Game: Justinian

Thread: Great graphics a great game do not make

filwi — 2008-05-20T20:01:46+00:00

Opening the box my hands started to shake. I felt the way Columbus must have felt discovering America or the way your average IRS agent feels finding an undeclared off-shore account. In other words: WOW!

]]>Image courtesy of Leon van Groesen.

Components
Justinian is nothing short of gorgeous. I've liked the heft Railroad Tycoon, the size of 7 Ages and the ingenuity of Duel of Ages but for sheer graphic beauty nothing comes close to Justinian. Looking at the components is like watching a window in a Gothic cathedral: you can hear the angelic choir in the background.

And it doesn't end there. The board has raised edges so the character slips will lie stable and pale colored areas so you'll easily see how many markers each character has on them. And the beveling is flush with the top of the character slips so the markers are easy to slide onto them. Not only that, the plastic box insert is formed so that everything lies flat and nicely segregated – you don't even need zip-lock bags to keep the markers from flying around. Justinian's production value is simply immense.

]]>Image courtesy of Dave Lartigue.

The only drawback is the scoring track which, while good looking, is counterintuitive and the areas set aside for scoring round influence markers are somewhat small but those things are easily mitigated by the pleasure of fiddling with the other components.

Gameplay
Unfortunately Justinian doesn't deliver gameplay wise. On the surface it's a simple resource management game: you've got a number of influence markers and use them to raise or lower the favor of characters which you've randomly invested in. But beware, there are only 22 markers in total in the game and you'll be liable to run out real quick.

In fact, that's how most games have ended for me: some players run out of markers and whoever managed to keep theirs gets a free run at the final, and largest, scoring round. Keeping your markers is key to victory, even if you have to give up on the first scoring rounds. You'll still get some points – usually thirty to fifty compared to fifty to eighty for those optimizing early scoring – and as scores increase in each of the three scoring rounds you can triumph two good scoring rounds for other players by a hundred-or-more point final scoring.

The second problem is that you receive the character's which score for you randomly. If you get bad characters, or a combination that no one else has, you won't have enough markers to get your characters into favor. It is frustrating to see every one else more-or-less cooperating and sending your characters into disfavor as an afterthought – with three other players dropping negative markers on your characters to advance their own (you can move up by either gaining favor or causing others to lose it) you won't stand a chance to catch up.

]]>Image courtesy of Dave Lartigue.

Even so, there's a fair amount of strategy going on in Justinian. The key points are to keep your markers to the last while preventing other players from gaining too much favor for their characters. It's a bit of a guessing game with a fair amount of bluffing as you don't reveal if you're supporting or undermining a character when placing the marker, and there's some choice in which characters to support – low ranked characters score more if they get into favor.

You'll also need to balance influencing the court and spending markers on activating scoring rounds but as each player rarely activates more than one round (as that would remove too much from his ability to favor characters) the balancing act is limited to which scoring round you'd like to influence.

Justinian plays fast; three games in an hour, including setup, is not uncommon. Only the size of the box and the quality of the components keep it from being placed in the Euro-filler category.

The chief drawback is that the learning curve is very steep. It's not so much a matter of rules, which are simple even if they're written in an unnecessarily complicated fashion, as the scarcity of resources. Beginners won't know where to invest and how to save and they're likely to ruin the game for more experienced players.

]]>Image courtesy of Dave Lartigue.

Justinian relies on all players being equally familiar with it. A beginner that does something stupid can very easily hand the game to another player. And if you've burnt all your markers in the first round you're not only slowing the game down for others, you're in a position where you know you've got nothing to do.

That's not to say that Justinian has a king making problem – unless you count king making at random. When you mess up, you never know who you're handling the game to only that chances are very good that there will be such a player. A very lucky character draw can alleviate this problem, but that's nothing anyone can influence.

Conclusions
All in all Justinian is a fair game. It's all right to play when in the right mood, it's light enough to play fast and heavy enough to hold the interest of inbreed gamers. It probably won't make anyone's top ten list, nor a game you'll introduce casual players to, but it might very well be something you pull out when you want something quick.

Who'll like Justinian: Heavy gamers looking for lighter fare. Ameritrashers looking to migrate to Euros.

Who won't like Justinian: New gamers. Families with children. Groups with players of mixed experience.

