Introduction

I play games with a lot of different groups of people. In almost all groups, I'm the one responsible for supplying and explaining the games. Because of this I have to think carefully which games I bring to which groups. These considerations for, in this case, Terakh will be the heart of this review. Hopefully this will give you some insight in whether Terakh is suitable for your specific group.

Information

Terakh is a game by Canadian Stoneplay. It's a strategy game in which players take turns moving their warriors ("Inkas") to kill of the opponent main unit ("Elder") through dice-based combat. Each player also has a magical orb which they can bestow on one of their warriors which in turn becomes an "Idol". Idols have special powers and can gain experience through succesful combat. The players can cast magical spells based on cards and area control on the board. The board itself is made up of triangles ("Battle Plane") which can be rotated by the Elders. The player with the last Elder remaining wins the game. Note that there is no player elimination, although losing your elder means crippling your potential. The new 2007 rules fix this somewhat-ish.

The rules are few and clear, although supplying each player with a player aid will certainly speed up play. Some play situations will leave the rules ambiguous, but that's easily fixed by adding some house rules.

The components are ok. The main units and the dice are made of the same plastic, which feels kind of cheapish to me. The dice number are in black which is VERY hard to read in low-light conditions. I fixed this by using a white correction marker (will post pic later). The triangle boards, however, are top-notch. Mounted on very thick cardboard with felt on the bottom. The game is also supplied with rubber bands which can be wrapped around the "legs" of an Idol, indicating experience. Very original, but very fiddly as well. Hard to say if they will endure the test of time.

The game scales well up to 6 players, although playtime increases exponentially. It's fast action with lots of dicing and little downtime.

What will "they" think of Terakh?
Note that the stars indicate preference/attitude and not quantity, i.e. 1 star for playing time for a eurogamer means a dislike for duration for this game (i.e. too long). More stars equals more positive on a given subject. Of course caveat emptor and YMMV, because this classification is highly subjective. This means that these ratings are based on my opinion and experiences and may not correspond with others. Please leave some constructive feedback and I'll adjust the ratings accordingly.

1) Euro-gamers
overall
learning curve
playing time
strategy & tactics
luck
participation & downtime
fun-factor
look & feel
chance to hit the table

2) War-gamers
overall
learning curve
playing time
strategy & tactics
luck
participation & downtime
fun-factor
look & feel
chance to hit the table

3) Ameritrashers
overall
learning curve
playing time
strategy & tactics
luck
participation & downtime
fun-factor
look & feel
chance to hit the table

4) Non-gamers
overall
learning curve
playing time
strategy & tactics
luck
participation & downtime
fun-factor
look & feel
chance to hit the table

My $0.02 on Terakh

Without confining myself to a specific group I can only say that I thoroughly enjoy playing Terakh. For me, it has the same nice mix between strategy and luck that War of the Ring also has. I dislike the semi-player-elimination-thing when a player loses his Elder, but the latest rules try to mitigate this. Another big upside for me is how well the game scales from 2 to 6 players. In short, I'll never pass up on a game of Terakh!