El Grande | BoardGameGeek

New Image for El Grande

janekpl — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:45:21 +0000

PL-cards

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Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Tie Breaker?

VonRoo — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:01:27 +0000

Guess its a tie then.
We counted up our Cabs. and I had one more on the board than he did.
I still had my 13 card as well. perhaps that will be enough to settle the dispute. thanks everyone.

Roo

Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Tie Breaker?

Sagrilarus — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:16:43 +0000

by Sagrilarus

"In the event of a tie, the player that takes the king from the board first shall be declared the winner."

Sag.

Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Tie Breaker?

asmiles — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:42:59 +0000

by asmiles

The rules don't specify, so I'd just call it a tie.

Ideas you might want to consider if you absolutely must have a tie breaker:

Most cubes in the court
Most cubes on the board
Least cubes on the board
Most cubes in the provinces
Highest valued bid card in your hand
Possesion of an unused veto card
Most regions with first place
Most cubes in the King's region

Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Tie Breaker?

sos1 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:39:52 +0000

by sos1

The official rules don't have a tie-breaker - it's a shared victory.

I was in a tournament once where we needed a tie-breaker, and the director used highest card left in your hand. If tied, second highest, and so on. Seemed fair to me.

Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Tie Breaker?

aboveriver — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:34:33 +0000

by aboveriver

I don't recall, but if we had to come up with something maybe most in your court for tiebreaker?

Thread: El Grande:: Rules:: Tie Breaker?

VonRoo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:09:51 +0000

by VonRoo

the other night My buddy and I tied for most VPs. Who wins?
anyone have any tie breaker ideas? the rules didn't say what happens in case of a tie.

Just wondering what peeps thought.

~VONROO

Reply: El Grande:: General:: Re: Why ranked ahead of Caylus?

Kharnik — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:01:36 +0000

by Kharnik

El Grande's brilliance is it's simple rules and nuanced strategy. My 9 year old son loves this game and so do some gamers I know that only enjoy deep games. It's definitely a notch below Peurto Rico and Agricola, but that might be because my bias towards that style of game. I can tell you that if bgg was around in 1995 it would have been the #1 game without a close challenger. You have to go all the way down to #23 with Die Macher to find an older multi-player game in the top 25.

Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Start in home region?

chengr05 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:48:04 +0000

by chengr05

Ahhhh ...

So that's why there were so many region cards. I knew it determined the King's starting position but now ...

Thanks! :D

Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Start in home region?

coolpapa — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:39:29 +0000

by coolpapa

The player aids all have a home province on the back. Deal one to each player randomly. Each person starts with their Grande and two Caballeros in that region. I think the first start player is chosen randomly, but it's not that big of a deal, since it just determines the order of the first auction for turn order.

Thread: El Grande:: Rules:: Start in home region?

chengr05 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:24:56 +0000

by chengr05

Hi Everyone

We just pulled out a new copy of El Grande the other day and in the beginning it says for each player to start in a home region. I looked through the rules and couldn't find the definition of home region.

Does each person just choose which region? If so, how do you decide who chooses first?

New Image for El Grande

Guantanamo — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:12:22 +0000

by Guantanamo

Being played at Mike's Mini Meet V

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New Image for El Grande

DrGrayrock — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:12:50 +0000

by DrGrayrock

Wallpaper for 2009, june.

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Reply: El Grande:: General:: Re: Why ranked ahead of Caylus?

Brent Case — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:12:09 +0000

by Brent Case

Caylus and El Grande: I love them both and try to get them to the table as often as possible.

Reply: The El Grande Expansions:: Rules:: Re: Intrigue and the king intrigue card

freduk — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:44:28 +0000

by freduk

you either move just one of your opponent's caballeros, or any number of your own (from the same region).

