How can I keep track of things, in Discworld: Ankh-Morpork?

Question

I'm lost. Flummoxed and worse, confused by this game.

I consistent fail to set up any sort of set piece, or notice when someone else is doing even the least sneaky, sneak move. I'm often in last place because I can't think tactically or strategically in this game (though in others, I'm OK). The one time I won was due to bluffing my way through as Vimes.

I think my main issue is keeping track of all the players, their pieces, and everything else. How can I get better at doing this?

Answer 1

One of the best ways to see people sneaking up on their victory conditions is to think like them. Here are the win conditions and some tell-tale signs for which victories they might be chasing:

• Areas controlled by a majority. This is the most common win condition, so you should always keep an eye on this. It's useful to tot-up after a player's turn when they've gained one or more new majorities.
• Areas with a piece present. A great tell-tale sign that the player is Vetinari is that they're placing lots of individual pieces (especially in non-empty areas, where the piece does not give them a majority). Cards that move pieces are also useful for Vetinari who can turn one "controlled" area into two quite subtly.
• Money. Chrysoprase needs a lot of money, but don't forget that buildings count as assets (and are harder to lose). Players who buy a lot of buildings tend to be using them to consolidate their money as well as people who just have a huge pile in front of them. A great starting move for Chrysoprase is to try to get an early building that generates money (though that will benefit most players).
• Trouble. The Dragon King loves chaos in the streets, so watch out for people who play pieces into territories they have no chance of winning and where trouble would be added. Also, be wary of players who repeatedly discard Watch cards that reduce trouble.
• Running out the deck. Vimes can be a tough one to watch, and you shouldn't worry too much about him. The best way to beat Vimes is to win after all! Still, if you want to spot Vimes, you should look out for people who seem happy to tie territories without ever controlling them and players who are discarding and drawing a lot of cards. (Discarding the Time Monks - which shuffles the discard back into the deck - is a great one to watch out for too, because it can vastly increase the "deck size" depending on when it's played and most other players would be happy to play it.)

Lastly a general tip: don't forget that each player has multiple opponents. If you notice that someone might be close to winning with a win condition, especially if they would win at the start of their next turn, don't stay quiet! Let it become the group's problem to stop them from winning instead of just yours.

Answer 2

I've played this game ~10 times only, so I'm not so into the mechanics of it.

The dynamic in general is to avoid the other objectives of being completed. Every time you play you have to check each opponents' controlled (which is the most common objective) and presence areas, and the number of conflicts on the board.

Is hard to do anything to prevent everyone else of getting $50 (but there are cards that allow you to steal money of the other players, so that's also possible) or winning before getting to the end of the deck pile.

Finally, I think this game is not strong on the strategy and it's more of a chaotic and fun.

Answer 3

Wow I love this site..

Because I find someone asking about the same deal I had with this game! A rather unknown game which is one of my favorites. Anyways I contribute with my bit.

The chaos.. I'm lost!

The bluffing is heavy in this game.
The later stage of the game is very chaothic with the disasters and suspicions. You naturally have a lot of uncertainty.

The tactic

Is to play with this uncertainty, with this three guidelines:

• Aim to be the less confused player. I mean, face it you will be confused
• Keep one or two counters for that point of the game when the obvious may become the inevitable
• Watch the discarded pile

With the first, really.. I love this game: If you bluff your oponents bluff. It's not enough to know vicory conditions of other characters; so keep your bluff up, eventually one player will be very suspicious; it should be you if you want to and not bee you if you don't want to. Apply to others ;)

For the second I will just give an example: There some cards that take money from another player. You may be tempted to play it early in the game to get some cash.. but do you really need that cash right away? Bear in mind that this is one of the few counters to Chrysoprase who needs to mint and who becomes obvious at some point of the game. If you use this card on another player it may be just the 3 bucks Chrysoprase needed... This applies also for some cards that may seem useless sometimes like the one that removes two chaos marks.

The third is a practical reason. It's easier to see what the oponent played once the cards are dished than watch him move by move. Also, players who sell/discard cards, give away information of what they don't want; that's also easier to track.

But bottom line, it's best to play with some guidelines and just enjoy the game because if you play with good players.. they may outbluff you :).

Answer 4

The best thing to do is just try to keep track of who is controlling which areas. Most other win conditions can be achieved easier by controlling more areas.

You can look out for tell tale signs that they are another personality, such as Vetinari creeping across the board, but you should still be trying to disrupt their plans by reducing the amount of controlled areas they have.

If you can keep an eye on who controls which segments and who is setup to take segments you should be able to keep on top of the other players