The legendary game ELFENROADS spawned a wonderous Spiel des Jahres winning offspring - ELFENLAND. This page is my best attempt to compile lots of writing about this great game.

last update: November 1, 2004

I can still remember the day I got my copy of ELFENLAND... it was actually sitting on the doorstep of my apartment when my wife & I returned from a trip to Chicago. (This was the same trip where we visited Mayfair Games and saw the Warehouse of SimCity cards - but that's a story for another day and another webpage.) It was brand spanking new - it was in the first shipment over from Germany. I immediately fell in in love with Doris artwork... and with the wonderful game play.

What follows is a compilation of thoughts, variants, clarifications and the like from a number of different gaming folks - not the least of which is the designer of the game, Alan Moon. (I'll do my best to give credit where credit is due - but many of these notes date back 1998-99, so the original author may not be properly marked.) In fact, there's so much stuff that there's a separate page of variants!

Why There Are Two Sets of Rules

Mik Svellov, the owner & head honcho of Brett & Board, did a splendid job of summarizing the situation oh so many years ago...

Elfenland is a new *light* edition of Alan R Moon's Elfenroads (White Wind 1992). The publisher and author (inventor) may have different opinions of what makes a good game, in which case the author might have to give in on some points if he wants to have the game published. Alan is (I think) a very pragmatic man, letting Amigo decide for themselves what THEY thinks would make the game a hit in Germany.

After the game was released in February he then posted his own (private) rules to the game. Depending on your viewpoint you could describe these as originals (he IS the inventor after all) or variants (the game is after all published as is).

Ken Tidwell (The Game Cabinet) has published Alan R Moon's own personal rules to the game, and NOT the official Amigo-rules (ie. it is not a direct translation of the german rules). Unfortunately Alan forgot a couple of the german rules when he listed the "Amigo rules changes". I have made a list of these at the end of this letter.

How AMIGO's Elfenland differs from the posted GAME CABINET rules:

1. In the Amigo version of the rules, each player is not dealt 8 cards each Round. He is only dealt cards to bring his hand back up to 8. If a player has more than 4 cards by the end of his Turn, he must discard down to four cards.

2. In the Amigo version, the only transportation on Lakes is Ferries. A Ferry costs 2 Raft Cards to cross either Lake in any direction. There are no Boatmen. Thus you cannot play any three cards instead of the Raft-cards.

3. In the Amigo version, all players must discard all Transportation Counters except One (1) at the end of a Round (before new cards are dealt).

4. In the Amigo version the City cards is only mentioned as a variant on the very last page. You do not use the City cards at all in the basic game.

Alan wrote this response back in 1998, responding to his posting of a slightly different set of rules than a straight translation of the Amigo rules. (This is not nearly as big a deal now as it was back then, thanks to having an "official" English version of the rules from the Rio Grande edition - but six years ago, this was a hot & heavy topic on rec.games.board.)

Actually, in my original rules, the rules I posted on this newsgroup, each player is dealt 8 new cards each turn. Each player can keep 4 cards from one turn to the next so it is possible for a player to start a turn with 12 cards.

The rules I posted (to rec.games.board and The Game Cabinet) are my version of the rules. They aren't an official translation, or even as Brian Bankler pointed out, a translation at all. Amigo may or may not have an official English translation. If they do, it probably will be written by someone other than me.

I didn't know about the change in the number of cards dealt until about two weeks ago. I can't say I favor my version over the Amigo version because I've never played their version.

I've heard lots of stories about game companies changing games without involving the designer. But my experience has largely been quite the opposite. Amigo was very good at consulting me for the most part. In fact, and I digress here, one of the most memorable moments in my career as a game designer, was the evening, I playtested ELFENLAND at the house of Uwe Moelter, the head of R&D for Amigo. On the final turn of that game, the last player moved 7 or 8 or 9 cities to get back to the Elfencity (the object before the City Cards) to win the game! If I could have this happen everytime I showed a prototype to a company, I'd have sold twice as many games by now. My point being that I can't ever imagine playing one of my prototypes at the house of the head of R&D for MB or PB. At least not before my good pal Mike Gray rises to the top at MB.

So why wasn't I involved in the decision about the number of cards dealt? Well, it was probably just an oversight or maybe they were in a time crunch. Or maybe they started playing this way by mistake and didn't realize it was a change? Whatever, I don't mind. In the end, it's their money and when I signed the contract, I gave them the right to publish the game the way they wanted to publish it. Bottom line, I'm very pleased with the result.

Just for the record. I did know about the change in the lake rule and I thought it was fine.

