Friends
Alter
Spezial
Religion, Army and Agriculture
TROYES
Economics and politics in the Middle Ages
A game on the topic of economics with a setting in the Middle Ages (once again!) using lots of dice, coming from a Belgian small publisher – can this work? Yes, it can. As this is not meant to be the shortest review of all times, I will add some more details.
The box offers, besides the already mentioned dice in three colors – red for the military or nobility, white for the clerics and yellow for the population or citizen – a board, 12 figurines representing inhabitants in each of the 4 player colors, which do not relate in any way to the colors of the dice, some neutral grey figurines as well as lots and lots of small cubes, also in the four player colors. Furthermore, there are nine action cards, three each for military, clerics and civic population, which are turned up according to their numbers in rounds 1 to 3 of the game. In addition to this there are some event and character cards as well as markers for money and victory points.
The board shows a segment of a circle for each of the up to four players and one neutral segment. In each of the 6 rounds (less in case of fewer than four players) players place their dice into these segments. The board also features three areas (buildings) in the colors of the dice for the inhabitants, who at the same time determine the available number of dice. The buildings themselves are segmented into spots that are marked with values of 1 to 6 according to dice values. The number of figurines is very restricted at the start of the game: in a game of four each player can only enter 4 inhabitants in a preliminary placement round into the buildings on the board. Furthermore you can find an influence chart and disposal areas for the action cards; one permanent card is already printed on the board. This card is activated in each round in the event phase.
Now for the course of the game: It is played over a maximum of 6 rounds with 6 phases each in rounds 1 to 3 and 5 phases each in rounds 4 to 6.
Phase 0: In rounds 1 to 3 the respective red, yellow and white action card is turned up. As there are three of them in each color, but only one is used in a game, there is enough variety for several games. These cards determine the possible actions for all players.
Phase 1: Each player receives an income of 10 Denars, this income and money left over from previous rounds must pay for the followers in the buildings. Each figurine in the palace (Military) costs 2 Denars, each cleric in the Bishop’s Palace costs 1 Denar, only citizen in the City Hall are free of charge.
Phase 2: Each player takes dice according to the color and number of his figurines, rolls the dice and then places them exactly as they are into his segment of the circle. The more figurines and thus the more dice you have the more possibilities and the more income due to sale of dice you will achieve later in the round. Another certainty is: The higher your dice results the better. Dice with high numbers are favorites for being bought by other players in phase 4 and thus are lost unintentionally, if you do not happen to be the starting player. You earn lots of money with them, but what is money if there are so many wonderful actions to implement. But with money you in turn can buy dice of other players.
Phase 3: In each round a red event card is turned up. Each of these military challenges results in a yellow or white card which is turned up immediately. First players must face the black dice pictured on the red cards. The more red cards are still present the more dice are rolled by the starting player. Starting with this player, too, each player must neutralize the highest number of at least one die with your own dice by discarding a minimum of that many of your own dice making up the value of the black die, red military dice count double for this. If you cannot achieve this you lose 2 victory points. If you are able and willing to do so you can fight more than one die because each black dice eliminated earns you one victory point on the influence chart. But you cannot buy dice from other players to defeat black dice. After the fight against the black dice each event card still there from previous rounds has manifold, usually negative, consequences for all players.
In Phase 4 you can use the dice to implement many different actions, wherein the majority of actions must be implemented with a minimum of one and a maximum of three dice. For these actions you can buy dice from other players. The price for those dice is set not by the number of dice you want to buy but by the number of dice used in the same move. If the action is implemented with one die, a die you buy costs only 2 Denars, if you use 2 dice it already costs 4 Denars and for 3 dice used you have to pay 6 Denars for a die. The price is very nicely fitting to the possibilities offered by the actions, which of course earn you more when you use more dice to implement them. An action with three dice bought from other players costs you 18 Denars, and that is an awful lot of money, so better use your own weaker dice, even if the action brings in less revenue.
