To take their turn, players pick up all of the meeples from one tile and drop them off, one by one, to other tiles in an orthogonal fashion. The last meeple you drop off must be on a tile that is not empty, and must also already contain at least one meeple of the same color. You then pick up all of the meeples of that color from the tile and perform their action. Each of these tiles offer varying powers that either must, or may be activated at this time. If you end up clearing a tile completely, you get to claim that tile with a camel of your color for end-game scoring. You are now well on your way to creating your delicious point salad, topped with a nice Analysis Paralysis (AP) Vinaigrette. The tribes, differentiated by meeple color, offer a variety of powers to aid you in your path to victory. You can collect the yellow Viziers, which will individually earn you points plus a larger bonus for any majority you hold over the other players. The white Elders are also collected for end game points, but may be spent to summon powerful Djinns which offer their own special abilities. The green Merchants are available to help you collect various valuables from the marketplace, unique sets of which can be cashed in for increasingly impressive stacks of currency. Strategically used, the blue Builders will also aid in the pursuit of these most precious coins. Or, should you take a darker path, the red Assassins provide the means to remove meeples from the board, potentially opening a tile for your claim. They may even be used to directly strike against an opposing player, killing off a Vizier or Elder that they have swayed to their side. Given all of this, the beauty of the game is that there really is no one single thing you must do in order to win. Multiple paths are available for you to explore in each and every game, and many depend on exploiting advantages as you see them. Success in Five Tribes will ultimately depend on how well you can tactically optimize your chosen moves and the tribes throughout the game. This need for tactical thinking is especially notable when playing with only two players, as each will get to execute two turns per round. At the start of each turn, players must bid for their place in the upcoming action phase; adding a layer of thought and risk to the transaction, the coins you are putting up are a part of your final score, so do you bid high to insure that one critical move, or hang back and see what your opponents do? You have the ability to bid nothing, but the first person to do so will generally end up going last, so in this stage, the order from the previous turn becomes important as well! The strategy here can start to get tricky as the game progresses and the board options shrink, fostering naturally diminishing returns. If you really want to make a move, the option is available, but you will have to pay for it – that’s the trick. What looks like the best move for you to take may or may not be the best move for your opponent, but how much are you willing to pay to find out? Throughout the game, you may also find yourself compelling the service of Djinns to your side in order to wreak further havoc upon the board and your opponents. The Djinn cards can be very powerful, and in certain combinations, end up a real force to be reckoned with. A number of Djinns will give you a passive power, while others require additional sacrifices each time you desire their aid. For example, there are Djinns that simply increase the value of your Viziers and Elders at the end of the game, while another may be able to whip up a valuable Palace from thin air, but require an Elder or more as payment. Regardless of whether you are actively pursuing these as part of your strategy, you must always be aware of their presence, especially when under the control of your opponents. Once your eyes have crossed and there are no more legal moves left on the board, (or an opponent has snuck in and used their last camel to claim the tile you wanted), you may proceed to end game scoring. Thankfully there is a scoring pad provided to assist with the vast amount of available categories. Once everything has been tallied up, the player with the highest score will stake their claim on the Sultanate. Camels and Palaces and Djinns, Oh My!No matter your personal feelings, it is hard to deny that Five Tribes offers up a very unique gaming experience. It is easy to teach and relatively accessible to new players, yet still offers up a challenge to the veterans. The ease with which you can initially score points gives the appearance that your path to victory can be comfortably planned, but the reality is more difficult to execute due to the game’s constantly changing variables. This wealth of options speaks to the potential “paralysis” mentioned earlier. There are simply so many options on any given turn, and the board state shifts so rapidly, that it can be overwhelming to calculate and analyze the impact of each possibility. This combines with, and feeds into, the fact that it is usually tough to pursue just one path to victory. You may see an optimal move while waiting for your turn, but it is often long gone before your next action rolls around. For some, this is the game’s biggest point of contention. Those looking for long term strategy and planning may find that Five Tribes causes your eyes to roll back in exasperation. This game is perfect for anyone looking to adapt on the fly and seize opportunities as they arise regardless if you’ve planned for them or not. Days of Wonder has brought their standard high production quality to the tiles, meeples and cards in this game. Their foray into a more “advanced” style of play has produced a very accessible game to casual and hardcore gamers alike. The fact that each playthrough is unique, and that there is always a different path to explore makes it a welcome addition to any collection. Five Six TribesAt Gencon 2015, an expansion for Five Tribes, The Artisans of Naqala, was released to the charging masses. The expansion adds a sixth tribe (The Artisans), impassible mountains and chasms, as well as even more ways to score points. I’m not even going to mention the six additional tiles that demand even more precious table space! At the start of the game, the purple Artisans are randomly distributed along with their base-game brethren as normal, while the new tiles are semi-randomly set up to form a mountain range of sorts across a portion of the board. In terms of scoring, the Artisans act similar to the Elders and Viziers in that they can be collected individually for end game points, with a bonus to their value for the player with the majority. The Artisans can also be traded in to receive special magical items on the new tiles, much as Elders could be traded in for Djinns. These magical items can simply offer points during end-game scoring or may allow a player to perform a one-time special action. The flying carpet swoops in during a standard move and allows you to place the last meeple in hand on any other tile on the board, as long as you still adhere to the drop off rules. The enchanted flute allows you to summon up to five meeples from adjacent tiles to a tile of your choice, while the lamp grants you an extra djinn for rubbing it. The deadly scimitar allows you to smite two meeples of your choice, and the rebirth ring allows you to select a magical item from those that have previously been discarded, allowing another use of their powers. Using the talisman lets you move one of your previously-placed camels to an empty tile, snatching that valuable location before anyone else can. Finally, when sounding the horn you may discard the current selection of cards in the market and draw a whole new set. You are also given one tent meeple that is available for placement on the board. Tents are treated in the same manner as camels, except that they award you an additional point bonus based on the surrounding red tiles (similar to the blue tiles for Builders). This adds another small element to clearing tiles as players race to stake out prime real estate on the board. The expansion is a nice addition to the game, opening up even more ways to score points without too much hindrance to the already overwhelming array of tactical options. The mountain and chasm tiles require you to find different paths to achieve your goals and limit the accessibility of the powerful magical items. While not overly burdensome, there are still points in the game where you just wish those mountains would move out of your way. The inclusion of more tiles and meeples does increase the potential play time which could be viewed as a negative for a game that is already notorious for being AP prone. After our plays with the expansion, the consensus was that it is a solid addition that seamlessly merges its new mechanics with the base game. Not too surprising, considering that the Artisans were under development at the same time as the main game! Overall, it is a welcome, but not necessary addition. Think of it as adding some croutons, bacon and maybe a little bit more dressing to your points salad. League Ruling
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