Our Review

TRADERS AND KINGS IN ANCIENT GREECE

POSEIDON

WEALTH FROM EXPLORATION AND TRADE

Already back in 1974 Francis G. Tresham developed his railway economics simulation „1829“ and with it started the well-renowned series called 18xx games, featuring railway building and economics simulation games revered by many players. I was intrigued to find the 18xx logo on the box of Poseidon, too. Does the game really belong to the 18xx series? Well, there are no railways in the game. And no railroad companies or railroad company directors, either. And no shares! So the question probably must be answered with a “no”. But if you look more closely you discover all these elements, albeit with a different name. The basic mechanisms and principles of 18xx have been transferred to another topic. So, in the end, the question cannot be answered with a clear “yes” or “no”. But it is rewarding to discover the differences yourself!

While you build your own network of tracks in 18xx to run your trains on them later, in Poseidon we find ourselves in a time where railways were not even dreamed of, that is, in 1800 B.C. (what a coincidence!) in ancient Greece. The transport method of the time was a ship. We use ships to travel in the Aegean, explore islands, set up trade posts and trade.

For these purposes the board, showing the Aegean, is divided into adjacent hex spaces, each hex corresponds to a ship position and has a certain trade value. A hex can show no, one, two or three spots for trade station in the shape of white circles, a general temple or a temple of a “High Culture”. Special spaces are the two long-distance connections at the border of the board, which can be occupied by four trading posts. Some borders of hexes are printed in bold, these hexes must be circumnavigated.

For a clear overview on the game the Merchant’s Pool and the Prestige Bar on the board, their use and purpose will become clear in the description of the game.

The Aegean area is settled by 8 nations (each with its own color), wherein each nation has its own home space. The respective population for each nation is marked by round wooden disks – there are sparsely populated nations with 18 discs and and more populous ones with 22 discs. These discs are called potentials in the game, as they can be used in two different ways; either for the already mentioned trade posts, or as merchant licenses. Of course, each nation needs a leader, the King, represented in the game by the King cards. As we deal exclusively with peaceful nations here, who only want to explore their neighborhood, each nation also owns its own explorer ship and a marker for New Home. It might be possible that while exploring new areas one finds an area which one would prefer to settle and calling it New Home, instead of the old home space. Furthermore, each nation is equipped with 1 wooden disc as a prestige marker, 1 wooden disc for the early “High Cultures” and a Nation Charter, how to use this will become clear during the explanation of the game.

To enable a nation to act, it of course needs some financial means, also called money. Therefore each nation has its own treasury, which is filled with drachmae in the shape of bills of values between 1 and 500.

On top of this each player has his own private wealth, which in the end decides the outcome of the game. It is important always to clearly separate your private wealth and the treasury of a nation.

Does every player guide his own nation? Yes and no! Players take on the kingship for one or more nations, the role of king for one nation can change between players. If you are king of a nation you must take decisions for your people:

· Where does the discovery ship go?

· Should trade posts be built?

· Should trade happen between a nation’s own trade posts?

· Should merchant ships in the guise of ship cards be bought?

Merchant ships are available in the game in the shape of cards. There are 7 different types of merchant ships, in varying numbers, offering different ranges, different periods of use and different cost for buying them. During game preparation the ship cards are stacked according to cost with the cheapest ones on top, resulting in the fact that only those can be bought at the start of the game. They have a price of 100 drachmae, a range of 2 hexes and disappear from the game in phase 2. Yes, the game can have up to four phases; the change from one phase to another can be initiated by the acquisition of certain ships.

Players not only are kings, but also take over offices in the nation, represented by so called merchant licenses. The more such stone of a nation a player owns the more influence he has on this nation and the more profit he reaps from trade and prestige of this nations. Other duties or revenues or action do not result from those merchant licenses.

Finally, players own one or more (in the case of 2 to 3 players) special cards. These 6 cards earn players an individual bonus, while he owns them as well when he uses them.

When the board has been spread on the table and each player has received his starting funds, in relation to the number of players, the game can start.

Poseidon is divided into 17 rounds, starting with a Poseidon Round, followed by Merchant Rounds or Exploration Rounds. The exact schedule of rounds is depicted on the board and is marked with a round marker during the game. In each round all players are active and rounds can only be interrupted in case of a phase change.

The first round, the “Poseidon Round” is a special round in which the special cards are distributed. According to a special set of rules first each player buys a card for the stated price. In case of 2 or 3 players each player then buys 1 or 2 more cards, so that in case of those numbers of players all special cards are used.

The special cards yield income to the player in relation to the Exploration Round or offer a special ability, this usually once during the game:

· The „Delian League“ doubles the trading value of a trading post and cannot be used on long-distance connections and on the temples of „High Cultures“ – please note, that the temple limitation can only be found in the FAQ section!

