OUR REVIEW

MAGIC BY THE BOOK

Grimoria

USE THE BOOK AND COMPANIONS

The world of Magic enchants all ages from young to old. To do magic can be learned by using different means, a magic wand, a magic hat or a magic book. Such a Book of Magic is used in Grimoria and is meant to demonstrate the magic of books.

The rules are very short and concise, which is due to Grimoria not being a complex game at all, which is a clear bonus. Another advantage is that the rules, contrary to many others that can be found in games nowadays, are very well structured and therefore easily understood.

Setting up the game takes maybe a tick longer, but setting up also provides a few important clues for the progress of the game. Before we can start to play the game order markers are set on the corresponding spots on the board, the start-up turn order is determined by random placement of the markers and is not important; turn order changes during the game. Who will take which position on the order track will be determined in each round by the spells chosen by the magicians.

Before the adventure cards are placed they are shuffled well and then stacked for a draw pile. Next to this draw pile one card is placed face down and then you place additional cards, according to the number of players, open-faced all in their respective places. The adventure cards are made up from Companion cards, which bring advantages to the players, and Location cards, which tell us that only Companions have an effect. Both kinds of adventure cards yield different amounts of victory points.

Another kind of card to be found in the game is treasure cards, which are also shuffled and stacked for a draw pile. This stack is placed on the table next to board. The treasure cards also comprise two different kinds of cards; there are some that result in an effect and are of advantage to the player, and there are cards that simple award victory points. The Taler/coins are placed next to the board. When you receive coins in the course of the game they always have a value of 1. Money is not kept secret; it must always be visible for all.

Players choose a color and receive a Magic Book, a Book Marker and a playing marker in this color. Each player has one coin as his starting capital. The Magic Book contains all spells that can be cast and it starts with the easy ones and ends with the difficult ones.

There are limits from the start what spells can be cast, and those limits are indicated by the level of magic represented on the board. Depending on the number of players in the game the game starts with a different level of magic. When three are playing the starting level of magic is at position Five. This means that players can only cast the spells One to Five from their Book of Magic. The number of a spell is indicated by a number in the top left-hand corner of the book.

The board also shows spots for spells; those spots are used by players to indicate the spell they want to cast with their markers. This is important because the spells you want to cast determine the order of play.

Game play in Grimoria is based on rounds. Each round is played in the same way, comprising three phases. Each Phase must be complete before the next one can start, which also means that all players are always in the same round.

The first Phase is the Spell Phase. In this phase all magicians play simultaneously by deciding on a spell that is within the range of available spells. To choose a spell magicians place their Book Marker into their Book of Magic and lay the book down closed. This indicates that the selection is complete. When all players have laid down their books, all open the book at the marked page, also all at the same time. Now each magician takes his marker and places it on the corresponding spell spot on the board. It is possible that several players cast the same spell.

Then the new order of play is determined. First all players, who chose a spell with a low level of magic and did chose that spell alone, on position 1 of the order track - for instance, if player Blue did choose Spell #1 and was the only one with this choice he is the new starting player for the next phases. The other players who were the only ones to choose a certain spell are ranked behind him depending on level of magic they have chosen. If a spell has been chosen by several magicians those magicians are ranked behind all those who were alone in choosing a spell. Whoever was in front in the previous rounds will be ahead now again, so that for those players the course of the games doesn’t change much. All the same, this variation of the turn order makes the game interesting, because it ensures that rounds are different, especially as you do not want to use the same spell in every round, but want to vary them.

Then the second phase begins; the Adventure Phase. In this phase the turn order is of great importance. The difference between Phase One and Two is, that players do their their turn simultaneously in Phase One but play in turn order in Phase Two, they do all their possible moves before passing the turn to the next player.

Each player can do three moves: The first move is to execute the spell that you chose and placed. It can happen that a player casts Spell #2 which forbids any kind of Black Magic for the rest of the round. This of course also goes for players who did choose black magic; their spells cannot be cast in this case. The second move allows a player to use the abilities of companions laid out in front of him. One must pay attention to the fact that abilities of some companions, like the Messenger, can only be used in this move and that abilities of other companions, like the witch, can be used anytime. The Messenger, for instance, allows you to take a coin from stock when the player is first in turn order. Should a player have the same companion laid out more than one he can use the abilities as often as he has that special companion.

The last move of each player in this phase allows you to take an adventure card from the display, but not from the discard pile. Here it is important to know that the display is not replenished with new cards. When the chosen card is a Companion you place it on on the table, a Location card is taken up into your hand without revealing it.

Phase Three is the preparation for next round. The adventure cards still remaining in the display are discarded open-faced and new cards are laid out. The discard pile is open-faced because you can look through it anytime you want.

The last step in this phase is the raising of the level of magic by one level, so that players have a wider selection of spells at their disposal for the next round. When the marker of the level of magic reaches the red spot of the track the last round begins and when that is complete the game ends.

To score the game each player adds his victory points and the player with the highest total wins. Victory points are accrued from coins, the values of acquired treasure cards and values of the adventure cards and also from the values of the effects which can result from adventure cards.

As you can see, basically all that you acquire during the game can be scored for victory points, which enables you to try different strategies to win the game. You can choose to rely on Companions and their abilities or collect money or locations. But, not surprisingly, a strategy using a well balanced mixture of all three „pure“ strategies will work best.

A core advantage of this game is that the rules do not leave one single question unanswered. The rules are clearly structured and you can find any information in the spot where you need it and where it works best. Again, this is something that is sadly missing in lots of games that were published recently.

The game mechanics are put together very simply and are made up from standard mechanisms: On one hand the mechanisms familiar from Trading Card Games employing Companions who help the player to make progress in the game, and on the other hand the game board which brings more variety into the game. Due to its simple mechanism the game is quickly explained and you start to play after a very short explanation.

Players: 2-5

Age: 10+

Time: 30+

Designer: Hayato Kisaragi

Art: Eckhard Freytag

Price: ca. 20 Euro

Publisher: Schmidt Spiele 2012

Web: www.schmidtspiele.de

Genre: Fantasy card game

Users: For families

Version: de

Rules: de en jp

In-game text: yes

Comments:

New edition of Grimoire, One Draw, 2010

Winner of Essener Feder 2012 for the rules

Winner of Graf Ludo 2012 for the graphics

Easy entry into the game

Compares to:

Fantasy games on magic spells in general; trading card games for mechanisms

Other editions:

Z-Man Games, USA, One Draw/Japon Brand, Japan

My rating: 5/7

Isa Schranz:

Grimoria is not the most complex game ever, but if you want to try something new, this short game is a good start!

Chance (pink): 3

Tactic (turquoise): 2

Strategy (blue): 0

Creativity (dark blue): 1

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 1

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0