Terra Mystica

Terra Mystica

Designer(s)	Helge Ostertag and Jens Drögemüller
Players	2 to 5
Age range	12 years and up
Setup time	approx. 10 minutes
Playing time	30 mins per player
Random chance	Very Low
Skill(s) required	Resource management, Economic Planning
Website	http://www.terra-mystica-spiel.de/en/

Terra Mystica is a German-style board game for two to five players designed by Helge Ostertag and Jens Drögemüller. The game was first published by Feuerland Spiele in Germany in 2012, and was later published in English and French by Zman Games and Filosofia Édition in 2013. Feuerland Spiele released a second German edition of the game in 2013.^[1]

Gameplay

The game starts with each player picking one of fourteen fantasy races. Each race has unique special abilities and costs associated with actions. Each race is also limited to building on only one of seven different terrain types found on the game board, and one of the key aspects of the game is terraforming spaces so they can be built upon.

The game is split into six rounds during which players take any number of actions to improve their society. Improving a society may involve settling new spaces, improving existing buildings, improving infrastructure like shipping, or moving up a cult track to show devotion to a religion.

One unique aspect of the game is its power point mechanic. Power points are used to cast spells, and may also be converted for resources. Power points are split among three bowls. When points are gained, they first move from bowl one to bowl two. When bowl one is empty, they can move from bowl two to bowl three. Power points can only be used when they are in bowl three, at which point they return to bowl one.

Victory points are accrued throughout the game for a variety of actions. After six rounds additional victory points are given for end game goals, and then the player with the largest number of victory points wins.^[2]

Expansions

Four additional town tiles were handed out as a free promotional expansion at Spiel 2013.^[3]

An additional bonus tile was included in the June 2013 edition of Spielbox.^[4]

A full expansion to the game, Terra Mystica: Fire & Ice, was released in November 2014. It introduces six new races, two new terrain types and new rules variants.^[5]

The fan-made expansion Artifacts was made in 2015. It introduces bonus cards in the final round. It is free to print and play in BGG.

A new promo expansion known as Terra Mystica: Erweiterungsbogen, or Terra Mystica Mini-Expansion in North America, was released in 2015. The new promo expansion contains the previously released town tiles and bonus tile along with a new scoring round tile and new tiles for each faction to better balance the game, although the rules for the new faction tiles have yet to be decided on. ^{[6] [7]}

Awards

• 2013 Deutscher Spiele Preis, 1st place^[8]
• 2013 International Gamers Award, Multiplayer Strategy Game, 1st place ^[9]
• 2013 Jogoeu User's Game, Adult Game of the Year, 1st place^[1]
• 2013 Hra Roku, Game of the Year Winner^[1]
• 2013 Gouden Ludo, Winner^[10]
• 2013 Le Tric Trac d'Or ^[11]
• 2013 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Best Expert Game Winner^[12]

Critical Reception

As of June 2016, the game is ranked fourth on BoardGameGeek.

Shut Up & Sit Down gave the game an overwhelmingly positive review.^[13]

Ryan Meltzer of the Dice Tower gave the game a generally positive review,^[14] and Tom Vasel, also of the Dice Tower, gave the game a mixed review, saying that he could not be sure how well balanced it was without first playing the game many more times.^[15]

References