Sand Castle Games RA0101 Res Arcana, Mixed Colours,Standard

Product Information

Res Arcana switches to a fantasy setting, in-which 2-4 players plays as different mages. They use the resources – life, death, elan, calm, and gold – to fuel the art of magic. The game is a race to gain points by conquering places of power and summoning dragons and mystical creatures. Res Arcana Gameplay Play is in no way stodgier and the extra 3 VP to win does not affect game length but rather is an offset for the inherent value of pearls. More Is Better? Res Arcana is the debut release from Sand Castle Games. They went with a well known and well respected designer for their first game, and I think the result is wonderful. At first glance, the game looks like a simple engine builder racing game with a slapped on fantasy theme. However, as I have played the game more and more, it is much deeper than that.

The art is pretty spectacular. Julian Delval has always been a favorite of mine, and his art is finely detailed and richly enhances the theme. The icons are mostly intuitive, and by the end of the first game, usually you’re not having to look anything up. The rules are fairly clear, though there are the expected set of questions that always come up in these sorts of games where rules on the cards trump the written base rules. Many of the issues can be resolved with common sense, and there are a number of threads on BGG with clarifications.It might be an exciting idea to play all 8 of your artifacts, but unlike most other engine building games, more isn’t always merrier. If you spend all your turns ramping up your resource production, you’ve spent a ton of resources doing it, and you’ve spent very few of those resources on scoring points. And that’s not how you win a race. Dracolich: The Bone Dragon resembles an undead skeleton dragon. Fittingly, its summoning cost consists almost exclusively of Death essences. Yes, the rulebook suggests two different game variations that would work for 2-4 players or for 2 players only to change the game up a bit! How can I find out more information for each specific card/component?

Final Score: 5 Stars – A remarkably elegant and simple game to learn, Res Arcana reveals itself to gamers through repeated plays, and delivers a rewarding game experience for all levels of player. Points are primarily accumulated via the Places of Power, and though there are other ways to score points, namely via the Monument cards and several Artifact cards such as Dragons and certain Beasts, ultimately players must create an efficient points engine if they hope to win. Places of Power and Magic Items. Game Experience: Gold is more valuable than the other four elements: it's the only one that lets you buy Monuments, and it has the distinction that discarding a card only gets you one Gold, as opposed to the usual 2 essences. In Res Arcana, turns are taken in rounds. Each game could take around 4-6 rounds to play before determining a winner.If at least 1 player has 10 or more points, the game ends and the player with the most points wins.