Tabriz Review

boardgamequest.com:

Welcome to the bustling bazaars of Tabriz! Within the four walls of the box of this new design from Randy Flynn (Cascadia fame), players are treated to a luxurious double-sided neoprene mat, nice tactile components, and an excellent insert to house it all. And according to the rulebook notes, this game has a pronunciation guide (Tabriz = ta BREEZ), listed cultural consultants, and even a fun little rating system for all its factors: luck, learning ease, strategy, and interaction. On the design side, things seem to be coming together nicely. Let’s look at how the lavish Persian carpetmaking weaves this all together in its gameplay.

Tabriz is a game for one to five players all about fulfilling Persian carpet commissions. Setup sees certain tiles randomized by their location type with players beginning in the market square. Locations comprise of shops, courtyards, alleys, and traders, each with different purposes during play.

On a turn, a player takes one of their three apprentices and moves it up to three spaces away utilizing the location connections. Apprentices MUST move from their current location and cannot linger. After finishing movement, players take the location action and may complete a commission (re: contract) in their hand. After all players have taken actions with their apprentices, the round ends.

Each commission requires resources. There are five resource types in the game: wool, plant dye, camel hair, carmine dye, and silk. Once fulfilled, commissions provide immediate bonuses by way of coins, points, and skills. Many also provide ongoing bonuses that are offered at the beginning of each new round (called the workshop phase). Outside of contract fulfillment, the only points scored come from either ending the game by completing your ninth commission or by reaching the top of your skill track.

Locations matter. In each round, new resources emerge based on supply and demand. A shop that has no resources gains more, whereas shops overflowing in resources