Flashback Friday - Titan
Love it or hate it? Do you still play it?
This week we are flashing way back with Titan, which was originally published in 1980. It was out of print for 10 years, from 1998 until 2008 when Valley Games published a new edition.
It has been called a "Masterpeice of Ameritrash design." It has also been called a "fragile blood bath."
What do you think?
There is a beautiful iOS app, you can play act acts.warhorsesim.com, and in person, the Valley Games edition is a beauty.
The worst thing about it is the people that play it. They are insufferable about how great it is, and it's pretty obnoxious. On that note, I will bow out.
I love the idea of it.
I started to draft up a heavily revised and streamlined game inspired by Titan (that I decided to call "Titanium" for fun), but I just don't think the mix of strategic and tactic works that well. Honestly, I don't even like the Total War games for that very reason on the PC. Give me an in-depth strategy game or an in-depth tactical game, but not a weak version of both together. So while I love Titan, it's day has probably passed. Play it digitally if at all.
This is how hobby games used to be played.
Michael Barnes wrote: Something to remember is that Titan was made for a time when you didn’t go to game night with 10 games in an IKEA bag. You went to play Titan. Everybody came for that, not to check out the latest releases. People prepared to play and anticipated the length, downtime, and elimination. No one cried about it. And then next week- you played it again.
This is how hobby games used to be played.
A few of us will play Titan at convention so when anyone is eliminated they can go off and play other games (or not). I love this game! Long: yes. Repetitive: not in the least. I've witnessed many amazingly, tactically brilliant battles and some jaw dropping lucky ones. Is it a game for contemporary gamers? Probably not. It is still playable and enjoy (digital or analog). I'm not looking for a buffet style gaming and fortunately, I have friends who aren't either.
It is, however, too time-intensive for regular face to face play. Thankfully there's a great app version and, failing that, you can play by email in your browser via ACTS.
That said, it does become faster with experience. Not in terms of getting the rules down, but after a few games players learn that calculated aggression pays over turtling.
See what I mean by insufferable!?
Anyway, all this chatter made me fire up the app, which intrigued my 7yo profoundly, and then we broke out the actual game and played a little 1v1. He is loving it. Stacks of dudes, all the maps, and my God, the dice. So many. He had Cyclops + Troll swinging at something and got to throw 17 dice. It was beautiful. A big two-handed lob of cubes. So awesome.