Orléans: Deluxe Edition

EvEvanstar4.6

At the start of a round, player draw a number of worker discs from their bags. Then they simultaneously plan their actions by laying them into action spaces on their player boards. Going around clockwise, each player removes tokens from one of their full action spots to use the action, then the tokens return to your bag. One of the interesting actions is to construct new action spaces for yourself letting you customize your engine somewhat. There is also an action that places a gear token down on an action space allowing you to further customize what color of worker tokens you want to focus on. Ultimately, this is all in service of walking your meeple around the central map. There are goods tokens along the path to grab which are worth endgame points, and your primary source of points is dropping houses down at intersections, then running up the grey track to increase your score multiplier for the number of houses you have. There are a few other ways to grab points, but this simple goal is really the focus. It's a good design, but after a few plays and a little time, it feels a little simple for it's game weight. Even fully expanded, it's not quite elegant enough to deliver a smooth play experience, not does it offer enough tough decision points to warrant the 90 min ish playtime. I enjoy the core game experience, but it's no longer my go-to bag builder. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ★ Clever or interesting mechanisms ★ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ☆ Multiple plays stay interesting ★ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★★☆☆ Raw enjoyment

MCMitchell Cstar7.2

Great components for a GREAT game