Dead collectible games -- what are they good for? Part II

Part II of my pondering (pawndering?) on the retained usefulness of out-of-print collectible games.

Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures
I backed into this one, after picking up a few miniatures and finding out that that my stepson liked playing. It's a decent little skirmish-level wargame and has the added advantage of being usable for role-playing as well, should I ever decide to get back into that. I didn't go too far into the game, ending up with just about 200 figures, which is enough for my local purposes. The competitive scene was already winding down when I first got into the game and so that never played much of a role in my purchases. DDM doesn't take up too much space (a couple of shoebox-sized boxes and a map tube) so its relatively low-impact as far as space and trouble goes and I'll probably keep it unless I have to move out-of-town. Its probably not worth shipping off in that situation.

Navia Dratp

Another relatively low-impact game space wise, Navia Dratp is really an odd duck. It really is a good game, as the high ratings it gets from people on Boardgmae Geek who've tried it attest. But it was probably one of the worst-marketed games in history. Between the strange theme, the tongue-twisting terms and obscure names it's amazing anyone bought it. But the worst aspect of the marketing plan was making it a collectible game. It really wasn't necessary. Unlike the open-ended universe of D&D or Dreamblade, or even the finite but large potential of Axis & Allies , it's hard to see how the game could have supported hundreds of different figures or dozens of expansions even if it had taken off. It turned out to be a moot point, however, as the game bit the dust as the second expansion came out and in effect it turned into the expandable games= it probably should have been in the first place. It really is quite good, however, and because my collection is big enough to support two players with a wide variety of units this remains a keeper -- even if I move.

Lord of the Rings Tradeable Miniatures Game

I liked the miniatures and the theme, but the game was rather ordinary as far as fun and interest go, and since its been discontinued I've had a very hard time getting it on the table. While it was still a supported system there was a game shop that hosted some gaming in it but that dried up and despite multiple attempts since this one just can't provoke any interest. I'm probably going to give up and unload this one as not worth the space devoted to it. Over the years I've been pretty ruthless about culling wargames that can't make the cut of getting table-time and one thing I've learned is that once it's gone I rarely miss it. In the case of LOTR I do like the miniatures and the game system is OK, but I don't like them enough to stare at them unplayed. Better they find a home elsewhere. It's really too bad, because I did build up a pretty decent collection overall, with a few hundred figures. There's room in my game room for a handful of games that may not get played much or at all, but not much. None of my usual reasons of nostalgia, study or historical interest apply in this case and so these guys are eBay bound.

Hasbro giveth, Hasbro taketh away. Dreamblade site is gone

No sooner do I notice the release date for the upcoming Axis & Allies Europe 1940 announcement than I see some bad news.

It appears that the official Dreamblade site, including the useful Dreamcatcher utility, is gone. There's still a forum limping along, but I think it's days are also numbered.

It's really a pity, but the game itself is good. I can still gin up some interest at the local game store when I haul it out. But, as a collectible game, it really loses something when I'm the only one with figures. I end up seeing my own constructed warbands fighting my own warbands.

This sort of slow death is common for discontinued collectible games, of course, but it's one reason why I'll never get into another game with that format. I think Magic: The Gathering is probably as immortal as such a game can be, but other than that I think the format is doomed.

I'm following the A&A minis franchises, but I expect those will peter out eventually. Mitigating their fate is the usefulness of those minis for general purpose wargaming use, so they'll never really be obsolete.

Right now I'm sitting on three "dead" collectible miniatures games that I still like well enough to keep and play, but their long-term future appears very questionable: Dreamblade, Navia Dratp and Lord of the Rings: Tradeable Miniatures Game. So long as I have space and a stepson who'll play on occasion they're worth keeping. But should space become tight and/or Young General's interest shift I'll have a hard time justifying the play value vs. storage space tradeoff of these games.

Of the three, the LOTR:TMG is the weakest game and I mostly keep the miniatures because I like how they look. Navia Dratp is almost more of a big regular game than a collectible because it was discontinued so early. It's biggest problem is the obscure theme and terminology. Dreamblade was a nice combo of nice-looking miniatures and a more accessible theme, but it doesn't appear to be enough to save it over the long haul. I rather doubt I'll keep it for my retirement years gaming.

Reviewing collectible games from a wargamer's perspective: Navia Dratp

There's not much to see here, from a wargamer's perspective. Navia Dratp is an abstract conflict game similar too chess, or, even more so, shogi. While it's a wargame in the very generic sense that chess or shogi are also wargames, Navia Dratp has even less thematic appeal to sort of things that wargamers generally appreciate such as history or military terms.

Indeed, the theme is wholly bizarre, and, I think played a big role in the game's failure to catch on. It's simply too alien from players' frame of reference. This is a shame, because underneath the odd theme there's actually a pretty interesting abstract strategy game.

Players control an army the comprises one Navia (an anime-style female figure that plays the role of a king in chess); seven black "gulled" which are pawn-like pieces that provide an added benefit of giving the player one "gyullas" (the game's currency) each time it moves, two red gyullas which can move a bit farther than the black ones and provide a bonus of 3 gyullas every time they move and seven "maseitai" which are the collectible pieces in the game. Each maseitai has unique movement ability and usually some other power as well. These other powers come into play when a player pays the "dratp" cost of the piece, which allows it to rotate a patented "compass" that reveals the maseitais enhanced powers. Sometimes this power is merely expanded movement ability, but there are many other powers as well that can affect friendly and/or opposing pieces. The more powerful the pieces, the greater the cost in gyullas to dratp it. Also, the dratp cost of the piece is how much gyullas the opponent can score for capturing the piece. It's sort as if a chess player scored a bonus of 3 victory points for capturing a knight.

