Sometimes a game comes along that feels like it was made specifically just for you - ticking all of your mid-heavy Euro boxes and scratching every one of your board gaming itches. I just wanted to play a straight up Rondel game. I came away with my Game of 2022. Sabika - my first ‘10 out of 10’ review.
Sabika
Designer: Germán P. Millán
Publisher: Ludonova
2022
How to Play:
Players take on the role of a Nasrid Noble overseeing the building of the Alhambra (Itch #1 scratched: I really enjoy a game that has its basis in historical fact so that I can learn new things as I play). Helping you over five rounds are your four workers - two Master Builders, a Merchant and a Poet. The main (and gigantic - you have been warned!) board has a triple rondel slap bang in the middle with each of its three rings relating directly to the three worker types at your disposal.
In the first round you will take turns with your opponent(s) to place any one of your workers onto their respective wheels and take the displayed action – paying a coin for any other workers that are already in the space that you would like to occupy. In subsequent rounds you will be able to move your worker clockwise two spaces for free and then as many additional spaces as you like at the cost of one coin per space - as well as keeping up that previous rule that you have to pay additional coins for any other workers that are already in the space you move to.
The Outer Ring: Master Builder
Your two Master Builders work on the outer ring and will allow you to:
• Gain resources of different types and store them in the four slots on your player board
• Build storehouses – increasing that initial capacity on your player board and letting you hold more than four resources at any one time.
• Build a Minor Construction – use a specific matching resource to grab a minor construction card from the shared display on the main board. Both the left and right side of the cards will display a different colour. Match the colours on two cards and get a tasty bonus. Good times!
• Build a Major Construction – use your resources to grab a Major Construction tile that will give an immediate bonus as well as let you move up a separate track which awards further bonuses as you climb it.
• Gain coins and do some trading / buying of resources.
The Middle Ring: Merchant
As you play the game you will be trying to gain access to ‘raw materials’ - cloth, clay and sugarcane. These raw materials will need converting into ‘goods’ - silk, pots and sugar. You gain these raw materials largely during bonuses as well as by being the first to reach any that are placed around the rondel at the start of each round.
Your Merchant lets you:
• Travel - take your raw materials that you have converted into goods and sail off at the bottom end of the board. Pay the requisite amount of coins to move to the city that you want to reach, take your goods with you, trade them in for some juicy points and claim a bonus. If you are first to reach the city you also grab a seal. You can use the seal during the game to pay for stuff or stack them up and keep them until the end as they are 1 lovely victory point each.
• Consolidate – once you have travelled to a city you can, as a separate action, ‘consolidate’ your relationship with that city. Doing so will either get you usually quite a hefty immediate bonus action or an ongoing income bonus at the end of each round.
• Produce some of your raw materials and turn them into goods for future travel actions.
The Inner Ring: Poet
Your Poet lets you;
• use your resources to etch poems on to the walls of the Alhambra - Blue Poems that will give you an ongoing bonus, Red Poems that give you a one-time bonus and Major Poems - strategic goals to chase such as ‘have the most amount of storehouses at the end of the game’ or ‘have travelled to the most amount of cities’ with some big points at stake.
• gain three coins – and a further coin for every 2 poems you have in your collection
• Trigger once again one of the immediate bonuses from one of the red poems that you have already previously used.
Use each of your four workers once during a round. Five rounds later you will have amassed a good stack of point salad points just from your general turn to turn activity. Hopefully (for your sake) you may well have also fulfilled some of those contracts on Major Poems and gained a good chunk of points from those. Player with the most points wins (no surprise there then!)
I need to be clear – and probably a little more than I usually am in my reviews. If this very brief overview of the actions available in the game lulls you into thinking that Sabika is quite straightforward and simple then do note that while I have touched on the actions and how they are taken, there is A LOT going on at once in this game. I will touch on some of the nuances and intertwines and decision spaces in the main review below but for now just be warned - you’re going to be juggling quite a lot of things and potentially overwhelmingly so. If that doesn’t sound like something for you then thank you for reading thus far and I shall hopefully see you again soon. Otherwise, let's keep going..