****************
Personal rating at time of writing: 5 / 10

Pros:
Fantastic components
Great graphics
Quick Gameplay

Cons:
Too random
Hard on beginners
Not enough meat to keep the game replayable

Facts:
2-4 players (scales decently although 3-4 is best)
30 minute playing time, of which one third is setup and cleanup

Thread: Justinian microbadge now available (plus Leo Colovini microbadges)

jgrundy — 2008-04-18T10:16:50+00:00

[inlineimg]http://files.boardgamegeek.com/images/microbadges/mb_justini...[/inlineimg] (Buy one)

Also new Leo Colovini fan microbadges: [inlineimg]http://files.boardgamegeek.com/images/microbadges/mb_LeoColo...[/inlineimg] [inlineimg]http://files.boardgamegeek.com/images/microbadges/mb_LeoColo...[/inlineimg] (Buy)

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Rokkr — 2007-08-28T19:23:06+00:00

advisor tiles 10-12

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Rokkr — 2007-08-28T19:20:16+00:00

advisor tiles 7-9

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Rokkr — 2007-08-28T19:05:52+00:00

character cards front and back in all 4 colors

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Rokkr — 2007-08-28T19:03:28+00:00

influence and scoring tokens

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Rokkr — 2007-08-28T19:02:32+00:00

advisor tiles 4-6

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Rokkr — 2007-08-28T18:59:49+00:00

advisor tiles 1-3

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Rokkr — 2007-08-28T18:56:41+00:00

scoring and phase card

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Rokkr — 2007-08-28T18:44:23+00:00

screen

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BuddhaPhi — 2007-07-15T04:46:51+00:00

Justinian at Origins 2007

Thread: Re: Three rule questions

Moviebuffs — 2007-03-27T07:08:02+00:00

Matti,

1. Lets say it is time to move the characters. Number 12 is where it is at the beginning, on the right side. It has 3 plus points. Where I move it, or do I move it at all?

You don't move it, because it can't "fall off" the board. The only way to guarantee it stays at the top would be to start from the other end. Then, if it gets "overtaken", it can use its +3 to get back!

I think your other two questions come from the same rules misunderstanding:

2. It is game turn number two. Everybody passes and the characters have been moved, but no one triggers a scoring round. Shall I still move the game phase pawn one step ahead, to round number three?

You only move the game phase pawn AFTER a scoring. So ... it is game phase one for several turns (until someone triggers a scoring), then it becomes game phase two.

3. Rules say, "the game can end with fewer than three scoring rounds, because all players have played all their influence tokens during the first and second game phase". Does this really mean ALL, or just ALL FACE UP tokens? How can you use all your tokens, when you just have three possibilities to take two new tokens when you pass?

As per above.

Because when you pass, you take two tokens but the phase doesn't necessarily change.

In fact, in all of our games, we have started the third phase, but no one has had enough tokens to trigger the final scoring ... it just happened when we all ran out of tokens.

Hope that helps.

N.

Thread: Three rule questions

Masa — 2007-03-27T05:08:17+00:00

Hi,
1. Lets say it is time to move the characters. Number 12 is where it is at the beginning, on the right side. It has 3 plus points. Where I move it, or do I move it at all?

2. It is game turn number two. Everybody passes and the characters have been moved, but no one triggers a scoring round. Shall I still move the game phase pawn one step ahead, to round number three?

3. Rules say, "the game can end with fewer than three scoring rounds, because all players have played all their influence tokens during the first and second game phase". Does this really mean ALL, or just ALL FACE UP tokens? How can you use all your tokens, when you just have three possibilities to take two new tokens when you pass?

Thread: Justinian: A review

pezpimp — 2007-03-05T00:54:49+00:00

Justinian (2006)
Designed By: Leo Colovini, Alessandro Saragosa
Published By: Mayfair Games, Phalanx Games
# of Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 40 – 60 minutes

Intro

Upon opening this box, I did find it to be a very cool looking game. The board where the character tiles are laid is indented so that they stay in place and there are cut outs in them to identify the changing amount of victory points that are received based on where they are on the track.

