Verräter

[Brel]

Verräter

From:Adlung Spiele
Players: 3-4
Playing Time: 45-60 minutes


Description:

This board game masquerading as a card game is about a conflict between two factions, the Rose and the Eagle. In each turn, players attempt to change the allegiance of one land district, contributing power cards to swing the conflict in their favor. Players also choose roles such as Diplomat, Traitor, and Builder that give them special abilities for that turn. The most potentially devastating role is that of the Verräter, or Traitor, which allows the player to change allegiances just as the conflict begins. Points are awarded for winning over districts, for taking certain roles, and for building counting-houses.

Review:

By Peter Sarrett

Verräter is an example of a good thing coming in a small package. It might look like a pack of cards, but don’t be fooled-- this is no card game. This is a board game that happens to be played with cards. It might just as easily have been given a board and cardboard tiles. Instead we get all the same play value at a fraction of the cost.

This four-player game is a land struggle between the Eagle and Rose factions, each of which starts with an identical set of six land holdings valued from one to ten. These land cards are shuffled and dealt into a circle, creating a variety of potential border conflicts between the two factions. Each player establishes a supply depot at a different land and receives an initial hand of three supply cards valued 2-8. Initially, players sitting opposite each other are partners in the same faction. But that will change.

Each round of the game follows the same basic outline. The current Strategist (more on that later) picks the location of that round’s conflict, which can be any two adjacent lands belonging to different factions. A card sandwiched between two lands of its own faction is thus safe from conflict unless one of its neighbors gets captured by the opposition. With the border conflict chosen, the rest of the round is about each faction trying to take over the other’s land card, thus earning victory points.

Now comes the game’s central system, one so clever it’s already been adopted by Bruno Faidutti for his upcoming game, Citadels. The starting player picks up a pack of six action cards, each unique, and discards one at random. He then looks at the remainder and chooses one to keep, passing the rest clockwise. Each player in turn looks at the set he’s been passed, chooses a card, and passes the rest on until the fourth player discards the last unclaimed card.

An elegantly simple mechanism which belies the agony it creates. Each action card has a different effect, from earning victory points to increasing strength in the current conflict to turning traitor and switching allegiance to the other faction. A player’s choice can depend on his long-term strategy, short-term tactics, hunches about what cards have already been chosen and what succeeding players are likely to choose, and so forth. Delicious.

Once players have chosen their action, each has a chance to play supply cards from his hand to increase his side’s strength in the current conflict. A traitor doesn’t reveal himself until after cards have been played, so everyone thinks his cards are adding to the wrong side. Each faction’s total is added to the value of its land being disputed to get a final total, with the high value winning. The losing land is flipped to the opposite side (one side shows Eagle ownership, the other Rose) and the members of the winning faction earn victory points. The higher the value of the flipped land and fewer people on the winning side, the more points each victor earns.

Players then one card for each depot they own on a land matching their faction- no supplies can get through opposing lands. If a player chose the Farmer card, he draws three cards regardless. Whoever chose the Builder can build a new depot or an estate. Depots supply cards as described above, while estates earn victory points at the end of the game. Whoever chose the Strategist gets extra victory points and chooses the location of the next conflict as the next round begins.

The game ends after eight rounds or on any turn in which all lands are controlled by the same faction. Players gain bonus points for each estate they’ve built, regardless of who owns the land it’s on, and the high total wins.

The relative merits of the cards is a bit uneven. The Builder and the Strategist are always useful, and consequently tend to get nabbed first. The other cards’ utility is highly variable. It’s rare for the last player to have a useful choice remaining to him. Rotation of the start player balances this nicely.

If Verräter had been packaged as a board game, it probably wouldn’t be generating as much buzz as it is. When you consider the amount of gameplay that’s packed into a simple deck of cards, however, Verräter stands out as one of the best bangs for your gaming buck in recent memory.

Source: gamereport.com

[Brel]

Another review:

Verräter (Traitor) is a sophisticated strategy game for 3 or 4 players. What's most interesting is that this inexpensive game is simply a deck of cards, yet it has all the tough decision-making of a bigger more expensive board game. I've played enough times to witness many excellent play strategies, but unfortunately my opponents have been quick to defeat me using these strategies. It has made me an excellent post-battle general, dissecting my mistakes and recognizing my blunders. This is fine by me. It leaves me hungry for the next game where hopefully my slow-to-gel ideas can take advantage of the situtation.

