Altiplano: The Traveler

When Altiplano first arrived on the scene, it was very easy to make comparisons to Orleans, the previous game by designer Reiner Stockhausen. Both are bag builders, in which tokens drawn from the bag can only be used on specific spots. Only specific combinations of tokens can be used to take specific actions. But the differences come in the purposes of the actions taken. Orleans rewards players for covering ground on a map, and for migrating tokens onto a shared scoring board. However, it has often been criticised for having one progress track which can significantly advantage the player who makes the greatest progress.

Altiplano changed this formula, shifting the focus onto goods. Goods can be used to acquire other goods, or can be stored in the player warehouse for end game points. The introduction of mission cards gives players objectives to work towards. This means that there is no single track which seems to reward players the most.

So, what does this expansion bring to the game? Altiplano: The Traveler is, as seems to be an increasing trend, a modular expansion. There are several elements which make up the expansion; additional cards, events and the Traveler.

There are a variety of cards, which add to the components of the base game. This includes a new house card, boat card, mission cards and new order cards. These integrate into the card piles from the base game, with no additional rules required. However, it is the new elements which bring the biggest additions.

Events

Events are cards which are read out at the start of each round. Typically, they impact on activity in the round that follows, although some have an immediate effect. These are not unlike the event tiles from Orleans and are grouped so that they appear in a phase of the game in which they are most pertinent. Unlike Orleans, however, the event cards from The Traveler are not intended as a game timer, although a short variant of the game is described, in which the number of event cards is limited for exactly this purpose.

The Traveler

The traveler moves around each location, moving to the next empty location at the end of each round. Players may choose to interact with the traveler if they land on the same location during their turn.

The traveler is, essentially, a trader. Players can:

• Pay goods to purchase opals (goods are placed in the player’s container, as normal). Opals, if not spent (see below) contribute towards end game scoring.
• Pay goods to acquire an asset card. These are in-game boons, which break an individual rule for the player (rather like event cards) for the remainder of the game. Some of these assets award players in-game points – these are tracked using point tokens. The goods used to pay for the asset are not placed in the container but are placed on a central trading board.
• Pay opals to purchase goods which other players have placed on the trading board. In this way, managing the resources which you don’t want can become just as important as the ones that you do. This is because you will need to be more mindful of the resources which other players are collecting.

Final Thoughts on Altiplano: The Traveler

So, the question is, is it a “must have” expansion? Several other games seem to have been “completed” by the addition of an expansion recently (here’s looking at you, Quacks of Quedlinburg), even though they may not have felt incomplete prior to that addition.

Altiplano with The Traveler does not feel like this. Neither does it feel like it bloats the game in a way that might put you off playing. It’s a nice, fairly modest addition, which can give the game a bit of a slant, by increasing the player interaction slightly. It could be included in a first game, if you have players that are comfortable with games of this weight, as it integrates well with the base game.

So, it is a worthwhile addition, but you won’t feel like you are missing out if you don’t include it.