https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Nandblock 2026-09-18T23:13:23Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.39.0 https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_dungeonpetz&diff=8443 2021-06-04T00:06:15Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Scoring */</p> <hr /> <div>== Scoring ==<br /> <br /> Most of your points in this game come from selling petz to customers. Try to get petz who will appeal to upcoming customers; if you can spare imps, try to put some on the podium to sell for the most points (but don't stress out about this if you're blocked from the podium).<br /> <br /> The midgame exhibitions score a maximum of 8/7/6 in a 4/3/2 player game: not negligible, but not huge. Try to score something in the exhibitions but don't worry about placing first and don't specifically get petz for exhibitions if you probably can't sell them later.<br /> <br /> The endgame exhibitions are important simply because failing to score in them will give you negative points. Try to clean up poop and get more imps to avoid heavy penalties at the end of the game.<br /> <br /> == Buying Petz ==<br /> <br /> Try to get petz with overlapping colours; this will make it easier to care for them, because you can freely apportion same-colour need cards between them. If one pet wants red and green, and the other wants purple and yellow, you have very little wiggle room if you draw some bad cards.<br /> <br /> == Imps, Money and Work ==<br /> <br /> In general, as in most worker placement games where you can get more workers--you should prioritize this!<br /> <br /> The best cages and add-ons are those that save you from using imps: ones that fulfill play needs and poop needs (to avoid having to send an imp to clean up poop). <br /> <br /> Do not be shy about using money to augment your placement bids--if you really think you have overpaid for a bid, you can always take the imps and money back and hope the spot is still there for a later, cheaper group.<br /> <br /> == Magic Items ==<br /> <br /> The best ones by far are Employee of the Month Award and the Whip, which will probably score you a few exhibitions.</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_dungeonpetz&diff=8441 2021-06-03T21:10:58Z

<p>Nandblock: </p> <hr /> <div>== Scoring ==<br /> <br /> Most of your points in this game come from selling petz to customers. Try to get petz who will appeal to upcoming customers; if you can spare imps, try to put some on the podium to sell for the most points (but don't stress out about this if you're blocked from the podium).<br /> <br /> The midgame exhibitions score a maximum of 8/7/6 in a 4/3/2 player game: not negligible, but not huge. Try to score something in the exhibitions but don't worry about placing first and don't specifically get petz for exhibitions if you probably can't sell them later.<br /> <br /> The endgame exhibitions are important simply because failing to score in them will give you negative points. Try to clean up poop and get more imps to avoid heavy penalties at the end of the game.</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelpmarcopolotwo&diff=8334 2021-05-24T01:17:32Z