Solo headlines:
I’m not going to lie, I was a little apprehensive and dare I say worried going into Sabika. This humble Reviewer’s very first review was for the previous game from Sabika’s designer Germán P. Millán – Bitoku. I enjoyed what Bitoku brought to the table but I personally found that a cumbersome solo mode (designed by Dávid Turczi) which relied on a hefty flowchart was resulting in the solo bot’s turns taking way longer than my own. In a game that already had a lot going on, the complexity of the solo mode felt at best a distraction and at worst just plain old hard work. Some players might crave a bot that plays scarily identical to how a real person might if they were sat at the table - and more power to them and to Turczi’s solo designs - some of which I do enjoy. Me? I’m made of simpler stuff. I am more than happy with something a little simpler and cruder – just let me flip a card, take a very simple action, watch the solo bot get some arbitrary points and give me some basic competition for spaces, actions and resources. So it was a pleasure to see not only that Sabika was bringing something a lot simpler to the solo mode table but that even in its simplicity it was offering something that genuinely felt like a living breathing, point scoring opponent. The best of both worlds.
In Sabika, solo players flip over one of four tiles to tell them which one of the solo opponents' four workers is going to be used that turn. Each worker has its own deck of cards - the top of the card tells you where to move the worker, middle of the card tells you what action the worker will take, bottom of the card tells you how many points it scores. Some very (very!) minor rules that it follows which are handily printed on an excellent player aid – but nothing really more than ‘if it constructs a major construction take the highest numbered one available’ type information. Quick, simple at-a-glance stuff.
I also appreciated that there was a good race for tiles and resources between the bot and myself. I know what it wants to take and what will score it well - let me see if I can get there first and choke it! A really nice bit of ‘cat and mouse’.
Why do I count Sabika as possibly one of the best ‘flip a card, do something in less than 10 seconds, get back to your own turn’ solo modes that I have encountered. For a couple of reasons:
1. It takes intelligent turns. When it needs to take something, it doesn’t just take anything. It takes the things that are going to make it the most points at the end of the game. But not in a way that makes me comb through the rulebook or flowcharts to figure out how to get it what it would prefer. It's so intuitive to see what the preferred actions of the solo bot would be that its turns take seconds but creates a really authentic experience of playing against a real person.
2. Its decks of cards for each worker have more cards than are needed each game which means that a couple of cards aren’t used but remain in the deck. These might be powerful cards, or less powerful ones – no way of really knowing as decks are just shuffled randomly at the start of each game. So every time you play, it might have a great game, an average one or somewhere in between – much like a human player. Some different Euros let you control this 'if you want to play a more advanced game add in card numbers XY&Z' style. Here the solo opponent doesn't need any prep. Just shuffle, play and see how well it performs that game. Nice.
3. I’ve played Sabika at 2p and the solo mode felt identical - I could see my opponent keeping up with me during the game, grabbing its contracts and working towards them, building things that it knew were going to get it the best points.
Solo game probably plays in around 60 minutes – perhaps a little longer given that the game presents a huge amount of things that can be done each turn so it's easy to be sucked into bouts of analysis paralysis . And another heads up – if you are thinking “60 minutes? That feels quite jaunty” it's worth saying that its 60 minutes of near constant (and splendid) juggling and decision making. Sabika is an absolute joy solo. But it is also 100% an “I need a lie down after that” game given the volume of things that are happening at any one time.
If someone asked me from this point forth to tell them the simplest solo mode I could think of that also did an excellent job of feeling like a real player then Sabika would be my response. Superb.
General Headlines:
I have already nailed my colours to the mast in the opening paragraph and told you that Sabika is a 10 out of 10 game for me. In particular what I like most about the game is not just what it does but also how it makes me feel and some of that ‘feel’ stuff is going to be hard to articulate in writing. Let’s give it a try though….
