Rival Cities
Designed by: Andreas Steding
The Rival Cities in question are 16th century Hamburg and its sibling upstart, Altona. Each player in this head to head game represents one of the cities, hoping to hang on to dominance (Hamburg) or wrestle it from the others’ grasp.
The game takes place with players, on each turn, moving an Ink Marker clockwise around the board: moving one or two spaces is free, but beyond that will cost you in precious resources, which are manifest here in the form of cloth, furniture, pelts and beer. Wherever you stop, you either take the action of that space, or – in four special cases – pick up a powerful card from the location which can be played on any subsequent turn.
The actions are numerous, ranging from gaining resources to establishing alliances with nearby cities to building Ships to swinging active lawsuits between the cities in your direction (most of which cost you in resources). Rival Cities tempts you in numerous directions, not least because there are various ways to win: establishing all four of the alliances, having three more ships than your rival, or winning your third lawsuit. You can also win by popularity: actions can be spent moving a heart marker towards your own city on a two-way track, and if you ever move it all the way to your side, that’s an instant win.
Every time the ink marker passes the starting space, an ‘off-season’ is triggered, resolving the current lawsuit (hopefully in your favour) generating income for both players from ships and the popularity track, and costing you a little income if you want to keep your current alliances in place. If nobody has triggered an instant-win condition by the time the seventh round is complete, then the victor is decided via the number of stars gathered during the game: these pop up on lawsuits, ships and other areas around the board. Essentially, Rival Cities is a multi-layered tug of war, where as well as focusing energies on your own strategy you absolutely must beware what your opponent is up to as well.
Sam says
Holding multiple possibilities in my brain isn’t a strength of mine, and my first play of Rival Cities had me head-scratching my way to an early defeat. However, subsequent visits have lifted the fog somewhat – it’s still quite the puzzle, and you need your wits about you. But I like the surprises the special cards throw up and how there a different avenues to victory. I also appreciate the production quality here and the fact Rival Cities packs a biggish (but not long) game experience into a pretty small box. It’s more thinky than boisterous and more brow-furrowing than laughter-inducing, for sure, but I think the game offers a punchy and shrewdly-timed experience for two, increasing the payback the more you play it.
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Take That!
There are some special cards that do some mildly nasty things: although they’re not game-breaking, when timed well they can be pivotal. There’s also spaces on the board to shuffle the arrival of the lawsuits around: they only come along once per round, so when they’re resolved is critical.
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Fidget Factor!
While there are numerous actions, the fact your movements are limited prevents the game drowning in overwhelm.
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Brain Burn!
It’s a juggle: do you go for one of the instant-victory conditions, or run interference on your opponent whilst accruing enough stars to beat them over seven rounds?
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Again Again!
While the legal cases and alliances don’t change, the set-up is random and player input has big significance. What can feel a bit kitchen-sink-like on a first play emerges as a canny game with a lot of variability.
