Lords of Waterdeep Boardgame - Merric's Review

Olgar Shiverstone · Mar 22, 2012

Great review. I'm missing a key bit of definition, though -- what's a Eurogame as you use it in this context? I'm afraid the phrase "It's a Eurogame" doesn't conjure a specific image or expectation for me.

MerricB · Mar 22, 2012

Olgar Shiverstone said:
Great review. I'm missing a key bit of definition, though -- what's a Eurogame as you use it in this context? I'm afraid the phrase "It's a Eurogame" doesn't conjure a specific image or expectation for me.

From wikipedia:
"German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components. The games emphasize strategy, play down luck and conflict, lean towards economic rather than military themes, and usually keep all the players in the game until it ends. German-style games are sometimes contrasted with American-style games, which generally involve more luck, conflict, and drama."

Classic eurogames include Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, Agricola and Ticket to Ride.

Let me know if you'd like more detail.

TarionzCousin · Mar 22, 2012

MerricB said:
Let me know if you'd like more detail.

When you buy a Euro game, do you need to pay in Euros?

jonesy · Mar 22, 2012

TarionzCousin said:
When you buy a Euro game, do you need to pay in Euros?

For a proper Eurogame, you'd need to pay with everything other than Euros.

Hussar · Mar 22, 2012

Merric - great review as always.

A question - how language dependent is this game? I'm always looking for something to use with my monthly board game club in my English as a Second Language classes. My bunch have no problem with Catan and Endeavour. Are the cards really heavily language dependent or are there lots of visual cues?

Olgar Shiverstone · Mar 22, 2012

MerricB said:
From wikipedia:
"German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components. The games emphasize strategy, play down luck and conflict, lean towards economic rather than military themes, and usually keep all the players in the game until it ends. German-style games are sometimes contrasted with American-style games, which generally involve more luck, conflict, and drama."

Classic eurogames include Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, Agricola and Ticket to Ride.

Let me know if you'd like more detail.

Thanks! I have to say that I haven't played any of those games, so the description provides a philosophy but not a concrete reference for me. Have you played Diplomacy? That sounds a bit like that description -- if so, would it fit the EuroGame category?

MerricB · Mar 23, 2012

Olgar Shiverstone said:
Thanks! I have to say that I haven't played any of those games, so the description provides a philosophy but not a concrete reference for me. Have you played Diplomacy? That sounds a bit like that description -- if so, would it fit the EuroGame category?

I've played a fair bit of Diplomacy, and while elements are similar to the EuroGame, it'd be categorized far more as a wargame than a Eurogame. In particular, the way actions are written down and resolved is very much *not* like a Eurogame. Likewise, player elimination is not part of most Eurogames.

Have you ever visited boardgamegeek.com? It's well worth checking out if you'd like to learn more about the popular (geek) boardgames.

Ticket to Ride and Lords of Waterdeep are both very good introductions to the European-style of wargames, despite both being by American designers. Both handle 2-5 players well, and play in about an hour.

Cheers!

MerricB · Mar 23, 2012

Hussar said:
Merric - great review as always.

A question - how language dependent is this game? I'm always looking for something to use with my monthly board game club in my English as a Second Language classes. My bunch have no problem with Catan and Endeavour. Are the cards really heavily language dependent or are there lots of visual cues?

The board and most quest cards are language-independent. Most intrigue cards are language-dependent, but aren't actually that complicated.

Currently it's rated on BGG as: Moderate in-game text - needs crib sheet or paste ups (it's about half-way down the page).

(Note that you could sleeve the cards and put paper translations of the most difficult ones).

Cheers!

Olgar Shiverstone · Mar 23, 2012

MerricB said:
I've played a fair bit of Diplomacy, and while elements are similar to the EuroGame, it'd be categorized far more as a wargame than a Eurogame. In particular, the way actions are written down and resolved is very much *not* like a Eurogame. Likewise, player elimination is not part of most Eurogames.

Have you ever visited boardgamegeek.com? It's well worth checking out if you'd like to learn more about the popular (geek) boardgames.

Ah, OK. I've mostly been a wargamer. Sounds like I haven't experienced a proper EuroGame yet.

I've visited the site for some of your reviews -- guess I should drop by again!

MerricB · Mar 23, 2012

Olgar Shiverstone said:
Ah, OK. I've mostly been a wargamer. Sounds like I haven't experienced a proper EuroGame yet.

I've visited the site for some of your reviews -- guess I should drop by again!

I'm a wargamer, eurogamer, and theme-gamer!

Ticket to Ride is available as an app for the iPad and iPhone, incidentally. A recent article indicated that the app significantly increased sales of the actual boardgame!

Cheers!