![Dávid Turczi Encourages You to Excavate Earth and Lead the Inca to Glory!](https://cf.geekdo-images.com/pxqUJZDKEyHAY0Ex5zk66A__medium/img/HVn0i5xRqVLii2C07MtwUGmi1Yw=/fit-in/500x500/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic5325153.jpg)
Similarly, I'm starting to see Dávid Turczi's name everywhere. No complaints at all, though, because I'm also a fan of Turczi's design work. I'm sure many of you are already familiar with Dávid Turczi's diverse catalogue of games such as Anachrony, Kitchen Rush, Dice Settlers, and Days of Ire: Budapest 1956 to name a few. Either way, brace yourself — Turczi has much more to say and play in 2020.
• Eric mentioned Board&Dice's announcement of Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun in a post from December 2019; this is a highly anticipated Egyptian-themed game Turczi co-designed with master Daniele Tascini (Tzolkin: The Mayan Calendar, The Voyages of Marco Polo, Teotihuacan: City of Gods). Then, when I shared news of Mindclash Games' upcoming release of Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles in a February 2020 post, I thought to myself, "Cool! This is Dávid Turczi's big hit of the year". But is it, or is it just one of them?
• In early April 2020, publisher Mighty Boards launched a Kickstarter campaign for Turczi's Excavation Earth, which is co-designed by Gordon Calleja (Posthuman Saga) and Wai Yee (Pocket Dragon). Excavation Earth is a medium-heavy, set-collection, market-manipulation game for 1-4 players that plays in 30-120 minutes. Here's a high-level overview from the publisher:
Excavation Earth is divided into three rounds, each of which starts with players drafting a hand of multi-use cards that will be used to perform actions. Players then take quick turns playing actions that allow them to move their explorers around the world map, excavate for artifacts, and deploy traders to bazaars and influencers to affect prices and wheel and deal on the black market.
The artifacts you dig up can be either sold to the bazaars housed on one of the aliens' ships that landed on Earth or added to a collection that will be sold off as a coherent art collection to museums back home. Excavation Earth ends after three rounds and the player who makes the most money during the game wins.
Excavation Earth also includes a solo mode designed by Turczi and Nick Shaw — the same team that designed the solo mode for Cerebria, which is yet another uniquely themed game Turczi had his hands in.
• If you're a fan of Teotihuacan or Trismegistus or even just slightly amused at all the different ways people pronounce them, then you're in luck as Tawantinsuyu: The Inca Empire from David Turczi and Board&Dice might just be your new jam.
All jokes aside, thematically and mechanically Tawantinsuyu will likely strike a familiar chord for any fans of Teotihuacan. Targeted for a SPIEL '20 release, Tawantinsuyu is a heavier Eurogmae for 1-4 players that plays in 60-120 minutes and that introduces a unique combination of mechanisms as described by the publisher below:
Gather your people from the villages below and use their unique abilities to strategically place them where they can perform the greatest tasks for you. Climb the steps of the Sun Temple, reaping the rewards of your piety. Build structures that both nourish your people and provide you with benefits no other has at their disposal. Muster an army and conquer villages in the four realms of Tawantinsuyu. Prove yourself a worthy successor to Pachacuti and lead the Inca to glory!
During Tawantinsuyu: The Inca Empire, players place workers onto various locations on the game board, performing actions, collecting resources (potatoes, corn, stone, and gold), constructing buildings and stairs, sculpt statues, expanding their military strength, and collecting weavings.
The game board features a hill located within the old Inca capital of Cusco, the sides of which are terraced and divided into five sections. Atop the hill sits the Coricancha, The Golden Temple, the most important temple of the Inca Empire. Within the Coricancha, each player has a High Priest. On the terraced sections below exist a variety of worker placement locations, interconnected by paths and individually marked by symbols. On your turn, you must either place a worker onto a location outside the Coricancha OR choose two of the following:
—Recruit one worker.
—Take two god cards.
—Draw two army cards and keep one of them.
—Move your High Priest one or two steps clockwise within the Coricancha.
When placing a worker, you must first discard a god card with a matching symbol or pay one gold. Once placed, the worker remains on the game board for the rest of the game! Each worker placement location is connected to exactly three action spaces. You must always perform at least one of these actions. However, for each adjacent worker (i.e., connected to your worker's location via direct path through one of the action spaces) that matches the type of worker just placed, you receive one additional action!
While some locations will result in you being able to perform multiple actions, other actions and placements may be more desirable, especially since each of the five types of workers has a unique ability:
—Warrior: Remove one of the adjacent workers, placing it in your player area.
—Craftsman: Gain +1 action if placed onto a craftsman space.
—Architect: Gain +1 action if placed onto an architect space.
—Courier: Decreased placement cost; +1 action if it's the first worker placed within a given area.
—Priest: Take one god card; you may pay one potato to gain +1 action.
All god cards feature one of the different symbols found on the worker placement locations. Before placing a worker, you must either discard a god card with a matching symbol or pay valuable gold resources. God cards also depict special abilities that can be activated only if you have previously built a matching statue!
Army cards allow you to send one or more units to conquer villages in nearby regions. You must compete against the other players for control of each region as well as for valuable rewards that can be gained as a result of military conquest.
The position of your High Priest within the Coricancha has a significant impact on your overall strategy, affecting your access to powerful actions and determining any potential resource costs when placing your workers. More specifically, when placing a worker, you must pay additional resources the farther your worker is from your High Priest, from nothing all the way up to eight potatoes or corn!
Additionally, when moving your High Priest, you can activate powerful actions available only within the Coricancha:
—Produce: Gain all rewards from your production buildings.
—Worship: Sacrifice previously sculpted statues to gain permanent temple advancements.
—Offering: Pay resources to gain temple advancements.
—Conquer: Engage in military conquest of nearby villages.
—Rejuvenate: Refresh previously activated buildings and military units.
Throughout the game, you score victory points whenever you construct stairs or sculpt statues. Gain bonus victory points whenever another player makes use of the stairs you have constructed. Score victory points from temple advancements and control of the four regions.
The game ends when the worker pool has become exhausted, symbolizing the full incorporation of nearby regions and villages into the newly risen Inca Empire. You then score bonus victory points from reaching the top of the temple, from your woven tapestries, and from various buildings and resources you have accumulated.