The letter column of Counter 3 saw Stimmt so! being criticised for being too
expensive -- a card game for the price of a board game was the complaint
-- and there was some justice in it, even though the amount of fun that
my group has had with the game means that I am happy enough with the purchase.
However, nobody is likely to be making such complaints about this one, for
what we have here is the reverse, a 10DM card game that not only punches well
above its weight but also above that of most of its big-boxed brethren.
The concept is also one that you would more normally expect from a board game
than from a card game. Two aristocratic families, whose symbols are the eagle
and the rose, are engaged in a bitter struggle for control of a region. It is
a civil war much like the Wars of the Roses in England where the lesser powers,
of which you are one, are motivated more by personal aggrandisement than by
loyalty. They think nothing of switching sides if that suits their own plans
best. Hence the game's title, Verräter -- Traitor.
The deck consists of four sets of cards. Set one has twelve cards, two each
of six types of terrain -- woodland, meadows, cities, etc. These cards are
all double-sided, one side showing the area in possession of the eagle and one
showing it owned by the rose. At the start of the game these cards are faced
so that each house owns one of each of the six types. They are then shuffled
and dealt out in a circle, clock fashion. This circle of cards functions as
the "board", the region that the two sides are fighting over.
Set two consists of four sets of four cards, one set for each player. These
are also double sided. One is eagle on one side, rose on the other, and is
used to indicate your current loyalty. Each of the other three is used to
mark the presence of your family in one of the twelve areas being contested.
One side of the card shows a farmstead and having the card in place and this
side up brings you "supplies" in the form of the power cards that are used
to contest ownership of the areas. But they only bring such cards if they
lie in an area controlled by the side to which you belong. In a civil war
the factions do not allow the opposition to be supplied from areas that are
in their own control. The reverse of the card shows some sort of regional
administrator. Such men change sides easily and are effective no matter
which faction controls their region. They bring victory points at the end
but nothing at all while the game is in progress. The opportunities for
laying these cards and for flipping them over are limited. Doing either is
a "special action", of which you have one each turn.
Set three are the power cards -- numbered cards in the range 2-8 -- and set
four consists of six "specials" -- two diplomats, the strategist, the
builder, the farmer and the traitor. At the start of each turn these six
cards are shuffled and one is set to one side, face down. The players then
take it in turns to choose one of the other cards that has not yet been chosen
by a rival. This is done secretly and the card you have taken determines which
of the special actions you will be doing later in the turn. The strategist
collects a couple of victory points and decides where the battle will be this
turn; the farmer gives his holder some power cards; the builder gives you the
right to place or reverse one of the cards referred to in the previous
paragraph; the diplomats supply power points for the coming fight; the traitor
collects a victory point and will reverse his loyalty once the battle lines
are drawn.
Battles are fought over a couple of adjacent areas, one belonging to each
side. The winner will capture the loser's area. To fight a battle, the
players lay down power cards from their hands, the diplomats throw in their
weight, the traitor (if he is in play) is revealed and you add up. Those
who fought for the winning side collect victory points, the number collected
being dependent on the nature of the terrain and the number of players on the
winning side. This continues for 8/9 rounds and then you total the victory
points to determine the winner.
The whole thing adds up to a very classy and well thought out little game
with a "feel" which is entirely in keeping with its subject matter and
which forces you to take hard decisions every turn. The most obvious of these
is which of the available special cards to take and here you are probably
thinking "take the traitor if you can". After all, he brings in an automatic
victory point and there is a very high probability that he is going to be on
the winning side, which will garner more victory points, but as with all the
other decisions you are faced with in this game, it is not that simple. A
traitor is not a lot of use unless he has power cards to bring into play and
the only way you get those is via the farmer, the less powerful of the two
diplomats and the farm cards you have in place in areas whose loyalty matches
the one you currently have. By taking the traitor, you have cut yourself off,
for this turn at least, from the first two sources and by switching sides you
are about to lose the steady income you have been getting from this set of farm
cards. You will be weakening yourself for next turn in return for the benefits
you will be getting this. Just as in a real war of this nature, perfidy comes
with a price as well as with a reward. The truth of the matter is that all six
cards are good and all also have drawbacks. To be successful you are going to
have to pursue a mixed strategy, with each step influenced by the state of the
score and what you think your rivals are up to.
Verräter wouldn't be my choice as the best game I bought at Essen, but that
is only because there are two or three others that I rate very highly indeed. This
is still a very good game and worth a place on the short list. It was also the
best bargain of the show. 10DM for a game of this class was a steal and, even
when you have added on the mark-up that the realities of small volume imports
and retail economics bring to UK game prices, you are still looking at a snip.
The only drawback is the same one that I drew attention to when I was enthusing
about Basari and that is the number of players. This is a 4-player game that
can be played with three, but which won't be as good with the smaller number.
However, if your group often has four players and if you like political games,
this is a must purchase.