Get ready…there is a sand storm brewing!
Take on the role of a noble leader of a Taureg tribe and trade your way across the Sahara Desert in order to build up your clan’s wealth. Don’t wait for the dust to settle though as you are not alone…you will need to out-wit, out-manoeuvre and out-trade your opponent for victory in Targi.
Targi is a 2-player worker placement strategy game designed by Andreas Steiger and published by Kosmos Games.
The game starts with a desert perimeter of 16 cards, which have symbols on the face-up side and the description of the card action on the other. The centre of the desert is formed by a grid of 9 (3x3) cards that are made up of Goods and Tribe cards.
A robber token is placed on card number 1 of the perimeter and will make its way around the edge of the desert during the course of the game in 12 rounds (every 3rd round, as indicated by the corner cards, the robber will steal goods or victory points from each player).
Players will take it in turns to place one of their 3 Targi meeples on an action card around the edge, alternating goes until all 6 meeples have been placed. Strict rules here immediately get your brain ticking as you cannot place a meeple on the same card as any other, the card the robber is on or opposite the card of your opponent’s meeples. Tokens are then placed in the middle of the desert on cards that form intersections for where your meeples cross over.
You then take turns to perform all the actions that your meeples are on and either take goods or buy Tribe cards from the middle from where your tokens are.
The aim of the game is simply to collect goods to buy tribe cards to add to your display tableau to gain victory points. The display tableau is built in a 4x3 grid and cards cannot be moved once laid (unless a bonus card allows this.) Cards are worth between 1-3 victory points and some have ongoing or instant benefits to the owner. The end of the game triggers either when one player has 12 cards in their display or the robber has reached the final card of the desert perimeter. The player with the most victory point wins!
Victory points are scored from the tokens in your supply, on the cards in your display and also in the combinations of how they are displayed: a full row of 4 identical card types gets you an additional 4 victory points and a full row of 4 different card types gets you 2 victory points.
Targi is such a great game that has so much gameplay in the small box (easy to learn, strategy, competitiveness, interaction & replay-ability) that you just have to saddle up your camel and join the caravan of love for this game!
