Troyes
Overview
The game of Troyes recreates the construction of the Cathedral in the medieval French city of Troyes way back in the year 1200 – which was no small task back then. In fact, it took 400 years to complete! (Don’t worry, the game doesn’t last that long). Back in those days three major areas of influence helped shape the city and society: the clergy, the nobility and the lowly peasants.
In Troyes, players act as a member of a rich family and use their money and influence to affect three aspects of medieval society. You can recruit a workforce to take part in activities, gain influence and protect the city from marauding bandits. Oh and of course there’s that pesky Cathedral you have to complete. The player who gains the most Victory points wins!
Gameplay
The game of Troyes lasts only 6 turns in which players must allocate their principle resource – their Workforce – to 5 possible game turn actions:
- Activate an Activity Card (…like glassblowing!)
- Construct the Cathedral (It’s really big.)
- Combat Events (Yikes! Brigands!)
- Place a Citizen on a Building (You get dice for this.)
- Use Agriculture (Get you cash!)
A player’s Workforce is generated by rolling 3 different colored dice based on the number of Citizens they have in the three key buildings in the city: yellow dice, representing the City Hall, white dice, representing the Bishopric, and red dice, representing the Palace. Activity cards and Event cards may then be assigned different colored dice in order for you to complete them. For example, Wanna fight some Brigands? Use the red dice (Militia). Need to talk to a Monk? Use the white ones (Bishopric) and so on. Events and Activities earn players money (called “Deniers”), Influence and most importantly, Victory Points.
But player interaction can be fierce. (Hey it’s the middle ages!) A Player’s Deniers can be used to buy dice from another player and they can’t refuse. This effectively steals their resources. Players can also spend their Influence points to reroll, or even flip a die to its opposite side. Balancing the use of the Workforce, Deniers and Influence is the key strategic facet of the game.
After six rounds the game ends with victory points being tallied. Activities, Events and building the Cathedral can earn you Victory Points with one final unique twist. Each player has a different character card that has a Victory Point award based on a specific area of the game. For example: If you are playing as Urbain the IV – the pope at the time – he gives VP awards for completing levels of the Cathedral. (Hey, he’s the Pope.) But he doesn’t reward only you he rewards all players. Counting up the final Victory points is fun and this mechanic makes for a great game ender.
Components
The game board, cards and wooden components have a true “Euro feel” and the imagery evokes a French Middle Ages sort of look and feel – like a finely woven tapestry – colorful and appealing. Given the engaging game matrix, the style of the game is just icing on the soufflé… eh…cake.
Learning Curve
Troyes has unique mechanics that make learning it difficult, even for those who have played worker placement games. The rulebook is easy to follow, with ample illustrations. But if you are not particularly mathematically minded, it will be difficult to grasp the finer strategic points even after a few plays.
Who would enjoy this?
Final Thoughts
At first glance Troyes looks like a typical worker placement, resource management game with a medieval theme. But designers Orban, Dujardin and Georges surprise you with great depth of mechanics and unique game play. Randomizers such as dice often result in a game imbalance, but this game feels perfectly balanced. Action and Event cards are randomly chosen but not all of them are used, giving each game a fresh feel. The dice-rolling mechanic is not exactly new, but the way the dice results are applied to in-play actions is ingenious. Every cause has an effect: use too much of one resource and the next turn you will be lacking in another. Since the game only lasts six turns, it takes every ounce of scrutiny to make sure you are staying on track. It almost feels like a puzzle the designers have cunningly created to test your gamer mettle. If you don’t get it right the first time, you are itching to play again to prove you can master it.
If this sounds like a challenge that appeals to you, then Troyes will become a favorite on your game shelf. Vive La Troyes!
User Reviews (16)
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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’
Yes dice is an important part of the game and you roll them every round but rolling well or poorly isn’t an issue. There is a fairly high learning curve to this game due to all the possible choices to make also these options can slow the game down a bit.
Starting the game each player will activate a number of meeples that they will place into spots on 3 special buildings, the remaining slots will be filled by the banks meeples. Each player will receive dice equal to the meeples in each building matching color of building to color of die (including the bank). Placement of these meeples in the building is crucial because they can and will be bumped out. Also at the start of every round these must be payed for. For every meeple in the red building the owner must pay 2 coins, for the white building they pay 1 and it is free for every meeple in the yellow building.
