Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale

Product Information

Remember that a group of 5 houses only needs a single tile to get to six, which means a single Riftlands could get you there if you plan for it (which means never put a Riftlands house into a group of 3-4 houses, as any two tiles can make six even without it), which means you might even get 16, then 24 points. At the same time, all players make a mark on their score sheet based on the card that was flipped. Anywhere on your personal grid, draw the chosen shape and shade it in with the pattern of the chosen terrain type. You can put it anywhere it fits, you cannot overlap mountains or shapes you have already put down. You can rotate and flip, as long as the shape orientation stays the same. Flip over the top Explorer card so everyone can see it. It is most likely going to have an icon of its terrain type and a configuration shape (like a Tetris piece). a b c d Law, Keith (26 February 2020). "Best new board game apps of 2020". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022 . Retrieved 19 November 2021. After you have flipped enough explorer cards for their time values in the top left corner to equal or exceed the season total, you move to scoring for that season. Each of the four seasons are going to have a combination of 2 of the four letters (Like A/B or B/D or A/C) that is unique to that season. These are the two unique scoring edicts that you score this round. Each of those will have their own condition to get you points. Add it up and fill in the total in the respective space at the bottom of your scoresheet.

Coins are a permanent income of points, so getting a few of them early on means you’ll get those points in every subsequent scoring.and the overall constitution of the whole area (i.e. if you have a nice shape filled with no empty squares). In Fall and Winter, coins are just a solid bonus, but not always the right choice. Predicting How Much a Card Can Score

Besides the unique scoring conditions of that season, you always score positive points for gold coins and negative points for spaces around monsters. For the coin space you fill in a number equal to the number of coins you have shaded in at that moment. For any empty spaces around monsters at that moment, take a negative point for each and fill it in. Add all together to form your season score. For the Great City in scoring space A, you can expect to score 10 points in Spring if you plan on taking the larger tiles, but as much as 40 points in Winter. As a first rule of thumb, go aggressively for coins early. The same logic as monsters applies to coins: coins are incredibly good if you can get them in Spring, because they’re most valuable then. A single coin in Spring is worth 4 points, while in summer it’s worth 3, and in Winter, coins are only worth 1 point. When given the choice to take a smaller shape and a coin in Spring and Summer, it’s usually better to take the coin. Obviously, calculate if the other shape might be worth more, but going for the coin is always a safe bet when you’re not into doing math. This goes for surrounding mountains too, which is important early, and less important later. The real joy of this game comes from its satisfying combos. A well-chosen die can trigger a chain reaction with enormous benefits. Lovers of engine builders like Wingspan will reap many rewards from this little garden. One thing I found frustrating was when the hero cards came up before the monsters. You end up placing them in really odd spots, which end up being nowhere near the monsters as your opponent places them. I’m also more excited about the monsters than the heroes. Whilst the monsters are classic fantasy opponents, like a dragon and a troll, the heroes are a little generic. The monsters also have some really interesting abilities. Like the ever-spawning zombie plague, which grows exponentially if you don’t pay attention to it.

Conclusion

There’s also a single-player mode against a high score, where the monsters are placed with a pair of very simple rules. Although the solo mode is satisfactory, I see the potential for a more structured, campaign-like mode, especially since this is sort of implied in the narrative on the box. The theme is a little pasted on (what roll and write theme isn’t), overall it works really well. Even though my map making skills aren’t the best, I enjoyed creating my map and even found myself telling little stories along the way. “Oh, there is a village here right by the mountain for easy access for the workers.” That being said, players are still going to primarily be going after those goal cards. Each time that an Explore card is drawn, there are three steps to follow. First step is to flip the top Explore card for everyone to see. This is called the Explore phase. There are four scoring cards with two our of the four being scored every round. Each card is scored twice per game. Players can also acquire points for gold coins earned. They lose points for monsters that are not surrounded by other terrain types. At the end of the forth season, all players tally up their points and the one with the most points is the winner.