<p>Nandblock: </p> <hr /> <div>== Summary ==<br /> <br /> Marco Polo II - Wrath of Khan is dice-worker placement game with a heavy contract fulfillment component. <br /> <br /> The game is played over 5 rounds. Each player will roll their own 5 dice at beginning of the round, then use 1 or more dice to activate various action spaces available on the board -- 1 action per turn, until their dice are all used. (Some black dice can be purchased to give extra actions for that round only.)<br /> <br /> Players will accumulate and spend resources: coins, camels, black pepper, silk bundles, gold bars, and jade. The pepper, silk, and gold (in order of increasing value) are primarily used to fulfill contracts, while the other resources have multiple uses. For example, camels and coins are often spent to facilitate movement, and jade often used to get better resource income when using the books (market) actions. Jade can be used in place of a coin or a camel when you're desperate!<br /> <br /> All players begin with their meeple(s) in Beijing, in the upper right-hand corner of the board, and move around (leaving a trading post in each new city) in order to gain access to more contracts (5 cities provide them), more action spaces (8 cities provide them), and collect shield icons (particularly those shown on your goal card!), which give you points at the end of the game. Travel along the paths costs coins, camels, and/or jade, as indicated -- and the blue paths require in addition that the player possess a guild seal of the indicated type.<br /> <br /> == Start ==<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the game each player will choose a character card and a goal card. These are all unique. Each character has special rules that break some rule of the game.<br /> <br /> The goal cards specify private goals you can achieve for extra points, divided into two sections. The top section shows which cities have the indicated shields, you should try to visit one of each shield. The more shields you collect, the more points you will score at the end. The ones on your card will count double, if you get them. (There is no benefit to visiting more than one city with the same shield icon.) The bottom section of the goal card indicates which guild seals you should try to get, and then ''improve'', to score the indicated points.<br /> <br /> == Actions ==<br /> <br /> On their turn, a player will select one (or more, as necessary) die and choose a single action space on the board to activate.<br /> <br /> If an action space fits more than one die, the action requires that many.<br /> <br /> Action spaces either have a blue or tan background. <br /> * - The tan background indicates that the space cannot be used more than once per round -- once any player has used it, it's no longer available for anyone. <br /> * - The blue background, in contrast, means that &quot;stacking&quot; is permitted: once a die is placed there, another die (or 2 or 3, whatever is required at that space) may be played there if:<br /> ** -- the color of the new die is NOT the same as any previous die played, or is black. That is, only black dice can be used in the same space multiple times, all other colors can only appear in the stack once.<br /> ** -- the player pays coins equal to the (lowest) value of the new die (dice) being used.<br /> <br /> Some action spaces require a minimum value. For spaces that require multiple dice, both dice must meet the value requirement.<br /> <br /> Action spaces at the bottom of the board (clockwise, roughly) allow the players to spend dice in order to:<br /> * - acquire a '''guild seal''' (2 dice)<br /> * - '''Travel''' (move your meeple on the board) (1, 2, or 3 dice)<br /> * - gain new '''contracts''' (from cities with your trading posts present) (a single die)<br /> * - '''Books''': gain resources (along bottom center of board, for 1 die)<br /> * - '''Khan's favor''': gain 2 camels and 4 coins (a single die)<br /> * - two special action spaces that change every round (1 die each)<br /> <br /> Each of these are covered in more detail, below.<br /> <br /> Alternatively, you may use dice to activate an action space in a city where you have a trading post.<br /> Most of the randomized city action spaces allow you to convert one resource into another. The die value used on the action space indicates how many times you can do that conversion.<br /> <br /> === Guild Seal ===<br /> <br /> The action space to take a guild seal requires two dice. There are four different guild seals that can be acquired: farmer, spicer, tailor, and jeweler. Each player can get them all. Benefits of a guild seal:<br /> * - immediately take 0-3 jade, depending on the seal<br /> * - blue routes on the game board can only be traveled if you possess the correct seal. All but the farmer's seal give access to some blue routes.<br /> * - acquired seals can be ''improved'' by spending some resources, to gain an immediate and ongoing benefit (indicated the exclamation point icon)<br /> * - special cities (Hormuz, Balkh, Baghdad) provide additional bonus for improved seals<br /> * - bottom section of most goal cards provides end-game points for improved seals<br /> <br /> === Travel ===<br /> <br /> * - each of the 3 travel action spaces requires a different number of dice, and shows the number of spaces you can move:<br /> ** -- 1 die to move 1 space<br /> ** -- 2 dice to move up to 3 spaces<br /> ** -- 3 dice to move up to 6 spaces<br /> * - the lowest-valued die of those used is the maximum number of spaces you can move; e.g. to move 4 spaces, you must put 3 dice in the top space, all with value 4 or higher.<br /> * - the bottom &quot;move 1 space&quot; action requires you to pay 2 coins.<br /> * - you can move fewer spaces than you are able, if desired<br /> * - you must pay the travel costs on the map for the route used: coins, camels, jade. A blue route requires that you possess the indicated guild seal, as well (it doesn't matter whether the seal has been improved).<br /> <br /> Once at the ''end'' of your travel (not along the way):<br /> * - if you haven't yet, place a trading post in the destination city, and<br /> ** -- if the city has contracts, you may take one from it (you must then discard one if you had more than two).<br /> * - If the destination city contains a semi-circular &quot;outpost bonus&quot; tile above it, remove the tile and take the bonus (only the first player to visit gets this bonus).<br /> * - If the destination city contains a rectangular &quot;city bonus&quot; tile (these have blue roof markings on the left and right, and a large exclamation point), take that bonus immediately, and at the beginning of every subsequent round.<br /> <br /> === Contracts ===<br /> <br /> Action space to take contracts requires 1 die. You then take 3 coins and up to two contracts ''from cities where you have a trading post''. If you already have two contracts, you must discard an old one for each new one you take.<br /> <br /> === Books ===<br /> <br /> Across the center bottom of the board are three books, for acquiring goods. The left book is primarily for obtaining pepper, the center book for silk, and the right for gold. The minimum die value is different for each book (1, 3, and 5 respectively). Note: all action spaces require only 1 die; the right-most book has two separate action spaces.<br /> <br /> When you place a die in the action space, you will be offered 2-4 possible sets of goods: the top two sets are always available. The bottom two sets have better rewards, but require you to spend 1 or 2 jade (and therefore can only be chosen if you have the jade to spend). These jade-enhanced sets change each round, and below the board you can see the sets that will be available in each spot the next round.<br /> <br /> === Khan's Favor ===<br /> <br /> The Khan's favor track has four action spaces, each takes a single die. These have a tan background, meaning no stacking is permitted. Spaces are used left-to-right, and each successive die placed must be equal to or higher in value than the prior die, and cannot be the same color as any previous die (unless it is black). The player receives 4 coins and two camels for activating Khan's Favor.<br /> <br /> === Bonus Actions ===<br /> <br /> Before or after their regular action, the player may also perform any number of these &quot;bonus&quot; actions on their turn, which do not require dice (except the money bag):<br /> * - change value of one of their dice (1 camel to reroll, 2 camels to change its value by one)<br /> * - purchase a black die for 3 camels<br /> * - complete a contract<br /> * - improve a guild seal - pay the indicated cost, and gain a benefit each round<br /> * - place any die in the money bag and take one of: 3 coins, 2 camels, or 1 jade.<br /> * - (caravans expansion) claim or complete a caravan (see below)<br /> <br /> ==== Caravans ====<br /> <br /> '''Starting a caravan'''<br /> <br /> If your meeple is in a city whose shield matches one of the unclaimed caravan route tokens, and you do not already have an active caravan, you may claim a matching token and begin a caravan. Your caravan token will carry one or two goods (pepper, silk, or gold), taken from your inventory, and begins at a city with the ''other'' shield on the route token. Then, each time you take a '''Books''' action, you can move your caravan token 1, 2, or 3 spaces (for the respective books) on the map. You may move fewer spaces than permitted. The caravan does not need to pay route costs, and does not cause trading posts to be put down. The caravan may use a blue path if you have earned the appropriate guild seal.<br /> <br /> '''Ending a caravan'''<br /> <br /> Once if the caravan token ends its movement in the same location as your meeple, you may end it. For each good on the caravan, you may choose to either:<br /> * - double the good and add them back to your inventory<br /> * - upgrade the good (pepper to silk, silk to pepper; gold is not upgradeable)<br /> * - discard the good for points (2, 4, or 6 points for pepper, silk, or gold)<br /> Then discard the route token out of the game. You are now eligible to take a new route token.<br /> <br /> == End Game Scoring ==<br /> <br /> * Each improved guild seal shown on your personal scoring card awards points.<br /> * Each different shield on cities with your trading posts, score as shown on the shields track.<br /> * Every 2 remaining goods (pepper silk gold and jade) is worth 1 point. Camels are not goods!<br /> * Every 10 coins is worth 1 point.<br /> * Player who completed the most contracts gets 8 points, second most 4 points. (But no points for second in a 2-player game.)<br /> <br /> If playing with Caravans expansion:<br /> * For any caravan still on the game board, you may sell all remaining goods for half of the usual points: a gold bar is worth 3 points, a silk 2 points, and a pepper 1 point.<br /> <br /> Tie breaker goes to player with most camels.<br /> <br /> Summary by: alephander</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelptashkalar&diff=7705 2021-03-23T18:31:20Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Terminology */</p> <hr /> <div>== HIGH FORM RULES ==<br /> <br /> High form is currently only implemented as a two-player game on BGA.<br /> <br /> === Terminology ===<br /> Pieces are ranked in order: '''common, heroic, legendary.''' '''Upgrade''' and '''downgrade''' mean changing the rank of a piece by one step. A higher ranked piece may count (for summoning or tasks) as if it were of lower rank. <br /> <br /> A '''move''' is one square in any direction (including diagonals). A '''leap''' is from any square to any other.<br /> A '''standard move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of a lesser rank.<br /> A '''combat move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of ''the same'' or lesser rank.<br /> <br /> Any piece previously occupying the destination square of a move/leap is destroyed. You may destroy your own pieces. &quot;Converting&quot; a piece to a different colour counts as destroying it, but upgrading or downgrading it does not. <br /> <br /> When text on a card refers to the name of the Being, it is referring to the piece in the square where it is summoned.<br /> <br /> === Setup ===<br /> Each player receives 3 cards from their personal deck, plus 2 Legendary Beings and one flare from the common decks. Four cards are drawn for the task queue. The first three are immediately available; the fourth is not yet available. None of the first three tasks may be &quot;advanced&quot; (certain 3-point tasks), and there may not be three tasks of the same type among the four on display (BGA automatically enforces these rules).<br /> <br /> === Turns ===<br /> <br /> The starting player takes a single action. In subsequent turns, each player takes two actions. These may be any of the following:<br /> * - Place a common piece on any empty square<br /> * - Summon a being<br /> * - Discard a card and (optionally) return other cards to the bottom of their decks. ''(Only permitted once per turn.)''<br /> In addition, before or after any action, a flare may be played, if one or both of its conditions are met.<br /> <br /> Once a turn is over:<br /> * - You may claim one task card and earn its victory points (VPs) if you meet its conditions. <br /> * - If necessary, replenish your hand from the appropriate decks and update the task queue. (Automated on BGA.)<br /> <br /> === Playing a Flare ===<br /> Each flare lists two numbers: X/Y. The top effect may be activated if a player has X fewer upgraded pieces on the board than their opponent; the bottom effect if they have Y fewer pieces in total on the board. Effects activate in top-to-bottom order.<br /> <br /> === Summoning ===<br /> If your pieces are in the formation on a Being’s card (in any orientation or mirror image), you may summon the piece in the top left corner: it is placed via a combat leap onto the white square in the pattern. For most beings, the white square is empty, but some require a piece of your own to be present in the square. Once the Being is summoned, the effects listed on its card are activated.<br /> <br /> Patterns for Legendary Beings require one or more heroic pieces. Each legendary piece on the board earns 1 VP. Each player can place a maximum of 3 legendary pieces on the board. If one is destroyed, 1 VP is lost.<br /> <br /> === Discarding ===<br /> Once per turn a player may discard a card. They may also return as many other cards as they like (regular cards, legends, flares) to the bottom of the appropriate decks. Once the turn is over, they replenish their hand as usual. <br /> <br /> === Running Out of Pieces ===<br /> If a player needs to place a piece and has no more in stock, they must pick up one from the board before placing the new piece. (Heroic and common pieces come from the same pool--in the original boardgame, they are reverse sides of the same piece--but there are only three legendary pieces for each colour.)<br /> <br /> === Game End and Scoring ===<br /> When one player scores 9 VPs or draws the last card from their own deck, game end is triggered. Everyone plays one more turn, including the player who triggered endgame. Even if their score decreases below 9 due to destruction of a legendary piece, the game still ends.<br /> <br /> High score wins. Tiebreakers are, in order, (1) number of upgraded pieces; (2) total number of pieces.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: TWO PLAYERS (DUEL) ==<br /> <br /> No tasks are used. Opening positions are marked on the game board. The first player to score 18 VPs triggers the endgame. <br /> <br /> Destroying pieces scores VPs as follows:<br /> * - 1 VP for every 2 common pieces, rounded down<br /> * - 1 VP for a heroic piece<br /> * - 2 VPs for a legendary piece<br /> <br /> Summoning a legend scores 1 VP. This VP is not lost if the piece is later destroyed.<br /> <br /> If you play a flare your opponent gains 1 VP.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: THREE OR FOUR PLAYERS ==<br /> <br /> Setup: In three-player Deathmatch, the third player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol. In four-player Deathmatch, the fourth player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol for the first, third and fourth players. As usual, the first player only gets one action. (Sounds complicated? Don't worry, BGA automates the setup.)<br /> <br /> Scores are tracked separately in each colour. Your final score is the lowest of these scores. (The second and, in 4-player games, third lowest scores are used as tiebreakers.)<br /> <br /> When you score common pieces, first all common colour pairs are scored; then, if two common pieces of different colours remain, you may choose which colour to score against.<br /> <br /> When you summon a legend, you may choose which opponent to score 1 VP against.<br /> <br /> You may meet one or both criteria for a flare against multiple opponents, in which case you may choose whom to trigger it against (and give them 1 VP).<br /> <br /> Endgame is triggered by a player scoring 12 (for three-player) or 10 (for four-player) VPs in a single colour.<br /> <br /> === Improvised Summoning ===<br /> <br /> Once per game, and once for each opponent's colour, a player may use an opponent's piece as their own when summoning a Being. (Thus in a 3-player game, a player may perform two improvised summonings; in a 4-player game, three--one for each opponent's colour.) Only one piece may be used per improvised summoning: you may not use two different opponents' pieces simultaneously.<br /> <br /> == EVERFROST EXPANSION ==<br /> Several Beings in the Everfrost deck have &quot;frozen effects&quot;. These effects do not have to take place immediately upon summoning; they can be activated later (&quot;thawed&quot;), like a flare. Only one such frozen effect may be stored at a time; if you summon a Being with a frozen effect and already have one in storage, you must discard one or the other frozen effect.<br /> <br /> == NETHERVOID EXPANSION ==<br /> Many of the effects in Nethervoid depend on a special marker called the &quot;Gateway&quot;, which is automatically created when a Being is summoned; that marked piece is now called &quot;The Gateway&quot;. It follows these rules:<br /> 1) If no Gateway is on the board, the next summoned common or heroic Being will create a Gateway.<br /> 2) If a common Gateway is on the board, then if a heroic Being is summoned it will shift to the new piece.<br /> 3) If the Gateway is heroic, summoning another heroic Being will not affect it.<br /> 4) Legendary pieces may never become the Gateway; summoning one has no effect on the Gateway. If an upgrade would turn the Gateway into a legendary piece, the Gateway is destroyed.<br /> <br /> == ETHERWEAVE EXPANSION == <br /> Many Etherweave cards have a &quot;warp&quot; effect; this is a free action that may be played in advance of the card itself, regardless of whether the pattern for that Being is on the board at present. However, until the card itself is summoned, the warped card still counts as being in your hand, and you may not use any more warped effects (though may otherwise summon cards as normal). Leaving a card &quot;in the warp&quot; reduces your score by 2; this penalty is removed the moment the warped card is summoned.<br /> (NB: A warp may not be played on the first turn of the game.)<br /> Several Etherweave cards allow you to swap pieces or temporarily remove them from the board; neither of these actions count as destroying a piece (for the purpose of High Form goals or Deathmatch scoring).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelptashkalar&diff=7704 2021-03-23T18:29:04Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Terminology */</p> <hr /> <div>== HIGH FORM RULES ==<br /> <br /> High form is currently only implemented as a two-player game on BGA.<br /> <br /> === Terminology ===<br /> Pieces are ranked in order: '''common, heroic, legendary.''' '''Upgrade''' and '''downgrade''' mean changing the rank of a piece by one step. A higher ranked piece may count (for summoning or tasks) as if it were of lower rank. <br /> <br /> A '''move''' is one square in any direction (including diagonals). A '''leap''' is from any square to any other.<br /> A '''standard move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of a lesser rank.<br /> A '''combat move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of ''the same'' or lesser rank.<br /> <br /> Any piece previously occupying the destination square of a move/leap is destroyed. You may destroy your own pieces. &quot;Converting&quot; a piece to a different colour counts as destroying it, but upgrading or downgrading it does not. &quot;Swapping&quot; pieces similarly does not count as destroying or summoning a piece on those squares.<br /> <br /> When text on a card refers to the name of the Being, it is referring to the piece in the square where it is summoned.<br /> <br /> === Setup ===<br /> Each player receives 3 cards from their personal deck, plus 2 Legendary Beings and one flare from the common decks. Four cards are drawn for the task queue. The first three are immediately available; the fourth is not yet available. None of the first three tasks may be &quot;advanced&quot; (certain 3-point tasks), and there may not be three tasks of the same type among the four on display (BGA automatically enforces these rules).<br /> <br /> === Turns ===<br /> <br /> The starting player takes a single action. In subsequent turns, each player takes two actions. These may be any of the following:<br /> * - Place a common piece on any empty square<br /> * - Summon a being<br /> * - Discard a card and (optionally) return other cards to the bottom of their decks. ''(Only permitted once per turn.)''<br /> In addition, before or after any action, a flare may be played, if one or both of its conditions are met.<br /> <br /> Once a turn is over:<br /> * - You may claim one task card and earn its victory points (VPs) if you meet its conditions. <br /> * - If necessary, replenish your hand from the appropriate decks and update the task queue. (Automated on BGA.)<br /> <br /> === Playing a Flare ===<br /> Each flare lists two numbers: X/Y. The top effect may be activated if a player has X fewer upgraded pieces on the board than their opponent; the bottom effect if they have Y fewer pieces in total on the board. Effects activate in top-to-bottom order.<br /> <br /> === Summoning ===<br /> If your pieces are in the formation on a Being’s card (in any orientation or mirror image), you may summon the piece in the top left corner: it is placed via a combat leap onto the white square in the pattern. For most beings, the white square is empty, but some require a piece of your own to be present in the square. Once the Being is summoned, the effects listed on its card are activated.<br /> <br /> Patterns for Legendary Beings require one or more heroic pieces. Each legendary piece on the board earns 1 VP. Each player can place a maximum of 3 legendary pieces on the board. If one is destroyed, 1 VP is lost.<br /> <br /> === Discarding ===<br /> Once per turn a player may discard a card. They may also return as many other cards as they like (regular cards, legends, flares) to the bottom of the appropriate decks. Once the turn is over, they replenish their hand as usual. <br /> <br /> === Running Out of Pieces ===<br /> If a player needs to place a piece and has no more in stock, they must pick up one from the board before placing the new piece. (Heroic and common pieces come from the same pool--in the original boardgame, they are reverse sides of the same piece--but there are only three legendary pieces for each colour.)<br /> <br /> === Game End and Scoring ===<br /> When one player scores 9 VPs or draws the last card from their own deck, game end is triggered. Everyone plays one more turn, including the player who triggered endgame. Even if their score decreases below 9 due to destruction of a legendary piece, the game still ends.<br /> <br /> High score wins. Tiebreakers are, in order, (1) number of upgraded pieces; (2) total number of pieces.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: TWO PLAYERS (DUEL) ==<br /> <br /> No tasks are used. Opening positions are marked on the game board. The first player to score 18 VPs triggers the endgame. <br /> <br /> Destroying pieces scores VPs as follows:<br /> * - 1 VP for every 2 common pieces, rounded down<br /> * - 1 VP for a heroic piece<br /> * - 2 VPs for a legendary piece<br /> <br /> Summoning a legend scores 1 VP. This VP is not lost if the piece is later destroyed.<br /> <br /> If you play a flare your opponent gains 1 VP.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: THREE OR FOUR PLAYERS ==<br /> <br /> Setup: In three-player Deathmatch, the third player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol. In four-player Deathmatch, the fourth player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol for the first, third and fourth players. As usual, the first player only gets one action. (Sounds complicated? Don't worry, BGA automates the setup.)<br /> <br /> Scores are tracked separately in each colour. Your final score is the lowest of these scores. (The second and, in 4-player games, third lowest scores are used as tiebreakers.)<br /> <br /> When you score common pieces, first all common colour pairs are scored; then, if two common pieces of different colours remain, you may choose which colour to score against.<br /> <br /> When you summon a legend, you may choose which opponent to score 1 VP against.<br /> <br /> You may meet one or both criteria for a flare against multiple opponents, in which case you may choose whom to trigger it against (and give them 1 VP).<br /> <br /> Endgame is triggered by a player scoring 12 (for three-player) or 10 (for four-player) VPs in a single colour.<br /> <br /> === Improvised Summoning ===<br /> <br /> Once per game, and once for each opponent's colour, a player may use an opponent's piece as their own when summoning a Being. (Thus in a 3-player game, a player may perform two improvised summonings; in a 4-player game, three--one for each opponent's colour.) Only one piece may be used per improvised summoning: you may not use two different opponents' pieces simultaneously.<br /> <br /> == EVERFROST EXPANSION ==<br /> Several Beings in the Everfrost deck have &quot;frozen effects&quot;. These effects do not have to take place immediately upon summoning; they can be activated later (&quot;thawed&quot;), like a flare. Only one such frozen effect may be stored at a time; if you summon a Being with a frozen effect and already have one in storage, you must discard one or the other frozen effect.<br /> <br /> == NETHERVOID EXPANSION ==<br /> Many of the effects in Nethervoid depend on a special marker called the &quot;Gateway&quot;, which is automatically created when a Being is summoned; that marked piece is now called &quot;The Gateway&quot;. It follows these rules:<br /> 1) If no Gateway is on the board, the next summoned common or heroic Being will create a Gateway.<br /> 2) If a common Gateway is on the board, then if a heroic Being is summoned it will shift to the new piece.<br /> 3) If the Gateway is heroic, summoning another heroic Being will not affect it.<br /> 4) Legendary pieces may never become the Gateway; summoning one has no effect on the Gateway. If an upgrade would turn the Gateway into a legendary piece, the Gateway is destroyed.<br /> <br /> == ETHERWEAVE EXPANSION == <br /> Many Etherweave cards have a &quot;warp&quot; effect; this is a free action that may be played in advance of the card itself, regardless of whether the pattern for that Being is on the board at present. However, until the card itself is summoned, the warped card still counts as being in your hand, and you may not use any more warped effects (though may otherwise summon cards as normal). Leaving a card &quot;in the warp&quot; reduces your score by 2; this penalty is removed the moment the warped card is summoned.<br /> (NB: A warp may not be played on the first turn of the game.)<br /> Several Etherweave cards allow you to swap pieces or temporarily remove them from the board; neither of these actions count as destroying a piece (for the purpose of High Form goals or Deathmatch scoring).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=7552 2021-03-05T01:13:54Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> ''Disrupt your opponent's pieces.'' By preference, destroy or move whatever pieces your opponent put down on the last turn: they probably placed them for a reason. In general, it's not a good idea to let them establish a formation undisturbed.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discard it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Blood Shaman, Werewolf, and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); Everfrost Sentinel; Possessed Summoner (Nethervoid); Polarity Queen and Merchant of Time (Etherweave); and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''THE GOLDEN RULE: Flares are not a catch-up mechanism. They penalize bad, aggressive play, rather than compensating players who are losing.'' Grasping this point is essential to playing Tash-Kalar well.<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But while it may work occasionally, '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game against a competent player,''' because it gives them the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. <br /> <br /> ''Don't be TOO cautious.'' You sometimes still need to risk a flare for the sake of scoring. However, if you must exceed the 2/3 limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> ''Discard a bad flare when possible.'' If you have a high-value flare (such as 4/6 or 5/5) that you can't trigger, and you're falling behind in the game, consider discarding in order to ditch the flare. In addition to refreshing your hand and hopefully landing you a more usable flare, the discard action means you put down one fewer piece on the turn, meaning that you're very likely to be able to play the new flare.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost; they should be late-game goals or threats, but never strive to score them early on at the expense of snapping up cheap tasks (a common beginner's mistake). Legends are good, but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, can be taken away from you, and can net a max of 3 VPs in total, they should not be a priority unless they help accomplish a task. Claim easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> ''Don't focus on destroying your opponent's legendary pieces.'' Unless the legendary piece is actually dangerous (e.g. Red/Green Legends is up for grabs), keep focused on claiming tasks not destroying it. Very few cards can even move it, so it'll probably just sit there anyway until you can deal with it. It's better to either summon your own Legend, work towards a task, or demolish their position. If you destroy the legendary piece without getting rid of their heroic pieces, your opponent will just summon up another anyway. Keep in mind that once they have 3 legendary pieces on board, they can't score any more from summoning another one. <br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of (rather than directly on) coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. Placing a common piece on a coloured square at the game's beginning is just asking for it to be destroyed; it is generally better to build towards summoning a heroic piece onto the square, which will be more resistant to attack and more capable of fulfilling tasks.<br /> <br /> If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear, Werewolf<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''NETHERVOID'''<br /> * 1: Demon of Sloth<br /> * 2: Flame Imp, Shadow Imp<br /> * 3: Acolyte of Destruction, Demon of Envy, Demon of Gluttony, Demon of Pride, Gate Keeper<br /> * 4: Acolyte of Growth, Demon of Greed, Demon of Lust, Demon of Wrath, Hellhound, Hell Rider, Possessed Summoner, Power Seeker, Vortex Master<br /> * 5: Gate Master<br /> <br /> '''ETHERWEAVE'''<br /> * 2: Antimatter Spirit, Doppelganger<br /> * 3: Gate of Oblivion, Greater Shadow Twin, Lesser Shadow Twin, Paradox Worm, Time Traveler, Warp Master<br /> * 4: Dark Sphere, Eternal Emperor, Merchant of Time, Polarity Queen, Reality Patch, Singularity, Translocationist, Void Summoner<br /> * 5: Iris of Eternity, Ziggurat Sentinel<br /> <br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult, The Eldest Tree<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=7551 2021-03-05T01:09:00Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Cards */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> ''Disrupt your opponent's pieces.'' By preference, destroy or move whatever pieces your opponent put down on the last turn: they probably placed them for a reason. In general, it's not a good idea to let them establish a formation undisturbed.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discard it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Blood Shaman, Werewolf, and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); Everfrost Sentinel; and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''THE GOLDEN RULE: Flares are not a catch-up mechanism. They penalize bad, aggressive play, rather than compensating players who are losing.'' Grasping this point is essential to playing Tash-Kalar well.<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But while it may work occasionally, '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game against a competent player,''' because it gives them the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. <br /> <br /> ''Don't be TOO cautious.'' You sometimes still need to risk a flare for the sake of scoring. However, if you must exceed the 2/3 limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> ''Discard a bad flare when possible.'' If you have a high-value flare (such as 4/6 or 5/5) that you can't trigger, and you're falling behind in the game, consider discarding in order to ditch the flare. In addition to refreshing your hand and hopefully landing you a more usable flare, the discard action means you put down one fewer piece on the turn, meaning that you're very likely to be able to play the new flare.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost; they should be late-game goals or threats, but never strive to score them early on at the expense of snapping up cheap tasks (a common beginner's mistake). Legends are good, but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, can be taken away from you, and can net a max of 3 VPs in total, they should not be a priority unless they help accomplish a task. Claim easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> ''Don't focus on destroying your opponent's legendary pieces.'' Unless the legendary piece is actually dangerous (e.g. Red/Green Legends is up for grabs), keep focused on claiming tasks not destroying it. Very few cards can even move it, so it'll probably just sit there anyway until you can deal with it. It's better to either summon your own Legend, work towards a task, or demolish their position. If you destroy the legendary piece without getting rid of their heroic pieces, your opponent will just summon up another anyway. Keep in mind that once they have 3 legendary pieces on board, they can't score any more from summoning another one. <br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of (rather than directly on) coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. Placing a common piece on a coloured square at the game's beginning is just asking for it to be destroyed; it is generally better to build towards summoning a heroic piece onto the square, which will be more resistant to attack and more capable of fulfilling tasks.<br /> <br /> If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear, Werewolf<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''NETHERVOID'''<br /> * 1: Demon of Sloth<br /> * 2: Flame Imp, Shadow Imp<br /> * 3: Acolyte of Destruction, Demon of Envy, Demon of Gluttony, Demon of Pride, Gate Keeper<br /> * 4: Acolyte of Growth, Demon of Greed, Demon of Lust, Demon of Wrath, Hellhound, Hell Rider, Possessed Summoner, Power Seeker, Vortex Master<br /> * 5: Gate Master<br /> <br /> '''ETHERWEAVE'''<br /> * 2: Antimatter Spirit, Doppelganger<br /> * 3: Gate of Oblivion, Greater Shadow Twin, Lesser Shadow Twin, Paradox Worm, Time Traveler, Warp Master<br /> * 4: Dark Sphere, Eternal Emperor, Merchant of Time, Polarity Queen, Reality Patch, Singularity, Translocationist, Void Summoner<br /> * 5: Iris of Eternity, Ziggurat Sentinel<br /> <br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult, The Eldest Tree<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelptashkalar&diff=7144 2021-02-01T20:52:40Z