Each color dice have their focus, yellow are usually used to gain gold, white are used for the cathedral and to usually manipulate other dice in both color and power, and the red dice are usually used for influence and victory points.
After placement of meeples is done everyone rolls their dice and one person rolls for the bank. Dice are then put onto the middle of the board corresponding with the players color.
The first player then flips a thick black bordered red card (when this deck runs out the game ends at the end of the round) and follows with a yellow or white card of its kind if the red one indicates it. After resolving any of the cards abilities the player then rolls black dice equal to the amount on all the cards currently in play at the bottom of the board. This part of the simulates an attack on the city and at least one of these dice needs to be “defeated” by the first player. The first player must use any number of their dice (color doesn’t matter but red are worth double during this phase) to match the sum of one or more black dice. For every die “defeated” the player gains 1 influence. If any dice are left over the next player must do the same and so on until the black dice are gone.
The players then flip one of each of the red yellow and white cards that are numbered (this is only done for the first 3 rounds). These cards allow players to spend use meeples and money in order to gain the ability of the card, and also gain victory points at the end for placement in the card.
Each player takes a turn by using any number of their own or other players dice to do any number of options, though usuing other players dice will cost money, and some options include no dice (players can do nothing to prevent other players from using their dice).
-Place meeples on cards in the middle of the board to gain the effect of the card which can do a number of things such as increase dice power later or give victory points etc.
-Place cubes on the cards at the bottom of the board to gain victory points and influence, which is used to activate more meeples. (when a card is completely full of cubes the person with the most or the first person to place in case of a tie receives the card which may or may not benefit them at the end of the game)
-Place meeples into buildings to gain more dice to roll in later rounds, doing so will bump a meeple out of the buidling and reduce the roll of someone else (no one can be bumped more than once per round out of each building).
-Place a cube in the cathedral to gain influence and vp (and to not lose vp at the end of the game, every level without a players cube is 2 vp subtracted for that player)
-Yellow dice may be traded in for gold (but this option is rarely taken)
Players take turns around the board until everyone has passed. The first player to pass gets 2 gold and every turn that passes someone who passed also gains 1 coin including the first player who passed.
When the round is over they all gain a set income, and they start the next round the same way the started the first.
When the round ends where the last black card with red middle is drawn the players add up all their victory points, minus any levels of the cathedral they did not complete. Lastly each player would have been dealt one of six special character cards at the beginning of the game. These cards give bonus victory points to everyone, however each player only know which character they hold. sometimes guessing which character another player holds can be easy due to their play style through the game.
This is a fantastic game, if you love euro games this is one you should try out. There can be some spots of down time especially if you play with people who get analysis paralysis because of all the options to choose from. The dice rolling aspect of the game is great because even if you roll poorly you can always buy your opponents good dice!
Just recently got a hold on a copy of this game, and played it 4 times not within a week. Maybe you never heard this game before, since it’s kinda new game, Published by Pearl Games (French / Euro edition) in 2010, which also republished in the same year by Z-Man Games for the international edition, this game was quickly went up in the Board Game Geek rank and popularity (since then it’s called as one of the BGG darlings). Designed by Sebastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges and Alain Orban, this game apparently offers great things and surprises. Being one of the middle box heavy euro, Troyes is stand still the test of challenges. Well, you could see maybe this game was kinda a blind buy for me, since i was instantly fell in love with it when i saw the game setup board including the dice allocation and all the cards in it. So interesting and mind-pulling for me to know more and want it. So i decided to order this game and from around the other games i ordered, this was the one i anticipated the most. And to be honest, based on my 4 times experience, and the game itself, you can say i am pretty great excited and satisfied, in fact it has gone up to the first rank of my best games collection, uprooted The Pillars of The Earth and Thunderstone. So, you might be curious the kind of games Troyes is? So here is my review, read and weep boys.
In the year 1200, the foundation is laid for the cathedral of Troyes, but it will not be finished until 400 years later, after innumerable incidents. This game invites you to experience four centuries of history by participating in the development of one of the finest medieval cities ever to make its mark on Western culture. The society of that day was organized into three orders: the nobility, the clergy, and the peasants. The nobility constituted the military force devoted to justice and to protecting the lands. The clergy were the spiritual guides of the community, contributing to maintaining and developing knowledge and culture. The peasants and artisans, in turn, were given very little consideration, although their hard work was essential to the daily life of the entire populace.
