Pax Renaissance

I had heard good things about Pax Renaissance, so I put it on the table despite my usual allergy to Phil Eklund designs. We read, someone sweated through the explanation, player aids were deployed; I ended with no strategy, a headache, and a victory that appeared to have happened by administrative error. Accessibility has been kept commendably lean.

At its centre, the game has you managing cards and choices around cottages, houses, and orders, while five separate conflict types add another layer of exceptions and consequences to every contest. The card choice in those areas is not a minor detail, either: when we took the top card rather than choosing freely, the game became luckier but, oddly enough, easier to live with.

With the rule played as intended, that sequence of choices lets an early leader extend their advantage more readily, and the game feels more snowbally. The conflicts are not ornamental, though: the pressure stays hard and dirty through the final score, so anyone who enjoys putting other players in a corner will have plenty to work with.

There is a game in Pax Renaissance, and when its pieces do align, the final struggle is very enjoyable. But five conflict types, rules that invite misreadings which often make more sense than the intended version, and cards crying out for a little more balance leave it as a fairly firm pass for me.