Game: Citadels: The Dark City Expansion

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rober — 2008-11-14T10:21:49+00:00

overview

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sim1 — 2008-11-11T13:23:27+00:00

Czech box (back)

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sim1 — 2008-11-08T10:03:30+00:00

Czech box

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sim1 — 2008-10-26T16:06:25+00:00

Czech box

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sim1 — 2008-10-26T16:02:42+00:00

Czech cards

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sim1 — 2008-10-26T16:00:19+00:00

Czech box

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sim1 — 2008-10-26T15:58:50+00:00

Czech cards

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sim1 — 2008-10-26T15:57:30+00:00

Czech cards

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sim1 — 2008-10-26T15:56:22+00:00

Czech cards

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sim1 — 2008-10-26T15:54:05+00:00

Czech box

Thread: Re: Emperor Question

ackmondual — 2008-10-19T22:35:01+00:00

Most people just give the crown to the person on their right. The Emperor ain't all powerful, but I still say he provides a refreshing change to the King.

Thread: Re: Emperor Question

jontroutman — 2008-10-19T21:43:01+00:00

Wow. I guess that surprises me. It seems that the Emperor is sort of a crappy character, though maybe we just need to play with it a little more to find the best strategy. Anyway, thanks for the response.

Thread: Re: Bell Tower: Do ending bonuses still apply?

ackmondual — 2008-10-19T18:49:09+00:00

swstan wrote:
It's a significant question. The official FAQ has now been updated to answer it.About high damn time if you ask me. Would be nice if the other questions were also addressed

Thread: Re: Bell Tower: Do ending bonuses still apply?

swstan — 2008-10-19T16:20:02+00:00

It's a significant question. The official FAQ has now been updated to answer it.

Thread: Re: Emperor Question

ackmondual — 2008-10-19T09:03:38+00:00

The player who's receiving the crown gets to choose what to give the Emperor, one gold or one card. If giving the Emperor a card, he also gets the choose which card. Of course, this isn't required if the crown recipient has no cards AND no gold.

Thread: Emperor Question

jontroutman — 2008-10-18T19:41:07+00:00

When the Emperor gives the crown to another player does he (the Emperor) get to choose what that player gives him (either a gold piece or a card)? Or does the player that received the crown choose what he gives the Emperor?

Thread: Re: Diplomat + Museum

ackmondual — 2008-10-10T15:00:40+00:00

My group plays it such that the cards underneath the museum only add to the points that the card is worth, NOT the cost to destroy it, so it's going to cost 4 (value of Museum) minus whatever district you're exchanging to exchange for the Museum no matter what. This way, it keeps players from tucking too many cards underneath.

On the flipside, you could go the "Artist" route and make it such that each card underneath also increases the cost to destroy it by one. Or each one half cost rounded up/down.

Unfortunately, there is no official word on this AFAIK, so just be sure to make your house rule on this clear in advanced as possible.

Thread: Diplomat + Museum

Corinus — 2008-10-10T06:23:01+00:00

Museum card text:
On your turn, you may place one district card from your hand, face down, under the Museum. At the end of the game, you score 1 extra victory point for each card under the Museum.

So what happens when the Diplomat switches this card? Do the cards underneath (and thus the extra points) travel with it? Does the Diplomat pay anything extra due to the extra point values involved with extra cards?

Thread: Re: Emperor rules question especially for 2-player

ackmondual — 2008-08-20T06:05:41+00:00

my ruling would be to either....

not use the Emperor in a 2p game
-or-
tweak the rules such that when you call the Emperor, you still can't give the crown to yourself, but can then give it (and even again) to the opponent (again). This would force your opponent to give you a gold or card as per the rest of the rules of receiving the crown

Thread: Re: Warlord or Diplomat

EvanMinn — 2008-08-19T23:38:32+00:00

The problem I have with the Warlord is that it only allows you to hurt one other player and at the cost of hurting yourself (that gold could have been spent building something). The best use of the warlord is to let someone else take it. You get the benefit of the leader being slowed down at no cost to you and you can spend your gold on building something.

But the Diplomat adds a big dose of chaos because you can't plan on keeping anything until the end of the game.

I am still going back and forth as to which is the lesser of the two evils but leaning toward Warlord because it really doesn't get used that often.

Thread: Emperor rules question especially for 2-player

morningstar — 2008-08-19T21:37:15+00:00

The Emperor's power is to take the crown and give it to "another player". Is that another player, not himself, or another player, not the one who previously had it, or both?

