Designers:  Stefan Feld (Amerigo, Aquasphere, Bora Bora, Bruges, Carpe Diem, The Castles of Burgundy, The Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game, In the Year of the Dragon, La Isla, Luna, Macao, Notre Dame, The Oracle of Delphi, Rialto, The Speicherstadt, Strasburg, Trajan), Michael Rieneck (Cuba, The Pillars of the Earth, Santiago de Cuba, World Without End)

Artist:  Dennis Lohausen (Aquasphere, Camel Up, Carcassonne: South Seas, Coal Baron, Crown of Emara, Dominion: Intrigue, A Feast for Odin, Fields of Arle, Gaia Project, Glass Road, Hansa Teutonica, Hawaii, Luxor, No Thanks!, The Quacks of Quedlinburg, Rajas of the Ganges, The Taverns of Tiefenthal, Terra Mystica, Village, The Voyages of Marco Polo)

Publisher:   Queen Games (Alhambra, Amerigo, Chicago Express, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Fresco, Kingdom Builder, Lancaster, Luxor, Shogun, Thebes, Wallenstein)

Genre/Mechanisms:  area majority/influence, roll/spin and move, rondel, set collection, worker placement

Funding Status:  At the time of this posting, Merlin Deluxe Big Box is already fully-funded. Pledges currently total almost 13x the initial funding goal, with 5 days left to go on the campaign!

Player Count:  2-4

Solo Mode:  no

Complexity:  medium-heavy

Risk:  medium-low

What It’s About:  “In Merlin, players move their knights or Merlin with the help of dice around the action ring to get the most desired actions. While the knights are only moved by the corresponding player, Merlin can be moved by all players, which makes integrating Merlin in one’s plan a tricky endeavor.” The Merlin Big Box includes the new expansions, the previous two expansions, and the base game.

How It Works:  “A game of Merlin is played over 6 game rounds. Each game round begins with the First Player taking a turn, followed by the other players in a clockwise direction. During their turn, the active player 1) selects one of their dice and moves their knight or Merlin a number of spaces on the action rondel equal to the number of pips shown on the die, and then 2) performs the action of the space where the movement ends. Then, the next player takes their turn, and play proceeds. The game round ends after each player has taken 4 turns, using up all their dice. A scoring takes place after the second, the fourth, and the sixth game rounds. The players gain additional victory points during these scorings. The game ends after the final scoring at the end of the sixth game round.”

In a given round, “the active player selects one die from their castle board, and places it in the center of the game board without changing the number of pips.” When the player uses one of their personal dice, they “advance their knight on the action rondel by the same number of spaces as pips on their die, in clockwise direction.” When the player uses the white Merlin die, they “advance Merlin on the action rondel a number of spaces equal to the pips shown on the Merlin die, in the direction of their choice – clockwise or counter-clockwise. The active player may expend an apple from their castle board in order to change the facing of the selected die to any side, 1-6; they move the corresponding figure by that new number of spaces, and return the apple to the general supply on the game board. If the player moved Merlin, they may choose to expend one of their Merlin’s staff tokens, removing it from their castle board and returning it to the game box. If they do so, they can then repeat their action for the turn immediately. Additionally, a player may complete up to one of their mission cards per turn.”

After placing dice, the active player “chooses one of their henchmen (Lady-in-waiting, Shield-bearer, Flag-bearer or Builder) from their castle board or from any of the other 5 principalities and places her or him on the corresponding space in the principality at which they have ended their movement. If that space is occupied by the henchman of another player, that henchman is returned to the castle board of its owner. If the player chooses to place their Builder, they claim one piece of construction material from that principality, if available, and store it on their castle board.  If the player chooses to place their Builder, they claim one piece of construction material from that principality, if available, and store it on their castle board.  If the player chooses to place their Shield-bearer, they claim one shield from that principality, if available, and store it on their castle board. If the player chooses to place their Flag-bearer, they claim one flag from that principality, if available, and attach it to their castle board. Flags can be used to perform various additional, special actions during the player’s turn. And finally, if the player chooses to place their Lady-in-waiting, they take one of their influence counters from their castle board, if available, and place it on that principality.”