The near permanent state of decision making:
This game keeps me in a permanent space of making decisions - helped massively by little to no downtime while playing against the snappy solo opponent. Sabika gives me choices from a large menu of options, keeps my eyes flitting across the board looking at all the ways I can do what I might want to do, offers a plethora of pivots - keeping me constantly thinking and plotting. Let me give some examples;
Firstly there is the rondel itself and which one of my workers will I move first? I might have a very clear idea of what I want to aim for but should I do my Plan A first or can I wait a turn or more, use my other workers to set something even bigger up? Can I risk waiting? What if my opponent grabs my preferred space first. I know that I can still move there but it's going to cost me more as a result which is going to impact on my future plans. The rondel also has random resources and raw goods littered around. Shall I go for Plan A but not get resources or pivot to Plan B and pick up that thing that I probably can make good use of at some point down the road. But wait, I can't just grab resources - I can only hold four at any one time right now - I’m going to need to build some Storehouses.
Where I move to in this round is directly going to impact on where I can afford to go next round so should I make my main move now or set myself up for the next round?
I’m thinking of travelling in the next turn - I want to cash in some of those goods that I have been collecting. Better get my Merchant taking a travel action. Oh hang on, I could get my Master Builder to build one of those blue minor constructions as I can match that with one I already have in my collection - the bonus I gain from that would also let me travel. As would the bonus on that major construction over there that no one has grabbed yet. Or if my Poet takes that red poem card then that lets me travel too. If I use one of those instead of my Merchant I can keep my Merchant for another action instead. But I would be using up another worker. Aaaarrrrghh. Which one is best?
When I travel, should I travel to places that give an immediate bonus or ones that let me gain income at the end of the round? Same when I take poems - shall I go for the short term gain or regular incomes?
Whenever I do build anything I also have to use one of my resources and it's going to earn me a point. But the game also lets me use more resources than I need (thematically strengthening whatever you are building) and get more points. Do I use lots of resources now for this one build and get the immediate points or would I be better off saving some resources for future turns?
I can see some Major Poems available to grab to then start strategically working towards - which one should I get? The one that will get me points for travelling the most or the one that rewards me for the number of seals that at the end of the game?
Have I taken into account that at the end of each round there is a ‘feed your workers’ track/ mechanism. I am having to pay a certain amount to the Sultan each round. If haven't earned enough then I am going to lose VP for each one that I have missed.
I could go on (and on and on) flagging up the constant choices and options that I am having to juggle and keep an eye on when playing Sabika. Without wanting to compare directly to the designers previous game Bitoku, I felt that while that game had quite a lot going on, the mechanisms worked largely in isolation - I could focus on set collection or not. I could deck build. Or not. Everything felt really good, but everything felt disparate. In Sabika every part of the board feels linked in some way. No element and no decision feels disconnected. The whole board is knitted tightly together, every mechanism and decision pushing and pulling at the others on the board.
Additionally, everything has a bonus. No decision goes unrewarded. This is a tight game for sure but in spite of this, any and everything you do in Sabika results in something favourable happening - points are gained, tracks are moved up, things are built. You feel rewarded for everything but never at the expense of tightness. I never feel that I am drowning in resources or coins. I keep getting the dopamine hits each turn but then I’m straight back into toiling and realising that I don't quite have enough of what I need to do the thing that I really want to do. I wouldn't say that Sabika is a combo heavy game but at least once or twice per game something is going to explode and reward you for sticking through the tightness. It’s a perfect balance of emotions as you play.
The weight:
If I am not articulating the volume of choices, mechanisms and decisions well then as a direct comparison if you have played it, Boonlake by Alexander Pfister felt like the same level of heaviness and options available and things to juggle (albeit a very different game thematically and mechanically). Indeed both Sabika and Boonlake had very rough and choppy first plays - so many choices to make but no real idea of what, when or how to do anything. If you have played Boonlake then you will have a sense of Sabika’s weight and its decision space. If you haven't, then just know that there is a lot going on.
Its weight isn’t borne out of complexity or the rules being too dense and fiddly. Most things are fairly intuitive for seasoned mid heavy euro fans. Its heaviness is borne out of the volume of things that are going on. For me, it's a perfect amount – it’s the absolute sweet spot of ‘mid heavy’. For some people that prefer something less busy or on the medium end of the scale - Sabika might be too much.
