https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Hafergulden 2026-11-10T11:23:25Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.43.11 https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden&diff=14492 2022-08-25T14:02:09Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* About */</p> <hr /> <div>== About ==<br /> <br /> Hafergulden aims to be the Jean-Jacques Rousseau of ''Euphrat &amp; Tigris:'' giving people all the good advice while failing to heed any of it himself. He has found lack of sleep hugely helpful in achieving the latter and employs it to great effect.<br /> <br /> == Workspace ==<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/tips_en]]<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide]]</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden&diff=14491 2022-08-25T14:01:14Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* About */</p> <hr /> <div>== About ==<br /> <br /> Hafergulden aims to be the Jean-Jacques Rousseau of ''Euphrat &amp; Tigris:'' giving people all the good advice, but failing to heed any of it himself. He has found lack of sleep hugely helpful in achieving the latter and employs it to great effect.<br /> <br /> == Workspace ==<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/tips_en]]<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide]]</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden&diff=14490 2022-08-25T13:58:06Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* About */</p> <hr /> <div>== About ==<br /> <br /> Hafergulden aims to be the Jean-Jacques Rousseau of ''Euphrat &amp; Tigris:'' giving people all the good advice, but failing to heed any of it himself. He has found lack of sleep an invaluable tool for achieving the latter goal.<br /> <br /> == Workspace ==<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/tips_en]]<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide]]</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide&diff=14294 2022-08-09T15:02:02Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* The Extremely Condensed Guide to Tigris &amp; Euphrates */</p> <hr /> <div>== The Extremely Condensed Guide to Tigris &amp; Euphrates ==<br /> <br /> or: How to take over the Cradle of Civilization in 8 easy steps<br /> <br /> 1. Start by placing a leader or two next to a red temple. Add tiles of the leaders’ colour. Blue tiles only go on the river. Gain a victory point each time you connect a tile to your leader of the right colour. Congratulations, you now have a kingdom.<br /> <br /> 1a. Twist: You can hook up any colour to the black leader for a point.<br /> <br /> 2. Add more tiles to beef up your kingdom. Put some red tiles right next to your leaders to make them more secure. <br /> <br /> 3. Connect to another kingdom weaker in those colours and smash it to bits for victory points and that warm feeling. Tiles players have hidden in their hand add to their strength in that colour.<br /> <br /> 4. Do this in all four colours. If you can. Your actual score is the lowest of your four colour scores.<br /> <br /> 4a. Connect your green leader to two different temples with treasures to gain delicious joker victory points. These count as whatever colour you need most.<br /> <br /> 5. A kingdom has only room for one leader of each colour. If you cannot smash a kingdom, put your leader on a temple in there and kick out the other guy of that colour. You need red tiles in your hand for this. Temples next to you and the other guy add to your strengths.<br /> <br /> 6. Place 4 tiles of the same colour to build a monument. This is an automatic victory point dispenser. Connect two leaders in the colours of the monument to it and enjoy.<br /> <br /> 7. If you’re feeling desperate or just in the mood, place a catastrophe. Break up kingdoms. Destroy temples to kick out leaders. Leave craters in the landscape. Fun!<br /> <br /> (8. — optional – Wear a hat with horns on it and call yourself King of Kings, Master of the Four Corners of the World, ruler of all the realms from the Upper Waters to the Lower Waters. Then play another game and get destroyed.)</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide&diff=14293 2022-08-09T15:01:14Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>== The Extremely Condensed Guide to Tigris &amp; Euphrates ==<br /> <br /> or: How to take over the Cradle of Civilization in 8 easy steps<br /> <br /> 1. Start by placing a leader or two next to a red temple. Add tiles of the leaders’ colour. Blue tiles only go on the river. Gain a victory point each time you connect a tile to your leader of the right colour. Congratulations, you now have a kingdom.<br /> <br /> 1a. Twist: You can hook up any colour to the black leader for a point.<br /> <br /> 2. Add more tiles to beef up your kingdom. Put some red tiles right next to your leaders to make them more secure. <br /> <br /> 3. Connect to another kingdom weaker in those colours and smash it to bits for victory points and that warm feeling. Tiles players have hidden in their hand add to their strength in that colour.<br /> <br /> 4. Do this in all four colours. If you can. Your actual score is the lowest of your four colour scores.<br /> <br /> 4a. Connect your green leader to two different temples with treasures to gain delicious joker victory points. These count as whatever colour you need most.<br /> <br /> 5. A kingdom has only room for one leader of each colour. If you cannot smash a kingdom, put your leader on a temple in there and kick out the other guy of that colour. You need red tiles in your hand for this. Temples next to you and the other guy add to your strengths.<br /> <br /> 6. Place 4 tiles of the same colour to build a monument. This is an automatic victory point dispenser. Hook up two leaders in the colours of the monument and enjoy.<br /> <br /> 7. If you’re feeling desperate or just in the mood, place a catastrophe. Break up kingdoms. Destroy temples to kick out leaders. Leave craters in the landscape. Fun!<br /> <br /> (8. — optional – Wear a hat with horns on it and call yourself King of Kings, Master of the Four Corners of the World, ruler of all the realms from the Upper Waters to the Lower Waters. Then play another game and get destroyed.)</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden/tips_en&diff=14292 2022-08-09T15:00:07Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>To do <br /> <br /> Priorities<br /> <br /> * make points<br /> * improve your position (so you can make points later)<br /> * weaken other players’ position <br /> * directly prevent other players from making points<br /> <br /> <br /> Monuments<br /> Don’t build it unless you can defend it<br /> <br /> * distance – isolation counts<br /> * power in one or more colours (discourage wars, threaten, preventive wars)<br /> * red tiles<br /> * temples – access points</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden&diff=14291 2022-08-09T14:59:43Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* About */</p> <hr /> <div>== About ==<br /> <br /> Hafergulden aims to be the Jean-Jacques Rousseau of Euphrat &amp; Tigris: Giving people all the good advice, but failing to heed any of it himself.<br /> <br /> == Workspace ==<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/tips_en]]<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide]]</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden&diff=14290 2022-08-09T14:59:17Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>== About ==<br /> <br /> Hafergulden aims to be the Jean-Jacques Rousseau of Euphrat &amp; Tigris: Giving people all the good advice, but mostly failing to heed any of it himself.<br /> <br /> <br /> == Workspace ==<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/tips_en]]<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide]]</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden&diff=14289 2022-08-09T14:43:24Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>== About ==<br /> <br /> Hafergulden aims to be the Jean-Jacques Rousseau of Euphrat &amp; Tigris: Giving all the good advice to people, but usually failing to heed any of it himself.<br /> <br /> <br /> == Workspace ==<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/tips_en]]<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide]]</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14288 2022-08-09T14:39:55Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* Things to keep in mind */</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so they can collect points of their colour.<br /> <br /> The classic oldschool opening is putting your green and black leaders on the same temple, at right angles. In the second turn reinforce them with a red tile in the space between them to form a little 2x2 square with each leader flanked by two temples. (Green and black are the two leaders with a special function, so it’s a good idea to get them on the board early on.)<br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination. (Having an opponent’s red leader in a kingdom you’re trying to fortify can be very vexing.)<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly reasonable to keep some leaders off the board for quite a while if you want to get out more tiles in the beginning (instead of wasting a turn each on placing a leader – having two more tiles out in the early game can make a huge difference) or want to preserve your leaders from battles they cannot win. This last bit is important: As soon as wars become possible, you’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders or they become easy prey.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting temples traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea: they are cramped and their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Stray leaders ===<br /> <br /> You don’t need to keep all your leaders together in one flock – instead, you can put some, or all, in different kingdoms. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style. Temples with treasure make great homes for stray leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not messing up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about the kingdom falling apart once you have reaped your victory points. <br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him but plan to get rid of him some time in the future, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples. The be patient until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> Mind you, a stray leader is not necessarily a bad thing. If, say, you’re building a kingdom centred around your priest and trader, and then another player jumps in with his farmer and starts adding in a wodge of blue tiles in addition to your red and green ones, that kingdom can very quickly become a force to be reckoned with, in all three colours. <br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Building a loop – that is, connecting the end of a dangling stretch of tiles to a nearby part of your kingdom – is more economic than a thick block of tiles all the way through. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> When you go for redundancy by building two connecting pillars of tiles, make sure you don’t put the same colours in both files where one lost war would disconnect both at the same time.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. <br /> <br /> The rule of thumb for conflicts is that having three more tiles of one colour than your opponent is an acceptable advantage. With red, you’ll want one more to be on the safe side, with green or black, having one less is not a big deal. It often pays off to be aggressive and take some risks here.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> Same for tiles you no longer have a use for: When you find yourself as the defender in a hopeless war, say between black leaders, consider cutting your losses by reinforcing the lost conflict by throwing in all the black tiles you have. With your king gone, you won’t have any use for the tiles, but purging your hand means you can at least hope for a good redraw. Don’t blindly put your king back on the board and try to re-wage the lost war. <br /> <br /> == Wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Early wars, like early monuments, can easily backfire. More tiles in the hand than on the board means they are unpredictable and offer few victory points. While it is true that a war lost early on can be devastating, the loser has the rest of the game to rebuild and can end up in a superior position if you don’t keep up the pressure. This often means a whole series of limited wars which leaves you no time to consolidate your overextended kingdom. Predictable wars also make you vulnerable to ambushes. This is dastardly and underhand tactic which involves looking weak on the board while keeping three to four tile of the colour in question in your hand. Remember that the defender wins a draw – this is equal to having one free tile, and very valuable if you can entice an opponent to attack you.<br /> <br /> When a leader is hopelessly outnumbered or has already piled up a goodly heap of points in his colour, you may be better off leaving him off-board, where he is safe from conflicts.<br /> <br /> == Catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself nor help you cycle through your tiles– it is not an efficient move. It is, however, a great opportunity to get creative when you need to block or slow down a move, banish a weakly supported leader or prune a kingdom. Catastrophes are usually most useful in a crucial war or revolt, by splitting off a vulnerable part of your target. Beware of creating a back-and-forth where your opponent can in the same turn simply place a single tile to bridge the damage and hit back with a catastrophe of his own.<br /> <br /> Don’t hoard your catastrophes, but don’t spend them carelessly, either. Once you’ve fired both barrels, your opponents can allow themselves a great deal more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> <br /> (“Joining kingdoms” here means both with or without a war; a kingdom is any number of tiles with at least one leader attached. This means when you remove a leader from the middle of a kingdom, splitting it into two now unconnected kingdoms, you’re not allowed to rejoin the two halves with a leader in the same place.)<br /> <br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends when the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> * The game finishes instantly when you try to redraw from an empty tile bag. This means you won’t score points from monuments, which comes at the end of your turn. <br /> <br /> (This is the rule from the original edition of the board game. It discourages swapping tiles to finish the game early. The first publisher, Hans im Glück, changed it after a year or two. With the new rule you always got to finish your turn and score monuments, which made forcing an early finish a common move. Later editions and the BGA implementation reverted back to the original rule. If you’re used to the other rule, be prepared for a longer and more convoluted end-game.)<br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the basic hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14287 2022-08-09T14:27:05Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* Things to keep in mind */ Game ending</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so they can collect points of their colour.<br /> <br /> The classic oldschool opening is putting your green and black leaders on the same temple, at right angles. In the second turn reinforce them with a red tile in the space between them to form a little 2x2 square with each leader flanked by two temples. (Green and black are the two leaders with a special function, so it’s a good idea to get them on the board early on.)<br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination. (Having an opponent’s red leader in a kingdom you’re trying to fortify can be very vexing.)<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly reasonable to keep some leaders off the board for quite a while if you want to get out more tiles in the beginning (instead of wasting a turn each on placing a leader – having two more tiles out in the early game can make a huge difference) or want to preserve your leaders from battles they cannot win. This last bit is important: As soon as wars become possible, you’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders or they become easy prey.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting temples traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea: they are cramped and their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Stray leaders ===<br /> <br /> You don’t need to keep all your leaders together in one flock – instead, you can put some, or all, in different kingdoms. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style. Temples with treasure make great homes for stray leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not messing up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about the kingdom falling apart once you have reaped your victory points. <br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him but plan to get rid of him some time in the future, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples. The be patient until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> Mind you, a stray leader is not necessarily a bad thing. If, say, you’re building a kingdom centred around your priest and trader, and then another player jumps in with his farmer and starts adding in a wodge of blue tiles in addition to your red and green ones, that kingdom can very quickly become a force to be reckoned with, in all three colours. <br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Building a loop – that is, connecting the end of a dangling stretch of tiles to a nearby part of your kingdom – is more economic than a thick block of tiles all the way through. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> When you go for redundancy by building two connecting pillars of tiles, make sure you don’t put the same colours in both files where one lost war would disconnect both at the same time.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. <br /> <br /> The rule of thumb for conflicts is that having three more tiles of one colour than your opponent is an acceptable advantage. With red, you’ll want one more to be on the safe side, with green or black, having one less is not a big deal. It often pays off to be aggressive and take some risks here.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> Same for tiles you no longer have a use for: When you find yourself as the defender in a hopeless war, say between black leaders, consider cutting your losses by reinforcing the lost conflict by throwing in all the black tiles you have. With your king gone, you won’t have any use for the tiles, but purging your hand means you can at least hope for a good redraw. Don’t blindly put your king back on the board and try to re-wage the lost war. <br /> <br /> == Wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Early wars, like early monuments, can easily backfire. More tiles in the hand than on the board means they are unpredictable and offer few victory points. While it is true that a war lost early on can be devastating, the loser has the rest of the game to rebuild and can end up in a superior position if you don’t keep up the pressure. This often means a whole series of limited wars which leaves you no time to consolidate your overextended kingdom. Predictable wars also make you vulnerable to ambushes. This is dastardly and underhand tactic which involves looking weak on the board while keeping three to four tile of the colour in question in your hand. Remember that the defender wins a draw – this is equal to having one free tile, and very valuable if you can entice an opponent to attack you.<br /> <br /> When a leader is hopelessly outnumbered or has already piled up a goodly heap of points in his colour, you may be better off leaving him off-board, where he is safe from conflicts.<br /> <br /> == Catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself nor help you cycle through your tiles– it is not an efficient move. It is, however, a great opportunity to get creative when you need to block or slow down a move, banish a weakly supported leader or prune a kingdom. Catastrophes are usually most useful in a crucial war or revolt, by splitting off a vulnerable part of your target. Beware of creating a back-and-forth where your opponent can in the same turn simply place a single tile to bridge the damage and hit back with a catastrophe of his own.<br /> <br /> Don’t hoard your catastrophes, but don’t spend them carelessly, either. Once you’ve fired both barrels, your opponents can allow themselves a great deal more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> <br /> (“Joining kingdoms” here means both with or without a war; a kingdom is any number of tiles with at least one leader attached. This means when you remove a leader from the middle of a kingdom, splitting it into two now unconnected kingdoms, you’re not allowed to rejoin the two halves with a leader in the same place.)<br /> <br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends when the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> * The game finishes instantly when you try to redraw from an empty tile bag. This means you won’t score points from monuments, which comes at the end of your turn. <br /> <br /> (This is the rule from the original edition of the board game. It discourages swapping tiles to finish the game early. The first publisher, Hans im Glück, changed it after a year or two. With the new rule you always got to finish your turn and score monuments, which made forcing an early finish a common move. Later editions reverted back to the original rule. If you’re used to the “sudden death” rule, be prepared for a longer end-game.)<br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the basic hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14281 2022-08-07T14:50:00Z

