So, you want to undermine the Holy Roman Empire’s authority and enact Enlightenment reforms? Then you must stay hidden while you work to extend your Order’s reach. You are must accomplish recruitment plots in order to grow a wider web of sympathizers for your cause. Can you gain enough influence over the Order’s growing membership to become the highest ranked among your group?

*Warning: There may be spoilers ahead*

What Is It?

Hand Management – Players will use luminary cards in their hands for various actions and will have to pay mind to which cards they use and how.

Network and Route Building – Players will be trying to complete plot cards during the game, many of which will require them to have influence on connected luminary cards on the map.

Area Majority – In order to control the cards on the map, players need to have the most influence on a card, and the most influence in an area in order to control the “lodge” of that faction. Players can take an “oust” action to remove rivals from cards in order to try and gain control for themselves.

Who Is It For?

  • 1 to 4 Players – Seems to scale / work well at any count. With 1 – 3 players you can add a bot for non-player opponents which help to keep things competitive.
  • Ages 16 & Up – There’s quite a bit of front-loading for rules, with all the different actions, and it can by thinky-er than first meets the eye
  • Fans of hand management, route building, and area majority with the possibility for a bit of take-that

Secrets / Variants

I won’t spoil everything for you, but there are some hidden variants in the game, if you know where to look. I thought this was a fun nod to the theme, for one thing, and I enjoyed the variant with the map (Owls of Minerva) as it had some contract fulfillment, which I am a fan of.

PROS

  • Aesthetics – Nice art, good graphic design
  • Components – Really nice wooden pieces, and good cards
  • Rules – Clear and thorough
  • Variable win conditions, depending on how the game goes (prevents it from running on too long if players are diligent about preventing each other from completing plots)
  • Neat theme; I love the secrets that really had to the theme
  • Scheme actions could help players pull big moves throughout the game

CONS

  • Events – I’m never huge on events in games, and the edict events in particular were annoying to me
  • I thought bots were too much upkeep for me personally, so I wouldn’t prefer to play with them

Final Thoughts

This game is definitely a bit heavier than you might expect for such a small box! It’s a bit puzzley in nature and you definitely have to stay aware of the moves your opponents are making, because you only need to complete 2 plots to win, and that is not a lot.

It is more on the abstract side, but I can see the use of the theme in some aspects, which is nice too. If you like this style of game, and these mechanisms, it’s worth checking out, but I’d recommend getting a solid group together for it, because I think it definitely benefits from multiple plays because you’ll really get more out of the game as you play more and understand the clever combos/moves you can make.

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 6/10

Designer – Oliver Kiley
Artist – Madeleine Fjäll
Publisher – Ion Game Design
MSRP – $55.00
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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