Tianxia

We love Tascini, we love the T series, and yes, we loved Tianxia too. It is a little twistier than what the man has accustomed us to, with echoes of Great Wall, Perseverance: Episode 1, and After the Empire. Its central promise stands perfectly well on its own, though: build your little production engine while knowing the Mongols may come in and wreck the place.

At its core it is worker placement, with players trying to build honest engines through the available options and buildings. It is not enough simply to assemble an efficient combination; you have to build it in a way that can withstand the invader threat. That pressure is what makes it twistier and more interesting than a quiet engine-building game.

We played twice, exclusively with the hard invader deck, because the easy one felt excessively feel-good to us. The hard deck has the fighting we want, while the interaction is not limited to defending against the Mongols. More aggressive strategies are also starting to show themselves: the kind that clearly bet on the death of the neighbour’s goat, although I do not think we have explored them nearly enough yet.

My only serious reservation after these first encounters is that some buildings seem overly powerful, especially when random setup puts them in favourable positions. The building that lets you place magistrates at a discount, for instance, can make it feel as though someone is playing a little solitaire from a major advantage. I am not condemning it yet — two plays are not enough, and its strategic space seems broader than what we have seen. For now, though, Tianxia comes easily recommended to the usual euro crowd.