Several months ago — like many of us I suspect — I picked up alea’s Treasure Chest. I love alea and have all the games represented in the Chest, so purchasing it was a no-brainer. Since then — like many of us I suspect — I’ve had a hard time getting any of those newly supplemented games to the table. They’re just not in my normal rotation.
Over the last few months I’ve finally played two of the Treasure Chest expansions, and so I’ve decided to write about them here: saying what the expansions are, how they change their games, and what they say about game design.
Louis XIV
The expansion to Louis XIV comes in two parts: a favorite figure and four favorite action tablets.
The Figure. The favorite figure has a pretty minor effect. It’s always placed opposite Louis XIV. The top player on that space gets two of his influence markers from the general supply, everyone else gets one. These can go into their personal supply or onto the favorite actions tablet (see below).
Effect. Minor. It’s a slight consideration when you’re placing your influence markers.
Game Design. I suspect that it helps to keep the Louis XIV space from always being a position of maximal conflict. Instead some players lagging in influence markers might reasonably decide to compete over the favorite, who is of course exactly opposite Louey.
Favorite Actions. The favorite actions tablet has four different actions, one for each phase: redraw influence cards (in the supply phase); jump to any board (in the influence phase); place extra influence markers with an intrigue card (in the intrigue phase); and keep three mission chips (in the mission phase). At the start of the game each player gets an influence marker on one of these actions; new markers can be added via the favorite (see above).
Effect. Medium. Having four “super” actions adds some tactical depth to the game and allows you to pursue some different tactical paths. For example you can take more chances with drawing harder missions if you have the “Mission” action available, and can thus avoid losing your chips if you draw badly.
Game Design. I find both the physical component and theming of this expansion very clunky. What do these actions represent and why does influence help you use them? Yes, Eurogames are usually abstract, but this is a bit much even for me. I also hate the fact that these actions are each explained with a paragraph of text. It makes introducing it more difficult because people have to read and reread their actions, and it goes against the clear iconification of the rest of the game.
I suspect the purpose of this expansion was simply to add tactical depth. There’s not a lot of depth in the game as it stands, because your choices are largely limited to where and how you place influence markers. It’s nice to have a bit of extra meat to the game, and I didn’t think — theming and manufacture aside — that it detracts in any way from the original game. However, I don’t think it’s a “must have” either, unless you’ve played a lot of Louis XIV.
(For my more general thoughts on Louis XIV, read my discussion of it from last year’s alea-thon.)
San Juan
There are three parts to the San Juan expansion: new building cards; the Cathedral; and new event cards.
New Buildings. There are a total of 31 new cards to dump into your San Juan deck. Besides some production dupes, you also get ten new types of purple buildings, from the Office Building (which lets a player discard and draw during the Governor phase) to the Bank (which offers a different way to store cards for victory points).
Effect. Medium. None of these cards are particularly paradigm changers, but they do create a lot of new variability. You’ll doubtless see some of them played in every game.
Game Design. This is just a good set of new cards that generally look like they were designed to let players do some different stuff during the game. However, a few look like they might have been slightly pointed. The Goldsmith lets you get cards when the Prospector is played and I suspect it was introduced because no one likes the Gold Mine. The Harbor, meanwhile, seems to strengthen a trade strategy, as it gives you a victory point whenever you trade.
We found some of the cards a little confusing during our first play, but I suspect that was the case for the original cards in our first plays of San Juan itself. I recommend these being used in every game. Though a game can’t survive on this sort of drop-it-all-in-the-game expansion indefinitely (c.f., Carcassonne), it’s great for a one-off.
Cathedral. The Cathedral is uniquely a building card that sits out in the middle of the table. It costs 7 and can be built by the first player who chooses to. Its scores points based on the number of 6-point buildings that have been built.
Effect. Minor. It was never built in our game. I suspect that might be the case with some frequency.
Game Design. Clearly intended to be a defense against having great production engines, but never drawing 6-point cards. It’s not worthwhile for one player (if no one else has 6s) and probably won’t be built before people build 6-point cards already in their hands, so theoretically someone who’s been getting bad draws gets to build it. It probably does what it’s intended to do — which is take away a little of the swing of card draws — but it’s a bit too on-the-nose to be particularly clever.
Event Cards. These six cards are shuffled into the deck. When one is pulled out, it’s placed in the role card area and may then be used by a player instead of taking a role. However, they tend to be weaker than the normal role cards, so you’d generally only take one if you really were aligned well for it or poorly aligned for any of the normal roles.
The six event cards are: destroy one building per player; give each player 3 cards; cost each player 1 card; let players trade in their hands; let a player use an already used role; and let each player build a small building.
Effect. Light. They seemed to be a viable alternate tactic — as most cards got used over time — but they were definitely second class to the main cards. When used they had relatively minor effects on the game, but sometimes they could be used just right for a very nice advantage.
Game Design. I assume the intention here was probably to move the gameplay of San Juan in somewhat orthagonal directions. It does that, though I’m not convinced the additional depth is worth the additional complexity unless you’re pretty familiar with the game. The one big advantage that I saw was that the event cards sometimes relieve the last player from making a pretty bad choice because he’s not set up well for the remaining roles. This can make San Juan more forgiving, especially in the first round of play, when the fourth player is often stuck.
Despite all that, I’d definitely keep the events out of the game when playing with new players.
(For my more general thoughts on San Juan, read my discussion of it from last year’s alea-thon.)
Around the Corner
I’ll write another of these when I play another couple of Treasure Chest expansions. In the meantime, tell me what you think of these two. Have you played them? Were they worthwhile?
And if you’re looking for my other writings, you can find my recent reviews of Settlers of America: Trails to Rails, Cornucopia, and Bang!: Wild West Show over at RPGnet.
Author’s Note: Two years later, I’ve played San Juan again with these expansions, but that’s it. And, it took me that long to get a third Treasure Chest expansion on the table. But I’ll soon be writing about Witch’s Brew to (finally) expand this series. —SA, 6/21/12
