Rival Cities

• Designer: Andreas Steding
• Publisher: Pegasus / Deep Print
• Players: 2
• Age: 14+
• Time: 30-45 min
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/45w6A9y
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

In the 16th century, the small fishing village of Altona was founded in Northern Germany, initially posing no threat to its long-established neighbor, Hamburg. However, as Altona rapidly grew, a fierce rivalry emerged between the two cities, each constantly trying to outdo the other.

In Rival Cities, you face off in an enthralling city duel. Outmaneuver your opponent to achieve an instant victory — but beware as either of you can pull this off in many ways. Only by combining foresight with the art of deflection will you lead your city to victory. The suspenseful back and forth between the players makes it a very confrontational gaming experience full of weighty decisions.

To start, set up the board so that one player has Hamburg (in red) close to them on the score board while the other player has Altona (in blue) close to them.  The heart shaped Prestige marker is placed in the central (neutral) space.  Place the off-season overview tile in the space with the bell on it.  The ink jar is placed next to this.

Place the 15 basic action cards in their spaces around the board – beginners can put them in ascending order, but veterans can do it randomly to switch things up. The special action card deck is shuffled and placed face down on the board; then 4 cards are placed in the appropriate special action spaces around the board.

Now randomly choose 10 of the 21 boat cards to make a deck and then place the top 4 cards of the deck face up on the board.  Choose 7 of the 10 lawsuit cards to make a deck, then place the top 3 of these face up on the board; laying a lawsuit tile over each so that the numbers on the cards lines up.  Finally, choose 4 of the 8 alliance cards and place all 4 face up on the board.  All of the unchosen cards are discarded unseen into the box.  

A start player is chosen, that player takes a beer and any good of his choice.  The other player gets 2 beers and a good of his choice.  The first player will then take a turn, and then play will alternate between the players until one of the FIVE end-game conditions is met:

• One of the supplies (lawsuit cards, ship cards, factories, star markers) has run out
• A player has 3 more ship cards than their opponent
• A player has 3 lawsuit cards
• A player has all 4 alliance cards 
• The Prestige marker reaches the end of the track (on either end)

On a turn, the player must first move the ink jar at least one space clockwise.  The first two spaces are free, the next two spaces cost 1 good each, and then every space past that costs 2 goods each.  You can move as far as you like as long as you can afford it.  Once you have moved the ink jar, one of four things happens at that space:

1] Perform the basic action(s) at that space. Examples of possible actions:

• Gain Goods for free, produce goods with your factories, or convert goods
• Reactivate a used factory
• Convert Goods to star tokens
• Gain letters
• Earn prestige – move the Heart marker towards your city’s name
• Gain an alliance card – these come with ongoing benefits provided to their owner
• Purchase a ship – spend costs in upper left; ships can come with immediate or ongoing bonuses

• Advance a lawsuit – pay the cost in upper left and gain rewards as shown.  Optionally, pay extra to advance the lawsuit further in your direction.
• Adjudicate a lawsuit (if already in your favor)
• Piracy – steal goods from your opponent

2] Play a Special action card from your hand, discarding it after executing it

3] Pay 1 Letter to do both the basic action of the space as well as playing a Special action card from your hand

4]If you are at a space with a Special Action card, you can take it into your hand (and do nothing else)

After you’ve taken an action, the other player takes their turn.  Each time someone moves the ink jar past the bell space, the game pauses for an off-season phase.  All of the steps for this phase are listed on the overview card.

• Alliances – all players who have an alliance card must pay the upkeep on them or return them to the board
• Ships – the player with the most ships can take an Earn Prestige action; all players gain income from their ships
• Prestige Marker – the player with an advantage on the Prestige track gains bonuses as shown from the center of the track to the space with the marker
• Resolve the Lawsuit in space I.  If tied, simply discard it. If +1 to a player, that player gains a star token.  If +2 or more, that player wins the suit, gains the benefit on the card and keeps the lawsuit card.
• Special Action cards – discard any special action cards still on the board and deal out new ones
• Factories – all factories reactivate
• Check to see if the game ends due to supplies running out

If the game end is triggered by something running out – for sure no later than the end of the 7th round as one lawsuit card per round is resolved – the game is scored.  All players count up their stars on the cards in front of them as well as the stars on the Prestige track if the heart is on their side.  Add to this the star tokens collected during the game.  The player with the most stars wins.  Ties broken in favor of the player who triggered the final off-season phase.

