HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

Each player begins the game by choosing 1 of the 5 base game characters. Each character comes equipped with a backstory and tendencies to help you determine your best strategy.

The board is a uniquely pieced together variety of individual islands that serve as action points for your character. The game takes place over 4 rounds (or 7 in the extended game) and during those rounds, players will take turns moving around the board seeking to satisfy goals and claim points in a number of different ways.

The game primarily revolves around players gaining different dice, completing challenges and upgrading your characters. Players will have to be intentional with their strategy and efficient with their choices since each player is limited to only 16 actions (in the 4 round variant) for the entire game.

The best way to break down the variety of mechanics and thematic touches is by providing a tour of all the islands, what you can do there and how it affects your game as a whole. So let’s begin:

CITADEL OF TIME

The Citadel of Time serves as the island’s headquarters. Here players have the opportunity to choose challenge cards, refresh their dice and possibly gather a few resources. Completing challenge cards is a big chunk of the game. Each challenge card features a certain object that requires a specific number of die faces to be rolled.

The game features 62 dice and they’ll all come in handy at some point to achieve a challenge. Each die features some combination of strength symbols that are necessary to accomplish some or all of a certain challenge. Dice can be rerolled as many times as you want… or at least as many times as you’re able and willing. Failure to achieve a challenge on the first roll isn’t the end of the world, but with each die roll an additional danger die roll is waiting to wreak havoc. Each danger die (which gets worse as the game progresses) features X’s that eliminate one of your dice used in the roll. Fortunately, you’ll have the opportunity to exchange resources to remove the danger die’s effect and allow you to keep on rolling.

As challenges are achieved, you’ll be able to level up your character in 1 of 4 different fighting style categories. These categories are represented by cool dials on each character’s board. As they level up they allow the player to roll more dice in battle, earn bonuses or refresh and level up your dice.

Using dice for a challenge will ultimately exhaust the dice, but you do have the ability to refresh the dice and eventually upgrade those dice. Upgrading your dice is one of the coolest features in the game. Players start out with novice dice that provide a limited opportunity for success. As you progress and earn dice upgrades, the dice improve and provide more force. Each novice die can be upgraded to a more specialized initiative die. The initiative die can then be upgraded to an elite die that greatly reduces your risk of failure and finally to the most powerful die… a guild die. Again, each die provides much improved odds, but will also require strategy. As the dice upgrade, they also become more specialized and in-turn can’t be used to achieve every challenge.

Successfully completing challenges provide players end game points in addition to points earned by gaining sets of 3 unique challenges.

CHRONOSSEUM

On this island, players can snag an initiative die of their choice and draw a stunt card. Stunt cards provide in-game bonuses that are often contingent upon reaching certain levels on your player board. At the end of each island visit (aside from the Citadel and Fold) players can attempt to perform a challenge card in their possession. The only limitations are that you must attempt these challenges at their matching island.

LAMARA STADIUM

The stadium features a rondel where a boat driving around the circular board earns players different bonuses. It’s here players can grab the starting token as well as a variety of resources. The starting marker isn’t quite as essential in a 2-player game as it is in 3 and 4. That being said, it’s always beneficial when trying to avoid your opponent blocking a space they know you’re targeting.

DROKA RING

The Droka Ring serves at the island’s market. The 25-card market deck features 3 available deals and allows players to exchange resources for a variety of things such as additional dice, player upgrades, new challenge cards or a combination thereof.

THE FOLD

The final action board is the Fold. This is the point of defense for the island. The Fold features monsters that must be defended against. While it’s not necessary to kill the monsters, it is critical that you participate in warding them off. When players stop here they choose dice to attack with knowing they won’t get these dice back after the attack. Again, players execute these attacks similar to attempting challenges, but the consequences of a failed attack can be painful.

ALL THE REST

The play area also has the Champion Board track. Players move up along the Champion board in a variety of ways throughout the game and can earn additional points by being in the lead on the board at different points in the game as well as passing checkpoints.

Each player’s personal board levels are critical for success in a number of ways. These 4 level dials represent areas of strength and those levels are focus, spirit, synergy and resilience. Your focus tells how many dice you can initially roll on a challenge or battle. Success on the focus strength will power up the benefits of your stunt cards (earning you better rewards for higher levels). Resilience provides the number of dice you can refresh and upgrade at the end of a round. Finally, the synergy strength will allow you to select cards from your personal character deck.

The personal character deck features a number of abilities exclusive to your characters. Many of these cards provide permanent upgrades to your character. I found these integral not only in giving you unique advantages over your opponents, but also important to the overall fun-factor of the game. Knowing you’re the only one that can do something really helped drive my strategy and gave me a unique voice during the game.

As I mentioned, the danger die is replaced as the rounds advance, increasing the challenge of completing any action. After the final round the game ends and players total their points in a variety of categories across the game area. The player with the most points is the winner and crowded hero of the reef.

COMPONENTS

Any discussion of components has to start with the unique game board. Each modular piece holds a custom shape. It all harmoniously comes together setting the foundation for a truly original looking playing field. While I didn’t play the deluxe version of the game with 3D resources and plastic mini’s, the components were all really well done. The cardboard is solid, the player cards feel great and the oodles of dice are great.

My only negative on the component side were the individual players “hit tokens.” These microscopic bits of cardboard serve as markers for the champion track and when you successfully engage a monster. I had a little trouble grabbing these. You don’t use them all the time and they aren’t that bad, but I thought I’d mention it.

The game also comes with an incredibly well designed plastic insert. Every time I finish the game, I nervously wonder how I’m going to fit all this back in the box and magically it comes together in a very intuitive way. Kudos to the designer of the insert.

The game also comes with a rulebook and almanac along with a card for the game’s solo variant. The rulebook was initially confusing just because all rulebooks are initially a little confusing to me, but once I got my bearings, it proved to be a very solid resource. At certain points, the rulebook breaks out into a mini comic book visually representing how a specific island or action plays out, which was a fun way to present the information.

ARTWORK

The artwork from Mr. Cuddington is top notch! The fantasy island theme is beautifully portrayed in a colorful, exciting, yet strangely calming way. It equally embraces and brings the theme to life in a truly engaging way. The presentation overall made Tidal Blade a real joy to experience and play. The art direction combining the illustration work, wonderfully thematic iconography and clear in-game instructions all uniquely accented by the original die-cut board shapes makes this one a true visual masterpiece.

DEEP THOUGHTS

Looking at the big picture, Tidal Blades is really a mess of different mechanics and game styles frankensteined together that shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. This is a worker placement game, but there is a dice-rolling push-your-luck element. The luck is mitigated through a resource management system that not only provides initial benefits to spending your resources, but an additional benefit after removing them from your board. There is a little set collection, a mini rondel board, asymmetrical characters, unique story and player upgrades, dice upgrades, fighting monsters and a euro game-like scoring system. And with all that packed in there, I didn’t find the game difficult to grasp or unnecessarily brain-burning.

