Orleans: The Plague Expansion

Categories: Expansion for Base-game, Medieval

Mechanics: Worker Placement

Players: 2–5

Ages: 12+

Playtime: 90 Min

With the Orléans: Die Pest / The Plague expansion, the game introduces heightened challenges from the outset through the addition of "rat cards." These cards can impose various restrictions, such as reducing the number of monks available, barring the placement of gears on place cards, or increasing the cost of building trading stations.

New events are also linked to "corpse tokens," which players must place a specific number of in their bag at the end of each round. These tokens are drawn randomly at the start of each round and occupy valuable space in the marketplace, as they cannot be used for actions. To remove these tokens, players can complete indulgence cards through activities like pilgrimage, donations, or meeting other conditions, which also yield victory points at the end of the game.

Fortunately, each player has access to a "plague doctor," a new figure that appears in nearly every round and can be used for a variety of purposes to help mitigate the challenges presented by the plague.