I like a pretty wide variety of games, but have had a hard time finding euros that are really engaging and interactive.

How you push these limits and make the most of your actions will determine your successes in Concordia. This is one of those games where, just shifting the map a bit, changes so much of how you approach the game.And dare I say, with how many games jump on whatever bandwagon theme of the moment these days, Concordia’s theme actually felt like… a breath of fresh air? A little tidbit: the basic resources gained from the prefect action are pseudo-randomized, and they’re skewed towards the more valuable resources like cloth. It is in the management of your hand, and the sequence in which you play cards, that your strategies will unfold. Each player starts with two colonists, one for land and one for sea, one of each type of the games 5 different resources, a small amount of money and a personal deck of cards. Stay in touch by subscribing, joining our BoardGameGeek Guild, or by following The Thoughtful Gamer on facebook or twitter.

The first game I play with people, they generally forget to pay attention to what will score them points no matter how many times I redirect their gaze. At its height, the Roman Empire extended from Britannia, to Egypt and Babylonia, and encompassed the Mediterranean Sea.But in a surprise this game is rondel-less, instead employing cards for players to use to make action choices. Prefect: The player receives the best good of the province and all players with houses in a region produce goods. Cost of the Diplomat card in subset number IV (English card set only): The card states “Food” as cost (in the red area at the bottom) but shows the symbol for tools (the anvil).

All of that is well and good for a handful of plays, but you wouldn’t be amiss in thinking that perhaps it would get a bit too familiar before long.While I don’t think the game needs this necessarily, my favorite map (Egyptus) has a bit of a gimmick, with additional resources traveling downriver and waiting for players to race to claim them first. Without that small bit of influence over the random setup the game would drag a lot in the beginning.

You can form a plan and follow it to the letter, but a good player will react when opportunity presents itself in the actions of other players – making this a perfect blend of strategy and tactics.So even if it does go south a bit after the fifteenth play, I can confidently say right now that Concordia is fantastic. As always, Acram Digital provide us with multiple ways to play, both online and offline multiplayer as well as solo against up to 3 levels of difficulty AI opponents. In some respects, I think this says much about the quality of strategy games that came out in 2013: it seemed something of a vintage year, especially with some of the really good 2012 games only getting good distribution this year too (the clearest example being Terra Mystica). It allows you to sneak out additional actions that your deck wouldn’t otherwise allow you to do, which can give savvy players a leg up.