Topplista

10 poäng

Tigris & Euphrates
The Great Zimbabwe
Reef Encounter
Automobile
Dominant Species
Civilization
Imperial
Keyflower
Hansa Teutonica
Arkwright
Brass: Lancashire
Brass: Birmingham
Schack
Backgammon

9 poäng

Go
Kanban EV
Wildcatters
Container
Indonesia
Food Chain Magnate
Power Grid
Samurai
Taj Mahal
The Palaces of Carrara
Tikal
China
Ra
Through the Desert
Carolus Magnus
The King is Dead
Taluva
Clans
Alchemist
Inca Empire
Age of Steam
Stephenson's Rocket
Lisboa
On Mars
Alchemists: The King's Golem
Diplomacy
El Grande
Bug
Dominant Species: Marine
Pax Pamir 2nd ed
John Company 2nd ed
Horseless Carriage
Concordia

8 poäng

7 poäng

Imperial Steam
The Resistance: Avalon
Mykerinos
Santiago
Hansa
Paris Connection
Vanuatu
Patrician
Tsuro of the Seas
Blokus
Britannia
Aztlán
Bombay
In the Year of the Dragon
Deus
Spyrium
Kraftwagen
Istanbul
Puerto Rico
Pergamon
Calimala
Rialto
Yspahan
Shakespeare
Attika
Rheinländer
The Gallerist
Akrotiri
Genoa
Mare Nostrum: Empires
7 Ages
Olympos
Bonfire
CO2
Key Harvest
Agra
Antike
Settlers
Manhattan
Pandemic
Darwin's Journey
Irish Gauge
Cottage Garden
Blue Lagoon
Five Tribes
Lord of the Rings
Africana
Five Points: Gangs of New York
Peloponnes
Napoleon at Leipzig
Wallenstein
Macao
Vasco da Gama
Hacienda
Ingenious
Azul
Antiquity
Franchise
20th Century
Cartagena
High Society
Condottiere
Hanabi
Hibernia
18Scan
Keltis
Lost Cities
Ivanhoe
Medina
The Red Cathedral
Realm of Sand
Ys
Ricochet Robots
Copycat
Firenze
Fire in the Lake
Hellas
Yokohama
Carnegie
Viscounts of the West Kingdom
Fjords
Photosynthesis
Struggle of Empires
Union Stockyards
Kutná Hora
The Wolves
Mini Express
The Rich and the Good
Das Letzte Paradies
Pax Renaissance
Colonialism
SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Tower Up
Aelderman
DVONN
Kaivai

6 poäng

5 poäng

4 poäng

3 poäng

2 poäng

1 poäng

Partiexempel

Brädspel

Uppdaterad 2026-03-08

Brädspel kombinerar de bästa elementen från schack och rollspel. Dels finner vi de strategiska och taktiska elementen - spänningen i att besegra en motståndare med tankens kraft - och dels finner vi de diplomatiska elementen - upplevelsen av att sätta sig in i en fältherres eller stats roll och med den som utgångspunkt förhandla med, förekomma och förinta andra fältherrar eller stater.

Mitt intresse för brädspel vaknade följaktligen också i högstadiet, efter det att jag tagit schack och rollspel till mitt hjärta. Klassikern RISK blev det första brädspelet jag prövade mina krafter på men med tiden upptäckte jag fler och fler slagfält som erbjöd större och mer spännande utmaningar.

Internets utveckling gav brädspelen en ny dimension såtillvida att spelplanens gränser eliminerades och man kunde skaffa sig vänner (eller fiender, beroende på hur man ser det) över hela världen. Jag deltog i flera Diplomacypartier över nätet, inklusive 1999 års världsmästerskap. Det gav mig många roliga minnen men tyvärr kunde jag också konstatera att det krävde alltför mycket tid. För den intresserade rekommenderar jag ändå ett besök på Diplomatic Pouch!

Efter det blev det svårt att hitta tid och motståndare till att spela brädspel. Ibland dök snabbare spel som Settlers och Puerto Rico upp på bordet när jag träffade kompisar men annars förde de länge en tynande tillvaro i mitt välfyllda spelskåp. Sedan vi flyttade till villa och fick mer plats "annekterade" jag visserligen ett rum för solitärspel där jag ofta har partier uppställda (vilket kan behövas då ett spel som Napoleon at Leipzig tog över ett år att färdigspela).

På senare tid har dock mitt intresse för speldesign välkomnat fler spel i studiesyfte och de har till och med fått byta det diskreta spelskåpet mot en mer framträdande spelhylla. Jag har också utökat mitt nätverk till att omfatta fler brädspelsentusiaster och min lista på spelade spel har växt dramatiskt. Jag vill därför på den här sidan dela med mig av mina tankar och erfarenheter om alla dessa spel till andra brädspelsfantaster.

Topplista - vad jag gillar och inte gillar i ett spel

Om det är tack vare erfarenheten av att spela spel eller designa spel ska jag låta vara osagt men jag har också lärt mig mer om vilka typer av spel jag uppskattar:

