Imagine if St Petersburg had been designed by Tom Wham with a fantasy theme. Then you'd get a game like Dragon Lairds. More of an economic game than a direct conflict game, there is still plenty of player-player interaction as players not only vie for limited resources, but some cards also allow players to target one another for a variety of nasty events.

Components:
Game board, cards, paper money, and scoring tokens. The board is mainly a placeholder to show where cards are played, and contains a scoring track. Cards represent Commoners, Resources, Lairds, and Havocs. Each card has listed on it the cost (gelden for the first three, Royal points for the Havocs), the pay-off (gelden or Royal Points scored), and other special abilities. Havocs usually represent one-time events that players use to disrupt their opponents plans. They differ from the other three cards in that they cost Royal Points to purchase, so playing one depletes your final score. I can't comment on the quality of the components, because I played a beta at Gencon, but the pictures are cute.

Set-up:
Every player chooses one of the five color of dragons in play, then chooses whether to play the King or Queen. The two genders have different special abilities, so the choice does make a difference. The scoring tokens are placed on the board, every player is dealt four cards - one they play in front of them, one they play in the Fire Sale (more on that later) and the rest are discarded. Every player is given an initial stake of gelden and you're ready to go.

Game Play:
Dragon Lairds is game in which cards will score either gelden (money) or Royal Points (victory points) or both. You need gelden to buy more cards, but Royal Points are what wins the game, so striking an appropriate balance is important.

Play is divided up into rounds, each of which is subdivided into turns. The number of turns per round is the same as the number of players in the game, so in a four-player game, there are four turns per round. At the beginning of the round, cards are dealt out. Cards come in four types - Commoners, Resources, Lairds, and Havocs. Cards are dealt onto the board until at least one card is dealt in each group. If more than one card of a given type is dealt before all types are represented, then the newest cards are played on top of the older ones. Since only to top card of a stack is available for purchase, that means the top cards have to be purchased first to uncover the bottom ones.

During each turn a player may take one action. An action is the purchase of a card from the main area of the board for full price, purchase of a card from the Fire Sale for half price, taking a card from the board and putting it in your hand, playing a card from your hand for full price, or passing. After all turns have been played, the round is scored, with each player receiving gelden and Royal Points as listed on the cards in front of them. Cards left on the board are placed in the fire sale, and the round is over.

Additional rounds are played until one player passes the sixty point mark. Then there is a final scoring round and the player with the most points is the winner. Since some cards only score points in the final scoring, and since players have to deduct points for unplayed cards left in their hands, the first player to surpass sixty is not always the winner.

Additional Rules:
I've simplified the game play, but there are two additional rules that deserve mention. The order of play during a round is dependent on a player's score, with the player in last place going first. This rule means that the losing player gets first choice of cards in a manner reminiscent of Power Grid. Also, each card has a color that matches the color of one of the players. As it is cheaper for players to buy cards of their own colors than cards of another color, the choice of purchase may depend on the color a player initially chooses to play.

Rating:
The game plays quickly once all players are familiar with the rules. Player interaction occurs not only in competing for card purchases, but also as players choose targets for their Havoc cards. The major quibble I have is that some of the Lairds are more expensive because of their ability to influence the owner of the Saurian cup, a variant that we did not play. Perhaps those cards should be removed from the deck when not playing with that variant. Otherwise the game is quite enjoyable, and I look forward to obtaining a copy when it becomes available (???September '07.) I give it an eight.