“Explore the waterways, map the land, and chart the stars in medieval Baghdad.”
Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/350316/wayfarers-of-the-south-tigris
Playing Time: 60-90 minutes
Weight: Heavy
Genre: Dice Manipulation & Tableau Building
Designer: S J Macdonald, Shem Phillips
Players: 1-4
Garphill Games has completed their ‘South Tigris’ trilogy, three games that really want to mess with dice manipulation as a concept. All three of the games are the heaviest Garphill has done, but only one really rewards you for that weight, and that is Wayfarers.
Players will roll dice and then use their dice to activate worker placement spots. The goal is to, eventually, expand their tableau, especially the panorama of sun and stars above your lands which rewards the players with not just victory points but a startlingly attractive board presence you can feel proud of at the end of the game.
The engine that drives the game though is what the game calls the ‘caravan’, which is their term to describe being able to make certain numbers on your dice more flexible or powerful. One upgrade can let you treat a 6 like a 5, whereas another can allow you to use a 5 as a navigation action (and yes, they can chain). This core idea of finding ways to make a standard six sided die more powerful is deeply interesting, and the results are wonderfully combotastic.
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