<p>Hafergulden: Slight revision, undo of editing error</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so they can collect points of their colour.<br /> <br /> The classic oldschool opening is putting your green and black leaders on the same temple, at right angles. In the second turn reinforce them with a red tile in the space between them to form a little 2x2 square with each leader flanked by two temples. (Green and black are the two leaders with a special function, so it’s a good idea to get them on the board early on.)<br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination. (Having an opponent’s red leader in a kingdom you’re trying to fortify can be very vexing.)<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly reasonable to keep some leaders off the board for quite a while if you want to get out more tiles in the beginning (instead of wasting a turn each on placing a leader – having two more tiles out in the early game can make a huge difference) or want to preserve your leaders from battles they cannot win. This last bit is important: As soon as wars become possible, you’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders or they become easy prey.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting temples traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea: they are cramped and their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Stray leaders ===<br /> <br /> You don’t need to keep all your leaders together in one flock – instead, you can put some, or all, in different kingdoms. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style. Temples with treasure make great homes for stray leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not messing up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about the kingdom falling apart once you have reaped your victory points. <br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him but plan to get rid of him some time in the future, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples. The be patient until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> Mind you, a stray leader is not necessarily a bad thing. If, say, you’re building a kingdom centred around your priest and trader, and then another player jumps in with his farmer and starts adding in a wodge of blue tiles in addition to your red and green ones, that kingdom can very quickly become a force to be reckoned with, in all three colours. <br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Building a loop – that is, connecting the end of a dangling stretch of tiles to a nearby part of your kingdom – is more economic than a thick block of tiles all the way through. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> When you go for redundancy by building two connecting pillars of tiles, make sure you don’t put the same colours in both files where one lost war would disconnect both at the same time.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. <br /> <br /> The rule of thumb for conflicts is that having three more tiles of one colour than your opponent is an acceptable advantage. With red, you’ll want one more to be on the safe side, with green or black, having one less is not a big deal. It often pays off to be aggressive and take some risks here.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> Same for tiles you no longer have a use for: When you find yourself as the defender in a hopeless war, say between black leaders, consider cutting your losses by reinforcing the lost conflict by throwing in all the black tiles you have. With your king gone, you won’t have any use for the tiles, but purging your hand means you can at least hope for a good redraw. Don’t blindly put your king back on the board and try to re-wage the lost war. <br /> <br /> == Wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Early wars, like early monuments, can easily backfire. More tiles in the hand than on the board means they are unpredictable and offer few victory points. While it is true that a war lost early on can be devastating, the loser has the rest of the game to rebuild and can end up in a superior position if you don’t keep up the pressure. This often means a whole series of limited wars which leaves you no time to consolidate your overextended kingdom. Predictable wars also make you vulnerable to ambushes. This is dastardly and underhand tactic which involves looking weak on the board while keeping three to four tile of the colour in question in your hand. Remember that the defender wins a draw – this is equal to having one free tile, and very valuable if you can entice an opponent to attack you.<br /> <br /> When a leader is hopelessly outnumbered or has already piled up a goodly heap of points in his colour, you may be better off leaving him off-board, where he is safe from conflicts.<br /> <br /> == Catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself nor help you cycle through your tiles– it is not an efficient move. It is, however, a great opportunity to get creative when you need to block or slow down a move, banish a weakly supported leader or prune a kingdom. Catastrophes are usually most useful in a crucial war or revolt, by splitting off a vulnerable part of your target. Beware of creating a back-and-forth where your opponent can in the same turn simply place a single tile to bridge the damage and hit back with a catastrophe of his own.<br /> <br /> Don’t hoard your catastrophes, but don’t spend them carelessly, either. Once you’ve fired both barrels, your opponents can allow themselves a great deal more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> “Joining kingdoms” here means both with or without a war; a kingdom is any number of tiles with at least one leader attached. This means when you remove a leader from the middle of a kingdom, splitting it into two now unconnected kingdoms, you’re not allowed to rejoin the two halves with a leader in the same place.<br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the basic hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14279 2022-08-07T14:30:06Z

