Kicking off Garphill Games latest series following the North Sea and West Kingdom trilogies is Wayfarers of the South Tigris, a worker and dice placement title of cartographic set-collection. But that sounds somewhat reductive; it turns out mapping the land, seas, and stars surrounding Baghdad is a touch more complex than that. Indeed, across it’s substantial (yet variable) gamelength, players will be optimising their own dice-placement spots, navigating an unpredictable market of public workers, and building a personal panoramic tableau from no less than five different decks.
So, as you might’ve guessed, Wayfarers leans toward the heavier end of Garphill’s spectrum, but does this weight lead to something that feels fun or new? The short answer is yes. Fans of the previous trilogies might find themselves in familiar territory – thanks to the aesthetics and mechanical touches such as Tags and card combining – but will likely lose themselves once Wayfarers’ unique blend of mechanics kicks in. Thankfully, this initial disorientation soon gives way to the realisation that the real weight and originality here comes from the meaty decision making players have let themselves in for; decisions that can either make or devastatingly break a player’s strategy.