Five Tribes

You are moving the five tribes of Naqala across a grid of thirty tiles to claim the Sultanate. Every tile starts covered in coloured meeples, and the game ends when no legal move remains. Points come from tiles you control, tribes you collect, djinns you summon, and coins in hand. A turn works like mancala: pick up all the meeples on one tile, drop one on each tile as you move, and the colour of the last one placed decides your action. Viziers and elders score, merchants gather goods, builders earn coins, and assassins remove an opponent's meeple. Empty the tile you finish on and it is yours. It is one of the heavier titles on our Strategy shelf despite the Arabian Nights art, and the analysis can slow a table of four. Plays very well at two. For people who have finished with Ticket to Ride and Azul.