Game: El Grande: König & Intrigant

Thread: Re: cards 40, 63, 80 and 93

ColtsFan76 — 2008-05-12T04:03:02+00:00

I am not sure I agree with answer #3. The card states you "may" move your Grande and 3 Caballeros. The base games used this terminology as well but always explained int he rules that "you may move up to" 3 Caballeros. I would interpret this card to mean you may move up to any combination of your grande and 3 Caballeros. If you choose not to move your Grande, you could still move your Caballeros.

Answer #4 is also questionable as the card makes it sound like the Quarantine is lifted before the next general scoring while the rulebook makes it clear it is after the next general scoring. has there been any clarification on which is the correct interpretation?

Thread: Re: Card 35

ColtsFan76 — 2008-05-12T03:45:09+00:00

And the similar card from Grandissimo - Conspiracy! - actually states this. Since a few of the cards are duplicates between the two expansions, I would play it the same way as well, even if not explicitly the same wording.

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Kerbster76 — 2008-05-10T02:44:34+00:00

The back of the cards

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Kerbster76 — 2008-05-10T02:43:33+00:00

The intrigue game from the expansion

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Kerbster76 — 2008-05-10T02:40:49+00:00

The King card from the expansion

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Ceryon — 2008-01-26T17:15:30+00:00

Box front without borders

Thread: Re: Card #10

KenSwab — 2007-12-30T05:46:14+00:00

Pyjam wrote:
Please, help me. English is not my native language. What does "Move one of your opponent's or up to all of your Caballeros from one to any other regions." mean ?

May I choose one region and decide if I want to move my Caballeros (from one to all) to one region ? or to many regions ? or move one Caballero of one of my opponent ? or move one Caballero of each of my opponents ? in the last case, from the same region or not ?

Thanks for the clarification.

Pyjam

My understanding is that you can choose one region and move from one to all of your Cabelleros to any region or combination of regions except the King's region. Or you can move one Caballero from one opponent to any region except the King's region.

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LordT — 2007-12-15T11:54:38+00:00

The King in New Castile during play of the Intrigue & the King expansion

Thread: Re: Card #10

Pyjam — 2007-09-07T04:43:47+00:00

Please, help me. English is not my native language. What does "Move one of your opponent's or up to all of your Caballeros from one to any other regions." mean ?

May I choose one region and decide if I want to move my Caballeros (from one to all) to one region ? or to many regions ? or move one Caballero of one of my opponent ? or move one Caballero of each of my opponents ? in the last case, from the same region or not ?

Thanks for the clarification.

Pyjam

Thread: Re: Some cards and the King's region

marioaguila — 2007-04-20T04:20:19+00:00

But probably you can score it when using any card with scoring option...

Thread: Re: Some cards and the King's region

riogames — 2007-04-18T23:33:48+00:00

No, you can do nothing in the King's region, except move the king from it.

Jay

Thread: Some cards and the King's region

marioaguila — 2007-04-18T22:53:54+00:00

it is possible to use the cards #63 (bridge), 66 (limiting caballeros to 6), 75, 130 (double punctuation for one region), over the King's region.

I'm asking because the rules, the Faq and the author's explanations talk only about Grandes, Caballeros or scoreboards:

The King's Region (the region where the King stands) is always taboo: Neither Grandes, Caballeros, nor scorecards may be
added to or removed from this region. However, scoring of the King's Region may occur.

Thread: Re: Card #10

Dator220 — 2007-03-18T22:06:58+00:00

Right! Right! Makes sense now.

Haven't played the K&I expansion yet but am going to teach it this Friday.

Must of had a brain fart.

Thanks,
Adrian

Thread: Re: Card #10

Drinkdrawers — 2007-03-18T21:54:16+00:00

There should be another card, sized the same as the individual player decks from the expansion, that is titled "Intrigue." The text on the card says "Move one of your opponent's or up to all of your Caballeros from one to any other regions." In K&I, the lowest card played always takes the Intrigue action instead of the action on the card. Since 10 is lowest, it is a guaranteed Intrigue action.