Variability / replayability.
Every single game of Sabika felt different, and that is no exaggeration. And this isn't simply because there is so much that you can do in the game that you are able to focus on different things each time. It's more than that. The game actually nudges you subtly into different styles of play and does so amazingly well. There are three things that happen that mix each game up:
• The Major Poems (those big point scoring contracts to fulfil) change every game from a hefty stack of them. There will be four each game available and you can race to claim two. They give a specific strategic focus which will change your game each time. And again this is another itch scratched for me - I really like chasing strategic long term goals in a game but seeing myself having to tactically pivot to get there.
• The bottom area of the board - the travel section - has a randomly placed card which will be scored at the end of the game, again from a decent stack of different cards. Perhaps this game you will gain points for the number of ships that have travelled. Perhaps next game for travelling to blue areas, or red areas, or have traded in areas that like sugar, or get points for each place you managed to consolidate. You get the idea.
• And then finally at the end of the 1st, 3rd and 5th rounds you will also score mid game points based on some randomised goals. For example at the end of the first round I am going to get some points for the red poems I have. Ok then, I best focus on getting some red poems. In the 3rd round I will get points for red poems and seals that I have collected? Ok, seals it is then. Wait though, in the final round I get points for those poems, seals and any fountain symbols I have collected? Right, I am focusing on all three of those this game. Each game will have different things that might be scored at those different intervals and boy am I honing my game to chase those points as they could make all the difference.
Those three separate things blend together incredibly. I have to concentrate on all three, and all three areas will be individually different but also collectively intertwined differently game to game. There is zero chance then of me relying on tried and tested methods. I can't express enough how fresh it makes each game feel.
Anything I don't like?:
If I did have any minor gripes then they would probably relate only to multiplayer and as a solo player I didn't particularly feel impacted by them at all. But I might as well mention them as you may be reading this as someone that plays both solo and multiplayer regularly rather than my 99.9% solo plays.
1. Man, that main board is HUGE. If you are playing with 3 to 4 players on a standard size table, good luck. Even playing on my own and as a fan of table hogs - ooooofftttt. Huge.
2. Not that you would necessarily want to be playing this at 4p. Well, maybe you would but you are going to need one helluva lie down afterwards.
3. The game also comes with an optional ‘advanced’ mode. Some tiles that offer even more things to consider - ‘this round X costs one more coin’, ‘this round you can travel for 2 coins less’ - that sort of thing. I didn't use these. They were a step too far for me - one additional thing to think about that would have just tipped me into overwhelm. Not going to mark the game down for it - they are optional. Use them or don't. I didn't.
4. I suppose the only thing that left the very slightest tinge of disappointment (and I mean a tiny amount) was that thematically the game is about building the Alhambra and while I do collect tiles and cards as I take the build action, at the end of the game I don't look down and marvel at the thing I have built - i just have a pile of tiles and cards. It's so incredibly minor a point and I don't even know how it might be resolved - perhaps the player boards could have had something to slot tiles into to create some kind of building aesthetically. I don't know. It's the tiniest observation. If that is the worst thing that i can think about here, then blimey the game is doing something good.
At a glance:
Sabika might not be for everyone. What game is? But for this fan of mid-heavy Euros, it hits every high note. Strategic, tactical pivots, tightness, rewards, choices everywhere, variability by the bucket load. Certainly my Game of 2022 and I think it's probably nudging hard at the very top end of my Top 10 of all time. If you are a regular reader of my reviews and have felt that my opinions game to game have aligned with your own then do yourself a favour - get your hands on a copy of this game.
+ Simple solo bot that still manages to feel intelligent and chases its strategic goals
+ Every action offers multiple choices on how to take it - putting players in a constant decision space
+ An excellent balance of both tightness for resources but constant rewards every turn
+ Huge variability - every game feels different.
+ Worker placement on the triple Rondel and selecting actions is simple but devilishly agonising.
+ / - The main board is huge. Some might argue that its too big. Its fine for solo play (just) but multiplayer games are going to be more than a tight squeeze
Final Score:
10 out of 10 (Reviewed after 12 plays).
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