Inis Board Game

Product Information

But having the token doesn’t guarantee victory; during the time you collected the token and the next round, you may no longer meet the victory conditions and will not win. I’ve really been enjoying it so far, and I’ve got several of those reviews in the works as we speak. The iron mine card for example lets you dial up the threat of combat by forcing an opponent to lose a clan member and a card. I imagine, because I don’t have any direct experience to say anything stronger, that things get much more sophisticated when you can insinuate hidden motivations of nefarious others into the suspicious minds of your opponents. Whilst it may initially appear to be a war game (especially when played with just two players), it soon becomes apparent with higher player counts that a long protracted war will often leave those players affected at a significant disadvantage to the other players.

Despite the strategy elements and some Euro-style mechanics, if you don’t enjoy direct conflict in your games, this is not for you.Lead one of Ireland’s first peoples and perform legendary exploits in Inis, a two-to-four player board game designed by Christian Martinez and lavishly produced by Matagot. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). It’s a deep game about power struggles, and it’s one that makes a very interesting statement about them.

Deed tokens can be gained through certain actions and allow you to use them to reduce the victory target (i. However, what I would argue is that the game is designed to do this to an extent, and the actual chaos is often less pronounced than the perceived chaos. The red Epic Tale cards can be drawn after certain actions, and they are probably my favorite part of the game.It starts to drag a bit once we’re going back and forth saying, “Wait, now we have to do this before we proceed, and remember in this round you can do this as an action instead of using an action card. Making this all more densely layered in the presence of epic deed tokens – you pick these up for some especially cunning activities conducted in the pursuit of victory. They range from pretty useless (I’m thinking of you, swamp) to allowing you to swap an action card, or gain an advantage in battle. The rules are surprisingly svelte and elegant – you’re unlikely to frighten anyone away with the initial explanation. If you have control of only five territories, your epic deeds will round that up to an even win and then that’s it.

The ponderous beginning and drawn out end are relatively small tapers on an enjoyment curve that bulges generously towards ‘excellent’ in its most exciting moments. The jump from 4 to 5 players, or 5 to 6, can bring in entirely new groups to games, so this is excellent. It all sounds so easy until you realise that the rhythm of this is handled by an uncertain draft of cards where everyone is looking for the leverage needed to secure their own position while unseating yours.Now, Inis (pronounced in-ish) is a fantastic game, because it takes the kingmaking problem and explicitly makes a game about making a king, though not exactly in the way you might be thinking.

Inis is a game deeply rooted in Celtic history and lore in which players win by being elected King of the Island (Inis). This is achieved using cards to recruit and move troops, explore new parts of the island or of course, through war! Generally, the cards let you do things like discover new tiles, place structures on tiles, place or move your clans, draw additional cards, or start a clash. I understand why many games opt for symbols, but I will always prefer written instructions over trying to decipher icons.Hybrid games are all the rage, and this definitely blends a Euro-style card draft – and even some Euro concepts in its combat structure – with the distinct feel of a “troops on a map” game. We all nervously surveyed each other, planning our route to victory and, inevitably, a backup route to victory once the first had been foiled. Player D had been able to retain his exploratory Epic Tale Card and used it again, increasing the unoccupied tiles to five but further expanding.