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Agra, India: The year is 1572; this year marks the 30th birthday of Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad, popularly known as Akbar the Great. Akbar is the third ruler of India's Mughal dynasty, having succeeded his father, Humayun. With the guidance of his regent, Bairam Khan, Akbar has expanded and consolidated India's Mughal domains. Using his strong personality and skill as a general, Akbar has enlarged his Empire to include nearly all of the Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari River; his presence is felt across the entire country due to the Mughals' military, political, cultural, and economic dominance.
To unify the vast Mughal state, Akbar has established a centralized system of administration; conquered rulers are conciliated through marriage and diplomacy. Akbar has preserved peace and Order throughout his empire by passing laws that have won him the support of his non-Muslim subjects. Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic state-identity, Akbar has striven to unite his lands. The Mughals' Persian-ized culture has afforded Akbar near-divine status.
Notables and emissaries from all over the country are on their way for Akbar's birthday celebration. As an ambitious landowner, you cannot let this pass; the festivities are a golden opportunity for you to rise in stature and wealth.
On your land in Agra, you cultivate and harvest cotton and turmeric. You possess a forest from which you produce wood, as well as a small, but very profitable sandstone quarry. By trading and processing your wares, you can obtain more luxurious goods, which you will then use to woo notables as they make their way into the capital. Of course, your rivals have the same plan; you must use your wits to outsmart them as Akbar's birthday draws near...
(Description from the publisher)
- Grand, ambitious Euro with deep trading and production
- Diverse paths and player choices
- Thematic, attractive production and components
- Strong emphasis on trading, variety, and resource conversion
- Influence and favor mechanics add strategic depth
- Opulence, luxury goods, and courtly influence
- Historic/fictional city-state with emperors, notables, and guilds
- Descriptive promotional
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Delivery to emperor — deliver goods to the emperor only if not yet served; diversity increases value.
- Influence and favor tracking — move influence marker to gain extra favor tiles.
- Influence Points — move influence marker to gain extra favor tiles.
- Order fulfillment and scoring — fulfill orders to gain points and advance via some scoring.
- Resource management — manage wood, sandstone, and four main goods produced by farmers to fulfill orders and improve value.
- Trading — trade goods with merchants to gain favors and abilities.
- Trading and exchanging — trade goods with merchants to gain favors and abilities.
- worker placement — place farmers on production board to determine goods produced.
- Worker placement/production board — place farmers on production board to determine goods produced.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is one of the most grandest Euro games you'll ever see
- this is a beautiful game called aggra and I love it
References (from this video)
- dense euro design
- interesting resource-conversion chains
- replayability via modular options
- complex for new players
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Resource management — many resources (roughly 16) converted along a production tree to build and gain points
- resource management / conversion — many resources (roughly 16) converted along a production tree to build and gain points
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- these games still represent like the top five percent of all games I've ever played
- the theme really comes alive
- it's incredibly dynamic and fun highs and lows and a ton of agonizing decisions
- it's a very unique abstract game where the theme actually comes through
- it's cutthroat brutal game actually
References (from this video)
- Gorgeous artwork (Michael Menzel) and visual appeal
- Sandboxy Euro with deep strategic choices
- Very heavy, potentially sandboxy for some players
- Complex setup and long play sessions
- cultivation, production, and trade across multiple goods
- Mughal India (1572) and related trade dynamics
- Sandbox strategic planning with heavy decision space
- Agricola (deluxe) in terms of depth and box presence
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- economic engine — build and optimize supply chains to maximize profits
- Resource management — cultivate, harvest, trade, and process goods
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is Mr. President, the American Presidency 2001 to 2020.
- It's basically a solo beast of a game.
- Well, this one again, when you see it, it's a giant box.
- This is based off a computer game. It's Paradox Interactive, I believe.
- I like these civilization-based games.
- Two-player only games—they're a struggle for me to get to the table.
- I would certainly like to try it just to see how it plays.
- Star Trek Ascendancy is kind of I don't know. It looks like a Twilight Imperium game but themed around Star Trek.
- Beautiful artwork makes it look gorgeous even before you learn the rules.
- There's a limit to how much the cost justifies it.