In Inish you can explore your way through Ancient Ireland, live through myths and legends, and be crowned King of it all.
Inis is a game of Celtic history, strategy, and power dynamics as players compete to become Ireland’s first Chieftain. Experience Irish mythology, history, and geography through a game with a rich gameplay and strategy system and beautiful original artwork.
| Quick Guide | |
|---|---|
| Mechanics | Strategy, Card Drafting |
| Players | 2 – 4 |
| Play Time | 60 Minutes |
| Similar Games | Blood Rage, Kemet, Cyclades |
| Publisher | Matagot |
Inis Overview
Designed by Christian Martinez and published by Matagot, Inis (pronounced in-ish) is a strategy, card-drafting board game of Cletic history and lore. Players explore ancient Ireland, experience the mythology, and eventually elect the king of the island.
When you play Inis, you will take on the role of a Celtic Chieftain who has just arrived in Ireland. You will build citadels, sanctuaries, explore the surrounding territories, and prove yourself both as a leader and with epic deeds. As your clan and influence spread throughout the island, battles over territory will ensue. But victory in battle will only bring you that much closer to being crowded King at the end of the game.
In Inis, players don’t just learn about or skirt around the lore, mythology, and heroes of Ireland. Instead, the game attempts to be immersive, having you play through the myths of the island’s first kings and bringing these epics and heroes to life at your game table.
How To Play Inis
The goal of Inis is to be elected High King over Ireland, and in order to be elected, players must fulfill the most victory conditions. Victory conditions can be met by being present in six or more territories, being the chieftain over a combined six or more opposing clans, or being present in territories with a combined total of six sanctuaries.
To set up a game, players choose their clan, place their territory tiles, the capital city, the Pretender Token, Festival Marker, choose a direction for game play, place a clan in their starting territories, and shuffle the various cards. Inis is played in two phases. The first, the Assembly Phase is where the chieftains take their advantage cards, and action cards, set the turn order and generally prepare for the next part of gameplay. the second phase is the Season Phase, and it is the core of the game. Here, players perform actions and see the effects of the cards they are playing.
Throughout rounds, players will draft and play cards, engage in and resolve clashes, build citadels and sanctuaries, and collect victory conditions. Players will also collect Epic Tales cards which represent the stories and great deeds of ancient Irish heroes and gods. Epic Tales cards are kept to inspire the clans as the game progresses.
Should I Buy This Game?
Inis is one of those games that’s notoriously difficult to learn and teach. There are many moving parts, a lot to set up just to start, and a rulebook that I would call robust. But it is also a game that’s run and rewarding to play once you get past those initial learning pains.
It’s also the sort of game that you, the game player, will either love or hate. Not every game is meant for every person, and this is one of those that can prove to be divisive. If you love strategy and deck-building games, Inis is definitely one to check out. Fans of this game love it and it is barely outside of BGG’s top 100 board games. But if that doesn’t sound like your kind of game, it may be worth it to find your local board game cafe and give it a test run there.
So should you buy Inis? Maybe! And if you’d like to, here’s where you can…
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