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"It's all okay," answers Marco, an Italian merchant. "There's no danger on a sunny spring morning like this one. In fact, I had a great deal this morning in that village, and I'm now heading to Orlèans as soon as possible. Do you have any news about scouts here?"
Without hesitation, Luis says, "I bet you can meet Bernard near the circus; at least I think that's his name. As for me, I have an important mission to accomplish: I received an important letter directly from the Abbey of Chinon two days ago and need to deliver it to the Duke of Orlèans. And while we're going in the same direction, my friend, I'm afraid that I cannot wait for you. My luggage is lighter than your goods, and my mission far more urgent."
"See you around the city soon then, or perhaps again in the valley," says Marco. "I'll search for this Bernard now. À bientôt, Luis."
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In La Loire, each player acts as both a Merchant and a Messenger, with each of these characters having well-defined goals: for the former making money, and for the latter delivering messages. Money is used to build new buildings (farms, monasteries, castles or palaces), to hire characters, and to buy new messages. Messages are used for scoring victory points (VPs). Both Messenger and Merchant use horses to move along one of the two main roads between Orlèans and Nantes, and the movement mechanism is easy to understand: A character moves a number of villages equal to the number of horses he owns, plus one. Of course it's possible to adjust the number of horses one has, but this will influence future turns, so a wise plan is required to avoid delay or (even worse) bad prices at the market.
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The village where the Messenger or Merchant arrives determines the action that character can possibly do: buying, selling, hiring characters, buying new messages, and delivering those same messages. What's required of the Merchant is that he buy goods for a convenient price in the villages, then resell them for a profit in Orlèans or Nantes. He can then reinvest this money in new trades, in palaces or buildings, or in hiring character cards that will help the player in future actions. Hiring characters is possible only in the village with the circus, which moves on to new villages from time to time. Being the player who triggers this circus displacement can be a very good strategy.
La Loire includes 29 different character cards that aid a player in five different categories: trading, movement, point-scoring, building construction, and the management of messages. Cards are limited, so players need to hurry up and take what they want; naturally there are different kinds of strategy to play with depending on who you take. Is it better to make a lot of money or be as fast as possible in your movements? Is it better to deliver more messages or build as many palaces as possible? Should you build castles, a monastery, or several farms? Hiring the right characters for your strategy is critical to win the game.
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Acquiring new messages and delivering them to the right place is the goal of the Messenger. There are five types of messages in four difficulty levels. Messages can be picked up at farms, castles or monasteries, and they must be delivered to the proper village, a combination of villages, or one of the two big cities.
La Loire is a race against the other players to be the first to reach a specific number of messages or to deliver enough goods on the river. The timing of your actions is vital, and often you'll realize only a few turns later that you probably didn't pick the best one based on everything that's happened since that time. Overall, the game is a well-blended mix of different game mechanisms: goods and money management, pick-up and delivery, character card selection, and movement planning.
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The game includes two main original mechanisms: the movement and the market. While the movement was briefly explained above, the market is also interesting to discuss. In the market there is a correspondence between the price a purchased good and other goods, based on the movement of that good's associated shield. In the village where a Merchant stops and buys, there is a shield associated with that village; looking at that shield in the market shows the current price of the good that can be acquired. The shields are on tiles, and after a good is purchased, the market tile in question moves all the way to the right, increasing the price for the just purchased good to its maximum amount. This process also automatically shifts all other tiles to the left, reducing the prices of other goods. (This pricing method is achieved by using a "hole" in the board that let you easily and smoothly shift the tiles to the left.)
One additional advantage of the La Loire app is that I can update the game with a translation of the cards in different languages without having to go to press. Before the game debuts at Spiel 2012, Italian and French versions of the cards will be available, followed by versions in Spanish and Dutch.
The intriguing mechanisms in La Loire will appeal to a range of gamers, and for more details on the game, you can either download the English or German rules or check out the videos below, which show the game itself and how the app is used.
Emanuele Ornella
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