Barony feels old. When we first played the new Royal Edition, my mind automatically sorted it into the early 2000s. It fits the period. The feudal setting. The perfect information. The simple rules. Even the emphasis on direct conflict. This is what Eurogames once resembled, before the endless recombination of systems into recursive engines and checklists of scoring criteria. Before everybody decided to chase that Vital Lacerda money.

But Barony is not old. Not that old. Marc André designed this thing a mere decade ago, in 2015. That’s a year after he gave us Splendor! The same year Trickerion: Legends of Illusion hit the scene!

As a not-quite-throwback, Barony is an interesting case study. In some ways it’s refreshing; in others, it’s mired in sensibilities the hobby has largely left behind.

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