OUR REVIEW
TOWER, BRIDGE AND PLAGUE
Die Tore der Welt
Das Kartenspiel
In two chapters players try to construct buildings and to survive the Plague to complete the aim of the game, to have most victory points at the end of the second chapter. To achieve this goal, players must collect goods which they can then change into victory points using different events. With clever and adroit use of the action cards and also of the King’s Favor players decide themselves which goods they acquire.
Background:
The game is based on the novel „Die Tore Der Welt - World without End“ by Ken Follet, the second part of the saga on Kingsbridge and its cathedral, and on the board game of the same name. The cathedral is still not finished, because the tower must be reconstructed and to make matters worse the most important bridge in the town collapses, there is an outbreak of the Plague and we can witness the first onsets of a new order and of new techniques in building and healing; feudal structures are questioned and the power of the clergy diminished.
The game:
The Favor cards for Cloth, Building Materials, Piety and Medical Knowledge are laid out in a square; each player is given a set of action cards in his color and also all goods cards of a color which are laid out with 0 as the top card, the victory points card of each player shows 10 points at the start of the game. The event cards are separated by Chapter, shuffled and stacked face down, next to them the tax card is laid out. The oldest player is the first starting player.
Now each round is played as follows:
The starting player draws the top card of the current chapter and reads it to all players. If the card shows a brown border, it is immediately implemented, a blue card is implemented at the end of the round; for instance “Each player can swap two Building Materials for 3 Victory Points”. Bow the starting player places the card between the Favor cards in an orientation that suits his purposes best; each corner of the event card now points to a player and a Favor card; each player gets the good so determined, and the start player in addition gets the good to which the Favor arrow points. If you waive the good, you can use an action from your own cards in order to earn victory points; but take care, at the end of the round one can acquire valuable victory points, too, but this needs even more goods!
When you have played all of your action cards, you take all of them back in hand.
When every player in turn has resolved the blue card - if there is one - or has passed the next round starts with the new starting player drawing a card.
To pass is always possible, with the exception of „Bishop Henry is elected King“, in this case player must pay regardless what.
After 12 rounds the First Chapter ends, then each player must pay taxes; if you cannot do so as required you pay even more steeply with loss of victory points.
If you still have most victory points left after paying taxes at the end of the Second Chapter, you win the game. In case of a die the remaining goods are counted and you win if you have more of them.
Comparison to the board game:
In the board game, players build together to finish the tower of the cathedral and other buildings. You use the King’s Favor and try to be ahead of others in Medical knowledge as well as in the acquisition of goods in order to accumulate as many victory points as possible. You should always take good card to have enough gold in hand as it is a scarce commodity and you need it to pay taxes. Otherwise, you not only lose points but accrue penalties for the following round.
The joint construction work dominates the game in the board game, but in the card game the collecting of goods is dominant in order to be able to resolve the events on the blue event cards with the goal to acquire as many points as possible. These cards with revenues, events and King’s favor in blue and brown are present both in the board game and in the card game.
I for myself like the card game better than the board game, but I must note that the penalties for tax payment failure in the board game are much steeper, as they were in the prototype of the card game, which I also played, and thus the game got a lot more challenging.
But all in all Die Tore der Welt Das Kartenspiel is a very nice, good, quick game for friends and families with older children alike which rarely comes out boringly. To decide and follow up one definite strategy to win is nearly impossible but if you can command good tactics you will win. But take card, the favors change quickly and it can happen very fast that a neglected Nobody suddenly is on top!
So, with that in mind, have fun and enjoy yourself playing one of my favorite games!
Katharina Knoll
Players: 2-4
Age: 10+
Time: 45+
Designer: Walter Schranz
Art: Michael Menzel
Price: ca. 7 Euro
Publisher: Kosmos 2012
Web: www.kosmos.de
Genre: Card game
Users: With friends
Version: de
Rules: de
In-game text: yes
Comments:
Card game based on the board game of the same name
Flair has been ingeniously transported
Very attractive illustrations
Very good mechanism
Compares to:
World without End Board game, all card game versions of board games
Other editions:
Currently none
My rating: 6
Katharina Knoll
A very well made card game, which in no way is inferior to the board game, on the contrary, I myself like it better than the board game!
Chance (pink): 2
Tactic (turquoise): 3
Strategy (blue): 0
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 0
Communication (red): 0
Interaction (brown): 3
Dexterity (green): 0
Action (dark green): 0