Auction / Bidding

Taken from BoardgameNews.com:

The year is 1430, a time of unrest and upheaval in the whole of Europe. Nearly 100 years have passed since the founding of the League of Six – a group of wealthy Lusatian towns that banded together to defend their commercial interests and preserve stability and order in the region.

You have been sent to this embattled land in the role of tax collector. As a young, ambitious aristocrat, you hope to stand out so that you will be given a position in the court of Sigismund.

The tax collector who brings in the most revenue for the king, while simultaneously gaining the support of the estates, has the best chance of finding himself by the side of King Sigismund.

The game consists of six turns representing six years. Each player takes the role of a tax collector visiting one of the six cities. The goods collected are placed in the royal stores or estate stores, thus giving the players influence in the court of King Sigismund. The player who gains the most influence wins.

The theme of this game is economic and cultural development in the Netherlands in the 17th century.

The game is played on a large game board of the Netherlands, divided into provinces. In addition, there are boxes for the East and the West Indies, and track round the edge of the board with the majority of spaces listing two of the ten provinces (in various combinations) that earn players varying amounts of income based on their influences in those provinces, or income spaces that earn players a flat income.

The aim of the players is to be the first player to earn 33 victory points, which are acquired through earning money to extend influence in the provinces, patronize artists, invest in businesses, establish colonies in the Indies, or obtain civic advancements. These are represented by purchasing cards from one of six decks, with each deck having a special focus. Investment cards provide cash payouts, with bigger payouts for collecting sets of different values (single cards are worth less than three-card sets). Artists provide a potentially large source of victory points, but require multiple turns of patronage (i.e., cash) before they pay out. Colonization cards provide ships, captains, and cannons to outfit expeditions to establish colonies which earn victory points and access to the higher-paying spice investment card deck. Civics cards can provide governorships in the provinces (victory points and income), civic improvements (victory points), a special action that allows the holder to alter the normal rules for advancing a token on the board track. There are cards that work with some of the other decks as well, in the civics deck (e.g., investments, expedition components, etc).