Pieces and Gameplay (skip if you want to simply read the review)

Upon reading the rules, it turns out that it is not a very complicated game. It avoids the many special case situations that you often find in many games that cause you to have to re-read the rules after your first play. There are basically only two main options in the game, place an influence token or pass.
When playing your influence tokens, you simply chose one of two options:
• Play influence on top of one of the characters, causing them to move up or down the track or
• Play influence on the scoring and game phase chart
The influence tiles come in denominations ranging from -3 to +3, with -1 and +1 being the most common. You start off with 10 tokens and will receive three at the start of each round. If you play your tokens on top of the characters, positive values cause the character to move up the track, therefore earning more points if they are scored, if a positive number is placed and down the track if a negative number is placed. A maximum of three tokens can be placed on top of each character per turn. If you place your influence on the phase card, you have the option of triggering a scoring turn. These tokens are all positive regardless of what is indicated on the token itself.
Once you decide to pass, you can no longer place influence tiles this turn, but others may continue until everyone has passed. Once everyone has passed, all token on characters are revealed and the person who passed last decides which side of the board to start on and then each character is moved up or down the track based on the sum of the tokens placed on him.
Once this is done, each player has the option of triggering a scoring turn. This can be done if they have the minimum amount of influence on the game phase card (5, 9 and 12 on the third round). Should they decide to trigger a scoring turn, all influence token placed are revealed and the one with the most influence gets to chose the color being scored. At the beginning of the game, each player had received 2 (3 in a two player game) cards of each of the four colors. These are the cards used to score the majority of points. The player with the most influence on the phase card can chose which color scores.
After scoring or if no one triggers a scoring phase, each player gets three tokens from their supply (of which there are 12) and go back to placing influence tiles. A maximum of three scoring turns will take place, yet it is possible that only two take place if all the players run out of influence tokens before the end of the second phase.

Strategy/Comments

As can be seen, the game is not very complicated and simply to explain. I explained it in about 10 minutes with nothing left out. As you play, you notice there is one very important thing to keep track of, your influence tokens. These are the only interaction you have with the board and allow you to move the characters up and down the board. But the most important thing they do is in the scoring turn, since the player who has placed the most influence points on the game phase card when a scoring phase is triggered gets to chose which color is scored. This is huge, since there can be a huge difference between the lowest and highest point totals. Remember that the person who triggers the scoring is not necessarily the one who chooses the color that scores. This belongs to the person with the most influence at that time, so if you trigger a scoring turn, make sure you will chose the color. Also at the end of each scoring phase, you may change one of your character cards. Obviously if your character is low on the board you may want to do this, but it is also advantageous to have the same cards as another player since this player will also try and move a character up the board. After the influence cards are turned over, try and see who is moving which characters up and down, since you do not want to be fighting with others.
Also, the person who passes last gets to choose which side of the board the movement starts at. If there are a lot of influence tokens down, this can alter the movement quite a bit. But this is a double edged sword, since the person who passes last is also the one who played the most influence and will likely have the least amount to play later in the game. You need to find a balance between this.
The influence tokens are also more common in the +1 and -1 denominations. So use your +3 and -3 tokens wisely, of which you only have 2 of each. To be the leader in influence on the game phase card, you may need to play them there, which will let you chose which color scores. Of course, you need to keep track of other peoples characters based on where they play their influence, since you don’t necessarily want to choose the scoring color that will give you the most points, but the one that will give you the largest margin against others. This is very hard to do, but worth paying attention to.
You will also notice that based on the three wholes on each character tile, the scoring varies quite a bit. The third scoring turn is worth a lot more points then the first, yet also will cost the most influence to trigger and choose the scoring color. In addition, since the #1 tile starts at the lowest position, if he is moved all the way to the top, he is worth way more then the #12 tile at the top, since he starts at the top. Tile #1 in phase three at the top is worth 75 points, yet #12 is only worth 40, quite a huge difference, so do not simply try and keep the original placement of the tiles, move your lower tiles up and try and get them to score.

Conclusion

I did like the game and the mechanic is somewhat original, but it is fairly simple and may turn off a lot of Euro gamers since there is only one thing to keep track of. I think that after a while, if you play with others who have played a lot, it would become more interesting since all players will follow closely what the others are doing. Try it out if you have the chance and like bluffing. I will definitely keep it around and try and get more plays in.

Rating: 6.8/10

Thread: Re: Half Baked?

gschloesser — 2007-02-06T16:43:30+00:00

Justinian didn't make it with our group, either. There is simply too much blind bidding, and not enough control.

Thread: Half Baked?

Rabbits — 2007-02-06T15:28:55+00:00

We decided to try this new game last night at the gaming club. We played with 4. While I would never review a game after one play, I thought a session report would suffice to give you an idea of what it was like. I do not intend to go over the rules here as they have been described in other threads. I also won't bore you with a play by play. I intend to give you an idea of what we thought of the game and what factors may affect your possilbe future purchase.

