Am I The Bolas? - Throwing Off the Scent
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Strategic Planning Illustrated by Donato Giancola
Hello, and welcome to Am I the Bolas?
This column is for all of you out there who have ever played some Magic and wondered if you were the bad guy. I'm here to take in your story with all of its nuances so I can bring some clarity to all those asking, "Am I the Bolas?"
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HEY, MIKE
(Post edited for brevity, clarity, and then some.)
Hi Mike,
I've been enjoying your column for a while now and wanted to ask "am I the bolas?"
We were playing a game of five-person Commander, called Kingdom (some play groups call it Bang). We each randomly got assigned roles and I ended up being the Bodyguard, whose goal is protecting the King player. To throw people off, I chose my Edgar Markov
The King player took it quite personally, got very upset that I kept attacking him. He picked up his deck to leave the table. I had to break character to tell him not to do that, since it would ruin the game for everyone. At that point, the real Assassins figured out what I was doing, wrathed
Am I the Bolas for trying to throw people off the scent in the way I did, angering the King to the point of him wanting to quit? Or was my strategy reasonable, and he was just a poor sport?
Iain D.
HOWDY IAIN!
Thank you for writing in and asking me to weigh in on your story. As I mention every week, if folks don't write to me, there's no column, so if you, the reader, want to send me a story, whether it's your own or one from Reddit or a friend's, please send it to amithebolas@gmail.com and I'll get to it here.
To get into this one, I think we need to check in with the rules of this variant. While you call it Kingdom or Bang, I've heard it called Game of Thrones and We-Have-Five-Players-We-Can't-Just-Play-Regular-Guys-Come-On-That's-Ridiculous-I-Mean-Kevin-Likes-It-But-That's-Because-He-Builds-Broken-Decks-That-Benefit-From-More-Opponents-So-Let's-Do-The-One-With-The-King.
Kingdom (probably the easiest way to refer to this format variant) is played with upwards of four players. Each player is secretly assigned a role. The only role that is immediately revealed is the Monarch (going with a gender-neutral term for King here) because the other roles have different goals based on the Monarch itself. There's the Mercenaries or Bandits, as I've heard them called; their goal is to kill the Monarch. The Assassin's goal is to kill the whole table including the Monarch, arguably the hardest role. The Usurper can kill and become the Monarch. The Necromancer reveals themselves when they kill a player to recruit that player as a new teammate. Then of course there's the Bodyguard or the Knight, who must protect the Monarch.
All said, your strategy to attack the Monarch is valid. You're probably trying to set up your board to be able to get to a point where you can overwhelm your opponents and swoop in as a hero. Your opponents thinking you're one of them is definitely a mind game worth playing.
The Monarch deciding to quit the game when ultimately the game is based around them dying is dookie doodoo, but what can you do. If they really want to concede, then they take it to a vote or do it on their turn and then you shuffle up for another game. If you're the Monarch, you need to know that you're going to be targeted and attacked; more than half the table's goal is to see you die. The Assassin and the Knight need you to live or at least live until the end before taking the final shots, so there's some built in protection in there in some way. That said, it's a strategy card game. Having strategy is how you play. In the end, I think the Monarch scooping is a poor move, but well within their right: if they're not enjoying themselves, then fine, nobody can literally stop you. But then what?
Personally, I'd let them sit out and play a four-player game while they shake off the steam.
All in all, I think your strategy is valid, but I do think there are things you can do to still kind of wink to your Monarch and help them in ways without applying too much pressure.
Not the Bolas.
Thanks again for writing in!