[White Night Talk] There are always some board games, but you may not be able to play them once a year

Six players play the six major powers of Europe in the early 16th century, using a large number of counters, dice and cards to simulate the political, military, economic and religious struggles of the Reformation period. This is Here I Stand, and it’s not my favorite board game, but I think about it from time to time.

The original English name is taken from Martin Luther’s speech at the Worms Conference in 1521.

It sounds a lot like the PC game Europa Universalis, but it’s actually quite different. “Europa Universalis” can choose single-player or multi-player online games, and players can also choose to cooperate or fight; while “Educational Reform” is only suitable for multi-player PVP, and only the forces that achieve the goal of victory scores can become the real winners.

Taking more land gives points and cards that help you win, and is the best understood way to win. But the loss of territory will also spit out the score. Once the score is too high, it is targeted by multiple forces, even the Habsburg dynasty, which has the largest territory, will be hard to resist.

The Habsburg dynasty (yellow) started in full swing

And because the six factions have different scoring methods, there is absolutely no need to fight for a small piece of land. Protestants and the Papal States, like Protestants, can win by finding ways to spread their teachings farther. England, France, and the Habsburgs can send fleets to the Americas and gain victory points through exploration and colonization. Ottoman could not exert his strong military power in a peaceful state. At this time, he could form pirates, plunder the cards of Europeans, and win points at the same time.

The King of England only needs to empathize and give birth to a male heir or Elizabeth I to score points

In stark contrast to the impersonal cards and dice, Reformation has a diplomatic part every turn that is resolved entirely by word of mouth. Players who play various factions can negotiate privately to reach agreements such as armistice, alliance, card draw, lease fleet, exchange territory, etc., and then pull the player with the leading score into the water. This is completely different from the experience of social games such as “Wolfman Killing”. The premise of all discussions is based on the fluctuation of forces, and every player has a sense of participation.

I spent nearly half of the article explaining the playability of “Educational Reform”, and I don’t need to emphasize how big it is. The six-player regular script suggested in the rule book takes 6-8 hours to complete a game; this does not include arranging maps and counters, explaining the rules of the game to newcomers, and sorting the counters back after a game. time.

operator storage box, one

In addition, “Educational Reform” strongly recommends a 6-player game. If the number of people is too small, a single player will have to manipulate two forces with similar interests at the same time, and the game experience will be sour.

The board game itself is niche enough, not to mention the 8-hour board game. Unsurprisingly, when most of my friends heard the word “8 hours”, they would shy away. I couldn’t help but immerse myself in fragmented entertainment. I didn’t want to free up such free time. I actually thought about arresting 5 people and serving them together for 8 hours in prison.

In fact, I have only played “Educational Reform” three times, each time during the seven-day holiday of National Day – I have to spend the Spring Festival with my family, and the rest of the holiday is not so long, it is almost impossible to find five people who can and are willing to take the same day. friend.

In 2019, I bought a box of the Chinese version of “Educational Reform” online, and during the National Day holiday, I found someone to organize a bureau. In the end, only two people came, and one of them was my college roommate. Then came the terrible 2020, and I didn’t find the opportunity to open that box of “Educational Reform” for a whole year. Every time I “change addiction”, I will take out the more than 40-page rule book and look at it. Over time, the rule book has become worn out, but the counters and cards are 90% new.

I do not regret. The significance of the collection of physical board games is not for the time being. Later, I also found the “Teaching Reform” folk sinicization map package based on “Board Game Simulator”.

The “Sultan Guard” only provides combat advantages when the Ottoman army is “in the field”, and has no effect in “siege warfare”

The two rounds of “Teaching Reform” during the National Day holiday last year and this year were all 6-player rounds in “Board Game Simulator”, and they went smoothly. The ready-made map package saves the tedious steps of initial setup, and I was overjoyed after playing it once. Online board games don’t have to be limited by the geographical environment (the network environment is another matter). Last year’s Protestant leader in the game was a Japanese student.

Paradoxically, in both games, Ottoman invaded the city of Rome

However, the process of pulling people this year was not as easy as last year. Academic or work problems, the changes in interpersonal relationships and free time, always troubled my friends, and it also troubled me who wanted to form a board game bureau.

At school, there are only 3 days left for the National Day holiday. If you have a job, you either work overtime or go home to visit relatives. There are also a few who just graduated and failed to find their favorite jobs. They are busy submitting resumes and interviews all day long, so how can they have the mind to play board games. Not to mention my two college roommates went to the army, the one who played “Teaching Reform” was close enough to meet once a year; the other played other board games and went to a certain province in the northwest after graduation, let alone “Educational Reform”, it is hard to say whether I will see him again in this life.

I haven’t told the rest of my friends that there is a sequel to “Educational Reform” called “The Virgin Queen” (referring to Elizabeth I), which is based on the second half of the 16th century, and its content and rules are more complicated than “Educational Reform”. Since “Educational Reform” with friends once a year is already an extravagant hope, “The Virgin Queen” should be at the level of playing once in a lifetime.

Figure source board game website BGG

In addition, the Europa Universalis series also released a board game last month, called “The Price of Power”. The complexity score on the BGG website is 4.27, which is higher than the 4.18 of “Educational Reform”. It also has more than 40 pages. The rule book (in English), which I haven’t read yet. This board game has humanized single-player rules, which is certainly gratifying; but if there is someone who can play this game with friends, he must have accumulated great virtues in his last life.

The “Price of Power” rule book that will probably be read next year