What we liked and what we disliked:

Great quality of production, except for the scoring track which I will discuss later. Generally, I find most Phalanx games are well produced. We love Maharaja and would say that this is similar in quality (the board is as thick and the art is similar in quality of ink and printing). There was lots to like about the production including:

* the thick cardboard advisors and game board,
* the nice art and graphics,
* nice carboard screens (similar to Samurai)
* the beautiful colours that added to the overall theme,
* playing cars were a nice size with great colour (the only thing that was strange was that two of the colours were the same as two of the players and two of them were different) This initially gave us the impression that each of us was to have their own hand of cards (which was not the case) It would have been better to make all the cards of a different colour from the player colours.

Furthermore the scoring board was HORRID!

From a quality point of view it was too thin and was already warped (brand new game). Worse, the scoring track goes back and forth like a snake road (similar to Alhambra) but with few numbers in between. We were constantly putting the marker on the wrong side of the number (ie 84, we would put the marker at 76 to the left of the number 80 instead of the right). This was confusing and rather annoying.

MECHANICS:

We thought it had an original mechanism which we had never seen before. While at its heart, this is a blind bidding game, we liked how it was executed. As you influence the advisors, each of them slides around and reveals progressively smaller or larger numbers, depending on which direction the advisor was moved. We thought this was a neat mechanic.

One of the guys mentioned that perhaps it would have been easier to change the numbers on the board in intervals of 5 to make them easier to add when totalling scores. I'm not sure how this would affect game play and strategy, but I assume the designer worked out the math algorithims as part of the scoring mechanism, so I'm willing to accept all the different numbers.

What about play?

This is where the game fizzled for us. While the quality and mechanics promised an enjoyable experience, we all found that the game just fell short somehow. It was hard to pinpoint what the problem was, but we all got the impression that the disigner had a good idea and then just didn't play test it enough. The game somehow felt half finished. As much as we liked the interesting mechanism and high production of the game none of us really got into it. We found it rather bland. While you have a limited amount of bidding chits which are kept secret when placed on the board, the angst and tension that should normally be produced just never materialized. At its heart it turned into a dry hour of mathematical addition. Not a very thrilling gaming experience.

Overall, I would say this was a good idea that just didn't excite. Maybe others will enjoy it more but for us this will probably not get another play.

Thread: Re: English Rules?

-=Dani=- — 2007-01-04T10:59:31+00:00

Tulfa wrote:
I managed to get a set of English Rules in the end, but thanks for the offer anyway Derek.
May I know from where did You got the rules? I was searching through the web and I couldn't find any.

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LucyJo — 2006-12-30T22:01:59+00:00

Thread: Re: [Review] Justinian

BergBROG — 2006-12-24T11:26:04+00:00

> "Next you'll be telling me to read certain Robert Graves and Mika Waltari novels!

Graves, yes . . .Waltari? Well, there are far better Akhenaten novels than "The Egyptian" (altho i always did sort of like Victor Mature as Horemheb. Better is one entitled "The Sixth Transfiguration", author a woman whose name i forget . . .probably out of print.

"Strange how just the namke Justinian and the cover REALLY make me want to play it, however thin the theme might be."

That's what a good boxcover does . . . I would think that gaming Byzantine "politics" would be sopmethign of a challenge. I have a very rough design I've been working on with Warren Treadgold for far too long . . . not really poltiical, but at least it is Byzantine.

If you like Justinian, you could always play the "Justinian" campaign game that comes wiuth CATAPHRACT. All military, very little politics, though.

RHB

Thread: Re: [Review] Justinian

Natus — 2006-12-23T18:37:22+00:00

BergBROG wrote:
" at least it's different and nicely historical!"

I don't doubt that what you described, above, is Fun, etc., but in what way is ANY of it Historical (other than using historical names)? My impression is you would probably get a great deal more "history" listening to either "Giustino" (Handel) or "Belisario" (Donizetti). Whether you have more fun is totally dependent on one's taste in music . . .and games.

RHB

Damn, Richard, I thought I was the only one on this site who would recognize those operas. Next you'll be telling me to read certain Robert Graves and Mika Waltari novels!

Strange how just the namke Justinian and the cover REALLY make me want to play it, however thin the theme might be. When is my trade copy of Byzantium, getting here?

