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Main Catalogue | Board Games & Card Games | Ystari Games | Sylla

Sylla

Price: £29.99

Board Game; 3-4 Players; Ages 12+ by Ystarti Try to get yourself instated as the premier Consul of Rome, but be careful: no one player can win without aid from the other players. This is a game of give and take. GAME REVIEW BY COUNTER MAGAZINE Ystari / Rio Grande 3-4 players, 60-90 minutes designed by Dominique Ehrhard reviewed by Greg Schloesser Some things never change. When a leader vacates office - either voluntarily or by force - there often ensues a power struggle to claim the proverbial throne. This has been true throughout history, and perhaps was never more prevalent than during the Roman era. This theme is so rich that is has been the inspiration for countless novels, movies, and even board games. The latest to adopt this struggle-for-power theme is Sylla from designer Dominique Ehrhard and Ystari Games. Sylla was considered the unquestioned leader of Rome in the century prior to the birth of Christ. The game tells the story of Sylla\'s impending abdication, and the resulting power struggle to assume control. Players represent Senators vying for power, but having to deal with a bevy of natural disasters and demands of the people. The player best utilizing their power and finances to deal with these problems and satisfy the people will rise to the throne. The ultimate objective in Sylla is to acquire status points, which are earned in numerous fashions. The main methods to earn status are: 1) Acquiring Res Publica tokens, of which there are three types, and then manipulating the value of these tokens to your favor. 2) Participating in the construction of the Great Works, or contributing funds to the Plebeians. 3) Having Christian characters under your influence when Rome converts to Christianity at game\'s end. 4) Freeing one\'s slaves at game\'s end. 5) Acquiring certain buildings that grant status. Sylla is played over the course of five turns, with each turn being divided into seven phases. The board does a fantastic job of graphically depicting these phases and the actions that occur within each one. Indeed, after a turn or two, there was virtually no need to return to the rules, as the board made everything very clear. The remaining components of cards, tiles and tokens are also quite functional and attractive. Players each begin the game with four characters in their employ, the mix of which is entirely at the discretion of each player. Excess characters are returned to a common stack, and will become available during the course of the game. There are six types of characters - merchants, legions, senators, vestal virgins, and slaves - and each can either be used to help purchase buildings, or be used during a specific phase of a turn. For example, senators can be used to purchase buildings of the indicated colors, or each can contribute one vote towards electing the First Consul in phase one, or contribute to the building of a Great Works in phase six. If a player uses a character in one phase, it is unavailable for future phases that turn. Deciding when to use a character is one of the toughest choices in the game. Each turn, players will participate in seven phases: 1) First Consul: This is a valuable position to hold, as it allows the player to take a free Res Publica token, select the first character during the Recruitment phase, and break ties as he sees fit during the Events phase. Players use senatorial votes and money to elect the First Consul in a once-around bidding format. Also during this phase the famine level increases based on the current event cards on display. Wise players will prepare for famine by acquiring wheat fields, but those fields are sorely limited. 2) Recruitment: Players each select one new character from the six on display. There is no financial cost to acquire new characters. Deciding which one to choose each round will largely dictate one\'s strategy. 3) Buildings: Players will purchase a total of five buildings during this phase. Buildings are aligned at the bottom of the board, with two in each of three colors. Players acquire these buildings via once-around auctions, and must use the characters under their influence as the ``currency\'\' in the bidding. Each character depicts 1-3 icons matching 1-3 of the colors of the buildings. When a player uses a character to acquire a building, it is tilted and no longer available for the remainder of the turn. Choosing when to use a character is always very tough. Buildings will grant a variety of powers. Stalls give additional income, while wheat fields prevent or reduce the effects of famine. Other buildings grant status points, money, Res Publica tokens, greater flexibility in acquiring new buildings, and other powers. Players can attempt to target the buildings to further the strategy they are pursuing. 4) Revenue: Players each earn a minimum of three deniers per turn. Additional deniers are earned for possessing merchants and stalls. Money is essential when constructing the Great Works and electing the First Consul. 