·  „Troy, Knossos, Mykonos“ enable the owner of the card to set up a trading post on the temple of the respective „High Culture“, using the wooden disc for „Early High Culture“, thus not losing the nation a potential.

·  „Poseidon“ allows you – once in each Phase (!) and beginning with Phase 2 – to double the range of a Merchant Fleet, the card is not discarded but activated again at the start of the next phase.

·  „Archon“ enables you to take one free Merchant license from the Merchants Pool.

At the end of the Poseidon Round the round marker is moved one step down and sits now on a Merchant Round spot. In the whole game there are 5 Merchant Rounds! Please not, that, beginning with the 2^nd Merchant Round, the top ship from the Ship Cards stack is taken out of the game. This can result in a change of Phase as this is considered to be a buy of a merchant ship by a virtual nation – see FAQ!

In turn players now do their actions until all players have passed. In addition to this action “Pass” the active player in his turn has the choice between two possible actions: He can either establish a nation or buy one Merchant license from the Merchants Pool. The sale of Merchant licenses owned by a player is not considered to be an action. This sale you can do either before or after your action or even instead of your action, involving as many merchant licenses as you want, even merchant licenses bought in this turn.

If a player decides on establishing a nation, he receives the Nation Charter and all potentials of this nation. Now he must determine the prestige of the nation. This prestige in turn determines the value of a merchant license and is marked with the prestige marker of the nation on the prestige bar (values between 60 and 300 in increments) on the board. The decision for a low prestige enables you to buy cheaply, but you have hard work to do to increase the prestige to higher values. Then the player decides how many potentials he wants to change into merchant licenses by relocating them to the Merchants Pool. He must move a minimum of 5 potential and always an uneven number of potentials, and must buy up at least half of them, rounded up – so you must buy a minimum of 3 merchant licenses. For this decision you must consider how much you yourself can afford to pay, what the price of the licenses should be for the other players and how much money you want to earn for the nation’s coffers. The number of discs in the Merchants Pool multiplied with the prestige value determines the funds for the nation. These funds are mostly used to buy merchant ships.

A player finances his buy of merchant licenses with his private funds, in relation to the conditions just stated. Three licenses he places on the King card of the nation, these merchant licenses cannot be sold. Finally he puts the Discovery Ship of the nation on the corresponding home space on the board. A player establishing a nation must not buy or sell additional merchant licenses of this nation in this round.

If a player decides on the second possible action for his turn, he buys exactly one merchant license from the Merchants Pool for a price equal to the current prestige value. For this action a limit has to be noted for the number of possible merchant licenses for one player depending on the number of players, this limit admittedly is rather high.

If a player in his turn sells one or more merchant licenses he receives money from the bank, equal to the prestige of the nation, for each merchant license. When the player is the the King of the nation, the prestige of his nation is lowered by one level.

When each player has passed each nation is controlled as regards to whether the King holds the majority of merchant licenses per player. If this is not the case the player currently holding the majority decides whether he wants to be King or not. If he decides to become king, he receives the King card of the nation (without the merchant licenses on it). The Merchant Round ends with the handing-on of the starting player card to the next player in clockwise direction.

In an „Exploration Round“ each player at the start of the round decides upon the use of his Special cards. Depending on the phase the game is in, the cards either yield income or nothing. The player now can take the income or use the special card. Then each king can collect taxes from his nation, again depending on the phase of the game, he takes between 5 and 20 drachmae from the treasury of the nation. The king can relinquish this tax collection.

After this the nations act in the order of their prestige, the nation with the highest prestige starts. The king of the nation moves the Discovery Ship. Starting from a range of 1 the range raises by one with each phase change. On each hex the Discovery ship enters in its movement a trade post can be set up if the hex shows a free white circle and the phase allows additional trade posts next to already existing ones. The mechanics of this are, that a player take a potential from the Nation Chart and places it on the board hex, thus changing the potential to a trade post. Within its range the Discovery ship can be moved any way you like. Instead of a trade post you can also set up “New Home”. This feature has a trade value of Zero and blocks the hex for additional trade posts.

As his next action the king determines if his nations starts travelling with the merchant ships and trades. If he relinquishes the opportunity of a trade expedition the nation is paid between 100 and 400 drachmae for the treasury, again depending of the phase of the game. The range of the Merchant fleet is determined by the up to three merchant ships the nation owns by adding the range of all individual ships (between 2 and as far as you like = endless). The Merchant fleet always starts from the home space of the nation or from the New Home. Each hex that the fleet enters and that contains one of the nation’s trade post yields income according to the value marked on the spot, usually either 3 or 4. The neutral temples are an exception to this rule: Those only yield income when the nation is willing to donate the same amount from the treasury. At the end of the trip all income is added. This sum is paid to the each player for each merchant licenses he owns of this nation. Due to the trip the prestige of the nation raises by one. The two long-distance connections can only be reached by a ship of endless range and a long-distance connection spot is always the final stop of a trip.

