Naturelich Games

Artwork

The game materials are top-notch quality: volcano tiles, huts, towers and temples. The 48 tiles come in a very unique shape of three connected hexagons. One hexagon depicts a volcano, the other two show a different type of terrain, e.g. jungle, mountains, meadows, lakes or beach. The cardboard is almost twice as heavy as in Carcassonne. The main reason for this is probably the need to create a real three-dimensional look as the volcanos erupt. However, it creates excellent haptics plus a very robust and stable game.

Each player is provided with a set of buildings to create their settlements. These wooden pieces look as if they were taken from the South Seas: The small huts look like tents build on a set of stilts. The temples are pyramid like with small steps on their roof. The cone-like towers have three levels and a beautifully rounded roof.

Taluva buildings and player aid (in German language only)

Rules

The objective of Taluva is to build as many temples, towers and huts as possible. The game ends immediately if a player manages to populate the island with all buildings of any two categories. Otherwise, the winner is determined by counting the number of temples on the island: the more, the better. In case of a tie, the number of towers is evaluated. If this number is tied as well, the number of huts finally decides about the winner. Negligent players might maneuver them into a position where they cannot place any more buildings. In this case they are immediately eliminated.

A Taluva-turn is very simple as it consists of only two steps:
1. Lay a tile
2. Place a building

Laying tiles
The first step handles the expansion of the island. After drawing a tile, players can decide to extend the landscape or to have a volcanic eruption. Taluva's size is extended by placing a tile adjacent to another one on the first level. A volcanic eruption causes the countryside to rise destroying all affected huts in the process. Since this might cause a lot of havoc in the competing settlements, several additional rules are in place:

• A volcano hex has to be placed on another volcano hex and may even be placed on top of multiple volcanos


• The volcanos may not face the same directions - in other words, an eruption has to be placed across two tiles


• Neither towers, nor temples may be covered by a tile


• It is forbidden to extinguish an entire settlement by an eruption, i.e. at least one building of a settlement has to stay intact). Note: a settlement is defined as all hex fields connected by buildings of the same player.

Placing buildings
In contrast to other tile-laying games, buildings can be placed on any free non-volcano hex field of the island. Some restrictions apply based on the type of building: Huts may be placed on any unoccupied level 1 hex. Towers may only be placed on a level 3 hex adjacent to a player's own settlement that does not already contain a tower. A temple may build on a hex on any level adjacent to a settlement that is at least three hexes in size and does not already contain a temple. In general, a player may only place one building per turn.

Taluva Towers on level 3

In addition to these three basic options, a fourth alternative (Settlement Extension) allows players to add multiple huts, even on a higher level. First, the player has to pick one of these settlements. Then, he may name any one terrain type and build huts on all hexes (of this type) adjacent to the settlement. The higher the terrain, the bigger the number of huts to be placed: one hut on the first level, two on the second level, three on the third level, etc.

Taluva - Game mechanics: How to place buildings

First, players have to place a hut to start a settlement

Place tiles with matching terrain to extend your settlement. Here: 4 new huts in one go

A temple can be build adjacent to the huts if the settlement is at least three hexes in size

Game Play and Strategy

Taluva is a great family game that offers simple rules, yet considerable depth. The simplicity will appeal to new players, casual gamers and older kids. It is fascinating to watch the island grow and see how the first settlements are erected. At first, new players will try to avoid the others and pick more distant locations for their buildings. But after the first volcano eruption, the game begins to become more competitive: players will start to destroy settlements that already occupy three hexes. This nasty move stops the owner from constructing temples. After someone has fallen victim to this strategy numerous times, they will start to invent counter-strategies (which are not disclosed in this review). Further down the road, players will note that well-placed temples have the power to block nasty volcano eruptions. This can be particularly useful if another player is waiting to raise to the third level. Maybe his huts are under-developed but he requires only this one temple to win the game?! Nasty, these eruptions, aren't they?
Different winning strategies are possible: since the game immediately ends when all buildings of any two categories have been constructed one can try different strategies. It's possible to take the promising religious-highland-approach where you try to set up two towers on level 3 and three temples. As an alternative, players can try to build high (=> towers) and focus on a limited number of terrain types to extend their settlements quickly. Getting rid of all huts is not as difficult as it seems if you have enough level 2 or 3 hexes in the vicinity. The last option is the "Hut-Temple"-strategy where you try to secure bigger settlements enhanced with temples one a few terrain types.

Summary

All Taluva games I have played so far were very close games. All players were within one round of winning the game. This balance creates excitement and player involvement. The game scales well from two to four players, although the well-balanced game might suffer from kingmaker situations in a three- or four-player game. A two player game with more experienced players will last only about 15-20 minutes, the four player version will take 30 minutes. Some players might fall prone to analysis paralysis which will increase this timeframe to a maximum of about 45 minutes. The game works equally well for newbies as well as experienced players. However, if new and more experienced players are both at the same table, the game might become a little bit frustrating for either side (=> over-/under-challenged). The learning curve can be climbed easily: strategies and counter-strategies can be learned and applied quickly.

Taluva is a fascinating island and looks very intriguing. The wooden pieces are extremely pretty, the unusual selection of colors for the pieces (white, brown, orange, red - no blue, no green, no yellow!) as well as the nice tiles add a lot to both the theme and the overall gaming experience. If their standard were any less professional, the game would appear rather abstract in nature and consequently be less appealing to families. For experienced gamers, the game offers some interesting computational and strategic challenges, although it is certainly not a brain-burner. To put it in a nutshell: it does not take a lot of skill to play Taluva, but a lot to master it.

Statistics

• Designer: Marcel-André Casasola Merkle
• Publisher: Hans im Glück
• Graphic design: Manuel Casasola Merkle
• Duration: 15-45 minutes
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 10 and up
• Links: BoardGameGeek, Publisher