Skicklighet framför tur: Ända sedan jag började spela schack har jag uppskattat skicklighetsspel framför rena turspel. Jag förlorar hellre ett parti efter en hård strategisk och/eller taktisk kamp än vinner tack vare tärningen. Vissa tärningsspel som Backgammon lyckas visserligen skapa en kamp om att få sannolikheterna snarare än slumpen på sin sida men det är ett sällsynt undantag.
Mekanismer framför tema: Jag uppskattar episka spel där varje parti är en historia i sig men inte ens de vackraste illustrationerna eller komponenterna kan skyla över klumpiga eller oengagerande mekanismer. Med extremt avskalade mekanismer lyckas till exempel Diplomacy berätta om politiska intriger och Tigris & Euphrates om kungarikens uppgång och fall. Det mer tematiska Game of Thrones är bara en utdragen och plågsam orgie i dåliga mekanismer som inte hänger ihop.
Bräde framför kort: Jag vill se spelet utspela sig på brädet där alla förutsättningar är kända för alla spelare, inte i korthögar och korthänder där kunskapen om vilka kort som finns och hur de kan kombineras är avgörande. Ingen skulle vilja spela ett brädspel med hundra unika pjäser men ett kortspel med hundra unika kort går bra trots att principen är densamma. Jag kan förstå glädjen i att plötsligt hitta en stark och oväntad kortkombination men den går helt enkelt inte upp över glädjen över att långsamt bygga upp en stark position på ett bräde och slå till i exakt rätt tid och på rätt plats.
Kort speltid framför lång speltid: Spel med mycket djup i relation till sin komplexitet anses bra men jag skulle också vilja lägga till relationen till speltiden. Visserligen tackar jag inte nej till speldagar dedikerade till spel som Civilization men i längden föredrar jag att spela flera partier eller andra spel under samma tid. Tid är helt enkelt en bristfaktor och kvalitet är viktigare än kvantitet.
Interagerande framför solitär: Spel är för mig en social verksamhet där spelare agerar mot varandra snarare än oberoende av varandra. Jag uppskattar visserligen Eurospel men det får inte gå till överdrift där varje spelare sitter och lägger sitt eget pussel oberoende av varandra. Jag är därför tveksam till många "poängsallader" där spelet går ut på att bygga en mer effektiv "ekonomisk motor" än motståndarna.
Kontroll framför take that: Min preferens för interaktion innebär inte att jag vill ha kaotiska spel där alla påverkar varandra hela tiden. I många fall kan sådana spel drabbas av det välkända "kingmaker-problemet", där spelet avgörs inte på spelbrädet utan av spelarna själva (så varför över huvud taget spela). Det gäller inte bara traditionella krigsspel som RISK utan också i övrigt väldesignade spel som Puerto Rico, där större delen av dina handlingar väljs av dina motståndare och ger dig lite kontroll över ditt eget öde. Jämför detta med Tigris & Euphrates, där spelarnas handlingar indirekt styrs av vilka behov de har (d v s vilka färger de behöver). Det ger ett spel där varje spelare strategiskt kan planera för balans men taktiskt måste svara på spelets "naturliga" konflikter om resurser snarare än att välja konflikt mot specifika spelare.
Konkurrens framför samarbete: Spel förblir för mig en kamp mellan spelare snarare än mot spelet. Jag har prövat diverse samarbetsspel men alltid fått samma upplevelse. Spelarna spelar alla spelare tillsammans (så varför ha olika spelarkaraktärer?) och den enda tillfredsställelsen kommer sig av att besegra ett spels mekanismer, ofta genom att optimera sannolikheterna. Det gör man visserligen i Backgammon också men då mot en annan spelare. Vill jag spela mot ett spel spelar jag hellre datorspel och vill jag samarbeta spelar jag hellre rollspel.
Mål framför "poängsallad": Reiner Knizia sa en gång att "det är målet som är viktigt, inte segern". För mig betyder det att du ska spela mot ett mål som betyder något snarare än att plocka så mycket poäng som möjligt. Jag kan förstå charmen med spel där du känner att du åstadkommer något varje tur men i slutändan handlar det bara om att optimera en spelmotor. Det är lite som om schack hade gått ut på att ta flest pjäser i X drag snarare än att fånga motståndarkungen.

Slutligen några ord om mina rankningar. I början överväldigades jag av de många bättre spelen jämfört med min barndoms spel och rankade följaktligen alla mellan 8 och 10 som "vill alltid spela" eller bättre. Men ju fler spel jag spelade, desto mer insåg jag att jag kan vara kräsen. Följaktligen justerade jag mina rankningar till en mer normalfördelad kurva, inte för att spel är dåliga (de flesta är det inte) utan för att det finns ännu bättre spel.

Ett spel som jag kan spela en hel speldag och sedan ägna nästa dag åt att utforska strategier
Ett spel som skulle ha fått en 10:a om det inte hade varit för spelen som redan fått en 10:a
Ett spel jag gärna spelar men kanske inte hela speldagen
Ett spel jag gärna spelar men kanske inte mer än en gång under en speldag
Ett spel jag inte föreslår men inte heller tackar nej till
Ett spel jag kan spela om det inte finns något bättre
Ett spel jag kanske spelar som en ursäkt för att umgås
Ett spel jag försöker hitta en ursäkt för att slippa spela
Ett spel jag aktivt undviker
Ett spel... nej, det är det inte

För den som vill läsa mer om brädspel kan jag rekommendera följande sajter:

Boardgamegeek: En speldatabas med outsinlig mängd information.
The Game Crafter: En print-on-demand-tjänst där man kan trycka egna spel.
Cardboard Edison: En spelblogg med bra tips för speldesigners.
Games Precipice: En spelblogg med insiktsfulla diskussioner om spelmekanismer.

För den som vill provspela online innan de köper ett fysiskt spel kan jag rekommendera följande sajter:

Boardgame Arena: En stor och välutvecklad sajt för många olika spel såsom Keyflower och Palaces of Carrara. Dock saknar jag möjligheten att ångra drag.
Triqqy: En lite buggig sajt men en av få där man kan spela Knizias spel, däribland Tigris & Eufrat och Samurai. Även här saknar jag möjligheten att ångra drag.
Spiel By Web: En sajt med bättre funktioner än utseende med spel som Reef Encounter och Tikal.
Yucata: En sajt som påminner om Spiel By Web med kortare spel som Alchemist och Torres.
Boardgamecore: En stilren sajt med flera spel från Splotter games, däribland The Great Zimbabwe och Food Chain Magnate.
Slothninja: För den som saknar Splotterspelet Indonesia så är det ett av få spel på den här sajten.
Boiteajeux: En snygg sajt med spel som Alchemists, Myrmes och Concordia.
Michael Schacht: En enkel men fullt funktionell sajt för många av Michael Schachts spel, däribland China och Patrician.
Mabiweb: En liten sajt med okända pärlor som UR och Mykerinos.
Civilization: En inte helt intuitiv sajt dedikerad för Civilization och Advanced Civilization.

