Carolus Magnus
Buy mercenary loyalty, seize hex regions, and watch the map shrink as your towers go up.
See how it plays
How to playCarolus Magnus - Playthrough With Friends
ReviewBoard Gems — Carolus Magnus (Instructional/Review)- Designer
- Leo Colovini
- Published by
- Rio Grande Games, Winning Moves Germany, Venice Connection
Charlemagne's realm as a ring of small hex regions. You place coloured mercenary cubes to win majorities, then build towers on the regions you control, and controlled regions merge into ever larger blocks. First to place all towers wins.
Who it's for
Players who enjoy abstract area majority with hard positional decisions. Three players is the acknowledged sweet spot.
Not for you if…
You want theme, story or a forgiving learning curve. The colour-control mechanism is unintuitive at first, analysis paralysis is common, and the medieval setting is pure wallpaper.
Vibe's take
Chess-like tension in a medieval coat. Turns are short, but each one can flip a majority you spent three moves building.
Nominated
Published 2000 · 26 years ago
older than 92% of games
In 4,358 collections
collected more than 53% of games
2–4 players · ages 10+
Best with 3 · publisher: 12+
about 60 min
longer than 62% of games · typical 30–90 min
Complexity: medium
One warm-up round · 2.6 out of 5 · heavier than 71%
Opinions: usual spread
A normal range of ratings
Language: no text
Playable without the language
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