<p>Hafergulden: slightly expanded (wip)</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so they can collect points of their colour.<br /> <br /> The classic oldschool opening is putting your green and black leaders on the same temple, at right angles. In the second turn reinforce them with a red tile in the space between them to form a little 2x2 square with each leader flanked by two temples. (Green and black are the two leaders with a special function, so it’s a good idea to get them on the board early on.)<br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination. (Having an opponent’s read leader in a kingdom you’re trying to fortify can be very vexing.)<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly reasonable to keep some leaders off the board for quite a while if you want to get out more tiles in the beginning (instead of wasting a turn each on placing a leader – having two more tiles out in the early game can make a huge difference) or want to preserve your leaders from battles they cannot win. This last bit is important: As soon as wars become possible, you’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders or they become easy prey.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting temples traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea: they are cramped and their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Rogue leaders ===<br /> <br /> You don’t need to keep all your leaders together – instead, you can put some, or all, in different kingdoms. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style. Temples with treasure make great homes for annoyance leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not messing up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about the kingdom falling apart once you have reaped your victory points. <br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him but plan to get rid of him some time in the future, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples. The be patient until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Building a loop – that is, connecting the end of a dangling stretch of tiles to a nearby part of your kingdom – is more economic than a thick block of tiles all the way through. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. <br /> <br /> The rule of thumb for conflicts is that having three more tiles of one colour than your opponent is an acceptable advantage. With red, you’ll want one more to be on the safe side, with green or black, having one less is not a big deal. It often pays off to be aggressive and take some risks here.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> Same for tiles you no longer have a use for: When you find yourself as the defender in a hopeless war, say between black leaders, consider cutting your losses by reinforcing the lost conflict by throwing in all the black tiles you have. With your king gone, you won’t have any use for the tiles, but purging your hand means you can at least hope for a good redraw. Don’t blindly put your king back on the board and try to re-wage the lost war. <br /> <br /> == Wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Early wars, like early monuments, can easily backfire. More tiles in the hand than on the board means they are unpredictable and offer few victory points. While it is true that a war lost early on can be devastating, the loser has the rest of the game to rebuild and can end up in a superior position if you don’t keep up the pressure. This often means a whole series of limited wars which leaves you no time to consolidate your overextended kingdom. Predictable wars also make you vulnerable to ambushes. This is dastardly and underhand tactic which involves looking weak on the board while keeping three to four tile of the colour in question in your hand. Remember that the defender wins a draw – this is equal to having one free tile, and very valuable if you can entice an opponent to attack you.<br /> <br /> When a leader is hopelessly outnumbered or has already piled up a goodly heap of points in his colour, you may be better off leaving him off-board, where he is safe from conflicts.<br /> <br /> == Catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself. They’re usually most useful for winning crucial war or revolt by splitting off a vulnerable part of your target. Beware of creating a back-and-forth where your opponent can simply place a single tile to bridge the damage and hit back with a catastrophe of his own in the same turn.<br /> <br /> Once you’ve spent all two your opponents can allow themselves a great deal more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> “Joining kingdoms” here means both with or without a war; a kingdom is any number of tiles with at least one leader attached. This means when you remove a leader from the middle of a kingdom, splitting it into two now unconnected kingdoms, you’re not allowed to rejoin the two halves with a leader in the same place.<br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much more shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14247 2022-08-03T13:30:23Z