Topplista - från fulländade 10-poängare till "trasiga" 1-poängare

10 - Ett spel som jag kan spela en hel speldag och sedan ägna nästa dag åt att utforska strategier

Tigris & Euphrates (äger)

Bakgrund:	Civilisationers uppgång och fall i Mesopotamien
Spelare:	2-4
Speltid:	1-2 timmar
Svårighetsgrad:	30%

Allmänt

Tigris & Euphrates måste vara det perfekta spelet. Här finns ett element från go, där du lägger ut brickor för att skapa kungadömen och få poäng från dem. Här finns ett element från schack, där du manövrerar dina pjäser för anfall och/eller försvar. Här finns ett element från klassiskt civilisationsbyggande, där du förbättrar ditt kungarike genom monument och byggnader.

Men det här är inte ett fredligt spel utan interaktion mellan spelarna. Konflikter förekommer i två intressanta skepnader. I interna konflikter placerar du medlemmar i din dynasti i dina motståndares kungadömen med målet att störta dem och själv dra fördel av deras riken. I externa konflikter kan expanderande gränser skapa ett starkare kungadöme för vinnaren eller lämna de två kungadömena försvagade efter de interna stridigheterna.

Men det slutar inte där. Det finns ingenting sådant som "ditt" kungadöme, de är bara där för att tjäna din dynastis intressen (d v s generera poäng) och kan (ska!) överges när de inte längre är till någon nytta för dig.

Slutligen måste du, i detta kaos av uppgående och fallande civilisationer, balansera din tillväxt. Det är nämligen inte ditt starkaste område som ger dig segern, det är ditt svagaste område. Spelet är till synes enkelt men under ytan döljer sig ett fantastiskt speldjup.

Tigris & Euphrates - the perfect game? (engelskspråkig recension för publicering på Boardgamegeek)

Is it possible to fall in love with a game before even playing it? It all started when I casually browsed around the Boardgamegeek top list one day. I had no intentions to find a new game - I already had more games than time. Besides, reading the negative critics (which is a best way to judge a game, second only to actually play it), they all seemed to be too much of something. Agricola was too solitaire, Through the Ages was too long, Terra Mystica was too much of a counting exercise, Puerto Rico had too little interaction, Eclipse was too random and so on.

But then I found a game that seemed to balance everything. Here was an element of go, where you woud place tile to create kingdoms and score points from them. Here was an element from chess, where you would maneuver your pieces for attack and/or defense. Here was an element of the classical civilization building, where you would improve your kingdom through monuments and buildings.

However, this was not a peaceful game without player interaction. Conflicts came in two interesting shapes. In internal conflicts you would plant your dynasty members in your opponents' kingdoms with the objective of overthrowing them and reap the benefits for yourself. In external conflicts the clashes of expanding borders might form one stronger kingdom for a winner or leave the two kingdoms weaker after the fierce strife.

But it did not end there. There was no such thing as "your" kingdom, they were only there to serve your dynasty's interests (i.e. generate victory points) and might (should!) be abandoned when they no longer served any purpose.

Finally, in this chaos of rising and falling civilizations you would need to find a balanced growth because it was not your strongest area that awarded you the victory, it was your weakest area. The game seemed to be so simple and yet the depth of the gameplay so immense.

I am of course talking about Tigris & Euphrates.

But let us start with an overview of the rules. You are a leader of a dynasty in the Ancient Fertile Crescent. At your disposal, you have a king (black), a priest (red), a trader (green) and a farmer (blue). The land is represented by a checkered map and the kingdoms by adjacent tiles in the same colors as your leaders. The objective of the game is to score victory points, again in the same colors as your leaders. You start with six tiles (which are replenished at the end of each turn) and may carry out two of the following actions:

Place, move or remove a leader. Leaders are necessary to earn victory points
Place a tile. Placed tiles earn victory points to the leader in the same kingdom
Place a catastrophe tile. Catastrophe tiles permanently destroys a square.
Swap up to six tiles.

This is the peaceful part of the game where you build kingdoms. The aggressive part is when leaders of the same color end up in the same kingdom. Leaders of different colors can co-exist in a kingdom, even if belonging to different players, but leaders of the same color results in a conflict. Internal conflicts take place when leaders are placed and are fought with red tiles. The leaders gain strength from adjacent red tiles and may add tiles from their hand. External conflicts take place when tiles are placed so that kingdoms merge. The leaders gain strength from tiles of their color in their "half" of the kingdom and may add tiles from their hand. The loser is removed (and, in the external conflict, all supporting tiles), and the winner gets victory points for each removed leader and tile.

Each of the four colors have special abilities:

The black leader earns victory points for placing tiles of all colors if the leader of the tile's color is not present
Leaders must be placed adjacent to red tiles and red tiles are also used in internal conflicts
The green leader can earn treasury ("wild card" victory points) if a kingdom connects two or more tiles with treasury
The blue tile is the only tile that may be placed on rivers (and nowhere else)

Victory points may also be earned from monuments (and, in the advanced rules, from buildings and the ziggurat). Those can be built when tiles of the same colors are grouped in certain ways (in a square of four to build monuments etc.) and earn points to the leader or leaders of that color. At the end of the game, the player with the most victory points in his or her worst color (i.e. the player with the most balanced score) wins!

Let us now continue to see how those rules make Tigris & Euphrates so special. (The list is based on the criteria for a fun game listed by Wolfgang Kramer, designer of El Grande among others.)