Actually, the only change they made which I wish they hadn't was changing the names of the cities of lakes from names of my friends to their present "in" jokes (don't ask me to explain them)! Version #3 will have a third board with my names, or my name is Mud.

Draw Versus Fill - The Battle Royale

I don't think it's Alan's fault entirely, but the two possible ways to take new cards in Elfenland caused a discussion of epic proportions about whether it is better to draw or fill. I'll just try and summarize the high points here, then give you my final oh-so-wise thoughts on the subject.

In the summer of 1998, Alan was leaning toward the Amigo rule as published... but then by the fall, he'd settled on a different way of dealing with the whole question.

Actually my latest suggestion is for everyone to fill their hands to 12 cards, then discard down to 8 after they have drawn their counters (but before counters are placed).

The initial feedback I was getting seemed to favor just drawing up to 8 cards each turn instead of drawing 8 new cards. However, I would say the feedback is now about 50/50. It has become apparent that the use of "defensive play' (playing a Trollwagon in the Mountains, etc.) or the lack of defensive play is one of the things that most effects which method people like.

To create more defensive play, my suggestion is to give each player 2 Trouble Counters instead of just 1. To enhance this even more, you can allow more than 1 Trouble Counter on a route, each Trouble Counter requiring one additional card to be played.

People often ask me how I feel about people playing my games with different rules. I think it's great. If they enjoy the game with their own rules or with variant rules, that's great. I'm flattered that they like the game enough to take the time to develop it to their own particular tastes. Believe me, if someone comes up with a better way to play one of my games, I'll change the official rules if I can.

David Bohnenberger proposed yet another way to distribute cards (which I really like).

Each player receives eight cards a turn, and then discards down to eight total. This is an attempt at a "best of both" variant, and is a variant of a variant already posted by Alan Moon. It is not necessary to hold players to a 4-card carryover from turn to turn when using this system.

Frank Branham saw one other potential problem with the "draw to 8" rule and came up with another variant to fix it. (BTW, if you haven't noticed, something about the packaging material of this game seemed to cause people to have visions of variants dance in their heads. Really.)

The problem it seems to cause is that 32 cards are too many for the distance you need to cover. Many of our games with this rule tend to end with all players tied for score and the number determined by the cards held. This would be cool except that the dead-end city seems to attract trouble counters. There is usually one present on the 3rd and 4th turns. And skipping it is not an option.

Sooo. We've tried trimming down the number of cards received on that last turn. Giving out 4 instead of 8 seems to tune the game a bit. This is used with no discards.

Looking back at my notes from many moons (pun not intended) ago, I'm not sure who said what. But I'm pretty sure who was involved... so thanks to Greg Aleknevicus, David Bohnenberger, Frank "Moo" Branham, Kevin O'Hare, Peter Sarrett, and Steffan O'Sullivan. What follows is my summation of their discussion.

Simple Definitions:

DRAW:
Each player receives eight cards each turn. This sysstem rewards players who are more efficient with their cards, but makes the game a bit too easy for some gamers.

FILL:
Each player refills their hand to eight cards each turn. This system makes the game a bit tougher, but does not reward efficient play.

The Points of Argument - In Favor of Draw

The draw eight cards rule allows for the possibility that someone could actually get to all 20 ciites by the end of the third turn.This is otherwise nearly impossible to attain. With 24 cards in three turns, there are slightly more cards available than would be required to accomplish this game-ending goal. This adds a certain "nervousness" to gameplay when the possibility of a quicker game end is threatened. (This concern is not present in a fill game.)

Filling to eight cards puts players who do not use all their cards at a disadvantage. They received fewer cards in the next turn, reducing their chances at reaching 20 cities by the end of turn three. Filling "forces" players to use cards in a less than optimal fashion.

Drawing eight cards presents the player with an interesting choice: waste cards with slow movement (or caravans) or save them for (potentially) faster transport next turn?

Filling to eight cards has too little actual control. The luck of the draw was crucial. There was little incentive to hold onto cards between turns-- you fill back to 8 anyway, so you might as well burn them in caravans-- so players got mostly new hands each turn.

Drawing to 8 causes players use tokens that require two cards on a route as a defensive play, in addition to the use of the hazard token. This adds more strategy and less luck.

The Points of Argument - In Favor of Fill

Drawing 8 new cards rewards the leader. That is, the person who uses the least cards in a round to accomplish their goals has more cards in the next round. This gives a definite advantage - in flexibility to caravan, if not simply in the ability to move up to ten spaces!

