Pixie Queen ★★★★★

PIXIE QUEEN is a smoothly playing worker-placement game about a Queen who rules over her subordinates like a true tyrant.  The legend tells of pixies being small flying naughty creatures often spotted in the area of Cornwall and Devon in the UK.  Pixies steal from humans and often torment other creatures.  According to the game they are obliged to do so by their Pixie Queen…

Winner of the game is the player with the fewest points since the only points one can earn (or avoid) during the game are penalty points.  Reward points will not be given out until the end of the game.  You can receive rewards by charming the Queen with a golden ring, additional offerings during the game or promoting your pixies to faithful servants of the Queen.  Obtaining each reward demands completely different game tactics.

In summary, the game consists of a maximum of 7 rounds with 5 phases each:

1. Plundering food (honey, apples, bread) in Truro, the nearest human village.
2. Perform actions with your 4 action disks to maximise your profits and gain more goods. There is a choice of no less than 21 different actions.  For most actions 2 action disks are needed unless you can enlist the help of a pixie.
3. During the offering phase all players simultaneously offer gold, silver or food to the Queen. She will only accept the food she has a craving for in this round.
4. Receive possible rewards: promote pixies to become a faithful servant or get a better trading position to obtain gold or golden rings.
5. Penalty points are given to the pixies that didn’t achieve enough according to the Queen.