Reviewed by Herb Levy

(Huch! & Friends, 2 to 3 players, ages 8 and up, 30+ minutes; about $25)

Talat is the Arabic word for “Three” and three is the core of the game play here in this abstract game designed by Bruce Whitehill. There are three boards, three sets of game pieces and, while rules are provided for two, Talat is at its best with three players.

The game comes with 27 hard plastic pieces referred to as “towers”, nine each in black, white and “salt and pepper” gray in three different sizes (one, two and three levels) and three different shapes (triangular, square and hexagonal). There are three boards, each a 5×5 grid, and these boards are arranged in a triangle. Each board has a starting line in black, white or gray and the boards are arranged so that each player is near the starting lines matching his color on two of the boards.

Every player commands pieces on two of the three boards. To begin, in turn, each player places one of his 9 pieces on one of the starting lines leaving one empty space on a starting line. With the board properly seeded, these pieces start to move.

Each turn, a player may move ONE of his pieces on EITHER board one space. Pieces may be moved forward or diagonally to an unoccupied space. (Passing on a turn or jumping over a piece or moving backwards is not allowed and spaces may not be shared by two pieces.) If you manage to get across the board to your opponent’s starting line, you must stay there. As you move, you may be able to capture an opponent’s piece.

An enemy tower may be captured IF it is standing either directly diagonally in front of one of your towers OR is on either side of it. (That’s how you can remove an enemy piece on your starting line.) But there are other factors involved here. The ability of a piece to capture is directly related to both its size and shape. Towers can capture enemy towers exactly one level smaller. (A three level tower can capture a two level tower but may NOT capture a one level tower.) But that’s not all. If two towers are of equal levels, then the deciding factor is its shape. The more “sides” a piece has, the more powerful it is. So, a square shaped tower can capture a triangular shaped tower of equal height, a hexagonal tower can capture a square one of equal height. The exception? The small three-sided tower can capture the large hexagonal tower (reminiscent of Stratego where the weak Spy can capture the powerful Marshall). Captured towers are placed in your holdings off the board. The capturing piece then occupies the now empty space on the board. When no more captures are possible, the board is considered “frozen”. Once two boards are frozen, the game is immediately over and scoring done.

Every captured tower, regardless of size or shape, is worth 5 points. Any tower that manages to maneuver onto an opponent’s starting line and remain there at game’s end is worth 3 points. High score wins. If tied, the player who has captured the highest ranking tower wins!

Talat benefits from an outstanding graphic production. The pieces are both pleasing to the eye and touch and the beautifully embossed box with its black, gold and white motif is an attention-grabber. The rules are nicely laid out and come in four languages (Dutch, French, German and English) but someone fell asleep when checking them. Missing from the English language translation is the key rule about diagonal and sideways capturing of enemy pieces! To add insult to injury, one of the diagrams used to show what a “frozen” board is is simply wrong! But not to worry. The revised English language rules are available for download at http://www.huchandfriends.de/page/de/Downloads/Spielanleitun…)

The unique quality that makes Talat so demanding is that your attention must be split. You need to plan on TWO boards and you’re competing against TWO different opponents at the same time! (Reminds me of those chess exhibitions when a Grand Master would play dozens of opponents at the same time – and beat them all. Talat makes you appreciate that accomplishment even more.) Add to the mix the variable starting positions and you have a concoction that makes tracking and staying alert to board configurations so as to recognize when (and if) a board is frozen a challenge unto itself. Since the game ends immediately when the second board is frozen, you need to guard against being surprised, particularly if you are setting up an opponent for a capture to net another 5 points. That all this action is contained in a 30 minute playing time is another big plus for the game.

Two may be company and three, it is said, a crowd but with Talat, three is the perfect number for a challenging and attractive game of abstract strategy. – – – – – – – – – – – – – Herb Levy

Have feedback? We’d love to hear from you.

