Rolling Ranch: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Roll and Write
Player Age: 14+Player Count: 1 - 20 PlayersTime to Play: 10 - 20 Minutes
Player Age: 14+
Introduction:
You wake up on your ranch to find devastation has ruined your property and the animals have fled. In wake of this, players will be reforming the buildings and capturing the animals of the ranch in roll and write form. Each turn the two dice are rolled and players will pick one of two options; the resources on both dice, or the value on one die combined with the animal on the other. The value determines where the animal can be placed and the animals will award different points based on their rarity.
Game Anatomy:
Dice:
On each die there are three chickens, two pigs and one cow. The difference between the dice are the numbers matching these animals vary. Each die face, with the exception of one chicken, will also contain resources of either wood or a nail.
Sheet:
Each sheet contains a map of nine pens. Each pen is denoted by a different shade of green with a number on each hexagon. On the left side of the sheet is the scoring values that are explained and detailed at the end of the game. The right side of the sheet contains the three building types and the one-off effects or ongoing effects they activate.
Animals:
There are three highly sought after animals; the chickens, pigs, and cows. The players can either draw the animals or use the shape iconography displayed above the score chart to represent each animal. At the end of the game if a pen has only one animal type they will score a set of points based on this chart, i.e three pigs will score 7points for that pen. If the pen has a mixture of animals, players will only score equal to the amount of animals in a pen. For example two chickens and two cows in a pen will only score four points.
Buildings:
The construction of a building takes numerous wood and a nail, then once built the player will draw it into an empty hexagon on the sheet. This will take up one of the locations that could be used for an animal.
There are three types of buildings; barn, warehouse, and greenhouse. Upon constructing a barn the player will choose one out of two options underneath the chosen for a bonus. Then for the rest of the game whenever duplicate numbers are rolled that player will gain the chosen bonus. It may be resources, an extra chicken, or to change the dice to equal any animal and number. Different barns contain different bonus options.
Each warehouse unlocks two one-time activations of either changing the die’s numerical value or changing the die animal. At the end of the game warehouses will award bonus points based on the size of the pen they are built in. If you have two warehouses built in a pen that is size four, you will gain eight points at the end of the game. Lastly, the greenhouse is pure points. The greenhouse will score either 5, 12 or 20 points for the amount of greenhouses you have built.
Mission Cards:
At the start of the game each player will recieve one mission card. Each mission will contain two ways to gain bonus points. This could be by having a certain amount of one type of animal, an amount of buildings, or an amount of pens filled with one animal type.
Setup:
- Each player gains a pencil and a mission card.
- Place the two dice in the centre play area.
How to Play:
Each turn the dice will be rolled and each player will select one of two options;
- Use the resources from both dice.
- Drawing the animal from one die into an empty hexagon matching the other die’s numerical value.
Once one player has filled their pens the game will end and players will tally; the points for each pen, the buildings, and their personal mission.
Breeding:
Each chicken die face has a heart on the bottom right that is used for breeding. Whenever two hearts are rolled, breeding will occur at the end of the round. All pens that contain at least two animals of the same type will now add one more to those pens.
Final Thoughts:
- Fun theme with fast gameplay
- Bad colour choice for colour blind individuals.
- The number values are hard to read in each hexagon.
Rolling Ranch is a blend between the more advanced roll and writes, and what I like to call couch roll and writes (can easily be played on the couch while doing other things). Every turn, the dice are rolled to give the players two options to choose from. The rules can be a little fiddly with breeding and the buildings when first playing, but once players have the hang of the game it becomes a fast playing roll and write that is easy to bring out anywhere and with anyone.
Click...feed the addiction:
ThunderGryph Games
Rolling Ranch on BGG
Expand Your Game Facebook page
Expand Your Game Instagram
Comments
Post a Comment