In this article you will find the Review of the board game Tapestry, where we analyze the mechanics of this game of civilizations, show you photos of its components and tell you our opinion about it.
INTRODUCTION
A civilization under your control. Four progress options will allow you to grow it: exploration, technology, science and military. For each advance you make you will get a series of benefits. These benefits are such as getting resources (coins, workers, food and culture), constructing buildings (farms, houses, markets and armories), getting technology cards, exploring the game board, attacking opponents … But you will also have to dedicate five turns to collect profits, which you can do at the time that you think is appropriate in the game and that is highly necessary for it to end.
When all players have spent five of their turns collecting profits, the game ends. The winner will be the one who has obtained the most points.
GAMEPLAY
The starting player is chosen randomly. Rounds proceed starting with this player and going clockwise. On your turn you can collect profits or advance on a progress (In your first turn you can only collect profits).
COLLECT PROFITS
It is necessary for each player to dedicate five of his turns to collect profits as long as the game ends. Depending on the turn to collect profits to be made (the first, the second …) more or less of the processes that I describe below will be carried out and in this order:
1- Activate the skills of your civilization
2 – Play a tapestry card
3 – Upgrade a technology card and get score
4 – Make a profit
PROGRESS
Choose a progress option and move your player cube to the next square (circle). You will have a player cube on each of the gauges. You must pay what you indicate at the top. For example, to advance to level I of exploration, it is enough to pay any resource, but to advance to level II it is necessary to pay any resource + unit of food. You get the buff of the box and the bonus. A monument will be received by the first player who achieves that progress.
There are four basic progress options:
1 – Conquer
2 – Investigate
3 – Invent
4 – Explore
END OF THE GAME
The game ends when all players have taken five turns of collecting profits. Whoever has the most victory points wins. If there is a tie, the winner will be the one with the most resources (total sum of coins, workers, food and culture).
DATA SHEET
- Name: Tapestry
- Date of birth: 2019
- Place of birth: Stonemaier Games
- Son of: Jamey Stegmaier (Designer), Andrew Bosley, Rom Brown (Artists)
- Genre: Board Game
- Age: 12+
- Players: 1-5
- Time: 90-120 min
Tapestry in our game transport handbag Game Travel Bag
ANALYSIS AND RATING
FREAKISM (Originality, Theme):
To be honest, I wouldn’t know how to label Tapestry. At first glance it looks like a eurogame, but it is well known that this type of game does not have direct action between players. In Tapestry you can invade the territories of others, so could it be classified as such? It also has some resource management. On the other hand, in Tapestry you also play with tiles, whose use is reduced to trying to join terrains of the same type to get victory points and to obtain the benefit indicated by each of them in its center.
It gives me the feeling that Tapestry intends to cover several types of games in one, lacking in all of them. Not for that it is a bad game. It’s just that you expect it to be harder than it actually is. It is one of those games that take time to explain and are very simple to execute. I generally like this mix, I have enjoyed both games that I have played. Original seems to me the combination, although nothing remarkable.
It’s called Tapestry because of the presence of the tapestry cards, which are initially used when you advance from the era, granting you cool benefits. Beyond this, I think the name is of little importance. It is described as “a game of civilizations.” Yes, there are civilizations, you make them prosper, but the name of the game I still don’t see much sense. I think the theme goes quite unnoticed really.
Freakism rating:
HYPE (Excitement, Replayability):
In general the game gives me the feeling that it is a bit “let yourself go and you will see the most profitable options as the game progresses”. It’s not a brainy game.
I would never play with five players. The intermission is horrible and I think the games last too long. I think the most affordable thing would be to play with three and four at most.
There are unbalanced tapestry cards, whose effects give quite abusive advantages. At first they do not determine who will win, but that does not mean that my opinion is that they are highly destructive. The same thing happens with civilizations.
Hype rating:
SANITY (Difficulty, Rules):
With a box of this size it seems that Tapestry comes with a huge rulebook. But the reality is that rules are detailed in four simple pages. It is easily understood and that it allows to proceed with the first game quickly, without having to study many rules. And the best way to understand Tapestry is to play it because there are many progress options to remember. You can check a great reference guide that show you all options while the game progresses.
Sanity score:
DELUXE (Components, Design):
Tapestry has an excellent aesthetic level. Some of its characteristics that make it good in this section are:
Figures of Houses, armories, markets, farms and player outposts
The box is hard and consistent.
The quality and texture of the cards that come in the game is good.
The figures on the monuments are really good.
Profit boards and capital boards are cardstock with a rough texture. However they could have made these boards with a consistent thickness instead of just plain textured cardstock.
Be grateful that the game includes an insert where all the figures are kept. This insert also fits part of the rest of the materials.
The territory tiles are decent, they have an acceptable thickness.
However main board could get better artwork compared with the rest of the components and seems more “abstract”. Also as main board it lacks some thickness.
Deluxe rating:
GALERÍA
The monuments of Tapestry displayed on our board game mat:
CONCLUSIONS
I like the game but it is expensive due to the many components. It has the good virtue of being pretty, easy to learn and play. But It has little interaction with the players (which I personally do not care) and could be tedious if played with many players.
Our BGG final score:
The Doctor Frikistein® reviews are made without any sponsorship and with games purchased for our property.
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