Let Them Eat Cake - GenCon 2016 Pre-Sale Game Review

Two-Gun Pixie Presents:

LEGENDARY

GAMING

010 –Viva

le Eclairs

This installment of Two-Gun Pixie Presents: Legendary Gaming is part of our

Very Special 2GP GEN CON 2016 Board Game Pre-Sale Reviews series!

This Review Is Based On A High-End Beta Version Of The Game

As GenCon 2016 looms overhead like a nat 20 in the Tomb of Horrors

Two-Gun Pixie continues its exclusive look at a series of tabletop games that are debuting or showcasing during the GenCon Season.

Do You Love Cake?

Do You Love Revolutions and Guillotines?

Do You Love Cutting Deals, Making Promises, and Stabbing Your Friend’s In The Back?

Oui?

VIVA La COMITÉ!

Gather Your generals, horde your pastries, and vote your most trusted ally in to the office that will do YOU the most good in this game of deceit and decisions...

Let Them Eat Cake

Designed By: Peer Sylvester

Artist: Lauren Dawson

Publisher: Osprey Games

Year Published: August 25th, 2016

Suggested Player Age: 12+

Number of Players: 3-6 (Best with 5 or 6)

Average Play Time: 45 – 80 Minutes

Set-Up Time: About 5 Minutes

Game Type: Party Game

Game Mechanics: Betrayal, Bluffing, Voting

MSRP: $27

ISBN: 978-14-728-1635-1

The Box

Osprey Games’ box designs always impress; Let Them Eat Cake does not disappoint. Continuing with their flip-top style of “book box” this sturdy edition sports the eye-catching art of Lauren Dawson. This comical depiction belies the pure back-stabby-ness of the game.

This box will stand up to usage and look good on your shelf.

Inside you will find a clear plastic cover to fit over the inside tray. This is a really nice touch and I for one want to see more of this from their future games like Escape From Colditz or Star Cartel.

The Components

1 Rule Book

1 Head of Committee token

1 Guillotine 6 Player aids

8 starter Generals

12 starter Cakes

18 Pawns

21 Medals of Honour

36 Voting cards

55 Pantry cards

Osprey Games is becoming known for good, streamlined rules. Let Them Eat Cake comes with 3-fold rule book which reads straightforward delivers the rules in a clear manner.

The Medal of Honour tokens and Head of Committee token are good, sturdy stock and should stand-up to many years of usage.

Lauren Dawson’s cover art jumps off the box right on to the sturdy, rounded edged cards.

Now, one thing I like in a tabletop game is “shit”. Not just fancy meeples or interesting minis. I’m not even talking about amazing dice or unique first-player tokens. No. I want to see stuff; 3-D terrain, towers, terrain pieces, etc. Let Them Eat Cake delivers with something no French Revolution can do without...

A sturdy cardboard guillotine! Complete with a basket!

Thank You. ;-D

Set-Up

As the rules state, “Begin the game by congratulating everyone for the role they have played in defeating tyranny. Everyone must shake hands with everyone else. Immediately view anyone who refuses to do so with suspicion.”

Set up consists of putting together the easy-to-assemble cardboard guillotine and dividing up the voting cards after each player chooses their color and associated meeples.

Each round is made up of a series of votes the players make.

Everyone gets 2 Starter Cake Cards that they keep stashed face down at all times letting no one but themselves see these cards until you attempt to win by using Cake points.

Everyone gets to choose three Medals of Honour for themselves.

Shuffle the Pantry Deck and place it face down in the middle of the play area.

Place out the guillotine near the Pantry Deck and the face up stack of Starting Generals along with 3 Medals of Honour.

Each player gets a Player Aid Card.

The owner of the game takes the ‘Head of Committee’ card and chooses who starts with it (It won’t last long since the very first round is Voting for a new Head of Committee).

Game Play

(As stated above, LOL) The very first round is to Vote for a new Head of Committee.

Actually, that’s all this game is; a series of votes each turn. Usually these votes are peppered with people making promises to each other if they vote for them they will make a trade or give them a vote. Players are even encouraged to pander for votes and debate each other if necessary. Use your good judgement and keep your fingers crossed, everyone is looking to win but this IS NOT A CO-OPERATIVE GAME. People will eventually backstab you and sooner-or-later you’ll throw someone under the horse-drawn carriage yourself.

The game ends when the Pantry Deck runs out, one player loses all their pawns, or someone collects 40 or more cakes.

There are a total of 5 offices that everyone is voting for;

- Head of Committee

- Enemy of the State

- Guillotine Operator

- Secretary

- Food Inspector

Each Office has its perks;

The Head of Committee breaks ties in other votes. ONLY During the initial, first round of voting for this position, make sure that each player who didn’t vote with the majority loses 1 Medal of Honour.

