Santa Maria

Designer: Kristian Amundsen Otsby, Eilif Svensson
Artist: Gjermund Bohne
Published: 2017
Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 45-90 Mins
BGG Rating: 7.5
BGG Ranking: 474
Publisher: Aporta Games
Mechanisms: Dice Rolling, Network and Route Building, Open Drafting, Set Collection, Tile Placement, Variable Player Powers

Game Description:

Santa Maria is a streamlined, medium complexity Eurogame in which each player establishes and develops a colony. The game features elements of dice drafting and strategic engine building. The game is low on luck and has no direct destructive player conflict.

Quick play overview:

Players will mostly use dice from the common pool (and a smaller private one) to activate the buildings on their island. Each die will activate all the tiles in a specific column (or row), so there will be fights for some dice over others.

By doing the above, players will get resources to buy new tiles that will make their island better… and here comes the biggest dilemma of the game. Timing is king! Should you improve the column before you activate it to get even more stuff and risk that opponents take that die before you get the chance? Maybe? Probably? Yea, you definitely should. Should you then be angry at the opponent that just took “your” die, because you had to do 3 other actions before? Yes, you should be, because he is an ******.

There are mitigation mechanisms to change other dice but it will cost you. Everything will cost you and you don’t want to always pay for being last to the party.

Game is played over a series of 4 rounds that will last until every player has passed.

At that time some mini scoring happens and change of first player etc. Repeat it till the 4^th round is over.

On top of the resources that you get from a column/row, you will also move your tokens on Faith (in game and end of game bonuses) and Conquistador (end of round points). There is also a shipping action where you will spend resources to finish contracts for end game points and end of round bonuses… let’s just say that there is plenty of bonuses to get in this game.

Final thoughts:

I love how every time you take an action, you have another 1 or 2 just as good actions that might not be there next round and your decision will have long term consequences.

Timing is really the king in this game and every decision you make is a well-balanced decision of “will the profits outweigh the risk?”.

FINAL SCORE:

Gameplay & How often I want to play it: 8/10

Spending hard earned resources to improve your island vs shipping contracts. Improving the island vs taking the needed die right away… so many sour-sweet decisions make this game a wonderful experience.
Once you know the game, this one is easy to put back to the table and play. I really hope to put in 5 plays/year.

Art & Graphic Design:

The game looks older than it actually is. I'm not a fan of the art, and the graphic design would need a touch or two as some things are not very logical and you will need the rulebook to understand some icons.

Rules & Complexity:

The rules are well written and simple to understand. Players should be ready from turn one to jump on the challenge of finding the right combinations of tiles, dice and taking the needed actions before their opponents.

Theme & Mechanism fit:

Building up the island’s infrastructure to get more materials that will allow you to improve it even further and trade with the motherlands for points is a standard euro-game theme but the scarcity of dice and the timing aspect make this game a tense experience.

Fun & Replayability:

This game’s fun and replayabilty comes from fighting other players for the limited resources. There are not many different tactics that you could try on different plays, as you should have all the bases covered in every single play if you want to win.