Die Saulen von Venedig (The Pillars of Venice)

It's well known among my friends that I'm a sucker for cool gaming bits and a nifty game theme. Die Saulen von Venedig (The Pillars of Venice) has both of these in spades. The game puts the players in charge of building the city of Venice. For those that might not know, Venice is an ancient European city that's built in a lagoon. It's entirely supported by large wooden piles, ontop of which are the buildings and streets of the city. The games plays a lot like Race for the Galaxy, where players choose a role and perform the associated actions. The goal is to score points using a variety of methods, such as claiming piles, constructing buildings, or even simply leaching off the actions of other players with several hangers-on roles, like the Gondolier or Begger.

The game is a fun area control game, because matching different parts of buildings scores bonus points. Additionally, you must decide which piles to use and which player to give points to when constructing your own buildings. It also reminds me of Leonardo Da Vinci, in that you have to perform several steps over consective turns to eventually score points. In Die Saulen von Venedig, you must aquire buildings, lay piles (or wait for someone to do it for you), then actually build the buildings. The game is not only about putting your various pieces in advantageous positions, but timing your actions so that you pull ahead on the score track right as the game is ending. While I would have preferred some 3-D city and bridges bits, the piles pieces are pretty cool, and the board ends up very busy quickly. The game is possibly expandible, with new buildings and roles potentially being added.

The visceral joy of building the city from the marsh up is the games biggest plus, giving this an edge over a lot of other area control games and earning a 7/10. Good game, great fun and an great addition on the city building/area control offerings!