Game: Anasazi

Thread: Re: Questions - lots of questions

Knartz — 2008-09-13T07:51:53+00:00

1) Expeditions can end "hanging".
2) Expeditions can not be not from a basecamp, and can end "hanging".
3) The Rules say, "between the mesas", so not between mesa and basecamp.
4) You cannot place Expeditions over your fellow players camps. But as soon as they do that - touching is enough, no need for crossing - you are free to continue the expedition.

Happy gaming,
Dennis

Thread: Questions - lots of questions

mogli43 — 2008-09-10T10:30:06+00:00

Hi All,

I recently bought this game on a hunch and I am now trying to learn it before I teach it to my game group. I have some questions I would be grateful if anyone knows the answers to:

1) When I start an expedition from one of the six basecamps, does it have to touch another tile (camp or mesa), or can one end be left "hanging" in the air?

2) Same question as above but when an expedition is not from the basecamp - can I extend an expedition but leave the explorer end hanging, or does it always have to touch a tile?

3) Camps - placing. The rules say that you can place camps in the "valleys" between mesas. Can you also place them between the base camps and the mesas?

4) The rules say you can only place expeditions on top of your own campsites. However they then say:

If the end of an expedition marker is on top of a campsite (i.e. it has not completely crossed the campsite) than any player (not just the owner of the campsite) can play a tile to continue that expedition)

This is not clear to me - does the inverse of this rule apply? I.e. if it does cross the campsite, then only the owning player may continue the expedition? How does this rule not contradict the rule of only placing expeditions on your own campsites?

... Basically what I don't understand is if or how your campsites "block" other players from continuing expeditions that cross them, or
what bonus they give you other than allowing you to steal another players treasure.

Thanks,

Roy

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Ceryon — 2008-02-01T23:27:03+00:00

First not slightly rotated image of the box front

Thread: [Review] Anasazi

TomVasel — 2007-06-19T14:02:15+00:00

Anasazi (Phalanx and Mayfair Games, 2006 – Klaus-Jurgen Wrede) is a difficult game to quantify. It’s a game that has elements of dexterity, an unusual theme (the Anasazi Indians in the American Southwest), and mechanics unlike any other game that I’ve played. Coming from the man who designed Carcassonne, I was expecting something fairly interesting, especially considering the odd components.

And I found playing Anasazi a pleasant experience. It’s not a great game, or one that I would request often, but I’d not turn down a game. The odd mechanics are probably too odd for this to become a major hit, and the drab artwork on the box certainly doesn’t help matters! The game can have some heated interaction and allows players to really mess with each other during the quick games. It feels fairly random (and perhaps it is), and everyone had a good time; but it has a few flaws that keep me from wanting to play it more often.

A pile of mesa pieces is placed on the board in a pattern shown by the rulebook. Each of these mesas are large cardboard tokens with pueblos marked on them. Players place six start tiles in a circle around the outer mesas, and then sixteen small towers (each with a hidden color on the bottom – red, yellow, blue, or white) are placed on any pueblo that has a dividing line on it. On the other half, as well as non-divided pueblos, players place a random “treasure” (colored cubes). A bonus treasure of each type is placed near the board, as well as a scoring track for the different colors. A pile of mission cards (each denoting a different color) is shuffled, and each player randomly takes one. Players take seven “camp” tokens of their color and in turn order place two of them between the mesas. The spaces between the mesas are known as the valleys. A pile of expedition markers (long thin cardboard tokens showing a ladder and a little man on one end) is placed near the board. Players are allowed to secretly look at the base of any three of the towers at this point. Then, one player is chosen to go first, and then play passes clockwise around the table.

On a player’s turn, they may take two actions. There are two things that they may choose from, and they may do the same action twice.
- Set up another camp: The player may take one of their camps and place it in any valley on the board, as long as it sits flat on the table. The player may then look secretly at the base of any one tower.
- Take part in an expedition: The player takes an expedition marker and adds to the end of an expedition. They may place the tile any way they want, as long as the new tile covers up the little man on the preceding tile. The first marker must start on a start tile (one per tile), and after that, they may go in any direction – even crossing each other.

