TONGIAKI - PLAYERS GUIDE

HOME

HOME link1 link1 link1

BACKGROUND

The game is based on the Board Game of the same name. As per usual I have had to modify the rules a bit to suit simultaneous moves by the players. In addition I am using square tiles as opposed to the hexagonal tiles used in the boardgame.
The players represent different polynesian tribes, based in Tonga, who are trying to expand their influence by exploring the Pacific Ocean to discover new Islands.

Each turn players may place boats on different beaches on discovered islands. Once a beach exceeds its capacity then the boats will form a Migration Fleet which will then sail off into the Pacific on a voyage of discovery.

Assuming they avoid Storms and don't fall off the edge of the world they may make landfall on a new island.

WINNING the GAME

As per usual, the player with most Victory Points ( VP's ) will win.

15 of the 16 Islands in the game have VP's. The sixteenth one, TONGA is the start Island and is worth zero.

VP's on Islands range from 2 to 5.

Players get VP's from an Island by having a presence on that Island. A presence is defined as having at least ONE Boat on the Island. Having more than ONE boat gains you NO extra VP's.

Many Players can therefore gain VP's from the same Island, they only need to have ONE Boat on the Island to gain the VP's.

You also get VP's from an Island if it has been declared as a ROYAL ISLAND but only the player who owns the Island gets the VP's.

VP's are calculated at the end of each turn and are noted on the Reports Page.

GAMETURN

Each Game Turn consists of two phases.
  1. Action Phase
  2. Migration Phase

ORDERS

Normally Players will be using an Expansion Action.

Firstly you must choose an Island to Activate.

The Island must either be TONGA or another Island on which you have a PRESENCE. This is defined as having at least ONE boat on a beach of that Island.

If you choose choose TONGA then you will get a fixed number of 2 Boat Moves.

If you choose another Island then the number of Boat Moves you get will be equal to the number of Boats you have on beaches of that Island at the beginning of the turn.

  1. A Boat Move consists of moving a boat from Supply to a beach on the chosen Island or, alternatively, moving a boat from a beach on that Island back to Supply. Boats may be moved to any Beach on the Island.
  2. When doing a Boat Move you must stipulate which beach you are moving the boat to or from.
On Turn 1 of the Game there are no Islands other than TONGA on the Map therefore then only option is to take 2 Boat Moves on TONGA.

A ROYAL ISLAND can only be declared if a Player is the only person to have Boats on an Island at the start of a Turn. This is quite difficult to arrange and should probably only be done for high value Islands of for Islands in a strategic location.

MIGRATION

Migrations are handled automatically by the Computer.

During the Migration Phase all Beaches which have exceeded their capacity ( ie. more than 3 Boats ) will form a Migration Fleet which will then sail off. The Migration Phase will only end when there are no beaches remaining with more than 3 Boats.

It is important to note that Boats can not be witheld from a Migration. ALL the boats on a beach which is over capacity will join the Migration Fleet.

Players should understand the importance of the Migration Value ( MV ) of a Migration Fleet.

The Migration Value of a Fleet is equal to the number of different coloured Boats in the Fleet not the total number of Boats.

When a Migration Fleet moves over a sea tile the Migration Value is compared the the Weather Value of the route. If the Weather Value is greater than the MV then the Fleet is destroyed in a Storm.

Weather Values generally range from 1 to 4 but Typhoons can increase these.

It can be seen then, that a fleet consisting of only your own Boats will have an MV of 1 and this is taking a bit of a chance.

Typhoons

Players should keep in mind that a Typhoon can occur at the end of the Migration Phase.

Typhoons can change the routing over Sea Tiles and will also increase the weather Factors.

The more sea tiles there are on the map the more likely a Typhoon is to happen.

STRATEGY

Anyones guess really. There are a lot of mutually conflicting things you should do.....

To get VP's from an Island you must have a presence on it of at least ONE Boat so it makes sense to spread out as much as possible..... or does it.

If you only have ONE Boat on an Island.

  1. You only get ONE Boat Move if you activate the Island.
  2. With only ONE Boat on an Island it is easy for other players to get it sent off on a futile Migration.
  3. If you can keep the Boats on many Islands till the Game End then you will get lots of VP's.
If you have lots of Boats on an Island.
  1. You get Lots of Boat Moves if you activate the Island and this can allow you some control of what Migrations take place.
  2. If there are few other players with Boats on the Island then the Migration Fleets will have low Migration Values and thus be less likely to succeed. This may, of course, be the plan.

GAME END

The Game End is triggered if any of the following events occur.
  1. At the end of any turn there are 12 or more Islands on the map ( including TONGA )
  2. if, during any turn, the final sea tile, or the final Island tile is played onto the map the game ends immediately.
  3. At the end of turn 10.

Wheras there are a number of ways for the game to end, most playtests have shown that the more players there are in the game the quicker it will finish. With only 3 players it is likely to last till Turn 10.

Generally the Migrations come in waves. There will be 2 or 3 turns with minimal Migrations and then a surge of Migrations in a single turn.

This is especially likely where there are a number of Islands adjacent to one another where a series of chain reactions can occur.