riverboat board game

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Dale Yu: Review of Riverboat

• Designer: Michael Kiesling
• Publisher: Mayfair / Lookout
• Players: 2-4
• Time: 90-100 mins
• Times played: 4, with review copy provided by Mayfair

A few years back, Mayfair bought out Lookout Games – and I was honestly a bit worried; long time readers of the blog will know that I am a huge Lookout fan as their games are usually right in my wheelhouse.  I was concerned that I would no longer have a source of meaty Euro-style games that I had grown to love. I’m happy to say that after these few years, all of my fears have proven wrong. This year, the two MayOut releases (or should it be LookFair) are Nusfjord and Riverboat, and thus far, they seem to keep to the usual standards that I have come to expect and love.

In Riverboat, players try to manage their farms which lie along the Mississippi to grow the best crops while they also try to get their workers down the river into New Orleans to build up your empire along the banks of the river.  In the game, each player gets his own farm board – which look similar, but each has a different pattern of colored farm areas on it. The top of this board has notched areas for you to store your riverboats. Around the top of this board is a harbor master track.

The empty farmboard – Picture used courtesy of Pongrácz Zsolt (PZS69) from BGG

There are also a pair of central boards which will sit in the center of the table.  One has multiple spaces for the crop tiles and a scoreboard while the other has room for scoring cards, an area to collect workers and the harbor where the nine different types of riverboats dock.

the center board – Picture used courtesy of Pongrácz Zsolt (PZS69) from BGG

The game is played over four rounds, each having a setup period and then the same five phase process.

In setup, the central board is prepared.  Four opportunity cards are dealt to the appropriate area.  Each of these has a scoring condition printed on it. At the top of the board, one of each of the nine types of riverboats is put into the notched dock.  Finally all of the outlined crop tile spaces on the lower board are filled in with appropriate sized tiles. There are also five phase starter tiles – the current start player for the round takes these tiles, chooses one and then passes it to the left who now chooses one.  This continues clockwise around the board until all tiles are taken (some players will have multiple tiles). Then the game round can begin; in each of the five phases, the player who holds the corresponding phase start tile will take the first action in that phase (as well as get a small special ability/effect).

1] Cultivation – The starting player for the phase first gets to place a worker on any free farm hex – this is taken from the central board.  In this phase, players will place workers onto the fields. The start player draws 8 Cultivation cards from the deck. Then, one at a time, he reveals the top card from this stack and all players must place one of their workers on a hex of matching color.  If the card is wild colored, all players are free to choose where they would like to place their worker. Additionally, for the cost of one coin, a player can choose to ignore the color specified on the card and place their worker on any free space. Once all players have placed, the next card is flipped up and the process is repeated.  If you have no empty hexes of the specified color, you may place your worker on any empty space. Continue until all 8 cards have been revealed. If you have available workers, you must place them – though it might be possible near the end of the game for you to run out of workers midway through this phase. If this happens, simple place a worker with each card until you have none left in your supply.

2] Planting Phase – The start player of the phase first takes a coin.  Then all players take turns to select a crop tile from the central board and place it on his personal mat.  The chosen tile must fit underneath workers placed in the previous phase. Replace the workers on top of this tile.  If you place a 2-hex tile score 1 point immediately, if you place a 3-hex tile, score 2 points immediately. In this phase, you can choose to pay a coin to place one of the 1-hex or 2-hex tiles from the supply as opposed to one displayed on the central board.  This continues until all players have placed a crop tile underneath EVERY worker on their board. The supply of crop tiles is NOT replenished in this phase after each draw.

The 1 and 2 hex crop tiles – Picture used courtesy of Pongrácz Zsolt (PZS69) from BGG

3] Harvesting and Shipping Phase – First, the start player moves their Harbor Master figure one space forward on their personal track.  Then, players take turns claiming Riverboats from the central New Orleans board (remember, one of each of the nine types should be available each round).  In order to claim a boat, you must remove the exact number of workers from your farm board (ALL from a single crop type) that matches the number on the chosen Riverboat.  You take the boat tile and place it in the leftmost free spot on your personal board’s harbor. Each boat comes with some immediate benefits which are pictured on the top of the tile – such as VPs, moving your harbor master, getting an estate feature, or possibly moving a working into New Orleans.  Additionally, the number at the bottom tells you the maximum number of points that this boat could score at the end of the game. In this phase, you can choose to spend a coin in order to take a boat from a supply stack.

You might get the benefit of an Estate Feature: a Barn, a Well or a Surveyor token.  Barns are placed on your farm board. When they are scored, they will score for all of one type of crop surrounding it.  Wells are placed on the board as well, when they are scored, they will score for the contiguous group of hexes connected to the hex the well is sitting on.  Surveyors are placed in your personal supply and will be used later to trigger the scoring. Finally, as you are harvesting your crops, be sure to count how many you have scored – when you harvest the ninth hex of a particular crop, you get to take an estate feature of your choice at that time.  You could conceivably get this bonus five times; one for each type of crop.

you can see all the boats at the top – Picture used courtesy of Pongrácz Zsolt (PZS69) from BGG

In this phase, players will have the opportunity to claim up to two Riverboats.  In the fourth and final round, this limit is increased to 3 Riverboats.

4] Opportunity Phase – The start player for the phase first scores a victory point.  Then each player in order chooses one of the face up Opportunity cards. There are four slots on the board, and each is associated with a small bonus (move Harbor Master by 2, gain a Surveyor, move a worker into New Orleans or gain a coin).  When you take your card, you immediately get that small bonus. The Opportunity card goes face up near your player board. It may be scored in a later phase. Each of these cards has a different scoring condition on it – most of them max out at 14 or 15 VP.  If you choose to spend a coin in this phase, you take any Opportunity card from the face down draw pile as opposed to one of the face up cards.

Some opportunity cards – Picture used courtesy of Pongrácz Zsolt (PZS69) from BGG

5] Scoring Phase – The start player first chooses between 1 coin, 1 Harbor Master step or moving one worker to New Orleans.  Then, players have the opportunity to place up to 2 Surveyors (up to 3 in the final round). Surveyors can be used to score Barns, Wells or Opportunity cards – each of these objects can only be scored once per game.

Barns score 2 VP for each hex adjacent to it of a single type – thus a max of 12 points

Wells score 1VP for each hex in a contiguous group of same colored crop hexes including the one the well is on.

Opportunity Cards score based on the rules printed on the cards.  In general, the max here is 14 or 15 VPs.

Finally, at the end of the phase, each player scores 1VP for each Surveyor which has been placed as well as 1VP for each worker that you have in New Orleans.

After the end of the scoring phase, go back to the Setup procedure to ready the board for the next round.

Game End Scoring

The game continues through 4 rounds.  At the end of the game, there are five things that are scored:

•          Coins – 1 VP for each unspent coin
•          Fields – 7 VP for each color of field on your personal board which is completely covered
•          Unscored Estate Features (Wells, Barns, unplaced Surveyors) – 2 VP for each
•          Harbor Scoring – Look at the location of your Harbor Master. You will score points for all of your Riverboats at the Harbor Master’s location and to the left.  Look at all player’s tracks and determine which player’s Harbor Master went the furthest – this player will score full value for his scored boats. All other players will score only half-value (rounded up) for their boats which the Harbor Master has reached
•          New Orleans Worker scoring – scores 20/10/5 for most/2 nd /3 rd workers in New Orleans

The winner is the player with the most victory points.

My thoughts on the game

Riverboat was a nice find for me.  It was one of those games that didn’t make it to the table until January (with 80+ Essen games, you can’t play them all immediately!), and I’m a bit sad that it took this long to play.  It feels old-school in the sense that there aren’t any novel mechanisms within, but all the pieces fit well together to give a great gaming experience. Like many of the games from SPIEL 2017, this box is filled to the brim with boards, cards and bits.

The game flows through the five phases easily, and each round offers a different piece of the overall challenge.  I like the way that the start player for each phase is decided with the phase cards, and it adds a bit of strategy to the start of each of the four rounds in the game when you try to decide which round you’d like to have an advantage in.  Though we missed it in our first game, the iconography on those phase cards also serves as a perfect player aid for the table to remind you what goes on in each phase!