Drawing 8 each turn makes the game too easy. Players have too many cards, making it possible to travel just about any route. 32 cards to reach 20 cities isn't quite a cakewalk, but it IS easier. Worse, it seemed likelier to generate ties than the other method.

When you have fewer cards at your disposal, it places more emphasis on planning routes carefully and not bypassing any cities because you'll never get back to them later.

My Not All That Humble Opinion

I'm pretty much sold on "hold no more than 4, draw 8" for the reasons stated above. But, play it how you want. The game works well either way.

Rule Clarifications From Alan Moon (and others)

Q: How many Transportation counters do I draw in one turn?

A: You draw 1 face down and 3 face up counters each turn... unless you've kept a counter from the previous turn, in which case you draw 1 face down and 2 face up counters. You will never draw more than 4 counters.

 

Q: During the placing of Transportation counters, does playing a Trouble counter count as the "one" counter you are allowed per turn? Or, can you play it in addition to one Transportation counter?

A: You may play a transportation counter OR a trouble counter, but not both in one turn.

 

Q: At the end of a round, when you have to discard all but one of your counters, does the Trouble counter count as your "one" (if you want to keep it). Or, do you get to keep the Trouble counter plus one Transportation counter?

A: The Trouble counter does not count against your "one" counter you may keep. (In other words, you can keep one Trouble counter and one Transportation counter.)

 

Q: When your elf is traveling downstream on a river, and he is passing several cities in order to reach another city farther down the river, must you pay one river card for each city you pass, or can you play just one card and follow the current all the way to your destination?

A: One card for every segment (between two cities) of river. Otherwise they would be way too powerful.

 

Q: Can I place a Trouble counter on water?

A: No 'log'/Trouble counters may be placed on rivers or lakes.

 

Q:There is an open road from Lapphalya to Virst. There is an open road from Virst to Jxara. However, if you look carefully at the roads, they actually join up before the Virst bridge! This means it looks like there is ONE open road between Lapphalya and Jxara. Since there's already a forest road between these two towns, it doesn't seem likely that this is meant as one road. Gamewise, it looks as if these are two separate open roads - but logically you should be able to move from Lapphalya to Jxara by open road without crossing the Virst bridge... So our question is: is that one open road or two?

A: You cannot move from Jxara to Lapphalya by open road. You have to move to Virst first going either way.

Alan Said...

I have about four expansions and two card games for ELFENLAND. But before you ask, no I can't post any of them or give out any information about them at the moment. You gotta wait.

Conductor's Note: This pre-dated the release of the Elfengold expansion and the card game King of the Elves. But I'm still curious about what the other ideas were!

Elfenland Vs Elfenroads

Long before Elfenland became the Spiel des Jahres winning beauty that is is, there was Elfenroads. Published by Alan's own White Wind Games, it became a revered (and extremely difficult to find) classic... or at least cost you an arm & a leg to acquire a copy.

I've never actually played Elfenroads. I know that the map is different, and that a number of the elements of the game were changed. So I'll just shut up now and let those with actual experience do the talking.

Greg Aleknevicus:
I think that the game plays just as well without the money. I was really concerned about this (and the reduction to 4 turns) but found that there was still plenty of agonising over route decisions (as well as constant re-evaluating as tokens, both helpful and hindering, were laid).

Rob Burton:
I'd say that the simplification from Elfenroads to Elfenland is inherently going to make the winner more predictable toward the end of the game. In Elfenroads, there are many different kinds of position you can have: you can have lots of cards in hand, or you can already have visited lots of cities, or you can have lots of cash, or you can be holding good markers (e.g., the log), or various combinations of the above. That means that different players can have different advantages going into the end of the game, making the ending more unpredictable. Eliminating money significantly reduces this variety.

This is partly alleviated by having fewer turns and having (relatively) more happen each turn; thus, when the last turn comes, the game is only "75% over" instead of "87% over".

Peter Sarrett:
What struck me most is that I miss the card draft from Elfenroads (like the counter draft, but with only 3 cards and the deck to choose from). Next time I play, I'd like to try adding it back in either before the counter draft or concurrent with it. For time considerations, perhaps a partial draft-- everyone fills their hand up to 4 cards randomly, then drafts the remaining 4. This shouldn't add too much time to the game, but provides a welcome measure of control.

That said, our games took about 1.25 hours and were much enjoyed by all. None of us missed the Elfenroads auction or the gold.

Alan graciously figured out a way to use the Elfenland board to play Elfenroads. This was originally posted in April of 1998, long before the Elfengold expansion was published by Amigo. [Note: you'll actually the components of Elfenroads to pull this off... sigh.]

Playing Elfenroads on an Elfenland Board

ELFENLAND can be played using the ELFENROADS rules with some modifications.