If it's both, then it would seem the Emperor would be pretty weak in a 2-player game. Only the person who already had the crown could use it, to give the crown away, to gain a gold or a card. I don't know what would happen if the person who didn't have the crown took it. Presumably they could (and must) decline to use their power and just leave the crown in the hands of the current king. Totally useless for that player and about break-even for the player who already has the crown and can give it away. It seems not worth including this character in a 2-player game when there are much more interesting characters you could add.

Thread: Re: Warlord or Diplomat

morningstar — 2008-08-19T21:10:39+00:00

Malachi wrote:
Usually anyone with enough money to steal a 5-6 building with a 1-2 building is going to be targeted by the thief.

You don't need a lot of money to steal a 5-6 building, because you only pay the difference. Say I start my turn with no gold and just a Battlefield. I take the Diplomat. On my turn I take 2 gold and 1 gold for the red district. Now I trade my Battlefield for the University. I pay the difference, which is 3 gold (the difference between the costs) to the owner of the University. I have just gained 5 points and made my opponent lose 5 points in a turn. Pretty good turn.

Next turn I take the thief and try to steal my gold back. But it doesn't really matter. Pretty soon someone else will use the Diplomat and take my University away. Easy come, easy go.

Thread: Re: Warlord or Diplomat

morningstar — 2008-08-19T21:04:00+00:00

The warlord's power should be used on the round when someone has 6 buildings, not 7. As you say, once they have 7, it might be too late, but it still can be worth a try. Maybe the thief and magician can steal their gold and/or cards.

I don't see too many problems with people assassinating the warlord. Really only one person should be fearing the warlord, which is the person who has the most points out of all players who have a 1-cost district. If anyone else takes the assassin, they probably shouldn't kill the warlord, to allow him to hurt their common opponent. Anyway the Bishop could be better if you have some blue districts.

I do get annoyed with the Diplomat at all the 1-cost districts. And yes, I think the expensive districts are problematic, especially the University and Dragon Gate.

More expensive districts should be more valuable. One 6-cost district is harder to get than three 2-cost districts, because you have to hold gold from round to round, risking the thief, and/or use a powerful role, risking the assassin or the thief. It also does less for you in terms of getting to the 8-card bonus and game end and the five-color bonus. The Warlord is one thing that makes expensive districts more valuable. The Diplomat actually makes expensive districts less valuable.

Thread: 2-player Less Predictable Variant

morningstar — 2008-08-14T06:58:25+00:00

My (mostly) non-gamer friend actually likes to play this with me 2-player, but she was annoyed that I was a little too good at guessing which character she picked and assassinating or thieving her. After trying a few things we came up with this variant, which requires some of the Dark City roles.

Setup:

Agree on 12 of the 18 roles from the original set and the Dark City roles. Make sure at least one of each number 1-8 is included. (#9 the Artist may also be used, but not the Queen as the Dark City rules specify that she should not be used with fewer than five players.) You don't have to use all of the original roles, although you may. These will be the roles used for the duration of the game.

Role Selection:

The player who has the crown shuffles all the roles and randomly discards two role cards face down. Then they take one role card and pass the remaining role cards to their opponent.

That player takes a role card and discards two role cards of their choice face down. They pass the remaining cards to the player who has the crown.

That player takes a role card and discards two role cards of their choice face down. They pass the remaining cards to their opponent.

That player chooses one of the three remaining cards and discards the other two.

Turn Order:

The player who has the crown begins calling for the roles to play, starting with #1. When both the original and the Dark City role with the same number are in the game, the original game role is called first.

Exceptions:

The Witch may not bewitch the Assassin or the target of the Assassin.

The Thief may not steal from the Assassin or the Witch or the target of the Assassin or the Witch.

Thread: Re: Navigator

ackmondual — 2008-08-12T18:43:54+00:00

-xXx- wrote:

Does the navigator have to take 4 gold or 4 cards, or can he forgo his power and build instead? Or is he restricted from building no matter whether he took additional gold / cards or not?
My take is the Navigator is NOT required to take 4 gold OR 4 cards. IIRC, somewhere in the FF edition of the game (that includes the DC exp) says powers are always optional.

-xXx- wrote:

What if the navigator got beiwtched, does the witch have to take 4 gold / 4 cards or can she build instead?

The same answer applies here. ditto

-xXx- wrote:

Does anyone feel that 4 gold or 4 cards is too much on top of the regular action?
I will say it is powerful. "Too powerful"? Not sure. I suppose it could've been reduced to 3 gold OR 3 cards, but the fact that he can't build is one thing that balances that. Overall, you need at least 2 turns to build just one district. Or, you may build 2 if you couple him with the Wizard, who is the only other character who may build more than 1 district per turn since the Navigator replaces the Architect.

