- rank: 125
- rating: 7.7
- published: 2019
Print Status
- in print
Why It's On The List
- You'd think that a game with an eight card individual player deck would feel claustrophobic - instead, it's the entry point to a brilliant Tom Lehmann design that challenges each player to build a victory point engine while defending themselves against the direct and indirect challenges of the other players.
Tips & Tricks:
- Proper assessment of your deck at the beginning of the game is vital.
- Like many of Tom's designs, the speed curve is slow for the first couple of turns and then accelerates rapidly toward the end of the game.
- You can win without taking a Place of Power - but it's not easy to do.
- You don't have to "crank" every card in your tableau - sometimes it's smarter to pass and grab the magic item you need.
Extras
- The first expansion - Lux et Tennebrae - adds some nice variety to the system and a couple of new mechanics that don't overwhelm game play. (Note: my son noted that there's a lot more Tennebrae and not very much Lux in the expansion.)
- I haven't had a chance to play with the newest expansion - Perlae Imperii. (It's held up with my pre-order for Tom's Dice Realms!)
- The production of this game is gorgeous - and the box is appropriately sized for the components.
- This is the fourth of five Tom Lehmann game designs on my list.
1 comment:
Hello,
I hope you are doing well. I wanted to ask your opinion regarding some of the artwork in Res Arcana. Do you ever consider any of the card images to be blasphemous? For example, when using cards like “Desecrated Altar” or “Sacrificial Pit”, do you ever feel a conflict with your conscience?
I would greatly appreciate it if you could explain your perspective on this.
Thank you very much for your time and thoughts.
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