OUR REVIEW
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Legacy – The Testament of Duke de Crecy
Get married, having children, extend your family tree
The Hapsburgs knew it already in the 15th century: With a successful marriage policy you can create an empire. Fairly remote from classic conquest games, where players fight in warring factions and conquer territory after territory, Legacy offers a very peaceful gameplay. In Legacy you expand your empire not by fighting wars, but by marrying. But we are equally remote from love matches. Usually, a marriage serves pure expedience or hunger for power, as we want our dynasty to be the most esteemed and most honored. That such a topic can be implemented with many cute and witty details and at the same time with lots of fun, is demonstrated by this game: Legacy - The Testament of Duke de Crecy. But take care: Having children can be quite addictive here!
In Legacy each player embodies an unmarried person who is Head of a family and must therefore, first of all, look for a suitable partner. You decide yourself if you want the start the game in the guise of a man or a woman. Women begin the game with more gold, but then, in the course of the game, their income is lower than that of men.
And what do you need for a large family? Of course, many friends, as you naturally want your children to marry well and into a good family, and also naturally a little assistance with the family planning for children can’t do any harm. If you, on top of that, you pay attention to talents, nationalities, social events and finally to peerage, there is not much left that could go wrong. But do keep in mind, too, a little manor or two, which satisfyingly mirrors your wealth.
Essentially, Legacy is comprised of three game elements - cards, playing pieces and boards. Cards are the deciding and central element: At the start of the game each player receives his Head of Family as a card, friends and children each form their own stack of cards.
Over the course of the game each player sets out his family tree on the table, comprising the Head of Family as well as Friends cards and Children cards. All Friends cards are unique and have several different characteristics: Besides their gender friends do have a nationality and also a profession.
Getting married to a male friend usually entails costs, whereas female friends usually enter into a marriage bringing their dowry. Marriage also confers the profits stated on the respective Friends card, usually you get those profits instantly and only once.
Children are also either male or female. Individual Children cards can bring you an additional bonus. Unfortunately, this stack of cards also holds complications at the birth of a child (Complication Cards) which can result in the loss of the child or loss of the mother. Children Cards have a top and a bottom half; one half shows the offspring as a child, the other as an adult.
Besides the expansion of your family by marriage or offspring your family can also grow in esteem or wealth, by means of acquiring peerage titles or sponsoring social functions. Possible peerage titles and functions are different in each generation and come, of course, with their own price tag. In each generation three cards of each kind are on display and can be acquired.
Furthermore, your own esteem can be raised by acquisition of a villa or your income can be raised by taking a holding in companies. Those cards are only available in limited numbers, depending on the number of players.
Finally, a strategic angle or component in the game is provided by Mission cards and Patron cards. Mission cards can be acquired by players; they earn you an individual bonus when you meet their requirements. As regards to Patron Cards, one of those is dealt to each player at the start of the game and will also accrue additional points in the final scoring when the stated requirement is met.
As means of payment Gold cards of values 1, 2 and 5 are provided. A Starting Player card marks the active starting player and is handed to the next player at the end of each action round.
Playing pieces are necessary for players, enabling him to implement actions. For each player two action pieces in his color are provided and there is also a general stock of three pieces each in five colors, which are not allocated to any player.
On the playing boards you implement the actions. The central game board is placed in the middle of the table and shows six different cases for actions and a scoring track for Honor points, which decide who will be the winner. In addition, each player has his own player board on which you find four more action cases as well as scoring tracks for Prestige and Income. Prestige marked on the track is converted at the end of each generation 1:1 into Honor points, the income marked on the track is paid to each player in the guise of gold cards at the end of each action round.
At the start, Heads of Families are dealt randomly to all players; each player chooses a male or female role and receives the starting capital connected to that gender. The starting capital is always gold, a certain position on the Income track, a certain number of Friends cards and an additional playing piece in one of the general colors. Five Friends cards are put on display openly. The action pieces in player colors are handed to all players.
On the game board you find a track for game rounds, on which you mark the individual rounds of the game. Legacy is played over three generations. Depending on the current generation you play action rounds: two action rounds for the first generation, three for the second and four action rounds for the third generation. In each action round players in turn place their action pieces on action cases on the main board or their individual board; the active player places one action piece in turn, until all players have passed. This ends the round, and all action pieces are then removed again.
