Occasionally we feature a post from our friends at The Malted Meeple. Their Game of the Month series highlights one of the many games in their libraries at Ravenwood Castle and The Malted Meeple. They briefly describe the game, how to play it, and why they like it.
Game: Five Tribes
January’s Game of the Month was Five Tribes, by Days of Wonder. Five Tribes takes place in the mystical Sultanate of Naqala, where the death of the previous Sultan has created a power vacuum – and an opportunity for those with ambition and guile enough to take it. Do you have what it takes to maneuver the five tribes of Naqala and become the new Sultan?
Five Tribes offers a unique twist on the classic “worker placement” style game we all know and love. The game begins with worker meeples already on the board. Players must then use their guile to move them over the board to make use of the variety of villages, markets, palaces, oases, and sacred places of Naqala. By making calculated maneuvers at key moments, you can increase your score while putting your opponents at a disadvantage. As there are a variety of paths to victory, players will need to decide the best time to displace the Five Tribes of Assassins, Elders, Builders, Merchants, and Viziers that make up Naqala, as well as the legendary Djinns that dwell in the sacred places. Whichever player gains the most victory points will end up controlling the Legendary Sultanate and be declared the winner!
To begin a game of Five Tribes, each player is given the eight camels and one turn marker corresponding to the color of his choice. The turn marker for each player is placed on the bid order track adjacent to the turn order track. Each player also begins the game with fifty gold pieces kept face down. Next, all the tiles are randomized and placed in a 5×6 grid; these tiles represent the locations in the sultanate. Then, three randomly colored meeples are placed on each tile. The Resource cards and Djinn cards are now shuffled and the top nine and three respectively are drawn to create the initial offers. Finally, all remaining tokens and supplies are placed within easy reach of all players and the game may now begin.
Before any player takes a turn in Five Tribes they must bid for turn order, with the player bidding the most coins going first and so on. When a player takes his turn he must take all of the following actions before passing the turn to the next player. First, he must move his turn marker back to the first location on the bid order track. Next, a player moves meeples by picking up all of the meeples on one tile and placing one meeple on each tile you move through until you place your last meeple. There are three rules to keep in mind when moving meeples: the tile you end your movement on must contain at least one meeple of the same color as your last meeple, you cannot move diagonally, and you cannot immediately backtrack onto a tile you just came from. After moving meeples you must check for tile control by removing the last meeple you placed along with every meeple of the same color. If the tile is now empty you take control of it by placing one of your camels on the tile to claim it. Following the tile control check, you will take the tribe action dependent upon which color of meeples you picked up.
Read more about the game play for Five Tribes on the Meeple Moments blog.