Finally, the active player triggers the action of the rondel where they’ve placed their henchman. The various iconography on the location allows players to gain victory points; gain influence; gain a flag, construction material, or shield; move a henchman where they have influence to take another action; claim Excalibur; claim the Grail; relocate a henchman to take another action; exchange action spaces; discard & redraw mission cards; and build a manor.

“After the active player has completed their action (or forfeited it), their turn ends, and the next player takes their turn. The round ends when no player has any dice left.”

As mentioned above, players perform Scoring at the end of the second, fourth, and sixth rounds. During Scoring, players have to use shields to repel any traitors in front of them. For each un-repelled traitor, they lose 3 victory points. If a player repels all traitors and also possesses Excalibur, they gain 3 victory points. Each territory of connected terrain will score 1 point for each tile in the group, with the Victory Points going to the player with the largest number of Manors in the territory. In each of the six Principalities, victory points are awarded for the total number of influence markers in the Principality, to the player with the most influence markers present. Then all players will remove their influence markers from the Principality, down to 1. The Grail can be used by its possessor in one Principality to break a tie. Players all score 1 VP for each Henchman in a Principality.

When performing Final Scoring, players also score 1 VP for each apple, 2 VP for each Staff of Merlin, and 1 VP for every 3 unused materials. The player with the most VP’s wins the game.

The new Morgana Expansion adds 3 additional modules to the game: Morgana, Caerlaen, and Market. The Morgana module adds poisoned apples, which players can use to sabotage each other, and a drinking horn that scores bonus victory points. The Caerlaen module adds Districts that replace the game’s Principalities for increased gameplay variability. And the Market module allows players to acquire various goods and resources by spending gold. These modules can be used in any combination with each other and/or with modules from previous expansions.

Comparisons:  Feld designs are no longer the sexiest or most innovative designs on the market, but they remain remarkably solid game designs that offer legitimate choices to the player and a range of gameplay options, particularly with the addition of various modules. They do, however, feel a bit dated, and of a previous generation of game design. But Feld’s games seem to pair particularly well with publisher Queen Games, who often slacks on production quality, but offer solid game designs to consumers and a comparably low price point. All of that taken into account, the best comparisons are some other Feld games, including: Aquasphere, Bora Bora, Bruges, Carpe Diem, Forum Trajanum, La Isla, Luna, Macao, Notre Dame, and The Oracle of Delphi. Feld also designed The Castles of Burgundy, but that is a high point that stands on its own, somewhat apart from the rest of his work. Another designer who shares many of Feld’s design sensibilities is Rudiger Dorn, and some of his comparative games include: Genoa, Goa, Istanbul, Luxor, Montana, and Rune Stones.

What Should I Pledge?:
$34 Expansion 3: Morgana: the new Morgana Expansion.
$62 Expansion 3: Morgana in Empty Big Box: the new Morgana Expansion with upgraded components in the Merlin Deluxe Big Box with GameTrayz insert (for people who already have the base game and other expansions, and want the upgrades along with the Big Box).
$111 Early Bird 2: Merlin Big Box: this is the all-in price that include the base game, all of the previous expansions including the new Morgana Expansion, upgraded components, and the Big Box itself with GameTrayz insert to hold it all.
$134 Merlin Big Box: the same rewards as the Early Bird 2 pledge, but at a higher price point.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives
Queen Games doesn’t really do KS-Exclusives. Instead they offer their “Queenies,” which are only available via crowdfunding campaigns and directly through their website. The Queenies that come included with this Kickstarter (which can also be bought directly from their website for $15 plus shipping) are the single expansion modules for The King’s Decree and Treasure of the Environs. These are included with the Deluxe Big Box, so you won’t be receiving them if you only order the Expansion 3: Morgana or the Expansion 3: Morgana in Empty Big Box.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $134 for the Merlin Big Box (assuming you missed the Early Bird prices) plus $20 in shipping for a total of $154.

Merlin Deluxe Big Box completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, March 12th and tentatively ships in November 2020.