If a player places an expedition marker so that it is the first one to touch a mesa, the player may look at one of the towers on that mesa. When a player touches the line around a pueblo with an expedition marker, they receive the treasure in that space. If there is a tower, it is removed, revealed, and placed on the first available space on the corresponding color track. When a player touches one of their own camps with an expedition marker, they may take a treasure token from another player.

The game continues until either all the expedition markers have been placed, or when four towers of one color have been placed on the color track. When this happens, players score points for each of their treasures. Treasures are worth one point for each color dot VISIBLE (not covered by a tower) on their color track – there are five spaces to start with. If the player has a bonus card for a specific color, those treasures are worth double points. The player with the most points is the winner!

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: Setting up this game requires more table space than you might think, and it’s a bit of a chore as you have to make sure the mesas are at least similarly laid out as shown in the rulebook. The towers are white blocks onto which you must affix stickers to the bottom – a bit crude, but it works. The mesas themselves are nice, with easily defined pueblos and nice scenery. I do have one large problem with the mesas, however. Unless you play the game on a tablecloth, they slide around too easily; and in a game that requires skillful placement of tiles, this can be a liability. The cubes and start tiles are nice; the base camps are okay, although the colored tents on them can be difficult to see in poor lighting. Everything has a bit of a dull overtone, because of the desert theme, I suppose, but it just isn’t very exciting. The name and box are just vastly uninspiring, and I had to talk one group into playing the game, as they thought it looked horrifically boring.

2.) Rules: The rulebook explains everything fairly clearly, although the strange naming doesn’t help too much. People understood the game easily – although the scoring takes a bit to understand, as it seems a bit reversed to some.

3.) Arguing: One of the major faults I would have with the game is what I call the “debate” factor. With the possibility of the mesas sliding around, it’s sometimes a close call as to whether an expedition tile actually makes it onto a mesa or pueblo or not. In every game, I have seen this hotly contested, and it takes some of the joy out of the game. Now you might exclaim that the problem lies with the players, not the game, but I would contest that we are working with tiles so small that too many close calls happen for me to be comfortable.

4.) Bonus cards: This is another problem I have with the game, as players are seeking to get cubes of a specific color. First of all, there is no reason at all that these should be secret – the first time a player has a chance to steal a color, everyone knows what their card is. Secondly, there are TWO cards of each color. If two players get the same color bonus, they will be fighting over it, while the other players are laughing as they go their merry ways. I really didn’t understand why there are two of each card, especially in a game that only supports four players.

5.) Strategy: Lest this sound like I hate the game, it actually has some fun ideas. You want to extend the expeditions, but not too far, because then another person will get the benefits. Players also want to force the expeditions towards towers/cubes that they want, and it’s a neat idea to be able to place base camps. Camps don’t seem to help much, but having a knowledge of which tower is where is critical – I’ve seen people lose because they extended into a tower that devalued the color they had the most cubes from. Know which towers are which, and remember where they are! (something I had a lot of trouble with)

6.) Fun Factor: Taking away the arguing and piece shuffling, the game is fairly fun. For one thing, it’s fast, and it’s an enjoyable thing to watch the expeditions trail around the board. I like the idea of making other players’ treasures worthless and steering the expeditions to the places I want. Anasazi won’t win any points for deep strategy, but it is entertaining for a short while.

I wouldn’t recommend that people pick up Anasazi without giving it a try first, as it certainly is unusual and may surprise people expecting a “normal” game. The arguing and physical laying of the pieces may annoy some, and I don’t like the current bonus card situation. However, changing that to just one card per player, and playing this game on occasion with people who don’t take life so seriously, I have a little fun but not enough to want to do it twice in a row.

Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”
www.thedicetower.com

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KSensei — 2007-02-24T05:40:08+00:00

Center Mesa

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KSensei — 2007-02-24T05:39:12+00:00

Scoring Tile

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KSensei — 2007-02-24T05:38:34+00:00

Expidition Markers (I scanned them backwards, the little guys should be covered by the next tile.)

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KSensei — 2007-02-24T05:37:25+00:00

Base Camps

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KSensei — 2007-02-24T05:36:46+00:00

Anasazi Bonus Cards

Thread: Looks great, but lacking.

