Harmonies is a strategic tile-playing game that actually feels harmonious. Your favorite animals need homes, and you’re going to build them.
In Harmonies, players build a beautiful ecosystem with a diverse array of animals into their own miniature realm. Strategically placed tiles in a 3D landscape will invite animals to live there. This is a game that’s beautiful to look at and feels almost harmonious to play. But not too harmonious. You want to be the best at building an idyllic land where the happy animals will live.
| Quick Guide | |
|---|---|
| Mechanics | Chaining, Open Drafting, Tile Placement |
| Players | 1-4 Players |
| Playing Time | 30-45 Minutes |
| Similar Games | Reef, Cascadia, Azul |
| Publisher | Libellud |
Harmonies Overview
Harmonies is a game that I would pick up off of the shelf, knowing nothing about it, because the box is so pretty. It’s all gentle colors and soft landscapes with a peaceful-looking lion sitting in the center. This is a game that looks nice and peaceful. And honestly, the game inside doesn’t stray too far from that vibe.
The premise and gameplay experience are simple enough. Players draft and play tiles to create various animal habitats, scoring points along the way. There are a variety of terrains for these animals to thrive in, and a variety of animals that will thrive in the different terrains.
The land is built with a series of circular tiles on hex grids with simple but very aesthetically pleasing designs on them to designate the different terrains. And like other grid-and-terrain games, aspects of your landscape design will earn you some extra points. For example, a long river? That’s good for a few points. And you’ll have to build that into and around your strategy as you attempt to make a land that animals would want to live in.
How to Play Harmonies
To set up a game of Harmonies, players will place all game boards including the Central one and their personal chosen game boards, place all of the tokens in the pouch near the central game board, and place three randomly selected tokens from the pouch on central board. Then they will shuffle the animal cards and place five face-up near the central board. The animal cubes corresponding to the animal cards should be easily within reach of all players.
Each turn, players must take and place tokens. But it is also optional that they take an animal card or place an animal cube.
Players take three tokens off of any of the central board spaces and play them on their personal boards. These tokens can be played anywhere on their board that they would like. After placing one token, the player can either continue placing the other two, or take one of the optional moves.
To take an animal card, players simply choose and take one of the animal cards from the five near the central board and place it above their personal board. Players may have up to four cards above their own board at any time. Then they will take as many animal cubes as are shown on the card and place them on the card.
The card will show the pattern and color of tokens you will need to play on your personal board. Once that pattern is replicated exactly, the animal tokens may be moved from the card to their personal board.
Points are tallied by looking at the number of animals, length of the river, tallness of the trees and mountains, and generally the harmony of your entire landscape.
Should I Buy This Game?
Harmonies is a truly delightful game. It’s a competitive game with an end score and a clear winner, but still manages to live up to its name. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that players are building their own little world on their own little map.
In other grid-and-terrain games it’s so easy to sabotage your competition, block people off from necessary resources, and strategically make other people’s lives more difficult in order to give yourself an edge. And in Harmonies, I suppose you can do something similar by taking a token that you know someone else needs for their animal cards. But you can’t mess with their land board or directly affect their land.
I know that in reality, this game isn’t for everyone, but it feels like it should be. It’s that nice, simple, beautiful, and fun.
Don’t Miss:
Read more at this site