United States
Ithaca
New York
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Armorica is a card drafting game for 2 to 4 players in which the primary way of scoring points is by making runs of different colored cards. It is portable (the size of a standard deck of cards) and plays in about 30 minutes.
Upon opening the box, one of the first things I noticed was the nice glossiness of the cards. The background coloring has a bit of a marbling to it, instead of just flat coloring, giving some interest to the simple (but clean) design. The artwork isn't exciting, but it gives a little flavor to the game. This game could be played as strictly colored circles, but the theme helps to put the choices into context (you choose amphorae to feed your people, you get points for having the most olives).
Be warned, the rules are rather poorly written and produced. The rulesheet is the front and back of a sheet of paper. There are typos. The rules aren't explained very well, especially for scoring, where there should have been an example. I read the rules, then came to BGG to read a review and understand how to play. Now that I know how to play, I can go back and see what the rules were trying to say, but they didn't make sense to me when I first read them. Once you understand how to play, it's quite simple, and easy to teach.
Image by erichv
Each card has two columns. Icons in those columns show you what the card gives you, and the icon in the lower right shows what the card wants for you to purchase it. The green card, above, gives you two coins, and the brown card gives you grapes (wine) and two amphorae. To buy the green card, you must have olives, and to buy the brown card, you must have wheat (you start out with 2 wheat at the beginning of the game). You don't spend resources to buy a card, but you must have a certain number of them, depending on where the card is in the display.
Image by cubetap
The cards are laid out in 2 rows, Gaul and Roman, 6 cards face up. You can buy the rightmost card for one of the pictured resource, the one to the left of it for two of its pictured resources, and so on. The cards in the Gaul row always want wheat, and they give you other resources that allow you to take other cards in the Roman row (which also includes wheat, but not exclusively).
Image by cubetap
You're taking from a shared supply, but there's no direct conflict - someone may take the card you want, but that also might bring a better card into range. After a card is taken, the cards are slid to the right, and the empty spot is refilled from the draw piles. This means that a card that previously cost 2 sheep might only cost 1 sheep for you. The only rules change for 2p is that you discard the end card of each row at the end of a round, to keep the cards moving.
Besides building up resources to be able to take other cards, you get bonus points for having the most grapes, olives, and sheep at the end of the game. Coins have no effect during the game, but are scored as bonus points directly.
The main scoring part of the game is to get runs of cards of different colors. At the end of the game you will count along your card row. If you encounter a color that is already represented in that group, you start a new group. As you're choosing cards, you'll want to keep this in mind, but sometimes you may want to take a card anyway. There is a way to discard cards that can sometimes hurt you and sometimes help you.
Image by cubetap
The amphorae on the bottom row feed your people. That is, they tell you how many cards you can have in the feeding phase of the turn. If you have more cards than amphorae, you discard cards without amphorae until you have the same number of cards and amphorae. This is a good time to get rid of a mediocre card that is ruining a great run. I find it helpful to keep a d20 handy and track my amphorae with it. Then, when I count my cards, I can glance at the d20 and compare the numbers.
Armorica's quick play time, small price, portability, and relatively simple rules are its greatest strengths. It's an enjoyable warm-up filler for game night, or after-dinner game for a couple. There are enough choices to make it interesting, without too many for AP to really be a problem. If you're looking for a game to add to your next order to reach a free shipping threshold, keep Armorica in mind.
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Kevin Shillinglaw
Canada
Kitchener
Ontario
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Excellent review!
One question: can players arrange the cards they collect as they wish or are they set in the order they are collected?
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United States
Ithaca
New York
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You don't rearrange, because the color groupings are important, but it is possible to improve your score by strategic discarding of a card.
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Kevin Shillinglaw
Canada
Kitchener
Ontario
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Thanks very much!
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Posted Wed Mar 9, 2011 3:53 am