KSensei — 2007-02-21T05:24:05+00:00

About a month ago I was traveling through Vancouver Washington. I found a game store there (Z Games) and went in hoping to pick up something new/different that we didn't sell at our game store back home (World Games of Montana). As hoped they had a lot of games that I had only read about here on BGG. I introduced myself to the lady working at the store and asked for her advice in choosing a new game. I had actually hoped that she would convince me to buy Leonardo Davinci. In the end though, I settled on Anasazi. (I use the word "settle" to forshadow my opinion of this game).

Set Up

In the game players are explorers that explore Pueblos of the Anasazi looking for treasure in the form of various colored wooden cubes. The board is made up of irregular-shaped mesa tiles which contain the Pueblos. One large tile is placed in the center of the table and two concentric rings of 12 and 15 tiles surround it. One treasure cube (of the four colors; red, yellow, white, or blue) is placed on every pueblo. On 16 pueblos (the ones divided in two)a tower is placed. (A tower is taller rectangular block with a sticker of one of the four colors on the bottom--I will explain the purpose of these later on.)

The spaces between the tiles are considered to be the valleys between the mesas. Six circular base camp (starting point) tiles are placed around the outside ring of mesas and players each place 2 of their 7 campsites anywhere on the board. In the end the board is sort of an orginized chaos--this is what initially attracted me to the game.

Lastly players dealt a goal card. There are 8 goal cards (one for each color) which double the value of all cubes of that color collected by the player.

Gameplay

A player may do 2 actions on their turn. There are two possible actions--Builld a Campsite or Guide an Expiditon. The player may do either of them twice or each of them once.

To build a campsite a player takes one of their 5 remaining campsite tiles and places it in the valleys between any of the mesas on the board. After doing so the player may look at the colored dot at the base of any of the tower on the board. In this way a player gathers information about what color towers are where. As I will show later, a player does not want to remove towers that have dots that match the color from play. Also, campsites have an added bonus that I will explain in the next action.

To guide an expidition a player takes an expidition marker and puts it into play. An expidition marker is a rectangular tile with a series of ladders on it and a little explorer character at one end. One can begin a new expidition by placing one end so that it touches one of the six original base camps aiming it towards a mesa. Or, one can extend a previously started expidition (by any player) by placing it at the end of an already played marker. The end without the explorer must cover the end with the explorer on the old tile.

Different things may occur depending on where the end of an expidition marker ends up.

1. When an expidition marker touches a mesa for the first time the player placing the expidtion marker may look at the colored dot on any tower on that tile.

2. If the expidition marker reaches a pueblo with a treasure cube on it the player takes that cube and places it in front of him or her. It will be scored at the end of the game.

3. If the expidition marker reaches a pueblo with a tower the tower is removed from the board and placed on the "scoring tile."

4. If the expidition marker ends on a campsite (and one can only play onto their own campsites) then that player may steal a treasure cube from any other player.

It should be noted that players are never allowed to place a expidition marker to "see if it fits or not." Its an all or nothing situation here.

Scoring

The game ends when either the last expidition marker is placed or the 4th tower of a color is placed onto the scoring tile.

Scoring in this game is similar to that in Ys or Gheos where the cubes have a fluctuating value. Here is where the towers come into play. Each color is worth anywhere from 1 to 5 points. The more towers that have been removed for a color the fewer points that color is worth. Players double the points for all the cubes that their goal color matches. I should also note that an additional bonus cubes are given to the player(s) that collect the most of each color. Its just a quick add up of points and the most points wins.

THoughts

Again I thought the board/tiles were really great looking. They make for a board that doesn't look like any other game that I have ever seen. It defintely grabs your attention when you see it.

The components are just as good as any other comparable game. Tiles are about as thick as Carcassonne tiles and the wooden cubes are the same as all the other games with wooden cubes.

I'm still searching for the best words to describe what I feel are the major drawbacks of the game. First of all since the tiles are just sort of haphazardly set up--therefore their distances never being the same--and the expidition markers being a fixed length, it doesn't seem to me that any kind of strategy can be learned from one game and carried over into the next.

