IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION EL GRANDE GAME: This special 10th Anniversary edition includes *both* the "King & Villain" and "Grand Inquisitor and Colonists" expansions!
This English-language edition was manufactured in Germany, not China.
Set in Renaissance Spain. In a long game, a game consists of nine rounds; a short game consists of six rounds. On his turn, a player places supporters - known as cabelleros - in the various regions or in the castillo. Action cards are played, resulting in strange turns of events on the game board. After three rounds of cabellero placements, each region is scored (the player with the most cabelleros in a region gets the points for that region, etc.).
A fantastic strategy game!
The game in greater detail
In El Grande, players represent factions trying to gain the influence of the Spanish King. The board is divided into provinces-each province is worth a certain number of victory points for first, second or third place, during a scoring round. A wooden "castillo" is situated in the Mediterranean; this is a Trojan Horse-type mechanism, where player may drop cabelleros instead of placing them into the provinces. Players receive dozens of little cubes, which represent "cabelleros" or (in more abstract terms) influence. At the beginning of the game, these cubes are placed in a saucer or similar container which represent "provinces". [from there, players use their bidding cards to bring cabelleros into their "court"; from a player's court, he may put cabelleros into play on the board via the Action Cards]. A large pawn represents the King. The Action Cards are separated into their proper five stacks, shuffled and placed face-down.
Each player receives a personal set of bidding cards that have the dual purpose of bidding on Action Cards, and bringing cabelleros into the player's court from the provinces. These cards are numbered from 2 through 13, this is the power of the bid when player bid upon which face-up Action Card they wish to win. Each card also has tiny pictures of cabelleros, this is the number of cabelleros the player may bring into his court from the provinces. The number of cabelleros brought to the player's court from the provinces is negatively proportional to the strength of the bidding card. For example, the 13 strength bidding card is very powerful, but allows no cabelleros to be brought into the player's court; however, the 2 strength bidding card is the weakest re: bidding, but allows the player to bring 5 cabelleros into his court.
The game is divided into nine rounds. After the third, sixth and ninth rounds, all the provinces are scored. Rounds proceed as follows. The top cards in the five Action Decks are revealed and the players bid upon them. Highest bid wins, and other players take their turns in order, based upon strength of their bid. On a player's turn, he first brings the appropriate number of cabelleros into his court from the provinces. Then, he implements the action on the Action Card he won...these actions are vital to the mechanics of play and are too numerous to mention. They range from immediately scoring certain regions, to moving the King to another province, to moving your opponents' cabelleros around the board or back to the provinces, etc...After he implements his Action (or before, if he prefers), a player places his cabelleros from his court, onto the board. Cabelleros may only be placed in a province adjacent to the King, and may not be placed in the province containing the King!
After the third, sixth, and ninth rounds, all the regions are scored. First, players secretly select a region into which they will send all their cabelleros "hidden" in the castillo. The castillos is opened and the cabelleros placed in the province committed to! After that, the regions are scored, one by one. Players receive points for having the most, second most, or third most cabelleros in a province. After nine rounds, the player with the most points is declared "El Grande"! This is one of the finest German strategy games ever designed. El Grande is a pure study of strategy and ever-shifting tactics!
The King & Villain and Grand Inquisitor and Colonists Expansions
These expansions offer three new ways to play El Grande. In Intrigue and the King, the action cards from the original game aren't used. In their place, players create their own deck of 13 action/priority cards from 28 possible cards. Grand Inquisitor and the Colonies adds four new regions, the Grand Inquisitor and new action cards. Two new stacks of action cards are provided, increasing the number of stacks to seven from five (in the basic El Grande game). When Intrigue and the King and Grand Inquisitor and the Colonies are combined, the action/priority cards are borrowed from the former, whereas the new regions, the Grand Inquisitor and the two new stacks of action cards are borrowed from the latter.
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Average Score
9.30
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10 "The Grandest Of Them All" by Christian Monterroso
This is currently my favourite game. El Grande
poses tough decisions at every step of the
game. I enjoy area majority games, and this one
is the grandest of them all.
The El Grande Expansions are highly recommended,
as they provide a nice variety of flavours
without changing the heart of the game.
9 "A true heavyweight." by Jacob
After years of gaming, El Grande remains unsurpassed in its presentation, its charm and its beautifully complex design. It has
everything that I crave in a game: bidding, bluffing, an array of difficult decisions and mystery (the castillo is an awesome concept).
For such a complex game, it excels in its balance demonstrated by the caballero-card system and the numerous come-from-behind victories I’ve witnessed.
Initially, there is a lot to consider for newbies. With repeated playings, more strategies become apparent. This is the sign of a deep
game.
Something I appreciate is the opportunity for diplomacy. As in Tigris & Euphrates, an important tactic in El Grande is to start wars
between your opponents. I must also mention the bits are excellent: brightly coloured wooden blocks, an authentic-looking map of 15th century Spain, a big honkin’ castle on the board . . . no complaints there.
There’s plenty of nerve-racking decisions to be made throughout the game including the secret vote at the end of every third round. El Grande is deeper than most, but it’s also more satisfying. Any game with this many original ideas packed into it is sure to please.
10 "One of the Best Ever Designed" by Christine Biancheria
This game comes from a top design time and is flawless. It plays best with 4 to 5 players. Players jockey for majority control of various territories. Each turn, players bid for turn order, and the more you bid, the less you can do when your turn comes around. A turn basically consists of choosing from 5 action cards, or however many remain when your turn comes up. These action cards allow you to place, remove and move markers on the board to try to gain majority
control for the scoring rounds, which pop up every third round. Scoring is tense and exciting. Additionally, players, on their turn,
may throw markers into the Castillo, a structure on the board that hides its contents. This makes for some excitement during scoring rounds, when the contents are revealed, and each player chooses where to send these hidden pieces. All in all, a tense and fantastic game.
9 "A Perennial Favourite" by Jeff Suderman
My top 10 German board game list actually includes about 25 games. El Grande is in my top three.
This game is about territory acquisition through card management and caballero (men) placement on different territories in Spain. Winning requires both offensive and defensive strategy. I find it
enjoyable with anywhere from 2 - players though 4 or 5 player games can be more exciting (this is typical of many games). Naysayers to this game tend to be people who don't enjoy the see-saw battles for regional dominance (place men, see them moved, move someone elses as a result.....you get the point). This is the reason I like this game. It also has one of the most unique and exciting game mechanisms I have played - a hidden Castillo (region) that you can
place men in but cannot see the total until a scoring round (when you then secretly send these men to a region thereby affecting scores).
I think that very few German gamers wouldn't give this as a solid pick for your collection. I think it should be one of your first picks.
P.S. - The expansions turn this game into a 10 for me but don't rush out and buy them until you have played the regular game 20 times. The regular game is just too good to begin with the expansion.
8.5 "El Grande " by Ralph Boerke
I think this is one of the better 'German' games. I have played it a number of times and enjoy it. It requires a bit of strategy and you have to size up your competitors to win.
I especially like the fact that it is set in the number of turns it takes to play. Scoring occurs 3 times and there are 9 turns in total.
Some of the expansions for it are good but I prefer the original version.
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