With friends

Powerplay In the 12th century

Jerusalem

Under the reign of the Crusaders!

Kid                       

Family                  

Friends         ein    

Expert                           

Alter                    

Spezial                 

Any person, if only marginally interested in history, has lots of associations for Jerusalem. Be it Jesus Christ, Christianity, crusaders, crusades, Israel or Palestine …

In the 12th century crusaders conquered the City of Jerusalem. They came from all over Europe and each of these “noble” knights and barons wanted to be the sole ruler of the city.

These historical events await us also on the game board. We are those barons rivaling for command and imitate them on the board. Sometimes we fight for the Tower of David, then again for the palace or the city market. But the ruler of Jerusalem will be who builds the highest tower in the fortress. To build one again and again needs influence with the king, with the Knights Templar, with the patriarchy, on the market and with the nobility.

To construct a floor is paid for with prestige and this can you can get in the royal palace, from the nobility or from the patriarchy and you must be able to control the corresponding region by having the most squires there. At the start of each round you receive squires depending on which offices you control and you might have squires left over from the previous round as it is not always useful to place them. Or you might have received squires previously as income from controlled regions or you could hire new squires for money. Squires are available from the Knights Templar, from the patriarchy and on the market. Money can be had from the market and the nobility.

Each of the five power centers named so far is split into one big and two small parts. The income from the big parts equals the income from the two small ones. With the exception of the market the income in the big part is limited to a maximum of for. The income is depicted by icons on the board, which keeps the game running smoothly as you can never plead ignorance.

The Tower of David is a sixth center of power and consists of only one large region. It only yields a minimal income of one silver and offers the possibility to move a squire from the Tower of David into another region.

What happens in a round? First we bid for office cards. The officials on the cards have special abilities, yield squires and determine the sequence of play. After bidding in sequence of play we send our own squires into the regions, the Baron may accompany a minimum of three squires. A region with a Baron is taboo for all squire movement during this round. Each player owns a Baron and the baron always returns to him at the end of the round. Already know you get a feeling that it is not an advantage to play first. The disadvantage to be outbid can be balanced by a higher number of squires, winning ties in regions and the chance to choose an action card.

Juraj Dillinger: Everybody tells everybody else what mistakes he made. This is irritating. I think that I was always outmaneuvered. Next time I will definitely try to direct my efforts on getting the last official? But will I have enough squires left?

There are always as many action cards prepared as there are players in the game. The first one chooses a card from the stack, the next one from the remaining cards etc. Thus the first player has the possibility to take the first card and also knows the cards of his members and can calculate with their effects.

One player after the other makes is one move per round. Then we score, and scoring happens in three parts. First the Tower of David is scored and then privileges are awarded. Privileges are given depending on the majority in the patriarchy, the market and nobility. Each center gives another privilege. In the 3^rd step single regions are scored for money, squires and prestige.

Finally, we have acquired prestige and can build our towers, floor by floor. A floor is paid for with prestige points, the price is 1 prestige point plus the number of floors. If a player is the first to build a floor he first must evaluate the technology of the building for another prestige point. Thus the third floor costs the first builder 5 points, the other players pay only 4 points. Sequence of building is from low-numbered official to high-numbered official.

Marta Dillingerova: I like this game. Shall we play again tomorrow? it is invaluable to be able to play last in the last round with enough money and squires saved! This has won me scores of games.

To avoid make the game run uniformly in each round, events take place in rounds 2, 3 and 4. These events are drawn at the start of the round and implemented at the end of the round. Events influence the number of squires in some power centers. There are 4 event cards in total and only three are used in a game. This makes every game a little different. In the last round, the fifth, players are rewarded with prestige for their remaining squires, money and action cards. This is followed by a last building round and then the player with the highest tower wins.

Monika Dillingerova: Jerusalem is a game on majorities and take-overs. It reminds me of El Grande, but does not need a tower to gobble up cubes. It contents itself with screens for each player behind which cubes and money are hidden. Okay, you can count cubes on the board and in the general stock, and this renders the screens useless, but I would advise against this. It is not fun to play with such nitpickers. I would play Jerusalem any time again in a 3-player, a 4-player game tends to get a little bit confusing.

Monika Dillingerova

Spieler         : 2-4

Alter            : ages 12 and up   

Dauer           : ca. 90 minuten

Autor           : Michele Mura

Grafik          : Guido Favaro, Eva Villa

Vertrieb A.   : Abacusspiele / Piatnik

Preis            : ca. 31,00 Euro

Verlag          : Red Glove 2010

                     www.redglove.it

Genre                    : Majorities l

Zielgruppe             : With friends

Mechanismen         : bid, occupy regions, form majorities

Zufall                     :  1

Wissen                  :  3

Planung                 :  6

Kreativität              :  

Kommunikation      :  4

Geschicklichkeit      : 

Action                   : 

Kommentar:

Very attractive design

Authentical historical background

Some gaming experience necessary

Works best with three

Vergleichbar           : El Grande

Atmosphäre           : 5

Monika Dillingerova:

A beautiful game on majorities with a historical background, we get to feel political machinations while at the game board.