Originality: To my knowledge, there is no game that combine tile-laying and civilization building with internal and external conflicts the way Tigris & Euphrates does
Replayability: The possible combinations of kingdoms and conflicts are unlimited, making each game unique
Surprise: The available actions may be few but their effects may overturn the entire board
Equal opportunity: The players start with equal and symmetric conditions and although the first-mover may have an early benefit, her kingdom will also attract early enemies
Winning chances: The unique balanced scoring prevents players from racing to victory as victory points of all four colors are required
No "kingmaker" effect: The limit of one leader of each color in a kingdom makes it difficult to cooperate with the winner and weak attacks may even benefit the runner-up
No early elimination: Leaders never die, they may re-enter the game board next turn
Reasonable waiting times: With two actions per turn, the downtime is short and often a player's action affect other players as well (positively or negatively)
Creative control: Everything that happens in the game is because of the players' actions
Uniformity: The theme may be pasted on but the story of rising and falling kingdoms fits very well in the Ancient Fertile Crescent and, as other reviewers have said, the game looks almost like it was dug out from an old ziggurat
Quality of components: My edition (Mayfair revised 2-sided board edition) come with linen-textured board and tiles and the sturdy wooden monuments give a nice 3D-feeling to the rising and falling kingdoms
Consistency of elements: Tigris & Euphrates is tactical and although tiles are randomly drawn, tactics is required to use them well
Tension: The fact that leaders may move freely and kingdoms expand rapidly makes conflicts a constant threat
Learning and mastering: Tigris & Euphrates is quickly learnt and mastering the game is about assessing the open board, not memorizing hidden cards with special abilities
Complexity and influence: Tigris & Euphrates is not complex and the players have full influence on the course of the game

Some reviewers warn that Tigris & Euphrates require some sessions to reveal its secrets but either my first session proves the opposite or there is much more to discover. The session started quietly with the Lion settling in the Northeast corner and the Archer in the Northwest while the Potter and the Bull got into an early fight for the South. The Lion took advantage of the fight and built a serpent-like kingdom in the East, claiming two treasures and building the first temple. So far, it was a standard civilization game with a first- mover advantage. But then came a series of conflicts, culminating in devastating external conflicts that stretched from the Northeast to the Southwest, swept away three leaders and left the Lion kingdom scattered and the monument abandoned in a desolated land. Never before in my gaming experience have I seen such a turn of events. Survivors fled to the prospering Arrow kingdom in the Northwest and dynasties replaced each other but in the end, the Arrow dynasty emerged as the winner.

Archer: 10-10-11-13
Potter: 8-9-9-9
Bull: 8-8-9-14
Lion: 7-8-8-9

Note that the end position contains a newbie error - can you spot it?

To sum up, Tigris & Euphrates satisfies all criteria for a fun game. Each session is unique as tiles are placed and removed on the game board. Leaders will come and go and kingdoms will carefully expand until the time is ripe for a confrontation. Players will be veering between hope and despair as the kingdoms rise and fall in the Ancient Fertile Crescent. There are few games that give such a complete gaming experience like Tigris & Euphrates and in my opinion it is truly the perfect game.

Strategi

Målet i Tigris & Euphrates är inte att bygga ett kungarike eller erövra motståndarriken utan helt enkelt att samla poäng. Du måste därför frikoppla dig från tanken på ett kungarike som "ditt" eller "någon annans" - de finns där för att ge dig poäng, inget annat. Därmed måste du se till att varje handling maximerar dina poäng, antingen på kort sikt eller lång sikt, samtidigt som du nekar motståndarna poäng. Det är också viktigt att du balanserar poängen så att du inte får för lite poäng i någon färg.

Hur du bäst maximerar poängen beror helt på hur det ser ut på spelbrädet men följande generella tips hjälper dig att bedöma läget:

Börja med en svart ledare, så att du kan få poäng i alla färger, och en grön ledare, så att du kan få skatter
Försök få in övriga ledare med "tempo", d v s en intern konflikt som ger dig både ledare och poäng
I början av spelet, försök få ut alla dina ledare då dessa behövs för att få poäng i olika färger
Senare i spelet, fokusera på de ledare i de färger som du behöver poäng i
Börja inte i hörnen, dels eftersom du kan bli instängd och dels eftersom skatterna i hörnen tas bort först och lämnar din ledare med ett oskyddat tempel
För dina första ledare anses E14 vara bra, då det är centralt och gränsar till ett möjligt blått monument (4 flodrutor i kvadrat), och därefter C6 och J6
Lägg din första bricka nära två skatter med sikte på att få dem bägge i ditt kungarike
Lämna fler än två brickor mellan ditt kungarike och en skatt så länge du inte har en grön ledare, annars riskerar du att en motståndares gröne ledare tar den
Skydda dina ledare mot interna konflikter genom att ha dem intill åtminstone två röda brickor
Skydda dina ledare mot externa konflikter genom att ha dem nära brickor av samma färg (så att inte ledaren isoleras om mellanliggande brickor tas bort av konflikten)
Lämna inte två eller fler tomma rutor intill röda brickor då dessa kan användas av fientliga ledare
Var försiktig med långa smala kungariken då dessa kan förstöras av externa konflikter eller katastrofer
Var försiktig med kungariken med avstånd mellan ledare och brickor av samma färg då katastrofbrickor eller externa konflikter kan bryta kontakten och göra ledaren svagare
Förstärk smala kungariken eller kungariken med avstånd med "redundanta" brickor som skapar extra förbindelser
Var försiktig när det är bara är två brickor till ett fientligt kungarike ("semistabilt") då fienden kan anfalla med två handlingar
Var mycket försiktig när det är bara är en bricka till ett fientligt kungarike ("instabilt") då fienden först kan försvaga dig med en katastrof och sedan anfalla
Använd dina handlingar inte bara till att maximera dina poäng utan också till att störa motståndarna
Använd katastrofbrickorna defensivt för att bryta motståndares tillgång till viktiga brickor eller förstöra anfallsvägar mot dig
Använd katastrofbrickorna offensivt för att splittra fientliga kungariken och antingen anfalla halvor med ledare eller lägga beslag på halvor utan ledare
Använd interna konflikter för att få tillgång till monument
Använd externa konflikter där du deltar för att få brickor och/eller tillgång till monument
Använd externa konflikter där du inte deltar till att förstöra motståndarriken men bara om du är säker på att vinnaren inte har någon nytta av färgerna han eller hon vinner
Starta inte en extern konflikt enbart för att få brickor om du redan har många brickor i den färgen
En tumregel är att tre brickors övervikt (brickor på brädet + brickor på handen) ofta räcker för seger
En annan tumregel är att två brickors övervikt kan räcka för seger i gröna och svarta konflikter, är mer osäkert i blå konflikter och riskabelt i röda konflikter
Bygg inte små kungariken som lätt kan sväljas av närliggande stora kungariken
Bygg inte monument om du hotas av en extern konflikt eftersom de vända brickorna försvagar din ledare och därmed ditt försvar
Bygg däremot ett monument i ett moståndarrike om du kan försvaga dess ledare och själv erövra det genom en extern konflikt
Försök gissa dig till dina motståndares brickor utifrån hur de positionerar sina ledare eller gör sig av med brickor
Var aktsam på motståndarens sent byggda monument då dessa i regel byggs för att komplettera färger med få poäng
Känn inte att du måste ta tillbaka "förlorade" kungariken - det kan mycket väl finnas bättre kungariken att hämta poäng i

