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Check This Out ....
Eurogames will be releasing French, Italian and German language editions of AGE OF RENAISSANCE in September or October, in time for ESSEN '99. The Eurogames design will contain many significant changes.
Here is a brief description:
* There are several changes to the mapboard. These include access between London and Chester instead of Portsmouth and York (this will strengthen London in the early going); the swallowing up of Smolensk by Novgorod (this allows Hamburg a very slight advantage in the Black Sea area in the early going); and the intersection of E. Med/W.Med/Barca/Libya is reversed (this allows Genoa a shot at Alexandria before any other Med. position--assuming The Heavens). So, a bit of a bump up for London, Genoa and Hamburg, probably in that order.
* Generally, there is simplification. No "Banker", "Broker" (the Commodity Log is replaced with 'deeds') or "Basic", "Intermediate" and "Campaign" game distinctions. Some of the more difficult concepts for new players to grasp are replaced with simplifications. Thus, putting protection money on Leaders is no more, replaced by an additional two Leader Boxes. The second can be used by one other player, the third by two other players besides the person playing that Leader. Also, Misery Relief becomes an automatic process that occurs once a player owns two advances each in the Science, Commerce and Communication categories (earning 1 MR space), three in each (earning 2 MR spaces) and then all advances in each (3 MR spaces). Plus, Written Record's +10--easily forgotten, even by veteran players--is jettisoned.
* The emphasis on Exploration and Religion as 'must have' advances is balanced so that there is no standard way forward, as with "the need for Seaworthy Vessels by Turn #3". This is effected by making the Misery Index more important (see above), by moving New World's 1 Misery Relief to Enlightenment, by increasing the same-category credits for Communication to +30, +20 and +10 (instead of +10 each) and for Civics to +20, +30, +40, +50, and +60.
* Perhaps the biggest change is completely reworking Written Record and Wind/Watermill. Written Record's attribute is now Wind/Watermill without the Tokens/Dice formula (any player with it can force a card trade with anyone without it). This is logical as the absence of a Written Record will mean you may lose information--a card). Since Written Record costs only 30 and has a +30 credit, it will be an early favorite. Meanwhile, Wind/Watermill becomes a truly powerful advance. Following Shortage/Surplus, the last player in the turn order owning Wind/Watermill has the option of adjusting either Grain, Cloth, Wine or Metal (all processed at one time by wind/water power) from either Surplus or Shortage to neutral or vice versa. Also, its position and price are switched with Advanced Agriculture.
* Patronage's same-category credit is changed from 20 to 10, while Proselytism's is now 30 instead of 20, thus making the Religion advances a bit less interesting (with the exception of Proselytism, which is rarely purchased) and making a sudden Holy Indulgence or Cathedral all the more dramatic.
* The first change encountered in any game will be that 3 cards are dealt, initially, of which each player may keep 2. The third is returned, face-down, to the deck which is reshuffled. Also, the initial deal is from a deck that is minus the five Crusades-related cards (these are added back after the initial deal, and are thus more likely to appear late in Epoch I, when historically, they should). They are: The Crusades, Spice, Silk, Walter The Penniless, and Rashid Ad Din.
The implications of the above are that a player's choice of position and of early advances purchased are both more balanced, and that turn order is newly balanced after making early moves (Leader Boxes) and late moves (the new Wind/Watermill) both desirable.
Hopefully, choice of position will be more influenced by a player's two cards held rather than by the traditional hierarchy of Venice, Barcelona, Paris, Hamburg, Genoa, London. Interestingly, Paris' traditional interest in Nationalism is encouraged with the increase in Civics credits. Thus all the less desirable positions are given a slight boost. Of course the Exploration category's suffering will mean geographic proximity to Asia is more important along with The Crusades, but the Med. positions are perhaps less likely to purchase Exploration category advances as soon as they do normally.
Choice of early advances purchased will be wide open. Because Chaos will be a somewhat more likely prospect than before, the careful player may want to buy The Heavens, Caravan and Written Record early on, and thus be able to get to two advances in Science, Commerce and Communications fairly easily if need be. Each of these three categories will be enticing. Science, because Mysticism will be more important, and because of Enlightenment's new attribute (formerly New World's); Commerce, because of Wind/Watermill; and Communications, because of its added credits and because Written Record will be all but mandatory. Then there are the Civics advances, which can generate a large number of points with little expended.
Choice of Turn Order will likewise be more of a tough choice for several reasons. With additional key Advances (Written Record, Wind/Watermill, in addition to Seaworthy and Holy Indulgence) moving last will mean being able to react to a move in any one of these four directions. Likewise, with so many players likely wanting to be either last (Wind/Watermill) or first (Leaders), there will be a great interest in bidding in the 20's, so as to have plenty to attack with, but to enjoy moving 3rd, or 4th, rather than 5th or 6th. And finally, the Grain/Cloth/Wine/Metal commodities will likely be more closely contested and watched. Moving last with one of the four commodity cards in question will mean the ability to take or retake key markets.
In general, then, the attempt has been made to make the game easier and quicker to play. If a group normally takes 5 hours to play, they might be able to shave off an hour. This is mainly because of the additional card dealt to start, which means the deck will tend to run out sooner than before. In addition, the increase in credits in the Civics category and the use of Wind/Watermill to increase commodity payouts should make more $$ available. The increase in the Communications category will only make up for the loss of the original Written Record attribute.
So, we'll see. If these new rules are greeted by rounds of 'Boo's, I'm the one with egg on my face*.
Jared Scarborough
(translation, design assistance and playtesting by Roland Lehoucq; others weighing in:
Mic Svellov, Bill Crenshaw, Joe Marriott, Malcolm Anderson, Brad Martin).