Citadels - a Bruno Faidutti game for 2 to 7 players, ages 10 and upwards which takes minutes to learn but many games (or even a lifetime) to achieve mastery.
The objective is straightforward enough, play the leaders of rival cities and accrue more points for your districts than any of your competitors by the time the game ends, sounds simple doesn't it.
Components
In the basic game there are 8 different character cards to represent the leaders. There are ten others which you can use in the expansion game which I'll briefly touch on later. Each of these cards has a defined sequence for play and fixed powers and since you change your character card during each round of game play you are likely to encounter most of them during the game.
There are 5 types of district card you can play, these are Noble (yellow), Religious (blue), Trade (green), Military (red) and Special (purple).
The last component is money, represented by tokens each with a value of 1 gold.
Setting Up
Setting up the game is straightforward, shuffle the deck containing the 8 character cards and also the deck containing all of the district cards. Each player now received four random district cards and 2 pieces of gold.
Game Play
The game takes part in rounds, each with 4 phases; Remove Characters, Choose Characters, Play and End Round. As this game plays slightly differently dependent on the number of people playing the game this review deals with the position where 5 people are playing.
Firstly one of the character cards is discarded face down and then one is discarded face up so that each player can see what is not in play this round.
Now the remaining cards are picked up by the current King who picks one and passes the other cards on round to the other players. Only the King will be able to work out what card was initially discarded but the others will all know what they have passed on.
Each turn the players now play in sequence, so card 1 is called, the Assassin. The player holding that card, if there is one, now plays. He (or she) starts by taking an action of either taking two gold or looking at two district cards, one of which has to be replaced to the bottom of the district cards pile. Then, provided that player has the necessary money they can enhance their city by paying to play a district card. Each player also has a special power which they can use at any point during their turn. In the case of the Assassin he can call for another character to be murdered, that character then misses their go this round.
Once all players have been then the character cards are collected and reshuffled by the current King and the round starts again.
The game finishes at the end of the round in which one or more players has built 8 districts, the points value of each district is counted together with any bonus points and the winner is the one with most points.
The Hooks
The characters. With 8 well balanced characters always being played in a set sequence the choosing which character to play at any time is difficult, whichever position you are sat in you are trying to determine which character has or will be chosen by which player.
2. Thief - names a character (not player) and when that character is revealed gets to steal their money, can't affect the Assassin.
3. Magician - can swap cards with another player or discard them and choose an equal number from the district card deck.
4. King - receives 1 gold for each Noble district and gets 1st choice of characters on the following round.
5. Bishop - receives 1 gold for each Religious district and can't have a district destroyed by the Warlord.
6. Merchant - receives 1 gold for each Trade district plus 1 extra gold on taking an action, for some reason oft a target of the Assassin.
7. Architect - after taking an action then draws 2 additional district cards and can play up to 3 districts this turn.
8. Warlord - receives 1 gold for each Military district and can pay to destroy any other district (except those owned by the current Bishop).
Special districts can also provide additional benefits. For example: The Library enables the player to keep both cards drawn if that is the action taken during the play phase. The Smithy allows you to pay 2 gold to draw 3 district cards.
Your Tactics
Which character to choose ?
- The choice of character is critical throughout the game, if you have a lot of district cards then beware the Magician, if you have cash beware the Thief, if you are leading then watch for the Assassin. With the King, Bishop, Merchant and Warlord having the abilities to gain extra cash these can be attractive options throughout the game. If you have cash and cards then the Architect can seem enticing. But each card is well balanced both by the sequence and it's special powers and there is no one path to success.
Who to target ?
- If you have chosen one of the targetting characters your choice of which character to attack can be crucial, you will need to have a view as to who has which character, thieving from someone this turn is only of use if you can keep the money to spend on the next turn.
Conclusion
This is a very well balanced game that is easily learnt, there is no obvious path to winning. Winning will be achieved as much by second guessing what the other players will do as it will your success in drawing district cards or building a good selection of districts.
With the expansion cards bringing in new characters with different powers then this game takes on a huge number of variants. I would recommend it for play with all ages of players, a card game as easy to play in a car or a tent as on a table.
Additional Reviews
Details from Boardgamegeek
