OUR REVIEW

THE POOR WORK FOR THE RICH

Feudalherren

EXPAND YOUR FIEFDOM and get rich

The name of the game by itself is an indication for the dark times into which we are about to venture. Riches were restricted to few and daily life wasn’t very peaceful at all. The game too, makes a topic out of rich and ppr. Daily life was determined by the daily fight for survival and many of the small people worked for their liege lord, who was the one to amass riches. The topic of many working for the few is still a prevailing one today. So much for the topic and as an introduction to the game, the topic was one of the reasons for me to buy the game as I believe it to be a challenge to turn the topic into a game.

Now for the game itself: The core of the game is a board of 64 squares, which is given to each player and which represents his fiefdom. From that point of view each player is also a baron or baroness and each each player and aims to become rich and powerful!

People fighting for the baron enter the game in turn in the guise of Men at Arms, Archers and Knights, meaning that we need to provide iron (for their armor or their weapons) in order to be able to hire them? Which leaves only one question: How do you acquire the raw materials that you will need to achieve certain acquisitions or developments? When you buy a Quarry in the „purchase phase“ and fit this quarry into your fiefdom onto one of 49 out of 64 squares that can be used for such purposes, with a bit of luck and the corresponding roll of the dice you might be thoe owner of two resources (Stone).

Content of the box:

The game comprises a scoring board and – for each of the sic players – a board for his fiefdom with a keep, fortification tiles, a summary card for „Baronial Actions“ as well as three out of 5 resources and two wooden playing pieces. This is complemented by 50 event cards, a bag holding 208 citizen tiles, 2 eight-sided dice and a “Shield” summary card for the starting player.

Preparation:

Each player chooses a fiefdom board and places his keep with the tower, one forest tile and his resources on his fiefdom. The remaining citizen tiles are placed into the bag. The starting player draws a certain amount of tiles in relation to the number of players and places them into a display on the scoring board. Each player chooses two of these tiles from the display. The event cards are shuffled and placed in a stack.

Aim of the game:

The introduction to the game tells us: „Each player receives a fiefdom board with 64 squares; 49 of them can be used, 4 are covered by the keep which in turn has room for soldiers and fortifications. The rest of the fiefdom has enough room for citizen and buildings, both of which diligently provide resources and victory pints and thus in turn provide progress and growth. In between now and then wars, raids, tournaments, tax collectors, rats and other nonsensical things tend to happen. And finally, when the game is over, the winner is the player with most victory points.

How the game is played:

You play in clockwise direction. The active player, whose turn it is, holds the yellow shield and the dice. His turn comprises the following phases in the order they are listed:

Roll: All players might possibly receive income.

Draw an event card and implement the event card.

Purchase phase: All players can buy a tile.

Baronial actions: The active player executes two actions, one of them can be a special action.

Feed the fiefdom: The active player must feed the population in his fiefdom.

End of turn: The active player hands the yellow shield and the dice to his neighbor on his left. If a player should have reached or surpassed the number of victory points necessary to win the game, the game ends.

The dice determine the center of actions. The numbers that are rolled name the row and column of the board. All players place their marker on the corresponding square of the board. All 8 squares around that center of action are the action area. In turn each player utilizes one of the tiles on one of those squares, that is, if a tile is there. The player either receives resources or scores victory points.

Each player has two Baronial Actions. With each of these actions he activates one of his tiles in order to receive two raw materials.

As an alternative he can utilize a special action with his second action He can

- Engage in a secret amorous liaison with The King or The Queen!

He rolls the die and in case of an unlucky result he loses a victory points.

- If he decides on Sabotage he pays cold coins to destroy a tile of his choice in possession of another player.

- Attack What happens when you decide to attack:

When you are attacked by another player he rolls both dice and adds the strengths of his troops. The resulting total is his attack value. This attack value is compared with the defense value of the attacked player: Fortification values + strength of all the defender’s military units. Therefore it is an advantage if you upgrade your keep to fortifications and command as many troops as possible. When the attack value is higher than the defense values, the attacker has won, if the attack and defense values are equall or the defense value is higher, the attacker has lost. Attack is a possibility to weaken your fellow players, but it also carries with it the risk of a defeat and the loss of victory points and resources.

Mechanics of the game already familiar?

The basic mechanism of the game has already been encountered: You acquire various tiles, which you either select or buy with handing back certain resources. The tiles are placed on your fiefdom in order to yield output. In his way your fiefdom develops and as time goes by you command enough resources to upgrade your keep from a tower to fortifications. In a conflict the strength of your keep and your troops (Men at Arms, Archers and Knights).

War!

There are times when the king likes to go to war and wants to be supported by the players. This happens when one of six event cards turns up and when a player has been unsuccessful in attacking Fiumaccio!

The king always demands a certain strength of troops. Each player must deploy military units with a total strength of at least this value. If he cannot do so he loses a victory point and must send what he is able to.

Tiles

There are tiles with special abilities and exactly 10 tiles without them. Special abilities earn you a bonus. Tiles represent population, military units or buildings and mines or religious institutions There are Traders, Granary, The Soothsayer and the Wizard. The trader allows a player to trade resources at a rate of 3:1 with the bank instead of a rate of 4:1; the Granary reduces the amount of food you need by half; you need 1 food per 10 or 12 tiles. The Soothsayer draws an additional tile from the bag. The Wizard allows a player to roll the dice again.

Tips how to play:

There should be a strategy for the development of your fiefdom at the back of your selection of tiles. The Baron chooses to risk of attacking other players or the neutral states SANTA PARAVIA and FIUMACCIO! A basis for this is a strong military presence and the upgrade of the keep.

Resume:

Feudalherren is an interesting game if you manage to develop your fiefdom well and if you have a bit of luck when the resources are distributed. The game favors those players who prefer simple rules and short sequences of play. The components of the game are attractive and due to the many ways one can set up the game / the fiefdom each new game provides enough leeway for an interesting course of the game.

Erwin Kocsan

Players: 2-6

Age: 12+

Time: 60+

Designer: Tom Wham

Graphics: Wham, Klemens Franz, Andreas Resch

Price: ca. 40 Euro

Publisher: Lookout Games 2011

Web: www.lookout-games.de

Genre: Ressourcenmanagement

Users: Mit Freunden

Version: de

Rules: de

In-game text: ja

Comments:

Rather simple rules

Variable game set up allows for ever changing games

Also good as a family game

Compares to:

All resources management games with collecting and placing of tiles

Other editions:

English edition Feudality at Z-Man Games

My evaluation: 4

Erwin Kocsan:

Each man works for his liege lord, but the Baron chooses risk by attacking! Without taking risks it is very difficult to win the game. This will only happen if the luck of the dice stays with you,

Chance (rosa): 2

Tactics (türkis): 2

Strategy (blau): 2

Creativity (dunkelblau): 0

Knowledge (gelb): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communikation (rot): 1

Dexterity (grün): 0

Action (dunkelgrün): 0