Another thing that balances him out is the Assassin, Witch, and Thief. Losing a turn sucks. Only being able to take 2 gold or 1 buildng being bewitched sucks, as you may as well have gone with another role with another special power if you couldn't use the Navigator's special power specifically. Losing all your $$, you still get a turn, but losing turn may set you back up to 3 moves or more if a good deal of $$ was stolen. On top of that, not only does that hurt you, but it helps the other player, unless he's so far behind that it doesn't really matter, short of HIM getting robbed by someone who's a threat to everyone else.

Being the Navigator seems quite lucrative, he'll likely be targetted more often than not.

Thread: Re: Blue Moon City or Citadels?

Mythdracon — 2008-07-27T07:33:37+00:00

I got Citadels, looking to buy Blue Moon. Not so sure though. How does the card game stack up against the board game version of Blue Moon (city)?

Thread: Re: Blue Moon City or Citadels?

ackmondual — 2008-07-27T06:33:01+00:00

Mythdracon wrote:
Thanks for the replies guys! I got Citadels due to pricing and availability in the end, and my board game group just loves it. The cards are wearing down already, just one month after I got it.

I'll look into getting Citadels, but if it's more a calculation game I'm not so sure. Is it a game like Puerto Rico or Caylus where certain actions are known and recommended by expert players (with strong opposition and debate)? Is it a game that calculated, or a game that allows some calculation but freedom based on circumstances like player psychology (as in Citadels)?Did you mean Blue Moon City? You mention you got Citadels, then mention you'll look into getting Citadels? If so, haven't played BMC yet.

edit: Fixing late night post

Thread: Re: Blue Moon City or Citadels?

Mythdracon — 2008-07-27T03:58:25+00:00

Thanks for the replies guys! I got Citadels due to pricing and availability in the end, and my board game group just loves it. The cards are wearing down already, just one month after I got it.

I'll look into getting Citadels, but if it's more a calculation game I'm not so sure. Is it a game like Puerto Rico or Caylus where certain actions are known and recommended by expert players (with strong opposition and debate)? Is it a game that calculated, or a game that allows some calculation but freedom based on circumstances like player psychology (as in Citadels)?

Thread: Re: Bell Tower: Do ending bonuses still apply?

icheyne — 2008-07-24T23:21:16+00:00

http://www.auteursdejeux.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2261

Thread: Re: Navigator

DuckAndCower — 2008-06-29T06:40:49+00:00

noddingoff wrote:
You may *either* build OR take 4 gold or cards. There is no requirement to take the 4 gold/cards.

Robin

This does not seem to reflect the wording in the rules. It's not "you may either build OR take 4 gold or cards". It's "you may either take 4 gold OR 4 cards." Then, completely outside of that sentence, it clearly says, "You may not build any district cards". It does NOT say, "You may not build any district cards if you chose to take 4 gold or 4 cards.)

It seems pretty obvious that you can't build.

Thread: Re: Adding the Dark City

ackmondual — 2008-06-17T17:29:04+00:00

Kubigaruma wrote:
I have to strongly disagree with including the Witch in the game. It has brought our games to a standstill. Why would you ever pick anything else? If I want to be the Merchant, better to pick the Witch and bewitch the Merchant. If I want to be the Architect, better to pick the Witch and bewitch the Architect. Yes, you are taking a chance that someone else actually picks the role you want, but if you pick the "actual" role you want, you are taking no less of a chance of being bewitched. So the Witch was the role that was ALWAYS taken first in our games. At least with the Assassin, you would only take it when you want to play defense, or go first that round, otherwise, you may need to take another role for its special ability. The Witch gets around this problem by becoming any other character you want. We will never play with it again.As the bewitched, you don't get a chance to build. As the Witch, that may be good so that you get to build

I believe the Witch is immune to being thieved

If you're playing a turn where the character you want was (possibly) taken by someone else, then you still get to choose it via the Witch

Thread: Re: Blue Moon City or Citadels?

ackmondual — 2008-06-17T16:55:40+00:00

Mythdracon wrote:
Cool, so I guess Blue Moon City is better. I guess Citadels is really just about the role selection and little else? :S
More or less. Select a character role, then decide on how to use their special power(s), what actions to take, what to build, and in what order.

Did you ever decide? If you still wanna try out Citadels, BSW has online play, altho it requires 4-7p to work. Best time to find other players is early noon to before evening, as that seems to work out best for all time zones considered. Keep in mind this game is based off the older, German edition of the game.

www.citadelles.net also has online play. This is more in tune with the English version that most people here seem to be familiar with. It has online multiplayer which I never tried, but the online single player vs the AI is quick and fun. There are even the expansion purple district cards, altho none of the expansion characters.

