Bioshock Infinite The Siege of Columbia, Part 2: Gameplay & Verdict

In yesterday's article we took a look at the box contents for Plaid Hat Games' tie-in to the Bioshock Infinite videogame, The Siege of Columbia.  We made little attempt to hide our disappointment with the physical quality of the game itself, so now we're back to look at the way the game plays, and to see if it offsets the quality enough to justify the hefty price tag.

As we mentioned in yesterday's article, the players each take control of one of two factions; the lower-class Vox Populi or the upper-class Founders, as they wage a civil war for the control of Columbia.  Before the game can get started the players must argue between themselves over which faction to control.  Non-Bioshock fans will probably be content to flip a coin or choose their favourite colour, but fans of the videogame will probably want to play as the Founders, purely to be in control of the iconic Songbird character.

The initial set up of The Siege of Columbia is quite a lengthy process, but there is an easy-to-follow step-by-step guide in the rulebook to talk new players through it.  Whilst only a niggling criticism, it did occur to us that the addition of a set-up reference card would have benefited the game, and certainly got us started much sooner.

Each player shuffles their Action Card deck and draws an opening hand of 5 cards, and places their units in their starting locations (as specified in the rulebook).  They then randomly select a Leader Card each to assist their faction, and an Elizabeth Timeline to dictate the flow of the game.  Any unoccupied locations are given a face-down Territory Token for the players to battle when they try to claim the area.  Finally the Victory Point Cards are shuffled and the top card flipped over to reveal the first objective, and the World Event Cards shuffled up ready for the first turn.  Then the players just have to randomly decide who gets the First Player Token and they're ready to go!  This entire process takes just a few minutes with experienced players, but for the first few games it's a very drawn out process.  Given the high number of game components though, it comes as little surprise, and each of these elements plays an important role.

This is a nice example of a game of The Siege of Columbia in progress.  At this point every element of the game is in play, and it probably looks very intimidating to a new player!  So, in our usual fashion, we'll do a runthrough of a game turn, and hopefully this should make things look more manageable.

Each round starts with the top World Event Card from the deck being flipped over, and the players voting on whether or not the motion passes.  Some of these card benefit the Founders, some the Vox Populi, some benefit both, and some benefit whichever faction throws in the most votes.  This variation is well-balanced, and can force players to think on their feet and re-evaluate their entire plans for the turn.

On this occasion, the card strongly benefits the Founders, as it gives the Founder player 10 Silver Eagles which can be spent on units and upgrades.  Obviously the Vox Populi player won't want this to go through, so they will be voting against it.  Each player selects however many cards they wish out of their hand, and places them face-down in front of them.  Once all players have chosen their voting cards, they turn them face up and add up the Influence scores (the yellow number, second-down on the left of the card) of all the cards.  However, the vote isn't over yet!  If it's a tie, then the motion is considered to have passed, but if one faction is ahead then Booker gets the final vote!

Booker DeWitt is the protagonist of the Bioshock Infinite videogame.  He spends the entire game rampaging around Columbia, causing tremendous collateral damage and racking up countless casualties along the way.  However, the authorities still seem to feel he deserves a vote, and so one white die is rolled, and the score is added to the Influence total of the lowest-scoring faction.

In the example above, the Founders have played 7 influence (6 off Songbird, 1 off Flak Man), and the Vox have played 3 (1 off Flak Man, 2 off Shotgunner).  The Vox players rolls Booker's white die, and scores 3.  This puts the final score at 7-6 to the Founders, and so the motion is passed.

This isn't where the World Event phase ends though, as the cards will now dictate the course of action for Booker and Elizabeth.

Once the vote has been resolved, players must check the bottom of the card for an Elizabeth symbol.  If this is present, then the Elizabeth Timeline progresses one space, and the effects of this are resolved.  The timelines favour neither player, but sow chaos amidst the ongoing civil war, sometimes benefiting both parties and sometimes punishing them.

