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I said it in my review for the Thieves of the Naqala expansion. I said it again in my review for the Artisans of the Naqala expansion. I eluded that I would say it again in this review. That Five Tribes is a game that does not need an expansion. I might have been wrong in that assessment. As after playing the Whims of the Sultan expansion, I might not play the base game again without including it.
But before I get too ahead of myself and spoil the whole review before it even begins, lets take a dive in.
What Is In The Box?
When I first picked up the expansions for Five Tribes, I put the Whims of the Sultan off for the longest of times. This is because it describes itself first and foremost as including everything you need for a 5-player game. A 5-player version of a game that plays best at 2 sounded absolutely awful to me. But it is so much more than that.
Under the lid there are the camels and a camp that can be used for a 5th player with or without the Artisans expansion. There is also a new set of tiles to shuffle in with the base tiles, extra meeples of each colour to sit on the new tiles, a deck of objective cards and 2 new Djinns that work with the new components. And that is basically it. There is also new score pad and an updated track boards for a 5-player game. But if you are like me, they will never be used. And a big ol’ heap of 5 value coins. This is because all the objective cards award you in 5 value coins.
Why This Expansion?
I was originally more drawn to the Artisans of the Naqala expansion the most because it added a sixth colour tribe to interact with, new tokens to interact with and new tiles that mixed up the set up. And whilst I do genuinely like that expansion, it inherently diluted the core experience that is Five Tribes. Where Whims of the Sultan differs is that it adds just a little extra to the base game that enhances what is already there.
The sultan deck adds objectives to the game that nets you rewards for doing the things that you are already doing. It also has the added bonuses of giving you a route to take in a game that offers you so many ways to acquire victory points. The extra tiles also make it so that setting up the game is in a 6x6 grid instead of a 6x5 which does wonders for anyone with OCD tendencies. The one tile that isn’t related to the sultans has a powerful ability that doubles the points of any palace or palm tree that surrounds it. This again gives players a subtle way of giving them a bit of guidance. The tiles that house the sultan cards also have a powerful cumulative scoring opportunity. The more of them you own, the more the points for them escalate at the game’s end.
When searching for opinions on Whims of the Sultan you will find plenty of discourse over the cumulative scoring on owning city tiles. Whilst they do net you a lot of points, if you notice an opponent accumulating them, it forces you to interact with the board state more. Which I love. If you have played a lot of Five Tribes, you will know the different routes you can take to victory. For example, the first time I played this expansion I was literally beat by a single point. So, I think it is well balanced as long as you are playing with players that have played Five Tribes as much as you have.
It is also worth noting that all the expansions for Five Tribes are modular and can all be added to the game at the same time for a mega game.
It's Not All Peaches
As much as I love this expansion, there are a few things that I wish it included. With the addition of an extra player colour, I was hoping it would at least have the few extra pieces that would make that colour playable in a 2-player game. But it doesn’t. This means if you play the game primarily 2-player like I do, you will still be left with playing blue and pink. Which means the brown pieces will join the black and orange in the pile of pieces that will never be touched.
The sultan cards being placed on the tiles can make the game look even more cluttered than it usually does.
The game is not good at 5 players. This expansion would have made much more sense without the inclusion of a 5th player components and priced a little lower to compensate. What makes Five Tribes so engaging is being able to plan one or two moves for your next turn in order to put yourself in a more advantageous position. If there are four other players then the board state will be completely different by the time it gets back around to you making it impossible to plan anything for your next turn.
Final Thoughts
Whims of the Sultan shoots itself in the foot by describing itself as the expansion that adds a 5th player to the game. As almost everyone who loves the base game, agrees that playing it at 5 would be a huge mistake given that most play it at 2-player. But what the expansion does well is build on the solid foundations laid out by Five Tribes itself. If you are a fan of Five Tribes, then I would say that Whims of the Sultan is actually the best expansion on the market for the game. Especially (ironically) if you play the game at 2-players, the added bits do well at enhancing the base gameplay.