In order to do well in the game, you have to figure out how to cultivate in the right hexes and then next get the correct crops in the right places.  It can be trickier than it looks – and you only have one chance to place a crop tile on your farming board space! Because of this pressure, you will often need to consider spending your money to take an exception on either the type of terrain to cultivate or to increase your choice in tile selection.  You need to do this part well in order to give yourself the opportunity to get the right riverboats as well as the Estate Features – and to get the powerful Surveyors. You really don’t get many chances to score your Surveyors (2 per rounds 1-3, and 3 in round 4), so you’ll have to pick and choose your times to score.   Sometimes you may need to score an Opportunity card or Estate Feature earlier than you want (and less efficiently than you want) because you can’t score them all in the final round.

While all this is going on, you can’t forget about the Harbor Master and New Orleans!  Losing half the value of your scoreable boats can be a big penalty when it comes to Harbor scoring – though it does take a fair amount of effort to win the Harbor Master race.  Even if you’re not planning on being the furthest Harbor Master, you still have to pay some attention to this track as you will only score for the boats to the left of the Harbor Master at the end of the game (and generally, your most valuable boats will be closer to the right of your row as it takes time to build up resources to get those high valued boats).

You will be placing workers in New Orleans all throughout the game, and the 20VP bonus for first place is a big component of your final score.  If you go for this too early in the game though, you could find yourself short of workers to cultivate and harvest on your farm board. The only way to add more workers to your supply is to get the bonus for starting the first phase, so you really have to watch the numbers of workers that you have.

As you can see, there is a lot to balance in the game, and that is what attracts me to the gameplay here. Rarely is it obvious what my “best” play will be for a round.  Luck may need to be on your side in the drawing of terrain cards. It’s hard to fully predict the order in which crop tiles are drafted – so you may also need to be fortunate there.  As a result, you are constantly assessing your situation as well as your opponents’ to try to figure out what you can do at any particular juncture in the game. This keeps the players very engaged in the game as each decision made by each player tends to impact the decision making process.

Thus far, I have seen a number of different strategies succeed – and the weighting of the points ends up giving multiple routes to victory in each game.  As I mentioned above, getting the full value of your boat points can be a huge score as can winning the New Orleans competition. The Opportunity cards can net you up to 15 points each, and some of them are more synergistic than others.  However, given the limited number of rounds in the game, it is going to be hard to succeed at all of these things. You will have to likely focus on one of the main scoring areas and then hope to do the best you can in the others. Being flexible with what’s available to you (or spending your coins to improve your lot) is key to doing well in the scoring.

After three games, I am still trying to figure out if there is a best way to approach the game, and I look forward to playing it more.  It is still unclear to me whether or not this game will become a keeper, but it’s already made it past the first hurdle – keeping me interested past the first few plays!

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Dan Blum (4 plays): This is very much in the classic middleweight Euro category, which I like, and is a good example of it. I’m not sure it will be a game that will still be played five years from now, but I’m sure it will get played quite a bit for a while, which is something. (I’d happily play a fifth time, which is not something I say about every new game, believe me.)

My only complaint is that, while as Dale notes there are helpful reminders on the phase tiles, individual player aids would also have been useful. Hardly anyone I have played with has remembered the bonus for harvesting nine tiles of a type on their own, for example; it’s on the phase III tile but players just don’t look at that.

Doug G. (4 plays): This one’s a favorite from the Essen 2017 crop for Shelley and me. In fact, Kiesling’s three Essen 2017 designs/co-designs are all stellar products of different weights that we have enjoyed 2-player.  Riverboat scales well, though may be a bit long at its full complement of 4. One of our current ways to judge what we think of a game is if we want to leave it set up to play a couple times more; that was certainly the case with this one.

Joe Huber (1 play): This was a perfectly acceptable game which, just two months after I played it, I have nothing in particular to say about it.  It neither fell into the traps I was worried it might, nor rose to the heights I hoped it would. Perfectly fine – but also forgettable.

Larry (1 play):  Despite this having an abstract feel, I enjoyed it quite a bit.  There’s lots of different mini-games contained within it, but it all flows smoothly and doesn’t really feel like anything else I’ve played.  Spending your coins wisely is important and there’s a lot of different ways to score. Right now, I rank this as one of the better games to come out of Essen this year.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Doug G.
• I like it.  Dale Y., Dan Blum, Larry
• Neutral. James Nathan, Joe H.
• Not for me…

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Riverboat (2nd Edition)

By: Lookout Games

Type: Boxed Game

Product Line: Board Games (Lookout Games)

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Basic Game Rules

Buy riverboat, other games, riverboat game rules.

• 2 Game boards
• 110 Crop tiles
• 40 Cultivation cards
• 3 Crop Distribution cards
• 45 Riverboats
• 8 Score markers
• 4 Player mats
• 5 Phase tiles
• 1 First Player marker
• 17 Opportunity cards
• 28 Surveyors
• 4 Harbor Masters
• Instructions

Central Display

Place the two game boards in the center of the playing area.

1 Sort the Riverboats by their capacities (numbers at the bottom) and effects (note that there are two versions of the 2 and 3 tiles) and set each pile face up alongside the matching boat art above the "New Orleans" board. Move the top tile of each pile onto the game board, placing it on the matching boat art.

2 Place one Worker on each of the four spaces of the Round track.

3 Shuffle the Cultivation cards and place them face down near the game boards.

4 Shuffle the Opportunity cards and place them face down next to the "New Orleans" board.

5 Draw four Opportunity cards from the pile and place them face up on the four designated card spaces on the game board.

6 Place the Barns, Wells, Surveyors, and Coins near the game boards as a general supply.

Note: The number of items in the general supply is limited.

7 Shuffle the 1-hex, 2-hex, and 3-hex Crop tiles into separate, face-down piles. Fill the designated spaces of the "Scoring and Crop Supply" board with face-up Crop tiles drawn from the appropriate piles.

8 Place the five Phase tiles near the game boards, in reach of all players.

Personal Display

Take a random player mat and place it in front of you. The four player mats differ in the Field layout (colored hexes) and the player color shown on the shed at the bottom of a mat. Leave some space at the top and beside your mat for other components to be placed.

1 Take a Harbor Master token and place it on the appropriate space (for the number of players) on your mat's Harbor track.

2 Take the following items and place them in a personal supply near your mat:

• 2 Surveyors

3 Take the two Score markers in your player color (showing "-/50" and "100/150") and place the "-/50" one with the blank side facing up on the "0" of the Score track (on the appropriate game board).

4 Randomly determine a player to go first and hand them the First Player marker.

The game lasts four Rounds. Each Round, you will start by choosing one or more Phase tiles to give you a small advantage as the Round progresses. Then, each of the five Phases is resolved in the following order:

• Cultivation
• Harvesting and Shipping
• Opportunity

At the end of four Rounds, Victory Points (VP) will be awarded for remaining Coins, completed Fields, for the distance downstream that your Harbor Master allowed you to conduct business, and for having more Agents in New Orleans than your opponents.

Start of a Round

Set up the game board for the upcoming Round:

• Place face-up Crop tiles on the empty spaces of the "Scoring and Crop Supply" board, of the appropriate size (1, 2, or 3 hexes).
• Make sure there is a Riverboat tile of each type on the "New Orleans" board (if tiles remain).
• Place a face-up Opportunity card on each of the four card spaces on the "New Orleans" board.

Note: For Round 1, you already completed these steps during setup.

The player with the First Player marker chooses one of the five Phase tiles. Choosing a tile means that you will go first during that Phase and that you will receive a bonus at the start of that Phase.

Then the player to the left chooses one of the remaining Phase tiles. Continue selecting Phase tiles in clockwise order until all Phase tiles have been selected. One or two players will have multiple Phase tiles.

Tip: If you like, let the First Player take all Phase tiles into their hand, choose and keep one, and pass the rest to the player to their left, and so on.

Five Phases of a Round

After selecting, resolve each of the five Phases of the Round one by one. At the start of each Phase, the player who selected the corresponding Phase tile receives their bonus (shown on the tile).

During each Phase, play proceeds clockwise around the table, beginning with the player who selected the Phase tile. The Phases will be explained in detail on the following pages.

Coins are very valuable! They are worth 1 Victory Point each at the end of the game, and they also let you break the rules during a Phase in different ways.

