Reviewed by James Davis
ASSASSIN’S CREED: BROTHERHOOD OF VENICE (Triton Noir, 1 to 4 players, ages 12 and up, 30-90 minutes; $239)
If you are a major geek like myself, a hobby board gamer who also likes video games, you will have already heard of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. And even if you have never handled a controller and sat for hours in front of your tv, focused on the next mission, you may still have heard of it. If for no other reason than the rather average 2016 movie of the same name, staring Michael Fassbender. 
The first Assassin’s Creed video game was released in 2007. It was originally meant to be a sequel of the Prince of Persia games that were popular on Playstation 2, the original Xbox and Game Cube. (Remember Game Cube?) Over time, it eventually morphed into a much different game. Relying on the game designer’s extensive research into the Hashashin sect of assassins, but retaining the fun parkour moves from Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed was born.
The premise revolves around combative rivalries between two ancient secret societies: The Assassins and the Knights Templar. The Knights are intent on using artifacts from pre-history to control people in order to gain order in the world. They established a mega-corporation during the 21st century that invented a device called the Animus. This machine allows a user to inhabit the memories of their ancestors via “genetic memory.” A creative idea for time travel, basically. The person doesn’t actually travel to the past. Instead they occupy their ancestor’s memories. The Knights are using the Animus to find the the artifacts that have been lost to time or hidden by the Assassins over the centuries.
In the first video game, you play a character who is descended from several Assassins. The Knights recruited him to enter the Animus and inhabit the memories of one of those Assassins during the Third Crusade in the Holy Land of 1191 to search for clues to the “Apple of Eden.” There is much more to the story, such as how the Assassins respond to the Knights Templar using their own memories to hunt for the artifacts. But I don’t want to spoil what happens in case you may be interested to play.
The next few games are set in the late 15th century in Italy. Then the 18th century during the American Revolution, the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean, the French Revolution, Victorian-era London, the Ptolemaic period of Egypt and the Peloponnesian War. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, set during the 9th century invasion of the Vikings into the British Isles, was released in November of 2020. The franchise is still going strong and has a huge following.
The main reason I like to play Assassin’s Creed is the extreme level of research the game creators have put into the history they depict in each video game. They go to extraordinary lengths to obtain the knowledge of many expert historians, and then immerse each game with those details. A quick example to give you an idea how much effort is made: in 2020 Ubisoft released Discovery Tour. It is a free copy of Assassin’s Creed Origins with the gameplay and combat removed. It is used to very effectively teach Egyptian history to schoolchildren.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice, published by Triton Noir, isn’t the first time the franchise has been used to create a board game, but it is the best. And that’s not because most of the other versions are Risk or Monopoly variants. It is the best because the designers put a lot of love into it, you can tell. It has more than 20 hours worth of game play, divided into over two dozen scenarios called “Memories.” Being a co-op, it can be played solitaire or with up to four players. It is easy to learn and very engaging to play. The art is amazing, and every one of the almost one hundred miniatures are exceptional. And the box is huge.
The gameplay is somewhat similar to Gloomhaven, in that it is a cooperative puzzle to resolve how to use each character’s abilities at the right time to achieve your goal throughout a campaign. But Assassin’s Creed is not quite as meticulously “tuned” as Gloomhaven. There are some Memories that are too easy and others that are harder than they should be. But nonetheless, I have had fun with every scenario I’ve played. 
The game’s setting is early 16th century Venice, Italy. You play as one of four Assassins: Alessandra, Bastino, Claudio and Dariâ. They each have their own set of skills. Among other things, Bastino tends to be more stealthy, Alessandra gets some nice weapons early on, Claudio is the best at hidden attacks and Dariâ is better at healing. Because of their different strengths, I would suggest to play with all four characters, no matter your player count. On the other hand, the game does a good job adjusting to fewer characters sent on a Memory. That, and you may occasionally be forced to leave one or two of them behind in the headquarters to heal. If that does happen, you have the option of sending a generic stand-in called an Assassin Apprentice in their place.
The game designers allow you to learn the game either by reading the rulebook or learning through playing through a few introductory Memories; only reading the rules for what is needed for each scenario. The objectives, cards and additional rules for each campaign are found within a number of paper envelopes. The Campaign book will tell you which envelope to open and how to set up each Memory. There are a number of secret boxes that you will open when you’ve reached a certain Memory in the campaign.
Unlike similar games, this game’s campaign can be replayed again with no problems, other than you will know what is going to happen and what are inside the boxes and envelopes. It is not like a legacy-style game, where each decision leads you to a different branch on a tree of options. Instead, Assassin’s Creed’s plot is a straight line, with a couple of quick side quests that place you right back on the main plot again. The reason you may want to play through again, once you’ve completed the campaign, is to make different choices when you level up your characters. This is great for replayability, but not so much for creating an immersive and engaging story you feel you are a part of. But if you don’t care about the story a game creates, you are golden. The mechanics are solid, and I still very much enjoyed playing the game for what it is.
