|
-
Introduction
(Published in 2008 by Hans im Glück and Rio Grande Games, designed by Xavier Georges)
You won't find much information about Royal Palace yet, because it is still more or less brand new, only just released in English by Rio Grande. So consider this review as your unofficial concert guide, printed in full colour, as you prepare to learn and listen to a performance of this new euro game. I predict we'll be hearing a lot more about this game in time to come!
Why? Because if Royal Palace was a piece of music, it would be something classical. Maybe Mozart. Maybe Baroque. It's all about elegance, and it's all about being classical euro. The artwork features baroque style portraits of dignified nobles in opulent settings. The meeples even look like Mozart himself. Royal Palace is never going to be the Elvis or the Britney Spears of boardgames, but if you're looking for something classical, in the line of St Petersburg or Notre Dame, this might just do the trick. Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm pleased to introduce to you the latest Mozart of euro games: Royal Palace.
Box
We know it's going to be something classically themed when we look at the box cover:
We have two items of royalty on the staircase, a cardinal peering down from the top of the stairs, and several faithful servants scurrying up and down the stairs with letters bearing the royal seal. Who are these people and what are they doing? The reverse of the game box gives us a partial answer:
With the sound of a Mozart concerto pleasantly in the background, we're off to visit the royal palace, the king's castle! Our gamebox tells us:
"These are hectic times in the royal palace, the splendid castle of the king. Busy servants rush about from place to place: from the magnificent stairway to the hidden back door and from the gate to the office. The mint lures many with its freshly coined gold and the mysterious cardinal provides some great advantages.
but to attain permanent influence at the court, one needs the support of the aristocracy families, which is, naturally, costly. Without seals of the king or Madame de Pompadour, one needs to attract attention in the castle park. Only the one who can place his servants at the right time in the right place will win the game."
We're intrigued. We're curious. We open the box. We haul out all the components, punch out the money and tiles, and take a quick inventory:
1 game board: the castle park
9 places of the castle
33 coins
42 noble tiles
36 privilege cards
100 wooden servants in 4 colors
4 reference sheets
1 rulebook
Rulebook
The rulebook features the same artwork as the box cover:
There are only six pages of actual rules, as well as a reference page for the privilege cards and nobles. It's very clear, straight forward, and includes lots of pictures and bold text. Very nice job on the rule book!
There's also a double sided reference sheet for each player, which we'll explain later:
Components: Coins
Altogether there are 33 gold coins.
They come in values of 3 gold or 1 gold:
Gold is obtained primarily via the Mint area of the castle. For each servant at the Mint, you get one gold per turn (one extra gold if you have the majority of servants in the Mint).
Components: Servants
There are 100 wooden servants in total, in four different colours, one set for each player:
When I first saw them, I figured they were depicting a guy wearing a baseball cap backwards. But as others have pointed out, they are lovely "Mozart" type meeples!
Each player gets 25 servants to work with:
The guy at the top of the pile is, of course, the Head servant! 
Each player begins the game with 18 servants, of which ten will be placed in areas of the castle at the start of the game, and the other eight in his play area. The remaining seven servants can be added to a player's play area through the enlisting of nobles with special abilities that grant extra servants.
May I be so bold as to recommend you name your servants? Maybe something musical. Even classical, or baroque. Try calling your servants Amadeus (Mozart). Or if you're the red player, perhaps something like Antonio (Vivaldi). Or George (Handel). Or Joseph (Haydn). Or Sebastian (Bach). Just like naming your Trusted Friend "Steve" in Notre Dame, this makes the game so much more fun.
Components: Game board
The game features an attractive game board, which represents the castle park:
At the start of a game, the Park will be filled with Noble tiles (arranged randomly, to enhance replayability), which can be "enlisted" for victory points and to acquire special privileges:
The artwork on the park game-board is truly lovely, and the details of the statues and fountains accurately depict the real park at the Castle of Versailles:
You'll notice that along the edges of the park there are spaces that will be use to calculate victory points at the end of the game for the players with the majority of servants at the edge of the park (6 and 2 points respectively)
The reverse side of the board features Louis XIV artwork emphasizing The Sun King. Similar artwork is found on most of the components:
Components: Castle area tiles
The heart of the game is in the Castle spaces, of which there are nine, with one large tile for each area of the castle. At the start of game they are typically arranged like this:
The arrangement can be randomized to increase replayability but this is the recommended set-up for learning the game.
