PLAYED FOR YOU

Aztlán

Rise of the Aztecs

Four tribes want to survive with the help of the gods and prosper when they co-exist peacefully, but the gods also love those who fight and offer sacrifices to them.

In five eras you choose a power card at the start of the era from a set of card identical for each player; a power card determines strength of your tribe and the optimum landscape for your tribe for the current era, but can also earn you victory points at the end of the game if it was not used.

In each era you place in turn a certain amount of tribesmen - one by one and in relation to the number of players - into empty or already occupied areas, with men of your own or men of other players, the only forbidden area is water. After placing a man you can move this man or any other of your own men already placed into an adjacent landscape. When all men are placed a conflict phase follows with evaluation in order of play. The currently active player chooses - for each area in which he dominates, that is, has most strength from number of tribesmen times the value of the current power card - if he wants to coexist or fight. If he fights, men of weaker tribes are removed; if he coexists he takes a Prosperity Card, which he can use immediately or keep for later use. When all conflicts are decided controlled territories are scored, yielding bonuses for correlations with the current power card.

Very simple mechanisms for a  game that is not simple at all, starting with keeping orientated on the board that is rather full towards the end of the game. When you are ahead early you will be hard to stop, the prosperity cards yielding extra points can decide the game and well-timed interruptions of other people’s territory connections are important, too!

Players: 3-4

Age: 13+

Time: 60+

Designer: Leo Colovini

Art: Drew Baker

Price: ca. 40 Euro

Publisher: Heidelberger Spieleverlag 2012

Web: www.heidelbaer.de

Genre: Placement game

Users: With friends

Version: de

Rules: de en it

In-game text: yes

Comments:

Rather unpredictable up to the last round, you need to memorize Power Cards that were played

Co-existence important for acquiring Prosperity Cards

Conflict important for disruption/upkeep of territory connections

Compares to:

Clans and other games on majorities in territories

Other editions:

Aztlan, Ares and Red Glove

Chance (pink): 0

Tactic (turquoise): 3

Strategy (blue): 2

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 2

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0