There is no limit to the number of Coins that you may spend during a Round (although you will only spend one Coin at a time to modify an action). If Coins run out in the general supply, you cannot get any more until someone spends some.

End of the Round

The Round ends after the five Phases are complete.

At the end of Rounds 1, 2, and 3, return your Phase tiles, pass the First Player marker to the player to the left of the current holder, and proceed with the next Round.

Note: In a three-player game, at the end of Round 3, pass the First Player marker to the player who is farthest behind on the Victory Point track. In case of a tie, the owner of the Score marker on top of the pile of tied markers becomes the First Player.

The game ends at the end of Round 4. Proceed with the Final Scoring (see page 12), but keep your Phase tiles (they may serve as a tie-breaker).

1. Cultivation Phase

Phase Tile Bonus: Take 1 Worker from the Round track and place it on your mat.

Phase Action: Place up to 8 Workers.

Coin Ability: Ignore 1 revealed Cultivation card when placing Workers.

During this Phase, you will prepare your Fields for planting by placing Workers based on the Cultivation cards revealed.

If you have the Cultivation Phase tile, as the bonus, take the leftmost Worker from the Round track (thus counting down a Round) and immediately place it on your player mat, in an empty Field of your choice. This Worker does not count towards the (up to) 8 Workers you are about to place.

Then draw 8 Cultivation cards from the pile and place them face down in front of you. Reveal the top card from those drawn and read its color aloud.

This card's color will match one of the five colors of Fields on your player mat, or will be a "wild" card. (The little symbols on the cards and Fields correspond to the colors).

Each player who has a Worker remaining in their personal supply must now place a Worker into an empty Field of matching color on their player mat (that does not contain a Worker yet).

If a wild card is revealed, you may place the Worker on a color of your choice. You cannot choose to skip a placement-if you have a Worker, you must place one.

If you spend a Coin, you may ignore the revealed card and instead place a Worker into an empty Field of your choice.

Once Workers are placed, reveal the next Cultivation card from those drawn and resolve it the same way as above. Continue until all eight Cultivation cards have been revealed.

Note: If you have no empty Fields in the revealed color left, place a Worker on any empty Field on your mat. If you are out of Workers, you do not participate in the rest of this Phase.

Tip: Consider grouping your Workers together! Where you place Workers this Phase will determine where you may place Crop tiles next Phase. If your Workers are all separated, you will only be able to place 1-hex Crop tiles in the next Phase.

Tip: You will receive bonus points at the end of the game for completely covering all Fields of a color on your player mat. Use wild cards and Coins to help fill in those last spaces!

2. Planting Phase

Phase Tile Bonus: Receive 1 Coin from the general supply.

Phase Action: Place Crop tiles under your Workers.

Coin Ability: Choose a 1-hex or 2-hex Crop tile from the draw pile.

During this Phase, you will plant Crops in the Fields that you prepared during the Cultivation Phase.

If you have the Planting Phase tile, as the bonus, take 1 Coin from the general supply (if any remain) and place it in your personal supply.

Then take one of the Crop tiles on the "Scoring and Crop Supply" board and place it on your player mat. Crop tiles are made up of 1, 2, or 3 hexes showing one or two of the five different Crops.

The tile shape you select must fit under one, two, or three of the Workers currently standing in empty Fields (without a Crop tile currently under them). Place the tile underneath the Workers, so that the Workers are now standing on the chosen tile.

If you spend a Coin , you may instead select either a 1-hex or 2-hex (not 3-hex!) Crop tile from the respective face-down draw pile. Shuffle the remaining tiles once selected.

If you choose to spend a Coin, you must take a tile from the draw pile instead of the game board, even if you do not like what you see in the pile.

Tip: For each Crop type, there is exactly one 2-hex tile showing two of the same Crop.

Details on placing a Crop Tile:

• Your chosen tile must be fully covered by Workers.
• The color of Field(s) that you play onto does not matter, and your tile may be part of multiple Field colors.
• Once a Crop tile is placed, it may not be moved again.
• You do not have to match the type of Crops shown to other Crop tiles you have played (but there are several reasons to try and group similar Crops together).
• If you place a 2- or 3-hex Crop tile, you immediately score 1 and 2 Victory Points, respectively, as printed on the Crop tile.

The spaces on the game board are not refilled during this Phase, with one exception: at the start of your turn, if you have remaining Workers in empty Fields and the existing face-up tiles are unable to fill them, immediately refill the entire game board with Crop tiles and then take a tile.

Example: It is Annabelle's turn. She has one Worker in an empty Field remaining on her mat, but there are only 2-hex tiles remaining on the game board. Annabelle refills all of the empty 1-, 2-, and 3-hex spaces on the board, and then selects a 1-hex tile.

The next player clockwise now chooses one Crop tile and places it on their mat. Continue selecting Crop tiles until all Workers placed during the previous Phase have a Crop tile underneath them (no Workers should remain in empty Fields at the end of the Planting Phase).

Players with no Workers remaining in empty Fields are skipped. It is possible (and usual) that some players participate in this Phase longer than others.

Note: In the rather unlikely case that all of the 1-hex Crop tiles in the game have been taken while you have individual Workers remaining in empty Fields, return these Workers to your personal supply and skip the rest of this Phase, once you cannot place any more Crop tiles.

3. Harvesting and Shipping Phase

Phase Tile Bonus: Your Harbor Master takes 1 step on the Harbor track.

Phase Action: Claim up to 2 Riverboats (Round 4: 3 Riverboats).

Coin Ability: Take 1 Riverboat from a draw pile.

During this Phase, you will harvest Crops and claim Riverboats for shipping your Crops

If you have the Harvesting and Shipping Phase tile, as the bonus, advance your Harbor Master one step on the Harbor track.

Then claim one of the Riverboat tiles from the "New Orleans" board.

To claim a Riverboat, you must fill it by removing the exact number of Workers from anywhere on your mat corresponding to the capacity shown on the tile (see box), and all from a single Crop type.

The removed Workers go back to your personal supply, to once again be placed into Fields next Round or used as Agents later.

Riverboat tiles have two features: a capacity (also the number of Victory Points that the boat will potentially score at the end of the game) and an immediate benefit of Coins, Victory Points, Harbor Master movement, Estate Features, or the ability to place Agents in New Orleans (see below).

Place the Riverboat tile in the leftmost indentation available at the top of your player mat. You may pass and not take a Riverboat tile. If you do, you will not get any more Riverboat tiles this Round.

If you spend a Coin , you may take a Riverboat tile of your choice from the respective draw pile (only one of each Riverboat is available each Round without the use of a Coin).

If a Riverboat type is exhausted, you may not choose that type, and it will not be available for the rest of the game.

Once a Riverboat is placed, you may claim the benefits shown on the tile. Note that there are two different types of 2- and 3-capacity Riverboats, each with different benefits (see below). Occasionally, you may score a Harvesting Bonus (see next page).

The next player clockwise may now take one Riverboat tile. Continue until each player has had 2 actions to take Riverboats, or has passed.

Note: During Round 4, you may take up to 3 Riverboat tiles.

Riverboats and Benefits

Take 1 Coin from the general supply (if any remain) and move your Harbor Master 3 steps on the Harbor track.

Receive 1 VP and move your Harbor Master 2 steps on the Harbor track.

Receive 2 VP and move your Harbor Master 1 step on the Harbor track.

Receive 3 VP and move your Harbor Master 1 step on the Harbor track.

Receive 3 VP and take 1 Coin from the general supply (if any remain).

You get 1 Barn

You get 1 Surveyor and you may send 1 Worker to New Orleans.

You get 1 Estate Feature and you may send up to 2 Workers to New Orleans.

You get 1 Estate Feature and you may send up to 3 Workers to New Orleans.

Harbor Track

The Harbor track on your player mat is where your Harbor Master will take steps, always traveling in the direction of New Orleans (the right side of the track).

There are indentations for your Riverboat tiles to be placed when you take them, filling from left to right along the top of your player mat. Only the Riverboats that your Harbor Master arrives at or passes will score Victory Points at the end of the game.

However: unless your Harbor Master has traveled farthest down the track, you will only receive half value for your Riverboat tiles!

Estate Features

This is the collective term for Barns, Wells, and Surveyors. If you receive a Barn or Well, you must immediately place it onto your mat. Surveyors are only placed during the Scoring Phase.