Much like many worker placement games, players get to activate the special privileges of a certain area of the castle if they have a servant in that area. So much of the game is about deciding where to have your servants. Servants enter the castle at the castle gate, and then can be moved to other areas where they are needed. When they are used to get privilege cards (Back Door), or enlist nobles (Office) and pay their cost with seals (King's Chamber, Madame de Pompadour) they are removed from the castle and returned to the player's area.
Each of the castle area tiles is double sided: one side features stunning baroque style artwork that captures the castle setting and the abilities of that area of the castle (along with appropriate icons), the other side features text indicating what the abilities are. The publishers have done us a real service with this. You'll find yourself learning what each area of the castle does quickly enough, and switch to the side with the icons and without text quickly enough, but it's nice to have the option of using the side with summary text when learning the game. They've also included a handy reference sheet for each player that summarizes what each area of the castle does:
Let's tour the castle and check out what our servants will help us do in each area!
Castle area: The Gate
Action: initial placement of servants
The Gate is where servants are placed when they come into the castle as a result of actions taken in the Parade Ground area.
Here we see an example, where the Red player has placed four servants on the Gate.
Castle area: Parade Ground
Action: supply servants to Gate
For each servant in the parade ground, you can place 1 servant from your player area supply on the Gate.
Castle area: Stairway
Action: move servants
For each servant on the Stairway, you can move one of your servants horizontally or vertically in the castle area (the same servant can be moved several times).
Castle area: Mint
Action: get gold
For each servant in the Mint, you get 1 gold from the bank.
Castle area: King's Chamber
Action: earn turquoise/blue seals to enlist nobles
For each servant in the King's Chamber, you can get one turquoise/blue seal to use as part of the cost of enlisting a Noble.
Castle area: Madame de Pompadour
Action: earn violet/purple seals to enlist nobles
For each servant in Madame de Pompadour's area, you can get one violet/purple seal to use as part of the cost of enlisting a Noble.
Castle area: Office
Action: enlist nobles
For each servant in the Office, you can enlist 1 Noble, by paying the necessary "cost" in seals and gold. Note that the cost of Nobles is 1 gold cheaper for every space in the park adjacent to the noble that is empty. When enlisting a noble, the servant in the Office is returned to the player area, as are any servants used for the blue and purple seals.
The process of enlisting nobles is explained with an example on one of the player reference sheets:
Castle area: Back Door
Action: get privilege cards
For each servant at the Back Door, you can draw a card. If you decide to keep a card, you return a servant from the Back door area to your player area.
Castle area: Cardinal
Action: break ties for majority elsewhere
Several areas in the castle have "majority bonuses": the Parade ground, the Stairway, the Mint, the King's Chamber, and Madame de Pompadour. What this means is that if you have more servants than any other player in that area, you get one extra privilege, i.e. you place an additional servant (Parade Ground), get one extra movement (Stairway), get one extra gold (Mint), place an additional servant for use as turquoise/blue seals (King's Chamber), or place an additional servant for use as violet/purple seals (Madame de Pompadour). Servants in the Cardinal area are used to resolve ties for majority bonuses, so if there is a tie for a majority bonus in another area, the player with more servants in the Cardinal area wins the tie and gets the majority bonus.
Components: Noble Tiles
How to get them
Noble tiles are obtained via the Office area of the castle. For each servant at the Office, you may enlist one Noble tile of your choice from the Park. You take your servant from the Office area, pay the cost of the Noble tile (gold from your play area), and remove one servant from Madame de Pompadour for each violet (purple) seal required and/or one servant from the King's Chamber for each turquoise (blue) seal required. If the Noble was at the edge of a park, you must also put a servant in the park to replace it (this will contribute to end of the game scoring, for the player who has a winning majority of servants on the edge of the park).
The tiles also feature the Louis XIV the Sun King artwork on the reverse side.
What they do
Noble tiles that give victory points
All the Noble tiles give 3 to 9 victory points at the end of the game.
