Catherine: The Cities of the Tsarina

After the dizziness of deciphering the secrets of the colourful forest, I wanted something decidedly more relaxed. I had Catherine: The Cities of the Tsarina in mind as a possible companion for tableau building: something with enough substance, but without carrying Furnace's weight when the group is not in the mood for too much study.

Each player builds their own row of action cards, gradually setting up their tableau. The central idea is simple and readable: you arrange your cards and make use of the actions they unlock, without having to wrestle with an overloaded rules system.

To activate actions, you burn cards of the same colour. This small procedure gives the choices a pleasant bit of friction: it is not enough to put cards in a row; you must also decide which ones to sacrifice to get what you want. Scoring offers multiple paths to victory, so there is room to pursue different directions without the game turning into a chaotic salad of points.

I also liked that the iconography almost always makes clear what is happening; only one or two cards made me pause. Overall, it is one or two clicks above a simple point salad, but it does not fry your brain. It is very solid for casual tables that want a little more tableau building—well worth a look.