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Village
Authors: Inka & Markus Brand
Publisher: Pegasus Spiele / Eggertspiele
Year: 2011


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A refreshing idea: instead of competing with each other for the title 'who has the most prosperous village', we are peacefully  living together in the same settlement. Village is a game with a long-term view: our families have four generations to prove their value and success. And success can be found in small things. Grandpa doesn't have to be a millionaire, mayor or Nobel prize winner to be remembered in the village chronicle: was he an able craftsman, or hardworking farmer? Great! A priest in the local church? Fantastic! Or was he kind of a rebel, and did he travel to the city? Good for him! When his time has come he will be honoured in the village chronicle. But after a while habituation sets in. When the umpteenth craftsman or priest comes by nobody takes notice anymore. Did somebody die? What was his profession? Another farmer? Put him in an anonymous grave behind the church.
At the end of the game players receive points for the positions held by their living family members, and for the number of family members that made it into the village chronicle.

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On the game board, a large village is depicted. All players have their own small playing board with a farmyard and their life time track. Each player receives four playing figures number '1': the first generation. Generations 2 to 4 are waiting to be born. The board shows seven locations where different actions can be performed. Each location receives a fixed number of cubes each round, and before carrying out the corresponding action players have to take one of these cubes. When all cubes have been removed this action can no longer be performed. Generally the cubes represent resources that can be stored in the player's farm for later use. An exception are the black plague cubes: they are immediately returned to the supply, and the player has to advance two spaces on his life time track, which means that he is now two steps closer to death. In those days, the plague was usually not very good for your health, you know.

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The actions include the production of goods, travelling, harvesting grain, joining the clergy or the council chamber, getting married and having children, or selling goods on the market. The production of goods can be paid for with cubes or with time. In the latter case the player invests time to train one of his family members to learn a craft. He places a family member on the corresponding building and advances his life time marker. The next time he wants to produce the same good it costs him less time because his family member has mastered the trade.

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The player that opens the market may sell his goods to any of the five customers waiting in line. The customer tiles show what the customers want and how many points they are willing to pay for it. Subsequently all other players may also sell goods to the remaining customers, but they have to pay a green cube and advance their life time marker.




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Harvesting grain is the easiest action: just take two bags of grain and place them on the farm. If you possess a plough and a horse or ox, you may even take three or four bags.
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The travelling action involves placing a family member on the travel map on the board, or moving one that has been placed previously. The travelling costs are shown on the roads, usually a wagon, two 'time' and three cubes. In the destination cities bonuses can be obtained, and at the end of the game points are awarded for the number of cities visited.

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The council chamber may be entered upon payment of time, a scroll or green cubes. On his next visit the family member can get promoted to the next position, which scores more points at the end of the game and gives access to nicer bonuses during the game. The action 'wedding' is actually already a bit beyond 'wedding', and allows a player to take a new family member from the supply and place it on his farm. Last but not least the church: after paying time or a cube a family member can be thrown in a bag. Later in the game this family member enters the church as a priest, which can yield victory points during and at the end of the game.
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The round is over as soon as all cubes have been taken. This means that all the plague cubes also have to be taken! It is possible that a player can only choose between actions that he can not, or doesn't want to perform. It is allowed to take the cube without performing the action, but there is an alternative! He can decide to perform any action without taking a cube by paying three identical cubes. If he can't afford that, he just has to take a (plague) cube at any location without performing an action.

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At the end of the round a mass is said. The bag with family members destined for the church is supplemented with the four black priest figures. Then, four random figures are drawn from the bag and placed in church. The figures that have not been drawn remain in the bag for the following round(s). But we are allowed to influence 'fate' a bit: all players get the opportunity to pay one coin and take one of their family members from the bag directly. When realizing that we are talking about (young) family members in a confined space with four priests, one will understand that one usually doesn't hesitate to draw their wallet!

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Subsequently all family members currently in church may advance to the more valuable positions at the expense of bags of grain. Each round the player with the most family members in church is awarded 2 points.
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After the mass, new cubes are placed on the board and the next round begins. Many of the actions cost time, and every time a player's life time marker passes the bridge depicted on his track, the time of one of his family members is up. He has to select one family member of his oldest generation, so the lowest number, to meet his maker. Where he will be buried depends on his profession: each location on the board has a corresponding entry in the village chronicle with two to five spaces. A craftsman (yellow building) that passes away is placed in one of the yellow entries in the chronicle, and a farmer (purple building) to one of the purple entries.

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If no free entries are available, the family member has to go to the anonymous graves behind the church. The game ends when either the chronicle, or the anonymous graves, have been completely filled. The players receive points for their customer tiles, their relatives in the church, the travel map and the council chamber, and in the chronicle. The player with the most points wins the game.
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The generation of offspring is not an uncommon phenomenon in board game country, in almost every game where it fits the theme heavy reproduction is going on. Also death is never frowned upon, in a more abstract form it happens already in a classic like Risk. What makes Village different in this aspect is that our family members don't die because of an unsuccessful attack on a nasty Orc, or because they happened to be in the library with Colonel Mustard and a candle stick at the wrong time, but simply because it is their time. Or no, not even their time: as a player you are allowed to choose whose time it is! This feels a bit like playing God. 'Today it will be... YOU! Simply because I can.'





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And we tend to rush death if this is to our advantage: family members in anonymous graves are of no value, so players will always try to let someone die who will be remembered in the village chronicle. This means that it can be worthwhile to deliberately spend more time than strictly necessary, leading to the death of a family member that can occupy the last available space in a specific category before an opposing family member takes his last breath and beats you to it. Some people might find this macabre, but this is definitely not how it feels. Village is a light-hearted, cheerful and colourfully illustrated game full with interesting choices.


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For example, it is not wise to send family members of an early generation to a location that scores points at the end of the game, since chances are that this generation will not be alive anymore at that time. On the other hand, to be able to be well represented in the chronicle, it is advantageous to have some older family members in various locations; when somebody has to die, you have several locations to choose from. The younger generations can then remain in the council chamber or church to reach the highest positions.

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Representation in the chronicle yields a maximum of 12 points, while 18 points can be earned on the travel map, and customer tiles obtained from the market score 3 to 6 points each. The chronicle is definitely not the only road to victory! But travelling and selling goods on the market take some investment, while dying only takes some time...

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Village is a well-developed game. It has smooth gameplay, there is ample opportunity for good old-fashioned player interaction, and it plays in less than 90 minutes. And this death-thing: don't take it too seriously. The next time you play the game, they are all alive and kicking again!
© 2012 Barbara van Vugt




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Village, Inka & Markus Brand, Pegasus Spiele / Eggertspiele, 2011 - 2 to 4 players, 12 years and up, 60-90 minutes


Best game of the Brands so far; the illustrator however has difficulty choosing his vanishing points correctly
Nice and interactive game with various ways to victory
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