Res Arcana

Message:

First observations: Form of Crazy Eights with color pawns.

The symbols on the game cards to describe actions are atrocious during first use. It's like reading hieroglyphics. Once you get the gist, okay. But why not just write the English text? e.g., "Tap card to add three Green." -or- "Tap card to untap any other card."

There seems to be plenty of ways to attack enemy Health but none to block other resources. Needs steal gold, raise dead (counter black), drain swamp (blue), extinguish fire (red), etc? I know this lengthens the game, but it is one of the few ways to stop player from auto victory. Certain Mages would counter all; some should offer permanent immunity. Needs as an option a STOP action to prevent acquiring or using ALL of a certain color (like Black) this Round would also work, especially in four player game. You almost want one player stopping the one to his right and so forth around the play order. When Stop finally fails the dam bursts (like Mille Borne). Basically, not enough tit for tat (for me to find memorable).

You start with eights cards and play these over and over. It does mean you need to decipher your deck strengths to find a win, not the worst idea. But it does limit the fun (whimsy) of play. I wonder what it would play like with one deck, one discard pile, with all players drawing from that one set. Each card discarded is a reward and penalty. Now in rulez, go ahead chuck a card, it will cycle back soon. You also want to see those eight quick. So turn one, keep chucking cards, not playing them. Example of Problem, I was hunting for a Beast to build VPs. My wife won the game when she could repeatedly tap her Dragon and the Dragon Lair. I never found a beast to score VPs from the Sacred Glade. I could not catch her. From the start, by not having a Beast or her not having a Dragon, would make for a much longer game. Card that gives another Artifact the fury of a Beast or Dragon for one round would also be nice addition to the deck.

Knowing the cards and paths to wins would help.

The rules are long, the setup convoluted, and still play would need plenty of House Rules to establish Norms in the what-if array of "Does it mean this or that"?

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Not saying NO. Game seems promising, could use a rulez rewrite w/ same basic concepts. Root of fun there; interested to see other eight card winning combos but seems more luck based than anything. Compared to other games, better. Compared to Isle of Cats, not as good. Compared to any of the Classics we adore, a mere child's attempt at game design. Plus it is huge, size and piece count, to be lugging about.


Yours,