Dolmen

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Now days seeing men wearing white robes and long beards and carrying golden sickles would probably make you think of Carnival. But long ago it signified the legendary Druids, spiritual leaders of their societies. In Dolmen, it is your druid's task to erect the most impressive store circles in all of Ireland.

With Dolmen we at eggertspiele would like to bring back one of our favorite games. Strategy lovers, and gamers who want no luck in their games should be especially excited about supporting this project! The original Dolmengötter was released in 2005 and is a strategic area majority game in which the players move druids around the board to build stone circles. The new version, Dolmen, has had a complete graphical overhaul and contains new useful expansions such as a solo version, and a variant using burial chambers.

Dolmen is a US-friendly project! We found a partner to ship the games in North America. This way we could cut the shipping fees greatly (only 13€ to USA, 16€ to Canada). And you don't need to worry about customs or any hidden cost!

Dolmen

In Dolmen your druids must build legendary standing stone circles in Ireland and use the "Dolmen" to win the favor of the gods. The Dolmen are large, rough-hewn stone blocks that were used in tombs and in stunning monuments such as Stonehenge. They've been found in one form or another, developed independently, all over the world. The game is designed for two to four players, although the expansions allow it to be played solo or with up to five players. Dolmen contains no dice, and luck plays no role in this game. Especially with two players, Dolmen is a very strategic game.

Because you can't earn points by yourself, your moves mush be carefully planned. The points earned by your Dolmen will depend on the placement of your opponents Dolmen as well. The simple rules, and short playtime of about half an hour makes the game perfect for serious gamers as well as a game night with the family.

How do you play?

Each player starts with three druids on the board. On a player's turn, he can perform various actions. For example, a druid can be moved to an unoccupied connected space or can teleport anywhere on the board (taking 2 turns). A stone can be left on the previously occupied space. A dolmen can be placed when a stone circle contains at least two different player's stones and one has a majority. If your stones make up the majority of the stone circle, your dolmen can be placed on top of any already existing. In a tie, the stone must be placed underneath. Each player has dolmen with varying values. It takes foresight to determine the right moment to use your high-value dolmen, and when it's better to use the smaller ones. Mainly because the majority can change quickly in a stone circle.



Once all the stones have been placed in a stone circle, the victory points are counted. Dolmen higher in the stack get a higher multiplier. A dolmen normally worth 4 points is worth 20 points (5 × 4) when it lies on the top of a 5 stone circle. In the second position, it would be only 16 points (4 × 4). Points you thought were secure can disappear quickly. The game is over when a player has placed all their stones.

Dolmen, however, is not just a straight reprint of Dolmengötter. We've added several new expansions for you. For example, the "Lone Druid" expansion, which allows a solo version of Dolmen to be played through the use of special cards. In addition, we also have the "Burial Chambers" expansion and the "Rituals" expansion.

Thoughts on the original version

Because Dolmen is a new edition of a well-respected game, lets take a look at a few reviewers thoughts on the original edition.

	The game is a pearl, an excellent area majority game, and a tactical delight. There is no luck factor. Everything depends completely on decisions of the players. The more of which there are, the easier it is to form majorities. Two player games turn into a real duel. It's hard to believe that such a tactical game works equally well with all player counts. Knut Michael Wolf - for Spielbox Issue 5/05
All our plays of the game, the response was overwhelmingly positive despite the abstract theme, and often led to one of the players ordering the game shortly thereafter. It succeeds due to it's rather short playing time and simple rules that can still offer plenty of room for thought and inventiveness. Frank Gartner - for Hall 9000
	With Dolmengötter, Thomas Odenhoven has given us a captivating area majority game with a variety of possible moves, and that is even able to excite players who are generally not fond of abstract games. The game works well at every player count, although it plays very differently with 2 than with more players. [...] I can recommend Dolmengötter sight unseen to anyone who likes area majority games. Dirk Baumgart - for superfred.de

Dolmengötter is a game with no luck, and no dice. Everything depends solely on your tactics and paying attention to your opponents. There are also no vicious strategies designed to take a single player out of the game, and that's a very important selling point. If you're looking for a classic strategy game, you've come to the right place.