Here are six Noble tiles that give 9 victory points, which is the most that any Nobles will give. As you can see, the cost for these is quite high: 8 gold, and a combination of 4 seals. These tend to be purchased towards the end of the game. Many of the other Noble tiles have special abilities and benefits, that will make you play more efficiently, and these are the Noble tiles that are usually sought after first.
Noble tiles that give extra servants
The top two Noble tiles here give a player extra servants to put in his supply. The third Noble tile allows a player to put two extra servants on the gate at the start of each turn. Nobles like these tend to be in high demand!
Noble tiles that give extra movement
The Noble tile on the left gives a player two additional movement actions. The Noble tile on the right allows a player to move diagonally in the Castle.
Noble tiles that give extra seals
These Noble tiles allow a player to put one extra servant into Madame de Pompadour's area or the King's Chamber area of the castle every turn (after majorities in those areas have been determined). They can be very powerful, because they guarantee a player at least one of those seals each turn.
Noble tiles that give extra gold or prestige cards
The Noble tile on the left gives a player an extra two gold when resolving the Mint each turn - this is a great way to have a steady income without needing many servants on the Mint, and devoting them for other duties in the castle. The Noble tile on the right allows a player to draw three extra cards when using the Back door - this gives you much more choice when selecting a privilege card to keep.
Acquiring the Nobles with special privileges is one of the most fun parts of the game, because they allow your other actions to be more efficient! Often there will be fierce competition and a race to try to obtain these special Noble tiles! Depending on which Noble tiles you have, it will also affect your tactics and how you use the rest of your servants.
Components: Prestige Cards
How to get them
Prestige cards are obtained via the Back door area of the castle. For each servant at the Back door, you may draw one privilege card (this is increased by +3 with some Noble tiles), and you take one servant from the Back door for each card you decide to keep. Let's open up the deck of prestige cards and see what we get:
The cards all feature lovely Louis XIV the Sun King artwork on the reverse side.
What they do
The cost of playing a privilege card is indicated at the top left of the card. Most of the cards give benefits similar to the areas of the castle or the nobles.
Privilege cards that give extra servants
The privilege card on the left lets you put all your servants from your play area onto the gate; the card on the right lets you put an extra two servants from your play area onto the gate (as well as an extra six movements).
Privilege cards that give extra movement
These give an additional 5 and 9 movements respectively.
Privilege cards that give extra points
These give an additional 2 or 4 points at the end of the game.
Privilege cards that give extra gold, seals or majorities
These three cards give the following benefits:
1. Four gold
2. Two extra seals (in a combination chosen by the player)
3. Automatic majorities (for this entire turn only)
Game-play: Scoring
So how do you win? At the end of the game, the player who has the most victory points is the winner. These points come from three major sources:
1. Points from Noble tiles. Enlisting Nobles earns you the victory points indicated on those tiles.
2. Points from Majority bonuses for Park edges. When nobles are enlisted from the edges of the park, a player must leave a servant in the park when taking that tile. Here's an example from the end of a three player game:
For each of the four park edges, players score 6 points for having the most servants along an edge, and 2 points if they have second most servants. The spaces jutting out in the middle of each edge count as two towards this total, so they are especially helpful in contributing toward this bonus. On the other hand, by placing servants in the park, you no longer can use them in the castle area, so this strategy of getting points does not come without a sacrifice!
3. Points from Prestige cards. All unplayed prestige cards that you have obtained from the Back door are worth 1 point at the end of the game. There are some Prestige cards that are worth victory points at the end of the game when their cost in gold is payed:
The primary way of obtaining victory points is by enlisting nobles, with the majority bonuses in the park being a secondary strategy, which comes at the cost of giving up servants.
A scoring example
In the example below from a two player game, the final score was 102, of which most of the points came from Noble tiles:
The majority bonuses in the park were shared out evenly, with each player getting 16 points:
For the record, Green had 102 points, Red had 99 points.
Game-play: Set-up
The Noble tiles are placed randomly in the park, and the Castle areas arranged, either in the recommended arrangement, or at random. Each player gets 18 servants in his play area. Three from each player are placed on the Stairway (giving you 3 movements), and 2 on the Parade Ground (giving you 2 additional servants in the Gate on your first turn), and then players in turns get to place 5 servants from their play area onto the castle area of their choice. The non-starting players also get some gold as compensation for not going first. Here's what the set-up of a two player game would look like, just before players place their 5 other servants:
Game-play: Flow of play
The complete rules can be downloaded here. But by now you have already learned almost everything you need to play!
