Ice and Idols: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Pick up and Deliver, Area ControlPlayer Age: 14+Player Count: 2 - 4 PlayersTime to Play: 40 - 60 MinutesGame Designer: Mat HansonGame Artists: Edu Valls
Introduction:
Ice and Idols is a perfect, yet obvious, rendition of an archaeology adventure. This is a pick-up and deliver game with an ever-shifting board that will often alter the pickup/drop-off locations, as well as the movement pathways.
Game Anatomy:
The Board:
The board (ruins) will come as two layers. The base layer includes locations to pick up one or two of the five idols, in addition to different drop zones for each Idol.
The top layer is the pathways the archaeologist will use. These paths are constantly blocked by walls, creating a varied number of paths per tile. The crucial elements to remember is that as long as there is a legal path on the other side, these paths loop around to the opposite side of the board; and it matters which direction your player piece is facing.
Events:
During the game, events will be revealed whenever an idol is placed. These events will collapse tiles (causing them to be discarded), rotate the tile board 90° clockwise/counterclockwise, shift the row or column that the player is on, and give the players a sigh of relief with no effect.
Idols:
There are five idols in the game. At the beginning of the game each player can only hold one idol at a time. When these idols are delivered to their drop off location, they can either be taken to the research track or placed into the player's tableau to unlock an ongoing ability/upgrade.
Sapphire:
This unlocks one more action for each turn.
Tiger's Eye:
Unlocks the capability to carry two idols at any given point.
Jade:
This allows the player to spend 2 AP to rotate the top layer of the board 90° clockwise or anticlockwise.
Ruby:
This allows the player to spend 1 AP to rotate any unoccupied tile 90° clockwise or anticlockwise.
Gold:
This idol allows the player to spend 2 AP to slide any unoccupied tile one space orthogonally adjacent onto an empty tile.
Research Track:
The research track is where idols are placed for scoring instead of personal upgrades. Each track corresponds to an idol colour. Each time an idol is deposited here, that player will place one of their cubes at the lowest empty location of that colour. This may award such things as bonus points, an event, or optionally shift the scoring of this Idol track to left or right. Each idol track has a score value at the bottom of the track. When the track is filled this value can be locked in. Until this happens this value will often be moved across the tracks. At the end of the game, each cube in each track will be worth the points of the value associated with that track.
Each player will have a key card at the start of the game which will depict a pattern to arrange their cubes in on the research track. This is not an easy feat to perform, which is why the points can be very rewarding.
Characters:
There are four unique characters, each with a different ability. Each player will have 5 or 6 action points (AP) to use on a turn, where each character's ability will cost 3-4 AP to use. The Curator (for 4 AP) can jump over one space as long as the jumping to and from tiles has a connecting path. The Keysmith (for 3 AP) can return orthogonally adjacent collapsed tiles or move another tile onto the space. The sculpture (for 3 AP) can slide a row or column over by one space. The Architect (for 3 AP) can swap the tile they are on with an orthogonal adjacent tile, changing the orientation as they desire.
Adrenaline Token:
Each player has an adrenaline token that can be used each turn. This allows the player to have one more action point after all are spent on a turn. The negative effect, however, is that the player will have two fewer action points for the following turn.
Setup:
Building the Ruins:
- Attach the four border grids to the temple grid. There is iconography explaining what players can do on a turn. There is also a standard play and a quick play (more actions) side.
- The border grids must have sun and moon icons opposite, and comet and stars opposite.
- Secure the corners by placing the pin in each corner.
- Place the temple grid over the temple map with the middle of the grid landing on the pivot base.
- Place two roundabout tiles, one in the centre of the temple grid and the other near the play area. Place all the other tiles randomly to fill the temple grid.
General Setup:
- Each player will gain an action point tracker at the top of their track and an adrenaline token.
- Give each player 10 research cubes of their colour.
- Place each player's meeple on the centre piece of the board.
- Shuffle and deal two key cards to each player who will then select just one.
- Based on player count, add a research cube on the bottom row of the research track if there are three players. Place another colour on the second bottom row if only two players.
- There will be symbols on these two rows. Remove events of this symbol from the event deck based on player count.
- Shuffle victory points and place them at the bottom of each column on the research track.
How to Play:
Ice and Idols will end when one player has placed all ten of their research cubes, or four tracks have been finished and have their points locked in. The round will finish so everyone has equal turns and the score will be tallied based on; the research track (including bonuses on the track), bonus points for collecting all idols, and key cards.
On a turn, each player has five action points they can spend. As they collect idols, new actions will be unlocked and even a six action point per turn can be added. A player can spend their action points to perform any action, any amount of times:
- 1 AP - Pickup or drop off an idol.
- 0 AP - Discard an idol.
- ? AP - Activate the characters' power or an unlocked action by spending the cost explained prior.
If players choose, there is a faster way to play the game which has all of the idol powers unlocked from the start and players are purely filling the research track.
Final Thoughts:
- Adrenaline token is crucial due to the ever shifting board state.
- Constantly weighing up between unlocking a new power or gaining points on the research track.
- Research track is a fun mini game of optimising the points that each idol is scoring for and trying to fulfil the players' key card.
- Great toy presence.
- A lot of pre-first game setup.
Some pick up and deliver games hit very well for me due to their unique nature, while others fell very slow in its delivering process. I'm pleased to say Ice and Idols is a hit for me. The game rules are very easy to understand, it almost feels too light until you look at the chaos of the board in the fully set up state. This is a game that thrives on disorganisation both from other players and the events themself. Every turn, the board collapses and shifts. This may make the game unappealing for some as there can be a lot of changes between turns, but for me the game is very much about optimisation on your turn. Can you reach the right idol to pickup or drop off this turn? How can you best set-up to get close to other idols based on what you think your opponents will do? Is it crucial to use the adrenaline token this turn? These are some of the questions you’ll be asking yourself constantly. This will be a game that is probably best at lower player counts as I can imagine there will be a lot more chaos between turns for more players. This is the kind of pick-up and deliver game that really feels like the temple your exploring is crumbling apart and creating maze like obstacles. I recommend Ice and Idols for light frantic fun with layers of strategy still in the mix.
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