El Caballero

anandyctedstar6.9

El Carcassone

EvEvanstar4.6

This is a tile laying area majority game, where rather than have cubes or meeples, you claim areas with personal tiles, and the number of guys you have in an area is the number printed on the side of the tile facing the land mass. If at any point, your claim tile has two sides touching land masses, it gets removed from the board. This makes the game very strategically punchy, as you vie for position with the other players. There are a lot of options in this game as you get to pick one from a spread of 5 tiles per turn, and you need to manage the number of guys in your supply as well as your turn order, just like in El Grande. I was drawn to it because it solves a lot of issues I always had with carc. Carc has deterministic player order, and restrictive ability to fight people for valuable areas, and the limitation of not being able to plan your turn until you draw your tile. Additionally, you are able to adjust things anywhere on the board rather than just on the one tile you place that turn. This makes the game feel a little slower and heavier than Carcassonne, but a little more rewarding too. The tiles in this game do look extremely dull, and the score track/player aid could be a lot better in terms of clarity.

MCMitchell Cstar1.6

Seriously disappointed with this game. El Grande is one of my favourite games and this just fell flat. The rules are too complex and awkward, there is none of El Grande's elegance. I'm sure it's a fine game, but was ruined by my high expectations.