Latest news with #resourceManagement
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
125,000-year-old ‘fat factory' reveals Neanderthals crushed bones for precious protein
A recent excavation at the Neumark-Nord 2 site in central Germany has witnessed stunning revelations regarding how Neanderthals tackled cold, brutal winters. Researchers have found that humans in those times used to crack open bones to extract fatty marrow from bone cavities more than 1.5 million years ago. Beyond these activities, Neanderthals also crushed large mammal bones from at least 172 large animals into thousands of fragments to render calorie-rich bone grease by heating them in water. Dr Geoff Smith, co-author from the University of Reading, said: 'This discovery shows that Neanderthals at Neumark-Nord 2 conducted sophisticated resource management tens of thousands of years earlier than previously thought." "These weren't simple hunter-gatherers just getting by day to day—they were master planners who could look ahead, organise complex tasks, and squeeze every last calorie from their environment,' he continued. The findings led by archaeologists across different universities have indicated that Neanderthals ran a 'fat factory' by selecting a lakeside location specifically for this purpose. The location was chosen to process bones from 172 large mammals, including deer, horses, and aurochs. These activities were previously said to be limited to later human groups. However, current findings suggest they could be dated back to Neanderthals as early as 125,000 years ago. The Neumark-Nord site in Germany has been studied for many years, starting in the 1980s. From 2004 to 2009, archaeologists from MONREPOS and Leiden University dug at one part of the site all year round. They also ran a field school there, training over 175 students from around the world. In 2023, researchers found strong evidence that Neanderthals hunted and cut up straight-tusked elephants—huge animals weighing up to 13 tons, which could feed more than 2,000 adults in one go. They also used fire to manage the land and processed many different animals at different spots. All of this shows that Neanderthals were much better at planning and using their environment than we used to think. Neumrk-Nort site was first excavated from 2004 to 2009 by a group of researchers hailing from different parts of the world. "What makes Neumark-Nord so exceptional is the preservation of an entire landscape, not just a single site,' noted Leiden-based author Prof. Wil Roebroeks. "We see Neanderthals hunting and minimally butchering deer in one area, processing elephants intensively in another, and—as this study shows—rendering fat from hundreds of mammal skeletons in a centralized location. There's even some evidence of plant use, which is rarely preserved," he added. That Neanderthals lived an organized lifestyle would seem like an overstatement. However, the findings of researchers do suggest that might have been the case. "Neanderthals were clearly managing resources with precision—planning hunts, transporting carcasses, and rendering fat in a task-specific area," said Dr. Lutz Kindler, the study's first author. "They understood both the nutritional value of fat and how to access it efficiently - most likely involving caching carcass parts at places in the landscape for later transport to and use at the grease rendering site." he said, stating his observations. A brief overview of the study suggests that Neanderthals practiced resource intensification by saving materials and getting more out of them. Before this study, the first proof of resource intensification being used by humans dated back to 28,000 years ago. The study also revealed that the process of extracting grease from bones could have saved Neanderthals from protein poisoning, also known as rabbit starvation, since they continuously ate meat. This study was published in the Science journal.
RNZ News
02-07-2025
- RNZ News
Auckland pastor convicted, church fined for unsafe building
The church on 59 McKenzie Road, Māngere, was prohibited from being used in May 2023. Photo: Google Maps An Auckland pastor and his church has been found guilty and handed a hefty fine of more than $82,000, for the unlawful construction and use of a church since 2023. The Samoan Congregational Christian Church of New Zealand Māngere Trust and its pastor, Sean Palala, were sentenced at the Auckland District Court, for 15 charges of breaches to the Building Act and Resource Management Act. The church and community centre, on McKenzie Road, Māngere, continued to be used for gatherings, even after being slapped with a dangerous building notice. The church was fined $82,000 for a breach of abatement, breach of notice to fix, multiple breaches of enforcement orders and dangerous building notices, and ordered to pay a reparation to Auckland Council for costs. Palala was convicted on all charges and sentenced to 400 hours community work and fined $7000 for his offending. In a written statement, Auckland Council said the Court found the Trust had continued using the church building, in direct contravention of the interim enforcement order prohibiting its use from 2 May, 2023. Gatherings continued on multiple occasions, despite a dangerous building notice also restricting access to the building. Gatherings continued on multiple occasions, despite a dangerous building notice also restricting access to the building. Photo: LDR / supplied At sentencing, council's head of prosecutions, John Kang, told the court the breaches of enforcement orders were "highly deliberate", committed while the defendants were awaiting sentence for the earlier offending. Kang said that despite being personally warned by the Chief Environment Court Judge and served with the enforcement order on two separate occasions, Palala went on to breach the interim enforcement order on at least four occasions. "Furthermore, a copy of the dangerous building notice remained affixed to the front window by the main entrance to the church building throughout the entire duration of the offending," Kang said. In delivering his decision, Judge David Kirkpatrick found the prosecution's case had been proven beyond reasonable doubt. "I find the Samoan Congregational Christian Church of New Zealand Māngere Trust and Sean Palala both guilty of the charges they face." Judge Kirkpatrick emphasised the repetition of offending by the defendants was a "seriously aggravating factor", with no evidence that any steps had been taken either to fix or demolish the building. Council's licensing and compliance field operations manager David Pawson said the court's verdict sent a strong message that ignoring enforcement orders and continuing to use unsafe buildings would not be tolerated. "Compliance with building and resource consent laws is essential for the safety of our communities," he said. He said council was committed to upholding the law and ensuring all structures met necessary safety and planning regulations. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Memo to Shane Jones: What if NZ needs more regional government, not less?
