Duel in the desert

Going all the way back to chess, two-player games hold a special place in the board gaming pantheon. We’ve discussed some excellent examples of the species in this column before, but today we’re taking a look at what just might be my favourite — Targi. Players are the leaders of Tuareg tribes, competing to trade goods, be the most prosperous and attract other tribes to join their numbers. However, resources are tight and the desert is unforgiving, so you’ll have to jostle for supremacy if you’re to do well.

Each round, players take turns placing one of their three workers on one of the twelve border cards. The cards you place on not only allow you access to their actions, but also determine which of the central cards you can lay claim to. Resource and tribal cards are laid out in a 3x3 grid, and you can collect those cards that lie at the intersections formed by your three workers on the borders. Adding a razor’s edge to the decision-making process is the rule that forbids you from placing a worker directly across from one of your opponents’ workers. It’s a truly ingenious system, and I honestly can’t understand why it hasn’t been copied more often because it provides for a wonderful spatial puzzle.

Once the actions have been claimed, it’s time to carry them out in any order you wish. Some actions allow you to turn in resources for points or for gold (which is hard to come by), and a couple allow you flexibility in what you claim this round. The prize you’re really fighting over, however, are the tribe cards in the centre. Some cards will do nothing except give you points, but most of them offer something more — a one-time bonus when you play them, perhaps, or an ongoing boost to production of a particular resource. The most interesting are the ones that offer you additional ways to score points, because they can have a drastic impact on your strategy; one your opponent will be all too aware of.

It’s not just your opponent you need to worry about, though. After every three rounds, there will be a raid that forces you to give up resources or hard-won victory points. At the end of the fourth raid, the game ends and you tally up your points. Targi is a game so sharp, it’s a miracle that its box can contain it. Not once during a game will you feel a moment of complacency or relax into a pre-programmed sequence of moves. Every action your opponent takes demands your full and complete attention, because you will have to respond and react in some manner. If Andreas Steiger never releases another game, he can be rest assured that Targi alone will have secured his legacy — it is a masterpiece.

Timeless legacy
Released in 2012 as part of the famous Kosmos two-player line, Targi was designed by first-time designer Andreas Steiger.

Arjun Sukumaran  http://goo.gl/uNBWN3