I'd say try the latter first. It's a web app with an interface that's very straightforward, and if u can't find anyone else, you can alwasy just play a game vs the comps. Either way, do check up on the rules first.

Thread: Re: Emperor dead... and then? And other rules questions

ackmondual — 2008-06-16T18:17:50+00:00

no. The Assassin just kills characters so that the character is too dead to do anything There's no possessing anyone. Comic relief aside, I can see that in the same line of thought as the King. If the King is assassinated, the Assassin takes the crown as some heir to the crown. I would've thought the assassinated Emporer leaves his crown around for the Assassin to give to someone else, but I guess it just doesn't work that way.

.

My guess is at the beginning of his turn. It sounds like the taxing ability where it may be done before or after, except that there's a difference if you use it before or after building. For the Abbot's special power, it benefits the most if it's at the beginning which is when it's used, unless there's something that says so otherwise that it must be at the end of his turn

.

Well, I wouldn't say the Smithy is superior to the Library in every way. If you use the Library, you either get 2 gold AND get 2 cards OR get 3 cards for free (Library ability + draw 2 keep 1 action).

Compared to the Smithy, it's take 2 gold OR get 3 cards (after taking your 2 gold and using that to pay for the 3 cards). If you have 2 gold saved up, you do have the option of taking 2 gold AND taking 3 cards, but the net effect is you're still getting 2 less gold than the player with the Library. Across several turns the Library guy is getting +2 gold while the Smithy guy is 1 extra card, but getting NO gold whatsoever

Another important note is while it's cheaper to build the Smithy, it's also cheaper for the Warlord or Diplomat to destroy or exchange it, which I'm sure veterans will put into high consideration since they're both pretty powerful cards. At the very least, I'm thinking they probably should've costed the same to build.

Thread: Re: Diplomat in final round

ackmondual — 2008-06-16T18:00:58+00:00

-xXx- wrote:
espen wrote:
With 'closed' I suppose you mean 'has at least 8 districts'.

The rules are not specific with this. I believe the Diplomat can't do that. The reason why Warlord is not allowed to do so holds for the Diplomat, too. 'Kingmaking', that is.

Not entirely true. The reason why the warlord can't target closed cities is because then the game would drag on and you wouldn't know whether to count bonus points for finishing. The diplomat otoh simply switches cards. The game ends and the bonus points for finishing aren't affected. Nothing in the booklet says that what counts for the warlord, also holds true for the diplomat.

Well, one could make an exception and provide a 4pt bonus counter and several 2pt bonus counters to those who get targetted by the Warlord after building their 8. They're down to 7 after the Warlord does his deed, but they still get the 2 or 4p bonus. To me, it's the act of getting to 8 buildings, not so much building 8 and keeping the city at 8 cards that grants the bonuses

Thread: Re: Queen querry

ackmondual — 2008-06-16T17:53:14+00:00

I'll have to double check my English version rules, but I remember it says if the King is assassinated, the Assassin would then take the crown. However, this has minimal bearing on this topic, since as the Queen, you're checking to see if you're next to the King or Emporer, NOT next to the crown. Only diff is with a murdered King, the Queen gets the 3 gold at the end of her turn instead of at the beginning

Thread: Re: Smithy Question?

Great Dane — 2008-06-16T17:50:50+00:00

Yeah, Bruno has just told me that he found the card too weak and changed it for the US edition.

So the Frech site has changed the rules in accordance with the designer's wishes. BSW hasn't because the HiG has never republished the game, and the card should fit the original German edition.

Anyway, you defintely should keep all cards paid for!

Thread: Re: great wall question

ackmondual — 2008-06-16T17:47:09+00:00

I would say yes as well. Even though destroying a district isn't the same thing as exchanging districts, the mechanics of what the Warlord and Diplomat lead me to believe that's what the Great Wall protects against..... hostile takeovers.

Thread: Re: Ball room

ackmondual — 2008-06-16T17:41:11+00:00

No you do not have to thank yourself. The card states, and emphasis is my own......

When you have the Crown, all other players must say "Thanks, your Excellency" after you have called his character. If a player forgets to address you in this way, he loses the turn

Thread: Re: Smithy Question?

ackmondual — 2008-06-16T17:40:35+00:00

BTW, shouldn't this be in the Citadels base game forum? The Smithy card is part of the base game. I personally don't mind this topic being here, but I just had to point that out

Great Dane wrote:
You keep all the cards - just as the cards says!

However, I was very puzzled by your question as it appears that Fantasy Flight has changed the text from the original version, in which you bought 2 cards for 3 gold...!