<p>Nandblock: </p> <hr /> <div>== HIGH FORM RULES ==<br /> <br /> High form is currently only implemented as a two-player game on BGA.<br /> <br /> === Terminology ===<br /> Pieces are ranked in order: '''common, heroic, legendary.''' '''Upgrade''' and '''downgrade''' mean changing the rank of a piece by one step. A higher ranked piece may count (for summoning or tasks) as if it were of lower rank. <br /> <br /> A '''move''' is one square in any direction (including diagonals). A '''leap''' is from any square to any other.<br /> A '''standard move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of a lesser rank.<br /> A '''combat move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of ''the same'' or lesser rank.<br /> <br /> Any piece previously occupying the destination square of a move/leap is destroyed. You may destroy your own pieces. &quot;Converting&quot; a piece to a different colour counts as destroying it, but upgrading or downgrading it does not.<br /> <br /> When text on a card refers to the name of the Being, it is referring to the piece in the square where it is summoned.<br /> <br /> === Setup ===<br /> Each player receives 3 cards from their personal deck, plus 2 Legendary Beings and one flare from the common decks. Four cards are drawn for the task queue. The first three are immediately available; the fourth is not yet available. None of the first three tasks may be &quot;advanced&quot; (certain 3-point tasks), and there may not be three tasks of the same type among the four on display (BGA automatically enforces these rules).<br /> <br /> === Turns ===<br /> <br /> The starting player takes a single action. In subsequent turns, each player takes two actions. These may be any of the following:<br /> * - Place a common piece on any empty square<br /> * - Summon a being<br /> * - Discard a card and (optionally) return other cards to the bottom of their decks. ''(Only permitted once per turn.)''<br /> In addition, before or after any action, a flare may be played, if one or both of its conditions are met.<br /> <br /> Once a turn is over:<br /> * - You may claim one task card and earn its victory points (VPs) if you meet its conditions. <br /> * - If necessary, replenish your hand from the appropriate decks and update the task queue. (Automated on BGA.)<br /> <br /> === Playing a Flare ===<br /> Each flare lists two numbers: X/Y. The top effect may be activated if a player has X fewer upgraded pieces on the board than their opponent; the bottom effect if they have Y fewer pieces in total on the board. Effects activate in top-to-bottom order.<br /> <br /> === Summoning ===<br /> If your pieces are in the formation on a Being’s card (in any orientation or mirror image), you may summon the piece in the top left corner: it is placed via a combat leap onto the white square in the pattern. For most beings, the white square is empty, but some require a piece of your own to be present in the square. Once the Being is summoned, the effects listed on its card are activated.<br /> <br /> Patterns for Legendary Beings require one or more heroic pieces. Each legendary piece on the board earns 1 VP. Each player can place a maximum of 3 legendary pieces on the board. If one is destroyed, 1 VP is lost.<br /> <br /> === Discarding ===<br /> Once per turn a player may discard a card. They may also return as many other cards as they like (regular cards, legends, flares) to the bottom of the appropriate decks. Once the turn is over, they replenish their hand as usual. <br /> <br /> === Running Out of Pieces ===<br /> If a player needs to place a piece and has no more in stock, they must pick up one from the board before placing the new piece. (Heroic and common pieces come from the same pool--in the original boardgame, they are reverse sides of the same piece--but there are only three legendary pieces for each colour.)<br /> <br /> === Game End and Scoring ===<br /> When one player scores 9 VPs or draws the last card from their own deck, game end is triggered. Everyone plays one more turn, including the player who triggered endgame. Even if their score decreases below 9 due to destruction of a legendary piece, the game still ends.<br /> <br /> High score wins. Tiebreakers are, in order, (1) number of upgraded pieces; (2) total number of pieces.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: TWO PLAYERS (DUEL) ==<br /> <br /> No tasks are used. Opening positions are marked on the game board. The first player to score 18 VPs triggers the endgame. <br /> <br /> Destroying pieces scores VPs as follows:<br /> * - 1 VP for every 2 common pieces, rounded down<br /> * - 1 VP for a heroic piece<br /> * - 2 VPs for a legendary piece<br /> <br /> Summoning a legend scores 1 VP. This VP is not lost if the piece is later destroyed.<br /> <br /> If you play a flare your opponent gains 1 VP.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: THREE OR FOUR PLAYERS ==<br /> <br /> Setup: In three-player Deathmatch, the third player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol. In four-player Deathmatch, the fourth player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol for the first, third and fourth players. As usual, the first player only gets one action. (Sounds complicated? Don't worry, BGA automates the setup.)<br /> <br /> Scores are tracked separately in each colour. Your final score is the lowest of these scores. (The second and, in 4-player games, third lowest scores are used as tiebreakers.)<br /> <br /> When you score common pieces, first all common colour pairs are scored; then, if two common pieces of different colours remain, you may choose which colour to score against.<br /> <br /> When you summon a legend, you may choose which opponent to score 1 VP against.<br /> <br /> You may meet one or both criteria for a flare against multiple opponents, in which case you may choose whom to trigger it against (and give them 1 VP).<br /> <br /> Endgame is triggered by a player scoring 12 (for three-player) or 10 (for four-player) VPs in a single colour.<br /> <br /> === Improvised Summoning ===<br /> <br /> Once per game, and once for each opponent's colour, a player may use an opponent's piece as their own when summoning a Being. (Thus in a 3-player game, a player may perform two improvised summonings; in a 4-player game, three--one for each opponent's colour.) Only one piece may be used per improvised summoning: you may not use two different opponents' pieces simultaneously.<br /> <br /> == EVERFROST EXPANSION ==<br /> Several Beings in the Everfrost deck have &quot;frozen effects&quot;. These effects do not have to take place immediately upon summoning; they can be activated later (&quot;thawed&quot;), like a flare. Only one such frozen effect may be stored at a time; if you summon a Being with a frozen effect and already have one in storage, you must discard one or the other frozen effect.<br /> <br /> == NETHERVOID EXPANSION ==<br /> Many of the effects in Nethervoid depend on a special marker called the &quot;Gateway&quot;, which is automatically created when a Being is summoned; that marked piece is now called &quot;The Gateway&quot;. It follows these rules:<br /> 1) If no Gateway is on the board, the next summoned common or heroic Being will create a Gateway.<br /> 2) If a common Gateway is on the board, then if a heroic Being is summoned it will shift to the new piece.<br /> 3) If the Gateway is heroic, summoning another heroic Being will not affect it.<br /> 4) Legendary pieces may never become the Gateway; summoning one has no effect on the Gateway. If an upgrade would turn the Gateway into a legendary piece, the Gateway is destroyed.<br /> <br /> == ETHERWEAVE EXPANSION == <br /> Many Etherweave cards have a &quot;warp&quot; effect; this is a free action that may be played in advance of the card itself, regardless of whether the pattern for that Being is on the board at present. However, until the card itself is summoned, the warped card still counts as being in your hand, and you may not use any more warped effects (though may otherwise summon cards as normal). Leaving a card &quot;in the warp&quot; reduces your score by 2; this penalty is removed the moment the warped card is summoned.<br /> (NB: A warp may not be played on the first turn of the game.)<br /> Several Etherweave cards allow you to swap pieces or temporarily remove them from the board; neither of these actions count as destroying a piece (for the purpose of High Form goals or Deathmatch scoring).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelpbohnanza&diff=7143 2021-02-01T20:38:38Z

<p>Nandblock: </p> <hr /> <div>Bohnanza is a German-style card game based on the game mechanics of trading and politics, designed by Uwe Rosenberg and released in 1997 (in Germany) by Amigo Spiele and more famously in England by Rio Grande Games. <br /> <br /> It is played with a deck of cards with illustrations of eleven different types of beans of varying scarcity, which the players are trying to first plant and then sell in order to make money.</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_caylus&diff=4508 2020-05-26T12:22:50Z

<p>Nandblock: Moved from the rules tab where it didn&#039;t belong.</p> <hr /> <div>Biggest tip for beginners is do not run out of money. If you do not have money you cannot place your entire allocation of workers on your turn. You earn 2 coins each round, so it is best to find a way to have 3-4 coins at the end of each round that will allow you to play at 5-6 of your workers.<br /> <br /> The early and mid game is a race to see who can build the park, farm and workshop first. Make sure you have a way of doing that either through earning favors or by building and then placing workers on the mason.<br /> <br /> <br /> Hints for the favour tracks:<br /> * 2 player games the building track is a must even though the first favor doesn't get you anything<br /> * 3 player games the building track is probably best, if not then you must build both the mason and the lawyer<br /> * 4+ player games all the wood buildings get built so getting money and favors will work better, mason and lawyer will get built by someone</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelpcaylus&diff=4507 2020-05-26T12:21:15Z

<p>Nandblock: /* ROYAL FAVOURS */ Moving a passage with strategy hints to the strategy tab.</p> <hr /> <div>== SETUP AND GOALS ==<br /> Each player has 6 workers, who may (for one denier) be placed on action spots to acquire resources or perform actions. Victory points are earned via constructing new buildings or parts of the castle, by other players making use of your buildings, and by other routes such as earning the King's favour.<br /> <br /> == ROUNDS ==<br /> Each round consists of seven phases, with an eighth (awarding favours for constructing the castle) that occurs at 3 designated points in the game.<br /> <br /> == 1: INCOME ==<br /> Each player receives 2 deniers, plus 1 denier per residence owned, 1 denier if they own the Library, and 2 deniers if they own the Hotel.<br /> <br /> == 2: PLACE WORKERS ==<br /> Players in turn either place a worker or pass, in the order dictated by the turn order track, until everyone has passed.<br /> <br /> Placement may be on any unoccupied place or building on the board. If it is a building owned by another player, that player receives 1 VP.<br /> <br /> If it is your own building, or if you have a worker in the Inn's rightmost spot, pay 1 denier. Otherwise, pay the lowest unoccupied number on the bridge. [EXCEPTION: in 2-player Caylus, pay 3 deniers, not 2, once the other player passes.] Payments go to the bank, not other players.<br /> <br /> Passing: place a marker on the lowest number on the Bridge. If you are first to pass, gain 1 denier.<br /> <br /> == 3: ACTIVATE PLACES BEFORE THE BRIDGE ==<br /> Beginning with the Gate, any place with a worker is activated, and the worker returns to the player.<br /> <br /> '''GATE:''' Move the worker to any unoccupied place on the board for free. If it is a building owned by another player, they earn 1 VP.<br /> <br /> '''TRADING POST:''' Gain 3 deniers.<br /> <br /> '''MERCHANTS' GUILD:''' Move the provost up to 3 squares forward or back, for free.<br /> <br /> '''JOUSTING FIELD:''' Pay 1 denier + 1 cloth to earn a royal favour.<br /> <br /> '''STABLES:''' Move your marker to the indicated number in the turn order track; all players not in the Stables move down the turn order accordingly. (NOTE: the Stables are not used in 2-player games, as turn order is fixed.)<br /> <br /> '''INN:''' If your worker is on the left spot, move it to the right spot and return any worker there to its owner. If you are in the right spot, you can either leave your worker there or reclaim it. (The effects of this spot are only available in phase 2, above.)<br /> <br /> == 4: THE BRIDGE ==<br /> In order of passing, from first to last, players may move the Provost forward or back, for one denier per square, to a maximum of 3 squares.<br /> <br /> == 5. ACTIVATE BUILDINGS ==<br /> Past the bridge, in order, buildings with workers are activated, and the worker is returned to the player. Workers on buildings beyond the Provost are returned without activating those buildings.<br /> <br /> Notes on some buildings:<br /> <br /> '''Production:''' The 3 stone production buildings when activated by another player also grant one resource to the owner, chosen from the options in brackets.<br /> <br /> '''Construction:''' The Carpenter allows you to construct wood buildings; the Mason, stone buildings. The Lawyer changes a neutral building or one you own into a residence, for 1 denier + 1 cloth. (You cannot transform the Lawyer or a prestige building.) The Architect permits you to construct a prestige building over one of your residences.<br /> <br /> Constructing a building requires the resources listed on its card. (A white cube = any resource.) When a building is constructed, score the VPs indicated in its top right corner (residences are always 2 VPs). Some buildings also grant a royal favour (Church, Statue, etc.); the Monument grants 2 royal favours.<br /> <br /> If you build over a building with a worker on it, the transformation is postponed until after the worker's action. If you build over a pink (neutral) building, it is permanently removed from the game; if you build over one of your own buildings, it returns to the stock of available buildings and may be reconstructed further down the road.<br /> <br /> == 6. BUILD THE CASTLE == <br /> <br /> In the order that workers were placed in the castle, each player builds as many units as they like. A unit costs 3 different resources, of which one must be food. If you have a worker in the castle but do not construct a unit, lose 2 VPs.<br /> <br /> Each unit is worth VPs as follows: 5 VPs for the Dungeon, 4 VPs for the Walls, 3 VPs for the Towers.<br /> <br /> Each section is built in order (Dungeon, Walls, Towers). After a section marker is passed on the road, work continues in the next section even if the previous one is incomplete. If a section is filled, work immediately commences on the next section.<br /> <br /> The player who constructs the most units in a turn earns one royal favour. If there is a tie, the player who built first wins the favour.<br /> <br /> == 7. THE BAILIFF ADVANCES ==<br /> <br /> If the Provost is on top of or behind the Bailiff, advance the Bailiff one space. If the Provost is ahead of the Bailiff, advance the Bailiff two spaces. The Provost is then placed atop the Bailiff again.<br /> <br /> == 8. STAGES OF THE CASTLE ==<br /> <br /> If the Bailiff now rests on or past one of the three section markers on the road (Dungeon, Walls, Towers), players earn favours or lose VPs as follows:<br /> <br /> '''Dungeon:''' no house = -2 VPs; 2+ houses = 1 favour<br /> <br /> '''Walls:''' no house = -3 VPs; 2 houses = 1 favour; 3/4 houses = 2 favours; 5+ houses = 3 favours <br /> <br /> '''Towers:''' no house = -4 VPs; 2/3 houses = 1 favour; 4/5 houses = 2 favours; 6+ houses = 3 favours <br /> <br /> If the Tower section marker is reached, or if the Towers are fully constructed already, the game is over and final scoring occurs; otherwise, a new turn begins (Step 1). (NOTE: In a 2-player game, first player switches automatically between players on the turn order track.)<br /> <br /> == FINAL SCORING ==<br /> <br /> In addition to the VPs gained during the game, gain 3 VPs per gold cube, 1 VP per 3 cubes of the other 4 resource types, and 1 VP per 4 deniers.<br /> <br /> == ROYAL FAVOURS ==<br /> There are 4 tracks, which award VPs, deniers, resources or the ability to construct buildings at a discount. Each time you gain a favour, you may advance one space on one track, or select a lower favour if you prefer. Only the first 2 spaces are available initially; after the Dungeon is built the first 4 spaces become available; after the Walls are built the 5th space is available. (The availability changes only ''after'' Phase 8 scoring.)<br /> <br /> If multiple favours are gained at once, they must all be taken from different tracks; thus you may only gain 4 favours at once. (E.g. if you build the Monument with the construction favour, you may not use the favour earned from it for construction.)<br /> <br /> The construction favours may be invoked even if there is no Mason, Lawyer or Architect on the board, or if they are occupied by a worker.</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_lostcities&diff=3358 2019-02-14T06:48:23Z