1. The Theme
Actually for the kind of Euro Games, theme aspect is not really matters or important. But in this case, the theme is kinda really stick. Can’t explain why, but somehow the theme really attach to the game quite nice. The game title ‘Troyes’ was pick from the small city with same name in North-central France. The game story is evolve on the building of it’s Cathedral for nearly 400 years since in the year 1200. Players represents one of the the rich noble families from the Champagne region of France, and using their influence to recruit and supervise individuals from 3 different prominent domain (military, religious and civil).
2. The Artworks
The artist Alexandre Roche had really put a great masterpiece with this game, the feel and the styles of the artworks really represent the game and supporting to build the theme of the game. Actually generally i did not really like this kind of style. It looks outdated, classic and so medieval, but in this case it kinda attractive for the game. So, i like it in overall, though the illustrations kinda lame, especially the characters faces.
3. The Game Components
It really surprised me, when i look at the box, it looked bigger than the picture. Quite a big box but not a square box like 7 Wonders, The Pillars of The Earth or Thunderstone. It’s more rectangular shape in a portrait orientation. Nice art on the box, really shows it’s unique theme and style. Inside the box i found 1 plastic bag of dice (24 dice with 6 dice for each four colors, black / white / red / yellow), which were nicely crafted with great material. Also included single punch board of VP and deniers tiles in each denominations, 56 wooden citizens (in each colors plus gray color), 90 wooden cubes (also include the gray cubes), 8 wooden disc 2 for each colors), 1 beautifully drawn game board, 27 activity cards, 16 event cards, 6 character cards, 6 player aid cards (2 for each language) and 1 first player card. I kinda found it interesting that the available colors for players are not common (they use green and blue, which are commonly used, but the white or beige and orange colors are not commonly used in a 4 players games). The components are in a great shaped and they also provide sealed plastic bag to be used when you ant to separate the components in each colors for easier setup. The only little downer is inside the box with just white carton compartment to store the components and hold the board. Well, they could made it with better quality from this one, which they’re not. But i guess it’s just minor and really did not affect my review of the game.
4. The Game Play
Each player choose their colors and set the board (how many players in the game will determine how many citizens each player will get during the initial placement. For 4 players, each get 4 citizens which they have to spend in the 3 principal buildings on the game board. This placement will determine what dice you will get during the round. Put the rest of the citizens in the general supply along with the VP and deniers tiles. Each player get 5 deniers as starting capital and stock his color cubes in his personal supply. Shuffle and randomly draw the activity cards, 1 for each age (the numerical shown on the back of the cards) and put it face down in the board based on each principal colors. Shuffle the event cards (the red event cards are supposed to be 6 cards, as it will determine the rounds, 6 rounds for 4 players). Shuffle and randomly drawn the character cards to each player, this will be a secret to every player. Put the rest of the cards without looking at them to the box.
Each round consist of phases in there order:
Phase 0 – Reveal the activity cards for each principals (City Hall / yellow, Count’s Palace / red and Bishopric / white) start from the first round (can be identified by it’s number in the back of each card). Start from round 4-6, there will be no activity cards left to revealed, so skip this phase.
Phase 1 – Income and salaries. Each player will get 10 deniers each round for his income and must pay salaries for his citizens in the principal buildings (2 deniers / citizen in Count’s Palace, 1 denier / citizen in Bishopric and free of charge for citizens in City Hall). Players who cannot pay the salary losses 2 VP.
Phase 2 – Assembling the workforce. Workforce are presented by the dice that players roll, based on citizens they hired just before in the principal buildings. After rolling the dice, each player put his dice in the game board which represent his location district marked by his color marker. These dice will represent citizens and workforces each player has and will be used to execute actions.
Phase 3 – Events. For the first round, draw the red event card and resolve it’s effect (starting from the left bottom corner, which usually would require players to draw another event card. Then resolve each effect of the event card with roll black dice be the last effect occurred). Roll the black dice as stated in the active event cards and this will present as military event which need to be countered in the beginning of players action starting from the first player. He must counter at least 1 black die with the highest value (up to 2 black dice), with any of his own dice (based on the number) with red dice are doubled when used to counter black dice. After counter the black dice, each player gain 1 influence for each die. If one players cannot counter the black dice, he losses 2 VP.