Not sure whether this is an intentional change or an error.Yeah, BSW implements it that way in which it was based off that older version. On the other hand, Citadelles.net has it as "pay 2 draw 3"

Thread: Re: Witch Question

ackmondual — 2008-06-16T17:24:12+00:00

I agree with clockwirk. The Witch gets to take her action, and then, that's it.

She comes out ahead if the person she tries to bewitch comes into play. Then that character loses the 2nd half of his turn, while she gets to use his abilities for herself. Of course, one could argue you could just select the character you wanted in the first place, but then, the character may not have been available during selection. You're also protected from getting robbed as the Witch.

If the bewitchee is not called, then she comes out behind, as she was only able to take an action that turn.

Thread: Re: Smithy Question?

Great Dane — 2008-06-16T17:23:27+00:00

You keep all the cards - just as the cards says!

However, I was very puzzled by your question as it appears that Fantasy Flight has changed the text from the original version, in which you bought 2 cards for 3 gold...!

Not sure whether this is an intentional change or an error.

Thread: Re: Bell Tower: Do ending bonuses still apply?

ackmondual — 2008-06-16T17:15:10+00:00

The game covers some of these contingencies, but I wish these were some of them.

My interpretation is the whole point of ending the game on the 7th played district is to cause the game to end sooner, not to deny people the 4pt nor 2pt bonus.

As far as the other case goes, it could go several ways. My pick would are the cases highlighted.....

>each player who had 7 cards played before the current round gets 4 pts. Any player who gets to 7+ cards this round only gets 2pt bonus. I don't think it's practical to use a counter for an event (namely this one) that'll occur once in a blue moon at best, which is why my solution is to just give the benefit of the doubt to all those who are already at 7 cards.

If the 7th card was built in that same round,
>then whoever was the first to build 7 districts gets the 4pt bonus. You can track this by checking to see which of the players with 7 districts has the lowest character number (e.g. Assassin before Thief, Thief before Magician, etc.)
>similar to above, but if someone has 8 districts , he will overtake previous characters with just 7 districts for the 4pt bonus
>no1 gets the 4pt bonus
>everyone with 7 ditricts gets the 4pt bonus

Thread: Re: Smithy Question?

ackmondual — 2008-06-16T17:08:18+00:00

I'd say it's "draw 3 keep all 3". If it were "draw 3 keep 1", then it's no different than the Laboratory. In fact, it's worse than the Laboratory b/c now you need to pay an extra gold to build that purple card and now you need to PAY 2 gold just to use the ability that the Laboratory lets you use for free.

Thread: Re: Favorite extension character

godfeather — 2008-04-25T06:51:17+00:00

I like the diplomat, but it is more that I don't like the warlord. It makes game faster (about 10 rounds instead of 12-13). More reasons I don't like the warlord is that it makes cheap buildings worthless.

Thread: Re: Witch Question

clockwirk — 2008-02-05T19:58:12+00:00

I don't think that the witch can build on her turn. I think she takes an action, names a character to bewitch, and ends her turn. Her turn is then completed with the bewitched characters ability on that characters turn. So why would the witch do this? To keep the bewitched player from using the ability, to protect the witch herself from being robbed by the theif, to have the ability to take the architects (for example) ability if that card has already been selected by another player...

Thread: Re: Witch Question

raydancer — 2008-02-05T19:29:25+00:00

I had this same question...but I'm still not completely clear on it. So, is the witch allowed to build on both her turn and the bewitched character's turn? Or just on one or the other?

Here's an example of how I think it should play...correct me if I'm wrong:

#1's turn (the witch): take action (card or gold), build if you want to, choose a bewitched player (for this example, let's bewitch the Merchant)...end of turn.

#2, #3, #4, and #5 take their turns as normal.

When the Merchant is called, the #6 player takes his action (card or gold), and the witch gains his special ability. Which, I'm guessing would be to collect on green properties.

And that's it. Right? Of course, this leaves me to wonder if anyone should have taken the additional gold that's part of the Merchant's special ability. By this time, the witch had taken her action and the #6 player technically doesn't have this special ability...so that bit is in limbo.

I really like the idea of the witch, but it'd really help to have some official examples of how her turns should work.

Thread: To Kill the King (again)

Osiris Ra — 2007-12-06T00:24:21+00:00

First off, to those that do not know it, this box contains both the original game AND the expansion cards.

SHINING CITY ON THE HILL
Citadels is a game that I find myself enjoying more and more each time I play it. At first I was lukewarm about it, feeling that there was not enough there to satisfy me. But with each successive play the game revealed itself to me as a mini-masterpiece. Then one day I fell in love with it.

