Tapestry: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Hand Management, Tech Trees, Civilisation
Player Age: 12+ Player Count: 1 - 5 PlayersTime to Play: 90 - 120 Minutes
Game Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
Player Age: 12+
Game Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
Since tapestry is such a popular game (with the best rulebook I have seen in recent years) I have decided that I would try a new review format that focuses more on my thoughts than how the game runs. This new format is called a R.A.P.I.D. review and the categories are Rundown, Alteration, Production, Interaction and Determination.
Rundown:
'Tapestry' has players going through ages of civilisation, starting from the stone age and reaching as far as space discovery. This is done using four advancement tracks for science, technology, exploration and military. A player’s turn is simple, you can perform one of two actions; move on the advancement track board using resources or move to your next era on your personal board with an income phase. Moving on the advancement board will have you spending resources to advance on a track and gain the benefits (all track locations are shown on a reference guide).Moving onto your next era will incite the income phase. This phase will activate your civilisation, gain you resources and victory points based on your capital city buildings, upgrade one of your technologies, and allow you to play a tapestry card. This will continue until all players have played five eras. The player with the highest score will be the greatest civilisation. Although, keep in mind that each player could finish at different times.
Alteration:
There are 16 civilisations in the game and each player will use only one civilisation. If they are really lucky then they will gain a second one throughout the game. This is where the alteration of the game really comes in as each civilisation will either push you into a certain track or stratergy. Some of these civilisations can take multiple plays to succeed in properly such as the 'Mystics'. This civilisation will have players predicting how many inventions, districts, completed tracks and controlled territories they will have at the end of the game. Each success will gain you a whopping 10 points but the catch is that you won't gain benefits throughout the game except for one additional resource after meeting each goal for the first time. Civilisations won't always give players points but they can give you unique benefits to help them progress while playing.
Production:
The production is off the charts like most stonemair games. The real shine is the landmarks that can be gained by being the first player to reach inventions or certain locations on each track. These are pre-painted miniatures that help to fill up your capital city. They give bonus resources whenever a three by three grid is covered in the capital city or victory points at the end of each era for each completed row/column in the city.
The other crucial part to the production is the player aid sheet. It explains every technology card on one side and each location for all the tracks on the other. This is crucial because it removes an understanding barrier for new players as heavy iconography is used throughout the game. It helps to keep the rules simple to explain and let's the players read in their own time what options are available each turn.
Interaction:
The main player interaction comes from a race on each advancement track. Every track has three landmarks that are gained by the first player able to reach the location. This has the players changing plans mid-game to gain the landmarks or to stop their opponent from gaining them. If players believe this interaction is too limited in a two player game then there is a shadow player (bot) that can be included to keep tension active. In my experience this isn't needed, but is good for players who require it.
There is another element that player's are vying for, three goals that can be achieved, each worth 10 points for the first player and 5 point for the second player (this changes at four and five players). Complete a track, topple two opponents and conquer the middle map position. Two of these benefits are based solely on the military track.
Individual interaction comes from the many strategies that players can aim for to optimise their score. On the main player board there are four building tracks that each score for a different strategy; technology, capital city, conquered map areas and straight up points. Each track has a focus on either map supremacy, technology, placing tiles on the board (exploration), or luck that benefits off other tracks. However, these tracks can also help with boost strategies that don't always match the current track. This helps players to combine the track locations in interesting ways. Tapestry cards and civilisations also help further customise player strategy.
Determination:
'Tapestry' put simply is an amazing game. One of the best parts are the civilisations. They create an asymmetrical approach for player's as each civilisation feels completely unique and gives an interesting puzzle for the player to achieve. The capital cities also create an a interesting polyomino mini game that has player's trying to optimise the spaces to gain resources and score during the income phases. These mixed with great components, easy to learn rules and great iconography, replayability and a great decision space for the players means it will definitely get a go to golden game seal from me and will be in my collection for a long time to come.
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