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Ostia

Date Played: 9/28/2006
Description: Ostia is a nifty little game that seems like a bidding game- there is a lot of bidding going on- but with more importance on resource allocation. Put another way, bidding on stuff is important, but how you use what you won is much more important.

Description from Mayfair Games:

Ostia, first century A.D.: Merchants obtain and distribute the resources that the Roman Senate needs to complete civic projects. Those that support the Senate over the next five years will gain special favor in the eyes of the senators.

Players receive resources from arriving ships, and after buying and selling with other players, try to assemble the resources the Senate is most eager to receive. However, the needs of the Senate change from year to year. In OSTIA, players must judge when is the best time to provide goods to the Senate. But, players must also sell goods in order to get the income necessary to obtain more resources. And, the Senate watches to make sure that no one uses more resource types than they should….

Will you be clever enough to become the favorite of the Senate?

Reviews for Ostia :

Reviewer: Dave
Subject: Ostia Review.
Review: At the last BGB New Game Night, the game of choice was Ostia. I had arrived just as the first game was started, but opted to bow out in favor of a quick sandwich. As I ate, I was listening to the group play, and it sounded more or less like the game was all bidding on various items, and little else.

After the first game finished, a second game was started and I joined in. The rules were fairly simple, and as I thought, most of the game was bidding. The odd thing was, unlike games like Power Grid or For Sale, the only restriction on the bidding was that it had to be equal to or higher than the value of the goods being bid upon, but not necessarily higher than anyone else's bids. And the highest bid isn't always the one that gets the goods - it's entirely up to the individual doing the selling, who also has the option to buy the goods themselves.

After the bidding is done, the actual complexity of the game comes out. Who bought what, and what will they do with their various purchased goods to net them the greatest prestige or profit? That is the real game, knowing your opponent and their playing style, and keeping track mentally of who had the most valuable goods.

In a casual setting, this game can be a fun diversion, but I think this game is a good one for a serious gaming crowd who is looking for a game to play repeatedly with a regular group. Knowing your opponents is a valuable skill in playing Ostia.

Reviewer: Dave
Subject: Good game!
Review: Ostia is a game about Roman trading and politics and tied into an
auction/blind bidding type of game. You start with five difrerent resources and you
auction off four of them (in groups of two). Once all the resources are auctioned
off, you use what you bought to either sell on the market (to make money) or to
bribe the senators (to earn victory points). I thought it all went together well.
There was more control playing with three, but I thought it was more fun playing
with five, as you could easily get shut out of victory points. Definately one I
would play again.

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Game Review History

Game	Date Played	Reviews
Bison	8/31/2006	2
Conquest of Pangea	8/24/2006	4
El Grande	8/10/2006	4
Emipre Builder	9/14/2006	3
Emira	9/21/2006	0
Iron Dragon	10/12/2006	1
Nautilus	3/3/2007	0
Ostia	9/28/2006	2
Sunken City	1/19/2007	1
Tempus	8/17/2006	4