From the rulebook: “Scholars of the South Tigris is set during the height of the Abbasid Caliphate, circa 830 AD. The Caliph has called upon the keenest minds to acquire scientific manuscripts from all over the known world. Players will need to increase their influence in the House of Wisdom, and hire skilled linguists to translate the foreign scrolls into Arabic. In this Golden Age of wisdom and knowledge, be mindful not to neglect one in pursuit of the other”

In Scholars of the South Tigris (Scholars), players will be vying to score the most victory points by the game’s end. Players begin the game with a collection of Action cards and dice. Through the placement of these cards and the assigning of these dice, players will be traveling the world to collect scrolls, hiring translators to translate these scrolls into Arabic, and using the knowledge contained therein to increase their power and improve their standings in the game’s various guilds.

Of course, this is a high-level overview of the game. If you’d like to learn more about how the game is played, read on. Otherwise, feel free to skip to the end to find out what we think of Scholars.

Setup

Scholars is played around a central main board that is broken up into several distinct zones. Along…

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A few weeks ago, a few friends of mine needed a game recommendation. They had about 40-50 minutes to kill. One of them was in the mood for something heavier, or at least something with really satisfying decisions. Another wanted something interactive. The other three wanted something without too many rules. Though I wasn’t playing, I had a requirement too: given that they had 40-50 minutes, it had to be quick to teach.

As luck should have it, the answer was close at hand: Through the Desert, finally back in print after far too long. Full of satisfying trade-offs, deeply interactive, and taking less than five minutes to teach to a table full of comfortable gamers, the second greatest of Reiner Knizia’s tile-laying masterpieces was the cure for what ailed us.

Through the Desert couldn’t be much simpler. First, players take turns adding their Leader camels, one by one, to any valid space on the board. Those placements feel arbitrary the first couple of times you play, but every camel you place for the rest of the game will have to form caravans by branching off of your matching leader. You quickly learn that those five placements are the most impactful decisions you’ll make.

Through the Desert Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Way back in 2005, I was living in a spartan two-bedroom apartment with my girlfriend, our cat, and my best friend in the entire world. We didn’t have much: a couple of beds, a ratty couch, a TV, a whole mess of books packed into a couple of second hand shelves, and two souped-up computers. We also had a Playstation 2 (PS2) which didn’t see much play. But when God of War (GOW) entered the picture, that all changed.

[caption id="attachment_271008" width="1024"] "I approve of this review."[/caption]

At the time, GOW pushed the PS2 hardware to its very limits. With groundbreaking graphics, stellar gameplay, and fantastic storyline, it was easy to become totally infatuated with the game. It was, hands down, the best video game I had ever played. I recall thinking at the time that it would take considerable effort to create a video game that completely captured me the way that GOW did.

Then, a few years later, Santa Monica Studio released God of War 2. It was even better than the first. And it wasn’t until that moment that I realized Santa Monica Studio had set a (dangerous?) precedent for themselves. With the first GOW, they’d set the bar really high. With GOW2, they not only leapt over…

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If gaming through Egypt is your bag, well, there is no shortage of titles. Looking for a light game that will highlight your architectural prowess? Try Imhotep. Same question, but you’re going for more of a date night? Imhotep: The Duel. Same question, but less light? Egizia: Shifting Sands. Same question, but with a different slice of umph? Faiyum. After building temples all over the place, maybe you’d like to actually be the gods. Go for Ankh: Gods of Egypt. Want to come back centuries later to dig up all those temples and gods? Go for Thebes.  

But if after all that building and fighting and settling and deifying, dying, and digging you find you’re interested in building again, maybe it’s time you took a look at Sobek: 2 Players from Pandasaurus Games. This specific title happens to be a refurbished and duel-ized version of a  Bruno Cathala design from 2010—originally called Sobek—that, by most accounts, was OK. 