For me, I think the theme has a lot to do with the game’s success. When I talk about the theme, I’m also talking about the illustration and presentation since they’re seamlessly intertwined. The artwork and unique boards keep the game light and fun. I never felt overwhelmed with my handful of challenge, stunt and player deck cards because they were visually bright and clearly presented.

I was a little anxious about the push-your-luck, dice-rolling portion because they have the potential to create extremely high or low gaming experiences. If I have a game where my die rolls aren’t making it happen – you might find me sulking in the corner for the next couple hours. This isn’t a problem in a game that lasts 15 minutes, but suffering through an hour and half of rolling disappointment can be painful. The game’s mitigation, allowing players to spend fruit to gain additional dice and spend shells to keep re-rolling always left a strong sense of hope for each challenge even when I wasn’t rolling the best. This was also something you could almost always prepare for to some extent.

As the game progresses, I really enjoyed leveling up my character and revealing new rewards and benefits. I was able to put together some pretty nifty combos that earned me mega player upgrades as well as pushed me further along the champion board sometimes earning me a combined 5-8 points on a single turn (and points can get hard to come by here).

It was evident early on that you really need to have a strong pursuit of one or two character strengths. I was all I. I was going to be the champion of synergy and resilience and punt everything else! … then I quickly realized this was a huge mistake. While on one hand there are so many ways to chase points, that if you don’t have a strategy, you could end up with little to nothing to show for it. I also don’t necessarily think I played this wrong, but going all in was a big mistake. I quickly realized if I wanted to both increase the number of dice I refresh and upgrade (resilience) AND increase the number of dice I wanted to roll with each challenge (focus), I was going to have to diversify my approach. These 2 strengths felt like they were on completely opposite ends and I really appreciate the challenging decisions that come into play in attempting to effectively balance your game. In the end, while I didn’t achieve everything I was targeting, I did feel like I accomplished quite a bit in the game with a lot coming together in the last round.

What were some of my gripes? I wouldn’t say the board was particularly tight. Early on the Chronosseum and it’s bonus die benefit might be tied up, but there was almost always something else to move you forward. If you add in the Angler’s Cover expansion, you’ll even have more spaces to conquer. While I say it wasn’t particularly tight, there were still multiple times even in a 2-player game where my path was blocked and I had to wait until the next round to make something happen. In a game with only 16 total actions – delaying a target can feel heavy.

Another issue that felt a little loose: By the end of the game I felt like I had an endless supply of resources. Maybe I didn’t manage them well, but I was almost guaranteed to achieve any challenge I approached. It ultimately came down to who had the better stash of challenge cards or who was best equipped to challenge a monster. This issue didn’t run throughout the entire game – as I often found myself with a limited supply of 1 resource or another through the first half of the game. So it may just be an issue of better managing the resources I have at my disposal.

Before I wrap this up, I do want to mention the asymmetrical player decks. These along with the player boards created an RPG element that really worked for me. I’m not a huge RPG guy and I will often neglect these areas in some games just because I don’t want to manage 15 cards and keep track of my player levels – it can be overwhelming. This felt really light and enjoyable. It wasn’t a burden on the game and really matched the overall feel – It was definitely something I embraced.

DIFFERENT PLAYER COUNTS

I’ve kinda stated that Tidal Blades is much tighter with more players, but I found the game enjoyable at any of the recommended player counts. I think you’ll be pleased if you’re looking for a 2-player experience or playing at 3 or 4.

RE-PLAYABILITY

There are tons of game play variants in this one. The market, challenge and monster decks each feature expert level options that can be added in. There are also additional goals and events that can be added in to create a new experience. The game provides the option to play 4 or 7 rounds and the 5 unique characters each offer a slightly different approach. All that to say that there are tons of different ways to experience the game and fans will be pleased.

VERDICT

My first play of the game was completely ruined by a couple of rule miscues that stifled the flow of the game and left me frustrated. Fortunately, I was able to remedy those rule errors and really enjoy the game from there on out. I had a really good time playing Tidal Blades. There was plenty to do and achieve and the game never felt unnecessarily heavy. The production provides a bright tone that gives the game a lot of life. I really enjoyed the characters, upgrading my dice (multiple times) and the ability to put yourself in a positive position when facing failed die rolls. It’s a decently long game for its weight, but it really flew by.

I went into this thinking it could end up being a case of style of substance, but it all comes together well. There is a lot here to set up and tear down and that may ultimately limit its plays in the future. Hopefully the great insert and familiarity over time should help in those areas.

This is a dice-chucker that really benefits those who bring a solid strategy. There is a lot to do, and with that, many opportunities to get lost down a rabbit hole. Even in my early games, by the end, I felt like I had achieved a lot despite my lack of experience.

Tidal Blades brings a sprawling top-notch production to a medium weight fantasy themed game. There is a little bit of everything thrown in giving you plenty of interesting choices throughout. The setup might scare more casual gamers away, but the easy learning curve and game play provides enough challenge to please gamers on any level. The result, for me, was a game that flew by and was surprisingly enjoyable. I would absolutely recommend Tidal Blades.

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

The tension is real. Atlantis Rising is a challenging game that really ratchets up the pressure as you progress. While the rule set and mechanics aren’t necessarily difficult in their own right, the arduous task of constructing the cosmic gate before the island falls prey to the sea can genuinely get your heart pounding.

Atlantis Rising stands unique from the get-go. The player count allows for 1-7 players to face the challenge. Play it solo or in a monstrous group!

Players begin by selecting a leader from a batch of 10 councilors. Each councilor has a male and female counterpart and provides unique abilities that will help you on your task. Each player is equipped with followers to guide.

In the center of the table sits the island of Atlantis. Elf Creek Games have created a truly iconic presentation here. The island is made up of 6 distinct peninsulas, each providing players with opportunities to gather different resources or benefits. Each peninsula is broken into 5 pieces that fit together like a puzzle. Each puzzle piece of the same peninsula provides different ways to gather the same resources. As the game progresses and the island sinks, pieces of the peninsula will be turned over eliminating that gateway to certain resources. Players will find it more challenging to acquire the resources they need as the island sinks inland.

During play, players will place their workers on a specific spot on the island that provides the resources they’re seeking. Each spot has a requirement necessary for successfully gathering those particular resources. The most common challenge is rolling a die to meet or exceed a certain number. Again, as the island sinks inland, the spots become more difficult to achieve (such as requiring a higher die number).

Placing your workers is the first of 4 actions each round. From there, players will draw a specific number of misfortune cards, gather their resources and finally endure the wrath of the gods.

