Fantastic fabrications
POTEMKIN EMPIRE
Designer: Jonathan Woodard | Publisher: Indie Boards and Cards
If board gaming was a medieval kingdom, then Indie Board & Games would be the scheming vizier behind the throne. Publishers of The Resistance and Coup, their talent for creating games that reward your skills in duplicity is well documented, but can they capture that same thrill whilst leaving their cyberpunk dystopia settings for a more historical environment? In a word,
Potemkin Empire is set in Russia, 1787. As Catherine the Great begins her nationwide tour, players take the role of nobles trying to impress her with their wonderfully decorated towns, even if not every building is quite what it appears. Each of the four rounds start with players drafting interior cards that either show a "real" building or "fake". Once cards are drafted, players take it in turns to build any type of building and place one interior card behind it. Government and Culture buildings give you points and (along with Science buildings) let you wrest control of unique bonuses, Industry buildings let you produce resources for more points, a repeatable action you can use each turn until only one player in the round is still in the "construction phase," whilst the final option, Espionage, provides agents that can check if buildings are real or not, destroying fakes and anything hidden behind them whilst, of course, scoring you points.
The game loop is quick and appealing: you'll fly through drafting interior cards, getting some "genuine" building cards but mainly working with balsa wood facsimiles and hoping the agents don't come knocking. When constructing you've got to consider what your opponents are up to, as sometimes it's worth building a fake government building just to take the first player marker, or making sure that no-one runs away with having the most culture buildings and holding a shield that protects from agents. It's tempting to play safe, only building "real" things so they don't get knocked down, however the final scoring rewards you two bonus points per fake building you have, so noone can afford to be too cautious.
There are great moments of tension as a player with an agent decides whether it's worth building to make sure they don't fall behind, or to try their luck and give someone's structure a good kick in case if falls over. This luck can be mitigated with actions on cards, some of which are "free" and let you take a turn immediately after, but every action played gives you one less interior card to build with, so finding the best way to use your cards and to deny your opponents is a tantalising challenge, which is constantly under pressure as players start to produce for points and get closer to ending the round (another action no player wants to miss out on, but someone will.)
The four rounds fly by and the final reveal as everyone shows what was and wasn't real is a great finish. Scoring takes a little while but is still engaging and I found games often finished with few points between victory and last place. It seems lazy to say "They've done it again," but this game really does delight as much as Indie's other deception titles. If you're not a fan of bluffing games there's nothing here that will change your mind, but if you like a rousing evening of "You've gotta be lying, wait are you lying?" then this will entertain for many a day and night.
MATTHEW VERNALL
WE SAY
A fascinating light bluffing game that plays quickly and provides players with plenty of ways to win. Pick it up if you like a little bit of lying in your games.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX?
► Game board
► 85 Interior cards
► 64 Facade cards
► 40 Resource cubes
► 15 Agent meeples
► 1 Capitol meeple
► 1 Scientist meeple
► 1 Shield meeple
► 5 Mode tokens
► 5 Player aids
► 4 Month tokens
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM
Swap smuggling apples for swindling aristocrats for an equalling engaging thrill, both games come to life with table drama as you throw out accusations whilst hoping no-one calls you out.