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''El Grande'' is a
German-style board game A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game, (generally just referred to as board games in Europe) is a class of tabletop games that generally has indirect player interaction and abstract physical componen ...
for 2-5 players, designed by
Wolfgang Kramer Wolfgang Kramer (born 29 June 1942 in Stuttgart) is a German board game designer. Early life As a young child, Wolfgang Kramer used to play games with his grandmother, and said he developed a positive attitude about games because "she always use ...
and
Richard Ulrich Richard Ulrich (born 1942 in Stuttgart) is a German board game designer. Many of his games have been nominated for or have won the Spiel des Jahres, a German games award. He is best known for co-authoring the board game ''El Grande'' with Wolfg ...
, and published in 1995 by
Hans im Glück Hans im Glück is a German board and card game publisher. Though many of their own games are language-independent they themselves publish only printings for the domestic market which include only German-language rules; English-language printings o ...
in German, by
Rio Grande Games Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Placitas, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games. History In 1995, Jay Tummelson began working for Mayfair Games. At that time, May ...
in English, and by
999 Games 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Books * ''999'' (anthology) or ''999: ...
in Dutch. The game board represents renaissance-era
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
where the nobility (the Grandes) fight for control of the nine regions. ''El Grande'' was praised for its area-control mechanism, and was awarded the ''
Spiel des Jahres The Spiel des Jahres (, ''Game of the Year'') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence ...
'' prize and the ''
Deutscher Spiele Preis __NOTOC__ The Deutscher Spielepreis (, ''German Game Prize'') is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine ''Die Pöppel-Revue'', which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals ...
'' in 1996. Following its release, several expansions and an alternative version were published.


Gameplay

The game is played in nine rounds. There are no
dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...
in the game, and players have many chances to influence the turn order. The original game has a number of action cards that are turned up each turn, which is the only source of randomness in the game. However, the effect of this luck is very small, since these cards are potentially available to be used by any player in the game. Each player starts the game with a hand of identical cards (numbered 1-13) at the beginning of the game. These cards are used to bid for turn order. The person who plays the highest card chooses their action card first, etc., but each player may use each card only once in a given game. During each turn, players take Caballeros and execute an action card, which includes two actions, a special action and placing Caballeros. During three of the nine rounds, scoring occurs, which involves players choosing secret regions, scoring the Castillo, which is a tower where Caballeros are placed inside, moving Caballeros from the Castillo to secret regions, and scoring other individual regions. The main challenge of the game is keeping track of the many factors that determine the balance of power in the regions and the score track.


Reception

Upon its release, the area control mechanism of the game was praised, with Geoffrey Engelstein, writing in ''Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design'', describing the game's area control mechanism as an "elegant example of European design sensibilities applied to the American-style conflict games".
Christian T. Petersen Christian T. Petersen is a game designer who has worked primarily on board games and role-playing games. Early life Christian T. Petersen was born in the United States, but grew up in Denmark; he was still in high school there when he founded P ...
comments: "''El Grande'' showed me the surprising depth that could be achieved by interlocking simple mechanisms — the principle that lies at the heart of the German school of design." Mikko Saari from ''Lautapeliopas'' also praised the game's replayability and components, but critiqued its scalability under four players. ''
Dicebreaker Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...
'' also commented that the game as a "time-proven, award-winning classic". The game was awarded the ''Spiel des Jahres'' prize in 1996. The jury praised strategy, "clearly structured" gameplay, the game board landscape designed by the artist Doris Matthäus, and the "well-explained" rules despite the complexity, concluding that the "two authors have impressively succeeded in bringing all this together into a harmonious whole". The jury commented that despite some elements of luck, player control is more emphasised. Stewart Woods, writing in ''Eurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games'', described it as "relatively complex" compared to other winners. ''El Grande'' also won the 1996 ''Deutscher Spiele Preis''.


Expansions

Following ''El Grande'''s release, several expansions were released, including ''Konig & Intrigant'' in 1997, which replaced several action and power cards. ''Grand Inquisitor & Colonies,'' which added regions, was also released in the same year; subsequently, the ''Grandissimo'' expansion was published, adding action cards. In 1998, ''El Caballero'', which was based upon ''El Grande'', was released, with the ''Spiel des Jahres'' jury describing the game as an "independent, attractive placement game".


References


External links

* {{Spiel des Jahres Board games introduced in 1995 Board games about history Spiel des Jahres winners Deutscher Spiele Preis winners Wolfgang Kramer games Hans im Glück games Rio Grande Games games