<p>Nandblock: </p> <hr /> <div>If you have handshake cards at the beginning and even one card in that suit, play the handshake and hope to draw more in the suit. To score well in this game you must invest substantially in a venture, without knowing in advance that you will draw the right cards in the right order. It is better to have some suits that take a loss (which you try to minimize) so that you can focus on making other suits pay off.<br /> <br /> There is no need to attempt all 5 expeditions; usually 4 is sufficient (and it's likely one will score poorly or negatively).<br /> <br /> '''Drawing from the deck is vital.''' Obviously, if a good card is available among the discards, or you need to delay the endgame, take a discarded card. But otherwise, take from the deck, because either it's a card that may benefit you, a card you can discard to buy time, or the card your opponent is waiting for.<br /> <br /> It's often more constructive to hold on to a suit your opponent is trying to complete than to try completing it yourself!<br /> <br /> Do not be afraid to lose a small amount of points in a suit if it allows you to stall and continue drawing from the deck. Effective stalling (while you wait for the cards you really need) is the heart of this game.<br /> <br /> Keep in mind that if you leave a large gap in a suit, this helps your opponent: if you play Blue 7 after Blue 3, this means that your opponent may safely ditch Blue 4, 5, 6. Forcing them to hang on to cards for a long duration is important.</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=3349 2019-02-05T22:57:20Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Crown Requests */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request, but requires that you have fewer workers in the fields or cities, so try to pick up compensating guild favors (Engineer, Diplomat).<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Picking Up Points Along the Way ==<br /> It is important to pick up a few points every round, not just rounds 1/3/5. There are 3 buildings that potentially give you points, one per region: 4 points for majority in the watch; 1 point per ship for sending a worker to a colony; 1 or 3 points for the cities. Those points will stack up across 5 rounds, if you can consistently snag one or two of these per round. There are also a few guild favours that help, notably the Scout and Lady (plus passing areas II and III, plus some King's Favors).<br /> <br /> == Wood and Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> Never discard wood in the first few rounds of the game when maintaining your ships: take a few pirates instead. It is simply too precious to waste, as you need it for guild favors. Unlike bread, small quantities of wood may be purchased as long as you have access, so make sure you have enough reals on hand to make up the difference (or use the Windmill).<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Guild Favors ==<br /> Obtaining these is crucial to your game: do not neglect to collect and use them. Let them shape your strategy--for instance, if you get Diplomat or Engineer, you can leave more workers in the colonies while still being able to take powerful building actions or make decent harvests. If you get Lord, you'll be able to save money on building actions, so Wealth of Nations becomes easy to fulfill.<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general, avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing; the exception is Wealth of Nations if you're rolling in cash.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 points is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is the most flexible and easiest to fulfill. However, keep in mind that in Round 5 it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points in final scoring). Nonetheless, it is handy in later rounds because unlike all other requests, duplicates are easy to fulfill for a full 15 points, as long as you have a good source of money.<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request.<br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. Avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Rounds 3 and 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous, and in Round 5 scoring well on both of them will require enormous quantities of wine.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker for 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=3338 2019-01-31T19:56:06Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Crown Requests */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request, but requires that you have fewer workers in the fields or cities, so try to pick up compensating guild favors (Engineer, Diplomat).<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Picking Up Points Along the Way ==<br /> It is important to pick up a few points every round, not just rounds 1/3/5. There are 3 buildings that potentially give you points, one per region: 4 points for majority in the watch; 1 point per ship for sending a worker to a colony; 1 or 3 points for the cities. Those points will stack up across 5 rounds, if you can consistently snag one or two of these per round. There are also a few guild favours that help, notably the Scout and Lady (plus passing areas II and III, plus some King's Favors).<br /> <br /> == Wood and Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> Never discard wood in the first few rounds of the game when maintaining your ships: take a few pirates instead. It is simply too precious to waste, as you need it for guild favors. Unlike bread, small quantities of wood may be purchased as long as you have access, so make sure you have enough reals on hand to make up the difference (or use the Windmill).<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Guild Favors ==<br /> Obtaining these is crucial to your game: do not neglect to collect and use them. Let them shape your strategy--for instance, if you get Diplomat or Engineer, you can leave more workers in the colonies while still being able to take powerful building actions or make decent harvests. If you get Lord, you'll be able to save money on building actions, so Wealth of Nations becomes easy to fulfill.<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general, avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing; the exception is Wealth of Nations if you're rolling in cash.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 points is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is easy to fulfill, but keep in mind in Round 5 it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points in final scoring). However, it is handy in later rounds because unlike all other requests, duplicates are easy to fulfill for a full 15 points, as long as you have a good source of money.<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request.<br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. Avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Rounds 3 and 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous, and in Round 5 scoring well on both of them will require enormous quantities of wine.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker for 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelpchess&diff=3332 2019-01-18T21:31:29Z

<p>Nandblock: Blanked the page</p> <hr /> <div></div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=3130 2018-08-18T15:11:58Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> ''Disrupt your opponent's pieces.'' By preference, destroy or move whatever pieces your opponent put down on the last turn: they probably placed them for a reason. In general, it's not a good idea to let them establish a formation undisturbed.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discard it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Blood Shaman, Werewolf, and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); Everfrost Sentinel; and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''THE GOLDEN RULE: Flares are not a catch-up mechanism. They penalize bad, aggressive play, rather than compensating players who are losing.'' Grasping this point is essential to playing Tash-Kalar well.<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But while it may work occasionally, '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game against a competent player,''' because it gives them the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. <br /> <br /> ''Don't be TOO cautious.'' You sometimes still need to risk a flare for the sake of scoring. However, if you must exceed the 2/3 limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> ''Discard a bad flare when possible.'' If you have a high-value flare (such as 4/6 or 5/5) that you can't trigger, and you're falling behind in the game, consider discarding in order to ditch the flare. In addition to refreshing your hand and hopefully landing you a more usable flare, the discard action means you put down one fewer piece on the turn, meaning that you're very likely to be able to play the new flare.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost; they should be late-game goals or threats, but never strive to score them early on at the expense of snapping up cheap tasks (a common beginner's mistake). Legends are good, but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, can be taken away from you, and can net a max of 3 VPs in total, they should not be a priority unless they help accomplish a task. Claim easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> ''Don't focus on destroying your opponent's legendary pieces.'' Unless the legendary piece is actually dangerous (e.g. Red/Green Legends is up for grabs), keep focused on claiming tasks not destroying it. Very few cards can even move it, so it'll probably just sit there anyway until you can deal with it. It's better to either summon your own Legend, work towards a task, or demolish their position. If you destroy the legendary piece without getting rid of their heroic pieces, your opponent will just summon up another anyway. Keep in mind that once they have 3 legendary pieces on board, they can't score any more from summoning another one. <br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of (rather than directly on) coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. Placing a common piece on a coloured square at the game's beginning is just asking for it to be destroyed; it is generally better to build towards summoning a heroic piece onto the square, which will be more resistant to attack and more capable of fulfilling tasks.<br /> <br /> If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=3112 2018-07-14T20:25:16Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discard it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Blood Shaman, Werewolf, and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); Everfrost Sentinel; and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''THE GOLDEN RULE: Flares are not a catch-up mechanism. They penalize bad, aggressive play, rather than compensating players who are losing.'' Grasping this point is essential to playing Tash-Kalar well.<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But while it may work occasionally, '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game against a competent player,''' because it gives them the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. <br /> <br /> ''Don't be TOO cautious.'' You sometimes still need to risk a flare for the sake of scoring. However, if you must exceed the 2/3 limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> ''Discard a bad flare when possible.'' If you have a high-value flare (such as 4/6 or 5/5) that you can't trigger, and you're falling behind in the game, consider discarding in order to ditch the flare. In addition to refreshing your hand and hopefully landing you a more usable flare, the discard action means you put down one fewer piece on the turn, meaning that you're very likely to be able to play the new flare.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost; they should be late-game goals or threats, but never strive to score them early on at the expense of snapping up cheap tasks (a common beginner's mistake). Legends are good, but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, can be taken away from you, and can net a max of 3 VPs in total, they should not be a priority unless they help accomplish a task. Claim easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> ''Don't focus on destroying your opponent's legendary pieces.'' Unless the legendary piece is actually dangerous (e.g. Red/Green Legends is up for grabs), keep focused on claiming tasks not destroying it. Very few cards can even move it, so it'll probably just sit there anyway until you can deal with it. It's better to either summon your own Legend, work towards a task, or demolish their position. If you destroy the legendary piece without getting rid of their heroic pieces, your opponent will just summon up another anyway. Keep in mind that once they have 3 legendary pieces on board, they can't score any more from summoning another one. <br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of (rather than directly on) coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. Placing a common piece on a coloured square at the game's beginning is just asking for it to be destroyed; it is generally better to build towards summoning a heroic piece onto the square, which will be more resistant to attack and more capable of fulfilling tasks.<br /> <br /> If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=3111 2018-07-14T20:18:51Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Blood Shaman, Werewolf, and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); Everfrost Sentinel; and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''THE GOLDEN RULE: Flares are not a catch-up mechanism. They do not compensate players for being behind; instead, they penalize bad, overaggressive players. Remember: the goal of High Form is to gain points, not destroy the enemy!''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But while it may work occasionally, '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game against a competent player,''' because it gives them the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. <br /> <br /> ''Don't be TOO cautious.'' You sometimes still need to risk a flare for the sake of scoring. However, if you must exceed the 2/3 limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> ''Discard a bad flare when possible.'' If you have a high-value flare (such as 4/6 or 5/5) that you can't trigger, and you're falling behind in the game, consider discarding in order to ditch the flare. In addition to refreshing your hand and hopefully landing you a more usable flare, the discard action means you put down one fewer piece on the turn, meaning that you're very likely to be able to play the new flare.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost; they should be late-game goals or threats, but never strive to score them early on at the expense of snapping up cheap tasks (a common beginner's mistake). Legends are good, but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, can be taken away from you, and can net a max of 3 VPs in total, they should not be a priority unless they help accomplish a task. Claim easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> ''Don't focus on destroying your opponent's legendary pieces.'' Unless the legendary piece is actually dangerous (e.g. Red/Green Legends is up for grabs), keep focused on claiming tasks not destroying it. Very few cards can even move it, so it'll probably just sit there anyway until you can deal with it. It's better to either summon your own Legend, work towards a task, or demolish their position. If you destroy the legendary piece without getting rid of their heroic pieces, your opponent will just summon up another anyway. Keep in mind that once they have 3 legendary pieces on board, they can't score any more from summoning another one. <br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2898 2018-02-21T22:30:53Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Blood Shaman, Werewolf, and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); Everfrost Sentinel; and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But while it may work occasionally, '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game against a competent player,''' because it gives them the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. <br /> <br /> ''Don't be TOO cautious.'' You sometimes still need to risk a flare for the sake of scoring. However, if you must exceed the 2/3 limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> ''Discard a bad flare when possible.'' If you have a high-value flare (such as 4/6 or 5/5) that you can't trigger, and you're falling behind in the game, consider discarding in order to ditch the flare. In addition to refreshing your hand and hopefully landing you a more usable flare, the discard action means you put down one fewer piece on the turn, meaning that you're very likely to be able to play the new flare.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost; they should be late-game goals or threats, but never strive to score them early on at the expense of snapping up cheap tasks (a common beginner's mistake). Legends are good, but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, can be taken away from you, and can net a max of 3 VPs in total, they should not be a priority unless they help accomplish a task. Claim easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> ''Don't focus on destroying your opponent's legendary pieces.'' Unless the legendary piece is actually dangerous (e.g. Red/Green Legends is up for grabs), keep focused on claiming tasks not destroying it. Very few cards can even move it, so it'll probably just sit there anyway until you can deal with it. It's better to either summon your own Legend, work towards a task, or demolish their position. If you destroy the legendary piece without getting rid of their heroic pieces, your opponent will just summon up another anyway. Keep in mind that once they have 3 legendary pieces on board, they can't score any more from summoning another one. <br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2750 2017-11-06T18:18:14Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Blood Shaman, Werewolf, and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); Everfrost Sentinel; and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But while it may work occasionally, '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game against a competent player,''' because it gives them the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> ''Discard a bad flare when possible.'' If you have a high-value flare (such as 4/6 or 5/5) that you can't trigger, and you're falling behind in the game, consider discarding in order to ditch the flare. In addition to refreshing your hand and hopefully landing you a more usable flare, the discard action means you put down one fewer piece on the turn, meaning that you're very likely to be able to play the new flare.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost; they should be late-game goals, but never strive to score them early on (a common beginner's mistake). Legends are good, but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, can be taken away from you, and can net a max of 3 VPs in total, they should not be a priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2749 2017-11-06T18:13:18Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Blood Shaman, Werewolf, and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); Everfrost Sentinel; and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But while it may work occasionally, '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game against a competent player,''' because it gives them the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> ''Discard a bad flare when possible.'' If you have a high-value flare (such as 4/6 or 5/5) that you can't trigger, and you're falling behind in the game, consider discarding in order to ditch the flare. In addition to refreshing your hand and hopefully landing you a more usable flare, the discard action means you put down one fewer piece on the turn, meaning that you're very likely to be able to play the new flare.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost. Legends are good but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, and can be taken away from you, they should not be a priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2746 2017-11-04T20:28:44Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Everfrost Sentinel; Blood Shaman and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But while it may work occasionally, '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game against a competent player,''' because it gives them the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> ''Discard a bad flare when possible.'' If you have a high-value flare (such as 4/6 or 5/5) that you can't trigger, and you're falling behind in the game, consider discarding in order to ditch the flare. In addition to refreshing your hand and hopefully landing you a more usable flare, the discard action means you put down one fewer piece on the turn, meaning that you're very likely to be able to play the new flare.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost. Legends are good but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, and can be taken away from you, they should not be a priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_carrara&diff=2740 2017-10-29T22:35:11Z

