![\"\"](\"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Citadels-Dej-cover-600.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIl y a une dizaine d\u2019ann\u00e9es, un \u00e9diteur indon\u00e9sien avait commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 travailler sur une \u00e9dition de Citadelles illustr\u00e9e par des artistes locaux. Pour toute une s\u00e9rie de raisons, ce projet, dont j\u2019ai racont\u00e9 l\u2019histoire dans un autre poste de ce blog<\/a>, a finalement \u00e9t\u00e9 abandonn\u00e9. Je l\u2019ai beaucoup regrett\u00e9, car j\u2019aurais bien aim\u00e9 avoir quelques boites de ce Citadelles oriental. Un peu plus tard, il fut question d’une version mormone, elle aussi abandonn\u00e9e, mais je ne suis pas s\u00fbr que cela relevait vraiment de l’exotisme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n C\u2019est d\u2019un tout autre orient, plus proche, que vient finalement le Citadelles exotique. Il y a trois ans, j\u2019ai \u00e9t\u00e9 contact\u00e9 par Alireza Lolagar, de Houpaa<\/a>, qui souhaitait publier Citadelles en Persan. Les jeux de soci\u00e9t\u00e9 modernes sont de plus en plus populaires en Iran. Houpaa en est le principal \u00e9diteur, et les caf\u00e9s jeux<\/a> s\u2019y d\u00e9veloppent rapidement. Ceux que cela amuse ou int\u00e9resse peuvent lire, ou du moins comme moi regarder, le principal site d\u2019information ludique en persan, roomizgames.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mais revenons \u00e0 Citadelles. Comme je le fais d\u00e9sormais chaque fois que je re\u00e7ois une proposition d\u2019un pays o\u00f9 le jeu n\u2019est pas encore disponible, je l\u2019ai d\u2019abord renvoy\u00e9 sur mon \u00e9diteur am\u00e9ricain, Fantasy Flight Games, qui s\u2019occupe d\u00e9j\u00e0 de la traductions du jeu dans une vingtaine de langues. Il s\u2019est trouv\u00e9 que les choses \u00e9taient plus compliqu\u00e9es qu\u2019\u00e0 l\u2019habitude, les sanctions commerciales am\u00e9ricaines contre l\u2019Iran interdisant \u00e0 Fantasy Flight Games de travailler avec un \u00e9diteur iranien. Il faut croire que le jeu de soci\u00e9t\u00e9 est d\u2019une grande importance strat\u00e9gique. En revanche, il n\u2019y avait aucun obstacle \u00e0 ce que moi, en France, signe directement le contrat d\u2019\u00e9dition avec les iraniens, s\u2019ils n\u2019utilisaient pas les illustrations appartenant \u00e0 Fantasy Flight. Je ne demandais pas mieux, puisque cela me permettait d\u2019avoir un Citadelles exotique, et bien diff\u00e9rent de celui qui avait failli \u00eatre publi\u00e9 en Indon\u00e9sie. Je dois aussi remercier Maryam, une amie d\u2019Alireza qui vivait alors \u00e0 Paris et a beaucoup aid\u00e9 \u00e0 faire aboutir ce projet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n C\u2019est un artiste iranien, Hassan Nozadian, qui a r\u00e9alis\u00e9 toutes les illustrations, adaptant ainsi l\u2019univers du jeu \u00e0 l\u2019imaginaire persan. Le r\u00e9sultat est particuli\u00e8rement \u00e9l\u00e9gant, \u00e0 la fois proche et tr\u00e8s diff\u00e9rent de l\u2019original. D\u00e9cors et personnages sont plus proches que je ne l\u2019imaginais des clich\u00e9s orientalistes tels que je les ai discut\u00e9s dans mon petit essai sur le sujet<\/a>. Les paysages d\u00e9sertiques sont agr\u00e9ment\u00e9s de rares c\u00e8dres ou cypr\u00e8s, les temples et caravans\u00e9rails, de pierre blanches ou beiges, allient larges arcades et formes massives. Les couleurs vives, en revanche, sont assez rafraichissantes, loin des ocres et des beiges que les occidentaux se sentent oblig\u00e9s d\u2019utiliser d\u00e8s qu\u2019ils dessinent le Moyen-Orient, oubliant que dans ces coins l\u00e0, s’il y a le d\u00e9sert, il y aussi la mer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Un an apr\u00e8s la sortie de Dej, j’ai \u00e9t\u00e9 invit\u00e9 une semaine \u00e0 T\u00e9h\u00e9ran par l’\u00e9quipe de Hoopa games. vous pouvez lire un r\u00e9cit de mon s\u00e9jour iranien ici. <\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dej (Citadelles)<\/strong><\/span> Ten years ago, an Indonesian publisher started working on a localisation of Citadels illustrated by local artists. This project was finally cancelled, and all that\u2019s left is a few graphic files. I regret it a lot, because I would have liked to own a few copies of this very exotic Citadels. You can read more about this story in an older blogpost<\/a>. More or less at the same time, a mormon version was also considered, but I’m not sure it qualifies as exotic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The oriental Citadels is finally coming from another, and much nearer, East. Three years ago, I was contacted by Alireza Lolagar, from Houpaa<\/a>, who wanted to publish Citadels in Persian. Modern boardgames are becoming popular in Iran. Houpaa is the main publisher there, and game caf\u00e9s<\/a> are on the rise. Those interested might read, or at least like me have a look, at the main iranien board game website, roomizgames<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But let\u2019s get back to Citadels. As I do every time I am contacted by someone willing to publish Citadels in some exotic country where it isn\u2019t available yet, I forwarded Alireza to Fantasy Flight Games, which already deals with localisation of the game in about twenty languages. This time, things were more complicated than they are usually, since my friends at FFG found out that US commercial sanctions against Iran forbid them to deal with an Iranian publisher. Yes, it looks like boardgames are that strategic. On the other hand, there was no problem with me dealing directly with Iranians, providing they didn\u2019t use the art owned by FFG. All the best for me, I was now going to have an oriental Citadels, and a completely different one than the one I nearly got in Indonesia. I must also thnk Maryam, a friend of Alireza who was living in Paris at that time and helped a lot with this project.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n All the art for the Persian edition of Citadels is by Iranian artist Hassan Nozadian<\/a>. I really appreciate the way he managed to to make something both really different and very true to the original. Places and characters are not that different from the orientalist clich\u00e9s I discussed on my short essay on this topic<\/a>. Desert landscapes with the occasional cedar or cypress, massive temples or caravanserais with wide arcades. Colors, on the other hand, are bright and fresh, quite different from the browns and beiges western game illustrators always use when depicting the Middle-East, as if forgetting that while there’s indeed desert there, there’s also sea.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n One year after Dej was published, I was invited for a week in tehran by its publisher, Hoopa games. You can read a report of my travel, with my impressions of the local boardgame scene, here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dej (Citadels)<\/strong><\/span><\/figure><\/li><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/figure><\/li>
\nThe bulbous crown, right, is inspired by Sassasnid models.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/figure><\/li><\/figure><\/li><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/a><\/a><\/a>
Un jeu de Bruno Faidutti<\/span>
2 \u00e0 8 joueurs \u2013 30 \u00e0 60 minutes
Illustr\u00e9 par Hassan Nozadian<\/span>
Publi\u00e9 par Hoopa Games
Pr\u00e9sentation du jeu chez l’\u00e9diteur<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure><\/li><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/figure><\/li>
\nThe bulbous crown, right, is inspired by Sassasnid models.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/figure><\/li><\/figure><\/li><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/a><\/a><\/a>
A game by Bruno Faidutti<\/span>
2 to 8 players \u2013 30 to 60 minutes<\/span>
Art by Hassan Nozadian<\/span>
Published by Hoopa Games<\/span>
Publisher’s Citadels webpage<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n