Valletta

Build your own baroque Valletta with bricklayers and bastions, while the founding Grand Master patrols as a building inspector.

Designer: Stefan Dorra
Published by: Hans im Glück
Editions by: Z-Man Games

In 1566, Jean Parisot de Valette laid the foundation for Valletta, the future capital of Malta, and in this 2017 game you build your own version of it. You procure raw materials, hire merchants, bricklayers and roofers, and put up bastions, baroque buildings and a right-angled street grid. You also cultivate contacts with the Order of Malta to improve your reputation. Watching over it all is de Valette himself, patrolling his streets as a building inspector, and when he reaches the end of his patrol, the game ends. Two to four players, around eighty minutes, a deck-building city game with a clear countdown built into its setting.

Deck building to hire merchants and buildersBastions, baroque buildings and street gridAn inspector whose patrol ends the game

Who it's for

You like deck-building city games with a historical hook, and you want a medium-weight game for two to four.

Not for you if…

You want a lot of confrontation or a heavy economic simulation. The tone is calm, with a bit of take-that.

Vibe's take

Steady and constructive, with a moving clock in the background. You expand your city a little at a time, keeping one eye on the inspector walking his route.