Thread: The El Grande Expansions:: Rules:: Intrigue and the king intrigue card

popoto — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:56:33 +0000

by popoto

Hi everyone I've just started getting hooked on El Grande and it is a great game. We played Intrigue and the king for the first time and we were a little confused about the Intrigue card if someone could just clarify for me about the card. When it says "Move one of your Opponents cabelleos or up to all of your own cabellos from one region to another regions" does that mean if you move an opponents cabelleo you can move all of his in one region and dispurse them in the other regions of your choosing or just one of his cabelleo? Thanks

Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Can you veto yourself?

clearclaw — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:16:17 +0000

by clearclaw

royal tenenbaum wrote:
Sure, perhaps you can find a loophole in the wording, but to me this doesn't feel right. I can't imagine that vetoing oneself was intended to be allowed...

Given Kramer's other comments, it appears to not only be allowed but specifically intended and planned for in the design.

Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Can you veto yourself?

royal tenenbaum — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:51:19 +0000

by royal tenenbaum

Sure, perhaps you can find a loophole in the wording, but to me this doesn't feel right. I can't imagine that vetoing oneself was intended to be allowed...

Reply: El Grande:: General:: Re: Typos in cards in decennial?

Guantanamo — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:03:22 +0000

by Guantanamo

Doesn't even affect us. Some of them I never even noticed till someone was complaining here. The missing text isn't all that bad. Heck, there are more cards that AREN'T missing text that we find us referring to the rulebook for to make sure we get it right (which is laid out very nicely for looking up the cards). Plus, after the first couple plays the icons on the cards make sense and a most of the cards you don't even end up reading any more.

Reply: El Grande:: General:: Re: Typos in cards in decennial?

Sagrilarus — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:49:10 +0000

by Sagrilarus

timstellmach wrote:
Tim Synge wrote:
Sagrilarus wrote:
a replacement deck -- asking $10 for it.

Jay at Rio Grande is only asking $5 for a replacement deck - or $6 if you are outside the USA. Received mine yesterday!

Gosh, only $5 to correct defective merchanidise that they ought to fix for free. What a steal!

    Complaining about Jay's business decisions will likely earn you little sympathy here -- he's the guy keeping us from paying $120 for import copies of European titles. In German. His customer support is nothing short of magnificent.

    It's such a piddly problem I don't see why anyone cares. It's become kind of a point of amusement when we play.

             Sag.

Reply: El Grande:: General:: Re: Typos in cards in decennial?

timstellmach — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:40:59 +0000

by timstellmach

Tim Synge wrote:
Sagrilarus wrote:
a replacement deck -- asking $10 for it.

Jay at Rio Grande is only asking $5 for a replacement deck - or $6 if you are outside the USA. Received mine yesterday!

Gosh, only $5 to correct defective merchanidise that they ought to fix for free. What a steal!

Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Can you veto yourself?

clearclaw — Sat, 30 May 2009 06:15:54 +0000

by clearclaw

It appears that a veto may be used at any point, even during the middle of scoring or part way through an action.

Reply: El Grande:: Rules:: Re: Can you veto yourself?

rylmets12 — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:50:41 +0000

by rylmets12

Can you veto part of a special action? I thought you could only veto @ the beginning of the special action.

Reply: El Grande:: Sessions:: Re: El Grande session report - in which I muff a potentially winning position

HankM — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:37:30 +0000

by HankM

One technique I use is the 'middle -low - low - in the first round. Players often think that being last (or near last) to select an action card is bad...but it depends. Sometimes that card from the #1 or #2 pile, especially the ones that allow moving 5 'cabbies' on the board, well, one can wreak havoc on the best laid plans (and it seems that most inexperienced players go for the action cards, especially in round #3, that let them place the most cabbies on the board. So, I let them place them....and then choose the #1 card "You may move up to 5 caballeros on the board" -- and except for the region in which the king stands, my opponents are about to hate life. I will either upset at least two players' apple carts or spread my cabbies across 2 or 3 regions to collect 1sst or 2nd bonuses. In the first case, my opponents' next actions will largely be forced by my having moved their influence somewhere they didn't want to go...and sometimes it can take two turns for them to restore order, and in the meantime, few of them can spend the time or cabbies to go after me. I have found that in round 3, if the right #1 or #2 card is available, and usually avoided by those who want to lock down their region with the King, etc, that card will be left for me, so I will play a low power card, add several cabbies to the courtyard (available for use next time!) and really move the opp's cabbies to hell and gone. It is a very amusing play -- one I don't like to be used against me.

