TERRA NOVA
Welcome to Euro Games 101
Designer: Andreas Faul | Publisher: Capstone Games
Terra Mystica, on which Terra Nova is based, has been around for a decade. It received high praise on release and has continued to garner it ever since, regularly featuring in ‘best strategy games of all time’ lists. Its mechanisms spawned sci-fi spin-off Gaia Project, which now sits even higher on many of those lists. So, with such lofty heritage, what does Terra Nova hope to bring to the party?
The simple answer is probably volume sales. The hobby is growing, but the family market is where real sales are found. I’m a fan of both Gaia Project and Terra Mystica, but both are heavy Eurogames. There are lots of moving parts to consider on every move, requiring high levels of strategic and tactical play throughout. Terra Nova offers a shorter, lighter game that attempts to keep the core mechanisms while cutting much of the fat.