BENGALURU: Concordia, which was released in 2013, is widely considered to be an excellent game. For my money, it’s one of the most elegant games ever made — it’s simple in theory, but oh-so-deep and rewarding in practice. Late last year, Transatlantic — a spiritual sequel of sorts to Concordia — made its debut with very large shoes to fill. Let’s take a look at how it got on.
Transatlantic is a game about the Age of Steam in naval history — specifically, it’s about the transition from the older sailboats to the newer steamships, through multiple ages and eras of development. You and up to three other players play as shipping empires, competing to build the biggest and best ships of the age as well as actually utilise them in the quest for points.
Transatlantic wears its Concordia DNA on its sleeve by incorporating my single favourite thing about the latter —on your turn, all you do is pick one of your cards and play it. Now, that could have far-reaching effects but you are still only just playing one card; which is incredibly refreshing when compared to other games with labyrinthine turn sequences. However, the flip side of that simplicity is that you need to figure out the optimal path to play your cards, because a misstep can set you back hugely.
It’s all about timing — will you be able to build up funds to buy those valuable ships before your opponent can, or should you try to reset your deck as soon as possible which will let you not only pick up all the cards you’ve played thus far but also add a new and more powerful one to your deck? At its height, Transatlantic feels like a symphony and the player who can best predict the changing movements of its melody will likely triumph in the end.
For the most part, Transatlantic doesn’t exactly set hearts aflutter with its presentation — ‘serviceable’ is the word that comes to mind — but it does excel in one area. The artwork on the cards is genuinely lovely at times, and manages to capture some of the majesty of these long-ago titans of the sea. Another nice touch is that the game comes with a little booklet that contains the actual stories of every ship that’s in the game. (And yes, the Titanic’s in there, although you probably already know what happened to her…)
In conclusion, Transatlantic is a fantastic game and one that’s a more-than-worthy successor to Concordia. There are enough differences between the two that you can own both; and, really, you can’t go wrong with either. The added flavour of the nautical theme really does give Transatlantic more personality than its sibling, though, and that’s also why it’s a definite keeper for me.
Stuffed Fables
Plaid Hat Games has already produced one crossover between a board game and a children’s bedtime story in Mice & Mystics — now they’re doing it again with Stuffed Fables, in which you play as actual stuffed toys who are trying to defend a little girl from her nightmares.
CO2: Second Chance
Acclaimed designer Vital Lacerda is back with a second edition of his breakthrough hit CO2, in which players compete to be the best at supplying the world with ‘green’ energy — but if global warming goes too far, everybody loses.
Agents of Mayhem:Pride of Babylon
We’ve got a bit of a crossover this week, as there’s an Agents of Mayhem board game currently on Kickstarter. Although I wasn’t too impressed by Agents of Mayhem in digital form, the tabletop version does look quite intriguing.
If you’d like
● to explore the history of steamships and the end of the Age of Sail
● a masterful exercise in efficiency and optimisation
● a gloriously clever card game that will challenge you at every turn...take a look at Transatlantic!