Ierusalem: Anno Domini

Ierusalem: Anno Domini must rank near the top of the list of strangest themes ever given to a eurogame: you are trying to place as many followers as possible at the Last Supper, so they can hear the Lord speak. The remarkable thing is not that someone thought this could be a game, but that they made it feel thematic, respectful, and entirely comfortable around the table.

At heart it is a tidy euro with card management. The cards need looking after, and the moment you use them matters as much as having them in hand. This is not the sort of thing to play on autopilot after a Tuesday at work; a little forward planning is required if you want the payoff.

Tableau building supplies the steady sense of development, as you arrange your own area and line up choices that will eventually deliver. The interaction suggested by the contest for followers and well-timed actions need not shout to keep everyone alert.

There is a welcome feel-good air to it, along with the honest brain-burn of planning for the moment your efforts pay out. For a designer’s first game, that deserves two rounds of applause; overall, it is a quietly excellent eurogame and one of the year’s better ones.