If a particular Estate Feature is exhausted in the general supply, you may take a different Estate Feature of your choice from the remaining Features. If all are exhausted, which is highly unlikely, you get nothing.

Barns: Place a Barn on an empty Field space on your player mat. Barns score for the most Crop hexes of a single type surrounding it. You may place Barns next to each other, although this is not recommended.

Wells: Place a Well onto a Crop hex (with or without a Worker on it) of a type on which you have not placed a Well yet.

Wells score for the contiguous group of the same Crop including the Crop hex with the Well. You may have at most one Well per Crop type.

Surveyors: Place a Surveyor in your personal supply. You may use them during the Scoring Phase to score Barns, Wells, and Opportunity cards.

Workers placed in New Orleans become Agents, working to find business for you. Only Workers in your personal supply may become Agents. Make sure to place your Workers into your part of the mansion (indicated by the stairs in player colors)!

Once placed, Agents remain in New Orleans for the rest of the game, reducing your available Workers for your Fields.

You will receive 1 Victory Point during the Scoring Phase of each Round for every Agent you have in New Orleans, and more points at the end of the game if you have more Agents than other players.

Harvesting Bonus

As soon as you have harvested a total of at least 9 Crops of one type during the game (from anywhere on your mat and not necessarily all during the same Round), you may take an Estate Feature of your choice (placing a Barn or Well immediately).

You may not score this bonus for the same Crop twice, but you may score it for different Crops.

4. Opportunity Phase

Phase Tile Bonus: Receive 1 Victory Point.

Phase Action: Claim 1 face-up Opportunity card and receive a bonus.

Coin Ability: Choose 1 Opportunity card from the draw pile (no bonus).

During this Phase, you will get the chance to take an Opportunity card from the game board. Each card space has an additional benefit associated with it.

If you have the Opportunity Phase tile, as the bonus, you immediately get 1 Victory Point.

Then select one face-up Opportunity card from a card space on the "New Orleans" board and place it face up next to your player mat. Also, you immediately get the bonus printed above that card space.

Note: You do not score these cards immediately! You will have the opportunity to score them during the Scoring Phase.

If you spend a Coin , you may instead choose an Opportunity card from the face-down draw pile instead of the face-up ones on the game board.

You do not get any bonus, and you must choose a card from the draw pile if you spend a Coin. Place the chosen card face up next to your player mat.

The next player clockwise may now take one of the remaining Opportunity cards or pay a Coin to select one from the draw pile. Continue until each player has taken one card. Finally, move the remaining Opportunity cards on the game board (if any) face down to the bottom of the draw pile in any order.

The following briefly explains what each Opportunity card scores Victory Points for:

5. Scoring Phase

Phase Tile Bonus: Choose one: receive 1 Coin, or take 1 step with your Harbor Master, or send 1 Worker to New Orleans.

Phase Action: Place up to 2 Surveyors (Round 4: 3 Surveyors)

Coin Ability: -

During this Phase, you will use Surveyors to score Barns, Wells, and Opportunity cards, and you will receive Victory Points for your active Surveyors and Agents in New Orleans.

If you have the Scoring Phase tile, as the bonus, you may either take 1 Coin from the general supply (if any remain), or send 1 Worker from your personal supply to New Orleans, or advance your Harbor Master 1 step on your Harbor track.

Then use up to two Surveyors from your personal supply to score your Barns, Wells, and Opportunity cards. To score a Barn, Well, or Opportunity card, place a Surveyor with it.

You may not place a second Surveyor at a location (no Barn, Well, or Opportunity card will score twice). You may also pass and not place any Surveyors this Round. Once placed, a Surveyor remains at his location until the end of the game.

If you place a Surveyor with a Barn, immediately score 2 Victory Points for adjacent Crops of a single type (up to 12 Victory Points if all six surrounding hexes were of the same Crop type).

If you add Crops of the scored type later, you will not get any additional points.

If you place a Surveyor with a Well, score 1 Victory Point for the contiguous group of Crop hexes matching and including the Crop hex that the Well sits on. If you expand an area with an already-scored Well later, you will not get any additional points.

If you place a Surveyor with an Opportunity card, score the card based on the requirements shown on it.

Note: You start the game with only two Surveyors and there are only three ways to get new ones: from Riverboats (capacities 5, 6, and 7), from scoring the Harvesting Bonus, and from taking an Opportunity card from the card space with the Surveyor.

After scoring or passing, the next player clockwise may place up to two Surveyors, and so on until each player has placed up to two Surveyors or passed.

Note: During Round 4, you may place up to 3 Surveyors.

After placing Surveyors, you now score 1 Victory Point for each active Surveyor (those that have triggered a Scoring on a Barn, Well, or Opportunity card in this or a previous Round), and 1 Victory Point for each Agent you have in New Orleans.

Opportunity cards continued:

Score Track

Whenever you get Victory Points, advance your Score marker on the Score track accordingly. If there are Score markers of other players on the space, place your Score marker on top.

Turn your Score marker to the other side or replace it with the "100/150 Victory Points" marker as soon as you achieve that many Victory Points.

End of the Game

After completing Round 4, the game is over. Award additional Victory Points for the following items:

• 1 Victory Point for each remaining Coin
• 7 Victory Points for each color of Field spaces on a player mat completely covered with Crop hexes and/or Barns
• 2 Victory Points for each unscored Estate Feature (Barn, Well, or Surveyor)

Harbor Scoring

Agents bonus scoring.

Determine the player whose Harbor Master has traveled the farthest on their Harbor track. If tied, the tied player with the earlier Phase tile (from Round 4) is considered to be farthest (e.g, the Cultivation Phase tile would beat the Opportunity Phase tile).

That player receives full value for each Riverboat tile that their Harbor Master has passed or arrived at. The number of Victory Points a Riverboat is worth is equal to its capacity.

All other players receive half value for the total of Riverboat tiles that their Harbor Masters have passed or arrived at (rounded up). All tiles in front of the Harbor Master's position score nothing.

Example: Annabelle would score 4+2+7+1+5=19 VP if her Harbor Master was farthest on the track; otherwise, she would score 19/2=10 VP (rounded up).

The illustration at the top right of your player mat reminds you of how the Harbor Scoring works.

Count the number of Agents that you have in New Orleans.

• 1st place receives 20 Victory Points;
• 2nd place receives 10 Victory Points;
• 3rd place receives 5 Victory Points;
• 4th place does not receive any Victory Points.

This is true for any number of players. Again, the tied player with the earlier Phase tile (from Round4) breaks ties. You must have at least 1 Agent in New Orleans to earn Victory Points from this scoring.

The winner is the player with the most Victory Points . In case of a tie, the tied players are equally masterful!

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You Might Like

• Plenty of tough decisions, all of which influence your strategy.
• A well structured round which leads you through the planning, making it easy to understand.
• Similar feel to Heaven and Ale, but without the frustrating rondel and endgame scoring.

Might Not Like

• Very superficial theme, and limited player interaction.
• The feeling of “just one more round.
• Average component quality, with fairly ubiquitous Klemenz Franz artwork.

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Description.

Riverboat  posits each player as the owner of a 19th century farm on the bank of the Mississippi River. You need to organize your workers to ensure that the fields are ordered according to their type and harvested when ready so that the goods can be shipped to New Orleans.

In more detail, the game lasts four rounds, and at the start of each round players draft phase cards until they're all distributed. The phases then take place in numerical order, with the player who chose a phase being the first one to act. In the first phase, players place their workers in the fields, with each player having the same distribution of colored field tiles, but a different random placement for each player. In phase two, players organize their crops, trying to group like types together, with some fields requiring two or three workers. In phase three, players harvest crops and load riverboats, with a dock needing to be filled with all the goods of a single type before it can be loaded. In phase four, the boats are launched and players can take special actions, with additional victory points possibly coming in phase five.

Playthrough Video

Zatu Review

How to play.

There were four games released in 2017 with Michael Kiesling’s name on the box. One of these did not have a general UK release ( Reworld ). Of the other three, many people have a copy of Azul . Many people have played, or at the very least heard of, Heaven and Ale . Both of these games became high profile thanks to the Spiel des Jahres Award and Kennerspiel des Jahres nominations in 2018 respectively. The last of the four games, Riverboat, was nominated for the Meeple’s Choice 2017 award, but in a field of almost 30 games (which also included Azul and Heaven and Ale) this drew little attention. It’s a real shame that Riverboat didn’t receive more acclaim, as it definitely deserves more recognition.

