Courtier
The social elite of Tempest live in a world of power, intrigue, and alliances that can often shake the very foundations of the city’s society. In Courtier, you move within these circles of social power to further your goals. Work with established courtiers to gain influence and stymie the rise of your rivals as you attempt to earn or cheat your way into their world.
In Courtier, 2–4 players compete for recognition in the royal court. Your mission is to act as an influence broker, manipulating the levers of power and granting favors to important supplicants. You accomplish this by influencing key people to act at your behest.
Play influence cards to gain sway over a key courtier, or play power cards to manipulate the board in your favor. Control each of the courtiers listed on a given petition, and you earn victory points for completing that request. Bonus points can be earned from cards and abilities. The winner is the player with the highest score at the end of the game.
Part of the Tempest series of shared-world games.
See all Tempest series games >
User Reviews (1)
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I picked this game specifically for my gaming group. Trajan was too heavy for some; especially the number crunchers but Stone Age and LoWD are too simple for them now. They’ve finally reached that stage where they need something just a little more than a Gateway Game. I think Courtier does that pretty well. It’s not so complicated that a newer player couldn’t grasp it though.
Instead of just a plain worker placement players use the cards to spread their influence around the board. One type of card (Influence) lets players place their influence cubes-typically on a specific character. Power cards let you move existing cubes around for the most part. There are certain Coteries (sections of the board) whose power you get when you control the majority of that space that are way more powerful than the others. (Yeah I’m talking about you Church.)
It was wonderfully frustrating to plan a move out only to have a courtier used by another player to complete a petition (mission) right before I could strike. It can be frustrating too when none of your cards progress you any closer to any of the petitions and you waste a turn discarding only to draw an equally worthless hand.
The bidding for hands at the start is right out for us as it bombed terribly. I suggest either the random card drawing or maybe a drafting mechanic similar to 7 Wonders.
I’m glad to have it and will gladly play it again. We’ll drop the bidding and might start with fewer influence cubes to make it more challenging.
After a couple of the Queen’s Fashion cards have been flipped the game picks up pace until the Queen is arrested. After that 6th petition is completed you are all living on borrowed time!