My first intro to Euro-style games came with a number of titles that were, in essence, multi-player solitaires. I enjoyed them, but after a while felt that they lacked something. This is what I expected Citadels to be. And I played it like that. I played the game. Until one day.

That one day I realized that I had been playing wrong and was mostly losing. That's when it dawned on me that I had to play the players and bluff them, keep them guessing. This was not at all multi-player solitaire but a tense, highly interactive game. My whole experience in gaming changed and I would like to thank Bruno Faidutti for providing me with my epiphany.

THE DARK CITY
This expansion allows players to alter some of the basic concepts of the game through the addition of a few cards. Each has a power and adds an element of magic to an already fantastic game.

HIGH CONCEPT
In a faroff kingdom, in a realm of magic & fantasy, the powers of the land, both benign and nefarious, compete for hegemony over the nation. Assassins lurk in the dark alleys, Witches and Wizards walk the paths Man was not meant to tread, Warlords fight their endless battles, master Merchants ply their wares, and Priests make dread pronouncements for the people to repent.

Fresh from a generation of battles for dominance, progress (and a bit of darkness) has come to the land. Newcomers bring strange magic, while the land's Architects build structures that confound and amaze. These striking new buildings hold secrets and promises for the new powers of the realm. Will you be bold enough to seize them, or will you pursestrings be cut by Thieves?

THE BITS
The box, as was said before, contains everything from the original game plus the Dark City cards.

The cards are high-quality, as one would expect from FFG, and most contain beautiful images (the Prison is a notable exception). They are coated to stand up to a lot of play. That being said, though, it is a good idea to put the Character cards into protective sleeves; these are the cards you will use most often, so using the card protectors will extend the life of the game.

The new Disctrict cards have some powerful abilities, like the Hospital which allows a character targetted by the Assassin to only be crippled and not miss all of his turn. But most are fairly costly to put into play. Only 2 (or 4 at most) of these cards should be added to the deck before play, as more will drastically change the game -- in my opinion, using too many of these hamstrings the tension of play.

The gold pieces look like butterscotch (do not swallow!) They are high impact but, being round, tends to roll, so keep them flat.

The crown marker comes with a stand and is an improvement over the original.

My one pique is with the scoring markers. I feel they are not really necessary, nor are the character tokens. These chits, while being of good quality, add little to the game. That the scoring markers are used only at the end, we tend not to use them and do all our calculations in our heads.

GAME PLAY
Just like Citadels, players take a Character in secret. The King has a fairly good idea of what is out there (and what's not).

Characters then, in predetermined order, take their turns. Players reveal their Characters as the king calls them, so players will not always know who a character is. On being called, a player will use their Character's abilities to influence other characters or to benefit themselves in some way. For instance, the Bishop gains 1 gold for every Blue District that he has in play and his Districts cannot be targetted by the Warlorld. Then they can take 2 gold OR draw 2 District card and keep 1, AND they can build a District if they can afford it.

A lot of thought should go in choosing a Character. For instance, if you have lots of gold, it probably a good idea not to take the Architect; someone is likely to kill or rob him, so pick a less likely target. If you have lots of Red buildings, taking the Warlord to benefit from them will again make you the Assassin's target. Take the Thief especially when everyone has gold, but keep in mind that you will not benefit from absconding with that wealth until the next turn. And so on. This is where the fun and tension of the game happen, as players try to deduce what others will take and try to either stop them somehow or defend themselves.

WINNING
The game ends on the finish of a turn when any player has built 8 Districts. The Districts all have a point value determined by their purchase cost, though many of the special buildings have a greater value. Also, there are bonus points for: being first to build 8 Districts; anyone else who has 8 Districts in the last turn; having Districts in all 5 colors -- Red, Blue, Green, Gold, and Purple.

OVERALL
Citadels feels like you are immersed in a fantasy tale of power, magic, and treachery (akin to George R R Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire"). It is tense. The gameplay is fast, where more time is often spent in choosing a character than in taking one's actions. Dark City adds wonderful fuel to both the game's feel and to its play value, as well as increasing the replay value of Citadels.

The original Citadels is like a fine wine that only seems to get better with age. Dark City improves upon that vintage and adds subtle flavors that both those who have already tasted the original and newcommers to the brand will enjoy.

One can only wonder what Faidutti will do next to improve upon this jewel of a game.

Thread: Re: Citadels: The Dark City Expansion In Review

Blademaster777 — 2007-11-29T20:33:33+00:00

lubomirvaic wrote:
Good, quick synopsis. However, one small error you mentioned is that any number of the characters can be swapped, but in the ruleset it says to swap only one or two. By changing more characters, some of the original flavour of the game gets lost, so I really think it is best to only change a couple of them at most.

