This was the longest I had to wait for a game for quite some time. However... Tapestry arrived today!
I had time this afternoon in between clients to unbox the game and get things ready to start building my civilization after dinner.
As usual, Stonemaier games provide quality! Check this out! 18-landmark minis.
There are 16 different civilizations to play with! The cards are really nicely done, and have this cool 'grit' to them as well. Each civilization has their own unique "ability" / bonus. This allows so much variety in each game! Wow.
There are 6 different city mats. These mats are the layout of your capital city. This is where you place your buildings and landmarks to develop your inner-city map as you become the greatest civilization!
I took a shot of the custom dice for JW. 😉 Custom dice - The science die (left) and two conquer dice.
There are also 2 of these reference guides. The pics above are the same guide, double sided. One side provides the explanations for each section of each of the 4 advancement tracks. Flip it over, and you have an explanation for every technology card in the game, and what bonus comes with upgrading that technology at each level.
Another thing that impressed me; The rulebook is 4 pages! The solo mode / Automa rulebook is 4 pages! Wow!
However after the unboxing, I experienced a screw up and a fried brain. 😂 I decided (as I often do with bigger games, to dive in 2-handed just to get the idea of the main, multiplayer game.
*Disclaimer - In addition to watching Rodney Smith's video , I played a full game of Tapestry on BGA to get the idea of it, and of course I read through the rulebook today before sitting down at the table.*
It was the "Inventors" (left) against the "Craftsmen" (right). I was enjoying the game, and things were going quite well. Gotta say, the Inventors were jumping ahead after the second era. But into the third era I realized something, and I just couldn't get past it:
I had the main board on the wrong side. 😥 Rather than the 1-3 player side, I had it on the 4+ player side. Boo!!! The difference is a much larger map and different achievement scoring. I had the mechanics down fairly well, and was happy with it for now. So I thought it'd be good to dive into the solo mode, where you play against "The Automa" and the "Shadow Empire".
This is where the brain started to go after my busiest day of work in a couple months (thank you COVID restrictions... 🙄).
Like in Scythe , Tapestry's automa (and the game in general) has a ton of iconography. You need to get to know all the icons before you'll be playing fairly smoothly. Despite the 4-page Automa rulebook, the icons were pretty heavy for my brain tonight.
I was getting the hang of it after a bit, and I moved through one Automa income phase to begin their second era. I turn or two into their second era, I looked at my watch and realized, I was out of time. An early morning with clients tomorrow and my brain-power is done! 😴
I'm really excited to dive into this game! Stonemaier has done it again for me. As for the challenge of learning the solo mode; BRING IT ON! I can't wait. I plan to give it a good run through tomorrow after work again. 😉 Like in Scythe, learning the iconography and eventually running a very smooth solo game with something so big, is like learning a new language. I guess it is in a way right? Those little symbols suddenly speak to you, very clearly and make the solo game that much more fun! 😁
This game is huge! Very intimidating-looking while spread out on that table. It makes me want to fire up a game of Civilization on my PC (to avoid all the set-up and tear-down time)!
Learning a new language… hah! Sometimes I feel like even if the rules are simply laid out, the real challenge is expanding my mind enough to grasp all of it in one sitting. If a game play-style deviates enough from what I am used to, I may have to take a little extra time to grow past those differences.
Thanks for the dice picture!