The action cards either have an immediate single effect, for instance payment of 2 Denars as an income (sounds like not much, details to follow immediately) or have deferred and maybe even multiple effects, for instance raising the result of up to three of your own yellow dice by 3 points each (also exceeding 6!). But, take care! The dice results are added and modified by a value stated on the card, e.g,2! This result determines how often the card is activated, that is how often the above mentioned 2 Denars are paid out. That means 3 dice with a total of 15 bring in an 8-fold payment of 2 Denars, a sum of 16 Denars. To mark the multiple activating of the deferred cards you place a number of cubes in your color on them. To activate an action card in the first place, you must place one of your figurines (take care, you only have very few of them at the start of the game) on the card and pay the amount of money stated on the card. Figurines placed in this way earn you victory points at the end of the game.
Another possibility for an action is to participate in the building of the cathedral (best regards from the Pillars of the Earth!), which can of course also result in victory points but also can earn you 2 negative points for each of the three levels where you are not represented.
To acquire influence points you mainly must fend off the events that are drawn in each round. This works using a similar system as in using the action cards. Besides victory points for these events influence is paid out, which you need to enter new figurines into the game or to reroll a die or to turn over 3 of your own dice to the opposite side. This enables you to chance catastrophic roles like 1, 1, 2 very nicely into a wonderful 6, 6, 5. This makes you very happy, provided you have enough points left on the influence charts to do so.
To acquire additional dice you must try to rise the number of your own figurines in the three buildings. Each figurine represents exactly one die. You can rise the numbers by placing a figurine to the utmost left into the row corresponding to the number on a die in the building of your choice of the corresponding color: The figurines already there are all moved to the right and – if necessary – eliminated from the building.
As an alternative to the emergency program of using up to three dice for agriculture (total of numbers divided by 2) and thus acquire some Denars you can pass. If you pass despite dice being still available you receive 2 Denars.
The end of the round – phase 5 – happens when all players have passed or no dice are available any more.
In a game with four players the fun is over after 6 rounds. Much too early, we all have just gotten acquainted with the game, we had wanted to do so much more and there would have been so many more victory points to earn. But, it can‘t he helped, it is over. The 6 character cards are an interesting detail of the game; each player receives one of those cards at the start of the game. Each player only knows his own card. So for instance you must have accumulated a certain number of Denars at the end of the game to score more victory points, the more the better. Intriguingly, these cards are effective for all players. And if you manage to spot what other players are working for during the game you can accrue one or more additional victory points that others did not reckon with.
My conclusion: An economics game with dice and an therefore not inconsiderable chance factor, yes this can work, provided you can live with the fact that the best strategy can be delayed a little by a bad roll or maybe even cannot be implemented at all! Or when the good dice which you have planned for so nicely are bought up be other players! Tch, fortune is fickle and the more so in this economics game. The game cannot be recommended to diehard economy strategists who plan their moves three or more turns in advance, as sometimes you can despair of the behaviour of your dice. And on the site of the publisher you can, by the way, download the revised rules of the second edition: www.pearlgames.be
Gert Stöckl
Gert.stoeckl@spielen.at
Spieler : 2-4
Alter : ages 12 and up
Dauer : ca. 90 min
Autor : Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, Alain Orban
Grafik : Alexandre Roche
Titel : ident
Preis : ca. 40,00 Euro
Verlag : Pearl Games 2010
www.pearlgames.be
Genre : Economics game with dice, based on historic events
Zielgruppe : With friends
Mechanismen : Use dice for actions
Kommentar:
Nicely interlocking mechanisms
Buying of dice is an interesting detail
No long-term planning possible
Vergleichbar:
Der Pate, Roll through the Ages the Dice Game, Kingsburg and other complex games using dice
Gert Stöckl:
If works to simulate economics with dice, but a certain fatalism is necessary in case the dice do not behave according to your wishes
Meine Bewertung: 5
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