Orléans (2014)

The reviewer enthusiastically recommends Orléans, highlighting its straightforward rules, innovative bag-building mechanics, thematic artwork, and strategic depth, stating it's quickly becoming one of their all-time favorite games.

Tom Vasel found Orléans to be an amazing bag-building game with strong and clean mechanisms that provided immense fun, even if the theme was largely irrelevant to his enjoyment.

Rahdo expresses immense love for "Orléans," highlighting its fantastic bag-building mechanism and the strategic depth created by resource scarcity. He particularly praises its 'bonkers crazy amazing' two-player experience when playing with specific setup modifications.

The reviewers found Orléans to be a highly satisfying and very good game, praising its well-implemented bag-building and worker placement mechanics, and noting its excellent scalability and replayability, with one reviewer calling it a personal favorite.

Tom Vasel praised Orléans as a mechanically strong and highly replayable bag-building game, offering diverse paths to victory and an enjoyable engine-building experience, despite a less prominent theme. He enthusiastically recommends it, believing it deserved to win the Kennerspiel des Jahres.

The reviewer highly praises Orléans, considering it one of his favorite games and consistently on his top 100 list, appreciating its core gameplay. While he enjoys the Trade and Intrigue expansion, he notes that the Plague expansion makes the game much more challenging and points out minor production inconsistencies with the thinner corpse tokens.

Tom Vasel found 'Orléans' to be an amazing and highly enjoyable bag-building game, praising its deep and varied mechanics that allow for diverse strategies and significant player improvement over time, despite considering the theme largely irrelevant.

“Orleans is really good. If you are interested in it at all you should stop reading and go buy it.”

Dad and his game group express overwhelmingly positive feedback for Orléans, highlighting their love for the gameplay and absence of any negative points.

The reviewer highly recommends Orléans, noting its unique bag-building mechanic sets it apart from other Euros. He finds the game engaging and interactive, appreciating that it plays quickly once players are familiar with the rules.

“Orléans and Orléans: Trade & Intrigue combine the best features of deckbuilding/poolbuilding, resource management, worker placement, and long-game strategies into one beautifully designed game.”

“I love Orleans. The game is hugely satisfying. It’s one of my favourite games of all time.”

“I absolutely adored taking turns in this game. The decision space was magic for me—lots going on, but my options in each turn are limited by the bag draw.”

“What this all adds up to is a game that is very definitely about managing your pool of resources, but which doesn’t feel like a deck-builder with a board tacked on.”

“I think Orléans is great design because it’s strategic and tactile, and it has those surprising ups and downs. For a one or two hour playtime it delivers the kind of experience you get with much longer games.”

“For Euro fans who enjoy engine-building with just enough luck to keep things spicy, Orléans is a classic for good reason. It’s easy to teach, deeply replayable, and always leaves you wondering how you could’ve done just a bit better.”

The reviewer highly recommends "Orléans", praising its engaging gameplay and replayability, despite minor criticisms regarding its length and some rulebook organization. He expresses immense enjoyment for the game and rarely turns down an opportunity to play it.

“Orléans is a game tailored for strategy enthusiasts and fans of worker placement and deck-building mechanics. It is ideal for players who enjoy complex, yet rewarding, gameplay and are willing to invest time in mastering its intricacies.”

The reviewer highly recommends Orléans, praising its engaging bag-building mechanics and distinct gameplay that sets it apart from other Euro-style board games.

The reviewer highlights that Orléans is a bag-building game that is easy to teach and offers many engaging strategic choices for players.

Tom Vasel highly praises "Orléans" for its engaging bag-building and engine-building mechanisms, which he finds incredibly fun and offers diverse strategic paths, making the game enjoyable despite a less prominent theme.