<p>Hafergulden: very slightly expanded (wip)</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so they can collect points of their colour.<br /> <br /> The classic oldschool opening is putting your green and black leaders on the same temple, at right angles. In the second turn reinforce them with a red tile in the space between them to form a little 2x2 square with each leader flanked by two temples. (Green and black are the two leaders with a special function, so it’s a good idea to get them on the board early on.)<br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination. (Having an opponent’s red leader in a kingdom you’re trying to fortify can be very vexing.)<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly reasonable to keep some leaders off the board for quite a while if you want to get out more tiles in the beginning (instead of wasting a turn each on placing a leader – having two more tiles out in the early game can make a huge difference) or want to preserve your leaders from battles they cannot win. This last bit is important: As soon as wars become possible, you’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders or they become easy prey.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting temples traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea: they are cramped and their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Rogue leaders ===<br /> <br /> You don’t need to keep all your leaders together – instead, you can put some, or all, in different kingdoms. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style. Temples with treasure make great homes for annoyance leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not messing up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about the kingdom falling apart once you have reaped your victory points. <br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him but plan to get rid of him some time in the future, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples. The be patient until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> Mind you, a rogue leader is not necessarily a bad thing. If, say, you’re building a kingdom centred around your priest and trader, and then another player jumps in with his farmer and starts adding in a wodge of blue tiles in addition to your red and green ones, that kingdom can very quickly become a force to be reckoned with, in all three colours. <br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Building a loop – that is, connecting the end of a dangling stretch of tiles to a nearby part of your kingdom – is more economic than a thick block of tiles all the way through. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. <br /> <br /> The rule of thumb for conflicts is that having three more tiles of one colour than your opponent is an acceptable advantage. With red, you’ll want one more to be on the safe side, with green or black, having one less is not a big deal. It often pays off to be aggressive and take some risks here.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> == Some notes on wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Early wars, like early monuments, can easily backfire. More tiles in the hand than on the board means they are unpredictable and offer few victory points. While it is true that a war lost early on can be devastating, the loser has the rest of the game to rebuild and can end up in a superior position if you don’t keep up the pressure. This often means a whole series of limited wars which leaves you no time to consolidate your overextended kingdom. Predictable wars also make you vulnerable to ambushes. This is a dastardly and underhand tactic which involves looking weak on the board while keeping three to four tile of the colour in question in your hand. Remember that the defender wins a draw – this is very valuable if you can entice an opponent to attack you.<br /> <br /> == Catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself nor help you cycle through your tiles– it is not an efficient move. It is, however, a great opportunity to get creative when you need to block or slow down a move, banish a weakly supported leader or prune a kingdom. Catastrophes are usually most useful in a crucial war or revolt, by splitting off a vulnerable part of your target. Beware of creating a back-and-forth where your opponent can in the same turn simply place a single tile to bridge the damage and hit back with a catastrophe of his own.<br /> <br /> Don’t hoard your catastrophes, but don’t spend them carelessly, either. Once you’ve fired both barrels, your opponents can allow themselves a great deal more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> “Joining kingdoms” here means both with or without a war; a kingdom is any number of tiles with at least one leader attached. This means when you remove a leader from the middle of a kingdom, splitting it into two now unconnected kingdoms, you’re not allowed to rejoin the two halves with a leader in the same place.<br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the basic hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14234 2022-08-01T19:49:31Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* Links */</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so they can collect points of their colour.<br /> <br /> The classic oldschool opening is putting your green and black leaders on the same temple, at right angles. In the second turn reinforce them with a red tile in the space between them to form a little 2x2 square with each leader flanked by two temples. (Green and black are the two leaders with a special function, so it’s a good idea to get them on the board early on.)<br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination. (Having an opponent’s red leader in a kingdom you’re trying to fortify can be very vexing.)<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly reasonable to keep some leaders off the board for quite a while if you want to get out more tiles in the beginning (instead of wasting a turn each on placing a leader – having two more tiles out in the early game can make a huge difference) or want to preserve your leaders from battles they cannot win. This last bit is important: As soon as wars become possible, you’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders or they become easy prey.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting temples traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea: they are cramped and their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Rogue leaders ===<br /> <br /> You don’t need to keep all your leaders together – instead, you can put some, or all, in different kingdoms. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style. Temples with treasure make great homes for annoyance leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not messing up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about the kingdom falling apart once you have reaped your victory points. <br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him but plan to get rid of him some time in the future, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples. The be patient until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Building a loop – that is, connecting the end of a dangling stretch of tiles to a nearby part of your kingdom – is more economic than a thick block of tiles all the way through. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. <br /> <br /> The rule of thumb for conflicts is that having three more tiles of one colour than your opponent is an acceptable advantage. With red, you’ll want one more to be on the safe side, with green or black, having one less is not a big deal. It often pays off to be aggressive and take some risks here.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> == Some notes on wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Early wars, like early monuments, can easily backfire. More tiles in the hand than on the board means they are unpredictable and offer few victory points. While it is true that a war lost early on can be devastating, the loser has the rest of the game to rebuild and can end up in a superior position if you don’t keep up the pressure. This often means a whole series of limited wars which leaves you no time to consolidate your overextended kingdom. Predictable wars also make you vulnerable to ambushes. This is a dastardly and underhand tactic which involves looking weak on the board while keeping three to four tile of the colour in question in your hand. Remember that the defender wins a draw – this is equal to having one free tile, and very valuable if you can entice an opponent to attack you.<br /> <br /> == Catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself. They’re usually most useful for winning a crucial war or revolt by splitting off a vulnerable part of your target. Beware of creating a back-and-forth where your opponent can simply place a single tile to bridge the damage and hit back with a catastrophe of his own in the same turn.<br /> <br /> Once you’ve spent all two your opponents can allow themselves a great deal more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> “Joining kingdoms” here means both with or without a war; a kingdom is any number of tiles with at least one leader attached. This means when you remove a leader from the middle of a kingdom, splitting it into two now unconnected kingdoms, you’re not allowed to rejoin the two halves with a leader in the same place.<br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14233 2022-08-01T19:48:15Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* Catastrophes */</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so they can collect points of their colour.<br /> <br /> The classic oldschool opening is putting your green and black leaders on the same temple, at right angles. In the second turn reinforce them with a red tile in the space between them to form a little 2x2 square with each leader flanked by two temples. (Green and black are the two leaders with a special function, so it’s a good idea to get them on the board early on.)<br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination. (Having an opponent’s red leader in a kingdom you’re trying to fortify can be very vexing.)<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly reasonable to keep some leaders off the board for quite a while if you want to get out more tiles in the beginning (instead of wasting a turn each on placing a leader – having two more tiles out in the early game can make a huge difference) or want to preserve your leaders from battles they cannot win. This last bit is important: As soon as wars become possible, you’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders or they become easy prey.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting temples traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea: they are cramped and their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Rogue leaders ===<br /> <br /> You don’t need to keep all your leaders together – instead, you can put some, or all, in different kingdoms. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style. Temples with treasure make great homes for annoyance leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not messing up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about the kingdom falling apart once you have reaped your victory points. <br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him but plan to get rid of him some time in the future, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples. The be patient until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Building a loop – that is, connecting the end of a dangling stretch of tiles to a nearby part of your kingdom – is more economic than a thick block of tiles all the way through. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. <br /> <br /> The rule of thumb for conflicts is that having three more tiles of one colour than your opponent is an acceptable advantage. With red, you’ll want one more to be on the safe side, with green or black, having one less is not a big deal. It often pays off to be aggressive and take some risks here.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> == Some notes on wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Early wars, like early monuments, can easily backfire. More tiles in the hand than on the board means they are unpredictable and offer few victory points. While it is true that a war lost early on can be devastating, the loser has the rest of the game to rebuild and can end up in a superior position if you don’t keep up the pressure. This often means a whole series of limited wars which leaves you no time to consolidate your overextended kingdom. Predictable wars also make you vulnerable to ambushes. This is a dastardly and underhand tactic which involves looking weak on the board while keeping three to four tile of the colour in question in your hand. Remember that the defender wins a draw – this is equal to having one free tile, and very valuable if you can entice an opponent to attack you.<br /> <br /> == Catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself. They’re usually most useful for winning a crucial war or revolt by splitting off a vulnerable part of your target. Beware of creating a back-and-forth where your opponent can simply place a single tile to bridge the damage and hit back with a catastrophe of his own in the same turn.<br /> <br /> Once you’ve spent all two your opponents can allow themselves a great deal more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> “Joining kingdoms” here means both with or without a war; a kingdom is any number of tiles with at least one leader attached. This means when you remove a leader from the middle of a kingdom, splitting it into two now unconnected kingdoms, you’re not allowed to rejoin the two halves with a leader in the same place.<br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much more shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14232 2022-08-01T19:47:27Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* Some notes on wars */</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so they can collect points of their colour.<br /> <br /> The classic oldschool opening is putting your green and black leaders on the same temple, at right angles. In the second turn reinforce them with a red tile in the space between them to form a little 2x2 square with each leader flanked by two temples. (Green and black are the two leaders with a special function, so it’s a good idea to get them on the board early on.)<br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination. (Having an opponent’s red leader in a kingdom you’re trying to fortify can be very vexing.)<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly reasonable to keep some leaders off the board for quite a while if you want to get out more tiles in the beginning (instead of wasting a turn each on placing a leader – having two more tiles out in the early game can make a huge difference) or want to preserve your leaders from battles they cannot win. This last bit is important: As soon as wars become possible, you’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders or they become easy prey.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting temples traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea: they are cramped and their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Rogue leaders ===<br /> <br /> You don’t need to keep all your leaders together – instead, you can put some, or all, in different kingdoms. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style. Temples with treasure make great homes for annoyance leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not messing up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about the kingdom falling apart once you have reaped your victory points. <br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him but plan to get rid of him some time in the future, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples. The be patient until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Building a loop – that is, connecting the end of a dangling stretch of tiles to a nearby part of your kingdom – is more economic than a thick block of tiles all the way through. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. <br /> <br /> The rule of thumb for conflicts is that having three more tiles of one colour than your opponent is an acceptable advantage. With red, you’ll want one more to be on the safe side, with green or black, having one less is not a big deal. It often pays off to be aggressive and take some risks here.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> == Some notes on wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Early wars, like early monuments, can easily backfire. More tiles in the hand than on the board means they are unpredictable and offer few victory points. While it is true that a war lost early on can be devastating, the loser has the rest of the game to rebuild and can end up in a superior position if you don’t keep up the pressure. This often means a whole series of limited wars which leaves you no time to consolidate your overextended kingdom. Predictable wars also make you vulnerable to ambushes. This is a dastardly and underhand tactic which involves looking weak on the board while keeping three to four tile of the colour in question in your hand. Remember that the defender wins a draw – this is equal to having one free tile, and very valuable if you can entice an opponent to attack you.<br /> <br /> == Catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself. They’re usually most useful for winning crucial war or revolt by splitting off a vulnerable part of your target. Beware of creating a back-and-forth where your opponent can simply place a single tile to bridge the damage and hit back with a catastrophe of his own in the same turn.<br /> <br /> Once you’ve spent all two your opponents can allow themselves a great deal more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> “Joining kingdoms” here means both with or without a war; a kingdom is any number of tiles with at least one leader attached. This means when you remove a leader from the middle of a kingdom, splitting it into two now unconnected kingdoms, you’re not allowed to rejoin the two halves with a leader in the same place.<br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much more shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14231 2022-08-01T19:41:36Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* First moves */</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so they can collect points of their colour.<br /> <br /> The classic oldschool opening is putting your green and black leaders on the same temple, at right angles. In the second turn reinforce them with a red tile in the space between them to form a little 2x2 square with each leader flanked by two temples. (Green and black are the two leaders with a special function, so it’s a good idea to get them on the board early on.)<br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination. (Having an opponent’s red leader in a kingdom you’re trying to fortify can be very vexing.)<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly reasonable to keep some leaders off the board for quite a while if you want to get out more tiles in the beginning (instead of wasting a turn each on placing a leader – having two more tiles out in the early game can make a huge difference) or want to preserve your leaders from battles they cannot win. This last bit is important: As soon as wars become possible, you’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders or they become easy prey.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting temples traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea: they are cramped and their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Rogue leaders ===<br /> <br /> You don’t need to keep all your leaders together – instead, you can put some, or all, in different kingdoms. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style. Temples with treasure make great homes for annoyance leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not messing up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about the kingdom falling apart once you have reaped your victory points. <br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him but plan to get rid of him some time in the future, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples. The be patient until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Building a loop – that is, connecting the end of a dangling stretch of tiles to a nearby part of your kingdom – is more economic than a thick block of tiles all the way through. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. <br /> <br /> The rule of thumb for conflicts is that having three more tiles of one colour than your opponent is an acceptable advantage. With red, you’ll want one more to be on the safe side, with green or black, having one less is not a big deal. It often pays off to be aggressive and take some risks here.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> == Some notes on wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Early wars, like early monuments, can easily backfire. More tiles in the hand than on the board means they are unpredictable and offer few victory points. While it is true that a war lost early on can be devastating, the loser has the rest of the game to rebuild and can end up in a superior position if you don’t keep up the pressure. This often means a whole series of limited wars which leaves you no time to consolidate your overextended kingdom. Predictable wars also make you vulnerable to ambushes. This is dastardly and underhand tactic which involves looking weak on the board while keeping three to four tile of the colour in question in your hand. Remember that the defender wins a draw – this is equal to having one free tile, and very valuable if you can entice an opponent to attack you.<br /> <br /> == Catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself. They’re usually most useful for winning crucial war or revolt by splitting off a vulnerable part of your target. Beware of creating a back-and-forth where your opponent can simply place a single tile to bridge the damage and hit back with a catastrophe of his own in the same turn.<br /> <br /> Once you’ve spent all two your opponents can allow themselves a great deal more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> “Joining kingdoms” here means both with or without a war; a kingdom is any number of tiles with at least one leader attached. This means when you remove a leader from the middle of a kingdom, splitting it into two now unconnected kingdoms, you’re not allowed to rejoin the two halves with a leader in the same place.<br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much more shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14230 2022-08-01T18:56:37Z

