Tips tigriseuphrates

Starting out

At the beginning of the game, you need to get some leaders out so you can collect points of their colour. There are no optimal, one-size-fits-all openings. You’ll need some tiles to defend your leaders in case of early wars; if you have more than two or three tiles of one colour, it’s often a good idea to start with that leader. Getting out your green and black leaders first on the same temple, at an angle, and next turn reinforcing them with an additional shared red tile is a solid, traditional opening move.

The starting points traditionally considered “good” are F3, F9 and N5. Since there are only three of those, the last player to start in four-player games usually has to get a bit creative.

Starting on the four corner temples (B2, B8, O2 and P2) is rarely a good idea as their treasures get picked first, leaving them vulnerable to a catastrophe. If you do have to start out there, make sure to place an additional temple for support, at least.

The temple on N5 is right next to the only spot where you can build a monument from blue tiles, hence it is sometimes called the “water temple”. With some blue tiles in hand, placing a blue leader here may pay off nicely.

Efficiency

An average game on this site (so far) lasts around 16 or 17 turns, often less. This means you get to make less than 40 moves. You need to make efficient use of those. Remember that placing or moving a leader will not earn you a victory point.

When you start out with a few red tiles in your hand, consider getting a leader on-board by inciting a revolt. This is an efficient move (if you win!), as it will earn you a red point at the same time, and also make life interesting for the other players.

Victory Points

Never forget that your score is determined by your weakest colour. If you have 20 points in red, green and blue, but only 1 black point, your score is still 1. This is why temple treasures are so useful; they count as whatever colour you need most at the moment.

Putting a tile into a kingdom will get you a single victory point. That is not a lot. To win a game you need to look at other sources of points: wars and monuments. Treasures and single tiles are nice for rounding out a score, but wars and monuments will win the game.

Monuments

It is tempting to build a monument as early as possible, but this can backfire easily: you are turning your kingdom into an valuable target at the very same time you are weaking its defences in one colour (and four tiles of the same colour is lot). In other words, don’t build a monument unless you can defend it – for a while. Make sure the effort is worth it.

On the other hand, when other people start putting up the first monuments, you have to decide: either quickly build a monument of your own to keep up, or move to take over someone else’s monument by starting a war or revolt.

Losing a monument

When losing a monument, the first impulse is usually to get right back at the attacker and do unto him. This can lead to a vicious back and forth for little gain. Avoid useless grudge wars. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe that monument has served its purpose. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.

Having fun with monuments

• Spike another player’s half-finished monument with a tile of the wrong colour
• Complete an enemy monument yourself and pick two colours you prefer
• Cut off a leader from his monument with a catastrophe
• Banish a leader by incorporating his only adjacent temple into a new monument
• “Gift” someone a monument, weakening him in a critical colour

You can also place the fourth tile to build a monument and at the same time use it to join two kingdoms. First you finish the war, then you can decide whether to build, and what colour.

Defending against revolts

Sometimes is useful to go on the defensive. To make a kingdom less vulnerable to revolts, plug spaces next to temples. Never leave open a two-temple spot if you can help it. Arranging leaders and temples in a tight grid so that several leaders share one temple is an effective defensive setup, though costly in red tiles and time. Keep in mind that a determined attacker can always place a catastrophe or two, or plug a temple into a walled-up kingdom and start a revolt there. Excessively fortified leaders have been known to attract a veritable barrage of catastrophes.

There is no such thing as an invulnerable kingdom.

Some notes on wars

Revolts often come out of the blue, but you can usually see a war coming. When one kingdom approaches another to within a distance of two fields, an attack becomes possible – two tiles is the distance you can cover in one turn. Consider going on the attack first, if you have the advantage in some colours.

When another kingdom approaches yours to within a single tile, alarm bells should ring. This is the critical distance, because an attacker can play a catastrophe and attack in the same turn. If your kingdom has a vulnerable spot, this can be devastating. It’s almost never wrong to strike first in this situation.

Things to keep in mind

• When joining two kingdoms with a tile, you won’t score a point for that tile.
• You cannot join three kingdoms in one action.
• Also, you cannot place a leader where he would connect two kingdoms.
• Keep an eye on the number of treasures. The game ends as soon as the number of treasures drops below 3, which can come as a rude surprise.

A final thought

There is no such thing as security or safety in this game. Sooner or later, things will always go to hell. Kingdoms will fall apart, monuments will get captured, leaders will be ousted. It’s impossible to always prevent this. You can make the other players work hard and stack the odds in your favour, but it’s the dramatic turns and sudden twists that make this game tense and interesting. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and when in doubt, go on the attack.

Don’t get too attached to the kingdom you built.

Only monuments are forever.

Links

If you want more than the few hints in this quick guide, take a look at this annotated game over on Board Game Geek. It’s a game log with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170187/annotated-game-part-1

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/170597/annotated-game-part-2