Tips & Strategy

How to teach Maestro, first-game advice for da Vinci and Michelangelo, Galleries and Collectors, teams versus 1 vs 1 versus solo, and where videos differ from the rulebook — advice, not rules.

Advice only: where anything here differs from the rules pages, the rulebook wins.

How to teach

• Asymmetry first. Set the scene of the rivalry, then the two engines: da Vinci lays Resources in a grid to build Inventions — lasting powers — while Michelangelo spends Resources to clear Sistine Chapel tiles for one-time effects.
• Board tour: the map and its Galleries, the scoring table, the Study track and the Collector Lodge, then the five phases from a player aid. Tantrum House says to keep the player aids in reach all game: each Workshop’s symbols differ.
• Turn order on the Sideboard: the Tools tile turns from Leonardo to Michelangelo to the two Assistants. Resources you gain go to the other Character of your Workshop — Gaming Rules! stresses this, and it is the rule teams forget first.
• Gossip turns last: in rounds 1–2 the first card of each Character goes face down, for Publicity only.
• Ludex’s Teach the Game follows this order.

First game

• Use the Communication variant. Gaming Rules! and Tantrum House both recommend it for a first team game: it skips the Planning phase and keeps everyone talking (Communication variant).
• Check the active Character’s Artwork. Michelangelo moves and creates Statues, his Assistant Busts. Waris Ali moved the wrong type in his Michelangelo solo game and had to undo it.
• Da Vinci must place every available Resource on his Workshop board each turn; Michelangelo’s Workshop Action is optional (Workshops). Planszowe Newsy flags this.
• Remove a Starting card when you upgrade it — it goes back to the box. Waris Ali forgot in his da Vinci game.
• Spend your Publicity tokens. The Gaming Rules! table forgot theirs for a whole round; +2 on a matching Action often decides who takes the patron card.
• Expect a long setup and a first game nearer 3 hours than 2 (Boardgames With Joe).

Playing da Vinci

• Slow start, strong finish. Tantrum House and Waris Ali both find da Vinci harder to steer and later to pay off: the Inventions are permanent, so the earlier they come, the longer they work.
• Plan the grid. Resources never move once placed, and you must place them all — leave room for the patterns you want. Blueprints may be rotated and mirrored.
• Use Workshop upgrades on hard Blueprints. An Upgrade marker removes a Resource from the pattern for good (Upgrading da Vinci’s Workshop).
• In rounds 3–4, with movement and Create Inventions running, spread into Galleries Michelangelo holds thinly.

Playing Michelangelo

• Press early. Michelangelo is the more direct Workshop (Waris Ali, Tantrum House): take Centerpieces in rounds 1–2, before da Vinci’s engine starts.
• Make rows and columns free. Workshop Upgrade tiles cover a cost for a whole row or column — Waris Ali places them early so later tiles cost nothing to remove.
• Remove rather than flip when you can: 2 VP per removed tile and 2 VP per empty row at the end (Final scoring).
• Spend a Resource of the Action’s colour for +1 Effort — only Michelangelo can.

Galleries and Collectors

• The 14-VP Popular Galleries decide games. Reinforce a Centerpiece with extra Artworks: in Cleanup you take one Artwork back from every Gallery you scored (Cleanup), which can hand the majority over (Tantrum House).
• Influence is an attack as much as a boost: shift the Lodge so your colours rank first and your rival’s drop. The ranking is fixed only at the start of Gallery scoring, so late moves count most.
• Losing a Gallery you are present in still pays a Resource of its colour, so a lone Artwork is not wasted (Planszowe Newsy).
• Study track: besides its rewards, it breaks every Publicity tie and the final tie.
• Card upgrades score the old card’s Effort (from hand) or Publicity (from the board), doubled in rounds 3–4 — keep a few upgrades for late (Scoring an upgrade). Upgrade early too: weak Starting cards leave your deck for good.

Player counts

• 2 vs 2: teammates may only plan in the Planning phase, and each one’s Resources feed the partner — think one turn ahead for them.
• 1 vs 1: you run both Characters: draw 5, keep 3, set 3 aside, then draw 5 and keep 3 more (Preparation). Chain the two: one Character’s action can supply the Resources the other needs next turn.
• 1 vs a team works, but the lone player sees both hands — an edge the team lacks.
• Reviewers rate it best at two or four players.

Solo

• The Machina has no Effort and wins every tie: aim for clear majorities (Solo).
• It moves Collectors away from the colour that scores you most, so spread your Galleries over several colours (Waris Ali).
• It upgrades its own deck and scores for it: keep your upgrades coming to keep pace.

Videos vs the rulebook

• Gaming Rules! first sent Benefactor Resources to the partner; the rulebook puts them in the active player’s section (Benefactor cards).
• Tantrum House says teams plan before drawing cards. Correct — Planning comes before Preparation — but they may not reveal or discuss their cards later in the round.
• Videos recorded on prototype copies show Resource tokens without the colour-blind shapes and player aids with unclear Florence icons — da Vinci’s two Florence icons both take Artwork from your own supply (FAQ).
• Don’t re-rank the colours every time a Collector moves: the rulebook ranks them once, at the start of Gallery scoring.

Host game

Before the opening card, point to the Tools tile and name the active Character. During the first three turns, check that each player is taking a Gossip turn. On the first normal turn, ask where the new Resources go and which Artwork type the Character may use; keep the players’ card choices private.

Rehearse Gossip and the first Create action

In round 1, play the first four turns face down, one for each Character. Those cards contribute Publicity later; take neither a Main nor a Workshop Action. Rotate the Tools after each turn so every Character has its Gossip turn.

On da Vinci’s next turn, demonstrate Create with a 1-Effort card and no special effect changing it: gain 1 Artwork into your supply, then put 1 Artwork from that supply into Florence. Resolve the Workshop Action as well, before or after the Main Action. This shows the difference between gaining a piece and placing it.

For subsequent Resources, point to the receiving section before moving any tokens: ordinary gains go to the other Character; Benefactor Resources go to the active Character. Action phase and Create.

Sources

• Maestro - Tutorial & Playthrough — Gaming Rules!
• Maestro Board Game Review — Tantrum House
• Maestro Boardgame Review — Boardgames With Joe
• Maestro - Solo Playthrough (da Vinci) — Waris Ali
• Maestro - Solo Playthrough #2 (Michelangelo) — Waris Ali
• Maestro || Artystyczna batalia daVinci i Michała Anioła || Skrót zasad i prezentacja || Board&Dice — Planszowe Newsy (Polish)
• Community rulings: linked by thread in the FAQ; the publisher’s Maestro files hold the rulebook.