Queen Marie-Antoinette

• Designer: Julien Griffon
• Publisher: Oka Luda
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 10+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

A game of strategy and influence at the court of Versailles – Step into the intrigues of the royal court!

In Queen Marie-Antoinette, you play as ambitious courtesans vying for favor in the opulent court of Louis XVI. Recruit influential characters from five distinct factions (Favorites, Merchants, Military, Clergy, Aristocrats), fulfill secret Plots, and adapt to the Queen’s ever-changing demands to earn influence points.  The Queen’s Requirements and shifting Conditions will disrupt your plans and force you to rethink your strategy each turn. Only the most cunning courtier will rise to the top.

Set up the game by first choosing one of the ten Requirement cards at random for the game. This sets the end-game scoring conditions.  Then, choose one card from each suit at random, flip them over to show their condition side and place them in a row underneath the Requirement cards.  These cards are the Queen’s Conditions. The focus token is placed on the suit noted in the bottom left of the yellow Requirement card.

Shuffle the rest of the character cards, and then lay out starting points of 2 or 3 cards (player count dependent) and then make three columns of equal length with the remainder of the deck.  A start player is chosen, and then in reverse turn order, the starting cards are drafted – each player choosing one set and then placing it face up in front of him.   The plot cards are shuffled and each player gets a hand of 4 Plot cards.  Each player also gets 5 points to start.

On a turn, the player can either play a card from their court OR validate a plot card.

To play a card, you take one of the face up cards in front of you and place it at the bottom of any of the three columns on the table. Then take the top two cards from that column and add it to your face up area.  Now, based on the card that you played, resolve the Condition of the color of your card.

• Blue – causes card shenanigans amongst the players or points lost
• Purple – lets the active player score points
• Yellow – gives points based being the best in the criteria in a particular color
• Green – allows for heavy card manipulation with the table
• Red – score points based on cards in your area

Some of the condition cards direct the player to the timing of the action (i.e. is it before or after the player takes the two cards and adds them to their area).  The icons for this will be seen in the top corners.

If you choose to validate a Plot, reveal the Plot card from your hand, prove that your cards meet the criteria on the card and then score the points shown on the plot card.

The game ends when a player hits the target point total (40 pts for 4p) – the current round is finished so that all players have the same number of turns.  The game ends immediately if any of the three columns on the table are emptied.

Players now add the points scored from the rule on the Requirement card.  The player with the most points wins, ties broken in favor of the most validated plot cards.

My thoughts on the game

Queen Marie-Antionette has some interesting hand management concepts (well, with your “hand” really being your tableau of cards on the table).  You are trying to collect the correct set of cards in order to score the Plot cards that you were dealt at the start of the game.  Your tableau is a fairly fluid situation because you add a net of one card each turn to the tableau by giving up one and drawing two back.

Each game has a different set of condition cards, and this combination will in turn change the base strategies for players.  The plot cards also give each player differing motivations in what they are trying to collect.  

So, you’re trying to draft cards that you can use to score your Plot cards.  But, you might also be drafting certain colors of cards because you’re simply trying to use them to trigger the action associated with their color.  Each of the colors has its own theme, and for those that care, it’s impossible to play without a bit of take-that action as every blue card seems to have some sort of targeted attack on it.  You’ll have to prepared to withstand a few random card exchanges or other shenanigans when you play this one.

The art on the cards is fantastic and really makes you feel like you are in Versailles with all of the nobles.  We didn’t have any problems with the rules on the cards that we encountered in our games with the prototype English translation.  The games play out fairly quickly, and each game of this has given an interesting puzzle to draft and score the best cards each time.  For my local group, I’ll likely find the least punishing/least random Blue rule and just use it in each game while we randomize the others.  There’s no way this will hit the table a lot otherwise.

Until your next appointment,

The Gaming Doctor