Norwich Board Gamers

 

Archeos society: Polishing a rough diamond?

 

 

Ethnos was a weird little game. Published by CMON, they of the hugely expensive Kickstarter games with glossy production values, lots of theme, even more minis that have grown over time to be anything but ‘mini’. By contrast Ethnos had a clumsily pasted on theme, some truly appalling graphic design, but it was well-regarded mechanically.

It’s been out of print for a while, and rather than a reprint, designer Paolo Mori refreshed the design/theme and it’s been published by ‘Space Cowboys’, not CMON.

 

Archeos society is now no longer generic fantasy, but instead a slightly more thematic concept of gathering different specialist explorers to go on expeditions to 6 different locations (represented by 6 different scoring tracks). This is the major change to Ethnos, which has a bland central map in which the players sought to get additional points from getting area majority in the map locations.

 

Mechanically it is extremely similar to Ethnos. On your turn you either:

-         - Choose a card from those on display / off the top of the deck (but now getting to draw 2 off the top if no cards are on display) 

       OR

-         - Play a set from your hand, either of the same colour, or same role (Botanist, physician, student etc.), with the card you choose to place on top dictating the ‘leader’ and hence which of the 6 coloured tracks you get to advance on, plus the special rule-breaking ability of your leader. The game’s lovely twist is that the remaining cards in your hand must be placed face up into the display area, sparking something of a feeding frenzy on following turns as players scoop up one of these cards that fits their hand.

Larger sets score more points, but conversely getting lots of sets played will move you up the scoring tracks quicker. Classic points salad choice for players to choose their own approach.

There’s still the same lovely ‘push your luck’ end of round timer, with the drawing of the  3^rd of 3 special cards triggering an instant finish to the round (and muttering/cursing that happening).

 There is some board interaction on the advanced side, but we didn't play that as most of our players hadn't played this game before, nor Ethnos, so we trusted in KISS (Keep it simple stupid). Conversely Ethnos had greater interaction as players jockeyed for the higher scoring regions, but wasn’t as combative as it might appear.

The new Archeos society boards are mechanically a little bit a 'much of a muchness' on their basic side, with slightly different points scoring (at end of each round). Each has a # of cards in the set requirement to progress, which generally gets larger. Of note were the pilot, allowing you to choose which board you progress on (subject to the minimum set size requirement), plus the red track which rewards players with increasing amount of cards to draw off the top of the deck... which in one round very much rushed the end.

 

So, that flimsy theme and poor graphic design have been resolved? Yes, but only to a degree.

- The text of the cards in Ethnos has been replaced by symbols. Whilst these are good / understandable, it does take half a round until people have really embedded what each one does.

- The text on the central tracks could be more visible, especially as this plays up to 6 and invariably Ethnos was a game that got pulled out for higher player counts and I expect the same of this game.

- There’s an odd choice of player colours, with white, black, grey and then three shades of brown. The different wooden shapes are a help, but not especially obvious what each represents. Nonetheless that’s a big help for colour-blindness accessibility.

- Dual layer boards for the tracks would have been helpful, albeit a simple block for each column, rather than anything more fancy. It is somewhat easy to knock the pieces as it is.

- Flimsy score track. The thinnest of card, maybe 200gsm or less, so little more than paper-thin. This is absolutely something I would laminate.

- (Bleeding) Student cards. They made a mistake on the student cards, printing right to the very edge, unlike the other cards. That is noticeable if you look for it... but even despite knowing this, at no point did I notice that during the game, either in the draw pile or players hands. On that basis I'd happily live with this issue, but others may find that very problematic.

 

Additional thoughts: It plays very similarly to Ethnos, but doesn't forcibly push players towards one colour or another, based on the random rewards of Ethnos. It also seemed to encourage players to get more small sets out in round 1 in order to progress up the tracks (perhaps because the set scoring again was quite small and on the scoring track which was placed off to one side, as it’s not in constant use. I think a player aid would have really helped (for this and the symbols).

 

Overall: I liked Ethnos, but didn't care much for the theme or the graphic design. The new game an improvement on both counts for me, but the new theme is still somewhat flimsy, and the board readability is an annoyance. The new tracks feel rather themeless as well, even when compared to the themeless central board of the original.

For me, overall it's slightly better, and I'll probably buy a copy. Mechanically it remains a super game, fast playing, easy to teach and with some nice twists, plus it plays up to 6, which I value for a game that plays fast, but isn't a party game.

 

Archeos Society, not to be confused with Archaos, the utterly crazy, yet brilliant French circus troupe. It also lacks the excitement of chainsaw juggling.