PERLEN DER SPIELKUNST ◄ AUS DEM MUSeuM
HUGO KASTNER EMPFIEHLT
TARGUI
Nomadic treks with camel herds
Dear Reader! „Targui“ ist „Risk in the Desert“ – with this sharp and precise short comment Bruno Faidutti did summarize the strategic Tuareg conflicts over villages, oases, sand dunes, mountain regions, hills and salt-mines. The salt sea alone remains taboo for all and is – if anything – an obstacle in the wide-ranging greedy roamings for booty. And „Targui“ comes in garbed in politically correct disguise, you do not eliminate soldiers, but camels, and not countries are conquered – pardon me, freed, but terrain regions. During the eighties most German game publishers were forced – due to publicity consideration – to avoid an obvious conflict or war topic. One of the results coming from the thus necessary selling strategies, cleverly adapted to pacifistic philosophies, is the object of my ruminations: “Targui“. And despite its topic and the conflict simulation remindful of “Risk” this game has more than earned its membership in the „Hall of Fame“, because it has some huge advantages over the famous predecessor, as you will realize when reading this “Highlight”. Did I spark your interest? Then wend you way to the Austrian Games Museum at Leopoldsdorf, where you can immerse yourself into the authentic „Desert Feeling“ of the game. www.spielen.at.
This time the light of my lamp illuminates a characteristic desert landscape with all features that contribute to the attractions of the North African habitats. Ben van Dijk and Wil Dijkstra have given the dice-based conflict mechanism, known and proven in „Risk“, a very coherent background that provides lots of atmosphere and ambiance to the game. And there is another bonus feature: The starting situation on the 7x7 grid varies from game to game, all games begin in a new way. Fate cards, that were well balanced by the designers and a tricky mechanism that allows multiple turns of one desert combatant (Faidutti calls it the „management element) introduce dynamics into the game, and this despite the fact that the roamings of the camel herds – representing the resources of the Bedouin tribes – are don quickly and easily during the game. Stultifying consideration periods are rare, instead of this you get a very resolute rolling of dice for key positions in the landscape. These aggressive tactics are necessary when a region you want to target is occupied by an opponent. Depending on the topographical features the chances for success are very varied depending on specific strategic bonus values – for instance from oasis or dune. Furthermore, some landscape types ensure the economic results that are necessary for success in the end. In this feature, too, you immediately sense the clever ideas of the designer team to introduce a balance between battle strength and proceeds. Another contribution to the fun in playing this game is the possibility to buy more camels. If despite all this you end up among the losers of the conflict you can reasonably attribute this to fate in “Targui”. These fate cards – one is introduced in each round – sometime wreck havoc among your best-laid plans, and thus mirror the uncertainties in a gamers life. More than one thing in the end turns out to be a fata morgana!
Rückmeldungen an: hugo.kastner@chello.at Homepage: www.hugo-kastner.at
EMPFEHLUNG # 61
Autor: Ben van Dijk / Wil Dijkstra
Preis: 30 € / vergriffen
Jahr: 1988 (Erstauflage)
www.jumbo.eu
Spieler: 2-4
Alter: ab 12
Dauer: ab 120 Min.
OOOOOOOOO
Strategie/Taktik Info± Glück
All actions are enacted in the open, but due to the fate cards as well as due to the die and the movement mechanism which is as elegant as it is incalculable a certain element of chance is introduced into the Bedouin conflicts. This for me is positive as it helps to avoid long periods of consideration and reluctantly taken decisions.
Hugos EXPERTENTIPP
For four players I can strongly recommend a team version which we have tested extensively in our gamers group: All rules of the strategic-tactical desert conflict are in play without restriction, but we add a small detail: If a village is conquered by an opponent and then re-conquered by your partner, you place 10 camels of the former owner into the village spot as a basic force. This neat little trick forces the partners to take even more strategic possibilities into consideration than are normally necessary and this also takes away the frustrating king-maker syndrome.
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Hugos BLITZLICHT
The dice rolling actions n the game will remind some players of Encounters of the Risk Kind“, but Targui clearly demands more strategic considerations. This is first due to the different kinds of terrain and rest stops, like village, oasis, dunes, mountains, hills, salt-sea and saline and also due to a special mechanism that sometimes enables series of moves. In spite of that Targui is not at all a thinking game, despite the very variable starting positions. The Jury for „Game of the Year“ when placing the game on the list of selections 1988: “Incredibly challenging for fans of strategy and tactics.“
VORANKÜNDIGUNG
TOP RACE
Strategic Bets & Clever Wins