At its heart, Riverboat is a farming game – crops are selected, planted, harvested and then shipped down the Mississippi. However, as with many Euro games, the theme is fairly superficial, and, to be honest, I’m not sure what theme might fit over the mechanics of Riverboat – I think it’s better to let the gameplay speak for itself.

Riverboat Gameplay

Riverboat plays over four rounds, with each round having the same five phases – Cultivation, Planting, Harvesting and Shipping, Opportunity and Scoring. Players start the game with 13 workers available – this supply is likely to deplete through the course of the game, so it is important to manage the number of available workers through the rounds.

Cultivation 

Players place eight workers in their fields (a grid of hexes on their player board). A deck of cards is flipped to reveal a colour of field, and players select one field of the matching colour on their personal board in which to place a worker. This is repeated a further seven times. This represents the workers preparing the fields for planting.

Drawing from a random selection, players choose a tile to place under the feet of the workers placed in the first phase. The tiles are made up of one, two or three hexes – and each has one or two crops. Tiles can only be placed where there are workers, therefore careful placement of workers in the first phase can make this phase easier. Larger tiles carry bonus victory points, but can be more limiting in terms of available crops, so should be chosen judiciously. This is repeated until all workers are standing on a crop tile.

Harvesting and Shipping

In turn, players select workers from matching crops to harvest the tiles. Then the harvested crops are shipped – the selected workers are removed from the board (and returned to the player’s supply), and a riverboat tile is taken from the available selection (and so, finally, the riverboats appear in the third phase). Each boat is numbered – players may select a boat with a number up to the quantity of workers removed.

Each tile awards one or two bonuses, with more powerful bonuses on higher numbered riverboats. The riverboat tile is positioned, left to right, along the harbour side of their board (more about this later). This action is carried out twice, therefore, it is prudent to try to ensure that crops planted in the second phase are mostly from the same crop type. The more workers there are on one crop, the more workers may be removed, and thus be available in future rounds. Workers in un-harvested fields remain on the board until the next round.

• Opportunity

Thematically, this is the most abstract phase,as players select a scoring card from a random selection of four. These cards are not scored immediately, however, as this happens in the next phase.

During this phase, players may send out up to two surveyor meeples to score cards (chosen in the opportunity phase) or features on their board. Cards or features are scored immediately, which can lead to some challenging decisions – score early, when the point yield may be lower, or wait until the features will score more, but run the risk that not all features will be scored. After all, a maximum of two surveyors are placed each round. However, players start with only two surveyors and, although more can be earned through the game (such as from Riverboat bonuses), that may be at the expense of earning other scoring features.

There are two main types of scoring features in the game – barns and wells. Wells are placed onto a crop hex of an already harvested field and score one point for each contiguous crop hex of the same type when a surveyor is placed in the well (not the most careful of surveyors!). Barns are placed on an empty hex (i.e. one which has not been planted. When a surveyor visits a barn, players are awarded two points for each hex of a single type adjacent to the barn.

The Harbor and the Harbormaster

Yuk… spelling. Through the course of the game, players will get the opportunity to progress their harbormaster along the harbour. As this happens, the harbormaster will pass boats which the player has earned through the course of the game.

At the end of Riverboat, the total of the numbers on the boats which the harbormaster has reached will be awarded as victory points – but only to the player whose harbormaster has made the most progress. Other players will receive half of the summed values. Choosing to progress the harbormaster instead of receiving other scoring features is yet another tough decision to be made in Riverboat.

Final Thoughts on Riverboat

Four rounds doesn’t sound like many – it sounds like Riverboat might be a game in which you are left wanting “just one more round.” However, there are a number of elements of the game which bring it to a natural close, such as all of the spots on the harbour being filled, and large numbers of the hexes on the player boards being filled.

There are many elements of the game which need to be managed carefully – the number of available workers, the variety of crops which are available to be harvested, the number of fields of a given type which are harvested at once (considering the riverboat tile bonuses). All of these mean that there are some planning decisions to be made, but the beauty of Riverboat is that the game gently takes you by the hand and leads you through the consequences of those decisions through the course of the rounds.

This doesn’t mean that the game feel like it plays “on rails” – on the contrary, it still feels like there is a broad decision space. Also, the depth of the decision is not compromised; instead, all players action the same decisions at the same time, making it easy to keep an eye on the progress of others’ boards, and gauge how likely you are to clash over available tiles.

Comparisons to Heaven and Ale are inevitable – both games have hex boards, score intermittently through the game based on adjacency, and score according to tiles of crops of the same type. Note, however, that the end game scoring of Riverboat is substantially more transparent.

How to play – Riverboat

Riverboat is a 2-4 player game designed by Michael Kiesling and published by Mayfair Games.

The game is set in the 19th century along the banks of the Mississippi river.  You are a farmer, competing with your fellow farmers to grow and ship goods, and employing agents in New Orleans to search out the next big business opportunity.

There are lots of opportunities to score points in Riverboat.  Figuring out how to optimise your engine is really important.  Read on below for how to play and some hints and tips.

There are two central boards accessible to all players.  The first board (the New Orleans board) is where players take the riverboat tiles from and where they send workers who are going to New Orleans.  The riverboats should be sorted into matching piles, with the top boat drawn and placed on the corresponding place on the board. A worker is placed on each of the spaces of the round track. Finally, shuffle the opportunity card (those with a question mark on the back), place one on each of the designated spaces with the remainder in a pile to one side of the board.

The second board (the crop board) has the score track around the outside and is where the crop tiles are placed.  Separate the crop tiles into one, two and three hex piles and then populate the spaces accordingly.  Again, the remainder of the tiles should be placed to one side of the board.

Put the five phase tiles, in order, close to the players.  Shuffle the cultivation cards (with the worker symbol on the back) and place them near the boards. Separate the coin, wells and barns into their own piles and along with the green surveyor pieces, place them in easy reach of the players.

Each player also has their own player mat. Take a yellow harbour master token and place it on the space labelled with the correct number of players.  Each player receives 13 white coloured workers, 3 coins and 2 surveyors.  Players will also get 2 score markers in their colour, one with a blank space and 50 on and the other with 100 and 150 on.  Place the marker with the blank side face up on the 0 of the score track.

Finally a start player is selected at random and play can begin.

The game is played over 4 rounds.  Each round, apart from the first there is a small element of clean-up for the next round and this will be discussed further below.  Following the setup steps above, you should now be ready to play the first round.

The first player chooses one of the five phase tiles, which means they will go first in that round and obtain a specific bonus.  The player to the left of the first player selects a phase tile, and so on until all tiles have been taken.

The round will then progress through five phases:

• Cultivation
• Harvesting and shipping

1. Cultivation

If you have the cultivation phase tile, take the worker from the leftmost space on the round track and place it on your board.

All players then prepare their fields for planting, this is done by placing workers on fields as revealed by cultivation cards.  The player with the phase tile draws eight cultivation cards and places them face down in front of them.  They then take one card at a time and read out the colour of the card. Each player who has a worker remaining in their supply places one of their workers on a hex corresponding to the colour which has been called out. You must place a worker if you have one.

Some cards are wild so players can choose where on the board to place their worker.  In addition, if you spend a coin you can ignore the card which has been drawn and place your worker wherever you want.  If you have filled up all hexes of one colour, and a card of that colour is drawn you can instead place your worker on any empty space.

Once all eight cultivation cards have been drawn, play moves on to the next phase.

2. Planting

The player with the planting phase tile receives one coin from the supply.

Players then take one of the crop tiles from the crop board and place it on their player mat, underneath their workers placed during the cultivation phase.  Crop tiles are either one, two or three hexes big and they must be placed fully on tiles with workers on.  You cannot place a tile if all or part of it would be on an empty hex.  The crop tile should be placed underneath the workers so they are then standing on top of the tile.

Once a crop tile has been placed it cannot be moved again.  Whilst there is no requirement for crops to be grouped together by type, it can be beneficial for hexes to be placed in this way.  If you place a two hex tile or a three hex tile you immediately score either one or two victory points immediately.