By Jeffrey McNeill of Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Analysis - If the headlines are anything to go by, New Zealand's regional councils are on life support. Regional Development Minister Shane Jones recently wondered whether "there's going to be a compelling case for regional government to continue to exist". And Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is open to exploring the possibility of scrapping the councils. This has all been driven by the realisation that the government's proposed resource management reforms would essentially gut local authorities of their basic planning and environmental management functions. Various mayors and other interested parties have agreed. While some are circumspect, there's broad agreement a review is needed. At present, each territorial council writes its own city or district plan. Regional councils write a series of thematic plans addressing different environmental issues. All the plans contain the councils' regulatory "rules" that determine what people can or cannot do. Under the coming reforms, the territorial and regional councils of each region would have only a single chapter each within a broader regional spatial plan. Their function would, for the main part, involve tweaking all-embracing national policies and standards. Further, all compliance and monitoring - now a predominantly regional council activity - is to be taken over by a national agency (possibly the Environment Protection Authority). This won't leave much for regional councils to do, compared with their broad remits now. In truth, regional councils have been targets since they were created as part of the Labour government's 1989 local government reform. Carried out in lockstep with the drafting of the Resource Management Act (passed in 1991), this established two levels of local government. City and district councils were to be responsible for infrastructure and the built environment. The new regional councils were more opaque, essentially multi-function, special-purpose authorities, recognising that some government actions are bigger than local but smaller than national. In the event, they became what in many countries would be thought of as environmental protection agencies. Their boundaries were drawn to capture river catchments, reflecting their catchment board antecedents, which looked after soil erosion and flood management. Other functions were drawn from other government departments. Air-quality management came from the old Department of Health. Coastal management was partly inherited from the Ministry of Transport, shared with the Department of Conservation. Public transport and civil defence were tacked on, given their cross-territorial scale and lack of anywhere else to put them. All their various functions have meant regional councils determine who gets to use the region's resources - and who misses out. And political decisions are a surefire way to make enemies. For example, the Resource Management Act applied the presumption that no one could discharge any contaminant into water unless expressly allowed by a rule or a resource consent. Regional councils therefore required their territorial councils to upgrade their rubbish dumps and sewage treatment systems. Similarly, farmers could no longer simply take water to irrigate or empty cowshed effluent straight into the nearest stream as of right. The necessary infrastructure upgrades were expensive. Ironically, these attempts to minimise the immediate impacts of such demands on water users saw urban voters and environmental groups criticise the councils and the government for being too soft on "dirty dairying" and other polluters. Parochialism also plays a part, as does the feeling in some rural communities that they're forgotten by their regions' cities, where most voters live. The perceived poor handling of events such as last year's Hawke's Bay flooding and the 2018 Wellington bus network failure have not helped. The government even replaced Environment Canterbury's elected council with appointed commissioners in 2010 over performance concerns, particularly in water management. Yet the regional council model has largely survived intact - with two exceptions. The Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council was replaced by the Nelson City and Marlborough and Tasman District unitary councils in 1992, as a token sacrifice to the conservative wing of the National government, which vehemently opposed the new regions. The genesis of the Auckland Council super-region can be traced to the 1999-2008 Labour government's frustration at getting a unified position from the city's seven councils on where to build a stadium for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Not everyone is happy with the resulting metro-regional solution. If regional government is indeed put to rest, it will be another phase in this piecemeal evolutionary process. But the new model will still require central government to have a significant regional presence - and commensurate central government funding. But central government has had a regional-scale presence for a long time. Police, the fire service, economic development and social welfare agencies all have their own regional boundaries. Public health and tertiary training and education are also essentially regional. All these functions are inherently political. And in many other countries, they are are delivered by regional governments. Maybe, once the implications are looked at more closely, leaving regional councils intact will seem the easier and cheaper option. Indeed, there is a counter argument that we need more regional government, not less. The current impulse for local government change - including district council amalgamation - continues an ad hoc process going back more than 30 years. As I have argued previously, the form, function and funding of local government need to be considered together. The regional level of administration will not go away. But the overriding question remains: who should speak for and be accountable to their communities for what are ultimately still political decisions, whoever makes them?
