Game: Toscana

Thread: Toscana: a nice elegant filler for 2 players

russ — 2008-06-25T08:49:35+00:00

This 7-year old game has no review yet? Wow.

Toscana is a nice elegant filler for 2 players. It's a tile placement game designed by Niek Neuwahl (better known for his vaguely similar tile placement game Ta Yü). My version is published by Piatnik.

COMPONENTS:
Toscana has a 17x17 square mounted board, and 2 sets of 16 rectangular tiles (one set for each player). These are quite simple but pretty; the art on the tiles represents red roofs and gray plazas in an Italian village, and the green board suggests a Tuscan landscape. The mounted board folds along a center line, and lies open sufficiently flat. There are also some auxiliary scoring chips and veto chips.

The rules are short and pretty clearly written, with just 1 page for each of 3 languages (German, Italian, English). It comes in a relatively small long thin box, 15cm x 30cm x 4cm (about as long as Carcassonne's box, for instance, but not as wide or thick).

This photo shows 5 sample red tiles and 5 sample gray tiles:
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Notice that the 2nd red tile has 2 different red zones, and similarly for the 2nd white tile; that has significant scoring and strategy implications!

GAME PLAY:
Toscana is a tile placement game. The goal is to create the largest set of tiles in your color that are connected. "Connected" is interesting since each tile has a 2x4 array of 8 squares, and to be "connected" for a player, the tiles must touch squares of that player's color. The squares come in 2 colors, corresponding to the players. Each player has a set of 16 tiles. Each of a player's tiles have 6 squares of the player's own color, and 2 squares of the opponent's color. All possible combinations appear exactly once. (Here is some analysis of the tile combinatorics.)

In turn, the players will place randomly drawn tiles from their own stack onto the board (a 17x17 grid). There are 2 placement rules:

1) The first tile must cover the center square of the board.

2) Later tiles must be placed so that at least one square of the player's color touches a square of the player's color on a previously placed tile. ("Touching" means through sides, not just corners.)

In the English rules, it is easy to miss the specific restriction that the touching squares on the new and old tile must be the current player's color (i.e. touching squares of the opponent's color doesn't suffice to make the placement legal).

Note: there is no restriction that tiles must "line up" neatly. As in Niek Neuwahl's vaguely similar design Ta Yü (which uses 1x3 tiles on a square grid), it is fine for only a few squares of one side of a tile to touch a few squares of the side of another tile, and for unplayable gaps to appear between tiles. This photo shows an example of play:
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2 additional features:
1. You actually see what your opponent's next tile will be. According to the rules, the stacks of tiles are face up.
2. You have a "veto" chip which you can use once per game, sending the top tile of the opponent's stack to the bottom, so the next tile must be used instead.

After several plays, we found that the face-up piles were a little cumbersome, as occasionally you can see part of lower tiles in the stack. We experimented with face-down piles, and turning the top one face up at the end of your turn so your opponent can see it.

Ultimately we found that the additional analysis paralysis wasn't worth it for us, and we prefer to simply draw from a face-down pile of tiles at the start of your turn (as is more typical for such games, e.g. Carcassonne, Fjords, Hellas, ...) and not bother with the additional baggage of trying to plan based on the opponent's next tile, or deciding whether to veto it. At least for beginners, I might recommend this simplification; there are already plenty of options on where to place your tiles.

GAME END:
Players keep placing tiles until there is no more legal place for either player to place. It can occasionally happen that one player cannot place their current tile, so they pass, and the next player places a tile.

The goal is to form the largest set of connected tiles. Each tile you have in your largest connected group scores one point. "Connected" does not mean merely that the tiles touch; they must touch via squares of the player's color. Because there are tiles which have 2 separate zones of the player's color, it often happens that tile A connects to tile B, and B connects to C, but A/B/C are not all connected. If a player is not alert, they may not realize until too late that their "huge" connected set of tiles is actually several small connected sets, due to a 2-zone tile in the middle of the sprawl. This can lead to amusing wails of anguish.

The physical process of counting the score can be confusing and cumbersome until one is used to it, so some cheap plastic disks are provided to place on the tiles and aid the process. They're not as nice as the tiles and board, and we ended up replacing them with some nicer spare wooden cubes.

