Leaf: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Tile Placement, Pattern Building, Modular Board
Player Age: 8+ Player Count: 1 - 4 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 45 Minutes
Game Designer: Tim EisnerGame Artist: Angela RizzaPublisher: Weird City GamesYear Published: 2023BGG Weight: 2.04Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Tim Eisner
Rundown:
Autumn is a pivotal time for the creatures and mushrooms of the forest as the falling leaves create the foundations of their habitats. Players will be acting as the wind to create a dazzling pattern of shapes and colours through placement of leaf-shaped tiles.
You want to drop the most acorns for the below habitat to thrive in the winter season.
On your turn, play one leaf card to determine which tile you will be laying this turn.
If you play a second matching leaf card then you will be able to play a baby mushroom on this tile after it is placed.
When your leaf-tile is played (touching at least two previously played points) you will gain actions based on the amount and colour of the points from the other leaves that your tile touches.
The game will end if there are three empty leaf-tile piles, or if the season has been pushed past the Winter line.
Players will score groups of the same hibernated animals and connected adult mushrooms as shown in the chart below.
Players will also score the following points; one point per acorn, one point for any combination of two leftover sun tokens and leaf cards, 6 and 3 points for the player on top of the tree and second highest, respectively.
Actions:
Five different coloured leaves result in five different actions. Actions are performed any amount of times according to which leaf-tile points you touch when placing a new tile. The actions are:
Green - Leaf Cards:
Draw a leaf card. If you have no leaf cards at the start of your turn, you will suffer negative three acorns and then draw two leaf cards. This is a resource that you need to manage effectively.
Orange - Animal Cards:
Gain an animal from the animal board. Any animal with an acorn at the bottom of the card will award you one point. There are eight types of animals, each appearing six times in the deck. After your turn, the empty animal locations will have new animals drawn from the deck.
Red - Mushrooms:
Place a baby mushroom on any leaf that doesn't already contain one of your mushrooms, otherwise upgrade one of your existing baby mushroom into an adult mushroom. Remembering that only adult mushrooms score at the end of the game.
Yellow - Sun Token:
Gain a sun token. These are used to progress the seasons.
Brown - Tree Track:
Move your squirrel up the tree track and gain any bonus it lands on. When another squirrel is on the location you’re moving to, jump over that player instead. 
Placement:
Leaf feels very unique from other tile placement games as players aren't placing tiles in methods to score points. They are instead placing the leaves to determine which actions they will perform on the turn.
This is no easy task with the six uniquely shaped leaves.
Most turns will average to about 2-3 actions, however, placing a perfect leaf that grants you 5 or 6 actions feels very rewarding.
Interaction:
There isn't too much interaction between players for this game. The two prominent types are mushroom chains and the season track. During the game, if any player places a tile adjacent one containing opposing mushrooms, the player with the largest mushroom gains a sun token. These sun tokens are particularly useful for increasing the season track to gain a large amount of points. Once per turn, a player can spend three sun tokens to increase the season track by one, scoring said points.
The track will gradually award less as the game goes on, tempting players to advance the track earlier than others. Another element that players have to consider with advancing the track is that anytime a player passes a frost line, every player will hibernate one group of animals. The animals will only be worth points once hibernated and this action will occur three times during the game, one being during winter which indicates the end of the game.
Determination:
- Great theme and art.
- Interesting cardboard insert that works much better than expected.
- Leaf cards are a resource you have to keep an eye on.
- Interesting difference in leaves.
Leaf is a very unique tile placement game. Any game that feels unique instantly has a spot in my collection. There are many decisions players face when starting their turn, especially with which leaf card to play. In this choice, they need to decide which actions they are going for, if they can score a mushroom placement by playing a duplicate leaf card, are they avoiding opposing mushrooms, and how can they create opportunities in the communal tile placement for future turns. Each action is very quick and all actions are needed for a balanced game. The main choice in deciding the actions you gain is the ‘strength’ of the action. Can you play a leaf in a way that will gain you three of the same animals, scoring 8 points if you can hibernate them?
Leaf is a fast but interesting tile placement game that has earned a Go-To Golden Seal and will be played much more in the following seasons.
Comments
Post a Comment