Overview:

Name: Orleans

Year Published: 2014

Publisher: dlp games

Designer: Reiner Stockhausen

Number of Players: 2-4

Playing Time: 90 minutes

Game Category/Theme: Bag Building, Medieval

Mechanics: Deck Building, Worker Placement, Set Collection, Trading, Time Track

 

Ratings:

Strategy: 8.5

Complexity: 7.5

Player Interaction: 7

Replayability: 9

Game Rating: 8.7

Cost: 6

 

Calculations:

Weight Rating: (7.5 + 8.5) = 16

Playability Rating: [(9 + 7 + 8.7) – 7.5] = 17.2

Play Rating Score: (16 + 17.2) x 2 = 66.4

Value Rating: 66.4 / 6 = 11.07

 

Final Score Rating: 66.4 + 11.07 = 77.47

 

Review:

Orleans is a bag-building game where players take on the roles of medieval merchants seeking to acquire goods, hire followers, and develop their trade routes. Players start with a small deck of cards that represent their followers, and on each turn, they draw a certain number of followers from their bag to use in a variety of actions. Players can acquire more followers, develop their trade routes, build structures, and acquire goods to deliver to various cities. The game uses a time track mechanic to add urgency to the actions, as each round, new events occur that require players to progress in their strategy or risk losing points.

Orleans offers a unique blend of mechanics that will appeal to fans of both deck-building and worker placement games. The bag-building mechanism adds an element of randomness and uncertainty, as players must draw followers from their bag to use in their actions. The game also offers a high level of replayability, as players can choose different strategies to pursue in each game, and the order of the events on the time track changes from game to game.

While the game is not overly complex, it does require some planning and foresight to execute a successful strategy. The game also offers a good level of player interaction, as players must compete for resources and structures. However, the game can feel a bit solitaire at times, as players focus on their own strategies and building their own bag of followers.

Overall, Orleans is a well-designed and engaging game that offers a unique blend of mechanics and a high level of replayability. Fans of bag-building, deck-building, and worker placement games will all find something to enjoy in Orleans.

Orleans does not offer solo or cooperative play options.

 

Here are 10 other games that may appeal to someone who liked Orleans:

1. Altiplano – A bag-building game that has similar mechanics to Orleans, but is set in the Andes and involves gathering resources to trade or sell.
2. The Voyages of Marco Polo – A worker placement game where players take on the roles of famous explorers, each with their unique abilities, and travel across the Silk Road to earn points.
3. Architects of the West Kingdom – A worker placement game set in the medieval world, where players compete to build buildings and gain the favor of the king.
4. Teotihuacan: City of Gods – A dice-rolling game set in ancient Mesoamerica, where players construct pyramids, trade, and gain favor with the gods.
5. Paladins of the West Kingdom – A worker placement game set in the medieval world, where players build fortifications, recruit workers, and gain the favor of the king.
6. Agricola – A worker placement game where players build and expand their farms, and compete for resources and points.
7. Istanbul – A pick-up-and-deliver game where players compete to collect goods and sell them in the markets of Istanbul.
8. Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar – A worker placement game set in ancient Mesoamerica, where players compete to gain the favor of the gods by building temples, monuments, and pyramids.
9. Great Western Trail – A deck-building and tile-laying game where players compete to drive their cattle herds from Texas to Kansas City.
10. Puerto Rico – A classic strategy game where players take on the roles of colonial governors in the 18th century, building and developing their plantations and shipping goods to Europe for points.

This review was provided by Open Source Artificial Intelligence programs.  It uses a series of complex statement to have AI programs amalgomate their databases to produces information on board games.  These reviews are completely unedited output from the AI bots.