Dewan

In Dewan, players are expanding their camps across the board and racing for territory. When the last camp is placed, the end of the game is triggered and players score points in four different ways – maximising the possibilities of each is where the path to success lies…

The board is modular and will vary in size depending on the number of players: each tile contains different terrain types on it, and are assembled randomly save for the starting position of each player’s first camp. The rest of your camps sit on your personal player board for now. Players start with a couple of Terrain cards – matching the terrain on the board –  and one Story Tile. The story tiles give each player a strategy of sorts – despite the name, they are really just giving you an objective to work towards in the placement of your camps. Each story tile wants camps built in certain locations: a specific terrain, or by the water, or next to a particular resource: these are marked on the map.

Play is pretty simple: on your turn you can either pick up two more terrain cards from the display (they must be next to each other in the display) or place a new camp. Placing a camp demands the terrain cards: one matching the terrain of any camp you already have, one matching any hex you pass over on your journey, and one matching the terrain where you place your new camp. So if your new camp is right next to an old one, that’ll only take two cards. But if you have further to go, it’s more costly, and passing through a terrain occupied by an opponent means you pay the card to them rather than simply discarding it!

Placing a new camp triggers an effect: some allow you to take a new story tile and add it to your board (you might even be able to instantly complete it – see below) and others allow you to play a card underneath your player board, giving you an extra location and/or resource towards completing your story tile… in effect, it’s a tiny addition to the main board, available only to you and thematically speaking, has one of your camps on it.

When any story tile is complete – you might complete more than one on the same turn – it instantly gives you a terrain card for your hand, and perhaps more importantly, will be worth points at the end of the game. Other ways to score points are simple: when you build a camp in an area with a Berry token, take one from the board – these are each worth two points. Every fire symbol you have on your story tiles or cards beneath your board is worth a point (with a 4 point bonus for the player with the most) and finally you get 2 points for each group of connected camps of your own colour on the map: eg no camps connected would be zero points, all camps connected would be 2 points, but if you’ve established four groups of two camps that would be 8 points.

This is the basic game: in the box are some variants you can mix in which add a slightly different dynamic to play: Downpour, Volcano and The Lake Villages