Palace Royal is played in rounds. First the start player completes his entire turn. Then the next player does all the actions of his entire turn. Here's what a player turn consists of:
1. Supply servants. For each servant in your Parade Ground, you put a servant from your player area on the Gate.
2. Move servants. You get as many movement actions as the number of your servants on the Stairway.
3. Get gold. Earn the amount of gold you are entitled to based on the number of servants in the Mint.
4. Enlist Nobles. You can remove a noble from the Office and get a Noble from the park by paying the cost in gold (one cheaper for each adjacent empty square in the Park), and removing a servant from the King's Chamber for each turquoise/blue seal required, and a servant from Madame de Pompadour for each violet/purple seal required.
5. Get cards. For each servant at the Back Door, you can draw a privilege card, and keep it if you wish by removing a servant from the Back door.
Majorities: Don't forget that each the first four actions above have majority bonuses (extra servants for #1, extra movement for #2, extra gold for #3, extra seals for #4), for the player with a majority of servants in those areas of the palace, for which the Cardinal will resolve ties.
When the game is in progress, players also get the privileges offered by their Noble tiles. For example, the Noble tiles in this person's player area indicate that he gets to place two additional servants in the Gate at the start of his turn, plus he gets two additional gold from the mint, and can place an additional servant in both the King's Chamber and Madame de Pompadour each turn.
Then it's the next player's turn!
End of the game
The game ends on a round where there are only 12 or less Nobles in the park at the start of the starting player's turn. This will be the last round, so that everyone gets one final turn.
Game-play: Tactics
So how does it all come together? Very nicely, if I may say so! To play the game well, you need to juggle your resources carefully in order to earn victory points.
Q. How do you get victory points?
A. Primarily by sending your servants to enlist Nobles at the Office (which requires gold and seals), but also from majority bonuses of Nobles enlisted at the park edges, and some Prestige cards.
Q. How do you get Nobles?
A. By sending your servants to the Office (which requires gold and seals) - as just mentioned.
Q. How do you get extra servants?
A. Several nobles give you privileges that let you add servants to your player area and personal supply, or that let you start each round by adding extra servants at the gate. There are also a couple of privilege cards that help with this as a one time thing.
Q. How do you get extra movement?
A. Primarily by sending your servants to the Staircase, but also as a result of some Noble privileges and some privilege cards.
Q. How do you get gold?
A. Primarily by sending your servants to the Mint, but also as a result of some Noble privileges and some privilege cards.
Q. How do you get seals?
A. Primarily by sending your servants to the King's Chamber and Madame de Pompadour, but also as a result of some Noble privileges and some privilege cards.
Q. How do you get Prestige cards?
A. By sending your servants to the Back door. Some Noble privileges allow for extra card draw.
Q. How do you get Majority bonuses?
A. Primarily by having the majority of servants in the Parade ground, Mint, Stairway, King's Chamber, or Madame da Pompadour; ties in these areas are won if you have the majority of servants in the Cardinal area. There is a privilege card that will give you automatic majority bonuses in all of these for one turn only.
Game-play: Strategy
Long term strategies
The game is much more than sharp tactics, there are strategic decisions to be made, even within a single turn. In one sense it is very difficult to plan ahead - often you will have to make your choices based on the game situation as it presents itself at the beginning of your turn. Only at the start of your turn will you know what nobles are available to you, and what areas of the castle you will need to move to in order to get majorities or get the resources you need in order to enlist the noble of your choice. This does arguably result in downtime when it's not your turn - but in fact we found that this actually improves the game in some senses. When it's not your turn, you get the opportunity to socialize with other players, grab a drink, or take a mental break. This actually prevents the game from being overly brain-burning, although I can appreciate that some would see this as a disadvantage, depending on your taste.
