The board, a stylised map of Spain, gives the game an 'olde worlde' feel, which suits the game very well. The game pieces are wooden and the card components are of good stock.

Like its companion game, El Caballero this game also uses power cards. Each player has a set of these, numbered 1 to 13. The higher the number you play, the more likely you will play first this round, but the lower the nuber you play, the more Caballero you can play. Typical german game 'choices' rule.

In your turn, you first move the number of cabelleros on your power card from your stockpile into your 'court', an area in front of you from where they can then go onto the board. Next, You select one of the 5 action cards that have been placed face-up alongside the board. Each card allows you to do two things: Move 1 to 5 pieces from your court onto the board before ar after you decide to execute or prevent the action on the card. Choices again :)

These actions usually move pieces around, on or off the board or allow scoring of certain areas on the board. This scoring is extra to the normal scoring rounds, which occur after the 3rd, 6th and 9th turns.

Having your pieces in the right place at the right time is the crux of the game. When regions of the board are scored, the person with the most Cabelleros in each region scores the highest, with lower points awarded for 2nd and 3rd places. An extra twist to the game is provided by the Castillo. When players put pieces on the board, they may put them into the Castillo instead of a region. During scoring, the contents of the Castillo are revealed and scored as with a normal region. Those pieces are then put into a region of the board, previously selected on a secret disk. This can affect the scoring of the regions dramatically!

As you may gather, I like this game. I've played it two player and four player and it does play better with more players, but with two players you get the chance to develop some of the more subtle strategies ready for when you play with more players :)

This game is deservedly popular, even more so now that you can get hold of an english version, thanks to Rio Grande. Recommended.

Review by Brian