Last month, after being frustrated over trying to resize the complex sphere board, then finding a large plotter, I printed the said board as large as I could carry, hoping the size would give more room in the center.
Despite the table sized sheet, it still wasn't enough. However, besides that, After playing couple rounds with a couple people, I discovered this complex board creates a longer game.
Even if a skilled player moves their pawns efficiently, it's still going to be between 2 to 20 moves to capture any of the 62 areas when unhindered by their opponent. You only need to capture 6 of the larger pentagon areas to win, but you can just imagine how long it would take if you included hinderence by your opponent. On a positive note, if you're stranded on an island or confined to a prison with someone, you have a game that will pass a lot of time.
It's a pity, I liked having pentagons on the board, but I think it needs to be reduced in complexity, but in turn more deep is needed.
Comments
7!
I only see 7 Pentagons. Perhaps I'm blind. Also, it may be my own ignorance of the game rules, but I don't see what the problem with your board is. I will say though that the board looks cool!
Goals
You mention board size, game time and game complexity, but I'm not sure what your end goal is here. If you want a short game, you could limit the amount of areas someone needs to control.
That said, you can play blitz chess and have all the moves on a total clock time of 1 minute for each player, or you can have them think for an entire afternoon. A long play time isn't necessarily a bad thing. But it all depends on the gamer you're targetting...