Men kom som sagt ihåg att detta är generella tips, varje handling måste bedömas utifrån det rådande läget.

Minnen

Under en lång tid var mina minnen av Tigris & Euphrates tyvärr färre än vad jag hade önskat. Reiner Knizias mästerverk är helt enkelt det närmaste ett flerspelarspel har kommit schack med alla dess fördelar men också två viktiga nackdelar: det är svårt att hitta spelare för socialt spel och det kräver jämna spelare för att komma till sin rätt. Ofta när jag introducerar det för nya spelare så vinner jag enkelt och får höra att tur med brickor (särskilt röda tempelbrickor) är avgörande.

Det blev i stället på online-sajter som Triqqy.com som jag hittade jämbördiga spelare. Tyvärr så blev många partier lidande av att spelare lämnade det och även om det fanns turneringar med bättre fullföljande så spelades finalen alltid på två spelare - en spelform som tyvärr saknar det ebb och flod som inträder när fyra spelare ständigt rubbar maktbalansen. Längre trodde jag att Tigris & Euphrates öde var att förbli det spel som jag spelar minst i förhållande till hur ofta jag skulle vilja spela det.

Men så kom Tigris & Euphrates till Boardgamearena och med det öppnades många fler möjligheter till spel. I skrivande stund har jag spelat ett par hundra partier, varav hälften på Boardgamearena, och lyckats inneha den högsta ELO-rankingen på sajten vid ett tillfälle. Nedanstående kommenterade parti spelades mot högt rankade motståndare och belyser mycket av den strategi och taktik som präglar mitt spel.

The Mesopotamian Bull Run (engelskspråkig sessionsrapport för publicering på Boardgamegeek)

In the ancient times, a young man laid the foundation stone to a boardgame collection. After extensive research, Tigris & Euphrates was the chosen one with the expectation that no other boardgames would ever be necessary. Although that expectation turned out to be futile, Tigris & Euphrates maintained its status as the major boardgame in the collection, to which the now old man would always return.

At the time of writing, I have recorded almost 250 games and I am one of the lucky few to reach the World ELO Leader position at Boardgamearena. Yet, I have never returned to an old game to analyze it and learn from it, something that I always do after a chess game. Well, it's never too late to start so here is an informative game I played as the Bull in the Golden Trophy Tigris Euphrates tournament against the highly rated players Miroku20X6, RomainJ and Zzzyyxas. It provides an insight in some of the strategic and tactical considerations of Knizia's masterpiece and yet it only scratches the surface of this deep game. I hope this will be of interest to newbies and seasoned players alike.

Round 1

The game opened in a traditional way with each player starting a kingdom of their own. Three of the players started with a King (to be able to gain victory points for all colors) and a Merchant (to be able to gain treasures). The Potter chose a different strategy with a Priest and a Farmer, perhaps with the intention to build an early Blue monument at G9:H10.

Notice how all players position themselves between the center and a corner to start carving out pieces of territories for their own, similar to how Go players place their initial stones. From those positions, they may expand towards the corners (and claim the treasures there) while still being close to the center to engage in wars if opportunities would arise. Also notice how the Potter and Lion kingdoms are separated by only two squares. This is an example of semi-stable kingdoms, which can be connected and attacked in one turn. Since the kingdoms have no leaders of common colors, this is not an issue yet, but it may be in the future.

Potter: Priest to G8, Farmer to I8
Bull: King to K4, Merchant to L3
Archer: Trader to F4, Priest to G3
Lion: Merchant to L8, King to M9

Score: Red 0, Black 0, Green 0, Blue 0

Round 2

I proceeded with the basic Tigris & Euphrates opening: play a second Red tile to protect the two initial leaders followed by a tile to connect to a treasure. The other player also went for treasures but possibly with other goals in mind. The Archer placed two green tiles, perhaps aiming for an early green monument, while the Potter expanded further towards the Lion. The purpose was probably to beat the Lion to the treasure but the kingdoms are now separated by only one square, something that makes them unstable. Any player could now start a war with their first action and take advantage of the war result with their second action. Keep an eye on this part of the board (I certainly did) because things will happen there.

Potter: Red to J8, Merchant to J9
Bull: Red to K3, Green to K2
Archer: Green to F3, Green to E3
Lion: Red to L9, Blue to M10

Score: Red 1, Black 0, Green 1, Blue 0

Round 3

In the third round, all players connect to treasures. Notice how all players except me have added a third leader. In a typical Tigris & Euphrates game you only have about 13-15 rounds (26-30 actions) and really want every action to count. Thus, I tend to delay my (non-scoring) leader moves until a scoring opportunity appears, such as a revolt against a weak leader. However, I do run the risk of getting an opponent leader in "my" kingdom and lose control of how it grows in that leader's color. We'll see both this opportunity and this risk in the game.

