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Out anticipation for Coimbra has been building for quite some time. When Plan B Games acquired the publisher Eggertspiele, this was one of the early titles announced and Coimbra was firmly on our radar. Plan B Games made a name for themselves with Century Spice Road and Azul, and Eggertspiele have a reputation for some fantastic euro games like Great Western Trail and Mombasa.
Coimbra is another Euro game, set in 15th-16th Century Portugal with artwork depicting this charming city. Trying out this game was one of our top priorities at the UK Games Expo this year and here’s a little more about how it plays.
The Gameplay
In Coimbra, there are many ways to get points, but the core mechanism for doing this is dice drafting. When drafting the dice you’ll use their value to determine the order in which you can buy cards in three different markets. High dice values get first pick, but the dice value represents the cost you’ll pay for the card. In addition, the dice are in different colours and the colour of the dice will determine which incomes you receive that round, as well as triggering different card abilities. The dice draft is one of the most interesting we’ve seen in a game with the two or three different factors at play.
The game is then about choosing your route to the victory points, buy either exploring the map with your pilgrim, triggering the end game or in game scoring on cards or choosing to travel some epic journeys for end game victory points. The game has many satisfying interlocking parts, but plays quite quickly over four rounds once you know the game.
After trying two rounds of Coimbra at the UK Games Expo, we could definitely see that this is a game for gamers like us, who enjoy dice drafting, a little bit of engine building and for whom great mechanisms are the core of a great game.
Coimbra - Coming Soon
After early release copies were available at Origins and GenCon, we’re really excited to get our hands on a copy of Coimbra. Hopefully it will be available in the UK before the end of the year. If you like mid-weight Euro games or dice drafting is your thing then you should definitely check out Coimbra. I’d especially recommend the game for fans of Lorenzo Il Magnifico or Pulsar 2849.
