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larryjrice
FIRST IMPRESSION: I liked my initial play with the base expansion and governor expansion. Others ignored the governor movement to their end game peril as they lost a good bit of points. It is an interesting way to activating other tiles as well as blocking spaces from being built, etc. The cacao addition as well as new techs and such was a welcome addition with macao useful for modifying dice or shipping. More boats are always good!
Grey Pilgrim
American Kingdoms is a modular expansion that has the feel of tossing in all the cut bits from developing Santa Maria and adding tertiary mini games. The main part, the Mayan City has enough components for a stand alone game and changes so much that it separates itself from what makes the base game so enjoyable. More so, there is only one board, so everyone else has to watch one player play a different game. Specialists and ambassadors are neat. They don't offer much new, but serve to function as small variants. Cocoa is the highlighted addition, but players can already shift die values via coins, so the cocoa power is merely duplicated. Of all the mini games, The Governor is the most entertaining. Santa Maria is a solitary puzzle about the tension between pushing your luck with drafting vs building up a personal board. The Governor amplifies each aspect, pushing the benefits of both choices equally. Otherwise, the overlay seems odd, but paying points to take end game points stands out as equally odd in the base game. The overlay is a good addition that is here because of a slightly over-designed base game system. American Kingdoms is an expansion box of questionable value. Everything worth while could easily be substituted with a player marker or equivalent. The Governor and slightly modified overlay are welcome, but everything else is either redundant or strongly out of place. American Kingdom's additions would serve better as "mini" promos sold separately.
Bryle
Santa Maria: American Kingdoms is in someways an incredibly impressive expansion. This expansion's greatest strength is the amount of depth added in exchange for small additions to the formula. The standard changes/additions to the base game, advanced shipping contracts, communal dice module, and governor (traveler) module, are all excelent inclusions. The specialists module, while mostly inoffensive, dilutes the strict economy, has round upkeep, and is more rules overhead than the module is fun playing. Despite my disappointment with the specialists, American Kingdom's modular approach allows groups to tailor which modules are included, to taste. I would have to have an incredibly strong opinion in regards to a game's value proposition for it's price tag to be factored into my final ratting. Although I am not particularly phased about this board expense, where this expansion will falter for many is it's cost to content ratio. The 5th player module, which I have little interest in trying, is meant to be a good chunk of the price justification. Unless you crave the benefits of that module, it's hard to recommend American Kingdoms for the small amount of additions added to system; excellent as they may be.