Biomos is now in béta!

[MathCT]

Biomos is a fast family game where you embody a planet. Over millions of years you grow to realize your dream: to harbor life on beautiful landscapes.
Players take turns drafting land tokens (sea, ice, forest, mountain and desert) choosing where to put it on their planet board. By completing one of the pattern available before the others, they can claim the corresponding biome card and have life appears on their planet.
The winner is the player with the most different species on its planet when they are all complete.
Both game modes are accessible (beginner and advanced)

BGG page : https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/362700/biomos
Please try the game here : https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=biomos
English rules: https://subverti.com/en/biomos/faq/
French rules: https://subverti.com/fr/biomos/faq/

[smci]

The announcement for Alpha (but no reviewer discussion) was https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32787
.

• Basic Mode: I didn't get to post an alpha review but my personal take is that Basic Mode with 2P is waay too simple, it's just deterministically 11(+1) turns long and way overly influenced by whether the first two draws of 5 terrain tiles do (or don't) match the starting biomes, and moreover whether those basic biomes can be extended into a giant (or not). You can't do much in a Basic Mode game, just get one or two basic biomes, at most one giant biome, and choose your moon to get at most 9/12 pts. In 2P if you play negatively you can totally wreck your opponent and compel them so that their last one or two draws from 5 discs are terrain they really don't want. Why the number 5: always drawing 5 discs-at-a-time from 5 terrain types? It ruins 2P.

• Game Turn (p.8) Why not also give players (in 2P mode, only) an option either a) to destroy one of their existing terrain discs? Or b) to set aside the remaining undrawn terrain tokens (or at least the last 1 or 2 from 5), draw a new 5 from bag (without being able to draw this turn), then put the unwanted discs from before back in the bag?

• Advanced Mode and "Planetary (Terraforming) Events" look awesome, they need to be promoted from being hidden on p.8 and not mentioned on p.4 ("Play a few games of Simple Mode to learn, then advance to Normal Mode"). I'd rename Basic Mode "Simple Mode" or even "Learner Mode" and "Advanced Mode" "Normal Mode". This matters a whole lot because this game currently doesn't have critical mass of people playing it and likely won't ever reach it otherwise. No point forcing a bad initial experience on them with Basic Mode. Maybe Basic Mode should just be moved into a tutorial.

• On a practical note, on some giant biome cards, the three light-shaded terrain colors are very hard to read against a light-colored background). Suggest either change that, or also list the terrain requirements in small text underneath, or just show the terrain discs against black background.

• Terminology on p.6: instead of saying "the larger(/smaller) space on their planet board", suggest just calling them "the terrain ring" and "the moon spot"?

• Practical issue: the text of the rules (even a much simplified version) is not visible or accessible on the game page; only by clicking through to the manufacturer site and then through to the PDF. This actually makes it impossible for new players on mobile to learn (unless you can explain to them over voice), which is most BGA players, so it's limiting takeup.

• Suggest you actually list each of the 10 giant biomes at the end of the rules so we can see them and which adjacent combinations of terrain are most/least likely. Or perhaps allow limited drafting at setup, by allowing the players to jointly agree at most one of the giant biomes to discard, and draw a replacement. Again, this seems to be a 2P thing.

• I suspect the game plays better with 3/4P (much less potential for adversarial play). Anyone have sugestions on the recommended number of players? 3? 3-4? 4?

Hope this helps. Visually and thematically it's good. Good luck!

[cigma]

The game description on BGA https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=biomos says: "The winner is the player with the most different species on its planet when they are all complete", but I can't find this in the rulebook. Instead it says: "The Planet with the most points is the winner!
In case of a tie, the Planet with the most different types of terrain is the winner."

Can you clarify, please?

[Yoann Brogol]

Hello Cigma,
In the game's lore, the victory points represent the different species appeared on the planet. So, it's a thematic way of saying the player with the most victory points wins.

[cigma]

Hello Cigma,
In the game's lore, the victory points represent the different species appeared on the planet. So, it's a thematic way of saying the player with the most victory points wins.

Thank you for your explanation! Thematic expressions are fine But since it is nowhere in the rules that "the victory points represent the different species appeared on the planet" I find it much more confusing than helpful. May I ask you to consider reformulating this passage?

[MathCT]

The announcement for Alpha (but no reviewer discussion) was https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32787
.

• Basic Mode: I didn't get to post an alpha review but my personal take is that Basic Mode with 2P is waay too simple, it's just deterministically 11(+1) turns long and way overly influenced by whether the first two draws of 5 terrain tiles do (or don't) match the starting biomes, and moreover whether those basic biomes can be extended into a giant (or not). You can't do much in a Basic Mode game, just get one or two basic biomes, at most one giant biome, and choose your moon to get at most 9/12 pts. In 2P if you play negatively you can totally wreck your opponent and compel them so that their last one or two draws from 5 discs are terrain they really don't want. Why the number 5: always drawing 5 discs-at-a-time from 5 terrain types? It ruins 2P.

