Nunatak: Temple of Ice (referred to from here onwards as Nunatak) is a semi cooperative area majority set collection game, that has great table presence, simple rules and a surprising amount of strategy, although that can often be tampered by luck of the draw. And as per the title I think this might be the best Kosmos release since 2021, although that might be region dependent as Kosmos seems to have licences for different games in different regions, so for example they distribute Devir Games, which I’m not including in my statement as they’re not published by Kosmos only distributed 😀 it’s an important caveat…
In Nunatak you’ll be taking turns around and around the table taking a card from the display, placing one of your ice cubes on a matching space, activate special abilities, gain points if your Ice blocks support your newly placed Ice block (if applicable), check for a completed row or column, then score points (majority scoring) for any completed squares. That’s pretty much it for rules in a long sentence, but if you need more..
On your turn, you draw a card from the card display and add it to your personal area. You can’t take a card if there isn’t an available matching space, if no cards match you shuffle and draw again.
Throughout the game you’ll acquire more cards, so you’ll want to stack these in sets so you can see the number of icons as you’ll score points at the end of the game for different sets. Builders (purple) are a majority scoring, so whoever has the most will score 20 points, other players will score 2 per builder. Sculptors (blue) score points based on the number you have at the end of the game. Artisans (teal) are split into different types so you’ll need artisans with different tools to score. Beasts of burden (brown) are scored by multiplying the number of beast symbols by the number of beast cards. Architects (yellow) are scored by multiplying the number of architect cards by your level on the architect track. Elders (orange) score points based on the number of symbols on them. In addition you score points based on the number of completed sets.
Once you’ve drawn a card, you’ll place one of your ice blocks on a corresponding icon on the board e.g. if you draw an elder card, you’ll need to place your block on a space with an elder symbol. If applicable, you’ll activate the special abilities found on builder and elder cards, which are either swapping floor tile moving a block already placed to a builder space. Or take a blessing card, which are a mixture of immediate effects, one time use or end game scoring.
Once you’ve placed your block, you’ll now check to see if there are any supporting blocks underneath, if there’s are any of your colour, you gain 1 point per block. You’ll then check for a completed row (horizontal or vertical) and move your architect marker up 1 space for each you completed. E.g. if you completed a row and a column, you’d move your architect up 2 spaces.
Then you’ll check for any completed 2 by 2 squares, with the player with the most blocks in the quare gaining 5 points. 2nd in the square majority will score 2 points, there’s some turn order tie breaker rules, which we found happened more than not! The person who’s turn it is wins ties, followed by the next in turn order for any subsequent ties or area control the active player is not involved in. And in a four player game, if you complete a square where each player is present, the active player scores 5 points. Refresh the card display and that’s your turn done.
The game ends when the temple of ice is complete, at which point you’ll proceed to end game scoring, scoring points for the most tiles placed on the outside edge of the temple, card sets and then blessing cards. It’s relatively simple, and can be explained in probably 30 seconds if you don’t go into all the slight nuances that you can definitely just refer to as and when needed. I saw Nunatak at UK Games Expo and debated picking up a copy, but was soured by the comments made around not supporting/acknowledging white males in the hobby and actively avoiding them. However, I picked this up later.Â
Nunatak was fun, and is fun, there’s a fair bit of table presence that just gets better as the game goes on and you’re left with this impressive ice structure at the end. It has a surprisingly fast set up and pack away time, and we were probably ready to go from box opening to sitting down in a matter of minutes. However, my biggest issue is around the player count, it says 2-4 but the inly player count that doesn’t require a modification to the rules is 3 players. At two, you’re playing with Siku a dummy player that you both control, at the start of a two player game you’ll take 9 blocks each of an inactive colour and then arrange your blocks into sets of 3 (2 of your colour, 1 of Siku’s colour) and then during the game you can’t place tiles from a set of Ice blocks until you’ve finished a set, meaning you’ll be placing a Siku block every 3 tiles (or so). Siku doesn’t score points , care for architects, but can contest square majorities, builder cards and outer edge tiles. It’s a bit like Blokus in a sense that you’ve just got more tiles to disrupt your opponent with and that’s what Siku offers. At 4 players, you shuffle in completion cards and remove ice blocks. So our preferred way to play is definitely 3 players, 2 despite there being a dummy player just isn’t a head to head, it’s a head to head with this slightly annoying requirement to place another colour every now and again. Yes, it does give you the ability to disrupt majorities (potentially) as you’re not placing Siku’s tiles turn after turn, but it lacks a sense of progression and reward and almost feels a bit like “oh I’ve got a plan, ah but now I need to take a turn for John, and John’s only desire is to try and cause chaos”.Â
As you know, I rate games on a scale of:
Buy or play
Wait for sale or play if you like game XYZ
Avoid
Nunatak isn’t a terrible game, far from it, it’s probably somewhere above average game, that I think can offer a fair bit of enjoyment, although it’s definitely on the lighter side of the board game scale. I’m giving Nunatak a Wait for Sale or play if you like Blokus, Photosynthesis, Blue Lagoon, Mexica. If you’re looking for a new Euro style game, you’ve 100% come to the wrong place, Nunatak is a family weight game with enough sneaky tactics to feel rewarding and the set collection is enough to keep anyone entertained, plus who doesn’t want a pretty plastic ice tower?