Officially one should play two games as a match, alternating who goes first, and summing the scores from both, since the first player seems to have an advantage. Toscana is sufficiently short that we always do that and find it enjoyable. A 2-game match never lasts more than a half hour for us.

STRATEGY:
The first player seems to have a slight advantage. Basically your goal is to spread yourself as widely as you can, while hindering your opponent's efforts to do the same. When you get a tile that has 2 separated zones of your color, they are sometimes not so useful for expanding yourself, as they often cause a second zone in your color to start forming, which can sometimes prove difficult to connect to the first, especially if your opponent plays to hinder such a connection. So when you get a 2-zone tile, it is often better to use it against your opponent's growth.

Since victory is based on who has the largest connected zone, making your opponent small is often just as good as making yourself big. Remember to consider all possible places for your tile, with an eye to maximizing the difference between your score and your opponents, not just obsessing about how to make your own score as big as possible. Sometimes it's definitely better to use the tile hurt the opponent's zone a lot than to help your own zone somewhat.

If you can keep a single big zone growing, while managing to split your opponent into 2 or more major zones, then you will probably win.

There are lots of little tactical geometry decisions to make. Because the 2x4 tiles do not have to be played in neat alignment (and indeed the board is 17x17), there will be various little 1-square wide "alleys" between tiles. Creating these to consume an opponent's areas with a smaller number of tiles is good. You want to pack as many connected tiles as efficiently as possible into your own areas, while forcing your opponent's areas to have lots of unplayable wasted space and therefore fewer tiles.

Tiles are not explicitly owned for purposes of scoring, and often tiles will end up scoring points for both players.

PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS:
We like the game. It's short enough to play on a whim, and one can always play a single game if a 2-game match is too long. As the rules are simple and elegant, and it's strictly 2-player, it might be a good "couples game". My SO and I enjoy it as such, and sometimes play to decide who has to wash the dishes.

Despite the luck of the draw, there is definitely some skill involved. So that might make it a frustrating "couples game" with a non-gamer partner, who may find that their zones are never connected and large, or who may find it difficult to visualize the connections and count their connected tiles.

Despite the skill, there is definitely some luck. I would say the effects of random tile drawing are mitigated in the midgame when you have many places to put a tile, so if you draw a tile that doesn't work where you'd like to play now, there's probably a good use for it somewhere. But in the endgame, often you need a certain type of tile to connect two specific sets of tiles into a single larger combined set, and if you don't get a suitable tile, too bad. So that might make it a frustrating game for hardcore pure strategy gamers. Still, as in any such game, there is skill involved in arranging things so that bad luck's impact is minimized.

Because it is somewhat old (from 2001) it may be possible to find it cheap, in which case it's certainly worth getting. I had played it a few times when it first appeared, and I remember enjoying it but thinking it seemed pricey for what it was; then last year I saw it on sale for 2 euros or something, and immediately grabbed it, and am quite happy I did.

If you enjoy simple elegant tile placement games that have some luck and skill (e.g. Ta Yü), along with subtly nice art to complement a barely-there theme, I recommend checking out Toscana.

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petersjs — 2007-03-10T03:27:33+00:00

Sample of red player (top) and grey player (bottom) tiles

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petersjs — 2007-03-10T03:08:24+00:00

High rez scan of front of box

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Mariana — 2006-03-19T22:49:27+00:00

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Mariana — 2006-03-19T05:57:03+00:00

Toscana - game components

Thread: Re: Session Report

steveoliverc — 2005-07-19T03:15:33+00:00

TheCat wrote:
I was under the impression it also had to match your own color. For example, the roof player can't play a tile that only links up using plaza, but instead must match at least one imaginary roof square to another imaginary roof square.

You're right.

The description for this game entry here on BGG is incorrect. Paragraph 2) should read something along the lines of --

2) Newly placed tiles must touch -- with a zone of its own color -- a zone of the same color of at least one tile already on the board; i.e., red roof to red roof or plaza to plaza, depending on the color of the tile.

Thread: Toscana solitaire

steveoliverc — 2005-07-19T01:11:00+00:00

Here's how I play Toscana as a solitaire game -- comments appreciated!

Toscana Solitaire

GOAL
Create the largest possible zone of red roofs or plazas in a Tuscan village.