Quite often, our group draws two expansion charaters at random before the game to swap in and this allows must more variety to our games!!

Oops, yes, you are correct. However our group has had a blast by occasionally going out on a limb, going the whole hog and swapping them all in. IT slows the game down a touch, but is incredible fun.

Thread: Re: Citadels: The Dark City Expansion In Review

lubomirvaic — 2007-11-29T17:55:21+00:00

Good, quick synopsis. However, one small error you mentioned is that any number of the characters can be swapped, but in the ruleset it says to swap only one or two. By changing more characters, some of the original flavour of the game gets lost, so I really think it is best to only change a couple of them at most.

Quite often, our group draws two expansion charaters at random before the game to swap in and this allows must more variety to our games!!

Thread: Re: New characters too powerful?

pilight — 2007-11-29T14:24:32+00:00

Parableman wrote:
We couldn't get the Witch to be very effective

That's strange. We found the Witch to be tremendously overpowered, especially with large groups. You can basically choose any power you want and be immune to the Thief.

Thread: Citadels: The Dark City Expansion In Review

Blademaster777 — 2007-11-29T09:44:13+00:00

Citadels; with the Dark City expansion; was the very first game that I played in my introduction to the newer board and card games. It is still one of my favourites.

Mechanics & Game Play:
The basic rules of the Citadels game remain unchanged. Instead at the beginning of the game a number of new Purple buildings may be added. Personally, I add five random buildings and remove the University (as I see no sense in it being the only 'duplicate' Purple building) This allows the new Purple cards to change on a game-to-game basis.

In addition, any number of the basic characters can be substituted for their Dark City counterparts. The rules say that only one or two should be swapped in. However the group I play with has had enormous fun using the whole lot. The new characters and their ability(s) are as follows.

1) The Witch: The Witch replaces The Assassin and has a similar effect. The witch's player names a character (in this case it is done after the player has taken their action). After the named character has taken their action, their turn ends, and the Witch may play the remainder of the turn as if they controlled that character.

2) The Tax Collector: The Tax Collector replaces The Thief and has the benefit that any player who builds one or more districts during their turn must give the Tax Collector 1 gold if they have one remaining at the end of the turn.

3) The Wizard: The Wizard replaces the Magician. The Wizard is allowed to look at another players hand and choose a district card. They may then choose to either add it to their hand or build it immediately in addition to their normal building that turn.

4) The Emperor: The Emperor replaces The King. When the Emperor is revealed the player moves the crown to another person (not themself). The recipient of the crown must give The Emperor either one gold or one card (givers choice). in addition, The Emperor receives one gold for each Yellow building.

5) The Abbot: The Abbot Replaces The Bishop. The Abbot forces the player with the most gold to give them one gold. In addition The Abbot receives one gold for each Blue building.

6) The Alchemist: The Alchemist replaces The Merchant. The Alchemist is allowed to retrieve all of the gold used to build buildings this turn (But may never spend more than they currently have). Unlike The Merchant, The Alchemist does NOT get gold for Green buildings.

7) The Navigator: The Navigator replaces The Architect. After the Navigator takes an action they receive either four gold or four cards, however they may not build any district cards.

8) The Diplomat: The Diplomat replaces The Warlord. The Diplomat is able to 'trade' districts in play with another player, paying the difference (if their building is less expensive, no gold is 'earned'). In addition, The Diplomat receives one gold for each Red building.

In addition to the replacements for the eight old characters, there are also two new characters.

9) The Queen: The Queen receives three gold if they were sitting next to The King (or Emperor) even if they were murdered.

9) The Artist: Te Artist can be used instead of The Queen. The artist is allowed to beautify up to two buildings by placing a gold on them. For all intents and purposes these buildings are treated as though they costed one additional point (i.e. they score one more point and they cost one more gold to destroy or trade).

Strategy:
The basic strategy remains unchanged. However the new characters often have different uses than their original counterparts. Still, the strategy remains to attempt to keep yourself hidden so that fewer people can target you, while you build your city. Some of the new Purple buildings also change the strategy slightly.

Components:
The components are the same quality as those in the basic game. The cards are made from moderate card stock and stand up to the rigors of gaming quite well, though I still sleeve them out of habit.

Number Of players:
The game is able to cater for between two and eight players. However two and three player games give the players more than one character card each and changes the dynamic of the game slightly. Probably at its best with five or six.

Play Time:
The game can be played in one hour, however the new characters can at times slow the game down and make it take longer.

