Hi everyone! Today's review will be on a tile-laying game. Land vs Sea is a real favorite for my family and we've played it many times. As in Kingdomino (check out my review for that game here), you are trying to make large regions using tiles, but unlike in Kingdomino and Carcassonne, the tiles in Land vs Sea are hexagonal.
The game's cover, which shows off its humorous illustrations.
This is an asymmetrical game, which is to say that each player scores points in different ways. Players can play as either Land or Sea. On their turn, a player places one of their tiles such that they are in a legal position. That is to say that an edge with land doesn't touch one with sea and vice versa. If, in doing so, land completes an island or sea completes an ocean, they receive as many points as there are tiles in that area. They score extra points for cross symbols, but those points go to whoever completes the area, which gives land an incentive to complete oceans and sea to complete islands.
Here's an example of what the table might look like. The island under the pencil would score five
points for land. The player on the left has a tile with two crossed swords, which, when played,
will allow them to take a tile from another player.
The other interesting feature is that tiles with crossed swords allow you to steal a tile from another player when played, and tiles with compasses, like the one to the left of the pencil (the one below it is the starting tile), allow you to play your other tile that turn, as well. Although each player is only doing one thing per turn, there is lots of fascinating strategy. Should I risk building a massive ocean, or might that be too hard to complete? Should I lure the other player with crosses? Which tile should I take to replenish my supply of two?
Each tile is double sided, and players can choose either side to play, which adds even more strategic depth to the game. It's also lots of fun to build a world which resembles medieval or Renaissance map, complete with "Here be Monsters"-like creatures, and watch it sprawl out in front of you.
The scoring track, which is built into the box.
The game can also be played with three players, too. When playing with three, the third person is the cartographer and scores points for each space in a reef or mountain range, as well as for crosses. There are various other fun, small rules you can add, but none are too difficult to learn.
After playing an enormous number of rounds of this game, it is still deeply intriguing, and the Terry Guilliam-esque monsters always makes me chuckle. I heartily recommend it for groups of two or three, and the game can be played with four people on teams of two, which I'm sure would be just as enjoyable!
Thanks all! As always, please drop me requests for games (or categories of games) you'd like reviewed!
Until then, happy board gaming!
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