Crescent Moon

Product Information

If you’ve played Root to death and want something else with that same lop-sided, territorial tussle, Crescent Moon is great. The factions in my – admittedly limited – experience seem really well balanced, and the rules are very easy to follow. It’s also worth trying if you’re tempted by the COIN games but aren’t used to the GMT style of rulebook. You get the sense that this is a game designed for exactly five players, awkwardly stretched to four to give its gorgeous box a little more shelf appeal. The illustrations found in the game were mainly created by someone with Muslim origins and they reference a number of artworks from the Islamic world, which do lend the game an aura of authenticity and help the players immerse themselves in the culture portrayed in the game. The Game The Murshid is really interesting; they have the most cards available for other players to buy on the market, and they work to establish their political influence all over the map. They break ties in places where they have influence. Sometimes, other players will have to pay the Murshid just to make sure they don’t sabotage their plans.

I’ve very few bad things to say about this modern classic in the making, only wishing that the game had a wider player count range so I would have more opportunities to get it to the table. For those whose groups meet the several requirements to enjoy this niche war game, it’s a fantastic experience that few other games can offer. In the end, most of my games were surprisingly close. There was one game where the Murshid won with 36 points, and the Warlord and Caliph tied for second place with 35 points. The crazy thing is, the Nomad paid the Murshid one point in the last year to help win a combat, and had they not done that, there would've been a three-way tie for first, and the Warlord would've won instead since the tiebreaker is most money. It was wild!

The Conditions Have to Be JUST Right

I’m glad to see that there are modular set-ups. Instead of suggested printed layouts, you can vary the layout of tiles in a communal fashion. The river crossing tile sits in the middle, and then every player gets dealt three tiles. Players take it in turns to add a hex into the layout. Using one of the set-up options listed in the rules, Crescent Moon lays out its intentions simply: play 3 or 4 rounds, take 4 actions per round, and find a way to end up with the most points while manipulating influence and military might on a tiny map. A key part of taking actions is tied to the market of Power Cards available in the game. Other issues I stumbled across were the punishing action economy. If you play the three-year game (12 rounds), you have to squeeze every last drop of efficiency out of each turn. Sometimes your turn is merely buying cards. One of the Sultan’s actions is to refresh his own market, which feels particularly harsh!

At first blush, Crescent Moon is easy to compare to Root. While Cole Wehrle’s masterpiece of warring woodland creatures looms large over this new asymmetrical board game, it’s by no means eclipsed - and what emerges from behind that sizeable shadow shines very brightly.

Other conditions? Don’t play the short game. It’s too short. I get why it is here, and I get that in a 5-player game, the “short” game might still work because some players take short turns. Players that know what they are doing can finish the short game even with 5 players in 90 minutes, because they get what things are truly worth. But the short game is just a tad too short, without giving players a sense of what will happen when really interesting opportunities for counterpunches surface. Will you successfully navigate this web of rivalries and rise to prominence, or will you squabble with your lesser adversaries and fade into obscurity? Crescent Moon, by Osprey Games, is an asymmetrical area control game. Five different factions compete to dominate the lands of the Middle East in the 10th century. It’s inevitable that a game of this nature gets slung into the same sentence as Leder Games’ phenomenon, Root. Money and military might both balance on the precarious links between each faction. Players must rely on each other to have any chance of expanding their influence and control over the land and pursuing their own ends. Each player scores points in unique ways at the end of each round - representing one year in the game’s universe - with an additional bonus only available during the first year, smartly pointing players in a suitable starting direction. Each faction’s reference booklet provides clear guidance on their possible actions and unique abilities, alongside helpful advice on how to lean into their distinctive strategies. I adore the game’s combat system. No dice rolling here, instead players use cards bought earlier (specifically bought face up but hidden amidst the hand) to bolster their forces meaning that attentive players will know the capabilities of an opponent’s army, but unsure exactly when they’ll lay down their trump card, making it just as important to buy the right cards as it is to play them at the right time.

Before you jump into a game of Crescent Moon, each player chooses a character to play and takes the corresponding player aid booklet and components (buildings, unit, and influence tokens). The game comes with nifty cloth component bags for each character, which is a nice upgrade included instead of the common plastic bags. As one of many competing factions in the region, you must grab history by the reins and seize power for yourself. Will you successfully navigate this web of rivalries and rise to prominence, or squabble with your lesser adversaries and fade into obscurity? Sultanate 1, Ghaznavid dynasty 2, Fatimid Caliphate 3 and Byzantine Empire 4, amongst others. According to the rulebook “these empires waxed and waned [through diplomacy and conflict], repeatedly wresting power and territory with one another in the lands east of the Mediterranean, as well as pushing into north Africa, the Iberian peninsular and deeper into south and central Asia.”

Crescent Moon has been designed to provide a very high level of interactivity, both on the board and in negotiation, while avoiding being predictable. In area control games it is often advantageous to promise and betray - that comes with the territory (literally). But in Crescent Moon , while it is very hard to win without at least some negotiation, it is not required to always negotiate in bad faith. Because each faction has different ways of scoring points, it is not a zero-sum game. Faction positions can co-exist and overlap on the board. Players can make mutually beneficial agreements that don't inevitably end in betrayal ... Each character is a role, and players should play their roles with relish, but also good humour and grace."

In my few games of Crescent Moon, the hidden victory points kept the gameplay very interesting. You usually had a good idea for the players that were in the lead, but you can't really recall everyone's exact total. This led to mind games, and players pointing fingers at each other claiming so-and-so has the most points, don't help them, or I definitely don't have more points than them, so please help me.When you buy power cards, if the card is in the near, middle, or far market you pay the required number of coins to the player aligned with the card. However, if you buy a card from one of the main markets aligned with your own character, you instead pay half the price to the bank. Alternatively, when you buy a card from the Sultan’s market, you agree on a price, and then pay the agreed upon amount of coins to the Sultan, regardless of which character is aligned with the card. I can't remember the exact moment, but I think in season 2 he just really lets his anger get the best of him, beating people up on the sidewalk for the most trivial stuff. Just his explosive temper,... Importantly, interactions between players are left loose but vital enough to encourage a constant thread of diplomacy even as those same players wrestle over valuable spots on the map, hoping to hold onto them to score points and gain income at the turn of each year. So I found myself referring to my player leaflet a lot. I also had to refer to the rulebook almost every time we had to resolve combat or an influence contest. I feel Crescent Moon is the sort of game that you have to play regularly, at least once a week, and then it probably will start to flow after 3 or 4 games. Maybe that’s just me and others are able to absorb the information more easily. The Verdict