A turn consists of an Event phase, Assassin phase, Enemy phase and End of Turn phase. The Event phase is very similar to other games where you draw a card to add special rules for the current turn. The Assassin phase allows everyone to use their three action cubes for their character. There is no turn order. Each player can spend an action cube when it is applicable to the situation. This is the heart of the game; where players try to puzzle out how best to direct their actions to overcome the scenario’s obstacles. The character’s distinct abilities, especially later in the campaign when you’ve added additional items, weapons and talents, become key to resolving a win. The End of Turn phase is a simple check to see if the Memory is successful. If not, continue to the next turn after a bit of cleanup.
The basic actions are Move, Trade, Complete an Objective, Use a Fast Travel Station, Use a Weapon, Hide Bodies, Equip or Save. Yes, I did write “hide bodies.” Since Assassin’s Creed is primarily a stealth game, the bodies don’t conveniently dematerialize like they do in other video games. You need to hide them, or a guard is sure to walk by and call an alert; something that the designers cleverly added to the board game. You can also search the bodies for loot, so there’s also that incentive. The fast travel station is how to enter and exit a map. And you can save an action cube to be used on your next turn or during an upcoming Enemy phase. The other actions should be self-explanatory.
Since this is based on the video game, stealth is a crucial element. The characters can be either incognito or exposed. When exposed, you place a red rubber ring on the character’s miniature, showing it can now be attacked. You roll as many red dice as there are enemies on the same square for them to detect the character, up to a max of four. There are two blank sides on the red dice, two sides with eye icons, and two sides with both eye and bell icons. The eye means the character becomes exposed and the Alert State is triggered. When that happens, enemy reinforcements will increase in number each turn. The eye and bell icon means the character will only become exposed if the Alert State has already been triggered. Thus the Alert State also ensures the characters will become exposed more often. It is a clever and simple mechanic that works very well for this game.
There are two types of enemies: Crossbowmen and Elites. The game will change the statistics and miniatures that will be used for these types as you play through the campaign. The Elites can be Brutes, Seekers, Agiles or Horsemen, for example. But there will always be a group of melee units and another of missile units. Some Memories will also have a tough boss you’ll need to defeat.
The enemy phase begins by drawing a reinforcement card that lists what type of miniatures show up at each of the entry points to the map that are set up for each Memory. The number and types will change based on if the game is in an Alert State or not. Then the enemy figures move. They will automatically move towards exposed characters, else they will move in a random compass direction shown on the event card that turn. And then of course they will attack any exposed characters they are able to.
Combat in the game is very quick; just a single dice roll for each attack. All dice are six-sided. The enemies roll a number of black dice that equal the number of enemies that can attack a character. There are three hit icons and three miss icons on each black die. When the characters attack, roll as many white dice as shown on their weapon’s card; typically three, starting out. There are three possibilities: a hit symbol on three sides of a die, an assassin’s symbol on one side, or a failure on the other two sides. The assassin’s symbol is a hit and also triggers the weapon’s special ability, if any. A failure is just that. But if there are any remaining enemies in the square, the character becomes exposed, the Alert State is triggered, and the enemies retaliate with an attack.
The map tiles come in different sizes, from a single 4 by 4 inch square to a large tile containing six of those squares. The art on the tiles represent only four different types of terrain in the game: an interior room, a street, a canal and a roof. They are double sided and have between zero to three black borders which restricts movement. As a result, instead of a convincing map of Venice streets, the tiles for each Memory’s map only vaguely represent the location. That said, the art on the tiles is singularly impressive, and does a lot to mitigate what I think is an unfortunate result of the necessary limitations of the game’s mechanics.
One of the 8 by 8 inch map tiles, containing four squares, has an image of a tower in the middle. (If you’ve played the video game, you already know where I’m going with this.) Remember, the concept of Assassin’s Creed is that someone is assimilating their ancestor’s genetic memory. The video game’s most common task is to climb to the top of a high tower or other structure and “synchronize” the memory. There’s a lot more to synchronization in the video game, but the board game designers brought over one part of it: adding more information to the map. When you spend an action to synchronize at the top of the tower, you turn over the tower card that came in the envelope for that Memory. It will, among other things, show you the location of treasure chests you can then run over to and open. You’ll certainly want to, as some of the items you find are very useful.
