This is part three of a three-part series of articles examining all the influence cards in The Barracks Emperors, one suit at a time. If you would like to read the previous two parts of this series, they can be found here and here. In this final article, we look at the features of the cards in the Yellow suit. Just as in Time of Crisis, Yellow represents power and influence with the people of Rome. The special abilities provided by the Populace cards vary a little more among themselves than the Senate and Military cards do, but there is some emphasis on affecting how Emperor tricks are resolved and on affecting other Yellow cards.

(Note:  All art shown in this article is playtest art only.  It is not final.)

Level 1 Populace Cards

Analogous to Red’s Reinforcements and Blue’s Influence Peddling, the level 1 Populace cards are Popularity, which reads, “You may add a +1 (or +2) marker to another Populace influence card already played anywhere on the board.” All of the same comments regarding Reinforcements in part one of this series also apply to Popularity, except affecting Populace (Yellow) influence cards: This ability is a great way to improve the value of your own card to win a trick, or to modify other players’ cards to help you make or break a tie.

Level 2 Populace Cards

Quaestor represents the public officials that assisted a provincial governor with financial matters. In Time of Crisis, a Quaestor helps keep a governor from being ousted by another player. In The Barracks Emperors, Quaestor may help prevent an Emperor from being captured by your opponents.

Quaestor reads, “When resolving an Emperor involving this card, the trump suit of the Emperor is ignored.” Notice that it is also a “continuing effect” card (denoted by the color-coded text box.) Quaestor has no direct effect when it is placed, but its effect is applicable while it remains in play on the board. Whenever an Emperor trick is resolved and Quaestor is one of the four influence cards surrounding it, the Emperor is treated as if it has no trump color. Recall that an Emperor trick is normally won by the highest influence card adjacent to it that is of the Emperor’s trump color (or, if no trump card is adjacent, the highest card of any suit, just as in most standard trick-taking games.) However, if Quaestor is involved in the trick, you ignore the suits of all cards adjacent to the Emperor, and the single influence card of highest value wins.

This is very useful if your opponent has played a medium-value trump card that you can’t beat on an Emperor you need to win. You might be able to steal the trick with a higher-value card of any suit.

Since the Quaestor card itself does not have a very high value, you normally would like to play it in a position where it blocks your opponent. It’s best when you’ve been able to play the highest card of the wrong suit on an Emperor and then you can arrange to place Quaestor in the final space to complete the trick.

Be cautious, because if Quaestor is not removed for winning an Emperor, it may very well be able to influence the resolution of multiple tricks. Quaestor’s ability also remains in effect even if it is ignored for capturing the trick due to matching numbers. You will need to position it wisely to take advantage of this power multiple times without it getting in your own way.

Ambitus is another “continuing effect” card that affects how Emperors are resolved. Ambitus was a crime in ancient Rome, involving a candidate’s attempt to influence an election, typically through bribery. It reads, “When resolving an Emperor involving this card, this card’s suit is always considered to match the Emperor’s trump suit.”

Since Ambitus will always be treated as a trump card, regardless of the Emperor’s color, it will give you opportunities to unexpectedly capture tricks. Look for opportunities to play it to complete a trick when no other player has already placed a higher trump card on it. It’s relatively rare that you get an opportunity to win a trick with a card of a non-trump color.

But be wary of Quaestor also being played on the same trick: The Quaestor makes the trick “no trump”, so no card will be considered trump, not even Ambitus.

Level 3 Populace Cards

Mob provides another means for neutralizing an opponent’s card that could beat your card, with an effect that says, “You may flip any other influence card adjacent to the Emperor you are playing on face down. That card is now considered to have no suit, no text, and a value of 0.”

You may notice that this is somewhat similar to Spiculum (a Red Military card). While Spiculum allows you to completely remove an opposing card on the same trick, that means that you probably can’t play Spiculum and immediately resolve the trick. Mob moves a little faster – the target card is flipped face down and is essentially completely neutralized, but it remains in place and still counts as one of the four cards to complete the trick. This usually does allow you to play Mob and immediately resolve the trick (presumably to your own benefit.)

