard time identifying the exact timeline of the French Revolution, the secondary players, the political factions involved. LIBERTE’ is not, however, a simulation, nor does it make any pretense toward being one.
Thematically, LIBERTE’ covers (in the typical broad-brush "German" fashion) the turbulent period in France from the convening of the Estates-General in 1789 to the rise of Napoleon in 1799 (I looked that up). A nicely illustrated box opens to reveal a large, mounted map with various tracks and charts on it, player-aid sheets, 110 cards, 30 flat red blocks, 28 flat blue blocks, 24 flat white blocks, 120 round wooden player markers, and 7 neutral markers (3 red, white, and blue, and 4 black) for the various tracks. The rules are in English, French, and German, but the cards are only in English. The production quality is very nice, with one noteworthy exception. It seems that an unfortunate communication mix-up resulted in a distracting color variation between the cards and the map in one region, and a minor

difference in another (the color indicates a region of France, and dictates where a player may place blocks). It's a big enough gaffe that you'll wonder how it could have happened, but in practice it's only an issue during your first game.
In LIBERTE’, three factions are vying for control of France: white, blue, and red (representing Royalists, Moderates, and Radicals). Three to six players represent neutral political powerbrokers who are attempting to "back the right horse" in the upcoming struggle. The map displays France in six regions, each containing four or five provinces, for a total of 27 provinces.

The game is played in four rounds, each of which has five intuitive phases. Phase One is the simple determination of turn order: random on the first turn, but in descending victory point order after that (it's an advantage to go last). Phase Two is the distribution of cards: players pick up cards they've kept from the previous round, then discard unwanted cards and fill their hand to seven. Phase Three is the action phase: players either play a card or draw a card (from three face-up cards or a face-down stack), and continue this in player order until one of the sets of faction blocks is exhausted (but all players get an equal number of opportunities each round). Phase Four is when battles are resolved: the player with the most tokens in the Battle Box wins and gets the victory points, barring an unbroken tie, in which case no one gets the points, and a white block is used to signify a "victory" for the Royalists. Phase Five is the resolution of the election: players evaluate every province and distribute votes to the winning parties. Then victory points are assigned based on players' contributions to the winning and secondary party.
Players put blocks into provinces by playing cards. Most cards represent various important persons of the era: Danton, Marat, Mirabeau, etc. These Personality cards allow a player to place one to three blocks in one to three provinces within a designated region. Each stack may contain up to three blocks of one color, topped off by a control marker denoting which player owns that stack. No player may control more than one stack in any province, and no province may contain more than three stacks. Other cards are "Club" cards, and allow a player to place one block (always blue or red for Club cards) in any province, regardless of region. Once played, Personality and Club cards may be kept by their owner face up in a "personal display" (of up to four cards, or five if a card is marked with a special "Sans Coulotte" symbol) which is used later for tie-breakers or to place those cards back in the player's hand for the next round. Other cards allow various special actions: forcing players to discard cards from their personal display, beheading (removing from the game) Personalities, and removing faction blocks from the board.

At its most accessible level, then, LIBERTE’ is a game of majority influence. Over the course of four elections, each province will contribute a vote (except Paris, which contributes up to three votes) to determine whether the government will be Royalist, Moderate, or Radical. If a player contributes the most to the party that wins the election, the player earns five victory points; the second-most contributor gets two, and the player who contributes the most to the primary opposition party (the one receiving the second-most votes in the national election) is rewarded with three VPs. In rounds three and four, four provinces confer an additional VP or two to the winner of that province. Ties, both in determining who wins provincial elections and who wins overall election influence, are settled by advancing (discarding) cards from one's personal display and comparing the number of blocks on the advanced cards. Every province that contributes a vote returns a faction block to the winning player; this helps track the progress of the election and returns blocks to the general supply. Any provinces which end up tied (a common occurrence) send all their faction blocks (even a faction not involved in the tie) back to the general pool, regardless of whether the tie is broken.
On each turn except the first, France will fight a famous battle (Valmy, Fleurus, Arcola). Some Personality cards and all Club cards are marked with a cannon, which allows that card to be used to place a token in the Battle Box (instead of placing faction blocks on the board). Generals are a sub-type of Personality card with a distinctive silhouette, and are fairly rare (11 out of 110 cards). Players may earn victory points by contributing the most to that battle and by having at least one general in their personal display. In total, there are 12 points (4, 3, and 5, by round) to be gained in these battles, so they are significant.