Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Air Baron, a rare "family" oriented game from Avalon Hill, arrived upon both of my gaming groups with some fanfare. After all, it appeared to espouse some of concepts that we'd come to enjoy in German games: reasonably quick play, some nice bits, and opportunities to make interesting strategic decisions. Add in the hopes for something worthy of the proprietors of the classic 3M line of games, and expectations were high.
The game itself is fairly straightforward. The gameboard consists of twelve hubs, each with three to six domestic spokes attached, and one or two foreign spokes. The player turn order is randomly determined each turn. During the first turn, money is distributed by having the first player for the round rolling one die, adding one, and receiving that much cash. Since the first player has the distinct advantage of likely income during the first turn, each subsequent player receives $1 more to start with than the previous player.
Turns then consist of a decision, a draw, and an action. The decision is whether or not to enter fare wars. Fare wars offer both offensive and defensive advantages during takeovers; however, no profits are made while in fare wars. The draw is a matter of taking two tokens from a cup. Initially, only hub tokens are in the cup; as spokes are bought, the spoke tokens are added to the cup. If a spoke token is pulled, the owner of the spoke is paid the cost of the spoke. If a hub token is pulled, all players with at least one, but not more than half, the spokes in the hub are paid $3. Players with more than half, but not all, the spokes in the hub are said to dominate the hub; they receive the low hub value, which ranges from $5 to $14. Players who control every spoke in the hub "control" the hub, and receive the high hub value.
It's in the action that the heart of the game lies. Early on (and on occasion through the mid-game) the key action is the purchase of unowned spokes. One such spoke can be purchased per turn. Foreign spokes can also be purchased, once a domestic spoke in the attached hub is owned. While they only pay out when drawn, they do offer offensive and defensive advantages for takeovers within the hub. One foreign spoke can be purchased even without owning a domestic spoke in the attached hub by use of a supersonic transport; this is an expensive proposition, requiring the simultaneous purchase of the SST and the spoke, but given the advantages in takeovers and the fact that foreign spokes are impervious to attack, it's a worthwhile maneuver in many cases. Jumbo jets can also be purchased to gain an advantage in takeovers or to protect a key spoke; however, they can only affect one spoke and a limited number can be used in each hub.
As the game progresses, and unowned spokes disappear, takeovers become the name of the game. A takeover is attempted by paying twice the cost of the spoke, and both the attacker and defender rolling two dice. These totals are modified by a number of factors, including adjacent controlled hubs (each worth +1), attached foreign spokes (+1), jumbo jets (+2 if the defender has one deployed in that spoke, or if the attacker brings in an undeployed jet), and whether or not the participants are in fare wars (+2 for the attacker, +1 for the defender if in fare wars).
If not in fare wars, only one takeover attempt may be made per turn. A player in fare wars, however, enjoys not only the offensive advantage, but also the ability to conduct multiple takeovers, including those of unowned spokes. Unowned spokes cost only the normal cost, but unlike the purchase of such a spoke there is the risk of failure. Any failed takeover immediately ends the player's turn. Likewise an unlimited number of owned spokes may be attacked provided the money is available to do so and each attempt is successful.
As hubs become dominated and then controlled, players gain market share, from 20 (for dominating a small hub) to 120 (for controlling a major hub). When on their turn a player's total market share plus cash on hand is greater than the victory requirement, they win.
The advanced game adds a few additional features: five events, which get added to the game as various market share milestones are reached; a government contract, which automatically pays out (even to a player in fare wars) on the owner's turn - until it gets drawn, and auctioned off again; and loans, the maximum amount allowed controlled by the leading player's market share. The events are mostly negative in nature, either aimed at the person that drew the event (Strike, Crash), concentrated on the market share leader (Fuel Cost Hike), or affecting all players (Recession). The only event that can be genuinely helpful to draw is Local Competition, which allows the holder to cancel the payment of profits for one counter drawn that round.
The components are mostly typical Avalon Hill, but they do include rather nice molded plastic jumbo jets. I have heard that these were added late in the process, adding an extra $5 to the price of the game. Whether or not this is true, they are a nice touch, and the price isn't unreasonable as compared to other Avalon Hill offerings. Oddly, the box is not a standard Avalon Hill size, but slightly larger. At least it's not a double-sized box, like those used for We The People and Tyranno Ex.
So, adding everything up, we would seem to have a couple of large luck elements (the draw and takeover attempts), limited decision making ability (the choice of what to do is often straight forward), a few nice bits, and little more. However, it's a game that comes together far better than the sum of its parts would suggest. Every time I've played it, I've found it very enjoyable; in fact, of all the games I played for the first time this past year (and there were around fifty), I'd place Air Baron in my top five.
Why? The game is _fun_. Every now and again, there is a game which rates far better than it's parts might suggest. Sinbad, for instance, is a game with far more luck than strategy, but it's got plenty of flavor, plays quickly enough that falling victim to bad luck isn't too painful, and has enough decision making going on to keep players involved and interested. Air Baron is similarly involving; I find that I really relish going after certain spokes just because I have some real-world interest in them. For example, Cleveland was the closest major airport when I was growing up (and Akron-Canton is not, for reasons I haven't yet fathomed, represented in the game), so I've found myself trying to set things up in such a way that I can take over Cleveland at the first possible opportunity.
And, as such, I can strongly recommend the game - but only to those for whom its drawbacks are not insurmountable hurdles. There are nagging negatives even for those who aren't bothered by the luck factors: a key one is that once knocked down, it can be very hard to recover. In addition, roughly half of the people in each of my gaming groups aren't particularly fond of the game, so it takes a lot of pushing to get plays in.
One more point should be noted. We initially went right into the advanced game; it's not terribly complex, and thus seemed a natural choice. However, we recently gave it a go using just the basic rules, and it actually improved the game. The net effect of the events is that less money is in the game, as not only do the events draw money out, but they also are non-paying draws. This tends to extend the game; loans only emphasize this effect. Furthermore, removing the advanced game rules makes for a tighter game; the board fills more rapidly, leaving to the opportunity for much heavier use of such features as jumbo jets and supersonic transports. Since these features tend to be more interesting than the events, it's overall a change for the better, and one I'd suggest trying - particularly to those who have only played the advanced game.