Potter: Red to I9, Blue to J10
Bull: Green to K1, Red to L2
Archer: King to G5, Red to F5
Lion: Red to M11, Priest to N11

Score: Red 2, Black 0, Green 2, Blue 0, Treasures 1

Round 4

I was now expecting a war between the Potter and the Lion but was surprised to see the Potter kingdom expanding in my direction. Did the Potter have more green tiles up their sleeve and did they plan a green war against me? Meanwhile, my hand consisted of 1 red tile and 5 blue tiles so how could I possibly defend?

One option would be to discard my tiles, hoping to get more green ones. Another option would be to play a catastrophe tile on J8, taking advantage of the weak "snake kingdom" of the Potter and split it in two. However, both those options would cost me an action without giving me any benefit in return. But there was also a third and much better option.

Many newbies complain about how the luck of the draw can result in a bad hand of tiles in Tigris & Euphrates. However, there is no such thing as bad hands of tiles, only different hands of opportunities. If you have a hand heavily weighted in one color, you should look for opportunities where that color can be useful.

With this in mind, I played Farmer to L11 and Red to K11 to start a blue war. Why a blue war? Because I wanted to make use of my blue tiles and hopefully refresh my hand with more green tiles. Why not a green war between two opponents to force them to spend their green tiles against each other instead of me? Because I didn't want to give my opponents points if I could avoid it.

The war was successful and my two defensive actions earned me two blue points. Unfortunately, I didn't draw any green tiles after all but the Potter couldn't know this so for the time being, the threat was averted. However, I did get three red tiles instead, which later would turn out to be useful.

Potter: Green to J7, Green to J6
Bull: Farmer to L11, Red to K11 WAR

Bull selects Blue war (1 vs 1)
Bull places 5 support
Potter places 0 support
Bull wins with 6 vs 1 and removes Farmer I8 and Blue J10

Archer: Black to E5, Black to D5
Lion: Green to L7, Green to O10

Score: Red 2, Black 0, Green 2, Blue 2, Treasures 1

Round 5

The fifth round was more of a consolidation round. The Potter surprised me with a catastrophe tile, splitting the Lion/Bull kingdom in three parts. Perhaps he wanted to weaken his neighbour? Both me and the Archer claimed our second treasures while the Lion had to spend time mending his kingdom with a blue (non-scoring) tile to N10. I felt a little bit guilty but only a little.

Potter: Catastrophe to M11, Red to I8
Bull: Green to M2, Black to N2
Archer: Green to E2, Black to E4
Lion: Blue to N10, Green to O9

Score: Red 2, Black 1, Green 3, Blue 2, Treasures 2

Round 6

The Potter wasn't daunted after all and moved his border even closer to mine with a green tile to J5. Strangely enough, this was followed by a red tile to I7. I believe this was a mistake, since empty squares adjacent to red tiles make it easier for opponents to jump in there and start a revolution. Do you remember how I used blue tiles to defend against the Merchant through a blue war? I got red tiles in return so this time I used red tiles to defend against the Merchant through a red revolution.

Let me pause here for a moment to discuss the odds of winning a war or a revolution. I don't know the exact probabilities but a useful rule of thumb is to attack if you have three or more tiles except for red where four or more tiles are usually needed. (There are more red tiles in the game and players tend to keep them on their hands longer for defensive purposes.) In this case, I could revolt with 5 vs 1 and be fairly optimistic about my chances.

The gamble paid off and I had now got both my Farmer and my Priest to the board for "free". However, my leaders were spread out in three different and relatively weak kingdoms. My score was probably good but I had a bad feeling about my position and I would have to steer very carefully in the future.

Potter: Green to J5, Red to I7
Bull: Priest to H7 REVOLT (2 vs 1)

Bull places 3 support
Potter places 0 support
Bull wins with 5 vs 1 and removes Priest G8

Bull: Blue to K10
Archer: Blue to D3, Blue to C3
Lion: Black to O8, Blue to N8

Score: Red 3, Black 1, Green 3, Blue 3, Treasures 2

Round 7

There is no such thing as "your" kingdom in Tigris & Euphrates. A kingdom is merely a mean for your leaders to score points and should be abandoned if there are better kingdoms elsewhere. This is exactly what the Potter did this round by placing the Farmer in the Western Archer kingdom and the Priest in (my) Eastern kingdom. In addition, the Priest was placed so that only two squares separated the Western and the Eastern kingdoms. This meant that my Black and Green leaders were close to all opponent kingdoms. A threat or an opportunity?

I did consider an attack against the Southern Lion kingdom with 3 vs 1 black tiles and 5 vs 3 green tiles. With some luck, I would win the black war and split the kingdom so that I then could attack with 5 vs 1 green tiles. (One important advantage of being the attacker is that you can choose the order of the wars and use the first war to weaken the remaining leaders. Without the King at M9, the green King at L8 would no longer be connected to the green O9 and O10 tiles.) However, I feared that my position would get too weak in case of a black loss, even if it would be followed by a green victory. Instead, I played two black tiles to improve my black score and hopefully deter my opponents from attacking.

I don't know if my deterrence worked but the Archer decided to build the game's first monument instead, a Black/Red one. A monument is a valuable source of points but weakens a color, in this case Black. On the other hand, the Archer's Red and Green leaders were still strong enough to maintain a terror balance between the Western and the Eastern kingdoms. If left unchecked, the Archer would run away with the game, but for the moment there was nothing I could do about it.

