-matt s.

Game Backstory
You are a trader in Jaipur trying to collect and trade commodities then sell them on the market for money. Make the most money and you will become the Maharaja’s personal trader.

Gameplay Summary
This 2-player card game takes place over 3 weeks (rounds).

Each round consists of players alternating turns taking one action per turn. The 3 possible player actions are:
1) Pick up 1 commodity card from the face-up tableau OR take ALL of the camel cards and place them in front of you.
2) Trade commodities from your hand and/or camels (which you leave on the table in front of you) to pick up cards from the tableau.
3) Sell commodities from your hand to obtain ‘coins’ from the market (there is one type of ‘coin’ for each type of commodity). The coin values are higher the earlier you sell. You also get bonus coins if the sets of commodities you sell equal 3 or more.

Once 3 rows of coins are gone the round is over. Highest amount of money earned wins the round! Come out ahead on 2 of the 3 rounds and you win!

My Impressions
At first the game seems very simple, especially once going through the rules. In reality, the RULES are simple, but the actual game play becomes slightly more complicated. The complications occur because you have a hand limit and you have to work around that limit juggling it with several aspects:
* When to sell your sets of commodities. Should you sell a set of 3 for a smaller bonus now but bigger initial payoff (and perhaps prevent the other player from doing the same) OR should you wait a bit longer and pick up one or two more cards to get a bigger bonus a bit later? But selling a set now will also free up space in your hand for more commodities later.
* When to trade out sort of good stuff in your hand for better stuff on the table. If you trade it out, the other player may pick up when you put out to get a nice set for themselves. But, you might also be able to get a better bonus or better coins.
* When to pick up camels versus doing something else. Camels are always good to have but taking a large set of them from the table brings out more cards for the other player to be able to select from. This may or may not be good depending on how close to the hand limit they are at (and how close you yourself are).
* When to pick up commodities that your opponent wants but you don’t really care about. Picking them up may muck up your hand, but it can also prevent a huge score for the other player. Can you wait out holding it until they finally play that commodity if you do pick it up? Is there something better to pick up instead and put you over the top instead?

These are the types of decisions you have to weigh and make, hoping that the cards you need come out and possibly being forced to change up your plans if something unexpected happens.

However, even though luck is definitely there (it IS a card game after all) there is a lot you can do to help mitigate the luck depending on how to react the situation and manage your hand.

Final Comments
I love how this game plays out with a lot of options. You have a lot of flexibility in what to do within the confines of what becomes available on the table. And, even with the hand limit that is imposed, the extension of your hand with your collected camels on the table cannot be underestimated.

The key to this game is timing and control – when to pick commodities up, when to sell them, when to pick up camels and even what to pick up something that might negatively affect the other player.

Final Verdict
This is actually a nice casual/social game – you can have a conversation while playing. However, you still must pay attention to what the other player is doing and manage your hand properly to be successful at it.

I always enjoy playing Jaipur and I don’t expect to get tired of it for a long time.

I give it a BG rating of ‘9’

Game Backstory
In Troyes you are helping to build up the city of…Troyes. You have military that help defend and police the city, you have the clergy that give spiritual support, and you have the peasants and artisans that contribute to the day-to-day operations and support of the city.

Gameplay Summary
During a round players receive different colored dice for the citizens they have in the different buildings: the palace (military/red dice), the bishopric (clergy/white dice), and the city hall (politicians/yellow dice). They then roll the dice and put them in their districts.

Then, events occur that affect different aspects of the game and also may have marauders (black dice) trying to invade the city and must be fought off before proceeding.

After the events, players assemble groups of 1-3 dice to be used to activate action cards which will fend off event cards, earn money and gain victory points. Players have the option of purchasing dice from other players. Dice can be used to also build the cathedral or to change who has influence in the different buildings (i.e. who gets how many of which colors of dice). Players can also use influence to manipulate the values of their own dice in different ways.

Each round new action cards become available, thus you look to try to coordinate between action cards to maximize points, influence and money.

Each player also has a secret goal they are trying to achieve. However, EVERYONE will be judged on ALL secret goals at the end of the game.

Whomever has the most victory points earned by the end of the game is the winner!

My Impressions
Troyes has many aspects that I find intriguing. First, I really like the mechanic of how you can control how many dice you receive and which dice you receive based on which buildings you have influence in. THEN, having event cards come out that you must defend against helps even the game out a bit (i.e. first player is usually hit hardest) and adds some conflict.

Finally, I love all the choices and possibilities of how the dice can be used. Nearly any roll has the potential for being useful because high dice may earn you money when others buy them and, if not, they can be very powerful in activating actions. Low dice may be useful for getting your citizens into your buildings. Or, you can use influence to manipulate your dice and turn low rolls into high rolls. And, best of all, the variety of actions and the fact that they are randomized each game really changes things up. Figuring out how to leverage those actions to get a VP engine going is key to winning.

The options are always interesting and, even if you get similar action cards from game to game, how others react to them can change the game up even more.

Final Comments
I love open games where there are many options. This is NOT necessarily good for my tendency for AP but this game really lends itself to some interesting choices. Even though this is a ‘dice’ game, it doesn’t ‘feel’ like a luck based game very much (although consistent low rolls might eventually hurt you). My 2 biggest complaints about this game are:
1) It is rather difficult to learn/teach this game and takes a while for even seasoned gamers to get the hang of how the action cards work…it is very mathy and not particularly intuitive.
2) There is some theme to the game, but you don’t feel it much. There is a lot of mental gymnastics you are doing, but it doesn’t feel like you are ‘fighting/defending’ or ‘building’ or ‘earning money’ even. Luckily for me, theme is not crucial for me to enjoy and appreciate a game.

I will say that the length of the game, especially the first time playing, can go a little longer than you might expect as it takes a while for the mechanics to be absorbed (i.e. give yourself 2-3 hrs to play the first few times). As players become more familiar I think the games will go faster.

Final Verdict
I was very excited when I first learned Troyes. I didn’t know much going in and once we got the hang of it, I really fell in love with the mechanics and interesting use of dice. Not everyone is going to love this game, however, as it takes some work to get ‘in’ to the game and understand it and it is very math based.

If this doesn’t turn you off then you may find this game quite interesting.

I give it a BG rating of ‘9’