OUR REVIEW
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Spezial 1
CARDINAL VERSUS QUEEN
Mousquetaires du Roy
CLOAK, DAGGER AND DIAMONDS
Once again … Mylady Winter versus the musketeers in a race for the Queen’s diamonds and exactly like this the roles are distributed in the game. Mylady Winter has at her side Rochefort, her bodyguard, many henchmen, ambushes, guile and cards for Paris and the Louvre. The musketeers on the other hand have additional abilities, special abilities and equipment at their disposal, they use the adventure cards which are available as skill cards, combat cards and character cards.
All this is happening on a board showing Tracks for time and money of the musketeers, Arsenal, Quest for the Queen’s jewels – these four quests need to be completed, Milady, Richelieu, Vieux Colombier – the accommodation of the musketeers, La Bastille, Paris, Le Louvre and La Rochelle.
The musketeers must complete missions/quests, which they meet in the shape of challenges, duels and ambushes.
A challenge is a test for one of the abilities of one of the musketeers, Erudition, Nobility, Gallantry or Panache, with values between 5 and 8. The musketeers overcome the challenge when they reach or surpass this value. The challenged musketeer uses his abilities and plays fitting cards.
When the musketeers enter a duel with one of Mylady’s henchmen the battle is decided by the use of dice. First the musketeer checks for a Secret Maneuver, then his adversary. If none of the sides has achieved a secret maneuver swords and shields on the dice are compared. When a musketeer is wounded, he reduces his life points accordingly, if he loses all of them he is wounded, out of action and goes to Vieux Colombier to recover. A wounded adversary is removed from the game, henchmen go back to Mylady, Rochefort can be healed. A musketeer winning a duel is rewarded with gold or Epic markers.
Should the musketeer be caught in an ambush, special conditions are applied to the location. An ambush is removed when overcome or when the mission has been completed. Ambushes do not go back to Mylady.
All this is carried out in game rounds, which are divided into four phases:
First it is Mylady’s turn: She chooses her current abode and can place a Paris card from her hand on Paris. Then Mylady can either draw a guile card or play a guile card, which is executed immediately. This is followed by the phase of the musketeer: Each Musketeer not in Vieux Colombier has three actions. The musketeers can act in any order they deem to be useful, but one musketeer must complete all three actions before the next one can act. Possible actions are: Draw an adventure card, move, swap cards, play a character card, reinforcement in La Rochelle, accept a challenge, demand a duel or acquire / improve equipment.
At the end of a round a duel with Rochefort and the Siege of Rochelle might need some attention. If Mylady is at a location where a musketeer wants to execute a duel, a challenge or a Paris card she must reveal herself and the musketeer must duel Rochefort. When all is said and done the four missions of the Queen’s Jewels board decides the game, because only if the musketeers successfully complete these mission the win the game against Mylady.
To enter into the many details which have to be taken into account for each location or each challenge would definitely exceed this article, it is sufficient to say that the game offers a marvelous recap of Alexandre Dumas‘ novel, with lovely components and graphics and absolutely captures the flair of the famous cloak & dagger adventures and adventurers and their impersonations, from Errol Flynn to Robin Hood!
With only 2 shields and swords on their dice the musketeers seem to be at a disadvantage as regards to Mylady’s 3 swords and 3 shields on her dice, but the improvements the musketeers can acquire are a lot of help, but still, the musketeers have their hands full to keep Mylady and her henchmen in check.
Mousquetiers du Roy is a cooperative game, in which the opponent – in this case Mylady de Winter – has enough power and abilities to seriously challenge the other side, which can be made from up to four players. A very nice detail in the game is the simulation of Mylady’s spies: The musketeer players can and must confer what it would be best to do to avoid a threatening calamity or to succeed in a mission, but they must do this openly and audible and must show turned-up cards to the Mylady player, because Mylady has her spies everywhere.
It is a surprising and unusual mechanisms that allows the musketeer players to carry out their action in any order they want to, they can choose which musketeer goes first to achieve optimum results. And of course the game plays easier when more players are present to embody the musketeers.
All in all flawless adventure with style and elegance, courageous decisions are necessary and bit of patience for the Mylady player, he must sit out the deliberations and actions of the musketeers and still remain alert for any immediate action that might be necessary. Mousquetiers du Roy is definitely one of the best cooperative games of the last years, if not THE best, again a great game from Ystari. Chapeau!
Dagmar de Cassan
Players : 1-5
Age : 12+
Duration : 90+
Designer : François Combe, Gilles Lehmann
Artist : Frédéric Cérani, Arnaud Demaegd, Cyril Demaegd
Price : ca. 40 Euro
Publisher : Ystari 2010
Web : www.ystari.com
Genre : Cooperative adventure game
Users : With friends
Special : 1 player
Version : de
Rules : de en fr
In-game text : yes
Comments:
Exceptional graphics and components * wonderful implementation of the novel * Mylady is a good adequate opponent for the musketeers * many details in the rules
Compares to:
Shadows over Camelot and other cooperative games
Other editions:
At Ystari in French and at Rio Grande Games in English
My rating : 6
Statement Dagmar de Cassan:
Mousquetaires du Roy is a flawless adventure game and one of the best transformations of a literary model into a board game and an excellent cooperative game at that
Chance 2
Tactic 3
Strategy__ 1
Creativity 0
Knowledge 0
Memory 0
Communication 3
Interaction 3
Dexterity 0
Action 0