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Alea Analysis #19: Notre Dame (Large Box #11)
I'll again say that I don't understand how Stefan Feld has controlled the Alea large box line since Rum & Pirates. However, Notre Dame is definitely one of my favorites in the line, so I can't complain. And perhaps the secret is in the fact that Feld continues to design games which feel very different from one another.
Notre Dame is a card and resource management game. Each player has a number of buildings which allow him to do various things, such as earn gold, victory points, cubes, keep the rat population down, etc. A player preps for each round of play by drafting three cards which let him utilize the various buildings, then uses two of them. When a card is played, a cube is added to the building and the player then takes its effect. Most buildings have powers that increase triangularly, e.g.: 1 gold, 2 gold, 3 gold, etc.
I'll also argue that Notre Dame is a worker placement game with some twists, namely:
The other big innovation of Notre Dame is, of course, the rats. Notre Dame was one of the earlier games that was heavily based upon tight, negative economics, where you were always just one step ahead of total failure. (Perhaps following on the heels of Age of Steam.) I think that In the Year of the Dragon, Feld's next game, continues the trend. (And we've since seen it in Agricola, La Havre, and others as well, of course.)
Since its release, Notre Dame has been one of my favorite Alea games. It plays quickly and simultaneously gives you a lot of actions over the course of the game. In addition, it not only supports a lot of paths to victory but in fact encourages specialization thanks to its triangular power rankings. (I do offer have suspicions that some paths are better than others; I, for example, usually try and hit the VP generator hard, while getting just enough from other buildings to scrape by.)
I also find Notre Dame to do quite well in how it manages luck. There is definite luck in which cards you draw and thus which actions you can take. However, Notre Dame offsets it in two ways. First, you're drafting cards, so you can always try and work toward what you actually want. Second, you're guaranteed to see all 9 of your cards every 3 turns. You don't get to use them all, because of the draft, but you do get to choose whether each one is important to you.
L1: Ra. A+. (Plays: 15) [ Read my Review ]
L2: Chinatown. B-. (Plays: 1)
L3: Taj Mahal. A+. (Plays: 7)
L4: Princes of Florence. A. (Plays: 4+) [ Read my Review ]
L5: Adel Verpflichtet. B. (Plays: 2) [ Read my Review ]
L6: Traders of Genoa. A+. (Plays: 3+) [ Read my Review ]
S1: Wyatt Earp. B+ (Plays: 2)
S2: Royal Turf. A- (Plays: 6)
L7: Puerto Rico. A+ (Plays: 11) [ Read my Review ]
S3: Die Sieben Weisen. C (Plays: 1)
S4: Edel, Stein & Reich. B- (Plays: 1) [ Read my Basari Review ]
L8: Mammoth Hunters. B+ (Plays: 5) [ Read my Review. ]
S5: San Juan. A+ (Plays: 32) [ Read my Review; plus Glory to Rome review. ]
L9: Fifth Avenue. C- (Plays: 3+)
M1: Louis XIV. B+ (Plays: 7) [ Read my Review ]
M2: Palazzo. B- (Plays: 6)
L10: Rum & Pirates. B (Plays: 3)
M3: Augsburg 1520. B+ (Plays: 2)
L11: Notre Dame. A (Plays: 6)
Notre Dame is a card and resource management game. Each player has a number of buildings which allow him to do various things, such as earn gold, victory points, cubes, keep the rat population down, etc. A player preps for each round of play by drafting three cards which let him utilize the various buildings, then uses two of them. When a card is played, a cube is added to the building and the player then takes its effect. Most buildings have powers that increase triangularly, e.g.: 1 gold, 2 gold, 3 gold, etc.
I'll also argue that Notre Dame is a worker placement game with some twists, namely:
- Where you can place workers is determined by cards acquired through a card draft.
- Workers remain placed on buildings, and the more you add, the more utility you get out of each building.
The other big innovation of Notre Dame is, of course, the rats. Notre Dame was one of the earlier games that was heavily based upon tight, negative economics, where you were always just one step ahead of total failure. (Perhaps following on the heels of Age of Steam.) I think that In the Year of the Dragon, Feld's next game, continues the trend. (And we've since seen it in Agricola, La Havre, and others as well, of course.)
Since its release, Notre Dame has been one of my favorite Alea games. It plays quickly and simultaneously gives you a lot of actions over the course of the game. In addition, it not only supports a lot of paths to victory but in fact encourages specialization thanks to its triangular power rankings. (I do offer have suspicions that some paths are better than others; I, for example, usually try and hit the VP generator hard, while getting just enough from other buildings to scrape by.)
I also find Notre Dame to do quite well in how it manages luck. There is definite luck in which cards you draw and thus which actions you can take. However, Notre Dame offsets it in two ways. First, you're drafting cards, so you can always try and work toward what you actually want. Second, you're guaranteed to see all 9 of your cards every 3 turns. You don't get to use them all, because of the draft, but you do get to choose whether each one is important to you.
L1: Ra. A+. (Plays: 15) [ Read my Review ]
L2: Chinatown. B-. (Plays: 1)
L3: Taj Mahal. A+. (Plays: 7)
L4: Princes of Florence. A. (Plays: 4+) [ Read my Review ]
L5: Adel Verpflichtet. B. (Plays: 2) [ Read my Review ]
L6: Traders of Genoa. A+. (Plays: 3+) [ Read my Review ]
S1: Wyatt Earp. B+ (Plays: 2)
S2: Royal Turf. A- (Plays: 6)
L7: Puerto Rico. A+ (Plays: 11) [ Read my Review ]
S3: Die Sieben Weisen. C (Plays: 1)
S4: Edel, Stein & Reich. B- (Plays: 1) [ Read my Basari Review ]
L8: Mammoth Hunters. B+ (Plays: 5) [ Read my Review. ]
S5: San Juan. A+ (Plays: 32) [ Read my Review; plus Glory to Rome review. ]
L9: Fifth Avenue. C- (Plays: 3+)
M1: Louis XIV. B+ (Plays: 7) [ Read my Review ]
M2: Palazzo. B- (Plays: 6)
L10: Rum & Pirates. B (Plays: 3)
M3: Augsburg 1520. B+ (Plays: 2)
L11: Notre Dame. A (Plays: 6)