Ancient Colonies at Up & Away Games

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Thu Dec 8 02:49:49 UTC 2016

A N C I E N T C O L O N I E S
Improvements

The following video times and notes refer to four videos describing Ancient Colonies. Each note reports an issue; accompanying it in bold is a description of how the matter has been addressed.

Video: Ancient Colonies - Intro - Watch the video

3:20 Not sure how to differentiate between armies and colonies using cubes.
In the next video figured this out quite well; just part of the process of learning a new type of game. But added some explanatory text anyway.

11:05 Misidentified Acropolis tile as Mountain.
Added pictures of all the tile types.

12:30 Misread colony "8" in example as colony "3".
Wider margins on every page fix this problem.

13:25 Unsure what Acropolis tile is.
Added pictures of all the tile types.

15:45 Can a disembarked army ever move past the tile center?
Amended to indicate it applies only to a "just disembarked" army.

18:10 Does combat between armies in a tile center include only armies in the center or also armies from surrounding intersections?
Added more explanatory words.

18:50 Can a colony intercept an opposing army already when it reaches its adjoining tile center?
No. Added more explanatory words.

21:10 The combat tables are on the back of the box.
Actually they are also at the back of the rules book and on the back of the player aides. The front of the player aides display the sequence of play. And the backs of the Home Country tiles provide the income calculation information.

25:10 Text jammed too close to the left and right edges.
Wider margins on every page fix this problem.

30:10 Army maintenance cost not on back of box or back of rules.
Added to the back of the rules. But it's very easy to remember. 1 Talent per army.

30:40 Not sure if there is a difference between supply and Home Country card.
Changed all cases of "supply" to read "Home Country".

32:10 Disagrees that a colony could have up to 8 neighbors; misreads example of neighbors.
It's 8 unless too close to the edge of the board; eventually figures out that what is being read as a 3 is actually 8.

33:20 Wants a terrain key. Unsure about the acropolis tiles.
Added illustration that explains each of the tile types.

35:45 Didn't find rounding on halved die roll for taxation.
Added an asterisk to flag that there is this information is at end of the section.

36:40 For Radical Taxation, not sure whether to add dice together before or after halving.
Changed text to make it even clearer that summing goes first.

37:00 Difficult to distinguish the Strife and Unrest sides of a ring. Would like to see them in different colors.
Changed rings to have different background colors.

37:00 Confused by the term "other taxes" under Radical Taxation.
Changed this to read "other income".

39:15 Tax rounding rule not easy enough to find.
Added an asterisk to flag that there is this information is at end of the section.

40:15 "If you decrease from level 2 to level 1 you have to wreck the walls first?" Not specified.
Clarified that wall removal must occur first.

41:20 If a colony has armies, where do you place them to indicate it?
All on one corner. Added more information on how to do this.

44:25 Rules don't mention that player aide tiles are available.
Added mention of these in the Components list.

46:15 Do revealed but unpurchased cards left over from a previous player's turn continue to apply?
This was already specified.

47:30 Unclear which card number represents the minimum bid.
Already explained, but moved the information further up.

47:55 What does the green number on cards represent?
This was already mentioned in the Victory Points schedule.

48:40 What if current player doesn't have the money to pay the auction minimum?
Added a rule requiring player to have the minimum before starting the auction.

50:55 What do the card icons mean?
Added a legend of the card icons in the Components section.

51:30 You can permit others to walk through your colony, but that's already in place.
Correct. Moved the Alliance rules out of the optional rules section and into the main rules.

51:50 Confused by the use sometimes of Supply, at other times by Home Country.
Changed all instances of Supply to Home Country.

52:15 Do "housed" armies refer to another player's?
Yes; improved the context around this.

54:20 Wants to see pictures of the components.
Added such pictures.