Jörg Sterner - for Spieletest.at

Our Goals

With your help we want to release a new and improved edition of Dolmen, plus add new expansions. If we exceed the minimum required funding, we have several stretch goals planned:

7.000€ - Dolmen will be produced: At this level Dolmen will be produced. The game will include a single sided board, and enough druids and dolmen for 4 players.

11.000€ - 3 additional tiles for the "Burial Chambers" expansion: At this level we'll add three more tiles to the "Burial Chambers" expansion. The theme of the new tiles will be revealed later.

15.000€ Double-sided game board: The Dolmen game board will now be printed double-sided with the reverse containing an alternate board layout. The designer Thomas Odenhoven is developing a new layout as an alternative to the existing stone circle arrangement.

19.000€ - 3 additional tiles for the "Burial Chambers" expansion: Just like the previous 11.000 Euro goal, here we'll add another three tiles to the "Burial Chambers" expansion.

27.000€ Printed game pieces: The sticker sheet will be removed from the game, and instead all the dolmen stones from both the base game and the "5 Player" expansion will be printed.

New Additions:

For the new edition of Dolmengötter we've added a total of four expansions to expand on the original game. Each of the four expansions will be available for you to include with your game from the beginning, and do not require a stretch goal to unlock. Please note that these expansions are available exclusively for Spieleschmiede supporters and will not be included in the retail version!

"Burial Chambers" expansion: The "Burial Chambers" expansion contains 10 round cardboard tokens and a black wooden blockade stone. The tokens are distributed on the board, and will be collected by the players druids over the course of the game. They make additional actions available to the players over the course of the game.

"Rituals" expansion: This expansion adds 10 Task cards or tiles to the game (the final format has not yet been decided). Each player receives two of these cards at the beginning of the game. Each card contains different goals that can be achieved with your stones. Succeeding in these difficult tasks will gain you additional victory points at the end of the game.

"Lone Druid" expansion: A total of 36 cards and 1 die make up this expansion. As a lone druid you'll have to stand alone against your virtual opponents! You goal is simple - to collect as many victory points as possible.

"5 Player" expansion: With five players much more game components are required. Therefore this expansion comes with additional dolmen, octagonal marker stones, and druids for the fifth player.

Review

jPlay made a preview video with an explaination:

Who is behind Dolmen?

We are eggertspiele, a German publisher of strategic and tactical board games. All our games have one thing in common: a low luck factor and focus on experienced gamers, as shown for example by the 2014 Kennerspiel des Jahres nomination for Rokkoko. Peter Eggert, Phillip El Alaoui and the rest of their team have been developing board games since 1996. While initially only their own designs were used, they eventually started publishing games by outside designers as well. The first of these was Dolmengötter. The designer of Dolmengötter and Dolmen is Thomas Odenhoven, an experienced game designer who, in addition to Dolmengötter, is also responsible for Portobello Market (2007) and Stories! (2013). For Portobello Market, Thomas not only received three nominations for various international awards (Kinderspielexperten 2007, Vuoden Peli Adult Game of the Year 2007 and Boardgames Australia: Best International Game 2008), but also first place in the Swedish Årets Spel 2007 as the best family game.

In October 2013 at the modell-hobby-spiel in Leipzig, Thomas gave a short video interview about Dolmengötter and this project that you can watch here:

Delivery in December

Our goal is to be able to deliver Dolmen in December of this year. Spiele-Offensive.de will handle the shipping of the games. Backers in Germany will receive everything shipped for free. For other countries see this postage cost table.

Please do not add the postage costs to your pledge amount yourself. Spieleschmiede will automatically calculate and add them based on your delivery address.

Join in!

Please support Dolmen by backing this project. You can also help us greatly by telling others about the project - whether by posting in your favorite forum, linking it from your website, or sharing it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

If you're excited about Dolmen then use one of these avatars for your profile on your favorite social networks! Just right-click on the image and choose "Save Image As..." (the option may be slightly different depending on your browser).



Support Dolmen today and receive your copy of the game and exclusive rewards!



This project is run by eggertspiele GmbH & Co. KG, Friedhofstr. 17, 21073 Hamburg.

Pictures of the game and packaging represent the current state of development, and may still be subject to change.

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