Terramara, Preview 2

You are now reading the second preview for Terramara! We will show you the upper part of the game board, containing the military track and action spaces that are available in each game.

Terramara is a worker-placement game, but several twists are introduced to this well-known mechanic. Each player leads a tribe consisting of 4 to 6 explorers and 1 chief. On each action space (separated by a vertical line) you can place only 1 of your tribe members. No more than 2 tribe members (each of a different player) can occupy an action space. Let us show you the upper part of the game board to explain this all in more detail.

Each player starts the game with a disc on the leftmost space of the military track, depicting the round shield. When advancing in military, you will move your disc forward on this track. Naturally, a player with his/her disc to the right of yours, is stronger than you. To place one of your explorers on an action space on which another players’ explorer is already present, you require a higher military strength than that player. After placing your explorer next to another players’ explorer, you will lose 1 military strength.

Your chief forms an exception to these rules. When you place your chief on an empty action space, no tribe member may go there this round. When you place your chief on an action space already occupied by another players’ explorer, you don’t lose 1 military strength. You can even place him on such an action space if your military strength is lower than or equal to the strength of that player.

Furthermore, the military track is divided into 4 sections. These sections determine how many resources you receive from each other player when executing a raid. This action introduces direct interaction, but each round, only a single player can execute a raid. Your raid rate will increase if you are stronger, but will decrease with other players being stronger. Before executing a raid, you will lose 1 military strength, potentially decreasing your loot. It might also decrease your future choice in action spaces. So while you can steal from other players with this action, it comes with non-neglectable down sides as well.

An example: After losing 1 military strength, your disc is in the 2nd section of the military track. You will receive 1 of every 4 resources from each player (their choice, rounded down) whose disc is in the 1st section of the military track. You will however only receive 1 of every 5, 6 or 7 resources from each player whose disc is in the same, or higher sections of the military track, respectively.

To conclude this second preview, we will take a closer look on the topmost tiles. The left tile contains action spaces for a 2- or 3-player game (the back side is used for a 4-player game). The right tile depicts an action space for a 2-player game, while the back side is used for a 3- or 4-player game. The symbol in the top right corner indicates that this action space can only be occupied by a single tribe member per round. The exact configuration and strength of the shown action spaces thus depends on how many players participate in the game.

The leftmost action space allows you to take a worker tile from the supply. You can use worker tiles once per round to refine raw resources. The middle action space allows you to either gain 1 military strength + 1 advancement along the river OR a total of 2 steps with your carts along the roads. The rightmost action space both lets you execute a raid as explained above and makes you starting player.

We hope that you did enjoy learning more about Terramara by reading this article. Keep an eye out for our next preview, where we will reveal the full game board, one possible configuration that is. We will also elaborate on the roads to the left side of the game board, scoring mechanics and more!