After this, Booker is moved around Columbia.  If Elizabeth isn't with Booker then he'll go to rescue her (and God help anyone who stands in his way!), otherwise he'll move to the space indicated in the bottom-right corner of the card (2, in this case).  If Booker's face also appears beside Elizabeth's then he's in an aggressive state of mind, and will start attacking any units in that space, regardless of their allegiance.  Although he may only be one man, Booker is more than capable of wiping a faction from a location entirely, and he shouldn't be engaged unless absolutely necessary (details on combat to follow).  Just like the Elizabeth Timeline, this random movement of the grossly overpowered Booker is a very good mechanic, as it keeps either side from becoming too complacent.  In Games & Tea's first playthrough of The Siege of Columbia the balance of power shifted dramatically, when the dominant Vox player had their lines torn apart by a rampaging Booker, paving the way for a Founders victory!

After the World Event Card has been resolved, the player with the First Player token begins their round.  The first order of business is making money!  The silver number on each Action Card (below the Influence value) is the card's sell value.  At the beginning of the turn, any number of cards can be sold out of the player's hand to add to their coin purse.

With this phase over, the players can then buy more units, although they can only be placed in locations already controlled by that player.  The more powerful the unit, the more it costs.  Players can also pay to upgrade their Action Cards at this point.

With the financial side of the turn done, it's time to advance into enemy territory!  Each turn a player can move up to four units, and can do so in one of two ways...

Units can move from one location to an adjacent location.  Adjacent locations are signified by their connecting arrows.  Any units moving in this manner can move only one space, and then must stay put for the remainder of the turn.

The other method of movement is the Skyline!  Players familiar with the videogame will know the Skyline very well; it's a series of rails connecting the various locations in Columbia, and allowing fast-travel around the city.  Any unit riding the Skyline can move as many spaces as they wish, but at each junction they must roll the Skyline Dice to see if their unit falls to their doom.  As long as a single thumbs-up is rolled on one of these dice then the unit is fine, otherwise the player must discard Action Cards equal to the number rolled, or sacrifice the unit.

This makes the Skyline a perilous method of transport, but one that can pay dividends for a lucky player.  Whether or not to ride it is yet another of The Siege of Columbia's tactical decisions, and gives the gameplay a little more depth.

Once the movement phase is over, combat is initiated!  If the active player moved into an enemy-controlled location they must do battle.

The combat system is incredibly simple in The Siege of Columbia, but is well-designed at the same time.  A single dice is rolled for each unit in combat, but the more powerful units roll higher-numbered dice.  Before any dice are rolled, however, the players can play any Action Cards face-down to boost their dice rolls.  The Combat Score on these cards is the red number at the top.  Let's look at an example of combat...

The Founders have moved into Vox territory with a Leader and a Rare unit, giving them one red die and one blue die.  The defending Vox have a Leader and two Common units, giving them one red die and two white die.  The Vox player has also played a Sky Rider Action Card, giving them an additional score of 2.  The Founder player has rolled a total of 11, and the Vox player has rolled 5, giving them a total of 7 including the Sky Rider.  The Vox have lost the battle, and so must sacrifice a unit, and then retreat their remaining units back to their nearest Stronghold, leaving the Founders in control of this location.

Once the first player has completed this sequence of events, the second player goes through the same sequence.  Once both players have had their turn, they can discard any remaining Action Cards they wish, draw a fresh hand of 5 cards, and flip over another Victory Point Card.  The next World Event Card is then drawn, and the next turn begins!

There are four ways the game can end.  First, it can continue until one player has reached 10 Victory Points, through a combination of achieving objectives or claiming territories.  Second, if one faction completely wipes out the other faction then it's a case of last man standing!  Third, if the World Event Cards ever run out, the game ends and the player with the most Victory Points wins.  And finally, if Booker and Elizabeth escape Columbia, the game ends, and again the player with the most Victory Points wins.

So that's the basic turn sequence in The Siege of Columbia, although there are extra bits and pieces we've left out here.  We are here to give a review after all, not a tutorial!  So let's talk about how the game performed.