Thread: Re: [Review] Justinian

BergBROG — 2006-12-23T12:46:39+00:00

" at least it's different and nicely historical!"

I don't doubt that what you described, above, is Fun, etc., but in what way is ANY of it Historical (other than using historical names)? My impression is you would probably get a great deal more "history" listening to either "Giustino" (Handel) or "Belisario" (Donizetti). Whether you have more fun is totally dependent on one's taste in music . . .and games.

RHB

Thread: Re: [Review] Justinian

Sexy Amy — 2006-12-23T03:59:16+00:00

When I analyze this game, it seems kinda flaky and wonky; but when I play it, it seems shiny and fun. Don't understand why, but I like it !

Thread: [Review] Justinian

TomVasel — 2006-12-23T00:30:56+00:00

I was very pleased when Justinian: Intrigue at the Emperor's Court (Phalanx and Mayfair Games, 2006 - Allessandro Saragosa and Leo Colovini) arrived, because it was on the exact day that I was teaching about the Byzantine emperor. I showed it to my class, announcing that this was exactly what we were talking about, even including other major players of that era, such as Belisarius. Of course, I also noticed that Mr. Colovini's name was on the box, so I was quite prepared to have a pasted-on theme, as that is his forte. Still, the bits were fantastic looking, and the rules sounded interesting; so I wasn't as worried as I might normally be when trying a new Colovini game.

And I'm certainly glad I played the game; for while it really is about mechanics, they are interesting and enjoyable. The game might be a smidgen too long for what it is; but I enjoyed it tremendously, as I attempted to out bluff other players as we sought to get our advisors closer to Justinian. The sliding tiles on the board were not only functional, but also a fascinating mechanic, which were unique to this game. It's perhaps too numerical and abstract for some, and others won't enjoy the bluffing; but I found it to be a clever design; one that I will seek to play often.

The game consists of a large board that contains the twelve advisors to Justinian. Each of these advisors is a large tile that is placed in numerical order on the board, with three holes punched in them to reveal three numbers underneath. Each advisor has their three holes in a different location, and the numbers in each of the twelve slots are different. For example, the twenty numbers under the first advisor range from "1" to "21", while those under the twelfth advisor range from "25" to "75". Because of the way the holes are spaced out, the first advisor (although they start lowest) has the opportunity to show the most points. Each player places a token of their color on a separate scoring board and then takes twenty-two influence tokens of their color. These tokens show numbers from "1" to "3", either in black (positive) or red (negative). Ten of the influence tokens are randomly drawn and placed face up in front of a player behind a shield. The other twelve are placed face down in front of the shield. Four decks of cards, differentiated by color, are shuffled and placed on the table. Each player draws two of the cards from each deck and keeps them secret. The cards correspond to one of the twelve advisors. One player is chosen to begin the game, and the first (of three) phases is ready to begin. Each phase is one or more rounds, until the end of the phase is triggered.

On a player's turn, they may simply place one of their influence tokens face down -either above one of the twelve advisors or on the scoring board in a box, marking the current phase. A player can choose to pass, which means that they draw two of their reserve tokens, placing them behind their screen - and then wait out the remainder of that round. When placing influence tokens on characters, players may place them over any character they wish; but advisers may only have a maximum of three tiles placed on them. After all players have passed, the round ends; and all influence tokens are turned face up. The player who passed last moves the characters, deciding whether to start from left to right. When each character is moved, the sum total of the numbers on him/her (remember, red numbers are negative) is the amount of spaces the character moves, shuffling all the other characters accordingly. After the characters are moved, all influence tokens on them are removed from the game.

After each round, it is possible that a scoring round is triggered, depending on the amount of influence any one player has placed on the game phase card (here red numbers and black numbers are both positive). If any player has placed a minimum of five points, they can declare a scoring round. All players turn their influence counters on the game phase card face up, and the player with the most influence determines which color will score points this phase. All other players score victory points equal to the sum of their influence there. Then, each player reveals the cards that match the color declared by the player and score points equal to the number showing in the slot matching the current game phase. Players then discard the cards of that color and may choose to exchange one of their remaining color cards with a different one from the deck.

Another round then begins, starting a new phase if a scoring round just occurred. Phases two and three are the same as the first round, except that eight points is required to score the second round and twelve points for the third. The third and final scoring round can also be triggered by players using up all of their scoring tokens. After the final scoring round, the player with the most points is the winner!