Adding to the game interest and tension there are multiple ways to win. Perhaps the most common way is to capture the opposing Navia, similar to checkmating a king in chess. If a player can accumulate 60 gyullas he can "dratp" the Navia, which results in an instant win.

Harder to accomplish, but still posing a threat, if a player can move the Navia all the way across the board then they can also win. "

The Navia and the black and red gulled pieces start on the board, but all the maseitai start off board in a player's "keep." Instead of moving a piece a player can summon a maseitai to one of the summoning squares on the board. This means, in chess terms, a players risks losing tempo every time he deploys a new maseitai, providing another interesting strategic decision.

Compared to chess, most Navia Dratp figures have very restricted movement. The vast majority can move no more than two squares, and usually in quite restricted directions. A few pieces, once dratped, gain powers similar to chess bishops, rooks or the queen, but generally the game will develop at a slower pace than a chess game.

Mitigating the short movement ability, the board is only 7x7 squares and there's a lot of important game action that doesn't necessarily involve much movement.

Once you get used to the odd theme and terms, Navia Dratp is an interesting abstract strategy game. The collectible aspects are muted by the fact that the game went out of print before getting too far along. There are only 30 maseitai in the two expansions, in addition to the 14 that come with the two starter sets. All are still available online. While there are seven different Navia figures, from a game function standpoint they are all the same, so you don't need any besides the two in the starters.

As far as whether the game is recommended or not, it really depends on whether you're a wargamer who also happens to like abstract strategy games. Many wargamers like chess, but I'm not sure that they like chess out of proportion to the general population. So if you happen to like chess-like games, you may find Navia Dratp of interest.

If, on the other hand, you're pretty strictly a wargamer then take a pass on Navia Dratp. It bears not resemblance at all to a fantasy or sci fi wargame, let alone a history-based game, and, if anything, the bizarre theme will be too annoying to deal with.

Navia Dratp, a twisted and sad saga of marketing madness

Metamorphosis is a fascinating chess-like abstract strategy game.

Players earn points by moving pawns forward, capturing opposing pieces and through some other piece-specific means. They can spend those points to metamorphose non-pawn pieces to more powerful versions or, in some cases, give the metamorphosed piece some new power.

The game has multiple ways to win: Capturing the opposing King, accumulating 60 points so the King can be metamorphosed into an Emperor or passing the king all the way across the board.

Described such, this probably sounds like a fairly easy-to-learn game that has the potential for some interesting and intricate game play. It could easily be themed, too, with wizards and dragons, insects, dream creatures, sci fi or even something whimsical.


Unfortunately BanDai, in the grip of some corporate madness, obscured this clever little strategy game under an overbearing weight of obscure and unpronounceable terms, bizarre figure art and collectible figures .

For those who wade through all that, there the reward of an intriguing game. And indeed, the game has recorded several hundred plays on BGG, which is a respectable number, exceeding all but a handful of wargames for example.

The game is Navia Dratp, and its name provides the first evidence of what was wrong with the marketing approach. If you're going to make up a name, why not make up one that people will know how to pronounce? Instead they include a silent "T' (it's Nah-Vee-ah Drahp) for know discernible reason.

Instead of calling the game's currency something obvious and easily understood such as points, or gold or jewels or whatever, they are called "Gyullas."

The game pieces bear names like Kapinah, Kapinahs (!?) Tanhoiser and Sungyullas.

And so on.

While marketing the game as a "collectible" game the maker left most of the pieces a very dark unpainted grey. In the initial offering only a small portion of the pieces were fully painted premium pieces. The second wave included one painted piece per booster, which was an improvement, albeit and inadequate one.

The sculpts are interesting in their own way, but too idiosyncratic to really draw the players in. There's an "anime" feel to the lot, but the most anime style pieces are the Navia (king) pieces,m which are rendered bizarrely as cute girls and some of their guard pieces. Most of the other pieces are more like something out of a horror movie. All that might have made some sense, except the background story for the Navia Dratp universe is very sketchy without enough information provided to really make sense of things.

Few games so professionally produced by a major company have been mismarketed so badly. Would the game have failed anyway? Perhaps. DreamBlade, which had a much more coherent marketing effort for a game that was also very interesting and well produced still didn't manage to do well enough to achieve breakthrough. (Although by boardgame standards it did rather well.)

But whatever chance Navia Dratp may have had was overwhelmed by the way it was presented.

Despite it all, however, there's an interesting game that's well worth playing. The multiple victory conditions, in particular, is a nice Eastern style touch that provides opportunities for misdirection and strategy. The interaction between pieces can lead to some unexpected combos that can tax the mind quite enjoyably. They also provide a universe of possibilities that would be unsolvable for a computer intelligence.

Ironically, the game's official demise may be good from a player's point of view. The base set and one expansion that were produced provide more than enough different pieces while stabilizing the game. Each player only needs seven pieces, so the five dozen or so available are sufficient. None of the pieces are overpowered, and indeed, most of the pieces are strictly limited in movement abilities, so there's little chance that a player will win because of the army he drafted instead of the cleverness of his play.

Navia Dratp ought to live on for quite a while as a small niche product that appeals to certain tastes.