Components
As I said I played a prototype of the game and did not see any of the final components. Therefore I cannot comment on the quality of the components. However the prototype already had the final artwork on it.
And the artwork is gorgeous. The main components are a board (50 by 50 cm) and 56 intrigue cards. The board has map of the medieval city of Krakow, with areas for placing influence and a score track around the edge. The board looks great and has a lot of detail in the illustrations. The cards have a small story and a matching illustrations. Again the illustrations are very well done and support the flavour text very well. The text and illustration are often very funny.
The game also comes with 8 tokens for tracking VP, a number black and white cubes, and a ‘treasure chest’ for each player. Finally, there are four cards with the secret identities and four seasons cards.
Starting the game
Each player gets dealt a secret identity and a season card, which are kept hidden from the other players (for now). The secret identity is only revealed at the end of the game. After that the players are divided into two teams, a white team and a black team (the game is strictly 4 player).
Each player is represented by 2 VP tokens. 1 for the secret identity, and 1 for the team. The two white tokens have a slightly different symbol to differentiate between the 2 players in that team (dagger and pouch). The same goes for black.
So now you are ready to start the game. Each player has 2 identities. First a secret one, either red, green, blue or yellow (also known as: The underworld, The good and decent citizens The monks and mystics, The secret societies).
Second an identity as black dagger/pouch or white dagger/pouch. This identity is not secret.
Each player is dealt 9 cards. The player with the spring season card starts play.
Intrigues
This is the hart of the game. The intrigue cards have 8 important numbers on them. One row of four positive numbers and one row of four negative numbers. In this way each card has 2 numbers, one + and one – for red, blue, green and yellow. The cards themselves are also one of the four colours.
The colour of the card determines to which of the secret identities it belongs, but any player can play a card of any colour.
Say for example that the first player plays a red card. The other players now play a card to support or oppose the first card. The player in the same team (black/white) uses the + value for red on the card that he/she plays. The players in the opposing team use the – value for red on their cards.
For example the first player starts the intrigue above: Fast Foods, with a value of 5. The other players play cards that are -4, +5, -7 for red. This means that the intrigue is defeated, because the opposing (-11) value is higher than the support value (+10). The winning team may start the next intrigue, starting with the player who played the highest oppose or support number.
Successful intrigues
When the support value is higher than the oppose value the intrigue is successful. This means that you look at what is written at the bottom of the card. In the above example (fast foods) the winning team gets to place 3 followers (cubes) of their colour in the slums, which is one of the areas on the board. The player who started the intrigue also gets 2 gold (also cubes). The gold is placed in the players treasure chest and will be used later.
In the case of the Papal Visit card (below) the team would get 3 influence in the market area and the player who played the intrigue would get 3 gold.
Power cards
The most powerful cards of each colour (value 6 or higher) can be ‘blocked’ by one specific card, usually a weaker card (value 2 or 3). A player who successfully blocks a powerful intrigue will get a VP and may start the next intrigue. There are also some special effect cards, but I won’t get into that now. Below an example of a powerful card, with the related block card highlighted in yellow.
Scoring
The game is divided into years, and in each year you play for rounds (seasons). Each season consists of 7 rounds of cards. So in total 7 intrigues are attempted per season.
After 4 seasons have been played its time to score. This consists of three parts:
First all players have to use their gold. These cubes are placed in the areas on the board via secret distribution.
Next all 7 areas on the board are scored. Each area is worth 2 points, except the castle which is worth 3. The team with them most cubes (= influence + gold) in an area gets the points. The team VP markers are used to track these scores.
Finally, all successful intrigues are counted. Intrigues are worth either 1 or 2 points. In this way the secret identities are scored. So if red had 5 successful (1 point value) intrigues that year the red VP marker is moved 5 spaces.
When the scoring is done all cubes are removed from the board and all successful intrigues are shuffled into the deck.
Endgame
The game can last 1 to 3 years. When all years have been played and the final year scored players reveal their secret identities. Then the team scores are added to the secret identity scores to determine the winner.
Verdict
Like I said, I like this game. It is an original combination of area majority with a trick taking card game and hidden scoring. There are lot’s of tough decisions to consider. What card should I play, shall I start this powerful card or save it to oppose another intrigue? Is that block card still in the game? On which area of the map should we try to get influence? Should I work for my secret identity or for my team?
The strategy is quite subtle. In the beginning you should focus on getting a majority on the board for your team. Only then you can focus more on trying to play cards for your secret identity. If you do that to early you run the risk of being wiped of the board by a team that works together (of course that is only my opinion after a few plays). The interplay between the necessity to do well for the team while at the same time take care of your secret groups is fascinating. It also somewhat prevents runaway scores. Because you only play 7 cards out of a hand of 9 you never know for sure whether you have been screwed at some point!
Luck does play a part, but the block ability of the weaker cards and the double identities compensate quite a bit. A team which is in the lead will start to focus on the secret scoring, allowing to other team some breathing space. As with any trick taking game, the more hands (seasons) you play the more luck will average out. However, it is not impossible for a team to get dealt bad cards several times, which is bad news.
In the games we played we had some quite interesting results. In one particular game we ended up with very close scores (28-29-30-31) even though the team scores and secret identity scores where all over the map!
At first hand the theme does not seem very well integrated. The game has very little to do with the city of Krakow as such. However, the funny illustrations and cards more than make up for that. They are interesting and well integrated to form a cohesive whole. One famous Krakow legend is also represented by the cards.
Are there no negatives? Well, if you don’t like trick tacking games or area majority and you can’t stand any luck at all this is not a game for you. Also the secret scoring an mild screwage may put you off. The game is only for 4 players, which may be inconvenient, and I have yet to find out how it holds when playing it more than a few times.
In conclusion, I had good fun with this original game and rate it an 8. The fact that it looks great helps, but the reasons I enjoyed the game are the subtle strategy and the equally subtle opportunities for screwage. And most important, it is fun!
Last edited on 2008-09-15 09:40:25 CST (Total Number of Edits: 2)
Posted Sun Sep 14, 2008 11:59 am