<p>Nandblock: Created page with &quot;For a detailed analysis, it is hard to improve on this account: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1637914/depth-strategic-and-tactical-analysis&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>For a detailed analysis, it is hard to improve on this account: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1637914/depth-strategic-and-tactical-analysis</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelptashkalar&diff=2730 2017-10-20T14:35:17Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Setup */</p> <hr /> <div>== HIGH FORM RULES ==<br /> <br /> High form is currently only implemented as a two-player game on BGA.<br /> <br /> === Terminology ===<br /> Pieces are ranked in order: '''common, heroic, legendary.''' '''Upgrade''' and '''downgrade''' mean changing the rank of a piece by one step. A higher ranked piece may count (for summoning or tasks) as if it were of lower rank. <br /> <br /> A '''move''' is one square in any direction (including diagonals). A '''leap''' is from any square to any other.<br /> A '''standard move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of a lesser rank.<br /> A '''combat move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of ''the same'' or lesser rank.<br /> <br /> Any piece previously occupying the destination square of a move/leap is destroyed. You may destroy your own pieces. &quot;Converting&quot; a piece to a different colour counts as destroying it, but upgrading or downgrading it does not.<br /> <br /> When text on a card refers to the name of the Being, it is referring to the piece in the square where it is summoned.<br /> <br /> === Setup ===<br /> Each player receives 3 cards from their personal deck, plus 2 Legendary Beings and one flare from the common decks. Four cards are drawn for the task queue. The first three are immediately available; the fourth is not yet available. None of the first three tasks may be &quot;advanced&quot; (certain 3-point tasks), and there may not be three tasks of the same type among the four on display (BGA automatically enforces these rules).<br /> <br /> === Turns ===<br /> <br /> The starting player takes a single action. In subsequent turns, each player takes two actions. These may be any of the following:<br /> * - Place a common piece on any empty square<br /> * - Summon a being<br /> * - Discard a card and (optionally) return other cards to the bottom of their decks. ''(Only permitted once per turn.)''<br /> In addition, before or after any action, a flare may be played, if one or both of its conditions are met.<br /> <br /> Once a turn is over:<br /> * - You may claim one task card and earn its victory points (VPs) if you meet its conditions. <br /> * - If necessary, replenish your hand from the appropriate decks and update the task queue. (Automated on BGA.)<br /> <br /> === Playing a Flare ===<br /> Each flare lists two numbers: X/Y. The top effect may be activated if a player has X fewer upgraded pieces on the board than their opponent; the bottom effect if they have Y fewer pieces in total on the board. Effects activate in top-to-bottom order.<br /> <br /> === Summoning ===<br /> If your pieces are in the formation on a Being’s card (in any orientation or mirror image), you may summon the piece in the top left corner: it is placed via a combat leap onto the white square in the pattern. For most beings, the white square is empty, but some require a piece of your own to be present in the square. Once the Being is summoned, the effects listed on its card are activated.<br /> <br /> Patterns for Legendary Beings require one or more heroic pieces. Each legendary piece on the board earns 1 VP. Each player can place a maximum of 3 legendary pieces on the board. If one is destroyed, 1 VP is lost.<br /> <br /> === Discarding ===<br /> Once per turn a player may discard a card. They may also return as many other cards as they like (regular cards, legends, flares) to the bottom of the appropriate decks. Once the turn is over, they replenish their hand as usual. <br /> <br /> === Running Out of Pieces ===<br /> If a player needs to place a piece and has no more in stock, they must pick up one from the board before placing the new piece. (Heroic and common pieces come from the same pool--in the original boardgame, they are reverse sides of the same piece--but there are only three legendary pieces for each colour.)<br /> <br /> === Game End and Scoring ===<br /> When one player scores 9 VPs or draws the last card from their own deck, game end is triggered. Everyone plays one more turn, including the player who triggered endgame. Even if their score decreases below 9 due to destruction of a legendary piece, the game still ends.<br /> <br /> High score wins. Tiebreakers are, in order, (1) number of upgraded pieces; (2) total number of pieces.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: TWO PLAYERS (DUEL) ==<br /> <br /> No tasks are used. Opening positions are marked on the game board. The first player to score 18 VPs triggers the endgame. <br /> <br /> Destroying pieces scores VPs as follows:<br /> * - 1 VP for every 2 common pieces, rounded down<br /> * - 1 VP for a heroic piece<br /> * - 2 VPs for a legendary piece<br /> <br /> Summoning a legend scores 1 VP. This VP is not lost if the piece is later destroyed.<br /> <br /> If you play a flare your opponent gains 1 VP.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: THREE OR FOUR PLAYERS ==<br /> <br /> Setup: In three-player Deathmatch, the third player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol. In four-player Deathmatch, the fourth player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol for the first, third and fourth players. As usual, the first player only gets one action. (Sounds complicated? Don't worry, BGA automates the setup.)<br /> <br /> Scores are tracked separately in each colour. Your final score is the lowest of these scores. (The second and, in 4-player games, third lowest scores are used as tiebreakers.)<br /> <br /> When you score common pieces, first all common colour pairs are scored; then, if two common pieces of different colours remain, you may choose which colour to score against.<br /> <br /> When you summon a legend, you may choose which opponent to score 1 VP against.<br /> <br /> You may meet one or both criteria for a flare against multiple opponents, in which case you may choose whom to trigger it against (and give them 1 VP).<br /> <br /> Endgame is triggered by a player scoring 12 (for three-player) or 10 (for four-player) VPs in a single colour.<br /> <br /> === Improvised Summoning ===<br /> <br /> Once per game, and once for each opponent's colour, a player may use an opponent's piece as their own when summoning a Being. (Thus in a 3-player game, a player may perform two improvised summonings; in a 4-player game, three--one for each opponent's colour.) Only one piece may be used per improvised summoning: you may not use two different opponents' pieces simultaneously.<br /> <br /> == EVERFROST EXPANSION ==<br /> Several Beings in the Everfrost deck have &quot;frozen effects&quot;. These effects do not have to take place immediately upon summoning; they can be activated later (&quot;thawed&quot;), like a flare. Only one such frozen effect may be stored at a time; if you summon a Being with a frozen effect and already have one in storage, you must discard one or the other frozen effect.</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelptashkalar&diff=2729 2017-10-19T17:02:29Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Terminology */</p> <hr /> <div>== HIGH FORM RULES ==<br /> <br /> High form is currently only implemented as a two-player game on BGA.<br /> <br /> === Terminology ===<br /> Pieces are ranked in order: '''common, heroic, legendary.''' '''Upgrade''' and '''downgrade''' mean changing the rank of a piece by one step. A higher ranked piece may count (for summoning or tasks) as if it were of lower rank. <br /> <br /> A '''move''' is one square in any direction (including diagonals). A '''leap''' is from any square to any other.<br /> A '''standard move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of a lesser rank.<br /> A '''combat move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of ''the same'' or lesser rank.<br /> <br /> Any piece previously occupying the destination square of a move/leap is destroyed. You may destroy your own pieces. &quot;Converting&quot; a piece to a different colour counts as destroying it, but upgrading or downgrading it does not.<br /> <br /> When text on a card refers to the name of the Being, it is referring to the piece in the square where it is summoned.<br /> <br /> === Setup ===<br /> Each player receives 3 cards from their personal deck, plus 2 Legendary Beings and one flare from the common decks. Four cards are drawn for the task queue. The first three are immediately available; the fourth is not yet available. None of the first three tasks may be &quot;advanced&quot; (the most difficult, 3-point tasks), and there may not be three tasks of the same type among the four on display (BGA automatically enforces these rules).<br /> <br /> === Turns ===<br /> <br /> The starting player takes a single action. In subsequent turns, each player takes two actions. These may be any of the following:<br /> * - Place a common piece on any empty square<br /> * - Summon a being<br /> * - Discard a card and (optionally) return other cards to the bottom of their decks. ''(Only permitted once per turn.)''<br /> In addition, before or after any action, a flare may be played, if one or both of its conditions are met.<br /> <br /> Once a turn is over:<br /> * - You may claim one task card and earn its victory points (VPs) if you meet its conditions. <br /> * - If necessary, replenish your hand from the appropriate decks and update the task queue. (Automated on BGA.)<br /> <br /> === Playing a Flare ===<br /> Each flare lists two numbers: X/Y. The top effect may be activated if a player has X fewer upgraded pieces on the board than their opponent; the bottom effect if they have Y fewer pieces in total on the board. Effects activate in top-to-bottom order.<br /> <br /> === Summoning ===<br /> If your pieces are in the formation on a Being’s card (in any orientation or mirror image), you may summon the piece in the top left corner: it is placed via a combat leap onto the white square in the pattern. For most beings, the white square is empty, but some require a piece of your own to be present in the square. Once the Being is summoned, the effects listed on its card are activated.<br /> <br /> Patterns for Legendary Beings require one or more heroic pieces. Each legendary piece on the board earns 1 VP. Each player can place a maximum of 3 legendary pieces on the board. If one is destroyed, 1 VP is lost.<br /> <br /> === Discarding ===<br /> Once per turn a player may discard a card. They may also return as many other cards as they like (regular cards, legends, flares) to the bottom of the appropriate decks. Once the turn is over, they replenish their hand as usual. <br /> <br /> === Running Out of Pieces ===<br /> If a player needs to place a piece and has no more in stock, they must pick up one from the board before placing the new piece. (Heroic and common pieces come from the same pool--in the original boardgame, they are reverse sides of the same piece--but there are only three legendary pieces for each colour.)<br /> <br /> === Game End and Scoring ===<br /> When one player scores 9 VPs or draws the last card from their own deck, game end is triggered. Everyone plays one more turn, including the player who triggered endgame. Even if their score decreases below 9 due to destruction of a legendary piece, the game still ends.<br /> <br /> High score wins. Tiebreakers are, in order, (1) number of upgraded pieces; (2) total number of pieces.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: TWO PLAYERS (DUEL) ==<br /> <br /> No tasks are used. Opening positions are marked on the game board. The first player to score 18 VPs triggers the endgame. <br /> <br /> Destroying pieces scores VPs as follows:<br /> * - 1 VP for every 2 common pieces, rounded down<br /> * - 1 VP for a heroic piece<br /> * - 2 VPs for a legendary piece<br /> <br /> Summoning a legend scores 1 VP. This VP is not lost if the piece is later destroyed.<br /> <br /> If you play a flare your opponent gains 1 VP.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: THREE OR FOUR PLAYERS ==<br /> <br /> Setup: In three-player Deathmatch, the third player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol. In four-player Deathmatch, the fourth player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol for the first, third and fourth players. As usual, the first player only gets one action. (Sounds complicated? Don't worry, BGA automates the setup.)<br /> <br /> Scores are tracked separately in each colour. Your final score is the lowest of these scores. (The second and, in 4-player games, third lowest scores are used as tiebreakers.)<br /> <br /> When you score common pieces, first all common colour pairs are scored; then, if two common pieces of different colours remain, you may choose which colour to score against.<br /> <br /> When you summon a legend, you may choose which opponent to score 1 VP against.<br /> <br /> You may meet one or both criteria for a flare against multiple opponents, in which case you may choose whom to trigger it against (and give them 1 VP).<br /> <br /> Endgame is triggered by a player scoring 12 (for three-player) or 10 (for four-player) VPs in a single colour.<br /> <br /> === Improvised Summoning ===<br /> <br /> Once per game, and once for each opponent's colour, a player may use an opponent's piece as their own when summoning a Being. (Thus in a 3-player game, a player may perform two improvised summonings; in a 4-player game, three--one for each opponent's colour.) Only one piece may be used per improvised summoning: you may not use two different opponents' pieces simultaneously.<br /> <br /> == EVERFROST EXPANSION ==<br /> Several Beings in the Everfrost deck have &quot;frozen effects&quot;. These effects do not have to take place immediately upon summoning; they can be activated later (&quot;thawed&quot;), like a flare. Only one such frozen effect may be stored at a time; if you summon a Being with a frozen effect and already have one in storage, you must discard one or the other frozen effect.</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelptashkalar&diff=2728 2017-10-19T17:00:29Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Setup */</p> <hr /> <div>== HIGH FORM RULES ==<br /> <br /> High form is currently only implemented as a two-player game on BGA.<br /> <br /> === Terminology ===<br /> Pieces are ranked in order: '''common, heroic, legendary.''' '''Upgrade''' and '''downgrade''' mean changing the rank of a piece by one step. A higher ranked piece may count (for summoning or tasks) as if it were of lower rank. <br /> <br /> A '''move''' is one square in any direction (including diagonals). A '''leap''' is from any square to any other.<br /> A '''standard move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of a lesser rank.<br /> A '''combat move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of ''the same'' or lesser rank.<br /> <br /> Any piece previously occupying the destination square of a move/leap is destroyed. You may destroy your own pieces.<br /> <br /> === Setup ===<br /> Each player receives 3 cards from their personal deck, plus 2 Legendary Beings and one flare from the common decks. Four cards are drawn for the task queue. The first three are immediately available; the fourth is not yet available. None of the first three tasks may be &quot;advanced&quot; (the most difficult, 3-point tasks), and there may not be three tasks of the same type among the four on display (BGA automatically enforces these rules).<br /> <br /> === Turns ===<br /> <br /> The starting player takes a single action. In subsequent turns, each player takes two actions. These may be any of the following:<br /> * - Place a common piece on any empty square<br /> * - Summon a being<br /> * - Discard a card and (optionally) return other cards to the bottom of their decks. ''(Only permitted once per turn.)''<br /> In addition, before or after any action, a flare may be played, if one or both of its conditions are met.<br /> <br /> Once a turn is over:<br /> * - You may claim one task card and earn its victory points (VPs) if you meet its conditions. <br /> * - If necessary, replenish your hand from the appropriate decks and update the task queue. (Automated on BGA.)<br /> <br /> === Playing a Flare ===<br /> Each flare lists two numbers: X/Y. The top effect may be activated if a player has X fewer upgraded pieces on the board than their opponent; the bottom effect if they have Y fewer pieces in total on the board. Effects activate in top-to-bottom order.<br /> <br /> === Summoning ===<br /> If your pieces are in the formation on a Being’s card (in any orientation or mirror image), you may summon the piece in the top left corner: it is placed via a combat leap onto the white square in the pattern. For most beings, the white square is empty, but some require a piece of your own to be present in the square. Once the Being is summoned, the effects listed on its card are activated.<br /> <br /> Patterns for Legendary Beings require one or more heroic pieces. Each legendary piece on the board earns 1 VP. Each player can place a maximum of 3 legendary pieces on the board. If one is destroyed, 1 VP is lost.<br /> <br /> === Discarding ===<br /> Once per turn a player may discard a card. They may also return as many other cards as they like (regular cards, legends, flares) to the bottom of the appropriate decks. Once the turn is over, they replenish their hand as usual. <br /> <br /> === Running Out of Pieces ===<br /> If a player needs to place a piece and has no more in stock, they must pick up one from the board before placing the new piece. (Heroic and common pieces come from the same pool--in the original boardgame, they are reverse sides of the same piece--but there are only three legendary pieces for each colour.)<br /> <br /> === Game End and Scoring ===<br /> When one player scores 9 VPs or draws the last card from their own deck, game end is triggered. Everyone plays one more turn, including the player who triggered endgame. Even if their score decreases below 9 due to destruction of a legendary piece, the game still ends.<br /> <br /> High score wins. Tiebreakers are, in order, (1) number of upgraded pieces; (2) total number of pieces.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: TWO PLAYERS (DUEL) ==<br /> <br /> No tasks are used. Opening positions are marked on the game board. The first player to score 18 VPs triggers the endgame. <br /> <br /> Destroying pieces scores VPs as follows:<br /> * - 1 VP for every 2 common pieces, rounded down<br /> * - 1 VP for a heroic piece<br /> * - 2 VPs for a legendary piece<br /> <br /> Summoning a legend scores 1 VP. This VP is not lost if the piece is later destroyed.<br /> <br /> If you play a flare your opponent gains 1 VP.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: THREE OR FOUR PLAYERS ==<br /> <br /> Setup: In three-player Deathmatch, the third player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol. In four-player Deathmatch, the fourth player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol for the first, third and fourth players. As usual, the first player only gets one action. (Sounds complicated? Don't worry, BGA automates the setup.)<br /> <br /> Scores are tracked separately in each colour. Your final score is the lowest of these scores. (The second and, in 4-player games, third lowest scores are used as tiebreakers.)<br /> <br /> When you score common pieces, first all common colour pairs are scored; then, if two common pieces of different colours remain, you may choose which colour to score against.<br /> <br /> When you summon a legend, you may choose which opponent to score 1 VP against.<br /> <br /> You may meet one or both criteria for a flare against multiple opponents, in which case you may choose whom to trigger it against (and give them 1 VP).<br /> <br /> Endgame is triggered by a player scoring 12 (for three-player) or 10 (for four-player) VPs in a single colour.<br /> <br /> === Improvised Summoning ===<br /> <br /> Once per game, and once for each opponent's colour, a player may use an opponent's piece as their own when summoning a Being. (Thus in a 3-player game, a player may perform two improvised summonings; in a 4-player game, three--one for each opponent's colour.) Only one piece may be used per improvised summoning: you may not use two different opponents' pieces simultaneously.<br /> <br /> == EVERFROST EXPANSION ==<br /> Several Beings in the Everfrost deck have &quot;frozen effects&quot;. These effects do not have to take place immediately upon summoning; they can be activated later (&quot;thawed&quot;), like a flare. Only one such frozen effect may be stored at a time; if you summon a Being with a frozen effect and already have one in storage, you must discard one or the other frozen effect.</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2712 2017-09-20T22:59:15Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Everfrost Sentinel; Blood Shaman and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game,''' because it gives an opponent the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> ''Discard a bad flare when possible.'' If you have a high-value flare (such as 4/6 or 5/5) that you can't trigger, and you're falling behind in the game, consider discarding in order to ditch the flare. In addition to refreshing your hand and hopefully landing you a more usable flare, the discard action means you put down one fewer piece on the turn, meaning that you're very likely to be able to play the new flare.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost. Legends are good but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, and can be taken away from you, they should not be a priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelptashkalar&diff=2625 2017-08-08T19:08:54Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Summoning */</p> <hr /> <div>== HIGH FORM RULES ==<br /> <br /> High form is currently only implemented as a two-player game on BGA.<br /> <br /> === Terminology ===<br /> Pieces are ranked in order: '''common, heroic, legendary.''' '''Upgrade''' and '''downgrade''' mean changing the rank of a piece by one step. A higher ranked piece may count (for summoning or tasks) as if it were of lower rank. <br /> <br /> A '''move''' is one square in any direction (including diagonals). A '''leap''' is from any square to any other.<br /> A '''standard move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of a lesser rank.<br /> A '''combat move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of ''the same'' or lesser rank.<br /> <br /> Any piece previously occupying the destination square of a move/leap is destroyed. You may destroy your own pieces.<br /> <br /> === Setup ===<br /> Each player receives 3 cards from their personal deck, plus 2 Legendary Beings and one flare from the common decks. Four cards are drawn for the task queue. The first three are immediately available; the fourth is not yet available. Three tasks of the same type may not be active at once (BGA automatically enforces this rule).<br /> <br /> === Turns ===<br /> <br /> The starting player takes a single action. In subsequent turns, each player takes two actions. These may be any of the following:<br /> * - Place a common piece on any empty square<br /> * - Summon a being<br /> * - Discard a card and (optionally) return other cards to the bottom of their decks. ''(Only permitted once per turn.)''<br /> In addition, before or after any action, a flare may be played, if one or both of its conditions are met.<br /> <br /> Once a turn is over:<br /> * - You may claim one task card and earn its victory points (VPs) if you meet its conditions. <br /> * - If necessary, replenish your hand from the appropriate decks and update the task queue. (Automated on BGA.)<br /> <br /> === Playing a Flare ===<br /> Each flare lists two numbers: X/Y. The top effect may be activated if a player has X fewer upgraded pieces on the board than their opponent; the bottom effect if they have Y fewer pieces in total on the board. Effects activate in top-to-bottom order.<br /> <br /> === Summoning ===<br /> If your pieces are in the formation on a Being’s card (in any orientation or mirror image), you may summon the piece in the top left corner: it is placed via a combat leap onto the white square in the pattern. For most beings, the white square is empty, but some require a piece of your own to be present in the square. Once the Being is summoned, the effects listed on its card are activated.<br /> <br /> Patterns for Legendary Beings require one or more heroic pieces. Each legendary piece on the board earns 1 VP. Each player can place a maximum of 3 legendary pieces on the board. If one is destroyed, 1 VP is lost.<br /> <br /> === Discarding ===<br /> Once per turn a player may discard a card. They may also return as many other cards as they like (regular cards, legends, flares) to the bottom of the appropriate decks. Once the turn is over, they replenish their hand as usual. <br /> <br /> === Running Out of Pieces ===<br /> If a player needs to place a piece and has no more in stock, they must pick up one from the board before placing the new piece. (Heroic and common pieces come from the same pool--in the original boardgame, they are reverse sides of the same piece--but there are only three legendary pieces for each colour.)<br /> <br /> === Game End and Scoring ===<br /> When one player scores 9 VPs or draws the last card from their own deck, game end is triggered. Everyone plays one more turn, including the player who triggered endgame. Even if their score decreases below 9 due to destruction of a legendary piece, the game still ends.<br /> <br /> High score wins. Tiebreakers are, in order, (1) number of upgraded pieces; (2) total number of pieces.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: TWO PLAYERS (DUEL) ==<br /> <br /> No tasks are used. Opening positions are marked on the game board. The first player to score 18 VPs triggers the endgame. <br /> <br /> Destroying pieces scores VPs as follows:<br /> * - 1 VP for every 2 common pieces, rounded down<br /> * - 1 VP for a heroic piece<br /> * - 2 VPs for a legendary piece<br /> <br /> Summoning a legend scores 1 VP. This VP is not lost if the piece is later destroyed.<br /> <br /> If you play a flare your opponent gains 1 VP.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: THREE OR FOUR PLAYERS ==<br /> <br /> Setup: In three-player Deathmatch, the third player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol. In four-player Deathmatch, the fourth player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol for the first, third and fourth players. As usual, the first player only gets one action. (Sounds complicated? Don't worry, BGA automates the setup.)<br /> <br /> Scores are tracked separately in each colour. Your final score is the lowest of these scores. (The second and, in 4-player games, third lowest scores are used as tiebreakers.)<br /> <br /> When you score common pieces, first all common colour pairs are scored; then, if two common pieces of different colours remain, you may choose which colour to score against.<br /> <br /> When you summon a legend, you may choose which opponent to score 1 VP against.<br /> <br /> You may meet one or both criteria for a flare against multiple opponents, in which case you may choose whom to trigger it against (and give them 1 VP).<br /> <br /> Endgame is triggered by a player scoring 12 (for three-player) or 10 (for four-player) VPs in a single colour.<br /> <br /> === Improvised Summoning ===<br /> <br /> Once per game, and once for each opponent's colour, a player may use an opponent's piece as their own when summoning a Being. (Thus in a 3-player game, a player may perform two improvised summonings; in a 4-player game, three--one for each opponent's colour.) Only one piece may be used per improvised summoning: you may not use two different opponents' pieces simultaneously.<br /> <br /> == EVERFROST EXPANSION ==<br /> Several Beings in the Everfrost deck have &quot;frozen effects&quot;. These effects do not have to take place immediately upon summoning; they can be activated later (&quot;thawed&quot;), like a flare. Only one such frozen effect may be stored at a time; if you summon a Being with a frozen effect and already have one in storage, you must discard one or the other frozen effect.</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelptashkalar&diff=2624 2017-08-08T19:06:32Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Turns */</p> <hr /> <div>== HIGH FORM RULES ==<br /> <br /> High form is currently only implemented as a two-player game on BGA.<br /> <br /> === Terminology ===<br /> Pieces are ranked in order: '''common, heroic, legendary.''' '''Upgrade''' and '''downgrade''' mean changing the rank of a piece by one step. A higher ranked piece may count (for summoning or tasks) as if it were of lower rank. <br /> <br /> A '''move''' is one square in any direction (including diagonals). A '''leap''' is from any square to any other.<br /> A '''standard move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of a lesser rank.<br /> A '''combat move/leap''' is permitted onto any empty square or one occupied by a piece of ''the same'' or lesser rank.<br /> <br /> Any piece previously occupying the destination square of a move/leap is destroyed. You may destroy your own pieces.<br /> <br /> === Setup ===<br /> Each player receives 3 cards from their personal deck, plus 2 Legendary Beings and one flare from the common decks. Four cards are drawn for the task queue. The first three are immediately available; the fourth is not yet available. Three tasks of the same type may not be active at once (BGA automatically enforces this rule).<br /> <br /> === Turns ===<br /> <br /> The starting player takes a single action. In subsequent turns, each player takes two actions. These may be any of the following:<br /> * - Place a common piece on any empty square<br /> * - Summon a being<br /> * - Discard a card and (optionally) return other cards to the bottom of their decks. ''(Only permitted once per turn.)''<br /> In addition, before or after any action, a flare may be played, if one or both of its conditions are met.<br /> <br /> Once a turn is over:<br /> * - You may claim one task card and earn its victory points (VPs) if you meet its conditions. <br /> * - If necessary, replenish your hand from the appropriate decks and update the task queue. (Automated on BGA.)<br /> <br /> === Playing a Flare ===<br /> Each flare lists two numbers: X/Y. The top effect may be activated if a player has X fewer upgraded pieces on the board than their opponent; the bottom effect if they have Y fewer pieces in total on the board. Effects activate in top-to-bottom order.<br /> <br /> === Summoning ===<br /> If your pieces are in the formation on a Being’s card (in any orientation or mirror image), you may summon the piece in the top left corner, via a combat leap onto the white square in the pattern. For most beings, the white square is empty, but some require a piece of your own to be present in the square. Once the Being is summoned, the effects listed on its card are activated.<br /> <br /> Patterns for Legendary Beings require one or more heroic pieces. Each legendary piece on the board earns 1 VP. Each player can place a maximum of 3 legendary pieces on the board. If one is destroyed, 1 VP is lost.<br /> <br /> === Discarding ===<br /> Once per turn a player may discard a card. They may also return as many other cards as they like (regular cards, legends, flares) to the bottom of the appropriate decks. Once the turn is over, they replenish their hand as usual. <br /> <br /> === Running Out of Pieces ===<br /> If a player needs to place a piece and has no more in stock, they must pick up one from the board before placing the new piece. (Heroic and common pieces come from the same pool--in the original boardgame, they are reverse sides of the same piece--but there are only three legendary pieces for each colour.)<br /> <br /> === Game End and Scoring ===<br /> When one player scores 9 VPs or draws the last card from their own deck, game end is triggered. Everyone plays one more turn, including the player who triggered endgame. Even if their score decreases below 9 due to destruction of a legendary piece, the game still ends.<br /> <br /> High score wins. Tiebreakers are, in order, (1) number of upgraded pieces; (2) total number of pieces.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: TWO PLAYERS (DUEL) ==<br /> <br /> No tasks are used. Opening positions are marked on the game board. The first player to score 18 VPs triggers the endgame. <br /> <br /> Destroying pieces scores VPs as follows:<br /> * - 1 VP for every 2 common pieces, rounded down<br /> * - 1 VP for a heroic piece<br /> * - 2 VPs for a legendary piece<br /> <br /> Summoning a legend scores 1 VP. This VP is not lost if the piece is later destroyed.<br /> <br /> If you play a flare your opponent gains 1 VP.<br /> <br /> == DEATHMATCH RULES: THREE OR FOUR PLAYERS ==<br /> <br /> Setup: In three-player Deathmatch, the third player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol. In four-player Deathmatch, the fourth player places one common piece adjacent to each diamond symbol for the first, third and fourth players. As usual, the first player only gets one action. (Sounds complicated? Don't worry, BGA automates the setup.)<br /> <br /> Scores are tracked separately in each colour. Your final score is the lowest of these scores. (The second and, in 4-player games, third lowest scores are used as tiebreakers.)<br /> <br /> When you score common pieces, first all common colour pairs are scored; then, if two common pieces of different colours remain, you may choose which colour to score against.<br /> <br /> When you summon a legend, you may choose which opponent to score 1 VP against.<br /> <br /> You may meet one or both criteria for a flare against multiple opponents, in which case you may choose whom to trigger it against (and give them 1 VP).<br /> <br /> Endgame is triggered by a player scoring 12 (for three-player) or 10 (for four-player) VPs in a single colour.<br /> <br /> === Improvised Summoning ===<br /> <br /> Once per game, and once for each opponent's colour, a player may use an opponent's piece as their own when summoning a Being. (Thus in a 3-player game, a player may perform two improvised summonings; in a 4-player game, three--one for each opponent's colour.) Only one piece may be used per improvised summoning: you may not use two different opponents' pieces simultaneously.<br /> <br /> == EVERFROST EXPANSION ==<br /> Several Beings in the Everfrost deck have &quot;frozen effects&quot;. These effects do not have to take place immediately upon summoning; they can be activated later (&quot;thawed&quot;), like a flare. Only one such frozen effect may be stored at a time; if you summon a Being with a frozen effect and already have one in storage, you must discard one or the other frozen effect.</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Gamehelpraceforthegalaxy&diff=2623 2017-08-04T17:18:27Z