Video: Ancient Colonies - 1 - Watch the video

2:15 Phoenicia and Euboea have the same start player priority.
Copy/paste error on the Euboea card, now fixed.
6:25 After embarking at the home country, cannot disembark.
Actually you can. Added text to make this even more clear.
7:30 Couldn't find where the rule is about the VPs on the cards.
Finds it later, at 14:30. Added a note to make this even more clear.
10:00 Aside: Determination of Phocaea's neighbors missed the Spartan one
20:10 Aside: Flipped tile on Phoenicia's behalf that it did not have the right to flip. It could have been legally flipped by Euboea, but Euboean went on to flip a different tile later in the turn. Net effect was that tiles were flipped at a faster rate than the game intends.
21:25 Aside: Determined Phoenicia could not land anywhere useful other than adding armies to its single colony. Actually, Phoenicia could have profitably founded a second colony right next to the first, providing improved income for both in a win-win.
24:15 Aside: Determined Phocaea could not debark its colony on the turn of sailing. This is incorrect. Net effect that the players are developing at a slower rate than the game intends.
27:30 Concerned that during auctions it will be too difficult to remember how much money each of your colonies has.
In practice this is not a problem. All you really need to do is remember the amount that your richest colony has and use that as the upper bound for your bidding.
29:30 Aside: Started card auctions prematurely. Should not start until at least one Town exists on the board. Only one player started an auction in any case, which is part of the reason for the rule; players at this stage of play cannot really afford cards yet.
31:50 Unsure if the Myron card is a Coin Art card or not.
Added a "COIN ART" icon to all Coin Art cards.
37:30 What happens to a used Act of Zeus?
Added note that you remove it from play.
42:40 Aside: Corinth, Sparta and Euboea could have landed their pieces on the turn of sailing. It was not necessary to wait.
43:35 Aside: Concludes a disembark, which is not true.
47:35 Too cluttered for the historical situation. "Sicily only had one colony."
In fact it was pretty cluttered. See the map at http://upandawaygames.com/AncientColonies/
50:40 Unclear about who is affected by Flood and what breaks ties means.
"Breaks ties" means gets to choose. Changed phrase from "breaks ties" to "decides ties" to make it clearer on all such cards.
52:25 Not sure how to mark Flood.
Added rings reading Flood, Epidemic, etc. to indicate this status.
53:15 Wants rule saying that you can't auction something if you can't afford it.
Added such a rule
54:25 Unsure how to determine the number of tokens on the board.
Added an explanatory note to the card.

Video: Ancient Colonies - 2 - Watch the video

1:55 Questioning the end of game condition.
Game state is proceeding faster than intended and player positions more slowly than intended because of errors in tile flipping and also disembarking.
3:15 Aside: Again, players could have landed their forces, but did not do so.
3:50 Tax failure is worded differently in the two cases.
Made the text the same in each case.
9:10 Rules do not state whether money is public.
Added note that players should agree on whether they want money public or private.
18:55 Aside: Pays maintenance for armies before their moves, but actually this payment does not occur until after all armies have a chance to move.
32:55 Aside: As pointed out in a previous video, one can play an Act of Zeus upon acquisition or in one's own Activities phase. So it could not be played later in the turn, as this was the last turn.
39:10 Game seemed to end too soon.
Game state proceeded faster than intended and player positions significantly more slowly than intended because of revealing tiles faster than allowed and not permitting players to land forces upon arrival on the board.

Video: Ancient Colonies Review - Watch the video

1:30 Things seem too close togehter.
In real life it was pretty cluttered. See the map at http://upandawaygames.com/AncientColonies/
3:25 Mysterious reference to Persuading on the Archimedes card.
Error from an earlier version now updated.
6:50 Sending armies from home is too difficult.
This was a rules misinterpretation. Rewrote the rule to try to help.
19:15 seem to be too many tokens available.
Player positions developed significantly more slowly than intended because not permitting players to land forces upon arrival on the board.
12:00 Problem with image on the Aetna Master card.
Replaced the image with one that does not have this problem. Also updated the Pytheas card for similar reasons.
14:35 Not much combat cooperation with others.
Player positions developed significantly more slowly than intended because not permitting players to land forces upon arrival on the board. Played as intended more armies appear on the board.

Created: Thu Dec 8 02:49:18 UTC 2016

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