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: The artwork in the game is austere and certainly looks like it was imported directly out of the Middle Ages. All of the components are high quality as is typical of a phalanx game. The shields are perhaps a little more flimsy than I would have liked, but only slightly. The advisor tiles are very large and easy to maneuver and slide nicely along the upper part of the board. The numbers are clear and match the high quality cards easily. Everything fits inside a plastic insert inside a long, sturdy box.

2.) Rules: The four pages of rules are fairly easy to decipher; for while they have small print, they are very well organized and repeat important parts quite often. The game gives the appearance of being a complicated one; but in reality, the rules are quite simple and easy. Most people quickly grasp the sliding tile concept, and I found the game easy to teach and learn.

3.) Sliding and Bluffing: To me, the coolest and most important feature of the game is the sliding of the advisors. Players are of course going to move the advisors that they have in their hand; and if a player is lucky enough to have the same advisor more than one time in different colors, they will definitely attempt to move that advisor up. The fact that the influence tokens are both positive and negative keep the other players guessing. Just because I put two tokens on Constantinus doesn't necessarily mean that I want him to succeed; in fact, I might want him to move down so that my favorites move up. I found that moving people down often was more effective than moving other people up, but at the same time had to be careful that other players weren't moving my preferential advisors downwards. One thing that is emphasized in the rules but doesn't become evident until the game is played is that the last player to pass decides the order (right to left, or left to right) in which the advisors are scored. This is rather critical, because it may directly affect a few advisors, causing them to move more or less - possibly not at all. At the same time, the player who passes last is using up more of their influence tiles. I enjoy this balance, and watching where other players place their tiles is a fun exercise in attempting to read their minds. Just which advisors are they pushing?

4.) Scoring Rounds: A player can effectively force a scoring round if they wish, but they must use up many of their valuable influence tiles to do so. The game has a clever mechanic in that the player with the most influence picks the color but doesn't score points for their influence tokens on the game phase card. Now, usually this doesn't cause much of a choice. It's extremely critical to pick the color, as you will pick the color that has the two advisors that will bring you the most points. At the same time, it adds a bit of balance to the game and makes you think a bit about throwing influence onto the game phase card.

5.) Fun Factor: The game really only consists of a few elements, placing influence tokens and shuffling the advisors back and forth. This might cause some to find the game a bit lacking, as it doesn't seem to have a lot of strategy options. However, I found that the game was enough fun without this, as all of the bluffing and attempts to maneuver advisors is the key of the game. Those who despise blind bidding (what you could probably call the placing of influence tiles in this game) might be unhappy, but for those of us who like to outguess our opponents, this is an enjoyable exercise.

Okay, the theme is really just some nice wrapping paper around a few mechanics, but at least it's different and nicely historical! But unlike most Colovini games, the lack of theme doesn't cause the game to be as dry as I thought. The game is an exercise in bluffing and placing your tiles expediently. I found it quite enjoyable and unique enough to warrant several playings. Games can be awfully close or end up in large point swings. While this may be frustrating to some, it is simply evident that some players were smoother with their tile placement. Let's try it again; maybe this time I'll win!

Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.thedicetower.com

Thread: Re: Justinian -- Session Report

Sexy Amy — 2006-12-19T20:17:42+00:00

Despite the flaws with this game that you have pointed out, Justinian still appealed to me. Maybe it was the angst that you mentioned. In any case, I found myself wanting to go back to it to try out different approaches ... a feeling I didn't have with Ys, for example, even though I think that Ys is technically a better game. I would, though, like to see someone attempt a Justinian variant where partial information is revealed during the course of a turn (making it a type of semi-blind bidding game) ... just to see how this would affect game play.

Thread: Justinian -- Session Report

gschloesser — 2006-12-19T16:09:04+00:00

Editor’s Note: My full review of Justinian will be published shortly. What follows is an abbreviated version.

Phalanx has a reputation of producing games that look great, with sturdy components and a hefty feel. Justinian, from designers Alessandro Saragosa and Leo Colovini, is no exception; indeed, it may be overproduced. The main board and corresponding personality caricatures are quite large – far larger than need be. Still, it does make for quite an impressive presentation, which has become a Phalanx trademark.

Set in the reign of emperor Justinian I, the game challenges players to garner influence with the chief advisors to the emperor and maneuver their favored advisors to the most influential positions. Three scoring rounds – whose timing varies – yield points for the players depending upon the position of the advisors. Ultimately, the player who accumulates the most influence (that is, the most points) achieves greatest power in the realm.