SETUP
Mix, and then arrange the tiles in two face-up stacks, as in the standard 2-player game.
Draw a tile from either stack, and place it over the center square of the board. It can lay any direction as long as it covers the center square of the board.
The color of the tile that is placed first becomes your color for the game (red roofs or plazas). If you picked a red roof tile, then your goal is to create as large of a contiguous zone of roof tiles as possible; likewise, if you place a plaza tile first, you want to create a zone of plazas.

PLACING TILES
Alternate taking tiles from each stack, starting with the opposing color.
Any time that you place a tile of the opposing color, it must connect to the tile which you just placed, and it must connect along a square of the opposing color.
For example, if you placed a red roof as your starting tile, then next you pick the top tile from the plaza pile. It must connect from one of its light colored squares to a light colored square on the red roof tile which you just placed.
When placing tiles of your own color, it is not necessary to connect to the previously-placed tile, although the standard connecting rules apply (as in the 2-player game). That is, the tile must be placed so that it connects to at least one square that matches the color of the tile (red roof or plaza), just as in the regular game.
Continue drawing and placing tiles from alternating stacks.

VETO CHIPS
You may play each of the veto chips once during the game. The chip must match the color of the tile, as in the regular game. (The red chip removes a tile with six rooftops, and the white chip removes a tile with six plazas.) Remove the veto chip and the vetoed tile from the game, and place the next tile from the top of the same stack. In this way, a vetoed tile is removed from play, but you must play the next tile of that color.

GAME END
The game ends immediately if a tile of either color cannot be placed (remember the special requirement above regarding the placement of tiles of the opposing color), or there are no remaining tiles to play.

SCORING
Count the tiles in the largest contiguous zone of connected tiles in your color.
A perfect score is 32.

Thread: Re: Red tile with roof across diagonal?

steveoliverc — 2005-07-09T17:16:11+00:00

We play that tile as if the 2 red rooftops do NOT connect. I agree with you that the illustrator got a little carried away.

BTW, I just got the game yesterday, and after a couple of matches, we really like it. This is 100% pure abstract game of tactics but I think the tacked-on theme is wonderful -- the board looks great as it develops, and the contrast between the red of the rooftops versus the earthen brown of the townsquares is very easy on the eyes, and makes for easy concentration on the zones. This could easily have been done in garishly opposing colors and I'm glad it was done so tastefully. I would enjoy getting the wooden version as well.

Thread: Red tile with roof across diagonal?

NickB — 2005-04-02T17:09:27+00:00

Got this game for Christmas (along with a bunch of others), and finally got to it in the stack. There is one "red" tile that shows a small square roof that goes across what would be 2 diagonally connected roofs that would normally count as separate "zones." However, since the roof overlaps the diagonal, we counted it as joining the 2 zones. Was that right? Or is it just an well intentioned illustration?

Nick

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DougOrleans — 2004-12-08T14:37:38+00:00

game over, using chips to score

Thread: Re:Session Report

TheCat — 2004-11-15T03:59:28+00:00

gschloesser wrote:
2) The newly placed tile must touch a previously played tile with at least one zone of its own color. For example, at least one of the imaginary eight squares on the tile must match at least one imaginary square on a previously played tile; i.e., red roof to red roof or plaza to plaza.

I was under the impression it also had to match your own color. For example, the roof player can't play a tile that only links up using plaza, but instead must match at least one imaginary roof square to another imaginary roof square.

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GSReis — 2004-04-26T22:09:22+00:00

Wooden edition from Philos

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gschloesser — 2002-07-24T05:48:04+00:00

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gschloesser — 2002-07-24T05:47:58+00:00

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greg — 2002-07-20T12:44:46+00:00

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-11-13T06:05:05+00:00

Spouey was able to arrive early, so I introduced him to this clever,
easy and fast 2-player game of developing a Tuscany village. For those
interested, I have a fairly detailed description of the game on the
archives of the Boardgame Geek site.

Spouey played the plazas, while I was constructing roofs. I felt I had
Spouey well cornered, but an oversight on my part allowed him to sneak
past a roof line and connect several more plazas on the northern section
of the board. This left me scrambling, but I was able to make just
enough connections to eke out a narrow victory.

Finals: Greg 20, Spouey 19

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-07-06T06:00:18+00:00

I just received a few new games (Toscana and Meridian) and, as usual, was anxious to play as many of them as possible. Both of these games are released by Piatnik, a company whose games aren't always my personal favorites. Still, both of these titles were appealing, so I dented my gaming budget a bit more and made the purchase.

