Tile placement is one of the more satisfying board game mechanics. Seeing the landscape or other structures in front of you grow and take shape always makes you feel warm inside. Each turn a card is drawn given you a shape or two to choose from and a terrain or two also. You will each sketch one of these terrain/shape combos on to your map, anywhere you like. Depending on the scoring cards you might want to cover ruins or place next to mountains or near the edge of the board. a b c d Law, Keith (26 February 2020). "Best new board game apps of 2020". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022 . Retrieved 19 November 2021. To add some complexity, there are the aforementioned mountains that are already printed on the sheets. They provide a coin bonus if you surround them on all four sides and are also featured in several goal cards. Some terrain cards also require you to place them over ruins, which complicates your job a bit more. Other cards will give you the option to place a larger tile or choose a smaller tile and get a coin bonus on top. For the Great City in scoring space A, you can expect to score 10 points in Spring if you plan on taking the larger tiles, but as much as 40 points in Winter.

The real joy of this game comes from its satisfying combos. A well-chosen die can trigger a chain reaction with enormous benefits. Lovers of engine builders like Wingspan will reap many rewards from this little garden. Mastrangeli, Tony (17 April 2020). "2019 Board Game Award Winners". Board Game Quest. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021 . Retrieved 19 November 2021.

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Final Score: 4.5 Stars – A great entry into the genre that is fun to play and even offers a bit of player interaction. Now in each season, you will be scoring two of the queen’s edicts. Edict A & B in Spring, B & C in Summer and so on, until each edict is scored twice. Score your two edicts. Add the number of coins you have gathered, and deduct points for each unfilled square that is adjacent to a monster square. At the end of the round, regather the explore cards and add in one more hero and ambush card. Any heroes or ambush cards that came out are discarded. Rooting For The Wrong Team and the overall constitution of the whole area (i.e. if you have a nice shape filled with no empty squares). As things progress you change the scoring goals four times. This means your choices earlier in the game affect your ability to score points later in the game. Thinking ahead and accommodating how the game may develop is key. The winner is the player who best meets the four sets of goals and therefore scores the most points. Finally, and perhaps the most important step, each player writes a name, a title and draws a family crest on their map sheet (this crucial process often adds 5+ minutes to the playtime!).

Now that the season has ended, it’s time to calculate your score. At the bottom of the map sheet there are four different scorings shown, each one divided into four sections. Each season scores differently.

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Each player evaluates their own map to determine how many reputation stars they earn for each of the two scoring cards being evaluated this season, writing those numbers in the corresponding boxes. (See scoring cards section below after end of game section.) Now, what does this mean strategically? Well, when you’re choosing between terrain types to place, you can calculate how many points you’d get if got just two shapes of that terrain in that season. When drawing Monster shapes on your opponent’s map, try to consider how easily that player can fill in the adjacent squares. Also, some edicts, such as Stoneside Forest, give you reputation stars for connecting certain terrain together. If you can cut off these connections before they are formed you can get the upper hand on your opponent! After you have flipped enough explorer cards for their time values in the top left corner to equal or exceed the season total, you move to scoring for that season. Each of the four seasons are going to have a combination of 2 of the four letters (Like A/B or B/D or A/C) that is unique to that season. These are the two unique scoring edicts that you score this round. Each of those will have their own condition to get you points. Add it up and fill in the total in the respective space at the bottom of your scoresheet.

The cards are of decent quality and there are 100 (double-side) map sheets included, which should be more than enough for an average player. Moreover, there are four pencils included in the box. If you run out of sheets, you can copy them, buy the game once again, or (the best choice) buy one of the expansions. Objective cards Gameplay Impressions

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Once the players have completed and scored for Winter, then they’ll add up their scores from each season and the person with the highest final score is the winner. Thoughts Now take the Scoring Cards; you’ll notice that there are four of each set signified by a red, green, blue or yellow symbol. Shuffle each set of Scoring Cards and then draw one from each set, and place these four cards, at random, below the four Edict Cards. These give players the Edicts – the scoring conditions they’ll be working towards – so make sure everyone can see them!

There was also one change from the original which I don’t quite get. For some reason, summer was shortened between the original and Heroes. It doesn’t impact play a huge amount, but it seems unnecessary. Final Thoughts Once all four seasons have properly ended, players add up their total score by combining their individual scores from each season. After four scoring rounds (conveniently named after seasons), the scores are tallied up and the winner declared. Theme and Components Three Sisters combines drafting game mechanics with the classic Roll and Write formula. The result is a combo-heavy game that makes gardening feel truly thrilling. While real gardens take months to bear fruit, you can get all the satisfaction of a green thumb in under an hour by playing Three Sisters. In Fall and Winter, coins are just a solid bonus, but not always the right choice. Predicting How Much a Card Can ScoreFlip over the top Explorer card so everyone can see it. It is most likely going to have an icon of its terrain type and a configuration shape (like a Tetris piece). New cards in form of objective cards, monsters, and even player skills are also available. If you like the game, expansions seem to be just the right amount of everything to extend its longevity. Conclusion I actually like all four of these cards, they’re all capable of scoring really highly, especailly Shoreside Expanse, which can be very rewarding if well planned out. This one can lose points very easily unless you plan it out well though. The Golden Granary is great if you score for it early, since its one of the easier requirements to meet in the first turns, while guaranteeing some points. Calculating Scores Each player will take a sheet with a grid on it. Across the grid are ruins and mountains and possible a massive canyon, depending on the difficulty chosen. You will then set up the cards for the current season. The four seasons you play through get progressively smaller - in theory, so you will need to make forward thinking decisions from the off. To score points you must collect coins, and achieve goals. Four goal cards are laid out but only two are scored each season. A & B, then B & C, then C & D, before D & A. This means each card will score twice and that you know when they will score, allowing you to plan ahead. Of course most games you will get lost in a couple of the objectives, forgetting the ones you were meant to concentrate on this round! The end of the fourth season marks the end of the game, the winner being the player who has accumulated the greatest number of points. [4] Expansion [ edit ]