Review of Res Arcana

Blurb from the publisher: 'In a high tower, an Alchemist prepares potions, using vials filled with otherworldly fluids. In a sacred grove, a Druid grinds herbs for a mystical ritual. In the catacombs, a Necromancer summons a bone dragon... Welcome to the world of Res Arcana!

In Res Arcana, each player is a mage, vying for power against their rivals. Each player has a personal deck of just 8 Artifacts to work with. Can you use them efficiently to claim monuments and places of power before your rivals seize them?'

What you get: Your EUR 30 or equivalent will buy you Res Arcana, an asymmetrical engine-and combo-building card game that can accommodate 2 to 4 players in around one hour.

In addition to the 12-page rulebook that can be found on the internet free of charge, the game also contains the following: 40 Artifact cards, 10 Mage cards, 10 Monument cards, 5 Places of Power, 8 Magic Items, one First Player token, 12 Essence chips, 4 Reference cards, and one Summary tile.

Gameplay: Each player begins with one of each essence of the five on offer, one random mage, 3 random artefacts in hand (another five in their deck) and one magic item. Each mage works differently. Some have an automatic collect function as well as an ability. Others have an ability only. Idem for the items and the artefacts. A small number of artefacts provide victory points, these however can be more abundantly found in the Places of Power and the Monuments. Places of Power have abilities; Monuments do not.

A game lasts from 4 to 6 rounds. First, players collect essences through their actions, as well as take essences from components (i.e. artifacts, mages, magic items, monuments or places of power). Then, each player takes one action or passes. If he passes, he cannot take an action again in this same step; the turn has to end first. When all players pass, the step is over. There are five types of actions: place an artefact from your hand in front of you, claim a monument or a place of power from the centre and place it in front of you, discard an artefact from your hand to claim one gold or any other two essences, or use a power on one of your components. To do any of the first two, one needs to pay the cost. The cost may be generic (any essence), specific, or a combination of the two.

Using a power is an equation: the player pays the first part for the second part to happen. That mostly involves turning cards sideways and burning through essence in order to gain other types of essence elsewhere, attack rivals, draw cards, or gain victory points. Some cards also have reactive powers.

The game ends when at least one player crosses the 10-point threshold. The player with the most points wins. Ties are resolved by the number of essences in each player's essence pool.

The game includes an artefact draft variant and match play for two players.

The strong points: Get component X, exchange it to Y, exchange it to Z (or victory points), win the game. That's in one sentence the concept behind Arcana Res. It is not a new concept, yet it works well. What Res Arcana offers is a small and concise deck that you know well in advance (at least if you are a bit knowledgeable with the game). Depending on how much of a veteran you become, and how well you know all the cards, the drafting variant will add a few more levels of strategy. In any event the eight cards is what you get. Use them efficiently, create synergies and win the game.

Those that like the mechanics will be positively surprised by the large amount of combos that a deck of that size can provide. There are many tactics to follow, something that guarantees the game's endurance. Each mage works differently. Even though all goals are open for everybody to claim, it is statistically most likely that certain mages will claim certain Places of Power first. Planning and efficient implementation are an absolute necessity. Do not approach a two player game the same way you would a four player one. The first might afford you the luxury of changing strategy mid-way; the second forces you to have particular VP cards in sight if you wish to pass the 10 point threshold in time. Even though this is not a take-that experience, expect some interference from other players and their attack cards.

There are many design choices that I enjoyed like the importance of passing (it literally can win you the game, seeing how holding on to the first player token grants one temporary victory point), the extremely refined, direct, and forward-looking nature of the efficiency engine, as well as the simplicity of a player's turn. You have only one action; make it count. The side-effect of that is that there is practically no down time, even though the slower players amongst us might take a bit more than what is acceptable to think things through. I am not however suggesting that this is an AP, brain-burner game, even though it tilts towards that part of the spectrum.

The component quality is good. It is nice to see wooden components in rather original shapes. The same goes for the artwork. It comes as too shiny for my likes, as if addressed to the gamer that feels more comfortable around games with artwork not dissimilar to that of Ticket to Ride Europe, this is however subjective. I might be reading too much into it, yet I am under the impression that the Mages are based on real people. The owl and ancient Greek/ancient Roman-like garments of the Transmuter made me immediately think of Cleopatra the Alchemist (not to be confused with Queen Cleopatra, even though that is a mistake even historical sources make). The pictographs are acceptable; some could have been clearer.

Sand Castle Games, a company that doesn't even have a website yet, receives a standing ovation for producing a game that has a tray that is both practically as well as thematically custom built. The pentagon-shaped movable tray is an excellent idea, as is the fact that is has a (rather tight) lid. There is enough space to sleeve your cards, and keep all other components. A bit of research before writing this review revealed that the tray's shape has already taken potential expansions into account, should they come to life. Wow. Are established publishers listening, or should I start naming and shaming?

The weak points: Like most games of this type, you are unlikely to pay attention to what your opponents are doing, even though you are competing for the same goals. The game would have degraded to a fully fledged multiplayer solitaire like the otherwise excellent Agricola if it weren't for the negative interaction and attacks. These however fall more on the distraction category; they are unlikely to stop a player from executing his tactics.

The scope of the cards is restricted by the game's nature, lest it unbalanced everything. Cards do similar things, which are mostly centered around creating or transmuting stuff. If you have already explored this mechanic in depth, you might feel as if you have played a variant form of this game before. This is in fact the game's weakest point: it is a solid, yet it doesn't excite. Is someone more likely to enjoy it if he has never played an engine-making game before, or if he knows a lot about the genre and can appreciate the design choices and the finely-tuned mechanics? That is not for me to answer.

Conclusion: Forget the hick-ups that sometimes accompany a company's first release. Res Arcana will find its place in the market by refreshing the well-used deck building mechanic by limiting, instead of expanding, its scope. Whether this is for you or not depends on the exposure you had to these mechanics and whether you wish to explore more of them.

To find out more about Res Arcana and Sand Castle Games, and seeing how the company doesn't appear to have a website yet, take a look at their facebook page.

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