# Orléans: Big Box

## General Info
- **Year Published**: 2024
- **BGG Rating**: 8.9
- **BGG Rank**: —
- **Players**: 1-5 (Best with: 3, 4)
- **Duration**: 90 min
- **Weight**: 3.00 / 5
- **Designers**: Reiner Stockhausen
- **Artists**: Klemens Franz
- **Publishers**: dlp games, Arrakis Games, Capstone Games
- **Categories**: Medieval, Religious, Travel
- **Mechanics**: Contracts, Cooperative Game, Deck, Bag, and Pool Building, End Game Bonuses, Events, Point to Point Movement, Simultaneous Action Selection, Tech Trees / Tech Tracks, Turn Order: Progressive, Variable Set-up, Worker Placement, Different Worker Types

## Verdict
A perfect fit for those who love deep Eurogames with high replayability. The bag building system is addictive and the expansions breathe new life into the game.Impeccable luxury componentsMany different paths to victoryExpansions that shift the dynamicsSolid solo mode implementationSteep initial learning curveSetup can be time-consumingHIGHLY RECOMMENDED

## Description
If you love the feeling of building an empire from scratch, Orléans: Big Box is your go-to. Imagine yourself in medieval France, assembling the ultimate team to achieve supremacy through trade, science, and construction. But this isn't just simple worker placement; the heart of the game is bag building. You recruit followers — such as farmers, knights, and monks — and toss them into your bag. When you draw who will work, that's where strategy meets chance.

Each follower type brings a unique skill: farmers and boatmen provide money and goods; knights expand your action range and secure mercantile expeditions; craftsmen build trading stations and tools; scholars push scientific progress; and traders unlock new locations. And of course, don't ignore the monks, because having the church on your side makes you much less likely to fall prey to fate.

The Big Box is the definitive edition, collecting everything released up to 2025, including heavy expansions. There's the 'Invasion' cooperative mode, where players unite against a common enemy; the 'Trade & Intrigue' module, adding layers of competition and goods delivery; and the dreaded 'Plague', which fills your bag with corpses and forces you to use indulgences to survive. On top of that, the component quality is top-notch: heavy metal coins, wooden followers, and a custom inlay that removes all the stress of setup. It's a medium-heavy game where you'll always want to take more actions than possible, forcing you to prioritize what truly matters for victory.

## How to Play
Goal of the Game
In Orléans, you seek dominance in various areas of medieval France. The goal is to accumulate the highest number of victory points (VP) through goods production, trade, development, and by committing to the common good through beneficial deeds.

Setup
To prepare the base game, follow these steps:

    Place the main board in the center of the table.
    Place the Beneficial Deeds board (with the "Base Game" side up) next to the main board.
    Each player chooses a color and receives: 1 Merchant, 10 Trading Stations, and 7 Markers.
    Each player receives 5 coins of value 1 as starting capital and 4 personal Followers: 1 Farmer, 1 Trader, 1 Boatman, and 1 Craftsman.
    Place the neutral Markers and the Start Player Token within reach of everyone.
    Distribute the citizens on the marked spaces on the tracks, the Beneficial Deeds board, and the map. The remainder goes back in the box.
    Prepare the base game Hour Glass tiles.
    Place the Goods and the Gear wheels next to the board. Shuffle the Goods and place them face up randomly on the Road and Waterway spaces of the board.
    Shuffle the Place tiles I and place 13 face down next to the board. Repeat the process for the Place tiles II.
    Each player receives a player board in their color and places their Merchant in Orléans.
    Place the neutral Followers in a box next to the board.


Game Flow
The game is played over 18 rounds. Each round consists of 7 phases:

    Phase 1 - Hour Glass: The Start Player draws the Hour Glass tile from the top of the stack and turns it face up. The tiles determine the game's duration and introduce an event.
    Phase 2 - Census: Determine who has the highest and lowest number of Farmers. The player with the most Farmers on the track receives 1 coin; the player with the fewest must pay 1 coin to the supply.
    Phase 3 - Followers: Players draw Followers from their Followers Bag and place them in their Market. The number of followers that can be drawn is determined by the marker on the Knights track.
    Phase 4 - Planning: Simultaneously, players plan their actions by placing their Followers from the Market onto the Action Spaces of their Places. Once a player indicates they have finished planning, they can no longer change their mind.
    Phase 5 - Actions: Players execute their actions in clockwise order, starting with the Start Player. Each player may perform one action or pass. If a player passes, they cannot participate in this action phase.
    Phase 6 - Event: Resolve the event shown on the round's Hour Glass tile.
    Phase 7 - Start Player: The Start Player Token passes to the player on the left.


Actions and How to Play
To perform an action, the Place must be activated (all of its Action Spaces must be occupied by the necessary Followers or Gear wheels). Actions include:

    Farm House: Take a Farmer from the reserve into your bag, advance on the Farmers track, and receive the indicated good.
    Village: Allows you to obtain a Boatman, Craftsman, or Trader. The Boatman advances on the track and gives coins; the Craftsman advances and gives a Gear wheel; the Trader advances and allows you to expand the city with a Place tile.
    Trader: Take a Trader, advance on the track, and choose a Place tile (I or II) to expand your city.
    University: Take a Scholar, advance on the Scholars track, and receive Development Points.
    Castle: Take a Knight and advance on the Knights track (increasing the limit of followers you can draw).
    Monastery: Take a Monk. Monks can be used in place of any other follower.
    Ship / Wagon: Move the Merchant through a Waterway (blue) or Road (brown) to collect a Good along the way.
    Guildhall: Build a Trading Station in the city where the Merchant is located.
    Scriptorium: Receive 1 Development Point and advance on the Development track.
    Town Hall: Allows you to place 1 or 2 Followers on Beneficial Deeds spaces to gain rewards or a Citizen.

Note on Gear wheels: They can substitute for certain followers in specific actions, but they cannot substitute for Monks.

End of Game and Scoring
The game ends after the 18th round (when the 18th Hour Glass tile is drawn).
Scoring:
First, the player with the most Trading Stations built receives the remaining Citizen.
Next, sum the VP for:

    Coins: 1 VP for each coin.
    Goods: Points vary by type (e.g., Brocade = 5 VP, Wool = 4 VP, Wine = 3 VP, Cheese = 2 VP, Grain = 1 VP).
    Trading Stations and Citizens: Each is worth points equal to its Development Status.

The player with the most VP wins. In the event of a tie, the player furthest ahead on the Development track wins.

Tips for Winning
Consult the manual for details regarding this section.

## FAQ
### Is the game too hard for beginners?
It's a 3/5 weight, so it's not for total novices, but anyone who has played a few Euros will pick it up quickly. There's a learning curve, but the satisfaction of building your engine makes it worth it.

### Is the Big Box worth it over the base game?
Absolutely. It gathers all expansions and drastically improves component quality (like the metal coins), making the experience much more premium.

### Can I play it solo?
Yes! The game has solid solo rules, allowing you to test your strategies without needing a group.

### How long does a game take?
The average is 90 minutes, but depending on the player count and which expansions you use, it may vary. Simultaneous action selection helps keep the pace.

### What changes with the Plague expansion?
It adds a bigger challenge: corpses enter your bag and block actions, forcing you to manage the crisis while still trying to win the game.

## Price Comparison
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