Action pieces can be pieces of your own color or an action piece of a general color from stock which you do already own. As I have already mentioned, at the start of the game you receive one such piece from your role as Head of Family, you can acquire additional action pieces from general stock from Friends and also at the start of each generation. For the placing of action pieces there are various different rules for the action cases on the main board and for the action cases on the player boards! Each action case on the main board can only accept one single action piece. On your own player board, you may always use any and all of your action cases, regardless of those cases being empty or having already an action piece in place. Action cases on the main board have an addition characteristic: Each action case has its own color and for each of those colors there are three corresponding action pieces in general stock. When a player owns such an action piece he can only use it for placement on an action case of this color on the main board and only if the case is still empty of an action piece.
Next to his individual board each player lays out his family tree over the course of the game. For each generation to place a horizontal row of cards. Thus, the first generation row only holds the Head of Family and his or her spouse. The children of this couple are placed into the second row, which thus represent the second generation. As you want and should have children also in the third generation, your family tree will at the end of the game consist of four rows of cards. Children of a couple are always placed beneath this couple so that it is clear how many children a couple already has.
At the start of each generation three corresponding Title cards and the three corresponding social functions cards are laid out, cards remaining from the previous generation are removed. As there are only nine cards in both of these categories, there are always all cards of those categories in play.
At the start of Generation Two and Three players receive one action piece each from general stock: One action piece in each color is taken and, starting with the starting player, each player randomly draws one stone from this supply. Then the children born in the previous generation grow up, which means that you rotate them to the adult half of their card. Should a marriage already have been arranged for those children, they now get married in analogy to the Marriage action. Should a player have drawn a Complication card in the previous generation, he now discards it and the individual rounds of the current generation can begin.
In the action rounds that are now following you play actions. The active player takes one action piece from his personal stock and places it either on the main board or on his own player board. The main board offers six different options for actions to all players:
Acquire a Title: You place one of your own action pieces on this action piece or also a yellow action piece, if you have got one. Then you take one Title card, pay the costs stated on the card - which can be gold, friends or income, for instance - and places the title card adjacent to a single adult family member or next to a couple. Finally, you receive the bonus stated on the card.
Contribute to Community: The action Contribute to Community plays very similar. Instead of choosing a title you choose one of the cards on display for social function. This action is also marked with the color yellow.
The two actions for Buy a Mansion and Initiate Venture are also structured in a similar way to the two actions previously mentioned. They can be chosen with one of your own or with a green or orange action piece from general stock. For those actions prices are fixed (Friend card from hand, Gold, Honor points). After paying the costs you receive the respective card, which again has to be allocated to an adult or to a couple.
When assigning those four cards to family members there is a restriction that limits the number of cards of one type to one card per adult or per couple. Therefore, you can, in the action rounds of the first generation, only acquire one card of each of the three types, as in this generation only the Head of Family and his or her spouse are grown up.
Undertake a Mission: This is an action that gives you a mission card. For this action, too, you have to pay a fixed price. For his action you have to remember two rules which are, unfortunately, not marked in any way on the board: (1) in Generation One and Two you draw the top two mission cards, choose one and discard the other one. The chosen card is placed open-faced in your display and you aim to complete / meet the condition stated on the card before the end of the game. (2) In Generation Three the Mission card is used in a different way. You only draw the top card and place it face-down underneath your own Patron Card. The mission card is thus used to meet the conditions stated on the patron card. A Patron Card always states two conditions, one of those is the main condition, and the other two are minor conditions, which earn you Honor points at the end of the game. To be able to score a minor condition you must hold a mission card and this must be a mission card that has been acquired in the 3rd generation. If you only manage to acquire one mission card in the 3rd generation you can choose which minor condition you want to meet and score, in case of acquisition of two mission cards you can score both minor conditions on the patron card.
Hire Fertility Doctor is the last action case on the main board. If at some point problems should occur with having children, it might be worth your while to choose this action! In this case you pay the fixed cost for the action, choose one of your couples, draw two children cards for this couple and place them, beneath the chosen couple, into the row for the next generation. Should you have drawn a Complication Card this card is resolved immediately. It is important to remember that each couple can only have a maximum of three children, unless a Friend card allows you another number. Therefore this action may only be chosen for a couple that is still able to have two more children.
On his player board you can choose between four different actions:
Marry or Arrange Marriage: Each blood relation of the current generation can be married to a Friend, marriages of partners with the same gender are not allowed. You choose a friend from your hand, pay the costs stated on the card or receive the stated dowry and place the card for him or her next to the chosen partner of this generation. Then you resolve the marriage: first you resolve/score the symbols on the Friend card; this can result in a raise in your income or for your prestige or give you new friends. Then you implement the individual text on the card. At this point it can be of interest if already friends of the same nationality or of the same professions are members of the family due to previous marriages. Finally, the action Marry or Arrange Marriage ends with offspring! You a draw a Children card for the newlywed couple and place it underneath this couple into the row for the next generation, child-half of the card pointing upwards. Should the Children card now show a readable text, that is, a text that is not upside-down, this text is implemented immediately.
