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Italy during the 15th century was a country full of intrigue and magnificence. The tumultuous political conditions created the perfect breeding ground for the birth of a new form of government (called Signoria) and the rise of the most ambitious noble families. After having acted in the dark for a long time, the time has finally come for them to take control of the cities and shape Italy’s future. Their stories will go down in history.
In Signorie, you will play the role of a Signore, a Lord of one of the most prestigious families of the Renaissance. One at the time, players choose one die from a common pool. (Twenty dice in five colors are rolled at the beginning of each round.) You place it on your player board (your city) and perform one of the possible actions. The color of the chosen die determines the action, and the number on the die is a discount on the cost of the action.
During a round, each player can perform up to four actions. At the end of the round, if the sum of a player's chosen dice is equal or lower than 13, he can obtain a reward.
The dice mechanism is easy and innovative and gives players a simple, but challenging choice. Money is always tight, so there is a temptation to choose a high valued dice, but that needs to be balanced with obtaining the reward.
Signorie Review
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm very excited with how things are going and I hope it continues
- it's by far the best month of the entire life of the channel
- I essentially needed a little bit of a taste to see what was going on
- the channel has simply been growing at a very surprising rate
References (from this video)
- the dice pit mechanism provides meaningful decisions about high vs low value dice
- there is a balance between slower engine-building and faster VP-cashout strategies
- the helper board is really great and adds depth
- there are a lot of victory points available and interesting decision space
- puzzles are thinky and the dice-pool drafting creates interesting decisions
- analysis paralysis can slow the game significantly, especially mid to late game
- aesthetics are bland and the map/boards do not feel visually engaging
- replayability is perceived as below average due to a lack of modularity or varying setup
- the game can feel long and math-heavy, which can dampen excitement
- the core options for actions feel repetitive across plays without modularity
- power via marriage, alliances, and family influence
- an Italian household a few hundred years ago
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- assignment tiles and family resource expenditure — top icons correspond to assignment tiles; spending family members (male/female) activates actions and tile effects
- dice drafting — a pool of dice is rolled each round; players draft one die per turn until the pool is exhausted
- Dice pool drafting — a pool of dice is rolled each round; players draft one die per turn until the pool is exhausted
- die placement and color restrictions — players place dice into color-matched columns; only one die of a given color may be taken in a round
- Diplomatic Missions and city placement — moving figures off tracks to cities yields tiles and points, with placement rules tied to city ranks
- end-game scoring and rows — after a fixed number of rounds, scoring is based on rows with a requirement of at least three tiles per row
- end-of-turn rewards and initiative tracking — round-end rewards depend on total pips; initiative order rotates based on scoring
- hiring helpers and ongoing bonuses — you can hire helpers by spending Florences; helpers grant immediate VP and ongoing initiative benefits
- marriage, offspring, and dowry mechanics — marriages involve selecting cities, dowries, and tiles; offspring generation influences future actions
- official variants — Open Gates, 6-turn variant, and Private messages alter or constrain gameplay rules
- threshold placement with Florence payments — when placing a die, if its value is below the required threshold you pay the difference in Florence to place
- Track advancement — advancing tracks yields benefits and influences initiative on subsequent rounds
- tracks and advancement (nobility, religious, warfare) and initiative — advancing tracks yields benefits and influences initiative on subsequent rounds
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "it's got great puzzles it's got great thinky things you're trying to figure out the Pips"
- "I really prefer engine based gameplay"
- "the helper board is really great"
- "this game is just not bringing that in"
- "for many people they're going to love this game"