First Impressions- Last Will

As promised here are my first impressions of Last Will.

Last Will:

Type: worker placement/card game.
Players: 2-5.
Time: 45-75 minutes.

My friend brought Last Will to our last gaming night, eager to give it a shot and with a pitch like this who could resist! “Your distant childless uncle has died; in his will he explains that he did not live his life to the full. It’s a great regret of his which he wants to make sure his heir does not repeat. He has given each of you a small part of his fortune, whoever lives life to the fullest with it, will receive the rest!”

The game consists of a set of game boards, player boards, various decks of cards, player tokens and the money the players need to spend as fast as possible!

Theme

The game is set in Victorian England; each player must romp around buying the most expensive experiences and hosting the most extravagant events. The theme fits perfectly with the mechanics, that sense of a wasteful aristocracy throwing money around, having parties, buying houses and going to shows. The artworks on the pieces are top quality, done in a perfectly matching aesthetic.

Play

The game plays like a reverse economic game, instead of placing workers and cards to try and builder an empire, you are desperately trying to burn through your cash asap! Play involves choosing where you want to go the in turn order, placing your workers, then taking a number of actions. The turn order area is central, with each position offering tradeoffs on cards, actions and going early, giving players interesting decisions. Actions include playing cards to build up a tableau of frivolity, personal waiters and chefs, hosting parties at your house and playing the property market, to give a few examples. The property mechanics are very smart; when you buy property it is still an asset so doesn’t count as spending. Instead you need to deprecate it and manipulate the market to sell it for as little as possible before the end. This is a nice reverse of usually buy/sell games and takes a bit of mental juggling to not mess up through habit!

My estate agent couldn't understand why I was insisting on buying high and selling low, but he didn't mind as long as he got the commission!

Thoughts

It all plays very nicely as a unique reverse of the usual worker placement games. Our game was very close with three people within their last pound at the end, which I always think is a good sign in a game. I’m not sure if frequent play would show an optimum strategy as there is not a lot of luck in the game but the positive reviews on boardgamegeek makes me think it has staying power. I’m definitely looking forward to playing it again.