Misfortunes typically unleash some sort of unfortunate incident on the island (hence the name). There may be a plague or panic that affects your ability to gather resources that round. More often, you’ll draw a card forcing you to sink a tile on a specific peninsula. Misfortune card disasters may eliminate a portion of a peninsula with workers on it. These workers are forced to return to the player and fail to resolve their action that round.

After players gather resources, the final action of the round is to endure the wrath of the gods. This means players will mutually decide on a number of island tiles to sink that round. As the game progresses, the number of island tiles the wrath of the gods eliminates increases, constantly raining more havoc and building more urgency.

While you are at the mercy of the ultimate impending disaster, players aren’t necessarily helpless. While each player’s councilor has their own unique abilities, there are a number of additional ways to mitigate the oncoming doom. Players can build a mystic barrier temporarily retaining a piece of the island, play library cards that provide benefits and play cosmic energy that could even resurrect a lost island tile.

Of course, the goal is to build the cosmic gate and save the Atlantians. Made up of 9 component tiles and 1 power core tile. Each of the component tiles require a single player to fully satisfy the resources needed to build it. Once the 9 component tiles have been individually built, players come together to cooperatively build the final power core.

If the power core can be built prior to the final island tile sinking, the players save the people and win the game.

COMPONENTS

Simple stated, the components are WOW! The resources are all uniquely shaped and painted acrylic gems or resin bars. The mystic energy tokens have a transparent-blue glass like feel. All the cardboard pieces (player boards, cosmic gate tiles and island pieces) are all thick cardboard. You will not feel cheated here at all.

The unique shape and functionality of the island board is worth the price of admission alone. It is so satisfying to flip each tile and visibly see the island sinking into the ocean. It’s certainly one of those times when you hate to see them go, but love to watch them leave.

The game features wooden council and worker markers. There are 8 uniquely shaped councilors, each with their own color. It isn’t necessary for each player to have a unique player maker, but it’s a nice touch that further proves this production is a winner.

The game’s card decks are all satisfactory along with 2, chunky, oversized dice to enhance your rolling flavor.

ARTWORK

Vincent Dutrait proves once again why he’s one of the best in the business. The artwork throughout the game is nothing less than enchanting. The combination of quality components and artwork combine to create one of the best board game presentations I’ve ever played. Graphic design is equally engaging. Instruction is clear and complements everything superbly.

While all the artwork is fantastic, I’d like to highlight both the individual player boards and the central island. Each double-sided player board features a beautiful rendering of both a male and female Atlantian under that specific title. They all have a sense of danger, mystery and personality giving them each their own voice. The island board serves as both a functional space for the workers to be placed as well as a wonderful, central piece of art. Each peninsula, seamlessly segways from one source of resource to another defined by the terrain. It’s all top notch.

MY THOUGHTS

I’ve had the chance to play Atlantis Rising 8 times now with a variety of player counts. I think it’s also important to mention I’m not a huge fan of cooperative games. I can’t stand letting other players determine my success and failure… and that’s where Atlantis Rising transcends the genre. It doesn’t bother me for a minute that Atlantis Rising is cooperative. There always seems to be plenty of opportunity to contribute on your own terms. While we are in this together, in some small way, success (or failure) still rests on your own shoulders. While it’s necessary for efficiency purposes to communicate your plan of action with your fellow players, you still are responsible for your own actions.

I’ll start with the obvious: The presentation of Atlantis Rising is amazing. The artwork and components suck you right in. I love just setting the game up and letting it sit on the table. The components look and feel great, the island board has a great shape and unique mechanism and the artwork is brilliant. Irregardless of gameplay, this is a game that calls to you based on production alone.

Fortunately, the game isn’t style over substance. There is a tension in the game that builds as you move forward. While there might be small victories over the shroud of impending doom, the end is closing in and you feel it. That tension creates more emphasis with each roll of the dice. Every decision becomes more important than the last. All-in-all, this creates a thoroughly engaging experience.

So, it’s clear that I’m a fan of Atlantis Rising, but will you be? One the game’s primary mechanics can be a source of division. For the majority of the game you’re placing a worker and resolving that action with a die roll. This means there is a decent amount of luck in the game and that can weigh on some people’s enjoyment. I know some of you hate games with luck. It is what it is, but I will say Atlantis Rising does a good job of providing plenty of avenues to alleviate those bad rolls. You have the opportunity to spend tokens giving you additional points to your roll. Many of the councilors have abilities that allow you to validate a failed die roll or re-roll entirely.

One way to keep luck on your side is to play closer to the end of each peninsula. The further from the center you place a worker, the easier the goals are to achieve. Sadly, this is where nature first takes its toll. Placement on the tips of the peninsula can lead to the ground sinking right beneath your worker, leaving you empty handed. This push-your-luck element can lead to big rewards and painful failures.

DIFFERENT PLAYER COUNTS

While the heart of the game doesn’t change with different player counts. A solo game feels very similar to a game with 4 and 5 players. The only major changes are managing the personalities of the people in your game. Sure, a 2 and 3-player game gives you additional workers up front, but the game still functions the same. Since much of the game is simultaneously executed, the length of the game really rests on the people involved.

REPLAYABILITY

Replayability is high here. The rulebook provides a number of different variants to the game, allowing you to adjust the difficulty as you see fit. The game includes 2 additional AI characters that can be tacked on to your game to create a slightly different experience. There are also a number of different cosmic gate tiles, so playing with a new set will create different goals. The misfortune deck can also be adjusted for an easier or greater challenge.

VERDICT

I don’t typically love cooperative games and I’m usually not a fan of luck-based games, but I’m a big fan of Atlantis Rising. The beautiful production is one of the best I’ve ever seen. The simultaneous gameplay and the elevating tension keep everyone engaged at all times. There are a number of interesting decisions and they all feel important – I never wanted to waste an action. The game’s difficulty is highly adjustable and the player count is diverse at 1-7 players. Despite its perceived complexity, Atlantis Rising is a relatively simple game that is easy to teach and quick to learn. It is never overly complex, but still feels rich. I also appreciate that, for it’s number of components, it is pretty easy to set up and tear down. Some may not enjoy the amount of luck in the game, but I think it does a fair job to give the player plenty of opportunity to get out ahead of it. Atlantis Rising is a quality game that provides a huge value for its cost. I highly recommend it.

HOW THE GAME PLAYS

Each player receives their own private island ready to develop. Players also each receive a handful of workers represented by colored cubes, ready and able to get to work. In Anno, each worker is specialized in executing specific level tasks and can only be used for those benefits.

Spread across the center of the table is a sprawling selection of industry tiles ranging from simple, common products such as bread and liquor to more complex creations like tractors and ship turrets. While each player’s island comes equipped with the same predetermined tiles relating to farming and industries that produce basic building blocks such as steel and brick, players will use their workers to produce resources in an effort to grow their communities’ industrial abilities.

