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El Grande - Decennial (10 year) Edition (Expansions Included)
From the Publisher...
The players are the Grandes in old Spain. Each wants to increase his influence at the court and in the regions. Each turn, the players choose from 5 actions, different on each turn. But first choice goes to the player who plays the highest priority card and you have only 13 for the game. Choose your actions and priorities wisely to become the most powerful Grande and win the game!
This Decennial version also contains the expansions previously known as Intrigue & the King, Grand Inquisitor & the Colonies, and Grandissimo.
In Intrigue & the King, each player has 18 or 28 cards that replace the action cards from the basic game. Before the game begins, each player chooses 13 cards to be his action/priority deck for the game. The players use these cards instead of the action a nd priority cards in determining turn order and special actions. Grand Inquisitor & the Colonies adds four new regions, the Grand Inquisitor, and new action cards to support these additions. The new action cards are in two new stack, giving players seven options on each turn instead of the five from the basic game. By combining the two, you can play The King & the Colonies. In this game, you use the action/priority cards from Intrigue & the King, and the new regions, the Grand Inquisitor, and the new action cards supporting them from Grand Inquisitor & the Colonies.
Grandissimo adds a ship, jail, Portugal, the Grand Inquisitor, the Queen, the Jester, and new action cards in two new stacks to support these additions.
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more information at the Board Game Geek website
Customer Raves - Write your own Rave about this game!
(Click on a person's name or game group to see other raves by the same person or group.
Tim Kennedy
| Simply a great game... the best area-influence game out there. (IMO) The mechanics are clean and work together seamlessly. The gameplay is tense and full of momentum shifts and hey, it comes with a cool, black tower. Great production value overall and even the rules are clear and meticulous in their presentation. Kramer is one of the best designers out there and this is arguably his best game. |
Stephen B
| Great game, as a lot of replay value takes a little bit to learn the rules, but they are not overly complicated. With the expansions included this game as a lot to offer, |
Quixotequest
| This is one of the greatest and near perfect games ever. It will play best with competitive game players who don't mind that the theme (Grandes and their knights competing for power in medieval Spain) is a bit pasted on, and the colors are a bit too muted. The Decennial Edition has a few production errors (a few cards are missing some of their printed text on them) but the rules explain them so experience quickly overcomes this unfortunate error for a game of this expense. (Rio Grande, the publisher, so far as I know has not yet offered reprints for complaining customers.) Some of the expansions (Colonies) add unnecessary game length and complication but some (King and Intrigue) are splendid variations on the theme. |
Jon
| So I just discovered this game when a friend introduced it to me. I guess it has been a classic among gamers for many years and I would whole-heartedly agree. After one game to learn the rules we couldn't stop playing. It is a great game that really makes you pay attention to strategy. |
Brett
| El Grande is a very strategic game about exerting influence. When I first played this game almost 10 years ago, I fell in love with it. Since that first play, it has sat quite comfortably in my top 10 favorite games.
Plenty of player interaction and difficult choices abound as you juggle a number of different things to reach the goal of being the most influential player in the game. At times you will bask in the glory of a stunning move and other times want to strangle an opponent who just pulled the rug right out from under you. If you like heavy strategy, then El Grande is for you! |
Danny -
NYC Meetup
| Simply the finest board game I've ever played. Very clever mechanics and an absolute joy with 3 to 5 players. I've never had a bad game in many, many playings. There is no element of chance, but the tables can definately be turned in the final turn, which keeps the game tense and interesting to the end. |
A.J. Sansom
| One of the classic games that has certainly held its appeal over time. The inclusion of the modular expansions pushes this one over the top.... it's a must buy for anyone with a serious game collection! |
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