The planting phase continues, with each player taking one crop tile and placing it on their board.  If a player has no workers left in an empty field their turn is skipped.  The phase is over once all workers from the cultivation phase have been placed on crop tiles.

The crop board is not refilled during this phase.  The only exception to this would be if a player could not place any of the remaining tiles on their board (usually if all of the single hex tiles have been taken).  If this were to happen the entire crop board would be refilled.

3. Harvesting and shipping

If you have the phase three tile you move your harbour master one step on the harbour track.

Players then can harvest their crops and claim riverboat tiles to ship their crops.  To harvest a crop, you simply remove a number of workers from tiles of a single crop type anywhere on the board.  The workers return to your personal supply.  You then claim a riverboat of a value equal to the number of workers you just removed.  The capacity of the riverboat is shown at the bottom of the tile.  Place the riverboat tile in the leftmost slot at the top of your board.   The capacity of the boat is also the number of points you will score (either in whole or in part) at the end of the game if your harbour master has reached or passed that boat.

After placing the riverboat, players then get the bonus printed on top of the tile.  These benefits can include coins, victory points and moves for your harbour master.

You can spend a coin to take a riverboat from any draw pile.  This can be useful as only one riverboat of each type is available each round otherwise.  Each player can claim up to two riverboats in round one, two and three, and three riverboats in round four.  Players can also pass if they do not wish to claim a boat.

Some boats give you an opportunity to send a worker to New Orleans, which can come in use in end game scoring.  The worker must come from your personal supply and should be placed in the space on the New Orleans board matching your player colour.  Details for how these workers score is discussed further below.

Some boats also give you the ability to obtain estate features – barns, wells and surveyors.  Players can also obtain an estate feature as a harvesting bonus if they have harvested at least 9 hexes of any crop type, from anywhere on the board.  Barns are placed on an empty field space on a players mat.  They are scored for the most crop hexes of a single type surrounding a barn.  Wells are placed on a crop hex. You cannot place a well on the same type of crop hex as another well.  They score for the number of crop hexes of the same type in a group, including the hex with the well tile on.  Surveyors are used to score barns, wells and opportunity cards.  A little more on scoring estate features can be found in the scoring phase.

4. Opportunity

The player with the opportunity phase tile receives one victory point.

Starting with the player who has the phase tile, each player in turn then selects an opportunity card, either from one of the four placed face up or, if they spend a coin, they can take a random card from the draw pile.  If a face up card is taken, the player also gains the benefit from that spot – move two steps with your harbour master, obtain a surveyor, send one worker to New Orleans or take one coin.  There is no benefit if a random card is taken from the draw pile.

The opportunity cards give points either for having/harvesting a number of items or crops, for example, 1 victory point for each of a specific crop harvested or 2 points for each coin in your supply or a set number of points and a bonus, such as sending a worker to New Orleans or moving your harbour master.  However, the points are not scored immediately on taking the card. You must first put a surveyor on the card and this is discussed more below in the scoring phase.

Once all players have selected an opportunity card, any remaining cards are cleared from the board and placed at the bottom of the pile in any order.

If you have this phase tile you can choose between receiving a coin, moving your harbour master on one step or sending one worker to New Orleans as your bonus.

Then players take it in turns to place surveyors, from their supply, on any barns, wells or opportunity cards they have and score that feature.  In the first three rounds you can only place up to two surveyors, but you can place three in the final round.  You can only place one surveyor per feature.  As surveyors are a limited resource (you start the game with two and there are only a few ways to obtain more) you may decide to pass rather than placing surveyors.

Surveyors only score when they are placed.  You cannot get additional points by adding to a feature once it has been scored.  Surveyors placed on a barn score two points for each adjacent crop tile of the same type, up to a maximum of 12 points.  If you place a surveyor on a well you score 1 point for each crop hex of the same type which the well sits on, which are in a group (i.e. that are all touching).  Opportunity cards are scored based on the requirements shown on the card.

Finally, once players have placed their surveyors or passed, there is some additional scoring.  Players score one victory point for each active surveyor (one which has been placed on a feature) and one point for each agent in New Orleans.

End of round clean-up

At the end of the round, pass the first player marker to the left and set up for the next round. (In a three player game, the player who is the furthest behind on the points track becomes the first player for round four). Place crop tiles face-up on any empty spaces on the crop board. Place opportunity cards on each of the spaces on the New Orleans board. Make sure there is one riverboat of the correct type on each space of the New Orleans board.

Play then continues as above until the end of the fourth round.

Game end scoring

At the end of round four, complete the end of round scoring as detailed above in phase 5.  There are then some additional points scored at the end of the game.

Players receive one point for each remaining coin, two points for each unscored feature (barn, well or surveyor) and seven points for each colour of hex which is completely covered with crops and/or a barn on his board.

Points are also scored for how far the harbour master has advanced along the track, based on the points value of the boats which have been arrived at or passed. However, only the player whose harbour master has advanced the furthest along the track will score full points for their boats.  All other players only score half points.  If there is a tie between players as to who has advanced the furthest, the player with the earlier phase tile from the final round will be considered to have advanced the furthest.

Finally points are scored for the agents in New Orleans. The player with the most agents will score 20 points, with 10 points for second, 5 points for third and no points for fourth.  A player must have at least one agent present in New Orleans to score points. If there is a tie for number of agents then, as above, the player with the earlier phase tile from the final round will win the tie.

After all points are added up, the player with the most points is the winner.

Hints and tips

• Make sure to advance your harbour master.  You can miss out on a lot of points by not moving the harbour master.  Remember, only the player who has advanced furthest along this track gets to score full points for the boats they have arrived at or passed.
• Don’t be afraid to spend coins.  Coins are worth one victory point at the end of the game, using the during the game can yield more points.  For example a coin could be used during the cultivation phase to change a card to a wild card, enabling you to cover all the hexes of one colour.
• Acquire extra surveyors.  You start the game with 2 surveyors, however, you have the opportunity to score surveyors nine times during the course of the game.  Whilst it is rare to actually score all nine times, you definitely want to score more than 2.  Therefore, you need to make sure you pick up extra surveyors to maximise the points you can score.
• Make sure you don’t run out of workers.  Sometimes it can be really tempting to leave workers on crops rather than trading them in for a riverboat, or to send as many workers as possible to New Orleans early on in the game.  However, if you have less than 8 workers during a cultivation phase, you only get to place workers until you run out.  This means you miss out on opportunities to place crop tiles and possibly to complete an area of the same colour.
• Grouping workers and chaining crops.  When placing workers in the cultivation phase, make sure to group them together as this enables you to place the two or three hex crop tiles which are worth points.  When placing your crop tiles, try to group crops of the same type together to maximise scoring for wells and barns.

Zatu Review Summary

You might like, might not like.

• The feeling of just one more round.

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Riverboat *

Nominated for 2 awards.

• 2 - 4 Players
• 10+ years old
• Medium difficulty

We like Riverboat so much that we recommend it in the following board game recommendation lists 2024

• Position 27 in The best action drafting board, card & dice games
• Position 30 in The best games from Michael Kiesling 🇩🇪👨

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Roads to Moscow: Battles of Mozhaysk and Mtsenks, 1941 – Boardgame Review

Passed Inspection: Well-researched game with a solid set of rules that are thoroughly explained in two rule books. Best feature is the random activation of unit formations by drawing chits.

Failed Inspection: Rules complexity is high and will require patience for new wargamers. There is no “grand campaign” scenario due to the scope of the battle.

The German offensive into the Soviet lines during Operation Barbarossa provided Hitler with one of the greatest chances of taking Moscow, especially during the battles of Mozhaysk and Mtensk. General Heinz Guderian pushed through with his panzer divisions, forcing the Soviets to scramble for new defensive lines. Long stretches of highways that were the battlegrounds essential to a German victory have often been dubbed “The Roads to Moscow.” GMT’s Roads to Moscow: Battles of Mozhaysk and Mtsensk, 194 1 highlights the operational-level fighting of Mozhaysk and Mtsensk during October 1941, which covers 4 scenarios on two maps. Game designer Vance von Borries provides wargamers with a well-researched and well-designed wargame of a critical period depicting an almost unstoppable but overstretched German army against Soviet forces.

