Czech Games Edition CGE00027 Alchemists Board Game

Product Information

It’s worth mentioning that the laboratory boards need to be assembled each time you play and if not done correctly and carefully they will suffer some minor wear and tear. For all you get within the game the box isn’t ludicrously over-sized (although it is rather heavy). Randomly choose three patient markers from a bag and place their matching charts, picture side up, for all players to see. Return the other charts and all eight markers to the box. Each randomization has a four-letter code. Write this down. If you need to complete the game on a different device (for example, if your first card reader runs out of power), just tap and type the code into the new device. It will use the same randomization as the first device. This system also enables you to play with two or more card readers if you wish. Each player then must choose which of the three patients they want to treat and place that essence card on their alchemist’s flask board. Multiple players can select the same patient. After each player has chosen, return all other essence cards to the box. Alchemists is a worker placement and deduction game for 2-4 players that takes about 2 hours to play. Alchemists plays great with any number of players. Game Overview:

Buy an Artifact: Artifacts are powerful items that help you break the rules and earn you reputation points. In The Alchemist, you are presented with an extra choice at the beginning of the game. Three from eight patients are chosen at random at the start of the game. And then each player needs to choose with a patient they will try and cure. This is done by placing the relevant essence card into their flask. Each aliment will bring the player a different potential extra power if they can cook the right potion. Total up your white chips in the cauldron. If it is exactly 7, the marker can move forward one space. Shuffle in the new fortune teller cards in with the ones from the base game. Some of these cards have a symbol on them, indicating which expansion they belong to, either a witches hat if it belongs to the Herb Witches expansion or a flask if it’s for the Alchemists. For the cards that have no symbol, they can be used in the base game without any issue. When it is your turn to exhibit a potion, remove your cube from the action space and place it on one of the six potions depicted on the exhibition board. This is the potion you are promising to exhibit. (You can't choose a potion you have already successfully exhibited. The neutral potion is not depicted because no one is impressed by toad soup).

Setup

Mandrake root and scorpion tail; spongy mushroom and warty toad. These are the foundations of the alchemist’s livelihood, science, and art. But what arcane secrets do these strange ingredients hide? Now it is time to find out.

You start your day with a leisurely walk through the forest, looking for interesting things to grind up in your laboratory. Or perhaps you spend some time doing favors for people around town ... in exchange for favors later, of course. Speaking of actions, I will say that they game is much tighter at the higher player counts. With only 2 players, you get 6 actions cubes to use, however you only get 4 cubes at the top of the range. While that might not seem like much, those two actions can make a big difference. Competition will be a lot more fierce with 4 players to be the first to publish. The winner of the game is the player with the most victory points. Break ties using leftover gold pieces, as explained earlier. If players are still tied, they remain tied. Well done! Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands) may take longer to reach you.

The Final Round

Now score one-third of a victory point for each gold piece. Or, to put it another way, buy 1 victory point for every 3 gold pieces, and keep any leftover gold pieces as a tiebreaker. All reputation points become victory points. So if you ended the game with 16 points of reputation, you begin final scoring with 16 victory points. I like this opportunity to add some control to the game. It is not given for free. You need to earn this power, and your opportunity to do this increases with time, round by round. This works brilliantly with the game. As your bag fills up, you will be building larger and larger potions. Your opportunity to control this a little more each time grows at the same rate. It is a very clever system.