![\"Urland\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/urland_t.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Publisher<\/b>: Doris & Frank<\/p>\n
Author<\/b>: Doris Matth\u00e4us, Frank Nestel<\/p>\n
Tester<\/b>: Aaron Haag<\/p>\n
Game Tested<\/b>: 2001 Essen release<\/p>\n
Scenario<\/b>: 350 million years ago the ichtos (short for ichtyostega) prepared for
\nleaving the oceans and to populate the continents. Which ichtos will conquer the Urland
\nby clever propagation and the use of new genes?<\/p>\n
The Game<\/b>: This tenth game of Doris & Frank uses a similar setting as
\nUrsuppe published 1997. Again creatures controlled by 3 to 5 players try to survive and
\nmake the best out of their genes. But this is the only similarity between the two games –
\nUrland uses completely different game mechanics and rules.<\/p>\n
As with all Doris & Frank games the game components are very well done and of high
\nquality (e.g. 30 wooden Ichtos in 5 different color; three blank cards for creating own
\ngenes) and as usual the gene cards and play aids come in an English and German
\nversion.<\/p>\n
![\"board\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/urland1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The board is divided into 3 continents each separated into islands (three, four and
\nfive, respectively) by little straits. The surrounding ocean is subdivided into 5 areas.
\nPlayers start their Ichtos in 4 randomly selected islands plus 3 Ichtos in each of the
\nocean areas and their task is to propagate and move them to land trying to establish a
\nmajority on the islands.<\/p>\n
Each round starts with the distribution of 3 roles to the players: the start player
\n(“environment player”), the dummy and the ichto player(s). The environment
\nplayer secretly selects an island that will score this round by choosing one out of three
\nisland chips he is randomly dealt. The remaining to chips are then passed on to the
\n“dummy” player who may have a look at them but who is not allowed to reveal
\nthem to the ichto players. These actions conclude the turn of the environment player and
\nthe dummy player for the complete round, i.e. they will not move any Ichtos on the board
\nin that round. Now it is the turn of the Ichto player(s) who are allowed to perform 2
\nIchto actions. There are four actions types to chose from: propagation, move onto land,
\nmove between water areas and retreat (i.e. take Ichtos from board back into stock). Genes
\nprovide extra abilities which can be used during the action phase but they come into play
\nonly after some rounds have been played.<\/p>\n
Once the Ichto players performed their Ichto actions the environment player reveals
\nthe number of the island that scores by placing the chip he kept on that island. Scoring
\nis straight forward: any minority Ichto colors are returned to its player. Of the
\nremaining Ichto colors the majority holder gets 3 points and the other(s) two points. In
\ncase there are identical numbers of Ichtos of each color present all get 2 points. Points
\nare recorded on a score track similar to Ursuppe.<\/p>\n
In the next round roles shift in clockwise order, the dummy player becomes the
\nenvironment player and gets one randomly selected island chip so that he can select the
\nnext island to score again from a total of three chips (the two he received from the
\nenvironment player in the previous round plus the one he just drew). The round then
\nprogresses as described above. Eventually, an environment player will not be able to draw
\nan island chip as all but the two he received in the previous round have been placed on
\nthe board. This condition completes an epoch and volcanoes erupt on the two remaining
\nislands decreasing the Ichto population there to just one per color present. Immediately
\nbefore the volcanoes erupt one of the islands is randomly selected for final scoring in
\nthis epoch. Each volcano cases the straight between two islands to disappear thereby
\nreducing the number of land areas available for the rest of the game.<\/p>\n
![\"genes\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/urland2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Genes come into play three times during the game when the first time a player reaches
\n12, 16 and 21 points, respectively. At the beginning of the game 4 genes out of the 11
\navailable are placed face up for all players to see. Once the above condition occurs the
\nplayers start a bidding process for these genes. From the Ichtos not on the board players
\nsecretly select a number they want to use for bidding. Players reveal their bid
\nsimultaneously and the highest bidder must new select one of the genes on display and
\nremove the amount of Ichtos he used for bidding from the board<\/b> plus one Ichto for
\neach gene he may already possess. The second highest bidder may now either select a gene
\nand pay or he may pass this right on to the next highest bidder. Once a maximum of three
\ngenes have been acquired three new genes are drawn and put on display possibly increasing
\nthe overall amount of genes to chose from.<\/p>\n
The game ends as soon as one player reaches 30 points on the score track (the current
