Citadels

Love the new districts.

Many characters are flawed though. Mixing characters willy nilly ruins the balance so be careful what you change.

The original characters work best with 2 players. With 3 you need the tax collector (queen and artisan are weak). With 4+ tax collector and warlord are a disaster, so I use instead:

1. Assassin
2. Thief
3. Wizard (or Seer)
4. King
5. Bishop
6. Merchant
7. Navigator
8. Diplomat

Cards and tokens wear off quickly. A pity.

I also prefer the small box from the original edition, this box is too big.

Do you like to play something with a 3-7 player group of people but BANG is starting to get boring or you don't like that players drop in the game? Citadels is great optional, where you can bluff other players, meanwhile you are building your own empire.

They added more content but did not really improve the game that much. Downtime still kills this game and the extra Characters, while fun, are not really balanced in certain player counts. Other than that, the game is just the same game in a bigger box, but I do have a bias over the more portable version, the big box is totally unnecessary.

Citadels is a difficult game to wrap my brain around. At its best, it's an engaging role selection and city-building game with rollicking special powers and the power to captivate a table for a good hour.

Unfortunately, not every game has proven to be this successful. Some games are prone to drag on and on, and push this game well past what it's fun to experience. I'm wondering if there are particular circumstances where it's not a good idea to bring this one out -- I just wish I could figure out what they are.

Scenic route expansion

Positives:

Super simple to learn and teach

Very versatile game in which you can play with a small and large group effectively

Art work is nice, good quality components for the cost of the game

Gameplay is simple but requires skills in bluffing and deception (EX: discarding the card you think your opponent thinks you have!)

High replay ability due to the amount of different character cards you can set up

Scoring system is interesting for such a simple game (it is dependent on multiple objectives)

Negatives:

Not alot of game strategy or planning (game is focused more on bluffing, deception, and getting into your opponent's head)

Game can drag too long at higher play counts

Very little control of your own destiny (characters can cancel your turn by killing you, steal your money, end the game early, destroy your buildings, etc.)

Some luck in this game due to random card drawing

A light game that will disappoint those looking for a heavier deception/bluffing game

The biggest problem is downtime! Playing this more than 3 or 4 is a disaster.... way too much downtime for a simple game like this

A decent if not totally compelling game combining hidden roles, some take-that elements and tableau building, but I made the mistake of playing it with 7p, and the game crawled at a snail's pace.

The problem was exacerbated by the fact that I played it with a group of mostly casual gamers who were also playing the game for the first time, which meant the draft phase proceeded painfully slowly as folks examined each card and attempted to figure out the best role to pick for themselves. The long table we sat at also meant it was near-impossible to easily examine the tableaus of people seated on the other side of the table.

If I were to play this again, it would be at no greater than 5p.

A fun game that straddles the border between 'party game' and 'board game' very nicely. I consider 5 the minimum player count however - the game really suffers with fewer people around the table.