<p>Nandblock: </p> <hr /> <div>== Rules for the Base Game ==<br /> <br /> Players control competing civilizations exploring space, discovering planets to conquer or settle, building an economy by consuming a planet's goods and building developments. The object of the game is to earn the most victory points from planets and developments played in their tableau, from consuming goods, and from bonuses from special developments.<br /> <br /> There are five phases to choose from: explore, develop, settle, consume and produce. Players pick one phase per turn (two phases in a two-player game). Then everyone plays only the chosen phases in phase order. Players who chose that phase get an extra benefit. At the end of each round, players with more than 10 cards discard down to 10 and a new round begins. <br /> <br /> The game continues until any player has 12 cards in their tableau, or when the VP pool is exhausted. At the end of that round points are added up. The player with the most points is the winner! <br /> <br /> In case of a tie, the player with the most goods on the board plus cards in hand wins. <br /> <br /> Cards may generally be played into your tableau by &quot;paying&quot; for them by discarding other cards. For instance, a planet of cost 3 (the large number) requires you to discard 3 cards to place it. (The smaller number next to it is the number of VPs you earn from having that card in your tableau.)<br /> <br /> There are different types of planets:<br /> Production: A colored circle indicates that this planet generates the corresponding good during the production phase.<br /> Windfall: A white circle with a colored ring indicates that this planet generates a good immediately upon settling, but not during production.<br /> Non-producing worlds: Gray worlds never produce goods.<br /> Military: A red ring indicates that a planet cannot be settled by paying for it: instead, you need a sufficient military force (the red +X number present on some cards). No discards are needed in this case.<br /> <br /> '''Summary of Phases'''<br /> Explore = draw 2 cards; keep 1, discard the other<br /> Develop = place and pay for a development<br /> Settle = place and pay for a world, receiving any windfall good as indicated<br /> Consume = use consume powers if possible, typically to discard goods for VPs. Note that once a consume power is activated, you must exhaust it (e.g. if you have 3 Novelty Goods, then if you trigger Consumer Markets to consume the first good, then the other two must also be consumed on Consumer Markets). To consume a good in the BGA interface, click on the world with the good, and then click on the world with the consume power. <br /> Produce = place a good on each world without a good that produces one<br /> <br /> Most cards indicate bonuses for certain phases; these are activated once they are in your tableau.<br /> <br /> '''Phase Bonuses'''<br /> These are the bonuses you gain for choosing each phase:<br /> Explore = draw 5 additional cards OR draw 1 additional card and keep 1 additional card<br /> Develop = discard 1 less card when paying for the development<br /> Settle = draw 1 card after settling a world<br /> Consume = Gain double victory points for consumed goods OR trigger a trade phase prior to Consume, which allows you to discard a good to draw cards equal to its trade value<br /> Produce = Produce a good on one windfall world that does not already have a good<br /> <br /> Note that in two-player games it is possible for one player to trigger both phase bonuses in Explore or Consume (e.g. in Explore, to draw 6 extra cards and keep 2), but the phase only happens once. It is not possible to trigger Produce twice. It is possible to trigger Develop or Settle twice, in which case the phase happens twice in a row.<br /> <br /> '''Summary of Goods'''<br /> Yellow = Alien Tech (trade value = 5)<br /> Green = Genes (4)<br /> Brown = Rare Elements (3)<br /> Blue = Novelty Goods (2)</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2622 2017-08-02T03:37:14Z