Also, since you can't measure to see if tiles will fit, the game really leans heavily on ones ability to judge short distances. Thats something that I'm not quite convinced should have a game made about.

I really liked the idea of exploring these pueblos found on the mesas for treasure, but it didn't seem like same-sized expidtion markers were the best way about doing that. Further more at times I would angle the expidition towards one mesa and my opponent would turn it towards another on his. It seem like at times we just ziz-zaged back and forth and never really got anywhere.

I've only played it the one time. I wasn't absolutely disappointed by the game, but then again, I wasn't expecting anything spectacular. I would play it again, but only if I knew for sure that I would also be able to play other games that I enjoy more afterwards.

Thread: Small table? bad setup? Will we ever know?

i7dealer — 2007-01-30T17:08:35+00:00

It was winding down to the end of the con but we had time for just one more game, as long as it was quick. Jesse had recently acquired Anasazi, and was hoping to get it played so we went along with the suggestion. The group was Jesse, Michael, myself, and I guy who I had just met that evening and now I don't know his name. We'll call him Guy.

We had a bit of a problem setting the game up, it seemed our table wasn't deep enough to hold the circle that the book was telling us to make with the pieces. To get all the pieces to fit we made more like concetric ovals (just slightly) and some pieces were pretty far apart. We couldn't tell from the instructions the intent behind the rules like "each piece should be 1 ladder away from at least one other". We made sure that there was at least 1 close piece relative to each peice but there were large gaps in the board in various places. We were unsure.

The game itself sounded interesting from the rules. Place ladders so that you can acquire cubes and trigger making certain cubes suckier. Also, you have a secret cube color that is worth double to you. I got dealt white and all the white cubes happened to be clustered in an arc on the outer ring. This made it a fairly straight forward process of going and getting them, and discouraging inward movement with my tents. We used them like blocking devices, running a ladder up to empty space in the direction we didn't want to go and then placing a tent perpendicular to that. It effectively guided the ladders where we wanted them to go.

So, as the game goes along I get almost exclusively white cubes. No reason to hide my intentions I guess. Guy and Michael uncover columns that take white down 2 notches. I mess up red and blue a bit by uncovering those columns. Jesse runs a ladder well within reach of a column only he knows the value of and Michael lays a tent for the block. Funnily enough, this was another white column and Jesse thought he was setting Michael up with something tempting. Michael believed he was being set up to hurt himself, and wasn't biting. Michael had also managed to gather quite a few red cubes (like 4 or 5) but I still had a couple more white cubes than he did.

In the end, the game ended with ladder exhaustion being the cause. I won by a slight margain with Michael right on my heels. Jesse and Guy were a bit further behind. I believe the ending points were something like 50, 48, 20 somethings for the other two. In trying to get only certain cubes Guy and Jesse seemed to hurt their score. I concentrated on getting whatever cubes I could get my hands on, white if at all possible. I think Michael had the same idea.

The game seemed a bit odd and we didn't really seem to enjoy ourselves. The way the rules read it seemed like there would be really sucky cubes and really nice cubes. But with 3 other people not wanting you to have really nice cubes, it seems highly unlikely that any one type of cube will stand out as awesome. This seems to make the cubes average to be very similar, and this reinforces the "just get any cubes" idea.

Thread: Anasazi -- First Impressions

gschloesser — 2006-12-27T14:15:16+00:00

Editor’s Note: My full review of Anasazi will be published after further playings. The following is based on my initial playing.

The Anasazi were a fascinating people. Their legacy includes a litany of intriguing buildings constructed in the deserts of the American southwest. After flourishing for centuries, the civilization vanished rather suddenly, leaving a mystery that endures to this day. This mystery is the stuff of legend and makes for a wonderful story, and perhaps even an outstanding board game. Sadly, Anasazi by Klaus-Jurgen Wrede, is not that game.

Over two dozen mesa tiles are arranged on the table in concentric circles. Treasures of four different colors are placed on the pueblos depicted on the mesas. In addition, sixteen towers are placed on pre-designed mesas. Each tower depicts one of the same four colors as the treasures, but the identity of each is initially concealed. Towers serve both as a trigger to ending the game, as well as the determining factor for the ultimate value of the treasures collected by the players.