Opening the Box One of the exciting features of any wargame is the chance to fight on different maps. The game comes with a two-sided, 22×34-inch, hex-grid map. One side covers the Battle of Mozhaysk and the other Mtsensk. Prior to setting up the game, one can see where the major fighting will take place on either map, and that is along the highways themselves, as they lead to the eastern-most objectives for the Germans.

Also included are three countersheets for the 528 die-cut counters and a turn record track card. Besides coming with the very thorough 36-page rule book, which is a standard with most GMT games, the game comes with a 32-page scenario playbook. The playbook gives a detailed explanation of each of the four scenarios. Each scenario description in the booklet is presented with its historical background, order of battle setup, victory conditions, and special rules for the scenario.

Order of Battle Although the game comes with four scenarios, there is no grand campaign scenario that ties all of them together. Instead, Roads to Moscow highlights two separate battles, depicted in two scenarios for each battle.  The Battle of Mtsensk scenarios cover 13 turns from October 5 to October 11, 1941. German forces consist of the 24 Panzer Corps, which is just beginning its offensive after running low on fuel. Here, players command a mix of mostly infantry units supported by Panzer IIIs and IVs, and artillery. Air assets include reliable Ju87 and Ju88 bombers. Most of the German units will be effective in combat, due to their high efficiency rating when player rolls for their combat coordination checks. The Soviets are relying on the 1st Guards Special Rifle Corps, which consists of the 6th Guard Rifle Division, 5th Air Assault Corps, 4th Tank Brigade, 11th Tank Brigade, and an assortment of attached units. Soviet air units have lower efficiency rating than those of their opponents but can be just as reliable as the Germans if designated to assist in some tight defensive positions. These Soviet forces were quickly put together by General Lelyushenko while the Germans were delayed in their advance due to fuel shortages. The Germans are tasked with securing Mtsensk for victory points, and will be awarded more points if they can secure it in the earlier turns. Additionally, victory points can also be awarded if secondary objectives are secured.

The Battle of Mozhaysk is represented in the third and fourth scenarios of the game and makes up much of the larger fighting between the Soviet 32nd Rifle Division against the elements of the 40th Panzer Corps. The Germans are following up the attack on October 11 after the previous Mtsensk battle; the Soviets continue to form desperate lines of defense as reinforcements trickle into the battlefield.

Gaming Mechanics Roads to Moscow ‘s rules are based on GMT’s Roads to Leningrad , also designed by Vance von Borries. The almost overwhelming player aid card includes two Combat Results tables (assault and mobile combat). Declaring a mobile attack typically provides the best results for the attacker; however, to utilize mobile attack the player must ensure that certain combat requirements are met, such as attacking with armor while the defender has none, or not attacking across a river. If these conditions are not met, then the attacker will refer to the assault combat results table. Most of the games from GMT, and others for that matter, are usually not this extensive when it comes to possible attack options and outcomes, but this does give players the incentive to form a “combined arms attack” under the right battlefield conditions.

Declaring an attack is a multistep process and can take several turns of gameplay to fully understand these rules. The attacker designates the counters that are eligible to attack an adjacent enemy hex, along with the support of nearby artillery within range. After the attacker-to-defense odds are determined, a series of dice roll modifier factors are applied such as the use of air support units, whether the defender can declare a “No Retreat” to any attack outcome, the defender’s hex terrain, the efficiency rating difference between the lead German and Soviet forces of the declared attack, etc. This may seem like a daunting set of steps to resolve a declared attack, but it will appeal to gamers who are looking to play out the most critical factors in a battle.

The most exciting rule of this wargame is the random activation of unit formations on the map by the use of drawing chit formations from a cup. For instance, the Soviets have four formation chits in the first scenario: one each for the 4th Tank Brigade, 5th Air Assault Corps, the 11th Tank Brigade and the 6th Guards Rifle Division. Each group may consist of anywhere from 8 to 18 chits on the map. The German player also has four formation chits that are placed in a separate cup. The German and Soviet player will take turns drawing chits and activating formations for movement and attack. This often leads to a nail-biting wargaming experience when one formation is poised to take advantage of an attack before the enemy formation can respond to it. This happened during my playout of the first scenario Drive on Mtsensk when the formation KG Eberbach, which had advancing panzer units, needed to press on the Soviet’s left flank before the Soviet player had the chance to activate his formations to form a defensive line. No turn is the same as the last since activation sequences will be different every time. This will definitely frustrate both sides as they wait for the perfect combination of formation activations, but it keeps players on their toes with the need to improvise their attacks.

Debriefing Having had a chance to play GMT’s Kasserine back in 2001, I was already familiar with the game rules of Roads to Moscow . I was a new wargamer at the time, and playing Kasserine for the first time was an overwhelming experience. The rules were long, with combat procedures, special rules, and general gaming mechanics. GMT rates Roads to Moscow ‘s rules complexity as medium but also rated their France ’40 as medium. Having played that game, I can say that France ’40 is considerably lighter in rules complexity. Thankfully, Moscow comes with a 14-page extended example of play that players are encouraged to read to understand the mechanics of the game.

The game itself is a classic move and attack with limited supplies for the Germans, while the Soviets must stem the tide by taking advantage of defensive positions. There are many timed victory conditions the Germans must consider; securing positions earlier is better but may come at a price. This requires a lot of cautious but calculated attacks. For example, do the Germans push to capture Sheino on the morning of October 5 for 40 victory points or do they wait until the morning of October 9 for a measly 10 VP?

Roads to Moscow – Battles of Mozhaysk and Mtsensk, 1941 is a game you’d want to add to any Eastern Front wargaming collection if you aren’t put off by complexity. It is rich in content; even the designer’s and developer’s notes in the manual are worth the read. Playing the game truly provides an educational experience, but players must constantly refer to the manual and player aids for the first several turns—if not for the first play of an entire scenario—to fully understand and appreciate them.

Armchair General Rating: 87%

Solitaire Rating (1 is low, 5 is high) 4, random formation activation makes for an extremely enjoyable solitaire experience but complexity can lead to broken focus during the combat procedures.

About the Author Ed William  has his Masters in Library and Information Science and works in public libraries. This allows him access to databases of historical content while reviewing wargames. He took an interest in military history and wargaming as a teenager after learning that his hometown was home to General George S. Patton. Ed is the author of an article that explains how to convert interactive games in  Armchair General  magazine to PC scenarios using the  Combat Mission  series.

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Indianapolis to host 2025 wnba all-star game with fever leading league's surge in popularity.

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INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis will host the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game for the first time at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 19, the league announced Wednesday.

This summer's game featured the All-Star team against the U.S. Olympic team and was played in front of a sellout crowd of 16,407 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. A television audience of 3.44 million watched the All-Stars win 117-109 on July 20 in the most-watched WNBA All-Star Game.

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“The city of Indianapolis and the entire state of Indiana have such an incredible and enduring passion for the game of basketball, making the region the perfect host to celebrate the WNBA and the game’s greatest stars,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.

A 3-point shooting contest and skills challenge will be held July 18.

The Indiana Fever, fueled by the buzz surrounding rookie sensation Caitlin Clark , are the focal point for the dramatic increase in the WNBA's popularity this year. The Fever's average attendance of just under 17,000 leads the WNBA, and 10 of their games have set league TV viewership records.

“We are in the middle of a pivotal, transformational moment in the history of the WNBA and women’s basketball, and we are thrilled Indiana will be the center of it all with the game’s biggest stars on display during next season’s All-Star Game,” said Mel Raines, CEO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment. “Leaders across our community are going to do what we do best: welcome fans from around the nation and the globe to Indiana, raise the bar for future host cities, and leave a lasting legacy for our city and state.”

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Ukraine war latest: Safety 'deteriorating' at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after drone strike

Zaporizhzhia is the largest nuclear facility in Europe and has been occupied by Russian soldiers since the early stages of its war with Ukraine.

Sunday 18 August 2024 00:45, UK

• Drone strike on Ukrainian nuclear power plant sees safety deteriorate
• Zelenskyy says Ukraine inflicting 'maximum damage' on Russian forces in Kursk
• Kyiv refutes 'insane Russian propaganda' campaign warning of Ukrainian dirty bomb
• Kyiv used Western rockets to destroy Russian bridge, says Moscow
• Putin's forces capture territory in Donetsk - amid Ukrainian strikes on region
• 'We could lose': Russian state TV commentators gloomy over Kursk
• Sean Bell: Humiliated Putin will respond ruthlessly to Ukrainian masterstroke
• Michael Clarke : Pokrovsk in real trouble as Russian troops advance
• Listen to the Daily above and tap here to follow wherever you get your podcasts

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has praised the UK's "true leadership" in its support of Ukraine - but warned "the situation has slowed down recently" as it pushes into Russian territory.

