Silver Isle Session Report for 8 Feb 2003

["James K Droscha <jdroscha@...>" <jdroscha@...>]

Hi All,

Played a game of Silver Isle on Saturday, in part to playtest a bit 
more in anticipation of cleaning up the ruleset (which is still in 
beta).  A report of the session, along with a brief analysis of the 
ruleset is at:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewarticle.php3?
articleid=6123&threadid=4738

Although we played this 3-player, the rules call for 4-player only, 
and that is truly how it should be played.  The rules themselves 
don't break with 3 players, but Saturday's game reinforced my belief 
that there are balance problems with 3.  Chris suggested a smaller 
board with 3 players; I think this could be used for 2 players, but 
with 3, I think you would still see a problem with the "middle" guy 
getting it from both sides.

A preview of some of the changes I will be making in the rules:
1) clarification of conflicts... crews fight crews, whether they be 
on land, ship, or port
2) establishing a mine will only be allowed inland (non-coastal tiles)
3) clarification of island building... total tiles in a row or 
column, even if there is a "gap"; new tile goes furthest in direction 
indicated as possible
4) clarification of carrying, picking up, and dropping silver... all 
to and from adjacent
5) probable removal of the land control & starvation mechanics if I 
can find another suitable method for "discovering" an opponent's 
silver mine (I have a couple things to try, but am open to suggetion 
here)
6) possible removal of ship sinking... might just kill the crews and 
transfer silver to victor without sending ship back to Europe, but 
then what happens if two ships' crews are equal?  silver sinks?  
silver stays on respective ships?

I had some correspondence with Mike a while ago on Silver Isle.  
Anyone else have questions or comments on it?

Cheers,
James