The Enemy of the Revolution is not voted for unless there is a tie. The Enemy is decided automatically dependent on which player has the least amount of Medals of Honour because obviously they have done the least for the revolution so therefore must be a traitor and enemy of the people. That player takes of of their pawns and places it on the guillotine, awaiting the guillotine operator to arrive. An interesting note is that the player with the most Generals can never be declared the Enemy because they have the backing of the army.

The Guillotine Operator is decided by vote. This positions allows a player to grant mercy to the pawn in the guillotine or go through with the execution. The Guillotine Operator will lose 1 Medal of Honour if they stay the execution. If the execution goes through as planned then the executed player has their Honour restored. This means the player gains (if available) 3 Medals of Honour and takes 1 General card from the face-up stack.

The Secretary is voted on and is the keeper of the pantry, YAY! Immediately after being voted to this office the player will draw 1 Pantry Card per player and places them face up on the table. The Secretary gets to decide which player, including themselves, gets which card. Only 1 card per player can be given out. This way each player has 1 Pantry Card sitting in front of them.

The office of Food Inspector is also voted for. The Food Inspector can decide if the Pantry Cake Cards just distributed by the Secretary is a good batch or if the food is poisoned! If unsafe for consumption all the Cake cards go to the bottom of the Pantry Deck – Players who were dealt a General may keep that card. The Food Inspector WILL Lose a Medal of Honour for declaring the batch unsafe. Any player who was given a cake card by the Secretary and was able to keep it thanks to the Food Inspector MAY, if they wish, donate their cake to the people and discard their cake card crying to the heavens, “Let Them Eat Cake!” Players who do donate their Cake Card can take 1 Medal of Honour directly from ANY OTHER PLAYER.

AT the end of this and each subsequent round each player secretly counts u their Cake points to see if they have 40 or more. If someone does they win the game. If more than one player has 40 or more Cake points the player with the most points wins. If its still a tie the player with the most Generals and pawns wins the game

The way the players vote is simple. Each player has a hand of cards which consists of one card per other player in the game and each of those cards is a card depicting the other players. In a six player game each player has a hand of 5 cards. Each of these cards is an individual picture of one of the other players.

During the Voting phases each player can cast only 1 vote. After the vote is cast that voting card is discarded. Therefore, during the voting round you can ONLY vote for each office / each person once. You do not get your used voting cards back in to your hand until AFTER ALL Your Voting Cards have been used, not necessarily at the end of the Voting Rounds.

The interesting part of this game really comes alive during these voting rounds. Players should - AND ARE ENCOURAGED – to cut deals concerning voting promises to other players, trading Medals of Honour or Cakes or Generals for favors,. Basically any deal the player wants to cut is fair trade EXCEPT PAWNS ARE NOT TRADABLE!

Besides keeping one safe from being declared the Enemy of the Revolution having a number of Generals on hand can grant you extra perks if you dare to discard them.

If you decide to discard 1 of your General Cards you can allege a Vote Rigging and force everyone to immediately have to choose a DIFFERENT Voting Card LEAVING the previously played card discarded.

You can choose to discard 2 General Cards to seize a Cake Card from ANY OTHER Player.

Lastly, 3 Generals Cards may be discarded to have a coup. YOU decide who wins an election REGARDLESS of how the Voting Cards played out. Those Voting Cards are still discarded.

As stated above, once a player loses all their Pawns the game ends and the player with the most Cake points wins.

Also, if at the end of a round if any player has 40 or more Cake points they win.

Final Thoughts

This game is heavily dependent on having the right group of players at your table. To truly enjoy Let Them Eat Cake you need to play this game with friends who don’t mind talking; wheeling, dealing, conning, and bribing. This game comes alive with a gaming group of friends who are not afraid to play a “Friendship Killer” game. Between the backstabbing and browbeating this game ramps up the level of intensity this game delivers.

This is not however just a Take-That game, not at all. The deep level of strategy and memory needed to keep track of who played what and how that can help your plans is amazing. What makes any game of great strategy even better is the addition of the X-Factor or a Wild Card. In this game that comes with the use of the General Cards. Even when it seems like your plans are coming together all it takes is one player to spend a general and call for a re-vote. That changes the dynamics of all future votes for the round since everyone had to cast 2 Voting Cards for one position.

I would not categorize Let Them Eat Cake as a gateway game but for the more than casual gamer or the fan of party games this game will deliver an hour or so of fun and excitement.

What became one of the most fun moments of the game for the Twenty-Sided Warriors were the executions. The cardboard Guillotine miniature has a hole (where a head would go, of course) so the Guillotine Operator can poke his finger through and pop the Pawn into the basket.

Osprey Games has a sweet hit on their hands with Let Them Eat Cake.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR 2 PART ACTUAL-PLAY FACEBOOK LIVESTREAM OF "LET THEM EAT CAKE"

Let Them Eat Cake pt 1 https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1127466043963138&id=582925288417219

Let Them Eat Cake pt 2 https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1127498500626559&id=582925288417219