Thread: Card #10

Dator220 — 2007-03-18T21:40:40+00:00

Card #10 - First card and I have no clue…

I don’t have the “Official” wording in front of me, but the card reads “Execute the Intrigue Action”. In the 10 year edition the rules have some of the K&I cards explained but in my book card #10 isn’t one of them.

The first stack in the basic game is called the intrigue stack but there are 11 cards. Which card? Any card? Your Pick?

Thanks,
Adrian

Thread: Re: cards 40, 63, 80 and 93

OttawaGray — 2007-02-12T17:46:17+00:00

How our game group would rule it:

1 a) no, you have to play the veto card when the espionage card is being played - not when the player goes to use the special action on the espionage card. there are no actions that veto cannot be used against.

b) yes, you can veto king and intrigue actions

2. no, take it literally - bridge building cannot be used until before your next turn.

3. if you choose to do the special action on the card, then yes you must move your grande and up to three cabelleros from any region (not necessarily the same region that your grande is in).

4. i dont have the rules in front of me but i'm pretty sure that quarantine is removed before the next general scoring.

-G

Thread: Re: Card 63

AmbrosiusAurelianus — 2007-01-15T20:27:23+00:00

Portugal?
Are you going to cover up the Game-round track?

To be sure that is a point. OK, so no Portugal due to gameboard limitations.

I don't think the French customs would allow the Spaniards to cross the border at will.

I heard it was a new Europe - European Union, the Euro, liberty of movement, no?

Thread: Re: Card 63

Great Dane — 2007-01-15T17:13:06+00:00

Portugal?
Are you going to cover up the Game-round track?

I don't think the French customs would allow the Spaniards to cross the border at will.

Thread: Card 63

AmbrosiusAurelianus — 2007-01-14T05:38:22+00:00

Can the bridge be made to America, France, Portugal or the Mediterranean?

I'm guessing it wasn't meant for the overseas regions, but France and Portugal would be OK.

Thread: cards 40, 63, 80 and 93

Quasi — 2007-01-11T00:36:15+00:00

Some questions concerning Intrigue & the King expansion.

1.a) card 40(VETO): If someone plays the espionage(25) card, can I use VETO card to prevent the player from not using espionage cards special action afterwards in castillo phase(as for an example, I play veto card and say that the other player can't now use the espionage cards special action).So is there some cards, that there is no way to use veto card against them?

b) Can I use VETO card to prevent King and Intrigue actions. The rules state that it can prevent the SPECIAL actions, so should it be taken literally)

2. card 63(Bridge building): Can I use the brige building card in the same turn when I play it by moving my caballeros through it. The card says "before your turn", so should it also be taken literally, and the card doesn't "activate" for using before next round?

3. card 80(You may move your grande...) Is the player obligated to move his grande and all the three caballeros if he chooses to play this card(player cannot, for example, move only caballeros but keep his grande where it is?

We played 3 player game where there came a situaton, where another player moved king to the region where was the another players(who played the 80 card) grande. Now, because it wasn't possible for the latter player to move his grande out of this region, he couldn't even move his caballeros form other regions, and couldn't perform his special action action at all! Were we playing right?

card 93(quarantine) Is there yet any clearance, that is the scoreboard removed BEFORE the general scoring, or AFTER the general scoring? (There is conflict beetween what it reads in the card and what it reads in the rules)

Thread: Re: Card 35

Great Dane — 2006-10-16T09:15:22+00:00

Sure. The rules state that the Castillo is score in the same way as any other region.

Thread: Card 35

marioaguila — 2006-10-16T03:31:59+00:00

The card says:
Coup! Put all your oponents'Grandes in the Castillo
ant the rules added:
During the next general scoring, the Grandes move to regions based on the regions specified on the players' secret disks.

Question:
In the next General Scoring in the Castillo, the Grandes give the 2 bonus points?

