What what what? That email address doesn't work??? Well phooey. I'll have to edit the game page. Anyhow... As I recall, yes, we did notice that the game favors the Cavemen, but we didn't find it COMPLETELY one-sided. I (I can't talk for Kerin) thought of like a game of tenis -- the person serving usually wins, and it's the game that break that pattern that demonstrate a real differnce in skill. However, if you've found a relatively simple unbeatable strategy for one side or the other, then you've probably already done more playtesting than I ever did. Now that I see there's some interest in the game, I'll have to look at it again. First I'll verify that the game IS lopsided. Maybe there's a tactic that the Mastadon player can use to win at least once in a while. If I do confirm your findings, then I'll give your proposed fix a try. BUT... If the problem does exist, we should both see if there is another, perhaps simpler fix. e.g. Is there a way to modify the Cavemen's moves to limit them a little more. For instance, what if a Hunter (a medium) can move only 1 diagonally but 2 orthogonally? What if the Mastadons move first? Neither one of these would increase the complexity of the rules by adding a new rule or restriction -- they merely change an existing rule "in-place". Of course, if no simple rule change fixes the problem, then we may have to fall back on adding that "running start" rule/restriction. On a side note: notice that since this is a single stash game, color doesn't matter, and therefore it can played with a Treehouse set and a Volcano board. Sweet. Ryan -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: David Artman <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > I e-mailed the Ice Age designer; but I have gotten no reply, so I am going to > open it up the the list: > > We have found it nearly impossible to win as the Mastodon in Ice Age. It is > almost trivial to array the 10 Hunters so that every square is but one move from > having three adjacent. > See http://home.att.net/%7ekerry_and_ryan/IceAge.html > > To try to solve this problem, we proposed the following rule, which seems to > help: > "The Caveman that is moved to make a capture MUST NOT start its move adjacent to > the Mastadon that is being captured. " > > In effect, the last Caveman needed to make three (or four) adjacent Hunters must > have had some 'running room" and may not merely step around the Mastodon to set > its spear. This prevents the 'hop around" pattern of play that makes the Hunters > unbeatable. Thus, to make a Mastodon capture, the Caveman must be moved from > nonadjaceny to adjacency *and* it must be the one to bring the number of > adjacent Cavemen to at least 3 (or 4, if a herd). > > Thoughts? > David > _______________________________________________ > Icehouse mailing list > Icehouse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > http://lists.looneylabs.com/mailman/listinfo/icehouse