In addition to resource gathering, players will be attempting to satisfy the demands of the population represented by a series of cards corresponding to each worker’s cube. More basic workers will request things like soap and canned goods, but as your population grows and evolves, with greater abilities comes more extravagant wants.

Fulfilling these population cards is key to scoring influence points to win the game. This is an interesting dynamic to the game. The game ends when one player has no population cards remaining, but fulfilling certain population cards provides additional workers which in-turn cause you to draw new worker cards. This was a little daunting over my first play of the game. About 4 or 5 turns into the game I wondered if anyone would ever be able to rid themselves of all their population cards – they seemed to be reproducing faster than I could fulfill them. I’m happy to report in hindsight that as the population grows into a more modern community, those more modern population cards begin to limit your ability to draw additional cubes and equally allow players to strike cards from their hand.

So it’s a bit of an engine building adventure. I often found myself carefully planning my pursuits many turns in advance. In order to upgrade your population, certain resources are required, but those resources always seem to be 2 or 3 additional resources beyond your reach. I found it to be pretty satisfying every time I was able to achieve a new industry title that took me 4 or 5 turns to achieve.

The trade building aspect of the game provides players with a necessary means to expand your island as well as expanding your entire working strategy.

Docks and ships go hand-in-hand. Docks are only capable of producing ships with a limited benefit and upgrading those to a higher producing facility is necessary for efficiently managing your trades and expansion. There are 2 distinct types of ships each producing their own navel benefit.

The first ship resource is the ability to trade. These trade tokens can be used to acquire resources from opponents’ islands. Players cannot deny someone who wants to trade, but they do receive gold as payment in exchange. I quickly discovered finding a balance between your imports and exports was essential to both your efficiency and growth.

Ships also produce exploration tokens. Similar to the trade tokens, exploration tokens can be exhausted to achieve certain population card goals, but they primarily serve as a means to expand your island by exploring the old world (adding additional tile spots to your island) and the new world (giving you exclusive access to things such as tobacco, cotton and rubber).

In addition to the population cards, influence can be gained through a series of community objective cards as well as expedition cards which provide end game goals.

DIFFERENT PLAYER COUNTS

Most of the available industry cards on the gameboard come in pairs. This means in a 2-player game, you likely won’t have to wrestle over the availability of that industry tiles you so desperately need. You would think those tiles would become a more rare commodity in larger player counts… and you’d be right. But the flexibility in the game’s strategy helps mitigate this issue. With more players, more emphasis is placed on your ability to trade for those resources and creates a potentially different dynamic than in a 2 player game (not to undersell the need to trade in a 2-player game).

By my 3rd play of the game, decisions began to move pretty quickly. I found the game could be played in 90 minutes with 2 players. While the turns move fairly quickly, some of the think-y decisions are going to force the game to slow down at times and this will obviously be felt at higher player counts.

Ultimately, the heart of the game doesn’t change with the player count and I would recommend this at any of the game’s player combinations.

COMPONENTS

Anno 1800 is primarily made up of player boards, cardboard tokens and tiles, wooden cubes and deck of cards. The tiles and tokens are all solid and feel fine in your hands.

Setting up the primarily game board with the 120 industry/construction tiles is a chore though. The box doesn’t provide an insert, so I had to get a little creative in how I stored these tiles in a way that made setup easier for the next game.

The card decks are a little flimsy, but it’s not a major complaint – they got the job done. I do wish the player boards were a little sturdier – they just seemed a little too thin for my liking. Overall, the components are fine, they just didn’t wow me.

ARTWORK

While the components didn’t wow me, the artwork definitely did in spots. The box cover is beautiful and a lot of the board backs feature pretty amazing artwork. I’m not sure how much of this was taken from the video game, but it’s new to me! The population cards definitely have more of a video game vibe. That being the case, the artwork of the people do look great though. I also felt the iconography throughout the game was really clear and strong. Some of the industry tile illustrations were a little small and fuzzy, but they were ok. Each player is also provided a game aid that helps identify everything in doubt.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Anno 1800 has been a bit of a roller coaster for me. I played my first game of Martin Wallace’s Brass: Birmingham only 4-5 months ago and I still wake up with sweats, reliving some of the game’s difficult decisions. How would Anno compare in weight to Brass?

For better or for worse, Anno is not nearly as heavy a game. This certainly sits in that sweet mid-weight euro spot for fans of the genre who don’t want to exhaust their ability to function. For me, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing at all.

The first play of any new game is wrought with exploration and strategic wondering. From a visual sense, I had honestly expected a bigger game on the table. Anno is full of flat cardboard pieces and despite some nice artwork, didn’t get me that excited.

As I played through that first game, the decisions didn’t seem that interesting, and while the potential for fun was there – it seemed underwhelming. I really liked the idea of expanding your island as well as exploring the “new world”, but I didn’t take full advantage of it. Many of the industry tiles seemed out of reach and unnecessary for my short-sighted goals. As I mentioned earlier, after 4 or 5 turns, I wasn’t sure the game would ever end. I was obviously wrong, and as I wrapped up that first play, I began to see where I failed to utilize my workers and maximize more scores. I probably didn’t love it, but I was intrigued.

The second play found me quickly building my fleet of ships and boldly growing my population without the fear of a 4 or 5 hour game. I enjoyed the challenges of building larger docks and upgrading my population.

I also begin to see the fragile balance of upgrading your population too fast. Upgrading your workers too fast can leave certain industries without the necessary worker to efficiently produce the resources you still need. It was a tough lesson, but I really appreciated the challenge and looked forward to a more responsible approach. I also dabbled more in trading. Attempting to produce my own resources (primarily out of pride that first game) was just stupid. You obviously need to balance your exports or you end up spending all your gold and being left with no means to acquire those needed resources in a fair amount of time. In this sense, everyone is kind of working together, careful to only build out the absolutely necessary industries while leveraging your opponents achievements.

By the third play, I was chopping at the bit. I can’t remember a game that I initially felt so luke-warm on after 1 play and completely did a 360.

While it wasn’t initially evident to me, I really began to appreciate the game’s multiple paths to victory. I’m not sure how many games I can play before it begins to get a little tired, but right now, replayability sits pretty high. There did seem to be a hint of Feast of Odin in Anno and that is a very positive thing.

VERDICT

It took a bit to grow on me, but I really warmed up to Anno 1800. For me, the theme feels good: I love the old world construction and imagery. I also appreciate the diverse group of people and the silly things they ask for (kielbasa and fur coats, anyone?) They add a lot of fun and personality to the game.

The lack of a definitive set number of rounds was a little intimidating – especially after the initial shock of my rapidly growing workforce. It’s true – I did think the game would last forever, but now I appreciate the delicate balance between recklessly extending the game and efficiently managing your workers to optimize the game’s arch.

