Let's loot!
There weren't many new releases at UKGE'24 , as most publishers are waiting for GenCon and SPIEL to bring out the heavy hitters. ⛵Looot however was among the games that just became available and we had to take a copy with us! It's a gateway type game, but with more substance than other similar games. There are multiple layers to decisions and much room for tactics!
🧐Looot presents players with a dual-puzzle: a shared modular central board where you are placing viking meeples to claim different tiles, and your player board where you place those tiles in clever positions to surround goal tiles to fulfill them - goals that you can also draft more of as you play! 😮 You play until you run out of vikings, then add up your score to see who wins. Goals greatly influence your score, so wisely choosing and placing things is crucial.
Vikings on the central board always have to go adjacent to a ship or an already placed viking. You get the resource type of the hex you choose, plus there are buildings you can potentially claim: a house 🏠 if adjacent; watchtowers 🗼 if you connected them with a contiguous line of vikings; or a keep 🏰 if at least a group of 4 or more vikings is touching it. So with a nice placement you could get 3-5 tiles at once! 💪 Also, only one meeple can go on a hex, so strategically blocking others from getting to these buildings is essential, and the building's tiles can run out, so you have to be quick.
Each turn you can optionally take a longship (goal) ⛵ tile that increases points for a specific tile type on your board - but only if you fulfill it by surrounding it with the correct tiles! This mechanic makes your player board into a tight tile-laying puzzle, similar to Calico. But don’t get greedy: unfulfilled tiles give you minus points! 🙀 Additionally, 3 one-use rule bending abilities can help you out in a pinch.
While Reni isn’t blown away by Looot, I strongly stand by my assessment: this is an incredible gateway title, with more to do, and more crunchy than usual games of this weight. The presentation and amazing choice of a color palette elevates it all even more. 😊