Game play is quite simple. Each turn, a player perform two actions, including, if desired, performing the same action twice.

Build a campsite. A campsite is placed onto the table between mesas. After placing a campsite, the player may secretly look at the color of one of the towers. This information can be quite useful when playing expedition tiles.

Guide an Expedition. The player takes one expedition marker and places it onto the table. Expeditions begin at one of the six base camps, and extend from there. The slender, rectangular tiles are laid end-to-end, with each one slightly overlapping the previous tiles. The tiles may be turned at various angles, allowing the path of the expedition to be redirected at the whim of the players. The idea is to reach pueblos and collect the treasures – and perhaps towers – located thereupon. Treasures are kept by the players, while towers are revealed and placed upon the scoring tile.

If an expedition tile touches a mesa for the first time, the player may secretly look at the tower on that mesa, noting its color. It is important to remember the identity of the towers, as players will want to avoid collecting towers that match the color of their secret “goal” card. Having as few of these colored towers placed to the scoring tile as possible is highly desirable, as it will increase the value of that treasure.

When a player places an expedition tile that touches one of his own campsites, he may steal a treasure of his choice from an opponent. This is the major incentive to placing new campsites, as this theft can deny several points to an opponent and increase your own victory point tally.

The scoring tile depicts four tracks with five spaced each, one for each color. The game ends either when all expedition tiles have been placed, or when one track has four towers upon it, at which point the value of each treasure is determined. The value of a treasure is equal to the number of uncovered spaces upon its corresponding track. For example, if two yellow towers have been placed upon the track when the game ends, there will be three uncovered yellow spaces. This means each yellow treasure is worth 3 points.

Each player tallies the value of his captured treasures, doubling the value of the treasures that match his goal card. The wealthiest player is victorious. They also gain the ignominious distinction of being the most prolific looter of ancient treasures.

In spite of its appealing subject matter, Anasazi falls flat on several levels. It fails to evoke the rich mystery of the culture. There really isn’t much atmosphere here. Further, it is difficult to balance the slim expedition tiles when overlapping them. They constantly slide off, causing the tiles to move and shift. In a game where centimeters are critical, this is quite problematic. The art on some of the tiles is also difficult to discern. Expedition tiles depict a tiny human figure atop a ladder, but it is a bit too diminutive for my aging eyes. The color of the base camps is also difficult to discern. Brighter colors would certainly have been easier.

Unfortunately, game play is also lacking. Players are hesitant to move an expedition close to a treasure lest an opponent use his turn to reach and claim the prize. Sadly, there really aren’t many alternatives, as inevitably someone will eventually begin moving the expedition towards the treasures. More often than not, being able to grab a treasure is due to the tile placement of the player immediately preceding your turn. There is no disincentive to collecting treasures, so players will grab any treasure within reach. Perhaps if certain treasures were harmful to a player, then there would be an incentive to exercise other options. As is, there aren’t any.

Further, for the same reasons as described above, once one expedition begins, it is often the best move to simply continue that expedition as opposed to beginning another one. So, one expedition tends to grow swiftly, while others either don’t begin, or progress slowly. This greatly restricted a player’s viable options and made for a lackluster game.

Fortunately, Anasazi plays to completion in 30 minutes or so. Its short duration, however, cannot overcome its flaws and general blasé feel. There simply isn’t anything exciting here. It is truly disappointing that the game couldn’t have done more justice to such a fascinating culture and subject.

Thread: Anasazi -- Eession Report

gschloesser — 2006-12-27T14:13:56+00:00

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Superfage — 2006-11-09T19:12:04+00:00

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simonh — 2006-10-29T00:54:30+00:00

Game in progress

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simonh — 2006-10-29T00:54:26+00:00

The German box cover

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simonh — 2006-10-29T00:49:17+00:00

Thread: Re: Do we have a release date for this?

mrbass — 2006-10-20T17:29:04+00:00

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/129728

Thread: Do we have a release date for this?

Drew1365 — 2006-10-20T01:49:36+00:00

I see preorders up at ThoughtHammer (I assume, for the Mayfair version), but no expected release date listed. Anyone know?

Who's bringing this back from Essen for me?