Designer: Stefan Feld
King Arthur is dead! And you are one of the ambitious sycophants vying to replace him as king! This game is one of Stefan Feld’s latest games, and also happens to be one of his more accessible! Players will roll dice, and use the die rolls to move to action spaces, which can be used to buttress their defenses, gather resources, curry favor with local lords and other actions.
Interesting Mechanic: The Round Table. At the start of each round, each player will roll four die – one white die and three dice in their color. On each turn, players will choose one of those die. The colored die can only be used to move their knight clockwise, whereas the white die can be used to move Merlin in either direction. Which order you choose to use the dice is crucial, and in the case of Merlin, you may want to wait to activate him until someone else has put him in a more interesting location for your plans.
Merlin is new in 2017, but I loved it. It was controversial at the games con I played it at – some players felt that it was too random. That being said, the game comes equipped with the tools necessary to mitigate the randomness (specifically with apples and banners, which can help manipulate the dice or their results). Still, it’s a beautiful game and should be pleasing to anyone who likes Eurogames with a hint of randomness.
(Photo Credit: Board Game Geek)
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