by Chris Fanchi
Last time we gave you a brief introduction to three of the latest projects that we are working on here at Fanfare Games. Today we’re going to dig a little deeper into one of those games, to give you an idea of how the game functions and the kinds of games that we like to make. As you probably noticed with our last post, along with our only publicly released game Basketball G.M., we have rather eclectic tastes in games. Along with wildly different themes, we also try to use a lot of different types of mechanics, usually trying to blend the mechanic seamlessly into the theme to make for a fuller game experience.
The game we’re going to discuss today is called Massachusetts Bay. Massachusetts Bay is a worker placement game for 2-4 players that plays in 90-120 minutes. For those of you that aren’t history buffs, Massachusetts Bay is the name of the province that the city of Boston belonged to in pre-Revolutionary America. The game is set in this time period, as Colonial America has become a thriving economic territory of the British Empire. Players represent business owners in the Massachusetts Bay area that are trying to establish businesses based on the goods available in the New World. Players can buy raw goods common to Colonial America - Ore, Fur, Cotton, Tobacco, and Sugar - in order to convert those goods into finished goods - Guns, Coats, Cloth, Cigars, and Rum - that are in demand in the Old World, much like players do in Le Havre.
Players begin the game with five workers and have the ability to hire up to five more. But be careful about overextending yourself! As in games like Stone Age or Agricola, workers have an upkeep cost, and a larger workforce comes with a larger payroll. Players may also send their workers to school, giving that worker a specialty that sticks with them for the rest of the game. This is a mechanic we feel sets Massachusetts Bay apart from the many worker placement games we have played. Workers with a specialty have the ability to double certain actions according to their specialty, making them twice as efficient as normal workers. But again, players must be careful because specialist workers also receive double the pay at payroll, so players must balance the need for specialties with the cost of that specialist.
Each player has an individual player board that gives them the buildings needed to convert raw materials to finished goods, as well as the ability to hire new workers and build additional unique buildings. Players also have the ability on their individual board to mine for Ore or convert their Ore to Silver, which is in demand in Europe. In addition, players can trade their finished goods to the local Native Americans, cultivating relations with the tribes that may be disadvantageous for the player early in the game, but become more lucrative as the game progresses. Players start the game by drafting two unique buildings to their player board, so all players have a bit of a kick-start to their strategy at the beginning of the game. Players can add new buildings to their player boards during the course of the game, but to do so, they must build over an existing structure when they wish to erect a new building. In a similar fashion to Cuba, when and where to build is an important consideration.
The shared main board has a number of key actions. As in most worker placement games, players take essentially simultaneous turns, with each player placing one worker at a time in a variable turn order (ala Caylus). Players must balance their need to progress with actions on their individual board with the need to take actions on the main board that may not be available if they wait. On the main board is the New World Market, where players may buy raw goods to convert to finished goods. The price of goods in this market will fluctuate as demand changes; the more a certain good is demanded, the higher the price. Merchant specialists can be very useful here, allowing the player to buy two of a good rather than just one as a normal worker would. Also on the main board is a location called the Architect where players may purchase additional buildings for their individual boards.
The main board also has several community buildings that come from the unique buildings that players may build. The number of these community buildings is dependent on the number of players in the game, and the specific buildings included in a particular game are random, adding a great deal of replay value to the game. These buildings have a variety of different functions, from different methods of selling goods, to ways to produce goods, to unique ways of making money aside from producing finished goods, and many others.
The main board contains the primary means of trading with Europe. Trading with Europe is the main driver of turn order changes, as the first player to trade with Europe will go last the next turn. This is because the price of goods in Europe falls as goods are sold on the European market, reflecting an increasing supply. Being the first to trade with Europe means you get the highest prices for your goods, an advantage that moves you to the back of the turn order. The main board includes the Town Hall that can be used to change turn order as well. Town Hall is an area-majority location where players may place their workers. The player with the most workers in Town Hall at the end of the turn gets to go first the next turn, plus they receive a small kickba... payment for their service to the town.
The last two locations on the main board are the Rebel Sentiment track and the Lookout. The Rebel Sentiment track represents the growing independence movement in the colonies, which begins at 1 and increases by 1 each turn. Rebel Sentiment increases an additional 1 each time a finished good is filled (i.e. 5 or more have been sold) in Europe. This increase in Rebel Sentiment occurs because filling a good in Europe also triggers an increase in the tax rate, which decreases the payout for goods sold to Europe and angers the locals. When the Rebel Sentiment reaches 13, the game end is triggered and the game will end at the end of that round. The Lookout is an action players may take in which they discard a Gun (the finished good made from Ore), offering it up to the rebel cause, in return for victory points. The amount of victory points received for this action increases as the Rebel Sentiment increases and the Guns become more valuable to the rebels.
There you have it, Massachusetts Bay in a nutshell. We will be bring this game with us to BGG.Con and we hope to find a publisher for it there. We can’t wait to see this game published and in the hands of gamers who we really believe will love it. If you’d like to give our prototype a try, keep an eye out for us at the con. We hope to see you there!
On a separate note, Fanfare Games would greatly appreciate your support on an upcoming project that will be going on Kickstarter. In August, we traveled across the Western US taking photos of various energy-related locations. We have compiled those photos into an educational picture book on energy titled Exploring Energy (http://energy.fanchi.com/energy-education/exploring-energy/) that we will be Kickstarting very soon. We feel this book and our Energy in the 21st Century game (http://www.fanfaregames.net/energy-in-the-21st-century-the-g...) will work well together for educating students about energy. We hope you’ll contribute and tell your friends, especially educators seeking a way to introduce young students to the topic of energy, one of the most important issues of our time.
Thanks for reading! Check back soon for more of our lead-up to BGG.Con.