Terramara

Lead a Bronze Age clan in Northern Italy: trade, explore, fight and develop with worker placement on a modular board.

Designers: Stefano Luperto, Flaminia Brasini, Acchittocca, Antonio Tinto, Virginio Gigli
Published by: Quined Games
Editions by: Tesla Games, Emperor Penguin Games

Around 1500 B.C. the Terramara villages of Northern Italy stood on wooden piles between the Alps and the river Po, and you are the chief of a clan living in one of them. Over the game you grow your clan: you explore far lands to trade with other villages, reach sacred places, build up your battle strength and discover technologies that let you create useful artefacts. Most of this runs through worker placement on a modular board, and each clan has its own powers. Whoever develops the best clan earns the most development points and becomes leader of all Terramara. A heavier game of about two hours, best at four, with a Bronze Age setting you rarely see.

Bronze Age villages on wooden pilesWorker placement on a modular boardTrade, battle strength and technologies

Who it's for

You like medium-heavy worker placement and a historical setting beyond medieval knights, and you can set aside around two hours.

Not for you if…

You want a light game or a short evening. This is a longer strategy game best with a full table of four.

Vibe's take

Substantial and strategic. You spend most of the game building a clan engine and watching what the others reach first, with enough decisions per turn to make planning feel rewarding.