- Publisher : Super Meeple
- Designer(s) : Carl Van Ostrand, Drake Villareal
- Artist(s) : Mihajlo Dimitrievski
- Players : 1–5
- Playing time : 60–90 Min
- Weight BGG : 3.33
What's this?
Grand Masters is an expansion for the asymmetrical game Merchants’ Bay . It expands on the base game by introducing a new dynamic with the festival and new mechanics such as Paladins , display shelves , enchantments , advertisements and a new resource: Honor Tokens . This expansion celebrates the arrival of a new faction festival and transforms your games with more strategic interactions and rewards.
How do you play?
🧑🤝🧑 Assistants and Festival
Each time you spend hours performing an action, you can move your assistants onto the Festival tracks.
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The travel is equal to the number of hours spent.
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You can distribute this movement among several assistants.
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At any time during your turn (before advancing your clock), you can reset an assistant to gain the reward from the space they are on.
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You can also spend Honor tokens to advance an assistant 1 or 2 additional spaces.
⚔️ The Paladins
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These are “wildcard” adventurers : each player can consider them as any color of adventurer.
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When a Paladin docks, the person who brought him receives a personal reward ; if he goes to a Hall, all players are rewarded.
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They have their own type of commodity , unsized, sellable at any dock for 5 base gold .
🛠 New items
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Advertisements : These give you sponsorship during the market phase.
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Display Shelves : Add an item to earn +2 gold when selling.
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Enchantments : Double the value of an item the next time it is sold.
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Honor Tokens : Obtained with certain icons or as compensation for undiscarded corruption.
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Frame-up : You discard corruption and make other players lose gold according to a punitive formula.
💥 New card effects
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Paladin Cards : Add bonus effects when they arrive.
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Rogues : New sabotage effects, such as forcing players to fire a staff member.
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Elite Citizens : Allows you to directly earn Honor tokens.
💥 New merchants
This unique expansion introduces four new merchants, each with a unique mechanic:
1. The Detective investigates using transparent cards to identify the culprits.
2. The Pastry Chef assembles exquisite and ingenious desserts.
3. The Mushroom Grower grows spores and raises insects to concoct precious remedies.
4. The Treasure Hunter dives into the depths in search of legendary artifacts.
Is it good?
The expansion brings new mechanics to the base game without making it too heavy.
The management of assistants and track-related rewards adds real strategic depth, particularly in the timing of their recall. Each track offers different types of rewards, encouraging varied strategies and opening up new ways to score points. This enriches the gameplay by adding an additional tactical layer.
That said, this richness comes with a slight increase in the manipulations to be carried out during one’s turn.
The expansion also includes new cards, enhancing the game’s replayability .
But the most significant addition is undoubtedly the arrival of four new merchants: the Detective , the Mushroom Grower , the Pastry Chef and the Treasure Hunter . Each offers radically different and original gameplay, profoundly renewing the gaming experience and strategic approaches.
In summary, Merchant Bay – Grand Masters Expansion is a successful expansion that delivers on its promise by offering dense, inventive content that perfectly complements the base game. It will delight fans looking for new gaming sensations, provided they accept a slightly steeper learning curve.
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My review of the Grand Masters of Merchants Bay expansion
Positives
- Four new merchants with varied and innovative mechanics
- Significantly increased replayability
- Reward tracks bringing new strategies
Negatives
- Slight handling overhead during the tour
- Steeper learning curve for new merchants
- Expansion more suited to players already familiar with the base game