• Game Turn (p.8) Why not also give players (in 2P mode, only) an option either a) to destroy one of their existing terrain discs? Or b) to set aside the remaining undrawn terrain tokens (or at least the last 1 or 2 from 5), draw a new 5 from bag (without being able to draw this turn), then put the unwanted discs from before back in the bag?

• Advanced Mode and "Planetary (Terraforming) Events" look awesome, they need to be promoted from being hidden on p.8 and not mentioned on p.4 ("Play a few games of Simple Mode to learn, then advance to Normal Mode"). I'd rename Basic Mode "Simple Mode" or even "Learner Mode" and "Advanced Mode" "Normal Mode". This matters a whole lot because this game currently doesn't have critical mass of people playing it and likely won't ever reach it otherwise. No point forcing a bad initial experience on them with Basic Mode. Maybe Basic Mode should just be moved into a tutorial.

• On a practical note, on some giant biome cards, the three light-shaded terrain colors are very hard to read against a light-colored background). Suggest either change that, or also list the terrain requirements in small text underneath, or just show the terrain discs against black background.

• Terminology on p.6: instead of saying "the larger(/smaller) space on their planet board", suggest just calling them "the terrain ring" and "the moon spot"?

• Practical issue: the text of the rules (even a much simplified version) is not visible or accessible on the game page; only by clicking through to the manufacturer site and then through to the PDF. This actually makes it impossible for new players on mobile to learn (unless you can explain to them over voice), which is most BGA players, so it's limiting takeup.

• Suggest you actually list each of the 10 giant biomes at the end of the rules so we can see them and which adjacent combinations of terrain are most/least likely. Or perhaps allow limited drafting at setup, by allowing the players to jointly agree at most one of the giant biomes to discard, and draw a replacement. Again, this seems to be a 2P thing.

• I suspect the game plays better with 3/4P (much less potential for adversarial play). Anyone have sugestions on the recommended number of players? 3? 3-4? 4?

Hope this helps. Visually and thematically it's good. Good luck!

Thanks for your feedback. I take note of your suggestions. I think the game publisher will take the time to respond to you regarding the rules and I will also look with them at possible improvements if necessary.

[MathCT]

Thank you for your explanation! Thematic expressions are fine But since it is nowhere in the rules that "the victory points represent the different species appeared on the planet" I find it much more confusing than helpful. May I ask you to consider reformulating this passage?

Thanks for your feedback. We will look with the editor to improve the description

[Yoann Brogol]

The announcement for[...]

Thank you for your detailed return about Biomos! I will try to answer you point by point, keep in mind we worked 3 years with tests in real world and a lot the design choices are the result of these. We wanted to have an easy to learn, contemplative, thematic and enjoyable game for the general public with the possibility to go further for the seasoned players.

• Basic mode

It's a game designed for the general public, the basic mode is indeed easy when you are a seasoned board gamer but it is not for the people in general. But if you want to play strategically, you can still do it, there is more control than you think when you are accustomed (or else I wouldn't have a 90% victory rate at 2P in this mode).

• Game turn

We tested these possibilities and it was really too powerful. All the balance comes from the fact you draft for you while counter-drafting for the others. By letting more direct control on the draft, it becomes too easy for everybody to do exactly what they want, loosing all the interesting tension. The good control sensation for player wanted to explore the full strategic side comes in the advanced mode by keeping the core mechanic working.

• Advanced Mode

Advanced mode is for people like you and me who wants more depth. So, we indeed make the choice to have it here in the rules to not disturb the general public with useless information for starting the game.

• Graphic design

I agree the web rendering of the cards (essentially the size and RGB-color) make it less readable than the real game. MathCT did implemented a possibility to see the card in better size by keeping your mouse on the card.

• English translation

Thank you for this nice suggestion, the translation is clearly not perfect from our translator partner. The game is not published in english (yet), so we hope to have a best one to propose next year but we'll see to improve our translation sooner!

• Best player configuration

For me, if you want a tactic game the best is 2p in basic mode, advanced mode any config or even solo mode. If you want a chill game, 3/4p in basic mode.

I hope this brings some answers to your interesting feedback, thank you again!

[Mathieu 314]

The planet board in advanced mode does not have enough resolution (or is too small ?) when the player need to choose a board. If I didn't read the rules befores (also the advanced mode is not in the in game rules section of bga), I would have trouble understanding the board power.