Players: 1-4
Works well with just 2: Yes!
Solo quality: Good
Age: 14+
Playtime: 60-140 min
Complexity: 7.5/10
Messina is assaulted by the black plague, and you – along with other noble families – attempt to rescue citizens and eventually rebuild the city itself.
A modular arrangement of large hex tiles represents the city, and each turn a clever “population wheel” drops citizens (aristocrats, craftsmen and nuns) in different areas… along with the dreaded black cubes that seem to follow them everywhere. Even the boats that unload their merchandise at the dock disgorge more of the plague unto the unsuspecting populace.
Place your meeples on hexes to rescue the citizens there, fight the plague with fire, build accommodations for your refugees, and generate points as best you can.
Sick citizens go to your quarantine cabins (and can produce resources if said cabins are upgraded) while healthy citizens are put to work in your estate, before possibly going back to Messina and begin repopulating. (Yes, even the nuns.)
Your actions will allow you to advance on three different tracks, the steps of which earn players more points, resources, and profitable opportunities otherwise unattainable.
Messina 1347 is fun and clever, scales nicely from 2 to 4 players, and has a “shuffle the action tiles and flip one” solo module that tells you what your virtual opponent does each turn, which presents a nice challenge. Oh, and the cutest rat meeples this side of the pond.
HOWEVER the English rulebook that comes with the game is vague and muddy in a few areas. So I recommend you print out the errata file I compiled and uploaded to BGG. The game is well worth it.
https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/245904/errata-clarifications-unofficial
Most easily forgotten rule: At the end of each turn, citizens still present on a hex with a plague cube die (remove them from the board).
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