If I had to list my favorite games of all-time, there is one that is always going to be near the top for consideration. Orleans from Tasty Minstrel Games is a great bag-building, action selection game that gives the players so many awesome choices to make throughout the game. It is one I can play over and over, and I love the variety it brings to the table. Today we are going to look at a little more variety in the expansion for the game titled Trade and Intrigue.
Trade and Intrigue is a small box expansion that adds 4 different modules to the base game that can be used all at the same time or in pieces at a time. I will describe each of them and then talk about what I liked/didn’t like about them.
First off is Orders, which is described as a new path to victory points by sending you on mercantile expeditions. 23 Order cards are added as a separate deck from the main game board. They include a location found on the trade route along with good to be delivered to that town. You may immediately fill an order card in the revealed 5 card market once you have the items and are in the location. It is important to note that filling an order is the last action you can take in a round, so you must plan accordingly.
Although I liked the variety this brought to the game, it doesn’t seem like a good choice to follow this pathway. With only a few exceptions, you were not gaining a larger amount of victory points then you got for just the items themselves. So chasing after these would make it less likely to be a big score.
Next up are the New Events cards that add 34 new Hour Glass tiles to the game. This will change the way the game plays in that the tiles don’t just resolve at the end of the round, they make take place as a constant effect or at a different time. There is a large variety of them and you will only use 4 of each set per game, so it allows for some real intrigue as to what is coming next.
I love these. These new events will change how I play this game-I couldn’t count what may or may not be coming up-there was too much variety coming in the deck especially because you don’t know what was shuffled into the deck to begin with. These will help keep experienced players on their toes and really open the game up to new players.
The New Beneficial Deeds board introduces completely new rewards to the game. You will not use the one from the original game and instead you will substitute in this one. The benefits are definitely very different than the ones in the original board-you can gain coins, goods, movement along the water, technology tiles-the choices are very wide!
I really like this board and I can’t see going back to the original one anymore when playing this. It was a fast rush for a few of the areas, and at the end of the game there was more of a push for things like the water movement and building trading stations.
Finally is the Intrigue board which brings more interaction to the game by adding ways to mess around with your opponents. This board replaces the Beneficial Deeds board. You still send followers to this board and it gives you nefarious characters to do some nasty stuff to your opponents. This also allows for Bribing to happen-if someone targets you, you can offer them coins or goods to leave you alone and if they accept, you don’t suffer the effects. Each character can do some mean stuff-taking coins, removing trading stations, stealing technology tiles-all in all they are going to mess around with others you are playing with.
I like this board but honestly the “gotcha” mechanics and stabbing other players doesn’t really sing to me as much. I will try it with more of the cut-throat players I play games with because they will love something like this for sure.
Impressions:
Overall this set is a solid additions. I would rank the new game elements in this order of most likely to use it to least likely:
New Beneficial Deeds Board
New Events
Order Cards
Intrigue Board
I for sure can see the Beneficial Deeds being the new go-to and the New Events for all players who aren’t just learning the game. I would recommend this addition to anyone who enjoys the original game and is looking for a fun way to spice up play. Make sure to get this one on you table soon!
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