By Adam Roffel
Citadels is a fantastic board game. It sees players building up their own little city while taking on various roles and responsibilities. The game has a ton of player interaction. The Assassin can knock a character out for the round, the Thief can steal another player’s gold, and so on.
When I heard that this highly interactive game was going to be shrunk down to a two-player experience, I wasn’t sure what to expect. After a few games of Citadels Duel, I’m impressed with the idea here. Even so, it didn’t quite hit for me.
Three Phases Keep This Moving Quickly
Each round of Citadels Duel is broken down into three phases. First, players draft the roles they will use for that round. Each player is dealt four cards from the deck of nine. They choose two cards to keep and pass the other two to their opponent.
After receiving two additional cards, each player chooses three of the four cards to keep and discards the remainder. It will not be used this round.
That means six of the nine character cards remain in play for the round. These characters are numbered one through nine. The Resolve Phase then begins with the character numbers being called in sequential order. If either player has the number called, they play the card and do what it says.
For example, if a “1” is called, the player who holds the card plays it on the table. This is the Assassin, and it reads as follows: “Announce a character name to eliminate; if your opponent holds that character, they lose their turn and reveal nothing when called.”
If the player holding the Assassin calls out the Queen and the opposing player has the Queen in their hand, they won’t get to play it this turn. The next number is called. Players proceed by playing cards or skipping numbers until all nine character numbers have been called.
Citadels Duel uses a new idea called the Council Board. Players will attempt to control the majority of the nine council seats. That majority provides benefits during the final phase, the Expansion Phase. Whoever controls five or more seats gets to take three gold from the supply. They also get to build one district. The other player gets to either take two gold or build one district.
Who Controls the City?
During the Expansion Phase, players place district tiles into a 4x4 grid. All districts are double-sided, with a white border on one side and a black border on the other. These are tied to the two player colours in the game.
When building, players choose a district from the face-up display or one of the two unique districts they started the game with. They pay the cost and play it into the city with their coloured border face up.
If they build next to districts of the same type, they add one gold to the newly built district for each matching adjacent district. Those coins can provide points at the end of the game.
When the 4x4 grid is completed, the game ends and players tally their points. Points are earned for the cost of each district a player controls. They also get one point per gold on a district they own. Players earn one point for every two council seats they control. The player with the most points wins.
Deep Strategy Drives This Experience
Citadels Duel can be taught and played in 30 minutes, so it is a really quick experience. There is a lot of strategy here, though.
Controlling the council seats is pretty important because it allows you to earn gold and build districts during the Expansion Phase. However, to maintain control of the council, you might need to prioritize certain characters should they get dealt to you. The King and Queen, for example, really help with the council, but don’t provide a ton of other benefits.
Other characters can provide you with great options even if you don’t have control of the council. The Merchant gives you three gold. It also lets you place one gold on up to two Commercial districts you control in the city.
Other characters let you build before the Expansion Phase and even offer discounts. The Warlord lets you take control of districts by paying costs with some deductions. It’s a great way to steal valuable districts that might earn you a lot of points.
Who you get to use each round is somewhat chosen for you based on the cards you are dealt and the cards you are passed. Working with those cards, though, is where quick critical thinking is required. Sometimes things will be out of your control, but you’ll need to use what you have and pivot your strategy.
I did find that completely ignoring the council is detrimental to any strategy. It’s unlikely you’ll win if you never have control. In most games where 90% of the control was held by one person, that person always won.
While it’s not paramount to have control every round, you’ll want the split closer to 50-50 over the length of the game. That gives you a much better chance to win.
Incredible Production, Incredible Value
Citadels Duel has outstanding production. It includes a dual-layered board for the council tokens, plastic council tokens and coins, and a great little plastic miniature. The districts are linen-finished cardboard tiles.
The amount of influence the council can have over the outcome is what held it back a little for me.
If you really enjoy Citadels and would love a quicker version, this gives the same type of experience, albeit much faster. This is an excellent two-player game. It might even work for players who find the original Citadels too long, lucky, and drawn out.
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