On the downside, Anno 1800 could be a little dry and serious for some tastes. The setup is also a bit of a bear, but for those willing to buy in – it won’t be an issue.

This is a think-y game that benefits those who relish careful planning and want just enough interaction to remind them other players are out there. In fact, effectively leveraging your opponents wealth can be hugely beneficial and central to your strategy.

There does seem to be a number of approaches you can take to the game and a lot of interesting industry paths to explore. The revolving objective cards help keep the game fresh as well. I really enjoyed the theme, mechanics and decision making in this one. This is definitely one I would endorse for someone looking for a medium-weight euro that provides an engaging theme and interesting challenges.

HOW IT PLAYED

Your goal in Florenza is to earn your family the most prestige points. Players do that by establishing workshops that produce valuable raw materials and hiring the most prominent artist.

In typical, Euro-game fashion, there are multiple scoring tracks that contribute to earning your prestige points. You’ll want to carefully plan your ascent up these tracks because each turn, the leader of each track receives valuable benefits such as earning first player, gaining and limiting opponents total workers available, and securing choice artist in exchange for their position on the track.

Players can move up the Church Influence track and Prestige track each round through a variety of different methods such as building workshops tiles, and hiring artists to complete works in both your home district and influential areas around the city.

In turn order, players will make use of their available assistants who can secure resources or establish the intention to build a workshop location. What makes Florenza standout is in its mentally compelling planning process. While placing your workers, you’re simultaneously planning for bigger and better acquisitions and accomplishments. Players won’t receive those resources, build workshops or earn those benefits until later in the round. You often find yourself lost in a mental puzzle where your brain works tirelessly to strategically plan out your attack. Executing your actions becomes an absurd, abstract game of dominoes where any action may be critical to the success of one or all your remaining actions. Failure to properly plan can be brutal. In a game where maximizing your actions is key, being able to squeeze just a little more out of your actions can be a serious difference maker.

When placing your assistants (or Kinsmen), players can do a variety of options such as operate an existing workshop, building a new one, hiring an artist, giving to charity, trading in the market, running your own family business or hiring a captain of fortune. Each option will provide slightly different ways to achieve resources, funding and additional assistants necessary to expand your turn and your opportunities.

Each action has its own rewards and costs. One of the unique actions to the game is that a player can place their worker on an opponent’s workshop, operating it and eventually earning that workshop’s production. In return that player loses a prestige point that is transferred to the opponent who unsuspectingly rented out his workshop. This can be both a positive and negative for both parties involved. While one prestige point may not make the difference in victory or defeat, it can certainly provide a benefit for finishing first on the track for that round.

The game takes place over 7 turns and at the end of each turn, players have the opportunity to receive the Captain of the People and the Bishop depending on their current position on the church and prestige tracks. This is where the slow and the traditional steady question their approach. Slowly climbing either track may never allow you to attain either of these two round bonuses as players are constantly arranging their plans in an effort to finish on top in any specific round. The Captain of the People allows you to define a resource each player receives that round and detain a priest or artist exclusively for your use. Gaining the Bishop allows you to remove one assistant from each opponent’s pool and provide yourself an additional assistant for that round. While stealing from a players pool might seem minimal early in the game, removing an assistant can leave a player at a serious disadvantage later in the game when they’re needed the most.

A few other interesting mechanics employed by the game is the revealing of the priests and artists. Priests are necessary when attempting to give to charity and an artist is hired when building a workshop through the city. Hiring a more expensive Priest or Artist will give you the opportunity to earn additional benefits and prestige points. A limited number of priests and artists are available and they cycle through over the course of the game with each round revealing an additional number of characters previously removed. In addition to the 34 historical artists and 6 priests, players can also use the game’s “el cheapo” characters to serve in their place. These characters cost little or no money and produce negative or very little bonuses.

CRUNCHY DECISIONS

Far and away, the most standout strategic piece in the game is assigning your workers. Effectively and efficiently placing your workers seems straightforward, but as the game progresses, determining what to pursue, hoping to achieve it before your opponents and securing the necessary funding and resources will definitely challenge your mental capacity. Additionally, by round 3 or 4, you’re likely doing it multiple times each planning phase. I really enjoyed attempting to maximize my turns and keep my personal round goals organized in my mind.

DIFFERENT PLAYER COUNTS

Florenza plays 1-5 players. I didn’t play the game solo, but there is a fairly robust solo system where the difficulty can be adjusted. I enjoyed my 2-player game, but higher player counts is where this gets more cut-throat. Being able to play off each other’s workshops made me question building certain valuable workshops – would I even be able to use them or would my dirty opponents sneak in there before me. Of course, they are all facing that same moral dilemma. Additionally, earning the Captain of the People and the right to play first was really elevated with more people. This is a think-y game and players will be prone to analysis paralysis, so playing with more players can exponentially increase the game’s time length.

COMPONENTS

Overall, I was fairly pleased with the game’s components. The cardboard and wooden pieces were all acceptable and the playing cards were nice enough. There are a lot of components in this game. This is a warning for players who hate long setup time. I’ve played worse, but there are stacks of prestige points and workshops and tokens that are just going to take a long time to set up. Unfortunately, this will inevitably limit how often this game gets to the table for certain gamers.

ARTWORK

The game’s artwork does a decent job of embracing the art of the renaissance and sharing it. I loved seeing the depiction of each famous artist. The board is this sprawling layout with illustrations of the city’s notable locations. While the artwork itself is fine, the overall presentation is very beige and a bit overwhelming. In my mind they would have elevated the artwork with a little more color contrast. Upon first glance, the primary board is a lot to look at. From an aesthetic standpoint, I really appreciate the more abstract approach, but I feel it may have benefited from a little more structure.

I also really struggled with the game’s iconography. It took me a while to get a real grasp on it… which is fine, it happens in a lot of games. But even after getting a good understanding, they’re really small with a lot of detail crammed in and it became a little frustrating to quickly identify. Again, I appreciate the artist’s touch here, but the gamer in me wasn’t very happy.

Finally, learning this game with the guidance of the rulebook is going to be a chore. I highly recommend finding a play through online once you’ve read through it and familiarize yourself with all the pieces. I’m not saying you can’t grasp the game through the rulebook, but it was an uphill climb for me. Now that I understand the game, going back through the rulebook makes a lot of sense, but the terminology, busy presentation and general complexity were hard to get a handle on.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Florenza is obviously a passion project for those involved in the production and this edition is proof there was enough fan-fare to justify a 10th anniversary edition. As an art director and euro-gamer I loved the theme and had a great time playing this game. For those willing to invest both in understanding the intricacies of the game and heart of the competition – there is a lot here to enjoy.