Alternatively, the game is won immediately with any of these four conditions:

• Having 3 more ships than your opponent
• Having 3 lawsuit cards (doesn’t matter how many your opponent has)
• Having all 4 alliance cards
• Having the prestige marker at the end of the track on your city’s name

If any of these happen, the player with the achievement wins.

My thoughts on the game

Wow, for a little box, this game really brings a lot to the table.  I have always wanted to love Steding’s games, but they have been sometimes a bit too dry for me (well except Hansa Teutonica).  Here, there is a delicious balance in the multi-axis tug of war between players.  Like HT, there are plenty of possible choices, and so many different directions that you can move in.

Every action in the game feels significant.  With five different ways to end the game, you’ll always be watching the battle in each category.  You can usually only do one or two things each turn, so you’ll have to pick your battles wisely – choosing the right time to make a move in a win criteria.  Pressure can definitely be exerted on the other player by getting one step away from a win condition – similar to a Check in Chess – this position almost always forces the opponent to make an immediate move to bring that battle a step in the other direction.

Once you are familiar with the game, there is a lot of skill that comes into play in trying to disguise your intentions.  If your opponent can see your plans, it’s sometimes easy to make a play that negates your advantage.  However, if they can’t figure out what you’re planning, you might be able to sneak away to victory.  Can you devote all your energy to a single strategy and overwhelm your opponent?  Or, if you do so, do you risk missing their march to a victory condition?

Watching the possible actions in future turns is important – there could be long stretches of a round where a particular action isn’t available.  If so, taking advantage of that situation can be very beneficial.  Of course, you’ll have to watch out for actions on Special Action cards that can surprise you.  Also make sure you look at all the lawsuits to ensure that desired actions can’t be had there either.

Once the game starts, I have been pretty invested in the game – figuring out what I want to do, and spending a lot of time trying to figure out what my opponent is trying to do.  There are times that I can undo the opponent’s strategy by doing something opposite.  There are other times where I can simply deny them the chance to do things by moving the ink jar past the action that they want.  

The game is mostly in the open, as the actions on the cards are seen in advance and the spacing on the action track is known.  Sure, there is a slight amount of luck in what might come up on the newly revealed ship or lawsuit cards; but on the whole, this is a luck-free affair – just a strong battle of wits between the two players.

I’m really impressed with how much game comes in this box.  The packaging is great, and I love the way that all the bits are held in four boxes that fit neatly inside the box.  My only quibble is that the lawsuit tiles are a bit finicky.  You have to keep them in place because the numbers for the lawsuit scale are on the card underneath.  It might have been a bit less fiddly to have the numbers printed on the overlaying cardboard piece.  

Though I’m not normally much of a 2-player gamer, this is one that I am definitely keeping around as it provides a very rich and complex game in an extremely small package.  The game promises some game to game variability with the fact that you don’t use all the ships nor lawsuits each game; but even if there weren’t extras, the game would still be extremely fresh each game as you can randomize the order of the basic actions and the timing of the appearance of all the other cards would also be different.   (For a non-2-player-gamer, I’m definitely finding a lot of 2-player games to keep this summer!)

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Mitchell T: This game is right up my alley—accessible rules set, a bit of randomness, tons of interaction, and lots of variety in game play. Dale neatly summarized the virtues of Rival Cities. We’ve played it five times (I have yet to win), and I am impressed at how the depth unfolds with experience. It seems, too, that there are multiple paths to victory and you have to think quickly to assess where your opponent may be vulnerable. Also, there is significant resource conversion—turning goods into other goods which then become game assets. There is much that is familiar about the game but it has some original ideas as well. 

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Dale Y, Mitchell T
• I like it.
• Neutral.
• Not for me…

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/45w6A9y