Gladiatorial Go: Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends Review

Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends
Designer: Vlaada Chvatil
Publisher: Czech Games Edition / Z-Man games
Players: 2-4

Tash-Kalar is an abstract strategy game from Czech designer Vlaada Chvatil, who's previous works include such varied titles as Space Alert, Mage Knight: The Boardgame, Dungeon Lords and more. And in true Vlaada style, this first foray into the realm of abstract strategy is a unique and hugely enjoyable take on a genre that can often lean towards dry and unengaging.



Like most game genres, "abstract strategy" is a difficult concept to define exactly, and there will be some argument about what does or does not qualify as an abstract game. In general, we're referring to games along the lines of Chess. In the traditional definition of abstract strategy, there is little to no randomness or hidden information. Where a theme is present, it is quite removed from the actual gameplay elements - abstracted if you will. So now let me tell you about an abstract game which contains some randomness, some hidden information, and a fair dash of theming. Abstract purists might sniff at grouping Tash-Kalar under the same banner as traditional games like Chess or Go, but play a few turns and you'll immediately see the similarities, and the possibilities.

Tash-Kalar is a game of careful tactical positioning, placing stones on a board, and summoning two-headed dragons. Those things aren't as unrelated as they may first appear. Playing on a gridlike arena, players take it in turns to place basic ('common' ranked) stones of their colour on the board. The twist is, that each player also has a hand cards representing magical beings that can be summoned onto the board if the right pattern of stones is present. You will jostle with your opponent for board position, seizing the best spots to make your own patterns and trying to destroy the patterns of your enemy before they have a chance to form. Once you have a pattern in place, you may summon the being from your hand and their ability immediately takes effect. You may have something simple like a 'Messenger' that allows you to move some of your previously placed pieces, or more dangerous like the 'Hypnotist' that seizes control of enemy pieces and makes them attack one another. If you can build the complicated patterns required, you might even get out one of the terrifying legendary beings that not only have big splashy effects on the board, but contribute a victory point to your total.

Each being card shows the pattern required to summon it, the white square denotes where the being is placed

If it sounds like there might be a lot to keep track of with all these magical creatures running riot, don't worry. As soon as the summoned being's power is resolved, it goes right back to being a regular, immobile piece, retaining only it's rank (common, heroic or legendary). You see in Tash-Kalar, the players represent mages playing an ancient strategy game with stones imbued with the fleeting "essence" of a magical being. You are recalling the memory of a monstrous archetype through creating 'good shape' to borrow a Go term. It's an abstraction of two mages who are themselves playing an abstract strategy game. Meta. This means that even though there are piles of unique beings, the game state is still easily digested at a glance as there are no persistent effects to track.

There is a large deck of tasks, varying greatly in requirements and overall difficulty

So, placing stones and summoning beings accounts for most of the actual mechanics of the game, but ultimately these are a means to an end. In order to win, you will need to complete a series of Tasks which grant victory points. At any given time there will be 3 active tasks available, each one granting one, two or three victory points. Tasks fall into a number of categories, which lend themselves to different playstyles and strategies. Some will require you to achieve certain conditions in a single turn - eg summon two beings on red squares, destroy 4 enemy pieces - and some are longer term board control goals like connecting opposite edges of the board with a chain of your pieces. The difficulty affects how many VP a task is worth, something relatively simple like Red Summoning (summon two beings in a turn, at least one on a red square) is worth a single point, while positioning goals like Diagonals (have 4 pieces, at least one upgraded, on each diagonal line through the center of the board) that take several turns to set up will get you a full 3 points. Once one player reaches 9 points, or depletes their deck of 15 beings, the game end triggers and each player gets one final turn to make a last grab for points.

Legendary being patterns require multiple heroic pieces in the correct positions

With so much of the game focused on making patterns and controlling areas of the board, it can often be a case of compounding advantage. You need a developed board position to make patterns, and making patterns helps you develop better board position. To stop one player being soft-locked out of the game, the Flare mechanic allows an ingenious catchup system to keep players on a relatively even footing throughout the game. A flare card will allow a player a bonus action or two when they are trailing by a certain amount. Flares are divided into two halves and trigger off having X number of pieces (heroic pieces for the top half, or total pieces for the bottom half) less than an opponent. Usually they will amount to a small but measurable boost, letting you place additional pieces or make free moves or bonus actions. The effects as printed seem relatively subtle, but when you're normally getting only two actions per turn it can often equate to a free turn - the limitations being you have to do the printed actions instead of just summoning more beings or placing extra stones (unless it's a flare that lets you place stones, of course!). To be honest, sometimes this will feel a bit swingy or unfair to the player in front. It doesn't feel great to secure a commanding lead through good play and then have the gap closed 'artificially', but after a few games this this reaction fades. It's more that a good turn or two can't carry you for the whole game. You need to seize the advantage while you have it, translating winning board position into completed objectives, because it doesn't last forever. Ultimately this is a positive thing, as it keeps you on edge the whole game, maintaining excitement and engagement for both players.