Unfortunately, there is a lot here that keeps me from fully recommending this. Learning this game is going to take some investment. Setup and teardown time could be an issue. It’s very beige (only half kidding there). The biggest question mark for me was the primary game board. Outside of a nod to historical accuracy, I can’t quite understand the separate districts on the board. There were mild distinctions (such as the overall level of benefit when you build), but for me, it all kinda seemed the same. There were a couple places you could play such as the market or giving to charity, but there seemed to be a lot of space for a little payoff. I would have enjoyed it if each district had some sort of unique requirement and payoff.

Another thing that Florenza could have seriously benefited from would have been individual round/phase resource sheets. There is one in the rulebook, but it’s tough to share amongst 4 players. Now there is a comprehensive resources sheet for the game’s workshops. This identifies the cost and benefit and everything you can build in the game. While this seems like a solid addition, it was so overwhelming (small size and tons of info) that I only glanced at it a couple of times.

Despite those hangups, I’m really happy I had the opportunity to play Florenza. I love how challenging it is and the historical theme is really interesting. For hardcore, euro-gamers… Yes, this is a lot of fun. There is a lot of satisfaction when you’re able to chain together a number of actions and ultimately conquer that elusive workshop worth 13 or 14 prestige points. That being said, replay ability is probably fairly low. The time it takes to get it to the table and the circumstances (finding the right gaming group) make this one a challenge in more ways than one. I really want to show this to my gaming group, but in the time it takes to set up and tear down, we could have played a couple more fillers and had some good laughs. Maybe the key is after you’re finished playing, you just sweep the game off the table into a big plastic bag.

VERDICT

I really enjoyed Florenza: X Anniversary Edition – it’s right up my alley, but I would be very hesitant to recommend this. It’s very niche and needs to be in the hands of the right audience who will appreciate what it brings to the table.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

When I initially opened Hadrian’s Wall I was very intimidated. While there aren’t a ton of components, the majority of the game takes place across two densely populated sheets of paper. Yes, it was intriguing, but my eyes quickly glazed over after scanning the near-infinite icons, symbols and blanks. After flipping through the equally comprehensive rulebook, I immediately packed the game away and stuck it back on the shelf.

A few days later I started to hear positive rumblings so I decided to pull it back out and bite the bullet. I read completely through the rulebook, and while it is incredibly comprehensive and detailed, it wasn’t the end of the world. Perhaps my apprehension was a little misguided.

My first couple plays were done in the solo mode and I then followed that up with a number of multiplayer games at different player counts. First and foremost, I can honestly say Hadian’s Wall plays out very similar no matter the player count. Play it solo, play it with friends – there are only minor changes to the solo and 2-player experience.

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

To set up, you take 2 sheets provided from each of the 2 provided game pads. These will work in unison as your own personal player board. The left side features more of the physical wall construction while the right side focuses on the society of the milecastle.

The game takes place over 6 years (rounds) and each round all players will initially receive an equal number of resources made up of soldiers, builders, servants, civilians and bricks for building. The Fate Deck accounts for the specific number of resources and this will vary slightly each round. The Fate Deck will also be used to drive a number of other game-used actions – acting as the central deck for the entire game.

Players will also draw 2 cards from their personal player card deck. They will choose one to serve as one of their game objectives and the other provides a couple additional resources (people or bricks) which you can add to your starting stash.

At that point you’re let loose… off to the races… with about 1,000 different choices at your fingertips – how could you go wrong?

It’s best to briefly breakdown the areas of the player sheets in order to help you understand your opportunities, targets and benefits. As you play your resources in certain areas of the game, you’ll receive bonuses. These bonuses may be additional resources which you immediately use, victory points or benefits triggering actions on one of the many board sections. Similar to games such as “That’s Pretty Clever”, chaining the right actions together can substantially extend your turn and expand your options.

The Cippl, Wall & Fort are areas where you’ll build your defense and gather additional brick resources. It should be understood that developing any specific area of the game will lead to bonuses. For example, as you build out the Fort, you’ll receive discipline (victory points), additional civilians (resources) and cohorts necessary for front line defense against the impending Picts attack.

Another great example here of a theme running throughout the game is how it’s necessary to complete a specific area before you’re able to receive access to another. In this particular example, it’s necessary to complete certain portions of the Fort before you’re given further access to the Cippl or Wall. This goes even further as you’ll have to build Granary upgrades to extend the Fort… Yeah, I haven’t talked about the Granary at all, but there is so much going on in these 2 player sheets – I’ll probably skip quite a bit.

Areas such as the Resource Production section allows you to gain additional bricks, builders, citizens and victory points each turn. Targeting these early and often can obviously multiple your opportunities throughout the game.

The right side player sheet focuses more on the society of people living inside the wall. This features 5 unique sections called Citizen Tracks. Each Citizen Track requires citizens to be played and in-turn provide unique bonuses as you move closer to completion (9 spaced in all per track). The track themes are Traders, Performers, Priests, Apparitores and Patricians.

Progressing on each Citizen Track will open up additional areas for advancement. Each sub area plays out as it’s own mini-game with unique approaches and rewards. While they’re too extensive to detail here I will provide a couple of examples to wet your appetite.

On the Performers track you’ll gain access to the Theater. When you’ve paid the necessary resources to open the theater, you’ll be able to put on a performance once per year. By paying a brick resource, you’ll gain a variety of bonuses with each play. In addition to the Theater, you can also open the Ludus Gladiatorius. Prepare for the gladiator games by training your servants and citizens in the arena. This mini-game of sorts plays off the Fate Deck. After training your gladiator you can choose to have them fight! You’ll pull a card from the Fate Deck revealing a gladiator rating. This rating will determine whether your gladiator is victor or victim – depending on their own ranking – earning you honor or valor.

The Apparitores provides a pathway to access the Courthouse or the Baths. Rub elbows with the influential people of the day and see your opportunities rise. The Baths provide opportunities for diplomacy in battle. As the Picts attack, use diplomacy earned in the Bath’s to fend off defeat. The Courthouse in-turn offers opportunities for additional servants and builders.

Again, encorporporting careful planning will allow you to chain these actions together, multiplying your resources and victory points.

I didn’t go into the polynomial game you can play by sending scouts out through the Patricians Civilization Track, the Gardens and Temples built through the Priest Track or the inter-player trading done through the Traders Track. Suffice it to say, there is plenty to do and so many different ways to approach it.

As each round ends, the Picts will attack. As the game progresses, this attack will become more and more challenging. Failing to properly secure your wall will cause Disdain which results in negative points at the end of the game. Of course there are plenty of ways to mitigate this, but that’s another strategy you’ll have to discover for yourself. The game’s difficulty can be adjusted (easy, medium or hard) which changes the number of attack cards the Picts will use each round.