<p>Hafergulden: Slightly expanded and revised (wip)</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so they can collect points of their colour.<br /> <br /> The classic oldschool opening is putting your green and black leaders on the same temple, at right angles. In the second turn reinforce them with a red tile in the space between them to form a little 2x2 square with each leader flanked by two temples. (Green and black are the two leaders with a special function, so it’s a good idea to get them on the board early on.)<br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination. (Having an opponent’s read leader in a kingdom you’re trying to fortify can be very vexing.)<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly reasonable to keep some leaders off the board for quite a while if you want to get out more tiles in the beginning (instead of wasting a turn each on placing a leader – having two more tiles out in the early game can make a huge difference) or want to preserve your leaders from battles they cannot win. This last bit is important: As soon as wars become possible, you’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders or they become easy prey.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting temples traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea: they are cramped and their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Rogue leaders ===<br /> <br /> You don’t need to keep all your leaders together – instead, you can put some, or all, in different kingdoms. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style. Temples with treasure make great homes for annoyance leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not messing up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about the kingdom falling apart once you have reaped your victory points. <br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him but plan to get rid of him some time in the future, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples. The be patient until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Building a loop – that is, connecting the end of a dangling stretch of tiles to a nearby part of your kingdom – is more economic than a thick block of tiles all the way through. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. <br /> <br /> The rule of thumb for conflicts is that having three more tiles of one colour than your opponent is an acceptable advantage. With red, you’ll want one more to be on the safe side, with green or black, having one less is not a big deal. It often pays off to be aggressive and take some risks here.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> == Some notes on wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Early wars, like early monuments, can easily backfire. More tiles in the hand than on the board means they are unpredictable and offer few victory points. While it is true that a war lost early on can be devastating, the loser has the rest of the game to rebuild and can end up in a superior position if you don’t keep up the pressure. This often means a whole series of limited wars which leaves you no time to consolidate your overextended kingdom. Predictable wars also make you vulnerable to ambushes. This is dastardly and underhand tactic which involves looking weak on the board while keeping three to four tile of the colour in question in your hand. Remember that the defender wins a draw – this is equal to having one free tile, and very valuable if you can entice an opponent to attack you.<br /> <br /> == Catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself. They’re usually most useful for winning crucial war or revolt by splitting off a vulnerable part of your target. Beware of creating a back-and-forth where your opponent can simply place a single tile to bridge the damage and hit back with a catastrophe of his own in the same turn.<br /> <br /> Once you’ve spent all two your opponents can allow themselves a great deal more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> “Joining kingdoms” here means both with or without a war; a kingdom is any number of tiles with at least one leader attached. This means when you remove a leader from the middle of a kingdom, splitting it into two now unconnected kingdoms, you’re not allowed to rejoin the two halves with a leader in the same place.<br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much more shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide&diff=14055 2022-07-18T20:04:19Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>The Extremely Condensed Guide to Tigris &amp; Euphrates<br /> <br /> or: How to take over the Cradle of Civilization in 7 easy steps<br /> <br /> 1. Start by placing a leader or two next to a red temple. Add tiles of the leaders’ colour. Blue tiles only go on the river. Gain a victory point each time you connect a tile to your leader of the right colour. Congratulations, you now have a kingdom.<br /> <br /> 1a. Twist: You can hook up any colour to the black leader for a point.<br /> <br /> 2. Add more tiles to beef up your kingdom. Put some red tiles right next to your leaders to make them more secure. <br /> <br /> 3. Connect to another kingdom weaker in those colours and smash it to bits for victory points and that warm feeling. Tiles players have hidden in their hand add to their strength in that colour.<br /> <br /> 4. Do this in all four colours. If you can. Your actual score is the lowest of your four colour scores.<br /> <br /> 4a. Connect your green leader to two different temples with treasures to gain delicious joker victory points. These count as whatever colour you need most.<br /> <br /> 5. A kingdom has only room for one leader of each colour. If you cannot smash a kingdom, put your leader on a temple in there and kick out the other guy of that colour. You need red tiles in your hand for this. Temples next to you and the other guy add to your strengths.<br /> <br /> 6. Place 4 tiles of the same colour to build a monument. This is an automatic victory point dispenser. Hook up two leaders in the colours of the monument and enjoy.<br /> <br /> 7. If you’re feeling desperate or just in the mood, place a catastrophe. Break up kingdoms. Destroy temples to kick out leaders. Leave craters in the landscape. Fun!<br /> <br /> (8. — optional – Wear a hat with horns on it and call yourself King of Kings, Master of the Four Corners of the World, ruler of all the realms from the Upper Waters to the Lower Waters. Then play another game and get destroyed.)</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide&diff=14054 2022-07-18T20:02:56Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>The Extremely Condensed Guide to Tigris &amp; Euphrates<br /> <br /> or: How to take over the Cradle of Civilization in 7 easy steps<br /> <br /> 1. Start by placing a leader or two next to a red temple. Add tiles of the leaders’ colour. Blue tiles only go on the river. Gain a victory point for each tile you connect to its leader. Congratulations, you now have a kingdom.<br /> <br /> 1a. Twist: You can hook up any colour to the black leader for a point.<br /> <br /> 2. Add more tiles to beef up your kingdom. Put some red tiles right next to your leaders to make them more secure. <br /> <br /> 3. Connect to another kingdom weaker in those colours and smash it to bits for victory points and that warm feeling. Tiles players have hidden in their hand add to their strength in that colour.<br /> <br /> 4. Do this in all four colours. If you can. Your actual score is the lowest of your four colour scores.<br /> <br /> 4a. Connect your green leader to two different temples with treasures to gain delicious joker victory points. These count as whatever colour you need most.<br /> <br /> 5. A kingdom has only room for one leader of each colour. If you cannot smash a kingdom, put your leader on a temple in there and kick out the other guy of that colour. You need red tiles in your hand for this. Temples next to you and the other guy add to your strengths.<br /> <br /> 6. Place 4 tiles of the same colour to build a monument. This is an automatic victory point dispenser. Hook up two leaders in the colours of the monument and enjoy.<br /> <br /> 7. If you’re feeling desperate or just in the mood, place a catastrophe. Break up kingdoms. Destroy temples to kick out leaders. Leave craters in the landscape. Fun!<br /> <br /> (8. — optional – Wear a hat with horns on it and call yourself King of Kings, Master of the Four Corners of the World, ruler of all the realms from the Upper Waters to the Lower Waters. Then play another game and get destroyed.)</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide&diff=14053 2022-07-18T20:00:29Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>The Extremely Condensed Guide to Tigris &amp; Euphrates<br /> <br /> or: How to take over the Cradle of Civilization in 7 easy steps<br /> <br /> 1. Start by placing a leader or two next to a red temple. Add tiles of the leaders’ colour. Blue tiles only go on the river. Gain a victory point for each tile you connect to its leader. Congratulations, you now have a kingdom.<br /> <br /> 1a. Twist: You can hook up any colour to the black leader for a point.<br /> <br /> 2. Add more tiles to beef up your kingdom. Put some red tiles right next to your leaders to make them more secure. <br /> <br /> 3. Connect to another kingdom weaker in those colours and smash it to bits for victory points and that warm feeling. Tiles players have hidden in their hand add to their strength in that colour.<br /> <br /> 4. Do this in all four colours. Your actual score is the lowest of your four colour scores.<br /> <br /> 4a. Connect your green leader to two different temples with treasures to gain delicious joker victory points. These count as whatever colour you need most.<br /> <br /> 5. A kingdom has only room for one leader of each colour.<br /> <br /> 5a. If you cannot smash a kingdom, put your leader on a temple in there and kick out the other guy of that colour. You need red tiles in your hand for this. Temples next to you and the other guy add to your strength.<br /> <br /> 6. Place 4 tiles of the same colour to build a monument. This is an automatic victory point dispenser. Hook up two leaders in the colours of the monument and enjoy.<br /> <br /> 7. If you’re feeling desperate or just in the mood, place a catastrophe. Break up kingdoms. Destroy temples to kick out leaders.<br /> <br /> (8. — optional – Wear a hat with horns on it and call yourself King of Kings, Master of the Four Corners of the World, ruler of all the realms from the Upper Waters to the Lower Waters. Then play another game and get destroyed.)</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14046 2022-07-18T13:10:01Z