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m0ns00n — 2006-04-27T23:20:11+00:00

Thread: El Grande

Sal M — 2005-11-28T20:37:18+00:00

Date: 11/27/05
Present: Bruce, Beth, Michael, Josh, Tony
Games Played: El Grande (w/ King & Intrigent expansion), Liberte, Tikal

Sunday afternoon brought about my scheduled gaming session. These Sunday sessions have, in past weeks, focused on getting some of the meatier games onto the table, and today was no exception. I really look forward to these sessions because we inevitably get to play some of my absolute favorite games. My brain may hurt when we get done, but it's a good kind of burn!

El Grande:

After everyone arrived and finished up with the opening small talk, we decided to play El Grande. 4 of us had played with the K&I expansion about 2 weeks ago and decided that it works quite well, and we were anxious to give it another run. Beth had not played El Grande in quite some time, and so we started with a refresher.
The K&I expansion gives each player a hand or cards to choose from in place of the normal "bidding" cards, and each card has an action listed that will take the place of choosing the "Action cards". Each player starts with the same set of 20 cards and must thin their hand down to 13 from there. This means that each player will have slightly different options from which to choose as the game progresses.
El Grande is one of my all time favorite games, and this expansion is a great variation on the base game. By choosing your own hand of possible actions, it makes the game a little more predictable. The Intrigent action is a little less chaotic than the original "Intrigue" cards. The overall effect is a more controlled game. I think that this one will continue to get better with experience, partly due to better card selection and combinations, but also because play will speed up as we get more familiar with the cards.

Josh won, with Michael & I in a virtual dead heat for 2nd (I was 1 point up, but he could have made a play to gain 2 points if he was so inclined). Beth & Bruce were 4th & 5 respectively.

El Grande has been rated as one of my 10s for a long time, and this expansion doesn't change it. Excellent game that I will always want to play!

Thread: King & Intrigue

davedanger — 2003-10-16T16:32:02+00:00

Great expansion. You pick the actions you want &
aren't at the mercy of the action pile.

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Jim_P — 2003-05-19T17:38:20+00:00

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Jim_P — 2003-05-19T17:38:18+00:00

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Alan writes:

Tina, Debbie, Alan, Doug

This game had been arranged in advance, and each player had selected their 13 cards from the list of 39 possibles.

Alan grabbed Red, and Doug grabbed Blue - much to the chagrin of the other players as they usually used those two colors too!

A random draw for playing first card saw Doug start off. A lot of thinking was required and who became King and Villian had a lot to do with what actions had been played.

In the first round Alan scored 6 points in a region he was the only player present. There was no more scoring until the general scoring round in Round 3. In fact, the only scoring during the rest of the game was during the general scoring rounds!

Basically Alan established a lead early in the game and kept it. Final scores:
Alan
Debbie -28
Tina -29
Doug -38

The game played fairly fast with four players who had all played before, but not this particular version.

Some interesting plays and occurrences.

* Alan secretly chose Neukastilion to double the score during the next scoring round, but then Tina played the 66 card there, so Alan's men in the castillo couldn't land there to take the lead.

* I achieved one aim of getting all my men onto the board.

* Most of the interesting new cards were never actioned as their player became King or Villain.

* The Villain's power to move 1 block resulted in quite a few sudden ties for first spot during the course of the game.

All players agreed they would like to play this version again.

For interest, the play decks chosen were:

Tina: Joker, 15, 20, 25, 66, 73, 80, 93, 95, 130, 140, 153, 180
Debbie: 20, 30, 35, 40, 53, 66, 75, 80, 90, 95, 125, 130, 140
Alan: Joker, 10, 13, 20, 40, 93, 95, 113, 120, 130, 140, 150, 180
Doug: 20, 25, 35, 40, 70, 73, 80, 83, 90, 93, 125, 130, 140

It is interesting that only 20, 130 and 140 were chosen by everyone.

Thread: Session Report

cwmassey — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

El Grande King & Intrigue - I was craving to get my behind kicked in El Grande with the King and Intrigue expansion. I did as Mark and Rich were in a pitched battle well ahead of Andrew, Brain, Pat and myself. Mark one by a single
point.

