Thames & Kosmos – Devir – Lacrimosa – Level: Advanced –Euro Board Game – 2-4 Players – Board Games for Adults & Kids, Ages 14+ - BGLACML

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Travel: Move a player-shared Mozart meeple on the main map to visit new locations, gain bonuses, and gain end game scoring tiles. Once all players have taken their four turns, everyone cleans up. Players get new Story points, money, and other perks according to what they’ve put on their player boards, then remove all the Memory cards and shuffle for the next round. The second action is to tell tales of works you had commissioned from the genius. You can buy Opus cards from the market row at the top of the board, of which there are four types. Symphonies, Operas, and Chamber or Religious pieces. Then as a third action you can choose to either perform them for money or sell them for a mix of resources and victory points. A lot of the end-game scoring tiles will depend on your collection of these commissions so deciding whether to sell or keep can often be a difficult decision. Your fourth option is to journal. This simply means to upgrade your story cards from the market row. You pay the resources for the new card and then replace the bottom row card in your portfolio with this new one. Each period will release stronger and stronger cards but deciding what cards to replace will be tight as you will need to make sure you keep access to all possible actions for future turns. Sanctus

I really dig Lacrimosa; everything from the theme, to the gameplay, to the components, feels smooth and well-crafted. I found the art to be lovely and very fitting as well, so kudos to Jared Blando and Enrique Corominas for their contributions. Plus, it's great that you can play Lacrimosa with four players in less than two hours, and it doesn't overstay its welcome. Opus and Memory cards become more powerful (and more expensive!) for the next period, and the Travel area is refilled.Both games feature beautiful production that emphasizes unique themes, but they are themes that have absolutely nothing to do with the gameplay experience. For Bitoku, about Japanese forest spirits, the theme simply disappears. Lacrimosa is unique amongst games I’ve played for the degree to which its theme actively works against understanding the game. I didn’t bother using the theme of Bitoku to teach new players because it was faster to explain everything mechanically. I avoid using the theme for Lacrimosa because attempting to incorporate it makes the game significantly less comprehensible. That’s really bad. I scurried through the overview to discuss this design. First off, what an intriguing thematic choice. While Lacrimosa’ sea of beige and staunch European illustration places it firmly in the Euro strategy camp, it blends several mechanisms and couples these with the most curious narrative. Players are patrons vying to be the best at remembering their time with Mozart, spending sweet, sweet coin on the composition, and interacting with performances from the past (or present?). It doesn’t all come together thematically, but each action is rooted in specificity to service the dizzying sense of place. It’s as if two timelines have been smashed together. A moment of calm before the widow enters to seek our knowledge about the great composer.

A player can Perform an Opus to take a small amount of ducats (listed on the card). If their needs are greater, players may elect to sell a piece of music. This yields a higher amount of money, but they must then discard the Opus. Players start with the Nannerl minuet. It’s not worth much when performed or sold. Operas (such as Don Giovanni) are more expensive to commission (cost at top), but raise more money when they are performed or sold.

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Finally, collect the reward on the taken tile and the reward indicated on the player board for the chosen instrument.