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The left-most Opus costs 3 Talent points (2 + 1 showing above the card) and 8 ducats. The middle Opus costs 2 Talent and 8 ducats. The Memory card to the right costs 1 ducat and 1 story point of any kind (shown below the card) Perform or Sell Music You’ve got these note tokens on the right side of your board. If you do this action, first thing you need to do is look at the bonus tokens at the bottom of each of the five sections of the mass. Some of them give you resources or points one time, immediately, while others give you a recurring bonus. These two give you a bonus point every time you buy, perform, or sell a piece of music of the matching type, and those last two let you immediately repeat the depicted action any time you do it. If you have this tile, for example, you can travel to a city, pay to get the bonus, then travel to another city and do it again. A truly inspired production, Lacrimosa blurs the lines between board game and art. The presentation embraces the period behind the theme doing everything it can to immerse you in the unique and ambitious subject, the process and its distinct moments. Right from the moment it was announced, Lacrimosa is a title that has captivated hobby gamers with 2 simple ingredients: a pedigree from Devir (the accomplishment studio touting the success of recent games such as Bitoku and Red Cathedral) and a truly eye-catching cover full of emotion and energy. Everything seems in place to not only deliver an exciting, functional game, but an original experience. There are five main actions as well as free bonus actions associated with resource conversion. The five actions are as follows: So if you want the tile in that section from the top composer, you’ll need to put your token with the eighth note side facing up, you immediately get the bonus listed next to where that token was on your board, then you have to pay the cost shown on the tile you want. These get more expensive as you get deeper in the pile, so earlier is better.
The last action, this fancy cross, is, thematically, you’re paying these composers to work on Mozart’s mass. Practically speaking, this is a little area control mechanic wrapped up with some engine building. Players score the corresponding victory points for each of their markers in those sections. This is a very unique strategic element that can have a profound effect on final scoring in the game.Once you’ve completed the fifth round of the game, after getting your player board income in the Maintenance phase, perform endgame scoring by tallying up victory points for any royal court tiles you fulfilled, then you score points for each movement of the Requiem, and for your remaining story points and ducats. Whoever has the most victory points wins the game. Be strong! For there are many good tidings to come, though this will not be without a counterpoint here or there. It is my intention to share this new game without misinterpreting its impact on my gaming group. Published by Devir Games and designed by Gerard Ascensi and Ferran Renalias, Lacrimosa plays from one to four Mozart aficionados, or maybe just some competitive euro gamers. For each section of the Requiem, count the composer markers. Whichever composer has more markers in that section scores the higher victory point value for each marker with their symbol. Note: those symbols are for a composer, not a player.
Look, this is the last time I will mention the theme, because the game becomes more confusing the more you think about it. Lacrimosa is a series of levers that y’all are going to spend the next two hours pulling. Don’t think about what’s being represented. Thank you for reading, Hal, and for your comment. I agree that this review doesn’t work. It is too long for how little there is to say on its subject. I tried something—Hey, this game is too long for what it’s doing, what if the review were equally stagnant—and it didn’t work. If you love efficiency euros, you’ll enjoy Lacrimosa. It’s not going to become your favorite game, but you’ll have a decent-to-good time. Even if you love efficiency euros, it’s not worth seeking out in my opinion. Let Lacrimosa come to you. The theme is a welcome change from farming and war, even if it makes absolutely no intuitive sense in terms of gameplay, but there’s so much more to learn here than the decision space rewards. Requiem: Fund one of two composer contemporaries who are finishing the Requiem. Players choose between the five movements and their available instruments. Opus and Memory cards become more powerful (and more expensive!) for the next period, and the Travel area is refilled.
A game of Lacrimosa is played over five rounds, each of them corresponding to a different creative stage in Mozart’s life. Each round begins with a Main phase where you take actions, followed by a Maintenance phase where you clean up and prepare for the next round. At the end of the fifth round and endgame scoring, whoever has the most victory points is the winner of the game. Both games feature beautiful production that emphasizes unique themes, but they are themes that have absolutely nothing to do with the gameplay experience. For Bitoku, about Japanese forest spirits, the theme simply disappears. Lacrimosa is unique amongst games I’ve played for the degree to which its theme actively works against understanding the game. I didn’t bother using the theme of Bitoku to teach new players because it was faster to explain everything mechanically. I avoid using the theme for Lacrimosa because attempting to incorporate it makes the game significantly less comprehensible. That’s really bad. In the first section, single note has the majority. Blue has two single notes and gets 6 points. Purple has a double note and gets 1 point. In the last section, single note has the majority again. Blue and Purple each earn 3 points, and Yellow earns just 1 point for their double note. Impressions
Once all players have taken their four turns, everyone cleans up. Players get new Story points, money, and other perks according to what they’ve put on their player boards, then remove all the Memory cards and shuffle for the next round. Regrettably, this is not a game our kids were terribly interested in playing. This isn’t really a surprise to us, as the theme is a bit more adult, and it is on the complex side. I do think a game savvy 12-year-old can play this game mechanically without issue. But it takes a special kid to be interested in composers from the Classic period. Solo Finally, collect the reward on the taken tile and the reward indicated on the player board for the chosen instrument. There are so many different ways to play Lacrimosa that we haven’t yet settled on any primary strategy. Players may seem to be surging ahead with their tactful acquisition, performance, and sale of music, or they could be charging around Germany, visiting city after city. Players could be building progressively more powerful memory cards and leaning on period bonuses or Royal Tiles, or they could be banking on contributing the most to the Requiem, and scoring huge end-game points.Players continue taking turns playing 2 cards from their hand into their player board and taking actions until all players have played 8 of their 9 cards, completing 4 turns. The 9th card is held over as part of your starting hand for the next round. Then there’s a Maintenance phase for income and cleanup to prepare for the next round. They could choose Sussmayer instead (upper tile, represented by single eighth note), but it costs 8 ducats instead of 4. Maintenance Wow. This game is gorgeous. The visually arresting box art for Lacrimosa is the most memorable box I’ve seen in the last five years. Thankfully, the artistic touch doesn’t end there. Devir spared no expense in the quality of the components in Lacrimosa, to the point where it is simply a pleasure to play. I get endless (probably too much) pleasure in the player board, which actually allows you to slide the cards inside it and stops them perfectly in place. It just feels right. Less Complex Than It Seems
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