Brian Boru: High King of Ireland

The fact that Brian Boru was played almost simultaneously in Athens, Thessaloniki, and Katerini, only two days after arriving, tells me a lot. Especially in a hobby where we all have stacks of still-shrinkwrapped games, there clearly was a real appetite for a trick-taking game “with meat”: something that does not stop at taking tricks, but gives them weight through area control or something similarly distinctive. It reminded me of the first time I saw AEG’s Trains, when a deck-builder suddenly gained a third dimension.

At its core, Brian Boru uses trick-taking as the foundation that drives its broader game. The tricks are not there as an end in themselves: they are tied to the struggle for control of areas and provide the “meat” one wants from this kind of hybrid. It feels like a familiar system has been given a more substantial reason to exist on the table.

The interaction, then, comes through that connection between trick-taking and area control. Choices in the tricks affect the contest over the map, rather than simply being a sequence of isolated hands. Even so, for me the trick-taking part itself loses a little something: the game achieves its overall goal, but it did not completely win me over specifically as a trick-taker. I tried it with five, and I do not expect four players to change that impression dramatically.

Otherwise, Brian is solid: lean, quick, and pleasant, with truly top-tier production. It is one of those games that looks and feels exactly right on the table, without unnecessary fuss. I only wish Osprey would pick up the rights to Popular Front and give it the same production quality.