After the 6th and final round, players will total all their renown, piety, valor and discipline along with any achieved goals – minus disdain. The general with the highest total is declared the winner.

COMPONENTS 

This is a surprisingly heavy box, but it’s mainly because of the 2-200 sheet player pads. Each individual sheet of paper is decently thick and is easy to write on. The wooden meeples and bricks used to represent the resources all work fine. Each player does receive a small, cardboard player board to arrange their pathway goals as well as hold their resources. It’s good quality – I can’t complain. Finally the individual player and Fate Deck cards are all high quality and should survive many plays.

ART WORK

The artwork in Hadrian’s Wall is solid. It’s from the same artist behind Garphill Game’s Raider’s of Scythia. The only qualm – and for me it’s a minor one – is with the games graphic design. Much of the information on the player sheets is really small. This will definitely be a problem for some people. You can tell they wanted to pack as much as possibly into a respectable sized sheet. If you can survive that hurdle, the icons and visual cues are all fairly easy to pick up on. Overall, this is a solid looking game.

MY THOUGHTS

In the matter of a few days, I went from packing Hardian’s Wall back up on the shelf to essentially leaving it out permanently. I would play this solo, with family, with friends, during lunches, in the middle of the night. I could not get enough of this game.

While I think this is an amazing game, I think a little context can help you determine if it’s right for you. I’m a huge fan of the That’s Pretty Clever/Twice as Clever games. I love the ability to chain multiple actions together and essentially turn a single point into 3, 4 or 5. That’s Hadrian’s Wall in spades. Starting out with only a minimal number of resources may seem a little unfulfilling (especially given the sheer magnitude of opportunities on the board). But… with a little creative ingenuity and planning you’ll easily be able to double those resources in a very satisfying way. You’ll feel incredibly clever, even on your more mediocre forays into resource management.

With so many choices available it’s easy to go down the rabbit hole. Fortunately, the game does it’s best to keep you focused and on-track by providing new personal goals each round through the player deck. While you may not always be successful here, it does provide a great place to start your pursuit. That’s not to say going down a rabbit hole is a bad thing – especially in a game with this many creative opportunities.

The choices aren’t rehashed from one section to the next – they’re all unique and full of flavor and color. The Priest track can easily multiply your efforts through building the Gardens. Training gladiators is it’s own mini push-your-luck game while the Scouting by pulling polynomial shapes from your opponents cards is just plain fun. There are tons of different strategies just waiting for you. Of course you can’t do everything, but that’s what your next game is for… and the one after that… and the one after that.

I noticed the first few rounds really zip by, but when you hit the 3rd or 4th round, your growth really kicks in and you start seeing huge rewards. The bulk of the game was spent in the 4th, 5th and 6th rounds. I often wondered if I accidentally skipped a round. That’s not to say the game drags – you’re engaged and the time just flies by. Could you spend 20-30 minutes contemplating your next move? Sure – which is why they have a solo mode… If that’s you – go play by yourself (please).

Truth be told, when playing in a group of 3, I kinda felt like I was in study hall. While there is a small amount of interaction, this is primarily a solo game played together with friends. You put your head down for 10-20 minutes, lift them up and then brag about everything you accomplished.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There is a lot to like in Hadrian’s Wall. The entire game is really well thought out and rewards players willing to invest in the game. The gameplay can be a bit of a brain-burner, but the moment you begin chaining actions together – you realize it’s completely worth it. The unique sub-areas of the game provide plenty of real estate and adventure to explore. The sheer number of choices can lead to over-thinking, so take that into consideration when deciding who to invite to your next game.

There is a ton of logic tied into the theme and really works within the gameplay to elevate the experience.

The game works brilliantly solo as well as in a group. While the setup is slightly different for solo and 2 players, it’s hardly noticeable. That being said, it works that well because there isn’t a ton of player interaction in the game. A multi-player game of Hadrian’s Wall is essentially a solo-experience played within a group setting. The graphic design is initially overwhelming and can be a bit hard to read, but that’s where the negatives end.

In the end, the pros far outway the cons. This is one of the best games I’ve played in a long time. In fact, I’m a bit addicted to the game. I love the choices and emotions the game draws out when you’re able to successfully chain together actions. There is a major sense of accomplishment as you build your infrastructure and see the separate pieces come together earning big bonuses. Overall, the gameplay is incredibly rewarding for both beginners and experts. While initially a little difficult to learn, everything flowed fairly smoothly after a couple of rounds. It is a bit heavy and that alone will eliminate a number of people, but, if you’re willing to give it a try, Hadrian’s Wall can be a truly satisfying experience that will likely make a lot of top lists this year.

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

You’ll begin your assault on Saratoga by selecting one of the 4 posses in the game. The base game offers 4 groups with the promise of more in expansions.

Choose between Elsu’s Warband, Col. Rodgers and his Rough Riders, Sheriff Garrett and Deputy Gates and the nasty Leroy Gang. Each posse features a different number of characters and abilities.

Players will each receive their posses’ unique deck of cards and a few loot crates providing added weapons and benefits.

The board is made up of a number of different sized, gridded tiles with different geographic elements such as the bank or the sheriff’s office. You also have wagons and crates that provide shelter during the gunfight. The board can be pieced together at your discretion creating a unique experience with each game.

Players place their characters on predetermined locations through the board to start.

Each character has a corresponding player card defining their overall health, speed (number of movements), attack range, ammunition they can use, how much loot they can carry and how much gold is awarded to the player who takes them out.

As the game progresses, players take turns performing a series of phases for their entire squad. On a turn you may move a character, perform an action and draw cards to refill your deck.

Performing and action allows you to play a card, loot a crate or dead boy, equip a character with an item or transfer an item.

In order to attack, players will need to play a card. The attack cards must correspond to a specific character. The attack card features a number or value of that attack. When played, the player must define who they are attacking and they must be within their characters attack range. The defending character will then play a card to defend the attack with the difference leaving the defending player with that many injuries. Of course, specific cards have bonuses and special actions that alters the way the battle plays out.

Not all cards are attack cards. Some might equip your character with new, more powerful weapons or provide healing, etc.

At the end of each turn, players will draw 3 cards. A player’s hand can never exceed 12 cards.

Throughout the battlefield, players will find loot crates. These loot crates might give your player weapon upgrades, added defense heath increase or dynamite (yeah, dynamite gets its own category) among other things.

When a player successfully inflicts damage on an opponent they are awarded 1 gold. If they are able to eliminate that opponent, they receive the amount of gold on that character’s card. The reward correlates to the overall value and toughness of that character.

Players take turns until they have completed the 12th round or only one player is left standing.

