Trajan

(1 customer review)

£48.95 inc. VAT

Out of stock

SKU: RGS00853 Category: Designer(s): Publisher:

Description

Set in ancient Rome, the Trajan board game (designed by Stefan Feld) is a development game in which players try to increase their influence and power in various areas of Roman life such as political influence, trading, military dominion and other important parts of Roman culture.

The central mechanism of the game uses a system similar to that in Mancala or pit-and-pebbles games. In Trajan, a player has six possible actions: building, trading, taking tiles from the forum, using the military, influencing the Senate, and placing Trajan tiles on his tableau.

At the start of the Trajan board game, each player has two differently colored pieces in each of the six sections (bowls) of his tableau. On a turn, the player picks up all the pieces in one bowl and distributes them one-by-one in bowls in clockwise order. Wherever the final piece is placed, the player takes the action associated with that bowl; in addition, if the colored pieces in that bowl match the colors shown on a Trajan tile next to the bowl (with tiles being placed at the start of the game and through later actions), then the player takes the additional action shown on that tile.

What are you trying to do with these actions? Acquire victory points (VPs) in whatever ways are available to you – and since this is a Feld design, you try to avoid being punished, too. At the Forum you try to anticipate the demands of the public so that you can supply them what they want and not suffer a penalty. In the Senate you acquire influence which translates into votes on VP-related laws, ideally snagging a law that fits your long-term plans. With the military, you take control of regions in Europe, earning more points for those regions far from Rome.

All game components are language-neutral, and the playing time is 30 minutes per player.

Game Details
NameTrajan (2011)
ComplexityMedium Heavy [3.64]
BGG Rank117 [7.75]
Player Count2-4

Videos

1 review for Trajan

  1. Kevin Mc Gowan

    Please note this review is based on the first edition of this game – from what I am aware there is little or no change.
    This is one of Stefan Feld’s best games and should be part of any gamers collection, I would give it 6 stars if I could. The central mechanism is 6 bowls in a circle and on a turn you take the the various coloured tokens in one bowl and deliver one at a time clockwise to the other bowls then take the action of the last bowl you dropped a token into, one of those actions is to take a Trajan tile which is placed next to one of your bowls and should the colour of the tokens in the bowl you last dropped into match that of the Trajan tile at that bowl you get its bonus, so the game is about getting the best from the 6 action spaces (bowls) whilst also manipulating your tokens to match the Trajan tiles at the bowls. This is a beautifully balanced game with lots going on and plenty of pre-planning required, layer on this the flexibility to pursue different routes to victory whilst trying to undermine your opponents you have a great game. (Reminder this is based on first edition game).

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