1714 Case of the Catalans

[bayonetbrant]

https://devirgames.com/1714-the-case-of-the-catalans-the-war-of-spanish-succession-1701-14


Played this one at BGF

semi-cooperative as everyone is playing at the anti-French coalition during the War of Spanish Succession


The players (Austria, Portugal, England, etc) have a market of cards to choose from each turn, in a variation of the ops/event format.  If you take the event, you play it and move on to next player (some cards are "must play" but certain players might try to grab those for their own advantage).  If you take the card value, it's added to your overall resources, and then you can take an action, that's a COIN-like setup such that once someone 'claims' an action no one else can take it, and you can't take it again the next turn.

Additionally, you have to another consideration when you're grabbing your card from the market, b/c which card you grab determines the order you act next turn, too.  So you can grab the exact card you want, but it might mean you go last the next turn.

Some cards/events reinforce or move your forces, others are battles where you can attrit the French & their allies.  Some force you to put more French forces on the map, and that's where the 'competitive' part of the game comes in, b/c you can place them such that it denies another player a certain locale, or control of a VP spot, or just blocks their movement.  So you're all after the French, but you can manipulate them to stifle your opponent

Game ends when either Barcelona falls, or 30 French units are killed

Our game didn't have near enough negotiating, horse-trading, etc between the players to gang up on certain places, swap victory cards, or muck with other players, largely bc we were all still getting a handle on the rules

And that's the key downside:  the rulebook is an unmitigated disaster.  It's not a translation issue, it's a total rewrite from scratch.  As of now, there are plenty of times where you just need to make a ruling on the table everyone can agree with and keep moving, b/c if you go looking for an answer in the rules, or the online FAQ, you won't find it.

Overall it was a good time, and I'd want to play it another time or two with players who already know the game and aren't just trying to figure out the rules.

BGG images






Our game at BGF, with me as the Austrians trying hard not to finish last