RNZ News
24-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Minister Shane Jones accuses council of being 'iwi back office'
The Minister for Regional Development Shane Jones wants politicians to ask ratepayers if regional councils are value for money. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER The Minister for Regional Development Shane Jones says problems in regional councils are "hobbling" economic progress. Last week, Jones told a forum New Zealand First did not see a compelling case for regional government to continue to exist after changes to the Resource Management Act came into effect. However, Bay of Plenty Regional Council chair Doug Leeder says scrapping regional councils is not in the interest of the wider community or the environment He was reacting after Jones told Morning Report regional councils such as Otago and Waikato were standing in the way of mining and marine farming permits. "In 2012 the Waikato Regional Council itself made a submission to the Productivity Commission and it identified that co-ordination and a host of other problems was actually hobbling its ability to contribute towards productivity. "If we don't have mining, if we don't have marine farming then a lot of the regional areas of New Zealand they're going to be blighted," Jones said. The councils represented a small part of a case for a "broader rationalisation" which he intended to put before his party in the lead up to next election. "New Zealand politicians should ask the public: Do they feel that the current system, is it generating ratepayer value? Is it actually delivering economic growth at a time where the narrative we have - as a government - is to boost economic growth, to generate the surplus so we can afford the services that we take for granted," Jones said. The influence of iwi and the creeping scope of co-governance initiatives had extended beyond initial intent. "I'm deeply concerned that the Waikato Regional council is turning into some sort of iwi back office. "I think that there's a host of other challenges though where [council] staff are hobbling economic development such as an unwillingness to support mining in Otago where they've dredged up some dead moth," Jones said. Minister for Resource Management Act Reform Chris Bishop said the changes the government was making will look at the functions and responsibilities of regional councils. Bishop said the reform process has implications for regional councils, as they do a range of things such as public transport, natural hazard management, and environmental monitoring and planning. He said Jones was giving his party view but he could understand his frustration with regional councils. Doug Leeder Photo: NZME Bay of Plenty Regional Council chair Doug Leeder says passing off regional council's responsibilities onto another agency will not alter the challenges associated with their functions. Councils gained a raft of important responsibilities from regional catchment boards in the late eighties. "They include really important functions such as the stewardship of land, water and air, therefore the environmental issues. There's rivers, drainage, flood protection schemes, you've got public transport delivery, emergency management functions, regional planning functions, bio-security, bio-diversity as a starter. "So when we understand those and we understand how they are best delivered then that's the start of the conversation rather than the unilateral just getting rid of councils," Leeder said. Councils were open to discussions on streamlining those functions if the tasks were underpinned by good, solid governance. "Let's be upfront, some of the consenting processes across the country in terms of the RMA [Resoruce Management Act} and getting infrastructure and delivery of services are really complex, they are really expensive and they need review. The regional sector of Local Government New Zealand has been advocating for this for a significant period of time," Leeder said. Scrapping regional councils and their associated functions was not in the interest of the wider community or the environment, he told Morning Report . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Geek Dad
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Kickstarter Tabletop Alert: ‘Red Dog Junction'
You've got a ship, a crew, and a dream—but so does everyone else. Who will be able to take home the most gold? What Is Red Dog Junction ? Red Dog Junction is a resource management game for to 2 to 5 players, ages 14 and up, and takes about 30 to 60 minutes to play. It's currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, with a pledge level of $67 for a copy of the game. The game rules aren't too complex so I think you could go perhaps as young as 10 as long as they can handle some direct conflict in the game. It was originally launched on Kickstarter in October 2024 as Space Freight with placeholder artwork, but the publishers decided to cancel the campaign and try again. This review is based on my original Space Freight write-up, but modified to reflect the changes, which are primarily art-related. Red Dog Junction was designed by Tyler Cheves and Brendon Cheves and published by Waterworks Games and Healthy Pixels, with art by Marie Bergeron. New to Kickstarter? Check out our crowdfunding primer. Red Dog Junction components. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Red Dog Junction Components Note: My review is based on a prototype copy, so it is subject to change and may not reflect final component quality. The plastic spaceships in the prototype were 3D-printed and I assume they will not all be yellow in the finished game. Here's what comes in the box: Red Dog Junction tile Haberdashery tile 4 Planet tiles 5 Home Base tiles 5 Ships 15 Super Deal tiles Metallic Gold D4 die 6 Plastic D6 dice 5 Player Aid cards 81 cards 50 Gold cubes 30 Scrap cubes (black) 30 Ruby cubes (red) 30 Ice cubes (clear) 30 Oxygen cubes (green) 30 Gas cubes (yellow) 30 Whiskey cubes (brown) Space Freight had experimented with a 'no rulebook' system, where the component trays had lids that explained the game as you unpacked it. The publisher realized that most players still preferred just having a rulebook, so Red Dog Junction does not use the same panel system. Unique ships, one loaded with cubes. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu The plastic ships are quite large—each one can hold up to 12 resource cubes on it, and they also serve as your player piece for moving around the table. The cubes themselves are a standard size, mostly plastic, while the 'gold' and 'whiskey' cubes are made of metal and have an impressive heft to them. The dice for the trading exchange are similar: one plastic die for each of the six resources, and then a metallic D4 for the gold. The ships all have unique shapes, which gives them a fun bit of personality—particularly if they end up all being grey plastic. (I'm not sure what the finished ships will be.) The resources tray is nice because you can just set the whole thing on the table as a supply. I noticed that, along with renaming the resources from Space Freight , they've also adjusted the colors some—there's now a brown metallic cube for whiskey, and the yellow cubes are now 'gas' or 'fuel' (but I still think having both yellow and metallic gold as resources can be a little confusing). Also gone are the tiny mineral icons, replaced by different colored cube icons—though it would still be nice to have a legend somewhere, because the 'green' icons looked like grey to me, which is the color of the scrap cubes in the prototype. I've been told the finished version will have more distinct colors so everything is more easily distinguished. Instead of a folding board, the locations are now large tiles that you just place around the table, which feels fitting for a game set in space. The illustrations are by Marie Bergeron, who also illustrated Thunder Road: Vendetta , and it gives everything a lived-in feel. This isn't a polished, shiny sci-fi where everything looks like it was designed by Apple; it's beat-up and rusty and feels a little bit more like the world of Firefly . (I'm not sure why the store location is called the 'Haberdashery' other than maybe they liked the sound of the word—it doesn't appear to be a clothing store.) How to Play Red Dog Junction The Goal The goal of the game is to have the most points by the time the gold supply runs out. 4-player setup. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Setup Set up the various location tiles with the resource tray nearby. Place the scrap cubes on the table in space; the rest of the cubes stay in the tray. Put the D4 in the center of Red Dog Junction set to '1,' and then roll the other six dice and place them randomly in the six spaces around it. Shuffle the two stacks of Super Deals (there are 6-value tiles and 8-value tiles) and place them in the Haberdashery, face-up. Player setup. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Give each player a ship, a player aid card, a Home Base, and a set of starting crew: 3 Cowboys, 1 Miner, 1 Scavenger, and 1 Agent. Players will start with some gold based on turn order. Place your ship on its home base, and your gold in storage on your home base. Shuffle the cards and place the deck off to the side, and reveal six cards to form the market. You start with four crew types, but you may be able to recruit others during the game. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Gameplay On your turn, you may take two actions from the following: Load/Unload : Move any number of resources between your storage and your ship while docked at home. : Move any number of resources between your storage and your ship while docked at home. Move : Move from any dock space into space, or move from space to any open docking space. (Special: you may move from one dock to another at Red Dog Junction for a single move rather than having to move into space first.) Only one ship is allowed at a planet at a time. : Move from any dock space into space, or move from space to any open docking space. (Special: you may move from one dock to another at Red Dog Junction for a single move rather than having to move into space first.) Only one ship is allowed at a planet at a time. Mine : While docked at a planet, gain cubes of that color onto your ship. : While docked at a planet, gain cubes of that color onto your ship. Salvage : While in space, collect cubes from space into your ship. : While in space, collect cubes from space into your ship. Trade : While docked at Red Dog Junction, trade resources. : While docked at Red Dog Junction, trade resources. Purchase Gold : While docked at the Haberdashery, turn in resources to complete a Super Deal and earn gold. : While docked at the Haberdashery, turn in resources to complete a Super Deal and earn gold. Displace : Move ships from docks into space (requires Rustlers crew). : Move ships from docks into space (requires Rustlers crew). Swap : Trade resources with another ship while you're both in space (requires Outlaws crew). : Trade resources with another ship while you're both in space (requires Outlaws crew). Buy: Buy a card from the market row. This ship can salvage cubes from space—currently there's only scrap floating around. