Merchants of the Middle Ages

EvEvanstar1,6

This was a really rough pickup and deliver game. The core idea is good, and similar to Panamax. You have these three nice wooden carts that players place their goods into, and then players get to move whichever of the carts they want during their opportunity to move. This means you are moving goods of both yours and your opponents. The part that makes this game nasty is that each turn, each cart in a city gets auctioned off to a player who then gets to load more, and force other players to pay them money to put their goods onto the cart. What happens next is that the goods are worth different amounts in different cities, sometimes significantly more. Carts once moved can't turn around, so players are angling their movements to get a cart with their goods to the city that will give them the most, while other player's goods might fetch a very small price. These two things make knowing how much money you'll have on a turn very unpredictable. The final nail in the coffin is that after all this happens, there are incredibly overpowered ability cards up for auction. These cards are extremely game warping and give the whole experience a feeling of extreme futility. ★ Art and components ☆ Innovative mechanics ☆ Handles 5 or more players ☆ Good with min or max players ★ Low time between turns ★ Comfortable complexity ☆ Re-playability ☆☆☆ Enjoyment