I coerced my wife Gail into playing Toscana the night before and I was favorably impressed. She wasn't. Of course, the main reason was probably that she really wasn't in the mood for a game in the first place, but played just so I would cease my whining. Another reason is that she really isn't an abstract game fan and, in spite of the abundance of colorful, red-roof tiles representing a medieval town in Tuscany, the game is truly abstract in nature. At one point, I also wasn't a fan of abstract games. I'm beginning to warm to many of them, however, so the abstract nature of Toscana wasn't a detraction for me.

The game itself is very simple and reminds me a bit of Cheapass Games' Very Clever Pipe Game (a game my wife enjoys, by the way). Players each have 16 tiles, each of which shows either sections of roofs or streets/plazas. One set, used by the 'roof' player, has six of the eight imaginary squares on the tile occupied by roof sections. The other set, used by the 'plaza' player, depicts streets/plazas on six of the eight squares on each tile. Each player shuffles their stack of tiles and places them FACE UP before them. This is important in your placement decisions as you can see what your next tile will be, as well as the tile your opponent will be playing next. Thus, you can place your current tile armed with this knowledge and attempt to maximize your points, while hindering your opponents efforts at accumulating points.

The 17x17 board is featureless, which is a bit of a disappointment. I adore the countryside and hill-towns of Italy's Tuscany and Umbria regions and the artwork in this game doesn't begin to do it justice. Perhaps I'm expecting a bit much as it would be difficult for any game to capture the rich flavor and beauty of the region. Toscana, however, doesn't even come close.

Players alternate placing tiles to the board with a few placement restrictions:

1) Tiles much touch at least one previously played tile (not diagonal);

2) The newly placed tile must touch a previously played tile with at least one zone of its own color. For example, at least one of the imaginary eight squares on the tile must match at least one imaginary square on a previously played tile; i.e., red roof to red roof or plaza to plaza.

The object is to form the largest path of connected roofs of plazas as possible by the end of the game. Each tile you have in this connection scores one point. There are little 'tidily wink' markers to aid in this counting process. Each player tallies the tiles in their largest connection and the player with the greatest total is victorious. The rules call for two games, with players alternating sides in the two games. However, I've played three times now, and each time we've settled for a single game.

The only other feature of the game is the veto. Each player has the opportunity to 'veto' an opponent's tile ONCE per game. A chip is simply placed atop the tile atop your opponent's stack to indicate that you are 'vetoing' that tile. The tile is placed on the bottom of his stack and will likely never rise to the top during the game. It's possible, but the game usually concludes by the board filling with tiles before players' stacks deplete. There's a few strategies here, the main one being to veto an opponent's tile which has a solid line of roofs or plazas. These tiles can easily break-up a route of connections you have been diligently constructing. So, when one surfaces, veto it.

The game is VERY easy to learn and plays quickly ... 20 to 30 minutes. I'm not sure there is an abundance of long-term strategies involved, as you are forced to place the upper most tile on your stack as opposed to having several tiles in your hand from which to choose. Thus, the game is one of making the most from the one tile you have to play, but you do, at least, have the knowledge of which tile you and your opponent will be placing next.

I primarily try to keep my own series of connected tiles growing, but will also attempt to place my tiles in such a fashion that it will terminate my opponent's series of connected tiles. This does seem to require a modicum of thought and clever placement ... or at least I'm convincing myself that it does since I've managed to win the first three games I've played so far!

I find the game quick, fun and somewhat challenging. I can see it being a quick filler between games or while waiting for more gamers to arrive. Plus, I can bring it along to family functions and coerce someone to play with me. I can coerce them them by saying it is easy to learn and won't take much of their time! Yeah, I know ... it's pathetic! :o)

I introduced Jim to the game and we played a single match. I played 'plazas', while Jim placed 'roofs'. Jim developed two mid-size regions, but was unable to connect the two. I managed to assemble a large area of connected plazas and captured the victory.

Finals: Greg 20, Jim 12

Ratings: Greg 7, Jim 6

When a second game of Bluff began forming later in the evening, I taught Darren and Keith Toscana. Keith, playing the 'plazas', managed to top Darren with a score which was very similar to Jim and I's game.

Finals: Keith 20, Darren 13