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Saint, Executioner and witch

Intrigues at court, you try to position your characters to gain influence tokens, the value of which is determined only at the end of the game.

There are 20 characters of rank 1-120, ten of them come with a light backside, ten with a dark one. In each of four chapters you play four rounds. In a chapter, you are first dealt two light cards and hand one of them to the left; then you get two dark cards and hand one to the right. In a round, you play a card and stack it open-faced on top of the previous ones. In round I of Chapter I the oldest player is starting player, then always the player with the highest rank on an open card; in round IV you thus determine the starting player for round I of the next chapter.

The instructions on a card are usually resolved instantly and then the card has no effect anymore; only King, Queen and Executioner are active until covered; instructions beginning with “You may” need not be resolved. When a character eliminates another one, this character goes out of play for the chapter, together will cards currently stacked underneath. A successful elimination gives you a token worth 1 point. After four rounds, you receive influence tokens for non-eliminated characters, the starting player for the next round helps himself first. After four chapters, each influence token is worth as many points as there are tokens left in stock.

A thrilling, sophisticated game with an attractive mix of luck of the draw, memorizing cards and tactics; you need to find the best balance between gaining influence and eliminating characters for tokens to be left over; how nice if you can play the Executioner in round IV!

Players: 3-4

Age: 12+

Time: 30+

Designer: Michael Rieneck

Artist: Franz Vohwinkel, Imelda Vohwinkel

Price: ca. 13 Euro

Publisher: Kosmos 2016

Web: www.kosmos.de

Genre: Card interaction

Users: With friends

Version: de

Rules: de

In-game text: yes

Comments:

Absolutely fantastic illustrations

Thrilling, attractive mechanism

Sophisticated, challenging scoring method

Good card memory is helpful

Compares to:

Love Letter and other games with card interaction

Other editions:

Currently none

Chance (pink): 2

Tactic (turquoise): 2

Strategy (blue): 0

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 3

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 3

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0