The reprint gathers most of the core thematic elements and ideas behind the mechanical skeleton of Sobek and turns it into a lovely little duel that is more cute than killer, but has the potential for head games and interesting decisions. Now with an expansion on the market—Treasures of the Pharaoh—it’s time we took…

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Appearing in later editions of the One Thousand and One Nights, the stories of Sinbad the Sailor tell of a wealthy wayfarer who sails out on seven different journeys. On each of these journeys, calamity ensues and Sinbad is left destitute and adrift. But, using his wits and resourcefulness, he is always able to recoup his losses, exact his escape, and return home with delightful (and I daresay, lucrative) tales of his exploits. At the end of his seventh voyage, he decides he’s had enough of sailing and finally hangs up his hat for good.

Overview

1001 Islands,  the newest collaboration between Antoine Bauza (7 Wonders, Hanabi, Tokaido) and Bruno Cathala (Five Tribes, Kanagawa, Kingdomino) picks up sometime after that seventh voyage. The players take on the roles of Sinbad’s progeny as they voyage off on their own to rediscover the wonders described in their father’s tales—and presumably to determine whether he was telling the truth or just full of it—and, hopefully, create some stories of their own.

 
1001 Islands is a tile drafting, tableau building game. Each player’s tableau is a four by three grid composed of four different types of tiles. As the game begins, the tiles are separated…

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Welcome to Marrakech, one of the largest cities in all of Morocco! Here you will compete with your fellow merchants to display your carpets and amass Dirhams to be heralded as the greatest carpet merchant in the city.

Or something like that.

[caption id="attachment_252193" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Marrakech box artwork.[/caption]

In Marrakech, from Gigamic, you’ll be displaying placing your carpets on the board on each turn, hoping your opponents will land on them. When they do, you’ll be paid in Dirhams (coins), which also represent end-game points. 

Let’s get the game to the table and see how it plays.

Find Out Why

Each player starts by collecting all the carpets of their chosen color/pattern from the four available types.

[caption id="attachment_252197" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Carpet colors and patterns.[/caption]

Lay out the board within easy reach of all players, then set Assam in the center square. Give each player 30 Dirhams (coins).

[caption id="attachment_252196" align="aligncenter" width="600"] This is one chunky die.[/caption]

Select a starting player and give them the big, chunky six-sided die.

Now you’re ready to play.

How it Should Be

On a turn, you’ll start by…

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Back Rulebenders on Kickstarter.

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If there is one thing that gets my board game heart going, it’s a big bag of meeples. I don’t care what shape or what color, hand me a large drawstring bag full of the most iconic image in board gaming and I’m in! Wait wait wait... There is a game with all of that and even more wooden bits? So, little wooden palaces, palm trees, and camels? And it's published by Days of Wonder?!

Enter Five Tribes.

Overview

Five tribes is a game of controlling the tribes of Naqala in hopes of becoming the the most influential leader of the legendary city. Set in the 1,001 Nights mythos, it is a game filled with the beautiful imagery of the Tales of the Arabian Nights. Djinns, camels, palaces, oasis’, and mystical lands are lathered onto Five Tribes to create memorable and beautiful art that will really stick with you.

In this game each player will be vying for power through influencing all five different colored meeples that each represent one of the five tribes. Each tribe has a special ability that will give you some sort of power when used. In addition, each of the 30 tiles that make up the board also have a special attribute that will be useful…

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Yspahan Overview

In Yspahan, you're attempting to build souks in the most prosperous neighborhoods to increase your wealth, use your influence with the Shah's supervisor to control the marketplace and send your goods, and those of your opponents, to far off lands in caravans destined for the desert. But don't delay, you only have three weeks before the markets close and the caravans begin their journey East.

How to Setup Yspahan

To set up a game of Yspahan lay out the City board in the middle of the table. At the top left corner of the City board place a white cube on the "1" space of the Day tracker (1-7), a white cube on the "I" space of the Week tracker (I - III), and the Supervisor (white pawn) at the center of the crossroads.

Place the Tower board off to the side within reach of all players. Lay out the 9 white dice and 3 gold dice next to the Tower board. Sort the camels and gold coins into separate piles and put them next to the Tower board. Shuffle the cards and place them near the Tower board as well. Place the Caravan board off to the side.

Each player receives 2 gold coins, a building board in their color, and all the cubes of their…

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