Orléans

Orléans masterfully blends bag-building with worker placement, creating a deeply satisfying engine-building experience set in medieval France. Each round, you draw follower tokens from your personal bag, assigning them to action spaces on your player board to gather resources, construct buildings, and expand your influence. The tension comes from managing probability—adding the right followers to your bag while contending with unavoidable 'dead draw' tokens. As your engine develops, chains of actions cascade beautifully, rewarding long-term planning. The game evokes a sense of gradual mastery and optimization, with multiple viable paths to victory through trading, craftsmanship, scholarly pursuits, or civic development. Players experience focused strategic depth without excessive downtime, as simultaneous planning keeps everyone engaged. The medieval theme integrates naturally with mechanics, and the race to acquire beneficial citizen tiles adds competitive urgency. Orléans delivers cerebral satisfaction for those who love refining strategies and watching intricate systems unfold.