\nscoring round is however completed for all players). A final scoring round follows with
\npoints awarded to the player with the most Ichtos an the board and to the player with the
\nmost Ichtos on land areas.<\/p>\n
Playing Time<\/b>: The game can be explained in 10 minutes and played in about 60 to
\n90 minutes.<\/p>\n
Similar Games<\/b>: Ursuppe<\/a>, El Grande<\/a>, Evo<\/a>, Vendetta<\/a> (thanks Frank!).<\/p>\n Westpark Gamer’s Opinion<\/b>: It was no surprise that the game plays completely Because of the ever changing roles during the game proper timing is the<\/b> most Genes come into play very slowly, a lot slower than in Ursuppe. A maximum of nine The genes themselves seem to be well balanced – so far we could not detect a Overall I really liked the game. The timing strategies are quite challenging and there I am still not sure whether or not I like the score track rule where positions Comparing Urland with Ursuppe, Urland can first of all be played in a shorter time. It Aaron’s Rating<\/b>: not yet ranked<\/p>\n Westpark Gamers’ Rating<\/b>: not yet ranked<\/p>\n
\ndifferent than Ursuppe – the game mechanics are too different for that. The concept of
\ntwo players not taking an active part in the movement (i.e. Ichto action) phase is new to
\nme and it works surprisingly well. Being the dummy in a round may appear a bit boring as
\nthere really isn’t anything you can do that round, hence the name. We first thought
\nthat we misread the rules because this seemed so unusual but the rules state this quite
\nclearly (as does the German FAQ<\/a>). Once we got used to this it seemed normal and one of the
\nmechanisms that make the game challenging.<\/p>\n
\nimportant factor for devising a sound strategy. Two consecutive Ichto action rounds in
\nwhich you have the possibility to rearrange your Ichtos on the board but have no
\ninfluence on where scoring takes place are following by two rounds in which you cannot
\nmove your Ichtos but have control about the scoring location (environment player) or have
\nno control at all (dummy). Therefore most of the time one has to think ahead and consider
\nwhat one wants to do in the next round and prepare whatever is necessary to do this in
\nthe current round. At the beginning of an epoch chaos is predominant as it is almost
\nimpossible to judge which location will score. This chaos decreases round by round until
\nclose to the end of an epoch certainty prevaeils and you are able to prepare your move
\nvery precisely. Unfortunately, this is true for all players and again timing is in issue
\nhere when it is necessary to consider which roles you are going to have in the last and
\none but last round of an epoch.<\/p>\n
\ngenes are in play (only six in a three player game) therefore having more than two genes
\nper player is clearly an exception. Again, careful planning is required to be able to
\nacquire genes because you need Ichtos off the board to be able to bid. On the other hand
\nthese Ichtos are desperately needed on the board for propagation and scoring and even
\nworse, for paying for the genes! This results in a clever “self-regulation” in
\nso far as you cannot bid high even if you have a high number of Ichtos in stock because
\nthis may result in near self-extinction on the board. On the other hand if you are strong
\non the board you could pay a high price but you are unable to bid high as your Ichto
\nstock is depleted.<\/p>\n
\nparticularly strong one which would result in a certain victory. Gene combinations are
\nnot as important as in Ursuppe and anyhow they occur rarely because of the low number of
\ngenes in play. At times “Muscles” seemed a bit strong as well as “Warm
\nBlood” but we need to play more often to find if these really influence the game too
\nmuch.<\/p>\n
\nis still a lot for us to discover in terms of tactics. The game mechanisms are a bit
\nabstract but this is very well counterbalanced by the fun theme, the gene abilities and
\nlast but not least the wonderful comic-style graphics of the game components.<\/p>\n
\noccupied by other players are not considered when moving forward. This clearly favors
\nplayers who are behind, yet not too far behind. This mechanism was also used in Ursuppe
\nand I found it a bit too strong there. In Urland the effect seems to be less obvious but
\nthere may still be situations when this rule can only be regarded as a nuisance. There is
\nalso an additional element of luck in the game in the form of a thirteenth land area
\n“Panic” chip which when drawn by the environment player requires that the land
\narea with the highest Ichto population must be completely abandoned and all Ichtos be
\nmoved to adjacent water areas. This slightly favors the weakest player as he is the one
\nto chose the water area in case there is more than one.<\/p>\n
\ncan also be explained in less time and playing seems to be not as difficult either.
\nHowever, winning the game is a different matter altogether: here I think that Ursuppe and
\nUrland hold an equal amount of challenges and both require experience and sound
\nstrategies to win. To me Urland is a highlight of this year’s game releases and a
\nwonderful addition to what may become Doris & Frank’s “Ur” series.<\/p>\n