Wind Tribes – board game

Another Vincent Dutrait has secretly, quietly, and quietly crept onto my shelf: Tribes of the Wind (YIKES!, Joachim Thomme). Anyone familiar with Dutrait’s illustrations might feel like an artistic board game connoisseur as he spends his days wandering through the board game section, nodding to his clueless girlfriends and saying: Oh yeah, Dutrait. And with the Tribes of the Wind we once again have beautiful illustrations from Dutrait.

Wind Tribes – Beautiful post-apocalyptic

Tribes of the Wind is, unexpectedly, a post-apocalyptic game for two to five players in which we try to free our world from the pollution of days gone by. After the world was exploited by us humans, only a few tribes survived in the forests and now every tribe is trying to make the world a better place.

All players start with slightly asymmetrical boxes or gameboards, on which players are dealt Pollution Markers, a Starting tile, seven Wind Riders reminiscent of Straw Angels, four Temples, five Treehouses, a Village card and a Leader card. At first it seems like a big battle for materials, but there is enough space on the players’ boards to place all the shapes as well as to store resources such as water. Item cards are dealt and placed in the holders provided so that they are visible to all players. Finally, the item, forest and village displays are set up.

Double-Sided Card Game – A neat new mechanic in Tribes of the Wind

Although there are many wooden forms, the main mechanic in Tribes of the Wind is triggered by playing or discarding item cards. The game has no text at all, which I personally always appreciate in games, and it has easy-to-understand illustrations. With each move, players pay attention to the appearance of their own or other players’ item cards. Because the more it meets the requirements of the card played, the stronger the move becomes.

By playing appropriately, signs of contamination on your board are removed, and resources such as water needed to obtain forest tiles are collected in order to bring them to the now-cleaned Earth surface or to move Wind Riders across the board. It is not uncommon to have to accept a suboptimal move because your fellow players simply do not have the right cards in their hands. The cards can then be discarded so that new cards can be drawn face down, with only the cards’ element symbol visible, bringing a lot of luck factor.

Wind Riders are named after the Wind Tribes

The game is named after the beautiful yellow wooden wind riders, which represent a type of resource. Wind Riders are needed to make the jungle tiles habitable. Only when enough Wind Riders are placed do the forest tiles on the village side flip over and temples or treehouses can be built. Temples provide victory points as do actions, and treehouses allow you to take village cards that show victory point quests or instant actions. Victory Points quests are all about building your board and give you the most victory points. Once flipped over, the jungle tiles themselves offer various options such as: b. Fast travel option to quickly fly over the board with wind riders. But every human intervention in nature also brings with it new pollution. Different forest tiles, with many newly built mechanisms, create new pollution on the board, which must first be cleaned again before new forest tiles can find space on the board. They also lead to less points at the end of the game, so get rid of them quickly!

Wind Tribes – Very small asymmetry

The asymmetry in the game only appears as the game progresses, making it easier to get into the game. Each motherboard comes with four leader cards. Two of these cards can be played during the game. Each tribe has a preferred color combination for the jungle, and once this is achieved, players take a leader card. Furthermore, each clan has unique requirements for obtaining another Leader Card. These are very powerful and provide additional promotions or discounts.

Play

Once the fifth treehouse is built, the endgame begins. Points are then calculated from cards of the village reached, treehouses, temples, and remaining pollution. Depending on the table, the end of the game can come faster than expected. With some gaming experience, you can easily evaluate your opponents’ progress and force the ending a little if there is a risk that your opponents will score significantly more points. Hence, less valuable village cards can help you win quickly and unpleasant signs of contamination are left for your opponents.

A look at the implementation of themes in Tribes of the Wind is surprising

It is worth noting the different representations of leaders and people on the element cards. Old, young, fat, skinny, different races and a mix of genders. Each card shows people in action or celebrations. Each card played shows an activity that could actually happen in our tribe. It also makes sense that we can live in synergy with other tribes and take advantage of their item cards if we act in harmony. But aside from the mechanic that brings pollution back to the board through building, the game doesn’t look like the end of the world at first glance. It looks very nice for that. But why are there flamethrowers on some item cards? Longtime fans of Studio Ghibli will have probably recognized the inspiration here: Nausicaä from the Valley of the Wind. After watching the movie, the artwork made more sense to me.

Replayability – Will the Wind Tribes continue?

The two-player version is especially noteworthy. Here the display of items is the second hand for comparison. By drawing cards intelligently, you can influence card presentation to your advantage. This makes it possible to plan the next step a little better. This rule modification works seamlessly and makes the two-player game a successful version.

With more players, Tribes of the Wind takes a little longer. Unfortunately, there is no synergy between players sitting far away from you. So the theme and flow of the game works best with two or three players. However, Tribes of the Wind is still a good five-player game.

Commander cards allow different combinations. Some seem a little better than others. However, I was able to win with almost every clan. I would leave it to the game analysts to evaluate whether there are superior boss combinations.

Wood for money

The Tribes of the Wind comes with extra bags and no studs at all, but that’s not really necessary. The good feel is ensured by the unique wood shapes. It’s unfortunate that the water and pollution marks are just cardboard tiles. Card holders are included. The only thing really missing is a pad to write down points. What I would have liked as an addition was for the two sides of the leaderboards to be different. This may increase the replay value.

Conclusion for the Wind Tribes

Tribes of the Wind is a solid game, somewhere between a family game and a connoisseur’s game. Different mechanisms are packaged to be easy to learn. The rules are well organized and explained in a compact way. It can be an interesting introduction to the hobby for those interested in playing less frequently. It’s definitely not an expert game, but it’s fun enough and has enough combos that players of all levels can enjoy playing it. The game is not very directly confrontational, but is played in synergy between the different clans, which can sometimes be directed against you due to poor card selection.