March 29, 2024

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Ark Nova Review | Board Games

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A Fish Called Wanda

This action selection mechanism is as easy to grasp as it is enjoyable to play. The waiting game of using actions at weaker levels to move up the other actions allows you to craft the order of your actions, but you must be prepared to change your plans. Over the course of the game, you can earn X tokens but only hold onto a total of 5. These tokens can be used to boost the power of your action beyond 5 even. This is only useful for some of the actions but useful nonetheless. 

Of course, running a zoo is a busy business and you will need to take regular breaks. Handily this is managed by the break track and token. Whenever you take the Cards action you must move the broken token forward two spaces. When using the Sponsor action instead of playing a sponsor card you can move the broken token forward the same amount as the power of the action and take that much money. When the broken token reaches the end of its track some upkeep is performed allowing players to gain income among other things. 

A lot of your time is spent looking at your action cards and trying to plan out your best route through them. Handily your player board also contains your zoo. Before you can play animal cards you will need enclosures of the right size and specifications. Usually, this is to be next to water or rocks. 

Ark Mars

The similarities to Terraforming Mars come from the massive deck of cards that contain tags in a similar fashion to the big red game. The sponsor cards sort of feel like TM’s blue action cards but beyond that the influences come from a number of other games. While this means there isn’t really anything new here Ark Nova borrows from other games and uses those ideas in a consistent and thematic way.

The placement of animals is somewhat abstracted out but it’s done so in a way that keeps you in the game rather than having to fiddly around keeping track of things. This is handy because this isn’t a short game, even though the end may creep up on you more quickly than you might think. 

Despite you being focused on your zoo there is a healthy amount of interaction through the card display and the association’s board. There are cards and advantages you will need to prioritise. There are also some cards that can have small negative impacts on the other players, but these are easily removed if those sorts of shenanigans don’t float your boat. 

The components are solid for the most part in terms of quality. I’d have liked slightly thicker play mats, but this is made up for by the number included and the variety this offer – you can play all with identical basic sides or with unique sides. Included in the box are two storage trays which are ok but don’t fit the components neatly you will have to move some around in order to fit the lids back on. The strangest choice component wise is the mainboard. It’s a long thin rectangle when it could have been a standard shape. It makes it slightly awkward on the table and is a puzzling choice. 

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