Mesopotamia by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede is an action point, tile laying game for 2-4 players. Players move their tribes through Babylonia building huts, holy sites, making offerings to Marduk, exploring and growing their tribe population. The initial board is made up of seven hexagon tiles, more of which can be added during the course of the game. The game reminds me a little of Tikal, but with a Carcassonne twist.

I'm not going to go through all the rules here, other reviews will have done it before and perhaps better. But, I will do a quick overview.

The first player to deliver all four offerings to the temple is the winner. On a player's turn they get 5 movement points (similar to action points) to move from one tile to another, or move off the board to discover new tiles. A player cannot discover more than three tiles in a turn. When a tribe moves off the board, a new tile is drawn from the common stack. It could be a plains, a forest, a quarry or a volcano. Volcanoes are the “bad” tiles and those are placed somewhere else of the players choice and another tile is drawn. After the movement, they can take one of four actions, a) build a hut, b) erect a holy site, c) grow their population, d) or draw a card. Actions a, b, or c can be taken multiple times if you have the right groups of tribes and resources/huts. Action d can only be take once. After the actions, players will earn mana for tribes on tiles with holy sites (a player only needs one tribe on their own holy site, or two on an opponents.) Mana is used when a player delivers an offering to the temple.

Components: The defining feature about this game is the hex tiles with inter-locking hooks. These allow the board to stay together throughout the game and neat freaks like me will not spend any time pushing awry tiles back into place. The graphic design is by Franz Vohwinkel and he continues his excellent work here. Player pieces come in the standard yellow, red, green and blue. Most of the pieces are dyed wood, octagonal for the tribes, little huts (similar to the ones from Carcassonne: Hunters and Gathers, but larger), along with a cylinder and a rectangular block for keeping track of mana. All cardboard pieces are printed on both sides, although the backs are just for looks, not function. Resources in the game are wood and stone, wood sticks for the wood and small rocks for the stone. The cards are a nice linen finish. The box is Phalanx's large box size (~10.75” x ~14.75).

Scalability: So far, I played Mesopotamia with 2 & 3 players, I haven't had a chance to try it with 4. Resources are still scarce, and the board can get crowded near the center. When resource tiles are drawn, the number of players determines how many wood or stone resources are brought onto the board. I found that the game works well with either number of players.

Complexity/Rules: Mesopotamia is on the light to medium side of things. There are enough choices to keep the gamers interested, while not overwhelming the non-gamers with rules. The six pages of rules are clearly written and easy to follow. Included is a quick reference booklet for those that have played before and just need a refresher.

Strategy: Players will need to make the most of their 5 movement points, deciding when to send a tribe out to explore, when to collect them around a hut to make more tribes. Where to grab the wood or stone and where to build the hut or holy site. Should a player build the holy site early, or bring the stone to the temple to increase their mana limit? Is there an advantage to delivering the different offerings (values of 2, 4, 6 & 7) in a particular order? After numerous playings, I do not have the answers to these questions. It is easy to get caught up in the main three actions and forget about the cards, but they can really give a player a boost. One thing does seem to be clear, if a player can arrange a double action turn (building two huts, holy sites, etc) then this will give them a step up.

Play time: My first game, including the reading of the rules with 3 players took around 75 minutes. Other games with 2 players and rules explanation have run 45 minutes to one hour. I have no doubt that future games, where players already know how to play, will last between 30 minutes (for 2) to 60 minutes (for 4). However, similar to other games with action points (I consider the movement points to be very much like action points) there is a chance for analysis paralysis.

In closing, I've found all of my games to be very interesting and I'm looking forward to more playings. I borrowed the copy that I reviewed, so I'll be adding this to my want list and expect to introduce it to both my family and other gamers. The game is attractive, plays quick and is easy to explain.

Four player Mesopotamia was fine. Playing time is one hour.