The large board houses twelve plaques, each depicting one of Justinian’s trusted advisors. These advisors will increase and/or decrease in influence throughout the game, being repositioned on the board accordingly. Players will place influence tokens on the advisors, and the net result of the tiles placed upon each advisor will determine the movement of that advisor. This mechanism is identical to that used in Schrille Stille, but missing is the nifty CD gadget included in that title.

Each turn, players alternate placing an influence tile from behind their screen onto either an advisor, or onto the influence track. Tiles are placed face-down, so it is a matter of pure guesswork when attempting to assess the value of the placed influence tiles and judge the actions of your opponents. It’s blind placement, a mechanism of which I am admittedly not fond. It works in Schrille Stille due to the light-hearted musical theme and potential role-playing of the game, but seems out-of-place here.

A key factor is that players do NOT replace influence tiles as they play them. Rather, they secure only two new tiles when they elect to pass and play no further tiles in a round. Thus, players must beware of depleting their supply of influence tiles too rapidly, as the replenishment rate is quite low. Deciding when to pass and when to continue playing tiles is one of the key decisions to be made throughout the game.

Once all players pass, influence tiles on the advisors are revealed. Each advisor is then moved according to the net value of the influence tiles placed upon him. Influence tiles are then discarded.

Players then declare whether they wish to invoke a scoring round. To do this, they must have placed influence tiles on the influence track whose value equals or exceeds the printed amount for the current round. If no one triggers scoring, another placement round is conducted. If a scoring is triggered, players reveal their tiles on the influence track, and the player who has the greatest amount of influence gets to decide which suit of cards he will score. The other players immediately receive victory points equal to the value of the tiles they placed on the track.

When scoring a suit, all players reveal the two cards they possess in the called-for suit. Each advisor’s plaque has three openings – one for each round – revealing values beneath. The value of the corresponding advisors for the current round is tallied, and the result marked on the score track. Advisors who gain in position increase in value, while those who fall decrease in value. The further an advisor climbs or falls, the greater the point differential. Cards scored are discarded.

The game concludes after three scoring rounds, or after all players have depleted their supply of influence counters. In the latter case, a final scoring is conducted, and the player with the greatest cumulative value of points earns the victory.

I must admit that my first game of Justinian was better than I had feared. There was a tenseness permeating the placement and revealing of influence tiles, with angst in deciding which advisors to influence and which to ignore. Managing your supply of influence tiles is critical, and one must resist the temptation to place too many during a round. Tiles can deplete quickly, and it is even possible for everyone to have placed their entire supply of tiles before the second round is even completed. This results in a game with only two scoring rounds, which occurred in my second game. That was a disappointing experience. Still, that is more the fault of the players than the game system.

One must realize that there really isn’t much control here. Everything is placed blind, and even the mix a player receives is random. It is common to find yourself with a predominance of negative tiles, in which case you must play a round or two hammering certain advisors. Further, if you attempt to make a major move in a round by playing numerous tiles, you will be handicapped in subsequent rounds with few tiles.

Another major consideration is that choosing which suit scores is extremely powerful. Falling just one point short on the influence track can have a devastating effect. This forces players to play numerous tiles to the influence track, which rapidly depletes the supply of tiles. This is a tense aspect of the game, but can also lead to a premature ending.

I’m still not sure about Justinian. While I enjoy the tenseness and the angst it provokes, I’m not enthralled by the excessive amount of blind placement and the fragile nature of the game. It is a bit long to serve as an appetizer, and there isn’t enough meat here for a main course. I fear it is a game that just doesn’t find a niche, and it likely won’t find a home in my collection.

Kevin, Rhonda and I did our best to influence Justinian’s advisors and maneuver or favorites to the top position in his court. Rhonda scored big in the final round to claim the victory.

Round-by-round scores:

Round 1: Rhonda 49, Kevin 49, Greg 32
Round 2: Kevin 109, Rhonda 107, Greg 102
Round 3: Rhonda 191, Greg 184, Kevin 166

Ratings: Rhonda 7, Kevin 7, Greg 6

Thread: Re: English Rules?

Tulfa — 2006-11-16T22:51:48+00:00

I managed to get a set of English Rules in the end, but thanks for the offer anyway Derek.

Very nice little game, and lovely artwork too!

