Round 16 – Brewery vs Jail

More Tsuyo buildings! The Brewery will give you a ton of resources, far above a standard turn, whilst the Jail asks for more resources than a standard turn will provide.

The Brewery is useful once you’ve scored at least 1 point (and ideally this would be from an objective rather than the Donate action) but used early on it can snag objectives or accelerate your game plan. The Jail by contrast is more useful later in the game, when the resource cost can be used to gain advantage for a 2 or 3 point objective. It has two purposes – to free up a blocked space, or to place a meeple in a position that blocks your opponent, and the ideal situation for spending 3 Gold is when you can take advantage of both.

The ideal situation for either building will depend on the point in the game at which you acquire it, but if either of these ends up as the reward for the 5th spot of the Tsuyo track it could change how much you value that whole track.

To get involved in the voting, click on the link here for the Micro Dojo Facebook Group.

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Round 15 – Castle vs Barracks

Two very popular buildings from the original game here, both useful in scoring points.

The appeal of getting 2 points straight away from the Castle is clear, and I often see players in their first game dedicating several turns to gathering resources with the sole intention of taking the Castle. When a late objective depends on building costs, it can take the winning player by surprise as suddenly the owner of the Castle goes from 1 point to 5 or 6 points in just a couple of turns. The Barracks is far more predictable, but used several times over the game represents a much better investment of resources. Particularly combined with the Broker or a Gold Mine it can be consistently used to win the game without fighting over objectives. The Barracks therefore requires a bit more nuance to use most effectively, but doesn’t require the same level of commitment as the Castle.

To get involved in the voting, click on the link here for the Micro Dojo Facebook Group.

Backer Centred Crowdfunding

Board game crowdfunding is vital for a lot of creators to be able to publish their games, but it requires an awful lot of trust and patience by backers to pay money for something well in advance of it being finished, produced, and shipped to them. For new creators (or creators attracting first time backers) that trust hasn’t yet been established, and instead we have to fallback on the trust of crowdfunding in general. For a lot of people, that trust is deteriorating.

Recently, Doomsday Robots (creators of Zoo-ography and Bridges to Nowhere) posted here about what it calls Backer-Centred Crowdfunding. Highlighting some of the problems that have caused this trust to erode, Doomsday Robots sets out policies that it intends to abide by that it hopes to improve not just their own backers experience but also trust in the system.

A while back I posted an article on the principles I operate Prometheus Game Labs by, chief of which was to Delight People Throughout the Journey. That includes the crowdfunding part which for many is their first step on that journey. I love what Doomsday Robots has done, and I’m setting out my own intentions for crowdfunding, which will be posted on campaign pages in future:

1. I will not create unrealistic funding goals. If the project funds, I will not cancel it later.
2. I will accurately represent shipping costs – even if I choose to subsidize them.
3. I commit to include backers as partners in the process of creation, and not just pre-order customers.
4. I will give at least one progress update monthly to backers until general fulfillment is complete.
5. Backer funds will only be used for the project for which they are crowdfunded until general fulfillment is complete.
6. I will not sell product via conventions or distribution to non-backers until general fulfillment is complete.
7. The MSRP of games will not be lower than the equivalent pledge amount.
8. I will not censor criticism or frustration by backers (with the exception of abuse), and will respond to comments with honesty and integrity.

I’ll be including this pledge in all future campaigns (you can find me on Kickstarter or Gamefound) so that backers can trust that this is a Backer Centred campaign and hold me accountable.

Note: This page has been updated since the original post to clarify the intentions around sale to non-backers

Round 14 – Bakuto Den vs Toll Gate

The Tsuyo buildings were very popular amongst you (what a naughty bunch of players), and for several rounds we have two of them facing off. The Bakuto Den and the Toll Gate both grant resources but are useful at different stages of the game.

The Bakuto Den is very cheap (one of the cheapest of the new clan buildings) and is very easy to get early in the game, however it is also not that useful. In fact, until your opponent has scored a point it is effectively useless, and even then 1 Favour isn’t worth getting too excited about. The Toll Gate similarly grants only 1 resource, but equates to a 2 resource swing by depriving your opponent of one of them.

The Bakuto Den is fantastic later in the game, where 3 Favour is huge, whilst the Toll Gate can apply early pressure to slow down your opponent as well as manipulate any resource scoring objectives. If your opponent is moving fast and scoring quickly then you’ll want the Bakuto Den. For a slower, tighter, game take the Toll Gate.

To get involved in the voting, click on the link here for the Micro Dojo Facebook Group.

Round 13 – School vs Guard House

Round 13 is the first round we have of buildings that survived elimination! The building that survives here will move on to the next round, and then after that, the final 3. By now you already know what these buildings do, and some of their merits, so let’s try and make a more direct comparison between the two of them.

Whilst the School is used for scoring points and bringing a game to a conclusion, the Guard House is generally used for delaying the game (at least by 1 turn) to allow you access to a critical position. The School allowing flexibility in its resource usage is most useful to grab the final point or two by dumping whatever resources you have left, but it still benefits from a longer game with more resource generation. The Guard House can typically help secure a two or three point objective at the end, but requires you to be in a good position to do it.

The main consideration between the two then, is how long do you think the game will be?

To get involved in the voting, click on the link here for the Micro Dojo Facebook Group.

Round 12 – Theatre vs Gardens

With Round 12 we take a look at the final 2 buildings of Loyalty & Deceit! The Theatre and the Gardens.

