There are two big game fairs in Germany each year, and each of them always creates a fair bit of excitement over the games introduced there. Opinions may vary about some of them, but invariably there's a game which generates a buzz which transcends the noise. At the last Nuremburg show, that game was Die Siedler von Catan. At Essen, that game was El Grande.
Hans im Gluck has a remarkable track record, having produced such hits as Modern Art, Manhattan, Auf Heller und Pfennig, and Drunter & Druber. El Grande is something of a departure for them: a true gamers' game. Not that they haven't hit the gamers' market before— Modern Art lands squarely in that camp— but their previous games also appealed to more casual players. El Grande, perhaps their most ambitious project to date, seems too complex to offer much hope of crossover sales to the family market. We can only hope this won't deter the company from further mining in this territory, because their initial efforts have produced a gem with lots of polish (and a rough edge or two).
If there's one thing you can count on when you see the Hans im Gluck logo on a box, it's high production values. In this, El Grande doesn't disappoint. The box, true to the game's name, is a little deeper than normal for a Hans im Gluck game. The components inside range from the normal (decks of power and action cards) to the ubiquitous (a gaggle of colored wooden cubes in two sizes— what is it with the Germans and wooden cubes, anyway?), to the intriguing (a set of pre-assembled dials), to the unusual (a very large wooden pawn and a tall, hollow wooden tower). The game board is a gorgeous pen-and-ink map of Spain with colored accents. It does a great job of conveying a sense of the period (15th century) and establishing a mood for the game. In fact, the calligraphy-on-parchment motif used on the board is carried through the other game components as well, making this a very attractive product.
To quote Mike Teevee's mom, "She's tres jole, but is she seaworthy?" The game puts players in the roles of "grandes"— members of the high aristocracy who controlled events in 15th century Spain. Each tries to earn points by placing a majority of caballeros (low aristocracy) he controls into each of nine regions and the castillo (wooden tower) when they are scored at various times throughout the game.
This is complicated by a number of factors, not the least of which is that getting caballeros onto the board is a two-step process. Caballeros start out of play, "in the provinces." They must first be recruited into a player's "court" before they can be deployed onto the board. Thus, quite unexpectedly from a quick glance at the game, managing off-board resources is a critical element of gameplay. Lest this put you off, let me hasten to add that it's all done quite simply and creates the basis for one of the most essential and brilliant mechanics of the game.
A round, and there are nine of them in a full game (six in a short one) begins by revealing the top action card in each of five stacks. These cards allow a variety of special actions to be performed. Since the best ones get snatched early, turn order is critical. And here's where that mechanism I was talking about kicks in. To determine turn order players play a power card each turn. Each player starts with an identical set numbered 1-13, with each card being playable only once per game. In any given round, each value can be played by only one player (so if you play a 7, nobody else can). High card goes first, then the next highest, and so forth.
But that's not all the power cards do. Each card allows a player to recuit 0-6 caballeros from the provinces to their court. The higher the value of the card, the fewer caballeros you get. In essence, power cards are an abstraction of how you're exerting your power that turn, and it's something of a zero-sum game. If you need more forces, you may have to sacrifice your turn order. Keeping a ready supply of caballeros in your court is thus essential in order to keep your power card options open. If you've got no caballeros and a juicy action card comes up, you've got a real problem— play a high card and don't add any forces to the board that turn, or let someone else take the card and play low so you can get reinforcements. On an even higher strategic level, playing the lowest card in round 2, 5, or 7 lets you play your power card first in the next (scoring) round, which can make a tremendous difference in scoring.
Once power cards are played, players take their turns in order. After recruiting your allotted number of caballeros, next up is picking an action card. The earlier in the turn you go, the more choices you have. These cards are divided into piles according to their number (1-5). That number is how many caballeros you may move from your court to the board if you choose that action card. Each card also allows its bearer to perform a unique action that turn. These actions might involve moving opponents' caballeros around on the board, recruiting additional caballeros, sending caballeros in opponents' courts back to the provinces, scoring certain regions, moving the king, or many other effects.
The king is a giant marker which gets moved from region to region. Caballeros can only be placed into a region adjacent to the one currently hosting the king. The king himself completely freezes his region, preventing any caballeros from entering or exiting that region for any reason. Since scoring depends on having more of your caballeros in a region than any other player, in many ways the game really does revolve around the king.
At the end of every third round all regions score, starting with the castillo. Regions (including the castillo) are worth different amounts of points, with descending awards for the top three forces in each. Forces placed in the castillo are essentially reinforcements. Each player secretly chooses one of the map regions and sends all of his reinforcements there after the castillo is scored, but before any map regions are. This adds an element of uncertainty, since a sudden rush of forces to a region can completely change the balance of power there.
Scoring also occurs periodically throughout the game thanks to certain action cards. These cards might trigger scoring of the most or least populated regions, regions of particular values, etc. Often, these scoring opportunities can make a tremendous difference. Invoking an action card which scores all six-point regions can be a big boost to a player with a majority in both of them.
Oh, and did I mention the bonuses? Whenever a player's home region is scored and that player wins the majority, he also gets a two point bonus. Likewise, the winner in the king's region also gets a two point bonus. These bonuses add up, so it pays to defend your home region.
El Grande is a game with a great deal to like. The various game mechanisms are very cleverly implemented with a keen eye for game balance. Each time you make a play, you're faced with mutually exclusive options and some tough decisions— a proven formula for an engaging game.
Unfortunately, it can also be a formula for a slow-moving game. The choices in El Grande can be tantalizing. You want to play first, but you need more caballeros in your yard. You want to reinforce a region, but the action card you want to play doesn't allow you to move many caballeros onto the board. What to do? For some players, the answer is "think about it for a long time." Using a timer is a good solution for games like Robo Rally, but here it's not as practical. Instead, try using the Carl Schnurr patented chant, "Play or we hit you! Play or we hit you!" to chivy players along.
El Grande is one of those games where you think you've come up with the right strategy, only to have it fail miserably the next time you try it. I end every game thinking, "Ok, next time I'll..." The action cards provide just the right element of chance tempered by opportunity for skillful play. A shame they're in German, but their icons make it easy to learn their functions after a couple of plays.
Some claim El Grande is too abstract for their tastes, but I find the game has plenty of personality. I've heard people complain about it being too random, in much the same way as Adel Verpflichtet. But other players' actions are hardly random, and there are few instances where all players even act simultaneously. In my book, the analogy doesn't hold water.
The bottom line is that El Grande is an expensive but excellent game with many ingenious mechanisms which fit together marvelously.
Update 5/26/97: An expansion set, Konig & Intrigant, is now available. It replaces all the cards in the game with a new mechanism. Each player gets an identical set of 18 cards, from which each chooses 13 to use during the game. Each card has a power value, caballero value, and special action. Players play a card at the start of each round to determine player order, the number of caballeros they can move from the yard and onto the board, and the action they can perform. Reports indicate that this expansion improves an already superb game, removing an element of luck and providing even greater scope for strategy. The expansion costs about $15.