Citadels Duel

Citadels (2000) is a classic from Bruno Faidutti, and a highly successful game. Citadels Duel is heavily based on it, and adds some elements not found in the original. What I am most surprised about is this is not designed by Bruno Faidutti. It is designed by Guillaume Montiage (Kemet, Nefertiti) and Manuel Rozoy (TIME Stories, Altered). 

The nine characters are still in the game. Some work a little differently, but you will be familiar with them all if you have played Citadels. Every round, each player draw four characters, setting the last one aside face-down. From the four that you have drawn, you choose two to pass to your opponent. Now both of you decide which three to keep for the round. 

The numbers will be called out one by one, and if you have the character of that number, you get to use that character's power. Just like in Citadels, you have the assassin which can kill an opponent's character, and the thief which can steal your opponent's money if you correctly guess one of his characters. 

You are going to spend money to construct buildings. You will eventually build to fill out a 4x4 grid. That's when the game ends. You score points for total building value and also for control of council members. There is a council in the game, with 9 seats. Some character powers affect control of council seats or are affected by control of council seats. 

The building types correspond to some of the characters. When you have military buildings, the warlord character becomes more powerful for you. So there is some basis for you to guess your opponent's characters. Sometimes how you pick characters depends on what you think your opponent is going to do. You might pick a less optimal character for the sake of not getting targeted by your opponent. But then maybe he knows how you think and still guesses your character correctly.

You can steal buildings from your opponent, e.g. using the warlord ability. However there is a guard pawn which protects buildings orthogonally adjacent to it. 

This game is more complex than the original. It has more elements. It feels a lot like the original. Playing this is like watching a very good movie adaptation of a good novel.