<p>Nandblock: </p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request, but requires that you have fewer workers in the fields or cities, so try to pick up compensating guild favors (Engineer, Diplomat).<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Picking Up Points Along the Way ==<br /> It is important to pick up a few points every round, not just rounds 1/3/5. There are 3 buildings that potentially give you points, one per region: 4 points for majority in the watch; 1 point per ship for sending a worker to a colony; 1 or 3 points for the cities. Those points will stack up across 5 rounds, if you can consistently snag one or two of these per round. There are also a few guild favours that help, notably the Scout and Lady (plus passing areas II and III, plus some King's Favors).<br /> <br /> == Wood and Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> Never discard wood in the first few rounds of the game when maintaining your ships: take a few pirates instead. It is simply too precious to waste, as you need it for guild favors. Unlike bread, small quantities of wood may be purchased as long as you have access, so make sure you have enough reals on hand to make up the difference (or use the Windmill).<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Guild Favors ==<br /> Obtaining these is crucial to your game: do not neglect to collect and use them. Let them shape your strategy--for instance, if you get Diplomat or Engineer, you can leave more workers in the colonies while still being able to take powerful building actions or make decent harvests. If you get Lord, you'll be able to save money on building actions, so Wealth of Nations becomes easy to fulfill.<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general, avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing; the exception is Wealth of Nations if you're rolling in cash.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 points is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is easy to fulfill, but keep in mind in Round 5 it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points in final scoring). However, it is handy in later rounds because unlike all other requests, duplicates are easy to fulfill for a full 15 points, as long as you have a good source of money.<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request.<br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. Avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Rounds 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker for 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2595 2017-07-30T22:34:58Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Everfrost Sentinel; Blood Shaman and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But '''this brute-force approach will usually lose the game,''' because it gives an opponent the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks, Legends, and Scoring'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost. Legends are good but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, and can be taken away from you, they should not be a major priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim very easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2562 2017-07-18T04:30:07Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Worker Placement */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request, but requires that you have fewer workers in the fields or cities, so try to pick up compensating guild favors (Engineer, Diplomat).<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Picking Up Points Along the Way ==<br /> It is important to pick up a few points every round, not just rounds 1/3/5. There are 3 buildings that potentially give you points, one per region: 4 points for majority in the watch; 1 point per ship for sending a worker to a colony; 1 or 3 points for the cities. Those points will stack up across 5 rounds, if you can consistently snag one or two of these per round. There are also a few guild favours that help, notably the Scout and Lady (plus passing areas II and III, plus some King's Favors).<br /> <br /> == Wood and Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> Never discard wood in the first few rounds of the game when maintaining your ships: take a few pirates instead. It is simply too precious to waste, as you need it for guild favors. Unlike bread, small quantities of wood may be purchased as long as you have access, so make sure you have enough reals on hand to make up the difference (or use the Windmill).<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general, avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing; the exception is Wealth of Nations if you're rolling in cash.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is relatively easy to fulfill, but keep in mind in Round 5 it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points in final scoring).<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. Avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker for 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2561 2017-07-18T04:28:06Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Picking Up Points Along the Way */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Picking Up Points Along the Way ==<br /> It is important to pick up a few points every round, not just rounds 1/3/5. There are 3 buildings that potentially give you points, one per region: 4 points for majority in the watch; 1 point per ship for sending a worker to a colony; 1 or 3 points for the cities. Those points will stack up across 5 rounds, if you can consistently snag one or two of these per round. There are also a few guild favours that help, notably the Scout and Lady (plus passing areas II and III, plus some King's Favors).<br /> <br /> == Wood and Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> Never discard wood in the first few rounds of the game when maintaining your ships: take a few pirates instead. It is simply too precious to waste, as you need it for guild favors. Unlike bread, small quantities of wood may be purchased as long as you have access, so make sure you have enough reals on hand to make up the difference (or use the Windmill).<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general, avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing; the exception is Wealth of Nations if you're rolling in cash.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is relatively easy to fulfill, but keep in mind in Round 5 it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points in final scoring).<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. Avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker for 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2560 2017-07-18T04:27:29Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Picking Up Points Along the Way */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Picking Up Points Along the Way ==<br /> It is important to pick up a few points every round, not just rounds 1/3/5. There are 3 buildings that potentially give you points, one per region: 4 points for majority in the watch; 1 point per ship for sending a guy to the colonies; 1 or 3 points for the cities. Those points will stack up across 5 rounds, if you can consistently snag one or two of these per round. There are also a few guild favours that help, notably the Scout and Lady (plus passing areas II and III, plus some King's Favors).<br /> <br /> == Wood and Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> Never discard wood in the first few rounds of the game when maintaining your ships: take a few pirates instead. It is simply too precious to waste, as you need it for guild favors. Unlike bread, small quantities of wood may be purchased as long as you have access, so make sure you have enough reals on hand to make up the difference (or use the Windmill).<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general, avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing; the exception is Wealth of Nations if you're rolling in cash.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is relatively easy to fulfill, but keep in mind in Round 5 it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points in final scoring).<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. Avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker for 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2559 2017-07-18T04:27:01Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Wood and Bread */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Picking Up Points Along the Way ==<br /> It is important to pick up a few points every round, not just rounds 1/3/5. There are 3 buildings that give you points, one per region: 4 points for majority in the watch; 1 point per ship for sending a guy to the colonies; 1 or 3 points for the cities. Those points will stack up across 5 rounds, if you can consistently snag one or two of these per round. There are also a few guild favours that help, notably the Scout and Lady (plus passing areas II and III, plus some King's Favors).<br /> <br /> == Wood and Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> Never discard wood in the first few rounds of the game when maintaining your ships: take a few pirates instead. It is simply too precious to waste, as you need it for guild favors. Unlike bread, small quantities of wood may be purchased as long as you have access, so make sure you have enough reals on hand to make up the difference (or use the Windmill).<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general, avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing; the exception is Wealth of Nations if you're rolling in cash.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is relatively easy to fulfill, but keep in mind in Round 5 it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points in final scoring).<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. Avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker for 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2558 2017-07-18T04:26:03Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Endgame */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Picking Up Points Along the Way ==<br /> It is important to pick up a few points every round, not just rounds 1/3/5. There are 3 buildings that give you points, one per region: 4 points for majority in the watch; 1 point per ship for sending a guy to the colonies; 1 or 3 points for the cities. Those points will stack up across 5 rounds, if you can consistently snag one or two of these per round. There are also a few guild favours that help, notably the Scout and Lady (plus passing areas II and III, plus some King's Favors).<br /> <br /> == Wood and Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> Never discard wood in the first few rounds of the game when maintaining your ships: it is simply too precious to waste, as you need it for more ships and especially guild favors. Unlike bread, small quantities of wood may be purchased as long as you have access, so make sure you have enough reals on hand to make up the difference (or use the Windmill).<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general, avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing; the exception is Wealth of Nations if you're rolling in cash.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is relatively easy to fulfill, but keep in mind in Round 5 it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points in final scoring).<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. Avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker for 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2557 2017-07-18T04:25:48Z

<p>Nandblock: </p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Picking Up Points Along the Way ==<br /> It is important to pick up a few points every round, not just rounds 1/3/5. There are 3 buildings that give you points, one per region: 4 points for majority in the watch; 1 point per ship for sending a guy to the colonies; 1 or 3 points for the cities. Those points will stack up across 5 rounds, if you can consistently snag one or two of these per round. There are also a few guild favours that help, notably the Scout and Lady (plus passing areas II and III, plus some King's Favors).<br /> <br /> == Wood and Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> Never discard wood in the first few rounds of the game when maintaining your ships: it is simply too precious to waste, as you need it for more ships and especially guild favors. Unlike bread, small quantities of wood may be purchased as long as you have access, so make sure you have enough reals on hand to make up the difference (or use the Windmill).<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general, avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing; the exception is Wealth of Nations if you're rolling in cash.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is relatively easy to fulfill, but keep in mind in Round 5 it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points in final scoring).<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. Avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker to 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2528 2017-07-04T23:24:39Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Cards */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Everfrost Sentinel; Blood Shaman and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But '''this approach will usually lose the game,''' because it gives an opponent the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost. Legends are good but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, and can be taken away from you, they should not be a major priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim very easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult<br /> <br /> '''FLARES'''<br /> <br /> Symbols:<br /> * m = standard move; x = combat move<br /> * ^ = standard leap; x^ = combat leap <br /> * + = upgrade; A = gain action<br /> * no sign = place<br /> * H = heroic; C = common; P = any non-legendary piece<br /> <br /> Cards:<br /> * 2 / 5 : ^C / A<br /> * 3 / 4 : C / xP or mPP<br /> * 3 / 5 : mCCC / A<br /> * 3 / 6 : mC or +C / CC<br /> * 3 / 6 : C / H<br /> * 4 / 4 : C / C<br /> * 4 / 4 : C or +C / x^C<br /> * 4 / 6 : C / +C and A <br /> * 4 / 5 : A / C<br /> * 4 / 5 : C / C or convert enemy C<br /> * 5 / 4 : H / mC xC<br /> * 5 / 5 : CC / C</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2526 2017-07-03T23:16:13Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Crown Requests */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> <br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general, avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing; the exception is Wealth of Nations if you're rolling in cash.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is relatively easy to fulfill, but keep in mind in Round 5 it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points in final scoring).<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. Avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker to 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2523 2017-07-03T03:26:42Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful. It also improves the precision of your endgame if you use the opportunity to place one or two cards on the bottom of your deck.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Everfrost Sentinel; Blood Shaman and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But '''this approach will usually lose the game,''' because it gives an opponent the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost. Legends are good but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, and can be taken away from you, they should not be a major priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim very easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2520 2017-06-27T03:47:19Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Everfrost Sentinel; Blood Shaman and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But '''this approach will usually lose the game,''' because it gives an opponent the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.) None of the bottom-4 flares are big game-changing ones; but several top-3 flares are powerful, so if you're going to risk triggering one, go ahead 2/4 rather than 3/3 by preference.<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost. Legends are good but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, and can be taken away from you, they should not be a major priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim very easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2519 2017-06-24T07:46:39Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Everfrost Sentinel; Blood Shaman and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake is to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But '''this approach will usually lose the game,''' because it gives an opponent the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.)<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost. Legends are good but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, and can be taken away from you, they should not be a major priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim very easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2463 2017-06-09T18:12:08Z