But there are some long term strategies to consider, although often they will depend on what nobles you get and their unique advantages, as well as the choices made by other players. But some important long term choices to consider include whether or not you want to opt for obtaining more servants, whether or not you want to go for victory points via majority bonuses at the edge of the park at the expense of using up some servants to do so, whether or not you want to try a strategy using privilege cards, preferably along with a noble that gives you the bonus of drawing extra cards. Which strategy you opt for will likely depend on the noble tiles available and the choices of other players, but these are some of the long term decisions to think about. One needs to try to develop an optimally efficient system, where each turn you are using all the servants available to you in your play area, and that you're enlisting as many nobles as possible, for as many points as possible.
Short term strategies
Within a turn, the primary decision to think about is which noble tiles you want to get - a decision largely determined by your long term strategies. Once you've considered the tiles that are available, you'll need to carefully consider the movement you have available, and find a way to get the maximum results out of that. Most thinking time will be taken up in deciding what movement to do - once you've figured out your movement, you should know which nobles you intend to enlist and what else you want to do. Often, movement will consist of moving servants to areas to establish a majority, then immediately using the seals that are earned and gold in order to enlist new nobles. This results in a castle that is constantly dynamic, where servants are constantly moving and being added to the board and taken from it!
Sample Game
Want to know what a game might look like? Check out my pictorial session report that includes images of the game in play, and an account of a three player game:
The Masked Man enjoys a symphony with the nobility of King Louis XIV, and enters the royal bedchamber
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/365720
Theme and Setting
Royal Palace is a game which has a great theme. Although the mechanics of the game are not always integrated with the theme, certainly the game evokes a good sense of the setting. Particularly the artwork contributes to this. The side of the box contains this comment from illustrator Michael Menzel: "The topic represented a special challenge, because much of the game material must be beautiful, and in the 17th century baroque style."
Mr Menzel, congratulations, I think you succeeded. The components are lovely, and not least because of the artwork. Michael Menzel has carefully used period paintings of Louis XIV and Madame de Pompadour to ensure that his illustrations are accurate, as well as capture closely the architecture and landscape of the Palace of Versailles.
For example, the artwork on the area tile showing the room of Madame de Pompadour (inset) closely matches the real room:
Not only that, but the details of her dress and even her posture match this period painting made of her:
Many more wonderful examples could be given. For more pictures, see my pictorial article:
Introducing: the royal palace of King Louis XIV and the amazing artwork of Michael Menzel
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/365624
On the whole, the artwork and the characters of the game capture the setting of the French royal palace in the 17th century beautifully.
What do I think?
As a game that combines aspects of worker placement and area majority control, Royal Palace succeeds rather well. It's a typical euro, which has a good theme and great components. There are interesting decisions to be made on your turn, in trying to manage your resources in the quest for points. The random placement of the nobles and the possibility of arranging the areas of the palace randomly also enhance replayability, although only time will tell how much staying power this game will have. There are some interesting ideas and mechanics, and a two player game can easily be finished in 60-90 minutes. Our scores in most games have been very close, even with different strategies, so the game seems to be quite well balanced and well play-tested. There can be potential for some analysis paralysis towards the end of the game, if you are trying to calculate the single most optimal move for the most points, but for the most part this is not a problem and gameplay is quite smooth.
Some will find it a weakness that you cannot really plan ahead on your opponent's move, since you need to make decisions based on the game situation at the start of your turn. There's some truth to this, since there are many tactical choices to be made that can't be planned before your own turn. There will be different opinions about this, some will dislike Royal Palace for this reason alone, others like myself will find that the down time actually helps makes the game more pleasant, because it gives an opportunity to have a mental break between turns and prevents the game from becoming too brainburning or tense. On the other hand, it is possible that the downtime might become excessive in a four player game - since I've only played 2 and 3 player games, I would welcome hearing experiences from others who have played Royal Palace with four players.
One warning: don't make up your mind after just playing Royal Palace only once. One certainly shouldn't give up on this game too quickly - I and my opponent were both underwhelmed after our first play, but quickly grew to love it as a two player game after further sessions. This seems to be a more common experience, as is evident from this comment:
"I was quite enamored with this game after my first game at Spiel 2008 in Essen and it has just grown on me since. This is definitely a game you should play at least 2-3 times before writing off. It takes 2-3 games to fully appreciate this gem. It's a fun game and one of my current favorites." - Yoki Erdtman
You'll find some negative comments from people who have only played the game once, but these need to be taken with a grain of salt if they didn't give Royal Palace a fair chance, and an opportunity to grow on them.
