La Boite de Jeu is on the cusp of releasing a new board game that caught my eye due to its mechanics and its stunning artwork (by Vincent Dutrait!). Joachim Thôme has been working away on Tribes Of The Wind, a board game where your Guides work to reinvigorate civilisation after pollution has ravaged the world. Quite apt for this day and age.

The innovative card play mechanics set Tribes of the Wind apart from other games. The requirement to satisfy certain conditions based on the types of cards in your hand and your opponents’ hands adds a unique twist. This mechanic encourages strategic thinking and careful planning, making each turn a puzzle to solve. Immersive Theme of Tribes of the Wind The game’s eco-friendly theme resonates with today’s eco-conscious mindset. It sends a powerful message about the importance of caring for our environment, making the game more than just a source of entertainment. Worth the Investment We were able to get hands-on with one of the most eye-catching releases during a demo session at this year’s Essen Spiel convention in Germany, finding out whether the gorgeous board game could live up to its inspiration. You can also take your time to build Temples which will give you bonuses during gameplay and help when scoring victory points at the end of the game. Finally, you can build a Village and this is where most of your points are going to come from. Villages are great as they can give you bonuses and help get to the end of the game but humanity will always generate pollution. So, you will need to work out the right balance when it comes to setting up Villages on your board.Villages provide victory points, while temples - not seen here - can be constructured for a one-off bonus. This might mean that you need to have a certain selection of elements in your hand to gain the benefits of the cards or own more of a particular element than those sitting to the left and right of you. It's a fun little puzzle that means you're going to be engaged with the other players around the table, always looking to see what they are doing and how.

But how do you convert a bombed out power station into a verdant treehouse? By following the following steps: Players will have to plant forests, build new villages and temples, and decontaminate surrounding areas. During a game of Tribes of The Wind, you will be playing as a guide who can use their elemental magic to fight the pollution that ravaged the world. You will be growing forests, building temples and cities and securing the future of mankind. Sounds like an easy task right? The game’s strategic elements and unique card play mechanics make it both engaging and challenging. It encourages players to think, plan, and strategize, keeping them invested in the game. A Game with a MessageWhile the game’s unique card play mechanic adds a layer of strategy, it may not offer enough tactical depth for some players. The game’s focus on meeting certain conditions to play cards can sometimes limit strategic options, reducing the game’s tactical depth. Final Verdict: Tribes of the Wind A Game Worth Playing

Somewhat surprisingly, it’s better at two. The adaptation to this player count is to use the row of cards that you refill your hand from as one of your neighbours, for the purposes of powering your cards. This gives you a much greater measure of control, as the cards you and your opponent select doubly impact the cards in hand. It’s still not truly interactive, but it is more satisfying.

Rules

Tribes of the Wind isn’t Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: The Board Game, but it may as well be.

The power of cards is affected by the cards of your neighbours - with the need to compare element types for most actions. The aftermath of an apocalypse is an increasingly common grounding for games, both digitally and on the tabletop. Some (The Last of Us) take a narrative approach, where players act as a group of protagonists against a generally hostile environment. Others such as Dead of Winter introduce the possibility of deception and betrayal into the dynamic of survival. 2017’s Outlive pitches you in direct competition with other bands of survivors, as well as environmental hazards. And then, there are games like Tribes of the Wind, where the destruction of human civilisation is included solely for decorative effect. Apocalypse Wow In a post-apocalyptic world, the tribes of the wind are going to rebuild the world on the polluted ruins from the past. Thinking about the description of the game so far, how many players do you picture- around the table? Three? This would be the ‘standard’ number of players for this game, allowing every player to have two neighbours. And it’s fine for three players.There are a couple of other aspects of the game which are also a bit unsatisfying. There is an element of assymetry- each player has a selection of powers that they can activate under certain circumstances. This is a potentially fun wrinkle, but unfortunately neither the triggering circumstances nor the powers particularly affect the game, and so because you have to do everything (moving, clearing, building) yourself, there’s very little benefit to specialisation. So this aspect feels very bland. Temple Of Kludge When someone builds their 5th village, the game will be about to end. The player with the most points, depending on pollution, villages, temples, layout of their forests and other various objectives, will be the winner!