Council of Four comes from the acclaimed design duo behind Tzolk’in and Grand Austria Hotel, which sets expectations high. Players compete as merchants building emporiums across cities in a kingdom divided into three regions, each governed by a council of four members. To build in a city, you need to match your councilor cards to the council in that region, creating a colorful set-matching puzzle layered onto a network-building strategy.
Matching Colors, Building Networks
The council-matching mechanism provides Council of Four’s most distinctive element. Each region’s council consists of four colored councilors, and building a permit requires matching your hand cards to the current council composition. Since you can also spend actions to change council compositions by adding new councilors and pushing old ones out, there’s a dynamic puzzle about whether to adapt your hand to the current councils or reshape the councils to match your hand.
The double-sided regional boards create significant setup variety. Eight different board arrangements are possible, and each configuration changes the relative value of cities and the difficulty of building efficient networks. This modularity extends the game’s life and keeps experienced players from solving the strategic puzzle too quickly.
From Luciani and Tascini, you’d expect clean, interconnected mechanical design, and Council of Four delivers that. Building emporium networks across multiple regions creates cascading bonuses, and planning efficient routes through the cities rewards strategic foresight.
The Race Can Be Brutal
Council of Four features a race element that some players find unforgiving. Being first to build in certain cities or complete certain networks grants bonuses that latecomers can’t access, and falling behind in the race can feel irreversible. This creates urgency that drives exciting games when players are evenly matched but frustrating ones when someone pulls ahead early.
Card draw luck influences outcomes more than the game’s strategic presentation suggests. Drawing councilor cards that don’t match available councils can waste entire turns, while lucky draws enable rapid expansion. The mitigation options exist but don’t fully compensate for significant draw variance.
The permit tile system, where tiles for specific cities are randomly revealed, adds another luck layer. Waiting for useful permits while opponents grab theirs can stall your strategy, and the randomness occasionally creates situations where optimal play simply isn’t possible.
Efficiency and Speed
Success in Council of Four requires both efficient route planning and speed. Building your network quickly captures bonuses before opponents, while efficient placement maximizes the cascading rewards that linked emporiums provide. Balancing these competing priorities is the game’s central challenge.
Should You Petition the Council of Four?
Groups who enjoy medium-weight Euros with route-building elements and don’t mind luck in card draws will find a competent design from proven designers. It works best at three to four players where the competition for cities feels meaningful. Skip it if you’re sensitive to card draw variance, if the race element sounds frustrating, or if you expect Tzolk’in-level depth.
The Verdict
Council of Four demonstrates solid design craft from its esteemed creators, with the council-matching mechanism providing a distinctive twist on route building. The modular boards and cascading bonuses create strategic interest, but luck in card and permit draws and the punishing race for early bonuses temper the experience. It’s a capable mid-weight Euro that doesn’t quite reach the heights of its designers’ best work.