So far we're quite satisfied with Royal Palace, particularly as a two player game. Certainly there are many other contenders for classic euros in the light-middle weight class, but what Royal Palace offers is different enough to make it fresh and appealing to people who enjoy games like St Petersburg and Notre Dame.
What do other people think?
Royal Palace has only been available in English for barely a month, so there's not a lot of well-considered opinions on the game just yet. But I did scour BGG to bring you some comments about the game, and here are a few selected quotations to give you some idea about what other people are saying about the game. It's biased of course, because I'm the one who gets to pick the quotes to include, but it will give you some idea that I'm not the only one who enjoys this game:
"A resource-juggling game in the style of Notre Dame. Here, your horde of servants are scurrying around rooms in the palace to earn enough resources to bribe nobles idly hanging about in the park. Good art & production." - Steve Kearon
"Although the mechanics aren't exactly unique, it feels very different from anything else. The random board setup could drastically change the strategies/outcome of each game which is nice. But all-in-all a fairly fresh, solid game. Recommended." - Phillip Schwarzmann
"Looks like Hans im Glück is back in business after a longish streak of less interesting games; This one is really good, and plays in under an hour. The competition for the most interesting tiles creates a very nice tension, and the tile powers add a nice little engine-building aspect to the game." - Oskari
"I had the great opportunity to test this little gem as a prototype two years before publishing and I'm happy to see that the game became published and works so much better now." Carl-Gustaf Samuelsson
"A typical worker-placement Euro. It's well done and novel enough that it feels fresh." - Philippe Beaudoin
"Interesting collection of mechanisms, none of which are groundbreaking but that come together for an enjoyable game. It may be a typical Euro-style game, but that's what I like. The artwork is excellent." - Roger Yim
"I am fond of this kind of game, and here I found some originality in a category I thought already overcrowded." - Schuk
"A worker placement majorities game that plays within an hour. There are a lot of interesting decisions to make. My initial intuition is that this game may have a long shelf life and could see a lot of plays." - John Squires
"I'm very glad I got this game, probably my second choice for "best game from Essen 08", even though slightly masked by the popularity of other games." - Paul Grogan
The final word
If Royal Palace was Paul Grogan's second choice for the best game from Essen 08, clearly it would have been Mozart's first choice! Royal Palace may be new, but what we have here is classic style of euro done quite well. Bring on the classical music, let's listen to some Mozart and let's play!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The complete list of Ender's pictorial reviews: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/37596
-
tom moughan
United States
Rochester
New York
ahh....I love the smell of a stack of sketchily placed animals in the morning!
-
this is quite a thorough review!
I largely scanned it, honestly...but I do own this title and enjoy it very much! If you enjoy a good abstract with a pretty well developed theme - this game is a great addition to the game pile! kudos!
-
Randolph Bookman
United States
Los Angeles
California
-
Must play this week. It's sitting in my closet.
-
I will not rest until Biblios is in the Top 100.
United States
Budd Lake
New Jersey
Well I been watchin' while you been coughin, I've been drinking life while you've been nauseous, and so I drink to health while you kill yourself and I got just one thing that I can offer... Go on and save yourself and take it out on me
-
I hope that Santa brings me this one. If not, I'll swing by the FLGS and grab the copy they have there.
-
Yoki Erdtman
Sweden
Södertälje
Handsome devil huh?
-
Nice review, and thanks for quoting me. I am a huge fan of this game. The random setup of both the palace and the nobles in the garden really change your strategy for each game, although as you say, while you should have a long-term strategy, you spend a lot of time reacting to your opponents.
The reason I love the random setup is that in one game you want tons of extra moves, in another lots of extra servants, etc. etc. The dynamics of the game really vary from game to game, and depending on the number of players in the game. I prefer it as a 3-player game myself, but enjoy it with 2 and 4 as well.
-
Paul Imboden
United States
Chicago
Illinois
-
EndersGame wrote: Why? Because if Royal Palace was a piece of music, it would be something classical. Maybe Mozart.