Reply: El Grande:: Sessions:: Re: El Grande session report - in which I muff a potentially winning position

tonksey — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:40:24 +0000

by tonksey

Thanks for the tips, Graham... they will come in handy when we have our next game ;) !

Ben did really coming storming behind... there was no stopping him! I only noticed his significant majority in the centre of the board once he started catching up & by then it was too late...

Oh, good session write-up & analysis, by the way. Haven't played El Grande near enough to get a grasp on what I should & shouldn't be doing, but you clearly have a better understanding of El Grande...

Must print off those player aids - very handy!

Session: El Grande:: El Grande session report - in which I muff a potentially winning position

Uncle G — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:30:04 +0000

by Uncle G

El Grande

Session report

A major improvement in my gaming life happened a few weeks ago. [USERNAME=Tonksy] read one of my session reports and noticed that I live reasonably close to a regular Thursday night gaming group he plays at, and he invited me along. This is fantastic as it means I get to try out and play lots of games which for various reasons I can’t play with my family game group.

[USERNAME=Tonksy] was organising a 5 player session of El Grande, which I had played once before, and thanks to a cancellation I was able to get the fifth seat at short notice.

The group was

Tonksy, Ben, Keith, Uncle G and Nick. I’m still new at this game club, so I hadn’t met any of the players before. We were all inexperienced players. Ben and Keith had never played El Grande before: the rest of us had a small number of games under our belts, but I don’t think anyone had played more than a couple of games.

I had brought along some laminated player boards I’d made for my Dad’s set, using a file which is available here on BGG, uploaded by [USERNAME=badgeguy].

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I can’t recommend this player mat enough. One of the most difficult concepts for a new player to grasp is the difference between the Court and the Provinces. This player mat makes this clear, and also gives an overview of the turn order and the rules, and sets out places to put your Caballeros to help you keep track of them.

Game session

Explaining the game went smoothly and we were soon underway. My home region was Valencia, which I was quite pleased with. Five points for first place is enough to be interesting, and not big enough to attract a lot of firepower from the other players, and being on the edge of the board it should be possible to position the King so that my home region is out of range.

Nick got Catalonia and Keith got Galicia, which are only 4 points for first place regions, but are relatively easy to defend. Tonksy got Aragon and Ben got New Castille, which is worth more points but is right in the middle and tends to be accessible most of the time..

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I basically have two principles I use for El Grande. (1) I use mid-low-high power cards in each of the three rounds leading to a scoring round, and (2) I like to move my caballeros to the board quickly, on the basis that they don’t score you any points if they’re not on the board. This rather simple approach proved remarkably effective, especially as I nabbed a special scoring action card while there were still very few cubes on the board moved into an early lead. Ben was the principal sufferer from this, as he was the only player not to score.

When it came to round 3 and the first group scoring, my mid-low-high power card strategy helped me to choose the ‘Move the King’ action card, which I placed on my home region to lock in my lead and get the extra two points. Most of my aggressive efforts against the other players were directed against Tonksy and Nick, as they were closest to me in terms of scoring. Ben was still a long way behind after a slow start, and Keith looked to me to be putting too much onto his home region at the expense of point scoring opportunities elsewhere.

At this early stage I was starting to pull out into a commanding lead, followed by Tonksy and Nick, with Keith in fourth and Ben bringing up the rear.

I stuck with playing low-mid-high power cards in the second phase and again this worked well for me. I maintained, and perhaps even extended my lead, although I was forced into some defensive plays against both Tonksy and Nick to drive them back, by causing them to lose the extra 2 points by being first in their home region. Keith and Ben were still quite a long way adrift at this point, although Ben was beginning to pick up points in quite a handy manner and had bridged the gap to join the battle for second place.

