Council of Verona Game

You only play 4 cards a round so you know it will be a fast game. In a single round it is not perfectly balanced but that is ok. There is a cool strategy to it. Little harder that love letter and coup, but all 3 games are good in there own right.

This has been my favorite micro game since I learned to play at BGG Con 2013. We play often and it is my go to game when teaching a game to non-gamers. If you like the game, also pick up the poison expansion from BGG.com.

Council of Verona is a fun and quick bluffing game. It plays in about 15-20 minutes and can play 2-5. The goal of the game is to have the most influence points. Gameplay: Each player will get numbered tokens(influence tokens) in their color. These will be face down so other player can't see Gameplay starts with a drafting phase, where players pick their cards from a group of cards and pass it on to the next player. The next phase is where the players will take turns playing their cards. There are two types of cards, agenda and abilities. Agendas have areas where a token can be placed to score points if that condition is satisfied at the end of the game. Ability cards have abilities that take effect when played. Each turn consists of playing a card, using the ability of the card(if applicable), putting a token onto an agenda card, then the next player takes their turn. Play continues until all the cards are played and then all players get one last turn to put down influence tokens. Agenda conditions are then evaluated and influence points are scored for those agendas that have tokens. The player with the highest influence wins. Components: The components are nice. The cards feel sturdy and the tokens work well. Overall: Council of Verona is a fun little game. I'm not sure if there's a whole lot of strategy in it(especially with higher player counts), but it still feels like a deep game. The hidden values of the tokens and bluffing really make this game engaging. It feels great timing an ability just right to eek out a win. It can feel a bit chaotic at times to keep track of the tokens and cards. The tokens and table space requirement keeps it from being truely portable. As far as comparing this to one of the most well-known microgame, Love Letter, I'd give Love Letter the edge. Love Letter is ridiculously simple game and plays even faster. It only has 16 cards and requires two piles to be used on the table, making it much easier to play anywhere. Anyway, Council of Verona is a solid filler. Despite such a small box it does require a bit of table space. You get a lot of nice components for the money. I recommend playing, but I think Love Letter and Hanabi are better games for about the same price range.

If I could rate this 4.5, I would. Council of Verona is my go-to gift for friends...reasonable price, nice quality production, and a fun game that has the perfect amount of depth for a "friendly" game. I use this (with games like Hanabi and Love Letter) to expose people to the board game world beyond Monopoly and Risk. There's great Romeo/Juliet flavor throughout the game - especially in the individual scoring attributes per character. Since the game is compact and doesn't require much table space it's easy to have on hand where ever and I recommend you add it to your game collection. There is also a really great expansion to the game for $5 on boardgamegeek (the poison expansion) that adds a great element to the game and is a must-have. The game comes with wooden chips that you have to apply stickers to. This bothers some people - but I don't mind...especially at a price of $15. The cards are a very nice quality with lovely whimsical art and the rules are decently written making it pretty easy for new players to read and pick up on.

excellent game. quick to play, deep enough to be engaging, simple enough to learn in one sample game, and requires equal amounts of skill and luck. The setting & premise are really enjoyable. One of the better new games this year.

An easy 2-5 players game. I also got the poison expansion for this game. I recommend people get it if the price is acceptable.

Great quick game

I think the game has limited replay value. Not 100% sure, but pretty sure it is a flawed game. But it is fun for a short while. Cheap but well made.