Corps of Discovery Expansion 3 Maldonado: Review
Information:
Player Age: 14+
Game Designer: Jay Cormier, Sen-Foong Lim
Introduction:
Corps of Discovery is a great game that I have talked about on numerous occasions, it is a challenging survival game, every time I think I have a good understanding of the puzzle I explore the next expansion that completely changes the decisions, exploration and concept and flips how to survive and meet the objective. This expansion features a scenario based around Maldonado. Maldonado wants to kill the crew by having a stronger value then their influence value.
To win players have to increase the influence of each crew to having their influence value (matching resources) equal or exceed Maldonado value at the end of the game. This scenario can be played as a potential traitor scenario as players are forced to play value 2 or 3 of the resource type face-down, where the traitor can play any value face-down in their pursuit to not have the values reach Maldonado. Honestly though, the scenario is so hard enough fully cooperative for now the goal will be to win as is, before introducing a troublesome player.
Components:
There is a lot of content included to make this scenario work.
It will borrow the crew tokens from the base game but also add two new characters Russel and Randolph who are connected together, really illustrating further teamwork, and two gears to mix throughout any game of corps of discovery.
Russel and Randolph have the same action they can refresh two of the other player (in this pair) equipment. Normally equipment doesn't refresh until the night phase. This can be used at higher player counts, but their teamwork really shines at two players, since at two players each player will have two equipment each before it defends to one equipment at higher player counts. As someone that plays Corps of Discovery mainly at two, this is a great addition when playing with great equipment.
Maldonado:
Maldonado will increase his value through the players failing some challenges, as a cost to defeat the monsters, revealing skulls and through stumbling across Maldonado on the map. The only way to reduce his influence is to completely explore a full row (harder than it sounds),
so ultimately to stop Maldonado the best method is to properly influence the crew. When Maldonado is found on the map players will also gain any resource, this can be vital for challenges but more importantly this can allow the player to choose which resource they gain effectively choosing which crew member to influence for the turn.
Crew Member Cards:
When you gain your first resource on a turn it determines the crew that will be influenced by playing an influence card on them. This could be by revealing a resource, trading at a Tipi or using an equipment/character. The influence card to be played must match the crew member (in co-op mode) this is shown by the resource type on the crew member, water let's the player choose which crew member.
If there is a matching influence card that is easy, the player will play one of those cards on them (higher the better) if there is none matching a command card will be played on them which can match that resource type but often won't and will instead negate a value on this crew member.
As each player has a certain amount of Influence cards at the start of the day determined by player count. When a player has less than four influence they will draw back to replenish at the end of their turn, they will also discard and draw anew at each night phase. It is pivotal for players to carefully plan what resources to gain first on a turn so they can play their high value influence on the right crew members to ensure their survival.
At the end of the game all influence is revealed, the hidden influence is established at the start of the game each crew member has one face-down influence added, one of which being a negative four. Whenever a Maldonado is revealed one of these influences will be flipped. Each crew member's value is tallied with the positives of the same resource counting as a positive and any other non-matching influence counting as a negative one. Any crew member under the value of Maldonado has been defeated, like the players trying to achieve the goal.
Monster Cards:
The monsters in this scenario will force the players to pay one more water/resource when visiting on the same row or column.
In this scenario can be really annoying as players will need certain resource to strengthen the crew for the end of the game. Luckily, the kill a monster system has returned with these monsters. When finding a Tipi a new kill a monster card will be revealed. To end the game three of these monsters must be eliminated.
Final Thoughts:
- For player who enjoy an added element of doubt, this scenario can be played as a hidden traitor game.
- Great new characters that work for 2-player specific.
From a hidden traitor perspective Maldonado adds an entirely new wrinkle into the corps of the Discovery system. Ignoring the hidden traitor element, this expansion still packs a lot of content. This scenario is a big challenge, it focuses largely on using the deduction rules to manage the crew's influence. The players with the high value influence for certain crew member need to find a way to add those cards to that crew member, while everyone is still focusing on managing the challenges and not letting Maldonado get stronger. The other fun winkle for this expansion is the two new characters who add a paired element that the players can choose where they can refresh each other's equipment, perfect for two player games. This is now all of the expansions for Corps of Discovery, what a joy this game packs so much content in such a compact box, each scenario of the six has several maps and plays widely different from each other, like the base game and the other expansions I can easily recommend this, especially if you want more range in avaliable challenges.
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