Whenever you draw a Complication Card when drawing a card from the Children stack you must decide instantly if you prefer to let the mother die or the child. In the first case you draw no additional Children card, in the second case you remove the mother and draw another Children Card, because the child survived the birth. Each player needs only to be afraid of one Complication Card in each generation. Should you have drawn and resolved a Complication card in one generation, the card is set down in your display. Should you draw additional Complication Cards in this generation, you simply ignore them.
You can also implement the action Marry or Arrange Marriage also for children of the current generation. In this case a marriage is only arranged, that is, you choose a Friend card, pay the price or receive the dowry and then place the card, rotated by 180 degrees, next to the respective childe. At the start of the next generation, when all children grow up, you resolve the marriage, score the Friends card and have offspring accordingly.
Have Children: You choose a couple and can now do this action for free; you draw the top card from the stack of Children cards and assign the child to the chosen couple. Alternatively, you pay one Honor point and may draw cards from the stack of Children cards until you draw a child of the desired gender of your choice. In both cases you must resolve Complication cards, if you should draw them.
Ask Friends for Money: This action enables you to acquire more gold. Depending on what you use (Friend card or Honor Point) you receive between 2 and 4 Gold.
Socialize: Should you, at any point, run out of Friends, this action might be worth your while. You choose how much gold you want to pay and then receive, according to the amount you paid, between one and three Friends cards from the open display. When taking Friend cards from the display you need to apply the following rule: Whenever you take Friend cards from the display and only one single Friend card remains in the display, you receive this single Friend card additionally and for free. The display of Friend cards is only refilled to five cards, when it has been completely emptied.
In an action round you must always play both action pieces of your own color; action pieces in the colors of pieces from general stock can be kept for later rounds, but cannot be kept across a change of generations.
At the end of the action round players take back their own generation pieces, the pieces of general stock colors that were played are returned to general stock. After this all players receive income according to the position of the marker on the Income track.
When all action rounds of the current generation have been played, this generation is scored: Each player receives Honor points according to the position of the Prestige marker on his player board and also one Honor point for each child that was born in this generation. After the third generation has been scored, you then also score the Patron Cards. Whoever then has the most Honor points, is the winner of Legacy.
Legacy features a cute topic and this topic has also been implemented very wittily in the game design, especially in the Friend cards. It is simply fun to marry your children to Friends - be they attractive or not so attractive - and provide offspring at the same time, and this in competition with the other players. It can happen in some games that players vie with each other and outplay each other as regards to the number of their progeny. Should the topic not suck you into its mood, you will find a simple worker placement game in Legacy, involving placing cards.
As regards to the game components, the gold cards seem a bit skimpy. In some of our test games we did run out of gold cards; in those cases you must find a solution yourself.
The game is highly interactive, therefore the right timing in choosing your actions is important. Legacy allows several strategy, but you must not forget that chance also has a deciding role to play. As regards to action colors for action pieces yellow is especially beneficial and not in balance with the other colors. This can be of an advantage already at the start of the game, as one Head of Family brings a yellow action piece with him. The Friend cards, too, can either come advantageously or may not fit together at all. All the same, Legacy is definitely not a game in which you are played by the game.
As a special version the game offers a solo game with separate rules.
Bernhard Czermak
Players: 1-4
Age: 8+
Time: 60+
Designer: Michiel J. E. Hendriks
Artist: Rafal Szyma, Mateusz Bielski
Price: 35 EUR
Publisher: Portal Games 2013
Web: www.portalgames.pl
Genre: Worker placement
Users: With friends
Version: en
Rules: de en
In-game text: yes
Comments:
Components with cute and witty design
Simple, easy rules
Worker placement with a chance element
Compares to:
Other editions:
Das Vermächtnis, Pegasus
My rating: 6
Bernhard Czermak:
Legacy is a simple worker placement game and therefore not too complex, but all the more entertaining. It reminds one of Der Letzte Wille, but the topic is marriage and having children, the more the better.
Chance (pink): 1
Tactic (turquoise): 3
Strategy (blue): 2
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 0
Communication (red): 0
Interaction (brown): 3
Dexterity (green): 0
Action (dark green): 0