COMPONENTS & ARTWORK

The artwork and components do a great job of setting the scene and selling the theme. The illustration is solid throughout – particularly on the character and playing decks. The game board could be a little heavier, but I typically found that not to be too much of an issue. The gold bars, and chips are a little small, but along with the loot crates and round tracker, are all good quality cardboard. The round tracker looks like an old pocket watch – one of the cooler pieces in the game. The game’s miniatures are a little more middle-of-the-road. They could have been better, but I’ve seen plenty worse. Overall, the production is solid.

MY THOUGHTS

On the surface, High Noon is a tactical game pitting asymmetrical groups against each other across a grid riddled with obstacles and challenges. The theme is great and the characters are fun. In most tactical strategy games you are looking for the most efficient route to best engage the enemy simultaneously positioning yourself for defense (the push and the pull).

Beneath all that is an interesting deck-building puzzle. In High Noon, certain cards in your deck can only be played with certain characters from your posse. This creates a more complex dilemma. It isn’t enough to strategically maneuver your characters into the best position. You must have the specific firepower for that individual character. This complicates matters in the best possible way.

For me, there is a lot in this game that evokes the popular 2-player game, Unmatched. Each posse features it’s own asymmetrical abilities providing tons of new experiences. The varying posse sizes also create added strategy. You could send the sheriff and his deputy up against the Leroy gang with all 5 of their thugs. This is all balanced out rather well with the different player’s health, speed and firing range in addition to special cards for each group (often uniquely triggered only when going up against certain opponents).

These abilities also correspond with the theme. Kiyiya of the Warband must find ways to attack with his speed since he only wields a knife. While Quentin Leroy’s larger gang of two-bit outlaws can only take so many hits.

Upgrading your characters with new or more powerful weapons can give them that edge to make a bigger impact, but if you’re not careful with your play movement you can still be hung out to dry. Plus, equipping your character spends an action and each action is a valuable resource. That aside, the loot crates are limited and often, the added bonuses only last so long (such as a more powerful gun with only so many bullets).

It my experience, it wasn’t always the more powerful looking posse that came out on top. It really came down to who and how they managed their characters and the positions they held on the board. This was a really good sign that bodes well for future games and future opponents.

While there is always a bit luck with the draw on deck-building games – this game really seemed to minimize that. Holding a hand of 12 cards seemed to provide enough options to do something positive. But, if you’re constantly putting yourself in a position where you’re forced to play defense over and over… well, your deck won’t be nearly as advantageous.

Some games were a tad long, but that really depended on the player count and how aggressive (or not aggressive) players were.

The deck-building and tactical movement combine for an engaging experience. There is plenty of replay-ability and the western theme goes a long way in drawing me into the world High Noon has created.

I think it’s important to acknowledge that a tactical game like High Noon isn’t for everyone. Moving characters around a map gives the player a lot of freedom and while it is a puzzle, it’s not one where you unlock a door and receive a secret power. You have to be fully engaged and have the resolve to out-smart your opponents with a more chess-style mentality.

High Noon DOES work well at 2 players thanks to the multiple characters, but the wild, chaotic crossfire created in a game of 3 or 4 makes a much more memorable experience.

WHAT’S GREAT?

• The asymmetrical character abilities provide plenty of interesting engagements
• The tactical play and deck building make a good combination
• The theme is a deal maker for me

WHAT’S NOT SO GREAT?

• Gameplay isn’t for everyone
• On the wrong surface, the game board can slide around

FINAL THOUGHTS

For fans of tactical gameplay, deck-builders and western themed games, High Noon is a great choice… especially if you can gather 2-3 friends together. Fans of Unmatched may find this to be a slightly more primitive production, but one that offers a bigger world with new and challenging decisions. Overall, the production and artwork are good and the gameplay engaging. This is a good time with the right crowd definitely one you’ll want to check out.

In Plunder, all players begin with a single ship with 3 crew members (lives). The game board, full of random islands to conquer, is divided into 6 square, doubled sized pieces allowing for a unique layout each game. The outside of the board features a grid acting as a nautical chart used in many of the game’s functions.

Players are given a “home” island and then proceed to take turns rolling dice and moving their ship that number of places. The winner of the game is the first player to achieve 10 “Plunder Points.” Plunder points are achieved in a variety of ways including number of ships in your fleet, islands conquered and plunder cards earned.

During a turn, the active player draws a resource card thens rolls the dice and sails that number of spaces across the ocean board. As your ship travels there are a number of interactions that can take place. Players may attack and conquer and island, battle an enemy ship, conduct resource trades or hunt for treasure.

As you gather resources during the game you’ll be able to add additional ships to your fleet, purchase cannons for battle, masts for additional movement, more crew (life) or trade in a certain amount for plunder point cards.

Battle during the game (whether attempting to conquer an island or with another ship) works relatively the same way. Players roll the dice along with their opponent (enemy ship or island) and the highest total is declared the winner. You’re able to receive additional dice value as you add cannons to your ship. Depending on the size of the island, it may require higher die rolls to conquer.

Players may also search for buried treasure. A number of X’s sit arbitrarily across the board. When your ship lands on one of these spaces you get to draw a treasure card. Unfortunately, these treasure cards aren’t always positive. They range from gathering multiple resources to additional ship upgrades or negatively in a loss of resources or crew.

Another feature of the game is a roaming storm that moves about the board. Getting caught in the storm will require you to spend resources to escape.

Players may also dock at a merchant island and participate in trade with the market or other players.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The real star of Plunder: A Pirates Tale is the amazing production quality of this game. The miniature boats are made of a heavy plastic that feel great in your hand. All the ship upgrades are high quality and a real pleasure to attach to your ship. The crew figures, though glorified pins, are even crafted with a small pirate hat. The dice are beautiful and the graphic design across the board is fantastic. Even the game’s old school spinners used to navigate treasure and the storm to new spots on the board look and feel great. I can’t think of too many games that match this level of component quality.

Along with designing railroads and fighting zombies, sailing with pirates has to be one of the most desired adventures scenarios in the board gaming world. There are tons of pirate games out there and the mechanisms vary widely. In Plunder, the game play is definitely more on the basic side. You’re essentially picking up your ship and moving around the board deciding your own path. While the treasure cards provide a bit of narrative and adventure, you’re basically at the mercy of the dice. Upgrading your ship can give you an advantage, but a poor roll and all those advantages disappear.

Despite the rum resource, Plunder is meant for a younger gaming audience. It’s easy to learn and start playing. While a 4-player game forces you to come up with more creative ways to gather plunder points, the additional players can extend the game time considerably. In my 4-player game, we shortened the winning plunder points from 10 to 7. This helped, but we were definitely losing my youngest towards the end of the game. If you’re not directly affected by another player’s turn (battle, etc.) it can seem like a long time between turns. I would definitely recommend Plunder for families with older pre-teens and who are enticed by the game’s theme.