by mattx
This unassuming game seems to have slipped under a lot of people's radar because of its similarities to games like Pillars of the Earth and Stone Age. It deserves more reviews so I'll add my 2 cents.
The other reviews here cover mechanics well so this review features mostly my opinion punctuated by some experiences from my plays of the game.
Speed
This game is fast. I'm talking 'blow your head off' fast. Even with rules teach this is a 50 minute game.
Decisions
This game has resource collection, building, money acquisition, and point accumulation, this alone would make for a challenging game. What puts this game into the stratosphere though is the central role selection mechanic. It feels like you need every character on every turn and the result is high tension and awesome challenging decisions.
Opinion/Analysis
This game is two games in one. On the surface this looks like a worker placement game: get some meeples onto the board and get some goods for production and points to win the game right? Wrong.
This game is a role selection game: much more of a role selection game than a worker placement game. As a matter of fact this game reminds me MUCH more of Citadels or especially Mission Red Planet than of Pillars of the Earth or Stone Age.
This role selection mechanic is the source of all the decisions in the game and is one of the best implementations of a role selection mechanic I have ever played.
The player interaction resulting from the role selection is just awesome. There are 8 role cards, 3 different workers, messenger, trader, stone mason, brick layer, and master builder and they execute in a fixed order. They also use the mechanic where you can't get the roles back into your hand until you use a certain role card a-la Mission Red Planet or El Grande Action cards.
The roles are extremely tight and highly interactive.
The messenger gives you money but if the bank runs out of coin which can happen you don't get paid. So you'd like to play your messenger when other people don't.
The workers get resources right away but you can't use them until the end of the role resolution. In the mean time anyone who played a stone mason can buy a resource from you for a paltry 1 coin. If more than one stone mason is played you might get only a single resource from your worker. A worker lets you build but gives you only half of the VP's from the building.
The trader allows you to place a worker next to a resource. From this point on you will get that resource whenever anyone plays a trader. If everyone plays their trader on the same turn you all get paid once. That's it. So you want to play your trader on different turns than your opponents so you can get more resources. When you get resources via the trader you have to donate some to the building of the defense tower. The defense tower gets paid first so if there aren't enough resources too bad!
The brick layer lets you take all of one type of resource from the defense tower, build up to 2 buildings, and place up to 2 workers in buildings that have been built. When you build with the brick layer you get money for the buildings NOT VP's. Placing workers into the castle is how you generate end of game VP's but it's expensive and there isn't a lot of money in this game.
Also when more than one person plays a role they are resolved clockwise from the start player. So if several people play brick layer there might not be the resources you want in the defense tower by the time you play. Another tough call to make...
The stone mason lets you buy cheap resources from workers, build up to 2 buildings for VP's and place up to 2 workers. The purchase can be devastating to the players who played workers. You want to try to predict when people will play workers so you can get cheap resources. The VP's can be huge, but where will you get the money you need to buy into some of those coveted castle spaces for your workers to get end game points?
The master builder lets you take your cards back into hand. Typical and boring right? Wrong. The master builder also scores you 5 points for every building built in the turn. If people are building buildings with workers and getting half the VP's for them you are going to make out like a bandit. You want to play this card when people are going to build. Can you predict when this will happen? I hope so.
So I hope you can see now that the role selection is the heart of this game and the worker placement is almost an afterthought although it is absolutely central to VP generation at the end of the game.
Weird Mechanic?
This game's building cost mechanic is unique. Each resource has a value associated with it (there are 4 types of resources and silver which is a wild card). Each building must be paid for with exactly 3 different types of resources whose values add up to the cost of the building. Fairly mind boggling but not too taxing in practice since buildings all cost even numbers and many of the buildings are repeated so you'll get used to making 8's.
Winter Side
This game has a summer and winter version. The winter version adds event cards that change the game in various ways. I have not played with the winter cards. I don't think it's necessary but it can certainly provide some variety and longevity to your enjoyment of this game.
Conclusion
Obviously I like this game. The rules are simple but slightly unintuitive until you sit down and try the game. You'll probably be a bit lost for the first few turns but hey folks this is a 40 minute game. Just start over once you have the hang of it... or better yet finish a quick game and play another.
The game is tight, the decisions are hard, the production quality is high, and you could play 3 games of this in a couple of hours. The building benefits for end of game are interesting and the roles are just right.
This is a sleeper hit and should be on your self if you like short very intense games.
This game is an easy 9 for me. Go get it.
Check out my blog at http://metroburbgamers.blogspot.com for more session reports, reviews and articles..."
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