In 2016, Calliope Games released the first three games in the Titans of Gaming series: Hive Mind, Menu Masters, and Running With the Bulls.  Now in 2017, Calliope Games is back with three more games in the Titans series — Ancestree, Capital City, and Shutterbug!  This month, we preview Ancestree by Eric M. Lang.

When setting out to design his game for the series, Eric was looking to create an easy-to-learn game that would play in about 30-minutes.  He wanted to explore drafting and tile-laying mechanics and soon had a game he thought might be right for the series.  He gave it to his playtesters, who tried out the game, played it over and over, and came back to him with the feedback, "Yeah... it's good." 

Eric's response: "So, you didn't like it?"

The playtesters said, "No, it's ok."

Eric: "So, not great."

Playtesters: "Eric, it's fine."

No designer wants to hear "good," "ok," and "fine" connected with his game, so he mentioned the situation to his wife Sonja.  "Well, genealogy is a really great theme,” she replied.  “What about designing a game about family trees?"  Eric asked, "If I design a game about genealogy, will YOU play it with me?" It’s important to understand that Eric's wife plays games, but isn’t a gamer.  She agreed, and Eric began to redesign a game about genealogy that not only played as well for two players as it did for six, but was a game that his wife would love, too.

This time, the game came together in a way that felt much better than good.  With an easy-to-teach ruleset and challenging decisions, this game played in about 30 minutes and scaled perfectly for 2-6 players.  The design was sent to Calliope Games, who began additional playtesting and got the ball rolling on the art and design element of the project.

Larry Elmore (http://www.larryelmore.com/), a 40-year industry veteran, was commissioned to do the artwork for Ancestree.  He was drawn to the Titan Series from the beginning, but became even more excited when he heard the vision for the game’s look and feel.  Working outside of his normal style, he was excited to create a number of line portraits inspired by18th century satire. Larry soon found that the project was much more of a challenge than anticipated.  Using an "etching" style and look, he needed every line to be perfect.  Additionally, he would be handing his art to another artist who would create stylized period borders for his drawings. Rising to the challenge, Larry came through in a big way, delivering a beautiful set of generational portraits. Elmore fans will be excited to know that one is a self-portrait!  

Next to the project was Adelheid Zimmerman (http://store.draupnirpress.com/), a talented graphic artist and designer, who would bring Larry's work to life by coloring the pieces true to the style. She designed the fancy borders that incorporate specific icons required for gameplay; yet her work was only beginning. She also designed the tokens, scorecards, icons, and overall game presentation to fit the vision and style requested by the Calliope team. Inspired by the game and the final art, Adelheid has begun work on a series of copper plates, each representing one of the five families in Ancestree; she will be producing these five limited-edition, hand-colored prints in conjunction with Calliope Games and Draupnir Press with a period-correct letter press. More to come on that later!

Excited about the Titan Series as a whole, Ray Wehrs – President of Calliope Games states “Ancestree is an exceptionally easy tile-drafting game that is layered with strategy and is simply beautiful to look at… how could it not be? It’s been a labor of love for Eric, Larry, Heidi [Adelheid], and the entire Calliope team. I’m extremely proud of the game and all the people who influenced it!”

Ancestree is a tile-drafting/laying game played over three rounds.  In each round, the players start by randomly drawing six tiles.  After examining the tiles, each player selects one of the tiles and passes the remainder to a neighbor (left in the first and third round, right in the second round).  Simultaneously, all players reveal their tile, place it into their family tree, and then pick up the stack passed to them.  This continues until the players receive two tiles.  One of the two tiles is attached to the family tree, the other consigned to the dustbin of history (removed from the game).  Now each player scores their family tree. They’re awarded both for the most generations of similar families and for accumulated wealth.  After three rounds, bonuses are awarded for marriages.  The player with the most splendid family tree is the winner!

Ancestree is a perfect introduction to tile-laying and drafting games.  It’s easy to teach new players and offers seasoned gamers engaging strategic choices.  With a 2-6 player count and play time under 30-minutes, Eric Lang’s Ancestree is a surefire hit for all players.