Another thing they brought over from the video game is the Leap of Faith. It is a leap off of a tall structure, such as a tower you happened to have just synchronized upon, onto something that will cushion the landing. Such as, believe it or not, a cart full of hay. And here’s the important part: you somehow survive it. It’s an assassin’s thing that they do. In game terms, it is a free movement from the top of the tower to a cart or haystack nearby. Which is also, conveniently, a hiding place from which your assassin can use the iconic weapon from the video game, their Hidden Blade, to eliminate unaware guards. Some Memories also add rooftop garden hiding places, represented by a miniature, that is commonly used in the video game.
I have to mention that the Kickstarter for this game had the option of getting an actual tower and cart to use in place of the artwork on the tower tile. It’s about twelve inches high and around four inches to a side. On top there is a bell with two statues of hammer-wielding bell ringers, and enough room to place your synchronizing assassin’s miniature. There is a clock on two sides and the detail is impressive. And it is completely unnecessary and gratuitous. In fact, it hides any miniatures behind it when playing. But I’ve used it in every Memory I’ve played because it is so dang awesome. 
Memories can be failed, although that tended to be rare in my play through the campaign. There are three ways to fail: The Memory has a failure condition that is met, all of the characters have been eliminated, or there are not enough miniatures left to place all of the guards. There are thirty Crossbowmen miniatures, so no problem there. But only ten each of the Elite guard types. A failed Memory allows you a second chance to complete it. Remember that the scenarios are memories of genetic history, so they can be redone. If you fail a second time, the rules say other members of the Brotherhood of Assassins will complete it for you. (And they will probably complain to each other about, “cleaning up other people’s messes.”) In game terms, you lose out on any treasure chests there may have been and you don’t get as much experience.
Once you have finished the first four introductory Memories, you begin to play with the Headquarters. This is represented by a sideboard showing the interior of a building. The rooms are: a Hospital, the Shop, the Main Hall, the Workshop and the Command Room. You place different types of miniatures in each room before you start a Memory to help the assassins after the Memory is completed. The hospital is obvious: minis placed there give back lost hit points. Minis on the shop give you draws from the Equipment deck, allowing you to replenish spent items. The main hall is just a place to store your unused equipment and blueprint cards.
Blueprint cards are gained by playing Memories, and they are in some of the treasure chests. You choose a card, place it in the workshop along with as many miniatures as you’d like, to build that item. And the command room allows you to work through a deck of Contract cards that improve the headquarter’s abilities over time. You also gain additional miniatures that can be used during the Memory to help your characters on the map. Except for the workshop and command room, which rely on a dice roll modified by how many miniatures you placed there, all other actions are automatic.
The headquarters is a very good idea and it really brings a lot more crucial decisions to the game for each Memory. But I also thought it was somewhat too abstracted for my taste. Especially the command room’s mechanics. There is a thread of a story on the Contract cards, but only a thread that is resolved by a single dice roll. Personally I would have liked it to be more engaging and interlaced with the main campaign. Also, there was no need for the game to have miniatures that are only used to be placed on a sideboard. Cardboard tokens would have worked just fine. But on the other hand, the miniatures in this game are astounding. The game comes with a Leonardo da Vinci miniature, for crying out loud.
All in all, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice is an excellent game. There are a few things I would have loved to have been more developed, such as the lack of a story with the Contract cards and the simple plot of the campaign, but I completely understand the reasoning behind those decisions. There’s only so much detail you can stuff into a board game before the return on investment reverses. It is completely unfair to compare the experience of a board game to its highly immersive video game counterpart.
As I had mentioned above, I wish the Memories were more “tuned,” similar to how Gloomhaven was created. I loved the fact that virtually every scenario came down to the wire, the last few critical decisions, to see if we’d succeed. That knuckle-biting last few turns was one of the things that made Gloomhaven so fun to play. To it’s credit, Assassin’s Creed does have that same experience. But not as often, unfortunately.
That said however, it is still a great deal of fun to play because the rest of the game, and especially the mechanics, are very well designed. I really like that combat is a single dice roll instead of some labored multi step process. The character’s abilities, and their individual strengths, opens up many critical decisions in the game that would otherwise be bland by comparison. “Should I send Allesandra, with her superior weapon, to take out the guards in the room, or the more stealthy Bastino?”
And I honestly love the fact that so much of what makes the video game unique has been successfully brought to the board game. It makes what would normally be one more in an ever increasing line of virtually identical dungeon-crawler-style games with beautiful miniatures, into a unique game that stands out from the crowd. That also happens to have beautiful miniatures.
Even if you’ve never played the video game, I think you will like this well thought out adaptation. You may lose some of the background and context of course. (“Why on earth would I want to jump off a tower?”) But I think the love and effort that went into this game will more than make up for that. And besides, it has a Leonardo da Vinci miniature!
Now if only I can find room for the huge box on my game shelves. – – – – – – – James Davis
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