When Klaus-Jürgen Wrede first showed us CARAL, it was meant to be a family game, but we wanted expert gamers to enjoy this beautiful game as well. Therefore we came up with the idea of additional modules.
As Klaus-Jürgen is famous for his easily accessible game designs, you are probably wondering who created all those modules which allow you to increase the complexity of CARAL step by step?
This is where our chief editor Dr. Hans Joachim Höh comes into the equation. Hans is one of the authors of Götterdämmerung, My Gold Mine and our upcoming social deduction game Feed the Kraken. In case you are a fan of Glen More II, you might already have experienced his magic, as you can already feel his handwriting all over our amazing Highland Games expansion for Glen More II as well.
After a decade as a professional TCG gamer, during which he won six national championships and a world championship title, Hans is basically a genius when it comes to analyzing games. We are very happy that nowadays he uses his skills to ensure excitingly deep game play for all of our titles.
Let’s look at the various modules he has developed for CARAL based on Klaus-Jürgen’s ideas:
Annual Tiles: By adding this module, an important decision is added to each year – shall I go for the bonus fame points or rather take control over the architect for the coming year? Whatever you choose, don’t end up in the middle profitting from neither. Add this to drastically deepen your tactical and strategic decisions in each year!
Whim of the Gods: If a layer of a joint effort with your fellow players—and the possibility to deceive them—fills you with joy, then the Whim of the Gods cards are for you. A joint task and the threat of a penalty for the players who didn’t contribute enough is a great way to pull ahead one way or the other, right?
Status Cards: You enjoy juggling many tasks all at once? Then a variety of additional goals that can only be fulfilled once per game add this spice to your experience. Pay close attention to the actions of the other players, so you know when they are preparing to claim one of those status cards. You might still beat them to it!
Progress Tiles: If you enjoy games that surprise you and force you to adjust your plans, then progress tiles are for you and your group. By modifying three action squares on the board, all players have to adjust to more efficient options becoming available over time. Each combination of progress tiles will add a unique feeling to your game.
Anaconda: To add more direct interaction and make the competition more fierce, use the Anaconda module. That way you can strategically block the action squares your opponents were aiming to use this year – or at least make them pay for doing so.
Emissary Board: If you enjoy a game with even more applications for your Carali and Alpacas, then the Emissary Board is for you. It opens up the race for becoming the best diplomat and adds more strategic considerations to the highly tactical gameplay. Each emissary level offers short term rewards, but more importantly also activates ongoing abilities, which help you in your other endeavors. An extra challenge for experienced players!
This is what Hans told me about the development of the modules in general:
“Every module adds only a few components and requires you to understand only a few sentences of extra rules text, but at the same time every module really begs you to reconsider your strategical approach to playing the game to become successful under the new conditions.
I wanted the modules to feel bite-sized because I wanted players to be able to fine-tune their Caral experience exactly to their tastes. These modules are supposed be used quite differently than the chronicle system we employed for Glen More II. As the Glen More II base game is more complicated, most players rarely add more than one chronicle at the same time to it. This is especially true for the heavy-weight chronicles I developed for the Highland Games expansion.
The Caral expansions on the other hand can potentially all be used at the same time by expert players without slowing down the game too much, or making it too overwhelming to handle. This way you can enjoy Caral with your whole family as well as with your group of seasoned gamer friends or at any experience level in between.”
Have fun building your own version of Caral!
CARAL will launch on Kickstarter on October 19th!
Click here to visit our Kickstarter preview page.