<p>Hafergulden: slightly expanded (wip)</p> <hr /> <div>== Overview ==<br /> <br /> In this game you create a power base for your leaders, either by building a kingdom or by taking over parts of other kingdoms. You then use this power base to either destroy other players’ kingdoms – earning victory points in the process – or at least keep them at bay while you build or take over monuments to earn even more victory points and balance out your score. All this while the other players are trying to do the same to you.<br /> <br /> == First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so you can collect points of their colour. There is no optimal, one-size-fits-all opening. You’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders in case of early wars; if you have more than two or three tiles of one colour, it’s often a good idea to start with that leader. <br /> <br /> If you have the tiles, getting out your green and black leaders first on the same temple, at an angle, and next turn reinforcing them with an additional, shared red tile is a solidly oldschool opening move. (In other words, this will form a little 2x2 square with each leader adjacent to two temples.) <br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination, with some supporting tiles.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting points traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. In four-player games, the last player to start usually has to get a bit creative and either squeeze in between two kingdoms or distribute his kings around. <br /> <br /> If you want to start in the middle of things and create a bit of pressure right away, I7 is the place to go. <br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea as their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Rogue leaders ===<br /> <br /> Putting one of your leaders into an enemy kingdom early on is currently all the fashion. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style, since they will give you points or even a treasure when the want to cross rivers (blue leader), reinforce leaders with tempels (red leader) or connect to treasure temples (green leader). Temples with treasure make great homes for annoyance leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not fucking up your plans. On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about what becomes of the rest of the kingdom.<br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him, hem him in with some tiles on adjacent squares to prevent the building of supporting temples, if necessary, then play around him until you can kick him out with a revolt. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. Sometimes you need to expand and cannot avoid building single-file, but if you have the time, building two tiles wide or creating additional connections will limit the threat of catastrophes. Monuments are indestructible and make good anchoring points.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make a kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, those greens are a breaking point: loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and then you will lose the black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> Temples with leaders attached are more durable than other tiles and useful for connecting colours and leaders.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> Never place a red tile when doing so would leave an empty spot with two adjacent temples open at the end of your turn. This is just begging for a revolt.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking of a kingdom you’re building as “your” kingdom, as something like a home or territory you have to build up, make your own and protect at all costs. A kingdom containing all your leaders at once is convenient, but be on the lookout for other advantageous positions to put your leaders in. <br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get demolished in the process. Perhaps try not to think of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put one of your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site (so far) lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on the board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is a lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Tiles and randomness == <br /> <br /> Contrary to what some people claim, this game is not “all about getting red tiles”, nor is everything up to chance. Randomness plays a certain role, of course, but what makes a player good is dealing with what he is, well, dealt.<br /> <br /> At the start of the game, the tile bag contains 47 red tiles, 36 blue and 30 each of both green and black. (The remaining 10 red tiles start out on the board as treasure temples.) Consequently you can expect to draw more red than blue tiles, and more blue than either green or black. This means that in a conflict, you need a bigger advantage in red tiles to be reasonably certain of winning. In green or black, 3 tiles more than your opponent’s strength on the board is pretty good, and 2 are not unreasonable; in blue, 2 more are usually not enough, while 3 are alright; in red, 3 more are the minimum, and 4 are much better.<br /> <br /> If you don’t have the right tiles, get rid of the tiles you have by starting a conflict (and making some points!) or, in an emergency, by swapping some tiles. There is a school of thought holding that the more tiles you have cycling through your hand, the likelier your are to see the tiles you need.<br /> <br /> == Some notes on wars and catastrophes ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost always a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Using catastrophes to delay a war is an act of desperation and rarely worth it unless it will take the attacker more than one turn to bypass the smoking crater and the game has reached the frenzied final phase where everybody is frantically trying to get just one more points and has too many things to do with too many turns left. <br /> <br /> Placing a catastrophe is an action that will not earn you any points in itself. Use them sparingly and where they will do the most good – that is, usually making sure you win a crucial war or revolt. Once you’ve spent all two your opponents can allow themselves more freedom in approaching you. Having no more catastrophes left feels a bit like being a toothless tiger.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much more shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide&diff=14037 2022-07-17T21:13:08Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>The Extremely Condensed Guide to Tigris &amp; Euphrates<br /> or: How to take over the Cradle of Civilization in 7 easy steps<br /> <br /> 1. Start by placing a leader or two next to a red temple. Add tiles of the same colour. Blue tiles only go on the river. Gain a victory point for each tile you connect to its leader. Congratulations, you now have a kingdom.<br /> <br /> 1a. Twist: You can connect any colour to the black leader for a point.<br /> <br /> 2. Add more tiles to beef up your kingdom. Put some red tiles right next to your leaders to make them more secure. <br /> <br /> 3. Connect to another kingdom weaker in those colours and smash it to bits for victory points and that warm feeling. Tiles players have hidden in their hand add to their strength in that colour.<br /> <br /> 4. Do this in all four colours. Your actual score is the lowest of your four colour scores.<br /> <br /> 4a. Connect your green leader to two different temples with treasures to gain delicious joker victory points. These count as whatever colour you need most.<br /> <br /> 5. A kingdom has only room for one leader of each colour.<br /> <br /> 5a. If you cannot smash a kingdom, put your leader on a temple in there and kick out the other guy of that colour. You need red tiles in your hand for this. Temples next to you and the other guy add to your strength.<br /> <br /> 6. Place 4 tiles of the same colour to build a monument. This is an automatic victory point dispenser. Hook up two leaders in the colours of the monument and enjoy.<br /> <br /> 7. If you’re feeling desperate or just in the mood, place a catastrophe. Break up kingdoms. Destroy temples to kick out leaders.<br /> <br /> (8. — optional – Wear a hat with horns on it and call yourself King of Kings, Master of the Four Corners of the World, ruler of all the realms from the Upper Waters to the Lower Waters. Then play another game and get destroyed.)</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide&diff=14036 2022-07-17T21:06:53Z

