Review
The Barracks Emperors
The Barracks Emperors is a lean, deceptively nasty GMT trick-taker that turns feral with the right four players. It is less convincing below four, but at full strength it is an easy blind buy.
- Published
- 2023
- Designer
- Wray Ferrell, Brad Johnson (I)
- Publisher
- GMT Games
- Players
- 1–4
- Playing time
- 120 min
The Barracks Emperors is easily the best thing I have played in a while. Do not let the GMT logo make you sit up straight: the rules are as straightforward as dry crackers — a clean A for explanation — yet there is a deeply devious game under that spare surface.
At heart, it is a trick-taker. You play a card, work out what everyone else may be holding, and try not to hand the player opposite precisely the opening they need. The sequence is simple, but every play comes with the uncomfortable feeling that somebody has just laid a trap for you.
It comes alive with four.
TheCuttlefish
It comes alive with four. The other players are not merely three people drawing cards; they are three enthusiastic assassins of your plans, waiting to turn one small lapse into the loss of an emperor you thought was safely yours. There will be inventive swearing, accusations of devilish play, and the particularly painful discovery that the accusation is usually fair.
With fewer than four, the whole affair goes a little strange and loses its bite. At four, though, with an honest price and rules that enter the head without a fight, The Barracks Emperors is a blind buy.
At four, though, with an honest price and rules that enter the head without a fight, The Barracks Emperors is a blind buy.
TheCuttlefish
Source: BoardGameGeek
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