FOR EXPERTS
LAND OF SHIFTING SANDS
Bala Ra
Wood, desert or sea for your realm!
Kid
Family
Friends ein
Expert
Alter
Spezial
Bala Ra, Land of Shifting Sands, awaits us! We build or kingdom and attack opposing realms. If you do not have land on the board at the end of a round you have lost and are out of the game. The last player on the board is the new lord of Bala Ra. Straight, simple and confrontational, that’s how Jack Hanauer introduces his game.
Equally simple is how we start the game – our sole resource are 30 units of money, called Ra. There are cards for regions, event cards and protection cards, they are stacked separately. Done! We start! All we now is that there are six different types of landscape = regions, Bala Ra has deserts, woods, mountains, swamps, lowlands and seas.
Each region has ist own advantages or strength and yields Ra to ist owner. You can use your Ra to buy cards, which you then can use in different ways. Each player faces one side of the board, this is his basis line from where he starts to build land. You can build any type of land, but the regions not share a border and must be separated from each other.
A move comprises: Roll the die, take a card and implement it, calculate income and actions. Actions are build land, buy cars, use cards or attack opponents, in any order and as often as you want.
First you roll the event die, depending on the result you take a sun card or a cloud card or a lightning card and implement the instructions. Sun cards can be kept for later use. Events are always directed at the active player. In the next phase each block of land brings a revenue of 1 Ra.
The next phase is the important one: If you want to build land you pay 2 Ra per block, there is no restriction on how many blocks you build. After 20 blocks in a region the price rises to 3 Ra, after 40 blocks to 4 Ra and so on. If you have land you can buy cards, you pay 8 Ra if you choose a card or 4 Ra for a random card from the pile. BUT: You can only buy cards for regions you own and cards are only valid for this region. If one of your regions is destroyed, you lose all cards for this region. Protection cards are either valid for a region or are for general use. Furthermore, you can only have a maximum of 5 cards in your hand, sun cards are exempt from this rule, and there is another restriction: You can never hold Farmer cards and Forest Worker cards at the same time.
Obviously, card management and careful use of cards are essential, you can’t afford a big blunder. As a last resort you can discard cards and buy new ones, if the limit is a big obstacle.
To use a card one turns it over and implements it or plays the card as a reaction to an attack. A used card goes out of the game and I cannot re-buy it immediately for use in the next round. Some cards are specially marked, those are kept after use. To conquer opposing land there are two ways: You can directly attack opposing blocks that are directly touched by your own blocks along a side. TO do so both roll the die, the higher number wins and changes the opposing blocks into those of your attacking region to expand your region. Or you play cards to attack – these attacks are harder to deflect, as your opponent might not always hold the necessary cards.
Bala Ra is a sophisticated game with seemingly endless possibilites, which players must work at together. If you did not play it before and you meet players that have, you will have no chance. The rule book is the first hint on what to expect – the basic rules are rather short, the rest of the booklet is filled with examples and FAQs, and these should be studied carefully, because in this game the devil is hiding in the details. For instance: I must turn up the farmer one round before I want to use him to generate income, because cards can only be turned up in the action phase and that comes after income.
Bala Ra is beautiful game, an attractive game, an unusual game which I like because it is I who is in charge of what happens. The better I combine my resources and use them the easier it will be to win. But it might be difficult to find fellow players, because down time is long and in the first games it will be more like “Oh, darn, I did not know that this cards exists, and here goes my swamp” and this is not everybody’s cup of tea.
So I end up with mixed feelings on the game itself, but a big bravo for the game idea and the attractive implementation.
Dagmar de Cassan
Spieler : 2-4
Alter : ab 11 Jahren
Dauer : ca. 90 min
Autor : Jack Hanauer
Grafik : unstated
Vertrieb A. : Verlag
Preis : ca. 35,00 Euro
Verlag : Bala-Ra 2010
Genre : Aufbauspiel
Zielgruppe : With friends
Mechanismen : Build, develop and use land
Zufall : 3
Wissen :
Planung : 6
Kreativität :
Kommunikation : 6
Geschicklichkeit :
Action :
Kommentar:
Very beautiful design
Unusual mechanisms
Game experience necessary
Vergleichbar:
All games eliminating other players – Monopoly, Diplomacy, Borderland
Atmosphäre: 6
Dagmar de Cassan:
An attractive eye catcher and a challenge to play! Experience and a few games for learning are necessary!