Players: 2-4
Time: 45-90 minutes
Difficulty: 4 (of 10)
This is a review of the German edition of the game, since that's the only one available. The German language angst level is pretty low, and discussed more below.
The Components
As with most Adlung Spiele games, this one consists of a tuck box containing 66 cards. They're all medium-weight glossy cards, printed full color on the fronts and black and white on the backs (which is fine because you're seeing the fronts of the cards most of the time). The full-color art on the cards is by Alexander Jung. It's all period appropriate and looks pretty nice, especially the landscapes, some of which are outstanding.
There are a number of different types of cards in the game, including: 4 knight cards; 4 tent cards; 8 location cards; 16 action cards; 14 task cards; 18 virtue cards; and 2 summary cards.
Knight Cards: These show the four player knights, Lancelot, Galahad, Gawain, and Percival. Unfortunately they all just use the same piece of artwork, colored differently, so yuo don't get any feel for the characters. (Theming, as I'll discuss later, is a problem in this game.)
Tent Cards: Four colored tents, labeled 1-4. They mark turn order.
Location Cards: Beautifully drawn cards, each of which has a full-size depiction of a location with a name.
Action Cards: Each turn you get to do three actions, marked by which action cards you take. Each one, beside the art and name, features a border which shows where it can be played and iconography that shows exactly what it can do. These are well done and easy to use.
Task Cards: In many ways these cards tie together the whole game, and they do so well. Each one depicts: an image of a location (unfortunately, a bit small; it sometimes takes some work to connect them up to the location), a list of required virtues; and a list of shields that you earn in return.
Virtue Cards: Each of these depicts a value of "1" or "2" in the four virtues (strength, skill, courage, and wisdom; but they're more easily recognized by the iconographic symbols used throughout: swords, lances, dragons, and books. There were some minor utility problems with these cards: it was hard to distinguish between the "1" and "2" value cards from across the table; and some players made mistakes differentiating the swords and lances because they looked similar when shrunk down.
Summary Cards: Very helpful cards which show the layout of the table on the front and had info on all the card types on the back. I thought the cards were generally easy enough to use that the latter wasn't necessary, but the table diagram was invaluable.
Arthurian Mythology: I've been reviewing Arthurian games lately, and am trying to rate how well each one reflects the mythology of King Arthur. Unfortunately Im Auftrag des Konigs does a poor job here. You have quests (tasks) and tournaments, and that feels a bit Arthurian, but that's about as far as the Arthurian theming goes. Beyond that it's a mishmash of the Middle Ages (e.g., the "hold court" action) and high fantasy . The quests, for example, include white unicorns, fire dragons, dwarves, and evil wizards. You might find some of that in some Arthurian stories, but it's really not the center of the myths. Even the named player knights are totally generic, without any attempt to differentiate them even with appropriate heraldry. As an Arthurian game Im Auftrag des Konigs is ultimately largely lacking.
Whenever I review aa German game I try to rate the "German language angst level", e.g., how how hard is it for an English speaker to play this edition of the game? Here the angst level is purely aesthetic, but in that area is notable. The action, task, and location cards are all exclusively in German. This doesn't matter for usability because the iconography is very good. However it means that you miss out on some of the color of the game, since you don't know the location names, nor what the tasks are (though there's a listing in the rules). The rulebook and the summary cards each include English translations.
Overall, Im Auftrag des Konigs has high-quality cards that are pretty and have good usability. However, the theming is ultimately disappinting and the game doesn't rise above the "pretty" level. It earns an above average "4" out of "5" for Style.
The Gameplay
The object of Im Auftrag des Konig is to obtain fame through tournaments, quests, and holding court.
Setup: Many call Adlung Spiele's most complex games "card-games-that-play-like-board-games". You can usually see why when you set them up, because you actually form fairly complex board-game-like setups.
You set up this one by first laying out a circle of location cards. One of them is Camelot. You'll put it and 7 others out.
You then lay out all 16 action cards (4x Exercise, 2x Arthur's Round Table, 2x Tournament, 2x Court, 2x Quest, and 4x Horse) near the locations.
The 18 virtue cards each match up to 1 of the 4 exercise cards, and are laid near them. A few of them are shuffled, and each player gets one to start with.
The task cards are shuffled and three are flipped face-up and put in the middle of the circle of location cards.
