“The Quacks of Quedlinburg: The Alchemists” is the second expansion to the family board game “The Quacks of Quedlinburg”. It introduces a new alchemy flask mechanic with essences, patients, fortune-teller cards, and new ingredient recipe books.

Expansion Overview

Game setup proceeds as usual. Additionally, each player receives an alchemy flask, an essence marker, and 4 double-sided essence cards in their color. From a bag, 3 patients are randomly drawn from a pool of 8, and each player chooses which patient to treat by taking the corresponding card, placing it on the new alchemy flask board.

New Phase

A new game phase has been added after potion brewing but before evaluation—the essence phase. During this phase, you distill an additional essence from your potion (even if it exploded). Like the brewing phase, all players perform the essence phase simultaneously.

In the essence phase, players move their marker along the track of the new board, earning various bonuses depending on the chosen patient. The patient’s condition encourages you to follow a specific strategy throughout the game.

The marker moves in the following cases:

• The number of differently colored ingredients in your potion, excluding white ones, moves the essence marker by the corresponding number of spaces on the track.
• If your potion contains exactly 7 white chips, the marker moves 1 space on the track.
• If the player to your left or right has an exploded potion, advance 1 space. If both have exploded, advance 2 spaces.

After this, determine which bonus you receive for your essence. At the start of the next essence phase, return the essence marker to space 0. The evaluation phase then proceeds as usual.

Final Thoughts

Gallu the Rooster recommends this expansion to everyone who enjoys the family board game “The Quacks of Quedlinburg”. It not only adds more variety but also introduces new mechanics and engaging strategies to your memorable game sessions without overly complicating the gameplay.