Beyond the obvious use of removing a high-value card that you can’t beat, Mob can also be used to remove the ability of a “continuing effect” card. Even if you can’t use Mob to win a trick directly, perhaps you can cancel out the effects of a Quaestor, Ambitus, or Cavalry card to win a neighboring trick.  (But note that Castra is immune, due to its own effect.) 

Mobile Vulgus in Latin means “the fickle crowd.” The people of Rome may support you one minute, and then desert you the next. The text reads, “You may discard another Populace influence card already played anywhere on the board.” 

This is the only special ability that allows you to remove another influence card anywhere on the board, but it can only target another Populace (Yellow) card. A fairly straightforward use is to discard a Pretender or Demagogue card to make your Mobile Vulgus (or another Populace card) the highest trump card on a Yellow trick. But similar to Mob, also be sure to look for chances to remove Quaestor or Ambitus to get rid of a troublesome effect.

Level 4 Populace Cards

Pretender is almost the opposite of the Damnatio Memoriae Senate card: “You may place one of the set-aside Populace Emperors in any unoccupied Emperor space.” This is the only special ability that allows you to add a new Emperor to the board.

At the start of the game, six Yellow Emperors are set aside to possibly be used as Pretenders. (Potentially, two Pretenders might be played per round, for six in a full three-round game.) When you play Pretender, just select one (it doesn’t matter which) and place it on any open Emperor space on the board. Because you need an open space, Pretenders normally can’t be played for effect until one or more Emperors have been captured.

Drafting a Pretender card might be a high priority for you if you need a Yellow Emperor to make a set (to get the 3-point bonus), especially if all of the Yellow Emperors have been (or will be) captured by your opponents and you need to create a new opportunity for yourself. It’s a high-value card as well, but since you will need to play it in a legal position for yourself, it’s generally impossible to play in such a way that you can apply the 7 or 8 value to the newly-added Emperor. If possible, play Pretender in a location to win a trick and also place a new Yellow Emperor that will be beneficial for you, but don’t be afraid to just get the new Yellow Emperor on the board if you really need it. Also, don’t forget a possible combo with Flanking Maneuver (a Red Military card) to move the Pretender card into a better position if needed.

Demagogue gives you a very different and interesting special ability: “You may prevent the use of optional abilities on influence cards played by the other players until the start of your next turn.”

When you play the Demagogue, you decide if all special abilities until the start of your next turn are ignored, or if none are. You may not choose whether it affects one player and not another, but it does affect only your opponents. Generally, you’ll always want to prevent your opponents from using their special abilities because they almost always mean unpleasant surprises for you. Be aware of the times when you may be cooperating with another player (or two) to try to interfere with the leader – you may not always want to hamstring your temporary allies.

Note that “continuing effects” like those provided by Quaestor, Ambitus, Castra, and Cavalry are not affected. They get placed on the board and are non-optional. Also, Demagogue only affects influence card abilities, so everyone may still play a Barbarians card normally.

By playing Demagogue, you can ensure that no one can use a special ability to disrupt your plans for one turn. They can only respond with normal card plays, effectively giving you two sequential uninterrupted effects of your choice. There are many different combos you may be able to take advantage of, depending on what’s in your hand and the current state of the board. But there’s another secondary effect that may help you even more – Your opponents are much more likely to delay playing their best cards when they can’t get use from the special abilities printed on them, so you may see them playing lower-value, less threatening cards as well. You may, however, see a lot of barbarian movement, since that is unaffected; be prepared.

That’s All, Folks

I hope this series of articles has given you a glimpse into the various strategies you can employ playing The Barracks Emperors. If you have any questions or suggestions for future articles, please let me know. More information on The Barracks Emperors can be found on its P500 page.

---

Previous Articles:

The Barracks Emperors: Examining the Influence Cards Part 1 — Military Cards

The Barracks Emperors: Examining the Influence Cards Part 2 — Senate Cards