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu The strength of many of the actions is affected by how many crew you have. For instance, at the beginning of the game you have one Scavenger, so a salvage action lets you take 1 cube. If you had 3 Scavengers, then you could pick up 3 cubes for 1 action. Cowboys give you capacity for your ship—you start with 3 Cowboys so your ship capacity is 6 cubes; at the end of your turn if you have more than your capacity in your ship, you must choose cubes to jettison into space, where they could be salvaged by any players on future turns. This ship could trade 3 oxygen for 4 whiskey or 1 gold. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu When trading, you may exchange resources matching the two dice next to your ship, as well as gold, and the exchange rate is equal to the values of the dice. For instance, in the photo above, the oxygen die is 3, the whiskey die is 4, and the gold die is 1, so you may make any swaps at a ratio of 3 oxygen : 4 whiskey : 1 gold. Your trader crew cards give you more trades per action; you may also use a trade to increase or decrease one of the D6 next to your ship, manipulating the economy. (Note that there is no whiskey planet, so the only way to get whiskey is through trading.) Docked at Honest Jose's Haberdashery. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu If you dock at the mission center, you may turn in the required resources shown on one of the Super Deal tiles to gain the gold payment, and you also take the tile, which is worth 1 point. Remember: you still have to get the gold back home safely! Jose might be honest, but you can't trust your fellow players. Buy crew, officers, and boosts at the card market. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu You may buy cards from the market no matter where your ship is located, but you may only spend resources that are already in your storage, not from your ship. Crew cards will make your actions more efficient, and Boost cards are single-use cards that usually give you an extra action after you play them, letting you set up a powerful turn if you can time it right. Officer cards are the most expensive, each costing 8 resources, but they give you an ongoing ability for the rest of the gameand are also worth points. The Pathfinder can move directly to any open docking space without stopping in space; the Quartermaster can unload directly to your storage from space without being docked at home. Game End The game ends when all of the gold has been moved to player's storage (so if it's still floating in space or on a player's ship, the game isn't over yet!). Players earn points for all of their crew, officers, and mission tiles, and 1 point per gold in their storage. The highest score wins, with ties going to the player with the most remaining boost cards, and then the most crew cards. Why You Should Play Red Dog Junction One of the gimmicks for the older prototype (while it was still named Space Freight ) was the fact that it didn't have a rulebook, but that idea was scrapped. The other thing that stood out, though, was the big spaceships that held the resource cubes. There's definitely a bit of a toy factor there, but it also makes it really obvious who's carrying what, because although this is a pick-up-and-deliver game, there's also a lot of space piracy happening. Just because you've picked up some goods doesn't guarantee you'll actually get to keep them, unless you can get home and offload them into your base. Mining for ice. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Okay, so how's the gameplay? Your turns are pretty short, particularly at the beginning, because most of your actions are fairly simple. It'll take you two actions just to fly your ship somewhere and dock, and then maybe on your second turn all you do is mine two resources if you made it to a planet. Or, perhaps you started by loading some gold into your ship with the intentions of trading. Your goal is to just accumulate as much gold in your storage as you can, but there are multiple ways to go about that. If you see that the markets have made a particular resource more valuable (if the die is low, you can trade fewer gems per gold), then maybe it's worth making a run to that planet so you can load up and then go trading. Or, maybe there's a good combination where you could take your starting gold and trade it for something that's needed for a Super Deal. Either way, the two primary sources of gold are Red Dog Junction and the Haberdashery, turning goods and scrap (however you managed to acquire them) into gold, and then shuttling that back home. Powering up your actions with crew is also key, and each crew member can be purchased with a specific type of resource or you can spend gold, though that's usually if you're desperate to beat somebody else to the punch. Cowboys increase your ship capacity so you don't have to fly back and forth as often, and Miners