<p>Hafergulden: Created page with &quot;The Extremely Condensed Guide to Tigris &amp; Euphrates or: How to take over the Cradle of Civilization in 7 easy steps 1. Start by placing a leader or two next to a red temple....&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>The Extremely Condensed Guide to Tigris &amp; Euphrates<br /> or: How to take over the Cradle of Civilization in 7 easy steps<br /> <br /> 1. Start by placing a leader or two next to a red temple. Add tiles of the same colour. Blue tiles only go on the river. Gain a victory point for each tile you connect to its leader. Congratulations, you now have a kingdom.<br /> <br /> 1a. Twist: You can connect any colour to the black leader to get a point.<br /> <br /> 2. Add more tiles to build up your kingdom. Put some red tiles next to your leader to make them more secure. <br /> <br /> 3. Connect to another kingdom weaker in those colours and smash it to bits for victory points and that warm feeling. Tiles players have hidden in their hand do add to their strength in that colour.<br /> <br /> 4. Do this in all four colours. Your score is the lowest of your four colours.<br /> <br /> 4a. Connect your green leader to two different temples with treasures to gain delicious joker victory points. These count as whatever colour you need most.<br /> <br /> 5. If you cannot smash a kingdom, put your leader on a temple in there and kick out the other guy of that colour. You need red tiles in your hand for this. Temples next to you and the other guy add to your strength.<br /> <br /> 6. Place 4 tiles of the same colour to build a monument. This is an automatic victory point dispenser. Hook up two leaders in the colours of the monument and enjoy.<br /> <br /> 7. If you’re feeling desperate or just in the mood, place a catastrophe. Break up kingdoms. Destroy temples to kick out leaders.<br /> <br /> (8. — optional – Wear a hat with horns on it and call yourself the king of all kings, master of the four corners of the world, ruler of all the realms from the upper to the lower water.)</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden&diff=14035 2022-07-17T20:34:49Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>Workspace:<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/tips_en]]<br /> <br /> [[User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide]]</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden&diff=14034 2022-07-17T20:34:35Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>Workspace:<br /> [[User:Hafergulden/tips_en]]<br /> [[User:Hafergulden/condensed_guide]]</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=14015 2022-07-15T13:53:41Z

