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From: Hans im Gluck
Cost: $12
Players: 2-5
Playing Time: 90 minutes
Type of game: Gamer strategy
Complexity: 4
Skill level: 9
Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 4.4 (16), Fall 1997
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When you've got a hit, milk it for all it's worth. That's been Frankh's attitude with Die Siedler von Catan, and Hans im Gluck has stepped foot on that path with their first expansion set for El Grande, 1996's German game of the year. Thankfully, Konig & Intrigant (King & Villain) isn't some half-baked scheme to capitalize on El Grande's success. It's actually one of those rarest of things— an expansion which greatly improves the original game.
Actually, calling Konig & Intrigant an expansion is something of a misnomer. It doesn't merely add new components, it replaces existing mechanisms with new ones. The set consists enitrely of cards. Ninety of them are power/action cards, divided into five sets of eighteen each (one for each possible player). These cards replace the power and action cards from the base game.
Each card has a value between 10 and 180, 0-6 caballeros, and a special ability. At the start of the game, players winnow their sets of cards down to 13, setting the remaining five aside— they won't be used in the game at all. Obviously, choosing which cards to ditch is a major strategic decision right off the bat. Do you keep low-ranked but powerful cards, or hold onto the higher cards with weaker abilities? After a few games, players will likely develop a favorite strategy— but initially, dropping five cards from your set is a daunting task.
Players play these cards in the same manner as power cards from the basic set. Players then take turns in order from highest card down to the lowest, and receive caballero cards numbered 5 to 1.. On their turn, the number of caballeros players may move from the provinces to their yard is indicated by their power card. The value of their caballero card limits the number of caballeros moved onto the board. And at any point in the turn, they may perform the special action of the card they played. Unless they became the king or the villain.
Here's where the expansion gets truly insidious. The player of the highest card not only goes first, but his special action is replaced by the action of the king (moving the king marker to any province). The player of the lowest card goes last and has his special action replaced by that of the villain (move all your own caballeros from a single region, or any one of an opponent's caballeros, into the region of your choice except the king's region). This twist adds a meta layer to the card playing round. When you select a card to play, you can't be certain you'll actually get to use its special ability. How high is too high? How low too low? Do you play a higher card than you intended to play, just to force another player into villainy so he won't be able to use the ability of his own card? Just as commonly, do you wind up playing a card because all of your other choices would make you king/villain against your will?
The ability of the king is powerful and rarely unwelcome, but the villain's power is weak and seems to add insult to injury. Not only are you playing last and limited to adding just a single caballero to the board. but your intended action is replaced by an almost useless one. Is this a problem? I only know it feels lousy when it happens to you, and it happens to someone every turn.
That complaint aside, this expansion made me feel like I had more control over the game. In the basic rules, the luck of the draw with the action piles could make a huge difference. A good card coming up at the right time could swing the tide. With the expansion, everyone has their entire arsenal of tricks from the outset and must time their use for maximal effect. The game's pace also accelerated, with less time needed to consider each move. As in the basic set, the cards are in German but bear illustrations which make their function clear after a little experience. An additional set of promotional cards is available for $2.00 shipping and handling from Rio Grande Games at 1-800-SAY-GAME. A 2nd El Grande expansion, adding islands and more action cards, is coming soon. [Editor's note 5/25/98: that expansion, Grossinquisitor & Kolonien, is now available]