New Expansion: Flussgeister am Niagara

[PaulW]

BSW has added the Niagara expansion: Flussgeister am Niagara (The Spirits of Niagara).

I can't find any rules for this on BGG or on BSW.  All I know is that there are bigger boats and ghosts to deal with.  The new expansion is a new option in any Niagara room.

Paul W

(Who is still trying to figure out how this game won Spiel des Jahre 2005, just a weak year I guess.)  

[Elttil]

Cool! I'm excited to try it out, but I'm one of those people who likes the game. I know this game isn't high on too many people's lists, but I seem to find little tricks and subtleties each time I play.

As for winning the award, I'm sure part of that was based on the mechanical nature of sliding the discs through the game board. I've talked to a couple people who own the game and they've said it works well and the river alternates paths almost all the time. The few times when it doesn't just throw a random wrinkle into your strategy -- not something everyone appreciates.

[Jocelyn25]

Ok, I tried to translate the rules, but prolly did a rather poor job since there were many words i didnt know.

im not trying to translate the complete novel they wrote in german for the expansion but merely try to sum up the main points:

double-canoe: one of your boats can now load 2 gems, which means you can also steal up to 2 gems. You move those canoes the same way as the others.

Swirl: no canoe can stand on thr swirl. Ends your move on this field you will float down another field. You cant do any moves which have the swirl as goal if you have points left. If the swirl is directly on the field before the fork you can choose in which direction you want to float. To overcome the swirl when you move upstream costs one point extra. If the swirl falls down the waterfall it will be brought back into the game immediately. The effects of the swirl are already calculated in the possible moves, which the games shows you.

New cards:
card 7: you have 7 points to move your canoe
card 1/2/3: you can use 1, 2, or 3 points for ONE canoe
card rope: With the rope you moor both canoes to the land and they wont be moved this turn. The movement of the river doesnt float them downstream and they cant be stolen from. After the river movement they start the game from this position unless the swirl ends up on their field, then they float down one.

like the cloud, the cards rope and 1/2/3 will be ignored when the river movement is calculated.

Bathing Beaver: As soon as the cloud is on +2 the beaver jumps on the first river field. He will float downstream with the river and as soon as he falls down the waterfall (poor guy) the weather will be set back to 0

Express Elk: If your canoe is at the lowest tile, where the pink gems are, you can take the Elk with you. The Elk adds 2 points to the card you played, but only for this one canoe. You keep the Elk until you come to the landing stage or fall down the waterfall. Then the elk will return to the pink gems and can be used again. you cant steal or give away the Elk.

If you play rope or cloud you dont move any canoes, which inlcudes the canoe with the Elk. It IS allowed to take the Elk before you set the weather or moor your canoes, though.

Thats it.

LG
Jocy

[PaulW]

Cool! I'm excited to try it out, but I'm one of those people who likes the game.

To be honest, I do like the game and don't mind playing it.  So I'll be happy to give it a spin.  (You might need me, I popped on last night to watch some people play, but no one was playing it on BSW.)  I just don't think of it as an award winning game, even with the moving river.

For around $40 USD, I think we are paying for the window dressing more than the game itself (it is a very nice looking game).  Now if I could get the game and the expansion for that price, I would likely pick it up at some point, but I wouldn't rush out for it.

Still your comment got me thinking about other games that had a different twist to them, and a game popped into my head from my youth...

Bermuda Triangle

Did anyone else have this game? http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2296

It was a kid's game.  You had boats that had to move goods from port to port to make money.  On the board was a storm cloud that would move around and rotate over the board.  If your ship went under it, it might get 'sucked up' (it used magnets) by the cloud never to be seen again, it might ride out the storm or the boat might get 'dropped' somewhere else on the board.

It was a cool effect.  The cloud rocked.

Paul stops reliving his past now, but wonders if the game is sitting at his parent's house somewhere...