Overall:
Overall I think that the Dark City Expansion is good enough that Citadels should not be played without it to a greater or lesser extent. Our group likes to add some of the expansion characters to the mix to alter the dynamic slightly and will more-often-than-not use The Emperor instead of The King. This expansion certainly has the ability to stop the game from getting old and stale.

For my review of the Citadels basic game please go to:
http://boardgamegeek.com/article/1600445

Thread: A first variant for the Dark Cities Expansion

tommynomad — 2007-11-24T19:38:18+00:00

Citadels -- The Revolving Door variant

This is a variant we have used to spice up games with more than 4 players. We've had great success with it and hope you will enjoy it.

Basically, we replace the last unused character (that is, the card rejected by the last selecting player) with its numerical counterpart from the Dark City deck, in preparation for the next round. An example for clarity's sake:

- The player who has the King's crown puts a character card face-down on the table, and then selects his own character role and passes. Next to the face-down card is the pile of 9 unused characters from the Dark City Expansion (also face down).
- All other players choose their characters.
- I'm last to choose a character.
- I get handed the Magician and the Warlord(#8).
- I choose the Mage.
- I pick up the unused characters' pile and--unseen by others--put the Warlord in it.
- I find the Warlord's #8 counterpart, the Diplomat.
- I put the Diplomat face down on top of the card put face down by the King at the beginning of the selection round.
- At the end of the building round, the characters are reshuffled, with the Diplomat in, and the process repeats.

On our first play, everyone at the table really liked this variant, as one by one, the Thief, Architect, Warlord, and even the Queen were all bounced out of (and back into) the deck in play. The frustration of being last to choose a character was also tempered by the "right" to choose the next incoming character. In a few cases, players said this made the choice more difficult (especially if you felt you could sacrifice a good choice in the current round in favour of a possible better choice in the next round--a big if, but one player made it work!). We all agreed, though, that AP notwithstanding (we don't tolerate much: even with the newbies, our rule is "play it and find out") it made being last to choose a lot more fun!

Thread: Re: Witch Question

tigerAspect — 2007-11-23T02:41:24+00:00

Basically, after they take an action they lose the rest of their turn, and YOU then take YOUR (postponed) turn, with the option of using that character's ability. Make sense? It's still YOUR turn you take, not someone else's, it was just postponed.

Thread: Witch Question

howaa — 2007-11-22T20:19:24+00:00

I can't find the answer to this anywhere, but the witch can assume the rest of a character's turn after that character takes his action (take two gold or take two cards and discard one). What exactly can the player with the witch do then? Does the player with the witch actually take the other player's cards and play a card with that players cards if he wants? Does the witch use that players cards for bonuses, etc., or his own cards? I'm confused. If possible, please give examples. Thanks.

Thread: Re: Smithy Question?

barnyams36 — 2007-11-07T16:48:32+00:00

The player chooses one and discards two.

Thread: Re: Bell Tower: Do ending bonuses still apply?

barnyams36 — 2007-11-07T16:46:40+00:00

I would say the bonus apply, and if another player already has seven, he would be the first. It could be possible that several players already had seven buildings... maybe all of them are first?

Thread: Ball room

-xXx- — 2007-11-03T10:40:45+00:00

If you have the crown and the ball room, do you also have to thank the excellency when calling your own character?

Thread: Re: First try with Witch and Queen

mtnman69 — 2007-11-01T13:11:10+00:00

So what's next on the agenda and when are we getting together? I'm feeling a sick day coming on tomorrow. Brent is out of town, but if you want to get together Rob let me know. Maybe Mark and Vito can come over, or we can finally get out Twilight Struggle or Axis and Allies: Battle of the Bulge if its just us. We should really try to play some D&D Saturday for National D&D day. Is Sunday still a gameday for us?

Thread: Re: First try with Witch and Queen

barteus — 2007-11-01T02:09:27+00:00

(ahem)... Recent victories include Citadels, Pirates Cove (prior to the session in which Julie won), Ticket to Ride..... Antike is next on the agenda!
However, to get back to the topic at hand - Citadels - it is a very chaotic game. It will be very frustrating for players who like to plan and strategize, as other players will often (both intentionally and unintentionally) wreck your best laid plans. This includes overt plan-wrecking, such as taking your cards via the Magician or destroying your buildings via the warlord/special cards, and semi-random interference, such as naming your character for bewitching, thievery, etc. A very light and fun game, and play is enhanced with larger groups.

Thread: Re: First try with Witch and Queen

mtnman69 — 2007-10-31T23:21:54+00:00

Yeah, you and Mark have been winning most of the games. Julie won Pirates cove, right? Did Rob win at Vinci last time we played that or was that you?