Pax Renaissance: 2nd Edition

This game is thematic, chaotic, engrossing and addicting. Thematically it deals with political machinations overlaid on a canvas of economic strategy. This game displaced/retired many others for me, and is the best in the Pax series lineup, and possibly Phil Eklund's best game overall. It can be fast, I played a 2-player game in 10 minutes once, or can go as long as 2 hours. It has good variation and each session has a distinct character but it delivers a pretty consistent experience each time. It presents the best version of itself when played with two or three players, two player being cut-throat and positional, with four player being free-wheeling and chaotic, three player being somewhere in between these two styles. At any player count it can be very vicious and mean however which may be a turn off for some. There is luck of the draw in the market and starting positions in the set up which may skew the game unfairly in one player's favor.

Here are some typical schemes you encounter during gampelay: you lay siege to heretics in a kingdom you control to prevent your opponents from targeting you with a crusade. Or another scenario: your peasant revolts overthrow the ruling class, then the peasants vote to convert the kingdom into a republic, then vote again later to bring the monarchy back, each time you are gaining trade concessions in the process, then with your advantage in merchants you declare a globalization victory. Pirates, serfs, inquisitions, beheadings, jihads, crusades, reformations, civil-wars, conspiracies, coronations, trade shifts, mercenaries, etc.

Pax renaissance offers incredible depth and replay value. Players don’t own the pieces on the board, but instead manipulate the political landscape and leverage card actions to orchestrate a strategic dance for dominance based on one of four victory conditions.

Almost perfect!

the major down point is that those tiny icons (1st edition is far better than this one).

a minor complaint would be this big box lost Pax Series's charming of big game on tiny box aspect.

A fantastic game, and one that has to be played to really be understood. Everything locks together in an interesting way, there are many paths to victory, player interaction is high, and the theme is well delivered. In classic Eklund style, the graphic design and the rulebook are the two biggest issues with the game. While the cards and map layout are a noticeable and considerable improvement over the first edition of the title, they could still easily be improved. The rulebook is still a disaster - once again it feels like it was barely edited or revised for clarity. Key rules are hidden in the glossary, and are easily missable for novice players. The examples of play don't cover most of the edge cases you would actually want examples of play for - for your first few plays, you will probably find yourself consulting the online FAQ far more often than you should have to. The rulebook itself gives an impression more of being a home project, rather than a professionally produced and edited item. Pax Ren itself is not honestly that complicated a game - I think a considerable portion of the 'weight' rating of this game on BGG is due to the lack of quality in the rulebook. If an experienced player can do a decent job of teaching the game, it is something most board gamers can easily grasp and play in their first session - I would only recommend learning from the book if nobody in your playgroup is able to teach the game. While I usually don't like to comment on designer's political/personal views but as in this designer's case, the rulebook puts them front and center, so I feel the need to address it in my review. Most of the cards are free from the frankly bizarre and misguided view of history that is pushed, but the rules footnotes and parts of the glossary are packed to the brim with it. It can mostly be ignored during play, but it might be a concern for anyone thinking of purchasing the product - both due to the prominence of the views in the rules, and the idea of supporting Phil Eklund financially considering some of his many public statements/essays. For what it's worth, I'm now in that camp, as I've learned more about the designer - even if I enjoy some of his work, it's not worth supporting that discourse with my money.

Definitely threatening to become my all-time favorite Pax game as I play it more!

The more you play and the more you'll be moving from tactical to strategic game play. Like any banker though, stay open to opportunities...