Phase 4 – Actions. Beginning from the first player (clockwise) each player can use his dice to do actions. Start by activating the activity cards (by hire citizen and pay the appropriate amount of gold in the card and resolve the dice), allocate his dice to put his citizen in principal buildings, counter event cards, participate in the construction of the Cathedral (3 levels) or use agriculture to gain deniers based on the amount total of his dice result, or pass (which will give him 2 deniers and 1 denier for his next turn that he already passed.
Phase 5 – End of the round. The round end when every player has passed or there are no dice in the districts.
The game ends after the sixth rounds and the player with the highest VP win the game. VP can be collected by activate a card, counter events, construct the Cathedral, and secretly complete character cards prerequisites. Influence can be used to re-roll one of your die (cost 1 influence), hire citizens from general supply (cost 2 influence), flip up to 3 dice of his own (cost 3 influence). Oh yeah it’s rather kinda late in, but better than never, the most interesting part is, you can use someone’s else dice. Oh yeah you can, with the right amount of money you can get everything they said. If you use 1 die for an action by using someone’s else die, you must pay 2 deniers. If you using 2 dice for an action which 1 of it was someone’s else, you must pay him 4 deniers / die you buy. If you use 3 dice for an action which 1 of it was someone’s else, you must pay 6 deniers / die you buy. There can only be 3 dice in one dice group and commonly with the same color (special case if the cards say otherwise).
5. The Replay Value
Now it’s time, when you say about the replay value, I’ve got 2 words which are ‘OPEN POSSIBILITIES’. Yeah after 4 plays, i found the game mechanics has led to an open possibilities for players. For start, the cards that came in the game were not all come into play, this is one element that add variant to the game (event, activity, and character cards are not all played) and also the promo cards also add more variant. And the dice mechanic, wait, hold your thoughts. Dice mechanic? 24 dice? 24 dice are a lot amount of dice i admit it. What would one possibly do with 24 dice? Since dice are often associated with luck factor, and i won’t argue with that. This game has a dice allocation mechanic (remember Kingsburg?), which you maybe already thought that it’s a high roller game. Well, you can say that, but being a high roller is not always present the best result for you, and being the opposite (low roller) won’t kick you out of the game. In Troyes, being high roller put you in a dilemma, if you’re not the first player. The unique of the game or this mechanic is, it brings you more possibilities than any other games. When you look at the board, you’re not only see your dice, but all the dice in the board. Why? As i stated before, the game gives you more possibilities. This is the part where the game become interesting. You can ‘steal’ other player’s dice. What? steal? you mean cheating? Well, actually not stealing (at least indirectly literal), i would prefer the word ‘buy’ rather than ‘steal’ but that’s not gonna make it interesting, is it? When it’s your turn, you can use any dice.. if you can, while your impertinent rivals doing voodoo dance behind your back and hope that you make your mistake. So the game really has great replay value (let aside the cards variants which aren’t too many).
My Thought of The Game
Hmm, what words fit the game perfectly, i vote for none. You can’t describe the game with only words. Well if i have to, it would be MARVELOUS, FANTASTIC, FABULOUS, and AWESOME! The game is classic but has a modern touch in it. When i ordered it, it had been my most anticipated games and when i played it for the first time, it emerged as one of the best i have ever tried. It’s a worker placement and dice rolling game that really served in such an interesting way. There are many ways to win the game, and you can use your dice or someone’s else dice to the very least of options. This is the kind of games that forced players to skulking in their seat with eyes focused on the board, thinking hard while their hands hold their deniers tightly and mumbling some ancient chantings, hoping they eventually have an enlightenment of their best move. Yeah, this game is AP (Analysis Paralysis) potential, even for heavy gamers, so if you’re not a heavy gamer, you’re gonna likely end up in AP state.And i just recently noticed the perfect phrase that fit to this game, which is “A STUPID DICE GAME!” Yeah, one of my friends constantly saying it over and over again. Well in a way yes i couldn’t be more agree with him, this is a stupid dice game, The dice you roll make you look stupid or do stupid reactions. So yes this is a stupid dice game. “A stupid dice game! Let’s play again…and again!”.
The artwork is great and the game play is unique. I would say that the rules is simple once you get the hang of it, the difficult thing is your decision. Troyes is the game that will surely often hit the table if i had the chance, and to be honest it worth every penny.
