Castle Merchants
By Jerry Dzubia

Z-Man-Games have gathered an impressive line-up of games in recent years. From their humble starts with the card game Grave Robbers From Outer Space they have gone to producing the American editions of the wonderful Il Principe and Reef Encounter, as well as some very nice games of their own making, like Ideology and Camelot Legends. Their new “big” board games at Essen were Parthenon and Castle Merchants, both pretty lushly produced games with big, tightly filled game boxes.
Castle Merchants is basically a racing game, not really a trading game, as the title suggests. Players compete to sell their wares at various castles placed conveniently around the hexagon board. These castles are aptly named after the wares they prefer, which makes one wonder why a castle called Chianti Castle doesn’t produce the stuff itself but has dubious peddlers sell it to them at cutthroat prices, but I digress...
Being the first to sell wares at a castle gives certain advantages, you’ll get more Gold Pieces for example (they double as VP – as I said, this is NOT a trading game) than the traders that follow second or third.
But movement around the board is where the fun starts. The poor castle merchants not only have to rush to the castles before their opponents, they also have to create the terrain they travel to as well AND then play cards to actually traverse the terrain tiles. You see, being a medieval trader was anything but easy...
When it’s your turn you can a) play an earthslide tile to make a formerly played terrain tile impassable b) play a matching card to create a terrain tile c) play a card to traverse a matching terrain tile (as many of this type as you want as long as you don’t cross over to another type d) play two cards and remove a terrain tile or e) roll the terrain die and create even more chaos on the board.
When you dare to roll the terrain tile (how dare you!) you roll one of the terrain symbols and can then place one of these terrains on the board or move an already existing terrain tile of this kind to another space or remove a terrain tile of this kind from the board. One should also add that it is possible to roll the terrain die for free when you just sold your junk at a castle, while having a Chianti and cheese with it, I guess.
One already can guess that terrain cards of the right kind are in high demand. To get them you have to either pass or go to the lawn space in the middle of the board to regenerate. But passing is what you will mostly have to do, probably 50% of the time - Which can become a little boring after a while...Once you have sold most of your wares you can also return to the warehouse to stock up, in fact this will usually always be necessary at least once to win the game, as to earn 18 GP’s means you will have to visit some castles several times.
The game plays along at a good pace and is certainly a solid design, but one thing that players will realise quickly is that it is much less strategic than it pretends to be. You need certain cards to play a certain tile, but then you need the same type of card AGAIN to traverse the terrain you just created. Of course you will often travel through terrain created by others later in the game, but especially at the beginning a good hand will help you a lot. In our game I had a good start with some lucky matching cards (I was also the first to move) and could create a headstart that the other players never really could overcome. Although it is possible to hinder players with the earthslide or with evil use of the terrain die these actions actually have a kingmaker problem, as they won’t really help the perpetrator. In a way this creates the Who Killed Doctor Lucky effect, (players who know this awful game will know what I mean) which means all players play against the momentary leader until they simply run out of possibilities to do so, a mechanic which is more than problematic.
On the good side this is a pretty straightforward game that can be taught quickly and which is neither opaque nor dull. Usually the players will either move clockwise or counterclockwise around the board to visit all the castles, sometimes one player will rush ahead but then will sit somewhere stocking up on cards again. The game material is of good quality and the symbols on the tiles and cards are very nicely done, although one could question a certain “dark” character that is evoked by some of the images which somehow jars with the lighthearted theme of the game. The suggested playing time of 30-60 minutes is also a little too short, especially with 4 players this will be a longer game, perhaps a bit too long for the content.

I don’t think Castle Merchants is a bad game in any way, but there is something lacklustre about it, something which is missing but hard to describe exactly. That was our reaction after playing: “nice, but....?”. If you look for a gateway game to play with your family this might be the perfect choice, but as a gamer you might be looking for something more “meaty” after all.

Explaining the rules: 10 minutes
Playing time: 90 minutes
Box: Big
Counters/Tiles: Heavy Stock – nice!
Medieval Atmosphere: nonexistent apart of the title – this is a pure racing game, nothing more, nothing less.
Diet – recommended for the guy on the cover
Not a filler game, not a “heavy” game, something in-between

Moritz Eggert
www.westpark-gamers.de

Let me reply with some answers, explanations, and comments:



Very true, and the one thing I would love to call "Do over!" on. It was just an off the cuff blurb I added to the rules as I was typing them up for a submission to Hippodice. I was thinking of "trade" more in line with a trader meaning merchant. I just never gave it another thought and in hindsight I'd pull that blurb off.

Unfortunately, at this point all I can do is sing with Cher "If I could turn back time..."



Good point! I just liked getting a little goofy with the castle names.



You only lose hand size if you play more than 3 cards on a turn. Just a strategy point - if you are passing more than a few times a game you are not doing a good job of hand management (the game's primary skill). If you are passing 50% of the time you shouldn't stand a chance of winning. Quite honestly, if I had spent that many turns passing I'd have burned the game! Myself, I rarely ever spend a turn passing to pick up a card.



I'd make no claims that the game is highly strategic, but I do think there's more control there than most people think. Although the more players the less control there is. With 2 players, I'd suggest the superior player will win over 90% of the time. I like the game best with 2 or 3 myself.



In our games being the first player to leave the warehouse is a risky proposition and is not a move taken lightly. Too easy to be overtaken and beaten to a castle by someone expending less cards. Decisions made early in the game can come back to haunt you later on.



True, but when I first saw Patrick's art I just fell in love with it - even if it didn't perfectly meld with the "feel" of the game.



Wow, this I find strange. Maybe I can see it taking a bit longer for a first time play with 4, but in general I find 15 minutes per player is the norm, and that's not playing particular fast.



I agree with that sentiment. If you're expecting a deep game you will be dissapointed. But I do feel there is more to the game than some have given it credit for. But I do understand how that can be missed as the stratgies are subtle, and I've seen some players make the same mistakes over and over and never really "get" the game. The victory doesn't always go to the swiftest.



Yeah, yeah, rub it in!



My wife still complains about that guy.



Thanks for taking the time to play the game and comment about it!
- Jerry