and Scavengers let you gain more cubes per action. Agents make your trading stops more efficient, both because you can manipulate the market dice but also because you can make more trades per action. Then we get to the other crew: Outlaws and Rustlers. You don't start with any, but as soon as somebody acquires these, prepare to be boarded. Rustlers let you dislodge players from their docks, putting them into space. That's handy if somebody's mining a planet but you want that spot, or if they're hogging the space you need at Red Dog Junction. But the real one-two punch comes when you have Outlaws, which let you swap resources on your ship with somebody else—why go to the trouble of mining and then trading at Red Dog Junction, when you can just hang about in space, maybe scavenge some scrap metal, and then dump it on those merchants and take their gold? You get so many more actions if you don't have to spend them docking and undocking all the time. The Rascal is a special crew that is very expensive, but every turn you can decide which crew it is, so it gives you a lot of flexibility. Carrying a lot of cargo? It's a Cowboy this time. Time to mine? Let's make it a Miner. Boost cards cost 1 gold but can be quite effective. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Finally, there are boost cards—these all cost 1 gold, which means you're spending a point to acquire them, but they give you really amazing effects once. You might be able to manipulate dice at Red Dog Junction (including the gold die!), increase your ship's capacity temporarily, or get a boosted mine, salvage, or swap action. Whenever a boost card comes up in the market, everyone should take a look at it because even if it's not directly useful for you, it may be worth buying so your opponent can't use it against you. Once the game gets going, things can get pretty heated. Multiple players want to be on the same planet, or are racing for particular resources because an officer card just appeared in the market. If you see somebody collecting resources that match a Super Deal, is it worth trying to outpace them, or do you go for something else instead? When you're done trading, do you use some of your trade abilities to change the die and make the exchange rate worse for everyone else? Super Deals: are they worth the risk? (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu Super Deals are worth 1 point just for buying them, but also give you a decent amount of gold. The problem is, if there are Outlaws about, there's no guarantee you'll get that gold home to storage. In our games, it was often a dilemma whether it was more efficient to complete missions or trade resources for gold, and one of the limiting factors was always the amount of time it took to fly back and forth between locations. The different crews between players can also make for some funny outcomes. In one game, one player had a lot of Outlaws so if they accumulated enough of anything, they could swap out and take pretty much my whole stash of gold before I got it home. But I realized I had a lot of Scavengers and they didn't—so if I jettisoned all my gold into space, at most they could get 2 of them in a turn, and I could try to scoop up the rest and flee for home! There can be a bit of a stalemate, though, depending on how determined players are. If you have gold and you're not in space, it will take you at least two turns just to get home, and then you can't unload until your next turn. But that means you're a sitting duck for anyone who has a Rustler and some Outlaws. If they undock you and take some gold, do you try to get it back, or just go back home and unload whatever you have left? We had some long tug-of-wars over gold in one of the games I played and eventually one player just had to give in so the game wouldn't go on too long. There are only 5 unique officers in the deck. (Prototype shown) Photo: Jonathan H. Liu The officers are a game-changer, and since there are only five of them in the entire deck, there's no guarantee that you'll even see all of them in any given game. We did feel like the Pathfinder, which allows you to teleport anywhere, felt like it was the most valuable of them, because saving an extra action per turn just lets you unload gold before anyone else can get to you, and it feels unstoppable. Some of the others can be pretty handy, but nothing really compares to teleportation. I would have liked to see either some more officers, either multiple copies of the same ones or some additional powers, because it's possible that the player who's first to get an officer can just run away with the game. Overall, Red Dog Junction is a solid pick-up-and-deliver game that can spark some really exciting moments, but can also feel a bit limiting at times because you only get 2 actions and flying through space is time-consuming. It's not too complex once you learn the different actions, though coming up with a winning strategy can still be a challenge. The components have a fun toy factor with the ships carrying the cubes around the board. For more information or to make a pledge, visit the Red Dog Junction Kickstarter page! Click here to see all our tabletop game reviews. To subscribe to GeekDad's tabletop gaming coverage, please copy this link and add it to your RSS reader. Disclosure: GeekDad was loaned a prototype of this game for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
