Condottiere

Although it comes with a small board, Condottiere is most definitely a card game, and a combative one at that.

Each player is trying to gain control of a set number of regions (depending on how many players) on the board, which represents medieval Italy. Having gained control of a region, it is never lost, so the board is essentially a scoretrack (although don’t discount it, as one method of winning is getting a number of regions that are adjacent).

Everyone starts with ten cards, and having established which region they are contesting in a given round, each player has the opportunity to either play a card to the table in front of them – their army – or pass. If they pass, they are out of the round.

The cards are a mixture. Some are straightforward mercenaries (yellow-bordered) with a numeric value of 1 to 6, plus a valuable 10 card. The number defines your army’s strength, and if when the last person passes (including you, as the last player in can keep adding to their army if they wish) you have the strongest army, you win the battle and take control of the region.

So far, so straightforward. But Condottiere is more complex than it first appears, because as well as the mercenary cards there are also some special cards (red, blue, or green-bordered) in the deck, that do a variety of things. Winter, for instance, makes all mercenary cards have a value of merely 1. Spring negates Winter (as Winter negates spring) and makes the visible highest-value mercenary cards worth double their numeric value. Drummers double the value of all your own mercenary cards. Bishops make the highest-showing mercenary cards vanish from battle, Scarecrows allow you to take a card back from your army, and Surrender cards allow you to instantly end the battle – hopefully in your favour, though they can be played strategically just to stop someone else winning.

Finally there are two cards that don’t get affected by the special cards above – the Courtesan and the Heroine. The former only has a value of one, but the player who plays most of them in a given battle will be the next starting player and choose the next region to fight over. The Heroine has a value of 10, and is indomitable!

The hidden knowledge and special cards mean players can bluff a show of strength, take down a strong army or appear to leave (using the scarecrow) only to bludgeon their way back in.

And because the round only ends when every player but one is out of cards, it’s possible to drop out of an early battle – even two – and keep your powder dry for a strong showing later.