The Blurb:
The year is 79 A.D. Pompeii, sitting at the foot of Vesuvius, is at the high point in its development. People come to the city from far and wide to try to make their luck in the city. So far nobody has dreamed of the danger that will bury all of their dreams under mountains of ash just ten years later. Who will survive the eruption of Vesuvius unscathed? The simple rules make it easy to get started with The Downfall Of Pompeii, a game in which a lot of tactical know-how is required – along with a little luck – in order to bring your pieces out of the city at the right time. The game falls into two halves: before and after the eruption of Vesuvius. Before the eruption, players play cards to place their pieces in buildings. After the first eruption, they can also place as many relatives as the number of pieces already in the building they placed their piece in. When Omen cards are drawn, the player can take any opponent's piece and throw it into the erupting volcano. In this manner, players try to get as many pieces onto the board as close to the exits from the city as possible. After the second eruption, the game changes. Now each player places a lava tile, which kills any pieces on that square and may block exits from the city. Then they move two pieces toward the exits, moving them a number of squares equal to the pieces on the square from which they started. The player who gets the most pieces out of the city wins.
The Gist:
Holy crap, run for your lives.
The Play:
The gameplay was pretty even. Once the lava hit both were getting our people out of Pompeii as fast as we could. At the end of the game tyler had one guy left desperately trying to get him out of the city and I was chasing him with the lava. He escaped before I could throw him in the volcano. When we counted up the pieces in the volcano, it was a tie.
Dad:
How can you not love the volcano. Tossing your opponents pieces in while yelling "AHHHHHHHH!" is very therapeutic.
Ty:
I like the volcano the best. It looks really nice on the board. And I like throwing Dad's pieces into it!
The Good, The Bad, The Rating:
Dad:
The theme is amazing. I love the two phase aspect of the game where you are placing people and then trying to get them out while eliminating your opponent. The tie was frustrating but we will resolve it in further games with a house rules where in the event of a tie, the player with the last person out of the city loses. Overall I really love the feel of this game
3.5/5
Tyler:
This game uses what my Dad says is a mancala mechanic. I really like when pieces move like that. It makes you have to think about which pieces to move and when.
3.5/5
good
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