Tips tigriseuphrates

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. It often pays to pause and consider: do you really need that monument right now? If you have enough points of that colour, maybe that monument has served its purpose for the moment. You cannot expect to keep a monument to yourself forever in this game.

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.

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 join two kingdoms with a leader.
• 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.

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 the record of a high-level game with commentary, full of valuable insights and lessons; taking the time to think through each move and then playing a few games yourself will get you up to speed very quickly.

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

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