Forged in Steel

I had been hunting for it for ages, at a sensible price too — which is not especially easy. And once it finally joined the hoard, it took nearly as long to reach the table: on many nights it was the second or third choice, only to be dropped at the last minute because too many of us had shown up or because fatigue won. But you know how it goes: once, twice, three times the thief… and eventually it comes to steal your mines.

In theory, Forged in Steel is a low-luck city-building game, somewhat like Urban Sprawl but with less randomness and a stronger focus on where you place your buildings. Placement matters, and the city you construct is not merely decorative: it is the ground on which the entire game is played.

In practice, though, the main system is making sure nobody gets to enjoy their city. Your fellow players burn houses, steal factories, swap cards, and generally keep interfering with one another’s plans. It is take-that in quantities that make Cosmic Encounter feel like a polite social visit; even Red Light, with all its double hits, felt almost cooperative compared with this monster.

Oddly enough, it works. It is like a sauce with 100,000+ Scoville units: such a bad experience that it becomes good, but in a very specific, almost punitive way. As Sotirios put it, it is the perfect game if you want to relieve yourself in somebody’s dentures. You will not make friends, that much is certain. I give it a positive mark — but I completely understand anyone who would rate it on a par with my own rating for Fief.