Bruges

SLEEVED[IMG]https://cf.geekdo-static.com/mbs/mb_5855_0.gif[/IMG] One of my Favorites

Possbly slightly too tactical for me to compare it to some of Feld's heavier designs but there is certainly plenty to think about and once again he has some great ideas on how to bring something just that little bit different to the table

Real simple, however it takes long for players to decide what to do... next time we'll just play it with 2 players (max. 3)

This is a really good game, but I think that Concordia is the game I wanted this one to be. Despite the promise of engine building, it never really works out - there is too much luck needed and the card abilities are not synergistic.

Still - the game mechanics are really good and the art is beautiful.

This is one of Feld's best designs. Maybe my favorite of his.

Well worth seeking out. Really fun at 2 or 4. Menzel art is beautiful.

Location: MSK

3 oct.2013

A really nice, beautiful and tactile game with simple mechanisms and stacks of options. If you're a Feld fan like we are, you're probably going to like this one too.

The game revolves around a deck of 165 unique cards, 33 in each of five colours, many of which won't be used in any particular game.

Each round consists of:

• All players draw cards from either of two piles to bring their hand to five. You can see what colour card you're choosing, but you don't get to look at the faces until you've drawn all of them. (The decks are held in neat slanted boxes that allow players to draw cards without accidentally revealing cards further down the deck) • The five dice are rolled, and Macao-style, affect all players and are used by all players. • In turn, each player plays a card until everyone has just one remaining (which will form the start of the next hand).

Because there are six things you could do with a given card, each action you choose means you miss out on five you could have chosen. But despite the large number of combinations of options, we felt our goals remained pretty clear to us so the game didn't suffer from AP.

Players use their cards to do one of:

• Build a building - by paying a worker of the matching colour, and placing the card face down into their play area • Recruit a person - by paying the cost in guilders for that person and placing the card face up on a building card • Build a section of canal - by playing a card of the required colour and paying guilders for the section built • Obtain two workers - by discarding a card of a matching colour to the workers • Obtain some guilders - by discarding the card and taking a number of guilders equal to the die roll of that colour • Removing one threat marker - by discarding a card of a matching colour to the threat (threat markers are given to all players as a result of the dice rolls. They're a mechanism to potentially disrupt plans and give the players something more to worry about)

Lots of ways to earn victory points, and many possible routes.

Prototypical Feld, on the lighter end of his scale, this is a "point-salad" game with an element of punitive measures thrown in. Theme? Forget it, non-existent, but it scales very well from 2-4 players, it has nice artwork, and it's easy breezy to learn and play a game (or two).

The goal of the game is to score the most points before game end, which is somewhat variable (game enters the end phase when one of the draw decks runs out). At the start of each round, the dice are rolled and allocated (a new hallmark of Feld games it to make innovative use of dice, and it occurs once again although to a lesser and minor extent in this game)- the dice, which are coloured and correspond to the colours of character cards, dictate the values of money for the round, and the type of penalty, if any for that round. Then you can choose, in turn order, to advance on the prestige track (this is one of several ways to score points), keeping in mind that this costs money and money is very tight but it also can potentially give you an opportunity for a "leading category" point score (another way to score points).

You then draw a set hand of cards of which you will play all but one, and you see the colour (this corresponds to dice actions/costs), but not the effect- you also can draw from 2 different piles and have some control over the speed/length of the game. On your turn, you play a card to activate an action, which of course is generally colour limited: a) get money (refer to the die pips of that colour), b) build a house, which requires a worker of that colour (another way to score points and is required to house workers, think "In the Year of the Dragon"), c) play a personality card, which requires money, is another way to score points and gives benefits some immediate, some reusable (this is the part that can be frustrating if you can't get any card synergy), d) fight an event (scores small points and avoids pain), e) collect workers (colour determined), f) build canals, which is colour limited, requires money, and scores points.

At the end of the round, you survey the lay of the land and can score points for having a majority in: a) prestige track, b) workers housed, c) canals built. These points are significant but can only be scored once each.

This is a solid game effort, but it can be a bit off-putting as many of the card actions are "take-that" in nature, the card draws can be frustrating, and the events can be punitive and while you can work to mitigate them, you can really only do this if you can get those card colours, which shouldn't be hard, but sometimes can be. It does scale well, plays quick, and is easy to learn. I wouldn't be surprised (or disappointed really) if this wins the fluff SdJ award.

Own the [boardgame=154678]City on the Zwin[/boardgame] expansion and the [boardgame=166504]Pets[/boardgame] promo.