Wayfarers of the South Tigris

Board Game Geek Reviews

1. 8 out of 10

   ButteryMeent

   Loved this game! Was a lot more complex than expected, and took way longer than expected. We were 2 players and it took us three hours for our first play. The AP is strong with this game.

2. 4 out of 10

   Afrochiapet

   Wayfarers’ ambition as a multi-planar tableau builder asks its players to track the interplay of land, water, space, inspiration, and townsfolk cards. Visually it looks great, but the actual incremental gameplay feels arbitrary and sometimes inconsequential (more on that soon). Unfortunately, not all the card mechanics make immediate sense, with the space and inspiration cards being the chief offenders. How will you know that there are only 8 comet cards? If you read the rulebook. What goal is my inspiration card showing me? Check the book. For your first game, expect to reference the rulebook a lot. And expect half those times to involve clarifying the 44 icons the game casually throws around. This is all tied together by a mainboard that displays both the worker placement spots and the end-game journal track. To end the game, a player must reach the end of the journal board. This is where the game can come to a screeching halt. Traversing the journal tracks requires the fulfillment of certain symbol(s), and even when planning it is very possible to be locked out (i.e., that symbol is not available to buy or was taken by another player). This translates to waiting, either by waiting for the market to churn via purchases or taking a chance on some random cards. You might be waiting for a while, which really hurts the game flow. This might be all worth learning if Wayfarers had an interesting hook. However, it seems the main appeal is the illustrated tableau you have by game’s end. The artwork does look nice when laid out, but the gameplay to get there is lackadaisical. The combination of dice placement, worker placement, and tableau-building kind of falls into a heap. There’s an influence mechanic that taxes a particular card but is so miniscule that it feels like a waste of an action. The dice and worker placement have some minor interaction, but I feel like having both adds excess weight to the core gameplay. In my opinion, Wayfarers could have been trimmed down and would not have lost a lot of its core intentions. Unfortunately it did not, and unfortunately I am not a fan.

3. ajewo

   Worker placement Euro game about exploration and science in medieval Arabia by Garphill Games (Raiders of the North Sea, Paladins of the West Kingdom). [b]I like:[/b] + Artwork + Two interacting worker systems: personal dice are used on your own board and colored meeples are used on a common board - the meeples can then be used by other players as well. + Caravan system to mitigate / change your rolled dice. + Tableau building: you add cards to the left and right of your board which represent your exploration progress (somewhat like in Peleponnes). + Upgrade your tableau to get more boni (a bit similar to Space Base: either focus on one pip or spread boni among many pip values). + Small game box. [b]Neutrals:[/b] # Game length is determined by the players. # Some player interaction: shared worker meeples and influence tokens. [b]I do not like:[/b] - Influence tokens as take-that element.