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Res Arcana Duo is both an expansion for Res Arcana (with 35% more cards) and a standalone, two-player game that can be later combined with Res Arcana and its other expansions Lux et Tenebrae and Perlae Imperii.
Gameplay is the same as in the original game: Life, Death, Elan, Calm, and Gold are the essences that fuel the art of magic. Choose your mage, gather essences, craft unique artifacts, and use them to summon dragons, acquire places of power, and achieve victory!
Res Arcana Duo features a new drafting method designed for just two players and a tight set of 16 artifacts. Unlike the base game, it has no attacks, which some couples may prefer.
A game typically lasts 4-6 rounds. In each round, players do these steps:
Collect essences: performs any Collect abilities, and may take essences from components.
Do actions, 1 per turn, clockwise from the First Player, until all players have passed:
place an artifact
claim a monument or Place of Power
discard a card for 1 Gold or any 2 other essences
use a power on a straightened component
pass: exchange magic items and draw 1 card. If you are first to pass, take the First Player token.
Check victory (10+ VPs).
If no one has won: straighten all turned components and begin the next round.
- Gateway into Res Arcana
- Tight resource management
- Expands the Res Arcana universe with compatible content
- Significantly lighter than full Res Arcana
- Magic artifacts and resource management
- Fantasy mage duel
- Gateway into Res Arcana for two players
- Res Arcana
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- End-game trigger — Ends when a player reaches 10 points.
- resource generation and conversion — Use resources and monuments to gain points and engine progression.
- two-player engine-building — Build a tableau of cards to generate resources and points.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- There you go. Caesar and Cleopatra.