A detour through the Mâchicoulis TCG and the joy of weird games

 

It's the first article of the year and we're already off track with an article about a French Kickstarter TCG ! Well, inspiration struck; what can you do. 

 Before getting into miniature games, I was a Magic the Gathering player. I played for much of my college life, until slowing down drastically around the time I moved to where I currently lived. Covid was a factor, though I was still doing leagues online, the local card store having a terrible community was also a huge reason, and of course, Universes Beyond was the nail in the coffin. I had dabbled in other TCGs through the years like Hearthstone and Yu-Gi-Oh, but nothing that really stuck as much as Magic. All this to say, when I saw the art for Mâchicoulis being shared around instagram, I was a card game orphan and a prime target to get suckered in. I got both of the preconstructed sets, a few packs, and the fancy limited alchemist peasant (more as a way to tip the authors than anything else, I don't have the pokemon grading brain disease).

 

Mâchicoulis also happened to resonate a lot more with my current taste in games. After a few years of running around the indie wargame sphere, I was excited to see the abrasive, punk aura of those make it to the typically much safer TCG world. And to be honest I was doubly happy that a French game was finally taking a stab at the gonzo look of games like Troika. It's completely anecdotal but I feel like there's otherwise a tendency to play it very safe and generic among my countrymen when it comes to games art direction. Altered, another french TCG is perhaps one of the ugliest games I have ever seen. French efforts in the wargames realm fare a little bit better, but seeing that Eden of all things is coming back, it seems the specter of extremely bland looking games is still looming. 

omg foil hyper mega rare we're rich 

Mâchicoulis is a sort of city builder where you use your citizens to create a more prestigious town than your opponent(s). You can disrupt opponents with guys to attack the building, spells, etc...I won't dive into the gameplay too much here, as I've only just recieved the game and played a handful of games, but it's been a good time so far. I'm very curious to try the multiplayer mode, as I feel like this has the potential to be a realy fun game night boxed set for me and my non tcg playing friends in the future.

  

one of my fav pieces from the base set

 

What I do want to focus on is how much Mâchicoulis nails the ambiance. Before talking more about the art, I want to bring up one of my favorite little quirks of the game. Unlike other TCGs where the card effects are presented from the point of view of the players, creatures tell you their effect in the first person. As in "when x happens, I get to do Y". I cannot overstate how much this contributes to the vibe of the game, and how much personality it gives to the universe they're creating. Because there is sort of a universe. The same elements come back on different cards, giving you glimpses of a fun little world where this is taking place, which honestly is awesome for a city builder. I doesn't feel like a super serious interconnected world, more like the nods that Yu-Gi-Oh likes to do, which I find a lot more fun than a super concrete fantasy setting.

some of the aforementioned connected cards

The art of Mâchicoulis is in large part the work of Corentin Simon and Sofiane Saez, the designers themselves. The kickstarter doubled its initial goal and as a result the game features a bunch of guest artists on top of that. Overall the art is a homerun in my opinion. They manages to create a pretty clear visual identity to every card type, which makes reading the board nice and manageable, even without a ton of play time. The campaign insisted on this being a "game for artists" and honestly this feels like a great niche. I say this with no malice whatsoever, but I don't think Mâchicoulis is going to become the world's biggest TCG, I have no idea what future the game has. But branding it that way makes it feel like a nice little print collection featuring a lot of really cool French artists. I hope whatever comes next for the game, they keep going with that motto. 

no joke, I really wanted a foil Living Gate, as it was one of the first cards I saw, and check out what we got !

 

I think this uncertainty, as weird as that sounds, goes a long way to give the game, and many weird indie games, a sort of mystique I really enjoy. It feels like a weird fake game you sort of remember seeing at a flee market on vacation when you were a kid. As with many little miniature games that evoke those feelings, I know I'm going to have fond memories of Mâchicoulis.

 

If you want to try the game in English, a few starter decks are available on Tabletop Sim, as well as on DriveThru RPG  as a PDF for you to print and play free. The whole Base set was available as print and play during the kickstarter and I'm sure that's going to come back as an option at some point if you'd like to build your own decks.