Argent: The Consortium

Board Game Geek Reviews

1. 8.4 out of 10

   AngryWeaseL

   Really good game, very heavy game, not for casual players, the only thing I don't like about this game is that it is hard to teach.

2. 8.2 out of 10

   athiel

   You can win without knowing how you are winning. Or win by knowing exactly where to win. Though things do become more obvious in the last round when everyone is asking how much of X do you have? Influence is very important, and breaking ties can be quite deciding.

3. 7 out of 10

   Andy Parsons

   The kind of box filled with stuff, manga-style artwork, abundant characters with varied special powers, and a huge amount of variability that we have come to expect from Level 99. I am bored to tears with worker placement, yet Trey Chambers spices it up with six varieties of workers, each with their own abilities, and by providing other options for your turn. Workers who bump others out of spaces and spells that put spokes in your wheels give Argent plenty of interaction of the bruising kind, which is fine with me. An interesting element is the player control over when a round will end. Your greater resources and slowly developing masterplan may be of no use if others hoover up the round ending cards. However, what really makes Argent unusual is that you begin the game with only a sketchy idea of what's required to win. Twelve cards with win conditions are laid out and only two are face up. The ten face down cards are a subset of 16. There is a way of peeking at those cards, but it doesn't seem remotely likely you'll see them all and some of those you do look at will be late game surprises that you're ill-equipped to do anything about. It really is important to watch what others are collecting. With a lot going on and many cards being discarded face down, that is easier said than done. The tension of the final scoring is often mentioned in comments; the tension derives from simply not knowing what will count and how much of it anyone else has. That's not entirely a good thing. Argent is a very fun ride but its destination is a little too uncertain. I have only played with three players and am inclined to agree with the BGG voters that this is the best number. With more players I could imagine the chaos generated by spells, supporters, special abilities, and artifacts may well get too much. I'm kind of fond of Level 99's house style of artwork. Production quality is decent, except for the cheap plastic coins.