Troyes is amazing. The art is thematic. The choices are abundant. A player needs to be strategic and tactical. It has that super fun but still working hard feel to it. I think it's genuinely the best game you have on your shelves of amazing games (that can be seen in the video at least).
I've just realised why I instantly like it so much. It's got the regular old Euro feel I love and has injected into it a little bit of the constant in-your-face jostling (with its central dice 'market') of games like Imperial 2030. What a great combo. Creating a nice playground for intuition and competition, beyond the usual deep calculations or solitaire emphasis of many games. That's what I always love about Hansa Teutonica too. That it feels less about there being a 'right move' (although that certainly will happen a lot) and more about chasing down opportunities instinctively.
Have now played this once. It's possible this could knock Hansa Teutonica, Pax Pamir 2 etc off my top spot as favourite game. It's awesome. On Board Game Geek there's a really nice fan-made two-sided sheet explaining all the cards and expansion buildings. The dynamic of stealing dice from other players is so constant that it gives the game almost a stock market feel, regarding trying to gather the best level of power to interact with locations. I love how the expansion (Ladies of Troyes) includes optional unstealable wild dice, for if players decide they'd prefer a different dynamic to the core mechanism.
Personally I find this game quite thematic. In my only play of it yet (which I really enjoy), I've paid a archer to go and shoot the traveling workers who came to build the cathedral. I also could get a monk to work for me and triple my gain from what a normal peasant would gave me as he work for free. The link you can see between the cards and what it does on the board makes a lot of sense thematically. I don't get it why people says it is a very dry euro because I've seen much more dry games than this one.