As we mentioned earlier, the initial setup was a little bit daunting.  There were a lot of different components to be placed on and around the board, and to start with it felt as though it wasn't going to be worth the effort.  However, setup speed does increase with familiarity, and once players know the ins and outs of the game this will only take a few minutes.  Once small criticism is that the setup is always the same, and it would be nice to semi-randomise some of the initial unit placement as a way of keeping the game fresh.

The World Event mechanic struck a popular note here at Games & Tea.  The voting system seems a little bit tacked-on and doesn't mesh too well with the gameplay, but the random assignment of Booker and Elizabeth's actions do a very good job of making them feel like legitimate NPCs.

The use of Action Cards to effectively fund every part of the turn is an extremely good mechanic, and this is one which Isaac Vega and the Plaid Hat team can pat themselves on the backs over.  Having just 5 cards per turn to use for voting, selling and combat is a great way to make players think hard about their turns, and we frequently found ourselves having quiet, resource-building turns in preparation for an attack or expansion during the next turn.  The ability to upgrade these cards is a fantastic touch, adding further tactical depth to a game which is already brimming with the stuff!

And speaking of combat, The Siege of Columbia has succeeded in making a system which is well balanced and easy to follow, keeping the game flowing at a smooth pace.

It's not all a basket of roses though, and from a gameplay perspective the biggest let-down for the game comes from unclear rules.  There are one or two issues where we've had to go onto the Plaid Hat forums or watch the official "How To Play" video to figure out how to correctly proceed with the gameplay.  Again, this is a fairly basic oversight for Plaid Hat to make, and the rulebook should have been checked before publishing to ensure that all rules issues were addressed.

The other major let-down comes from 4 player mode, which quite simply doesn't work.  The Siege of Columbia board simply isn't big enough to accommodate 4 factions' worth of units, and within the space of a couple of turns the entire board becomes fully occupied and completely fortified, making any kind of progress almost impossible.  As a result, the players are left just holding their own ground, upgrading units, and waiting for the World Event cards to finally run out so that the game will be over.

All in all, The Siege of Columbia proved to be a very positive gaming experience, just sadly let down by the poor production quality in relation to its price tag.  All that remains now is to break it down into bullet points and give it the Games & Tea final score!

The Good Points

• Fans of Bioshock Infinite will be easily drawn in, as The Siege of Columbia does feel like a legitimate representation of the civil war.
• There are a lot of elements to the game, but most of these mesh very well together to create a seamless, flowing experience.
• Booker and Elizabeth act as a force of nature, and their ability to sway the tide of the war is a good way to keep the game evenly balanced.
• The combat system is simple to pick up, and nicely balanced.
• The multi-purpose Action Cards reward players for planning out their turns in advance, even though Booker will sometimes decide those plans don't fit in with his own!
• The randomised Elizabeth Timelines and Leader Cards prevent each game from playing out the same way, and keep The Siege of Columbia from becoming stale.

The Bad Points

• The quality of the miniatures is far too poor for the modern gaming industry.
• The board art leaves a lot to be desired.
• The damaged cards show a lack of QC process at the manufacturers.
• Some unclear/unstated rules need to be clarified with a visit to the Plaid Hat website, which isn't what anyone wants to be doing half-way through their game.
• The box interior needed to be better designed to accommodate the plethora of game pieces.
• The game only works with 2 players, giving it limited appeal to gamers who usually play in larger groups.

Recommended Number of Players: 2

On paper The Siege of Columbia is designed for either 2 or 4 players, but definitely works best in 2 player mode.  With 4 players the number of units and buildings are almost doubled, and this makes the board easier to fortify, allowing the game to turn into a war of attrition and grind to a halt.  In 2 players games units are spread more thinly, making for a more tactical experience and a smoother running game overall.

Average Game Time: 90-120 minutes

If you're sitting down for a game of The Siege of Columbia, be prepared for a decent-length session.  With so many elements to the game, the turns can take some time to get through, and so a complete playthrough of the game can take the better part of 2 hours.  This is certainly not a complaint though, as we found the longer, more protracted games to be the most fun.