Fall 2012 GA Report Articles

1812: THE INVASION OF CANADA

Reviewed by Herb Levy (Academy Games, 2 to 5 players, ages 10 and up, 1-2 hours; $69.99) In the early 19th Century, powerful nations in Europe were competing for dominance and that competition led to war. With war in Europe raging between England and its allies and the French forces led by Napoleon, the United States felt the squeeze between these two powerful European juggernauts, ...
Read More

AEROPLANES: AVIATION ASCENDANT

Reviewed by Herb Levy (Mayfair Games, 3 to 5 players, ages 14 and up, 120+ minutes; $50) Martin Wallace has a thing for travel. It's not so much that HE is infected with a severs case of wanderlust but more that he's apparently fascinated by the intricacies of the means of getting from one place to another. Already established as a premier designer of rail ...
Read More

DABBLE

Reviewed by Herb Levy (INI, LLC, www.DabbleGame.com, 2 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, 30-60 minutes; $24.95) Word games are one of the staples of gaming. There is, of course, Scrabble which leads the way in this category but there has always been a contest to create the next big word game. Along the way, there has been the ever popular Boggle and Sid ...
Read More

DUNGEON PETZ

Reviewed by Andrea "Liga" Ligabue (Czech Board Games/Z-Man Games, 2 to 4 players, ages 13 and up, 90-120 minutes; $64.99) After the great success of Dungeon Lords, it would have been a real shame not to exploit the atmosphere of the dungeons and the neighboring village. It has taken two years to prepare the Dungeon Lords expansion (to be released this year in Essen) but ...
Read More

EDITORIAL – FALL 2012

The Greatest Game Throughout my years with Gamers Alliance and through my interactions with people in all walks of life who know of my love of games, I have always been asked lots of questions. But the one question that seems to appear most is this one: "What do you think is the GREATEST game?" When I first heard this question, I would be (and ...
Read More

EMPIRE EXPRESS

Reviewed by Greg. J. Schloesser EMPIRE EXPRESS (Mayfair Games, 2 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, 60-90 minutes; $30) [Reviewing a crayon rail game is a bit of a challenge, as all of the games in the series use very similar mechanisms. Usually, there are only minor rules changes, with the major difference being the geographical setting. As such, most of the description of ...
Read More

GRAND PRIX EXPERT

Reviewed by Chris Kovac (Andre Bonnet, 2 to 6 players, ages 13 and up, 90 minutes; 65€ in the EU, 77€ outside the EU) Grand Prix Expert is a detailed five player resource management/racing game with the theme of managing and developing a Formula 1 Racing team for 1-3 seasons of racing. The game is self published by Andre Bonnet of France. The game comes with ...
Read More

INFILTRATION

Reviewed by Herb Levy INFILTRATION (Fantasy Flight Games, 2 to 6 players, ages 14 and up, 30-45 minutes; $34.95) The time is the future and this future world is a very dangerous place. It is the Android Universe (a dystopian future world postulated by Android, a previous release by Fantasy Flight), a world run by immense corporations involved in android technology. CyberSolutions Inc., one such corporation, ...
Read More

STAR TREK CATAN

Reviewed by Herb Levy (Mayfair Games, 3 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, about 75-90 minutes; $55) Very often in games we see style over substance, particularly when it comes to licensed properties. Generally, the belief is that the license will sell the merchandise no matter what so what you usually get is a picture slapped on a box containing assorted cardboard with very ...
Read More

STARSHIP MERCHANTS

[In this issue, we welcome Eric Brosius to our pages. Eric Brosius has been a gamer as long as he can remember. When his sister asked him to play Chutes and Ladders, he resisted because there were no meaningful decisions. At the age of 6, he received a copy of Avalon Hill's D-Day from a neighbor family who bought a copy at a local department ...
Read More

TALAT

Reviewed by Herb Levy (Huch! & Friends, 2 to 3 players, ages 8 and up, 30+ minutes; about $25) Talat is the Arabic word for "Three" and three is the core of the game play here in this abstract game designed by Bruce Whitehill. There are three boards, three sets of game pieces and, while rules are provided for two, Talat is at its best ...
Read More

VANUATU

Reviewed by Pevans (Krok nik Douil/Huch! & Friends, 3 to 5 players, ages 12 and up, 1½ to 2 hours, $59.99) Vanuatu rather snuck up on me – I missed it at Spiel last year, so I was pleased to make its acquaintance when it arrived on the table. The title is, of course, the name of an island nation in the Pacific. Vanuatu, designed ...
Read More