Although Troyes does have a board that is used extensively during the game, I would have to say this could be described as primarily a dice game.
Each player gets a bunch of dice, and then what that players does with those dice determines how he or she fares in the game.
But it’s just the sheer number of things that you can do with those dice that make this game so interesting.
Players start by placing a few meeples (or pawns) on three different buildings shown on the board. Based on the number of pawns you have in each building at the start of your turn, you are given that number of colored dice that are specific to that building; for example, red dice to indicate military units, white dice to indicate religious units, and yellow dice to represent civil units.
Also at the start of your turn you are given an income, which can go up or down based on various factors in the game.
In general, the goal of the game is to gain the most victory points by the end of the game. There are a huge number of ways to go about this, and figuring out the best way to do this is of course the heart of the overall strategy.
When your turn comes around, all of the dice you were given are rolled, and then those dice can be “spent” on various actions depending on how high they rolled. For example, the red (military) dice can be used to ward off an attacker to the city. The white (religious) dice can be used to build part of a chapel, or the yellow (civil) dice can be used to set up a merchant, just as examples; each of these choices has pros and cons as far as the effects on your income and influence, and it’s up to you to figure out how best to reach your goal.
Don’t have the right dice? Well, buy them off of another player, if you have the cash – whether they like it or not.
“My Goal? You mean getting the most victory points?” you may ask. Well, yes, but that’s not all – for you see, each player is assigned a “character” that also has his own specific goals – such as having more money than anyone else at the end of the game, or the most military victories, etc – and each game you have to figure out the best way to do that – so it’s different every game.
Sound complicated? Well, it is. It took me a couple of games before I even really understood the basics, and now that I’ve played a number of times I still have not figured out any good strategies – every time I play I totally get my butt kicked, usually by a wide margin.
But the thing is, even with this complexity (it’s often referred to as a “gamer’s game,” which I’m usually not a big fan of, the game keeps calling me back. It’s both complex and fun, which in my experience can be hard to do in a game.
Oh, and a quick bit of trivia: the name Troyes is French, so it’s not pronounced “Troy-ez” which is how us Americans really want to say it. It’s pronounced “Trrwah” or something like that.
Ok that’s only half the truth. You might want to take a small break after the first try, but later on… now that’s an entirely different story.
This game adds some randomness to what we know as worker placement. In such a game, one has a set number of workers that needs to be placed on different tasks. The earlier you get to choose, the greater the rewards – usually. Troyes uses dice as workers, and meeples as your loyal servants.
Each round consists of dice rolls. You receive a given set of dice depending on where you have your servants placed. These dice may then be used to “pay” for actions. The greater the dice value, the greater the outcome, so you must be early to use those high dies. But you only get one action per turn, and the other dice you got from the start are not at all safe. They can be bought from you by all the other players, and you can’t refuse.
I love the way they have used the dice as a means of action. You must decide how you want to place your servants, and then you have to decide which dice to use and buy in order to enable those actions. Since you have no control what dice will be left over for your next turn, the first choice is quite crucial.
There is a lot of room for analysis paralysis, unfortunately. So after a game you might be a bit tired. I’m usually ready for another game, because:
– Each new game is unique, given random action cards
– You get a feeling of control
– You get a feeling of accomplishment
– The game is fast
– It looks great
This is an interesting worker-placement game wherein you roll dice determined by the workers you place. These rolls are mitigated by the ability to buy other’s dice, and pay to reroll certain dice (or otherwise modify a die result.)
I found it challenging and it certainly held my interest, but I was always aware of the myriad bits, moving this there, that there, this again. It always felt fiddly to me. I don’t usually have a problem with that, but for some reason with this game I left the table with that sense each time I played.
This is also one of those games where I think they over-complicated things for the sake of replayability. The event cards that come up across the bottom… I kind of felt that perhaps a set of events could have been built in to the board. I do generally like options that allow for expanding the replayability of a game, but here it contributed to that sense of fiddliness.
That might sound a bit strong… I did enjoy the game. It’s not one I would purchase, I will be happy to play it every few months when it comes up at a group.
If worker placement is a preferred sort of game, this is certainly an interesting exploration. And if you like dice, you are set!
All in all, a solid game, and interesting, but with a bit much going on component-wise for my taste.