First, let me explain the basic mechanics of play in order to lay the groundwork for some strategies. In Verräter, each player assumes the role of a supporter in a battle between the Eagle and Rose royal houses. Initially, player allegiances are evenly divided between the royal houses, but allegiances can change as the game progresses: hence the name Traitor. Twelve land cards (woods, rivers, towns, etc.) are placed in the shape of a clock face in the center of the gaming table, again with an even division of allegiances to the Eagle and Rose royal houses. This layout forms the unique "board" upon which many of the cards are played. As the game progresses, players take sides in the conflicts, attempting to profit and take away victory points.

In any conflict between adjacent lands, players contribute supply cards that add points to the two sides of the conflict. Here, it is advantageous to move last because one has a better awareness of the supply cards and the conflict forming on the table. After each player has had a chance to contribute, the conflict points are tallied and a victorious side is declared. The losing land must flip its allegiance from one house to the other. The victors of the conflict receive victory points according to a chart on the defeated land card. The victory point chart is based on the number of players, so that many points are gained if you are the sole victor, and few or no points are gained if all four players are on the winning side. It is advantageous and prestigious to win alone.

Another innovative feature from designer Marcel-André Cassasola Merkle is the action card deck. Each turn the four players select one of six action cards that determines your action for the turn. At the beginning of the turn, one action card is randomly discarded. Then the first player selects their action and passes the remaining action cards to the next player. Here, the first player has the advantage of choice and knowledge of which card has been discarded, so this nicely balances the disadvantage of contributing to the conflict first. The action cards consist of:

• the builder who gets to build a guest house which increases your income.
• the farmer who reaps exactly 3 supply cards this turn.
• the strong diplomat who adds 5 conflict points to the battle.
• the weak diplomat who adds 2 conflict points to the battle.
• However, this crafty diplomat garners one extra supply card.
• the strategist who selects the conflict site for the next turn
• the strategist who selects the conflict site for the next turn

The last card is the most interesting. After players have contributed supplies to the conflict, the action cards are revealed and the traitor switches allegiance, moving the the traitor's supply contribution to the other side of the conflict. The results are always entertaining and quite profitable if the traitor guesses correctly. On the other hand, players are always trying to guess the traitor and a poker-faced bluff comes in handy here. The back-stabbing can be quite painful for some - excellent for others!

And so the game progresses in this manner for 8 turns (9 turns for 3 players) or until the 12 lands are all showing the same allegiance. It is possible to win conflicts with large amounts of supplies, but the supply income is limited, so one finds it is important to be frugal. Those are the basic rules, now onto the strategies.

Notice that the conflicts can only occur in boundaries between opposing royal houses. This may be obvious, but when selecting your initial guest house, the more valuable spots are the lands bounded by similar allegiances. This makes the land safer from enemy attack. In a similar vein, higher value lands are easier to defend, so these make more valuable locations for the guest house.

Don't try to defend similar valued lands. You must contribute lots of supplies to defend in these situations. The strategist action card allows you to pick the conflict. Choose the strategist action when you are ready to go to war.

If you are the starting player, avoid selecting the traitor action card. Likewise, beware the starting player who plays many supply cards for the battle. In our games, it has been extremely difficult to conceal the traitor action, especially for me the worst bluffer in the world. When the starting player throws down loads of supplies, it is a sign that something is up. Most likely it is a sign that their supplies are going to the other side.

One final bit of strategy. If all players align with the same royal house, it will be very difficult to make victory points in the game. Therefore, trailing players should never switch allegiance to a house that has a plurality. When all four players support one house, they nearly always win the battles, providing few victory points and forcing the game to a speedy conclusion.

What are the weaknesses of this game? Few in my eyes. For one, the English translation provided by Funagain Games leaves something to be desired, and consequently it took a bit longer for our group to learn the rules. This uncredited translation appears to be a verbatim translation of the German instructions, but it leaves many open questions in my mind. Since purchasing the game I came across Mik Svellov's translation at the Gaming Dumpster which answers many of my questions, but still is not the right size or format to pack in with the deck of cards. I intend to contribute my own translation and layout that explains the game and fits the form and size of the original package. Another gripe, this is another one of those games that doesn't do well with other than 4 players. With 3 players, the odd alligance man is usually prevented from taking the traitor action. There are not enough cards for 5 players and 2 players is somewhat pointless as it removes all bluffing and trickery from the game.

Despite these weaknesses, its compact size is one of its greatest selling points. It is definitely a candidate for campers and hikers who want lots of strategy with little bulk. A final bit of praise goes to the uncredited artist who did the illustrations for the cards and the box cover. The art appears to be computer illustration, but the style is very much like grease or oil pencils. The mood of the illustrations evokes the ambiguity of the conflicts, the silouetted traitor, the stern and strong diplomats. All in all a very classy act.

For its low price, compact size, sophisticated strategy, and high enjoyment, this game is highly recommended.

Source: http://www.io.com/~beckerdo/games/reviews/VerraterReview.html