Friday Night Shots – Drafting Games

It’s been a week since my last post.

And wow, what a week.

Ok, it wasn’t that bad, but I just needed a bit of a recharge and decided not to think too much about writing this week.

More stuff coming next week, definitely.

I thought I would get back in the swing of things with another regularly-scheduled visit with you at the bar!

It’s getting dark so early now, but that’s why I keep it so warm and cozy in here.

I should probably get somebody to take care of that.

Anyway, let me get a you a drink and turn down the music.

I should probably remove the “Gilbert Gottfried Sings the Classics” CD from the jukebox.

Maybe tomorrow.

What were we talking about?

Oh yeah, drafting games!

Let me get you a 7 and 7 and you can wonder at it…

Looking at Boardgame Geek, there is a bit of a differentiation between “open” drafting and “closed” drafting in games, but I’m going to talk about both together.

(Editor: “Idiot! You could get two posts out of it if you separated them”)

The difference, of course, is whether other players can see what you are drafting.

This post was inspired by a new game I’m playing on Boardgame Arena, The Vale of Eternity.

This is an open-drafting game because the card market is out there and you are claiming one of those cards.

Each round, you’re going to be claiming two of the cards in turn order (one card at a time). Then you can either “tame” them (put them in your hand for later) or sell them for crystal value (the currency in the game).

If I ever play this on the table, or play it real-time as opposed to asynchronously, I will put it in a “new to me” post and explain more about how it works, but suffice to say for this post that this is what you are doing.

I found this game intriguing because there are so many different types of drafting games. I wanted to try it out.

It made me think about drafting as a mechanic in general.

The classic of the genre (if not the most popular) is 7 Wonders.

This is a closed drafting game because you have a hand of cards, you choose one, and then you pass the rest along.

Nobody knows what card you took.

You then either sell it for coins, build it to your tableau, or use it to build one of your wonders (hence why it’s called 7 Wonders! I never guessed that before).

This is a classic for a reason. While I wouldn’t say it’s a “great” game (it’s certainly not in my top 50), it plays pretty quickly even at the full 6 (or 8 with the expansion) player count.

And it’s fun.

Yes, the scoring can be a little hard to understand for the Science cards, but once you get it, you get it and it’s really simple.

This mechanic has been used in a lot of games with different themes, most notably (only because it’s the one that came to mind right off the bat) Fields of Green, where you are basically doing the same thing but you’re not actually attacking anybody, or building wonders.

You’re building farms!

However, you are still dealt a hand of cards and you will be taking one and pass the rest on to other players.

It was actually a pretty cool game, though again not a huge favourite.

Some games have an element of this, though it’s either optional or it’s not the main mechanic in the game because it’s not a card game.

It’s a game with cards.

Terraforming Mars, I’m looking at you (you with your time-consuming draft variant).

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a game where you’re not actually drafting cards.

What?

Yes, I know.

You’re drafting dinosaurs!

Draftosaurus is a really simple game but it makes a great little game on lunch or when you’re in between other games.

I’ve only played it on Boardgame Arena so I’m not sure of the exact time, but it is a really quick game on there.

You have a hand of dinosaurs and you choose one to place into an area on your board depending on what the current player’s dice roll was (if you’re the current player, you can choose any area, I believe). So you’re trying for different sets in each area and you may not actually get the dinosaur you need for it!

Hell, you had me at “drafting dinosaurs.”

But what about open drafting games?

Vale of Eternity is a perfect example of it, but how about games that I’ve actually played?

Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization (and its predecessor, of course) is the classic of that genre.

This is a game where all information is open, so much so that the app doesn’t even hide any of your cards (though maybe at the table, you are hiding your cards? I don’t know, never played it that way. Just on the app).

Everybody knows what you’re doing, what cards you have, and all of that. The only things not open are the Military cards that you draw each turn.

Keeping with the civilization theme, as well as previous games mentioned, another classic of the genre is the 2-player 7 Wonders: Duel.

Because this game is a 2-player game, all of the cards to draft are on the table.

Each turn, you’re taking a face-up card from the display. This may open up a face-down card to be flipped, giving your opponent an excellent opportunity!

As with its parent game, you are trying to build the best civilization out of the cards that you are drafting, as well as building wonders.

It’s a really enjoyable game, one of my favourite fast 2-player lunchtime games.

Of course, you’re not always drafting cards!

Castles of Burgundy is the true classic of the genre, and you are drafting tiles (which, admittedly, there are a lot of games where you draft tiles).

I mean, tiles aren’t as cool as dinosaurs, but did dinosaurs really exist in the Middle Ages?

Some might think so, but I don’t.

Or did they?

Anyway, Castles of Burgundy is such a cool game and there’s nothing closed about it.

It’s an open book.

You’re drafting tiles from the display based on your dice rolls, putting them on your player board, and getting points for them (and sometimes using them to do another action).

How could it not be a classic?

Some games, of course, use the open drafting mechanism but they’re not really an open drafting game because they are using so many other mechanics as well, or at least drafting isn’t the main one.

Ark Nova anyone?

There is a card display and you can sometimes take a card from it when you take the “Cards” action (or get another benefit that lets you do it).

This could also include any game where you are buying a card from a market, like Dune: Imperium or even Ascension.

I don’t really have a preference as far as which type of drafting game I like.

Both types have their advantages that make me really like them.

I like not having people knowing what I have.

But open drafting games are kind of cool too. You know what people are going for, maybe you can stop them?

Will that harm your game, though?

One common thing that many card drafting games have is that you are trying to make combinations out of the cards you are drafting, so they all trigger off of each other and the new cards that you play.

Play this card, whose icon triggers this other card to get you a bunch of points or money or whatever. Then that triggers this card!

What are your favourite drafting games? Do you prefer open or both?

Or neither?

Maybe you hate the genre with a white-hot passion?

Let me know in the comments.

(Maybe dice drafting games will be in another post, as I just realized there are a bunch of those as well)

This post brought to you peppermint schnapps, the number 720, and the letter D