In the first exploration round no nation owns a ship. Therefore no merchant travel can be implemented or can be relinquished and therefore there is now income in this round. But: Each nation must own a ship at the end of its turn in an exploration round; therefore the final event in an exploration round is to buy merchant ships. This buy is a must-do action when a nation does not own a ship at this point in the game.

Only the top ship of the ship cards stack can be bought. The amount shown on the card is paid from the nation’s treasury to the bank. From Phase 2 on each nation can buy ships from other nations, for a minimum price of 1 drachma.

When a nation in the case of a forced buy does not have enough money in the treasury it must sell as many potential of the nation to the Merchants Pool as are necessary to be able to buy the ship. When this still does not bring in enough money, the player being the current king of the nation must pay the difference out of his private coffers, in the worst case by selling merchant licenses. If this also is not enough to buy a ship the player goes bankrupt and the game ends early at the end of this exploration round.

As ships of endless range have a price o 1000 drachmae it is allowed to hand in a ship already owned by the nation for payment when buying a ship of endless range. This means that half of the price of the handed-in ship can be used for payment of the endless-ship. It is allowed to use a 4-Ship for this.

This buying of ship is the last event in the exploration round, the round marker is moved one step and a new round starts. At the end of the 11^th exploration round the game ends.

Players now add their private wealth comprising cash and merchant licenses. The merchant licenses are converted into money in relation to the prestige of the nation. The player with most money wins.

Independent from the sequence of rounds as described Poseidon is divided into up to 4 phases. A new phase is always initiated by the buy of a certain type of merchant ship. So, for instance, Phase 1 ends after the first ship with a range of 4 is bought. In case of a change of phase the game is instantly interrupted and the phase change implemented, before the regular rounds are continued.

At the start of a phase change each king of a nation can place potentials of his nation – up to a certain maximum – into the Merchants pool and receives money for this for the nation’s treasury.

The prestige of the nations again determines the order of play. During the change to phase 4 this action is left out. Then outmoded ships are removed from the game. So, for instance, from Phase 2 on ships with a range of 2 are considered to be outmoded and are removed from the game without replacement. The new limits of the phase are active immediately.

Poseidon can be recommended unrestrictedly for experts. I want to cite one of my fellow players from one of the test games: “This is 18xx reduced to the main components and mechanics”. The big advantage as regards to 18xx: The game ends after 2-3 hours and therefore can be played more often and on more occasions than proper 18xx games.

For me the attraction of the game is the challenge to use the means and resources of the game, that in Poseidon are split into several directions, in the best or optimum way. There is my personal wealth, which can be increased by buying the “right” merchant licenses; the right number of potentials to be changed into money for the nation’s treasury; to administrate the nation’s treasury; to optimize the trade routes and finally, to choose the right time for using the special cards. Due to those many possibilities and choices the game remains interesting and diversified and entices you to try new strategies in future games. Only in the last three exploration rounds it can happen that there is only one possible action left, which is to travel along your own trade routes because no nation has enough money left to buy another merchant ship. These rounds then follow the same schematic, but are fast and entertainingly played. A challenging component is introduced into the game by the phase changes, as lots of parameters can change due to the removal of trade ships. This is where you should have planned ahead!

A special mention and a compliment are due to the components of the game. All the printed material is exemplarily marked and avoids unnecessary demands on memory. Poseidon can be easily played with two players only, but you need to read the rules carefully for this option. A small paragraph at the end of the rules explains the restrictions on the use of the board, which results in only 6 nations taking part in the game. Furthermore the German rules lack the sentence that 2 players play with one 3-, one 5- and one 7-ship less. (See FAQ!)

In all other aspects the rules are good, too, you get acquainted with it very quickly.

Bernhard Czermak

Players: 2-4

Age: 12+

Time: 90+

Designer: Helmut Ohley, Leonhard Orgler

Artist: Klemens Franz

Price: ca. 40 Euro

Publisher: Lookout Games 2010

Web: www.lookout-games.de

Genre: Economics simulation

Users: For experts

Version: de

Rules: de en

In-game text: yes

Comments:

Good, clearly structured components – moderate time of playing * interesting, interdependent mechanisms * gut introduction to the 18xx games series

Compares to :

18xx

Other editions:

Poseidon, Z-Man Games

My rating: 6

Bernhard Czermak:

Poseidon offers many mechanisms that interlock and demand lots of planning, but despite the many possibilities the clarity is retained. A game for experts that can be quickly mastered and guarantees challenging hours of play.

Chance: 0

Tactic: 1

Strategy: 3

Creativity: 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory: 0

Communication: 0

Interaction: 3

Dexterity: 0

Action: 0