First Impressions of Lancaster

God save the King! Henry V is on the throne of England and now is the time to prove your loyalty to him. Help him unite the nobles of England, make war on France, and secure your own borders with a magnificent castle in his honour. In tribute to the history books, the winner shall be the player with the most victory points!

There is much to do to impress your King. Correct use of your knights will be important. You can send them to visit the many castles on the board, to gain the benefit for visiting or win the noble to your cause, or better yet, both if you have the cash! But knights come in many levels of honour and a more impressive knight from one of your opponents will kick yours from that spot.

Flattering those nobles might seem frustratingly beneath you, but having them onside will garner you influence in parliament, where each round 3 blind votes will occur to bring new laws into effect, and to replace old ones. You’ll want to be able to keep the laws in play that benefit you the most, but typically you’ll need to negotiate with your fellow Lords to get the best out of the situation.

You can make use of them at your own castle for a one off benefit, or better still upgrade your castle to make that benefit permanent. Finally, you may send them to the many on going wars with France. But these fighters are no loyal band of brothers, he who sends the most troops gains the largest benefit, or the greatest cost if the war is lost and those knights need to be ransomed home (forget the peasants who die there, no one cares about the peasants).

Lancaster is an elegant and fascinating game. There are many elements, but none of them are particularly complicated. If you are familiar with worker placement and area control games, you’ll probably grasp this game immediately. Yet despite this apparent simplicity, the way in which all the elements fit together provides an exceptional and fascinating challenge, one that I thoroughly enjoyed and expect you will too!