Less complicated than a first glance may appear, Troyes shares some similarities with Kingsburg: at the start of each round the players roll dice and then can use those dice to purchase positions on the board which grant victory points and other benefits.
Unlike Kingsburg, however, rolling poorly can actually be a benefit in Troyes, as you can and will use other players’ dice as well as your own, and rolling poorly means your dice are less likely to be grabbed by others.
The board itself can look a bit intimidating, with all the various cards available to be purchased and used. They all fall under the same types, though, and once you grasp those, it’s not difficult to see what’s available at a glance.
Overall this is a very fun game, especially if you enjoy rolling dice, but have horrible luck with them, as I do.
Without a doubt, Troyes is one of the most mentally taxing game I’ve ever played. While some games will hold your hand and point you towards your next goal or scoring opportunity, Troyes, for better or worse, just lays your options on the table and let’s you decide your own fortunes. While this last statement may seem counter-intuitive to a game whose primary mechanic involves dice, the modification and purchasing mechanics absolutely put you in the driver’s seat on how and where to use what fate has given you (along with what fate has given the other players.)
While it can be a little overwhelming for new people, and the iconography is not initially intuitive, once you begin to learn the language of the game, it begins to flow much more smoothly. Also, this game can lead to a slight AP problem once the game kicks into gear, but you never once feel like the game forced you to make a bad decision. Win or lose, it was all in your hands.
This game has had the most plays out of all the games in my collection. Great game for dice lovers, but even the non-dice lovers can get along with this game. It has just the right amount of luck and the hidden bonus points in the end of the game was just the right touch. It gives a big bang for the short playing time it takes. I think it plays best with 3 to 2 players.
The con is that it can take some people one game to understand what’s going on, but I’ve seen a few people catch on right off the bat.
Pronounced Trrrr-WAH. Plays Trrrrr-IFIC. The downside to this one: tough to learn how the cars work. There are TONS of choices to make each turn. Forget that this is a game that uses dice. It is NOT a typical dice game. It is a game of myriad choices, lots of decisions. I love it – but find only hard-core gamers are willing to dig in their heels and learn it. But it’s a keeper. One of the best for 2011.
Fantastic game! A very clever use of dice. Players battle for control in various districts of the city, gaining privileges that help them along the way. They use dice to fight off threats or gain privileges and prestige. However, rolling high numbers on your own dice may help other players just as much as you! A lot of choices every turn – and all the choices are good! Fun game, excellent execution and unique mechanics.
First look at the game and i started to get put off by the sheer amount of dice involved. However after actually sitting down one afternoon for a game, I was hooked. This game is so engaging. I take back my initial feeling toward this game.
This is now fast becoming a favorite in our playgroup
Pros – 1) Creative use of dice.
2) One of my friends received this as a Christmas gift and I did not.
Cons – 1) Instructions were as useful as a football bat. One of my friends (who is clearly smarter than me) eventually figured out that there are several printing errors in the rules that describe specific cards and actions but show a picture of a completely different card.
2) Cards show lots of pictures that are supposed to represent actions but are not intuitive at all. We had lots of disagreements about what the actions on several cards meant, and the rules were of no help at all.
3) This is a game about rolling dice. The novelty of simply rolling a bunch of dice again and again wore off for me after 3.5 minutes. Troyes never made me feel as if my die rolls had anything to do with the middle ages or Europe or gave me a sense that I was building something for any purpose.
If you want to play a game where everyone just rolls a bunch of dice repeatedly and has a bit of fun doing it, I recommend Yahtzee. It’s a great game that has stood the test of time won’t confuse you with words you can’t pronounce or pictures that are indecipherable. It’s much cheaper too.
Troyes is a fantastic game. If you only buy 1 game from z-man, this is the game to get. It is a brilliant mix of dice rolling and euro gaming. Having 1’s isn’t bad, having 6’s isn’t good. All of your dice are functional and make the game a lot of fun to play!
sometimes the dice can really screw you, but honestly 90% of the time skill wins out. This game has some pretty good replay value, some new cards would push the longevity. Components are fantastic, i love the look and feel of all the pieces.
Learnability is probably the worst part about it, not only do you have to learn the stock worker placement mechanics, but you also have to adapt to the dice mechanics. Optimally you would want to start someone off with Stone Age and then play this.
after all
it’s a very fine gamle , that keeps you interacting and interested till the last count 🙂