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Publisher<\/b>: Hans im Gl\u00fcck<\/p>\n
Author<\/b>: Bruno Faidutti<\/p>\n
Tester<\/b>: Aaron Haag<\/p>\n
Game Tested<\/b>: German 2000 edition, 1st rule release<\/p>\n
Scenario<\/b>: Set in a mediaeval surrounding each player aims to build the
\nstrongest and most valuable city. A city is composed of districts of different attributes
\nand values. Assuming the role of one of seven possible characters in the game a player
\nperforms the actions of that character to build and extend his or her city.<\/p>\n
The Game<\/b>: The game basically is a card game played using character cards and Following this, the “character action round” begins. There is a fixed The special abilities of the characters add tactical opportunities as well as The final round of the game starts when one players has managed to have eight Playing Time<\/b>: The rules are explained in less than 10 minutes, the game plays Similar Games<\/b>: Verr\u00e4ter<\/a> (Marcel-Andr\u00e9 Casasola-Merkle)<\/p>\n Westpark Gamers’ Opinion<\/b>: The rules state that the game can be played by With fewer players there is a lot more planning involved in order to get the timing The character selection process is what makes the game so much fun. You can never be Aaron’s Rating<\/b>: 8 (out of 10)<\/p>\n Westpark Gamers’ Rating<\/b>: 7.5<\/p>\n
\ndistrict cards. At the start of the game each player receives four district cards from
\nthe shuffled deck plus two gold coins (the coins are made of plastic, look nice and can
\nbe stacked easily). The character cards are distributed amongst the players in a similar
\nfashion as in the game Verr\u00e4ter<\/a> (which is actually referenced in the rules because of this): the
\ndeck of character cards is shuffled, cards are discarded in order to leave just one more
\ncharacter card in the deck than players in the game. The cards are then passed around for
\neach player to select a character, starting with the current king.<\/p>\n
\nsequence in which the characters act: the assassin, the thief, the magician, the king,
\nthe priest, the merchant, the architect and finally the mercenary. Each character has one
\nspecial ability which he can use in his turn in addition to the normal actions common to
\nall characters. The common actions are to either take a district card by selecting one of
\ntwo cards drawn from the face-down district deck or to take two gold. Then, if he wants
\nto, the player builds a new district in his town by playing one of the district cards
\nfrom his hand open in front of him and paying the amount of gold printed on this card.
\nDistricts cost between one and six gold, the costs usually reflecting the value of the
\ndistrict at the end of the game (there are actually two exceptions where a district at
\nthe end of the game counts 2 more than the building costs).<\/p>\n
\nuncertainty to the game:<\/p>\n\n
\nassassinated character may not act at all during this round.<\/li>\n
\nplaying that character hands all his gold to the thief at the beginning of his turn.<\/li>\n
\nthose of another player or any number of his cards with the deck.<\/li>\n
\nthe next round, meaning that he is the first one to select a character.<\/li>\n
\none gold for every blue district in his town.<\/li>\n
\ntown.<\/li>\n
\ninstead of just one district per turn.<\/li>\n
\nvalue minus one in gold to the bank (i.e. value 1 districts are free) and he get one gold
\nfor every red district in his town.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\ndistricts in his town at the end of his turn. The game ends once all characters have
\ncompleted this round.<\/p>\n
\nin about 60 to 150 minutes depending on the number of players. A six player game usually
\nlasts 2 hours.<\/p>\n
\nthree to seven players. Although there are sufficient cards in the game to actually do
\nthis I believe the game suffers if played with more than five players. First of all the
\nplaying time becomes way to long for a simple game like this – two to two and a half
\nhours – if played with six or more players. Secondly, with so many players nearly all of
\nthe characters are in play most of the time. This leads to a situation where it is almost
\ninevitable that players try to hit the current leader and are able to do so. This makes
\nthe game drag on for longer than it actually should. The final scores reflect this, too:
\nmore often than not the scores are very close with the winner being the player who just
\nhappened to get a lucky draw, scoring the four extra points for building eight districts
\nfirst.<\/p>\n
\nright for building that eighth district. Although the element of luck is somewhat higher
\nwith respect to the availability of characters this actually improves the game. Now it
\nneeds some thinking ahead to be able to get that architect character right at the moment
\nyou need it to finish the game early. I believe that four or five players is what you
\nwant to play this game with.<\/p>\n
\nabsolutely sure which character has been selected by a particular other player, although
\nvery often there seems to be an obvious choice for most players. But what if this obvious
\nchoice is too obvious to the player concerned and he or she deliberately chose a
\ndifferent one? Therefore you are faced with the problem of constantly thinking ahead of
\nyour fellow players – who are exactly doing the same…<\/p>\n