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Altiplano, a bag-building game along the lines of Orléans set in the South American highlands of the Andes — the Altiplano — is not a simple game, presenting players with new challenges time and again. There are various ways to reach the goal, so the game remains appealing to try out new options and strategies, but success or failure also depends on whether your opponents let you do as you like or thwart the strategy you are pursuing. The competition for the individual types of goods is considerable — as is the fun in snatching a coveted extension card from under another player’s nose!
Each player starts with a unique role tile, giving them access to different goods and methods of production. Players have limited access to production at the start, but they can acquire additional production sites throughout the game that give new options. The numerous goods — such as fish, alpaca, cacao, silver or corn — all have their own characteristics and places where they can be used. For example, while silver can be sold for a high price at the market, fish can be exchanged for other goods at the harbor and alpaca can produce wool that can then be made into cloth at the farm.
Aside from building up an effective production, players must fulfill their orders at the right time, develop the road in good time and store their goods cleverly enough to fill their warehouses in the most valuable way. Often, a good warehouse keeper is more relevant in the end than the best producer.
Ages | 12+ |
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Players | 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players, 5 Players |
Play Time | 60m – 120m |
Designer | Reiner Stockhausen |
Mechanics | Action Points, Contracts, Deck, Bag, and Pool Building, Variable Player Powers |
Theme | Economic |
Publisher | Angry Lion Games, Arrakis Games, Baldar, dlp games, GaGa Games, Giochix.it, Meeple BR Jogos, Pixie Games, Surfin' Meeple China, White Goblin Games, Arclight, Reflexshop, Renegade Game Studios |
Ajax
Same rating as [b]Orleans[/b] right now, but may have the potential to surpass it. It improves on its older brother with the "building market" and other small ways. You get to build a good, meaty engine, but like [b]Orleans[/b], you need to commit to it strongly by about halfway through the game. Loooong game for me, but fun the whole way through. Still, a great design and good production quality. Made even better with those GeekUp bits!
adamredwoods
4 plays / 3,4 players LIKE: The best part is the game's end timer: it's dependent on the players, and fairly easy to run it out quickly, making for an interesting game. Who will end it and which turn? With that mechanism the game can be tight, which I enjoyed. The resource economy feels tighter than Orleans, and the stockhouse is a great mechanism. Several paths to victory-- gaming the stockhouse, the orders, or the premium goods, or even a combination of those. DISLIKE: Largely solitaire, but the game timer and resource depletion makes for some interference. I don't think the timer would be as prominent with 2 players. OVERALL: I liked it, but it is indeed similar to Orleans. Although, it may play a bit faster than Orleans. Worthy of owning both? I don't think so, because the differences are minor.
alek2
Better use of bag building mechanic than in Orlean. Multitude of options. No interaction between players. No theme at all, which is a pity.