It was at this stage that I was hit by my first major reversal of the game. Up to this point I had things mostly my own way, but at this stage one of the players (I think it was Ben) pulled an action card which allowed him to move any five caballeros on the board, and chose to use it to move my caballeros out of his home region of New Castille, and into my home region of Valencia. This left both of us in an effectively impregnable position in our home region, which given the relative points available for first place was better news for him than for me. The trouble from my point of view was that I had too many caballeros in one region. This was overkill, and really I wanted them spread over the board more.

As we started the final three rounds, I reviewed the board and on the whole I was happy with my position. Ben, Tonksy and Nick were in a battle for second place, while Keith had been dropped, and I was in the lead by a nearly 20 points. With hindsight I should have looked at the board as well, rather than focus exclusively on the scoring track. The important piece of information which I missed was that Ben was now in first place in three regions, a lot considering there are 8 regions and it was a five player game.

For the first time I departed from my low-mid-high power card strategy. I don’t know if the final result would have been different if I had stuck to me usual pattern, but I’m pretty sure I wasted my firepower on the wrong action card.

Ben picked up a special scoring for the more valuable regions, in which I had almost no presence at all, and suddenly from nowhere I was staring defeat in the face. My lead which had looked so secure had withered away in an instant, and the combination of the overkill in my home region and not noticing the scoring potential Ben had on the board had left me without enough time to take remedial action.

We played the final rounds and I did the best I could, but in the end Ben secured a memorable come from behind victory, with me a well beaten but comfortable second. Tonksy took third from Nick, with Keith bringing up the rear.

Analysis

I usually try to think through a game after it’s over and try to figure out where I went wrong, and how well things worked for me.

I started well using the mid-low-high power card strategy, and for my next game I intend to be more disciplined in sticking to it. The early special scoring action was a real benefit. Everyone scores points in rounds 3, 6 and 9, but special scoring can give you a very useful points boost. My biggest mistakes, which probably cost me the win, were firstly to not choose a rearrange action and free up some of my caballeros which were overcrowding my home region, and secondly I did not identify the threat from Ben because I focused too much on the gap between us on the score track, and not enough on the current scoring position on the board.

Thoughts on the game

Don’t just look at points scored to date. Look at points scored now – this is what will carry forward into future rounds.

Using Mid-low-high for playing your Power cards is a strong strategy and should only be departed from in exceptional circumstances.

Redistribution of caballeros between regions during the game is more important than I had first realised. I can’t be any more specific than that at the moment without a few more plays under my belt, but moving my caballeros, and the fact that I didn’t move them back out, cost my dearly.

Special scoring action cards are very important. It is well worth taking one if it will get you good points, and well worth taking one to deny points to another. A more advanced player might be able to predict what special scoring cards haven’t come up yet and play accordingly.

Reply: El Grande:: General:: Re: Why ranked ahead of Caylus?

Sagrilarus — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:16:12 +0000

by Sagrilarus

Dr Lucky wrote:

I think that's the quick and dirty explanation of the averaging system that gets passed around here a lot, but its an over-simplification.

    Likely the first time I've been told I was too brief.

    Without detailed knowledge of how the numbers are derived I'm pretty much limited to over-simplified explanations. This is how shill-busting works in most rankings, and I'm leaping to the conclusion that something similar happens here.

    If you would care to elaborate on the "a lot more going on" I would be very interested to hear it. I find the topic intriguing, and adding more central votes won't produce the effect that we're seeing with these two games.

             Sag.

Reply: El Grande:: Reviews:: Re: El Grande Video Review

jepp — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:04:03 +0000

by jepp

Great review, you really explained the gameplay in a simply easy to understand manner... greatly appreciated!

New Image for El Grande

MMAC — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:19:57 +0000

by MMAC

Now who's the biggest?

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