Tabannusi: Builders of Ur

Ancient Mesopotamia, a coastal Ur that is still half a building site, and a board where every pick sets up your next move. The map shows the city in five districts: three for construction, one temple, one port. Each district belongs to a die color. On your turn your worker activates a district, and you take one of its dice. That die is a resource of its color, and its number decides which district you can activate next turn, so you are always shopping and planning at once. Along the way you grow your influence, expand construction sites, fulfill contracts and fight for majorities, with end-game bonuses tugging you in different directions. Tabannusi is a heavy, puzzly Euro that rewards thinking two turns ahead. Plan on about two hours, with a solo mode if you prefer to brood alone.