Replayability: High

The Siege of Columbia has a number of elements working in its favour to try and make each playthrough different, extended the overall lifespan of the game.  The randomised Elizabeth Timeline keeps Columbia's course from becoming predictable.  The selection of Leaders forces players to adapt their strategies from one game to the next, especially if they're alternating between the Founders and the Vox Populi.  And finally the random dictation of Booker's path around Columbia can destroy even the most strongly reinforced areas of the board, allowing the balance of power to swing back and forth unpredictably.

The Future: Uncertain

As a new release, there is no news yet on the horizon with regards to any expansions for The Siege of Columbia.  There aren't any immediately obvious ways in which the game could be expanded though, and so we aren't going to be holding our collective breath.

Price: £65

There are no two ways about it, The Siege of Columbia is an expensive game.  Expensive isn't always bad though, as long as you're getting your money's worth.  Sadly, this just isn't the case in this situation.  The gameplay is extremely good, but for the price of a top-end game, you expect a top-end product, and The Siege of Columbia just doesn't deliver.  If a group of gamers all chipped in to buy a shared copy it wouldn't be so bad, but for an individual it's far too overpriced.  As a popular new release, availability might be a struggle at this time, but this should cease to be a problem as the initial clamouring dies down.

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

(9/10 if the price was a more reasonable £45, or the quality issues were fixed)

Tea consumed during this review: Typhoo with milk and 1 sugar.  Brew rating: 6/10 (too much milk).

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Bioshock Infinite The Siege of Columbia, Part 1: Box Contents

Today we're taking a look at a game which has caused much excitement here at Games & Tea.  Not only that, but it's also a first for us, as this is our first ever review of a new release, rather than giving our opinion on a game which has been out for some time.  So it's with a great deal of fanboy jittering that we bring to you part 1 of our review of Bioshock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia, designed by Isaac Vega and published by Plaid Hat Games.

 

 

Bioshock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia is a game for 2 or 4 players (that's 2 or 4, not 2-4), and is set in the floating city of Columbia from the Bioshock Infinite videogame.  For those familiar with the game, The Siege of Columbia takes place during the events of Bioshock Infinite.  Whilst Booker and Elizabeth are running around causing havoc to their hearts' content, the players take on the roles of the Founders or the Vox Populi as they vie for control of Columbia itself.  Most of the characters from the videogame are present; Booker, Elizabeth, Commstock, Daisy and Songbird (no Lutece twins, sadly), which makes this feel a legitimate part of the Bioshock universe.

For those unfamiliar the videogame, the overall plotline is far too intricate to summarise in a pargraph, but the key point is that the players in The Siege of Columbia play as either the lower classes (the Vox), or the upper classes (the Founders) in a civil war for a city in the clouds.  Interdimensional rifts will also play a key part.

 

So, as per our usual MO, we'll be addressing the box contents in this half of the review, saving the gameplay anlaysis for the follow-up article.  The Siege of Columbia does have a great deal of elements to it, which will appear daunting at first, so be prepared for a plethora of photographs to follow!  From the outset though, we have to say that the box is rather nice.  Bravo, Plaid Hat, this is certainly one which looks nice nestled in amongst our other big-box-games in the Games & Tea collection.

 

 

In typical board game fashion, we're starting off with the game board.  Now we have to be honest, this was the first thing we found a little disappointing.  It's a nice manageable size, and much more practical for an average coffee table than the likes of Letters From Whitechapel or Zombicide, but the artwork felt like something of a let-down.  It isn't evident on wide-photos of the board such as this one (or those thrown around by Plaid Hat's PR department), but up-close the board art is largely uninspiring.  There's very little detail in there, and a remark was made during the unboxing of our copy that it looked a little bit like a theme park map, only missing a "You are here" arrow to make it complete.  When a board game is based on a videogame with such opulent graphics as Bioshock Infinite, you frankly expect it to be reflected in the gaming area, and sadly this isn't the case with The Siege of Columbia.

 

Moving on...

