As a game reviewer, I often get games from independent publishers. Many people can’t, won’t, or don’t know how to get their games published by a larger company, so they set out to produce their own games. Sometimes there is a good reason that no other company has produced the game, often the games are inferior, or need a lot of development. But still, gems can occasionally be found, and so I optimistically look forward to each game I receive.
Ken Stevens has quite impressed me with his games. Not only are they fairly high quality for a self-produced game, but also the mechanics are very similar to that of a “Euro” game. The Patrons of Venice (Toccata Games, 2004 - Ken Stevens) is one of his first two games, and while it has no ground-breaking mechanics, plays out very well, with a lot of player interaction and meaningful decisions. Parts of it reminded me of other games, such as Puerto Rico, etc., but all in all, I enjoyed the experience.
Each player receives a player board that shows three ships at the top - each with an arrow pointing to the ship to their right, and the last having an arrow pointing to Venice. The rest of the player board is basically a player aid. A map board of Venice is placed in the middle of the temple, with two large areas (Pirate Wharf and Market), and a city made up of seven “campos”. Each campo is surrounded by three or more spaces where buildings can be erected with some buildings adjacent to more than one campo. Two stacks of manufactured goods (cloth and canvas) are placed near the board, as well as a stack of “favor” cards. A stack of raw good cards is shuffled, with one card being dealt to each player’s hand, two placed face-up in the Market, and three placed on each ship on the player boards. Each player receives ten ducats, with the remainder being placed in the “bank”. Players also receive ten cubes in their color. The second-youngest player goes first, with play proceeding clockwise around the table.
On a player’s turn, they choose one of five available actions. All players will participate in whichever action they choose, but the “Lead player” (whose turn it is) goes first, and then all other players in turn order.
- Reserve Goods on Ships: Players may “reserve” one of the good cards on a ship. If reserving a shipment on their own board, they pay one ducat to the bank; reserving a shipment on another player’s board results in them paying two ducats to that player.
- Sail Ships: A number of raw good cards equal to the number of players are turned face up on the table. If any of the cards are “Pirate” cards, then pirates steal the card on the rightmost ship on each board - placing it face-up in the Pirates Wharf. Shipments that have been “reserved” are safe from pirates, and are instead placed in the hand of the player whose cube is on them. If no pirates show up, then each player takes the rightmost shipment into their hand (unless it was reserved by someone else). Each shipment card shows a good with its value (2-6). Shipments taken can be immediately sold to the Market, or kept in the player’s hand. All players then move their remaining shipments one ship to the right, and starting with the Lead player, replace the leftmost ship with one of the faceup cards (Pirate cards are replaced).
- Trade Goods: Starting with the Lead Player, each player may sell as many of their goods for face value to the market, receiving money from the bank. Then, starting with the Lead Player once more, each player can buy one item from either the Market for face value, or from the Pirate’s Wharf for one ducat each. Buying continues around the table until all players have passed.
- Sponsor a Business of Statue: Each player may sponsor a new business in the city. The player must show that they have the good(s) used by the business (for example, to build a draper, you must have wool in your hand), pay the amount shown on the business tile to the bank, and then place it on one of the available spaces on the board, placing one of their cubes on it to denote ownership. Statues may be built directly on a campo, costing three ducats plus one for each statue already in Venice.
- Produce Goods: Each player may produce as many goods as they can. Referring to their player aid, they see what each business they control produces and the required resource cards. Players discard the cards, receiving money for producing the good (depends on what type, and where the building is located). Players also receive a Manufactured Good card (canvas or cloth) from a business, or a “Favor” card - depending on the type of business.
Play continues until the end of a turn where one player has gotten the requistie number of points (12 in a three or four player game, 10 in a five player game). Each business controlled by a player is worth one point (two if next to a statue), and each “Favor” card is worth one point. The player with the most points is the winner! (ties broken by money)
Some comments on the game...
1.) Components: You can tell that the game was self-produced, but not at first glance. The wooden cubes are of excellent quality (very similar to the ones used in Age of Mythology), and the box, while a little drab, is sturdy and holds the pieces well. The cards are a little low in quality but are functional, and the artwork on them helps differentiate between what each one is. The money tokens are small plastic chips, similar to those used in Axis and Allies. The player boards look sharp, are laminated, and should hold up well. In other words, the whole production looks sharp, and the game looks almost professional.
2.) Rules: The eight-page rulebook is very nicely formatted and explains the game well, although some illustrations would have been nice. Still, I had no questions after reading the rules and found them quite simple to teach to new players. The only rules confusion occurred when sponsoring buildings - as players need only reveal that they have the resources necessary, not actually discard them.
3.) Roles: When players pick their actions, it feels remarkably like picking a role in Puerto Rico. There are, however, two key differences. For one, players can pick the same action several turns in a row; and two, the Lead player gets no advantage other than going first. Five actions is about the perfect number. There are enough different things to do to feel a sort of variety in the game, but a small enough number so that players don’t have to constantly consult their reference cards. Knowing which action to choose often depends on what the player before you did.
4.) Luck: The only luck in the game comes from drawing the raw material cards. While this can be slightly significant, you may be desperately waiting for hemp, and it may never show up; it is easily mitigated by players being allowed to reserve goods on another ship. Pirates can be slightly annoying; but if you’re really worried about them, you can reserve your own shipments. The “Reserve” action is actually really quite interesting, and players who know the right shipments to reserve, and when - will probably win the game. Is it worth it to pay Joe two ducats to reserve his pepper, which will then get me six ducats? - It all depends on the situation where the game is.
5.) Players / Interaction: The game handles up to five players, but even with the full amount, there is extremely little downtime. Each action is very quick: sell, sail, reserve, etc., so players are always doing something! The box says that the game is only for three-five players, although I’m not sure why you couldn’t play with only two. Either way, the game is very involving and feels like it could have been one of the Alea big box series.
6.) Strategies: The author mentioned multiple strategies in the rules, but a few things seemed fairly obvious. You want to place your buildings next to two campos if possible, to assure yourself of being next to a statue. Also, players must build as many buildings as quickly as they can, as there is only a limited supply of them. Games tend to come down to the wire, with the player who was the most efficient winning. The strategies are pretty obvious and straight forward, maybe not as deep as some other games, but a lot of room for maneuvering here.
7.) Fun Factor: OK, the game didn’t blow my socks off. I didn’t gasp out that - hooray, another game about trading in Italy! Still, I was pleasantly surprised how good the game actually was, and did have a lot of fun playing it. It has restored my hope that good games can be designed in the Americas, and that an independent publisher can put out some pretty nifty games. As far as I can see, the game is currently only available at www.toccatagames.com, but if you like strategy games, it’s worth tracking down.
The Patrons of Venice, while perhaps not being the greatest game I’ve played this year, still has managed to impress me with its clever mechanics and nice bits. Ken told me that he’s producing these games from his garage - I wish I could do something half as good! While not recommending this to the crowd of people who want “light”, fluffy games, I do think that it’s an excellent middle-weight game, with a lot of player involvement and tactical decisions. I don’t foresee an inexperienced player ruining a game and am not sure there’s an optimal strategy (the game flows in different routes too much for that). There are times that I wince when having to play a homemade game. If I wince when playing Patrons of Venice, it’s only because I’m enjoying myself too much.
Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games.”