5) Events: This is a very interesting and creative phase. Four events are always potentially active. In this phase, players will place cubes on these events, attempting to earn the rewards the events grant, but also choosing which two events will occur and which one will be removed from the game. This phase is probably the most complicated in the game, but in truth, it really isn\'t all that difficult. For each un-tilted Vestal Virgin and Legion in a player\'s employ, he may place one cube onto the event cards. Each event card artistically and graphically depicts the horrors that will befall Rome if the event occurs. In addition, it depicts the reward given to the player who works the hardest to prevent the disaster by placing the most cubes upon that card. Further, each card depicts a virgin and/or legion symbol. This dictates which character can place a cube upon it. For example, if a player only possesses un-tilted virgins, he can only place their cubes on events that depict the virgin icon. Players take turns placing cubes until all have been placed. Then, each card is examined to determine which player has the most cubes on it, with that player receiving the indicated reward. Ties are friendly, with all tied players receiving the reward. The reward is usually a particular Res Publica token, but in the case of the Decadence event, which is present every turn and cannot be discarded, the reward is a status point. The value of these Res Publica tokens can be substantial at game\'s end, so the wise player will concentrate on securing as many as possible. Next, the two events that have the most cubes on them do not occur, with the one with the most cubes overall being discarded from the game. The remaining two events do occur, with the indicated consequences. These can include the reduction in value of the specified Res Publica token, the loss of the indicated character, the flooding of a building, or other nasty occurrences. Some events are more severe than others, and players will often work in concert to prevent these from occurring. Sometimes, however, players have competing interests, so the struggle to determine which events will occur and which events will be prevented can get quite competitive. 6) Great Works: Each turn, a new great work will be constructed. Each of these events list criteria for contributing to its construction and the rewards for doing so. Many require players to contribute a specified amount of deniers and or votes, while others require a player to contribute the most or second-most deniers and/or votes. Votes come from un-tilted Senators, so it can be wise to save some of your Senators for this phase. All of this is handled in a closed-fist manner, with amounts being revealed simultaneously. Success is rewarded with status points, which can be as high as ten, a substantial number. Further rewards are often granted if players in concert contribute a specified amount. Throughout the course of the game, a considerable number of status points are earned via the construction of these Great Works, so players must earn their fair share in order to remain competitive. As an alternative, a player can contribute money to the Plebeians, which yields one status point for every two deniers contributed. 7) Famine and Crisis: Each player must successfully feed their people. Whatever the level of the current famine marker, a player must be able to offset this with wheat fields. Each field offsets two levels of famine. Any shortfall is paid in lost status points. Ouch! If any Res Publica token has fallen to the bottom level, a crisis occurs. Players must reveal all of their tokens of the one in question. The player who has the most of these tokens is considered to have not been responsible for the debacle, and is rewarded with three status points. The player who has the least, however, becomes the scapegoat, and loses three status points. It can sometimes be wise to cause a crisis if it will harm an opponent, or perhaps reward you. At the end of the fifth turn, a sixth and final great work occurs: Ecclesia. Rome converts to Christianity, and every Christian character in a player\'s employ is worth two status points. Further, each player may pay two deniers per slave to free them, earning three status points per slave freed. One would think it wise to grab as many Christians and slaves as possible during the game, but the danger is the looming threat of slave revolts and Christian persecution, which may render one or more of these characters worthless. After adding these points to one\'s status total, the value of the players\' Res Publica tokens are calculated and added. These values can range from 1 to 4 per token, which can dramatically alter a player\'s tally. The player with the greatest overall total in status emerges as Rome\'s new leader, and achieves victory in the game. Sylla offers an abundance of what I enjoy in strategy games. There are decisions to be made in droves, and making one decision often means sacrificing potential gains in another area. This makes the decisions tough, and sometimes agonizing. It also has that ``spinning plates on poles\'\' feel, where you are frantically trying to manage a variety of tasks and aspects at once, with an ever-present danger of one or more collapsing to the floor. Further, there are a wide variety of viable strategies to pursue, with dozens of different building and character combinations possible. There are many games wherein cards can be used for a variety of possible actions, and players must choose how best to use each one. I am a big fan of this mechanism, and it is used to great effect here. A character can generally be used to help purchase buildings or render their special power in a specific phase. Using a card in one manner eliminates the possibility of using it in any other fashion that turn, which is a costly sacrifice. It can be gut-wrenching deciding when to use the various characters. And, of course, there are still the buildings, events, Great Works, Res Publica tokens and other factors to consider! Ystari has developed quite a reputation for publishing deeper strategy games. Personally, I have enjoyed every one of their games, and most of them rate very highly with me. Sylla has not been an exception, and is destined to take a spot amongst the top Ystari games to date.

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Main Catalogue | Board Games & Card Games | Ystari Games | Sylla

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