Each player chooses a knight, who is placed at Camelot. The tent cards are also shuffled, and each player gets one, showing his initial turn order.
Setup is slightly different for fewer players, e.g., there are less action cards.
Order of Play: Each round of play consists of the following broad phases which all players take part in together:
- Choose Action Cards
- Carry Out Actions
- Carry Out Tournaments
- Reassign Tents
Choose Action Cards: Starting with the first tent (and going in order of tents) each player takes three action cards, one at a time. These define what a player can do during his turn, and so a lot of care has to be taken in selecting them. If you're not careful you can end up with action cards that are useless (most frequently because you can't get to the right place to use them).
Carry Out Actions: Once more going in tent order, each player now undertakes all of his actions.
Some of the actions can only be done in Camelot:
Exercise. This lets a player select a virtue card of the same type as their exercise cards (strength, skill, courage, or wisdom; there's one of each exercise cards and three or four of each virtue card), if one is available (and near the end of the game, they might not be).
King Arthur's Round Table. This lets a player select a task card from the middle of the table. Each task card lists a location which you must be at to undertake it and a set of virtue card values that you need to accomplish the task.
Some actions can only be done in the Countryside (that's the other 7 Location cards):
Court. If you expend a wisdom card, you earn 2 Victory Points (VPs, or shields as they're depicted in the game).
Quests. You use this to complete a task. You must be at the appropriate location, have the task card, and play the appropriate virtues. You then earn 2-5 VPs.
And finally there's one action card that can be played at either location:
Horses. There are four of these, with values 2, 3, 3, and 4. When you play one you can move up to that number of locations, counted either way around the circle.
Carry Out Tournaments: Now anyone who took the Tourney action card (there are two) and ended their turn in Camelot carries out a tournament. Each player puts a number of skill and strength cards face-down, then both players reveal them simultaneously. The winner gets 2 VPs.
Reassign Tents: Finally, the tents are reassigned for the next round; whoever has the most VPs gets the lowest numbered tent, the next most the second lowest, etc. This is a pretty big deal because going last can make it really hard to get the action card that you really want.
Winning the Game: The game ends when someone exceeds 15 VPs (or more for fewer players). Whoever has the most VPs at the end of that round of play wins.
Relationships to Other Games
Im Auftrag des Konigs is what is often called a "card-game-that-plays-like-a-board-game". The term is usually used to refer to Adlung Spiele's most complex games. Other popular ones include Verrater, Meuterer, and Die Fugger.
In these games you tend to form a circular landscape out of cards, then use the rest of the deck for a variety of other functions. They tend to be a bit intimidating, fairly complex, quite dry, and quite original. If you like any in the series, you'll probably like the rest, and if you don't you probably won't.
Im Auftrag des Konigs is also an Arthurian card game, one of many. It's one of the better designed in the genre, but also one of the less Arthurianly thematic, as I discussed above.
The Game Design
This is the third of the complex Adlung Spiele that I've played and reviewed, and I've slowly come to the conclusion that the games aren't for me. Maybe I like having a board too much. Maybe I need my games to be less dry; I'm not sure. That personal factor tinges this review.
With that said, I think Im Auftrag des Konigs is quite a clever design. There's a lot of tactical planning in figuring out what set of actions you want to manage, and it's made more intense by very real rarities. Other games that I've seen which deal with action rarity in similar manners (most notably In the Shadow of the Emperor, but to a lesser extent Puerto Rico) tend to be very interesting; this one matches that mold, while still feeling innovative as well. There's real hard choices in the action card selection, and a definite "doh!" factor when someone grabs a card you want.
Beyond that the resource management is well designed, as you're always trying to balance limited resources with time. All of these elements add up to an interesting game.
On the downside: it's a bit repetitive without a lot of variability, and ultimately I find it dry.
Nonetheless, it's overall a fine design, and I've given it a "4" out of "5" for Substance as a result.
Conclusion
Adlung Spiele has been much lauded for their most complex games, among them Verrater and Die Fugger. Im Auftrag des Konigs follows in the footsteps of the best of this category. It's a complex card game with tough decisions and real tactical play. I've generally found these games to be a bit too dry and too analytic, but I'll still acknowledge that this is a superior design which will be of interest to anyone who has liked the best of the series.
But don't expect it to be a particularly Arthurian-themed game.
