10-17-2007, 08:47 PM
Carcassone: Hunters & Gatherers (BDG)
ERIC RIDLEY looks at this boardgame from Rio Grande ...
Hunters & Gatherers is the prequel of sorts to the original Carcassone. For those of you who have not played the original, it was a tile-based game of medieval settlement. So with Hunters & Gatherers it comes as little surprise to hear that it is a tile based game about life in the days of prehistoric man.
The idea is that you each play the part of a tribe of cavemen struggling for hairy backed survival on the plains of Carcassone. The rules are simple: to be the player with the most points after all of the seventy-nine land tiles have been placed. Each turn you place a tile on the table to match up with all the other tiles that it touches. Then you may either place a hunter in an attempt to score points, or pass. You place the hunter on specific geological features such as forests, rivers or plains that appear on the tile you have just placed. Every time a feature is completed you score points for it. For example, if you have a hunter in a forest and the forest is completed, by having a tile placed that closes off any other expandable edges, then you score two points for each part of a forest on the tiles.
The game continues in this bloodthirsty and violent manor until all the tiles are placed, at which point the rules state that a battle between players should occur, the last homo-sapiens standing wins the game. Or indeed you could use the victory point system also included with the game.
This game has seen a huge amount of play with my group since we got it. We haven't enjoyed a game as much in quite some time. It is a blend of luck and forward thinking. The game just draws you in with beautiful pieces and a very simple system. However, it is not a game that requires inordinate amounts of strategic thinking, and sometimes can become a case of just following convention. This could be a problem if you are a major league intellectual, but it causes no such setbacks with me.
Hunters and Gatherers is a fine game and it is a pleasant experience to play, but it may not challenge the more serious tabletop strategists among us. It is simple and fun but it has no real meat to master. This could be a problem, or it may be just what you are looking for.
ERIC RIDLEY looks at this boardgame from Rio Grande ...
Hunters & Gatherers is the prequel of sorts to the original Carcassone. For those of you who have not played the original, it was a tile-based game of medieval settlement. So with Hunters & Gatherers it comes as little surprise to hear that it is a tile based game about life in the days of prehistoric man.
The idea is that you each play the part of a tribe of cavemen struggling for hairy backed survival on the plains of Carcassone. The rules are simple: to be the player with the most points after all of the seventy-nine land tiles have been placed. Each turn you place a tile on the table to match up with all the other tiles that it touches. Then you may either place a hunter in an attempt to score points, or pass. You place the hunter on specific geological features such as forests, rivers or plains that appear on the tile you have just placed. Every time a feature is completed you score points for it. For example, if you have a hunter in a forest and the forest is completed, by having a tile placed that closes off any other expandable edges, then you score two points for each part of a forest on the tiles.
The game continues in this bloodthirsty and violent manor until all the tiles are placed, at which point the rules state that a battle between players should occur, the last homo-sapiens standing wins the game. Or indeed you could use the victory point system also included with the game.
This game has seen a huge amount of play with my group since we got it. We haven't enjoyed a game as much in quite some time. It is a blend of luck and forward thinking. The game just draws you in with beautiful pieces and a very simple system. However, it is not a game that requires inordinate amounts of strategic thinking, and sometimes can become a case of just following convention. This could be a problem if you are a major league intellectual, but it causes no such setbacks with me.
Hunters and Gatherers is a fine game and it is a pleasant experience to play, but it may not challenge the more serious tabletop strategists among us. It is simple and fun but it has no real meat to master. This could be a problem, or it may be just what you are looking for.
Eric Ridley
2004-12-06
2004-12-06