The alchemists

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The alchemists
Game data
author Matúš Kotry
graphic David Cochard, Jakub Politzer
publishing company Czech Games Edition
Publishing year 2015
Art Board game
Teammates 2-4
Duration 120 minutes
Age 14 years and older

Awards

Essen spring (2015)

Die Alchemisten is a board game by the Czech game designer Matúš Kotry , published by the Czech Games Edition and distributed in the German-speaking area by the Heidelberger Spieleverlag . In the game you take on the role of an alchemist who wants to earn the best possible reputation for himself through publications on elements of eight alchemical ingredients. In order to gain knowledge of the elements of these ingredients, one has to mix and test these ingredients in order to build up one's knowledge of the individual ingredients. The board game is accompanied by an app with which you can find out the results of the mixed potions.

Game flow

The game is played over six rounds, in which the player normally has five different action pieces. In the starting round, each player has three game pieces. These tiles can be placed after the starting order has been determined by selecting various resources. The earlier a player's place is in the starting order, the fewer ingredients and helper cards he receives to cope with the next round - the player even has to pay gold for the best starting place. After determining the starting order, the player who is allowed to carry out his actions last begins to distribute his action pieces on the various action spaces.

At the end of the third and fifth round there is also an alchemist conference, where the number of publications already available has an impact on the reputation of the alchemist.

At the end of the last round with the performance show, the correct elements of all eight ingredients are revealed and the game is evaluated accordingly to determine the winner. Whoever has the most victory or reputation points at the end wins the game.

matchfield

The playing field of the basic game consists of a main card with the action fields and a card for the scientific publications.

Fields of action

The action spaces are resolved in the following order within a round:

Collect ingredients

On this space, the player can pick up one of five ingredients that are laid out face-up or draw one from a stack for each action marker (maximum three).

Transmute ingredient

Any ingredient can be transmuted into gold here. Transmutation of a second ingredient costs two more action tokens.

Sell ​​potion

In this space, adventurers with changing needs can sell a potion according to their requirements by brewing two ingredients. If the potion has at least the quality level announced by the player, the player receives gold, otherwise he loses reputation points for an insufficient potion. This field is not yet available in the first round, as the players then have no knowledge of the individual ingredients. If all players fill this field, it is possible that one of them will go empty-handed, as the adventurer always needs one less potion than players are playing. However, there is a helper card with which the player can still sell. With a little skill, the player can gain knowledge of the various ingredients in this field too. This space costs two action markers.

Buy artifact

On this field, the player can buy one of three artifacts for gold, which gives the player advantages either immediately or during the course of the game; here, too, a player can get nothing. New artifact cards are placed on the field in the first, third and last round of the game.

Refute the theory

If another player has published a wrong theory about an ingredient, you can refute the theory here. If this succeeds, the player wins two reputation points and can immediately publish a correct theory afterwards if he has also placed an action marker on the corresponding space. If this fails, the player loses one reputation point. This field is not yet available in the first round, as the players then have no knowledge of the individual ingredients. This field costs one action marker and can be occupied a maximum of twice.

Publish theory

Here the player can publish a theory about an ingredient. This theory does not have to be correct and the player does not have to be able to prove it. He is either the first to publish one of the eight ingredients for a gold and receives a reputation point for it, or he supports a theory of his fellow players in return for a corresponding additional fee. If the theory later turns out to be wrong and the player has not protected himself against the wrong part of the theory, he loses reputation points. If he is sure of a theory, he can secure additional victory points instead of protecting himself against mistakes. For certain combinations of published and not refuted theories, whether right or wrong, the player can receive additional third-party funding in the form of money and victory points. This field is not yet available in the first round, as the players then have no knowledge of the individual ingredients. This space requires one action marker for the publication of a theory and two additional action markers for another theory in the same round.

Test on student

In order to get knowledge about the composition of the different ingredients, one can brew a potion with two ingredients and give it to the student to drink. The mixed result of the two elements allows certain conclusions to be drawn about the elements of the ingredients. He drinks this without any consideration until he receives a bad / negative drink. Should he receive a negative potion, any other players must pay one gold per test. This field costs one action marker and can be occupied a maximum of twice.

Drink potion

As an alternative to the student, the player can also drink a potion himself. However, if this is inedible, you have to accept negative effects depending on the result. This also costs one action marker and can only be used twice.

Performance show

Only in the last round can you take part in the performance show instead of taking one of the two test fields, in which you can demonstrate certain results for each action cube with your ingredients and, if successful, receive reputation points for them. If a demonstration fails, this also costs reputation points.

extension

In the expansion The King's Golem you can also bring a golem to life. In addition, the expansion opens up more opportunities to publish theories and adds more helpers and artifact cards to the game.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Essen pen. In: reduxo.de. Retrieved December 27, 2016 .