Aspens: Ancient Artifacts Review
Information:
Player Age: 10+
Player Count: 2 Players
Game Designer: Neil Edwards, Luke Roberts
BGG Weight: 1.75
Publisher: Ludivore Games
Time to Play: 20 - 45 Minutes
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Introduction:
Aspens is an abstract area control game where players are trying to grow their forest wider to win and larger to adjust the luck of the dice in their favour. For the original review click here. Aspens Ancient Artifacts create game changing powers to the game that can be used as a free action on a later turn, gained by the first player to possess four trees adjacent to the token first.
Setup:
As part of setup six artifact tokens are drawn from the bag and placed in the below locations.
The players will then find the matching cards and display them next to the board for each player to see. Each artifact can appear twice. If drought and stone are in play two tokens for that card will need to be set up next to the card.
Artifacts:
Once the tokens are surrounded by a player, by one player having four trees in any formation around the token.
The token is gained and can be used as a free action later during the game. When the artifact is on the board it will block cascades from occurring if the piece is blocking a section from fully being cut off. There are seven different artifacts, which can affect the either die, add trees in unique locations, and even remove a group of trees or block a location.
These are strong actions that can be used at pivotal times to sway the landscape into the players favour drastically. Personally six used in a game is too much due to the large effect these artifacts can have.
Final Thoughts:
- Interesting effects
- Wide variety including two of the same appearing in one game.
- Strong effects I would probably only use max three per game, instead of the six.
Ancient Artifacts is an interesting expansion that adds a layer of one-time use abilities to Aspen. These artifacts start on the game board. After a player surrounds the artifact with four or more trees (in any formation) they gain the effect to be used once on any turn. These effects seem small in writing but they can drastically turn the tide during the game. So much so that having the recommended six in play would be too much for me. I think personally I would rather have no more than three in play a game. These artifacts are a really enjoyable addition that adds more choices for the player, while creating bigger sways during the game. Ancient Artifacts create a new element to battle over to gain asymmetrical actions, which some players may enjoy and some may prefer the more consistent abstract nature of the base game. For me I enjoy it in the middle with three artifacts in play.
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