Thread: Re: Translated Rules

zowieso — 2006-11-04T01:05:10+00:00

I have received the rules and played the game.

Thanks again.

I expected it to be a little heavier but I enjoyed my first game. It will definately be played more.

Thread: Re: Translated Rules

Carver — 2006-10-31T16:39:04+00:00

Kris,

I try when I can to type up a copy of the 'essential' rules for each player. (I do this in the vain hope that they might read them instead of bombarding me with rule queries throughout the game!) If you send me your e-mail address I will send you a copy because I can't send attachments via the Geek

- Derek (Oxshott, Surrey)

Thread: Re: English Rules?

Carver — 2006-10-31T16:37:36+00:00

Tony,

I try when I can to type up a copy of the 'essential' rules for each player. (I do this in the vain hope that they might read them instead of bombarding me with rule queries throughout the game!) If you send me your e-mail address I will send you a copy because I can't send attachments via the Geek

- Derek (Oxshott, Surrey)

Thread: Translated Rules

zowieso — 2006-10-30T11:32:45+00:00

Could anyone be willign to scan his english or dutch rules and put them online or mail them please.

I dont understand *** of these german rules that are included and I get no reaction from the phalanx site requesting them.

Thread: English Rules?

Tulfa — 2006-10-22T15:49:05+00:00

Can anyone point me to where I can download a copy of the English Rules?

I've had a look on the Mayfair site and it may be just me not being able to find my way around on it properly, but I couldn't find a set there.....

Any help much appreciated!

Thread: Re: 3 square holes

JeffyJeff — 2006-10-10T16:06:48+00:00

ropearoni4 wrote:
Are the rules done yet? And, who is releasing the English version, and when?
Mayfair, and I believe November according to Mayfair's press release posted on bgg yesterday

Thread: Re: 3 square holes

ropearoni4 — 2006-10-10T08:50:35+00:00

Are the rules done yet? And, who is releasing the English version, and when? Also, is there any war tactics in this game. Colovini is not known for many wargame, so I was wondering.

Thread: Re: 3 square holes

Pharan — 2006-09-19T11:43:50+00:00

But there are 6 different positions of holes on the left side of the card, and 6 different positions of holes on the right side of the card

Well, actually each card has only three holes and they are sometimes placed left or right on each card, that's correct! The values are printed on the board.

Thread: Re: 3 square holes

Innovan — 2006-09-18T12:58:55+00:00

>As they move to the right (depending on the amount of influence
>markers placed on them) the values increase and vice versa.

But there are 6 different positions of holes on the left side of the card, and 6 different positions of holes on the right side of the card. Which would appear to mean that each card has a different set of values on the track it uses as it moves up and down.

Thread: Re: 3 square holes

Pharan — 2006-09-18T09:50:51+00:00

They still need to be printed.

Thread: Re: 3 square holes

ekted — 2006-09-18T09:15:41+00:00

Pharan wrote:
By the way: rulebook is 4 pages; easy to understand and yet, very indepth game play!!

Will they be posted soon?

Thread: Re: 3 square holes

Pharan — 2006-09-18T08:16:04+00:00

Hello people,

I can solve your riddle: the tiles do not slide up and down, but from left to right. As they move to the right (depending on the amount of influence markers placed on them) the values increase and vice versa.

The tiles on the image are slid down to show that the game board is not one piece, but made out of seperate tiles on a main board (and it works, as we notice )

Leon
Phalanx Games

By the way: rulebook is 4 pages; easy to understand and yet, very indepth game play!!

Thread: Re: 3 square holes

ekted — 2006-09-18T01:05:56+00:00

That image is where my questions one from. I doubt that the tiles are slid up and down during play, since sliding them up would make the "influence" areas above useless. And since they all abut, sliding one will upset the others. So it seems the only way to change the values showing through the holes is for them to be placed in a different order. But if this were true, you'd think they would show them all out of order to reinforce this fact.

Just hypothesizing. The image has caught my interest.

Thread: Re: 3 square holes

Innovan — 2006-09-18T00:40:26+00:00

You can see card #2 on the board was dragged down to show different values through the three holes. (Well, you can if you click it to blow it up)

Looks like the main board was printed with value sets, and which set is shown through each card's three holes depends on its current position.

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Thread: 3 square holes

ekted — 2006-09-17T20:57:41+00:00

Any info on the mechanism using the 3 square holes on each tile? Do the tiles slide up and down during play? Do they get played out of sequence?