Pyramid Review
Eketorp
Distributed by Rio Grande Games
Designed by Dirk Henn
Full-color boxed set with mounted board, six player mats, six player screens, deck of battle cards (numbered one to six nine times), six castle name tags, 12 material cards, 30 amulet tokens (five in each of six colors), 48 Viking pawns (eight in each of six colors), 112 bricks, rulebook; $59.95
Just to clear it up, because the box's font is odd to say the least, the name of the game is Eketorp. It's based on a Swedish fort from the Iron Age, and players contend for materials to erect walls in their own bastion.
The object of the game is to amass the most points by the end of the game.
Three to six Norsemen compete to finish their castles, vying with one another to obtain building materials from the fields. Each gets a player mat, a privacy screen, a hand of four battle cards, and a set of five amulets. Random material cards determine which locations offer up their riches this turn. Some areas produce grass (the cheapest and easiest substance to obtain) while others yield wood, clay, or stone (the best and most contested). Players secretly plan their actions using the mat and screen, leaving their Viking pawns at the castle (to defend it), placing them on the fields (to fight for and collect bricks), and stationing them on siege sites (to batter an enemy's stronghold).
A solitary meeple can grab a brick from his field, and multiple pawns can all take one so long as the ratio is one-to-one. But if there are more . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: May 16, 2008
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