The Theatre is one of the more interesting Tsuyo buildings in that it is the only one that manipulates the objectives track. The Theatre lets you control the pace of the game by effectively adding a 6th objective (worth 1 or 2 points). Typically you would want to flip an objective that you are expecting to be able to score, but it can also be used when you want to delay the game – leave it unscored whilst you catch up or win generating points from other means. Its high cost makes it a late game pickup, and timing the purchase of it will be key to getting the most value, but it offers a skilled player the chance to swing or lockup an otherwise difficult game.

The Gardens really embody the Shinchoku style – sharing in a victory point gain whilst gaining an even greater personal advantage. It is a mirror of the Statue (effectively a 1 point advantage), and whilst it is a little more challenging to obtain by requiring a Favour, it also contributes more by shortening the game and effectively giving you 1 point out of 6 (rather than 7). As a late game pickup it is even more interesting – as long as you are ahead it can be enough to close out the game and get to 7 (or 9) points. What does it matter if you are giving the opponent 1 point when the game is over?

To get involved in the voting, click on the link here for the Micro Dojo Facebook Group.

Round 11 – Stables vs Statue

Next up are two very different buildings. The Stables has an ability that can be used whenever the player chooses on their turn, whilst the Statue has just a one-time ability.

The Stables is one of the few ‘movement’ buildings in the game (along with the Guard House). It’s is fairly cheaply costed so it can easily be picked up as soon as your second turn. The cost to use it, even as low as 1 Food, probably prohibits it from being used to gather resources in most cases. The Stables could be used in a pinch to reach that Action or Build space that you really need to use (or block), but I think the Stables has a much more interesting effect. The ‘potential’ for you to use the Stables will factor into your opponents decision making – either further forcing suboptimal defensive play, or perhaps simply giving up on defensive play and allowing you to access certain spaces anyway. Either way, the Stables is subtly providing you an advantage without ever having to use it. I love the extra layer to the game this adds, both when I’m the owner of the Stables or as an opponent trying to counteract it.

The Statue is probably the most straightforward building in the game. Spend resources, and you get a victory point. It’s also not particularly efficient if you just look at the ability – at 6 total resources it’s more costly than the default Donate action that gets you a point for 5 Gold or 5 Food. The Statue’s value in the game is a bit more subtle though, and changes massively depending on the objectives and their ordering. The Statue’s high cost makes it fantastically valuable when Building objectives appear later in the game, and it can potentially swing any of the ‘Building cost’ objectives in your favour since most other buildings cost 2, 3 or 4 resources. In the case where Building objectives are not appearing late, the Statue can instead be considered a 2 point gain for 6 resources, by later sacrificing it using the Build space. For such a simple building, the Statue offers a perceptive player a real opportunity to extract maximum value.

To get involved in the voting, click on the link here for the Micro Dojo Facebook Group.

Round 10 – Pagoda vs Tea House

Two Shinchoku clan buildings face off today, and both of them are concerned with the new Loyalty mechanic.

The Pagoda simply lets you spend an Action for a Loyalty, offering extra flexibility in spaces. It’s a little costly, making it harder to exploit in the early game when those extra Favour tokens to get clan buildings would come in useful. Its at its best in the late game, when spaces are hotly contested to score final objectives or push up the Loyalty tracks. Since Loyalty is needed to progress on a track (and activate the step 5 scoring), reaching the end of a track and using Loyalty and Action spaces together to grab Favour and score points can be a winning strategy.

The Tea House is another simple one, this time in the form of a pure efficiency upgrade. You can gain 2 Favour from a Loyalty space instead of 1. At its most basic level this equates to 2 resources of your choice, but 2 Favour can also give you early access to clan buildings and aim to score both loyalty track objectives and clan building objectives. The limit of 3 Favour tokens might make the Tea House seem hard to use, but since you can spend Favour as either Gold or Food it’s unlikely you’ll miss out on using its ability.

To get involved in the voting, click on the link here for the Micro Dojo Facebook Group.

Round 9 – Gold Mine vs Shrine

Next up are two buildings we’ve already seen in earlier rounds as mirrors of the Rice Paddy and the Barracks.

The Gold Mine, as with the Rice Paddy, offers a way to get 3 resources in 1 turn. One particular thing to note about the Gold Mine however is how it combines with the Guard House in a particular situation. Typically the Guard House requires a whole turn’s worth of Gold to activate, however with the Gold Mine in hand you can block a space with the Guard House and still end up 1 Gold up for the turn. The Gold Mine is expensive, but contributes well towards both building cost objectives, and any Gold objectives.

The Shrine is the mirror of the Barracks, requiring 3 Food for a point. Whilst most of the buildings in the game are mirrored, Food as an activation cost for the Stables comes in slightly cheaper than Gold for the Guard House. More Food available to you means more points from the Shrine!

To get involved in the voting, click on the link here for the Micro Dojo Facebook Group.

Round 8 – Onsen vs Jail

The Onsen provides the same ability as is already available once you reach step 5 of the Loyalty track, so it might not seem that impressive at first glance. Given that the Shinchoku buildings drive towards a shorter game, you might not reach that high by the time the game is over, and turning those Favour into points early could close out the game. If you pickup the Onsen early then all of those Loyalty spaces can become Favour tokens for you, and if the double Loyalty space is available in the game then this single building can get you a point every couple of turns.

If you thought the Guard House was expensive to use, the Jail is even more so. But the Jail actually has two effects. Firstly, it makes a space available, and having access to almost any space when you need it can be key. Secondly, by replacing the meeple anywhere on the board, you also have some level of control over your opponents next move. Like the Guard House, the Jail is not one you will use often, and at 3 Gold you probably won’t be winning the Banker objective on the turn you use it. However, at the right moment, a single use of the Jail could be a game winning move.

To get involved in the voting, click on the link here for the Micro Dojo Facebook Group.