- Publisher : Pixie Games
- Designers : Simone Luciani, Daniele Tascini
- Artist(s) : Giorgio De Michele, Zbigniew Umgelter
- Players : 1-4
- Playing time : 60–100 Min
- Weight BGG : 3.44
What's this?
In the board game Tiletum, you play as wealthy Renaissance merchants about to leave the town of Tiletum (currently Tielt in Belgium) to venture across Europe, attending fairs and helping with construction of cathedrals.
Throughout the game, you will erect commercial houses, build columns for cathedrals, complete contracts and attract characters to your homes.
Immerse yourself in an adventure rich in strategy and economic development.
How do you play?
On your turn, you must select a die from around the action wheel. The first ingenious concept of Tiletum lies in the fact that the colors of the dice correspond to resources (pink = food, gray = wool, etc.) and that the higher the value of the die, the less powerful the associated action.
Are you still lost? Wait, I will explain in detail. For example, if you choose a pink die of value 6 for the merchant’s action, you will obtain 6 units of food, but your action for the merchant will only be of power 1. Another example: by opting for a gray die of value 1 for the contract action, you will recover 1 unit of wool, but in return, you will perform a power 6 action for the contract.
Did you get the idea? You will therefore have to juggle between weak and strong actions to optimize your strategy.
In Tiletum, each element is interconnected: to erect columns on the main board, you will first have to unlock them on your player board by completing contracts, often requiring iron and wool.
Stone is essential for building cathedrals, but this will require having previously positioned columns near these cathedrals on the main board, moving your architect pawn.
The merchant pawn allows the construction of trading houses on the main board, but also their unlocking from your player board by placing characters obtained via the corresponding action.
At the bottom of these characters, the food resource allows you to assign coats of arms, triggering powerful actions.
You will need to find an optimal balance to collect enough resources, build, fulfill contracts, perform powerful and weak actions, move your architect and merchant pawns, all with the aim of optimizing your strategy and participating in fairs.
And yes, I haven’t told you about the fairs in Tiletum yet. These events take place in four cities selected at the start of the game and lead to scoring at the end of each round.
Is it good?
Tiletum is a remarkable game, ranking among my favorites in the T range. In Tiletum, everything is fluid, clear, there is no unnecessary overlay of rules.
After a game, you will find that all the mechanics are cleverly interconnected in a simple way. The ingenious use of the action wheel with the resource dice as well as the combinations necessary to optimize each action add a rewarding dimension.
Tiletum undoubtedly gets a big YES from me, establishing itself as this year’s favorite.
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Review Tiletum
Positives
- The ingenious action wheel mechanic
- Expert but fluid gameplay without unnecessary rules
- A ton of rewarding combos
Negatives
- A somewhat tacked-on theme as is often the case in Eurogames
Breakdown
- Components and illustrations 8.5
- Mechanics 9.5
- Thematic 8.0
- Replayability 9.0
- Handling 9.5
- Interaction 9.0
- Originality 8.5
