About game:

Altiplano takes you to South American highlands of the Andes — the Altiplano. It follows the proven mechanic of Orleans – the bag building.

You start with limited amount of resources and gradually build-up you production capability – just remember, spent goods are not discarded but returned to your bag. And be careful – too many resources can undermine you plans, as you might be left in particular round only with precious products… which however cannot be processed into new goods.

There are many ways to victory, as you score points for orders, for filling the magazine as well as for valuable and precious goods. Money does not bring the points, but is fueling all the core production chains as well as innovations to so do not underestimate it!
Number of players: 2-5 players (for us, 3 or 4 is best)
Playing time: It strictly depends on number of people involved, but we usually were able to play a 3-player game in 1.5 hours and a 4-player one in 2.5 hours.
Complexity: When I first have looked at the board I though – wow, this is a complicated game. However, after reading the rules couple of times and playing over 5 sessions, I would say it is medium complexity and easily accessible for most players.
What I like:

  • The climate – you can really feel that you are in South America on a large plateau between Peru and Bolivia

  • Really good quality of components

  • A novelty (still for me!) – “bag building” mechanics
  • Alpaca! We love it – it look fabulous, both as starting player marker as well as goods tokens
What I do not like:
  • Virtual lack of negative interaction – sometimes it feels like solitaire rather than a competitive Euro-Game
  • In current version, without expansions, the replayability is limited and the game will not be so fresh after 4-5 sessions
  • Well, that can be contested, but for me there is one, clear winning strategy which beats all others – just produce Silver and sell each turn for 6 gold, fueling all other actions and extensions. I might be overlooking something, but in all our games it was a key victory factor
For whom? This game would be a good second step into the boardgames world – after easier positions like Carcassone, Catan or Ticket to Ride. Yes, rules might be a little tough to master but not to teach and the beautifully manufactured product will be a magnet for all new adepts.
More about the game:

And now couple of the pictures – source: my own session reports.

Beautiful player board:

Altiplano_1_2
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A warehouse to store the goods:

Altiplano_0_0
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Example of the all components needed for 3-player game:

Altiplano_1_3
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Of course, the famous Alpaca cannot be missing:

Altiplano

VERDICT:

ocena_4_5

The game is not bad – it nicely develops further the bag building  mechanic introduced in Orleans. It has its climate and components of decent quality. However, there are some flaws which I hope will be addressed in expansions, namely: limited replayability, lack of negative interaction and – seemingly – one winning strategy.

See you in another game review!