 

 

There's a lot going on in The Siege of Columbia, and so both factions have a Player Reference Sheet to help them keep track.  The artwork on the back of these is a distinct improvement over the board art, and so begins to restore any lost faith in the game.  These reference sheets remind players of the turn order, the cost to purchase any additional units, and the different dice rolled in combat for each of these units.  They also include the special movement rules for the Airship and Songbird; the two powerhouses of the game.  Each player has a deck of Action Cards (we'll come to those shortly), which are used in various ways at different points during the turn.  These cards can be upgraded throughout the game, and so the lower half of the reference sheets is dedicated to tracking the upgrades for each card type.

 

 

The next set of large cards are the Elizabeth Timelines.  The plot of the videogame revolved around the protagonist, Booker, as he attempted to rescue Elizabeth from Columbia.  Seeing as The Siege of Columbia takes place during these events, the Elizabeth Timeline controls the actions of Elizabeth, frequently sowing chaos amongst the players' best-laid plans.  To prevent the game from becoming too predictable, there are three Elizabeth Timelines, and one is chosen randomly at the beginning of the game.

 

 

The rest of the cards are all of a standard playing-card size, so we'll start with the Leader Cards.  Again, to keep the game fresh, the Vox Populi and Founder player must randomly select one of their four Leader Cards at the beginning of the game.  This leader will stay with them throughout The Siege of Columbia, and bestow different bonuses to the players.  Some reduce the cost of buying new units, some boost their units in combat, and so on.  Each leader will force the player to adapt their play style very differently, and can lead to some interesting encounters.

 

 

The Victory Point Cards are the key to winning The Siege of Columbia (they do have "Victory" in the name, after all!).  At the end of each turn an additional Victory Point Card joins the others on the table, and each is worth a different number of victory points depending on the difficulty of the task.  The first player to amass 10 victory points is the winner, so players have to find a balance between waging an all-out meat-grinder war on the streets of Columbia and making a beeline for the current objectives.

 

 

The World Event cards are one of the most interesting mechanics in The Siege of Columbia.  One of these is flipped over and resolved at the beginning of each turn, and can have dramatic effects on the game.  We'll go over them in more detail in Part 2 of the review, but in a nutshell these are events occurring throughout Columbia, and will usually benefit either the Founder or the Vox Populi player.  As a result these players have to "vote" using Action Cards from their hands to try and make the event go ahead, or stop it in its tracks.  As these Action Cards are also used to accumulate wealth and boost combat scores, it can be a tough tactical decision over whether to throw cards away during the vote at the beginning of the turn.  The World Event Cards also dictate Booker's movement and aggressive stance, and also the times at which the Elizabeth Timeline is triggered.

 

 

The aforementioned Action Cards make up the players' hands and draw decks, and basically are used for any action the player wishes to take during the game.  Time to vote?  Throw in some action cards!  Need some money?  Sell some action cards!  Going into a big fight?  Back up your troops with some action cards!  The draw limit of 5 per turn makes rationing these cards difficult, but it's all part of the tactical challenge of the game.

It's worth noting that when we opened our copy of the game, most of these cards were already heavily pitted and scratched straight out of the cellophane.  This almost resulted in a rage aneurism, and there was a lot of swearing going around.  After contacting Plaid Hat we've been offered replacement cards free of charge, but the obvious quality control oversight did not endear us to the product as a whole.

 

So those are all of the card types, it's time to move onto counters/tokens!

 

 

The First Player token is a rather nice one, and pretty darn sizeable!  Being the first player in The Siege of Columbia can prove to be incredibly important, and can mean the difference between victory and defeat in the long run.

 

 

As well as troops, players can fortify areas of Columbia they control using structures.  These are more limited than troops and often more powerful, but can be destroyed with much greater ease than the troops.  From top to bottom these structures are Strongholds, Turrets and Alarms.

 

 

The Victory Point tokens are used to keep track of which faction has claimed which Victory Point Cards.  Victory points can also be earned by controlling territories in Columbia, with the larger territories being worth more points.  When a player controls a territory they can place one of their Victory Point Tokens next to that territory to remind both players that they're one step closer to that win!

