Ship ahoy!

Game nights with friends are our degrees for autumn and winter very high in demand. It comes to us is not always on the luck. Also strategy may be. And so went with us to "The Settlers of Catan" and "Kingdom Builder" the strategy game "Nauticus" a. But it can keep up with the other games?

Before you can play at all, the individual pieces such as ship parts, masts, sails and goods have to be removed from the packaging. This goes quite quickly, well and the game records are not damaged during removal.

Since we played all "Nauticus" for the first time, of course, had to be consulted, the game instructions. Here is recommended from the beginning a good half hour to 45 minutes to plan. Because the manual is indeed easy to understand, but very extensive. This also is not surprising, but it is shipbuilders, merchant and shipowner in a person. The developers of the game have written but in addition to the detailed instructions and a Quick Start Guide. Anyone who wants to get an overview, should start with this and pull the longer instructions to rate only at questions of detail.

After we now more or less understood the game, we got started. In the first few laps were obsessing over matters because you have to consider a lot of things. It is advisable to have the manual at hand. One should also appointed at the start a captaincy, which monitors compliance with the rules. Otherwise, it may happen that, for example, the completion of a ship and the reward associated overlooked.

"Nauticus" is a pure strategy game. Each train, no matter which player it is started, must be drawn equally from each opposing player. This you have to rethink again and plan well in advance its own strategy. We did it a lot of fun, but I can imagine that it is children, ages 12 and thus may have problems.

After 5 rounds (if you play four) are added up the points for ships, goods delivered and Taler. The nice thing is that this will again can change everything. So you can be his victory to the end not be sure.

However, even "Nauticus" some weaknesses:
Firstly, the Schedule, the valleys, the figures for setting and the workers is on the small side. For us, it has happened that we others have pushed from their field when setting our own character. Here I had a number found greater toll.
Secondly, the wrights to the ships the goods and the board gave themselves a lot of effort for detail, but for the figures and workers who are represented only by small cubes, then apparently lacked the imagination. In our group was even referred to as unloving. Here little man had arrived better.

The indicated playing time of 60 to 90 minutes is not spacious enough in my eyes and can only be achieved if all players have internalized the rules and their trains perform quickly. We have around 2 hours are required (plus the time that we have spent on studying the rules).

Conclusion: "Nauticus" is a pure strategy game that requires high concentration and planning. But this case, the fun factor is not neglected. If you like strategy and tactics, and does not want to rely on his luck, can access safely here.