Review: Senators

Senators

Players: 3-5
Publisher: Indie Boards & Cards
Year: 2017

A copy of this game was distributed by the publisher in exchange for this review.

Rikki Tahta, known of Coup and Coup G:54, is a well-known designer of boardgames. While his other games feature attempting to seize powers in a futuristic setting, the theme this time is the civil-war ridden Roman republic. Instead of attempting to eliminate their opponents, the players attempt to fight over the favor of the senators and try to sway them to their side. As in the Coup and Coup G:54, money is used in order to do this, because the senators can be bought.

The different resources and the coins used in the game.

The goal of the game is to acquire the support of as much senators as possible. This is done by buying their support directly or by using other means. The player can trade resources for their support, try to extort resources from other players or auction common resources. As the game is of an uncertain length, it becomes race to get ahead of the other players and stay there. At the same time, players will try everything to reduce the power of others. Expect little mercy in this game.

On a player’s turn, there are a few options available. They can start an auction, where a three resource cards, and an office card are turned over. People can then bid on these individual cards and the starting player has the option of accepting their offers or buy them from them at the mentioned price. Any cards not bid on are acquired for free. A player can also extort a card from another player, where a player mentions a price and the extorted person can either pay up or accept the mentioned price. Lastly, a player can also cash-in. This means they turn in their resources in order to acquire senators. Another player can also join in on this by paying a set amount of points. The benefit of this is that you wouldn’t lose your turn and can still take another action.

Because the auctions can work two ways, it’s a bit tricky to use. You can drive up the price for the other player if they desperately want to have a certain card, but if you’re not careful, you drive up the price too much and need to pay for it yourself. It’s not just plunging into an auction and burning as much bridges as possible for everyone, but calculating carefully about every option available, which can change rapidly due to the changing circumstances. 

The different governors.

The auction and bidding system is really good. It provides a fresh and interesting twist to a familiar game. The artwork, as often with Indie Boards & Cards, is well done! There is player elimination, but it’s highly unlikely that this will happen. I see this as a major benefit, because player elimination in long games is a drawback for me.

This game might not be suited for all crowds. While you can plan, prioritize and act accordingly, luck is a major factor in the game. We had one game where it was all over within 7 turns. Luckily others last much longer. However, this randomness will not appeal to everyone. There’s blind bidding, people their money is hidden behind player screens. Also the player screens mean it’s less travel-friendly than some other games.

Most outstanding feature?

I’d say the mechanic of the event deck. This elevates the game to a higher level, as the game can end possible with the next player or maybe a couple of turns after it. As such the player doesn’t just need to be ahead at the end of the game, but because you don’t know when this happens, you need to try to be ahead all the time.

Overall, I’m stunned by how well all the mechanics incorporate in this game. Rikki Tahta, of the games mentioned earlier, delivers another great game. Compared to those games, the portability of Coup and Coup G:54, its mechanics feel familiar, but its different enough that both can be owned separately. If the mechanics appeal to you, or social games interest you, then I would certainly recommend this game!