Page 7 - Spielbox_2_2020

now openly men- tions that Via Magica is derived from Bingo or Lotto. Still, on com- pleting an objective, players are not supposed to shout “Bingo”, but “Incan- tatum”. While the greeting “Ave Caesar” in Augustus still seemed relatively familiar, in our times of dramatically dwindling Latin it might have been nice to include
the translation of “It is invoked”. So, the core mechanism is the same, but several interesting details have been changed. More signif- icant than the reduction of 88 objective cards to an appropriate number of 80 magic gates is the fact that there are now two identical copies of each, and players
may only hold one at a time. On the other hand, Augustus also had many double effects for the same require- ments, but these were mostly assigned to different types of objective cards and could therefore be acquired twice.
The permanent effects during the game have also been modified. While previously players were allowed to use the drawn token for one specific other type, there is now free choice, which of course makes the permanent effects even more attractive. Since the points they score at the end of the game are not capped, there is no longer any need to pay attention to that when choosing a new gate. Completely gone are the imme- diate effects directed against other play- ers, which led to the loss of one, two or all legions on an objective card, or even an already completed one.
Apparently, the intention of avoiding the confrontational element, in line with the change of theme, was supposed to make the game more family-friendly, for seven-year-olds are now also included in
the age range. But dropping the entire wrangling for control over two different types of resources seems unnecessary and regrettable, as the game now lacks any direct interaction.
The rule stating the order in which objectives completed simultaneously by several magicians are carried out has also been rewritten. The order is no longer determined by a number on the cards, but
by reaction time. First access to the display is granted to
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previous volume – a format
appropriate for a deck of cards with some bits and pieces, which also makes the game considerably cheaper. At the same time, the bulky, huge leaflet was
replaced with a carefully designed bro- chure in four languages that makes it easy to find information. The criticism about the puzzling design of some objective cards has been sorted out by the omission of the relevant types of resources.
The game’s element of luck, consid- ered too strong by some, has at least been somewhat reduced by the fact that each magic gate occurs twice, but may only be picked up once. Of course, it would not have hurt or been
too much effort to include the confron- tational elements as a set of optional rules – and in this way ensure that the game still appeals to frequent players, who might otherwise find it somewhat
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I Criticism was heeded Changing the theme and redesigning thecoveraccordingly,thepublishersseem
to have read a comment by my colleague Bartsch in his review in spielbox, stat- ing that its current form could result in a brain game, likely off-putting to family players altogether. The greater care in editing he called for was
heeded and the spaces to be occupied on the gates were positioned at the top edge of the cards rather than on the sides, where they were difficult for all to see. And finally, this time the editors avoided the painfully large number of wrong commas right from the start.
I also very much wel- come that they took the opportunity to redesign the contents of the com- pletely oversized Augustus box and shrink it to less
too peaceful.
L. U. Dikus/cs
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