I'm relatively new to the boardgame scene, so I react to just about every new game like a kid on Christmas. I say that as a qualifier, so that when someone blasts this review later with "Games X, Y, and Z are far better examples of this genre," I can plead ignorance.So with the caveat out there, let me say that I thoroughly enjoy Municipium.

I don't have the rules in front of me, and I'm not a big fan of reviews that spend 900 words breaking down exactly how to play, so I'm going to summarize and try to spend my energy talking about the things I like and dislike about the game, ok? Municipium is basically a worker-placement game where the goal is to collect sets of four types of citizens (designated by colored meeples) to turn into decurion tokens, or victory points. You acquire citizens by placing and moving your family pawns around between the seven city locations on the board and having the most family members in a given location when those citizens are eligible for the taking. At the end of each players turn, they turn over an event card which can activate the city spaces, draw citizens at random from a bag and place them on the board (once an area has three, the citizens are taken, two by the family with the most pawns in the area and one to the player in second), or activate the location powers. The player in first place in each location is granted that locations special privilege, which range from repositioning your whole family on the board to being allowed to trade in 3 citizens as a set instead of 4. The card may also cause the prefect pawn to move around the board, granting the leader in the location the prefect visits a wild card token he can use as part of a set. The players may also elect to use one of their three one-time use family power cards to force a certain event rather than take their chances with the deck.

The heart of Municipium is anticipation. Planning ahead when placing your family is key. One of the buildings in the game determines the order of tiebreakers, and if you don't have the top spot you must be extremely attentive to where the prefect is moving, which location powers you control, and making sure your family members are in the right spot when you need them to be. Do you play your family power early, or save it for a masterstroke towards the end of the game? Do you position yourself to win the next prefect visit, or make sure your family is set to use multiple powers if the activation card comes up? A player who doesn't plan a move or two ahead is bound to be lost, constantly chasing the leaders around the board in the hopes of taking second place in an area and catching the leftovers. There is a lot of tension around this aspect of the game, as denying your opponents the opportunity to complete their sets can at times take precedence over making your own. It only takes five Decurion tokens to win the game, so you have to act fast!

The counterpoint, and my one big complaint about the game, is that there is an awful lot of luck involved. The randomness of the cards and events is manageable and forces you to prepare for multiple possibilities and adds some strategic depth to determining when you use your family powers. However, the randomness of the citizen draws can seem horribly unfair. There is nothing worse in this game than planning perfectly to set yourself up to take the last citizen you need and then drawing five in a row of the wrong color to drop the game in an opponent's lap. I'm not sure how to mitigate this aspect of the game, but it is a downfall.

The other minor criticism I have of this game is that the competition for locations that multiple players need simultaneously can cause a runaway leader. If one player takes an early lead, the leader can often take control of several spots with a minimum of resources, as the other players commit resources to try and hold an important location that they both really need to catch up. If one of the trailing players makes an effort to deny the leader, they are doomed to third place. Good strategic players can work around this, especially by not allowing someone to jump out to an early lead, but it can be a problem with new players.

Criticisms aside, Municipium works. The game mechanics are simple but subtle, and the luck factor only really comes into play in very close games. For the most part the game will reward the player who does the best job of planning ahead. If you enjoy a medium to light game with a little bit of randomness, this is a good fit for you. I'd give it a 7/10.

EDIT: Corrected for spelling errors