DBA, Razzia!
January 13th, 2005The husband of one of Ness’ best friends is a keen historical miniatures player, so he brought over some Romans and Gauls for a battle of De Bellis Antiquitatis. We had a good time, although I was frustrated to see my Gaulish warbands wilt under the pressure of the legionaries. The main reason I lost was that my understanding of the rules is poor, and this game needs a lot of that to win. Unfortunately, the DBA rules are the worst written I have ever seen – except for possibly Netrunner. The good news is that I persuaded my friend to buy a copy of the Armati II rules. The word is that these are much easier to decipher. Next time I see him we will play it and if we like it I may buy a copy, so I at least stand a chance against him.
I had only played Ra once, so I was keen to try my copy of Razzia last Sunday. It was a perfect opportunity, as my wife’s friend is almost a total non-gamer. I gambled that it would have enough to satisfy the gamers and would be accessible enough for the non-gamers. I think I hit the jackpot. We were all impressed at how clever but smooth it was and Ness was impressed enough to request a two-player game the next day. That is about the best recommendation I can give. This is a definite keeper. I do not remember Ra being any better, and if the games are the same I will usually go for the one in the smaller box.
January 13th, 2005 at 16:43
“I do not remember Ra being any better, and if the games are the same I will usually go for the one in the smaller box.”
I haven’t played Razzia but there’s a pretty detailed description of the differences with Ra on the Geek.
http://69.13.44.3/article/61411
The main difference would appear to be the absence of disaster tiles. I can take or leave Ra
(and if I didn’t already own a copy I certainly wouldn’t pay #50 for it which is a current price on eBay)
but I think the disaster tiles are a significant element and the game would be the worse for leaving them out.
Also Ra didn’t seem to lend itself to 2 players at all so interested to see know why Razzia does?
Michael
(Inicidentally, how to I get to quote previous entries properly using this WordPress or whatever you call it?
The interface for adding comments is decidely unfriendly and frequntly runs off the edge of the page
When I’m typing)
January 13th, 2005 at 16:56
I expect you are right about the disaster tiles. I wonder why Amigo left them out? It would not have been expensive to print a few more cards and call them an advanced variant or something like that.
I should point out that we did not play two-player Razzia. I suspected it would not be any good, so I persuaded Ness to play Shazamm with me instead. We had fun, but didn’t finish, which is why I have not written it up.
Unfortunately, WordPress does not do quoting as such. The comments section is only too wide in Internet Explorer. I think it is because there is a problem with Internet Explorer and Cascading Style Sheets, which are used to format WordPress blogs. It looks fine in Firefox.
January 14th, 2005 at 13:59
Ra is one of my favourite games but the absence of the disaster tiles from Razzia diddn’t detract too much in my opinion. Sure, they add a different dimension to the particular auctions in which they turn up, but they are not an essential element. I would guess Amigo left them out merely to simplify the game so that all the cards had positive benefits rather than some negative.
Two player Razzia just about works but there are lots of other games that work better for two players, that it’s not a game I would suggest for two.
January 20th, 2005 at 17:48
It has been conjectured that Amigo will print an expansion with the disaster cards for Razzia at some point in the future.
I personally find them a necessary part of the game because they tend to spoil auction lots for certain players and add a certain flair to the proceedings. If Amigo fails to print the expansion you could always just pick up the upcoming uberplay reprint of Ra though, purportedly in a smaller, Carc sized box and likely on the cheap end in regards to price.
February 15th, 2005 at 14:21
[...] a while ago and enjoyed it so much they bought it. Ness has been talking about Razzia ever since we last played, so this seemed like another good time to bring it out. Again we found it a taut, ch [...]