Meanwhile in the South, the Lion prepared a revolt against an intruding Farmer by first placing a red tile so that he could follow up with a Farmer adjacent to two red tiles while the opponent Farmer was adjacent to only one. Unfortunately, he had only two red tiles on the hand while the Archer had three so the revolt failed. (Do you remember the rule of thumb? You should have at least four more tiles if revolting or attacking with Red.)

This was unfortunate for me too, because now all the Archer's leader were well positioned. With about half the game played, I couldn't remain passive if I wanted to play for a victory. But what could I do?

Potter: Farmer to E6, Priest to J3
Bull: Black to M3, Black to N3
Archer: Black to D4, Black/Red monument D4:E5, Farmer to P11
Lion: Red to P8, Farmer to P7 REVOLT (2 vs 1)

Lion places 2 support
Archer places 3 support
Bull wins with 4 vs 4 and removes Farmer P7

Score: Red 3, Black 3, Green 3, Blue 3, Treasures 2

Round 8

If an opponent has a monument, they will score two extra points each round. Thus, you have to score at least two extra points yourself and the best way to do so is to wage a war. With three green tiles, I could start a green war and choose between three opponent Merchants but whom should I choose? The Potter was the strongest (4) and probably out of the competition anyway. I could fight the Archer (3) but then a red war between the Archer and the Potter would eventually follow and a victory for the former would not only give the Archer red points but also add two tiles to their kingdom. (The connecting tiles I3 and H3 would no longer be part of my kingdom if the Priest at J3 were to be removed.) That left only the Lion Merchant (3).

But why not attack the Lion King first with 4 vs 1 and then the Lion Merchant? Didn't I state earlier that 3 vs 1 offers good chances? Well, actually I had three reasons for my decision. First, I worried that the Lion had set up a "honey trap" by holding on to black tiles and giving the impression that their King was weak to tempt opponents to start the war. As a defender, you don't have to spend an action (connecting tiles don't score points) and it's easier to win (the defender wins ties). Second, even if I would win the black war and two points, I would split the Lion kingdom and win two green points less so the net result would be the same. Third, if things would come to worse and the Lion would turn out to have three green tiles, I would lose the green war but our kingdoms would remain connected, enabling me to win the black war AND be able to return my Merchant to L3 and win the revolt thanks to the three adjacent red tiles. Surrounding your leaders with red tiles not only protect them against revolts but also give them a chance to come back after lost wars.

I don't know whether my worries were founded but I did win the Merchant war with 5 vs 4. With that, I had eliminated the green threat from the Southern kingdom and could always come back for black points later.

After the war, the Archer added tiles to their kingdom while the Lion returned their Farmer and repositioned their Priest to a stronger position (protected by two red tiles instead of one). Thanks to the war, I thought I was still keeping up with the Archer, but for how long?

Potter: Green to G7, Blue to D2
Bull: Black to L5, Red to L6 WAR

Bull selects Green war (3 vs 3)
Bull places 3 support
Lion places 2 support
Bull wins with 5 vs 4 and removes Lion L8 and Green L7, O9 and O10

Archer: Blue to N9, Red to H4
Lion: Priest to P7, Farmer to L8

Score: Red 3, Black 4, Green 7, Blue 3, Treasures 2

Round 9

The 9th round was not my finest hour. The Potter placed green and red tiles, making both their Merchant and their Priest two tiles stronger than mine. Meanwhile, I had drawn two blue tiles last round but my Farmer was too weak to use them for an attack and I couldn't place any of them without connecting to other kingdoms and not scoring any points. Besides, such a placement would probably only give away blue points to an attacker. I decided to place them in my Eastern kingdom instead to at least score two blue points but this wasn't enough to keep up with the Archer.

To make things worse, my arch enemy built a second monument and now earned four extra points each round! The final nail in the coffin was an expected Lion attack on my Farmer. What did I do to deserve that? Besides attacking their Merchant last round, that is. The age of patience was over, I would have to act fast to win this game.

Potter: Green to G8, Red to J2
Bull: Blue to M4, Blue to M5
Archer: Red to H3, Green to F2, Green/Red monument E2:F3
Lion: Blue to L10 Blue WAR (4 vs 1)

Lion places 1 support
Bull places 1 support
Lion wins with 5 vs 2 and removes Bull L11 and Blue K10

Lion: Merchant to L11

Score: Red 3, Black 4, Green 7, Blue 5, Treasures 2

Round 10

The 10th round would see a lot of events. The Archer's second monument had improved their score but also significantly weakened their King and Merchant. Perhaps they hoped to score enough points from the monuments before the war reached them? Perhaps they expected the strong Priest to fend off attacks? No matter what, I had to attack. After (too?) passive actions from the Potter, I used my first action to attack the Southern Kingdom.

Wait, what? Why the Southern Kingdom and not the Western kingdom you might ask? Well, for two reasons. First, an immediate attack on the Western kingdom would only earn me 1 green and 1 black point. Second, if the Potter Priest would lose the war, the Archer King and Merchant would just return in the Archer's turn and score again. A precursory attack on the Eastern kingdom would solve both issues by giving me more black and green tiles AND add red tiles to the Potter Priest. I guess I owed him that. Unlike last time, I had both green and black tiles on my hand so it should be safe to start wars in both colors (4 vs 0 green and 6 vs 1 black).

Potter: Blue to D1, Green to I6
Bull: Red to L7 WAR

Bull selects Green war (3 vs 0)
Bull places 1 support
Lion places 1 support
Bull wins with 4 vs 1 and removes Merchant L11

Bull selects Black war (4 vs 1)
Bull places 2 support
Lion places 1 support
Bull wins with 6 vs 2 and removes King M9

With the green and the black wars won and three red tiles added to the kingdom, it was finally time for the Eastern and the Western kingdoms to meet on the battlefield. It's true that the Archer could have prepared a honey trap in either black or green but I expected them to be more prepared for revolts and have mostly red tiles on the hand.