Mozart would most certainly get into the pure math and absolute soullessness of this game. The Romantics would follow and show how to pump some life and emotion into this exercise in slide rules.
-
David McLeod
Canada
Ottawa
Ontario
-
Just an opinion, good review but you need a picture editor, there are just way to many pics. Even if this is a pictorial review.
-
Matt Mattlokk
United States
Minneapolis
Minnesota
-
Granted, there are more pics than you can shake a wig at in this review. But I really like to SEE what I'm getting and not just hear about the components or the game mechanics.
Bravo Ender Wiggins!
-
Just call me Erik
United States
Waldorf
Maryland
-
A very long, comprehensive, everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know style review. Excellent contribution!
-
David Brafman
United States
Boca Raton
Florida
-
Axelfudge wrote: Just an opinion, good review but you need a picture editor, there are just way to many pics. Even if this is a pictorial review.
Fittingly enough, this comment reminds me of Saliere's line to Mozart in the movie Amadeus: "There were too many notes." I enjoyed the pictures, they really highlighted the fabulous art of the game.
-
Dean Weller
United Kingdom
London
Kent
-
Here, here.
Excellent review. Fab pictures.
-
Ben Harris
United States
Beaverton
Oregon
-
Ender,
Holy Cow, you should be on the bgg payroll!
Your reviews continue to amaze me. Great pics, facts, opinions.
I think I will move this one up on my wishlist.
Thanks and GG to you.
-
Henrik Lantz
Sweden
Uppsala
-
Very nice1 Congratulations on a great review.
-
Joel Burton
United States
San Francisco
California
-
Excellent review! I just placed my order
-
Peter Marchlewitz
Canada
Unspecified
-
Superb job! I am getting this based on your fine review!
-
Michael Phebus
United States
Denver
Colorado
-
Actually, the King of Austria said "Too many notes...."
-
Günter D'Hoogh
Belgium
Wespelaar
Brabant
-
Indeed, fantastic review. In fact my wife and myself just bought this game an hour ago and we're going to play this tonight!
Great job! 
-
Ryan Bruns
United States
Roy
Utah
-
I enjoy your reviews, keep up the good work. I am however, going to pass on this one.
-
John-Paul Pizzica
United States
Schaumburg
Illinois
The power of W.A.M. compels you!
-
Mozart approves...I've got to get this game! Thanks for the review, Ender.
-
Let's Play Two!
United States
Illinois
-
Wow - fantastic review as always. As a newbie, I have really appreciated the time and effort you've put into your pictorial reviews - they've been incredibly helpful! Keep up the great work!
-
Nomadic Gamer
United States
Palatine
Illinois
-
Nice review!
Looks like Louie XIV on acid!
-
Dave
United States
Salt Lake City
Utah
-
You had me at "Back Door."
-
Nomadic Gamer
United States
Palatine
Illinois
-
This sounds like Louis XIV with an actual palace to move more people around in...
-
Chris
England
Harrow
London
-
EndersGame wrote: "It takes 2-3 games to fully appreciate this gem. It's a fun game and one of my current favorites." - Yoki Erdtman
You'll find some negative comments from people who have only played the game once, but these need to be taken with a grain of salt if they didn't give Royal Palace a fair chance, and an opportunity to grow on them.
Your comment about taking things with a game of salt has to be to be taken with a grain of salt--but even a grain of salt isn't enough to make me like eating brussel sprouts and I knew after one bite that they're not for me. I have eaten them on more than one occassion, under duress, and they are spack. I won't touch them nowadays (except maybe if I were to want to throw them at somebody). Even the smell of brussel sprouts is enough to put me off and I don't feel any need to stick them in my mouth to confirm that I still don't like them.
There is not one game that I have played that having not liked it initially a second or third play improved my opinion thereof. Some of us know that we like a game after playing it once (though know we will never get tired of it? I don't think a BGG 10 rating is feasible) and some of us know we don't like games after one play and never will.
While it may take 2 - 3 plays to fully appreciate this game and so realise that it's even better than you thought, if you thought it good in the first instance, it doesn't take more than one play to appreciate that it's the sort of game one does not enjoy if indeed it is the sort of game one does not enjoy.
-
|
|
Posted Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:07 pm