1. City Values:

Al' Baran - 7

Kihromah - 6

Grangor, Mah' Davika, Jaccaranda. Erg' Eren - 5

Strykhaven, Dag' Amura, Yttar, Parundia, Usselen, Feodor - 4

Virst, Jxara, Wylhien, Throtmanni, Tichih, Rivinia - 3

Beata, Lapphalya - 2

2. Card Deck: (70 Cards) 9 each of the seven types of transportation and 7 Gold Cards.

3. Counter Mix: (42 Counters)

4 Dragons

4 Magic Clouds

5 Unicorns

8 Elfcycles

8 Trollwagons

9 Giant Pigs

2 Gold Counters

2 Trouble Markers

You will have to make your own decisions about whether you should include Caravans, the costs for Lakes, etc., since I have never played the ELFENROADS rules with the ELFENLAND board.

4. Addition to the Preparations.

a. Shuffle the Transportation Cards and deal five to each player. If a player receives a Gold Card, he must discard it and drawn a replacement. Reshuffle the deck. The rest of the cards form the deck and are placed face down near the board. Turn over the top three cards and place them face up next to the deck.

b. Give each player 12 Gold.

5. Sequence Of Play.

a. Beginning with the First Player and proceeding clockwise around the board, each player draws one card at a time until all players have drawn three Transportation Cards. . A player may have any number of cards in his hand during the game. Exception: Ignore this step on the first turn of the game.

b. Each player receives 2 Gold. Exception: Ignore this step on the first turn of the game.

c. Each player draws a face down counter.

d. The First Player now draws a number of counters equal to three times the number of players. These counters should be placed face up in a line with the first counter drawn first in line, the second counter drawn second in line, etc. They are then put up for auction one at a time in order.

e. Place counters.

f. Beginning with the First Player and proceeding clockwise around the board, each player plays cards, moves his Elf, and collects his bonus.

g. Pass the Dragon/First Player Marker. Remove all the counters from the board and put them back in the pile.

6. Cards.

A player can draw one of the three face up cards or the top card off the deck. If a player draws one of the three face up cards, he immediately replaces it by turning over the top card from the deck.

7. Gold Cards.

If a Gold Card is turned up, it does not count as one of the three face up cards. Instead, it is placed to the side to start the Gold Stack. Another card is turned face up to replace it. If a second Gold Card is turned up at any time, it is placed on top of the first Gold Card. Likewise, any subsequent Gold Cards are also added tot he Gold Stack.

If a player draws a Gold Card from the deck, he also adds it to the Gold Stack. He then draws a replacement card (he can take the Gold Stack as the replacement card).

At any time a player is allowed to draw a card, he can take the entire Gold Stack instead. He then immediately collects 3 Gold for each Gold Card in the stack and discards all the Gold Cards. He does not draw a replacement card.

8. Counter Auction.

The bidding for each counter starts with the First Player and proceeds clockwise around the table. Each player may bid or PASS. Once a player has passed, he may not reenter the bidding for that counter.

A bid may be raised by any amount. The bidding ends when all players PASS consecutively. The last bidder then pays that amount of Gold and takes the counter and placed it face up in front of him.

Players may bid on as many different counters as they like as long as they have Gold. If a player bids more Gold than he has, he loses all the Gold he does have and still does not receive the counter. Another auction is then held of the same counter.

If no player bids on a counter, the counter is put back in the pile. It is not replaced.

This step ends when all the counters have been auctioned.

9. Addition to Placing Counters.

A player may place a Trouble Counter next to any Transportation counter already placed., except one that already has a Gold Counter placed by it. Only one Trouble Counter may be placed on any one route.

A player may place a Gold Counter next to any Transportation counter already placed, except one that already has a Trouble Counter placed by it. Only one Gold Counter may be placed on any one route.

A player may not keep more than two counters from one turn to the next.

10. Bonus.

After a player has moved his Elf, he adds up the value of each city he passed through during the turn as well as the village on which he ends his turn. He may then either take this amount of Gold or draw two cards.

If a player has used a route with a Gold Counter, the value of the city at the end of this route is doubled. If a player were to use this route more than once, the value would be doubled each time.

The Elfenhold has no value.

If a player does not move during a round, he automatically receives two cards since he cannot take Gold.

Departures

Here's a couple of reviews for Elfenland... and don't forget the Station's very own page of Elfenland variants! Or the track on Elfengold, the Elfenland expansion!

Boardgame Geek entry for Elfenland

The Game Cabinet from Mike Siggins

The Game Report Online from Peter Sarrett