Maestro

Maestro Deep Dive

What the Community Thinks About Maestro

Maestro is a Renaissance game from Board and Dice in which the workshops of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo compete for fame and prestige across the Italian Peninsula in the early 1500s. Coverage so far is almost entirely anticipation: it appears on Gen Con most-anticipated lists, in unboxing segments and in convention news, and none of the reviewers discussed here had played it yet. What stands out in that early buzz is consistent. Reviewers are drawn to the asymmetry between the two workshops, to the idea of a team game at higher player counts, and to Board and Dice's track record with heavier Eurogames. Before You Play ranked it fourth on its list partly on publisher reputation and theme alone, and The Brothers Murph, who received a copy from the publisher ahead of Gen Con, say they are simply fascinated by it.

Core Mechanics That Define Maestro

Asymmetric Workshops

The defining feature is that the two sides do not play the same game. As one Gen Con solo preview explains, players use cards to take actions, but the two workshops are asymmetrical and score points in different ways. The Brothers Murph describe it as each side basically playing a different game with completely different components, and they point to one example: one side has a bunch of patrons. In a two-player game it is a one-versus-one duel. At four players it becomes a team game, with two players on Team Leonardo and two on Team Michelangelo sharing each workshop.

Card-Driven Actions and Deck Building

Cards drive every action. BoardGameCo, reading from the box during an unboxing of a copy it received, describes Maestro as a dueling game for one to four players played across four rounds, in which each workshop has unique skills and advantages. Players create and exhibit masterpieces to win the favor of influential patrons and build their own deck of cards to unlock stronger actions. That combination of a personal deck and a head-to-head rivalry is what the box copy promises; how it plays remains to be seen.

The Maestro Experience

A Rivalry Between Two Masters

The theme frames the whole game as a rivalry. Before You Play highlights the choice of playing as either Michelangelo's workshop or Leonardo da Vinci's workshop as the thing that makes it sound interesting, and one of its hosts is openly drawn to the Italian Renaissance as a board game setting, along with art distribution themes and dry Euros. The Brothers Murph connect the asymmetry directly to history: the two artists were different people who did different things, so their workshops play differently.

A Team Game at the Table

At four players, Maestro turns into two teams of two. Both the Gen Con solo preview and The Brothers Murph stress this as the most unusual part of the design, and the solo preview finds the whole package compelling and unique, at least at the higher player counts. For groups who rarely see team-based Euros, that alone makes it worth watching.

What Makes Maestro Stand Out

Two Games in One Box

Reviewers keep coming back to the idea that each side is its own game. The Brothers Murph describe it as playing two different games and say the asymmetry is exactly why the concept fascinates them. Asymmetry of this degree is less common in the heavier Euro space that Board and Dice usually occupies, which is part of why the game has drawn attention before anyone has played it.

Board and Dice's Reputation

Much of the excitement is borrowed from the publisher. Before You Play notes that Board and Dice tends to make heavier Eurogames squarely in its wheelhouse, and BoardGameCo says that simply being a Board and Dice game has it interested already. The Dice Tower's convention preview likewise lists it among the publisher's non-tea games it is excited to see. Both The Brothers Murph and Before You Play note that the board looks very Euro.

Potential Drawbacks

A Confusing Name

Our Family Plays Games reports that the game was previously called Art of Rivalry before a name change to Maestro, and one host finds the new name so generic that the first thing that came to mind was a conductor. That confusion is real: during The Dice Tower's Gen Con preview, a host described Maestro as musically themed, although it is about painting. Players searching for the game may have to cut through that noise.

Solo Is an Open Question

The Gen Con solo preview assumes a solo player takes one workshop against a solo opponent running the other, but cautions that solo might not be the best player count; it depends on how streamlined that opponent ends up being. Because every reviewer here is working from previews and box text, questions about balance between the two workshops, length and solo play will only be answered once hands-on reviews arrive.

If You Enjoy Maestro

Reviewers here compare Maestro mainly to other Board and Dice games. Before You Play ranks it alongside Entropy, another Board and Dice game on the same list, and The Dice Tower and BoardGameCo also talk about the two together. Players who follow the publisher's heavier Euros should keep an eye on both.