<p>Hafergulden: slightly expanded (wip)</p> <hr /> <div>== First moves ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so you can collect points of their colour. There are no optimal, one-size-fits-all openings. You’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders in case of early wars; if you have more than two or three tiles of one colour, it’s often a good idea to start with that leader. <br /> <br /> If you have the tiles, getting out your green and black leaders first on the same temple, at an angle, and next turn reinforcing them with an additional, shared red tile is a solidly oldschool opening move. (In other words, this will form a little 2x2 square with each leader adjacent to two temples.) <br /> <br /> Red and green is another good starting combination, if you have some tiles for support.<br /> <br /> === Starting points ===<br /> <br /> The starting points traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. Since there are only three of those, the last player to start in four-player games usually has to get a bit creative.<br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea as their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here can pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> === Rogue leaders ===<br /> <br /> Putting one of your leaders into an enemy kingdom early on is currently all the fashion with the cool kids. This can be good way of cramping your opponents’ style, since they will give you points or even a treasure when the want to cross rivers (blue leader), reinforce leaders with tempels (red leader) or connect to treasure temples (green leader). Temples with treasure make great sports for annoyance leaders, since they’re catastrophe proof.<br /> <br /> However, doing this often means underusing that leader, and coordinating moves with leaders in several kingdoms can be a pain, since you’re constantly relying on other players not fucking up your plans (hint: they will). On the other hand, controlling just one, strong colour in a kingdom means you can gladly start wars in that colour and not care about what becomes of the rest of the kingdom.<br /> <br /> The best way of dealing with a rogue leader is often patience. If you can’t catastrophise him, hem him in with some tiles to prevent the building of supporting temples, if necessary, then play around him until you can kick him out with an internal conflict. Sometimes you can use a convenient enemy kingdom that’s strong in that leader’s colour to start a war and blast him out of your kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Kingdom construction ==<br /> <br /> A kingdom consisting of one straight line of tiles is extremely vulnerable. A single tile lost to a war or catastrophe will split it, and bridging the gap takes three tiles – more than an entire turn. <br /> <br /> Monuments are indestructible and can stabilise a kingdom.<br /> <br /> Putting all your leaders into the same kingdom can be very convenient and greatly simplifies things. However, their supporting tiles can get in each others’ way and make your kingdom vulnerable to wars: If you put some green tiles between your black leader and his black tiles, loosing a green war will mean your black leader gets cut off from his supporters and will certainly lose a black war as well.<br /> <br /> Look for such breaking points in enemy kingdoms and exploit them to split them up and defeat their leaders one by one. Keep your own leaders well connected to their supporters. Rivers with their blue tiles are a natural breaking point.<br /> <br /> Putting your leaders on the edge of your kingdom, facing outward so an attacker has to connect to them first, can isolate you in case of a lost war. The vanquished leader is taken from the board, leaving one empty space between the attacker and your remaining kingdom – a bit like a blown fuse.<br /> <br /> === A note on “your” kingdom ===<br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to a kingdom you’re building. This is no game where you slowly build up something in order to enjoy and cherish it. A kingdom is a weapon to smash other kingdoms with and a tool to make points. Expect it to get smashed to bits in the process. Perhaps try not to thing of it as “your” kingdom. ''Kingdom'' is wherever you put your leaders.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site (so far) lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves to score enough points in all four colours. You need to make efficient use of your moves. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on-board by inciting a revolt (what some call “with tempo”). This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players. This is the best way of dealing with a rogue leader at the beginning.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, often the first impulse is to take back what’s yours, <br /> right now. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe it has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Or complete it by placing the fourth tile, but refuse to actually build it<br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place a tile to at the same time join two kingdoms and complete a monument. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Some notes on wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s usually a good idea to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> Using catastrophes to delay or prevent a war is an act of desperation and rarely useful outside of the endgame, if ever.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2<br /> <br /> Then there is this discussion thread on strategy – more recent and much more shorter than the above:<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2893767/two-and-half-experts-discuss-tigris-euphrates-stra</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=13962 2022-07-12T20:38:10Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* Efficiency */</p> <hr /> <div>== Starting out ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so you can collect points of their colour. There are no optimal, one-size-fits-all openings. You’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders in case of early wars; if you have more than two or three tiles of one colour, it’s often a good idea to start with that leader. Getting out your green and black leaders first on the same temple, at an angle, and next turn reinforcing them with an additional shared red tile is a solid, traditional opening move.<br /> <br /> The starting points traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. Since there are only three of those, the last player to start in four-player games usually has to get a bit creative.<br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea as their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here may pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site (so far) lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get less than 40 moves. You need to make efficient use of those. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on-board by inciting a revolt. This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, the first impulse is usually to get right back at the attacker and do unto him. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe that monument has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place the fourth tile to build a monument and at the same time use it to join two kingdoms. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Some notes on wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost never wrong to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to the kingdom you built.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=13961 2022-07-12T20:37:30Z

<p>Hafergulden: Expanded (wip)</p> <hr /> <div>== Starting out ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so you can collect points of their colour. There are no optimal, one-size-fits-all openings. You’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders in case of early wars; if you have more than two or three tiles of one colour, it’s often a good idea to start with that leader. Getting out your green and black leaders first on the same temple, at an angle, and next turn reinforcing them with an additional shared red tile is a solid, traditional opening move.<br /> <br /> The starting points traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. Since there are only three of those, the last player to start in four-player games usually has to get a bit creative.<br /> <br /> Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea as their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.<br /> <br /> The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here may pay off nicely.<br /> <br /> == Efficiency ==<br /> <br /> An average game on this site (so far) lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get to make less than 40 moves. You need to make efficient use of those. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.<br /> <br /> When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on-board by inciting a revolt. This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players.<br /> <br /> == Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, the first impulse is usually to get right back at the attacker and do unto him. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe that monument has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place the fourth tile to build a monument and at the same time use it to join two kingdoms. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Defending against revolts ==<br /> <br /> Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.<br /> <br /> == Some notes on wars ==<br /> <br /> Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.<br /> <br /> When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost never wrong to strike first in this situation.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Don’t get too attached to the kingdom you built.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=13921 2022-07-08T14:34:36Z

<p>Hafergulden: /* Links */</p> <hr /> <div>== Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it. For a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, the first impulse is usually to get right back at the attacker and do unto him. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe that monument has served its purpose for the moment. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place the fourth tile to build a monument and at the same time use it to join two kingdoms. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot join two kingdoms with a leader.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s the record of a high-level game with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tigriseuphrates&diff=13920 2022-07-08T14:33:25Z

<p>Hafergulden: expanding (wip)</p> <hr /> <div>== Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it. For a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, the first impulse is usually to get right back at the attacker and do unto him. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe that monument has served its purpose for the moment. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place the fourth tile to build a monument and at the same time use it to join two kingdoms. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot join two kingdoms with a leader.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise. <br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> == Links ==<br /> <br /> If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s the record of a high-level game with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden&diff=13918 2022-07-08T14:01:20Z

<p>Hafergulden: </p> <hr /> <div>Workspace: [[User:Hafergulden/tips_en]]</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden/tips_en&diff=13917 2022-07-08T13:58:46Z

<p>Hafergulden: Created page with &quot;== Victory Points == Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is st...&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>== Victory Points ==<br /> <br /> Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.<br /> <br /> Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.<br /> <br /> <br /> == Monuments ==<br /> <br /> It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it. For a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.<br /> <br /> === Losing a monument ===<br /> <br /> When losing a monument, the first impulse is usually to get right back at the attacker and do unto him. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe that monument has served its purpose for the moment. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.<br /> <br /> === Having fun with monuments ===<br /> <br /> * Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour<br /> * Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours ''you'' prefer <br /> * Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe <br /> * Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument<br /> * “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour<br /> <br /> You can also place the fourth tile to build a monument and at the same time use it to join two kingdoms. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.<br /> <br /> == Wars and Revolutions ==<br /> <br /> == Things to keep in mind that are easily overlooked ==<br /> <br /> * When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile. <br /> * You cannot join three kingdoms in one action. <br /> * Also, you cannot join two kingdoms with a leader.<br /> * Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3. <br /> <br /> <br /> == A final thought ==<br /> <br /> There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.<br /> <br /> Only monuments are forever.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TODO<br /> offense<br /> defense<br /> <br /> building kingdoms<br /> <br /> leaders<br /> starting selection<br /> tempo<br /> <br /> <br /> temples<br /> what the game is all about<br /> defense grid vs revolt use of red tiles<br /> kicking leaders: catastrophe, turning temples into monuments<br /> <br /> distace<br /> contact range<br /> critical range<br /> <br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1<br /> https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2</div>

Hafergulden https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=User:Hafergulden&diff=13916 2022-07-08T13:54:55Z

<p>Hafergulden: Created page with &quot;Workspace: User:Hafergulden/tips_en&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>Workspace: User:Hafergulden/tips_en</div>

Hafergulden