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ELFENLAND
by Alan R. Moon
art Doris Matthaus
publish Amigo/Rio Grande
Players: 2-6
Duration: 60 mins.
PACE: Medium. Sometimes pausing to evaluate a few possible routes.
COMPLEXITY: Medium. Takes a few minutes to learn and a few games to get the hang of. Not too hard on the brain though.
LUCK: Some. Bad luck (tile draw & card draw) can hurt a turn, but players can mitigate bad luck by good planning.
TENSION: High. Hoping for the right combo of cards and tiles, or hoping for a player to help you piggyback.
VICIOUS: Medium. The game seems very friendly until those obstacle markers start getting played in rounds 3 and 4! Then you see who your friends are.
SOCIAL: Some. Concentration required but impeding other peoples travels can allow for some laughter and groans..
VISUALS: Beautiful fairy-tale art on board and cards with very classy wooden pieces. Nice colors.
THEME: High. The art conveys the theme well. It does feel like you are traveling through Elfenland.
GAMER APPEAL: Yes; quite good.
NON-GAMER APPEAL: Yes; art, strategy/luck balance, and theme make great non-gamer material.
2 PLAYERS: Unknown: Have not played yet. Suspect 2 player less interactive, but playable.
REPLAY: Very Good; The game is strategic and planning 'piggybacks' for efficient travel make for a good challenge. Great visuals and perfect theme.
I've played 3+ times.
Good with 3-6 players.
Best with 3-6 players. |
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Quick summary | In Elfenland you get a game that looks so beautiful and whimsical that you almost feel like you are playing a delightful children's fairy tale. But don't let my rather lofty aesthetic reflections turn you off this game. It is good, really good. Awesome card management combined with tough decisions about how to get to all the cities. The general idea behind Elfenland is to try and visit all 20 cities on the map in 4 rounds. Players have two parts to their turn: playing down marker on the roads on the board; then using the cards in their hand to match the markers which allows them to travel on that road. So if I put a pig between points A and B, I can travel that path if I play a pig card. Where the game gets interesting is that everyone has a different distribution of cards and markers, and of course, they have different ideas from you on how best to move across the board. Did they play a marker that helps you? Great, use it on the travel phase. But what if you don't have a card that matches it? Looks like you're on your own. So managing your cards and trying to utilize other players markers is the key to effiency. Racing around the realm with the different modes of transportation, trying to find a Dragon to take you across the desert, or being stopped short in the mountains because you have a Magic Cloud, but only Elf Cycles are permitted to pass thru--what an adventure! The game sounds too simple, which is why I didn't play it sooner. Who wants to race magic clouds through a fairy-tale setting? (Well, okay, I admit that lots of people including myself would really like to try something like that!) But as a game, I thought that it sounded too simple--almost like Sorry or Frustration with really good art. Well, that misconception got cleared up in a hurry. This is a great family game, a great gamer game, and it scales well from 3-6 players (something that can be said for VERY few games). I highly recommend this one to everyone. |
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