Thread: Session Report

DangerMouse — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

WAGG: Post Turkey Day gaming! November 25, 2000

El Grande (Konig & Intrigant): Rich, Craig, Pat, Andrew and Mark

I was curious about this expansion to El Grande; a game I just can't quite get the feel for and always feel that it's taking me for a ride. K&I allows you more control in that you choose your 13 Power Cards at game start. Most of us were new to the game so the choosing went quickly.

My grand strategy was to pick all the middle cards (around 90) so that I could use their powers in most cases. This worked reasonably well as I was out to an early lead and kept it through most of the game. Rich was closing fast though, scoring gobs of points in the 2nd scoring round. I didn't think I had enough in the tank to take the victory.

And then Craig made a move that crushed my presence in a couple of regions on the board. I'd built a bridge between 2 regions just a turn before. One where I had a horde of troops, the other was sparsely populated and thus ripe for the taking. But on the last turn, just before I could put my horde to good use, Craig dropped troops into the area, tied me up for the lead there (denying me a nice fat 6 points or so) and then played the card that says score the region and then empty the cabs in it back to the provinces! Argh!!! It wasn't pretty. And I was less than graceful about it (that's when I realized I was in a foul mood that evening, heck I knew I was being a cad and couldn't stop myself! Eguh!). I basically let Craig know he was kingmaking and throwing the game to Rich, all in my best Grinch impersonation.

Fortunately for me Craig had other plans for Rich. I was able to recoup one of the areas with my paratroopers from the Castillo, and then Craig hammered Rich with paratroopers in another region. I managed to win by 1 point (that bridge was useful after all!). Somehow it just seemed like a stained victory, as though I hadn't really earned it.

As for the K&I expansion, well it does add a lot more to the game, no doubt about that. If El Grande K&I doesn't get the wheels turning in your head I don't know what will. More of a gamer's game than I care for, but I usually enjoy the ride.

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

We played El Grande: Konig and Intrigant for the first time recently and I think we were all pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed it despite some of the bad press it's garnered. We played with a group of analysers who don't mind downtime that much, which is lucky because the game definitely features more downtime than normal El Grande in two aspects:

1. Before play starts, you choose the 13 cards (each card combines a special action with power rating and court caballeros) to play with out of the 33 available to each player. With a game under our belts and knowing more about
what works and what doesn't, this will be faster in future, but it's a difficult process knowing what to choose whilst not knowing what others are going for.

2. Instead of reading 5 cards each turn and playing a power card angling for one of them, each player must choose between their whole hand of special action cards. It slows the game, but does speed up as player's hands dwindle.

To make up for this, the game features many new actions to explore and learn how to take advantage of, an interesting change in scoring strategy from normal El Grande, plus a new mechanic to master. These provided much interest for us.

The mechanic which changed the game is that the highest rated played card (usually score region type cards) doesn't get to perform its action but instead becomes the traditional 'move the king' card. The lowest rated card
similarly becomes an intrigue card which allows you to move one caballero from each player from a region, or all of your own from a region.

The card selection each round thereby proved tricky. We mostly tried not to be highest or lowest so that the special action on the card could be actioned. Going first proved a nightmare as constant hosage found even middling cards coming highest or lowest depending on what other's played. The joker card (which everyone selected) allows you to play last - it proved valuable. The 'score region' cards which most of us picked (that's where you can do well in normal El Grande) ended up usually being turned into 'useless' move the King cards. Our card selection next game will proveinteresting in how we try to combat these features.

In usual El Grande, a popular play is to become the King in a scoring round, fix your scoring region and dump caballeros into the Castillo. Well, mid-game we discovered the power of being the Intrigant on the scoring round rather than the King. In previous rounds, dump all your caballero's into one region. Then, become the Intrigant, you get to go last, and you can allocate all these caballeros as you need them into other regions to
maximise your score. Most powerful, and an interesting change in strategy to be successful.

There were some interesting new cards - the bridge which allowed you to move caballeros freely between two regions, the quarantine and '6 limit' cards, coup cards, region doublers and so on. Plenty to explore in future games.

I'm happy to play this variant again. I probably prefer the GC&I variant (only played each once though), but El Grande (and all its variants) still rate a 9 with me.