Tavern Masters: Expansion

Tavern Masters: Expansion - Review

Information:

Mechanics: Cooperative/Competitive, Hand Management, Simultaneous Action
Player Age: 13+
Player Count: 1 - 6 Players
Time to Play: 20 - 30 Minutes
Game Designer: Dan Kriss
Game Artist: Galen Ihlenfeldt
Publisher: Dan Kriss Games
Year Published: 2017, 2019
BGG Weight: 2.00
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Introduction:

Tavern Masters is a gateway tableu builder where you are trying to create the most efficient tavern and be the first to gain 20 gold. This is achieved by attracting the right patrons. For the full review you can click here, and for the larger expansion ‘Dockside’ you can click here. This review will focus on three smaller expansions; Tavern Menu, Dirty Deeds, and Games of Chance.

Tavern Menu:

Tavern Menu adds 20 cards to the game which switch up the rules of the game. Any amount of rule-changing cards can be chosen or randomly drawn based on what the players choose. These changes can be small, such as changing your setup, or they can be drastic, such as passing discarded cards to other players or drafting patron/tavern cards.

Dirty Deeds:

Dirty Deeds adds a layer of take-that player interaction which is depicted by a blood gem on the upper left side of the card. A new phase is now introduced between the night phase and counting till phase called the ‘Dirty Deeds’ phase. This is when the players will draw one dirty deed card into their hand. The first time this is performed the player will draw three cards. In turn order, the players can activate any patrons with a dirty deed action, or use any dirty deed card as long as they have matching agent symbol in their tavern. These cards have actions that can vary from discarding patrons, stealing cards, and banishing existing cards from taverns.

There are 3 cards out of the 64 included in this expansion that prevent dirty deed cards from resolving. This expansion is very attractive for the players that want high levels of competitive interaction.

Games of Chance:

Games of Chance is a small expansion that adds in some randomness. These cards will contain different results based on dice value. This expansion is all about chance and brings the following;

- Four new dirty deed cards (one is unique).
- Six new tavern cards
- Ten new patron cards (two are noble patrons).

All of these cards will have a dice depiction to show if they are rolled during the day, night, dirty deeds or counting till phase.

Final Thoughts:

- Good variability of rule changes.
- Some tavern menu cards require expansions to use, although, these variants are clearly labelled.
- I am not the target audience for the Dirty Deeds expansion and therefore found it to be too much negative interaction in the Dirty Deeds phase for me.

All three of these expansions are small additions to Tavern Masters. Each one, however, targets certain playstyles that gamers may be looking for, specifically. The Tavern Menu expansion is for a player who wants more variability between their games, whereas Dirty Deeds is designed for anyone who thought the base game was too solitaire. Lastly, Games of Chance adds additional randomness. My personal favourite would be Tavern Menu. If you find yourself enjoying Tavern Fame but are looking to pivot your game to meet these play styles, then I would recommend adding the expansion that suits you the most rather than adding all three.