<p>Nandblock: </p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> <br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general you want to avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is poor in Rounds 1 and 3, but better in Round 5; money is too useful before then to waste on it. At game end it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points), the lowest maximum of all the requests.<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. But avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).<br /> <br /> == Endgame ==<br /> Keep in mind that you need to marshal your resources carefully in endgame--hopefully by this point you have an engine for making money while also discarding pirates. Depending on your setup, you want a max of 3 or 6 pirates by the time you reach Fortaleza. Keep in mind that if you don't have enough wood and bread on hand at game-end, you will take a lot of last-minute pirates: a small shortfall in wood is not fatal (as you can pay for it), but a shortfall in bread cannot be made up, so make sure your position on the windmill + available bread is sufficient. (Also: start moving workers off the board to conserve bread in the last round: use Watch dice, or obtain a Watch majority and remove a worker to 4 PP).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2462 2017-06-09T18:04:02Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Getting and Losing Pirates */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> <br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a large point penalty if they did not discard their own pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. It is rarely possible to achieve much in the game while paying everything as you go.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: an efficient way to conserve money if you don't need some earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general you want to avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is poor in Rounds 1 and 3, but better in Round 5; money is too useful before then to waste on it. At game end it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points), the lowest maximum of all the requests.<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. But avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2461 2017-06-09T18:01:34Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Worker Placement */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Whether you wish to keep one or more workers in Region 1 will depend in part on how heavily you plan to invest in colonists, since it has only one building to activate.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': By having colonists, you save yourself having to take harvest actions; in addition, it is a steady source of PP if you have ships in the colonies. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> <br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a potential 16 or 8 point penalty if they did not discard their pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, especially as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: a very efficient way to conserve money if you don't need the earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general you want to avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is poor in Rounds 1 and 3, but better in Round 5; money is too useful before then to waste on it. At game end it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points), the lowest maximum of all the requests.<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. But avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2277 2017-03-15T17:37:26Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Getting and Losing Pirates */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Region 1 is less useful, since it has only one building to activate, unless your strategy depends heavily on colonists--in which case, move them there as soon as possible to maximize the number of rounds they can produce.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': If you have workers in Region 1 this building action can be used to earn an extra PP for each of the player's ships in a particular colony, in addition to the resources gained during Phase D for each colonist. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> <br /> There are two main approaches to pirates: (1) try to avoid having any by game-end (thus handing your opponent a potential 16 or 8 point penalty if they did not discard their pirates); (2) try to score so much without paying building/maintenance costs that the 16-point penalty for having most pirates is of little concern. (Try to avoid the extra penalty for having more than 20 pirates, in any case.)<br /> <br /> It is quite possible to discard all pirates by game-end. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in opening rounds in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, especially as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3. If you are going for a pirate-heavy strategy, grab this favour.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for earlier building actions, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: a very efficient way to conserve money if you don't need the earlier building actions.<br /> <br /> == Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general you want to avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is poor in Rounds 1 and 3, but better in Round 5; money is too useful before then to waste on it. At game end it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points), the lowest maximum of all the requests.<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. But avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_madeira&diff=2275 2017-03-15T17:27:52Z

<p>Nandblock: /* Worker Placement */</p> <hr /> <div>== Worker Placement ==<br /> You need at least one worker in Regions 2 and 3 most of the time, as the building actions here are vital to winning; and in the forest. Region 1 is less useful, since it has only one building to activate, unless your strategy depends heavily on colonists--in which case, move them there as soon as possible to maximize the number of rounds they can produce.<br /> <br /> '''Region 1:'''<br /> :''Alfândega (Customs)'': If you have workers in Region 1 this building action can be used to earn an extra PP for each of the player's ships in a particular colony, in addition to the resources gained during Phase D for each colonist. This strategy works well with the Expeditions Crown Request.<br /> <br /> '''Region 2:'''<br /> :''Moinho (Mill)'': A reliable end-of-round source of 5 bread, if you have 3 workers in this region.<br /> :''Capitania (Captaincy)'': The main way to move workers into the city. If you have 3 workers in the region, you can earn an easy 15 points over 5 rounds.<br /> <br /> '''Region 3:'''<br /> :''Casa da Coroa (Guild Palace)'': Important once you have accumulated guild favours.<br /> :''Fortaleza (Watch Tower)'': The most powerful building on the board; it is a rare round that you will not want to place a guild die here. Placing one or two workers in the City Watch accomplishes 3 things simultaneously: discarding pirates, enabling you to use pirate die, and scoring 4 VPs if you have a majority in the Honor phase.<br /> <br /> == Getting and Losing Pirates ==<br /> Plan to have no pirates at game end: otherwise, the potential 16-VP swing may cost you the game. To play optimally, however, you will need to take pirates in order to conserve money, bread or wood, then discard them later. That said, try not to leave yourself with more than 6 pirates at the end of a round.<br /> <br /> The main way of discarding pirates is placing workers in the City Watch, via Fortaleza or other means (Scout, the 3rd passing favour, the King's favour). All these actions discard 3 pirates (or 6 if you activate Fortaleza's stronger ability). Therefore, especially as you approach the endgame, make sure you have an even multiple of 3 pirates. (Constable allows you to discard half your pirates; it is the only exception to the rule of 3.)<br /> <br /> Putting a guild die on Fortaleza (if you have workers in Region 3) lets you skip paying for an earlier building action, then discard the resulting pirates at Fortaleza: a very efficient way to conserve money.<br /> <br /> == Bread ==<br /> Never start a round without bread, as you need it to modify dice. Take a few pirates if necessary to hang on to some bread.<br /> <br /> == The Windmill ==<br /> Do not neglect to use the Windmill to trade goods, gain bread, etc. Whenever you can, especially early in the game, move up the Windmill to conserve bread. (The Miller guild favour is especially useful for this.)<br /> <br /> == Passing ==<br /> More actions is not necessarily better: try to pass early, once you've completed all actions you absolutely must do. Unless you urgently need an action lower on the passing column, grab as high a spot as possible. Consider taking the 2 reals to guarantee first pick of dice, request, and guild to unflip.<br /> <br /> == Crown Requests ==<br /> When selecting crown requests, consider whether they work well together, what round you will fulfill them in, and what requests will be left unclaimed for future rounds. In general you want to avoid ending up with multiple copies of the same request in Round 5, as the 2nd copy will usually score little or nothing.<br /> <br /> : ''Urbanization'' (city workers) is the most useful request, in Round 1 especially, as you are guaranteed to score some points with no effort, and scoring 12 or 15 is relatively easy.<br /> <br /> : ''Wealth of the Nations'' (money) is poor in Rounds 1 and 3, but better in Round 5; money is too useful before then to waste on it. At game end it effectively nets only 12 points maximum (since 15 reals = 3 points), the lowest maximum of all the requests.<br /> <br /> : ''Influence of the Guilds'' can yield 15 or 20 points in Rounds 3 and 5, the highest potential return on a single request. <br /> <br /> : ''Market Routes'' and ''Expeditions'' both score up to 18 points. But avoid having to fulfill them simultaneously in Round 3 or 5; the wood/money upkeep on 6 ships simultaneously in play is onerous.<br /> <br /> It is helpful to have complementary requests in hand: Market Routes + Wealth of the Nations (trade routes get you money); Influence of the Guilds + Urbanization (claiming Guild favours clears space for urbanization).</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Tips_tashkalar&diff=2244 2017-02-18T00:37:42Z

<p>Nandblock: /* High Form Strategy */</p> <hr /> <div>== High Form Strategy ==<br /> <br /> '''1) Board Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Keep your piece-count down.'' If a piece of your own is not helping your position and you have a chance to destroy it, do so rather than destroying an enemy piece--this puts you rather than them closer to a flare. If you're ahead in the game and your piece count is high, consider discarding cards or summoning a being on top of your own piece (oversummoning) to avoid placing another piece on the board.<br /> <br /> ''Keep your pieces together.'' If your position is dispersed, those pieces will add to your piece-count, making it impossible to get a life-saving flare while being useless for summoning or claiming tasks.<br /> <br /> ''Place pieces on or around coloured squares by preference.'' Even if there's no coloured summoning/conquest task on the board, one will eventually pop up. (Caveat: do not casually leave pieces on red squares if you are playing against Highland and they haven't yet played Blood Shaman.)<br /> <br /> ''Do not let your opponent set up camp far away from you.'' Make sure you are always able to destroy a piece or two of theirs.<br /> <br /> '''2) Hand Management'''<br /> <br /> ''Play or discard cards rather than letting them go stale.'' Don't grow too attached to a card unless you're absolutely sure you need to use it soon to accomplish a task. If it's not helping you, get rid of it by summoning it, even if you can't trigger its effects, or discarding it. The smaller your deck, the more precise your endgame play will be, as you will know with certainty what you will draw; and if you cannot score 9 points, you want to be the person who triggers the endgame by running out of cards. -- By discarding you can also get rid of a flare that is hard to trigger, or Legends that are not useful.<br /> <br /> ''Anticipate key cards in your deck.'' Don't just set up existing patterns in your hand (though do that too!); if you know a useful card is in your deck, try to keep a few pieces on the board that will help you achieve that pattern. It might be the next card you draw. (E.g. if you have the Highland deck, try to maintain a few pieces at the corners of a green square in anticipation of Ritual Master, or a bow-shape for Warlord / Eagle Lord.) When you're just starting out, it is impossible to remember all the cards, but be aware of the most powerful and disruptive ones: Hypnotist and Bomb (North/South Empire); Everfrost Sentinel; Blood Shaman and Ritual Master (Highland); Forest Ancient (Sylvan); and Leviathan and Time Elemental (Legends).<br /> <br /> ''Track the cards.'' If you are playing a turn-based game, use the Notes feature of BGA to keep track of both your cards and your opponent's.<br /> <br /> ''Learn the decks and Legendary Beings.'' To reiterate: as a beginner, ''do not worry about memorizing every single card!'' But eventually you will need to be able to recognize patterns that your opponent is trying to form, and know what's coming up in your own deck that might be useful.<br /> <br /> '''3) Flares'''<br /> <br /> ''Be wary of flares.'' A typical beginner's mistake iis to assume that accumulating more pieces than your opponent, and destroying many of your opponent's pieces, is a good idea. But '''this approach will usually lose the game,''' because it gives an opponent the opportunity to flare every turn. Extra actions are extremely valuable in Tash-Kalar--often they are the deciding factor in claiming a task or totally reshaping the board--so don't let your opponent get flares easily. If you are ahead in piece-count, try to stay ahead by a maximum of 2 heroic pieces and 3 pieces in total--this guarantees that only one flare (the 2/5 one) is playable. If you must exceed that limit, avoid triggering top and bottom flares at once. (The upper number on flares ranges from 2 to 5; the lower number from 4 to 6.)<br /> <br /> ''Play your flare!'' If you can play it, the vast majority of the time you should. This is true even if it does nothing helpful--in that case, play it simply to discard it and get a more useful one in return.<br /> <br /> '''4) Tasks'''<br /> <br /> ''Prioritize 1- and 2-point tasks, not 3-pointers and Legends.'' In particular, Side Chain and Corner Chain are very difficult to achieve without an exorbitant cost. Legends are good but since the 1 point they give is no better than an easily achievable 1-point task, and can be taken away from you, they should not be a major priority unless they help accomplish a task. You need to claim very easy tasks before your opponent does, as they stack up quickly--in particular, never leave End of Legends, Heroic Destruction or Rainbow Domination unclaimed for long, as they are the easiest 2-point tasks to claim.<br /> <br /> '''5) Opening Moves'''<br /> <br /> In general (though this advice is dependent on your initial draw and the first tasks available), place your first pieces near the centre but somewhat off-centre, and in the vicinity of coloured squares. This maximizes control of the board, positional flexibility, and ability to engage in direct conflict or move away from it. If your hand is full of 2- and 3-piece patterns, being right next to your opponent's pieces is good, as you will be able to destroy their pieces easily. If it's full of 4- and 5-piece patterns, keep more distance at first.<br /> <br /> '''6) Patience'''<br /> <br /> Tash-Kalar games tend to have a dramatic mid-game &quot;bounce&quot;: it is very hard to hang on to an early lead, because the player in the lead will have typically grabbed all the tasks they can easily grab, used their best cards, and be on the verge of giving up flares. If you are behind, even by a substantial number of points, do not give in easily, especially since you will have a more precise sense of what's in your deck and your opponent's and can plan accordingly. If you are ahead, be wary: start reducing your piece-count, and if you have a strong lead, summon (or discard) Beings as much as possible to hasten the endgame.<br /> <br /> == Cards ==<br /> <br /> Here is a full list of all cards in Tash-Kalar's BGA implementation (numbers denote the pieces in the pattern):<br /> <br /> '''IMPERIAL'''<br /> * 2: Messenger, Swordmaster, Bomb<br /> * 3: Chronicler, Herald, High Priestess, Summoner, Cannon, Assassin<br /> * 4: Gryphon Rider, Knight, Master of Intrigue, Cavalry Captain, Infantry Captain, Champion, Time Mage, Gun Tower, Hypnotist<br /> <br /> '''SYLVAN'''<br /> * 2: Sapling, Kiskin Farseeders, Forest Wardens<br /> * 3: Naiad, Charging Buck, Kiskin Spirit, Dryad, Forest Mystic, Sylvan Princess, Woodland Druid<br /> * 4: Unicorn, Kiskin Boughrunner, Kiskin Leafsplitter, Centaur Spearman, Forest Ancient, Centaur Chieftain, Sylvan Queen, Tree Shepherd<br /> <br /> '''HIGHLAND'''<br /> * 2: Ritual Keeper, Wild Eagle, Clan Axeman<br /> * 3: Dire Wolf, Clan Healer, Clan Guardian, Ritual Master, Hungry Bear<br /> * 4: Wolf Rider, Mountain Troll, Hill Giant, Eagle Lord, War Summoner, War Drummer, Legend Slayer, Blood Shaman, Werewolf<br /> * 5: Warlord<br /> <br /> '''EVERFROST'''<br /> * 2: Snow Fox, Crystal Mirror, Crystal Grower<br /> * 3: Ice Princess, Royal Reindeer, Frostweave Illusionist, Frostweave Summoner, Frost Imp, Frozen Chest<br /> * 4: Winter Whisperer, Glacier Giant, Ice Queen, Ice Wyvern, Everfrost Sentinel, Deathbringer, War Sled, Polar Bear, Snow Monster<br /> <br /> '''LEGENDS'''<br /> * Time Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Storm Elemental, Leviathan, Hell Bull, Angel of Death, Two-Headed Dragon, Fire Dragon, Titan, Bone Catapult</div>

Nandblock https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/index.php?title=Talk:Gamehelpincangold&diff=2243 2017-02-15T20:09:44Z

<p>Nandblock: Created page with &quot;Is Incan Gold / Diamant even on BGA? Or is this a help page for a game in the process of adaptation for BGA? --nandblock&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>Is Incan Gold / Diamant even on BGA? Or is this a help page for a game in the process of adaptation for BGA? --nandblock</div>

Nandblock