I finally had a chance to play
Thebes, by
Queen Games yesterday at SOG. I've been wanting to play this for a good while now, and I'm glad I finally had the chance.
In the game, players control archaeologists who travels around the western world gathering knowledge, equipment and assistant. All these preparatory work will then allow players to gain better success when they finally travel to five different archaeological sites to dig for artifacts. Players score victory points based on the number of artifacts found (valued anywhere from 1 to 7). Players can also score VPs based on exhibitions they might put up, conferences they conduct, and if they have the highest amount of specialised knowledge. VPs are calculated at the end of the game.
One interesting mechanic that must be pointed out at this moment is the resources that players use to gather knowledge and organise digs. Each action (travelling, researching, digging) requires a number of weeks to complete, but there is an overall cap on how much time there is available in total. In the 4-player game I played, there were only a 104 weeks available to complete as many tasks as possible. But do not think that you have the luxury of time, as most tasks require multiple weeks to complete, not counting travelling time. For example, one could spend 3 weeks traveling from London to Vienna and then another 3 to gather general knowledge; equipment and cards are marked with the location they are available. Players move from one location to another and make one action, and then move their marker forward on the time track. In order to balance the usage of time between players (preventing one to use up all 52 weeks in a year), turn order is determined by whoever is last on the time track.
Players have to balance between gathering more knowledge to increase their chances to pick up more items, and being the first at a site to pillage and ravage it. Once they have the ability to dig at a particular site, the number of pieces they can draw out of a bag is determined by their knowledge level, plus assistants and equipment. But not all the pieces are valuable; a large number are blank pieces representing dirt and sand. What is most intriguing is that as you dig at a site, the valuable pieces are claimed by the player, but the blank pieces are thrown back into the bag. So in other words, the more a player digs, the more the returns are constantly diminishing. In my game, one player completely ravaged Egypt which left the rest of us with only 4 sites remaining to fight over.
Some people might not like the game for the luck level involved; The rewards on digging is sometimes hard to determine, and the cards for knowledge and equipment can be quite random. In a spate of good luck, I was able to secure a car and multiple conference cards in the same location. But therein lies the key to the game: managing luck and reducing its effects on your strategy. Balancing between spending time researching and time digging is a pressing concern, and balancing between getting to the right site first and increasing your returns on the dig is also key.
I found this game to be wholly enjoyable, as I am not bothered by the luck factor. In fact, I think it helps build the theme of the game very effectively. It's not easy going for archaeological expeditions, and even the greatest knowledge does not guarantee that one returns with the prizes to show for it.