This flare requires that an opponent have 5 more upgraded pieces than you for the top half, and/or 5 more pieces than you total for the bottom half

And engaged you will be. I use a lot of words to describe Tash-Kalar, but the first and foremost qualifier for this game is definitely "Intense". This is brain-burning strategy at it's best. There is no soft warm-up phase, there's no wind-down. Tash-Kalar is wire to wire action and tension. It isn't a particularly complex game, but complexity emerges from the interactions between players and the board. After a few games you will start to see patterns emerge from groups of stones like it's the goddamn matrix. You'll see your opponent place that fourth stone in a wide square and know you're about to stare down a master of intrigue next turn. You'll be thinking of moves and counter-moves turns in advance only to see it all fall apart as that one being you didn't predict destroys your carefully crafted line. It is brilliant. And demanding. Every game of Tash-Kalar I've played (and I've played a lot) ends with a sigh of released stress from both players like time was just called on a final exam. Personally, I can't get enough of this - it's exactly what I want from a head to head strategy game. Even though it's a simple enough game to teach to anyone, I don't recommend it for the light casual or social game niche. You can play it just placing stones and trying to make patterns as they come (and indeed this will be the case for your first few games until you develop some familiarity with what the beings and patterns actually are), but this is very much a superficial taste of what the game really has to offer. It's deep, and rewarding, and absolutely worth the commitment in repeat plays it demands to get the most out of it.

You'll stare hard at boards like this and decide if it's better to fight it out over the center or regroup and rebuild away from your opponent

I've referred almost exclusively to the two player "high form" rules, and this is the real game in my opinion. There are also rules given for a "deathmatch" format in which 2-4 players compete to score points by destroying pieces, rather than completing tasks, and there is a 4 player team variant of the high form. These are worth mentioning as variant play options, but I feel like if you're not going to get the game to the table in the 1v1 high form gametype, you're not really getting to play the game. There are other games that do 4 player free for all better, Tash-Kalar is very obviously designed around 2 player high form, so that's my main focus when evaluating it. The team high form allows two players with separate decks to play a single colour. Though each player takes individual turns and has their own hand of beings (except legends, which are shared between the teammates), you can pass control to your teammate at any time during your turn. Since you are using a single colour of pieces and coordinating your placements, it allows a more integrated experience than just being allied, but at the cost of one player possibly doing the majority of the decision making. The deathmatch variant has no tasks, and points are scored for destroying pieces. More points are awarded for higher ranks destroyed. A clever rule in the 3 or 4 player deathmatch format is that your score is calculated against each player separately, and only your lowest score counts. This means you have to spread out the destruction more or less evenly across players and stops any one person getting dogpiled. Which is neat, and a way to get the game out when you don't have exactly two players for high form, but I think the multiplayer formats are the weaker of the bunch. Speaking of the 4 player however, allows me to segue neatly into the 4 decks of beings.

The Highland deck has it's own flavour and playstyle that makes it a pleasantly different experience

Extra variety is added to the game in the form of multiple faction decks. Each player will choose one deck of beings per game, two of which are identical copies ("Northern" and "Southern" Imperial faction). The Imperial decks allow for symmetrical gameplay as they're the same beings in two different colours. After a lot of going back and forward on the subject, I'm of the opinion that the Imperial vs Imperial matchup is where the game shines best, and I'd recommend getting a solid grip on the beings in the Imperial deck before branching out to the Highlands and Sylvan decks. Only having to learn one deck at first makes it much quicker to get into the really satisfying level of play that requires serious familiarity with the beings and their patterns. Which isn't to say that the other two decks aren't fun as well! Once you're ready to mix it up the Highlands and Sylvan factions offer good strategic depth with playstyles that are consistent but distinctly different from the Imperial decks. None of the decks seem out of whack in terms of power levels, and victory should largely come down to how capably you play with the resources you have available. Everyone will probably end up with their favourite faction, for me it always came back to the Imperials (it just seems the most neatly balanced internally). I almost view the other two decks like free 'mini-expansions', the game won't suffer at all if you choose to stick to the two Imperial decks, or whatever two decks you prefer the most. I like that level of consistency and modularity, it's really elegant design. The legendary creatures also occupy their own separate deck, and are randomly dealt to each player, giving a little more commonality to the available options when playing different decks.

The art on the Sylvan deck can be pretty dire, but at least it plays uniquely

In terms of physical bits and pieces, just about everything is great. In traditional Vlaada style there's a "guide book" separate to the actual "rules book" which walks you through a first game setup without dumping all the rules on you. Personally, I don't like learning this way, I want to know everything before I start. Just give me the rules upfront! Which is why I was really pleased with the actual rules sheet. It's one double sided page, with the rules for each part of the game laid out clearly, in logical order, colour coded by the the format you are playing. It makes it a breeze to filter out the chunks of rules that don't apply in this or that situation. Really well done, other designers take note! The components are all great quality, as you would expect from a CGE/Z-Man production, absolutely no complaints here. For the most part the art is bright and expressive, and there's even a lot of thought put into how the patterns actually relate to the beings they represent (for a work-in-progress look at some of these, check out the Beings of Tash-Kalar on the publisher's webpage, really interesting). It goes a long way to getting you invested in the game, which is what good art should do. The one gripe I have here is the sylvan deck. Considering how well done the others are, most of the art here is over the top 80s-style fantasy, and not in a good way. It goes from cartoony-silly to borderline inappropriate and it just doesn't mesh together nicely as the other sets do. It's a credit to the rest of the design that this is the only real complaint I have, but still, the other decks are fine so why the cringeworthy change in the green deck?

If you're still wondering if you should buy Tash-Kalar, and you have at least one friend to play with, you should buy Tash-Kalar. I'd hedge this with the usual right-games-for-the-right-people caveats but honestly, Tash-Kalar is a game worthy of converting someone even if you don't have a go-to gamer to play with right off the bat. Despite the depth it's not hard to teach, and the game is engaging enough on it's own that it will encourage almost anyone to give it a fair go without you having to plead with them to just stick with it until it gets good. This game deserves to be in your collection. And if you really really don't have anyone you think would get a kick out of it, fear not as there are plans for an iOS version in the works as well! This has become the go-to 2 player game in our house and it has really earned it's place. Go get you a copy!