Bull: Red to I3 WAR

Bull selects Black war (4 vs 0)
Bull places 0 support
Archer places 0 support
Bull wins with 4 vs 0 and removes King G5

Bull selects Green war (3 vs 0)
Bull places 0 support
Archer places 0 support
Bull wins with 3 vs 0 and removes Merchant F4

Bull selects Red war (7 vs 10)
Archer places 0 support
Potter places 0 support
Potter wins with 10 vs 7 and removes Priest G3 and Red B3, E1, F5, H3 and H4

When the fog of war cleared, all parts of my plan had succeeded. Two Kings and two Merchants had been defeated together with one Priest and the Archer kingdom was no more. Attempts to return any of the leaders would be met by another war so the Archer decided to bring his Farmer there instead through a revolt (the Archer did indeed have plenty of red tiles on the hand!) and build a third monument to add blue tiles to his score. The last thing that happened in the round was that the Lion King took advantage of the power vacuum to settle in the shadows of the many monuments. My score had increased from 3-4-7-5-2 to 3-7-9-5-3 and I could hope for victory again but would have to start focusing on Red and Blue next.

Archer: Farmer to F4 REVOLT (1 vs 1)

Archer places 4 support
Potter places 0 support
Archer wins with 5 vs 1 and removes Potter E6

Archer: Blue to C2, Blue/Green monument C2:D3

Lion: King to G5, Black to E6

Score: Red 3, Black 7, Green 9, Blue 5, Treasures 3

Round 11

My hand offered me red tiles (3) and the board offered me blue tiles (the blue/green monument) so the obvious move now was to force my way to the former Archer kingdom through a revolt. It's true that I only had three more red tiles instead of the four I usually prefer but I knew that the Archer had spent most (all?) of his red tiles in the revolt last turn and was willing to take the risk. The gamble paid off and my red and blue points improved. (The Priest could walk to the red monuments without a fight!) The Archer then returned his Merchant while the Lion used a catastrophe on a red tile to weaken the Potter Merchant before revolting. Personally, I want my catastrophe tiles to give a better pay-off before using them (such as splitting a kingdom before attacking) but I guess the Lion was desperate. Now, his two actions only earned him one red point.

Potter: King to E9, Black to D9
Bull: Farmer to G3 REVOLT (1 VS 1)

Bull places 3 support
Archer places 0 support
Bull wins with 4 vs 1 and removes Archer F4

Bull: Priest to F4
Archer: Merchant to H4, Market to F5
Lion: Catastrophe to J8, Merchant to H7 REVOLT (2 vs 1)

Lion places 2 support
Potter places 0 support
Lion wins with 4 vs 1 and removes Potter J9

Score: Red 6, Black 7, Green 9, Blue 6, Treasures 3

Round 12

My next hand offered me two blue tiles and since there was no Farmer nearby to attack, I simply played them to earn more blue points. Since my two weakest colors were both connected to monuments, there was no reason to take risks. The opponents were surprisingly passive and played tiles for points as well. Only the Lion Merchant attacked from their strong central position but fortunately the Western monuments were more tempting than the Eastern tiles so I was spared the wrath of the Lion - for now.

Potter: Black to D10, Black to C10
Bull: Blue to C1, Blue to C4
Archer: Farmer to F10, Blue to G10
Lion: Black to F6, Green to G6 Green WAR (6 vs 1)

Lion places 0 support
Archer places 0 support
Lion wins with 6 vs 1 and removes Archer F4

Score: Red 8, Black 7, Green 9, Blue 9, Treasures 3

Round 13

Once again, I found myself with a difficult hand and a difficult position. Most of my leaders had stronger opponent leaders ready to attack (the Potter Priest with 11 vs 6, the Lion merchant with 7 vs 3 and the Lion Farmer with 7 vs 3). Only my King was stronger than the opponents. Given that, my next move was obvious, particularly since the Potter went for a (failed) revolt against the Archer and a monument building instead of attacking. Perhaps they already had enough red tiles?

Anyway, an immediate attack would probably give me a black victory but definitely a green loss. Fortunately, the Potter had just given me a better place for my Merchant so I moved it to the newly built black/green monument first and then attacked the Lion King. Notice how I attacked through a "longer route" with K5 instead of the "shorter route" with H3. The reason was that I wanted the war to end after defeating the Lion King, otherwise my Farmer would have to fight the stronger Lion Farmer. My King did indeed win the war and removed the Lion King, after which the kingdoms were no longer connected and the war ended. Always visualize the positions after the different war results before starting a war!

With that, the round became very profitable (a black victory and all remaining leaders connected to monuments) and I hoped I could afford losing a war or two since the game should end sooner or later. To my surprise, it was ended sooner by the Archer, who discarded their hand twice so that the tiles ran out.

Potter: Farmer to E11 REVOLT

Potter places 2 support
Archer places 2 support
Archer wins with 3 vs 3 and removes Farmer E11

Potter: Black to C9, Black/Green monument C9:D10
Bull: Merchant to E11, Market to K5 WAR

Bull selects Black war (4 vs 2)
Bull places 1 support
Lion places 0 support
Bull wins with 5 vs 2 and removes Archer G5

Archer: Discard 5 tiles, discard 6 tiles, unable to refill END OF GAME

Score: Red 10, Black 10, Green 10, Blue 10, Treasures 4

The final result was "a perfect 10" with 10 of each color and 3 treasures (10 points), followed by the Archer (10-7-10-6-3=8), the Lion (4-6-7-4-3=5) and the Potter (10-5-6-3-1=4). Sometimes I was lucky with the tiles (the right colors when I needed them) and sometimes I was lucky with the position (opponent actions that fit my needs). There is certainly an element of luck in Tigris & Euphrates but I do think that the ability to make the best use of the tiles and positions that Destiny gives you is the key to win more often than you lose.

What do you think? Did I find the best moves or were there better options? Should I have been more aggressive or did I take too many risks? One of the many great things about Tigris & Euphrates is that there are no straight paths between the two rivers.

Thank you for reading!