 

 

Booker and Elizabeth are running roughshod over the authorities of Columbia, and they really don't care about collateral damage!  There will be occasions where a location in Columbia will be destroyed, in which case a Location Destroyed marker is placed on the board, indicating that the location is no longer there.

 

 

"Booker, catch!"  Troops, structures and upgrades all cost money, and the currency in Columbia is the Silver Eagle.  The Siege of Columbia contains more than enough of these tokens for up to 4 players to amass a comfortable fortune.

 

 

After the initial game setup (full description to follow in Part 2), every unoccupied territory is given a face-down Territory Token.  Whenever a player moves their troops into that territory they must combat the token.  If they fail they get driven back to their Stronghold, if they succeed then they can stay in that territory, and are rewarded with Silver Eagles.

 

 

The last type of tokens are the Upgrade Markers.  These are simply used to keep track of the upgrades on Action Cards.  These upgrades can increase the cards' combat values, influence (voting value), or sell value.  They can also unlock special abilities which can prove useful in various situations.

 

Now you may wonder why we didn't start this review with the playing pieces.  Surely the miniatures are one of the most fun parts in any board game, right?  Well, here's the reason....

 

 

That grey blob to the left is Elizabeth, and the grey blob to the right is Booker.  We saved these for last because there's frankly nothing to get excited about here, and at Games & Tea we were bitterly disappointed (and even a little bit angry).  The Siege of Columbia is at the top price range of big box games, retailing for around £65.  When you compare the miniatures to those of the similarly-priced Zombicide, or even to the much cheaper Warhammer 40,000: Relic, these just don't cut the mustard.  They're closer to the quality of the  Zombies!!! board game, but it must be stressed that Zombies!!! is £25 and several years old!  For a high-priced new release to have such poor quality miniatures in this day and age doesn't seem acceptable, and it's another instance of Plaid Hat dropping the ball where The Siege of Columbia is concerned.

 

 

The faction units are divided into three different kinds; Commons (square bases), Rares (round bases), and Leaders (star bases).  The rarer the unit the more expensive they are, but the more damage they inflict during combat.  The red units belong to the Vox Populi and the blue to the Founders, with the two different shades of each colour allowing the factions to be split for a 4 player game.

 

 

Finally we have the dice.  Whilst Plaid Hat clearly know nothing of making high quality miniatures, it has to be said that their dice a pretty darn nice!  The yellow dice are for riding the skylines around Columbia, whilst the others are all for combat.  The different colours have different values on the six sides; white being weakest, blue stronger, and red the strongest.  These are the dice rolled by Common, Rare and Leader Units respectively.

 

The final point we have to make about The Siege of Columbia is the box itself.  Not the exterior, which we've established is rather nice, but the interior.

 

 

When a game provides you with a mountain of tokens, a pile of miniatures and dice, and several decks of cards, you expect the manufacturers to also provide a way of storing these efficiently.  In the case of The Siege of Columbia this has been another Plaid Hat oversight.  Not only is there no efficient box insert, but the rather basic one only seems to have been thrown in at the last minute as a way of propping up the board.  Unless you want your cards to become tatty very quickly (even more so than the dog-eared condition they probably arrived in), or half of your tokens to go missing, then investments will have to be made into deck boxes and polythene bags.  Once again, you're not getting your £65 worth of product for your £65.

 

Normally in Part 1 we try not to give away any clues as to how the game plays, but with The Siege of Columbia we've been so scathing that really feel as though we ought to say something.  Yes, the overall production quality of this game is far below the expectations of the asking price.  The board art is lacklustre, the figures are substandard, and the cards will probably be damaged when you get them.  That said, the gameplay is actually very good, and The Siege of Columbia has had an overall positive response from its playtesting.

 

We'll say no more than that for the moment, and you'll have to read Part 2 to see whether we thought the gameplay quality is enough to offset the manufacturing quality.  So tune back into Games & Tea in a day or two, and read all about the war on the streets of Columbia!