Dale of Merchants

Hello everyone! This evening, Hector, Amanda and myself decided that after a long day of horse transportation, we would sit down for a quick game of Dale of Merchants. There are several versions of the game, the first 2 being small box card games and the collector’s edition being a large box to contain the smaller versions along with a great deal of additional content. For today we elected to play without the leaders and traps content, which although fine, makes the game more complicated and time consuming.

The components for this game are pretty simple, but well done none the less. The card are of a good stock and finish, and the dice are well illustrated. I am not a huge fan of this style of large rounded wooden dice as I find they lack the heft for a good roll, these are about as good as they can get for that style. The collectors box adds an extremely well designed insert, which has room for planned expansion content. The art style is going to be one of those hit or miss things; most of the art is done is sort of a cartoony oil painting style. I find it quite fine to look at but those looking for detailed art will probably find it grating.

Dale of Merchants is a deck builder and deck dissembler game, largely built around quickly creating an engine and then rapidly breaking it down again to win the game. The game starts by creating a market deck with as many different merchant animals as there are players, +1. There is a large selection of these and each game works either as a standalone or can be combined with others and the collectors box. Players start out with basic level 1 animals and junk cards and use these to build their deck, the end goal being to fill a market stall in front of them, which is a tableau filled with card combinations totaling from 1 to 8.

One of the standout things about Dale of Merchants as a deck builder is that each card you purchase goes straight to your hand, so if you purchase an expensive card on a previous turn, you can immediately use it as buying power on the next. Each card also has a special ability and can also be played for it’s value into your stall, combining it with cards of the same animal type. First player to fill all 8 sections in their stall wins.

Dale of Merchants is one of my favorite fillers and my favorite deck builders. It’s an exercise in efficiency, but because of the massive number of combination of animals possible in even the base set, the game is kept fresh and can never be “solved”. It’s also extremely quick, even in a 4 player game, and you unless you are playing with someone who is hopeless for AP, you will never wait long for your turn.

The large amount of different animal cards are a big part of what makes the game so fun. Each one has a very different play style and the interplay between the different combinations makes every game different from the last. This is a big appeal of the game for me because given it’s short playtime, it will often hit the table as a filler several times in a single night, but play differently every time. There is a slight downside to this, as a few animal combinations lead to games which either drag on or become unwinnable, however one you’ve played with them once, it’s simple enough to veto those combos in the future.

Dale of merchants is also very easy to get into. Each game is a standalone which can be combined with the others, so if you wanted to give it a try, or just keep a small box for transport you could just grab one of the base sets. Or you could be like me and buy all the content and the collectors box. A note on the collectors box, in addition to adding more animals, it also adds several modules, the most notable of which is the leaders. The leaders are asymmetrical player powers, of which there are many. Although I enjoy them in concept, I find the heart of the game is a quick simple deck builder and if I wanted something more complicated I would play something else, but that’s me.

Playing Dale of Merchants 2 player is a very similar experience to playing with 3 or 4 players. There are less animals, and the board of available cards to purchase goes much slower, allowing for a little more time to work a strategy, but because the game moves and plays very quickly, it is hardly noticeable. Larger varieties of animal types tend to make for more interesting and dynamic combinations, but even with only the 3 types used in a 2 player game, there is plenty to play around with. There is also no reason you couldn’t play with more animal types in a 2 player game if you wanted to play slightly longer.

All in all I highly recommend Dale of Merchants 1 & 2 (and probably the upcoming 3)to anyone looking for a unique deck builder or filler. I can’t say whether I prefer one set or the other, having had them combined for so long. I would hold off on the collectors box unless you are a hardcore fan because the box comes with less new content than one of the base games but at more than twice the price. It’s really not worth getting unless you have the other sets and want a storage solution and the enhancements it provides to the existing games, but if you play frequently and have the other sets, it is very worthwhile.

Note: I’ve been waiting for this game to be played ALL MONTH and have mentioned it several times. While today was strenuous from horse transport, it was awesome to sit down and play such a fun, easy, and simple game. It’s pretty straight forward in rules and end goal, so I’d recommend it for hardcore gamers looking for a filler as well as potentially new gamers, so long as they don’t mind reading and doing simple addition.

The Teal Deer

Designer: Sami Laasko
Price: $20 per set, $60 for the collector’s box
Players: 1-4
2 player Scaling: Excellent
Playtime: 8-12 Minutes per player
Estimated Lifespan: In the permanent collection
Average Play Frequency: Monthly
Complexity: 3 (though this really varies depending on which animals you select)
Components: 4
Bang for Buck: 5
Value for Time: 5
Fun Factor: 4.5
Overall: 4.5