Game Profile: Forum Trajanum

Publisher:  HUCH!, 2018
Players:  2 – 4
Time:  60 – 120 Min.

 
Forum
Trajanum is a game about building your own colonia and
sending envoys to Rome. The game requires frequent and difficult decisions.  It generally flows at a good pace because the
actual mechanics are neither complex nor all that time consuming.  There is some tile selection to open spaces
on your colonia board.  There is resource
management in the shape of coins and seven different types of citizens.  There is tile-laying in your colonia that can
trigger additional actions and additional points.  During the course of the game there are
multiple ways to collect points.  There
is always something positive you can do with your turn.
 
At the beginning of a round, players will select two face down envoy tiles
from their colonia.  These tiles will indicate
specific resources.  Selection of where
to draw them from is important as it will open up spaces for future
building.  They will choose one of these
two tiles to keep and one to pass to the player on their right.  On their turn, a player will select one of
the two tiles: either the one they kept or the one they received to play and
one to discard. Note, there is a cost to be able to keep and play both tiles. Next,
they can use their citizens to construct a building in their colonia.  This building can trigger another action
either when sending an envoy to Rome or when moving on one of four special
benefits tracks located on the main game board. 
There are three cycles in the game with each consisting of four
rounds.  Scoring takes place at the end
of each cycle.  There are two unique
scoring methods in each of the three cycles.  These are revealed at the start of the game so
you know what you need to accomplish.  Additionally,
points are scored for gray buildings by row in your colonia.  Envoys are used to scored based on their position
in Rome on the main board.  After the
third cycle, the player with the most victory points wins.
 
Forum
Trajanum marries relatively simple mechanics with some real
tough decisions.  Invariably, players
will always have to pass an envoy tiles that they want to keep.  They will also have to discard envoy tiles
they want to play.  Each turn you see
three envoy tiles and will only be able to play 1, and possibly 2 with the
sacrifice of two citizens.  Each and
every decision is important.  It is fun
to try to figure out how to best work you citizens in order to end up with the win
in this thought-provoking game.