Tianxia

How many good euro games starting with the letter T do you know?

Tianxia is a new strategy game starting with the letter T from among those T games. The game combines typical worker placement, track climbing, set collection, goal scoring, tight resources, and other euro elements. However, what sets it apart from other games is the shared defense of territories in the style of tower defense games. Does it work well? We’ll check it out in my review.

Gameplay in Tianxia

Mechanically, Tianxia offers us typical mechanics familiar to all euro gamers. We have worker placement, which allows us to perform a wide range of actions in different regions of the map. Thanks to that we can place governors which will increase our income and grant us passive abilities. We will also climb tracks that offer us various bonuses. We will exchange resources for goods. We will deliver goods to ships to fulfill contracts and earn money. We will exchange money for resources, and that’s how the economy of this game will work.

Even though we get pretty typical euro stuff, everything works very well here. Because it all fits together mechanically, and it’s cool that we can do so much with just one placement of our action disc.

All these options can trigger small combos. For example, if I couldn’t afford to place a governor, maybe I’ll go to the ship first. This will give me wood and move me along the track, which will add more wood. This means I can now afford another action in this region.

There are many such cause-and-effect relationships. Therefore, each placement of our action disc must be carefully considered so that we can do as much as possible in our turn. The most important thing, however, is that everything works smoothly here. Unless we have several buildings with overlapping passive abilities, in which case we may sometimes forget to collect something. Other players will definitely not look kindly on you if you remember this during their turn. I know this from my own experience…

Limited resources

I mentioned above how the economic loop works in Tianxia. So, exchange resources for goods, load the goods onto ships, spend money on resources, and the loop of the game will continue. The trick is to do it right. Unfortunately, it’s possible to overdo it and get stuck in our actions. However, once we get the hang of all these exchanges, each of our turns can be very combo-heavy. Something I like the most.

Slightly asymmetrical family

Speaking of my favorite things, at the beginning of the game, each player chooses which royal house they want to manage. And here comes another cool mechanic of this game. Because when our merchants are pushed out of the barge, they end up on our family board. Later, as part of a free action, we will be able to take advantage of our family’s unique actions. Each family has its own abilities, and there are 8 to choose from. These abilities can be very powerful and definitely help us in the fight against lack of resources.

Tower defense mini game

Since we’re talking about combat, it’s time to move on to what makes Tianxia so great for me. Although Tianxia is a competitive game, we will have to defend ourselves together against the Nomads’ attacks. Attacks do not always occur, and whether they happen is determined by the event card drawn at the beginning of the round. The Nomads will attack individual segments of the wall, and we will defend ourselves against them by building defensive structures and deploying our soldiers.

If the invaders break through our defenses, they will destroy buildings and wipe out our governors, which can significantly reduce the economy of all players. Therefore, throughout the game, it’s worth looking at where to position yourself and perhaps finding someone who will need our help. You can even agree that you will build a wall for them, and they will help you with soldiers. There can be quite a lot of such interactions.

However, we must remember that during an attack by invaders, we will also compete for who has the greatest strength in a given section of the walls.

Manual filled with symbols

At first, Tianxia scared me a little, considering the number of symbols and components. However, manual is written very well and quickly introduce us to the intricacies of the game. Any doubts are also dispelled by numerous examples with illustrations. By the way, all bonuses and building abilities are described in the instructions so that we have no doubts.

Component quality

There are a lot of components in this game. Lots of tokens, resources, meeples, walls, towers, cards, and other stuff. The box is stuffed to the brim, and unfortunately, we have to stuff all the contents into zip-lock bags. Regrettably, the lack of an insert is a bit of a pain and makes setting up the game a bit tedious. On the other hand, the components themselves are perfectly fine and enhance the feel of this game.

Game time and player count

If we want to go on a board game trip to Tianxia, we need book 45 minutes per player. It’s a long game, but time passes quite quickly. However, we need to be prepared for a long setup, considering the arrangement and distribution of all the tokens. At least it’s not as long as Voidfall.

As for the number of players, with two players, we have to invite Automa to the game. Its task is to spread across the board and occupy the places we would like to visit. Operating Automa is simple, because we resolve its action cards from top to bottom. If it can’t do something, we don’t do it.

I’m not a fan of such solutions to invite a bot to the game, but I know why it was added here. Because even though the two of us are playing on a different board, it would be a little too loose and the Nomads would run us over whenever they wanted. Although the solo player helps us a little in defending the walls. An interesting solution is that the bot will use 3 cards in each round. However, only the second card will be visible to us. This will help us prepare for defense and intercept bot plans.

It’s quite OK for two players. However, Tianxia shines with a full squad. Then there are more such indirect interactions with each other, and this is where you have to agree on a joint goal for defending the walls. Unfortunately, this significantly extends the playing time, but in my opinion, it’s definitely worth it.

Summary

Perhaps Tianxia does not surprise us with anything groundbreaking, because the game throws worker placement at us, adds contract fulfillment, and tops it all off with competition on euro tracks. However, everything works very well here. The game mechanics fit together perfectly, and the fact that we are constantly short of resources requires us to plan our turns carefully. There is a great sense of satisfaction when we make a combo and squeeze everything we can out of our turn.

However, what makes this typical euro game interesting is the fact that even though we play separately, we have to defend ourselves together against the attacks of the Nomads. This is what makes Tianxia very unique to me. You have to pay attention to what other players are doing and make sure that your actions are not disrupted by an attack from the invaders.

Final verdict: A typical Euro game, but with excellent gameplay.

Pros

• Strategic Euro game
• Tight economy
• Joint defense against invaders
• Asymmetric families
• Asian atmosphere
• Well-written manual

Cons

• Long setup
• No insert

[Game provided by Board & Dice]