In Orleans, players assume the role of powerful leaders seeking to expand their influence and fortune in the bustling city of Orleans and its surrounding provinces. The game is played over a series of rounds, with players taking turns to perform various actions such as recruiting followers, constructing buildings, and gathering resources. During medieval Orléans, you must assemble a following of farmers, merchants, knights, monks, etc. to gain supremacy through trade, construction and science in medieval France. Players must strategically allocate their drawn followers to various actions on their player board. Each action requires a specific combination of follower types to be completed. The available actions include: Before receiving theInvasionexpansion, we hadn’t played a whole lot of Orléans, but the games we did play were really enjoyable two -player experiences.Orléans Invasionis a big box expansion forOrléans which contains lots of scenarios designed by both the original designer and by Inka and Markus Brand who are also really well renowned designers. It is 1598, and you have settled in the middle of France in the city of Orléans on the Loire. Your goal is clear: Build a cathedral in Orléans — all of you together because only together can you meet this challenge!

There’s new place tiles, where you can send your Followers to partake in new actions. Last of all, there’s some new Event tiles. (34 of them, to be precise.) This differs from the base game. Now you cannot guarantee that a certain quota of Event types will occur during the game. These Events keep you on your toes! Orleans can be a little overwhelming at first as you try to get to grip with the options.The gameplay is straightforward though, and everything on your player board makes sense. It's especially important to have everything out and set-up as you explain how to play. Set-up is going to take a while too. I've upgraded my copy with the fan kit which lets you use meeples instead of the cardboard chits for characters, and technology, plus a fifth player. Orleans: Invasion – This cooperative expansion requires players to work together to defend the city of Orleans from outside threats, adding a new layer of strategy and cooperation to the game. The expansion includes a new scenario for 2-5 players, a co-operative scenario, a two-player only duel scenario and a number of solo scenarios. We never play any solo games, so the focus of this expansion for us was the duel scenario and the co-operative scenario. We didn’t really feel likeOrléansneeded any expansion content, given that it plays extremely well with two players and is the style of competitive game that doesn’t get very in-your-face, but let’s see ifOrléans: Invasionis a must have for us. Orléans Invasion Gameplay – Invasion The game isn’t necessarily a, “real time” game but drawing from your bag and assigning townsfolk can be done simultaneously to speed up play.

Contributors

Orleans boasts a rich and immersive theme that transports players to the bustling city of Orleans and its surrounding provinces in medieval France. The beautifully illustrated game components and evocative artwork help to create a vivid game world that players can lose themselves in. The various actions, buildings, and follower types are all thematically grounded in the game’s setting, adding to the sense of immersion and world-building. This strong thematic foundation not only makes the game more enjoyable to play but also helps to make the gameplay mechanics more intuitive and accessible for new players. New Beneficial Deeds : a new Beneficial Deeds board providing completely new rewards for sending away your Followers

Taking place over 18 rounds, during which players may have anywhere from one to four or five turns, Orleans has a strong solitary element, with two to four players each beginning the game with four worker (“follower”) tokens, using them to gain more followers, earn money or goods or development points, or move around the game’s map to build trading posts. There are more things to do on the board than any player will be able to do in a single turn, and early in the game a player will only get one turn in a round—usually just adding a single follower to his/her supply. Such choices have long-lasting effects on what that player might be able to do later in the game; some moves open up more possible moves for later, while others are aimed primarily at increasing the player’s game-end points total.In addition, you will have to fortify the outer walls by building trade posts on all of the outer cities of the map. But in case you were thinking this all sounded too easy, each player has a personal, often selfish, objective that they must complete before the game ends.