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Five Tribes is a game that needs no introduction. It is on many people’s top games of all time, and it pops up in many top ten lists, collabs etc. If you haven’t played Five Tribes, then the chances are high that you have played one of Bruno Cathala’s other games. From 7 Wonders Duel to Abyss. From Kingdomino to Shadows Over Camelot. Bruno is board game designing wizard. What are not spoken about as much however are the expansions he also creates. I already covered The Thieves of the Naqala expansion. So, let’s find out if The Artisans of the Naqala or the thieves hold more sway…
What Does It Bring?...
I have realised over the years that there are typically three distinct kinds of expansions for games: the ‘more stuff’ expansion, the ‘change player count’ expansion and the ‘fixes issues’ expansion. Artisans of the Naqala falls under my favourite of these categories – more stuff! For context, the Thieves of the Naqala is the ‘fixes issues’ expansion and the Whims of the Sultan is the ‘changes player count’ one. More on that expansion in my next review!
Five Tribes itself works best (in my opinion) as a two-player game. Thieves of the Naqala added a few little tweaks that made the game a little more balanced at higher player counts. But Artisans brings with it more stuff that adds to the core game so that any player count benefits from the module.
In this expansion you get a set of new tile spaces, new djinn cards, tents, mountains, item tokens and the star of the show – purple meeples.
What Does It Do?...
If you are familiar with Five Tribes then you will see a lot of new things in this box. They all feed into each other mechanically though or elevate those in the base game. There is nothing overly complicated here so do not worry!
The mountains work in conjunction with the new tiles, which are threefold: workshop, specialised market, and chasm. When you are dropping meeples around the grid on your turn you can not pass through mountains or go over the chasm. This adds extra consideration when making your turn. Specialised market lets you pay 4 gold to take any market resource on display. The workshop lets you pay an artisan (purple meeple) or 2 fakirs to take the first item in the item pile.
The tents are extra scoring opportunities. They can be placed instead of a camel when you claim a tile and will score an extra 1 point at the end of the game for every red coloured tile in the 3x3 grid it is in the centre of.
The djinns are simple additions. One gives you end of game scoring for your purple meeples, and one for the items you collected. Two of them replace base game editions with added interactions for the added purple meeple.
The items come in two varieties: precious items and magic items. Precious items are simply tokens with a range of points on them that you can hoard for end of game scoring. Magic items are one time effect actions you can take to give yourself certain boons or advantages.
The purple meeples (artisans) are placed in the cloth bag along with the rest of the standard meeples from the base game and are placed on the grid during setup following standard placement rules (3 random on each tile). The only difference is that no meeples are placed on the chasm tile. When you collect purple meeples on your turn you get to take the same amount of item tokens, pick one and place the rest into a discard pile. You also keep the purple meeples as they will net extra points at the end of the game.
You also get a new scorepad that includes the new scoring conditions. And 4 new player aids that include all the info you need from the added components.
What Works And What Doesn't?...
I said it in my review for The Thieves of the Naqala that Five Tribes is a game that didn’t really need an expansion. And by gosh, I will say it again in my upcoming (or previously wrote, depending on when you read this) review for The Whims of the Sultan. But I love Five Tribes, and so an expansion with an extra module that I can throw in from time to time is not one that I will complain about. I like what this expansion adds to the game, but as with Thieves, Artisans of the Naqala is best suited for more than 2 players. Albeit a little less obviously that with Thieves.
The problem in a two-player game is twofold. The first few times you play with this expansion, you are going to go for the purple meeples first. Because they are new, shiny, and right there for the taking. This means that all the best items will likely be divided between you and you opponent. This in turn means that the ‘ah-ha’ moments of who has what items isn’t really there. Of course, your opponent has those magic items, because of the simple fact that you don’t. Secondly, the scoring is majorly broken for a two-player game. In the base game, the white meeples are worth 2 points each. The yellow ones are worth 1 point each plus a bonus 10 points if your opponent has less than you. The new purple ones are worth 3 points each if you have the most, otherwise they are worth 2. This means if one player gets 10 of them, the other gets 2, and the last 3 are stranded at the end then the player who got 10 is 26 points ahead in this scoring category.
Of course, the previous example is worst case scenario. In a three or four player game, the points are much more distributed. If a few other players are taking purple meeples, you don’t feel as pressured to also go for them. But this actually works in Five Tribe’s favour. As the base game works best at two players, having an expansion that strengthens the game’s weakest area is definitely a boon.
Everything else about the game works really well. I enjoy the addition of items. The new tiles add a little extra flexibility to your possible moves. I even like the added restrictions of the chasm and mountains as these further feed the replayability of the game as a whole.
The Final Verdict
The Artisans of the Naqala is a great expansion to Five Tribes. Especially if you are either usually playing it at three or four players. It adds an easy to implement set of mini additions to the game. Half of these additions give you an extra option to how to play out your turn and the other half will add a more forward-thinking approach for how you approach your turn. If you enjoy Five Tribes, then this expansion simply adds a little more of what you already like. It is the easiest of the three expansions for me to recommend.
