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Normally when I think of HABA I think of family friendly games is bright yellow boxes. In fact, I have a whole shelf in my game collection devoted to these awesome kids’ titles. So I was a bit surprised to year about Meduris – The Call of the Gods from my HABA contact. Surprised, but very interested! Especially when I found out one of the designers of the game is Stefan Dorra.
Meduris is a resource-management game at heart. Players take turns gathering materials, building huts and temples, and making offerings to the wandering Druid. Hut become more expensive to build as a single hut grows into a multi-hut settlement. Settlements also mean the Druid makes more stops, needs more offerings but offers greater victory point rewards. Temples can rack up a ton of points at the end of the game if they’re placed next to large settlements, and Runes offer extra points mid-game whenever the Druid makes a complete circuit around the board.
Final scoring occurs when a player has built all their temples and huts. A final round is played and then the score tallied. The player with the most points wins.
Meduris is relatively easy to learn, but the rulebook isn’t really laid out in a way that would make you think this. There’s an odd flowchart in the rules that’s a 4-page foldout. It’s very awkward, and not the easiest to read. Once you get past that, though, the game is very straight forward. Even your first game will fit within the 75-minute timeframe printed on the box.
There’s a good amount of strategy here. Placing your workers to maximize your material gain is just as important as the good placement of your huts on the board either alone, or in settlements. Temples shouldn’t be built too early, but building them too late might lose you a key placement next to a large settlement for maximum points.
While meant for ages 10+, my 7-year-old son had no trouble learning and enjoying the game.
While Meduris isn’t at all what I normally expect from HABA, I was pleasantly surprised with a smart Euro that was easily playable and just as beautiful to look at.
A copy of Meduris was provided free for review by HABA.
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