In his nightly video address, he stressed it is "crucial that our partners remove barriers that hinder us from weakening Russian positions in the way this war demands".

He promised to "intensify our diplomatic efforts" amid the Kursk incursion, naming the UK,  US, and France as key targets.

It comes amid speculation Germany is planning to halve its Ukrainian aid budget next year.

Mr Zelenskyy finished his X post by saying: "Throughout this war, we've seen the UK demonstrate true leadership—in arms, politics, and support for Ukrainian society. 

"This has saved thousands of lives, reflecting the strength of the UK."

But he added: "Unfortunately, the situation has slowed down recently. 

"We will discuss how to fix this because long-range capabilities are vital for us. The whole world sees how effective Ukrainians are—how our entire nation defends its independence."

In a Sunday Express interview, Defence Secretary John Healey endorsed Ukraine using British weapons inside Russia - as long as it keeps within international law.

The UK "should be proud" British weapons are being used by Ukraine – including inside Russia, the defence secretary has said.

John Healey told the Sunday Express that he is happy for weapons to be used over the Russian border, providing international law is maintained.

He told the newspaper: "Let me be very clear: under Article 51 of the UN Charter, Ukraine has a clear right of self-defence against Russia's illegal attacks.

"Providing international law is followed, that does not rule out operations inside Russia."

He added: "We should be proud of Britain's support for Ukraine's struggle.

"We should be proud that British-donated equipment, in the hands of brave Ukrainians on the front line, is helping them to defend their country and push back Putin."

Ukrainian troops crossed into the Russian border region of Kursk on 6 August in a bid to divert the Kremlin's military focus away from the frontline in Ukraine.

On Thursday, Ukrainian forces claimed to have seized the town of Sudzha, six miles from the border.

The UK is one of Ukraine's leading military donors, providing lethal and non-lethal weaponry, including tanks, air defence systems, and long-range precision strike missiles.

Safety at Ukraine's occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is deteriorating after a drone strike on the road surrounding it, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Saturday.

Earlier today, the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhia (ISAMZ) team was informed that an explosive carried by a drone detonated just outside the plant's protected area.

A visit by the team found no casualties and no damage to nuclear equipment - but the surrounding road and gates were impacted.

The impact site was close to the essential cooling water sprinkler ponds and about 100m from the Dniprovska power line, the only remaining 750-kilovolt line providing a power supply to the plant, the team said.

IAEA Director General Grossi commented: "Yet again we see an escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers facing the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

"I remain extremely concerned and reiterate my call for maximum restraint from all sides and for strict observance of the five concrete principles established for the protection of the plant."

The ISAMZ team has reported heightened military activity in the area over the past week.

Germany plans to halve its military aid to Ukraine in 2025, according to a parliamentary source.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz is instead planning to use money generated from frozen Russian assets in Germany to support Ukraine's war against Russia, the source told AFP on Saturday.

It is not planning "any additional aid" to the $4.4bn (£3.4bn) already set aside in next year’s budget, the source added.

But Germany's foreign ministry denied the claims on X on Saturday.

"Rumours that Germany stops its support to #Ukraine are wrong," a post read.

"We stand with Ukraine & will support Ukraine as long as it takes.

"Since the beginning of Russia's war of aggression, Germany has supported Ukraine with €34 billion. 

"This year, we will provide military aid north of €7 billion."

Germany is Ukraine's second biggest military donor, providing £6.8bn in aid this year.

The leader of Russia's Chechnya region has appeared in a video threatening to send a Telsa into Ukraine – while praising Elon Musk.

Ramzan Kadyrov, who is known for extravagant publicity stunts, posted the video of himself on Telegram.

It shows him driving a Tesla Cybertruck, seemingly with a machine gun strapped to the roof.

He says he will send the vehicle into the Ukrainian conflict zone, before praising the company's chief executive Elon Musk.

Mr Kadyrov describes Musk as the "strongest genius of modern times", inviting him to Chechnya.

"We... await your future products that will help us finish the special military operation," referring to the Kremlin’s term for the Ukraine war.

Two Italian journalists who angered Moscow with a TV report from Ukrainian-controlled parts of Kursk will return to Italy for their own safety, according to Italian state broadcaster RAI.

Russia's foreign ministry summoned Italy's ambassador yesterday over what it called an "illegal border crossing" by the RAI crew.

The interior ministry was planning to open criminal cases against the two journalists, posted Baza, a Telegram channel close to Russian law enforcement.

"The company decided to make journalist Stefania Battistini and cameraman Simone Traini return temporarily to Italy, solely to ensure personal safety and security," RAI said. 

"Journalism is not a crime. The Moscow authorities' possibility of putting Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini on trial is unacceptable. Reporting is not done with prior authorisations," RAI union Usigrai and Italy's national press union FNSI said in a joint statement. 

A four-person RAI crew, working under Ukrainian military escort, produced the first foreign media report from the war-damaged Russian town of Sudzha last week.

Italy's foreign ministry said its ambassador Cecilia Piccioni had explained to the Russian authorities that RAI and its news teams acted independently and autonomously. 

The two reporters are scheduled to fly back to the northern Italian city of Milan tomorrow.

Security and defence correspondent Deborah Haynes was at the site of a missile strike in Sumy city this morning.

Residents described being awoken by a huge explosion.

One said the blinds across her window saved her from glass shattering as a result of the blast.

Watch more below...

Washington appears to be effectively blocking the UK from permitting Kyiv to fire Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia, The Times reports.

The UK has been waiting for US approval for over a month, a government source said.

The British government wants Ukraine to use the weapons as they wish, but consensus is required between the US, France and another unnamed NATO country.

A government source stressed to The Times that the UK was not blaming the US for any delay.

Britain was the first country to publicly supply Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles.

While it has permitted the use of British tanks and other weapons on Russian soil, restrictions remain on the missiles.

A British source previously said Ukrainian troops are thought to have used British Challenger 2 tanks inside Kursk.

Ukraine's success in Kursk has shown the West it does not need to take an incremental approach to Russia, says Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Kyiv's allies need to approve the use of Western weapons to strike deep inside its territory, he said.

He added the incremental style of Western support has only drawn out the war.

"Watch the Russian reaction. For more than one week, for the first time since the Second World War, Russian territory is occupied. And what is the reaction? Just some mumbling from Putin," said Mr Goncharenko.

"I hope that this will help us to convince our allies that Ukraine is capable of big successes and to win this war, so finally our hands will be untied," he said, adding Ukraine needs permission to use the UK's Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russian territory.

"I think this incremental style is very, very bad."

He continued: "Russia only understands one language, the language of force, and Ukraine has shown it now."

Kyiv has dismissed "insane Russian propaganda" alleging that Ukraine plans to carry out nuclear attacks.

Moscow has accused Ukraine - without providing any evidence - of gearing up to attack Kursk nuclear power plant and developing a "dirty bomb"; an explosive used to scatter radioactive waste.

The Russian defence ministry said Ukraine would blame Moscow and that it would respond harshly in the event of such an attack.

The allegations were "dangerous lies" and Ukraine officially denies them, said Ukrainian foreign office spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi.

"We are witnessing another surge of insane Russian propaganda."

He continued: "Ukraine has neither the intention nor the ability to carry out any such actions. Russia must stop spreading dangerous lies.

"Ukraine has always been and remains a loyal member of the NPT (Non-proliferation treaty).

"We do not have any 'dirty bombs' and do not plan to acquire them."

Vladimir Putin made similar allegations shortly before launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Then, in March the same year, Moscow alleged Ukraine was going to use a dirty bomb. Neither claims were borne out.

Russia also alleged a Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive charge on a road outside the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine this morning.

Its Russian management posted an image to Telegram showing several men in IAEA jackets surrounding a dent in the road the width and depth of a pothole.

Both Russia and Ukraine have accused eachother of close calls with drones and rockets at the power plant since Russia occupied it.

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