It’s the ancient world of the celts, and the clans are expanding beyond Ireland. Inis pronounced In-ish in Gaelic, is a 2-4 area control card drafting game where clans have all come to a new island to explore and vie for the title of King of the Clans.
The object of Inis is to be the permanent clan leader and is accomplished in one or more of three ways; To have presence (the most clans) in six territories, to have presence over six opposing clans, or have presence over six sanctuaries.
To start separate the cards into their three respective decks, action cards, epic tale cards, and advantage cards. Shuffle each deck and place them in face-down piles. Draw one tile for each player and place them, taking the advantage card for each territory placed and placing it aside. Give each player a set of clans in their chosen color and set aside the citadel and sanctuary buildings, and you are ready to begin. Determine a first player and give them the Brenn token, this represents the temporary leader of the clans. On the first turn, the Brenn places the capital citadel and two clans in the land of their choosing. The player order is determined by flipping the crow’s token and following the arrow direction. From the brenn and proceeding in the direction indicated. The next player places one citadel and two clans until each player has two clans and citadel in a territory.
Inis is played in two phases; the assembly phase and the action phase. In the assembly phase, players are dealt the advantage card for each territory they have presence in. Next, the brenn takes the 17 action cards, shuffles them and discards one face down, then deals a number of cards to each player based on the player count. Next, each player looks at their cards keeps one, and passes the rest in turn order to the next player. They then choose three to keep and pass the remaining one. These will be the actions that the player can perform in the action phase. Each player will choose a card and take the action indicated on the card. This continues until all players have passed and the round ends.
The action cards are how players explore new territories, move and recruit more clans, build citadels and sanctuaries, gain epic tale cards and ultimately clash with other clans. One very unique aspect of Inis is that multiple clans can exist in one territory at the same time, as long as each player agrees to peace. Gaining epic tale cards, allow powerful actions that can be the tipping point to achieving victory.
Clashes start once a clan moves into an area where another clan is present. The person who moved is called the instigator. Each clash consists of two parts; the citadel action and the maneuver action. In the citadel action, each defending player can choose to move a clan to a citadel where they will be safe from the clash.
After each defender has moved to a citadel, the instigator chooses a maneuver to perform. The instigator can attack, retreat or ask for peace. If they offer peace, the defender can accept, attack or retreat. To attack, a player discards one card and removes one opposing clan. To retreat, a player moves his clans to an adjacent territory where they are present with at least one clan.
The game continues to the next assembly phase, first checking to see if anyone has achieved a victory condition. If no one has, the Brenn flips the crows token and the game continues. Once a player has achieved one or more of the three victory conditions, they take an action to get a pretender token. If a player with a token is able to maintain a victory condition until the start of the next assembly phase, they win.
First off, the components are fantastic. All of the clans, citadels, sanctuaries are plastic. Each clan has several different sculpts in them. The cards are high quality and full of original Celtic art by Celtic artist Jim Fitzpatrick. A top-shelf product. The gameplay is full of strategic decisions. There are only 13 action cards, and a good Inis player knows that each player has a hand with cards they don’t. Flexibility and planning on a turn are critical. Players must play around with the cards they don’t have and maximize the ones they do. A player may not get an attack card but may be able to build or explore. A player can pass for a round and wait for others to play their hand and then strike. Remember a round doesn’t end until all players have passed. So passing can be a great way to see who has what action cards.
Another unique mechanism is multiple clans occupying the same territory, but whoever has presence will get the leader card. So it may benefit to move and stay peaceful until the right hand of cards and then make a swift attack and clash for control. There is no board, tiles are laid out forming the board. So each game is different.
Trying to become the Brenn is another option, whoever has presence in the territory with the capital city is the Brenn. The Brenn chooses where new territories are placed, settles all ties, and will take priority if they have a pretender token in the event of a tie for victory.
Inis is the third game in a series by Matagot Games; the other 2 being Cyclades and Kemet. Alex from Board Game Co says Inis is the one to pick if you can only get one and he is not alone Quinn from Shut up and sit down said it was his choice for game of the year for 2019.
If you enjoy area control games, then Inis is a must-have. Combined with the rich Celtic lore, fantastic components, and artwork, it stands out among many others and deservedly so. It’s a game that others have said as soon as you are done a game, you want to play again. No better compliment for a board game than to provide a rich experience that you want to repeat over and over.
Written by Ed Carter
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