Stonemaier Games has once again brought a new title to the gaming world amidst quite a bit of discussion and internet buzz. Creating a civilization and advancing through different aspects of growth within that people group, you will compete with your opponents to see who can weave the best tapestry into their civilization. Today we are going to take a look at that game, how it plays and find out if it lives up to the hype and discussion around it.
Tapestry: A Civilization Game is published by Stonemaier Games and plays 1-5 players in 2 hours. It is designed by Jamey Stegmaier with art by Andrew Bosley and sculpts by Rom Brown.
In Tapestry, players will compete in trying to build up their civilization through advancement of four unique tracks. Each track progresses along the way, giving you increased benefits but at a steeper cost to you. As you build your civilization, unique powers and abilities along with powerful tapestry cards will allow you to tell your story and push into the future.
Setup
Tapestry starts with each player gaining a Capital City Map and Income Mat to their play space in front of them. You will also gain a random Civilization Mat from 2 given at the beginning of the game. Multiple player tokens mark your spot on the board for each of the advancement tracks and your victory point total.
Gameplay
On a players’ turn, you have two different actions you may take. You may either take an Income or Advance phase and then proceed to the next player. Let’s look at each of these phases and what they entail.
Income: In the Income phase, players will begin a new era and follow the progression of steps lists on the track. Players will do the at different times through the game, except the first turn where everyone starts with an Income step. In this phase, players will activate the power of their civilizations if present, play a tapestry card, upgrade a tech card in your collection of inventions, gain victory points of icons on your income mat track and gain income in the form of resources showing on your mat.
This phase will only happen immediately at the start of the game and then again 4 more times throughout the game. Players come to this at different times, and based on when you hit it you will possibly gain additional resources for getting there before your neighbor does.
Advance: In the Advance phase, players will move along one of the four advancement tracks on the board once per turn. To do so, you must pay the cost indicated on the tier of the track you are progressing to in resources first. Once you have done this you move one space forward on that track and gain the listed benefit on the space. If there is a bonus on the spot you can pay to gain it once. Some bonuses are pay to gain, some allow you to trade in cards or other resources to gain them. Advancing on a track may also gain you a landmark building if you are the first into the tiers.
There are four different tracks, each with their own unique abilities. Let’s look at the details on each of them. In Exploration, players can gain and place territory tiles in the center of the board on the main map that will give you the bonuses on them along with victory points based on how they match the board. The end of the track allows you to explore space tiles that offer more advanced benefits and bonuses in the end game.
In the Science track, players perform research that will allow you to roll the science die that will push you further along one of the four tracks. Some will allow you take the benefit and bonus while other early rolls do not. This allows you to advance down other tracks for the better bonuses without having to pay the resources to move down them.
The Technology track will allow you to gain tech cards that are different inventions you can add to the side of your capital city map. They start at the bottom row and as you advance them up they gain an upgrade at the circle level and then the square level. Each one will give you a benefit that is better as they advance.
Finally the Military track allows you to place outposts onto a territory in the middle of the board and and gain control of these regions. If you conquer an opponent’s territory you lock the spot as yours to control. But there are Trap cards that will allow you to defend yourself in a spot. The further down you go the more powerful your military advancement can be.
Buildings gained in this game are placed on your Capital City to unlock new spaces on your income or when you reach a new tier. These will allow you to complete one of the 9 square districts in the capital and gain a resource for it. They also will score VPs during the income phase based on completing rows and columns.
Impressions
What could be better:
Tapestry Cards. I love the tapestry cards as they provide some real interesting choices. But some of them are way stronger then others in the deck and the ones you draw can make or break your game. I have seen and had some slower moving games from getting the ones that do not let you do as much as you would like.
Civilization distribution. The civilization mats provide some extraordinaory powers for each player and they are distributed randomly at the start of the game. I would really like to see a better way to give players a choice, as some of the mats seem more powerful than others.
What I liked:
Choices. I love how easy it is to jump into the different tracks and how open your choices can be in the game. You are able to really explore the tracks and make the decisions differently each time, planning ahead as you try to chain the effects together.
Ease. This game has a minimal instructions as it is only a 4 page document. Each page is well laid out and the game gives you an easy jump right into play after you read it. It has been an easy game to teach to others and although it isn’t a fast game, it is has an easy entry point. Games that are easy to teach get to the table more often for me, and that is always a plus.
Components. The design on the components for this game is stellar. The individual player pieces are all well done and high quality and the buildings are all so well made. I love the molds and the detail on all of them, both big and small. The fact that the Landmark buildings are pre-painted is great and they really pop on the board right out of the box.
Overall
Tapestry is the newest entry from Stonemaier Games that really shines right out of the gate. The game says right on the box that it is a Civilization (Civ) game, and having never played a Civ game before this was my first venture into that world in gaming. I really enjoyed the decision making that came into it, and from what I understand it isn’t like some other Civ games out there on the market. It definitely felt like some other action selection games I enjoy so that aspect didn’t deter me at all. I felt like it gave me a game and style of gameplay I really enjoy.
It is a bit on the long side, as a 3-4 player game is easily 2 hours or more. First time players and those prone to AP are going to have more difficulty with the decisions throughout the game and that will definitely slow down overall gameplay.
This game sits in this perfect spot for me in that it is easy to understand and smooth to play but has so much replayability in the choices made. Each game is a different exploration down the advancement tracks giving you multiple ways to chase your growth and rack up victory points. The addition of the Civilization cards really make each game unique for me. I have made an effort to try and play a different one each game so far. Although there are some that are favorites compared to others each one has been a fun journey to play out. The Tapestry cards are another interesting addition, each one providing a direction and ideas in the game for your overall play or even with your civilization. Some are a bit stronger than others in what they drop into lap. Quite a few of them allow you to decide how to plan for your current era.
I love the challenge each game has been to play, trying to determine the best combination of Tapestry and Civilization cards. There are cards that string well together and really shine based on the number of players or the cards played by others. I find myself thinking more about trying to beat my last score than I do the players I am playing with at that moment. Each game has been a puzzle that I enjoy exploring and trying to string together just that right combination.
Overall Tapestry is going to be a shelf staple for me and a game I will always be willing to play. In the pantheon of Stonemaier Games I love, it currently sits from top to bottom as: Viticulture, Wingspan, Tapestry, Scythe. This is likely to be in top 5 list for 2019 and a game I really have to recommend everyone take the time to play this year!
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