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The sequel to the first expansion to one of my favourite worker placement games ‘Rajas of the Ganges’ contains another literal treasure chest (of sorts) of additional modules and tiles to add to the base game. Like the first Rajas of the Ganges Goodie Box, this Box contains some things which have previously been available as promotional items but chances are you probably missed these.
In the box you’ll find mini expansions and modules, which like the first Goodie Box, you can mix and match with the base game depending on what mood you’re in. Here we have Holi, The Sacred Cows, The Blessings of Kedarnath, Through the Wilds of Gangestan, The Roads of the Mogul Empire, Ganga Module 3 and the Pink Elephant.
So what do they all do and what do I think of them? Well Holi, the Festival of Colours, adds 3 new double sided tiles which go on the fame and money tracks, and this offers a catch up mechanic of sorts with the last player to pass them benefitting the most but with all players getting a small bonus. I think this is a great addition, that I will play with more often than not. It doesn’t add complexity and helps level the game out if one person is racing ahead. None of the benefits feel too strong too which helps to maintain the balance of the game.
The Cow Expansion evens out the tiles if you bought the first Goodie Box expansion which added Tiger and Snake tiles, I just have these shuffled in with the base tiles and like the previous expansions added tiles, they offer a permanent benefit once you’ve built them.
The Blessings of Kedarnath offers an overlay of the original Karma track and also a new yield tile, offering a new worker placement space and bonuses that go along with it. I felt like this was a bit of a miss for me, as it didn’t really offer anything impactful and nobody ever seemed inclined to go to the new space. It does offer more options and doesn’t increase the complexity of the game, it’s just not an option I think is one you would use regularly.
Through the Wilds of Gangestan, provides players with new tiles that go on to your province board at the start of the game and really help to open up the options of the province board. They are a brilliant addition that I may not use with first time players but absolutely would in future games. It helps to provide a range of new options that helps to create new strategies and literal paths to victory.
Ganga module 3, like 2 (in Goodie Box 1) and 1 (in the base game) before it offer more variability to the river track and they’re just OK in my opinion. I’ve tried each of them once or twice but feel that I just prefer the original river track, but the additional variability does help in improving the replayability of the game.
The Pink Elephant looks great but is just offering the option if you go to one space to then be able to use a space that has been used by the first player once per round. It’s a nice small little bonus but doesn’t really feel that impactful or needed.
So like Rajas of the Ganges Goodie Box 1 that precedes this, there are a load of new modules that help to increase the replayability of the base game with you being able to pick and choose depending on your mood each time you come to play. Again like the box before it, some of the modules are great and I would always want to play with like the new Cow tiles, and the Through the Wilds module but some like the Pink Elephant and the river module I just don’t see myself using regularly. If I was to choose only one of the two Goodie Boxes that have been released I would probably say the first one has the edge, purely on having two lots of new tiles which I permanently include, however there is real value in owning both of these boxes given the amount of different options they bring to the game. Despite how great the box is however, I’ve condensed all the modules into one of the two Goodie Boxes which is now a box of treats for me to open every time I play Rajas of the Ganges.
