Why Do I Own This? - Part 13

Merchant of Venus
How did I get it? This was a...

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My daughter and I love Merchants of Muziris! I would be curious to know if you have ever had a game where the 20 order end condition occurred.

Regarding the new edition, my copy will supposedly arrive on Thursday and I am eager to try it out. I have hopes that the modifications will further elevate the design. The changes seem to be some variability game to game with workers, alternative game end conditions, and the ability to use card actions from both the market and your hand.

Good list today!

BillyBobThwarton wrote: My daughter and I love Merchants of Muziris! I would be curious to know if you have ever had a game where the 20 order end condition occurred.

Regarding the new edition, my copy will supposedly arrive on Thursday and I am eager to try it out. I have hopes that the modifications will further elevate the design. The changes seem to be some variability game to game with workers, alternative game end conditions, and the ability to use card actions from both the market and your hand.

Yeah, we've had it happen. Am I forgetting another end-game condition? I guess it's always possible that I've been missing a rule, even though that one doesn't have many rules in the first place.

Gary is right. Excellent list. I agree that M&M kind of represents the last of the really "Ameritrash" designs because all of that chrome has rules attached and none of them are consistent. And it is FAR easier/less risky to win as a merchant than it is as a pirate. But the one thing I always liked about it is that you don't have to win solely in either role. Just like the "privateers" of that era, sometimes you're shipping goods to Jamaica and sometimes you're checking the horizon for a Spanish treasure ship. You can start as one role, switch to the other, and then switch back as circumstances require. However, you're totally right in that the combat system and results are way too punishing in PvP. Still, it's one of those games I will likely never part with, simply because it has so much chrome. If I want a "better" system, I can play Black Fleet.

Also, as has been noted on these fora many times, I LOOOOVVVVVEEEE Modern Art. It's easily my favorite auction game (better than Ra; the other parts of Cyclades bring it close to MA) and might be my favorite Knizia game. It can be played so quickly but with so much depth and such a dynamic table presence that it's really hard to compare it to others. A friend has his annual board game weekend coming up in January and I taught it to three people last year. It might make a return showing (which is rare), since more people wanted to get in on it and the three we played with loved it.

san il defanso wrote: Am I forgetting another end-game condition? I guess it's always possible that I've been missing a rule, even though that one doesn't have many rules in the first place.

The two end game conditions are: 1. a 20th order is placed or 2. the market is exhausted of cards. Every game we've played has ended because we cycled through the deck. We usually end up with 14 orders between us. I've tried playing aggressively for orders, and perhaps it's my opponents tendency to aim for 3 card cinnamon and honeycomb orders that has held us back from hitting the 20.